Directions：Read the following passage．Fill in the numbered blanks by using the information from the passage．Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer．

New Year traditions all around the world

    “Happy New Year!” Everyone will greet each other with these words as they meet each other over the next couple of weeks. But it wasn’t always January 1 that marked the New Year.

    At least 4,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians marked the changing of the year. In Egypt, the year started when the Nile River flooded, enriching farmers’ fields. This happened at the end of September.

    The Babylonians held a festival in the spring, on March 23, to kick off the next farming cycle. The Babylonian celebration lasted for 11 days.

    The date January 1 was picked by the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar as the change of the year when he established his own calendar in 46 BC. The month of January originates from the Roman god, Janus. He is pictured with two heads. One head looks forward and the other back. They represent a break between the old and new. The new calendar was in time with the sun and it has been used until the present day.

    In Vietnam, the New Year holiday happens in February. They buy fresh flowers and a peach blossom to put in their house, following the Vietnamese custom.

    Thailand has its specific New Year’s date; it’s different from the normal calendar. The Thai New Year is celebrated on April 13. On this day, Thai people play with water, throwing it on each other. It is intended to bring good luck during the New Year ahead.

    In China, the more favorable New Year is usually celebrated in February according to lunar calendar (陰歷). On New Year’s Eve, all family members sit together at table, enjoying lots of auspicious foods such as dumplings, chicken to bring good luck.

New Year traditions all around the world

Whenever he meets difficulties, he always takes a positive _________ towards them.

A. mind B. attitude C. opinion  D. state

The father as well as his three children________ skating on the frozen river every Sunday afternoon.

A. is going         B. go               C. goes             D. are going

The laptop on the teacher’s desk is not yours. It b_____ to Harry.

While shopping, we always b______ with the shopkeeper in order to reduce the price.

The children waited until the policeman s_________ to them to cross the street.

I don’t know how to choose a mobile phone. Science and t________ is changing so fast!

I really a________________ it that you helped me so much when I was in need.

When people found the missing boy in the forest, they all smiled in r__________.

On hearing the funny story, the whole class burst into l___________________.

To be h______________, to start a business of my own is not as easy as I expected.

When I opened the letter, I found some photos a__________________ it.

The p_____ we saw last night was really wonderful. It was worth my time and effort.

Eric received training in computer for one year, _______ he found a job in a big company.

A. after that         B. after it          C. after which        D. after this

Never go into a supermarket hungry! This is a good piece of advice. If you go shopping for food before lunchtime, you’ll probably buy more than you plan to. Unfortunately, however, just this advice isn’t enough for consumers these days. Modern shoppers need an education in how and how not to buy things at the store. First, you check the weekly newspaper ads. Find out the items that are on sale and decide if you really need these things. In other words, don’t buy anything just because it’s cheaper than usual! “New and Improved!” or “All Natural” on the front of a package influence you. Instead, read the list of ingredients(contents) on the back. Third, compare prices: that is, you should examine the prices of both different brands and different sizes of the same brand.

Another suggestion for consumers is to buy ordinary items instead of famous brands. Ordinary items in supermarkets come in plain packages. These products are cheaper because producers don’t spend much money on packing or advertising. The quality, however, is usually as good as the quality of well-known name brands. In the same way, in buying clothes, you can often find high quality and low prices in brands that are not famous. Shopping in discount clothing stores can help you save a lot of money. Although these stores aren’t very attractive, and they usually do not have individual dressing rooms, not only are the prices low, but you can often find the same famous brands that you find in high-priced department stores.

Wise consumers read magazine ads and watch TV commercials, but they do this with one advantage: knowledge of the psychology behind the ads. In other words, well-informed consumers watch for information and check for misinformation. They ask themselves questions: Is the advertiser hiding something in small print at the bottom of the page? Is there any real information in the commercial, or is the advertiser simply showing an attractive image? With the answers to these questions, consumers can make a wise choice.

All the following statements are true about the phrase “ordinary items” in Paragraph 2 EXCEPT __________.

A. ordinary items never say “New and Improved” or “All Natural”

B. ordinary products are usually cheaper than famous brands

C. producers spend less money on packaging of ordinary items

D. the quality of ordinary items is usually as good as that of famous brands

What does the writer think about ads? __________

A. They are believable.          B. They are attractive.

C. They are full of misinformation.   D. They are helpful to consumers.

One of the author’s suggestions to consumers is __________.

A. to make use of ads             

B. not to buy items with words like “New and Improved” or “All Natural”

C. to buy high quality items such as famous brands after lunch

D. to buy any ordinary items instead of famous brands

The author implies that __________.

A. going into the supermarket hungry, you may buy more than you plan to

B. the quality of ordinary items is usually high and the prices are relatively low

C. discount clothing stores are good places to go to      

D. ads sometimes don’t tell the truth

I’m certain David’s told you his business trouble. ________, it’s no secret that he owes a lot of money to the bank..

