In the US, people prefer waiting for a table to sitting with people they don’t know. This means a hostess may not seat a small group until a small table is available, even if a large one is. If you are sitting at a table with people you don’t know, it is impolite to light up a cigarette without first asking if it will disturb them.
At American restaurants and coffee shops you are usually served tap (水龙头)water before you order. You may find the bread and butter is free, and if you order coffee, you may get a free refill(重续).
Most cities and towns have no rules about opening and closing time for stores or restaurants, though they usually do make rules for bars. Especially in large cities, stores may be open 24 hours a day.
Serving in restaurants is often large; too large for many people. If you can’t finish your meal but would like to enjoy the food later, ask your waitress or waiter for a “doggie bag”. It may have a picture of a dog on it, but everybody knows you’re taking the food for yourself.
Tips are not usually added to the check. They are not included in the price of the meal, either. A tip of about 15% is expected and you should leave it on the table when you leave. In some restaurants, a check is brought on a plate and you put your money there. Then the waiter or waitress brings you your change.Which statement is TRUE?
A.American people like sitting with people they don’t know. |
B.Hostess always seats a small group at a large table. |
C.American people never sit with people they don’t know. |
D.American people would not light a cigarette if the people who sit at the same table mind their smoking. |
What is served before you order?
A.Cold water. | B.Butter. |
C.Coffee. | D. Bread. |
What do American people always do when servings are too large for them?
A.They take the food home with a doggie bag for their dogs. |
B.They leave the food on the table and go away. |
C.They take the food home with a doggie bag and enjoy the food later. |
D.They ask the waitress or waiter to keep the food for them. |
Americans use many expressions with the word dog.People in the United States love their dogs and treat them well.They take their dogs for walks,let them play outside and give them good food and medical care.However, dogs without owners to care for them lead a different kind of 1ife.The expression,to lead a dog’s life,describes a person who has an unhappy existence.
Some people say we live in a dog-eat-dog world.That means many people are competing for the same things,like good jobs.To be successful,a person has to work like a dog.Such hard work can make people dog-tired,or sick as a dog.
Still,people say every dog has its day.This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life.To be successful, people often have to learn new skills.Yet.some people say that you can never teach all old dog new tricks.They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and wilt not change the way they do things.
Husbands and wives use this doghouse term when they are angry at each other.For example,a woman might get angry at her husband for coming home late or forgetting their wedding anniversary.She might tell him that he is in the doghouse.She may not treat him nicely until he apologizes.However,the husband may decide that it is best to 1eave things alone and not create more problems.He might decide to let sleeping dogs lie.
Dog expressions are also used to describe the weather.The dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year.A rainstorm may cool the weather.But we do not want it to rain too hard.We do not want it to rain cats and dogs.The correct statement about the dog in the expression“to 1ead a dog’s life”is.
A.a lucky dog | B.a homeless dog |
C.a clever dog | D.a tamed dog |
When people compete against each other and will do any thing to get what they want,we use ,
A.1ead a dog’s life | B.a dog-tired competition |
C.a dog-eat-dog world | D.a dirty dog |
Which of the following expressions is similar to“to rain cats and dogs”?
A.a curtain of rain | B.a sudden rain |
C.drops of rain | D.a fine rain |
The author writes this passage mainly to.
A.express his supporting at![]() |
B.show that he is a super dog-lover and he likes these expressions |
C.describe the bad effect on the relationship between husband and wife |
D.introduce some expressions with dog used in American daily life |
What is it that makes people laugh? More than two thousand years ago the ancient Greek philosopher (哲学家) Aristotle defined (定义) jokes as the pleasure that results from a feeling of triumph by showing we’re better than someone else in a certain way. According to Aristotle and many other philosophers,all jokes depend mainly on showing inferiority in another person or group of persons — that is,putting it clearly,on showing that they are worse off than ourselves. Jokes raise our good opinion of ourselves at someone else’s expense.
Showing how much better than other people we are is only one reason we like jokes. Someone may also use a joke to express their anger or their cruelty (残酷)or any other kind of action that is not acceptable to us. We feel free to laugh when we hear about someone sliding on a banana skin. The joke lets us express those attitudes which are usually unacceptable to society. This is probably the reason why some of the jokes,especially those involving cruelty,are so popular with certain people.
Besides,all jokes depend on our enjoyment of laughing at something that is strange and out of place because it’s different from things which are happening around it. The same situation can be either sad or pleasant,depending entirely on how strange and out of place it is. If a girl in a bathing suit falls into a swimming pool,we don’t laugh because nothing unusual has happened. But if a man in a smart suit falls in,the situation is at once unusual in a pleasant way and we laugh. A good joke-teller will always try to build up a situation in which one thing is expected until something unexpected suddenly happens,and so we laugh.The underlined word “inferiority” (in Paragraph 1) means ______.
A.someone that is better than someone else |
B.something that is better than something else |
C.someone that is as good as someone else |
D.something that is not as good as something else |
According to Ari
stotle, all jokes depend mainly on ______.
A.resulting in a sense of success |
B.showing inferiority in another person or group |
C.having a good opinion of other people |
D.making people laugh unexpectedly |
What’s the main idea of Paragraph 2?
A.To express those attitudes usually unacceptable to society is one of the reasons we like jokes. |
B.When people are angry, they would like to hear jokes. |
C.People who like jokes are usually cruel. |
D.Showing we are better than other people is the only one reason we like jokes. |
What will a good joke-teller always try to do?
