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(1) I stop at the corner drugstore for a breakfast of doughnuts and coffee, and then I race to the subway station and gallop down the steps to catch my usual train. I hold on to the strap and make believe I'm reading my newspaper, but I keep glancing at the people crowded in around me. I listen to them talk about their troubles and their friends, and I wish I had someone to talk to, someone to break the monotony, of the long subway ride.
(2) As we approach the 175th Street station, I begin to get tense again. She usually gets into the train at that station. She slips in gracefully, not pushing or shoving like the rest, and she squeezes into a little space, clinging to the people and holding on to an office envelop that probably contains her lunch. She never carries a newspaper or a book; I guess there isn't much sense in trying to read when you're smashed in like that.
(3) There's a fresh outdoor look about her and I figure she must live in New Jersey. The Jersey crowd gets in at that stop. She has a sweet face with that scrubbed look that doesn't need powder or rouge. She never wears make-up except for lipstick. And her wavy hair is natural, just a nice light brown. And all she does is hold on to the pole and think her own thoughts, her eyes clear-blue and warm.
(4) I always like to watch her, but I have to be careful. I'm afraid she'd get angry and move away if she catches me at it, and then I won't have anyone, because she's my only real friend, even if she doesn't know it. I'm all alone in New York City and I guess I'm kind of shy and don't make friends easily. The fellows in the bank are all right but they have their own lives to lead, and besides, I can't ask anyone to come up to a furnished room; so they go their way and I go mine.
(5) The city is getting me down. It's too big and noisy—too many people for a fellow who's all by himself. I can't seem to get used to it. I'm used to the quiet of a small New Hampshire farm but there isn't any future on a New Hampshire farm any more: so after I was discharged from the Navy, I got it. I suppose it's a good break but I'm kind of lonesome.
(6) As I ride along, swaying to the motion of the car, I like to imagine that I'm friends with her. Sometimes I'm even tempted to smile at her, and say something like“Nice morning, isn't it?”But I'm scared. She might think I'm one of those wise guys and she'd freeze up and look right through me as if I didn't exist, and then the next morning she wouldn't be there any more and I'd have no one to think about. I keep dreaming that maybe some day I'll get to know her. You know, in a casual way.
(7) Like maybe she'd be coming through the door and someone pushes her and she brushes against me and she'd say quickly,“Oh, I beg your pardon,”and I'd lift my hat politely and answer,“That's perfectly all right,”and I'd smile to show her I meant it, and then she'd smile back at me and say,“Nice day, isn't it?”and I'd say,“Feels like spring.”And we wouldn't say anything more, but when she'd be ready to get off at 34th Street, she'd wave her fingers a little at me and say,“Goodbye,”and I'd tip my hat again.
(8) The next morning when she'd come in, she'd see me and say,“Hello,”or maybe,“Good morning,”and I'd answer and add something to show her I really knew a little about spring. No wise cracks because I wouldn't want her to think that I was one of those smooth-talking guys who pick up girls in the subway.
(9) The train is slowing down and the people are bracing themselves automatically for the stop. It's the 175th Street station. There's a big crowd waiting to get in. I look out anxiously for her but I don't see her anywhere and my heart sinks, and just then I catch a glimpse of her, way over at the other side. She's wearing a new hat with little flowers on it.
(10) The door opens and the people start pushing in. She's caught in the rush and there's nothing she can do about it. She bangs into me and she grabs the strap I'm holding and hangs on it for dear life.
(11) “I beg your pardon,”she gasps. My hands are pinned down and I can't tip my hat but I answer politely,“That's all right.”
(12) The doors close and the train begins to move. She has to hold on to my strap; there isn't any other place for her.
(13) “Nice day, isn't it?”she says.
(14) The train swings around a turn and the wheels squealing on the rails sound like the birds singing in New Hampshire. My heart is pounding like mad.
(15) “Feels like spring,”I say.
