A company advertised in the newspaper for a sales position. Details of the requirements, salary and benefits were given. It was also clearly stated that applicants needed to take an aptitude test (能力倾向测试) and an interview. However, looking at the whole advertisement, one could not find any contact information of the company.
Most interested applicants thought that it was the company’s HR department’s carelessness or a printing error. They therefore waited patiently for the newspaper to publish an amendment(订正). But instead of waiting for the newspaper to publish the company details, another three applicants took the initiative(主动性) to find out the company’s contact information themselves.
Tim did a search on the Internet. By typing the company’s name, he easily obtained all the information including its contact number. Lisa called up the local telephone number search service and found out the company’s office number. She called up the office and got the required contact information. Donna put in a greater effort in her search. She remembered seeing a poster by the same company in the city so she drove all the way down and made a few rounds to search for it. She finally found it together with the company’s contact information.
Three days after that advertisement was published in the newspaper, most interested applicants were still waiting eagerly for an amendment. On the other hand, the application letters and resumes of Tim, Lisa and Donna had already reached the hands of the company’s HR manager. They were then called up for an interview. During the interview, all went well and immediately they were hired. The three of them were a little surprised at how fast things went on. They were expecting for an aptitude test as stated in the advertisement. The HR director answered them, smiling, “Our test is hidden in the advertisement itself. To be a good salesperson in this age, he or she has to be broad-minded and very importantly, does not follow rigid (死板的) steps or rules. You are all clever. In a short time, you’ve managed to find ways of contacting us. It shows clearly that you have passed the test with flying colors!”
The fools sit around waiting for their chances whereas the wise actively take actions with great initiative.According to the passage the company wanted to test the applicants’ ______.
| A．sales skills | B．carefulness | C．attitude | D．initiative |
Whose search skill is the easiest of all?
| A．Tim’s. | B．Lisa’s. | C．Donna’s. | D．None. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．The HR manager of the company made a mistake. |
| B．The company meant to omit (遗漏) its contact information. |
| C．The HR manager of the company was unfit for his / her job. |
| D．A printing error occurred in the advertisement in the newspaper. |
Which of the statements is NOT correct according to the passage?
| A．Many applicants thought the company made a mistake. |
| B．The advertisement was very special to many applicants. |
| C．Whoever found the company’s contact information didn’t need to have an interview. |
| D．The company needed broad-minded and clever salespersons. |
The writer wants to tell us through this passage that ______.
| A．no contact information seen in an advertisement might not be the company’s mistake |
| B．applicants should be careful not to be fooled by the company’s advertisement |
| C．opportunity always belongs to whoever is active and broad-minded |
| D．there are many successful chances to be found in this age |
Nowadays, Chinese love to consume TV shows, particularly American TV shows. Some shows have become especially popular for certain reasons. When you meet Chinese people, try to mention these shows to strike up a conversation with them, as it is likely that they are fans of these shows.
1. The Big Bang Theory
Talk to any young Chinese person, and chances are that they are crazy about the lives of Sheldon, Raj, Howard, and Leonard. Many viewers describe themselves as in love with Sheldon, and they appreciate the science jokes and content on the show. People admire the young geniuses on the show and the large amount of funny jokes, but also recognizes the show’s message that being smart isn’t everything in life. The university lifestyle depicted on the show and the friendships and witty arguments between the main characters are especially attractive to Chinese audiences.
2. House of Cards
China is ridding itself of corruption(腐败) today. It’s no surprise, then, that a thrilling and brilliant drama about political corruption currently catches on in China. China is the top country where the show is being wildly pirated(盗版) on Chinese websites. The Chinese government has also featured prominently on the show. Even high-ranking Chinese political officials have been known to watch religiously this show and keep up with the exploits of Frank Underwood. Some Chinese politicians consider Underwood as a role model, fans create special videos to honor the show, and many viewers like to learn about American politics and society from the show, even though what they learn from the show may not be totally accurate. It’s interesting to wonder what a Chinese version of this show would be like.
3. Gossip Girl
China has become much wealthier in the last several decades, and people across the world always like to observe rich people’s lives and imagine themselves being rich as well. Like the Chinese movie series Tiny Times, Gossip Girl rose to fame in China because Chinese viewers enjoyed watching the lives of rich Westerners and living wealthily through the characters. Many Chinese fans also admired the romance between Chuck and Blair, and strongly supported them getting married. The show is full of passionate love affairs, pleasant young people, and brilliant drama that fascinated Chinese audiences.
