A popular saying goes, “Sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” However, that’s not really true. Words have the power to build us up or tear us down. It doesn’t matter if the words come from someone else or ourselves – the positive and negative effects are just as lasting.
We all talk to ourselves sometimes. We’re usually too embarrassed to admit it, though. But we really shouldn’t be, because more and more experts believe talking to ourselves out loud is a healthy habit.
This “self-talk” helps us motivate ourselves, remember things, solves problems, and calm ourselves down. Beware, though, that as much as 77% of self-talk tends to be negative. So in order to stay positive, we should only speak words of encouragement to ourselves. We should also be quick to give ourselves a pat on the back. The next time you finish a project, do well in a test, or finally clean your room, join me in saying, “Good job!”
Words possess power because of their lasting effects. Many of us regret something we once said. And we remember unkind words said to us! Before speaking, we should always ask ourselves: Is it true? Is it loving? Is it needed? If what we want to say doesn’t pass this test, then it’s better left unsaid.
Words possess power: both positive and negative. Those around us receive encouragement when we speak positively. We can offer hope, build self-esteem(自尊) and motive others to do their best. Negative words destroy all those things. Will we use our words to hurt or to heal? The choice is ours.
【小题1】The author argues in the first paragraph that ________.

B

I’ve just done my first jump since the accident that nearly killed me just a year ago. As I was lying in hospital, thinking that I would never skydive again, I wasn’t feeling glad to be alive. Instead I was wondering how I could possibly live without it.

It all started one evening after another nine-to-five day. I was sitting at home thinking, “There has to be more to life than this,” when an advertisement came on the television: “Try skydiving!”

The next day, I called the nearest skydiving centre and booked my first jump.

I will never forget my first jump. It was a beautiful, cloudless day and the sun was just going down. As I pushed myself away from the plane at 11,000 feet, my mind went blank.

Words cannot describe the excitement I experienced while I was free-falling. That was the most amazing four minutes of my life.

From the first jump, I was hooked. I started spending every free moment I had skydiving. At work, I sat in front of my computer and imagined ways of making more money so that I could jump more often.

The accident happened on my 1,040th jump. Another skydiver collided (碰撞) with my parachute (降落伞) at 80 feet. I fell and hit the ground at about 30 mph, face down. I broke my legs, my right arm and my nose. I lost 6 litres of blood, 19 teeth and 25 pounds of fat. I was lucky to be alive.

People who have never experienced skydiving will find it hard to understand that my only motivation to get better was that I could do it again. All I can say is that for me, skydiving is life and life is skydiving.

50. What can we learn about the author’s first skydiving from the text?

A. The author planned it for a long time.

B. The author was too excited to enjoy it.

C. It turned out to be fairly successful.

D. It took place a year before the accident.

51. The underlined part “I was hooked” most probably means “__________”.

A. I was attracted by skydiving          B. I was shocked by skydiving

C. I became familiar with skydiving      D. I became curious about skydiving

52. Which of the following shows the author’s strong will for skydiving?

A. The author spent almost every nine-to-five day skydiving.

B. The author worked hard to make more money for skydiving.

C. The author imagined himself skydiving while at the hospital.

D. The author expected to recover only to continue skydiving.

A popular saying goes, “Sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” However, that’s not really true. Words have the power to build us up or tear us down. It doesn’t matter if the words come from someone else or ourselves – the positive and negative effects are just as lasting.

We all talk to ourselves sometimes. We’re usually too embarrassed to admit it, though. But we really shouldn’t be, because more and more experts believe talking to ourselves out loud is a healthy habit.

This “self-talk” helps us motivate ourselves, remember things, solves problems, and calm ourselves down. Beware, though, that as much as 77% of self-talk tends to be negative. So in order to stay positive, we should only speak words of encouragement to ourselves. We should also be quick to give ourselves a pat on the back. The next time you finish a project, do well in a test, or finally clean your room, join me in saying, “Good job!”

Words possess power because of their lasting effects. Many of us regret something we once said. And we remember unkind words said to us! Before speaking, we should always ask ourselves: Is it true? Is it loving? Is it needed? If what we want to say doesn’t pass this test, then it’s better left unsaid.

Words possess power: both positive and negative. Those around us receive encouragement when we speak positively. We can offer hope, build self-esteem(自尊) and motive others to do their best. Negative words destroy all those things. Will we use our words to hurt or to heal? The choice is ours.

1.The author argues in the first paragraph that ________.

A．words will never hurt us at all       

B．words have lasting effects on us

C．positive effects last longer than negative effects

D．negative words last longer than positive effects

2.Why should we not feel embarrassed when talking to ourselves?

A．Almost everybody has the habit of talking to oneself.

B．It does harm to have “self-talk” when we are alone.

C．Talking to ourselves helps us to solve all the problems.

D．Talking to ourselves is believed to be good for our health.

3.The underlined phrase “give ourselves a pat on the back” in Paragraph 3 means _________.

A．blame ourselves    B．punish ourselves  C．praise ourselves       D．talk to ourselves

4.Which of the following statements would the author agree to?

A．It is better to think twice before talking to others.

