Last Sunday I made a visit to some new neighbors down the block. No specific purpose in mind, just an opportunity to sit at the kitchen table, have some tea and chat. As I did so, it occurred to me how rare the Sunday visit has become.

When I was a kid in the New Jersey of the 1960s, Sunday visits were routine. Most stores were closed and almost nobody worked. My family normally traveled eight city blocks to the home of my grandmother, where adults would sit on the front porch and chat while we children played hide-and-seek.

The Sunday visit was something to desire strongly. It was the repetition to church, our reward for and hour of devotion, and opportunity to take advantage of the fact that Dad was not at work, we were not in school, and there were no chores that couldn’t wait until Monday. Sunday was, indeed, which means that there was one day when everyone seemed to have time for everybody else.

Sunday as a day of rest is, or was, so deeply rooted in the culture that it’s surprising to consider that, in a short span of time, it has almost entirely lost this association.^① In my childhood, it was assumed that everyone would either be home or visit someone else’s home on Sunday. But now the question is, “What do you plan to Do this Sunday?” The answer can range from going to the mall to participating in a road to jetting to Montreal for lunch. If one were to respond, “I’m making a Sunday visit to family,” such and answer would feel strange, an echo from another era.

I suppose I should be grateful to live in Maine, a state of small towns, abundant land tight relationships. Even though folks work as hard here as they do anywhere else, the state’s powerfully rural cast（特质）still harbors at least remnants（剩余部分）of the ethic of yesterday’s America, where people had to depend on one another in the face of economic vagaries（反复无常的情况）and a challenging environment.^②

1.The writer’s general impression of the Sunday in the past was a day when_________.

2.What can we learn from the underlined sentence in paragraph 4?

3.From the last paragraph we may infer that people in Maine____________.

4.What is the writer’s attitude towards the Sunday today?

As is known to all, colors appear in every language to express people’s feeling and thoughts．Then, what is the situation in American English?
Red is a hot color．Americans may say they are red hot about something unfair．They are red hot when they are very angry about something．The small hot-tasting peppers found in many Mexican foods are called red hot for their color and their fiery taste．Fast loud music is popular with many people．They may say the music is red hot, especially the kind called Dixieland Jazz．
Pink is a lighter kind of red．People sometimes say they are in the pink when they are in good health．The expression was first used in America at the beginning of the twentieth century．It comes from the fact that many babies are born with nice pink skin that shows that they are in good health．
The color black is often used in expressions．People describe a day on which everything goes wrong as a black day．People or things on a blacklist are connected with things illegal now．But at one time, some businesses refused to employ people who were on a blacklist for belonging to unpopular organizations．
The color green is natural for trees and grass．But it is an unnatural color for humans．A person who has a sick feeling in his stomach may say he feels a little green．A passenger on a boat who is feeling very sick from high waves may look very green．
Sometimes a person may be upset because he does not have something as nice as a friend has．That person may say he is green with envy．Some people are green with envy because a friend has more dollars or greenbacks．Dollars are called greenbacks because green is the color of the back side of the paper money．
【小题1】Americans use “red hot” to describe the following EXCEPT _______．

Try your best to help the people when they are in trouble, _______you will feel   pleased and happy.

Millions of British people have ditched the traditional “thank you” and replaced it with the less formal “cheers”, according to a survey.

Although the average person will say “thank you” nearly 5,000 times a year, one in three are more likely to throw in a “cheers” or “ta” where it’s needed, rather than risk sounding old fashioned.

One in 20 now say “nice one” instead, while younger generations are more likely to offer a “cool” than a “thank you”. “Merci”, “fab” and even “gracias” were also listed as common phrases to use, as was “much appreciated”.

One in twenty who took part in the survey of 2,000 people by the Food Network UK for Thank You Day, which is marked on November 24, 2011, said a formal “thank you” was now not often needed in everyday conversation. More than one in ten adults said they regularly wouldn’t say “thank you” if they were in a bad mood.

Most people declared that saying “thank you” was something drilled into them by their parents. A huge 70 percent of those questioned will say “thank you” to a person’s face without even meaning it, while a fifth avoid saying it when they know they should — on at least two occasions every day.

It seems our friends and family get the brunt (压力) of our bad manners with half admitting they’re not good at thanking those closest to them — many justifying (为……辩解) the lack of thanks because their family “already know I’m grateful”.

When spoken words won’t do, it falls to a nice text to do the job for most people. A thank you email is also popular, while a quarter turn to social networks to express gratitude. A quarter of British people say thank you with food, with 23 percent cooking a meal to show their appreciation to someone. Another 15 percent bake a cake. A third will still send a handwritten thank-you note — but 45 percent admit it’s been more than six months since they bothered to send one.

It follows that 85 percent of people will be annoyed at not getting the gratitude they feel they should receive. 

1.Most of the people who took part in the survey say that they say “thank you” _____.

A．when they are in good mood              B．completely out of habit

C．when they feel truly grateful               D．purely out of politeness

2.The underlined word “ditched” in Paragraph 1 means “_____”.

A．abandoned        B．used             C．shared            D．grasped

3.It can be learned from the passage that _____.

A．different ways of expressing gratitude are all fashionable

B．people should avoid saying “thank you” nowadays

C．a thank-you note is still appreciated by most people

D．people in a bad mood never say “thank you”

4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Most people express their gratitude to others by buying food for them.

B．About fifty percent of people try not to say thank you when they should.

C．Most people may feel natural when they fail to receive others’ gratitude.

D．Many people think it unnecessary to say thanks to their family members.

第二节读写任务(共1小题，满分25分)
阅读下面的短文, 然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。
When I was a little girl ,my mother always told me what I should do and not .What I can remember is that when I was in the primary school, I didn’t want to go to school because I hated the math teacher who used to punish me for I didn’t finish my homework on time. Instead of forcing me to go to school, my mother just told me if I didn’t go to school my friends and my teachers would not like me anymore. What’s more, she told me I should not hate the math teacher on account of my fault and never hate anybody if I wanted to be likable. Since that time, I have known that being likable is very important.
While I was growing up, I read a lot of books in order to be a likable person. There is a famous writer, Dale Carnegie. He wrote a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People, which taught me a lot .Being a likable person we should respect others and become genuinely interested in other people. In my opinion, the most significant one is that we should be honest and sincere. The second way is that we should be glad to give them a hand when it is needed. Finally, I suppose that being a good listener is quite important as well. We should participate in their suffering and encourage them in time.
In a word, only if we stand by the people even when they are in the darkest time and never desert them can we be a likable in the social life.
[写作内容]
1) 以约30个词概括短文的要点；
2) 然后以约120个词就“做个受欢迎的人”的主题发表看法，并包括如下要点：
A ) 以自己或他人的经历为例谈谈怎样才能得到别人的认可。
B ) 你认为如何才能使自己受欢迎，为什么？
[写作要求]
1) 可以使用实例或其它论述方法支持你的论点，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用原文中的句子;
2) 标题自定
[评分标准]
概括准确、语言规范、内容合适，篇章连贯。
[写作要求]
1.   作文中可以使用亲身经历或虚构的故事．也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用原文中的句子。
2.   作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。
[评分标准]                  概括准确，语言规范，内容合适，语篇连贯。