He had a perfect resume and gave good responses to her questions, but the fact that he never looked her in the eye said “untrustworthy,” so she decided to offer the job to her second choice. “It wasn’t until I attended a diversity workshop that I realized the person we passed over was the perfect person.” Tiffany admits. What she hadn’t known at the time of the interview was that the candidate’s “different” behavior was simply a cultural misunderstanding. He was an Asian-American raised in a family where respect for those in authority was shown by turning away your eyes. “I was just thrown off by the lack of eye contact, not realizing it was cultural,” Tiffany says. “I missed out, but will not miss that opportunity again.”
Many of us have had similar experiences with behaviors we describe as different. As the world becomes smaller and our workplaces more diverse, it is becoming essential to expand our understanding of others and to reexamine some of our false assumptions (假设) .
Hire Advantage
At a time when hiring qualified people is becoming more difficult, employers who can have no personal biases (偏见) from the process have an obvious advantage. My company, Mindsets LLC, helps organizations and individuals see their own blind spots. A real estate (房产) agent we worked with illustrates the positive difference such training can make .
“During my Mindsets coaching period, I was taught how to own a diversified workforce. I employed people from different cultures and skill sets. The agents were able to make use of their full potential and experiences to build up the company. When the real estate market began to change, it was because we had a diverse agent pool that we were able to stay in the real estate market much longer than others in the same profession.”
Blinded by Gender
Dale is an account executive who attended one of my workshops in charge of a diverse workforce. “Through some of the lessons, I discovered my personal bias.” he recalls. “I learned I had not been looking at a person as a whole person, and being open to differences.” In his case, the blindness was not about culture but rather gender.
“I had a management position open in my department; and the two finalists were a man and a woman. Had I not attended this workshop, I would have automatically assumed the man was the best candidate because the position required quite a bit of extensive travel. My assumption would have been that even though both candidates were great and could have been successful in the position, I assumed the woman would have wanted to be home with her children and not travel.” Dale’s assumptions are another example of the well-intentioned but incorrect thinking that limits an organization’s ability to promote the full potential of a diverse workforce. “I learned from the class that instead of forcing my gender biases into the situation, I needed to present the full range of duties, responsibilities and expectations to all candidates and allow them to make an informed decision.” Dale sings high praise for the workshop, “because it helped me make decisions based on fairness.”
A better Bottom Line
An open mind about diversity not only improves organizations from inside, it is profitable as well. These comments from a customer service representative show how an inclusive attitude can improve sales.” Most of my customers speak English as a second language. One of the best things my company has done is to contract with a language service that offers translations over the phone. It wasn’t until my boss received Mindsets’ training that she was able to understand how important inclusiveness was to customer service. As a result, our customer base has increased.”
Once we start to see people as individuals, we can move positively toward inclusiveness for everyone. Diversity is about coming together and taking advantage of our differences and similarities and about building better communities and organizations. When we begin to question our assumptions and challenge what we think we have learned from our past , from the media, peers, family, friends, etc, we begin to realize that some of our conclusions are imperfect or contrary to our fundamental values. We need to train ourselves to think differently, shift our mindsets and realize that diversity opens doors for all of us, creating opportunities in organizations and communities that benefit everyone.
1. In Tiffany’s view, the first candidate was passed over because he ________.| A．was an Asian-American |
| B．didn’t perform as perfectly as the second one |
| C．was untrustworthy |
| D．showed no respect for authority |
| A．racial discrimination |
| B．cultural differences |
| C．gender discrimination |
| D．emphasis on physical appearance |
| A．A real estate agency. |
| B．A hi-tech company. |
| C．A company dealing with financial affairs. |
| D．A company training workforce. |
| A．It helped him make fair decisions. |
| B．It helped him discover his personal bias about gender. |
| C．It helped him look at a person as a whole one. |
| D．It helped him find successful candidates. |
| A．viewing people as individuals |
| B．challenging our past |
| C．training ourselves in Mindsets’ workshops |
| D．building better communications |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】“I’m going to get Omama a parrot,” my mother announced. Omama was my old grandmother. “It will give her something to care for, which helps her exercise her mind and avoid decline in memory,” my mother continued. “A little bird may make things lively and cheer her up.” I nodded since Omama loved pets in the past.
Omama had reached America from Ireland, and her memory was full of tales from the old country. She loved nothing better than to reminisce (回忆). Once she got going, you might as well feel comfortable and go back to the wonderful past with her. So in the foreign land, my mother sent her a parrot to accompany her.
When receiving the bird, Omama called it Patrick. My mother gave her the feeding instructions. Omama listened and promised, “I’ll not starve him. He’ll eat better than me! He’ll sleep better than me! And I’ll play the sweetest music to him.” As we walked toward the door, Omama was starting her record player and promising Patrick that he would hear some real Irish music. “Listen well and tell me what you think,” we heard her words.
