In American schools there is something called Home-coming Day. Many high schools and colleges with a football team have a homecoming game. This can be the most important event of the year except graduation(毕业) or commencement(授奖典礼) day. Students plan homecoming day for many weeks in advance(预先).

Several days before Homecoming, students start to decorate(装饰) the school. There are signs to wish luck to the team, and many other signs to welcome all the graduates. Many people still come to Homecoming twenty or thirty years after their graduation.

The members of school clubs build booths(摊位) and sell lemonade, apples and sandwiches. Some clubs help to welcome visitors.

During the day people like to look for teachers that they remember from long ago. Often they see old friends and they talk together about those happy years in school.

Everyone soon comes to watch the football game. When the game is half over, the band comes onto the field and plays school songs. Another important moment is when the Home-corning Queen or King appears. All the students vote a most popular student Homecoming Queen or King. It is a great honor to be chosen.

Homecoming is a happy day, but it is not perfect unless the football team wins the game. Even if the team loses, the students still enjoy Homecoming. Some stay at the school to dance, and others go to a party. For everyone it is a day worth remembering.

The most important event of the year in high schools and colleges is ________.

    A. homecoming   B. the football game        C. graduation   D. winning the game

When do students begin to arrange everything for Homecoming?

    A. The day before Homecoming.   B. Many weeks before the day.

    C.  when the guests arrive. D. In the days before Homecoming.

Which of the following is NOT done on Homecoming?

    A. To see old friends.      B. To call on teachers they remember.

    C. To watch the football game.  D. To go home to see their family.

The underline words “vote” in the fifth paragraph means ________.

    A. attend a meeting         B. elect or choose     

    C. hold a celebration(庆祝) D. have a football match

Who can probably become Homecoming Queen or King?

    A. The students who is liked most by the others.   

B. The guest who is most popular with the students.

    C. The students who is most liked by the guests.   

D. The player who plays best in the football game. 

Humans are social animals. They live in groups all over the world. As these groups of people live apart form other groups, over the years and centuries they develop their own habits and ideas, which from different cultures. One important particular side of every culture is how its people deal with time.

Time is not very important in nonindustrial societies. The Nuer people of East Africa, for example, do not even have a word TIME that is in agreement with the abstract thing we call time. The daily lives of the people of such nonindustrial societies are likely to be patterned around their physical needs and natural events rather than around a time schedule(时间表) based on the clock. They cook and eat when they are hungry and sleep when the sun goes down. They plant crops during the growing seasons and harvest them when the crops are ripe. They measure time not by a clock or calendar(日历), but by saying that an event takes place before or after some other event. Frequently such a society measures days in terms of "sleeps" or longer periods in terms of "moons". Some cultures, such as the Eskimos of Greenland measure seasons according to the migration(迁徙) of certain animals.

Some cultures which do not have a written language or keep written records have developed interesting ways of "telling time". For example, when several Australian aborigines(土著居民) want to plan an event for a future time, one of them places a stone on a cliff or in a tree. Each day the angle of the sun changes slightly. In a few days, the rays of the sun strike the stone in a certain way. When this happens, the people see that the agreed-upon time has arrived and the event can take place.

In contrast(成对比), exactly correct measurement of time is very important in modern, industrialized societies. This is because industrialized societies require the helpful efforts of many people in order to work. For a factory to work efficiently (well, quickly and without waste),for example, all of the workers must work at the same time. Therefore, they must know what time to start work in the morning and what time they may go home in the afternoon. Passengers must know the exact time that an airplane will arrive or depart. Students and teachers need to know when a class starts and ends. Stores must open on time in order to serve their customers. Complicated (复杂的) societies need clocks and calendars. Thus, we can see that if each person worked according to his or her own schedule, a complicated society could hardly work at all.

By saying "Humans are social animals",the author means________.

A. they live all over the world

B. they are different from other animals

C. they live in one place, district or country, considered as a whole

D. they are divided into many groups

Time is not very important in non-industrial societies, because peoplein those societies________.

A. don't have the word TIME in their languages

B. don't get used to using clocks and other timepieces

C. don't measure time in their daily lives around an exact time schedule

D. don't need to plan their daily lives around an exact time schedule

The Australian aborigines' way of"telling time" is based on________.

A. the change of the sun rays            B. the movement of the earth in relation to the sun

C. the position of the stone             D. the position of the tree or the cliff

Which of the following might be the best title for this passage?

A. Time and Culture                  B. The Measurment of Time

C. Time Schedule and Daily Life        D. Clock,Calendar and Society

A Day of Design

Sunday, June 27,2010

9 a. m. ~ 4 p. m.

Thomas College Student Center

Join us for a free day of fun! A Day of Design will encourage those interested in flowers and design to get in touch with their creative side and get some tips from the experts – Jeff and Scott. Pleas see the schedule below for details about this wonderful opportunity!

9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Registration (登记) for the day runs from 9 a.m. in the Student Center. Later guests will take a tour of the Thomas College campus before the day’s events.

10:30 a. m. ~ 12:00 p. m.

Jeff and Scott will design more than a dozen arrangements in a variety of sizes and colors and auction (拍卖) will be held and guests will have the opportunity to bid on the flower arrangements.

12:00 p. m. ~ 1:00 p. m.

A delightful boxed lunch will be served. During the lunch hour, Jeff and Scott will create a centerpiece for the holiday table and give tips for creating a beautiful centerpiece using things found in the home.

3:00 p. m. ~ 4:00 p. m.

