“Beauty is only skin deep." This expression means that beauty is only a temporary surface quality. Some beauty products can cause lasting damage that goes far below the surface of the skin.
In America,many people use sunlight and non-natural light to darken their skin. Health experts advise against what is called“tanning”because of its links to akin cancer. In the African country of Senegal(塞内加尔),some women take health risks trying to do just the opposite.
An average beauty supply shop in Dakar has many kinds of skin-lightening creams and soaps. The World Health Organization says that 25%of Senegalese women use skin-lightening production a usual basis. These products can contain chemicals,like mercury(汞),hydroquinone(对苯二酚),etc. These are dangerous ingredients that can cause cancer and possibly other physical damage to the akin. They can actually burn the eyes and skin.
Shop worker Adama Diagne advises her visitors to avoid the stronger products that promise fast results. She users a cream that is made from carrots,not the strong chemical,hydroquinone. She says that it is a personal choice and that no one pressures her. Some women want to be black every day,but for her,she likes to be a shade of brown.
Women in Senegal say they lighten their skin for the same reason that women all over the world make changes to their appearance. They say they want to look beautiful,to find a husband to stand out in a crowd or simply to look great for a special event.
This thinking troubles Senegalese film-maker Khardiata Pouye Sall. So,she made“This Color That Bothers Me",a film about the subject of skin lightening. She said,“I used the most shocking images so that women would see the dangers. It is hard to understand why a woman says that dark skin is not beautiful. It is in their heads. They want to please a man,to he loved or they want to please society,to succeed."
Ms. Sall says that the government needs to better control the marketing and the sale of skin-lightening products. But she adds that education is the best way to persuade people against using them.
The underlined part“the opposite" in Paragraph 2 means some Senegalese women .
A.use sunlight to darken their skin |
B.try creams to prevent skin cancer |
C.use products to lighten their skin |
D.take health risks to become beautiful |
According to Adama Diagne,women shouldn't believe ·
A.beauty is just a personal choice |
B.a cream from carrots is healthier |
C.it is beautiful to be black every day |
D.a product can make you beautiful quickly |
We can infer that women in Senegal .
A.attract attention with shockingimages |
B.don't consider dark skin to be beautiful |
C.find it hard to understand the true beauty |
D.put beauty in the first place in their heads |
What is Sall's attitude towards skin-lightening products?
A.Unsupportive. | B.Casual. |
C.Responsible. | D.Positive. |
I love charity(慈善) shops and so do lots of other people in Britain because you find quite a few of them on every high street. The charity shop is a British institution, selling everything from clothes to electric goods, all at very good prices. You can get things you won't find in the shops anymore. The thing I like best about them is that your money is going to a good cause and not into the pockets of profit-driven companies, and you are not damaging the planet, but finding a new home for unwanted goods.
The first charity shop was opened in 1947 by Oxfam. The famous charity's appeal to aid postwar Greece had been so successful it had been flooded with donations(捐赠物). They decided to set up a shop to sell some of these donations to raise money for that appeal. Now there are over 7,000 charity shops in the UK. My favourite charity shop in my hometown is the Red Cross shop, where I always find children's books, all 10 or 20 pence each.
Most of the people working in the charity shops are volunteers, although there is often a manager who gets paid. Over 90% of the goods in the charity shops are donated by the public. Every morning you
see bags of unwanted items outside the front of shops, although they don't encourage this, rather ask people to bring things in when the shop is open.
The shops have very low running costs: all profits go to charity work. Charity shops raise more than £110 million a year, funding(资助)medical research, overseas aid, supporting sick and poor children, homeless and disabled people, and much more. What better place to spend your money? You get something special for a very good price and a good moral sense. You provide funds to a good cause and tread lightly on the environment.The author loves the charity shop mainly because of _______.
A.its convenient location |
B.its great variety of goods |
C.its spirit of goodwill |
D.its nice shopping environment |
The first charity shop in the UK was set up to ____.
A.sell cheap products |
B.deal with unwanted things |
C.raise money for patients |
D.help a foreign country |
Which of the following is TRUE about charity shops?
A.The operating costs are very low. |
B.The staff are usually well paid. |
C.90% of the donations are second-hand. |
D.They are open twenty-four hours a day. |
Which of the following may be the best title for the passage?
