第1题
A、decorating houses and yards with lights
B、putting up Christmas trees
C、giving gifts
D、sending greeting cards
第2题
Christmas is America' s most popular holiday. Some people will attend church and observe Christmas as the birthday of Christ. For others, Christmas is just a day of fun and celebration, a time for family and friends to gather together, exchange gifts and enjoy a huge holiday dinner. Christmas Day will need weeks of preparations. Since the last days of November American homes and stores have been decorated with Christmas trees and bright lights. Schools and churches have been presenting special holiday concerts. People have been going to parties, finding gifts and preparing special Christmas food. For a large number of Americans, Christmas is surrounded by more traditions than any other holiday. Yet, many of these traditions are not really very old ones in the United States. In fact, the nation's first settlers would have. been very surprised to see how Americans celebrate Christmas today.
People in other parts of the world, of course, have been celebrating Christmas for many centuries. In fact, December was a winter holiday season in northern and southern Europe even before the birth of Christ. And the ancient Romans celebrated the New Year on December twenty-fifth. Some experts believe that is why the Roman Catholic Church set the birth of Christ on that day. Christians borrowed other Christmas traditions from ancient times. In the years before Christ, for example, people honored the evergreen tree as a sign of life after death. For Christians, it became a sign of Christ's birth. By the 16th century Roman Catholics in Europe were celebrating Christmas with lively parties filled with eating and drinking. Many of the first Europe an settlers in America, however, disapproved of such customs. They believed people should honor God in simpler, quieter ways, so Christmas became a day just like any other day for most people in America's northern colonies.
In America' s southern colonies, however, the Church of England became the established religion. Its traditions were closer to those of Roman Catholic Church. So it became common for people on large farms in the south to celebrate Christmas with huge dinners and dancing. And in many parts of America, smaller groups of settlers from other western European countries observed Christmas with their own national customs. After 1,800, all these people began to mix together more and they began to borrow Christmas traditions from each other. Settlers from Ger many, for example, observed Christmas by cutting live evergreen trees and covering them with candies and fruit. By the middle of the 19th century, people all over America were putting up evergreen trees at Christmas. Dutch settlers in New York were most responsible for creating another popular American tradition--Santa Claus.
The story of Santa Claus began hundreds of years earlier. During the fourth century, a Roman Catholic Church official called Nicholas of Myra became famous for his many good actions. Nicholas was made a saint (圣人) after his death and it became common in northern Europe to hold a celebration on December 6th, the day Nicholas died. All kinds of stories were told about Saint Nicholas and the Dutch brought one of these stories with them to America. They believed that each year the saint rode a white horse from home to home. He gave presents to children who had been good, and coal or straw to children who had been bad. Other Americans who lived nearby greatly enjoyed the Dutch celebrations. They decided to make Saint Nicholas part of their own celebration of Christmas. But he got a new name Santa Claus. It was taken from the Dutch words for Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus. The Dutch imagined Saint Nicholas to be a serious, even frightening person, who would punish as well as give gifts. But in 1822, an American named Clement C. Moore wrote a Christmas poem for his children. The poem, called A Visit From St. Nicholas, created a
A.Y
B.N
C.NG
第3题
A.Because Valentine got married on that day.
B.Because Valentine was born on that day.
C.Because Valentine died on that day.
D.Because Lupercalia was on that day.
第4题
A.the origin of Christmas
B.how Americans celebrate the birthday of Christ
C.special customs associated with Christmas
D.Christmas trees and Christmas cards
第5题
In America Thanksgiving is the family holiday. It is on that holiday that all the family members make a special effort to gather together. The feast is always held on Thursdays and most people have a four-day holiday from school and work. Thus they are able to travel a great distance to be with their family.
The Thanksgiving meal is traditionally turkey which is a large bird valued as food for the first time. The table is filled with fruits, walnuts and many types of vegetables. For the sweet dish the main choice is usually pumpkin pie. The meal is a time for the members of the family to talk to each other. There will be talking before the meal, during the meal and long after the meal.
On Thanksgiving morning there are in many cities sporting events and parades to mark the day. The family dinner is usually held in the afternoon around 4 p.m. The mother will prepare the meal and the father will carve the turkey. He will be seated at the head of the ta- ble. The meal will begin with a short prayer of Thanksgiving to God for the blessings the family received. The father will also thank the family for coming together on this day. Dur- ing the meal there is plenty of food for everyone present. The meal is a very joyful time. When the meal is finished, some will help with the dished and others will return to the living room to talk or watch television.
In many ways the feast of Thanksgiving is similar to the Chinese feast of Mid-Autumn Festival. It is the time for the family to gather together to give thanks and to share in meal.
Thanksgiving is said to be the family holiday in America because______.
A.each family has its own way of celebrating traditional holidays
B.people will try to get back to be with their family wherever they are
C.people celebrate this holiday only at home and abroad
D.it is a holiday for those who have a family
第6题
In America Thanksgiving is the family holiday. It is on that holiday that all the family members make a special effort to gather together. The feast is always held on Thursdays and most people have a four-day holiday from school and work. Thus they are able to travel a great distance to be with their family.
The Thanksgiving meal is traditionally turkey which is a large bird valued as food for the first time. The table is filled with fruits, walnuts and many types of vegetables. For the sweet dish the main choice is usually pumpkin pie. The meal is a time for the members of the family to talk to each other. There will be talking before the meal, during the meal and long after the meal.
On Thanksgiving morning there are in many cities sporting events and parades to mark the day. The family dinner is usually held in the afternoon around 4 p.m. The mother will prepare the meal and the father will carve the turkey. He will be seated at the head of the ta- ble. The meal will begin with a short prayer of Thanksgiving to God for the blessings the family received. The father will also thank the family for coming together on this day. Dur- ing the meal there is plenty of food for everyone present. The meal is a very joyful time. When the meal is finished, some will help with the dished and others will return to the living room to talk or watch television.
In many ways the feast of Thanksgiving is similar to the Chinese feast of Mid-Autumn Festival. It is the time for the family to gather together to give thanks and to share in meal.
Thanksgiving is said to be the family holiday in America because______.
A.each family has its own way of celebrating traditional holidays
B.people will try to get back to be with their family wherever they are
C.people celebrate this holiday only at home and abroad
D.it is a holiday for those who have a family
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