There is a boy in my gym class (I’ll call him Bill) who has unbearably yellow teeth that almost make everyone feel unpleasant. Recently another boy told Bill that he should “go Ajax” his teeth. Bill was crushed. Had the other boy been thinking, he would have realized that there is a better way to handle such a situation. He could have dealt with it with tact. He could have showed this hurtful truth in a more careful, sensitive way—that’s “tact”.
If a person isn’t sensitive to another’s feelings, there is no way he or she can be tactful. Yesterday, my 5-year-old brother proudly announced that he had cleaned the screen on our television set. Unfortunately, he used furniture polish(亮光油), which produced an oily film on the television screen. My mother smiled and thanked him for his efforts—and then showed how to clean the screen properly. Her sensitivity enables my brother to keep his self-respect. Yet, sensitivity alone does not make tact.
“Tactfulness” also requires “truthfulness”.Doctors, for example, must be truthful. If a patient has just been disabled in an accident, a tactful doctor will tell the truth—but express it with sensitivity. The doctor may try to give the patient hope by telling them curing techniques under study or about advanced equipment now available. Doctors must use tact with patients relatives as well. Instead of bluntly saying, “Your husband is disabled,” a doctor might say, “I’m sorry, but your husband has lost feeling in his legs and…”
Tact should not be confused with trickery. Trickery occurs when a nurse is about to give a patient an injection and says, “This won’t hurt a bit.” Instead of trickery, the nurse might guarantee the patient that the discomfort of the injection is a small thing compared to the benefits of it. It would also be thoughtful for the nurse to tell the patients about some of these benefits.
Tact is a wonderful skill to have, and tactful people are usually admired and respected. Without tact our society would become an intolerable place to live in.
1.When told he should “go Ajax” his teeth, Bill probably felt ________________.
A．surprised B．cheated C．regretful D．painful
2.According to the author, his mother’s praise for the brother is _______________.
A．both sensitive and tactful B．sensitive but not tactful enough
C．truthful but not tactful D．sensitive but trickish
3.The fourth paragraph mainly talks about __________________.
A．how to comfort the patients
B．how to use trickery carefully
C．differences between trickery and promises
D．another feature of tact
4.Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?
(The numbers stand for the paragraphs)
Speech—the act of uttering sounds to convey meaning—is a kind of human action. Like any other constantly repeated action, speaking has to be learned, but once it is learned, it becomes a generally unconscious and apparently automatic process.
As far as we can determine, human beings do not need to be forced to speak; most babies seem to possess a sort of instinctive drive to produce speech like noises. How to speak and what to say are another matter altogether. There actions are learned from the particular society into which the baby is born; so that, like all conduct that is learned from a society—from the people around us—speech is a patterned activity.
The meandering(漫目无地的)babble(咿呀学语)and chatter of a young child are eventually channeled by imitation into a few orderly grooves that represent the pattern accepted as meaningful by the people around him. Similarly, a child’s indiscriminate(不加分辨的)practice of putting things into his mouth becomes limited to putting food into his mouth in a certain way.
The sounds that a child can make are more varied and numerous than the sounds that any particular language uses. However, a child born into a society with a pattern of language is encouraged to make a small selection of sounds and to make these few sounds over and over until it is natural for him to make these sounds and not others.For an adult, the process of speaking usually involves___________________ .
| A．conscious selection of sounds | B．imitation of those around him |
| C．a drive to make noises | D．unconscious actions |
The selection says that most babies have an instinctive drive to __________ .
| A．express ideas in words | B．make speech like noise |
| C．convey meaning | D．imitate sounds around them |
Conduct that is learned from a society may be called___________________ .
| A．instinctive drive | B．selection | C．automatic activity | D．patterned activity |
The sounds that a child is able to make are ___________________ . .
| A．not as varied as those used in language |
| B．more varied and numerous than those in any language |
| C．far fewer than those needed to form a language |
| D．completely different from the sounds of language |
We may say that a child has learned to speak if he ___________________ . .
| A．makes varied sounds |
| B．carefully considers each sound he makes |
| C．makes only certain sounds naturally |
| D．imitates people around him |
Tea drinking was common in China for nearly one thousand years before anyone in Europe had ever heard about tea．People in Britain were much slower in finding out what tea was like, mainly because tea was very expensive. It could not be bought in shops and even those people who could afford to have it sent from Holland did so only because it was a fashionable curiosity. Some of them were not sure how to use it. They thought it was a vegetable and tried cooking the leaves. Then they served them mixed with butter and salt. They soon discovered their mistake but many people used to spread the used tea leaves on bread and give them to their children as sandwiches.
