The Wife-carrying World Championship has been celebrated in a small town in central Finland since 1992. In 1992, the people of the town decided to restart some long-forgotten traditions.  1 He was said to only accept men as members of his gang who proved their worth in challenges. At that time, it was also a common practice to steal women from neighboring villages.

   2  A large number of competitors, people, and journalists from Finland to Canada attend the Wife-carrying World Championship every year.

   3   The Wife-carrying World Championship is held on a 253.3 meters long official track. The track has two dry obstacles and a water obstacle, about a meter deep. The wife to be carried may be your own, or your neighbor’s. The minimum weight of the wife to be carried is 49 kg. If she is less than 49kg, the wife will be given a heavy bag to carry. Each time a competitor drops his wife, that couple will be fined 15 seconds.  4 

Alongside with the Wife-carring World Championship, there is also a team competition. The distance is the same but three men in the team carry the wife in turns. At the exchange point the carrier has to drink official “wife-carrying drink.” Then he may continue the race.  5 

While the Wife-carrying World Championship is being held, there are bands playing music, a wife carrying dance and other forms of entertainment.”

E．This event is becoming increasingly popular.

F．The winner is the couple who complete the course in the shortest time.

G．Back in the late 1800s, there was a robber called Rosvo-Ronkainen in that area.

Betty and Harold have been married for years .But one thing still puzzles (困扰) old Harold .How is it that he can leave Betty and her friend Joan sitting on the sofa ,talking ,go out to a ballgame ,come back three and a half hours later ,and they’re still sitting on the sofa ? Talking ?

What in the world ,Harold wonders ,do they have to talk about ?

Betty shrugs .Talk ? We’re friends .

Researching this matter called friendship ,psychologist Lillian Rubin spent two years interviewing more than two hundred women and men .No matter what their age ,their job ,their sex ,the results were completely clear :women have more friendships than men ,and the difference in the content and the quality of those friendships is “marked and unmistakable .”

More than two –thirds of the single men Rubin interviewed could not name a best friend. Those who could were likely to name a woman .Yet three-quarters of the single women had no problem naming a best friend ,and almost always it was a woman .More married men than women named their wife/husband as a best friend ,most trusted person ,or the one they would turn to in time of emotional distress （感情危机）.“Most women ,”says Rubin ,“identified （认定） at least one ,usually more ,trusted friends to whom they could turn in a troubled moment ,and they spoke openly about the importance of these relationships in their lives .”

“In general,”writes Rubin in her new book ,“women’s friendships with each other rest on shared emotions and support ,but men’s relationships are marked by shared activities.” For the most part ,Rubin says ,interactions （交往）between men are emotionally controlled –a good fit with the social requirements of “manly behavior .”

“Even when a man is said to be a best friend ,”Rubin writes ,“the two share little about their innermost feelings .Whereas a woman’s closest female friend might be the first to tell her to leave a failing marriage ,it wasn’t unusual to hear a man say he didn’t know his friend’s marriage was in serious trouble until he appeared one night asking if he could sleep on the sofa .”

1.What old Harold cannot understand or explain is the fact that     .

2.Rubin’s study shows that for emotional support a married woman is more likely to turn to     .

3.Which of the following statements is best supported by the last paragraph ?

4.The research done by psychologist Rubin centers around________ .

It seems that the Great Wall is the place to rock(摇滚). There will be two parties held on the Great Wall this month.

Great Wall Ⅰ

The latest Great Wall party is sponsored(主办) by the Club and Elektrobeat and held at Jinshanling. Local DJ Mark, as well as guests Slab from Australia, Usami and Bobby from Hong Kong will sing at the party. All drinks are priced at 20 yuan($ 2.4).

Tickets: 200yuan($ 24), including bus ride there and back plus entrance fee to the Great Wall. T/D: 8p.m. to 2 a.m., Sept. 20.

Pre-sale tickets are to be booked at: Public Space: 6416－0759; Neo Lounge: 6416－1077.

Buses: Leave at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20 from Neo Lounge, 99 Xinfuncun Zhonglu,

Sanlitun, Chaoyang District.

For more info: www. elektrobeat. com

Great wall Ⅱ

The other party at the end of this month at Jinshanling will be started with live performances by Askar, Brain Failure, Longkuan, Supermarket, Mr. Zhou, Beijing Talking and the Yi band.

Dance till dawn to the wonderful sounds of DJs Ben, Mickey Zhang, Will, Cheese, Gao Hu and Huang Weiwei.

T/D: 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., Sept. 27.

Tickets: 350 yuan ($ 42) or 300 yuan ($ 36) for groups of 10 or more, 500 yuan ($ 60) at the door and VIP tickets 800 yuan ($ 72), transportation included.

Buses: Depart from the north gate of Wbrkers’ Stadium at noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m., Sept. 27.

