The days of elderly women doing nothing but cooking huge meals on holidays are g

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The days of elderly women doing nothing but cooking huge meals on holidays are gone. Enter the Red Hat Society—a group holding the belief that old ladies should have fun.
“My grandmother didn’t do anything but keep house and serve everybody. They were programmed to do that,” said Em

ily Cornette, head of a chapter of the 7-year-old Red Hat Society.
While men have long spent their time fishing and playing golf, women have sometimes seemed to become unnoticed as they age. But the generation now turning 50 is the baby boomers (生育高峰期出生的人), and the same people who refused their pare

nts’ way of being young are now trying a new way of growing old.
If you take into consideration feminism (女权主义), a bit of spare money, and better health for most elderly, the Red Hat Society looks almost inevitable (必然的). In this society, women over 50 wear red hats and purple (紫色的) clothes, while the women under 50 wear pink hats and light purple clothing.
“The organization took the idea from a poem by Jenny Joseph that begins: “When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple. With a red hat which doesn’t go,” said Ellen Cooper, who founded the Red Hat Society in 1998. When the ladies started to wear the red hats, they attracted lots of attention.
“The point of this is that we need a rest from always doing something for someone else,” Cooper said. “Women feel so ashamed and sorry when they do something for themselves.” This is why chapters are discou

raged from raising money or doing anything useful. “We’re a ladies’ play group. It couldn’t be more simple,” added Cooper’s assistant Joe Heywood.
小题1:. The unlined word “chapter” in Paragraph 2 means ___.

A．one branch of an organization	B．a written agreement of a club
C．one part of a collection of poems	D．a period in a society’s history

小题2:. From the text, we know that the “baby boomers” are a group of people who ___.

A．have gradually become more noticeable	B．are worried about getting old too quickly
C．are enjoying a good life with plenty of money to spend
D．tried living a different life from their parents when they were young

小题3:. It could be inferred from the text that members of the Red Hat Society are ___.

A．interested in raising money for social work	B．programmers who can plan well for their future
C．believers in equality between men and women	D．good at cooking big meals and taking care of others

小题4:.. Who set up the Red Hat Society?

A．Emily Cornette

B．Ellen Cooper

C．Jenny Joseph

D．Joe Heywood

小题5:.. Women join the Red Hat Society because ___.

A．they want to stay young	B．they would like to appear more attractive
C．they would like to have fun and live for themselves	D．they want to be more like their parents

答案

小题1:.A
小题1:.D
小题1:.C
小题1:.B
小题1:.C

解析

略

举一反三

Whether I’m looking for a good chat with some old Mends or a quiet place to meet a colleague, the pub will be the place I always choose.
I could, of course, go to a bar. But a pub, I always find, is far more comfortable and has a more relaxed atmosphere.
Many people in the UK also have a favorite pub at the end of the road where they live or nearby to where they work. I can almost always guarantee that I’ll bump into someone I know at my “local”, as we British call our nearest pub.
In fact, many people from the UK say that the pub is a cornerstone (基础) of British life. Coming together over a drink, usually of beer, is generally considered the best way to catch up with friends. For those who are a little reserved (内向的), as the British sometimes are, it’s the best way to open up and get chatting.
However, this habit is slowly changing among some British people. According to a survey completed in August by UK trade magazine The Publican, eating, rather than drinking, has become the main source of income for our 52,000 pubs.
The gastropub (美食酒吧), with its greater emphasis on food, is primarily responsible. All over the country, this more expensive type of pub has been springing up, providing a place for more formal meetings with business partners. Wine is often drunk instead of the traditional beer.
But not everyone’s happy. Many people hate the fact that some local pubs are closing because new gastropubs are proving more profitable. “Beer sales are sinking and many pubs are struggling to survive,” Rob Haward, of the British Beer and Pub Association, told UK newspaper The Daily Mail.
For my part, I’m going to do all I can to keep the local British pub alive. It will be the first place I visit when I go back home.
小题1:. The article is mainly about .

A．the British pub losing popularity	B．the author’s love of pubs
C．how the British socialize	D．the local British pub

小题2:. Many British people say that the pub is a cornerstone of British life because .

A．it is nearby and convenient

B．it is a great place for meeting friends

C．it is far more comfortable than a bar to have a drink

D．it is easy to bump into people they know in a pub ,

小题3:. From the text, we can conclude that gastropubs .

A．will replace the local pubs

B．attach more importance to drinks

C．are somewhere between a restaurant and a bar

D．attract beer lovers as well as wine lovers

小题4:. Which of the following is TRUE according to the article?

A．The author is in favor of gastropubs.

B．Wine is thought to show one’s class and taste.

C．British people do not go to pubs as often as before.

D．Local pubs are being seriously affected by gastropubs.

