Social customs and the ways of behaving change. Things that were considered impolite many years ago are acceptable . Just a few years ago, it was considered to be impolite behavior for a man to smoke on the street . No man who thought of himself as being a gentleman would make fool of himself by smoking when a lady was in the room.

Customs are also different from country to country. Does a man walk on the left or on the right of a woman in your country? Or doesn’t it matter? What about table manners?

The Americans and the British not only speak the same language but also share a large number of social customs. For example, in both America and England people shake hands when they meet each other for the first time. Also, most Englishmen will open a door for a wonman or offer their seat to a woman , and so will most Americans. Promptness is important both in England and in America. That is , if a dinner invitation is for 6 o'clock , the dinner guest either arrives close to that time or calls up to explain his delay.

The important thing to remember about social customs is not to do anything that might make other people feel uncomfortable especially if they are your guests. There is an old story about a man who gave a very formal dinner party. When the food was served, one of the guests started to eat his peas with a knife. The other guests were amused or greatly surprised , but the host calmly picked up his knife and began eating in the same way. I t would have been bad manners to make his guest feel foolish or uncomfortable.

1.The underlined phrase” make fool of himself” in the first passage means____

A．make himself strong                     B．make himself rich

C．make himself comfortable                 D．cause himself to seem like a fool

2.According to the passage , the American and British _____

A．don’t speak the same language

B．don’t have social custom in common

C．do share a lot of social customs

D．do have the exactly same social customs

3.If a dinner invitation is for six o’clock , the guest is supposed to arrive at ____ six

A．nearly a minute or two later than           B．a quarter to

C．a quarter to                            D．much later than

4.The last example in the passage shows____

A．The correct way to use a knife at table

B．that it is good manners not to make your guests feel foolish or uncomfortable

C．that social customs and ways of behaving change too fast

D．promptness is important both in England and in America

5.Which of the following do you think is the best title for this passage?

A．Social Customs and Customs               B．Social Life

C．American and British Customs              D．Promptness is Important

 

Bend over, take a deep breath and drink some water！This is just one of hundreds of pieces of advice you might get if you have the hiccups（打嗝）.Hiccups are so mysterious(神秘的)．We really don’t know why they start and why they stop．
Everyone has a favorite cure for a case of the hiccups．Some people think that a good scare is necessary to get well．Others eat a little sugar．Still others drink a glass of water with a knife in it．
An American man named Jack O’Leary said that he had hiccupped 160 million times over a period of eight years．He tried 60，000 cures，but none of them worked．Finally he prayed（向…祈祷） to Saint Jude, the saint of Hopeless cases, and his hiccupping stopped immediately．
A British worker didn’t stop his hiccups until eight months later. People from all over the world wrote him letters with suggestions for getting well．He tried them all，but the hiccups continued．Finally，he drank a “secret” mixture(混合物) someone had sent him. By that evening his hiccups were gone．
Why did these cures work for these two men? No one really knows. But people who have studied many cases of hiccups have an idea. Hiccups usually go away if you believe in the cure．
【小题1】        might be the best cure for hiccups.

A．Special pills

B．A spoonful of salt

C．Cold water

D．What you believe in

【小题2】The British worker spent __________ in stopping his hiccups．

A．4 hours

B．2 days

C．8 months

D．8 years

【小题3】What is the main idea of this passage?

A．Different ways to stop hiccups

B．What makes hiccups happen

C．How to get hiccups

D．Jack O‘Leary’s hiccups

This is a s__81____ of twin brothers, Justin and Paul. Their friend Susan calls them for h__82____. Justin and Paul drive to Hill Building q____83____. Three man in police uniform p___84___ them into a green van. They are not p__85_____. They are the robbers. The twin brothers aren’t a____86___. Paul opens the back door of the van w__87____ a knife. They take different r___88____ to the police station. They meet the robbers a____89__ in the police station. They are s____90_____. The policemen stop the van because the back door of the van is open.

 

There was a little boy with a bad temper（脾气）.His father gave him some nails（钉子）to drive into the fence (栅栏)when he lost his temper .The first day the boy drove 37 nails into the fence .Then it began to become less . He found it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence .
Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all . He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy should now pull out one nail for each day that he  held his temper .The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone .
The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence .He said , “You have done well ,my son ,but you look at the fence . It will never be the same .When you say things in anger ,they leave a scar（痕迹）just like this one .You can put a knife in a man and draw it out . It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry ,the wound (伤口)is still there .A verbal （言语）wound is as bad as a physical(肉体)one.
【小题1】Who was in a bad temper ?

A．the boy’s father	B．the boy’s friend
C．the little boy	D．a man

【小题2】 The word “it” in “it began to become less”refers to (指) ________ .

A．the first day	B．the fence
C．the nails	D．the boy’s temper

【小题3】The way of pulling out nails is to _________.

A．make one’s temper less

B．make one hold one’s temper

C．leave a scar on somsone

D．hurt someone .

【小题4】 The boy thought that _______

A．it was easy for him to drive the nails into the fence .

B．driving nails into the fence is easier than holding his temper .

C．holding his temper is easier than driving nails into the fence .

D．it was easy for him to lose his temper after driving nails .

【小题5】We learn from the reading that _______ .

A．the father was a man with bad temper .

B．it took a long time for the boy’s temper to become less.

C．the father was good at helping one who is easy to lose temper .

D．the boy was good at driving nails into the fence .