The candidate who is longing for election to the highest office in the United States must be native-born American citizen who is at least 35 years old and who has lived in the United States for at least 14 years. The election course is complicated, and the road to the Oval Office is long.
Potential candidates must present papers stating their intention to seek their party’s recommendation; delegates(代表) then choose from among those running some months later at the national conferences. Before that, however, each state holds a primary election that determines how the state’s voters want the party’s delegates to vote. Methods of choosing the delegates vary from state to state. At the conferences, there are speeches and often heated discussions. It may take several rounds of voting before delegates can agree on a candidate. On the final day of the meeting, the presidential candidate announces his or her choice for vice president.
Election Day, by law, is the Tuesday that follows the first Monday in November. On this day, registered voters may cast their votes for president, vice president, and candidates for other federal state, and local offices. The popular vote, however, does not determine who will be president. The president is chosen by a vote of the Electoral College, a group of 538 citizens from the 50 states and the District of Columbia who are chosen to cast votes for the president and vice president.
The rules for choosing electors, as with the delegates, vary. Each state also decides whether its electoral votes must reflect the popular vote. The number of electors in each state is determined by the number of representatives and senators that a state sends to Congress and, therefore, may change every 10 years, depending on the results of the United States census (人口普查). The winner must get at least 270 of the electoral votes when the Electoral College meets in December of the election year. The election results are not official, however, until the following January, when Congress meets in a joint conference to count the electoral votes.
At the end of the road to the Oval Office is the swearing-in ceremony, at which the new or reelected president takes the oath of office on January 20.
【小題1】Which of the following is not a requirement for candidates for the presidency of the USA?

A．Minimum age of thirty-five years old.

B．Native of the United States of America.

C．Bottom residency of fourteen years in the State

D．Previous experience in an elective office.

【小題2】According to the passage, we can conclude that _______.
A. ways to select the delegates of each state are very much the same in the USA.
B. the candidate who wins the popular vote will be the winner of the election
C. the change of a state’s population barely has effects on the presidential election.
D. the presidents of the United States are theoretically picked by the citizens directly.
【小題3】Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．The Various Ways of Presidential Election in the USA

B．The Qualifications for Being the President of the USA

C．The Process of the Election for the President of the USA

D．The Rules for Choosing Presidential Candidates in the USA

In the US, people prefer waiting for a table to sitting with people they don’t know. This means a hostess may not seat a small group until a small table is available, even if a large one is. If you are sitting at a table with people you don’t know, it is impolite to light up a cigarette without first asking if it will disturb them.
At American restaurants and coffee shops you are usually served tap (水龍頭)water before you order. You may find the bread and butter is free, and if you order coffee, you may get a free refill(重續(xù)).
Most cities and towns have no rules about opening and closing time for stores or restaurants, though they usually do make rules for bars. Especially in large cities, stores may be open 24 hours a day.
Serving in restaurants is often large; too large for many people. If you can’t finish your meal but would like to enjoy the food later, ask your waitress or waiter for a “doggie bag”. It may have a picture of a dog on it, but everybody knows you’re taking the food for yourself.
Tips are not usually added to the check. They are not included in the price of the meal, either. A tip of about 15% is expected and you should leave it on the table when you leave. In some restaurants, a check is brought on a plate and you put your money there. Then the waiter or waitress brings you your change.
【小題1】Which statement is TRUE?

A．American people like sitting with people they don’t know.

B．Hostess always seats a small group at a large table.

C．American people never sit with people they don’t know.

D．American people would not light a cigarette if the people who sit at the same table mind their smoking.

【小題2】What is served before you order?

A．Cold water.

B．Butter.

C．Coffee.

D． Bread.

【小題3】What do American people always do when servings are too large for them?

A．They take the food home with a doggie bag for their dogs.

B．They leave the food on the table and go away.

C．They take the food home with a doggie bag and enjoy the food later.

D．They ask the waitress or waiter to keep the food for them.

