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 of 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, but for his smile．

       Several months ago I was racing to catch a bus．As I breathlessly put my handful of cash across the Greyhound 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 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 merrily 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 warning．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．” When they bear bad news, big winners deliver bombs with the emotion the bombarded （被轰炸的） person is sure to have

54．In Paragraph 1 the writer tells the story of the pharaoh to ________．

       A．make a comparison                       B．describe a scene

       C．introduce a topic                         D．offer an argument

55．From "Dreams of head-cutting!"（Paragraph 3） 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．

56．What is the main idea of the text?

     A．Learning ancient traditions can be useful．

       B．Receiving bad news requires great courage．

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

       D．Delivering bad news properly is important in communication．

Storms brought a tornado and 2-mch-thin hail （冰雹 ） to Wyoming on Thursday, a day after thunderstorms hit parts of Wyoming and Colorado with golf ball-sized hail and heavy rain．Three homes were heavily damaged by the tornado on Thursday, and 10 to 12 other buildings also had damage．One person was treated at a hospital for a cut on the head．Some power lines were also down to the ground．The tornado touched down briefly near Wheatland, north of Cheyenne, in a populated area, officials said．

Hail, the size of golf balls, was reported in the Wheatland area, and 2-inch-thin hail was reported in Laramie．Forecasters said thunderstorms that can spawn tornadoes could develop and flooding was possible．Citizens should be careful．

A fire, which is believed to have been started by lightning on Sunday night, has burned about 3,500 acres about 20 miles northwest of Wheatland．About 120 firefighters, aided by helicopters and air tankers, were on the scene．The rain provided some help for firefighters who fully controlled a 227-acre wildfire in northern Colorado, but the weather in the beginning hurt efforts to control a 6,000-acre blaze （火焰） in Wyoming's Medicine Bow National Forest．Storms passed close to the Wyoming fire but mostly brought winds that fanned the flames．Rain and hail fell later but didn't make a big difference, said fire spokeswoman Beth Hermanson．

Kyle Fredin, working for the National Weather Service in Denver, said the beginning of June is the peak time for such severe weather in Colorado．Most of the state has been experiencing moderate-to-extreme drought conditions．

60．What does the underlined word "spawn" in Paragraph 2 mean．

A．Cause　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　 B．Involve　　　　　 　　

　　　 C．Tolerate　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 D．Reject

61．From the text we can learn the wildfire about 20 miles northwest of Wheatland____．

　　　 A．has been burning for a whole week　　　　

　　　 B．was started by someone on purpose

　　　 C．died out immediately the rain came　　　　

　　　 D．was very hard for firefighters to control

62．The weather hurt efforts to control a 6,000-acre blaze because ____．

　　　 A．storms didn't pass close to the Wyoming fire

　　　 B．heavy winds stopped firefighters from working

　　　 C．rain and hail stopped firefighters from working

　　　 D．the flames became worse after the storms brought winds

63．According to what Kyle Fredin said, we can infer that _____．

　　　 A．Colorado has never experienced such severe weather before

　　　 B．it's not strange that a storm hit Colorado at the beginning of June

　　　 C．moderate-to-extreme drought conditions often lead to thunderstorms

　　　 D．Colorado will be frequently hit by severe weather in the following months

    It’s hardly surprising that weather is a favorite topic for so many people around the world---it affects where we choose to live, what we wear, our moods, and perhaps even our national characteristics．Studies have shown that changeable weather can make it difficult to concentrate, cloudy skies slow down reaction, and high humidity with hot, dry winds makes many people bad-tempered．

    If you live in a place like Britain, where the weather seems to change daily if not hourly, you could be forgiven for thinking that the weather is random．In fact, the weather is controlled by systems which move around areas of the globe．In the UK the weather depends on depressions, often called lows, and anticyclones, also known as highs．These systems start in the Atlantic Ocean, and make their way across the British Isles from the west to the east．Highs bring sunny weather, while lows bring rain and wind．In modern times, human activities seem to be altering weather patterns．Gases produced by heavy industry change the temperature of the Earth’s surface, and affect cloud formation．Some researchers say that factories in Europe and North America may have been one of the causes of the droughts in Africa in the 1980s．

    The human race has always tried to guess the weather, especially in areas of the world where there are frequent changes．Traditional rhymes point to early attempts to identify weather patterns, popular poems include:

    Red sky at night, shepherds’ delight; red sky in the morning, shepherds’ warning．

    Flies will swarm before a storm．

    Rain before 7, clear by 11．

    While folk wisdom can still provide a guide to help forecast weather, today’s methods of prediction increasingly rely on technology．Satellites, balloons, ships, aircrafts and weather centers with sensitive monitoring equipment, send data to computers．The data is then processed, and the weather is predicted．However, even this system cannot predict weather for longer than about a week．

1.When weather keeps changing, _____________．

    A．people become bad-tempered

    B．people’s reaction slows down

    C．people find it hard to focus on their work

    D．people become hungrier

2.What is mainly talked about in the second paragraph?

    A．Changes in weather．             B．Weather in Britain．

    C．African droughts．               D．Research on weather．

3.The weather in Britain is _______________．

    A．random         B．moist          C．depressing     D．satisfying

4.According to a traditional rhyme, if there is a red sky at night, the next day will be _______．

    A．windy          B．rainy          C．fine           D．snowy

5.Which of the following statements is true?

    A．Anticyclones often bring rain and wind．

    B．Weather forecasting has been done for a long time．

    C．Weather could never be predicted．

    D．Modern methods of weather prediction are developed from folk wisdom．