Most people seem to be passive at work. They do what they are told to do, and they don’t do what they are not told to do. In the end, one thing results: unmotivated (不积极的) people.
We’re employed to think. In fact, no matter how many times our bosses disagree with us, it is our responsibility to think for the company. There are lots of times when I disagree with my boss, and sometimes we even end up having arguments; however, I still offer my suggestions whenever I don’t agree.
Spending more time thinking also helps us to be more efficient (高效的) and helps to reduce our chances of frustration (挫败). Before I do something, I usually need some time to think about it to make sure that what I’m doing makes sense. This can be as long as a few days when a project is big, or as short as only a few seconds for a simple task. After thinking about a project, it sometimes becomes clear that a simple task could achieve the same result. In those cases, not only did I save myself from possible frustration, but I also felt happy and satisfied that I saved valuable resources for my company.
With so many people not taking time to think, it’s no wonder that many people are unmotivated. Today, I encourage you to think things over whenever you have a chance. At first, it might take a while, but once it becomes a habit, you will feel more motivated as you will be more valuable to the company.
57. It is suggested in the passage that people should _____.
A. stop arguing with their bosses B. seize every chance they meet
C. present views to their companies D. avoid big projects
58. According to the passage, spending more time thinking _________.
A. is a waste of time and resources
B. can help people understand what others do
C. can help people impress their companies
D. is a good way to improve efficiency
59. The author wrote this passage to ________.
A. persuade people to do what they are not told to do
B. encourage people to be more motivated
C. show people how to give different opinions
D. tell people how to form good thinking habits.
60. It can be inferred from the passage that the author is ______ at work.
A. negative B. lazy C. positive D. powerful
January l: It has happened. I got a call today saying a little girl in Russia is now my little girl. There are a lot of papers to prepare, and we have to travel to Russia to bring her home,
but now it is certain. I think I'll tell some close friends. Jason is so excited. I haven't told Steven yet. How can I tell a seven-year-old that he has a sister who is already five years old?
January 10: Today I received a picture of Katerina. The picture is small and not very clear, but I look at it over and over again. I don't know anything else about her. She has lived in a home for children without parents for most of her life. I wonder how I will talk to her. I don't speak Russian, and she doesn't speak English.
February l: Today I showed Katerina’s picture to Steven* He is very happy and wants to tell all his friends about his new sister. I want to buy some new clothes for Katerina, but I don't know her size. I haven' t received any information from the adoption organization, and I'm feeling a little worried.
February 16: Finally! Today we received good news! All the papers are ready and tomorrow we will go to Russia to bring Katerina home with us．
February 18: Today I met my daughter for the first time．She is very small, very thin, and very shy． On the way home in the airplane, she slept most of the time．When she woke up, she cried． I am very worried and hope that I can be a good mother to Katerina．
February 19: Steven met his sister this morning． Although Katerina was quiet at first, soon she and Steven began to talk in a mix of Russian, English, and hand movements． Steven and his sister get along well together． In fact, he is able to help her talk with Jason and me． I am worried about how Katerina will be in school． Next week she will start school． How will she understand her teacher?
March 21: Katerina looks much better now． She is heavier, her hair looks good, and her skin is clear． She loves to watch television with her brother, and she has learned to roller-skate． She is doing well in school, and her English gets better every day． Although she sometimes looks sad, and sometimes cries, most of the time she is happy． I think she is slowly my life without her．Who is Katerina?
| A．Steven's elder sister． | B．An adopted girl． |
| C．Jason's close friend． | D．The writer's niece． |
When back at home, what is the writer most worried about?
| A．How Steven can get along well with Katerina． |
| B．How Katerina can communicate with Jason and her． |
| C．Whether Katerina will adapt herself to the school life． |
| D．Whether she can be a good mother to Katerina． |
From the passage we know that in her new family Katerina ______．
| A．gets very fat | B．becomes depressed |
| C．remains frightened | D．is well treated |
Where is the passage most probably from?
| A．A diary． | B．An advertisement |
| C．An essay． | D．A speech |
“Indeed，” George Washington wrote in his diary in 1985, “some kind of fly, or bug, had begun to eat the leaves before I left home.” But the father of America was not the father of bug. When Washington wrote that, Englishmen had been referring to insects as bugs for more than a century, and Americans had already created lighining-bug(萤火虫)。But the English were soon to stop using the bugs in their language, leaving it to the Americans to call a bug a bug in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The American bug could also be a person, referring to someone who was crazy about a particular activity. Althoug fan became the usual term. sports fans used to be called racing bugs, baseballbugs, and the like.
