Question

There is a common ,usually round object that you can see every day and it appears in many expressions—buttons! Buttons, which are made of metal or plastic, are found on all sorts of clothing. They fasten or connect one piece of clothing to another to make sure your clothes don’t fall off.

To be cute as a button is an old saying, which means to be attractive or sweet, but in a small way. Babies are often described as cute as a button. Language experts don’t know why. But they do say the expression dates from the late 1860s.

Here is another expression associated with button: button-down. People often wear button-down shirts to the office. Button-down as an adjective means to be conservative. People described as button-down stay as close as possible to the normal way of dressing and behaving.

When buttoning a button, you slip it into a buttonhole. A buttonhole traps the button. So, to buttonhole someone means you have trapped him in a spoken conversation. Now, let’s say you find yourself buttonholed in a conversation at a party. Someone just keeps talking and talking and talking! Finally, you can’t stand it any longer. You tell him to button it! This is a direct, but a little rude way of saying “Stop talking!”Button your lip is another equally rude way to stop a person who talks too much.

Another kind of difficult person is someone who pushes one’s buttons. To push one’s buttons means to know how to get that person annoyed or upset. People who like to push other people’s buttons usually do it for selfish reasons.

1.What do you think of someone who wears a button-down shirt to the office?

A. Crazy.    B. Traditional.

C. Funny.    D. Fashionable.

2.What will you probably say to get rid of a long and boring talk?

A. Be cute as a button.

B. Push your button.

C. Button your lip.

D. Be button-down.

3.How does the fourth paragraph mainly develop?

A. By giving examples.

B. By making contrasts.

C. By listing figures.

D. By analyzing cause and effect.

4.What does the underlined phrase in paragraph mean?[

A. Shouts loudly.

B. Learns of one’s secret.

C. Gets someone to lose his temper.

D. Argues with someone.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.A

4.C

【解析】本文是一篇记叙文。主要讲述了纽扣在日常生活中的作用，纽扣在古代谚语中代表具有吸引力或甜蜜的意思，纽扣还经常被用来形容可爱的婴儿，并且，当你不想听一个人一直在你耳边说话时，也可以使用这个短语，表示闭嘴的意思。

1.细节理解题。根据“ People often wear button-down shirts to the office. Button-down as an adjective means to be conservative”，可知，穿着纽扣衫去上班，代表这个人很保守，故选B。

2.细节理解题。根据“Someone just keeps talking and talking and talking! Finally, you can’t stand it any longer. You tell him to button it! This is a direct, but a little rude way of saying “Stop talking!”Button your lip is another equally rude way to stop a person who talks too much”，可知，当你不想听一个人说话时，可以对他说Button your lip 闭嘴，故选C。

3.主旨大意题。根据“Now, let’s say you find yourself buttonholed in a conversation at a party”，可知，本段主要是通过举例来说明当你不想听一个人说话时，可以怎样用纽扣来表达。故选A。

4.词义推断题。根据“To push one’s buttons means to know how to get that person annoyed or upset”，触动一个人的按钮是指使人生气或者是心烦，故选C。