Our spiritual intelligence quotient（精神智商）,or SQ, helps us understand ourselves, and live fuller, happier lives.
Though we're all born with SQ, most of us don't even realize that we have it. Fortunately, you don't have to sign up for classes to learn how to improve your SQ. Here are some simple steps that can lead you to this new level of understanding.
Sit Quietly. The process of developing spiritual intelligence begins with solitude（独处）and silence. To tune in to your spirit, you have to turn down the volume（强度）in your busy, noisy, complicated life and force yourself to do nothing at all. Start small by creating islands for silence in your day. In the car, instead of listening to the music, use the time to think. At work, shut the door to your office between meetings, take a few breaths and let them out very, very slowly. Enjoy the stillness in your home after the kids are finally in bed.
Step Outside. For many people, nature sets their spirit free. Go outside to watch a beautiful sunset. If you are walking with the dog, take the time to admire flowers in bloom; follow the flight of a bird and watch clouds float overhead.
Ask Questions of Yourself. Ask open-ended questions, such as "What am I Feeling? What are my choices? Where am I heading?"
But don't expect an answer to arrive through some supernatural forms of e-mail. “Rarely do I get an immediate answer to my question,” says Reverend Joan Carter, a Presbyterian minister in Sausalito, California. “But later that day I suddenly find myself thinking about a problem in a perspective（角度） I never considered before.”
Trust Your Spirit. While most of us rely on gut（本能的）feeling to realize danger, spiritual intelligence pushes us, not away from, but towards some action that will lead to a greater good. The passage is mainly about______.
| A．what your SQ is and in what way it can benefit our life |
| B．what your SQ is and in what way it can be improved |
| C．the relationship between your SQ and your life |
| D．advantages and disadvantages of SQ |
The underlined phrase "to tune in to your spirit" in the third paragraph probably
means to_________
| A．get your spirit relaxed | B．keep up your spirit |
| C．keep seated quietly | D．change your spirit |
From the passage, we can know that the most important thing to improve your SQ is______
| A．a peaceful mind | B．deep thought |
| C．spare time and hobbies | D．good spirits |
According to the passage, which of the following is True?
| A．Not everyone has SQ. |
| B．You have to go to classes to learn how to improve your SQ. |
| C．SQ leads us to take wrong actions. |
| D．SQ can benefit our life. |
“Tomorrow is another day”---- this line has impressed various people at various times. It's now 70 years after it appeared in the film, but it still seems to hold its power especially during an economic downturn.
The phrase comes from a film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell's successful 1936 novel Gone With the Wind. It's set in the American South and tells the story of a strong heroine, Scarlett O' Hara, who struggles to find love during the Civil War and, afterwards, of her strength in surviving the war and its hardships.
Love story
In a moment of despair, Scarlett finally realizes that her love belongs to Rhett Butler. For many audiences, it is the theme of love and struggle that has kept the movie alive. While the burning of Atlanta might seem irrelevant to today's viewers, the timeless theme of love keeps its ability to touch people.
With a promise to her lover still in her mind, Scarlett chooses to stay in the midst of war and take care of Melanie. But her heart is broken when Rhett just walks away, leaving the woman that he once loved with cruel words, "Frankly, dear, I don' t give a damn."
Great epic
The film shows the love-hate relationship of these characters, but also American history, the fall of the Confederacy and the following period of Reconstruction in the South. The background made this film a true classic in the epic genre.
When the film opened after World War II, French viewers loved it, and it reminded them of their fight against the Nazis. In 1940 Shanghai, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, people stood in line for hours to watch this film, and saw the same suffering they were having as well as the hope and possibility of building a new homeland from the ruins.
Each nationality could identify with the story and see it as a victory. In fact, Gone With the Wind never lost its charm and ability to inspire and amaze.
