Consider yourself warned. Sunday is April Fools' Day, a day when you are encouraged to play tricks on loved ones and even the people you meet at the bus stop. It's a strange tradition, but how did it get started?
Nobody is completely sure about the origin of this, the silliest of holidays. However, the urban legend experts at Snopes. com say that most experts owe it to Pope Gregory XⅢ, who, in the 1500s, gave the world the Gregorian calendar.
In 1562, the Gregorian calendar moved the first day of the year from April l to January l. Word did eventually get around, but some people were a bit slow to hear the news. These folks continued celebrating the new year on April l , unaware that they were now three months behind the times. These "April fools" were tricked by those who knew it. The tradition eventually made its way to the US.
And it's still going strong. Over the past week, Web searches on " April Fools' Day jokes" and " April Fools' Day tricks" have more than doubled, and related lookups for "easy April Fools' Day tricks" and "April Fools' Day jokes for work" have also increased greatly. Bottom line: Keep your guard up, especially if somebody offers you a word search puzzle. Lookups for "impossible April Fools' Day word searches" are up by 200%.
But really, there is no way to be certain you'll escape trickery because even companies are out to trick you on April l. In 1957, the BBC reported Swiss farmers were harvesting spaghetti(意大利面) from trees. And in 1996, Taco Bell took out ads in major newspapers announcing that the company had purchased the Liberty Bell and renamed it the Taco Liberty Bell.
1.What is the author's purpose of writing the text?
A. To teach us how to avoid being tricked.
B. To point out the best way to trick others.
C. To introduce the history of April Fools' Day.
D. To stress the importance of April Fools' Day.
2.What can we know from Paragraph 3?
A. April lst was once the first day of the year.
B. April Fools' Day was set by Pope Gregory XⅢ.
C. April Fools' Day has been celebrated for thousands of years.
D. Started in the US, April Fools' Day is popular around the world.
3.From the 4th paragraph, we can learn that .
A. people enjoy being April Fools
B. April Fools' Day is still very popular
C. those tricks used on April 1 are much the same
D. people like to celebrate April Fools' Day online
4.The examples listed in the last paragraph are used to show .
A. a modern farming technology
B. what newspapers without ads are like
C. how the Taco Liberty Bell got its name
D. how some companies trick the public
Although Americans are well known for getting down to business, Indians working in overseas teams, MNCs, and BPOs should know the importance of small talk. While Indians have a true interest in talking to Americans and getting to know them, they also hesitate to do so for some reasons. Americans engage in less personal small talk than Indians. And the topics and questions used in English vary widely based on language differences and cultural differences. Here are three things to keep in mind while you are trying to make small talk with your American clients and colleagues.
Amencans love to ask about, and then complain about the weather. They may talk about how the weather prevented them from having fun or how the weather supported their outdoor events. You can talk about the weather with them to begin a conversation. While talking, they always try to follow up on their answer by asking another open-ended question or make a statement, such as "Wow, that sounds like fun ! " or "You went to St. Louis. In which state is that?" Be creative in your questions. Feel free to ask one or two, but not very personal ones about relations. Stick to the facts or events that were already referred to.
Sometimes, some words used in India will totally confuse an American. For example, Americans use the word "weekend" instead of "holiday" for Saturdays and Sundays ( non-working days) , and use the word " vacation" or " days off" instead of " out-of-station" .
Always be interested, optimistic and happy. Talk with a smile! Vary the sound of your voice. Do not sound like a computer. If you are unsure how you sound, a good tip is to record yourself and listen to it later. Doing this helps you know how your voice sounds, and if you don't sound as you want to be heard, it may be time to work on enhancing your voice.
1.For Indians, having small talk with American colleagues is .
A. boring B. useless C. important D. interesting
2.What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?
A. What Americans like talking about in their daily life.
B. How Americans usually start a conversation with others.
C. Why talking about the weather is good to begin a conversation.
D. What people can say when having small talk with Amencans.
3.What does the underlined word "enhancing" in the last paragraph mean?
A. Lowering. B. Replacing. C. Improving. D. Examining.
4.What’s the writer's purpose in writing the passage?
