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A

The annual Carnival in Brazil is a unique festival. It is also the most important ethnic celebration. It comes between the end of February and the beginning of March every year. Hundreds of thousands of tourists from overseas were attracted to join the feast of rejoicing， which involves fashionable costumes， sexy Brazilian girls and passionate samba dance.

The earliest Carnival dates back to 1641， when the colonial rulers implemented a decree（法令）. According to it， people would be encouraged to parade， dance and drink to celebrate the birthday of the Portuguese King. More than three hundred years later， the Carnival has become the most important folk festival of Brazil.

On February 24 of this year， the “King Momo” dressed in bright orange， took the gold key of the city from the mayor of Riode Janeiro， to signify the beginning of the Carnival. During the following five days， the “King”， who played a leading role in the Carnival， would throw out all daily routines， so that people could indulge themselves. The “King Momo” this year was as 33-year-old architect. His name was Alex de Oliveira.

The “King Momo” is also known as “the King of Carnival”. He is hand?picked by Rio residents. There was once a rule that required the “King” to weigh no less than 100 kg. Today， there is a rule that the “King” shouldnt be heavier than 130 kg.

The main “course” of the Carnival is the samba dance. Months before the Carnival， some professional samba schools will set out to compose music， rehearse dances and design costumes according to the current theme of the Carnival.

700，000 tourists swarmed the coastal city of Rio de Janeiro for the Carnival. Whoever they are—poor or rich， celebrity or ordinary people—they are all just dancers， day and night. Happiness prevails， while complaints disappear. Countless romantic stories occur during the celebrations， brightening everyones dull daily life.

1. What does the underlined word “costumes”probably mean？

A. Films. B. Songs.

C. Clothes. D. Books.

2. Whats the purpose of the original Brazil Carnival？

A. To thank God.

B. To celebrate a kings birthday.

C. To express a sense of happiness.

D. To celebrate the harvest of 1641.

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE about the Carnival？

A. It is held twice every year.

B. “King Momo” is the last part of it.

C. Samba dance is the most important activity of it.

D. People can enjoy the dancing of famous dancers during it.

4. Whats the best title of the passage？

A. Welcome to Brazil

B. An Unforgettable Carnival

C. The Enthusiastic Brazil Carnival

D. The History of the Brazil Carnival

B

Long ago， the Roman historian Comelius Tacitus observed that “the desire for fame is the last thrown away even by the wise”. But celebrity mania（名人熱）is at new heights at the turn of the century.

Todays media often features celebrities—from Hollywood and Silicon Valley to Wall Street and Washington—beautifying a few rich and powerful Americans.

Time magazine is now trying to sum up the past 100 years by conducting an Internet poll（民意調(diào)查）to identify the “Person of the Century.” The absurdity（荒謬）of the issue is strengthened when you consider that the poll is just advisory： The guys who run Time will determine the Person of the Century. “Your suggestions will be considered by the editors， who will make the final choice，” Times website tells readers.

The question that Time says it seeks to answer—“Who has had the greatest effect on the 20th century？” —begs a deeper question. Who is the judge？ The nations largest news weekly has already nailed down its answer to that question.

Some earnest souls associated with a Florida-based environmental group called Lovearth are attempting to make advertisements for positive ends. “Were trying to get like-minded people together to use Time magazine for our own good，” the organizations director， Mark Elsis， told me. A mass-distributed Internet message from Lovearth says， “Vote for John Lennon in Times Person of the Century poll.”

Hows John Lennon doing in the most-influential-of-the-century poll brought to us by Time？ In early July， Lovearth reported that “John passed Henry Ford and has moved up from 11th to 10th place. Next week， he should overtake President Ronald Reagan and move up to 9th place.”

But somehow， I question that John Lennon has any chance of becoming Time magazines Person of the Century.

