“As easy as falling off a log” is often used to describe a job that does not take much effort. You might hear a student say to her friend that her spelling test was “as easy as falling off a log”. 1. . It is easier to fall off the log than to stay on it.
2. . One is “easy as pie”. Nothing is easier than eating a piece of sweet, juicy pie unless it is a “piece of cake”.
“Piece of cake” is another expression that means something is extremely easy to do. A friend might tell you that his new job was a “piece of cake”.
Another expression is “as easy as shooting fish in a barrel”. It is hard to imagine why anyone would want to shoot fish in a barrel. But, clearly, fish in a barrel would be much easier to shoot than fish in a stream. 3. .
Sometimes, things that come to us easily, also leave us just as easily. In fact, there is an expression —“easy come, easy go”—that recognizes this. 4. . Easy come, easy go.
When life itself is easy, when you have no cares or problems, you are on “Easy Street”. Everyone wants to live on that imaginary street.
5. . It means to treat a person kindly or gently, especially in a situation where you might be expected to be angry with him. A wife might urge her husband to “go easy on” their son, because the boy did not mean to damage the car.
A. If you ever tried to walk on a fallen tree log, you understand what the expression means.
B. You may win a lot of money in a lottery, then spend it all in a few days.
C. Every person has its own way of saying things, its own special expressions.
D. Another “easy” expression is to “go easy on a person”.
E. There are several other expressions that mean the same thing.
F. And one last expression, one that means do not worry or work too hard.
G. In fact, it would be as easy as “falling off a log”.
People who speak or perform before the public sometimes may suffer from “Stage Fright. ” Stage fright makes a person nervous. In the worst case(情况) it can make one's mind go back and forget what one ought to say, or to act. Actors, musicians, dancers, lawyers, even radio show hosts(节目主持人) have suffered from stage fright at one time or another.
Diana Nichols is an expert in helping people free from stage fright at a medical centre in New York City. She helps actors learn to control themselves. Miss Nichols says some people have always been afraid to perform before the audience. Others, she says, develop stage fright after a fearful experience.
She offers them ways to control the fear. One way is to smile before going onto the stage. Taking two deep breaths also helps. Deep breathing helps you get control of your body.
Miss Nichols persuades her patients to tell themselves that their speech or performance does not have to the perfect. It's all right to make a mistake. She tells them they should not be too cautious while they are performing. It is important that they should continue to perform while she is helping them. After each performance, they discuss what happened and find out what advice helped and what did not. As they perform more and more, they will fear less and less as much as 50%. Miss Nichols says the aim is only to reduce stage fright, not to eliminate it completely. This is because a little stage fright makes a person more cautious, and improves the performance.
1.One who is suffering stage fright may _______.
A. forget one's part before the audience
B. smile all the time on the stage
C. make a speech faster than ever
D. be cautious to improve his performance
2.The underlined word “eliminate” in the last paragraph means _______.
A. keep B. reduce
C. change D. get rid of
3.The wrong way to overcome stage fright is ______.
A. to smile before going to the stage.
B. to take two deep breaths to calm oneself
C. to pay less attention to one's mistakes in performance
D. to perform less and to watch more
It was one of those terribly hot days in Baltimore. Needless to say, it was too hot to do anything outside. But it was also scorching in our apartment. This was 1962, and I would not live in a place with an air conditioner for another ten years. So my brother and I decided to leave the apartment to find someplace indoors. He suggested we could see a movie. It was a brilliant plan.
Movie theaters were one of the few places you could sit all day and—most important —sit in air conditioning. In those days, you could buy one ticket and sit through two movies. Then, the theater would show the same two movies again. If you wanted to, you could sit through them twice. Most people did not do that, but the manager at our theater. Mr. Bellow did not mind if you did.
That particular day, my brother and I sat through both movies twice, trying to escape the heat. We bought three bags of popcorn and three sodas each. Then, we sat and watched The Music Man followed by The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. We’d already seen the second movie once before. It had been at the theater since January, because Mr. Bellow loved anything with John Wayne in it.
