How do you celebrate New Year’s Day? If I had to take a guess, you probably celebrate New Year’s Day surrounded by family and friends, enjoying drinks of your choice (probably wine and champagne) and watching the ball drop. If you’re particularly lucky, perhaps you share a kiss with that special someone when the clock hits 00:00am. Have you ever imagined how New Year’s Day would look in another country? Listed below are five of the top ten “Unique New Year Traditions from Around the World.”
1. Breaking Dishes on Neighbor’s Door——Denmark
A strange and weird Danish New Year tradition, depending on how you look at it, is throwing dishes at neighbor’s door. Strangely, this makes them happy instead of annoying them. The family with the tallest tower of broken plates, glasses, cups and other crockery is considered to be the luckiest person because it symbolizes their large amount of loyal friends.
2. Talking to Spirits——Mexico
Talking to spirits is a part of Mexican belief. Mexicans strongly believe that they can communicate with the souls of their dead loved ones. New Year’s Eve is considered the best time to communicate with dead spirits to convey a message or ask for guidance. And this is not done at home on an individual basis but is a legal Mexican practice. Taos Inn, in New Mexico for example, offers 15 minutes session of spiritualism and meditation(默念) for $15. Not a bad price for some helpful guidance!
3. Wearing Polka Dots ——Philippines
Imagine streets full of people wearing polka dots and dining room tables full of round shaped food and fruits on one single day of the year. This all actually happens in the Philippines on New Year’s Eve every year. Philippines believe that this will bring them prosperity by associating the round dots to coins and wealth.
4. Burning Scarecrow(稻草人) Dummy——Ecuador
Ecuador has a unique custom of crafting scarecrows and then burning them at midnight. They adorn them and fill the scarecrows with newspapers and pieces of wood. As midnight approaches, everyone gathers outside their home and each family burns their own scarecrow. The tradition says that this destroys all the bad things that took place in the past 12 months. The scarecrow also scares away bad luck, which in turn, fills their new year with luck and happiness.
5. Mistletoe(槲寄生) Leaves Are Placed Under Pillow to Find Husband——Ireland
The single women of Ireland wait desperately for New Year’s Eve because it is the night that can bring them the love of their lives. They place mistletoe leaves under their pillow hoping to catch their future husband. It is also believed in the Irish culture that this act will help them get rid of bad luck.
The world is a large and very different place. Yes, people of all nations may celebrate New Year’s much differently around the world, with different traditions, but there are a lot of general themes to be seen. We all want to start a new, fresh year with renewed enthusiasm and hope no matter what happened during the past year. We all want to be happier, find love, renew friendships increase our wealth and also hope for a little extra luck in the coming New Year.
1.When New Year’s Day is coming, people always celebrate it in many ways EXCEPT __________.
A. sharing the time with their lovers
B. getting together with their families
C. enjoying drinks with their friends
D. setting the ball drop
2.What can you learn when you are paying a visiting to Mexico during New Year’s Day?
A. You’d better talk to your ancestors just at home secretly, or you’ll break the law.
B. It’s New Year’s Day that Mexicans consider the best time to talk to spirits.
C. It’s commonly believed that the dead have spirits and souls living around.
D. You can ask for help free when you want to talk to the dead
3.The single women of Ireland always ________ hoping to catch their future husband on New Year’s Eve.
A. wear polka dots
B. burn scarecrow dummy
C. break dishes on neighbor’s door
D. place mistletoe leaves under their pillow
When Dekalb Walcott III was just 8 years old, his father, a Chicago fire chief, let him tag along on a call. Dekalb says a lot of kids idolized basketball player Michael Jordan when he was growing up in Chicago in the 1990s. Not him.
"I wanted to be like Dekalb Walcott Jr.," he says of his father.
So when his dad asked if he wanted to go on that call with him when he was 8, Dekalb was excited. "I'm jumping up and down, saying, 'Mom, can I go? Can I go?'"
The experience changed Dekalb's life, he tells his dad on a visit to Story Corps. "My eyes got big from the moment the alarm went off." the younger Dekalb says. "This is the life that I want to live someday."
Now 27, the younger Dekalb is living that life. He became a firefighter at 21 and went to work alongside his dad at the Chicago Fire Department. Before his father retired, the pair even went out on a call together—father supervising（监督）son.
"You know, it's everything for me to watch you grow," his father says. But he also recalls worrying about one particular fire that his son faced."
I received a phone call that night. And they said, 'Well, your son was at this fire.' I said, 'OK, which way is this conversation going to go? ' Dekalb Walcott Jr. recalls.
"And they said, 'But he's OK. And he put it out all by himself. Everybody here was proud of him.'
