In December 2008, Caroline Kennedy — daughter of the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy—sat down, as a frontrunner for the Senate seat in New York, for a televised interview that helped decide the future of her campaign. The result was a disaster.
Her performance wasn’t well received, in part because her speech was full of filler words—“ums,” “ahs” and “you knows.” One listener counted 27 “ums” and 38 “you knows” in the space of five minutes. A few weeks after the interview, Kennedy ended her Senate campaign.
Filler words may seem natural in everyday speech, but they can be deadly in formal presentations. “Using excessive fillers is the most annoying speech habit,” said Susan Ward, a speech specialist. “They take your listener’s attention away often to the point that he doesn’t hear anything you say. Your message is entirely lost.”
Many speakers are afraid of pause. They believe their audience will think they are inarticulate (不善于表达) if they pause to think of what to say next, so they use filler words to avoid the silence. However, a pause is actually more impressive than a filler word. Listeners know that the speaker is thinking, trying to find the right word. Sometimes a pause can actually improve a speech, as when an actor uses a dramatic pause to hold the attention of his audience. A speaker shouldn’t be afraid to pause occasionally during a speech; it shows self-confidence.
It takes some work to cut out filler words. You can begin by taking a few seconds to think about what you want to say the next time you are asked a question. This pause will help you begin powerfully, and it will help you avoid using a filler word.
The same public speaking technique applies when you are shifting from one idea to another. While you may be tempted to fill the silence between ideas with a filler word, remember to allow yourself to pause and think about what you want to say next.
If you need help overcoming your “um” problem, consider asking a family member or a friend to point out when you use filler words. You also could record an upcoming presentation and then watch yourself in action. You may be amazed at how often you say “um” or “uh”!
Although we live in a fast-paced society that seemingly demands instant answers, we must use the pause to our advantage. Finally, we should only speak when we are ready.In the first two paragraphs of the article the writer intends to ______.
| A．introduce Caroline Kennedy to readers |
| B．illustrate how deadly filler words can be in the public speech |
| C．explain what filler words are |
| D．remind readers that they should count filler words used in public speeches |
The reason why filler words are considered annoying by speech specialist is that ______.
| A．they prevent the listener from focusing on what the speaker is saying. |
| B．they convey the speaker’s superiority to the listener. |
| C．they mean the speaker is not articulate at all. |
| D．they make the speaker appear self-confident. |
When used properly, pauses in speeches can actually ______.
| A．give the speaker more credibility |
| B．hold the attention of the audience |
| C．show the speaker’s deep insight |
| D．help the audience relax |
Which of the following is NOT suggested as a way to get rid of filler words?
| A．To have mental training in order to think faster. |
| B．To ask someone else to point out when you use filler words. |
| C．To watch a recording of your own speech. |
| D．To practice thinking for a moment before answering a question. |
In a mountainous area of Brazil, there is a kind of beautiful butterfly which can kill men. If people meet them, they will come down in great quantities to bite and kill, sucking blood and flesh through the wounds they cause.
In June, 1966, a boy named Marl Andre who went into the mountains in search of butterfly specimens (标本) was killed by these butterflies. A country boy saw him when he was just about to catch a butterfly. Suddenly thousands of butterflies came down upon him, covering him all over. The boy struggled and cried as he tried to free himself from their attack. Finally he fell senseless to the ground. Police examined his body and proved that he had died of bites by butterflies.
In New Guinea, there is a kind of needlefish which also kills men. Needlefish likes light. At night, it will swim near the lights of fishing boats, then suddenly shoot out of water like an arrow to its target, and force its 3-inch sharp mouth into a human body. Of-ten people are thrust in the eye, or through the chest or stomach, resulting in death. Sometimes it will even attack the people in a fishing boat in broad daylight.
About 10 persons in the world are killed by sharks every year, yet more than 240 people are killed by needlefish every year.From the passage, we know that ______.
| A．butterflies are living in the mountains |
| B．all butterflies like sucking blood and eating fish |
| C．the butterflies in a certain part of Brazil can kill men |
| D．the more beautiful a butterfly is, the more dangerous it is |
Mari Andre was killed when he ______.
| A．went to Brazil | B．tried to catch a butterfly |
| C． entered the mountains | D．raised a net |
Needlefish comes out ______.
| A．sometimes at night | B．both at night and in the daytime |
| C．only when boats appear | D．usually in the daytime |
According to the story, each year needlefish kills ______.
| A．twice more than sharks do |
| B．about 10 more persons than sharks do |
| C．24 times more persons than sharks do |
| D．fewer persons than sharks do |
The best title for the passage is ______.
| A．Brazil Home of Dangerous Butterflies |
| B．Killer Butterflies and Needlefish |
| C．New Guinea—No Fit to Live in |
| D．Deaths Caused by Butterflies and Needlefish |
We live in a dangerous world. The figures for crime go up year by year. If you were attacked in the street, would you be able to defend yourself? Not very well probably, especially if someone was pointing a gun at you. We all see a lot of violence of films, but recently some programs on television showed how people can defend themselves without guns. For example, in one film a woman was attacked from behind. She threw the man, who was heavier and stronger than she was, over her head. Then she held him tightly on the ground. How? She knew Judo.
