In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbours.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighbourhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbours.
It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbours. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.
| A．want to be as rich as their neighbours |
| B．want others to know or to think that they are rich |
| C．don’t want others to know they are rich |
| D．want to be happy |
| A．live outside New York City |
| B．live in New York City |
| C．live in apartments |
| D．have many neighbours |
| A．an important name |
| B．a popular name in the United States |
| C．his neighbour’s name |
| D．not a good name |
| A．do as the poor persons around him do |
| B．do everything he likes to do |
| C．do as his neighbours do |
| D．do as the rich people around him do |
Do you still get free plastic(塑料) bags from the supermarkets?
Free plastic bags are not allowed at shops and supermarkets in China, and people have to pay for them. The rule started on June 1, 2009. It came because our country tried to make litter less. Making super-thin (超薄) plastic bags has not allowed.
The Chinese once used about 3,000,000,000 plastic shopping bags a day, and they have caused pollution of the environment. The bags have become a main cause of plastic pollution because they are easy to break and people throw them away here and there. So the Chinese people are encouraged to bring their own bags for shopping.
What kind of shopping bag is the best to bring? Some students in Chongqing city have a good idea. They make their own shopping bags. They use old clothes to make cloth bags, and send them to their parents as presents. They also ask their parents and friends to use cloth bags instead of plastic ones. They think it is their duty to protect the environment. China made this rule because plastic bags were bad for the _______.
| A．environment | B．litter | C．shops | D．supermarkets |
The Chinese people are encouraged to bring _______ for shopping.
| A．no bags | B．free plastic bags |
| C．their own bags | D．super-thin plastic bags |
Some students in Chongqing _______.
| A．ask their parents to make cloth bags | B．make cloth bags themselves |
| C．pick up plastic bags everywhere | D．buy cloth bags for their parents |
Colourful fruit and vegetables are good for our health. Their natural colours help protect our bodies from disease(病，疾病). Think about the colours of fruit and vegetables: the red of tomatoes, the orange of carrots, the green of kiwi and the purple of grapes.
You can enjoy eating fruit and vegetables of all colours---green, yellow, blue, purple, and white. Each colour is important to our health. These colours work together to protect our bodies. Scientists have studied them and discovered the good of colourful fruit and vegetables. The list below shows the good of some colours in fruit and vegetables:
Red gives us a healthy heart. It can reduce(减少，降低) heart disease. Red helps improve our memory(记忆力).
Yellow is good for our eyes.
White can reduce cholesterol (胆固醇) .
Green is good for our eyes, too. It also gives us strong bones and teeth.
Blue helps us keep a good memory as we grow old. It also help fight heart disease. So when you are buying or eating fruit and vegetables, remember to try different colours of fruit and vegetables.Red can reduce___________.
| A．eye disease | B．cholesterol | C．reduce cholesterol | D．heart disease |
Which colour can improve our memory?
A. Red. B. Green. C. Blue. D. A and C.If you want to keep your body strong, which colours are good for you
| A．Red and green. | B．Yellow and blue. |
| C．White and orange. | D．All the above. |
The passage mainly tells us_____________.
| A．the importance of colourful fruit and vegetables |
| B．white can reduce cholesterol |
| C．yellow is also good for our eyes |
| D．green gives us strong bones and teeth |
When you are learning English, you find it not clever to put an English sentence, word for word, into your own language. Take the sentence "How do you do?" as an example. If you look up each word in the dictionary, one at a time, what is your translation (翻译)? It must be a wrong sentence in your own language.
Languages do not just have different sounds, they are different in many ways. It’s important to master(掌握) the rules(规则) for word order (顺序) in the study of English, too. If the speaker puts words in a wrong order, the listener can’t understand the speaker’s sentence easily.Sometimes when the order of words in an English sentence is changed, the meaning of the sentence changes. But sometimes the order is changed, the meaning of the sentence doesn’t change.
Let’s see the difference between the two sentences:"She only likes apples. " "Only she likes apples. "
When you are learning English, you must use it as the English speaker does.From the passage we know that _______when we are learning English.
| A．we shouldn’t put every word into our own language |
| B．we should look up (查阅) every word in the dictionary |
| C．we need to put every word into our own language |
| D．we must read word by word |
The writer thinks it is________in learning English.
| A．difficult to understand different sounds |
| B．possible to remember the word order |
| C．important to master the rules in different ways |
| D．easy to master the rules for word order |
We can learn from the passage that_______.
| A．the meaning of an English sentence always changes with the order of the words |
| B．the order of words can never change the meaning of an English sentence |
| C．sometimes different order of words has a different meaning |
| D．if the order of words is different, the meaning of the sentence must be different |
What’s your dream vacation? Watching wildlife in Kenya? Boating down the Amazon? Sunbathing in Malaysia? New chances are opening up all the time to visit the world. So we visit travel companies, compare prices, and pay our money.
