Q: Today, we send millions of Christmas cards every year. But in fact the Christmas card is a ly modern invention. In the Middle Ages, European wood engravers produced prints with religious themes. But the first real Christmas card, as we understand the term today, was designed in London, England in 1840. It went on sale in 1843. The designer was John Callott Horsley, a well- known British painter and member of the Royal Academy. He designed the card at the suggestion of his friend Sir Henry Cole, who was the first director of the Victoria & Albert Museum. Horsley produced 1,000 cards and offered them for sale at 1s (one shilling) each. They were printed on stiff card and coloured by hand, with the greeting: "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You". The card shows three pictures: in the center, a family party; to one side the hungry receiving food; to the other side the poor being clothed. Puritans immediately _ the card, since it showed people drinking in the family party. But with most people the idea was a great success and the Christmas card quickly became very popular. Christmas cards were not the first greetings cards. Since 1796, with improvements in printing, merchants had been sending cards to their customers offering "best wishes" for the new year. In many countries, Christmas cards gradually became even more popular than New Year's cards. As Christmas is the birthday of Jesus Christ, cards often show scenes of His nativity. Others show images connected with Christmas such as wintry scenes of snow-laden pine, Father Christmas card is "Merry Christmas", but many other greetings are also used, such as "Happy Xmas" or "Happy Noel". What would be the best title of the text? A) The famous British painter and director. B) Pictures and greetings on Christmas cards. C) Invention and design of the first Christmas cards. D) History and characteristics of the Christmas cards.
A: D

Q: The U.S. government may issue stronger regulations about the use of tobacco. Many governments and private buildings have "No Smoking" regulations. In airplanes, on trains and at cinemas, Golf courses are seriously thinking of keeping out smokers, so are schools, shopping malls and even football fields. So where do people go to fill their lungs with nicotine? The government is working on it. One suggestion is that the government set aside a piece of land somewhere in the United States where smokers could go when they want a cigarette. Yellow Stone Park has been in the list, but many people don't agree because they fear that second-hand smoking would make the bears there sick. The Mojave Desert in California is also being studied, and so are Las Vegas Casinos . The smokers were not too nervous about the government idea. They say they are not going to California just to light up. They have a right to smoke at home. To make life more pleasure for those who find it hard to give up smoking, the government is seriously thinking of getting somewhere for the smokers. The tobacco companies are fighting the idea like mad. They say nobody has proved that cigarettes are bad for you. They say as a matter of fact, the doctors have proved that a cigarette saved a person's life after that person was shot. Other places under consideration are: the cold areas in Alaska, the Rocky Mountain in Colorado and the Whitewater River in Arkansas. The tobacco companies don't like the idea because they _ A) want to save people's lives B) wish smokers to stay at home C) wish smokers to feel easy D) want to improve their cigarettes
A: C

Q: If there's one thing I' ve learned from my years of being a kid, it' s that you have ZERO control over your own life. Ever since school ended, I haven' t had anything I' ve needed to do or anywhere I' ve needed to be. As long as the air-conditioning was working and the TV remote had batteries in it, I was ready for a relaxing summer holiday. But then, out of the blue, this happened - " Pack your bags. We' re going on a road trip ! " Mom said excitedly. This isn't the first time Mom has sprung a trip on us without any warming. Last year on the first day of summer, she said we were going .to visit Aunt Loretta at the nursing home. It wasn't exactly my idea of a fun way to kick off the summer. One time when we visited Aunt Loretta, her roommate grasped me and wouldn't let me go until someone gave her a chocolate cookie ! Mom kept talking about going to the nursing home for a whole day, which made me worry a lot. But at breakfast the next morning, she told us where we were really going - Disney World. I was very happy, because I was really worried about spending the whole week at the nursing home. So was Dad. But when my little brother, Danny, heard about the change he became very angry. Mom had talked up the Aunt Loretta trip so much that Danny was actually excited about going there. We ended up putting off our trip to Disney so we could visit Aunt Loretta. I tried to talk Mom into letting us do something normal, like going to a water park for the day, but she didn't want to hear it. She said that spending a lot of time together in the car would be a " bonding" experience for the whole family. What did the author prefer to do during his summer holidays? A) Visit Aunt Loretta. B) Travel with his family. C) Look after his little brother. D) Watch TV comfortably at home.
A: D

Q: Shanghai Xintiandi Style Mall is filled with a festive mood, featuring large-scale equipment, knit works and various activities, under the theme "kiss". "Kissing is seldom taken as the theme of artworks because in oriental culture, people restrain themselves from expressing their emotions," says Jiang Shan, who is in charge of the exhibition. "Through the exhibition, we hope to encourage people to be confident and brave in expressing their love." Inside the mall, which covers a large area from Zizhong Lu (Road) to Fuxingnan Lu (Road), dozens of color1ful decorations, including balloons, lollipops and lip-shaped decorations are hung on the walls and from the ceiling. Among the decorations, a bright-color1ed wool artwork attracts most eyeballs and brings about a feeling of warmth. The designer, Gu Yeli, says the art piece, Kiss Forest, was inspired by US artist Andy Warhol's 1963 experimental film Kiss, which featured various couples kissing for three and a half minutes each. Gu also organizes a small workshop to teach knitting to children. Artist Wang Xuejun sets up a stainless-steel mirror at the mall's gate leading to Zizhong Lu. Visitors, including men, are invited to put on lipstick and kiss the mirror, thus kissing themselves. The Beast Floral Shop, a flower shop in Shanghai, contributes two walls of flowers that are made into the shape of a book, named Kiss Book. Artifacts of bees and butterflies are fixed among the blossoms, kissing the flowers. The work represents love and harmony in nature. Architect Ma Ke creates a Kiss Bridge with transparent acrylic boards and ceramic fishbowls. Bridges are often spots for dating lovers in traditional Chinese folk stories and the goldfish in the bowls are witnesses of the lovers' kisses. In the south plaza, an18-meter-high interactive tree-shaped light equipment encourages people to kiss. Each kiss turns a certain light on, reminding audiences of their sweet childhood memories of kisses. At the side of the tree is a counter, in which each kiss is counted... What is the main idea of the article? A) It tells people how important kisses are to life. B) It describes what Shanghai Xintiandi Style Mall looks like. C) It introduces an exhibition under the theme "kiss". D) It introduces various activities in Shanghai Xintiandi Style Mall.
A: C