B

　　The Sahara Festival is a celebration of the very recent past. The three­day event is not fixed to the same dates each year, but generally takes place in November or December. It is well attended by tourists, but even better attended by locals.

　　During the opening ceremonies, after the official greetings from the government leaders, people who attend the festival begin to march smartly before the viewing stands, and white camels transport their riders across the sands. Horsemen from different nations display their beautiful clothes and their fine horsemanship. One following another, groups of musicians and dancers from all over the Sahara take their turn to show off their wonderful traditional culture. Groups of men in blue and yellow play horns and beat drums as they dance in different designs. On their knees in the sand, a group of women in long dark dresses dance with their hair: their long, dark, shiny hair is thrown back and forth in the wind to the rhythm of their dance.

　　The local and visiting Italian dogs are anxious to run after hares. The crowd is on its feet for the camel races. Camels and riders run far into the distance, and then return to the finish line in front of the cheering people.

　　Towards the evening, there comes the grand finale of the opening day, an extremely exciting horserace. All the riders run very fast on horseback. Some riders hang off the side of their saddles. Some even ride upside down — their legs and feet straight up in the air — all at full speed. Others rush down the course together, men arm in arm, on different horses. On and on they went. So fast and so wonderful!

　　40. The Sahara Festival is a festival which________.

　　A.has a very long history in North Africa

　　B.is held in the same place on the same day

　　C.is attended mainly by the people in the Sahara

　　D.is celebrated mostly by travelers from different countries

　　答案：C　細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第一段最后一句“but even better attended by locals.”確定答案。

　　41. Before the races begin，________take part in the activities during the opening ceremonies.

　　A.musicians, dancers, horses and hares

　　B.camel riders, musicians, dogs and hares

　　C.horsemen, dancers, camels and dogs

　　D.musicians, officials, camels and horses

　　答案：D　細(xì)節(jié)理解題。 根據(jù)第二段，對參加節(jié)日開幕式活動的介紹D項中的musicians, officials, camels and horse都提到了。

　　42. The underlined word “finale” in the fourth paragraph most probably means the ________of the opening day.

　　A.first part B.middle

　　C.last part D.whole

　　答案：C　詞義猜測題。根據(jù)前面的敘述和該句中的towards the evening, 說明是開幕式的最后了，所以C正確。

　　43. This passage mainly tells readers________.

　　A.what happens on the opening day of the Sahara Festival

　　B.how people celebrate during the three­day Sahara Festival

　　C.what takes place at the closing ceremonies of the Sahara Festival

　　D.how animals race on the first and the last days of the Sahara Festival

　　答案：A　主旨大意題。從文中第二段第一句話“During the opening ceremonies，”可以看出，本文主要是介紹“撒哈拉節(jié)”開幕式上的活動。答案選A。