When families gather for Christmas dinner, some will stick to formal traditions dating back to grandma’s generation. Their tables will be set with the good dishes and silver, and the dress code will be Sunday best.
But in many other homes, this china-and-silver elegance has given way to a stoneware (粗陶)-and-stainless informality, with dresses assuming an equally casual-Friday look. For hosts and guests, the change means greater simplicity and comfort. For makers of fine china in Britain, it spells economic hard times.
Last week Royal Doulton, the largest employer in Stoke-on-Trent, announced that it is eliminating 1,000 jobs—one-fifth of its total workforce. That brings to more than 4,000 the number of positions lost in 18 months in the pottery (陶瓷) region. Wedgwood and other pottery factories made cuts earlier.
Although a strong pound and weak markets in Asia play a role in the downsizing, the layoffs in Stoke have their roots in earthshaking social shifts. A spokesman for Royal Doulton admitted that the company “has been somewhat slow in catching up with the trend” toward casual dining. Families eat together less often, he explained, and more people eat alone, either because they are single or they eat in front of television.
Even dinner parties, if they happen at all, have gone casual. In a time of long work hours and demanding family schedules, busy hosts insist, rightly, that it’s better to share a takeout pizza on paper plates in the family room than to wait for the perfect moment or a “real” dinner party. Too often, the perfect moment never comes. Iron a fine-patterned tablecloth? Forget it. Polish the silver? Who has time?
Yet the loss of formality has its down side. The fine points of etiquette (礼节) that children might once have learned at the table by observation or instruction from parents and grandparents (“Chew with your mouth closed.” “Keep your elbows off the table.”) must be picked up elsewhere. Some companies now offer etiquette seminars for employees who may be able professionally but inexperienced socially.
1. Why do people tend to follow the trend to casual dining?
A. Family members need more time to relax.
B. Busy schedules leave people no time for formality.
C. People prefer to live a comfortable life.
D. Young people won’t follow the etiquette of the older generation.
2. It can be learned from the passage that Royal Doulton is ______.
A. a seller of stainless steel tableware B. a dealer in stoneware
C. a pottery chain store D. a producer of fine china
3. The main cause of the layoffs in the pottery industry is ______.
A. the increased value of the pound B. the worsening economy in Asia
C. the change in people’s way of life D. the fierce competition at home and abroad
4. Formal table manners, though less popular than before in current social life, ______.
A. are still a must on certain occasions B. are certain to return sooner or later
C. are still being taught by parents at home D. can help improve personal relationships
The global financial crisis is likely to cause increasing mental health problems and even suicides as people struggle to deal with poverty and unemployment, the World Health Organization warned Thursday.
Hundreds of millions of people worldwide are already affected by mental problems such as depression and bipolar disorders and the current market meltdown (崩溃) could worsen feelings of despair among people who can’t stand such illnesses.
The United Nations agency said the impact could be especially marked for those living in low and middle income countries where access to treatment is often limited.
“We should not be surprised at the turbulence (动荡) and likely consequences of the current financial crisis. Now we are seeing a huge gap in taking care of people in great need, “WHO director general Margaret Chan told at a meeting of mental health experts.
“It should not come as a surprise that we continue to see more stresses, suicides and mental disorders,” Chan warned.
Ben Saraceno, director of WHO’s mental health, said mental health disorders affected one in four people at some point in their lives.
Mental and neurological disorders are often chronic (慢性的) and disabling, he said. Nearly 1 million people commit suicide worldwide every year, a large proportion of them are young adults.
Asked about the financial crisis, Saraceno said, “Poverty can be the consequence of such events, the debts, despair and sense of loss that may reach middle and lower classes. Even the poor can be affected by this crisis.”
“There is a clear evidence that suicide is linked to financial disasters. I am not talking about the millionaire’s jumping out of the window but about poor people,” he said. The global crisis could be expected to affect the “stability of communities and families”, according to Saraceno.
1. According to the passage, the chief result of the worldwide financial crisis is that ______.
A. more people will be poorer B. more people will be out of jobs
C. more people will suffer from mental problems D. more people will commit suicide
2. The United Nations agency worried that _____.
A. more rich people would commit suicide
B. the financial crisis might especially influence developing or underdeveloped countries
C. the current market meltdown could worsen feelings of despair
D. hundreds of millions of people in the world were already affected by mental problems
3. From the passage we can learn that _____.
A. far more work should be done to help those who are mentally ill
B. it will be surprising to see more people commit suicide
C. a mental disorder is a chronic disease
D. many more young adults commit suicide worldwide than people of other ages
4. The best title for the passage is ______.
A. Consequences of Global Financial Crisis
B. Mental Disorders Resulting From Global Financial Crisis
C. Suicides as a Result of Market Meltdown
D. Chronic Mental Disorders
The days of the hunter are almost over in India. This is partly because there is practically nothing left to kill, and partly because some steps have been taken mainly by banning tiger-shooting to protect those animals which still survive.
