If you want to learn a new language, the very first thing to think about is why. Do you need it for a __________ reason, such as your job or your studies? _________ perhaps you’re interested in the _________ ,films or music of a different country and you know how much it will help to have a _________ of the language.
Most people learn best using a variety of _________, but traditional classes are an ideal（理想的）start for many people. They ________ an environment where you can practice under the ________ of someone who’s good at the language. We all lead ________ lives and learning a language takes _______. You will have more success if you study regularly, so try to develop a ________. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t got long. Becoming fluent in a language will take years, but learning to get by takes _______.
Many people start learning a language and soon give up. “I’m too _______,” they say. Yes, children do learn languages more _______ than adults, but research has shown that you can learn a language at any ________. And learning is good for the health of your brain, too. I’ve also heard people ________ about the mistakes they make when ________. Well, relax and laugh about your mistakes ________ you’re much less likely to make them again.
Learning a new language is never ________. But with some work and devotion, you’ll make progress. And you’ll be _________ by the positive reaction of some people when you say just a few words in ________ own language. Good luck!
1.A. technical B. political C. practical D. physical
2.A. After B. So C. Though D. Or
3.A. literature B. transport C. agriculture D. medicine
4.A. view B. knowledge C. form D. database
5.A. paintings B. regulations C. methods D. computers
6.A. protect B. change C. respect D. provide
7.A. control B. command C. guidance D. pressure
8.A. busy B. happy C. simple D. normal
9.A. courage B. time C. energy D. place
10.A. theory B. business C. routine D. project
11.A. some risks B. a lot less C. some notes D. a lot more
12.A. old B. nervous C. weak D. tired
13.A. closely B. quickly C. privately D. quietly
14.A. age B. speed C. distance D. school
15.A. worry B. hesitate C. think D. quarrel
16.A. singing B. working C. bargaining D. learning
17.A. if B. and C. but D. before
18.A. tiresome B. hard C. interesting D. easy
19.A. blamed B. amazed C. interrupted D. informed
20.A. their B. his C. our D. your
For the rest of March,a disease will sweep across the US.It will keep kids home from school.1.Employees will suddenly lose their ability to concentrate.
The disease,known as “March Madness”,refers to the yearly 65－team US men's college basketball tournament (锦标赛).2.Teams compete against each other in a single－elimination (单局淘汰) tournament that eventually crowns a national champion.
Nearly 20 million Americans will find themselves prisoners of basketball festival madness.The fun comes partly from guessing the winners for every game.Friends compete against friends.3. Colleagues against bosses.
Big－name schools are usually favored to advance into the tournament.But each year there are dark horses from little－known universities.
This adds to the madness.Watching a team from a school with 3,000 students beat a team from a school with 30,000,for many Americans,is an exciting experience.Two years ago,the little－known George Mason University was one of the final four teams.4.
College basketball players are not paid,so the game is more about making a name for their university and themselves.5. About $4 billion will be spent gambling (赌) on the event.According to Media Life magazine,the event will bring in $ 500 million in advertising income this year,topping the post －season income of every US professional league,including that of the NBA.
A.Husbands against wives.
B.The players will go all out for the games.
C.But that doesn't mean money isn't involved.
D.College students will ignore piles of homework.
E.People are willing to spend more money on watching it.
F.It begins on March 15 and lasts through the beginning of April.
G.Many people had never even heard of the university before the tournament.
Failure is probably the most exhausting experience a person ever has.There is nothing more tiring than not succeeding.
We experience this tiredness in two ways: as start-up fatigue(疲惫) and performance fatigue.In the former case, we keep putting off a task because it has either too boring or too difficult.And the longer we delay it,the more tired we feel.
Such start-up fatigue is very real,even if not actually physical,not something in our muscles and bones.The solution is obvious though perhaps not easy to apply: always handle the most difficult job first.
Years ago,I was asked to write 102 essays on the great ideas of some famous authors.Applying my own rule,I determined to write them in alphabetical(按字母顺序),never letting myself leave out a tough idea.And I always started the day's work with the difficult task of essay-writing.Experience proved that the rule works.