A. However        B. Anyway         C. Therefore       D. Though

—Thank you for your coffee．

       —But you________ it．

       A．didn’t drink          B．a(chǎn)ren’t drinking

       C．don’t drink           D．hadn’t drunk

When you are little, the whole world feels like a big playground. I was living in Conyers, Georgia the summer it all happened. I was a second grader, but my best friend Stephanie was only in the first grade. Both of our parents were at work and most of the time they let us go our own way.

It was a hot afternoon and we decided to have an adventure in Stephanie’s basement. As I opened the basement door, before us lay the biggest room, full of amazing things like guns, dolls, and old clothes. I ran downstairs, and spotted red steel can. It was paint. I looked beyond it and there lay even more paint in bright colors like purple, orange, blue and green.

“Stephanie, I just found us a project for the day. Get some paintbrushes. We are fixing to paint.” She screamed with excitement as I told her of my secret plans and immediately we got to work. We gathered all the brushes we could find and moved all of our materials to my yard. There on the road in front of my house, we painted bit stripes (條紋) of colors across the pavement (人行道). Stripe by stripe, our colors turned into a beautiful rainbow. It was fantastic!

The sun was starting to sink. I saw a car in the distance and jumped up as I recognized the car. It was my mother. I couldn’t wait to show her my masterpiece. The car pulled slowly into the driveway and from the look on my mother’s face, I could tell that I was in deep trouble.

My mother shut the car door and walked towards me. Her eyes glaring, she shouted, “What in the world were you thinking? I understood when you made castles out of leaves, and climbed the neighbors’ trees, but this! Come inside right now!” I stood there glaring hack at her for a minute, angry because she had insulted (侮辱) my art. 

“Now go clean it up!” Mother and I began cleaning the road. Tears ran down my cheeks as I saw my beautiful rainbow turn into black cement.  

Though years have now passed, I still wonder where my rainbow has gone. I wonder if, maybe when I get older, I can find my rainbow and never have to brush it away. I guess we all need sort of rainbow to brighten our lives from time to time and to keep our hopes and dreams colorful.

What did the writer want to do when his mother came home?

       A. To introduce Stephanie to her.       

       B. To prevent her from seeing his painting. 

       C. To put the materials back in the yard.      

       D. To show his artwork to her.

In his mother’s eyes, the writer_______.

       A. was a born artist              B. always caused trouble

       C. was a problem solver       D. worked very hard

The underlined word “rainbow” in the last paragraph refers to ______.

       A. the rainbow in the sky  

       B. the stripes on the pavement

       C. something imaginative and fun      

       D. important lessons learned in childhood

It can be learned from the passage that parents should ________.

       A. encourage children to paint    

       B. value friendship among children

       C. discover the hidden talent in children     

       D. protect rather than destroy children’s dreams

American is the country on the move. In unheard of numbers, people of all ages are exercising their way to better health. According to the latest figures, 59 percent of American adults exercise regularly—up 12 percent from just two years ago and more than double the figure of 25 years ago. Even non-exercisers believe they would be more attractive and confident if they were more active. It’s hard not to get the message. The advantages of physical fitness are shown on magazine covers, postage stamps, and television ads for everything from beauty soaps to travel books. Exercise as a part of daily life did not catch on until the late 1960s when research by military doctors began to show the good points of doing regular physical exercises. Growing publicity(宣傳) for races held in American cities helped develop a strong interest in the ancient sport of running. Although running has leveled off in recent years as Americans have discovered equally helpful and sometimes safer-forms of exercise.                                                   

As the popularity of exercise continues to increase, so does scientific evidence (根據(jù)) of its health benefit. The key to fitness is exercising the major muscle group strongly enough to almost double the heart rate and keep it doubles for 20 to 30 minutes at a time. Doing such physical exercises three times or more a week will greatly improve physical health in about three months.

According to the essay, what was the percentage of American adults doing regular physical exercises two years ago?                                                                                

A. About 70%.  B. Nearly 60      C. Almost 50%.       D. More than 12%. 

A growing interest in sports didn’t developed until______________.                             

A. 25 years ago   B. two years ago    C. the late 1960s    D. now                              

Which of the following if the closest in meaning to underlines phrase “l(fā)eveled –off”?       

A. became very popular                     B. stopped being popular                           

C. reached its lowest level in popularity        D. stopped increasing in number                     

It can be learnt from the passage that the good points of exercise___________.               

A. are to be proved     B. are to be further studied                       

C. are supported by scientific evidence  D. are self- evident                            

Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?                               

A. Different Forms of exercise  B. Exercise——The Road to Health                    

C. Scientific Evidence of Health Benefit   D. Running——A Popular Form of Sport