阅读理解专项训练三
Part one: fast-reading
Fashion
The first clothes were probably made just to protect people from the cold. But men and women soon wanted their clothes to be more than practical: they wanted them to be beautiful, too. The more advanced a society became, the more attention was paid to the fashion of dress. By the time the Egyptians had built the great pyramids, grooming (打扮) was as important as it is today.
Until recently, beautiful clothes were made by hand. They were usually elaborate and always expensive. Fashion was for the royal, the rich and the famous. Now mass production has made stylish clothes available to almost everyone. The modern fashion business—from the design room to the store window—is one of the busiest, most imaginative, and most glamorous activities in the world.
In designing a dress the fashion designer works with three things: silhouette, fabric, and color.
Silhouette
The shape of a dress, suit, or coat—or any article of clothing—is called silhouette. It is determined by the flare of the skirt and the fit of the bodice (the top of a dress from neck to waistline), the shape of the sleeves, the location of the waistline, and the cut of the neckline. A hat, shoes, and gloves complete and balance a silhouette. Although styles vary from year to year, there are really only a few basic shapes.
The central and most important point of a silhouette is the waistline. It can be high, normal, low, or there can be no waist at all. A high waistline is called Empire, because it was made fashionable by Napoleon’s wife Josephine, who set the style for all the ladies of the French Empire. The most common waistline is the normal, or natural, one. It is usually belted. A waistline placed below the natural waist gives a long, slim silhouette that is called a torso look.
A shape that closely outlines the figure is the most common silhouette. Another favorite shape is full skirted. Between these two shapes there are a variety of outlines that range from wide triangles and bell shapes to the straight up-and-date look of the sack dress.
In the history of European fashion, the natural lines of the body have often been distorted. Stiff bodices with tightly bound waists and hoop skirts became fashionable in Spain in the 16th century, and the style spread to England, France, and Italy. When the elegant ladies of the Victorian Age swooned, it was not because they were delicate but because their clothes made breathing difficult.
The body must be free to breathe, to move, and to grow. Clothes must not interfere with health and safety. Today women work, play, and travel; and in today’s fashion they are free to move with ease and comfort.
Fabric
The shape of a garment depends on how a fabric falls and how it looks when pinned and belted. Light fabrics such as silk, jersey, and cotton cling to the body or fall around it in soft folds. More definite shapes that stand away from the body can be made of heavier fabrics such as velvet, linen, and bulky wools.
Today there is no limit to the kinds of materials designers can use. They can choose fabrics from all over the world. A designer’s imagination can be inspired by the prints made in the United States, by the sari silks of the Far East, or the bold designs of the South Pacific.
Fabrics are both natural and man-made. Cotton, linen, and burlap are made from natural fibers that come from plants. Other natural fabrics such as wool, furs, and silk come from animals. Man-made fabrics are called synthetics. They can be made to look like transparent silks or heavy wools. Often it is difficult to tell a synthetic from a pure silk, wool, or cotton. Some materials, like nylon, are completely synthetic; others, like cotton acetates, are a combination of a man-made and a natural fiber. Man-made materials have certain
advantages—they frequently wear longer, wash more easily, and do not wrinkle as much as natural fabrics. Often they are less expensive. Since the price of a dress depends partially on the cost of the material out of which it is made, synthetics have made possible a wide choice of inexpensive clothes.
Color
The colors used in clothes often reflect natural conditions. Prints from Tahiti and Hawaii are as vivid as the flowers and sunsets of the islands. The Pueblo Indians in Arizona weave colors that match the intense shades of the layers of stone in the Grand Ganyon.
Not long ago the color of a dress depended on the season and the time of day when it was worn. Winter wools were always dark, summer cottons always light and pale. Bright colors were worn only by the young or for gala occasions. However, fashion designers have become more daring in their use of color. Vivid combinations are common. We often see bright orange, purple, or red combined with pink, and blue. Now wools can be pale, cottons can be dark, and city clothes vivid. Perhaps the only traditional color left is white for the bride.
Elements of good Fashion
The fashion designer works in a design room. Here the fabrics are brought together, the shape of the silhouettes developed, and the color schemes decided upon.
The store buyer is all-important in the fashion world, and her job is one of the most difficult. She must not only know by experience what sells to her customers, but have an eye for what is new and different.
The basic element of good fashion is good grooming. The most stylish clothes will not look good on a woman who does not have good posture and a graceful carriage. Another element of good fashion is individuality. The clothes of a well-dressed woman always reflect her own personality. To be fashionable, a person must know what silhouettes and fabrics will highlight her figure and what colors are flattering to her. With the speed of modern communications, fashion today is almost universal. New styles are worn in Tokyo almost as
soon as they are in London, Paris and New York. (1026 words)
1. Which of the following statement contradicts the information given in the first paragraph?
A) By the time the Egyptians had built the pyramids, they knew little about society.
B) By the time the Egyptians had built the pyramids, they knew little about fashion.
C) By the time the Egyptians had built the pyramids, they knew much about living.
D) By the time the Egyptians had built the pyramids, they knew much about taste.
2. Which of the following statement agrees with the information given in the second paragraph?
A) Now stylish clothes are made available to almost everyone due to mass production.
B) Now stylish clothes are quite cheap and people’s living standards are rising.
C) Now hand-made clothes are more beautiful.
D) Now hand-made clothes appeal to the rich and the famous.
3. The term “silhouette” means ____________________.
A) the flare of the skirt
B) the fit of the bodice
C) the shape of the sleeves
D) the shape of any article of clothing
4. Which of the following is true about Empire according to the passage?
A) Napoleon’s wife made Empire, a high waistline, fashionable and popular in France.