Facial expressions carry meaning that is determined by situations and relationships. For example, in American culture the smile is in general an expression of pleasure. Yet it also has other uses. A woman’s smile at a police officer does not carry the same meaning as the smile she gives to a young child. A smile may show love or politeness. It can also hide true feelings. For example, many people in Russia consider smiling at strangers in public to be unusual and even improper. Yet many Americans smile freely at strangers in public places (although this is less common in big cities). Some Russians believe that Americans smile in the wrong places; some Americans believe that Russians don’t smile enough. In Southeast Asian culture, a smile is frequently used to cover painful feelings. Vietnamese people may tell a sad story but end the story with a smile.
Our faces show emotions (情感), but we should not attempt（嘗試）to “read” people from another culture as we would “read” someone from our own culture. The fact that members of one culture do not express their emotions as openly as do members of another does not mean that they do not experience emotions. Rather, there are cultural differences in the amount of facial expressions permitted. For example, in public and in formal situations many Japanese do not show their emotions as freely as Americans do. When with friends, Japanese and Americans seem to show their emotions similarly.
It is difficult to conclude about Americans and facial expressiveness because of personal and cultural differences in the United States. People from certain cultural backgrounds in the United States seem to be more facially expressive than others. The key is to try not to judge people whose ways of showing emotion are different. If we judge according to our own cultural habits, we may make the mistake of “reading” the other person incorrectly.
【小題1】What does the smile usually mean in the U.S.?

A．Love.

B．Politeness.

C．Joy.

D．Thankfulness.

【小題2】The author mentions the smile of the Vietnamese to prove that smile can ___ .

A．show friendliness to strangers	B．be used to hide true feelings
C．be used in the wrong places	D．show personal habits

【小題3】What should we do before attempting to “read” people?

A．Learn about their relations with others.

B．Understand their cultural backgrounds.

C．Find out about their past experience.

D．Figure out what they will do next.

【小題4】What would be the best title for the test?

A．Cultural Differences	B．Smiles and Relationship
C．Facial Expressiveness	D．Habits and Emotions

What is a six-letter word that immediately comes to mind when you need some information on the Internet? You probably thought of Google. But Google wasn’t always the name of the famous search engine. In fact, the original name was BackRub!
BackRub was the name two graduate students gave to the new search engine they developed in 1996. They called it BackRub because the engine used backlinks to measure the popularity of Web sites. Later, they wanted a better name — a name that suggests huge quantities of data. They thought of the word googol. (A googol is a number followed by 100 zeros.) When they checked the Internet registry of names to see if googol was already taken, one of the students misspelled the word by mistake, and that’s how Google was born.
Google is just one example of a name change in the business world. Many other companies have decided to change their names or the names of their products. Here are some more examples:
Jerry Yang and David Filo, two young computer specialists, developed a guide to Internet content in 1994. They called it “Jerry and David’s Guide to World Wide Web.” But they soon realized that this wasn’t a very catchy name, so they searched through a dictionary and found a better one: “Yahoo.”
Sometimes companies change their names because of the popularity of one of their products. In 1962, a young runner named Phil Knight started a company called Blue Ribbon Sports. In 1971, Knight decided to design and manufacture his own brand of shoes. He named the shoes after the Greek goddess of victory — Nike. Nike shoes became so well known that Knight changed the name of the whole company to Nike.
【小題1】According to the text, Google       .

A．has been famous since 1996

B．is a result of a spelling mistake

C．means a number followed by 100 zeros

D．is the original name of the search engine

【小題2】Jerry and David changed the guide’s name to Yahoo because the original name        .

A．had been registered	B．had been forgotten
C．was not attractive	D．was too short

【小題3】The company Nike got its name from        .

A．its founders	B．its customers
C．its popular products	D．its advanced techniques

【小題4】Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．The name changes	B．The history of Google
C．How to choose a name?	D．Why are names important?

Country music is one of the most popular kinds of music in the United States today because it is about simple but strong human feelings and events-love, sadness, good times, and bad times. It tells real-life, stories and sounds the way people really talk. As life becomes more complicated(復(fù)雜), it is good to hear music about ordinary people.
Country music, sometimes called country-western, comes from two kinds of music. One is the traditional music of the people in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern Unite States. The other is traditional cowboy music from the west. The singers usually play guitars, and in the 1920s they started using electric guitars. At first city people said country music was low class. It was popular mostly in the South. But during World War II, thousands of Southerners went to the Northeast and Midwest to work in the factories. They took their music with them. Soldiers from the rest of the country went to army camps（軍營(yíng)）in the South. They learned country music. Slowly it became popular all over the country.
Today country music is also popular everywhere in the United States and Canada—in small towns and in New York City, among black and white, and among educated and uneducated people. About 1, 200 radio stations broadcast country music twenty-four hours a day. English stars sing it in British English, and people in other countries sing it in their own languages. The music that started with cowboys and poor southerners is now popular all over the world.  
【小題1】It can be learned from the passage that country music comes from       .