Jiu-jitsu, as judo is sometimes called, means "muscle science" in Japanese. The student of judo needs to learn a lot about the body, its bones and muscles. Judo uses a number of "falls", "holds" and "throws". Someone who does not know judo cannot defend himself against them. If you know judo you can defend yourself against a person who is stronger than you. You had better not practice judo on your friends unless they can fall without hurting themselves! Being strong is one thing, but using the body wisely is another. In judo, you use the other person's body to help you. You "throw" him to the ground and "hold" him there, so that he cannot move. Of course, it takes time and practice, but knowing judo is useful. In a violent world you ought to be able to defend yourself.According to passage, in fact "judo" is ______.
| A．the same as "Jiu-jitsu" | B．a kind of fighting |
| C． a kind of muscle science | D．is helpful to a strong man |
Why does the writer say the world is dangerous?
| A． The number of violence and crime is increasing every year. |
| B．Because many people carry guns. |
| C．Because there too many films. |
| D．Because people are not able to defend themselves. |
Which of the following statement is true about the woman in the passage?
| A．The woman held the man over her head. |
| B．The woman was heavier than the man. |
| C．The woman was able to defend herself. |
| D．The woman attacked the man from behind. |
If a man knows judo, he ______.
| A．will be good at muscle science. |
| B．will be able to avoid being attacked from his back. |
| C．may defeat any strong person. |
| D．can help himself by using the other person's body |
What's the best title for this short passage?
| A．How to defend oneself | B．Violence in films |
| C．How to practise judo | D．Something about judo |
Happiness is contagious (有感染力的), as researchers reported on Thursday.
People with the most social connections — spouses, friends, neighbors and relatives — were also the happiest, the data showed. “Each additional happy person makes you happier,” Christakis said.
“Imagine that I am connected to you and you are connected to others and others are connected to still others. It is this fabric of humanity, like an American patch quilt.”
Each person sits on a different colored patch. “Imagine that these patches are happy and unhappy patches. Your happiness depends on what is going on in the patch around you,” Christakis said.
“It is not just happy people connecting with happy people, which they do. Above and beyond, there is this contagious process going on.”
And happiness is more contagious than unhappiness, they discovered.
“If a social contact is happy, it increases the likelihood that you are happy by 15 percent, ” Fowler said. “A friend of a friend, or the friend of a spouse or a sibling (兄弟姐妹), if they are happy, increases your chances by 10 percent,” he added.
A happy third degree friend — the friend of a friend of a friend — increases a person’s chances of being happy by 6 percent.
“But every extra unhappy friend increases the likelihood that you’ll be unhappy by 7 percent,” Fowler said.
The finding is interesting and it is useful, too, Fowler said.
“Among other benefits, happiness has been shown to have an important effect on reduced mortality (死亡率), pain reduction, and improved cardiac (心脏的) function. So better understanding of how happiness spreads can help us learn how to develop a healthier society,” he said.
The study also fits in with other data suggested in 1984 that having $ 5,000 extra increased a person’s chances of becoming happier by about 2 percent.
“A happy friend is worth about $ 20,000,” Christakis said.It can be inferred that________.
| A．happiness spreads as fast and widely as unhappiness |
| B．unhappiness spreads faster and more widely than happiness |
| C．happiness spreads faster and more widely than unhappiness |
| D．the spread of unhappiness has not been studied by researchers |
Which of the following will increase your chances of becoming happier most?
| A．Being in a party with a happy atmosphere. |
| B．A happy experience of your brother or your parents. |
| C．A happy trip to a foreign country of your friends. |
| D．Happiness of your friend’s friend. |
What does Christakis mean by saying “A happy friend is worth about $ 20,000”?
| A．A happy friend can help you bring in a wealth of $ 20,000. |
| B．A happy friend is a wealth which is worth about $ 20,000. |
| C．A happy friend increases your chances of being happy by 2%. |
| D．A happy friend increases your chances of being happy by 8 %. |
Sunny countries are often poor. A shame, then, that solar power is still quite expensive. Eight19, a British company by Cambridge University, has, however, invented a novel way to get round this. In return for a deposit of around $10 it is supplying poor Kenyan families with a solar cell able to generate 2.5 watts of electricity, a battery that can deliver a three amp（安培）current to store this electricity, and a lamp whose bulb is a light-emitting diode（二极管）.The firm thinks that this system, once the battery is fully charged, is enough to light two small rooms and to power a mobile-phone charger for seven hours. Then, next day, it can be put outside and charged back up again.
