Never go into a supermarket hungry! This is a good piece of advice. If you go shopping for food before lunchtime, you’ll probably buy more than you plan to. Unfortunately, however, just this advice isn’t enough for consumers these days. Modern shoppers need an education in how and how not to buy things at the store. First, you check the weekly newspaper ads. Find out the items that are on sale and decide if you really need these things. In other words, don’t buy anything just because it’s cheaper than usual! “New and Improved!” or “All Natural” on the front of a package influence you. Instead, read the list of ingredients(contents) on the back. Third, compare prices: that is, you should examine the prices of both different brands and different sizes of the same brand.
Another suggestion for consumers is to buy ordinary items instead of famous brands. Ordinary items in supermarkets come in plain packages. These products are cheaper because producers don’t spend much money on packing or advertising. The quality, however, is usually as good as the quality of well-known name brands.
In the same way, in buying clothes, you can often find high quality and low prices in brands that are not famous. Shopping in discount clothing stores can help you save a lot of money. Although these stores aren’t very attractive, and they usually do not have individual dressing rooms, not only are the prices low, but you can often find the same famous brands that you find in high-priced department stores.
Wise consumers read magazine ads and watch TV commercials, but they do this with one advantage: knowledge of the psychology behind the ads. In other words, well-informed consumers watch for information and check for misinformation. They ask themselves questions: Is the advertiser hiding something in small print at the bottom of the page? Is there any real information in the commercial, or is the advertiser simply showing an attractive image? With the answers to these questions, consumers can make a wise choice.All the following statements are true about the phrase “ordinary items” in Paragraph 2 except ____.
A.ordinary products are usually cheaper than famous brands |
B.ordinary items never say “New and Improved” or “All Natural” |
C.producers spend less money on packaging of ordinary items |
D.the quality of ordinary items is usually as good as that of famous brands |
One of the author’s suggestions to consumers is ____.
A.to make use of ads |
B.not to buy items with words like “New and Improved” or “All Natural” |
C.to buy high quality items such as famous brands after lunch |
D.to buy any ordinary items instead of famous brands |
The author implies that ____.
A.going into the supermarket hungry, you may buy more than you plan to |
B.the quality of ordinary items is usually high and the prices are relatively low |
C.discount clothing stores are good places to go to |
D.ads sometimes don’t tell the truth |
Louis Armstrong had two famous nicknames(绰号). Some people called him Bagamo. They said his mouth looked like a large bag. Musicians often called him Pops, as a sign of respect for his influence(影响)on the world of music.
Born in 1901 in New Orleans, be grew up poor, but lived among great musicians. Jazz was invented in the city a few years before his birth. Armstrong often said, “Jazz and I grew up together.”
Armstrong showed a great talent for music when he was taught to play the cornet (短号) at a boy’s home. In his late teens, Armstrong began to live the life of a musician. He played in parades, clubs, and on the steamboats that traveled on the Mississippi River. At that time, New Orleans was famous for the new music of jazz and was home to many great musicians. Armstrong learned from the older musicians and soon became respected as their equal.
In 1922 he went to Chicago. There, the tale of Louis Armstrong begins. From then until the end of his life, Armstrong was celebrated and loved wherever he went. Armstrong had no equal when it came to playing the American popular song.
His cornet playing had a deep humanity (仁爱) and warmth that caused many listeners to say, “Listening to Pops just makes you feel good all over. ”He was the father of the jazz style and also one of the best-known and most-admired people in the world. His death, on July 6, 1971, was headline news around the world. Armstrong was called Pops because he .
A.looked like a musician |
B.was a musician of much influence |
C.showed an interest in music |
D.traveled to play modern music |
When Armstrong often said, “Jazz and I grew up together.” what did he mean?
A.He meant he had a brother named Jazz. |
B.He meant he was very good at Jazz. |
C.He meant he couldn’t afford to learn Jazz. |
D.He meant he was very lucky to live among great musicians. |
The third paragraph is developed .
A.by space | B.by examples | C.by time | D.by comparison |
Which statement about Armstrong is true?
A.His tale begins in New Orleans. |
B.He was born before jazz was invented. |
C.His music was popular with his listeners. |
D.He learned popular music at a boy’s home. |
Which would be the best title for the text?