Performance fatigue is more difficult to handle.Though willing to get started,we cannot seem to do the job right. Its difficulties appear so great that,however hard we work,we fail again and again.In such a situation,I work as hard as I can-then let the unconscious take over.
When planning Encyclopaedia Britannica (《大英百科全书》),I had to create a table of contents based on the topics of its articles.Nothing like this had ever been done before,and day after day I kept coming up with solutions, but none of them worked.My fatigue became almost unbearable.
One day,mentally exhausted,I wrote down all the reasons why this problem could not be solved.I tried to convince myself that the trouble was with the problem itself,not with me.Relived,I sat back in an easy chair and fell asleep.
An hour later,I woke up suddenly with the solution clearly in mind.In the weeks that followed,the solution which had come up in my unconscious mind provided correct at every step.Though I worked as hard as before,I felt no fatigue.Success was now as exciting as failure had been depressing.
Human beings,I believe must try to succeed.Success,then,means never feeling tired.
1.What does the author recommend doing to prevent start-up fatigue?
A. Writing essays in strict order. B. Building up physical strength.
C. Leaving out the toughest ideas. D. Dealing with the hardest task first.
2.On what occasion does a person probably suffer from performance fatigue?
A. Before starting a difficult task. B. When all the solutions fail.
C. If the job is rather boring. D. After finding a way out.
3.What could be the best title for the passage?
A. Success Is Built upon Failure B. How to Handle Performance Fatigue
C. Getting over Fatigue: A Way to Success D. Fatigue: An Early Sign of Health Problems
Before discussing different kinds of emotions,let us briefly talk about how researchers measure bodily processes and action or behavior,and how this relates to what we do in our daily lives when we observe emotions in others.
Bodily processes can be directly measured by means of a polygraph.When a polygraph is skillfully used to compare how we react bodily with what we are saying,it is called a “lie detector”.Bodily processes can also be measured indirectly.This is what we do when we observe someone blushing (脸红).However,we are not always aware of what bodily processes respond to.
Measuring action or behavior is the other way researchers assess the emotions.For example,one measure of fear of snakes is how close a person will go to the snake.Another procedure is to have a person tell how afraid he is,or how he feels.In this way,researchers have developed the so－called “fear thermometer” to assess a person's fear.In our everyday living,we do very much the same thing.Only not too systematically,we react to what a person does, what he says,how he says it,and how he looks.Is he smiling? Is his voice trembling? We put all this observations together to infer what a person is feeling.
However,we do not always act as we feel.Sometimes we do things that we don't feel like doing.Sometimes we say we feel one way and then we act another.Actors,for example,successfully learn to “make believe” emotions,or learn to hide them.Thus we cannot always tell what a person is feeling by what he says or by what he does.
1.Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. We can never tell what a person is feeling.
B. The “fear thermometer” is a way to measure how fearful a person is.
C. Researchers can assess the emotions in some ways.
D. People do not always know what bodily processes they respond to.
2.The underlined word “assess” in the 3rd paragraph is close in meaning to ______.
A. make B. measure
C. discuss D. develop
3.The writer uses the example of actors in order to argue that ______.
A. it is rather easy to become successful actors
B. people do not always act as they feel
C. we can never believe what other people say
D. actors are always telling lies
4.The passage is mainly about ______.
A. the way of assessing the emotion
B. the usefulness of a “lie detector”
C. the functioning of different emotions
D. the development of the “fear thermometer”
Every man wants his son to be somewhat of a clone,not in features but in footsteps.As he grows you also age, and your ambitions become more unachievable.You begin to realize that your boy,in your footsteps,could probably accomplish what you hoped for.But footsteps can be muddied and they can go off in different directions.
My son Jody has hated school since day one in kindergarten.Science projects waited until the last moment.Book reports weren't written until the final threat.
I've been a newspaperman all my adult life.My daughter is a university graduate working toward her master's degree in English.But Jody? When he entered the tenth grade he became a “vo-tech” student(技校学生).They're called “motorheads” by the rest of the student body.
