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Passage One
Larry arrivedearly for his speaking engagement. He positioned the table so that he couldmove close to the audience that's the strategic point in the speech. (16)He hadread that speakers can be more persuasive if they invade the personal space oflisteners, encouraging an emotional response. For the same reason, he placedthe chairs close to each other and raised the temperature to a slightlyuncomfortable level. (17)The purpose of the speech was to encourage theaudience of corporate executives and local business owners to support localsports groups. To enhance his credibility with the audience, Larry had broughtsome slides of his family attending sports events. One photo showed him at anaward ceremony, where he had been honored for his financial contribution to alocal baseball team. Realizing that this particular audience would find hisregional accent unattractive, Larry planned to speak with an accent that wouldbe more acceptable to his audience. (18)After reading a book on how to addressfor success, he had purchased an expensive dark navy suit and golden tie. Hechose colors and styles known to communicate power and influence. (19)Justbefore people began entering the hall, Larry dimmed the lights and turned upthe sound system, which was playing soft music, hoping to create a warmpersonal atmosphere for the speech. He hoped that these added effects wouldencourage his audience to support local sports teams. He had also planned thecontent of his speech to focus on the teams with the best records, the onesthat had won the most games in the last season.
16.How cana speaker make himself more persuasive when delivering a speech?
17.Forwhat purpose was Larry going to make a speech?
18.Why didLarry purchase an expensive navy suit and golden tie?
19.Why didLarry dim the lights and turn up the sound system before people entered thehall?
Passage Two
PhillisWheatley was a young African-American slave who belonged to landowner JohnWheatley in Colonial America. (20)She was also a poet and the firstAfrican-American ever to publish a book. Her poems on various subjects,religious and moral were printed in Boston in 1773, three years before thesigning of the Declaration of Independence. Early slaves were generally deniededucation, but Wheatley was allowed by her owner to study poetry, Latin and theBible. And by the time she reached her late teens, she had written enoughpoetry to put together a slender book of verse. Even so, publication wasdifficult. (21)The publisher, fearful of being cheated, forced her to submit tohis scholarly examination by a board of educated men, including the colonialgovernor. The board of judges questioned Wheatley extensively and ruled thatshe was educated enough to have written the book. Only then was publicationpermitted. Wheatley may have been the first, but she was not the only slave towrite books during the growing days of the Republic. Unfortunately, most of theearly popular African-American writers have been all but forgotten in moderntimes until now. A chronicle professor, Henry Louis Gates, recently studied aresearch project looking into 19th century African-American fiction and poetry.(22)In the process he uncovered numerous lost works, almost half of which werewritten by African-American women. In very literary styles, the newlyresurfaced manuscripts offered a rich stock of African-American culture,recreating among other things the early days of slavery and the importance ofreligion to the slaves.
20. Whatdoes the speaker say about Phillis Wheatley?
21. Whatwas Wheatley forced to do to get her book published?
22. Whatdid Prof. Henry Louis Gates uncover in the process of his research?
Passage Three
In today'spersonality stakes, nothing is more highly valued than the sense of humor. Weseek it out in others and are proud to claim it in ourselves, perhaps even morethan good looks or intelligence. (23) If someone has a great sense of humor, wereason, it means that they are happy, socially confident and have a healthyperspective on life. (24)This attitude would have surprised the ancient Greeks,who believed humor to be essentially aggressive. And in fact our admiration forthe comically gifted is relatively new and not very well-founded, says RodMartin’s a psychologist at the University of Western Ontario. "Being funnyisn't necessarily an indicator of good social skills and well-being,” hisresearch has shown, "it may just exactly be a sign of personalityflaws." (25)He has found that humor is a double-edged sword. It can forgebetter relationships and help you cope with life, or it can be corrosive eatingaway your self-esteem and irritating others. "It’s a form of communicationlike speech, and we all use it differently*" says Martin. We use bondinghumor to enhance our social connections* but we also may employ it as a way ofexcluding or rejecting an outsider. Though humor is essentially social, how youuse it says a lot about your sense of self. Those who use self-defeating humor,making fun of themselves, of the enjoyment of others, tend to maintain thathostility toward themselves even when alone. Similarly, those who are able toview the world with amused tolerance are often equally forgiving of their ownshortcomings.
23. How dopeople today view humor according to the speaker?
24. Whatdid ancient Greeks think of humor?
25. What has psychologist Rod Martin found about humor?
