Forgiveness

To forgive is a virtue,but no one has ever said it is easy.When someone has deeply hurt you,it can be extremely difficult to let go of your hate.However,forgiveness is possible, and it can be surprisingly beneficial

to your physical and mental health.People who forgive show less sadness,anger and stress and more hopefulness,according to a recent research.

 1.Try the following steps.

Calm yourelf. 2. You can take a couple of breaths and think of something that gives you pleasure: a beautiful scene in nature or someone you love.

Don’t wait for an apology.Many times the person who hurt you does not intend to apologize. They may have wanted to hurt you or they just don’t see things the same way. _3.__Keep in mind that forgiveness does not necessarily mean becoming friends again with the person who upset you.

Take the control away from your offender(冒犯者).Rethinking about your hurt gives power to the person who caused you pain.Instead of focusing on your wounded feelings,learn to look for the help,beauty and kindness around you.

 4. If you understand your offender ,you may realize that he or she was acting out of unawareness, fear, and even love. You may want to write a letter to yourself from your offender’s point of view.

Don’t forget to forgive yourself. _5.__ But it can rob you of your self-confidence if you don’t do it.

A．Why should you forgive?

B．How could you start to forgive?

C．Recognize the benefits of forgiveness.

D．Try to see things from your offender’s angle.

E.For some people,forgiving themselves is the biggest challenge.

F.To make your anger die away,try a simple stress-management technique.

G.If you wait for people to apologize, you could be waiting an awfully long time.

 

Dear Guys,

I’d like to talk to you about the shame you subjected me to last night. Let me first refresh your memory: You, a group of fit, young men, were playing soccer on the field across from my apartment building. I, a better-than-average looking young woman, was walking along the sidewalk with my groceries. That’s when your ball came flying over the fence and landed in front of me.

One of you approached and asked politely if I would throw the ball back to you. Fighting the urge to drop my bags and run screaming down the street, I reluctantly agreed.

Before I continue, let me explain something that I didn’t have a chance to mention last night: I hate sports. More specifically, I hate sports involving balls. This results from my lack of natural ability when it comes to throwing, catching and hitting. I’m bad at aiming too. So you can understand why I’d be nervous at what I’m sure seemed to you like a laughably simple request. However, wanting to appear agreeable, I put my bags down, picked up the ball and, eyes half-shut, and threw it as hard as I could.

It hit the middle of the fence and bounced back to me.

Trying to act casually, I said something about being out of practice, then picked up the ball again. If you’ll remember, at your command, I agreed to try throwing underhand. While outwardly I was smiling, in my head, I was praying, Oh God, oh please oh please oh please. I threw the ball upward with all my strength, terrified by what happened next.

The ball hit slightly higher up on the fence and bounced back to me.

This is the point where I start to take issue with you. Wouldn’t it have been a better use of your time, and mine, if you had just walked around the fence and took the ball then? I was clearly struggling; my smiles were more and more forced. And yet, you all just stood there, motionless.

Seeing that you weren’t going to let me out of the trouble, I became desperate. Memories of middle school softball came flooding back. I tried hard to throw the ball but it only went about eight feet, then I decided to pick it up and dash with ball in hand towards the baseline, while annoyed thirteen-year-old boys screamed at me that I was ruining their lives. Children are cruel. Being a big girl now, I pushed those memories aside and picked up the soccer ball for the third time. I forced a good-natured laugh while crying inside as you patiently shouted words of support over the fence at me.

“Throw it granny-style!” one of you said.

“Just back up a little and give it all you’ve got!” another offered.

And, most embarrassing of all, “You can do it!”

I know you thought you were being encouraging, but it only served to deepen the shame.

Anyway, I accepted your ball-throwing advice, backed up, rocked back and forth a little, took a deep breath and let it fly.

It hit the edge of the fence and bounced back to me.

I surprised myself --- and I’m sure you as well --- by letting out a cry, “DAMN IT!!!” I then willed myself to have a heart attack and pass out in front of you just so I’d be put out of my misery. Alas, the heart attack didn’t happen, and you continued to look at me expectantly, like you were content to do this all night. I had become a sort of exhibition for you. I could feel your collective thoughts drifting through the chain-link: “Can she really not do it? But I mean, really?”

