13.
Consider yourself warned.Sunday is April Fools'Day,a day when you are encouraged to pull pranks on loved ones,co-workers,acquaintances,and even that one guy at the bus stop.It's an odd tradition,but how did it get started?What's the history of April Fools'Day,anyway?Nobody is completely sure about the origin of this.However the urban legend experts at Snopes.com say that most experts give credit to Pope Gregory XIII,who,in the 1500s,gave the world the Gregorian calendar.
In 1562,the Gregorian calendar moved the first day of the year from April 1to January 1.Word did eventually get around,but some people were a bit slow to hear the news.These folks continued celebrating the New Year on April 1,unaware that they were now three months behind the times.These"April fools"were tricked by those in the know.The tradition eventually made its way to the USA.
And it's still going strong.Over the past week,Web searches on"April fools day jokes"and"April fools day pranks"have more than doubled,and related lookups for"easy April fools day pranks"and"April fools day jokes for work"also dramatically increase.Lookups for"impossible April fools day word searches"are up 200%.
But really,there is no way to be certain you'll escape trickery,because on April 1,even corporations are out to trick you.In 1998,Burger King tricked its customers by releasing"the left-handed Whopper(左撇子巨無(wú)霸漢堡)".In 1957,the BBC reported Swiss farmers were harvesting spaghetti from trees.And in 1996,Taco Bell,a famous food company in the United States,published advertisements in major newspapers announcing that the company had purchased the Liberty Bell and renamed it the Taco Liberty Bell.Oh,my god,what fun!
52.Which of the following is close in meaning to the underlined phrase in the first paragraph?A
A.play tricks on
B.take advantage of
C.have games with
D.tell jokes about
53.What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?C
A.When the Gregorian calendar came into being.
B.Why they changed the day of the New Year.
C.How the odd tradition got started in 1562.
D.How the tradition passed on to the United States.
54.The examples of some large companies fooling people show thatB.
A.even large companies have to cheat people on April Fools'Day
B.it is not easy to escape from being tricked on April Fools'Day
C.some large companies may just act as foolishly as April fools
D.large companies can make profits by fooling people on April Fools'Day
55.From the passage we can learn thatD.
A.you can't make fun of strangers on April Fools'Day
B.people will never know the real origin of April Fools'Day
C.some experts know the real origin of April Fools'Day
D.the tradition of April Fools'Day is even more popular today.