I wonder about my Mom sometimes, and all the other black mothers who got up at 6 a. m. to go to the white man's house with sacks over their shoes because it was so wet and cold. I wonder how they made it. They worked very hard for the man. They made his breakfast and they swept his floors and they took care of his babies. They didn' t have too much time for the three of us.
I wonder about my Mom, who walked out of a white woman's clean house at midnight and came back to her own where the lights had been out for three months, and the pipes were frozen and the wind came in through the holes in the wall. She'd have to deal with the rats(老鼠): leave some food out for them so they wouldn't bite the doors or the babies. Oh, they were just like part of the family!
I wonder how she felt telling those white kids she took care of to brush their teeth after they ate, to wash their hands after they finished bathing. She could never tell her own kids because there wasn't soap or water back home.
I wonder how my Mom felt when we came home from school with a list of vitamins and pills (药片)the school nurse said we had to have. Mom would cry all night, and then go out and spend most of the rent money for pills. A week later, the white man would come for his eighteen dollars' rent and Mom would beg him to wait until tomorrow. She had to lie to him that she had lost her wallet or the relief check was coming soon or the white people had some money for her. Tomorrow I'd be hiding in the closet because there was only supposed to be two kids in the flat, and I could hear the rent man shout at my Mom and call her a cheat. And when he finally went away, Mom put the sacks on her shoes and went off to the rich white man's house to dress the rich white kids so that their mother could take them to a special baby doctor.Mother got up at 6 a. m. every day, because_____________.
A.she had to cook breakfast for her children |
B.she had to catch the first bus to the factory |
C.she had to work in the white man' s house |
D.she had to go to see a special baby doctor |
Mother never told us to brush our teeth or to wash our hands because______________.
A.she thought we didn't need to |
B.we didn't like washing hands |
C.we had done everything very well |
D.there was no soap or water in our home |
Why did the writer hide in a closet when the landowner came for rent?
A.The closet could only hold two kids. |
B.Only two kids were allowed to live in the house. |
C.They should pay more rent for two kids. |
D.There was only one bedroom for the two kids. |
What does the writer mainly tell us?
A.Black people lead a hard life. |
B.Black people don't have enough rent money. |
C.White people lead an expensive life. |
D.White people have special baby doctors. |
She's rarely seen without an elegant handbag on her arm, butthe question of what the Queen keeps inside it has long remained amystery. Now a new book claims to cast light on the contents of theroyal Matriarch's main possession.
What's in the Queens Handbag-And Other Royal Secrets revealsthat though the 81-year-old British monarch(君主)does, t carry cash, keys or passport, since she doesn't own one—her bag is far fromempty. Inside are a collection of little presents from her children, amake-up case, some family photos, and a camera sometimes. There'salso an s-shaped metal hook that she places on the dinner table'sedge to hang her bag from so that it doesn't touch the floor.
Should you ever meet the Queen, it's not what's in her bag butwhat she does with it that should concern you. She uses her bags, ofwhich she has about 200 made by London-based firm Lanier, to sendsignals to her staff.
Before dining with the Queen, a point is made to inform gueststhat dinner will end in about five minutes after she places her bagon the table top.
On walkabouts, she holds the bag to one side to show she intendsto move on, at which point a lady-in-waiting joins the conversation, al-lowing her to slip away without causing offence.
When at a banquet, if the Queen's bag is placed on the floorthen it's a sign that she's not finding the conversation interesting, and wants nothing more than to escape. However, if the royal bag isdangling happily from the crook of her left arm, she is happy and relaxed. What does the article tell us about the Queen's handbag?
A.She seldom has it with her. |
B.She always carries the same handbag. |
C.It used to be thought empty. |
D.Its contents are not the same as ours. |
When is it necessary for the Queen to convey her intention withher bag?
A.When she is with guests. | B.When she eats outside. |
C.When she has her staff around. | D.When she is tired of speaking. |
The Queen gives no signal when she _________.
A.hangs her bag on the metal hook | B.hangs her bag from her left arm |
C.places her bag on the floor | D.puts her bag on the table top |
By holding her bag to one side, the Queen shows she wants to _________
A.talk to her lady-in-waiting | B.start a conversation |
C.stop to continue her walk | D.go on with the talk |
" What's in the Queen's Handbag : And Other Royal Secrets " is italicized(用斜体写)because that's _________.
A.the very title of the article |
B.the name of a book |
C.the main information given in the article |
D.what the writer wants to stress |
Research shows that humans switch from selfish to unselfishbehavior when they are watched. Do you?
A picture of a set of eyes on a computer screen can cause achange in the way people act. Even images of eyes on a charity do-nation, a collection box encourages people to be unselfish, becausepeople put more money in a collection box that has a picture of eyeson it than they do when a flower symbol is on the box.
