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荷叶母亲-郑州人事考试网报名
1. The Time of Lincoln
Abraham
Lincoln was the 16
th
president of the
United States of America. He is remembered
for
many things, including his log-cabin home, his
absurd looking clothing accessory, a top-hat,
but Lincoln‟s absolute most important
contribution to America‟s history was to abolish
slavery, a
very hard task to accomplish at
that time. In the middle of the 19
th
century, America was split by
an abstract
border. The country was cut into two parts: the
North and the South. There were an
abundance
of differences which caused this abnormal
separation. For instance, the North held all
of the Universities and Military Academies
whereas in the South, access to such institutions
was
limited. Also, Northerners spoke standard
American English while Southerners spoke with a
Southern accent. But the largest difference
that abound between the North and the South at
that
time was slavery and all of the aspects
that accompanied it.
The North thought that
the South should abandon slavery because mint most
cases, slaves
faced daily abuse from their
owners. Most Northerners tried to abide by the
rule that “All men are
created equal.” These
reasons largely account for the American Civil
War. The Civil War was a
long, brutal war with
a very high casualty rate. Many young men from
both the North and the
South were killed on
the battlefield; the death toll was also
accelerated by the fact that small
Army
hospitals could not accommodate so many wounded
soldiers.
The Civil War was filled with heroes
on both sides of the battlefield. Names like ,
General Sherman, and the acclaimed Southern
General Robert E. Lee. All of these men fought
bravely and made harrowing decisions on their
own accord. But Lincoln is probably most often
associated with his leadership of the country
during this difficult period. He was a firm
believer
that slavery was wrong and he fought
hard to stop it. In 1863, Lincoln signed the
Emancipation
Proclamation which legally
granted freedom to all slaves living in America.
But in 1865, Lincoln‟s
life came to an abrupt
ended while he was watching a play at Ford‟s
Theater in Washington D.C.
His death was not
an accident; he was assassinated by a man named
John Wilkes Booth.
Not long after Lincoln‟s
death, the North defeated the South and the Civil
War was ended.
The South was no longer thought
of as another country, but part of America. And
all of the slaves
living and working in the
South were freed and absorbed into society.
2.
Mike — a Story of Personal Change
Mike could
hardly be described as your typical adolescent. He
would casually acknowledge
to his few friends
that he liked to watch DVDs, although perhaps a
more accurate description was
that he was a
DVD addict. Over the last six months, Mike had
accumulated thousands of DVDs.
When he was not
at school, he had become accustomed to spending
his time wandering the streets
of the city,
acquiring more and more films. Indeed, it became a
joke that if asked for his address,
he would
give the address of the DVD shop adjacent to our
school since he spent so much time
there.
Mike hated attending school. In his eyes, its only
advantage was its location. During lessons,
he
adopted a rather cool demeanor towards most of his
classmates and was often accused of being
aloof. All he seemed concerned about was
adding to his DVD collection. In truth, Mike had
not
adapted to life at the school very well.
Perhaps he felt that he still needed adequate time
to adjust
to a new environment although no one
could work out why he harbored such an acute
feeling of
self-pity.
As someone
who also adores watching films, I had slowly
become acquainted with Mike. I
had often seen
him in the DVD shop which adjoined our school, yet
it took a long time before he
responded to my
advances of friendship. Maybe it was an
exaggeration to say we were actually
friends,
although he would at least acknowledge my presence
with a cursory nod of the head when
he saw me.
One day, I was asked to administrate our
school‟s new film club. I was a little wary about
asking Mike to help me select suitable films
in case he said no. however, I needn‟t have
worried.
Mike‟s face lit up as he scrutinized
a poster I had just adhered to the wall. The
poster advertised
the grand opening of the
Film Club the following week. „Hey David,‟ he
muttered excitedly, „I
want to be involved
with that.‟
The change in Mike‟s behavior
over the next month was dramatic. I have no doubt
that it was
the Film Club which activated the
turnaround. Once a boy who spent most of his time
sulking,
Mike was now a model student. Before
each film was shown, he would give a very
informative
speech about the director and main
actors. Everyone was impressed by his knowledge
and passion
for films and he suddenly became
extremely popular at school.
