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Every day, 340 million people speak it. One billion people are learning it and it is said that by 2050, half of the world’s population will be using it. What are we talking about? That is the global language—English.
The English language started in Britain in the 5th century. It is a mixed language. It was built up when German. Scandinavian and French invaders settled in England and created a common language for communication.
Today it is the official language of the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Ireland as well as many islands in the Caribbean. Many other countries and regions use it for politics and business, for example, India. Pakistan, Nigeria and the Philippines. English is also one of the official languages of Hong Kong.
But global advertising and pop music mean that in most countries, you will see or hear some English. Thanks to McDonalds, we all know about “burgers”. “fries” and “milkshakes”. Songs by Madonna, Britney Spears and Celine Dion are in English. We can sing along, even if we do not understand what we are singing!
English is a messy (杂乱的) language. Every year, dictionaries include new words that talk about popular culture, for example, computer-related words such as "blogging", "download" and "chartroom". Also included are words that teenagers use. Who does not know “cool”, “OK” and “hello”? Other languages also influence English. Many English words come from French. Words like “café” and expressions like “c'est la vie” (that is life) are all part of the English language. On the other hand, the French language includes English words like "le weekend" and "le camping". German words are also part of English. Words like "kindergarten" come from the German language.
Recently, British people have become interested in “yoga”. But the word comes from an ancient Hindu language in India.
1.The English language has a history of ______.
A. over 2000 years B. over 1500 years
C. over 500 years D. over 1000 years
2.The underlined expression “thanks to” can be replaced by ______.
A. as usual B. in order to
C. because of D. as if.
3. Which of the following statements is true about the language of English?
A. It has borrowed words from all the other languages.
B. It has been changing all the time.
C. French words are used by the English because dictionaries have French words.
D. Singers and film stars have the greatest influence on language.
4.How many people in the world are using English now?
A. One billion people.
B. not mentioned above, but the number is growing rapidly.
C. almost all the people in the world.
D. 340 million.
5.Many countries and regions use it for politics and business except______.
A. Norway B. Nigeria
C. the Philippines D. the USA
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Besides entertainment and beautiful lanterns, another important part of the Lantern Festival, or Yuanxiao Festival is eating small dumpling balls made of glutinous (粘性的) rice flour (粉状物). We call these balls Yuanxiao or Tangyuan. Obviously, they get the name from the festival itself. It is said that the custom of eating Yuanxiao originated during the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the fourth century, then became popular during the Tang and Song periods.
The fillings (馅料) inside the dumplings or Yuanxiao are either sweet or salty. Sweet fillings are made of sugar, walnuts (核桃), sesame（芝麻）, osmanthus flowers (桂花), rose petals（花瓣）. A single ingredient (原料) or any combination can be used as the filling. The salty variety is filled with minced meat (肉末儿), vegetables or a mixture.
The way to make Yuanxiao also varies between northern and southern China. The usual method followed in southern provinces is to shape the dough (生面团) of rice flour into balls, make a hole, insert the filling, then close the hole and smooth out the dumpling by rolling it between your hands. In North China, sweet or nutmeat stuffing is the usual ingredient. The fillings are pressed into hardened cores, dipped lightly in water and rolled in a flat basket containing dry glutinous rice flour. A layer of the flour sticks to the filling, which is then again dipped in water and rolled a second time in the rice flour. And so it goes, like rolling a snowball, until the dumpling is the desired size.
The custom of eating Yuanxiao dumplings remains. This tradition encourages both old and new stores to promote their Yuanxiao products. They all try their best to improve the taste and quality of the dumplings to attract more customers.
1.Which of the following is NOT true?
A. Sweet Yuanxiao are usually made in southern China.
B. Sugar, rose petals and minced meat are all fillings of Yuanxiao.
C. The custom of eating Yuanxiao dates back to the fourth century.
D. People in northern China usually make Yuanxiao by rolling like a snowball.
2.The way of making Yuanxiao varies between _________ China.
A. southwestern and northwestern
B. eastern and western
C. southeastern and northeastern
D. northern and southern
3.Choose the right order of making Tangyuan in southern provinces.
① make a hole and insert the filling
② roll the dough between your hands
③ shape the dough of rice flour into balls
④ close the hole
⑤ prepare some rice flour
A. ⑤③②①④ B. ⑤③①④②
C. ③①④②⑤ D.③⑤①②④
4.What is the best title of this passage?
