An argument will break down if one of the premises is not true or if the conclusion does not logically follow from them. For example, consider this argument:
The deer population in our state should be preserved. During the hunting season hundreds of deer are killed. Therefore, the hunting season should be discontinued.
To challenge this argument, the state’s wildlife commission might agree with both the major and minor premises but question whether the conclusion follows logically from them. True, the deer population should be preserved; true, deer are killed during the hunting season. However, in a state where deer have no natural enemies, herds become too large for the natural forest vegetation to support them. The overpopulated herds eat the leaves of the young trees, killing the trees, before dying of starvation themselves. The commission might conclude, therefore, that a limited hunting season helps preserve a healthier and more stable population of deer.
People who already agree with you need no persuasion, although a well-argued case for their own point of view is always welcome. But indifferent and doubting people will tend to resist your argument because they have minds of their own. To convince them, you will need to refute(驳斥)opposing arguments.
To give up a position that seems reasonable, the arguer has to see that there is an even more reasonable one. In addition to presenting your own case, review the chief arguments of the other side and explain what you think is wrong with them.
It is the best way to deal with the other side. Often it is useful to summarize the opposing position. Sometimes a better plan is to anticipate objections as you develop your detailed reasons for your argument. Wherever you decide to deal with opposing arguments, do your best to refute them.
As you refute opposition arguments, try to establish common ground with readers who at first do not agree with your views. If you can show that you share their values, they may be able to switch to your position without giving up what they feel is important. For example, to persuade people emotionally opposed to shooting helpless deer, a state wildlife commission would have to show that it too cares about preserving deer and does not want them to die needlessly. Having established these values in common, the commission might be able to persuade people that a carefully controlled hunting season is good for the deer population because it prevents starvation caused by over-population. However, if those opposed to hunting want to persuade the commission to ban the hunting season, they would need to show that the commission could achieve its goals by some other means, such as expanding the deer preserve or allowing the deer and the food supply to come into a natural balance.
1. What does the underlined word premises mean in the first paragraph?| A．establishments | B．commercials |
| C．assumptions | D．prejudices |
| A．have the hunting season | B．make the hunters happy |
| C．protect the rest of the herds | D．create their natural enemies |
| A．present your case first | B．summarize the position of the other side |
| C．review your own views | D．pretend to be indifferent |
| A．One may give up a position when he sees a more reasonable one. |
| B．You’d better anticipate the possible objections before you give your reasons |
| C．Deer should be preserved but overpopulation will do harm to them. |
| D．Those opposed to hunting don’t have good reasons |
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【推荐1】Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Panama have agreed to create a huge joint marine reserve around the coasts of their countries. The reserve will cover 200,000 square miles of the Pacific Ocean in an area that is an important route for long-distance wildlife migrations. These are annual journeys made by many sea creatures, including sharks, stingrays. Turtles and whales, to move between feeding grounds or to breed. The leaders of the four countries announced their plan to create the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (通道) at the COP26 environmental summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
There will be a ban on commercial fishing within the zone, as well as moves to stop illegal fishing by local communities. The presidents of Colombia and Ecuador also announced that they would expand existing areas of protected water around their countries. This includes the seas around the Galápagos Islands, a group of islands that is home to a huge number of species found nowhere else on Earth. “Just as all the world leaders here have called for action not words, I believe this is a concrete action,” said Ecuador s president, Guillermo Lasso.
Alex Hearn, a marine biologist working in the Galapagos, told The Guardian newspaper that the numbers of migratory creatures—including sharks and stingrays—have fallen in recent years. The eastern Pacific attracts fishing ships from all over the world and over fishing has affected several species. Hammerhead sharks are in particular danger because their fins are a highly prized food in China. Just last year, one Ecuadorian company illegally exported 26 tons of shark fins to Hong Kong. Hearn says that the announcement is “a moment to enjoy but there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”
1. What is the purpose of creating a huge joint marine reserve around the coasts?| A．To stop over fishing. | B．To prevent sea pollution. |
| C．To feed sharks and stingrays. | D．To protect sea creature migrations. |
| A．More areas of water will be protected. |
| B．Fishing is not allowed in this protected area. |
| C．Food will be prepared to feed the wildlife in this area. . |
| D．Species around the Galápagos Islands will be specially protected. |
| A．The action is very practical. |
| B．The marine reserve is a very good plan. |
| C．Ecuador will respond to the world leaders’ call. |
| D．Few countries pay attention to marine life protection. |
| A．The announcement will solve the over-fishing problem. |
| B．Marine situation is still not optimistic and we should do more. |
| C．The numbers of sharks and stingrays have fallen in recent years. |
| D．Chinese eating fins is the main reason of the extinction of Hammerhead sharks. |
【推荐2】Australia recently declared the koala an endangered species in Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory, and New South Wales (NSW) because of its obvious population decline. In the state of NSW, koala conservation has become a key topic of discussion in the lead-up to the 25 March state election. However, the debate has focused on the expansion of protected areas and ignored the importance of koala conservation on private lands.
