题目内容
It was cruel the father to have his son standing outside in the rain all the afternoon．
A．of B．for C．to D．on
Thanksgiving Day is a special holiday in the United States and Canada.Families and friends gather to eat and give thanks for their blessing.
Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival.This is why it is celebrated in late fall，after the crops are in. But one of the first thanksgivings in America had nothing to do with a good harvest.On December 4,1619，the Pilgrims from England landed near what is now Charles City，Virginia.They knelt down and thanked God for their safe journey across the Atlantic.
The first New England Thanksgiving did celebrate a rich harvest.The Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth，Massachusetts，in 1620.They had a difficult time
and the first winter was cruel.Many of the Pilgrims died. But the next year，they had a good harvest.So Governor Bradford declared a threeday feast (盛宴).The Pilgrims invited Indian friends to join them for their special feast. Everyone brought food.
In time，other colonies (殖民地) began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. But it took years before there was a national Thanksgiving Day. During the Civil War，Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded Abraham Lincoln to do something about it. He proclaimed (宣布) the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day of thanksgiving. Today, Americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth Thursday in November.Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day in much the same way as their American neighbours.But the Canadian Thanksgiving Day falls on the second Monday in October.
【小题1】Thanksgiving Day is celebrated .
| A．in spring | B．in summer |
| C．in autumn | D．in winter |
| A．some people from England |
| B．the American Indians |
| C．Sarah Josepha Hale |
| D．Governor Bradford |
A.in the U.S.A.
B.in Great Britain
C.in Canada
D.on some island off the Atlantic
【小题4】Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Thanksgiving Day used to be a holiday to celebrate a good harvest. |
| B．Abraham Lincoln was not the first to decide on thanksgiving celebrations. |
| C．Thanksgiving Day is celebrated to express the American and Indian people’s thanks to God. |
| D．There’s little difference between the American way and the Canadian way to celebrate Thanksgiving Day. |
A.how Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in the U.S.A.
B.how Thanksgiving Day came into being and the different ways it is celebrated
C.that Thanksgiving Day is in fact a harvest holiday
D.how the way to celebrate Thanksgiving Day changed with the time and places
With the possible exception of equal rights, perhaps the most heated argument across the United States today is the death penalty (死刑). Many argue that it is an effective deterrent (威慑) to murder（谋杀）, while others think there is no enough proof that the death penalty reduces the number of murders. The argument advanced by those who are against the death penalty is that it is cruel and inhuman punishment, that it is a mark of a bad society and finally that it is of questionable effectiveness as a deterrent (威慑物) to crime (罪行) anyway.
In our opinion, the death penalty is a necessary action. Throughout recorded history there have always been those peculiar persons in every society who made terrible crimes such as murder. But some are more dangerous than others. For example, it is one thing to take the life of another in time of blind anger, but quite another to coldly plan and carry out the murder of one or more people in the style of a butcher. Thus, murder, like all other crimes, is a matter of different degree. While it could be argued with some reason that the criminal in the first instance should be merely kept from society, such should not be the fate of the latter type murderer.
The value of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime may be open to discussion. But the majority of people believe that the death penalty protects them. Their belief is proved by the fact that the death penalty prevents murder. For example, from 1954 to 1963, when the death penalty was carried out from time to time in California, the murder rate remained between three and four murders for each 100, 000 population. Since 1964 the death penalty has been done only once, and the murder rate has risen to10.4 murders for each 100, 000 population. The sharp climb in the state's murder rate, which began when killings stopped, does not happen by chance. It certainly shows that the death penalty does stop many murderers. If the law about death penalty is vetoed (否决), some people will be murdered----some whose lives may have been saved if the death penalty were in effect. This is really a life or death matter. The lives of thousands of people must be protected.
【小题1】The main purpose of this passage is to _________.
| A．speak for the majority |
| B．argue against the value of the death penalty |
| C．speak ill of the government |
| D．argue for the value of the death penalty |
| A．Air pollution. | B．The war against Iraq. |
| C．Equal rights. | D．Election of president. |
| A．if they stick to death penalty, the number of murders will be reduced |
| B．death penalty almost stopped from 1954 to 1963 |
| C．the population of California has risen |
| D．death penalty is of little value |
| A．the death penalty is the most important problem in the United States today |
| B．the second type of murderers (in Paragraph 2) should be sentenced to death |
| C．the veto of the law about death penalty is of little importance |
| D．the value of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime is not to be discussed |