While success is surely sweeter than failure, it seems failure is a far better teacher, and organizations that fail miserably often flourish (繁荣) more in the long run, according to a new study by Vinit Desai, assistant professor of management at the University of Colorado Denver Business School. Researchers have found that people missing their goals perform much better in the long run. That is because they gain more knowledge from their failures than their successes and the lessons are more likely to stay longer in their minds.
“We found that the knowledge gained from success was often fleeting while knowledge from failure stuck around for years,” said professor Desai, who led the study. “But companies often ignore failure. Managers may fire people or turn over the whole workforce while they should treat the failure as a learning opportunity.”
Prof Desai compared the flights of the space shuttle Atlantis and the Challenger. During the Atlantis flight last year, a piece of insulation (绝缘体) broke off and damaged the left solid rocket booster (助推火箭) but didn’t influence the program. There was little investigation. The Challenger was launched next and another piece of insulation broke off. This time the shuttle and its seven–person crew were destroyed. The disaster led to a major investigation resulting in 29 changes to prevent future disasters.
The difference in response in the two cases came down to this: Atlantis was considered a success and the Challenger a failure.
“Despite crowded skies, airlines are extremely reliable,” he said. “The number of failures is extremely small. And past researches have shown that older airlines, those with more experience in failure, have a lower number of accidents.”
Prof Desai doesn’t recommend finding out failure in order to learn. Instead, he advises organizations to analyze small failures to collect useful information rather than wait for major failures.Why did experts pay little attention to the problem of Atlantis?
| A．Because it worked perfectly. |
| B．Because the right booster was still OK. |
| C．Because nothing serious happened then. |
| D．Because fewer people died in the flight. |
Fewer accidents happen to older airlines in that ________.
| A．their planes couldn’t fly high in the sky |
| B．they gained much from experience in failure |
| C．their planes were often checked by the experts |
| D．they were unpopular among passengers |
The passage is written mainly to ________.
| A．show failure is a better teacher than success |
| B．explain why Challenger failed |
| C．introduce something about Prof Desai |
| D．tell managers how to achieve success |
Guide to
Restaurants in New York City
Nearly 1,000 restaurants are included in this latest edition of the most trusted guide to eating well in New York. Brief reviews by the city’s most respected food writers are made more readable by what cannot be found in any other restaurant guide, including: suggested dishes final bill. Hardcover.$14.95.
How Electronic Things Work
A guided tour of everyday technology from the pages of the New York Times Circuits section, with easy to understand explanations of the inner workings of computers, CD players, ATM’s, digital cameras and 76 other devices, 100 illustrations，St. Martin’s Press. 195 pages. Hardcover.
The New York Times Book of Natural Disasters
The book gathers together the paper’s finest articles about humankind’s quest to understand natural disasters. Possible causes and effects of global warming are studied, as is the surprising force of nature’s violent excitement in such phenomena as hurricanes, forest fires, sinkholes and others. Illustrated, soft cover, 216 pages,$16.95.
Campaigns: A Century of Presidential Races
Every campaign since 1900—including the historic 200 races—in images from the New York Times Photo Archives. With 350 photos, contemporary newspaper reports and an introduction by prize winning historian Alan Brinkldy DK Publishing. 410 pages. Hardcover.
1. A student of history is most likely to take _____ listed above.
A. the fourth book B. the third book C. the second book D. the first book
2.The underlined word“others”in Paragraph 3 may include______.
A. traffic accidents B.floods C. pollution D.explosions
3.It can be learned from one of the books _____.
A. how to repair your digital camera for yourself
B. how to work out the expenses before going to a restaurant
C. how to get the latest information about natural disasters
D. how to learn a lot about historian Alan Brinkley
A team of researchers recently created a robot that can repair itself. The newly designed machine can sense injury to itself and adapt. That ability sets the new robot apart from earlier machines. Because the robot can recover from unexpected damage, it may be especially useful in exploring unfamiliar places. “There is a need for planetary robotic rovers(流浪者) to be able to fix things on their own,” says Josh Bongard, one of the device’s creators. “Robots on other planets must be able to continue their mission without human help if they are damaged and cannot communicate their problem back to Earth.”