Manfred Milinski from the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany and Bettina Rockenbachof the University of Berlin, the authorsof a new study, found that people actbetter when they are being watched be-cause they feel they will be rewardedfor good behavior. Their report also referred to other research showing thatthis response of behaving well whenwatched is somehowcodedinto humans and people respond thisway unconsciously, or without realizing it.
It is not just humans that act unselfishly when they are beingwatched. A fish called the grooming fish cleans other fish. Whenother fish are around, it is gentler. When no other fish are around, however, the grooming fish bites chunks from the fish it is supposedto be cleaning.
The researchers suggest that the best way to get people to be-have in the correct way is to make them feel watched. This could bethe reason for the success of a famous American army poster. On itwas a picture of an elderly man staring fiercely and pointing, it appeared, to the person who was looking at the poster. Under the picture was the caption " I Want You. " It encouraged hundreds of thou-sands of young American men to join the army during the SecondWorld War to fight the Germans and Japanese. According to the report, why does a person behave better whenhe feels he is being watched?
A.He does not want to be shamed by others. |
B.He needs to show he is a good person. |
C.He desires others to like him more. |
D.He feels he will receive some social reward. |
The underlined word "coded” (Paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to _________.
A.hidden | B.programmed |
C.forgotten | D.leaned |
What is the text mainly about?
A.It describes changed behavior when observed. |
B.It details ways to control people's behavior. |
C.It tells how to make people work harder. |
D.It discusses different advertising methods. |
According to the text, which of the following statements is true?
A.People pretend to behave better when they are watched. |
B.Fish bite other fish in a fish tank when they are alone. |
C.People donate more money when they feel they are watched. |
D.Soldiers fought better during World War II because of a poster. |
Where would the study described in the text most likely befound?
A.In a newspaper. | B.In a scientific journal. |
C.In an advertising magazine. | D.In a science textbook. |
No one knows for sure when advertising first started. It is possible that it grew out of the discovery that some people did certainkinds of work better than others did them. That led to the concept ofspecialization, which means that people would specialize, or focus, on doing one specific job.
It's take a man we'll call Mr. Fielder, for example. He dideverything connected with farming. He planted seeds, tended thefields, and harvested and sold his crops. At the same time, he didmany other jobs on the farm. However, he didn't make the bricks forhis house, cut his trees into boards, make the plows(犁),or any ofthe other hundreds of things a farm needs. Instead, he got them frompeople who specialized in doing each of those things.
Suppose there was another man we shall call Mr. Plowright. Usingwhat he knew about farming and working with iron, Mr. Plowright in-vented a plow that made farming easier. Mr. Plowright did not reallylike farming himself and wanted to specialize in making really goodplows. Perhaps, he thought, other farmers will trade what they grow forone of my plows.
How did Mr. Plowright let people know what he was doing?
Why, he advertised, of course. First he opened a shop and then heput up a sign outside the shop to attract customers. That sign mayhave been no more than a plow carved into a piece of wood and asimple arrow pointing to the shop door. It was probably all the information people needed to find Mr. Plowright and his really goodplows.
Many historians believe that the first outdoor signs were usedabout five thousand years ago. Even before most people could read, they understood such signs. Shopkeepers would carve into stone, clay, or wood symbols for the products they had for sale.
A medium, in advertising talk, is the way you communicateyour message. You might say that the first medium used in advertising was signs with symbols. The second medium was audio, orsound, although that term is not used exactly in the way we use ittoday. Originally, just the human voice and maybe some kind ofsimple instrument, such as a bell, were used to get people's attention.
A crier, in the historical sense, is not someone who weeps easily. It is someone, probably a man, with a voice loud enough to beheard over the other noises of a city. In ancient Egypt, shopkeepersmight hire such a person to spread the news about their products. Often this earliest form of advertising involved a newly arrived shiploaded with goods. Perhaps the crier described the goods, explainedwhere they came from, and praised their quality. His job was, inother words, not too different from a TV or radio commercial intoday's world. What probably led to the start of advertising?
A.The discovery of iron. |
B.The specialization of labor. |
C.The appearance of new jobs. |
D.The development of farming techniques. |
To advertise his plows, Mr. Plowright _________.
A.praised his plows in public |
B.placed a sign outside the shop |
C.hung an arrow pointing to the shop |
D.showed his products to the customers |
The writer makes up the two stories of Mr. Fielder and Mr. Plowright in order to _________.
A.explain the origin of advertising |
B.predict the future of advertising |
C.expose problems in advertising |
D.provide suggestions for advertising |
In ancient Egypt, a crier was probably someone who _________.
A.owned a ship |
B.had the loudest voice |
C.ran a shop selling goods to farmers |
D.functioned like today's TV or radio commercial |
The last two paragraphs are mainly about _________.
