YOUR mom might cook a bowl of noodle for you on birthday. But in the US, a mom makes a cupcake for her children on their birthday.
Cupcakes are small, round cakes topped with frosting. It has been an American tradition that moms bring cupcakes to celebrate their child’s birthday.
But recently some doctors have called for this to be banned. They believe cupcakes contribute to child obesity.
Despite their good intentions, however, some people believe that experts are interfering with American culture. The cupcakes is seen as American as apple pie only prettier.
According to Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York university, the cupcakes is the most democratic of desserts. As they are small enough for one person, you don’t have go share your cupcake with anyone –it’s all yours. They are also all the same size, so there can’t be any cries of “she got the bigger piece!”
Each bite can taste different depending on how much icing you have. It is a lesson in self determination. Some people eat only a little of the frosting every time, other have it all in just one bite.
In recent years, eating a cupcake has become as trendy as having a cup of Starbucks coffee.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton jokingly promised on a talk show that if she was elected president, a he would give everyone a cupcake on her birthday.
Ruth Reichl, editor---in----chief of gourmet magazine, explains that the rise of the cupcake is very much about going buck to American national identity in food, which is all about comfort. “People want to about when they and their country were innocent,” she said.
1.According to the passage, it has been an American tradition that_______.
A. a party for children is held on their birthday
B. A mom cooks a bowl of noodles for her children on their birthday
C. A mom makes a cupcake for her children on their birthday and brings it to the classroom
D. parents go traveling with their children on their birthday
2.Why do doctors ask people to ban cupcake on children’s birthday?
A. Because they themselves don’t like cupcake
B. Because they think cupcakes are not so delicious
C. Because they believe cupcakes will cause cries of “she got the bigger piece”.
D. Because they believe cupcakes are one of the causes to make children become fat.
3.The following are true according to Marion Nestle expect that ______
A. the cupcake is more democratic than any other deserts in the US
B. the cupcake is too small to share with others
C. the sizes of cupcakes are the same so it is equal to everyone
D. cupcakes will lead to child obesity so they should be banned
4. Why did the writer mention Hillary Clinton and Ruth Reichl?
A. To arouse the readers’ attention
B. To show that cupcakes are becoming a popular to show kindness and comfort.
C. To make a comparison between them
D. To give readers a general idea of cupcakes
To what degree can a computer achieve intelligence? The answer to this question may lie in a newly-developed US computer program called Smarter Child and the Internet.
If you ran into Smarter Child online, you would be surprised at this kid’s huge memory. It can recite many facts. For example, Smarter Child knows every baseball player in every team this season.
He knows every word in the dictionary and the weather in every major city areas across the US. However, if you ask Smarter Child other questions, you get strange answers. A question about Smarter Child’s age returns. “One year, 11 days, 16 hours, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds!” Asking where he lives，you get, “In a clean room in a high-tech building in California.”
Smarter Child uses the vast information on the World Wide Web as his memory bank. To answer questions about spelling, for instance, Smarter Child goes to American Heritage Dictionary online. For the weather, he visits www.intellicast.com.
Some scientists believe that by joining the many systems of the Internet, an artificial being with the combined knowledge of, say, Albert Einstein, Richard Nixon and Britney Spears can be born. However, if Smarter Child wants to think and learn on his own like the boy-computer David in the movie A. I. (Artificial Intelligence), he must overcome two problems.
The first is that computers find it difficult to read web pages because the files are labeled in different ways. That’s why programmers need to tell Smarter Child where to look for the weather. It would be a much more difficult task to let him find it himself.
Another problem is that while Smarter Child can process information more exactly and faster than any human, he lacks common sense—a basic grounding of knowledge that is obvious to any young child.
1. From the text we can infer that www.intellicast.com is a website .
A. which is specially designed to help Smarter Child
B. where we people can find Smarter Child
C. where weather forecasts are made
D. which is about artificial intelligence
2.It is probably most difficult for Smarter Child to .
A. tell us how to spell a difficult word
B. tell us how the American government is run
C. provide us with a famous poem by Shakespeare
D. learn the ability to tell right behaviors from wrong ones
3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
A. Smart Child has his own memory bank big enough for all kinds of information.
B. A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) is probably the name of a film about a boy-computer.
C. Smart Child can recognize different files and find information needed on his own.
D. We have similar product now which has the knowledge of Einstein, Nixon and Spears.
4.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A. A New Web Child B. Smarter Child
C. The Future of Internet D. Intelligence Development
People in the United States honor their parents with two special days: Mother’s Day, on the second Sunday in May, and Father’s Day, on the third Sunday in June. These days are set aside to show love and respect for parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care. These two days offer a chance to think about the changing roles of mothers and fathers. More mothers now work outside the home. More fathers must help with child-care.
These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On Mother’s Day people wear carnations. A red one stands for a living mother. A white one shows that the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services to honor parents. It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit their graves. On these days, families get together at home and in restaurants. They often have outdoor BBQs for Father’s Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.
Another tradition is to give cards and gifts. Children make them in school. Many people make their own presents. These are valued more than the ones bought in stores. It is not the value of the gift that is important, but it is “the thought that counts”. Greeting card stores, florists, candy makers, bakeries, telephones companies and other stores do a lot of business during these holidays.
