A good joke can be the hardest thing to understand when studying a foreign language. As a recent article in The Guardian newspaper noted, “There’s more to understanding a joke in a foreign language than understanding vocabulary and grammar.”
Being able to understand local jokes is often seen as an unbelievable ice-breaker for a language learner eager to form friendships with native speakers. “I always felt that humor was a ceiling that I could never break through,” Hannah Ashley, a public relations account manager in London, who once studied Spanish in Madrid, told The Guardian, “I could never speak to people on the same level as I would speak to a native English speaker. I almost came across as quite a boring person because all I could talk about was facts.”
In fact, most of the time, jokes are only funny for people who share a cultural background or understand humor in the same way. Chinese-American comedian Joe Wong found this out first-hand. He had achieved huge success in the US, but when he returned to China in 2008 for his first live show in Beijing, he discovered that people didn’t think his. Chinese jokes were as funny as his English ones.
In Australia, meanwhile many foreigners find understanding jokes about sports to be the biggest headache. “The hardest jokes are related to rugby because I know nothing about rugby,” said Melody Cao, who was once a student in Australia. “When I heard jokes I didn’t get, I just laughed along.”
In the other two major English-speaking countries, the sense of humor is also different. British comedian Simon Pegg believes that while British people use irony (反话)—basically, saying something they don’t mean to make a joke—every day, people in the US don’t see the point of using it so often. “British jokes tend to be more subtle and dark, while American jokes are more obvious with their meanings, a bit like Americans themselves,” he wrote in The Guardian.
【题文１】It is implied in the noted sentence in Paragraph 1 that ________.
A. making jokes is a possible way for one to learn better a foreign language
B. humor is always conveyed to foreigners through vocabulary and grammar
C. vocabulary and grammar help you understand jokes in a foreign language
D. there tends to be something behind the words of a joke in a foreign language
【题文２】What can we guess about Hannah Ashley?
A. She thinks that Spanish people generally do not have much of a sense of humor.
B. She believes that one had better rely on facts when speaking a foreign language.
C. She found that humor was a barrier to her getting along well with Spanish people.
D. She had a better command of the Spanish language than of the English language.
【小题３】Joe Wong is used as an example to ________.
A. suggest that there are cultural differences in humor
B. show that it’s hard to put jokes into another language
C. prove that local people have different taste in humor
D. show that expressing ability affects the sense of humor
【小题４】From the article we can learn that ________.
A. jokes about sports are difficult for foreigners to understand
B. Americans are generally more humorous than British people
C. not all English native speakers can understand English jokes easily
D. British people’s dark jokes often make people uncomfortable
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
A good joke can be the hardest thing to understand when studying a foreign language. As a recent article in The Guardian newspaper noted, “There’s more to understanding a joke in a foreign language than understanding vocabulary and grammar.”
Being able to understand local jokes is often seen as an unbelievable ice-breaker for a language learner eager to form friendships with native speakers. “I always felt that humor was a ceiling that I could never break through,” Hannah Ashley, a public relations account manager in London, who once studied Spanish in Madrid, told The Guardian, “I could never speak to people on the same level as I would speak to a native English speaker. I almost came across as quite a boring person because all I could talk about was facts.”
In fact, most of the time, jokes are only funny for people who share a cultural background or understand humor in the same way. Chinese-American comedian Joe Wong found this out first-hand. He had achieved huge success in the US, but when he returned to China in 2008 for his first live show in Beijing, he discovered that people didn’t think his. Chinese jokes were as funny as his English ones.
In Australia, meanwhile many foreigners find understanding jokes about sports to be the biggest headache. “The hardest jokes are related to rugby because I know nothing about rugby,” said Melody Cao, who was once a student in Australia. “When I heard jokes I didn’t get, I just laughed along.”
In the other two major English-speaking countries, the sense of humor is also different. British comedian Simon Pegg believes that while British people use irony (反话)—basically, saying something they don’t mean to make a joke—every day, people in the US don’t see the point of using it so often. “British jokes tend to be more subtle and dark, while American jokes are more obvious with their meanings, a bit like Americans themselves,” he wrote in The Guardian.
【题文１】It is implied in the noted sentence in Paragraph 1 that ________.
A. making jokes is a possible way for one to learn better a foreign language
B. humor is always conveyed to foreigners through vocabulary and grammar
C. vocabulary and grammar help you understand jokes in a foreign language
D. there tends to be something behind the words of a joke in a foreign language
【题文２】What can we guess about Hannah Ashley?
A. She thinks that Spanish people generally do not have much of a sense of humor.
B. She believes that one had better rely on facts when speaking a foreign language.
C. She found that humor was a barrier to her getting along well with Spanish people.
D. She had a better command of the Spanish language than of the English language.
【小题３】Joe Wong is used as an example to ________.
