To face the music
Like every language, American English is full of special expressions, phrases that come from the day-to-day life of the people and develop in their own way. Our expression today is ¡°to face the music¡±.
When someone says, ¡°well, I guess I¡¯ll have to face the music,¡± it does not mean he¡¯s planning to go to the concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in by your boss to explain why you did this and did that, and why you didn¡¯t do this or that. Sour music indeed, but it has to be faced. At sometime or another, every one of us has had to face the music, especially as children. We can all remember father¡¯s angry voice, ¡°I want to talk to you.¡± and only because we did not obey him. What an unpleasant business it was!
The phrase ¡°to face the music¡± is familiar to every American, young and old. It is at least 100 years old. And where did this expression come from? The first explanation comes from the American novelist, James Fenimore Looper. He said, in 1851, that the expression was first used by actors while waiting in the wings to go on the stage. When they got their cue to go on, they often said, ¡°Well, it¡¯s time to face the music.¡± And that was exactly what they did ¡ª facing the orchestra which was just below them. And an actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of an audience that might be friendly or perhaps hostile, especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. If he did not, there would be no play. So the expression ¡°to face the music¡± come to mean ¡°having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice.¡±
Other explanations about the expression go back to the army. When the men faced an inspection by their leader, the soldiers would be worried about how well they looked. Was their equipment clean, shinny enough to pass the inspection? Still the men had to go out and face the music of the band as well as the inspection. What else could they do?
Another army explanation is more closely related to the idea of facing the results and accepting the responsibility for something that should not have been done. As, for example when a man is forced out of the army because he did something terrible, he is dishonored. The band does not play. Only the drums tap a sad, slow beat. The soldier is forced to leave, facing such music as it is and facing the back of his horse.
1.How many ways does the phrase ¡°to face the music¡± comes from?
A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4
2. What¡¯s the meaning of ¡°to face the music?¡±
A. To face something far less pleasant. B. To face the stage.
C. To face the back of one¡¯s horse. D. To face one¡¯s leader.
3.Which of the following is a situation of facing the music?
A. When we are playing basketball. B. When we are making a speech.
C. When we are having a party. D. When we are talking with somebody.
4. The underlined word ¡°hostile¡± means _______.
A. unfriendly B. dislike C. unkind D. unnecessary
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¡¡¡¡It's seven in the morning. Mr Li needn't go to work today. He knows English and is now looking through a list of TV programmes in today's newspaper. The list is as follows. Read it over and then do the exercises.
¡¡¡¡TV programmes
¡¡¡¡Friday, September 30
¡¡¡¡Channel 2£¨ÆµµÀ2£©
¡¡¡¡9¡Ã50 Olympic Games men's basketball final
¡¡¡¡11¡Ã40 Olympic Games track and field events
¡¡¡¡19¡Ã45 Olympic Games special
¡¡¡¡20¡Ã22 2002 National Day evening party
¡¡¡¡20¡Ã59 TV drama£¨Ï·¾ç£©: Juan and Her Braised Ship (1)
¡¡¡¡22¡Ã57 Olympic Games men's basketball final
¡¡¡¡Channel 8
¡¡¡¡9¡Ã40 Daughter of the Sea
¡¡¡¡14¡Ã20 Olympic Games men's tennis single final
¡¡¡¡15¡Ã50 TV drama: Red Leaves Beyond the Mountain (3)
¡¡¡¡16¡Ã37 TV drama: The Tea House
¡¡¡¡18¡Ã00 Olympic Games women's table tennis double final
¡¡¡¡CCTV English Service
¡¡¡¡22¡Ã10 News
¡¡¡¡22¡Ã30 Olympic Games Special
Invitation to a Farewell Party¡¡¡¡Friday, 22nd October
¡¡¡¡Dear Michael and Lisa,
¡¡¡¡You are invited to a farewell party for the¡°LIU FAMILY'S VISIT TO AUSTRALIA¡±.
¡¡¡¡Departure£¨³ö·¢£©date: 4th of November
¡¡¡¡The best part of our big adventure to Australia will be when we come face to face with kangaroos and other Australian wildlife.
¡¡¡¡Party given by: Mr and Mrs Liu, Liu Mei and Liu Tang
¡¡¡¡Date: Saturday, 6 November, 2002
¡¡¡¡Time: 7¡Ã00 p. m. until 12¡Ã30 a. m.
¡¡¡¡Place: Beijing Hotel
¡¡¡¡Reply by: Tuesday, 2 November
¡¡¡¡Phone: 528--0903
¡¡¡¡Food and drinks will be provided at the party.
¡¡¡¡PS: This event is NOT to be missed!
¡¡¡¡We hope to see you there.
(1) Mr Li wants to find out what day it is the day after National Day. Please help him find it out. It is ________.
[¡¡¡¡]
(2) Suppose Mr Li wants to watch TV in the morning and he doesn't feel much interested in sports or games. Which program would he like to choose?