Biggest of all time
The film had five directors, 15-plus screenwriters, and an unexpected $3.9 million budget. The film brought in $ 200 million, which makes it the biggest selling film of all times in North America. It also won 10 Academy awards in 1940.The underlined "it" in the first paragraph refers to _______.
| A．the novel Gone with the Wind | B．"tomorrow is another day" |
| C．the movie Gone with the Wind | D．the Academy Award |
The text is written mainly to _______.
| A．celebrate the anniversary of Margaret Mitchell |
| B．introduce how the film was directed and filmed |
| C．throw light on the charm of the movie "Gone with the Wind" |
| D．inspire people to struggle the economic downturn |
It can be concluded that Scarlett O' Hara is _______.
| A．optimistic and lucky | B．childish and realistic |
| C．caring and stubborn | D．strong-minded and persistent |
The passage mentions Shanghai in order to _______.
| A．prove that the background of the movie touched viewers |
| B．describe how popular the movie was at that time |
| C．point out that Shanghai was a center of entertainment |
| D．tell us that Chinese were suffering the War then. |
Several years ago, I had a huge falling out with one of my best friends. So huge, in fact, that now I can’t even remember what happened.
In the past nine years, I’ve seen her twice, and each time we’ve been polite but distant. And that troubles me because we were once inseparable. I’d like nothing more than to go back nine years, and continue our friendship. But how? How do you reconnect with friends you’ve lost throughout the years?
Linking to your past
The desire to reconnect with lost friends isn’t unusual. Why? Because friends link us to the past. “Friends from years ago are custodians (监护人) of our past,” says Sandy Sheehy.
Although you can share information about your past with friends you’ve met recently, you don’t have a shared history with them. So you wind up only telling them about your past, rather than sharing it with them.
But many people never try to reconnect. Women especially have trouble taking the first step. Shyness or fear that the other person doesn’t want to reconnect often stops many women. And that shouldn’t be. Your friends probably want to be in touch with you as much as you want to be in touch with them.
Searching for friends
Fortunately, finding lost friends isn’t as difficult as it once was, thanks to tools like the Internet. Our experts offer these suggestions for locating contact information:
Search Internet sites designed to locate people like classmates.com and switchboard.com.
Contact your high school or college alumni (校友) office to request current address information.
Surf online yellow pages. Check current phone records from your friend’s hometown.
Network with other friends who might have known your friend.
Get in touch with any of her relatives, if you know where they live. If you know where she works, find the company’s website and search the directory of personnel.What is the subject discussed in the passage?
| A．How to make new friends. |
| B．How to rebuild friendship. |
| C．How to develop healthy friendship. |
| D．How to keep in touch with friends. |
The underlined sentence “friends from years ago are custodians of our past” in Paragraph 3 means _____.
| A．years ago old friends kept something for us |
| B．in the past old friends took care of us |
| C．old friends are part of our life history |
| D．old friends know what wrongs we did |
What makes us unwilling to reconnect old friends?
| A．Lack of money. | B．Busy time. | C．Regret and shame. | D．Fear and shyness. |
How can we make contact with the lost friends?
| A．By asking other friends of the information on your lost friends. |
| B．By searching your friends’ telephone number on the Net. |
| C．By asking the local post office about your friends’ new address. |
| D．By putting an advertisement in your friends’ local town. |
Researchers found that walking around with a forced smile and fake (假的) happiness simply leads to people feeling unhappier. So, putting a brave face on your sadness could be harmful. The research also found that women suffered more than men when pretending to be happy.
Dr. Brent Scott, who led the study, said employers should take note because forcing workers to smile when dealing with the public can result in bad outcomes. He said, “Smiling for the sake of smiling can lead to emotional tiredness, and that’s bad for the organization.” He also said the research showed customer-service workers who had “fake smiles” throughout the day fell into a bad mood and didn’t want to work, so their productivity dropped.
The study is one of the first of its kind to examine emotional expressions over a period of time and compare the different effects on men and women. Dr. Scott’s team examined the effects of “surface acting”, or fake smiling, compared to “deep acting”, or making people smile by thinking of peasant memories.
