My 8-hour sleepy voyage finally came to an end after I stepped out of the airport. ________ on the bus, I was waiting anxiously for it to start.
A woman beside me and her daughter both seemed ________. She told me that her daughter had an upset stomach and would ________ continuously; ________, the mother had lost her purse. Apart from a significant ________ of money, the purse also had her phone and a phone number of an important ________. She would meet him for discussing a(n) ________ matter which had to be ________ by tomorrow morning.
I handed her my cellphone without ________ and told her that she could make any ________ she wanted. I also produced a bottle of water I had in my bag to relieve her daughter of her ________. After making several calls, they finally ________ to the official! They turned to look at me ________ and thanked me many times. The woman tried to ________ for my assistance, but I refused ________ I knew she had lost her money.
The next morning, I received a call from the mother, saying that they couldn’t ________ how much my generous act touched them. They were so ________ that they had taken down my number to thank me. I was astonished to be thanked in this way. I never thought my simple offer ________ so much in her heart. And I thought of how many opportunities for kindness we had lost by plugging into cellphones and being disconnected ________ the reality around us-something with easy ________ may make a big difference to others.
1.A. Getting B. Got C. Seated D. Seating
2.A. relaxed B. excited C. unconscious D. uncomfortable
3.A. throw up B. put up C. take up D. pick up
4.A. however B. besides C. therefore D. otherwise
5.A. number B. variety C. mass D. amount
6.A. accountant B. official C. lawyer D. doctor
7.A. simple B. political C. urgent D. financial
8.A. settled B. ignored C. raised D. dropped
9.A. doubt B. permission C. question D. hesitation
10.A. call B. decision C. choice D. promise
11.A. fever B. stress C. sickness D. appetite
12.A. came over B. went through C. got through D. turned around
13.A. doubtfully B. closely C. curiously D. gratefully
14.A. thank B. pay C. award D. praise
15.A. since B. if C. while D. although
16.A. express B. talk C. describe D. compose
17.A. reasonable B. considerate C. flexible D. considerable
18.A. increased B. balanced C. weighed D. ranked
19.A. in B. beyond C. of D. from
20.A. reach B. access C. range D. goal
Test anxiety can be a real problem if you’re so stressed out over a test that you can’t get past the nervousness to focus on the test questions and do your best work. Feeling ready to meet the challenge can keep test anxiety at a manageable level.
Be prepared. Some students think that going to class is all it takes to do well on tests. 1. You will find your test anxiety eases when toy start to study more regularly. The reason is that the more you know the material, the more confident you’;; feel. Having confidence going into a test means you expect to do well.
Watch what you’re thinking. If expecting to do well on a test can help you relax, what about if you expect you won’t do well? 2. They can contribute to your anxiety. If you find yourself having these thoughts, replace them with positive ones. Not unrealistic positive messages, of course, but ones that are practical and true.
Accept mistakes. Another thing you can do is to learn to keep mistakes in view-especially if you are a perfectionist or you tend to be hard on yourself. Everyone makes mistakes, and you may have heard teachers refer to mistakes as learning opportunities. 3.
4. If sitting for a test gets you so stressed out that your mind goes blank and causes you to miss answers that you know, then your level of test anxiety probably needs some attention. Your teacher or your school guidance counselor（顾问）can be good people to talk to.
Take care of yourself. For some people, this might mean learning a simple breathing exercise. Practise breathing exercise regularly when you feel stressed. 5. Then you can calm yourself down and get centered.
A. Ask for help.
B. Learn to praise yourself.
C. This helps your body receive a signal to relax.
D. But good study habits and skills are more important.
E. So it’s time to regard small failures as valuable experiences.
F. Then you will become more interested in asking questions.
G. You may send yourself some negative messages about the test.
Persuasion is to convince someone to agree with you, just like art which also calls for special techniques to accomplish. According to the ancient Greeks, there are three basic tools of persuasion: ethos, pathos and logos.
