Many people think that listening is a passive business. It is just the opposite. Listening well is an active exercise of our attention and hard work. It is because they do not realize this, or because they are not willing to do the work, that most people do not listen well.
Listening well also requires total concentration upon someone else. An essential part of listening well is the rule known as ‘bracketing’. Bracketing includes the temporary giving up or setting aside of your own prejudices and desires, to experience as far as possible someone else’s world from the inside, stepping into his or her shoes. Moreover, since listening well involves bracketing, it also involves a temporary acceptance of the other person. Sensing this acceptance, the speaker will seem quite willing to open up the inner part of his or her mind to the listener. True communication is under way and the energy required for listening well is so great that it can be accomplished only by the will to extend oneself for mutual growth.
Most of the time we lack this energy. Even though we may feel in our business dealings or social relationships that we are listening well, what we are usually doing is listening selectively. Often we have a prepared list in mind and wonder, as we listen, how we can achieve certain desired results to get the conversation over as quickly as possible or redirected in ways more satisfactory to us. Many of us are far more interested in talking than in listening, or we simply refuse to listen to what we don’t want to hear.
It wasn’t until toward the end of my doctor career that I have found the knowledge that one is being truly listened to is frequently therapeutic(有疗效的) In about a quarter of the patients I saw, surprising improvement was shown during the first few months of psychotherapy(心理疗法), before any of the roots of problems had been uncovered or explained. There are several reasons for this phenomenon, but chief among them, I believe, was the patient’s sense that he or she was being truly listened to, often for the first time in years, and for some, perhaps for the first time ever.
1.The phrase “stepping into his or her shoes” in paragraph 2 probably means _______.
A. preparing a topic list first
B. focusing on one’s own mind
C. directing the talk to the desired results
D. experiencing the speaker’s inside world
2.What is mainly discussed in Paragraph 2?
A. How to listen well.
B. What to listen to.
C. Benefits of listening.
D. Problems in listening
3.According to the author, in communication people tend to ________.
A. listen actively
B. listen purposefully
C. set aside their prejudices
D. open up their inner mind
4.According to the author, the patients improved mainly because _______.
A. they were taken good care of.
B. they knew the roots of problems
C. they had partners to talk to.
D. they knew they were truly listened to
Low-Cost Gifts for Mother's Day
Gift No. I
Offer to be your mother's health friend. Promise to be there for any and all doctor's visits
whether a disease or a regular medical check-up. Most mothers always say "no need," another set of eyes and ears is always a good idea at a doctor's visit. The best part ? This one is free.
Gift No. 2
Help your mother organize all of her medical records, which include the test results and medical information. Put them all in one place. Be sure to make a list of all of her medicines and what times she takes them. "Having all this information in one place could end up saving your mother's life," Dr. Marie Savard said.
Gift No. 3
Enough sleep is connected to general health conditions. "Buy your mother cotton sheets and comfortable pillows to encourage better sleep," Savard said. "We know that good sleep is very important to our health."
Gift No. 4
Some gift companies such as Presents for Purpose allow you to pay it forward this Mother's Day by picking gifts in which 10 percent of the price you pay goes to a charity (慈善机构) Gift givers can choose from a wide variety of useful but inexpensive things -many of which are "green" - and then choose a meaningful charity from a list. When your mother gets the gift, she will be told that she has helped the chosen charity.
1.What are you advised to do for your mother at doctor's visits?
A. Take notes. B. Be with her.
C. Buy medicine. D. Give her gifts.
2.Where can you find a gift idea to improve your mother’s sleep?
A. In Gift No. 1. B. In Gift No. 2.
C. In Gift No. 3. D. In Gift No. 4.
3.Buying gifts from Presents for Purpose allows mothers to_____.
A. enjoy good sleep B. be well-organized
C. give others help D. bet extra support
Going green seems to be fad(时尚)for a lot of people these days. Whether that is good or bad, we can’t really say, but for the tow of us, going green is not a fad but a lifestyle.
On April22, 2011, we decided to go green every single day for an entire year. This meant doing 365 different green things, and it also meant challenging ourselves to go green beyond easy things. Rather than recycle and reduce our energy, we had to think of 365 different green things to do and this was no easy task.
With the idea of going green every single day for a year, Our Green Year started. My life and I decided to educate people about how they could go green in their lives and hoped we could show people all the green things that could be done to help the environment. We wanted to push the message that every little bit helps.
Over the course of Our Green Year, we completely changed our lifestyle. We now shop at organic(有机的)stores. We consume less meat, choosing green food. We have greatly reduced our buying we don’t need. We have given away half of what we owned through websites. Our home is kept clean by vinegar and lemon juice, with no chemical cleaners. We make our own butter, enjoying the smell of home-made fresh bread. In our home office anyone caught doing something ungreen might be punished.
Our minds have been changed by Our Green Year. We are grateful for the chance to have been able to go green and educate others. We believe that we do have the power to change things and help our planet.
1.What might be the best title for the passage?
A. Going Green.
B. Protecting the Planet.
C. Keeping Open-Minded
D. Celebrating Our Green Year.
2.It was difficult for the couple to live a green life for the whole year because_________.
A. they needed to perform unusual green tasks
B. they didn’t know how to educate other people
C. they were unwilling to reduce their energy
D. they were expected to follow the green fad
3.What did the couple do over the course of Our Green Year?
A. They tried to get out of their ungreen habits.
B. They ignore others’ ungreen behavior.
C. They chose better chemical cleaners.
D. They sold their home-made food.
4.What can we infer form the last paragraph?