We know what our vacation costs us. But do we know what it might cost someone else? It’s true that many poorer countries now depend on tourism for foreign income. Unfortunately, though, tourism often harms the local(本地的) people more than it helps them.
It might cost their homes and lands. In Myanmar, 5,200 people were forced to leave their homes among the pagodas(佛塔) in Bagan so that tourists could visit the pagodas.
Tourism might also cost the local people their jobs and dignity(尊严). Local workers often find only low-paying jobs in the tourist industry. And most of the money do not help the local economy（经济）. Instead, money return to the tour operators in richer countries, When the Maasai people in Tanzania were driven from their lands, some moved to poor places of the city. Others now make a little money selling things or acting for photos.
Problems like these were noticed more than 20 years ago. But now tour operators and local governments are working together to begin correcting them. Tourists, too, are putting on the pressure.
The result is “ethical（合乎职业道德的）tourism”. Ethical tourism has people at its heart. New international agreements and rules can help protect the people’s lands, homes, economies and cultures. The beginnings are small, though, and the problems are complex(复杂的).
But take heart. The good news is that everyone, including us, can play a part to help the local people in the places we visit. Tour operators and companies can help by making sure that local people work in good conditions and earn the money they should get.
They can make it a point to use only locally owned hotel, restaurants and guide services. They can share some money to help the local economy. And they can help the local people plan and manage tourism.
What can tourists do? First, we can ask tour companies to provide information about the conditions of local people. We can then make our choices and tell them why. And while we’re abroad, we can:
Buy local foods and products.
Pay a fair price for goods and services and not bargain for the cheapest price.
Ask before taking photographs of people.
They are not just part of the scenery!
Let’s enjoy our vacation and make sure others do, too. Which of the following is not mentioned?
| A．Local people protected the pagodas in Bagan well. |
| B．Tourists may stay in hotels opened by local people. |
| C．Local people are mainly provided with low-paying work. |
| D．Tourists had better not bargain with local people for a cheap price. |
The underlined phrase "take heart" means" ".
| A．pay attention | B．take care | C．cheer up | D．give up |
According to the passage, the writer thinks .
| A．tourism is not a promising industry |
| B．dream vacations should be spent abroad |
| C．the problems caused by tourism are easy to settle |
| D．tourists should respect local customs and cultures |
What is probably the best title for the passage?
| A．Tourism Causes Bad Effects. | B．Tourism Calls for Good Behavior. |
| C．Vacations Bring a Lot of Fun. | D．Vacations Cost More Than You Think. |
Thinking is something you choose to do as a fish chooses to live in water. To be human is to think. But thinking may come naturally without your knowing how you do it. Thinking about thinking is the key to critical(批判性的) thinking. When you think critically, you take control of your thinking processes（过程）. Otherwise, you might be controlled by the ideas of others. Indeed, critical thinking is at the heart of education.
The word “critical” here has a special meaning. It does not mean taking one view against another view, as when someone criticizes another person for doing something wrong. The nature of critical thinking is thinking beyond the easily seen--beyond the pictures on TV, the untrue reports in the newspapers, and the faulty reasoning.
Critical thinking is an attitude as much as an activity. If you are interested in life and want to dig deeper into it, you are a critical thinker. If you find pleasure in deep thinking about different ideas, characters, and facts, you are a critical thinker.
Activities of the mind and higher-order reasoning（推理）are processes of deep and careful consideration. They take time, and do not go hand in hand with the fast speed in today’s world: fast foods, instant coffee, and self-developing film. If you are among the people who believe that speed is a measure（尺度）of intelligence（智慧）, you may learn something new from a story about Albert Einstein. The first time Banesh Hoffman, a scientist, was to discuss his work with Albert Einstein. Hoffman was too nervous to speak. But Einstein immediately made Hoffman feel comfortable by saying, “Please go slowly. I don’t understand things quickly.” Critical thinking is important to us because if we do not think critically, _______.
| A．it will be hard for us to think naturally and fast |
| B．we might be controlled by other people’s ideas |
| C．we will follow the ideas of others naturally |
| D．we might be fooled by other people’s ideas |
If you are a critical thinker, you will ________.
| A．take one view against another view |
| B．trust the reports in the newspapers |
| C．think deeply about different ideas |
| D．criticize other people for their mistakes |
In the last paragraph, “something new” suggests that ________.
| A．speed can improve intelligence |
| B．intelligence is not decided by speed |
| C．the smarter you are, the faster you do things |
| D．the faster you do things, the smarter you become |
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