The Spring Festival marks the first day of a new year, so the first meal is rather important. People from the North and the South have different  36 about the foods they eat on this 37 day. In Northern China, people  38 eat Jiaozi. The word Jiaozi in Chinese means the  39 and the beginning of time. According to historical  40 , in the past people from the North and the South both ate Jiaozi on Chinese New Year’s Day. Perhaps  41 the areas in Southern China  42  more rice than those in Northern China, southern people slowly  43  to eat many other kinds of food on New Year’s Day.  44 , the most common foods for the first  45 are noodles, New Year Cake and Tangyuan. The noodle  46  long life. The New Year Cake is called Niangao in Chinese, which  47  the hope of improvement in  48 year after year. Tangyuan is a symbol of  49 according to the Chinese.
To  50  a New Year visit to relatives and friends is an important activity during the Spring Festival. People also send cards to   51   a New Year’s greeting. What children love most is to set off firecrackers.   52  , as the pace of life is becoming faster and faster, people have   53  new ways to celebrate the Chinese traditional New Year. For example, many people no longer send out greeting cards.   54  , they use short messages or emails. Also to travel during the New Year holidays has come into   55  .

What Is a Boy?
Between the innocence of babyhood and the seriousness of manhood we find a delightful creature called a “boy”. Boys come in different sizes, weights, and colors, but all boys have the same belief: to enjoy every second of every minute of every hour of every day and to fill the air with noise until the adult males pack them off to bed at night．
Boys are found everywhere—on top of, under, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping to. Mothers spoil them, little girls hate them, older sisters and brothers love them, and God protects them. A boy is TRUTH with dirt on its face, BEAUTY with a cut on its finger, WISDOM with chocolate in its hair, and the HOPE of the future with a snake in its pocket．
When you are busy, a boy is a trouble-maker and a noise. When you want him to make a good impression, his brain turns to jelly or else he becomes a wild creature bent on destroying the world and himself with it.
A boy is a mixture – he has the stomach of a horse, the digestion of stones and sand, the energy of an atomic bomb, the curiosity of a cat, the imagination of a superman, the shyness of a sweet girl, the brave nature of a bull, the violence of a firecracker, but when you ask him to make something, he has five thumbs on each hand.
He likes ice cream, knives, saws, Christmas, comic books, woods, water (in its natural habitat), large animals, Dad, trains, Saturday mornings, and fire engines． He is not much for Sunday schools, company, schools, books without pictures, music lessons, neckties, barbers, girls, overcoats, adults, or bedtime.
Nobody else is so early to rise, or so late to supper. Nobody else gets so much fun out of trees, dogs, and breezes. Nobody else can put into one pocket a rusty knife, a half eaten apple, a three-feet rope, six cents and some unknown things.
A boy is a magical creature—he is your headache but when you come home at night with only destroyed pieces of your hopes and dreams, he can mend them like new with two magic words, “Hi, Dad!”
【小题1】The whole passage is in a tone of _________．

While income worry is a rather common problem of the aged, loneliness is another problem that aged parents may face. Of all the reasons that explain their loneliness, a large geographical distance between parents and their children is the major one. This phenomenon(现象)is commonly known as “Empty Nest Syndrome”(空巢综合症).
In order to seek(寻找) better chances outside their countries, many young people have gone abroad, leaving their parents behind with no clear idea of when they will return home. Their parents spend countless lonely days and nights, taking care of themselves, in the hope that someday their children will come back to stay with them. The fact that most of these young people have gone to Europeanized or Americanized societies makes it unlikely that they will hold as tightly to the value of duty as they would have if they had not left their countries. Whatever the case, it has been noted that the values they hold do not necessarily match what they actually do. This geographical and cultural distance also prevents the grown-up children from providing response in time for their aged parents living by themselves.
The situation in which grown-up children live far away from their aged parents has been described as “distant parent phenomenon”, which is common both in developed countries and in developing countries. Our society has not yet been well prepared for “Empty Nest Syndrome”.
【小题1】According to the passage, the loneliness of aged parents is mainly caused by _________.

He had travelled thousands of miles in the hope of earning some money，but 18-year-old Lin Kongming never knew danger was waiting for him.

He and six other migrant workers from Fujian Province spent 36 hours in Iraq as international hostages（人质）. But luckily，they were set free last Tuesday morning，unharmed by the people who had taken them hostage.

After hard work by Chinese diplomats（外交官）in the region the Iraqi kidnappers（绑架者）agreed to hand them over to a local religious group.“The friendly relations between the Chinese and Iraqi peoples have played a key role in the release of the hostages,”said Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan. China refused to join the US-led coalition（联军）in the Iraq war.

Since April 4，over 60 hostages from 12 countries，including America，Italy and Japan，have been taken in Iraq. Some have been released, others were killed.

The Iraqi resistance groups have started taking foreigners hostage in an attempt to force the US-led troops out of their country. As a result，many foreigners have left，fearing the situation will get worse. Some nations are also considering removing their troops from Iraq. Thailand has ordered its forces not to leave their camp and may bring them home before September as originally planned. New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark is considering similar action.

But Dan Senor，spokesman for the US-led coalition in Baghdad，said that it would not negotiate（谈判）with “terrorists or kidnappers” to get hostages released.

The seven workers from Fujian were set free mainly because ______.

A. they were too poor to pay anything

B. kidnappers didn’t know they were Chinese

C. China didn’t take sides with the US-led coalition

D. kidnappers were friendly to the Chinese

Why did the Iraqi resistance groups start to take foreigners hostage？

A. To show their anger towards the occupation of foreign troops.

B. To tell the world they would fear nothing.

C. To make foreign armies leave their country.

D. To resist the American troops.

The author mentioned Dan Senor to show the US ______.

A. wouldn’t give in to Iraqi terrorists or kidnappers

B. had enough power to station in Iraq

C. wouldn’t give up unless it could get something

D. had no plan to bring its troops home

The passage mainly tells us ______.

A. the hostage crises in Iraq

B. foreigners were not welcome in Iraq

C. the Chinese hostages were set free

D. keeping away from Iraq is a wise choice

阅读下面短文，根据所读内容在表格中的空白处填入恰当的单词。

注意：每个空格只填一个单词。

Although stressful and unpleasant, examinations are a part of education that students all over the world have to experience. Exams are not recent methods of testing knowledge. They have been used since ancient times and our ancestors probably went through the same anxious preparation as students today.

China, exams were first introduced more than 1,300 years ago during the Sui Dynasty. Known as the Imperial Examinations or keju, the ten subject tests were used to select people for government jobs. A career in public service was considered the highest profession, and the examinations attracted millions of hopeful participants each time they were held. The tests had three levels: for local, provincial and national government. Only about 5% of those taking each level passed, and the number of students who passed all the levels was even smaller－ perhaps as low as 0.0004%.

The exams were so important in China that some people spent nearly their whole lives retaking the exams in the hope of eventually passing. Others tried to cheat by hiding notes in cakes or on their clothes. Historians found one undergarment that had 353 model essays written on it. Perhaps if this particular student had spent as much time studying as he did writing on his clothes, he would have passed!

The Imperial Examinations lasted until 1905, when they were replaced. Exams, however, are still a compulsory part of education in China. As nobody has yet come up with an alternative method of judging students’ abilities, it seems likely that the system of examinations will continue for more years.