Or the bug could be a small machine or object, for example, a bug-shaped car. The bug could also be a burglar alarm, from which comes the expression to bug, that is, “to install (安装) an alarm”. Now it means a small piece of equipment that people use for listening secretly to others’ conversation. Since the 1840s, to bug has long meant “to cheat”, and since the 1940s it has been annoying.
We also know the bug as a flaw in a computer program or other design. That meaning dates back to the time of Thomas Edison. In 1878 he explained bugs as “little problems and difficulties” that required months of study and labor to overcome in developing a successful product. In 1889 it was recorded that Edison “had been up the two previous nights discovering ‘a bug’ in his invented record player.”We learn from Paragraph 1 that ___________.
| A．Americans had difficulty in learning to use the word bug |
| B．George Washington was the first person to call an insect a bug |
| C．the word bug was still popularly used in English in the nineteenth century |
| D．both Englishmen and Americans used the word bug in the eighteenth century |
What does the word “flaw” in the last paragraph probably mean?
| A．Explanation. | B．Finding. | C．Origin. | D．Fault. |
The passage is mainly concerned with__________.
| A．the misunderstanding of the word bug |
| B．the development of the word bug |
| C．the public views of the word bug |
| D．the special characteristics of the word bug |
LONDON --- A British judge on Thursday sentenced a businessman who sold fake(假冒的) bomb detectors(探测器) to 10 years in prison, saying the man hadn't cared about potentially deadly consequences.
It is believed that James McCormick got about $77.8 million from the sales of his detectors - which were based on a kind of golf ball finder - to countries including Iraq, Belgium and Saudi Arabia.
McCormick, 57, was convicted(判罪) of cheats last month and sentenced Thursday at the Old Bailey court in London.
"Your cheating conduct in selling a great amount of useless equipment simply for huge profit promoted a false sense of security and in all probability materially contributed to causing death and injury to innocent people," Judge Richard Hone told McCormick. "you have neither regret, nor shame, nor any sense of guilt."
The detectors, sold for up to $42,000 each, were said to be able to find such dangerous objects as bombs under water and from the air. But in fact they "lacked any grounding in science" and were of no use.
McCormick had told the court that he sold his detectors to the police in Kenya, the prison service in Hong Kong, the army in Egypt and the border control in Thailand.
"I never had any bad results from customers," he said.Why was McCormick sentenced to prison?
| A．He sold bombs. | B．He caused death of people. |
| C．He made detectors. | D．He cheated in business |
According to the judge, what McCormick had done _______.
| A．increased the cost of safeguarding |
| B．lowered people's guard against danger |
| C．changed people's idea of social security |
| D．caused innocent people to commit crimes |
Which of the following is true of the detectors?
| A．They have not been sold to Africa. |
| B．They have caused many serious problems. |
| C．They can find dangerous objects in water. |
| D．They don't function on the basis of science. |
It can be inferred from the passage that McCormick _______.
| A．sold the equipment at a low price |
| B．was well-known in most countries |
| C．did not think he had committed the crime |
| D．had not got such huge profit as mentioned in the text |
Below is a selection from a popular science book.
| If blood is red, why are veins (静脉) blue? Actually, veins are not blue at all. They are more of a clear, yellowish color. Although blood looks red when it’s outside the body, when it’s sitting in a vein near the surface of the skin, it’s more of a dark reddish purple color. At the right depth, these blood-filled veins reflect less red light than the surrounding skin, making them look blue by comparison. Which works harder, your heart or your brain? That kind of depends on whether you’re busy thinking or busy exercising. Your heart works up to three times harder during exercise, and shifts enough blood over a lifetime to fill a supertanker（超级油轮）. But, in the long run, your brain probably tips it, because even when you’re sitting still your brain is using twice as much energy as your heart, and it takes four to five times as much blood to feed it. Why do teeth fall out, and why don’t they grow back in grown-ups? Baby (or “milk”) teeth do not last long; they fall out to make bigger room for bigger, stronger adult teeth later on. Adult teeth fall out when they become damaged, decayed（腐烂）and infected by bacteria. Once this second set of teeth has grown in, you’re done. When they’re gone, they are gone. This is because nature figures you’re set for life, and what controls regrowth of your teeth switches off. Do old people shrink（收缩）as they age? Yes and no. Many people do get shorter as they age. But, when they do, it isn’t because they’re shrinking all over. They simply lose height as their spine (脊柱) becomes shorter and more curved due to disuse and the effect of gravity (重力). Many (but not all) men and women do