Dr. Scott said, “Women were harmed more by surface acting, meaning their moods worsened even more than men’s. However, they were helped more by deep acting, which means their moods improved more by thinking of pleasant memories. ”
According to Dr. Scott, women tend to suffer more when pretending to be happy because they are expected to be more emotionally expressive than men. Therefore, forcing a smile while feeling down is more likely to go against their normal behavior and cause more harmful feelings.
Although deep acting can improve moods a little in the short term, Dr. Scott says, it’s not a long-term solution to feeling unhappy. “There have been some suggestions that if you do this over a long period you start to feel unreal. You’re trying to develop positive emotions, but at the end of the day you may not feel like yourself any more.”According to the passage, Dr. Scott’s study ______.
| A．is supported by some big employers in the USA |
| B．is meaningful as there haven’t been many similar ones |
| C．examined more women than men for a long time |
| D．aimed to make the employees more productive |
Women suffer more from fake happiness mainly because ______.
| A．they usually turn up shy in public places |
| B．they should be more emotionally expressive |
| C．they are often treated in a terrible way |
| D．they like thinking of pleasant memories |
It is implied in the passage that deep acting _____.
| A．doesn’t have any effect on men |
| B．cannot improve our moods in any case |
| C．harms our feelings in the long run |
| D．pleases people by feeling like another person |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．Fake smiling makes people unhappy. |
| B．Women shouldn’t be forced to smile. |
| C．An important suggestion for workers. |
| D．Why people don’t want to work. |
If your boss asks you to work in Moscow this year, he’d better offer you more money to do so — or even double that depending on where you live now．That’s because Moscow has just been found to be the world’s most expensive city for the second year in a row by Mercer Human Resources Consulting．
Using the cost of living in New York as a base, Mercer determined Moscow is 34．4 percent more expensive including the cost of housing, transportation, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment．
A two-bedroom flat in Moscow now costs $4,000 a month; a CD $24．83, and an international newspaper $6．30, according to Mercer．By comparison, a fast food meal with a hamburger （汉堡包） is a steal at $4．80．
London takes the No．2 place, up from No．5 a year ago, thanks to higher cost of housing and a stronger British pound relative to the dollar．Mercer estimates （估算） London is 26 percent more expensive than New York these days．Following London closely are Seoul and Tokyo, both of which are 22 percent more expensive than New York, while No．5 Hong Kong is 19 percent more costly．
Among North American cities, New York and Los Angeles are the most expensive and are the only two listed in the top 50 of the world’s most expensive cities．But both have fallen since last year’s study — New York came in 15th, down from 10th place, while Los Angeles fell to 42nd from 29th place a year ago．San Francisco came in a distant third at No．54, down 20 places from a year earlier．
Toronto, meanwhile, is Canada’s most expensive city but fell 35 places to take 82nd place worldwide．In Australia, Sydney is the priciest place to live in and No．21 worldwide．What do the underlined words “a steal” in Paragraph 3 mean?
| A．an act of stealing | B．something delicious |
| C．something very cheap | D．an act of buying |
London has become the second most expensive city because of ______．
| A．the high cost of clothing |
| B．the stronger pound against the dollar |
| C．its expensive transportation |
| D．the high prices of fast food meals |
Which city is the third most expensive on the list?
| A．Tokyo． | B．Hong Kong． | C．Moscow． | D．Sydney． |
Which city has dropped most on the list in North America?
| A．New York． | B．Los Angeles． | C．San Francisco． | D．Toronto． |
Questionnaire(调查表，问卷)
Read the questions and answer YES or NO, then you will find out how good you are.
