Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, or fear which may occur in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience. It is most commonly seen in school situations, like stand-up projects and class speeches. It has numerous forms: heart beating fast, trembling hands and legs, sweaty hands, dry mouth etc.
In fact, most of the fear occurs before you step on stage. Once you’re up there, it usually goes away. Thus, it is a phenomenon that you must learn to control. Try to think of stage fright in a positive way. It heightens your energy, adds color to your cheeks. With these good side effects you will actually look healthier and more physically attractive.
Many of the top performers in the world get stage fright so you are in good company. Stage fright may come and go or decrease, but it usually does not disappear permanently. You must concentrate on getting the feeling out and present what you have prepared calmly.
Remember “Nobody” ever died from stage fright. But, according to surveys, many people would rather die than give a speech. If that applies to you, and you are an unlucky guy who is with stage fright the whole time, try out some of the strategies(策略) as follows to help get yourself under control. Realize that you may never overcome stage fright, but you can learn to control it, and use it to your advantage.
Strategies are as follows when the program begins:
1) If legs are trembling, lean on table or shift legs or move.
2) Don’t hold notes. The audience can see them shake. Use three-by-five cards instead.
3) Use eye contact. Look at the friendliest faces in the audience.
Remember nervousness doesn’t show one-tenth as much as it feels. Before each presentation, make a short list of the items you think will make you feel better. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different combinations. You never know which ones will work best until you try. Use these steps to control stage fright so it doesn’t control you. Once you are used to stage fright, you will find you on the road to a great speech-maker.
1.Someone may be most likely to suffer from stage fright when he/she is ______.
A. attending an English class
B. standing in a classroom
C. watching a performance
D. talking in front of people
2.By thinking of stage fright in a positive way, one could ______.
A. learn to control stage fright
B. get rid of stage fright
C. calm down before stepping on stage
D. become more physically attractive
3.Which of the following is true?
A. Top performers usually suffer from stage fright.
B. Stage fright may stay with a person for a life time.
C. Nobody would rather die than give a speech.
D. No one can overcome or control stage fright.
4.The author advises people with stage fright to ______.
A. show one-tenth of their nervousness
B. experiment with different kinds of stage fright
C. refer to the strategies whenever they feel the need
D. use one of the strategies each time
5.The passage mainly talks about ______.
A. how to deal with stage fright
B. what stage fright is like
C. when stage fright occurs
D. why people have stage fright
How far would you be willing to go to satisfy your need to know? Far enough to find out your possibility of dying from a terrible disease? These days that’s more than an academic question, as Tracy Smith reports in our Cover Story.
There are now more than a thousand genetic tests, for everything from baldness to breast cancer, and the list is growing. Question is, do you really want to know what might eventually kill you? For instance, Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson, one of the first people to map their entire genetic makeup, is said to have asked not to be told if he were at a higher risk for Alzheimer’（老年痴呆症）.
“If I tell you that you have an increased risk of getting a terrible disease, that could weigh on your mind and make you anxious, through which you see the rest of your life as you wait for that disease to hit you. It could really mess you up.” said Dr. Robert Green, a Harvard geneticist.
“Every ache and pain,” Smith suggested, could be understood as “the beginning of the end.” “That’s right. If you ever worried you were at risk for Alzheimer’s disease, then every time you can’t find your car in the parking lot, you think the disease has started.”
Dr. Green has been thinking about this issue for years. He led a study of people who wanted to know if they were at a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s. It was thought that people who got bad news would, for lack of a better medical term, freak out. But Green and his team found that there was “no significant difference” between how people handled good news and possibly the worst news of their lives. In fact, most people think they can handle it. People who ask for the information usually can handle the information, good or bad, said Green.
1.The first paragraph is meant to__________.
A. ask some questions
B. introduce the topic
C. satisfy readers’ curiosity
D. describe an academic fact
2.Which of the following is true of James Watson？
A. He is strongly in favor of the present genetic tests.
B. He is more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.
C. He believes genetic mapping can help cure any disease.
D. He doesn’t want to know his chance of getting a disease.
3.According to Paragraphs 3 and 4, if a person is at a higher genetic risk, it is__________.
