I wonder how many _____ languages he can speak? (foreigner)
Many students are willing to believe that there is really something wrong with them. More students than ever before tell me and my colleagues that they are indeed bad writers and need lots of help with grammar and punctuation. I feel like a doctor, my job is to diagnose (诊断) the disease and prescribe cures whenever I read student writing, It would be easy enough for me to circle spelling errors, cross out unnecessary commas, line out wordy sentences. And knowing that this sort of marking can sting, I would of course write, onto the end of the paper, something about how I know the student really tried hard, something about his rich imagination or his clear potential for doing well.
But I wonder whether all these well-intentioned scrawls (潦草写几句话) would do little more than confirm my student’s fears about how crippled he is.
According to the passage, a "skills cripple" is someone who ______. ()
A.is seriously ill
B.has a rich imagination
C.is a bad writer
D.has a serious injury to the leg
I wonder how Mrs. Brown has been ______ in hospital.
A.getting off
B.getting across
C.getting on
D.getting through
Linda:Hello! This is Linda speaking.
Chris:Hello, Linda, this is Chris. _______66________ this Friday evening?
Linda:Yes, why?
Chris:There‘s a good concert, and I’ve got two tickets. I wonder ________67_______.
Linda:That‘s great! _________68_________?
Chris:7 o‘clock. But how about _________69__________ at 6:45?
Linda:OK. I think I can make it.
Chris:After the concert, ________70_________, shall we?
Linda:Wonderful! Why don‘t we go to a Chinese restaurant?
Chris:Why not? OK, see you Friday.
Linda:See you then. Bye!
__________
Faces, like fingerprints(指纹) , are unique. Did you ever wonder how it is possible for us to recognize people? Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face different from another. Yet a very young child—or even an animal, such as a pigeon—can learn to recognize faces. We all take this ability for granted.
We also tell people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone's personality, we mean the ways in which he or she acts, speaks, thinks and feels that make that individual different from others.
Like the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing someone's personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe what a "nice face" looked like, you probably would have a difficult time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a" nice person" , you might begin to think about someone who was kind, considerate (考虑 周到的) , friendly, warm, and so forth.
There are many words to describe how a person thinks, feels and acts. Gordon an Ports, an American psychologist, found nearly 18, 000 English words characterizing differences in people's behavior. And many of us use this information as a basis for describing, or typing his personality. Bookworms, conservatives, military types—people are described with such terms.
People have always tried to" type" each other. Actors in early Greek drama wore masks to show the audience whether they played the villain's (坏人) or the hero 's role. In fact, the words "person" and" personality" come from the Latin persona, meaning " mask " . Today, most television and movie actors do not wear masks. But we can easily tell the "good guys" from the "bad guys" because the two types differ in appearance as well as in actions.
The main idea of this passage is ______.
A.how to distinguish people's faces
B.how to describe people's personality
C.how to distinguish people both inward (内向的) and outward (外向的)
D.how to differ good persons from bad persons
提示:星期三晚上有一个音乐会,Betty有两张票,打电话给Rose,问她是否有空前往,并约她音乐会后去看望王大爷,Rose听了很高兴,两人相约在六点四十五分入口处见面。
Rose:Hello!This is Rose speaking.
Betty:Hello!Rose,this is Betty. (1) this Wednesday evening?
Rose:Yes,Why?
Betty:There&39;s a good concert,and I&39;ve got two tickets.I wonder (2) .
Rose:That&39;s great! (3) ?
Betty:7 o&39;clock.But how about (4) at 6:45?
Rose.OK.I think I can make it.
Betty;After the concert, (5) shall we?
Rose:That&39;s a good idea?Why don&39;t we take some food for him?
Betty:Why not? OK,see you Wednesday.
Rose:See you then.Bye!
_____________
_______________
________________
________________
_______________
请帮忙给出每个问题的正确答案和分析,谢谢!
A.had no children
B.was a strange man
C.was very fond of children
D.wanted people to know how rich he was
Section B – TWO questions ONLY to be attempted
iCompute was founded twenty years ago by the technology entrepreneur, Ron Yeates. It initially specialised in building bespoke computer software for the financial services industry. However, it has expanded into other specialised areas and it is currently the third largest software house in the country, employing 400 people. It still specialises in bespoke software, although 20% of its income now comes from the sales of a software package designed specifically for car insurance.
The company has grown based on a ‘work hard, play hard work ethic’ and this still remains. Employees are expected to work long hours and to take part in social activities after work. Revenues have continued to increase over the last few years, but the firm has had difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff. Approximately one-third of all employees leave within their first year of employment at the company. The company appears to experience particular difficulty in recruiting and retaining female staff, with 50% of female staff leaving within 12 months of joining the company. Only about 20% of the employees are female and they work mainly in marketing and human resources.
The company is currently in dispute with two of its customers who claim that its bespoke software did not fit the agreed requirements. iCompute currently outsources all its legal advice problems to a law firm that specialises in computer contracts and legislation. However, the importance of legal advice has led to iCompute considering the establishment of an internal legal team, responsible for advising on contracts, disputes and employment legislation.
