I was brought up in the British, stiff upper lip style. Strong feelings aren’t something you display in public. So, you can imagine that I was unprepared for the outpouring of public grief(悲伤) at a Chinese funeral.
My funeral.editorial team leader died recently after a short illness. He was 31. The news was so unexpected that it left us all shocked and upset. A female colleague burst into tears and cried piteously at her desk. Somehow we got through the day's work. The next day was the funeral.
Our big boss stepped forward to deliver a eulogy and was soon in tears. She carried on, in Chinese of course, but at the end said in English: "There will be no more deadlines for you in heaven." Next came a long-term colleague who also dissolved in tears but carried on with her speech despite being almost overcome by emotion. Then a close friend of the dead man paid tribute(哀悼), weeping openly as he spoke. Sorrow is spreading. Me and women were now sobbing uncontrollably. Finally, the man's mother, supported between two women, addressed her son in his coffin. At one point, the mother almost collapsed and had to be held up. We were invited to step forward to each lay a white rose on the casket. Our dead colleague looked as if he was taking a nap. At the end of the service I walked away from the funeral parlor stunned at the outpouring of emotion.
In the UK, families grieve privately and then try to hold it together and not break down at a funeral. Here in China it would seem that grieving is a public affair. It strikes me that it is more cathartic to cry your eyes out than try to keep it bottled up for fear of embarrassment, which is what many of us do in the West.
Afterwards, a Chinese colleague told me that the lamenting at the funeral had been restrained(克制) by Chinese standards. In some rural areas, she said, people used to be paid to mourn noisily. This struck me like something out of novel by Charles Dickens. But we have all seen on TV scenes of grief-stricken people in Gaza and the West Bank, in Afghanistan, Iraq and the relatives of victims of terrorist bombings around the world. Chinese grief is no different. I realized that it's the reserved British way of mourning that is out of step with the rest of the world.
It was our newspaper's production day. We were bussed back to the office to resume work. No more deadlines for our former colleague, but we had to pull together to put the newspaper to print. The boss invited the team to go out for dinner after work. We relaxed, smiled, joked. There was no mention of the funeral or our poor colleague. Enough sorrow had been shed already. We needed a break.
1.The underlined words “stiff upper lip style” in Paragraph 1 mean “________”.
A．cold-blooded B．warm-hearted
C．light-hearted D．self-controlled
2.At the funeral, ________.
A. five individuals made speeches
B. the boss’s speech was best thought of
C. the writer was astonished by the scene
D. everyone was crying out loudly
3.According to the writer, people in the West ________.
A. are not willing to be sad for the dead
B. cry their eyes out at the public funeral
C. prefer to control their sadness in public
D. have better way to express sadness
4.It is implied that ________.
A. Chinese express their sadness quite unlike other peoples
B. the English might cry noisily for the dead in Dickens’ time
C. victims of terrorist bombings should be greatly honored
D. English funeral culture is more civilized than the others
5.This passage talks mainly about________.
A. an editor’s death B. bad funeral customs
C.cultural differences D. western ways of grief
An Israeli law banning too skinny models went into effect with the start of 2013. The law, approved last March in Israel, requires models to prove they have maintained a Body Mass Index (BMI) of at least 18.5 for three months before a fashion show. That means a woman who is 5'8''tall can weigh no less than 119 pounds.
“This law is another step in the war against eating disorders,” said physician Adatto. “Underweight models,” he explained, “can no longer serve as role models for innocent young people who copy their false image of being skinny.”
But some critics in this country say it is misguided, focusing on weight instead of health. They also say the Israeli ban is bound to fail because of the strong power of the fashion industry. “I think it’s an approach that isn’t going to work.” Said eating disorder expert Susan Ice, who worked with an organization which creates a healthy working environment for models.
But Adatto told the reporter that he began to concern the issue after meeting an ambitious model who looked like she needed to be hospitalized. He said. “I realized that only legislation can change the situation. There was no time to waste, so many girls were dieting to death.”
