I love My Country is a Dutch（荷兰的）TV series, first aired（播放）in the Netherlands on March 8, 2008.A tenth season was aired in late 2012, with an 11^th season airing in March, 2013.

    The show was created by the Dutchman John de Mol and has been sold to at least 25 countries in the world.

    The series is divided into two teams. Each team, led by its leader, has three members. The teams have to answer questions about their own home country, like "What is the capital…?", "When did our country end the war with…?”etc. At the end of the programme the winning team gets a bicycle.

    Big Ideas is a Canadian television series produced by TVOntario, on the air since 2001. The idea of starting the programme came from Wodek Szemberg who worked as the producer of the programme afterwards. The programme show lectures（讲座）to the public given by famous university educators.

    Big Ideas airs on TV Ontario on Saturdays and Sundays at 5 pm, with repeat airings at 5 am on Sunday and Monday mornings.

    In 2007, Big Ideas held its Best Lecture Competition for the second time. Dr. Michael Persinger, from Laurentian University, received the best-lecturer award.

    The show stopped in the spring of 2013 because TVO had little money for it.

1.How many seasons of I Love My Country has been aired so far?

A. 8                          B. 9                           C. 10               D. 11

2.When can you see Big Ideas on TV?

A. At 4 pm on Saturdays.                  B. At 5 pm on Sundays.

C. At 5 pm on Mondays.                            D. At 4 am on Sundays.

3.The writer writes the passage to _______.

A. introduce two TV series to us

B. explain why there are so many TV series

C. encourage us to watch more TV series

D. encourage us to love our country more

 

A Christina from Spain
On the last day of the year, the 31^st of December, people wait till 12 pm. Everybody must have 12 grapes(葡萄) to eat at midnight. At each sound of the clock, we must eat a group. But we can’t ever finish eating the grapes on time! Usually when people still have some grapes in their mouths, they look at each other and start to laugh. This tradition started in Spain long ago. One year, when there were a lot of grapes, the king of Spain decided to give grapes to everybody to eat on New Year’s Eve.
B Cordon from Britain
On New Year’s Day in Britain, people have parties. At 12 o’clock, the music stops, and we listen to the radio. On the radio we hear Big Ben, the famous clock in London. Then everybody sings a song about friendship and kisses their friends. We say “Happy New Year” to each other. It’s lucky if a tall man with dark hair is the first person to come to the house in the new year. So I go and visit as many friends as I can. They all give me a drink.
C Angela from Brazil
In all cities in Brazil, we have a big party on New Year’s Eve, especially in Rio de Janeiro. People in this city go to the beaches to watch fireworks(焰火)。We put flowers in the sea and think about things we want for ourselves or others. We usually wear white clothes for good luck during the New Year.
【小题1】Picture___________ is about paragraph 1.

【小题2】Who have parties on New Year’s Day?
A. People in Spain.  B. People in Britain.
C. People in Brazil.  D. Both B and C.
【小题3】From the 2nd paragraph, we can infer (推断)that___________.

A．People listen to the radio at home.

B．Cordon can’t drink much.

C．Cordon is a tall man with dark hair.

D．there are no people near Big Ben.

【小题4】 On New Year’s Day, Brazilians usually wear white clothes because_________.

A．that reminds them of their happy life

B．they hope that can bring them good luck

C．they think that they look beautiful in white

D．that’s what they have to do during the New Year

【小题5】This article mainly tells us ________________.

A．what people in Britain do on New Year’s Day

B．when and where people have New Year parties

C．why people in different countries like the New Year

D．what people around the world do on New Year’s Day

The 2014 FIFA World Cup will be the 20^th World Cup, which is expected to take place between June 12 and July 13,2014 in Brazil. It will be the second time for the country to host the competition, the first being the 1950 FIFA World Cup. Brazil will become the fifth country to have hosted the Fifa World Cup twice, after Mexico, Italy, France and Germany.
Brazil is the greatest football nation in the world. There are 100 million Brazilians. How many of them are football fans? 100 million! All of them think that they know all about football. This makes life very difficult for the Brazilian team manager. When things go badly for the Brazilian team, the newspaper would demand (要求)that the team manager should leave his job. “If we win, they put me in heaven(天堂),”as a manager once said, “If we lose, they put me in hell(地狱).”
You can’t escape football in Brazil. There are football matches on every street and beach. On television, the results of the football matches come before the main news programs. There are six television Channels in Rio de Janeiro(里约日内卢). On Sundays each channel shows a different football match.
Brazil is not the richest country in the world,but the government spends much money on football. It cost more than one billion pounds to prepare for the 1950 World Cup. That’s 10 pounds for every Brazilian. And many Brazilians don’t earn as much as 10 pounds a week. Is it worth it?
“Brazil must have a great football team.” says one reporter. “If it costs one billion pounds, that’s all right. If the government doesn’t give a good football team, then it will become unpopular. Football is more than a game in Brazil.”

