It gives me great pleasure today to say a few words in praise of a man we will all miss very much. To be honest, I can't imagine we will do without him when he's gone.
Bill Masters almost single-handed built up our sales force in the Houston area and developed the market position that we enjoy today. In only six years, he has brought the firm from a very low fifth position in the area sales to the point where we now outsell all but one of our competitors. Not only have we got 37 per cent of the market under Bill's leadership; we are increasing our share with each passing month.
As you know, the company has moved Bill to northern California to work his sales magic in one of this company's most competitive(竞争的) areas. But we know that if anyone can do it, Bill Masters can, and I know you all join me in wishing him the best of luck in his new work.
The speech was made _______.
A.at a welcome meeting |
B.at the opening of a new school term |
C.when somebody was leaving |
D.when they had a new manager |
How long did Masters worked there?
A.37 years | B.less than 5 years |
C.about six years | D.since he began to work |
When Bill started to work in Houston area, he had _______to help him.
A.many people | B.nobody |
C.about 37 people | D.very few people |
Bill increased the company's sale _______.
A.by 37 per cent every month |
B.to the second largest in the area |
C.to be the fifth largest in the area |
D.five times as much as before |
Almost every day we come across situations in which we have to make decisions one way or another. Choice, we are given to believe, is a right. But for a good many people in the world. In rich and poor countries, choice is a luxury, something wonderful but hard to get, not a right. And for those who think they are exercising their right to make choices, the whole system is merely an illusion, a false idea created by companies and advertiser, hoping to sell their products.
The endless choice gives birth to anxiety in people's lives. Buying something as basic as a coffee pot is not exactly simple. Easy access to a wide range of everyday goods leads to a sense of powerlessness in many people, ending in the shopper giving up and walking away, or just buying an unsuitable item(商品) that is not really wanted. Recent studies in England have shown that many electrical goods bought in almost every family are not really needed. More difficult decision-making is then either avoided or trusted into the hands of the professionals, lifestyle instructors, or advisors.
It is not just the availability of the goods that is the problem, but the speed with which new types of products come on the market. Advances in design and production help quicken the process Products also need to have a short lifespan so that the public can be persuaded to replace them within a short time. The typical example is computers, which are almost out-of-date once they are bought. This indeed makes selection a problem. Gone are the days when one could just walk with case into a shop and buy one thing; no choice, no anxiety.
1. |
What does the author try to argue in Paragraph 1?
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2. |
Why do more choices of goods give rise to anxiety?
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3. |
By using computers as an example, the author wants to prove that
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4. |
What is this passage mainly about?
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Some people make you feel comfortable when they are around. You spend an hour with them and feel as if you have known them half your life. These people have something in common. And once we know what it is, we can try to do it ourselves.
How is it done? Here are several skills that good talkers have. If you follow the skills, they’ll help you put people at their ease, and make friends with them quickly.
First of all, good talkers ask questions. Almost anyone, no matter how shy he is, will answer a question. One well-known businesswoman says, “At business lunches, I always ask people what they did that morning. It’s a common question, but it will get things going.” From there you can move on to other matters—sometimes to really personal questions. And how he answers will let you know how far you can go.
Second, once good talkers have asked questions, they listen to the answers. This point seems clear, but it isn’t. Your questions should have a point and help to tell what sort of person you are talking to. And to find out, you really have to listen carefully and attentively.
Real listening at least means some things. First it means not to change the subject of conversation. If someone sticks to one topic, you can take it as a fact that he’s really interested in it. Real listening also means not just listening to words, but to tones of voice. If the voice sounds dull, then, it’s time for you to change the subject.
Finally, good talkers know well how to deal with the occasion of parting. If you’re saying good-bye, you may give him a firm handshake and say, “I’ve really enjoyed meeting you.” If you want to see that person again, don’t keep it a secret. Let people know what you feel, and they may walk away feeling as if they’ve known you half their life.
Asking questions might be a quite good and suitable way _______.
A.for you to make more and more new friends |
B.to begin your business talks |
C.to get the conversation going smoothly |
D.for you to make a deep and lasting impression on others |
After having asked somebody a question, it’ll be polite of you to _______.