The major cause of the koala’s decline—in addition to climate change, wildfires, disease, and encounters with vehicles and dogs—is the loss and degradation(退化)of suitable habitat. In response, the NSW Government has expanded publicly protected areas in the state. Over the past 20 years—about three koala generations—NSW has officially confirmed an additional 1.5 million hectares(公顷)of protected land, some of which is high-quality koala habitat.
However, across Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and NSW, 77% of the koala’s range is located on land that is owned or rented by private citizens or businesses, where degradation continues. Between 2003 and 2020, agriculture, forestry and infrastructure(基础设施)development have led to the act of cutting down or burning the trees within 760,500 hectare in NSW, including in regions such as the Cumberland Plain and Liverpool Plains, where koalas are known to live. Such development has reduced the gains made through new protected areas.
The current NSW Koala Strategy adopts a free approach without any restrictions, which leaves private landowners, renters and industry have the power to decide what should be done in much of koala habitat conservation.
An effective koala conservation strategy must include conservation measures in private protected areas, such as payments for ecosystem services, in addition to publicly protected areas. In other words, post-election agendas must strengthen protection of koala habitats on private lands.
1. What did the discussion before the state election fail to notice?| A．The voice of local citizens. | B．The expansion of protected areas. |
| C．The decrease of koala population. | D．The koala conservation on private lands. |
| A．the attack of diseases | B．the spreading wildfires |
| C．the worsening of living environment | D．the constant threats from climate change |
| A．Add some background information. | B．Summarize the previous paragraphs. |
| C．Introduce a new topic for discussion. | D．Offer some advice for the government. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Tolerant. | D．Unclear. |
【推荐3】I have discovered that I have a second shadow these days as I go outside. This one, however, has four legs instead of two. It is my daughter’s adopted, black cat: Miss Alice. Every time I go out the door she is waiting on my front porch, meowing to be petted. Then she follows me down the hill to my car sometimes running in front so she can get in my way for even more petting. And when I finally return home she is there asking for attention again.
It wasn’t always this way. The very first time I saw Miss Alice she was hiding under my house just having had a family of kittens. When I looked under there I got an angry hiss (嘘声) from her, warning me I was in for a clawing if I got near her kittens. It took a lot of time, patience, kindness, love, and cat food from my daughter to tame her. At first she didn’t want to be touched at all. Then she would only allow an occasional petting. Now my daughter can pick her up and carry her up the road to her house like a little baby. It still makes me smile to see how my daughter’s loving, caring and sympathetic spirit tamed this wild cat and made her as lovable as the most affectionate dog.
I guess that is the power of love. It can heal a hurting heart. It can save a broken spirit. It can uplift a sunken soul. It can free you from fear. It can transform your life. It can even take a violent, wild cat and turn her into a puppy dog in a cat suit.
Embrace (拥抱) the love in your own life then. Welcome the love of your family and friends into your life. And let your own love flow through everything you think, everything you say, and everything you do.
1. What do we know about the cat from the first paragraph?| A．It enjoys staying with the author. | B．It tends to be in the author’s road. |
| C．It is often ignored by the daughter. | D．It gets well along with the daughter. |
| A．Feed her up. | B．Make her mild. | C．Arrange for her. | D．Dress her up. |
| A．The lovely dog. | B．The daughter’s love. | C．The cat’s babies. | D．The harmonious family. |
| A．Where there is life, there is hope. |
| B．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| C．Love is life in its fullness like the cup with its wine. |
| D．Do what you fear, and fear that nature will fade away. |
【推荐1】It’s easy to let your life be consumed by a cell phone. People use their phones for pretty much everything these days, which can result in your feeling like you’re limited by technology.
Monitor how often you’re using your phone. The first step to reducing your cell phone is being honest with yourself about how much time you spend on your phone. You can monitor your cell phone usage on a notebook.
Use a real alarm clock over your phone. Many people use their phones as an alarm clock.
Calm your fears about not knowing what is going on. Some people have a hard time putting their phones down because they worry that they will miss out on important news or updates on social media.
| A．Block time to respond to messages. |
| B．Communicate openly about online safety. |
| C．This can lead you to check your websites first thing in the morning. |
| D．There are many ways to lessen the use of your phone. |
| E．However, having the news or updates an hour sooner will not make a difference. |
| F．You can also use a phone APP to see how many times you’re on the phone. |
| G．Therefore, they should not post anything they do not want someone to see. |
【推荐2】The Chinese government ends its one-child policy (政策) and allows families to have three children. The policy is meant to balance population development, stop a falling birth rate (出生率) and strengthen the country’s labor force (劳动力).
