"Fingers were made before forks." When a person gives up good manners, put aside knife and fork, and dives into his food, someone is likely to repeat that saying. The fork was an ancient agricultural tool, but for centuries no one thought of eating with it. Not until the eleventh century, when a young lady from Constantinople brought her fork to Italy, did the custom reach Europe. By the fifteenth century the use of the fork was wide-spread in Italy. The English explanation was that Italians were unwilling to eat food touched with fingers, "seeing all men's fingers are not alike clean. Anyone who used a fork to eat with was laughed at in England for the next hundred years. Not until the late 1600's did using a fork become a common custom. The English thought that Italians used forks in order to _ . A) imitate the people of the East B) keep their food clean C) impress visitors with their good manners D) amuse the English
B
I may not be the wisest person on this planet.but I will tell you a little secret to happiness:Help other,,and live life.It is that simple.Just help a friend study for a test,or volunteer at a nursing home .I learned this after a long,hard search. I was feeling really down because my long4ime friend had died.Then I started a six-week volunteering at a nursing home all day every Saturday.My routine was to serve the meal and clean up.After that,I would wait for the head nurse to tell me what to do. One day I was told to go to Room 117 to make sure the patient was all right.In the room I found a boy of eight sitting in his bed watching a movie.I was shocked to see a child in this seemingly forgotten nursing home for the old.He was so small and weak that you had to look closely to find him.He motioned for me to sit down.I grabbed his medical chart from which later I found out he had a terminal illness. We started to talk,and I found out that his family rarely visited,and all he did ever7 day was watch TV.I wanted to cry for him,and for my lost friend.As we talked,he had a smile on his face,and I asked him why. "The entire two hours I've been here you've never lost that smile.With this horrible disease,how do you still manage to stay happy?" He thought for a moment,and then said that too many people are dead even before they die. They walk around feeling that God has cursed them and that they have nothing to live for. The boy said that he would not be like that.He wakes every morning thankful to see another sunrise.He keeps his window open so that he can smell the flowers and feel the heat of the sun.He also said that he has hope. "Too many people haven't seen much of that around here," he said," Life is full of hope and we need to live life before it is gone." I don't know what happened to him.I assume he passed away,but his lesson lives on.I now wake up and live each day to the fullest.The key to life is not money or fame,but the lessons we learn from it. What would be the best title for the passage? A) A Lesson in Hope B) The Life of a Sick Boy C) A Voluntary Job D) The Meaning of Life
A
Q: In the past, people who graduated from college felt proud of their academic achievements and confident that their degree would help them to find a good job. However, in the past four years the job market has changed greatly. This year's college graduates are facing one of the worst job markets. For example, Ryan Stewart, a graduate of San Jose State University, got a degree in religious studies, but he has not gotten any job offers. He points out that many people already working are getting laid off and don't have jobs, so it's even harder for new college graduates to find jobs. Four years ago, the future looked bright for his class of 2006. There were many high-tech("dot com") job opportunities, graduates received many job offers, and they were able to get jobs with high salaries and benefits such as health insurance and paid vacations. However, "Times have changed. It's a new market," according to an officer of the university. The officer says students who do find jobs started preparing two years ago. They worked during summer vacations, they have had several short-time jobs, and they majored in fields that are still paying well, such as accounting or nursing. Even teaching is not a secure profession now. Ryan Stewart wanted to be a teacher. But instead he will probably go back to school in order to become a college teacher. He thinks college teaching could be a good career even in a bad economy. In conclusion, these days a college degree does not automatically lead to a good job with a high salary. Some students can only hope that the value of their degree will increase in the future. It can be concluded from the passage that _ . A) the value of a college degree has decreased now B) new college graduates today can't find any job C) a college degree can still lead to a good job D) graduates must prepare early to find jobs
A: A
*Question*
As a solo artist,Brightman has sold 26 million albums and two million DVDs in 34 countries. Her musical styles put opera, pop and jazz together. She is popular in the States but not here(Britain)--the image of her and her second husband, Andrew Lloyd Webber(he much older, she his muse) seems for ever frozen. The 47-year-old singer talks about the new album Symphony that came out of a "very dark time", including her decision to give up trying to have children. "People have suggested I could adopt," Brightman says. "But work is central to my life now. And so I am going to put it to one side. After a while not having children becomes the normal and perhaps that might sound alarming, to parents especially, but I have never known anything different. I'm not hurt by not having children. My life and career are incredibly rich." Talking about growing up in a large family in Berkhamsted (father a property developer who later committed suicide), she says: "I was gifted as a child, and very musical. I seemed to be good at anything to do with the arts. At 5 I understood the music I was dancing to and had an eye for costume." She first appeared in a West End musical at 11 and hated boarding school. Brightman led the saucy dance troupe Hot Gossip and had her first hit with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper in 1978. At 18 she married a music manager called Andrew Graham Stewart. "I was probably in love but I can't remember. Girls change such a lot between 18 and 22. It didn't really work out." In 1981 she was _ by Lloyd Webber. She became his leading lady in Song and Dance, Requiem and Phantom of the Opera. They married in 1984. Brightman says she felt hostility "from the beginning. I haven't tried to understand it. I've done very well everywhere else, especially the UK, where I now live. I just accept it for what it is. The more you are away from Britain, the more you appreciate it. But I don't miss it, although I miss my family. Our profession can be uncomfortable but I enjoy what I do. I get on with it." Brightman decided to give up having children because _ . A) she could adopt one B) her life and career were unbelievably rich without children C) she felt it normal not to have children D) she was too busy
**Answer**
C