A typical robot functions according to a computer program, but the new robot works differently. First, sensors in its four legs observe the robot’s movements and signals to its built-in computer. From the information it collects, the robot creates its own programs that allow it to adapt to different situations. For example, when the researchers shortened one of the robot’s legs, the smart machine simply adjusted its way of walking—it used three legs instead of four.
The researchers are looking for other places to put the resilient(迅速恢复) robot to work. One possible spot is the ocean floor. That dark and dangerous undersea terrain(地带) might be a good choice for a robot the scientists call the Starfish. “We never officially named the robot, but we usually refer to it as the Starfish, even though a real starfish has five rather than four legs,” says Bongard. “Also, a real starfish is much better than our robot at recovering from injury, because it can ac
tually regrow its legs.” Scientists have created robots that help humans in many ways: by exploring space, fighting fires, and even performing surgery.
1. The newly designed robot is different from the former ones because it ___________.
A. can communicat
e with people on the earth about their problems
B. works according to a certain computer program
C. can find problems itself and get used to the new environment
D. can explore unfamiliar places
2. An example is given in the second paragraph in order to explain that the new robot ___________.
A. is used to create new programs B. has typical robot functions
C. has sensors to observe its movements D. can adapt to new conditions
3. What might be the best title of the passage?
A. How does the Starfish Robot work B. Do-It-Yourself Robot Repair
C. Robots Designed to Work On Other Planets D. New Robot Helping Us In Many Ways
4. Which of the following is True about the Starfish?
A. It has more than four legs. B. It hasn’t been officially named.
C. It can regrow its legs quickly. D. It has started to work on the ocean floor.
WASHINGTON Laura Straub is a very worried woman. Her job is to find families for French teenagers who expect to live with American families in the summer.
It’s not easy, even desperate.
“We have many children left to place: 40 out of 75,” said Straub, who works for a Paris based foreign exchange programme called LEC.
When exchange programmes started 50 years ago, more families were willing to help others. For one thing, more mothers stayed home.
But now, increasing numbers of women work outside the home. Exchange student programmes have struggled in recent years to sign up host families for the
30,000 teenagers who come from abroad every year to have some courses for one year in the United States. as well as the thousands more who take part in summer programmes.
School systems in many parts of the US, unhappy about accepting non taxpaying students, have also strictly limited the number of exchange students they accept. At the same time, the idea of hosting foreign students is becoming less 
exotic (异国情调的).
In searching for host families, who usually receive no pay, exchange programmes are increasingly br
oadening their requests to include everyone from young couples to the retired.
“We are open to many different types of families.” said Vickie Weiner, eastern regional director for ASSE, a 25-year-old programme that sends about 30,000 teenagers on one-year exchange programmes worldwide.
For elderly people, exchange students “keep us young——they really do,” said Jean Foster, who is hosting 16-year-old Nina Ports from Denmark.
1.Foreign teenagers come to American families with the purpose of _____.
A. finding their parents in America B. finding good jobs in America
C. learning the culture of America D. enjoying the life of America
2.In the past, Straub’s job was easy, because American families _____.
A. needed more money to live B. had fewer children to support
C. had spare rooms to rent D. were not as busy as now
3.To deal with the problem in recent years, Straub and her workmates have to _____.
A. ask different kinds of families for help B. limit the number of the exchange students
C. borrow much money to pay for the costs D. force some families to accept students
4.From the last paragraph we can conclude that _____.
A. exchange students are welcome in America
B. exchange students must pay much money to the host families
C. American students don’t want to join the exchange programmes
D. old Americans can benefit from hosting exchange students
第三部分阅读理解（共两节，满分40分）
第一节（共15小题，每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项。
Just call Apolo Anton Ohno the most decorated sportsman in the history of the Winter Olympics. The speed skater glided into the history books after the 2010 Olympics, winning a record-breaking eighth Olympic medal after completing the men’s 5,000-meter relay.
Apolo Anton Ohno, born on May 22, 1982, is an American short track speed skating competitor and an eight-time medalist (two golds, two silvers, four bronzes) in the Winter Olympics. He is one of the only four Americans who have won three medals in a single Winter Olympic Games. He started skating at age 12, and in two years became the best short track skater in the United States. In December1999, he became the youngest skater to win a World Cup event title.