China, with the largest population in the world, started the one-child policy in 1980. But the government allowed only a small number of couples to have two children. For example, some families in the countryside could have two children, if the first-born child is a girl. In 2016, the Chinese government gave other couples a chance to have two children if one of them was an only child. Because of aging of population, in 2021, it allowed families to have three children.
To the newest policy, different families have different opinions. “Too many young people in the cities are no longer interested in having two or three children,” an official said. “People in the countryside are more interested.”
At the end of 2021, China had a population of more than 1. 4 billion people. A total of 900 million of them have jobs. But the labor market population will drop in 30 years. That is to say, the country will be in great need of labor by the year 2050. With the three-child policy, an increase in births can solve this problem.
Boys and girls, what do you think of the three-child policy? Do you want to have new-born brothers or sisters?
1. Why does the Chinese government end the one-child policy?| A．Because China needs a larger population. |
| B．Because a falling birth rate must be stopped. |
| C．Because most families want to have a second or third child. |
| D．Because there will be less old people. |
| A．They strongly support the policy. | B．They don’t think it is good. |
| C．They’re not interested in it any more. | D．They are interested in it. |
| A．The population development will be balanced. | B．The labor market population will drop. |
| C．There will be more old people. | D．There will be less newborns. |
【推荐3】Would you rather be an impressive employee in an ordinary firm, or land a role at the most well-known company in your industry?
The answer to that question might seem highly personal, based on factors like whether or not you are a competitive person and how much you enjoy a challenge. In fact, there’s another strong factor at play: People from different cultures react very differently to that question. The psychologists from the University of Michigan asked people theoretical questions about the decisions they take. Specifically, the researchers compared people with East Asian backgrounds and European American backgrounds. They found that Americans are much more likely to favor being a big fish in a small pond. East Asians, and specifically Chinese people, are much more likely than Americans to lean towards being a smaller fish in a bigger pond.
Researchers first asked 270 students at a large American university whether they would rather be a “big fish in a small pond” or the opposite. Of the students with East Asian American backgrounds, three quarters said they’d rather be a small fish, compared with just under 60% of students with European American backgrounds who said the same.
The researchers then compared American and Chinese adults. They asked the participants whether they would rather attend a top university but perform below average, and whether they would rather work for a top global company but do less well in comparison to their peers. Over half the Chinese adults chose the famous university, compared with just a third of Americans. In the case of the firms, well over half of people from both groups chose to do better at a less well-known firm, but Chinese people were still more likely to choose being a “small fish” than were Americans.
The final experiment sought to discover how American and Chinese people made judgments about whether they were succeeding. They found that Chinese people were more likely to compare their performance to the performance of people in other groups. Americans, meanwhile, were more likely to compare themselves to people within the same group, to judge whether or not they were doing well.
In East Asian cultures, it’s “not enough that you know you’re doing well in your school,” said Kaidi Wu, a PhD student in psychology who led the research. “It is much more important that other people — an outsider, a family relative, a future employer who has five seconds to glance through your resume — also recognize your academic excellence.”
America is the opposite: “Think about how many times themes like ‘You are your own person’ or ‘Stop worrying about what other people think’ course through song lyrics and self-help books,” Wu said, concluding: “The choices we make are the products of our culture.”
1. The psychologists from the University of Michigan find that ______.| A．Americans tend to achieve success in a big company |
| B．Chinese are likely to perform better in a big company |
| C．Americans prefer to shine in a relatively small company |
| D．Chinese are comfortable with working in a small company |
| A．compare different attitudes towards competition | B．find different views about personal success |
| C．judge performances of different groups | D．confirm which culture is better |
| A．his neighbors | B．his classmates | C．his teachers | D．his parents |
| A．plays a key role in people’s choice making | B．shows who we grow up to be in the future |
| C．is the most important factor behind success | D．determines students’ academic performance |
【推荐1】Recently, the topic of hero has been widely discussed in our life, especially after Cui Yongyuan posted the topic on the net. Who can really be our heroes? Every country has its heroes. The heroes are the people the nation and especially the young people admire. If you get a list of the heroes of a nation, it will tell you the potential of that nation.
Today in China, if you ask the high school students to list their heroes, their choice would probably fall into three groups. The first group of heroes would be the rock stars-the people connected with rock music. There is no doubt that such people do have talent. However, they are often mixed with drugs and their personal life is not all that good. They should not be held up as models of young people. The rock stars are rich and wear the latest fashion styles, but one should seek more in a hero than such things as money and good clothes. A second type of hero for the Chinese youth is the sports star. Again the person has a great ability in one sport. However, too often the personal life of the sports star is a bit of a disorder. Too frequently drugs and drinking are a part of life of the sports star. A third type of hero is the TV or movie star. This person may have lots of acting talent and is quite handsome. However, the personal life of too many actors is quite disappointing. Today, the rock star, the athlete, and the actor all have become the models of the youth in China.
