A high school history teacher once told us, “If you make one close friend in school, you will be most fortunate. A true friend is someone who stays with you for life.” Experience teaches that he was right. Good friendships are just not easily formed. Why?
One reason is that it is easy to move around in our society. Mr. Darrell Sifford, a news reporter for the Washington Daily, has been studying and talking about friendships for a number of years. He reports what one woman thought about the effect of ease of movement on friendship:
“I was nine, and we’d just moved from South Carolina to New Jersey, and I didn’t know anybody. My mother had a way of getting to the root of things and she said to me, ‘Amelia, I know you’re feeling bad because you don’t have any friends. But you can fix that. Just walk across the street — I know there’s a girl about your age over there — and knock on the door and ask her to be your friend.’”
“As a 9-year-old, I could do that. I knocked on the door and said, ‘Hi, my name is Amelia, and I’d like for us to be friends.’ And to my surprise, she said that she would like that too—and we became friends.”
She added that going about it directly always worked when she was a child. But as she left childhood, she found that the simple direct approach was more and more difficult for her to follow. So, as an adult, Amelia longed to have friends but her hands were tied when it came to doing anything about it. The problem, according to her, is that society teaches us in a number of ways that direct action is not an acceptable way of doing things. We need to be less direct so that our feelings will not be hurt if our offer of friendship is refused.
Mr. Sifford goes on to describe his own ideas on the subject:
“To most of us, friendship is very important, but we need to have clear in our own minds the kinds of friendships we want. Are they to be very close or kept at arm’s length? Do we want to share ourselves or do we want to walk on the surface?”
“For some people, an ordinary friendship is enough — and that’s all right. But at some point we need to make sure that what we expect from the friendship is the same as what our friends expect from it. If one wants more from the friendship than the other, and if this is not talked about, one is likely eventually to feel that he’s not being given enough attention.
“The sharing of close secrets, including our fears as well as our dark dreams, is the surest way to deepen friendships. But the process must be gone through slowly and continued only if there are signs of interest and our efforts are answered.”
What are some of the problems in forming friendships? According to Mr. Sifford, the biggest problem is to expect too much too soon. Deep relationships take time. Another “big difficulty” is to think one “possesses” the other and that he should spend all his time only with you. Similarly, friendships require action from both sides. In short, you must give as much as you take. Finally there is a question of developing friendship. Unless you spend enough time together, talking on the phone, writing letters, doing things together, friendships will gradually fade away.
Why is it so difficult to form friendships? Perhaps it is possible, as Mr. Sifford states, that we simply do not stay in one place long enough for a true friendship to develop. However, we all agree that each of us should think carefully about the kind of friendships we want. As in all interpersonal relationships, success depends on the kind of friendship we expect to have, openness to others, and a willingness to experiment. By saying that “My mother had a way of getting to the root of things…” the author means that _____.
| A．her mother could always find friends for her |
| B．her mother had a way of making friends with people |
| C．her mother was able to find the cause of things |
| D．her mother was able to solve difficult problems |
In which of the following cases is it possible for you to develop true friendships?
| A．You stay in one place for long enough with your friend. |
| B．You spend all your time together with your friend. |
| C．You completely possess your friend’s time and attention. |
| D．You give your friend as much as you take from him. |
The author quoted many times what Mr. Darrell Sifford said in order to ________.
| A．show respect for him |
| B．share the same opinion with him |
| C．strengthen the authority of his opinion |
| D．make some comments about friendships |
The main point we learn from the passage is _____.
| A．willingness to experiment is the key to close friendship. |
| B．openness to others is important in interpersonal relationships |
| C．direct offers of friendship are not easily accepted |
| D．good friendships are not easily formed |
I began working in journalism(新闻工作)when I was eight. It was my mother’s idea. She wanted me to “make something” of myself, and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of keeping up with the competition.
With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue. The crowds were there. There were two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union. For several hours I made myself highly visible, making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. When it was suppertime, I walked back home.
“ How many did you sell, my boy?” my mother asked.
“ None.”
“ Where did you go?”
“ The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues.”
“ What did you do?”
“ Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post.”
“ You just stood there?”
“ Didn’t sell a single one.”
“ My God, Russell!”
Uncle Allen put in, “ Well, I’ve decided to take the Post.” I handed him a copy and he paid me a nickle(五分镍币). It was the first nickle I earned.
Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman. I would have to ring doorbells, address adults with self-confidence(自信), and persuade them by saying that no one, no matter how poor, could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home.
One day, I told my mother I’d changed my mind. I didn’t want to make a success in the magazine business.
“ If you think you can change your mind like this,” she replied, “ you’ll become a good-for-nothing.” She insisted that, as soon as school was over, I should start ringing doorbells, selling magazines. Whenever I said no, she would scold me.
My mother and I had fought this battle almost as long as I could remember. My mother, dissatisfied with my father’s plain workman’s life, determined that I would not grow up like him and his people. But never did she expect that, forty years later, such a successful journalist as me would go back to her husband’s people for true life and love.
