Last winter, when I was heavily pregnant, I was visiting my sister and brother-in-law's house and had to park in a nearby parking lot because they didn't have accessible parking. The snow was extremely heavy and there was lots of ice on the ground --- not many people had ventured out that evening!
When I returned to my car around 11pm, I noticed that I was the only car left. Nervously, I hopped into the car and let it warm up a bit. When I finally tried to drive away, my wheels began to spin. I was stuck! I spun and spun and wondered what to do.
All of a sudden, in my rear view mirror, I saw four teen-aged boys approaching my car. They were walking side by side in a line and dressed a bit like gang members --- at least I thought that's what they looked like. My car was in a very isolated area and I began to panic. I was certain they were coming to my car to harm me. Terrified, I just froze. One of the young men tapped on my window and said "Excuse me, Ma'am, can we help you? You seem stuck." Still afraid and fearing the worst, I said "I am stuck." And the young man said "It's okay, stay in your car and we'll push you out of the snow." And they did!
When they finally got me out of the snow, they smiled and waved. I rolled down my window and thanked them, embarrassed to have judged them so poorly.
【小題1】Why did the author just freeze when the four young men walking toward her car?

A．Because she was afraid of being harmed.

B．Because she sat in her car for too long a time.

C．Because she was cold indeed in that freezing evening.

D．Because she knew they would rob her of the car.

【小題2】Which of the following words can best describe the four young men?

A．Impolite.	B．Ill-mannered.
C．Unfriendly	D．Warm-hearted.

【小題3】Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?

A．One of the four teenagers was a gang member.

B．The kids wanted to help the author out of trouble.

C．The author would have a baby in her car.

D．The young men enjoyed pushing cars out of the snow.

【小題4】The best title for the text would be___________

A．Every man has his faults

B．Fortune favors those who use their judgment

C．Don't judge a book by its cover

D．Think twice before you do.

China is a land of bicycles. At least it was back in 1992 when I traveled the country. Back then everyone seemed to be riding a bicycle. Millions of them, all black. Cars were rare. Yet since my arrival in Beijing last year, I’ve found the opposite is true. There are millions of cars. However, people still use their bicycles to get around. For many, it’s the easiest and cheapest way to travel today. Bicycles also come in different colors---sivler, green, red, blue, yellow, whatever you want.
It’s fun watching people biking. They rush quickly through crossroads, move skillfully through traffic, and ride even on sidewalks(人行道). Bicycles allow people the freedom to move about that cars just can’t provide.
Eager to be part of this aspect of Chinese culture, I decided to buy a bicycle. Great weather accompanied my great buy. I immediately jumped up on my bicycle seat and started home.
My first ride home was orderly (守秩序的). To be safe, I stayed with a “pack” of bikers while cars on the streets came running swiftly out of nowhere at times. I didn’t want to get hit. So I took the ride carefully.
Crossing the streets was the biggest problem. It was a lot like crossing a major highway back in the United States. The streets here were wide, so crossing took time, skill and a little bit of luck.
I finally made it home. The feeling on the bicycle was amazing. The air hitting my face and going through my hair was wonderful. I was sitting on top of the world as I passed by places and people. Biking made me feel alive.
【小題1】 According to the author, why are bicycles still popular in China today?

A．Because they are traditional and safe.

B．Because they are convenient and inexpensive.

C．Because they are colorful and available.

D．Because they are fast and environment friendly.

【小題2】 The author decided to buy a bicycle because he intended ______________.

A．to ride it for fun	B．to use it for transport
C．to experience local skills	D．to improve his riding skills

【小題3】 How did the author feel about his street crossing?

A．It was boring.	B．It was difficult.
C．It was lively.	D．It was wonderful.

【小題4】 Which of the following best describes the author’s biking experience?

A．The author enjoyed showing off his biking skills.

B．The author was annoyed by the air while riding.

C．The author was praised by the other bikers.

D．The author took great pleasure in biking.