A.The Invention of the Jazz Music |
B.The Father of the Jazz Style |
C.The Making of a Musician |
D.The Spread of Popular Music |
How far would you be willing to go to satisfy your need to know? Far enough to find out your possibility of dying from a terrible disease? These days that’s more than an academic question, as Tracy Smith reports in our Cover Story.
There are now more than a thousand genetic(基因的)tests, for everything from baldness to breast cancer, and the list is growing. Question is, do you really want to know what might eventually kill you? For instance, Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, one of the first people to map their entire genetic makeup, is said to have asked not to be told if he were at a higher risk for Alzheimer’(老年痴呆症).
“If I tell you that you have an increased risk of getting a terrible disease, that could weigh on your mind and make you anxious, through which you see the rest of your life as you wait for that disease to hit you. It could really mess you up.” Said Dr. Robert Green, a Harvard geneticist.
“Every ache and pain,” Smith suggested, could be understood as “the beginning of the end.”“That ’s right. If you ever worried you were at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, then every time you can’t find your car in the parking lot, you think the disease has started.”
Dr. Green has been thinking about this issue for years. He led a study of people who wanted to know if they were at a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s. It was thought that people who got bad news would, for lack of a better medical term, freak out. But Green and his team found that there was“no significant difference”between how people handled good news and possibly the worst news of their lives. In fact, most people think they can handle it. People who ask for the information usually can handle the information, good or bad, said Green.The first paragraph is meant to__________.
A.ask some questions |
B.introduce the topic |
C.satisfy readers’ curiosity |
D.describe an academic fact |
Which of the following is true of James Watson?
A.He is strongly in favor of the present genetic tests. |
B.He is more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. |
C.He believes genetic mapping can help cure any disease. |
D.He doesn’t want to know his chance of getting a disease. |
According to Paragraphs 3 and 4, if a person is at a higher genetic risk, it is__________.
A.advisable not to let him know |
B.impossible to hide his disease |
C.better to inform him immediately |
D.necessary to remove his anxiety |
The underlined part“freak out”in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to“_________”.
A.break down | B.drop out | C.leave off | D.turn away |
The study led by Dr. Green indicates that people__________.
A.prefer to hear good news |
B.tend to find out the truth |
C.can accept some bad news |
D.have the right to be informed |
Hobbs was an orphan. He worked in a factory and every day he got a little money. Hard work changed him thin and weak. He wanted to borrow a lot of money to learn to paint pictures, but he did not think he could pay off the debts.
One day the lawyer said to him, “One thousand dollars, and here is the money.” As Hobbs took the package of notes, he was very dumbfounded. He didn’t know where the money came from and how to spend it. He said to himself, “I could go to find a hotel and live like a rich man for a few days; or I give up my work in the factory and do what I’d like to do: painting pictures I could do that for a few weeks, but what would I do after that? I should have lost my place of the factory and have no money to live on. If it were a little less money, I would buy a new coat, or a radio, or give a dinner to my friends. If it were more, I could give up the work and pay for painting pictures. But it’s too much for one and too little for the other.”
“Here is the reading of your uncle’s will,” said the lawyer, “telling what is to be done with this money after his death. I must ask you to remember one point. Your uncle has said you must bring me a paper showing exactly what you did with his money, as soon as you have spent it.”
“Yes, I see. I’ll do that.” said the young man.He wanted to borrow money because he wanted to .
A.study abroad | B.work abroad |
C.pay for the debts | D.learn to paint pictures |
Hobbs was dumbfounded on receiving the money because he thought .
A.the money was too much |
B.the money was too little |
C.he would be dismissed |
D.the lawyer meant to punish him |
With the money he got, first Hobbs .
A.planned to have a happy life for a few days |
B.decided to give up his work in the office |
C.was to give a dinner to his friends |
D.had no idea what to do |
What Hobbs was asked to do was .
A.to tell the lawyer what he did with the money after spending it |
B.to read his uncle’s will |
C.to tell the lawyer what was to be done with the money |
D.nothing but to buy some pictures |
What Hobbs really loved to do was .
