“Image is everything.” An entire industry has been built upon the assumption that image is everything, but when it comes down to it, an appealing image is not enough. If there is no substance(事实) behind the image, the product, service or person will fail eventually.
First of all, one should consider how important image is in the selling of products and services. Advertising agencies have raised the art of creating an image to a state of near perfection. Public concept of that product or service is certainly managed by the images created by the advertising agencies. But if the product or service does not live up to the image that was created, the customer will be very dissatisfied and possibly ask for their money back. For example, the Arthur Andersen accounting firm had spent decades building up an image of trustworthiness. But the recent scandal (丑闻) showed that behind that image, it cheated in business practices. Despite the previous positive image, the firm is being accused of criminal actions and it will probably not survive as a business unit. Although the image had been nearly perfect, the reality behind the image has led to the downfall of the world famous accounting firm.
Similarly, personal advisers can build up a public image for politicians and movie stars. Putting out positive news releases, making sure that only the best photographs are published, and ensuring that the person is seen in all the right places can build up a very positive image in the view of the general commons. But once again, history is filled with examples of both politicians and movie stars that fell from grace like the story of the Hollywood actor giving in to the pressures of fame and fortune. With people, just as with products and services, image is certainly important, but without positive substance behind the image, failure is close.
To summarize, it is clear that an appealing image is extremely important to success, whether that image is related to selling a product or service or to the “selling” of a person. But image is only half of the equation. What lies behind that image is every bit as important as the image itself —— the person or product must deliver on that image or there is little chance for long-term success.The downfall of the Arthour Andersen accounting firm is due to ________.
| A．its dishonesty in business | B．its previous images |
| C．its bad management | D．its poor service |
Why did some famous people fall from grace?
| A．Their images were not well built up | B．They failed to live up to their images. |
| C．They felt much pressure from the public | D．They paid little attention to fame and fortune. |
The structure of the passage is ________.
A: Argument P: Point C: ConclusionThe author tries to argue that _________.
| A．image creates everything | B．image is the key to success |
| C．truth is unlikely ever to be equalled | D．truth and image are equally important |
Kitesurfing as a water sport began in the 1980s, but didn’t get popular until the end of last century. It is also known as kiteboarding, and in some European countries as flysurfing. Kitesurfing works through wind power by using a large kite to pull a rider on the water at high speed.
At first, kitesurfing was a difficult and dangerous sport. Now it is becoming easier and safer because of the safe kite design. For an able and strong person, kitesurfing can be a very fun, extremely exciting sport, just like skating on the water with a feeling of flying. It has become more and more popular.
Compared with other water sports, kitesurfing is easier to learn. A beginner can understand how to operate the kite with 5—10 hours of training. And anybody aged from 13 to 65 can learn. It is not expensive to get the equipment for kitesurfing, which costs $1,000 to @2,500. Training lessons range from $200 to $500 for two or three hours. With the development of its equipment progress, kitesurfing is becoming even safer. After some training, you can enjoy its excitement and challenging feeling.
With the rising popularty of kitesurfing, most major seaside cities have kitesurfing clubs. In China, Xiamen is the only place that has the kitesurfing club, which provides profeeional kitesurfing training and equipments.Kitesurfing has a history of about years.
| A．30 | B．50 | C．100 | D．130 |
is mentioned in the passage as the power of kitesurfing.
| A．Water | B．Wind |
| C．The sun | D．The kite |
The underlined word “range” in the third paragraph means “” in Chinese.
| A．在……范围内变动 | B．按……顺序排列 |
| C．向……方向延伸 | D．根据……归类 |
The most important reason for the popularity of kitesurfing is that. .
| A．its price is getting lower |
| B．more and more people are enjoying its excitement. |
| C．its equipment progress makes it easier and safer |
| D．all people can learn and take part in it |
The main idea of this passage is about.
| A．the way of operating kitesurfing |
| B．the progress of kitesurfing equimpmet |
| C．the history of kitesurfing in China |
| D．the development of kitesurfing |
Dou Kou, a Chinese boy, is called “the youngest writer in the world”. He has written three books till now. Dou Kou was born in Jiangsu in 1994. When he was 7 months old, his partents started working in over 30 different cities, such as Xi’an and Shenzhen. This kind of life gave him things to think and write about. When he was 9 months old, he could speak and at the age of one, he could say five to six hundred words. At three, he could look up words in the dictionary. At four, his father taught him how to learn by himself. His parents like reading very much. So does he. At the age of 5, he began writing fairy tales. At the age of 6, he wrote a novel about his life in different cities with his parents. His fairy tales are all from his life. One day, he found many mice in the house. They only ate their food but also hurt his mother’s hand. So he thought, “If we give mice the stomach of cows, they will eat grass and they will be helpful to people.” This was his first fairy tales Change Stomach for Mice. Now he studies well in a middle school. He has written his third book, the novel called Eyes of Children. He says, “I am not different from other children. I just wrote several books.How many books has Dou Kou written?
| A．Three. | B．Four. |
| C．Five | D．Six |
Thanks to his ________, Dou Kou could write his books.
| A．mother | B．father |
| C．school life | D．life in different cities |
Dou Kou began to use a dictionary __________.
| A．when he wrote fairy tales |
| B．before his father taught him how to learn something |
| C．after he went to school |
| D．after his mother taught him how to learn something |
The underlined(划线的) sentences show us that Dou Kou _________.
| A．is different from other children |
| B．doesn’t tell the truth. |
| C．is the same as other children |
| D．likes his books |
Which is the best title?
| A．Three Books by a child |
| B．How to Write a Fairy Tales |
| C．How Clever the Boy is |
| D．Dou Kou, the Youngest Writer |
If you have a watch, don’t go to a watchmaker’s unless something is wrong with the machinery. Once I had a beautiful watch. And it had kept perfect time. But one night it happened that I forgot to wind it up (上发条). Next morning I went to a watchmaker as I wanted my perfect watch to be set by the exact time. He examined it and said, “The regulator (快慢调整器) must be pushed up as your watch is four minutes slow.
