The Carnival of Brazil is an annual festival held 46 days before Easter, especially famous for the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Carnival celebrations are believed to have roots in the festival of Saturnalia, which, adapted to Christianity, became a farewell to bad things in a season of religious discipline to regret and prepare for Christ’s death and coming back to life.

    Modern Brazilian Carnival dates back to Rio de Janeiro in 1641. It originally copied the European form of the festival, later taking in elements of Native American and African cultures.

    In the late 19th century, the strings (弦乐器) were introduced in Rio de Janeiro. These were pageant (游行) groups that paraded through city avenues performing on instruments and dancing. Today they are known as blocks, consisting of a group of people who dress in costumes or special T-shirts with themes or logos. Blocks are generally connected with particular neighborhoods; they include both a music group and a lot of revelers.

    Block parades have become an expressive feature of Rio’s Carnival. Today, they number more than 100 and the groups increase each year. Blocks can be formed by small or large groups of revelers with a clear title. Before the show, they gather in a square, then parade in sections of the city, often near the beach.

    Carnival time in Rio is very interesting, but is also the most expensive time to visit Rio. Hotel rooms and other lodgings (住宿) can be up to four times more expensive than the regular rates. There are big crowds at some locations and life is far from ordinary in many parts of town.

1.What can we infer from the first paragraph?

    A. The Carnival of Brazil is often held after Easter.

    B. The Carnival of Brazil comes from Easter and Saturnalia.

    C. The Carnival of Brazil is a festival to regret and begin a new life.

    D. The Carnival of Brazil is mainly to celebrate the birth of Christ.

2.How long is the history of the people’s celebrating modern Brazilian Carnival?

    A. About 100 years.     B. Less than two centuries.

    C. About 370 years.     D. Over five centuries.

3.Which of the following statements is TRUE about the blocks in Rio de Janeiro?

    A. They are always wearing costumes or special T-shirts with themes or logos.

    B. They always parade through countryside villages singing and dancing.

    C. There are no more than 50 blocks today.

    D. They don’t parade before the show.

4.What is the passage mainly about?

    A. The famous carnivals in the world.

    B. How the carnival was introduced in Brazil.

    C. The carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

D. The happy life of the people in Rio de Janeiro.

Today many people say that women have the same chance as men in society. But this was not always so. In the past, women all over the world had to fight to get the same chance as men in education and jobs. Many people said that women should not receive much education because they would not do as well as men when they went to work.

One woman who showed that women should have the same chance was Marie, a scientist. In the 1800s scientists knew that a metal, uranium, gave off radiation. They also knew how much radiation came from his element. But they didn’t know what this radiation was like; they wondered why and how uranium gave off radiation. Marie Curie set out to answer these questions. In one of her experiments she was studying a certain material which, she knew, contained uranium, But it gave off 4 times as much radiation as usually does. What could explain this fact? Marie Curie thought that there must be another source of radiation in this material.

In 1898 Marie Curie set out to find out this new source of radiation, which she named “radium”. Her husband, who was also a scientist, helped her. They set up a laboratory in an old building behind a school. For four years Curies searched, doing many experiments, And one morning in 1902 Marie found the source of the radiation.

Marie Curie proved to the world that there was element that gave off radiation. And she also proved to the world that, if women are given truly equal chance, they can really help society.

1.The scientists of Marie Curie’s day knew .

A．that uranium gave off radiation

B．that radium gave off radiation

C．that there was some radium in uranium

D．that uranium and radium both gave off radiation

2.The Curies found the element radium .

A．with other scientists’ help               B．by asking some famous scientists

C．by doing many experiments               D．with their teachers’ help

3.In the past many people thought .

A．that women must get the same chance as men in education and jobs

B．that women should receive much education

C．that women should get good jobs

D．that women could not do the work well

4.Marie Curie proved to people .

A．that there was a new element uranium

B．that there was a new element radium

C．that women could do their work as well as men if they were really given the same conditions

D．both B and C

We all have storms through our lives. But we have no right to make everyone else suffer with our own   31 .

The carpenter I   32  to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a(n)   33  first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and now his truck   34  to start.

