During the cold winter days, there are some interesting festivals in the world. Look at the following ones.

Harbin Ice and Snow Festival

Place: China

Time: January 5 to February 5

People build incredible things out of ice and snow, decorating them with lights.

The Carnival of Venice

Place: Italy

Time: between February and March

One of the most beautiful festivals in the world, people wear masks and elaborate costumes to hide differences among classes, and there are contests for the best costumes.

Holi Festival

Place: India

Time: late February/March, on the last full moon day.

Hindus and Sikhs, in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka celebrate the main day of this incredibly fun 16-day festival by throwing colored powder and water at each other.

Sundance Film Festival

Place: Utah, the US

Time: end of February

The largest independent film festival in the US. Watch both feature films and shorts. You need to buy a ticket.

1. Which country will you go if you like watching movies?

A. America    B. China

C. India    D. Italy

2. Which festival may you go If you want to see sculptures made of ice?

A. Sundance Film Festival.    B. The Carnival of Venice.

C. Holi Festival.    D. Harbin Ice and Snow Festival.

3. When can you enjoy Holi Festival?

A. In early January    B. In late February

C. In early March    D. In late January.

We often just use our sense of sight, touch, smell, and taste to eat food. But what about our sense of hearing? Does sound also affect our dining experience?

A new report answers, “yes, it does.”

That answer comes from researchers at Brigham Young University and Colorado State University in the United States. They found that hearing is important in the eating experience.

Hearing is often called “the forgotten food sense’’, says Ryan Elder. Elder is an assistant professor of marketing at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management. He says that if people notice the sound the food makes as they eat it, they might eat less. On the other hand, watching loud television or listening to loud music while eating can hide such noises. And this could lead to overeating.

For the study, the researchers wanted to test whether the sounds of eating—chewing, chomping and crunching—had any effect on how much a person ate. During the experiments, the test subjects wore headphones and listened to noise at either a high or low audio level. Then researchers gave them a crunchy snack: pretzels. The study found that subjects who listened to the higher volume noise ate more pretzels than those with the low audio levels.

Elder says that when hiding I he sounds of eating, like when you watch television or listen to loud music while eating, we take away the sense of hearing. And this may cause you to cat more than you would normally. The researchers are calling this, the “crunch effect”.

The researchers admit that the effects may not seem like much at one meal. But over a week, a month f or a year, all that food can really add up.

4. Which sense is often ignored in the eating experience?

A. Sight.    B. Smell.

C. Hearing.    D. Touch

5. Who would find this article helpful?

A. People who enjoys cooking food.

B. People who cares about losing weight.

C. People who like watching TV.

D. People who want to eat healthy food.

6. Why the researchers use “pretzels”?

A. They can make loud noise.    B. They are delicious.

C. They are more available    D. They are good for health.

7. Which can be the best title for the passage?

A. Be Mindful of Whatever You Eat

B. Be Sensitive to Your Eating habits

C. Want to Lose Weight? Listen to yourself Eat.

D. Better Hear Than Eat.

Whenever we turn on the TV or radio, read the newspapers, or surf the Internet, we’ll be surrounded by the word “diet” everywhere. We have so easily been attracted by the promise of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.

It’s obvious that diet products weaken us psychologically. They allow us to jump over the thinking stage that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fat. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word “diet” in food labels.

What’s more, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves that we don’t have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.

As a matter of fact, the danger that diet products bring not only lies in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm they cause. Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calories only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. And they can indirectly harm our bodies because taking them instead of healthy foods means we are stopping our bodies having basic nutrients. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemicals that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.

Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Think twice before buying diet products. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, therefore, prevent the psychological and physical harm that comes from using them.