1. Which is NOT a reason for children to show love and respect for parents?
A. Parents bring up children.
B. Parents give love and care to children.
C. Parents pass away before children grow up.
D. Parents educate children to be good persons.
2. What do you know from the passage?
A. Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are both in May.
B. Not all the children respect their parents.
C. Fewer women worked outside the home in the past.
D. Fathers are not as important as mothers at home.
3.Which do you think is right about “carnation”?
A. It only has two kinds of color.
B. It is a special kind of clothes people wear on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.
C. People can wear carnations only on the second Sunday in June.
D. It’s a kind of flower showing love and best wishes.
4.What do you think “florists” do?
A. They sell flowers.
B. They made bread.
C. They offer enough room for having family parties.
D. They sell special clothes for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
Another man-made wonder of the United States was built long before the nation was established. About 900 years ago, the Ancestral Puebloan people built villages high in the walls of canyons in Colorado, where 600 cliff dwellings are now part of the Mesa Verde National Park.
Visitors can stand at the top of the mesas and look into the dwellings almost hidden in openings of the rock walls. The Puebloan people cut small steps into the rock, which connected buildings containing hundreds of rooms.
The rock walls have protected the buildings from severe weather in the area; therefore, they remain mostly unchanged in the hundreds of years since they were built.
Our final
man-made wonder is in the northwestern city of Seattle, Washington. The Space
Needle was built as the central structure for the 1962 World's Fair.
The 184-meter-tall structure was designed by Edward Carlson, which has a wide base on the ground, with its middle narrow and a large ring-like structure on top. The structure was meant to look like a "flying saucer," a vehicle that was popular in science fiction space travel stories. The saucer includes an observation area and eating place. The restaurant slowly turns to provide visitors with a 360 degree view of Seattle.
The Space Needle, only costing about $4,500,000, was not very costly, and was designed and completed in about a year and opened on the first day of the World's Fair.
Today, the Space Needle is the most popular place for visitors to Seattle. And it remains the internationally known symbol of the city.
1.What the passage before this one can be about?
A. Some natural wonders in the world.
B. Sightseeing in the US.
C. Some other artificial wonders in the US.
D. American geography.
2.What does the underlined word “dwelling” mean?
A. village B. house C. canyon D. step
3. Which of the following descriptions about the Space Needle is TRUE?
A. It is a man-made wonder in Washington, D.C..
B. Edward Carlson built the structure.
C. It has a ring-like structure on top.
D. It remains the internationally known symbol of the US.
4.What is the passage mainly about?
A. Visiting the US B. Man-made wonders in the US
C. Wonders in the world D. Famous places in the US
Pop singer Peng Tan has tasted the joys of being at the top of the world. He has also 36 life's lows too. This 37 him that having a 38 picture of oneself is the key to 39_ .
"I grew 40 at the peak of my career, and I began to lose faith when things turned 41_ me," he said."
"Then I realized that dreams will 42 only if I put myself in the 43 place."
Peng, 29, will 44 at the Beijing Pop Festival at Chaoyang Park in Beijing held on September 8 to 9. He has 45 his first album Teen Spirit after he went solo from the rock band Dada. As the name _46 the album is about his reflection on his youth.
"The _47 years is a special restless period in life, with lots of confusion, sensations, with wise and ridiculous ideas colliding," said Peng.
When younger, he first 48 of being a painter, until one day the 49 singing of Cui Jian lit up his passion, for rock music. In 1996, he became the 50 singer in the band Dada, which he set up with his 51 from junior school.
Soon, they topped the music charts and 52 most of the "'Best Newcomer of the Year" awards. However, the good days didn't last. The band 53 . Peng became depressed and began 54 his own ability. He then went to the Beijing Pop Festival last year and saw his favorite foreign band, Super Grass. This changed everything. After that, he was back on track and found his confidence.
"When you 55 to your position well in life, opportunities will come to you naturally.” he said.
1.A. shared B. completed C. escaped D. experienced
2.A. has scared B. has taught C. has held D. has warned
3.A. realistic B. real C. true D. authentic
4.A. something B. everything C. nothing D. anything
5.A. frightened B. excited C. delighted D. overconfident
6.A. against B. to C. down D. over
7.A. come out B. come up C. come true D. come across
8.A. fight B. left C. suit D. wrong
9.A. stop B. perform C. work D. stay
10.A. created B. written C. made D. composed
11.A. tells B. reads C. suggests D. goes
12.A. teenage B. youth C. mid-aged D. old
13.A. considered B. dreamed C. suggested D. tried
14.A. gentle B. cold C. depressed D. explosive
15.A. lead B. pop C. proper D. first
16.A. workers B. strangers C. classmates D. colleagues
17.A. bagged B. accepted C. beat D. finished
18.A. broke into B. broke in C. broke up D. broke down
19.A. improving B. doubting C. wondering D. considering
20.A. reach B. have C. adapt D. contribute
-----I’ve never found a better job.
-----________.
A. Good luck B. Too bad C. Congratulations D. Don’t worry
