Some names have special meanings in popular American expressions. One day, an average Joe was walking down the street. An average Joe is a common person – either male or female. He did not know where he was going. So average Joe asked John Q. Public for directions to the nearest bank. John Q. Public is also a common person – male or female. “Jeez Louise,” said John Q. Public. This is an expression of surprise. “Don’t you know that all banks are closed today? It is Saturday.”
“For Pete’s sake.” said average Joe. This is also an expression used to show a feeling like surprise or disappointment. “I do not believe you,” said he. At that moment, Joe Blow was walking down the street with a woman. Joe Blow is also an expression for a common person. Now this Joe Blow was NOT walking next to a plain Jane. A plain Jane is a woman who is neither ugly nor pretty. The woman with Joe Blow was a real Sheila – a beautiful woman.
Average Joe asked the woman if all banks were closed on Saturday. “No way, Jose,” she answered. This is a way of saying “no.” “No way, Jose. Many banks are open on Saturdays.”
Average Joe did not know either of these two people from Adam. That is, he did not know them at all. But he followed their directions to the nearest bank. [
When he arrived, he walked to the desk and said: “I am here to withdraw some money so I can pay my taxes to Uncle Sam”. This represents the United States government. The banker produced some papers and told him to sign his John Hancock at the bottom. A John Hancock is a person’s signed name – a signature. Historically, John Hancock was one of the signers of the United States Declaration of Independence. Hancock had a beautiful signature and signed his name larger than all the others.
45．The main idea of this text is that .
A．some popular American names have special stories
B．some popular American expressions have some special names[
C．some popular American names have special meanings
D．some popular American expressions are interesting
46．Which of the following refers to an ordinary – looking woman?
A．A average Joe B．John Q. Public
C．Joe Blow D．A plain Jane
47．The name “Jeez Louise” is .
A．an expression of surprise B．a feeling like disappointment
C．an expression for a common man D．a woman who is neither ugly nor pretty
48．What does the banker really want to ask Joe to sign on the papers?
A．John Hancock. B．United States Declaration.
C．His own name. D．Uncle Sam.
Just as some people think that certain numbers are lucky or unlucky, others believe that we can use numbers to understand our personalities, or predict what will happen to us in the future.
Numerology is a way of using numbers to describe a person’s character, and to make predictions about future life events. Numerologists use the numbers 1-9, 11 and 22 — also known as the “master” numbers — to help a person understand his or her personality, life goals, and destiny.
Numerologists consider your Life Path number to be the most significant because this number describes your character. To find this number, add together all the numbers in your date of birth. For example, a person born on April 25, 1985 would add the month (4), to the numbers of the date (2+5), plus the numbers of the birth year (1+9+8+5). In this case the total is 34, so this person’s life path number is 7(3+4). Numerologists believe that people with this number are peaceful and affectionate but can also be very reserved.
Your Expression number describes your talents and predicts how you should use these to fulfill your destiny in life. Numerologists assign a number between 1 and 9 to each of the letters in your name. These numbers are then added together in the same way as before to find your Expression number. Numerologists can also do calculations to predict when the most challenging periods of your life will be.
Numerologists also believe that the day a person is born is important. Each day of the month has a character description. People born on the fourth are said to be responsible, honest, and stubborn. People born on the fifteenth have very strong attachments to family and home. Those who celebrate their birthday on the thirtieth are artistic, creative, and imaginative, and often make good writers.
If we calculate the numerical value of our name and birth date, numerologists believe that we can learn more about our personalities. They also believe that we can predict our destinies, how our lives will progress, and what challenges we may face along the way. To the numerologist, numbers can be used in many more ways than we think. If a person was born on November 8, 1995, what is his Life Path number?
| A．7 | B．8 | C．9 | D．11 |
To understand your abilities and how to use them in your life, you should calculate your ______.
| A．Life Path number | B．Expression number |
| C．birthday | D．name and birth date |
According to the passage, a person born on the fifteenth tends to be _______.
| A．stubborn | B．home-loving | C．artistic | D．imaginative |
According to the passage, numerologists believe that _________.
| A．Life Path number can be used to predict a person’s most challenging life periods |
| B．Expression number is the most meaningful for people to learn a person’s character |
| C．numbers can help people better understand themselves |
| D．numbers can be used to change a person’s future |
The function of the passage is __________.
| A．to raise doubts about the usefulness of numerology |
| B．to persuade readers about the benefits of the practices it describes |
| C．to describe some of the numerological practices and their purpose |
| D．to tease those who take such beliefs seriously |
Humor is a most effective, yet frequently neglected, means of handling the difficult situations in our lives. It can be used for patching up differences, apologizing, saying “no,” criticizing, getting the other fellow to do what you want without his losing face. For some jobs, it’s the only tool that can succeed. It is a way to discuss subjects so sensitive that serious dialogue may start a quarrel. For example, many believe that comedians on television are doing more today for racial and religious tolerance than people in any other forum.