56. Why did the boy start his job young?
A. He wanted to be famous in the future. B. The job was quite easy for him.
C. His mother had high hopes for him. D. The competition for the job was fierce.
57. From the dialogue between the boy and his mother, we learn that the mother was _______.
A. excited B. interested C. ashamed D. disappointed
58. What did the mother do when the boy wanted to give up?
A. She forced him to continue. B. She punished him.
C. She gave him some money. D. She changed her plan.
59. What does the underlined phrase “this battle”(last paragraph) refer to?
A. The war between the boy’s parents.
B. The arguing between the boy and his mother.
C. The quarrel between the boy and his customers.
D. The fight between the boy and his father.
60. What is the text mainly about?
A. The early life of a journalist. B. The early success of a journalist.
C. The happy childhood of the writer. D. The important role of the writer in his family.
If you were to walk up to Arthur Bonner and say, “ Hey, Butterfly Man,” his face would break into a smile. The title suits him. And he loves it.
Arthur Bonner works with the Palos Verdes blue butterfly(蝴蝶), once thought to have died out. Today the butterfly is coming back — thanks to him. But years ago if you’d told him this was what he’d be doing someday, he would have laughed, “ You’re crazy.” As a boy, he used to be “ a little tough guy on the streets”. At age thirteen, he was caught by police for stealing. At eighteen, he landed in prison for shooting a man..
“ I knew it had hurt my mom,” Bonner said after he got out of prison. “ So I told myself I would not put my mom through that pain again.”
One day he met Professor Mattoni, who was working to rebuild the habitat(栖息地) for an endangered butterfly called El Segundo blue.
“ I saw the sign ‘ Butterfly Habitat’ and asked, ‘ How can you have a habitat when the butterflies can just fly away?’” Bonner recalls. “ Dr. Mattoni laughed and handed me a magnifying glass(放大镜) , ‘Look at the leaves.’ I could see all these caterpillars(蝴蝶的幼虫) on the plant. Dr Mattoni explained, ‘ Without the plant, there are no butterflies.’”
Weeks later, Bonner received a call from Dr. Mattoni, who told him there was a butterfly that needed help. That was how he met the Palos Verdes blue. Since then he’s been working for four years to help bring the butterfly back. He grows astragalus, the only plant the butterfly eats. He collects butterflies and brings them into a lab to lay eggs. Then he puts new butterflies into the habitat.
The butterfly’s population, once almost zero, is now up to 900. For their work, Bonner and Dr. Mattoni received lots of awards. But for Bonner, he earned something more: he turned his life around.
For six years now Bonner has kept his promise to stay out of prison. While he’s bringing back the Palos Verdes blue, the butterfly has helped bring him back, too.
41. When he was young, Arthur Bonner _______.
A. broke the law and ended up in prison B. was fond of shooting and hurt his mom
C. often laughed at people on the streets D. often caught butterflies and took them home
42. Bonner came to know the Palos Verdes blue after he _______.
A. found the butterfly had died out B. won many prizes from his professor
C. met Dr. Mattoni, a professor of biology D. collected butterflies and put them into a lab
43. From the last sentence of the text, we learn that raising butterflies has _________.
A. made Bonner famous B. changed Bonner’s life
C. brought Bonner wealth D. enriched Bonner’s knowledge
44. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A. A Promise to Mom B. A Man Saved by Butterflies
C. A Story of Butterflies D. A Job Offered by Dr. Mattoni
Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own. My mom was one of those people.
My father died when I was nine months old, making my mom a single mother at the age of eighteen. While I was growing up, we lived a very hard life. We had little money, but my mom gave me a lot of love. Each night, she sat me on her lap and spoke the words that would change my life, “Kemmons, you are certain to be a great man and you can do anything in life if you work hard enough to get it.”
At fourteen, I was hit by a car and the doctors said I would never walk again. Every day, my mother spoke to me in her gentle, loving voice, telling me that no matter what those doctors said, I could walk again if I wanted to badly enough. She drove that message so deep into my heart that I finally believed her. A year later I returned to school-walking on my own!
When the Great Depression(大萧条)hit, my mom lost her job. Then I left school to support the both of us. At that moment, I was determined never to be poor again.
Over the years, I experienced various levels of business success. But the real turning point occurred on a vacation I took with my wife and five kids in 1951.I was dissatisfied with the second-class hotels available for families and was angry that they charged an extra$2 for each child. That was too expensive for the average American family. I told my wife that I was going to open a motel (汽车旅馆)for families that would never charge extra for children. There were plenty of doubters at that time.
Not surprisingly, mom was one of my strongest supporters. She worked behind the desk and even designed the room style. As in any business, we experienced a lot of challenges. But with my mother’s words deeply rooted in my soul, I never doubted we would succeed. Fifteen years later, we had the largest hotel system in the word-Holiday Inn. In 1979 my company had 1,759 inns in more than fifty countries with an in income of $ 1 billion a year.
You may not have started out life in the best situations. But if you can find a task in life worth working for and believe in yourself, nothing can stop you.
