Questions 33 to 36 are based on the following passage:

. Jokes are as old as the spoken word. In every country in the world and in every age in history, people have old funny stories to make one another laugh. In the Middle Ages in Europe, the court jesters(弄臣) or fools, amused( 逗乐) rulers and their courts with jokes and tricks.

　　While we no longer have court jesters, we still have people whose job is to make us laugh. We still laugh at many of the same things that made people laugh long ago. We laugh at jokes that have surprise endings, and stories of people who simply never seem able to do anything right. Quick answers also amuse us. Here are some simple jokes that will show you what they mean.

　　Linda’s mother called up the stairs to her, “Linda, did you put out the light?”

　　Linda said, “How should I know? It’s too dark in here to see.”

　　Kevin to Teacher: “Would you be mad at me for something I didn’t do?”

　　Teacher: “Of course not, Kevin.”

　　Kevin: That’s good, because I didn’t do my homework.

　　A salesman came to Jimmy who was sitting on the steps of a house. “Sonny,” he asked, “is your Mommy home?”

　　“Yes,” replied Jimmy.

　　The salesman began to ring the doorbell. He rang and rang and, but there was no answer. Finally he turned back to Jimmy and said angrily, “I thought you said that your Mommy was home.”

　　“I did” replied Jimmy, “but this isn’t my house.”

　　Fern: “That’s a strange pair of socks you have on--one is red and the other is green.”

　　Elaine: “Yes, and the funny thing about it is that I have another pair at home exactly like this one.”

　　A man went to the dentist to have a tooth pulled. “How much will that cost?” he asked.

　　“Thirty dollars,” was the answer.

　　The man thought a minute, then said, “Here ten dollars. Just loosen it a little.”

　　“Joey’s been walking since he was 8 months old,” his mother told a friend.

　　“Good heaven!” the friend exclaimed. “Isn’t he tired?”

　　Teacher to Sally: “If we breathe oxygen(氧气) in the daytime, what do we breathe at night?”

　　Sally: “That’s easy. Nitrogen(氮气)，of course.”

33.According to the selection, jokes are as old as

A. the Middle Ages

B. the history of Europe

C. the history of the courts

D. the language

34.According to the writer, the jokes we laugh at now are

A. quite different from the old jokes

B. quite similar to the old jokes

C. fewer than the joke people had in the ancient times

D. not as funny as the old jokes

35.The point of the joke about Linda lies in

A. Linda’s foolishness.

B. mother’s foolishness.

C. The surprise ending of the joke.

D. Linda’s quick answer

36.We laugh at the joke about Kevin and the teacher because

A. Kevin never seemed able to do anything right

B. the teacher never seemed able to do anything right

C. it has an unexpected ending

D. the teacher gave a quick answer

Questions 37 to 40 are based on the following passage:

Keeping up with the Joneses

　　In the United States many have been told that anyone can become rich and successful if he works hard and has some good luck.

　　Yet, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “Keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tries to look as rich and as successful as his neighbors.

　　The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American by the name of Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself: He began earning $125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. Young Momand was very proud of his riches. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. But just moving there was not enough. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.

　　It was like a race, but one could never finish this race because one was always trying keep up. Momand and his wife could not do that.

　　The race ended for them when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They left their wealthy neighborhood and moved back to an apartment in New York City.

　　Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with their neighbours. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses”, because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.

　　People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. That is one reason why they read the “right” books, go to the “right” universities and eat in the “right” restaurants.

　　Every city has an area where people want to live because others will think better of them if they do. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses, because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always to be ahead.