Levi Strauss did not invent jeans, but he is considered the first person to make and sell great numbers of them. He was born in Bavaria, an area that today is part of Germany. In 1847 he and his family immigrated to the United States. Levi Strauss opened a small dry goods store, first in New York, then in San Francisco, California. Among the products he sold were jeans. These pants were especially useful for miners in California. They needed clothing made from a strong material. Jeans are usually made from a heavy cotton cloth called denim (牛仔布). Levi Strauss partnered with a clothing maker named Jacob Davis. Davis had invented a process for making rivets (铆钉) for jeans. These little metal connectors helped hold the pieces of cloth together to make the jeans stronger.
In 1873, the government gave Strauss and Davis a patent (专利证) for their invention. That meant no one else could legally copy it without their permission. They began producing what they called “copper-riveted waist overalls”. In 1928, the Levi Strauss Company registered (注册) the word Levi’s as a trademark for their product. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington has one of the oldest known pairs of Levi’s.
Writer James Sullivan published a book called “Jeans: A Cultural History of an American Icon”. In it, he says jeans represent two American values: creativity and rebellion. Cowboys wore jeans in the old Wild West. In the 1950s, people saw famous Hollywood actors like James Dean and Marlon Brando wearing jeans in movies. Today jeans still come in blue but also lots of other colors. They can also differ widely in price. You might find jeans for 15 dollars in an American discount store. However, they can also sell for thousands of dollars a pair.
Some people like to buy Jeans that look fresh and new. Others like to buy new jeans that are tom and look old. Early rock and roller Gene Vincent released “Blue Jean Bop” in 1956. The energetic song includes a line with the word “dungaree”. That is another way of saying blue jeans. It is an old Hindi word meaning coarse calico, or denim. The word came from the name of a village that is now Mumbai.
1. What can we learn about Levi Strauss from Paragraph 1?| A．Levi Strauss opened his first jeans store in New York. |
| B．Levi Strauss was born in a jeans-making family in Bavaria. |
| C．Levi Strauss invented jeans and sold great numbers of them. |
| D．Levi Strauss cooperated with Jacob Davis to make and sell jeans. |
| A．make the Jeans wear well |
| B．compete with other jean-makers |
| C．gain a patent to popularize his products |
| D．decorate the jeans to make them more beautiful |
| A．Jeans show the different tastes of people. |
| B．Jeans have become important American values. |
| C．Jeans enjoy a wide popularity in the life of American people. |
| D．Jeans were more popular among cowboys in the old Wild West. |
| A．the history of jeans | B．the features of jeans |
| C．the life story of Levi Strauss | D．the reasons for jeans’ popularity |
相似题推荐
阅读短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
Tim Richter and his wife, Linda, had taught for over 30 years near Buffalo, New York—he in computers, she in special education. “Teaching means everything to us,” Tim would say. In April 1998, he learned he would need a heart operation. It was the kind of news that leads to some serious thinking about life's purpose.
Not long after the surgery, Tim saw a brochure describing Imagination Library, a program started by Dolly Parton's foundation (基金会) that mailed a book every month to children from birth to age five in the singer's hometown of Sevier, Tennessee. “I thought, maybe Linda and I could do something like this when we retire,” Tim recalls. He placed the brochure on his desk as a “reminder”.
Five years later, now retired and with that brochure still on the desk, Tim clicked on imagination library com. The program had been opened up to partners who could take advantage of book and postage discounts.
The quality of the books was of great concern to the Richters. Rather than sign up online, they went to Dollywood for a look see. “We didn't want to give the children rubbish,” says Linda. The books reviewed each year by teachers, literacy specialists and Dollywood board members included classics such as Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day and newer books like Anna Dewdney's Llama Llama series.
Satisfied, the couple set up the Richter Family Foundation and got to work. Since 2004, they have shipped more than 12,200 books to preschoolers in their area. Megan Williams, a mother of four, is more than appreciative: “This program introduces us to books I've never heard of.”
The Richters spend about $400 a month sending books to 200 children. “Some people sit there and wait to die,” says Tim. “Others get as busy as they can in the time they have left.”
1. What led Tim to think seriously about the meaning of life?
| A．His health problem. | B．His love for teaching. |
| C．The influence of his wife. | D．The news from the Web. |
| A．Give out brochures. | B．Do something similar. |
| C．Write books for children | D．Retire from being a teacher. |
| A．a wellknown surgeon |
| B．a mother of a fouryearold |
| C．a singer born in Tennessee |
| D．a computer programmer |
| A．To avoid signing up online. |
| B．To meet Dollywood board members. |
| C．To make sure the books were the newest. |
| D．To see if the books were of good quality. |
【推荐2】One September afternoon during the outbreak of COVID-19, Julia Koch, a teacher in a virtual classroom at Edgewood Elementary School in Michigan, received a call from Cynthia Phillips, who was having technical difficulties with her granddaughter’s tools for online learning. Her words were so jumbled that Koch could barely understand her, though she was able to make out Phillips had fallen four times that day. Koch immediately knew something was wrong with Phillips, a woman she had spoken to many times before. Then she called her principal, Charlie Smith, who ensured her that he would call and check on Phillips himself.