When a secretary in my office first called him “motorhead”,I was shocked.“Hey,he's a good kid,” I wanted to say.“And smart,really.”
I learned later that motorheads are,indeed,different.They usually have dirty hands and wear dirty work clothes. And they don't often make school honor rolls(光荣榜).
But being the parent of a motorhead is itself an experience in education.We who labor in clean shirts in offices don't have the abilities that motorheads have.I began to learn this when I had my car crashed.The cost to repair it was estimated at $800.“Hey,I can fix it,” said Jody.I doubted it ,but let him go ahead,for I had nothing to lose.
My son ,with other motorheads,fixed the car.They got parts(零件）from a junkyard,non-toasting toaster have been fixed.Neighbours and co-workers trust their car repair to him.
Since that first repair job,a broken air-conditioner,a non-functioning washer and a non-toasting toaster have been fixed.Neighbors and co-workers trust their car repairs to him.
These kids are happiest when doing repairs.They joke and laugh and are living in their own relaxed world.And their minds are bright despite their dirty hands and clothes.
I have learned a lot from my motorhead: publishers need printers,engineers need mechanics,and architects need builders.Most important,I have learned that fathers don't need clones in footsteps or anywhere else.
My son may never make the school honor roll.But he made mine.
1.What used to be the author's hope for his son?
A. To avoid becoming his clone.
B. To resemble him in appearance.
C. To develop in a different direction.
D. To reach the author's unachieved goals.
2.What can we learn about the author's children?
A. His daughter does better in school.
B. His daughter has got a master's degree.
C. His son tried hard to finish homework.
D. His son couldn't write his book reports.
3.The author let his son repair the car because he believed that_______.
A. His son had the ability to fix it.
B. it would save him much time.
C. it wouldn't cause him any more loss
D. other motorheads would come to help.
4.In the author's eyes,motorheads are _______.
A. tidy and hardworking
B. cheerful and smart
C. lazy but bright
D. relaxed but rude
5.What did the author realize in the end?
A. It is unwise to expect your child to follow your path.
B. It is important for one to make the honor roll.
C. Architects play a more important role than builders.
D. Motorheads have greater ability than office workers.
NO PLANS FOR THE HOLIDAYS?
Special Story Time for All Lower Primary Pupils
SCHOOL LIBRARY
READING ROOM
June 6,2 p.m---3 p.m,
Mr.Stephen Keene will impress you with stories from his famous New Kids Next Block series.
FREE ADMISSION
LEARN HOW TO PLAY THE GUITAR IN 4 EASY LESSONS!
Venue: Music Room
Time: 9 a.m---12 p.m
Dates: June 6,13,20,27
Instructor: Miss Katsumi from Japan
Fees: $ 40 for 4 lessons *
($ 20 for members of the school band and school choir)
Register with Mrs.Mary Mi,the Choir Mistress,NOW.
*It is compulsory(强制性的) for students who sing up to attend ALL four lessons.
JOIN THE GEOGRAPHY CLUB'S TWILIGHT CRUISE(黄昏巡游)
June 19,5 p.m---8 p.m
·View Singapore's wonderful skyline by night.
·Cruise past Kusu Island and Pulau Tekukor (Dove Island)
·Enjoy a great dinner under the starlit sky.
HURRY! VACANCIES(空缺) ONLY FOR THE 1ST 20 PUPILS WHO SING UP.
Get your consent forms(同意书) from Miss Yu and return the forms with your payment($20) by 30 May.
* If there are more than 20 pupils interested in the cruise,priority (优先权) will be given to Geography Club*
1.A pupil who prefers not to spend any money can go for______.
A. the cruise B. the guitar lessons
C. the school choir D. story time
2.Who will conduct the guitar lessons?
A. The band instructor. B. The choir mistress.
C. Mr.Stephen Keene. D. An invited guest.
3.To go for the cruise,pupils need to ______.
A. be Geography Club members B. pay $30
C. have some form filled D. know how to swim
