小编寄语：英语四级六级考试，阅读是不可或缺的一大部分，生词多，理解难，时间少，是不少考生抱怨的问题。要想在考场上做好阅读理解，必须在平常多阅读，掌握新词汇，提高阅读速度。而沪江小编就为大家准备了阅读材料系列，供大家练习。

我们的这个阅读系列旨在为大家提供一些阅读材料，不一定跟四六级考试的难度、篇幅、内容完全一样。对于很多童鞋纠结这是四级还是六级范围的阅读，其实没有必要。如果大家觉得比较简单，就当作泛读材料了解了解，认识几个新单词或新表达方式也不错。如果大家觉得这些材料理解上有难度，不妨当做挑战自己的拔高训练，希望大家都有进步^^

【今日推荐阅读】

In China, white people can be rented.

For a day, a weekend, a week, up to even a month or two, Chinese companies are willing to pay high prices for fair-faced foreigners to join them as fake employees or business partners. Some call it a "Face Job."

And it is, essentially, all about the age-old Chinese concept of face. To have a few foreigners hanging around means a company has prestige, money and the increasingly crucial connections -- real or not -- to businesses abroad.

"Face, we say in China, is more important than life itself," said Zhang Haihua, author of "Think Like Chinese." "Because Western countries are so developed, people think they are more well off, so people think that if a company can hire foreigners, it must have a lot of money and have very important connections overseas. So when they really want to impress someone, they may roll out a foreigner. Or rent one."

Last year, Jonathan Zatkin, an American actor who lives in Beijing, posed as the vice president of an Italian jewelry company that had, allegedly, been in a partnership with a Chinese jewelry chain for a decade.

Zatkin was paid 2,000 yuan (about $300) to fly, along with a couple of Russian models, to a small city in the central province of Henan where he delivered a speech for the grand opening ceremony of a jewelry store there.

"I was up on stage with the mayor of the town, and I made a speech about how wonderful it was to work with the company for 10 years and how we were so proud of all of the work they had done for us in China," Zatkin said.

The requirements for these jobs are simple. 1. Be white. 2. Do not speak any Chinese. 3. Pretend like you just got off of an airplane yesterday.

Those who go for such gigs tend to be unemployed actors or models, part-time English teachers or other expats looking to earn a few extra bucks. Often they are jobs at a second- or third-tier city, where the presence of pale-faced foreigners is needed to impress local officials.

Companies want a foreign face to go to meetings and conferences or to go to dinners and lunches and smile at the clients and shake people's hands.

【内容简介】

本文开篇介绍了现在中国社会的一个恶劣现象——租用老外搞面子工程。

接着文章指出了这一现象的根源，即中国人由来已久的价值观——西方人更富裕。然后文章介绍了一位外国人的假扮经历。最后文章说出了选用老外当面子的标准及所用场合。

【词汇短语讲解】

①hang around  闲荡，徘徊

②well off 富裕的，处境好的

③roll out  推出；转出；铺开

④deliver a speech=make a speech   做演讲，发表讲话

⑤extra bucks  额外的小钱，外快，加班费

【快速阅读支招】

做阅读时，单词还是基础，核心词是必须要会的，否则什么技巧都是很难用上的。四级六级复习最后两天以做真题为主，真题的阅读中，影响做题的重点词，必须熟记，这类词的出现频率是很高的。提前规划好各个题的时间，不要在一道题上纠结过长时间。祝大家考试顺利！

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