A.Make an unexpected thing happen in an expected situation |
B.Make different things happen at the same time. |
C.Make a sad situation into a pleasant one. |
D.Make people laugh at something unusual and out of place. |
Your friends might be in Australia or maybe just down the road, but they are all just a few clicks away. Life has changed for millions of young people across the world who now make friends online. Whether you use chat-rooms, QQ, MSN or ICQ, you are a member of this group.
“I don’t often talk with my parents or grandparents, but I talk a lot with my old friends on QQ,” said Fox’s Shadow, the online name used by a girl student in China. “Most of my classmates use QQ after school.”
QQ is the biggest messaging service in China. A record from Tencent, the company which developed QQ, shows that 4 million people used it one Saturday night in October.
And probably Fox’s Shadow was one of them. “I log in on Friday nights, and Saturdays or Sundays when I feel everything around me boring. I usually spend about ten hours chatting online every week,” she said. “But I never talk with strangers, especially boys or men.”
Even though she likes chatting, she is careful about making friends with strangers online. “You don’t know who you’re talking to. You should always be careful about whom you believe in online.”
Many people would like to meet offline when they feel they have known someone very well. Fox’s Shadow once met one of her online friends face to face. It was a girl who was a football fan like herself and they went to a football match together.
A 16-year-old Beijing boy, named Bart Simon online, dislikes QQ users. “I used to chat on QQ, but I found that most people were talking about foolish things,” he said. Now he chats online in English, using MSN. “I only chat online because I’ve got friends in Japan, the US and Singapore,” he said. “I want to learn more about foreign cultures.” But he spends little time chatting on QQ as he sees it as a waste of time and money.
“If you are really addicted to it, sometimes you can’t give your mind to your lessons,” he said. “And friends in your real life are always more important than those so-called friends you meet online.”
From the passage, we know“…they are all just a few clicks away” means“”.
A.it is wonderful to see your friends by clicking |
B.it is popular to make friends online |
C.it is possible to live much closer to your friends |
D.it is easy and fast to get in touch with your friends |
Fox’s Shadow thinks QQ is.
A.a good place to spend her time when bored |
B.the biggest messaging service in China |
C.a safe place to chat with strangers |
D.the best place to make friends |
Which of the following sentences is TRUE according to the passage?
A.All the people on QQ are talking about foolish things. |
B.We should think more of our friends in real life. |
C.We should be careful about boys or men online. |
D.Chatting online is a waste of time and money. |
The underlined phrase means.
A.turn on the computer | B.enter in QQ |
C.surf the internet | D.make friends |
There is one language that is used in every country in the world. The people who use it are young and old, short and tall, thin and fat. It is everybody’s second language. It is easy to understand, although you can’t hear it. It is sign language.
When you wave to a friend who is across the street, you are using sign language. When you smile at someone, you are saying, “I want to be friendly”, but you are not using speech. You are using sign language. When you raise your hand in class, you are saying, “Please ask me. I think I know the correct answer.”
Babies who can’t talk can point at things. They are using sign language. A policeman who wants to stop traffic holds up his hands. He is using sign language.
Many years ago, a French priest, Charles Michel de Epee, became interested in education for deaf people. He invented a finger alphabet (字母表). It is still in use. People can make the sign for letters and spell words with their hands, and deaf people can read and understand them. Soon there were schools for the deaf in many countries. The only university for the deaf is Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C.
Today, in the United States, there are special TV news programs for deaf people. The newsreader tells the news in sign language. At the same time, the words appear on the TV screen.
The actors in the Theatre of Deaf don’t spell every word. Sometimes they use hand signs. When they put two hands together, it means sandwich. They can make a roof with their hands when they want to show a house. One finger in front of an actor’s mouth can mean quiet. You can talk to people who are behind windows that are closed. And when you go swimming with your friends, you can have conversations under water.
How many hand signs do you use every day? The passage is mainly about ______.
A.a famous priest in France | B.the importance of sign language |
C.an introduction to sign language | D.how to use sign language |
If you want to express the idea
that “I am very friendly” to someone, you will ______.
A.raise your hand | B.put one hand onto the other |
C.make a roof with your hands | D.smile to the person |
Which of the following about sign language is TRUE?
A.It is a special language used in a few countries in the world. |
B.It is a way to express one’s ideas without words. |
C.It is only used by the deaf. |
D.It can be heard. |
A large number of women in Western European countries wish that they were born men. The number is said as high as 60% in West Germany.
“Women often wish that they had the same chance as men have, and believe it is still men’s world,” said Dr James Holden, one of the scientists who did the study.
Anne Harper has a very good job for an international oil company. She also believes in “Women’ s Liberation(解放)”.
“I don’t wish that I were a man,” she says, “and I don’t think many women do. But I do wish that people would stop looking down upon us women. At work, for example, we often do the work that men do but get paid less. There are still a lot of jobs that are usually the best ones and open only to men. If you’re a man, you have a much better chance of leading an exciting life. How many women pilots are there ... or engineers or scientists?”
What can we learn from the first paragraph?
A.60% women in West Germany wish that they were born men. |
B.Most women in Western European countries wish that their babies were all boys. |
C.60% Western European women wish that they were born men. |
D.60% Western European women who wish that they were born men are from West Germany. |
“It is still men’s world.” means “______.”
A.There’re more men than women in the world |
B.There’re more men scientists or engineers than women scientists or engineers in the world |
C.Women have not been given the same chance as men |
D.Women cannot live without men |
Anne Harper considers that women should ______.
A.live a better life than men | B.be really liberated |
C.be well paid | D.get better jobs than men |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A.Usually the best jobs are not open to women. |
B.Women are less paid than men for the same job. |
C.There’re more men pilots, engineers and scientists than women ones. |
D.Women are looked down upon because they’re the second-class citizens |