3. Salt
Now
that Billy‟s parents were a little more affluent,
the family had agreed that they could a
cottage on the out skirts of town. Although
the cottage was somewhat old-fashioned, the agent
who rented the place to them was keen to
advocate that they should not install air-
conditioning as
they could air-condition the
place by opening the skylights. The day that they
moved, the air was
heavy with the advent of
spring, a sense of renewal accompanied them along
the way; Billy and
the old dog Rufus watched
the amazing aerial gymnastics of the swallows out
of the car window,
browsing through the family
album every now and then. When they arrived, a
group of men were
unloading the van. Billy
thought looking around the new surroundings should
be placed high on
their agenda, so he whistled
to Rufus and they set off on an adventure. They
found a small
footpath, Rufus showing his
excitement and his affection for Billy by panting
and wagging his tail.
Billy was at an age when
he could still feel a sense of aesthetic
excitement at the beauty of nature.
The
adverse effects of those years in the city seemed
to vanish as he walked, and with Rufus as his
affiliate he felt invincible. However, he had
reckoned without Rufus. They rounded a bend in the
path and suddenly, in the next field, they saw
sheep. Rufus knew a good game when he saw one,
he ran straight into the field, baking
aggressively. Just then, a man in green boots
stepped out and
in an equally aggressive
manner started to shout at Rufus to get out of the
field. With a sense of
alarm, Billy realized
that the man was carrying a shotgun and he saw him
level it and take aim at
Rufus.
“Please
don‟t shoot”, yelled Billy, but this seemed to
aggravate the man still more. The gun
went off
and Rufus howled in agony. He ran helter-skelter
back to Billy with his tail between his
legs.
The man strode over to Billy.
“Those sheep
are pregnant”, the man said, angrily. “If you
agitate them they can lose their
lambs. I will
affirm my right to kill any dog that chases them.”
“I agree”, said Billy. “And I‟m sorry,
please; help me get Rufus to a vet!”
“I don‟t
think your dog will need a vet this time”, said
them man, “the gun was only loaded
with salt.
But next time, keep him on a lead, okay?”
4.
Freshman Year
I was born in a small
town, up in the mountains. Because of the high
altitude, few people lived
there. I was always
amid my neighbors and friends, people I had known
for all of my life. When I was
in my hometown,
I felt like those days would last forever. But the
days went by quickly, and soon I
found myself
packing my bags for college. I was full of
ambition, and had applied to go to university in
a big city.
When I first got to my
university, I was on the alert for everything. I
felt very much alone without
my family and
friends. I was like an alien arriving on a new
planet. I felt like an ambassador from
another
world. Once classes started, things were better. I
was busier, because I had to allocate most of
my time to studying. I wanted to work hard,
and did not allow my self to go to a large amount
of parties.
I wanted to find an alternate
social life that would let me have fun, without
always drinking alcohol,
like some university
students do. Many people allege that this is why
some students get bad grades
their first year
at university.
Because I felt very ambiguous
about what I wanted to study, I took many
different classes. I tried
many different
things, but still hadn‟t found the perfect match
for me. This made me feel even more
lost at
school, and I knew I had to find a way to amend
things. In order to make new friends, and
alleviate my loneliness, I joined the drama
club at my school. It was there I met my first
ally. The
president of the drama club was an
older student, named Betty. She was quite amiable,
and helped give
me advice about school. She
helped me to alter my schedule so that I had the
best classes.
Soon our drama club put on its
first show. It was a comedy, full of jokes to
amuse the audience.
My parents and friends
even drove out to watch me. We were only amateur
actors, but I think we did a
good job. After
the show, my father said, “Sarah, you amaze me, I
didn‟t know you were so good at
acting!” such
ample praise made me very proud. That was when I
realized what I wanted to be, an
actress.
