8BU5 阅读小练习

Name____________ No.____________ Score___________

A. Choose the best answer（根据短文内容，选择最恰当的答案)

Business birthdays
Pinatas
Noodles
(彩饰陶罐) Name days

A business birthday
shows that a As well as a birthday,
In China, people
In Mexico, company is many people in
celebrate weddings with
children often successful. Many Southern Europe also
an eight-course meal,
have pinatas on businesses in the celebrate their name
because the word eight
their birthday. The USA celebrate days. In Greece,
sounds like the word for
child's parents put important birthdays, name days are more
good luck. The last dish
chocolates and like 10, 50 or 150 important than
of the meal is always
other sweets into years. Companies birthdays. People
noodles. The noodles are
the pinata and hold parties and have big parties and
long and thin. You have
hang it on a tree. send cards. open their houses to
to eat them in one piece,
Then the children Companies anybody who wants
you can't cut them. In
hit the pinata with sometimes make TV to come. People bring
Chinese culture, long
a stick. It breaks advertisements. It is small gifts, often
noodles are lucky. Long
and the sweets fall a particular flowers or a box of
noodles mean you will
out onto the opportunity to sweets.
have a long life.
ground. advertise the
business.
1. Parents usually hang pinatas __________ in Mexico.
A) on a tree B) on a door C) on a stick D) on a wall
2. People celebrate weddings with an eight-course meal is because __________.
A) it is a tradition
B) people like to have meals
C) the number is a lucky number
D) the amount of each meal is small
3. The long noodles mean __________ in Chinese culture.
A) a long life B) a healthy life
C) a happy life D) a rich life

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4. The underlined expression “particular opportunity” means “a special time of
__________ to do something”.
A) leaving it safe B) making it possible
C) getting it ready D) keeping it fast
5. In Greece, anybody can__________.
A) clean their home in name days
B) receive many small gifts from their families
C) celebrate their birthdays rather than name days
D) attend a stranger's name day celebration party
6. The text above is written to __________.
A) introduce some celebrations
B) sell different kinds of food
C) encourage us to learn about more festivals
D) share information about several countries

B. Choose the best answer and complete the passage (选择最恰当的选项完成短文)

JK, the singer in the band, was my interviewee Jochen Klein.
About 14 years ago, middle-aged Jochen decided to pack up before leaving for
Shanghai, a beautiful city he fell in love with at first sight 乍一看.
But now, the 57-year-old German admitted he 1__________ imagined he would
be a father when he arrived here. The city gave him the most important treasure in his
life — a family with a Chinese wife and their ten-month-old baby girl.
Holin: Hi Jochen, Can you tell me how you got that special name “You Heng (优
衡)”?
Jochen: When I was here for the first time, I traveled along with some students.
One of them was Shanghainese, who studied in Germany, and because of him, I met
several people here, so I had some connections.
connections 亲戚，社交业务方面的人
During 14 days, some of the people I met really became friends. They wanted me
to have a name with meaning, and then we were searching books. After a few hours,
they came up with the name “You Heng, which sounds a little bit 3__________ the
pronunciation(发音) to my German name.”
Holin: What made you decide to stay here for such a long time?
Jochen: It is exciting to be here and it is a(an) 4__________ city to live in. A lot
of things are going on here. I think one reason why I stayed here was... of course it is
different culture, so you can learn a lot. But the main point is, I get to learn about myself.
I learn something about myself all the time.
Holin: Do you have any impressive Shanghai story?

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 Jochen: I'm always curious. For me, there was no culture shock. What impressed
me was that just almost everything is different... 5__________, I realized eating is not
just about food here, it really sticks people together which is the culture here. That is
different from Germany. And the most impressive story is my wife. I met her in Bayer.
She is of course a(n) 6__________ reason for me to stay here. She was always
interested in German culture. Before I met her, I couldn't imagine being a father.
1. A) even B) never C) sometimes D) still
2. A) ideas B) solutions C) connections D) difficulties
3. A) familiar to B) similar to C) comfortable with D) important to
4. A) surprising B) amazing C) strange D) usual
5. A) What’s more B) On the other hand C) Instead D) For example
6. A) unusual B) impossible C) additional D) simple