A.What to Buy a Charity Shops. |
B.Charity Shop: Its Origin & Development. |
C.Charity Shop: Where You Buy to Donate. |
D.The Public's Concern about Charity Shops. |
The days of elderly women doing nothing but cooking huge meals on holidays are gone. Enter the Red Hat Society -a group holding the belief that old ladies should have fun.
“My grandmothers didn’t do anything but keep house and serve everybody. They were programmed to do that,” said Emils Comette, head of a chapter of the 7-year-old Red Hat Society.
While men have long spent their time fishing and playing golf, women have sometimes seemed to become unnoticed as they age. But the generation now turning 50 is the baby boomers (生育高峰期出生的人), and the same people who refused their parents’ way of being young are now trying a new way of growing old.
If you take into consideration feminism (女权主义), a bit of spare money, and better health for most elderly, the Red Hat Society looks almost inevitable(必然的). In this society, women over 50 wear red hats and purple (紫色的) clothes, while the women under 50 wear pink hats and light purple clothing.
“The organization took the idea from a poem by Jenny Joseph that begins: “When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple. With a red hat which doesn’t go,” said Ellen Cooper, who founded the Red Hat Society in 1998. When the ladies started to wear the red hats, they attracted lots of attention. “The point of this is that we need a rest from always doing something for someone else,” Cooper said. “Women feel so ashamed and sorry when they do something for themselves.” This is why chapters are discouraged from raising money or doing anything useful. “We’re a ladies’ play group. It couldn’t be more simple,” added Cooper’s assistant Joe Heywood.
The underlined word “chapter” in paragraph 2 means __________.
A.one branch of an organization | B.a written agreement of a club |
C.one part of a collection of poems | D.a period in a society’s history |
From the text, we know that the “baby boomers” are a group of people who
A.have gradually become more noticeable |
B.are worried about getting old too quickly |
C.are enjoying a good life with plenty of money to spend |
D.tried living a different life from their parents when they were young |
DIt could be inferred from the text that members of the Red Hat Society are .
A.interested in raising money for social work |
B.programmers who can plan well for their future |
C.believers in equality between men and women |
D.good at cooking big meals and taking care of others |
Who set up the Red Hat Society ?
A.Emily Cornette . | B.Ellen Cooper . |
C.Jenny Joseph . | D.Joe Heywood . |
Women join the Red Hat Society because .
A.they want to stay young |
B.they would like to appear more attractive |
C.they would like to have fun and live for themselves |
D.they want to be more like their parents[来 |
It was Monday. Mrs Smith's dog was hungry, but there was not any meat in the house.
Considering that there was no better way, Mrs Smith took a piece of paper, and wrote the following words on it:“Give my dog half a pound of meat.”Then she gave the paper to her dog and said gently:“Take this to the butcher(*person whose job is selling meat). and he's going to give you your lunch today.”
Holding the piece of paper in its mouth, the dog ran to the butcher's. It gave the paper to the butcher. The butcher read it carefully, recognized that it was really the lady's handwriting and soon did it as he was asked to. The dog was very happy, and ate the meat up at once.
At noon, the dog came to the shop again. It gave the butcher a piece of paper again. After reading it, he gave it half a pound of meat once more.
The next day, the dog came again exactly at noon. And as usual, it brought a piece of paper in the mouth. This time, the butcher did not take a look at paper, and gave the dog its meat, for he had regarded the dog as one of his customers (*people who buy sth. from a shop).
But, the dog came again at four o'clock. And the same thing happened once again. To the butcher's more surprise, it came for the third time at six o'clock, and brought with it a third piece of paper. The butcher felt a bit puzzled. He said to himself, “This is a small dog. Why does Mrs Smith give it so much meat to eat today?”
Looking at the piece of paper, he found that there were not any words on it!Mrs Smith treated her little dog quite_________.
A.cruelly | B.fairly | C.kindly | D.politely |
It seemed that the dog knew well that the paper Mrs Smith gave it_______.
A.might do it much harm |
B.could do it much good |
C.would help the butcher |
D.was worth many pounds |
The butcher did not give any meat to the dog __________.
A.before he felt sure that the words were really written by Mrs Smith |
B.when he found that the words on the paper were not clear |
C.because he had sold out all the meat in his shop |
D.until he was paid enough by Mrs Smith |
From its experience, the dog found that ________.
