What is your zodiac（生肖） animal? According to the Chinese lunar calendar（农历）, 12 animals mark 12 different years. It is the basis of the Chinese zodiac. Nowadays, Chinese zodiac animals have worldwide fame and are increasingly popular among western people.

The zodiac is an important part of Chinese culture. People believe that the characteristics of a zodiac animal influence the personality of every person born in that year. For example, people born in the Year of the Tiger are considered powerful and brave.

Zodiac animals also have some social functions. When people think it is not proper to ask: “How old are you”, they may change their question to “What is your zodiac animal?” With this question, you can figure out roughly which year someone was born and the person’s age.

Zodiac animals are not special to China. Many countries share a similar zodiac culture with China. For example, in the Japanese Zodiac, a wild boar（野猪）takes the place of a pig and the Vietnamese（越南的）zodiac has a cat instead of a rabbit.

But have you ever wondered how these 12 animals were chosen to represent each year? According to legend, the Jade Emperor（玉皇大帝）invited all the animals to join him for Chinese New Year. Only 12 animals went to see him. As a reward he named a year after each one in the order they arrived. The ox would have been the first to arrive, but the rat sat on his back and jumped off just before they arrived to come in first place.

1.The characteristics of a zodiac animal may influence the _____ of every person

born in that year.

A．appearance        B．personality        C．hobby            D．education

2.“What is your zodiac animal?” is a question used to find out a person’s______.

A．age              B．name             C．job              D．weight

3.In the Japanese zodiac, we don’t see the zodiac animal：_______

A．wild boar          B．rabbit            C．dragon           D．pig

4.According to the last paragraph, we know that ____ was the first animal to arrive.

A．ox               B．rat               C．pig               D．cat

A lady in an old cotton dress and her husband, dressed in an old suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked into the president of Harvard’s outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such country people had no business at Harvard. She frowned(皱眉). “We want to see the president,” the man said softly. “He’ll be busy all day,” the secretary said coldly. “We’ll wait,” the lady replied.

For hours, the secretary didn’t talk to them, hoping that the couple would finally become tired and go away. They didn’t. And the secretary finally decided to disturb the president. “Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they’ll leave,” she told him. He frowned too. Someone of his importance obviously didn’t have the time to spend with them.

The president walked toward them unwillingly. The lady told him, “We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard, and was very happy here. But he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to set up a memorial(纪念碑) to him somewhere on campus. ” The president was so surprised that he shouted sharply, “We can’t put up a statue(塑像) for every person who attended Harvard and died. This place would look like a cemetery (墓地).

“Oh, no” the lady explained, “We don’t want to build a statue. We thought we would give a building to Harvard.” The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at their plain clothes, and said with surprise, “A building! Do you have any idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical buildings here at Harvard.”

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly. “Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?” Her husband nodded. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they set up the university with their name, Stanford University, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

1.What did the old couple go to Harvard for?

A．They wanted to see their son.

B．They had an important meeting

C．They went to Harvard just to start a university

D．They wanted to meet the president of Harvard.

2.Why didn’t the president come out to meet the couple?

A．He was really busy at that time.

B．The secretary didn’t allow the couple to meet the president.

C．He was important and didn’t have time for unimportant people.

D．He had an important friend to meet and had to spend some time together.

3.From the passage, we can know ______.

A．the old couple were in fact rich people

B．the secretary was afraid of the old couple

C．the old couple’s son was killed in Harvard

D．the president of Harvard was kind and patient to anyone

4.The best title of the passage is “______”.

A．A Statue or A Building                    B．How Stanford University Was Built

C．A Visit to Harvard University               D．A Strange Old Couple

What is your zodiac（生肖） animal? According to the Chinese lunar calendar（农历）, 12 animals mark 12 different years. It is the basis of the Chinese zodiac. Nowadays, Chinese zodiac animals have worldwide fame and are increasingly popular among western people.

The zodiac is an important part of Chinese culture. People believe that the characteristics of a zodiac animal influence the personality of every person born in that year. For example, people born in the Year of the Tiger are considered powerful and brave.

Zodiac animals also have some social functions. When people think it is not proper to ask: “How old are you”, they may change their question to “What is your zodiac animal?” With this question, you can figure out roughly which year someone was born and the person’s age.

Zodiac animals are not special to China. Many countries share a similar zodiac culture with China. For example, in the Japanese Zodiac, a wild boar（野猪）takes the place of a pig and the Vietnamese（越南的）zodiac has a cat instead of a rabbit.

But have you ever wondered how these 12 animals were chosen to represent each year? According to legend, the Jade Emperor（玉皇大帝）invited all the animals to join him for Chinese New Year. Only 12 animals went to see him. As a reward he named a year after each one in the order they arrived. The ox would have been the first to arrive, but the rat sat on his back and jumped off just before they arrived to come in first place.

1.The characteristics of a zodiac animal may influence the _____ of every person born in that year.

A．appearance        B．personality        C．hobby            D．education

2.“What is your zodiac animal?” is a question used to find out a person’s______.

A．age              B．name             C．job              D．weight

3.In the Japanese zodiac, we don’t see the zodiac animal：_______

A．wild boar          B．rabbit            C．dragon           D．pig

4.According to the last paragraph, we know that ____ was the first animal to arrive.

A．ox               B．rat               C．pig               D．cat

A small ,white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree and it has been there for the past ten years or so.
It all began because my husband Justin hated Christmas—oh, not the true meaning of Christmas.Overspending was one thing, but compared to the difficult experience of choosing gifts—running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and a pair of gloves for Grandma…,spending money is nothing. I felt too tired to think of any special gifts.
Knowing Justin felt the same way, I decided one year not to buy the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so on. I reached for something special just for Justin. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling （摔跤）at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a match against a team sponsored (赞助) by an inner-city church.These youngsters, dressed in such worn-out shoes that shoe strings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, while our boys were in their blue and gold uniforms and new wrestling shoes.
As the match began, I was shocked to see that the other team were wrestling without wearing helmets (头盔) to protect their ears. Well, our boys ended up defeating them. We took every weight class.
Justin, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, “I wish just one of them could have won,” he said. “They have a lot potential (潜力) , but losing like this could take the heart out of them.” Justin loved kids—all kids, and he knew them, having coached little league football and baseball. That’s when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought different kinds of wrestling helmets and shoes. I sent them to inner-city church without leaving my name.
On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Justin what I had done and that was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and since then the envelope has become the highlight of our Christmas.
【小题1】Justin hated Christmas because _____.