【推荐2】Casting blame is natural: it is tempting to fault someone else for a mistake rather than taking responsibility yourself. But blame is also harmful. It makes it less likely that people will own up to mistakes, and thus less likely that organizations can learn from them. Research published in 2015 suggests that firms whose managers pointed to external factors to explain their failings underperformed companies that blamed themselves.

Blame culture can spread like a virus. Just as children fear mom and dad’s punishment if they admit to wrongdoing, in a blaming environment, employees are afraid of criticism and punishment if they acknowledge making a mistake at work. Blame culture asks, “who dropped the ball?” instead of “where did our systems and processes fail?” The focus is on the individuals, not the processes. It’s much easier to point fingers at a person or department instead of doing the harder, but the more beneficial, exercise of fixing the root cause, in which case the problem does not happen again.

The No Blame Culture was introduced to make sure errors and deficiencies (缺陷) were highlighted by employees as early as possible. It originated in organizations where tiny errors can have catastrophic (灾难性的) consequences. These are known as high reliability organizations (HROs) and include hospitals, submarines and airlines. Because errors can be so disastrous in these organizations, it’s dangerous to operate in an environment where employees don’t feel able to report errors that have been made or raise concerns about that deficiencies may turn into future errors. The No Blame Culture maximizes accountability because all contributions to the event occurring are identified and reviewed for possible change and improvement.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which supervises air traffic across the United States, makes it clear that its role is not to assign blame or liability but to find out what went wrong and to issue recommendations to avoid a repeat. The proud record of the airline industry in reducing accidents partly reflects no-blame processes for investigating crashes and close calls. The motive to learn from errors also exist when the risks are lower. That is why software engineers and developers routinely investigate what went wrong if a website crashes or a server goes down.

There is an obvious worry about embracing blamelessness. What if the website keeps crashing and the same person is at fault? Sometimes, after all, blame is deserved. The idea of the “just culture”, a framework developed in the 1990s by James Reason, a psychologist, addresses the concern that the incompetent and the malevolent (恶意的) will be let off the hook. The line that Britain’s aviation regulator draws between honest errors and the other sort is a good starting-point. It promises a culture in which people “are not punished for actions or decisions taken by them that match with their experience and training”. That narrows room for blame but does not remove it entirely.

1. According to the research published in 2015, companies that ______ had better performance.

A．blamed external factors	B．admitted their mistakes
C．conducted investigations	D．punished the under performers

2. According to the passage, what do you learn about the No Blame Culture?

A．It encourages the early disclosure of errors.

B．It only exists in high reliability organizations.

C．It enables people to shift the blame onto others.

D．It prevents organizations from making any error.

3. What is the major concern about embracing blamelessness according to the passage?

A．Innocent people might take the blame by admitting their failure.

B．Being blamed for mistakes can destroy trust in employees.

C．The line between honest errors and the other sort is not clear.

D．People won’t learn their lessons if they aren’t blamed for failures.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．Why We Fail to Learn from Our Own Mistakes

B．How to Avoid Disastrous Errors in Organizations

C．Why We Should Stop the Blame Game at Work

D．How to Deal with Workplace Blame Culture

【推荐1】What do you do at the end of the day when you’re finished with work and at last have some time for yourself? How you spend your free time can have a big effect on your mental health. Hobbies can help you relax and ease pent-up (被压抑的) stress caused by all that time in the office or in front of the computer.

But, interestingly, how you spend your free time can also affect your work performance. Researchers at the University of Sheffield’s Institute of Work Psychology in the UK found that developing hobbies can improve your confidence about how well you perform your job. But there is one warning: Your hobby has to be significantly different from what you do from 9-to-5 work.

