Each week, this program explains the many meanings of English expressions. Today's expressions include a very important word--"heart". We will try to "get to the heart of the matter" to better understand the most important thing about words and their stories. So "take heart." Have no fear about learning new expressions. Besides, popular English words can be fun. There is no need for a "heavy heart." Such feelings of sadness would only "break my heart," or make me feel unhappy and hopeless. Now, let us suppose you and I were speaking freely about something private. We would be having a "heart to heart" discussion. I might speak from "the bottom of my heart, " or say things honestly and truthfully. I might even "open up my heart" to you and tell you a secret. I would speak with "all my heart". When a person shares her feelings freely and openly like this, you might say she "wears her heart on her sleeve". Her emotions are not protected. If we had an honest discussion, both of us would know that the other person's "heart is in the right place." For example, I would know that you are a "kind-hearted" and well-meaning person. And, if you are a very good person, I would even say that you have "a heart of gold." However, you might have a "change of heart" based on what I tell you. Our discussion might cause you to change the way you feel about something. But, let us suppose you get angry over what I tell you. Or worse, you feel no sympathy or understanding for me or my situation. If this happens, I might think that you have a "heart of stone." And, if you say something to make me frightened or worried, my "heart might stand still". If you are not so happy, you may feel that _ . A) you "have a heart of stone" B) you have to "take heart" C) you "break you heart" D) you "speak from the bottom of the heart"
C
(Question)
Some people like modern art, while others say that is rubbish. But a cleaner who works in the Tate Gallery in London isn't able to tell the difference. The woman, whose name isn't known, mistook a work of art by the German painter Gustav Metzger for a bag of rubbish, and threw it out with other bags. The plastic bad, which contained pieces of paper and cardboard, was later recovered outside the gallery, but the artist thought that it was too damaged to be put on show again. 78-year-old Mr Metzger explained that the exhibit, which he said was a copy of a similar work he had created in 1960, was meant to show that all art is temporary and "finite" . Embarrassed officials at the museum said that they had had to call a meeting with cleaners to explain which things should not be touched. They would not say whether Mr Metzger would be paid any compensation for the incident. However, to make absolutely sure the same thing would not happen again, they decided to cover Mr Metzger's work every evening with a colored cloth. In this way the cleaners arriving after the gallery had closed to the general public would realize they should not touch it. This is not the first time that museum cleaners have had trouble distinguishing exhibits from rubbish. In 2001, in another London gallery, a cleaner threw away a work by the well-known British artist Damien Hirst. It was an arrangement of empty beer bottles, coffee cups, and overflowing ashtrays, which were meant to indicate the chaos in the life of an artist. However, cleaners don't always throw things away--sometimes they clean them! This was the case with a dirty asking what the bath was doing in the gallery, the cleaners simply scrubbed it clean. What's the best title of the passage? A) Cleaners mistake modern art for rubbish B) Modern art shouldn't be cleaned C) What makes a great work of art D) Cleaners don't always throw things away
(Answer)
A
Ques: There are stories about two US Presidents,Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren,which attempt to explain the American English term OK. We don't know if either story is true,but they are both interesting. The first explanation is based on the fact that President Jackson had very little education. In fact,he had difficulty reading and writing. When important papers came to Jackson,he tried to read them and then had his assistants explain what they said. If he approved of a paper, he would write "all correct" on it. The problem was that he didn't know how to spell. So what he really wrote was "ol korekt". After a while,he shortened that term to "OK". The second explanation is based on the place where President Van Buren was born,Kinderhook,New York. Van Buren's friends organized a club to help him become president. They called the club the Old Kinderhook Club,and anyone who supported Van Buren was called "OK". According to the second story,the term "OK" _ . A) was the short way to say "Old Kinderhook Club" B) meant the place where President Van Buren was born C) was the name of Van Buren's club D) was used to call Van Buren's supporters in the election
Ans: D
Ques: I was at Kendriya Vidyalaya in Bambolim, Goa, in the 1980s. On Inspection Day one year, an officer and his team from the Board of Education were coming to see how our school was run. As usual, our teachers asked us to be prepared. At the end of the day, Mrs Sushila Tyaji, our Hindi teacher, walked in and told us that the inspector had come and quietly observed the class from the back door. He had also left an _ remark! That was sad for us. Would we now be punished for having failed our teachers? There were no answers from Mrs Tyaji. Instead, she wrote the Hindi word "dukh" on the blackboard. And then she did something I have never seen a teacher do in my entire school life. She apologized. "I am sorry for having taught you something wrong," she said. "I missed out the dots between the letters 'du' and 'kh'. The inspector told me this in the staffroom. I hope you will not make this mistake in future." That admission had a significant effect on me. If our teacher can say sorry to us when she is wrong, why can't I? The incident helped me get rid of two common vices--ego and dishonesty. Twenty-three years passed. I had to let my teacher know what that lesson meant to me. I recently located Mrs Sushila Tyaji using the Internet and went to meet her with my husband. She smiled when she heard my story of how her small decades-old apology had transformed me for good. "It's tough being a teacher. But every once in a while, when an old student comes along and tells us that we did something right, it makes up for everything else," she said. What did the author learn from Mrs Tyaji ? A) Honesty is the best policy B) Comfort is better than rude C) One can never be too careful D) It is better to be safe than sorry
Ans:
A