阅读理解

　　John Bull

　　In speaking of John Bull, an image immediately appears in our　mind．He is short and fat, with a tall hat on his head and a pair of boots on his feet．It is the nickname for Britain, but where does it come from?

　　Originally, John Bull denoted generally Britain or any Englishman in the seventeenth century, just as Uncle Sam refers to the U．S．A．in the nineteenth century and became the symbol of America in 1961．In the eighteenth century, a Scottish writer named John Arbuthnot(1667-1735), who wrote a book called“The History of John Bull”, in which he bitterly and vividly depicted the frankness, uneasiness(不安)and funniness of a gentleman called John Bull．He described him so vividly and with such remarkable truth to life that the nickname spread far and wide, and has become a synonym for Britain which everybody knows．In the nineteenth century, cartoonists displayed him in caricatures(漫画)so everyone now has a visual(形象的)image of him．

　　“Ladies First”

　　“Ladies First”is also a British custom, though it is less observed today than it used to be．The reason seems to be the fact that women are the equals of men in having the vote, taking paid employment and receiving higher education, but there is still the feeling that they need protection．It is still considered polite to let a woman go first, to protect her from traffic, to help her get on and get off the bus and to do many other things for her．

　　Talking about the weather

　　When you meet a person in Britain and do not know how to start your conversation, you may say, “It's a nice day, isn't it?”or“It looks like rain”, or you might say, “I hope the rain lets up soon”, or something like that．Why do the Englishmen usually talk about the weather?There are probably two reasons．One is the uncertainty of the weather．Some people even say, “One can experience four seasons in the course of a single day!”So you may laugh when you see in London that the Englishmen are wearing raincoats or carrying umbrellas on a bright sunny day．Another reason is that talking about the weather, unlike discussing politics, seems a way of being friendly, without getting heated．The weather is a subject which is quite safe to talk about．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项。

　　In my long years of teaching, I often ask my student to read the texts until they can recite(背诵)them, and I tell them that recitation is an important part of their homework．However, some of my students are tired of doing so, thinking that it is both hard and useless．They argue that it takes a long time to recite a text from memory and text itself never appears in a test paper．

　　In my opinion, it naturally takes time to recite a text, but it is worth doing so．When you are able to recite a text, you are sure to be familiar with the words and expressions．When you need them in reading or writing or doing exercises, they will come to your mind quickly, and so you will give quick response to all kinds of language situation．How can we say that it is useless?

　　Besides, many students complain that they soon forget what they were once able to recite．This is true, but you don't need to worry．While you are reading and forgetting the texts, your language level is being raised．Sure you don't remember your Chinese texts that you once read in the primary school, but now you are able to read novels and newspaper．So, recitation of the texts will help you improve your language ability．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

阅读理解，阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中，选出最佳选项。

　　Just about every week now, we read a newspaper headline about the genetic basis for breast cancer, intelligence, or obesity．Such news stories may lead us to believe our lives are being revolutionized by genetic discoveries．We may be close to changing and getting rid of mental illness, for example and identify the causes of crime, personality, and other basic human weaknesses．

　　But these hopes, it turns out, are based on faulty assumptions about genes and behavior．

　　In many cases, people are motivated to accept research claims by the hope of finding solutions for frightening problems, like breast cancer．Accepting genetic causes for their characteristics can relieve guilt about behavior they want to change but can't．Efforts made to fight against them, at growing expense, have made little or no visible progress．The public wants to hear that science can help．

　　Meanwhile, genetic claims are being made for many ordinary and abnormal behaviors, from addiction to shyness and even to political views and divorce．If who we are is determined from pregnancy, then our efforts to change or to influence our children may be useless．There may also be no basis for insisting that people behave themselves and obey laws．Thus, the revolution in thinking about genes has great consequences for how we view ourselves as human beings．

　　Most claims linking emotional disorders and behaviors to genes are statistical in nature．The research finds are insufficient for deciding that alcoholism or mainic-depression(躁狂抑郁症患者)is inherited．In the late 1980s, genes for manic-depression were identified by teams of geneticists．The claims have now been definitively proved wrong．

　　Genetic data on the major mental illnesses make it clear that they can't be reduced to purely genetic causes．According to Myrna Weissman, Ph．D．, Americans born before 1905 had a 1 percent rate of depression by age 75．Among Americans born a half century later, 6 percent become depressed by age 24! Similarly, while the average age at which manic-depression first appears was 32 in the mid 1960s, its average beginning today is 19．Only social factors can produce such large shifts in rate and age of beginning of mental disorders in a few decades．

　　Scientists actively debate whether disorders like alcoholism are more or less biologically driven．If they are mainly biological-rather than psychological, social, and cultural-then there may be a genetic basis for them．In 1990, Kenneth Blum, Ph．D．, of the University of Texas, and Ernest Noble, M．D．, of the University of California, Los Angeles, found a certain gene in 70 percent of a group of alcoholics, but in only 20 percent of a non-alcoholic group．But in 1993 Joel Gelernter, M．D．, of Yale and his colleagues surveyed all the studies that examined this gene and alcoholism．Different from Blum and Noble's research, the results were that 18 percent of non-alcoholics, 18 percent of problem drinkers, and 18 percent of severe alcoholics all had the gene．As for Blum and Noble's work, a more reasonable model is that genes may affect how people experience alcohol．Perhaps some people's nerves are more activated by alcohol．But although genes can influence reactions to alcohol, they cannot explain why some people continue drinking to the point of destroying their lives．

　　Therefore, claims that our genes cause our problems, our misbehavior, even our personalities are more a mirror of our culture's attitudes than a window for human understanding and change．

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)