2004 is the International Year of Rice! This was decided by the UN in 2002．

That was the first time the UN had made a special year to celebrate(庆祝)just one

crop．What was the UN，s purpose(目的)for its decision? The UN wants us to re—

member“Rice is life”．

    Rice was first grown 1 5，000 years ago in East and South Asia．Rice is more than three times as old as China．Today，almost half of the world’s population eats this very old crop.

    Rice is the most important food in Asia．83  90％ of the world's rice is grown in Asia．People in Africa now eat more rice than before．

    84  Nearly 1 billion(十亿)people around the world have jobs because of rice．

But still，about 840 million people，including more than 200 million children，don’t have enough food．So，growing more rice would really help the world’s hungry and poor people．

A．根据短文内容简要回答问题。

1．What decision was made by the UN in 2002?

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2．Why should we grow more rice in the world?

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B.将短文中画线的两个句子译成汉语

3.________________________________________________________________

4._________________________________________________________________

C.请给短文拟一个合适的标题。

5．________________________________________________________________

 As the People’s Republic of China celebrated the 60th birthday, the success of the language was one of the mainly things to do be proud of. China is a country of many region (地区) and many dialects (方言). It was difficult for people to communicate with each other. Mandarin (Putonghua), the language commonly spoken around Beijing, was encouraged as national language. In 1982, the government promoted the use of Putonghua throughout the country. 83 It was obligatory (义不容辞的，必须履行的) to speak Putonghua in schools, in other institution, on radios, TVs and in films.

The policy (方针，政策) has been wonderfully successfully. And it’s not just successful in mainland China but in Chinese communities around the world. Hong Kong is a Cantonese (粤语) speaking city but students are learning Putonghua in the schools and more people are speaking it on the street. The same is true among Chinese communities in cities from Singapore to London. 

Most of this worldwide success has a lot to do with business. China’s economy is growing and people, even non- Chinese, are learning Putonghua so that they can do business with China. Of course, not everyone is learning the language for economic reasons. Many people are learning it for fun and to discover the richness of Chinese culture.

China celebrated its 60th birthday, so enjoy it: 84 Be proud of our country and be proud of our language.

Shengrikuaile, Zhongguo!

A.根据短文内容回答下列问题。

81. What is Mandarin like?

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82. Why are many people even non-Chinese learning Putonghua?

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B. 将短文中划线部分译成汉语。

83. _______________________________________________________________________

84. _______________________________________________________________________

C. 请给文章选择合适的标题。

85. 请给短文拟一个适当的英文标题。

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