1_____ People use money to buy food, furniture, books, bicycles and hundreds of other things they need
or want. When they work, they usually get paid in money.
     Most of the money today is made of metal or paper. 2_____ One of the first kinds of money was shells.
     Shells were not the only things used as money. In China, cloth and knives were used. In the Philippine
Islands, rice was used as money for a long time. Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used as money
in parts of Africa.
     The first metal coins were made in China. They were round and had a square hole in the centre. 3_____. 
     Different countries have used different metals and designs for their money. 4_____ Sweden and Russia
used copper to make their money. Later some countries began to make coins of gold and silver.
     But even gold and silver were inconvenient if you had to buy something expensive. Again the Chinese
thought of a way to improve money. 5_____ The first paper money looked more like a note from one person
to another than the paper money used today.
     Money has had an interesting history from the days of shell money until today.

A. The first coins in England were made of tin (錫).
B. But people used to use all kinds of things as money.
C. No one knows for certain when people began to use money.
D. People strung (串連) them together and carried them from place to place.
E. Money, as we know, is all made of paper.
F. They began to use paper money.
G. Today anyone will accept money in exchange for goods and services.

     As is known to most of us all, the Grammy Award is the granddaddy of all music awards. It is to music
what Oscar is to the movies. The name "Grammy" is short for "gramophone (machine for reproducing music
and speech recorded on flat discs)", since the awards are shaped like those old-fashioned gramophones.
     Over the years Los Angeles and New York have played tug-of-war with the Grammy Awards show. What
about the result? The Grammy ceremony has been held 32 times in Los Angeles, 10 times in New York City,
and once in Nashville.
     In 1999, the show returned to Los Angeles (at the Shrine, with host Kelsey Grammer) thanks in large part
to a much-publicized feud between the show's organizers and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. And the
Grammys didn't return to the Big Apple while Giuliani was still in office, eventually moving to Los Angeles's
Staples Center.
     But with Giuliani finally gone from City Hall, the Grammys returned to New York in 2003, at Madison
Square Garden.
     For 2004, the award show moved back to L.A., and has remained here. The 47th Annum Grammy Awards
show was held on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2005, at the Staples Center. The big winners for 2005 were the late Ray
Charles, U2, Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, Los Lonely Boys, Kanye West, Usher, John Mayer, Tim McGraw and
Maroon.
     For 2007, the annum Grammy Awards was held at the Staples Center in downtown L.A. The organizers
have decided to move the show back to Sunday again. In 2006, the show was held on Wednesday, Feb. 8.
CBS had moved the show from its usual Sunday spot to avoid competing with coverage of the Winter
Olympics.
     On Jan. 31, 2010, the Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Jamie Foxx and
T-Pain hit the stage with Hip-Hop pioneer Doug E. Fresh and legendary Guns-N-Roses guitarist, Slash.

1. The underlined words "the Big Apple" (In Paragraph 3) refers to _____.

A. the Staples Center
B. Madison Square Garden
C. New York
D. Los Angeles

2. The 40th Grammy Awards show was held _____.

A. in L.A in 1997
B. in New York City in 1998
C. in L.A in 1998
D. in New York City in 1997

3. What is the passage mainly about?

A. The Grammy Award
B. The origin of the Grammy Award
C. The city of L A and NY
D. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani

4. rom the passage, we can infer that _____.

A. Los Lonely Boys was one of the big winners for 2005
B. Madison Square Garden is a place belonging to New York
C. Over the years only LA and NY held the Grammy Awards show
D. It's been over fifty years since the first Grammy Awards was held

