IV. Summary WritingDirections: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.If you suffer from shyness, you are not alone, for shyness is a universal phenomenon. It is not surprising that social scientists are learning more about its causes.The first environmental cause of shyness many be a child’s home and family life. Today’s children are growing up in smaller and smaller families, with fewer and fewer relatives living nearby. Growing up in single-parent homes or in homes in which both parents work full time, children may not have the socializing experience of frequent visits by neighbours and friends. Because of their lack of social skills, they may begin to feel socially inhibited, or shy, when they start school.A second environmental cause of shyness in an individual may be one’s culture. In a study conducted in Japan, 57 percent of participants rated themselves as shy. Researchers Henderson and Zimbardo say, “One explanation is that in Japan, an individual’s performance success is credited externally to parents, grandparents, teachers, coaches, and others, while failure is entirely blamed on the person.” Therefo re, Japanese learn not to take risks in public and rely instead on group-shared decisions.Technology may play a role as well. In the United States, the number of young people who report being shy has risen from 40 percent to 50 percent in recent years. Due to huge advances in technology, watching television, playing video games, and surfing the Web have displaced recreational activities that involve social interaction for many young people. Adults, too, are becoming more isolated as a result of technology. Face-to-face interactions with bank tellers, gas station attendants, and store clerks are no longer necessary because people can use machines to do their banking, fill their gas tanks, and order merchandise. In short, they become shy.It appears that most people have experienced shyness at some time in their lives. Therefore, if you are shy, you have lots of company.Keys:Shyness is common and it has environmental causes, including home and family life, culture and technology. Firstly, with smaller families and working parents,children lack social interactions. Besides, blaming individuals for failure can cause people in some culture to be shy in public.Finally, with the development of technology, people have fewer opportunities to socialize in person.IV. Summary WritingDirections: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.Getting rid of dirt, in the opinion of most people, is a good thing. However, there is nothing fixed about attitudes to dirt.In the early 16th century, people thought that dirt on the skin was a means to block out disease, as medical opinion had it that washing off dirt with hot water could open up the skin and let ills in. A particular danger was, thought to lie in public baths. By 1538, the French king had closed the bath houses in his kingdom. So did the king of England in 1546.Thus began a long time when the rich and the poor in Europe lived with dirt in a friendly way. Henry IV, King of France, was famously dirty. Upon learning that a nobleman had taken a bath, the king ordered that, to avoid the attack of disease, the nobleman should not go out.Though the belief in the merit of dirt was long-lived, dirt has no longer been regarded as a nice neighbor ever since the 18th century. Scientifically speaking, cleaning away dirt is good to health. Clean water supply and hand washing are practical means of preventing disease. Yet, it seems that standards of cleanliness have moved beyond science since World War II. Advertisements repeatedly sell the idea: clothes need to be whiter than white, cloths ever softer, surfaces to shine. Has the hate for dirt, however, gone too far?Attitudes to dirt still differ hugely nowadays. Many first time parents nervously try to warn their children off touching dirt, which might be responsible for the spread of disease. On the contrary, Mary Ruebush, an American immunologist, encourages children to play in the dirt to build up a strong immune system. And the latter position is gaining some ground.Keys:People have mixed opinions towards dirt on our skin. For a long time in history, people of some European countries believed that dirt protected people from getting ill. However, peoplebegan to change their attitudes to dirt about 200 years ago. People have been told that washing dirt off our body can keep us healthy. However, some scientists believe that exposure to some dirt may help our immune system.IV. Summary WritingDirections: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.What I think of boxing as a sportBoxing is a popular sport that many people seem to be fascinated by. Newspapers, magazines and sports programmes on TV frequently cover boxing matches. Professional boxers earn a lot of money, and successful boxers are treated as big heroes.It seems to me that some people, especially men, find it appealing because it is an aggressive sport. When they watch a boxing match, they can identify with the winning boxer, and this gives them the feeling of being a winner themselves. Sometimes fans are rooting for a particular boxer, moreover because the boxer comes form their own country, and if "their" boxer loses, they often feel as if they have lost a fight