To err is human. To blame（责备） the other guy is even more human.
Common sense is not all that common.
Why tell the truth when you can come up with a good excuse?
These three popular misquotes（戏谑的引语）are meant to be jokes, and yet they tell us a lot about human nature. To err, or to make mistakes, is indeed a part of being human, but it seems that most people don’t want to accept the responsibility for the problem. Perhaps it is the natural thing to do. The original quote about human nature went like this: “To err is human, to forgive, divine（神圣的）.” This saying mirrors an ideal: People should be forgiving of others’ mistakes. Instead, we tend to do the opposite – find someone else to pass the blame on to. However, taking responsibility for something that went wrong is a mark of great maturity（成熟）.
Common sense is what we call clear thought. Having common sense means having a good general plan that will make things work well, and it also means staying with the plan. Common sense tells you that you take an umbrella out into a rainstorm, but you leave the umbrella home when you hear a weather forecast for sunshine. Common sense does not seem to be common for large companies, because there are so many things going on that one person cannot be in charge of everything. People say that in a large company, “the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.”
And what is wrong with a society that thinks that making up a good excuse is like creating a work of art? One of the common problems with making excuses is that people, especially young people, get the idea that it’s okay not to be totally honest all the time. There is a corollary（直接推论）to that: if a good excuse is “good” even if it isn’t honest, then where is the place of the truth?
【小题1】Which of the following is NOT based on common sense?

A．A secretary works to a timetable.

B．A company’s next move follows a good plan.

C．A girl goes out with an umbrella in stormy weather.

D．A man tries to manage everything in a large company.

【小题2】What can we infer from the last paragraph according to the writer?

A．A good excuse is the same as honesty.

B．Inventing a good excuse needs creative ideas.

C．Unpleasant truth is better than a good excuse.

D．Making a good excuse is sometimes a better idea.

【小题3】What would be the best title for this passage?

A．A Mirror of Human Nature

B．To Blame or to Forgive

C．A Mark of Maturity

D．Truth or Excuse

Where in the world can you take an hour’s train ride, and pass a forest, a London street, a scene from the Wild West, and a burning building that never burns down? There’s only one place, and that’s Hollywood, in California. The scenes you see from the tourist train are film sets（布景） in the Universal Studios, one of the oldest and largest movie companies(公司) in the USA.
A visit to Universal Studios brings back memories of great days of Hollywood, the films and the stars. But they are only memories. Hollywood isn’t quite the same as it used to be. Costs have gone up and confidence has gone down. Movie-makers are afraid to spend their money on expensive new ideas. Instead, they repeat old ones.
The film industry is changing fast. Teenagers still go out to the movies. The theatre is a good place to meet friends away from home. But older people mostly stay home to watch series, like Dynasty have become as important to Hollywood as expensive movies. These “soap opera”, as they are called, show rich, powerful families living in beautiful homes and wearing beautiful clothes. But the actors and actresses are nearly all middle-aged, like many of the people who watch them.
Though it is soap operas that are keeping the film-makers of Hollywood in Business, big films are still being made in America. But more and more of them are made outside Hollywood. New York is the most important new center, but there are many others as well. Movie-makers have realized that they don’t need Hollywood any more. Modern cameras and real houses instead of expensively made copies in a studio. Other states, especially Florida and Texas, are working hard to take the film business away from California. They are offering better working conditions and lower cost.
But Hollywood is fighting back. The state of California is trying hard to keep its best-known industry.
【小题1】From the passage, we know Universal Studios is ______.

A．a very large park	B．a busy London street
C．a famous movie company	D．an old Hollywood movie

【小题2】The movie industry in California isn’t as successful as before because ______.

A．young people don’t go to movie theatres any more

B．there is strong competition from other states

C．its movie companies are in neeed of young stars

D．the state hasn’t put a development plan into action

【小题3】Which of the following seems to be a threat（威胁）to Hollywood？

A．The use of modern cameras and other equipment

B．The interest of middle-aged film stars

C．The making of TV series like Dynasty

D．The expensively made copies of scenes

To err is human. To blame（责备） the other guy is even more human.

Common sense is not all that common.

Why tell the truth when you can come up with a good excuse?

