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I came home one day recently and, for reasons I don’t quite understand, my living room smelled like my grandmother’s house. Suddenly I felt as if I were 12 years old, happy and relaxed, sitting in her kitchen. I can remember what her house looked like, though it was sold 20 years ago – her three-level plant stand, the plates lining the walls, the window over her sink – but these visual memories don’t have the power that smell does. The funny thing is, I can’t even begin to describe the odor(气味) that was so distinctively hers. The best I can do is this: “It smelled like my grandmother’s house.”
It’s a common experience, and a common linguistic( 语言学的) problem. In cultures worldwide, people have powerful olfactory memories. This odor-memory link is also called “the Proust phenomenon,” after Marcel Proust’s famous description of the feelings aroused by a cake dipped in tea in “Remembrance of Things Past.”
Olfactory memories seem to be more closely bound up with emotions than are visual or auditory ones.
Not all these memories are pleasant, of course, and smells can also trigger feelings of pain.
It is surprisingly hard for English-speakers to describe the odors that occasion such strong emotions, however. English possesses almost no abstract smell words that pick out links or themes among unrelated aromas(芳香).
We have plenty of these in the visual field. “Yellow,” for example, identifies a characteristic that bananas, lemons, some cars, some flowers, old book pages, and the sun all share.
But for odors, we don’t have many more than the vague “musty” (smells old and stale) and “musky” (smells perfumey). We usually have no choice but to say that one thing smells like another – like a banana, like garlic, like diesel fuel.
A few languages, though, do have a rich odor vocabulary. Linguist Asifa Majid has found that the Jahai, the Semaq Beri, and the Maniq, hunter-gatherer groups in Malaysia and Thailand, employ a wide range of abstract smell words and can identify aromas as easily as we can colors. The Jahai have a word, for example, that describes “the seemingly dissimilar smell of petrol, smoke, bat poop, root of wild ginger and wood of wild mango.”
Last year my cat got sprayed by a skunk(臭鼬), and the vet told me to wash its face with coffee to cover the bad smell. Until then, I had never realized that coffee, which I find delicious, smells remarkably like skunk spray, which I do not.
Science has identified the chemicals that both share. They are called mercaptans (硫醇). But in oral English, we have no word for the underlying note that connects these two odors. If the Jahai drank coffee and encountered skunks, I bet they would.
1.The opening paragraph is mainly intended to .
A.express the writer’s affection for his grandmother
B.direct the readers’ attention to a linguistic problem
C.tell us the odor of the grandmother’s house stayed the same
D.prove smell has a greater power than visual memories
2.Which of the following is related to olfactory memories?
A.Forming an image in mind after seeing the word “injury”.
B.Feeling sympathetic when seeing a sick cat.
C.Dancing to the music upon hearing it played.
D.Missing fried eggs with garlic cooked by mum.
3.The example of the Jahai suggests that .
A.the Jahai don’t have many words in the visual field
B.English possesses many vague words like “musty” and “musky”
C.the Jahai has more abstract smell words than English
D.skunk and coffee have the same smell, but different functions
4.What can we learn from the passage?
A.The author feels pity about the limitation of his language.
B.English has a wide range of visual and odor vocabulary.
C.Olfactory memories can bring nothing but pleasant feelings.
D.Cultures worldwide always collide with each other.
难度: 困难查看答案及解析
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The Jewish(犹太人）family-had-just finished supper and the woman had placed the dishes in the sink.The kitchen was quite damp and even gloomier than in the main room.It was their third apartment since the start of the war,they had abandoned the other two in a hurry.The woman came back into the room and sat down again at the table.The 3-year-old boy sat with his back straight,his eyes fixed on his father,but it was obvious that he was so sleepy that he could barely sit up.
The man was smoking a cigarette.His eyes were blood-shot and he kept blinking in a funny way.This blinking had begun soon after they fled the second apartment.
It was late,past ten o'clock and they could have gone to sleep,but first they had to play the game that they had been playing every day for two weeks.Even though the man tried his best and he moved very quickly,the fault was his and not the child's.The boy was.marvelous.Seeing his father put out his cigarette,he opened his blue eyes even wider.The woman,who didn't actually take part in the game, stroked the boy's hair.
“We'll play the key game just one more time only today.Isn't that right?"she asked her husband.
He didn't answer because he was not sure.They were still two or three minutes off. He arose and walked towards the bathroom door.Then the woman called out softly,“Ding-dong."At the sound of the bell ringing so musically from his mother's lips,the boy jumped up from his chair and ran to the front door,which was separated from the main room by a narrow corridor.
“Who's there?"he asked.
The woman,remaining in her chair,shut her eyes tight as if feeling a sudden, sharp pain.
