It doesn’t make any difference how long your speech is. Unless you tune (定调) in the first 60 seconds, the chances are they will tune you out.

Take the fellow who opens: “On my way over to the club tonight, I ran into a bum (流浪汉) who asked me for $ 49.50 for a cup of coffee. I told him he’d do much better if he asked for a quarter. He said, “Do you think I’m going into the Ritz in these clothes?” We know his purpose: to win his audience over with humor. His bit of humor, however, has no connection with his speech. He has his audience laughing at the wrong time. Once you have an audience laughing it’s hard to get them to switch to an entirely different train of thought. There is nothing wrong with humor in a speech as long as it has something to do with the purpose of his speech. To open a speech with humor just to be entertaining invites an almost sure “turnoff” for the remainder of the talk.

1. What, in a speech, determines its failure or success?

A. The purpose of the speech.

B. A sense of humor.

C. The opening remarks.

D. A forceful ending.

2. If a speaker decides to be humorous, his humor should ___.

A. be connected with his subject

B. make his audience laugh

C. be fresh and different

D. be reserved for the end

3. The underlined words mean ___.

A.     to make your audience go away at once

B.     likely to cause your audience to lose interest

C.     to switch their thoughts to other things

D.     likely to have your audience laugh with you

4. Which of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?

A.     The opening part of your speech should not be long.

B.     Humor is important in the success of your speech.

C.     Your humor should be relevant (相关的) and timely.

D.     An outstanding speech is full of jokes.

It doesn’t matter when or how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That’s what all doctors thought, until they heard about Al Herpin. Al Herpin, it was said, never slept. Could this be true? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves.
Al Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day, they never saw Herpin sleeping. In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.
The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. They asked him many questions, hoping to find an answer. They found only one answer that might explain his condition. Herpin remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real reason? No one could be sure.
Herpin died at the age of 94.
【小题1】The doctors came to Herpin’s home in order to ______.

It doesn’t matter when or how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That’s what all doctors thought, until they heard about Al Herpin. Al Herpin, it was said, never slept. Could this be true? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves.

Al Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day, they never saw Herpin sleeping. In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.

The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. They asked him many questions, hoping to find an answer. They found only one answer that might explain his condition. Herpin remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real reason? No one could be sure.

Herpin died at the age of 94.

1.The doctors came to Herpin’s home in order to ______.

2.After watching him closely, the doctors came to believe that Al Herpin ______.

3.The word “puzzled” in this passage probably refers to “______”.

4.The main idea of this passage is that ______.

It doesn’t matter when or how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That’s what all doctors thought, until they heard about Al Herpin. Al Herpin, it was said, never slept. Could this be true? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves.

Al Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day, they never saw Herpin sleeping. In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.

The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. They asked him many questions, hoping to find an answer. They found only one answer that might explain his condition. Herpin remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real reason? No one could be sure.

Herpin died at the age of 94.

1. The doctors came to Herpin’s home in order to ______.

　 A. treat him for his illness

　 B. find the reason why some old people didn’t need any sleep

　 C. get some proof to show his sleeplessness was not really true

　 D. help him to have a rest in some day

2. After watching him closely, the doctors came to believe that Al Herpin ______.

A. needed some kind of sleep　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. needed no sleep at all

　 C. was too old to need any sleep　　　　　　　　　　　 D. often slept in a chair

3. Al Herpin’s condition could be regarded as ______.

　 A. an unusual one　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. a common one

　 C. very healthy　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. very funny

4. The word “puzzle” in this passage probably refers to “______”.

　 A. make you think a lot because you do not understand it

　 B. make you worry a lot because you cannot sleep well

　 C. make you sad because something unusual has happened

　 D. make you fear because something terrible has happened

5. The main idea of this passage is that ______.

　 A. large numbers of people do not need sleep　　　　　　　　

　 B. everyone needs some sleep to stay alive

　 C. people can live longer by trying not to sleep at all

　 D. a person was found who actually didn’t need any sleep

It doesn’t matter when or how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That’s what all doctors thought, until they heard about Al Herpin. Al Herpin, it was said, never slept. Could this be true? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves.
Al Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day, they never saw Herpin sleeping. In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.
The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. They asked him many questions, hoping to find an answer. They found only one answer that might explain his condition. Herpin remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real reason? No one could be sure.
Herpin died at the age of 94

1. 1.

   The doctors came to Herpin’s home in order to ______

   1. A.
      treat him for his illness
   2. B.
      find the reason why some old people didn’t need any sleep
   3. C.
      get some proof to show his sleeplessness was not really true
   4. D.
      help him to have a rest in some day
2. 2.

   After watching him closely, the doctors came to believe that Al Herpin ______

   1. A.
      needed some kind of sleep
   2. B.
      needed no sleep at all
   3. C.
      was too old to need any sleep
   4. D.
      often slept in a chair
3. 3.

   The word “puzzled” in this passage probably refers to “______”

   1. A.
      make you think a lot because you do not understand it
   2. B.
      make you worry a lot because you cannot sleep well
   3. C.
      make you sad because something unusual has happened
   4. D.
      make you fear because something terrible has happened
4. 4.

   The main idea of this passage is that ______

   1. A.
      large numbers of people do not need sleep
   2. B.
      everyone needs some sleep to stay alive
   3. C.
      people can live longer by trying not to sleep at all
   4. D.
      a person was found who actually didn’t need any sleep