Going home for Christmas is a tradition of the holiday season．No matter where you may be the rest of the years, being at“home”with your family and friends for Christmas is a“must”．The Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are the busiest times of the year at airports, train stations and bus stations．It seems that all America is on the move and Americans are on their way to spend the holidays with their loved ones．
This means that the house will be full of cousins, aunts and uncles that might not see each other during the year．Everyone joins in to help in the preparation of the festival．Some family members get to choose a Christmas tree to buy and bring home．Others decorate the house on wrap presents．And of course, each household needs to make lots of food!
At Christmas Eve gatherings adults have eggnog, which is made of cream, milk, sugar beaten eggs and brandy．Plenty of eggnog or hot cocoa is on hand in colder climates for carolers, or people who go from house to house sing Christmas carols to their neighbors．
Long ago, each child hung a stocking, or sock, over the fireplace．Santa entered down the chimney and left candy and presents inside the socks for the children．Today the tradition is carried on, but the socks are now large red sock-shaped fabric bags still called stockings．Each child can’t wait to open his or her eyes to see what Santa has left in the stocking．
Giving gifts is a Christmas tradition．However, in recent years, more and more people have complained that Christmas is too commercialized(商业化) especially in large cities．Store owners begin advertising and decorating very early in hopes of selling more goods．Some people believe that the origin of Christmas has been lost．
(1)
It is a traditional custom for Americans ________．
[ ]
A．
to buy Christmas trees and bring them to churches for Christmas
B．
to drink beer on Christmas Eve
C．
to go home for Christmas with their family and relatives
D．
to hung stockings on the chimney
(2)
The underlined word“eggnog”in the third paragraph is a kind of ________．
[ ]
A．
drink
B．
food
C．
egg
D．
present
(3)
Each child hung a stocking over the fireplace in order to _________．
[ ]
A．
get some eggnog
B．
have a look at Santa
C．
get some candy and presents
D．
get some money from his/ her parents
(4)
The last paragraph wants to tell us that ________．
[ ]
A．
giving gifts is a Christmas tradition
B．
giving gifts is getting more and more commercialized
C．
store owners hope to get more presents
D．
people think there will be no Christmas in the future
(5)
Why does the writer say“all Americans are on the move”in the passage?
[ ]
A．
Americans like to travel on Christmas．
B．
Because American has a lot of earthquakes on every Christmas．
C．
Because Americans don’t go sleep on Christmas Eve．
D．
Because Christmas holidays are the busiest times of the year．
One of the largest countries in Texas is named for Captain Erastus“Deaf”Smith－a deaf man．Captain Smith was the leader of General Sam Houston's scouts during the Texas Revolution, the war in which Texas won its freedom from Mexico．The county named in his honor is called Deaf Smith County．
A scout in the days of the Texas Revolution was much like what a spy is today．Captain“Deaf”Smith would find out where enemy troops were camped and how many men the enemy had, and he would report to Sam Houston．Even when other people could not see or hear any sign of people or animals, Captain Smith would know where they were．Sometimes he would guide Texas troops through enemy territory without the enemy even knowing they were there．
Erastus Smith was born in New York on April 19,1787; but went to live：in Mississippi when he was 11 years old．He went to Texas for a short time in 1817, and four years later returned to Texas to stay; He wandered over Texas as a surveyor(测量员)before he volunteered for army service after the start of the Texas Revolution．
Smith married a Mexican woman, and they had four children－three girls and one boy．He spent a lot of time learning the customs, manners, and language of the Mexican settlers．When the Texas Revolution began in 1835, Smith at first refused to take part in it out of respect for his family's heritage(传统)．However, after Mexican troops tried to stop him from going to San Antonio to visit his family, he volunteered for service with the Texans．He was made a captain．
(1)
At first, Smith refused to take part in the Texas Revolution because ________．
[ ]
A．
he was a peace-loving person and hated fighting
B．
Mexican soldiers stopped him from going to San Antonio
C．
the Texans were not very good to him and his family
D．
his wife was Mexican and he didn't want to fight against her people
(2)
How old was Smith when he settled in Texas?
[ ]
A．
Thirty－four．
B．
Eleven．
C．
Thirty．
D．
Twenty-seven．
(3)
Which of the following is the correct order of the events?
a．A county in Texas was named after Smith．
b．Smith got married to a Mexican woman．
c．Smith volunteered for service with the Texans．
d．Mexican troops tried to stop him from seeing his family．
e．Smith went to live in Mississippi．
f．The Texas Revolution started．
[ ]
A．
a－b－c－d－e－f
B．
e－b－d－c－a－f
C．
b－e－f－d－c－a
D．
e－b－f－d－c－a
(4)
Which of the following was a great help in Smith's work as a scout?