“I'l1 open up in a minute,I'm just looking for the keys,"the child called out. Then he ran back to the main room,making a lot of noise with his feet.He ran in circles around the table,pulled out one of the sideboard drawers,and slammed it shut.
“Just a minute,I can't find them,I don't know where Mama put them,"he yelled,then dragged the chair across the room,climbed onto it,and reached up to the top of the shelf.
“I found them!”he shouted triumphantly.Then he got down from the chair, pushed it back to the table,and calmly walked to the door and opened it.
“Shut the door,darling,"the woman said softly."You were perfect.”
The child didn't hear what she said.He stood in the middle of the room,staring at the closed bathroom door.
“Shut the door, the woman repeated in a tired flat voice.Every evening she repeated the same words,and every evening he stared at the closed bathroom door.
At last it opened.The man was pale and his clothes were streaked with lime and dust.He stood there,eyes blinking in that funny way.
“Well?How did it go?"asked the woman.
“I still need more time.He has to look for them longer.I slip in sideways all right,but then...It's so tight in there that when I turn...And he's got to make more noise-he should stamp his feet louder."
The child didn't take his eyes off him.
“Say something to him,"the woman whispered.
＂You did a good job,little one,"he said mechanically.
“That's right,”the woman said,“you're really doing a wonderful job,darling. You act just like a grown-up.And you do know that if someone should really ring the doorbell when Mama is at work,everything will depend on you?And what will you say when they ask you about your parents?”
“Mama's at work.”
“And Papa?"He was silent.
“And Papa?"the man screamed in terror.The child turned pale.
“And Papa?”the man repeated more calmly.
“He's dead,”＂the child answered and threw himself at his father,who was standing right beside him,but already long dead to the people who would really ring the bell.
1.What does the underlined sentence in Para.5 mean?
A.The family needed to practise the game for another 2 or 3 minutes.
B.There was still 2 or 3 minutes left before someone knocked at the door.
C.They would become too sleepy to play the game 2 or 3 minutes later.
D.The father needed 2 or 3 more minutes before the kid opened the door.
2.Why did the boy make a lot of noise when he was looking for the key?
A.Because he needed to drown out the noise caused by his father.
B.Because he was too little and just couldn't control his footsteps.
C.Because he was too anxious to find the key to open the door with.
D.Because he met many barriers on his way to where the key was.
3.In Para.12,why did the mother repeat“shut the door”in a tired,flat voice, instead of the previous soft one?
A.She was angry because her son didn't close the door as he had been told to.
B.She felt anxious because she knew her husband would be annoyed at the boy again.
C.She was disappointed because the boy's movement betrayed again where her husband was.
D.She was impatient because she was asked to repeat these words again and again every evening.
4.What is the best title of the passage?
A.A Scary Night B.The Key Game
C.My Father Is Dead D.An Innocent Boy
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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Light and bright, cheap and cheerful: IKEA’s 400-plus outlets (专营店) in 49 countries all run on the same central principle. Customers do as much of the work as possible, in the belief they are having fun and saving money. You drive to a distant warehouse built on cheap out-of-town land. Inside, you enter a maze (迷宫) — no shortcuts allowed — where every twist reveals new furniture.
Compared with the prices of other outlets, IKEA’s are much lower. You load up your trolley (手推车) with impulse buys-a clock, storage boxes, tools and more chairs than you will ever use. You drag cardboard boxes, cupboards and tables into your car and reward yourself for your economy and good taste. Then you drive home and put your prizes together. You are satisfied with the bargains. IKEA is satisfied with your money.
The company’s name was a do-it-yourself job, too. IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad, from Elmtaryd ― his family’s farm — in Agunnaryd. That village is in the Smaland region of southern Sweden. Mr Kamprad founded IKEA aged 17. Well before that, he spotted a principle which would make him one of the richest men in the world that customers like buying goods at wholesale prices (批发价). First he bought matches in large quantities and sold them by the box. Aged ten, he sold pens in the similar way.
Setbacks inspired him. Facing a price war against his low-cost mail-order furniture business, he defeated competitors by opening a showroom. Dealers tried to crush Mr Kamprad and banned him from their trade fairs. He slipped in, hiding in a friend’s car. When they tried to threaten his suppliers, he relied on his own workers, and secretly sold his production to communist Poland. Decades later, east Europeans freed from the planned economy drove hundreds of miles to newly opened outlets in Moscow and Warsaw.
His self-discipline was world-famous. As a child, he removed the “off” button from his alarm clock to stop himself oversleeping. He rarely took a first-class seat. The wine didn’t get you there any earlier, he sniffed; having lots of money was no reason to waste it. He bought his clothes in second-hand markets, and for years drove an elderly Volvo until he had to sell it on safety grounds. He had his hair cut in poor countries to save money. Visitors admired the views, but were surprised that his house was so shabby. He worked well into his eighties.