Tea remained scarce and very expensive in England until the ships of the East India Company began to bring it direct from China early in the seventeenth century. During the next few years so much tea came into the country that the price fell and many people could afford to buy it.
At the same time people on the Continent were becoming more and more fond of tea．Until then tea had been drunk without milk in it, but one day a famous French lady named Madame de Sevigne decided to see what tea tasted like when milk was added．She found it so pleasant that she would never again drink it without milk. Because she was such a great lady her friends thought they must copy everything she did, so they also drank their tea with milk in it. Slowly this habit spread until it reached England and today only very few Britons drink tea without milk.
At first, tea was usually drunk after dinner in the evening No one ever thought of drinking tea in the afternoon until a duchess (公爵夫人) found that a cup of tea and a piece of cake at three or four o’clock stopped her getting “a sinking feeling” as she called it. She invited her friends to have this new meal with her and so, tea-time was born.Which of the following is true of the introduction of tea into Britain?
| A．The Britons got expensive tea from India. |
| B．Tea reached Britain from Holland. |
| C．The Britons were the first people in Europe who drank tea. |
| D．It was not until the 17th century that the Britons had tea. |
This passage mainly discusses_____________.
| A．the history of tea drinking in Britain |
| B．how tea became a popular drink in Britain |
| C．how the Britons got the habit of drinking tea |
| D．how tea-time was born |
Tea became a popular drink in Britain_____________.
| A．in eighteenth century | B．in sixteenth century |
| C．in seventeenth century | D．in the late seventeenth century |
People in Europe began to drink tea with milk because_____________.
| A．it tasted like milk |
| B．it tasted more pleasant |
| C．it became a popular drink |
| D．Madame de Sevigne was such a lady with great social influence that people tried to copy the way she drank tea |
We may infer from the passage that the habit of drinking tea in Britain was mostly
due to the influence of ________.
| A．a famous French lady | B．the ancient Chinese |
| C．the upper social class | D．people in Holland |
Children of America are getting fatter every time. 13% of the children at the age of 6 to 11 are overweight(too fat).
When we look at children’s lives today in the USA, we can see the root(origin)of the problem--sports and foods. Young children like sports but they don’t have enough around the start of high school. That’s especially true for girls. Meanwhile, to make matters worse, schools are becoming much more interested in sports teams. So children are not able to get enough exercise just when they need it the most. There is also the food problem. Children get most of their calories(热量) at restaurants or parties or somewhere else away from home. They often drink too many Cokes. Parents have a lot of fears about telling a child he needs to lose weight-- they are afraid it will push a child into an eating disorder. Some parents fear that pushing children to lose weight means their children will think they’re not good enough, or not loved because of their weight. Parents need to come to terms with the fact that the family is very important to the children. The most useful program for children is called "family weight control". This is good news. Mom and Dad, even if they don’t have weight problems, have to go through the same program as their children and learn how to get some exercise and how to eat healthily.Why are American children getting fatter? The writer thinks_______.
| A．parents also have weight problem as their children |
| B．children drink too many Cokes |
| C．schools are more interested in sports teams |
| D．children have less exercise and eat unhealthily |
The writer wants to tell parents that_______.
| A．overweight children are not loved by people |
| B．children are afraid to lose weight when they have to |
| C．family members can help overweight children a lot |
| D．girls don’t like to exercise |
The writer thinks if mother or father is on the same program as their children, _______.
| A．"family weight control" will be successful |
| B．it will make the children eat much more |
| C．their children will not eat better |
| D．parents will feel sorry about themselves |
Which of the following is NOT the root of overweight problem? _______.
| A．Higher-calorie. | B．Less sports. | C．Family weight control. | D．higher-fat foods. |
What does “come to terms with” probably mean in the passage?
