Many everyday American expressions are based on colors.
Red is a hot color. Americans often use it to express heat. They may say they are red hot about something unfair. When they are red hot they are very angry about something. The small hot tasting peppers found in many Mexican foods are called red hots for their color and their fiery taste.
Pink is a lighter kind of color. People sometimes say they are in the pink when they are in good health. It probably comes from the fact that many babies are born with a nice pink color that shows that they are in good health.
Blue is a cool color. The traditional blues music in the United States is the opposite of red hot music. Blues is slow, sad and soulful. Someone who is blue is very sad.
The color green is natural for trees and grass. But it is an unnatural color for humans. A person who has a sick 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. If a person is green at his job, he may be a newcomer and inexperienced. Sometimes a person may be upset because he does not have something as nice as a friend has, like a new sports car. That person may say he is green with envy. Some people are green with envy because their friend has more dollars.
The color black is used often in expressions. People describe a day in which everything goes wrong as a black day. The date of a major tragedy is remembered as a black day.
小題1:If a person feels blue, he is _____.

A．a(chǎn)nnoyed

B．depressed

C．stressed

D．encouraged

小題2:If someone says “you are still green”, he probably means that _______.

A．you are very young

B．you are in a bad mood

C．you are inexperienced

D．you are in good health

小題3:Which of the following statements is CORRECT according to the passage?

A．After two days’ rest, the soldiers were all in the pink.

B．They had a fierce quarrel so they all felt black about it.

C．David got hurt by a bike so his face looked blue.

D．When we meet something unfair, we feel very green.

小題4:What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Different colors have different meanings.

B．What different colors stand for.

C．The story about different colors.

D．Colors used in American expressions.

Ideas about polite behavior are different from one culture to another．Some societies, such as America and Australia, for example, are mobile and very open．People here change jobs and move house quite often．As a result, they have a lot of relationships that often last only a short time, and they need to get to know people quickly．So it’s normal to have friendly conversations with people that they have just met, and you can talk about things that other cultures would regard as personal．
On the other hand there are more crowded and less mobile societies where long – term relationships are more important．A Malaysian or Mexican business person, for example, will want to get to know you very well before he or she feels happy to start business．But when you do get to know each other, the relationship becomes much deeper than it would in a mobile society．
To Americans, both Europeans and Asians seem cool and formal at first．On the other hand, as a passenger from a less mobile society puts it, it’s no fun spending several hours next to a stranger who wants to tell you all about his or her life and asks you all sorts of questions that you don’t want to answer．
Cross-cultural differences aren’t just a problem for travelers, but also for the flights that carry them．All flights want to provide the best service, but ideas about good service are different from place to place．This can be seen most clearly in the way that problems are dealt with．
Some societies have ‘universalistic’ cultures．These societies strongly respect rules, and they treat every person and situation in basically the same way．
‘Particularistic’ societies, on the other hand, also have rules, but they are less important than the society’s unwritten ideas about what is right or wrong for a particular situation or a particular person．So the normal rules are changed to fit the needs of the situation or the importance of the person．
This difference can cause problems．A traveler from a particularistic society, India, is checking in for a flight in Germany, a country which has a universalistic culture．The Indian traveler has two much luggage, but he explains that he has been away from home for a long time and the suitcases are full of presents for his family．He expects that the check – in official will understand his problem and will change the rules for him．The check – in official explains that if he was allowed to have too much luggage, it wouldn’t be fair to the other passengers．But the traveler thinks this is unfair, because the other passengers don’t have his problem．
小題1:Often moving from one place to another makes people like Americans and Australians _____．

A．like traveling better	B．easy to communicate with
C．difficult to make real friends	D．have a long–term relationship with their neighbors

小題2:People like Malaysians prefer to associate with those  _________．

A．who will tell them everything of their own

B．who want to do business with them

C．they know quite well

D．who are good at talking

小題3:A person from a less mobile society will feel it _______ when a stranger keeps talking to him or her, and asking him or her questions．

A．boring

B．friendly

C．normal

D．rough

小題4:The writer of the passage thinks that the Indian and the German have different ideas about rules because of different _______．

A．interests

B．habits and customs

C．cultures

D．ways of life

I travel a lot, and I find out different "styles" (風(fēng)格) of directions every time 1 ask "How can I get to the post office?"
Foreign tourists are often confused (困惑) in Japan because most streets there don’t have names in Japan, people use landmarks (地標) in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will say to travelers, "Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. The post office is across from the bus stop."
In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat; in many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, "Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile."
People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map; they measure distance in time, not miles. "How far away is the post office?" you ask. "Oh," they answer, "it’s about five minutes from here." You say, "Yes, but how many miles away is it?" They don’t know.
It’s true that a person doesn’t know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, ’Sorry, I have no idea." But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers "I don’t know." People in Yucatan believe that "I don’t know" is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can get very, very lost in Yucatan!
小題1: When a tourist asks the Japanese the way to a certain place they usually _________

A．describe the place carefully	B．show him a map of the place
C．tell him the names of the streets	D．refer to recognizable buildings and places

小題2:What is the place where people measure distance in time?

