One of the traditions which is now a necessary part of Christmas is that of Father Christmas, or Santa Claus. According to the modern legend, he is a magical figure who visits all the children of the world during the night before Christmas Day, leaving presents which they find the next morning. He flies through the night sky in a sledge pulled by reindeer, and enters houses by climbing down chimneys. This strange legend is based on the life of a man called Nicholas, but in fact we know very little about him. Historians think he was a Christian bishop(主教) in Turkey in about 285－350 A. D. One of the stories about him is that he helped three poor girls. No one would marry them because they were so poor. To provide them with money for their weddings, Nicholas secretly dropped some gold coins down the chimney of their house. After Nicholas died, he was made a saint(圣人) by the church. (The name Santa Claus thus comes from St Nicholas.) His feast day was celebrated in December, and parents started giving their children secret presents from St Nicholas. Over the years, this custom became part of our Christmas traditions.
Recently, a psychologist has claimed that Father Christmas is “the perfect fantasy” for children. According to Professor Anthony Clare, children love the character of Father Christmas because he is like an ideal father: he loves children and gives them presents, but he never criticizes them, is never angry, and children do not even need to thank him for the presents. Other writers, however, point out that Father Christmas can be a frightening character to some children. Jane Bidder says that some children are terrified of this fat, bearded old man. It can certainly confuse many children. As parents, we warn our children to be careful of strangers and never to let them into the house, and yet we tell children that a strange man will come into their bedroom at night! Some children can become very worried about this idea and fear that he is a kind of burglar.
Most children, however, understand from their parents and from the media that Father Christmas is basically a benign character, and look forward to his annual visit with joy and excitement.
46. The main point of the first paragraph is that ________.
A. Father Christmas is an important part of Christmas 
B. the tradition of Father Christmas is a modern idea
C. Father Christmas is a magical figure who can fly   
D. the legends about Father Christmas are not true
47. The writer mentions details such as Father Christmas’s sledge, the reindeer and the way he climbs down chimneys because he/she ____________.
A. wants to make it clear that these things are impossible   
B. is describing the history of St Nicholas   
C. wants everyone to believe that Father Christmas is real
D. is explaining the modern legend of Father Christmas
48. Why does the writer mention the story about St Nicholas helping three poor girls?
A. It shows us that historians know very little about him.
B. This story explains why parents give secret presents to children.
C. It supports the writer’s main point that Father Christmas is based on an untrue story.
D. This story explains why we celebrate Christmas in December.
49. In the last paragraph, the word “benign”means _________.
A. religious           B. friendly
C. frightening        D. unreal
50. The best title for this passage would be __________.
A. Is Father Christmas Dangerous?       B. The True History of St Nicholas
C. The Legend of Santa Claus       D. The Traditions of Christmas  

小題1:A
小題2:D
小題3:B
小題4:B
小題5:C
略
練習冊系列答案
相關習題

科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解


Ⅲ. 閱讀（共兩節(jié)，滿分40分）
第一節(jié)　閱讀理解（共15小題；每小題2分，滿分30分）
閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后從41—55各題所給的四個選項（A、B、C、D）中，選出最佳選項，并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。
Although April did not bring us the rains we all hoped for, and although the Central Valley doesn’t generally experience the sound and lightning that can go with those rains, it’s still important for parents to be able to answer the youthful questions about thunder and lightning.
The reason these two wonders of nature are so difficult for many adults to explain to children is that they are not very well understood by adults themselves. For example, do you know that the lightning we see flashing down to the earth from a cloud is actually flashing up to a cloud from the earth? Our eyes trick us into thinking we see a downward motion when it’s actually the other way round. But then, if we believed only what we think and we see, we’d still insist that the sun rises in the morning and sets at night.
Most lightning flashes take place inside a cloud, and only a relative few can be seen jumping between two clouds or between earth and a cloud. But, with about 2,000 thunderstorms taking place above the earth every minute of the day and night, there’s enough activity to produce about 100 lightning strikes on earth every second.
Parents can use thunder and lightning to help their children learn more about the world around them. When children understand that the light of lightning flashing reaches their eyes almost at the same moment, but the sound of the thunder takes about 5 seconds to travel just one mile, they can begin to time the interval(間隔) between the flash and the crash to learn how close they are to the actual spark(閃光).
1. According to the author, in the area of the Central Valley, ___________.
A. rains usually come without thunder and lightning
B. it is usually dry in April
C. children pay no attention to the two natural wonders
D. parents are not interested in thunder and lightning
2. We believe that lightning is a downward motion because ___________.
A. we were taught so by our parents from our childhood
B. we are taken in by our sense of vision
C. it is a common natural sight
D. it is a truth proved by science
3. What is TRUE about lightning according to the passage?
A. Only a small number of lightning flashes occur on earth.
B. Lightning travels 5 times faster than thunder.
C. Lightning flashes usually jump from one cloud to another.
D. There are far more lightning strikes occurring on earth than we can imagine.
4. The underlined word “activity” is most closely related to the word(s)___________.
A. “cloud”                                       B. “l(fā)ightning strikes”        
C. “l(fā)ightning flashes”                              D. “thunderstorms”
5. It can be concluded from the passage that____________.
A. we should not believe what we see or hear
B. things moving downward are more noticeable
C. people often have wrong ideas about ordinary phenomena (現(xiàn)象)
D. adults are not as good as children in observing certain natural phenomena

