阅读理解

  On the 14th day of June, 1777, the Continental Congress passed the following resolution: “Resolved (决心,决定) that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes alternate (交替的) red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation (星群).”

  We are told that before this, in 1776, a committee had been appointed to look after the matter, and together with General Washington they called at the house of Betsy Ross, 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia.

  Betsy Ross was a young widow of twenty-four, heroically supporting herself by continuing the upholstery (室内装璜) business of her late husband, young John Ross, a patriot (爱国者) who had died in the service of his country. Betsy was noted for her exquisite (精致的) needle-work, and was engaged in the flag-making business.

  The committee asked her if she thought she could make a flag from a design, a rough drawing of which General Washington showed her. She replied, with diffidence (缺乏自信), that she did not know whether she could, or not, but would try. She noticed, however, that the star as drawn had six points, and informed the committee that the correct star had but five. They answered that as a great number of stars would be required, the more regular form with six points could be more easily made than one with five.

  She responded (做出反应) in a practical way by deftly (灵巧的) folding a scrap (小片) of paper; then with a single clip of her scissors she displayed a true, symmetrical (对称的)、 five-pointed star. This decided the committee in her favor. A rough design was left for her use, but she was permitted to make a sample (样品) flag according to her own ideas of the arrangement of the stars and the proportion (比例) of the stripes and the general form of the whole.

  Some time after its completion, it was presented to Congress, and soon after the committee had the pleasure of informing Betsy Ross that her flag had been accepted as the nation's standard (旗).

1.Which of the following description about Ross is NOT true?

[  ]

A.Her husband died in the American War of Independence.

B.She was good at needle-work.

C.She was forced to make the national standard.

D.She changed the six-pointed star in the design to five points.

2.When Ross was asked to make the national standard, she was ________.

[  ]

A.confident
B.pleased
C.hesitated
D.unconfident

3.The committee decided to ask Ross to make the national standard because ________.

[  ]

A.her husband was a patriot

B.she was very confident

C.General Washington showed her the design

D.they believed she was capable and competent

4.She changed the design because ________.

[  ]

A.she didn't know that the person who showed her the design was General Washington

B.she wanted to display her competence

C.she knew that the true star was five-pointed

D.she thought the star with six points was not easy to make

5.In the sentence “This decided the committee in her favor” (Para. 5), the pronoun “this” refers to ________.

[  ]

A.the design

B.the five-pointed star

C.her making a true star with a scrap of paper

D.her confidence

As prices and building costs keep rising, the “do-it-yourself” (DIY) trend in the U.S. continues to grow.

“We needed furniture for our living room,” says John Ross, “and we just didn’t have enough money to buy it. So we decided to try making a few tables and chairs.” John got married six months ago, and like many young people these days, they are struggling to make a home at a time when the cost of living is very high. The Rosses took a 2-week course for $280 at a night school. Now they build all their furniture and make repairs around the house.

Jim Hatfield has three boys and his wife died. He has a full-time job at home as well as in a shoe making factory. Last month, he received a car repair bill for $420. “I was deeply upset about it. Now I’ve finished a car repair course. I should be able to fix the car by myself.”

John and Jim are not unusual people. Most families in the country are doing everything they can to save money so they can fight the high cost of living. If you want to become a “do-it-yourselfer”, you can go to DIY classes. And for those who don’t have time to take a course, there are books that tell you how you can do things yourself.

1.We can learn from the text that many newly married people ________.

A. find it hard to pay for what they need

B. have to learn to make their own furniture

C. take DIY courses run by the government

D. seldom go to a department store to buy things

2.John and his wife went to evening classes to learn how to ________.

A. run a DIY shop                             B. make or repair things

C. save time and money                      D. improve the quality of life

3.When the writer says that Jim has a full-time job at home, he means Jim ________.

A. keeps house and looks after his children     B. does his own car and home repairs

C. does extra work at night                 D. makes shoes in his home

4.Jim Hatfield decided to become a do-it-yourselfer when ________.

A. he had to raise the children all by himself      B. the car repair class was not helpful

C. he could not possibly do two jobs               D. his car repairs cost too much

5.What would be the best title for the text?

A. the Joy of DIY                                 B. You Can Do It Too! 

C. Welcome to Our DIY Course!               D. Ross and Hatfield: Believers in DIY

 

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