Societies all over the world name places in similar ways. Quite often there is no official naming ceremony but places tend to be called names as points of reference by people. Then an organized body steps in and gives the place a name. Frequently it happens that a place has two names: One is named by the people and the other by the government. As in many areas, old habits died hard, and the place continues to be called by its unofficial name long after the meaning is lost.
Many roads and places in Singapore are named in order that the pioneers will be remembered by future generations. Thus we have names such as Stamford Road and Raffles Place. This is in keeping with traditions in many countries —in both the West and the East.
Another way of naming places is naming them after other places. Perhaps they were named to promote friendships between the two places or it could be that the people who used to live there were originally from the places that the roads were named after. The mystery is clearer when we see some of the roads named in former British bases. If you step into Selector Airbase you will see Piccadilly Circus —obviously named by some homesick Royal Air Force personnel.
Some places were named after the activities that used to go on at those places. Bras Basah Road is an interesting example, “Base Basah” means “wet rice” in Malay（马来语）. Now why would anyone want to name a road “Wet Rice Road”? The reason is simple. During the pioneering days, wet rice was laid out to dry along this road.
A few roads in Singapore are named by their shapes. There is “Circular Road” for one. Other roads may have part of their names to describe their shapes, like “Paya Lebar Crescent”. This road is called a crescent（月牙） because it begins on the main road, makes a crescent and comes back to join the main road again.
【小题1】What does the underlined phrase “die hard” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?

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”?

四．阅读理解（每题4分，共20分）
British newspapers are among the oldest and most famous in the world. But recently big changes have seen these traditional publications try to fit the modern world. After 221 years, The Times (《泰晤士报》) has changed its size to become much smaller. In fact, the paper has cut its size in half from a broadsheet to tabloid.
In Britain the newspaper market is divided between the larger broadsheets and the smaller tabloids. These terms refer to the size of the papers’ pages, but there is also a clear difference in content. Broadsheets such as the Times, the Guardian (《卫报》) and Daily Telegraph (《每日电讯报》) are serious papers. They cover a broad range of political, economic and international issues. Their stories are also reasonably long and use quite formal language.
Tabloids have far more stories about less serious issues such as celebrities’（名人） love lives. Their stories are shorter and use more simple language. Tabloids often have bigger pictures. Britain’s best-selling newspaper, the Sun, is a tabloid and has a naked (裸体的) girl on page three every day.
By changing to the size of a tabloid, the Times is following in the footsteps of a less famous broadsheet paper the Independent (《独立报》). It changed to tabloid last year and saw its sales increase greatly. Although both papers have switched to the smaller size, the content of the papers has remained the same. They are both still serious papers.
The two papers claim that people find the smaller size easier to handle when they travel to work on the bus or the train in the morning. Instead of calling the new style of their paper tabloid, the paper says its new size is “compact” (紧凑型).
1. In which year was The Times born?
A. 1782            B. 1785             C. 1788                   D. 1786
2. Which is the most correct statement?
A. Broadsheets are larger in size while tabloids are smaller.
B. Tabloids are less serious than broadsheets.
C. Broadsheets contain more news than tabloids.
D. They are different in size, content and the style of language.
3. In which of the following newspapers would you find more news about the personal life of the famous soccer star Beckham?
A. The Sun  B. The Times       C. The Independent       D. The Guardian
4. According to the passage, we can infer the main reason for The Times' changing into the tabloid is that_____.
A. it wants to become convenient for people to carry.
B. it wants to increase its circulation (发行量).
C. it intends to copy what The Independent has done.
D. it is unlikely to stay in business if it does not change.
5. Which of the following statements is true according to the given information?
A. There are more tabloids than broadsheets in Britain at present.
B. After the change, there will be no differences between The Sun and The Times.
C. Although The Times has cut its size, it remains a serious paper.
D. All the papers will tend to have the same style in the future.

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 _____.

There is a new take on an old tale．It's the story of the three
little pigs and the big bad wolf that blew down a house made of
straw and one made of sticks．The only house left standing was
the one made of bricks．Now there is new evidence to suggest
that houses built with bales（捆）of straw can be very strong．
Pete Walker is a professor at the University of Bath in Britain．
He and a team of researchers there have built a house made out of straw bale and hemp（大麻） material．During the next twelve months the team will study die effectiveness of these materials in home building．Professor Walker says there are many good reasons for using straw．It's a relatively inexpensive renewable material that's quickly and easily available．Straw takes in carbon dioxide as it grows．So it can be seen as having no harmful effects the environment．And the straw bales walls are relatively thick and so all that straw provides very good thermal insulation．So we make buildings that require very little heating in winter or indeed very little cooling in summer．So they require very little additional energy．
David Lanfear owns an eco-friendly home building service in the United States called Bale on Bale Construction．He says he laughed when some friends first told him about houses built of straw．But after doing his own research, he learned that building with straw bales makes a lot of sense．He has now helped to build more than ten straw bale houses and says the building material is becoming more widely accepted．To build the houses, he fills a wood frame with tightly packed bales of straw．Next he coats the walls inside and out with layers of clay plaster．He says the common ideas about straw houses continue, including stories about the threat of fire．As a matter of fact, straw bale houses have done well when tested for fire resistance．And his builders use the same building methods as traditional builders to keep out rain．He says we use what we call good shoes and a good hat, and that would be a solid foundation and a really good roof．
68．According to the passage, Pete Walker ____．
A．is cooperating with David Lanfear in building houses
B．is pretty sure that straw is a good building material
C．is studying home building with his team at present
D．holds a different view of building materials from David Lanfear
69．If we live in houses built with bales of straw, we ____．
A．will be worried about the threat of fire
B．need to wear good shoes in severe weather
C．can reduce our household expense
D．should use a special method to keep out rain
70．In building straw houses, ____．
A．a solid foundation and a good roof are necessary
B．straw bales have to be tested for fire resistance
C．a wood frame of straw should be used as a good roof
D．builders should wear good shoes and a good hat
71．Which of the following is the best tide of the passage?
A．Houses Made of Straw
B．New Meaning Of an Old Tale
C．Pete Walker and David Lanfear
D．Solid Foundation and Good Roof