Every country has its traditional festivals. The Chinese New Year is now known as the Spring Festival because it starts from the beginning of spring. Though there are some sayings about its origin, all agree that the word Nian, which in modern Chinese means “year”, was originally the name of a beast that started to eat people the night before the beginning of a new year.
One story goes that the beast Nian had a very big mouth that would take in a great many people at one time. People were very afraid. One day, an old man came to their help and said he would stop all this. He said to Nian, “I hear that you are very strong, but can you eat up all the beasts on earth instead of people who are too weak to be your enemies?” “Yes,” Nian agreed with him and went to kill many of the beasts on earth. People were very happy because those beasts also did bad things to people and killed their farm animals from time to time.
After that, the old man, who was a god, rode on the beast Nian and left. Nian was gone, and other beasts also went into forests; people began to enjoy their happy life. Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper-cuts on their windows and doors at each year’s end to drive Nian away, because red is the color the beast felt most afraid of.
From then on, every year at the beginning of spring, people prepare to “Guo Nian”. The word “Guo Nian” means “go through the Nian safely”. Putting up red paper-cuts to drive Nian away and making dumplings for a better new year are still an every-year doing by the Chinese people. However, people today have long forgotten why they are doing all this, they just feel the color and the food make the New Year very enjoyable.
【小题1】How did the old man stop Nian from eating people?

One day an old woman was traveling alone in the mountains. Suddenly she saw something shining in the stream. When she came close, she found it was a precious stone. She put the stone into her bag and went on with her trip.
The next day the old woman met a young man, who was also a traveler in the mountains. The young man looked very hungry, so the old woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked carefully, “The stone is beautiful. Would you like to give it to me?”
“Sure. Why not?” the woman said, and handed the stone to him.
The young man left happily with the stone. He knew it was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back and hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within your bag.”
The woman opened her bag. It was almost empty. She looked at the young man and smiled, “I have nothing special in my bag, but I do have something precious — the joy of giving!”
The young man felt ashamed and left silently.
【小题1】How did the young man find the precious stone?

Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside, where an eagle’s nest rested. The eagle’s nest contained four  36  eagle eggs. One day an earthquake rocked (使震动) the mountain  37  one of the eggs to roll down the mountain,  38  a chicken farm, which was in the valley below. The chickens knew that they must  39  and care for the eagle’s egg, so an old hen   40  to hatch (孵) and raise the large egg.
One day, the egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born.  41 , however, the eagle was raised to be a(n)  42 . Soon, the eagle believed he was  43 more than a chicken. The eagle loved his home and family, 44  his spirit cried out for more. While playing a game on the farm one day, the eagle looked to the skies above and 45 a group of eagles soaring (高飞) in the skies. “Oh,” the eagle  46 , “I wish I could soar like those birds.” The chickens shouted with  47 , “You cannot soar with those birds. You are a chicken and chickens do not soar.”
The eagle  48  staring at his real family up above, 49  that he could be with them. Each time the eagle would let his  50  be known, he was told it couldn’t be done. That is  51  the eagle learned to believe. Slowly, the eagle  52  dreaming and continued to live his life like a chicken.  53  , after a long life as a chicken, the eagle  54 .
You become what you believe you are; so if you ever dream to become an eagle, 55 your dreams, not the words of a chicken.

One day an old woman was traveling alone in the mountains. Suddenly she saw something shining in the stream. When she came close, she found it was a precious stone. She put the stone into her bag and went on with her trip.

The next day the old woman met a young man, who was also a traveler in the mountains. The young man looked very hungry, so the old woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked carefully, “The stone is beautiful. Would you like to give it to me?”

 “Sure. Why not?” the woman said, and handed the stone to him.

The young man left happily with the stone. He knew it was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back and hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within your bag.”

The woman opened her bag. It was almost empty. She looked at the young man and smiled, “I have nothing special in my bag, but I do have something precious — the joy of giving!”

The young man felt ashamed and left silently.

1.How did the young man find the precious stone?

A. He found it in his food.    B. He dug it out in a valley.

C. He saw it in the woman’s bag. D. He noticed it shining in the stream.

2.What does the underlined word “security” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

   A. Money.          B. Worry.        C. Health.        D. Trouble.

3.The man returned the stone to the woman because ______.

   A. he found the stone was not precious

   B. he understood the real meaning of joy

   C. he felt embarrassed at taking away the stone

   D. he wanted to get something even more precious

4.Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?

A. A special stone             B. The joy of giving

C. A woman and a young man  D. An experience in the mountains