阅读理解

　　Many daily American expressions are based (以……为基础) on colours．

　　Red is a hot colour．Americans often use it to represent heat．When they say “red-hot”, that means they are very angry about something．Loud music is popular with many people．Some may say that such music is red-hot．

　　Pink is a lighter kind of red．People sometimes say “I'm in the pink” when they are in good health．The expression was first used in America at the beginning of the 20th century．It probably comes from the fact that many babies are born with a nice pink colour that shows that they are in good health．

　　Blue is a cool colour．The old Blues music in the United States is the opposite of red-hot music．Blues is slow and sad．Someone who is “blue” is very sad．

　　The colour green is natural for trees and grass．But it is an unnatural colour for humans．A person who has an upset stomach may say “I'm feeling a bit green”．A person on a boat who is feeling very sick from high waves can be said “look very green”．Sometimes a person may be very jealous because he does not have anything as nice as someone has, like a fast new car．That person may say “I'm green with envy”．Some people are green with envy because someone has more dollars or “greenbacks”．Dollars are called greenbacks in American slangs because that is the colour of the bottom of their bank notes．

　　The colour black is used often in expressions．People may say “it's a black day” when everything goes wrong on that day．

　　In some cases, colours describe a situation．Blackouts were common during the World War II．All the lights in a city were turned off at night to make it difficult for enemy planes to find their aims in the dark．

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阅读理解

　　If you are like most people, your intelligence(智力)changes with the seasons, You are probably a lot sharper in the spring than you are at any other time of year．A famous scientist, Ellsworth Huntington(1876－1947), concluded(总结)that climate and temperature have an effect(作用)on your mental abilities(智力)．

　　He found that cool weather is much more favorable for creative(激活)thinking than summer heat．This does not mean that all people are less intelligent in the summer than they are during the rest of the year．It does mean, however, that the mental abilities of large numbers of people tend to be lowest in the summer．

　　Spring appears to be the best period of the year for thinking One reason may be that in the spring man’s mental abilities are affected(受影响)by the same factors(因素)that bring about great changes in nature．

　　Fall is the next-best season, then winter．As for summer, it seems to be a good time to take a long vacation from thinking．

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