It was the first snow of winter – an exciting day for every child but not for most teachers. Up until now, I had been old enough to dress myself, but today I would need some help. Miss Finlayson, my kindergarten teacher, had been through first snow days many times, but I think she may still remember this one.
I managed to get into my wool snow trousers. But I struggled with my jacket because it didn’t fit well. It was a hand-me-down from my brother, and it made me wonder why I had to wear his ugly clothes. At least my hat and scarf were mine, and they were quite pretty. Finally it was time to have Miss Finlayson help me with my boots.
In her calm, motherly voice she said, “By the end of winter, you will all be able to put on your own boots.” I didn’t realize at the time that this was more a statement of hope than of confidence.
I handed her my boots and stuck out my foot. Like most children, I expected grown-ups to do all the work. After much pushing, she managed to get the first one into place and then, with a sigh, worked the second one on too.
I announced, “They’re on the wrong feet.”
She struggled to get the boots off and went through the joyless task of putting them on again.
“They’re my brother’s boots, you know,” I said. “I hate them!”
Somehow, from long years of practice, she managed to act as though I wasn’t an annoying little girl, She pushed and pushed, less gently this time. With a greater sigh, seeing the end of her struggle with me, she asked, “Now, where are your mittens（連指手套）?”
I looked into her eyes and said, “I didn’t want to lose them, so I hid them in the toes of my boots.”
【小題1】The little girl was more satisfied with her__________-.

A．trousers

B．jacket

C．boots

D．hat

【小題2】Miss Finlayson had difficulty with the girl’s second boot mainly because_____.

A．the girl got them from her brother	B．the girl put something in them
C．they were on the wrong feet	D．they did not fit the girl well

【小題3】Why does the author say Miss Finlayson would remember that first snow day?

A．Because the little girl was in her brother’s clothes.

B．Because it was the most exciting day of the winter.

C．Because the little girl played a trick on her.

D．Because the little girl wore a pretty scarf.

LONDON—Archaeologists have discovered a smaller prehistoric(史前) site near Britain’s famous circle of standing stones at Stonehenge.
Researchers have named the site “Bluehenge” after the color of the 27 Welsh stones that were laid to make up a path. The stones have disappeared, but the path of holes remains.
The new circle, unearthed over the summer by researchers from Sheffield University, represents an important find, researchers said Saturday. The site is about a mile away from Stonehenge.
Bluehenge, about 80 miles southwest of London, is believed to date back to about the time Stonehenge was built, about 5,000 years ago.
Mike Parker Pearson of Sheffield University said he believed the path and stonehenge itself were linked to rituals(儀式) of life and death.
Mike Parker suggested that the ancient funerary rituals began at a different circle site known as “Wood-henge”, which represented the world of the living. The bodies of the dead were then brought down the River Avon to Bluehenge, which represented death, and were finally carried along a ceremonial route known as the Avenue to Stonehenge.
Bournemouth University Professor Tim Darvill, an expert on Stonehenge, told Britain’s Dail Mail that Bluehenge “adds to the richness” of the ancient site’s story.
“This henge is very important because it forms part of the picture of ceremonial monuments in the area and puts Stonehenge into context,” Darvill was quoted(引述) as saying. “It’s no longer Stonehenge standing alone, but it has to be seen in context with the landscape.”
【小題1】How many henges are mentioned in this passage?

A．Two

B．Three

C．Four

D．Five

【小題2】Who believed the Stonehenge is related to ancient ritual of death?

A．Archaeologists from London	B．Welsh researchers
C．Mike Parker Pearson	D．Professor Tim Darvill

【小題3】What does the underlined sentence “It’s no longer Stonehenge standing alone, but it has to be seen in context with the landscape.” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Stonehenge has noting to do with Bluehenge

B．Woodhenge represented the world of living in ancient times.

C．Bluehenge represented death

D．Stonehenge, Woodhenge and Bluehenge should be studied together

【小題4】From the passage we can learn that ______.