4. Two Broke Girls
Many young Chinese viewers like following the struggles of Max and Caroline as they attempt to earn money and build their own cupcake business. This show has become extremely popular in China and is frequently downloaded online. One reason why this sitcom has been successful in China is that for many Chinese who are young like Max and Caroline, they must deal with the same problems in life. Finding work and earning enough money to join the middle class is difficult for many Chinese people today. The Chinese TV show WoJu (蜗居) shows a family working to save money for an apartment and dealing with many situations caused by poverty, wealth, and greed. Young Chinese work extremely hard to earn enough money to buy cars, homes, and find someone to marry, and they can easily sympathize with characters living in poverty and working towards similar goals.Para 1 suggests that ________.
| A．China has been open to America |
| B．American movie industry develops well |
| C．American shows are very popular in China |
| D．Chinese enjoy talking about American shows |
Viewers struggling for life probably sympathize with characters by watching ________.
| A．The Big Bang Theory | B．House of Cards |
| C．Gossip Girl | D．Two Broke Girls |
Which of the following is NOT right?
| A．The Big Bang Theory tries to convey that being smart means everything. |
| B．House of Cards is pirated more in China than other countries. |
| C．Gossip Girl and Tiny Times have a similar theme. |
| D．Two Broke Girls tells about a story of struggling for a better life. |
The underlined word “depicted” means ________.
| A．learned | B．described |
| C．made | D．accepted |
Jennifer Lynn is turning into a master storyteller. She writes about young adults brilliantly. However, I have got to say Stay With Me wasn’t my favorite in this series, but I still really enjoyed it and I would absolutely recommend it to fans interested in the world of young adults.
Stay With Me is the third book in Jennifer’s Wait For You series, which features a couple that have been in previous books but have their own unique story and can be read as a standalone. I like that about this series. It’s nice to be able to pick up a book and read it, finish it and move on to the next, but the Wait For You series has the added bonus of a more deeper character connection, as theyve appeared previously, you have more of a feel for them and you look forward to their story.
Stay With Me is Calla and Jaxs story. Calla has a wreck(严重受损的人) of a mother, but she is finally coming to the end of college and is looking forward to a career in nursing. She has done pretty well up for herself and now it was her time to shine. Unluckily, it falls through when her mother robbed her of every penny and took her identity. Calla has to go back to her small home town and into the arms of Jax.
Jax is handsome and cheerful! He is a waiter in a bar and knows Calla’s mother very well and he agrees to help Calla. He is true alpha, with a sweet side and is very protective of Calla. I loved him, but not as much as Cam, sorry Jax! And that’s why Stay with Me isn’t as good as Cam’s book, Wait for You. Don’t get me wrong. Jax is an incredibly great character, well fleshed out and I did care for him, but he just wasn’t as lovely as Cam.
As for Calla, I liked her character, and I liked the connection between her and Jax. I loved how he came out of his shell and showed her to love herself, despite her unsatisfactory past. There are a lot of intense moments between these two characters and they are so well written. Jennifer’s writing is addictive and she wrote the scenes between Jax and Calla beautifully. Calla has never been, what she would call boyfriend material, and so she struggles to see what Jax sees in her and she bats him off and ignores it. There’s a lot of push and pull between them, and it’s very charming. At times I did get a little annoyed with Calla, especially with her insecurity but Jax soon made up for that!
Overall I really enjoyed Stay with Me. Anyway, they are a wonderful pair together. Despite all the troubles that Calla was going through, their relationship seemed more realistic and was made to last.Who would like to read Stay with me most?
| A．Adults. | B．Young adults. |
| C．Fans of young adults. | D．Parents. |
The author shows a preference for Calla by ________.
| A．analyzing some plots from the book |
| B．comparing her with Jax |
| C．stating what Jax did to her |
| D．presenting her sad past |
The underlined expression “came out of his shell” probably means ________.
| A．fell in love with others |
| B．expressed his ideas |
| C．left his home town |
| D．overcame the difficulties |
The author’s overall attitude towards Stay With Me is ________.
| A．Unclear | B．Negative |
| C．Indifferent | D．Positive |
What style does the passage belong to?
| A．An essay. | B．A novel. | C．A review. | D．A debate |
It’s amazing how we grow from careless kids to responsible teens. What happens in the course that makes us responsible now? It’s the seed that we sow in the beginning which grows and becomes a huge tree. As I sit here, silently thinking about my growth, I wonder over some questions which don’t have an answer but it’s because of such unanswerable situations that life has become a roller coaster ride.
As a kid, I used to read a lot of story books. In one particular book, I read a story of a bird. From then on, that has become an integral (必不可少的) part of my life. It described a male bird which takes a lot of pain to build a nest and the female bird takes shelter in it and nourishes the baby. When the bird learns to fly, the whole family flies off to a different place leaving behind the beautiful nest for other birds to grow their family in it. It made me wonder. How could they so easily sacrifice their house built with so much effort?