1. The author usually __________ on the subway ride.
A. talks with other passengers
B. reads newspapers carefully
C. thinks about his work
D. listens to others chatting
2. The author dreams of making friends with the female NOT because of __________.
A. her charming appearance
B. his impression of her gracefulness
C. her willingness to talk with him
D. his loneliness
3. The author doesn't like New York City because of __________.
A. his bleak future there
B. his homesickness
C. its being large and noisy
D. its high housing rent
4. The author doesn't dare to talk with the female because __________.
A. she is out of his league
B. she has a friend with her
C. she might think he is a stalker
D. she might think he is a smooth-talking guy
5. The female the author describes in the passage __________.
A. lives in New York
B. gets off at the 175th Street station
C. finally says to him,“Nice day, isn't it?”
D. usually carries a newspaper on the way
6. Where does the author probably work?
7. What does the part“the wheels squealing on the rails sound like the birds singing in New Hampshire”indicate (Para. 14)?
gallop v. 奔跑
rouge n. 胭脂
monotony n. 单调乏味
discharge v. 允许（某人）离开
shove v. 猛推；乱挤
squeal v. 发出长而尖的声音
▼ 答案参见后文
(1) The strange behaviors of sleepwalkers have puzzled police, perplexed scientists, and fascinated writers for centuries. There is an endless supply of stories about sleepwalkers. Persons have been said to climb on steep roofs, solve mathematical problems, compose music, walk through plate glass windows, and commit murder in their sleep.
(2) How many of these stories have a basic in fact, and how many are pure fakery? No one knows, but if some of the most sensational stories should be taken with a barrel of salt , others are a matter of record.
(3) There is an early medical record of a sleepwalker who wrote a novel in his sleep. And the great French writer Voltaire knew a sleepwalker who once got out of bed, dressed himself, made a polite bow, danced a minuet, and then undressed and went back to bed.
(4) At the University of Iowa, a student was reported to have the habit of getting up in the middle of the night and walking three quarters of a mile to the Iowa River. He would take a swim and then go back to his room to bed.
(5) The world's champion sleepwalker was supposed to have been an Indian, Pandit Ramrakha, who walked sixteen miles along a dangerous road without realizing that he had left his bed.
(6) The leading expert on sleep in America claims that he had never seen a sleepwalker. He is Dr. Nathaniel Kleitman, a physiologist at the University of Chicago. He is said to know more about sleep than any other living man, and during the last thirty-five years had lost a lot of sleep watching people sleep. He says,“Of course, I know that there are sleepwalkers because I have read about them in the newspapers. But none of my sleepwalkers ever walked, and if I were to advertise for sleepwalkers for an experiment, I doubt that I'd get many takers.”
(7) Sleepwalking, nevertheless, is a scientific reality. Like hypnosis, it is one of those dramatic, mysterious, awe-inspiring phenomena that sometimes border on the fantastic. What is certain about sleepwalking is that it is a symptom of emotional disturbance, and that the only way to cure it is to remove the worries and anxieties that cause it.
(8) The simplest explanation of sleepwalking is that it is the acting out of vivid dream. The dream usually comes from guilt, worry, nervousness, or some other emotional conflict. The classic sleepwalker is Shakespeare's Lady Mac Beth. Her nightly wanderings were caused by her guilty conscience at having committed murder. Shakespeare said of her,“The eyes are open but their sense is shut.”
(9) The age-old question is: Is the sleepwalker actually awake or asleep? Scientists have decided that he is about half-and-half. Like Lady Mac Beth, he had weighty problems on his mind. Dr. Zelda Teplitz, who made a ten-year study of the subject, says,“Some people stay awake all night worrying about their problems. The sleepwalker thrashes them out in his sleep. He is awake in the muscular area, partially asleep in the sensory area.”In other words, a person can walk in his sleep, move around, and do other things, but he does not think about what he is doing.
(10) There are many myths about sleepwalkers. One of the most common is the idea that it's dangerous or even fatal to waken a sleepwalker abruptly. Experts say that the shock suffered by a sleepwalker suddenly awakened is no greater than that suffered in waking up to the noise of an alarm clock.
