When my mother was alive, she used to tell me again and again about the value of just being nice. “Never underestimate（低估）the power of a smile,” she would say. I fear she would be very disappointed looking at the world today. A lot of people don’t smile and when it comes to service today, they’re just not nice. Now don’t give me wrong, not all service workers but a good many.
I was on the phone the other day with a computer help desk. First a man, then later a woman, who couldn’t have been ruder. And this to a customer, who didn’t know his way around a PC. But no matter, I could tell they thought I was a bother, The woman, in fact, seemed to be chewing gum as she unemotionally clicked off a series of commands for me to perform.
The next day I heard from a friend of mine who got a performance review without his boss once looking up at him. Not once.
You see it everywhere. Gone are the days when people cared about you. It’s a sign of the time, I suspect. But that makes me sad — for them and for us all. People who aren’t happy, who don’t smile, who don’t kid, who don’t joke or make light of even bad situations, make for an even worse situation.
And it spreads like a cancer. Someone’s rude to you, you’re rude to them and to the next fellow you meet, and on and on. Smiles are contagious（易感染的）but so annoyances. The boss who can’t be bothered with his workers. The celebrity who can’t be bothered with her annoying fans.
You know, my mom used to judge presidential candidates by how they smiled. I would say, “But mom, you don’t know if that smile is real.”
“Oh, yes I do,” she would tell me. “I can feel it.”
It’s in their eyes, she would say. And it’s in their smile. The rest just kind of falls into place.Why did the writer mention his phone call?
| A．To show many people aren’t nice. |
| B．To prove his mother is wrong. |
| C．To share his funny experience with us. |
| D．To tell us he knows little about computer. |
What is the author’s attitude towards the boss of his friend?
| A．Respectful. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Opposed. | D．Doubtful. |
When someone is rude to you, you’re advised to ________.
| A．become one just like him or her |
| B．be nice to the people you meet |
| C．be rude to the next person |
| D．make for a worse situation |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．Feel a person in his eyes |
| B．Don’t judge a person by his look |
| C．The effect of rudeness |
| D．The power of a smile |
Everywhere I look outside my home I see people busy on their high-tech devices, while driving, walking, shopping, even sitting in toilets. When connected electronically, they are away from physical reality.
People have been influenced to become technology addicted. One survey reported that “addicted” was the word most commonly used by people to describe their relationship to iPad and similar devices. One study found that people had a harder time resisting the allure of social media than they did for sleep, cigarettes and alcohol.
The main goal of technology companies is to get people to spend more money and time on their products, not to actually improve our quality of life. They have successfully created a cultural disease. Consumers willingly give up their freedom, money and time to catch up on the latest information, to keep pace with their peers or to appear modern.
I see people trapped in a pathological（病态的）relationship with time-sucking technology, where they serve technology more than technology serves them. I call this technology servitude. I am referring to a loss of personal freedom and independence because of uncontrolled consumption of many kinds of devices that eat up time and money.
What is a healthy use of technology devices? That is the vital question. Who is really in charge of my life? That is what people need to ask themselves if we are to have any chance of breaking up false beliefs about their use of technology. When we can live happily without using so much technology for a day or a week, then we can regain control and personal freedom, become the master of technology and discover what there is to enjoy in life free of technology. Mae West is famous for proclaiming the wisdom that “too much of a good thing is wonderful.” But it’s time to discover that it does not work for technology.
Richard Fernandez, an executive coach at Google acknowledged that “we can be swept away by our technologies.” To break the grand digital connection people must consider how life long ago could be fantastic without today’s overused technology.The underlined word “allure” in Paragraph 2 probably means ______.
| A．advantage | B．attraction |
| C．adaption | D．attempt |
From the passage, technology companies aim to ______.
| A．attract people to buy their products |
| B．provide the latest information |
| C．improve people’s quality of life |
| D．deal with cultural diseases |
It can be inferred from this passage that people ______.
| A．consider too much technology wonderful |
| B．have realized the harm of high-tech devices |
| C．can regain freedom without high-tech devices |
| D．may enjoy life better without overused technology |
What’s the author’s attitude towards the overusing of high-tech devices?
| A．Neutral. | B．Skeptical. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Sympathetic. |
Hello and welcome. My name is Shelley Ann Vernon and I am glad that you want to find out more about teaching English through games. Right here you will find ways to get great results in the classroom for children aged 4 to 12; ways that from my experience will bring more success and joy into the lives of the children you teach.
You’ll learn how to make your serious classes fun, how to ensure everyone gets better grades, how to help stimulate(刺激) the brighter kids while nurturing the slower ones, and how to associate fun with learning by teaching vocabulary and grammar through language games. Earn even more appreciation, love and respect from your students and their parents for your teaching.
The games presented here work for ESL ( English as a Second Language ) pupils aged 4 to 12. These games are most suitable for beginners to intermediate level ( 中级) students.
Achieve results 2 × as fast.
Don’t take my word for it; read evidence from teachers and parents:
| She found it valuable right away! Although I only bought your book on Monday, and today is Wednesday, I want you to know how valuable I have found it to be. I have used a couple of the games in school already and the children loved them. Most importantly, they were learning and reviewing English at the same time. Can I admit that I also enjoyed my lessons more? Gila Goldberg, Jerusalem |
| The games help with learning difficulties! My daughter Aurore has learning difficulties and since coming to your classes she has gained confidence and has improved in all subjects at school. Mrs. J. Brown, Canterbury, Kent, UK |
Click here to order now with our secure server. Remember, if you are not satisfied, just let us know and we will refund (退款) you in full. You still get to keep the essential bonus material, yours for FREE, and that’s a rare time saving gain, plus a value of 25 dollars.The passage is mainly written for _____.
| A．students | B．girls |
| C．teachers | D．doctors |
Which of the following does the writer agree with?
