Many people think that listening is a passive business. It is just the opposite. Listening well is an active exercise of our attention and hard work. It is because they do not realize this, or because they are not willing to do the work, that most people do not listen well.
Listening well also requires total concentration upon someone else. An essential part of listening well is the rule known as ‘bracketing’. Bracketing includes the temporary giving up or setting aside of your own prejudices and desires, to experience as far as possible someone else’s world from the inside, stepping into his or her shoes. Moreover, since listening well involves bracketing, it also involves a temporary acceptance of the other person. Sensing this acceptance, the speaker will seem quite willing to open up the inner part of his or her mind to the listener. True communication is under way and the energy required for listening well is so great that it can be accomplished only by the will to extend oneself for mutual growth.
Most of the time we lack this energy. Even though we may feel in our business dealings or social relationships that we are listening well, what we are usually doing is listening selectively. Often we have a prepared list in mind and wonder, as we listen, how we can achieve certain desired results to get the conversation over as quickly as possible or redirected in ways more satisfactory to us. Many of us are far more interested in talking than in listening, or we simply refuse to listen to what we don’t want to hear.
It wasn’t until toward the end of my doctor career that I have found the knowledge that one is being truly listened to is frequently therapeutic(有疗效的) In about a quarter of the patients I saw, surprising improvement was shown during the first few months of psychotherapy(心理疗法), before any of the roots of problems had been uncovered or explained. There are several reasons for this phenomenon, but chief among them, I believe, was the patient’s sense that he or she was being truly listened to, often for the first time in years, and for some, perhaps for the first time ever.The phrase “stepping into his or her shoes” in paragraph 2 probably means _______.
| A．preparing a topic list first | B．focusing on one’s own mind |
| C．directing the talk to the desired results | D．experiencing the speaker’s inside world |
What is mainly discussed in Paragraph 2?
| A．How to listen well. | B．What to listen to. |
| C．Benefits of listening. | D．Problems in listening |
According to the author, in communication people tend to ________.
| A．listen actively | B．listen purposefully |
| C．set aside their prejudices | D．open up their inner mind |
According to the author, the patients improved mainly because _______.
| A．they were taken good care of. | B．they knew they were truly listened to. |
| C．they had partners to talk to. | D．they knew the roots of problems. |
What type of writing the article likely to be?
| A．Science fiction | B．A news report. | C．A medical report. | D．Popular science |
Every year, a handful of new words enter the world’s collective vocabulary, but only one has the honor of being named Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year. And this year’s top honor goes to “selfie”.
The frequency of the word selfie used in the English language has increased by 17,000 per cent since this time last year. This figure is calculated by Oxford Dictionaries using a research program which collects around 150 million English words currently in use from around the web every month. To qualify, a word need not have been invented within the past 12 months but it does need to stand out or become notable at that time.
Selfie is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as: “A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smart phone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.” Oxford Dictionaries said the earliest known usage is an Australian online forum post in 2002. A man posted a picture of injuries to his face when he tripped over some steps. He apologized for the fact that the picture was out of focus, saying that it was not because he was drunk but because it was a selfie.
Judy Pearsall, editorial director for Oxford Dictionaries, said: “Using the Oxford Dictionaries language research program, we can see a phenomenal upward trend in the use of selfie in 2013, and this helped to win its selection as Word of the Year.” She also added: “Social media sites helped to popularize the term, with selfie appearing on the photo-sharing website Flicker as early as 2004, but usage wasn’t widespread until around 2012, when selfie was being used commonly in mainstream media sources.”
Selfies have taken the world by storm. Everyone from the first family to ordinary people has taken the time to pose for a selfie. Celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Jennifer Lawrence, and Jennifer Aniston have all showed their new haircuts with selfies this year. Selfie was added to the Oxford Dictionaries online in August, but not yet in the Oxford English.What does this passage mainly talk about?
| A．The definition of the word “Selfie”. |
| B．The widespread usage of the word “Selfie” in 2012. |
| C．“Selfie” has been chosen as the Word of the Year of 2013. |
| D．“Selfie” began to be used in the Oxford English. |
What can we learn from the passage about the word Selfie?
| A．Social media sites helped to popularize the word Selfie. |
| B．The frequency of the word “selfie” has increased to 17,000 % since 2004. |
| C．Celebrities and the first family have all showed their new haircuts with selfies. |
| D．The earliest known usage of “selfie” was a man who was drunk. |
The word “selfie” was chosen the Word of the Year by _____________.
| A．A social media website. |
| B．The photo-sharing website Flicker. |
| C．A research program by Oxford Dictionaries. |
| D．People who take picture using a smart phone or webcam. |
In which column of a newspaper can we find this article?
| A．Arts | B．Entertainment |
| C．Science | D．Culture |
Just weeks after a special memorial voyage to mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, an Australian billionaire has announced plans to build an exact replica(复制品) of the Titanic, which is just as similar to the original one as possible. The Titanic replica will make its first voyage from Southampton, England to New York in 2016.
The Titanic is a famous ship that sank in 1912. The attractive story of the ocean liner(邮轮) has made millions of people interested in it around the world. It was believed to be an unsinkable ship but it hit an iceberg and sank on its first voyage. More than 1,500 people died in the sinking of the Titanic, which at the time was the world’s largest and most luxurious ocean liner.
When fully built, the Titanic II will be 270 meters (886 feet) long and capable of holding 1,680 passengers. Unlike the original Titanic which was powered by coal-fired boiler and steam engines, the Titanic II will have modern diesel(柴油机) and electric engines. Also unlike the first Titanic, the Titanic II will have more than enough lifeboats to accommodate everyone on board if something should go wrong.
When asked whether the new replica would sink, Mr. Palmer replied: “Of course it will sink if you put a hole in it. He also added “It will be designed as a modern ship with all the technology to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
When Mr. Palmer was asked if he expected hisTitanic to be successful, he simply said: “At my age, you don’t really worry so much about whether you’ll make money or lose money on something, but I believe that it is worth building it.”Why is the Titanic replica being built?
| A．To make a voyage from Southampton, England to New York. |
| B．To mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. |
| C．To realize Mr. Palmer’s dream of constructing a luxuriousocean liner. |
| D．Not clearly talked about in the passage. |
What’s mainly talked about in Paragraph 2?
| A．The travelling route of the Titanic. |
| B．A short introduction to the original Titanic. |
| C．The number of people on the Titanic when it sank. |
| D．People’s great interest in the attractive story of the ocean liner. |
What is the difference between the Titanic II and the original one?
| A．Titanic II will be powered by modern diesel and electric engines. |
| B．The appearance of Titanic II will be more luxurious. |
| C．The construction of Titanic II will be more complex. |
| D．The number of the lifeboats on Titanic II will be smaller. |
What is Mr. Palmer’s attitude towards his Titanic II replica?
| A．It will sink with a hole in it. |
| B．It will definitely be a great success. |
| C．It is worthwhile to build it. |
| D．It will make him lose money. |
Fatu Kekula is a hero. The 22-year-old Liberian nursing student, in her final year, managed to save the members of her immediate family from the Ebola virus, all without the help and convenience of a hospital.
Kekula reduced the rate to 25 percent. Four of her family members were infected with the virus. Her father, Moses, her mother, Victoria, her sister, Vivian and her 14-year-old cousin, Alfred Winnie. Sadly, Kekula’s cousin succumbed to the virus. It’s also impressive to note that while Kekula was treating her family members she managed to avoid Ebola entirely.
On July 27, Kekula’s father, Moses, went to a hospital in Kanata, after his blood pressure rose sharply. The only reason the hospital had a bed to offer him was because someone had just died. But the staff in the hospital didn’t realize the patient died from an Ebola infection. Shortly, after he was admitted to the hospital, Moses developed a fever, started vomiting and was suffering from diarrhea. Once nurses started dying of Ebola, the hospital shut down and Moses had to leave. Kekula drove 90 minutes to Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, to seek treatment. Three hospitals turned them away because there is no spare bed for patients at all.
Kekula made the drive back to Kanata to another hospital. They told Moses he had typhoid fever and did very little to treat him. So Kekula took him home. Once he was there, he infected three other family members. Her mother, sister and their cousin who was living with them.
Kekula only lost one patient, her cousin. Her method proved so effective that international aid workers, including UNICEF, began teaching it to others in West Africa who may not be able to get to hospitals for treatment.
Her father, mother and sister were already recovering when space became available at the JFK Medical Center on August 17. Alfred passed away at the hospital the next day. Kekula’s father, Moses said, “I’m very, very proud. She saved my life through the almighty God.”What is the best title for the passage?
| A．A courageous and selfless nurse. |
| B．Give her a medal: Woman saves family members from Ebola. |
| C．A family survived Ebola with the help of government. |
| D．The dreadful disease Ebola. |
What does the underlined word “succumbed to” in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A．was affected with | B．survived |
| C．died of | D．fight against |
Why Kekula took her father home?
| A．Because a patient died from an Ebola infection in the hospital in Kanata. |
| B．Because they were turned down by hospitals and little can be done to her father. |
| C．Because Moses were already recovering when he was admitted to the JFK Medical Center. |
| D．Because nurses started dying of Ebola and many hospitals were shut down. |
If you want to walk in the footsteps of some of the world’s greatest figures, then go to Oxford. Many of Oxford’s 38 colleges are open to the public year-round. Here are a few of the colleges worth visiting and some famous people who have studied there.