Later, Omama often called us to report his wonderful behaviors. When she sat on the doorway to get some air, Patrick went along; when seeing her, Patrick would show excited behaviors. Omama often showed off the smart bird to her neighbors. She was crazy about Patrick. If we called to say that we planned to visit her, Omama would say, “Hold on, please,” while she announced to Patrick that we were coming.
Omama liked Patrick and thought highly of him. She had possessed many pets but Patrick was distinct from all others; Omama had assured me of that more than once. Still, nothing prepared me for the day when Patrick would take my breath away.
That day I visited Omama. She quickly went to the kitchen, and I sat on the sofa, Patrick looked at me. “Hello, Patrick,” I said. He replied, “Good morning, Patrick. Hello, Patrick. Pretty bird.” My mouth dropped open. It was not because of Patrick’s words. What shocked me was that every word Patrick said was spoken in a perfect Irish accent!
I suddenly realized that we all were shaped by our unique culture. We should value it and be proud of it.
1. What did the author think of Omama’s tales?| A．Exciting. | B．Attractive. | C．Moving. | D．Simple. |
| A．They were popular with the neighbors. |
| B．They got along with each other. |
| C．They enjoyed showing off each other. |
| D．They got great help from neighbors. |
| A．That Omama liked pets. | B．That Patrick could understand Omama. |
| C．That Patrick was special. | D．That Omama often talked to Patrick. |
| A．Her grandmother had deep affection for her motherland. |
| B．Patrick was quite a smart pet bird. |
| C．Her grandmother was poor at training parrots. |
| D．Patrick was very fond of the author’s visiting. |
The young boy was apologetic．“Please，Mister．．．Please，I’m sorry…I didn’t know what else to do．I threw the brick because no one else would stop…”
With tears dripping down his face，the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car．“It’s my brother，”he said．“He fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up．”
Now sobbing(crying silently)，the boy asked the executive，“Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me．’’
Moved beyond words，the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat．He hurriedly lifted the boy back into the wheelchair，then took out his fancy handkerchief and dabbed(a light touch) at the fresh scrapes and cuts．A quick look told him everything was going to be okay．“Thank you and may God bless you．”the grateful child told the stranger．Shaken up for words，the man simply watched the little boy push his wheelchair—bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home．
God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts．Sometimes when we don’t have time to listen，he has to throw a brick at us．Don’t go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!
1. The executive slowed down because______. .
| A．he saw a boy throw a brick to his car |
| B．he saw a boy rush out from between cars |
| C．he was afraid some boys suddenly rushed out |
| D．a brick smashed into his door |
| A．disturb the driver on purpose |
| B．destroy the car of the stranger |
| C．ask someone to drive him home |
| D．stop someone to help him |
| A．sympathized and excited |
| B．regretful and sympathized |
| C．ashamed and regretful |
| D．angry and regretful |
| A．the boy threw bricks at several cars |
| B．the boy tried to stop several cars |
| C．the boy’s brother was hurt seriously |
| D．the boy’s brother wanted to stop a car |
| A．you shouldn’t drive so fast that someone throws at you |
| B．it is common to throw a brick at a car running too fast |
| C．you can’t go through your life without a brick throwing at you |
| D．you should pay more attention to others and help them |
【推荐3】“I’m going to fail!” My best friend cried. She and I had this conversation almost every day while we were in high school.
The truth was that my friend never failed in any subjects. I just think that she can’t accept failures because she lives her life as a perfectionist. What she fails to understand is that a lot of good can come from failures.
For example, failure can help build relationships. Once I was cooking dinner for a friend, I was tired, and several dishes I tried to make turned out bad. I grew more and more upset until my friend told me that I shouldn't worry. She cared more about our friendship than the dishes. That day, I learned that failure doesn't always make people dislike you. In fact, after she said those words to me, I grew closer to her.
Failure can make success evermore exciting. Every few years, there would be an important test in the PE class at our school. Students had to run a mile within eight minutes. I was never good at running, so I failed every time until the third year at school. Then I began working out regularly, and yet still failed that year. A few days later, however, the teacher gave me and some other students another chance to run and I got a pass finally! You can't imagine how excitedly I was after that. I felt the memory of the success was as sweet as honey, because I had to overcome failure to reach it.
Now it’s clear to see that failure can teach us good lessons. It's not an end, but it can be a beginning.