A.make clear what kind of person he is |
B.listen to his reply attentively |
C.wait quietly and patiently for his answer |
D.go on asking him more questions |
Generally speaking, good talkers are persons who _______.
A.are good at making any topic interesting |
B.never talk too much or too little |
C.always speak in a gentle way |
D.know how and when they should change the topic of the talk |
If you really take delight in meeting someone again, _______.
A.you may take him as your lifelong trustworthy friend |
B.it seems necessary for you to let him know it |
C.it’s proper for you to give him a second handshake |
D.it’ll be helpful for you to have further understanding of him |
I arrived at my mother’s home for our Monday family dinner. The smells of food flew over from the kitchen. Mother was pulling out quilt(被子)after quilt from the boxes, proudly showing me their beauties. She was preparing for a quilt show at the Elmhurst Church. When we began to fold and put them back into the boxes, I noticed something at the bottom of one box. I pulled it out. “What is this?” I asked.
“Oh?” Mom said, “That’s Mama’s quilt.”
I spread the quilt. It looked at if a group of school children had pieced it together; irregular designs, childish pictures, a crooked line on the right.
“Grandmother made this?” I said, surprised. My grandmother was a master at making quilts. This certainly didn’t look like any of the quilts she had made.
“Yes, right before she died. I brought it home with me last year and made some changes,” she said. “I’m still working on it. See, this is what I’ve done so far.”
I looked at it more closely. She had made straight a crooked line. At the center of the quilt, she had stitched(缝) a piece of cloth with these words: “My mother made many quilts. She didn’t get all lines straight. But I think this is beautiful. I want to see it finished. Her last quilt.”
“Ooh, this is so nice, Mom,” I said. It occurred to me that by completing my grandmother’s quilt, my mother was honoring her own mother. I realized, too, that I held in my hands a family treasure. It started with the loving hands of one woman, and continued with the loving hands of another.
Why did the author go to mother’s home?
A.To see her mother’s quilts. | B.To help prepare for a show. |
C.To get together for the family dinner. | D.To discuss her grandmother’s life. |
The author was surprised because .
A.the quilt looked very strange. | B.her grandmother liked the quilt. |
C.the quilt was the best she had seen. | D.her mother had made some changes |
The underlined wood “crooked” in the passage most probably means .
A.unfinished | B.broken | C.bent | D.unusual |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A.A Quilt Show | B.Mother’s Home | C.A Monday Dinner | D.Grandmother’s Quilt |
If you've been joining in chat room conversations, or trading e-mail with Web pals, you have become one of the millions who write in a peculiarly short form of English.
And you've got a sense of humor about short forms like SOHF(="sense" of humor failure) to describe Internet newcomers who don't understand you.
Across the globe, every night teenagers and their elders are “talking” online—many of them are talking at the same time.
It's fast: try talking to six people at once. It's brief: three or four words per exchange. It takes wit, concentration, and quick fingers.
And it requires tremendous linguistic economy. There's neither time nor space for explanations. Why consume precious key-strokes telling six friends you have to leave for a moment to take care of your little brother when BRB(="be" right back) will do? Want to enter a conversation? Just type PMFJI(="pardon" me for jumping in). Interested in whom you're talking to? Type A/S/L, the nearly universal request to know your pal's age, sex and location. You may get 15/M/NY as a response from your pal.
If something makes you laugh, say you're OTF(="on" the floor),or LOL(="laughing" out loud),or combine the two into ROTFL(="rolling" on the floor laughing).
And when it's time to get back to work or go to bed, you type GTG(="got" to go) or TTYL(talk to you later).
People want to write as fast as possible, and they want to get their ideas across as quickly as they can. Capital letters are left in the dust, except when expressing emotion, as it takes more time to hold down the “shift” key and capitals. Punctuation is going, too.
In order to talk to several people at the same time on the Internet_______.
A.you have to speak fast and fluently |
B.you have to express your ideas in a brief way |
C.you should speak with wit and humor |
D.one should pay much attention to the accuracy of the words |
If you get 17/F/NY as an answer to your A/S/L, it means_______.
