Some children cannot wait to grow up. Because once you become an adult, you are free to make your own decisions. More importantly, you can do all those things that you cannot do now because you are too young. So, the question is, ‘At what age do you really become an adult?' Well, people become adults at different ages in different places.
In Australia, the 18th birthday is a very important event for young Australians because it means they can do almost anything they want. They can vote, learn to drive a car, get married, join the army and even buy their own houses. However, even if they can do all these things, most Australians have to wait until their 21st birthday to really celebrate becoming an adult. This is the traditional adult age not only in Australia, but also in the USA and the UK. It is their first year of true independence (独立).Traditionally, people were given a key to their houses by their parents when they turned 21, meaning they could come and go as they like.
Even though 21 is the traditional adult age in many English-speaking countries, the law nowadays is different in each country. In the UK, you can join the army at 16 and even get married at 16 if your parents allow. Young people in the UK can learn to drive a car at 17 as in Australia, although they have to wait until they are 18 to vote.
In China, there is a different age for each of the stages of becoming an adult. You can vote and learn to drive a car when you are 18, but if you want to get married, women have to wait until they are 20 and men until they are 22. Chinese people celebrate important birthdays every 10 years--so when young people turn 20, they can expect a big party!
No matter what age you are, becoming an adult is really about learning how to be independent and responsible（负责任的）. Once you are finally able to take care of yourself and make your own decisions, then you can say that you are truly all grown-ups.
【小题1】Which of the following are truly adults according to the passage?

Living in a foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing(令人疑惑的). A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They decided that miscommunications were always impossible, even over something as simple as “yes” and “no”.
On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought people weren’t paying any attention to her. The day was hot. She went into a store and asked, “Do you have cold drinks?” The woman there didn’t say anything. Lisa repeated the question. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She had raised her eyebrows（眉毛）, which in Micronesia means “yes”.
Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was known for its cabbage. She asked the waiter, “Do you have cabbage today?” He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means “no”.
Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with different nods and shakes of the head. He thought some people had not understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake their heads in different ways depending on where they come from. You have to know where a person is from to understand whether they mean “yes” or “no”.
【小题1】These Americans teaching English in other countries found that they            .

Once there was a piano player in a bar. People came just to hear him play. But one night, a lady asked him to sing a song.
“I don’t sing,” said the man.
But the lady told the waiter, “I’m tired of listening to the piano. I want the player to sing!”
The waiter shouted across the room, “Hey, friend! If you want to get paid, sing a song!”
So he did. He had never sung in pubic before. Now he was singing for the very first time! Nobody had ever heard the song Mona Lisa sung so beautifully!
He had talent(天赋)he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar. But once he found, by accident, that he could sing well, he went on working hard and became one of the best-known singers in the US. His name was Nat King Cole.
You, too，have skills and abilities. You may not feel that your talent is great, but it may be better than you think. With hard work, most skills can be improved. Besides, you may have no success at all if you just sit on your talent.
【小题1】The lady asked the player to sing a song because            .

Super Dan
Lin Dan is a famous badminton player. Now he plays for Badminton team of the People's Republic of China. Many people around the world know him because he won the gold medals in 2008 and 2012.
He is from Fujian. He was born on October 14, 1983. He lives with his parents, grandmother and his wife now. Lin Dan’s favorite player is Jordan. Jordan is a basketball player. Lin loves Coke. He likes pets, but dog is his favorite.
Many young people love him very much. They think Lin Dan is their super star. They also call him Super Dan.
【小题1】How many people are there in Lin Dan’s family?

Today is Sunday. All of us go to school early. Our teachers are going to take us to Blue Sky Park. The park is near our school. We can go to the park on foot.
Blue Sky Park is very beautiful. There are many trees, a football field, a big playground and a small lake in it. It’s a sunny day today, but there are not many people in the park. Li Lei is sitting under the tree. Han Mei and Lu Lu are playing on the playground. A bird in the tree is watching them. Look at me. I am playing football with other boys. How happy we are! Where are Miss Fang and Mr. Wu? They are boating on the lake. All of us have a good time in the park. We want to visit it again.
【小题1】It’s        today.

