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In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.
It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.
1.Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they .
A. want to be as rich as their neighbours
B. want others to know or to think that they are rich
C. don’t want others to know they are rich
D. want to be happy
2.It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to .
A. live outside New York City B. live in New York City
C. live in apartments D. have many neighbours
3.Arthur used the name “Jones” in his series of short stories because it is .
A. an important name B. a popular name in the United States
C. his neighbour’s name D. not a good name
4.According to the writer, it is to keep up with the Joneses.
A. correct B. interesting
C. impossible D. good
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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Hello, Listeners. Welcome to Henton Hospital Radio. Before our music program at four, I’m going to repeat some of our hospital rules.
The hospital can sleep 800 patients. There’re 8 beds in each ward (病房). The visiting hours are in the afternoon from 2:30 to 3:30 and in the evening from 7:00 to 8:00. But
remember only two people can see you at the same time. Sorry about that, but you can see what would happen if we didn’t have these rules.The other rules are about our hours. We start quite early—you might not be used to that. We wake you at 6 o’clock, and breakfast is at 8 o’clock, lunch is at noon.
There’s tea at 3:30 and supper is at 6 o’clock.
You can see the non-smoking sign — we don’t allow smoking in the wards. I’m sure you understand why. However, if you do need to smoke, there are some smoking rooms where it is allowed.
You will find the radio switch (开关) on the wall near your bed, with your own headphones, if you want to listen. It’s our own hospital radio wishing you a quick recovery (康复).
1.Who do you think the listeners might be?
A. Patients. B. Visitors.
C. Doctors D. Nurses
2.How many wards are there in this hospital?
A. 8 B. 80
C. 100 D. 800
3.Which is Not allowed in the hospital?
A. Listening to the hospital radio. B. Visiting patients in the morning.
C. Smoking in smoking-rooms. D. Getting up early in the morning.
4.What program will follow this radio talk?
A. Hospital rules. B. A weather report.
C. A free talk. D. A music program.
难度: 简单查看答案及解析
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French surgeons have performed what they said on Wednesday was the world's first partial face transplant（移植）--- giving a new nose, chin and lips to a woman attacked by a dog.
Specialists from two French hospitals carried out the operation on a 38-year-old woman on Sunday in the northern city of Amiens by taking the face from a brain-dead woman, who had hanged herself just hours before the operation. Her family agreed on the operation.
“The patient is in an excellent state and the transplant looks normal,” the hospitals said in a brief statement after waiting three days to announce the pioneering surgery.
The woman had been left without a nose and lips after the dog attacked her last May, and was unable to talk or chew properly. Such injuries are “extremely difficult, if not impossible” to repair using normal surgical techniques, the statement said.
The statement did not say what the woman would look like when she had fully recovered, but medical experts said she was unlikely to resemble the woman who had been the source of her new face.
The operation was led by Jean-Michel Dubernard, a specialist from a hospital in Lyon who has also carried out hand transplants.
Skin transplants have long been used to treat burns and other injuries, but operations around the mouth and nose have been considered very difficult because of the area's high sensitivity（敏感） to foreign tissue.
Teams in France, the United States and Britain had been developing techniques to make face transplants a reality
There was a short-term risk for the patient if blood vessels became blocked, a medium-term danger of her body rejecting the new skin and a long-term possibility that the drugs used could cause cancers.
Experts say that although such medical advances should be celebrated, the transplant had thrown up moral（道德的）and ethical(伦理的)issues. Little is known about the psychological effect of thee transplant.
1.The best title for the passage would be ________.
A. French Woman has First Partial Face Transplant
B. First Face Transplant Opens Debate
C. Risks and Ethical Problems of a Face Transplant
D. A Complete Face Transplant of a French Woman
2.Why did the woman need such an operation?
A. Her face had been bitten by a dog
B. Her face had been burnt in a fire.
C. She was born especially ugly
D. She wanted to test such an operation.
3.What can we learn about the operation?
A. The woman had used the dead woman' s whole face.
B. There has arisen（引起） a debate about the operation.
C. The woman will suffer from psychological damage soon.
D. Such transplants have been performed by doctors.
4.Which of the following is NOT one of the risks of the operation?
A. Block of blood vessels. B. Organ rejection
C. Heart damage. D. Side effect of the drugs
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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Dr. Michael Prager, a leading Botox expert, said that a growing number of women are developing something called “computer face”. He also mentioned that professionals who worked long hours in front of a screen were ending up with saggy jowls（颚骨下垂）,“turkey neck” and deep-set wrinkles（皱纹） on their forehead and around their eyes.
The Botox expert said that, of all his clients, office workers were most likely to show premature （过早的）signs of aging. “ If you are one of the unfortunate people who frown（皱眉）while you are concentrating on the screen then, over time, you will inevitably（不可避免地） end up with frown lines.’’ Dr. Prager said. “What is perhaps more surprising is the number of women with saggy jowls because they are sitting in one position for so long. If you spend most of the time looking down then the neck muscles shorten and go saggy, eventually giving you a second neck.”
Dr. Prager, who has a practice near Harley Street in London, said he encourages his clients（客户） to put a mirror next to their computer so they can see if they are frowning at the screen. “When people are stressed or thinking hard about something, then they will often put on a ‘grumpy（脾气暴躁的）face’ without even knowing what they are doing. When my clients put a mirror next to their desk, they are often shocked by the angry, frowning face which stares back at them.”
He said, “The women I am seeing at the moment have only been using computers at work for the last decade or so. But women in their 20s have grown up with them and use them for every single task. I think the problem is going to become much, much worse. In another ten years, they could be looking quite awful.”
Dr. Prager said there were several simple steps which could avoid “computer face” such as regular screen breaks and stretching the neck muscles. And, of course, there was always Botox. He said that , after a couple of sessions of Botox, the habit of “grumpy face” could be broken.
1.According to the passage, which of the following are signs of aging?
A. Saggy jowls and short necks
B. Turkey neck and frown lines
C. Deep-set wrinkles and angry faces
D. Second neck and stressed muscles
2.Why does Dr. Prager suggest a mirror for his clients?
A. To be aware of their “computer face”
B. To see if they have got a second neck
C. To make sure their make-up is perfect
D. To find more signs of premature aging
3.From the last 2 paragraphs, we can know that_____
A. “computer face” is avoidable
B. we should give up using computers
C. we should break the habit of “grumpy face”
D. the younger generation is worse at computers
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
remember only two people can see you at the same time. Sorry about that, but you can see what would happen if we didn’t have these rules.