阅读理解

　　Beldon and Canfield are two seashore towns，not far apart．Both towns have many hotels，and in summer the hotels are full of holiday-makers and other tourists．

　　Last August there was a fire at the Seabreeze Hotel in Beldon．The next day，this news appeared on page two of the town’s newspaper．

　　The Beldon Post：

　　FIRE AT SEABREEZE

　　Late last night firemen hurried to the Seabreeze Hotel and quickly put out a small fire in a bedroom．The hotel manager said that a cigarette started the fire．We say again to all our visitors：“Please don’t smoke cigarettes in bed．” This was Beldon’s first hotel fire for five years．

　　The Canfield Times gave the news in these words on page one：

　　ANOTHER BELDON HOTEL CATCHES FIRE

　　Last night Beldon firemen arrived just too late to save clothing，bedclothes and some furniture at the Seabreeze Hotel．An angry holiday-maker said，“An electric lamp probably started the fire．The bedroom lamps are very old at some of these hotels．When I put my bedside light on，I heard a funny noise from the lamp．” We are glad to tell our readers that this sort of adventure does not happen in Canfield．

　　What are the facts，then?It is never easy to find out the exact truth about an accident．There was a fire at the Seabreeze Hotel last August：that is one fact．Do we know anything else?Yes，we know that firemen went to the hotel．

　　Now what do you think of the rest of the “news”?

阅读理解

　　8∶30 p. m．

　　Outlook

　　Outlook is back with a new series of reports to keep you update with all that’s new in the world of entertainment．Stories go all the way from the technical to the romantic, from stage to screen．There will be reports of the stars of the moment, the stars of the future and the stars of the past．The director with his new film, the designer with the latest fashion, and the musician with the popular song are part of the new Outlook．The program is introduced by Fran Levine．

　　9∶00 p. m．

　　Discovery

　　When a 10-year-old boy gets a first class degree in mathematics or an 8-year-old plays chess like a future grand master, they are considered as geniuses．Where does the quality of genius come from? Is it all in the genes(基因)or can any child be turned into a genius? And if parents do have a child who might become a genius in the future, what should they do? In this 30-minute film, Barry Johnson, the professor at School of Medicine, New York University will help you discover the answer．

　　10∶00 p. m．

　　Science/Healt

　　Is it possible to beat high blood pressure without drugs?The answer is “yes”, according to the researchers at Johns Hopkins and three other medical centers．After a study of 800 persons with high blood pressure, they found that after 6 months, those devoted to weight loss－exercise and eating a low-salt, low-fat food-lost about 13 pounds and became fitter．Plus, 35％ of them dropped into the “normal” category(范畴)．This week, Dr．Alan Duckworth will tell you how these people reduce their blood pressure to a level similar to what’s achieved with Hypertension drugs．

阅读理解

　　New York：When the first jet struck World Trade Center at 8∶48 am on Tuesday, the people in 2 World Trade Center with a view of the instant damage across the divide had the clearest sense of what they, too, must do：get out fast．

　　Katherine Hachinski, who had been knocked off her chair by the blast of heat exploding from the neighboring tower, was one of those．Despite her 70 years of age, Ms Hachinski, an architect working on the 91st floor of 2 World Trade Centre, the south tower, went for the stairs．Twelve floors above her, Judy Wein, an executive(经理), screamed and set off too．

　　But others up and down the 110 floors, many without clear views of the damage across the way and thus unclear about what was happening, were not so sure．And the 18 minutes before the next plane would hit were ticking off．

　　Amid the uncertainty about what was the best thing to do, formal announcements inside the sound tower instructed people to stay put, assuring them that the building was sound and the threat was limited to the other tower．

　　Some left, others stayed．Some began to climb down and, when met with more announcements and other cautions(警告)to stop or return, went hack up．The decisions made in those instants proved to be of great importance, because many who chose to stay were doomed(注定死亡)when the second jet crashed into the south tower, killing many and stranding(使某物留在)many more in the floors above where the jet hit．

　　One of those caught in indecision was the executive at Fuji Bank UAS．

　　Richard Jacobs of Fuji Bank left the 79th floor with the other office workers, but on the 48th floor they heard the announcement that the situation was under control．Several got in the lifts and went back up, two minutes or so before the plane crashed-into their floor．

　　“I just don’t know what happened to them,” Mr．Jacobs said．

阅读理解

　　American parents usually think that their child should not have more pocket money than the children with whom he regularly connects, even if they are wealthier．But neither are children expected to compare with the richer if a large family, heavy responsibilities, or other conditions make it necessary to give a child less spending money than is customary(惯例的)in the neighborhood．

