In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about.  It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.

The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants. Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.　

It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They had to move back to an apartment in New York City. Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.

People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.

Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.

A．want to be as rich as their neighbors

B．want others to know or to think that they are rich

C．don't want others to know they are rich

D．want to be happy

It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ________.　

A．live outside New York City    B．live in New York City

　 C．live in apartments            D．live with many neighbors

What's the author's attitude to keeping up with the Joneses?

A．Negative.                   B．Positive.

C．Supportive.                  D．Objective.

Scientists who try to predict earthquakes have gotten some new helpers recently—animals.

　　That’s right, animals. Scientists have begun to understand what farmers have known for thousands of years. Animals often seem to know in advance that an earthquake is coming, and they show their fear by acting in strange ways. Before a Chinese quake in 1975, snakes awoke from their winter sleep early only to freeze to death in the cold air. Cows broke their halters (缰绳) and tried to escape. Chickens refused to enter their cage. All of this unusual behavior, as well as physical changes in the earth, warned Chinese scientists of the coming quake. They moved people away from the danger zone and saved thousands of lives.

　　One task for scientists today is to learn exactly which types of animal behavior predict quakes. It’s not an easy job. First of all not every animal reacts to the danger of an earthquake. Just before a California quake in 1977, for example, an Arabian horse became very nervous and tried to break out of his enclosure. The Australian horse next to him, however, remained perfectly calm. It’s also difficult at times to tell the difference between normal animal restlessness and “earthquake nerves”. A zoo keeper once called earthquake researchers to say that his cougar had been acting strangely. It turned out that the cat had an upset stomach.

　　A second task for scientists is to find out exactly what kind of warnings the animals receive. They know that animals sense far more of the world than humans do. Many animals can see, hear, and smell things that people do not even notice. Some can sense tiny changes in air pressure, gravity, or the magnetism of Earth. This extra sense probably helps animals predict quakes.

　　A good example of this occurred with a group of dogs. They were shut in an area that was being shaken by a series of tiny earthquakes. (Several small quakes often come before or after a large one.) Before each quake a low booming sound was heard. Each boom caused the dogs to bark wildly. Then the dogs began to bark during a silent period. A scientist who was recording quakes looked at his machine. It was acting as though there were a loud noise too. The scientist realized that the dogs had reacted to a booming noise. They also sensed the tiny quake that followed it. The machine recorded both, though humans felt and heard nothing.

In this case there was a machine to monitor what the dogs were sensing. Many times, however, our machines record nothing extraordinary, even though animals know a quake is coming. The animals might be sensing something we measure but do not recognize as a warning. Discovering what animals sense, and learning how they know it is a danger signal, is a job for future scientists.

1.Through the passage the writer hopes to explore __________.

2. During an earthquake in China in 1975, _________.

3.Which of the following is one of earthquake nerves according to the passage?

4.The scientists did an experiment with a group of dogs to _________.

B

　　Fever has usually been regarded as a threat to health.However,no one has actually proved that fever is dangerous.This fact attracted the attention of Matthew J.Kluger.Imagining that fever might not be as harmful as it had been supposed,Kluger set up a series of experiments with lizards(蜥蜴).

　　What Kluger and his team did his team did in their first experiment was simple.They put some lizards in a sand-box,one end of which was heated to 44℃,while the other was at a room temperature.It was found that the lizards moved form one part of the box to the other in order to keep a constant temperature of about 38℃.Having shown that normal lizards regulate(调节) their own temperature,Kuger,in a second experiment,then set out to show that lizards,like most other animals,develop fever when infected.This was done by making lizards infected with bacteria (细菌) that were known to cause disease.As the team expected,the infected lizards remained longer in the heated part of the box,until they had raised their body temperatures to two or three degrees above normal.In other words,the sick lizards gave themselves fever.

　　In a third experiment,the team observed the effect of temperature on the survival of the lizards.One group of infected lizards was given a fever - suppressing(退烧) drug.The other group was given no drug and ran a fever,that is to say,they kept a highter temperature for four or five days before seeking a cooler environment.The results were impressive.Of those which raised their body temperature,all but one remained alive.Of those given the fever - suppressing drug,more than half died.Similar results have since been produced in other animals.For example,infeced fish swim to warmer water,and will die if not allowed to do so.

　　An important conclusion can be drawn from these experiments.As Kluger points out,lizards have been on earth for hundreds of millions of years.It is reasonable to suppose that a response that is so old has been kept by nature for some purpose.It would appear, therefore, that fever does not make disease worse.Rather it its part of the mechanism(机能) by which infection is controlled.

　　60.In his experiments,Kluger was hoping to prove that fever ________.

　　　A.is not harmful to lizards

　　　B.is not necessarily bad

　　　C.is necessary for both humans and animals

　　　D.has the same effect on humans and animals

　　61.The lizards put in the sand - box in the first experiment _____.

　　　A.had a fever B.were not sick C.recovered from disease D.died of heat

　　62.In the third experiment,the lizards given a fever - suppressing drug died because _____.

　　　A.they had no more fever that they needed

　　　B.they were normal ones and had no fever

　　　C.the drug had no iffect on sick lizards

　　　D.the drug made their body temperature too low

　　63.How would you understand the underlined words"a response" in the last paragraph?

　　　A.Gause of disease. B.Recovery from disease.

　　　C.Relationship between living D.Natural defense in the body against disease.

