For as long as I can remember, I have been very bad at arguing with people. As soon as someone disagrees with me, I get angry because I feel attacked, like the other person is out to show that I am wrong. And for some reason, I hate being wrong! So my immediate reaction is to get very defensive, I raise my voice, and I end up saying something I later regret. Needless to say, the whole thing ends with me beating myself up, and the other person feeling alienated (疏远) from me. This bothers me especially because my mother does the exact same thing and I hate it!
I have noticed this tendency in me for a long time now, but I have never been able to stop. I did some anger management work with a therapist (治疗专家) a while ago, but because I moved and turned to an advisor at school who cannot see me regularly, I have not been able to continue this important work. They tell you to stop and count to 10, control your breathing, calm yourself down before you talk. But that's the whole problem, I could never think of stopping myself until it was too late! The hurtful things had already come out of my mouth, and I was stuck picking up the pieces.
Right now the problem is urgent because my relationship with a wonderful boyfriend is in danger because of my insecurity and hatred of being wrong. He is closing himself off to me because I have hurt him, and no doubt I am no longer attractive as a woman with no confidence in herself and a bad temper. How do I stop ruining my relationships and hating myself? How do I stop hating being wrong?
67. In what situation will the writer get angry easily?
A. When she has argument with people.
B. When people disagree with her.
C. When she is attacked.
D. When she does something wrong.
68. What does the underlined part in the first paragraph mean?
A. My mother disagrees with me.
B. My mother alienates herself from me.
C. My mother has the same problem with me.
D. My mother does the same wrong to me.
69. In the second paragraph, what does the underlined word "tendency" refer to?
A. Being bad at arguing with people.
B. Hating being wrong.
C. Being lost to others.
D. Hating my mother.
70. We can infer from the third paragraph that
A. the writer feels helpless with her problem
B. the writer finds it hard to count from one to ten
C. the writer has received effective advice about her problem
D. the writer is under the treatment of a therapist
71. What did the writer imply in the last paragraph?
A. She is closing herself off to her boyfriend.
B. She is much hurt by her boyfriend.
C. Her boyfriend has broken up with her.
D. She has to solve her problem in no time.

      For as long as I can remember, I have been very bad at arguing with people. As soon as someone disagrees with me, I get angry because I feel attacked, like the other person is out to show that I am wrong. And for some reason, I hate being wrong! So my immediate reaction is to get very defensive, I raise my voice, and I end up saying something I later regret. Needless to say, the whole thing ends with me beating myself up, and the other person feeling alienated (疏远) from me. This bothers me especially because my mother does the exact same thing and I hate it!

I have noticed this tendency in me for a long time now, but I have never been able to stop. I did some anger management work with a therapist (治疗专家) a while ago, but because I moved and turned to an advisor at school who cannot see me regularly, I have not been able to continue this important work. They tell you to stop and count to 10, control your breathing, calm yourself down before you talk. But that's the whole problem, I could never think of stopping myself until it was too late! The hurtful things had already come out of my mouth, and I was stuck picking up the pieces.

Right now the problem is urgent because my relationship with a wonderful boyfriend is in danger because of my insecurity and hatred of being wrong. He is closing himself off to me because I have hurt him, and no doubt I am no longer attractive as a woman with no confidence in herself and a bad temper. How do I stop ruining my relationships and hating myself? How do I stop hating being wrong?

67. In what situation will the writer get angry easily?

A. When she has argument with people.

B. When people disagree with her.

C. When she is attacked.

D. When she does something wrong.

68. What does the underlined part in the first paragraph mean?

A. My mother disagrees with me.

B. My mother alienates herself from me.

C. My mother has the same problem with me.

D. My mother does the same wrong to me.

69. In the second paragraph, what does the underlined word "tendency" refer to?

A. Being bad at arguing with people.

B. Hating being wrong.

C. Being lost to others.

D. Hating my mother.

70. We can infer from the third paragraph that

A. the writer feels helpless with her problem

B. the writer finds it hard to count from one to ten

C. the writer has received effective advice about her problem

D. the writer is under the treatment of a therapist

71. What did the writer imply in the last paragraph?

A. She is closing herself off to her boyfriend.

B. She is much hurt by her boyfriend.

C. Her boyfriend has broken up with her.

D. She has to solve her problem in no time.

      For as long as I can remember, I have been very bad at arguing with people. As soon as someone disagrees with me, I get angry because I feel attacked, like the other person is out to show that I am wrong. And for some reason, I hate being wrong! So my immediate reaction is to get very defensive, I raise my voice, and I end up saying something I later regret. Needless to say, the whole thing ends with me beating myself up, and the other person feeling alienated (疏远) from me. This bothers me especially because my mother does the exact same thing and I hate it!

      I have noticed this tendency in me for a long time now, but I have never been able to stop. I did some anger management work with a therapist (治疗专家) a while ago, but because I moved and turned to an advisor at school who cannot see me regularly, I have not been able to continue this important work. They tell you to stop and count to 10, control your breathing, calm yourself down before you talk. But that's the whole problem, I could never think of stopping myself until it was too late! The hurtful things had already come out of my mouth, and I was stuck picking up the pieces.

