In December 2008, Caroline Kennedy — daughter of the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy—sat down, as a frontrunner for the Senate seat in New York, for a televised interview that helped decide the future of her campaign. The result was a disaster.
Her performance wasn’t well received, in part because her speech was full of filler words—“ums,” “ahs” and “you knows.” One listener counted 27 “ums” and 38 “you knows” in the space of five minutes. A few weeks after the interview, Kennedy ended her Senate campaign.
Filler words may seem natural in everyday speech, but they can be deadly in formal presentations. “Using excessive fillers is the most annoying speech habit,” said Susan Ward, a speech specialist. “They take your listener’s attention away often to the point that he doesn’t hear anything you say. Your message is entirely lost.”
Many speakers are afraid of pause. They believe their audience will think they are inarticulate (不善于表达) if they pause to think of what to say next, so they use filler words to avoid the silence. However, a pause is actually more impressive than a filler word. Listeners know that the speaker is thinking, trying to find the right word. Sometimes a pause can actually improve a speech, as when an actor uses a dramatic pause to hold the attention of his audience. A speaker shouldn’t be afraid to pause occasionally during a speech; it shows self-confidence.
It takes some work to cut out filler words. You can begin by taking a few seconds to think about what you want to say the next time you are asked a question. This pause will help you begin powerfully, and it will help you avoid using a filler word.
The same public speaking technique applies when you are shifting from one idea to another. While you may be tempted to fill the silence between ideas with a filler word, remember to allow yourself to pause and think about what you want to say next.
If you need help overcoming your “um” problem, consider asking a family member or a friend to point out when you use filler words. You also could record an upcoming presentation and then watch yourself in action. You may be amazed at how often you say “um” or “uh”!
Although we live in a fast-paced society that seemingly demands instant answers, we must use the pause to our advantage. Finally, we should only speak when we are ready.In the first two paragraphs of the article the writer intends to ______.
| A．introduce Caroline Kennedy to readers |
| B．illustrate how deadly filler words can be in the public speech |
| C．explain what filler words are |
| D．remind readers that they should count filler words used in public speeches |
The reason why filler words are considered annoying by speech specialist is that ______.
| A．they prevent the listener from focusing on what the speaker is saying. |
| B．they convey the speaker’s superiority to the listener. |
| C．they mean the speaker is not articulate at all. |
| D．they make the speaker appear self-confident. |
When used properly, pauses in speeches can actually ______.
| A．give the speaker more credibility |
| B．hold the attention of the audience |
| C．show the speaker’s deep insight |
| D．help the audience relax |
Which of the following is NOT suggested as a way to get rid of filler words?
| A．To have mental training in order to think faster. |
| B．To ask someone else to point out when you use filler words. |
| C．To watch a recording of your own speech. |
| D．To practice thinking for a moment before answering a question. |
Two Englishmen were traveling in France when a policeman stopped their car and gave it a search. He found a bag of white powder, which looked suspicious（可疑的）. “Drogue?” asked the policeman who was sensitive to heroin（海洛因）. “Yes, dog”, the two replied, having the least idea of their misunderstanding of the French word;
and in no time they found themselves in prison. Analysis（分析）of the powde
r disclosed that it was a chemical which gave off a smell, used to discourage dogs from using the sides of the car as a toilet . The two were set free, after promising to take a few French lessons before their next trip in France.
1. The powder found in the car looked very much like______.
A. heroin B. gun-powder C. medicine D. fertilizer
2. The French word “drogue” means______.
A.“dog”, which o
ften used the sides of the car as a toilet
B.“drunk”, a state caused by the effect of drinking
C.“drug”, matter such as heroin and cocaine（可卡因）
D.“medicine”, used to cure people of their illnesses
3. The reason why the two Englishmen misunderstood the word “drogue” was that ______.
A.the words “drogue” and “dog” are more or less alike in pronunciation
B.“drogue” happened to be a word they had learned in their French lesson
C.they knew no French at all, but were shy of showing this
D.they didn’t know this word, but had a habit of taking things for granted
4.The two Englishmen were free_____.
