You are a new manager at the American branch of your German firm in Chicago.With a few minutes to spare between meetings,you go to get a quick cup of coffee.

“Hey,David,how are you?”one of the senior partners at the firm asks you.

“Good,thank you,Dr.Greer,”you reply.You’ve really been wanting to make a connection with the senior leadership at the firm,and this seems like a great opportunity.But as you start to think of something to say,your American colleague breaks in to steal your spotlight.

“So Arnold”,your colleague says to your boss,in such a casual manner that it makes your German soul cringe(畏縮),“So what’s your Super bowl prediction? I mean,you’re a Niners fan,right?”

The conversation moves on,and you walk silently back to your desk with your coffee.You know how important small talk is in the U.S.,and you feel jealous of people you’re your colleague who can do it well.

There’s nothing small about the role that small talk plays in American professional culture.People from other countries are often surprised at how important small talk is in the U.S.a(chǎn)nd how naturally and comfortably people seem to do it—with peers,men,women,and even with superiors.You can be the most technically skilled worker in the world,but your ability to progress in your job in the United States is highly dependent on your ability to build and maintain positive relationships with people at work.And guess what skill is critical for building and maintaining these relationships? Small talk.

What can you do if you are from another culture and want to learn to use small talk in the U.S.to build relationships and establish trust? Work hard to hone(磨練)your own version of American-style small talk.Watch how others do it.You don’t have to mimic what they do;in fact,that would likely backfire because people would see you as inauthentic.But if you can develop your own personal version,that can go a long way toward making you feel comfortable and competence.

1.The author introduces the topic of the passage by______.

A. raising an interesting question

B.describing an interesting scene

C.making comparisons

D.telling a small jokes

2.What do we know about German people?

A.They usually make small talk in work breaks.

B.They hate making small talk.

C.They don’t make so much small talk.

D.They are good at making small talk too.

3.What makes people from other countries surprised in American professional culture?

A.American workers’ ability to make progress.

B.American workers’ attitude towards superiors.

C.The special meaning of small talk.

D.The role small talk plays in work settings.

4.What does“backfire”underlined in the last paragraph mean?

A.be difficult B.be helpful

C.have a good result D.have the opposite effect

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Unique New Year's Traditions from Around the World

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G.The tradition says that this destroys all the bad things that took place in the past months.

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Umbrella is what we easily forget and leave behind in our daily life. When the weather is fine, we certainly don’t think of it; only when it's raining, we’ll carry it purposefully. But as soon as the rain stops, most likely we’ll forget 1. we’ve put it. It has to wait patiently and pitifully for2. owner to claim it, otherwise it’ll remain alone as a deserted umbrella.

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增加:在缺詞處加一個(gè)漏字符號(hào)(∧),并在其下面寫出該加的詞。

刪除:把多余的詞用斜線(\)劃掉。

修改:在錯(cuò)的詞下劃一橫線,并在該詞下面寫出修改后的詞。

注意:1. 每處錯(cuò)誤及其修改均僅限一詞;

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Being responsible is actually not that difficult. I used to think it is hard to grow up into a responsible member of our society. An incident happening in a rainy Sunday afternoon changed my attitude. I was on my way to the bookstore and was waiting for the green light while a girl was knocked down by passing car, which drove off quickly. A man immediately gave her first aid and I had joined in without hesitation. Soon many help was given to the girl. Because we sent her to the nearest hospitals in time, she was able to receive properly treatment. Not badly injured, I expressed gratitude to those giving help. Compared with the escaping driver, I was proud of what I did.

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The world is changing so fast that English, perhaps the most worldly of languages, is struggling to keep up.

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The reasons why people learn English are also changing. Globalization is bringing together more people than ever who speak different languages and who are turning to English as the means of communication. The English learners of the future may be less worried about sounding exactly like a native speaker and more concerned about how to use English effectively in cross-cultural communication. We may be hearing more non-native speakers in dialogues and a wider range of the “New Englishes” now used around the world.

Technology will allow English to come to you, rather than you having to go to a special place to learn English.

Learning English has always involved both pain and pleasure, private effort and social activity. Traditional learning provided take-it or leave-it mixes of these as well as of content but in future learners will be able to choose a plan which suits their cultural and psychological dispositions(性情), or their particular needs at that moment. They, rather than their teachers, will decide how, what and when they will learn.