A.the person on the other end is 17 from New York and he is fine |
B.you are talking to a girl who is 17 and lives in New York |
C.you are talking to 17 girls who are from New York |
D.the person who are talking to you is a 1.7-foot tall New York girl |
To save time on the Internet_______.
A.some people leave their letters in the dustbin |
B.some people never use “shift” in their writing |
C.many people leave the capital and punctuation |
D.people seldom use capital letters or punctuation |
What should you think about when you try to find your career? You are probably better at some school subjects than others.These may show strengths that you can use in your work.A boy who is good at mathematics can use that in engineering career.A girl who spells well and likes English may be good at office work.So it is important to know the subjects you do well in at school.On the other hand, you may not have any specially strong or weak subjects but your records show a general satisfactory standard.Although not all subjects can be used directly in a job, they may have indirect value.
Your school may have taught you skills, such as typing or technical drawing, which you can use in your work.You may be good at mental work or cookery and look for a job where you can improve these skills.
If you have had a part - time job on Saturday or in the summer, think what you gained from it.If nothing else, you may have learned how to get to work on time, to follow instructions and to get on with older workers.You may have learned to give correct change in a shop, for example.Just as important, you may become interested in a particular industry or career you see from the inside in a part - time job.
Facing your weak points is also part of knowing yourself.You may be all thumbs when you handle tools; perhaps you are a poor speller or cannot add up a column of figures.It is bitter to face any weaknesses than to pretend they do not exist.Your school record, for instance, may not be too good, yet it is an important part of your background.You should not feel sorry about it but instead recognize that you will have a chance of a fresh start at work.
The first paragraph of the passage is mainly about ________.
A.the indirect value of school work |
B.the importance of being good at all subjects |
C.knowing one's strong or weak subjects at school |
D.using school performance to help to choose a career |
In the writer's opinion, for a student to have a part - time job is probably ________.
A.a good way to find out his weak points |
B.one of the best ways of earning extra money |
C.of great use for his work in the future |
D.a waste of time he could have spent on study |
If a student's school record is not good, according to the passage, he________ .
A.may do well in his future work |
B.won't be able to find a suitable job |
C.may be a complete failure in the future |
D.will regret not having worked harder at school |
The whole passage centers around ________.
A.knowing oneself in looking for a job |
B.developing one's abilities useful in school |
C.gaining much knowledge by working hard at school |
D.choosing a career according to what one is skilled in |
What time is it? Most people are pretty accurate in their answer. And if you don't know for sure, it's a very likely that you can find out.
There may be a watch on your wrist, there may be a clock on the wall, desk, or computer screen; or maybe you're riding in a car that has a clock in the dashboard (仪表板).
Even if you don't have a timepiece of some sort nearby, your body keeps its own beat. Humans have an internal clock that regulates (调节) the beating of our heart, the pace of our breathing, the discharge (排出) of chemicals within our bloodstream, and many other bodily functions.
Time is something from which we can't escape. Even if we ignore it, it's still going by, ticking away, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour. So the main issue in using your time well is, "Who's in charge?" We can allow time to slip by and let it be our enemy. Or we can take control of it and make it our ally.
By taking control of how you spend your time, you'll increase your chances of becoming a more successful student. Perhaps more importantly, the better you are at managing the time you devote to your studies, the more time you'll have to spend on your outside interests.
The aim of time management is not to schedule every moment so we become slaves of a timetable that governs every waking moment of the day. Instead, the aim is to make informed choices as to how we use our time. Rather than letting the day go by, largely without our awareness, what we are going to discuss next can make us better able to control time for our own purposes.
1. |
The underlined word "ally" in Para. 3 more likely means somebody or something that is.
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2. |
The author intends to tell us that time.
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3. |
In the next part, the author would most probably discuss with you.
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Every night for a year, Neil Simmons quietly went out of his house. He wanted to “talk” to an owl settling for the night at the end of his garden. He made owl cries like a real wild owl (猫头鹰)and was happy to hear the bird “hooting (大声叫嚣)” back to him.
Last year Fred Cornes moved in next door. He heard an owl hooting and answered back. For 12 months the neighbors got into the back gardens of their homes, thinking they were talking with nature. Mr. Simmons kept a diary of all his talks with his bird friend. They would both be out again tonight if it wasn’t for a chance talk between their wives.