A.directly after the analysis was carried out
B.after they had given a satisfactory explanation of the powder
C.after the police found out that they hadn’t broken traffic rules
D.on condition that they should d
o something to improve their French
Althou
gh man has known about asbestos for many hundreds of years, it was not until 160 years ago that it was mined for the first time on the North American continent. H. W. Johns, owner o
f a New York City Supply Shop for roofers, was responsible for （对……负责）the opening of that first mine.
Mr. Johns was given a piece of asbestos which had been found in Italy. He experimented with the material and then showed its surprising powers to his customers. After putting a pair of asbestos gloves, which looked much like ordinary work gloves, he took red-hot coals from the fireplace and played with them in his hands. How astonished the customers were to discover that he was not burned at all. You can well imagine that he had increasing business in asbestos roofing materials. However, because it was very expensive to transport(carry) them from Italy to the United States, Mr. Johns sent out a young scientist to seek a source nearer home. This young man found great vein（岩脉）
in the province of Quebec in Canada.
Ever since 1881, Quebec has led the world in the production of this unusual mineral, which is made up of magnesium, silicon, iron, and oxygen. When it is mined, the asbestos is heavy, just as you wou
ld expect a mineral to be. When it is separated, a strange thing happens: the rock breaks down into fine, soapy fibers（滑腻的纤维）。
Scientists do not know why the rock can be separated easily into threads（线）,but they have found thousands of uses for this fireproof material, often called the “cloth of stone”.
1. The title that best expresses the main idea of the passage is _____.
A. Asbestos mined in Canada B. Fireproof matter
C. A “wonder” mineral D. A new roofing material
2. Johns proved his ability （能力）as a salesman by_____.
going into the roofing business
carrying asbestos from Italy
sending a trained scientist
showing the use of asbestos gloves
3. Which is the most important c
haracter of asbestos that the author wants to show us?
A. It is like thread B. It feels soapy
C. It bums easilyD. It is unusually heavy
4. The author’s main purpose in writing this passage is to______.
show the need for more scientists
compare asbestos with other minerals
increase the sales of asbestos
present facts about asbestos
第三节：阅读理解（共20小题，每题2.5分，满分50分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项中，选出最佳答案
A couple of years ago, I received a $ 600 insurance dividend (保险股息).Sitting at the kitchen table, my wife and I discussed what we might do with the money. I realized now t
hat the refrigerator overheard our talk. The very next day it went wrong. The repairman told us we needed a new unit. Cost:$600. Not long after that, we got a refund（赔偿金）from the shop, enough to pay for a trip to Mexico. “I’ve something to tell you,” I said to my wife in a low voice. “How about the living-room?” she suggested. I remembered the color TV set was there. “No, not there. Let’s go out.” I showed her the check as we stood on the driveway. We held each other excitedly and hardly noticed the rain. My car was parked within5 meters. I didn’t think anything about it at the time. As I started for the airport the next day, the car began making strange sounds. Changing the engine cost about $ 1, 000.
Then I looked through our financial records. I discovered that during the last ten years we spent all our “found money” repairing a hot water heater, a television and a stove.
I never mention money in front of our mechanical equipment. But if this article i
s published and I am paid for, the word processor（文字信息处理机）is going to go for sure. It’ll know.
1. What went wrong first as the writer’s?
A. The refrigerator B. The stove
C. The TV set D. The engine of the car
2. What has been repaired and still remains all right?
A. The car B. The color TV set
C. The stove D. The hot water heater
3. Which statement is wrong according to the passage?
A.There are many pieces of moder
n equipment in the writer’s home
B.The writer often discusses with his wife on how to spend their money.