| A．Teachers should make their classes serious. |
| B．A good class should associate fun with learning. |
| C．Only smart children can learn from the games. |
| D．Only pupils aged 2 can make good use of the games. |
If you are unsatisfied with the book, _____.
| A．you can complain to a local newspaper or Shelley Ann Vernon |
| B．you can get half your money back and keep the material |
| C．you can get 25 dollars back but you have to return the product first |
| D．you will get your money back without returning the essential bonus material |
The writer wrote the passage to _____.
| A．tell teachers how to teach |
| B．recommend games to kids |
| C．persuade teachers to buy a book |
| D．show her students’ good performance |
The majority of Indian women wear a red dot (圆点) between their eyebrows. While it is generally taken as an indicator of their marital (婚姻的) status, the practice is primarily related to the Hindu religion. The dot goes by different names in different Hindi dialects, and “bindi” is the one that is most commonly known. Traditionally, the dot carries no gender restriction: Men as well as women wear it. However, the tradition of men wearing it has faded in recent times, so nowadays we see a lot more women than men wearing one.
The position of the bindi is standard: center of the forehead, close to the eyebrows. It represents a third, or inner eye. Hindu tradition holds that all people have three eyes: The two outer ones are used for seeing the outside world, and the third one is there to focus inward toward God. As such, the dot serves as a constant reminder to keep God in the front of a believer’s thoughts.
Red is the traditional color of the dot. It is said that in ancient times a man would place a drop of blood between his wife’s eyes to seal their marriage. According to Hindu beliefs, the color red is believed to bring good fortune to the married couple. Today, people go with different colors depending upon their preferences. Women often wear dots that match the color of their clothes. Decorative or sticker bindis come in all sizes, colors and variations, and can be worn by young and old, married and unmarried people alike. Wearing a bindi has become more of a fashion statement than a religious custom.Why did people in India start wearing a red dot on their forehead?
| A．To indicate their social rank. |
| B．To show their financial status. |
| C．To show their religious belief. |
| D．To highlight their family background. |
What is the importance of the third eye in Hindu tradition?
| A．To pay respect to God. |
| B．To stay in harmony with nature. |
| C．To see things with a subjective view. |
| D．To observe the outside world more clearly. |
Why was red chosen as the original color of the bindi?
| A．The red dot represented the blood of God. |
| B．Red stood for a wife’s love for her husband. |
| C．The word “bindi” means “red” in some Hindi dialects. |
| D．Red was supposed to bring good luck to a married couple. |
Which of the following statements is true about the practice of wearing a bindi today?
| A．Bindis are now used as a decorative item. |
| B．Bindis are worn anywhere on the face now. |
| C．Most Indian women do not like to wear bindis anymore. |
| D．Wearing a bindi has become more popular among Indian men. |
A store that sells husbands has just opened in Ottawa where a woman may go to choose a husband from many men.
The store is comprised of 6 floors and the men increase in positive attributes（品质，特点）as the shopper goes up the flights. There is, however, a catch（陷阱）. As you open the door to any floor you may choose a man from that floor, but if you go up a floor, you cannot go back down except to exit the building.
So a woman goes to the shopping center to find a husband. On the first floor the sign on the door reads: Floor 1—These men have jobs. The woman reads the sign and says to herself, “Well, that’s better than my last boyfriend, but I wonder what’s further up?”
So up she goes. The second floor sign reads: Floor 2—These men have jobs and love kids. The woman remarks to herself, “That’s great, but I wonder what’s further up?”
And up she goes again. The third floor sign reads: Floor 3—These men have jobs, love kids and are extremely good-looking. “Hmm, better.”
The fourth floor sign reads: Floor 4—These men have jobs, love kids, are extremely good-looking and help with the housework. “Wow!” exclaims the woman, “Very tempting. But, there must be more, further up!”
And again she heads up another flight. The fifth floor sign reads: Floor 5—These men have jobs, love kids, are extremely good-looking, help with the housework and have a strong romantic character. “Oh, mercy me! But just think…what must be awaiting me further on?”
So up to the sixth floor she goes. The sixth floor sign reads: Floor 6 –You are visitor 3, 456, 789,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. Thank you for shopping Husband Mart and have a nice day.Women tend to go up the floor until they reach the top floor because _____.
| A．they think the husbands downstairs are not suitable |
| B．they are sure that the best husbands are on the top floor |
| C．they know the catch very well |
| D．they think even better husbands may be upstairs |
The writer intends us to believe that _____.
| A．women are hard to please |
| B．husbands are hard to shop |
| C．women think they are better than men |
| D．women can’t be too careful when choosing husbands |
We can infer from the passage that _____.
| A．more women will leave the shop alone |
| B．women are romantic |
| C．women are more kind than men |
| D．women are not good at shopping husbands |
Let children judge their own work A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time: if corrected too much, he will stop talking . He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people's. In the same way, children learning to do all the other things without being taught, such as walking, running, climbing, riding a bicycle. They compare their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes.
But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes and correct them for himself. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake unless it was pointed out to him, or correct it unless he was made t0.Let children help each other if they want--what this word says, what the answer is to that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or not
If it is a matter of right answer, as it may be in mathematics or science, give him the answer book Let him correct his own paper. Why should we teachers waste time to such routine work? Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can't find the way to get the right answer. Let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn, how to measure their own understanding, how to know what they know or do not know.According to the passage, how does a child learn to speak correctly? (No more than 10 words)
According to the passage, what is the best way for children to learn thing? (No more than 10 words)
According to the writer, what should teachers do in school? (No more than 10 words)
Please explain-the underlined phrase "bit by tit” 'in English. (No more than3 words)
According to the passage why do teachers seldom give students chance to correct their own mistakes? (No more than 20 words)