First listen and then answer the question.

听录音，然后回答以下问题。

What does ‘a cold welcome’ refer to?

On Wednesday evening, we went to the Town Hall. It was the last day of the year and a large crowd of people had gathered under the Town Hall clock. It would strike twelve in twenty minutes' time. Fifteen minutes passed and then, at five to twelve, the clock stopped. The big minute hand did not move. We waited and waited, but nothing happened. Suddenly someone shouted, ‘It's two minutes past twelve! The clock has stopped!* I looked at my watch. It was true. The big clock refused to welcome the New Year. At that moment, everybody began to laugh and sing.

New words and expressions 生词和短语

welcome (title) /'welk+m/ n. 欢迎； (1. 8) v. 欢迎

shout (1. 6) /Maot/ v. 喊叫

crowd (1. 2) /kraod/ n. 人群

refuse (1. 8) /ri'fju:z/v. 拒绝

gather (1. 2) /'g$J+/ v. 聚集

laugh (1. 9) /la:f/ v. 笑

hand (1. 5) /h$nd/ n. (表或机器的)指针

Notes on the text 课文注释

1  Town Hall , 市政厅，地方政府办公之处。

2  a large crowd of…，一大群……。

3  in twenty minutes'time, 20分钟之后。

参考译文

星期三的晚上，我们去了市政厅。那是一年的最后一天，一大群人聚集在市政厅的大钟下面。再过20分钟，大钟将敲响12下。15分钟过去了，而就在11点55分时，大钟停了。那根巨大的分针不动了。我们等啊等啊，可情况没有变化。突然有人喊道：“已经12点零2分了！那钟已经停了！”我看了一下我的手表，果真如此。那座大钟不愿意迎接新年。此时，大家已经笑了起来，同时唱起了歌。

Summary writing 摘要写作

Answer these questions in not more than 50  words.

回答下列问题，将答案组成一个段落，不要超过50个单词。

1  Where did we go on New Year's Eve?

2  Were there a lot of people there or not ?

3  In how many minutes would the Town Hall clock strike twelve?

4  At what time did it stop?

5  Did it refuse to welcome the New Year or not?

6  What did the crowd do then?

Key structures 关键句型

When did you arrive? I arrived at 10  o'clock.

Read these sentences carefully. Pay close attention to the phrases in italics. We can use phrses like these to answer questions beginning with When.

仔细阅读以下句子，特别要注意用斜体印出的词组，我们可以用这些表示时间的短语来回答以 when开头的疑问句。

a  Phrases with at．带at的短语

I always leave home at 8  o'clock. I begin work at 9  o'clock. I work all day and often get home late at night. 我总是8点钟离家。9点开始工作。我工作一整天，常常是晚上很晚才到家。

b  Phrases with in．带in的短语

I'm going out now. I'll be back in ten minutes or in half an hour. 我现在出去，大概在10分钟或半小时以后回来。

The Second World War began in 1939  and ended in 1945. 第二次世界大战于1939年开始，于1945年结束。

Many tourists come here in summer. They usually come in July and in August. It is very quiet here in winter. The hotels are often empty in January, February and in March. 许多旅游者夏天到达里来。他们常在7、8月来。冬天这里很安静。1、2、3月份酒店常常是空的。