Celebrated in the city of Munich, Germany, the Oktoberfest, as it is popularly called, is a 3-week festival that takes place in the months of September and October. Also called the largest beer festival in the world, the Oktoberfest gathers about 6 million visitors worldwide every year. Seeing the popularity of the festival, many countries around the world have adapted to what they call their own version of the Oktoberfest. So if you are not able to make it to Germany, you can always enjoy the festival in the areas mentioned below. Don’t miss out on it!

Brazil: welcome to the German town of Blumenau in Brazil. Well, we are not talking about Germans living in the town, but the place was originally founded by immigrants from Germany in the year 1850. The town is built in a traditional German style and there are a fair number of people who still live the way it used to be in good old days. The Oktoberfest is celebrated in a small village called Parque Vila Germanica between the dates of October 1^st to October 18^th. Guests can enjoy the festival in addition to exploring the town and its sites which include a beer museum.

Vietnam: celebrated in Ho Chi Minh City since 1992, the Oktoberfest event over here is conducted between the 6^th and the 11^th of October and the decorations are like the original festival in Munich, with large wooden tables lined with beer.

The Philippines: unlike the original Oktoberfest which is celebrated in a certain area, the Oktoberfest in the Philippines is a recent addition to the already existing festival which takes place between the 4^th of September and the 9^th of October. Now the event is set to be celebrated in a total of 30 parties in various cities around the country.

Canada: over 700,000 guests (second highest after Munich) in and around Canada take part in the Oktoberfest celebrated in Ontario between the 9^th and the 17^th of October.

1.In which place does the Oktoberfest take place from September to October?

2.From the first paragraph we can know that _______.

3.About the Germany town of Blumenau, we know that ______.

4.The author’s purpose in writing this passage is ______.

One evening in February 2007 . a student named Paula Ceely brought her car to a stop on a remote in Wales . She got out to open a metal gate that blocked her path . That's when she heard the whistle sounded by the driver of a train.Her Renault Clio parked across a railway line. Second later,she watched  the train drag her car almost a kilometre down the railway tracks.
Ceely's near miss  made the news because she blamed it on her GPS device(导航仪).She had never driven the route before .It was dark and raining heavily . Ceely was relying on her GPS. But it made no mention of the crossing ."I put my complete trust in the device and it led me right into the path of a speeding train ,"she told the BBC.
W ho is to blame here ? Rick Stevenson ,who tells Ceely's story in his book When Machines Fail US, finger at the limitations of technology. We put our faith in digital devices, he says,
but our digital helpers are too often not up to the job. They are filled with small  problems. And it’s not just GPS devices: Stevenson takes us on a tour of digital disasters involving everything from mobile phones to wireless key boards.
The problem with his argument in the book is that it’s  not clear why he only focuses digital technology,while  there may be a number of other possible  causes. A map-maker might have left the crossing off a paper map. Maybe we should blame Ceely for not paying attention. perhaps the railway authorities are at fault for poor signaling system. Or maybe someone has studied the relative dangers and worked out that there really is something specific wrong with the CPS equipment. But Stevenson doesn’t say.
It’s a problem that runs through the book. In a section on cars, Stevenson gives an accout of the advanced techniques that criminals use to defeat computer-based locking systems for cars. He offers two independent sets of figures on car theft; both show a small rise in some parts of the country. He says that once once again not all new locks have proved reliable. Perhaps, but maybe it’s also due to the shortage of policemen on the streets. Or changing social circumstances. Or some combination of these factors .
The game between humans and their smart devices  is complex. It is shaped by economics and psychology and the cultures we live in. Somewhere in the mix of those forces there may be  way a wiser use of technology.   
If there is such a way, it should involve more than just  an awareness of the shortcomings of our machines. After all, we have lived with them for thousands  of years. They have probably been fooling us for just as long .
【小题1】
What did Paula Ceely think was the cause of her accident?           

A．closebit

B．heavyloss

C．narrow escape

D．bigmistake

Lego, the inventor of those colorful bricks that have inspired kids’ imaginations world-wide, has celebrated its 50th anniversary.

On January 28, 1958, a man named Godtfred Kirk Christiansen created the plastic building bricks that can now be found in almost every child’s toy box. The simple building block has become one of the most well-known and popular toys around the world.

"The Lego brick continues to be very attractive, because it allows children, and others, to develop their creativity and imagination," said Charlotte Simonsen, a spokeswoman of the Danish Lego company.

The company’s building brick allows an infinite number of links. With just two bricks there are 24 different links, and with six, there are 915 million possibilities, according to Lego.

A half-century after its creation, more than 400 million children and adults spend five billion hours a year putting the bricks together and pulling them apart. Also, the bricks made today can still interlock with those made in 1958.

Lego bricks are not just child’s play: they also attract the interest of adults. South Korean adventurer, Heo Young-Ho, who climbed Mount Everest in 1987, left a Lego toy behind in the snow during his climb.

After its great success Lego experienced a severe crisis at the end of the 1990s, hit hard by fierce competition from electronic games. This so-called "Toy of the Century" then suffered a dark period that lasted several years.

With great efforts, the company began to prosper again, and in 2006 it earned about 1.5 billion dollars in 130 countries. Seven boxes of Lego are now sold every second around the world, and 19 billion bricks are produced each year: enough to encircle the Earth five times！

The Lego bricks have remained popular in the past 50 years as a result of _______.

  A. attracting many children worldwide  B. brought imagination to the children worldwide

  C. making the children and even adults worldwide creative and imaginative

  D. having infinite links that bring many imagination

The author gave the example of South Korean adventurer Heo Young-Ho in order to prove that ______.

