单选题Directions: After reading the following passage, you will
find 5 questions or unfinished statements, numbered 36 to 40. For each question
or statement there are 4 choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should make the
correct choice and mark the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet with a
single line through the center. It is not
easy to pin—point (精神地定位) the origins of the Christmas feast, today the most
important feast of the Christmas season in most western Christian churches. One
can only say for certain that the birth of Jesus Christ was being celebrated in
Rome by the year 336 AD; afterwards the feast was celebrated in other Christian
churches throughout the world. Why it was celebrated on
December 25 is another question. No date for the birth of Jesus can be found in
the New Testament, which is concerned more with the question "Who is Jesus?"
than the date of his birth. Early Christian speculation about his birth
date was influenced by the symbolism of the changing seasons, then popular in
religious thought, which paid careful attention to the equinoxes (春分或秋分) and
solstices (夏至或冬至) of the sun. Christian scholars speculated that Jesus was
conceived at the spring equinox (March 25) and therefore was born on December
25, the date of the winter solstice.
单选题
Which of the following is celebrated in Christian churches worldwide?
A. The Christmas feast.
B. The death of Jesus.
C. The Christmas eve.
D. The New Testament.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 细节辨认题。由题干中的 celebrated和Christian churches定位到文章第一段末句。题干中的worldwide是对原文中的throughout the world的同义转述。该句说“公元336年起在罗马庆祝耶稣的诞生，之后在其他国家的基督教堂里开始庆祝”，由此可知全世界都庆祝圣诞宴会，所以A)正确。
单选题
According to the passage, another unsolved question about Christmas
is______.
A. who Jesus is
B. why Christmas is celebrated on Dec. 25
C. where Jesus came from
D. when Jesus died
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。由题干中的 another unsolved question定位到文章第二段首句。该句提到另外一个问题：“为什么要在 12月25日庆祝这个节日?”下文进一步说《新约》中没有提到关于耶稣诞生的日期记录，由此可知，这个问题还没有解决，可见B)正确。
单选题
According to the passage, more attention is paid in the New Testament
to______.
A. the birth date of Jesus
B. the birth place of Jesus
C. the identity of Jesus
D. the appearance of Jesus
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 事实细节题。由题干中的New Testament。定位到文章第二段第二句。题干中的more attention是对文中concerned more 的同义转述。文中指出《新约》中没有关于耶稣诞生日期的记录，其关注更多的足“耶稣是谁”这个问题。C)是对文中的Who is Jesus 的同义转述，所以C)为正确答案。
单选题
The factor affecting early Christian speculation about the birth date
of Jesus is______.
A. the religious thoughts
B. the symbolism of the changing seasons
C. the changing of the sun
D. the records in the New Testament
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 综合归纳题。由题干中的early Christian speculation定位到文章第二段第三句。文中说早期的耶稣诞生日期是根据季节标志进行推断的，这种观点后来慢慢在宗教 思想中普及，人们开始注意春分秋分和夏至冬至。由此可知，当时人们是根据季节的变化特征来推断耶稣诞生日期的。