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Modern Manners

Philip Howard answers your questions on contemporary etiquette (礼仪)

Philip Howard,

When my friend and I (two ladies of a certain age) go out to have a meal, she always leaves an extremely large tip. At times, the tip will equal the amount of one of the main dishes—sometimes it comes to about 30 per cent of the bill. I feel 15—20 per cent is adequate for services offered and depending on the type of restaurant. At a cafe I would like to leave 15 per cent or a bit more depending on the service and etc. A larger tip would be appropriate if we are in a big city or a nicer place. My friend says “Well, I am sure they are not driving a Mercedes (奔驰汽车).” Well, neither am I, and how does she know? Who is correct and how can I make changes? I might add I do truly feel tipping should be based on good service, and also if you frequent a place and know the staff a larger tip is OK. I would never hesitate to tip a waitperson. I always leave to the higher side.  

Yours,

Barbara Bade

Barbara Bade,

Americans are more generous tippers than the British. I suspect that 10 per cent for a tip is about normal in the UK. Tipping is a strange survival in our age of supposed equality and minimum wages. Your friend has a generous nature and deep purse. I do not see why you cannot let her tip whatever she wants, and do your own thing. I agree that a tip should be a reward for good service and general good feeling. If the service is rotten and the meal a disaster, we should withhold a tip and explain why we are doing so. Few of us have the chutzpah (厚颜) to do this. Sensible restaurants have a box for tips, so that they are shared out among the staff, including those in the kitchens whom we do not see. (I trust that the management does not receive the money as extra profit.) I look forward to the day when waiters and other servants are paid a good enough living wage, so that they do not have to depend on the generosity of strangers to survive. To wait at table is just as honorable a way to earn a living in this wicked world. If you are pleased with the meal and cheerful service, you should tip as handsomely as your purse affords. I don’t suppose that your waiter / waitress is driving a Mercedes, even in the States. 

Yours,

Philip Howard

60. We can learn from the first letter that Barbara prefers ___________.

A. changing her own ideas on how to tip waiters

B. leaving a bigger tip to the familiar waitpersons

C. eating at a café rather than in a nice restaurant

D. saving as much money as possible for herself

61. It can be inferred that Barbara’s friend tips waiters heavily ________.

A. to show that she is well off                              B. because they are thought to be poorly paid

C. to show that she is generous                          D. because they have offered her full service

62. Besides quality of service, Philip regards __________ as principles of tipping.

A. taste of food and amount of one’s money

B. taste of food and the number of servants

C. generosity of strangers and the number of servants

D. amount of one’s money and generosity of strangers

The Rockford police chief and some city officials want to install （安装） video cameras in all 100 police cars．They think this will reduce the number of lawsuits （法律诉讼）．In the last five years, Rockford has paid out more than five million dollars to settle about 40 lawsuits．

The chief said, "If cameras had been in those cars．we wouldn't have had to pay one cent． We're always pulling over drunks or drug users who try to fight the police or shoot them．Then they always claim （声称） that the police start beating them first or start shooting at them first．"

The cost of installing cameras will be about $500 each．The city council （委员会） will vote on the proposal （提议） next Monday．Ten of the 13 council members said that they like the idea． One member said that it makes good sense．

The police officers enthusiastically support camera use．One officer said that too many people think the police often lie; cameras would show citizens that police tell the truth．"The money that we've been spending on lawsuits will be better spent on more cameras," said one officer．

Citizen opinions to the idea of police car cameras are mixed．One person, said that the police should have started doing this years ago when video cameras were invented．But an elderly man strongly objected．'These police are trying to stick their nose into everything," he said．He was going to attend the council meeting to condemn the proposal．He hoped that other citizens would join him.

1.We can learn from what the chief said that with cameras on ___．

A．the police will not be treated unjustly    

B．the police will be free from any lawsuits

C．the police can beat the law-breakers first  

D．the police can monitor everything around

2.What's the purpose of installing video cameras in police cars?

A．To pay less money on lawsuits．         

B．To cut the number of lawsuits．

C．To prevent lawsuits from happening．    

D．To stop being beaten by law-breakers．

3.Which group of people support camera use most?

    A．Council members,                 B．Police officers．

    C．Local people．                   D．Drug users．

4.What can be learned from the last paragraph?