Ethos is a speaker’s way of convincing the audience that he is trustworthy, honest and reliable. One common way a speaker can develop ethos is by explaining how much experience or education he has in the field. After all, you’re more likely to listen to advice about how to take care of your teeth from a dentist than a fireman.
Pathos is a speaker’s way of connecting with an audience’s emotions. For example, a politician who is trying to convince an audience to vote for him might say that he alone can save the country from a terrible war. These words are intended to fill the audience with fear, thus making them want to vote for him. Similarly, an animal charity might show an audience pictures of injured dogs and cats to make thee viewers feel pity, so they will be more likely to donate money.
Logos is the use of facts, statistics or other evidence to support your argument. An audience will believe you if you have convincing data to back up your claims. Presenting this evidence is much more persuasive than simply saying “believe me”.
Although ethos, pathos and logos all have their strengths, they are often most effective when used together. So, the next time you listen to a speech, watch a commercial or listen to a friend try to convince you to lend him some money, be on the lookout for these ancient Greek tools of persuasion.
1.What is the purpose of persuasion?
A. To advise somebody to support you.
B. To help someone have special skills.
C. To convince somebody to realize his aim.
D. To talk someone into being honest.
2.What is a speaker’s way of convincing the audience to trust him?
A. Pathos. B. Ethos.
C. Logos. D. Education.
3.What do a politician and an animal charity have in common?
A. Both prevent themselves from being hurt.
B. Both save people from terrible wars.
C. Both make the audience support them.
D. Both persuade people to donate money.
4.Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A. Convince the Audience. B. Three Basic Tools of Persuasion
C. Believe Me. D. Strength of Persuasion
It is that time of year when people need to lock their cars. It’s not because there are a lot of criminals running around stealing cars. Rather, it’s because of the good-hearted neighbors who want to share their harvest. Especially with this year’s large crop, leaving a car unlocked in my neighborhood is an invitation for someone to stuff it full of zucchini（西葫芦）.
My sister-in-law, Sharon, recently had a good year for tomatoes. She and her family had eaten and canned so many that they began to feel their skin turn slightly red. That’s when she decided it was time to share her blessings. She started calling everyone she knew. When that failed, she began to ask everyone in the neighborhood like a politician, eventually finding a neighbor delighted to have the tomatoes. “Feel free to take whatever you want,” Sharon told her. She felt happy that she could help someone and that the food didn’t go to waste.
A few days later, Sharon answered the door. There was the neighbor, holding some bread. The neighbor smiled pleasantly, “I want to thank you for all of the tomatoes, and I have to admit that I took a few other things and hope you wouldn’t mind.”
Sharon couldn’t think of anything else in her garden that had been worth harvesting and said no. “Oh, but you did,” the neighbor said. “You had some of the prettiest zucchini I’ve ever seen.”
Sharon was confused. Zucchini in her garden? They hadn’t even plated any zucchini. But her neighbor insisted that there really were bright-green zucchini in her garden. The two of them walked together into the backyard. When the neighbor pointed at the long green vegetables, Sharon smiled, “Well, actually, those are cucumbers that we never harvested, because they got too big, soft and bitter for eating or canning.”
The neighbor looked at Sharon, shock written all over her face. Then she smiled, and held out the bread that she had shared all over the neighborhood, “I brought you a loaf of cucumber bread. I hope you like it.”
1.Why does the author suggest that people in the neighborhood should lock their cars?
A. They might be stolen by thieves.
B. They night be moved away by the police.
C. Their neighbors might fill them with their harvest.
D. Their neighbors might throw rubbish in them.
2.What does the underlined word “blessings” in the second paragraph mean?
A. tomatoes. B. belongings.
C. helpful things. D. best wishes.
3.What did the neighbor do in Sharon’s garden?
