There is a boy in my gym class (I’ll call him Bill) who has unbearably yellow teeth that almost make everyone feel unpleasant. Recently another boy told Bill that he should “go Ajax” his teeth. Bill was crushed. Had the other boy been thinking, he would have realized that there is a better way to handle such a situation. He could have dealt with it with tact. He could have showed this hurtful truth in a more careful, sensitive way—that’s “tact”.

　　If a person isn’t sensitive to another’s feelings, there is no way he or she can be tactful. Yesterday, my 5-year-old brother proudly announced that he had cleaned the screen on our television set. Unfortunately, he used furniture polish(亮光油), which produced an oily film on the television screen. My mother smiled and thanked him for his efforts—and then showed how to clean the screen properly. Her sensitivity enables my brother to keep his self-respect. Yet, sensitivity alone does not make tact.

　　“Tactfulness” also requires “truthfulness”. Doctors, for example, must be truthful. If a patient has just been disabled in an accident, a tactful doctor will tell the truth—but express it with sensitivity. The doctor may try to give the patient hope by telling them curing techniques under study or about advanced equipment now available. Doctors must use tact with patients relatives as well. Instead of bluntly saying, “Your husband is disabled,” a doctor might say, “I’m sorry, but your husband has lost feeling in his legs and…”

　　Tact should not be confused with trickery. Trickery occurs when a nurse is about to give a patient an injection and says, “This won’t hurt a bit.” Instead of trickery, the nurse might guarantee the patient that the discomfort of the injection is a small thing compared to the benefits of it. It would also be thoughtful for the nurse to tell the patients about some of these benefits.

　　Tact is a wonderful skill to have, and tactful people are usually admired and respected. Without tact our society would become an intolerable place to live in.

1.When told he should “go Ajax” his teeth, Bill probably felt ________________.

　　A．surprised                  B．cheated　　   C．regretful                D．painful

2.According to the author, his mother’s praise for the brother is _______________.

　　A．both sensitive and tactful         B．sensitive but not tactful enough

　　C．truthful but not tactful             D．sensitive but trickish

3.The fourth paragraph mainly talks about __________________.

　　A．how to comfort the patients

　　B．how to use trickery carefully

　　C．differences between trickery and promises

　　D．another feature of tact

4.Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

(The numbers stand for the paragraphs)

　　There is a boy in my gym class (I’ll call him Bill) who has unbearably yellow teeth that almost make everyone feel unpleasant. Recently another boy told Bill that he should “go Ajax” his teeth. Bill was crushed. Had the other boy been thinking, he would have realized that there is a better way to handle such a situation. He could have dealt with it with tact. He could have showed this hurtful truth in a more careful, sensitive way—that’s “tact”.

　　If a person isn’t sensitive to another’s feelings, there is no way he or she can be tactful. Yesterday, my 5-year-old brother proudly announced that he had cleaned the screen on our television set. Unfortunately, he used furniture polish(亮光油), which produced an oily film on the television screen. My mother smiled and thanked him for his efforts—and then showed how to clean the screen properly. Her sensitivity enables my brother to keep his self-respect. Yet, sensitivity alone does not make tact.

　　“Tactfulness” also requires “truthfulness”.Doctors, for example, must be truthful. If a patient has just been disabled in an accident, a tactful doctor will tell the truth—but express it with sensitivity. The doctor may try to give the patient hope by telling them curing techniques under study or about advanced equipment now available. Doctors must use tact with patients relatives as well. Instead of bluntly saying, “Your husband is disabled,” a doctor might say, “I’m sorry, but your husband has lost feeling in his legs and…”

　　Tact should not be confused with trickery. Trickery occurs when a nurse is about to give a patient an injection and says, “This won’t hurt a bit.” Instead of trickery, the nurse might guarantee the patient that the discomfort of the injection is a small thing compared to the benefits of it. It would also be thoughtful for the nurse to tell the patients about some of these benefits.

　　Tact is a wonderful skill to have, and tactful people are usually admired and respected. Without tact our society would become an intolerable place to live in.

1.When told he should “go Ajax” his teeth, Bill probably felt ________________.

　　A．surprised              B．cheated　　C．regretful               D．painful

2.According to the author, his mother’s praise for the brother is _______________.

　　A．both sensitive and tactful         B．sensitive but not tactful enough

　　C．truthful but not tactful           D．sensitive but trickish

3.The fourth paragraph mainly talks about __________________.

　　A．how to comfort the patients

　　B．how to use trickery carefully

　　C．differences between trickery and promises

　　D．another feature of tact

4.Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

(The numbers stand for the paragraphs)

　A university graduate described as a “respectable and intelligent” woman is seeking professional(专业的) help after being convicted of （证明有……罪）shoplifting for the second time in six months.

