A popular saying goes, “Sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will neve

A popular saying goes, “Sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurtme.” However, that’snot really true. Words have the power to build us up or tear us down. It doesn’t matter if the words come from someone else or ourselves – the positive and negative effects are just as lasting.

We all talk to ourselvessometimes. We’re usually too embarrassed toadmit it, though. But we really shouldn’tbe, because more and more experts believe talking to ourselves out loud is ahealthy habit.

This “self-talk” helps us motivate ourselves, remember things, solves problems,and calm ourselves down. Beware, though, that as much as 77% of self-talk tendsto be negative. So in order to stay positive, we should only speak words ofencouragement to ourselves. We should also be quick to give ourselves a paton the back. The next time you finish a project, do well in a test, or finallyclean your room, join me in saying, “Good job!”

Words possess power because oftheir lasting effects. Many of us regret something we once said. And weremember unkind words said to us! Before speaking, we should always askourselves: Is it true? Is it loving? Is it needed? If what we want to say doesn’t pass this test, then it’sbetter left unsaid.

Words possess power: bothpositive and negative. Those around us receive encouragement when we speakpositively. We can offer hope, build self-esteem(自尊) and motive others to do their best.Negative words destroy all those things. Will we use our words to hurt or toheal? The choice is ours.

1.The author argues in the first paragraphthat ________.

A．words will never hurt us at all

B．words have lasting effects on us

C．positive effects last longer than negativeeffects

D．negative words last longer than positiveeffects

2.Why should we not feel embarrassed whentalking to ourselves?

A．Almost everybody has the habit of talking tooneself.

B．It does harm to have “self-talk” when we are alone.

C．Talking to ourselves helps us to solve allthe problems.

D．Talking to ourselves is believed to be goodfor our health.

3.The underlined phrase “give ourselves a pat on the back”in Paragraph 3 means _________.

A．blame ourselves                                   B．punish ourselves

C．praise ourselves                                   D．talk to ourselves

4.Which of the following statements would theauthor agree to?

A．It is better to think twice before talking toothers.

B．It is impossible for unkind words to beforgotten.

C．Words always possess long positive effects.

D．Kind words are sometimes not needed at all.

试题答案

【答案】

1.B           

2.D

3.C

4.A

【解析】 略