The tradition of birthday parties started a long time ago. People thought that there was a special danger from evil (邪恶的) spirits, so friends and family came together to bring good thoughts and wishes and even presents. 1. But as time went by, children and then adults began to have their own birthday celebrations. There are some traditions — such as sending birthday cards, blowing out the candles on a birthday cake and singing the “Happy Birthday” song, which you can find almost anywhere, any time. 2.
In many English-speaking countries, a twenty-first birthday cake often has a key on top. 3. The key means that the young person is now old enough to leave and enter the family home at any time they want to!
In the past in parts of Europe, men who reached the age of thirty and were still single, had to clean the stairs of the City Hall. This way every girl could see that the man didn’t have a girlfriend. 4.
After the age of thirty, many people prefer to forget their birthdays rather than celebrate them … children often bring Mum (or Dad) breakfast in bed. 5. It’s also a day when your friends and family have to pay if you go out for drinks or a meal!
A. Birthday traditions are around the world.
B. At one time, only kings had birthday parties.
C. Or the cake itself is sometimes in the shape of a key.
D. It’s traditional to give flowers and enjoy a special meal.
E. Family members put many sweets on the birthday cake.
F. They could also see how good he was at cleaning the house!
G. Others are more specific to certain ages and certain countries.
Most buildings are built to stand up straight, but these look as if they might fall over!
The church tower of Suurhusen
Built in 1450, the 27-meter-high church tower lies in Suurhusen, Germany. It was built in wet land on foundations of oak tree trunks (树干). When the land was drained (排水) later, the wood broke down, causing one side of the tower to be a little lower than the other. In 1975, the tower became a real hazard and people were not allowed to enter until the foundations were made strong again. The lean (倾斜) of the tower is now about five degrees.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa
The work of building the tower began in 1173, and was finally completed in 1372. In fact, it began to lean after just a couple of floors were built. And this condition continued in the centuries after its completion. The tower was finally closed to the public in 1990 after people failed to stabilize (使稳固) its foundations. In 2001, it was reopened after engineers removed soil from underneath its raised side. Now it leans just an angle of 3.97 degrees.
Capital Gate of Abu Dhabi
Completed in 2011, the Capital Gate tower in Abu Dhabi was designed to lean eighteen degrees. The building stands next to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre and contains, among other things, a fine hotel with wonderful views of the harbour. Also known as the leaning tower of Abu Dhabi, the tower is one of the tallest buildings in the city.
Big Ben of London
The building leans 0.26 degrees to the northwest. This is mainly caused by the engineering projects that have been carried out in the ground below it since the late 1800s. The tower, which has been continuously open since it was completed in 1858, has nowhere near the lean of the Tower of Pisa and is still completely safe to enter.
1.The underlined word “hazard” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_____”.
A. danger B. church C. castle D. treasure
2.What can we learn about the Leaning Tower of Pisa?
A. It didn’t lean until ten years after its completion.
B. It took almost two hundred years to complete.
C. It was built on foundations of oak tree trunks.
D. It has been open since it was completed.
3.Which of the following towers leans the most according to the text?
A. The church tower of Suurhusen.
B. The Leaning Tower of Pisa.
C. Capital Gate of Abu Dhabi.
D. Big Ben of London.
4.What would be the best title for the text?
A. The history of towers
B. The art of building a tower
C. The leaning towers of the world
D. Top four tallest towers in Europe
One day, a patient came to see me. He worked as a waiter in a restaurant and his problem was acid reflux (胃酸倒流), a disease that influences as many as 40 percent of Americans, a marked increase in recent years. Reflux can lead to esophageal (食道的) cancer, which has increased by about 500 percent since the 1970s. The drugs we use to treat reflux don’t always work and may even increase the risk of developing cancer when used long term.
What is responsible for these worrying developments? For one, our poor diet, with its huge increases in the intake of sugar, fat, soft drinks, and unhealthy foods. But another important fact has been overlooked: dinnertime. Over the past twenty years, the time of my patients’ evening meals has become later and later. Dinner — already pushed back by longer work hours — is often further delayed by activities such as shopping and exercise.
In my experience, the single most important treatment for reflux is to avoid late eating. A patient with reflux came to see me because her father and uncle died of esophageal cancer, and she was afraid of getting it too. Her nightly routine (常规) included a 9 p.m. dinner with at least two bottles of red wine. The reflux was serious, and changes were needed.
She listened, then did not come back to see me for a year. “For the first two months, I just hated you,” she told me, “and for the next two months, I was having some trouble eating. I guessed I was going to die of esophageal cancer.” Then she added, “You know, we’re the reason that it’s not so easy to get 6 p.m. reservations (预约) at the good restaurants anymore.”
