Betty and Harold have been married for years. But one thing still puzzles old Harold. How is it that he can leave Betty and her friend Joan sitting on the sofa, talking, go out to a ball game, come back three and a half hours later, and they're still sitting on the sofa, talking? What in the world, Harold wonders, do they have to talk about? Betty shrugs . Talk? We're friends. Researching this matter called friendship, psychologist Lilian Rubin spent two hundred women and men. No matter what their age, their jobs, their sex, the results were completely clear: women have more friendships than men, and the difference in the content and the quality of those friendships is "marked and unmistakable". More than two-thirds of the single men Rubin interviewed could not name a best friend. Those who could were likely to name a woman. Yet three-quarters of the single women had no problem naming a best friend, most trusted person, or the one they would turn to in time of emotional distress . "Most women," says Rubin, "identified at least one, usually more, trusted friends to whom they could turn in a troubled moment, and they spoke openly about the importance of these relationships in their lives." "In general," writes Rubin in her new book, "women's friendships with each other rest on shared emotions and support, but men's relationships are marked by shared activities. "For the most part, Rubin says, interactions between men are emotionally controlled - a good fit with the social requirements of "manly behavior". "Even when a man is said to be a best friend," Rubin writes, "the two share little about their innermost feelings. Whereas a woman's closest female friend might be the first to tell her to leave a failing marriage, it wasn't unusual to hear a man say he didn't know his friend's marriage was in serious trouble until he appeared on night asking if he could sleep on the sofa." Rubin's study shows that for emotional support a married woman is more likely to turn to _ . A) a male friend B) a female friend C) her parents D) her husband
B
(Question)
It was midnight in Paris and we were rolling toward Avenue Bosguet. As we came to the Pont Alexandra III, the taxi slowed down, for the traffic light was red against us, and then, without stopping, we sailed through the red in a sudden burst of speed. The same performance was repeated at the Alma Bridge. As I paid the driver, I asked him why he had driven through two red lights. "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, breaking the law and endangering your life that way." I protested. He looked at me, astonished, "Ashamed of myself? I am a law abiding citizen and have no desire to get killed either." He cut me off before I could protest. "No, just listen to me before you complain. What did I do? Went through a red light. Well, did you ever stop to consider what a red light is? What it means?" "Certainly,"I replied. "It's a stop signal and means the traffic is rolling in the opposite direction." "Half-right,"said the driver, "But incomplete. It's only an automatic stop signal. And it does not mean that there is cross traffic. Did you see any cross traffic during our trip? Of course not. I slowed down at the light, looked carefully to the right and to the left. Not another car on the street at this hour. Well, then! What would you have me do? Should I stop like a stupid animal because an automatic, brainless machine turns red every forty seconds? No, sir,"he shouted, "I am a man, not a machine. I have eyes and a brain and judgment, given me by God. Ashamed of myself, you say? I would only be ashamed of myself if I let those blinking lamps do my thinking for me. Good night,sir." At the Alma Bridge, _ . A) the writer stopped the taxi and aid the driver B) the taxi went through a red light again C) there was a performance the writer had already watched D) the writer began to criticize the driver
(Answer)
B
Ques: Today, we send millions of Christmas cards every year. But in fact the Christmas card is a ly modern invention. In the Middle Ages, European wood engravers produced prints with religious themes. But the first real Christmas card, as we understand the term today, was designed in London, England in 1840. It went on sale in 1843. The designer was John Callott Horsley, a well- known British painter and member of the Royal Academy. He designed the card at the suggestion of his friend Sir Henry Cole, who was the first director of the Victoria & Albert Museum. Horsley produced 1,000 cards and offered them for sale at 1s (one shilling) each. They were printed on stiff card and coloured by hand, with the greeting: "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You". The card shows three pictures: in the center, a family party; to one side the hungry receiving food; to the other side the poor being clothed. Puritans immediately _ the card, since it showed people drinking in the family party. But with most people the idea was a great success and the Christmas card quickly became very popular. Christmas cards were not the first greetings cards. Since 1796, with improvements in printing, merchants had been sending cards to their customers offering "best wishes" for the new year. In many countries, Christmas cards gradually became even more popular than New Year's cards. As Christmas is the birthday of Jesus Christ, cards often show scenes of His nativity. Others show images connected with Christmas such as wintry scenes of snow-laden pine, Father Christmas card is "Merry Christmas", but many other greetings are also used, such as "Happy Xmas" or "Happy Noel". We can conclude from the text that _ . A) Horsley sold his first Christmas cards for 50 pounds B) Santa Claus was born on Christmas Day C) now there are more greetings on New Year's cards D) merchants were the first to send Christmas cards to their customers
Ans: A
Question: I used to think of myself as a person learned in books, but my bookshelves told a different story. Apart from a few Indian novels and an Australian book, my literature collection only consisted of British and American titles. Worse still, I couldn't ever found anything in translation. My reading was limited to stories by English-speaking authors. So, at the start of 2012, I set myself the challenge of trying to read a book from every country in a year to find out what I was missing. With no idea where to get those books, I was unlikely to find publications from nearly 200 nations on the shelves of my local bookshop, so I decided to ask the readers all over the world for help. I created a blog called A Year of Reading the World and put out an appeal for suggestions of titles that I could read in English. The response was amazing. People all over the world were getting in touch with me, offering ideas and book lists. Some posted me books from their home countries. In addition, several writers, like Turkmenistan's Ak Welsapar and Panama's Juan David Morgan, sent me unpublished translations of their novels, giving me a rare opportunity to read works unavailable in Britain. Even with such an extraordinary team of bibliophiles behind me, however, sourcing books was no easy task. With translations making up only around 4.5 per cent of literary works published in the UK, getting English versions of stories was tricky. One by one, the books from the countries on the list filled my heart with laughter, love, anger, hope and fear. Lands that had once seemed exotic and remote became close and familiar to me. At its best, I learned, reading makes the world real. It was not easy to find the books mainly because _ . A) the readers were unwilling to offer help B) there were too few translations in the UK C) the author had no time and no chance to do it D) the writers didn't want to publish their books
Answer:
B