The History of Christmas in America
In the first half of the 19th century, Christmas was a very ____41____kind of holiday than it is today. People did not have a set way of celebrating. Christmas was not even an official holiday yet.
So, communities around the country ____42___ the day in different ways. Some observed Christmas ____43___an important Christian religious day, honoring the birth of Jesus. ____44___ celebrated the day with parties, music, drinking and eating. And, some communities did not celebrate the day ___45___.But, it was during the early 1800s _____46____Americans began to reinvent the holiday. They started combining ancient Christmas traditions with modern American influences.
In 1819, the popular American writer Washington Irving wrote ____47___ five essays published in a book called “The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.” The essays describe a ____48___ British landowner who invites his farm workers into his home to celebrate Christmas. The landowner recreates a traditional Christmas as it would____49____ in the distant past.
____50___ played a big role in how an American might celebrate the holiday. Calvinist Christians (加尔文主义的基督徒)____51__ the celebration of Christmas. But groups such as Episcopalians(美国圣公会教徒)and Moravians honored the day with religious services and seasonal ____52___. By mid-century, Christian groups began to ____53___ their religious differences over the meaning of Christmas and honored the day in special ways. Christmas became an important ___54___ for families to celebrate at home. More and more Christian Americans also began to ___55___ the European traditions of Christmas trees and giving gifts. Christians believed that the tree represented Jesus and was also ___56____new beginnings.
This tradition of setting up a Christmas tree soon spread____57___ many American homes. So ___58___the practice of giving people presents. As these traditions increased in popularity, the modern trade and business _____59___ Christmas also grew.
In 1809, Washington Irving ____60___ his “History of New York.” It lists Saint Nicholas as the patron(赞助;保护) saint of New Yorkers. He describes the saint wearing a low hat, large pants, and smoking a pipe. Does this description sound familiar?
41. A. familiar B. simply C. different D. unknown
42. A. honored B. remembered C. raptured D. celebrated
43. A. to B. with C. as D. for
44. A. Others B. The other C. Another D. Each other
45. A. evenly B. basically C. in heart D. at all
46. A. when B. that C. what D. in which
47. A. a series of B. many of C. a great deal of D. a lot of
48. A. nice B. kind C. thoughtful D. wealthy
49. A. celebrate B. been celebrated
C. have been celebrated D. be celebrated
50. A. Religion B. Group C. social D. Environment
51. A. forbidden B. admitted C. allowed D. banned
52. A. activities B. forms C. decorations D. contents
53. A. ignore B. absorb C. view D. regard
54. A. role B. time C. festival D. travel
55. A. follow B. deny C. imitate D. copy
56. A. by means of B. a sign of C. a sight of D. a light of
57. A. to B. in C. over D. from
58. A. do B. does C. did D. what
59. A. linked to B. next to C. long for D. aim to
60. A. wrote B. published C. took D. addressed
41-45CACAD 46-50BADCA 50-55DCABA 56-60BACAB
Inequality between men and women results in poorer health for children and greater poverty for the family, ___50___ a new study. The UN agency Unicef found that in places where women are excluded from family___51___, children are more___52___to suffer from malnutrition.(营养不良) There would be 13 million ___53___ malnourished children in South Asia if women had an ___54___ say in the family, Unicef said.
Unicef ___55___ family decision-making in 30 countries around the world. Their chief finding is that ___56___ between men and women is vital to___57___ poverty and improving health, especially that of children, in developing countries. The ___58___ are contained in the agency's latest report. This report___59___ to a greater lack of ___60___ for girls and women in education and work which contributes to inferior position and poverty. Where men control the household, less money is spent on health care and food for the family, which ___61___ poorer health for the children.
An increase in ___62___ and income-earning opportunities for women would increase their ___63___ power, the report said. For example, the agency found that ___64___ has the greater share of household income and property decides whether those resources will be used for family needs.
