Thanksgiving is an important festival in North America. We interviewed several students from the US and Canada. Here is what they have told us about their Thanksgiving experiences.
Josie from New York, USA
“In America, Thanksgiving is celebrated every year at the end of November. It is to remember the first group of people from Europe to live in America. When they first arrived, they found the environment strange. But they learned to survive after some native American friends showed them how to grow and find food. Thanksgiving is meant to be a traditional celebration.”
Todd from California, USA
“Thanksgiving is the first day of Christmas shopping. That means we have four weeks to buy Christmas presents for our families and friends. For me and my friends, the most important part of the festival is the big football game on TV. The match is watched by millions of people all over America. Thanksgiving is seen as an exciting day for football!”
Ian from Saskatoon, Canada
In Canada, Thanksgiving is held on the 2nd Monday in October. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day, many people go to church. Thanks is given for all the good things that happened to them during the year. I always give thanks for the nice big turkey I’m going to have at the family dinner! Like all festivals, Thanksgiving is about food!
Katie from Maritimes, Canada
On Thanksgiving Day, we have dinner with all our cousins, aunts and uncles. It is always very busy. Sometimes we have two Thanksgiving dinners because we go to both our grandparents’ houses. The dinner is usually attended by more than twenty people at each house! My mother and my aunts do all the cooking but the washing-up is done by me and my cousins. And that’s not an easy job! But I don’t mind because Thanksgiving is meant to be a time to give thanks.
小題1:People in the USA and Canada ____________.

A．a(chǎn)ll have the same opinion of Thanksgiving

B．have different opinions of Thanksgiving

C．feel that Thanksgiving is about food

D．have no interest in Thanksgiving

小題2:Which of the people interviewed feels that Thanksgiving is all about football?

A．Ian

B．Josie

C．Todd

D．Katie

小題3:Where does the person who thinks that Thanksgiving is a traditional celebration come from?

A．New York

B．California

C．Saskatoon

D．Maritimes

小題4:For what reasons do people give thanks at Thanksgiving?

A．All the good things that have happened

B．Presents, a big turkey

C．Grandparents, food

D．Football, traditions

WASHINGTON---At least four more U.S. air-traffic controllers are caught nodding off on the job at three separate airports across the nation, the government said Wednesday.
The controller working alone in the tower fell asleep and was out of communication for 16 minutes while a medical flight carrying a patient was trying to land at about 2 A.M. Wednesday at Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Nevada, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said in a statement.
The FAA announced that it is also investigating a controller who fell asleep Monday at Boeing King County International Airport in Seattle and two controllers who were unresponsive at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, Tennessee on Feb.19.
“I am sick of this,” Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Chairman Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, said in a statement. “We can’t have a system where some of the people responsible for safety are asleep at the switch.”
As the incidents pile up, sleep experts say it demonstrates that the agency faces a systemic issue with the thousands of people expected to work through the night in safety-critical jobs. Scientific research shows that workers on midnight shifts make more errors because it is so difficult for the body to adapt to sleeping during the day, they say.
The agency will add an extra controller at the 27 towers staffed with one worker on the midnight shift, the FAA statement said.
Representative John Mica, the Florida Republican who chairs the House transportation committee, criticized the decision to add controllers. “Only in the federal government would you double up on workers, averaging $161,000 per year in salary and benefits, that aren’t doing their job,” Mica said in a statement. Mica has pushed legislation that would allow as many as 90 smaller airports to switch from federal to private controllers.
“People have known these problems with fatigue（疲勞）have existed for years,” said John Goglia, a Boston-based aviation safety consultant. “They’re now showing up. The FAA is admitting they exist. Now the FAA needs to work on it.”
The four controllers in Nevada, Seattle and Texas have been suspended(暫時停職) during the investigations, the FAA said.
小題1:The underlined part “double up on workers” means “______”.

A．a(chǎn)dd two more workers	B．staff two workers at a post
C．settle two workers in a double room	D．give the workers double pay

小題2:According to John Goglia, fatigue problem ______.

A．is a known potential danger	B．has never appeared before
C．is common for day-time shift workers	D．seldom shows up at night

小題3:Which statement is true?

A．A controller fell asleep without communication for 16 minutes in Knoxville, Tennessee.

B．A medical flight carrying a patient failed to land with the controller asleep.

