If Confucius(孔子)were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He’d need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.
While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day ,few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It’s nothing personal. Most Americans don’t even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.
But this doesn’t mean that Americans don’t care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.
In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually include Chinese art, history and philosophy(哲学).Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantage of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks of Western philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.
So the old thinker’s ideas are still alive and well.
Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.
As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.
1.The opening paragraph is mainly intended to .
A．provide some key facts about Confucius
B．attract the readers’ interest in the subject
C．show great respect for the ancient thinker
D．prove the popularity of modern birthday celebrations
2.We can learn from Paragraph 4 that American students .
A．have a great interest in studying Chinese
B．take an active part in Chinese competitions
C．try to get high scores in Chinese exams
D．fight for a chance to learn Chinese
3.What is the best title for the passage?
A．Forgotten Wisdom in America
B．Huge Fans of the Chinese Language
C．Chinese Culture for Westerners
D．Old Thinker with a Big Future
4.The passage is likely to appear in .
A．a biography B．a history paper
C．a newspaper D．a philosophy textbook
By the mid-nineteenth century, the “icebox” had entered the American language, but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States. The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels, taverns, and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh fish, and butter. After the Civil War (1861-1865), as ice was used to refrigerate freight cars, it also came into household use. Even before 1880, half the ice sold in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one-third of that sold in Boston and Chicago, went to families of their own use. This had become possible because a new household convenience, the icebox, a precursors of modern refrigerator, had been invented.
Making an efficient icebox was not as easy as we might now suppose. In the early nineteenth century, the knowledge of physics of heat, which was essential to a science of refrigeration, was rudimentary. The commonsense notion that the best icebox was one that prevented the ice from melting was of course mistaken, for it was melting of the ice that performed the cooling. Nevertheless, early efforts to economize ice included wrapping the ice in blankets, which kept the ice from doing its job. Not until near the end of the nineteenth century did inventors achieve the delicate balance of insulation and circulation needed for an efficient icebox.
But as early as 1803, an ingenious Maryland farmer, Thomas Moore, had been on the right track. He owned a farm about twenty miles outside the city of Washington, for which the village of Georgetown was the market center. When he used an icebox of his own design to transport his butter to market, he found that customers would pass up the rapidly melting stuff in the tubs of his competitors to pay a premium(奖金) price for his butter, still fresh and hard in neat, one-pound bricks. One advantage of his icebox, Moore explained, was that farmers would no longer have to travel to market at night in order to keep their produce cool.
1.What does the passage mainly discuss?
A．The influence of ice on the diet.
B．The development of refrigeration.
C．The transportation of goods to market.
D．Sources of ice in the nineteenth century.
2.According to the passage, when did the word “icebox” become part of the language of the United States?
A．in 1803 B．sometime bore 1850
C．during the civil war D．near the end of the nineteenth century.
3.The phrase “forward-looking” in line 3 is closest in meaning to______.
A．progressive B．popular C．thrifty D．well-established
4.The author mentions “fish” in the passage because _____.
A．many fish dealers also sold ice.
B．fish was shipped in refrigerated freight cars.
C．fish dealers were among the early commercial users of ice
D．fish was not part of the ordinary person’s diet before the invention of the icebox.
Around twenty years ago I was living in York. 31 I had a lot of experience and a Master’s degree, I could not find 32 work.
I was 33 a school bus to make ends meet and 34 with a friend of mine, for I had lost my flat. I had 35 five interviews(面试)with a company and one day between bus runs they called to say I did not 36 the job. “Why has my life become so 37 ?” I thought painfully.
As I pulled the bus over to 38 a little girl, she handed me an earring 39 I should keep it 40 somebody claimed(认领)it. The earring was painted black and said “BE HAPPY”.
At first I got angry. Then it 41 me-I had been giving all of my 42 to what was going wrong with my 43 rather than what was right! I decided then and there to make a 44 of fifty things I was happy with. Later, I decided to 45 more things to the list. That night there was a phone call for 46 from a lady who was a director at a large 47 . She asked me if I would 48 a one-day lecture on stress(压力) management to 200 medical workers. I said yes.
My 49 there went very well, and before long I got a well-paid job. To this day I know that it was because I changed my way of 50 that I completely changed my life.
1. A．As B．Though C．If D．When
2. A．successful B．extra C．satisfying D．convenient
3. A．driving B．repairing C．taking D．designing
4. A．working B．travelling C．discussing D．living
5. A．prepared for B．attended C．asked for D．held
6. A．lose B．like C．find D．get
7. A．hard B．busy C．serious D．short
8. A．wave at B．drop off C．call on D．look for
9. A．ordering B．promising C．saying D．showing
10. A．in case B．or else C．as if D．now that
11. A．hurt B．hit C．caught D．moved
12. A．feelings B．attention C．strength D．interests
13. A．opinions B．education C．experiences D．life
14. A．list B．book C．check D．copy
15. A．connect B．turn C．keep D．add
16. A．her B．a passenger C．me D．my friend
17. A．hospital B．factory C．restaurant D．hotel
18. A．listen to B．review C．give D．talk about
19. A．plan B．choice C．day D．tour
20. A．operation B．speaking C．employment D．thinking
As many as five courses are provided, and you are free to choose_______ suits you best.
A．whatever B．whichever C．whenever D．wherever
After school we went to the reading-room to do some reading, only to be told that it ____________.
A．was decorated B．had decorated
C．had been decorating D．was being decorated
—Happy birthday!
— Thank you! It’s the best present I_________ for.
A．should have wished B．could have wished
C．may have wished D．must have wished
