Now go through TEXT I quickly to answer question 56 and 57.
The owner of a printing business was delighted when another company wanted to buy one of his used printing machines. After careful calculations, he fixed a price of '2.5 million and formulated his arguments.
When he sat down to negotiate, however, an inner voice told him, "Wait." The buyers quickly filled the silence with a rundown of the machine's strengths and weakness. The seller said nothing. Then the buyers said, "We'll give you '3.5 million, but not a penny more." Less than an hour later, the deal was made.
Opportunities to improve a situation by "zipping your lip" come up all the time in everyday dealings with others. Sometimes the benefits of keeping your mouth shut may be that you won't have to eat your words. Take my friend Ben. Like many of us when we are unsure of ourselves or trying to be polite, Ben sometimes blurts out things that come back to haunt him. The first time he was invited to dinner by his brother's new wife, she served to tomato aspic. Ben hated the stuff but wanted to compliment her. So he raved, "The aspic is great!" She was so flattered that she remembered and served it to him every time he visited for the next 15 years!
Sometimes an unthinking remark, no matter how innocently made, can have more serious consequences. Harold and his wife once ran into neighbors in their apartment building late at night. Startled, he tried to be friendly and said, "I hear congratulations are in order." There was an awkward silence. Later Harold's wife reminded him that the women had recently miscarried. "Nowadays," Harold says, "if I'm momentarily thrown, I count to ten before I say anything."
Not only is there wisdom is knowing when to keep your mouth shut; there are practical advantages as well. Lawyers tell a story about a man accused of biting off another fellow's ear in a brawl. A defense attorney spent the morning challenging the prosecution's main witness. He thought he had destroyed the man's story but couldn't resist final verbal blow.
"You've admitted that you were not very close to the scene of the alleged crime and that you didn't see my client bite off the ear. How can you possibly testify against him?" the defense attorney demanded.
The witness paused, then smiled and said, "I saw him spit it out."
In the past, psychologists used to day that we should "talk things out" with others. But, increasingly, I find that getting along with another human being sometimes demands tolerance and silence.
Adele Faber, co-author of How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk, tells how silence conquered the nightly battle over bedtime between a mother and her eight-year-old son, Jonathan.
One night Jonathan came downstairs as usual after being tucked into bed. "Mom, I can't sleep!" he said.
"Oh, you can't sleep. Hmmm," his mother replied. She stopped, looked at him with compassion and waited. A full minute passed without a word.
At last Jonathan spoke. "I think I'll put on my favorite pajamas." he said. "Then I'll sleep better." And off he went to bed.
It's not always easy to let those you love experience pain, frustration or anger. You want to relieve their problems instead of letting them find their own solutions.
Jonathan, Faber's teenage daughter, came home one day looking distressed. Faber said, "Jonathan, something happened," and her daughter burst into tears. "We sat on the sofa, and I held her while she sobbed," recalls Faber. "Ten minutes later she took a deep breath, looked at me and sighed. "Thanks, Mom," she said. Then she got up and left."
Faber never did find out what was wrong. A long, attentive, loving embrace was what Jonathan wanted most. Then she would solve her problem on her own.
"Your silence support can provide the soil in which the other person's solutions begin to grow," says Faber. "Silence is not withdrawal. Silence comes out of respect. It says, "I am here for you, but I'm not going to get in the way."
Like a composer who knows that the space between the notes is as important as the notes themselves, each of us must realize that our silences can be as expressive as the words we choose. The result is greater harmony and effectiveness.
TEXT J
First read the question.
58. What did the writer learn form her first teaching experience?
A. Every child has great potentials, but dismal environment may hinder them.
B. The life of the people in poverty forms a vicious circle.
C. The poor have a silent rage against society.
D. Words have power.
正確答案是
The owner of a printing business was delighted when another company wanted to buy one of his used printing machines. After careful calculations, he fixed a price of '2.5 million and formulated his arguments.
When he sat down to negotiate, however, an inner voice told him, "Wait." The buyers quickly filled the silence with a rundown of the machine's strengths and weakness. The seller said nothing. Then the buyers said, "We'll give you '3.5 million, but not a penny more." Less than an hour later, the deal was made.
Opportunities to improve a situation by "zipping your lip" come up all the time in everyday dealings with others. Sometimes the benefits of keeping your mouth shut may be that you won't have to eat your words. Take my friend Ben. Like many of us when we are unsure of ourselves or trying to be polite, Ben sometimes blurts out things that come back to haunt him. The first time he was invited to dinner by his brother's new wife, she served to tomato aspic. Ben hated the stuff but wanted to compliment her. So he raved, "The aspic is great!" She was so flattered that she remembered and served it to him every time he visited for the next 15 years!
Sometimes an unthinking remark, no matter how innocently made, can have more serious consequences. Harold and his wife once ran into neighbors in their apartment building late at night. Startled, he tried to be friendly and said, "I hear congratulations are in order." There was an awkward silence. Later Harold's wife reminded him that the women had recently miscarried. "Nowadays," Harold says, "if I'm momentarily thrown, I count to ten before I say anything."
Not only is there wisdom is knowing when to keep your mouth shut; there are practical advantages as well. Lawyers tell a story about a man accused of biting off another fellow's ear in a brawl. A defense attorney spent the morning challenging the prosecution's main witness. He thought he had destroyed the man's story but couldn't resist final verbal blow.
"You've admitted that you were not very close to the scene of the alleged crime and that you didn't see my client bite off the ear. How can you possibly testify against him?" the defense attorney demanded.
The witness paused, then smiled and said, "I saw him spit it out."
In the past, psychologists used to day that we should "talk things out" with others. But, increasingly, I find that getting along with another human being sometimes demands tolerance and silence.
Adele Faber, co-author of How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk, tells how silence conquered the nightly battle over bedtime between a mother and her eight-year-old son, Jonathan.
One night Jonathan came downstairs as usual after being tucked into bed. "Mom, I can't sleep!" he said.
"Oh, you can't sleep. Hmmm," his mother replied. She stopped, looked at him with compassion and waited. A full minute passed without a word.
At last Jonathan spoke. "I think I'll put on my favorite pajamas." he said. "Then I'll sleep better." And off he went to bed.
It's not always easy to let those you love experience pain, frustration or anger. You want to relieve their problems instead of letting them find their own solutions.
Jonathan, Faber's teenage daughter, came home one day looking distressed. Faber said, "Jonathan, something happened," and her daughter burst into tears. "We sat on the sofa, and I held her while she sobbed," recalls Faber. "Ten minutes later she took a deep breath, looked at me and sighed. "Thanks, Mom," she said. Then she got up and left."
Faber never did find out what was wrong. A long, attentive, loving embrace was what Jonathan wanted most. Then she would solve her problem on her own.
"Your silence support can provide the soil in which the other person's solutions begin to grow," says Faber. "Silence is not withdrawal. Silence comes out of respect. It says, "I am here for you, but I'm not going to get in the way."
Like a composer who knows that the space between the notes is as important as the notes themselves, each of us must realize that our silences can be as expressive as the words we choose. The result is greater harmony and effectiveness.
TEXT J
First read the question.
58. What did the writer learn form her first teaching experience?
A. Every child has great potentials, but dismal environment may hinder them.
B. The life of the people in poverty forms a vicious circle.
C. The poor have a silent rage against society.
D. Words have power.
正確答案是