Singles Day falls on every November 11th, and as the name indicates, this relatively new holiday is one exclusively for people who are still living the single life. I was a bit surprised when I googled “Singles Day” on the Internet, to find that China is the only country in the world that has set aside a special day for singles to celebrate their lives. To find out more about this celebration, please read on.
An old story goes that once there were four single men, leading very boring lives. None of them were married, or had lovers, or did anything exciting. They just sat around all day and played Mahjong.
One day they played Mahjong from 11 in the morning until 11 at night. During the game, no matter who won, the winning card was always the “four columns” card (the card shows four independent, parallel columns in two lines). Even more of a coincidence, it was Nov 11, or 11/11. In order to commemorate the day, they nicknamed it Singles Day.
Singles Day was first celebrated at various universities in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu Province during the 1990s. It got the name Singles Day because the date consists of four “ones”. These college students have since graduated, and carried their university tradition into society. Singles Day is now a special day for all fashionable youths.
The main way to celebrate Singles Day is to have dinner with your single friends, but it’s important that each person pay their own fee to show their independence. People also hold “blind date” parties in an attempt to say goodbye to their single lives.
Many singles also choose to say goodbye to their single lives on this day. Many attend “blind date” parties and many people choose to marry on this day. In addition to meaning “single” the four “ones” of the date can also mean “only one” as in “the only one for me.” Some people will use this date and this meaning to tell their special someone that they are the only “one” in their heart.
【小题1】Singles Day got its name because _______.

Singles Day falls on every November 11th, and as the name indicates, this relatively new holiday is one exclusively for people who are still living the single life. I was a bit surprised when I googled “Singles Day” on the Internet, to find that China is the only country in the world that has set aside a special day for singles to celebrate their lives. To find out more about this celebration, please read on.

An old story goes that once there were four single men, leading very boring lives. None of them were married, or had lovers, or did anything exciting. They just sat around all day and played Mahjong.

One day they played Mahjong from 11 in the morning until 11 at night. During the game, no matter who won, the winning card was always the “four columns” card (the card shows four independent, parallel columns in two lines). Even more of a coincidence, it was Nov 11, or 11/11. In order to commemorate the day, they nicknamed it Singles Day.

Singles Day was first celebrated at various universities in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu Province during the 1990s. It got the name Singles Day because the date consists of four “ones”. These college students have since graduated, and carried their university tradition into society. Singles Day is now a special day for all fashionable youths.

The main way to celebrate Singles Day is to have dinner with your single friends, but it’s important that each person pay their own fee to show their independence. People also hold “blind date” parties in an attempt to say goodbye to their single lives.

Many singles also choose to say goodbye to their single lives on this day. Many attend “blind date” parties and many people choose to marry on this day. In addition to meaning “single” the four “ones” of the date can also mean “only one” as in “the only one for me.” Some people will use this date and this meaning to tell their special someone that they are the only “one” in their heart.

1.Singles Day got its name because _______.

A. the persons who play Mahjong are four singles

B. the date consists of four “ones”

C. only single persons celebrate the day

D. it was first celebrated at universities in Nanjing

2.Which of the following is wrong?

A. Singles Day was first celebrated in Nanjing’s universities.

B. Many singles choose Singles Day to say goodbye to their single lives.

C. The only way to celebrate the Singles Day is to have dinner with your single friends.

D. It was these college graduated students that carried their university’s tradition into society.

3.We can infer from the passage that ______.

A. the four singles did not get married

B. Singles Day receives great popularity among young people

C. when having dinner, one pays the fee for all his friends

D. on Singles Day many attend parties where blind people were present

4.What is the best title for the passage?

A. The Origin of Singles Day.               B. How to Celebrate Singles Day.

C. Singles Day.                             D. Say Goodbye to Singles Day.

阅读理解

　　Dad said it would be an unusual present, and he was quite right. He said, “Go to the telephone and call a ten-figure number. It must begin with 010. Got that 0l0-?, you can please yourself about the other seven figures. ”

　　I called the number 010-6132597 . A few moments later I heard a man's clear voice at the other end, the voice said, “Kikri 2597. Don Flower speaking.”

　　I said, “Hello, Mr. Flower. I'm Robert West, and this call to you is one of my birthday presents. I'm thirteen today.”

　　“Oh, that's great. Many happy returns of the day! Where are you calling from, Robert? You sound very clear.”

　　“I'm at home in London. Where are you?”

　　“You're in London! Well, well—I've never had a call from London before. I live in Kikri, Australia. About a hundred miles from Kikri actually, but it's the nearest place . I've got a small farm here, with about ninety thousand sheep on it. You ought to come and visit me one day. ”

　　“I'd like to very much. Your farm must be very big, Mr. Flower, if you've got ninety thousand sheep on it. ”

　　“Well, there may be only eighty thousand by now. I'm not too sure. There's not a lot of feed for them, you know, and two of my wells have gone dry this month. So we've been driving the sheep around a bit. If you go straight across the middle of my farm, it's a hundred and ten miles. That isn't a great size for a farm in Australia, but it's big enough for me ! ”

　　We talked for three minutes, and it was very interesting. I gave Mr. Flower my telephone number. He promised to ring me on my birth-day next year.

1．If you live in London, what number calls Australia?

[　　]

A．010-2597.

B．6132579.

C．010-6132597.

D．Kikri 2597.

2．As far as we can tell from the passage, ________.

[　　]

A．Robert West had never rung Australia before

B．telephone calls to Australia are expensive

C．Mr. Flower is a friendly man

D．Mr. Flower wishes that he had a large farm

3．Which of the following is untrue?

[　　]

A．Mr. Flower lives in a big city.

B．Australia can have periods with no rain.

C．Robert did rat know Mr. Flower when he first spoke to him.

D．We do not know exactly how many sheep Mr. Flower has on his farm.

4．From the passage it seems that ________.

[　　]

A．Australia has the best conditions for sheep farming

B．to make a living in Australia, you must lave a large farm to raise sheep

C．Mr. Flower is finding it difficult to raise sheep successfully because he has a small farm

D．sleep farming in Australia can be a difficult job at times

5．The best title for the passage is ________.

[　　]

A．A Surprise Phone Call

B．An Unusual Present

C．A Phone Call to Australia

D．A Ten- Figure Number