5. What do the underlined words in paragraph 1 mean？

A. Everyone， wise or not， has the desire for fame.

B. Only wise people can control the desire for fame.

C. Those who can oppose the attraction of fame are wise.

D. It is only wise people that are interested in the glory of fame.

6. What can we infer from Paragraph 4？

A. One has to answer two questions in the poll.

B. The answer to the first question is more difficult.

C. Nobody has disagreed Times right to be the judge.

D. Time has decided that the media should be the judge.

7. From the example of Lovearth， we can infer that the writer thinks ___ .

A. the public are not serious about the poll

B. people should take advantage of the poll

C. Lennon is more influential than Ronald Reagan

D. voters decisions are influenced by organizations

8. From the passage we can learn that the writer ___ .

A. believes that the celebrity mania is a good thing

B. believes in the theory that celebrities made history

C. disagrees with the medias much focus on celebrities

D. discourages ordinary people from becoming celebrities

從下列方框里10個單詞中選擇8個適當單詞的正確形式填入下列各句中，使其句意完整。每個單詞只使用一次。

calendar flour ingredient multicultrual parade

plantation pork relax taste whistle

1. The cake recipe calls for three eggs and two cups of ____ .

2. According to the ____ ， my birthday falls on a Sunday this year.

3. From this month on， price control on fresh ____ will be lifted in this city.

4. Mary can produce delicious meals from very simple ____ .

5. Weekends are often considered as very ____ days.

6. Jenny went along ____ to keep up her courage in the dark.

7. You enjoy eating things that are ____ even when you are not hungry.

8. People dressed up in all manner of strange costumes and noisily ____ around last Halloween.

下列各句每句有1個錯誤。

1. Does it feel as cotton or is it real cotton？ ____

2. The old lady goes to church everyday even on a rainy day. ____

3. Its important for you as well for me to reduce some pollution to make our environment better. ____

4. While playing， just remember to have good time and forget anything else！ ____

1. 看到她在做飯的同時看電視，我無法相信她能做出一頓美味可口的飯菜。

2. 這個節(jié)日游行以前相當流行，但人們現(xiàn)在不再喜歡它了。

3. 他試著用散步來驅(qū)走他兒子給他帶來的煩惱。

4. 你能想出一個可以使用這個成語的情況來讓你的描述更具體嗎？

1. Thats ___ what happened on that night according to what the man said.

A. more or less B. now and then

C. sooner or later D. here and there

2. Having been a smoker for thirty years， he finally ___ the habit for health.

A. gave up B. gave away

C. gave out D. gave back

3. I enjoy the party very much. How ___ the music sounds to me！

A. relaxed B. relaxedly

C. relaxing D. relaxingly

4. These cats and dogs were so lovely that they ___ in no time.

A. sold B. were sold

C. would sell D. had been sold

5. — Which team do you think will win？

— Our team. We have better players， so I ___ them not to

lose the game.

A. hope B. expect

C. prefer D. want

6. The traffic lights ___ green and I pulled away.

A. came B. grew

C. got D. went

7. He had to ___ the mouthful of pills with a full cup of water.

A. wash down B. wash up

C. wash away D. wash out

8. ___ told you everything I knew about him！

A. Id rather not have B. Id not rather have

C. Id rather not to have D. Id not rather to have

“We started as a group of friends with the same problem： difficulty in our personal life to manage our time， being always in a hurry.” This thought was recently offered by Bruno to explain the origin of The Art of Living Slowly， an organization that he founded two years ago， with his wife， Ella.

Bruno and Ella said they decided to draw more peoples attention to the overlooked idea that “Time is wealth”. Last year， they created a new holiday， the first Global Day of Slow Living. Despite（盡管）its ambitious（雄心勃勃的）name， the event was limited almost completely to Italy， where the couple organized a number of events： a reverse bicycle race in which the last rider was said to be the winner； an afternoon of grandfathers reading poetry to children， etc.

One Monday in late February， the couple staged a New York version of the Day of Slow Living. “It has to be a Monday， the worst day to try to slow down.” Bruno explained. Bruno was wearing a police cap， mirrored sunglasses， and a sandwich board stating， “Caution！ Speed-walking camera is in action！” He flagged down passers-by and handed them postcards printed with fourteen “slowmandments”. For example， No. 4： Write your text message on your cellphone with no symbols and get in the habit of starting with “Dear...”； No.7： Avoid being so busy that you dont have time for yourself. Bruno told the passers-by to read them once a day and keep the doctor away.

Many said， “I cant do this. New York is too fast.” Bruno admitted. But many stopped， they read and said. “This one is good for me， because trying to slow down is like trying to stop smoking.”

When asked about their plans for the future， Bruno and Ella looked at each other and shouted many times the name of the city they had chosen for next years Global Day of Slow Living， “Tokyo！”

1. What did the Art of Living Slowly help people do？ （within 8 words）

2. What was the overlooked idea that Bruno and Ella decided to draw more peoples attention to？ （within 3 words）

3. What did Bruno do in New York？ （within 8 words）

4. How did people who stopped to read Brunos postcards feel about trying to slow down？ （within 7 words）

5. Which place had they chosen for the next years Global Day of Slow Living？ （1 word ）