暑假初升高英语培训专用讲义.doc

English is fun Pre-reading 1.What do you know about English jokes or humor? 2.Do you have any difficulty understanding English idioms(成语) and proverbs（谚语）? 3.Do you often pay attention to punctuations(标点) in English sentences? Reading A Shut your mouth! A man who is driving a car is stopped by a police officer. The man says, “What’s the problem, Officer?” Officer: “I’m going to give you a ticket for not wearing your seat belt.” Man: “Oh, I just took it off when you were walking up to the car.” Wife: “ Oh Harry, you never wear your seat belt.” The mann turns to his wife and yells, “ SHUT YOUR MOUTH! WOMAN!” The officer turns to the woman and asks, “Ma’am, does your husband talk to you this way all the time?” The wife says, “ No, only when he’s drunk.” B “Apple-polishing” An “apple-polisher” is one who gives gifts to win friendship or special treatment. It’s not exactly a bribe, but it is close to it. “Apple-polishing” is as old as human society, but the phrase itself is recent, about 50 years ago. It comes from the schoolroom. For a long time, some schoolboys would leave a shiny apple on the teacher’s desk. They would rub and polish the apple to give it a bright shine, so as to make it look more tasty. Such a gift, the student hoped, might make the teacher shut her eyes to his poor work and give him a good mark. All sorts of people are apple-polishers, including politicians and people in high officesalmost everybody. There are other phrases meaning the same things as “apple-polishing”“soft-soap” or “butter him up”. A gift is just one way to “soft soap” somebody. or to “butter him up”. Another that is just as effective is flattery, giving someone high praisetelling him how good he looks. or how wellhe speaks, or how wise he is. Flattery, of course, is the cheapest kind of “apple-polishing”. To flatter another costs you nothing and you can give it as freely as you want. And you can always find somebody eagerly looking for it. C When was Rome b