1. When you don 't understand something, you ask questions. □
2. You like listening to older people talk about the past. □
3. You think that you can learn something interesting from everyone around you. □
4. You are brave enough when you have to talk to people you don't know. □
5. You enjoy reading books about famous people. □
6. You always see and talk to different people. □
7. You are interested in learning new ways of doing things. □
8. You enjoy sharing experiences with friends and learning from people of all ages. □
9.You talk a lot about yourself. □
10. Even if you are often wrong, you make your own decisions. □
11.You hate teaching what you are good at: sports, technology, whatever. □
12.Your parents don't understand you, so you don't talk to them much. □
SCORE(打分数) NOW!
Score 2 points if you answer YES to each of the first 8 questions, and 0 if you choose NO.
Score 2 points if you answer NO to each of the last 4 questions, and 0 if you choose YES.
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18—24 You are friendly and open-minded. You make people feel important by listening to what they have to say. You'll probably succeed in learning al1 kinds of interesting things. Good for you!
10--16 Remember that every single person you know can teach you something. You will greatly make your life rich and colorful.
0- 8 About 400 years ago, a famous writer wrote, "No man is an island. "This is still useful today. Try to be more open and interested in people around you.If you say "YES" to all these questions , you'll get ____ points.
| A．12 | B．16 | C．20 | D．24 |
When you score 22 points, you are _____.
| A．shy and nervous | B．silent and serious |
| C．open and friendly | D．brave and strong |
"No man is an island." in the text probably means that _____.
| A．the famous writer was very clever |
| B．everything is the same as 400 years ago |
| C．you will feel happy if on an island |
| D．you can not live alone in the world |
Imagine this situation. You pass a group of people. The people are talking to each other. You cannot hear what they are saying. But suddenly they start laughing. What would you think? Would you think they were laughing at something funny that one of them said? Or -- be honest with yourself -- would you think they were laughing at you? Yes, you.
Being laughed at is a common fear. But a major study published in two thousand and nine found that this fear is not the same around the world. It differs from culture to culture.
People in Finland were the least likely to believe that people laughing in their presence were making fun of them. Less than ten percent of Finns in the study said they would think that, compared to eighty percent of people in Thailand.
Some people in the study said they felt unsure of themselves in social situations but hid their feelings of insecurity. Others said they avoided social situations where they had been laughed at before.
The study found that people in Turkmenistan and Cambodia were more likely to be in the first group. They would hide their feelings of insecurity if they were around other people's laughter. But people in Iraq, Egypt and Jordan were more likely to try to avoid such situations if they felt they had been laughed at before.
Shy people often avoid situations that would force them into close contact with other people. They worry that something they say or do will make other people laugh at them. But some people worry much more than others. They may have a disorder called gelotophobia. Gelos is a Greek word. It means laughter. Phobia means fear. This fear of laughter can be truly sad for those who live with it. It can affect how they lead their lives.
In the study, a team from the University of Zurich led more than ninety researchers from around the world. They wanted to understand the difference between normal shyness and true gelotophobia. Another purpose of the study was to compare the levels of fear of being laughed at in different cultures. The researchers surveyed more than twenty-two thousand people in forty-two different languages. The findings appeared in the scientific journal Humor.People in Finland don’t believe other people are making fun of them if _________________.
| A．they suddenly start to laugh. |
| B．they keep on laughing |
| C．they laugh in their presence |
| D．they stop laughing suddenly. |
What’s FALSE of the study led by a team from the University of Zurich?
| A．They wanted to study the difference between normal shyness and true gelotophobia. |
| B．They wanted to compare the levels of fear of being laughed at in different cultures. |
| C．They did such a survey in order to prevent people from being laughed at in public. |
| D．They surveyed more than 22 thousand people coming from different cultures. |
The passage is likely to occur in _______________.
| A．an advertisement | B．a science magazine |
| C．a science fiction | D．a storybook |
According to the passage, people who suffer from gelotophobia ______________________.