The trick is that, to be able to use the electricity, the system's keeper must buy a scratch card—for as little as a dollar—on which is printed a reference number. The keeper sends this reference, plus the serial number of the household solar unit, by SMS to Eight19. The company's server will respond automatically with an access code to the unit.
Users may consider that they are paying an hourly rate for their electricity. In fact, they are paying off the cost of the unit. After buying around $80 worth of scratch cards—which Eight19 expects would take the average family around 18 months—the user will own it. He will then have the option of continuing to use it for nothing, or of trading it in for a bigger one, perhaps driven by a 10-watt solar cell.
In that case, he would go then through the same process again, paying off the additional cost of the upgraded kit at a slightly higher rate. Users would therefore increase their electricity supply steadily and affordably.
According to Eight19's figures, this looks like a good deal for customers. The firm believes the average energy-starved Kenyan spends around $10 a month on oil—enough to fuel a couple of smoky lamps—plus $2 on charging his mobile phone in the market-place. Regular users of one of Eight19's basic solar units will spend around half that, before owning it completely. Meanwhile, as the cost of solar technology falls, it should get even cheaper. What should the user do when the electricity in the battery is used up?
| A．Recharge it outside. | B．Buy another solar cell. |
| C．Return it to the company. | D．Buy a scratch card. |
How much would users pay for the cell and scratch cards before they own a 2.5-watt solar cell?
| A．Around $10. | B．Around $80. | C．Around $180. | D．Around $90. |
It can be inferred from the last paragraph that ________.
| A．Kenyan families would find it difficult to afford the solar cell |
| B．the company will make a great profit from selling solar cells |
| C．few Kenyan families use mobile phones for lack of electricity |
| D．using the solar cell would help Kenyan families save money |
What might be the most suitable title for the passage?
| A．Solar Energy: Starting from Scratch. |
| B．Eight19: a creative British Company. |
| C．Kenyan Families: Using Solar Energy for Free. |
| D．Poor Countries: Beginning to Use Solar Energy. |
Has Tiger Mom gone soft? One year after the release of her book, "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," Amy Chua is back in the spotlight, reflecting on how overnight infamy（恶名）affected her life, her family and her parenting.
"I've changed a lot," she told The Huffington Post. "In October, we had 30 kids at our house! We've hosted parties with lots of food and music."
Last January, the Wall Street Journal published an excerpt（节选）from Chua's book with the headline "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior." In the excerpt, Chua described how her daughters were never allowed to have sleepovers（在外过夜的儿童聚会）, appear in school plays, earn any grade lower than an A . Chua, an author and professor at Yale Law School, spent much of 2011 on the defensive. In fact, many of her interviews seemed to lend fuel to her critics' fire.
Now, with the book out in paperback（简装）,she said, "I put passages in the book and used very harsh words that I regret. Everybody has those moments you wish you could take back." Many of the scenes she described in the book are a far cry from the child-raising methods she advocates.
For those who still read "Battle Hymn" as an advice guide, Chua argues that so-called tiger parenting should be employed mainly during a child's early years, ideally between the ages of 5 and 12. These "super-strict parenting methods" are not meant for all ages. Remaining strict after middle school makes you a helicopter parent, according to Chua. And she is quick to point out how different that is from being a tiger mom.
"By the time kids get to high school, helicopter parents are hiring all these tutors, carrying their kids' sports bags. I never checked older daughter Sophia's papers because I knew she knew how to sit down and focus," Chua said.
As for younger daughter Lulu, 15, the rebel for whom the book waswritten, Chua has really backed off. Instead of forcing Lulu to practice violin for hours a day -- the source of their biggest fights, Chua "let her give that up". "My compromise is that I'm going to still be as strict academically, but in exchange she has a lot of social freedom. Lulu has had four sleepovers in the last two months!" Chua said. "Chua predicts she'll only get more easygoing with age. From Paragraph 1 we can know that after the publication of the book_____.
| A．Tiger Mom became stricter with her children |
| B．Tiger Mom was thought highly by the public |
| C．Tiger Mom’s life and family were influenced |
| D．Tiger Mom became wealthy and easygoing |
What does the passage mainly tell us?
| A．Tiger Mom has changed and wants to be soft. |
| B．Tiger Mom persuaded readers to follow her example. |
| C．How Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother came out. |
| D．How Tiger Mom became the worldwide spotlight. |
What does the underlined phrase “a far cry from” in Paragraph 4 mean?
| A．similar to | B．just the same as | C．very different from | D．a cry far from |
What is the writer’s attitude towards Tiger Mom?
| A．supportive | B．opposed | C．unconcerned | D．objective |
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