[¡¡¡¡]
A£®CCTV English Service, News.
B£®Channel 2,2002 National Day evening party.
C£®Channel 8, film: Daughter of the Sea.
D£®Channel 8, TV Drama: The Tea House.
(3) From the invitation we can tell ________.
[¡¡¡¡]
A£®Liu Mei and Liu Tang will attend the farewell party
B£®only Mr and Mrs Liu will travel to Australia
C£®the Liu family have been to Australia before
D£®the Liu family will not return from Australia
(4) By what date is it necessary to reply to the invitation?
[¡¡¡¡]
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In one way of thinking, failure is a part of life. In another way, failure may be a way towards success. The ¡°spider story¡¯¡¯ often told, Robert Bruce, leader of the Scots in the 13 th century, was hiding in a cave from the English. He watched a spider spinning a web. The spider tried to reach across a rough place in the rock. He tried six times without success. On the seventh time he made it and went to spin his web. Bruce is said to have taken heart and to have gone on to defeat the English. Edison, the inventor of the light bulb, made hundreds of models that failed before he found the right way to make one. Abraham Lincoln, the famous American president, lost elections more times than he won them! He never gave up in the face of failure but kept t
rying and was eventually elected to Congress and then the presidency.
So what? First, always think about your failure. What caused it? Were conditions right? Were you in top from yourself? What can you change so things will go right next time?
Second, is the goal you¡¯re trying to reach the right one? Try to do some thinking about what your real goals may be. Think about this question. ¡°If I do succeed this time, where will it get me?¡¯¡¯ This may help you prevent failure in things you shouldn¡¯t be doing anyway.
The third thing to bear in mind about failure is that it¡¯s part of life. Learn to ¡°live with yourself¡± even though you may have failed. Remember, ¡°You can¡¯t win them all.¡±
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Over three million people will do their Christmas shopping entirely online this year without once visiting an actual shop, a poll (ÃñÒâµ÷²é) has found. Overcrowding and long queues in shops are forcing people away from the high street as the hassle (·³ÈÅ) of Christmas shopping becomes too much.
The number of people turning their backs on the high street is almost one million higher than it was last year, according to the poll by YouGov. Last Christmas 2.4 million shoppers did not do any of their shopping in actual shops. The figure this year is predicted to be around 3.4 million, equal to around 7 percent of the adult population.
Over a third of people said that the main turn-off about shopping on the high street is 0ver-crow-ding. Meanwhile almost a quarter said that long queues at the cheek-out are the worst thing about it.
Of the 2.065 people pored, even those who are stir taking to the shops plan to spend less time in them this Christmas. Around 31 percent of shoppers who plan to spend at least some time on the high street will spend less than half of their shopping time in actual shops, using the rest of the time to shop remotely via the internet. This compares to 28 percent of people last year. Meanwhile the proportion of people spending over half of their shopping time in high street shops has dropped from 41 percent last year to 39 percent this year. Just 2 percent of people said that they are looking forward to dealing wi.th store staff this festival season.
Guy Boxall, senior product marketing manager at Casio Business Solutions Division, which commissioned the research from YouGov, said that despite the fall in people visiting the high street,humans are "social creatures" who actually like spending time together.
"Although the high street is facing a big challenge Christmas, retailers (ÁãÊÛÉÌ) should see this research as a challenge to improve the in-store shopping experience, rather than the nail in the coffin. We are social creatures, and the desire to spend time with each other, particularly at Christmas, is never going to go away," said Mr. Boxall.
1.According to the poll, in this year's Christmas
A£®about 7 % of the population will do both online and actual shopping
B£®about 31% of shoppers will do half of their shopping in actual shops
C£®about 39% of shoppers will do more than half of their shopping in actual shops
D£®over three million shoppers will quit actual shopping just because of the long queues
2.What's the meaning of "turn-off" in Para.5?
A£®Something that makes people lose heart
B£®Something that makes people lose face
C£®Something that makes people lose interest
D£®Something that makes people lose courage
3.It can be inferred from Mr. Boxall's words that
A£®retailers should reduce their in-store goods.
B£®retailers wiR be pessimistic about the result of this research.
C£®retailers should focus on the advantage of in-store shopping.
D£®retailers will make more profits this Christmas than last Christmas
4.Wheat's the writer's attitude towards Christmas online shopping?
A£®Concerned. B£®Doubtful. C£®Approving. D£®Objective.
