In the professional world, oral communication skills in the workplace, which is the art of using speech to convey information, thoughts and feeling to others, is important for the success of any organizations.
The 21st century has been considered to be an era of communication. The way we convey our thoughts is of great importance in building relationships. In the workplace, there are employees of diverse cultural and educational backgrounds. This makes team working on a difficult task, but with a clear understanding of the task to be achieved, all members work towards the same goal. Misunderstandings, conflicts and differences in opinions are easily managed when there is a clear flow of communication between team members.
With proper communication, a close relationship and trust build among the employees, therefore promoting excellent working conditions. An atmosphere of support and cooperation is promoted by properly conveying expectations of the management team to the employees and vice – versa (相反的情况). Therefore, developing oral communication skills is important to success in life ahead.
How to improve oral communication? In the business world, individuals are expected to be confident about their beliefs and ideas. Therefore, they must include words like “in my opinion”, “as far as I know”. While improving skills on oral communication, people in a workplace must learn the art of listening. In addition, one must also have a positive body language during conversations. A person with a smiling face and positive attitude can raise the spirits of everyone around him. When we’re talking to someone, we must give the other person an opportunity to talk as it improves our listening ability.
Communication is an art and it can be improved by working on it constantly. Since it is not an overnight work, one needs to learn it by observing people who are good at it.

The Mystery of the Flashing Fireflies
During summer nights fireflies flash in the darkness. They look like bright spots of light dancing on the breeze. Catching them in a jar for a few minutes can be fun. Fireflies are not really flies, though. They are winged beetles. Scientists are using these special beetles to learn more about our world.
The reason a firefly flashed its light is to find a mate. There are around two thousand species, or kinds, of fireflies. Fireflies mate only with their own species. Each kind of firefly has its own flash pattern. It is important that fireflies recognize this pattern. That way they can find bugs of their own kind. The male firefly flies around in the sky while the female firefly stays close to the ground.
For many years, how a firefly flashes its light was a mystery. Scientists now know that a firefly’s light is a cold light. It gives off all of its power as light. It does not produce heat. A normal light bulb gives off only ten percent of its power as light. The rest of the power is wasted as heat. That is why a light bulb that has been on for a while is very hot. The firefly’s light does not feel hot like a light bulb.
Scientists have also learned that fireflies have a small built-in lantern. This special lantern is located inside a firefly’s body. To create light, a gas flows through tiny tubes. This causes the firefly to light up. A firefly can also turn its light on and off quickly. This puzzled scientists. They learned that short bursts of this gas make the firefly glow. When the gas fades, the light goes out. This process happens very quickly.
Scientists know that what they learn from fireflies will be important. Medical studies using fireflies are helping scientists fight illnesses in human beings. They have made new medicines from the chemicals used by fireflies to make light. Fireflies have also helped with new discoveries. New flashlights and flares have been made based on fireflies. These new flashlights and flares produce a cold light like a firefly. This way all the power makes the light shine. This little bug may be a pleasure to watch, but it is also an important part of our lives.
【小题1】Why did the author most likely include Paragraph 4?