For more info: contact Li Zhenhua at lah@msgp. Org or call 133－2119－1731.

1.If you want to book tickets for Great Wall Ⅰ in advance, you can phone _________.

2.What day of the week is September 27?

3.A dozen people want to attend Great Wall Ⅱ. They should pay at least _______ for the tickets.

Recently a Beijing father sent in a question at an Internet forum (论坛) asking what "PK" meant.

"My family has been watching the 'Super Girl' singing competition TV programme. My little daughter asked me what 'PK' meant, but I had no idea," explained the puzzled father.

To a lot of Chinese young people who have been playing games online, it is impossible not to know this term. In such Internet games, "PK" is short for "Player Kill", in which two players fight until one ends the life of the other.

In the case of the "Super Girl" singing competition, "PK" was used to refer to the stage where two singers have to compete with each other for only one chance to go up in competition ranking.

Like this father, Chinese teachers at high schools have also been finding their students' compositions using Internet jargons which are difficult to understand. A high school teacher from Tianjin asked her students to write compositions with simple language, but they came up with a lot of Internet jargons that she didn't understand.

"My 'GG' came back this summer from college. He told me I've grown up to be a 'PLMM'. I loved to 'FB' with him together; he always took me to the 'KPM'," went one composition.

"GG" means Ge Ge (Chinese pinyin for brother). "PLMM" refers to Piao Liang Mei Mei (beautiful girl). "FB" means Fu Bai (corruption). "KPM" is short for KFC, Pizza Hut and McDonald's.

Some specialists welcome Internet jargons as a new development in language.

If you do not even know what a Kong Long (dinosaur, referring to an ugly looking female) or a Qing Wa (frog, referring to an ugly looking male) is, you will possibly be regarded as a Cai Niao!

1.By writing the article, the writer tries to  ________ .

2.What does the writer think about the term "PK"?

3.The examples of the Beijing father and the Tianjin teacher are used to show that Internet jargons ________ .

4.The underlined word "jargons" means " ________ " in Chinese.

The thing was a hot one! A farmer had shot two wolves on purpose. He had seen the wolves on his farm and decided to get them before they caused trouble. He knew wolves were a kind of protected animals. However, he also knew most of his neighbors would shoot wolves, too. Shortly after the farmer skinned（剥皮）the wolves, problems began. It seemed that someone didn’t like the idea of killing wolves after all. The officials had arrived. Out-of-town reporters got hold of the story. And now the farmer was on trial（审判）for his killing of the wolves.

1.“The thing was a hot one!”means    .

2.The farmer did the thing because    .

3.Wolves should    according to this passage.

4.Which of the following is not true?

It was the last day of the final examination in a large eastern university. On the steps of one building, a group of engineering students were talking about the exam that was going to begin in a few  36 . On their faces was confidence . This was their last exam — then on to 37 and jobs.

Some talked of jobs they already had; others talked of jobs they 38 get. With the certainty of four years of college, they felt ready and able to take 39 of the world.

The coming exam, they knew, would be a(n)  40 task. The professor had said they could bring  41 books or notes they wanted, requesting only that they did not 42 each other, during the test.

 43 they entered the classroom. The professor passed out the papers. And smiles 44 on the students’ faces as they noted(注意到) there were only five essay-type questions.

Three hours had passed 45 the professor began to collect the papers. The students no longer looked confident. On their faces was a frightened expression. Papers in hand, no one spoke as the professor faced the class.

He looked at the 46 faces before him, and then asked, “How many completed all five questions?” 47 a hand was raised.

“How many answered four?” Still no hands.

“Three? Two?” The students moved restlessly （不安地,慌张地）in their seats.

“One, then? Certainly somebody finished 48 .”But the class remained silent.

The professor put down the papers. “That is exactly what I 49 ,” he said. “I just want to impress upon you that,   50 you have completed four years of engineering, there are still many things about the   51 you don’t know. These questions you couldn’t answer are relatively(相对地,相当地)  52 in everyday practice. ” Then smiling, he added, “You will all  53 this course, but remember — even though you are now college graduates, your education has just  54 .”

The years have 55  the name of this professor, but not the lesson he taught.

The best way of learning a language is always using it. The best way of learning spoken English is _26__in English as much as possible. Sometimes you‘ll get your words __27__up and people will not __28_ you. Sometimes people will _29__things too quickly and you can’t understand them. But __30__ you keep your sense of humor， you can always have a good laugh at the mistakes you __31__. Don’t be unhappy if people seem to be laughing __32__ your mistakes. It’s __33__ for people to laugh at your mistakes than to be angry with you， _34_ they don’t understand what you are saying. The most important thing for learning English is： “Don’t be __35_ of making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes.”

She made me promise not to ________ where it was hidden.

It has been five years since this party____. Many people wonder whether it will stay on.

Take warm clothes________ the weather is cold.