Host;

  Tonight is New Year's Eve. Many people will attend New Year's parties where they will drink alcohol. A listener in Vietnam wrote to ask why a person in the United States must be at least twenty-one years old to do this legally. Nguyen Hoang Phong noted that eighteen years is the legal age for drinking alcohol in most countries. Here is Faith Lapidus with our answer.

  Faith Lapidus:

  Discussing the drinking age in the United States can lead to an argument. I will try to ex?plain both sides of this issue.

  In nineteen-eighty-four,Congress passed a measure called the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. President Ronald Reagan signed the measure into law. It bars people in the United States from drinking alcohol unless they are twenty-one years of age or older. States must obey the law or risk losing federal money for building roads and road repairs. The measure was the result of work by several lawmakers and groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

  Last July,that group and members of Congress celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the law. They praised the measure as one of the most effective anti-drunk driving laws ever passed. They said that twenty-thousand lives have been saved since its passage. However, some oppo?nents of the measure say it did not save anyone. They say young people who want to drink will find a way to get alcohol. They also reject the number of young people reportedly saved by the law. They say fewer young people are drinking now than twenty years ago.

  Other people say the National Minimum Drinking Age Act is not fair. They say a young person can join the military and fight in a war at age eighteen. However, they are still not per?mitted to drink alcohol until they are twenty-one.

  Many Americans would like to change the law to make eighteen the age when a person can drink alcohol. But just as many want to keep the drinking age at twenty-one.

The question of a legal drinking age involves ideas of freedom,responsibility,religion, politics and the rights of parents. It is a question that will be argued in the United States for many years to come.

(   ) 1. The writer's purpose in writing the text is to          .

    A. discuss the drinking age in America

    B. answer a question

    C. show us the argument in America

    D. call up people's memory

(   ) 2. Which of the following statements is true according to the text?

    A. All the Americans think that the law is effective.

    B. It was President Ronald Reagan that made the law come into effect.

    C. It is believed that twenty-thousand lives have been saved since the law was signed.

    D. Only those who are over twenty years old in the US can drink alcohol legally. 

(   ) 3. What is "Mothers Against Drunk Driving"?

    A. A department of the Government.

    B. A scientific research institute.

    C. A group of lawmakers.

    D. A kind of social organization.

(   ) 4. What can we infer from the passage?

    A. The state in the US has no right to change the law of the Federal Government.

    B. If a man was not at least twenty-one years old,he wouldn't get any alcohol in the US.

    C. The young people in the USA become mature later than those of the other countries.

    D. It will be not easy to change the law of the drinking age in a short time.

  Gossip moves so quickly that few people have time to cover their ears,even if they want

to. "I hate it when others gossip about me," said Mandy Miraglia, 16, a high school student from California, " but to be honest,gossip with my close friends make me feel I am trusted and belong to the group. " Miraglia is not the only person who feels like that.

    Gossip has long been looked down on as little more than nonsense(废话) and bad manners. But recent research showed that gossip has many positive effects on your social life.

"There has been a trend among people to dislike gossip”,said David Sloan Wilson,a pro?fessor from the     State University of New York in Binghamton,US,"but gossip appears to be a very important form(形式) of behavior in a group of friends, defining their group membership.”

   For 18 months,Kevin Kniffin,from the University of Wisconsin,US,researched the be?havior of 50 people. He found that gossip levels peaked when a sports team included a slacker (懒虫) ,someone who regularly missed practices or showed up late. Other members of the team would soon start to joke about the slacker's shortcomings behind his back,because they think they are bad for the whole team.

   Gossip about the mistakes of senior members helps newcomers rebuild their confidence after a failure. It also helps relieve(释放) social and professional anxiety. Long-term studies show that people around the world devote from a fifth to two-thirds or more of their daily conversation to gossip, and men appear to be just as eager for gossip as women.

It is hard to judge gossip, but it is more powerful than you think. 

(   ) 5. It can be inferred from the research by Kevin Kniffin that        .

   A.gossip sometimes sends away the slacker of a team

   B.gossip is no use to the teamwork at all

   C.gossip sometimes helps newcomers rebuild their confidence

   D.gossip makes people separate with each other 

(   ) 6. It is true about Mandy Miraglia that        .

   A.she hates gossip all the time

   B.she enjoy gossips about others

   C.gossip sometimes makes her feel closer to the friends

   D.her recent study is about the gossip

(   ) 7. What's the writer's attitude about gossip?

   A.He looks down upon the gossip as bad manners.

   B.He thinks highly of making a gossip.

   C.He doesn't want to talk about gossip at all.

   D.He believes that gossip is powerful.

(   ) 8. We can learn from the passage that        .

