1 . 根据Unit 2 Reading部分课文，写一篇60词左右的概要
Effective communication
If you heard someone shout “Hey you!” from across the room, how would you react? Just these two words can carry a lot of information. They could be interpreted as a welcoming greeting from a close friend, especially if accompanied by a gentle smile. When spoken by a stranger, they can function as a means of attracting your attention. Much of what we communicate is dependent not only on the words we use, but also on how we use them. So, let’s look a little deeper into the topic of communication.
Communication is the process of exchanging information between a sender and a receiver. The sender encodes a message and sends it face to face, or through video, telephone, mail or social media. This message is then received and decoded by the receiver. In response, the receiver sends an encoded message back, which is referred to as feedback. This feedback is decoded by the original sender and the entire cycle repeats itself until they have finished communicating.
This communication process can be challenging but, with practice and patience, you can become a highly competent communicator. To accomplish this, you need to know with whom you are communicating. What is their age or position? What is their relationship with you? What expectations and cultural backgrounds do they have? Once you have obtained this information, you can use it to determine how best to communicate with them. Depending on whether you are communicating with a stranger, friend, family member or co-worker, you will need to decide which communication channel best suits the situation. Furthermore, you will need to determine the appropriate style to use and how complex your choice of words should be. For example, if you are a business person negotiating with a large enterprise about a deal, you should do it face to face, using formal language in a straightforward manner.
Your body language is equally important, since it reveals a lot about your thoughts and attitudes. Make sure it clearly supports the message you want to deliver. A smile shows you are attentive to the issues being discussed, while looking away with your arms folded can indicate disinterest and create distrust or friction. Additionally, you should not ignore the other person’s body language, which will give you clues as to whether the conversation is going well or not. When you notice a change in the other person’s body language, you should adjust how you are communicating accordingly. If someone looks at you with a confused expression, this could indicate that they have not completely understood your point. Then you will need to clarify your message before moving on.
While being knowledgeable about body language is vital, the value of empathy should not be understated. Seek to understand the other person’s emotions, by putting yourself in their shoes and looking at the situation from their perspective. Suppose you are discussing a project with your partner, who has just lost an important basketball game and is inactive. To engage him or her in the discussion and make your communication more effective, you may express your sympathy by, for instance, saying, “I understand how you feel ...” However, some issues may be complicated and you may be confused about why others feel the way they do. Only when you give serious consideration to their points of view will you be able to see what accounts for their emotions and empathize with them. You may not approve of their ideas but at least you will see where they are coming from, which means you can make adjustments to your own tone and choice of words accordingly.
Effective communication will enable you to settle differences and disagreements appropriately and improve your interactions with others. Good communication skills will also help you build trust and gain respect, allowing relationships to become more positive and productive. So, get practising and good luck!
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It is from your parents that you first learn language. This learning involves much more time than mere accent (重音) and vocabulary. You are taught that often you must concern yourself with other people’s feelings and needs instead of your own. You learn to say “I’m sorry” even in a situation when you clearly are not wrong, or to say, “That was a delicious lunch” when you thought it was just the opposite. You learn that different clothing and behaviour are appropriate at the public swimming pool, at the family dinner table, and at other places.
Parents also teach their children social skills. In learning to get along with other people, for example, you are taught when to say “Please” and “Thank you”. Some children are taught that language can be a pleasure itself, in the form of jokes, poems, and stories. Some children are taught that in our society it usually is more acceptable to use verbal rather than physical means to get what one wants. For example, most people say “Excuse me” instead of simply pushing through a crowd.
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Visitors to the UK, even from other English-speaking countries, often find it surprising (or funny) how many different ways Britons have invented to say “Thank you”. Here are some of the most common words and phrases you’ll hear people use.
You’re likely to hear the shortened version “Thanks” more than you hear people say “Thank you”. It’s often combined with something else, like “Many thanks” or “Thanks so much”. Also, people tend to add a friendly term for the person they are talking to on the end, like “mate”. For example, “Thanks, Mate!”
In other parts of the English-speaking world, “cheers” is what you say when you clink glasses of alcohol drink together, but it’s also one of the most popular colloquial ways of saying “Thank you” in England. Again, you’ re likely to hear people say “Cheers, Mate!”
“Nice one” is something people often say if someone does them a favour, finds something for them or gives them an unexpected gift. Usually it’s followed by another way of saying “Thank you”. For example, “Nice one, thanks!” or “Nice one! Cheers, Mate.”
In casual speech, people often add “I appreciate it” onto a “Thank you”, for example, “Cheers for helping me move that piano. I really appreciate it”. You also see “appreciated” used in formal speech or writing as a way of expressing thanks. For example, “Your donations to the fundraiser were much appreciated.”
People often say “You shouldn’t have!” when someone has bought them a present or done something nice for them as a surprise. It doesn’t mean you really think the other person shouldn’t have bought you the present. What it really means is “This is so generous. I wasn’t expecting such a nice present.” or even “I’m not sure I deserve it.” For example, “What a beautiful necklace! You shouldn’t have!”