     Cold weather has a great effect, on how our minds and our bodies work. Maybe that is why there are
so many expressions that use the word "cold". For centuries, the body's blood has been linked closely with
the emotions. People who show no human emotions or feelings, for example, are said to be cold-blooded.
Cold-blooded people act in a merciless way. They may do brutal things to others, and not by accident. For
example, a newspaper says the police are searching for a cold-blooded killer. The killer murdered someone,
not in self-defense. He seemed to kill with no emotion.
     Cold can affect other parts of the body, the feet, for example. Heavy socks can warm your feet, if your
feet are really cold. But there is an expression-to get cold feet-that has nothing to do with cold or your feet.
The expression means being afraid to do something you had decided to do. For example, you agree to be
president of an organization. But then you learn that all the other officers have resigned. All the work of the
organization will be your responsibility. You are likely to gel cold feet about being president when you
understand the situation.
     Cold can also affect your shoulder. You "give someone the cold shoulder" when you refuse to speak to
them. You treat them in a distant, cold way. The expression probably comes from the physical act of turning
your back toward someone, instead of speaking to him face-to-face. You may give a cold shoulder to a friend
who has not kept a promise: he made to you. Or, to someone who has lied about you to others.
     "A cold fish" is not a fish. It if a person. But it is a person who is unfriendly, unemotional and show no
love or warmth. A cold fish does not offer much of himself to anyone.
     "Out in the cold" is an expression often heard. It means not getting something that everybody else got.
A person might say that everybody but him got a pay raise. He was left out in the cold. And it is not a
pleasant place to be.

1. The text is intended to tell us that _____.

A. cold weather has a great effect on human bodies
B. "cold" is a word closely linked with human emotions
C. many English expressions contain the word "cold"
D. the word "cold" has many different meanings in English

2. The underlined word "brutal" in paragraph 1 most probably means _____.

A. Cold-blooded
B. illegal
C. impolite
D. extreme

3. Which phrase can best describe a person who is unwilling to offer anything to others?

A. Cruel.
B. To get cold feet.
C. A cold fish.
D. A cold shoulder.

4. If the teacher gives all the boys except Tom a pen as a prize, you can say he _____.

A. is given the cold shoulder
B. is punished by a cold fish
C. has got cold feet
D. is left out in the cold

     The blockbuster film Titanic has brought millions of dollars and thousands of people to the theaters and
continues to touch people today in their homes. Why is this film so successful? It is a combination of many
different things. Among these are many different elements. Looking at some of these elements will show how
the director and others involved were able to create an emotionally charged movie that appealed to millions.
     The film uses one thematic (主題的) element called The Truth of Human Nature. The two main characters
seem to represent noble people. Most of the other characters in the film are shown as non-tolerant, rude and
cold-hearted people. The element of focusing on the two main characters' love and emotion seems symbolic
of an ideal state.
     There are also social problems addressed. This is done in a few different ways. The most noticeable way
is that the lower class people remain locked in the basement as the ship goes down. Throughout Titanic, the
lighting is very important. The poor, lower class people are always shown in very warm-colored light that gives
them a sense of life and happiness. On the other hand, the rich, upper class are always shown in a flat light
portraying the feeling of hardness and coldness. By using these techniques, they show the issue of class
segregation (種族隔離), and they create stereotypes. The main characters are able to break free of these
stereotypes and be together. This is the solution to the segregation problem.
     As you can see, Titanic took a lot of thinking and preparation to film in a manner that would create emotion
and bring to the surface the issues and story of the great ship.

1. The underlined word "blockbuster" in the first paragraph probably means "_____".

A. something very successful
B. a highly explosive bomb
C. something worth a lot of money
D. a touching story

2. In Titanic, the scene of the lower class people remaining locked in the basement as the ship goes down
    is used to _____.

A. criticize non-tolerant and cold-hearted rich people
B. enlarge the spectacle of the film
C. criticize the reality of the society
D. emphasize the condition of the poor at that time

3. Why were different colours of light used in the film Titanic?

A. They were used to show the difference between the rich and the poor.
B. The director was determined to achieve good visual effect.
C. The social status was represented by the colour of light in the past.
D. The use of light was the main technique the director made use of.

4. What can we infer from the passage?

A. The segregation problem in the society can be solved by using the light.
B. Though love is the main theme of Titanic, it also reflects some social problems.
C. Because of the director's talents, the film Titanic achieved great success.
D. In the film Titanic there are two characters altogether.

