Dear Flowermouse,?

Thank you for your comments on how Americans and Chinese view each other. This is an important subject. Modern technology has given many nations the chance of destroying other nations. This is a cruel picture but it is a realistic one. It means that every nation should make sure that these weapons of great destruction are never used. This requires greater acceptance of differences among people and nations in all parts of the planet.?

Your letter asks specially about Chinese-American relationships but I want to let you know my feelings on a global scale. Because China and America are the most powerful nations and I believe they have a special responsibility for promoting better understanding and for leading the way toward peaceful solutions to the world's problems.

You ask how Chinese and American people view each other. This is an important question. Because I know so little about China that I am not able to judge how Chinese view Americans. I am sure that the view differs according to individual experiences that persons might have. And it is not easy to describe America to foreigners. America is a vast mass of people and cultures. These people came from all parts of the world, from Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and Australia. Each brought a different culture and a different set of values within a single nation.

　　I believe that the vast majority of Americans like the vast majority of Chinese want peace and friendship between our two nations. Both China and America have suffered through generations from war and violence in our history. And I believe that it is the special responsibility of all Chinese and all Americans to impress this need for mutual understanding on our neighbors in other.?

So my friend, this is my response. Please know that I write to you as a private person living in America. I do feel strongly that people everywhere have more in common than they have in differences. We all share the same basic needs for existence and we all depend upon the same need for the survival of this beautiful planet earth. Maybe we can begin to encourage better communication and better understanding through my columns. I hope so.?

From the passage we can know that Flowermouse_______.?

A. loves Americans

B. has read about the writer's articles?

C. is an American

D. knows little about Americans?

It is likely that the writer_______.?

A. disagrees with Flowermouse?

B. thinks it possible for nations to be destroyed due to modern technology?

C. thinks American government share the same opinions with its people?

D. believes the weapons of great destruction are never used?

The letter that Flowermouse wrote to the writer, maybe have referred to .?

A. American culture     

B. American society?

C. Chinese-American relationships

D. Chinese society?

The writer's purpose to write the passage is to_______.?

A. introduce Americans to us

B. make friends with Flowermouse?

C. speak for the government of America

D. call on nations to understand each other??

                          
C
In the early days of human history, people lived by hunting wild animals, or gathering wild grains and plants for food. Then, some people learned to grow crops and raise animals for food. They were the first farmers.
Since the sixteenth century, the word farm has meant agricultural land. But a much older meaning of the word farm is linked to economics. The word farm comes from the Latin word, firma, which means an unchanging payment.
Experts say the earliest meaning of the English word farm was a yearly payment made as a tax or rent.
Farmers in early England did not own their land. They paid every year to use agricultural lands.
Beans are a popular farm crop. But beans are used to describe something of very little value in the expression, not worth a hill of beans. The expression is often used today. You could say, for example, that a bad idea is not worth a hill of beans.
Language expert Charles Earle Funk said the expression was first used almost seven hundred years ago. He said Robert of Gloucester described a message from the King of Germany to King John of England as altogether not worth a bean.
49. In the early days of human history, how did people live?
A. By raising animals.                                      B. By hunting wild animals.
C. By growing crops.                                   D. By selling plants.
50. What is the much older meaning of “farm” linked to?
A. Agriculture.              B. Industry.           C. Economics.   D. Changing payment.
51. What does the expression “not worth a hill of beans” mean?
A. Very important.        B. Very valuable.           C. Not valuable.     D. Not expensive.
52. Which of the following is NOT true?
A. Since the sixteenth century, the word farm has meant agricultural land.
B. The word farm comes from the Latin word.
C. Farmers in early England owned their land.
D. The expression “not worth a hill of beans” was first used almost seven hundred years ago.

Social circumstances in Early Modern England mostly served to repress women’s voices. Patriarchal culture and institutions constructed them as chaste, silent, obedient, and subordinate. At the beginning of the 17th century, the ideology of patriarchy, political absolutism, and gender hierarchy were reaffirmed powerfully by King James in The Trew Law of Free Monarchie and the Basilikon Doron; by that ideology the absolute power of God the supreme patriarch was seen to be imaged in the absolute monarch of the state and in the husband and father of a family. Accordingly, a woman’s subjection, first to her father and then to her husband, imaged the subjection of English people to their monarch, and of all Christians to God. Also, the period saw an outpouring of repressive or overtly misogynist sermons, tracts, and plays, detailing women’s physical and mental defects, spiritual evils, rebelliousness, shrewish ness, and natural inferiority to men.

Yet some social and cultural conditions served to empower women. During the Elizabethan era (1558—1603) the culture was dominated by a powerful Queen, who provided an impressive female example though she left scant cultural space for other women. Elizabethan women writers began to produce original texts but were occupied chiefly with translation. In the 17th century, however, various circumstances enabled women to write original texts in some numbers. For one thing, some counterweight to patriarchy was provided by female communities—mothers and daughters, extended kinship networks, close female friends, the separate court of Queen Anne (King James’ consort) and her often oppositional masques and political activities. For another, most of these women had a reasonably good education (modern languages, history, literature, religion, music, occasionally Latin) and some apparently found in romances and histories more expansive terms for imagining women’s lives. Also, representation of vigorous and rebellious female characters in literature and especially on the stage no doubt helped to undermine any monolithic social construct of women’s mature and role.

