阅读下面短文,从短文后各题的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中,选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。

One minute means a lot in one's life.

During his college years,Rogers ___________a summer in an Idaho logging camp(伐木场).When the boss had to leave for a few days,he put Rogers in charge.

___________if the men refuse to follow my orders?” Rogers asked. He thought of Tony,an immigrant worker who___________all day,giving the other men a___________time.

“Fire them,” the boss said. Then,as if ___________ Rogers' mind,he added,“I suppose you think you are going to fire Tony if you get the___________.I'd feel___________ about that. I have been logging for 40 years. Tony is the most___________worker I've ever had. I know he is a troublemaker and that he ___________ everybody and everything. But he comes in first and leaves last. There has not been an___________ for eight years on the hill where he works.”

Rogers took over the next day. He went to Tony and spoke to him. “Tony,do you know I'm in charge here today?”Tony grunted(嘟囔).“I was going to fire you the first time we tangled(纠缠),___________ I want you to know I'm not,”he told Tony,___________what the boss had said.

When Rogers finished,Tony ___________the spadeful(铲子)of sand he had held and tears streamed ___________ his face.

That day Tony worked harder than ever before.

Twelve years later Rogers met Tony again who was now the ___________ for railroad construction for one of the largest logging companies in the West. Rogers asked him how he came to California and happened to have such ___________ .

Tony replied,“If it not be for the one ___________ you talk to me back in Idaho,I kill somebody someday. One minute ___________ my whole life.”

Effective managers know the ___________ of taking a moment to point out what a worker is doing well. But what a ___________a minute of yes can make in any relationship!

1.A.wasted B.spent C.trained D.traveled

2.A.What B.How C.Why D.Who

3.A.troubled B.helped C.smiled D.spoke

4.A.easy B.surprising C.happy D.hard

5.A.recognizing B.having C.bearing D.reading

6.A.chance B.order C.support D.evidence

7.A.proud B.bad C.ugly D.well

8.A.quarrelsome B.elegant C.reliable D.silent

9.A.respects B.protects C.hurts D.hates

10.A.accident B.chance C.opportunity D.argument

11.A.and B.or C.besides D.but

12.A.lying B.adding C.smiling D.replying

13.A.threw B.dropped C.carried D.lifted

14.A.through B.on C.down D.in

15.A.boss B.worker C.engine-driver D.immigrant

16.A.railroad B.companies C.life D.success

17.A.word B.thing C.minute D.lesson

18.A.save B.change C.color D.lose

19.A.importance B.method C.result D.influence

20.A.choice B.decision C.difference D.conclusion

It is widely known that any English conversation begins with The Weather. Such a fixation with the weather finds expression in Dr. Johnson's famous comment that “When two English meet, their first talk is of weather.” Though Johnson's observation is as accurate now as it was over two hundred years ago, most commentators fail to come up with a convincing explanation for this English weather-speak.

Bill Bryson, for example, concludes that, as the English weather is not at all exciting, the obsession with it can hardly be understood. He argues that "To an outsider, the most striking thing about the English weather is that there is not very much of it." Simply, the reason is that the unusual and unpredictable weather is almost unknown in the British Isles.

Jeremy Paxman, however, disagrees with Bryson, arguing that the English weather is by nature attractive. Bryson is wrong, he says, because the English preference for the weather has nothing to do with the natural phenomena. "The interest is less in the phenomena themselves, but in uncertainty." According to him, the weather in England is very changeable and uncertain and it attracts the English as well as the outsider.

Bryson and Paxman stand for common misconceptions about the weather-speak among the English. Both commentators, somehow, are missing the point. The English weather conversation is not really about the weather at all. English weather-speak is a system of signs, which is developed to help the speakers overcome the natural reserve and actually talk to each other. Everyone knows conversations starting with weather-speak are not requests for weather data. Rather, they are routine greetings, conversation starters or the blank "fillers". In other words, English weather-speak is a means of social bonding.

32.1.The author mentions Dr. Johnson's comment to show that ___________ .

A. most commentators agree with Dr. Johnson

B. Dr. Johnson is famous for his weather observation

C. the comment was accurate two hundred years ago

D. English conversations usually start with the weather

2.What does the underlined word “obsession” most probably refer to?

A. A social trend. B. An emotional state.

C. A historical concept. D. An unknown phenomenon.

3.According to the passage, Jeremy Paxman believes that____________ .

A. Bill Bryson has little knowledge of the weather

B. there is nothing special about the English weather

C. the English weather attracts people to the British Isles

D. English people talk about the weather for its uncertainty

4.What is the author's main purpose of writing the passage?

A. To explain what English weather-speak is about.

B. To analyze misconceptions about the English weather.

C. To find fault with both Bill Bryson and Jeremy Paxman.

D. To convince people that the English weather is changeable.

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