Several years ago, a television reporter was talking to three of the most important people in America. One was a very rich banker, another owned one of the largest companies in the world, and the third owned many buildings in the center of New York.
The reporter was talking to them about being important.
“How do we know if someone is really important?” the reporter asked the banker.
The banker thought for a few moments and then said, “I think anybody who is invited to the Whiter House to meet the President of the United States is really important.”
The reporter then turned to the owner of the very large company. “Do you agree with that?” she asked.
The man shook his head, “No. I think the President invites a lot of people to the White House. You’d only be important if while you were visiting the President, there was a telephone call from the president of another country, and the President of the US said he was too busy to answer it.”
The reporter turned to the third man. “Do you think so?”
“No, I don’t.” he said. “I don’t think that makes the visitor important. That makes the President important.”
“Then what would make the visitor important?” the reporter and the other two men asked.
“Oh, I think if the visitor to the White House was talking to the President and the phone rang, and the President picked up the receiver, listened and then said, ‘it’s for you.’”
【小题1】This story happened in _______.

Around the world, people have different ideas about what good manners are.

When you go to restaurants in different parts of the world, it's  __1___  to know the right and wrong things to do. For example, in China it's OK to  __2__ a lot of noise in a restaurant. In fact, if a restaurant isn't noisy and __3___, you may think there is something wrong with it. However, in many western countries, restaurants are __4___ places. If a table is too loud, other people who are eating there might even __5___ to the owner of the restaurant.

Paying the bill is also different from country to country. In China，one person usually pays for __6__. In western countries, one person pays if he or she is entertaining clients（宴请宾客）， but when friends eat together, they usually share the cost. This is called doing Dutch(均摊费用). Also, when westerners pay the __7__ , they usually leave some money for the__8___. This is called “Leaving a tip”. Leaving a tip is thought to be polite. In the U.S., it's __9___ to leave tips of 10%, 15%, or 20% of the bill, which is decided by how good the service is. Good waiters can make a lot of money!

The food people eat is different in the world, but you can find the same kind of food in many countries. Chinese and Italian food, for example, are __10__ all over the world.

1.                A．popular        B．difficult         C．important D．enjoyable

2.                A．cause          B．keep           C．stop D．make

3.                A．lively          B．dangerous       C．lucky D．polite

4.                A．noisy          B．quiet           C．busy D．clean

5.                A．shout          B．explain         C．complain  D．ask

6.                A．everybody      B．nobody         C．somebody D．none

7.                A．bill            B．waiter          C．visitors   D．food

8.                A．gatekeeper      B．seller          C．waiter    D．visitor

9.                A．terrible         B．common        C．serious   D．unusual

10.               A．different       B．popular        C．expensive D．cheap

Who are the top students in the world, do you know? Last week the Organization for Economic Co-operation Development (经济合作与发展组织) picked the best students in the world. They are Finnish (芬兰的). The OECD gave a test to 280 000 15-year-old students from more than 40 coun­tries and regions (地区) last year. The OECD wan­ted to know how well students were doing at school.

Finnish students were No. 1 in the reading test and second in maths after Hong Kong students. Those from Japan and Finland were top in science. In the problem solving, Finnish students came sec­ond to those from South Korea. The test also showed Finland had more top students than the other countries.

Finns (芬兰人) of your age have done a really good job but don't have a sense of envy. You can learn from them. Most Finnish students make good use of the Internet. Of course not for computer games, but for doing more exercises and finding out more information.

Libraries are also important. Finland spends a lot of money on them. Many students have a free card. They read for at least one or two hours a day.

What do you usually do on the Internet? How often do you go to libraries?

1.Students from which country or region did best in the reading test?

2.Which of the following is NOT true?

3.From this passage we know that_________.

A

Several years ago，a television reporter was talking to three of the most important people in America. One was a very rich banker，another owned one of the largest companies in the world，and the third owned many buildings in the center of New York.

The reporter was talking to them about being important. “How do we know if someone is really important？” the reporter asked the banker.

The banker thought for a few moments and then said， “I think anybody who is invited to the White House to meet the President of the United States is really important. ”

The reporter then turned to the owner of the very large company. “Do you agree with that？” she asked.

The man shook his head， “No. I think the President invites a lot of people to the White House. You‘d only be important if while you were visiting the President， there was a telephone call from the president of another country，and the President of the US said he was too busy to answer it. ”

The reporter turned to the third man. “Do you think so？”

“No， I don‘t，” he said. “I don’t think that makes the visitor important. That makes the President important. ”

“Then what would make the visitor important？” the reporter and the other two men asked.

“Oh， I think if the visitor to the White House was talking to the President and the phone rang， and the President picked up the receiver， listened and then said， ‘It’s for you. ‘ ”

1.This story happened in _______.

A．England           B．America           C．Japan             D．Australia

2.There are _______ in this passage.

A．three men and one woman                B．two men and two women

C．three women and one man                D．four women

3.The following is true EXCEPT_________.

A．The banker thought any visitor to the White House was really important.

B．The owner of the very large company thought the visitor would be important if while he was visiting the President, the President would not answer any telephone call

C．The owner of many buildings thoughtthe visitor was really important if he was talking to the President and the President received a telephone call for the visitor.

D．the reporter knew the way to find out who was the most important.