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Online Learning
What makes teaching online unique is that it uses the Internet, especially the World Wide Web, as the primary means of communication. Thus, when you teach online, you don’t have to be someplace to teach. You don’t have to lug your briefcase full of papers or your laptop to a classroom, stand at a lectern, scribble on a chalkboard, or grade papers in a stuffy room while your students are taking a test. You don’t even have to sit in your office waiting for students to show up for conferences. You can hold “office hours” on weekends or at night after dinner.
You can do all this while living in a small town in Wyoming or a big city like Bangkok, even if you’re working for a college whose administrative offices are located in Florida or Dubai. You can attend an important conference in Hawaii on the same day that you teach your class in New Jersey, logging on from your laptop via the local cafe’s wireless hot spot or your hotel room’s high-speed network.
Online learning offers more freedom for students as well. They can search for courses using the Web, scouring their institution or even the world for programmes, classes and instructors that fit their needs. Having found an appropriate course, they can enroll and register, shop for their books, read articles, listen to lectures, submit their homework assignments, confer with their instructors, and receive their final grades — all online. They can assemble in virtual classrooms, joining other students from diverse geographical locales, forging bond and friendships not possible in conventional classrooms, which are usually limited to students from a specific geographical area.
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5 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s)of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.
The Internet is a network of linked computers enabling people to search for information and communicate with each other. The rapid rise of the Internet has been driven in part by the ability of users to access it from home, work and other locations. Another key factor has been the ability to connect to the Internet quickly and easily as a result of significant technological advances. In just a few years, the Internet has revolutionized the lives of millions of its users.
One aspect of this revolution is especially impressive: Internet shopping. This is a process of purchasing products or services over the Internet. Shopping on the Internet, or shopping online is becoming more and more popular. More and more people are using the Internet to buy things. Why do people use the Internet to shop? People like shopping online because they find it convenient. They don't have to leave their homes to order something, and they can shop for anything they want at any time, day or night. Other people say they can find things for sale that they can't find in the stores near their homes. Still other people say they can find better prices on the Internet.
However, the rapid growth of Internet shopping does not necessarily mean there are no problems. It raises questions about risks when buying at a distance. Internet users are also very concerned about the risks to the security of their payments and personal data. If you want to buy something on the Internet, you need a credit card. You have to type your credit card number and some other information on the website and send it to the store over the Internet. You have to be sure that the store will not use your information in the wrong way. You don't want someone to get your credit card number and charge something to your account. Of course, you always have to be careful with your credit card number, because people sometimes steal credit card numbers from stores and restaurants too. Protecting Internet shoppers has already been identified as an important area for further work.
Internet shopping allows companies to sell their products to a large number of customers around the clock. They can buy products at anytime from anywhere in the world. Internet shopping is becoming a truly global experience.
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Etiquette
Cell phones, Twitter and Facebook may be killing off the old civilities and good graces, but a young generation of etiquette（礼仪）experts is springing up online these years. Their goal is apparent: to help people deal with etiquette issues in the digital age such as e-invitations—not to mention face-to-face contact in the offline world.
For instance, you may not think you need a lesson on shaking hands when being introduced to someone for the first time, but Gloria Starr, an image consultant based in California, begs to differ. “When you shake hands, it's two or three times up and down—from the elbow and not the wrist. Then smile and introduce yourself,” Starr says in one of her 437 YouTube videos, helpfully bobbing her right hand up and down in demonstration.
How about the way to conduct yourself at the gym? Videos on gym etiquette are a particularly hot topic of late, according to Kevin Allocca, the trends manager for YouTube. A video named “Don't Be That Guy at the Gym” shows five men demonstrating various embarrassing mistakes, like the “meathead”who grunts loudly each time he performs a barbell, or the self-appointed “coach” who offers uninvited advice to other gym-goers. The video has been viewed more than three million times since it was posted.
“People are getting sick of the critical comments that are so common in their online lives,”said Jane Pratt, the chief editor of XOJane, a women's lifestyle site where etiquette posts are a popular feature. “The return of etiquette is in part a response to the rudeness of the interactions they are having online. Being nice is very cool right now.”
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I read what you wrote about “the good old days” with interest. Despite making some sensible points, to my mind your argument is wildly oversimplified in saying that the old days were better. All too often nowadays, we hear these black-and-white opinions about “globalization“. In my opinion, it’s a grey area and there are important benefits as well as some inevitable downsides as we move away from the good old days.
I feel that cultures well-received globally are not fixed and many of the best things come from culture mixing. For example, many British people didn’t like the very spicy food introduced by Indian people. As a result, Indian food in Britain is not the same as an authentic curry from India, but for some, it’s even better. I took part in some market research recently and found out that even branded goods are often changed to suit local tastes. Did you know, for example, that McDonald’s sells beer in France, lamb in India, and chili in Mexico?
