Passage Two
I always have a difficult time choosing original birthday presents. My imagination never seems to get beyond ties, handkerchiefs, or pairs of socks. But, strangely enough, it did not take me long to decide on Tom’s birthday present. For the first time in my life I had a good idea——I would buy him a bottle of champagne. Before the party began, Tom suggested that I should open the bottle. I put it between my knees and began to pull, but it remained firmly corked. Soon a crowd gathered round to watch the fight between me and the bottle. I could hear all sorts of" helpful" suggestions from the guests like "Break the top off", "Use your teeth!" etc. But I was losing the bottle. We were struggling on the floor together, when all of a sudden there was a loud" pop!" and the cork shot up into the air, while the angry bottle showered everybody with champagne!
Passage Two
I always have a difficult time choosing original birthday presents. My imagination never seems to get beyond ties, handkerchiefs, or pairs of socks. But, strangely enough, it did not take me long to decide on Tom’s birthday present. For the first time in my life I had a good idea——I would buy him a bottle of champagne. Before the party began, Tom suggested that I should open the bottle. I put it between my knees and began to pull, but it remained firmly corked. Soon a crowd gathered round to watch the fight between me and the bottle. I could hear all sorts of" helpful" suggestions from the guests like "Break the top off", "Use your teeth!" etc. But I was losing the bottle. We were struggling on the floor together, when all of a sudden there was a loud" pop!" and the cork shot up into the air, while the angry bottle showered everybody with champagne!
Futurists have identified two changes that seem to be central to contemporary social life. First, the United States is being restructured from an industrial to an information society. Second, modem societies are increasingly shifting from a national to a global economy. Futurists have applied a good many metaphors to these changes, including Daniel Bell’s "postindustrial society," Alvin Toffler’s "the third wave" and John Naisbitt’s "megatrends". Common to these metaphors is the notion that American society is shifting from the production of goods to the production of services and from society based on the coordination of people and machines to a society organized around knowledge. These changes, it is contended, will afford a great variety of choices. The world will increasingly be one of many flavors, not just vanilla or chocolate.
Many observers of contemporary American life believe that we are witnessing a historical cha
A. more intolerable.
B. larger.
C. more varied.
D. a pleasanter place.
我来回答:
