完形填空

　　Everyone likes to receive gifts．In many countries people give gifts for special occasions．For example, in the United States people give 　　1　　 for birthdays, weddings, and when someone graduates from high school or college．In Japan many people give gifts at special times in the summer and 　　2　�。�And in some countries people give a person a gift when they visit the person’s home．But how do you choose the 　　3　　 gift?

　　It's not always easy to find a great gift for everyone, especially when you are buying a gift for someone from another 　　4　�。�In many Western countries watches and 　　5　　 are nice gifts．However, Chinese people do not like clocks as gifts．The Chinese words that mean to give a clock are similar to the words for to die．So many Chinese people think that a clock as a gift is bad 　　6　　．

　　Many people around the world think that flowers are always a safe gift．But even flowers can be 　　7　　! In Russia a gift of an odd number of flowers(1,3,5, etc．)is okay．But a gift of an even number of flowers(2,4,6, etc．)is not okay．It's only for funerals! People in China do not like gifts of white flowers, because white is the color for funerals．And don't 　　5　　 red roses to a stranger from Germany．They may think you love them! Red roses mean love in several cultures!

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閱讀理解

　　Peter was an English boy．His hobby was collecting stamps．He had stamps from many countries．Peter’s favourite stamp came from France．He had every French edition(版本)from 1960 to 2004 except a 1974 special edition stamp．It was very hard to find．He looked for it everywhere even in stores, at street markets and on the Internet．He asket his friends and relatives to help him．But nobody could find the stamp．It made Peter very sad．

　　“Don’t worry, Please have patience(耐心)，”his father said to him．“You’ll find it someday．”

　　“I hope so,” Peter said．

　　Peter also liked making friends．He had a penfriend named Victor who was in France．They wrote to each other every month．Victor knew Peter liked collecting stamps．One day Victor’s mother Laura gave him an old French stamp．It was a big, green one．He used it to post a letter to Peter．

　　As soon as Peter received the letter, he looked carefully at the stamp．He was very amazed to see that it was the 1974 special edition stamp．

　　Peter was to happy!He told the good news to his sister and his parents．

　　“You see,” his father said, “you did find your stamp in the end．So you know, it’s good to have two things in life．”

　　“What are they?” Peter asked．

　　“Friends and patience, ” his father answered．

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閱讀理解

　　In Europe, many people make friends between their countries through town twinning．Town or city twinning means two towns in different countries agree and decide to become ‘twins' with sister city relationship(關(guān)系)．

　　The people find pen-friends in the twin town．They exchange newspapers and stamps．The school teachers discuss teaching methods(方法)with the teachers in the twin town, too, but not very often if it is far away．

　　Sometimes, schools even exchange their classes for two or three weeks! For example, German middle school students study for a while at the school in their twin town in Britain, staying with British families．A few months later, their British friends come to study in Germany．

　　Many British towns are so pleased with the results of the twinning that they set out to find more than one twin town!

　　Tonbridge, a small town in Kent, for example, has twin towns in both Germany and France．Richmond near London has relationship with Germany, France and even a town in a Balkan(巴爾干半島)country! Town twinning can help make friends．It helps students to improve their language skills, and also helps people to understand each other between different nations(國(guó)家)．

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