Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, or fear which may occur in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience. It is most commonly seen in school situations, like stand-up projects and class speeches. It has numerous forms: heart beating fast, trembling hands and legs, sweaty hands, dry mouth etc.
In fact, most of the fear occurs before you step on stage. Once you’re up there, it usually goes away. Thus, it is a phenomenon that you must learn to control. Try to think of stage fright in a positive way. It heightens your energy, adds color to your cheeks. With these good side effects you will actually look healthier and more physically attractive.
Many of the top performers in the world get stage fright so you are in good company. Stage fright may come and go or decrease, but it usually does not disappear permanently. You must concentrate on getting the feeling out and present what you have prepared calmly.
Remember “Nobody” ever died from stage fright. But, according to surveys, many people would rather die than give a speech. If that applies to you, and you are an unlucky guy who is with stage fright the whole time, try out some of the strategies(策略) as follows to help get yourself under control. Realize that you may never overcome stage fright, but you can learn to control it, and use it to your advantage.
Strategies are as follows when the program begins:
1) If legs are trembling, lean on table or shift legs or move.
2) Don’t hold notes. The audience can see them shake. Use three-by-five cards instead.
3) Use eye contact. Look at the friendliest faces in the audience.
Remember nervousness doesn’t show one-tenth as much as it feels. Before each presentation, make a short list of the items you think will make you feel better. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different combinations. You never know which ones will work best until you try. Use these steps to control stage fright so it doesn’t control you. Once you are used to stage fright, you will find you on the road to a great speech-maker.Someone may be most likely to suffer from stage fright when he/she is ______.
| A．attending an English class |
| B．standing in a classroom |
| C．watching a performance |
| D．talking in front of people |
By thinking of stage fright in a positive way, one could ______.
| A．learn to control stage fright |
| B．get rid of stage fright |
| C．calm down before stepping on stage |
| D．become more physically attractive |
Which of the following is true?
| A．Top performers usually suffer from stage fright. |
| B．Stage fright may stay with a person for a life time. |
| C．Nobody would rather die than give a speech. |
| D．No one can overcome or control stage fright. |
The author advises people with stage fright to ______.
| A．show one-tenth of their nervousness |
| B．experiment with different kinds of stage fright |
| C．refer to the strategies whenever they feel the need |
| D．use one of the strategies each time |
The passage mainly talks about ______.
| A．how to deal with stage fright |
| B．what stage fright is like |
| C．when stage fright occurs |
| D．why people have stage fright |
Saturday 28 April, 2001: Dennis Tito was setting off on his holiday. Mr. Tito’s journey was certainly unusual! So was the transport he chose, and the price of his trip.
The 60-year-old multi-millionaire from New York was sitting on board a Russian spaceship. He was on a journey to the International Space Station. It might have been a routine trip for the two astronauts who were traveling with him, but for him it was certainly no ordinary journey. Dennis Tito was the first tourist ever in space, and he had paid the sum of $20 million to go there. As the spacecraft left the earth’s atmosphere, Tito drank a glass of fruit juice to celebrate and looked down at the earth’s blue-green surface. Two minutes later, he was sick. Luckily it was only a minor problem. He soon recovered, and from then on enjoyed a smooth journey. When he arrived at the space station, there was a big smile on his face. “A great trip!” he commented． “I love space.”
For a long time space travel was something for heroes. But all this is going to change. Companies like ProSpace are investing large amounts of money in space travel. They want space and space travel to belong to the public, not just governments. There are other plans, like voyages through space from one side of the world to the other. Maybe we will be able to depart from New York at nine o’clock in the morning, and arrive an hour later-- in Tokyo! Such a schedule would allow the business traveler to return to New York on the same day, and still have eight hours for a meeting! Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
| A．Business Travelers | B．Space Tourists | C．A Space Exploration | D．A Frightening Adventure |
According to the passage, Dennis Tito.
| A．enjoyed his trip very much | B．was too sick to eat anything in space |
| C．suffered a lot during the trip | D．didn’t think the trip was worthwhile |
Which of the following statements is tree according to the passage?
| A．Tito was the first American tourist in space. |
| B．Tito contributed all of his wealth to his space trip. |
| C．Tito visited the Russian Space Station during his trip. |
| D．Space travel has become a routine for Tito since then. |
It can be expected from the passage that.
| A．space travel will belong to the public instead of governments |
| B．airplanes will some day reach the speed of space vehicles |
| C．can will be able to circle the earth within less than an hour |
| D．travel between two places on earth will be made through space |
When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers（铜钱）.The book wasn’t very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip（条）of vellum（牛皮纸）on which was written the secret of the “Touchstone”!
The touchstone was a small pebble（小园石）that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was thi
s: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.
So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles. He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold-throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea. 
The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.
So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant（警惕的）, it’s easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it’s just as easy to throw it away.The book was special to the man because ______.
| A．it was made of vellum |
| B．it was the only book that survived the great fire |
C．it was a story about how to tell th e touchstone from ordinary stones |
| D．it included the secret of the touchstone |
He threw pebbles into the sea ______.
| A．to test how far he could throw |
| B．to practice throwing pebbles |
| C．to avoid picking up the same pebble once again |
| D．to express his disappointment at failing to find the touchstone |
What message does the story want to convey?
| A．Careful habits can lead to success. |
| B．Habits can benefit you but also hold you back. |
| C．Never judge a person or a thing by appearances. |
D．Opportunity only visits the re ady and watchful mind |
Just like the young character in Hannah Montana, who so often fights with her father over her desire to be more independent, British teenagers also have their troubles.
A recent survey among 2,000 British parents shows that girls and boys experience similar kinds of stress, with some slight differences .
