There’s a tendency to make a presentation slide excessively complicated with flashy images, strange transitions, and too much text. These features are often unnecessary, and tend to make the viewers get bored. Instead, keep each slide short and plain, using one image to sell your idea. Using bullets (圆形符号) is a bit of a cliché (陈词滥调), but if you must use them, never exceed (超过) more than one line of text per bullet.

Branding is the key.

Whether you’re stating a new business idea to investors or describing a new product to customers, you’ll want your presentation to reinforce your brand’s image. Use the same color schemes, fonts (字体), and logos that you use on your website or company literature. There’s an assumption of what a Power Point is supposed to look like, and company standards falls through the floor.

Give them a break.

According to a recent research, the average adult attention span for a presentation is just 20 minutes. It’s always best to keep your presentation short and to the point, but if you must exceed the recommended 20 minutes, try giving your audience a moment to relax. “You can extend attention spans by giving your audience a rest,” the study says. This can be done by telling a story, giving a demo, or doing something else that gives the brain a break.

Practice it again and again.

In the end, a great presentation will come down to the speaker’s ability to capture the audience’s imagination and keep their attention. The presentation and the speaker should work together and they can be complementary (相互补充的) to each other. The best presenters won’t have to look down at the notes and will never be reading from a script. A good speaker can focus on the key points and convey information well.

41. How can you make a presentation slide not too complicated?

A. By keeping each slide short and plain.

B. By using flashy images and much text.

C. By using more than one line of text per bullet.

D. By using more than one image to show your idea.

42. Why should you use the same color schemes, fonts, and logos in your presentation?

A. To describe your ideas clearly.   B. To reinforce your brand’s image.

C. To make a contrast with new images.  D. To make investors remember your ideas.

43. According to the passage, a good presenter always _______.

A. looks down at notes from time to time

B. takes a break in the process of presenting

C. keeps his presentation beyond 20 minutes

D. catches the audience’s imagination and attention

44. The underlined word “reinforce” in the third paragraph probably means “______”.

A. create    B. praise    C. preserve   D. strengthen

45. What can be the best title for this passage?

A. Four Tips for a Great PowerPoint Presentation

B. The Importance of a PowerPoint Presentation

C. The Benefits of Using a PowerPoint Presentation

D. The Proper Occasion for a PowerPoint Presentation

C

It was a cold winter day. A woman drove up to the Rainbow Bridge tollbooth (收费站). “I’m paying for myself, and for the six cars behind me,” she said with a smile, handing over seven tickets. One after another, the next six drivers arriving at the tollbooth were informed, “Some lady up ahead already paid your fare.”

It turned out that the woman, Natalie Smith, had read something on a friend’s refrigerator: “Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” The phrase impressed her so much that she copied it down.

Judy Foreman spotted the same phrase on a warehouse wall far away from home. When it stayed on her mind for days, she gave up and drove all the way back to copy it down. “I thought it was beautiful,” she said, explaining why she’d taken to writing it at the bottom of all her letters, “like a message from above.” Her husband, Frank, liked the phrase so much that he put it up on the classroom wall for his students, one of whom was the daughter of Alice Johnson, a local news reporter. Alice put it in the newspaper, admitting that though she liked it, she didn’t know where it came from or what it really meant.

Two days later, Alice got a call from Anne Herbert, a woman living in Marin. It was in a restaurant that Anne wrote the phrase down on a piece of paper, after turning it around in her mind for days.

“Here’s the idea,” Anne says. “Anything you think there should be more of, do it randomly.” Her fantasies include painting the classrooms of shabby schools, leaving hot meals on kitchen tables in the poor part of town, and giving money secretly to a proud old lady. Anne says, “Kindness can build on itself as much as violence can.”

The acts of random kindness spread. If you were one of those drivers who found your fare paid, who knows what you might have been inspired to do for someone else later. Like all great events, kindness begins slowly, with every single act. Let it be yours! 46. Why did Natalie Smith pay for the six cars behind her?

A. She had seven tickets.                      B. She knew the car drivers well.

C. She hoped to please others.                  D. She wanted to show kindness.

47. Who came up with the phrase according to the passage?

A. Judy Foreman.                           B. Anne Herbert.

C. Natalie Smith.                          D. Alice Johnson.

48. Judy Foreman copied down the phrase because she _________.

A. wanted her husband to put it up in the classroom  B. wanted to know what it really meant

C. decided to write it on a warehouse wall        D. thought it was beautifully written

49. Which of the following statements is closest in the meaning to the underlined sentence above?

A. Kindness and violence can reproduce themselves.

B. Kindness and violence can affect one’s behavior.

C. Kindness and violence can change the world.

D. Kindness and violence can shape one’s character.

50. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A. People should practice random kindness to those in need.

B. People should practice random kindness to strangers they meet.

C. People who receive kindness are likely to offer it to others.

D. People who receive kindness are likely to pay it back to the giver.

D

Autumn means different things to different people. “It all depends on your personality.” said British naturalist Richard Mabey. “Personality shapes your view of the season,” he said. “You may see it as a fading-away, a packing-up (结束), or as a time of packing in another sense --- the excited gathering of resources before a long journey.”

If this is true, perhaps it tells us a little about, for instance, Thomas Hood, the 19th Century English poet. About November, he wrote:

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees

November!

On the other hand, another English poet John Keats, already sensing he was seriously ill, was inspired by a late September day to pen one of the most famous poems in the English language, To Autumn. He wrote to a friend afterwards that there was something comforting and healing about it.

According to Richard Mabey, Keats has the biological evidence on his side. Autumn is not a time of slowing down, but a time of new beginnings and great movements of creatures. For example, just at the moment that Keats's “gathering swallows” (in To Autumn) are departing for Africa, millions of creatures are fleeing from the frozen north like Iceland, Greenland and Russia to winter along the east and south coasts of Britain. According to scientists, before falling, the leaves transfer their chlorophyll (叶绿素) and carbohydrates (碳水化合物) into the woody parts of the tree for safe-keeping over winter. What remains are the natural antioxidants (防老剂) in the leaves: the yellow and orange carotenoids (类胡萝卜素), and another protective chemical specially produced for autumn, the bright-red anthocyanin (花青素). High color is not a signal of deterioration (退化) and decline, but of detox (排毒的) ability and good health.

A century after Keats, the American poet Loren Eiseley wrote in his journal: “Suppose we saw ourselves burning like maples in a golden autumn. And that we could break up like autumn leaves…dropping their substance like chlorophyll. Would not our attitude towards death be different?”

51. From Thomas Hood’s poem, we may infer that _______.

A. he suffered a lot from cold November

B. he missed the shining summer days very much

C. he had a negative attitude towards autumn

D. he enjoyed butterflies and bees very much

52. In autumn, leaves turn yellow before falling because ______.

A. they can’t bear the freezing

B. they can’t get enough water from the wood part

C. chlorophyll and carbohydrates have been lost through leaves

D. chlorophyll and carbohydrates have come back to the wood part

53. From the passage we can learn that________.

A. autumn has different faces in different people’s eyes

B. John Keats was a good biologist as well as a poet

C. all creatures move from the cold north to Britain for winter

D. The three poets were only known for their poems about autumn

54. Which word can best describe Loren Eiseley’s attitude towards autumn?

A. Fearful    B. Optimistic   C. Doubtful   D. Realistic.

55. What does the underlined sentence mean?