Passage Twelve (We Should All Grow Fat and Be Happy)

Here’s a familiar version of the boy-meets-girl situation. A young man has at last plucked up courage to invite a dazzling young lady out to dinner. She has accepted his invitation and he is overjoyed. He is determined to take her to the best restaurant in town, even if it means that he will have to live on memories and hopes during the month to come. When they get to the restaurant, he discovers that this ethereal creature is on a diet. She mustn’t eat this and she mustn’t that. Oh, but of course, she doesn’t want to spoil his enjoyment. Let him by all means eat as much fattening food as he wants: it’s the surest way to an early grave. They spend a truly memorable evening together and never see each other again.

What a miserable lot dieters are! You can always recognize them from the sour expression on their faces. They spend most of their time turning their noses up at food. They are forever consulting calorie charts; gazing at themselves in mirrors; and leaping on to weighing-machines in the bathroom. They spend a lifetime fighting a losing battle against spreading hips, protruding tummies and double chins. Some wage all-out war on FAT. Mere dieting is not enough. They exhaust themselves doing exercises, sweating in sauna baths, being pummeled and massaged by weird machines. The really wealthy diet-mongers pay vast sums for ‘health cures’. For two weeks they can enter a nature clinic and be starved to death for a hundred guineas a week. Don’t think it’s only the middle-aged who go in for these fads either. Many of these bright young things you see are suffering from chronic malnutrition: they are living on nothing but air, water and the goodwill of God.

Dieters undertake to starve themselves of their own free will; so why are they so miserable? Well, for one thing, they’re always hungry. You can’t be hungry and happy at the same time. All the horrible concoctions they eat instead of food leave them permanently dissatisfied. Wonderfood is a complete food, the advertisement says. ‘Just dissolve a teaspoonful in water…’. A complete food it may be, but not quite as complete as a juicy steak. And, of course, they’re always miserable because they feel so guilty. Hunger just proves too much for them and in the end they lash out and devour five huge guilt-inducing cream cakes at a sitting. And who can blame them? At least three times a day they are exposed to temptation. What utter torture it is always watching others tucking into piles of mouth-watering food while you munch a water biscuit and sip unsweetened lemon juice!

What’s all this self-inflicted torture for? Saintly people deprive themselves of food to attain a state of grace. Unsaintly people do so to attain a state of misery. It will be a great day when all the dieters in the world abandon their slimming courses; when they hold out their plates and demand second helpings!

1.The best title for this passage is

A.On Fat.

B.We Should All Grow Fat and Be Happy.

C.Many Diseases Are Connected with Fat.

D.Diet Deprives People of Normal Life.

2.Why do they never see each other again?

A.Because it is a memorable evening.

B.Because she lets him eat as much fattening food as he wants.

C.Because she does not eat this and drink that.

D.Because eating fattening food is the surest way to an early grave.

3.Which of the following ways is NOT mentioned for diet?

A.Doing exercises.

B.Not eating sugar.

C.Not eating fat.

D.Taking sauna baths.

4.What is the author’s attitude toward diet?

A.Persuasive.

B.Critical.

C.Indifferent.

D.Adversative.

