【正文】 Strauss died in 1902, he had made a great contribution to American fashion． 5 The business has been growing ever since and Levi Strauss39。 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。s clothing industry．F．Since they were invented by Levi Strauss, they have bee a symbol of American consumer culture．G．As the business grew, Strauss got much money from it．第十二篇Recently some American scientists have given a useful piece of advice to people in industrialized nations．They say people should eat more of the same kind of food eaten by humans living more than 10,000 years ago． 1 The scientists say that the human life has changed greatly．Our bodies have not been able to deal with these changes in lifestyle and this had led to new kinds of sicknesses． 2 So they are called diseases of civilization．Many cancers and diseases of the blood system are examples of such diseases. Scientists noted that people in both the Old Stone Age and the New Stone Age enjoyed very little alcohol or tobacco, probably none． 3 However, a change in food is one of the main differences between life in ancient times and that of today. Stone Age people hunted wild animals for their meat, which had much less fat than domestic ones．They ate a lot of fresh wild vegetables and fruits．They did not have milk or any other dairy products, and they made very little use of grains． 4 We eat six times more salt than our ancestors．We eat more sugar．We eat twice as much fat but only one third as much protein and much less vitamin C. 5 But scientists say that we would be much healthier if we eat much the same way the ancient people did, cutting the amount of fatty, salty and sweet food. A．Stone Age people lived a simple life. B．But today, we enjoy eating a lot of these. C．In that case, they would live much healthier. D．Ancient people also got lots of physical exercise. E．These new sicknesses were not known in ancient times. F．People today probably don39。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(biāo)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 l