You may know the English letters A, B and C. But do you know there are people called ABC? You may like eating bananas. But did you know there is a “banana person”? How strange! Are these people from “another Earth”? No. They are just Chinese people like you and me.

ABC means American-Born Chinese. An ABC is a Chinese, but was born in the United States. Sometimes, people call an ABC a “banana person”. A banana is yellow outside and white inside. So, when a person is a banana, he or she is white inside—thinking like a Westerner and yellow outside—looking like a Chinese.

Do you know why? Usually, ABCs know little about China or the Chinese language. Some of them don’t speak Chinese.

But if ABCs cannot speak Chinese, can we still call them Chinese people? Yes, of course. They are Chinese. They are overseas  Chinese. These people may be citizens of another country like the US, Canada or Singapore. But they have Chinese blood. Their parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents were from China. They all have black eyes and black hair.

But they are not Chinese citizens. They are not the people of the People’s Republic of China. For example, we all know the famous scientist  C.N. Yang(杨振宁). He got the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957. The Chinese love him, but he is an American citizen.

1.What’s the author’s purpose in writing this passage?

A．He wants to tell us something about “ABC”.

B．He wants to show that Chinese are well respected in America.

C．He wants to tell us some knowledge about the English language.

D．He wants to introduce the American culture to us.

2.Chinese in Western countries are called “banana persons” because ____.

A．their bodies are white inside but yellow outside

B．they think like Westerners but look like Chinese

C．they were born in China but go to study in America

D．they like to eat bananas

3.C.N. Yang is mentioned here to show that ____.

A. American Chinese are great      

B. we love American Chinese

C. The Chinese can win Nobel Prizes

D. American Chinese are not Chinese citizens

4.Which is NOT true?

A. ABCs are Chinese people.

B. ABCs are all “banana persons”.

C. If you go to America or another country one day, you’ll really become an ABC.

D. ABCs know our country very little.

5.What does the underlined word in the passage mean?

A．People who born and live or work in other countries.

B．People who love other countries.

C．People who know other countries very much.

D．People who can speak other countries’languages.

 

The Mandarin Chinese word for “cha” is pronounced “t'e” in certain Chinese dialects(方言). Also the Malay word for the leaf is“the”. This word “the” was used to describe both the drink and the leaf. The Japanese character for tea is written exactly the same as the Chinese, though pronounced with a slight difference; so these may be the origins of our word tea in the western world.

Tea may have been discovered in 2737 BC by Shen Nong, a Chinese Emperor of the San Huang Period（3,000 - 2,700 BC）. He was a scholar, the father of agriculture and the inventor of Chinese herbal medicine. One summer day, while visiting a distant place, he and the court stopped to rest and his servants began to boil water for the court to drink. Dried leaves from the nearby bush fell into the boiling water, and made it a brown liquid. The Emperor was interested in the new liquid, drank some, and found it very refreshing. The tree was a wild tea tree, and so, tea was created.

The first samples(样品) of tea reached England between 1652 and 1654. Tea was referred to as the China drink, tcha, chaw, tay, tee, and tea and was at first regarded more as a medicine than a fashionable drink. The original English pronunciation of the word tea was “tay” and can be traced back to around 1655 when the Dutch introduced both word and beverage（饮料）to England. The pronunciation “tee” also originated in the 1600's but only gained predominance（主导地位）after the late 18th century.

By 1650 the Dutch were actively involved in trade throughout the Western world. During that year Peter Stuyvesant brought the first tea to America to the colonists（殖民地定居者）in the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam （later re-named New York）.

1.The following information is true EXCEPT ________.

A. The Japanese write the character for tea the same way as we Chinese.

B. It was a Chinese Emperor who first found tea very refreshing.

C. The word “the” was used to describe only the leaf.

D. Tea was discovered quite by chance in history.

2.Paragraph 2 mainly tells us ________.

A. that Shen Nong, was a famous inventor of Chinese herbal medicine

B. why the Emperor was brave and dared to run risks

C. whether Shen Nong liked drinking boiled water outside the court

D. the way in which tea was created outdoors 

3.Which of the following information is FALSE according to the text?

① Tea was at first regarded just as a fashionable drink in England.

② Tea had different names during the early days it reached England.

③ The pronunciation “tee”originated in 1600.

④ Peter Stuyvesant introduced both word “tay” and beverage（饮料）to England.

⑤ The pronunciation“tee”became popular after the late 18th century.

A. ①②     B. ②③     C. ④⑤     D. ①④   

4.From Paragraph 3 we know ________.

