Nowadays, we live in a strict and judgmental world where people are quick to point out the faults of others and yet seem to ignore their own ones. Some misguided souls believe they have a moral duty to help you be a better person telling you what a failure you really are.
If you’re the one placing criticism upon others, please stop. Make a conscious decision, rather than focus on the negative aspect of a person’s performance or attitudes, and you can offer helpful suggestions. If I’m painting a living room and making a mess in doing so, I’d have my husband say to me, “This is a tough job. Can I offer a suggestion that might make it easier for you?” rather than have him point out what a careless painter I am.
If you’re on the receiving end of criticism, the “OK” response is a perfect solution. When someone comments negatively on a task you’re doing, the natural response is to defend and attack. However, this approach is rarely effective as it puts both parties on the defensive. It diffuses a potentially explosive situation. It’s important to keep calm and listen without feeling, to be an objective observer. There is much that one can learn from a negative review. You can ask yourself: Could I have done better, and been more thoughtful? Did I give 100% of myself to the task at hand? Is there any truth in what the other person says? If so, how can I improve?
In any event, one should remember the saying, “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning(指责) and you will not be condemned.” One can learn to be “OK” with criticism and not allow it to negatively impact his or her relationship with the other party. Let it go and that will be “OK”.
1.According to the author, today’s people_____.
A.ignore the mistakes of others
B.focus on how to handle mistakes
C.like to point out the mistakes of others
D.have a moral duty to point out others’ faults
2.Which of the following best explains “diffuses” underlined in Paragraph 3?
A.spreads B.improves
C.reduces D.conveys
3.Which would be the best title for this passage?
A.Is criticism really necessary?
B.What can you learn from criticism?
C.What’s the best way to voice criticism?
D.How to criticize and reply to criticism?
Welcome to Arundel Castle which is situated in West Sussex, England. The castle has a history of nearly 1000 years and has welcomed visitors traveling from all over the world. Arundel Castle also plays a starring role in many films.
The Gardens
The White Garden is planted with soft white Iceberg Roses, and Snow White Lilies.
The Rose Garden is newly planted with lovely old-fashioned English roses that are at their very best in June and July.
The Organic Kitchen Garden produces a wide range of seasonal fruit and vegetables, pears, cherries and apples.
The Castle Shop
In the Castle Shop, you will discover a wide and interesting range of gift ideas for everyone. It offers gifts and souvenirs designed to appeal to all tastes and pockets. Foods, china, books, and stationery (文具)are all available. Many are sold in this Castle Shop only.
At Arundel Castle we pride ourselves on supporting local suppliers and actively encourage environmentally friendly products.
The Arundel Festival 2014
Saturday 16th to Monday 25th August
The annual Arundel Festival gets bigger and better every year. It is one of the most amazing, diverse and easily accessible arts festivals in the UK, offering a mix of visual arts, music, theatre and street entertainment.
Parking
Coaches and mini-buses can drop off at the main Castle entrance in Mill Road and park in the main town car park that is opposite the Castle entrance. Please inform us when making your booking of how many parking permits are required.
1.When visiting the castle, you can___.
A.get old-fashioned English roses as gifts B.see how the local gifts are being made
C.get seasonal fruit and vegetables for free D.buy eco-friendly products in the Castle Shop
2.Where can you park the coach?
A.In Mill Road B.Inside the Castle
C.In the main town car park D.At the main Castle entrance
3.How long does the Arundel Festival last this year?
A.10 days B.One week C.16 days D.One month
请阅读下面短文，并按照要求用英语写一篇150词左右的文章。
My friend Maria and I got our degrees at the same time — hers in Engineering, mine in Mathematics. These subjects, in case you aren’t aware, are tough! There were classes we really had to struggle with, fight to get through, and survived only by digging our fingers in with everything we had. Along the way, many of the people who started at the same time dropped out, changed majors, etc. They quit. Maria and I didn’t and we have degrees to show for it.
Maria and I came up with a saying, ＂We’re not quitters. We’re failures！＂ We’d rather fail a class three times and eventually pass it than quit and resign ourselves to the idea that we ＂just can’t get it＂. That kind of sob story defeatism has to be removed from your mind. While there are things that you can’t do — like flying via pixie dust — you can have most of the things you want in life, but only if you treat failure as a part of the learning process. If you see failure as an end, that makes you a quitter.
（写作内容）
1. 用约30个单词写出上文概要；
2. 用约120个单词阐述你对上述情况的看法，并用2 ~3个理由或论据支撑你的看法。
（写作要求）
1. 写作过程中不能直接引用原文语句；
2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3. 不必写标题。
（评分标准）
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Marketers have more options in today’s increasingly multilingual society — a variety of electronic and print media can address groups of consumers in different languages. Various factors influence the choice of media and language. In some cases, it’s simply practical to advertise in the consumer’s native language, particularly if many of the consumers in this group are primarily monolingual. In other cases, by advertising on, say, a Spanish television channel in the US, an advertiser may earn the respect of the consumer by addressing him in his native language, as well as develop positive associations with the medium and its unique content. Now, marketers have another factor to consider when deciding where to advertise and in what language. A paper. Do bilinguals have two personalities? A special case of cultural frame switching published by researchers at the University of Texas, shows that bilingual individuals exhibit different personality characteristics when speaking different languages.
