Anger at the practice of demanding dowries, which can lead to violence against brides, has caused a takeoff of "Angry Birds" called "Angry Brides" that aims to highlight the illegal practice still common in many South Asian countries.
Dowries -- such as jewelry, clothes, cars and money -- are traditionally given by the bride's family to the groom and his parents to ensure she is taken care of in her new home.
The custom was outlawed more than five decades ago. But it is still widely practiced, with the groom's family demanding even more money after marriage, leading to mental and physical abuse that can drive the woman to suicide.
"The Angry Brides game is our way of throwing a spotlight on the nuisance (陋习) of dowry," said Ram Bhamidi, senior vice president and head of online marketing for Shaadi.com, a matrimonial (婚姻的) website with two million members.
"According to a 2007 study, there is a dowry-related death every four hours in India. We condemn this and have consistently run campaigns on social media to help create awareness of the issue."
The name of the app, available on the group's home page, is a spinoff from the globally popular "Angry Birds" game. Its home page shows a red-clad, eight-armed woman resembling a powerful female Hindu goddess. Underneath, there is a caption: "A woman will give you strength, care and all the love you need ... NOT dowry!"
To play the game, users have to try and hit three dodging grooms -- a pilot, builder and doctor. There is a wide array of weapons to choose from, including a stiletto shoe, a frying pan, broomstick, tomato and loafer.
Each groom has a price tag, starting at 1.5 million rupees ($29,165). Every time the player hits a groom, his value decreases and money is added to the player's Anti-Dowry Fund, which is saved posted on their Facebook page.
"Since we launched the game last week, more than 270,000 people have liked the app. Both men and women seem to be playing it," said Bhamidi.
【小题1】What caused "Angry Brides" to appear online?

Two thieves came to a house to steal something. They dug a hole in the wall of the house.
　　There lived many mice in the house. The woman in the moonlight saw a mouse crawl(爬行) into the house. “Look! In comes one,” she said to the man in the house. The thief was so frightened that he hurriedly crawled out of the house and said to the one waiting outside, “She found me when I was just in.” But the thief outside didn’t believe him, so he said, “Let us try to crawl into the house together.” At that time two mice happened to crawl into the house, too. The woman saw the mice and shouted, “In come two, catch them!” The two thieves were terribly frightened. The man in the house said, “You saw them come in but where are they? I will catch them tonight.” The two thieves started running away at once.
　　The two thieves wanted to make it clear whether they had been found or not the night before. The next day they acted as men selling sweet potatoes and came before the house. The man and the woman were ploughing in their fields. The rope broke and the woman came home for a rope. She saw two men selling sweet potatoes and wanted to buy some. She picked out two which looked like mice. At the time the man couldn’t wait for her any longer in the fields and he ran back from the fields to hurry her up. The woman showed the sweet potatoes to the man and said, “How they look like the two of last night.” The man said, “I asked you to fetch a rope, why don’t you hurry for it?” The two thieves ran away very quickly without their sweet potatoes.
【小题1】The two thieves failed to steal anything from the house because _____.

A woman decorating her Christmas tree Monday was shot in her left arm when a bullet went through her living room window．Police said the incident occurred at about 5:00 p.m. A .22 caliber shell（口径的弹壳） casing was found across the street from the victim's home．Police did not find a weapon in the neighborhood．

Mrs．Wilma Johnson was treated at a local hospital and allowed to go home．A hospital spokesman said she should recover nicely．She is in her late 50s, divorced, and living with Bob, the older of her two adult sons．Bob wasn’t home at the time of the shooting．

Police will patrol the area more frequently as a result of this shooting．They don't know if the shooting was intentional or accidental．They are asking the public to help if they know anything．They interviewed the neighbors．One neighbor said he heard a gunshot, but in this neighborhood, he said, he was used to hearing gunshots．

The police also questioned Mrs．Johnson’s ex-husband, Joe, who lives three blocks away．Joe said if he was going to shoot at his ex-wife, he’d make sure he shot her in her butt（头）．“That’s a target you could hit from a mile away as she is like a Tele-tubby.” he laughed．Despite such remarks, the police spokesperson said Joe is not a suspect at this time．

1.What was the woman doing when she was shot?

