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Volunteers Are Needed
| Clean People's Park! We need five volunteers who are strong and can help clean up People's Park. We need help to collect rubbish. If you are free for four hours this weekend, come and join us! Tele: 0398-8651518 Email: park699@126.com | Teach music! We need three volunteers to work as music teachers in SOS Children's Villages. You need to be good at singing and dancing, and open-minded with a loving heart. If you are free for two hours every Sunday, join us! Tele: 0398-8858518 Email: lovekids@sina.com |
| Help old people! We need four volunteers to help at Xinxin Nursing Home. You need to be good with older people. Your job is to wash clothes for them. If you can spare three hours on May 6, come and join us! Tele: 0398-8656869 Email: homelove@163.com | Do some gardening! We need two volunteers to work in Xinghai Garden. You need to be good at gardening. We need help from 2 PM to 4 PM every Saturday. If you are free for two hours every Saturday, join us! Tele: 0398-8858416 Email: garden535@sohu.com |
1.How many volunteers are needed in SOS Children's Villages?
A.Two. B.Three. C.Four. D.Five.
2.The volunteers at Xinxin Nursing Home need to ________.
A.learn music B.grow flowers C.collect rubbish D.wash clothes
3.If you want to do some gardening, you can call ________.
A.0398-8656869 B.0398-8858518 C.0398-8858416 D.0398-8651518
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When I was about 15, I had a chance to perform in a play. How excited I was! So were my parents.
A few days before the show, some of my friends decided to have a picnic at a nearby lake. It was still rather cold. Mother wanted me to stay home so that I might not catch a cold, but I really wanted to go there. After making me promise not to go swimming, she nodded.
But when the others went into the water I couldn’t stand being left behind. I put on my swimsuit, too, and went out in a boat. When at last I went back to shore (岸), some of the boys began to shake my boat for fun. Just as I was about to reach the shore, it went over. Trying to stay out of the water, I jumped to the shore. I made it-but I landed on a broken bottle. My heel was cut right to the bone.
I didn’t perform in the play, but had to lie in hospital. “But I kept my promise not to go swimming,” I said to Dad. “Mary, you got only half of what your mother said. What she really made you promise was to try not to catch a cold. Going swimming was only part of it. You let yourself hear only part of the truth.”
I made a final excuse, “All my friends thought it would be all right if I stayed in the boat.”
“And they were all wrong, weren’t they?” he said. “You’ll find the world is full of people who think they know better than you. Don’t shut your ears to them. Hear them out, but listen only for the truth and do what you know is the right thing to do.”
It was a painful lesson. But Dad’s advice has returned to me at many important moments in my life. Since that day I’ve never had a better piece of advice.
1.What can we know from the second paragraph?
A.Mary couldn’t swim. B.Mary organized the trip.
C.Mary’s mother thought the lake was dangerous. D.Mary’s mother agreed with her request.
2.What did Mary learn from this experience?
A.One should listen for the right thing. B.One should listen to others’ advice.
C.Think twice before speaking. D.Truth belongs to a small number of people.
3.What’s the best title for this passage?
A.A big promise B.The chance I missed C.An awful picnic D.The best advice I’ve gotten
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Old habits, especially bad ones, can be hard to break.
People often make fun of New Year's resolutions (决心). However, resolutions present a big opportunity for self-improvement. Fortunately, social science has some ideas about how to start a good habit and stick to it.
Gary Charness and Uri Gneezy, two scientists at the University of Chicago, did some research, where 120 students were asked to take part in an experiment about exercise habits, and each of them would get $175 in the end. The students were randomly assigned (随机分配) to three groups. The first group got the money for just giving researchers permission (允许) to record their gym attendance (出勤). The second group gave permission, but had to go to the gym at least once the next month. The final group gave permission and had to go to the gym eight times that month.
Unsurprisingly, the group that had to make eight gym visits to get paid exercised more than the other two groups. After the payments stopped, these students kept going to the gym at higher rates (频率). They went to the gym about twice as often as the other two groups.
