Passage Two
Last month, the public address system at Earl’s Court subway station in London was ordered to get the noise down. Passengers, it seems, had had enough of being told the blindingly obvious: "Stand back or the train will run you over." "Don’t lean on the doors." "Stand back from the opening doors." "Do this." "Don’t do that."
Bossiness is not just aural. It is also written. As a commuter, I’m continually bombarded by notices on car walls. "Please take your feet off the seat." "Please turn down your personal stereo." And when I drive past the local primary, a sign flashes: "School. Slow down!"
The presumption behind these signs is that Britons must have everything spelled out because we are low, uncivilized people who were raised by wolves.
Britain didn’t use to be so bossy. When I was a boy, for instance, the loca
A. it is very noisy in public places
B. it is necessary to warn the passengers of their safety
C. people have realized the importance of public order
D. people have been tired of being bossed
Passage Two
Last month, the public address system at Earl’s Court subway station in London was ordered to get the noise down. Passengers, it seems, had had enough of being told the blindingly obvious: "Stand back or the train will run you over." "Don’t lean on the doors." "Stand back from the opening doors." "Do this." "Don’t do that."
Bossiness is not just aural. It is also written. As a commuter, I’m continually bombarded by notices on car walls. "Please take your feet off the seat." "Please turn down your personal stereo." And when I drive past the local primary, a sign flashes: "School. Slow down!"
The presumption behind these signs is that Britons must have everything spelled out because we are low, uncivilized people who were raised by wolves.
Britain didn’t use to be so bossy. When I was a boy, for instance, the loca
A. need to be bossed to behave themselves
B. want to be reminded of how to behave well
C. must have everything spelled out
D. are raised in uncivilized society
In a three-month period last year, two Brooklynites had to be cut out of their apartments and carried to hospital on stretchers designed for transporting small whales. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA) argues that it was not their combined 900kg bulk that made them ill. Obesity, according to NAAFA, is not bad for you. And, even if it was, there is nothing to be done about it, because genes dictate weight. Attempting to eat less merely slows metabolism, having people as chubby as ever.
This is the fatlash movement that causes America’s slimming industry so much pain. In his book Bin Fat Lies (Ballantine, 1996), Glenn Gaesser says that no study yet has convincingly shown that weight is an independent cause of health problems. Fatness does not kill people; things like hypertension, coronary heart diseases and cancer do. Michael Fumento, author of The Fat of the Land (Viking, 1997), an anti-fatlash diatribe, compares Dr Gaesser
A. fat people should try to lose weight
B. eating less is harmful to people’s health
C. fat people were born that way
D. obesity is good for people
What is it about Paris For the last two centuries it has been the single most visited city in the world. Tourists still go for the art and the food, even if they have to brave the disdain of ticket-takers and waiters. Revolutionaries on the run, artists in search of the galleries and writers looking for the license to explore their inner selves went looking for people like themselves and created their own fields filled with experimentation and constant arguments. Would worldwide communist revolution have been conceivable without the Paris that was home to Marx, Lenin and Ho Chi Minh Would Impressionism or Cubism have become "isms" without Paris as a place to work and as a subject to paint How Paris came to be, for such a long time, "capital of the world"
The answer lies in the city’s "myths" according to the distinguished Harvard historian Patrice Higonnet in "Paris: Capital of the World. " In his book, Paris came to stand for
A. Stanford University
B. Harvard University
C. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
D. University of Michigan
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