A lot of us lose life’s tough situations by mounting a frontal attack when a touch of humor might well enable us to chalk up a win. Consider the case of a young friend of mine, Sam, who hit a traffic jam on the way to work. Although there was a good reason for Sam’s constant lateness-serious illness at home, he decided that this by-now-familiar excuse wouldn’t work any longer. His boss was probably already pacing up and down with a dismissal speech prepared.
He was. Sam entered the office at 9:35. The place was as quiet as a locker room. Sam’s boss approached him. Suddenly, Sam reached out his hand. “How do you do!” he said. “I’ m Sam Maynard. I’m applying for a job which I understand became available just 35 minutes ago. Does the early bird get the worm?” The room exploded in laughter. The boss smiled and walked back to his office. Sam Maynard saved his job with the only tool that could win a laugh.
Here is another example. An English hostess was giving a formal dinner for eight distinguished guests. She had asked her son to serve a large roast turkey. The boy only succeeded in dropping the bird onto the dining-room floor. Moving only her head, the hostess smiled at her son, “No harm, Daniel,” she said, “just pick it up and take it back to the kitchen”, she said clearly so he would think about what she was saying and bring in the other one. Some humorous words changed the dinner from a red-faced embarrassment to a ton of fun.
Humor is a most effective, yet frequently neglected(忽视)means of handling the difficult situations in our lives. It can be used for making up differences, saying sorry, saying no, criticizing, and getting the other person to do what you want without his losing face. Also, many believe that comedians on television are doing more today for racial and religious tolerance than people are in any other places.
Of course, humor is often more than a laughing matter. In its potent guises(有效的伪装), it has a Trojan-horse(特洛伊木马)nature: no one goes on guard against a laugh; we let it in because it looks like a little wooden toy. Once inside, however, it can turn a city to reform, to rebellion(反抗), to resistance.
1.What can the underlined words “chalk up” in Paragraph 1 be replaced by?
A.pay for B.respond to C.think of recording D.succeed in getting
2.How does the author explain the power of humor?
A.By using examples. B.By making comparisons.
C.By introducing study results. D.By setting clown general rules.
3.What does the author mean by mentioning humor’s Trojan-horse nature?
A.It is but a toy. B.It catches us unaware.
C.We usually resist its effect. D.We seldom really understand it.
At the office that day, Martha was left to keep her eyes open until after the lunch hour. Then Mr Max Cohen brought her a document to copy. She was so anxious she had to start afresh three times. And when he came to fetch it, all that had been achieved were the words “Memorandum of an Agreement of Sale” typed across the top of the sheet. She shrank under his impatient assurance that it did not matter in the least, and she must take her time. Her fingers were heavy and trembling, and her head was thick. To type two pages of his small neat writing into something clean and pleasant to look at seemed to her, just then, an impossibly difficult task. He went home without coming to her desk again, and she decided she would come early next morning and do it before anyone else arrived.
Mrs Buss, on her way out, asked, “Have you got any certificates?” Martha said no. She had learned to type at home. Mrs Buss said nothing, but merely nodded absent-mindedly, for her eyes were on the elegant Mrs Jasper Cohen. Martha could barely see where she was going as she left the office. What she said to herself was, “I won’t spend the rest of my life typing this stupid jargon”.
She then went into the building of the ZambesiNews. She was going to see if Mr Spur, an old journalist whom she had known as a child, could offer her any kind of position. She was in the building about half an hour, and when she came out, her face was hot with embarrassment. It had been so painful she could not bear to remember what had happened. What she must remember was that she had no qualifications at all.
1.Why did Martha find her first day at the office difficult?
A.She was too nervous to think. B.Mr Cohen was not easy to please.
C.The task given to her was very difficult. D.She was not used to working under pressure.
2.By the end of the day, which of the following was true of Martha?
A.She had decided to work overtime. B.She hadn't finished her typing work.
C.She hadn't thought she would be blamed. D.She knew Mr Cohen was disappointed in her.
3.What might be Mrs Buss's attitude towards Martha?
A.She seemed eager to help her.
B.She seemed uninterested in her.
C.She seemed to have taken a dislike to her.
D.She seemed concerned about her lack of qualifications.