第二节 完形填空（共20小题；每小题1分，满分20分）
请认真阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
Learn to Meet Challenges
My classmates called me “the alien” ,and they avoided me like the plague（瘟疫）.As a young boy, I  36   from a serious skin disease ,which filled my arms with scars（伤疤）. The true   37   of my condition, however, was social: I lived a life of loneliness.
Doctors predicted that I would never fully recover, but my parents encouraged me to hope for the future, teaching me that any difficulty could be overcome. I therefore took a / an   38    role in fighting against my disease, trying many medications and herbs, and my health   39    greatly before I graduated. I realized that my personal   40   had led to this improvement. I regained self-confidence and made many friends at school.
Years later,   41    my personal battle against disease, I learned a great deal about   42    by overcoming difficulties.
I joined the Culture Club as a Special Event Director. I  43   a group of six students in organizing various activities. I was the most advanced ESL student among the group, so I considered myself the most capable. But I quickly learned my   44    , While preparing for our first presentation, I was   45  with my team members and often rejected their   46      . I
performed most of their tasks myself , allowing them to   47    me only with small details. As a result, the presentation was not very successful. The setback   48    me, and I spoke of it to the club’s director. She responded that she   49  my ability to succeed in the future. This comment filled me with   50   , for I realized that I had never trusted my own team members.
51   they were weak in English, they had many valuable talents. I immediately   52   my policy, allowing my team members to choose the tasks they desired and to complete them on their own. For our program, we had many meetings, which gave   53  to many good ideas. Most importantly, the atmosphere among us improved dramatically. We were   54   and eager to devote time to the program , and I learned what true leadership is.
My experiences  55   improved my ability to handle challenging situations.
36. A. judged  B. suffered     C. prevented   D. separated
37. A. pain     B. sign    C. value  D. meaning

It took courage to stand up at work. Now more and more people like to have a change and stand up when they are on something important. Standing up is popular. Medical researchers have found that people who stand at work tend to be much healthier than those who sit.
In the last few years, many office supply companies have begun to sell the adjustable- height desk. These so- called “ sit/ stand” models are equipped with an electric motor that lets them shift from chair height to person height at the push of a button. Unfortunately, they’re regarded as specially furniture. Sit/ stand desks tend to be expensive, hard to find and not easy to test it in person.
When you worked standing up, your mind was more excited and new ideas kept coming out. This is because when you’re standing, you feel a bit unchained from your desk. If you got stuck on a word or sentence as you wrote, you found yourself shaking your arms, bouncing on your feet or stepping away from the desk for a bit------ things you couldn’t do in a chair. Often, standing up seemed to relax your mind enough for you to get over creative barriers.
There’s one other thing about standing for a long time;  you tended to get hungrier than you do when you sit on a chair. That felt like confirmation of the stand-up advocates’ belief that you burn more calories when you stand than when you sit. For this reason alone, I’m hoping that sit/ stand desks one day hit the mainstream, with mass- market furniture companies making many low- priced versions. We could all do with a bit more standing up.
【小题1】We can learn that the adjustable- height desk is_______.

Uncle Tom gave little Vicki Black a birthday gift one week before her birthday. He told her not to open it until her birthday. She knew her mother wouldn’t tolerate any disrespect to the kind man who helped them out after Vicki’s father passed away; besides, Vicki didn’t want Uncle Tom to get angry. But little Vicky didn’t want to just hold it and guess what was in it. After all, she looked forward to his coming to show her interesting things, like how to turn an old sock into a doll.
All the day, Vicki couldn’t stop thinking about the gift while her teacher was giving a lecture. Vicki sat still in her seat, drawing paper dolls inside the box. When school was done, she raced home. Walking into the room, again, she shook the present, but she heard nothing. Holding her breath, she opened the box and looked inside. Seconds later, she cried. When Mrs. Black saw the box, she said angrily, “Didn’t I tell you to leave it alone?” Vicki sobbed and said, “Mommy, you don’t understand.”
“Don’t cry to me. You have missed everything now, just because you couldn’t wait,” Mrs. Black accused. “What will Uncle Tom think now?”
“Uncle Tom gave me nothing,” Vicki cried and handed the empty box to her mother. “He played a trick on me.”
Mrs. Black said doubtfully, “Uncle Tom is not like that. You must have dropped it.”
Vicki kept crying. Only a rapid knock on the door made the house quiet. It was Uncle Tom. He looked at the empty box. “You have already done it? I told you to wait for your birthday.”
“You didn’t give me a gift.” Fresh tears filled her eyes.
“I try to give you something. I know your birthday is a special day. I tell myself to give you something valuable to last your whole life. I think hard and get the idea to give you an important lesson. If you open it on birthday, I see you learn. Then I will make a big party to celebrate. Maybe next year you listen and then you will understand the gift better.
Vicki’s cheeks flushed（脸红）.
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