Why People Get Tattoos
Jack lay, quiet and unmoving, for thirty minutes while a stranger repeatedly stabbed (刺) him with sharp needles, causing blood to pour steadily out of his leg. Jack was getting a tattoo. His friend Tony had recently gotten a tattoo, and Jack was so impressed by it that he decidedto get one too. Peer pressure, media influence, and personal expression are some of the common reasons for wearing tattoos today.
The desire to be accepted by one’s friends or peers can have a great influence on what a person does. Sometimes, wearing a tattoo can be a sign that you belong to a certain group. Gangs often use special clothes and tattoos to identify their particular group. Some of these groups wear only brand–name clothes. Others wear tattoos. When a person’s friends are all doing something, that person is more likely to do the same thing.
The media is another big influence behind the popularity of tattoos in North America. A wide variety of media images (人物,图像) show tattoos-people appearing in commercials selling expensive cars, famous sports heroes with tattoos in magazines, fashion models wearing designer clothes that show their bodies tattooed with detailed and colorful patterns. These media images link tattoos to ideas of wealth, success, and status. As a result, many people decide to get a tattoo for its fashion and status value.
Many people decide to wear tattoos in order to express their artistic nature, their beliefs, or their feelings-in other words, to show their individuality (个性). A musician in a rock band may get a tattoo of a guitar on the arm. Some environmentalists may tattoo pictures of endangered animals on their shoulders. A tattoo can be a public sign to show what is important in a person's life.
As you can see, there are many reasons why young North Americans get tattoos. A tattoo can be part of a group's uniform, a sign of fashion or an expression of individuality. The decision to get a tattoo is most often a result of the influence of friends or media or the desire to express oneself. For Jack, it was a mixture of all three.
45. Jack has got tattoos in order to ______.
A. show his great bravery B. gain a special experience
C. make himself more healthy D. be different from others
46. According to the passage, media images are linked to ______.
A. traditional lifestyle B. social position C. cultural background D. public interest
47. We can infer from the passage that ______.
A. some people get tattoos out of pressure
B. tattoo is related to religious belief
C. getting tattoos costs a lot of money
D. most people with tattoos are artists
48. Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?
CP: Central Point P: Point Sp: Sub – point (次要点) C: Conclusion
科目:高中英语 来源:2012-2013学年广东省汕头市金山中学高二下学期期中英语试卷(带解析) 题型:阅读理解
Sharks have lived in the oceans for over 450 million years, long before dinosaurs appeared. There are now about 360 species of sharks, whose size, behavior, and other characteristics differ widely.
Every year, we catch and kill over 100 million sharks, mostly for food and for their fins. Dried shark fins are used to make shark fin soup, which sells for as much as $50 a bowl in fine Hong Kong restaurants. Other sharks are killed for sport and out of fear. Sharks are vulnerable(易受伤的) to overfishing because it takes most species 10 to 15 years to begin reproducing and they produce only a few offspring(后代).
Influenced by movies and popular novels, most people see sharks as people-eating monsters. This is far from the truth. Every year, a few types of shark injure about 100 people worldwide and kill about 25. Most attacks are by great white sharks, which often feed on sea lions and other marine(海洋的) mammals. They sometimes mistake human swimmers for their normal prey, especially if they are wearing black wet suits.
If you are a typical ocean-goer, your chances of being killed by an unprovoked(非受挑衅而发生的)attack by a shark are about 1 in 100 million. You are more likely to be killed by a pig than a shark and thousands of times more likely to get killed when you drive a car.
Sharks help save human lives. In addition to providing people with food, they are helping us learn how to fight cancer, bacteria, and viruses. Sharks are very healthy and have aging processes similar to ours. Their highly effective immune system allows wounds to heal quickly without becoming infected, and their blood is being studied in connection with AIDS research.
Sharks are among the few animals in the world that almost never get cancer and eye cataracts(白内障). Understanding why can help us improve human health. Chemicals taken from shark cartilage(软骨)have killed cancerous tumors in laboratory animals, research that someday could help prolong your life.
Sharks are needed in the world’s ocean ecosystems. Although they don’t need us, we need them. We are much more dangerous to sharks than they are to us. For every shark that bites a person, we kill one million sharks.
【小题1】Which of the following is NOT a reason why people kill sharks?
