Whether you’re eating at a fancy restaurant or dining in someone’s home, proper table manners are likely to help you make a good impression. According to a US expert, Emily Post, “All rules of table manners are made to avoid ugliness.”
While Henry Hitchings of the Los Angeles Times admits that good manners can reduce social conflict, he points out that mostly their purpose is protective – they turn our natural warrior-like selves into more elegant ones.
So where did table manners come from?
In medieval England, a writer named Petrus Alfonsi took the lead to urge people not to speak with their mouths full. And King David I of Scotland also proposed that any of his people who learned to eat more neatly be given a tax deduction (减除).
Disappointingly, that idea never caught on. It was during the Renaissance, when there were real technical developments, opinions of correct behavior changed for good. “None of these was more significant than the introduction of the table fork,” wrote Hitchings. “Gradually, as forks became popular, they brought the new way of eating, making it possible, for instance, to consume berries without making one’s fingers dirty.”
Forks were introduced to Britain in 1608 and 25 years later, the first table fork reached America. Yet while most of the essentials (基本要素) are the same on both sides of the Atlantic, there are a few clear differences between what’s normal in the US and what holds true in the UK. For example, in the US, when food needs cutting with a knife, people generally cut a bite, then lay aside the knife and switch the fork to their right hand. Then they pick up one bite at a time. By contrast, Britons keep the fork in the left hand and don’t lay the knife down.
Though globalization has developed a new, simpler international standard of table manners, some people still stick with the American cut-and-switch method.The Los Angeles Times noted, “They are hanging on to a form of behavior that favors manners above efficiency.”
The underlined phrase “caught on” in the passage probably means ______.
| A．worked in practice | B．became popular |
| C．drew attention | D．had a positive effect |
Rock stars and their money
Around the world young people are spending unbelievable sums of money listening to rock music. Forbes reports that at least fifty rock stars have incomes between two million and six million dollars per year.
"It doesn't make sense," says Johnny Mathis, one of the older music millionaires, who made a million dollars a year when he was popular in 1950s. "Performers aren't worth this kind of money. In fact, nobody is."
But the rock stars' admirers seem to disagree. Those who love rock music spend about two billion dollars a year for records. They pay 150 million to see rock stars in person.
Luck is a key word for explaining the success of many. In 1972 one of the luckiest was Kon Mclean, who wrote and sang "American Pie". Mclean writes his own music, so he earns an additional two cents on every single record of the song.
Neil Young who performs in torn blue jeans, sometimes sings to an audience of 10,000, each of whom has paid five dollars for a ticket. After paying expenses, Young leaves with about $ 18,000 in his blue jeans at the end of an evening.
How do the rock stars use their money? What do they do when the money starts pouring in like water? Most of the young stars simply show the money around. England's Elton John gave someone a $ 38,000 Rolls car and bought himself 5,000 pairs of eyeglasses, then lighted up and spelt ：E-L-T-O-N. He also bought himself two cars, "one for each foot".
Many rock stars live like Grace Slick and Jefferson Airplane. Those performers return from a tour, pay their bills, and buy new toys. Then when they need money again, they do another tour. They save no money and live from hand to mouth.
In the end the rock stars' life is unrewarding. After two or three years riches and fame are gone. Left with his memories and his tax problems, the lonely star spends his remaining years trying to attract strangers. New stars have arrived to take his place. This passage is mainly about .
| A．the success of a rock star | B．the way rock stars live |
| C．rich rock stars | D．the admirers of rock stars |
How much expense does Neil Young pay for a performance?
| A． $10,000 | B．$33,000 | C． $32,000 | D．$38,000 |
According to passage, the underlined phrase "from hand to mouth" means .
| A．they have to earn money by hand |
| B．They know how to spend money in a reasonable way |
| C．they earn money only for their immediate enjoyment |
| D．they steal to feed their mouth when they need money |
Have you ever picked a job based on the fact that you were good at it but later found it made you feel very uncomfortable over time? When you select your career, there's a whole lot more to it than assessing your skills and matching them with a particular position. If you ignore your personality, it will hurt you long-term regardless of your skills or the job’s pay. There are several areas of your personality that you need to consider to help you find a good job. Here are a few of those main areas;
1) Do you prefer working alone or with other people?
