Forget hard work and perseverance. Getting ahead is as simple as tidying your desk.
According to a leading expert, having a cluttered environment reflects a cluttered mind, but the act of tidying up can help you be more successful. The advice comes from Jayne Morris, the resident "life coach" for NHS Online, who said it is no good just moving the mess around. In order to clear the mind, unwanted items must be thrown away to free your "inner world", she said.
Ms Morris, who claims to have coached celebrities(名流) to major business figures, said: “Clearing clutter from your desk has the power to transform your business. Why? Because clutter in your outer environment is the physical sign of all the clutter going on inside of you." Clearing clutter has a chain effect across your entire life, including your work. Having an untidy desk covered in clutter could be stopping you achieving the business success you want." She is sure cleaning up will be helpful even though some of history's biggest achievers lived and worked in messy conditions.
Churchill was considered untidy from a boy throughout his life, from his office to his artist's studio, and the lab where Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin was famously untidy.
Among the recommendations is that simply tidying a desk at work and an overflowing filing cabinet (陈列柜) will instantly have a positive impact on "your inner world. " Anything that is no longer used should not be put into storage but thrown away completely.
Keeping something in the loft, garage or other part of the house, does not help because it is still connected to the person "by tiny energetic lines", Ms Morris claims.
She said, "The things in your life that are useful to you, that add value to your life, that serve a current purpose are charged with positive energy that refreshes you and enriches your life. But the things that you don't ever use and don't need anymore have the opposite effect on your energy. Things that no longer fit or serve you use up your energy. "The underlined word "cluttered" (in Para.2) is closest in meaning to _____________.
| A．messy | B．brief | C．complex | D．aggressive |
Which of the following statements does Ms Morris agree to?
| A．Changing the position of staff frequently will help to build up a clear mind. |
| B．A tidy office will lead to a success in your business affairs in no time. |
| C．To have a free mind, we need to throw away unneeded items at times. |
| D．You can pack up your things in garage or loft to cheer you up. |
According to Ms Morris, an untidy desk probably means that .
| A．you are quite a failure |
| B．you are in a messy mind |
| C．you are very tired to deal with it |
| D．you have achieved the business success |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Less untidy, more successful. |
| B．How to improve your inner world. |
| C．Cleaning up makes you less intelligent. |
| D．Being bigger achiever needs more effort. |
Jack used to curse(咒骂) the front yard as if it were a living thing. He was the man who lived with my grandmother for thirty years. He was not my grandfather, but an Italian who came down the road one day, selling fruit in Florida.
Jack stopped at my grandmother’s house to sell her some oranges just a stone’s throw from downtown Miami, and he was delivering her whiskey a week later. He stayed for thirty years. Jack hated the front yard because he thought it was against him. There had been a beautiful lawn(草坪) there when Jack came along, but he let it wander off into nothing. He refused to water it or take care of it in any way.
Now the ground was so hard that it gave his car flat tires(轮胎) in the summer. The yard was always finding a nail to put in one of his tires or the car as always sinking out of sight in the winter when the rains came on. The lawn had belonged to my grandfather, who lived out the end of his life in an insane hospital. It had been his pride and joy and was said to be the place where his powers came.It can be inferred that the real reason Jack had problems with the yard was that _______.
| A．he didn’t like the lawn. |
| B．the author’s grandfather was against Jack working on the lawn |
| C．the lawn was full of living things |
| D．he himself did not take care of the lawn |
We can learn from the passage that when the lawn belonged to the author’s grandfather, it had been _______.
| A．beautiful | B．worn out | C．wasted | D．full of nails |
What do we know about Jack and the author’s grandfather?
| A．They both hated the front lawn. |
| B．Jack was jealous of the author’s grandfather. |
| C．They sold fruit in Florida. |
| D．They came from Italy and lived together. |
Beldon and Canfield are two seashore towns, not far apart. Both towns have many hotels, and in summer the hotels are full of holiday-makers and other tourists.
Last August there was a fire at the Seabreeze Hotel in Beldon. The next day, this news appeared on page two of the town’s newspaper. The Beldon Post:
FIRE AT SEABREEZE
Late last night firemen hurried to the Seabreeze Hotel and quickly put out a small fire in a bedroom. The hotel manager said that a cigarette started the fire. We say again to all our visitors： “Please don’t smoke cigarettes in bed.” This was Beldon’s first hotel fire for five years.
The Canfield Times gave the news in these words on page one：
ANOTHER BELDON HOTEL CATCHES FIRE
Last night Beldon firemen arrived just too late to save clothing, bedclothes and some furniture at the Seabreeze Hotel. An angry holiday-maker said, “An electric lamp probably started the fire. The bedroom lamps are very old at some of these hotels. When I put my bedside light on, I heard a funny noise from the lamp.” We are glad to tell our readers that this sort of adventure does not happen in Canfield.
What are the facts, then? It is never easy to find out the exact truth about an accident. There was a fire at the Seabreeze Hotel last August: that is one fact. Do we know anything else? Yes, we know that firemen went to the hotel.
Now what do you think of the rest of the “news” ?Which of the following best gives the main idea of this text?
| A．Beldon and Canfield are both good places for tourists in summer. |
| B．A fire broke out night in Seabreeze Hotel last summer. |
| C．It was not easy to find out exact truth from newspapers. |
| D．Two newspapers gave reports on the same matter. |
Which of the following are probably facts?
a. The fire broke out in a bedroom at the hotel.
b. A cigarette started the fire.
c. An old lamp started the fire.
d. The fire broke out at night.
e. There has never been a fire in Canfield.
| A．b and c | B．a and d | C．c and e | D．a and c |
The Canfield Times used the headline like this in order to make its readers think _______.
| A．hotels in Beldon often catch fire |
| B．hotels in Beldon don’t often catch fire |
| C．this was the second fire at the Seabreeze Hotel |
| D．Beldon was a good place except that hotels there are not quite safe |
The Canfield newspaper gave a report just the opposite to the Beldon Post by saying that _______.
| A．the bedroom lamps were very old at the Seabreeze Hotel |
| B．the bedroom lights made funny noise when the fire took place |
| C．the firemen failed to save clothing, bedclothes and other things |
| D．such accidents never happened in Canfield for the past 5 years |
At the time, I would go out in the evening with my parents. But this time I had borrowed a bicycle from a friend of mine. I didn’t know why, but once I was on my own bicycle, a kind of free feeling flooded through me. The faster I rode, the faster I wanted to go! Far ahead, I rode as if my life depended on it, head down, hands grasping the handbars. I meant to get to Jinghai Bar as fast as I could...
Oh! My hands! Don’t come any closer... Don’t touch me! That poor doctor just couldn’t get my gloves off. Each time he took a step towards me, I broke into painful shouting. Much later, I discovered that I had crashed(碰撞) heavily with another bicycle, and I hadn’t spoken one word of sense for at least three hours! After some time, my mother arrived at the hospital, her face as white as a sheet, and gave me a hug(拥抱), only then did the doctor begin to stitch(缝合) my head wound, not only did he merrily cut off a long lock of my hair, but used no anaesthetic(麻药) either! Later. I seemed to hear faraway voices saying that my right hand was broken. I almost burst into tears. How would I ever play the piano again?On her way to Jinghai, the writer felt _______.
| A．nervous | B．comfortable | C．light-hearted | D．upset |
Why did the writer ride a bicycle to Jinghai Bar that evening?
| A．Because she wanted to attend a party on time. |
| B．Because she wanted to meet her friend who was waiting for her there. |
| C．Because she just wanted, to join some of her friends and drink some wine. |
| D．We are not quite sure about what she was really going there for. |
What did the writer think of the doctor?
| A．Friendly. | B．Cruel. | C．Hardworking. | D．Kind. |
One thing is sure, that is, before she was wounded she _______.
| A．often went to Jinghai Bar with her friends |
| B．liked playing the piano |
| C．didn’t like any doctors at all |
| D．would burst into tears when she was in trouble |
My father was a foreman of a sugar-cane plantation in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. My first job was to drive the oxen that ploughed the cane fields. I would walk behind an ox, guiding him with a broomstick. For $ 1 a day, I worked eight hours straight, with no food breaks.
It was very tedious work, but it prepared me for life and taught me many lasting lessons. Because the plantation owners were always watching us, I had to be on time every day and work as hard as I could. I’ve never been late for any job since. I also learned about being respectful and faithful to the people you work for. More important, I earned my pay; it never entered my mind to say I was sick just because I didn’t want to work.
I was only six years old, but I was doing a man’s job. Our family needed every dollar we could make because my father never earned more than $ 18 a week. Our home was a three-room wood shack with a dirty floor and no toilet. Nothing made me prouder than bringing home money to help my mother, father, two brothers and three sisters. This gave me self-esteem(自尊心), one of the most important things a person can have.
When I was seven, I got work at a golf course near our house. My job was to stand down the fairway and spot the balls as they landed, so the golfers could find them. Losing a ball meant you were fired, so I never missed one. Some nights I would lie in bed and dreamt of making thousands of dollars by playing golf and being able to buy a bicycle.
The more I dreamed, the more I thought. Why not? I made my first golf club out of guava limb(番石榴树枝) and a piece of pipe. Then I hammered an empty tin can into the shape of a ball. And finally I dug two small holes in the ground and hit the ball back and forth. I practiced with the same devotion and intensity. I learned working in the field — except now I was driving golf balls with club, not oxen with a broomstick.The writer’s first job was _______.
| A．to stand down the fairway at a golf course |
| B．to watch over the sugar-cane plantation |
| C．to drive the oxen that ploughed the cane fields |
| D．to spot the balls as they landed so the golfers could find them |
The word “tedious” in Paragraph 2 most probably means _______.
| A．difficult | B．boring | C．interesting | D．unusual |
The writer learned that_______ from his first job.
| A．he should work for those who he liked most |
| B．he should work longer than what he was expected |
| C．he should never fail to say hello to his owner |
| D．he should be respectful and faithful to the people he worked for |
_______ gave the writer serf-esteem.
| A．Having a family of eight people |
| B．Owning his own golf course |
| C．Bringing money back home to help the family |
| D．Helping his father with the work on the plantation |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．He wanted to be a successful golfer. |
| B．He wanted to run a golf course near his house. |
| C．He was satisfied with the job he got on a plantation. |
| D．He wanted to make money by guiding oxen with a broomstick. |
We spent a day in the country, picking wild flowers. With the car full of flowers we were going home. On our way back my wife noticed a cupboard (柜厨) outside a furniture shop. It was tall and narrow. “Buy it, ” my wife said at once. “We’ll carry it home on the roof rack. I’ve always wanted one like that.”
What could I do? Ten minutes later I was ￡20 poorer; and the cupboard was tied on the roof rack. It was six feet long and eighteen inches square, quite heavy too.
In the gathering darkness I drove slowly. Other drivers seemed unusually polite that evening. The police even stopped traffic to let us through. Carrying furniture was a good idea.
After a time my wife said, “There’s a long line of cars behind. Why don’t they overtake, I wonder?” In fact a police car did overtake. The two officers inside looked at us seriously as they passed. But then, with great kindness, they led us through the rush-hour traffic. The police car stopped at our village church. One of the officers came to me.
“Right, sir, ” he said. “Do you need any more help?”
I was a bit puzzled. “Thanks, officer, ” I said. “You have been very kind. I live just on the road.”
He was staring at our car, first at the flowers, then at the cupboard. “Well, well, ” he said, laughing. “It’s a cupboard you’ve got there! We thought it was something else.”
My wife began to laugh. The truth hit me like a stone between the eyes. I smiled at the officer. “Yes, it’s a cupboard, but thanks again.” I drove home as fast as I could.
1. In fact the husband _______ the cupboard.
A. would like very much to buy B. badly wanted
C. was glad to have bought D. would rather not buy
2. Other drivers thought they were _______.
A. carrying a cupboard to the church
B. sending flowers to the church
C. carrying nothing but a piece of furniture
D. going to attend a funeral(葬礼) at the church
3. The police will be more polite to those who are _______.
A. driving in gathering darkness B. in great sorrow (悲痛)
C. driving with wild glowers in the car D. carrying furniture
4. What did the husband think of this matter?
A. It was very strange. B. He felt ashamed of it.
C. He took great pride in it. D. He was puzzled at it.