         A．She was decorating her room．                         B． She was cooking dinner．

         C．She was sleeping in her room.         D． She was decorating her Christmas tree．

2.Where is Mrs. Wilma Johnson now ?

         A．She is in hospital．                                             B． She is at home．

         C．She is in another world.                                     D． She is in a funeral．        

3.Which of the following is true according to the third paragraph?

         A．Some neighbors saw the gunman by accident.

         B．The police found the gunman soon after the gunshot．

         C．There used to be gunshots in the area.

         D．The gunshot happened by intention.

4.What was her ex-husband’s words “That’s a target you could hit from a mile away”?

         A. His ex-wife was too fat                                             B．He still loved his ex-wife．

         C．She was sensitive to anything.                            D． He hated his ex-wife．

There are some great differences between the traditional family and the modern family.
The first important difference is in the man’s role.The traditional husband was the head of the household because he was the only one who worked outside the home.If the wife worked for money,then the husband was not considered to be a good provider,In many families today,both husband and wife work for money.Therefore,they share the role of head of household.In addition,the traditional husband usually made big decisions about spending money.However,the modern husband shares these decisions with his working wife.Also,the traditional husband did not help his wife with housework or meal preparation.  Dinner was ready when he came home,In contrast,the modern husband helps his working wife at home.He may do some of the household chores,and it is not unusual for him to cook.
The second difference is in the woman’s role. In the traditional family,the woman may have worked for miney during her first years of marriage.However,when she gave birth,she would usually give up her job. Her primary role would be to take care of her family and home.In contrast,in many families today,the modern woman works outside the home even after she has children .She’s doing two jobs instead of one,so she is busier than the traditional mother was.The traditional wife learned to live within her husband’s income.But the modern wife does not have to because the family has two incomes.
The final difference is in the role of the children .In the traditional family,the children were taken care of by the mother because she didn’t work outside.However,today pre-school children may go to a child-care center or to a baby-sitter regularly because the mother works.The school-age children of a traditional family were more dependent.Their mother was there to help them get ready for school and to make their breakfast.In conrtast,modern children are more independent.They have to get up early and get ready for school themselves,and they may even have to make their own breakfast.
【小题1】The main idea of the passage is        .

All of my childhood and early, adult life, my mom weighed over 220 pounds (one pound =" 0.454" kilograms). I could feel the pain that my mom experienced with her fatness.
I was never uncomfortable about my mother, but I think she was uncomfortable about herself, and that feeling was painful for all of us. And she began to lose weight.
After more than twenty years of battling obesity（肥胖）, my mother completed a forceful eighteen-month diet that left her ninety pounds lighter than before. A new woman was born! At age twenty-eight, I got a new mom! For the first time, I met the woman my mother truly was, the beautiful little lady under the fatness. It wasn’t so much her new body that was the surprise, but rather her new spirit.
To celebrate her new size and to devote herself to dancing again, my mother joined a “Mrs. Forty-Plus” competition, where she would have to model, give a speech and provide a dance performance. She told our family that she did not care if she won — she simply had always wanted to perform on stage.
She told each one of us, “I’m not doing it to win; I’m doing it to dance!”
The competition was exciting! I prayed that my mom would win, but while watching her on stage I was simply overjoyed just by her effort. To me, she had already won. She posed to perfection, her speech brought tears to everyone’s eyes, and her performance was wonderful.
That night, at age fifty-three, my mother was crowned (为......加冕) “Mrs. Forty-Plus”. She was the first person in our family to ever win such a title.
64. The first two paragraphs mainly show that the author’s mom was __________.
A. experienced      B. painful          C. comfortable        D. fat
65. After the author’s mom completed a forceful eighteen-month diet, she was about __________.
A. 85 kilograms    B. 41 kilograms      C. 130 pounds         D. 90 pounds
66. In order to join in the “Mrs. Forty-Plus” Competition, the author’s mom has to do the following EXCEPT __________.
A. providing a dance performance            B. telling a funny story about herself
C. giving a speech to a large number of people  D. wearing special clothes to show to people
67. The underlined part in Paragraph 6 means that __________.
A. the author’s mom succeeded in modeling and speaking
B. the author’s mom’s performance was very wonderful
C. the author’s mom was not successful in modeling
D. the author’s mom succeeded in making a speech