It was my first day at school in London and I was half-excited and half-frightened. On my way to school I wondered what sort of questions the other boys would ask me and rehearsed (practiced) all the answers: “I am nine years old. I was born here but I haven’t lived here since I was two. I was living in Farley. It’s about thirty miles away. I came back to London two months ago.” I also wondered if it was the custom for boys to fight strangers like me, but I was tall for my age. I hoped they would decide not to risk it.

    No one took any notice of me before school. I stood in the center of the playground, expecting someone to say “hello”, but no one spoke to me. When a teacher called my name and told me where my classroom was, one or two boys looked at me but that was all the curiosity my arrival aroused.

    My teacher was called Mr Jones. There were 42 boys in the class, so I didn’t stand out there, either, until the first lesson of the afternoon. Mr Jones was very fond of Charles Dickens and he had decided to read aloud to us from David Copperfield, but first he asked several boys if they knew Dickens’ birthplace, but no one guessed right. A boy called Brian, the biggest in the class, said: “Timbuktu”, and Mr Jones went red in the face. Then he asked me. I said: “Portsmouth”, and everyone stared at me because Mr Jones said I was right. This didn’t make me very popular, of course.

    “He thinks he’s clever,” I heard Brian say.

    After that, we went out to the playground to play football. I was in Brian’s team, and he obviously had Dickens in mind because he told me to go in goal. No one ever wanted to be the goalkeeper.

    “He’s big enough and useless enough,” Brian said when someone asked him why he had chosen me.

    I suppose Mr Jones remembered Dickens, too, because when the game was nearly over, Brian pushed one of the players on the other team, and he gave them a penalty. As the boy kicked the ball hard along the ground to my right, I threw myself down instinctively and saved it. All my team crowded round me. My bare knees were grazed and bleeding. Brian took out a handkerchief and offered it to me.

    “Do you want to join my gang (team)?” he said.

    At the end of the day, I was no longer a stranger.

51．The writer prepared to answer all of the following questions EXCEPT “________”.

    A. How old are you?                                                        B. where are you from?

    C. Do you want to join my gang?                                 D. When did you come back to London?

52．We can learn from the passage that ________.

A. boys were usually unfriendly to new students   

B. the writer was not greeted as he expected

    C. Brian praised the writer for his cleverness

    D. the writer was glad to be a goalkeeper

53．The underlined part “I didn’t stand out” in paragraph 3 means that the writer was not ________.

    A. noticeable                      B. welcome                         C. important                       D. outstanding

54．The writer was offered a handkerchief because ________.

    A. he threw himself down and saved the goal         B. he pushed a player on the other team

    C. he was beginning to be accepted                           D. he was no longer a new comer

 

1.    What’s for dinner? I’m 　　          　(饿死).?

2.    Nothing 　　　           （满意）him. He is always complaining.?

3.     His 　　          　 (祖先）had come to England as refugees(难民）.?

4.     The　　          　 (起源）of the custom are unknown.?

5.     Mr. Smith bought his wife a g　　          　（真正的）diamond necklace in memory of their tenth wedding anniversary.

6.    It’s bad　　          　 (礼貌）to talk in a loud voice on the mobile phone in public.?

7.    Vancouver is　　          （包围）by mountains on the north and east.?

8.    With the Internet news from every part of the world 　　          　（传播）rapidly.

9.     Give Mary a call, she needs ____________________（振作）.

10.  A plastic bag was seen　　          　（漂浮）in the water.

 

Several different stories are told about the origin（由来） of Saint Valentine's Day（情人节）. One legend(传奇) dates as far back as the clays of the Roman Empire, according to the story, Claudius, the Emperor of Rome, wanted to increase the size of the army. He knew that it would be easier to get young man who were not married to join. Therefore he made a rule that no young man could marry until he had served a certain number of years in the army.

A priest（牧师） named Valentine broke the rule and secretly married a great many young people. Finally, Claudius found out about Valentine and put the priest in prison, where he remained until his death on February 14.

