Too often we accuse others of not listening, pretending that we ourselves are faultless, yet in our hearts we know that many of the mistakes we make come about because we haven’t listened carefully enough. We get things wrong because we haven’t listened carefully enough. We get things wrong because we haven’t quite understood what someone meant when they were talking to us. Anyone who has ever taken the minutes of a long meeting will know how hard it is to remember-- despite the benefit of notes-- exactly what everyone said. But success depends on getting things right--and that means listening.

Listening is not the same thing as hearing; it is not an effort actively. It demands attention and concentration. It may mean quizzing the speaker for additional information or for clarification------ it is always better to ask than to continue regardless and get things wrong. However, if you allow your mind to wander onto something else, even for a few minutes, you’ll miss what the speaker is saying------ probably at the very moment when he or she is saying something critical. And not having heard, you won’t know you’ve missed anything until it’s too late.

The most common bad habit we have is to start thinking of what we are going to say about the subject long before the other speaker has finished. We then stop listening. Even worse, this often adds rudeness to inattentiveness, as once you have decided what to say there is a fair chance you will interrupt to say it. Good listeners don’t interrupt. In fact it is often worth explaining the main idea of what you have just been told before going on to make your own points. Nobody is offended by this and it shows that you have listened well.

Above all be patient and accept that many people are not very good communicators. It’s helpful to remember that the ways people move and position themselves while they are speaking can reveal a great deal about what they are saying. Equally important you should put yourself in the other person’s place, both intellectually and emotionally; it will help you to understand what they are getting at and form a response. But don’t be too clever. Faced with a know-all, many people keep quiet because they see no point in continuing.

36. Which is the best title for this passage?

A. Don’t be too clever                         B. Be a good listener.

C. Don’t miss anything critical             D. Think of the speaker

37. In the last paragraph, “…… what they are getting at ……” means________ .

A. what they imply                             B. what they like

C. what they attack                                   D. what they achieve

38. What is the writer’s opinion?

A. If you want to be a good listener, you should be very clever and emotional.

B. Speakers won’t continue talking when their listeners explain what they’ve heard.

C. If you don’t want to get things wrong, it’s important to be a good listener,

D. It’s hard to be a good listener because listening tests you on your intelligence.

39. What is the lesson we can learn from this passage?

A. Don’t accuse others of not listening while talking with them.

B. Don’t get anything wrong if you miss what the speaker is saying.

C. Listening inattentively may cost you the loss of your success.

D. Think carefully of what you’re going to say before the speaker finishes.

Too often we accuse others of not listening, pretending that we ourselves are faultless, yet in our hearts we know that many of the mistakes we make come about because we haven’t listened carefully enough.  We get things wrong because we haven’t listened carefully enough.  We get things wrong because we haven’t quite understood what someone meant when they were talking to us.  Anyone who has ever taken the minutes of a long meeting will know how hard it is to remember-- despite the benefit of notes-- exactly what everyone said.  But success depends on getting things right--and that means listening.

Listening is not the same thing as hearing; it is not an effort actively.  It demands attention and concentration.  It may mean quizzing the speaker for additional information or for clarification------ it is always better to ask than to continue regardless and get things wrong.  However, if you allow your mind to wander onto something else, even for a few minutes, you’ll miss what the speaker is saying------ probably at the very moment when he or she is saying something critical.  And not having heard, you won’t know you’ve missed anything until it’s too late.

The most common bad habit we have is to start thinking of what we are going to say about the subject long before the other speaker has finished.  We then stop listening.  Even worse, this often adds rudeness to inattentiveness, as once you have decided what to say there is a fair chance you will interrupt to say it.  Good listeners don’t interrupt.  In fact it is often worth explaining the main idea of what you have just been told before going on to make your own points.  Nobody is offended by this and it shows that you have listened well.

Above all be patient and accept that many people are not very good communicators.  It’s helpful to remember that the ways people move and position themselves while they are speaking can reveal a great deal about what they are saying.  Equally important you should put yourself in the other person’s place, both intellectually and emotionally; it will help you to understand what they are getting at and form a response.  But don’t be too clever.  Faced with a know-all, many people keep quiet because they see no point in continuing.

