What is your zodiac（生肖） animal? According to the Chinese lunar calendar（农历）, 12 animals mark 12 different years. It is the basis of the Chinese zodiac. Nowadays, Chinese zodiac animals have worldwide fame and are increasingly popular among western people.

The zodiac is an important part of Chinese culture. People believe that the characteristics of a zodiac animal influence the personality of every person born in that year. For example, people born in the Year of the Tiger are considered powerful and brave.

Zodiac animals also have some social functions. When people think it is not proper to ask: “How old are you”, they may change their question to “What is your zodiac animal?” With this question, you can figure out roughly which year someone was born and the person’s age.

Zodiac animals are not special to China. Many countries share a similar zodiac culture with China. For example, in the Japanese Zodiac, a wild boar（野猪）takes the place of a pig and the Vietnamese（越南的）zodiac has a cat instead of a rabbit.

But have you ever wondered how these 12 animals were chosen to represent each year? According to legend, the Jade Emperor（玉皇大帝）invited all the animals to join him for Chinese New Year. Only 12 animals went to see him. As a reward he named a year after each one in the order they arrived. The ox would have been the first to arrive, but the rat sat on his back and jumped off just before they arrived to come in first place.

1.The characteristics of a zodiac animal may influence the _____ of every person born in that year.

A．appearance        B．personality        C．hobby            D．education

2.“What is your zodiac animal?” is a question used to find out a person’s______.

A．age              B．name             C．job              D．weight

3.In the Japanese zodiac, we don’t see the zodiac animal：_______

A．wild boar          B．rabbit            C．dragon           D．pig

4.According to the last paragraph, we know that ____ was the first animal to arrive.

A．ox               B．rat               C．pig               D．cat

根据上下文和中文提示，用单词的适当形式填空，使文章完整，通顺。（每空限填一词）
What is your favorite cartoon? It may be    【小题1】 (困难的)for you to decide. But for the pianist Lang Lang, Tomand Jerry is the best one.
Lang Lang was born in 1982.When he was two      【小题2】 （岁）old, he saw Tom playing the piano. This was his      【小题3】     （一）time to enjoy foreign music and it encouraged （鼓励）him to learn to play piano.
Lang   【小题4】        （成为）a good piano student at there. Ever since, the boy has been doing better and better. His talent at the keyboard took him from Shengyang to the world. In 1997,the 15-year-old boy    【小题5】      （学习）at a first-class American music college. Lang worked   【小题6】    （努力）There and now is   【小题7】       （著名的）for making facial expressions （面部表情）and moving around while playing the piano.
The road to success has never been easy. Lang’s father     【小题8】   (停止)his job to look after him, while his mother stayed in Shengyang to make money.    【小题9】  （然而）Lang thinks himself lucky and    【小题10】 （相信）he should give something back. He has helped the children in poor schools a lot.

My daughter Eyen is ten years old. She is in Grade Three in a primary school. She is a cute girl though(虽然) she has some strange ideas sometimes.
One day she asks me, “Mum, what is your favorite subject?” I think for a while and answer, “It is difficult to tell. I love singing, so music is my favorite. And I am good at English. My history teacher also says I am excellent.  Well, I can say I don’t like science. But science is important for us, you know. So you must do well in it. What is your favorite subject , Eyen? Tell me something about your subjects, dear.”
“ I like Chinese. It is easy. I like English because my English teacher likes me very much. I can’t stand(忍受) Maths. It is serious(严肃的) and sad.”
“Do you mean your Maths teacher is serious and sad?”
“No, it is Maths, not the Maths teacher.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Because Maths has so many problems(问题)! Isn’t it sad all day?”
【小题1】Eyen is ________years old. She is a _________.

–What is your sister going to be ________ she grows up?

–She is going to be an engineer.

A．before           B．although          C．when             D．unless

1.When is William’s birthday?

A. August 8

C. December 8

B. August 12

D. December 12

2.Where is William from?

A. America.

C. England.

B. Spain.

D. New York.

3.How long will William stay in the USA?

A. Two weeks.

C. Two months.

B. One week.

D. One month.

4.Where can you find the card?

A. At the school.

C. In the airplane.

B. At the bus stop.

D. In the hospital.