A. Use business recordings

B. Speak slowly and clearly

C. Learn telephone manners

D. Practice often with a friend

E. Always be considerate of your friends

F. Make sure you understand the other speaker

Telephone tips

If the phone rings and someone speaks in English, don’t be afraid to answer it! The fear of talking on the phone in a second language will disappear if you practice often. Here are a few tips for helping you improve your ability to answer a call in English.

1._______________

  Listening to someone speaking in a second language over the telephone can be very challenging because you cannot see the person you are trying to hear. However, it may be even more difficult for the person you are talking with to understand you. You may not realize that your pronunciation isn’t clear because your teacher and fellow students know and understand you. Pay special attention to your weak areas of your pronunciation when you are on the phone.

2._______________

  Don’t pretend to understand everything you hear over the telephone. Even native speakers ask each other to repeat and confirm information from time to time. This is especially important if you are taking a message for someone else. Learn the appropriate expressions that English speakers use when they don’t hear something properly. Don’t be afraid to remind the person to slow down more than once. Keep your telephone in an area that is away from other noise distractions such as a radio or television.

3._______________.

  Ask another student to practice talking on the phone with you. You might choose one night a week and take turns phoning each other at a certain time. Try to talk for at least fifteen minutes. You can talk socially, or role play different scenarios in a business environment. The most important thing about practicing telephone English is that you are not able to see each other’s mouths.

4. _______________. 

  There are many ways to get free telephone English practice. After business hours, you can call and listen to recorded messages. Write down what you hear the first time, and then call back and check if your notes are accurate. Make sure you have a pen handy so that you can repeat the information and check your comprehension.

5._______________.

  The way that you speak to your best friend on the phone is very different from the way you should speak to someone in a business setting. Many speakers make the mistake of being too direct on the telephone. It is possible that the person on the other line will think that you are being rude on purpose if you don’t use formal language in certain situations. Sometimes just one word such as could or may is necessary in order to sound polite. Take the time to learn how to answer the phone and say goodbye in a polite manner, as well as all the various ways one can start and end a conversation casually.

Listening to someone on the telephone is like listening to a taped recording in class. The only difference is that you have to talk back! Follow the tips above and remember that practice makes perfect!

Listening is not as easy as someone thought. Even good listeners may recall only fifty percent of what they hear. Retention, the ability to remember and recall information, decreases about twenty to twenty – five percent after a few days. So no matter how well you listen in class, you’re always going to have to refresh your memory before a test! Unfortunately, many people have poor listening habits, and little listening training. To improve your listening skills, it’s important to understand what causes poor listening.

If you find it difficult to concentrate solely on what a speaker is saying, there’s good reason. The mind processes information much faster than a speaker can speak. The brain can process over 500 words per minute, while the average speaker talks as a rate of 124 to 250 words per minute. That means the mind can hear what’s being said and can think about something else at the same time.

If you have a negative idea about the speaker or the topic, you’ll find it difficult to listen attentively. Hostile or captive audiences often have more difficultly listening than do favorable or voluntary ones.

If a speaker speaks “above the heads” of an audience, people find it difficult to concentrate. Speakers who use unfamiliar words or who use incomplete explanations make it more difficult to listen. Speakers who “speak down” to audiences, failing to acknowledge what the audience already knows, also create mental blocks.

When people listen selectively, they simply block out what they don’t want to hear. For instance, many people have habits that are dangerous to their health, like smoking. However, they often choose to block out what a speaker says about health risks. They may listen to a speech and think that the speaker’s message applies to other people, not them. In other words, they hear what they want to hear and ignore what they don’t want to hear.

D

What's your earliest childhood memory? Can you remember the first time you heard thunder or watched a television program? Adults seldom recall events much earlier than the year or so before entering school, just as children younger than three or four rarely retain any memory of specific, personal experiences.

A variety of explanations have been proposed by psychologists for this "childhood amnesia"( 记忆缺失,健忘).One argues that the hippocampus, the region of the brain which is responsible for forming memories, does not mature（成熟）until about the age of two. But the most popular theory maintains (主张）that, since adults do not think like children, they cannot access childhood memories. Adults think in words, and their life memories are like stories. But when they search through their mental files for early childhood memories to add to this verbal life story, they don't find any that fit the pattern. It's like trying to find a Chinese word in an English dictionary.

Now psychologist Annette Simms offers a new explanation for childhood amnesia. She argues that there simply aren't any early childhood memories to recall. According to Dr. Simms, children need to learn to use someone else's spoken description of their personal experiences in order to turn their own short-term, quickly forgotten impressions of these experiences into long-term memories. In other words, children have to talk about their experiences and hear others talk about them - Mother talking about the afternoon spent looking for crabs(蟹) at the beach or Dad asking them about their day at Ocean Park. Without this verbal reinforcement, says Dr. Simms, children cannot form permanent memories of their personal experiences.

69. According to the passage, it is widely believed that_________.

A. it is impossible for an adult to recall his(or her) childhood experiences

B. adults virtually have no access to their childhood memories

C. adults think in words while children think in images

D. adults and children have different brain structures

70. "Trying to find a Chinese word in an English dictionary" is stated in the passage to show that_______.