A. suggest that there are cultural differences in humor
B. show that it’s hard to put jokes into another language
C. prove that local people have different taste in humor
D. show that expressing ability affects the sense of humor
【小题４】From the article we can learn that ________.
A. jokes about sports are difficult for foreigners to understand
B. Americans are generally more humorous than British people
C. not all English native speakers can understand English jokes easily
D. British people’s dark jokes often make people uncomfortable
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Things to Remember When You’re Having a Bad Day
Even the hardest days contain lessons that will help you be a better person. Feeling down? Consider these things to remember when you’re having a bad day.
● No one promised life would be perfect.
1.Don’t base your happiness on meeting every expectations you set for yourself. It is good to be ambitious, but you’ll never be perfect. If you expect otherwise, your life will be filled with disappointments.
● 2.
Trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit. Don’t kid yourself into thinking success will come quickly. It isn’t easy to be patient, but anything worth doing requires time.3..
● Without hard times, you wouldn’t appreciate the good ones.
Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to give up, that is strength.4.. It is hard to find much to smile about when you fail, but how else would you improve yourself? If you look at failures as a part of your growing process, you’ll stay positive and follow your goals for as long as it takes.
● It’s OK to cry sometimes.
Do not apologize for crying. Without this feeling, we are only robots. Don’t be afraid of crying.5.Instead, it is an acceptable way to let go of your depressed feelings. If you let those feelings build up without release, you’ll have a much harder time dealing with them later.
A. Don’t get sad if you lose.
B. It isn’t a sign of weakness.
C. Success doesn’t happen overnight.
D. It’s not okay to foreign now and then.
E. Don’t compare your life with others.
F. Remember: Rome was not built in a day.
G. If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.
高三英语七选五中等难度题查看答案及解析
One of the easiest things in the world is to become a fault-finder. However, life can be _____ when you are not busy finding fault with it.
Several years ago I ___ a letter from seventeen-year-old Kerry, who described herself as a world-class fault-finder, almost always ___ by things. People were always doing things that annoyed her, and ___ was ever good enough. She was highly self-critical and also found fault with her friends. She became a really ___ person.
Unfortunately, it took a horrible accident to change her ___. Her best friend was seriously hurt in a car crash. What made it almost ___ to deal with was that the day before the ___, Kerry had visited her friend and had spent the whole time criticizing her ___ of boyfriends, the way she was living, the way she related to her mother, and various other things she felt she needed to ____. It wasn’t until her friend was badly hurt that Kerry became ____ her habit of finding fault. Very quickly, she learned to appreciate life rather than to ____ everything so harshly(刻薄). She was able to transfer her new wisdom to other parts of her ____ as well.
Perhaps most of us aren’t as extreme at fault-finding, ____ when we’re honest, we can be sharply ____ of the world. I’m not suggesting you ____ problems, or that you pretend things are ____ than they are, but simply that you learn to allow things to be as they are — ____ most of the time, and especially when it’s not a really big ____.
Train yourself to ＂bite your tongue＂, and with a little ____, you’ll get really good at letting things go. And when you do, you’ll get back your enthusiasm and love for life.
1.A. lonely B. great C. quiet D. uneasy
2.A. received B. answered C. expected D. rejected
3.A. threatened B. interrupted C. bothered D. spoiled
4.A. anything B. everything C. something D. nothing
5.A. caring B. boring C. interesting D. surprising
6.A. attitude B. plan C. measure D. explanation
7.A. urgent B. unnecessary C. certain D. impossible
8.A. occasion B. event C. accident D. adventure
9.A. memory B. notice C. evidence D. choice
10.A. hear B. contribute C. express D. admit
11.A. aware of B. afraid of C. curious about D. confused about
12.A. discuss B. realize C. judge D. settle
13.A. family B. life C. career D. education
14.A. so B. or C. but D. for
15.A. proud B. sure C. hopeful D. critical
16.A. face B. create C. solve D. ignore
17.A. rarer B. better C. stranger D. worse
18.A. at least B. at last C. by far D. so far
19.A. task B. deal C. result D. duty
20.A. practice B. speech C. rest D. pity
高三英语完形填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
I couldn't help _____ when I heard the joke.
| A．being laughed | B．laughing | C．to be laughing | D．to laugh |
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Competition in the workplace can be a good thing for a number of different reasons. On the other hand, competition can also have some disadvantages, though. Some industries tend to be more competitive in the workplace than others. For instance, those in the sales field will typically be more competitive with co-workers than individuals in other fields, such as information technology. Nevertheless, a little competition in even the least competitive industries can be positive.
Competition in the workplace can create an environment where employees push each other to exceed their normal limits, which can result in increased production, both at an individual level and among the entire workforce as a whole. As individual production numbers increase, so do those of the entire team of workers who seek to outdo one another. Competition can be rewarded with bonuses or various types of rewards.