(11) What are the chances of a sleepwalker committing a murder or doing something else extraordinary in his sleep? Some cases of this have been reported, but they very rarely happen. Of course the few cases that are reported receive a great deal of publicity. Dr. Teplitz says,“Most people have such great inhibitions against murder or violence that they would awaken—if someone didn't waken them.”In general, authorities on sleepwalking agree with her. They think that people will not do anything in their sleep that is against their own moral code. As for the publicized cases, Dr. Teplitz points out,“Sleepwalking itself is dramatic...sleepwalkers can always find an audience. I think that some of their tall tales get exaggerated in the telling.”In her own file of case histories, there is not one sleepwalker who ever got beyond his own front door.
(12) Parents often explain their children's—or their own—nocturnal oddities as sleepwalking. Sleepwalking is used as an excuse for all kinds of irrational behavior. There is a case on record of a woman who dreamed that her house was on fire and threw her baby out of the window. Dr. Teplitz believes that this instance of irrational behavior was not due to sleepwalking. She believes the woman was seriously deranged or insane, not a sleepwalker.
(13) Children who walk in their sleep usually outgrow the habit. In many adults, too, the condition is more or less temporary. If it happens often, however, the sleepwalker should seek help. Although sleepwalking itself is nothing to become alarmed about, the problems that cause the sleepwalking may be very serious.
1. What is TRUE of sleepwalking according to the passage?
A. It is caused by guilty conscience.
B. It is the acting out of a nightmare.
C. It poses a risk of getting lost for sleepwalkers.
D. It results from problems on sleepwalkers' mind.
2. What does Dr. Teplitz think of sleepwalking and sleepwalkers?
A. Sleepwalking has scientific significance.
B. There is no real sleepwalker in the world.
C. Sleepwalking stories may be exaggerated.
D. Most sleepwalkers can find their witnesses.
3. The author makes it obvious that __________.
A. most sleepwalkers suffer from mental illnesses
B. sleepwalkers are often awakened by dangers
C. most children do not sleepwalk when they are at home
D. the cause of sleepwalking is more serious than sleepwalking itself
4. Which of the following questions does NOT the passage answer?
A. How likely are sleepwalkers to commit crimes?
B. Is it dangerous to waken a sleepwalker abruptly?
C. Is the sleepwalker actually awake or asleep?
D. What can society do to help sleepwalkers?
5. Use a word or phrase to replace“be taken with a barrel of salt”(Para. 2).
6. How to cure sleepwalking according to the author?
sensational adj. 耸人听闻的
thrash...out 研究解决（问题）
minuet n. 小步舞
tall adj. 〈非正式〉难以置信的，不可能的
hypnosis n. 催眠状态
nocturnal adj. 夜间的
▼ 答案参见后文
(1) If you are going to buy a dictionary, then the number of words that the dictionary contains may be a measure of comparison that you will use in deciding which dictionary to choose. After all, a dictionary is defined as“a reference book that consists of an alphabetical list of words...”( Collins English Dictionary , 1979). But it is, unfortunately, not so simple.
(2) For one thing, dictionaries rarely tell you how many“words”they contain. For another, the alphabetical list of“headwords”is likely to include more than just words. Included as headwords in the alphabetical sequence in many dictionaries today you will find: (1) abbreviations, e.g. do . for ditto , d.o.b. for date of birth ; (2) affixes and combining forms, e.g. dia- prefix meaning“through”(as in diachronic ), -onym combining form meaning“name”(as in pseudonym ); (3) open compounds, written as two or more separate words, without hyphenation, e.g. love feast , low tide , lunar month, male chauvinist .
(3) You will also find, in some dictionaries, proper names of people and places, often called“encyclopedic entries”. These all contribute to any count of headwords.