| A．care more about being laughed at by others |
| B．shouldn’t hide their feelings of insecurity |
| C．should avoid having close contact with other people |
| D．will lead a happy life so long as they care |
"If I rest, I rust"——would be an excellent motto for those who are troubled by the slightest bit of idleness．Even the most hard-working person might adopt it with advantage to serve as a reminder that, if one allows his abilities to rest, like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show signs of rust and, eventually, cannot do the work required of them．
Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by great men must- keep their ability polished by constant use, so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art, literature, agriculture—every department of human endeavor．
Industry keeps the key bright that opens the treasury of achievement．If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a quarry, had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would never have become a famous geologist．The celebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness, had the little Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead of calculating the position of the stars by a string of beads, he would never have become a famous astronomer．
Labor defeats all—not inconstant, or ill-directed labor; but faithful, persistent, daily effort toward a well-directed purpose．So industry is the price of noble and enduring success．What may be the meaning of the underlined word "rust" in the 1st paragraph?
| A．生锈 | B．成长 | C．进步 | D．快乐 |
Why does a hardworking person even use the motto? Because ______．
| A．he wants to remind himself that he is a hardworking man． |
| B．he wants to remind himself to rest from time to time |
| C．he is afraid that he may idle |
| D．he feels he can do the work required of them． |
By saying "Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by great men must keep their ability polished by constant use", the author means_______．
| A．great men keep their ability polished |
| B．those who use their ability constantly would attain the great height |
| C．those who want to get great achievements must practice their ability constantly |
| D．great men polish their ability to reach their height |
The main point of the 3rd paragraph is that ______
| A．industry is more important than agriculture． |
| B．giving some examples of how industry works in achieving great success． |
| C．what industry really means here |
| D．industry can keep the keys bright |
There is a new type of small advertisement becoming increasingly common in newspaper classified columns．It is sometimes placed among “situations vacant”, although it does not offer anyone a job, and sometimes it appears among “situations wanted”, although it is not placed by someone looking for a job, either．What it does is to offer help in applying for a job．
“Contact us before writing your application”, or “Make use of our long experience in preparing your curriculum vitae or job history”, is how it is usually expressed．The growth and apparent success of such a specialized service is, of course, a reflection on the current high levels of unemployment．It is also an indication of the growing importance of the CV, with the suggestion that it may now qualify as an art form in its own right．
There was a time when job seekers simply wrote letters of application．“Just put down your name, address, age and whether you have passed any exams”, was about the average level of advice offered to young people applying for their first jobs when I left school．The letter was really just for openers, it was explained, everything else could and should be saved for the interview．And in those days of full employment the technique worked．The letter proved that you could write and were available for work．Your eager face and intelligent replies did the rest．
There is no doubt, however, that it is increasing number of applicants with university education at all points in the process of engaging staff that has led to the greater importance of the CV．The new type of advertisement which is appearing in newspaper column ．
| A．informs job hunters of the opportunities available |
| B．informs employers of the people available for work |
| C．divides available jobs into various types |
| D．promises to offer useful advice to those looking for employment |
Nowadays a demand for this specialized type of service has been created because .
| A．there are so many people out of work |
| B．there are so many toplevel jobs available |
| C．there is a lack of jobs available for artistic people |
| D．the CV is considered to be a work of art |
In the past it was expected that first job hunters would ．
| A．write an initial letter giving their life history |
| B．keep any detailed information until they obtained an interview |
| C．have no qualifications other than being able to read and write |
| D．pass some exams before applying for a job |
The CV has become such an important document because ．
| A．there has been an increase in the number of applicants with degrees |
| B．there has been an increase in the number of jobs advertised |
| C．jobs are becoming much more complicated nowadays |
| D．the other processes of applying for jobs are more difficult to do |
When a storm is coming, most people leave the area as quickly ad possible and head for safety. But there are a few people who will get into their cars and go straight for the center of the storm. These people are willing to risk being killed by floods or 100-kilometer-an-hour winds for the excitement of watching the storm close up.