themselves. It is a fact that many people have feelings of aggression from time to time, but they cannot show their aggression in their everyday lives. Watching a boxing match gives them an outlet for this aggression.However, there is a negative side to boxing. It can be a very dangerous sport. Although boxers wear gloves during the fights, and amateur boxers even have to wear helmets, there have frequently been accidents in both professional and amateur boxing, sometimes with dramatic consequences. Boxers have suffered from head injuries, and occasionally, fighters have even been killed as a result of being knocked out in the ring. For example, studies have shown that there are often long-term effects of boxing, in the form of serious brain damage, even if a boxer has never been knocked out.To conclude, I am personally not at all in favour of aggressive sports like boxing. I think it would be better if less time was given to aggressive sports on TV, and we celebrated more men and women from non-aggressive sports as our heroes and heroines in our society. I believe that the world is aggressive enough already! Of course, people like competitive sports, and so do I, but I think that hitting other people in an aggressive way is not something that should be regarded as asport.Keys:The author is opposed to boxing as a sport. Boxing is nowadays very popular because people, especially men, release their feelings of aggression while watching the boxing match. However, boxing can have a devastating impact on boxer’ health and even lives. Therefore, the author appeals to the public to enjoy more non-aggressive sports.IV. Summary WritingDirections: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.Tired of all the pushing in supermarkets? Fed up with waiting in endless lines to pay for what you have bought? Angry at wasting time in traffic jams only to find no parking spaces when you eventually arrive at the store? If this is you, then online shopping is the answer to your dreams of trouble-free shopping.Online shopping brings its own challenges. Here are a few things to bear in mind when browsing various websites. The claim made by online sites is that shopping online is a safe and secure way to make purchases. The evidence challenges this. In any case, you only have to be the victim of fraud (欺骗) once to experience all the problems that come with this form of stealing. Use only sites that have a trusted history and an excellent reputation.Another problem is that the appearance of items in reality is often quite different from what you see on your computer screen. This might not be a problem if you are buying washing up powder but could be a major disappointment when that beautiful blue dress you ordered turns up in green. Also, product descriptions are sometimes simply untrue! Perhaps the wisest plan is to purchase items whose design and color are not essential to customer satisfaction.Some even argue that online shopping indirectly contributes to global warming. Yes, your car can stay parked but how are online goods delivered? Often by some large van pouring out carbon monoxide and adding to our already desperate traffic problems. You are also by now becoming increasingly irritated(使烦恼) by the fact that the delivery is late !Keys:Online shopping can free you of the trouble you meet when buying things in store. However, it has challenges. Firstly, you should bear in mind that you must use sites which deserve trusting. Secondly, you shouldn’t believe all the descriptions because they may be untrue. Lastly,you should know although the delivery may be late, it may cause global warming.IV. Summary WritingDirections: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.Learn from mistakesThe best way to learn something is to make mistakes first.Thomas Edison,who invented the light bulb,told his colleagues:"Of the 200 light bulbs that didn't work,every failure told me something I was able to incorporate into the next attempt."Benjamin Franklin,the US statesman and scientist once said:“I haven't failed.I have had 10,000 ideas that didn't work.”Both these people understood that failures and false starts are the condition of success.In fact,a surprising number of everyday objects had their beginnings in a mistake or a misunderstanding.Post-it-notes,packets of crisps and even bread are all unexpected inventions.In 2600 BC,a tired Egyptian slave invented bread when the dough rose during his sleep.And crisps were first cooked by a chief in the USA when a customer complained that his fried potatoes were not thin enough.In 1958 Spencer Silver was trying to develop a strong adhesive when he accidentally invented a very weak glue instead.His colleague,Art Fry,decided to use it six years later,in 1974,to hold his bookmarks in his books and the post-it note was invented.Successful business people have often made big,expensive mistakes in their past.When an employee of IBM made a mistake that cost the company $600,000,Thomos Watson,the chairman,was asked if he would fire the man. "Of course not,"he replied.