Turning on the TV, a wonderful scene comes to your eyes---- a group of men, tall, strong and handsome. and women , young, beautiful and attractive, too. Together they eat in the finest restaurant, traveling everywhere around the world by luxurious planes and pleasure ships. They are models.

Do you envy them? What sort of life are model leading? Is it a wonderful life for a young lady or a young man?

A few models are well-known actors or actresses who can make a big money only by showing themselves off in commercials. But the majority of them are just curious to see what it is like. They’d like to be models just because they are attracted by what they imagine— models earn a lot of money and lead a glorious life. This is true for those who are very successful. However, most models find it difficult to get work. Very few can earn enough to live on, and for all models their expenses are high.Their agents claim about 20% of the earnings, and no model will get very far without a clever agent. Besides, they have to buy good clothing. They also have to pay to travel to interviews and reach the places where the work is to be done.

Interviews for a model job are known as cattle-markets in the modelling world, and not without a good reason. A top model can choose his or her work, demand and receive high fee and has his or her expenses paid. But for most models, the situation is quite different. An agent or employer inspects each model much as a farmer inspects cattle at a market. Intelligence, qualifications and personal characteristics count for little against good looks and the tight figure. For all except the very few lucky ones, the life of a model is a continual search for work, trying to sell herself or himself in the face of fierce competition and, sometimes, not particularly moral standard on the part of some employers.

Immigration officials at airport look suspiciously at a girl whose passport shows her occupation as “Model”, and these are men and women of considerable experience of the world. If comes no surprise to find that some models prefer to put “Secretary” or “Businessman” as their jobs in their passports.

Modelling is a changeable world with great rewards for a tiny minority but not for the majority.

1.For models, their good looks and tight figures are_____ , compared with their qualifications and intelligence.

    A． more important                       B． less needed

    C．less essential                   D．more looked down upon

2.Which of the following can lead you to believe according to the passage?

    A．A model’s travelling expenses are usually paid by his employer.

    B．To be a model ,good looks are the most important qualification.

    C．Most models have a fairly easy way of life with high pay.

    D．A model can hardly be successful without a good agent.

3.Models often put “Secretary” or“Businessmen” instead of“Model” in their passports because

               .

    A．they want to avoid being stopped to sign their names by fans

    B．a person with the occupation of a model is easily attacked by black societies.

    C．models are sometimes looked down upon

    D．secretaries and businessmen are free of Customs duty

4.What may be the author’s attitude toward modelling?

    A．It is a worthwhile life for a young lady or a young man.

    B． He is in favour of young people to try modelling.

    C． Before being crazy about a model job ,young people should be aware of the difficulties.

    D．It is a field in which everyone has a great chance to succeed.

5.The underlined word “suspiciously” can most probably be replaced by ________

    A．doubtfully     B．excitedly      C．proudly        D．sadly

Turning on the TV, a wonderful scene comes to your eyes — a group of men，tall，strong and handsome，and women，young，beautiful and attractive，too．Together they eat in the finest restaurants，traveling everywhere around the world by luxurious（豪华的）planes and pleasure ships．They are models．

Do you envy them? What sort of life are models leading? Is it a wonderful life for a young lady or a young man?

A few models are well-known actors or actresses who can make a lot of money only by showing themselves off in commercials．But the majority of them are just curious to see what it is like．They’d like to be models just because they are attracted by what they imagine—models earn a lot of money and lead a glorious life．This is true for those who are very successful．However, most models find it difficult to get work．Very few can earn enough to live on，and for all models their expenses are high．Their agents claim about 20％of the earnings，and no model will get very far without a clever agent．Besides，they have to buy good clothing．They also have to pay to travel to interviews and reach the places where the work is to be done．

Interviews for a model job are known as cattle—markets in the modeling world，and not without a good reason．A top model can choose his or her work，demand and receive high fees told has his or her expenses paid．But for most models，the situation is quite different．An agent or employer inspects each model much as a farmer inspects cattle at a market．Intelligence qualifications and personal characteristics count for little（无足轻重）against good looks and tight figures．For all except the very few lucky ones，the life of a model is a continual search for work，trying to sell himself or herself in the face of fierce competition and,sometimes，not particularly moral standards on the part of some employers．

Immigration officials at airport look suspiciously at a girl whose passport shows her occupation as “Model”，and these are men and women of considerable experience of the world．It comes no surprise to find that some models prefer to put “Secretary” or “Businessman” as their jobs in their passports．

Modeling is a changeable world with great rewards for a tiny minority but not for the majority．

1．For models，their good looks and tight figures are________，compared with their intelligence and qualifications．

A．more important B．less needed C．less essential D．more looked down upon

2．Which of the following can lead you to believe according to the passage?

A．A model’s traveling expenses are usually paid by his employer．

B．To be a model，good looks are the most important qualification．

C．Most models have a fairly easy way of life with high pay．

D．A model can hardly be successful without a good agent．

3．Models often put “Secretary” or “Businessman” instead of “Model” in their passports because

A．they want to avoid being stopped to sign their names by fans

B．a person with the occupation of a model is easily attacked by black societies

C．models are sometimes looked down upon

D．secretaries and businessmen are free of custom duty

4．What may be the author’s attitude towards modeling?

A．It is a worthwhile life for a young lady or a young man．

B．He is in favor of young people to try modeling．

C．Before being crazy about a model job，young people should be aware of the difficulties．

D．It is a field in which everyone has a great chance to succeed．

5．The underlined word “suspiciously” can most probably be replaced by________．

A．doubtfully           B．excitedly        C．proudly      D．sadly

About ten years ago, a young and very successful businessman named Josh was traveling down a Chicago neighborhood street. He was going a bit too fast in his shiny, black, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE, which was only two months old.
He was watching for kids rushing out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no child came out, but a brick sailed out and—WHUMP! —it hit the Jag’s shiny black side door! Immediately Josh stopped the car, jumped out, seized the kid and pushed him up against a parked car. He shouted at the kid, “What was that all about and who are you? That’s my new Jag, that brick you threw is gonna cost you a lot of money. Why did you throw it? ”
“Please, mister, please. . . I’m sorry!  I didn’t know what else to do! ” begged the youngster. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop! ” Tears were streaming down the boy’s face as he pointed around the parked car. “It’s my brother, mister” he said. “He rolled off the curb (路沿) and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up. ”Sobbing, the boy asked the businessman, “ Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me. ”
Moved beyond words, the young businessman tried hard to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapers and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be OK. He then watched the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long walk back to the black, shining 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE—a long and slow walk. Josh never did fix the side door of his Jaguar. He kept the dent (凹痕) to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him to get his attention. Feel for the bricks of life coming at you.
【小题1】The boy threw a brick at the businessman’s car because _____ .