Fluency(流利) in another language is one of the most important aims of a newcomer to another country. In addition, understanding the culture and learning to communicate comfortably with people of that culture are as important as learning the rules of the language. Language learning and culture learning go together and may take a long time.?
Sometimes people feel that they understand a culture after a few weeks or months. People do learn a lot when they first begin living in another culture, but this is only the first stage of learning. It usually involves(含包) things like learning everyday activities and some basic customs.?
To really understand another culture, people have to go beyond the first stage, this is challenge(挑战) because it is often difficult to know what to learn. Much of what we call “culture” is hard to see.?
Culture is like an iceberg(冰川). Picture in your mind a huge iceberg in the ocean. The only part of the iceberg that you see is the tip. You don’t see the rest of the iceberg because it is hidden from sight in the water. It is easy to forget that it is there. Most of the iceberg is deep within the ocean, just as much of a culture is deep within its people.?
When you meet someone from another culture, certain culture differences are obvious: You hear another language or you hear your own language spoken with an accent. You see different foods, clothes and sometimes physical characteristics of people. You observe new customs or habits, such as the use of chopsticks, and, bowing or kissing on both cheeks as a greeting. These differences are interesting and important, but they are usually not too difficult to understand. They are visible so they are seen easily and quickly.?
The part of culture that is like the underwater part of the iceberg consists of assumptions(设想), communication styles, values, and beliefs about what is right and wrong. The hidden part of culture affects much of a person’s way of thinking and communicating. It is the meaning behind his or her verbal (言语的) and nonverbal language. Learning to communicate well with people from another culture involves becoming aware of the hidden part of culture.
【小题1】What’s the subject of this passage?

Height is just one of the thousands of features your genes(基因)decide. In fact, because you have two parents, your genes provide you a height that usually lands somewhere between the height of each parent. If both your parents are tall, then most probably you will be tall, too, but if you have questions about how tall you're going to be, ask your doctor if he or she can help you find it out.

But genes don't decide everything. For example, eating an unhealthy diet can keep you from growing to your full potential(潜力). Getting plenty of sleep and enough exercise will help you grow to the expected height.

No doubt(怀疑) you're wondering how fast you should grow. It depends. There's no perfect or right answer. Generally speaking, kids grow about 2 inches (6 centimeters) a year between age 3 and the time when they start puberty (when your body starts changing and becoming more grown up).

Your doctor will know how your growth has been going over the years. Two centimeters here and 2 inches there are not nearly as important as the height you're at now, how you've been growing up to this point, and what other changes your body may be going through.

Don't be scared if you seem to have grown a lot in a very short time. Everyone has a growth spurt（高峰）during puberty. The age for starting puberty is about 10 for girls and about 11 for boys. But it can be earlier or later ——between 7 and 13 for girls and 9 and 15 for boys.

You'll usually begin to notice that you're growing faster about a year or so after your body starts to show the first changes of puberty.

1.If you want to know how fast and how tall you should grow, ____________.

   A. you should have enough exercise           B. you can ask doctors for help

   C. you should save the environment           D. You can record your growth during puberty

2. This passage is mainly about ____________.

   A. how the genes work in your body           B. when is the time you grow fast

   C. why you look like your parents                D. how you grow to a certain height 

3. After reading this passage, we can explain ___________.

   A. how good it is to be a doctor             B. how much sleep time we need

   C. why genes can’t decide everything            D. what healthy diet is

4. Which is NOT mentioned in the passage?

   A. Your height most probably depends on how high your parents are.

   B. Girls’ age for starting puberty is usually earlier than that for boys’.

   C. The time showing the first changes of puberty is never noticed.

   D. You may be scared sometimes when you grow too fast.

Scientists are trying to make the deserts into good land again. They want to bring water to the deserts， so people can live and grow food. They are learning a lot about the deserts. But more and more of the earth is becoming desert all the time. Scientists may not be able to change the desert in time.

Why is more and more land becoming desert？Scientists think that people make deserts. People are doing bad things to the earth.

