You are a new manager at the American branch of your German firm in Chicago. With a few minutes to spare between meetings, you go to get a quick cup of coffee.
“Hey, David, how are you?” one of the senior partners at the firm asks you.
“Good, thank you, Dr. Greer,” you reply. You’ve really been wanting to make a connection with the senior leadership at the firm, and this seems like a great opportunity. But as you start to think of something to say, your American colleague breaks in to steal your spotlight.
“So Arnold”, your colleague says to your boss, in such a casual manner that it makes your German soul cringe(畏缩), “So what’s your Super bowl prediction? I mean, you’re a Niners fan, right?” The conversation moves on, and you walk silently back to your desk with your coffee. You know how important small talk is in the U. S. , and you feel jealous of people who can do it well.
There’s nothing small about the role that small talk plays in American professional culture. People from other countries are often surprised at how important small talk is in the U. S. and how naturally and comfortably people seem to do it—with peers，men，women，and even with superiors. You can be the most technically skilled worker in the world, but your ability to progress in your job in the United States is highly dependent on your ability to build and maintain positive relationships with people at work. And guess what skill is critical for building and maintaining these relationships? Small talk.
What can you do if you are from another culture and want to learn to use small talk in the U. S. to build relationships and establish trust? Work hard to hone(磨练)your own version of American-style small talk. Watch how others do it. You don’t have to mimic what they do; in fact, that would likely backfire because people would see you as inauthentic. But if you can develop your own personal version, that can go a long way toward making you feel comfortable. The author introduces the topic of the passage by __________.
| A．raising an interesting question |
| B．telling a small jokes |
| C．making comparisons |
| D．describing an interesting scene |
What do we know about German people?
| A．They usually make small talk in work breaks. |
| B．They don’t make so much small talk. |
| C．They hate making small talk. |
| D．They are good at making small talk too. |
What makes people from other countries surprised in American professional culture?
| A．The role small talk plays in work settings. |
| B．American workers’ attitude towards superiors. |
| C．The special meaning of small talk. |
| D．American workers’ ability to make progress. |
What does “backfire” underlined in the last paragraph mean?
| A．be difficult | B．be helpful |
| C．have the opposite effect | D．have a good result |
They wear the latest fashions with the most up-to-da
te accessories(配饰)．Yet these are not girls in their teens or twenties but women in their sixties and seventies．A generation which would once only wear old-fashioned clothes is now favouring the same high street looks worn by those half their age．
Professor Julia Twigg, a social policy expert, said, “Women over 75 are now shopping for clothes more frequently than they did when they were young in the 1960s．In the 1960s buying a coat for a woman was a serious matter．It was an expensive item that they would purchase only every three or four years — now you can pick one up at the supermarket whenever you wish to．Fashion is a lot cheaper and people get tired of things more quickly．”
Professor Twigg analysed family expenditure(支出) data
and found that while the percentage of spending on clothes and shoes by women had stayed around the same — at 5 or 6 percent of spending — the amount of clothes bought had risen sharply．
The professor said, “Clothes are now 70 percent cheaper than they were in the 1960s because of the huge expansion of production in the Far East．In the 1960s Leeds was the heart of the British fashion industry and that was where most of the clothes came from, but now almost all of our clothes are sourced elsewhere．Everyone is buying more clothes but in general we are not spending more money on them．”
Fashion designer Angela Barnard, who runs her own fashion business in London, said older women were much more affected celebrity(名流) style than in previous years．
She said, “When people see stars such as Judi Dench and Helen Mirren looking attractive and fashionable in their sixties, they want to follow them．Older women are much more aware of celebrities ．There’s also the boom in TV programmes showing people how they can change their look, and many of my older customers do yoga to stay in shape well in their fifties．When I started my business a few years ago, my older customers tended to be very rich, but now they are what I would call ordinary women．My own mother is 61 and she wears the latest fashions in a way she would never have done ten years ago．”Professor Twigg found that, compared with the 1960s, _________．
| A．the price of clothes has generally fallen by 70% |
| B．the spending on clothes has increased by 5% or 6% |
| C．people spend 30% less than they did on clothes |
| D．the amount of clothes bought has risen by 5% or 6% |
What can we learn about old women in terms of fashion？
| A．They are often ignored by fashion designers． |
| B．They are now more easily influenced by stars． |
| C．They are regarded as pioneers in the latest fashion． |
| D．They are more interested in clothes because of their old age． |
It can be concluded that old women tend to wear the latest fashions today mainly because _________．
| A．they get tired of things more quickly | B．TV shows teach them how to change their look |
| C．they are in much better shape now | D．clothes are much cheaper than before |
Which is the best possible title of the passage?
| A．Age Is No Barrier for Fashion Fans | B．The More Fashionable, the Less Expensive |
| C．Unexpected Changes in Fashion | D．Boom of the British Fashio n Industry |
For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner．Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict．In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it．From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness．And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely．Both feel trapped．
In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap．The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things．Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends．Second, blaming．The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong．Third, needing to be right．It doesn’t matter what the topic is — politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg — the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other pers
on is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority — someone who actually knows something — and therefore to command respect．Unfortunately, as long as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress．Why does the author compare the parent-teen war to a border conflict?
