Idioms are phrases and sentences that do not mean exactly what they say. Even if you know the meaning of each word you see or hear, you may not understand the idiom because you don't understand the culture behind it.
For example, if an American boy asks his mother what's for dinner tomorrow, she may say "I'll play it by ear", that means she doesn't have plans for dinner and she will decide later. "Play by ear" used to mean playing music using the sheet music, but now people often use it when they're not talking about music.
There're many idioms in English. If you learn to use them, your English will be more vivid and colorful. English idioms are more common in spoken English. They can be difficult to remember sometimes. Next time when you hear somebody saying to you, "Give me a hand", you don't necessarily stretch out your hand to him/her, but you do need to be helpful. And when the situation is out of hand, you usually can do very little to manage all that. What about a green hand? It's not about the color of your hand! You're a green hand when you are very new at your work and don't have much experience. If you and your partner always work together hand in glove, you two definitely work together very well.
Can you guess the meanings of some common English idioms to do with parts of your body?

1. 1.

   An idiom is _______.

   1. A.
      a phrase or a sentence that means exactly what the words say
   2. B.
      a phrase or a sentence that doesn't mean exactly what every word says
   3. C.
      so difficult that nobody can understand
   4. D.
      something to do with parts of your body
2. 2.

   If a mother says "I'll play it by ear" to talk about the dinner, she means _______.

   1. A.
      she will cook dinner while listening to music at the same time
   2. B.
      she doesn't hear what others are talking about.
   3. C.
      she will play music using the sheet music instead of cooking dinner
   4. D.
      She doesn't have plans for dinner and will decide later
3. 3.

   When one says "Can you give me a hand?", he means _______.

   1. A.
      he needs to hold your hand.
   2. B.
      he works well with you
   3. C.
      he needs your help
   4. D.
      he is a new comer and can't help with the situation
4. 4.

   Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

   1. A.
      People use English idioms more in spoken English than in written English.
   2. B.
      To understand the culture behind an idiom is important in understanding the idiom.
   3. C.
      Idioms make your English more vivid and colorful so they are easy to remember.
   4. D.
      You may not understand an idiom even though you know the meaning of each word.
5. 5.

   Here are 4 common English idioms to do with parts of your body and their meanings. Can you match them?
   1) to learn something by heart a. to depend on oneself
   2) to have sticky fingers b. to know something very well
   3) to stand on one's own feet c. to do something secretly
   4) to go behind someone's back d. to have the habit of stealing

   1. A.
      badc
   2. B.
      bdac
   3. C.
      cbad
   4. D.
      cdba

请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。

When it comes to studying, some students may have different study habits, and some ways of studying may work for one and may not for another student. However, there are certain basic rules that can prove to be effective(有效的) in studying for an exam.

Make a plan for how to develop good study habits that last long. A plan should include a schedule(时间表) on when to study. It doesn’t have to be fixed(固定) and can be changed in case something more important and unexpected comes up. Start with a weekly schedule and determine which period of the day is filled with classes. Use some of the remaining time to study. When creating（制定） the schedule, one should include laboratory activities and extracurricular(课外的) work and take care of personal things and the job if there is one.

Study when one is fully awake and energetic（精力充沛）; it is recommended. Study for no less than 30 to 90minutes after a meal or two hours every day. If one is tired from work and decides to study, it may not be effective, especially if one finds the subject too difficult. It will only give stress and that night might only be forgotten in the next morning when he wakes up. For some students, they can study anywhere if they want; it could be in the library, study rooms or private rooms. A place where one can to focus attention on one’s study is recommended.

Make friends with those that are also eager to learn and pass the exam or achieve good grades. However, one has to balance（平衡） the time to spend with friends. Have and keep a healthy relationship with them.

Take down notes during the class. The hints(暗示) of some questions teachers give will come out in the exam. Sometimes they repeat the topic more than twice, so pay more attention in class. If one does not understand the topic, don’t hesitate(犹豫) to ask questions. A failure in communicating is one of the most common mistakes among students.

Rewrite notes taken from the class. It will help remember the topics that have been discussed and will give one more new ideas. For some students, they find that rewriting notes is very effective.

Take a five-minute break or go out and get some fresh air once in a while when studying. It will relax the mind and help one think better. Do come back to study after taking a short break.

       Many people think that listening is a passive business. It is just the opposite. Listening well is an active exercise of our attention and hard work. It is because they do not realize this, or because they are not willing to do the work, that most people do not listen well.

       Listening well also requires total concentration upon someone else. An essential part of listening well is the rule known as ‘bracketing’. Bracketing includes the temporary giving up or setting aside of your own prejudices and desires, to experience as far as possible someone else’s world from the inside, stepping into his or her shoes. Moreover, since listening well involves bracketing, it also involves a temporary acceptance of the other person. Sensing this acceptance, the speaker will seem quite willing to open up the inner part of his or her mind to the listener. True communication is under way and the energy required for listening well is so great that it can be accomplished only by the will to extend oneself for mutual growth.

       Most of the time we lack this energy. Even though we may feel in our business dealings or social relationships that we are listening well, what we are usually doing is listening selectively. Often we have a prepared list in mind and wonder, as we listen, how we can achieve certain desired results to get the conversation over as quickly as possible or redirected in ways more satisfactory to us. Many of us are far

more interested in talking than in listening, or we simply refuse to listen to what we don’t want to hear.

