Public Speaking Training

Get a coach

          1.  , so get help. Since there are about a billion companies out there all ready to offer you public speaking training and courses, here are some things to look for when deciding the training that’s right for you.

Focus on positives

         Any training you do to become more effective at public speaking should always focus on the positive aspects of what you already do well. Nothing can hurt confidence more than being told that you aren’t doing well.   2.   , so good public speaking training should develop those instead of telling you what you shouldn’t do.

  3. 

If you find a public speaking course that looks as though it’s going to give you lots of dos and don’ts, walk away! Your brain is so full of what you’re going to be talking about.  4.    . As far as we’re concerned, there are basically no hard and fast rules about public speaking. Your audience can be your friends.

You are a special person not a clone.

Most importantly, good public speaking training should treat you as a special one, with your own personal habits.   5.    . Your training course should help you bring out your personality, not try to turn you into someone you’re not.

A.You aren’t like anybody else

B.You already do lots of things well

C.Turn your back on too many rules

D.Check the rules about dos and don’ts

E.Whatever the presentation, public speaking is tough

F.The one thing you don’t want is for them to fall asleep

G.So trying to force a whole set of rules into it will just make things worse

 

China’s Tianhe-1 has a computing speed of 2,507 trillion(万亿)calculations a second, making it the fastest computer in the world. It is also 40 percent faster than the world’s second fastest supercomputer, Cray XT5 Jaguar, in the US, kept at a national laboratory in Tennessee, according to the New York Times. Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computer scientist, told NYT that the Chinese supercomputer is faster than the existing Number One machine.

Building the fastest supercomputer has become a source of national pride, as these machines are valued for their ability to solve problems in areas like defense, energy and science. These problems are related to national interests. Supercomputing technology is also found in business. Oil and gas companies use supercomputers to find oil and gas.

Obviously, research centers with large supercomputers attract top scientific talents. This adds extra importance to the machines—they’re more than just huge computers.

China’s new supercomputer will be used to speed up greatly scientific calculations, such as hurricane and tsunami modeling, cancer research, car design and even studying stars.

In 2008, two US scientists put together a step-by-step guide on how to build a supercomputer using PlayStation 3 video-game consoles(控制台). Modern supercomputers are built by combining thousands of small computer servers(服务器)and using software to turn them into one large computer. Really, any organization with enough material and technology can create a fast machine.

The Chinese system follows that model by linking thousands upon thousands of computer servers. But the secret behind the system—and the technological achievement—is China’s own networking technology. “That technology was built by them,” Dongarra said. “They are taking supercomputing very seriously and using a lot of time and money.”

“China is still a developing country,” said Sha Chaoqun, manager at Dawning Company which is the leading supercomputer maker in China. “Maybe one day, China’s total computing power can be greater than that of the US, but there is still a long way to go before we get there.”

Paragraph outline

Supporting details

China has developed the world’s  fastest

supercomputer.

◇Tianhe-1 has a high computing speed, which 1._______ it the fastest computer in the world.

◇Tianhe-1 is 40 percent faster than the 2.______ fastest supercomputer in the world.

◇3._____ Jack Dongarra, we learn that the Chinese supercomputer is faster than the existing Number One machine.

Many countries see the fastest supercomputer as a source of national 4.______ and are making efforts to develop it.

◇The high-speed computer is 5.________ to solve problems related to national interests.

◇Besides 6.______, supercomputing technology can also be found in areas of defense, energy and science.

◇It’s obvious that top scientific talents are 7.______ to research centers with large supercomputers.

The secret behind supercomputers is networking technology.

◇By using the technology built by Chinese people, taking it 8._______ and devoting lots of time and money, China has achieved a lot.

Mr. Sha showed a conservative(保守的) 9._______ toward the development of

computing power.

◇10._________ the greater computing power China may have in the future, there is still a long way to go.

                                                                              

 

On August 5 at 10:31 p.m. PST, a rover(探测器)named Curiosity touched down safely on the surface of Mars, and I was lucky enough to have a front-row seat.

My name is Clara, and when I was in Grade 6, I won the essay contest NASA held to name its next Mars rover. The essay I wrote was not even 250 words long, but somehow it was enough to change my life.

