B.

My great-grandmother, Ethel, came from England to the United States in 1921. She brought almost nothing with her---just a few clothes and trinkets(小装饰品). But she did bring some customs from “ the old country” that she had learned as she grew up.

One custom was that if you dropped a glass or a cup and it broke, you would throw a pinch of salt over your left shoulder. It was funny that she did that---she wasn’t superstitious( 迷信的) in other ways. I think that she grew up doing that, so she continued to do it as a connection to her childhood and a reminder of what it was like living in England.

Ethel also taught us a New Year’s Day custom that our family continues to follow today. To celebrate the new year, we would travel to a friend’s house for a quick visit. My great-grandmother always took a pound of butter with her on our visits. We would enter the friend’s house through the back door. The butter we brought was to give our hosts a “gift of gold” to symbolize hope for prosperity in the new year.

After my great-grandmother died, we still visited people on the first day of January, but eventually we stopped bringing the butter. We never did throw salt over our shoulders after breaking a glass or a cup. Some customs are continued when they cross from one country to another, but some customs fade away.

1. This passage is most similar in theme to a passage about_______

A. a boy who follows his parents’ Japanese traditions

B. a girl who celebrates New Year’s Day for the first time

C. a family who returns to their native country on vocation

D. a mother who teaches her children to respect their elders

2. Why does the grandmother bring butter to a friend’s house on New Years Day?

A. To help prepare the holiday dinner

B. As a symbol of hope and prosperity

C. To replace the butter she borrowed

D. As a sign of repentance for past wrongs

3. Which of these is most likely ture of the great-grandmother?

A. She regretted leaving her native England

B. She did not have many America friends.

C. She was proud of her English background.

D. She preferred to follow American customs.

4. What does the word follow mean as used in the sentence below? “ Ethel also taught us a New Year’s Day custom that our family continues to follow today.”

A. practice  B. Understand  C. attention  D come after in time

5. What will the narrator most likely do next New Year’s Day?

A. Throw salt over her shoulder

B. Host a party at her house

C. Buy a pound of butter

D. Visit friends

C

If your boss asks you to work in Moscow this year, he’d better offer you more money to do so — or even double that depending on where you live now. That’s because Moscow has just been found to be the world’s most expensive city for the second year in a row by Mercer Human Resources Consulting.

Using the cost of living in New York as a base, Mercer determined Moscow is 34.4 percent more expensive including the cost of housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment (娱乐).

A two-bedroom flat in Moscow now costs $4,000 a month; a CD $24.83, and an international newspaper $6.30, according to Mercer. By comparison, a fast food meal with a hamburger (汉堡包) is a steal at $4.80.

London takes the No. 2 place, up from No. 5 a year ago, thanks to higher cost of housing and a stronger British pound relative to the dollar. Mercer estimates (估算) London is 26 percent more expensive than New York these days. Following London closely are Seoul and Tokyo, both of which are 22 percent more expensive than New York, while No. 5 Hong Kong is 19 percent more costly.

Among North American cities, New York and Los Angeles are the most expensive and are the only two listed in the top 50 of the world’s most expensive cities. But both have fallen since last year’s study — New York came in 15th, down from 10th place, while Los Angeles fell to 42nd from 29th place a year ago. San Francisco came in a distant third at No. 54, down 20 places from a year earlier.

Toronto, meanwhile, is Canada’s most expensive city but fell 35 places to take 82nd place worldwide. In Australia, Sydney is the priciest place to live in and No. 21 worldwide.www.ryedu.net

1. What do the underlined words “a steal” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A. an act of stealing           B. something delicious

C. something very cheap       D. an act of buying

2. London has become the second most expensive city because of ______.

A. the high cost of clothing     B. the stronger pound against the dollar

C. its expensive transportation   D. the high prices of fast food meals

3. Which city is the third most expensive on the list?

A. Tokyo.           B. Hong Kong.    C. Moscow.         D. Sydney.

4. Which city has dropped most on the list in North America?

A. New York.       B. Los Angeles.   C. San Francisco.   D. Toronto.