Mr. Simmons said. “My wife Kim was telling Fred’s wife Wendy about my owl watching and described how I got the birds to boot back. She said, ‘That’s funny — that’s just what Fred has been doing.’ Then the penny dropped, I felt such a fool when I found out. The trouble is that owl calls aren’t exactly the same and it’s easy to make a mistake.”
Mr. Cornes said, “I’m really flattered (过奖). I didn’t know I sounded so real. I love nature and I couldn’t resist hooting at the owls. I was very excited when they hooted back. I’m sorry that I was fooling my neighbor who was fooling me.”
45.After the talk between the wives, the two men would probably _________ .
A.stop observing owls B.not stay up hooting again
C.not enter the back garden again D.make no mistakes about wild owl cries
46.“Then the penny dropped.” most probably means “Then __________.”
A.I understood B.everybody knew about it
C.I heard the noise D.no money was paid
47.Mr. Simmons felt upset about the whole thing because __________.
A.all his efforts seemed to be meaningless
B.his wife let out his secret by chance
C.garden owls hooted so differently
D.Fred had been doing the same
48.The text suggests that __________.
A.Nail seldom heard natural owl calls
B.the owl never hooted back to Neil
C.Fred was always good at pleasing owls
D.owl watching is no longer interesting to Fred
I am a writer. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language-the way it can evoke(唤起) an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade. And I use them all-all the Englishes I grew up with.
Born into a Chinese family that had recently arrived in California, I've been giving more thought to the kind of English my mother speaks. Like others, I have described it to people as "broken" English. But feel embarrassed to say that. It has always bothered me that I can think of no way to describe it other than "broken", as if it were damaged and needed to be fixed, as if it lacked a certain wholeness. I've heard other terms used, "limited English," for example. But they seem just as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions(认识)of the limited English speaker.
I know this for a fact, because when I was growing up, my mother's "limited" English limited my perception of her. I was ashamed of her English. I believed that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is ,because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect. And I had plenty of evidence to support me: the fact that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.
I started writing fiction in 1985. And for reasons I won't get into today, I began to write stories using all the Englishes I grew up with: the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term might be described as "broken", and what I imagine to be her translation of her Chinese, her internal(内在的) language, and for that I sought to preserve the essence, but neither an English nor a Chinese structure: I wanted to catch what language ability tests can never show; her intention, her feelings, the rhythms of her speech and the nature of her thoughts.
1. |
By saying "Language is the tool of my trade", the author means that.
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2. |
The author used to think of her mother's English as.
|
3. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to Paragraph 3?
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4. |
The author gradually realizes her mother's English is.
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5. |
What is the passage mainly about?
|
Beijing plans to build huge free or low-cost parking lots beyond the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads to encourage more car owners to take buses or subways to the downtown area.
The plan is just one of the many measures the city plans to take to reduce its traffic jams.Low or no parking fees would be used as economic leverage(杠杆作用) to reduce growing parking demands from urban areas.
Car owners living in the suburbs will be encouraged to park their cars beyond the Fourth and Fifth Ring Roads and take buses or subways to the downtown area.Statistics show that nearly one quarter of the city’s traffic flow is concentrated in the 62-square-kilometer downtown area within the Second Ring Road, which makes up only 12 percent of the city’s total area.
The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau receives between 400 and 500 calls reporting traffic jams every day and more than 90 percent of the roads are filled to capacity during rush hours every morning and evening.Part of the problem is the lack of easy links between bus routes, subways and cars.
According to the communication commission, half of the city’s investment in transportation will go towards public transit(公共交通) construction in the next few years, making a jump from the current only 20 per cent.Moreover, Beijing plans to change its layout (布局) by building new city centers, such as at Yizhuang, Tongzhou, Shunyi and Changping, in a bid to reduce the traffic flow to the downtown.
The current layout of Beijing-expanded ring roads around the same center of the Forbidden City, is seen as the root cause of the endless traffic jams.The downtown area is crowded with three business centers and one financial center, as well as nearly 400 government organs and institutions.
Traffic experts say building more urban centers around Beijing may reduce the number of residents living in the suburbs and traveling long distances to work downtown every day, thus reducing traffic flow.