The support of bespoke solutions and the car insurance software package was also outsourced a year ago to a third party. Although support had been traditionally handled in-house, it was unpopular with staff. One of the senior managers responsible for the outsourcing decision claimed that support calls were ‘increasingly varied and complex, reflecting incompetent end users, too lazy to read user guides.’ However, the outsourcing of support has not proved popular with iCompute’s customers and a number of significant complaints have been made about the service given to end users. The company is currently reviewing whether the software support process should be brought back in-house.
The company is still regarded as a technology leader in the market place, although the presence of so many technically gifted employees within the company often creates uncertainty about the most appropriate technology to adopt for a solution. One manager commented that ‘we have often adopted, or are about to adopt, a technology or solution when one of our software developers will ask if we have considered some newly released technology. We usually admit we haven’t and so we re-open the adoption process. We seem to be in a state of constant technical paralysis.’
Although Ron Yeates retired five years ago, many of the software developers recruited by him are still with the company. Some of these have become operational managers, employed to manage teams of software developers on internal and external projects. Subba Kendo is one of the managers who originally joined the company as a trainee programmer. ‘I moved into management because I needed to earn more money. There is a limit to what you can earn here as a software developer. However, I still keep up to date with programming though, and I am a goalkeeper for one of the company’s five-a-side football teams. I am still one of the boys.’
However, many of the software developers are sceptical about their managers. One commented that ‘they are technologically years out of date. Some will insist on writing programs and producing code, but we take it out again as soon as we can and replace it with something we have written. Not only are they poor programmers, they are poor managers and don’t really know how to motivate us.’ Although revenues have increased, profits have fallen. This is also blamed on the managers. ‘There is always an element of ambiguity in specifying customers’ requirements. In the past, Ron Yeates would debate responsibility for requirements changes with the customer. However, we now seem to do all amendments for free. The customer is right even when we know he isn’t. No wonder margins are falling. The managers are not firm enough with customers.’
The software developers are also angry that an in-house project has been initiated to produce a system for recording time spent on tasks and projects. Some of the justification for this is that a few of the projects are on a ‘time and materials’ basis and a time recording system would permit accurate and prompt invoicing. However, the other justification for the project is that it will improve the estimation of ‘fixed-price’ contracts. It will provide statistical information derived from previous projects to assist account managers preparing estimates to produce quotes for bidding for new bespoke development contracts.
Vikram Soleski, one of the current software developers, commented that ‘managers do not even have up-to-date mobile phones, probably because they don’t know how to use them. We (software developers) always have the latest gadgets long before they are acquired by managers. But I like working here, we have a good social scene and after working long hours we socialise together, often playing computer games well into the early hours of the morning. It’s a great life if you don’t weaken!’
Required:
(a) Analyse the culture of iCompute, and assess the implications of your analysis for the company’s future performance. (13 marks)
(b) iCompute is currently re-considering three high level processes:
(i) Advice on legal issues (currently outsourced)
(ii) Software support (currently outsourced)
(iii) Time recording (in-house, bespoke software development)
Evaluate, using an appropriate framework or model, the suitability of iCompute’s current approach to EACH of these high level processes. (12 marks)
One day when I was about twelve years old, it occurred to me to wonder about the phenomenon of laughter. At first I thought it is easy enough to see what I laugh at and why I am amused, but why at such times do I open my mouth and exhale in jerking gasps and wrinkle up my eyes and throw back my head and halloo like an animal? Why do I not instead rap four times on the top of my head or whistle or whirl about?
That was over twenty years ago and I am still wondering, except that I now no longer even take my first assumption for granted, I no longer clearly understand why I laugh at what amuses me nor why things are amusing. I have illustrious company in my confusion, of course, Many of the great minds of history have brought their power of concentration to bear on the mystery of humour, and, to date, their conclusions are so contradictory and ephemeral that they cannot possibly be classified as scientific.
Many definitions of the comic are incomplete and many are simply rewording of things we already know. Aristotle, for example, defined the ridiculous as that which is incongruous but represents neither **er nor pain. But that seems to me to be a most inadequate sort of observation, for of at this minute I insert here the word rutabagas, I have introduced something in congruous, something not funny. Of course, it must be admitted that Aristotle did not claim that every painless in congruity is ridiculous but as soon as we have gone as far as this admission, we begin to see that we have come to grips with a ghost when we think have it pinned, it suddenly appears behind us, mocking us.
An all-embracing definition of humour has been attempted by many philosophers, but no definition, no formula had ever been devised that is entirely satisfactory. Aristotle's definition has come to be known loosely as the "disappointment" theory, or the "frustrated expectation", but he also, discussed another theory borrowed in part from Plato which states that the pleasure we derive in laughing is an enjoyment of the misfortune of others, due to a momentary feeling of superiority or gratified vanity in appreciation of the fact that we ourselves are not in the observed predicament.
第36题:Which of the following can be inferred from the first paragraph?
[A] People don't like to be considered as one with no sense of humour.
[B] People will give you a satisfactory answer to what humour is.
[C] People would like to be a liar or a coward.
[D] People can make light of other's comment on their sense of humour.
I wonder why he______to discuss the problem at the meeting.
A.declined
B.rejected
C.refused
D.A/C