The Spring Festival is celebrated not only in China but also in other parts of the world. The traditional holiday is the most important to Chinese both at home and abroad.

Have you ever studied abroad? If you come to Australia as a foreign high school student, you can have a lot of fun there, especially on holidays.
There are many festivals in Australia. The most important one is Christmas. Since it is a long holiday, most foreign students in Australia love to fly back to their home countries to spend the time with their families and friends, but a few students still stay in Australia during the holiday to get part-time jobs. It is quite easy to find a part-time job at Christmas.
Students often take part in another major social activity. They go to the beach to have fun in the sunshine. The summer in Australia is from December to February, so going to the beach in December is very popular among Australians.
Easter in March is another important holiday in the year. It actually combines "Good Friday" and "Easter Monday". Almost every shop closes on Good Friday. And people usually go to see Easter Show.
The Chinese new year is not a public holiday in Australia, so every Chinese student still has to go to school to study and do his or her normal duties.
【小题1】                   is the most important festival in Australia.

阅读下面的材料。然后根据材料内容回答问题。
Every year there is the Spring Festival in China. Usually it is in January or February. It's the most important festival in China. So before it comes, everyone has to prepare things. They buy beef, pork, chicken, fruit and many other things. And they often make a special kind of food called "dumpling". It means "come together" in Chinese. On the day before the festival, parents buy new clothes for their children and children also buy presents for their parents. On the festival eve, all the family members（成员）come back to their home. This is a happy moment. They sing, dance and play cards. When they enjoy the meal, they give each other the best wishes for the coming year. They all have a good time.
【小题1】When is the Spring Festival in China?
【小题2】What does "dumpling" mean?
【小题3】What do parents usually buy for their children before the festival?
【小题4】What do the family members usually do on the festival eve?
【小题5】Is the Spring Festival very important in China?

Singapore: A Fine City
Singapore welcomes tourists. When you come to visit Singapore, please keep the laws of this country. Here are some points that you must remember.
SMOKING: Cigarette smoking is a danger to health. It is not allowed in lifts, cinemas, theaters, all government offices and on buses. If you break it, you have to pay fines of up to $ 1,000.   LITTER: Singapore is the Garden City of Asia---clean and green. Dropping litter in public places is not allowed. You can be fined up to $ 500 for dropping litter ---even if it only a piece of waste paper or a cigarette end.
EATING OR DRINKING: In Singapore, when you take a subway or a bus, you are not supposed to eat or drink anything, or you'll be fined up to $ 500.
RIDING: When you ride a bike across an underpass(地下通道), please push your bike across the underpass, or you have to pay $ 1,000 for riding your bike.
JAYWALKING*: You must always use the pedestrian(步行者, 徒步的)crossing. You can be fined $ 50 for crossing the street less than 50 meters from a crossing. These laws are also for children who are old enough to be in the street on their own.
【小题1】The underlined word "fine" in the passage means ________.

Christmas Day, the birthday of Jesus Christ(耶稣)，is the most important festival in Britain and some other countries. On Christmas Eve, people usually tell their children to put their stockings at the end of their beds before they go to sleep. Children believe Santa Claus, with the other name of Father Christmas, will come during the night and fill(装满)their stockings with Christmas presents.
Actually(实际上), Father Christmas is children’s father. He dresses up(打扮)in a red coat and waits until children fall asleep. Then he goes into children’s bedrooms, and puts small presents in their stockings. When children are no longer(不再)young, they know who Father Christmas really is.
Not only children but also their parents enjoy Christmas stockings. They also have stockings. Early on the morning of Christmas Day, Children wake their parents up and say ＂Merry Christmas”. Then they help their parents open their stockings. Everybody likes presents, but it is better to give than to receive(收到).
根据短文内容，判断正(T) 误 (F)。
【小题1】Christmas Day is the birthday of Jesus Christ.
【小题2】On Christmas Eve, children put the hats on the beds.
【小题3】In fact, Father Christmas is children’s father.
【小题4】Only children enjoy Christmas stockings.
【小题5】It’s better to receive than to give .

Clothing is a language. It tells us about individual people: their personality, their age, their place in society and so on. If we want to know more about society, we can look at traditional clothing.

The continent of Africa has a long history and a rich culture, and this is shown in traditional dress. You often find three colours — red, gold and green in the clothing. The first colour stands for the blood of millions of people who suffered as slaves(奴隶); the second is for the rich resources of the African earth; and the third represents the grasslands of home.
The patterns(图案) on the clothing also have a meaning. A common pattern is in the form of a cross “×”, which stands for “unity”. Another pattern is a rectangular box, which represents “strength”.
Because clothing has a strong social meaning, people are very careful in choosing what to wear. It would be a serious mistake to wear the wrong clothing, or to wear clothes in the wrong way. For instance, in Ghana, a woman should wear her waistband differently according to the importance of the social event.
Traditional dress also tells us about everyday life. African designs are famous for loose(宽松的) clothing. The climate, with the hot sun and wide temperature ranges(变化), requires that the clothes are comfortable for daily life.
Although many people wear western clothes, particularly in the big cities in Africa, traditional dress is very highly valued(评价). This is because it has deep cultural meanings.
【小题1】According to the passage, red ________.

