People celebrate birthdays in almost every country on earth. And they celebrate them in many different ways.
In China and in Japan, for example, the arrival of New Year is more important than a person’s birthday. So everyone adds a year to celebrate their ages on New Year’s Day, instead of on their birthdays,
In Brazil, the special birthday food isn’t cake, but special candles. In China, it’s long noodles—for long life. In Iceland, people have pancakes with candies rolled inside them on birthdays.
In Britain, a birthday is an all-day celebration. At school, the birthday child is lifted up and “bumped” by his classmates. This means the child is lifted by the feet and arms and bumped to the ground, once for each year once for good growth. In Israel, the same custom is followed, except the birthday person is lifted and lowered while sitting in a chair.
In Holland, children not only get presents, but also give things out. They give cakes, cookies and candles to their classmates and teachers on their birthdays.
In Mexico, it’s good luck to give birthday greetings as early in the day as possible. So it’s usual for the birthday child to be woken up at midnight by fiends singing birthday songs.
In India, birthday celebrations also begin before dawn. Prayers and blessings must be said before morning comes.
In Thailand, two tall candles are lighted the night before the birthday. One is as tall as the birthday person. If it goes out early, it’s bad luck. Another customs of Thailand is that they buy live fish and birds for the birthday person and then the birthday person frees the animals, and it brings good luck.
In Nigeria, people in a certain age group celebrate their birthdays together, on a certain day.
In many countries birthday customs are changing. Old customs are giving way to western style of birthdays, with candle topped cakes. But one thing never changes—birthdays are special days for everyone!
【小题1】It’s a custom to lift and lower the birthday person in a chair in _____.

A.BritainB.Israel
C.Britain and IsraelD.Israel and Thailand
【小题2】According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
A.In Thailand people give fish and birds to the birthday person as presents.
B.In Holland people give presents to unbirthday persons on their birthdays.
C.In Nigeria people who were born in the same period may celebrate their birthdays on the same day.
D.In Thailand a candle will be lighted on the birthday night.
【小题3】What does the text mainly talk about?
A.Different countries have different birthdays.
B.Celebrating birthdays is exciting.
C.Different ways of celebrating the birthday in different countries.
D.Everyone likes celebrating his or her birthday.


The Olympic Games are seen as the greatest test of an athlete’s ability and are supposed to celebrate the spirit of fair play. But in fact, sportsmen have been using drugs to cheat their way to victory since the Games first began.
In the early years, athletes ate mushrooms(蘑菇)and plant seeds to improve their performance. Nowadays, this kind of cheating has a name doping(服用兴奋剂).
Just last month, Britain’s top sprinter(赛跑选手) Dwain Chambers and several American athletes tested positive(呈阳性)for the drug THG. Until a coach secretly gave a sample of THG to scientists, no one knew how to test for it.
“We’re like cops(警察)chasing criminals—athletes are always adapting and looking for areas we haven’t investigated,” said Jacquew de Ceaurriz, a French anti-doping expert.
Since the first drugs test was carried out at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, many cheats have been caught out. The most famous case in history is that of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson.
He broke the 100 meters world record in winning gold at the 1988 Seoul(汉城)Olympics. But days later, he tested positive for drug use, lost his gold medal and was banned from the sport. Five years later, he returned to action—only to be found positive again and banned forever.
China has also had problems with drug cheats. At the 1994 Asian Games, 11 Chinese athletes—seven of them swimmers—tested positive for banned drugs. Sports organizations promised that cheating on this scale would not happen again.
Experts are also worried that doping can damage a person’s health. It is believed to increase the risk of liver and kidney(肝肾)diseases, and women may experience reproductive(生育) problems. As long as they can stay ahead of the scientists, it is unlikely the cheats will stop. But experts say there is a limit to what can be achieved and that athletes will not be able to change their bodies using gene(基因)technology.
“For the moment, genetic doping does not exist,” said de Ceaurriz. “Even in 10 or 15 years it will not be done easily—the scientific community(界)will not let it happen.”
(  ) 60. Which of the following is not the way that some athletes cheat to their better sports achievements?
A.Eating mushrooms.        B Taking drug THG.
C. Taking genetic doping.       D. Eating plant seeds.
(  ) 61. How many countries are mentioned in the passage in which there were athletes doping?
A. Two.                 B. Four.                C. Sic.                  D. Eight.
(  ) 62. We can infer from the passage that ____.
A.scientists get a lot of information about drugs before the athletes take doping
B.taking doping will never happen again because of the serious test
C.few athletes used drug cheats before the first drugs test was carried out at the 1968 Olympics
D.problems with drug cheats are still serious though they are severely tested
(  ) 63. Which statement of the following is true?
A.Many police are sent to chase criminals of taking doping during the Olympic Games.
B.The drug test was carried out until the 1968 Olympics.
C.There is the possibility that women athletes taking doping will give no birth to a child.
D.Ben Johnson was banned from sports forever for being tested positive for drug use at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

In recent years, especially during the l960s, there was much discussion about “the brain drain (排干, 流失),” which dealt with the problem of students and learned people who left their own countries for other countries that offered better chances for study, research, and employment.For example, according to a report from U.N., between 1962 and l966 more than 50 percent of all engineering graduates of Iran and 14 percent of Iranian scientists left their country for work abroad.Over 30 percent of Chilean engineers and 15 percent of Turkish physicians also went to work in other countries.Probably the greatest brain drain occurred among young scientists who had gone abroad to study.Many of them had planned to return to their countries to teach but chose to remain in more industrialized nations where they were able to continue their work and their research in fields in which there were no job possibilities at home.The countries that attracted most of these scientists were the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France, Canada, and Australia.
  Recent studies show that the brain drain to the United States may be decreasing.Many foreign scientists are going home again, and in some cases American scientists are leaving the United States for employment in other countries.The main reasons are that good jobs are becoming fewer here, money for national research has been sharply cut, and university fellowships reduced too.However, in the field of medicine the drain to the United States still goes on.Today more than one of every five American doctors is foreign - born, and several thousand foreign doctors immigrate to the United States each year.Over eighty countries have asked the State Department to send students who are skilled in important fields such as medicine back home when their study programs are over.
【小题1】Which of the following is not the reason for “the brain drain”?

A.Good housing.  B.Better research condition.
C.Good job possibility  D.Better chances of study..
【小题2】The brain drain to the United States may be decreasing mainly because __________.
A.many foreign scientists are ordered to return to their motherlands
B.they don’t need any foreign scientists now
C.there are fewer and fewer good jobs in the USA
D.the universities refuse to provide money for the foreign scientists
【小题3】How many American doctors are foreign - born?
A.About half of them.    B More than 20 percent 
C.Several thousand.      D.About 15 percent.
【小题4】Which is the best title for this passage?
A.How to seek a job in the USA.    B.Doctors’ immigration to the USA.
C.A strange case.                  D.The brain drain. 

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