unit 1 第四课时
ⅰ.阅读理解
a
he wishes the holiday season would end already. his back aches, his red suit feels like a spacesuit, his cheeks have gone tight from smiling for 12 hours—and still the kids keep coming and coming, like ants at a picnic. as christmas becomes more commercialized (商业化) across the u. s. and canada, so must santas. as the holiday begins earlier each year, so must its spokesmen.
the questions from children these days are harder than ever. now, with thousands of children expecting a father or mother serving in iraq or afghanistan, the questions are as heart-breaking as they are unanswerable. for example, “can you please bring daddy home from the war in time for christmas morning？”
santas also have a pretty good chance of getting sued (指控). a professional santa claus in canada told a story : a santa had a girl on his knee, and he commented, “you have nice eyes and nice hair.” the girl later said it was sexual harassment (骚扰). when a santa feels anxious, he often shows it in the same ways ordinary people do. the santas were always seen to hang around at the dinner table when the show ended. many of them just sleep in bed for several days and don't see other children again.
文章大意：随着圣诞节这个传统节日的商业化程度的加深，“圣诞老人”们的职业化色彩越来越浓厚；“圣诞老人”们的工作也是越来越艰辛了。
1．in the first paragraph，“spokesmen” refers to ______.
a．businessmen
b．political leaders
c．organizers of the activities
d．santa clauses
答案：d 根据第一段最后两句话“as christmas becomes more commercialized(商业化) across the u．s. and canada，so must santas. as the holiday begins earlier each year, so must its spokesmen.”可知：spokesmen对应着上句话中的santas。
2．the passage implies that the job of santa claus is ________.
a．well-paid b．very hard
c．worth doingd．dangerous
答案：b 根据文章第一段第二句话可知：圣诞老人的工作很艰辛。
3．according to the third paragraph, santas may sometimes be blamed for ________.
a．doing something against the law
b．hanging around the dinner table
c．being lazy and sleeping in bed for days
d．not playing their roles as expected
答案：a 根据第三段第一句话“santas also have a pretty good chance of getting sued(指控)．”可知：“圣诞老人们”容易受到他人的指控是因为他们做了一些违法的事。