Passage Twelve (We Should All Grow Fat and Be Happy)
Here’s a familiar version of the boy-meets-girl situation. A young man has at last plucked up courage to invite a dazzling young lady out to dinner. She has accepted his invitation and he is overjoyed. He is determined to take her to the best restaurant in town, even if it means that he will have to live on memories and hopes during the month to come. When they get to the restaurant, he discovers that this ethereal creature is on a diet. She mustn’t eat this and she mustn’t that. Oh, but of course, she doesn’t want to spoil his enjoyment. Let him by all means eat as much fattening food as he wants: it’s the surest way to an early grave. They spend a truly memorable evening together and never see each other again.
What a miserable lot dieters are! You can always recognize them from the sour expression on their faces. They spend most of their time turning their noses up at food. They are forever consulting calorie charts; gazing at themselves in mirrors; and leaping on to weighing-machines in the bathroom. They spend a lifetime fighting a losing battle against spreading hips, protruding tummies and double chins. Some wage all-out war on FAT. Mere dieting is not enough. They exhaust themselves doing exercises, sweating in sauna baths, being pummeled and massaged by weird machines. The really wealthy diet-mongers pay vast sums for ‘health cures’. For two weeks they can enter a nature clinic and be starved to death for a hundred guineas a week. Don’t think it’s only the middle-aged who go in for these fads either. Many of these bright young things you see are suffering from chronic malnutrition: they are living on nothing but air, water and the goodwill of God.
Dieters undertake to starve themselves of their own free will; so why are they so miserable? Well, for one thing, they’re always hungry. You can’t be hungry and happy at the same time. All the horrible concoctions they eat instead of food leave them permanently dissatisfied. Wonderfood is a complete food, the advertisement says. ‘Just dissolve a teaspoonful in water…’. A complete food it may be, but not quite as complete as a juicy steak. And, of course, they’re always miserable because they feel so guilty. Hunger just proves too much for them and in the end they lash out and devour five huge guilt-inducing cream cakes at a sitting. And who can blame them? At least three times a day they are exposed to temptation. What utter torture it is always watching others tucking into piles of mouth-watering food while you munch a water biscuit and sip unsweetened lemon juice!
What’s all this self-inflicted torture for? Saintly people deprive themselves of food to attain a state of grace. Unsaintly people do so to attain a state of misery. It will be a great day when all the dieters in the world abandon their slimming courses; when they hold out their plates and demand second helpings!
1.The best title for this passage is
A.On Fat.
B.We Should All Grow Fat and Be Happy.
C.Many Diseases Are Connected with Fat.
D.Diet Deprives People of Normal Life.
2.Why do they never see each other again?
A.Because it is a memorable evening.
B.Because she lets him eat as much fattening food as he wants.
C.Because she does not eat this and drink that.
D.Because eating fattening food is the surest way to an early grave.
3.Which of the following ways is NOT mentioned for diet?
A.Doing exercises.
B.Not eating sugar.
C.Not eating fat.
D.Taking sauna baths.
4.What is the author’s attitude toward diet?
A.Persuasive.
B.Critical.
C.Indifferent.
D.Adversative.

　　It is true that paper can not last long. But is there any 1 that would last as long as 2 and as easy to write on as paper? The Babylonians 3 just such a material. Recently an English man unearthed a large 4 of a king of Babylonia, whose 5 were made of clay (陶土).

　　This is the 6 these books were made. They just made a sheet of clay of proper 7 and thickness, and wrote on it with a sharp stick. These books of clay, 8 they had been dried and 9 in an oven (炉), could last 10 as long as stone. Such books will not 11 up in a fire 12 be spoiled (损坏) by wetness; nor will they be 13 by mice or rats. It is true that they could be 14 , but the pieces can be gathered up and 15 together. The Englishman had to work a long time with broken sheets discovered there before he 16 them all put together properly.

　　There were 30,000 sheets in the library.

　　Every book was made up of many sheets, as our books have many 17 . It was, of course, impossible to 18 them together as we 19 now with our books. So all the clay sheets had to be 20 and the name of the book placed on every one.

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阅读理解：

　　If you want to keep your land fertile (肥沃), you must try to stop soil from being washed away by water or winds. When soil is taken away by running water or blowing winds, we call it soil erosion. Ways have been found to stop soil erosion and this is known as soil conservation (保持).

　　One way of stopping soil erosion is to grow small plants such as grasses. These plants are called cover crops, whose roots (根) hold the soil tightly together. It's difficult for rain water to wash away the soil. When trees and bushes (矮树丛) are planted at the edges of an open field, soil erosion by strong winds cannot take place easily. The trees and bushes, which act as a very big and strong wall, protect the open land from the winds. The way to stop soil erosion on slopes (斜坡) is to build terraces (梯田) on the slope of hillside.