8. What does “gain comes without pain” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A. Losing weight is effortless.    B. It costs a lot to lose weight

C. Diet products are free of fat.    D. Diet products cause no pain.

9. What can be inferred from the first paragraph?

A. Diet products are cheap and healthy.

B. People enjoy paying for diet products.

C. Diet products are misleading people.

D. People are surrounded by “diet”.

10. Which is true about “psychological effect of diet products”？

A. People would hesitate before they enjoy diet foods.

B. People would pay more attention to their daily diet.

C. People would care about results instead of efforts.

D. People would try out varieties of diet products.

11. Why would diet products indirectly harm people physically?

A. Because they are over-consumed.

B. Because they lack chemicals.

C. Because they provide too much fat.

D. Because they lack basic nutrients.

You may have heard of the American Dream, an ideal that has powered the hopes of Americans for generations.

It began as a belief that the US was a land of opportunity, and that anyone could achieve success through hard work. The dream has referred to home ownership, a good job, retirement security or each generation doing better than the last for a long time.

Yet today, this concept seems to have greatly changed. As Tune magazine pointed out, quite different from the older generation, many Millennials (the generation born after 1980) redefine the American Dream as “day-to-day control of your life”. They “prize job mobility, flexible schedules, any work that is more interesting than typing, and the ability to travel”, said the magazine.

Home ownership, once the cornerstone of the American Dream, is becoming a smaller priority for this generation. Meanwhile, nearly 40% of them choose travel as part of their dream. And running their own business is a rising favorite, as nearly 26% of Millennials consider self-employment as part of their dream.

So what has led to this huge change?

Many point fingers at the poor economy. “Modem young Americans seem bound to face a world stamped by ever narrowing opportunity, ” noted The Daily Beast.

“The rate of 16-to-24-year-olds out of school and out of work is unusually high at 15%. Many college graduates have taken jobs that don’t require a degree,” Time reported.

The magazine worries that these difficulties may lead to a lost generation who are “unable to ever truly find their feet on the corporation’s ladder”.

Dan Kadlec, a reporter of Time, sees Millennials as resetting their expectations. “This situation is different for young adults today,” he wrote. “A true American dream has to feel attainable, and many Millennials are feeling they can only attain a day-to-day lifestyle that suits them.”

12. Which has similar meaning to the underlined word “cornerstone”？

A. value    B. average

C. reason    D. basis

13. What has changed Millennials’ views of the American Dream?

A. The discouraging economy and unemployment.

B. The fierce competition in getting a degree.

C. Their dissatisfaction with the government.

D. Their lack of confidence in themselves.

14. What does Dan Kadlec’s think of Millennials’ definition of the American Dream?

A. considerate    B. understandable

C. curious    D. negative ,

15. What can be the best title for this passage?

A. Meaning of American Dream.    B. Redefinition of American Dream

C. Value of Achieving American Dream    D. The Reasons of American Dream

You may have grown up living with sisters and brothers, or this may be your first time sharing your living space with someone else. Having a roommate surely has its challenges. ___16___ Follow these tips to make sure you and your roommate keep things pleasant and supportive throughout the year.

Be clear from the beginning.

Maybe you hate it when someone interrupts you when you are sleeping every morning. ___17___, Let your roommate know about your preferences. It’s not fair to expect him or her to pick up on them right away, and communicating what you need is one of the best ways to get rid of problems before they become problems.

Respect your roommate’s things.

This may seem simple，but it’s probably one of the biggest reasons why roommates experience conflicts. Don’t you think he’ll mind if you borrow his shoes for a quick soccer game for all you know, you just stepped over an uncrossable line.___18___

Be open to change.

You should expect to learn and grow and change during your time at school. And the same should happen to your roommate, if all goes well. ___19___. Be comfortable addressing things that unexpectedly come up, setting new rules, and being flexible to your changing environment.

___20___

Treat your roommate like you’d like to be treated. No matter what your relationship is at the end of the year, you can take comfort knowing you acted like an adult and treated your roommate with respect.

A. Don’t borrow, use, or lake anything without getting permission first.

B. As the term progresses, realize things will change for both of you.

C. Getting along well with a roommate is really a difficult job.

D. Maybe you need moments to be silent after you wake up.

E. You should correct your bad habits first.

F. Follow the Golden Rule.

G. However, it can also be a great part of your college experience.