“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
You probably heard those lines in grammar school, but do you really agree that harsh(严厉的) or negative words do not harm us? Words have power. Surely we all have had our feelings hurt by something someone said.
We may not say words to hurt others, but the way we interpret (解释) them and how we say them may cause great harm. Here’s an example:
An ancient king dreamed all his teeth had fallen out. He sent for a wise man to explain his dream to him: the dream means that all your relatives will die and you will be left alone! The king was very angry and threw the interpreter into prison. He then sent for another interpreter who said, “Congratulations! King! You will live many more years. In fact, you will survive all your relatives. Long Live the King!”
Both interpreters gave the same interpretation, but there was a huge difference in the way they said it.
Our speech must be understood by those who hear our words, but the way we say things and the intention behind them have as much power as the words themselves. Words can cause anger or appreciation. Which would you rather receive?
People who say harsh and negative things may not mean to harm, but have you ever known anyone who is a naysayer? They often look at the dark sides of things. They always see the glass as half empty rather than half full. How do you feel when you are around this type of person? Remember: words have power. Use them wisely.The author mentions the story of the ancient king to show that _____.
A.one dream sometimes has different explanations |
B.good words can bring good luck to people |
C.people should be careful when talking to a king |
D.different ways of saying things have different effects |
The underlined word naysayer in the last paragraph refers to a person who always _____.
A.has a negative attitude |
B.likes to be praised |
C.talks big |
D.likes to repeat what others say |
According to the text, how can people understand each other better?
A.By sharing different life experiences |
B.By accepting different habits. |
C.By properly using words |
D.By recognizing different values. |
The passage mainly talks about ______.
A.the power of words |
B.the cruelty of the king |
C.how to understand others |
D.how to build good relationships |
There was one shop in the town of Mufulira which was widely known for its racial discrimination. It was a drugstore .While Europeans were served at the counter ,a long line of Africans queued at the window and often not only were kept waiting but were treated rudely by the shop assistants .One day I was determined to make a public protest (抗议)against this kind of thing ,and many of the schoolboys in my class followed me to the store.
I simply went into the shop and asked the manager politely for some medicine. As soon as he saw me standing in the place where only European customers were allowed to stand ,he shouted at me in a bastard (怪声怪气的)language which is only used by a boss when speaking to his servants .I stood at the counter and politely requested in proper English that I should be served .The manager became angry and said , “Even if you stand till Christmas ,I will never serve you .”
I went to the District Commissioner’s office .Fortunately ,he was out ,for he was one of the old school; however ,I saw a young District Officer who was a friend of mine .He was very concerned to hear my story and told me that all I had to do was come to him personally and he would buy my medicine for me .I protested that that was not good enough .I asked him to accompany me back to the store and to make a protest to the manager .This he did ,and I well remember him saying to the manager , “Here is Mr. Kaunda who is a responsible member of the Urban Advisory Council, and you treat him like a common servant .” The manager of the drugstore apologized and said , “If only he had introduced himself and explained who he was ,then ,of course ,I should have given him proper service.”
I had to explain once again that he had missed my point .Why should I have to introduce myself every time I went into a store…any more than I should have to buy my medicine by going to a European friend ? I want to prove that any man of any color ,whatever his position ,should have the right to go into any shop and buy what he wanted .After all, the money which I paid across the counter was exactly the same money as was paid by a European customer.The writer was ,at the time of the story ,.
A.a European officer | B.an African servant |
C.a drugstore assistant | D.a black school teacher |
The manager of the drugstore shouted at the writer in dirty words because.
A.he could not speak English in a polite way |
B.he thought the writer couldn’t understand English |
C.that was the language he used when speaking to Africans |
D.that was the only language he could speak when he was angry |
In paragraph 3, the underlined sentence “he was one of the old school” means.
A.he stuck to those old racial ideas
B.he graduated from an old white school
C.he was in charge of an old black schoolWhy didn’t the writer wait at the window of the drugstore like other Africans?
A.He believed his white friends would help him out . |
B.He wanted to fight for equal rights of all black people. |
C.He thought he was educated and should be treated differently. |
D.He thought ,being an important person ,he should not be kept waiting. |
Please be advised that Nairobi like any other large city has a security and crime problem. However , if you observe the following simple guidelines you will stay and have a trouble-free seminar(研讨会):
1.Do not wear a money belt. This makes you an instant target.
