You might say that one reason why Barack Obama is president of the US is that he knows how to give a good speech.

Since 2004, Obama has written and delivered thousands of speeches. These are usually praised for two reasons: he treats the audiences like intelligent（有智慧的） adults, and he is able to express complicated ideas in an easy, natural way.

Before becoming president, Obama was a lawyer, a college professor, and a successful writer---his two memories have become best-sellers.

What’s more, he has some secret weapons.

Teleprompter: Obama doesn’t go anywhere without his Teleprompter. The textbook-sized panes of glass holding the president’s prepared remarks follow him wherever he goes to speak.

Writing team: Obama has a team of people who write his speeches. The writers chat with Obama for hours about what he wants to say. They listen to recordings of past presidential speeches and seek advice from advisers. Obama usually edits(编辑)and rewrites the drafts(草稿)several times.

Tricks for lighthearted speeches:

Make fun of the guests: Obama starts his speech by gently teasing his guests. His opening lines draw the audience’s attention while giving them an opportunity to relax and laugh at themselves and each other.

Make fun of yourself: A good rule for speechmakers: If you’re going to make a joke about someone else, be sure to make one about yourself, too. Obama mocks(嘲弄) his own poor choices for filling the position of Commerce Secretary, saying, “No president in history has ever named three Commerce Secretaries this quickly.” In fact, his first two nominees（被提名人）for the position withdrew(撤出) their names for different reasons. In a process that had otherwise gone smoothly, the Obama Administration found it hard to deal with the problem of filling the Commerce seat.

1.Obama made the poetic and inspiring speech in 2004 as________.

A. president                     B. a nominee for the presidency

C. a senator                     D. a secretary

2.What’s the meaning of the underlined word in paragraph 2?

A. Difficult to understand.           B. Easy to understand.

C. Different from others.             D. Interesting to say.

3.From the passage, we know that Obama’s secret weapons are all these EXCEPT ____.

A. a writing team                 B. a teleprompter             C. humor                   D. motivation

4.What’s the best title of the passage？

A. Secrets of Obama’s successful speeches.  

B. Obama’s successful speeches.

C. Obama’s way of making speeches. 

D. Problems of Obama’s speeches.

 

School education is very important and useful. Yet no one can learn everything from school. A teacher, no matter how much he knows, he can not teach his students everything they want to know. The teacher’s job is to show his students how to learn. He teaches them how to read and how to think. So much more is to be learned outside school by the students themselves.
It is always more important to know how to study by oneself than to learn some facts or a formula by heart. It is actually quite easy to learn a certain fact in history or a formula(公式) in mathematics. But it is very difficult to use a formula in working out a maths problem. Great scientist, such as Einstein, Newton and Galileo, didn’t get everything from school. But they were all so successful and invented so many things for men. They worked hard all their lives, wasting not a single moment. They would ask many questions as they read and they did thousands of experiments.
【小题1】According to the passage, a good teacher should be one who is to_________.

A．help his students to gain a good memory.

B．train his students’ ability to learn

C．teach his students everything he knows

D．have his students studying long hours

【小题2】 If a student want to learn better, the most important thing for him to do is_______.

A．to learn all the useful facts and formula by heart

B．to do everything as his teacher have said in class

C．to absorb (吸收) as much knowledge from his teacher as possible

D．to think more while he is studying

【小题3】The main reason for the success of the great scientists is that________.

A．the teachers who had taught them were all experienced.

B．they used to work and study without a moment’s rest.

C．they had received more schooling than other people

D．they know how to study and worked hard

【小题4】What’s the good advice the writer gives us?

A．We can learn better without teachers

B．We should do more asking and thinking while studying

C．We should pay enough attention to classroom

D．Book knowledge is little use

My friend John always has something to tell me. He knows so much that   21   men have to have older and more worldly wise men to tell them,   22  , who to trust, how to care for others and how to live life    23     the fullest.

Recently, John lost his    24     Janet. For eight years she fought against cancer, but in the end her sickness had the last    25 . One day John took out a folded piece of   26    from his wallet. He had found it, so he told me, when he     27    up some drawers at home.

It was a    28     love letter Janet had written. The note could look like a school girl’s scrawls(潦草地写，乱涂) about her dream guy.    29    the letter was written by a woman who had had seven children, a woman who fought for her life and who    30    only had a few months left to live.