Some people say that Man is naturally a hunter. I disagree with this view. Surely our earliest forefathers, who at first possessed no weapons, spent their time digging for roots, and were no doubt themselves often hunted by meat-eating animals.
I believe the main reason why the modern hunter kills is that he thinks people will admire his courage in overpowering dangerous animals. Of course, there are some who truly believe that the killing is not really the important thing, and that the chief pleasure lies in the joy of the hunt and the beauty of the wild countryside. There are also those for whom hunting in fact offers a chance to prove themselves and risk death by design; these men go out after dangerous animals like tigers, even if they say they only do it to rid the countryside of a threat. I can respect reasons like these, but they are clearly different from the need to strengthen your high opinion of yourself.
The greatest big-game hunters expressed in their writings something of these finer motives. One of them wrote:
“You must properly respect what you are after and shoot it clearly and on the animal’s own territory. You must fix forever in your mind all the wonders of that particular day. This is better than letting him grow a few years older to be attacked and wounded by his own son and eventually eaten, half alive, by other animals. Hunting is not a cruel and senseless killing—not if you respect the thing you kill, not if you kill to enrich your memories, not if you kill to feed your people.”
I can understand such beliefs, and can compare these hunters with those who hunted lions with spears and bravely caught them by the tail. But this is very different from many tiger-shoots I have seen, in which modern weapons were used. The so-called hunters fired from tall trees or from the backs of trained elephants. Such methods made tigers seem no more dangerous than rabbits.
1. There is no more hunting in India now partly because ______.
A. it is dangerous to hunt there B. hunting is already out of date
C. hunters want to protect animals D. there are few animals left to hunt
2. The author thinks modern hunters kill mainly ______.
A. to make the countryside safe B. to earn people’ s admiration
C. to gain power and influence D. to improve their health
3. What do we learn about the big-game hunters?
A. They hunt old animals. B. They mistreat animals.
C. They hunt for food. D. They hunt for money.
4. What is the author’s view on the tiger-shoots he has seen?
A. Modern hunters lack the courage to hunt face-to-face.
B. Modern hunters should use more advanced weapons.
C. Modern hunters like to hunt rabbits instead of tigers.
D. Modern hunters should put their safety first.
Warning: reading too much Cinderella to your daughter may damage her emotional health in later life. A paper to be developed at the international congress of cognitive psychotherapy in Gothenburg suggests a link between the attitudes of women abused by their parents and early exposure to the wrong sort of fairy tales. It says girls who identified with Cinderella, Rapunzel and Beauty in Beauty and the Beast were more likely to stay in destructive relationships as adults.
The theory was developed by Susan Darker Smith, a psychotherapist at the University of Derby. She interviewed 67 female abuse survivors and found that 61 put up with severe abuse because they believed they could change their partners with patience, composition and love. The same view was taken by male survivors who had been abused as children. Hardly any of the women in a control group, who had not experienced abuse, thought they could change their partners in this way.
These women and men said they would leave a relationship rather than put up with abuse from a partner. Ms Darker Smith found the abused women were much more likely to identify with Cinderella and other submissive female characters in fairytales, who were later rescued by a stranger prince or hero.
Although most girls heard the stories, damage appeared to be done to those who adopted the characters as role models. “They believe if their love is strong enough they can change their parents’ behaviors,” she said. “Overexposure in children to stories that emphasize the transformational qualities of love may make women believe they can change their partners.” For example, they might never have understood the obvious flaw in the story of Rapunzel, who remained locked in a high tower until rescued by a knight on a white horse, who broke the door down. “The question,” said Ms Darker Smith, “is why she did not break the door down herself.”
1. The passage is especially intended for ______.
A. parents with young daughters B. girls who like reading fairy stories
C. girls who think they can change their partners D. parents with grown-up daughters
2. Cinderella, Rapunzel and Beauty in Beauty and the Beast are similar in that ______.
A. they all married some princes B. they all changed their partners with love
C. they were all abused by their partners D. they all put up with abuse
3. Which of the following statements is true of the women in a control group?
A. They don’t believe in fairy tales.
B. They don’t believe in the transformational qualities of love.
C. They have also experienced abuse.
D. They survived abuse.
4. What does the underlined word “submissive” in the 3rd paragraph probably mean?
A. kind-hearted B. passive C. gentle D. easy-going
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每篇短文后所给的四个选项（A、B、C 和 D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Steve Wayne, 16, who worked this summer as a lifeguard and swim teacher in Idaho Falls, was thrilled to see an extra $ 20 in his paycheck when the federal minimum wage increased in July.