　　Whatever the pocket money is, its entire use is not controlled by the parents, because a child learns to use money correctly only through dealing with it himself．If a seven-year-old child gets a quarter as a week pocket money and is made to put it all in his piggy bank to save it up, he gets no idea what the real use for the money is．He gets the shiny coins and they soon disappear．

　　The idea of a bank account(账号)is too early for so small a child, although he can be made to understand and enjoy saving his coins－not all of them, only a part of what he receives－to buy something he especially wants．By the time he is eight he is old enough to take part in the opening of his own savings account, parents may take him to the bank, open a savings account for him and encourage him to put a certain quantity or any checks he receives as gifts into the bank and watch his bank savings grow as entry by entry(存入)is made．

　　He will be saving, earning, and spending suitable quantities all along in order to learn how to manage money and to keep him in a favorable position with his friend．The boy who can’t join his fellows in a sweet shop once in a while, because he has to save every cent he gets or earns for some big unknown project his parents have chosen for him, is a sorry child．

阅读理解

　　My father woke me up early one summer morning when I was fourteen and announced：“Get up．You’re going with me to cut grass．”

　　The idea that my father actually thought I was big enough to help him in his business made me feel proud and excited．From sunup to sundown my father, my younger brother and I worked in the large yards in a rich part of Atlanta, Georgia．By the end of the day I was tired out, but I felt good．I had put in a hard day’s labor and had earned ＄6．

　　One day my father found some leaves I’d missed and pulled me aside．“Clear away these leaves, ” he said firmly, “and don’t make me have to do it again, ” The message was clear．Today I value the importance of doing a job right the first time．It will never fail to impress the person you are working for．

　　After two years my father told me and my brother that he felt we were old enough to do lawns(草坪)on our own．Every Saturday during our last two years of high school, we set out early in the morning with the same desire and drive we had gained while working under our father．

　　Taking care of lawns was not exciting or high-paying, but that didn’t matter．It taught me that any job is a good job and that whatever I was paid was more than I had before．

　　A newspaper reporter once asked me how someone could possibly live on a forty-hour-a-week minimum(最低的)pay．“My father never worked just forty hours a week and neither have I, ”I replied．“If you’re only working forty hours, you probably don’t want to do any better than you’re doing．”

　　In every job I’ve held from doing lawns to washing dishes, I have learned something that helped me in my next job．If you look hard enough, you can learn from any job you do．

阅读理解

　　When I lived in Spain, some Spanish friends of mine decided to visit England by car, before they left, they asked me about how to find accommodation(住所)．I suggested that they should stay at “bed and breakfast” houses, because this kind of accommodation gives a foreign visitor a good chance to speak English with the family．My friends listened to my advice, but they came back with some funny stories．

　　“We didn’t stay at bed and breakfast houses, ”they said．“Because we found that most families were away on holiday．”

　　I thought this was strange．Finally I understood what had happened．My friends spoke little English, and they thought “VACANCIES” meant “holidays” because Spanish word for “holiday” is “vacations”．So they did not go to houses where the sign outside said “VACANCIES”, which in English meant there are free rooms．Then my friends went to houses where the sign said “NO VACANCIES”, because they thought this meant the people who owned the house were not away on holiday．But they found that these houses were all full．As a result, they stayed at hotels！

　　We laughed about this and about mistakes my friends made in reading other signs．In Spanish, a word very similar to “DIVERSION” means fun．In English it means that workman is repairing the road, and that you must take a different road when my friends saw the word “DIVERSION” on a road sign, they thought they were going to have fun．Instead, the road ended in a large hole．

　　English people have problems too when they learn foreign languages．Once in Paris, when someone offered me some more coffee, I said “Thank you” in French．I meant that I would like some more．However, to my surprise the coffee pot was taken away！Later I found out that “Thank you” in French means “No, thank you”．

阅读理解

　　In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it．And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is．That is what ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is about, It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors．

　　The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand．He told this story about himself．He began earning ＄125 a week at the age of 23．That was a lot of money in those days．He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City．When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day．When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors．

　　It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying to keep up．The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life．They moved back to an apartment in New York City．

　　Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich life-style of their neighbors．He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories, He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses’ because’ Jones’ is a very common name in the United States．”‘Keeping up with the Joneses’ came to mean keeping up with rich life-style of the people around you．Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years．

　　People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses．And there are’Joneses’ in every city of the world．But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr．Jones always seems to be ahead．