A brother and sister have been reunited after more than 60 years, thanks to a letter in the Welwyn and Hatfield Times.

  For years John Hannant Kept a photograph of his long-lost sister, hoping they would meet again. Margery, the eldest of the three children, had signed up to the Royal Air Force as part of the war effort, when John was still a baby. The family lost touch and as the decade s passed only a single letter gave a clue to her whereabouts. The clue was enough for a WHT reader to recognize  Margery and put the family back in touch..

  John, 67, had been searching for a long time and a friend suggested writing to the paper.

  “That’s the one that made it, the letter to the paper a few months age,” he said. “It’s like a dream come true. The last time we ever heard from Margery was in 1953 after the floods. She wrote home to know if we were all right. My sister Dorothy wrote back, But Margery had moved again and never got the letter.”

  Having retired from his job as a gardener at Park House, Mr. Hannat decided to take action once and for all. He and his wife Doreen, travelled to Margery’s home in Chelwood Avenue, Hatfield , which she shares with her husband Jack Cooke.

  Now 88, she was recovering after several months in hospital, but immediately recognized her brother. John said, “It’s something that I never thought was going to happen, but I always hoped it would.” As well as finding his sister, John has also discovered he now has a nephew, niece and six grandnieces and grandnephews.

Margery left her family because______

there was a flood in her hometown

she signed up to serve the army

she wanted to get her husband back

a war broken out in her hometown

When she wrote to John last time ,Margery was ______

A.34 years old           B.40 years old

C.44years old           D.54 years old

What do we know about Jack Cooke’s family?

   A. Jack now has a son and a daughter.

   B. Jack and his wife live with their children now

   C. Jack’s wife is in good health all the time.

   D .Jack lost touch with his family a long time ago.

It can be inferred from the passage that______

   A. since 1953 Margery has come back home only once.

   B .Margery received only one letter from John.

   C. Margery does not care about her family.

   D.WHT refers to a newspaper.

Saying “thank you” is probably the first thing most of us learn to do in a foreign language. After all, we’re brought up to be polite, and it is important to make a good impression upon other people — especially across national divides.

So, what exactly are you supposed to say when “thank you” is only the 20th most popular way to express gratitude? According to a recent survey, 19 other ways of expressing appreciation finished ahead of “thank you” in a poll of 3,000 people.

Pollsters(民測調(diào)查員) found almost half of those asked preferred the more informal “cheers”, while others liked to use such expressions as “ta”, “great” and “nice one”.

So, just what is the appropriate form of words to express your thanks?

Fortunately, the clue is in the language itself. “Cheers”, despite its popularity, is considered an informal way to say thank you — and this is a definite clue as to when you can best use it.

For instance, when going for a drink with friends, a smile and a “cheers” by way of thanks is not only appropriate to the situation, it is also culturally accurate.

“Ta”, originated from the Danish word “tak”, was the second-most popular expression of thanks, and is also commonly used in informal situations, along with phrases such as “nice one”, and “brilliant”. Interestingly, one word that didn’t make it into the top 20 was “thanks”, Thank you is shorter, more informal cousin.

“Thanks” can be useful, as it is able to bridge the divide between the formality of “thank you” and the downright relaxed “cheers”.

Certain words can double as an expression of thanks as well as delight. Again, the words themselves offer the clue as to when best to use them.

For example, words like “awesome”, “brilliant” and “you star” featured highly in the new poll and they can hint at both your pleasure at someone’s action, as well as serving to express your thanks. If you are on the receiving end of a “new” thank you, you can respond with a simple “no problem”, or “sure”.

Of course, in certain circumstances, a simple wave, nod or smile may be appropriate. For instance, if a car driver slows down to let you cross the road, simply raising your hand in acknowledgement is enough to show that you appreciate the driver’s consideration.

Sometimes, formality is necessary, and “thank you” is still the best choice in such situations. But students should not worry about when exactly to use certain expressions.

Many people in Western countries are worried that good manners are in decline. People are tired of seeing their acts of kindness and service pass without comment. So don’t think your “thank you” is clumsy or awkwardly formal. The chances are, if you said “thank you”, you made someone’s day. You star.