Workplace competition can also inspire a commitment to self-improvement. While financial motivations and bonuses are always a plus to get the competition going, those who see the bigger picture may take the competition as an opportunity to better themselves in the process of winning the competition. Self-improvement may include actions like changing work habits to be more organized, using visualization and goal setting to achieve goals and simply performing higher quality work.
Not all competition in the workplace necessarily has to take place at the individual level. Competition can bring about a sense of teamwork in the workplace when workers are placed in groups and asked to compete with one another, which can have a number of positive results that come from workers cooperating with each other. For example, workers can learn the value of communication and helping someone else, both of which have an influence on other areas of work like customer service.
1.What does the underlined word “exceed” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Life B. Cancel
C. Break through D. Set up
2.Which industry is likely to involve more workplace competition?
A. The sales field B. Film Production
C. Customer service D. Information technology
3.How can competition contribute to employees’ self-improvement?
A. It changes their lifestyles greatly B. It assists them to achieve a higher goal
C. It improves their financial management D. It offers them chances to change for the better
4.What is the best title for the text?
A. Benefits of Workplace Competition
B. Reasons for Joining in Competitions
C. Approaches to Winning Competition
D. Strengths and Weaknesses of Competition
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
Summary Writing
When you hear the final whistle
One of the hardest things for any sportsperson to do is to know when to retire. But even harder is finding the answer to the question “What am I going to do with the rest of my life?”
Some sportspeople go on playing too long. Perhaps they just can’t stand life without the “high” of playing professional sport. Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time retired three times. He retired once from the Chicago Bulls, made a successful comeback with the Bulls, then retired again. His second comeback with an inferior team ended in failure and he retired forever at the age of 38. Jordan said, “There will never be anything I do that will fulfill me as much as competing did.”
Others can’t resist the chance of one last “pay day”. Muhammad Ali needed the money, but his comeback fight, at the age of 39, against Trevor Berbick, was one of the saddest spectacles in modern sport. After losing to Berbick, Ali retired permanently. Three years later he developed Parkinson’s disease.
For some people, the pain of retirement never leaves them. As Jimmy Greaves, an ex-England international footballer said, “I think that a lot of players would prefer to be shot once their career is over.” Many of them spend their retirement in a continual battle against depression, alcohol, or drugs.
But for the lucky few, retirement can mean a successful new career. Franz Beckenbauer is a classical example of a footballer who won everything with his club, Bayern Muaich. After retiring he became a successful coach with Bayern and finally president of the club. John McEnroe, the infamous “bad boy” of tennis, is now a highly respected and highly paid TV commentator. But sadly, for most sportspeople these cases are the exceptions.
高三英语概要写作困难题查看答案及解析
Two of the hardest things to accomplish in this world are to acquire wealth by honest effort and, having gained it, to learn how to use it properly. Recently I walked into the locker room of a rather well known golf club after finishing a round. It was in the late afternoon and most of the members had left for their homes. But a half - dozen or so men past middle age were still seated at tables talking aimlessly and drinking more than was good for them. These same men can be found there day after day, and, strangely enough, each one of these men had been a man of affairs and wealth, successful in business and respected in the community. If material prosperity were the chief necessity for happiness, then each one should have been happy. Yet, it seemed to me, something very important was missing, else-there would not have been the constant effort to escape the realities of life through scotch and soda. They knew, each one of them, that their productivity had ceased(停止). When a fruit tree ceases to bear its fruit, it is dying. And it is even so with man.
What is the answer to a long and happy existence in this world of ours? I think I found it long ago in a passage from the book of Genesis which caught my eye while I was looking through my Bible. The words were few, but they became memorably impressed on my mind. “In the sweat of the face shall you eat the bread."
To me, that has been a challenge from my earliest recollections (memories). In fact, the battle of life, of existence, is a challenge to everyone. The immortal words of St. Paul, too, have been and always will be a great inspiration to me. At the end of the road I want to be able to feel that I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.
1.Which of the following is indicated in the first paragraph?
A.Wealth results from honest effort.
B.The men seated at tables in the locker room are lost in the significance of life.
C.For some people, no way can be found to escape the realities of life other than scotch and soda.
D.The men acquire wealth by planting fruit trees.
2.The underlined sentence "In the sweat of the face shall you eat the bread " means ____.
A.Bread tastes delicious when sweat pours off your face
B.No pains, no gains
C.Failure is the mother of success
D.Bread comes from the sweat on your face
3.We learn from the passage that the author_______.
A.was a wealthy person in the community
B.held a positive attitude towards an active life
C.was fond of associating with celebrities (名人)
D.kept a secret of the reason why he was so impressed
4.What is implied in the passage by the writer?