50. A. devoted to | B. according to | C. thanks to | D. with regard to |
51. A. decisions | B. agreement | C. circle | D. history |
52. A. vital | B. used | C. possible | D. likely |
53. A. more | B. few | C. fewer | D. least |
54. A. equal | B. right | C. superior | D. smart |
55. A. found | B. considered | C. released | D. surveyed |
56. A. relationship | B. equality | C. income | D. friendship |
57. A. growing | B. urban | C. local | D. reducing |
58. A. conclusions | B. reasons | C. keys | D. notes |
59. A. points | B. indicates | C. shows | D. suggests |
60. A. money | B. care | C. opportunities | D. help |
61. A. costs | B. makes | C. cares for | D. results in |
62. A. health | B. employment | C. wealth | D. movement |
63. A. female | B. strong | C. household | D. social |
64. A. whatever | B. whoever | C. whichever | D. however |
One day an out of work mime (哑剧演员) was visiting the zoo and attempted to earn some money as a street performer. As soon as he started to draw a 50 , a zoo keeper grabbed him and dragged him into his office. The zoo keeper explained to the mime that the zoo’s most popular attraction, a gorilla, had died suddenly and the keeper feared that 51 at the zoo would fall off.
He offered the mime a job to 52 the gorilla until they could get another one. The mime53 .
So the next morning the mime put on the gorilla suit and entered the cage before the crowd came. He discovered that it was a 54 job. He could sleep if he wanted, play and 55 people and he drew bigger crowds than he ever had as a mime. 56 , eventually the crowds got tired of him and he got tired of just swinging on tails. He 57 to notice that the people were paying more attention to the lion in the cage next to his. Not wanting to lose the attention of his audience, he climbed to the top of his cage, crawled across a partition (隔墙), and dangled (悬荡) from the top to the lion’s cage. Of course, this made the lion very angry, but the crowd 58 it.
At the end of the day the zoo keeper came and gave the mime a 59 for being such an attraction. Well, this went on for some time, the mime kept 60 the lion, the crowds grew larger, and his salary kept going up. Then one terrible day when he was dangling over the angry lion he slipped and fell. The mime was 61 .
The lion gathered itself and prepared to pounce (猛扑). The mime was so scared that he began to run round and round the cage with the lion close 62 . Finally, the mime started screaming and yelling, “Help me, help me!”, but the lion was quick and pounced. The mime soon found himself flat on his back looking up at the angry lion and the lion said, “ 63 you fool! Do you want to get us both 64 ?”
50. A. ticket | B. profit | C. crowd | D. lesson |
51. A. reputation | B. cost | C. confidence | D. attendance |
52. A. take care of | B. dress up as | C. make up for | D. keep up with |
53. A. declined | B. hesitated | C. accepted | D. doubted |
54. A. great | B. demanding | C. meaningless | D. busy |
55. A. make fun of | B. communicate with | C. cooperate with | D. take advantage of |
56. A. Surprisingly | B. However | C. Therefore | D. Additionally |
57. A. failed | B. refused | C. managed | D. began |
58. A. loved | B. feared | C. forgot | D. excused |
59. A. warning | B. direction | C. raise | D. punishment |
60. A. fighting | B. insulting | C. boring | D. frightening |
61. A. caught | B. attacked | C. terrified | D. offended |
62. A. behind | B. ahead | C. beyond | D. aside |
63. A. Hurry up | B. Get up | C. Wake up | D. Shut up |
64. A. helped | B. killed | C. favored | D. fired |
Cash is no longer king as far as most Australians and South Koreans are concerned as more than eight in ten pay less often in cash today than they did five years ago, according to a survey released on Monday. 50 , 69 percent of Americans surveyed use less cash than five years ago, 51 in Asia the figures were generally 52 , with
Shuan Ghaidan, MasterCard’s Asia Pacific head of product sales and delivery, said one 53 for the 54 use of cash in Australia was the growing 55 of debit cards (借记卡), while in South Korea contactless payment on mobile phones had been popular. Credit cards 56 be used for higher value transactions, he said. Besides young people, for whom 57 cards are usually their first card, he said the debit card is also 58 by some older people “who don’t want credit any more, don’t want to 59 debt any more.”
The global 60 has been rocked in the past year by a credit crisis 61 US mortgage loan defaults (次级房贷问题).
The 62 noted that nearly nine in ten Australians and New Zealanders said they
63 carrying large amounts of cash, compared with six in ten Singaporeans or 80 percent of Americans.