There are isolating jobs that will drive an outgoing person crazy and also interactive jobs that will make a shy person uneasy. Most people are not extremes in either direction but do have a tendency that they prefer. There are also positions that are sometimes a combination of the two, which may be best for someone in the middle who adapts easily to either situation.
2) How do you handle change?
Most jobs these days have some elements of change to them, but some are more than others. If you need stability in your life, you may need a job where the changes don’t happen so often. Other people would be bored of the same daily routine.
3) Do you enjoy working with computers？
I do see this as a kind of personality characteristic. There are people who are happy to spend more than 40 hours a week on a computer, while there are others who need a lot of human interaction throughout the day. Again, these are extremes and you'll likely find a lot of positions somewhere in the middle as well.
4) What type of work environment do you enjoy？
This can range from being in a large building with a lot of people you won’t know immediately to a smaller setting where you'll get to know almost all the people there fairly quickly.
5) How do you like to get paid?
Some people are motivated by the pay they get, while others feel too stressed to be like that. The variety of payment designs in the sales industry is a typical example for this.
Anyway, these are a great starting point for you. I've seen it over and over again with people that they make more money over time when they do something they love. It may take you a little longer, but making a move to do what you have a passion for can change the course of your life for the better.What is unnecessary in your job hunting?
| A．Assessing your skills |
| B．Taking your personality into consideration |
| C．Matching your skills with a position |
| D．Going to different areas |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Isolating usually drive people mad. |
| B．Interactive jobs make people shy easily. |
| C．Extreme people tend to work with others. |
| D．Almost everyone has a tendency in jobs. |
The underlined word “stability” in the passage most probably means?
| A．no anger. | B． no movement. | C．gentleness. | D．enthusiasm. |
What could be the best title for this passage?
| A．Lifestyles and Job Pay | B．Personalities and Jobs |
| C．Job Skills and Abilities | D．Jobs and Environment |
Fat and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. “Football, tennis, cricket--- anything with a round ball, I was useless,” he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the one always made fun of in school gym classes in Devonshire, England.
It was a mountain bike he received for his 15th birthday that changed him. At first he went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to ride the bike along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set up his mind on building up his body, increasing his speed and strength. At the age of 18, he ran his first marathon.
The following year he met John Ridgway and was hired as an instructor at Ridgway’s school of adventure in Scotland, where he learnt about Ridgway’s cold-water exploits. Greatly interested, Saunders read all he could about North Pole explorers and adventures, then decided that this would be his future.
In 2001, after becoming a skillful skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition(探险) towards the North Pole. It took unbelievable energy. He suffered frostbite（冻疮）, ran into a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit, pulling his supply-loaded sled（雪橇） up and over rocky ice.
Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the North Pole by himself than any other British man. His old playmates would not believe the change.
Next October, Saunders, 27, heads south from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, a 2900-kilometer journey that has never been completed on skis. What change happened to Saunders after he was 15 years old?
| A．He became good at most sports. | B．He made friends with a runner. |
| C．He joined a sports team. | D．He began to build up his body. |
The underlined word “exploits” (paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．journeys | B．adventures | C．researches | D．operations |
Which of the following is the correct order of the events that happened to Saunders?
a. He ran his first marathon. b. He skied alone in the North Pole.
c. He rode his bike in a forest. d. He planned an adventure to the South Pole.
| A．a c d b | B．c d a b | C．c a b d | D．a c b d |
What does the story mainly tell us abut Saunders?
| A．He is a success in sports. | B．He is the best British skier. |
| C．He is Ridgway’s best student. ` | D．He is a good instructor at school. |
Scientific experiments can sometimes go wrong and when they do the results may range from the disastrous to the troubling. One such experiment took place in South America about fifty years ago. Whether its final consequences will cause serious damage or nothing more than a small trouble still remains to be seen.
