In the United States, friendships can be close, constant, intense, generous and real, yet fade away in a short time if situations change. Neither side feels hurt by this. Both may exchange Christmas greetings for a year or two, perhaps a few letters for a while— then no more. If the same two people meet again by chance, even years later, they pick up the friendship where it left off and are delighted.

In the States, you can feel free to visit people’s homes, share their holidays, or enjoy their lives without fear that you are taking on a lasting obligation(义务). Do not hesitate to accept hospitality（好客） because you can’t give it in return. No one will expect you to do so for they know you are far from home. Americans will enjoy welcoming you and be pleased if you accept their hospitality easily.

Once you arrive there, the welcome will be full and warm and real. Most visitors find themselves readily invited into many homes there. In some countries it is considered inhospitable to entertain at home, offering what is felt as only home—cooked food, not “ doing something for your guest”. It is felt that restaurant entertaining, shows more respect and welcome. Or for other different reasons, such as crowded space, language difficulties, or family custom, outsiders are not invited into homes.

In the United States, both methods are used, but it is often considered more friendly to invite a person to one’s home than to go to a public place, except in purely business relationships. So, if your host or hostess brings you home, do not feel that you are being shown inferior treatment.

Don’t feel neglected if you do not find flowers awaiting you in your hotel room, either. Flowers are very expensive there; hotel delivery is uncertain; arrival times are delayed, changed, or canceled —— so flowers are not customarily sent as a welcoming touch. Please do not feel unwanted! Outward signs vary in different lands; the inward welcome is what matters, and this will be real.

In the United States, you will find friendships ______ if circumstances change.

  A. die suddenly                          B. pass away

  C. disappear gradually                    D. last forever

Americans _____ their foreign friends to make a return for their hospitality.

   A. ask          B. don’t expect             C. never allow     D. wish 

In some other countries, giving a dinner party at home is considered ______ than in a restaurant.

   A. less friendly   B. less hospitable      C. more natural     D. more popular

According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

   A. Flowers are signs of outward welcome.        

  B. Flowers are expensive.

   C. Flowers are available at all time.

D. Flowers are not necessarily sent to guests.

In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.

The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants. Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.     

It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They had to move back to an apartment in New York City.

    Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.

    People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.

Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.

   A. want to be as rich as their neighbors

   B. want others to know or to think that they are rich

   C. don’t want others to know they are rich

   D. want to be happy

It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ________.

   A. live outside New York City               B. live in New York City

   C. live in apartments                       D. live with many neighbors

What’s the author’s attitude to keeping up with the Joneses?

     A. Negative.    B. Positive.   C. Supportive.        D. Objective.

In the United States, 30 percent of the people have a “weight problem”。To many people the cause is obvious (明显的): they eat too much. But scientific evidence (证据) does little to support this idea. Going back to America of 1910, we find that people were thinner than today, yet they ate more food. In those days people worked harder physically, walked more, used machines much less, and didn’t watch television.

Several modern studies, moreover, have shown that fatter people don’t eat more on average than thinner people. A 1979 study of 3,545 London office workers showed that fat people eat less than slim (苗条的) people.

Studies also show that slim people are more active than fat people. A study by a research group at Stanford University found the following interesting facts:

The more the man ran, the greater loss of the body fat

The more they ran, the greater increase in food intake.

Thus, those who ran the most ate the most, yet lost the greatest amount of body fat.

Nowadays many Americans have the problem that ______.

A. they are too slim         B. they work too hard C. they are too fat   D. they lose too much body fat

According to the passage, how many people in 900 Americans have a “weight problem”?

A. 150.               B. 300.            C. 600.                  D. 270.

Is there any scientific evidence to support the idea that eating too much is the cause of a “weight problem”?

A. Yes, there is plenty of evidence.        B. Of course, there is some evidence to support this.

C. There is hardly any scientific evidence to support this.     D. We are not sure.

The Americans in 1910 ________.   A. ate more food and had more physical activities   

B. ate less food but had more physical activities

C. ate less food and had less physical activities     D. had more problems

In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.

The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants. Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.     

It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They had to move back to an apartment in New York City.

    Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.

    People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.

60. Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.

   A. want to be as rich as their neighbors

   B. want others to know or to think that they are rich

   C. don’t want others to know they are rich

   D. want to be happy

61. It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ________.

   A. live outside New York City            B. live in New York City

   C. live in apartments                         D. live with many neighbors

62. What’s the author’s attitude to keeping up with the Joneses?

     A. Negative.                                                   B. Positive.           

C. Supportive.                                                       D. Objective.

In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about.  It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.

The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants. Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.　

It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They had to move back to an apartment in New York City. Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.

People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.

Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.

A．want to be as rich as their neighbors

B．want others to know or to think that they are rich

C．don't want others to know they are rich

D．want to be happy

It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ________.　

A．live outside New York City    B．live in New York City

　 C．live in apartments            D．live with many neighbors

What's the author's attitude to keeping up with the Joneses?

A．Negative.                   B．Positive.

C．Supportive.                  D．Objective.