Unfortunately for you, I wasn’t really game to continue your experiment. Three failed attempts at a simple task in front of a group of people in a two-minute period was just enough blow for me for one night. I picked up the ball one last time, approached the fence and grumbled, “Please just come get the damn ball.”

And you did. And thanks to you, I decided at that very moment to never throw anything ever again, except disrespectful glances at people who play sports.

Sincerely, Jen Cordery

1. The writer agreed to throw the ball because _______.

A. she needed to have a relax carrying the heavy groceries

B. she wanted to refresh her childhood memories

C. she could not refuse the polite request from the young man

D. she had fallen in love with the young man at first sight

2.Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “game”?

A. anxious                                      B. brave                                C. afraid                                D. curious

3.Why did the writer mention her middle school memory?

A. To explain why she failed the attempts to throw the ball back.

B. To complain that she had not mastered the ball throwing skills.

C. To show how cruel those 13-year-old boys were.

D. To express her dislike towards softball.

4.What the boys said before the writer’s third attempt actually made the writer ________.

A. inspired                                     B. encouraged                     C. embarrassed                   D. depressed

5.What’s the writer’s purpose in writing this open letter?

A. To express her regret over what she did the day before.

B. To announce that she would never play ball games again.

C. To explain her own inability to throw the ball over the fence.

D. To criticize the young men for their cruelty to her dignity.

 

In a few states where racial prejudice is serious, violence has so come to be taken for granted as a means of solving differences, that it is not even questioned. There are states where the white man imposes his rule by force; there are states where the black man protests by setting fire to cities and by looting and pillaging. Important people on both sides, who would in other respects appear to be reasonable men, get up and calmly argue in favor of violence – as if it were a legitimate solution, like any other. What is really frightening, what really fills you with despair, is the realization that when it comes to the crunch, we have made no actual progress at all. We may wear collars and ties instead of war-paint, but our instincts remain basically unchanged. The whole of the recorded history of the human race, that tedious documentation of violence, has taught us absolutely nothing. We have still not learnt that violence never solves a problem but makes it more serious. The sheer horror, the bloodshed, the suffering mean nothing. No solution ever comes to light the morning after when we dismally contemplate the smoking ruins and wonder what hit us.

The truly reasonable men who know where the solutions lie are finding it harder and harder to get a hearing. They are despised, mistrusted and even persecuted by their own kind because they advocate such apparently outrageous things as law enforcement. If half the energy that goes into violent acts were put to good use, if our efforts were directed at cleaning up the shabby houses at improving living-standards and providing education and employment for all, we would have gone a long way to arriving at a solution. Our strength is weakened by having to mop up the mess that violence leaves in its wake. In a well-directed effort, it would not be impossible to fulfill the ideals of a stable social programme. The benefits that can be derived from constructive solutions are everywhere apparent in the world around us. Genuine and lasting solutions are always possible, providing we work within the framework of the law.

Before we can even begin to reflect on peaceful co-existence between the races, we must appreciate each other's problems. And to do this, we must learn about them: it is a simple exercise in communication, in exchanging information. "Talk, talk, talk," the advocates of violence say, "all you ever do is talk, and we are none the wiser." It's rather like the story of the famous lawyer who carefully explained his case to the judge. After listening to a lengthy argument the judge complained that after all this talk, he was none the wiser. "Possible, my lord," the lawyer replied, "none the wiser, but surely far better informed." Knowledge is the necessary prerequisite to wisdom: the knowledge that violence creates the evils it pretends to solve.

1.  What is the best title for this passage?

A．Advocating Violence.

B．Violence Can Do Nothing to Reduce Race Prejudice.

C．Important People on Both Sides See Violence As a Legitimate Solution.

D．The Instincts of Human Race Are Thirsty for Violence.

2.  Recorded history has taught us

A．violence never solves anything.

B．nothing.