I still remember that cold December day, sitting in a science class. I’d finished a worksheet early and decided to get a Time for Kids magazine off Mrs. Estevez’s bookshelf. It was the 2008 Invention Issue, but that wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye. In the magazine, there was an article about a girl who named the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. The article also talked about the essay contest NASA was holding to name its next Mars rover. Before I even knew anything else about it, a single word flooded my 11-year-old mind: Curiosity.

I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so I could get started on my essay. That afternoon, I raced home from the bus stop, sat down at the computer and typed until my fingers ached. It turned out that I was just in time. A few days later, and the contest would have closed.

Five months later, shortly after I had turned 12, I was watching a National Geographic special on mammoths when the phone rang. My mom answered, and immediately, a wide smile spread across her face. When she told me that I had won, I was happier than I could ever remember being, I screamed and ran up and down the stairs and all around the house. I completely forgot about the mammoths and did not even remember to turn off the TV until it was really late.

Curiosity is such an important part of who I am. I have always been fascinated by the stars, the planets, the sky and the universe. I remember as a little girl, my grandfather and I would sit together in the backyard for hours. He’d tell me stories and point out the stars.

My grandfather lived in China, thousands of miles away from my home in Kansas. I loved the stars because they kept us together even when we were apart. They were always there, yet there was so much I didn’t know about them. That’s what I love so much about space. No matter how much we learn, it will always possess some mystery.

In the past, space exploration may have been a competition to see who got somewhere first or the fastest. But now, it is one of the few things that bring people together. Science is a language that needs no translation. It doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you look like – you just have to have a thirst for knowledge and a passion for learning in order to succeed.

People often ask me why we go to faraway places like Mars. Why do we explore? My answer to that is simple: because we can; because we’re curious; because we as human beings do not just stay holed up in one place. We are constantly wondering and trying to find out what’s over the hill and beyond the horizon.

The curiosity rover is more than just a robot. It is more than just a titanium body and aluminum wheels. Curiosity represents the hard work, passion, love and commitment of thousands of people from all over the world who were brought together by science. Science is so awesome. It is breathtaking and mind-blowing; and sometimes, it’s just a little bit crazy. The discoveries we make about our world are incredibly humbling. They move us forward and have the potential to benefit all of mankind.

This December it will be four years of my life that have been tied to Curiosity in some way. I’ve met so many amazing people through this experience, from scientists to engineers to administrators to volunteers. Their devotion and enthusiasm inspire me greatly. My journey with Curiosity and the MSL mission team has shaped the person that I am today, as well as the person I would one day like to become.

I am deeply grateful to everyone who made it possible for me to have this amazing adventure.

And to you, I hope your curiosity takes you far.

1. The method the writer uses to begin the passage is _____.

A.telling a story                          B.giving an example

C.offering an explanation                   D.describing a scene

2.Why did the writer hurry home to finish the essay for the contest NASA held?

A.She had just gathered enough information from Time for Kids

B.She wanted to write down what flashed through her mind in time.

C.She knew from Mrs. Estevez the deadline for the contest was approaching.

D.She was afraid she might miss the chance to compete with the former winner.

3. The writer mentions her grandfather in order to show that ______.

A.she missed him very much.

B.he knew a great deal about space

C.he influenced her to love the stars

D.she treasured their happy moments

4.Which of the following serves as a summary of Paragraph 11?

A.The writer was inspired to be a volunteer by the people she met.

B.The writer owed her success to her team members’ encouragement.

C.The writer met many difficulties in her four-year life with Curiosity.

D.The writer has benefited a lot from her experience tied to Curiosity.

5.Which best describes the writer’s tone in the passage?

A.Sharp.            B.Proud.            C.Aggressive.        D.Enthusiastic.

6.What is conveyed in the passage?

A.Curiosity is important to human beings.

B.A thirst for knowledge helps one grow up.

C.Entering a contest is a way to achieve success.

D.Curiosity changes people’s attitude towards science.

 

I had an experience some years ago, which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. One January, I had to hold two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community. Both had died “ full of years”, as the Bible would say. Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence(吊唁) calls on the two families on the same afternoon.

At the first home, the son of the deceased(已故的)woman said to me, “ If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today. It’s my fault that she died.” At the second home, the son of the other deceased woman said, “ If only I hadn’t insisted on my mother’s going to Florida, she would be alive today.. that long airplane ride, the sudden change of climate, was more than she could take. It’s my fault that she’s dead.”

