A characteristic of American culture that has become almost a tradition is to respect the self-made man — the man who has risen to the top through his own efforts, usually beginning by working with his hands. While the leader in business or industry or the college professor occupies a higher social position and commands greater respect in the community than the common laborer or even the skilled factory worker, he may take pains to point out that his father started life in America as farmer or laborer of some sort.

       This attitude toward manual(体力的) labor is now still seen in many aspects of American life. One is invited to dinner at a home that is not only comfortably but even luxuriously (豪华地) furnished and in which there is every evidence of the fact that the family has been able to afford foreign travel, expensive hobbies, and college education for the children; yet the hostess probably will cook the dinner herself, will serve it herself and will wash dishes afterward; furthermore the dinner will not consist merely of something quickly and easily got from contents of various cans and a cake or a pie bought at the nearby bakery. On the contrary, the hostess usually takes pride in careful preparation of special dishes. A professional man may talk about washing the car, digging in his flowerbeds, painting the house. His wife may even help with these things, just as he often helps her with the dishwashing. The son who is away at college may wait on table and wash dishes for his living, or during the summer he may work with a construction gang on a highway in order to pay for his education.

What can we infer from Paragraph 1?

In America, people tend to have a high opinion of the self-made man.

In America, people can always rise to the top through their own efforts.

In America, college professors win great respect from common workers.

In America, people feel painful to mention their fathers as labors.

Why does the hostess mentioned in the passage cook dinner herself?

Because servants in America are hard to get.

Because she takes pride in what she can do herself.

Because she can hardly afford servants.

Because it is easy to prepare a meal with canned food.

What does the underlined phrase “wait on table” in the second paragraph mean?

A. Work in a furniture shop.         B. Keep accounts for a bar.

C. Wait to lay the table.             D. Serve customers in a restaurant.

What is the passage mainly about?

A respectable self-made family.

American attitude toward manual labor.

Characteristics of American culture

The development of manual labor.

A funny thing happened on the way to the communications revolutions: we stopped talking to one another.

I was walking in the park with a friend recently，and his cell phone rang, interrupting our conversation. There we were, walking and talking on a beautiful sunny day and…I became invisible, absent from the conversation.   

The telephone used to connect you to the absent. Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent. Why is it that the more connected we get, the more disconnected I feel? Every advance in communications technology is a tragedy to the closeness of human interaction. With email and instant messaging over the Internet, we can now communicate without seeing or talking to one another, With voice mail, you can conduct entire conversations without ever reaching anyone. If my mom has a question, I just leave the answer on her machine.

As almost every contact we can imagine between human beings gets automated, the alienation index goes up. You can't even call a person to get the phone number of another person my more. Directory assistance is almost always fully automated.

I am not against modern technology. I own a cell phone, an ATM card a voice mail system, and an email account. Giving them up isn't wise…they're a great help to use. It's some of their possible consequences that make me feel uneasy.  

More and more .I find myself hiding behind e-mail to do a job meant for conversation. Or being relieved that voice mail picked up because I didn't really have time to talk, The industry devoted to helping me keep in touch is making me lonelier…or at least facilitating my antisocial instincts．

So I've put myself on technology restriction: no instant messaging. with people who live near me，no cell phoning in the presence of friends, no letting the voice mail pick up when I'm at home.

1.Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?   

2.The sentence “Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent，”means that       .

3.The writer feels that the use of modern communications is        ．

4.The passage implies that        .

A characteristic of American culture that has become almost a tradition is to respect the self-made――the man who has risen to the top through his own efforts，usually beginning by working with his hands．While the leader in business or industry or the college professor occupies a higher social position and commands greater respect in the community than the common labors or even the skilled factory workers，he may take pains to point out that his father started life in America as a farmer or laborer of some sort．

This attitude toward manual(体力的)labor is now still seen in many aspects of American life. One is invited to dinner at a home that is not only comfortably but even luxuriously furnished and in which there is every evidence of the fact that the family has been able to afford foreign travel，expensive hobbies，and college education for the children；yet the hostess probably will cook the dinner herself, will serve it herself and will wash dishes afterward, furthermore the dinner will not consist merely of something quickly and easily assembled from contents of various cans and a cake or a pie bought at the nearby bakery．And the hostess usually takes pride in careful preparation of special dishes．A professional man may talk about washing the car，digging in his flowerbeds，painting the house．His wife may even help with these things，just as he often helps her with the dishwashing．The son who is away at college may wait on table and wash dishes for his living, or during the summer he may work with a construction gang on a highway in order to pay for his education．

66．According to the passage，the hostess cooks dinner herself mainly because            ．