1. What did the author finally get from a failed cooking?| A．Worries. | B．A closer friendship. | C．Bad feelings. | D．More experience. |
| A．Because she could work out regularly. | B．Because she received honey as a reward. |
| C．Because she achieved success after many failures. | D．Because she got another chance to take the test. |
| A．Successfully deal with. | B．Quickly respond to. |
| C．Narrowly escape from. | D．Eagerly come up with. |
| A．To show the negative effects of failures. | B．To point out her best friends' fear of failures. |
| C．To introduce different types of failures. | D．To encourage the readers to face failures bravely. |
【推荐1】How to Keep a Relationship Healthy and Strong
Are you new to experiencing relationships? Well, let me give you advice on having a healthy and possibly long-term relationship.
Make sure you give them respect. Now respect isn’t just simply treating her or him nicely. There' s a lot more to it. You have to learn to adjust to their liking.
Make sure you are encouraging to your partner.
Make sure you have a good sense of humor with them. Laughter is the key to happiness. Laugh a lot with them, joke with them. Laughter may seem silly, but it’s the secret to a lot in life. It will keep the sparks alive.
Make sure the communication is good. This goes along with trust, but always communicate how you feel, even if it’s something that upsets you. Instead of screaming, talk to them.
| A．Be an honest person with them. |
| B．Make sure you are reliable to your partner. |
| C．Laughter keeps the relationship strong and lasting. |
| D．Basically, learn to study your partners’ moods, wants and needs. |
| E．If they did something that made you unhappy, tell them about it in a respectful manner. |
【推荐2】Being thoughtful and active listeners can help us be better friends, colleagues, and family members. And just like any other skill, our listening can be improved over time. Many people share with us the little ways they’ve become better listeners.
Maintain eye contact.
Listen without thinking of solutions. What may help you become a better listener is to stop trying to listen for the problem to fix. Your job is to listen and take in what’s being said. You can ask for clarifications while you are listening if you are unsure of their meaning.
Block off enough time. To be a good listener, ensure you block time off.
| A．Take time for meditation. |
| B．It should not be for one hour. |
| C．Which of these tips will you try? |
| D．Why do you think these are helpful? |
| E．Put yourself on silent mode while others are talking. |
| F．But there’s no need to fix each part of the speakers’ issue as they are talking. |
| G．While listening, you’d better maintain considerable eye contact with the other person. |
【推荐3】Being responsible can seem hard at first, but if you keep at it, it will become second nature to you.
Place others’ needs before your own. When you have a family, friends, or pets, being responsible may mean placing their needs above your own.
Find solutions for issues instead of casting blame. Problems come up in any relationship.
People who are not responsible with their words will shout out the first thing that comes into their heads, including calling another person names. Instead, take time to think your words through.
| A．Don’t let your anger get the better of you. |
| B．You need to take care of yourself and others. |
| C．That doesn’t mean you don’t take care of yourself. |
| D．Doing just the things you are asked to do is responsible. |
| E．Your responsibility won’t mean much if it is hit or miss. |
| F．If you are not sure, consider how it would make yourself feel. |
| G．Instead of blaming the other person, try to find a way to solve them. |
【推荐1】In 2017, Irish President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina started the Young Irish Philosopher Awards, the purpose of which is to invite students from throughout that country to reflect on interesting questions and participate in philosophical thinking and discussion. In 2023, over 500 young thinkers came together at University College Dublin for the sixth annual gathering. The grand prize winner was Seán Radeliffe from Cork, for his essay ‘Has Plato’s tale of the cave been warning us of social media for 2,500years?’And speaking of Plato, in 2022, an award-winning documentary film entitled Young Plato received international recognition. It focuses on how Kevin McArevey, the headmaster of a primary school in Belfast’s Ardoyne housing estates, uses critical thinking techniques to empower young children to look beyond the boundaries of their violence(For more, see YoungPlato. com). As one can see, philosophy is alive and well in both the Republic of Ireland and the UK constituent country of Northern Ireland.
Ireland has traditionally been known as the Land of Saints and Scholars. In this edition of Philosophy Now, we’ll cast a cold eye on the state of philosophy past, present and future in the Emerald Isle, with a focus on Thomas Duddy’s idea, in his book A History of Irish Thought, that such an exploration must be both practical and creative.
This issue is dedicated to my late friend Seán Moran, a Philosophy Now writer and a modern Irish philosopher whom I met in Waterford many years ago, and whose humor, charm, and friendliness enriched my life. Like Tom Duddy, Seán died much too young. He demonstrated to me the true meaning of William Butler Yeats’s closing words from his poem ‘The Municipal Gallery Revisited’:
“Think where man’s glory most begins and ends
And say my glory was I had such friends.”