(4) The Collins Concise English Dictionary (1982) claims to contain 53,000 headwords; the Longman Concise English Dictionary (1985) says it has“over 50,000”headwords; and the larger Longman Dictionary of the English Language (1984) claims“over 90,000”headwords. In none of these dictionaries are proper names included. There would seem to be some measure of comparison between these dictionaries at least, even though they are rare among modern dictionaries in giving a count of headwords. But we need to be sure that the dictionaries all have the same policy on what a headword is. They do not. If a word belongs to more than one word class (e.g. noun and verb, like bottle, or adjective, adverb, noun and verb, like clean), then the Longman dictionaries have as many headwords as there are word classes to which the word belongs (two for bottle, four for clean), while the Collins dictionary has only one headword for each item.
(5) More often a dictionary will give a count of the“references”or“entries”that it contains. The Collins Concise (1982) claims“96,000 vocabulary references”, increased to“125,000 references”by the third edition (1992); the Longman Concise (1985) claims“100,000 entries”, the Concise Oxford Dictionary (8th edition, 1990)“120,000 entries”, Chambers English Dictionary (1988)“190,000 references”, Collins English Dictionary (1979)“162,000 references”, increased to 170,000 in the 2nd edition (1986), and to 180,000 in the 3rd edition (1991). The Longman Dictionary of the English Language (1984, 2nd edition 1991) does not give a reference count. All these figures are, of course, estimates, based on a count of a sample of pages.
(6) What are dictionaries counting when they give a count of“reference”or“entries”? The Concise Oxford Dictionary (8th edition, 1990) adds this gloss to its claims of 120,000 entries“including compounds, phrases, derivatives, and a generous coverage of inflections”. As Sidney Landau explains in his book Dictionaries: the Art and Craft of Lexicography , this method of counting what is in a dictionary derives from American practice, and it is“a system designed to maximize the number of entries one can claim”(p. 84). Dictionaries are allowed to claim as an entry:
·the headword
·any additional word class to which the word belongs and that is defined separately
·the inflected forms that are given (usually irregular plurals of nouns or past tenses and past participles of verbs, and regular inflections that cause spelling problems)
·run-on derivatives, usually without definition, such as clarinetist under clarinet
·idioms or other fixed expressions included under a headword, such as take the bull by the horns under bull
·variant forms, such as repellant for repellent
·words given in lists, usually at the bottom of the page, which are derived by means of a prefix like self- or un-
(7) In fact, an entry is almost any item that is given a bold typeface. Clearly, there are various ways in which a publisher could inflate the entry count in a dictionary.
(8) There is one further count that some dictionaries give to indicate their size and coverage: that of definitions or meanings. This is the only count that the Longman Dictionary of the English Language (2nd edition, 1991) gives: it claims“over 220,000 meanings”. The definition count will always be higher than any of the others; because many words, especially common ones, are multiply polysemous. The entry for the transitive verb take in the Longman Dictionary (1991), for example, has numbered definitions up to 20, but many of these have subdivisions, giving a total of 66“meanings”. Dictionaries do not, however, necessarily make the same analysis of the meanings of a word. For example, the adjective plain has 10 numbered definitions in Collins English Dictionary (1986); the numbering goes up to 9 in the Longman Dictionary (1991), though with subdivisions the total comes to 14; and in Chambers (1988), where the meanings are not numbered, there are 32 definitions separated by the Chambers' convention of a colon.
(9) What all this goes to show is that counts of whatever kind are not a good measure of comparison between dictionaries, because the information they give is neither reliable nor comparable, such as the range of vocabulary covered, the layout of the dictionary, the accessibility of the information, and the attention given to contextual and social usage.
