初级英语阅读 20201231 Thu

This is Mark. Happy New Year to you all! I also want to greet "happy new year" to my dog too. His name is Max. My dog is very big. I walk my dog every day. I feed him dog food. Sometimes he eats meat, he also likes eating fish. He is a very cute pet. My daughter loves him too. 

中级英语阅读 20201231 Thu

A retired man purchased a home near a high school. He spent the first few weeks of his retirement in peace. One afternoon, three young boys came down his street, beating merrily on every bin they came across. They then did so the following day and the day after that, until finally the retiree decided it was time to take some action.

The next afternoon, he walked out to meet the boys as they banged their way down the street. Stopping them, he said: "You kids are a lot of fun. I used to do the same thing when I was your age. Will you do me a favour? I'll give you each a dollar if you'll promise to come around every day and do your thing".

The boys were more than happy and continued to bang the bins. After a few days, the old man greeted the kids again, but this time he had a sad smile on his face.

"This recession's really putting a big dent in my income," he told them. "I'm going to have to cut it down to 50 cents a day to keep banging the bins." The kids were obviously unimpressed but they accepted the reduction in payment and continued their afternoon activities.

A few days later, the man approached them again. "Look," he said, "I haven't received my payment yet, so I'm not going to be able to give you more than 25 cents. Will that be okay?"

"That's it?" the 'drum leader' exclaimed. "If you think we're going to waste our time beating these around for 25 cents each a day, you're nuts! No way, mister. We quit!" And the man enjoyed peace and serenity for the rest of his days.

高级英语阅读 20201231 Thu

Pierre Cardin, who during his more than seven decades in fashion brought geometric shapes to haute couture and put his name on everything from clothing to furniture to perfume to pens, died Tuesday. He was 98.

“The members of the Academy of Fine Arts announce with great sadness the death of their fellow member Pierre Cardin,” the elite French arts group tweeted.

Cardin died in a hospital in Neuilly in the west of Paris, his family told Agence France-Presse.

“It is a day of great sadness for all our family. Pierre Cardin is no more,” the family said in a statement. “We are all proud of his tenacious ambition and the daring he has shown throughout his life.”

Cardin went from the world of bespoke high fashion for private clients to ready-to-wear designs for the masses.

“They said pret-a-porter will kill your name, and it saved me,” Cardin once said.

The son of a wealthy wine merchant, Cardin was born near Venice on July 2, 1922. He and his family moved from Fascist Italy to France when he was 2.