36.  Which is the best title for this passage?

A.  Don’t be too clever                      B.  Be a good listener.

C.  Don’t miss anything critical          D.  Think of the speaker

37.  In the last paragraph, “…… what they are getting at ……” means________ .

A.  what they imply                                  B.  what they like

C.  what they attack                                 D.  what they achieve

38.  What is the writer’s opinion?

A.  If you want to be a good listener, you should be very clever and emotional.

B.  Speakers won’t continue talking when their listeners explain what they’ve heard.

C.  If you don’t want to get things wrong, it’s important to be a good listener,

D.  It’s hard to be a good listener because listening tests you on your intelligence.

39.  What is the lesson we can learn from this passage?

A.  Don’t accuse others of not listening while talking with them.

B.  Don’t get anything wrong if you miss what the speaker is saying.

C.  Listening inattentively may cost you the loss of your success.

D.  Think carefully of what you’re going to say before the speaker finishes.

Too often we accuse others of not listening, pretending that we ourselves are faultless, yet in our hearts we know that many of the mistakes we make come about because we haven't listened carefully enough．We get things wrong because we haven't listened carefully enough．We get things wrong because we haven't quite understood what someone meant when they were talking to us．Anyone who has ever taken the minutes of a long meeting will know how hard it is to remember—despite the benefit of notes—exactly what everyone said．But success depends on getting things right—and that means listening．

       Listening is not the same thing as hearing; it is not an effort actively．It demands attention and concentration．It may mean quizzing the speaker for additional information or for clarification—it is always better to ask than to continue regardless and get things wrong．However, if you allow your mind to wander onto something else, even for a few minutes, you'll miss what the speaker is saying—probably at the very moment when he or she is saying something critical．And not having heard, you won't know you've missed anything until it's too late．

       The most common bad habit we have is to start thinking of what we are going to say about the subject long before the other speaker has finished．We then stop listening．Even worse, this often addsrudeness to inattentiveness, as once you have decided what to say there is a fair chance you will interrupt to say it．Good listeners don't interrupt, hi fact it is often worth explaining the main idea of what you have just been told before going on to make your own points．Nobody is offended by this and it shows that you have listened well．

       Above all, be patient and accept that many people are not very good communicators．It's helpful to remember that the ways people move and position themselves while they are speaking can reveal a great deal about what they are saying．Equally important you should put yourself in the other person's place, both intellectually and emotionally; it will help you to understand what they are getting at and form a response．But don't be too clever．Faced with a know-all, many people keep quiet because they see no point in continuing．

1．Which is the best title for this passage?

       A．Don't be too clever                        B．Be a good listener

       C．Don't miss anything critical                D．Think of the speaker

2．In the last paragraph, the underlined sentence"…what they are getting at…" means ____．

       A．what they imply                         B．what they like．

       C．what they attack                           D．what they achieve

3．According to the passage, which of the following is the writer's opinion?

       A．If you want to be a good listener, you should be very clever and emotional．

       B．Speakers won't continue talking when their listeners explain what they've heard．

       C．If you don't want to get things wrong, it's important to be a good listener．

       D．It's hard to be a good listener because listening tests you on your intelligence．

4．What is the lesson we can learn from this passage?

       A．Don't accuse others of not listening while talking with them．

       B．Don't get anything wrong if you miss what the speaker is saying．

       C．Listening inattentively may cost you the loss of your success．

       D．Think carefully of what you're going to say before the speaker finishes．

Too often we accuse others of not listening, pretending that we ourselves are faultless, yet in our hearts we know that many of the mistakes we make come about because we haven’t listened carefully enough. We get things wrong because we haven’t listened carefully enough. We get things wrong because we haven’t quite understood what someone meant when they were talking to us. Anyone who has ever taken the minutes of a long meeting will know how hard it is to remember-- despite the benefit of notes-- exactly what everyone said. But success depends on getting things right--and that means listening.

Listening is not the same thing as hearing; it is not an effort actively. It demands attention and concentration. It may mean quizzing the speaker for additional information or for clarification------ it is always better to ask than to continue regardless and get things wrong. However, if you allow your mind to wander onto something else, even for a few minutes, you’ll miss what the speaker is saying------ probably at the very moment when he or she is saying something critical. And not having heard, you won’t know you’ve missed anything until it’s too late.

The most common bad habit we have is to start thinking of what we are going to say about the subject long before the other speaker has finished. We then stop listening. Even worse, this often adds rudeness to inattentiveness, as once you have decided what to say there is a fair chance you will interrupt to say it. Good listeners don’t interrupt. In fact it is often worth explaining the main idea of what you have just been told before going on to make your own points. Nobody is offended by this and it shows that you have listened well.