C．Jay Rockefeller pays little attention to sleeping at the switch.

D．Mica refused to support the decision to staff more controllers on the midnight shift.

小題4:We can infer from the passage that ______.

A．All the controllers in the US were working alone while they were on duty

B．The incidents are rooted in fatigue problems and those on midnight shifts need an extra nap

C．In the U.S. , thousands of people expect to work through the night in safety-critical jobs

D．The agency has added an extra controller at the 27 towers

 Brazil has become one of the developing world’s great successes at reducing population growth, but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates, Brazil has had better result without really trying, says George Martine at Harvard.
　　Brazil’s population growth rate has dropped from 2.99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1.93% a year between 1981 and 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries.
　　Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas (通俗電視連續(xù)劇) and installment (分期付款) plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect, role in lowering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world’s biggest producers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil’s most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities.
　　“Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction, they describe middle and upper class values-not many children, different attitudes towards life, women working,” says Martine. “They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people aware of other patterns of behavior and other values, which were put into a very attractive package.”
小題1:According to the passage, Brazil has cut back its population growth _____.

A．by educating its citizens

B．by careful family planning

C．by developing TV programmes

D．by chance

小題2:What can you infer from the passage about many Third World countries ?

A．They haven’t attached much importance to birth control.

B．They would soon join Brazil in controlling their birth rate.

C．They haven’t yet found an effective measure to control their population.

D．They neglected the role of TV plays in family planning

小題3:Soap operas have helped in lowering Brazil’s birth rate because ______.

A．they keep people sitting long hours watching TV

B．they have gradually changed people’s way of life

C．people are drawn to their attractive package

D．they popularize birth control measures

A report has recently been published about what the earth might be like 20 years or so from now on. The report is a result of a three-year  46 .
According to the report, the picture of the earth in the year 2020 is not a  47 one. The world will be more  48 because the population will continue to grow. The population could be  49 9,000 million, almost 3,000 million more than that in 2009. More people would move into cities, especially cities in  50 countries. Cities in India and Thailand probably would  51 have a population of 20 million by then.
Food production will  52 , but not enough to feed all the people. Farmers will grow 90% more food than they did in 2009,  53 most of the increase would be in countries that  54 produce enough food for their people. Little increase is  55 in South Asia, Africa or the Middle East. Poor farming ways are  56 large areas of cropland, changing farms into deserts. More farmland is  57 as cities become larger and more houses are built.  58 will get worse as developed countries burn more coal and oil. Many of the world’s  59 could disappear as more and more trees are cut down. Energy will continue to be a serious problem. The experts say their  60  of the earth for the year 2020 may be wrong. They only   61  the situation as it is today. By changing the situation, by  62 the problems, the picture can be changed. There is  63 time for the nations of the world to  64 a plan of action. But they considered that  65 too long to make a decision would greatly reduce the chances of success

小題1:	A．learning B．instruction C．notice D．study

小題2:A.pleased    B.pleasant                  C.safe                         C.blue

小題3:	A．dangerous B．beautiful C．crowded D．terrible

小題4:	A．no more than B．a(chǎn)s many as C．so much as D．a(chǎn)s large as

小題5:	A．developing B．developed C．big D．mountainous

小題6:	A．none B．each C．no D．neither

小題7:	A．last B．reduce C．increase D．continue

小題8:	A．so B．but C．or D．however

小題9:	A．a(chǎn)lready B．hardly C．partly D．never

小題10:

A．wanted B．lacked C．found D．expected

小題11:.

A．destroying

B．protecting

C．bothering

D．interrupting

小題12:

A．saved B．lost C．discovered D．used

小題13:

A．Air pollution B．Water pollution C．Some diseases D．All farmland

小題14:

A．a(chǎn)nimals B．plants C．forests D．people

小題15:

A．photo B．picture C．a(chǎn)im D．environment

小題16:

A．stopped B．continued C．exchanged D．prevented

小題17:.

A．solving

B．working

C．a(chǎn)nswering

D．dealing

小題18:.

