Take a look at teenagers around, dressed in baggy-pants (宽松裤), drinking soft drinks such as coke, reading Japanese cartoons. Whether you are in Beijing, Wuhan or Hong Kong, you will get the same impression. But should we copy others or should we maintain (保留) our differences?

It sounds convenient that people around the world speak the same language, dress in the same style, eat the same food and play the same games. If the world was like this, you won’t feel strange in any corner of world. But just imagine living in such a strange world. How dull and colorless it would be!

Different kinds of food that people can taste, the colorful and fashionable clothes that we dress in and different languages we speak are all part of the different cultures that our ancestors left us. These differences represent their creativity (创造力) and talent. And we all enjoy different cultures in our daily lives. When you travel to other places, you want to see different things. When you talk to foreigners you expect to listen to interesting stories. These differences in culture are what make life colorful.

But the whole world is shrinking into a small village as globalization (全球化) takes effect and many different cultures are disappearing. In most big cities around the world people wear the same clothes. Fast food stores are everywhere. Hollywood movies are kicking traditional performing arts out of our lives. The colors of our life are disappearing.

There is joke that even the panda and zebra want to live a colorful life. So let’s take action to protect our colorful culture before it becomes as simple as black and white.

It’s not difficult. Learning some folk songs, trying on a traditional clothing and even eating local food instead of going to KFC can help. And we’re sure you will enjoy it.

1.The passage is written to _______.

A．explain cultural differences               B．convince readers to maintain cultural differences

C．predict the future of globalization           D．show some cultural phenomena(现象)

2.The author thinks that cultural differences _______.

A．make the world colorful                  B．make communication difficult

C．only exist in food and clothing              D．will never fade away

3.The author starts the argument by ________.

A．mentioning certain cultural phenomena

B．mentioning his view at the very beginning

C．mentioning the opposite view at the very beginning

D．giving examples of cultural differences

4.The underlined word “shrink” probably means “_______”.

A．expand           B．disappear         C．become smaller     D．grow in number

5.The author talks of all the following cultural phenomena except _______.

A．food             B．clothing           C．language          D．architecture

Street art is a very popular form of art that is spreading quickly all over the world. You can find it on buildings, sidewalks, street signs and trash cans(垃圾桶) from Tokyo to Paris, from Moscow to Cape Town. Street art has become a global culture and even art museums and galleries(画廊) are collecting the works of street artists.

Street art started out very secretly because it was criminal to paint public and private things without permission(允许).
People often have different opinions about street art. Some think it is a crime and others think it is a very beautiful new form of culture.
Art experts say that the street art movement began in New York in the 1960s. Young adults painted words and other images on walls and trains. This colorful style of writing became known as graffiti(涂鸦). Graffiti art showed that young people wanted to be against society. They didn’t want to accept rules and travelled around cities to create paintings that everyone could see. In many cases, they had trouble with the police and the local government.
One well-known New York street artist is Swoon. She cuts paper images of people and puts them on walls or sets them up on sidewalks. Swoon didn’t start her career as a street artist. She studied art, but as time went on, got bored with the works she saw in museums and galleries. People in New York enjoy Swoon’s strong and imaginative style. Some museums have already bought some of her works.
Advertising companies also use street art in their ads because it gives people the feelings of youth and energy.
In Today’s world the Internet has a big influence on street art. Artists can show their pictures to the audience all over the world. Many city residents, however, say that seeing a picture on the Internet is never as good as seeing it live.
The street art movement lives with the energy and life of a big city.
【小题1】What can we learn from Paragraph1?

Inventions can change our lives. But have all these things really improved our lives? Imagine this. You’re doing your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings and the noise from the television is getting louder and louder. Suddenly the computer is turned off and you lose all your work. How do you feel? Inventions have speeded up our lives, but they often leave us feeling tired.
One family in England went “back in time” to see what life was like without these inventions. The grandparents, with their daughter and grandsons Ben 10 and Tom 7, spent nine weeks in an old house. They had no computers or mobile phones. The grandmother, Linda, said, “The more things you have, the harder life becomes.” And Ben also noticed that his grandmother had changed. She cooked delicious food for them!
根据短文内容，选择正确答案。

1. 1.

   The writer uses the quotation(引语) at the beginning to _____.

   1. A.
      tell us a truth about our lives
   2. B.
      tell us what life was like before
   3. C.
      show why such a thing happened
   4. D.
      show that we face big problems
2. 2.

   In the passage the writer describes a picture to show that new inventions _____.

   1. A.
      have speeded up our lives
   2. B.
      have improved our lives
   3. C.
      may make people feel happy
   4. D.
      may bring people some trouble
3. 3.

   The family chose to spend some time in an old house because _____.

   1. A.
      they loved to live simple lives
   2. B.
      they wanted to know how people lived without modern inventions
   3. C.
      they were troubled by modern inventions
   4. D.
      living in a different way would be fun for them
4. 4.

   According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

   1. A.
      With the improvement of our lives, we often feel tired.
   2. B.
      An unknown man was sure that life would get better.
   3. C.
      The family had some changes when they lived in an old house.
   4. D.
      The grandson Ben was ten when the family went “back in time”.
5. 5.

   The passage is mainly about _____.

   1. A.
      problems with technology
   2. B.
      improvements of our lives with technology
   3. C.
      changes happening to technology
   4. D.
      the importance of technology