阅读理解

　　It was already dark when an old man came to a small town．He found an inn and wanted to stay there for the night．After he had gone to his room, the owner said to his wife, “Look at his bag, dear．I’m sure there are lots of valuable things in it．I want to steal it when he is asleep．”

　　“No, no,” said the woman．“He must look for his bag tomorrow morning．Then he’ll take you before the judge．”They thought and at last the woman had an idea．“We have forgetful grass, ”said the woman．“Why not put some into his food? If he has the food, he will forget to take his bag away．”“How clever you are!” said the owner．“Don’t forget it when you prepare supper for him．”

　　The old man had the food with the forgetful grass and went to bed．The next morning, when the owner got up, he found the door was open and the old man had left with his bag．He woke his wife up and said angrily, “What a fool! Your forgetful grass isn’t useful at all．”

　　“On, no,” said the woman．“I don’t think so．He forget something．”

　　“Oh, I’ve remembered!” the owner cried out suddenly．“He forgot…”

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　　Music is an international language．The songs that are sung or played by instruments are beautiful to people everywhere．

　　Popular music in America is what every student likes．Students carry small radios with earphones and listen to music before class, after class, and at lunch．Students with cars buy large speakers and play the music loudly as they drive on the streets．

　　Adult drivers listen to music on the car radios as they drive to work．They also listen to the news about sports, the weather, politics, and activities of the American people．Most of the radio broadcast is music．

　　Pop or popular music singers make much money．They make a CD or tape which radio stations use in every state．Once the popular singer is heard throughout the country, young people buy his or her tapes．Some of the money from these tapes comes to the singer．Wherever the singer goes, all the young people want to meet him or her．Now the singer has become a national star．

　　There are other kinds of music that are important to Americans．One is called folk music．It tells stories about the common life of Americans．Another is called western or country music．This was started by cowboys who would sing at night to the cows they were watching．Today, any music about country life and the love between a country boy and his girl is called western or country music．

　　Serious music for the concert halls is called classical music．Music for instruments is called orchestra music(管弦乐), such as the symphonies(交响乐)of Beethoven．There is opera(歌剧)for singers．There is ballet(芭蕾舞剧)for dancers like the story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai in China．

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　　One hot night in July, when our new baby wouldn’t or couldn’t sleep, I tried everything I could think of：a warm bottle, songs, gentle rocking．Nothing would settle him．Guessing that I had a long night ahead of me, I brought a TV set into his room, figuring that watching the late movie was as good a way as any to kill off the hours until dawn．To my surprise, as soon as the TV lit up, the baby quieted right down, his little eyes focused brightly on the screen．Not to waste an opportunity for sleep, I then tiptoed out of the room, leaving him to watch the actors celebrate John Bellushi’s forty-fifth birthday．

　　My wife and I heard no more of the baby that night, and the next morning when I went into his room, I found him still watching TV himself．

　　I found in my baby’s behavior a metaphor(暗喻)for the new generation．My wife and I had given him some books to examine, but he merely spit upon them．When we read to him, he did not feel comfortable．And so it is in the schools．We find that our students don’t read, that they look down upon reading and scold those of us who teach it．All they want to do is watching TV．After this experience with the baby, however, I have reached a conclusion：“Let them watch it．If television is that much more attractive to children than books, why should we fight it? Let them watch it all they want!”

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　　Vallandigham was a lawyer．In his last appearance in the courtroom, he represented a client(委托人)on trial for murder．He insisted that the victim(受害人)had drawn his own gun in a way that caused it to fire, killing himself．To prove what he said was true, Vallandigham showed the victim’s method of drawing a gun using the evidence gun filled with bullets．The gun went off, and he lost his life－but proved his case．

　　A fisherman in Kiev killed himself by electricity while fishing in the river．The 43-year-old man connected cables to the main power supply of his home and put the end into the river．The electric shock killed the fish, which floated to the top of the water．The man stepped into the river to collect his catch, forget ting to remove the live wire and terribly suffered the same fate as the fish．The man was fishing for a mourning meal to remember the first anniversary(周年纪念)of his mother-in-law’s death．

　　A 40-year-old official of the local government took his dog out for a walk．He met with a Police Academy student who was guarding two women to their homes．The student pointed out that the official’s dog was not allowed on a public street without a lead．Now, no one would be brave enough to tell a village official what to do, so the two men began to argue．Unable to resolve the matter by oral means, the official finally pulled out a military RGD-5 hand grenade(手榴弹)and threw it to the student’s feet．His well trained dog immediately ran for the object and fetched it for his master…and the man and dog met the same fate．

　　Police said an Olathe man was struck and killed by a train after his vehicle broke down on Interstate 35．His attempts to repairing his car had failed, and he had stepped away from the busy freeway to call for help, when the train engineer spotted him standing on the tracks．The engineer said the man was holding a cell phone to one ear, and cupping his hand to the other ear to block the noise of the train．

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　　Clive was climbing an old tree on Butter Hill．His father and Mr Drew were deeply absorbed in conversation not far away, which Clive could overhear．

　　“…North Dakota, capital Bismarck,” said Clive’s father．

　　“Yes, and of South Dakota, it’s Pierre．Delaware next, capital Dover, with a population of only 5000…”

　　Clive listened, checking the names．When they got stuck on Indiana, he came down the tree and went across to them．

　　“Let me see now,” Mr Drew was saying, “Indiana, Indiana…the capital must be Fort Wayne．”

　　“No,” said the other, “I think it’s Evansville．”

　　“Indianapolis,” said Clive．“That’s the easiest of all to remember．”

　　Both the men laughed．“He’s right, you know,” Mr Drew said．Clive’s father agreed, “Yes, yes．Indiana, Indianapolis．Now Kansas…”