A.To use wealth properly, eat, drink and be merry.
B.Where there is a will, there is a way.
C.As life is but like a dream, a man is like a fruit tree.
D.If you cease to struggle, you cease to live.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Two of the hardest things to accomplish in this world are to acquire wealth by honest effort and, having gained it, to learn how to use it properly. Recently I walked into the locker room of a rather well known golf club after finishing a round. It was in the late afternoon and most of the members had left for their homes. But a half - dozen or so men past middle age were still seated at tables talking aimlessly and drinking more than was good for them. These same men can be found there day after day, and, strangely enough, each one of these men had been a man of affairs and wealth, successful in business and respected in the community If material prosperity were the chief necessity for happiness, then each one should have been happy. Yet, it seemed to me, something very important was missing, else-there would not have been the constant effort to escape the realities of 'life through scotch and soda. They knew, each one of them, that their productivity had ceased(停止). When a fruit tree ceases to bear its fruit, it is dying. And it is even so with man.
What is the answer to a long and happy existence in this world of ours? I think I found it long ago in a passage from the book of Genesis which caught my eye while I was looking through my Bible. The words were few, but they became memorably impressed on my mind. " In the sweat. of the face shall you eat the bread. "
To me, that has been a challenge from my earliest recollections ( memories). In fact, the battle of life, of existence, is a challenge to everyone. The immortal words of St. Paul, too, have been and always will be a great inspiration to me. At the end of the road I want to be able to feel that I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.
1.Which of the following is indicated in the first paragraph?
A. Wealth results from honest effort.
B. The men seated at tables in the locker room are lost in the significance of life.
C. For some people, no way can be found to escape the realities of life other than scotch and soda.
D. The men acquire wealth by planting fruit trees.
2.The underlined sentence "In the sweat of the face shall you eat the bread " means "_
A. Bread tastes delicious when sweat pours off your face
B. No pains, no gains
C. Failure is the mother of success
D. Bread comes from the sweat on your face
3.We learn from the passage that the author_______ .
A. was a wealthy person in the community
B. held a positive attitude towards an active life
C. was fond of associating with celebrities (名人)
D. kept a secret of the reason why he was so impressed
4.What is implied in the passage by the writer?
A. To use wealth properly, eat, drink and be merry.
B. Where there is a will, there is a way.
C. As life is but like a dream, a man is like a fruit tree.
D. If you cease to struggle, you cease to live.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
Two of the hardest things to accomplish in this world are to acquire wealth by honest effort and, having gained it, to learn how to use it properly. Recently I walked into the locker room of a rather well-known golf club after finishing a round. It was in the late afternoon and most of the members had left for their homes. But a half-dozen or so men past middle age were still seated at tables talking aimlessly and drinking more than was good for them. These same men can be found there day after day, and, strangely enough, each one of these men had been a man of affairs and wealth, successful in business and respected in the community if material prosperity were the chief necessity for happiness, then each one should have been happy. Yet, it seemed to me, something very important was missing, or else there would not have been the constant effort to escape the realities of life through Scotch and soda. They knew, each one of them, that their productivity had ceased(停止)．When a fruit tree ceases to bear its fruit, it is dying. And it is even so with man.
What is the answer to a long and happy existence in this world of ours? I think I found it long ago in a passage from the book of Genesis which caught my eye while I was looking through my Bible. The words were few, but they became memorably impressed on my mind:“In the sweat of the face shall you eat the bread．”
To me, that has been a challenge from my earliest recollections (memories). In fact, the battle of life, of existence, is a challenge to everyone. The immortal words of St. Paul, too, have been and always will be a great inspiration to me. At the end of the road I want to be able to feel that I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.
1.Which of the following is indicated in the first paragraph?
A. Wealth results from honest effort.
B．The men seated at tables in the locker room are lost in the significance of life.
C．For some people, no way can be found to escape the realities of life other than Scotch and soda.
D．The men acquire wealth by planting fruit trees.
2. The underlined sentence “In the sweat of the face shall you eat the bread” means “________”.
A. Bread tastes delicious when sweat pours off your face
B．No pains, no gains
C．Failure is the mother of success
D．Bread comes from the sweat on your face
3.We learn from the passage that the author ________.
A．was a wealthy person in the community
B．held a positive attitude towards an active life
C．was fond of associating with celebrities (名人)
D．kept a secret of the reason why he was so impressed
4.What is implied in the passage by the writer?
A．To use wealth properly, eat, drink and be merry.
B．Where there is a will, there is a way.
C．As life is but like a dream, a man is like a fruit tree.
D．If you cease to struggle, you cease to live.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
It is easy to be grateful for the good things, ______ a life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks.
A. that B. which C. while D. when
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析