And the word went around, 'Who was out there managing that fire? Oh, that's Walcott! That's Walcott up there!' So, you know, moments like that, it's heaven on Earth for a dad."
Dekalb Walcott Jr. retired in 2009. The younger Dekalb says he's proud of being a second-generation firefighter. "You know, it makes me look forward to fatherhood as well, because I'm definitely looking forward to passing that torch down to my son."
1.The underlined phrase tag along in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.
A. put out fire
B. watch basketball
C. follow his father
D. ask his mother’s permission
2.Dekalb Walcott III determined to become a firefighter at the age of _________.
A. 27 B. 21 C. 8 D. 35
3.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A. Dekalb Walcott III wants his son to become a firefighter too.
B. Dekalb Walcott Jr. is proud to be a second-generation firefighter.
C. Dekalb Walcott Jr. wants to pass the torch to Dekalb Walcott III.
D. Dekalb Walcott III is proud that his son has become an excellent firefighter.
4.Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
A. Putting Out Fire: A Challenging Job for Father and son
B. Passing The Torch: A Firefighter Dad's Legacy
C. Dekalb Walcott III: A Second-generation Firefighter
D. Dekalb Walcott Jr.: A Chicago Fire Chief
The journey of water on the earth can be a mirror of our own paths through life. Like a river that flows within the boundaries of its banks, we are born with certain characteristics that _ __ our identity. We move through life, _ __ many twists, turns, and barriers along the way just as a river does.
Water shows us how to move through the world with grace, bravery, determination, and __ __. Water is brave and does not waste time sticking to its past, but flows onward without looking back. When there is a hole to be filled, water does not run away from it in fear of the dark; _ _, water modestly and bravely fills the empty space. Similarly, we can face the dark moments of our life rather than run away from them.
_ _, a river will empty into the sea. Water does not hold back from joining up with a larger body, nor does it fear a loss of _ __ or control. It gracefully and modestly falls into the vastness by contributing its energy without hesitation. Each time we move __ _ our personal characters to become part of something bigger, we can try our best to _ _ the lead of the river.
1.A. preserveB. assumeC. decideD. cast
2.A. competing B. meeting withC. living withD. playing with
3.A. modestyB. happinessC. honestyD. reputation
4.A. thereforeB. besidesC. otherwiseD. instead
5.A. EventualB. AbsolutelyC. RegularlyD. Actually
6.A. lifeB. confidenceC. libertyD. root
7.A. onB. intoC. acrossD. beyond
8.A. takeB. followC. loseD. hold
My grandma is good at gardening. She could make anything bloom(开花). _ __ me. In my eyes, she was inspiring and __ __. For most of her life, she lived on a farm, where she brought up four children, and buried my grandpa.
I visited her on weekends. After the gardening work, I was __ __ to climb the mountain, singing songs and gathering flowers. Sometimes the plants scratched me. She would say, "Beauty has a ___. I hope it was worth it."
"Yes, ma' ma," I'd say. "_ __ was."
I loved gathering flowers on my own. But what I loved best was gathering them with her. Even then, as a child, I knew what I wanted most from my grandma was not her flowers, but her __ __. She's been gone for years, but sometimes, when I __ __down to pick a flower or pull a weed, I see her __ __, not mine.
I thought I'd grow up to be a gardener too. I told myself, someday my children had children, I'd be a gardening grandma. Then the grandbabies started showing up, and I discovered 1'd much rather run after them __ __ go digging. Actually I'm no gardener. I'm a __ __, not a planter. I differ from my grandma in lots of ways, but this: I will always carry __ __ me a heart she made from her own.
I needn’t plant a garden. My children are my flowers. They delight and complete me with a beauty that is worth any price. All I need to do is __ __ them with time, water them with love, and hope that someday, when they hold their first grandchild, they might see my hand.
1.A. NotB. EvenC. OnlyD. Often
2.A. famousB. humorousC. caringD. amusing
3.A. determinedB. anxiousC. curiousD. free
4.A. standardB. rangeC. priceD. quality
5.A. ItB. IC. SheD. That
6.A. possessionB. promiseC. beautyD. time
7.A. climbB. reachC. lookD. sit
8.A. smileB. spiritC. soulD. hand
9.A. thanB. untilC. unlessD. since
10.A. workerB. teacherC. pickerD. farmer
11.A.toB. withinC. beyondD. for
12.A. attendB. missC. promoteD. influence
Don't sigh over the small achievement. _____, and I'm sure if you keep at it, you'll see the light at the end of the tunnel!
A. Lookers-on see most of the game
B. Constant dripping wears away the stone
C. The world is your oyster
D. Lost time is never found again
The doctor tried to laugh my brother ____ his fears about the coming operation.
A. from B. against C. off D. into
