If I were to explain Thanksgiving Day to a foreigner, I would call it simply Turkey（火鸡） Day. Yet, this special holiday has much more to it.

    Historically, the first settlers of America celebrated Thanksgiving with a harvest dinner because they successfully went through a hard winter. They also took this chance to thank their Indian friends for their help. Thanksgiving is a great American tradition to share this holiday with family members and friends. Its importance is almost equal to Christmas in American everyday life.

    A college friend of mine once invited me to celebrate this holiday with her family. This gave me an inside look at how Americans celebrate this holiday.

    When we arrived at her house, my friend's family greeted us warmly. Once in a while I went to the kitchen to catch a glimpse of the turkey in the oven. The turkey is cooked, whole. It is filled with a mixture of bread crumbs, vegetables and spices. It usually takes four to five hours or more to cook, depending on the size of the turkey.

    When it was finally done, two people carried the turkey to the table on a plate, decorated with fruits and leaves. It was the size of a small pig. It looked very impressive having a whole turkey on the table.

    When all the food was on the table and the guests were seated, everyone fell silent—it was time for everyone to say a small prayer（祈祷） of thanks. Unlike in China, where only the host makes a speech, it was this family's tradition to ask each and every person, young or old, family or guest, to say what they were thankful for. This included me, Well, as one might guess, I was thankful for my first American Thanksgiving.

    Then all our attention returned to the turkey. We broke into laughter when nay friend's mother came out of the kitchen with an electric knife to cut the Turkey into thin slices.

Each dish was passed around and everyone loaded their plate with turkey, potatoes, and other vegetables.

1．The best title for this passage is   

A． What a Large Turkey                   B． My First Thanksgiving

C． Warmly Welcomed                   D． What a Different Custom

2．Which of the following made the deepest impression on the writer?

A． Thanksgiving is even more important than Christmas.

B． The warm welcome received from the family.

C． The large turkey.

D． How the festival came into being.

3．The underlined word "glimpse" in the fourth paragraph has the same meaning as

A． curiosity           B． admiration       C． smell        D． look

4．Which of the following best shows the equality in American families?

A． The mother cut up the turkey with an electric knife.

B． Everyone at the table was asked to say a prayer.

C． Everyone was given the same foods and dishes.

D． The writer was treated warmly and equally.

5．How was the turkey cut into pieces?

A． With an electric knife.

B． Everyone cut off a piece of it.

      C． It was cut up with an ordinary knife.

D． The mother cut it up with the father's help.

A turkey named Courage gave thanks to President Obama for saving his life on the day before Thanksgiving. Honouring a 62-year-old tradition, the President pardoned the bird on Thanksgiving eve.

   The tradition of a turkey pardon at Thanksgiving began with President Truman in 1947. Courage comes from Ellsworth, Iowa. The name Courage was chosen by voters (投票人)who took part in a survey posted on the White House website. The lucky turkey walked on the lawn of the Rose Garden and posed for the cameras at the presidential podium(讲台).

   The dinner that has become known as the First Thanksgiving was actually a harvest festival celebrated in December of 1621. That’s when English settlers in Plymouth, Massachusetts, gave thanks for the progress they had made after a hard winter in their new country. As America grew, Thanksgiving customs also spread and got bigger. George Washington declared that the first national Thanksgiving would be on November 26, 1789. In the decades to follow, however, people celebrated Thanksgiving locally, with no official date. President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November 1863 a national day of Thanksgiving. It stayed that way until 1939, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved it one week earlier. He wanted to lengthen the shopping period before Christmas to encourage gift-buyers and to help businesses. So Congress（议会） ruled that, after 1941, Thanksgiving would be an official federal holiday falling on the fourth Thursday of November.

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday, November. Millions of Americans got together to give thanks with friends and family. The lucky turkey, Courage, was one of them. After his pardon, Courage would be sent to Disneyland Resort in California, where he would be the grand assemble of Disney’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

That the turkey Courage was pardoned was decided by ________.

A. George Bush     B. Congress           C. President Truman      D. the public

The first Thanksgiving Day was held to ________.

 A. celebrate the harvest of British settlers

 B. celebrate the progress of Americans

 C. encourage the struggle with British settlers

 D. celebrate the joy of all Americans after a hard winter

In 1939, President Roosevelt put forward the national day of Thanksgiving to ________.

 A. encourage the economy   B. help the poor

 C. please Congress              D. lengthen the summer holidays

We can infer from the passage that ________.

 A. President Obama pardoned a turkey before Thanksgiving because of the economic crisis

B. the turkey named Courage was pardoned by President Roosevelt before Thanksgiving

 C. the pardoned turkey walked on the lawn of the Rose Garden on Thanksgiving eve

 D. the pardoned turkey will appear in a celebrating parade of Thanksgiving Day

A turkey named Courage gave thanks to President Obama for saving his life on the day before Thanksgiving. Honouring a 62-year-old tradition, the President pardoned the bird on Thanksgiving eve.

   The tradition of a turkey pardon at Thanksgiving began with President Truman in 1947. Courage comes from Ellsworth, Iowa. The name Courage was chosen by voters (投票人)who took part in a survey posted on the White House website. The lucky turkey walked on the lawn of the Rose Garden and posed for the cameras at the presidential podium(讲台).

   The dinner that has become known as the First Thanksgiving was actually a harvest festival celebrated in December of 1621. That’s when English settlers in Plymouth, Massachusetts, gave thanks for the progress they had made after a hard winter in their new country. As America grew, Thanksgiving customs also spread and got bigger. George Washington declared that the first national Thanksgiving would be on November 26, 1789. In the decades to follow, however, people celebrated Thanksgiving locally, with no official date. President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November 1863 a national day of Thanksgiving. It stayed that way until 1939, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved it one week earlier. He wanted to lengthen the shopping period before Christmas to encourage gift-buyers and to help businesses. So Congress（议会） ruled that, after 1941, Thanksgiving would be an official federal holiday falling on the fourth Thursday of November.

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday, November. Millions of Americans got together to give thanks with friends and family. The lucky turkey, Courage, was one of them. After his pardon, Courage would be sent to Disneyland Resort in California, where he would be the grand assemble of Disney’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

1.That the turkey Courage was pardoned was decided by ________.

A. George Bush                 B. Congress                        C. President Truman        D. the public

2.The first Thanksgiving Day was held to ________.

 A. celebrate the harvest of British settlers

 B. celebrate the progress of Americans

 C. encourage the struggle with British settlers

 D. celebrate the joy of all Americans after a hard winter

3.In 1939, President Roosevelt put forward the national day of Thanksgiving to ________.

 A. encourage the economy                                   B. help the poor

 C. please Congress                                               D. lengthen the summer holidays

4.We can infer from the passage that ________.

 A. President Obama pardoned a turkey before Thanksgiving because of the economic crisis

B. the turkey named Courage was pardoned by President Roosevelt before Thanksgiving

 C. the pardoned turkey walked on the lawn of the Rose Garden on Thanksgiving eve

 D. the pardoned turkey will appear in a celebrating parade of Thanksgiving Day