While I drove him home, he sat in stony   35  .

On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused   36   at a small tree,   37  tips of the branches with both hands.

When opening the door, he underwent a(n)   38  transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles, and he   39   his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

The next day my   40  drove me to ask him about what I had seen. “Oh, that’s my trouble tree,” he replied. “I know I can’t   41  having troubles on the job, but the troubles don’t   42  to the house with my family. So I just   43  them up on the tree. Then in the morning I pick them up again.”

“  44  thing is,” he smiled, “when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren’t nearly as   45  as I remember the night before.”

Putting   46  around our problems is a really good idea --- it prevents our difficulties from spilling over onto loved people, who can’t do anything about our problems. Why   47  them if they can’t help us?

So, plant yourself a trouble tree outside and use it   48   you come home. Be grateful that you have loved ones to go home to    49  your loved one is simply your beloved dog. And when you picked up your troubles on the way each morning, be   50  that they’re not as heavy as they were the night before.

America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while — then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand, because friendships between us flower more slowly but then may become lifelong feelings, extending (延伸) sometimes deeply into both families.  Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. They will enjoy welcoming us and be pleased if we accept their hospitality (好客) easily. Another difficult point for us Chinese to understand Americans is that although they include us warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to us if it requires a great deal of time. This is usually the opposite of the practice in our country where we may be generous with our time. Sometimes, we, as hosts, will appear at airports even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off to act as guides to our foreign friends. The Americans, however, express their welcome usually at homes, but truly can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily routine. They will probably expect us to get ourselves from the airport to our own hotel by bus. And they expect that we will phone them from there. Once we arrive at their homes, the welcome will be full, warm and real. We will find ourselves treated hospitably.  For the Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to go to restaurants, except for purely business matters. So accept their hospitality at home!

1.The writer of this passage must be ______.

2.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

3.From the last two paragraphs we can learn that when we arrive in America to visit an American friend, we will probably be ______.

4.The underlined words “generous with our time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean ______.

5. A suitable title for this passage would probably be “______”.

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意．然后从1—15各题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

I can still remember when I met my best friend．She had just moved into the neighborhood and her grandmother brought her down to  1     me．I hid behind my motherland she hid behind her grandmother，  3       to look at each other．Soon we lost the 2       and started playing with each other．

In the 7^th grade，I first lost touch with her．She was  4     family problems and I deserted her to be with the because they knew she had  5        people．None of my new friends liked her as much as I did because they knew she had  6       ．However，every summer we could always sit at each other’s house and watch soap operas，and talk about all the boys we liked．

It was last year when I noticed the problem．I guess I was too devoted in high school to  7       she needed someone there for her．Anyway，she made a new best friend and so did I．Then 1 didn’t know why，but she started cutting herself!

She then was diagnosed（诊断）with clinical depression．At first，1 was very 8 ，but we still stayed in  9 ．I wanted to be there for her since her new best friend basically  10  her and people were calling her  11  ．

Yesterday she came to me and said：“I never knew what a best friend was until you were the only person that would stop me cutting．I  12  you so much，and you didn’t even know you were  13  me．”

We both cried．And I guess a kind of  14  from my life so far is never to give up on your friends．Even if they aren’t as cool as others，or people think they are crazy，they need someone there．If you desert them，you will only be  15  yourself.

A．follow   B．meet         C．join         D．support

A．scared        B．annoyed       C．worried      D．delighted

A．temper       B．interest        C．confidence  D．shyness

A．taking up      B．getting through C．going throughD．making up

A．happier      B．cooler          C．stronger      D．cleverer

A．problems       B．shortcomings C．partners       D．disabilities

A．admit         B．accept          C．consider     D．realize

A．calm          B．considerate   C．upset      D．helpful

A．place         B．touch        C．control           D．mood

A．confused     B．bothered      C．reminded    D．deserted

A．crazy       B．stubborn      C．clumsy       D．stupid

A．expect      B．influence     C．appreciate   D．demand

A．urging      B．blaming       C．helping       D．hurting

A．honour      B．favour         C．pleasure      D．lesson

A．innocent      B．successful    C．guilty      D．reliable