    A．servants in America are hard to get

    B．she takes pride in what she can do herself

    C．she can hardly afford servants

    D．it is easy to prepare a meal with canned food．

67．The expression“wait on table”in the second paragraph means“         ”．

    A．work in a furniture shop    B．keep accounts of a bar

    C．wait to lay the table           D．serve customers in a restaurant

68．Which of the following may serve as the best title of the passage?         ．

A．A Respectable Self-made Family  

B．American Attitude Toward Manual Labor

C．Characteristics of American Culture

D．The Development of Manual Labor  

（D）
As you move around your home, take a good look at the things you have．It’s likely that your living room will have a television set and a video, and your kitchen will have a washing machine and a microwave oven．Your bedroom drawers will be filled with almost three times as many clothes as you need． You almost certainly own a car and possibly a home computer, holiday abroad at least once a year and eat out at least once a week．
Now, perhaps, more than ever before, people are wondering what life is all about, and what it is for．Seeking material success is beginning to trouble large numbers of people around the world．They feel that the long-hour work culture to make more money to buy more things is eating up their lives, leaving them very little time or energy for family or pastimes．Many are turning to other ways of living and downshifting_is one of them．
Six percent of workers in Britain took the decision to downshift last year．One couple who downshifted is Daniel and Liz．They used to work in central London．He was a newspaper reporter and she used to work for an international bank．They would go to work by train every day from their large house in the suburbs （郊区）, leaving their two children with a nanny（保姆）．Most evenings Daniel wouldn’t get home until eight or nine o’clock, and nearly twice a month he would have to fly to New York for meetings．They both earned a large amount of money but began to feel that life was passing them by．
Nowadays, they run a farm in the mountains of Wales．“I always wanted to have a farm here,” says Daniel, “and we took almost a year to make the decision to downshift．It’s taken some getting used to, but it’s been worth it．We have to think twice now about spending money on car repairs and we no longer have any holidays．However, I think it’s made us stronger as a family, and the children are a lot happier．”
Liz, however, is not quite sure．“I used to enjoy my job, even though it was hard work and long hours．I’m not really a country girl, but I suppose I’m gradually getting used to looking after the animals．One thing I do like, though, is being able to see more of my children．My advice for other people wanting to do the same is not to think about it too much or you might not do it at all．”
68．What do the first two paragraphs tell us?
A．People seldom work long hours to make money．      
B．People hardly buy more things than necessary．
C．People are sure everything they own is in the right place．
D．People realize more is involved in life than just making money．
69．Daniel agrees that the move to the farm __________．
A．was easy to organize               B．has improved family life
C．was extremely expensive           D．has been a total success
70．The underlined word "downshifting" in the second paragraph means ________．
A．repairing your car by yourself
B．spending money carefully
C．moving out to the countryside to live a simpler and better life
D．living in a big house in the suburbs and dining out once a week

As a young girl growing up in the 1930s, I always wanted to fly a plane, but back then it was almost unheard of for a woman to do that. I got a taste of that dream in 2001, when my husband arranged for me to ride in a hot air balloon for my birthday. But the experience turned out to be very dull. Around that time, I told my husband that I wanted to skydive. So when our retirement community announced that they were having an essay competition and the topic was an experience of a lifetime that you wanted to have, I decided to write about my dream.
In the essay, I wrote about my desire to skydive, stating George Brush Sr. did it at age 80. Why not me? I was just 84 and in pretty good health. A year went by and I heard nothing. But then at a community party in late April 2009, they announced that I was one of the winners. I just couldn’t believe it. Inspired by this, I decided to realize my dream, even though some of my family members and my doctor were against it.
On June 11, 2009, nearly 40 of my family and friends gathered in the area close to where I would land while I headed up in the airplane. My instructor, Jay, guided me through the experience. The plane was the noisiest one I had ever been in, but I wasn’t frightened—I was really just looking forward to the experience. When we reached 13,000 feet, Jay instructed me to throw myself out of the plane. When we first hit the air, the wind was so strong that I could hardly breathe. For a second I thought, “What have I gotten myself into?” But then everything got calmer. We were in a free fall for about a minute before Jay opened the parachute（降落伞）, then we just floated downward for about five minutes. Being up in the clouds and looking at the view below was unlike anything I have ever felt—much better than the hot air balloon. I was just enjoying it.
Skydiving was really one of the greatest experiences of my life. I hope other people will look at me and realize that you don’t stop living just because you are 84 years old. If there’s something you want to experience, look into it. If it’s something that is possible, make it happen.
【小题1】What happened to the author in 2001?
A. She flew an airplane.
B. She entered a competition.
C. She went on a hot air balloon ride.
【小题2】The author mentioned George Bush Sr. in her essay to       .