5. Story of the Vikings
Jerry had been
interested in ancient history since he was a
little child. Every night before going to
bed,
his grandfather would tell him stories of great
civilizations like the Romans, the Vikings, the
Incas
and many others. These short anecdotes
and stories always involved great kings and
leaders, great wars
and battles, and great
heroes and foes. However, a story that had
anything to do with the fierce Vikings
was
always Jerry‟s favorite. He was most interested in
these stories because his grandfather had
analyzed their family tree and discovered that
the family‟s ancestors were actually Vikings.
Every day at school, Jerry would wonder what
story his grandfather would tell him that night..
He
was always anxious to come home so that he
could see his grandfather and hear the next story.
Apart
from the action of each story, Jerry‟s
grandfather also tried to teach Jerry a life-
lesson that he could
apply in his life.
Jerry‟s grandfather often accomplished this by
using analogies to compare Jerry‟s life
with
some thing from that day‟s story. The story that
Jerry enjoyed the most was about an annual
fishing trip that the Vikings made each year
on a certain anniversary. in this story, the
captain of a large
Viking ship decided to set
sail without bringing their large, heavy anchor
because they did not
anticipate the trip
taking a long time and they wanted more room for
all of the fish too because the
Vikings had a
strong appetite for fish.
Some of the Vikings
on the ship were appalled at the decision of not
bringing an anchor because of
the apparent
danger of not bringing one. They thought the ship
was anything but safe. These men
appealed to
the captain of the ship and one man even wrote an
anonymous letter to the king of the
Vikings asking that an anchor be put on
the ship. But the captain of the ship announced
that they were
leaving the next day. This
answer annoyed several of the Viking crew, but
they listed to their captain
and set sail.
Not long after setting sail, the Viking ship
encountered a large storm. The ship was being
badly
damaged and the captain felt anguish
because they needed the large anchor at this
moment. Soon after
the storm ended, the
captain apologized to his crew for not listening
to them and promised to buy all of
them a
bottle of beer when they returned home. Although
the crew of the ship was still wet and tired
from the storm, they applauded when they heard
the captain apologize.
6. The Young Police
Chief
Jim had been appointed as the police
chief of his local division—an appointment that he
took very
seriously as he secretly aspired to
ascend to become the leader of the entire city‟s
police department.
His promotion had not met
with the approval of everyone within the
department, because although he
was an apt
leader who did not ask too much of his men, many
did not appreciate his somewhat arrogant
methods when dealing with the senior members
of the police force. As one of the youngest police
chiefs ever, his promotion was considered by
many of the older policemen an assault on the way
thing
had always been done, and they were very
apprehensive at an array of new programs that Jim
had
installed within the department. They
considered him to be an outsider who had come
ashore without
spending an appropriate amount
of time on the police force before being promoted.
Sal, one of the oldest members of the force,
took Jim aside to ascertain whether Jim was aware
that there might be problems ahead. “It‟s not
that we don‟t approve of the job that you are
doing”, Sal
said, “but your promotion at such
a young age has aroused the curiosity of what if
is that makes you
deserving of such a
position. We need time to appraise your
performance.” Jim was a very articulate
young
man, and there was nothing artificial about him.
He decided to speak to all of the men as a group
before any more problems could arise. “I
understand your concerns, but I assure you that
the
commissioner‟s decision to appoint me as
your leader was not an arbitrary one”, Jim said
confidently to
the group. “I am not ashamed of
my young age, and I hope that you will give me
time to prove to you
that I am worthy of being
your police chief.” at that very moment, the sound
of gunfire was heard
outside as an assault
began on the bank across the street—the criminal
had very foolishly chosen to
approach a bank
very close to a police station. Jim was the first
policeman to run outside and approach
the
gunman. His apt ability in dealing with such a
dangerous situation was apparent to everyone.
Within approximately two minutes, he had
arrested the bank robber. Jim had not only
prevented a
crime, but he had also earned the
respect and appreciation for his fellow officers,
who now felt
ashamed that had ever questioned
his leadership abilities.