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I am trying to muster(¹ÄÆð)the courage to toss away my mobile phone to enjoy a more peaceful and ring ¨Cfree life£®
Can you imagine not having your mobile phone? In our high-tech, in-a-hurry age, a cell-free life is a hard concept to swallow£® Our mobile phones can now access the Internet, and many people feel the need to express their every thought on their blog pages£® If I gave up my cellphone, people would think I was mad£®
I wish I had the strength to toss away my technology £® I have an office phone, a home phone, e-mail and if people want to contact me£® they can£® If I¡¯m out, people can leave a message£® Do they really need to find me 24/7 ? However, I¡¯m a bit like Frodo in the movie Lord of the Rings£® The power of the ring is too strong and I can¡¯t let it go£®
Mobile phones have become necessary tools in our busy life£® For most people , they hold all contacts and many of us don't write up address books any more£® The latest phones carry our music, pictures, movies and everything else£® We feel lost without this device and when we do misplace it , we feel cut off from our fellow,
¡°Where have you been?¡± said a friend, who saw me a week after I lost my cell, ¡°I tried calling you , but you disappeared£® You disappeared off the face of the Earth¡£¡± See, when you don¡¯t have a mobile phone, you don¡¯t exist£®
I¡¯m not really going to toss my mobile phone away, in fact£® We humans are such social animals and mobile phones serve us well£® So in 2009, I¡¯ve dicided not to serve my mobile phone£® Like all machine, I can always turn it off£®
1£®What does the underslined phrase¡°toss away¡±mean?
A£®give away B£®get away C£®break away D£®throw away
2£®The writer mentions Frodo to
A£®show it is difficult to get rid of the mobile phone
B£®show how much he likes Frodo
C£®suggest a cell-free life is what he wants
D£®introduce a film character to us
3£®What do we know about mobile phones in the 4 th paragraph?
A£®Mobile phones can do anything for us £®
B£®Mobile phones have become very important in our life
C£®We could not live without mobile phones
D£®We would be cut off by our fellow without mobile phones
4£®What can be inferred from the last paragraph?
A£®The writer is not really going to toss his mobile phone away£®
B£®When you don't have a mobile phone, you don¡¯t exist£®
C£®The writer decides not to serve his mobile phone
D£®We humans can control ourselves and machines will£®
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I¡¯ll call my father tomorrow which is Father¡¯s Day£® Every other 1 I call£¬Morn answers and Dad quietly picks up the 2 and listens in to our conversation£®But 3 Father¡¯s Day, we will talk a little about my job£¬my family and the weather£® Then Dad will say£¬¡°Thanks for 4 ,son ,¡±and hang up£®
5 it is almost summer, every year after our Father¡¯s Day talk£¬I¡¯m left with images of my father and the cold£®As a boy I watched him out of the kitchen window 6 our lane£¨µÀ£© of snow with the first snow blower£¨ÐýתʽÇåÑ©»ú£©£® First£¬he¡¯d do our walk and then he¡¯d blow the lanes of the shut-ins£¨²»ÄܳöÃŵIJ¡ÈË£©£¬the single morns£¬and poorer folks£¬ 7 could not seem to get it together£®
I 8 him and learned from him£¬but I 9 not remember my father and me ever having much of a conversation£®Nothing that he 10 shared¡¢vim me in a heart-felt way showed that he may be 11 £¬upset or ready to climb the wall£®
The last time I saw my father, I asked him to go out for a 12 with me£®The sun was setting over the lake and I said£¬¡°Come on£®We don¡¯t 13 much time together any more£® Let¡¯s go£® ¡±Father looked at me meaningfully and said£¬¡° 14 £® ¡±
That visit to my father was about a week before September 11 th£®I was near Ground Zero on that day and for five hours 15 the first plane struck, my family did not know of my whereabouts£¨ÏÂÂ䣩£® 16 for me I arrived back at our home in Brooklyn£®My biggest 17 was that my wife told me my father was 18 to drive from his home on Lake Huron to Ground Zero to find me£®
To love the remote father is to face this paradox£¨Ã¬¶Ü£©£ºto accept his refusal of my 19 for a sunset walk with his worry that I might have died with thousands of others last September£» to deeply know, if not accept£¬that is his way, the way a man of 10 words£¬snowblower of shut-ins and lonely hearts£¬can best show a father¡¯s love£®
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2£® A£®pen B£®paper C£®extension D£®directory
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4£® A£®coming B£®inviting C£®calling D£®giving
5£® A£®As if B£®Even though C£®As though D£®Ever since
6£® A£®washing B£®clearing C£®appreciating D£®playing
7£® A£®who B£®which C£®they D£®whom
8£® A£®saw B£®noticed C£®watched D£®realized
9£® A£®can B£®must C£®need D£®shall
10£® A£®still B£®even C£®ever D£®never
11£® A£®straight forward B£®afraid C£®innocent D£®authentic
12£® A£®walk B£®swim C£®meal D£®picnic
13£® A£®spend B£®waste C£®save D£®cost
14£® A£®Yes B£®No C£®A moment D£®After you
15£® A£®until B£®unless C£®before D£®since
16£® A£®Properly B£®Luckily C£®Unfortunately D£®Shortly
17£® A£®success B£®objection C£®surprise D£®drawback
18£® A£®prepared B£®forbidden C£®persuaded D£®urged
19£® A£®worry B£®pleasure C£®desire D£®curiosity
20£® A£®many B£®few C£®several D£®enough
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