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：完形填空

完形填空。閱讀下面短文，從自短文后所給的四個選項（A、B、C和D）中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項。（每小題1.5分，滿分30分）
It had been a tiring day and I was looking forward to__31__ evening. My husband__32__ back until late and I had __33___ to sit down in a comfortable armchair in the living room and read a book. I __34__  the children to bed early and __35__ a cold supper and some coffee. Soon I was sitting comfortably with a plate __36___ with food before me and a book at my side.
I was just beginning to eat __37__ the telephone rang. I put down my knife and fork and hurried to answer __38___ . By the time I got back to the living room，my coffee __39__ cold.  After I finished my __40__ I began to drink my coffee __41__ my book open at page one.  Suddenly there was a __42__ at the door. It gave me __43__ surprise that I spilt the __44__ and made an ugly stain（污跡）on my skirt.  Some stranger had got __45__ and wanted me to show him the way. It __46__   ages to get rid of him. At last I __47__ to sit down again __48__ actually read a whole page without __49__ more interruption until the baby woke up. He began crying loudly and I rushed up-stairs. The baby was __50__ awake at eleven o'clock when my husband came home. I should have cried myself when he asked me if I had a pleasant evening！
31. A. a quiet                   B. an exciting           C. a lovely          D. a lonely
32. A. would come                B. had not come        C. came         D. would not come
33. A. decided                   B. started             C. come            D. hurried
34. A. put                      B. made             C. threw            D. allowed
35. A. boiled                     B. heated                     C. cooked           D. prepared
36. A. full                 B. filled                 C. filling               D. to be filled
37. A. as                        B. then               C. when             D. while
38. A. him                       B. her                C. it                 D. them
39. A. was getting          B. had got           C. would get          D. got
40. A. supper            B. drinking               C. reading            D. coffee
41. A. while                      B. when             C. as                D. with
42. A. stranger                 B. loud knock          C. dog               D. man
43. A. such great                B. a so great          C. such a great        D. so great
44. A. food                       B. supper            C. plate              D. coffee
45. A. gone                      B. lost               C. missing             D. away
46. A. cost                      B. spent             C. paid               D. took
47. A. tried                      B. hoped             C. decided             D. managed
48. A. before                    B. after              C. but                D. and
49. A. some                     B. any               C. much              D. no
50. A. already                    B. still               C. possibly            D. almost

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解


第二部分：閱讀理解（共20題，每小題3分，滿分60分）
閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的四個選項（A、B、C和D）中，選出最佳選項，并在機讀卡上將該項涂黑。
The part of the earth’s history known as the coal age began more than 250 million years ago and lasted millions of years. During that time, in the area that is now the United States, coal beds formed from Texas to the north Atlantic coast.
At that time thick forests swamps（沼澤） covered much of the earth’s surface. Great trees died and fell into the swamps. Then they rotted （腐爛）and new trees and plants grew on top of them. The process repeated itself for thousands of years. The rotted plants turned into a substance called peat（泥炭）, which is still forming today in many swamps.
Meanwhile the land surface was changing. Movement in the earth’s crust (地殼) pushed up hills in some places, while elsewhere land sank. Swift rivers ran from the hills; heavy rains fell and the rivers overflowed, leaving muddy sand in the sunken wooded places and swamps. Oceans, too, poured in over the low-lying land, carrying sand that covered the peaty areas.
The pressure of water and sand pressed the oxygen and hydrogen out of the peat, leaving carbon. Under constant pressure, the rotted material, containing a high percentage of carbon, formed gradually into coal.
56. This main idea of the passage is about the ______.
A. coal beds in the U.S.   B. earth’s history   C. formation of coal   D. swamp age
57. When plants died, they _____.
A. grew up again       B. fell into the water and rotted
C. fell into coal beds    D. turned immediately to coal
58. Hills were formed as a result of _____.
A. movements of the earth’s crust       B. the remaining from swamps
C. the remaining from swift rivers       D. ocean currents
59. What is implied but not stated in the passage?
A. Peat is still forming today.
B. The formation of coal requires high pressure.
C. The land surface changed during the coal age.
D. The formation of coal was very rapid.