“Storm chasing” is becoming an increasingly popular hobby, especially in the Midwest of the United States, where there are frequent storms between March and July. A storm chaser begins the day by checking the Internet for the latest weather reports, and then drives up to 1,000 kilometers to where the storm will be and waits for it to develop.
Although anyone can do it , storm chasing is extremely dangerous. The power of a big storm can throw a cow into the air or destroy a whole house in seconds. Storm chasers are also often hurt in accidents caused by driving in a heavy rain. If you are a beginner, it is much safer to join a group for storm-chasing vacations during the storm season.
Even then, storm chasing is not all adventure and excitement . “Storm chasing is 95% driving,” says Daniel Lynch, who spends most of his summer storm-chasing. “Sometimes you can sit around for hours waiting for something to happen, and all you get is blue sky and a few light showers.”
However, for storm chasers, it is all worth it. “When you get close to a storm, it is the most exciting sight you will ever see in your life,” says Jasper Morley. “Every storm is an example of the power of nature, It is the greatest show on Earth.”For storm chasing, the first thing storm chasers do is to .
| A．head straight for the center of the storm |
| B．get into the car for safety |
| C．wait patiently for the storm to develop |
| D．collect information about a coming storm |
Beginners of storm chasing are advised .
| A．not to drive in a heavy rain |
| B．to do it in an organized way |
| C．not to get too close to a storm |
| D．to spend more time on it in summer |
By saying “it is all worth it” in the last paragraph, the author means that .
| A．storm chasing costs a lot of money |
| B．storm chasing is worth hours of waiting |
| C．efforts in storm chasing are well paid |
| D．a storm presents the greatest show on Earth |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．Sometimes storm chasers get nothing but disappointment |
| B．Many storm chasers get killed in the storms. |
| C．Storm chasing is becoming popular around the world. |
| D．Storm chasing is only fit for young people. |
It took courage to stand up at work. Now more and more people like to have a change and stand up when they are on something important. Standing up is popular. Medical researchers have found that people who stand at work tend to be much healthier than those who sit.
In the last few years, many office supply companies have begun to sell the adjustable- height desk. These so- called “ sit/ stand” models are equipped with an electric motor that lets them shift from chair height to person height at the push of a button. Unfortunately, they’re regarded as specially furniture. Sit/ stand desks tend to be expensive, hard to find and not easy to test it in person.
When you worked standing up, your mind was more excited and new ideas kept coming out. This is because when you’re standing, you feel a bit unchained from your desk. If you got stuck on a word or sentence as you wrote, you found yourself shaking your arms, bouncing on your feet or stepping away from the desk for a bit------ things you couldn’t do in a chair. Often, standing up seemed to relax your mind enough for you to get over creative barriers.
There’s one other thing about standing for a long time; you tended to get hungrier than you do when you sit on a chair. That felt like confirmation of the stand-up advocates’ belief that you burn more calories when you stand than when you sit. For this reason alone, I’m hoping that sit/ stand desks one day hit the mainstream, with mass- market furniture companies making many low- priced versions. We could all do with a bit more standing up.We can learn that the adjustable- height desk is_______.
| A．easy to find | B．easy to test |
| C．relatively cheap | D．smart in operation |
According to para.3, standing up while working ______.
| A．tends to make us much healthier |
| B．get us distracted from the work at hand |
| C．can make us relaxed and be creative |
| D．make us move about and unfocused |
The underlined word “ unchained” in para.3 means “_______”
| A．free | B．tired | C．uneasy | D．Unbalanced |
Dear Bridge of Hope supporters,
July 2010 was a productive month for the teachers at BOH. Marilyn traveled to Liberia and helped Kathleen Ngenda with her teacher training program on Basic Adult Literacy. During the eight-day training, she helped the teachers learn to pronounce, spell and write correctly. They are currently working on personal sets of cards and lists so that they can teach this concept to students in the fall. Kathleen plans on two trips back to the school to monitor teachers in their teaching.
