KellyReeveswasgettingreadyfora-优题课

OK, I admit it: emoticons(表情符号)are popular. Some people even think they are fun. Many seem unable to get through an e-mail or Instant Message chat sentence without using one. Some feel that they add feeling and character to otherwise cold digital communications.
Some people, such as a Hollywood scriptwriter John Blumenthal, however, blast the use of emoticons as “infantile(幼稚)just like the people who use them”. He believes that words themselves should be enough. “If you’re funny, happy or sad, that should be apparent from the comment that goes before the emoticons,” he argues.
In the eyes of Blumenthal, the use of emoticons is a gender issue. “Men don’t use emoticons very much. Maybe not at all,” he said, “Teenage girls and women seem to use them a lot. Maybe there’s an emoticon gene.”
It’s an interesting opinion, but it is not shared by all.
In an interview with The New York Times, Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology at the University of California, said that emoticons are popular because our brains are programmed “to seek out representations of humanity”. He believes that they are popular not because they are shortcuts for the lazy, but because they bring in something beyond language. They satisfy our needs to be with and communicate with people.
All of these arguments may be somehow right. Each one of us will choose to communicate in our own way. I tried to use one once and felt like I was stealing into a primary school class that I had no place being in. I’d rather let my words do the talking.
Friends, however, send me messages and e-mails full of emoticons. I have no problem with this. I don’t regard any of my friends as lazy or immature. It’s just a question of individuality.
What does the underlined word “blast” in the second paragraph mean?

A．clarify

B．criticize

C．support

D．approve

Which of the following views would John Blumenthal agree with?

A．It’s enough to use language in digital communication.

B．Instant Message chatters are childish.

C．Men never use emoticons.

D．There must be an emoticon gene in everybody.

From the text, we can conclude that the author______________.

A．feels he has no difficulty using emoticons

B．thinks emoticons don’t suit him

C．encourages his friends to use emoticons

D．believes that emoticons are suitable for everyone

What is the main point of the article?

A．Advice on language used over the Internet.

B．Arguments over the use of emoticons.

C．The history of the use of emoticons.

D．Reasons for the popularity of emoticons.

As is shown in a recent study, the way people sleep at night actually determines a lot about the type personality they have. Robert Phipps, a body language expert, has identified four sleeping positions that affect personality.
Phipps found that worriers, those who stress the most, tend to sleep in the fetal(胎儿的) position. He found that this is by far the most common bedtime position, sleeping on their side with knees up and head down. The more we curl up(蜷曲), the more comfort we are seeking, according to Phipps.
The second most common position is the log, indicating stubbornness. People sleep with a straight body, with arms at each side, as if they are standing guard at Buckingham Palace, and these people (the 28 percent who sleep this way) often wake up stiffer(更僵硬) than when they went to sleep.” The longer you sleep like this, the more rigid your thinking is and you can become inflexible, which means you make things harder for yourself,” according to Phipps.
Yearner(向往型的) sleepers are next on the list. About 25 percent of people sleep in this style----on their backs with arms stretched out in front, looking as if they are either chasing a dream or perhaps being chased themselves. Yearners are typically their own worst critics, always expecting great results, explained Phipps. These people often wake up refreshed and eager to face the challenges of the day ahead.
Perhaps the most special sleep style is the freefaller position. This sleep style makes up 17 percent of the population. They sleep face down with arms stretched out. These people, according to Phipps, feel like they have little control over their life. Not only is this the strangest of sleep styles, it also the least comfortable, and people may wake up feeling tired and have no energy.
In conclusion, Phipps has only one more thing to add: “A good night’s sleep sets you up for the following day and our sleeping positions can determine how we feel when we wake.”
Which of the following pictures is the fetal position?

A．

B．

C．

D．

The underlined word “rigid” the third paragraph is closest in meaning to “________”.

A．comfortable

B．flexible

C．stubborn

D．strange

Which sleeping position indicates that the sleeper tends to seek perfection?

A．The fetal position	B．The log position
C．The yearner position	D．The freefaller position

What is the passage mainly about?

A．Which sleeping position helps you sleep comfortably？

B．A good night’s sleep sets you up for the following day.

C．How you sleep at night affects what you do the next day.

D．Your personality depends a lot on how you sleep at night.