    A．Most citizens support camera use in police cars,

    B．The police are trying to take control of everything．

    C．The man showed great disagreement on camera use in police cars．

    D．Other citizens will join the man to object to camera use in police cars．

American researchers found females are the more talkative sex because of a special “language protein(蛋白质)” in the brain.

The study, conducted by neuroscientists （神经学家）and psychologist from the University of Maryland, concluded that women talked more because they had more of the Foxp2 protein. The research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that higher levels were found among humans that were women but in rats that were males. Their findings came after it was previously claimed that ladies speak about 20,000 words a day – over 13,000 more than men. "This study is one of the first to report a sex difference in the expression of a language-associated protein in humans or animals,” said Prof Margaret McCarthy, who led the study. In their study, the researchers attempted to determine what might make male rats more vocal than their female friends.

They separated four-day-old rats from their mothers and then counted the number of times they cried out in the “ultrasonic range”, the frequencies higher than humans can hear, over five minutes. While both sexes called out hundreds of cries, the males called out twice as often, they found. But when the pups were returned to their mother’s cage, she fussed over her sons first. Tests conducted on the parts of the brain known to be associated with vocalcalls showed the male pups have up to twice as much Foxp2 protein as the females. The researchers then increased the production in the brains of female pups and reduced it in males. This led to the female rats crying out more often and their mothers showing more interest to them. In contrast, males became less “talkative”.

The researchers then tested samples from ten children, aged between three and five, which showed that females had up to 30 per cent more of the Foxp2 protein than males, in a brain area key to language in humans.

“Based on our observations, we assume higher levels of Foxp2 in girls and higher levels of Foxp2 in male rats is an indication that Foxp2 protein levels are associated with the more communicative sex,” said Prof McCarthy.

"Our results imply Foxp2 as a component of the neurobiological basis of sex differences in vocal communication in mammals."

1.From the second paragraph, we can learn that ________.

A．women always speak more words than men

B．men and male rats have low levels of language protein

C．women and male rats have similar levels of Foxp2

D．McCarthy isn’t the first to find females more talkative

2.The underlined phrase “fussed over” in the third paragraph probably means______.

A．paid attention to    B．related to         C．put pressure on     D．counted on

3.The researchers carried out the experiments on rats in order to _______.

A．test which part of the brain is key to language in rats and humans

B．prove the levels of Foxp2 protein in humans and rats are different

C．determine the reason why female rats are more talkative than male rats

D．discover the association between Foxp2protein and vocal communication

4.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage ?

A．Tests on humans and rats                 B．Why women are the talkative sex

C．Sex differences in Foxp2 protein            D．Foxp2 protein determines oral ability

A friend of mine named Paul received an expensive car from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin (顽童)was walking around the shining car. "Is this your car, Paul?" he asked.
Paul answered, "Yes, my brother gave it to me for Christmas." The boy was surprised. "You mean your brother gave it to you and it didn't cost you anything. Boy, I wish..."He hesitated (犹豫).
Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the boy said surprised Paul greatly.
"I wish," the boy went on, "that I could be a brother like that." Paul looked at the boy in surprise, then he said again; "Would you like to take a ride in my car?" "Oh, yes, I'd love that." After a short ride, the boy turned and with his eyes shining, said, "Paul, would you mind driving in front of my house?"
Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the boy wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big car. But Paul was wrong again. "Will you stop where those two steps are?" the boy asked.
He ran up to the steps. Then in a short while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled ( 残疾 ) brother. He sat him down on the step and pointed to the car.
"There he is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a cent. And some day I'm going to give you one just like it. Then you can see for yourself all the nice things in the Christmas window that I've been trying to tell you about."
Paul got out and lifted the boy to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and three of them began an unforgettable holiday ride.
【小题1】The street urchin was very surprised when______________ . 

More than 7 million tickets will go on sale for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which is more than the number of tickets   1             (sell) in the 2004 Athens Games, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the 29th Olympiad (BOCOG) said on Friday.

Of the tickets, about 4.9 million,  2            70 per cent will be sold within China and the rest 30 per cent will be sold abroad.

“Since we have more   3               (seat) than Athens, we can sell     4                tickets,” said Rong Jun, an   5              (office) from the BOCOG Marketing Department.

It  6         (report) that Athens offered 5.3 million tickets  7       the 2004 Olympics.

“The  8             (open) ceremony will be held in the National Stadium, 9               is able to seat 91,000 people. Since  10              large number of seats will be taken by broadcasters and the media, there will be only about 60,000 for ordinary audience.”