Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday that Amer?icans celebrate on the fourth Thursday in November. This autumn festival is traditionally celebrated with family and friends over a big meal that takes hours to prepare.

  The meal usually includes turkey served along with dishes like sweet potatoes,green beans and pumpkin pie. The turkey is usually seasoned (调味) and roasted in an oven,but some people fry the bird in oil or cook it on a grill (烤架) or in a smoker.

  The National Turkey Federation estimates that Americans ate 46 million birds for last year's holiday. The government expects turkey production to increase two per cent this year. About two-thirds of the tur?keys raised in the United States came from six states : Minnesota,North Carolina,Arkansas,Missouri,Vir?ginia and Indiana.

  Turkey is eaten all year,and Americans have been eating more of it over the years,though chicken,beef and pork are still more popular. Federation president Joel Brandenberger says 2012 will not be as profitable for turkey farmers as the last two years were. Feed costs are up while turkey prices are about the same.

  In 1939,as the Great Depression was ending,President Franklin Roosevelt established the holiday on the fourth Thursday. He did not want to shorten the Christmas holiday shopping season in years when No?vember has a fifth Thursday.

  The season traditionally begins with a busy shop?ping day on the Friday after Thanksgiving,although some stores are now opening on the holiday itself.

  One of the America's founders,Ben Franklin,thought the turkey would better represent the country as its official bird than the bald eagle. But Joel Bran?denberger disagrees.

  "I think we're better off having the bald eagle on our coins and the Thanksgiving turkey on our dinner table.”

1. The big meal on Thanksgiving Day includes the fol- lowing dishes EXCEPT        .

   A. sweet potatoes   B. green beans

   C. pumpkin pie   D. baked sausages

2. The underlined word "profitable" in the fourth par- agraph probably means "        ”.

   A. beneficial   B. convenient

   C. boring   D. comfortable

3. From the passage,we can know        .

   A. Americans don't like eating pork

   B. Americans prefer to eat the turkey fried in oil

   C. the turkey is only eaten on Thanksgiving Day

   D. most of the turkeys raised in America came from six states

4. Why did Franklin establish Thanksgiving Day on the fourth Thursday?

   A. There is a fifth Thursday sometimes in Novem?ber.

   B. He didn't want to shorten the Christmas holi?day shopping time.

   C. He thought the fourth Thursday in November was a good day.

   D. The Great Depression was over on the fourth Thursday in November.

5. According to the passage,which of the following is NOT true?

   A. We can see the bald eagle on the American coins.

   B. The bald eagle is the American official bird now.

   C. Ben Franklin established the American official bird was the turkey.

   D. Joel Brandenberger wanted the turkey to be still on the dinner table.

  When Mary Moore began her high school in 1951,her mother told her, "Be sure and take a typing course so when this show business thing doesn't work out,you'll have something to rely on.”Mary responded in typical teenage fashion. From that moment on, "the very last thing I ever thought a-bout doing was taking a typing course," she recalls.

  The show business thing worked out,of course. In her career,Mary won many awards. Only recently,when she began to write Growing Up Again,did she regret ignoring her mum. "I don't know how to use a computer," she admits.

  Unlike her 1995 autobiography,After All,her second book is less about life as an award-winning actress and more about living with diabetes (糖尿病) .All the money from the book is intended for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) ,an organization she serves as international chairman. "I felt there was a need for a book like this," she says. "I didn't want to lecture,but I wanted other diabetics to know that things get better when we're self-controlled and do our part in managing the disease." But she hasn't always practised what she teaches. In her book,she describes that awful day,almost 40 years ago,when she received two pieces of life-changing news. First,she had lost the baby she was carrying,and second,tests showed that she had diabetes. In a childlike act,she left the hospital and treated herself to a box of doughnuts (甜甜圈) .Years had passed before she realized she had to grow up a-gain and take control of her diabetes. Only then did she kick her three-pack-a-day cigarette habit,overcome her addiction to alcohol,and begin to follow a balanced diet.

  Although her disease has affected her eyesight and forced her to the sidelines of the dance floor,she refuses to fall into self-pity. "Everybody on the earth can ask, 'Why me?'" she insists. "It doesn't do any good. No one is immune (免疫的) to heartache,pain,and disappointment. Sometimes we can make things better by helping others. I've come to realize the importance of that as I've grown up this sec?ond time. I want to speak out and be as helpful as I can be.”

4. Why did Mary feel regretful?

   A. She didn't achieve her ambition.

   B. She didn't take care of her father.

   C. She didn't complete her high school.

   D. She didn't follow her mother's advice.

5. We can know that before 1995 Mary      .

   A. had two books published

   B. received many career awards

   C. knew how to use a computer

   D. supported the JDRF by writing

6. Mary's second book Growing Up Again is mainly about her         .

   A. living with diabetes

   B. successful show business

   C. service for an organization

   D. remembrance of her mother

7. When Mary received the life-changing news,she      .

   A. lost control of herself   B. began a balanced diet

   C. tried to get a treatment   D. behaved in an adult way

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