Question

The First of May is a Bank Holiday—the first public holiday of the year in England.
Most people consider it a special day ,the beginning of summer ,a day when the light lasts long into the evening ,and when we can look for warm weather .We don't always get it .We feel disappointed ,but not surprised if there are cold winds and frosts at night in May .Winter should be over .Most people know that in the past ,when farming occupied almost everyone ,the changing seasons were of great importance .In that older time there was every reason to celebrate May Day .Customs of those celebrations remain.
Of these customs ,the best known is the choosing of a May Queen and the dancing round Maypole .Even these customs are little more than memories now—but in the last century it was quite common in villages and small towns ,and even in schools and colleges ,for a pretty and popular girl to be chosen Queen of the May .It was a great honour to be chosen .For a day she wore a light and flowery dress, carried garlands（花环）,and was ceremonially crowned with flowers .She presided over a procession ,as a rule with a number of attendants ,and over the Maypole dancing and all kinds of entertainment .The Maypole was slender（苗条的） tree trunk ,cut off its branches, with beautiful ribbons fastened to the top .The dancing was designed in such a way that the dancer's movements move the ribbons into a pattern. This, as you can imagine ,required skill from the dancer ,and was not achieved without practice .
It's the Celtic（凯尔特的）people who celebrated the First of May as a spring festival .Their celebration seems to have had little to do with taking pleasure in early ,beautiful flowers and in warmer weather! They called it Beltane—the fire of the god Bel .They lit fires ,in the expectation that their blaze would help the sun in its struggle to regain its strength. They drove their cattle between banks of flame in the expectation that the terrified beasts would be purified（净化） and protected from disease .A tree ,which must have been blackened with smoke ,stood in the middle of the fires ,and is thought to have been the origin of the Maypole .Their priests（牧师） made sacrifices to the goods in the hope of good harvests and sufficient store of food for the winter. There was dancing certainly ,but it was noisy and cheerful ,since its purpose was not to weave a pattern of colored ribbons ,but to drive out evil spirits from the earth and to arouse those kind spirits.

1. 1.
   The main purpose of the passage is to show ________.
   1. A.
      the reason why they celebrate May Day
   2. B.
      the start and customs of May Day
   3. C.
      the way they celebrate May Day
   4. D.
      the choosing of a May Queen during May Day
2. 2.
   According to the passage ,which sentence is NOT true?
   1. A.
      In the old days they celebrated May Day for the changing of the seasons.
   2. B.
      In England summer begins at the first of May.
   3. C.
      The custom of the choosing of a May Queen still exists in the present May Day celebration.
   4. D.
      The Celtic people celebrated the first of May as a spring festival.
3. 3.
   From the surrounding words and sentences we know that the word “presided” means ________
   1. A.
      管理
   2. B.
      越过
   3. C.
      指挥
   4. D.
      主持
4. 4.
   The best title for this passage is ________.
   1. A.
      The First of May
   2. B.
      The Beginning of Summer
   3. C.
      May Queen
   4. D.
      The Holiday of the Year

Answer 1

BCDA
1.主旨大意题。通过阅读全文就可得知本文介绍了五月节的兴起和习俗。A、C、D三项的内容只是文章的部分内容。
2.阅读本文第三段即可得知:选拔五月王后只是记忆中的事了，它只盛行于上个世纪。其他选项均可在第一、二段及最后一段找到相符的内容。
3.“presided”一词在第三段第五句话中。被选为五月王后是一种荣耀，她穿着漂亮的裙子，戴着花环，和用花做的王冠，主持着有很多人参加的各种各样的娱乐活动。根据上下文判断它的意思应该是“主持”。
4.综观全文，The First of May可以说是文章的关键词，它反复出现了很多次，整个文章都是在介绍这个节日。选项A概括归纳了全文的内容，而其他选项只涉及了全文中的部分内容，比较片面。