40.In the coming years, if a man beyond the Fourth Ring Road goes to work in the downtown of Beijing, he is encouraged to _________.
A.take buses or subways B.take a taxi
C.drive the car quickly D.park his car in a place which asks for no fees
41.According to this passage, when more and more people drive to work in rush hour in Beijing, it is likely to _______.
A.save time B.cause traffic jams
C.cause traffic accidents D.reduce air pollution
42.The aim in building new city centers is to ________.
A.make it convenient for people to go shopping
B.develop its local resources
C.reduce the traffic flow to the downtown
D.solve the problem of more laid-off workers
43.The passage suggests the author ______.
A.is tired of driving to work
B.finds it costs less to take subways than to drive
C.is for the plan to reduce Beijing’s traffic congestion(拥挤)
D.has benefited a lot by driving to the downtown every day
Without the atmosphere there would be no weather, no wind, rain, snow, or clouds. Air is all around us; we live at the bottom of a great ocean of air. It is invisible, but we can feel it when it moves. There are miles of air above us, pressing down with great weight on the earth and everything on it. Because air presses down on us from all directions at the same time, and because we are able to bear (忍受) this weight, we do not seem to feel it. But scientists have proved that air has this weight, and that anything that has weight creates(产生) a force called pressure. As changes in air pressure take place, they, make air move.
Air is a gas that expands(膨胀) when heated, gets lighter, and moves upward. When air is cooled, it gets heavier, sinks close to the earth's surface, and flows like water in a great river. As warn air rises, cold air rushes in to take its place. 'Thus winds originate (起源). The winds that blow high above us are caused by the warmer air running away from colder air. The wind we feel near the earth's surface is the heavy colder air trying hard to catch the warmer air. Changes in temperature cause the air to move. And of course there are many changes, so air movements are taking place practically all the time.
The first paragraph mainly tells us the causes of
A.why we don't feel air | B.why atmosphere is important to us |
C.why there is air surrounding us | D.why there is air pressure |
Air moves under such conditions that
A.there is air pressure | B.the air is heavy |
C.air pressure doesn't remain the same all the time | D.air comes up and down |
Which of the following pictures best tells the movements of warm air and cold air?
According to the passage, in same areas if farmers who grow grapes (葡萄) light fires in the early morning, that is because the farmers want to________________.
A.drive away warm air | B.prevent cold air from coming to harm their plants |
C.cause more wind | D.stop warm air running away |
What is eBay? The simple answer is that it is a global trading platform where nearly anyone can
trade practically anything. People can sell and buy all kinds of products and goods, including cars, movies and DVDs, sporting goods, travel tickets, musical instruments, clothes and shoes- the list goes on and on.
The idea came from Peter Omidyar, who was born in Paris and moved to Washington when he was still a child. At high school, he became very interested in computer programming and after graduating from Tuft University in 1988, he worked for the next few years as a computer engineer. In his free time he started eBay as a kind of hobby, at first offering the service free by word of mouth. By 1996 there was so much traffic on the website that he had to upgrade(升级) and he began charging a fee to members. Joined by a friend, Peter Skill and in 1998 by his capable CEO, Meg Whitman, he has never looked back. Even in the great.com crashes of the late 1990s, eBay has gone from strength to strength. It is now one of the ten most visited online shopping websites on the Internet.
eBay sells connections, not goods, putting buyer and seller into contact with each other. All you have to do is take an e-photo, write a description, fill out a sales form and you are in business: the world is your market place .Of course for each item (商品)sold eBay gets a percentage and that is great deal of money. Every day there are more than sixteen million items listed on eBay and eighty percent of the items are sold.
We learn from the text that eBay provides people with_______.
A.a way of buying and selling goods |
B.a website for them to upgrade |
C.a place to exhibit their own photos |
D.a chance to buy things at low prices |
Why did Peter create eBay after graduating from university?
A.For fun. | B.To make money. |
C.For gathering the engineers. | D.To fulfill a task of his company. |
From “he has never looked back”in Paragraph 2, we learn that Peter______.
A.did not feel lonely | B.was always hopeful |
C.did not think about the past | D.became more and more successful |
How does eBay make money from its website?