2.Cameras of all kinds are a favourite with snatchers. Feel free to use them within the Starehe Campus and the hotel grounds but not in the streets.
3.Ladies handbags are also a regular snatch. Avoid carrying one ,and if you must ,be
careful and hold on to it tightly.
4.Jewellery and even glasses with valuable frames are also often targeted .Bear this in mind.
5.When in a vehicle keep the doors always locked. And the windows only slightly open ,especially at traffic lights ,junctions and in slow moving traffic.
6.Beware of street children ,their begging often quickly changed into something more unpleasant.
7.Stay with the main party all the time ,and avoid wandering off on your own.
8.Finnally , the best defence is to be careful at all times and conscious of your environment.
Should you have any problem ,query or need help at any hour of the day or night ,call any of the following and they will do their best for you
OFFICE FIXED |
HOME FIXED |
Mobile Phone |
||
1 |
KENNEDY |
763856/761221 |
763182 |
0733 |
HONGO |
761294 |
|||
2 |
FRED OKONO |
761221 |
764988 |
0733 604490 |
3 |
EDWIN OTIENO |
761221 |
761642/763011 |
072 701279 |
This selection must be delivered by .
A.the Nairobe city government | B.the police of the Nairobe Airport |
C.the organizer of the seminar | D.Kennedy Hongo, a detective |
After reading this notice ,visitors to Nairobe might gain an impression that .
A.Fred Okono and his fellow workmates are very kind and helpful |
B.Nairobe is a large city which is very developed |
C.the crime problem is very serious in the city of Nairobe. |
D.they should not have paid a visit to Nairobe ,and should buy a ticket back immediately. |
The notice tells us that.
A.something unpleasant could happen to you if you use a camera during the seminar |
B.ladies must not wear a handbag or any jewellery |
C.in the hotels of Nairobe ,it might be dangerous to stay in a single room |
D.everything will be OK if you always watch out and are clear about the surroundings. |
A lot of management training each year for Circle K Corporation, a national chain of convenience stores. Among the topics we address in our course is the retention(保护力) of quality employees-a real challenge to managers when you consider the pay scale(标准)in the service industry. During these discussions, I ask the participants(参加者), “What has caused you to stay long enough to become a manager?” Some time back a new manager took the question and slowly, with her voice almost breaking, said, “It was a $19 baseball glove.”
Cynthia told the group that she originally took a Circle K clerk job as an interim(临时的) position while she looked for something better. On her second or third day behind the counter, she received a phone call from her nine-year-old son, Jessie. He needed a baseball glove for Little League. She explained that as a single mother, money was very tight, and her first check would have to go for paying bills. Perhaps she could buy his baseball glove with her second or third check. When Cynthia arrived for work the next morning, Patricia, the store manager, asked her to come to the small room in the back of the store that served as an office. Cynthia wondered if she had done something wrong or left some part of her job incomplete from the day before. She was concerned and confused.
Patricia handed her a box. “I overheard you talking to your son yesterday,” she said, “and I know that it is hard to explain things to kids. This is a baseball glove for Jessie because he may not understand how important he is, even though you have to pay bills before you can buy gloves. You know we can’t pay good people like you as much as we would like to; but we do care, and I want you to know you are important to us.”
The thoughtfulness, empathy and love of this convenience store manager demonstrates vividly that people remember more how much an employer cares than how much the employer pays. An important lesson for the price of a Little League baseball glove.Among many of the problems in the service industry, talked about in this passage, is .
A.how to ensure his employees’ high pay |
B.how to attract more customers |
C.how to look carefully after the employees |
D.how to keep the good employees from leaving |
Although a new manager, Cynthia would do her job well in keeping quality employees because she .
A.had mastered all the courses for the manager |
B.had already formed good relationship with the employees |
C.know the way how to deal with her employees |
D.had her own personal experience |
This passage shows us that to run a business well it is necessary for managers to let their employees know .
A.how much they can get for their job. |
B.what good positions they can get later |
C.they are very necessary to the business |
D.they are nice as well as useful |
The story told in this passage tells us that employees care about .
A.only how large a pay they can get |
B.love from the managing people rather than only money |
C.if their children could be properly taken care of |
D.what position they can be offered |
Personal computers and the Internet give people new choices about how to spend their time.
Some may use this freedom to share less time with certain friends or family members, but new technology will also let them stay in closer touch with those they care most about. I know this from personal experience.