C.The writer has gone into a lot of trouble to repair his things
D.The writer’s refrigerator can overhear him
Blind photography sounds strange．But a striking exhibition of photographs in California argues that it develops as a result of the contemporary art．The show "Sight Unseen", at the California Museum of Photography until Aug．29, includes everything: underwater scenes, landscapes, abstracts and everything else you might expect from a "sighted" photographer．
How do the blind take their photographs? Some rely on assistants to set up and then describe the shots （镜头） , and others just point and shoot in the right place．"Just like any good artists," says McCulloh．"They have their unique ways of operating．" One participating photographer is Pete Eckert, an artist with multiple degrees in design and sculpture who only turned to photography after losing his vision in the mid-1990s．He opens the shutter （快门） on his camera and then uses flashlights, lights, and candies to paint his scene on film．A former fashion photographer in Chicago, Weston, lost his vision due to AIDS in 1996 and focuses on images of destruction and disability．His photos are also a star of the show．
What do gallery-goers say? "I was very impressed by it．The technique and experience was amazingly different," says John Hesketh, a printmaker in Anaheim．"You never have a sense of feeling sorry for these people because they've worked very hard to prove their value．"
Beyond the praise, however, the exhibition also makes a great example for disabled people everywhere．That point was explained in early May during a discussion on the TV show．At the very end of the talk, one attendee expressed his opinion．"This exhibition is extraordinary and revolutionary for many reasons．I think that by being an artist with a disability, you are continuing the work of those people who fought for basic civil rights to gain access and to have a voice．In that way, it's so wonderful that your photographs say it all．"
1．From the passage we know that some blind people take photos by
A．describing the things to their assistants
B．holding the camera and shooting randomly（随意地）
C．opening the shutter with the help of others
D．using special equipment designed for them
2．We can learn from the passage that blind photographers ______
A．were not born blind B．do jobs related to art
C．focus on different subjects D．like photos of destruction
3．The significance of the exhibition lies in the fact that ______．
A．the California Museum of Photography receives praises for holding the show
B．the public have a chance to know what the blind people are concerned about
C．the blind photographers have a good place to show their works
D．the exhibition can be very inspiring to the blind in the world
Photos that you might have found down the back of your sofa are now big business!
In 2005, the American artist Richard Prince’s photograph of a photograph, Untitled (Cowboy), was sold for $ 1, 248, 000.
Prince is certainly not the only contemporary artist to have worked with so-called “found photographs”—a loose term given to everything from discarded(丢弃的) prints discovered in a junk shop to old advertisements or amateur photographs from a stranger’s family album. The German artist Joachim Schmid, who believes “basically everything is worth looking at”, has gathered discarded photographs, postcards and newspaper images since 1982. In his on-going project, Archiv, he groups photographs of family life according to themes: people with dogs; teams; new cars; dinner with the family; and so on.
Like Schmid, the editors of several self-published art magazines also champion (捍卫) found photographs. One of them, called simply Found, was born one snowy night in Chicago, when Davy Rothbard returned to his car to find under his wiper(雨刷) an angry note intended for someone else: “Why’s your car HERE at HER place?” The note became the starting point for Rothbard’s addictive publication, which features found photographs sent in by readers, such a poster discovered in our drawer.
The whole found-photograph phenomenon has raised some questions. Perhaps one of the most difficult is: can these images really be considered as art? And if so, whose art? Yet found photographs produced by artists, such Richard Prince, may riding his horse hurriedly to meet someone? Or how did Prince create this photograph? It’s anyone’s guess. In addition, as we imagine the back-story to the people in the found photographs artists, like Schmid, have collated (整理), we also turn toward our own photographic albums. Why is memory so important to us? Why do we all seek to freeze in time the faces of our children, our parents, our lovers, and ourselves? Will they mean anything to anyone after we’ve gone?
In the absence of established facts, the vast collections of found photographs give our minds an opportunity to wander freely. That, above all, is why they are so fascinating.
1. The first paragraph of the passage is used to _________.
A. remind readers of found photographs
B. advise reader to start a new kind of business
C.ask readers to find photographs behind sofa
D. show readers the value of found photographs
2. According to the passage, Joachim Schmid _________.
A. is fond of collecting family life photographs
B. found a complaining not under his car wiper
C. is working for several self-published magazines
D. wondered at the artistic nature of found photographs
3. The underlined word “them” in Para 4 refers to __________.
A. the readers B. the editors
C. the found photographs D. the self-published magazines
4. By asking a series of questions in Para 5, the author mainly intends to indicate that ________.
A. memory of the past is very important to people
B. found photographs allow people to think freely
C. the back-story of found photographs is puzzling
D. the real value of found photographs is questionable
5. The author’s attitude towards found photographs can be described as _________.
A. critical B. doubtful C. optimistic D. satisfied