Unlike most other holidays, the history of April Fools’ Day, sometimes called All Fools’ Day, is not totally clear. The only point in time that can be agreed on as the beginning of this tradition was 1582, in France. Before that year, the New Year was celebrated for eight days, beginning on March 25th. The celebration reached the highest point on April 1st. With the reform of the calendar under Charles IX，the Gregorian calendar(公历，阳历) was introduced, and New Year’s Day was moved to January 1st.
However, because in those days communications were not as developed as they are today, many people did not receive the news for several years. Some people refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate the New Year on April 1st.These backward people were considered “fools” by other people. They were often sent on “fools” errands(徒劳无益的工作) or were made the targets of jokes.
This developed, over time, into a tradition of playing a trick on someone on the first day of April. The tradition eventually spread to England and Scotland in the eighteenth century. It was later introduced to the American colonies of both the Britain and France. April Fools’ Day thus developed into an international fun feast, so to speak, with different nationalities specializing in their own kind of humor at the expense of their friends and families.
1.According to an earlier calendar, New Year’s Day in France was ________.
A. March 25th B. January 1st
C. April 1st D. April 3rd
2.Which of the following first had the tradition of celebrating the April Fools’ Day？
A. France. B. England.
C. Scotland. D. America.
3.What was people’s attitude towards the new calendar？
A. They accepted it happily.
B. They refused it immediately.
C. Some recognized it.
D. Some laughed at it.
4.The passage mainly tells us ________.
A. what the French did on April Fools’ Day
B. how April Fools’ Day came into being
C. when was the new calendar introduced
D. why some people were fooled in France
One of the most famous buildings in the United States is Carnegie Hall, the home of classical and popular music concerts in New York. Carnegie Hall is known not just for its beauty and history, but also for its amazing sound. Carnegie Hall is named after Andrew Carnegie, who paid for its construction. Construction of Carnegie Hall began in 1890 and the official opening night was on May 5th, 1891.
The hall was owned by the Carnegie family until 1924 when it was sold to Robert E Simon. The building became very old and in 1960, the new owner made plans to destroy it and build an office block. Isaac Stem led a group of people who fought to save Carnegie Hall and finally, the city of New York bought it for $5 million. It was then fixed up between 1983 and 1995.
Advertisements and stories in newspapers about how Carnegie Hall needed help to recover its history led people to send in old concert programmes and information from all over the world. Over 12,000 concert programmes were received and with these it was possible to make a proper record of Carnegie Hall’s concert history.
Carnegie Hall is actually made up of several different halls, but the Main Hall, now called the Isaac Stem Auditorium, is the most famous. The hall itself can hold an audience of 2,804 in five levels of seating.
Because the best and most famous musicians of all time have played at Carnegie Hall, it is the dream of most musicians who want to be great to play there. This has led to a very old joke which is now part of Carnegie Hall’s history. Question: “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” Answer: “Practice, practice, practice.”
1.It can be inferred that people wanted to save Carnegie Hall mainly because________.
A. it made a lot of money
B. it was worth visiting
C. many important concerts were held in it
D. it made some players become famous
2.How did Carnegie Hall recover its concert history?
A. Through newspaper reports.
B. Through old concert programmes.
C. Through old photographs.
D. Through old jokes.
3.Why is the Carnegie Hall joke funny?
A. Because you expect the answer to be directions but not advice.
B. Because Carnegie Hall is a place where musicians practice a lot.
C. Because it is difficult to find your way to Carnegie Hall.
D. Because you don’t expect the answer to repeat the same word three times.
4.Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A. The history of Carnegie Hall
B. The best musician having played in Carnegie Hall
C. A joke about Carnegie Hall
D. The dream of most musicians
More than two thirds of the world’s polar bears will be wiped out by 2050, according to a shocking new study. By then, scientists say, global warming will have melted 42 percent of the Arctic sea ice. By 2100, only a very few of these important creatures will be left.
The report has been produced by the US Geological Survey. The scientists have publicized their findings in the hope of influencing US Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, who has been asked to put polar bears on the US endangered species list.
Polar bears depend on floating sea ice as a platform for hunting seals, which are their main food. Without enough ice, polar bears would be forced to go onto the land, where they are poorly skilled hunters, and would be unlikely to adapt to the life on the land in time. Experts say few little bears would survive and the stress could make many females unable to get pregnant.
The team of American and Canadian scientists spent six months studying bears, on the ground, from spotter planes and in the lab，using computer models. Some team members fear the result is even worse for the bears than what their report says. They say the Arctic is warming faster than anywhere in the world and much faster than their computer had been forecasting. Satellite observations have showed that the ice has decreased to an alltime low.
However, not everyone in the scientific community believes that global warming is happening on such an alarming scale. Another investigation has found that polar bears are still being hunted by wealthy “sportsmen” who want their skins and heads. At least ten international companies offer bearhunting trips.
1.What do we know about Dirk Kempthorne according to the passage?
A. He is an animal scientist.
B. He is a protector of animals working for the US government.
C. He was asked to put polar bears on the US endangered species list.
D. He offered to put polar bears on the endangered species list.
2.Why will polar bears die out if there is not enough sea ice?
A. Because polar bears can’t catch enough food without ice.
B. Because polar bears eat ice when they feel thirsty.
C. Because polar bears will be easily found by hunters without ice.
D. Because most female bears are used to giving birth under ice.
3.After a sixmonth study, some scientists fear that________.
A. there is something wrong with their computers
B. polar bears will disappear even faster than they ever expected
C. their computer models are not as accurate as they expected
D. global warming will destroy everything in the Arctic
假如你是李华，想邀请你的朋友John在周六晚上去观看科幻电影 The Wandering Earth，请用英语给他写一封邮件，内容包括:
1.发出邀请；
2.介绍电影(主题:保护人类共同的地球家园；观众评价等)；
3.请求回复。
注意:
1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除:把多余的词用斜线(＼)划掉。
修改:在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意:1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
I'm delight to welcome you to our Wildlife Club.You’11 be surprised that a various of plants and creatures are living here.Here are the most visited tourist sites.
One of the pleasant place is Holland Common.This has been public land for two hundred of years，and that you’11 find interesting is that the River Ouse has its source in the Common.There’s information board about the plants and animals and the Common is accessibly 24 hours a day.Then there’s Holl Island which was noted for its great range of trees.It is open only from Friday to Sunday because it's quite small，but if there were people around every day，many of the wildlife would keep away.
Have a good time here!
阅读下面短文，在空白处填写1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge(HZMB)，a 55-kilometre bridge-tunnel system，1. (consist)of a series of three cable-stayed bridges，an undersea tunnel，and four artificial islands.It is both the longest sea crossing and the longest fixed link on earth，another 2. (significance)project.The HZMB，3. connects Hong Kong，Macau，and Zhuhai-three major cities on the Pearl River Delta，crosses the Lingding and Jiuzhou channel.
The HZMB designed 4. (1ast)for 120 years was built with a cost of 126.9 billion yuan(US $18.77 billion).The cost of 5. (construct)the Main Bridge was estimated 6. 51.1 billion yuan(US $7.56 billion)shared among the governments of mainland China，Hong Kong and Macau.
7. (initial)set to be opened to traffic in late 2016，the structure was finally completed on 6 February 2018 and 8. (journalist)were subsequently given rides over the bridge.On 24 October 2018，the HZMB was opened to 9. public after its opening ceremony a day 10. (early)by Xi Jinping，General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.