A.only the paper with Mrs Smith's words in it could bring it meat |
B.the butcher would give the meat to it whenever he saw it |
C.Mrs Smith would pay for the meat it got from the butcher |
D.a piece of paper could bring it half a pound of meat |
At the end of the story, you'll find that _______.
A.the dog was clever enough to write on the paper |
B.the dog dared not go to the butcher's any more |
C.the butcher was told not to give any meat to the dog |
D.the butcher found himself cheated(*act in a way that is not honest)by the clever animal |
A woman and a man were involved in a car accident on a snowy cold Monday
morning. Both of their cars became totally damaged. But amazingly neither of them was hurt. God works in mysterious ways.
After they got out of their cars, the woman said, “So you are a man. That’s interesting. I’m a woman. Wow, just look at our cars ! There is nothing left, but we’re unhurt. This must be a sign from God that we should meet and be friends and live together in peace for the rest of our days.”
Flattered, the man replied, “Oh yes, I agree with you completely. This must be a sign from God!”
The woman continued, “ and look at this, here is another miracle. My car is completely destroyed but this bottle of wine doesn’t break. Surely God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune.” Then she handed the bottle to the man.
The man nodded his head in agreement, opened it and drank half the bottle and then handed it back to the woman. The woman took the bottle and immediately put the cap on, and handed it back to the man.
The man asked, “Aren’t you having some?”
The woman replied, “No, I think I’ll just wait for the police---”
What is the result of the accident?
A.The drivers were badly hurt. | B.The cars were completely destroyed |
C.the police arrived and saved the drivers. | |
D.the drivers became good friends |
The woman told the man to drink the wine to ________.
A.thank God’s help | B.accept her apology |
C.celebrate their survival | D.calm down and get relaxed |
Which of the following words can best describe the woman?
A.tricky | B.friendly | C.generous | D.optimistic |
E
Having one of those days or weeks —— when everything seems to trouble you? Even if you do nothing about it, your bad mood will probably go away after some time. But with a little effort, you can forget it much faster —— often within a day or two.
Walk it off
Exercise is the most popular bad-mood buster(破坏者). A person who’s in a bad mood has low energy and high tension. Taking a fast ten-minute walk, or doing some quick exercises can do wonders towards changing that bad mood.
Tune it out
Listening to your favorite music for a while can also make tension go away quickly, because music starts associations with past positive experiences we’ve had.
Give yourself a pep talk
Stop and listen to what’s on your mind. Bad moods are often started by too many negative thoughts. Write them all down on paper; the pessimistic (悲观的) messages you’ve been giving yourself and then give optimistic answers. (“I still don’t have a job. ‘vs’ I have two interviews next week.”)
Reduce your stress
Relaxation techniques are wonderful mood-lifters. These include deep breathing, stretching and visualizing (想象), all of which sound complicated but aren’t. One easy way to visualize: close your eyes and picture a favorite place, such as the beach. Another simple way to clear up worries is to make a to-do list. One reason for being in a bad mood is feeling you have no options (选择权). By taking control over certain areas, you realize you’re not helpless. You can make changes in your mood and life.
Avoid things that won't improve your mood
TV may not help much. You need to increase your energy level and stimulate something in your mind —— that the TV show “Neighbours” won’t do. And before you reach for that piece of cake and coffee, think about how mood and food are linked. Sugar and caffeine contribute to depressed moods. The better choice? Research shows that carbohydrates, such as potatoes and pasta, produce a calming effect on people who have a desire for them.
72. We learn from the passage that it might help rid us of a bad mood_______.
A. to do nothing about it B. to take a slow walk on the beach
C. to do some exercises with light music D. to talk it to neighbours
73. Why is it suggested that you close your eyes and picture the beach?
A. It is not complicated to do so.B. It is an area to be easily controlled.
C. It helps beat a bad mood. D. It brings us a new technique.
74. TV may not improve your mood because_________.
A. it sometimes shows what happens around you
B. it keeps you stay unmoved
C. it reminds you of eating and drinking
D. it produces a calming effect
75. This passage most probably appears in_______.
A. a book on physical exercises B. a doctor’s handbook
C. a notice about amusement D. a magazine on health