Marilyn found a very dedicated （投入的）and enthusiastic group of elementary teachers who are focused on bettering themselves as educators. BOHUSA will offer financial support for their further educational studies this fall. Our goal is to have all staff be certified by the end of 2013.
The Liberian government recommends a C-certificate for teachers of elementary students, which can be obtained in one year of education classes (taken on Saturdays).
There is a great need to add seventh and eighth grade classrooms and a library. There is actually no room, however, and so we need to add a second floor. Currently the ground floor houses the church and the school uses this space for daily services. The first floor would give space for three more classrooms, in addition to a large reading room and computer labs. About $40,000 to 50,000 is required to meet the educational needs.
If you would like to contribute to this building project, please make out your check to:
Bridge of Hope
12002 Arnold Rd.
Orrville, Ohio 44667
Bridge of Hope Foundation is a non-profit organization. You do not have to pay tax on your contributions.Marilyn went to Liberia to ______.
| A．take a trip | B．visit a school |
| C．take training classes | D．help train teachers |
What do we know about the school from Paragraph 4?
| A．It needs repair | B．It needs expansion |
| C．It has no office. | D．It has an old library, |
The purpose of the letter is to _________.
| A．show the achievements of BOH |
| B．thank BOH supporters for their concern |
| C．raise money for an educational project |
| D．call people’s attention to education in Liberia |
Dear Teresa Silva,
The official of the university has reported to us that you are an English major who meets the high standards for membership in Sigma Tau Delta. As is known, Sigma Tau Delta was founded in 1924 at Dakota Wesleyan University. It is an international collegiate honor society for students of English. It presently has over 850 chapters in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. Over 9,000 new members are admitted into the organization annually.
Sigma Tau Delta’s purpose is to promote literature and writing and to advance the study of the written word. Members gather annually in the spring at the international meeting to present papers and share experiences and ideas within the English subject. The Society offers tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships, awards, as well as publication chances in its journals The Rectangle and The Sigma Tau Delta Review.
It is our pleasure if you can complete the application for Sigma Tau Delta membership. If you would like to be included in this spring’s induction (入会) ceremony, please complete the application form, and include amount to cover both local and international fees. Your completed form must be received by date to be considered for the upcoming induction ceremony.
We congratulate you on your outstanding academic record and hope you will join us as a Sigma Tau Delta member. If you want to get more information, please visit our website www.sigmataudelta.org, or give us a call. The phone number is 583-2864.
Sincerely,
Emily Lister According to the passage, Sigma Tau Delta ______.
| A．deals with language learning |
| B．opens its door to all the students of English |
| C．changes its members every year |
| D．mainly takes charge of scientific publications |
At the annual meeting, members of Sigma Tau Delta have the chance to ______.
| A．meet all the chapter leaders |
| B．receive tens of thousands of dollars |
| C．share experiences and views |
| D．choose a particular subject as a major |
This passage is basically a letter of _____.
| A．introduction | B．congratulation | C．thanks | D．invitation |
Sailing Through History
A group of 1,309 passengers boarded the MS Balmoral on Sunday, in Southampton, England, on a voyage to retrace the path of the Titanic. The Titanic was the biggest ship in the world when it sailed on its ill-fated maiden voyage in 1912. Of the 2,227 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died. The ship, which was headed to New York City, carried the rich and famous on its first voyage. It also carried immigrants, who were seeking a better life in America.
Relatives of people who sailed on the Titanic, historians, authors and people fascinated by the story of the unsinkable ship, are on the Balmoral. They want to remember the doomed ship and those who died on her first and last voyage. The historic liner had set sail on April 10, 1912, from Southampton. Late at night on April 14, she hit an iceberg. In the early morning hours of April 15, the Titanic sank.
