conditions are fairly new. It is not many years since a man who had to have an operation felt all his pain.

Long ago, operation had usually to be done while the sick man could feel everything. The sick man had to be held down on a table by force while the doctors did their best for him. He could feel all the pain if his leg or arm was being cut off, and his fearful cries filled the room and the hearts of those who watched.

Soon after 1770 , Joseph Priestley discovered a gas which is now called ― laughing gas‖. Laughing gas became know in America. Young men and women went to parties to try it. Most of them spent their time laughing, but one man at a party, Horace Wells, noticed that people didn’t seem to feel pain when they were using this gas. He decided to make an experiment on himself. He asked a friend to help him.

Wells took some of the gas, and his friend pulled out one of Well’s teeth. Wells felt no pain at all.

As he didn’t know enough about laughing gas, he gave a man less gas than he should have. The man cried out with pain when his tooth was being pulled out.

Wells tried again, but this time he gave too much of the gas, and the man died. Wells never forgot this terrible event.

6. It is a few more years since a man being operated felt all the pain

A. T B. F

7. Long ago, when the sick man was operated on , he could feel all the pain.

A. T B. F

8. Using the laughing gas, the people did not seem to feel pain.

A. T B. F

9. If a man took less laughing gas than he should have when an operation went on , he still felt pain.

A. T B. F

10. One who took too much of the laughing gas would laugh all the time.

A. T B. F

Passage Two:

When John and Victoria Falls arrived in New York City for one-year stay, they did not bring very many things with them. They had planned either to live in a furnished apartment or to buy used furniture. But they soon learned about a new system that more and more people are using. The renting of home furnishings (bed, tables, dishes, and so on) has become one of America's fastest growing businesses.

What kinds of people rent their home furnishings instead of buying them? People who are international business or government officials, foreign students, airline workers, young married couples --- people whose job or business may force them to move frequently from one city to another. They save a lot of trouble and the cost of moving their furniture each time. They simply rent new furniture when they reach their new homes. Young people with little money do not want to buy cheap furniture that they may soon dislike. They prefer to wait until they have enough money to buy furniture they really like. Meanwhile, they find they can rent better quality furniture than they could afford to buy.

One family, who now have a large, beautiful home of their own, liked their rented furniture so much that they decided to keep renting it instead of buying new things. But usually people don't