A.working in the factory |
B.living in a fine hotel |
C.painting pictures |
D.saving the money |
Studies show that laughter is something that makes you feel calm or relaxed for both physical and psychological wounds though it may seem futile to laugh in the face of pain and fear.
When Dan Rather interviewed comedian Bill Cosby just one week after his son, Ennis, was killed, Cosby said, “I think it is time for me to tell people that we have to laugh. You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, you can survive it.”
Call it a flashlight for dark times: laughter just seems to adjust attitude better than anything else. Inspirational speaker Steve Rizzo recalls a TV interview with an injured firefighter a few days after 9.11.The man had fallen more than 30 stories in one of the towers and had broken a leg. Everyone was crying, and the reporter asked, “How is it that you’ve come out of this alive?” He looked at her and without missing a beat, said, “Look, lady, I’m from New York and I’m a firefighter; that’ all you need to know.”
“Everyone laughed and though the laughter was only a couple of seconds,” says Rizzo. “Sometimes that’s all you need to catch your second breath. Laughter gives you that couple of seconds. You’re sending a message to your brain, and the message is: If you can still laugh even a little among the pain, you are going to be OK.”
Of course, there is a difference between laughing off a serious situation and laughing off the fear that results. The firefighter was doing the latter, states Rizzo, the author of Becoming a Humorous Being, and so should we. “If there is anything we have learnt from 9.11, it’s how precious life really is,” she says. “We have to send a message that our spirit won’t die. One important thing that unites us is our ability to laugh.”The writer uses the examples of the comedian and the firefighter to show.
A.laughter is a good way to get rid of pain and fear |
B.laughter is the best way to cure psychological wounds |
C.it is your attitude that decides whether you can survive the pain or not |
D.laughing off a serious situation is different from laughing off the fear that results |
We can infer from the passage that Steve Rizzo is.
A.a reporter | B.a soldier | C.a firefighter | D.a doctor |
The underlined word futile in the first paragraph means.
A.hopeless | B.useless |
C.careless | D.worthless |
From the passage, we can know that Americans are.
A.really inspired after 9.11 | B.hardly united after 9.11 |
C.nearly surprised by 9.11 | D.greatly hurt by 9.11 |
To see the world is one thing;to have someone to share it with is another.Indeed,travel becomes more interesting when you have a travel partner.A travel partner can be a close friend,a family member,a pal you’ve met online,or a business friend.
You can have someone to talk to
Traveling alone is fun,but wouldn’t you feel lonely?Having a travel partner can remove the feeling of loneliness.This is especially true if you can get a travel companion who is very familiar with the place you’re traveling to.You don’t have to ask any information from the locals,and you can increase the time you spend in the country.
__________________________
One of the major headaches in traveling is the costs involved.You can’t simply ignore the rising price of hotels or plane tickets.You should also think about your daily needs,such as your food.Of course,you can’t simply go back without bringing any souvenirs (纪念品) to your friends and family.All these can ruin your budget.However,when you have a travel friend,you can have someone to share the expenses with.
You can meet a good friend
Having a travel mate is a good way of meeting a new friend or even a lifelong partner.You can never count the number of couples who actually found their way into each other’s heart while traveling together in another country.
You can have someone to watch out for you
When you’re in a foreign land,you’ll never be really safe.You don’t know the rules as well as the culture of the people.A travel mate will be perfect to remind you of your duties in the country and to watch your back just in case you get lost.So why don’t you find a travel companion now?
Let’s find out how ...What’s the author’s purpose in writing this passage?
A.To introduce a travel company. |
B.To encourage us to have a travel partner. |
C.To explain how to be a perfect travel partner. |
D.To tell an interesting experience with a travel partner. |
What’s the best title for the 3rd paragraph?
A.You can have someone to share the expenses with. |
B.You can know the local culture well. |
C.You can enjoy food with your partner. |
D.You can save money by bargaining together. |
Which of the following statements agrees with the author’s opinion?
A.Traveling alone is not fun. |
B.Buying souvenirs isn’t necessary. |
C.Many people fall in love when traveling. |
D.It’s better to choose a stranger as a travel partner. |
The following paragraph will probably talk about________.
A.how to get along with a travel partner |
B.how travel can benefit people |
C.what we can learn from travel |
D.how to find a travel partner |