E-mail makes it easier to work at home, which is where I now spend most weekends and evenings. My working hours aren’t necessarily much shorter than they once were but I spend fewer of them at the office. This lets me share more time with my younger daughter than I might have if she’d been born before electronic mail became such a practical tool.
The Internet also makes it easy to share thoughts with a group of friends. Say you do something fun—see a great movie perhaps—and there are four or five friends who might want to hear about it. If you call each one, you may tire of telling the story.
With E-mail, you just write one note about your experience, at your convenience, and address it to all the friends who you think might be interested. They can read your message when they have time, and read only as much as they want to. They can reply at their convenience, and you can read what they have to say at your convenience.
E-mail is also an inexpensive way to stay in close touch with people who live far away. More than a few parents use E-mail to keep in touch, even daily touch, with their children off at college.
We just have to keep in mind that computers and the Internet offer another way of staying in touch. They don’t take the place of any of the old ways.The purpose of this passage is to ________.
A.explain how to use the Internet |
B.describe the writer’s joy of keeping up with the latest technology |
C.tell the merits(价值) and usefulness of the Internet |
D.introduce the reader to basic knowledge about personal computers and the Internet |
The use of E-mail has made it possible for the writer to ________.
A.spend less time working | B.have more free time with his child |
C.work at home on weekends | D.work at a speed comfortable to him |
According to the writer, E-mail has an obvious advantage over the telephone because E-mail helps one ________.
A.reach a group of people at one time conveniently |
B.keep one’s communication as personal as possible |
C.pass on much more information than the latter |
D.get in touch with one’s friends faster than telephone. |
The best title for this passage is _________.
A.Computer: New Technological Advances |
B.Internet: New Tool to Maintain Good Friendship |
C.Computer Have Made Life Easier |
D.Internet Have helped us to communicate |
Celebrity (名人) has become one of the most important representatives of popular culture. Fans used to be crazy about a specific film, but now the public tends to base its consumption (消费) on the interest of celebrity attached to any given product. Besides, fashion magazines have almost abandoned (given up) the practice of putting models on the cover because they don’t sell nearly as well as famous faces. As a result, celebrities have realized their unbelievably powerful market potential, moving from advertising for others’ products to developing their own.
Celebrity clothing lines aren’t a completely new phenomenon, but in the past they were typically aimed at the ordinary consumers, and limited to a few TV actresses. Today they’re started by first-class stars whose products enjoy equal fame with some world top brands. The most successful start-ups have been those by celebrities with specific personal style. As celebrities become more and more experienced at the market, they expand their production scale rapidly, covering almost all the products of daily life.
However, for every success story, there’s a related warning tale of a celebrity who overvalued his consumer appeal. No matter how famous the product’s origin is, if it fails to impress consumers with its own qualities it begins to resemble an exercise in self-promotional marketing. And once the initial (最初的) attention dies down, consumer interest might fade, loyalty returning to tried-and-true labels.
Today, celebrities face even more severe embarrassment. The pop-cultural circle might be bigger than ever, but its rate of turnover has speeded up as well. Each misstep threatens to reduce a celebrity’s shelf life, and the same newspaper or magazine that once brought him fame has no problem picking him to pieces when the opportunity appears. Still, the ego’s(自我的)potential for expansion is limitless. Having already achieved great wealth and public recognition, many celebrities see fashion as the next frontier to be conquered. As the saying goes, success and failure always go hand in hand. Their success as designers might last only a short time, but fashion—like celebrity—has always been temporary. Fashion magazines today .
A.seldom put models on the cover |
B.no longer put models on the cover |
C.need not worry about celebrities’ market potential |
D.judge the market potential of every celebrity correctly |
A change in the consumer market can be found today that .
A.price rather than brand name is more concerned |
B.producers prefer models to celebrities for advertisements |
C.producers prefer TV actresses to film stars for advertisements |
D.quality rather than the outside of products is more concerned |
The underlined sentence in paragraph 4 indicates that any wrong step will possibly .
A.decrease the popularity of a celebrity and the sales of his products |
B.damage the image of a celebrity in the eyes of the general public |
C.cut short the artistic career of a celebrity in show business |
D.influence the price of a celebrity’s products |
The passage is mainly about .
A.celebrity and personal style | B.celebrity and markets potential |
C.celebrity and fashion design | D.celebrity and clothing industry |