lose height as they get older. Men lose an average of 3-4 cm in height as they age, while women may lose 5 cm or more. If you live to be 200 years old, would you keep shrinking till you were, like 60 cm tall, like a little boy again? No, because old people don’t really shrink! It is not that they are growing backwards—their legs, arms and backbones getting shorter. When they do get shorter, it’s because the spine has shortened a little. Or, more often, become more bent and curved. Why does spinning make you dizzy)? Because your brain gets confused between what you’re seeing and what you’re feeling. The brain senses that you’re spinning using special gravity-and-motion-sensing organs in your inner ear, which work together with your eyes to keep your vision balance stable. But when you suddenly stop spinning the system goes out of control, and your brain thinks you’re moving while you’re not. Where do feelings and emotions come from? Mostly from an ancient part of the brain called the limbic system（边缘系统）. All mammals have this brain area — from mice to dogs, cats, and humans. So all mammals feel basic emotions like fear, pain and pleasure. But since human feelings also involve other, newer bits of the brain, we feel more complex emotions than any other animal on this planet. If exercise wears you out, how can it be good for you? Because our bodies adapt to everything we do to them. And as far as your body is concerned, it’s “use it, or lose it”! It’s not that exercise makes you healthy, it’s more that a lack of exercise leaves your body weak and easily affected by disease. |
What is the color of blood in a vein near the surface of the skin?
| A．Blue | B．Light yellow |
| C．Red | D．Dark reddish purple |
Why do some old people look a little shrunken as they age?
| A．Because their spine is in active use. |
| B．Because they are more easily affected by gravity. |
| C．Because they keep growing backwards. |
| D．Because their spine becomes more bent. |
Which of the following statements about our brain is true?
| A．In the long run, our brain probably works harder than our heart. |
| B．When our brain senses the spinning, we will feel dizzy. |
| C．The brains of the other mammals are as complex as those of humans. |
| D．Our feelings and emotions come from the most developed area in our brain. |
What is the main purpose of the selection?
| A．To give advice on how to stay healthy. |
| B．To provide information about our body. |
| C．To challenge new findings in medical research. |
| D．To report the latest discoveries in medical science. |
Jimmy is an automotive mechanic, but he lost his job a few months ago. He has good heart, but always feared applying for a new job.
One day, he gathered up all his strength and decided to attend a job interview. His appointment was at 10 am and it was already 8:30. While waiting for a bus to the office where he was supposed to be interviewed, he saw an elderly man wildly kicking the tyre of his car. Obviously there was something wrong with the car. Jimmy immediately went up to lend him a hand. When Jimmy finished working on the car, the old man asked him how much he should pay for the service. Jimmy said there was no need to pay him; he just helped someone in need, and he had to rush for an interview. Then the old man said, “Well, I could take you to the office for your interview. It’s the least I could do. Please. I insist.” Jimmy agreed.
Upon arrival, Jimmy found a long line of applications waiting to be interviewed. Jimmy still had some grease (油腻物) on him after the car repair, but he did not have much time to wash it off or have a change of shirt. One by one, the applicants left the interviewer’s office with disappointed look on their faces. Finally his name was called. The interviewer was sitting on a large chair facing the office window. Rocking the chair back and forth, he asked, “Do you really need to be interviewed?” Jimmy’s heart sank. “With the way I look now, how could I possibly pass this interview?” he thought to himself.
Then the interviewer turned the chair and to Jimmy’s surprise, it was the old man he helped earlier in the morning. It turned out he was the General Manager of the company.
“Sorry I had to keep you waiting, but I was pretty sure I made the right decision to have you as part of our workforce before you even stepped into the office. I just know you’d be a trustworthy worker. Congratulations!” Jimmy sat down and they shared a cup of well-deserved coffee as he landed himself a new job.Why did Jimmy apply for a new job?
| A．He was out of work | B．He was bored with his job |
| C．He wanted a higher position | D．He hoped to find a better boss |
What did Jimmy see on the way to the interview?
| A．A friend’s car had a flat tyre | B．a wild man was pushing a car |
| C．a terrible accident happened | D．an old man’s car broke down |
Why did the old man offer Jimmy a ride?
| A．He was also to be interviewed | B．He needed a traveling companion |
| C．He always helped people in need | D．He was thankful to Jimmy |
How did Jimmy feel on hearing the interviewer’s question?
| A．He was sorry for the other applicants |
| B．There was no hope for him to get the job |
| C．He regretted helping the old man |
| D．The interviewer was very rude |