| A．both can continue for generations． | B．Both are about where to draw the line． |
| C．Neither has any clear winner． | D．Neither can be put to an end． |
What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?
| A．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict． |
| B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict． |
| C．The teens accuse their parents of misleading them． |
| D．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents． |
Parents and teens want to be right because they want to ________．
| A．give orders to the other | B．know more than the other |
| C．gain respect from the other | D．get the other to behave properly |
What will the author most probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?
| A．causes for the parent–teen conflicts |
| B．Examples of the parent–teen war． |
| C．Solutions for the parent–teen problems |
| D．Future of the parent–teen relationship |
It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night．The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently．
My father realised it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him．I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same．I’m so glad I did．
On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape．After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel to the sea．As we got on board, we noticed two big humps(脊背) in the distance．
On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby．We couldn’t believe it —there aren’t any whales along the coast here．The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive．
The little baby whale — actually as big as our boat — was obviously stuck and could not move．The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools(漩涡) and
waves．” She’s trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side,” my father said．At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently．With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water．Then it swam up right beside its mum．They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction．We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel．Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe — and to give us a trusting look with those huge eyes．Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance．
In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half．That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day, Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea．The author says “I’m so glad I did．” (in Para．2) because __________．
| A．he witnessed the whole process of fishing |
| B．he enjoyed the beauty of the calm sea |
| C．he experienced the rescue of the whales |
| D．he spent the weekend with his family |
The harbour survived the storm owing to__________．
| A．the shape of the harbour | B．the arms of the bay |
| C．the still water in the channel | D．the long coast line |
The mother whale failed to help her baby because__________．
| A．she had stayed in the polluted water for too long |
| B．the whirlpools she had made were not big enough |
| C．she had no other whales around to tutu to for help |
| D．the waves pushed her baby in the wrong direction |
What is the theme of the story?
| A．Saving lives brings people a sense of happiness． |
| B．Fishing provides excitement for children． |
| C．It’s necessary to live in harmony with animals． |
| D．It’s vital to protect the environment． |
A beautiful woman took a plane on business. She found her seat and sat down next to a young man. The man was just thinking of making a few dollars on the plane. When he saw the woman, he got an idea.
“Hey! Would you like to play a game?” he asked the woman. “No, thank you. I just want to take a nap (打盹),” the woman answered. “It’s really easy. All you have to do is to answer the questions that I ask you. If you don’t know the answer, you give me five dollars. If I don’t know the answer to your question, then I’ll give you five dollars.” “No,” the woman still refused. “OK. If I don’t know the answer to your question, I’ll give you five hundred dollars. How about that?” the man said. Then the woman became interested and decided to join in the game.
“OK. How many moons does Jupiter (木星) have?” asked the young man. The woman reached into her purse and took out a five-dollar bill. “What goes up the mountain with three legs and comes back with four?” the woman asked. Then the young man took out his computer and searched the Internet for an answer. Minutes later, the young man handed five hundred dollars to the woman.
After a few hours, the young man really wanted to know the answer to the question. So he asked the woman, “What is the answer to your question?” The woman reached into her purse and handed the young man a five-dollar bill.
49. Why did the man ask the woman to play a game?
A. He wanted to show his kindness.
B. He wanted to have a pleasant journey.
C. He wanted to earn some money from it.
D. He wanted to make friends with the woman.
50. How much did the woman get at the end of the story?
A. $ 500. B. $ 5. C. $ 10. D. $ 490.
51. What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A. The woman told the man the answer to her question.
B. The woman gave the man’s money back to him.
C. The woman asked the man another question.
D. The woman didn’t know the answer, either.
52. We can learn from the story that the woman is ______.
A. clever B. friendly C. polite D. honest
Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson, Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.
My earliest memories of my father are a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and his family, but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A’s and unhappy with my boyfriends if their fathers were not as “successful” as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.
On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father’s friends for lunch at an outdoor café. We talked along that afternoon, did some shopping, ate on the street table, and laughed over my son’s funny facial expressions. Gone was my father’s critical (挑剔的) air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?
The next day dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him at that moment. After so many years, I’m at last seeing another side of my father. And in doing so, I’m delighted with my new friend. My dad, in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was.
45. Why did the author feel uncomfortable about her father as a young adult?
A. He was silent most of the time. B. He was too proud of himself.
C. He did not love his children. D. He expected too much of her.
46. When the author went out with her father on weekend, she would feel _______.
A. nervous B. sorry C. tired D. safe
47. What does the author think of her father after her visit to Tucson?
A. More critical. B. More talkative
C. Gentle and friendly. D. Strict and hard-working.
48. The underlined words “my new friend” in the last paragraph refer to_____ .
A. the author’s son B. the author’s father
C. the friend of the author’s father D. the café owner