One night, when I was deep in sleep, I got this particular dream. I was walking miles on the endless road, totally isolated but lined with beautiful trees on the either side. Fascinated by the greenery, I marched towards it only to end up deeper and deeper into the greenery. I happened to stop upon seeing something. It was a massive, wonderful house. I fell in love with that amazing part of art. Yeah, it was indeed a piece of art with every nook and corner touched artistically and lovingly. I don’t know why I felt that it was done lovingly. Maybe because, things turn out to be beautiful only when we put our love into it — just like the food prepared by mom which tastes more delicious with her love.
I explored the house only to fall more in love with it. There was a sloping roof which matched with the greenery around; the large central open courtyard reminded me of the activities that might have taken place there which felt lively even now when it is completely deserted. The small water body that kept the house cool added to the beauty of the house — of course, it was all dried up now. It’s really wonderful how such things add life to the spaces which otherwise just become structures. Such liveliness and happening turns the house into a home. They say ‘THE HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS’, but now I began to feel it. This is where my heart belongs. This is what I’m destined to do.
When I woke up from the dream, I was clear about everything. I realized where that mile of walk was intending me to lead. I realized what message my dream wanted to convey me. And years later, when finally my turn of choosing my destination came, I simply closed my eyes, held that book in my hand, pressed it against my chest and relived the dream. When I opened my eyes, I was sure what to do. I decided to choose the road — less traveled. Yes, I took up architecture as my profession because this is what I am destined to do. I wanted to do the same thing that the male bird in the story did, to take pain in building a beautiful house and let others stay in it. This is my dream come true and the happiness that I gain now from this profession is indescribable.When the writer read the story of the bird, he probably felt _______.
| A．upset | B．confused | C．amazed | D．amused |
To the writer, “the seed that we sow in the beginning” (Paragraph 1) is _______.
| A．the house in his dream | B．his mother’s food |
| C．the story of the bird | D．his story books |
Mom’s food always tastes better because _______.
| A．mom cooks with her love |
| B．we are so familiar with mom’s food |
| C．moms are better cooks than fathers |
| D．mom is experienced in cooking |
In the writer’s dream, what part of the house attracted him most?
| A．The greenery surrounding the house. |
| B．The body of water that keeps the house cool |
| C．The liveliness he sensed around the house. |
| D．The fact that the house was very large. |
The above passage is mainly about _______.
| A．how the writer finally becomes an honest citizen |
| B．where the true meaning of responsibility lies |
| C．what we need to do when we are seeking fortune |
| D．why the writer takes up architecture as his career |
My children are perfect. All four of them. Perfect and beautiful and clever. I bet yours are, too. Except, of course, they are not. In reality, my children and yours are likely to be reasonably average in terms of looks, behavior, intelligence and charm. That’s why it is called average. Your belief in your child being special is more probably a biological thing than a fact.
A loved one, particularly a loved child, is edited as we observe them. Other people’s children are spoiled; ours are spirited. Theirs are naughty; ours are confident.
This is all natural and even touching when not taken too far. However, it is one thing feeding this idea to ourselves but feeding it to our children may be a little less desirable. We have the idea that — unlike my parents’ generation — we should build our children’s self-respect as high as we can. Therefore, their random scribble (胡写乱画) is up there with Picasso, their C-minus is an unfortunate oversight on the part of the teacher, and the fact that no one wants to be friends with them is because they are particularly clever or sensitive.
Children see through this kind of thing very quickly and ignore their parents’ praises as a matter of course. As they grow up, they sense that the wider world judges them differently. This leads to a – hopefully gentle – cynicism (猜忌) about anything their parents tell them about their achievements. Perhaps that is OK — but I’m not sure if it is good for them to have the parental praise so overlooked.
If parents were a little harsher sometimes, this could have two positive effects — first, when praise came, it would be more likely to be believed and, second, it would fit in rather more accurately with the picture of reality that the child is forming in their heads.
A lot of pressure is put on children who are told they are beautiful, special and perfect. Because then, where is there to go? Only downwards. They become too much aware of their status in your eyes, and a danger must be that they fear failing you. To be over-praised by your parents is the counter side of being criticized all the time. Both can have negative consequences.
It is important to give your children the freedom to be flawed (缺点) — to know that it’s OK to be imperfect, and that, in fact, we often love people for their flaws — perfect people (whom we can only imagine, as they do not exist) are easy to respect, but hard to love.
Now I am nearly 60, my main insight is that I am much less special than I once believed. This knowledge has actually been helpful in leading a more well-balanced life.
I certainly wouldn’t like to go back to attitudes that my parents, particularly my father, held, that to praise the child was to “spoil them” or make them bigheaded. However, the history of families is like the history of everything else — the story of overreactions. We praise our children to the skies, partly because we think it makes them feel good, but also because it makes us feel good. And perhaps it is more the latter than the former.