[ ]
A．
His family's heritage．
B．
His experience as a surveyor．
C．
His deafness．
D．
His good eyesight．
(5)
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
Our boat floated on, between walls of forest too thick to allow us a view of the land we were passing through, though we knew from the map that our river must from time to time be passing through chains of hills which crossed the jungle plains．Nowhere did we find a place where we could have landed：where the jungle did not actually spread right down into the river, banks of soft mud prevented us going ashore．In any case, what would we have sailed by landing?The country was full of snakes and other dangerous creatures, and the jungle was so thick that one would be able to advance only slowly, cutting one’s way with knives the whole way．So we stayed in the boat, hoping we reached the sea, a friendly fisherman would pick us up and take us to civilization．
We lived on fish, caught with home-made net of string(we had no hooks), and fruits and nuts we could pick up out of the water．As we had no fire, we had to eat everything, including the fish, raw I had never tasted raw fish before, and I must say I did not much enjoy the experience; perhaps sea fish which do not live in the mud are less tasteless．After eating my raw fish, I lay back and dreamed of such things as fried chicken and rice, and ice-cream．In the never-ending damp heat of the jungle, ice-cream was a particularly frequent dream．
As for water, there was a choice：we could drink the muddy river water, or die of thirst．We drank the water．Men who had just escaped what had appeared to be certain death lose all worries about such small things as diseases caused by dirty water．In fact, none of us suffered from any illness as a result．
One day we passed another village, but fortunately nobody saw us．We did not wish to risk being taken prisoners a second time：we might not be so lucky to escape in a stolen boat again．
(1)
What they could see in the boat was only ________．
[ ]
A．
high wall
B．
villagers from time to time
C．
vast land
D．
heavy woods
(2)
They couldn’t land because ________．
[ ]
A．
the mud on the shore was too soft
B．
the forest was too thick to let them go through
C．
they could not find the mark on the map
D．
they could not find anyone to lead them out of the forest
(3)
The passage infers that the forest was ________．
[ ]
A．
rich of fruits and animals to be served as food
B．
not very thick as they could advance slowly by cutting the branches
C．
full of various dangerous beings
D．
full of ancient trees
(4)
The most proper title for this passage might be ________．
[ ]
A．
Escape
B．
Scenes of a River
C．
How to Survive on a boat
D．
A New Experience
阅读理解：
Our boat floated on, between walls of forest too thick to allow us a view of the land we were passing through, though we knew from the map that our river must from time to time be passing through chains of hills which crossed the jungle plains．Nowhere did we find a place where we could have landed：where the jungle did not actually spread right down into the river, banks of soft mud prevented us going ashore．In any case, what would we have sailed by landing?The country was full of snakes and other dangerous creatures, and the jungle was so thick that one would be able to advance only slowly, cutting one’s way with knives the whole way．So we stayed in the boat, hoping we reached the sea, a friendly fisherman would pick us up and take us to civilization．
We lived on fish, caught with home-made net of string(we had no hooks), and fruits and nuts we could pick up out of the water．As we had no fire, we had to eat everything, including the fish, raw I had never tasted raw fish before, and I must say I did not much enjoy the experience; perhaps sea fish which do not live in the mud are less tasteless．After eating my raw fish, I lay back and dreamed of such things as fried chicken and rice, and ice-cream．In the never-ending damp heat of the jungle, ice-cream was a particularly frequent dream．
As for water, there was a choice：we could drink the muddy river water, or die of thirst．We drank the water．Men who had just escaped what had appeared to be certain death lose all worries about such small things as diseases caused by dirty water．In fact, none of us suffered from any illness as a result．
One day we passed another village, but fortunately nobody saw us．We did not wish to risk being taken prisoners a second time：we might not be so lucky to escape in a stolen boat again．
(1)
What they could see in the boat was only ________．
[ ]
A．
high wall
B．
villagers from time to time
C．
vast land
D．
heavy woods
(2)
They couldn’t land because ________．
[ ]
A．
the mud on the shore was too soft
B．
the forest was too thick to let them go through
C．
they could not find the mark on the map
D．
they could not find anyone to lead them out of the forest．
(3)
The passage infers that the forest was ________．
[ ]
A．
rich of fruits and animals to be served as food
B．
not very thick as they could advance slowly by cutting the branches
C．
full of various dangerous beings
D．
full of ancient trees
(4)
The most proper title for this passage might be ________．