MasterCard said it 64 7,000 interviews across 12 countries, including
50. A. On the contrary | B. In comparison | C. In addition | D. By turn |
51. A. as | B. yet | C. while | D. when |
52. A. higher | B. lower | C. shocking | D. notable |
53. A. reason | B. cause | C. result | D. case |
54. A. declining | B. sensible | C. full | D. good |
55. A. development | B. involvement | C. recycling | D. popularity |
56. A. designed to | B. used to | C. were used to | D. tended to |
57. A. post | B. ID | C. debit | D. credit |
58. A. agreed | B. proved | C. honored | D. preferred |
59. A. fall into | B. take into | C. break into | D. put into |
60. A. economy | B. weather | C. population | D. environment |
61. A. leading to | B. resulting from | C. bringing about | D. resulting in |
62. A. experiment | B. survey | C. examination | D. competition |
63. A. disliked | B. preferred | C. favored | D. enjoyed |
64. A. invented | B. published | C. conducted | D. carried |
At the age of 2, Tai Lihua lost her hearing after a fever. She did not realize she was 50 from other children until she was 7 when she was sent to a 51 school for the deaf and mute.
To a little girl who once 52 a beautiful voice, this 53 was almost fatal. She was driven into a deep depression and spent all her time alone. But a music class at the special school totally changed her life.
“Our teacher 54 a drum on the floor and I could feel rhythmic vibration (震动) passing under my feet over the floor,” Tai said when remembering her childhood.
She was totally fascinated by the vibration and bent 55 the floor to press her face and hands and even her 56 body to the floor to feel the vibration and rhythm. Dance and rhythm have become her lifelong friends since then. In the following years, whenever she saw dance performances on TV, Tai would like to press her face 57 to the loudspeaker to feel the rhythms of different beats.
When she was 15, she was 58 by the China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe (剧团), an unofficial troupe for special art founded in 1987. She was chosen as a dancer and began to receive 59 dance training. Tai made dance her form of expression through 60 and hard work.
“The only way for me to learn dancing is to remember, repeat, and remember again, 61 I can feel that a band is alongside me and can play music for me at any time,” said Tai. In her eyes, dance is visible and colorful music and a beautiful language to express her inner world.
The persistence and hard work 62 . She became one of the best dancers of the troupe. Along with other members, she has visited over 50 countries and performed in all the world’s leading theaters, 63 New York’s Carnegie Hall and
50. | A. unusual | B. different | C. uncommon | D. unique |
51. | A. special | B. primary | C. peculiar | D. music |
52. | A. produced | B. occupied | C. owned | D. formed |
53. | A. ambition | B. realization | C. recognition | D. intention |
54. | A. hit | B. knocked | C. struck | D. beat |
55. | A. toward | B. above | C. on | D. over |
56. | A. entire | B. all | C. whole | D. total |
57. | A. roughly | B. toughly | C. closely | D. nearly |
58. | A. selected | B. elected | C. invited | D. touched |
59. | A. national | B. traditional | C. educational | D. professional |
60. | A. strong will | B. born gift | C. unfortunate fate | D. colorful music |
61. | A. while | B. until | C. as soon as | D. as long as |
62. | A. turn off | B. put off | C. took off | D. paid off |
63. | A. included | B. containing | C. just like | D. such as |
64. | A. posted | B. published | C. performed | D. staged |
On the morning of January 1 two European cities woke up as European Capital of Culture for 2009. The residents of Linz, the third largest city of Austria, and Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania(立陶宛), were given the __50__ by the European Union. The title offers the two cities the chance to improve their fortunes by showing the rest of Europe how exciting they are __51__.
The cities of Linz and
No Austrian city has changed as __56__ as
Vilnius, like
To mark winning the European Capital of Culture title, the Lithuanian city held an enormous 2009 New Year’s Eve __64__. It included a light show said to have been “visible from outer space”, an achievement
50. A. honor | B. title | C. winner | D. name |
51. A. commonly | B. capably | C. culturally | D. commercially |
52. A. potential | B. likely | C. probable | D. possible |
53. A. while | B. since | C. though | D. if |
54. A. natural | B. arts | C. historic | D. agricultural |
55. A. describe | B. define | C. deserve | D. determine |
56. A. incredibly | B. differently | C. dramatically | D. impressively |
57. A. independent | B. inevitable | C. interesting | D. industrial |
58. A. lively | B. lovely | C. living | D. alive |
59. A. focus | B. highlight | C. represent | D. find |
60. A. suffered | B. enjoyed | C. seen | D. changed |
61. A. Presently | B. Primarily | C. Properly | D. Previously |
62. A. With | B. Beyond | C. Despite | D. Within |
63. A. keeps | B. remains | C. continues | D. lies |
64. A. celebration | B. decoration | C. demonstration | D. position |