If you fear the heyday of the snowman has passed, don’t worry: I’ve learned that some explosive snowman history is still being made today. Every year since 1818, the people of Zurich, Switzerland, celebrate the beginning of spring by blowing up a snowman. On the third Monday of April, the holiday Sechselauten is kicked off when a cotton snowman called the Boogg is stuffed with explosive and paraded through town by bakers and other tradesmen who throw bread to the crowds. The parade ends with the Boogg being placed on a 40-foot pile of firewood. After the bells of the Church of St. Peter have rung six times, representing the passing of winter, the pile is lit. When the snowman explodes, winter is considered officially over—the quicker it is burnt down, the longer summer is said to be.

　　1.According to the passage, why did snowmen become a phenomenon in the Middle Ages

　　A.People thought of snow as holy art supplies.

　　B.People longed to see masterpieces of snow.

　　C.Building snowmen was a way for people to express themselves.

　　D.Building snowmen helped people develop their skill and thought.

　　2.“The heyday of the snowman” （paragraph 4） means the time when___________.

　　A.snowmen were made mainly by artists

　　B.snowmen enjoyed great popularity

　　C.snowmen were politically criticized

　　D.snowmen caused damaging floods

　　3.In Zurich, the blowing up of the Boogg symbolizes__________________.

　　A.the start of the parade

　　B.the coming of a longer summer

　　C.the passing of the winter

　　D.the success of tradesmen

　　4.What can be concluded about snowmen from the passage

　　A.They were appreciated in history

　　B.They have lost their value

　　C.They were related to movies

　　D.They vary in shape and size

　　Home Laundry Automatic Dryer Product

　　Full Two Year Warranty（保修）

　　Limited Five Year Warranty on Cabinet（机箱）

　　Warranty Provides for：

　　FIRST TWO YEARS Amana will repair or replace any faulty part free of charge.

　　THIRD THRU FIFTH YEARS Amana will provide a free replacement part for any cabinet which proves faulty due to rust（生锈）.

　　Warranty Limitations：

　　Warranty begins at date of original purchase.

　　Applies only to product used within the United States or in Canada if product is approved by Canadian Standards Association when shipped from factory.

　　Products used on a commercial or rental basis not covered by this warranty.

　　Service must be performed by an Amana servicer.

　　Adjustments covered during first year only.

　　Warranty Does Not Cover It If：

　　Product has damage due to product change，connection to an improper electrical supply> shipping and handling, accident, fire, floods, lightning or other conditions beyond the control of Amana.

　　Product is improperly installed（安装）or applied.

　　Owner’s Responsibilities：

　　Provide sales receipt.

　　Normal care and repair.

　　Having the product reasonably accessible for service.

　　Pay for service calls related to product installation or usage instructions.

　　Pay for extra service costs, over normal service charges, if servicer is requested to perform service outside servicer^ normal business hours.

　　* In no event shall Amana be responsible for consequential damages（间接损坏）.

　　* This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may have others which vary from state to state For example, some states do not allow the exclusion（排除）or limitation of consequential damages, so this exclusion may not apply to you.

　　1.According to Warranty Limitations, a product can be under warranty if .

　　A.used in the U.S. A.B.rented for home use

　　C.repaired by the user himselfD.shipped from a Canadian factory

　　2.According to Owner’s Responsibilities, an owner has to pay for .

　　A.the product installationB.a servicer’s overtime work

　　C.the loss of the sales receiptD.a mechanic’s transportation

　　3.Which of the following is true according to the warranty

　　A.Consequential damages are excluded across America.

　　B.A product damaged in a natural disaster is covered by the warranty.

　　C.A faulty cabinet due to rust can be replaced free in the second year.

　　D.Free repair is available for a product used improperly in the first year.

　　Like every dog, every disease now seems to have its day. World Tuberculosis (infections disease in which growths appear on the lungs) Day is on Saturday March 24th.

　　Tuberculosis was once terribly fashionable. Dying of “consumption” seems to have been a favorite activity of garret-dwelling 19th-century artists, has, however, been neglected of late. Researchers in the field never tire of pointing out that TB kills a lot of people. According to figures released earlier this week by the World Health Organization, 1.6 million people died of the disease in 20xx, compared with about 3m for AIDS and 1m for malaria. But it receives only a fraction of the research budget devoted to AIDS. America’s National Institutes of Health, for example, spends 20 times as much on AIDS as on TB. Nevertheless, everyone seems to getting in on the TB-day act this year.

　　The Global Fund an international organization responsible fur fighting all three diseases but best known for its work on AIDS, has used the occasion to trumpet its tuberculosis projects. The fund claims that its anti-TB activities since it opened for business in 20xx have saved the lives of over 1m people. The World Health Organization has issued a report that contains some good news. Although the number of TB cases is still rising, the rate of illness seems to have stabilized; the caseload, in other words, is growing only because the population itself is going up.

　　Even drug companies are involved. In the run-up to the day itself, Eli Lilly announced a $ 50m boost to its MDRTB Global Partnership. MDR stands for multi-drug resistance, and it is one of the reasons why TB is back in the limelight. Careless treatment has caused drug-resistant strains to evolve all over the world. The course of drugs needed to clear the disease completely takes six mouths, anti persuading people to stay that course once their symptoms have gone is hard. Unfortunately, those infected with MDR have to be treated with less effective, more poisonous and more costly drugs. Naturally, these provoke still more. non-compliance and thus still more evolution.

　　The other reason TB is back is its relationship to AIDS. The (global Fund’s joint responsibility for the diseases is no coincidence. AIDS does not kill directly. Rather, HIV, the virus that causes it, weakens the body’s immune system and exposes the sufferer to secondary infections. Of these, TB is one of the most serious. It kills 200 000 AIDS patients a year. However, some anti-TB drugs interfere with the effect of some anti-HIV drugs. Conversely, in about 20% of cases where a patient has both diseases, anti-HIV drugs make the tuberculosis worse. The upshot is that 125 years after human beings worked out what caused TB, it is still a serious threat.