A. The government will give support to the green people.
B. The couple may continue their project in the future.
C. Some people disagree with the couple’s green ideas.
D. Our Green Year is becoming a national campaign.
When I was 12, all I wanted was a signet (图章) ring. They were the "in" thing and it seemed every girl except me had one. On my 13th birthday, my Mum gave me a signet ring with my initials(姓名首字母) carved into it. I was in heaven.
What made it even more special was that it was about the only thing that wasn't being "replaced". We'd been burnt out in fires that swept through our area earlier that year and had lost everything—so most of the " new" stuff (东西) we got was really just to replace what we'd lost. But not my ring. My ring was new.
Then, only one month later, I lost it. I took it off before bed and it was missing in the morning. I was sad and searched everywhere for it. But it seemed to have disappeared. Eventually, I gave up and stopped looking for it. And two years later, we sold the house and moved away.
Years passed, and a couple of moves later, I was visiting my parents' when Mum told me that she had something for me. It wasn't my birthday, nor was it Easter or Christmas or any other gift-giving occasion. Mum noticed my questioning look. " You'll recognize this one," she said, smiling.
Then she handed me a small ring box. I took it from her and opened it to find my beautiful signet ring inside. The family who had bought our house 13 years earlier had recently decided to do some redecorations, which included replacing the carpets. When they pulled the carpet up in my old bedroom, they found the ring. As it had my initials carved into it, they realized who owned the ring. They'd had it professionally cleaned up by a jeweler before sending it to my mother. And it still fits me.
1.The underlined word "in" in the first paragraph probably means "_____".
A.renewable B. available C. practical D. fashionable
2.When she got the ring back, the writer was about _____.
A.13 years old B. 15 years old
C. 26 years old D. 28 years old
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The writer's family moved several times.
B. The writer never stopped looking for her ring.
C. The writer's ring was cleaned up by the new house owner.
D. The writer lost her ring in the morning when she took it off.
4.What would be the best title for the passage?
A. My New Ring B. Lost and Found
C. Lost and Replaced D. An Expensive Ring
I fell in love with Yosemite National Park the first time I saw it, when I was 13. My parents took us there for camping. On the way out, I asked them to wait while I ran up to E1 Capitan, a _____ rock of 3,300 feet straight up. I touched that giant rock and knew ______ I wanted to climb it. That has been my life’s passion (钟爱) ever since--- ______ the rocks and mountains of Yosemite. I’ve long made Yosemite my _____.
About 15 years ago I started seeing a lot of ______, like toilet paper, beer cans, and empty boxes, around the area. It’s _____ me why visitors started respecting the place _____ and treated such a beautiful home-like place this way.
I tried ______ trash(垃圾)myself, but the job was too big. I would ____an hour or two on the job, only to find the area trashed all over again weeks later. Finally, I got so ___ it that I decided something had to change.
As a rock-climbing guide, I knew ______about organizing any big event. But in 2004, together with some climbers, I set a date for a ___. On that day, more than 300 people ____. Over three days we collected about 6,000 pounds of trash. It was amazing how much we were able to ____. I couldn’t believe the ___ we made ---the park looked clean!
Each year volunteers come for the cleanup from everywhere. In 2007 alone, 2,945 people picked up 42,330 pounds of trash and ___ 132 miles of roadway.
I often hear people ___ about their surroundings. If you are one of them, I would say the only way to change things is by _____ rather than complaining. We need to teach by ____. You can’t blame others ____ you start with yourself.
1.A. huge B. distant C. narrow D. loose
2.A. immediately B. finally C. gradually D. recently
3.A. imagining B. painting C. describing D. climbing
4.A. garden B. home C. lab D. palace
5.A. material B. resources C. goods D. waste
6.A. beyond B. against C. over D. within
7.A. more B. most C. less D. least
8.A. throwing away B. picking up C. breaking down D. digging out
9.A. kill B. save C. wait D. spend
10.A. satisfied with B. delighted in C. tired of D. used to
11.A. something B. anything C. everything D. nothing
12.A. cleanup B. party C. picnic D. concert
13.A. dropped out B. showed up C. looked around D. called back
14.A. demand B. receive C. accomplish D. overcome
15.A. plan B. visit C. difference D. contact
16.A. crossed B. measure C. covered D. designed
17.A. talk B. complain C. argue D. quarrel
18.A. doing B. thinking C. questioning D. watching
19.A. method B. explanation C. example D. research
20.A. unless B. if C. when D. although
Rose: Dave, I’m going to pick up food and drink for Saturday’s picnic. Any1._____ (suggest)?
Dave: Well, everyone has been talking about2._____ (have) a barbecue, so3.____not pick up some hamburger meat and hot dogs?
Rose: Okay, but do you know how 4._____hamburger meat we are going to need? And hot dogs too?
Dave: Uh, how about three pounds of hamburger and a couple of packages of hot dogs?
Rose: Oh, that’s not going to be enough. Do you remember the last picnic in the mountain? Jim, your roommate, ate about ten hamburgers by5.____ (him)!
Dave: Yeah, I remember that. Then seven packages of hot dogs should be enough. And you can pick up some chicken for those who don’t like hamburgers6._____hot dogs.
Rose: Okay. How about five or six bags of potato chips?
Dave: Hmm. It might be 7._____ (well) to make that eight.
Rose: Okay. Uh, we still need some soft drinks. How about ten of those 2-liter bottles?
Dave: 8._____ (sound) fine, but be sure to buy a variety of drinks.
Rose: Okay. And what about dessert?
Dave: Well, maybe we could ask Kathy 9._____ (make) a few cherry pies like she did last time.
Rose: Great! I’ll give her 10._____call right now.