Christ Church College
Long before it became known as a location for the Harry Potter films, Christ Church was the college where Albert Einstein, author Charles Dodgson who wrote Alice in Wonderland, and 13 British prime ministers studied. In this large and popular college, you can see the paintings in the 16th-century Great Hall.
Magdalen College
Many consider Magdalen to be one of the most beautiful Oxford’s colleges. This is where author Oscar Wilde read his classics course. You can enjoy the medieval(中世纪的) church with its 15th-century tower. Opposite the college is the beautiful Botanic Garden founded in 1621.
Merton College
Founded in 1264, Merton has the oldest medieval library in use. J. R. R. Tolkien is said to have spent many hours here writing The Lord of the Rings. One of the college’s treasures is an astrolabe(星盘)，thought to have belonged to Chaucer. The college has the most amazing collection of medieval colored glass in Oxford.
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library, the main research library of the University of Oxford, is the largest university library in the UK. It is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library. It holds more than 9 million printed items on 189 km of shelving and seats up to 2,500 readers. The users of the library here include five kings, 40 Nobel Prize winners, 25 British prime minister and countless famous writers.If a Harry Potter fan travels to Oxford, he’ll probably visit ____________.
| A．Merton College | B．Bodleian Library |
| C．Magdalen College | D．Christ Church College |
Which of the following can travelers see in Magdalen College?
| A．A 15th-century tower. |
| B．A seven–ton tower bell. |
| C．England’s smallest cathedral. |
| D．British oldest botanic garden. |
According to the passage, J. R. R. Tolkien is ____________.
| A．the founder of Merton College |
| B．the author of The Lord of the Rings |
| C．the designer of the oldest medieval library |
| D．the owner of the astrolabe in Merton College |
What do we know about the Bodleian Library?
| A．It lies in Magdalen College. |
| B．It is the most famous library in the UK. |
| C．It has a collection of 2,500 kinds of books. |
| D．It is smaller than the British Library. |
A British farmer has been searching for a group of fighter planes for 15 years. The planes were lost in Burma during World War II. David Cundall, 62, traveled to Burma a dozen times. He spent about US $207,000 in the hope of finding a British Spitfire（喷火式战斗机）buried in the Southeast Asian country. Finally, his hard work paid off.
Cundall started his search after his friend heard from a group of U.S. war veterans（老兵）that they had buried Spitfires in the region. “We’ve done some pretty silly things in our time, but the silliest was burying Spitfires,” the veterans said.
Cundall began placing ads in magazines to try to find soldiers who might have been involved. After 15 years of searching, he finally managed to locate the missing airplanes. The planes had never been flown and were buried in their transport crates（条板箱）. “We made a borehole（钻孔）and used a camera to look at the crates. They seemed to be in good condition.” Cundall told The Telegraph. The aircraft had arrived at a Royal Air Force base in Burma in August 1945. But, by that point in the war, the planes weren’t needed. “In 1945, Spitfires were ten a penny, and you could see them everywhere.” Said Cundall.
British Prime Minister, David Camerion, recently visited the country. As The Telegraph reports, Camerion’s help may mean that the Spitfires could soon be on their way back to the United Kingdom. Cundall hopes that with the help of investors, the planes can finally take to the skies.
“Spitfires are beautiful aeroplanes and should not be rotting away（腐烂）in a foreign land,” Cundall says. “They saved our neck in the Battle of Britain and they should be protected.”Which of the following is the best title for the text?
| A．A British Farmer’s Dream |
| B．Burma’s Buried Treasure |
| C．A Search for Buried Planes |
| D．The Design of the British Spitfire |
What did the war veterans feel when they talked about the buried planes?
| A．Disappointed | B．Excited. |
| C．Regretful | D．Hopeful |
What does the underlined phrase, “ten a penny ”, in the third paragraph mean?
| A．expensive. | B．cheap. | C．rare | D．common |
What can we learn about the British Spitfires?
| A．The planes buried under the ground were seriously damaged. |
| B．The planes were not needed at that time during World War II. |
| C．It will be very difficult to take the planes back to the United Kingdom. |
| D．The planes were buried in Burma after they crashed there. |
What can we infer from the last two paragraphs?
| A．Cundall has asked Prime Minister David Cameron for help to bring Spitfires back. |
| B．The government of Burma will not allow Britain to bring the Spitfires back |
| C．The Spitfires buried in Burma are beginning to rot away. |
| D．Cundall likes Spitfires very much and he thinks they should be preserved. |