“I have just spent $600,000 training him.I am not going to let another company benefit from experience.”The important thing to remember is that you need to learn from your mistakes.If youdon't,then there is no sense in making them.Keys:The best way to learn something is to make mistakes first .And failures and false starts are the condition of success. In fact, lots of everyday objects had their beginnings in a mistake .Besides,Successful business people have often made big ,expensive mistakes in their past. All in all,The important thing is that you need to learn from your mistakes.IV. Summary WritingDirections: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.Getting rid of dirt, in the opinion of most people, is a good thing. However, there is nothing fixed about attitudes to dirt.In the early 16th century, people thought that dirt on the skin was a means to block out disease, as medical opinion had it that washing off dirt with hot water could open up the skin and let ills in. A particular danger was thought to lie in public baths. By 1538, the French king had closed the bath houses in his kingdom. So did the king of England in 1546. Thus began a long time when the rich and the poor in Europe lived with dirt in a friendly way. Henry IV, King of France, was famously dirty. Upon learning that a nobleman had taken a bath, the king ordered that, to avoid the attack of disease, the nobleman should not go out.Though the belief in the merit of dirt was long-lived，dirt has no longer been regarded as a nice neighbor ever since the 18 century. Scientifically speaking, cleaning away dirt is good to health. Clean water supply and hand washing are practical means of preventing disease. Yet, it seems that standards of cleanliness have moved beyond science since World War II. Advertisements repeatedly sell the idea: clothes need to be whiter than white, cloths ever softer, surfaces to shine. Has the hate for dirt, however, gone too far?Attitudes to dirt still differ hugely nowadays. Many first-time parents nervously try to warn their children off touching dirt, which might be responsible for the spread of disease. On the contrary, Mary Ruebush, American immunologist (免疫学家），encourages children to play in thedirt to build up a strong immune system. And the latter position is gaining some ground.Keys:People have mixed opinions towards dirt on our skin.For a long time in history, people of some European countries, such as France, believed that dirt protected people from getting ill. However, people began to change their attitudes to dirt about 200 years ago. People have been told that washing dirt off our body can keep us healthy. However, some scientists believe that exposure to some dirt may help our immune system.IV. Summary WritingDirections: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.Judging from recent surveys, most experts in sleep behavior agree that there is virtually an epidemic（流行病）of sleepiness in the nation”. I can’t think of a single study that hasn’t found Americans getting less sleep than they ought to,” says Dr.David. Even people who think they are sleeping enough would probably be better off with more rest.The beginning of our sleep-deficit（睡眠不足）crisis can be traced back to the invention of the light bulb a century ago. From diary entries and our personal accounts from the 18th and 19th centuries, sleep scientists have reached the conclusion that the average person used to sleep about 9.5 hours a night. ” The best sleep habits once were forced on us, when we had nothing to do in the evening down on the farm, and it was dark.” By the 1950s and 1960s, the sleep schedule had been reduced dramatically, to between 7.5 and 8 hours, and most people had to wake to an alarm clock. “People cheat in their sleep, and they don’t even realize they’re doing it,”says Dr.David, ”They think they’re okay because they can get by on 6.5 hours, when they really need 7.5, 8 or even more to feel ideally vigorous. ”Perhaps the most merciless robber of sleep, researches say, is the complexity of the day. Whenever pressures from work, family, friends and community increase, many people consider sleep the least expensive item on their programme.” In our society, you’re considered dynamic if you say you need only 5.5 hours’ sleep. If you’ve got to get 8.5 hours, people think you lack drive and ambition. “To determine the consequences of sleep-deficit, researchers have put subjects through a set of psychological and performance tests requiring them, for instance, to add columns of numbers or recall a passage read to them only minutes earlier.” We’ve found that if you’re in sleep deficit, performance suffers,” says Dr.David, ”Short-term memory is weakened, as are abilities to make decisions and to concentrate.”Keys:Sleep-deficit, a common phenomenon in America, is caused by several factors. Firstly, the invention of the light bulb has changed people’s lifestyle and shorten people’s sleep time by about 2 hours. Secondly, various pressures and misleading social concepts also contribute to sleep-deficit. Researchers have found out that sleep-deficit would influence us intellectually.IV. Summary WritingDirections: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.“Daily Star, sir!” called Jason, carrying some newspaper under his arm. The little boy had been running up and down the street, but there were still twenty papers left. It was raining all day, though not heavily. There were few people on the streets and the shop would soon close. He had hoped to sell more papers tonight to make more money to buy a cake for his mother. That was why he had bought the papers with all his money. But it seemed he would have to go home, carrying the papers instead of money.