To study the connection between work and leisure activities, researchers employed 129 people who worked and were actively involved in hobbies like rock climbing, playing football, musical theater and singing. They had them complete surveys to see how serious and committed (投入的) they were to their hobbies and how demanding their jobs were. Then, each month for seven months. participants were asked how many hours they spent on their hobbies and how they rated (评估) their ability to perform at work. Researchers found that if people have hobbies similar to what they do at work and that they do in an intense (高度集中的) way, their-on-the-job confidence can suffer. It’s likely because their work and leisure time have the same mental and physical demands, so they’re always feeling drained.

Those playful recreations act as a barrier between their professional and personal lives, giving them rest time to “recharge their batteries”, said the lead researcher Ciara Kelly. “When we feel like we have the confidence to deal with challenges in our jobs. We’re more likely to be able to build a sustainable (可持续的) job and remain healthy, productive, happy and employable over our lifetimes. It’s important to consider how our leisure activities might play a role in that process. So it’s important that you should make the best of your spare time and choose a hobby that benefits your job.”

1. Why do hobbies that are different from people’s work can improve their working performance?

A．Because the hobbies require more physical strength.

B．Because the hobbies can make people more energetic.

C．Because the hobbies demand more computer skills.

D．Because the hobbies have closer connection with their majors.

2. What does the underlined word “drained” in the Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Confused.

B．Tired.

C．Energetic.

D．Excited.

3. What does the author mainly tell us in the text?

A．The advantages of personal hobbies.	B．The best method to choose our hobbies.
C．The relationship between hobbies and jobs.	D．The secret of being excellent in your profession.

【推荐1】Say the phrase “female environmental pioneers,” and among the names you will hear are Rachel Carson, who wrote pesticides; chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall; and 17-year-old climate-change activist Greta Thunberg. To mark Women’s History Month, Kidspost is sharing the story of an environmental pioneer who is not that famous but equally remarkable.

At age 3, Sylvia Earle found her lifelong passion while playing on a beach. A wave suddenly came up and knocked her over.

“My mother ... saw the big smile on my face and let me run back in,” Earle told a TV interviewer years later. “And I’ve been running back in ever since.”

Earle is now 84 years old and has spent a lifetime exploring the world’s oceans and working to protect them from pollution, overfishing and other threats.

She is a pioneer in using scuba gear. Scuba gear lets divers take breath underwater. She holds the world record for the deepest untethered walk on the ocean floor at 1,250 feet. This means she was not tied to anything when she was walking underwater. During this exploration, she planted a U.S. flag.

In 1998, Time magazine gave Earle its first Heroes for the Planet award. She was the first female chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It is the U.S. ocean and atmosphere group. She was also elected to the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

Earle has spent her life teaching people about the ocean. She notes how much it affects the weather, and what we eat and drink. She has something to say to those who don’t understand why the ocean matters. “They should know that with every breath they take, every drop of water they drink, the ocean is touching them,” Earle says. “You should treat the ocean as if your life depends on it— because it does.”

1. What does Earle’s lifelong passion refer to?

A．Teaching people how to dive.	B．Writing articles for magazines.
C．Exploring and protecting oceans.	D．Providing equipment for divers.

2. What do we know about Earle from the text?

A．Earle is a world record holder.

B．Earle’s mother is in support of her work.

C．Earle is a remarkable British ocean explorer.

D．Earle is the only female chief scientist at NOAA.

3. Which of the following words can best describe Earle?

A．brave and conservative.	B．devoted and courageous.
C．determined and rigid.	D．ambitious and modest.

4. Which of the following statement will Earle agree with according to the text?

A．People should stop overfishing and eating seafood.

B．The ocean plays a significant role in human’s life.

C．The weather has a far-reaching effect on the ocean.

D．The exploration of the ocean can be done without limit.

【推荐2】CAFE Maker Space Policy

Service and Location

The Maker Space is located in the lower level of the Powers Memorial Library towards the north side of the building. The purpose of the area is to provide open access to information and various new technologies to enhance professional, personal and educational goals for all ages. It is a place to gain hands-on experience, knowledge and skills and to make stuff!

Opening Hours

Currently the Maker Space is open every Wednesday afternoon from 4:00—7:00 p. m. These hours may vary during the summertime.