A.People kill sharks for food. |
B.People kill sharks for sport. |
C.People kill sharks out of fear. |
D.People kill sharks because they often attack swimmers. |
A.There are many different species of sharks, but only a few of them are dangerous to humans. |
B.Sharks never get ill. |
C.Sharks are a valuable resource for human. |
D.Sharks play an important role in the ocean ecosystem. |
A.movies have given people the wrong impression of sharks |
B.most sharks are dangerous to humans |
C.sharks will attack anyone who is wearing black |
D.it is dangerous to swim in the ocean |
A.save | B.protect | C.lengthen | D.improve |
A.Are Sharks Dangerous? | B.Sharks And Humans |
C.Sharks: Humans’ Friends | D.Sharks Help Save Human Lives |
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科目:高中英语 来源:2011届广东省汕头市高三上学期期末质检英语卷 题型:阅读理解
A Charlotte, N.C., man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. In an attempt to evade policemen after a bank robbery, the Associated Press reports that 20-year-old Larry Whitfield broke into the home of Mary Parnell. Police say he didn’t touch Parnell but that she died after suffering a heart attack that was caused by terror. Can the guy be held responsible for the woman’s death? Prosecutors(公诉人) said that he can under the state’s murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person’s death while committing or fleeing from a severe crime like robbery—even if he or she doesn’t kill someone on purpose.
But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Absolutely, no question about it.
The body has a natural protective method called the fight-or-flight response(战或逃反应), which was originally described by Walter Cannon,the chairman of Harvard University’s physiology department from 1906 to 1942. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the autonomic nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from an aggressive beast. This process certainly would be of help to primitive humans. However, in the modern world there is obvious decline of the fight-or-flight response.
The autonomic nervous system uses the chemical messenger to send signals to various parts of the body to activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is toxic in large amounts; it damages the organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death. Kidney failure, liver failure, those things don’t kill you suddenly.
By the way, any strong positive or negative emotions such as happiness or sadness can cause the same result. There are people who have died in intercourse or in religious passion. There was a case of a golfer who hit a hole in one, turned to his partner and said, “I can die now”, and then he dropped dead. For about seven days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon there was an increase of sudden cardiac death among New Yorkers.
【小题1】Why the Charlotte, N.C., man was charged?
A. Because he threatened the policemen to kill an old woman.
B. Because he caused an old woman’s terror and she died.
C. Because he beat an old woman and caused her heart attack
D. Because he murdered an old woman while robbing a bank.
【小题2】 What is Martin Samuels’ attitude to the possibility of being frightened to death?
A.Approval. | B.Disapproval. | C.Doubtful. | D.Indifferent. |
A.Winning a big lottery. | B.Missing a dead family. |
C.Watching a horror movie. | D.Listening to a sweet song. |
A.to explain why people will die of a heart attack |
B.to offer some advice on protecting us from heart failure |
C.to compare different kinds of feelings to cause a death |
D.to show strong emotions can cause a sudden death |
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科目:高中英语 来源:2011湖北华师一附中荆州高三5月模拟考试英语试卷 题型:阅读理解
During my many contacts with people in China, I have been asked by two different people what I would recommend to them so that they could be happy. One of these people was my student and friend who began her question by saying I always appeared happy to her. She then asked how I could be this way and if I could teach her how to be happy all the time. The other inquiry was basically the same and came from the secretary of a company for which I was doing some work.
The first one to ask was my student and in thinking about an answer I even explored in class the idea of optimism and pessimism, of people who feel the glass is always half full and those who think it is half empty. It was easy to show that different people react differently to the same situations and conditions but that didn’t bring me much closer to understanding why.
About two months later I was riding to the airport in a taxi with the company secretary who asked me the same question and it made me think. Why did both these ladies feel they needed help to become happy? Indeed, why did either of them think they were not happy? Why did they choose to ask this question of me? Why are some people generally happy while others are not?
Certainly if someone is healthy, it might be expected that they are happy, and this is probably true. However, some people have money and health but have a miserable disposition that makes it difficult for them to have friends and meaningful relationships. Similarly, one would expect those who have little to complain about their fate and many do, but others are able to enjoy what they have and enjoy life. It seems the difference must lie within the people. What we may be looking at is acceptance of a personal set of circumstances and the contentment which flows from that. It should not mean, however, that those people cannot wish for something better.