C. Read the passage and fill in the blanks with proper words（在短文的空格内填
入适当的词，使其内容通顺，每空格限填一词，首字母已给)
Mary Anning: The Fossil Hunter
As a fossil( 化 石 ) scientist, Mary Anning(1799—1846) made great
contributions(贡献) to her field in the 19th Century. She is very famous in Britain and
even Europe. But that was not always the case.
Anning was a talented woman. She was born in a poor family in Lyme Regis,
Britain. She did not receive any proper education and had to teach h______1
geology( 地质学) and paleontology(古生物学).
Anning grew up by the sea. At a young age, she showed great interest in studying
the fossils along the coastline. Anning worked very hard. She went out in all weathers
风雨无阻 to search for fossils. At the age of 12, she uncovered 发现 a skeleton that
looked like a crocodile. Then, after ten years of tireless 孜孜不倦的，不知疲惫的
experiments, she made an amazing discovery. It was a huge fossil of something that the
world had never seen before. However, many of Anning’s findings d_______ 2 with
the widely accepted theories(理论) marginalized V at that time. So most of the scientists
didn’t believe or recognize the value of her findings. What’s more, in that period, people
s______ 3 respected women. Anning’s findings were even published without her
name. During her lifetime, the woman was never successfully c______4 to be a scientist.
But such troubles didn’t stop Anning from making more discoveries. The woman
was still keen on studying v______5 sizes and types of fossils alongside the sea. Some
of them were as large as a huge rock while others were smaller than an egg. Until 1829,
she carefully uncovered a skeleton of a fossil fish which made her k______ 6 among
first-class scientists. Her discoveries helped to study some extinct(已灭绝的) animals.
They formed the basis for Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (《物种起源》) .

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 In recent years, more and more people have come to realize the importance of
Anning’s work. She is now listed among the top ten British women who have greatly
a_______7 the history of science. Anning was an ambitious and hard-working woman
in history. She d_______8 to be remembered.
应得，值得
deserve sth.
deserve to do sth.
D. Answer the questions (根据短文内容回答问题)

Today’s hot article

Where you sit and how you fit

For more than seventy years, psychologists (心理学家) and teachers have studied
the link between the place where students choose to sit in class and what they are like
as people and learners. Where do you usually decide to sit? Have you ever really
thought about the reasons for your decision?

At the back
People often think that students who sit at the back are lazy. But is this really true?
Well, some researchers say it is not. In fact, shy students often choose the back row
because they probably won't speak much, but in big classrooms, it can be hard to see
the board and hear what the teacher is saying. This could be the reason why students
who sit here often get lower grades on tests and exams. For students with poor eyesight
or hearing, a seat at the back of the classroom is definitely not a good choice.

At the side
Students who sit at the side of the classroom are normally interested in class, but
they like watching and listening rather than joining in. These students are usually also
very good at taking notes. On the sides of the classroom, you will generally find modest
and thoughtful people. These people usually get good grades in school and are
interested in learning.

In the middle
Do you sit in the middle of the classroom? Then the statistics (统计资料) say you
probably like your teacher. You probably also have a good relationship with your
classmates. Caring, outgoing, and cheerful people usually sit in the middle. They are
normally serious about learning and feel disappointed with low grades on tests and
exams.
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 At the front
Are you crazy about knowledge? Are you worried about missing important
information in class? Students at the front usually want to discuss things with the
teacher and are often very interested in the subject. They want to be in the best place to
see and hear everything the teacher does and says. The only problem with sitting at the
front is that it can be difficult to see and hear what other students do and say in class.
Therefore, 6 .

1. How many seating locations are mentioned in the article?

2. For more than seventy years, what have psychologists and teachers studied?
3. According to the article, why do students sitting at the back often get lower grades
on tests?
4. What kind of people usually choose to sit on the sides of the classroom?
5. Jessica likes to talk about the subject with her teacher, where does she probably like
to sit?
6. What might be filled in the blank in the last paragraph?