The story began in 1956 when an American scientist working in Brazil decided to solve the problem of increasing the productivity of that country’s bees. He imported a very active type of African bee from Tanzania and mated (交配)it with the more easy-going native variety to produce a new kind of bees. The new bees worked harder and produced twice as much honey. It seemed that Professor Kerr, for that was the scientist's name, had a total success on his hands.
Then things began to go wrong. For some reason as yet unseen, but perhaps as a result of something in their environment, the new bees began to develop extremely attacking personalities. They became bad-tempered and easy to be angry, attacked the native bees and drove them from their living places.
But worse was to follow. Having taken over the countryside, the new bees, with their dangerous stings (叮) , began to attack its neighbors -- cats, dogs, horses, chickens and finally man himself. A long period of terror began that has so far killed a great number of animals and about 150 human beings.
This would have been bad enough if the bees had stayed in Brazil. But now they are on the move, heading northwards in countless millions towards Central and North America, and moving at the alarming speed of 200 miles a year. The countries that lie in their path are naturally worried because it looks as if nothing can be done to stop them. The results of the South American experiment .
| A．are not yet certain | B．have proved to be wrong |
| C．have caused a serious trouble | D．are not important |
The experiment mentioned in this passage was designed to .
| A．make African bees less active |
| B．make Brazilian bees more easy-going |
| C．increase the number of bees in Brazil |
| D．increase the amount of honey in Brazil |
Which of the following may be the cause of the new bees' attacking personalities?
| A．Their production of honey. | B．Their living environment. |
| C．Their hard work. | D．Their bad temper. |
The last paragraph implies that .
| A．the bees have been driven to Central and North America |
| B．the bees must be stopped from moving north |
| C．the bees may bring about trouble in more countries |
| D．the bees prefer to live in Brazil |
How often do you go on holiday? Going on holiday makes you feel good while you're there－you gain the health benefits for months, new research shows.
Jetting off to exotic destinations such as the Maldives cuts your blood pressure, helps you sleep better and bounce back from stress, it found. The benefits last at least a fortnight longer than the vacation and can be felt for months in some cases where it is claimed. Experts say workers should always take their full holiday entitlement each year－as many as one in three don't－to get the benefits.
The study compared key health markers in holidaymakers visiting Thailand, Peru or the Maldives, with people who stayed at home and continued working. The average blood pressure of those on holiday dropped by 6% while the workers saw their blood pressure rise by 2% over the same period. The sleep quality of holiday-makers improved by 17% while that of the non-holidaymakers deteriorated by 14%.
The study also found the ability of vacationers to recover from stress—known as the stress-resilience test－improved by 29%. There was a 71% fall in stress resilience scores among workers. Test showed a fall in blood glucose levels, reducing the risk of diabetes, trimmer waistlines and enhanced mood and energy levels, with the effects sustained for at least 2 weeks after returning home.
The Holiday Health Experiment was conducted by tour operator Kuoni and Nuffield Health, the UK's largest healthcare charity. The author intends to tell us that _____.
| A．it is best to go to foreign countries like Maldives. |
| B．we had better go on holiday for the benefits of health |
| C．we have to go on holiday as much as possible |
| D．you'll certainly get depressed if you don't go on holiday |
According to the article, how many people go on holiday?
| A．Two thirds | B．17% | C．One third | D．A quarter |
The underlined word "deteriorated" in Paragraph 3 probably means "______".
| A．remained | B．rose | C．improved | D．worsened |
Which of the following can we infer from the passage?
| A．Holiday makers are more adaptable than non-holidaymakers. |
| B．The result of the study is mostly based on the description from the people involved. |
| C．The further you go, the better you benefit. |
| D．Most people like to stay at home during the holiday. |
The best title of the passage is ______.
| A．A Holiday Health Experiment | B．Key Health Markers in Holidaymakers |
| C．Health Benefits from Holiday | D．Health Problems of Having Holiday |
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