1. At the end of the first paragraph,“it”refers to __________.
A. buying a high-quality dictionary
B. comparing different dictionaries
C. using a dictionary in a proper way
D. determining the number of words in a dictionary
2. Different dictionaries __________.
A. have different policies on what a headword is
B. have the same policy on what a headword is
C. are the same in defining the word“entry”
D. contain roughly the same number of entries
3. How can a dictionary give a count of its“entries”?
A. It is estimated by editors.
B. It is calculated by computers.
C. It is estimated based on a count of sample pages.
D. It is calculated by counting experts.
4. The tone of the author is __________.
A. subjective and absolute
B. objective and authoritative
C. suspicious and irrational
D. radical and negative
5. What is the intention of dictionaries' giving different kinds of counts?
6. Why does the author believe that there is no good measure of comparing dictionaries?
headword n. （词典中的）词目，首词
derivative n. 派生词
abbreviation n. 缩写词
inflection n. （尤指词尾的）屈折变化
combining form 构词成分
lexicography n. 词典编纂学
proper name 专有名词
polysemous adj. 一词多义的
gloss n. 注释
▼ 答案参见后文
(1) I was convinced that roller coasters were invented in Nazi Germany to conduct cruel experiments on unsuspecting children who did not eat their vegetables. My earliest memory of riding a“death machine”was when I was 9. A friend of my parents was going to Astro World and invited us to come along. Being the natural adventurers that we were, my sister, brother and I decided to journey with them. After arriving there, I somehow found myself waiting in line to ride the notorious Texas Cyclone. Yes, the roller coaster with the sign that should read:
(2) PLEASE SECURE ALL LOOSE ITEMS SUCH AS GLASSES; DENTURES; HAIRPIECES; VITAL ORGANS; ETC. IF YOU HAVE NO WISH OF DYING, THEN GET OUT OF LINE NOW. THANK YOU.
(3) “Oh, it's a lot of fun,”said Lan, one of the older girls I was with. I was beginning to worry, nonetheless.
(4) “This is a wooden roller coaster?”I asked.
(5) “Yeah, it's one of the last ones around,”boasted Lan.
(6) She reassured me a few more times that the ride was perfectly safe and that the odds of getting killed were as slim as something comparable to ohhh, living past the age of 199. I smiled to show her that I was totally relaxed and ready for the ride. But deep in the left lobe of my brain I was thinking,“WHADDAYA MEAN WOOD?!! WHAT ABOUT TERMITES?!! Has it not occurred to you that the reason the Cyclone was one of the last wooden coasters around was that people have better things to do than die by being flung from a few stories up off the rails at a gazillion miles an hour?”
(7) I stood in line watching others, with the sun filtering through the rafters, twitching my leg nervously. The heat sought us out through the patches of sun, and my legs began to ache from standing. For some odd reason I stayed in line. I'll try to explain this phenomenon as best as I can. You see, all males are forced by some masculine gland, located next to the pancreas, to get on a roller coaster even if they are scared to the point of a bladder-control loss. We are obliged by the girls standing behind us in line to get on the ride or risk the girls thinking that we, the studs we are, are of their gender if we don't. I finally got onto the ride hoping for a quick end. I actually prayed (honest, I'm not lying) and people in line laughed. I thought it eased the situation a bit.
(8) I stepped into the car and put the safety bar over my lap. A mad dash for the exit was impossible. There were girls around, so I couldn't leave. The ride attendants checked the bars in the seats to see if they were secure by giving a little tug on each of them. I gulped loudly and grabbed hold of the bars firmly enough to choke a horse . The cars shoved off as we headed off to“ concussion city ”. Clank. Clank. Clank. We approached the dropping point . For a split second I could see the whole park, and then WHOOSH! My stomach hit the ceiling of my skull and was about to escape via my ears as we hit the bottom. The ride did not stop until the end of the Reagan administration . I could hardly recall what happened because I was about to lose consciousness and depart my physical body. I did not breathe for the duration of the ride, and my pale, white knuckles could have been pried off the safety bar only with a crowbar and several power tools.
(9) I would cry this fear of roller coaster and dropping at great height for the next eight years. I tried my best to stay away from the larger rides and always took the“easy”ride with no steep drops. Embarrassment followed me every time I was near a roller coaster. I suffered a form of weird acrophobia.