However, the efforts to regulate models’ weight in Spain and Italy have not resulted in significant changes in part because of difficulties in determining reliable methods of measuring weight and health.
Still, folks including Ice say there’s no denying that images from Hollywood and the fashion industry can be difficult for young women to deal with. “Certainly I don't believe the modeling industry has caused the rise in eating disorders, but it makes it harder,” she says. “It’s a difficult recovery environment, worshiping thinness as the beauty ideal.”
1.What does BMI in the first paragraph refer to?
A. A measure of body health based on height and weight.
B. A worldwide prize for the healthiest model.
C. A new show held by those skinny models.
D. A kind of medicine to cure eating disorders.
2.One benefit the new Israeli law may bring is ________.
A. to change the working conditions of models
B. to lower the chance of skinny models’ death
C. to provide guidance for women worshiping thinness
D. to prevent models from suffering from eating disorders
3.In the opinion of the critics, the law won’t succeed because .
A. it misleads young women to form a bad eating habit.
B. it doesn’t provide a proper approach that can work well.
C. it doesn’t create a healthy working environment for models.
D. the fashion industry is much too influential.
4.What caused Adatto to think that a law was needed to change the situation?
A. Meeting an ambitious but too skinny model.
B. Establishing his fashion model agent.
C. Being interviewed by a reporter.
D. Seeing a model die from eating disorders.
5.According to the passage, the new Israeli law banning skinny models is .
A. practical B. controversial C. acceptable D. Reasonable
Most glasses help people see better, but a new invention from Japan may soon improve language skills and language barriers instead.
High-tech Company NEC has a device that it says will users to communicate with people of different .
Shaped like a pair of eyeglasses without the lenses(镜片), the computer-assisted Tele Scouter would a picture-forming device to present almost real-time translations directly onto the retina（视网膜）. The text, provided through voice recognition and programs, would effectively provide movie-like “subtitles” (字幕)during a conversation between two people the glasses.
“You can keep the flowing,” NEC market development official Takayuki Omino told reporters at Tokyo exposition the device was on display. “This could also be used for talks with secret information,” says Omino, that there would be no need for translators.
Each user’s words would be by microphone, translated, and be instantly for conversation partners in visual texts and as audio delivered through headphones.
Users can still see their conversation partner’s face because the text is onto only part of the retina—the first time such technology is used in a commercial product, according to NEC.
The company plans to put the Tele Scouter in Japan in November next year, at the beginning without the translation mode.
1.A. cut off B. cut up C. cut in D. cut down
2.A. come across B. come up with C. come through D. come down
3.A. allow B. promise C. force D. leave
4.A. backgrounds B. cultures C. languages D. customs
5.A. so B. or C. but D. while
6.A. admit B. adopt C. agree D. adapt
7.A. designer’s B. translator’s C. producer’s D. user’s
8.A. instantly B. strangely C. suddenly D. slowly
9.A. admission B. translation C. preparation D. permission
10.A. bearing B. carrying C. wearing D. taking
11.A. discussion B. argument C. conversation D. translation
12.A. where B. which C. why D. how
13.A. connected B. satisfied C. joined D. covered
14.A. stating B. noticing C. realizing D. criticizing
15.A. spoken B. imagined C. written D. expected
16.A. made up B. picked up C. turned up D. brought up
17.A. agreeable B. acceptable C. believable D. available
18.A. either B. neither C. none D. both
19.A. placed B. got C. passed D. knocked
20.A. therefore B. although C. however D. While
— Hurry up, I think it’s going to rain.
— ______ . The skies are dark and cloudy.
A. Not really. B. I guess so. C. Why not? D. How great!
After that, he knew he could ______ any emergency by doing what he could to the best of his ability.
A. get away with B. get on with C. get through D. get across
Entering the bookstore, I noticed a girl _______ against the window, with her eyes_____ on her book in hand.
A. leaning; fixed B. leaned; fixing C. leaned; fixed D. leaning; fixing
