44. A. describes 45. A. how

B. takes C. changes

D. disappears

B. whether C. when D. where

四、阅读理解（20小题，每小题2分，共40分)

阅读下面四篇语言材料，然后按文后要求做题。

A

Each country and culture has its own set of public holidays and festivals. Some of these holidays and festivals like Christmas and New Year are common across the world. But there are many other holidays that are unknown. Blessed Rainy Day Melon day Life in a country where it rains a lot can be Turkmenistan’s Melon Day is a celebration of hard. In Bhutan, Blessed Rainy Day is the their national fruit. It takes place in August. holiday marking the end of the rainy season. Thousands of mouth-watering melons will be On this day, everyone is encouraged to enjoy a sent to the country’s capital Ashgabat on bath out of the house to wash away bad luck. Sunday to celebrate the holiday. Punch Your Neighbor Festival Haxey Hood The cities of Potosi and Macha in Bolivia hold It is on the 12th Day of Christmas (January the festival in the Bolivian Andes Mountains 6th) in England. The Haxey Hood game in in May every year. It is celebrated by England has a big group of people trying to thousands of people and it’s based on the push a small leather tube (皮管) towards one Quechua word “Tinku” that means “meeting”. of the four pubs (酒馆) in town, where it will The meaning of the word has become worse stay until the following year’s game. When a as it is celebrated with beatings that can really person has the trouble, he can’t run with it. He hurt people now. has to pass it to people in his team. 根据材料内容选择最佳答案，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。 46. How do people celebrate Blessed Rainy Day?

A. By playing in the rain. B. By taking a bath outdoors. C. By throwing water on people. D. By having a shower in the bathroom. 47. When is Melon Day?

A. In January. C. In August.

B. In May. D. In December.

48. What can we know about Punch Your Neighbor Festival?

A. It can be dangerous. B. Most people hate it.

C. It is the most interesting festival. D. It encourages people to love each other.

49.What should people do in the Haxey Hood game?

A. Run with a leather tube. C. Drink with a leather tube. 50. Where can we find the passage?

A. In a novel. C. In a poster.

B. In a newspaper. D. In an advertisement. B

There are about 6,000 languages spoken around the world. But 43 percent of these languages are dying out.

This has many reasons. One is that some communities of native speakers of the languages are gone. These people sometimes leave their communities and move to cities or towns. What’s more, to get better education and jobs, young people have to focus their attention on learning more popular languages like English, French and Chinese rather than their own languages.

Once a language dies, it seldom comes back to life. Governments across the world are taking action to prevent this. In New Zealand, the government has said it wants more than 20 percent of the country’s population to be able to speak Maori by 2040. The country plans to provide Maori lessons in all New Zealand schools by 2025. China is also trying to protect its languages. In 2015, the government started a project to record about 130 languages spoken in China. Universities like Minzu University of China have created minority language majors（少数民族语言专业）for their students.

Some languages are in danger. It is just a fact. However, all languages are human heritage. When we lose a language, we lose the culture of the people who speak it. Language itself is often the only way to show a certain community’s history and culture, as well as its knowledge of things like math and geography.

根据材料内容选择最佳答案，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。 51. How many languages worldwide are dying out?

A. About 2, 580.

B. About 3, 420.

D. About 6, 000.

C. About 4, 300.

B. Dance with a leather tube. D. Push a leather tube towards a pub.

52. What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A. saving languages.

B. recording languages. D. the dying out of languages.

C. the learning of languages. A. It’s not spoken in cities. B. It is too difficult to learn. C. It is used less in daily life.

53. Why might a language disappear according to the passage?

D. It’s not offered in schools.

54. What’s the Chinese meaning of the underling word “heritage” in the last paragraph?

A．遗产 C．标准

B．权利 D．态度

55. Which is the best title for this passage?

A. Save the Languages in China C. What happened to languages?

B. Save the Languages from dying out D. Which languages are dying out? C

How do you feel when your teacher asks you to work on a group project with other students? Do you like to work together with others or work alone?

The Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, carried out a survey of students’ ability to work together in groups. They found that students who do well on tests by themselves are also likely to be better at working with other people. This finding was true for many countries. Students in Japan, South Korea, Finland and Canada, where test scores are high, also did well in working together to solve problems.

But this was not the case for every country. Chinese students, who have high scores as well, displayed just average collaborative (合作的) skills. “One reason might be that Chinese parents and teachers focus too much on grades,” said Zhao Zhongxin, former vice president of the Chinese Family Education Association. “Students have a lot of exam pressure and they see schools as places for competition.” “However, collaborative skills are very important for preparing students for today’s society,” he added. “Luckily, more Chinese parents and teachers are realizing the importance of this and are thinking of ways to help students improve this skill.”

Another interesting finding from the PISA survey was that girls can be better than boys at working together. They said girls show more positive attitudes (态度) towards relationships, which means they are more willing to listen to others’ opinions.

PISA also found that the classroom environment can influence how well student collaborate. In classes where there are a lot of activities that require communication such as class debates, students might have better attitudes towards collaborating. 56. The PISA did the survey to find out the students’ ability to _____.

A. work with other people C. solve difficult problems

B. get high scores on tests D. make plans for projects

57. What can we know from the findings of the survey?

A. Boys are better at working with others than girls.

B. Students who do well on tests are worse at working with others.

C. Collaborative skills are less important than scores for students’ futures. D. The classroom environment can influence students’ ability to work together. 58. What do Chinese teachers and parents think of working together now?

A. They like it a lot.

B. They can’t stand it. D. They think it’s unnecessary.

C. They think it’s important. passage?

A. Giving students high scores on every test. B. Helping students to get used to exam pressure. C. Making girls work with girls rather than boys. D. Arranging more communicative activities in class. 60. What’s the passage mainly about?

A. The popularity of PISA across the world. B. Chinese students’ ability to work with others. C. The findings of a survey about working together.

D. The difference between boys and girls in working together.

D

We all know about Leonardo da Vinci, the Italian artist of the fifteenth century. Many people agree that his talent was the main reason for his achievement. 61 ________ The example of Leonardo is useful when we think about a difficult question. Which is more important for success, talent or hard work? I believe that hard work is more important.

Talent is something that one is born with. It is a great ability that makes success easier. 62 ________ He showed genius (天赋) from when he was very young. He didn’t need to work as hard as other people.

63 ________ Talent makes a great difference but most people are not so different from the rest. And people who know they have a natural talent might work less hard. But ordinary people need to find their weaknesses and spare no effort to get over them. They will succeed by working hard.

64 ________ Talent can help us at the beginning, but the one who crosses the finish line first is the winner. During the race, hard work is motivation (动力). And no one can succeed without motivation.

It is said, “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard, so even talent needs hard work.” Einstein was talented, but could he be successful if he had just sat on a soft sofa and done nothing? It was his great effort that made him a great scientist.

59. What can be done to improve students’ ability to work together according to the