After his death, Valentine was made a saint, and the day of his death was named Saint Valentine's Day. It became the custom for lovers to send each other message on this day. Now Saint Valentine's Day is a time for people to send one another greeting of many kinds.

February 14, Valentine's Day, is a sweethearts' day, on which people in love with each other express their tender emotions. People sometimes put their love message in a heart-shaped box of chocolates, or a bunch of flowers tied with red ribbons. Words of letters may be written on the flower covered card, or something else. Whatever the form may be, the message is almost the same "will you be my Valentine?"

Valentine was put in prison because ________.

A. he secretly got married                                        

B. he didn't serve in the army

C. he married many young people secretly              

D. he broke the laws

According to the rule ________.

A. no young men could get married unless they were old enough

B. young men could marry if they served in the army for several years

C. no one could get married without the emperor's permission

D. young could marry only in the army

This passage mainly tells us about _________.

A. how Valentine died                                             

B. the Emperor of Rome

C. how Valentine's Day is celebrated                    

D. the origin of Valentine's Day

February 14 is chosen Valentine's Day because __________.

A. lovers express their tender emotions on this day   

   B. people want to remember Valentine

C. people send one another greetings of many kinds on this day

D. people want to fix a date for lovers to express their emotions

Besides entertainment and beautiful lanterns, another important part of the Lantern Festival, or Yuanxiao Festival is eating small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour. We call these balls Yuanxiao or Tangyuan. Obviously, they get the name from the festival itself. It is said that the custom of eating Yuanxiao originated during the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the fourth century, then became popular during the Tang and Song periods.

The fillings inside the dumplings or Yuansiao are either sweet or salty. Sweet fillings are made of sugar, Walnuts, sesame（芝麻）, osmanthus flowers(桂花), rose petals, sweetened tangerine（橘子）peel, bean paste, or jujube paste（枣子酱）. A single ingredient or any combination can be used as the filling . The salty variety is filled with minced meat（肉末儿）, vegetables or a mixture.

The way to make Yuanxiao also varies between northern and southern China. The usual method followed in southern provinces is to shape the dough of rice flour into balls, make a hole, insert the filling, then close the hole and smooth out the dumpling by rolling it between your hands. In North China, sweet or nutmeat stuffing is the usual ingredient. The fillings are pressed into hardened cores, dipped lightly in water and rolled in a flat basket containing dry glutinous rice flour. A layer of the flour sticks to the filling, which is then again dipped in water and rolled a second time in the rice flour. And so it goes, like rolling a snowball, until the dumpling is the desired size.

The custom of eating Yuanxiao dumplings remains. This tradition encourages both old and new stores to promote their Yuanxiao products. They all try their best to improve the taste and quality of the dumplings to attract more customers.

Which of the following is NOT true?

 A. The custom of eating Yuanxiao dates back to the fourth century.

 B. Sugar, rose petals and minced meat are all fillings of Yuanxiao.

 C. Sweet Yuanxiao are usually made in southern China.

 D. People in northern China usually make Yuanxiao by rolling like a snowball.

Which country does the Lantern Festival come from?

A. China  B. South Korea C. Jin Dynasty  D. Tang and Song periods.

Choose the right order of making Tangyuan in southern provinces.

① make a hole and insert the filling 

② roll the dough between your hands 

③ shape the dough of rice flour into balls  

④ close the hole  

⑤ prepare some rice flour

 A. ⑤③②①④  B. ③⑤①②④  C. ③①④②⑤  D. ⑤③①④②

What is the best title of this passage?

A. The Lantern Festival                        B. The ingredients of Yuanxiao

C. The difference between Yuanxiao and Tangyuan.  D. China’s traditional food—Yuanxiao.

Why do we eat Yuanxiao today?

A. Because it’s a tradition.

B. Because it’s a tasty food.

C. Because we love our country.

D. Because this food can make money.

102. In the minority nationality the custom doesn’t ____ and has come down from generation to generation.

A．die away

B．die of

C．die from

D．die out