The Balmoral is following Titanic’s original route from Southampton. First, the modern-day cruise liner docked in the port of Cherbourg, France, where the Titanic had picked up more passengers. On Monday afternoon, the Balmoral stops in Cobh, Ireland, the Titanic’s last port of call before sailing to New York.
Balmoral will then cruise the North Atlantic Ocean to the location where Titanic hit an iceberg that ripped the ship’s hull(外壳). On Sunday, April 15, at 2:20 a.m.—the time the Titanic went down—passengers and crew will hold a memorial service. The next two days will be spent in Halifax, Canada, where many victims of the sinking are buried. Then, the Balmoral will reach its final destination in New York City, where Titanic was supposed to dock—but never did.
Until today, several teams of divers have explored the site. They have recovered some items such as dishes and silverware and put them on public display. And more trips are planned to the wreckage in the future. The Titanic and its passengers and crew have been remembered in books, movies and TV programs. But there’s a much more important contribution that Titanic gave us. After she sank, lawmakers and shipbuilders made ships safer. It took a terrible tragedy to make ship travel safer for all.How many passengers in Titanic survived at last?
| A．More than 1500. | B．About 1309. | C．About 1000. | D．Less than 750. |
How many countries does the Balmoral reach before sailing to New York?
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．five. |
The Balmoral will stay in Canada just __________.
| A．in memory of the dead passengers in the Balmoral |
| B．in memory of the survivors in Titanic |
| C．in memory of the dead passengers in Titanic |
| D．in memory of the survivors in the Balmoral |
What might be the most important contribution of sunken Titanic?
| A．Its site attracts more exploring teams. |
| B．It makes the later ships more secure. |
| C．Some of its items are on public display. |
| D．More trips are planned to its wreckage. |
Have you ever intended to be fully absorbed in your work but found yourself distracted by e-mail, the Internet and other things throughout the day? According to the survey made by a famous university in the USA, most people have the experience.
"People often lose their concentration when they are bored, of course, but also when they are engaged in challenging tasks," says Peter Bregman, the head of the survey. "They sometimes have a feeling to escape from what's difficult or boring, so they jump out," he says. The part of the brain devoted to attention is connected to the brain's emotional center. Any strong emotion —quarrels with colleagues, problems at home —can interrupt our attention. Studies over the last decade have shown that too much work to do at a time can easily lead to distraction.
Refocusing is hard for many people. Robert Epstein suggests the following, "Stop and listen to some soft music for a few minutes. Find a good friend or a teacher and say out your matter on your mind. Go for a short walk or take a deep breath, where you breathe in deeply, count to five slowly, hold it and breathe out very slowly." This can "blow out all the tension and the unwanted in your mind to restore your focus."
Take more control by structuring your time and becoming more aware of your behaviors. "Setting the phone alarm to go off every hour is my way of creating awareness," Mr. Bregman says. "You have to inform yourself that you've lost focus in order to do something about it." Starting the day with a to-do list is also important, such as when to eat, when to go to the gym or take a walk. But if it's overly ambitious, you will put yourself in a state of anxiety, which makes it hard for the brain to concentrate. "Choosing three or four things as your priority for the day allows your brain to settle down and focus," he says.According to the passage, which is NOT the reason why some people can be distracted from their work?
| A．They don't want to be devoted to their work. |
| B．They are disturbed by the Internet and other things. |
| C．They can't find interest in their work. |
| D．They feel their work is too hard for them. |
Which incident might NOT interrupt your attention?
| A．You were scolded by your teacher. |
| B．You had words with your good friend. |
| C．You went to school at six as usual. |
| D．Your mother and father had a quarrel. |
What's the meaning of the underlined word "restore" in the passage?
| A．recover | B．reform | C．release | D．react |
According to Robert Epstein, how can we refocus on what we should do?
| A．Listen to rock music for some time. |
| B．Turn to your good friends or teachers for help. |
| C．Run around the playground for some time. |
| D．Take a breath from time to time. |
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