“What’s in a name?”According to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, there is not too much. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. ”But Shakespeare may have been wrong. In most cultures, names matter a great deal.
Americans choose names for their children with care. Parents usually think about the impression a name gives, not its meaning. Most Americans would consider a“Jennifer”more attractive than a “Bertha”, for example. The last name, or, surname, must also be considered when choosing a first and middle name. A name like Lester Chester Hester would sound poetic, but odd. Parents would avoid names that remind them of people they don’t like. On the other hand, people might name their children after a respected elderly relative or even a famous person. The popularity of certain names can change with each new generation. Names that were once common, like Fanny or Elmer, sound old-fashioned today. But other names—like John and David, Mary and Sarah—have stood the test of time and continue to be favorites.
People in America don’t always call their friends and relatives by their given names. Instead, they often use nicknames. Sometimes nicknames are short forms of a longer name. For instance, a girl named Elizabeth may be called Lisa, Beth or Betsy. As children grow up, they may decide for themselves which nickname they wish to be called. Some people just go by the initials of their first and middle names, like B. J. or R. C. And of course, people may call their children or their sweethearts other special nicknames. Often they have a “sweet” flavor, like Honey or Sugar. What’s in a name? A world of significance. So if you’re choosing an English name for yourself, take care to choose a good one. A made-up name could sound strange to native English speakers. And a translation of your Chinese name may not make an appropriate name, either. But a good name can leave a positive and lasting impression. As an American politician once said,“In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears.”
【小题1】What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 2 mean?

"What’s in a name?”According to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet，there is not too much.“That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. "But Shakespeare may have been wrong. In most cultures，names matter a great deal.
Americans choose names for their children with care. Parents usually think about the impression a name gives，not its meaning. Most Americans would consider a “Jennifer” more attractive than a“Bertha"，for example. The last name，or，surname，must also be considered when choosing a first and middle name. A name like Lester Chester Hester would sound poetic，but odd. Parents would avoid names that remind them of people they don’t like. On the other hand，people might name their children after a respected elderly relative or even a famous person. The popularity of certain names can change with each new generation. Names that were once common，like Fanny or Elmer，sound old-fashioned today. But other names—like John and David，Mary and Sarah—have stood the test of time and continue to be favorites.
People in Ameica don’t always call their friends and relatives by their given names. Instead，they often use nicknames. Sometimes nicknames are short forms of a longer name. For instance，a girl named Elizabeth may be called Lisa，Beth or Betsy. As children grow up，they may decide for themselves which nickname they wish to be called.
Some people just go by the initials of their first and middle names，like B. J, or R. C. And of course，people may call their children or their sweethearts other special nicknames. Often they have a “sweet” flavor，like Honey or Sugar. What’s in a name? A world of significance. So if you’re choosing an English name for yourself，take care to choose a good one. A made—up name could sound strange to native English speakers. And a translation of your Chinese name may not make an appropriate name，either. But a good name can leave a positive and lasting impression.  As an American politician once said，“In real life，unlike in Shakespeare，the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears.”
【小题1】What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 mean?

Mark Twain has been called the inventor of the American novel. And he surely deserves additional praise: the man who popularized the clever literary attack on racism.
I say clever because anti-slavery fiction had been the important part of the literature in the years before the Civil War. H. B. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is only the most famous example. These early stories dealt directly with slavery. With minor exceptions, Twain planted his attacks on slavery and prejudice into tales that were on the surface about something else entirely. He drew his readers into the argument by drawing them into the story.
Again and again, in the postwar years, Twain seemed forced to deal with the challenge of race. Consider the most controversial, at least today, of Twain’s novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Only a few books have been kicked off the shelves as often as Huckleberry Finn, Twain’s most widely read tale. Once upon a time, people hated the book because it struck them as rude. Twain himself wrote that those who banned the book considered the novel “trash and suitable only for the slums (贫民窟).” More recently the book has been attacked because of the character Jim, the escaped slave, and many occurences of the word nigger. (The term Nigger Jim, for which the novel is often severely criticized, never appears in it.)
But the attacks were and are silly—and miss the point. The novel is strongly anti-slavery. Jim’s search through the slave states for the family from whom he has been forcibly parted is heroic. As J. Chadwick has pointed out, the character of Jim was a first in American fiction—a recognition that the slave had two personalities, “the voice of survival within a white slave culture and the voice of the individual: Jim, the father and the man.”
There is much more. Twain’s mystery novel Pudd’nhead Wilson stood as a challenge to the racial beliefs of even many of the liberals of his day. Written at a time when the accepted wisdom held Negroes to be inferior (低等的) to whites, especially in intelligence, Twain’s tale centered in part around two babies switched at birth. A slave gave birth to her master’s baby and, for fear that the child should be sold South, switched him for the master’s baby by his wife. The slave’s lightskinned child was taken to be white and grew up with both the attitudes and the education of the slave-holding class. The master’s wife’s baby was taken for black and grew up with the attitudes and intonations of the slave.
The point was difficult to miss: nurture (养育), not nature, was the key to social status. The features of the black man that provided the stuff of prejudice—manner of speech, for example— were, to Twain, indicative of nothing other than the conditioning that slavery forced on its victims.
Twain’s racial tone was not perfect. One is left uneasy, for example, by the lengthy passage in his autobiography (自传) about how much he loved what were called “nigger shows” in his youth—mostly with white men performing in black-face—and his delight in getting his mother to laugh at them. Yet there is no reason to think Twain saw the shows as representing reality. His frequent attacks on slavery and prejudice suggest his keen awareness that they did not.
Was Twain a racist? Asking the question in the 21st century is as wise as asking the same of Lincoln. If we read the words and attitudes of the past through the “wisdom” of the considered moral judgments of the present, we will find nothing but error. Lincoln, who believed the black man the inferior of the white, fought and won a war to free him. And Twain, raised in a slave state, briefly a soldier, and inventor of Jim, may have done more to anger the nation over racial injustice and awaken its collective conscience than any other novelist in the past century.
【小题1】 How do Twain’s novels on slavery differ from Stowe’s?

