Read and find out the answers to the following questions. 1) What is the passage about? 2) Why do people clap? 3) How many countries are mentioned in the passages?

1) What is the passage about? The passage is about the reason why we clap and the history of clapping, the features of applause.

2) Why do people clap? 3) How many countries are mentioned in the passages? 4) When do people clap in China? To show that they like something. Three countries.

1) What is the main idea of the first paragraph? 2) On what occasion do people clap? The reasons why we clap. We clap at the end of a live performance, such as a play, or a concert, to say thank you to the performers.

Prolonged clapping helped a play to win. What is the main idea of the paragraph? What did applause mean in classical Athens? What did the prolonged clapping help? The custom of clapping has early beginnings. Applause meant judgment and taking part.

What is the definition of applause? What is the features of clapping? Applause was a sign of being part of the community, and of equality between actors and audience. Clapping is social, like laughter, it is infectious, and spread very quickly.

Do people from different cultures clap on the same occasions? No, some occasions on which people clap change from one country to another.

at a wedding

at a funeral n. 葬礼

1. a live performance 现场演出 live adj. 活的, 生动的, 精力充沛的, 直 播的 e.g. The cat is playing with a live mouse. 猫在戏弄那只活老鼠。 It wasn’t a recorded show, it was live. 这不是录像表演, 这是现场直播。

live, alive 和 living 都有 “ 活着的, 活的 ” 的意 思, 但 alive 常用作表语或后置定语 ; living 既可用作定语, 又可用作表语 ; 而 live 一般 仅用作定语。如 : The animals are alive. 这些动物是活的。 The hunter caught a bear alive. 那猎人活捉了一头熊。

Unfortunately, she has no living relatives. 不幸的是, 她的亲戚都不在了。 Are your grandparents still living? 你的祖父母还健在吗 ? He is interested in fish and has quite a few live ones at home. 他对鱼感兴趣, 在他家里养了好多鱼。

2. prolong vt. 延长 ……, 拉长 …… e.g. The meeting may be prolonged into the evening because so many problems have to be solved tonight. 会议可能要延长到夜里, 因为今晚有 太多问题要解决。 Shall we prolong our stay for a few days? 我们多停留几天好吗 ?

3. equality n. 同等, 平等 e.g. I do not believe in equality of capacity, but I do believe in equality of opportunity. 我不相信能力均等, 但我确实相信机 会均等。

Women are still struggling for true equality with men. 妇女仍在争取与男人真正平等。

4. infectious adj. 有感染力的, 传染的 e.g. He expressed infectious enthusiasm to his voters. 他对他的选民表现出很有感染力的热 情。 The flu is highly infectious. 流感的传染性很强。

Write a short paragraph on each topic beginning with if you or when you and using should(n’t) and must(n’t). meeting people conversation topics going to somebody’s house giving gifts eating a meal