阅读理解

　　When your grandfather was a boy, he probably took your grandmother to an ice-cream parlor(小售货亭)．Here, for a little more than a dime(ten cents), he could treat the young lady to an ice-cream soda, a sundae, a malted milk, or some other delightful dessert．Probably, the ice-cream parlor was situated in a corner of a drugstore．There were containers of many kinds of sweet liquid．The person behind the counter was the master of such delightful combination of ingredients as the brown cow, a root-beer soda with ice-cream floating in it．

　　The name soda water tells something of its origins in US．Naturally carbonated(含二氧化碳的)water flows out of the ground in mineral springs around the world．These mineral springs have long attracted people in search of a cure for some ills．Then in 1767, the scientist Joseph Priestley created the first soda water not taken from natural mineral springs．Soon other experimenters were finding new ways to create the bubbly(冒气泡的)water that is the basis of so many soft drinks．In 1825, Elias Durand decided to catch the public interest in sparkling waters．He opened a drugstore in Philadelphia that served carbonated water, at that time still considered a helpful medicine．

　　A few years later, another Philadelphian, Eugene Roussel, decided to bottle soda water of different tastes．His first offering was a popular lemon soda, sold at the fountain of his perfume shop．Other manufacturers entered the race, and new tastes were introduced．Meanwhile, at soda fountains, adventurous owners added sweet cream to make the drink more appetizing．

　　Then came one of the most important events in the history of soda water．In October 1874 at the semi-centennial celebration of Philadelphia's Franklin Institute, a salesman named Robert Green sold so many soda-water drinks with cream that he ran out of cream．He rushed to a nearby shop to buy some straw-berry ice-cream．He planned to melt the ice-cream and use it as cream．His customers were too thirsty to wait, and so he put the ice-cream right into the soda water．The ice-cream soda was born．It has never lost its popularity．

　　Not far away, Charles E．Hires was experimenting with selling dried roots, bark, herbs．and flowers for making a drink he called root beer．He also made his own．By 1892, more than two million bottles of his soft drink were being sold annually．Then came a host of other drinks：Moxie, Dr．Pepper, and Coca-Cola．When the drink-business society in the 1890s forbade the sale of alcohol, the soft-drink market exploded．

　　The soft-drink market today is a huge business, with many competitors pushing their products on television and in newspapers and magazines．There are still many fast-food places where ice-cream sodas may be ordered．In every corner of the land there are machines pouring out soft drinks．But the old-time ice-cream parlor in a corner of a drugstore is largely a thing of the past．

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阅读理解

　　I had to knock on the taxi to get his attention．Finally, the driver, a man about 60, looked up from behind the wheel and apologized, “I'm sorry, but I was reading a letter．” He sounded as if he had a cold or a cough．

　　Since I was in no hurry, I told him to finish his letter．He shook his head, explaining that he had already read it several times and almost knew it by heart．Curious, I asked whether it was from a child or maybe a grandchild．“This isn't family,” he replied．“though he might just as well have been a regular member of the family．Old Ed and I grew up together．”

　　They were always friends．But since he moved away from the neighborhood 30 years ago, it'd generally just been postcards at Christmas time between them．A couple of weeks ago, Ed died．“I should have kept in touch．” He repeated this, more to himself than to me．To comfort him, I said sometimes we just didn't seem to find the time．“But we used to find the time,” he said．“Take a look．” He handed the letter over to me．

　　The first sentence “I've been meaning to write for some time, but I've always delayed it．” reminded me of myself．It went on to say that he often thought about the good times they had had together．When I read the part where it said “Your friendship really means a lot to me, more than I can say because I'm not good at saying things like that”, I found myself nodding in agreement．

　　We had gone several kilometers and were almost at my hotel, so I read the last paragraph：“So I thought you'd like to know that I was thinking of you．” And it was ended with “Your Old Friend, Tom．”

　　“I thought your friend's name was Ed,” I said．

　　“I'm Tom,” he explained．“It's a letter I wrote to Ed before I knew he'd died．I never put it in the mailbox．I guess I should have written it sooner．” His face was pale as he wiped his eyes with a handkerchief．

　　When I got to my hotel room I didn't unpack right away．I had to write a letter and post it．

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阅读理解

阅读短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

　　Money spent on advertising is money spent as well as any I knew of．It serves directly to assist a rapid distribution of goods at reasonable price, thereby establishing a firm home market and so making it possible to provide for export at competitive prices drawing attention to new ideas it helps enormously to raise standards of living．By helping to increase demand it ensures an increased need for labor, and is therefore an effective way to fight unemployment．It lowers the costs of many services：without advertisements your daily newspaper would cost four times as much, the price of your television license would need to be doubled, and travel by bus or tube would cost 20 percent more．

　　And perhaps most important of all, advertising provides a guarantee of reasonable value in the produces and services you buy．Apart from the fact that twenty seven acts of Parliament govern the terms of advertising, no regular advertiser dare promote a product that fails to live up to the promise of his advertisements, He might fool some people for a little while through misleading advertising．He will not do so for long ,for mercifully the public has the good sense not to buy the inferior article more than once．If you see an article consistently advertised, it is the surest proof I know that the article does what is claimed for it, and that it represents good value．

　　Advertising does more for the material benefit of the community than any other force I can think of．

　　There is one more point I feel I ought to touch on．Recently I heard a well-known television personality declare that he was against advertising because it persuades rather than informs．He was drawing excessively fine distinctions．Of course advertising seeks to persuades．

　　If its message were confined merely to information－and that in itself would be difficult if not impossible to achieve, for even a detail such as the choice of the color of a shirt is subtly persuasive－advertising would be so boring that no one would pay any attention．But perhaps that is what the well-known television personality wants．

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