A. To prove that having small talk is not very hard.
B. To explain why Indians hesitate to talk with Americans.
C. To show the differences between Americans and Indians.
D. To tell how to make small talk with American clients and colleagues.
假定你是李华。在校报英语专栏看到了学校“英语文化节”的一则招募启事，请阅读启事，并根据写作要点写一封应征邮件。
Volunteers Wanted
Our annual English Festival, which will be held on June 15-17, 2015, is now looking for 20 student volunteers to provide service for Talent Show, Speech Contest, and English Debate. If you are interested, please send an application email at your earliest convenience to Ms. Chen at www. chenlaoshi@163.com.
要点：1. 陈述应征目的；
2. 说明应征条件（性格、能力等）。
注意： 1. 字数100词左右；
2. 可根据情况增加细节，使行文连贯。
Dear Ms. Chen,
I’m Li Hua, a student from Grade 3. ____________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
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Looking forward to your reply.
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
假定英语课上英语老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（﹨）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均限一词。
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
I was in the college when my father passed away. One evening, a man visited me and after a while, he asked of my studies. I told him I could not go to college so I did not want to study anymore. He reminded how my father had sent me to the best college in our city. Did I want to fulfill his father's dream or did I want to be calling a failure? I wept and said I do want to do my best and I just couldn't concentrate. He gave me all the encouragements I needed to be able to carry on. His calming, gently voice did wonders and I decided to study harder and complete my graduation early.
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
This is a true story which happened in the States. 1. man came out of his home to admire his new truck. To his puzzlement, his three-year-old son was 2. (happy) hammering dents(凹痕) into the shiny paint of the truck. The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy's hands into pulp(果浆汁) as 3. (punish). When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital.
Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he finally had to cut the fingers from both the boy's hands. When the boy 4. (wake) up from the operation and saw his bandaged stubs, he innocently said, “Daddy, I'm sorry about your truck, 5. when are my fingers going to grow back?”
The father went home and committed suicide.
Think about this story the next time someone steps on your 6. (foot) or you wish to take revenge(报复). Think first 7. you lose your patience with someone you love. Trucks can be repaired, but 8. (break) bones and hurt feelings often can't. Too often we fail to recognize the difference between the person and the performance. We forget that forgiveness is 9. (great) than revenge.
People make mistakes. We 10. (allow) to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will impress us forever.
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填人空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
When my son Gene was about 12 years old, I started helping him learn to . I bought twenty chickens and asked him to them. I told him that they would be his own chickens and we would the eggs from him. However, he would have to buy chicken with the money he made from the eggs. Whatever money was would be his to keep. Gene was , thinking he would make his first .
After several weeks’ successful work, I began to that egg production was going down. I nothing about it. Then one night, Gene told me he didn’t have money to buy the feed. He said the chickens had never a meal and he could not figure out why some of them had stopped eggs.
Then I asked him if he had the amount of feed he had given the chickens, he was . It was like he did not think anyone would ever what he had done. After a long , he said yes. He thought he would make more money if he gave them food. I asked him, “Did you fool the chickens?”
I was just astonished at the question in my own . I was dumbfounded (惊呆) at the of it. Yes, you can fool everyone else, but you cannot “fool the chickens,” because , you will find out, as the saying goes, “What goes around comes around.”
1.A. work B. shareC. countD. cook
2.A. play B. observeC. trainD. raise
3.A. saveB. borrowC. buyD. keep
4.A. nestB. soupC. meatD. feed
5.A. given backB. left over C. picked upD. brought in
6.A. satisfiedB. worriedC. excited D. cautious
7.A. fortune B. contributionC. deal D. choice
8.A. hearB. noticeC. predictD. spot
9.A. saidB. criticizedC. thoughtD. reminded
10.A. privateB. muchC. pocketD. enough
11.A. missedB. wastedC. enjoyedD. finished
12.A. hatchingB. layingC. gatheringD. bearing
13.A. balancedB. increasedC. reducedD. measured
14.A. delightedB. disappointedC. confusedD. shocked
15.A. forgiveB. knowC. researchD. accept
16.A. silenceB. absenceC. negotiationD. discussion
17.A. fewerB. fresherC. moreD. less
18.A. lifeB. jobC. mind D. case
19.A. explanationB. trickC. significance D. example
20.A. actuallyB. finallyC. ratherD. instead