      Right now the problem is urgent because my relationship with a wonderful boyfriend is in danger because of my insecurity and hatred of being wrong. He is closing himself off to me because I have hurt him, and no doubt I am no longer attractive as a woman with no confidence in herself and a bad temper. How do I stop ruining my relationships and hating myself? How do I stop hating being wrong?

1. In what situation will the writer get angry easily?

   A. When she has argument with people.

   B. When people disagree with her.

   C. When she is attacked.

   D. When she does something wrong.

2. What does the underlined part in the first paragraph mean?

   A. My mother disagrees with me.

   B. My mother alienates herself from me.

   C. My mother has the same problem with me.

   D. My mother does the same wrong to me.

3. In the second paragraph, what does the underlined word "tendency" refer to?

   A. Being bad at arguing with people.

   B. Hating being wrong.

   C. Being lost to others.

   D. Hating my mother.

4. We can infer from the third paragraph that

   A. the writer feels helpless with her problem

   B. the writer finds it hard to count from one to ten

   C. the writer has received effective advice about her problem

   D. the writer is under the treatment of a therapist

5. What did the writer imply in the last paragraph?

   A. She is closing herself off to her boyfriend.

   B. She is much hurt by her boyfriend.

   C. Her boyfriend has broken up with her.

   D. She has to solve her problem in no time.

      For as long as I can remember, I have been very bad at arguing with people. As soon as someone disagrees with me, I get angry because I feel attacked, like the other person is out to show that I am wrong. And for some reason, I hate being wrong! So my immediate reaction is to get very defensive, I raise my voice, and I end up saying something I later regret. Needless to say, the whole thing ends with me beating myself up, and the other person feeling alienated (疏远) from me. This bothers me especially because my mother does the exact same thing and I hate it!

      I have noticed this tendency in me for a long time now, but I have never been able to stop. I did some anger management work with a therapist (治疗专家) a while ago, but because I moved and turned to an advisor at school who cannot see me regularly, I have not been able to continue this important work. They tell you to stop and count to 10, control your breathing, calm yourself down before you talk. But that's the whole problem, I could never think of stopping myself until it was too late! The hurtful things had already come out of my mouth, and I was stuck picking up the pieces.

      Right now the problem is urgent because my relationship with a wonderful boyfriend is in danger because of my insecurity and hatred of being wrong. He is closing himself off to me because I have hurt him, and no doubt I am no longer attractive as a woman with no confidence in herself and a bad temper. How do I stop ruining my relationships and hating myself? How do I stop hating being wrong?

67. In what situation will the writer get angry easily?

   A. When she has argument with people.

   B. When people disagree with her.

   C. When she is attacked.

   D. When she does something wrong.

68. What does the underlined part in the first paragraph mean?

   A. My mother disagrees with me.

   B. My mother alienates herself from me.

   C. My mother has the same problem with me.

   D. My mother does the same wrong to me.

69. In the second paragraph, what does the underlined word "tendency" refer to?

   A. Being bad at arguing with people.

   B. Hating being wrong.

   C. Being lost to others.

   D. Hating my mother.

70. We can infer from the third paragraph that

   A. the writer feels helpless with her problem

   B. the writer finds it hard to count from one to ten

   C. the writer has received effective advice about her problem

   D. the writer is under the treatment of a therapist

71. What did the writer imply in the last paragraph?

   A. She is closing herself off to her boyfriend.

   B. She is much hurt by her boyfriend.

   C. Her boyfriend has broken up with her.

   D. She has to solve her problem in no time.

Sparrow is a fast-food chain with 200 restaurants. Some years ago, the group to which Sparrow belonged was taken over by another company. Although Sparrow showed no sign of declining, the chain was generally in an unhealthy state. With more and more fast-food concepts reaching the market, the Sparrow menu had to struggle for attention. And to make matters worse, its new owner had no plans to give it the funds it required.
Sparrow failed to grow for another two years. Until a new CEO, Carl Pearson, decided to build up its market share. He did a survey, which showed that consumers who already used Sparrow restaurants were extremely positive about the chain, while customers of other fast-food chains were unwilling to turn away from them. Sparrow had to develop a new promotional campaign.
Pearson faced a battle over the future of the Sparrow brand. The chain’s owner now favored rebranding Sparrow as Marcy’s restaurants. Pearson resisted, arguing for an advertising campaign designed to convince customers that visits to Sparrow restaurants were fun. Such an attempt to establish a positive relationship between a company and the general public was unusual for that time. Pearson strongly believed that numbers were the key to success, rather than customers’ speeding power. Finally, the owner accepted his idea.
The campaign itself changed the traditional advertising style of the fast-food industry. The TV ads of Sparrow focused on entertainment and featured original songs performed by a variety of stars. Instead of showing the superiority of a specific product, the intention was to put Sparrow in the hearts of potential customers.
Pearson also made other decisions which he believed would contribute to the new Sparrow image. For example, he offered to lower the rent of any restaurants which achieved a certain increase in their turnover (营业额) .
These efforts paid off, and Sparrow soon became one of the most successful fast-food chains in the regions where it operated.
【小题1】Which was one of the problems Sparrow faced before Pearson became CEO?