“It feels amazing, especially in a sport as volatile as short track speed skating,” he remarked after his historic win. “This is my third Olympic Games and there is no other athlete here who has gone to three Olympic Games and won a medal every time. I wanted to leave my heart and soul on the ice and I did. I don’t look back at past medals, but I look back at the struggles. I live my life with the philosophy that anything’s possible but I had no idea I’d have this much success.”
Ohno’s third Olympics might have been his last. He is considering retirement, although US national coach Jimmy Jang is hoping to convince his longtime friend to compete four years from now in Sochi, a Russian city where the next Winter Olympics is going to be held.
“I never say ‘never’,” Ohno said. “I need a break from this sport that’s been very good to me.”
After the relay, Ohno skated over to congratulate the Canadians and shook hands with his South Korean competitors. One of them said: “We have some good memories and we also have some bad memories of Ohno. I will be sorry to see him leave the world of short track when he does.”
1. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Short Track Speed Skating
B. Apolo Anton Ohno’s sport dream
C. Eight Gold Medalists in the Winter Olympics
D. “Michael Phelps” on the Ice—Apolo Anton Ohno
2. What does the underlined word “volatile” in Paragraph 3 mean?
A. changeable B. violent C. stable D. interesting
3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. His three medals in this Olympics makes him the third one in American sports history.
B. He owes his success to his hard working and his strong belief.
C. He will retire after the next Winter Olympic Games to be held in Russia.
D. He has gained worldwide fame and recognition but his competitors’ envy.
4. In which section of a newspaper is the passage most likely to be found?
A. Health and Entertainment B. News abroad
C. Life and SocietyD. Great people
31st October —— A team of British explorers has announced they are going to the North Pole to measure the ice cap’s thickness. The exploration will take ground-based readings (仪表的读数) of an ice formation which most scientists agree is shrinking at an alarming rate.
Explorer Pen Hadow’s three-member team will pull a sled-fixed radar device, which measures ice density every eight centimeters, 2,000 kilometers across the Arctic and will produce millions of readings.
They will leave in February, 2008 and will face temperatures of -50℃ on a journey that will take up to 120 days. They have been testing their equipment in Britain and Canada.
Hadow is excited about the prospects (前景), “For the first time we will be able to transmit video images — webcam film of the expedition — as it unfolds so people can track us, and the whole idea is to engage as many people as we can in what we’re doing.”
New fallen snow on top of the ice makes ground-based measurements more accurate than satellite data.
“It has been in the planning stage for a while,” said Hadow. “We spent the last two years developing impulse radar (冲击雷达), which normally is about 100 kilograms and hangs under an aircraft and so on. We’ve managed to get it down to about 4 kilograms. It’s the size of a briefcase and we are dragging it behind the sled as we go.”
The ice cap shrank enough in 2007 so that a pathway through the cap known as the Northwest Passage opened up during the melting of the Arctic summer.
Cambridge University’s Joao Rodrigues explains, “Thickness of the ice cap will determine how much solar radiation will be reflected and the heat exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere and it is thus a vital component (成分) of climate models.”
If warming trends continue, some experts predict that the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free during the summer within a few decades.
１ What would be the best title for the text?
A. Exploration to the North Pole.
B. Arctic ice cap shrinking.
C. Arctic ice survey announced.
D. Ground-based measurements of ice.
２. What is special about the exploration?
A. It will be broadcast live on the Internet.
B. Explorers will use a sled-fixed radar device.
C. Explorers will travel in extremely cold conditions.
D. Ground-based measurements are more accurate.
３. What is the purpose of the exploration?
A. To measure the ice cap’s thickness.
B. To study whether ice will disappear in the Arctic.
C. To make a film about the Arctic exploration.
D. To make people interested in what they are doing.
４. It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
A. ice in the Arctic will disappear in ten years
B. the exploration will last for half a year
C. Hadow spent two years developing a kind of radar, which is about 100 kilograms
D. if there is snow on ice, satellites can’t measure the ice thickness accurately enough
５. From the passage, we learn that ________.
A. the explorers will measure ice density every other centimeter
B. people will be able to follow the explorers and see what they are doing
C. people could go through the Northwest Passage in the 2007 Arctic summer
D. the equipment that Hadow’s team use will be tested in the United States