【正文】 yet the hostess probably will cook the dinner herself, will serve it herself and will wash dishes afterward, furthermore the dinner will not consist merely of something quickly and easily assembled from contents of various cans and a cake or a pie bought at the nearby bakery. On the contrary, the hostess usually takes pride in careful preparation of special dishes. A professional may talk about washing the car, digging in his flowerbeds, painting the house. His wife may even help with these things, just as he often helps her with the dishwashing. The son who is away at college may wait on table and wash dishes for his living, or during the summer he may work with a construction gang on a highway in order to pay for his education. ? The author’s attitude towards manual（體力的） labor is _______. A. positive B. negative C. humorous D. critical LOGO Thank you 。常見的提問方式有： A: How does the author feel about… ? B: What’s the author’s attitude towards… ? C: Which of the following can best describe the author’s attitude towards… ? ? D: The tone of the author is ______. ? 常出現(xiàn)的有關(guān)態(tài)度的詞： optimistic（樂觀的） , pessimistic（悲觀的） , cautious（審慎的） , enthusiastic（熱情的） , objective（客觀的） , subjective（主觀的） , arbitrary（武斷的） , neutral（中立的） , positive（肯定的） , negative （否定的） critical（批評的） , promising（折衷的） , indifferent（漠不關(guān)心的） , ironic（諷刺的） , appreciative（欣賞的）等等。s life? One reason for this has to do with the length and conditions of life that people can now expect. Medical advances have made it possible for people today to live longer, healthier lives. Imagine for a moment that you were born in the year 1900. You could have expected on average to live until about the age of 47. In contrast, if you were born in the year 1999, you could expect to live to the age of 75. We can infer from the passage______________. A. nowadays the emphasis of health has a broader focus because of improvements in the quality of food B. the overall quality of people39。ll find a way to live on his own. At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building. The police believed he had killed himself. The griefstricken(悲痛欲絕的 ) parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city mue (太平間 ) to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn39。re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden to us. We have our own lives to live, and we can39。re sorry to hear that, son. But, maybe we can help him find somewhere to live. No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us. Son, said the father, you don39。d love to meet him. There39。ve a favor to ask. I have a friend. I39。 yet the hostess probably will cook the dinner herself, will serve it herself and will wash dishes afterward, furthermore the dinner will not consist merely of something quickly and easily assembled from contents of various cans and a cake or a pie bought at the nearby bakery. On the contrary, the hostess usually takes pride in careful preparation of special dishes. Which of the following may serve as the best title of the passage? A. A Respectable Selfmade Family. B. American Attitude toward Manual Labor. C. Characteristics of American Culture. D. The Development of Manual Labor. LOGO On February 14th many people in the world celebrate an unusual holiday, St. Valentine’s Day, a special day for lovers. The origin of this holiday is uncertain but according to one story it gets its name from a Christian named Valentine who lived in Rome during the 3rd century . His job was to perform marriages for Christian couples. Unfortunately the Emperor of Rome didn’t allow Christian marriages. So they had to be performed in secret. Finally Valentine was arrested and put into prison. While he was in prison he fell in love with the daughter of the prison guard. After one year the Emperor offered to release Valentine if he would stop performing Christian marriages. Valentine refused and so he was killed in February, 270 . Before her was killed Valentine sent a love letter to the daughter of the prison guard. He signed the letter “from your Valentine”. That was the first Valentine. Today Valentines are cards usually red and shaped like hearts with messages of love written in them. On Valentine’s Day tens of millions of people send and receive Valentines. Whether it is an expensive heartshaped box of chocolates from a secret admirer or a simple handmade card from a child, a Valentine is a very special message of love. ? The passage is mainly about ________. A. a special holiday B. one possible origin of St. Valentine’s Day C. the love story of a Christian called Valentine D. what is Valentine today LOGO If you are like most learners of English, you probably do not spend much time reading English. You are likely to be aware of an urgent need to improve your speaking and listening skills, increase your vocabulary and improve your grammar. Because of these seemingly more urgent (緊急的 ) needs, reading skills improvement is often put at the bottom of the list of things to do to improve your English ability. You may also tell yourself that your do not need to spend extra time on reading improvement because you d