2天津津南区高考英语短文语法填空和阅理选练2及答案.doc

阅读理解。 It is hardly surprising that clothing manufacturers(生产商) follow certain uniform standards for various features(特征) of clothes. What seems strange, however, is that the standard adopted for women is the opposite of the one for men. Take a look at the way your clothes button. Mens clothes tend to button from the right, and womens from the left. Considering most of the worlds population----men and women----are right-handed, the mens standard would appear to make more sense for women. So why do womens clothes button from the left? History really seems to matter here. Buttons first appeared only on the clothes of the rich in the 17th century, when rich women were dressed by servants. For the mostly right-handed servants, having womens shirts button from the left would be easier. On the other hand, having mens shirts button from the right made sense, too. Most men dressed themselves, and a sword drawn from the left with the right hand would be less likely to get caught in the shirt. Today women are seldom dressed by servants, but buttoning from the left is still the standard for them. Is it interesting? Actually, a standard, once set, resists change. At a time when all womens shirts buttoned from the left, it would have been risky for any single manufacturer to offer womens shirts that buttoned from the right. After all, women had grown so used to shirts which buttoned from the left and would have to develop new habits and skills to switch. Besides, some women might have found it socially awkward to appear in public wearing shirts that buttoned from the right, since anyone who noticed that would believe they were wearing mens shirts. ( ) 1. What is surprising about the standard of the clothing industry? A. It has been followed by the industry for over 400 years. B. It is different for mens clothing and womens. C. It woks better with men than with women. D. It fails to consider right-handed people. ( ) 2. What do we know about the rich men in the 17th centur