Mr.Jones didn’t ______during the flood,but she was very fightened.

A.     give away  B.give out  C.give way  D.give off

These days, Americans worry most about an economic recovery that President Obama calls "painfully slow". But on Saturday millions will remember the day al-Qaida terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. Another hijacked plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania when passengers rebelled. Close to three thousand people died that day. Next year will be a big anniversary, ten years since the day Americans call 9-11.

       But this September eleventh comes at an uneasy time. A large number of Americans say they oppose plans to build an Islamic center near the World Trade Center site in New York. This week attention centered on a Christian minister(基督教事工) with a small following in the state of Florida.

       Reverend Terry Jones said he would mark the 9-11 anniversary by burning copies of the Quran(可兰经). He said he wanted to send a message to Islamic extremists. He said, "We are not hateful toward Muslims. We are not aiming this at Muslims, we are aiming this at Sharia law(伊斯兰教教法)."

       Political and religious leaders around the world had condemned him. The plan even led the State Department to warn American travelers to avoid places where protests(抗议) might take place.

       President Obama said burning Qurans could endanger American troops and invite more extremism. Defense Secretary Robert Gates called Mr. Jones on Thursday to urge him to reconsider.

Administration officials called the idea of burning Qurans "un-American." But they also agreed that it would be within constitutional rights, like protesters who burn American flags. The Constitution guarantees free speech and bars the government from restricting the practice of religion.

According to this news article how many things made this September 11 uneasy? (No more than 1 word)

What did the State Department think would happen after Reverend revealed his plan? (No more than 4 words)

How did the government prevent the situation becoming worse? (No more than 9 words)

Why couldn’t the US government forbid Reverend to burn Qurans? (No more than 7 words)

Gallows humor（黑色幽默）seem like a mistake, or at least in poor taste. But psychologists say that gallows humor can be an important way to relieve stress. “Humor makes you feel in control and it can give you that feeling that everything is okay even when it's not,” says James M. Jones, a psychology professor at the University of Delaware.

Psychologists say that just because you're laughing doesn't mean you’re wasting time. Occasional teasing among colleagues, particularly if it revolves around things associated with the job, can boost creativity, departmental cohesiveness（凝聚力）and performance.

“There are a lot of stressors out there,” says Ed Dunkelblau, a psychologist with the Institute for Emotionally Intelligent Learning in Chicago. “But gallows humor is a way of making difficult things a little less difficult.”

This is true as long as the humor is used for the right purpose. The main point of it should be inspiring people --- not laughing at them. “Anything that would lift morale（士气）in terms of the company would be good humor,” says Thierry Guedj, a professor of business and psychology at Boston University. “Before you say or do anything, think about, ‘How is this helping my employees’ morale?’”

You want to give your employees and co-workers a sense of belonging, so don’t make observations that are aggressive. Most obviously, Dr Guedj says, don’t make comments about people’s physical appearance, or faith. If you have any doubt, it's appropriate, don't go through with it.

Or you can take aim at the one person you know won't be offended（冒犯）:Yourself. “If there's going to be a joke or story, it should be you,” Mr. Dunkelblau says. For example, if you're a marketing manager reviewing a failed campaign that you led, begin with a line like, “The guy who gave permission to this deal might just be looking for work next week.”

“People with the ability to laugh at themselves can give other people permission to laugh at themselves too,” Mr. Jones says. “And if you can laugh at yourself, you feel better about yourself.”

1.According to the text, gallows humor has the following functions EXCEPT ________.

A．reducing pressure

B．improving performance

C．making people more creative

D．leading to a big mistake

2.What is Ed Dunkelblau’s attitude towards gallows humor?

A．Positive.          B．Negative.          C．Neutral.           D．Uncertain.

3.Which of the following would Dr. Guedj most probably agree with?

A．Gallows humor is the basic source of morale.

B．Gallows humor allows people to laugh at others.

C．Gallows humor may sometimes be used for the wrong purpose.

D．Anything that may lift morale can be called gallows humor.

4.When people use gallows humor, they should ________.

A．observe who is aggressive

B．show a sense of belonging

C．doubt about the result of humors

D．try to avoid irritating others

5.What can we infer from the text?

A．People tend to laugh at others rather than themselves.

B．Laughing at ourselves can help relieve the stress of others.

C．People can’t avoid offending others with gallows humor.

D．People who laugh at themselves are hard to be friends with.

 

---Mr. Jones! Sam has broken the glass!

----______. Such things happen often.

A. What a pity!         B. Doesn’t matter.      C. What is the matter? D. How come?

 

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. 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 had to move 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 lifestyle 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 lifestyle 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.
【小题1】Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.

A．want others to know or to think that they are rich

B．want to be as rich as their neighbours

C．don’t want others to know they are rich

D．want to be happy

【小题2】It can be inferred from the story that rich people like to ________.

A．live in New York City	B．live outside New York City
C．live in apartments	D．live with many neighbours

【小题3】What’s the author’s attitude to keeping up with the Joneses?

A．Supportive.

B．Objective.

C．Negative.

D．Positive.