A．researchers have named the site “Bluehenge,” because they have found blue huge stones there

B．funerary rituals were carried out along the path starting from Woodhenge, River Avon to Bluehenge, finally Stonehenge.

C．Bluehenge is 1 mile away from London

D．Bluehenge dates back to 2000 BC

In spite of the uncertainty of the economy, the movie industry has been stricken by a box-office outburst. Suddenly it seems as if everyone is going to the movies, with ticket sales this year up 17.5 percent, to $1.7 billion.
And it is not just because ticket prices are higher. Attendance has also jumped, by nearly 16 percent. If that pace continues through the year, it would amount to the biggest box-office increase in at least two decades.
Americans, for the moment, just want to hide in a very dark place. People want to forget their troubles, and they want to be with other people. Helping feed the outburst is the mix of movies, which have been more audience-friendly in recent months as the studios have tried to adjust after the discouraging sales of more serious films.
As she stood in line at the 18-screen Bridge theater complex here on Thursday to buy weekend tickets for “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience,” Angel Hernandez was not thinking much about escaping reality. Instead, Ms. Hernandez, a Los Angeles parking lot attendant and mother of four young girls, was focused on one very specific reality: her wallet.
“Spending hundreds of dollars to take them to Disneyland is ridiculous right now,” she said. “For $60 and some candy money I can still be a good mom and give them a little fun.”
A lot of parents may have been thinking the same thing Friday, as “Jonas Brothers” sold out more than 800 theaters, and was expected to sell a powerful $25 million or more in tickets.
The film industry appears to have had a hand in its recent good luck. Over the last year or two, studios have released movies that are happier, scarier or just lessdepressing than what came before. After poor results for a rush of serious dramas built around the Middle East, Hollywood got back to comedies.
【小題1】Which of the following is not a reason for the improvement of the movie industry?

A．A growing number of people are going to the cinema.

B．People are richer with the development of economy.

C．More comedies are made than serious films.

D．People have to pay more to watch a movie.

【小題2】Ms. Hernandez purchased the movie tickets because ________.

A．she tried to escape reality	B．she was a crazy movie fan
C．she was fond of Disneyland	D．she wanted to please her kids

【小題3】According to the text, which of the following number is not used to describe the shooting up of the movie industry?

A．17.5%

B．$1.7 billion

C．$60

D．$25 million

【小題4】The passage is developed mainly by ________.

A．presenting the effect and analyzing the causes

B．following the order of time

C．describing problems and drawing a conclusion

D．making comparison of ideas

The English language is changing fast,thanks to the rapid progress of technology. We all have a rapid choice: we can either bury our heads in the sand and spend the rest of our lives wishing Shakespeare were alive and well. Or we can embrace (擁抱) the new English,enter into the spirit of the Internet age called Weblish.
“You can’t avoid it,for the simple reason that whenever a new variety of language comes along,it inevitably (不可避免的) impacts（沖擊）on the language as a whole.” says Dr. David Crystal, honorary professor of linguistics（語言學(xué)）at the University of Wales in Bangor, whose book Language and the Internet has just been published.
The trouble with keeping up with the new English is not so much that there are so many new words but that the old words no longer mean what we thought they did. In the past, if someone said they did not have Windows, you would have to suppose they lived in a cave.These days,it is probably because they use a Mac(which is a computer, not a rain coat). Spam is as disliked as it ever was ,but it once meant an unappetizing（引不起食欲的）canned meat.It now stands for unwanted “junk” email. Spellings are changing, too. Not only is text-messaging playing “hvc wth vrbs” (havoc（混亂）with verbs), but the conventions of email communication place little emphasis on “perfect speaking”.
Weblish loves to see nouns happily become verbs(“please bookmark this site”),and verbs become nouns (“Send me the download”). Verbs and prepositions are regularly thrown together to become new nouns or adjectives(e.g. dial-up, logon, print-on-demand, pull-down, upload), while others are created from simply pairing nouns: cyberspace, Etl, hyperlink, netspeak.
【小題1】The best title of this passage would be ______.