A．no

B．still

C．less

D．lots of

小題19:

A．give up B．carry C．make D．get off

小題20:

A．visiting B．suggesting C．spending D．waiting

Canada’s western city of Calgary is the world’s best city when it comes to healthy living, local press reported Monday.
According to an international survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, a London-based consulting firm, Calgary was put at the top of a list of 144 cities. It scored 121 points, just above Honolulu’s score of 120. Helsinki（赫爾辛基，芬蘭首都） and Ottawa followed at 119.5 and 118.5 respectively.
Three other Canadian cities came in the top 20. Montreal and Vancouver tied for ninth and Toronto came in at 18th.
The scores are based on air pollution levels, availability and quality of hospitals and medical supplies, as well as the efficiency of waste removal and sewage systems.
In America, the lowest scoring city was Atlanta, which was ranked 76th. Athens was the lowest scoring city in Western Europe, ranking 120th because of its air pollution. London was ranked 59th.
小題1:How many Canadian cities are in the top 20?

A．3.

B．4.

C．5.

D．6.

小題2:Which of the following is NOT taken into account when the cities were scored?

A．Weather conditions.	B．Air quality.
C．Waste removal.	D．Medical supplies.

小題3:Among the following cities, which is the lowest scoring one?

A．Atlanta.

B．Athens.

C．London.

D．Helsinki.

Cara Lang is 13. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts, in the U. S. Last Thursday, she didn't go to school. She went to work with her father instead. Every year, on the fourth Thursday in April, millions of young girls go work. This is Take Our Daughters to Work Day. The girls are between the ages of 9 and 15. They spend the day at work with an adult, usually a mother, father, aunt, or uncle. They go to offices, police stations, laboratories, and other places where their parents or other family members work. Next year, the day will include sons, too.
The Ms. Foundation, an organization for women, started the program about ten years ago. In the U.S., many women work outside the home. The Ms. Foundation wanted girls to find out about many different kinds of jobs. Then, when the girls grow up, they can choose a job they like.
Cara's father is a film director. Cara says, “It was very exciting for me to go to the studio with my dad. I saw a lot of people doing different jobs.” Many businesses have special activities for girls on this day. Last year, Cara went to work with her aunt at the University of Massachusetts. In the engineering department, the girls learned to build a bridge with toothpicks and Candy. In the chemistry department, they learned to use scales. They learned about many other kinds of jobs, too.
Right now, Cara does not know what job she will have when she grows up. But because of Take Our Daughters to Work Day, she knows she has many choices.
小題1:What is Cara's father?

A．An engineer.

B．An official.

C．A moviemaker.

D．A professor.

小題2:According to the passage, Take our Daughters to work Day is ______.

A．on every Thursday in Apri

B．a(chǎn) holiday for girls of all ages

C．a(chǎn) day for girls to know about jobs

D．a(chǎn) day for girls to get a job easily

小題3:On this special day, Cara has done all the following EXCEPT that ____.

A．she learned to use scales

B．she worked as an actress

C．she went to work with her aunt

D．she used toothpicks and Candy to build a bridge

小題4:What is probably the best title for the passage?

A．Cara Lang, a Fortunate Girl

B．Take Our Daughters to Work Day

C．Children's Day and Work Day

D．Ms. Foundation, an Organization for Women

Subways

The Tokyo Metro and Toei Lines	Features: The Tokyo Metro and Toei lines that make up of Tokyo’s huge subway system carry almost 8 million people each day, making it the busiest system in the world. The system is famous for its oshiya-- literally “pusher”--- who push passengers into crowded subway cars so the doors can close. And you think your ride is hell.
The Moscow Metro	Features: The Moscow Metro has some of the most beautiful stations in the world. The best of them were built during the Stalinist era and feature chandeliers (枝行吊燈)，marble moldings and elaborate murals(精美壁畫). With more than 7 million riders a day, keeping all that marble clean has got to be a burden.
The Hong Kong MTR	Features: The Hong Kong MTR has the distinction of being one of the few subway systems in the world that actually turns a profit（利潤）. It’s privately owned and uses real estate development along its tracks to increase income and ridership. It also introduced “Octopus cards” that allow people to not only pay their fares electronically, but buy stuff at convenience stores ,supermarkets, restaurants and even parking meters. It’s estimated that 95% of all adults in Hong Kong own an Octopus card.
Shanghai Metro	Features: Shanghai is the third city in China to build a metro system, and it has become the country’s largest in the 12 years since it opened. Shanghai Metro has 142 miles of track and plans to add another 180 miles within five years. By that point, it would be three times larger than Chicago “L”. The system carries about 2.18 million people a day.
The London Metro	Features: Londoners call their subway the Underground, even though 55 percent of it lies above ground. No matter when you’ve got the oldest mass-transit system in the world, you can call it anything you like. Trains started in 1863 and they’ve been running ever since. Some 3 million people ride each day, every one of them remembering to “Mind the gap”

小題1:______ is done with the purpose of making money.