(10) This past summer I found myself at the prestigious Kings Island Amusement Park (also known as Spend-All-Your-Money-To-Us-Park) in Cincinnati, Ohio, with my relatives. I decided that in order to conquer my fear I had to, like any rational person would, totally avoid it. However, for some odd reason, the dormant masculine gland resurfaced, and I was forced to get on a ride with girls waiting in line behind me. I took my younger cousin with me, also. This was so I could sit in the designated“wuss-section”(or the middle) of the looping Pirate Ship and not be embarrassed because I had a small child with me. I pretended to act cool by talking through the whole ride to my cousin, who was concentrating on not dispersing the contents of these words:
(11) Me: WHOOOAHH! Here comes another one!
(12) Him: Uh huh.
(13) Me: WHOOOAHH! MOMMY!
(14) Him: Blurgh! (Sound of him vomiting.)
(15) People below: Look out! In coming!
(16) That day I went to some other big rides and managed to seem (in the least sense of the word)“manly”. I credited my conquering the rides to my masculine gland. You know, it could have been my stupidity gland.
1. Texas Cyclone was __________.
A. the last of its kind
B. in Astro World
C. not safe at all
D. a deadly machine
2. Which of the following would NOT the author feel when he heard Cyclone was a wooden roller coaster?
A. Relaxed.
B. Doubtful.
C. Astonished.
D. Fearful.
3. Which of the following words in Para. 8 is used literally, not rhetorically?
A. Chock a horse.
B. Concussion city.
C. The dropping point.
D. Escape via my ears.
4. How did the author conquer his fear?
A. It should be attributed to his masculine gland.
B. He has outgrown the childish fear of big rides.
C. He had to pretend to be manly before his cousin.
D. Nothing serious and terrible really happened.
5. The tone of the passage can most probably be described as __________.
A. tragic
B. comic
C. nostalgic
D. satiric
6. What made people in line laugh while they were waiting for Texas Cyclone?
7. What does the author mean by saying“until the end of the Reagan administration”in Para. 8?
denture n. 假牙
concussion n. 脑震荡
twitch v . 抽搐
pry v. 撬
gland n. 腺体
acrophobia n. 恐高症
gulp v. 倒吸气
resurface v. 再次出现
▼ 答案参见后文
(1) Here comes John Smith walking toward me. Even though he is but a passing acquaintance, the American greeting ritual demands that I utter a few words to reassure him of my good will. But what form of address should I use? John? Smith? Dr. Smith? A decision such as this is usually made unconsciously. As native speakers in the American speech community, we have grown up learning the rules of address at the same time that we were acquiring the grammatical rules of American-English. At first thought, it might seem a trivial pursuit to examine the ways in which we address one another. But forms of address reveal many assumptions we make about members of our speech community. Our initial decision about the appropriate address form is based on relative ages. If the person being addressed is a child, then almost all the rules that we have unconsciously assimilated can safely be ignored, and we use the simple formula First Name. The child, in turn, addresses an adult by using the formula Title plus Last Name. But defining a“child”is not always easy. I address my son's roommate at college by FN (First Name), even though he is an adult under the law. I, too, have the relative age of a child to a 75-year-old acquaintance who calls me Pete. Let us assume that John Smith is not a child who can be addressed by FN but is either my contemporary or my elder. The next important determiner for the form of address will then be the speech situation. If the situation is a formal one, then I must disregard all other rules and use social identity plus Last Name. John Smith will always be addressed as Dr. Smith (or sometimes simply as Doctor, with Last Name understood) in the medical setting of office or hospital.
(2) We are also obliged to address certain other people by their social identity in formal situations: public officials (Congressman or Your Honor), educators (Professor or Doctor), leaders of meetings (Mr. Chairman), Roman Catholic priests (Father Dafly) and nuns (Sister Anna), and so forth. By the way, note the sexist distinction in the formulas for priests and nuns. The formula for a priest is Father plus Last Name, but for a nun it is Sister plus Religious Name (usually an FN). Most conversations, however, are not carried on in formal speech situations, so the basic decision is when to use FN or TLN (Title plus Last Name). A social acquaintance or newly hired colleague of approximately the same age and rank is usually introduced on an FN basis.“Pete, I'd like you to meet Harvy.”Now a problem arises if both age and rank of one of the parties are higher:“Pete, I'd like you to meet Attorney Brown.”
