Chinese people call the Spring Festival“Nian”. But do you know that Nian
was once the name of a monster(妖怪)?
　　A long time ago, the monster Nian lived in the mountains. It ate
animals. But in winter, it could not find food. So it came to villages and
ate a lot of people. People were so afraid of Nian that they locked their
doors before evening came during the winter. One day, an old man came to a
village. He told people there that Nian was afraid of three things——the
color red, fire and noise. He told people to play drums and gongs, make
big fires and set off fireworks(放鞭炮)to make Nian go away.
　　On a moonless, cold night, Nian went to the village again. As soon as it
opened its big mouth, people made loud noises and made fires. Nian was
really afraid and ran away. wherever it went, there was noise and fire.
When Nian was tired and could not run anymore, people killed the monster.
　　After that, on the coldest day of winter, people beat drums and gongs,
and set off fireworks to celebrate the death of the monster of Nian. They
put up red lanterns and have a big dinner without sleeping during the
night.
　　In the morning people greet each other happily. So now we have the
Spring Festival.
【小题1】 From the story, Nian seemed to be       long, long ago.
A exciting    B  interesting    C boring   D terrible
【小题2】 The monster Nian ate people in winter because it          .
A  wanted to make people afraid    B  had no food to eat
C  celebrated the Spring Festival    D liked to eat people in a village
【小题3】Nian was afraid of          .
A red    B fire   C noise    D  A, B and C
【小题4】 The monster Nian wasn’t killed until          .
A it had eaten all the animals  B  the old man came to a village
C it was too tired to run away  D people knew what it was afraid of
【小题5】 What is the best title for the passage?
A How the Spring Festival Came  B What People did During Nian
C How People Celebrated Nian  D What the Spring Festival was 

In China, the National Holiday is a big festival and it is to celebrate the founding of the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong in 1949.Besides from the Spring Festival, the National Holiday is the only other week-long public break from school and work.

As one of the only opportunities  for workers to go home, visit their families or to travel around the country, all hotels, tourist attractions, trains, buses and airplanes around the country are completely packed with holidaying Chinese people.

Are you sorry for not traveling during the National Day ? If you stay at home at that time, I think you are very lucky. Why? Because there are too many people everywhere. In many places of interest in China, it’s too crowded to do anything.

Look at the picture. It was too crowded on the Great Wall on October 1st, 2012. You even couldn’t take photos for you or your friends. All that we could see were people. It was reported that there were about twenty people per meter on the Great Wall. My friends told me they could see nothing but many people on the Great Wall. “We couldn’t walk if the people in front of us didn’t walk,” he said. He showed us a photo on the Great Wall. In the photo, we hardly found him out, there were too many people.

So some people give the advice that we should not have the gold week any more. But other people say no about this advice. What’s your idea of it? Are you sorry now for not traveling during the gold week? I love staying at home more than traveling next National Day.

1. How did the writer feel about staying at home on National Day?

A. He believed it was interesting to stay at home on National Day.

B. He believed it was boring to stay at home on National Day.     

C. He felt lucky to stay at home on National Day.

D. He felt sorry to stay at home on National Day.  

2.How many days can people have a break on the Spring Festival.

A. 5 days        B.7 days          C.10 days      D 15 days

3.Which of the following is TRUE about the Great Wall on National Day?

A. You could find yourself easily on the photos you took that day

B. You could walk as you like on the Great Wall

C. There were about 30 people per meter.

D. All that could you see on the Great Wall were people.

4.Where do you think is the article from?

A. www.chinabus.com            B. www.movies123.com      

C. www.chinatourist.com              D. www.storyhouse.com