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解


E
Years ago, when I started looking for my first job, wise advisers urged, "Barbara, be enthusiastic! Enthusiasm will take you further than any amount of experience." How right they were! Enthusiastic people can turn a boring drive into an adventure, extra work into opportunity and strangers into friends.
"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm," wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is the paste that helps you hang in there when the going gets tough. It is the inner voice that whispers, "I can do it!" when others shout, "No, you can't!" It took years and years for the early work of Barbara McClintock, a geneticist（遺傳學家）who won the 1983 Nobel Prize in medicine, to be generally accepted. Yet she didn't let up on her experiments. Work was such a deep pleasure for her that she never thought of stopping.
We are all born with wide-eyed, enthusiastic wonder and it is this childlike wonder that gives enthusiastic people such a youthful air, whatever their age. At 90, cellist Pablo Casals would start his day by playing Bach（巴赫）. As the music flowed through his fingers, his bent shoulders would straighten and joy would reappear in his eyes. As author and poet Samuel once wrote, "Years wrinkle（使生皺紋）the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul."
Enthusiastic people also love what they do, regardless of money, title or power. Patricia Mallrath, retired director of the Missouri Repertory Theater in Kansas City, was once asked where she got her enthusiasm. She replied, "My father, a lawyer, long ago told me, I never made a penny until I stopped working for money."
If we cannot do what we love as a full-time career, we can do it as a hobby. Elizabeth Layton of Wellsville, Kan, was 68 before she began to draw. This activity ended her depression（抑郁）that had troubled her for at least 30 years, and the quality of her work led one critic to say, "I am persuaded to call Layton a genius."
We can't afford to waste tears on "might-have-beens". We need to turn the tears into sweat as we go after "what-can-be." We need to live each moment whole-heartedly, with all our senses-finding pleasure in the sweet smell of a backyard garden, the simple picture of a six-year-old, and the beauty of a rainbow.
67. Which of the following can best explain the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2?
A. Enthusiasm can give you courage and strength in difficult times.
B. If you don't have enthusiasm, you can achieve nothing.
C. Enthusiastic people never consider money and fame.
D. Enthusiastic people can gain great fame and honor.
68. The author mentions cellist Pablo Casals in the third paragraph to show that ________.
A. music can arouse people's enthusiasm
B. enthusiasm can give people inspiration needed to succeed
C. enthusiasm can make people feel young
D. enthusiasm can keep people healthy
69. How many examples are given in the passage to show the importance of enthusiasm?
A. Two.                  B. Three.                  C. Four.                D. Five.
70. The author holds the view that ________.
A. enthusiastic people will never get old
B. enthusiasm can make you succeed and enjoy life
C. enthusiasm is more important than experience
D. enthusiasm can give people more success and fame

