One in twenty who took part in the survey of 2,000 people by the Food Network UK for Thank You Day, which is marked on November 24, 2011, said a formal ‘thank you’ was now not often needed in everyday conversation. More than one in ten adults said they regularly won’t say thank you if they are in a bad mood.

Most people declared that saying thank you was something drilled into them by their parents. A huge 70 percent of those questioned will say thank you to a person’s face without even meaning it, while a fifth avoid saying it when they know they should — on at least two occasions every day.

It seems our friends and family get the brunt (压力) of our bad manners with half admitting they’re not good at thanking those closest to them — many justifying (为……辩解) the lack of thanks because their family ‘already know I’m grateful’.

When spoken words won’t do, it falls to a nice text to do the job for most people.

A third will still send a handwritten thank-you note — but 45 percent admit it’s been more than six months since they bothered to send one.

A quarter of British people say thank you with food, with 23 percent cooking a meal to show their appreciation to someone. Another 15 percent bake a cake.

It follows that 85 percent of people will be annoyed at not getting the gratitude (感激) they feel they should receive.

56. Most of the people who took part in the survey say that they say “thank you” ________.

A. when they are in good mood                           B. completely out of habit

C. when they feel truly grateful                          D. purely out of politeness

57. The underlined word “ditched” in Paragraph 1 means “________”.

A. abandoned                  B. used                     C. shared                  D. grasped

58. It can be learned from the passage that _______.

A. different ways of expressing gratitude are all fashionable

B. people should avoid saying “thank you” nowadays

C. a thank-you note is still appreciated by most people

D. people in a bad mood never say “thank you”

59. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Most people express their gratitude to others by buying food for them.

B. About fifty percent of people try not to say thank you when they should.

C. Most people may feel natural when they fail to receive others’ gratitude.

D. Many people think it unnecessary to say thanks to their family members.

B

Two talented Sheffield High School pupils have just found out they’ve been shortlisted in the top five of their categories in the new national Ambition AXA Awards.

Natalie Chan-Lam (Year 12) and Clare Rees-Zimmerman (Year 11) are both in the running to win a prize that will help them to achieve their ambition. The new national Ambition AXA Awards have been created to recognize excellence in 11—18 year olds. The national awards programme covers five categories: The Arts, Sport, Science, Enterprise and Community. Natalie is up for the Ambition AXA Award for Sport while Clare has earned her top five place in the Ambition Award for the Arts.

The Ambition AXA Award for Sport aims to find the young person who thinks they may one day win an Olympic medal. Natalie is a Badminton International who has a long string of singles and double National titles behind her from U11 National Singles Champion (冠军) right through the ages to the latest U17 UK Schools Games, as well as a run of titles won with the England Badminton team over the last few years. Through her achievements in badminton and through her promotion of the sport in school and at club level, Natalie has inspired many other students to take up the sport and badminton is now a major sport at Sheffield High School. Amazingly, she still makes time to play for and coach school teams, encouraging and assisting others to have the opportunity to reach their own level of personal excellence. Natalie’s ambition is to be selected for the Olympics in 2016.

The Ambition Award for the Arts is awarded to a young person who dreams of reaching the top in their field. Clare is a remarkable musician who has already, at the age of fifteen, achieved the highest marks ever seen at SHS for grade 8 violin and viola. Clare’s music teacher Val Linnemann says of Clare, “To me, one of the most outstanding things about Clare is her total willingness to listen and ask intelligent questions. She is patient and good-natured and willing to help with other players.” If she were to receive an Ambition Award, Clare has plans to use this money to enhance (增加) opportunities for others through workshops.

If they get enough votes, they’ll make the top three in the country and be one step further towards the top awards. To vote for them, click on this link.

60. The Ambition AXA Awards are meant for ________.

A. anyone who is the best in one of the five categories

B. those who are likely to be future stars in certain fields

C. some pupils who have won great success in certain fields

D. children who have ambitions in all the five categories

61. We can conclude from the passage that Natalie and Clare are both girls with ________.

A. belief, patience and confidence                    B. courage, curiosity and enthusiasm

C. caution, sympathy and experience                D. ability, kindness and achievements

62. The main purpose of the passage is ________.

A. to introduce the Ambition AXA Awards        B. to tell us what the two girls have done

C. to persuade us to vote for the two girls         D. to inspire more people to win the awards

C

The Importance of Setting Speech Goals