Question

In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh(法老)treated the poor message runner like a prince when he arrived at the palace, if he brought good news. However, if the exhausted runner had the misfortune to bring the pharaoh unhappy news, his head was cut off.

Shades of that spirit spread over today’s conversations. Once a friend and I packed up some peanut butter and sandwiches for an outing. As we walked light-heartedly out the door, picnic basket in hand, a smiling neighbor looked up at the sky and said, ”Oh boy, bad day for a picnic. The weatherman says it’s going to rain.”I wanted to strike him on the face with the peanut butter and sandwiches. Not for his stupid weather report, for his while

Several months ago I was racing to catch  a him As I breathlessly put my handful of cash across the Grey hound counter, the sales agent said with a broad smile ,”Oh that bus left five minutes ago.”Dreams of head-cutting!

  It’s not the news that makes someone angry. It’s the unsympathetic attitude with which it’s the unsympathetic attitude with which it’s delivered. Everyone must give bad news from time to time, and winning professionals do it with the proper attitude. A doctor advising a patient that she needs an operation does it in a caring way. A boss informing an employee he didn’t get the job takes on a sympathetic tone. Big winners know, when delivering any bad news, they should share the feeling of the receiver.

Unfortunately, many people are not aware of this. When you’re tired from a long flight, has a hotel clerk cheerfully said that your room isn’t ready yet? When you had your heart set on the toast beef, has your waiter mainly told you that he just served the last piece? It makes you as traveler or diner want to land your fist right on their unsympathetic faces.

Had my neighbor told me of the upcoming rainstorm with sympathy, I would have appreciated his warming .Had the Greyhound salesclerk sympathetically informed me that my bus had already left, I probably would have said, ” Oh, that’s all right I’ll catch the next one.” Big winners, when they bear bad news ,deliver bombs with the emotion the bombarded(被轰炸的)person is sure to have.

1.In Paragraph 1,the writer tells the story of the pharaoh to ____.

A. make a comparison      B. introduce a topic

C. describe a scene         D. offer an argument

2.In the writer’s opinion, his neighbor was ___.

A. friendly   B. warm-hearted    C. not considerate   D. not helpful

3.From “Dreams of head-cutting!”(Paragraph3),we learn that the writer___.

A. was mad at the sales agent

B. was reminded of the cruel pharaoh

C. wished that the sales agent would have had dreams

D. dreamed of cutting the sales agent’s head that night.

4.What is the main idea of the text?

A. Delivering bad news properly is important in communication.

B. Helping others sincerely is the key to business success.

C. Receiving bad news requires great courage.

D. Learning ancient traditions can be useful.

 

Answer 1

【答案】

 

1.Ｂ

2.Ｃ

3.Ａ

4.Ａ

【解析】

1.作者态度、目的题。把握整体文意，本文主要围绕"好消息使人高兴，坏消息令人气愤"来论述，所以第一段应该是本文作者用于引入主题的段子，选B。

2.推理理解题。 由"I wanted to strike him on the face with the peanut butter and sandwiches not for his stupid weather report for his smile"可知C。

3.细节理解题。第三段意思是“作者赶车时的不幸经历”，“当售票员告诉他不幸消息，所以他会很恼怒，几乎要发疯了”，选A。

4.主旨大意题。整体把握文意，文中多次提到人们对带给自己坏消息的人经常心生怨恨，找准关键词"deliver bad news"，选A。