Just like Koch, Smith failed to comprehend Phillips’ words. He suspected she might be having a stroke. He recognized the signs from when his own father had suffered one. Smith was able to make out the word, kids, and immediately became concerned that Phillips’ two grandchildren, aged six and eight, were probably home alone with her and scared. So dropping everything, he called an ambulance to the grandmother’s home at once and drove there in person.
When he pulled up less than ten minutes later, the emergency medical workers were treating Phillips while the two girls, looking visibly shaken, were outside with a neighbor. It was the quick response from Koch and Smith that saved Phillips’ life. She was sent to the hospital in time before long-standing damage occurred. “But for them, I wouldn’t be here.” said Phillips from her hospital bed about a month after her stroke. Thanks to an extended treatment in the hospital, she has regained most of the movement throughout her body.
Virtual learning has been a challenge across the country, but in Michigan it has helped the community grow closer. Many teachers there gave their personal phone numbers to students and families in case they needed extra help. In this case, the exchange was literally life-changing.
1. What does the underlined word “jumbled” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Confusing. | B．Dramatic. | C．Powerful. | D．Serious. |
| A．Koch told him about that. | B．He was at Phillips, house. |
| C．His father had one before. | D．The illness runs in his family. |
| A．She made a full recovery. | B．She was saved by a neighbor. |
| C．She received a free treatment. | D．She still had the ability to move. |
| A．Lives Changed by Phone Calls | B．Online Learning in Michigan |
| C．The Warm-hearted Teachers | D．A Teacher’s Lifesaving Call |
【推荐3】A mother and daughter in England have been putting smiles on strangers’ faces with random (随机的) acts of kindness.Every week, Sophie-Louise Corrigan allows her 5-year-old daughter Amina to choose random strangers to put a smile on their faces.
When Corrigan is with her daughter Amina, Corrigan will let the little girl go to whoever she is drawn. Later, Corrigan will ask why Amina opts for them. Her answer is always because she likes something about them, either their tops or their hair. Amina always takes her pick.
It’s a tradition that started with Corrigan’s own mother. “Mum and I used to do it. Whenever we had some money left from the weekly shop or if we really wanted to do it that week, we took out something from the shop to make sure we had the money. We would always do it,” said Corrigan.
“Now, we do it everywhere, even when we went on holiday to another city, we did a random act of kindness there. We find flowers and chocolates whether it be in Ormskirk, Liver-pool or Wirral. Wherever we go, we do it,” said Corrigan.
“The reaction is amazing and is one of the reasons why we carry on. A number of people who spoke to us didn’t even know what to say. They were speechless. There were a lot of people who gave Amina a hug after it. She loves such a hug. There were others who had tears welling up. They said that they had such a terrible week either with bills or a family death. Amina will always say to me that although the person was crying, it was happy tears. She is in the process of understanding how acts of kindness work and how feelings work.”
1. What does Corrigan ask Amina to do every week?| A．Stay with her mother. | B．Be kind to strangers. |
| C．Make friends with others. | D．Buy something from shops. |
| A．Respects. | B．Enables. | C．Chooses. | D．Avoids. |
| A．People need happiness. |
| B．Few people live a hard life. |
| C．Some people like being silent. |
| D．Most people are friendly to others. |
| A．Only good people have friends. |
| B．Where there is life, there is hope. |
| C．Kindness is like a ray of sunshine. |
| D．A kind man can gain more from others. |
【推荐1】People have been acting like people---in other words, they’ve been making tools, creating ceremonies, and sharing food—for a long time. That’s the conclusion of a recent study from South Africa’s southern coast.
There, in a cave lying above the sea, researchers from Arizona State University have found evidence that humans were behaving in surprisingly complex ways as early as 164,000 years ago. Our species, Homo sapiens, appeared an estimated 200,000 years ago.
The cave held three important clues about the behavior of these Stone Age people.
First, the researchers found the remains of all kinds of shellfish. The people who lived in the cave probably collected these creatures from rocky shores and tide pools and brought them to the cave to eat.
The researchers propose the early Africans moved to the South African coast between 195,000 and 130,000 years ago. Around that time, the climate inland turned relatively cold and dry. Therefore, there were fewer plants and animals to eat away from the coast.
When these ancient people moved to the coast, they probably experienced a major cultural shift, the researchers suspect. That’s because observations of modern hunter-gatherer societies suggest that men are more likely to hunt for big animals when people live inland. On the coast, women play a more important role in providing food by gathering plants and shellfish.
As for the second clue, the researchers unearthed 57 pieces of reddish pigment(颜料). The researchers think that the cave habitants used the paint for coloring their bodies or for other ceremonies. Symbolic behavior is a clearly human feature.