Girls want to grow up fast, demanding greater freedom. They feel pressure from their peers to be thin and sometimes dangerously experiment with alcohol .
Girls over 14 are more concerned with getting a boyfriend, make-up and going out with friends than with their schoolwork. They are more likely to complain about pocket money .
Parents found they have their toughest time with boys over the age of 15. Their sons are battling bad skin, are reluctant(不情愿的) to speak, and just like girls over 14 are little interested in their studies. Seven out of ten parents said their s
ons become frustrated(挫败的) when they are not understood .
Unsurprisingly, it isn’t just British teenagers who have such problems.
In a survey published in the US last month, two out of three high school students said their life was tough. There was a universal worry over body image and ability to fit in socially.
Plenty of the teenagers feel great pressures to get good grades, with nearly half regarding this as their top worry. The next biggest issue is pressure they face to get into good college. According to the survey, 66 percent reported saving their money to pay for all or part of college.
“Today’s American teens have witnessed what their families have endured during recent economic challenges, and they are much more aware of the importance of planning ahead,” said Stuart Rubinstein, managing director with TD Ameritrade, which carried out the survey.What is the article mainly about?
| A．What makes the lives of teenagers so hard? |
| B．How to deal with teen problems? |
| C．Stress faced by UK and US teenagers. |
| D．Peer pressure faced by UK and US teenagers. |
According to the survey, boys over 15 often feel great pressure to ______.
| A．grow up fast | B．experiment with alcohol |
| C．get into a good college | D．be more open and communicative |
The underlined word “universal” in Paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．global | B．common | C．average | D．reasonable |
How have recent economic challenges affected American teens?
| A．They have become more concerned about their future. |
| B．They are now more worried about the ability to fit in socially. |
| C．They are attempting to learn more about money management. |
| D．They are spending more time developing their practical skills. |
A Train Floating On Air
A train that floats on air? It's not magic —it's magnets (磁). And it's close to reality.
In Virginia USA the fall of 2002, a train with no wheels traveled on air and carried college students across their campus. In Japan, a whisper-quiet railway engine hovered and raced at 350 miles per hour using magnets and electricity as the power. And in China, a magnet train line linked Shanghai with nearby Pudong Airport.
These trains use magnetic levitation (悬浮) technology, “maglev” for short. They use the same rules as the magnets you pick up at home or school: opposite poles of magnets attract each other, and like poles repel each other.
How does it work?
Powerful magnets on the bottom of the train repel magnets on the track, which is actually just a magnet-filled guiding way. With a magnetic field of sufficient force, the train will go hovering on air, which seemed impossible to us in the past.
When an electrical current is sent through the track, the train moves. Turn the current backwards and the train slows down.
Maglev doesn't rely on the friction (摩擦力) of wheels on track, so it can climb a much steeper hill than a traditional train. And it can travel easily in snow and ice, something that could bring normal trains to a screaming stop.
60. This passage is about __________.
A. maglev B. magnets C. levitation D. electricity
61. Which of the following is a repelling action?
A. B. C. D.
62. What can we learn from the text?
A. A magnet-filled guiding way is formed inside a maglev train.
B. Instead of electricity, magnets are used as the power of a maglev.
C. Maglev trains can climb hills with the help of magnet wheels.
D. Electric currents decide
the movements of a maglev train.
63. What is the difference between a maglev train and an ordinary train?
A. A maglev train can climb mountains without power while an ordinary one can’t.
B. A maglev train can travel in college campus while an ordinary train is not allowed.
C. Travelling without a track, a maglev train is safer and smoother than an ordinary one.
D. Floating on a track, a maglev train is faster, quieter than an ordinary railway train.
It’s a goal for millions and millions of families every year——keep the Christmas spending within a certain amount, but can still afford the gifts that your loved ones will enjoy. Never has this concern been greater in recent years than right now. Even so, there are several things that you can do to help.
Hit the sales.
No one wants to get up at four o’clock in the morning and fight to get the best deal on Black Friday, and it’s surely very tough to pick up the courage and get out there in the cold for a good deal, but sometimes——it can be well worth. Many retailers(零售商) offer specials all through the day——and some even offer online Black Friday specials, so you may still be able to get a great deal on Black Friday.
Pay close attention to advertisements.
Once the Christmas shopping season is coming, retailers hungry for business will do just about whatever to get you in the store. Pay very close attention to weekly advertisements of sales among the major retailers and you may be lucky enough to find different prices for the same thing in different shops.
Shop online.
Some of us don’t like running from store to store in order to get the best price on the perfect gift, and some of us don’t like to go out in the cold at all——thankfully for us, we can do online shopping.
The world of online shopping lets people visit all the major retailers as well as some specialty stores that could only be found on the Internet. Customers can find exactly what they are looking for, at the best possible price without ever having to leave the house. With traditional Christmas shopping consumers are sometimes limited to what’s left in stock if they wait too long to get to a particular store. The first paragraph implies that ______.
| A．nowadays not many people can afford expensive gifts |
| B．recently many people don’t want to spend money on gifts |
| C．Christmas is a time to make our loved ones enjoy their gifts |
D．Christmas is a time to  make us feel free to buy our loved ones gifts |
In the writer’s opinion, it is rewarding on Black Friday _____.
| A．if the weather is not very cold | B．if we don’t have to fight for the best deals |
| C．if we don’t have to get up early | D．If we get what we want at a good price |
The underlined word “specials” means_______.
| A．some experts in shopping |
| B．certain things for especially low price |
| C．some kind of help for a certain customer |
| D．things that can only be found on Friday |
We can have more choices _____.
| A．on Black Friday | B．in a particular store |
| C．on the Internet | D．from retailers |