A turning point of the continuously high housing price won’t appear suddenly because there must be a certain process _____ many factors lead to the change.

E

An old sea captain was often seen opening a small locked box, and looking inside. The crew’s curiosity grew and, on the day he retired, they rushed to cut the lock. There they found a sheet of paper that read, “Left—port(左舷). Right--- starboard(右舷).”

Are you afraid to make a mistake? If you made mistakes recently, maybe you need to hear about Roy Riegels.

The story is told about Roy and the 1929 Rose Bowl championship football game between Georgia Tech and the university of California. Shortly before halftime, Roy Riegels made a huge mistake. He got the ball for California and somehow became confused and started running in the wrong direction! One of his teammates tackled(抢断) him after he had run 656 yards, just before he would have scored for the opposing team. Of course, Georgia Tech gained a distinct(明显的) advantage through the error.

After the first half was over, Riegels sat in a corner, put his face in his hands and wept.

Coach Nibbs Price struggled with what to do with Roy. He finally looked at the team and said simply, “Men, the same team that played the first half will start the second.”

All the players except Roy went to the field. Though the coach looked back and called to him again, he remained seated in the corner. Coach Price went to him and said, “Roy, didn’t you hear me?”

“Coach,” he said, “I can’t do it. I’ve ruined you; I’ve ruined the school; I’ve ruined myself.”

But the coach Price put his hand on Riegels’ shoulder and said,” Roy, get up and go on back; the game is only half over.”

Roy Riegels went back and those Tech men will tell you that they have never seen a man play football as well as Roy Riegels played that second half.

The next time you make a mistake, it might be good to remember the ABC method.

A—Acknowledge(admit) your error and accept responsibility for it. Don’t try to fix the blame on other people or circumstances(客观环境). When you fix the blame, you never fix the problem.

B—Be gentle with yourself. The game is only half over. This is not the first mistake you ever made, nor will it be the last. You are still a good and caring person. Besides, later you may laugh at the mistake, so try to lighten up a bit now.

C—Correct it and move on. Correcting mistakes may also mean to amends(弥补过错），if necessary.

Now, go make your mistakes. And if you practice the ABC method, you’ll live to laugh about many of them.

67. The old captain kept a sheet of paper to_____.

A. give his men a lesson

B. arouse his crew’s curiosity

C. prove he was a good captain

D. tell “port” and “starboard” apart

68. From the passage we learn Coach Price______.

A. insisted on replacing Roy

B. decided to punish Roy after the match

C. criticized Roy for his serious mistake

D. encouraged Roy to finish the match

69. How was Riegels’ performance in the second half?

A. Very disappointing  B. Rather excellent  C. Fairly ordinary  D. Quite bad

70. The ABC method_____.

A. advised you to try to forget mistakes

B. helps you deal with mistakes 

C. helps find out the causes of mistakes

D. advised you to be strict with yourself.

My l4-year-old son, John, and I spotted the coat which was hanging at a secondhand clothing store in Northampton Mass. While the other coats drooped(低垂), this one looked as if it were   36  itself up. The coat had beautiful tailoring, a Fifth Avenue label and a(an)   37  price of $28, which was popular just then with   38 , but could cost several hundred dollars new. This coat was even better, bearing that   39  of classic elegance（优雅）. John tried it on and the fit was perfect.

John   40  the coat to school the next day and came home wearing a big smile. “Did the kids like your coat?” I asked. “They loved it,” he said,   41  folding it over the back of a chair and smoothing it flat. Over the next few weeks, a   42  came over John. Agreement replaced contrariness (作对) and reasoned discussion replaced fierce   43 . He became more mannerly and   44 , eager to please. He would generously loan his younger brother his tapes and lecture him   45  his behavior.

When I mentioned this incident to his teacher and   46  what caused the changes, she said laughing. “It   47  be his coat!” Another teacher told him she was giving him a good   48  not only because he had earned   49  but because she liked his coat. At the library, we ran into a friend “Could this be John?” he asked surprisingly,   50  John’s new height, assessing the cut of his coat and extending his hand, one gentleman to another.

John and I both know we should never   51  a person’s clothes for the real person within them.   52  there is something to be said for wearing a standard of excellence for the world to see and for   53  what is on the inside to what is on the outside.

For John it is a time when it is as easy to try on different approaches to   54  as it is to try on a coat. The whole world, the whole future is stretched out ahead, a vast landscape   55  all the doors are open. And he could picture himself walking through those doors wearing his wonderful, magical coat.