Finally, the search discovered over 1,800 stone tools, including well-crafted blades(刀片). These blades came in various sizes. The smallest were just less than a half-inch wide. Ancient people may have attached these blades to the end of a stick to make spears or other tools.
1. Why did the early Africans move to the south African coast according to the text?| A．To avoid cold and dry weather |
| B．To look for enough food to eat |
| C．To seek the cultural development |
| D．To collect more shellfish to make tools |
| A．Introduced | B．Produced |
| C．Used | D．Found |
| A．might make tools with kinds of blades |
| B．could hunt for fish in the sea by ship |
| C．made a living mainly by eating shellfish |
| D．knew how to use to colors for painting houses |
| A．The finding of the Stone Age tools |
| B．New features of the Stone Age cave |
| C．The behavior of the Stone Age people |
| D．Human behavior’s development |
When the Japanese attacked America’s ships at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941,they did it secretly.The makers of the movie Pearl Harbor have behaved differently.
The noise about Pearl Harbor,made by Disney,has reached its highest point with its premiere(首次公演) before the movie opens in cinemas across the US at the start of the Memorial Day holiday weekend,a time to recall national heroes who sacrificed their lives on the battlefield.
As Ben Affleck is the main star,the movie seems sure to become a success in the United States at least.
At almost three hours in length,it promises to be a good old Hollywood movie.There is a love story.Affleck and his co-star,Josh Hartnett,both fall in love with the navy nurse,Kate Beckinsale and,of course,there is much human courage and love of country.
It’s certain that Disney will be accused of “changing” history.The showing of actual events in a movie always causes arguments.
Bits of the story are deliberately not mentioned in the movie.It does not address the theory held by some historians that President Franklin Roosevelt knew about Japan’s intention to attack the ships in Pearl Harbor.It is said he did nothing,as he was aware that such a blow would allow him to take America into the Second World War.
Japan remains sensitive about being accused of wartime atrocities(暴行).And Disney is sensitive about its business in Japan,where it has a theme park.
Not all the reviews of the movie have been full of praise.A reviewer for Newsweek,who was given an early preview,acknowledged that the 40-minute sequence(连续镜头) showing the attack itself was powerful.The attack comes quite late in the movie,however,and the reviewer was less impressed with the characters and the love story.
“Almost every line of the dialogue sounds like it comes from an old movie,” the reviewer wrote.
1. From the passage we can infer that the Memorial Day refers to .
| A．the day when the United States was founded |
| B．the day when people honour their ancestors |
| C．a day when people honour those who died in wars |
| D．a day when people celebrate the victories of World War Ⅱ |
| A．may be a very popular movie star |
| B．regarded Josh Hartnett as an enemy |
| C．experienced the Pearl Harbor Incident |
| D．was in love with the actress Kate Beckinsale |
| A．The movie has made the Japanese angry. |
| B．The movie will cause a lot of arguments. |
| C．The movie truly describes the Pearl Harbor Incident. |
| D．The movie shows that President Franklin Roosevelt knew about Japan’s intention. |
| A．The scenes of the attack leave no impression. |
| B．The dialogue in the movie is original and creative. |
| C．The characters and the love story are less attractive. |
| D．The attack scenes occupy too much time of the movie. |
【推荐3】The history of the Louvre Museum, which today contains one of the most important art collections in the world, dates back to the Middle Ages. Built in 1190 as a fortress（堡垒）protect Paris from the Vikings, it was transformed into a palace by Francesco I. Since then, for four centuries, French kings and emperors have expanded it. The glass pyramid of I. M. Pei was added to the courtyard of honor in 1989. All galleries can be reached from here.
The glass pyramid
The projects for the monetization and expansion of the Louvre date back to 1981. They included the construction of a main entrance to the museum. The American architect of Chinese origin－I. M. Pei－was in charge of the project. Pei designed a pyramid that had to become an entrance to the museum. Its glass walls allow visitors to admire the surrounding historic buildings and to light up the entrance hall.
The Louvre collection
The Louvre treasures can date back to the collection of Francesco I (1515－1547), who bought many Italian paintings. During the rule of Louis XIV ( 1643－1715) this amounted to only 200 artworks, but it also increased as a result of donations and purchases. It was opened for the first time to the public in 1793. Since then the Louvre collection has been continuously enriched.
The fallen guide
The main entrance is under the glass pyramid. The artworks are exposed on four floors: the display rooms of the artworks are organized according to the countries they are from. There are eight sections in all. The European painters’ collection is very large, with 40 percent of French works, while the collection of sculptures is less complete.
1. What does the first paragraph say about the Louvre Museum?| A．It was first intended as a royal palace. |
| B．It has a history of less than ten centuries. |
| C．It has the largest art collection worldwide. |
| D．It experienced nonstop expansion in the past. |
| A．Acting as a good viewpoint. | B．Making visitors move faster. |
| C．Making the entrance hall less bright. | D．Preventing heat by reflecting sunlight. |
| A．historic values | B．cultural meanings |
| C．countries of origin | D．levels of perfection |