A. advisable not to let him know
B. impossible to hide his disease
C. better to inform him immediately
D. necessary to remove his anxiety
4.The underlined part “freak out” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to“_________”.
A. break down B. drop out
C. leave off D. turn away
5.The study led by Dr. Green indicates that people__________.
prefer to hear good news
B. tend to find out the truth
C. can accept some bad news
D. have the right to be informed
I never thought I would have a life-changing experience at Wal-Mart.
Although my thoughts were only on speed, the checkout line I was standing in wasn't moving as quickly as I wanted, and I glanced toward the cashier.
There stood a man in his seventies, wearing glasses and a nice smile. I thought, well, he's an old guy!
For the next few minutes I watched him. He greeted every customer before scanning the items. Sure, his words were the usual, “How's it going?” But he did something different—he actually listened to people. Then he would respond to what they had said and engage them in brief conversation.
I thought it was odd. I have grown accustomed to people asking me how I was doing simply out of robotic conversational habit. After a while, you don't give any thought to the question and just mumble something back. I could say, “I just found out I have six months to live,” and someone would reply, “Have a great day!”
But that wasn't the end.
He gave them the change, walked around the counter, and extended his right hand in an act of friendship. He looked at the customers in the eyes. “I sure want to thank you for shopping here today,” he told them. “You have a great day. Bye-bye.”
The looks on the faces of the customers were priceless. There were smiles and some sheepish grins. All had been touched by his simple gesture---and in a place they never expected. They would gather their things and walk out, smiling.
Of course, he did the same to me and I got to know his name, Marty.
Who was that guy? It was as if Sam Walton had come back from the dead and invaded this old guy’s body.
I had never walked away from that shop feeling like that.
1.The checkout line the writer was standing in moved slower than expected because_______ .
A．the cashier couldn’t work as fast as others
B．there were some big purchases
C．the cashier did more than scanning the items
D．the writer was not patient enough
2.According to the writer, when common people ask you “How’s it going?”
A．they don’t really care what you may answer
B．they are just practicing their conversation ability
C．they are inquiring about your private information
D．they don’t expect to hear any negative answers
3.What was most customers’ reaction to Marty’s behaviors?
A．They thought it priceless. B．They were in some way moved.
C．They thought it awful and odd. D．They felt somewhat offended.
4.What can we infer about Sam Walton?
A．He might be Marty’s father or grandfather.
B．He might be friendly and devoted to Wal-Mart.
C．He might have died while working in the market.
D．He might have come back from the dead once before.
5.What does the writer intend to express through the text?
A．Our everyday life is always full of surprises.
B．Most customers enjoy being treated this way.
C．Being different is a good way of doing business.
D．A little positive action can make a big difference.
When a child is told he is “uncool”, it can be very painful. He may say he doesn’t care, and even act in ways that are opposite of cool on purpose. But these are simple ways to handle sadness by pretending it’s not there.
Helping a child feel better in school had to be careful. If you say, “Why are you worried about what other children think about you? It doesn’t matter!” Children know that it does matter. Instead, an active way may be best. You could say, “I’m going to do a couple of things for you to help you feel better in school.”
If a boy is having trouble making friends, the teacher can help him. The teacher can arrange things so that he has chances to use his abilities to contribute to class projects. This is how the other children learn how to value his good qualities and to like him. A teacher can also raise a child’s popularity in the group by showing that he values that child. It even helps to put him in a seat next to a very popular child, or let him be a partner with that child in activities, etc.
There are things that parents can do at home, too. Be friendly when your child brings others home to play. Encourage him to invite friends to meals and then serve the dishes they consider “super” .When you plan trips, picnics, movies, and other shows, invite another child with whom your child wants to be friends.
What you can do is to give him a chance to join a group that may be shutting him out. Then, if he has good qualities, he can start to build real friendship of his own.