A.the history of advertising |
B.the benefits of advertising |
C.the early forms of advertising |
D.the basic design of advertising |
The people who built Stonehenge in southernEngland thou-sands of years ago had wild parties, eating barbecued pigs andbreaking pottery. This is accordingto recent workby archaeologists—history experts who investigate how human beings lived inthe past.
Archaeologists digging nearStonehenge last year discovered theremains of a large prehistoric villagewhere they think the builders of themysterious stone circle used to live. The village is about 4,600 years old,
the same age as Stonehenge and as old as the pyramids in Egypt. U isless than two miles from the famous ancient landmark and lies inside amassive man-made circular dirt wall, or " henge " ,known as the DurringtonWalls.
Remains found at the site included jewelry, stone arrowheads, tools made of deer antlers, wooden spears and huge amounts of animal bones and broken pottery. “These finds suggest Stone Age people went to the village at special times of the year to feast andparty, “says Mike Parker-Pearson from Sheffield University in England.
He said many of the pig bones they found had been thrownaway half-eaten. He also said the partygoers appeared to have shotsome of the farm pigs with arrows, possibly as a kind of sport beforebarbecuing them.
An ancient road which led from the village to the River Avonwas also found. Here, the experts think, people came after their par-ties to throw dead relatives in the water so the bodies would bewashed downstream to Stonehenge.
Parker-Pearson believes Stonehenge was like a cemetery whereancient Britons buried the dead and remembered their ancestors. “The theory is that Stonehenge is a kind of spirit home to the ancestors.
The recent discovery of the village within the Durrington Wallsshows that Stonehenge didn't stand alone but was part of a muchbigger religious site, according to Parker-Pearson.
People still come to worship and celebrate at Stonehengetoday. They meet there when the sun sets on the shortest day of winterand when it rises on the longest day of summer. But the days of barbecuing whole pigs there and throwing family members into the riverare a thing of the past. What was Stonehenge according to the text?
A.A village where hundreds of people once lived. |
B.A place that regularly hosted large parties. |
C.A church where local villagers would get married. |
D.A site where dead people were placed or remembered. |
The underlined word “It” (Paragraph 2) refers to _________
A.the village | B.Stonehenge |
C.the pyramid | D.the dirt wall |
From the text we can infer that the people who came to the village _________
A.liked to drink wine | B.knew how to hunt |
C.were from Egypt | D.lived by the River Avon |
What do experts think people did after the village parties?
A.Returned to live at Stonehenge. |
B.Prayed for good luck in the new year. |
C.Hunted farm pigs as a sport. |
D.Put their dead relatives in the river. |
When do people most often go to Stonehenge today?
A.When a new discovery is made. |
B.At the beginning of summer and winter. |
C.On the longest and shortest days of the year. |
D.When they want to have a barbecue. |
Camping wild is a wonderful way to experience the natural world and, at its best, it makes little environmental influence. But with increasing numbers of people wanting to escape into the wilderness, it is becoming more and more important to camp unobtrusively(不引人注目地)and leave no mark.
Wild camping is not permitted in many places, particularly in crowded lowland Britain. Wherever you are, find out about organizations responsible for managing wild spaces, and contact them to find out their policy on camping and shelter building. For example, it is fine to camp wild in remote parts of Scotland, but in England you must ask the landowner's permission, except in national parks.
Camping is about having relaxation, sleeping outdoors, experiencing bad weather, and making do without modern conveniences. A busy, fully-equipped campsite(野营地)seems to go against this, so seek out smaller, more remote places with easy access to open spaces and perhaps beaches. Better still, find a campsite with no road access : walking in makes a real adventure.
Finding the right spot to camp is the first step to guaranteeing a good night's sleep. Choose a campsite with privacy and minimum influence on others and the environment. Try to use an area where people have obviously camped before rather than creating a new spot. When camping in woodland, avoid standing dead trees, which may fall on a windy night. Avoid animal runs and caves, and possible homes of biting insects. Make sure you have most protection on the windward side. If you make a fire, do so downwind of your shelter. Always consider what influence you might have on the natural world. Avoid damaging plants. A good campsite is found, not made—changing it should be unnecessary. You needn't ask for permission when camping in _________.
A.national parks in England |
B.most parts of Scotland |
C.crowded lowland Britain |
D.most parts of England |
The author thinks that a good campsite is one _________.
A.with easy access |
B.used previously |
C.with modem conveniences |
D.far away from beaches |
The last paragraph mainly deals with _________.
A.protecting animals | B.building a campfire |
C.camping in woodland | D.finding a campsite with privacy |
The passage is mainly about _________.
A.the protection of campsites |
B.the importance of wild camping |
C.the human influence on campsites |
D.the dos and don'ts of wild camping |