The days of elderly women doing nothing but cooking huge meals on holidays are gone. Enter the Red Hat Society -a group holding the belief that old ladies should have fun.

    “My grandmothers didn’t do anything but keep house and serve everybody. They were programmed to do that,” said Emils Comette, head of a chapter of the 7-year-old Red Hat Society.

     While men have long spent their time fishing and playing golf, women have sometimes seemed to become unnoticed as they age. But the generation now turning 50 is the baby boomers (生育高峰期出生的人), and the same people who refused their parents’ way of being young are now trying a new way of growing old.

     If you take into consideration feminism (女权主义), a bit of spare money, and better health for most elderly, the Red Hat Society looks almost inevitable(必然的). In this society, women over 50 wear red hats and purple (紫色的) clothes, while the women under 50 wear pink hats and light purple clothing.

    “The organization took the idea from a poem by Jenny Joseph that begins: “When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple. With a red hat which doesn’t go,” said Ellen Cooper, who founded the Red Hat Society in 1998. When the ladies started to wear the red hats, they attracted lots of attention.

   “The point of this is that we need a rest from always doing something for someone else,” Cooper said. “Women feel so ashamed and sorry when they do something for themselves.” This is why chapters are discouraged from raising money or doing anything useful. “We’re a ladies’ play group. It couldn’t be more simple,” added Cooper’s assistant Joe Heywood.

The underlined word “chapter” in paragraph 2 means __________.

 A.one branch of an organization     B.a written agreement of a club

C.one part of a collection of poems   D.a period in a society’s history

From the text, we know that the “baby boomers” are a group of people who

 A.have gradually become more noticeable

 B.are worried about getting old too quickly

 C.are enjoying a good life with plenty of money to spend

 D.tried living a different life from their parents when they were young

DIt could be inferred from the text that members of the Red Hat Society are         .

A.interested in raising money for social work

 B.programmers who can plan well for their future

 C.believers in equality between men and women

 D.good at cooking big meals and taking care of others

Who set up the Red Hat Society ?

 A.Emily Cornette .       B.Ellen Cooper .

C.Jenny Joseph .         D.Joe Heywood .

Women join the Red Hat Society because          .

 A.they want to stay young  

B.they would like to appear more attractive

 C.they would like to have fun and live for themselves

 D.they want to be more like their parents[来

It was the night before the composition was due. As I looked at the list of topics(题目), “The Art of Eating Spaghetti(意大利面条)” caught my eye. The word “spaghetti” brought back the ___36___ of an evening at Uncle Alien’s in Belleville ___37___all of us were seated around the table and Aunt Pat ___38___ spaghetti for supper. Spaghetti was an exotic(外来的) treat in ___39___days. Never had I eaten spaghetti, and ___40___ of the grown-ups had enough experience to be___41___it. What laughing ___42___ we had about the___43___respectable method for moving spaghetti from plate to mouth. ___44___, I wanted to write about that, but I wanted to ___45___ it down simply for my own ___46___,  not for Mr. Fleagle, my composition teacher. ___47___, I would write something else.

When I finished it the night was half gone and there was no ___48___ left to write a proper com??position for Mr. Fleagle. There was no choice next morning but to ___49___my work. Two days pas??sed before Mr. Fleagle returned the ___50___ papers. He said, “Now, class, I want to read you a composition, ‘The Art of Eating Spaghetti’. ”

My words! He was reading my words out ___51___ to the whole class. ___52___ laughed, then the whole class was laughing with open-hearted enjoyment. I did my best not to show___53___, but what I was feeling was pure happiness, ___54___ my words had the power to make people___55___.

36. A. memory       B. thought      C. knowledge  D. experience

37. A. when    B. where C. since   D. after

38. A. cooked B. served C. got     D. made

39. A. their     B. past    C. last     D. those

40. A. none     B. one     C. earns   D. neither

41. A. careful about       B. good at      C. fond of      D. interested in

42. A. speeches      B. lessons       C. sayings       D. arguments 

43. A. nearly   B. naturally    C. officially    D. socially

44. A. Especially    B. Probably    C. Suddenly    D. Fortunately

45. A. settle    B. put     C. bite     D. let     

46. A. work    B. story   C. luck    D. joy

47. A. However      B. Therefore   C. As for him  D. Except for that 

48. A. time     B. excuse C. way    D. idea   

49. A. give up B. continue     C. hand in      D. delay 

50. A. written B. graded       C. collected    D. calmly

51. A. laid      B. fast     C. publicly     D. calmly

52. A. People  B. Nobody      C. Somebody  D. I

53. A. shock   B. wonder      C. worry D. pleasure

54. A. if  B. for      C. while  D. although

55. A. excited B. satisfied     C. think   D. laugh 

If we were asked exactly what we were doing a year ago,we should probably have to say that we could not remember. But if we had kept a book and had written in it an account of what we did each dav.we should be able to give an answer to the question.

