A woman from Japan was telling a friend about her trip to the United States.The woman had visited major businesses and investment companies in New York City and Chicago.
“I studied English before I left home,”she said.“But I still was not sure that people were speaking English.”
Her problem is easy to understand.Americans in business are like people who are in business anywhere.They have a language of their own.Some of the words and expressions deal with the special areas of their work.Other expressions are borrowed from different kinds of work such as the theater and movie industry.
One such saying is “get your act together”.
When things go wrong in a business,an employer may get angry.He may shout,“Stop making mistakes.Get your act together.”
Or,if the employer is calmer,he may say,“Let us get our act together.”
Either way,the meaning is the same.Getting your act together is getting organized.In business,it usually means to develop a calm and orderly plan of action.
It is difficult to tell exactly where the saying began.But,it is probable that it was in the theater or movie industry.Perhaps one of the actors was nervous and made a lot of mistakes.The director may have said,“Calm down,now.Get your act together.”
Word expert James Rogers says the expression was common by the late 1970s.Mister Rogers says the Manchester Guardian newspaper used it in 1978.The newspaper said a reform policy required that the British government get its act together.
Now,this expression is heard often when officials of a company meet.One company even called its yearly report,“Getting Our Act Together.”
The Japanese visitor was confused by another expression used by American business people.It is cut to the chase.
She heard that expression when she attended an important meeting of one company.One official was giving a very long report.It was not very interesting.In fact,some people at the meeting were falling asleep.
Finally,the president of the company said,“Cut to the chase.”
Cut to the chase means to stop spending so much time on details or unimportant material.Hurry and get to the good part.
Naturally,this saying was started by people who make movies.Hollywood movie producers believe that most Americans want to see action movies.Many of their movies show scenes in which the actors chase each other in cars,or in airplanes or on foot.
Cut is the director’s word for stop.The director means to stop filming,leave out some material,and get to the chase scene now.
So,if your employer tells you to cut to the chase,be sure to get to the main point of your story quickly.
1.After the woman visited the United States she might feel that ________.
A.her English was poor
B.it’s easy to master English
C.it’s difficult to make money
D.people there weren’t very friendly
2.In which situation could the words “get your act together” be used?
A.A task is completed successfully.
B.Players perform badly in a match.
C.Audience is satisfied with the actor’s performance in a movie.
D.Visitors make a tiresome and unpleasant trip to someplace.
3.According to the text,the expression “get one’s act together” ________.
A.was first used by a Japanese businesswoman
B.was forbidden to be used in the government policy
C.originally came from a yearly report of a company
D.was commonly read by readers in a newspaper in 1978
4.What do the sayings “get your act together” and “cut to the chase” have in common?
A.Their use. B.Their meaning.
C.Their origin. D.Their popularity.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
A woman from Japan was telling a friend about her trip to the United States.The woman had visited major businesses and investment companies in New York City and Chicago.
“I studied English before I left home,”she said.“But I still was not sure that people were speaking English.”
Her problem is easy to understand.Americans in business are like people who are in business anywhere.They have a language of their own.Some of the words and expressions deal with the special areas of their work.Other expressions are borrowed from different kinds of work such as the theater and movie industry.
One such saying is “get your act together”.
When things go wrong in a business,an employer may get angry.He may shout,“Stop making mistakes.Get your act together.”
Or,if the employer is calmer,he may say,“Let us get our act together.”
Either way,the meaning is the same.Getting your act together is getting organized.In business,it usually means to develop a calm and orderly plan of action.
It is difficult to tell exactly where the saying began.But,it is probable that it was in the theater or movie industry.Perhaps one of the actors was nervous and made a lot of mistakes.The director may have said,“Calm down,now.Get your act together.”
Word expert James Rogers says the expression was common by the late 1970s.Mister Rogers says the Manchester Guardian newspaper used it in 1978.The newspaper said a reform policy required that the British government get its act together.
Now,this expression is heard often when officials of a company meet.One company even called its yearly report,“Getting Our Act Together.”
The Japanese visitor was confused by another expression used by American business people.It is cut to the chase.
She heard that expression when she attended an important meeting of one company.One official was giving a very long report.It was not very interesting.In fact,some people at the meeting were falling asleep.
Finally,the president of the company said,“Cut to the chase.”
Cut to the chase means to stop spending so much time on details or unimportant material.Hurry and get to the good part.
Naturally,this saying was started by people who make movies.Hollywood movie producers believe that most Americans want to see action movies.Many of their movies show scenes in which the actors chase each other in cars,or in airplanes or on foot.
Cut is the director’s word for stop.The director means to stop filming,leave out some material,and get to the chase scene now.
So,if your employer tells you to cut to the chase,be sure to get to the main point of your story quickly.
1.After the woman visited the United States she might feel that ________.
A.her English was poor
B.it’s easy to master English
C.it’s difficult to make money
D.people there weren’t very friendly
2.In which situation could the words “get your act together” be used?