A．New York.

B．Los Angeles.

C．Kansas.

D．Iowa

小題3:People in Yucatan may give a tourist a wrong answer ________

A．in order to save time

B．a(chǎn)s a test

C．so as to be polite

D．for fun

小題4: Which sentence is true according to the text?

A．There is no street names in Japan.

B．There is no landmarks in the countryside of American.

C．People in Yucatan always give wrong answers when asked the way.

D．People in Los Angeles measure distance in time, not miles when asked the way.

小題5: What can we infer from the text?

A．It’s important for travelers to understand cultural differences.

B．It’s useful for travelers to know how to ask the way properly.

C．People have similar understandings of politeness.

D．New Yorkers are generally friendly to visitors.

Americans like to travel on their yearly holiday．Today，more and more travelers in the United States are spending nights at small houses or inns （客棧） instead of hotels．They get a room for the night and the breakfast the next morning．
Rooms for the night in private homes with breakfast have been popular with travelers in Europe for many years．In the past five to ten years，these bed-and-breakfast places have become popular in the United States．Many of these America’s bed-and-breakfast inns have only a few rooms，others are much larger．Some inns do not provide telephones or televisions in the rooms，others do．
Staying at a bed-and-breakfast inn is much different from staying at a hotel．Usually the cost is much less．Staying at an inn is almost like visiting someone’s home．The owners are glad to tell about the areas and the interesting places to visit．Many vacationers say that they enjoy the chance to meet local families．
小題1:Americans take a holiday trip _____．

A．a(chǎn)ll the year round

B．for years

C．every year

D．every other year

小題2:According to the passage，which of the following is NOT true？

A．Some Americans like to stay at bed-and-breakfast homes instead of at hotels．

B．The bed-and-breakfast inns are private homes opened to vacationers．

C．The bed-and-breakfast inns have been popular in America for a long time．

D．The bed-and-breakfast inns owners provide a morning meal for their visitors and a room for the night．

小題3:Why do American travelers prefers staying at bed-and-breakfast inns?

A．It is like visiting someone’s home．	B．The money they spend there is much less．
C．They can meet local families．	D．All of the above

小題4:Staying at the bed-and-breakfast inns，_____．

A．the travelers needn’t pay anything

B．the travelers don’t have to pay for the telephone or television

C．The travelers can meet and talk with the local people

D．The owners will show the travelers around the area

Singles Day falls on every November 11th, and as the name indicates, this relatively new holiday is one exclusively for people who are still living the single life. I was a bit surprised when I googled “Singles Day” on the Internet, to find that China is the only country in the world that has set aside a special day for singles to celebrate their lives. To find out more about this celebration, please read on.
An old story goes that once there were four single men, leading very boring lives. None of them were married, or had lovers, or did anything exciting. They just sat around all day and played Mahjong.
One day they played Mahjong from 11 in the morning until 11 at night. During the game, no matter who won, the winning card was always the “four columns” card (the card shows four independent, parallel columns in two lines). Even more of a coincidence, it was Nov 11, or 11/11. In order to commemorate the day, they nicknamed it Singles Day.
Singles Day was first celebrated at various universities in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu Province during the 1990s. It got the name Singles Day because the date consists of four “ones”. These college students have since graduated, and carried their university tradition into society. Singles Day is now a special day for all fashionable youths.
The main way to celebrate Singles Day is to have dinner with your single friends, but it’s important that each person pay their own fee to show their independence. People also hold “blind date” parties in an attempt to say goodbye to their single lives.
Many singles also choose to say goodbye to their single lives on this day. Many attend “blind date” parties and many people choose to marry on this day. In addition to meaning “single” the four “ones” of the date can also mean “only one” as in “the only one for me.” Some people will use this date and this meaning to tell their special someone that they are the only “one” in their heart.
小題1:Singles Day got its name because _______.

A．the persons who play Mahjong are four singles

B．the date consists of four “ones”

C．only single persons celebrate the day

D．it was first celebrated at universities in Nanjing

小題2:Which of the following is wrong?

A．Singles Day was first celebrated in Nanjing’s universities.

B．Many singles choose Singles Day to say goodbye to their single lives.

C．The only way to celebrate the Singles Day is to have dinner with your single friends.

D．It was these college graduated students that carried their university’s tradition into society.

小題3:We can infer from the passage that ______.

