Most people don’t notice I’m polite, which is the point. I am big and look less energetic. Still, every year or so, someone takes me aside and says, “You actually are polite, aren’t you?” I’m always thrilled. They noticed. That’s the thing. Actually, when we talk about politeness, we usually think of please; thank you; I like your hat; etc. All we need to do is to hear, not to notice.
When I was in high school, I read etiquette manuals(礼仪手册). No one noticed my politeness except for one kid. He yelled at me about it. “It’s strange that you are always so polite,” he said. I took that as praise and made a note to hide my politeness further. Real politeness, I believed, was invisible(看不见的). It adapted itself to the situation.
Politeness leaves door open. I’ve met so many people whom, if I had trusted my first impressions, I would never have wanted to meet again. Yet many of them are now great friends. One of those people is my wife. On our first date, she told me in detail that she had an operation to remove a cyst(囊肿) from her body. Of course, it killed the chemistry. But when I walked her home, I told her I’d had a great time. We talked a little after that. I kept everything pleasant and brief. Much later, I learned that she’d been having a very bad day in a very bad year.
People silently suffer from all kinds of terrible things. The good thing about politeness is you can regard these people exactly the same and wait to see what happens. You don’t have to have an opinion. You don’t need to make a judgment.
Last week, my two-year-old son, Abraham met a foreign woman in the playground. Out of curiosity, I suppose, he asked, “What’s your name?” The woman told him. Then he put out his little hand and said, “Nice to meet you!” Everyone laughed and he smiled. He shared with his firmest handshake, like I taught him.
1.Why do many people think the author is impolite?
A. Because he doesn’t look polite.
B. Because he seldom says polite words.
C. Because he doesn’t listen to others politely.
D. Because he doesn’t behave politely towards strangers.
2.What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A. The author’s good mangers.
B. The author’s strange behavior.
C. The author always making notes.
D. The author reading etiquette manuals.
3.What can we learn about politeness according to Paragraph 3?
A. It can help people make friends.
B. It can keep everything pleasant.
C. It can be good for people’s health.
D. It can give people second chances.
I first came across the concept of pay-what-you-can cafes last summer in Boone, N.C., where I ate at F.A.R.M (Feed All Regardless of Means) Café. You can volunteer to earn your meal, pay the suggested price($10) or less, or you can overpay—paying it forward for a future customer’s meal. My only regret after eating there was not having a chance to give my time. So as soon as Healthy World Café opened in York in April, I signed up for a volunteer shift(轮班).
F.A.R.M and healthy World are part of a growing trend of community cafés. In 2003, Denise Cerreta opened the first in Salt Lake City. Cerreta now runs the One World Everybody Eats Foundation, helping others copy her pay-what-you can model.
“I think the community café is truly a hand up, not a handout,” Cerreta said. She acknowledged that soup kitchens(施粥所) have a place in society, but people typically don’t feel good about going there.
“One of the values of the community café is that we have another approach,” she said. “Everyone eats here, no one needs to know whether you volunteered, overpaid or underpaid.”
The successful cafés not only address hunger and food insecurity but also become necessary parts of their neighborhood — whether it’s a place to learn skills or hear live music. Some teach cooking to seniors; some offer free used books. Eating or working there is a reminder that we are all in this world together.
My 10 am-1pm shift at World-Healthy-Café began with the café manager — one of the two paid staff members. Our volunteer crew wasn’t the most orderly, but we managed to prepare and serve meals with a lot of laughs in between. At the end of my shift, I ordered my earned meal at the counter, together with other volunteers. After lunch, I walked out the door, with a handful of new friends, music in my head and a satisfied belly and heart.
1.What did the author do at F.A.R.M Café last summer?
A. She enjoyed a meal.
B. She ate free of charge.
C. She overpaid for the food.
D. She worked as a volunteer.
2.What is the advantage of community cafés compared with soup kitchens?
A. People can have free food.
B. People can maintain their dignity.
C. People can stay as long as they like.
D. People can find their places in society.
3.Why are community cafés becoming popular in the neighborhoods?
A. They bring people true friendships.
B. They help to bring people together.
C. They create a lot of job opportunities.
D. They support local economic development.
4.How did the author feel about working at Healthy World Café?
A. It paid well.
B. It changed her.
C. It was beneficial.
D. It was easy for her.
Since the invention of Guitar Hero and similar computer games, it is no longer necessary to imagine what it would be like to play along with the Beatles—you can come together with them in the virtual world.
Bill Wyman, former bass player(贝斯手) in the Rolling Stones, has pointed out that music video games discourage kids from learning to play real instruments. My own opinion suggest quite opposite.