  A. Heo Youn-Ho also loved playing Lego bricks

  B. the Lego bricks made him a mountain climber

  C. the Lego bricks not only interest children but also adults

  D. the Lego bricks are a must when on goes on an adventure

It can be inferred from the text that ______.

  A. there are 915 different links with just 6 bricks

  B. the Lego Bricks Company has made a lot of money from the people worldwide

  C. the Lego Bricks can’t compare with computer games

  D. the bricks made today don’t change much compared with those made in 1958

The underlined word “hit” in the seventh paragraph means _____.

  A. defeated in a fight or a competition

  B. have a crash in an accident or a fight

  C. get known through a song

  D. attack    somebody   in a fight

The main idea of the story is that _____.

  A. Lego bricks: brilliant past and struggling future

  B. Lego bricks: an attraction of both children and adults

  C. Lego bricks: making creativity and imagination

  D. Lego bricks: making billions of money every year

Some houses are designed to be smart. Others have smart designs. An example of the second type of house won an Award of Excellence from the American Institutes of Architects.

       At first sight, the house on Sullvan’s Island looks anything but hurricane-proof. Its redwood shell makes it resemble “a large party lantern” at night, according to one observer. But looks can be cheating. The house’s wooden frame is reinforced with long steel bars to give it extra strength.

       To further protect the house from hurricane damage, Huff raised it 2.7 meters off the ground on timber pilings – long, slender columns of wood anchored deep in the sand. Pilings might appear insecure, but they are strong enough to support the weight of the house. They also elevate the house above storm attacks. The pilings allow the waves to run under the house instead of running into it. “These swells of water come on shore at tremendous speeds and cause most of the damage done to beach-front buildings,” said Huff.

       Huff designed the timber pilings to be partly masked by the house’s ground-to-roof shell. “The shell masks the pilings so that the house doesn’t look like it’s standing with its pant legs pulled up,” said Huff. In the event of a storm surge, the shell should break apart and let the waves rush under the house, the architect explained.

1.After the tragedy caused by Hurricane Hugo, new ho uses built along South Carolina’s shore line are required            .

       A．to be easily reinforced                          B．to look smarter in design

       C．to meet stricter building standards         D．to be designed in the shape of cubes

2.The award-winning beach house is quite strong because          .

       A．it is strengthened by steel bars               B．it is made of redwood

       C．it is in the shape of a shell                    D．it is built with stone and concrete

3.Huff raised the house 2.7 meters off the ground on timber pilings in order to            .

       A．withstand peak winds of about 200 km/hr

       B．strike stronger pilings keep into the sand

       C．break huge sea waves into smaller ones

       D．prevent water from rushing into the house

4.The main function of the shell is              .

       A．to strengthen the pilings of the house

       B．to give the house a better appearance

       C．to protect the wooden frame of the house

       D．to slow down the speed of the swelling water

The Olympic Games are seen as the greatest test of an athlete’s ability and are supposed to celebrate the spirit of fair play. But in fact, sportsmen have been using drugs to cheat their way to victory since the Games first began.

       In the early years, athletes ate mushrooms(蘑菇)and plant seeds to improve their performance. Nowadays, this kind of cheating has a name doping(服用兴奋剂).

       Just last month, Britain’s top sprinter(赛跑选手) Dwain Chambers and several American athletes tested positive(呈阳性)for the drug THG. Until a coach secretly gave a sample of THG to scientists, no one knew how ho test for it.

       “We’re like cops(警察)chasing criminals—athletes are always adapting and looking for areas we haven’t investigated,” said Jacquew de Ceaurriz, a French anti-doping expert.

       Since the first drugs test was carried out at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, many cheats have been caught out. The most famous case in history is that of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson.

He broke the 100 meters world record in winning gold at the 1988 Seoul(汉城)Olympics. But days later, he tested positive for drug use, lost his gold medal and was banned from the sport. Five years later, he returned to action—only to be found positive again and banned forever.

China has also had problems with drug cheats. At the 1994 Asian Games, 11 Chinese athletes—seven of them swimmers—tested positive for banned drugs. Sports organizations promised that cheating on this scale would not happen again.

Experts are also worried that doping can damage a person’s health. It is believed to increase the risk of liver and kidney(肝肾)diseases, and women may experience reproductive(生育) problems. As long as they can stay ahead of the scientists, it is unlikely the cheats will stop. But experts say there is a limit to what can be achieved and that athletes will not be able to change their bodies using gene(基因)technology.

“For the moment, genetic doping does not exist,” said de Ceaurriz. “Even in 10 or 15 years it will not be done easily—the scientific community(界)will not let it happen.”

Which of the following is not the way that some athletes cheat to their better sports achievements?

A. Eating mushrooms.    B. Taking drug THG. 

C. Taking genetic doping.   D. Eating plant seeds.

How many countries are mentioned in the passage in which there were athletes doping?

A. Two.                 B. Four.                C. Sic.                  D. Eight.

We can infer from the passage that ____.

A. scientists get a lot of information about drugs before the athletes take doping

B. taking doping will never happen again because of the serious test

C. few athletes used drug cheats before the first drugs test was carried out at the 1968 Olympics

D. problems with drug cheats are still serious though they are severely tested

Which statement of the following is true?

A. Many police are sent to chase criminals of taking doping during the Olympic Games.

B. The drug test was carried out until the 1968 Olympics.

C. There is the possibility that women athletes taking doping will give no birth to a child.

D. Ben Johnson was banned from sports forever for being tested positive for drug use at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.