B
　　Fever has usually been regarded as a threat to health.However,no one has actually proved that fever is dangerous.This fact attracted the attention of Matthew J.Kluger.Imagining that fever might not be as harmful as it had been supposed,Kluger set up a series of experiments with lizards(蜥蜴).
　　What Kluger and his team did his team did in their first experiment was simple.They put some lizards in a sand-box,one end of which was heated to 44℃,while the other was at a room temperature.It was found that the lizards moved form one part of the box to the other in order to keep a constant temperature of about 38℃.Having shown that normal lizards regulate(调节) their own temperature,Kuger,in a second experiment,then set out to show that lizards,like most other animals,develop fever when infected.This was done by making lizards infected with bacteria (细菌) that were known to cause disease.As the team expected,the infected lizards remained longer in the heated part of the box,until they had raised their body temperatures to two or three degrees above normal.In other words,the sick lizards gave themselves fever.
　　In a third experiment,the team observed the effect of temperature on the survival of the lizards.One group of infected lizards was given a fever - suppressing(退烧) drug.The other group was given no drug and ran a fever,that is to say,they kept a highter temperature for four or five days before seeking a cooler environment.The results were impressive.Of those which raised their body temperature,all but one remained alive.Of those given the fever - suppressing drug,more than half died.Similar results have since been produced in other animals.For example,infeced fish swim to warmer water,and will die if not allowed to do so.
　　An important conclusion can be drawn from these experiments.As Kluger points out,lizards have been on earth for hundreds of millions of years.It is reasonable to suppose that a response that is so old has been kept by nature for some purpose.It would appear, therefore, that fever does not make disease worse.Rather it its part of the mechanism(机能) by which infection is controlled.
　　60.In his experiments,Kluger was hoping to prove that fever ________.
　　　A.is not harmful to lizards
　　　B.is not necessarily bad
　　　C.is necessary for both humans and animals
　　　D.has the same effect on humans and animals
　　61.The lizards put in the sand - box in the first experiment _____.
　　　A.had a fever B.were not sick C.recovered from disease D.died of heat
　　62.In the third experiment,the lizards given a fever - suppressing drug died because _____.
　　　A.they had no more fever that they needed
　　　B.they were normal ones and had no fever
　　　C.the drug had no iffect on sick lizards
　　　D.the drug made their body temperature too low
　　63.How would you understand the underlined words"a response" in the last paragraph?
　　　A.Gause of disease. B.Recovery from disease.
　　　C.Relationship between living D.Natural defense in the body against disease.

In October 1961 at Crowley Field in Cincinnati Ohio an old deaf gentleman named William E. Hoy stood up to throw the first ball of the World Series. Most people at Crowley Field on that day probably did not remember Hoy because he had retired(退休) from professional baseball 58 years earlier in 1903. However he had been an outstanding player and the deaf people still talk about him and his years in baseball.

William E. Hoy was born in Houckstown Ohio on May 23, 1862. He became deaf when he was two years old. He attended the Columbus Ohio School for the deaf. After graduation he started playing baseball while working as a shoemaker.

Hoy began playing professional baseball in 1886 for Oshkosh(Wisconsin) of the Northwestern League. In 1888 he started as an outfielder(外场手) with the old Washington Senators. His small figure and speed made him an outstanding base runner. He was very good at stealing bases during his career. In the 1888 major league season he stole 82 bases. He was also the Senators’ leading hitter in 1888. Hoy was clever and he threw right-handed and batted left-handed. On June 19,1889 he threw out three batters(击球手) at the plate from his outfield position.

The arm signals used by judges today to show balls and strikes began because of Hoy. The judge lifted his right arm to show that the pitch was a strike and his left arm to signal that it was a ball.

For many years people talked about Hoy’s last ball game in 1903. He was playing for Los Angeles of the Pacific Coast Winter League. It was a memorable game because Hoy hit a wonderful ball which won the game. It was a very foggy day and therefore very hard to see the ball. In the ninth inning(棒球的一局) with two men out, Hoy managed to catch a fly ball to make the third out in spite of the fog. Los Angeles defeated their opposition and won the game.

　　After he retired Hoy stayed busy. He ran a dairy farm near Cincinnati for 20 years. He also became a public speaker and traveled giving speeches. Until a few years before his death he took 4-10 mile walks several mornings a week. On December 15, 1961 William Hoy died at the age of 99.

1. In which order did the following things happen in Hoy’s life?

　　a. Hoy worked as a shoemaker.

　　b. Hoy began to run a diary farm.

　　c. Hoy played a memorable game in the heavy fog.

　　d. Hoy threw the first ball of the World Series.

　　e. Hoy became deaf.

　　A. d e a c b            B. e a c b d            C. d a e c b            D. e a b c d

2. We can infer from the last paragraph that Hoy _______ in his late years.

　　A. became famous                       B. led a relaxed life

　　C. traveled around the world        D. was in good physical condition

3. This passage is mainly about _______.

　　A. a deaf player devoted to the game of baseball

　　B. baseball game rules and important players

　　C. the rise in the social position of the deaf people

　　D. where the baseball judge hand signals came from

4. What can be inferred from this passage?

　　A. Hoy was the greatest baseball player in his time.

　　B. Speaking and listening are not necessary in baseball games.

　　C. The judge had to study the hand signals very seriously.

    D. Hoy’s family encouraged him to become a baseball player.