【推荐1】In the workplace, there are many different cultures that coexist — including the company culture, the local culture of the business and the national or regional cultures of employees.

The culture of the workplace starts with the company’s vision, mission and core values and helps the leadership team manage the employees. It affects all major operations, including recruiting and onboarding employees, providing employees with compensation (赔偿金) and benefits and rewarding employees for good behavior. It also informs the way an organization trains and develops its staff, how it promotes employees and any workplace traditions it follows.

The work environment is deeply affected by the culture of the organization. For example, if one of the main elements of the workplace culture is teamwork, employees will know how important it is to help one another. They will be less competitive with each other, and will instead focus on succeeding together. Such a cultural characteristic can enable teams to be highly productive and motivated.

Local culture affects the way people behave in the workplace. For example, if it is a custom in local culture to spend a lot of time enjoying the natural landscape, then many employees will place importance on that activity as well. This may mean that employees spend their evenings and weekends hiking in the woods or swimming at the beach.

Employers can use elements of local culture to connect with and motivate their employees. Using this example of cultural behavior, the workplace can offer outdoor recreational passes as prizes for hitting business targets. In addition, having company functions outside at the beach or at a local park can further engage and inspire employees.

In today’s global economy, it’s common for workplaces to be made up of people from different national and regional cultures. Being culturally sensitive and aware helps employees to communicate effectively with their teammates and work toward shared goals. It’s important for employers to take cultural diversity into account when establishing their workplace policies. Teach employees how to be culturally sensitive to their colleagues and customers who have different cultural backgrounds. This can be done through cultural sensitivity training, and by learning about fellow workers. Consider creating a cross-cultural etiquette PDF and documenting how different cultures behave with regard to specific aspects of work. National and regional cultures can affect the way people communicate with one another, the holidays they celebrate and their relationship to time.

1. Which one does good workplace culture NOT contribute to?

A．The rise of level of performance in the workplace.

B．The promotion of workplace traditions.

C．The building of teamwork.

D．The more competitive working environment.

2. Why should the workplace offer outdoor activities as for achieving business goals if it is a tradition to enjoy the scenery?

A．It matches employees’ hobby.

B．It is a way for the employees to get close to nature to relax themselves.

C．It is a cultural behavior used to effectively motivate the employees.

D．It is a custom to follow.

3. How can an international company make its employees get along with each other?

A．By giving business training.

B．By cultivating cultural awareness.

C．By reading a cross-cultural custom PDF instead of paper.

D．By changing the holidays its employees celebrate and their relationship to time.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Local culture.	B．Nature and outdoor activities.
C．Cultural behavior in the workplace.	D．Cultural diversity.

【推荐2】七选五根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项，选项中有两项为多余选项。

How to Prepare for GuestsGuests are people whom we welcome sincerely and we should make sure they feel comfortable like they are in their home. Sometimes we get enough time to make preparations for guests, but sometimes we don’t. This article will be beneficial for both these kinds of people.    1    Get a bedroom for your guests. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Change bed covers, clean the bathroom and you can even add a nice scented(芬芳的) candle to spice things up. These are simple things you can do even if you are a very busy person.    2    Know what your guests’ favorite foods are so that you can make for them and serve. Don’t forget to note down if they are allergic to any certain kind of food to save the embarrassment(难堪). If you are among one of those people who can hardly manage the time to cook for your guests then take them to the restaurants so that they can taste new foods or enjoy their favorite ones.Plan activities to have a good time with your guests.    3    If they come over the weekends then plan for some indoor activities to have fun. It’s also a good way to remove your tiredness from your boring life.    4    It can happen that you may not be able to be with your guests for a certain amount of time while they are staying in your home. In that case you must declare it to them and may have someone else to accompany them while you are absent.When your guests say goodbye, give them something as a token(信物) of love to remember the days they stayed with you.    5    

A．Declare your absence.

B．Allow them to come and go as they please.

C．Just bear in mind everything fresh and clean will do fine.

D．If they come during the vacation then you can plan for outdoor activities.

E．Here are some ways to help you to put away things well in a short amount of time.

F．Make your guests feel even more welcome by including them in activities such as outings, or movies.

G．It can be just a photo in a beautiful frame that will remind them of beautiful moments that they spent with you.

【推荐3】       1. Mean old ladies

There is always a reason why an old lady gives you a serious look – you are being too loud, dressed improperly or not crossing the street in the right place. Sometimes it can be lovely, but if you are already having a bad day, a mean old lady can drive you mad.

What to do about it:

I’ve come to realize that when people start conflicts, it is actually an expression of their inner state expressed in an outside way. You, your personality, your looks or your actions have nothing to do with it. It is not personal, so why take it personally?

2. That person, who cuts in front of everybody in line

This is something that gets me angry. Even if I am not in a hurry, I still feel bad for the other people in line who are being treated unjustly. Are you more patient than I am or do you feel annoying too?