Prof. Timothy J. Madigan
St John Fisher University
1. What can readers probably get on YoungPlato. com?| A．How critical thinking helps students reflect on their violence. |
| B．How Plato’s stories influence social media every now and then. |
| C．How Higgins and his wife started the Young Irish Philosopher Awards. |
| D．How young thinkers try philosophical thinking and discussion annually. |
| A．Ireland’s Philosophical Evolution. | B．Thomas Duddy’s ideas on history. |
| C．The growing reputation of Ireland. | D．The ideal way of exploring philosophy. |
| A．To compare Seán’s achievement with Tom Duddy’s. |
| B．To express the author’s sorrow for Seán’s early death. |
| C．To appreciate the friendship between the author and Seán. |
| D．To demonstrate the author’s understanding of philosophy. |
| A．Creative. | B．Reflective. | C．Skeptical. | D．Confused. |
【推荐2】A new study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family claims that all that time you spend parenting just doesn’t matter. But it’s a claim that, despite the enthusiastic and widespread coverage by the media, does not hold water.
The research suggests that child outcomes (including behavior problems, emotional problems, and academic performance) are barely connected with the time that parents spend with their children. The researchers examined the time diaries of 1,600 children, looking at parenting time and outcomes when the kids were aged 3 to 11 in 1997, and again in 2002, when they were between 8 and 16. (A time diary is a detailed report of all activities you carry out in a day. )
This research largely reflects the failure of the authors to correctly measure parental input. It just looked at time diaries from two particular days-one a weekday and the other a weekend day.
Trying to get a sense of the time you spend parenting from a single day’s diary is a bit like trying to measure your income from a single day. If yesterday was payday, you looked rich, but if it’s not, you would be reported as poor. You get a clearer picture only by looking at your income — or your parenting time—over a more meaningful period.
What you did yesterday should not be taken as representative of what you did last year, This is why most high-quality studies of parenting time focus instead on how often parents read to their children, play with them or help their with homework over a period of a month or longer — long enough to represent their different approaches to parenting.
As an exhausted parent who doesn’t get enough time to work out, and who hasn’t seen a movie for months, I understand why so many of us might seize on studies suggesting that we should take more time for ourselves. Perhaps we should. But I agree with Ariel Kalil, a developmental psychologist, on the suggestion “that when parents spend high-quality time with their children, their children are more likely to succeed.”
1. By saying in Paragraph 1 “ ... it’s a claim that ... does not bold water”, the author means the claim is not ________.| A．reasonable | B．surprising | C．confusing | D．usual |
| A．children’s habits and parents’ influence | B．parenting time and child outcomes |
| C．time diaries and child development | D．daily activities and children’s problems |
| A．By giving descriptions. | B．By analyzing the cause. |
| C．By making a comparison. | D．By offering research findings. |
| A．be completed in one month. | B．adopt some different approaches. |
| C．concentrate mainly on learning time. | D．be based on data of a longer time period. |
| A．He goes to bed early every night. | B．He has little interest in movies. |
| C．He has little time for himself. | D．He leads a very easy life. |
【推荐3】If you were born in the 2000s, you are called the oh-ohs. The 21st century. That would make you young, creative, connected, global, and no doubt smart. Maybe good-looking, too. Right? But what do other people think about your generation?
Some adults worry that you’re more interested in the screen in front of you than the world around you. They think of you as the “face-down generation” because you use your phone so much and they wonder how you will deal with school, friends, and family. Are today’s teenagers too busy texting and taking selfies to become successful in real life?
Other adults worry that today’s youth are spoilt ( 溺 爱 ) and don’t want to face the challenges of adult life. Many children born in the 1990s and 2000s were raised by “helicopter parents” who were always there to guide and help them with a busy schedule filled with homework and after-school activities such as dancing, drawing, or sports. With parents who do everything for them, today’s youth seem to prefer to live like teenagers even when they are in their 20s or 30s.
Does the face-down generation need a heads-up? Well, probably not. The fact is that many of today’s teenagers are better educated and more creative than past generations. They seem to be willing to become leaders. More young people than ever volunteer to help their communities. There are also brave young people such as Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who won the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for pushing girls’ rights to go to school.
So if you’re one of the oh-ohs, there’s reason to be hopeful about the future. Things are looking up for the face-down generation. Chances are that you will do GR8 (great) and LOL (laugh out loud).
1. What is the function of Paragraph 1?| A．To show a public concern. | B．To start a debate. |
| C．To explain a scientific term. | D．To introduce the topic. |
| A．Oh-ohs’ poor eyesight. | B．Oh-ohs’ tight schedules. |
| C．Oh-ohs’ lack of independence. | D．Oh-ohs’ strong creativity. |
| A．Early warning. | B．Warm welcome. |
| C．Effective medicine. | D．Sincere encouragement. |
| A．The author is one of the oh-ohs. | B．Oh-ohs are likely to have a bright future. |
| C．Oh-ohs will spend less time on phones. | D．Oh-ohs will meet more challenges than adults. |