A．the four singles did not get married

B．Singles Day receives great popularity among young people

C．when having dinner, one pays the fee for all his friends

D．on Singles Day many attend parties where blind people were present

小題4:What is the best title for the passage?

A．The Origin of Singles Day.	B．How to Celebrate Singles Day.
C．Singles Day.	D．Say Goodbye to Singles Day.

On a small farm in Mexico, there are no schools. A bus is the school! The driver of the bus is the teacher! It is a school bus, but it doesn’t take children to school. It just goes round from place to place, and sometimes it comes to this farm. The bus will stay here for three months. The farmers call it a school on wheels (車輪).
Every time the bus comes, the farmers come running to it, shouting and laughing. They warmly welcome the school bus!
When the bus is on the farm, in the morning, the teacher teaches the small children. In the afternoon, the bigger children come to have their lessons because they must work in the morning. At night, the fathers and mothers come to school. They want to learn, too. How the farmers hope that some day they can have a real school on their farm!
小題1:The driver of the bus is ________.

A．the teacher

B．the student

C．the farmer

D．the school

小題2: The bus school will ________.

A．take children to school	B．stay there for lunch
C．go round from place to place	D．take the fathers and mothers to school

小題3: When the school bus comes, the farmers________.

A．stop working

B．warmly welcome it

C．be happy

D．Both B and C

小題4:Which one of the following is true?

A．A school bus is a real school for farmers’ children.

B．The bus school has no teacher at all.

C．The bus school has no students.

D．The children and their parents on the farm all come to the bus school to learn.

Health insurance can be very expensive. Some working people do not make enough money to pay for it. In the US there is a program called Healthy Families. This program offers people health insurance at a low cost.
Families are charged about ￥7.00 a month for every child, and ￥10.00 for every adult. It costs much less than any other kind of health insurance. Having health insurance is very important. With this insurance, people can see a doctor when they are sick or hurt.
The program is not expensive at all, but many people are still not enrolling in it. People say that it still costs too much money. They need all of their money to pay for things like food and rent.
It would be great if everyone could have health insurance. People are working hard to come up with ways to make this happen. One idea is to make the Healthy Families Program free for some people.
It is important for people to see a doctor when they need to. The Healthy Families Program makes it possible for more people to do this. Many ideas are being considered. Hopefully some of them will allow even more families to get health insurance.
The Healthy Families Program is made to help those who don’t have welfare (社會保障金) and cannot earn enough to pay for private health insurance. It is an important program, but officials say that too many people are signing up for it and then dropping out because of the Healthy Families Program’s cost.
小題1: The aim of the Healthy Families Program is to __________.

A．help people earn more and pay for the program

B．help more families get health insurance

C．make it free for people to see a doctor

D．help families pay for private health insurance

小題2:If a couple has two children, how much would health insurance cost every month in the family?

A．￥24.

B．￥28.

C．￥34.

D．￥40.

小題3:Why is it very important for people to have health insurance?

A．They can afford to see a doctor when they need to.

B．They can get special medical care.

C．They can see a doctor free of charge.

D．They can go to see a doctor as soon as possible.

小題4:In the passage we can learn all of the following EXCEPT that __________.

A．health insurance is very important for ordinary people

B．the program is still too expensive for many people

C．people should make more money to pay for private health insurance

D．many people don’t make enough money to pay for health insurance

小題5:The passage is mainly about __________.

A．health insurance at a low cost	B．the benefits of health insurance
C．the cost of health insurance	D．the Healthy Families Program

The Mississippi is the major river system in the United States. The Yangtze is China’s longest river.
Although a world apart, the two waterways share conservation concerns that provide a cultural bridge between students in the United States and China, as well as from around the world.
The Mississippi flows almost 3,800 kilometers from a small lake in Minnesota, gathering the waters of 250 other rivers and streams before reaching the Gulf of Mexico.
In mid-May, as spring flowers began to open, about 41 students from a dozen colleges, mostly in the Midwest, explored a section of the river in Wisconsin and Iowa, to learn about the environment, and each other.
The students, from the U.S., China and around the world, came to join the River Spirit Exchange program.
The cross-cultural educational experience - set up by the University of Wisconsin, Madison-based Environment and Public Health Network for Chinese Students - focuses on the Mississippi and China’s longest river, the Yangtze.
This three day get-together featured story-telling, hiking, camping and canoeing, all part of a larger lesson about conservation projects that can be used on both the Yangtze and Mississippi.
While the students learned about the problems challenging the Mississippi and Yangtze, Jeb Barzen, a wildlife biologist, explained they should also learn about the importance of bridging each other’s culture.
The president of the Environment and Public Health Network for Chinese Students, Xiaojun Lu, said the Mississippi and Yangtze Rivers are uniting these students from opposite ends of the earth.
Organizers say the success and spirit of this first gathering of students will lead to other trips, including one down the Yangtze.
小題1:Where is the source of the Mississippi?

