Passage B 单项选择 根据短文内容， 从各题的四个选项中选出一个最佳答案，并将其代表字母涂（填）在答题卡（纸）的相应位置。

The taxi plays an important role in Britain. When thinking of London, many image （形象）come to mind: Big Ben, the Ferris Wheel（摩天轮）,red telephone boxes…and black London taxis.

But what is so special about a simple taxi? First of all, in shape and style, a London taxi is very different from an ordinary one. It looks like a half-car and half-van（半厢式货车）. It has plenty of room in the back. That means it's easy for disabled people to use. And the black color makes it special on the road.

Besides, taxi drivers play an important part in your travel. They have to pass a taxi driving test, and in London it is very difficult. As there are many tourists in London, drivers must know many roads by memory.

Apart from（除此之外）driving you to your destination, it is normal for the driver and the passenger to have a conversation. A taxi is a social space which the driver and you share. The image of a London taxi driver is one that friendly and talkactive. Every time I take a taxi, I ask how the driver is. Then we usually talk about sports or news events.

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Canberra is the capital of Australia. It is a modern and lively city with a population of over 345,000.

    Hi, my name is Murray Wenzel. But my friends call me Muz, Muzza, Wenz or even Moon. Yes, I have lots of nicknames. But in Australia, where I am from, that's quite common.

    In fact most men in Australia call their friends something other than their real name. It is part of our culture to shorten or make up names for those we know and love. For example, one of my friend's names is Alex, but we call him Al. Another is named Jayson, but everyone knows him as Jase. In Australia most men called William are known as Bill, while Jeremy is Jez, James is Jim and Joseph is Joey.

    Sometimes we use the person's surname in their nickname, like my friend Karl Schussig who we call Schuzza. Sometimes we combine them, like my friend Troy Cassels being called TC. And we sometimes make up a new name for our friends. My friend Nathan's nickname is “Prez”, because when we first met he joked that I should call him “El President”.

    Even more confusing is when we are given ironic(讽刺的) nicknames. For example, a man with red hair will be known as Bluey, a tall man will be called Shorty or a large man will be known as Slim.

    Most of my friends call me Muz, but those who I play hockey(曲棍球) with call me Moon. However, my parents still call me Murray.

    So, I have different names depending on who I am talking to. Nicknames are so popular that sometimes people forget what the person's real name is.

    I think it is our way of showing affection to those we are close to.

    As we know, there are differences between Western culture and Chinese culture. We can see differences when we pay attention to the way words are used. Let's look at the words about animals and plants. Most expressions in Chinese are about the dog, for example, "a homeless dog" "a mad dog" "a running dog" and "a dog catching a mouse", having negative meanings. But in Western countries, dogs are thought to be honest and good friends of humans. In English, people use the dog to describe positive things. For example, "you are a lucky dog" means "you are a lucky person". And "every dog has its day" means "each person has good luck some time". To describe a person's serious illness, they say "sick as a dog". The word "dog-tired" means very tired. However, Chinese love cats very much. But in Western culture, "cat" is often used to describe a woman who is cruel(无情的) .

    The rose is a symbol of love in both China and some Western countries. People think the rose means love, peace, courage and friendship. And the rose is a kind of important flowers in England, America and many other countries.

    The words about plants and animals are used in positive or negative ways in different cultures. We can learn about many differences in culture by comparing how some words are used.

    When you write a text message or an email, you might put a smiling face or other pictures at the end to make the message more fun. These pictures are emojis. The first emojis were on Japanese mobile phones in the 1990s. Later, they were used on Apple's iPhone and Android phones. Now they are everywhere!

Before emojis, there were emoticons. The word is a mixture(混合) of emotion(感情) and icon(图标). Emoticons are made of the signs you can find on your keyboard, for example:) for a smiley or @};—for a rose. The first use of :-)was in 1982 and it was called "joke marker". Emoji is a Japanese word which means pictograph: e(picture) +moji (character). Emojis are real pictures, for example ，or . There are 1851emojis that can be used on mobile phones and other devices. There are all kinds of emojis, from faces and weather to things in the kitchen and animal.

    In England, we have a saying: A picture paints a thousand words. For many people, an emoji is like a punctuation mark(标点). It's like the tone of voice when we speak on the phone, or hand movements(gestures) used in conversation. Emojis are also changing the way we write. The more we use emojis, the less we use slang(俚语), such as LOL or OMG.

    When someone speaks and looks serious, we try to look serious, too, and when someone smiles, we smile as well. This is how we show empathy(同感) and make friends(and enemies!). But when we're online, we can't see the person's face and there's no emotion. The invention of emojis changed that! Scientists in Australia have discovered that when we look at a smiley face online, the same parts of the brain start working as when we look at a real smiley face. Our mood changes, and we try to change our face to match the emoji. This is something we learn as we get older. Our brains have developed this ability over the last two or three years. This means that emojis have created a new brain pattern(模式)in us!