Humor is often the best way to keep a small misunderstanding from escalating into a big deal. Recently a neighbor of mine had a squabble with his wife as she drove him to the airport. Airborne, he felt miserable, and he knew she did, too. Two hours after she returned home, she received a long-distance phone call. “Person-to-person for Mrs. I. A. Pologize,” intoned the operator. “That’s spelled ‘P’ as in…” In a twinkling, the whole day changed from grim to lovely at both ends of the wire.
An English hostess with a quick wit was giving a formal dinner for eight distinguished guests whom she hoped to enlist in a major charity drive. Austerity（节俭）was a fashion in England at the time, and she had asked her children to serve the meal. She knew that anything could happen—and it did, just as her son, with the studied concentration of a tightrope walker, brought in a large roast turkey. He successfully elbowed the swinging dining-room door, but the backswing threw the bird onto the dining-room floor.
The boy stood rooted: guests stared at their plates. Moving only her head the hostess smiled at her son,” No harm, Daniel,” she said. “Just pick him up and take him back to the kitchen”… she enunciated clearly so he would think about what she was saying… “and bring in the other one.”
A wink and a one-liner instantly changed the dinner from a red-faced embarrassment to a conspiracy of fun.What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Humor is the key to success in our work and our lives. |
| B．Humor enables us to cope with difficult situation effectively. |
| C．Humor is the only best way to criticize someone without losing his face. |
| D．Humor makes fun of any difficult situations. |
Which of the following is NOT stated in the passage?
| A．Comedians on TV are believed to have done a lot in making people more tolerant of racial and religious differences. |
| B．To make up differences, humor is a most acceptable as well as a most effective means. |
| C．People often turn to humorous ways when meeting with difficult situations because of its effectiveness. |
| D．Only by adopting the means of humor can one succeed in some jobs. |
By saying “and bring in the other one,” the hostess meant that_________.
| A．the son had to cook another turkey for the guests |
| B．she already had made more than one turkey ready for the dinner |
| C．some other dish would be served instead of a turkey |
| D．the son could serve the same turkey after it was cleaned |
Expressions about water are almost as common as water itself.
The expression to be in hot water is a very old expression. Hot water was used five hundred years ago to mean being in trouble. One story says it got that meaning from the custom of throwing extremely hot water down on enemies attacking a castle.
That no longer happens. But we still get in hot water. When we are in hot water, we are in trouble. It can be any kind of trouble—serious or not so serious. A person who breaks a law can be in hot water with the police. A young boy can be in hot water with his mother, if he walks in the house with dirty shoes.
Beingin deep water is almost the same as being in hot water. When you are in deep water, you are in a difficult position.
To keep your head above water is a colorful expression that means staying out of debt. A company seeks to keep its head above water during economic hard times. A man who loses his job tries to keep his head above water until he finds a new job.
Water over the dam is another expression about a past event. It is something that is finished. It cannot be changed. The expression comes from the idea that water that has flowed over a dam cannot be brought back again.
Another common expression to hold water, is about the strength or weakness of an idea or opinion that you may be arguing about. It probably comes from a way of testing the condition of a container.; If it can hold water, it is strong and has no holes in it. If your argument can hold water, it is strong and does not have any holes.
Throwing cold water also is an expression that deals with ideas or suggestions. It means to not like an idea. For example, you want to buy a new car because the old one has some problems. But your wife throws cold water on the idea, because she says a new car costs too much.If Robert says he is in deep water, we may guess_________.
| A．he is swimming under the water |
| B．he is tired of changing shoes |
| C．he nearly breaks a law |
| D．he faces a difficult choice |
What can you say to your friend Jane, who is troubled by a mistake she has made?
| A．Keep your head above water. |
| B．Throw cold water. |
| C．It is water over the dam. |
| D．It can hold water. |
If your argument doesn’t hold water, then it is _________.
| A．weak | B．convincing | C．logical | D．disappointing |
The passage explains the origins of the following expressions EXCEPT_________.
| A．to be in hot water |
| B．to keep your head above water |
| C．water over the dam |
| D．to hold water |
Watching television makes it easier for toddlers（学走路的孩子）to kick and scream, according to a U.S. study. Children under two should not watch any TV. The longer they sit in front of the box, the worse their behavior becomes.