1.A child who has been informed of being “ uncool” may .
A. care nothing about it B. do something uncool on purpose
C. develop a sense of anger D. pretend to get hurt very much
2.A teacher can help an unpopular child by .
A. seeing the child as the teacher’s favorite
B. asking the child to do something for partners
C. forcing other children to make friends with the child
D. offering the child chances to show his good qualities
3.How can parents help their child fit in better?
A. By cooking delicious food for him.
B. By being kind to his schoolmates.
C. By forcing him to invite friends home.
D. By taking him to have picnics in the park.
4.Which of the following is TRUE?
A. Children don’t care others’ comments on them.
B. It’s only teacher’s work to make children popular.
C. Parents should take their children out for picnic and shows more often.
D. Inviting children’s friends to family activities is good for them to make friends.
5.Which is the best title of the text?
A. How an Unpopular Child can be Helped
B. Why Some Children are Unpopular
C. What Good Qualities Unpopular Children Have
D. Who Care about Unpopular Children
As a working mom with three young sons, keeping the house clean is a big challenge. 1. we clean the house every week, one hour later after cleaning our bedrooms and bathrooms are back to their 2. (mess) look. When asked, my boys will help neaten their room, clear their plates from the table and pick up their school junk. But I need to remind them 3. it again and again.
If I don’t remind them, I will step over all the things 4. make my house look like a garbage can. This is quite 5. change from my pre-kid years when I never _6. (leave) any waste in the house. 7. seems that I cannot get these days back again at my own house.
When last week I found a program called “Share a Healthy Habit” on a newspaper, I saw a great chance to engage my sons in cleaning chores. Why not encourage these behaviors during the summer, while school is out and their life is 8. (relax)?
The goal for my boys is to clean 9. own dorm room themselves when they are free. The rewards for clean habits start young and continue as they get 10. (old), so I need to start my plan as soon as possible.
A noted American psychologist once remarked that childhood is a magical period in one’s life. Indeed it is, for during one undergoes a step-by-step transformation not only in capacity, but also in physical and verbal skills. Each step an increase in the difficulty of a child’s conceptual and learning abilities. During the early stages of childhood, from infancy to about five, the child learns simple skills including using the toilet, bathing and dressing himself . At this stage, he also learns to be very observant, curious, and creative. His ability to remember things also at this stage. He remembers details that an adult may have difficulty in remembering. , he learns elementary skills in problem-solving. At school, particular in classes, the child is especially creative. Given a piece of paper and some colored pencils, he draws a variety of from his surroundings as well as from his circle. It is not surprising to see a child draw a monster to represent an abusive father, and an _____ to represent a loving and caring mother.
As he graduates to the later stages of childhood bordering on the years, the child learns the complexity of human relations and socialization by with his peers—his friends and schoolmates. He also learns to with new life situations, including dates and part-time work. Given a tight schedule of schoolwork, the child learns to prepare his own schedules of work and play; the more practical and less serious ones manage to take time out of their schedules of assignments, reports and tests and examinations to go with their friends on relaxation entertainment.
1.A. adolescence B. adulthood C. childhood D. infancy
2.A. spiritual B. magicalC. practicalD. mental
3.A. signalsB. presentsC. preventsD. signs
4.A. willinglyB. excitedly C. confidentlyD. independently
5.A. optimisticB. imaginativeC. ableD. studious
6.A.increasesB. developsC. declinesD. strengthens
7.A. GraduallyB. FortunatelyC. UnexpectedlyD. Undoubtedly
8.A. music B. chemistryC. art D. biology
9.A. picturesB. imagesC. reflectionsD. buildings
10.A. schoolB. familyC. teacherD. friend
11.A. beautyB. actressC. witchesD. angel
12.A. infancyB. adulthood C. teenage D. aged
13.A. competingB. fighting C. interactingD. learning
14.A. experimentB. agree C. withdrawD. concern
15.A. ambitious B. original C. dailyD. busy
