A
The origins of the Christmas traditions are the most fascinating of any holiday.All our favorite activities can be traced (追溯) back to specific points in history, and knowing how these things came about just makes celebrating Christmas much more wonderful.
The original Nicholas was born in 280 AD in the small country of Lycia, which is now part of modern Turkey.Nicholas became first a priest (牧师) and then a bishop (主教) in the early Christian church.The first paintings of him show Nicholas wearing the clothes of a Christian bishop—red decorated with white.When we see Santa's suit today, we're still seeing the two kinds of colors.
Nicholas became famous for giftgiving.In the early fourth century, a legend began to spread about Nicholas coming at night to the home of three poor girls who did not have money and therefore could not get married.While the girls slept, Nicholas left gold coins in their stockings, which were drying by the fire.That's how the tradition of Santa filling stockings got its start.
In 1841, Santa first appeared at a department store in Philadelphia.This Santa tried to climb down a chimney to impress the children who were watching, but he got stuck halfway down.In 1890, department store Santas began appearing all over America, especially on the East Coast around Boston.Parents in other countries joined together and hired passenger trains to take their families to see these Santas.
At the same time, Ralph E．Morris of the New England Telephone Company suggested that strings of lights be hung on Christmas trees.After all, lights would be much safer than candles.Our modernday image of Santa as a fat man is based on ads of the CocaCola company in the 1930s.Artist Hans Sundblom used a retired salesman named Les Prentice as his model.
【语篇解读】 本文为记叙文。圣诞节传统的起源是所有节日中最吸引人的，人们了解这些起源也是为了使圣诞节过得更美妙。
1．What can we learn from Paragraph 1?
A．Christmas is the most important holiday.
B．The traditions of Christmas are based on facts.
C．There was not any record of Christmas in the past.
D．More and more people begin to celebrate Christmas.
B [推理判断题。由第一段可知，我们喜欢的任何圣诞节传统都可以追溯到历史上特定的由来，并且知道这些活动是如何产生的。由此可推知，这些传统都是建立在事实之上的。]
2．What do we know about Nicholas?
A．He set up the first Christian church.
B．He was called Santa Claus when he was born.
C．His clothes are similar to Santa's suit in color.
D．His image is the same as the modernday Santa.
C [推理判断题。由第二段“The first paintings of him show Nicholas wearing the clothes of a Christian bishop—red decorated with white.When we see Santa's suit today, we're still seeing the two kinds of colors.”可知，尼古拉斯第一批画像中穿着基督教主教的衣服——红色镶有白色的衣服。在如今圣诞老人的装扮中，我们看到的仍然是这两种颜色。]
3．Three poor girls are mentioned to .
A．prove that Nicholas used to be a rich man
B．tell of the origin of Santa filling stockings
C．show Christmas was set up mainly for the poor
D．describe a famous story in the early fourth century
B [细节理解题。由第三段“That's how the tradition of Santa filling stockings got its start.”可知，提到三个穷苦女孩是为了讲述圣诞老人把礼物放进袜子这一传统的由来。]
4．What can we infer from the last two paragraphs?
A．Santa didn't become popular until the year 1890.
B．Candles have never been used on Christmas trees.
C．The CocaCola company designed the image of Santa.
D．Santa began giving gifts by climbing down chimneys in 1841.
A [推理判断题。由倒数第二段可知，1890年，圣诞老人百货商场盛行于美国，尤其是在波士顿的东海岸。世界各地的家长一起带着家人，坐着租来的旅客列车观赏这些圣诞老人。由此可知，圣诞老人于1890年开始流行。]
