In the 1920s and 30s the airlines were just beginning. It was unusual for people to travel by air because it was expensive and dangerous. In those days, there were no flight attendants to look after the passengers(乘客). Young men ,or “stewards” helped the passengers onto the airplane and carried the passengers’ luggage(行李)but they did not provide food or drinks. But then in 1930,a woman called Ellen Church invented the “stewardess”.

Ellen Church was born in 1904 on a farm in Iowa. She was a different child. She didn’t want to work on a farm or marry a farmer —she wanted a more adventurous life. Ellen studied to be a nurse at the University of Minnesota and then got a job in a hospital. For the next few years she stayed at the hospital but also took flying lessons and got her pilot’s license.

Ellen was twenty-five years old when she first got in touch with Boeing Air Transport. She loved flying but she understood that airlines were a man’s world. Although women like Emelia Earheart were becoming famous, she realized it was impossible for a woman to have a career as a pilot .But she had another idea. Most people were frightened of flying because. flying was still an unreliable(不可靠的) way to travel. There were often delays(延误),many crashes and the bad weathers made many passengers sick. Ellen thought nurses could take care of passengers during flights and B.A.T. agreed.

The young woman from Iowa and seven other nurses became the first air stewardesses.

At first pilots were unhappy because they did not want stewardesses on airplanes, but passengers loved the stewardesses. In 1940 there were around 1000 of them working for different airlines. The early “stewardesses” had to be under twenty-five-year-old, single and slim. When a woman joined an airline, she had to promise not to get married or have children. It was a hard job and not well paid. They worked long hours and earned ＄1 an hour.

In the 1970s, stewardesses were unhappy in their job and airlines had to make some changes. Since the 1970s, “stewardesses” have been called flight attendants. They are well paid and work fewer hours than in the past.

1.The underlined word “adventurous” means _____________.

A. 奇怪的?????? B. 平淡的????? C. 有趣的????? D. 冒险的

2.The main reason for Boeing Air Transport offering Ellen the job was ________.

A. her flying experience????????????? ????????????? ????????????? B. her university education

C. her nursing experience ????????????? ????????????? D. her life attitudes

3.According to the passage, in the 1940s a woman had to ________ if she wanted to be a stewardess.

A. be a nurse????????????? ????????????? ????????????? B. be married????????????? ????????????? C. be a mother????????????? ????????????? ????????????? D. be young

4.The passage mainly talks about _______.

A. the background of early flying pilots????????????? ?????????????

B. the experience of flying passengers

C. the history of early flight attendants????????????? ?????????????

D. the development of airplanes

Survey: Most Chinese think penalty(惩罚) for drunk driving too light
2009-08-18 13:33:53 GMT2009-08-18 21:33:53 (Beijing Time) Xinhua English
BEIJING, Aug.18 (Xinhua) -- Most Chinese people consider drunk driving impossible to stop in the country while the current law(法律) too light for drunk drivers, a survey has found.

According to the survey done by the China Youth Daily, more than 96% of the 1,792 respondents(被告) said people around them had driven after drinking, while more than 81% complained the current penalty was too light, the paper reported Tuesday. Now offenders(违规者) face a three-to-six month suspension(吊销)of their driving licenses and detention(拘留) for up to 15 days in serious cases.
Drunk driving has attracted wide public attention in China after several serious accidents in recent months. On Aug. 4, a drunk driver in Hangzhou killed a 16-year-old girl. Two days later, another drunk driver in Shanghai killed a four-year-old boy and injured three others.
Drunk driving is regarded as just traffic violation if no accidents result, according to the Chinese law. But some people have called for regarding it as a crime no matter whether it results in serious accidents. “If it’s a crime and anyone caught will go to jail(监狱), a lot more people will be afraid of risking it,” said Wang Mingliang, a professor at the Fudan University. However, other people disagreed.
In 2008, China’s alcohol（酒精）-related traffic accidents led to 18,371 deaths, 76,230 injuries, and a property(财产) loss of 250 million yuan ($36.7 million), according to official figures.
【小题1】Most Chinese think it’s hard to stop drunk driving because of the __________ penalty for it according to the current law.
A. light                    B. less                 C. heavy
【小题2】If a drunk driver is caught now, he or she will have to face __________.
A. a detention and an important report 
B. a suspension of driving license and a detention
C. a suspension of driving license and a serious survey
【小题3】How many people died of alcohol-related traffic accidents in China in 2008?
A. 1,792                    B. 18,371                   C. 76,230
【小题4】According to the passage, which of the following is true?
A. A drunk driver in Shanghai killed a 4-year-old boy On August 4.
B. Over 1700 respondents in the survey complained the current penalty was too light.
C. China’s alcohol-related traffic accidents caused a property loss of $36.7 million in 2008.
【小题5】This passage may come from a __________.
A. newspaper               B. science fiction          C. story book

One day, when my wife and I were leaving a restaurant, I heard a man’s voice from a car in the car-park. After a quick look at the ear, 1 noticed the Pennsylvania license plate (牌照) at once, so I knew they had come from far away. The young man had his head partly out of the window and spoke to me as I moved closer, "Excuse me, my wife and I are trying to find a room for the night and every place in the area seems to be filled up. Do you have any suggestions for us where we might find a room?"
Well, that didn’t surprise me. After all, it was the busy time of the year for tourism. As he spoke, I noticed that his wife was pregnant (怀孕的). 1 told them that they should just keep searching (搜寻) and wished them good luck in their search. The young husband didn’t say any other word and backed out of the car-park and headed off. We also got into our car and drove home.
After a short drive, I couldn’t get this young couple out of my mind. Here they were, traveling in a different state, tired, the wife pregnant. It was at that moment that my wife told me we needed to go back and find that couple. We went back and looked for them. We even went as fat as the mountain. I’m happy that this story had a happy ending. We found them in the end, gave them a room, and now we are close friends.
【小题1】The main problem the young couple had was that they couldn’t_______________.
A. find a place for the night              B. find a doctor
C, find their way                         D. afford to stay at a hotel
【小题2】When the writer told him to keep searching, the young husband____________            .

The following four advertisements are from Yangtse Evening News, Mar 8^th , 2012.