I tried to stop him from doing so, but he didn’t listen and pushed the regulator.
My beautiful watch began to gain. It gained faster and faster day by day. By the end of the second month it had left all the clocks and watches of the town far behind.
I could do nothing but take it to another watchmaker to be regulated. I expected him to regulate the watch at once, but he asked me to come in a week’s time. When at last I got my watch back from him, it began to slow down. And I failed to be in time for trains, business affairs, and even missed my dinners.
Now I went to a third watchmaker. When I was waiting for him to repair my poor watch, he took it to pieces and said that he would try to finish this work in three or four days. What I could do was to nod my head. After that, my watch went for half a day, and then stopped. So I kept taking my watch from one watchmaker to another. But each watchmaker disappointed me.
My watch had cost me two hundred dollars, but I paid for repairs more than two hundred. At last I decided to buy another watch, which I did.The writer was sure that ___________.
| A．you’d better not have your watch repaired if nothing has gone wrong with it |
| B．you’d better never have your watch repaired |
| C．you’d better not have your watch regulated |
| D．you’d better repair your watch yourself |
The writer took his watch to the first watchmaker in order to ___________.
| A．check (检查) it whether it kept good time |
| B．change some parts |
| C．have it set by the exact time |
| D．push up the regulator |
The watch went faster than it used to be ___________.
| A．after it was repaired |
| B．before it was repaired |
| C．during the time when it was being repaired |
| D．if it was repaired |
Not long after his watch was regulated, he ___________ for the second time.
| A．regulated it | B．set it |
| C．repaired it | D．had it repaired |
The writer decided to buy another watch because ___________.
| A．he would not spend more money on repairs |
| B．he didn’t like the old one |
| C．a new watch could keep good time |
| D．he had spent two hundred dollars on repairs |
The best way of learning a language is using it. The best way of learning English is talking in English as much as possible. Sometimes you'll get your words mixed up (混合) and people will not understand you. Sometimes people will say things too quickly and you can't understand them. But if you keep your sense of humor , you can always have a good laugh at the mistakes you make. Don't be unhappy if people seem to be laughing at your mistakes. It's better for people to laugh at your mistakes than to be angry with you, because they don't understand what you are saying. The most important thing for learning English is: "Don't be afraid of making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes."The writer thinks that the most important thing for you to learn a language is___________.
| A．reading | B．practicing |
| C．talking about it | D．listening |
What should you do in learning English?
| A．Try to make some mistakes. |
| B．Avoid making any mistakes. |
| C．Remember as many new words as you can. |
| D．Use it as often as you cam |
If people laugh at the mistakes you make, you should ___________.
| A．be angry with them | B．be angry with yourself |
| C．not care | D．believe you are right |
When you make a mistake, you should___________.
| A．never make any mistakes again |
| B．tell others not to make the same mistake |
| C．punish yourself for making it |
| D．keep your sense of humor |
The story tell us:" ___________."
| A．It is normal (正常的) that we make some mistakes in learning English |
| B．Everyone must make mistakes |
| C．We can avoid making mistakes in learning a language |
| D．Laughing can help one learn English well |
Not many years ago, a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived alone in a village in the south of England. He had made a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy-five, he gave￡12,000 to the village school to buy land and equipment for a children’s playground.
As a result of his kindness, many people came to visit him. Among them was a newspaperman. During their talk, Johnson remarked that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be a hundred. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy-five. Johnson had a sense of humor. He liked whisky (威士忌酒) and drank some each day. “I have an injection (注射) in my neck each evening,” he told the newspaperman, thinking of his evening glass of whisky.
The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson meant. In his newspaper he reported that Johnson was seventy-five and had a daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain, asking him for the secret of his daily injection.Johnson became a rich man through ___________.
| A．doing business | B．making whisky |
| C．cheating | D．buying and selling land |
The gift of money to the school suggests (暗示) that Johnson ___________.
| A．had no children |
| B．was a strange man |
| C．was very fond of children |
| D．wanted people to know how rich he was |
Many people wrote to Johnson to find out ___________.
| A．what kind of whisky he had |
| B．how to live longer |
| C．how to become wealthy |
| D．in which part of the neck to have an injection |
The newspaperman ___________.
| A．should have reported what Johnson had told him |
| B．shouldn’t have asked Johnson what injection he had |
| C．was eager to live a long life |
| D．should have found out what Johnson really meant |
When Johnson said he had an injection in his neck each evening, he really meant that ___________.
| A．he liked drinking a glass of whisky in the evening |
| B．he needn’t an injection in the neck |
| C．a daily injection in the evening would make him sleep well |
| D．there was something wrong with his neck |