题目内容
Many years ago, a merchant in London had the misfortune to owe a huge sum to a money-lender who, old and ugly, fancied the merchant's beautiful daughter. He said he would cancel the merchant's debt if he could have the girl instead.
Both the merchant and his daughter were horrified. So the cunning money-lender proposed they let chance decide the matter. He told them he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty money-bag and then the girl would have to pick out of the pebbles. If she chose the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's debt would be cancelled. If she chose the white one, she would stay with her father and the debt would be cancelled. But if she refuses to pick out a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail.
Reluctantly the merchant agreed. They were standing on a pebble-strewn path as they talked and the money-lender stooped to pick up the two pebbles. The girl, sharp-eyed with fright, noticed that he picked up two black pebbles and put them into the money-bag.
What would you do if you were the unfortunate girl？ If you had to advise her what would you advise her to do？
What type of thinking would you use to solve the problem？ You may believe that careful logical analysis must solve the problem if there is a solution. This type of thinking is straight-forward vertical thinking. The other type of thinking is lateral thinking.
Vertical thinkers are not usually of much help to a girl in this situation. The way they analyze it, there are three possibilities:
1. The gift should refuse to take a pebble.
2. The girl should show that there are two black pebbles in the bag and expose the money-lender as a cheat.
3. The girl should take a black pebble and sacrifice herself to save her father from prison.
None of these suggestions is very helpful, for if the girl doesn't take a pebble her father goes to prison, and if she does take a pebble, she has to marry the money-lender.
The girl in the story put her hand into the bag and took out a pebble. Without looking she fumbled and let it fall to the path and immediately, it lost among the others. The girl apologized for her clumsiness and suggested that the money-lender look at the remaining pebble in the bag and then they could tell the color of the pebble she has chosen. And the money lender dare not admit his dishonesty. The girl had changed an impossible situation into an extremely advantageous one.
This story shows the difference between vertical thinking and lateral thinking. Vertical thinkers take very reasonable view of a situation and proceed logically and carefully worked it out. Lateral thinkers tend to explore all the different ways of looking at something, rather than accepting the most promising and proceeding from that.
The author begins this article with ______.
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It is safe to infer from the passage that ______.
A．The family tree is fairly limited.B．The family tie is strong.C．The name is commonly
Section B
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.
Charlie Bell became chief executive of McDonald's in April. Within a month doctors told him that he had colorectal cancer. After stock market hours on November 22nd, the fast-food firm said he had resigned; it would need a third boss in under a year. Yet when the market opened, its share price barely dipped then edged higher. After all, McDonald's had, again, shown how to act swiftly and decisively in appointing a new boss.
Mr. Bell himself got the top job when Jim Cantaloupe died of a heart attack hours before he was due to address a convention of McDonald's franchisees. Mr. Cantaloupe was a McDonald's veteran brought out of retirement in January 2003 to help remodel the firm after sales began falling because of dirty restaurants, indifferent service and growing concern about junk food. He devised a recovery plan, backed by massive marketing, and promoted Mr. Bell to chief operating officer. When Mr. Cantaloupe died, a rapidly convened board confirmed Mr. Bell, a 44-year-old Australian already widely seen as his heir apparent, in the top job. The convention got its promised chief executive's address, from the firm's first non-American leader.
Yet within weeks executives had to think about what to do if Mr. Bell became too ill to continue. Perhaps Mr. Bell had the same thing on his mind: he usually introduced Jim Skinner, the 60-year- old vice-chairman, to visitors as the "steady hand at the wheel". Now Mr. Skinner, an expert on the firm's overseas operations, becomes chief executive, and Mike Roberts, head of its American operations, joins the board as chief operating officer.
Is Mr. Roberts now the new heir apparent？ Maybe. McDonald's has brought in supposedly healthier choices such as salads and toasted sandwiches worldwide and, instead of relying for most of its growth on opening new restaurants, has turned to upgrading its 31,000 existing ones. America has done best at this; under Mr. Roberts, like-for-like sales there were up by 7.5% in October on a year earlier.
The new team's task is to keep the revitalization plan on course, especially overseas, where some American brands are said to face political hostility from consumers. This is a big challenge. Is an in house succession the best way to tackle it？ Mr. Skinner and Mr. Roberts are both company veterans, having joined in the 1970s. Some recent academic studies find that the planned succession of a new boss groomed from within, such as Mr. Bell and now (arguably) Mr. Roberts, produces better results than looking hastily, or outside, for one. McDonald's smooth handling of its serial misfortunes at the top certainly seems to prove the point. Even so, everyone at McDonald's must be hoping that it will be a long time before the firm faces yet another such emergency.
The main reason for the constant change at the top of McDonald is ______.
A．Something you don't understandB．Something oldC．Something mysteriousD．The Egyptian la
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