After hearing the poor little girl’s sad story, I tried to ______ my sympathy by holding her hand firmly.

A. improve　　　　　 B. convey　　　　　　　　　　　　　 C. confirm　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D. resist

“Long time no see” is a very interesting sentence. When I first read this sentence from an American friend’s email, I laughed. I thought it was a typical _36__ of Chinglish.

Obviously it is a word-by-word literal（字面上的）translation of the Chinese greetings with a 37  English grammar and structure! Later on, my friend told me that it is a standard American 38  .I was too delighted to believe her. Her words could not  39  me at all. So I did a  40 on Google. Com.. To my surprise, there are over 60 thousand web pages  41  “Long time no see”. This sentence has been 42 used in emails, letters, newspapers, moves, or any other possible place. Though it is 43   informal, it is part of the language that Americans use daily. 44  , if you type this phrase in Microsoft Word, the 45  will tell you that the grammar needs to be corrected.

Nobody knows the  46  of this Chinglish sentence. Some people believe that it came from Charlie Chan’s movies. In 1930s, Hollywood moviemakers successfully 47 a world wide famous Chinese detective named “Charlie Chan” on wide screens. Detective Chan liked to teach Americans some Chinese wisdom 48 quoting (引用) Confucius. “Long time no see” was his trademark. Soon “Long time on see” became a   49   phrase in America 50   the popularity of these movies.

    Some people 51  America to a huge melting pot (熔炉). All kinds of culture are 52 in the pot together, and they 53   the color and taste of each other. American Chinese, though a minority ethnic group in the United States, is also 54 some changes to be 55 in the mixed pot.

1.A.example        B. sign            C. word         D. change

2.A.damaged       B. perfected        C. learned      D. ruined

3.A.custom         B. greeting         C. habit       D. proverb

4.A.persuade        B. encourage       C. convince    D. believe

5.A.job              B. research        C. survey      D. search

6.A.containing        B. printing        C. publishing    D. expressing

7.A.widely            B. hardly         C. seldom       D. search

8.A.lots of             B. plenty of      C. lots of        D. sort of

9.A.Unfortunately     B. Luckily         C. However      D. Suddenly

10.A.hardware         B. software         C. operator     D. speaker

11.A.use              B. origin           C. expression     D. meaning

12.A.created          B. published        C. did          D. discovered

13.A.by                B. in              C. with         D. of

14.A.ordinary           B. rare           C. modern       D. popular

15.A.because           B. as to           C. thanks to     D. but for

16.A.compare          B. add             C. join          D. owe

17.A.joined            B. mixed            C. compiled     D. done

18.A.improve           B. change           C. lower       D. promote

19.A.owing             B. putting           C. taking      D. contributing

20.A.influenced         B. mentioned        C. used        D. considered

 

The other day I heard a few local musicians talking:

       “I hate all the terrible pianos in this town. I hate that rubbish they play on the radio. They can’t even understand a bit of music.”

       “I’m never playing in that club again. Too many drunks and nobody listens to us.”

       But, one younger musician said, “There are a few clubs that book my band a few nights a month, and I’m trying to find other places to play. I’m also looking to book a few summer festivals this year.”

       I’ve heard that you are the average of the five people whom you spend the most time with, or to put it another way, you are who your friends are.

       Attitudes are important. Whether they’re positive or negative, they’re rubbing off on you. If you’re around people who complain about lack of work and about other musicians, or blame (责怪) others, and you play the role of victim (受害者), chances are you will start to as well. So it’s time to take a look at the people you call “friends”.

       This is an easy exercise: Make a list of the people who you hang out with, and simply stop spending time with the negative people on your list. Set a new standard (标准) for yourself and don’t become friends with people who fall below that standard.

       Keep successful people around you and your own chances for success will be much better. Ask them how they do it. Ask if they will help you get the work you’re looking for, or maybe give you some advice to help you on your career path.

Which of the following would be the best title for this passage?

A. A friend in need is a friend indeed

B. How to make friendship last for ever

C. You are who your friends are

D. Friends are the most important in one’s success

The underlined sentence “they’re rubbing off on you” in Paragraph 6 means ______.

A. they’ll push you ahead

B. they’ll influence you

C. they’ll cover your shortcomings

D. they’ll help you achieve your goal

The musicians’ words at the beginning are written mainly to show ______.

A. the musicians’ living conditions are quite poor

B. people have poor taste in music

C. people have different attitudes towards the same thing

D. young people have greater chances of succeeding

By taking the exercise mentioned in Paragraph 7, you can ______.

A. improve a lot in making more friends

B. come to the right way of making friends

C. develop a better relationship with your friends

D. arrange the time with your friends properly

The passage is mainly written for ______.

A. musicians                    

B. managers  

C. negative people 

D. people wanting to succeed

In business, there is a speed difference: It's the difference between how important a firms leaders say speed is to their competitive (竞争的) strategy（策略）and how fast the company actually moves. The difference is important regardless of industry and company size .Companies fearful of losing their competitive advantage spend much time and money looking for ways to pick up the speed.

In our study of 343 businesses, the companies that choose to go, go, go to try to gain an edge ended up with lower sales and operating incomes than those that paused at key moments to make sure they were on the right track, What’s more, the firms that “slowed down to speed up “improved their top and bottom lines, averaging 40% higher sales and 52% higher operating incomes over a three-year period.

How did they disobey the laws of business physics, taking more time than competitors yet performing better? They thought differently about what “slower” and “faster” mean. Firms sometimes fail to understand the difference between operation speed (moving quickly )and strategic speed (reducing the time it takes to deliver value ).Simply increasing the speed of production, for example ,may be one way to try to reduce the speed difference .But that often leads to reduced value over time, in the form of lower-quality products and services.

In our study, higher-performing companies with strategic speed always made changes when necessary. They became more open to ideas and discussion. They encouraged new ways of thinking. And they allowed time to look back and learn. By contrast (相比而言), performance suffered at firms that moved fast all the time, paid too much attention to improving efficiency, stuck to tested methods, didn’t develop team spirit among their employees, and had little time thinking about changes.

Strategic speed serves as a kind of leadership. Teams that regularly take time to get things right , rather than plough ahead full bore , are more successful in meeting their business goals . That kind of strategy must come from the top.

1. What does the underlined part “gain an edge ”in Paragraph 2 mean ? 

A. Increase the speed.

B. Get an advantage.

C. Reach the limit.

D. Set a goal.

2.. The underlined part “the laws of business physics” in Paragraph 3 means ___________.  

A. spending more time and performing worse.

B. spending more time and performing better

C. spending less time and performing worse

D. spending less time and performing better

3.What can we learn from the text?  

A. how fast a firm moves depends on how big it is.

B. how competitive a firm is depends on what it produces.

C. Firms guided by strategic speed take time to make necessary changes.

D. Firms guided by operational speed take time to develop necessary team spirit.

4.. Which could be the best title for the text?  

A. Improve quality? Serve better.

B. Deliver value? Plough ahead.

C. Reduce time? Move faster.

D. Need speed? Slow down.