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With large and small keyboards everywhere, neither children nor adults need to write much of anything by hand. That’s a big problem. Study after study suggests that handwriting is important for brain development — helping kids get fine motor skills and learn to express and create ideas. Yet the time devoted to teaching penmanship in most schools has shrunk to just one hour a week. Is it time to give up handwriting? Have a look at the link between the brain and penmanship, and you may get the answer.
A test among students in grades 2, 4 and 6 found that they not only wrote faster by hand than by keyboard, but also created more ideas when composing essays with handwriting. And other research shows that the finger movements required to write by hand activate brain areas involved with thought, language, and short-term memory.
A recent Indiana University study had one group of children practice writing letters by hand while a second group just looked at those letters. Then, both groups of kids entered a functional MRI (核磁共振)that scanned their brains as the researchers showed them the same letters. Researchers found that the brain activity in the first group was far more advanced and “adult-like”.
Handwriting also affects other people’s way they think of adults and children. Several studies have shown that the same average essay will score much higher if written with good penmanship and much lower if written out in poor handwriting. These studies have also found that people judge the quality of a person’s ideas based on his or her handwriting. And the consequences are real: On standardized tests with handwritten sections, like the SAT, all essay that is considered hard to recognize gets a big zero.
Studies show that this isn’t only an English-language phenomenon. Chinese and Japanese youths are suffering from “character amnesia”. They can’t remember how to write characters, thanks to computers and text messaging. Some experts fear that Chinese writing and reading are so closely linked in the brain that China’s reading ability as a nation could suffer.
小题1:.
What does the Indiana University study imply?

A．Children should practice writing letters

B．Handwriting can increase brain activity

C．It’s good for children to enter a functional MRI.

D．Letters should often be shown to children

小题2:.
What does the 4th paragraph mainly talk about?

A．Handwriting affects both adults and children.

B．Handwriting helps a person write better essays.

C．SAT should be done with good handwriting.

D．Good handwriting makes a person seem smarter.

小题3:.
Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Essays written with keyboards will get lower scores.

B．The quality of your ideas depends on your handwriting.

C．Chinese and Japanese youths don’t know how to write.

D．Less handwriting may affect China’s reading ability.

小题4:.
The passage tries to tell us that __________________.

A．keyboards are more popular than handwriting

B．we shouldn’t judge people by their handwriting

C．handwriting is of great importance

D．it’s time to give up using keyboards

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For thousands of years, the most important two buildings in any British village have been the church and the pub. Traditionally, the church and the pub are at the heart of any village or town, where the people gather together to socialize and exchange news.
As a result, British pubs are often old and well preserved. Many of them have become historic sites. The most famous example is the pub in the city of Nottingham called “Ye O

lde Trip to Jerusalem”, which dates back to the year 1189 AD and is probably the oldest pub in England.
However, British pubs are not just for kings and queens; they welcome people from all classes and parts of society. On a cold night, the pub’s landlord or landlady can always find a warm place for you by the fire. There is always honest and hearty food and plenty of drink available at an affordable price.
That’s how things used to be. Things are beginning to change. It is said that the credit crunch(信贷紧缩) is causing 39 British pubs a week to go out of busi

ness. People do not have enough spare money to spend on beer. Recently, the UK government banned smoking in all pubs, and that may also have affected the number of customers going to pubs.
This decline is happening despite the fact that in 2005 the UK government started to allow pubs to stay open after 1l pm. Previously, with 1l pm as closing time, customers would have to drink quite quickly, meaning they sometimes got more drunk than they would if allowed to drink slowly. The British habit of drinking a lot very quickly is known as “binge drinking”, and it causes long-term health problems for people and problems with violent crime for communities.
In order to save their businesses, pubs are trying to change with the market. British pubs now offer something for everyone. A lot of pubs used to be “Working Men"s Clubs”, meaning that women could not usually enter. Today, however, women can freely enter 99% of pubs without experiencing any problems. Perhaps things are changing for the better after all.
小题1:. The passage mainly tells us something about

A．the past and present of British pubs	B．the decline of British pubs
C．the long history of British pubs	D．the importance of British pubs

小题2:. Which may not be the cause of the decline of British pubs?

A．The credit crunch.	B．The present closing time.
C．The ban of smoking.	D．Having no spare money.

