Almost all cultures celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another in some way. Different cultures celebrate the beginning of a new year in different ways, and at different times on the calendar.
In western countries, people usually celebrate New Year at midnight on January 1st. People may go to parties, dress in formal clothes—like tuxedos(小礼服)and evening gowns, and drink champagne at midnight. During the first minutes of the New Year, people cheer and wish each other happiness for the year ahead. But some cultures prefer to celebrate the New Year by waking up early to watch the sun rise. They welcome the New Year with the first light of the sunrise.
It is also a common Western custom to make a New Year’s promise, called a resolution. New Year’s resolutions usually include promises to try something new or change a bad habit in the new year.
Many cultures also do special things to get rid of bad luck at the beginning of a new year. For example, in Ecuador, families make a big doll from old clothes. The doll is filled with old newspapers and firecrackers. At midnight, these dolls are burned to show the bad things from the past year are gone and the new year can start afresh (again). Other common traditions to keep away bad luck in a new year include throwing things into rivers or the ocean, or saying special things on                the first day of the new year.
Other New Year traditions are followed to bring good luck is to eat grapes on New Year’s Day. The more grapes a person eats, the more good luck the person will have in the year. In France, people eat pancakes for good luck at New Year. In the United States, some people eat black– eyed peas(豇豆)for good luck——but to get good luck for a whole year you have to eat 365 of them!
【小题1】Which culture celebrates New Year in the morning?

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Scientists have not come close to understanding all the different kinds of life on the planet, but US researcher Craig Venter is already working on creating the first artificial（人造的）life.

Venter and his researchers made a breakthrough late last month, They successfully moved the DNA of one type of bacteria(细菌) to a yeast cell（酵母）, changed it, then put it into another bacterial cell.

“Bacteria have systems that protect them from foreign DNA” Venter explained to the BBC, In the experiment, the team managed to block this system.

The experiment was performed on a simple type of bacteria celled mycoplasma mycoides. The team took the bacteria’s genes and put them into a yeast cell.

Putting a DNA in a yeast cell allowed the team to change the genes in this case, taking out a gene that was not necessary for the bacteria to live.   

They then put the gene into a host bacteria cell. The cell went on to divide normally, producing new healthy bacteria.

In January, the team created artificial genes of a new type of bacteria. Their next goal is to put the artificial DNA into a host cell to create a new species, according to a report in Science magazine.

“lf we don’t make any errors, I think it should work and we should have the first artificial species by the end of the year.” Venter said in the report.

The first artificial life form is likely to be a simple man-made bacteria, to prove that the technology can work.. But that form will be followed by more complex bacteria that turn coal into cleaner natural gas, or algae  that can take in carbon dioxide and change it into fuel.

Many scientists think it’s good news to have this artificial life, but others are worried that the technology to create new organisms might end up in the wrong hands, with dangerous result.

57．Which of the following is true according to the text ?

A  Bacteria have systems that protect them from yeast cell.

B  If we put a gene into a host bacteria cell,the cell will not go on to divide as usual.

C  Venter and his researchers completely achieved all their goals.

D  All the scientists didn’t agree to this artificial life.

58. What can we learn from the underlined sentences?

A. Venter and his researchers had succeeded in this project.

B. Venter predicted that they would make errors in the future,so he decided to give it up.

C. Venter would go on the study and he was full of confidence.

D. Venter was a clearer man but a little shy.

59. Which of the following shows the order of the passage ?

1.change the genes

2. put the gene into a host bacteria cell

3. moved the DNA of one type of bacteria to a yeast cell

4. The cell went on to divide normally

5. put it into another bacteria cell

A. 3-5-1-4-2     .               B. 3-5-1-2-4   C. 4-2-5-1-3                      D. 2-3-5-1-4

60.What will be mentioned in the next paragraph?

A. The wrong hands that created by the artificial life.

B. The advantages and disadvantages about the artificial life.

C. The future about this project.

D. The author’s attitude.

Passage 1
As one of China’s most popular and widely known story ,Monkey King, is set to return to screens with 3D effects. It may feature many of the same leading actors from the earliest 1986TV series Journey to the West. According to the producer, which can be got easily in the market? The TV drama, with a total investment of 150 million yuan, will be broadcast on Sichuan TV. Almost 90 million yuan has been put into 3D effects with each 45-mniute episode containing eight minutes of 3D. “The 3D effects not only cost us a lot of money but also a lot of time,” director Kan Weiping said. “We had to put off its broadcasting time, which was set at first this summer.”
Passage 2
The Solar Roadway is an intelligent road that provides clean renewable energy using power from the sun, while providing safer driving conditions along with power. American inventors of the Solar Road said that it will power itself, and reduce the country’s carbon marks. Many panels(平板) are fixed on the Solar Road. The top of the Solar Road panels is made of glass and the inventors are working together with top glass researchers to develop super strong glass that would offer vehicles pulling power they need. The Solar Roadway creates and carries clean renewable electricity and, therefore, electric vehicles can be recharged at any rest stop, or at any business that uses solar road panels in their parking lots. Such parking lots will be safer at night with the light provided by LED within the road panels. The inventors say their solar roadway has many applications and advantages from main roads to driveways, parking lots, bike paths and runways.
【小题1】What’s Passage 1 mainly about?

Prince Roman was a Polish nobleman, a captain in the army of Czar Nicholas of Russia. When his young wife died, the prince left the army and returned in sorrow to his native Poland.
In time, love for his country and its people took the place of his lost love. He joined a Polish rising against the Russians. The rising was crushed, and Prince Roman was taken prisoner. His relatives and friends begged the military court to have mercy on him.
The president of the court received these appeals kindly. He was a good Russian, but he was also a good-natured man. Russian hatred of Poles was not as fierce at that time as it became later; and the Russian felt sympathetic as soon as he saw the prince's thin, tired, sun-burnt face.
The court of three officers sat in a bare room, behind a long black table. Some clerks sat at the two ends, but no one else was there when the guards brought in the prince.
Those four walls shut out from Prince Roman all sights and sounds of freedom, all hopes of the future, all comforting thoughts. How much love for Poland remained in him then? How much love of life? He stood before his judges alone, having refused their permission to sit. He answered their first formal questions — his name and so on — clearly and politely although he felt too weary to talk.
Then the president of the court seemed to suggest how the young man could best help himself. He asked questions in a way that almost put the right answers in the prisoner's mouth.
“Didn't your wife's death drive you to despair? Wasn't your mind unbalanced by that sad event ?”
Prince Roman was silent.
"You were not fully responsible for you conduct, were you?"
Prince Roman was silent.
"You made a sudden blind decision to join the rising. You didn't realize that your actions were dangerous and dishonourable. Isn't that the truth of this unfortunate matter?"
The judges looked at the prisoner hopefully. In silence the prince reached for a pen and some paper. He wrote, "I joined the rising because I believe it was just." He pushed the paper towards the president, who took it and read it in silence.
Prince Roman was sentenced to hard work for life in the Siberian salt mines. It was a sentence of delayed death.
When Czar Nicholas read the report and sentence, he added in his own handwriting, "Make sure that this prisoner walks in chains every step of the way to Siberia."
【小题1】What does the passage tell us of Poland at the time?