Perhaps we’ll always be fools when it comes to figuring out the origins of April Fool’s Day. Some historians say it has something to do with the change of the calendar. Others say that’s complete nonsense---it has to do with the change of the seasons. Regardless of how it started, it has developed into the silliest day of the year.

     The history of April Fool’s Day isn’t clear, but some believe it began in France around 1582, with the reform of the calendar under Charles IX. The Gregorian calendar was introduced, moving New Year’s Day to January 1st, instead of the previous march25—April 1. Because news traveled slowly, some people knew nothing about the changes of several years. Still others refused to acknowledge the change and continued to celebrate it on the last day of the former celebration, April 1. These people were called“fools”.

     But maybe it’s just that time of the year---the turn of winter to spring---that makes everyone a bit excited and ready for some fun. After all, the Romans had a festival named Hilaria that fell on March 25th.

     Today, April Fool’s Day has spread throughout much of the world, with cultures giving their own idea on the day. Here’s a look at some of the silliness.

In England, jokes are only played in the morning. It is considered bad luck to play a practical joke on someone in the afternoon. In Scotland, April Fool’s Day is celebrated over two days and is also known as“April Gawk”.The second day of the celebration involves tricks. It is known as Taily Day. In Portugal, April Fool’s Day is celebrated on the Sunday or Monday before Lent(大齋期). Tricksters throw flour at friends.

And America? Anything goes. From simple silly lies to complex tricks. What is your favorite April Fool’s joke?

60. As for the origins of April Fool’s Day________.

   A. almost no one takes interest in it

   B. opinions are widely divided

   C. it is due to the calendar change

   D. the historians think it meaningless

61. Some people were called“fools”because________.

   A. they’re not well informed about new things

   B. they didn’t know the changes for calendar

   C. they held firmly on to their own views

   D. they were tired of the French lifestyle

62. It can be inferred from the passage__________.

   A. the whole world celebrates April Fool together

   B. different celebrations are for April Fool’s Day

   C. the Americans tend to make fun of their friends

   D. the Portuguese observe Fool’s Day every Sunday

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

The use of the word imitation（模仿） reminds me that we ought to make some more comments on the risk of people imitating what they see on the screen in the way of crime（犯罪） or violence．First there was always a risk of children acting out scenes which could be dangerous．For example,I remember a woman who was head of a middle school telling me that she had happened to look out of her window when the children were on the playground and had seen them putting a small boy on a chair with a rope round his neck and the rope over the branch of a tree;fortunately she was in time to get there before the child was hanged．I remember a film in particular in which the hero who was imprisoned had escaped by electrocuting（通電觸死） his guard,the technique of doing this being shown in detail．This was the kind of scene which we could cut for these reasons．

       In films for young people and adults we always tried to keep off the screen the details of criminal techniques,such as how to open a locked door with a piece of hard plastic or how to open a safe;if we were consulted（請(qǐng)教） before production,I used to advise that the details should not be shown．When I gave talks in prisons about film checking I had full support for this,since fathers who were in prison for criminal offences did not want their children to get on crime．

       Every time I gave a talk in a prison someone used to mention the French film Rififi．made by Jules Dassin in 1954．This remarkable film showed in great detail a robbery of a jeweller’s shop,the robbery lasting about half an hour and being backed by only natural sound．．．one of the most brilliant film sequences（連續(xù)鏡頭） of all time．I remember our discussion at the time．We thought that the robbery was finished only with the use of advanced and obviously expensive equipment and that only the most experienced and skilled criminals could possibly imitate it;we believed therefore that it was relatively safe．When talking in prisons some years later I learned that there had been several robberies in which the techniques had been copied,so perhaps we were wrong．

The writer thinks that______．

       A．the details of the criminal technique should be kept

       B．the details of the crime should not be shown on the screen

       C．children should not imitate what they see on the screen

       D．it is dangerous to imitate what they see on the screen

What is the writer’s attitude（態(tài)度） towards the film in which the hero had escaped by electrocuting the guard?