A.By bringing sellers together. | B.By charging for each sale. |
C.By listing items online. | D.By making e-photos. |
American middle school students don’t seem to care that they’re worse at maths than their counterparts (同龄人) in China’s Hong Kong and Finland. “I don’t need it,” my student says, “I’m going to be a basketball star.” Or a car mechanic, or a singer.
Middle school students’ maths skills were tested by the International Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The United States ranked 28th out of 41 countries tested. After all, when was the last time you used algebra (代数)?
But maths isn’t just about training Americans to become scientists. It has its own value. It helps you see patterns and develops your logic skills, and it teaches you to concentrate and to separate truth from falsehood. Maths helps you make wise financial decisions, so you can avoid false claims from advertisers, politicians and others. It helps you determine risk. For example, after an airplane crash, studies show that people are more likely to drive than to take a plane in spite of the fact that they are much more likely to be killed or injured while driving. Planes are not like criminals who repeat the same crime over and over. One plane is not more likely to crash just because another plane recently did. In fact, the most dangerous time to drive is probably right after a plane crash because so many people are on the road.
It is not possible to really understand science and the scientific method without understanding maths. A rainbow is even more beautiful and amazing when we understand it.
The precision (精确性) of maths helps us think in a very special way. How do we bring the learning of maths back to life? I don’t have the big answer. I try my best to help pupils find answers to some maths problems. When I can get one to say, “Wow, that’s great,” I feel the joy of a small victory.
Some American students don’t care about their poor maths results because __________.
A.maths is useless to most people |
B.they have no interest in maths |
C.they think maths has nothing to do with their future |
D.they don’t do well in maths |
The example in Paragraph 3 is used to show __________.
A.every coin has its two sides |
B.we should not be cheated by fault facts |
C.maths is close to our daily life |
D.a simple fact shows complicated rules |
The writer would agree that __________.
A.it’s normal that America kids are weak in maths |
B.without maths we’ll miss much in our life |
C.maths is the most important subject at school |
D.American kids don’t work hard at school |
This text is most probably written by __________.
A.a student career guide | B.a researcher on students’ problems |
C.a specialist in students’ studies | D.a maths teacher |
No one can change the weather. Nobody can control the weather. But if we read correctly the signs around us, we can tell what the more important changes in the weather will be. This way of telling what the weather will be like on the following day or two is called weather forecasting(天气预报).
For many centuries and in all countries, people have studied the weather and tried to make weather forecasting. Rings around the sun are a sign of coming rain. That many people feel their joints(关节) hurt is a sign of wet weather. Some birds fly high if fine weather is coming, but they fly near the ground if rainy or stormy weather is on the way. If you see a rainbow during rainy weather, this is a sign that the weather will become clear and fine. Such rainbows come in the evening. If the stars twinkle clearly at night, then fine weather will continue. If a fog appears in the morning just above a river, then the day will be warm. If the sunset is mostly red in colour, then the following day will be fine. If a rainbow appears in the morning, rainy weather will probably come.
Most of the above sayings have been made by the people who have used their eyes and brains to make weather forecasting.
Have you ever returned a book late to the library before? If so, you may pay a small fine(罚款). How much would you have to pay if the book is returned 65 years late?
A high school in Washington, Us had to deal with such a problem recently. A copy of Gone with the Wind was finally returned to its library 65 years late.
However, the school said that it would not ask Wayne to pay the fine, though that would be about $475.
The book was borrowed out of the library of the high school in 1949, and disappeared until it was found in Maine, Us by Wayne. Wayne found the book in his father’s basement(地下室) and then offered to send it back to the school.
“I feel very sorry about that,” Wayne said.
“We’re very pleased to have the book back. Wayne did the right thing,” Lori Wyborney, headmaster of the school said.
The book was borrowed out of the library of the high school _____.
A.in 1949 | B.in 1965 |
C.in 1975 | D.in 2014 |
Gone with the Wind is the name of _____.
A.a library | B.a school |
C.a book | D.a magazine |
____ offered to send the book back to the school.
A.Wayne’s father | B.Wayne |
C.Lori’s headmaster | D.Lori |
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