阅读下面短文并回答问题，然后将答案写到答题卡相应的位置上（请注意问题后的词数要求）。

[1] Parents and educators battle over how much homework kids should have, and how often they should have it. This past school year, my eldest daughter's teacher did not assign too much homework, and often gave the kids extra time during class to get it done. Meanwhile, my daughter's dear friend — who attends the same school and is in the same grade — struggled nightly with her lengthy homework assignments. She had work to do every night, extra projects to complete, and assignments to complete over holiday break.

[2] So which was the lucky kid? Some might argue that my child was — she had more time to play, and spent less time stressing over assignments. Others might feel that my child was missing out on a key element of her education by not having what she was learning during the school day reinforced.

[3] To be honest, I'm not really sure which camp I'm in, but it's debates like this one that have sparked a homework revolution between parents and schools all over the country. A New York Times article reported that the school district in Galloway, N.J., is considering a proposal to limit weeknight homework to 10 minutes for each year of school — 20 minutes for second-graders, 30 minutes for third-graders, etc. — and ban assignments on weekends, holidays and school vacations. The school district in Pleasanton, Calif., is looking at a similar proposal. __________, other schools around the country are introducing homework-free holidays, no-homework nights, and goal-work — instead of homework — that can be completed throughout the school day.

[4] Most of these changes are in response to annoyed parents who see lengthy homework assignments competing with what little family time they have each day. The documentary "Race To Nowhere" spurred（激起）more debate by highlighting the unnecessary pressure on kids in today's educational system.

1.What is the text mainly about? (no more than 8 words)

2.What sparked a homework revolution among parents and schools all over the country according to Paragraph 3? (no more than 5 words)

3.Fill in the blank in Paragraph 3 with proper words. (no more than 5 words)

4.What’s the parents’ attitude towards too much homework according to the last paragraph? (no more than 4 words)

5.What does the underlined word (Line 3, Paragraph 1) probably refer to? (no more than 3 words)

How did your friendships begin? Most start with a short conversation on a random day. Asking about a homework assignment in class or complaining about your painful legs after playing in a soccer game, you found your best pal by accident.

“Small talk is where all your relationships begin,” Forbes magazine summed up.

The following is a five-step guide to making small talk from Bernardo J. Carducci, the director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast, US. Let’s have a look.

Getting started

Begin by talking about the setting, such as the weather outside or the room you are in (“It’s cold in here, isn’t it?”). The purpose of talking about the setting is to show the other person that you are willing to make a conversation.

②The personal introduction

You should mention something about yourself, such as your name. A good personal introduction helps move the conversation forward.

③Looking for topics

At this point, you and your conversation partner need to find common ground. This is a good time to ask questions or to refer back to things you’ve said or heard earlier. Don’t worry if it gets quiet. The other person is probably just thinking of something to say.

④Expanding the topic

The goal is to keep the conversation going. At every stage, you should be careful not to talk too much. But don’t let the other person dominate the conversation either. If that starts to happen, mention something about yourself when he or she takes a breath.

⑤A polite ending

When ending a conversation, let the person know you’ll be leaving soon, express gratitude for the conversation and set the stage for a future conversation. For example, you could say, “I really must be going soon, but I had a great time chatting with you. I really liked hearing your opinion about that new movie. Here’s my phone number. Call or text me if you know of any other movies you think I might enjoy.”

1.According to the article, starting by talking about the setting is meant to ________.

A. find common ground                          B. impress the other person

C. make a conversation                         D. make the room warmer

2.What does the underlined word “dominate” mean in Tip④?

A. interrupt                   B. control                  C. adapt          D. simplify 

3.When ending a conversation, you’d better ________.

A. talk about how much you want to keep talking

B. show that you’ve not enjoyed the talk

C. mention a specific movie that you love          

D. give your opinion about the other person’s earlier comments

4.The main purpose of the article is to ________.

A. encourage students to make more friends

B. give students tips on making small talk

C. introduce popular topics for students  

D. teach students how to create friendships