A．the Northeast and Midwest

B．factories and army camps in the South

C．real-life stories in small towns

D．the Appalachian Mountains and the West

【小題2】Before World War II country music was popular mainly in       .

A．the north

B． the south

C．the Midwest

D．the Northeast

【小題3】During World War II many Southerners went to the Northeast and the Mid-west because       .

A．they wanted to take music with them

B．they wanted to make other people like country music

C．they wanted to work in the factories there

D．they wanted to make country music popular

【小題4】Country music is one of the most popular kinds of music in the world today because       .

A．city people said it was low class

B．people could sing it in many different languages

C．it started with cowboys and poor Southerners

D．it is loved by different kinds of people in the world

【小題5】Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Country music is about human feelings and events.

B．Country music is sung by stars all in English.

C．Country music is popular among city people today.

D．City people didn’t like country music at first.

Finland (芬蘭) is perhaps the most beautiful and mysterious country of Northern Europe. Two-thirds of its surface is covered with thick forests. Relative to its size, Finland has more lakes than any other country. The northern part of this country is inside the Arctic Circle, where almost no trees can grow because of its cold weather and the people use their deer of transport, clothing and food.
The Finnish history began in the Middle Ages. In about 1155, Finland was conquered (侵略) by its western neighbor Sweden (瑞典). After a period of rule by Denmark (丹麥) in the 14^th century, the Swedes won back independence and power in 1523 under their brave king. During the Napoleonic (拿破侖的) Wars (1804-1818) Finland was passed finally from Sweden to Russia. The opportunity came in 1917, when the Russian Revolution brought foreign rule of Finland to an end. Shortly after Soviet Russia made peace with Germany, 1919 saw the founding of the Finnish Republic.
The years between the First and Second World Wars were years of progress and growing development. Finland is the fifth largest country in Europe, and despite a relatively small population of 5.2 million, the market potential is much greater. Finland has no coal or oil, and the nation’s wealth lies in the timber from its forests, which supplies material for paper and furniture making, and in the electric power from its water. Finland is an excellent gateway to trading with Russia and the Baltic States because of a long history of trading with these marks. Finland has also enjoyed a strong and long-Finland’s accession to the European Union in January 1995.
【小題1】From the passage, we learn that Finland _______.

A．lies inside the Arctic Circle

B．lies east of Sweden

C．is next to the countries of northern Europe

D．is entirely covered with forests and lakes

【小題2】Finland must have been under the control of _______ for as long as one hundred years or so.

A．Russia

B．Denmark

C．Sweden

D．foreign countries

【小題3】Among natural resources, the Finnish people benefit mainly from _______.

A．coal and oil

B．forests and water

C．paper and furniture

D．timber and power industry

【小題4】What does the underlined word “timber” probably mean?

A．Fruits.

B．Wood.

C．Animals.

D．Money.