A．Minnesota

B．the Gulf of Mexico

C．Wisconsin

D．Iowa

小題2: According to the passage, the get-together             .

A．lasted a week	B．took place in May
C．was held in China	D．was organized by students

小題3: According to Paragraph 8, Barzen believes that             .

A．China and the U.S. should work together to protect the environment

B．the Mississippi is more important than the Yangtze to the world

C．cultural exchange between different countries is of great importance

D．the program encourages technical cooperation between China and the U.S.

小題4:What is the passage mainly about?

A．A major river system in the United States.

B．The differences between the Mississippi and the Yangtze.

C．An educational program about tourism.

D．An international cultural exchange program.

小題5:Where is the passage most probably taken from?

A．A personal diary	B．A news report
C．An official document	D．An advertisement

English is a very interesting language. It has borrowed words from many other languages. Immigrants(移民) coming into the United States have contributed many words to the language, which have kept their original pronunciation. “Coolie” and “kowtow” were taken from the Chinese language, “kamikaze from the Japanese, “shampoo” from India, “blitz” from German, “amigo” and “Los Angeles” from Spanish and so on.
Many students have studied English for years, some as many as eight. However, some students still have difficulty in speaking fluent English. Some know many words but are unable to discern them when native speakers use them. In our Oral English classes we will focus on speaking and listening to native English speakers. For this reason, because we are trying to train your ears to hear English and your mouths to speak intelligible (易理解的) English, we will have a rule that ONLY ENGLISH will be spoken in our English classes. Anyone speaking Chinese in class will be required to pay a fine in order to encourage the speaking and understanding of English. If teachers enter a classroom and discover that anyone is speaking Chinese, they will require everyone in the room to pay the fine. It is everyone’s job to enforce the English-Only rule. It is for your benefit. It is because we want to accustom (使習(xí)慣于) your ears to hearing English.
Other subjects may be learned solely from books but the only way to learn a foreign language is to SPEAK IT! Students are often nervous about speaking in class at first but we hope to make the classes fun, so you will forget your nervousness and learn to speak out. Enjoy your classes.
小題1:The first paragraph is mainly about________.

A．the difficulty of learning English.	B．how interesting and various English is
C．different words in different languages	D．the immigrants’ contributions to America

小題2:The underlined word “discern” in Para 2 can be replaced by___________.

A．understand

B．notice

C．hear

D．speak

小題3:In the author’s opinion , the only way to learn a language well is to__________.

A．listen to it on the radio

B．learn it from books

C．play games with it

D．speak it often

小題4:The article is probably aimed at________.

A．Japanese students

B．German students

C．Chinese students

D．Indian students

There is a story about the moon cake．During the Yuan dynasty, China was ruled by the Mongolian people． Leaders from the preceding Song dynasty were unhappy about being ruled by foreigners, so they began to organize a secret rebellion． The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes． Baked into each cake was a message containing the outline of the attack． On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government． Today, these cakes are eaten to commemorate（紀念）this legend and are called Moon Cakes．
For generations, moon cakes have been made with sweet fillings of nuts, mashed red beans, lotus-seed paste or Chinese dates, wrapped in pastry． Sometimes a cooked egg yolk can be found in the middle of this rich tasting dessert． Some people have compared moon cakes to the plum puddings and fruit cakes which are served in the English holiday seasons．
Nowadays, there are hundreds of varieties of moon cakes on sale a month before the arrival of the Moon Festival．
小題1:According to this passage, people eat moon cakes on the Moon Festival because___________ .

A．it is a tradition

B．moon cakes are tasty

C．moon cakes look like the moon

D．people want to remember the rebellion against the Mongolian rulers

小題2:The leaders ordered the special cakes to be made in order to _________________

A．prize the rebels	B．celebrate the holiday
C．plan the attack	D．carry the message secretly

小題3:Why did those leaders want to overthrow the government? __________________ .

A．Because they wanted to rule the country．

B．Because they were unhappy that China was ruled by the Mongolian．

C．Because they were from the preceding Song dynasty．

D．Because they wanted to celebrate the Moon Festival in their way．

小題4:Which of the following statements is WRONG? __________________ .

A．China was once ruled by the Mongolian people during the Yuan dynasty．

B．Moon cakes were originally made to carry a message．

C．All moon cakes have a cooked egg yolk in them．

D．A variety of moon cakes can be bought a month before the Moon Festival now．

小題5:The best title for the passage is “_______”．

A．The origin of moon cakes	B．Moon cakes and the Moon Festival
C．Moon Festival	D．How the Moon Festival came into being