Equipment Available

·A Flash forge Creater Pro Dual Extrusion 3 D Printer

·Two ASUS Laptops

·Inventables Tool Kit

·LECO Mindstorms

·Wood Finishing Kit

·Obstacle Avoiding Robot

Conditions of Use

·Everyone with a valid CAFE library card is welcome to use and visit the Maker Space at no charge. To use the Maker Space, all must read and sign the Maker Space policy, stating that they will obey the rules and regulations of this policy.

·All equipment in the Maker Space are on a first come, first served basis; however, reservation may be made of specific equipment in advance. Use is limited for two hours per day per person, unless advanced approval is arranged with the Library Director. Reservations can be made in person at the library or by calling the Main Circulation Desk(262) 495-4605.

Equipment Safety Use

·In order to use specific equipment/technology or to participate in any project using this equipment, the user must complete the Equipment Use and Safety Certification Class.

·Any use of materials without certification can result in suspension or permanent ban from the Maker Space.

Fees for Equipment

3 D Printer: The current cost for use of the 3 D printer is $0.5 per 30 minutes run time.

1. Who is the Maker Space open to?

A．Staff of CAFE high school.

B．People over the age of 20.

C．Citizens with the library card.

D．College students in the city.

2. In which section can you find information about punishments for rule breaking?

A．Service and Location.	B．Equipment Available.
C．Conditions of Use.	D．Equipment Safety Use.

3. If you have used the 3 D printer for 100 minutes, how much do you need to pay?

A．$2.	B．$1.5.
C．$1.	D．$0.5.

【推荐3】In the first few years of their lives, children brought up in English-speaking homes successfully master the use of hundreds of words, including those for objects, actions, emotions, and many other aspects of the physical world. However, when it comes to learning colour words, the same children perform very badly. If shown a blue cup and asked about its colour, typical two-year-olds seem as likely to come up with “red” as “blue”.

Cognitive (认知) scientists at Stanford University in California supposed that children’s incompetence at colour-word learning may be directly linked to the way these words are used in English. They are used mostly in pre-nominal position (e.g. “blue cup”), in contrast to post-nominal position (e.g. “The cup is blue.”). The difficulty children have may simply come down to the challenge of having to make predictions from colour words to the objects they refer to, rather than from the objects to the colour words.

To explore this idea further, the research team recruited 40 English children aged between 23 and 29 months and carried out a three-phase experiment. It considered of a pre-test, followed by training in the use of colour words, and finally a post-test that was identical to the pre-test. The pre- and post- test materials comprised six objects that were unfamiliar to the children. There were three examples of each object in each of three colours — red, yellow and blue. The objects were presented on trays (托盘), and in both tests, the children were asked to pick out objects in response to requests in which the colour word was either a pre-nominal (“Which is the red one?”) or a post-nominal (“Which one is red?”).

In the training, the children were introduced to five sets of familiar items (balls, cups, crayons, glasses, and toy bears) in each of the three colours. Half the children were presented with the items one by one and heard them labeled with colour words used pre-nominally, while the other half were introduced to the same items described with a post-nominal colour word. After the training, the children repeated the selection task on the novel items in the post-test. Correct choices on items that were consistent across the pre- and post-tests were used to measure children’s colour knowledge.

According to the assessment, children’s performance was consistent when they were both trained and tested on post-nominal adjectives, and worst when trained on pre-nominal adjectives and tested on post-nominal adjectives. Comparing the pre- and post-test scores across each condition revealed a significant decline in performance when children were both pre- and post-tested with questions that placed the colour words pre-nominally.

1. What is the purpose of Paragraph 2?

A．To present a phenomenon.

B．To make a contrast.

C．To give a possible explanation.

D．To provide an example.

2. What can we learn about the experiment from the passage?

A．The children had to place the pre-and post-test objects onto coloured trays.

B．The children were presented with the same objects in the pre- and post- tests.

