On the evening of last Sunday while I was reviewing my lessons in my room, it suddenly began to rain.   1   as usual, I stopped to listen to the rhythm（韵律）of the rain. For many years, whenever it rains, I couldn’t   2  listening to it and thinking of the garden in which I spent my childhood（童年） in my hometown.
When I was a little girl, my family lived in a big house with a big garden in the countryside. The garden was full of flowers and   3 , with some bamboo in front of the wall. Whenever it rained, I    4   to sit in the front of the house, listening to the rhythm of the rain and watching the    5   raindrops（雨点）.
When small drops of rain fall from the heaven in a row（持续不断地）, they    6  a curtain made up of pearls（珍珠）; when the raindrops   7  the ground, a lot of small sprays（水花）will splash（溅出）and then disappear slowly.
I have been   8  interested in watching such a scene. Listening to the rhythm of the rain, I feel calm and peaceful in my heart. This feeling of peace makes me think a lot about life. We are the    9  of the earth, and one day we will embrace（拥抱）our earth and stay with her forever. Life is short and we should treasure it.
Listening to the rhythm of the rain, I learn to understand the    10   of life.

Making sense of how the US shows humor

Living in a new country gives me many surprises. The first surprise was the way that the US people speak.

One day I saw someone was having a public speech in a square. I thought it would be a serious speech. But I soon found it became a kind of entertainment show.

   The speaker told the audience to protect the environment with humorous words. Later he said some people’s behavior didn’t go with their words. He took the example of Taylor Swift’s song We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

   He said that since Swift doesn’t want to be with the boy any more, she doesn’t need to speak it aloud, she doesn’t need to sing unless she still keeps in touch with that guy. It sounds like she is a hypocrite.

   Then he sang the song in a funny way. The audience laughed out loudly. I felt a little angry because Swift is my favourite star. I couldn’t understand why they laughed at Swift.

As time goes on, I find many US people make fun of others. But they don’t mean to hurt them. They do that to show closeness and humour. And people who are laughed at seldom get angry. Now I understand the speaker at the square. Now I’ve got used to the way the US people speak.

   It’s easy to find culture shock when you’re in a new place. But everyone should learn to understand different cultures and customs. 

1.The man in the square was _______________.

A. teaching people how to give a speech

B. calling on people to protect the environment

C. giving a singing show in public

D. criticizing the US government           

2. What does the underlined word “hypocrite” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A. 会唱歌的人      B. 真诚的人       C. 虚伪的人       D. 爱护环境的人

3.From Paragraph 6, we learn that_________________.

A. many US people like to laugh at others  

B. many US people are friendly and humorous

C. the US people get angry at others easily  

D. the writer doesn’t like the way the US people speak          

4.Which is Not suitable for the passage?

A. The writer went to America and protect the environment.

B. Americans show humour in a different way from China.

C. It’s easy to find culture shock when you are in a new place.

D. Tailor Swift is an American famous singer.               

5.What does the article mainly talk about?

A. Differences between the Chinese and the US people.      

B. In what way the US people speak in public.

C. How to get used to life in the US.  

D. A Chinese girl’s culture shock experience in the US.

On the evening of last Sunday while I was reviewing my lessons in my room, it suddenly began to rain.   1    as usual, I stopped to listen to the rhythm（韵律）of the rain. For many years, whenever it rains, I couldn’t  2   listening to it and thinking of the garden in which I spent my childhood in my hometown.

  When I was a little girl, my family lived in a big house with a big garden in the countryside. The garden was full of flowers and   3  , with some bamboo in front of the wall. Whenever it rained, I    4    to sit in the front of the house, listening to the rhythm of the rain and watching the    5   raindrops.

  When small drops of rain fall from the heaven in a row, they    6   a curtain made up of pearls（珍珠）; when the raindrops   7    the ground, a lot of small sprays（水花）will splash（溅出）and then disappear slowly.

  I have been   8    interested in watching such a scene. Listening to the rhythm of the rain, I feel calm and peaceful in my heart. This feeling of peace makes me think a lot about life. We are the  9    of the earth, and one day we will embrace（拥抱）our earth and stay with her forever. Life is short and we should treasure it.