A．The Tokyo Metro and Toei Lines	B．The Moscow Metro
C．Shanghai Metro	D．The Hong Kong MTR

小題2:We can learn from the passage that Shanghai Metro______.

A．carries the most people each day

B．is the world’s largest

C．may be larger than the Chicago “L” in the future

D．is the busiest in the world

小題3:How many subways carry more than 5 million people per day?

A．2

B．3

C．4

D．5

小題4:What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Shanghai is the third to build a metro system in China, which has become the largest in the world.

B．You’ll feel sick when you travel on the Tokyo Metro and Toei Lines.

C．Londoners call their subway the Underground because 55 percent of it lies above ground.

D．It is estimated that 95% of the population in Hong Kong own an Octopus card

An Australian man who has been donating(捐獻) his extremely rare kind of blood（血液） for 56 years has saved the lives of more than two million babies.
James Harrison has an antibody（抗體） in his plasma(血漿) that stops babies dying from Rhesus disease, a form of severe anaemia(貧血). He has enabled countless mothers to give birth to healthy babies, including his own daughter, Tracey, who had a healthy son thanks to her father's blood.
Mr. Harrison has been giving blood every few weeks since he was 18 years old and has now racked up a total of 984 donations. When he started donating, his blood was deemed so special that his life was insured（保險） for one million Australian dollars.
He was also nicknamed the “man with the golden arm” or the “man in two million”. He said, “I've never thought about stopping. Never!” He made a pledge to be a donor aged 14 after undergoing major chest surgery in which he needed 13 liters of blood. “I was in hospital for three months,” he said. “The blood I received saved my life so I made a pledge to give blood when I was 18.”
Just after he started donating he was found to have the rare（稀有的） and life-saving antibody in his blood. At the time, thousands of babies in Australia were dying each year of Rhesus disease. Other newborns suffered permanent(永久的) brain damage because of the condition. The disease creates an incompatibility between the mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood. It stems from one having Rh-positive（陽性） blood and the other Rh-negative（陰性）.
His blood has since led to the development of a vaccine called Anti-D. After his blood type was discovered, Mr. Harrison volunteered to undergo a series of tests to help develop the Anti-D vaccine. “They insured me for a million dollars so I knew my wife Barbara would be taken care of,” he said. “I wasn't scared. I was glad to help. I had to sign every form going and basically sign my life away.”
Mr. Harrison is Rh-negative and was given injections of Rh-positive blood. It was found his plasma could treat the condition and since then it has been given to hundreds of thousands of women. It has also been given to babies after they are born to stop them developing the disease.
It is estimated he has helped save 2.2 million babies so far. Mr. Harrison is still donating every few weeks now.
小題1:How old is James Harrison?

A．74

B．70.

C．56

D．78

小題2:What does the underlined phrase “two million” refer to?

A．mothers

B．babies

C．dollars

D．blood

小題3:Why did James decide to donate his blood? Because _____.

A．his daughter asked him to help her son

B．he has a golden arm worth a million dollars

C．a(chǎn) vaccine called Anti-D is to be developed

D．someone else’s blood saved his life

小題4:The sentence “The disease creates an incompatibility between the mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood” (underlined in Paragraph 5) suggests that _____.

A．the mother and the baby have different types of blood

B．babies suffer permanent brain damage before born

C．Rhesus disease contributes to permanent brain damage

D．a(chǎn)ll the patients have a rare antibody in their blood

小題5:What can we infer from the sixth paragraph?

A．His wife Barbara needed to be taken care of badly then.

B．Mr. Harrison was not glad to help develop a new vaccine.

C．Some of the tests to develop the vaccine are dangerous.

D．His blood type was accidentally discovered after tests.