To stop the increase in reflux disease, we have to stop eating at least three hours before bed. As for my waiter patient? I told him to eat dinner before 7 p.m. Within six weeks, his reflux was gone.
1.The disease the waiter caught is _____.
A. on the rise
B. easy to control
C. unusual in America
D. the most dangerous cancer
2.What does the underlined word “overlooked” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Talked about a lot.
B. Paid no attention to.
C. Carefully looked into.
D. Taken into consideration.
3.Why did the woman patient hate the author?
A. He spoke of her dead father and uncle.
B. He asked her to change her eating habits.
C. He couldn’t find a way to deal with her problem.
D. He couldn’t make her healthy again within a year.
4.The author writes the text to tell us _____.
A. not to work late at night
B. to avoid eating at restaurants
C. unhealthy foods cause cancer
D. the danger of eating late at night
Some unwelcome visitors from North America have been turning up in the waters off the coast of Great Britain.
North American lobsters (龙虾) have been found in the North Sea (between Great Britain and Northwest Europe), far from their own habitat. The lobsters usually live along the eastern coast of Canada and the United States.
It is impossible that the lobsters could have made the 5,600-kilometre journey on their own. They were probably brought to Britain and then got away from containers. Some of the lobsters that were caught had elastic bands (松紧带) holding their legs shut, like lobsters that are kept in containers in stores or restaurants.
Many may have been “set free” from some ships passing through the area. Sometimes passengers order a live lobster from a tank in the dining room and then ask the waiter to throw it overboard instead of cooking it.
According to official records, 26 North American lobsters have been caught in waters off Great Britain since 1988. However, it is believed many more have been found but not reported.
It is against the law to let North American lobsters come into British waters. If they settle down in European waters, it would be bad for the local lobsters. The
two live in the same place and eat the same food. But North American lobsters are larger, stronger and more aggressive (好斗的) than European lobsters, and they produce young more quickly.
As a result, they could take food and space away from the local lobsters, and from other types of shellfish that live in the same area. These lobsters may also carry diseases that could harm the local lobsters.
1.Those unwelcome lobsters _____.
A. could travel 5,600 km a day on their own
B. used to live in waters off Great Britain
C. would soon disappear in British waters
D. might have escaped on the way to Britain
2.What can we learn about European lobsters?
A. They are growing too fast to be kept under control.
B. Shellfish often take away their food and space.
C. They are easily harmed by North American lobsters.
D. People become ill easily if they eat these lobsters.
3.The author's purpose of writing the text is most likely to _____.
A. discuss B. report
C. advertise D. introduce
Back in 2001, Pen Hadow and I traveled to the North Pole. One morning we’d just taken down our tent and started skiing. Pen was in front, and I was following him. Suddenly I got a strange feeling that something was behind us. I stopped, looked back and saw a polar bear, walking towards us.
Pen and I planned to stay where we were, try and look big, and frighten it away. Pen had a shotgun that we’d bought in Russia. That was his job. My job was to look big and to take off my skis, hold the skis in the air, make lots of noise, and frighten away the bear. Pen raised the gun and fired into the air. However, it jammed and failed to work.
The bear was walking towards us. Pen tried again, but again it didn’t work. Then he walked towards the bear, and I thought, “Wow, Pen’s gone completely mad. He’s going to get eaten. What should I do?”
I thought maybe I could throw a ski at it or stab (刺) it with a ski pole or something. Suddenly, the bear stopped. Pen stopped. Bang. The gun went off in the air. There was a big cloud of smoke that I thought surprised Pen and me more than it surprised the bear. The animal looked up, looked down, turned around and walked off. Pen turned round and said, “Quick, get the camera and take a photograph,” and that was when suddenly I felt really nervous. I couldn’t even undo the zip on our bag.
That was the morning of the second day of this journey. We were out there for two months — fifty-nine days, but we never saw another bear that close.
1.What happened to the author and Pen?
A. They lost their way.
B. They felt terribly ill.
C. They broke their tent.
D. They were followed by a bear.
2.Which of the following can best describe the author and Pen?
A. Calm and brave.
B. Caring and proud.
C. Honest and friendly.
D. Careful and humorous.
3.Who frightened the bear away in the end?
A. The author. B. A hunter. C. Pen. D. Another animal.
4.In the text, the author mainly talks about _____.
A. his discovery in the North Pole
B. his experience in the North Pole
C. why he traveled to the North Pole
D. how he traveled across the North Pole
假如你是某中学英文报编辑李华，学校将举办一次50周年校庆作品展示（exhibition），请你用英文写一则作品征集启事。要点如下：
1. 作品主题：反映校园生活，表达祝福；
2. 作品形式：诗词、照片、画作等；
3. 截止日期：9月1日。
注意： 1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头语已为你写好，不计入总词数。
