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?

John and Bobby joined the same company together just after they completed their university studies the same year. Both of them worked very hard. Several years later, however, the boss promoted(提拔) Bobby to manager but John was still a worker. John could not take it, and gave his resignation（辞职书） to the boss. He complained that the boss did not think much of those who were hard -working, but promoted only those who flattered him.
The boss knew that John had worked very hard for the years. He thought a moment and said, “Thank you for what you said, but I hope you will do one more thing for our company before you leave”
John agreed. The boss asked him to go and find anyone selling watermelons in the market. John went and returned soon. He said he had found a man selling watermelons. The boss asked how much they cost every kilogram. John shook his head and went back to the seller to ask and returned to tell the boss $1.2 every kilogram.
The boss told John to wait a second, and he called Bobby to come to his office.  He asked Bobby to go and find anyone selling watermelons in the market. Bobby went and returned, saying, “Boss, only one person is selling watermelons. $1.2 every kilogram, and $10 for 10 kilograms. The seller has 340 melons. On the table there are 58 melons, and each weighs about 2 kilograms. They were brought from the South two days ago. They are of good quality.”
Hearing what Bobby said, John realized the difference between himself and Bobby. He decided to stay and learn from Bobby.
【小题1】How did John feel when Bobby was promoted to manager?

John and Bobby joined the same company together just after they completed their university studies the same year. Both of them worked very hard. Several years later, however, the boss promoted(提拔) Bobby to manager but John was still a worker. John could not take it, and gave his resignation（辞职书） to the boss. He complained that the boss did not think much of those who were hard -working, but promoted only those who flattered him.

The boss knew that John had worked very hard for the years. He thought a moment and said, “Thank you for what you said, but I hope you will do one more thing for our company before you leave”

John agreed. The boss asked him to go and find anyone selling watermelons in the market. John went and returned soon. He said he had found a man selling watermelons. The boss asked how much they cost every kilogram. John shook his head and went back to the seller to ask and returned to tell the boss $1.2 every kilogram.

The boss told John to wait a second, and he called Bobby to come to his office.  He asked Bobby to go and find anyone selling watermelons in the market. Bobby went and returned, saying, “Boss, only one person is selling watermelons. $1.2 every kilogram, and $10 for 10 kilograms. The seller has 340 melons. On the table there are 58 melons, and each weighs about 2 kilograms. They were brought from the South two days ago. They are of good quality.”

Hearing what Bobby said, John realized the difference between himself and Bobby. He decided to stay and learn from Bobby.

1.How did John feel when Bobby was promoted to manager?

A．Angry.            B．Nervous.          C．Unlucky.          D．Helpless.

2.The boss gave John a task because______________.

A．he wanted John to do more for his company

B．he wanted John to learn more about himself

C．he wanted to punish John for what he said

D．he wanted to prove what John said was right

3.We can infer from the passage that_____________.

A．Bobby was unselfish                     B．John was lazy

C．the seller was dishonest                  D．the boss was wise

4.What can we learn from the passage?

A．The boss should treat all his workers in a fair way.

B．The boss should not promote one who flatters him.

C．One should not only work hard but also use his head.

D．One should try to get every detail of watermelons.

Brazil (巴西) is the greatest football nation in the world. There are 100 million Brazilians (巴西人). 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. On Sundays each channel shows a different football match.

Brazil is not the richest country in the world, but the government spends huge sums of money on football. It cost more than one billion pounds to prepare for the 1978 World Cup. That’s 10 pounds for every Brazilian man, woman, and child. 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 journalist. “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.”

Football is more than a game in Brazil. This is certainly true in its largest city, Sao Paulo. The most popular team is Corinthians. Corinthians’ fans are the most loyal (忠实的) and emotional in Brazil. When Corinthians win, production in the Sao Paulo car factories increases by fifteen per cent. When they lose, it drops. At one time Corinthians won the national championship for the first time. For four days fans danced and sang in the streets.

74. In Brazil the number of football fans and its population are __________.

A. the same       B. less                   C. more           D. 100 billion

75. Life for __________ is no easy, for he will be put in hell if the football team loses.

A. a football fan      B. any government official          C. the Brazilian team manager     D. a football player

76. 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

77. The government spent __________ in preparing for the 1978 World Cup though the country was not rich.

A. one billion dollars      B. one million pounds      C. one billion pounds      D. one million RMB

78. Football is more than a game in Brazil. The underlined sentence means “In Brazil __________.”

A. people like football very much     B. there is something else in football

C. people are keen on competition    D. football has influences (影响) on the politics and economy of the nation

79. The best title of the passage is __________.

A. Brazilians and Football            B. Brazilians’ Way of Life

C. Football and Income             D. Football and Government