Each nation has many good people who help take care of others. For example, some high school and college students in the United States often spend many hours as volunteers in hospitals, orphanages(孤儿院) or homes for the aged(老人). They read books to the people in these places, or they just visit them or listen to their problems. Other young volunteers go and work in the homes of people who are sick or old. They paint, clean up, or repair houses, do shopping and mow(割草) their lawns(草坪). For boys who no longer have fathers, there is an organization called Big Brothers. College students and other men take these boys to basketball games or on fishing trips and help them get to know things that boys usually learn from their fathers.
Some cities have a number of clubs where boys and girls can go to play games or learn crafts(手艺). Some of these clubs show movies or organize short trips to the mountains, the beaches, museums or other places of interest. Most of these clubs use a lot of high school and college students as volunteers because they are young enough to remember the problems of younger boys and girls.
Volunteers believe that some of the happiest people in the world are those who help bring happiness to others.
根据短文内容，选择正确答案（10分）
【小题1】From the short passage we can see that     are often helped by the volunteers.
A、workers in the factory  
B、students in school
C、people in the home for the elderly(老人)
【小题2】Young volunteers often go and work in the homes when people are       .
A、very busy                B、hungry               C、in trouble
【小题3】Big Brothers is an organization     .
A、to play basketball with the boys who no longer have fathers
B、to help the boys who no longer have fathers
C、to teach the boys who no longer have fathers how to fish
【小题4】Which of the following don’t the clubs do for the boys and girls?
A、Show movies.
B、Organize short trips.
C、Make new clothes for them.
【小题5】The clubs use many students as volunteers because      .
A、they believe that the happiest people are those who help bring happiness to others
B、they are so young that they can remember the problems of younger boys and girls
C、they can work very long a day without having a rest

Years ago，if a teenager had some problems in his life，he might write them in his diary. Now he might get on the Internet and write them in his blog(博客). In many ways，a diary and a blog are almost the same. Then，what makes a blog different from a diary?
The biggest difference is that a blog is much more public than a diary. Anyone can read what you write in your blog. Usually，a teenager likes hiding his diary book and treats it as secret. If you are not satisfied with a friend and write something bad about him in your diary，he will never know it. However，if you do this on the Internet，that friend may read your blog and get angry. So we have to be careful of what we write.
A blog has good points，of course. People choose to write in blogs，they know that their friends will read what they write. If you feel sad one day and write in your diary，no one will know about it. If you write the same words in your blog，your friends may quickly write back to comfort you and offer their help. Blogs help people know what their friends are doing.
Though it's a good way to write blogs about everyday life，I still prefer my old diary.
根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。
【小题1】Now when a teenager has some problems in his life，he might ________.
A. talk to his friends  B. keep them in his diary  C. write them in his blog
【小题2】________ is NOT mentioned in the passage.
A. Chatting on QQ  B. Getting on the Internet  C. Writing blogs
【小题3】The underlined word “comfort” means ________ in Chinese.
A. 责怪    B. 安慰     C. 嘲笑
【小题4】From the passage we know that ________.
A. the writer thinks a blog is more helpful than a diary
B. the writer thinks a blog and a diary are the same
C. the writer likes a diary better than a blog
【小题5】The passage mainly talks about ________.
A. the teenagers' problems in their lives
B. the difference between a diary and a blog
C. the good points of writing blogs

Sydney is a young city. Its history goes back just over 200 years. But in Australia, it is the oldest city. It is also the country' s largest city. Sydney is the capital of New South Wales and the most popular city of Australia.
The climate of Sydney is very good. It' s not too cold during the winter and not too hot during the summer. The sky is blue, the air is fresh, and birds sing in the garden. People who live in Sydney seem to have an easy life style. They will tell you, "Don't worry. "
Many people think that Sydney is one of the most attractive cities in the world. It has many tall and modern buildings. Among them, Center point Tower is the tallest. Standing on the 305-metre(80 storeys)tower, you will have a great view of the city.
Sydney is famous for its deep harbor(港口). The harbor has many bays(湾) and beautiful surf beaches.  Among them, Bondi beach is the most popular.  Sydney Harbor is not only beautiful, it also serves as a large port. Ships carry wool, wheat and meat from Sydney to other countries.
People living in Sydney like to call themselves Sydneysiders. They are mostly friendly and easygoing. When they are not working, they love to have a good time at the beach, swimming and sailing.
【小题1】Sydney is the        city in Australia.