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解


Expressions about water are mostly as common as water itself.
The expression “to be in hot water” is one of them. It is a very old expression. Hot water was used five hundred years ago to mean being in trouble. One story says it got that meaning from the custom of throwing extremely hot water down on enemies attacking a castle. That no longer happens. But we still get “in hot water”. When we are in hot water, we are in trouble. It can be any kind of trouble, serious or not so serious. A person who breaks a law can be in hot water with the police. A young boy can be in hot water with his mother if he walks in the house with dirty shoes.
“Being in deep water” is somewhat like being in hot water. When you are in deep water, you are in a difficult position. Imagine a person who can not swim being thrown in water over his head. You are in deep water when you are facing a problem that you don’t have the ability to solve. You can be in deep water, for example, if you invest in stocks without knowing anything about the stock market.
“To keep your head above water” is a colorful expression that means staying out of debt. A company seeks to keep its head above water during economic hard times. A man who loses his job tries to keep his head above water until he finds a new job.
“Water over the dam” is another expression about past events. It is something that is finished, and cannot be changed. The expression comes from the idea that water has floated over a dam and cannot be brought back again. When a friend is troubled by a mistake he or she has made, you might tell him or her to forget about it. You say it is water over the dam.
Another common expression “to hold water” is about the strength or weakness of an idea or opinion that you may be arguing about . It probably comes from a way of testing the condition of a container. If it can hold water, it is strong and does not have any holes; if it does not hold water, then, it is weak and not worth debating.
“Throwing cold water” also is an expression that deals with ideas or proposals. For example, you want to buy a new car because the old one has some problems, but your wife throws cold water on the idea because she says a new car costs too much.
60. Don’t cheat in this exam! Or you’ll      if you are caught cheating by the teacher.
A. be in hot wate                  B. have to hold water
C . be in deep water                 D. keep your head above water
61.The expression using water in Paragraph       has almost the same meaning as “Things done cannot be undone.”
A. 3    B. 4   C . 5    D. 6
62. We can see from this passage that many of the expressions using water have         meanings.
A. double   B. unpleasant   C . close   D. moral
63.The best title for this passage should be         .
A. The history of water         B. Cold water or hot water
C . Water and it culture         D. Expressions concerning water

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解

During my first stay in the south of France, I rode my bike down a quiet road. Round a corner, I passed by a little old house. In its yard, there was a ruddy (氣色好的) -faced woman. I waved at her as I went by, and she must have thought I was some silly tourist, because she didn’t wave back.
The same thing happened the second day. But on the third day, the old woman returned a tentative（試探性的）wave, and by the fourth day, she nearly got out of her chair as I called out.
“Good morning, Madam!” It became a small ritual (程序) between us. Once she even brought her husband out with her, and they both waved to me.
On my last day, my last ride, I cycled down to the little house but the lady wasn’t there. Back at my house, I told Roger, the gardener, of my missed connection.
“The old lady has a bad leg,” Roger said, “so she has gone to the hospital for surgery.”
“Who is she?” I asked.
Roger started to explain: the quiet road used to be a railway. The old lady’ husband was once the stationmaster, and their house was the stationmaster’s house. Several times a day, whenever a train passed, the couple would see the passengers waving excitedly, especially the children for them. However, the station was moved away. Everything is gone except for this couple.
It seems that my bicycle was a reminder of the past to her. As Roger said, “ She has missed the trains and the waves. You brought them back to her.”
By reaching out, in a way that cost me nothing, I gave more than I realized.
63Which of the following is TRUE?
A. She was a ruddy-faced woman so she was healthy.
B. Her husband also had leg disease but he didn’t tell others.
C. She and her husband didn’t like to live in the station.
D. Though she was a ruddy-faced woman, something was wrong with her leg.
64Why did the old woman bring her husband out and waved to me?
A. They wanted to go to the hospital.  
B. They wanted to experience what they used to do.
C. They wanted to ask me for dinner.   
D. They wanted to go to the city by train.  
65. What can we infer from the sentence “However, the station was moved away. Everything is gone except for this couple”?
A. They enjoyed living where they had lived.      
B. They had no house to live in.
C. They had no children to live with.             
D. They were living nearest the hospital.
66. What’s the main idea of this passage?
A. An old couple and I                 B. Bicycle and railway  
C. Train and passengers                D. Wave and love

