WhenanofficialattheU.S.OpenPoc-优题课

Jack Benny was one of the most famous names in show business. As a child, Benny learned to play the violin. After finishing his school, he joined the Navy. He continued using his violin to perform for sailors. In one show he was chosen more for his funny jokes than for his skill with the violin. That experience made him believe that his future job was a comedian.
Benny developed a show personality that had all the qualities people dislike. He was known for being so stingy-he refused to spend any money unless forced to do so. On his shows Benny often spoke of his appearance, especially his baby blue eyes. As he grew older, he always claimed to be 39 years old. Benny rarely make jokes that hurt other people. Instead, he would let the other actors on the show tell jokes about him.
In real life, he was very giving and he was a person people liked having as their employer. Benny entered the new media of television in 1950. Five years later, he dropped his radio program to spend more time developing his television show. At first his appearances on television were rare. By 1960 the Benny Show was a weekly television program. It continued until 1965. Benny appeared in about twenty films during his life. a few became popular. But most were not. In 1963 Benny returned to Broadway for the first time since 1931.
Benny received many awards during his lifetime. Perhaps the one honor that pleased him most was that his hometown of Waukeegan named a school for him. This was a special honor for a man who had never finished high school.
Benny continued to perform. He died of cancer in 1974. At his funeral his friend Bob Hope said, “ Jack Benny was stingy to the end. He gave us only eighty years.”
60. Benny was determined to be a comedian______________.
A. after he played the violin for the sailors
B. after he left he Navy for Broadway
C. after he performed in a show for the sailors
D after he joined the Navy with his violin
61. The underlined word “stingy” can be replaced by “______________”
A. clever B. mean C. out-going D hard-working
62. Which of the following statements is TRUE about Benny?
A. His first appearance on TV was very successful
B. Most of his films became well-known to Americans
C. Benny treated all his awards as nothing
D His greatest achievement was developing show business
63. We can learn from Bob Hope’s words that______________
A. he felt very sad about Benny’s death
B. Benny devoted himself to developing TV business
C. eighty years was enough for common people, but not for Benny
D Benny performed only eighty years.

第三部分阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
Bad moods can actually be good for you-an Australian study finds that being sad makes people less possible to be taken in, improves their ability to judge others and also improves memory.
The study, carried out by psychology professor Joseph Forgas at the University of New South Wales, showed that people in a negative mood were more critical of, and paid more attention to their surroundings than happier people, who were more likely to believe anything they were told. "Although positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, cooperation, negative moods lead to more attentive, careful thinking and encourage people to pay greater attention to the outside world," Forgas wrote. "Our research suggests that sadness promotes information processing strategies best suited to dealing with more demanding situations."
For the study, Forgas and his team conducted several experiments that started with inducing （引起，导致）happy or sad moods in participants through watching films and recalling positive or negative events. In one of the experiments, happy and sad participants were asked to judge the truth of urban myths and rumors and found that people in a negative mood were less likely to believe these statements. People in a bad mood were also less likely to make quick decisions based on racial or religious prejudices（偏见）, and they were less likely to make mistakes when asked to recall an event that they witnessed.
The study also found that sad people were better at stating their case through written arguments. Forgas said this showed that a negative mood may actually promote a clearer and more successful communication style."
"Positive mood is not universally desirable: people in negative mood are less prone to judgmental errors, and are better at producing high-quality, effective persuasive arguments" Forgas wrote.
56.According to the text, people in a bad mood are more likely to______________.
A. judge other people more exactly
B. believe anything they are told
C. make quick decisions based on prejudices
D make mistakes when asked to describe an event
57. We can learn from the text that Joseph Forgas______________
A. carried out the experiments alone
B. is a psychology professor in Britain
C. likes to deal with demanding situations in life
D believes bad moods might benefit people’s health
58. In what way did Joseph Forgas conclude the study?
A. By comparison B. By explanation C. By analysis D By inference
59. The text is mainly about ______________
A. how to change bad moods into good moods
B. the differences between good and bad moods.
C. benefits of bad moods
D how to beat bad moods.