You see that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out bad, they believe that the opposite course—keeping Mother at home, putting off the operation—would have turned out better. After all, how could it have turned out any worse?

There are seem to be two elements involved in our willingness to feel guilty. The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens that leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds.

The second element is the view that we are the cause of what happens , especially the bad things that happen. It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believe that every disaster is our fault. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.

A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it. He wakes up in the morning and summons the rest of the world to its tasks. He cries, and someone comes to attend to him. When he is hungry, people feed him , and when he is wet, people change him. Very often, we do not completely outgrow that childish view that our wishes cause things to happen.

1.What is said about the two diseased elderly women?

A.They lived out a natural life

B.They died of exhaustion after the long plane ride

C.They weren’t used to the change in weather.

D.They died due to lack of care by family members.

2.The author had to conduct the two women’s funerals probably because ______.

A.he wanted to comfort the two families

B.he was an official from the community

C.he had great pity for the deceased

D.he was minister of the local church

3.People feel guilty for the deaths of their loved ones because _____.

A.they couldn’t find a better way to express their sorrow

B.they believe that they were responsible

C.they had neglected the natural course of events

D.they didn’t know things often turn in the opposite direction

4.According to the passage, the underlined part in paragraph 4 probably means that_____.

A.everything in the world is predetermined

B.the world can be interpreted in different ways

C.there is an explanation for everything in the world

D.we have to be sensible in order to understand the world

5.What’s the idea of the passage?

A.Life and death is an unsolved mystery.

B.Every story should have a happy ending.

C.Never feel guilty all the time because not every disaster is our fault.

D.In general, the survivors will feel guilty about the people who passed away.

 

The practice of students endlessly copying letters and sentences from a blackboard is a thing of the past. With the coming of new technologies like computers and smart phones, writing by hand has become something of a nostalgic(怀旧的) skill. However, while today’s educators are using more and more technology in their teaching, many believe basic handwriting skills are still necessary for students to be successful—both in school and in life.

Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says it’s important to continue teaching handwriting and help children acquire the skill of writing by hand.

Berninger and her colleagues conducted a study that looked at the ability of students to complete various writing tasks-both on a computer and by hand. The study, published in 2009, found that when writing with a pen and paper, participants wrote longer essays and more complete sentences and had a faster word production rate. Zxxk

In a more recent study, Berninger looked at what role spelling plays in a student’s writing skills and found that how well children spell is tied to how well they can write. “Spelling makes some of the thinking parts of the brain active, which helps us understand our vocabulary, word meaning and concepts. It is allowing our written language to connect with ideas.” Berninger said.

Spelling helps students translate ideas into words in their mind first and then to transcribe (转换) “those words in the mind into written symbols on paper or keyboard and screen,” the study said. Seeing the words in the “mind’s eye” helps children not only to turn their ideas into words, says Berninger, but also to spot spelling mistakes when they write the words down and to correct them over time.

“In our computer age, some people believe that we don’t have to teach spelling because we have spell checks,” she said. “But until a child has a functional spelling ability of about a fifth grade level, they won’t have the knowledge to choose the correct spelling among the choices given by the computer.”

1.What makes writing by hand a thing of the past?

A.The absence of blackboards in classrooms.

B.The use of new technologies in teaching.

C.The lack of practice in handwriting.

D.The popular use of smart phones.

2.Berninger’s study published in 2009 ________.

A.focused on the difference between writing by hand and on a computer

B.indicated that students prefer to write with a pen and paper

C.found that good essays are made up of long sentences

D.discussed the importance of writing speed

3.Which of the following best shows the role of spelling?

A.Spelling improves one’s memory of words.

B.Spelling ability is closely related to writing ability.

C.Spelling benefits the translation from words into ideas.

D.Spelling slows down finding exact words to express ideas.

4.What does “mind’s eye” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A.Window          B.Soul              C.Picture           D.Imagination

5.What conclusion could be drawn from the passage?

A.Computers can help people with their choice of words.

B.Spell checks can take the place of spelling teaching.

C.Handwriting still has a place in today’s classrooms.

D.Functional spelling ability develops fast in the fifth grade.

 

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