These three popular misquotes（戏谑的引语）are meant to be jokes, and yet they tell us a lot about human nature. To err, or to make mistakes, is indeed a part of being human, but it seems that most people don’t want to accept the responsibility for the problem. Perhaps it is the natural thing to do. The original quote about human nature went like this: “To err is human, to forgive, divine（神圣的）.” This saying mirrors an ideal: People should be forgiving of others’ mistakes. Instead, we tend to do the opposite – find someone else to pass the blame on to. However, taking responsibility for something that went wrong is a mark of great maturity（成熟）.

Common sense is what we call clear thought. Having common sense means having a good general plan that will make things work well, and it also means staying with the plan. Common sense tells you that you take an umbrella out into a rainstorm, but you leave the umbrella home when you hear a weather forecast for sunshine. Common sense does not seem to be common for large companies, because there are so many things going on that one person cannot be in charge of everything. People say that in a large company, “the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing.”

And what is wrong with a society that thinks that making up a good excuse is like creating a work of art? One of the common problems with making excuses is that people, especially young people, get the idea that it’s okay not to be totally honest all the time. There is a corollary（直接推论）to that: if a good excuse is “good” even if it isn’t honest, then where is the place of the truth?

1.Which of the following is NOT based on common sense?

A．A secretary works to a timetable.

B．A company’s next move follows a good plan.

C．A girl goes out with an umbrella in stormy weather.

D．A man tries to manage everything in a large company.

2.What can we infer from the last paragraph according to the writer?

A．A good excuse is the same as honesty.

B．Inventing a good excuse needs creative ideas.

C．Unpleasant truth is better than a good excuse.

D．Making a good excuse is sometimes a better idea.

3.What would be the best title for this passage?

A．A Mirror of Human Nature

B．To Blame or to Forgive

C．A Mark of Maturity

D．Truth or Excuse

 

Where in the world can you take an hour’s train ride, and pass a forest, a London street, a scene from the Wild West, and a burning building that never burns down? There’s only one place, and that’s Hollywood, in California. The scenes you see from the tourist train are film sets（布景） in the Universal Studios, one of the oldest and largest movie companies(公司) in the USA.

A visit to Universal Studios brings back memories of great days of Hollywood, the films and the stars. But they are only memories. Hollywood isn’t quite the same as it used to be. Costs have gone up and confidence has gone down. Movie-makers are afraid to spend their money on expensive new ideas. Instead, they repeat old ones.

The film industry is changing fast. Teenagers still go out to the movies. The theatre is a good place to meet friends away from home. But older people mostly stay home to watch series, like Dynasty have become as important to Hollywood as expensive movies. These “soap opera”, as they are called, show rich, powerful families living in beautiful homes and wearing beautiful clothes. But the actors and actresses are nearly all middle-aged, like many of the people who watch them.

Though it is soap operas that are keeping the film-makers of Hollywood in Business, big films are still being made in America. But more and more of them are made outside Hollywood. New York is the most important new center, but there are many others as well. Movie-makers have realized that they don’t need Hollywood any more. Modern cameras and real houses instead of expensively made copies in a studio. Other states, especially Florida and Texas, are working hard to take the film business away from California. They are offering better working conditions and lower cost.

But Hollywood is fighting back. The state of California is trying hard to keep its best-known industry.

1.From the passage, we know Universal Studios is ______.

A．a very large park	B．a busy London street
C．a famous movie company	D．an old Hollywood movie

2.The movie industry in California isn’t as successful as before because ______.

A．young people don’t go to movie theatres any more

B．there is strong competition from other states

C．its movie companies are in neeed of young stars

D．the state hasn’t put a development plan into action

3.Which of the following seems to be a threat（威胁）to Hollywood？

A．The use of modern cameras and other equipment

B．The interest of middle-aged film stars

C．The making of TV series like Dynasty

D．The expensively made copies of scenes

 

根据中文意思完成句子。

1.今天有雨，你最好带把伞。

It’s going to rain today. You ____ take an umbrella.

2.我的爸爸和妈妈都喜欢读书。

Both my father and mother ____.

3.别说话了，上课的时间到了。

Stop talking. ________ class.

4.我的电脑出问题了，你能帮我修一修吗？

____ my computer. Can you help me repair it?

5.对于学生来说，花大量的时间进行英语阅读是有必要的。

____ a lot of time reading English.