C．Pre-nominal questions were less used than post-nominal questions in the training.

D．The researchers aimed to look for consistencies in children’s knowledge of word order.

3. What does the underlined word “novel” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Imaginary.

B．Unknown.

C．Familiar.

D．Common.

4. The outcome of the experiment shows that _____.

A．children are unable to accurately sort objects by colour

B．children trained on pre-nominal adjectives perform well

C．children learn colour words rapidly in post-nominal position

D．children can make predictions from the objects to the colour words

【推荐1】If you feel like you can’t even consider consuming a candy bar without being shown its caloric content, you’re right. The same thing goes for just about every piece of packaged food, plus every bottled or canned beverage: A Nutrition Facts label shows detailed information on the amounts of fat, sugar, sodium and more found inside.

But while your favorite breakfast cereals, sodas and sandwich fixings are subject to this type of in-your-face requirement, you may have noticed that booze(酒)is typically off the hook, so what gives?

The answer lies in the powers that be. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates the safety of food, including non-alcoholic beverages, it doesn’t govern the alcohol industry. That honor belongs to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), an agency that doesn’t require labeling.

While beer, wine and spirits companies aren’t legally required to print the nutritional information on their products, consumer advocates have been calling for the TTB to change that. And it has, sort of. In 2013, the agency made nutrition labels optional for alcohol. But some health experts don’t feel the move was bold enough.

As John Hopkins, a public health researcher said her work revealed that the average American regularly consumes 400 calories a day from alcohol alone and they should know that.

The reasons behind the differences in label requirements between the FDA and TTB go back to Prohibition. When the ban on the production and distribution of alcohol came to an end, Congress passed the Alcohol Administration Act of 1935, which eventually led to the establishment of the TTB. Its rules around labeling have historically been a bit messy. Substances that people might be sensitive to have to be labeled, but other ingredients do not.

Change is brewing though, at least in the beer industry: Industry leaders, which produce more than 81 percent of the volume of beer sold in the U.S., have agreed to voluntarily display nutrition facts by 2020.

1. What is the function of the example given in the beginning?

A．To stress the importance of the topic.

B．To improve readers’ awareness.

C．To criticize the wrongdoings of some people.

D．To lead to the topic to be discussed.

2. What does the underlined word “hook” refer to?

A．Disobeying the related requirements.

B．Choosing one’s favorite ones.

C．Listing the nutrition labels.

D．Changing their routines.

3. What is the reason for some alcohol drinks not listing nutrition labels?

A．The companies don’t necessarily do so by rules.

B．The companies didn’t know how to do.

C．The companies chose to break the rules.

D．The management of the companies is too messy.

4. What can we expect in the year of 2020 in the U.S.?

A．All the alcohol drinks will add nutritional labels.

B．The majority of beer producers will use nutritional labels.

C．The beer industry leaders will remove nutritional labels.

D．The messy situation about the regulations will be completely solved.

【推荐2】On November 24, 1868, Scott Joplin was born in Texas. He became famous as a ragtime (拉格泰姆音乐) composer and piano player. Ragtime music was an early form of jazz. This music has a lively beat and was developed from the music of African Americans.

Ragtime became popular in the early 1890s, and the music was played on the piano. The piano player usually made up a melody, then changed it a little bit every time he played. Scott Joplin was very good at composing, or making up music and playing the piano. When he was growing up, Joplin’s home was filled with music. Still, Joplin’s father did not want him to be a musician. When he was about 14 years old, Joplin left home to travel and start a life of his own. He traveled all over the Midwest playing the piano and composing music. Sometimes he played with music groups. Other times he sang by himself in noisy saloons and bars. In 1899, Joplin wrote Maple Leaf Rag, a ragtime song that became a big hit and earned Joplin the title of The King of Ragtime. In all, he wrote more than 500 songs. Joplin’s biggest dream was to compose a ragtime opera. Finally, after 10 years, Joplin completed a ragtime opera which he called Treemonisha. This opera was about a young black woman who became a leader of her people. She tried to help her people gain their freedom and their rights.

