Although the New Year is already here, the great moments of the past year are still in the memory. Let’s look back at some of them.
United States
One of the world’s largest New Year’s Eve parties was held in Times Square, New York. The festival attracted hundreds of thousands of people to watch a brightly-lit ball drop on a landmark building at the stroke (击、打) of midnight.
A great amount of confetti (五彩纸屑) was released from the sky at zero o’clock.
Britain
Painted in shinning colors, blowing whistles, 50，000 party-goers arrived in London’s Millennium Dome to dance in the New Year. The Millennium Dome came to life at midnight as 50 DJs started up, competing on five separate dance floors to warm the crowd into the party mood.
Russia
New Year is the biggest holiday in Russia. It is traditional to put up a tree for celebrations with family and friends.
On the very last day of last year, Russians with a taste for a very cold swim braved freezing temperatures to plant traditional, festival trees on the bed of the Northern Ocean and at the bottom of Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest lake.
Malaysia
Brave skydivers threw themselves off the world’s tallest building near midnight and floated towards the New Year.
The jump from the 452-metre Petronas Twin Tower was called a real leap from one year to the next since the group took off in the last second of the old year and landed a minute later in the New Year. “That was really cool,” said Roland Simpson, “over crowds of onlookers to the landing spot.”
小题1:In New York the brightly-lit ball dropped ____________.
A．form the sky onto the Times Square
B．into the hundreds of thousands of watchers
C．to welcome the arrival of Christmas
D．at the point between the old and the New Year小题2:Which of the following is NOT traditional to welcome a new year?
A．Sharing the happiness and excitement together.
B．Setting up a tree for celebrations.
C．Planting trees on the bed of a lake.
D．50 DJs’ competing on five separate floors.小题3:People jumping from the tallest buildings _________.
A．spent two different years in the air.
B．stayed in the sky for two minutes.
C．landed over people’s heads.
D．floated away to the new land小题4:The passage mainly shows that ________.
A．New Year has been the starting point for people to have dreams.
B．people in different countries welcomed New Year in different ways.
C．people’s ways of celebrations are exciting.
D．the New Year is better than the old year.
小题1:D
小题2:D
小题3:A
小题4:B
题目分析：这篇文章讲的是不同的国家的人庆祝新年的方式不同。
小题1:细节题：从第二段的句子:The festival attracted hundreds of thousands of people to watch a brightly-lit ball drop on a landmark building at the stroke (击、打) of midnight.可知气球是在12点辞旧迎新的时候落下的。选D。
小题2:细节题：从第四段的句子：The Millennium Dome came to life at midnight as 50 DJs started up, competing on five separate dance floors to warm the crowd into the party mood.可知50个Dj的比赛只是千禧巨蛋一活动，不是新年的传统节目。选D
小题3:细节题：从倒数第二段的句子：Brave skydivers threw themselves off the world’s tallest building near midnight and floated towards the New Year.可知人们在高楼上跳下在空中度过两年。选A
小题4:主旨题：从第一段的句子：Although the New Year is already here, the great moments of the past year are still in the memory. Let’s look back at some of them.可知这篇文章讲的是不同的国家的人庆祝新年的方式不同。选B。
点评：这篇文章讲的是不同的国家的人庆祝新年的方式不同。细节题要求学生仔细阅读短文；推断题测试考生在阅读基础上的逻辑推理能力，要求考生根据文章所述事件的逻辑关系，对未说明的趋势或结局作出合理的推断；或根据作者所阐述的观点理论，对文章未涉及的现象、事例给以解释。考生首先要仔细阅读短文，完整了解信息，准确把握作者观点。