Some places on the earth don’t get much rain. But they still don’t become deserts. This is because some green plants are growing there. Small green plants and grass are very important to dry places. Plants don’t let the sun make the earth even drier. Plants do not let the wind blow the dirt away. When a bit of rain falls，the plants hold the water. Without plants，the land can become desert more easily.

1.Deserts ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿ .

2.Small green plants are very important to dry places because ＿＿＿＿＿＿.

3.Land is becoming desert little by little because ＿＿＿＿＿＿.

4.After reading this passage， we learn that ＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿.

B
He was an old man who fished alone in a boat in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boys parents had told him that the old man was now definitely salao and he finally would be so. The boy had gone at their orders in another boat which caught three good fish the first week. It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his skiff empty and he always went down to help him carry either the coiled lines or the gaff(鱼钩) and harpoon(鱼叉) and the sail that as rolled around the mast(桅杆). The sail was patched with flour bags and, rolled, it looked like the flag of permanent defeat.
The old man was very thin with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches(斑点) of the skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handing heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert. Everything about him was old expect his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.
“Santiago,” the boy said to him as they climbed the bank from where the boat was pulled up. “I could go with you again. We’ve made some money.” The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him.
“No,” the old man said. “But we have. Haven’t we?
“Yes,” the boy said. “Can I offer you a beer on the Terrance and then we’ll take the stuff home.”
“Why not?” said the old man, “between fisherman.”
55. The underlined word “salao” in the first paragraph probably means ________.
A. lonely               B. unlucky             C. selfish               D. stubborn
56. The boy left the old man and went in another boat to fish because _______.
A. the old man preferred to fish alone  B. the old man was poor
C. the boy’s parents ordered him to     D. the old man’s sail suggested a permanent defeat
57. After reading this passage, we may safely conclude that ________.
A. the old man was insistent and not afraid of failure
B. the boy’s papa had confidence in everything
C. the old man caught big fishes because he had some doubts about the old man
D. the boy obeyed his father because he had some doubts about the old man
58. What might happen after the last paragraph?
A. The old man and the boy might go to fish with other fishermen.
B. The old man might go to have a drink with the boy.
C. The old man and the old might go to enjoy beer at the old man’s home.
D. The old man might go to tell the boy’s papa about the secrets between fishermen.

Students who say they never or hardly ever used dictionaries often speak English well but usually write poorly, because they make many mistakes.

    The students who use dictionaries most do not learn especially well either. The ones who look up every new word do not read fast. Therefore they do not have time to read much. Those who use small two-language dictionaries have the worst problems. Their dictionaries often give only one or two words as translations of English. But one English word often has many translations in a foreign language and one foreign word has many translations in English.

    The most successful students are those who use large college edition(版本) dictionaries with about 100,000 words but do not use them too often. When they are reading, these students first try to get the general idea and understand new words from the context（上下文）. Then they reread and use the dictionary to look up only key words that they still do not understand. They use dictionaries more for writing. If they are not sure how to spell a word, or divide it into syllables (音节), they always use a dictionary. Also, if they think a noun might have an unusual plural form, they check these in a dictionary.

The writer thinks that        .

   A. choose a good dictionary, and you’ll be successful in learning English

   B. dictionaries are not necessary to the students who learn English

   C. it is very important for students to use good dictionaries properly

   D. using dictionaries very often can’t help to improve writing

When in the reading does the writer advise students to use a good dictionary?

   A. At the beginning of the reading

   B. At the end of the reading

   C. During the first reading

   D. After the first reading

This passage mainly tells us        .

   A. students shouldn’t use small two-language dictionaries

   B. what were the defects of small two-language dictionaries

   C. why students should use large college edition dictionaries

   D. what dictionary students should choose and how to use it

Which is not mentioned in this passage?

   A. How to make good use of a dictionary.

   B. When to use a dictionary.

   C. How to improve spoken English.

   D. How to practise reading fast.