one exclusively for people who are still living the single life. I was a bit surprised when I googled "Singles
Day" on the Internet, to find that China is the only country in the world that has set aside a special day for
singles to celebrate their lives. To find out more about this celebration, please read on.
An old story goes that once there were four single men, leading very boring lives. None of them were married, or had lovers, or did anything exciting. They just sat around all day and played Mahjong.
One day they played Mahjong from 11 in the morning until 11 at night. During the game, no matter
who won, the winning card was always the "four columns" card (the card shows four independent,
parallel columns in two lines). Even more of a coincidence, it was Nov 11, or 11/11. In order to
commemorate the day, they nicknamed it Singles Day.
Singles Day was first celebrated at various universities in Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu Province
during the 1990s. It got the name Singles Day because the date consists of four "ones". These college
students have since graduated, and carried their university tradition into society. Singles Day is now a
special day for all fashionable youths.
The main way to celebrate Singles Day is to have dinner with your single friends, but it"s important
that each person pay their own fee to show their independence. People also hold "blind date" parties in
an attempt to say goodbye to their single lives.
Many singles also choose to say goodbye to their single lives on this day. Many attend "blind date"
parties and many people choose to marry on this day. In addition to meaning "single" the four "ones" of
the date can also mean "only one" as in "the only one for me." Some people will use this date and this
meaning to tell their special someone that they are the only "one" in their heart.
1.Singles Day got its name because _______.
A. the persons who play Mahjong are four singles
B. the date consists of four "ones"
C. only single persons celebrate the day
D. it was first celebrated at universities in Nanjing
2.Which of the following is wrong?
A. Singles Day was first celebrated in Nanjing"s universities.
B. Many singles choose Singles Day to say goodbye to their single lives.
C. The only way to celebrate the Singles Day is to have dinner with your single friends.
D. It was these college graduated students that carried their university"s tradition into society.
3.We can infer from the passage that ______.
A. the four singles did not get married
B. Singles Day receives great popularity among young people
C. when having dinner, one pays the fee for all his friends
D. on Singles Day many attend parties where blind people were present
4.What is the best title for the passage?
A. The Origin of Singles Day.
B. How to Celebrate Singles Day.
C. Singles Day.
D. Say Goodbye to Singles Day.
Joanne was stuck in a traffic jam in central Birmingham at 5: 30 and at 6: 30 she was expected to be
chairing a meeting of the tennis club. At last, the traffic was moving. She swung quickly racing to her house. As she opened the door, she nearly tripped(绊) over Sheba.
"Hey, Sheba," she said, "I"ve got no time for you now, but I"ll take you out as soon as I get back from
tennis club." Then she noticed Sheba seemed to be coughing or choking. Obviously, she could hardly
breathe. Immediately, Joanne realized she would have to take her to the vet(兽医).
When she got there, the vet was just about to close for the day. Seeing the state of Sheba, Dr. Sterne
brought her quickly into his office.
"Listen, doctor, I"m really in a rush to get to a meeting. Can I leave her with you, and go and get
changed? I"ll be back in ten minutes to pick her up, and then I"ll take her on to the meeting with me. Is
that OK?"
"Sure." said the doctor.
Joanne made the quick trip back to her house in a couple of minutes. As she was once more entering
the hallway, the phone by the door began to ring.
"This is Dr. Sterne," said an anxious voice. "I want you to get out of that house immediately," said the
doctor"s voice. "I"m coming round right away, and the police will be there any time now. Wait outside!"
At that moment, a police car screeched to a stop outside the house. Two policemen got out and ran
into the house. Joanne was by now completely confused and very frightened. Then the doctor arrived.
"Where"s Sheba? Is she OK?" shouted Joanne.
"She"s fine, Joanne. I took out the thing which was choking her, and she"s OK now."
Just then, the two policemen reappeared from the house, half-carrying a white-faced man, who could
hardly walk. There was blood all over him.
"My God," said Joanne, "how did he get in there? And how did you know he was there?"
"I think he must be a burglar." said the doctor. "I knew he was there because when I finally removed
what was stuck in Sheba"s throat: it turned out to be three human fingers."
1.Joanne wanted to get back to her home again _____.
A. to dress up for the meeting
B. to phone the police station
C. to catch the badly hurt burglar
D. to wait for her dog to be cured
2.From the passage, we can infer that _____.
A. Sheba fought against the burglar
B. the police found the burglar had broken in
C. Joanne had planned to take her dog to the meeting
D. the doctor performed a difficult operation on the dog
3.In this passage, the writer intends to tell us that the dog is _____.
A. clever
B. friendly
C. frightening
D. devoted
one night in 1 when she made dinner after a long, hard day at work.
That Monday evening so long ago, my mom 2 a plate of eggs, sausage(香肠), and extremely burnt
toast in front of my dad. I remember 3 to see if dad noticed! 4 all my dad did was reach for his toast,
smile at my mom, and ask me how my day was 5 . I don"t remember what I told him that night, but I do
remember watching him 6 butter and jelly(果冻) on that toast and eat every 7 !
When I got up from the 8 that evening, I remember hearing my mom 9 to my dad for burning the
toast. And I"ll never forget what he said: "Baby, I love 10 toast."
Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy goodnight and I asked him if he 11 liked his burnt toast. He
12 me in his arms and said, "Son, your mum put in a 13 day at work today and she"s very 14 .
Besides, a little burnt toast never 15 anyone!"
Actually, life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people. We can"t be 16 at everything we do.
What I"ve learned over the years is that learning to accept 17 faults and choosing to celebrate each
other"s 18 is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting 19 .
If you learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life as they are, you can 20 your
life to the fullest.
( )1. A. particular ( )2. A. supplied ( )3. A. coming ( )4. A. And ( )5. A. at school ( )6. A. cover ( )7. A. egg ( )8. A. chair ( )9. A. apologize ( )10. A. frozen ( )11. A. exactly ( )12. A. raised ( )13. A. hard ( )14. A. sad ( )15. A. damages ( )16. A. ready ( )17. A. each other"s ( )18. A. strengths ( )19. A. circle ( )20. A. love | B. general B. placed B. standing B. So B. at home B. spread B. sausage B. bed B. talk B. burnt B. certainly B. pulled B. comfortable B. tired B. destroys B. clever B. someone"s B. differences B. scholarship B. adapt | C. brief C. managed C. waiting C. Then C. at work C. bring C. bite C. sofa C. whisper C. dry C. really C. surrounded C. simple C. impatient C. hurts C. skillful C. my own C. characters C. company C. enjoy | D. detail D. offered D. sitting D. Yet D. at church D. carry D. toast D. table D. report D. fresh D. specially D. brought D. plain D. careless D. bothers D. good D. my mother"s D. personalities D. relationship D. devote | ||||||||
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A year after graduation, I was offered a position teaching a writing class.Teaching was a profession I had never seriously considered, though several of my stories had been published.I accepted the job without hesitation, as it would allow me to wear a tie and go by the name of Mr Davis.My father went by the same name, and I liked to imagine people getting the two of us confused."Wait a minute," someone might say, "are you talking about Mr Davis the retired man, or Mr Davis the respectable scholar?" The position was offered at the last minute, and I was given two weeks to prepare, a period I spent searching for a briefcase (公文包) and standing before my fulllength mirror, repeating the words, "Hello, class, I"m Mr Davis." Sometimes I would give myself an aggressive voice.Sometimes I would sound experienced.But when the day eventually came, my nerves kicked in and the true Mr Davis was there.I sounded not like a thoughtful professor, but rather a 12yearold boy. I arrived in the classroom with paper cards designed in the shape of maple leaves.I had cut them myself out of orange construction paper.I saw nine students along a long table.I handed out the cards, and the students wrote down their names and fastened them to their breast pockets as I required. "All right then." I said. "Okay, here we go."Then I opened my briefcase and realized that I had never thought beyond this moment.I had been thinking that the students would be the first to talk, offering their thoughts and opinions on the events of the day.I had imagined that I would sit on the edge of the desk, overlooking a forest of raised hands.Every student would shout to be heard, and I would knock on something in order to silence them.I would yell, “Calm down, you"ll all get your turn.One at a time, one at a time!” A terrible silence ruled the room, and seeing no other options, I instructed the students to pull out their notebooks and write a brief essay related to the theme of deep disappointment. 1. The author took the job to teach writing because _____. A.he wanted to be respected B.he had written some stories C.he wanted to please his father D.he had dreamed of being a teacher 2.What can we learn about the author from Paragraph 2? A.He would be aggressive in his first class. B.He was wellprepared for his first class. C.He got nervous upon the arrival of his first class. D.He waited long for the arrival of his first class. 3.Before he started his class, the author asked the students to _____. A.write down their suggestions on the paper cards B.cut maple leaves out of the construction paper C.cut some cards out of the construction paper D.write down their names on the paper cards 4.What did the students do when the author started his class? A.They began to talk. B.They stayed silent. C.They raised their hands. D.They shouted to be heard. | |||||||||||
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It was a cool October evening.Excitement and family members__1__the hall.I was only a 7yearold girl, but I was the center of__2__.Finally, after weeks of preparation, I would__3__all my hard work in a dance performance.Everything would be__4__-so I thought.I waited backstage all__5__in my black tights with a golden belt.In a loud and clear voice, the master of ceremonies__6__that my class was next. My dance class was doing a routine on wooden boxes two feet by two feet, facing the__7__.All I had to do in the next move was put one foot on the box next to mine and keep my other foot on my box.It really was an__8__move.I was concentrating so much on__9__the huge smile on my face and holding my head up that I did not look__10__I was going.I missed my partner"s box altogether and__11__. There I was standing on the stage floor when my classmates were on top of their boxes.I could hear giggles(咯咯笑)coming from the audience, and I felt the__12__rush to my face.I remembered my dance teacher had told us, "If you make a mistake, keep smiling so the audience will not__13__."I did my best to follow her__14__as I continued with the routine. When the curtain dropped, so did my__15__for the evening.I__16__bitterly, tasting the salt from the tears that streamed down my face.I ran backstage, but no one could__17__me down. Recently I realized I had been a__18__that night.I was__19__, but I fought the urge to run off the stage.__20__, I finished the routine with a smile on my face.Now when friends and family laugh about the time I slipped during a dance performance, I can laugh too. | |||||||||||
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