5. The writer mainly talks about _____ in this passage.

A. the process of shooting Titanic
B. the leading actor and actress in Titanic
C. the main techniques used in Titanic
D. the outline of Titanic

     There are a number of special days of the year that are celebrated in different countries. The origins of most
of the days are unknown. They were certainly not created by individual people. Other days, however, especially
those celebrated in western countries, often owe their origins to a particular person. One of the most popular of
these, even though it is fairly recent, is Mother's Day. Mothers have always been highly regarded in all cultures.
The ancient Romans had a festival known as Hilaria, during which children took presents to the temple of the
"Mother of the Gods". The Christian Church adopted this idea and called it Mothering Sunday. However, over
the years this custom was gradually forgotten and almost disappeared by the end of the 19th century.
     Born in 1864 in Virginia, USA, Anna Jarvis was a school teacher and believed children should show gratitude
to their mothers for all their love and care. Encouraged by a friend, she wrote to thousands of important people-
politicians, churchmen, doctors, city officials-and asked them to support her idea: a special day of the year for
thanking mothers.
     In 1910 the Governor of West Virginia introduced Mother's Day into the state. The date chosen was May
10-the second Sunday in May, which is still observed in America today. This date was chosen because May 10
was the date on which in 1908 Anna Jarvis's mother had died. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson made May
10 the official date for Mother's Day throughout the United States.
     Soon there was a Mother's Day International Association and the custom began to be adopted in many
countries of the world.
     Anna Jarvis, a sad and disillusioned woman, died in 1948. The custom she had worked so hard to establish
and which had become almost universal had lost its original purpose. It had been taken over by business. As
with Christmas, the giving of presents and the sending of cards had become a multi-million-dollar industry.

1. The story is about _____.

A. Mothering Sunday for Christmas
B. the origin of a special day for mothers
C. President Wilson and Anna Jarvis
D. how people celebrate Mother's Day

2. Hilaria was a festival in _____.

A. ancient Rome
B. America
C. China
D. the Christian Church

3. Anna Jarvis wanted to _____.

A. thank her mother for her care
B. introduce a celebration for mothers
C. meet thousands of important people
D. make her pupils celebrate her on Mother's Day

4. May 10 became the date for Mother's Day because _____.

A. May is in the American spring
B. it was the second Sunday in May in 1910
C. President Wilson liked the date
D. this was the date that Anna Jarvis's mother died

5. Unfortunately, Anna Jarvis was not happy with Mother's Day when she died because _____.

A. her mother was not there to see it
B. she had never been a mother herself
C. people were too interested in making it a business
D. no one gave any presents or cards to their mothers

1.______
     Culture consists of all shaped products of human society. This means not only such materials things as
cities, organizations and schools, but also non-material things such as ideas, customs, family patterns, and
languages. Putting it simply, culture refers to the entire way of life of a society, "the ways of people".
2.______
     Language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it. Some social scientists consider it the
keystone of culture. Without language, the maintaining of culture would not be possible. On the other hand,
language is shaped and influenced by culture. In broadest scene, language is the symbolic representation of
a people and it comprises their historical and cultural backgrounds as well as their approach to life and their
ways of living and thinking.
3.______
     We should not go further into the relationship between language and culture. What we need to be stressed
is that the two interact, and that understanding of one requires understanding of the other. Language carries
culture and culture gives language characteristics. There is no language living without culture or culture without
language.
4.______
     Social scientists tell us that cultures differ from one another, that is to say, each culture is unique. As
cultures are diverse, languages are diverse. It is only natural that with differences in cultures and differences
in languages, difficulties often arise in communicating between cultures and across cultures. Thus
understanding is not always easy.
5.______
     Learning a foreign language well means more than merely mastering the pronunciation, grammar, words
and idioms. It also means learning to see the world as speakers of that language see it. Learning the ways in
which their language reflects the ideas, customs and behaviors of their society, learning to understand "their
language of the mind." Learning a language, in fact, is inseparatable from learning its culture.