Last year, I bought Guitar Hero Ⅲ for our 14-year-old son, Jack. Jack quickly mastered the process and entered an intense period of playing the game.
A few months later, while I was away on tour, a couple of his friends came around with a real electric guitar. Playing Guitar Hero had taught them how to play along the track. Now they wanted to see if they could apply that to the real thing. Jack’s friends taught him how to play along to his favorite songs using just his index finger (食指)on the bass string. He got it right away.
Guitar Hero had helped him over the first difficulty for guitar players—how to strum(拨弄) the strings with one hand while making chord(和弦) shapes with the other. He never plays Guitar Hero now, preferring to rock out in the garage with his mates.
Despite my attempts at getting him to learn an instrument, it was Guitar Hero that taught him the basics of playing and built up his confidence to the extent that he was able to make a recognizable sound the first time he played it.
So let’s not complain about a game that encourages kids to become music fans and, in our son’s case, gives them the basic skills needed to learn how to play guitar.
1.What’s Bill Wyman’s attitude towards music video games?
A. CuriousB. Approving.C. Negative.D. Unconcerned.
2.Which statement is TRUE about Jack’s first playing with a real electric guitar?
A. He did it successfully.
B. He taught his friends how to play.
C. He didn’t know how to play along to a song.
D. He didn’t know how to strum the instruments.
3.What can we infer from Jack’s case?
A. Parents should encourage their kids.
B. Computer games are harmful to kids.
C. Kids should learn an instrument.
D. Guitar Hero is a useful game.
4.What’s the best title for the text?
A. A new computer game
B. The story of a guitarist
C. In defense of Guitar Hero
D. The best way to play guitar
It was on the early afternoon of a mid-October day in 2012. Bismark Mensah, who came to America several months ago, was collecting carts (手推车) outside a Walmart in Federal Way. It was a part-time job for him. He earned $9.05 an hour in charge of getting carts out of the parking lot.
He was used to finding stuff in carts that customers had somehow forgotten — keys, credit cards, wallets. And he turned them into a customer service. But a particular item stood out. It was a white envelope with a clear window in the middle, and there was a lot of cash in it, around $20,000. Mensah turned them into customer services.
Because of what he did that afternoon, Mensah is now the winner of Walmart’s national 2013 “Integrity(正直) in Action Award”.
Bismark Mensah says that since the story ran, he has become the model the youth in Ghana (his native country).
He is now employed full-time at the Federal Way Walmart, earning $10.95 an hour, up from the $9.05 an hour he earned working part-time.
Mensah, 33, no longer collects carts and such. He is in the backroom, dealing with inventory(库存). “I want to learn everything about operating a store like Walmart store,” he says. He plans to return to Ghana to run some shops owned by his family. He also plans to go to college and earn a degree in business administration.
1.What does Mensah do in Walmart now?
A. Collect carts.
B. Deal with inventory.
C. Checks out the groceries.
D. Ensures Walmart’s security.
2.What’s Mensah’s future plan?
A. To teach in college.
B. To run his own shops.
C. To earn a degree in arts.
D. To work in a big factory.
3.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. Mensah comes from a poor family in Ghana.
B. Mensah can hardly make himself understood in America.
C. Mensah will help set up some Walmart branches in Ghana.
D. Mensah has set an example for the youth in his own country.
4.What lesson can we learn from the story of Mensah?
A. It’s never too late to learn.
B. Don’t judge by appearance.
C. Honesty is a valuable quality.
D. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
假如你是李华，你的美国笔友David想了解你高中第一学年的情况。请根据下列所提示的信息给他写一封回信。
1. 感叹时间过得快；
2. 学习上的得与失；
3. 学校生活：交友，课外活动等。
注意：
1. 100字左右；信的开头和结尾已给出，不计入总字数。
2．可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear David,
_______________________________________________________________________________
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_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
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What about your school life？Would you like to share it with me? I’m looking forward to your reply.
Yours,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅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；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Dear Mr. Johnson,
I’ve learned from a newspaper that some clerks are wanting in your company. I am eager to being one of them. So I am writing the letter. My name is Zhang Hua. I was born in the Hebei Province and I am in good health. I’ve just graduated in the Computer Department of Wuhan University. I did very good in all subjects and I am especial good at computer studies and English. I can read science books in English and doing some writing in English as well. Beside, I know a few French. And in my spare time, I enjoy playing basketball. As is said that your company is very famous and I’ll very glad if you let me work for it. My telephone number is 027-89276628．I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