A.A task is completed successfully.
B.Players perform badly in a match.
C.Audience is satisfied with the actor’s performance in a movie.
D.Visitors make a tiresome and unpleasant trip to someplace.
3.According to the text,the expression “get one’s act together” ________.
A.was first used by a Japanese businesswoman
B.was forbidden to be used in the government policy
C.originally came from a yearly report of a company
D.was commonly read by readers in a newspaper in 1978
4.What do the sayings “get your act together” and “cut to the chase” have in common?
A.Their use. B.Their meaning.
C.Their origin. D.Their popularity.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
(题文)Where did the woman hear about the coffee shop?
A. From a friend. B. From her sister. C. From the Internet.
高三英语短对话简单题查看答案及解析
听下面一段较长对话,回答以下小题。
1.Why does the man call the woman?
A. To tell her about her new job. B. To ask about her job program.
C. To plan a meeting with her.
2.Who needs a new flat?
A. Alex. B. Andrea. C. Miranda.
3.Where is the woman now?
A. In Baltimore. B. In New York. C. In Avon.
高三英语长对话中等难度题查看答案及解析
Once there was a woman who was greatly disturbed by her husband. He seemed to care little about her.
So the woman took her trouble to the local magician. She told him her story, full of pity for herself. " Can you give me some magic powers to make him love me again? ” she asked anxiously.
The magician thought for a moment and replied,“ I will help you, but first you must bring to me three hairs from a living lion. These! Must have before I can give you my magic powers.”
There was indeed a lion that often came near to the village. It was frightening. The woman thought again and again and at last she had an idea.
The next morning she took a young sheep and waited anxiously. When she saw the lion approaching, she left the sheep in the path of the lion quickly and went back home. So it happened that, every day early in the morning, the woman would rise and take a young sheep to the lion. Gradually the lion came to know the woman. Seeing the lion's trust in her, the woman carefully pulled three hairs from it and set out for the magicians house “Look, "she said happily as she entered, " here they are! "And she gave him the three hairs.
“How did you make it ?"asked the magician in surprise.
The woman told him the whole story. A smile spread over the magicians face. "You may treat your husband the same way you've treated the lion, "he said
1.What was the woman’s problem according to Paragraph 1?
A. Her husband took no notice of her.
B. The woman was afraid of her husband.
C. Her husband always got her into trouble.
D. The woman and her husband had a hard life.
2.Whom did the woman ask for help?
A. a sheep. B. a lion.
C. A magician D. Her husband.
3.Before she got the magic power, the woman had to .
A. make magic powers with the magician B. get three hairs from a living lion
C. rive the lion away from the village D. leave a sheep in the path of the lion
4.Why did the woman take a sheep to the lions?
A. To confuse the lion. B. To catch the lion.
C. To get the lions trust. D. To show her pity for the lion
5.What is the best title from the passage?
A. An Honest Magician B. Husband and Wife
C. An angry Lion D. Good Advice
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Alice always wanted to be a singer. Music was the 31 important thing in her life but, to tell you the 32 (true), she took lesson for years, practised every day, 33 in spite of all this, her voice didn't improve. Honestly, it didn’t get better, it just got 34 (loud).
Her teacher finally gave 35 and stopped the lessons, but Alice refused to quit, and one day she decided to give a concert and invited her former teacher to attend.
The teacher was very worried about 36 to say after the performance. She knew it 37 be terrible and it was. She didn't want to tell a lie, but she didn’t want to hurt Alice’s feelings 38 . Finally, she got an idea and went backstage to greet her former pupil.
“Well”, said Alice, “what did you think of 39 performance?”
“My dear,” said the teacher, “you’ll 40 be better than you were tonight.”
高三英语填空题简单题查看答案及解析
She never dreamed of _ a chance for her to meet her old friends again.
A.there was B.there being C there to be D.being
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
Sometimes she was dying____________ her husband about it.
A. tell B. telling C. to tell D. of telling
高三英语单项填空困难题查看答案及解析
What ________her most was that nobody had even bothered to tell her about the changed timetable.
A. upset B. ignored C. shocked D. trapped
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
What does the woman feel about her coming trip?
A.Excited. B.Worried. C.Uninterested.
高三英语短对话简单题查看答案及解析
I was pleased to hear from you and I am written to tell you something about the changes in my school.
You are right. Great changes have been taken place in my school. It is not longer what it used to be three years ago, when there were only one teaching building and a playground. I am happy to tell you two new buildings had been built and are on use. One of them is a new classroom building, in it there are rooms for music, arts and computer teaching. The other is a library, where there are all kinds of books, newspapers and magazines. However, my school is good equipped with sports facilities and musical instruments. The number of students has also grown from 1,500 to 2,500. What’s more, we had planted a lot of trees and flowers in and around the school.
I believe my school become better and better, and I hope you will visit my school again.
高三英语短文改错极难题查看答案及解析