Passage 6

　　It doesn't make any difference how long your speech is. Unless you tune in your audience in the first 60 seconds, the chances are they will tune you out.
　　Take the fellow who opens: "On my way over to the club tonight, I ran into a bum who asked me for $49.50 for a cup of coffee. I told him he'd do much better if he asked for a quarter. He said, 'Do you think I'm going into the Ritz in these clothes?'" We know his purpose: to win his audience over with humor. His bit of humor, however, has no connection with his speech: "The Democrats' Dilemma". He has his audience laughing at the wrong time. Once you have an audience laughing it's hard to get them to switch to an entirely different train of thought. There is nothing wrong with humor in a speech as long as it has something to do with the purpose of his speech. To open a speech with humor just to be entertaining invites an almost sure "turnoff" for the remainder of the talk.

　　26. What, in a speech, determines its failure or success?
　　 A) The purpose of the speech.
　　 B) A sense of humor.
　　 C) The opening remarks.
　　 D) The tune of the speech.
　　 27. If a speaker decides to be humorous, his humor should
　　 A) be connected with his subject.
　　 B) make his audience laugh.
　　 C) be fresh and different.
　　 D) be reserved for the end.
　　28. According to the passage, the speaker on "Democrats' Dilemma" made ... in the use of
　　humor.
　　 A) one mistake 　　　　　 B) two mistakes
　　 C) three mistakes 　　　　 D) no mistakes
　　29. "... invites an almost sure 'turnoff'" means
　　 A) to make your audience go away at once.
　　 B) likely to cause your audience to lose interest.
　　 C) to switch their thoughts to other things.
　　 D) invites your audience to laugh with you.
　　30. Which sentence best expresses the main idea of the passage?
　　 A) The opening part of your speech should not be long.
　　 B) Humor is important in the success of your speech.
　　 C) Your humor should be relevant and timely.
　　 D) An outstanding speech is full of jokes.