1.We can tell from the results of the poll that __________.

A．people are unconcerned about politeness nowadays.

B．“thank you” remains the best expression of gratitude.

C．there is a variety of expressions of appreciation.

D．there are more formal expressions than informal ones.

2.According to the passage, which is an appropriate response to “awesome” or “brilliant”?

A．Thanks.           B．Sure.             C．Nice one.          D．Cheers. .

3.In the last paragraph the author encourages people to          .

A．show their gratitude to others.             B．behave themselves well.

C．continue their acts of kindness.             D．stop worrying about bad manners.

4.Which of the following can serve as the best title of this passage?

A．How to Appear More Polite .               B．Ways to Show Gratitude.

C．Never hesitate to Say “Thank You”.        D．Good Manners in Decline!

Saying “thank you” is probably the first thing most of us learn to do in a foreign language. After all, we’re brought up to be polite, and it is important to make a good impression upon other people — especially across national divides.
So, what exactly are you supposed to say when “thank you” is only the 20th most popular way to express gratitude? According to a recent survey, 19 other ways of expressing appreciation finished ahead of “thank you” in a poll of 3,000 people.
Pollsters(民測調(diào)查員) found almost half of those asked preferred the more informal “cheers”, while others liked to use such expressions as “ta”, “great” and “nice one”.
So, just what is the appropriate form of words to express your thanks?
Fortunately, the clue is in the language itself. “Cheers”, despite its popularity, is considered an informal way to say thank you — and this is a definite clue as to when you can best use it.
For instance, when going for a drink with friends, a smile and a “cheers” by way of thanks is not only appropriate to the situation, it is also culturally accurate.
“Ta”, originated from the Danish word “tak”, was the second-most popular expression of thanks, and is also commonly used in informal situations, along with phrases such as “nice one”, and “brilliant”. Interestingly, one word that didn’t make it into the top 20 was “thanks”, Thank you is shorter, more informal cousin.
“Thanks” can be useful, as it is able to bridge the divide between the formality of “thank you” and the downright relaxed “cheers”.
Certain words can double as an expression of thanks as well as delight. Again, the words themselves offer the clue as to when best to use them.
For example, words like “awesome”, “brilliant” and “you star” featured highly in the new poll and they can hint at both your pleasure at someone’s action, as well as serving to express your thanks. If you are on the receiving end of a “new” thank you, you can respond with a simple “no problem”, or “sure”.
Of course, in certain circumstances, a simple wave, nod or smile may be appropriate. For instance, if a car driver slows down to let you cross the road, simply raising your hand in acknowledgement is enough to show that you appreciate the driver’s consideration.
Sometimes, formality is necessary, and “thank you” is still the best choice in such situations. But students should not worry about when exactly to use certain expressions.
Many people in Western countries are worried that good manners are in decline. People are tired of seeing their acts of kindness and service pass without comment. So don’t think your “thank you” is clumsy or awkwardly formal. The chances are, if you said “thank you”, you made someone’s day. You star.
【小題1】We can tell from the results of the poll that __________.

      "Most episodes (經(jīng)歷) of absent-mindedness -- forgetting where you left something or wondering why you just entered a room -- are caused by a simple lack of attention," says Schacter.  "You are supposed to remember something, but you haven't encoded (編號) it deeply."

      Encoding, Schacter explains, is a special way of paying attention to an event that has a major impact on recalling it later. Failure to encode properly can create annoying situations. If you put your mobile phone in a pocket, for example, and don't pay attention to what you did because you are involved in a conversation, you'll probably forget that the phone is in the jacket now hanging in your wardrobe (衣柜). "Your memory itself isn't failing you," says Schacter.  "Rather, you didn't give your memory system the information it needed."

      Lack of interest can also lead to absent-mindedness.  "A man who can recite sports statistics from 30 years ago," says Zelinski , "may not remember to drop a letter in the mailbox." Women have slightly better memories than men, possibly because they pay more attention to their environment, and memory relies on just that.