| A．ignore | B．give in to | C．get away with | D．do research into |
There is a story about the moon cake．During the Yuan dynasty, China was ruled by the Mongolian people． Leaders from the preceding Song dynasty were unhappy about being ruled by foreigners, so they began to organize a secret rebellion． The leaders of the rebellion, knowing that the Moon Festival was drawing near, ordered the making of special cakes． Baked into each cake was a message containing the outline of the attack． On the night of the Moon Festival, the rebels successfully attacked and overthrew the government． Today, these cakes are eaten to commemorate（纪念）this legend and are called Moon Cakes．
For generations, moon cakes have been made with sweet fillings of nuts, mashed red beans, lotus-seed paste or Chinese dates, wrapped in pastry． Sometimes a cooked egg yolk can be found in the middle of this rich tasting dessert． Some people have compared moon cakes to the plum puddings and fruit cakes which are served in the English holiday seasons．
Nowadays, there are hundreds of varieties of moon cakes on sale a month before the arrival of the Moon Festival．According to this passage, people eat moon cakes on the Moon Festival because___________ .
| A．it is a tradition |
| B．moon cakes are tasty |
| C．moon cakes look like the moon |
| D．people want to remember the rebellion against the Mongolian rulers |
The leaders ordered the special cakes to be made in order to _________________
| A．prize the rebels | B．celebrate the holiday |
| C．plan the attack | D．carry the message secretly |
Why did those leaders want to overthrow the government? __________________ .
| A．Because they wanted to rule the country． |
| B．Because they were unhappy that China was ruled by the Mongolian． |
| C．Because they were from the preceding Song dynasty． |
| D．Because they wanted to celebrate the Moon Festival in their way． |
Which of the following statements is WRONG? __________________ .
| A．China was once ruled by the Mongolian people during the Yuan dynasty． |
| B．Moon cakes were originally made to carry a message． |
| C．All moon cakes have a cooked egg yolk in them． |
| D．A variety of moon cakes can be bought a month before the Moon Festival now． |
The best title for the passage is “_______”．
| A．The origin of moon cakes | B．Moon cakes and the Moon Festival |
| C．Moon Festival | D．How the Moon Festival came into being |
Autumn and winter are cold and flu seasons. Will the old advice about dressing warmly help prevent a cold, or if you get sick, should you follow the old saying, “feed a cold and starve a fever?” And what about that fever? Should you take medicine to reduce your temperature, or is it better to let the body treat the fever itself? Everyone seems to have an answer. But is popular wisdom valuable?
Doctor Nelson knows a lot about cold and flu seasons. Nelson says research may be just starting to provide proofs for long-held beliefs. For example, scientists for years were against the idea that getting cold and wet might cause colds or flu. But recent studies have shown that cold temperatures cause stress on the body, and that stress can create conditions more inviting to viruses. So maybe it does make sense to wrap up warmly before going outside.
And what about feeding a cold and starving a fever? Nelson says if you have a cold and are hungry, you should eat. But a fever, especially a high one, suggests a more serious problem. He says people are usually not hungry when they have a high fever. Eating might even make a person sick. But drinking enough water is important. A fever easily makes the body lose water.
Finally, when should you treat a fever? Nelson says a fever should be treated if it stays at
40℃ or above for a day or more. A high temperature can damage brain cells. The doctor also believes in treating a fever if it prevents a person from sleeping.
Medicine like aspirin, for example, can be used to reduce pain and fever. But aspirin should not be given to children because it can cause serious problems.We can learn from the passage that Doctor Nelson________.
| A．doesn’t believe in the old advice about preventing colds |
| B．is now trying his best to provide proofs for long-held beliefs. |
| C．doesn’t think it necessary to see a doctor immediately if a person has a temperature of 40℃ |
| D．doesn’t think it necessary to treat a fever even if it prevents someone from sleeping. |
According to Doctor Nelson, if someone catches a fever, he should________.
| A．bathe in cold water | B．drink enough water |
| C．try to eat something | D．take some exercise outside |
Which of the following is Not mentioned in the passage?
| A．When people should treat a fever |
| B．Whether the old advice about preventing a cold is valuable. |
| C．What the medicine , aspirin, is used for. |
| D．Why people should eat when having a cold. |
The passage suggests that_______.
| A．aspirin can damage train cells if an adult takes too much of it. |
| B．it is easier for people to catch colds when their bodies are stressed. |
| C．some old advice about preventing colds doesn’t make any sense. |
| D．the idea that getting cold can cause flu was proved true years ago. |