       A．The writer likes it very much．               

       B．The writer is strongly against it．

       C．The writer thinks the film has some value．     

       D．The writer does not show his/her attitude．

All the following statements about“Rififi”are true EXCEPT______．

       A．that the robbery shown needs experience and skills

       B．that some very good tools were used in the robbery

       C．that the film showed the technique in detail

       D．that the technique of the robbery was not imitated

It can be inferred from the passage that______．

       A．it is hard for children to tell the differences between real life and the imaginary

       B．only people in prison support film checking

       C．only children imitate what they have seen on the screen

       D．the writer used to advise the details of crime should be shown

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科目：高中英語 來源：2012-2013學(xué)年山西省忻州一中高二上學(xué)期期末聯(lián)考英語試卷（帶解析） 題型：閱讀理解

I remember a day when I was a little kid. I was making a sandwich in the kitchen when I noticed the date on one of the wine bottles.
“ Dad, dad!” I cried. “This wine is too old to drink.”
“ Son, hold on,” he said.
“ No, you can’t drink this tonight! This bottle of wine was made 10 years ago.”
“ Wait, let me tell you…”
“ Would you like me to throw it away fro you?” I asked.
“ Son, wait a second,” he said. “Son, some wines get better over time. The longer you wait to drink it, the better it will be. Although this may seem strange, it is true.”
When I was young, I didn’t have any understanding of what this meant, but now, this would have been very helpful to remember as I went through my teenage years.
In our society, we forget this simple rule: The longer you want for certain things, the better they will be. But we want the best job as quickly as possible; we want to graduate from college in as few years as possible; we even speed through our homework just to chat with friends. When we do this, we lose something of great importance.
We all want to get to the next step so quickly that perhaps we don’t get ready enough to get there. This has a negative effect on our society. When trying to go to the right college, we will do anything to get in and when we rush through our class-work, we may not study enough for the test, and end up failing. We need to be ready for whatever comes, ready for the unexpected. Wine gets better over time, so do the things in our paths of life.
【小題1】Why did the author tell his father not to drink the bottle of wine?

A．Because it smelt terrible.
B．Because it had been kept for years.
C．Because it was mixed with something else.
D．Because his father drank too much that night.
【小題2】What the author’s father said __________.
A．made the author puzzled when he was a little child.
B．was too simple a rule to be meaningful to the author.
C．threw the author into deep thought then.
D．was an excuse to drink the wine.
【小題3】In the author’s opinion, if we do things too quickly, we will __________.
A．do it better
B．save much time
C．graduate from college more quickly
D．miss something useful to us in life
【小題4】Which of the following best reflects the main idea of the passage?
A．Well begun is half done.
B．More haste, less speed.
C．Failure is the mother of success.
D．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.

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科目：高中英語 來源：2011屆山西省河津市第二中學(xué)高三九月份月考英語卷 題型：閱讀理解

   Scientists are building the world’s first thinking robot. It’s true. Some say machines that walk, speak and feel will have been made by 2020.Kismet is the name of a robot which scientists have built this year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Kismet is different from traditional robots because it can show human emotions. Its eyes, ears and lips move to show when it feels happy, sad or bored. Kismet is one of the first robots of a new generation that look like human beings and can imitate human feelings.
Some people say that by 2020 we will have created robots with brains similar to those of adult human beings. These robots will be designed to look like people to make them more attractive and easier to sell. What kind of jobs will they do? In the future, robots like Robonaut, a robot invented by NASA, will be doing dangerous jobs, like repairing space stations. They will also be doing more and more of the household work for us. In Japan, scientists are designing robots that will entertain people by dancing and playing the piano.
Meanwhile, people who worry about the future are wondering whether robots will become monsters? Will people themselves become increasingly like robots? Experts predict that more and more people will be wearing micro-computers connected to the Internet in the future. People will have microchips in various parts of their body, which will connect them to a wide variety of small machines. Perhaps we should not exaggerate(夸大) the importance of technology, but one may wonder whether, in years to come, we will still be falling in love, and whether we will feel pain.
Who knows?
【小題1】Kismet is different from traditional robots because______.

A．it is made in the MIT, USAB．it is able to express its own feelings
C．it is the first modern robotD．it is able to show human feelings
【小題2】Possibly, robots will be able to ______in about ten years from now.
A．think like human beingsB．do all kinds of jobs for us
C．imitate human feelingsD．become dangerous monsters
【小題3】The underlined word “one” can be best replaced by_____.
A．some expertsB．the writer himselfC．some scientistsD．people in general
【小題4】It can be inferred from this passage that_______.
A．robots will take the place of human beings in the future
B．the importance of technology has been exaggerated
C．scientist have designed different kinds of robots
D．robots might be a helper or a danger.