A. that the leaf tea should be put in hot water for drinking 

B. that tea was called the China drink, tcha, chaw, tay, tee, t'e and tea in England

C. what the early situation of tea was like in the Western world  

D. that tea was first brought to America in the late 16th century

 

It’s really a tough job for automakers doing marketing and sales in China, where competition is acute and customers have little loyalty. They have tried a range of tricks in recent years.
But there should be a moral bottom line. Unfortunately, a Buick dealership used the tragedy of a two-month-old infant to advertise its cars last week on Weibo – Micro blog. And Hyundai Motor followed suit.
On March 4, an SUV was stolen with the infant left inside alone in the northeastern city of Changchun. The news spread widely on Weibo after the baby’s father called the local police and radio station for help. The next day it was revealed that the infant was choked to death and buried in snow by the thief. The online community expressed its deeply felt sympathy and condolences.
The Buick dealership posted a photo of the baby and two of its cars on its official Weibo account to advertise its GPS system that can locate the stolen car. “A few thoughts on the Changchun stolen car and baby incident: when buying a car it’s entirely OK to choose a brand with advanced technology,” said the post. Though the post was made before tragic fate of the infant was known, the action generated a storm of outrage on Weibo. Some online commentators said it is “marketing at the cost of lives” and “extremely despicable.”
Worse was the post on Hyundai’s official Weibo account that advertised the anti – theft system on its new SUV Santa Fe, an entry made after the child was known to have died. The action also enraged micro bloggers.
Both posts were soon deleted. The Buick dealership made an apology on Weibo to the family of the victim and the public. But screenshots saved by users continued to be posted and the negative impact on both brands persists.
The two brands probably didn’t expect such a firestorm of fury from the Internet community, but they really made a big mistake sinking below the moral bottom line. They certainly ruined their own brand images.
The Chinese have the same proverb as the English language – a little leak will sink a great ship. It takes decades to build the great ship of a respectable brand but it can take just a moment of negligence to make it fail completely.
For those in corporate marketing, two lessons should be learned: first, be careful in the era of social media when one wrong can be easily magnified and have disastrous impacts in just a few clicks.
Second and more importantly, think with your brain and heart. Never break the moral bonds of respect for human life and sympathy for our fellow man.
【小题1】Who is to blame for the tragedy of Changchun infant according to the passage?

A．The baby’s father	B．Buick and Hyundai dealership
C．Weibo	D．Not clear

【小题2】Which of the following statements is correct?

A．The missing infant was found alive in the stolen car.

B．Micro blog marketing of tragic infant death fuels firestorm of criticism.

C．People can’t see the two posts any more because they were deleted.

D．The two car brands mentioned in the passage spoiled their own reputation by selling the stolen car.

【小题3】What does the underlined word – “despicable” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Immoral

B．Important

C．Distinguished

D．Considerable

【小题4】The reason why Hyundai’s post was worse than Buick’s is that _________.

A．Hyundai dealership didn’t make an apology on Weibo

B．Buick dealership expressed its deeply sympathy and condolences

C．Hyundai’s post was made after people knew the infant had died

D．Buick’s car was more advanced on its GPS system

【小题5】In the last paragraph, the author encourages people _____________.

A．not to sink below the moral bottom line

B．not to sympathize our fellow man

C．to think twice before making decision

D．to magnify the mistakes people make

Although English is not as old as Chinese , it is spoken by many people around the world every day. English speakers are always creating new words and we are often able to know where most words come from.
Sometimes, however, no one may really know where a word comes from.  Did you ever think about why hamburgers are called hamburgers, especially when they are not made with ham?  About a hundred years ago, some men went to America from Europe.  They came from a big city in Germany called Hamburg.  They didn’t speak good English, but they ate good food.  When some Americans saw them eating round piece of beef, they asked the Germans what it was.  The Germans didn’t understand the question and answered, “We come from Hamburg.”  One of these Americans owned a restaurant, and had an idea.  He cooked some round piece of bread and started selling them.  Such bread came to be called “hamburgers”.  Today, “hamburgers” are sold in many countries around the world.
Whether this story is true or not, it certainly is interesting.  Knowing why any word has a certain meaning is interesting, too.  This reason, for most English words, can be found in any large English dictionary.
【小题1】Hamburg is ____________

A．a kind of food	B．a round piece of beef
C．the name of a village	D．a city in Germany

【小题2】According to the passage, ___________.

A．few Americans like hamburgers

B．hamburgers are made with beef

C．hamburgers are made with ham

D．hamburgers were first sold about a century ago

【小题3】According to the writer, which of the following can often be found in any large English dictionary?

A．Where all the new words come from.

B．Where those Germans came from.

C．The reason why a word has a certain meaning.

D．The reason why English is spoken around the world.

【小题4】From the story, we can know that the word “hamburger” comes from ___________.

A．China because it has a long history

B．English because Germans don’t speak good English

C．The round piece of beef which those people from Hamburg were eating

D．English speakers because they always create new words