小题3:.. We can infer from the passage that

A．British people used to like drinking slowly

B．closing the pubs early will reduce social problems

C．binge drinking means drinking less beer

D．British government aims to discourage people from binge drinking

小题4:. We can see from the last paragraph that the author ________

A．is against the admission of too many women to the pubs

B．holds an optimistic attitude towards the British pubs

C．thinks that women in the pubs will cause less social problems

D．thinks that British pubs should offer everything you need

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Terraforming (Earth-forming) other planets, also known as planetary engineering (行星工程), seems like a task still centuries away for mankind to accomplish. However, it is a vigorous topic that attracts both popular and scientific interest. Why should the possibility of terraforming other planets be studied when it may be centuries before we know enough to even decide if it’s a good idea?
Mankind is getting more and more hard facts about other planets. The atmosphere of Venus has been explored; robots have surveyed the surface of Mars; Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn have been studied by spacecraft. Speculations have been answered; new questions have been raised, and enough hard data is right now becoming available to allow us to make the first attempt of planetary engineering.
In the past, people with excellent ideas about terraforming have kept them to themselves, or buried them in a desk drawer because they did not realize that anyone else was interested. But now, a wide circle of people has begun to do this kind of work. For instance, NASA funded a project on transforming Mars.
There are several strong reasons which demand that the possibilities of terraforming be studied carefully. First, it’s an exciting idea of a possible future for human beings. Such thinking has a valuable role in providing options for our future directions. Secondly, the techniques of terraforming will also help contemporary technologies in weather and climate control. Thirdly, such study may assist us in detecting any possible existence of extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI, The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, 地外文明搜索) and alien (异己的) civilizations on other planets.
Though the mission is far beyond our reach at the moment, we should at least keep our options open. Through debate and study on this subject, the possibility of rebuilding other planets to make them suitable homes for people may come true some day in the future.
小题1:.
. According to the context, what’s the meaning of the word “speculation” in paragraph 2?

A．The act of discussing something with a group of people.

B．The act of studying and researching.

C．The act of guessing without knowing all the facts about something.

D．The acting of writing letters to a certain organization.

小题2:.
Why did people keep the idea of terraforming to themselves in the past?

A．They thought no one else would show interest in the idea.

B．They gradually came to find the idea crazy.

C．They thought the idea would never come true.

D．They had few resources for further study on this topic.

小题3:.
. Which is NOT the reason to support the study of terraforming?

A．Even if we don’t succeed in terraforming, such study may help us to better understand technologies such as climate and weather control.

B．Such study may explore a new direction of development for human beings.

C．Such study may enable us to find the lives on other planets.

D．As the resources on Earth are being drained, it’s very urgent to study how to migrate (迁移) to other planets。

小题4:.
What’s the main idea of the article?

A．It’s highly possible that terraforming other planets will come true so we should increase investing in this program.

B．Even if the idea of terraforming other planets may take centuries to realize, we have many reasons to support such studies.

C．Terraforming other planets is the best option for human being’s future.

D．More and more people are taking planetary engineering as their occupation.

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Being a mother is apparently not like it was in the good old days.
　　Today’s parents yearn for the golden age that their own mothers enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s, researchers found. Mothers have less time to themselves and feel under greater pressure to handle work and family life than the previous generation. As a result, 88 per cent said they felt guilty about the lack of time they spent with their children.
The survey of 1,000 mothers also found that more than a third said they had less time to themselves than their mothers did – just three hours a week or 26 minutes a day. And 64 per cent said this was because they felt they ‘had’ to go out to work, while nearly a third (29 per cent) said they were under constant pressure to be the ‘perfect mother’, the report found.
Other findings showed social networking and parenting websites, as well as technology such as Skype, were important in providing help and support among female communities. Kate Fox, a member of the Social Issues Rese

arch Centre, which conducted the survey for Procter & Gamble, said: ‘With increasing pressure on

mothers to work a “double shift” — to be the perfect mother as well as a wage-earner — support networks are more important than ever.
It comes as a separate report examining childcare in the leading industrialised nations found that working mothers in Britain spend just 81 minutes a day caring for their children as a ‘primary activity’. Mothers who stay at home, on the other hand, manage twice as much time – more than two and a half hours – looking after their offspring, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
　　Critics say the pressure on women to work long hours, and leave their offspring in the hands of nurseries or childminders, is putting the well-being of their children at risk.
　　The study also reveals that, despite the fact that more and more modern mothers go out to work, the burden of childcare still falls on them - even if their husband is not in work. A father who is not in work tends to spend just 63 minutes a day looking after his child - 18 minutes less than a mother who goes out to work. Working fathers spare less than three quarters of an hour with their children.
小题1:. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．The good old days of mothers in the 1970s and 1980s.

B．The great sufferings of today’s children.

C．The statistics of working mothers and full-time mothers.

D．The big problems that today’s working mothers face.

小题2:. What does the underlined phrase “yearn for” probably means ___________.

A．hate

B．miss

C．abandon

D．control

小题3: Which of the following problems is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．Today’s mothers have less time left for their children and themselves.

B．The working mothers can hardly strike the balance between work and family.

C．Most of the mothers can not control their husbands nowadays.

D．Modern fathers do not spend enough time with their children.

小题4: From para. 4, we can infer that ___________.

A．working mothers can seek help on line

B．Skype is a very famous expert in studying social issues

C．working mothers’ double shift is to be a wife and a mother

D．Kate Fox has opened a website offering help to working mothers

小题5:. What critics say means that _____________.

A．it is wise for working mothers to put their kids in nurseries or childminders

B．too much time in nurseries or childminders is bad for kids’ mental and physical health

C．nurseries or childminders are dangerous places for children

D．children do not like nurseries or childminders at all

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