“You don’t know the secret of selling papers. You must shout, ‘Hot news! Bomb bursting!’” another newsboy Chad told Jason.“But it’s not in the paper at all,” replied Jason.“Just run away quickly before they have time to see the paper. Get the paper sold out a nd the money. That’s it!” Chad said.It was a new idea to Jason. He thought of the cake he wanted to buy for his mother, but was determined that though he was just a poor newsboy, he would not tell a lie, which had been taught by his mother.The next afternoon Jason went to the office for his papers as usual. Several boys were crowding around Chad, who declared with a proud smile that he sold six dozen the day before. A gentleman at the office came up and patted Jason’s shoulder fondly.“You’re just the boy I am looking for.”A week later Jason started his new job. He lost the sale of twenty papers because he would not tell a lie, but got a well-paid job because he insisted on telling the truth.Keys:To buy a cake for his mother, Jason, a little boy, tried to sell the newspaper he bought for the money but failed. Although advised to cheat the passers-by for sales from another newsboy, he decided to stay a clear conscience. On the next day, a gentleman praised Jason and offered him a better job for his honesty.IV. Summary WritingDirections: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.HopeNothing in my life had prepared me for what I had to do. Choosing my words carefully, and fighting to stay calm, I told my 4-year-old daughter that her grandmother had suffered a stroke (中风), that she was unconscious, and that the doctors said she would probably never wake up. As she moved closer to me, Amelia looked at me, eyes bright, and said, “Maybe Grandma will be okay.” “Maybe she will,” I said, keeping back the tears. But I knew better. I was flying up to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, from our Florida home in the morning to say good-bye to my mom.The rest of that awful week, I joined my brother and father sitting by my mother’s side in the hospital room. I held her hand and talked to her. I told her that we still needed her. I told her that it wasn’t time to leave yet. I told her how much I loved h er. And I told her that her little granddaughter, Amelia, believed that she’d get better. The doctors, with all their years of training and experience, offered no hope for recovery. The damage was simply too extensive.A couple of weeks later, an odd thing happened. Mom woke up! And then she perseveredthrough a long and tough process of restoration to health, during which she had to learn to walk, read, and write all over again, and eventually returned home to Dad. The only one who wasn’t shocked was Amel ia. The doctors couldn’t explain it. Amelia didn’t need to. Hope came as naturally to her as breathing.So why are we so afraid to hope sometimes? Maybe it’s because over the years, life’s disappointments can turn us to disillusionment (理想破灭). How many times have you heard someone say: “Hope for the best, expect the worst”? That’s not really hope at all.Hope is being able to look at our world with all of the joy and wonder of a child.Keys:Doctors were pessimistic about my mother’s stroke while my little daughter, Amelia, full of hope. I passed on Amelia’s hope when our family gathered to bid farewell to her in hospital. Incredibly, she recovered and came back home after a period of restoration. Everyone was astonished except Amelia. Hope does bring people in trouble amazement.IV. Summary WritingDirections: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.When you hear the final whistleOne of the hardest things for any sportsperson to do is to know when to retire.But even harder is finding the answer to the question ‘What am I going to do with the rest of my life?’Some sport people go on playing too long. Perhap s they just can’t stand life without the ‘high’ of playing professional sport. Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time, retired three times. He retired once from the Chicago Bulls, made a successful comeback with the Bulls, then retired again. His second comeback with an inferior team ended in failure and he retired for ever at the age of 38. Jordan said, ‘There will never be anything I do that will fulfil me as much as competing did.’Others can’t resist the change of one last “pay day”. Muhammad Ali needed the money, but his comeback fight, at the age of 39, against Trevor Berbick, was one of the saddest spectacles in modern sport. After losing to Berbick, Ali retired permanently. Three years later he developedParkinson’s disease.For some people the pain of saying goodbye never leaves them. As Jimmy Greaves, an ex-England international footballer said, ‘I think that a lot of players would prefer to be shot once their career is over.’ Many of them spend their retirement in a continual battle against depression, alcohol, or drugs.But for the lucky few, retirement can mean a successful new career. Franz Beckenbauer is a classic example of a footballer who won everything with his club, Bayern Munich. After retiring he became a successful coach with Bayern and finally President of the club. John McEnroe, the infamous ‘bad boy’ of tennis, is now a highly respected and highly paid TV commentator. But sadly, for most sportspeople, these cases are the exceptions.Keys:The passage describes sportsperson how to spend their lives after retirement.Some people continue playing for not standing without playing sports, others for the need for money. Moreover, many are struggling with their original bad habits while few can start a successful new career after retirement.IV. Summary WritingDirections: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.Your house may have an effect on your figure. Experts say the way you design your home could play a role in whether you pack on the pounds or keep them off. You can make your environment work for you instead of against you. Here are some ways to turn your home into part of your diet plan.Open the curtains and turn up the lights. Dark environments are more likely to encourage overeating, for people are often less self-conscious(难为情) when they’re in poorly lit places –and so more likely to eat lots of food. If your home doesn’t have enough window light, get more lamps and flood the place with brightness.Mind the colours. Research suggests warm colours fuel our appetites. In one study, peoplewho ate meals in a blue room consumed 33 percent less than those in a yellow or red room. Warm colours like yellow make food appear more appetizing, while cold colours make us less hungry. So when it’s time to repaint, go blue.Don’t forget the clock – or the radio. People who eat slowly tend to consume about 70 fewer calories(卡路里) per meal than those who rush through their meals. Begin keeping track of the time, and try to make dinner last at 30 minutes. And while you’re at it, actually sit down to eat. If you need some help slowing down, turning on relaxing music. It makes you less likely to rush through a meal.Downsize the dishes. Big serving bowls and plants can easily make us fat. We eat about 22 percent more when using a 12-inch plate instead of a 10-inch plate. When we choose a large spoon over a smaller one, total intake(摄入) jumps by 14 percent. And we’ll pour about 30 percent more liquid into a short, wide glass than a tall, skinny glass.Keys:House design may affect your figure, but there’re four ways to control your diet. Dark light makes you eat more, so you should keep your room bright. Besides, decorating with cold colors can reduce your food-intake. Moreover, you can eat slowly with relaxing music. Finally, smaller tableware also reduces appetite.IV. Summary WritingDirections: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.Trees should be pruned( 修剪)only when there is a good and clear reason for doing so and fortunately , the number of such reason is small.First, pruning may be done to make sure that trees have desired shape or size. The object may be to get a tree of the right height, and at the same time to help the growth of small side branches, which will thicken its appearance or give it a special shape. Secondly, pruning may be done to make the tree healthier. You may cut out diseased or dead wood, or branches that are rubbing against each other and thus cause wounds. The health of a tree may be encouraged by removing branches that are blocking up the center and so preventing the free movement of air.One result of pruning is that an open wound is left on the tree and this provides an easy entry for disease , but it is a wound that will heal. Often there is a race between the healing and the disease as to whether the tree will live or die, so that there is a period when the tree is at risk. It should be the aim of every gardener to reduce that risk of death as far as possible. It is important to make the area, which has been pruned, smooth and clean, for healing will be slowed down by roughness. You should allow the cut surface to dry for a few hours and then paint it with one of the materials available from garden shops produced especially for this purpose. Pruning is usually done in winter , for then you can see the shape of the tree clearly without interference from the leaves and also it is very unlikely that the cuts you make will bleed. If this does happen, it is, of course, impossible to paint them properly.Keys:Trees are pruned either for pruning images or good health. However, the wound caused by provide access for disease. Therefore, the gardeners should keep the cuts smooth and clear, meanwhile, the surface should be dried ,then the cuts should be applied substance. And pruning is recommended to be done in winter.IV. Summary WritingDirections: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.For anyone who doubts that the texting revolution is upon us, consider this: The average 13- to 17-year-old sends and receives 3,339 texts a month—more than 100 per day, according to the Nielsen Co., the media research firm. Adults are catching up. People from ages 45 to 54 sent and received 323 texts a month in the second quarter of 2010, up 75% from a year ago, Nielsen says.Behind the texting explosion is a fundamental shift in how we view our mobile devices. That they are phones is increasingly beside the point.Part of what's driving the texting surge among adults is the popularity of social media. Sites like Twitter, with postings of no more than 140 characters, are creating and reinforcing the habit of communicating in micro-bursts.。