【小题1】Which of the following countries hasn’t hosted the FIFA World Cup twice yet so far?

A．Mexico	B．Italy
C．France	D．Brazil

【小题2】It is the        that come before the main news programs on television.

A．football matches

B．results of football matches

C．football matches on the streets

D．football matches on the beaches

【小题3】The underlined sentence means “In Brazil         .”

A．people like football very much,

B．there is something else in football.

C．People like competition.

D．football has influences on the politics(政治)and economy(经济)of the nation.

I love My Country is a Dutch（荷兰的）TV series, first aired（播放）in the Netherlands on March 8, 2008.A tenth season was aired in late 2012, with an 11^th season airing in March, 2013.
The show was created by the Dutchman John de Mol and has been sold to at least 25 countries in the world.
The series is divided into two teams. Each team, led by its leader, has three members. The teams have to answer questions about their own home country, like "What is the capital…?", "When did our country end the war with…?”etc. At the end of the programme the winning team gets a bicycle.
Big Ideas is a Canadian television series produced by TVOntario, on the air since 2001. The idea of starting the programme came from Wodek Szemberg who worked as the producer of the programme afterwards. The programme show lectures（讲座）to the public given by famous university educators.
Big Ideas airs on TV Ontario on Saturdays and Sundays at 5 pm, with repeat airings at 5 am on Sunday and Monday mornings.
In 2007, Big Ideas held its Best Lecture Competition for the second time. Dr. Michael Persinger, from Laurentian University, received the best-lecturer award.
The show stopped in the spring of 2013 because TVO had little money for it.
【小题1】How many seasons of I Love My Country has been aired so far?

A．8

B．9

C．10

D．11

【小题2】When can you see Big Ideas on TV?

A．At 4 pm on Saturdays.	B．At 5 pm on Sundays.
C．At 5 pm on Mondays.	D．At 4 am on Sundays.

【小题3】The writer writes the passage to _______.

A．introduce two TV series to us

B．explain why there are so many TV series

C．encourage us to watch more TV series

D．encourage us to love our country more

My Year Abroad                                                           

This month in Travelers Corner there are three teenagers’ experiences in year-abroad programmes.

Mariko Okada – Tokyo

My year abroad in the United States was a fantastic experience. I’m not a shy person, and I was very comfortable speaking to everyone. So I got lots of speaking practice. I also learned lots of interesting things about American culture. When I got home, my friends all said that I had improved so much! I hope to go back again in the future.

Carla Fonseca – Rio de Janeiro

I spent last year studying English in London. I’m from a small town, and London is a very big city. Sometimes I felt it was too big. There were so many people to talk to, but I always felt bad about my English. I missed my family, and I really missed my two cats. My roommate was always using our telephone, so I hardly had the chance for a nice long talk with my parents. I think it was a good experience for me, but I’m glad to be home!

Alvin Chen – Hong Kong

Studying in New Zealand was a fun experience for me, but it was also lots of hard work! I had English classes six hours a day, five days a week——with lots of homework. I also kept a diary of my experience. I like to write, and I wrote two or three pages in my diary every day. On Saturdays, my homestay family took me to lots of interesting places and showed me so many wonderful things about the culture. I’m really glad I went!

1.All the three teenagers went abroad           .

A．to study English                         B．to visit friends

C．to have a holiday                        D．to find a job

2.Who didn’t really enjoy the stay in a foreign country very much?

A．Mariko.           B．Carla.             C．Alvin.             D．None of them.

3.Travelers Corner is most probably         .

A．a sports club newsletter                  B．a science documentary

C．a travel magazine                       D．a news website