A. Chinese and English are totally different languages

B. it is unlikely to find a Chinese word in an English dictionary

C. adults and children have different memory patterns

D. memories are in some way connected with languages

71. According to Annette Simms,_______________.

A. verbal reinforcement is necessary for children to have permanent memories

B. there does not exist such things as childhood memories

C. children's brains are mature enough to form permanent memories

D. children are generally inexperienced and unable to remember things they don't understand

A. Use business recordings

B. Speak slowly and clearly

C. Learn telephone manners

D. Practice often with a friend

E. Always be considerate of your friends

F. Make sure you understand the other speaker

Telephone tips

If the phone rings and someone speaks in English, don’t be afraid to answer it! The fear of talking on the phone in a second language will disappear if you practice often. Here are a few tips for helping you improve your ability to answer a call in English.

61._______________

Listening to someone speaking in a second language over the telephone can be very challenging because you cannot see the person you are trying to hear. However, it may be even more difficult for the person you are talking with to understand you. You may not realize that your pronunciation isn’t clear because your teacher and fellow students know and understand you. Pay special attention to your weak areas of your pronunciation when you are on the phone.

62._______________

Don’t pretend to understand everything you hear over the telephone. Even native speakers ask each other to repeat and confirm information from time to time. This is especially important if you are taking a message for someone else. Learn the appropriate expressions that English speakers use when they don’t hear something properly. Don’t be afraid to remind the person to slow down more than once. Keep your telephone in an area that is away from other noise distractions such as a radio or television.

63._______________.

Ask another student to practice talking on the phone with you. You might choose one night a week and take turns phoning each other at a certain time. Try to talk for at least fifteen minutes. You can talk socially, or role play different scenaries in a business environment. The most important thing about practicing telephone English is that you are not able to see each other’s mouths.

64. _______________.

There are many ways to get free telephone English practice. After business hours, you can call and listen to recorded messages. Write down what you hear the first time, and then call back and check if your notes are accurate. Make sure you have a pen handy so that you can repeat the information and check your comprehension.

65._______________.

The way that you speak to your best friend on the phone is very different from the way you should speak to someone in a business setting. Many speakers make the mistake of being too direct on the telephone. It is possible that the person on the other line will think that you are being rude on purpose if you don’t use formal language in certain situations. Sometimes just one word such as could or may is necessary in order to sound polite. Take the time to learn how to answer the phone and say goodbye in a polite manner, as well as all the various ways one can start and end a conversation casually.

Listening to someone on the telephone is like listening to a taped recording in class. The only difference is that you have to talk back! Follow the tips above and remember that practice makes perfect!

    Sometimes you’ll hear people say that you can’t love others until you love yourself．Sometimes you’ll hear people say that you can’t expect someone else to love you until you love yourself．Either way, you’ve got to love yourself first and this can be tricky．Sure we all know that we’re the apple of our parents’ eyes, and that our Grandmas think we’re great talents and our Uncle Roberts think that we will go to the Olympics．but sometimes it’s a lot harder to think such nice thoughts about ourselves．If you find that believing in yourself is a challenge．it is time you build a positive self-image and learn to love yourself．

    Self-image is your own mind’s picture of yourself．This image includes the way you look, the way you act, the way you talk and the way you think．Interestingly, our self-images are often quite different from the images others hold about US．Unfortunately, most of these images are more negative than they should be．Thus changing the way you think about yourself is the key to changing your self-image and your whole world．

    The best way to defeat a passive self-image is to step back and decide to stress your successes．That is, make a list if you need to, but write down all of the great things you do every day．Don’t allow doubts to occur in it．

    It very well might be that you are experiencing a negative self-image because you can’t move past one flaw or weakness that you see about yourself．Well, roll up your sleeves and make a change of it as your primary task．If you think you’re silly because you aren’t good at math, find a tutor．If you think you’re weak because you can’t run a mile, get to the track and practice．If you think you’re dull because you don’t wear the latest trends, buy a few new clothes．But remember, just because you think it doesn’t mean it’s true．

    The best way to get rid of a negative serf-image is to realize that your image is far from objective, and to actively convince yourself of your positive qualities．Changing the way you think and working on those you need to improve will go a long way towards promoting a positive self-image．When you can pat（拍） yourself on the back, you’ll know you’re well on your way．Good luck!

1.You need to build a positive self-image when you _________．

    A．dare to challenge yourself      B．feel it hard to change yourself

    C．are unconfident about yourself  D．have a high opinion of yourself

2.According to the passage, our serf-images _________．

    A．have positive effects            B．are probably untrue

    C．are often changeable             D．have different functions

3.How should you change your serf-image according to the passage?

    A．To keep a different image of others．              B．To make your life successful．

    C．To understand your own world．                     D．To change the way you think．

4.What is the passage mainly about?

    A．How to prepare for your success．                  B．How to face challenges in your life．

    C．How to build a positive self-image．               D．How to develop your good qualities．

5.Who are the intended readers of the passage?

    A．Parents．      B．Adolescents． C．Educators．   D．People in general．