   A.there will be more and more gossip in the future

   B.gossip will moves slowly and secretly

   C.people may think about gossip from another aspect

   D.sportsmen enjoy gossip more than the other people

 Do you have any places to visit during this fall? How about the following two places? Tulum, Mexico

Why You Should Go:Tulum is about an hour and a half south of Cancun,down the Riviera Maya of Mexico. The beaches there have not been developed yet.

Where to Sleep: The most common type of houses in Tulum are small ones with no frills(不实用的装饰) on or near the beach;you'll like the ocean wind,as the small houses nearly don't have air conditioners. Hemingway has waterfront(滨水区的) small houses with gardens.

Where to Eat: You can probably eat at your hotel;the owners often cook. You can also take

a taxi into the center of the city Tulum and eat at Carlos'n Charlie's,which offers live music. Budapest,Hungary Why You Should Go: Budapest is less expensive and less explored than other Western European capitals. It has the beautiful Buda Castle,and the Danube River divides the city Buda from Pest.

Where to Sleep:The Opera House and museums are in central Pest,but staying in Buda can be cheaper. The Hotel Astra ( doubles from $144) is in central Buda. Vadvirag Panzio (doubles from $81) is very cheap in nearby Buda Hills,but you'll have to take a bus into town.

Where to Eat: Have coffee at the popular Ruszwurm. For dinner,try the traditional Tabani Terasz. "It's below scenic Castle Hill and is still unknown to most tourists," says Ben Curtis,a guide from Rick Steves' tour company,Europe Through the Back Door. 

(   ) 5. The purpose of writing this passage is         .

   A.to tell people something about two famous places of interest

   B.to explain to people why they should go to Tulum and Budapest

   C.to attract people to visit Tulum and Budapest

   D.to tell people what they should do when visiting Tulum and Budapest

(   ) 6. If six people book three double rooms in the Hotel Astra, they all together will pay for each night at least. 

   A.  $144   B.  $288      C.  $576   D. $432

(   ) 7. What do we learn about Budapest from the passage?

   A.It is very expensive to travel there.

   B.It is a combined city.

   C.There is a beautiful castle in Pest.

   D.The Danube River divides the city from north to south. 

(   ) 8. We can learn from the passage that         .

   A.Tabani Terasz hasn't been discovered by many tourists

   B.lots of tall buildings can be seen near the beach in Tulum

   C.Ruszwurm only offers people coffee

   D.Tulum is to the north of Cancun

  OLYMPIA.March 24―Luo Xuejuan, a swimming gold medalist at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games,became the first Chinese person to relay the Olympic Flame in Greece on Monday,receiving the flame from the first Olympic torchbearer(火炬手) ,Greek Alexandros Nikolaidis.

  Despite her previous experience as a torchbearer in the Beijing leg of the Athens 2004 torch relay, Luo felt honored and proud of being chosen as the first Chinese torchbearer,the Xinhua News Agency reported Luo as saying in an interview.

  She talked about the great responsibility that she felt,as she believed she was representing every Chinese athlete and even Chinese person by running her leg of the relay.

  Regarding missing the torch lighting ceremony because she had to be in an assigned location to wait for the flame,Luo felt no regret. "Even though I couldn't see it,I was able to feel the flame light and knew that it was happening at a place nearby," she said.

  Luo expressed her belief that even if people couldn't communicate with words, the Olympic Flame enables the transmission of the Olympic spirit and brings smiles wherever it might go. In Luo's mind,the Olympic spirit represents purity,competition, friendship, enthusiasm, peace and harmony.

(   ) 4. Why didn't Luo see the torch lighting ceremony?

   A.She was late for the ceremony.

   B.She was not allowed to go there.

   C.She waited for the flame as the next torchbearer.

   D.The ceremony took place at a place far away.

(   ) 5. Choose the best explanation for the underlined word "leg" in Paragraph 3.

   A.One of the long parts that connect the feet to the rest of the body.

   B.The part of a pair of trousers.

   C.One of the long thin parts on the bottom of a table.

   D.One part of a journey or race.

(   ) 6. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

   A.Luo Xuejuan was the first Olympic torchbearer inGreece.

   B.Luo had never been selected as a torchbearer before.

   C.Luo believed that the Olympic flame helped communication among people.

   D.Luo felt regretful because she missed the torch lighting ceremony. 

(   ) 7. What's the best title of the passage?

   A.Luo Xuejuan:A Swimming Gold Medalist

   B.The Torch Lighting Ceremony

   C.The Torch Relay Had Begun

   D.Luo Xuejuan;the First Chinese Torchbearer of Athens Torch Relay 

(   ) 8. This passage is most likely to be seen in a         .

   A. novel   B. newspaper   C. magazine   D. textbook

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