Hangzhouhua (杭州话)：use it or lose it
There are about 6.000 languages in the world and some experts say that as many as half of these languages will disappear(消失) in the next one hundred years. Will Hangzhouhua be one of 1)________? It’s a 2)________ that more people are asking.
In China, Putonghua is the official language. That 3)________ it’s the language of government, business and the media (媒体). And it’s also the language that is 4)________ in schools.
Hangzhou is a special city. It used to be the capital of Wu and Yue States in the 10th century during the Five Dynasties period. Now it is modern, fashionable and also beautiful. And Hangzhouhua shows that by being modern, fashionable and beautiful.
Young people still speak Hangzhouhua but not as 5)________ as their parents and grandparents. They are under more and more pressure to speak Putonghua. So the language is being used 6)________ often in everyday life. Some people want to keep the language from disappearing completely 7)_________ building museums and having cultural festivals to save it. But a language isn’t a painting 8)________ a book. It’s a living thing and you 9)________ use it or lose it.
If people 10)________ using it in their daily lives, a museum or a festival will not help. It will be lost forever, like the Yangtze River dolphin.

To save yourself from embarrassment (尴尬)， it’s good to read a few books or research online about the culture and customs of the country you plan to visit.

Clothing: Wearing shorts in public is generally not acceptable in most parts of the world, including some European countries.

Greetings: Handshake is a usually accepted form of greeting, although in some countries, like Japan, a traditional bow(鞠躬) is preferred. Be careful how you talk with someone; don’t use first names unless you are invited to do something.

Language/Gestures: learn some polite expressions (hello-goodbye-thank you) and relax. English is pretty common worldwide, especially in tourist areas and you can always use body language to get your message across. However, some Americans gestures have different meanings in other countries. For example, in Bulgaria, shaking your head usually means  “yes”; shaking it “vertically” means “ no”.

Food/Drink: you may find yourself looking down at a local delicious snake soup in china, sheep’s eyes in Saudi Arabia… and wonder what to do; especially you are guests in someone’s home. Be brave, take small bites, and pretend it tastes like something you like. Remember that some Buddhists don’t eat beef, and Muslims don’t eat pork. If you are eating with Muslims, never touch food with left hand (the left hand is for bathroom use).

Conversations: if you know the history and culture of the country, you will be confident. The French are angry at the classic American question: “What do you do for a living?” and so on.

1.You should learn about _______ of the country if you want to go to another country.

A．the people and the food

B．the culture and customs

C．the language and people

D．the behavior and conversations

2.A Japanese meet you for the first time, he/ she will ________.

A．shake hands with you                    B．hug with you

C．kiss you                               D．bow to you

3.In Bulgaria, shaking your head usually means______________.

A．yes              B．no               C．victory            D．calm down

4.Which of the following isn’t right?

A．You can’t wear shorts in public in most parts of the world.

B．You can use body language to communicate with people.

C．You can use your left hand to touch food when you eat with Muslims.

D．You can get along well with people you visit if you know their culture and customs well.

One summer vacation in my college, my roommate Ted asked to me to work on his father’s farm in Argentina. The idea was exciting. Then I had second thoughts. I had never been far from New England, and I had been homesick my first few weeks at college. What about the language? The more I thought about it, the more the idea worried me.

Finally, I turned down the invitation. Then I realized I had turned down something I wanted to do because I was scared and felt depressed(沮丧). That experience taught me a valuable lesson and I developed a rule for myself: do what makes you anxious(焦虑); don’t do what makes you depressed.

In my senior year, I wanted to be a writer. But my professor wanted me to teach. I hesitated. The idea of writing was much scarier than spending a summer in Argentina. Back and forth I went, making my decision, unmaking it. Suddenly I realized that every time I gave up the idea of writing, that downhearted feeling went through me.

Giving up writing really depressed me. Then I learned another lesson. To avoid the depression meant having to bear much worry and concern.

When I first began writing articles, I often interviewed big names. Before each interview I would get butterflies in the stomach. One of them was the great composer Duke Ellington. On the stage and on television, he seemed very confident. Then I learned Ellington still got stage fright（害怕）. If Ellington still had anxiety attacks, how could I avoid them? I went on doing those frightening interviews. Little by little, I was even looking forward to the interviews. Where were those butterflies?

In truth, they were still there, but fewer of them. I had learned from a process psychologists（心理学家） call “extinction”. If you put an individual in an anxious situation often, finally there isn’t anything to be worried about, which brings me to a conclusion: you’ll never get rid of anxiety by avoiding the things that caused it.

The point is that the new, the different, is definitely scary. But each time you try something, you learn, and as the learning piles up, the world opens to you.

1.We can infer from the passage that the author________. 

A．finds it difficult to make decision

B．has found out what causes anxiety

C．was encouraged by Duke Ellington’s stage fright

D．no longer feels anxious about new experiences

2.What does the word “extinction” in Paragraph 6 means?

A．a person’s loss of confidence little by little

B．the natural development of a child’s abilities

C．the inborn ability to avoid anxious situations

D．the process of losing fear by keeping facing anxiety

3.Which of the following opinions does the writer probably accept?

A．Anxiety can be a positive drive

B．Hesitation leads to depression.

C．Avoiding anxiety reduces depression.

D．Depression is a signal that one is growing up.

4.What's the best title for the passage?

A．Confidence: Key to Success

B．Anxiety: Challenge by Another Name

C．Depression: A Psychological Appearance

D．Success: A Trip Through Anxiety and Depression

On June 26, 2000, two scientists, called Francis Collins and Craig Venter, told the world that they could read the whole “map” of the human body: DNA. DNA is something that everybody has, and it tells the body what to do. DNA is the reason that we look like our mother and father, because we get some of their DNA to make our own.

People have been trying to understand the human body for a long time. In 1860, Gregor Mendel discovered a special reason why we look the same as other people in our family. It is because of small things named “genes” in our body. In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick made another discovery and found out that those small parts are real messages written in the DNA with a special language.

In 1961, Marshall Nirenberg and Johann Matthaci found a message in DNA showing how DNA tells the cell（细胞）to build its parts. Scientists have now found all the words in the DNA map, but we still do not understand what they all do. By understanding what just one “word”   means, we can help save more people from several illnesses.

Most people hope that this will help make better medicine and help sick people. Other people worry that when people begin to know more words and find out lots of other information, we might use it in a wrong way, just to make people more attractive, or stop sick people from getting jobs. Man would have to meet a lot of trouble if DNA technic wasn’t limited（限制）in use.

1.When did we first know why we look like other people m our family?

A．In 1860           B．In 1953           C．In 1961           D．In 2000

2.What does the underlined word “ genes” mean?

A. The “map” of DNA.                B. A special language.

C. Small parts of DNA.                D. DNA

3.What did the two scientists first discover in 1961 ?

A. The “map” of DNA.               B. A new illness.

C. The language of DNA.              D. A message of DNA.

4.What can we do if we understand some “ words” of the language inside the body

A．Make people get new jobs.

B．Make medicine for illnesses.

C．Make maps of human.

D．Make people less attractive.

5.What do people think about this work’?

A．It can cause good or bad results.

B．It can cause only good results.

C．It can cause good results but won’t work.

D．It can cause only bad results.