An “apple polisher” is one who gives gifts to win friendship or special treatment. It is not exactly a bribe(贿赂), but is close to it.
All sorts of people are apple polishers, including politicians and people in high offices—just about everybody. Oliver Cromwell, the great English leader, offered many gifts to win the support of George Fox and his party, but failed.
There are other phrases meaning the same thing as “apple-polishing”—“soft-soaping” or “buttering-up”. A gift is just one way to “soft-soap” somebody, or to “butter him up”. Another that is just as effective is flattery, giving someone high praise—telling him how good he looks, or how well he speaks, or how talented and wise he is.
Endless are the ways of flattery. Who does not love to hear it? Only an unusual man can resist the thrill of being told how wonderful he is. In truth, flattery is good medicine for most of us, who get so little of it.
We need it to be more sure of ourselves. It cannot hurt unless we get carried away by it. But if we just lap it up for its food value and nourishment, as a cat laps up milk, then we can still remain true to ourselves.
Sometimes, however, flattery will get you nothing from one who has had too much of it. A good example is the famous 12th century legend of King Canute of Denmark and England. The king got tired of listening to endless sickening flattery of his courtiers(朝臣). They overpraised him to the skies, as a man of limitless might.
He decided to teach them a lesson. He took them to the seashore and sat down. Then he ordered the waves to stop coming in. The tide was too busy to listen to him. The king was satisfied. This might show his followers how weak his power was and how empty their flattery.
【小题1】Which of the following activities has nothing to do with “apple-polishing”?

It was an international drug dealing case, one that involved a lot of money and a lot of violence. Agents who had entered the organization had worn wires and collected evidence for years. A conviction(法庭判决) depended on an accurate translation of their tape recordings. “Five languages were involved, “says Liz Elting, 44, one of the owners of TransPerfect, the translation company chosen for the job. “The slightest mistake could mean the criminals would go free.”

When Elting started her business 18 years ago with Phil Shawe, both were attending New York University’s Stern School of Business. Neither realized just how many situations would require their services. TransPerfect’s 4,000 linguists(通晓外语的人) cover more than 100 languages.

Getting Ahead with Liz Elting

What inspired you to start TransPerfect?

When I was eight, my dad bought a KFC in Portugal. Unfortunately, the Portuguese didn’t want anything American. They thought my dad was a CIA spy! That taught me how fast things can change. I’ve studied in Spain and worked in Venezuela. This business is the perfect combination of my love for languages, cultures and business.

Is the staff multilingual?

Many are. I speak French and Spanish. My partner, Phil, who is American, likes to say he speaks English on a good day.

What languages are requested most often?

Spanish and Japanese. Chinese, Middle Eastern, Indic(South Asia), and Eastern Europeans are on the rise.

How difficult is it to manage such a diverse workforce（员工团队）?

Our challenge is to be culturally appropriate in every country. When we hand our year-end bonuses in the US, for example, we have to remember that in India, bonuses are given in the fall.

Any advice for someone starting a business?

Get started before you have kids. In the beginning, I didn’t know how to do this business on the side. I wasn’t married, didn’t have kids, and wasn’t concerned about balancing my work and personal life. Now, with strong managers in place, I can spend more time with my family (husband Michael Burlant and sons Zachary, nine and Jacob, seven), traveling and playing baseball.

1.What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

A. To report on an international drug dealing case.

B. To encourage people to start a business before they have kids.

C. To present the importance of learning foreign languages.

D. To introduce Liz Elting and her company TransPerfect.

2.What does the underlined word “wires” mean in the passage?

A. A type of clothes costing a lot of money.

B. A piece of equipment designed to record messages.

C. Thin metal worn to protect yourself against violence.

D. A organization symbol made of thin metal.

3.Neither realized just how many situations would require their services.  is ______________.

A. a company that offers international legal services

B. one which has branches in countries all over the world

C. one whose staff all have to speak several languages.

D. a company whose services are in great demand.

4.It can be inferred that _______________.

A. Liz learned that love is the answer to problems of cultural misunderstanding

B. Liz started her company with a schoolmate at the age of 18.

C. The success is simply a little beyond Liz and her partner’s expectations

D. Liz and Phil are now strong managers with rich experience.

When I met him，I had a lot of anger inside me. I’ve lived my whole life in Spanish Harlem， but in my neighborhood，there are shoot-ups all the time. I know kids who have been shot or beaten up. I have friends who ended up in prison. I could have ended up that way，too，but Mr. Clark wouldn’t let that happen.
Mr. Clark worked long hours，making sure I did my work. My grades rose. In fact，the scores of our whole class rose. One day，he took our class to see The Phantom of the Opera，and it was the first time some kids had ever been out of Harlem. Before the show，he treated us to dinner at a restaurant and taught us not to talk with our mouths full. We did not want to let him down.
Mr. Clark was selected as Disney’s 2000 Teacher of the Year. He said he would draw three names out of a hat；those students would go with him to Los Angles to get the award. But when the time came to draw names，Mr. Clark said,“You’re all going.”
On graduation day，there were a lot of tears. We didn’t want his class to end. In 2001，he moved to Atlanta, but he always kept in touch. He started giving lectures about education，and wrote a bestsell -ing book based on his classroom rules，The Essential 55. In 2003，Mr. Clark took some of us on a trip to South Africa to deliver school supplies and visit orphanages(孤儿院). It was the most amazing experience of my life. It’s now my dream to one day start a group of women’s clubs, helping people from all backgrounds.
【小题1】Without Mr. Clark，the writer _________.