Just having the TV on in the background, even if the child wasn’t watching it, was also connected to troublemaking behavior although the relationship wasn’t as strong, said the researchers.
“Parents should be smart about TV use,” researcher Jennifer Manganello from the University at Albany, New York, said.
“They should limit the time that children use TV, pay attention to the content of TV programs, and consider how TV is used throughout the home.”
The study looked at 3,128 women from 20 U.S. cities who had a child between 2005 and 2008.
While there was some diversity（差异）of education among the women, one-third hadn’t graduated from high school.
Two-thirds of the mothers said their three-year-old watched more than two hours of TV a day, and the average（平均的）viewing time for children was around three hours. On average, the TV was on for about five additional hours on a common day.
After accounting for factors（因素）such as living in a violent neighborhood, scientists also found watching TV was strongly connected to behavior such as hitting others, having angry moods, being disobedient（不服从的）, and screaming a lot.
The researchers thought that children may see violence on TV, and spend less time on positive development tasks such as reading or playing.
The American Academy of Paediatrics suggests no TV at all for children at two and younger, and two hours a day or less for older kids.what is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Children should choose positive programs. |
| B．Children should keep away from TV. |
| C．Watching TV can make children violent. |
| D．Parents should watch less TV. |
what do we know from Paragraph 2?
| A．Children can watch good programs. |
| B．Children will be affected as long as the TV is on. |
| C．It’s OK that the TV is on if children don’t watch it. |
| D．Children’s troublemaking behavior is mainly caused by watching TV. |
what can be learned about the study between 2005~2008 from the passage?
| A．The TV was on for about three hours. |
| B．The women studied have different jobs. |
| C．The study included men and women. |
| D．Most women allowed their child to watch TV. |
Children who spend much time watching TV will ________.
| A．not be hit by others |
| B．be influenced by others |
| C．become angry easily |
| D．know more about the neighborhood |
Did you ever wonder who invented products like Liquid Paper, Kevlar or paper bags? Most would think a man invented these items. Guess what? Women invented each of these. What? You don’t believe me? Well, read this:
Liquid Paper was invented by Bette Nesmith Graham in 1951 and originally called Mistake Out. Being a typist, Bette was increasingly irritated with being unable to erase her typing mistakes. The messy business left her hands black and the paper dirty. Bette was good at painting and remembered that an artist paints over mistakes. She applied that same principle to typing mistakes and Liquid Paper was born, making Bette into a self-made millionaire.
Kevlar, yes, the Kevlar of the bullet proof vest（防弹衣）—what police officers and soldiers wear, was invented by Stephanie Kwolek. Stephanie worked for the DuPont Company as a research chemist. She was asked to find a high-performance fiber. Originally, this fiber was intended to be used for car tires (轮胎). However, the fiber she developed in 1964 was amazing and is still used in products such as sailboats, skis, shoes, and yes, bullet proof vests. In 1995 Stephanie was named to the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame.
Margaret Knight invented a machine that revolutionized the making of paper bags. Paper bags had been made like envelopes but Margaret developed a machine that would fold and paste（粘）a flat-bottom paper bag, the very same type we still use today. Margaret’s family was poor and she started working at the age of nine. Her first invention at the age of twelve was a safety tool for a loom（织布机）. Later she worked for the Columbia Paper Bag Company. It was there that she worked on improving the making of paper bags. She was issued her patent（专利）in 1870.
So next time you use a new product or an old one, will you wonder who made it? Do some research on the web and answer a few questions like: Who invented it? How was it invented? You may be surprised at some of the stories you uncover.The underlined word “irritated” in Paragraph 2 is the closest in meaning to_________.
| A．annoyed | B．excited | C．delighted | D．nervous |
What do we know about Margaret?
| A．She was a member of the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame. |
| B．Her first invention was made when she was twenty. |
| C．Her invention was designed to produce envelopes. |
| D．She began working when she was very young. |
which of the following best shows the structure of the passage? (①="paragraph" 1, ②="Paragraph" 2,… ⑤="paragraph" 5)
What would be the best title for the passage?
| A．How inventions were made |
| B．Amazing inventions by women |
| C．Women and modern technology |
| D．You can also be an inventor |