People around the world celebrate the new year. However, not all countries celebrate in the   46   way. When it is the New Year, people celebrate for several days. In some countries, the New Year is not on the same date every year. It can depend    47   the seasons, the moon or the sun.
In many countries, New Year begins on January1st, but people start celebrating on December 31st, New Year’s Eve. In New York, many people go to celebrate in Times Square. While they’re waiting for the New Year, they    48   music, sing traditional songs and have fun. Just before 12 o’clock, everyone    49   down from 10, 9, 8 … As soon as it’ s 12 o’clock, everyone shouts very loudly, “Happy New Year!” and they say, “Out with the old year and in with the new!” Suddenly there    50  fireworks and special drinks. Sometimes people sing an old song   51  “Auld Lang Syne”.
New Year’s Day is often a family day. Some people relax at home. Some families get together for a special    52  with grandparents, aunts and uncles. When the weather is    53  , many families go out for a walk.
On New Year’s Day, many people make resolutions for the new year. They write down a list of things, such as “I will help out more at home. I will work harder at school.”
Or “I won’t spend so much time    54  video games.” When they have made their list, they read it to their family or friends.
So it does not matter how they celebrate, for people in countries all over the world, it is a time to    55  goodbye to the old year, and to welcome the new.

One day when some government officials were rebuilding a barn（谷仓）, they found a mouse hole in a corner and used smoke to force the mice inside the hole to come out. A while later, they indeed saw mice running out one after another. Then everyone thought that all the mice had run away. But just as they began to clean up, they saw two mice squeezing （挤）out at the mouth of the hole. With some efforts（努力）, the mice finally got out. However, it was strange that after they came out of the hole, they did not run away immediately. Instead, one ran after the other near the mouth of the hole. It seemed that one was trying to bite (咬)the tail of the other.

Everyone was puzzled, so they stepped nearer to take a look. They realized that one of the mice was blind and could see nothing, and the other was trying to allow the blind mouse to bite on his tail so that he could pull the blind one with him to escape.

After seeing what happened, everyone was silent and lost in thought. During the meal time, the group of people sat down in a circle and started to chat about what happened to the two mice.

One serious American official said: “I think the relationship between those two mice was that of king and guard.” The others thought for a while and said, “That was why!”

A smart French said : “ I think the relationship between those two mice was that of husband and wife.” Again the others thought for a while, and all felt it made sense.

A Japanese said, “I think the relationship between those two mice was that of mother and son.” Once again the others thought for a while, and felt this was more reasonable. So they expressed agreement another time.

At that moment, one Chinese asked: “ Why did those two mice have to have a certain relationship?”

Suddenly, the group looked back at the Chinese and remained silent. The American official, the French and the Japanese who had spoken earlier all lowered their heads in shame（惭愧）, and did not dare answer.

In fact, the true love is not built on friendship, loyalty or blood(血源) relationship . Instead, it is based on no relationship.

46. The last two mice didn’t run away immediately because          .

 A. they were fighting                     B. the mouth of the hole was too small

 C. they were too frightened to run away      D. one was trying to help the other

47 It was true that            .

 A. each people had a different understanding of the relationship

 B. all the mice ran out of the hole easily

 C. the government officials wanted to kill the mice with smoke

 D. the government officials knew one of the mice was blind at the first sight.

48 Why did the group of government officials, except the Chinese, lower their heads in shame according to the passage?

 A .They had mistaken the relationship between the two mice.

 B. They did not dare to answer.

 C. They were not able to answer.

 D. They should have expressed themselves much better.

49. What does the underlined sentence “ it made sense . ” mean ?

 A. it was interesting                      B. it was reasonable

 C. it was romantic                       D. it was unusual

50. The best title for the passage is             

 A. Friendship and Love                   B. What Is True Love

C. Help Produces Love                   D. No Relationship Is Love

People all over the world celebrate the new year. However, not all countries celebrate in the same way, and in some countries, the new year doesn’t begin on the   46    date very year.

In many countries, the new year begins on 1st January, but people start celebrating on 31st December, New Year’s Eve. In New York many people go to celebrate in Times Square.   47    they’re waiting for the New Year, they listen to music, sing traditional songs and have fun. Just before 12 o’clock, everyone   48  down from 10: 10, 9, 8… As soon as it’s 12 o’clock, everyone shouts very   49 , “Happy New Year!”

New Year’s Day is often a family day. Some families get together for a special meal. When the weather is fine, many families go out for a   50 .

On New Year’s Day, many people make resolutions for the new year. They   51  a list of things, such as “I will help out more with housework. I will work   52  at school than others.” or “I won’t spend so much time playing video games.” When they have made   53   list, they read it to their family or friends and promise to   54  their resolutions.

So it doesn’t matter how they celebrate,   55  people in countries all over the world, it’s a time to say goodbye to the old year, and to welcome the new.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith had always spent their summer holidays in New Jersey in the past, staying in a small inn at the foot of a hill.

　　One year, however, Mr. Smith made a lot of money in his business, so they decided to go to London and stay at a really good hotel while they went touring around that famous city.

　　They flew to London and arrived at their hotel late one evening. They had expected that they would have to go to bed hungry, because in that small inn in New Jersey, no meals were served after seven. They were surprised when the waiter asked whether they would take dinner there that night. “Are you still serving dinner?” asked Mr. Smith. “Yes, certainly, sir,” answered the waiter. “We serve it until half past nine.”

　　“What are the times of meals then?” asked Mr. Smith. “Well, sir,” answered the waiter. “We serve breakfast from seven to half past eleven in the morning, lunch from twelve to three in the afternoon, tea from four to five, and dinner from six to half past nine.”

　　“But that hardly leaves any time for us to see the sights of London.” said Mr. Smith.

(　 )46．Mr. and Mrs. Smith had always spent their holidays in ________.

A. New York　　 B. London　　　C. New Jersey　　　 D. Washington

(　 )47．When Mr. and Mrs. Smith had a lot of money, they decided to go to _____.

A. their hometown　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. the capital of England

C. New Jersey 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. a small city in England

(　 )48．They went to London by ________.

A. sea　　　　　 B. plane　　　　 C. train　　　　　D. bus

(　 )49From the story we know that this was the ______ time for Mr. and Mrs. Smith to go to London.

A. first　　　　　B. second　　　　C. third　　　　　D. fourth

(　 )50. What does the sentence “But that hardly leaves any time for us to see the sights of London” mean?　　

A. We can go to see the sights of London at any time.

B. We have enough time to see the sights of London.

C. We can see more sights of London.

D. We have little time to see the sights of London.