Ana Luz, recently studying for her PhD, has been told she could end up behind bars unless she can control the desire to steal from shops .

Luz ,who lives with her partner in Fitzwilliam Road ,Cambridge ,admitted stealing clothes worth ￡9.95 from John Lewis in Oxford Street ,London ,on March 9.

Phillip Lemoyne ,prosecuting（起诉）,said Luz selected some clothes from a display and took them to the ladies’ toilet in the store .When she came out again she was wearing one of the skirts she had selected ,having taken off the anti-theft security alarms（防盗警报装置）.

She was stopped and caught after leaving the store without paying, Mr Lemoyne said.

He added that she was upset on her arrest and apologized for her actions.

Luz,28, was said to have been convicted of shoplifting by Cambridge judges last October ,but Morag Duff, defending ,said she had never been in trouble with the police before that .

“She is ashamed and embarrassed（尴尬） but doesn’t really have any explanation why she did this ,” Miss Duff said . “She didn’t intend to steal when she went into the store .She is at a loss to explain it. She is otherwise a very respectable and intelligent young lady .She went to her doctor and asked for advice because she wants to know if there is anything in particular that caused her to do this.”

Judge David Azan fined Luz ￡ 50,  and warned : “You’ve got a criminal record .If you carry on like this ,you will end up in prison ,which will ruin your bright future you may have.”

Luz achieved a degree in design at university in her native Spain, went on to a famous university in Berlin , Germany for her master’s degree and is now studying for a PhD at Cambridge University ,UK.

1.What does the underlined sentence “She is at a loss to explain it” mean?

2.Which of the following best explains the meaning of the word “shoplifting” used in the passage?

3.From the passage we can learn that           .

4.What would be the best title for the passage ?

Do you know that men die earlier than women? The latest research makes it known that the reason could be that men’s hearts go into rapid decline when they reach middle age.
　　The largest study of the effects of ageing(变老) on the heart has found that women’s longevity may be linked to the fact that their hearts do not lose their pumping power with age.
　　“We have found that the power of the male heart falls by 20-25 percent between 18 and 70 years of age,” said the head of the study, David Goldspink of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK.
　　“Within the heart there are millions of cells that enable it to beat. Between the age of 20 and 70, one-third of those cells die and are not replaced in men,” said Goldspink. “This is part of the aging process.”
　　What surprises scientists is that the female heart sees very little loss of these cells. A healthy 70-year-old woman’s heart could perform almost as well as a 20-year-old one’s.
　　“This gender difference might just explain why women live longer than men,” said Goldspink. They studied more than 250 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 80, focusing on healthy persons to remove the confusing influence of disease. “The team has yet to find why ageing takes a greater loss on the male heart,” said Goldspink.
　　The good news is that men can improve the health of their heart with regular exercise. Goldspink stressed that women also need regular exercise to prevent their leg muscles becoming smaller and weaker as they age.
【小题1】 The underlined word “longevity” in the second paragraph probably refers to “________”.

　　Decision-thinking is not unlike. It often matters not only what you think, but also what others think you think and what you think they think you think. The mental process（过程） is similar. Naturally, this card game has often been of considerable interest to people who are, by any standards, good thinkers.
　　The great mathematician John von Neumann was one of the founders of game theory. In particular, he showed that all games fall into two classes; there are what he called games of 'perfect information', games like chess where the players can't hide anything or play tricks; they don't win by chance, but by means of logic and skills. Then there are games of 'imperfect information', like poker, in which it is impossible to know in advance that one course of action is better than another.
　　One mistaken idea about business is that it can be treated as a game of perfect information. Quite the reverse, business and life itself are games which we must normally play with very imperfect information. Business decisions are often made with many unknown and unknowable factors（因素）, as best poker players. But few business people find it comfortable to admit that they are taking a chance, and many still prefer to believe that they are playing chess, not poker.
49．The subject discussed in this text is _________.
　　A．the process of reaching decisions
　　B．the difference between poker and chess.
　　C．the secret of making good business plans
　　D．the value of information in winning games
50．An important factor in a game of imperfect information is ___________.
　　A．rules               B．luck         C．time               D．ideas
51．Which of the following can be used in place of "Quite the reverse"?
　　A．Quite right.                   B．True enough.
　　C．Most unlikely.                      D．Just the opposite.
52．In the writer's opinion, when making business decisions one should ___________ .
　　A．put perfect information before imperfect information
　　B．accept the existence of unknown factors
　　C．regard business as a game of chess
　　D．mix known and unknown factors