It was    31    a beautiful recipe (处方，食谱) for how to keep a marriage together. Janet’s    32  of her husband begins like this, “Loved me. Took care of me. Worried about me.”

“Helped me when I was ill.” The next    33    reads. After that she turned    34   the paper and added “Warmth. Humor. Kindness. Thoughtfulness.” And then she writes about the husband she has    35    with and loved most in her life. “  36  there when I needed you.” The last words she wrote   37   all the others. I can see her for me when she added thoughtfully “Good friend.”

I stand beside John now, and cannot pretend to know how it feels to lose someone who is as close to   38   as Janet was to him. I need to   39   what he has to say much more than he needs to talk.

“John,” I ask. “How do you stick together with someone through 38 years—not to mention the sickness? How do I know     40     I can bear to stand by my wife’s side if she becomes sick one day?”

“You can.” he says quietly, “ If you love her enough, you can.”

1.A. old            B. wise        C. young            D. foolish

2.A. for instance       B. at no time   C. in that case  D. as a matter of fact

3.A. in             B. to          C. at          D. for

4.A. friend        B. colleague        C. wife     D. sister

5.A. possibility        B. chance      C. hope             D. word

6.A. handkerchief       B. cloth            C. leather          D. paper

7.A. fixed          B. looked           C. tidied           D. put

8.A. small         B. long        C. descriptive      D. talkative

9.A. So             B. But          C. And              D. While

10.A. probably     B. surely      C. certainly        D. definitely

11.A. only         B. firstly          C. lastly           D. also

12.A. imagination       B. description      C. dream        D. expectation

13.A. letter       B. note             C. line       D. paragraph

14.A. away          B. down         C. off         D. over

15. A. lived        B. dealt            C. quarreled  D. argued

16.A. Constantly        B. Always       C. Never        D. Seldom

17.A. take the place of     B. get rid of       C. take away    D. sum up

18.A. me            B. Janet            C. John             D. you

19.A. speak up          B. repeat           C. discuss          D. hear

20.A. why           B. where            C. if           D. when

 

The church seems cold this morning, even after all the people, friends and family, fill the benches. I sit here in silence, in shock and denial. This was not supposed to happen. What about our dreams, or our plans? We were going to raise our children, travel the world, and grow old together. I’m only 37, a typical housewife. I don’t know if I can do all this alone—two children, no father. What do I do or say?

The faces of so many people confuse me as they come to pay their last respects. Some have real sorrow; I can see it in their eyes. The others seem to just say, “I told you so.” Those famous last words: I-told-you-so. How I can’t stand them. And the pointing fingers as so-called family and so-called friends pick me out of the crowd for others to see. I want to scream and wake up but I can’t do anything but sit there. How can they be so blind? I fell in love with a man. Love knows no boundaries .

He was a good man, hardworking, caring and kind. He was retired from the Navy and a gentleman. He was sensitive to others’ needs, the kind of man that knew what to do or say, how to humor any situation and calm everyone’s fears. I remember our first child was a big surprise to both of us. I remember when I told him the news. He fell off his chair, saying over and over in disbelief, “But I’m almost sixty.” After a few months he started planning our next and even doing his famous little dance whenever he discussed the idea.

A man, thirty years older than I, lies in a coffin. Flowers, the American flag and his VFW comrades surround him, paying tribute（颂词）to him as the man he really was. And I sit alone here, with our two children, in silence, praying that this cold morning at church is only a nightmare and I will awake to his loving arms again.

1.What can we know from the passage about the writer?

A. She married a man much older than she. 

B. She is going to give birth to their second child.

C. She lost her husband, who was as old as she.

D. She lost her father, whom she loved deeply.

2.From Paragraph Two, we can see ______.

A. the writer didn’t really love the man

B. some of her family members didn’t understand her

C. some of her family members and friends were blind

D. she thought her marriage to the man was a mistake

3. Which of the following can best replace the underlined words “But I’m almost sixty”?

A. I can’t believe it.

B. That’s a lot of trouble.

C. That should have happened long ago.

D. It can’t be my child.

4.Which of the following can’t be used to describe the writer’s feelings for the man?

A. Sad.         B. Loving.        C. Inseparable        D. Complaining.