I found it hard to take in what you said about language. Did you really mean that English is ”taking over the world“, as you put it? I don’t think so! I agree that huge numbers of people now speak English. At the start of the 21st century, about one and a half billion(1,500,000,000)people spoke English. That includes about 400 million speaking English as their first language and the rest speaking it as a second or third language. However, in many cases, a new type of English has been created. A kind of ”global English“ has taken off across the world. I think this is good in that it promotes communication in an ever-shrinking, ever more commercial world. People certainly don’t want a single world language, but a new common global language has major advantages for global business, scientific research and tourism.
Some people—like you—may be saddened by the passing of the “old days” but it seems to me that most people are welcoming the mixing of cultures and the new things that are being created all the time.
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The Benefits of a Decluttered Home
A cluttered space has the potential to cause stress, impact productivity and generally make household tasks much more difficult. No matter how clean and organised your family have been, it’s very normal to accumulate a lot of stuff over time. Raising children can mean your own well-being and goals for your home are put on hold during this time. So, why not transform your house into what you’ve always wanted it to be, now you have the time and space to do so?
When your home is cluttered, your mind can become cluttered too. Not to mention the stress caused by being unable to locate something amongst the piles and piles of things you own. Start small by decluttering just one room—say, the living room, for example—and see just how much calmer you feel when you spend time in there in your newly decluttered space.
Just because you’ve got your eyes closed doesn’t mean that you’re suddenly blind to all the clutter surrounding you. Your brain will be mentally processing all the external stimuli of the clutter, making it difficult to wind down and settle your mind, ready for sleep. Clear out your bedroom and see how easy it is to drift off without the clutter around you.
A lot of people find it difficult to concentrate when surrounded by clutter, such as trying to work at a messy, disorganised desk. Excess things surrounding you can have a negative impact on your ability to focus. All the things around you will be competing for your attention, decreasing your productivity and increasing stress levels.
Without all that clutter, you should find your concentration levels increase. Not to mention, you’re certain to get a boost of creativity now that your head is cleared and you’re free to think about what you’re doing without being distracted by the things around you.
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Green is an important colour in nature. It is the colour of grass and the leaves on trees, the colour of most growing plants.
Sometimes the word green means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes it describes something that is not yet ripe or finished.
Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a “green thumb”. The expression and a similar one, “green fingers”, come from the 1990s. A person with “green thumb” seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grown quickly and well. You could say that the woman next door has a “green thumb” when her garden continues to produce long after your plants have died.
You may wish to have a “green thumb”, but you surely do not wish to be a “greenhorn”. A “greenhorn” is a person who has no experience, who is new to a situation.
In the 15th century, a “greenhorn” was a young cow or ox whose horns had not yet developed. A century or so later a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in a battle. By the 18th century a greenhorn had the meaning it has today—a person who is new in a job.
Green is also the colour used to describe the powerful emotion, jealousy. The “green-eyed monster” is not a frightening creature from outer space. It is the name given by Shakespeare in his play Othello to jealousy.
When someone talks about the “green-eyed monster”, he is talking about the unpleasant feeling a person has when he thinks he has lost the person he loves to someone else. You could say that a person has been suffering from the “green-eyed monster” ever since his girlfriend began going out with someone else.
In most places in the world, a green light is a signal to go ahead. A green light traffic signal means your vehicle may continue on.
In everyday speech a “green light” means approval to continue with a program or action. A government agency may be given the “green light” to go ahead with a project after the government approves it.
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Speed is very important in avalanche(雪崩)rescues. There will be narrow chances to escape if a skier is buried for 30 minutes or more. Now that 30 minutes can mean the difference between life and death for a skier lost on a snowy mountain, most people would depend on life-saving dogs.
Noble works as a rescue team member in a vacationland, California. He tells us, “Dogs run fastest when an accident happens.” His partner Wylee, a life-saving dog, can search an accident scene the size of a football field. It only needs 5 to 10 minutes. However, 5 rescue team members have to spend a couple of hours in the same area.
Apart from its excellent speed, Noble chooses Wylee as his partner partly because it weighs only about half what other kinds of dogs weigh. Rescue team members have to carry their dogs to search sites in addition to carrying 60-pound backpacks with food, water and other equipment. The dogs need the lift so that they don’t get tired before they start working.
There aren’t adequate data on how often dogs take part in avalanche searches or how often they are able to help local people in danger. But the dogs don’t save many people. That’s because there aren’t many to save. A quarter of people in danger die from serious injuries before the snow stops moving. Of those buried who aren’t killed by injuries, half die within 20 minutes. If there is a chance of rescue, though, the dogs also cut search time for the remains.
A famous director wanted to see how the life-saving dogs worked, so she volunteered to spend part of an hour in a roomy snow cave waiting to be found. She was armed with a radio and was wearing several layers to stay warm. After being rescued by Wylee, she said, “I can’t talk like a survivor, but it was definitely a direct way to see how well trained those dogs are.”
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