A．Keep Up with the Latest Weblish	B．Keep Up with the Latest Development
C．Newly Invented English Words	D．Technology and English

【小題2】We can infer（推斷）from the first paragraph that ______.

A．Some people wish Shakespeare were still alive

B．people may have different attitudes towards Weblish

C．a(chǎn)ll people welcome Weblish

D．Weblish is not popular among people

【小題3】The author thinks the main difficulty for people in keeping up with Weblish is that ______.

A．old words have new meanings

B．there are so many new words

C．the technology is changing too fast

D．Weblish words are full of spelling mistakes

【小題4】Dr. David Crystal would probably agree that ______.

A．people should not accept Weblish

B．Weblish can cause misunderstandings among people

C．Weblish will destroy the English language

D．people should know something about Weblish

The history of modern art begins with Impressionism, a movement started in Paris in the mid-1800’s. At that time many artists painted in a very traditional way that involved spending hours in a studio, painstakingly (辛苦地) creating paintings that were extremely detailed. These paintings were sometimes of people or landscapes or historical events. In 1863, Edouard Manet exhibited his painting “Dejeuner sur l’erbe” at the Salon des Refuses. The painting caused a commotion (騷動), thus starting the Impressionist movement. Although Edouard Manet is the declared leader and founder of the group, he was not present at the first group exhibition or any of the other eight collective Impressionist shows. The movement gained more attention in the April of 1874 when Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Jean-Frédéric Bazille formed Society of Artists, Painters, Sculptors, Engravers and began exhibiting outside of the official salon. The same year, the term Impressionism was invented by criticizing (批評的) journalist Louis Leroy to describe their paintings, who worked for the magazine Le Charivari.
The Impressionists often paint out of doors and want to show how light and shadow fall on objects at particular times of the day. Their works are sometimes described as “captured moments” and are characterized by short quick brushstrokes (筆) of colour which, when viewed up close looks quite messy and unreal. If we step back from the Impressionist paintings, the colours are blended together by our eyes and we are able to see the painters’ subjects which often show colourful landscapes, sunlight on water as well as people busy with outdoor activities.
【小題1】Before Impressionism, the works of artists were         .

A．quite abstract	B．very confusing
C．very detailed	D．quite controversial

【小題2】Who first started Impressionism? ___________

A．Claude Monet.	B．Edouard Manet.
C．Auguste Renoir.	D．Alfred Sisley.

【小題3】The works of the Impressionists are best viewed         .

A．with imagination	B．a(chǎn)t a distance
C．outdoors	D．in a studio

【小題4】The second paragraph is mainly about ______.

A．the painting style of the Impressionists

B．how to describe the Impressionist paintings

C．the influences of the Impressionist paintings

D．the subjects of the Impressionist paintings

Taiwan-born American director Ang Lee's win of his second directing Oscar has sparked complex feelings among Chinese audiences, who expressed their pride due to the director's Chinese roots, but couldn't help but reflect on why the Chinese mainland has failed to deliver more outstanding films to the world .
Lee, 58, on Sunday accepted the Academy Award for best director for Life of Pi, a 3D adventure-drama film.Lee had won the top directing award in 2006 for Brokeback Mountain and the best foreign language film Oscar in 2001 for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Lee came to Hollywood's attention after directing three Chinese-language films in the early 1990s, with an emphasis on the interactions between modernity and Chinese traditions.Some Web users called Lee "a source of pride for Chinese people," and admired him for bearing the torch of Chinese culture.
However, a large number of audience members and critics from the mainland expressed their frustrations over home-made movies: Mainland filmmakers have made numerous ambitious tries for the prestigious award but never won.
Hao Jie, a young director whose 2010 film Single Man won the Special Jury Prize in the Tokyo Filmex Festival but was never screened in the mainland for it showed complex sex lives in a village.
"Due to the censorship(審查), we are prevented from the beginning of our production, which forbids our works from mirroring realities," Hao said.
While acknowledging the system's role in undermining(削弱) excellent works, Su Mu, a well-known film critic, argued that the atmosphere in the mainland's film circle is also to blame."Lee produces his works with his heart, but most mainland directors now only have money in mind."
Though having obtained approval for his second film from the film authority, Hao said cinemas have kept delaying the screening of his work."This is another factor that prevents us from progressing. Cinemas won't risk showing our film, which features no stars and is considered non-mainstream," complained Hao.
【小題1】What does the underlined phrase “the prestigious award” refer to?