　　When the slope of a hillside is cut into “stairs”, water carrying soil cannot run straight down the terraces, which are used to slow down the speed of the falling water containing much soil in it. In this way most of the soil in the water is left behind on the terraces.

1．What takes place in soil erosion?

[　　]

A．Flood happens to the fertile land.

B．A large quantity of earth is carried away by water or winds.

C．Terraces are built on the slope of hillside.

D．Plants are grown to protect the open land.

2．The underlined words in this passage means “________”.

[　　]

A．grass roots

B．trees and bushes

C．small and low plants, such as grasses, to protect soil from being eroded away

D．covering plants that produce grain or vegetables

3．Trees and bushes are planted around an open field

[　　]

A．because their roots hold soil tightly

B．to prevent soil from being blown away by winds

C．to stop soil from being washed away

D．to keep soil wet

4．Which of the following can be used as the best title for the passage?

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5．Grasses, bushes, trees and terraces ________.

[　　]

A．can stop soil erosion

B．can stop soil from being washed away only

C．is called soil conservation

D．can stop soil from being blown away only

In times of economic crisis. Americans turn to their families for support. If the Great Depression is any guide, we may see a drop in our skyhigh divorce rate. But this won't necessarily represent. an increase in happy marriages. In the long run, the Depression weakened American families, and the current crisis will probably do the same.
　　We tend to think of the Depression as a time when families pulled together to survive huge job losses, By 1932. when nearly one-quarter of the workforce was unemployed, the divorce rate had declined by around 25% from 1929 But this doesn't mean people were suddenly happier with their marriages. Rather, with incomes decreasing and insecure jobs, unhappy couples often couldn't afford to divorce. They feared neither spouse could manage alone.
　　Today, given the job losses of the past year, fewer unhappy couples will risk starting separate households, Furthermore, the housing market meltdown will make it more difficult for them to finance their separations by selling their homes.
　　After financial disasters family members also tend to do whatever they can to help each other and their communities, A 1940 book. The Unemployed Man and His Family, described a family in which the husband initially reacted to losing his job "with tireless search for work."He was always active, looking for odd jobs to do.
　　The problem is that such an impulse is hard to sustain Across the country, many similar families were unable to maintain the initial boost in morale(士气). For some, the hardships of life without steady work eventually overwhelmed their attempts to keep their families together. The divorce rate rose again during the rest of the decade as the recovery took hold.
　　Millions of American families may now be in the initial stage of their responses to the current crisis, working together and supporting one another through the early months of unemployment.
　　Today's economic crisis could well generate a similar number of couples whose relationships have been irreparably(无法弥补地)ruined. So it's only when the economy is healthy again that we'll begin to see just how many broken families have been created

1. 1.

   In the initial stage, the current economic crisis is likely to______.

   1. A.
      tear many troubled families apart
   2. B.
      contribute to enduring family ties
   3. C.
      bring about a drop in the divorce rate
   4. D.
      cause a lot of conflicts in the family
2. 2.

   In the Great Depression many unhappy couples close to stick together because______.

   1. A.
      starting a new family would be hard
   2. B.
      they expected things would turn better
   3. C.
      they wanted to better protect their kids
   4. D.
      living separately would be too costly
3. 3.

   In addition to job losses. What stands in the way of unhappy couples getting a divorce?

   1. A.
      Mounting family debts
   2. B.
      A sense of insecurity
   3. C.
      Difficulty in getting a loan
   4. D.
      Falling housing prices
4. 4.

   What will the current economic crisis eventually do to some married couples?

   1. A.
      It will force them to pull their efforts together
   2. B.
      It will undermine their mutual understanding
   3. C.
      It will help strengthen their emotional bonds
   4. D.
      It will irreparably damage their relationship
5. 5.

   What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

   1. A.
      The economic recovery will see a higher divorce rate
   2. B.
      Few couples can stand the test of economic hardships
   3. C.
      A stable family is the best protection against poverty
   4. D.
      Money is the foundation of many a happy marriage