The months are familiar to everyone. Nearly any small child can rattle off the twelve months of the year. But how and why did the names come into being?
Every month’s name tells a story. January is named after Janus, a Roman god described as having two faces, one looking forward and one looking back. As the god of doors, he had to watch out for friends and enemies coming from either direction.
February is a form of februare, which was a Roman festival. On that day, people begged the gods for healthy children and enough crops in the next year.
March is named after Mars, whom many people have read about as the god of wars. Few people realize that at first Mars was the god of springtime. Fighters would “take the winter off ” from fighting, resting while the weather was too bad for the battle. In the spring-around what we now think of as March battles would start again. Form this time line, Mars soon became more well known as the god of wars than of springtime.
April is a mystery. Experts argue a lot about the origin of it .
May is also named after a goddess, Maika. She was the goddess of plants, because plants often begin to have flowers in May.
Not every month kept the same name over the years. The first name for July was Quintilis, “the fifth month”. Likewise, September, October, November, and December were the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth months. How did July and August get their new names? July was named after Julius Caesar, the first emperor of Rome, after he was killed in 66 BC. August was named after Augustus Caesar, Julius Caesar’s nephew.
60. The underlined phrase “rattle off ” in Paragraph I probably means “___________”.
A.shake until something drops off
B.say something quickly from memory
C.get rid of
D.feel unhappy
61.The writer’s main purpose in writing the passage is to ______________.
A.explain how the months got their names
B.show why there are twelve months and not just ten months
C.show how important human activities are in deciding the names of the months
D.suggest the new names for the twelve months
62. According to the passage, Janus needed both of his faces because ______________.
A.he was the caretaker of fighters in the battle
B.he was the god of the beginning of the year
C.he had to look in both directions as the god of doors
D.he had more days in his month than in the other months
63. According to the passage, which of the following months is named after a festival?
A. February. B. March. C. April. D. May.

每个人对月份都耳熟能详，几乎所有的小孩也都能够对一年的十二个月份脱口而出。但是月份的名字是怎样来的以及为什么这样命名呢？

每个月份的名字都讲述了一个故事。一月份以Janus命名，有两张面孔的罗马神，一面看到未来，一面回顾过去。作为门神，他密切注意来自各方的朋友和敌人.

二月是februare的一种形式，它是一个罗马的节日。在那天，人们祈祷神灵在来年赐予健康的孩子和充足的粮食。

三月以Mars的名字命名，许多人称之为战争之神。很少有人知道，最初Mars是春天之神。战士们在冬天停止打仗，在气候太坏不利于战斗时休整。在春季时节，我们理所当然的认为March战争将会重新开始。形成该时间惯例后，相对于春天之神来说，Mars更多以战争之神为人所知。

四月（的命名）依旧是个谜，专家们对于它的起源争论很多。

五月也是按神灵Maika，来命名的。她是植物之神，因为植物经常在五月开花。

历年来，不是每一个月份都保持相同的名字，七月的第一个名字是Quintilis（五胞胎），第五个月。同样的，九月、十月、十一月和十二月分别是第七、第八、第九和第十个月。七月和八月怎样得到他们的新名字呢？七月在公元前66年，罗马的第一位君主，朱利叶斯*凯撒被杀后以他的命名。八月按照奥古斯都*凯撒，朱利叶斯*凯撒的外甥命名。

60．划线词语“rattle off”在文章中可能是指：（B）
A．摇动直至某物离去
B．凭借记忆快速的说出某物。
C．摆脱
D．感到不高兴。

61．作者写这篇文章的主要目的是：（A）
A．解释月份名字的来历
B．说明为什么有十二个月份而不是十个？
C．说明在决定月份的名字时，人们的活动有多重要。
D．为十二个月份，提出新名字。

62．依据这篇文章，两面神，需要他的两张脸因为：（C）
A．他是战争中的看守者‘
B．他是年初的神。
C．作为门神，他需要注视两个方向。
D．他在一月比其他月有更多的天。

63．依照文章，下列哪个月份按照节日命名？（A）
A．二月 B。三月 C。四月 D。五月