His diligence and simple way of life set a good example to his 194,000 “co-workers”. But he was not mean. The point of cutting costs was to make goods affordable, not to compromise quality. He urged his staff to reflect constantly on ways of saving money, time and space. An improved design that allows easier piling means shipping less air and more profit.
Culture was more important than strategy. He disliked “exaggerated (夸张的) planning”, along with financial markets and banks. Better to make mistakes and learn from them. And use time wisely: “You can do so much in ten minutes. But ten minutes once gone are gone for good.” This did not apply to customers. The longer they stayed, the better.
Mr Kamprad’s impact on modern life can be compared with that of Henry Ford and the mass-produced motor car. Furniture used to be expensive, dark and heavy. For many people, decorating a home could cost many months’ salary. IKEA made furniture not just affordable and functional, but fun. The mission was civilizational, he felt, changing how people lived and thought.
His approach drew some fire. The company values struck some as unpleasant. At IKEA’s Corporate Culture Centre, lots of pictures of Mr Kamprad with his mottos can be seen everywhere. What’s worse, some parts of the supply chain seemed to have serious problems to overcome.
1.What can we learn about IKEA in Paragraph 1?
A.IKEA prefers rural areas for its location.
B.IKEA has 400 outlets throughout the world.
C.IKEA likes to store new furniture in a maze.
D.IKEA provides a lot of work for its customers.
2.The underlined two sentences in Paragraph 2 imply that ________.
A.IKEA tricks you into spending more money
B.you may buy bargains with impulse in IKEA
C.both you and IKEA are pleased with the deal
D.both you and IKEA are happy with the bargain
3.By mentioning Mr. Kamprad’s experiences before he founded IKEA, the author intends to tell us that Mr Kamprad ________.
A.was likely to become a successful businessman
B.preferred selling matches and pens by low prices
C.had been a well-off merchant due to his principle
D.enjoyed doing something promising with discipline
4.What can be inferred from paragraph 5 and 6 about Mr. Kamprad?
A.He never overslept due to his alarm clock being set.
B.He was against drinking but for sniffing at the wine.
C.He sold the old Volvo with the purpose of saving money. -
D.He didn’t give up the quality of furniture for more profit.
5.Which of the following has nothing to do with Mr. Kamprad’s success in business?
A.The pictures and mottos of Mr. Kamprad.
B.The setbacks Mr. Kamprad experienced.
C.Mr. Kamprad’s principles of management.
D.Mr. Kamprad’s self-discipline and diligence.
难度: 中等查看答案及解析
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The QUIK-FRYTM Electronic Wok
It is important that you read this carefully before first using the wok. Until you become familiar with the product, we advise that you can keep this handy and refer to it when required.
IMPORTANT SAFEGUARDS:
◇ In order to prevent the risk of electric shock. DO Nor IMMERSE the cord or the probe in water or any other liquid.
◇Whenever he wok is used near children, it is essential that close supervision takes place Never leave the appliance unattended while in use. Before disassembling the wok for cleaning, SWITCH OFF AND REMOVE THE PLUG from the power source.
◇ DO NOT USE THE Quick-Fry WOK OUTDOORS.
◇ Avoid touching hot surfaces; instead use the heat resistant handles on the wok or the heal-resistant plastic knob on top of the glass hid. DO NOT OPERATE NEAR HOT SURFACES such as electric hotplates, gas burners or in a heated oven.
◇DO NOT COVER the Quick-Fry wok with the lid while using it to deep fry foods. Failure to comply will cause condensation to drip onto the oil and cause splattering.
◇DO NOT ATTEMPT REPAIR of the Quick Fry wok. If the cord becomes damaged, or if the appliance is malfunctioning, do not operate. Return the appliance to the nearest authorized service center for repair. DO NOT OPEN THE BASE OR TOUCH THE ELECTRICAL COMONENTS INSIDE. Tampering with the base will void the warranty.
Manufactured for operation only from a standard domestic power source.
How to Use the Quick-Fry Electric Wok:
Be sure to season the wok before using it for the first time, Assemble the wok and heat to the highest setting. Rub the non-stick inner surface of the wok with 1 tablespoon of oil. Use thick paper toweling. and be very careful to avoid touching the hot surface.
Cooking Methods:
1.This text is most probably from _______ .
A.an advertisement for the electric wok
B.a cooking book designed for customers
C.an instruction booklet for the wok
D.a customer review of the wok
2.One of the advantages of the wok is that _______.
A.you don't need to pay close attention to it when cooking
B.you may remove its base when cleaning the wok
C.you can repair the wok by yourself when it is not working properly
D.you can touch the wok because it is totally free from heat
难度: 简单查看答案及解析