I came to Rio, Brazil to work one year ago. So what have I found here?
You need to learn Portuguese
I started studying Portuguese about two years ago. I didn’t end up improving my Portuguese as much as I’d hoped before I came here. While Spanish and Portuguese are structurally quite similar, there are huge differences between the two. You can’t just magically understand Brazilians if you speak Spanish.
I didn’t need to bring heels
Going out in cities like Buenos Aires is a big deal. You get dressed up, you do your hair, and you definitely wear heels- at least if you’re going out to dance. I had no idea how wrong I was. Yes, Rio is a city, but it’s a city on the beach. Of course, there are fancy clubs that probably expect everyone to show up in dress shoes(时装鞋), but most of the places I’ve been to are fine with sneakers, even for dancing.
Learning about pop music is a must
Whenever I go out and a pop song comes on, every single other person there sings along to all the words. I still haven’t understood if there are only 25 songs that get played in public or if people really do just have a fantastic memory for lyrics, but either way, I wish I’d spent a bit more time practicing Brazilian pop music so I wouldn’t look like such a lost foreigner.
Airplanes are a surprisingly sensitive subject
In Brazil, the credit for modern flight goes to Alberto Santos Dumont. Brazilians say the Wright Brothers’ use of a catapult(飞机弹射器) was technically cheating and point to their man as the real pioneer of the plane. Therefore, be careful before bringing up the subject of planes in Brazil unless you’re ready for a lecture.
1.What can we infer about Brazilians?
A. They are fond of dancing.
B. They understand Spanish.
C. They are informally dressed.
D. They have a good memory.
2.How did the author react when the others were singing?
A. She sang along.
B. She felt ashamed.
C. She felt like an outsider.
D. She pretended to be lost.
3.What topic should you avoid in Rio?
A. The history of planes.
B. Dressing styles.
C. Pop music.
D. Spanish.
4.What’s the author’s purpose in writing the text?
A. To tell us something about Brazil.
B. To share her life in Rio as a foreigner.
C. To give foreigners in Rio some suggestions.
D. To encourage us to learn a foreign language.
Do you ever dream about climbing Mount Everest, which is 8,848 meters high? If so, you’re not alone. Every year, thousands of people try to climb the world’s highest mountains or walk across deserts. Let’s take a look at some of the 21st century’s greatest adventurers (冒险家).
Ed Stafford
Ed Stafford from the UK is the first person to walk along the Amazon River from the mountains of Peru to the mouth of the river in Brazil. There are many dangerous animals in the rainforest, but he was only bitten by ants and mosquitoes. On his trip, Ed had to find fruit and nuts or catch fish each morning. He used a radio to ask the people of the rainforest for food and help. Many people came to meet him and guide him through the rainforest. While he walked, Ed wrote a blog to tell the world about climate change and destruction (破坏) of the rainforest.
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner
Gerinde Kaltenbrunner from Austria is one of the world’s greatest climbers and has climbed all the world’s mountains over 8,000 metres. It’s very difficult to climb in the cold weather and storms, but Gerlinde loves it. Now she spends her time climbing and helping a charity for poor children in Nepal.
Meagan Mcgrath
Some adventurers are always looking for a new challenge. Meagan Mcgrath from Canada has climbed mountains, ridden a bike across Canada and run races in the desert to raise money for the disabled.
Erik Weihenmayer
Erik Weihenmayer from the United States has climbed mountains and ridden a bike through deserts. Amazingly, Erik is blind and he wants other blind people to have active lives too. He has taken groups of young blind people climbing in Nepal.
1.What happened on Ed Stafford’s Journey?
A. He received great help from the locals.
B. He was attacked by dangerous animals.
C. He studied fruit and nuts in the rainforest.
D. He stopped people from destroying rainforests.
2.What can we learn about Gerlinde?
A. She has climbed Mount Everest.
B. She lives by climbing mountains.
C. She has climbed all the high mountains.
D. She devotes her time to serving a charity.
3.Who has to face more challenges while adventuring?
A. Ed Stafford.
B. Meagan Mcgrath.
C. Erik Weihenmayer.
D. Gerinde Kalitenbruner.
4.What do the four adventurers have in common?
A. They are strong and brave men.
B. They have great interest in climbing.
C. They do something that benefits society.
D. They are professional mountain climbers.
Today Dante had a small skating competition in his class. Before we went to the competition, I asked him if he wanted to wear something nice for the competition and he said, “Who cares? it’s not important.” When we showed up at the rink(溜冰场), we found that most of the kids were dressed up. One boy who was around nine years old was my son’s friend, wearing a dress shirt and a pink vest. I walked over to his mother saying how beautifully dressed he was. But his mother said, “He didn’t want to dress up. He said that this competition was not important for him to dress up.”
I thought it was interesting that neither Dante nor his friend viewed the competition as important and neither wanted to dress up. I started to wonder if this was how a child learned what was “important” and what wasn’t.
Interestingly, this boy won two medals and Dante won none.
Parents and teachers often instill (灌输) what they think is important: then children will accept the opinions of the adults. Gradually, they grow up stressing about how they look, how many medals they get, what color the medals are, how good their grades are, what a great “job” they can get in life, what a big house they can live in... etc.
Dante taught me an important lesson today. He taught me what was unimportant. Life goes on long after the medal ceremony whether you win a medal or not.
1.Why didn’t Dante want to dress up for the competition?
A. He had no proper clothes.
B. He had no time to dress up.
C. His mother didn’t prepare clothes for him.
D. He thought he didn’t need to dress up.
2.What does Paragraph 5 want to tell us?
A. Children stress about many things in life.
B. Adults may instill wrong ideas into children.
C. Children are always influenced by adults.
D. Adults should set good examples to children.
3.What lesson did the author learn from her son?
A. Winning medals makes people proud.
B. Not all things are that important in life.
C. Fairness is more important in competitions.
D. Kids have a better understanding of life than adults.
听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.How will the man go to the station?
A. By bike. B. By bus. C. By car.
2.What should the man do at first?
A. Go back to the traffic lights. B. Go to the Red Hotel. C. Go straight forward.
3.Where should the man turn left?
A. At the hotel. B. At the traffic lights. C. At the end of the road.
4.How far is the station from here?
A. It’s 3 miles. B. It’s 4 miles. C. It’s 5 miles.
听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.Which place is the warmest ?
A. Sweden. B. Florida. C. London.
2.Why doesn’t Bob want to go to Florida?
A. It costs too much. B. It’s too cold there. C. It is too far away.
3.Where are they living probably?
A. In Wales. B. In Scotland. C. In England.
听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.Who will the man help?
A. Jane. B. Tina. C. Mary.
2.Where will they meet at six this afternoon?
A. In the cinema. B. In the library. C. In the restaurant.
