If Confucius(孔子) were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He’d need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.
While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It’s nothing personal. Most Americans don’t even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.
But this doesn’t mean that Americans don’t care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.
In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually included Chinese art, history and philosophy(哲学). Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantages of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks of Westerners philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers. 
So the old thinker’s ideas are still alive and well.
Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.
As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.
【小题1】The opening paragraph is mainly intended to ______.

Very old people do raise moral problems for almost everyone who comes in contact with them. Their values—this can’t be repeated too often—are not necessarily our values. Physical comfort, cleanness and order are not necessarily the most important things. The social services from time to time find themselves faced with a flat with decaying food covered by small worms, and an old person lying alone in bed, taking no notice of the worms. But is it interfering(干涉) with personal freedom to insist that they go to live with some of their relatives so that they might be taken better care of? Some social workers, the ones who clear up the worms, think we are in danger of carrying this concept of personal freedom to the point where serious risks are being taken with the health and safety of the old.

Indeed, the old can be easily hurt or harmed. The body is like a car, it needs more mechanical maintenance(机械维修，保养) as it gets older. You can carry this comparison right through to the provision of spare parts. But never forget that such operations are painful experiences, however good the results will be. And at what point should you stop to treat the old body? Is it morally right to try to push off death by seeking the development of drugs to excite the forgetful old mind and to activate the old body, knowing that it is designed to die? You can’t ask doctors or scientists to decide, because so long as they can see the technical opportunities, they will feel bound to give them a try, on the principle that while there’s life, there’s hope. w.w.w.k.s.5.u.c.o.m

When you talk to the old people, however, you are forced to the conclusion that whether age is happy or unpleasant depends less on money or on health than it does on your ability to have fun.

1. What does the passage mainly tell us?

A. The values are different between the old and the young.  B. The moral problems raised by old people.

C. The personal freedom for the old.                    D. Old people’s viewpoint on life.

2. We can know from the first paragraph that________.

A. Very old people would like to live alone to have more personal freedom.

B. Very old people are able to keep their room clean.

C. Very old people like to live with their children.

D. Social services have nothing to do with very old people.

3. According to the author, which of the following is right?

A. The older a person, the more care he needs.  B. Too much emphasis has been put on old people’s values.

C. The human body can’t be compared to a car.  D. It is easy to provide spare parts for old people.

4.The underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refers to “________”.

A. their money or their health          B. the conclusion you come to

C. your talk to the old people          D. whether age is happy or unpleasant

It seems hard to watch someone yawn and not to yawn ourselves. Even reading about yawning can make you do it. Now, a new study has found why yawning has such a powerful force.

Yawning when others yawn, the study suggests, is a sign of pity and a form of social connection. Kids don’t develop this deeply rooted behavior until around age four, the study found. Kids with autism (自闭症) are less likely to catch yawns. In the most serious cases, they never do. Yawning might help doctors to see whether the children are developing rightly. The work could also lead to a better understanding of the ways that people communicate and connect.

"Emotional infection seems to be a born thing that connects us together," said Molly Helt, a graduate student in psychology at the University of Connecticut. "Yawning may be part of that." Inspiration for her study came when she tried to get her own autistic son to clear his ears on an airplane. She repeatedly yawned at him, hoping he would yawn back. He never did.

"The fact that autistic kids don’t do it might mean they’re really missing out on that emotional connection with people around them," she said. "The biggest thing people try to figure out after birth is how we become humans and understand that humans have minds that are different from others’," she added. "Autistic people never seem to understand that."

Like infectious laughter and crying, scientists have found that yawning is a shared experience that promotes social connection. Helt said it could fight stress after a period of being nervous and spread a feeling of calm through a group.

1.What does the new study suggest, according to the first two paragraphs?

A．It is easy to stop yawning when you see others yawn.

B．Yawning has some mysterious force which is related to God.

C．Children follow others in yawning just after they are born.

D．Yawning is a form of communication.

2.According to Molly Helt, _________________.

A．emotions are infectious, but yawning is not

B．yawning helps clear ears on planes

C．humans differ from animals because they communicate with others

D．yawning is a kind of emotional connection among humans

3.Which of the following is NOT true about yawning?

A．It is natural to yawn back if people around you yawn.

B．Some kids are too young to yawn after others.

C．Yawning can be used to test children’s development.

D．Kids with autism yawn easily when others yawn.

4.The author implies in the last paragraph that ________.

A．it is bad manners to yawn on some social occasions

B．yawning can make people feel relaxed

C．yawning is different from infectious laughter and crying in theory

D．the more you yawn, the happier you will be

Tickets for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil have gone on sale, with fans able to apply on FIFA’s website. FIFA is expecting a similar demand to that in Germany 2006, when there were about seven applicants for every ticket of the 64 matches. And now around 3.3 million tickets will be available for the matches in 2014.

    Tickets will range in price from ￡58 for first-round matches to ￡632 for the final at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Brazilian citizens over 60, local students and members of some social programs can purchase tickets for ￡15.

The Price of Football - World Cup 2014

“It’s always difficult to predict,” said FIFA marketing director Thierry Weil. “But I truly believe that it will be more similar to what happened in Germany than in South Africa in 2010.”According to FIFA, the 2006 World Cup was attended by more than 3.3 million fans. Almost two million tickets were sold to the general public in South Africa, although the number of applications during the first ticketing phase was significantly lower.

    All applications made before 10th October 2013 will enter a random selection draw if there are not enough tickets available to fulfill all requests. The sales of the leftover tickets will begin on 5th November on a first-come, first-served basis. Another phase will begin on 8th December after the draw is made. The tournament begins on 12th June, with Brazil playing the opener in Sao Paulo.

    A study on the price of World Cup 2014 looked at the ticket prices and the cost of travelling to Brazil and found that our English fans face hotel costs of between ￡46 and ￡797 a night, while packages range from ￡2,999 to ￡14,999.

1.How much should a Brazilian student pay for the opening match?  

A.￡15         B.￡58        C.￡112        D.￡632

2. From the passage we know that Thierry Weil_______.

A. feels proud of what they achieved in South Africa 2010

B. feels worried about the sales of the tickets for Brazil 2014

C. holds the belief that Brazil 2014 will be the greatest world cup

D. believes that more fans will attend Brazil 2014 than South Africa 2010

3.What will FIFA do if there are not enough tickets available for requests before Oct.10, 2013?

A. They will sell the spare tickets to the applicants.

B. They will sell on a first-come, first-served basis.

C. They will choose the applicants based on a random selection draw.

D. They will sell them the tickets to be sold on Dec.8.

If Confucius（孔子）were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles． He’d need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out．
While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought． It’s nothing personal． Most Americans don’t even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes．
But this doesn’t mean that Americans don’t care about Confucius． In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China．
In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities． More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries． These schools teach both Chinese language and culture． The main courses of Chinese culture usually included Chinese art, history and philosophy． Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantage of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks of Westerners philosophy． Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese． So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States． Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers． 
So the old thinker’s ideas are still alive and well．
Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West．
As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is．
【小题1】The opening paragraph is mainly intended to _______．