7. Accident on Elm
Street
The junction between Elm Street and
Beech Street was an accident black spot. It was
easy to
assume that no one would be coming the
other way, and if a driver was not attentive
enough he could
easily come to grief. People
attributed this to the fact that children would
often assemble at the junction,
making it hard
for drivers to assess the traffic situation. Local
residents would often assert that the only
way
to make the junction safe would be to augment the
poorly lit stop signs with a set of lights, or at
the very least, to assign a lollipop person to
the junction at the times when children were going
to and
from school.
The local police were
sympathetic to these requests, but to no avail.
They claimed they lacked the
authority
to install a set of lights. Things had been tight
since the previous year‟s local government
audit, and funds were unlikely to be
forthcoming. However, they would, when asked,
frequently assure
the questioner that they
hoped the government would soon augment their
budget and allow them
increased autonomy in
making financial decisions, in which case dealing
with the Elm Street junction
would be a top
priority. Many people pointed out that simply to
wait for the government to act was
pointless,
that maybe a set of traffic lights could be
purchased cheaply in an auction, or that a
lollipop
person, besides making the junction
safer for the children, would cheer the place up
and be an authentic
asset to the community.
But it seemed that for ordinary people to suggest
improvements to their own
community merely
served to astonish the police.
The matter was
settled in a rather unlikely fashion. At the
beginning of March a collision occurred
between the Chief of Police and the auxiliary
fire service chief who was speeding to attend a
fire. The
Chief of Police saw the accident
coming and sounded his horn to give aural warning
of his approach,
but the auxiliary fir service
chief was already attempting to avoid a small boy
and was unable to
assimilate the warning
signals in time. The auxiliary fire service chief
and his associate, who was in the
back seat,
were unhurt. The chief of police, however, was
slightly concussed. he got out of his vehicle
and staggered around with a slightly bemused
expression on his face, as though he was about to
attain
nirvana, after which he spent twenty
minutes trying to attach a parking ticket to the
hole where the
fireman‟s windscreen had been.
81. The Missing Cat
Christina
and Patrick baker stood outside their empty house.
They watched the moving
company work, packing
the last cardboard boxes in the large truck. They
were ready to go, but
their cat Nutty was
nowhere to be found. Nutty had decided to withdraw
and had hidden himself
in the woods behind his
owner‟s house. Now it was time to go, and his
owner were beginning to
wonder where he was.
The removal company wasn‟t willing to wait any
more, so Christina and
Patrick got into the
truck. Making a decision that would wrench their
hearts, they left their cat
behind.
Their
new house, across the town from their old house,
was a lot beautiful. But Christina and
Patrick
were not happy. Nutty was worth a lot to them,
they missed him greatly. Christina had
given
the cat as a present to Patrick on their first
Christmas together. That day they laughed and
laughed watching the small bundle of fur wrap
himself up in a bit of wire that he had got from
their Christmas wreath. He had wound himself
up while wrestling with the wire, and was now
unable to move, and were beginning to worship
Nutty, and the joy he brought to them.
Unable
to withstand a life without their favorite friend,
the couple made a plan. They sat
down to write
a flyer. They wrote about their missing cat, and
taped a photo of Nutty to the flyer.
Then they
went to xerox copies of the flyer. They drove back
to their old neighborhood, and stuck
the
flyers up on telephone poles and in the local
store.
Sadly, the flyer did not yield the
results they had been looking for. Not one single
witness
stepped forward to offer a word of
information about their cat. However, a few days
later they
were outside of their new house
when they heard a strange sound. They turned
around and saw
Nutty running towards them
meowing! Somehow Nutty had followed their zigzag
path, across
every major zone of the
city, and made it to their home. Christina and
Patrick embraced their cat
with zeal. Of
course the cat was a wreck due to the journey.
Someone or something had wounded
him. He
looked wretched, but they loved every wrinkle.
They praised the cat for his bravery
and wit.
They hadn‟t found him, but he had found them!