A Korean wave is sweeping across China, with many Chinese women worshipping South Korean actors Kim Soo Hyun and Lee Min Ho as demigods (半神半人). Chinese netizens have always been divided over South Korean TV dramas, but there is no doubt that programs from the neighboring country are now enjoying a new round of popularity in China. And a big part of the credit for that goes to You Who Came From The Star, the South Korean TV series which is on the air now.
Top South Korean actors Jun Ji-hyun and Kim Soo Hyun recently earned a popularity rating of 24.8 percent in their country, considered strong by Nielsen Korea. You Who Came From The Star and The Heirs have been subjects of hot online discussions throughout Asia. Besides, the book, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, read by the hero in You Who Came From The Star was a hard-to-get item on Amazon for a while.
The two TV programs have several common elements: a tall, handsome, and rich hero who loves the heroine blindly and always protects her, and an equally handsome man madly in love with the same woman. Both programs portray the purity of love, which is expressed through a kiss or a warm hug. Perhaps that’s the secret of their success; perhaps people are still fascinated by Cinderella-type stories.
The growing wealth gap is a matter of social concern both in South Korea and China, and the challenges that young people face in their search for a better life might have prompted (激起) many ordinary girls to dream of marrying rich, caring men. This is precisely what the popular South Korean TV dramas portray. In fact, South Korean TV dramas are tailored to meet the market’s demands.
In contrast, Chinese TV screens are flooded by knock-off (山寨) or poorly made soap operas. There are too many Chinese TV dramas that are either of the stereotyped (刻板的) war theme or just blindly copy foreign programs. The lack of good stories has resulted in loads of TV series on time travel or fights in the harems (后宮) of Qing Dynastyemperors. These, in short, are the pain of Chinese TV productions.
The shooting for South Korean productions generally starts when the scripts (腳本) are just one-third ready. Many popular productions have their own websites, where scriptwriters post part of the finished scripts, inviting viewers to leave messages, discuss the plot and come up with suggestions for future events. This not only keeps viewers’ interest in the TV dramas alive, but also helps scriptwriters and directors make changes to the storylines to suit the audience’s demand.
Hopefully, the innovation-induced (創(chuàng)新引導(dǎo)的) success of South Korean TV programs will prompt Chinese TV drama makers to think up new ideas and abandon their bad practice of copying foreign productions in order to attract more viewers at home, and possibly abroad.
【小題1】The main point the author emphasizes in this passage is ________.

A．why Korean actors are more popular than Chinese actors

B．how the three Korean actors became famous around East Asia

C．what modern TV dramas need is not copying foreign programs but innovation

D．the Cinderella-type stories are an ever-lasting theme people are fascinated with

【小題2】Which of the following best explains people’s favor for The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane?

A．The celebrity effect is powerful.

B．Drama stars are the best advertisements.

C．Rich and handsome heroes in dramas usually love reading.

D．A successful drama generally originates from a good novel.

【小題3】According to the passage, the secret to Korean TV dramas’ being successful is that ________.

A．drama stars must be tall, rich and handsome or beautiful

B．scriptwriters should choose the appropriate themes for all viewers

C．drama producers have creative ideas to adapt to viewers’ interest and demand

D．people’s concerns such as wealth gap both in Korea and China are taken good care of

【小題4】What does the last paragraph imply?

A．Abandoning copying foreign productions is the only way to attract viewers.

B．The Chinese TV drama makers should follow in the footsteps of the Koreans.

C．It’s hard to predict what the future TV dramas in China and Korea will be like.

D．A bright future of Chinese TV dramas can be expected prompted by the Koreans.

Sweetest Day in America is always the third Saturday in October. This holiday is much more important in some regions than in others (Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo being the biggest Sweetest Day cities). It is a holiday that is gaining in popularity every year throughout the country.
Sweetest Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in October as a day to make someone happy. It is an occasion which offers all of us an opportunity to remember not only the sick, aged, and orphaned, but also friends, relatives and associates whose helpfulness and kindness we have enjoyed.
Over 60 years ago, a man in Cleveland, believing that the city's orphans and shut­ins (臥病在床的人) too often felt forgotten and neglected, thought of the idea of showing them that they were remembered. He did this through the distribution of small gifts. With the help of his friends and neighbors, he distributed these small remembrances on a Saturday in October. During the years that followed, other Clevelanders began to participate in the celebration ceremony, which came to be called “Sweetest Day”. In time, the Sweetest Day idea of spreading cheer to the underprivileged was broadened to include everyone, and became an occasion for remembering others with a kind act or a small remembrance. And soon the idea spread to other cities all over the country.
Sweetest Day is not based on any single group's religious affection or on a family relationship. It is a reminder that a thoughtful word or deed enriches life and gives it meaning.
Because for many people remembering takes the form of gift­giving, Sweetest Day offers us the opportunity to show others that we care, in a practical way.
【小題1】We can learn from the first paragraph that Sweetest Day is ________.

A．sometimes the third Saturday in October

B．hardly celebrated in Detroit

C．of equal importance in every part of the USA

D．getting increasingly popular in the USA

【小題2】Sweetest Day was intended to remember ________.

A．the young and disabled

B．friends and relatives

C．orphans and shut­ins

D．the sick and aged

【小題3】We can infer from the passage that the birthplace of Sweetest Day is ________.

A．Detroit	B．Cleveland
C．Buffalo	D．Washington

【小題4】Now on Sweetest Day gifts are given to those ________.