We left the theater around 8, just before the evening shows began. But we returned the next day and saw the same two movies again, twice more. And we did it the next day too. Finally, on the fourth day, the heat wave broke.
Still, to this day I can sing half the songs in The Music Man and recite half of John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart’s dialogue from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance! Those memories are some of the few I have of the heat wave of 1962. They’re really memories of the screen, not memories of my life.
1.In which year did the author first live in a place with an air conditioner?
A. 1952 B. 1962
C. 1972 D. 1982
2.What does the underlined word “It” in Paragraph 3 refer to?
A. The heat
B. The theater.
C. The Music Man
D. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
3.What do we know about Mr. Bellow?
A. He loved children very much.
B. He was a fan of John Wayne.
C. He sold air conditioners.
D. He was a movie star.
4.What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A. The author turned out to be a great singer.
B. The author enjoyed the heat wave of 1962.
C. The author’s life has been changed by the two movies.
D. The author considers the experience at the theater unforgettable.
Where Are They Now: Life after Olympic Gold
These celebrated Olympic champions from decades past wrote sports history, but what are they up to now? Here's the latest on some of the greatest．
Edwin Moses
How you know him: Gold Medals in 400 Meters Hurdles （1976 Montreal Games, 1984 Los Angeles Games）
Where he is today: Moses earned a degree in physics and later held a full-time job as an engineer．After retirement, he earned his master's degree in business．In 2000, Moses took on the role of executive chairman of Laureus．
Kerri Strug
How you know her: Gold Medal in Gymnastics （1996 Atlanta）, when she competed through the pain of the ankle damage to land the gold-winning vault．
Where she is today: Strug lives in Tucson, Arizona．She does public relations for USA Gymnastics, speaking regularly at events and attending the Games on behalf of sponsors．
Dick Fosbury
How you know him: Gold Medal in High Jump （1968 Mexico City Games）
Where he is today: Fosbury is an executive committee member of the World Olympians Association．But he hasn't left the tracks just yet - he coaches teenager athletes at Dick Fosbury Track Camps．
Greg Louganis
How you know him: Gold Medals in Diving （1984 Los Angeles Games, 1988 Seoul Games）
Where he is today: Louganis developed AIDS and retired in 1989．It wasn't until the mid-90s that he announced he was HTV-positive．Since then, Louganis has been an outspoken advocate for HTV awareness．
Dominique Dawes
How you know her: Gold Medal in Gymnastics （1996 Atlanta Games）
Where she is today: President Barack Obama appointed her and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees as co-chairs of the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition．
Dawes is also the co-host for Yahoo! News Weekend Edition．
1.Who won two gold medals?
A．Edwin Moses and Greg Louganis．
B．Dominique Dawes and Edwin Moses．
C．Dick Fosbury and Kerri Strug．
D．Greg Louganis and Dick Fosbury．
2.______ won the gold medal in Gymnastics in spite of injury．
A．Edwin Moses B．Dominique Dawes
C．Greg Louganis D．Kerri Strug
3.The gold medalist who is still training young sportsmen is ______．
A．Greg Louganis B．Dick Fosbury
C．Edwin Moses D．Dominique Dawes
写作 根据下列语境，写一篇100词左右的短文。（满分25分）
你的英国朋友正在做一个课题：世界各地的生日庆祝方式。他请你介绍中国学生过生日的方式。请你根据以下要点写一篇短文：
通常方式：生日聚会， 生日礼物，生日祝福
我认为更有意义的庆祝方式和理由
词数：100左右
短文改错（共10小题；每小题1分，满分10分）
读下面的短文，文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（ \ ）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
When I was in high school, most of my friend had bicycles. I hoped I
could also have it. One day I saw a second-hand bicycle that was only one hundred yuan. I asded my father the money. But he said he could only give me half of the money. He should find the other half myself. So I went to sell newspapers after the school. My father was pleased if I showed him the money a month after. He gives me the other fifty. You can imagine what happy I was when I rode to school in my own bicycle.
