I was reading these interesting stories behind a group of great logos in the world. Personally Nike is my favorite one – it’s so simple. And I liked the stories behind them, which made me forget all other things. McDonald’s, Apple, Mercedes Benz and Adidas own great logos as well, and they are among my favorites.

Nike

In the Greek myth, Nike is the goddess of victory and the source of inspiration for soldiers. This logo represents the wing in the famous statue of the Greek goddess. Nike’s logo was designed by Carolyn Davidson in 1971 for $ 35, and was registered as a trademark in 1995.

McDonald’s

The logo was designed in 1962 by Jim Schindler to resemble the archshaped(拱形的) signs on the side of the company’s then walk-up hamburger stand. Later on, the two golden arches were combined together to form the M. The McDonald’s name was added to the logo in 1968.

    Apple

    There are different stories behind Apple’s logo. The first logo was a reference to the religious story of Adam and Eve, in which the apple represented the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. One year later, the second logo was designed in 1977 by Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne, and it described Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. This logo didn’t stay long. One year later it was replaced almost immediately by graphic designer Rob Janoff’s “rainbow apple”, a rainbow-colored silhouette(轮廓)of an apple with a bite taken out of it. And then the rainbow-colored apple was replaced by the one-colored logo in 1998. It has not been changed so far.

Mercedes Benz

    The Mercedes Benz logo, which was originally created by Gottlieb Daimler in 1909, consists of a simple description of a three-pointed star that represents its rule of the land, the sea and the air. The company was founded by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. Mercedes is the name of Maybach’s elder daughter, while Benz came as a result of a combination with Benz, Cie and DMG in 1926.

Adidas

    The Adidas logo, which was created by the founder of the company Adi Dassler, represents mountains, pointing towards the challenges that are seen ahead and goals that can be achieved. The logo was used for the first time in 1967.

1.What does the author think of the stories of the great logos?

A. They are attractive.    B. They are practical

C. They are boring.           D. They are out of date

2.What does Nike’s logo stand for?

A. The statue of the Greek goddess.

B. The wing of the Greek goddess.

C. The goddess of victory.

D. The source of inspiration for soldiers.

3.We can learn that Apple’s present logo is ______.

A.Newton’s sitting under an apple tree

B.the rainbow-colored bitten apple

C.the religious story of Adam and Eve

D.a bitten apple with only one color

4.______ stands for the rule of the land, the sea and the air.

A. The Mercedes logo    B. The Adidas logo

C. Nike’s logo  D. Apple’s logo

5.Which of the following time orders describes the births of the great logos?

A. McDonald’s – Apple – Nike – Mercedes Benz.

B. Nike– Mercedes Benz – McDonald’s – Apple.

C. Mercedes Benz –McDonald’s – Nike – Apple.

D. Nike– McDonald’s – Apple – Mercedes Benz.

I was in my third year of teaching creative writing at a high school in New York, when one of my students, 15-year-old Mikey, gave me a note from his mother. It explained his absence from class the day before.

I had seen Mikey himself writing the note at his desk. Most parental-excuse notes I received were penned by my students. If I were to deal with them, I’d be busy 24 hours a day.

The forged excuse notes made a large pile(堆), with writing that ranged from imaginative to crazy. The writers of those notes didn’t realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull: “Peter was late because the alarm clock didn’t go off.”

Isn’t it remarkable, I thought, how the students complained and said it was hard to put 200 words together on any subject? But when they produced excuse notes, they were brilliant.

So one day I typed out a dozen excuse notes and gave them to my classes. I said, “They’re supposed to be written by parents, but actually they are not. True, Mikey?”  The students looked at me nervously.

“Now, this will be the first class to study the art of the excuse note—the first class, ever, to practice writing them. You’re so lucky to have a teacher like me who has taken your best writing and turned it into a subject worth studying.”

Everyone smiled as I went on, “You used your imaginations. So try more now. Today I’d like you to write ‘An Excuse Note from Adam to God’ or ‘An Excuse Note from Eve to God’. ” Heads went down. Pens raced across paper. For the first time ever I saw students so careful in their writing that they had to be asked to go to lunch by their friends.

The next day everyone had excuse notes. Heated discussions followed. The headmaster entered the classroom and walked up and down, looking at papers, and then said, “I’d like you to see me in my office.”

When I stepped into his office, he came to shake my hand and said, “I just want to tell you that that lesson, that task, whatever the hell you were doing, was great. Those kids were writing on the college level. Thank you.”

1.What did the author do with the students found dishonest?

A. He reported them to the headmaster.

B. He lectured them hard on honesty.

C. He had them take notes before lunch.

D. He helped improve their writing skills.

2. The author had the students practice writing excuse notes so that the students could learn ______.

A. the importance of being honest

B. how to write excuse notes skillfully

C. the pleasure of creative writing

D. how to be creative in writing

3. The underlined word “forged” in the second paragraph means“______”.

A. dull        B. copied                   C. dishonest              D. parental

4. What did the headmaster think of the author’s way of teaching?

A. Excellent.                 B. Difficult.          C. Incorrect.          D. Reasonable.

三、阅读理解（30分）

On New Year’s Eve

At midnight on New Year’s Eve, people in Rome, Italy, throw out all the things they no longer want. The streets are filled with old chairs, beds, clothes and dishes. In Madrid, Spain, the new year comes in more quietly. People flock to the main square. Each holds a bag of grapes. As the clock strikes twelve, the people eat the grapes— one for each stroke.

In Tokyo people eat noodles on New Year’s Eve. This food is said to bring long life. Early the next morning, some Japanese families climb Mount Fuji. There they watch the first sunrise of the new year.