       It wasn’t until toward the end of my doctor career that I have found the knowledge that one is being truly listened to is frequently therapeutic(有疗效的) In about a quarter of the patients I saw, surprising improvement was shown during the first few months of psychotherapy(心理疗法), before any of the roots of problems had been uncovered or explained. There are several reasons for this phenomenon, but chief among them, I believe, was the patient’s sense that he or she was being truly listened to, often for the first time in years, and for some, perhaps for the first time ever.

66.  The phrase “stepping into his or her shoes” in paragraph 2 probably means _______.

       A. preparing a topic list first                              B. focusing on one’s own mind

       C. directing the talk to the desired results              D. experiencing the speaker’s inside world

67.  What is mainly discussed in Paragraph 2 ?

       A. How to listen well.                                          B. What to listen to.

       C. Benefits of listening.                                     D. Problems in listening

68.  According to the author , in communication people tend to ________.

       A. listen actively                                           B. listen purposefully                    

       C. set aside their prejudices                             D. open up their inner mind

69.  According to the author , the patients improved mainly because _______.

       A. they were taken good care of.                            B. they knew they were truly listened to.

       C. they had partners to talk to.                          D. they knew the roots of problems.

70.  What type of writing the article likely to be ?

       A. Science fiction            B. A news report.            C. A medical report.              D. Popular science

Sons who have fond childhood memories of their fathers are more likely to be emotionally stable（稳定的） in the face of day-to-day stresses, according to psychologists（心理学家） who studied hundreds of adults of all ages.

“As our study shows, fathers do play a unique（独特的） and important role in the mental health of their children much later in life,” Psychology professor Melanie Mallers of California State University said.

For this study, 912 adult men and women between the ages of 25 and 74 completed short daily telephone interviews about that day’s experiences over an eight-day period. The interviews focused on the participants’ psychological and emotional distress (i.e., whether they were nervous, sad, etc.) and if they had experienced any stressful events that day.

The participants were also required to answer questions such as, “How would you rate your relationship with your mother during the years when you were growing up?” and “How much time and attention did your mother give you when you needed it?” The same questions were asked about fathers.

People who reported they had a good mother-child relationship reported three percent less psychological distress（忧虑） compared to those who reported a poor relationship, according to Mallers.

Men who reported having a good relationship with their father during childhood were more likely to be less emotional when reacting to stressful events in their current daily lives than those who had a poor relationship, according to her findings.

Also, the quality of mother and father relationships was significantly associated（有关） with how many stressful events the participants faced on a daily basis. In other words, if they had a poor childhood relationship with both parents, they reported more stressful incidents over the eight-day study when compared to those who had a good relationship with their parents.

Mallers theorized why healthy or unhealthy relationships may have an effect on how people handle stress as adults. “Perhaps having caring parents equips children with the experiences and skills necessary to more successfully navigate（导航） their relationships with other people throughout childhood and into adulthood.” She said.

1.What can we know about the recent study from the passage?

  A It was led by Melanie Mallers.

  B 912 adults who were over twenty-five joined in it.

  C It lasted as long as eight days.

  D It was funded just by California State University.

2.Which of the following may the participants be asked about in telephone interviews?

  A Their physical condition.      B Their parenting（育儿） skills.

  C Their emotional distress and stressful events.

  D Their childhood relationships with teachers.

3.Which of the following statements is TRUE?

  A Many people with good parent-child relationships still can’t keep emotionally stable in stressful incidents.

  B Men with a good mother-child relationship were more likely to be emotionally stable when reacting to stressful events.

  C Women were better at getting along with their parents than men when they were young.

  D People with good childhood relationships with parents suffered（遭受） fewer stressful incidents.

4.What can be concluded from the findings of the study?

  A Childhood memories of parents have a lasting effect on one’s ability to handle stress.

  B Adults with good childhood relationships with parents will live happily and successfully.

  C The mother-child relationship is more important than the father-child relationship.

  D The quality of parent-child relationships determines（决定） how people handle stress as adults.

What happens inside the skull of a soccer player who repeatedly heads a soccer ball? That question motivated a challenging new study of the brains of experienced players that has caused discussion and debate among soccer players, and some anxiety among those of us with soccer-playing children.
For the study, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York selected 34adults, men and women. All of the volunteers had played soccer since childhood and now competed year-round in adult soccer leagues. Each filled out a detailed questionnaire developed especially for this study to determine how many times they had headed a soccer ball in the previous year, as well as whether they had experienced any known concussions (脑震荡) in the past.
Then the players completed computerized tests of their memory and other learning skills and had their brains scanned, using a complicated new M.R.I. technique which can find structural changes in the brain that can't be seen during most scans.
According to the data they presented at a Radiological Society of North America meeting last month, the researchers found that the players who had headed the ball more than about 1,100 times in the previous 12 months showed significant loss of white matter in parts of their brains involved with memory, attention and the processing of visual information, compared with players who had headed the ball fewer times.
This pattern of white matter loss is "similar to those seen in traumatic (外伤的) brain injury", like that after a serious concussion, the researchers reported, even though only one of these players was reported to have ever experienced a concussion.
The players who had headed the ball about 1,100 times or more in the past year were also generally worse at recalling lists of words read to them, forgetting or fumbling the words far more often than players who had headed the ball less.
【小题1】The passage is most probably a______.