Really, how often do you hear a young person say that his hero is a doctor, a teacher, or a scientist? These people are not rich and do not wear fashionable clothes. However, they are talented people who work hard to make the world a better place for everyone.
What is really sad is that the young try to imitate(模仿) their heroes. They like to wear the same clothes and follow their styles. If the heroes of today for the Chinese young people are limited only to rock stars, athletes and actors, the future does not look too bright.
1. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 1 mean?| A．If you want to be a hero, you must admire a hero. |
| B．If a nation has a lot of heroes, it will be strong. |
| C．The heroes the nation and the youth admire will make the future of the nation. |
| D．The heroes of the nation will stand for their nation totally. |
| A．a talented rock’n’roll star who has produced a lot of good music. |
| B．a fashionable and wealthy actress who has millions of fans. |
| C．a wise expert who has made great contributions. |
| D．an experienced doctor who has saved many people’s lives. |
| A．positive | B．objective | C．supportive | D．negative |
【推荐2】You’ve heard an old Chinese saying before: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. You may even be nodding your head in agreement right now. However, we can have a different understanding about it.
When a person is starving, that’s not the time to fill their head with knowledge but to first give the person a fish—eradicating their hunger—and only then teach them to fish. Far too often, people ignore this common sense first step. They see someone who is struggling, and they rush to offer wisdom. “Let me tell you what I’d do in your position,” a well-meaning individual might offer.
But few of us understand the anxiety, confusion and uncertainty that come with overwhelming need. People meeting with personal disasters don’t have the ability to think straight. Their nerves may be shot. Their confidence may be non-existent. Can you imagine what it would be like to be in that person’s situation?
Rushing to offer a struggling person long-term advice is a waste of time. Instead, it makes far more sense to help them regain their emotional balance. Once their ears, heart and mind open, you’ll have an opportunity to teach a new skill.
But how do we know whether a person needs a fish before a fishing lesson? Two things: One is the ability to pay attention. We need to know whether the other person is open and receptive, or looking at the world through narrowed eyes? You can’t just take their words but have to look at how the person acts and what they don’t say. The other is empathy (共情). The more successful you are, the harder it is to imagine what it must be like to be the opposite. Try to create a safe environment for emotional acceptance before the fishing lesson.
1. What is the function of the first paragraph?| A．To illustrate a concept. | B．To introduce the background. |
| C．To bring in a new viewpoint. | D．To put up an example. |
| A．Getting rid of. | B．Paying attention to. |
| C．Making up for. | D．Putting up with. |
| A．Get them to think straight. |
| B．Teach them a new skill. |
| C．Give them long term advice. |
| D．help regain their emotional balance. |
| A．Live and learn. |
| B．Put yourself in others’ shoes. |
| C．Never teach a fish to swim. |
| D．Don’t teach old dogs new tricks. |
【推荐3】When we are little we do all kinds of foolish things,sometimes unwillingly and sometimes premeditated(有预谋的). And parents’ next behaviour is to punish us and make sure that we won’t repeat that nonsense(愚蠢的行为)again.
Therefore,at an early age parents punish their children as follows:firstly,they don’t allow children to watch TV for a couple of days;secondly,parents don’t permit their children to go out and play with their friends;thirdly,children are given different tasks to do—they have to write something several times or they have to stay in the corner of the room,until parents decide to“free”them.
Moreover,when in their adolescence(青春期),children can receive other types of punishment. Most parents punish children by not giving them pocket money,which is the best form of punishment for them. Then,they forbid children to go out on weekends or return home after a certain hour. Not to forget the fact that parents also refuse to give them food,which means that children have to prepare meals alone as they have no other choice.
Sometimes,these forms of punishment have positive results and children won’t repeat the bad things they have done. Anyway,if a child is used to doing nonsenses then all his or her parents’ punishments will be of no importance to him or her. He or she will carry out the punishment and after a short period of time will commit another one.
1. Which of the punishments doesn’t belong to an early age child?| A．Don’t be allowed to watch TV for a few days. |
| B．Can’t be permitted to go out and play with friends. |
| C．Have to do all kinds of tasks. |
| D．Have to cook meals by himself or herself. |
| A．encourage | B．warn |
| C．worry | D．prevent |
| A．Can’t get the pocket money. |
| B．Can’t go out on weekends. |
| C．Have to return home after a certain hour. |
| D．Can’t eat the meals prepared by parents. |
| A．the parents’ punishment is necessary for the children |
| B．all the punishments have positive results |
| C．parents shouldn’t punish their children all the time |
| D．sometimes the punishment isn’t important for the children |
