1 . Deaf Date
As a man who’d been almost stone-deaf since birth, meeting women was something out of Christian Brown’s comfort zone. They may have smiled, but from their eyes, and replies, he knew he was not making much sense to them.
Now he was shown to a seat in the restaurant. He took a deep breath and looked at his watch. 7:55 p.m. His advisor and psychologist, Susan, had arranged a blind date for him with a lady called Stephanie. She’d told him nothing about her, just that she was attractive, divorced and in her early forties.
But he trusted Susan. Over the past three years, she’d helped him gain social skills and a measure of confidence. Looking in the mirror, he recognized his good looks, despite the hearing aids behind both ears.
A woman with a white stick and sunglasses passed his table, aided by a waiter. “Are you Christian?” The woman enquired.
Christian read the lips of the woman, presumably Stephanie, as she stood at the table. “Are you Christian Brown? May I join you?” From the way she felt the table and edged around it, he realized she was blind. He quickly said, “Yes, by all means.”
Stephanie had likewise been told very little about Christian. Susan had said he had a good heart, and that was what she now needed most in a man.
Christian admired her high cheekbones and perfect teeth. He felt a strong attraction building and told himself to relax, to let her feel at home with him. To his surprise, a waiter brought her a plastic-coated card, covered in small dots.
Stephanie felt it with her fingertips. “May I have Chicken Vindaloo and Tarka Dahl, please?” She smiled in Christian’s direction, “I like things spicy!”
He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned. It was Susan, all smiles at seeing the two of them together. She gestured in sign language to him, whilst speaking it out loud for Stephanie’s benefit. “Hello, Christian, are you alright?”
Stephanie felt a kiss on her cheek and Susan’s hand on hers, and a whisper in her ear.
“Are you OK with Christian?”
They both smiled at Susan, one seeing, one unseeing, one hearing, one unhearing, realizing that this wise woman was trying her best to bring much-needed romance into both of their lives. Neither wanted to object.
1. What was Christian like before he met Susan?| A．Senseless and emotional. | B．Deaf and ugly. |
| C．Unsociable and unconfident. | D．Divorced and attractive. |
| A．By simply talking. | B．By using hearing aids. |
| C．By reading each other’s lips. | D．By using functioning senses. |
| A．Susan was very considerate and professional. |
| B．Neither of them had been married due to disability. |
| C．Both Christian and Stephanie were Susan’s patients. |
| D．Christian helped Stephanie to order by reading the menu. |
| A．marry | B．disagree |
| C．admire | D．follow |
2 . Every Thanksgiving, Americans gather to celebrate family, give thanks — and stuff our stomachs until we feel sick. Tragically, filling up too fast means you won’t manage to grab seconds or thirds of all the best dishes. To do so, you need to maximize your food intake. Here’s how.
Prepare
To consume as much as possible, start on an empty stomach. But don’t starve yourself, in case you eat too much too quickly. Exercising early in the day is a good idea, as physical efforts can stimulate the appetite.
Choose Wisely
Start with simple carbs (碳水化合物), like potatoes, which require minimal effort to pack in more without feeling too full. Delay the meat course and fiber-rich foods such as vegetables because they soak up water and take up more room.
Take a Break
Your stomach will expand to a maximum volume of four liters. But as fast as you put food into it, your stomach processes it and starts moving it into the intestines (肠).
Move Around
Enjoy Dessert
Sweet foods don’t make you feel full as quickly as delicious ones do. So after the meal, dig into some pumpkin pie.
| A．Liquid also occupies precious stomach space |
| B．After all your hard eating, you’ve earned a reward |
| C．You may also find it easier to eat a lot if you are relaxed |
| D．So when you feel as if you can’t eat another bite, have a break |
| E．At this point, all you want to do is to sit comfortably in the sofa |
| F．Follow your regular meal schedule and stop drinking any liquid |
| G．You have to wait for your stomach to empty out entirely before you go back to eat |
| A．that | B．it | C．what | D．which |
4 . Playing games, singing carols (圣诞颂歌) and getting dressed in your best for Christmas lunch are British festive traditions that need to be saved for future generations, a study has found.
The survey of 2,000 people found the festive pleasure that people believe is most in need of saving is playing games as a family, with 33% of those surveyed giving it the nod. Carol singing is close behind on 31%, with making paper chains to decorate the home on 28%.
Popular pursuits also listed as being in need of saving are making Christmas cake, putting decorations up on Christmas Eve, making home-made pies and writing a letter to Santa. The study also found that 64% of British families celebrate with their own family-specific traditions, such as leaving the tree decoration to the children, and 62% of people said the most important element in having a good Christmas is spending time with family.
Dr. Martin Johns from Swansea University, said: “Wearing your ‘best’ clothes and giving fruit and nuts in stockings both have their origins before the Second World War. However, the pre-war tradition of putting a lucky piece of coal in children’s stockings has disappeared.”
Many Christmas traditions are imports from America, but Christmas cards are one that Britain gave to the world. The first Christmas card is widely claimed to date back to 1843, the same year as A Christmas Carol was published by Dickens, but they were actually on sale by the end of the 1820s. The Victorians saw them as luxurious items and bought them individually, choosing specific designs for each friend and relative. Up until the 1960s, cards were delivered on Christmas morning, adding to the specialness of receiving one.
1. The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refers to “________”.| A．playing games | B．festive pleasure |
| C．the survey | D．the festival |
| A．Festive traditions are the same in different families. |
| B．Christmas time is a family time for many people. |
| C．Making paper chains is most in need of saving. |
| D．People don’t make Christmas cake any more. |
| A．is replaced by giving fruit and nuts |
| B．appeared during the World War II |
| C．should be put on the saving list |
| D．is no longer observed today |
| A．were received before Christmas |
| B．were regarded as special gifts |
| C．were brought from America |
| D．were invented in 1843 |
| A．the; an | B．/; / | C．a; the | D．/; the |