Once upon a time an old man and woman lived in the mountains in Japan. Every day the old man went to the mountain and collected firewood, while the old woman went to the river and did the washing.
One day, she was doing the washing when a big peach (桃子) came floating (漂浮) down the river towards her. As it was a big and juicy-looking fruit, she thought that her husband would be glad to eat it, so she took it home. When the old man came back for lunch and saw the nice peach, he was really happy. The old woman cut the big peach open with a knife! What a surprise! A lovely little boy was in the peach. The old man and woman had no children, so they were really grateful the gods (上帝) sent them a boy in this peach. Since he was born in a peach they decided to call him Momotaro which means “peach-boy”. The old woman cooked a meal for the little boy who ate as much as he could. The more he ate, the more he grew. Soon he became a tall and strong boy.
Day after day, all Momotaro did was sleep and eat. In the village the other boys went to the mountain and picked firewood while Monotaro was the only one doing nothing. This worried the old man and the old woman. The boys then invited him, “Momotaro, would you come with us? We’re going to collect fire wood.” But he answered, “I don’t have a basket, so I can’t go with you”, and went back to sleep. On hearing this, the old woman got angry with Momotaro for being so lazy, so the next day he went to collect firewood with the other boys.
【小题1】 What did the old woman do every day?

Daniel likes to do something to protect the environment in his daily life. Next Sunday is his friend’s birthday. He is going to buy some gifts online for his friend. Now he is visiting the following website for some information about gifts.

Welcome to Nature Posters - the world's largest collection(收集) of nature posters and fine art prints! We make a donation to help the environment when each nature poster is sold through this website! Please tell your friends about us, and remember us when you are gift shopping.

Manners are important to happy relations (关系) among people. Everyone likes a person with good manners. No one likes a person with b 【小题1】  manners. But what are good manners? How does one know what to do and what not to do? Well, here are some examples.
Everyone knows that a person with good manners never l【小题2】  at people when they are in trouble. I 【小题3】  , he tries to help them. He is always kind to o 【小题4】  . When people are waiting for a bus, he takes his turn. He does not p【小题5】  to the front of the line. On the bus he g【小题6】  his seat to an older person or a person with a very young child. If he knocks into someone, or someone gets in his w【小题7】  , he says “Excuse me” or “I’m sorry”. He says “Please” when he asks for something and “Thank you” when he r【小题8】  something. He stands up when he is speaking to an older person, and he does not sit down u 【小题9】   the other person takes his seat. He does not interrupt (打断) other people when they are talking. He does not talk too much. He does not talk loudly or laugh loudly in p【小题10】.
What are good manners are not always the same in different countries. But in all countries it is important to be kind and helpful.

Western China is a large and beautiful region. It includes one major city, Chongqing, six provinces, and five autonomous regions (自治区). The six provinces are Sichuan, Shanxi, Gansu, Yunnan, Qinghai, and Guizhou. The five autonomous regions are Tibet, Ningxia Hui, Xinjiang Uygur, Guangxi Zhuang, and Inner Mongolia. Among all these provinces and autonomous regions, Xinjiang is the largest region and Ningxia is the smallest region.
Western China has an area of 5,400,000 square kilometers. This is about 56% of the total area of the country. However, there are many mountains, highlands, and deserts, and there are fewer rivers and lakes than in the East. Only around 22% of the population (人口) of China lives in the West, so there are far more people living in the East than living there.
Western China has a lot of natural resources. It is rich in oil and gas and it has many different kinds of minerals (矿). Tourists like to visit the area. There are many famous museums, ancient palaces, tombs (坟墓), and caves (洞), such as the Dazu museum, Shanxi History Museum, the Potala Palace, the Dunhuang Caves, and many other beautiful places such as Yunnan Dali and Sichuan Jiuzhaigou Valley.

Reading is the key to school success, and like any skill, it takes practice. A child learns to walk by practicing until he no longer has to think about how to put one foot in front of the other. An excellent sportsman practices until he can play quickly, correctly and without thinking.
Educators (教育家) call it "automaticity (自动性)”．
A child learns to read by sounding out the letters and finding the meaning of the words. With more and more practice, he stumbles less and less. As a result, he can read by the phrases and soon by sentences. With automaticity, he doesn't have to think about the meaning of words, so that he can give all his attention to the meaning of the text.
It can begin as early as first grade. In a recent study of children in Illinois schools, Alan Rossman of Northwestern University found that automatic readers in the first grade not only read almost three times as fast as the others, but also got better results in exams.
According to Rossman, the key to automaticity is the amount of time a child spends reading, not his IQ. Any child who spends at least 3.5 t0 4 hours a week reading books, magazines or newspapers will probably reach automaticity. It can happen if a child turns off TV just one night for reading at home.
You can test yourself by reading something new which is suitable for your level. If you read aloud with expression, with a sense of the meaning of the sentences, you probably are an automatic reader. If you read brokenly, one word at a time, without expression or meaning, you need more practice.
【小题1】"Reading is the key to school success" means that reading_______.