If the difference between people who are happy and those who are not lies within the people themselves, can happiness be learned? I think there are things we can do, such as dreaming of the future, which can give us the sort of positive outlook which will generally make us happy people.
【小题1】 According to the passage, which of the following is true?
A.The author was once asked how to be healthy and wealthy by two people. |
B.The author came to realize why people responded differently to happiness. |
C.Those who think the glass is always half empty are optimistic. |
D.Those who feel the glass is always half full are pessimistic. |
A.character | B.habit | C.reputation | D.fate |
A.the idea of pessimism | B.the attitude towards happiness |
C.the satisfaction within | D.the appearance of happiness |
A.Learning how to be happy. | B.Accepting the present situation. |
C.Developing meaningful relationships. | D.Going after the dream. |
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科目:高中英语 来源:2012-2013学年山东省济宁市嘉祥一中高二3月质量检测英语试卷(带解析) 题型:阅读理解
It happened to me recently that I was telling someone how much I had enjoyed reading Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father and how it had changed my views of the current US President. The person I was talking to agreed with me that it was, in his words, “a wonderfully written book.” However, he then proceeded to talk about Mr. Obama in a way that suggested he had no idea of his background at all. I sensed that I was talking to a book liar(说谎者).
And it seems that he is not the only one. Clearly two thirds of people have lied about reading a book which they haven’t. In The World Book Day survey, Dreams From My Father is at number 9. The survey lists top ten books, and various authors, which people have lied about reading. As I’m not one to lie too often, I’ll admit here and now that I haven’t read the entire ten books. But I am pleased to say that I have read the book at number one, George Orwell’s 1984. I think it’s absolutely outstanding.
Asked why they lied, the most common reason was to impress someone they were speaking to. This could be difficult if the conversation became more in-depth!
The World Book Day survey also has some other interesting information in it. It shows that many people lie about having read classical works by Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens and so on. But when asked which authors they actually enjoy, they named JK Rowling, Jilly Cooper, and Stephen King. Forty-one percent of people asked admitted they turned to the back of the book to read the end before finishing the story.
So which books have you lied about reading —if any — and which is your favorite?
【小题1】The main reason why people lie about reading is to __________.
A.make fun of the listener | B.impress the listener |
C.please the listener | D.interest the listener |
A.wanted | B.happened | C.continued | D.stopped |
A.Are You A Book Liar? | B.Readers Are All Liars |
C.World Book Day | D.Dreams From My Father |
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科目:高中英语 来源:2012-2013学年江西上饶中学高一第一次月考潜能特长班英语试卷(解析版) 题型:阅读理解
Do you like chocolate? Maybe most people do. A box of it can be a great gift. Buy one for a friend and give it as a surprise. See how happy that person gets.
Say you just got a box of chocolate. Which piece do you pick first? A man has studied people’s choices. He says they tell something about the person. Did you choose a round piece? You are a person who likes to party. Did you choose an oval (椭圆形的) shape? You are a person who likes to make things. Picking a square shape shows something else. The person is honest and truthful. You can depend on him or her.
What kind of chocolate do you pick? Maybe you like milk chocolate. This shows you have warm feelings about the past. Dark chocolate means something else. A person who chooses it looks toward the future. What about white chocolate? Would you choose it? If so, you may find it hard to make up your mind. Some people like chocolate with nuts (果仁). These are people who like to help others.
Do you believe these ideas? Can candy tell all these things? It doesn’t really matter. There is one sure thing about eaters of chocolate. They eat it because they like it.
1.This passage mainly tells us ______.
A.why people like chocolate |
B.almost everyone likes chocolate |
C.about different kinds of chocolate |
D.different choices may show different characters |
2.Picking a round shape of chocolate shows that a person ______.
A.likes singing, dancing and drinking |
B.likes to do something for others |
C.is good at making things |
D.can be depended on |
3.If you enjoy eating milk chocolate you may ______.
A.look forward to the future |
B.like to think of the past |
C.enjoy parties and fun |
D.have trouble making decisions |
4.From this passage we can say that a helpful man may choose chocolate ______.
A.in oval shape |
B.in square shape |
C.with nuts |
D.with coffee |
5.The last paragraph suggests that the writer ______.
A.believes all the information about chocolate |
B.does not believe the information about candy |
C.is trying to get you to believe false information |
D.doesn’t think it important whether you believe the ideas |
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