1916, Joplin became very sick. He had a disease that made him forget things and become easily afraid of things. In 1917, he was put in the hospital. He finally died there on April 1, 1917. Scott Joplin’s music became popular again in the early 1970s when it was used in a movie called The Sting.

1. Which of the following best describes ragtime?

A．It is a kind of jazz music.	B．It was born in Texas.
C．It sounds slow and sad.	D．It is played on the guitar.

2. Joplin took up ragtime       .

A．with strong family support	B．against his father’s will
C．for a richer and happier life	D．with the hope of traveling

3. What can we know Maple Leaf Rag?

A．It was a ragtime opera.	B．It was attacked by other composers.
C．It was used in a movie.	D．It won the composer great honor.

4. Which of the words can best describe Scott Joplin?

A．Talented and traditional.	B．Determined and productive.
C．Stubborn and cautious.	D．Patient and generous.

【推荐3】The first science project I ever did was in fifth grade with my partner, Delaney. We looked online together for ideas and came up with an experiment to slide glass balls down a slope covered with different-textured materials. Our project was torn to pieces by our teacher. Our procedure wasn’t thorough. She told us we should consider waiting another year to enter the science fair. I felt so discouraged.

That night, I folded up our poster and started thinking about all of the things I could do differently the next year. I wanted to find a topic I cared about, one that interested me. As a beginner of the piano, I was curious about how the piano I practiced on for five hours every week could make the sounds that it did. I learned about something called “sympathetic resonance,” a phenomenon that allows string to vibrate (振动) together when played. I built my next project around this and ended up getting first place at the science fair the following year.

Today, I am 22 years old, a climate scientist. In the decade since I did my very first science project, I have wondered a lot about what it takes to be a good scientist. To me, what makes a truly good scientist is what makes a good person.

A good scientist has patience — patience for others, patience for herself or himself, and patience when things go wrong. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to work on a NASA asteroid-sample retrieval mission called OSIRIS-Rex. The spacecraft launched in September 2016, headed to the asteroid Bennu. Late last year, finally, it reached its destination. In four years, OSIRIS-Rex will bring a piece of the asteroid back to earth so that scientists can learn more about it. Scientific discoveries do not take place overnight, and many are small and gradual. Missions like the one I worked on often take years to complete. Success almost never comes quickly or easily.

A good scientist is open-minded. It can be easy to ignore people you disagree with or to assume the worst about them. But we should be open to ideas that are not what we expected when we set out. We should take the time to consider other people’s opinions, even when they conflict with our own. There is so much we don’t know, but we do know some things. We live in a world where knowledge and uncertainty can and do coexist. As scientists, we should have both confidence in ourselves and humility as we move through our lives.

Of course, good scientists are driven by curiosity. But curiosity does not have to be limited to science. When we are curious about other people, we can become more considerate. When we are curious about other perspectives, we can become more understanding. After all, it costs nothing to be kind to someone — at school, at the grocery store, with your friends, with your family. A kind gesture can make someone’s day, even save someone’s life. You never know what people are going through unless you take the time to find out. Curiosity is not and never will be something to be ashamed of. Curiosity is our superpower. But it’s also what makes us human. All we have to do is ask.

1. What are the first two paragraphs mainly about?

A．The daily life of a scientist.

B．The procedures of choosing a project.

C．The personal experience of a scientist.

D．The achievements a scientist ever made.

2. What does the underlined word “humility” in Paragraph 5 probably mean?

A．Being modest.	B．Being cautious.
C．Being sceptical.	D．Being ambitious.

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Curiosity kills the cat.

B．Practice makes perfect.

C．When one door shuts, another opens.

D．Nothing is impossible for a willing heart.

4. What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To evaluate the effect of a science project.

B．To analyze the personalities of a scientist.

C．To explain the consequence of an experiment.

D．To compare some approaches to be a scientist.