【正文】 t want to live like our ancestors. G．Modern people used to suffer from diseases of civilization.第十三篇For the rest of March, a disease will sweep across the US. It will keep kids home from school. 1 Employees will suddenly lose their ability to concentrate.The disease, known as “March Madness”, refers to the yearly 65 – team US men’s college basketball tournament (錦標賽). 2 Teams pete against each other in a single – elimination (單局淘汰) tournament that eventually crowns a national champion.Nearly 20 million Americans will find themselves prisoners of basketball festival madness. The fun es partly from guessing the winners for every game. Friends pete against friends. 3 Colleagues against bosses.Big – name schools are usually favored to advance into the tournament. But each year there are dark horses from little – known universities.This adds to the madness. Watching a team from a school with 3,000 students beat a team from a school with 30,000, for many Americans, is an exciting experience. Two years ago, the little – known George Mason University was one of the final four teams. 4 College basketball players are not paid, so the game is more about making a name for their university and themselves. 5 About $ 4 billion will be spent gambling (賭) on the event. According to Media Life magazine, the event will bring in $ 500 million in advertising ine this year, topping the post – season ine of every US professional league, including that of the NBA. A. Husbands against wives. B. The players will go all out for the games. C. But that doesn’t mean money isn’t involved. D. College students will ignore piles of homework. E. People are willing to spend more money on watching it. F. It begins on March 15 and lasts through the beginning of April. G. Many people had never even heard of the university before the tournament.第十四篇Everyone knows that the Frenchmen are romantic, the Italians are fashionable and the Germans are serious. Are these just stereotypes or is there really such a thing as national character? And if there is, can it affect how a nation succeed or fail?At least one group of people is certain that it can. A recent survey of the top 500 entrepreneurs (企業(yè)家) in the UK found that 70% felt that their efforts were not appreciated by the British public. Britain is hostile (敵意的) to success, they said. It has a culture of jealousy(嫉妒). 1 Jealousy is sometimes known as the “green – eyed monster” and the UK is its home.Scientists at Warwich University in the UK recently tested this idea. They gathered a group of people together and gave each an imaginary amount of money. 2 Those given a little were given the chance to destroy the large amount of money given to others – but at the cost of losing their own. Two thirds of the people tested agreed to do this.3 . But there is also opposite evidence. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recently reported that the UK is now the world’s fourth largest economy. That is not bad for people who are supposed to hate success. People in the UK also work longer hours than anyone else in Europe. So the British people are not lazy, either.“It is not really success that the British dislike,” says Carey Cooper, a professor of management at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. “It’s people using their success in a way that seems proud or unfair or which separates them from their roots.” 4 They set out to do things in their way. They work long hours. By their own efforts they bee millionaires. 5 .It hardly seems worth following their example. If they were more friendly, people would like them more. And more people want to be like them.A. This seems to prove that the entrepreneurs were right to plain. one who owns most money in the end is the winner. a result, the survey said, entrepreneurs were “unloved, unwanted and misunderstood.” is not true that British people are born jealous of others` success.E. Some were given a little, others a great deal.F. But instead of being happy they plain that nobody loves them.G.. Perhaps it is the entrepreneurs who are the problem.第十五篇1 When a starving man gets a meal, he begins to think about an overcoat。 pany is now one of the largest clothing panies in the world．A．As a young boy, he moved with his family to the United States．B．Nobody knew what kind of material was suitable．C．He did and Levi jeans have been made with metal rivets ever since．D．However, he did not get much business for those products．E．He also made a great contribution to America39。 invention continues to be popular not only among Americans but also among people around the world．Levi Strauss was born in Germany in 1829． 2 He grew up in Kentucky before moving to New York in 1847．Before being an American citizen and moving to the West in 1853, Strauss worked in his brother39。s Day ,you can give your mother a gift designed by may have more good ideas if you do a lot of thinking.A. He must be very happy to keep it for years.B. These gifts are so special and interesting.C. They don39。 and a red dress brings warmth and cheer to the saddest winter day. ___4___ . A black bridge over the Thames River, near London, used to be the scene of more suicides(自殺) than any other bridge in the areauntil it was repainted green. The number of suicide attempts immediately fell sharply. Perhaps it would have fallen even more if the bridge had been done in pink or baby blue. ___5___ . It is an established fact that factory workers work better, harder, and have fewer accidents when their machines are painted orange rather than black or grey.A. On the other hand, black is depressing.B. They tell us, among other facts, that we do not choose our favourite colour as grow up we are born with our preference.C. The rooms are painted in different colours as you like.D. If you do, you must be an optimist