It is impossible not to make a mistake at some points in your life. We may as well accept that some thing will go wrong and we will be to blame. It is therefore sensible to work out some strategies for apologizing, and the best way to apologize is by letter. This way you can take care over every work you write— which you can’t do if you say sorry to someone in person.

We all say or do something that we wish we hadn’t said or done. You may say something that accidentally hurts someone, or you may provide a service which doesn’t come up to the standards that a client or customer expected.

You may feel that it was a genuine mistake which couldn’t be avoided. Rather than dwell on the mistake, you should quickly try to remedy（修补）the problem. An effective letter of apology is an important part of that process.

For the contents of the letter, just remember TABS—Timing, Action, Brevity, Sincerity.

The timing of a letter of apology is essential—it must be sent as soon as possible. Any delay in our sending the letter will only compound(add to) the problem. In this case “Better late than never” is not the best motto! The longer you wait before you wait before writing a letter of apology, the more it will seem that you have been coerced（被迫）into writing it.

Although it is important to recognize what has gone before, it is also essential to detail the action you plan to take to rectify whatever it was you did wrong. Research has shown that some indication that you have thought about what future action you plan to take is always well received.

A letter of apology should be brief and the word “sorry” should appear no more than twice. Indicate that you are aware using it a second time—“once again, I am so sorry for…” or “as I said earlier, I am really sorry about…”. Finally, the tone of the letter has to be sincere. In fact, the combination of all the above factors will help in this respect.

And don’t think that letters are out of date in the email—oriented 21st century. An apology email can be worse than no apology at all!

72．What kind of advice does the text suggest about apologizing?

A．It’s a good idea to write a letter of apology as soon as something has gone wrong.    

B．It’s a good idea to send several emails to apologize.

C．Write a long letter apologizing several times to make your point.

D．Wait to see how they react to your letter before planning to do anything.

73．What kind of things do you NOT apologize for?

A．A service that is not as good as it should be.

B．Genuine mistakes.

C．Car accidents.

D．Causing offence or hurt.

74．The underlined expression “Rather than dwell on the mistake” in the third paragraph means you _____.

A．should not waste time worrying about what happened.

B．should consider the problem

C．should forget about what happened.

D．should analyse who was at fault.

75．How can timing compound problems?

A．If you write immediately, they will be suspicious.

B．If you leave it for a few days, they will know it is your idea to write.

C．Waiting for a few days before you write will show your sincerity.

D．Waiting too long will make it worse because they won’t believe you mean it.

A round of applause, please, for the Indian man who recently sang for 80 hours straight, setting a new Guinness world record. It’s an impressive feat, to be sure, but let’s just hope he still has a voice．According to Indian newspapers, Rajesh Burbure has been told to keep silent for several days so his vocal cords（声带）can heal．
It was reported that Burbure and his family are in a celebratory mood. "It's a proud moment for all of us," his wife told DNAIndia.com．
I, on the other hand, am unable to share their enthusiasm．Don't get me wrong: I hope the 35-year-old Burbure lives forever, sells a million records and becomes an international celebrity．But his record—singing for 80 hours straight—is about as meaningful as most of the other curious but crazy feats listed in the Guinness Book of World Records．
Granted, I'm not qualified to speak on the subject．I've got no world records to my name, and I never expect to have any．Then again, maybe I am qualified to speak for those of us who have better things to do than train for years to sing an 80-hour medley（集成曲）of pop songs．
But let’s not just pick on poor Burbure．He’s not the only person chasing meaningless accolades（荣誉）．The Guinness Book of World Records is full of the names of people who at one time grew the longest hair, or built the biggest bicycle, or baked the largest cheesecake．
To all of these enterprising souls I ask, simply, "What was it all for?"
Congratulations! For all of your painstaking effort, you became a footnote in a thick book that no one reads, except for you and the person who will eventually surpass you, with one more hour of singing, a few more centimeters of steel or a few more pounds of cheese．
After all, records are made to be broken．
【小题1】From the text, we can conclude that the author _________．

A round of applause, please, for the Indian man who recently sang for 80 hours straight, setting a new Guinness world record. It’s an impressive feat, to be sure, but let’s just hope he still has a voice．According to Indian newspapers, Rajesh Burbure has been told to keep silent for several days so his vocal cords（声带）can heal．

It was reported that Burbure and his family are in a celebratory mood. "It's a proud moment for all of us," his wife told DNAIndia.com．

I, on the other hand, am unable to share their enthusiasm．Don't get me wrong: I hope the 35-year-old Burbure lives forever, sells a million records and becomes an international celebrity．But his record—singing for 80 hours straight—is about as meaningful as most of the other curious but crazy feats listed in the Guinness Book of World Records．

Granted, I'm not qualified to speak on the subject．I've got no world records to my name, and I never expect to have any．Then again, maybe I am qualified to speak for those of us who have better things to do than train for years to sing an 80-hour medley（集成曲）of pop songs．

But let’s not just pick on poor Burbure．He’s not the only person chasing meaningless accolades（荣誉）．The Guinness Book of World Records is full of the names of people who at one time grew the longest hair, or built the biggest bicycle, or baked the largest cheesecake．

To all of these enterprising souls I ask, simply, "What was it all for?"

