题文
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 SquareB．into the hundreds of thousands of watchersC．to welcome the arrival of ChristmasD．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. 题型：未知 难度：其他题型
答案
小题1:D
小题2:D
小题3:A
小题4:B
解析
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。
考点
据考高分专家说，试题“Although the New Yea.....”主要考查你对 [政治经济类阅读 ]考点的理解。政治经济类阅读
政治经济类文章的概念：
要做好这类阅读，平时就要注意了解国内外发生的政治经济大事，掌握一定背景知识，对这类文章的叙述特点及内容安排有一定了解，还要扩展这方面的词汇。阅读这类文章，要抓住文章的核心，即文章整体和各段主要在说什么，也要注意段落之间的逻辑关系。
如何备考政治经济类阅读理解题：
【题型说明】政治经济类阅读文章是高考常选材料之一。该类文章时代气息浓郁，语言鲜活，但熟字新义词、超纲词及专业词语多，长句、难句多。政治类文章大多数是同学们感性趣的内容，读起来倒有似曾相识的感觉，经济类文章读起来就像是雾里看花，文章看完，一头雾水。再加之这类文章的命题侧重于词义猜测、推理判断和文章主旨，同学们对这类题材是望而生畏。
【备考策略】建立心理优势。针对不同体裁的文章，我们要采取相应的阅读方法和技巧。政治类文章多采用记叙文形式，我们可采取“顺读法”，以便抓关键语句，领会文章主旨；而经济类文章则多采用说明文形式，我们则可以采取“逆读法”，先读试题，再从文章中查找有用信息。若遇到的确难读的材料。千万不用着急，因为你觉得难，其他人也一定是同感。在高考前，我们就要有这种心理准备，高考试卷肯定有一、两篇难以阅读的材料。不过，我们平时可以有意识地从报刊杂志上找一些较难的阅读材料来阅读，以培养自己迎难而上的心理素质。
【答题方法】
1、寻找主干：
根据英语中五种基本句型结构，把句子中的主语、谓语、宾语、表语等主要成分找出来，其他成分如定语、状语、补语等则易于理解。找到了句子主干，句子的意思至少明白了一半。
2、剔除从句：
在一个长句中可能会出现若干个从句，在理解时，如果把各个从句剔除出来单独理解，然后把大意拼凑起来，整个长句的意思就会明白六、七分。
3、辨别分句：
一个长句如果是由几个并列、转折、递进、对比关系的分句组成，句中往往有表示这些分句关系的连接词，只要能弄清楚分句和分句之间的逻辑关系，再把各层分句的意思加以连贯，整个长句的句意基本上能跃然脑中。
4、寻找关键词：
如果一个句子看完，一点句意的感觉也没有，下下策就是抓住句中的关键词，通过关键词大体弄懂这个长句的意思。