It is often said that politeness costs nothing．In fact，it seems that a little more courtesy could save businesses￡5 billion every year．
Frequently hearing the phrase “thank you” or “well done” means the same to staff as a modest pay rise，researchers say．
Praise and encouragement also makes employees more likely to work hard and stay in their jobs，saving on the cost of finding replacements．
A third of 1,000 workers surveyed by consulting firm White Water Strategies said they did not get thanked at all when they did well—and a further third said they were not thanked enough．
In both cases，staff said they felt undervalued，meaning they were less likely to exert themselves and were more likely to look for employment elsewhere．
The net result is around ￡5.2 billion in lost productivity from employees who would raise their game if they felt more appreciated，White Water claimed According to the company，praising staff has the same motivational kick as a 1 per cent pay rise—and works out much cheaper for bosses．
Three out of four employees said that regular acknowledgement by their boss was important to them，but only a quarter said they were actually given as much praise as they felt they needed．
The survey found that those in blue-collar and manual jobs were less likely to be given any recognition for doing well．
In regional terms，Scottish staff felt most undervalued．Four out of ten workers said they were never thanked and eight out of ten said they would like more praise．However，workers in the North-East are less impressed by being buttered up by the boss，as only 69 per cent said they felt the need to be told “well done” regularly．
Older employees and women need the most reassurance，according to psychologist Averil Leimon，a director of White Water Strategies．She said that words of praise did more than create a pleasant place to work—they could even boost profits．
51．The second paragraph means that_____________.
A．employees ask for high pay instead of hearing “thank you” or “well done”
B．bosses always think highly of their employees’ work
C．bosses’ praise and encouragement are important to workers
D．bosses should praise their workers from time to time
52．Why praise and encouragement are needed according to the passage?
A．Most bosses feel it necessary
B．Most workers didn’t work hard enough.
C．Most bosses can make money from praise and encouragement
D．Most workers will work harder and stay in their jobs from praise and encouragement.
53．According to tiffs passage，the majority of staff felt______________．
A．there were thanked enough B．they were undervalued
C．they got satisfactory payD．they didn’t need encouragement
54．Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A．Blue-collar and manual workers need more regular acknowledgement by their bosses．
B．A third of the workers surveyed by White Water Strategies never got thanked at all when
they did well．
C．Old employees and women do not need to be appreciated as much as the young．
D．Fewer than 20％ of Scotiish felt that they never got thanked．
55．The main idea of the passage is that___________
A．praise and encouragement may help employees work better
B．workers are always demanding more praise and encouragement
C．bosses in Scotland usually praise and encourage their staff enough
D．if undervalued employees will certainly look for employment elsewhere