A．the Best Director of Oscar

B．a(chǎn)ny of the Oscar Awards

C．the Special Jury Prize

D．the best foreign language film Oscar

【小題2】Which of the following statements is true? 

A．Ang Lee’s films are always focusing on Chinese traditions.

B．Chinese audiences are proud of their Chinese identity in the films.

C．Ang Lee has won the world’s favor only by means of his three Oscars.

D．Ang Lee is famous for his combining modernity and Chinese traditions.

【小題3】Which of the following is NOT the factor that prevents Chinese mainland films’ progressing?

A．Strict censorship.

B．A lack of wonderful directors.

C．The bad atmosphere in the film circle.

D．Cinemas’ not risking showing low-cost films.

【小題4】The best title for the passage is probably_____.

A．Ang Lee-Pride of Chinese Movie-makers

B．The Future of Chinese Mainland Film-making

C．Bitter-sweet Feeling over Ang Lee’s Oscar Win

D．What Can Chinese Films Do for the Oscar Awards

People from East Asia tend to have more difficulty than those from Europe in distinguishing facial expressions--and a new report published online in Current Biology explains why.
Rachael Jack, University of Glasgow researcher, said that rather than scanning evenly(均勻的) across a face as Westerners do, Easterners fix their attention on the eyes.
"We show that Easterners and Westerners look at different face features to read facial expressions," Jack said. "Westerners look at the eyes and the mouth in equal measure, whereas Easterners favor the eyes and neglect (忽略) the mouth."
According to Jack and her colleagues, the discovery shows that human communication of emotion is more complex than previously believed. As a result, facial expressions that had been considered universally recognizable cannot be used to reliably convey emotion in cross-cultural situations.
The researchers studied cultural differences in the recognition of facial expressions by recording the eye movements of 13 Western Caucasian and 13 East Asian people while they observed pictures of. expressive faces and put them into categories: happy, sad, surprised, fearful, disgusted, angry, or neutral. They compared how accurately participants read those facial expressions using their particular eye movement strategies.
It turned out that Easterners focused much greater attention on the eyes and made significantly more errors than did Westerners. "The cultural difference in eye movements that they show is probably a reflection of cultural difference in facial expressions," Jack said. "Our data suggest that whereas Westerners use the whole face to convey emotion, Easterners use the eyes more and mouth less."
In short, the data show that facial expressions are not universal signals of human emotion. From here on, examining how cultural factors have diversified these basic social skills will help our understanding of human emotion. Otherwise, when it comes to communicating emotions across cultures, Easterners and Westerners will find themselves lost in translation.
【小題1】 The discovery shows that Westerners __

A．pay equal attention to the eyes and the mouth

B．consider facial expressions universally reliable

C．observe the eyes and the mouth in different ways

D．have more difficulty in recognizing facial expressions

【小題2】What were the people asked to do in the study?

A．To make a face at each other.	B．To get their faces impressive.
C．To classify some face pictures.	D．To observe the researchers' faces.

【小題3】What does the underlined word "they" in Paragraph 6 refer to?

A．The participants in the study.	B．The researchers of the study.
C．The errors made during the study.	D．The data collected from the study.

【小題4】In comparison with Westerners, Easterners are likely to __

A．do translation more successfully	B．study the mouth more frequently
C．examine the eyes more attentively	D．read facial expressions more correctly

【小題5】What can be the best title for the passage?

A．The Eye as the Window to the Soul

B．Cultural Differences in Reading Emotions

C．Effective Methods to Develop Social Skills

D．How to Increase Cross-cultural Understanding