It 1s the same in history.Many things have been forgotten because we do not have any written account of them. Sometimes men did keep a record of the most important happenings in their country.but often it was destroyed by fire or in a war.Sometimes there was never any written record at all because the people of that time and place did not know how to write.For example,we know a good deal about the people who lived in China 4,000 years ago,because they could write and leave written records for those who lived after them.But we know almost nothing about the people who lived even 200 years ago in Central Africa,because they had not learned to write.

Sometimes,of coures,even if the people cannot write,they may know something of the past.They have heard about it from older people,and often songs, dances and stories have been made about the most important happenings, and these have been sung,acted and told for many generations,for most people are proud to tell what their fathers did in the past.This we may call”remembered history”.Some of it had been written down. If is not so exact or so valuable to us as written history,is,because words are much more easily changed when used again and again in speech than when copied in writing.But where there are no written records,such spoken stories are often very helpful.

Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage?

A.“Remembered history”,compared with written history.is 1ess reliable.

B. Written records of the past play a most important role in our learning the human history.

C. A written account of our daily activities helps us to remember the events that happened in the past.

D.Where there are no written records of the past.there is no history.

Why do we know little about what happened in Central Africa 200 years ago?

A.There was nothing worth being written down at that time.

B.People there had not known how to write in those days.

C.The written records were perhaps destroyed in a fire.

D.People there ignored the importance of keeping a record.

”Remembered history”is regarded as valuable only when      .

A.it is written down       B.it proves to be true

C.no written account is available  D.people are interested in it

It can be inferred from the passage that we could have learned much more about our past than we do now if our ancestors had    .

A.kept a written record of every past event

B.not burnt their written records in wars

C.told exact stories of the most important happenings

D.made more songs and dances

Are you a problem shopper? The answer is “Yes”, if you or someone else thinks that you sometimes get carried away with shopping. In other words, do you or does someone else think you are occupied in extreme shopping? If people have regrets later about their shopping, or have an “out-of-control” feeling about the quantities of what they buy or the amount of credit they use, they may be considered to be problem shoppers. 

Extreme shopping can lead to a more serious problem — addictive shopping. Addictive shoppers feel driven by the desire to shop and spend money. They experience great tension which drives them to shop and spend money and they feel a “rush” during the time they are occupied with the shopping activity.

Extreme or addictive shopping may result from long-time unpleasant feelings, of which anxiety, pain and shame are common ones. When we feel bad inside, we often do something to make ourselves feel better. In this case, we often go shopping.

A few people shop to relieve their boredom or emptiness. For some people, the motivation is a desire for status, power, beauty or success. Some love to shop as it makes them feel valued in the eyes of the shop assistants. Others shop simply because it makes them forget, at least temporarily, tension, fear or unhappiness in their life.

Besides, shopping malls are designed to encourage continual shopping. For instance, there are some malls where you can’t see clocks displaying the time because they don’t want you to become too aware of the time you spend there. What’s more, food courts, coffee shops and restrooms are provided, so you don’t have to leave the mall because of your physical needs.

Therefore, once you become aware of how market forces work, you will certainly come to control your shopping behavior. For example, how much time you will spend and what areas you will visit can be decided before you enter the mall. Keep a written account of what items you will buy and how much money you will spend. Make a plan for what you are going to buy before you feel the urge to shop and then stick to it. That is vital for gaining self-control.

Which of the following people may not be problem shoppers?

A. Those who cannot control the amount of credit they use.

B. Those who just walk around the shopping malls.

C. Those who are occupied in too much shopping.

D. Those who feel sorry for their shopping.

According to the passage, what may not result in addictive shopping?

A. The awareness of how market forces work.

B. The desire for status, power, beauty or success.

C. Boredom, emptiness, tension, fear or unhappiness in people’s life.

D. Long-time bad feelings of anxiety, pain and shame.

What does the author suggest to control our shopping behaviour?

A. Never going to the shopping malls because there are many tricks.

B. Applying for a credit card before we go shopping.

C. Making the shopping time as short as possible. D. Making a shopping list before we go shopping.

The author writes this passage to _______.

A. inform the shopping malls how to attract more shoppers

B. provide solutions to the problem shopping

C. scold the problem shoppers        

 D. tell a shopping story

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