Too much love can be as big a burden as a shortage of it. My advice is to limit your praise. Then every piece of praise will count, rather than being just ignored.In some parents’ eyes, who is to blame for their children’s poor grades at school?
| A．Picasso. | B．The children |
| C．The teacher. | D．The children’s friends. |
One possible consequence of parents’ over-praising is that _______.
| A．the children will therefore become more confident |
| B．the children will not take their praise seriously |
| C．the children will doubt the way the world judges them |
| D．the children will understand no one can be perfect |
According to the passage, some children feel pressure because _______.
| A．they are often told they are unique and perfect |
| B．the society judges them differently from their parents |
| C．they are worried that they may let their parents down |
| D．they have no freedom to express how they really feel |
The word “harsher” (Paragraph 5) is closest in meaning to ________.
| A．severer | B．gentler | C．weaker | D．rougher |
Which of the following will the writer most probably agree with?
| A．Children’s self-respect shouldn’t be parents’ major concern. |
| B．The easiest way to spoil a child is to praise him or her. |
| C．Perfect people deserve our respect but not our love. |
| D．Parents should praise their children but not too much. |
Which best describes the writer’s tone in the passage?
| A．Concerned. | B．Approving. |
| C．Enthusiastic. | D．Pessimistic. |
Ensure you are prepared for your exams by understanding the processes, dates and support information relating to examinations. Please read the information under Examination Policies and Processes below, especially the Rules to be observed by candidates for examinations.
Examination period
Semester 1, 2015 Monday 15 June — Saturday 27 June (inclusive)
Semester 2, 2015 Monday 9 November — Saturday 21 November (inclusive)
Important notice: special consideration
All students are reminded that submitting an unreal medical certificate（证明）or PPC with a special consideration application amounts to misconduct and carries severe fines and punishment.
Final personal exam timetables will be available from 4:00pm Thursday the 8th of October.
Rules to be observed by candidates for examinations (updated April 2012)
You need to follow all instructions given by examination teachers.
1. You may take in pens, pencils, drawing instruments and small items of food such as sweets. These items may be left on the desk during the examination. You may also bring in small valuables such as wallets, purses, mobile phones and laptops which must be powered off, not just silent. These items must be placed on the floor below the desk. Don’t leave money or valuables in bags. The University can accept no responsibility for the loss of students’ personal property.
2. Anything taken into an examination room must be made available for inspection(检查) by the examiner or other University staff.
3. The use of approved calculators may be permitted in examinations. The make and model of all calculators used by students in formally inspected examinations will be recorded. You are not permitted to share calculators, or pass them between each other in an examination. Mobile phones which have a calculator facility are not allowed. Use of a non-approved calculator may be regarded as misconduct. If you are unsure what functionality is permitted, make sure you check with your examiner that your calculator may be used in the examination.
4. No candidate may be admitted to an examination room after 30 minutes from the start of writing. No candidate who has entered an examination room and seen the examination paper may leave until 30 minutes has passed from the time writing started. No candidate may leave during the last ten minutes of any examination.
5. Smoking is not permitted in examination rooms.
Students with disabilities, medical conditions or injuries
◇Students with a disability, including serious medical condition, or recent injury, which puts them at a disadvantage during examinations should contact Disability Services, Level 5, Jane Foss Russell Building, as soon as possible.
Phone: +61 28627 8422
Fax: +61 28627 8482
If appropriate, special arrangements can be made to meet particular requirements.
Serious illness, injury or misadventure — Special Consideration regarding assessments
Please read about Special Consideration.
◇Students who feel too ill to attempt an examination at the scheduled time should consult a medical practitioner (职业医生) after reading the Special Consideration section.
◇Students who fall ill during an examination will be asked by invigilators(监考官) whether they wish to consult a doctor at the University Health Service. If this occurs the doctor will complete a Special Consideration form and forward it to the relevant examiner.
Misreading of the timetable is not accepted as a reason for failing to attend an exam.
Past exam papers
You can view many past exam papers at the University Library website.We can learn from the passage that _______.
| A．there will never be any exams on Saturdays or Sundays |
| B．exams are likely to be held in Semester 1 starting from November |
| C．misreading the timetable will not be an excuse for not attending an exam |
| D．final timetables will be available from 4:00pm Thursday the 8th of October, 2015 |
According to the passage, you will be fined if you _______.
| A．share or pass your calculator in an examination |
| B．hand an unreal medical certificate to your school |
| C．use a calculator that is not permitted by your examiner |
| D．leave the examination room 30 minutes before the end of the exam |
When you are in the exam room, you are supposed to _______.
| A．submit your personal items to your examiner |
| B．ensure your mobile phones and laptops are quiet. |
| C．pack your small valuables in your own bag |
| D．be prepared for any inspection by your examiner |
Students who fall ill during an exam _______.
| A．will be offered special arrangements to meet particular requirements |
| B．will be asked whether to see a doctor at the University Health Service |
| C．will be required to go to see the doctor and end the exam immediately |
| D．will be advised by invigilators to read the Special Consideration section |