A fitting way to end the day – guests are invited to enjoy a wine and cheese party. Jeff and Scott will be available to answer questions or just talk about flowers!

There is no charge for this event.

REGISTER NOW!

Space is limited to 45 guests.

What are guests supposed to do from 9:00 a. m. to 10:30 a. m.?

       A．To design flower arrangements.      B．To enjoy a wine and cheese party.

       C．To learn how to create a centerpiece.      D．To take a tour of the Thomas College campus. 

When will an auction be held?

       A．9:00 a.m. ~ 10:30 a.m.   B．10:30 a.m. ~ 12:00 p.m.

       C．1:00 p.m. ~ 3:00 p. m.    D．3:00 p. m. ~ 4:00 p. m.

The underlined word “centerpiece” is probably         .

       A．a photo on the wall  B．a picture that has been drawn

       C．a decoration for the center of a table      D．a flower that is carved out of stone

We can learn from the passage that A Day of Design         .

       A．lasts for eight hours B．is free of charge

       C．is held annually in July   D．is aimed at fashion designers

You are walking down the street, minding your own business when you see a snowball. No big deal, right? Except the snowball is as tall as you are. And weighs about a ton. Did we mention that it is June?

   That’s the experience thousand of Londoners had when they crossed paths with “ Snowball in Summer,” Goldsworthy makes sculpture （雕塑）from all sorts of things he finds outside – leaves, earth, and rocks, as well as ice and snow. He wanted to find out how busy people would react to an unexpected snowball melting in their midst.

   During the winter of 2008, he rolled 13 giant snowballs near his home in Scotland. He filled each one with a surprise in the center – such as berries, feathers, little stones or sheep’s wool – which would appear as the snow melted. The finished snowballs were stored in a deep freeze until summer, then transported to London in refrigerated trucks. At midnight on June 21, 2008, while the city slept, Goldsworthy and his helpers rolled their snowballs into place.

  People walking to work or school must have thought the sky was falling when they stumbled across snowballs the size of baby elephants. Some of them had never even seen snow in real life, and they couldn’t help touching them in great surprise. As the snow started to melt, things got even more interesting. The perfectly round snowballs took on different shapes as the stuff inside began to poke through. Two days later, most of Goldsworthy’s snowballs were gone, and their fillings scattered. But Londoners were left with a really good story about that odd summer day when the snowball came.

What is really special about the snowballs is that ______________________.

A. they lie in the street

B. they are in the shape of baby elephants.

C. they have berries, feathers, little stones and feathers in them.

D. they appear in June.

What was the purpose of Goldsworthy in making the snowballs?

A. To find out people’s reactions to them

B. To call up people’s memory of the cold winter.

C. To show off his skills in sculpture.

D. To let people experience the cold winter.

Why did Goldsworthy and his helpers roll their snowballs into place at mid-night?

A. They didn’t want to disturb other people.

B. It was quite at that time.

C. They wanted to avoid the traffic jam.

D, They wanted to give people a surprise.

I close my eyes and can still hear her—the little girl with a ___1___ so strong and powerful we could hear her halfway down the block. She was a(n)  ___2___ peasant who asked for money and ___3___ gave the only thing she had——her voice. I paused outside a small shop and listened. She brought to my mind the ___4___ of Little Orphan Annie. I could not understand the words she  ___5___, but her voice begged for ___6___. It stood out from the noises of Arbat Street, pure and impressive, like the chime of a bell. She sang ___7___ an old-style lamp post in the shadow of a building, her arms extended and ___8___ thrown back. She was small and of unremarkable looks. Her brown hair ___9___ the bun(发髻) it had been pulled into, and she occasionally reached up to ___10___ a stray piece from her face. Her clothing I can’t recall. Her voice, on the other hand, is ___11___ imprinted in my mind.

I asked one of the translators about the girl. Elaina told me that she and hundreds of others like her throughout the ___12___ Soviet Union add to their families’ income by working on the streets. The children are unable to ___13___ school, and their parents work fulltime. These children know that the consequence of an ___14___ day is no food for the table. Similar situations occurred during the Depression(萧条) in the United States, but those American children were ___15___ shoeshine boys of the ___16___. This girl was real to me.

When we walked past her I gave her money. It was not out of pity ___17___ rather admiration. Her smile of ___18___ did not interrupt her singing. The girl watched us as we walked down the street. I know this because when I looked back she smiled again. We ___19___ that smile, and I knew I could never forget her courage and ___20___ strength.

1. A. will B. strength      C. voice  D. determination

2. A. American       B. Chinese      C. Japanese     D. Russian

3. A. in return B. in turn       C. by hand      D. in silence

4. A. voice      B. image C. story   D. looks

5. A. said B. murmured  C. used    D. sang

6. A. attention B. love    C. help    D. mercy

7. A. across     B. from   C. under  D. from underneath

8. A. hands     B. feet     C. head   D. face

9. A. fell out   B. escaped      C. did up D. tied to

10. A. remove B. tear     C. cut off       D. dress

11. A. never    B. permanently      C. occasionally       D. sometimes

12. A. latter    B. rich    C. former       D. great

13. A. attend   B. finish  C. leave   D. enjoy

14. A. unhappy      B. unsatisfied  C. unusual      D. unsuccessful

15. A. faced    B. real     C. faceless      D. visible

16. A. twenties       B. thirties       C. forties D. teens

17. A. and      B. while  C. but     D. or

18. A. contempt     B. pity    C. bitterness    D. thanks

19. A. stopped B. shared C. won    D. exchanged

20. A. full      B. inner   C. brave  D. fighting