A. She harvest tomatoes only.
B. She harvested zucchini by accident.
C. She took some cucumbers mistakenly.
D. She stole something without Sharon’s permission.
4.We can infer from the article that the neighbors bread would taste ________.
A. bitter but tasty B. strange and bitter
C. hard and sour D. soft and sweet.
The next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) may be sitting right beneath you, at least if furniture maker Ikea has any say in the matter. The Swedish furniture company’s “future-living” research lab in Copenhagen is conducting a survey to understand what people want when it comes to smart furniture.
AI is now walking into more aspects of people’s daily lives. Self-driving cars are just around the corner, and AI robots can play and beat the best players of strategy games. As smart home technologies have become more ubiquitous, products ranging from smart electrical outlets（插座）to smart smoke alarms are flooding the market. Therefore, it’s not surprising that Ikea would be moving in the same direction.
Exactly why people would want their sofa or bed frame to speak to then, track their daily movements or offer help is not yet clear. Though Ikea’s the new survey doesn’t directly answer that question, it does provide a hint of what people would feel comfortable with. Most participants wanted a more human0like form of virtual（虚拟的）assistants, as opposed to one that is more robotic. In terms of the ideal gender（性别）of the assistants, the most popular choice was neither male nor female. Few wanted a religious form of AI.
Just as with human friends, most wanted AI friends that were like them, affirming their own worldview. They wanted an AI assistant that was reasonably intelligent-that could collect data to predict what a person wanted before he or she asked, and that could prevent someone from making mistakes.
This is not the first time that Ikea has set foot in the field or futuristic technologies. In addition to wireless charging tables and chainless bikes that never rust（生锈）, the furniture giant has also pictured smart kitchens that can cook the best meal. To decide on how intelligent you want your next sofa or bookshelf to be, you can take Ikea’s survey online.
1.What does the underlined word “ubiquitous” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Beautiful. B. Common.
C. Normal. D. Environment.
2.What does Paragraph 3 mainly talk about?
A. The differences between robot-like and human-like assistants.
B. What form of AI assistants people want.
C. What kind of friends people want.
D. The popular robots on the market.
3.Most people who received the survey wanted an AI assistant that could ________.
A. help them became smarter
B. communicate with them without troubles
C. have its own worldview
D. deal with their problems in advance
4.Which of the following products are from Ikea?
A. Smart sofas that can speak to you.
B. Smart beds than can track your daily movements.
C. Wireless charging cars.
D. Rustless bikes without chains.
You may be familiar with the following famous people, but have you heard of their graduation speeches, in which they either share their unforgotten experiences or give you some great inspiration.
Michael Dell, University of Texas at Austin
And now you’ve accomplished something great and important here, and it’s time for you to move on to what’s next. And you must not let anything prevent you from taking those first steps. … You must also commit to the adventure. Just have faith in the skills and the knowledge you’ve been blessed（赐予）with and go.
J.K. Rowling, Harvard University
Half my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between my ambition and the expectation from my parents who were not rich…But what I feared most of myself at your age was not poverty, but failure. The fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you know little about failure, you might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success.
Steve Jobs, Stanford University
Sometimes life’s going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith…Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking and don’t settle.
Bill Gates, Harvard University
We need as many people as possible to have access to the advanced technology to lead to a revolution in what human beings can do for one another. They are making it possible not just for national governments, but for universities, smaller organizations, and even individuals to see problems, see approaches and deal with the world’s inequities（不公平）like hunger, poverty, and so on.
1.What Michael Dell said is to urge us to ________.
A. listen to our heart B. learn from our mistakes
C. follow others’ example D. pursue our dreams
2.What did J.K. Rowling fear most when she was studying in university?
A. Failure. B. Hunger.
C. Poverty. D. Appearance.
3.What does Bill Gates suggest people do?
A. Master as much advanced technology as possible.
B. Work together to rid some global problems.
C. Make contributions to the environment.
D. Take responsibility for their own behavior.