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：完形填空

　完形填空(共20小題；每小題1分，滿分20分)
閱讀下面短文，掌握其大意，然后從36～55各題所給的四個選項(A、B、C和D)中，
選出最佳選項，并在答題卡上將該項涂黑。
When 1 was twelve years old，my family were the first black people to move into an
a11-white part of Grand Rapids，Michigan．Many of our new36_weren’t very welco—
ming. Some of the adults said    37 that we should return where we came from．The
38  sometimes threw stones at me or  39  me home from school．
Most of my teachers 40  ignored me，but not Dorothy Bean，my history teach—
er．Miss Bean was angry at how badly 1 was being   41  ，but she didn’t say this to
me．Miss Bean showed  showed her 42  for me by teaching me just like anyone else．43   
being unnoticed，1 was given a 44   to show that 1 was smart．Miss Bean was the first
teacher who ever made me 45    for myself． She insisted on knowing what I thought
about difficult 46 ．Was Thomas Jefferson right to buy Louisiana from France?
Why?She 47 me to have an opinion and to be able to  48    it up．Miss Bean was
teaching me that thinking for oneself was the real    49    to Success in learning.
One day，when 1 was not   50   in class，Miss Bean suddenly threw an eraser at
me．Unbelievably，the eraser hit me right on the hand and   51     my pencil flying．The
whole class was  52  at first，then started laughing．This incident became famous in
the school and，  53  it happened to me，the students wanted to get to  54    ，So
that's the  story of how Dorothy Bean made me her target，and how I became just anoth—er  55  in school．
36．A．friends       B．relatives     C．fellows     D．neighbors
37．A．kindly       B．pitifully      C．a(chǎn)ngrily     D．a(chǎn)nxiously
38．A．seniors       B．children     C．enemies     D．elders
39．A．drove        B．took        C．helped      D．carried
40．A．hardly        B．simply      C．suddenly    D．widely
41．A．taught        B．fooled      C．picked      D．treated
42．A．dislike        B．thanks      Crespect．     D．gifts
43．A．Instead of                     B．In memory of
C．In case of                      D．In spite of
44．A．question      B．chance      C．test         D．place
45．A．care          B．100k       C．work        D．think
46．A．exams        B．history      C．questions    D．books
47．A．persuaded     B．forced       C．a(chǎn)llowed     D．expected
48．A．back      B．set         C．shut         D．give
49．A．notice     B．key        C．a(chǎn)ttention     D．a(chǎn)ttitude
50．A．looking up               B．paying attention
C．reading aloud             D．getting along
51．A．sent     B．found      C.saw          D．kept
52．A．moved    B．calmed     C．worried     D．shocked
53．A．when     B．once       C．because     D．whether
54．A．a(chǎn)sk       B．know      C．punish      D．a(chǎn)dmire
55．A．kid       B．problem    C.teacher       D．example

查看答案和解析>>

科目：高中英語 來源：不詳 題型：閱讀理解


第三部分：閱讀理解（共20小題，每題2分，滿分40分）
閱讀下列短文，從每題所給的四個選項（A、B、C和D）中，選出最佳選項。
Until quite recently, I knew only three things about my father: I knew his name, David S. Johnson, Jr. I knew he was an only child, and I’d been told he was killed on April 12, 1945, somewhere in Germany.
I used to come to visit my Granny. “Daddy David and his two friends were out in the fields, making sure the way was safe for the others to follow,” she told me. “All of a sudden there was an explosion. All three of them were killed.” Granny was looking down, stroking one thin hand with the other. Then there were no words but silence.
I began my search and collection for information about my father as my 50th birthday and the 50th anniversary of his death drew near. I was told that the explosion had blown him to bits and I had great difficulty collecting anything I could find about him bit by bit. Bits of information about his began falling into my hands, my mind and my heart. Longing to know my father kept me connected to him. It was time to transform my longing into knowledge.
Once upon a time he was alive, and my mother and father were deeply in love. They were married, and they had a child, my brother David. Then my father left for the war.
I was born in January 1945. On February 15 my father wrote me a letter of welcome. The letter is kept in my baby book, “Dear Susan, you have a very good family. Your dad is sort of a less able person. Your mother is the most wonderful person I’ve ever known. I’ve always marveled at my great good fortune to have her and been loved by her. If you follow her words and examples, you may expect to meet life in the best possible way, and your path will always be the right one. Your father, Dave.”
Black on white paper, the words are from my father. From them I grow into a person of loyalty and love. How I long for stories that will bring him to life!
1．The writer got to know her father’s story of death from         .
A．her father’s friends  B．someone in Germany
C．her grandmother             D．a(chǎn) little child
2．The author meet difficulty finding information about her father because          .
A．it was too  late for her to start the search    
B．the explosion left little about her father
C．she only found pieces of hands and legs
D．she didn’t have enough knowledge to do it
3．Which of the following statements is TURE?          .
A．Her parents had only one child       B．Her father died before her birth
C．Her father was a disabled man D．The writer never saw her father
4．We know from the last paragraph that the author         .
A．still hates her father for having left
B．is curious about her father’s death
C．shows much respect for her father
D．is sure that her father may survive

查看答案和解析>>

同步練習冊答案