The Chinese New Year is now known as the Spring Festival because it starts from the beginning of spring.Though there are some sayings about its origin(起源), all agree that the word Nian, which in modem Chinese means“year”,was originally the name of a beast(野兽)that start-ed to eat people the night before the beginning of a new year.
One story goes that the beast Nian had a very big mouth that would take in a great many people at one time.People were very afraid.One day, an old man came to their help and said he would stop all this.To Nian he said,“I hear that you are very strong, but can you eat up all the beasts on earth instead of people who are too weak to be your enemy(敌人)?Yes,”Nian agreed with him and went to kill many of the beasts on earth.People were very happy because those beasts also did bad things to people and killed their farm animals from time to time.
After that, the old man, who was a god(神), rode on the beast Nian and left.Nian was gone, and other beasts also went into forests; people began to enjoy their happy life.Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper-cuts on their windows and doors at each year's end to drive Nian away, because red is the colour the beast felt most afraid of.
From then on, every year at the beginning of spring, people“Guo Nian”.The word“Guo Nian”means“Go through the Nian safely”.Putting up red paper cuts to drive Nian away and making dumplings for a better new year are still an every-year doing by the Chinese people.However(但是)people today have long forgotten why they are doing all this, they just feel the colour and the food make the New Year very enjoyable.
(1)
The Chinese New Year is also called ________.
[ ]
A.
The Beginning of Spring
B.
The Spring Festival
C.
The New Spring
D.
The Beast Nian
(2)
How did the old man stop Nian from eating people?
[ ]
A.
By putting red paper-cuts on windows.
B.
By eating up beasts.
C.
By talking to him.
D.
By riding on him.
(3)
Why did people put up red paper-cuts instead of those of any other colour?
[ ]
A.
Because Nian liked the colour red.
B.
Because the colour red could kill Nian.
C.
Because the old man liked the colour red.
D.
Because Nian was afraid of the colour red.
(4)
The best title of this passage is ________.
[ ]
A.
The Origin Of The Chinese New Year
B.
The Old Man And The Beast Nian
C.
How To Go Through The Nian Safely
D.
What Nian Was Like
(5)
Which of the sentences is true?
[ ]
A.
Nian can eat up all the beasts on earth at one time.
B.
Nian is a tall beast that likes to eat farm animals.
The dinosaurs once lived happily on the earth.But 65 million years ago,they suddenly died out.What happened to them?
Scientists think that a change in temperature may be to blame.They have come up with lots of ideas to explain the end of the dinosaurs.
The most famous one is the minor planet (小行星) idea.Let's go back to that day 65 million years ago to see what happened.Everything was OK before a large minor planet suddenly hit the earth.What a terrible hit! It caused big fires,storms,acid rain,and even earthquakes and volcano eruptions.The hit produced a lot of dust,which flew up into the air and blocked the sun for months.The earth became very cold without sunlight.The plants died first.Then the grass-eating animals died of hunger.Then the meat-eating animals could not find food,either.They began to eat each other,but after a while they died out,too.The dinosaurs,either plant-eaters or meat-eaters,did not live through the disaster(灾难).What a sad story!
In April,a British scientist thought of a new idea about the death of the dinosaurs.He thinks that after the minor planet hit the earth,the temperature change left more dinosaur boys than girls! Without enough female dinosaurs to hatch the eggs,the dinosaur population became smaller and smaller.
(1)
______ may be the main reason for the dinosaurs dying out according to scientists.
A.Big fires B.Earthquakes
C.Acid rain D.Temperature change
[ ]
(2)
The passage mentioned ______ ideas that the scientists came up with about
the end of the dinosaurs.
A.two B.three C.four D.five
[ ]
(3)
The underlined expression “volcano eruptions” probably is ______.
A.the name of a minor planet
B.one kind of dinosaurs
C.one kind of disaster
D.the name of an earthquake
[ ]
(4)
The earth became cold because ______.
A.the sun refused to rise
B.the dust kept the sunlight away
C.there was too much rain
D.there were too many dinosaurs
[ ]
(5)
This passage may be found in ______.
A.a science fiction B.a story book C.a dictionary D.a science magazine
[ ]
阅读理解
You will have a lot of reading to do in this grade this year.You can do more of it in less time if you learn to read rapidly.
Perhaps you have been told about some habits (习惯) which keep a person from reading fast and have been strongly asked to break those habits which you might have.
Do you still have any of these bad habits?Check yourself by answering“yes”or“no”to these questions.
(1) Do you move your lips (嘴唇) when reading silently?
(2) Do you point to words with your finger as you read?
(3)Do you move your head from side to side as you read?
(4)Do you read one word at a time?
If you answer“yes”to any of these questions,start at once to break the habit.If you move your tips,hold your fingers over them,or hold a piece of paper be-tween your lips while you are reading.Then if your lips move,your will know it and can stop them.
If you point to words,hold the two sides of your book,one side with your left hand,the other side with your right hand.Then you won't have a free finger to use in pointing while reading.If you move your head,place your chin (下巴) in one hand and hold your head still (静止不动的).
If you read no more than one or two or three words at a time,you need to work very hard in learning to take in (吸收) more words at each glance (一瞥) as your eyes travel across the lines of words.
Even if you do rather fast now,you can learn to read even faster.As you probably have been told,the secret of fast reading is to take in whole groups of words as each glance.Read in through groups and force (迫使) your eyes along the lines of words as fast as you can to make them go.Anyone who practices doing these things will he able to read faster.
(1)
You may hold your fingers over your lips while reading so as ______.
A.to tell others to be silent
B.to feel whether your lips move or not
C.to hold a piece of paper between them
D.to keep yourself from talking to others
[ ]
(2)
When you read,______.
A.don't keep your head still
B.don't hold your books with your hands
C.don't stand up near a desk
D.don't use your finger to point to words
[ ]
(3)
If you learn to read fast,______.
A.you can read more in less time
B.you can write faster
C.you can understand better
D.you can read less in more time
[ ]
(4)
You must _______ those habits that we are talking about in this reading.
A.remember B.have C.get rid of D.keep
[ ]
(5)
This reading is mainly about ______.
A.the way of reading fast
B.the importance of fast reading
C.the bad habits in reading
D.how to speak quickly
[ ]
阅读理解
Binhai No.3 Middle School Rules
Yon must
*look clean and tidy
*be quiet in the library
*stay in the playground at break time
*bring a letter from your parents if you’re ill
*stand up when a teacher comes into the classroom
*hand in your homework on time
*arrive at school by half past seven
You mustn’t
*fight
*bring radios or CD players to school
*run or shout in the school buildings
*talk loudly in the hallways
*leave school at break time or at lunch time
*Wear jeans
*cat or drink in the classroom
假如你是滨海三中的学生,请依据校规内容回答下面的问题。
(1)
What are the things you must not do when you’re in the school buildings?
(2)
Can you leave school at lunch-time?
(3)
What must you do when your teacher comes into your classroom?