In another study, researchers invited 151 students to work out in the gym, and randomly assigned 75 to a "temptation-bundling" group. As they exercised, they listened to the start of an attractive audio-novel (有声小说).At the end of their workout, students were told that if they wanted to hear what happened next in their book, they would have to come back to the gym .They could only listen to the audio-book while exercising. The other 76 students also completed the first workout but without any kind of temptation bundle.
It turned out that the students in the temptation-bundling group visited the gym 27% more often than the control group over the next seven weeks. Sadly, the temptation-bundling trick fell apart over the Thanksgiving holiday when the gym was closed.
The studies show that trying something new quite often for as little as a month can kick-start a lasting change in behavior. Moreover, "temptation-bundling" may also be a useful method for changing behavior, particularly when used together with other methods. Even if you cannot promise yourself to stick with something for long, there is a huge benefit in putting in a lot of energy for a few weeks. It may pay off for longer than you think. So, why not challenge yourself with next New Year's resolution?
1.What can we learn from the two studies?
A.The students got different payments according to their gym attendance.
B.The temptation-bundling group loved audio-novels more than the other group.
C.The students who exercised more often at first were more likely to keep working out.
D.27% of students in the temptation-bundling group exercised more often than before.
2.The third paragraph is mainly about ________.
A.what was found in the research
B.how the research was performed
C.why the scientists did the research
D.who took part in the research
3.The underlined word "temptation-bundling" in Paragraph 5 probably means ________.
A.forming new habits by trying something you didn't like before
B.pushing yourself by doing two tasks at the same time
C.improving your workout skills by listening to audio-books
D.connecting something you like with something you have to do
4.What is the writer's main purpose in writing this passage?
A.To encourage people to go to the gym more often.
B.To present a new way to do scientific research.
C.To offer advice on how to develop a good habit.
D.To stress the importance of New Year's resolutions.
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What exactly is persuasion? Persuasion is a process that enables you to change others' attitudes, opinions, or behaviors. When you are watching TV, there are so many advertisements to persuade you to buy their products. When your naughty son does not like to write his homework, you will punish him, which is also a persuasion.
Persuasion is a very important skill nowadays. It is fulfilling everywhere, every time. In many ways, persuasion combines art and science. It's an art in that it requires the ability to establish trust and strong communication skills. It's a science in that it centers on the disciplined collection and analysis of information and solidly researched principles (原则) of human behavior. Persuasion is everywhere, but the effect is very different.
When we persuade, first we should be believable. If someone is an expert in a certain field, his or her speech will be convincing when he or she expresses opinions about this field. It is interesting that if someone's aim is not to affect your opinions, and he or she has no benefit from your decision, this person seems to be more trustful. What's more, we need to be attractive. If we like someone, we will be affected by him or her on some unimportant topics. Even if this person tells us he or she wants to affect, maybe we will also be affected.
The methods of persuasion are necessary too. First you should think wise for choosing your topic. A good topic is a big impact to catch your audience. Then when you have done selecting topics, now it's time to brainstorm how you will have a deep conversation with your audience to give them more ideas about your topics. And think about who your listener is and what they want to know. How will you catch their attention to become more interested in your subject? Next, understanding your audience can help you deliver the right information that is valuable to them. To get your audience, try to add some personal experience in your topics. The way you talk to them expresses your feelings and knowledge, and it really works.
Everyone is trying to persuade someone and being persuaded. So next time you listen to a speech, watch an advertisement, think of persuasion.
1.In Paragraph 2, the writer thinks persuasion is an art because ________.
A.they both need skills to achieve B.they both have the same topic
C.they both make the audience laugh D.they both deliver the right information
2.Paragraph 3 is mainly about ________.
A.the meaning of persuasion B.the characteristics of persuaders
C.the importance of persuasion D.the methods of persuaders
3.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A.Are Advertisements Worth Trusting? B.Persuasion -The Effects are Different
C.Are Good Topics Important for Persuasion? D.Persuasion -An Important Social Skill