  Listening to the rhythm of the rain, I learn to understand the     10    of life.

【小题 1】A. Surprised      B. Sad          C. Excited          D. Angry

【小题  2】A. stand         B. stop         C. like             D. think

【小题  3】 A. leaves       B. animals      C. children             D. trees

【小题  4】A. happened      B. wanted       C. wished           D. used

【小题  5】A. falling       B. singing      C. fallen               D. broken

【小题  6】 A. make             B. form             C. cause        D. rise

【小题  7】 A. see          B. get          C. reach                D. cover

【小题  8】A. always        B. never            C. sometimes        D. seldom

【小题 9 】A. children      B. owner        C. friends          D. master

【小题  10】 A. length     B. meaning     C. number           D. quality

On the evening of last Sunday while I was reviewing my lessons in my room, it suddenly began to rain.   1   as usual, I stopped to listen to the rhythm（韵律）of the rain. For many years, whenever it rains, I couldn’t  2  listening to it and thinking of the garden in which I spent my childhood in my hometown.
When I was a little girl, my family lived in a big house with a big garden in the countryside. The garden was full of flowers and   3 , with some bamboo in front of the wall. Whenever it rained, I    4   to sit in the front of the house, listening to the rhythm of the rain and watching the    5  raindrops.
When small drops of rain fall from the heaven in a row, they    6  a curtain made up of pearls（珍珠）; when the raindrops   7   the ground, a lot of small sprays（水花）will splash（溅出）and then disappear slowly.
I have been   8   interested in watching such a scene. Listening to the rhythm of the rain, I feel calm and peaceful in my heart. This feeling of peace makes me think a lot about life. We are the  9   of the earth, and one day we will embrace（拥抱）our earth and stay with her forever. Life is short and we should treasure it.
Listening to the rhythm of the rain, I learn to understand the     10   of life.

Wang Jiaming from Beijing Chenjinglun High School says he is a lucky boy .He’s happy that he’s sitting the senior high school entrance exam in2014 instead of 2016.

On October 22,Beijing Municipal Commission of Education* announced that, from 2016,the English scores in the senior high school entrances exam will be reduced* from 120 to 100.Of the 100 points, the listening ability scores will increase to 50.Meanwhile, the points for Chinese will increase from 120 to 150.

“The change won’t affect me. I fell so lucky because English is my strongest subject,’’ said Wang. Why such a change? It places the importance on Chinese in our study and reduces students’ pressure, said Li Yi, a spokesman of the commission.

“The change will also push us to pay attention to the practical usage of English.,’’ said Li. “Students will be encouraged to learn to understand English menus and read English news on mobile phones.”

There isn’t news that other cities will have the same change. But several places are making changes to English tests in the college entrance exams.

For example, Shandong is considering taking out the listening part of the English exam in its Gaokao. But, “ being tested for less points doesn’t mean the subject can be taken lightly,” Bai Ping wrote in China Daily.

English has long been the world’s most commonly used language. Wang Jiaming said he understood the change.

“Chinese, not English, is our mother tongue*,” he said. “ but still, I think English is both interesting and useful.”

1. In the Beijing senior high school entrances exam of 2016, the English scores will be cut down to __________.

A. 50                 B.  100            C. 120           D. 150

2. Wang Jiaming feels lucky because _______

A. the exam change from 2016 doesn’t affect him

B. he doesn’t need to take the important exam

C. Chinese is his strongest subject

D. he is not good at chemistry

3.The sentence “ being tested for less points doesn’t mean the subject can be taken lightly,” in the passage means ______________

A. the students can spend less time on English.

B. it’s harder to for the students get a high score.

C. English is not as important and useful as before

D. studying English is still important for the students.

4. What is the main purpose of the change?

A. To encourage students to learn how to order meals in English.

B. To make students to learn to read English news on mobile phones.

C. To ask students to prepare for the college entrance exam.

D. To make students pay more attention to learn Chinese.