What to do about it:

If we have negative thoughts then we are wasting our energy on negativity. Situations like this could be a great opportunity to learn to control our first negative responses and practice understanding. After all, the person may just have a quick question or maybe there is an emergency.

3. Friends that tell you “I told you so”

It is one thing to admit that you made a mistake and another to hear it from a friend. Friends should be there to support you and cheer you up when you are feeling down, not make themselves feel better at your expense, right?

What to do about it:

It helps to remember that when people say “I told you so”, they may mean, “Please listen to my advice to avoid future mistakes.” If this is not the help you need – voice it out, without getting defensive.

1. According to the author, what can you do when meeting with a mean old lady?

A．Take it personally.	B．Take it seriously.
C．Don’t apologize to her.	D．Don’t get upset.

2. When seeing someone cutting in line, we’d better ________.

A．stop him immediately	B．treat it with a good state of mind
C．pretend not to see it	D．teach him a good lesson

3. The third tip intends to advise you ________.

A．not to keep silent at a friend’s improper suggestion

B．to tell your friend if they have misunderstood you

C．not to talk to your friend if they feel better at your expense

D．to apologize to your friend when you’ve done something wrong

4. What is the best title for this passage?

A．What to do when meeting with these people?

B．How to ask your friends for help when in trouble?

C．How to give advice to your friends when asked to?

D．What to say when faced with different situations?

【推荐1】If you shoo（赶走鸟时发出的声音）a pigeon, that bird is likely to remember you and know to stay out of your way the next time you cross paths, according to a new study. Researchers found that wild, untrained pigeons can recognize individual people’s faces and are not fooled by a change of clothes.

At a park in Paris, two researchers of similar build and skin colour, but wearing different-coloured lab coats, fed a group of pigeons.

One researcher ignored the pigeons after feeding them, allowing them to eat the food, while the other was hostile（充满敌意的）and chased them away. This was followed by second session when neither researcher chased away the pigeons.

The experiment was repeated several times, with the pigeons continuously recognizing the individuals and avoiding the researcher who had first chased them away even when the participant no longer did so. Exchanging lab coats during the experiments did not confuse the pigeons, and they continued to stay away from the researcher who had been initially hostile.

"It is very likely that the pigeons recognized the researchers by their faces, since the individuals were both female and of a similar age, build and skin colour," study researcher Dalila Bovet of the University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Defense said in a statement.

"Interestingly, the pigeons, without training, spontaneously（自发的）used the most relevant characteristics of the individuals (probably facial traits）instead of the lab coats that covered 90 percent of the body, "Bovet added.

The researchers noted that the birds appear to be able to tell from humans and are aware that clothing colour is not a good way to tell humans apart. They theorize that this recognition ability may have come about over the long period of association with humans, from early domestication to many years of living in cities.

1. For the researchers, which of the following elements is not decisive to draw the conclusion of the experiment?

A．The similar build and skin color.	B．In the same park.
C．The same gender（性别）.	D．A change of different-colored lab clothes.

2. According to the researchers, why are birds aware that it is not a good way to tell humans by clothing colour?

A．It may be the result of the long period of association with humans.

B．Birds are very clever creatures.

C．Different clothes may have different colours.

D．Clothes can be exchanged, but faces can’t be changed easily.

3. Where can we most probably read this text?

A．In a travel handbook.	B．In history book.
C．In a science report.	D．In student textbook.

【推荐2】A new study shows that fat people in the United States suffer direct economic and social effects because of their size. The findings are from an 8-year study of about 100,000 people. The people studied were between the ages of 16 and 24 when the research began.

The researchers who carried out the study say they consider the people fat if they are in the top of 5% of the measurement. In this measurement, weight is connected with height. For example, fat women in the study were about 160 centimetres tall and weighed about 90 kilograms. Fat men in the study were about 175 centimetres tall and weighed 100 kilograms. The researchers say that more than 1, 000,000 Americans are that big. The researchers found that fat young women were more likely to lose social and economic power even if they were from wealthy families. The fat women were also 20% less likely to get married and they earned an average of about S 6,700 a year less than other women. The study showed less severe effect on fat men. They earned an average of about $ 3,000 a year less than other men. Fat men were also 11% less likely to get married.

1. From this passage we know fat people in America were ______.

A．admired

B．respected

C．unhealthy

D．unpopular

2. Which of the following was not mentioned in this passage?

A．The reason why fat people suffered.

B．The cause that caused people to be fat.

C．The standard of fat people.

D．The number of fat people.

3. The underlined word “severe” in the second paragraph means ______.

A．economic

B．social

C．serious

D．favorable

4. Fat people were inferior to (比……差) other people in ______.

A．brain, human rights and payment

B．income, marriage and human rights

C．brain, education and marriage

D．marriage, getting jobs and income