Congratulations! For all of your painstaking effort, you became a footnote in a thick book that no one reads, except for you and the person who will eventually surpass you, with one more hour of singing, a few more centimeters of steel or a few more pounds of cheese．

After all, records are made to be broken．

1.From the text, we can conclude that the author _________．

A．thinks singing for 80 hours straight is completely meaningless

B．feels it a pity he was not invited to share the happiness with the Burbures

C．is quite worried about Burbure’s vocal cords

D．has no Guinness records, so he admires Burbures’ feat

2.Before someone wins a Guinness record, he or she has to ________．

A．become an international celebrity

B．know all about Guinness records

C．practice a great deal

D．bear great stress for fear of injury

3.We can infer from the article that ________．

A．after the 80 hours of singing, Burbure could no longer speak

B．Burbure’s wife didn’t support his attempt to make a Guinness record

C．many have criticized Burbure for his stupid behavior

D．challenging a Guinness record may be harmful to the health

4.The author’s attitude to some Guinness world records is ________．

A．positive           B．impressed         C．negative          D．touched

A round of applause, please, for the Indian man who recently sang for 80 hours straight, setting a new Guinness world record. It’s an impressive feat, to be sure, but let’s just hope he still has a voice．According to Indian newspapers, Rajesh Burbure has been told to keep silent for several days so his vocal cords （声带） can heal．

It was reported that Burbure and his family are in a celebratory mood. “It’s a proud moment for all of us,” his wife told DNAIndia．com．

I, on the other hand, am unable to share their enthusiasm．Don’t get me wrong: I hope the 35-year-old Burbure lives forever, sells a million records and becomes an international celebrity．But his record—singing for 80 hours straight—is about as meaningful as most of the other curious but crazy feats listed in the Guinness Book of World Records．

Granted, I’m not qualified to speak on the subject．I’ve got no world records to my name, and I never expect to have any．Then again, maybe I am qualified to speak for those of us who have better things to do than train for years to sing an 80-hour medley （集成曲） of pop songs．

But let’s not just pick on poor Burbure．He’s not the only person chasing meaningless accolades （荣誉）．The Guinness Book of World Records is full of the names of people who at one time grew the longest hair, or built the biggest bicycle, or baked the largest cheesecake．

To all of these enterprising souls I ask, simply, “What was it all for?”

Congratulations! For all of your painstaking effort, you became a footnote in a thick book that no one reads, except for you and the person who will eventually surpass you, with one more hour of singing, a few more centimeters of steel or a few more pounds of cheese．

After all, records are made to be broken．

1．From the text, we can conclude that the author _________．

       A．thinks singing for 80 hours straight is completely meaningless

       B．feels it a pity he was not invited to share the happiness with the Burbures

       C．is quite worried about Burbure’s vocal cords

       D．has no Guinness records, so he admires Burbures’ feat

2．Before someone wins a Guinness record, he or she has to ________．

       A．become an international celebrity

       B．know all about Guinness records

       C．practice a great deal

       D．bear great stress for fear of injury

3．We can infer from the article that ________．

       A．after the 80 hours of singing, Burbure could no longer speak

       B．Burbure’s wife didn’t support his attempt to make a Guinness record

       C．many have criticized Burbure for his stupid behavior

       D．challenging a Guinness record may be harmful to the health

4．The author’s attitude to some Guinness world records is ________．

       A．positive              B．impressed           C．negative              D．touched

One day a famous speaker gave a speech to a crowd of people. He held up a   21   bill. He asked, “Who would like this $20 bill ? ” Hands were   22  . Then he said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first let me do this.” He began to crumple（弄皱）the   23 . He then asked the audience, “   24  still wants it ?” Still the hands went  25  in the air.
“ What   26  I do this? ” He asked, and he  27  it on the ground, and started to step on it. He  28  it up. Now the bill was  29  and crumpled. “ Now who still wants it?” Still the hands went up.
“My friends,” He continued, “You have all  30   a good lesson . No matter   31  I did to the money, you still wanted it because the bill did not lose its  32 . It was still worth $20. Many times in our   33 , we are dropped, crumpled, and stepped on, because we sometimes  34  wrong decisions, or we may   35  with something we do not   36 .When that happens, we feel depressed and think we are   37 . But in fact no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. The worth of our life comes not   38  what we do or whom we know, but in who we are! Don’t forget ‘the worth of a thing does not depend on its outside   39  , but on its inner value.’ This is the   40  of life.