“When you’re getting paid minimum wage, anything helps,” Wayne said.
Wayne is one of several hundred thousand American teenagers who earn the minimum wage. The last of three recent increases took the minimum from $5.15 an hour in 2007 to $7.25.
US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis says the minimum-wage increase will pump an extra $ 5.5 billion into the economy over the next year, which is helpful at a time when the economy is hurting.
“You’re giving people who spend money a raise,” said Kai Filion of the Economic Policy Institute. “Those people will go out and spend that money, and it will circulate through the economy.”
But other economists say raising the wage actually hurts the very people it’s designed to help. A higher hourly minimum, they say, could force businesses to cut workers’ hours, or even lay people off.
“What matters for people earning minimum wage is how much money they take home in total,” explained Rajeev of Georgia State University’s Economic Forecasting Center. “Their hourly rate may go up, but their number of hours may come down, so it’s not an overall increase.”
Business owners also say that raising the minimum wage exerts (施加) upward pressure on other wages. “If the minimum wage is $ 7 and I have to pay $ 8 or $ 9 to hire a dishwasher, then the cooks are going to say they want more,” said Cleveland restaurant owner Rick. “How much can I charge for that hamburger?”
Another argument is that it makes it more expensive for businesses to hire new workers. For many businesses already struggling to make ends meet in these tough times, it will be simply too expensive to keep them or to hire new people.
1. Steve Wayne was excited that ______.
A. his hard work had paid off
B. he had received a big wage increase
C. he has more money due to an increase in minimum wage
D. the wages of American teenage workers have been increased
2. According to the text, the US federal government has increased minimum wage with the aim of ______.
A. decreasing unemployment B. promoting economic recovery
C. increasing American teenagers’ wage D. narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor
3. What matters most to people in need of help is ______.
A. a higher hourly minimum B. more working hours
C. a minimum-wage increase D. an increase in total income
4. Some are against the increase in minimum wage because they say ______.
A. only very few workers will be helped
B. they have to cut down working hours
C. many business owners can’t afford to employ new workers
D. minimum wage workers will expect more pay rises in the future
第二节 完形填空 （共20小题，每小题1.5分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从短文后所给各题的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Forty-three years seems like a long time to remember the name of a person. I have forgotten the name of an old lady who was a(n) 31 on my paper route (报童) when I was a twelve-year-old boy. Yet it seems like just yesterday that she taught me a lesson in 32 . One afternoon, a friend and I were 33 rocks onto the roof of the old lady’s house 34 her backyard. The object of our play was to observe how the rocks changed to missiles as they 35 to the roof’s edge and shot out into the 36 .
I found myself a perfectly smooth rock and sent it for a ride. The stone was too smooth, however, so it 37 from my hand as I let it go and headed 38 for a small window on the old lady’s back wall.
I was too scared about getting 39 that first night to be concerned about the old lady with the broken window. However, a few days later, 40 I was sure that I hadn’t been discovered, I started to feel 41 for her misfortune.
I made up my mind that I would 42 my paper delivery money, and in three weeks I had the seven dollars that I 43 would cover the cost of her window. I put the money in an envelope with a(n) 44 explaining that I was sorry for breaking her window and hoped that the seven dollars would cover the 45 for repairing it.
I waited until it was dark, and then put the envelope through the letter slot in her door.
The next day, I 46 the old lady her paper and was able to 47 the warm smile that I was 48 her. She thanked me for the paper and said, “Here, I have something for you.” It was a bag of cookies. I thanked her and ate the cookies as I 49 my route.
After several cookies, I 50 an envelope. When I opened the envelope, I was shocked. Inside were the seven dollars and a short note that said, “I’m proud of you.”
31. A. adviser B. customer C. assistant D. neighbor
32. A. carefulness B. cleverness C. selfishness D. forgiveness
33. A. throwing B. kicking C. picking D. striking
34. A. by B. under C. from D. around
35. A. dropped B. rolled C. flowed D. fell
36. A. room B. kitchen C. yard D. sky
37. A. skipped B. stopped C. stepped D. slipped
38. A. straight B. slow C. right D. fast
39. A. lost B. trapped C. caught D. hurt
40. A. before B. when C. but D. though
41. A. guilty B. safe C. anxious D. nervous
42. A. borrow B. move C. transfer D. save
43. A. used B. calculated C. chose D. earned
44. A. book B. article C. note D. notice
45. A. period B. cost C. size D. distance
46. A. handed B. sold C. left D. showed
47. A. witness B. wear C. return D. bring
48. A. comparing to B. playing with C. learning about D. receiving from
49. A. continued B. chose C. followed D. forgot
50. A. tore B. marked C. bought D. felt
