山西省原平市中学2014～2015学年高二英语上学期期中试题.doc

2014～2015学年度第一学期期中试题 高二英语 （时间：120分钟 满分：150分） 一、阅读理解：（每小题3分，共60分） A Santa Claus is someone who will remain in the hearts of children forever. He is the make-believe person who brings toys and other gifts to children at Christmas. To grown-ups, he is a special symbol of goodwill and selfless giving. Santa Claus also has another name 桽aint Nicholas. eSaint Nicholas came from the Dutch who settled in New York long ago. The Dutch believed Saint Nicholas gave gifts to children. They honored this kind Saint with a yearly festival on December sixth. The English-speaking people who lived nearby greatly enjoyed Dutch festivals. And they brought the Saint and the custom of giving gifts into their own celebration at Christmas time. The Dutch spoke the name “Saint Nicholas” very fast. It sounded like “sinterklaas”. And so, when the English said this word, it sounded like Santa Claus. The picture of Santa Claus came from Thomas Nast. He was an American painter born in Bavaria. He painted pictures for Christmas poems. Someone asked him to paint a picture of Santa Claus. Nast remembered when he was a little boy in southern Germany, every Christmas a fat old man gave toys and cakes to the children. So when Nast painted the picture, his Santa Claus looked like the kind old man of his childhood. And through the years, Nast’s painting has remained as the most popular picture of Santa Claus. Santa can be seen almost everywhere in large American cities during the Christmas season. Some stand on street corners asking for money to buy food and gifts for the needy. Others are found in stores and shopping centers. It is easy to find them by the long lines of children waiting to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. If one took a vote among children to learn who their favorite person was, there is no question who would win — Santa Claus. 1．The Dutch honored Saint Nicholas mainly for his . A．bravery B．honesty C． kindness D．intelligen