Most important, perhaps, was the radical potential inherent in the Protestant insistence on every Christian’s immediate relationship with God and primary responsibility to follow his or her individual conscience. There is plenty of support in St Paul’s epistles and elsewhere in the Bible for patriarchy and a wife’s subjection to her husband, but some texts (notably Galatians 3:28) inscribe a very different politics, promoting women’s spiritual equality: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Jesus Christ.” Such texts encouraged some women to claim the support of God the supreme patriarch against the various earthly patriarchs who claimed to stand toward them in his stead.

There is also the gap or slippage between ideology and common experience. English women throughout the 17th century exercised a good deal of accrual power: as managers of estates in their husbands’ absences at court or on military and diplomatic missions; as members of guilds; as wives and mothers who apex during the English Civil War and Interregnum (1640-60) as the execution of the King and the attendant disruption of social hierarchies led many women to seize new roles—as preachers, as prophetesses, as deputies for exiled royalist husbands, as writers of religious and political tracts.

     What is the best title for this passage?

[A]. Women’s Position in the 17th Century.

[B]. Women’s Subjection to Patriarchy.

[C]. Social Circumstances in the 17th Century.

[D]. Women’s objection in the 17th Century.

     What did the Queen Elizabeth do for the women in culture?

[A]. She set an impressive female example to follow.

[B]. She dominated the culture.

[C]. She did little.

[D]. She allowed women to translate something.

Which of the following is Not mention as a reason to enable women to original texts?

[A].Female communities provided some counterweight to patriarchy.

[B]. Queen Anne’s political activities.

[C]. Most women had a good education.

[D]. Queen Elizabeth’s political activities.

     What did the religion so for the women?

[A]. It did nothing.

[B]. It too asked women to be obedient except some texts.

[C]. It supported women.

[D]. It appealed to the God.

Mexico's neighbours are the United States to the north and Guatemala and Belize to the south. Mexico is about one quarter of the size of the United States. Mexico has more than ninety million people. The language of Mexico is Spanish. This makes Mexico the world's largest Spanish-speaking country.
Mexico City is the capital and largest city of Mexico. The city is also very high. It is 7349 feet high (2240 metres). This makes it one of the highest capital cities in the world. The population, of Mexico City grows bigger every day. About thirty million people live there. It has more people than any other city in the world, even more than Tokyo.
Mexico also has its specialities. Many of the foods we eat started in Mexico. Foods like beans, maize, avocados, tomatoes, peanuts, chili peppers, vanilla, and chocolate come from Mexico. Mexico is also famous for its cactus (仙人掌) plants. Mexico has more kinds of cactus than any other country.
【小题1】Mexico is ____the USA.
A. on the south of     B. on the north of    
C. a part of      D. as large as
【小题2】Mexicans speak______.

FAT TIRE

BIKE TOURS

(FORMERLY MIKE’S TOURS—PARIS)

DAY BIKE TOUR

(Reservations(预订) not needed for this tour to visit Paris—you will love this tour!)

Whether you’re new or experienced, our goal is not to provide you with mind-bending dates and boring stories. Instead, we offer you the famous sites, all the education information, lots of unique and fascinating stories, fantastic photo options, a comfortable bike and excellent personal service from your guide. In fact, we want you to love Paris like we do and have a great time doing it! (4 hours)

*no tours July 25

NIGHT BIKE TOUR

(Reservations not needed for this tour to visit Paris—you will love this tour!)

Our Night Tour is the way to experience the “City of Light” at its best!

Ride through the Latin Quarter and witness the best nightlife in town. Pedal down the lle de la Cité, along the river and enjoy ice cream at Berthillon (Paris’s most famous ice cream shop). See the Louvre as never before (free concert often included) and relax onboard a boat trip on the Seine. Did we mention free wine is provided on the boat?

Make no mistake — this tour is 100% different form our Day Tour in both route and information. Over 65% of our customers take both tours and we hope you will too. Also, be sure to eat something before coming or the wine may give you an unexpected hit! (4.5 hours)

? 26 students, ? 28 adult (Day & Night combo; ? 44 student, ? 48 adult)

*no tours June 21 & July 14

OUR HEADQUARTERS

0156581054 / www.FatTireBikeToursParis.com / info@ FatTireBikeToursParis.com

1. According to the schedule, which day might be appropriate for a Day & Night Combo?

      A. A Saturday in November.  B. Any day in June.

      C. A Friday in March.           D. A Monday in May.

2. If a teacher and his five students plan to visit Paris during daytime, they must pay __________.

       A. ?268   B. ?158   C. ?134   D. ?142

3. One may taste the best ice cream and enjoy free wine in __________.

      A. the Day Bike Tour            B. the Night Bike Tour

      C. the Tour on the Seine D. the Tour to the Louvre

4. The following statements are true EXCEPT __________.

       A. For further information, one can call 0156581054.

       B. One can attend free concert on the boat trip on the Seine.

       C. The route of the Day Bike Tour is totally different from that of the Night Bike Tour.

       D. No reservations are needed for attending both the Bike Tours.