Contrary to many people believe, highly intelligent children are not necessarily certain to achieve academic success. In fact, so-called gifted students may fail to do well because they are unusually smart. Ensuring that a gifted child reaches his or her potential requires an understanding of what can go wrong and how to satisfy the unusual learning requirements of extremely bright young people.

One common problem gifted kids face is that they, and those around them, place too much importance on being smart. Such an emphasis can encourage a belief that bright people do not have to work hard to do well. Although smart kids may not need to work hard in the lower grades, when the work is easy, they may struggle and perform poorly when the work gets harder because they do not make the effort to learn. If the academic achievement of highly intelligent children remains below average for an extended period, many teachers will fail to recognize their potential. As a result, such students may not get the encouragement they need, further depressing their desire to learn. They may fall far behind in their schoolwork and even develop behavior problems.

IQ is just one element among many in the recipe for success—Children develop well or struggle in school for a host of reasons apart from IQ. These include motivation and persistence, social competence, and the support of family, educators and friends.

Because highly gifted children solve the most varied thought problems faster and more thoroughly than those with more average talents do, they need additional intellectual stimulation while they wait for the rest of the kids to learn the basics. Two central approaches are used to satisfy the educational needs of such children: acceleration and enrichment. Acceleration means studying material that is part of the standard subjects for older students. Enrichment involves learning information that falls outside the usual subjects.

A child might skip one or more grades as a way of accelerating in school. But being with older children for the entire school day—and perhaps for grade-based extracurricular activities such as sports—can make a child feel inferior in every filed outside of academics. One very bright fourth-grader who had skipped two grades remained far ahead of his classmates intellectually, but as his classmates reached adolescence, his social and other shortcomings became painfully apparent. While acceleration is not an option, or not a good one, enrichment can be. After all, school is not a race but an adventure in learning. As such, the goal is not finishing first but absorbing as much knowledge as possible in the time assigned. Thus, providing opportunities for a child to study topics outside the regular subjects can be at least as valuable as pushing him or her through the required material faster.

1. What is the basic reason for the low academic achievement of highly intelligent children?

A. Teachers’ failure to recognize their potential.

B. Too much emphasis on being intelligent.

C. Studying topics outside the regular subjects.

D. Lack of encouragement from teachers.

2. According to the passage, which of the following belongs to enrichment activities for talented children?

   A. Skipping one of more grades and studying together with older children.

   B. Learning the same material in the standard subjects for older students.

   C. Learning information that is not included in the regular subjects.

   D. Learning how to read with fluency even in their pre-school days.

3.Which of the following statements do you think is true about the writer?

A. He is in favor of enrichment rather than acceleration.

B. He is in favor of acceleration rather than enrichment.

C. He speaks highly of both enrichment and acceleration.

D. He thinks neither enrichment nor acceleration is a good choice.

4. In this article, the writer wants to ______.

A. point out the weaknesses of acceleration for gifted children

B. compare acceleration with enrichment for gifted children

C. stress the importance of enrichment for gifted children

D. discuss how to bring out gifted children’s potential

六. 完形填空（20分）

Chen Guanming has been carrying his home with him for the past seven years. He has done everything a man would to make it cozy.

The 53-year-old farmer has spent the hottest summers and severest winters cooking, eating and   1    in his mobile home: a shaky tricycle. Chen began his journey on the three-wheel rickshaw from his    2   Jiangsu province in 2001 after hearing the news that Beijing had won the bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games. Of course, he did not forget to take his ID card, important    3   and some clothes before setting off on his mission (使命). Mission? What mission? “To promote awareness on health and the environment, just like what the Games has been doing,” he says. It may    4   funny, but make no mistake that Chen is dead    5   about it. “I'm a poor farmer I can't do much. But I have a healthy body. I want to use it to show the    ___6   of the Chinese people and the spirit of the Olympics.” He would have _ 7   all of China except Taiwan when he reaches Beijing tonight. He speaks lively about his experiences in all the places on the mainland, ___8  _   about an incident in Chongqing in August 2003. “I was riding up a slope and my brakes failed my rickshaw and began sliding down and overturned,” he says. He had his legs broken but did not go to a hospital. Instead, he used herbs to stop the bleeding. And he   9   quietly for some days for his legs to rejoin. Looking at the man, you wouldn't want to believe he has crossed so many mountains and    10   in his tricycle. But you look at the piles of evidence and become a silent admirer of this determined soul.

1. A. working        B. playing           C. sleeping          D. living

2. A. native          B. familiar          C. famous           D. noble

3. A. equipment      B. supplies          C. furniture          D. documents

4. A. seem           B. sound           C. look             D. listen

5. A. serious         B. careful           C. practical          D. optimistic

6. A. power          B. energy           C. strength         D. authority

7. A. covered         B. drove           C. run             D. walked

8. A. extremely       B. especially        C. actually         D. exactly

9. A. slept           B. sat              C. rested           D. lay

10. A. lakes          B. rivers            C. valleys         D. road