Good evening. I have come to Jerusalem today as a novelist, which is to say as a professional
spinner of lies.
Today, however, I have no intention of lying. I will try to be as honest as I can. There are only a few days in the year when I do not engage in telling lies, and today happens to be one of them.
So let me tell you the truth. In Japan a fair number of people advised me not to come here to accept the Jerusalem Prize. Some even warned me they would instigate a boycott of my books if I came. The reason for this, of course, was the fierce fighting that was raging in Gaza.
Finally, however, after careful consideration, I made up my mind to come here. One reason for my decision was that all too many people advised me not to do it. Perhaps, like many other novelists, I tend to do the exact opposite of what I am told. If people are telling me-- and especially if they are warning me-- “Don’t go there,” “Don’t do that,” I tend to want to “go there” and “do that”. It’s in my nature, you might say, as a novelist. Novelists are a special breed. They cannot genuinely trust anything they have not seen with their own eyes or touched with their own hands.
And that is why I am here. I chose to come here rather than stay away. I chose to see for myself rather than not to see. I chose to speak to you rather than to say nothing.
Please do allow me to deliver a message, one very personal message. It is something that I always keep in mind while I am writing fiction. I have never gone so far as to write it on a piece of paper and paste it to the wall: rather, it is carved into the wall of my mind, and it goes something like this:
“Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg.”
I have only one reason to write novels, and that is to bring the dignity of the individual soul to the surface and shine a light upon it. The purpose of a story is to sound an alarm, to keep a light trained on the System in order to prevent it from tangling our souls in its web and demeaning them. I truly believe it is the novelist’s job to keep trying to clarify the uniqueness of each individual soul by writing stories--stories of life and death, stories of love, stories that make people cry and quake with fear and shake with laughter. This is why we go on, day after day, concocting fictions with utter seriousness.
46．What made the writer decide to come to Jerusalem?
A．He wanted to accept the Jerusalem Prize.
B．A fair number of people advised him to.
C．too many people advised me not to do it and he chose to some here rather than stay away.
D．He wanted to write novels in Jerusalem.
47．From the passage, we can know the writer is man who_____________
A．is afraid of others’ opinions.
B．braves to express his opinions.
C．trusts anything others talk.
D．hates anything and writes to the pubic.
48．Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A．the purpose of writing for the writer is to bring the dignity of the individual soul to the
surface and shine a light upon it.
B．Novelists hardly trust anything they have not seen with their own eyes or touched with
their own hands.
C．The writer’s writing stories just wanted to make people cry and quake with fear and shake
with laughter.
D．The writer comes from Japan and chose to speak to the public.
49．What did the writer mean by saying : “I always stand on the edge of the egg?”
A．He thought he was so weak.
B．He wanted to be an egg.
C．He didn’t like the wall.
D．He wanted to fight with the strong society for his dream.
50．Where does this passage come from?
A．a speech from awarding meeting
B．a discussion from a novelist
C．a debate from Japanese
D．a warning from a meeting

III．阅读（共两节，满分40分）
第一节：阅读理解（共15小题，每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下面短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
A serious problem for today's society is who should be responsible for our elderly and how to improve their lives．It is not only a financial problem but also a question of the system we want for our society．I would like to suggest several possible solutions to this problem．
First, employers should take the responsibility for their retired employees．To make this possible, a percentage of profits should be set aside for this purpose．But when a company must take life-long responsibility for its employees, it may suffer from a commercial disadvantage due to higher employee costs．
Another way of solving the problem is to return the responsibility to the individual．This means each person must save during his working years to pay for his years of retirement．This does not seem a very fair model since some people have enough trouble paying for their daily life without trying to earn extra to cover their retirement years． This means the government might have to step in to care for the poor．
In addition, the government could take responsibility for the care of the elderly．This could be financed through government taxes to increase the level of pensions．Furthermore, some institutions should be created for senior citizens, which can help provide a comfortable life for them．Unfortunately, as the present situation in our country shows, this is not a truly viable answer．The government can seldom afford to care for the elderly, particularly when it is busy trying to care for the young．
One further solution is that the government or social organizations establish some working places especially for the elderly where they are independent．
To sum up, all these options have advantages and disadvantages．Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that some combination of these options may be needed to provide the care we hope to give to our elderly generations．
41．What is the passage mainly about?
A．The problems faced by the old in society．
B．Why we should take responsibility for the old．
C．How we can improve the lives of the old．
D．Where the old can go to get their pensions．
42．According to the passage, how can the government help to improve the lives of retired people?
A．Set aside some profits to help people with problems after they retire．
B．Increase savings levels of people during their working years．
C．Increase the discounts for food and transport for the old．
D．Make available pensions for those who have retired．
43．The underlined word "viable" most probably means"______________"．
A．impossible B．practical C．useful D．important
44．What can be concluded from the passage?
A．Taking care of the old is mainly an issue of money．
B．Employers should allow their workers to retire at a later age．
C．Becoming independent should be the goal of most old people．
D．There is no single solution to the problems of the old．
45．What is the writer's main purpose in writing this article?
A．To point out the need for government support for old people．
B．To make general readers aware of the problems of retired people．
C．To discuss some possible solutions to an important social problem．
D．To instruct retired people on how they can have a happier life．