阅读理解

　　With kings, artists and writers playing chess, you might get the idea that chess is the most civilized game．But you’d be wrong．

　　A Scandinavian manuscript(手稿), 900 years old, tells of how one player, who lost a game, picked up the board and hit his opponent on the head with it．Boards were made of stone in those days．

　　Grandmasters have called it “a blood sport”, “like a fight to the death with broken bottles” and “very dangerous－you have to kill people”．

　　If you agree with the old saying that life is too short for chess, play blitz chess．Five minutes on the clock．Non-players think chess is slow and boring, but blitz is an extremely exciting sport．And as aggressive(进攻性的)as any martial art(武术)．In parks in Russia, where they gather in summer to play blitz, the players don’t just take pieces, they knock them off the board onto the ground．And in the classic game, even world championship players have been known to kick each other under the table．

　　With all this aggression, and the stories of nervous breakdowns among chess players, it’s worth remembering that chess can heal as well as harm．My own favourite chess story is that of John Healy．His autobiography(自传), ?The Grass Arena, was made into a great film by the BBC．Healy was a failed boxer who became the most serious kind of alcoholic(酒鬼)．He became homeless．The bottle nearly killed him．But in prison, he discovered chess, and managed to give up drinking completely．He is now a successful chess player, journalist and writer．

　　Healy is played in the film by the British actor Mark Rylance．It’s the performance of a lifetime－chess makes surprisingly good cinema．There is a moving scene where Healy tries to find the words to describe how his life has changed．“It’s like boxing again．．．but not with fists．．．with the mind．”

阅读理解

　　Levi Strauss, who was born in 1830 and went to the USA at the age of 17, sat in the saloon and drank his beer slowly．He began to think．Business was not good．Nobody wanted to buy anything．He thought about the canvas and the pots and pans on the wagon．Then he remembered the hole in Hank’s trousers．Suddenly, he had an idea－“pants”, he jumped up and shouted, “Everyone needs pants．” He hurried to a tailor and gave him all his canvas．

　　“I want you to make pants with this canvas,” he said．“Can you do that?”

　　“Yes, of course,” said the tailor, “What name is it?”

　　“Strauss, Levi Strauss．”

　　It was the beginning of jeans．Now more than a hundred years later, people wear jeans all over the world and everyone knows the name of Levi Strauss．In the 1860s, farmers, rail-road workers, cowboys and miners helped to develop the new land．Life was hard．They worked for long hours in all kinds of weather．They wore trousers made by Levi Strauss．They were the first people to wear jeans in America．

　　Jeans first came to Europe with the American soldiers during World War II．Soon, workers in Europe were wearing them．Workers liked them：they were cheap, hardwearing and practical．They were not popular with young people generally until the late 1950s and early 1960s．

　　It came suddenly．It started in America and it crossed the Atlantic quickly．It was a new kind of music, a new kind of dance．Rock’ n Roll．The king of Rock’ n Roll was Elvis Presley．Teenagers loved him．At home he wore a T shirt, an old leather jacket and blue jeans, so more and more teenagers began to wear jeans．They liked them tight．

阅读理解

　　Many American presidents in the 19^th century were born in poor families．They spent their childhood in little wooden rooms．They got little education．Washington and Lincoln, for example, seldom went to school and they taught themselves．Lincoln once did jobs of a worker, shop-keeper and postmaster in his early years．

　　A large number of American presidents had experiences in the army．The two best known were Ulysses Grant and Dwight D．Eisenhower．Grant was a general in the American Civil War and Eisenhower was a hero in the Second War．It happened that they graduated from the same school－West Point Military Academy(西点军校)．

　　One may be surprised to learn that both of them did not do well in the school．Eisenhower, for example, was once fined(punished to pay money)because he broke the rules of the school．

　　The jobs of the U．S．presidents are tiring．He must keep an eye on anything important that happens both at home and abroad．Every day, a lot of work waits for him to do and he has to make many important decisions．

　　When Franklin Roosevelt was a child, he was once brought to visit President Taft．The old president said to him, “When you grow up, you should not be president．It's a tiring job．”