(3) Attorney Brown may, of course, at any time signal me that he is willing to suspend the rules of address and allow an FN basis. Such a suspension is his privilege to bestow, and it is usually handled humorously, with a remark like,“I answer quicker to Bruce.”
(4) Complications arise when relative age and relative rank are not both the same. A young doctor who joins a hospital finds it difficult to address a much older doctor. They are equal in rank (and therefore FN should be used) but the great disparity in ages calls for TLN. In such cases, the young doctor can use the No-Name (NN) formula, phrasing his utterances adroitly to avoid using any term of address at all.
(5) English is quite exceptional among the world's languages in this respect. Most European languages oblige the speaker to choose between the familiar and formal second person singular (as in the French tu and vous), as English once did when“thou”was in use. This is the basic American system, but the rules vary according to speech situations, subtle friendship or kin relationships between the speakers, regions of the country, and so forth.
(6) Southern speech, for example, adds the formula Title plus First Name (Mr. Charlie) to indicate familiar respect. Southerners are also likely to specify kin terms (as in Cousin Jane) whereas in most of the United States FN is used for cousins. Address to strangers also alters some of the rules. A speaker usually addresses a stranger whose attire and behavior indicate higher status by saying sir. But sometimes speakers with low status address those with obviously higher status by rejecting this rule and instead using Mac or buddy—as when a construction worker asks a passing executive, socially identified by his attaché case,“You got a match, buddy?”
1. According to the passage, the form of address is NOT based on __________.
A. relative ages
B. speech situation
C. relative ranks
D. relative incomes
2. According to the passage, most European languages __________.
A. do not have special formulas for addressing
B. are very formal in addressing
C. have two second person singular forms
D. are like English in addressing
3. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. We can use the FN formula to address a child of our neighbors.
B. We should use social identity plus Last Name in a formal situation.
C. FN appearing in addressing respected Southerners seems to be impolite.
D. The use of the word“Cousin”in front of the First Name is to specify kinship.
4. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A. The Game of the Name
B. When to Use the Last Name
C. How to Address a Stranger
D. The Rules of Nicknames
5. What formula is used when a young man addresses an elder person but with the same rank?
6. Write down THREE factors that will influence the basic American addressing rules.
address n. / v. 称呼
bestow v. 给予
formula n. 方法；（特定场合的）惯用词语
disparity n. 不一致，不同
contemporary n. 同辈人
adroitly adv. 巧妙地；熟练地
understand v. 推断出；省略
attire n. 服装
▼ 答案参见后文
(1) As much as murder is a staple in mystery stories, so is love. Love may be a four-letter word, or the greatest of the trio of faith, hope, and love. It may appear in a mystery as the driving force behind the plot and the characters. Or it may appear as an aside in a sub-plot, a light spot in a heavy story. But it's there. Even Valentine knew love was worth dying for.
(2) An emotion this strong gets a lot of attention. Love has its own special day, St. Valentine's Day. According to legend, the Roman emperor Claudius II needed soldiers to fight for him in the far reaches of the Roman Empire. He thought married men would rather stay home than go to war for a couple of years, so he outlawed marriage and engagements. This did not stop people from falling in love. Valentine, a priest, secretly married many young couples. For this crime, he was arrested and executed on February 14.
(3) St. Valentine's Day was off to a rocky start. Love, secrecy, crime, death. Love prevailed, and the day lost its seamy side. Valentine's Day became a day to exchange expressions of love. Small children give each other paper hearts. Adults exchange flowers and chocolates. Everyone has an attack of the warm fuzzies.
(4) Valentine's Day was popular in Europe in the early 1800s as a day men brought gifts to the women they loved. Gradually the expectations grew higher, the gifts got bigger, and eventually the holiday collapsed under the weight of the bills.
