Mary did very well but she ________ to break the record.

1. A.
   managed
2. B.
   failed
3. C.
   decided
4. D.
   hoped

Many Chinese students who have learnt English for more than ten years are still unable to speak English very well when they meet a foreigner. They seem to have mastered the basic language structure(结构), but a conversation in English will make them feel uneasy. They are afraid that other people might find out their mistakes.

  It's uncommon that many students who are bad speakers of English can write English perfectly. This proves that they are unable to organize their idea in English. The center of the problem is that they lack practice and confidence (自信).

  Why should you be afraid? Do you fear those foreigners with whom you are speaking? Don't be shy, they will not laugh at you just for a little mistake you make. The best way to get rid of trouble is to learn to speak by speaking more. I am sure that constant practice will help you succeed.

What's the best topic for the passage?

   A. How to Speak to Foreigners                  B. How to Study English Well

   C. How to Organize the Idea in English      D. Practice Speaking English All the Time

Many Chinese students can write English very well, but they cannot speak English fluently because

   __________.

A. they seldom meet foreigners

   B. they seldom practice speaking English

   C. they had no chance to speak English

   D. they think it's enough to master the basic language structure only

So many Chinese students are afraid to speak to foreigners because ______________.

   A. they are afraid they can't understand foreigners

   B. they don't think their English is poor

   C. they worry about making mistakes in their speaking

   D. they didn't like speaking to foreigners

According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

   A. We can speak English fluently by doing more speaking.

   B. If you can write English perfectly, you are able to organize your idea in English.

   C. If you can write good English composition, you can speak English very well.

   D. Any Chinese students can't speak English fluently because they are afraid of making mistakes.

In the last paragraph, the expression "get rid of" means_______.

   A. throw away                  B. free oneself from           C. give up        D. do with

In the more and more competitive service industry, it is no longer enough to promise customer satisfaction. Today, customer “delight” is what companies are trying to achieve in order to keep and increase market share.
It is accepted in the marketing industry, and confirmed by a number of researches, that customers receiving good service will promote business by telling up to 12 other people; those treated badly will tell their tales of woe to up to 20 people. Interestingly, 80 percent of people who feel their complaints are handled fairly will stay loyal.
New challenges for customer care have come when people can obtain goods and services through telephone call centers and the Internet. For example, many companies now have to invest(投资)a lot of money in information technology and staff training in order to cope with the “phone rage”—caused by delays in answering calls, being cut off in mid-conversation or let waiting for long periods.
“Many people do not like talking to machines,” says Dr. Storey, Senior Lecturer in Marketing at City University Business School. “Banks, for example, encourage staff at call centers to use customer data to establish instant and good relationship with them. The aim is to make the customer feel they know you and that you can trust them —the sort of comfortable feelings people have during face-to-face chats with their local branch manager.”
Recommended ways of creating customer delight include: under-promising and over-delivering (saying that a repair will be carried out within five hours, but getting it done within two); replacing a faulty product immediately; throwing in a gift voucher(购物礼券)as an unexpected “thank you” to regular customers; and always returning calls, even when they are complaints.
Aiming for customer delight is all very well, but if services do not reach the high level promised, disappointment or worse will be the result. This can be eased by offering an apology and an explanation of why the service did not meet usual standards with empathy (for example, “I know how you must feel”), and possible solutions (replacement, compensation or whatever fairness suggests best meets the case).
Airlines face some of the toughest challenges over customer care. Fierce competition has convinced them that delighting passengers in an important marketing tool, while there is great potential for customer anger over delays caused by weather, unclaimed luggage and technical problems.
For British Airways staff, a winning telephone style is considered vital in handling the large volume of calls about booking and flight times. They are trained to answer quickly, with their name, job title and a “we are here to help” attitude. The company has invested heavily in information technology to make sure that information is available instantly on screen.
British Airways also says its customer care policies are applied within the company and staff are taught to regard each other as customers requiring the highest standards of service.
Customer care is obviously here to stay and it would be a foolish company that used slogans such as “we do as we please.” On the other hand, the more customers are promised, the greater the risk of disappointment.
【小题1】We can learn from Paragraph 2 that__________.

Many Chinese students who have learnt English for more than ten years are still unable to speak English very well when they meet a foreigner. They seem to have mastered the basic language structure(结构), but a conversation in English will make them feel uneasy. They are afraid that other people might find out their mistakes.
It's uncommon that many students who are bad speakers of English can write English perfectly. This proves that they are unable to organize their idea in English. The center of the problem is that they lack practice and confidence (自信).
Why should you be afraid? Do you fear those foreigners with whom you are speaking? Don't be shy, they will not laugh at you just for a little mistake you make. The best way to get rid of trouble is to learn to speak by speaking more. I am sure that constant practice will help you succeed.
【小题1】What's the best topic for the passage?

A．How to Speak to Foreigners	B．How to Study English Well
C．How to Organize the Idea in English	D．Practice Speaking English All the Time

A．they seldom meet foreigners

B．they seldom practice speaking English

C．they had no chance to speak English

D．they think it's enough to master the basic language structure only

War Horse author Michael Morpurgo is being interviewed:

Reporter:How did War Horse become so successful?

Michael:War Horse was published in 1982,and it did not sell very well.But my publishers kept it in print,along with all my books.I am very grateful to Egmont and I’m sure now they are very grateful to themselves.

The book was discovered 21 years later,by accident.I was on Desert Island Discs on Radio 4 in 2003 when my work was becoming better known.One of the listeners was the mother of a director called Tom Morris,and after reading War Horse herself she told her son to read it.Two years later the play came out,and it was a huge hit that went to the West End,Broadway and now Canada and Australia,then a nationwide American tour in June this year.

In 2009 kathy kennedy,the producer who worked with Steven Spielberg,walked into the New London Theatre to see the play because her daughter liked it very much.She then phoned Spielberg and told him this would be his next film!The way it all happened is better than any of my stories.War Horse has now sold over 1 million copies.

Reporter:Has War Horse changed your life?

Michael:It has made all the difference in the world.The most important gift it has given us is not to have to worry about money,because there has always been a slight anxiety.It has allowed us to ensure our grandchildren’s education.There is a disadvantage to it as well,which is an assumption that I am super rich.I’m not,actually.It is very nice and completely unexpected but I have got to go on writing.If I were younger,I think,it would go to my head.Now I am too old for anything to go to my head.It is not the same as winning the lottery(彩票)。

1.Why are Michael’s publishers grateful to themselves too?

2.War Horse got the first huge success thanks to____.

3.Why did Kathy Kennedy watch the play of War Horse?

4.What change made Michael feel most valuable because of War Horse?

5.What is the attitude of Michael to his great success?