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科目：高中英語 來源：2012年人教版高中英語必修五Unit1練習(xí)卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

The fact that blind people can see things using other parts of their bodies apart from their eyes may help us understand our feeling about color. If they sense color differences, then perhaps we, too, are affected by color without knowing it. .www.gkxx.com

Salesmen have discovered by experience over a long period of time that sugar sells badly in green wrappings（包裝）， that blue foods are considered not agreeable to the taste, and that cosmetics（化妝品） should never be packed in brown. Their discoveries have grown into a whole subject of color psychology（心理學(xué)）。 Some of our preferences（偏愛） for colors are clearly psychological. Dark blue is the color of the night sky and therefore connected with calm, while yellow is a day color connected with energy and encouragement. Experiments have shown that colors, partly because they are connected with psychology, also have a direct effect on people’s mind. People in bright red surroundings show an increase in breathing speed, heartbeat and blood pressure; red is exciting. Pure blue has exactly the opposite effect; it is a calming color. Being exciting, red was chosen as the signal for danger, but a close study shows that a bright yellow can produce a more basic state of alarm, so fire engines in some advanced areas are now rushing around in bright yellow colors that stop buses, trucks and cars. .www.7caiedu.cn

1.The passage tells us that salesmen have __________.

A．discovered the relationship between color and psychology

B．tried out colors on blind people

C．found out that color affect sales

D．developed a special subject of color psychology

2.It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．what color we prefer depends on our state of mind

B．foods sell well in green or blue wrappings

C．blind people cannot sense color difference

D．a(chǎn) bright yellow has exactly the opposite effect to red

3.If people are exposed to（置身于） pure blue, _________.

A．their blood pressure rises

B．they want to taste blue foods

C．they will feel like buying things

D．they won’t easily feel nervous

4.The most effective color in the passage for warning people is _______.

A．red

B．dark blue

C．bright yellow

D．green

5.Which of the following do you think is the best title of the passage?

A．Colors and sales

B．Colors and feelings

C．The blind and colors

D．Preferences for colors

 

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科目：高中英語 來源：河北省2010屆高三押題卷（英語） 題型：閱讀理解

 

 第二部分 閱讀理解（共25小題。每一節(jié)每小題2分，第二節(jié)每小題1分；滿分45分）

閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的四個(gè)選項(xiàng)（A、B、C和D）中，選出最佳選項(xiàng)，并在答題卡上將該項(xiàng)涂黑

Mary and Peter were having a picnic with some friends near a river when Mary noticed an object overhead. "Look!" she shouted to her friends. "That's a spaceship up there and it's going to land here."

    Frightened by the strange silver-colored spaceship, most of the young people got in their cars and drove away quickly. Peter was fond of Mary and always stayed close to her. They, more curious than frightened, watched the spaceship land and saw a door open. When nobody came out, they went to the spaceship and entered inside. Peter followed Mary into the spaceship and did not hear the door closed behind him. The temperature fell rapidly and the two young people lost consciousness.

    When they woke up, they were surprised to see that they were back by the river again. The spaceship had gone. Their car was nearby.

   "What happened?" asked Mary.

   Peter scratched (抓) his head, saying slowly, "Don't ask me. Perhaps we had a dream. Did you...Did you see a spaceship?"

   "Yes," said Mary. "And we both went into it. Then..." she looked at her wrist. "That's funny. My watch has stopped. Oh, well, come on. It's time to go home."

    Driving about fifty meters, they found their way blocked by a thick wall made of something like glass. They got out of the car and tried to find their way round the wall but discovered that they were inside a circular wall. It was like a mirror and prevented them from seeing through it.

   On the other side of the wall, strange creatures walked past slowly. A few stopped to stare through the wall and read a new notice which, translated into English, said: "New arrivals at the zoo: a pair of Earthlings in their natural surroundings with their mobile house."

1. When the spaceship arrived, why didn't Peter drive away?

A. He did not like leaving Mary.  

B. He knew that the spaceship was harmless.

C. He was too frightened to drive.

D. There was a wall blocking the road.

2. Why did Peter enter the spaceship?

A. He saw the food and was hungry.

B. Mary told him to enter it.

C. He just followed Mary.

D. He wanted to study it.

3. Peter scratched his head so we know that _____.

A. he had lost consciousness

B. he was puzzled and did not know what to say to Mary

C. he had lost his memory

D. he was still half asleep

4. What do the words "strange creatures" mean to tell us?

A. They were wild animals in a zoo.

B. They were robbers.

C. They had landed on Earth in a spaceship and lived there.

D. The young couple were on another planet.

 

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