Above all be patient and accept that many people are not very good communicators. It’s helpful to remember that the ways people move and position themselves while they are speaking can reveal a great deal about what they are saying. Equally important you should put yourself in the other person’s place, both intellectually and emotionally; it will help you to understand what they are getting at and form a response. But don’t be too clever. Faced with a know-all, many people keep quiet because they see no point in continuing.

56. Which is the best title for this passage?

A. Don’t be too clever                  B. Be a good listener.

C. Don’t miss anything critical            D. Think of the speaker

57. In the last paragraph, “…… what they are getting at ……” means________ .

A. what they imply                             B. what they like

C. what they attack                             D. what they achieve

58. What is the writer’s opinion?

A. If you want to be a good listener, you should be very clever and emotional.

B. Speakers won’t continue talking when their listeners explain what they’ve heard.

C. If you don’t want to get things wrong, it’s important to be a good listener,

D. It’s hard to be a good listener because listening tests you on your intelligence.

59. What is the lesson we can learn from this passage?

A. Don’t accuse others of not listening while talking with them.

B. Don’t get anything wrong if you miss what the speaker is saying.

C. Listening inattentively may cost you the loss of your success.

D. Think carefully of what you’re going to say before the speaker finishes.

Mark Twain has been called the inventor of the American novel. And he surely deserves additional praise: the man who popularized the clever literary attack on racism.
I say clever because anti-slavery fiction had been the important part of the literature in the years before the Civil War. H. B. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is only the most famous example. These early stories dealt directly with slavery. With minor exceptions, Twain planted his attacks on slavery and prejudice into tales that were on the surface about something else entirely. He drew his readers into the argument by drawing them into the story.
Again and again, in the postwar years, Twain seemed forced to deal with the challenge of race. Consider the most controversial, at least today, of Twain’s novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Only a few books have been kicked off the shelves as often as Huckleberry Finn, Twain’s most widely read tale. Once upon a time, people hated the book because it struck them as rude. Twain himself wrote that those who banned the book considered the novel “trash and suitable only for the slums (贫民窟).” More recently the book has been attacked because of the character Jim, the escaped slave, and many occurences of the word nigger. (The term Nigger Jim, for which the novel is often severely criticized, never appears in it.)
But the attacks were and are silly—and miss the point. The novel is strongly anti-slavery. Jim’s search through the slave states for the family from whom he has been forcibly parted is heroic. As J. Chadwick has pointed out, the character of Jim was a first in American fiction—a recognition that the slave had two personalities, “the voice of survival within a white slave culture and the voice of the individual: Jim, the father and the man.”
There is much more. Twain’s mystery novel Pudd’nhead Wilson stood as a challenge to the racial beliefs of even many of the liberals of his day. Written at a time when the accepted wisdom held Negroes to be inferior (低等的) to whites, especially in intelligence, Twain’s tale centered in part around two babies switched at birth. A slave gave birth to her master’s baby and, for fear that the child should be sold South, switched him for the master’s baby by his wife. The slave’s lightskinned child was taken to be white and grew up with both the attitudes and the education of the slave-holding class. The master’s wife’s baby was taken for black and grew up with the attitudes and intonations of the slave.
The point was difficult to miss: nurture (养育), not nature, was the key to social status. The features of the black man that provided the stuff of prejudice—manner of speech, for example— were, to Twain, indicative of nothing other than the conditioning that slavery forced on its victims.
Twain’s racial tone was not perfect. One is left uneasy, for example, by the lengthy passage in his autobiography (自传) about how much he loved what were called “nigger shows” in his youth—mostly with white men performing in black-face—and his delight in getting his mother to laugh at them. Yet there is no reason to think Twain saw the shows as representing reality. His frequent attacks on slavery and prejudice suggest his keen awareness that they did not.
Was Twain a racist? Asking the question in the 21st century is as wise as asking the same of Lincoln. If we read the words and attitudes of the past through the “wisdom” of the considered moral judgments of the present, we will find nothing but error. Lincoln, who believed the black man the inferior of the white, fought and won a war to free him. And Twain, raised in a slave state, briefly a soldier, and inventor of Jim, may have done more to anger the nation over racial injustice and awaken its collective conscience than any other novelist in the past century.
【小题1】 How do Twain’s novels on slavery differ from Stowe’s?