On Christmas Eve—the night before Christmas, children are very happy. They put their stockings at the end of their beds before they go to bed. They want Santa Claus to give them some presents.
Mr. Green tells his children that Santa Claus is a very kind man. He comes on Christmas Eve. He lands on (降落) the top of each house and comes down the chimney (烟囱) into the fireplace (壁炉) and brings them a lot of presents.
Christmas Day always begins before breakfast. The children wake up very early. They can’t wait (等待) to open the presents in their stockings. Then they wake up their parents and shout "Merry Christmas!"
Do you know what Christmas means? Christmas Day is the birthday of Jesus Christ. When Christ was born, many people gave him presents. So today, people still do the same thing to each other.
【小题1】Christmas Eve is ____________.

Sundays in New York can be very pleasant. Since Saturday nights are traditionally party nights, Sunday mornings are traditionally mornings of rest, which means having a long sleep. We stay in bed until 9, 10 or even 11 o’clock is not unusual, then jump out of bed, pull on clothes, run to the nearest corner news agency, buy the New York Times or Daily News, return home, put some classical music or popular songs on the record player, climb right back into bed to read the paper.

If the weather is bad, you might immediately turn to the Entertainment part of the paper to see what movies are on. Sunday afternoons are a popular time for seeing a film, but movies are expensive in New York, so choosing takes time and care.  Read the movie reviews to discover what the critics （评论家） think. No one wants to make an expensive mistake.

But if the weather is good, you might go through the part which lists outdoor activities. Almost every Sunday there are “street fairs （集市 ）”. There will be food for sale made by local people or restaurants; hand-made things for sale; music offered by a local band; and perhaps dancing. If the fair is in Little Italy, you can expect （期待） to find tasty Italian food.

And if the day is really warm, a walk through Central Park can offer many sights, sounds and smells.  Groups of people go around the park, enjoy different activities and are often looking for others to join in. There will be pick-up baseball games; singing under the trees; dancing near a famous monument; boating on the lake.

If you are a student and live at home, you have probably spent your day in this way, putting off （推迟）your study until the sun goes down. If you are a student living away from home, it’s also likely that you’ve done the same because generally most New Yorkers save Sundays for playing. Call too early and you’ll wake us up; call too late and you’ll find us out.

1. The writer says that New Yorkers go to bed late on __________.

    A. Wednesday nights                      B. Friday nights

    C. Saturday nights                        D. Sunday nights

2. To choose a good movie, the writer suggests that _______.

    A. you find out the latest movie

B. you look up in the newspaper

C. you check which one gets good reviews

D. you ask those who have already seen it

3. Which of the following does NOT the street fair offer?

    A. Local and foreign food                   B. Sports and games

    C. Things made by hand                    D. Music and dancing

4. We can learn from the passage that _________.

    A. you can only find outdoor activities in the newspapers

B. a student living alone in New York prefers to study on Sundays

    C. most New Yorkers would spend Sundays with their families

    D. it’s not a good idea to call New Yorkers on Sundays

Once upon a time，a poor family had only one small roll of expensive gold wrapping（包装）paper．The father had no money to buy any more．On Christmas Eve his 5-yeatold daughter decorated（装饰）a shoe box with all the gold paper and put it under the Christmas tree．The father was quite unhappy about it．

The next morning the little girl，filled with excitement，brought the gift box to her father and said．“This is for you，Daddy!”

As he opened the box，the father found it was empty．At once he shouted at her．“Don’t you know，young lady，when you give someone a present，there should be something inside the package!”

The little girl almost cried out．She looked up at him and said，“Daddy，it's not empty．I blew kisses into it until it was all full．”

The father was moved．He fell on his knees and put his arms around his pretty little girl．He asked her to forgive him for his unnecessary anger．

Before long an accident took the lire of the child．The father kept that little golden box by his bed for the following years of his life．Whenever he was faced with difficult problems，he would open the box，take out an imaginary（想象的）kiss and remember the love of his beautiful child who had put it there．

In a very real sense，each of us，as a human being，has been given an invisible（隐形的）gold box filled with true love and kisses from our children，parents and friends．There is no more valuable thing than this．

1．What did the little girl do on Christmas Eve?

A．She blew her kisses into the shoe box until she thought it full．

B．She put a beautiful gift into the shoe box for her dear father．

C．She decorated a Christmas tree with the gold wrapping paper．

D．She wrapped the shoe box and put it on the Christmas tree．

2．How did the father feel when he opened the gift box for the first time?

A．Happy．               B．Proud．                C．Sad．              D．Angry．

3．The father kept the box for the rest of his life because __________．

A．it was his only Christmas present              B．it was made an expensive gold

C．it was full of his daughter's love                  D．it was a very useful shoe box

“Where did you put your umbrella?”

“I put it_________.” 

[　　]

A．in the fridge　　　　　B．behind the fridge

C．on the wall　　　　　 D．under the fridge