A．we care	B．we admire
C．in need of help	D．in trouble

Can a Language Become Extinct? 
A language can become extinct when the last person who can speak it passes away. Or more likely when the second­last person who speaks it dies because then there is no one left to talk to. According to linguists (語(yǔ)言學(xué)家) there is nothing unusual about a single language dying out. But what is happening today is quite remarkable. According to the recent statistics, there are approximately 6,000 languages in the world as we speak. Of these, about half are going to die out in the next century.
There are several reasons as to why a language can eventually die out. These range from natural disasters, such as hurricanes, to sociological factors, like cultural assimilation, in which the culture of a minority group is gradually replaced by a stronger one. The former can cause tribes to leave their natural habitat(棲息地) and therefore become fewer and fewer in number. However, it doesn't happen very frequently. In fact, the latter is a much bigger threat and it is responsible for the extinction of a lot of languages in countries like the USA and Australia. For instance, Chemehuevi is one of the languages which is really close to dying out since its sole speaker is an old, yet healthy, man named Johnny Hill, Jr.
It is very important for as many languages as possible to be preserved. Scientists have been trying to raise people's awareness on how certain tribes have specific words which cannot be expressed in let's say English simply because there is no equal meaning. Namely, the Yupik of Alaska have 99 names to describe different layers of ice formation, or how the Tofa of Siberia classify reindeer (馴鹿). In other words, when languages die out, mankind's wisdom reduces.
On a happier note, there are many famous cases which show what can be done to preserve languages in danger of extinction. In particular, the Maori in New Zealand have created so­called “l(fā)anguage nests”： organizations which help children under five learn the language. They provide them with a setting where they are exposed to the language intensively so that they get to realise that communicating in Maori is as natural as communicating in English. There is always, of course, the risk that the children won't keep the language alive after they have left their “nests”. Nevertheless, hope dies hard.
【小題1】What most probably caused the death of languages in the USA and Australia?

A．Habitats were lost.

B．Natural disasters struck.

C．Native cultures disappeared.

D．Foreign languages were spoken.

【小題2】In Paragraph 3, the author states his opinion by ________

A．listing definitions

B．providing examples

C．presenting causes and effects

D．comparing with other opinions

【小題3】What does the author really intends to tell us in the last paragraph?

A．Attempts may not produce the desired effect.

B．Environment is important in language protection.

C．People can do little about a language's extinction.

D．Measures should be taken in spite of difficulties.

【小題4】The author believes that ________.

A．a(chǎn)ll languages are finally going to die out

B．human wisdom can be reflected in languages

C．the protective approaches have proved ineffective

D．the current situation of languages hardly requires attention

Nearly all the tourists who come to southeast France make a tour to Monaco(摩納哥), too. Lying near the French-Italian border, Monaco is not part of France, but a separate principality(公國(guó)), though it is surrounded by its greatest neighbour.
Monaco became a principality in the 16th century after being owned by a family member of a certain Italian king. The French and Italians, however, soon came to “protect” it one after another, until 1861, when it became its own master again.
Facing the blue Mediterranean(地中海), Monaco is mainly made up of two cities, Monaco, where the palace of the prince(王子)stands, and Monte Carlo(蒙特卡洛), which is a wonderful place for tourists. Every year, around half a million people from all parts of the world come to Monaco, nearly 25 times as much as its population.
Believe it or not, Monaco has no soldiers or policemen of its own. Law and order is kept by French police, and French stands for it in its foreign affairs, even the money used in Monaco is franc, too.
【小題1】Monaco is　　　.

A．a(chǎn)nother name for Monte Carlo

B．mostly visited by French tourists

C．surrounded by France

D．more related to Italy than to France

【小題2】 Monaco has a population of　　　.

A．over 20, 000	B．20, 000 or so
C．more than 25, 000	D．no more than 20, 000

【小題3】 Which of the following is TRUE?

A．The national income of Monaco depends mainly on France.

B．Monaco is famous for having no soldiers or policemen of its own.

C．Monaco does not have a seat in the UN because it is too small a country.

D．Monte Carlo City seems more important for the existence of this principality.

【小題4】 The Head of Monaco is　　　.

A．the King

B．the President of France

C．a(chǎn) member of the royal family

D．the Emperor