A. The Lantern Festival
B. The ingredients of Yuanxiao
C. China’s traditional food—Yuanxiao.
D. The difference between Yuanxiao and Tangyuan.
5.Why do we eat Yuanxiao today?
A. Because it’s a tasty food.
B. Because it’s a tradition.
C. Because we love our country.
D. Because it’s promoted by both old and new stores.
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When you were looking for a reliable，honest auto mechanic（机修工），how did you find him？Before you went into that restaurant you recently tried，how did you know that it served great food？If you are like most people on the planet，you want to lower your risk of a big ugly surprise so you asked people you trust to refer to a business they trust. Marketers（营销人员）call this friendtofriend recognition of a business “wordofmouth”（口碑）advertising.
When you do a great job for your customer or a bad job，people are going to talk about your business. Unfortunately，because we humans seem to feel negative emotions more intensively（强烈地） than positive ones，we're more likely to tell more of our friends about bad experiences with a business than positive ones. Understand this：Customers believe their own experience. You can't make them believe that your company is wonderful when they felt they were treated badly.
So，to get positive wordofmouth going for your business in this servicebased economy，you've got to do a really outstanding job for everyone，exactly.
And when you do，you build a great reputation (名声). That takes time. But it forms a close link with your customers in a way that no advertising and no promotional（促销的）coupon(优惠券) ever could.
The good news is that because there are so many different businesses chasing after（追赶）your customers' money，people want to know whom they can trust. So people are going to be talking about you create a free sales force for your business—— an army of delighted customers who tell everyone that they know how good your company is to do business with. That's a great antidote (解药) to nonconfidence.
1.According to the passage，whether we go to a place or not depends on ________.
A．business fames B．associates' recommendation
C．particular recognition D．media assistance
2.The underlined word “refer to”in the first paragraph probably means ________.
A．说明 B．提及 C．提供参考 D．适用于
3.The passage says that customers won’t believe the services are good until__________.
A．they get some promotional coupons
B．the business chase after their money
C．they themselves are treated well
D．they see the advertisement is good enough
4.The underlined word “nonconfidence”in the last paragraph probably means ________.
A．service imperfection B．service advertisement
C．customers' protection D．customers' distrust
5.What is the main topic of this passage?
A．A company can rely on its associates to survive.
B．A person should rely on his friends for business.
C．Advertising can make customers believe it's wonderful.
D．A good name will bring you money.
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This is the legal part of the show. It's just so everybody knows the rules for Nickelodeon on the Web. Be sure to get your parents to review and discuss these rules with you：
1．All the toys and games here are just for you to play with. You can't sell them，give them to anyone，or pretend you made them. You can't do anything EXCEPT play with them，unless you ask us first and we say it's OK.
2．If you see something you don't like，remember that all the stuff（成员）on the message boards (留言板)，chat rooms and “Write to Nick”comes straight from other kids，not from someone at nick.com. Nick.com wouldn't tell kids what to say，because kids have minds of their own！But if someone sends ugly（恶意的）messages，we'll do our best to take care of it. We all want nick.com to be a good，clean place to hang out.
3．If you write something that catches our eye in “Write to Nick”on a message board or in a chat room，we might want to use it on the site. By sending in your thoughts and hanging out in the chat rooms，and getting your parent's permission to do so，you and your parents are telling us it's OK to repeat what you say. It's even OK to put it in an advertisement. It means we can use it in any way we want，anywhere，until the end of time.
Remember to ALWAYS check with your parents before you send anything to us. And of course，the folks in the legal office upstairs have their own code for saying all that. Please read these terms and conditions carefully before using this website. This site at nick.com is fully controlled and operated by Nickelodeon Online，a business unit of MTV Networks.
1.You can find this passage in a ________.
A．Internet web B．daily newspaper
C．science text book D．computer magazine
2.Children can do many things on the web EXCEPT ______.
A．play with toys B．send an advertisement
C．write to Nick D．check with parents
3.The underlined sentence “kids have minds of their own” may tell us that ________.
A．children should surf the web on their own
B．children have their ideas on checking Networks
C．children can express themselves as they think
D．children can talk anything if their parents permit
4.According to the passage, your words can be adopted by the web as long as________.
A．what you write can catch their eyes
B．your thoughts are outstanding besides that you & your parents permit the web to use them
C．they can be put in the advertisement
D．they can use them anywhere, anytime & in any way they want
5.What is the passage mainly about?
A．The introduction of the web show.
B．The way how people write to Nick.
C．The toys and the chat rooms on web.
D．The rules about how to use this web.