B．It is impossible for unkind words to be forgotten.

C．Words always possess long positive effects.

D．Kind words are sometimes not needed at all.

A popular saying goes, “Sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” However, that’s not really true. Words have the power to build us up or tear us down. It doesn’t matter if the words come from someone else or ourselves – the positive and negative effects are just as lasting.

We all talk to ourselves sometimes. We’re usually too embarrassed to admit it, though. But we really shouldn’t be, because more and more experts believe talking to ourselves out loud is a healthy habit.

This “self-talk” helps us motivate ourselves, remember things, solves problems, and calm ourselves down. Beware, though, that as much as 77% of self-talk tends to be negative. So in order to stay positive, we should only speak words of encouragement to ourselves. We should also be quick to give ourselves a pat on the back. The next time you finish a project, do well in a test, or finally clean your room, join me in saying, “Good job!”

Words possess power because of their lasting effects. Many of us regret something we once said. And we remember unkind words said to us! Before speaking, we should always ask ourselves: Is it true? Is it loving? Is it needed? If what we want to say doesn’t pass this test, then it’s better left unsaid.

Words possess power: both positive and negative. Those around us receive encouragement when we speak positively. We can offer hope, build self-esteem(自尊) and motive others to do their best. Negative words destroy all those things. Will we use our words to hurt or to heal? The choice is ours.

1.The author argues in the first paragraph that ________.

A．words will never hurt us at all

B．words have lasting effects on us

C．positive effects last longer than negative effects

D．negative words last longer than positive effects

2.Why should we not feel embarrassed when talking to ourselves?

A．Almost everybody has the habit of talking to oneself.

B．It does harm to have “self-talk” when we are alone.

C．Talking to ourselves helps us to solve all the problems.

D．Talking to ourselves is believed to be good for our health.

3.The underlined phrase “give ourselves a pat on the back” in Paragraph 3 means _________.

A．blame ourselves                                   B．punish ourselves

C．praise ourselves                                   D．talk to ourselves

4.Which of the following statements would the author agree to?

A．It is better to think twice before talking to others.

B．It is impossible for unkind words to be forgotten.

C．Words always possess long positive effects.

D．Kind words are sometimes not needed at all.

A

Think of some of your favorite singers. When you listen, they can make you happy or sad, peaceful or angry. They can make you relax or want to get up and dance. Gifted singers have the power to affect us in many ways — emotionally, physically and mentally.

But becoming a great singer isn’t as easy as listening to one. It takes practice, devotion and strong lungs! Just ask the well-known American opera（歌剧）star Carol Vaness.

At the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where she often sings, Carol’s voice must be loud enough to be heard by four thousand people. It must reach every person in the theater, without a microphone, even when she’s singing softly. The reason Carol can project her voice that far is the way she breathes.

“When you breathe, it’s like a swimmer taking a deep breath before going underwater, ” Carol explains. “You have to take a lot of air into your lungs.”

According to Carol, the main difference between pop singing and opera is “how you breathe, how much air you take in, and how you control it coming out. Regular singing is more like speaking, and it’s a lot softer. When I sing for children, they’re often surprised by how the vibrations strike their ears — like waves on a beach, ” Carol says. “In opera, the air doesn’t just go out of your mouth — it vibrates in your chest, the way a guitar vibrates when it’s played.”

Ever since she started piano lessons at the age of ten, Carol has loved music. As she got older, she decided to become a music teacher. When she went to college, she took singing lessons as part of her studies. Her voice teacher discovered that nineteen-year-old Carol had an exceptionally beautiful soprano voice – the highest singing voice for women.

Carol decided to make opera her goal, not only because she loved to sing but also because she loved the drama. Opera is a play in which the characters sing the words instead of speaking them. The stories of opera can be tragic or comical. They can be personal stories about two people falling in love or grand stories about kings and queens who lived long ago. As the characters in an opera sing, the emotions(情感) expressed by words and music come to life.

Today, Carol performs throughout the United States and Europe and she has song for almost twenty years. But she has never forgotten where she started singing in the first palace.

“Put your heart into your singing and enjoy it,” says Carol, “because singing is a great joy. That’s why I sing. In fact, that’s why everybody sings.”

1.According to the passage, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City _____.

A. is a five-story building                B. can seat 4,000 people

C. has no microphone in it                D. can project the singer’s voice

2.What is the best title for this passage?

A. Opera Singing and Pop Singing          B. The Way an Opera Star Sings

C. An Opera Star                        D. Singing without a Microphone

3.Which statement is true?

A. A pop singer breathes more deeply than an opera singer when he or she sings.

B. Opera singing is more like speaking.

C. A pop singer takes in much more air than an opera singer when singing.

D. An opera singer breathes differently from a pop singer when singing.

4.From the passage you can conclude all the following EXCEPT that _____.

A. Carol once learned to play the piano             

B. Carol worked as a music teacher

C. Carol has been singing opera for 20 years or so     

D. Carol is popular with Americans and Europeans

5.The sentence “Put your heart into your singing” in the last paragraph means  “_____”.

A. devoting yourself to singing         B. taking trouble to sing

C. singing happily                   D. trying your best to sing