Early last Tuesday, six men carrying machine guns, a pistol and a hunting rifle got on a four—car electric “ milk train” at the Dutch town of Assen. Shortly after it left Beilen, ten miles away, the terrorists stopped the train and seized the passenger as hostages. As police and Dutch soldiers ringed the train, another group of terrorists stuck in Amsterdam, forcing their way into the Indonesian consulate and taking 41 more hostages, including 16 children. By week’s end the terrorists had murdered three people aboard the train, and four more had been wounded in the raid on the consulate.
The kidnapping, and the subsequent cold—blooded murders, virtually rocked the Netherlands. While the Cabinet met in emergency sessions, television and radio station paused normal programming in favor of solemn music and news bulletins.
The terrorists were Indonesians from the South Moluccan Islands in the Pacific Ocean, and they were demanding that the Dutch help them gain independence from the Jakarta regime.(雅加達政權(quán))
The twin acts of violence were not the first signs of South Molucca anger. Just before a 1970 visit to the Netherlands by Indonesia’s President Suharto, they attacked the Indonesian embassy in the Hague, killing a Dutch policeman. Last week’s kidnappings are two days before the Dutch Appeals Court was to trial 16 South Moluccan’s who were implicated in a plot last April to kidnap Queen Juliana and other members of the Royal family. They planned to storm the palace at Soestdijk after attacking the gates with an armoured car(裝甲車).
The Moluccan headache is a heritage(遺留問題) of the old days of empire. A chain of islands at the eastern of the Indonesian archipelago, the Moluccas were once known as the Spice Islands. When the Netherlands gave up its East Indies colonies in 1949, the Moluccans wanted to set up a South Moluccan Republic, some 12,000 islanders were allowed to settle to the Netherlands. Their number swollen by Dutch—born children now reached 35,000. the young Moluccans here are demanding that the Dutch help them gain independence from the Jakarta regime.
小題1:Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage?

A．Dozens of people were seized by the terrorist as hostages.

B．The Indonesian consulate was located in Amsterdam.

C．The terrorists were Indonesians living in the Netherlands.

D．The terrorists all surrendered(投降) to the police and soldiers.

小題2:Why did television and radio stations pause normal programming?

A．The acts of violence shocked the whole country.

B．The terrorists destroyed necessary equipment.

C．the Cabinet needed to think quietly.

D．Their men were too sad to produce good program.

小題3:The last paragraph __________.

A．is mainly about the history of Indonesia

B．tells us how Indonesia won its independence

C．tell us how the Netherlands gave up its rule

D．briefly accounts for the acts of violence

An 8-year-old girl was dragged about 900 feet by a school bus today in Livingston County.
According to State Police, the incident occurred about 2：40 pm on State Route 436 in the town of Ossian after three sisters were dropped off the bus.
As the last sister was leaving the bus, driver John Coley, 62 , of Wayland, Steuben County, told the police that he was not paying attention when he closed the door and trapped her backpack inside. Coley then continued 900 feet before he realized the girl was being dragged, State Police said.
The girl was hurt and was transported to Nicholas H Noyes Memorial Hospital in Dansville，Livingston County, by Dansville Ambulance.
Another 8-year-old child on the bus said he hit his head on the seat in front of him when the bus came to a sudden stop, causing an earache.
●Conservation staff in New Zealand have put down 33 stranded（擱淺的）whales after several attempts to refloat them failed.
The whales were shot on Farewell Spit on the South Island. Department of Conservation area manager John Mason says staff and hundreds of volunteers had tried all week to get the whales refloated.
He says they thought they were successful on Wednesday when they got the whales into deep water——but were saddened on Thursday to find that they had swum back ashore. He says the condition of the whales had significantly become worse.
As well as the 33 whales that were shot，36 had died naturally since Monday and 17 were successfully refloated. 13 remain unknown.
小題1:The last sister was dragged by the bus because______________.

A．she stood too close to the bus when getting off

B．the bus driver stopped the bus suddenly

C．something was wrong with the bus door

D．her backpack was stuck in the closed door

小題2:It can be inferred from the first news that______________．

A．three sisters were dragged about 900 feet by a school bus

B．the driver stopped the bus immediately he realized his mistake

C．two children were hurt and sent to hospital

D．a(chǎn) boy was hurt when the bus started suddenly

小題3:How many whales were trapped ashore in total?

A．33.

B．36.

C．99.

D．13.

小題4:The 33 refloated whales returned ashore on______________.

A．Monday

B．Tuesday

C．Wednesday

D．Thursday