Lead researcher Nairan Ramirez-Esparza, tested individuals who were bilingual in English and Spanish for various personality traits, and found that the subjects answered the questions differently when asked in English and Spanish. The new work built on past research showed the values of subjects changed when they were surrounded by stimuli from different cultures.
How can marketers take advantage of “cultural frame switching”? It may sound challenging without specific research, but at least for Spanish, English bilinguals in the US, there is now some hard data on the language-related personality shift. Extrapolating to other language combinations may be possible, too. Since the Spanish/English bilingual results seem to be in agreement with testing of monolingual Spanish and English speakers, language-specific testing of bilingual subjects may not be essential to get an idea of what kind of cultural frame switching might occur in other bilingual combinations. Rather, comparing known personality differences for each language/ culture would give an indication of the differences bilingual individuals would exhibit.
I think it would be a mistake to over-emphasize this phenomenon over other criteria affecting the selection of appropriate media and language to reach a target market. Clearly, the major considerations of demographics (人口统计资料), perception of the medium, language fluency, etc. should remain major factors. Besides, the language-driven cultural frame switching may not make much difference to many products or services. If the product does attract one cultural personality more, though, it may make sense to exploit that difference of the other decision criteria are more or less equivalent.
The researchers point out that the differences aren’t great. Even if slight, though, the differences are noticeable.
Cultural Frame Switching: Different Language, Different Personality | |
Concept of cultural frame switching | Cultural frame switching refers to the phenomenon of shifting from one cultural mindset to another when people are 1. to their new cultural environment. |
Applications of cultural frame switching | Cultural frame switching is a factor marketers now take into 2. to reach target customers. |
Personality shift proves to be 3. for Spanish/ English bilinguals, which makes it not 4. to do language-specific testing of bilingual subjects. | |
Looking for the known personality differences between each language/culture would give marketers a better 5. of how bilingual individuals would 6. in two different cultures. | |
Facts about cultural frame switching | It’s wrong to put too much 7. on the functions of cultural frame switching. |
Compared with other criteria, the language-driven cultural frame switching simply plays a (n) 8. role in marketing success. | |
Providing that a product 9. to a certain cultural personality more, the difference is worth employing. | |
Conclusion | The effect different languages have on personality is 10. but noticeable. |
There are an extremely large number of ants worldwide. Each individual(个体的) ant hardly weighs anything, but put together they weigh roughly the same as all of mankind. They also live nearly everywhere, except on frozen mountain tops and around the poles. For animals their size, ants have been astonishingly successful, largely due to their wonderful social behavior.
In colonies(群体)that range in size from a few hundred to tens of millions, they organize their lives with a clear division of labor. Even more amazing is how they achieve this level of organization. Where we use sound and sight to communicate, ants depend primarily on pheromones(外激素),chemicals sent out by individuals and smelled or tasted by fellow members of their colony. When an ant finds food, it produces a pheromone that will lead others straight to where the food is. When an individual ant comes under attack or is dying, it sends out an alarm pheromone to warn the colony to prepare for a conflict as a defense unit.
In fact, when it comes to the art of war, ants have no equal. They are completely fearless and will readily take on a creature much larger than themselves, attacking in large groups and overcoming their target. Such is their devotion to the common good of the colony that not only soldier ants but also worker ants will sacrifice their lives to help defeat an enemy.
Behaving in this selfless and devoted manner, these little creatures have survived on Earth for more than 140 million years, far longer than dinosaurs. Because they think as one, they have a collective(集体的)intelligence greater than you would expect from its individual parts.
1.We can learn from the passage that ants are______.
A.not willing to share food B.not found around the poles
C.more successful than all other animals D.too many to achieve any level of organization
2.Ants can use pheromones for______.
A.escape B.communication C.warning enemies D.arranging labor
More students than ever before are taking a gap year (间隔年) before going to university. It used to be called the “year off” between school and university. The gap-year phenomenon originated (起源) with the months left over to Oxbridge applicants between entrance exams in November and the start of the next academic year.
This year, 25,310 students who have accepted places in higher education institutions have put off their entry until next year, according to statistics on university entrance provided by the University and College Admissions Service (UCAS).
That is a record 14.7% increase in the number of students taking a gap year. Tony Higgins from UCAS said that the statistics are good news for everyone in higher education. “Students who take a well-planned year out are more likely to be satisfied with, and complete, their chosen course. Students who take a gap year are often more mature and responsible.” he said.
But not everyone is happy. Owain James, the president of the National Union of Students (NUS), argued that the increase is evidence of student hardship—young people are being forced into earning money before finishing their education. “New students are now aware that they are likely to leave university up to £ 15,000 in debt. It is not surprising that more and more students are taking a gap year to earn money to support their study for the degree. NUS statistics show that over 40% of students are forced to work during term time and the figure increases to 90% during vacation periods,” he said.
1.What do we learn about the gap year from the text?
A.It is flexible in length. B.It is a time for relaxation.
C.It is increasingly popular. D.It is required by universities.
2.According to Tony Higgins, students taking a gap year .
A.are better prepared for college studies
B.know a lot more about their future jobs
C.are more likely to leave university in debt
D.have a better chance to enter top universities
3.How does Owain James feel about the gap-year phenomenon?
A.He’s puzzled. B.He’s worried.
C.He’s surprised. D.He’s annoyed.
4.What would most students do on their vacation according to NUS statistics?
A.Attend additional courses. B.Make plans for the new term.
C.Earn money for their education. D.Prepare for their graduate studies.
