Passage 1

If you are going to be a straight （直接的） talker, you have to believe（相信） that it’s an virtue（美德）, that it’s a quality（素质） you want to have.

If you have an opinion（观点） and you just state （表述，说） it, it allows the other person to either try to challenge （挑战） your opinion, to agree with you, or to disagree ---they have an action（行动） they can take. If you are quiet（安静的，沉默的）, people think you agree. How can you then further（v.推进） the conversation when you are at different points and it's not really exposed（暴露的，明显的）? Agreeing is easy. Disagreeing takes more guts（胆汁，本义，引申义：胆量，勇气）.

Several years back, when I was CEO（首席执行官） at a company; there was a very senior（高级的） woman who was very smart and well spoken, but she did not wear（穿着） appropriate（合适的，得体的） clothes. It was distracting（分心的，分身的） and she was not being taken seriously（认真地）. I said to her manager, who was male, "you need to tell her." he said, “oh, no way."

So I called her in and directly stated what I thought was happening, "you’re not getting the respect（尊重）you deserve（值得）," I said, “go to the store（士多，商店） and get a personal（私人的） shopper. Just I saw, I’m a senior business person and need help dressing（装扮，穿着） formally（正式地）." She came back, and she was completely a different（不一样的） person. She said she felt （感觉,feel, felt, felt）really good. And currency（现金流，引申：薪水，工资） went way up.

Early in my business career（职业）, if people asked me a question, I’d try to answer it honestly（真诚地，诚实地）. And it was rewarded（得到了回报）. I had managers who wanted me around because I would actually（真实地） tell them what was happening.

I was raised（举起，抚养） by my grandma, and she was a pretty straight talker because she thought you would handle it. My advice is to be realistic（现实的，务实的）. Being honest and truthful is part of being a good worker, a good associate（同事，伙伴）, and a good leader.

1.The woman did not get promoted because she did not _______.

A. dress appropriately

B. take her work seriously

C. get on well with her colleagues

D. follow her manager's instructions

2.The underlined phrase "takes more guts" in Paragraph 2 refers .

A. demand more wisdom

B. attract more attention

C. take more courage

D. need more communication

3.According to the writer, talking in a straight way allows one to ________.

A. become an opinion leader 

B. make friends easily

C. become a respectable person

D. take further action

4. From the last passage, it can be inferred that the writer tends to talk frankly possibly due to the influence of _______.

A. his workmates

B. his leaders

C. his friends

D. his family (grandma)

5. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A. Straight Talkers

B. Different Opinions

C. Agree or Disagree

D. Importance of Speech

Passage 2

A punctual (守时的，准时的）person is in the habit of doing a thing in a proper（合适的） time and is never late in keeping an appointment（约定，约会）.

The unpunctual（不守时的） man, on the contrary, never does what he has to do at the proper time. He is always in a hurry and in the end loses both time and his good name（名字，引申：名声, fame）. A lost (丢失的）thing may be found again, but the lost time can never be regained（再次得到,re+gain, no pains, no gains.）. Time is more valuable (有价值的，宝贵的，value) than material things. In fact, time is life itself. The unpunctual man is forever wasting and mismanaging(没有管理好） his most valuable asset (财产) as well as other's. The unpunctual person is always complaining（抱怨） that he finds no time to answer letters（回信）, return calls （回电话） or keep appointments promptly（快速地）. But the man who really has a great deal to do is very careful of his time and seldom complains of want of it. He knows that he cannot get through his huge amount of work （海量的工作）unless he faithfully keeps every piece of work when it has to be attended to（关照）.

Failure （失败，名词）to be punctual in keeping any appointments is the sign of disrespect（不尊重） towards others. If a person is invited to dinner and arrives later than the appointed time, he keeps all the other guests waiting for him. Usually this will be regarded as a great disrespect to the host （主人）and all other guests present（在场的）.

Unpunctuality（不守时的行为）, moreover, is very harmful when it comes to dissatisfy, whether public or private. Imagine  （想象）how it would be if thosewho are put in charge of important tasks failed to be their proper place at the appointed time. A man who is known to be habitually unpunctual is never trusted by his friends or fellowmen（同事，伙伴）.

6.The main difference between a punctual person and an unpunctual person is that a punctual person______.

A.has lots of appointments while an unpunctual one has few appointments

B.does everything at the right time while an unpunctual one seldom does so

C.has much time to do everything while an unpunctual one has little time to do anything

D.does everything ahead of time while an unpunctual one does everything behind schedule

7.What is the main reason why a person is always unpunctual according to the passage?

A.He doesn’t care much about time.

B.He is much busier than other people.

C.He is always in a hurry whereas.

D.He always mismanages and wastes his time.

8.The third paragraph is developed by giving________________.

A.a fact   B. an opinion   C. an example   D. an evidence（证据）

9.  It can be inferred from the last paragraph that__________.

A.an unpunctual person usually loses friends

B.an unpunctual person often fails doing any important task

C.unpunctuality may result in fewer appointments and opportunities

D.unpunctuality may lead to heavy losses for both public and private affairs

10.What does the passage mainly talk about?

A. Valuable time

B. Popular appointment

C. Harm of unpunctuality

D. Advantage of punctuality