　　Clive, who was thirteen then, was not very clever at school．But at that moment he felt rather proud of himself．

　　Looking back now, after many years, Clive remembers some of the ways he learned geography．One thing he remembers clearly is the “test” that took place every other week．The teacher used to pin up a big map on the board－China perhaps, or the United States, Australia or Europe…The map would have everything on it, except the names．The teacher, pointing with a long, wooden stick, began．

　　“Ready? Fifty questions．Number 1－write the name of this river．Number 2－the name of this State．3－its capital, here．4－the name of this bay(海湾)．5…”

　　Clive has quite forgotten whether he enjoyed learning geography or not．He didn’t consider the rights or wrongs．Though he has never studied geography since he left school, he has never forgotten it．He is glad about the way he learned．The work might have been dull, unexciting; but if so, the dullness has given him a lifetime of interest, understanding and pleasure．

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　　On September 4th of 2004 my American friend Jon Hageseth took me to the airport in La Crosse, Wisconsin to fetch a new suitcase．To show my thanks, I treated him and his wife with a Mexican lunch on the way back．After we enjoyed the delicious food, I paid the bill and went towards the car, but just when everyone was seated, Jon’s wife Cathy returned to the restaurant．I felt puzzled．Upon her return, she said, “You were clever not paying the tip, so I had to go back to pay it．”I felt so embarrassed that I lost no time to apologize, explaining that there is no such a practice in China．In fact, I don’t take the tipping issue seriously although I am aware of such a practice in the US．

　　Another day in September, I dined with one of my American colleagues at a Buffet Restaurant．On finishing the meal I began searching my wallet for small notes．“What are you doing, Zhao Qi?” my colleague asked．“To pay the tip of course．”My colleague burst into laughter, “You don’t have to．”“Why?” I asked and recalled my previous embarrassing experience in the Mexican restaurant．And then she told me that it’s unnecessary to pay tips at any kind of self-service restaurants, but we have to pay tips only in restaurants where services are provided．I still did not get a clear picture of this issue．Seeing my puzzlement, she offered me some good advice on the situation I should give the tip．

　　In her opinion, tipping plays an important role in US economy and acts as an unavoidable part of American’s daily life．The following are a few facts about tipping taken from various university and market-research studies．

　　1．People eating at restaurants in the US pay about ＄16 billion a year in tips．

　　2．Waiters and waitresses who wait on tables receive much higher tips than those who don’t．

　　3．Waitresses who add a “smile” face to their bills see their tips increase about 5％．Men who do the same watch theirs drop 3％．

　　4．94％ of Americans-regularly tip when eating out．

　　According to my own experience and those various studies, I may conclude that tipping reflects a kind of good manners and appreciation, not as simple as we imagine．

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　　Women work harder than men at university and get better degrees as a result, according to a study carried out at Burnel University．

　　The research, which tracked 200 students over four years, found that women consistently outperformed men in further education even though they had started their courses with almost the same A-level results．

　　An analysis of the department’s results showed that while 65 percent of female graduates were awarded, only 35 percent of males did that well．

　　Girls are known to outperform boys at school, but this research shows the trend continues at university．

　　Fiona Smith, the senior lecturer at Brunel who led the study, said, “The survey proved a previously held opinion wrong that the educational sex gap is purely a middle school phenomenon．”

　　It also makes the unfairness for working women in terms of pay．Women work harder at school, harder at university and do better in both, yet still receive less pay．

　　The survey found that female students were harder working, less likely to miss lectures and more likely to believe their marks were reflected their ability than their male competitors．Female students were also more likely to seek and receive support from staff．

　　On the contrary, men were more likely than women to miss lectures to “laziness” and to believe that playing sport was an important part of university life．

　　Different from the popular argument that women’s success is due to the increased emphasis on coursework, female geographers at Brunel did better in exams than in coursework, the research found．

　　The study, based on 180 questionnaires and interviews with more than 70 students, concluded that males underachieved because they felt working hard was not “macho．”

　　Dr Smith said, “Most women feel that getting good grades is the most important part of university life．”They believe they need to work harder in order to be able to compete in the male controlled environment they will face at work：good grades are viewed as an “insurance policy” for success．Men, on the other hand, feel that it’s not “macho” to work hard．They tend to put going out and playing sport higher than coursework．”

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阅读理解

　　In 1993, New York State ordered stores to pay money for those who returned beverage(饮料)containers．Within a year, consumers(people who buy goods)had returned millions of aluminum cans and glass and plastic bottles．Plenty of companies were eager to accept the aluminum and glass as raw materials for new products, but because few could figure out what to do with the plastic, much of it wound up buried in landfills(垃圾填埋场)．The problem was not limited to New York．Unfortunately, there were too few uses for second-hand plastic．

　　Today, one out of five plastic soda bottles is recycled in the United States．The reason for the change is that now there are dozens of companies across the country buying throw-away plastic soda bottles and turning them into fence posts, paint brushes, etc．

　　As the New York experience shows, recycling includes more than simply separating valuable materials from the rest of the rubbish．A thrown-away thing remains a thrown-away thing until somebody figures out how to give it a second life－and until economic arrangements exist to give that second life value．Without enough markets to take in materials collected for recycling, throw always actually reduce prices for used materials．

　　Making landfill space become smaller and rising costs for burying and burning rubbish are forcing local governments to look more closely at recycling．In many areas, the East Coast especially, recycling is already the least expensive waste management choice．For every ton of waste recycled, a city avoids paying for its disposal(action of getting rid of sth．), which, in parts of New York, amounts to savings of more than ＄100 per ton．Recycling also forces the local economy to develop quickly by providing jobs and reduces the pollution control and energy costs of industries that make recycled products by giving them a more refined(纯净的)material．

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