假定你是中学生李华，一个来自英国的中学生代表团在你学校举办英语文化节（English Culture Festival）期间来访，并受邀观看英文喜剧表演。请根据一下内容要点写一篇欢迎词。
1.表示对客人的欢迎：
2.介绍此项活动（如活动目的、内容等）
3.表达对客人的祝愿。
注意：1.词数100左右。文章的开头已为你写好，不计入总词数；
2.内容可适当发挥，注意行文连贯；
Dear British guests,
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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. Zhang,
Known that our school is going to set up elective (选修的) English courses, I'd like to give some advices. English Visual-Audio-Oral Course is a good choice. Most of us are interested at English videos and songs, that provide us with great images and beautiful music to listen to. As result, we can enjoy some local customs and singing English songs with joy. In addition, we need to improve our oral English. When we are always learning English, we may not be able to make a fluent speech. We can't easy communicate with others like native speakers. That is why I suggested taking a Speech Course. I'll be glad that if you can consider my suggestions.
Yours
Li Hua
All passengers boarded (登机)，and the fight would be on time. I went up to the gate (登机口)to get the papers from the gate staff and_______an adult passenger sitting there crying, which was very_______，So I asked the gate staff what was up and they told me that the passenger was not_________to board due to a problem of his ticket. His last name in the ticket was_________wrongly by a letter but he had_________it before.
After my asking, the man said that his father was just in the _______and he needed to take this flight to hopefully see him before he___________Unfortunately, there was nothing the gate staff could do about it. They told him to buy a new ticket._________，the fight was to leave ten minutes later and it was_________for him to do so, He told me he would be really__________if he wouldn't be able to say his final goodbye to his dad. Seeing a grown man crying sadly, I was sure that he was telling the ________
I________ for a while and then thought of________I could do to help him. As a member of staff I have a________----- I can issue (发) tickets through an online system to my family or__________Then, I provided a staff ticket for this passenger. I passed the ticket to him__________his kmnowing what I'd done. He was so__________ and it was all that I wanted to see. I just hoped that he wouldn't________any of his father's last words. Later, the gate staff told me they would help me keep the________as we can use the staff tickets only for people we know.
I was so poud that day ________ I did something meaningful for a person in need.
1.A.noticed B.greeted C.rescued D.encouraged
2.A.funny B.common C.unusual D.dangerous
3.A.forced B.allowed C.advised D.persuaded
4.A.read B.spelled C.understood D.remmembered
5.A.found B.recorded C.imagined D.ignored
6.A.airport B.office C.school D.hospital
7.A.gave up B.came back C.passed away D.settled down
8.A.Instead B.However C.Otherwise D.Therefore
9.A.special B.strange C.impossible D.unbelievable
10.A.regretful B.confused C.anxious D.hopeless
11.A.lie B.truth C.joke D.story
12.A.checked B.guessed C.predicted D.considered
13.A.nothing B.anything C.something D.everything
14.A.goal B.duty C.task D.right
15.A.friends B.pets C.customers D.passengers
16.A.for B.after C.since D.without
17.A.calm B.brave C.pleased D.curious
18.A.miss B.repeat C.forget D.mind
19.A.rule B.secret C.promise D.appointment
20.A.because B.before C.until D.unless
Mind Your Manners
Around the world, people have different ideas about what good table manners are. In India, for example, people only eat with their right hands. You take food from one dish on the table, usually a kind of bread or rice, mix it with food from another dish and then put it in your mouth. Your left hand stays still. Eating with your left hand is very rude!
In western countries, people do not usually share the same dishes,. Everyone has his or her own plate of food, You eat with a knife and fork and you should not wave them around when you are not eating. In addition, you should try not to be noisy when eating.1.
When you go to some restaurants in different parts of the world, it is important to know what people think is rude. For example, in China it is OK to be noisy in a restaurant. In fact, if a restaurant is not noisy, you may think it is not very good.2.If a table is too noisy, other customers might not be happy.
3.In China, one person usually pays for every one. In western countries, when friends eat together, they usually share the cost. This is called "going Dutch". In addition, when westerners pay the check, they usually leave some money for the waiter. This is called“leaving a tip." Not leaving a tip is very rude. In US, it's common to leave tips of 10%, 15% or 20% of the check. The amount depends on how good the waiter was. 4.
The way people eat food is different around the world, but you can find the same kinds of food in many countries.5.
A.Good waiters can get a lot of money!
B.People think that is bad table manners!
C.Guests usually leave the tips under the plates.
D.Paying for the meal is also different from country to country.
E.However, in many western countries, restaurants are quiet places.
F.Chinese and Italian foods, for example, are popular all over the world.
G.Although good manners always make you look good, you can always follow your hosts if you're not sure what to do.