A. Understanding is not always easy due to diversity of both culture and language.
B. Learn its culture when learning the language.
C. The close relationship between language and culture.
D. What is culture?
E. Culture and language are interactive and unseparated.
F. The important role that language plays in culture.

     The world's first subway was built in London in 1863. At the time, the government was looking for a way
to reduce traffic problems. The poor areas of the city were so crowded with people. So the officials decided
to make it possible for workers to live outside of London and travel easily to work each day. If people had a
convenient way to get to and from work, they would live outside of the city and this would help reduce the
pressure. From these problems, the idea of the London Underground was born.
     The plans for building the Underground met with several problems, but the first track was finally opened in
January,1863. A steam train pulled the cars along the first underground track which was six kilometers long.
About 30,000 people got on the subway the first day. They were treated to comfortable seats and pleasant
decorations inside the cars. However, the smoke from the engine soon filled the air in the tunnels. Fans had to
be put in the tunnel later to keep the air clean enough for people to breathe. Even with its problems, riding the
Underground did become popular. It carried nine million riders in its first year.
     Modem subways have come a long way since the early days of the London Underground.
     Today there are more than one hundred underground systems around the world. Shopping malls built in
traffic stations have helped the popularity of subways. Nowadays many stations include underground
department stores, supermarkets and restaurants. Shoppers never have to go above ground!

1. What is the best title for this passage?
___________________________________________________________________________
2. Why did the British government decide to build the London Underground?
___________________________________________________________________________
3. When was the first track opened?
___________________________________________________________________________
4. What does the writer mean by saying "Shoppers never have to go above ground!" ?
___________________________________________________________________________

     WHO would have thought a man who lived in the Stone Age would be dressed in clothes made in China? A
thousand-year-old mummy (木乃伊), nicknamed (綽號) Otzi the Iceman was wearing a Chinese jacket, latest
research has found. But where and how he got the jacket has become a topic of great debate.
     Otzi is the nickname of a well-preserved (保存完好的) mummy from about 3,300 BC. He was found in
1991 in the Otztal Valley in the Alps, near the border between Austria and Italy. Two German tourists, Helmut
and Erika Simon found him when they were climbing.
     Otzi was thought to be the body of a soldier who fought during WWI but was found to be thousands of years
older. Analyzing Otzi showed that the items with him were all of different ages. His arrows are 7,000 years
old, the axe (斧頭) belonged to a time hundreds of years later and the skin in which the man was dressed
originally belonged to a goat that lived in China. Otzi's tattoo (紋身) shows that he might have been a wizard
(男巫), according to Prauda, the official newspaper in Russia.
     There are still many mysteries surrounding Otzi, yet the most famous and frightening one is his curse
(詛咒). It is said that Otzi had mystic powers and those who trouble his dead body will be doomed (注定) to
die. Otzi has claimed seven people so far. With the death of several people who have touched the remains of
the ancient man, the "Otzi curse" mystery has snowballed.

1. In this passage, the writer suggests that ______.

A. we should not go to the Alps because many people died there
B. many people that have studied Otzi have died
C. Otzi is an Egyptian mummy, found on the Alps
D. Otzi is Chinese, because of the clothing he was wearing

2. The underlined word "snowballed" in the last sentence means that _____.

A. people pay their respect to the dead by throwing snowballs
B. people who have touched Otzi's body have often died shortly after being hit with snowballs
C. the mystery around the curse gets larger and larger, like a snowball rolling down a hill
D. Otzi was found buried with many snowballs that scientists agree may have been used
     as weapons in the time when Otzi was alive

3. In the passage, which of the following statements is NOT mentioned?

A. Otzi was wearing a jacket, made of the skin of a goat that lived in China.
B. Helmut and Erika Simon discovered Otzi in the Alps in 1991.
C. Helmut was the seventh victim of Otzi's curse.
D. Otzi is said to have mystic powers.

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A. The Curse of the Iceman
B. A Great Discovery
C. A Well-preserved Mummy
D. A Man Who Lived in the Stone Age