1.                A．turning         B．showing         C．holding   D．hanging

2.                A．unreasonable    B．expected        C．acceptable    D．unbelievable

3.                A．adults          B．teenagers       C．women   D．strangers

4.                A．color          B．style           C．price D．size

5.                A．wore          B．carried         C．lent  D．sent

6.                A．carefully        B．comfortably     C．casually   D．quickly

7.                A．happiness       B．matter          C．smile D．change

8.                A．doubt          B．argument       C．fight D．war

9.                A．thoughtful      B．handsome       C．hopeful   D．curious

10.               A．of             B．with           C．on   D．at

11.               A．discovered      B．confirmed      C．concluded D．wondered

12.               A．can            B．should         C．will   D．must

13.               A．present        B．mark           C．word D．result

14.               A．it             B．them          C．this   D．one

15.               A．taking up       B．looking down to  C．checking up    D．looking up at

16.               A．trust           B．exchange       C．mistake   D．regard

17.               A．Though         B．But            C．Since D．So

18.               A．matching       B．attaching       C．relating   D．connecting

19.               A．career         B．life            C．study D．success

20.               A．how           B．why           C．where D．when

Everyone in business has been told that success is all about attracting and retaining(留住) customers. It sounds simple and achievable. But,   41   , words of wisdom are soon forgotten. Once companies have attracted customers they often    42   the second half of the story. In the excitement of beating off the competition, negotiating prices, securing orders, and delivering the product, managers     43    become carried away. They forget what they regard as the boring side of business---    44   that the customer remains a customer.

     45   to concentrate on retaining as well as attracting customers costs business huge amounts of money annually. It has been estimated that the    46     company loses between 10 and 30 percent of its customers every year. In constantly changing    47    , this is not surprising. What is surprising is the fact that few companies have any idea how many customers they have lost.

Only now are organizations beginning to wake up to these lost opportunities and calculate the   48  implications.     49    the number of customers a company loses can make a big    50   in its performance. Research in the US found that a five percent decrease in the number of defecting(流失的) customers led to    51   increases of between 25 and 85 percent.

In the US, Domino’s Pizza estimates that a regular customer is     52    more than five thousand dollars over ten years. A customer who receives a poor quality product or     53    on their first visit and    54     never returns, is losing the company thousands of dollars in   55    profits (more if you consider how many people they are likely to tell about their bad experience).

The logic behind cultivating customer   56    is impossible to deny. “In practice most companies’ marketing effort is focused on getting customers, with little attention paid to     57   them”, says Adrian Payne of Cornfield University’s School of Management. “Research suggests that there is a close relationship between retaining customers and making profits.     58     customers tend to buy more, are predictable and usually cost less to service than new customers. Furthermore, they tend to be less price    59   , and may provide free word-of-mouth advertising. Retaining customers also makes it   60  for competitors to enter a market or increase their share of a market.”

There at a secondhand clothing store in Northampton Mass, my l4-year-old son, John, and I noticed the coat. While the other coats drooped (低垂), this one looked as if it were   41  itself up. The coat was beautifully made, with a Fifth Avenue label and an  42   price of $28, which was popular just then with   43  , but could cost several hundred dollars new. John tried it on and the  44   was perfect.

John  45   the coat to school the next day and came home with a big smile. “Did the kids like your coat?” I asked. “They loved it,” he said,   46   folding it over the back of a chair and smoothing it flat. Over the next few weeks, a   47  came over John. Agreement replaced contrariness (作对) and   48   discussion replaced fierce argument. He became more mannerly and  49  , eager to please. He would generously lend his younger brother his tapes and lecture him   50   his behavior. When I mentioned this   51  to his teacher and wondered what caused the changes, she said laughing. “It   52   be his coat!” Another teacher told him she was giving him a good mark not only because he had earned   53   but because she liked his coat. At the library, we ran   54  a friend. “Could this be John?” he asked surprisingly,   55  John’s new height, appreciating the cut of his coat and holding out his hand, one gentleman to another.

John and I both know we should never   56   a person’s clothes for the real person within them.   57  , there is something to be said for wearing a standard of excellence for the world to see and for   58  what is on the inside with what is on the outside.

For John, it is a time when it is as easy to try on different  59  to life as it is to try on a coat. The whole world, the whole future is stretched out ahead, a vast landscape   60  all the doors are open. And he could picture himself walking through those doors wearing his wonderful, magical coat.