     Visual clues can help prevent absent-mindedness, says Schacter. "But be sure the cue (暗示) is clear and available," he warns. If you want to remember to take medicine with lunch, put the pill bottle on the kitchen table -- don't leave it in the medicine box and write yourself a note that you keep in a pocket.

     Another common episode of absent-mindedness: walking into a room and wondering why you are there. Most likely, you were thinking about something else.  "Everyone does this from time to time," says Zelinski. The best thing to do is to return to where you were before entering the room, and you'll likely remember.

57. What is absent-mindedness mainly caused by?

   A. Lack of interest.   B. Lack of attention  C. Walking into a room. D. Visual clues.

58. Which of the following is an absent-minded symptom?

   A. Walking into a room to find where you are.  

B. Leaving the clue in the medicine bottle.

   C. Forgetting to drop a letter into the mailbox. 

 D. Reciting sports statistics 30 years ago.

59. What can help prevent absent-mindedness?

   A. Trying to remember something as much as possible. 

B. Returning to where you were.

   C. Encoding something deeply in your mind.  

D. Showing more interest in something.

60. According to the two experts, what can help people to remember

   something?

   A. Cues.        B. Bottles.          C. Environment.         D. Statistics.

When a 13-year-old Virginal girl started sneezing, her parents thought it was merely a cold. But when the sneezes continued for hours, they called in a doctor. Nearly two months later the girl was still sneezing, thousands of times a day, and her case had attracted worldwide attention.

Hundreds of suggestions, ranging from “put a clothes pin on her nose” to “have her stand on her head” poured in. But nothing did any good. Finally, she was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital where Dr. Leo Kanner, one of the world’s top authorities on sneezing, solved the baffling (難以理解的) problem with great speed.

He used neither drugs nor surgery for, curiously enough, the clue for the treatment was found in an ancient superstition(迷信) about the amazing bodily reaction we call the sneeze. It was all in her mind, he said, a view which Aristotle, some 3,000 years earlier, would have agreed with heartily.

Dr. Kanner simply gave a modern psychological interpretation to the ancient belief that too much sneezing was an indication that the spirit was troubled; and he began to treat the girl accordingly.

“Less than two days in a hospital room, a plan for better scholastic and vocational（職業(yè)的） adjustment, and reassurance about her unreasonable fear of tuberculosis（肺結(jié)核） quickly changed her from a sneezer to an ex-sneezer,” he reported.

Sneezing has always been a subject of wonder, awe and puzzlement. Dr Kanner has collected thousands of superstitions concerning it. The most universal one is the custom of begging for the blessing of God when a person sneezes— a practice Dr. Kanner traces back to the ancient belief that a sneeze was an indication that the sneezer was possessed of an evil spirit. Strangely, people over the world still continue the custom with the traditional, “God bless you” or something else.

   When scientists look at the sneeze, they see a remarkable mechanism（身體機制） which, without any conscious help from you, takes on a job that has to be done. When you need to sneeze you sneeze, this being nature’s clever way of getting rid of an annoying object from the nose. The object may be just some dust in the nose which nature is trying to remove.

51. The girl sneezed continuously because she __________.

   A. was ill                                B. was mentally ill

   C. had heavy mental burden                 D. had attracted world-wide attention

52. When the girl began to sneeze continuously, ___________.

   A. a lot of people offered their advice

   B. she was taken to John Hopkins Hospital

   C. she was given a treatment found in ancient superstition

   D. many doctors treated her in different ways

53. Dr. Kanner cured the girl by ___________.

   A. using Aristole’s method                   B. giving her psychological treatment

   C. practicing superstition                    D. treating her tuberculosis

54. When a person sneezes, we say “God bless you” because____________.

   A. it’s a tradition                           B. the person is possessed of an evil spirit

   C. the person is ill                          D. God will bless those who sneeze

55. According to scientists, people sneeze because _____________.

   A. they are ill                              B. to sneeze is human nature

   C. they do not need any conscious help         D. there are unwanted things in their noses