[单项选择]

"Happy New Year!" Everyone will greet each other with these words as they meet each other over the next couple of weeks. But it wasn’t always January 1 that marked the new year.
At least 4,000 years ago the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians marked the changing of the year. In Egypt, the year started when the Nile River flooded, enriching (使肥沃) farmers’ fields with silt (淤泥). This happened at the end of September.
The Babylonians held a festival in the spring, on March 23, to kick off the next fanning cycle. The Babylonian celebration lasted for 11 days.
The date January 1 was picked by the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar as the change of the year when he established his own calendar in 46 BC. The month of January’ was named after the Roman god, Janus. He is pictured with two heads. One head looks forward and the other back. They represent a break between the old and new. The new calendar was in time with the sun and it has been used
A. by hanging straw rope across the front of their houses
B. in different ways
C. by having a good laugh
D. in the same way

[单项选择]

"Happy New Year!" Everyone will greet each other with these words as they meet each other over the next couple of weeks. But it wasn’t always January 1 that marked the new year.
At least 4,000 years ago the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians marked the changing of the year. In Egypt, the year started when the Nile River flooded, enriching (使肥沃) farmers’ fields with silt (淤泥). This happened at the end of September.
The Babylonians held a festival in the spring, on March 23, to kick off the next fanning cycle. The Babylonian celebration lasted for 11 days.
The date January 1 was picked by the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar as the change of the year when he established his own calendar in 46 BC. The month of January’ was named after the Roman god, Janus. He is pictured with two heads. One head looks forward and the other back. They represent a break between the old and new. The new calendar was in time with the sun and it has been used
A. on the first day of January
B. in the spring
C. at the end of September
D. at the end of March

[单项选择]
"Happy New Year!", that greeting will be said and heard for at least the first couple of weeks as a new year gets under way. But the day celebrated as New Year’s Day in modern America was not always January 1.
Ancient New Years
The celebration of the New Year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC, the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (actually the first visible crescent) after the Vernal Equinox (first day of spring).
The beginning of spring is a logical time to start a new year. After all, it is the season of rebirth, of planting new crops, and of ’blossoming. January 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical or agricultural significance. It is purely arbitrary.
The Babylonian New Year celebration lasted for eleven days. Each day had its own particular mode of celebration, but it is
A. It was first celebrated in Babylon.
B. It was first celebrated about 4,000 years ago.
C. It was the oldest of all holidays.
D. It has always been celebrated on January 1^st.

[单项选择]

The idea of building "New Towns" to absorb growth is frequently considered a cure-all for urban problems. It is erroneously assumed that if new residents can be diverted from existing centers, the present urban situation at least will get no worse. It is further and equally erroneously assumed that since European New Towns have been financially and socially successful, we can expect the same sorts of results in the United States.
Present planning, thinking, and legislation will not produce the kinds of New Town that have been successful abroad. It will multiply suburbs or encourage developments in areas where land is cheap and construction profitable rather than where New Towns are genuinely needed.
Such ill-considered projects not only will fail to relieve pressures on existing cities but will, in fact, tend to weaken those cities further by drawing away high-income citizens and increasing the concentration of low-income groups that are unable to provid
A. atypical
B. irrelevant
C. impractical
D. unprecedented

[单项选择]

"New York City is not America." That’s what kind American friends are sure to tell you when you arrive. "You must see Boston, visit Niagara Falls, go to Virginia, fly down to Florida, and so on; but first, of course, you will want to see New York. It is not the capital city of the United States (that is Washington, D. C. , where the President lives) or even the capital city of New York State ( that is Albany), but many people call it ’the greatest city on earth’ ".
The five parts, or boroughs, of New York City are Manhattan, Queens, Bronz, Richmond and Brooklyn. Although Manhattan is not all of New York, it is the heart of the city. It is an island, which is only about 13 miles long and 2 miles wide. From the air its shape looks like a long finger, and from the sea it’s just like the picture we all know. Those tall, straight buildings—the skyscrapers—packed so close together on that island of rock are sometimes seen
A. 4
B. 5
C. 6
D. 7