41. This story is about New Year’s Eve in ____.

A. Italy and Spain     B. China and Japan    C. Japan             D. both A and C

42. In Rome, Italy, the streets are filled with old things on New Year’s Eve because __     .

A. people throw out all the things they no longer want

B. the city has never been clean

C. people want to change back what they want

D. they want to see the sun come up

43. People in both Spain and Japan bring in the new year by____.

A. throwing things away                      B. eating a special food

C. climbing a mountain                       D. watching the first sunrise

44. In Tokyo, people eat noodles on New Year’s Eve _____.

A. because they like eating noodles very much

B. so that the daytime could be longer

C. in order that they could live longer

D. though they don’t eat them

第二节  信息匹配 （共5小题，每小题2分，满分10分）

下面是一篇应用文及其应用场合的信息，请阅读下列应用文和相关信息，并按照要求匹配信息。请在答题卡上将对应题号的相应选项字母涂黑。选项中有一项是多余选项。

首先，请阅读下列书讯：

A．British Life by Anne Collins

What’s everyday life for people in Britain? Why do they talk about the weather so much? This book will tell you everything you want to know about the interesting and traditional country.

B．Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare

A sad story of two lovers. The two lovers began their secret love, but their families didn’t know. It’s one of the famous plays written by Shakespeare in the literature history.

C．Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

Robert Langdon, the hero of Da Vinci Code, which is another history thriller, tried to solve the mystery of a century-old underground organization and save the Vatican from a tomb. If you are not brave enough, don’t read it alone at night. This is the ancient mystery.

D．Happy Christmas by John Escott

This is a book, but looks like a magazine. It is made up of different sections. You can learn about the history and traditions of the western-style holidays and something else like the way of making traditional food and games.

E．The Beatles by Paul Shipton

John, Paul, George and Ringo: four young men from England were the most well-known and some of the best musicians of the 1960s. They formed the Beatles, and their music is still popular today.

F．Silver Bells by Luanne Rice

A sweet love story happening on Christmas. Chris Byne, a farmer who sold his Christmas trees on the streets on New York, one day he met Cathy Tierney, a librarian who lost her husband on Christmas Eve three years before. So a new love and a new hop started lasting a lifetime.

以下是购书者的信息，请匹配购书者的信息与它们所对应的书本：

46．Randy: Christmas is coming. Randy wants to know all information about it, such as the games, the food, the stories, the music and the movies.                                                （   ）

47．Amy: Amy has many romantic dreams. She always believes she can find her Mr. Right like the girls in the fairy stories. So she is crazy about the books with good endings only. Now she begins to bury herself in the book like that.                                         （   ）

48．Vince: Vince, as the head of his own band, is able to play all kinds of musical instruments. But he dreams of becoming musician like John Lennon, a famous singer from a rock band. Therefore, he wants to search for a book on him.                   （   ）

49．Alan: Mystery and adventure are always boys’ dreams. Alan, one of the boys, especially prefers the ancient ones because he always regards himself as a big man with super power, but not a small boy.（   ）

50．Lin Jie: Lin Jie, a student studying English in a university, will go to England to continue his further education. So he wants to find more information about the country he will study in.    （   ）

I was in my third year of teaching creative writing at a high school in New York, when one of my students, 15-year-old Mikey, gave me a note from his mother. It explained his absence from class the day before.

I had seen Mikey himself writing the note at his desk. Most parental-excuse notes I received were penned by my students. If I were to deal with them, I’d be busy 24 hours a day.

The forged excuse notes made a large pile, with writing that ranged from imaginative to crazy. The writers of those notes didn’t realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull: “Peter was late because the alarm clock didn’t go off.”

Isn’t it remarkable, I thought, how the students complained and said it was hard putting 200 words together on any subject? But when they produced excuse notes, they were brilliant.

So one day I typed out a dozen excuse notes and gave them to my classes. I said, “They’re supposed to be written by parents, but actually they are not. True, Mikey?” The students looked at me nervously.

“Now, this will be the first class to study the art of the excuse note --- the first class, ever, to practice writing them. You’re so lucky to have a teacher like me who has taken your best writing and turned it into a subject worthy of study. ”

Everyone smiled as I went on, “You used your imaginations. So try more now. Today I’d like you to write ‘An Excuse Note from Adam to God’ or ‘An Excuse Note from Eve to God’.” Heads went down. Pens raced across paper. For the first time ever I saw students so careful in their writing that they had to be asked to go to lunch by their friends.

The next day everyone had excuse notes. Heated discussions followed. The headmaster entered the classroom and walked up and down, looking at papers, and then said, “I’d like you to see me in my office.”

When I stepped into his office, he came to shake my hand and said, “I just want to tell you that that lesson, that task, whatever the hell you were doing, was great. Those kids were writing on the college level. Thank you. ”

1.What did the author do with the students found dishonest?

A．He reported them to the headmaster.        B．He lectured them hard on honesty.

C．He had them take notes before lunch.        D．He helped improve their writing skills.

2.The author found that compared with the true excuse notes, the produced ones by the students were usually__________.

A．less impressive     B．more imaginative    C．worse written      D．less convincing

3.The author had the students practice writing excuse notes so that the students could learn_________.

A．the importance of being honest            B．how to write excuse notes skillfully

C．the pleasure of creative writing             D．how to be creative in writing

4.The underlined word “forged” in the second paragraph means “______”.

A．former           B．copied            C．false             D．honest

5.What did the headmaster think of the author’s way of teaching?

A．Effective.          B．Difficult           C．Misleading.        D．Reasonable