C．the bloodshed means nothing.

D．everything.

3. According the author the best way to solve race prejudice is

A．law enforcement.

B．knowledge.

C．nonviolence.

D．Mopping up the violent mess.

 

Do you sometimes argue about what seems to you to be simple fact? Do you argue whether it’s cold outdoors or whether the car in front of you is going faster than the speed limit?

If you get into such arguments, try to think about the story about the six blind men and the elephant. The first blind man who felt the elephant’s trunk said it was like a snake. The second who felt the elephant’s side said it was like a wall, while the third said it was like a spear as he touched the animal’s tusk. The fourth, who got hold of the elephant’s tail insisted that it was like a rope. The fifth man said it looked like a tree as he put his arms around one of the elephant’s legs. The sixth, who was tall and got hold of the elephant’s ears, said it was like a huge fan.

Each man’s idea of the animal came from his own experience. So if someone disagrees with you about a“simple fact”, it’s often because his experience in the matter is different from yours.

To see how hard it is for even one person to make up his mind about a“simple fact”, try this simple experiment. Get three large bowls. Put ice water in one. Put hot water in the second. Put lukewarm water in the third. Now put your left hand in the ice water. Put your right hand in the hot water. After thirty seconds, put both hands in the lukewarm water. Your right hand will tell you the water is cold. Your left hand will tell you it’s hot!

What makes people think about simple facts differently?

A. The fact that simple facts differ from one another.

B. The fact that people have different experience in the same simple fact.

C. The fact that people often disagree with one another.

D. The fact that it’s hard to make up one’s mind about simple facts.

Which of the following temperatures can the word “lukewarm” be applied to?

A. Around 1℃        B. Above 60℃    C. Around 25℃      D. Below 0℃

After reading the last paragraph, we may think of        .

A. Newton’s law                   B. Gallileo’s theory of falling objects

C. Einstein’s theory of relativity      D. Marx’s On Capital

The main idea of this passage is         .

A. people often judge something according to his own experience

B. people often agree about simple facts

C. it’s hard for a person to make up his mind about a simple fact

D. don’t care too much about simple facts

The oldest and hardest cow beef may be made as tender and tasty as young and choice met. ”This declaration was made by the French physicist Denis Papin in book published in 1681, which described his “New Digester” or pressure cooker.  It was a cast iron pot with an air-tight lid, which allowed liquids to boil at a higher temperature than usual, and so it cooked food in a quarter of the time.  The food was cooked by pressurized steam being forced through it at about 121℃.  All pressure cookers were made of cast iron until 1905,  when the first aluminum model was made in America. In 1938, Alfred Vischer, a man from Chicago, U. S. A., designed a simple interlocking pan and lid, and an improved pressure-tight seal（密封）—a replaceable rubber sealing ring. When Vischer’s patent（专利）expired in 1954,  many companies entered the field,  and the rapid pressure cooker became popular with people with people who had little time to cook or had to supply food for unexpected guests.

From the passage we can learn pressure cooker made of cast iron lasted at least ____years.

A. 300           B. 200            C. 90            D. 60

Which of the following shows the correct order?

Denis Papin called his invention “New Digester”.  

It began to be widely used by common families.

Instead of cast iron,  it was first made of aluminum. 

The first pressure cooker was invented in France.

Alfred Vischer greatly improved its design.          

Vischer’s patent came to an end.

g.  Many other companies began to produce it.

A. d,  a,  e,  c,  g,  f,  b                 B. a,  d,  c,  b,  e,  f,  g

C. d,  a,  c,  e,  f,  g,  b                 D. g,  e,  a,  e,  d,  f,  b

In the writer’s opinion, the best advantage of a pressure cooker is that_______.

A. the oldest and hardest cow beef can be made tender and tasty

B. it allows liquids to boil at a higher temperature than usual

C. it can help people to supply food for unexpected guests

D. it helps people to spend much less time in cooking

The best title of this passage may possibly be _______.

A. New Digester       B. Pressure Cooker   C. Favorite Cook       D. The History of Cooker