2016高考英语人教版新课标一轮总复习 滚动测试6.docVIP

课时作业6　Cultural relics Ⅰ.阅读理解 Last Sunday I made a visit to some new neighbours down the block. No specific purpose in mind, just an opportunity to sit at the kitchen table, have some tea and chat. As I did so, it occurred to me how rare the Sunday visit has become. When I was a kid in the New Jersey of the 1960s, Sunday visits were routine. Most stores were closed and almost nobody worked. My family normally traveled eight city blocks to the home of my grandmother, where adults would sit on the front porch and chat while we children played hide-and-seek. The Sunday visit was something to desire strongly. It was the repetition to church, our reward for an hour of devotion, an opportunity to take advantage of the fact that Dad was not at work, we were not in school, and there were no chores that couldnt wait until Monday. Sunday was, indeed, different from all the other days of the week, because everyone seemed to be on the same schedule, which means that there was one day when everyone seemed to have time for everybody else. Sunday as a day of rest is, or was, so deeply rooted in the culture that its surprising to consider that, in a short span of time, it has almost entirely lost this association. In my childhood, it was assumed that everyone would either be home or visit someone elses home on Sunday. But now the question is, “What do you plan to do this Sunday？” The answer can range from going to the mall to participating in a road race to jetting to Montreal for lunch. If_one_were_to_respond,_“Im_making_a_Sunday_visit_to_family，”_such_an_answer_would_feel_strange,_an_echo_from_another_era. I suppose I should be grateful to live in Maine, a state of small towns, abundant land and tight relationships. Even though folks work as hard here as they do anywhere else, the states powerfully rural cast (特质) still harbors at least remnants (剩余部分) of the ethic of yesterdays America，where people had to depend on one another in the face of economic vagaries (反复无常的情况) and a cha