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D. have less lasting determination in learning

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B. American English will be more popular.

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D. Many different kinds of Englishes will appear.

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A. Future English lessons will be more interesting.

B. Old people won’t have to learn English in the future.

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4. What can be inferred from the passage?

A. Learning English means no pain in the future.

B. English training schools will not be popular with young people in the future.

C. English learners will become less independent in the future.

D. More attention will be paid to personal needs in English learning in the future.

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If you have a teenager who is going to college, you may have concerns about their ability to do so in the particular career field they have chosen. 1. Here are four steps to help you assist your child in making a successful career plan.

Identify Areas of Interest

If your teen has not yet selected a college major, ask about the kinds of careers he or she has thought about. If your teen has already selected a major, ask what he or she might like to do with a degree in that field. 2. .

3. .

Once your teen is thinking about a particular degree, encourage him or her to discover what usefulness that degree will have. At this stage you’ll want to be promoting the exploration of various majors and careers so that your teen has a good idea of what opportunities might be available to him or her.

Include a Financial Part

As your teen begins to identify a few potential majors and corresponding (相應(yīng)的) careers, inquire (詢問(wèn)) about how much money he or she will be able to make in that career field. 4. .

Develop a Plan

5. This will necessarily involve selecting a college or university that offers the desired degree program and determining the requirements for attending that educational institution.

A. Encourage Discovery

B. Stimulate (激勵(lì)) the Thought Process

C. What can you do to get your teen on the right track?

D. Learn about the jobs he or she has thought about.

E. You should help your teen in choosing the best option and making a plan.

F. You may also want to help your teen get an idea of how much salary is needed.

G. This step is designed to get them thinking about their future.

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What a nice bike! Where ____ you ____ it?

A. do ; buy B. have ; bought

C. will ; buy D. did ; buy

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科目:高中英語(yǔ) 來(lái)源:2013-2014學(xué)年北京市西城區(qū)高三二模英語(yǔ)試卷(解析版) 題型:閱讀理解

Google has kicked off Google Science Fair (GSF) 2014, its annual online competition for

bright, creative and ambitious teenagers who want to change the world with science. While the project is led by Google, it also has the backing of the Lego Group and world-famous publications National Geographic and Scientific American. The competition is open for students aged 13 to 18, who can sign-up now, form a team and begin working on a submission.

The winner will be rewarded with a ten-day exploration to the Galapagos Islands aboard the National Geographic Endeavor, as well as a VIP tour of ‘Spaceport America’ in New Mexico. Google is also throwing in a $50,000 scholarship and $10,000 for the winner’s school to purchase cutting-edge science lab equipment.

Google suggests that each project should be “an in-depth investigation of a science question or engineering problem” but otherwise, it’s up to students to pick and develop an idea that follows the competition rules.

Completed projects need to be submitted by May 12, 2014 at 11:59 PDT. Google will announce the regional competitors in June, ahead of global finalists in August and the competition winners in September.

Interested? Here are the rules.

If you want to enter the competition as an individual (個(gè)人), you should register first. Complete requested information about yourself and your project in the registration section before creating your project. You may edit this later. Click the box stating that you have read, accept, and agree to be bound by these Official Rules and Terms.

Upon completion of registration you may begin working on your project. The project must follow the technical, creative, and legal entry requirements set out in these Official Rules and the Googlesciencefair.com Site. You will be required to complete all sections of the Project Site.

You may begin working on your project after completing the registration process, however, you may not submit it for judging until you have requested and received parental consent (允許). Once you have done this, your parent or guardian will receive an email from Google with instructions on how they can give their consent for you to participate. The project will not be judged unless this consent is received.

1.From the first paragraph, we can learn that ________.

A. GSF is a science competition

B. teenagers should form a team

C. every teenager can take part in it

D. GSF is organized by Google alone

2.What is mainly discussed in the last paragraph?

A. Parental consent.

B. Submission time.

C. Registration process.

D. Project requirements.

3.If you plan to enter GSF alone, you ________.

A. should create your project first

B. you needn’t follow the official rules

C. you should provide some personal information

D. your should start your project before registration

4.The main purpose of the passage is to ________.

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B. provide information about GSF

C. persuade teenagers to enter GSF

D. show teenagers the importance of GSF

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