(5) It was revived when the custom of exchanging love letters and love cards replaced the mandatory gifts. A young man's love was measured in how much time he spent making a card with paper, lace, feathers, beads, and fabric. If the young man wasn't good with scissors and glue, the job could be hired out to an artist who made house calls.
(6) Valentine's Day grew more popular when machine-made cards became available, and people didn't have to make their own. In England in 1840, the nation-wide Penny Post made it cheap for everyone to send Valentine cards. In the United States, national cheap postal rates were set in 1845, and valentines filled the mail.
(7) “Roses are red, violets are blue”was a popular verse on Valentine cards. Other holidays are associated with particular flowers—the Christmas poinsettia, the Easter lily—but Valentine's Day has no specific flower. Instead, it has colors—red, pink, and white. Red symbolizes warmth and feeling. White stands for purity. According to one romantic flower code, messages can be spelled out with flowers. Gardenias say“I love you secretly”. Violets say“I return your love”. Roses say“I love you passionately”. Not surprisingly, the rose is now the top-seeded flower of love.
(8) But love mostly goes wrong in mystery stories. Very badly wrong. Somebody does something wrong. Husbands, wives, and lovers kill each other. Or kill for each other. Stack the characters up in any kind of love triangle, and watch how the angles are knocked off. Love is unrequited, thwarted and scorned. Murders are motivated by real or imaginary love, or the lack of it. That famous novelist Ernest Hemingway said,“If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it.”So it goes in the mystery. Justice may win, but love is often the loser.
(9) In addition to plots driven by love, or the lack of it, there are detectives who encounter love in the solving of the crime. The handsome or beautiful detective meets the suspect or the client. Their affair grows around, and in spite of, the murder. Think of the movies Casablanca and Chinatown . Barbara D'Amato offers a different twist on this theme in“Hard Feelings”. The amateur detective meets a suspect or investigating officer and love smolders around the crime. Rose DeShaw's“Love with the Proper Killer”is such a story.
(10) In a series of novels, if the continuing character is living a full life, love enters the storyline somewhere. Dorothy L. Sayers' sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey fell in love with Harriet Vane while he detected his way through a few books. Sherlock Holmes remained aloof, but Dr. Watson fell in love and married between impossible crimes. There were no such temptations for Hercule Poirot or Jane Marple, but Agatha Christie created Tuppence and Tommy Beresford as a detecting couple.
(11) Real crimes are sometimes motivated by love, and are written about in true crime books. E.W. Count describes one such case in“Love is a Risk”.“Married to a Murderer,”by Alan Russell, follows the crime one step further.
(12) Feeling an attack of the warm fuzzies? Do something sweet for someone you love. Then do something sweet for yourself. Settle back with soft music and savor the online mysteries of love and romance.
1. In Para. 1, the word“staple”probably means __________.
A. a necessary element
B. a romantic thing
C. an unacceptable pattern
D. a horrific thing
2. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT about St. Valentine's Day?
A. It originated from a legend.
B. It was named after a priest.
C. It was first to remember one's lover.
D. It used to have a seamy side.
3. The passage implies that in mystery stories, love often __________.
A. turns into hatred at last
B. serves as incentives for murders
C. serves as the end of the story
D. beats justice in the end
4. The passage may be __________.
A. a foreword to a website column
B. an advertisement for a series of books
C. an introduction of St. Valentine's Day
D. a review of some mystery stories
5. Why did St. Valentine's Day once lose its popularity?
6. What does it mean if a girl receives a bunch of gardenias on Valentine's Day?
staple n. 主要部分，重要内容
top-seeded adj. 最佳的，头号种子的
trio n. 三个一组；三重唱
unrequited adj. （感情）得不到回应的
aside n. 旁白；离题话
thwart v. 阻挠，挫败
seamy adj. 丑恶的，阴暗的
scorn v. 蔑视；不屑（接受或做）
mandatory adj. 强制的
smolder v. （感情）郁积，压在心头
poinsettia n. 一品红
▼ 答案参见后文