71.What Kemmons’mom often told him during his childhood was_______.
A.caring B.moving C.encouraging D.interesting
72.According to the author, who played the most important role in making him walk back to school again?
A.Doctors. B.Nurses. C.Friends. D.Mom.
73.What caused Kemmons to start a motel by himself?
A. His terrible experience in the hotel.
B. His previous business success of various levels.
C. His mom’s support.
D. His wife’s suggestion.
74.Which of the following best describes Kemmons’mother?
A. Modest ,helpful and hard-working. B. Loving, supportive and strong-willed.
C. Careful, helpful and beautiful. D.Strict, sensitive and supportive.
75.Which of the following led to Kemmons’ success according to the passage?
A. Self-confidence, had work, higher education and a poor family
B. Mom’s encouragement, clear goals, self-confidence and hard work.
C. Clear goals, mom’s encouragement, a poor family and higher education.
D. Mom’s encouragement, a poor family, higher education and opportunities.
Lying in the sun on a rock, the cougar （美洲狮） saw Jeb and his son, Tom, before they saw it. Jeb put his bag down quickly and pulled his jacket open with both hands, making himself look big to the cougar. It worked. The cougar hesitated, ready to attack Jeb, but ready to forget the whole thing, too.
Jeb let go of his jacket, grasped Tom and held him across his body, making a cross. Now the cougar’s enemy looked even bigger, and it rose up, ready to move away, but unfortunately Tom got scared and struggled free of Jeb.
“Tom, no!” shouted his father.
But Tom broke and ran and that’s the last thing you do with a cougar. The second Tom broke free, Jeb threw himself on the cougar, just as it jumped from the rock. They hit each other in mid-air and both fell. The cougar was on Jeb in a flash, forgetting about Tom, which was what Jeb wanted.
Cougars are not as big as most people think and a determined man stands a chance, even with just his fists. As the cougar’s claws（爪子）got into his left shoulder, Jeb swung his fist at its eyes and hit, hard. The animal howled（吼叫）and put its head back. Jeb followed up with his other fist. Then out of the comer of his eye, Jeb saw Tom. The boy was running back to help his father.
“Knife, Tom,” shouted Jeb.
The boy ran to his father’s bag, while Jeb started shouting as well as hitting, to keep the cougar’s attention away from Tom. Tom got the knife and ran over to Jeb. The cougar was moving its head in and out, trying to find a way through the wall Jeb was making out of his arms. Tom swung with the knife, into the cougar’s back. It howled horribly and ran off into the mountains.
The whole fight had taken about thirty seconds.
63. Why did Jeb pull his jacket open when he saw the cougar?
A. To get ready to fight. B. To frighten it away. C. To protect the boy. D. To cool down.
64. What do we know about cougars?
A. They are afraid of noises. B. They hesitate before they hit.
C. They are bigger than we think. D. They like to attack running people.
65. How did Jeb try to hold the cougar’s attention?
A. By keeping shouting and hitting. B. By making a wall out of his arms.
C. By throwing himself on the cougar. D. By swinging his fists at the cougar’s eyes.
66. Which of the following happened first?
A. The cougar jumped from the rock. B. Tom struggled free of his father.
C. Jeb asked Tom to get the knife. D. Jeb held Tom across his body.
Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an expensive French restaurant in Denver. The ice cream he was serving fell onto the white dress of a rich and important woman.
Thirty years have passed, but Odland can’t get the memory out of his mind, nor the woman’s kind reaction (反应) . She was shocked, regained calmness and, in a kind voice, told the young Odland. “It’s OK. It wasn’t your fault.” When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO (总裁) with a life lesson: You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter.
Odland isn’t the only CEO to have made this discovery. Rather, it seems to be one of those few laws of the land that every CEO learns on the way up. It’s hard to get a dozen CEO’s to agree about anything, but most agree with the Waiter Rule. They say how others treat the CEO says nothing. But how others treat the waiter is like a window into the soul.
Watch out for anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like, “I could but this place and fire you,” or“I know the owner and I could have you fired.” Those who say such things have shown more about their character(人品) than about their wealth and Power.
The CEO who came up with it, or at least first wrote it down, is Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson. He wrote a best-selling book called, Swanson’s Unwritten Rules of Management.
“A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person,” Swanson says. “I will never offer a job to the person who is sweet to the boss but turns rode to someone cleaning the tables.”
49. What happened after Odland dropped the ice cream onto the woman’s dress?
A. He was fired. B. He was blamed.
C. The woman comforted him. D. The woman left the restaurant at once.
50. Odland leaned one of his life lessons from ________.
A. his experience as a waiter. B. the advice given by the CEOs
C. an article in Fortune D. an interesting best-selling book
51. According to the text, most CEOs have the same opinion about __________.
A. Fortune 500 companiesB. the Management Rules
C. Swanson’s book D. the Waiter Rule
52. From the text can learn that __________.
A. one should be nicer to important people
B. CEOs often show their power before others
C. one should respect others no matter who they are
D. CEOs often have meals in expensive restaurants