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“I’m not meddling, “ Mary said mildly. “I’m just curious. gently shyly weakly sweetly
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Some desirable changes have taken place in this town. identical uncertain frequent satisfactory
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During the past ten years there have been dramatic changes in the international situation. permanent powerful striking practical
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His new girlfriend had omitted to tell him that she was married. forgotten failed deleted left
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His claims seem credible to many people. workable convincing practical eligible
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They all agreed that the changes that have taken place are substantial. significant superficial inadequate inevitable
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I rarely wear a raincoat because I spend most of my time in a car. normally seldom continuously usually
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I remember seeing her somewhere previously. before ahead seldom secretly
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She eventually married the most persistent one of her admirers. in a way in due course in the end in any case
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Five minutes left, the outcome of the match was still in doubt. result judgment decision event
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The reporter was accused of unprofessional conduct. movement words principle behavior
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He made a considerable sum of money in real estate. large positive powerful realistic
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A crowd gathered to see what had happened. collected fixed divided assisted
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If I make a mistake, I will try to remedy it. clarify diagnose evaporate correct
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We derive information mainly from the Internet. deprive obtain descend trace
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The Fat Problem That Men Face
It is a pleasure to see men of a certain age worrying about their weight. Listening to them is not such a pleasure. Because the men are new at the game, they don’t hesitate to discuss the fat problem incessantly. However women of the same age do not discuss the fat problem, especially not in mixed company. They prefer to face the problem with quiet dignity. Discussing the problem might only draw attention to some stray body part that may be successfully tucked away under an article of clothing.
The age at which a man begins to explore the fat problem can vary. The actual problem can manifest itself in the early 30’ s, but broad-range discussion usually starts later. There are early nonverbal symptoms. I’ve watched the rugged journalist who shares my apartment sneak by with a Diet Coke. His shirts are no longer neatly tucked in to display a trim waist. Recently he has begun to verbalize his anxiety. He tells me, with a sheepish grin, that he is taking his suits to Chinatown to have them “tailored“.
Still older men have lost their dignity and rattle on unabashedly. Often wives and children play important roles in their fat-inspection rituals. Take my oldest brother, a former college football player. His daughter says that several times a day he will stand at attention and call out, “Fat, medium or thin?“ She knows the correct answer: medium. Thin would be an obvious stretch, and fat may not get her that new video. According to his wife, he stands in front of the mirror in the morning(before the day’ s meals take their toll), puts his hands behind his head and lurches into a side bend, then clutches the roll that has developed and says, “am I getting fatter?“ His wife is expected to answer, “you look like you may have lost a few pounds“.
And then there are the ex-husbands a pitiful group. They are extremely vocal. When I go to the movies with one, he confides that he is suffering from great hunger because he is dieting. He hasn’ t eaten since the pancakes and sausages he wolfed down that morning. He pauses in his monologue while he buys his popcorn. After the movie, we sprint to a restaurant, where he again pauses to devour a basket of bread. Before he orders his chaste salad and soup, he grows plaintive. Do I think he’s fat?
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How to Get Along Well With Your Boss
1 Before you argue with your boss, check with the boss’ s secretary to determine his mood. If he ate nails for breakfast, it is not a good idea to ask him for something. Even without the boss’ s secretary, there are keys to timing don’ t approach the boss when he’ s on deadline, don’ t go in right before lunch, when he is apt to be distracted and rushed, don’t go in just before or after he has taken a vacation.
2 If you’ re mad, that will only make your boss mad. Calm down first. And don’ t let a particular concern open the floodgates for all your accumulated frustration. The boss will feel that you think negatively about the company and it is hopeless trying to change your mind. Then maybe he will dismiss you.
3 Terrible disputes can result when neither the employer nor the employee knows what is the problem the other wants to discuss. Sometimes the fight will go away when the issues are made clear. The employee has to get his point across clearly in order to make the boss understand it.
4 Your boss has enough on his mind without your adding more. If you can’ t put forward an immediate solution, at least suggest how to approach the problem. People who frequently present problems without solutions to their bosses may soon find they can’t get past the secretary.
5 To deal effectively with a boss, it’ s important to consider his goals and pressures. If you can put yourself in the position of being a partner to the boss, then he will be naturally more inclined to work with you to achieve your goals.
A. Keep Your Voice Low All the Time
B. Put Yourself in the Boss’ s Position
C. Propose Your Solution
D. Don’ t Go in When You Are Angry
E. Make the Issue Clear
F. Never Give In
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A. to give the boss your advice
B. how he is feeling
C. the boss may have
D. what you really want to talk to him about
E. without suggesting a way to solve it
F. how unhappy you are
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Preserving Nature for Future
Demands for stronger protection for wildlife in Britain sometimes hide the fact that similar needs are felt in the rest of Europe. Studies by the Council of Europe, of which 21 counties are members, have shown that 45 percent of reptile(爬行类的)species and 24 percent of butterflies are in danger of dying out.
European concern for wildlife was outlined by Dr. Peter Baum, an expert in the environment and natural resources division of the council, when he spoke at a conference arranged by the administrators of a British national park. The park is one of the few areas in Europe to hold the council’ s diploma for nature reserves of the highest quality, and Dr. Peter Baum had come to present it to the park once again. He was afraid that public opinion was turning against national parks, and that those set up in the 1960s and 1970s could not be set up today. But Dr. Baum clearly remained a strong supporter of the view that natural environments needed to be allowed to survive in peace in their own right.
“ No area could be expected to survive both as a true nature reserve and as a tourist attraction, “ he went on. The short-sighted(眼光短浅的)view that reserves had to serve immediate human demands for outdoor recreation should be replaced by full acceptance of their importance as places to preserve nature for the future.
“We forget that they are the guarantee of life systems, on which any built-up area ultimately depends, “ Dr. Baum went on, “ We could manage without most industrial products, but we could not manage without nature. However, our natural environment areas, which are the original parts of our countryside, have shrunk to become mere(纯粹的)islands in a spoiled and highly polluted land mass. “
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Save Pandas
With the Switzerland-based World Wildlife Fund(WWF), China is making a concerted and dedicated effort to save the endangered pandas. The results, officials here in Chengdu indicate, are mixed but encouraging.
A clear disappointment is the failure to breed pandas in captivity, necessary if their decreasing numbers are to be replaced. Another failure has been the incapability to find a natural, readily available food to replace the arrow bamboo.
Despite these failures, success has come on two fronts. One achievement has been the physical rescue effort. Some pandas have been kept alive by salting(空投)the mountains with tons of cooked meat, which pandas will eat as a substitute for bamboo, and by the planting of new bamboo in isolated areas. Animals in some Sichuan areas have been rescued by local peasants and given emergency treatment by animal doctors.
A second achievement is a massive fund-raising effort. Publicity about the pandas plight has resulted in a new $ 100, 000 emergency allocation by the WWF and independent fund drives both in China and abroad.
In spite of this support, there have been conflicts in the panda relief program. One important problem is the difficulty Peking is having balancing the recommendations of environmentalists with China’ s ambitious goal of agricultural and industrial modernization.
Wolong is but one example of this difficulty. This 494, 000-acre preserve was declared a protected area in 1975. Yet 1, 800 people, mostly Tibetans, still live in the preserve, logging trucks still roll down the narrow mountain roads, and blasting work still goes on at the site of a new 160, 000-kilowatt hydroelectric plant just six miles away.
This all means that the pandas’ fight for survival will not be an easy one, even with the concerted effort of man. For in the end, even if they can survive the dangers of the wild, they must still contend with man himself.