B) Napoleon’s wife made the French Empire fashionable and popular in Europe.
C) Napoleon’s wife made the ladies of the French Empire popular in Europe.
D) Napoleon’s wife Empire liked fashionable dress.
5. The sentence “Often it is difficult to tell a synthetic from a pure silk, wool, or cotton.” means “_____________________”.
A) a synthetic is similar to a pure silk, wool, or cotton in quality
B) it is often difficult to tell people which one is better
C) often it is difficult to distinguish a synthetic from a pure silk, wool, or cotton
D) it is often difficult to tell people which one lasts longer
6. Man-made materials have all the following advantages except that________________.
A) they often last longer
B) they are frequently used
C) they wash more easily
D) they do not wrinkle as much as natural fabrics
7. Elements of good Fashion are diverse, but the basic one is ___________________.
A) natural fabrics
B) modern designs
C) proper silhouettes
D) good grooming
Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)
8. Fashion designers may combine red and purple with pink and blue. They have become more daring in ________________.
9. If a woman does not have ________________ and a graceful manner, she will not look good even with the most stylish clothes on.
10. Often the clothes of a well-dressed woman reflect __________________.
Part two :cloze
A language is a signaling system which operates with symbolic vocal sound (语气), and which is used by a group of people for the purpose of communication.
Let’s look at this ___1___ in more detail because it is language, more than anything else, ___2___ distinguishes man from the rest of the ___3___ world.
Other animals, it is true, communicate with one another by ___4___ of cries: for example, many birds utter ___5___ calls at the approach of danger; monkeys utter ___6___ cries, such as expressions of anger, fear and pleasure. ___7___ these various means of communication differ in important ways ___8___ human language. For instance, animals’ cries do not ___9___ thoughts and feelings clearly. This means, basically, that they lack structure. They lack the kind of structure that ___10___ us to divide a human utterance into ___11___.
We can change an utterance by ___12___ one word in it with ___13___: a good illustration of this is a soldier who can say, e.g., “tanks approaching from the north”, ___14___ who can change one word and say “aircraft approaching from the north” or “tanks approaching from the west”; but a bird has a single alarm cry, ___15___ means “danger!”
This is why the number of ___16___ that an animal can make is very limited: the great tit (山雀) is a case ___17___ point; it has about twenty different calls, ___18___ in human language the number of possible utterances is ___19___. It also explains why animal cries are very ___20___ in meaning.
1. A) classification B) definition C) function D) perception
2. A) that B) it C) as D) what
3. A) native B) human C) physical D) animal
4. A) ways B) means C) methods D) approaches
5. A) mating B) exciting C) warning D) boring
6. A) identical B) similar C) different D) unfamiliar
7. A) But B) Therefore C) Afterwards D) Furthermore
8. A) about B) about C) from D) in
9. A) infer B) explain C) interpret D) express
10. A) encourages B) enables C) enforces D) ensures
11. A) speeches B) sounds C) words D) voices
12. A) replacing B) spelling C) pronouncing D) saying
13. A) ours B) theirs C) another D) others
14. A) so B) and C) but D) or
15. A) this B) that C) which D) it
16. A) signs B) gestures C) signals D) marks
17. A) in B) at C) of D) for
18. A) whereas B) since C) anyhow D) somehow
19. A) boundless B) changeable C) limitless D) ceaseless
20. A) ordinary B) alike C) common D) general
Part three : Reading comprehension
Violin prodigies（神童）, I learned, have come in distinct waves from distinct regions. Most of the great performers if the late 19th and early 20th centuries were born and brought up in Russia and Eastern Europe. I asked Isaac Stern, one of the world’s greatest violinists the reason for this phenomenon. “It is very clear,” he told me. “They were all Jews（犹太人）and
Jews at the time were severely oppressed and ill-treated in that part of the world. They were not allowed into the professional fields, but they were allowed to achieve excellence on a concert stage.” As a result, every Jewish parent’s dream was to have a child in the music school because it was a passport to the West.
Another element in the emergence of prodigies, I found, is a society that values excellence in a certain field to nurture（培育）talent. Nowadays, the most nurturing societies seem to be in the Far East. “In Japan, a most competitive society, with stronger discipline than ours,” says Isaac Stem, children are ready to test their limits every day in many fields, including music. When Western music came to Japan after World War II, that music not only became part of their daily lives, but it became a discipline as well. The Koreans and Chinese as we know, are just as highly motivated as the Japanese.
That’s a good thing, because even prodigies must work hard. Next to hard work, biological inheritance plays an important role in the making of a prodigy .J. S. Bach, for example, was the top of several generations of musicians, and four of his sons had significant careers in music.
1. Jewish parents in Eastern Europe longed for their children to attend music school because _________.
A) it would allow them access to a better life in the West
B) Jewish children are born with excellent musical talent
C) they wanted their children to enter into the professional field
D) it would enable the family to get better treatment in their own country
2. Nurturing societies as mentioned in the passage refer to societies that _________.
A) enforce strong discipline on students who want to achieve excellence
B) treasure talent and provide opportunities for its full development
C) encourage people to compete with each other
D) promise talented children high positions
3. Japan is described in the passage as a country that attaches importance to _________.
A) all-round development
B) the learning of Western music
C) strict training of children
D) variety in academic studies
4. Which of the following contributes to the emergence of musical prodigies according to the passage?
A) A natural gift.
B) Extensive knowledge of music.
C) Very early training.
D) A prejudice-free society.
5. Which of the following titles best summarizes the main idea of the passage?
A) Jewish Contribution to Music.
B) Training of Musicians in the World
C) Music and Society
D) The Making of Prodigies
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