For many people today, reading is no longer relaxation. To keep up their work they must read letters, reports, trade publications, interoffice communications, not to mention newspapers and magazines: a never-ending flood of words.

In   16  a job or advancing in one, the ability to read and comprehend  17  can mean the difference between success and failure. Yet the unfortunate fact is that most of us are  18__  readers. Most of us develop poor reading    19  at an early age, and never get over them. The main deficiency（缺乏）  20  in the actual stuff of language itself — words. Taken individually, words have little meaning until they are strung together into phrases, sentences and paragraphs.   21 , however, the untrained reader does not read groups of words. He laboriously reads one word at a time, often regressing（退回） to  22 words or passages. Regression, the tendency to look back over what you have just read, is a common bad habit in reading.

Another habit which   23  down the speed of reading is vocalization — sounding each word either orally or mentally as one reads.

To overcome these bad habits, some reading clinics use a device called an   24 , which moves a bar (or curtain) down the page at a predetermined（预先确定的） speed．The bar is set at a slightly faster rate   25   the reader finds comfortable, in order to “stretch” him. The device forces the reader to read fast,   26  word-by-word reading, regression and sub-vocalization（默读）practically impossible.

At first   27  is sacrificed for speed．But when you learn to read ideas and concepts, you will not only read faster, but your understanding will   28 . Many people have found their reading skill greatly improved after some training.  29  Charlie Au, a business manager, for instance, his reading rate was a reasonably good 172 words a minute before the training, now it is an excellent 182 words a minute. He is delighted that how he can    30  through a lot more reading material in a short period of time.

1.                A．applying        B．doing           C．offering   D．getting

 

2.                A．quickly         B．easily           C．roughly   D．decidedly

 

3.                A．good           B．curious         C．poor     D．urgent

 

4.                A．training         B．habits          C．situations D．custom

 

5.                A．lies            B．combines       C．touches   D．involves

 

6.                A．Hopefully       B．Actually         C．Logically D．Unfortunately

 

7.                A．reuse          B．reread          C．rewrite   D．recite

 

8.                A．scales          B．cuts            C．slows     D．measures

 

9.                A．accelerator      B．actor           C．loudspeaker   D．observer

 

10.               A．then           B．as             C．beyond    D．than

 

11.               A．having         B．leading         C．making    D．indicating

 

12.               A．meaning        B．comprehension  C．vocalization D．regression

 

13.               A．arise           B．reduce         C．improve   D．worsen

 

14.               A．Like           B．Take           C．Make     D．Consider

 

15.               A．master         B．make          C．finish D．get

 

 

That year , in the local school, there was a new math teacher, as well as some new pupils. One of the new kids was the stupidest child anyone had ever seen. It made no difference how quickly or how slowly they tried explaining numbers to him; he would always end up saying something enormously stupid. Like two plus two was five, seven times three was twenty-seven, or a triangle had thirty corners……
Before this boy arrived, math lessons had been the most boring of all. Now they were great fun. Encouraged by the new teacher, the children would listen to the pieces of nonsense spouted by the new kid, and they would have to correct his mistakes.
Whenever the new teacher asked questions, the stupid kid would stand up but made the wrong answers, the other students all wanted to be the first to find his mistakes, and then think up the most original ways to explain them. To do this they used all kinds of stuff : sweets, playing cards, oranges, paper planes, etc. It didn’t seem like any of this bothered the new kid.
However, Little Lewis was sure that it was bound to make him feel sad inside. Lewis was sure he would see him crying. So, one day, he decided to follow the new kid home after school. On leaving school, the new kid walked a few minutes to a local park, and there he waited for a while, until someone came along to meet him……
It was the new teacher!
The teacher gave the new kid a hug, and off they went, hand in hand. Following from a distance, Lewis could hear they were talking about math.
【小题1】根据短文第二三段描述，可知这位新老师的工作很有创造性，故选A。
【小题2】根据短文最后一段Following from a distance, Lewis could hear they were talking about math.描述，可知选B，这个所谓的最蠢的学生其实比其它学生知道的多。
【小题3】根据Lewis was sure he would see him crying. So, one day, he decided to follow the new kid home after school.描述，可知选B。
【小题4】联系上文To do this they used all kinds of stuff :可知选C。
【小题5】The math lessons became interesting again because of the new teacher’s ___________.

A．creativity

B．imagination

C．responsibility

D．curiosity

【小题6】The passage implies that the stupidest child____________________________.

A．was in great need of math teacher’s help after class

B．knew much more about math than other classmates

C．had no much gift for math and was slow to learn it

D．disliked both the new math teacher and his lessons

【小题7】According to the passage, Lewis followed the stupidest in order to ______________.

A．learn about where he lived	B．find out if he felt upset
C．say something to comfort him	D．make friends with him

【小题8】 What does the underlined word “this” in the third paragraph refer to ?

A．To find the stupidest kid’s mistakes.

B．To think up the most original ways to explain.

C．To use all kinds of stuff.

D．To follow him home after school.

Compared with male graduates, a（n） ____ small number of female graduates can get employed when they go job-hunting．

A．casually           B．relatively          C．roughly           D．gradually

 

I consider myself something of an expert on apologies. A quick temper has   36  me with plenty of opportunities to make them. In one of my earlier   37 , my mother was telling me “Don’t watch the   38  when you say, ‘I’m sorry’. Hold your head up and look at the person in the   39 , so he’ll know you   40  it.”

My mother thus made the key point of a(n)   41  apology: It must be direct. You must never   42  to be doing something else. You do not   43  a pile of letters while apologizing to a person   44   in position after blaming him or her for a mistake that turned out to be your   45 . You do not apologize to a hostess, whose guest of honor you treat   46 , by sending flowers the next day without mentioning your bad   47 .

One of the important things we should do for an   48  apology is a readiness to   49  the responsibility for our careless mistakes. We are used to making excuses, which leaves no   50  for the other person to   51  us. Since most people are open-hearted, the no-excuse apology leaves both parties feeling   52  about themselves. That , after all, is the   53  of every apology. It   54  little whether the apologizer is wholly or only partly at fault. Answering for one’s   55  encourages others to take their share of the blame.

1.                A．provided       B．mixed          C．compared D．treated

 

2.                A．dreams         B．courses         C．memories D．ideas

 

3.                A．side           B．ground         C．wall  D．bottom

 

4.                A．mind           B．soul            C．face D．eye

 

5.                A．imagine        B．enjoy           C．mean    D．regret

 

6.                A．useful          B．successful       C．equal    D．basic

 

7.                A．pretend        B．forget          C．refuse    D．expect

 

8.                A．hold on         B．put away        C．look through   D．pick up

 

9.                A．poorer         B．weaker         C．worse    D．lower

 

10.               A．fault           B．reason         C．result     D．duty

 

11.               A．cruelly         B．freely          C．roughly    D．foolishly

 

12.               A．manners        B．excuses        C．efforts    D．roles

 

13.               A．active          B．effective        C．extra D．easy

 

14.               A．raise           B．perform        C．admit     D．bear

 

15.               A．situation        B．need           C．sign D．room

 

16.               A．advise          B．forgive         C．warn D．blame

 

17.               A．wiser          B．warmer         C．better     D．cleverer

 

18.               A．purpose        B．method         C．end D．advantage

 

19.               A．cares          B．matters         C．depends   D．remains

 

20.               A．facts           B．states          C．rights     D．actions

 

 

 Zhengnengliang, or positive energy, _______a term used in the book Positive Energy by Richard Wiseman, has developed into a popular phrase in Chinese society where people approach life with optimism and confidence.

A．naturally          B．originally          C．roughly           D．constantly