It’s still there, the Vietnamese school where my brother and I used to go. Even with a new coat of paint and the high wire fence, the school I knew ten years ago remains the same.
Every day at 5 p.m., instead of flying kites with our friends, my brother and I had to go to Vietnamese school. No amount of kicking, screaming, or arguing could stop my mother, who was determined to have us learn the language of our culture. She held us by the collar and walked with us the seven long, hilly blocks from our home to school, leaving our tearful faces before the front of the school.
We all sat in little chairs in a big empty room, which had a slight smell of old clothes that had been stored for a long time. I hated that smell. There was a stage far to the right, with an American flag on one side and the flag of the Republic of Vietnam on the other side.
Although the school mainly taught language ---- speaking, reading, dictation ---- the lessons always began with an exercise in politeness. With the entrance of the teacher, the best student would tap a bell and everyone would get up, and say in Vietnamese, "How are you, teacher?"
The language always made me embarrassed. More often than not, I had tried to separate myself from the loud voice that followed me whenever I went to the American supermarket outside our area. The voice belonged to my grandmother, a small old woman who could shout louder than anyone on the street. Her Vietnamese was quick, it was loud, and it was not beautiful.
In our area, the comings and goings of hundreds of Vietnamese on their daily tasks sounded crazy. I did not want to be thought of as being mad, as talking stupid. When I spoke English, people nodded at me, smiled and encouraged me. Even Vietnamese people would laugh and say that I’d do well in life.
My brother was even stricter than I about speaking English. He was especially cruel towards my mother, scolding her for her poor English. Bits of Vietnamese were often mixed in her conversation.
After two years of struggle, I finally divorced my culture. I was permitted to stop Vietnamese school. I thought of myself as American. At last, I thought I was one of you; I wasn’t one of them.
Sadly, I am only an American.
What can be learned from the passage?

A．The author’s brother liked learning Vietnamese.

B．The author’s mother taught him English at home.

C．The author’s mother put her sons in a language school in Vietnam.

D．The author didn’t like learning Vietnamese when he was young.

The author often felt embarrassed because ________.

A．his Vietnamese was not beautiful enough

B．his grandma spoke Vietnamese loudly in public

C．he could not fly kites like other kids at school

D．his mother always treated him rudely in the market

It can be inferred from the last paragraph that the author feels ________.

A．regretful

B．peaceful

C．satisfied

D．frightened

What’s the theme of the passage?

A．It is important to adapt to a new environment.

B．It is important to remember your childhood.

C．It is important to appreciate your own culture.

D．It is important to learn a foreign language.

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 the roots of problems

C．they had partners to talk to.

D．they knew they were truly listened to

Low-Cost Gifts for Mother's Day
Gift No. I
Offer to be your mother's health friend. Promise to be there for any and all doctor's visits
whether a disease or a regular medical check-up. Most mothers always say "no need," another set of eyes and ears is always a good idea at a doctor's visit. The best part ? This one is free.
Gift No. 2
Help your mother organize all of her medical records, which include the test results and medical information. Put them all in one place. Be sure to make a list of all of her medicines and what times she takes them. "Having all this information in one place could end up saving your mother's life," Dr. Marie Savard said.
Gift No. 3
Enough sleep is connected to general health conditions. "Buy your mother cotton sheets and comfortable pillows to encourage better sleep," Savard said. "We know that good sleep is very important to our health."
Gift No. 4
Some gift companies such as Presents for Purpose allow you to pay it forward this Mother's Day by picking gifts in which 10 percent of the price you pay goes to a charity (慈善机构) Gift givers can choose from a wide variety of useful but inexpensive things -many of which are "green" - and then choose a meaningful charity from a list. When your mother gets the gift, she will be told that she has helped the chosen charity.
What are you advised to do for your mother at doctor's visits?

A．Take notes.	B．Be with her.
C．Buy medicine.	D．Give her gifts.

Where can you find a gift idea to improve your mother’s sleep?

A．In Gift No. 1.	B．In Gift No. 2.
C．In Gift No. 3.	D．In Gift No. 4.

Buying gifts from Presents for Purpose allows mothers to_____.

A．enjoy good sleep	B．be well-organized
C．give others help	D．bet extra support