1 . I always wanted to be extraordinary at something. Not just as in, “Great job, Jimbo!” No, I wanted to be best-in-class, awe-inspiring, tiptop; a world-famous genius, like Michael Phelps or Mark Zuckerberg.
Unfortunately, my version of reality did not quite line up with thisdelusionalvision. I was a good swimmer, but I peaked at the collegiate State Championships level. My academic record was pretty solid, but I never would have made it into one of those ivy-league schools.
Though I rose to above-average status in a couple of areas, the disappointing truth was that I would never amount to anything more than a mid-sized fish in a small pond. God apparently had other plans.
What drove me crazy, though, was the superstar talent thrown in my face at every turn. Some folks just seemed to get an unfair intensive dose (剂量) of it. Why couldn’t I be like Bernie William, the famed New Yorkees player who also happens to be a world-class jazz guitar virtuoso (艺术大师)?
Some say greatness is simply a function of putting in the practice time. Around ten thousand hours, to be precise, according to author Malcolm Gladwell. I don’t question the theory of devoting extraordinary efforts to developing one’s expertise, but it seems that raw talent is equally important. You either have it or you don’t.
I’ve heard that as people approach middle age, their life satisfaction increases because they begin to accept the gap between the expectations for themselves and the reality. After a few decades of frustration without the desired results, we eventually come to terms with how our lives turned out, even if it falls far short of our idealized youthful expectation.
Hope bends, it seems.
1. What does the word “delusional” in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?| A．Practical. | B．Realistic. |
| C．Abstract. | D．Imaginary. |
| A．a world-famous genius | B．a mid-sized fish in a small pond |
| C．a world-class virtuoso | D．a student in an ivy-league school |
| A．Raw talent. | B．Talent and time. |
| C．Extraordinary efforts. | D．Ten thousand hours of practice. |
| A．Hope Bends | B．Frustrating Decades |
| C．Practice Works | D．Youthful Expectation |
2 . Summer is here, and with it comes a chance you'll get too much sun. While there's no cure for sunburn, a small but fascinating new study suggests taking large amounts of vitamin D after exposure may prevent the associated redness and inflammation (发炎).
In the paper, researchers exposed 20 volunteers to a light resembling solar radiation to induce a sunburn on a small piece of skin. They then gave the ''burn victims'' large amounts of vitamin D, and followed up with participants one, two and three days (and a week) later to measure skin redness and thickness. The researchers found that vitamin D decreased inflammation and redness, compared with taking a placebo (安慰剂). And this effect increased in proportion to how much was consumed. Vitamin D also appears to increase the activity of a gene called arginase-1, which is involved in tissue repair and healing. Taking 50, 000 international units (IU) of vitamin D--125 times the recommended daily allowance-led to a significant reduction in redness and inflammation, compared with the placebo. Those who took 100,000 IU had even less redness and pain; and those who took 200, 000 IU had the greatest reduction in inflammation.
This is the first study to show vitamin D can reduce inflammation, and suggests that it ''could potentially help prevent sunburn, '' says senior author Kurt Lu, a physician scientist and assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University.
It used to be thought vitamin D was primarily involved in building healthy bones and muscles, but recent research has found it has many more roles, including influencing inflammation, such as the kind associated with sunburns.
So, if you get burned, should you take a lot of vitamin D? The study authors don't recommend it. ''I think that's probably not a good idea and not well established by this study, '' says Barbara Gilchrest, a physician scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Such large amounts, if taken repeatedly, have the potential to cause vitamin D toxicity (毒性).
1. What does this passage mainly talk about?| A．An unusual method for relieving sunburn. |
| B．Tips for how to travel safely in summer. |
| C．A suggestion on taking vitamin D properly. |
| D．Advice on how to take medicine effectively. |
| A．By observing the inflammation of skin every day. |
| B．By measuring the thickness of skin after a week. |
| C．By increasing the daily volume of vitamin |
| D．By comparing the effect with that of placebo. |
| A．recommend the daily intake |
| B．argue against the benefits of more Vitamin D |
| C．show the more Vitamin D, the greater benefits |
| D．stress the potential danger of too much Vitamin D |
| A．Repeatedly taking large amounts of Vitamin D is beneficial. |
| B．Vitamin D may bring more advantages to us than what has been found out. |
| C．Don't take vitamin D unless your doctor approves you to do it. |
| D．Vitamin D is more useful for curing sunburn than building healthy bones. |
3 . Jules is now in his sixties, and is one of the many homeless people who live on the streets; he buys a newspaper most days. Today, with his fellow tramps, he reads about yesterday's student demonstrations.
Like many of the tramps who live under the bridges, Jules was not always so poor. A long time ago he was in the Navy, and like many who have been to sea for a long time, he has stayed slim and fit. Despite the strict organization on board ship, he loved his life, and had the opportunity to see many countries. He visited Poland and Russia; in South Africa he realized what he valued in each country was the people he met. He was always astonished and delighted by the ways in which the people he met differed from one country to another. Some day, he hopes, everyone will see the world as he does.
After many happy years in the Navy, he had to retire. The good things in life always come to an end. His mother and father had long since died and he’d lost touch with his other relatives. He became an industrial designer. He was happy, although it wasn’t the same as the sea. He never wanted to get married and have children.
And then there was the period of darkness. He smiles sadly. He shrugs his shoulders and looks at his hands. There are tears in the corners of his eyes. This is something that he cannot bring himself to talk about. ''It all went wrong, '' he whispers.
He was silent for a while, then recovered. He began to talk more loudly. ''Look at me now---it makes me angry. And what about the President? He's been in power for years, and look what he's done for us. Nothing! I am still out on the streets and live the life of a dog.''
1. What can we learn about Jules’ life in the Navy？| A．He only visited three countries. |
| B．He enjoyed the life on board ship. |
| C．He was very well paid for the job he did. |
| D．He liked meeting people from different countries. |
| A．He wanted to start a family. | B．He wanted to be near his relatives. |
| C．He didn't enjoy the work any more. | D．He was too old to stay in the Navy |
| A．The President should increase pensions for old people. |
| B．The President had not had enough time to change things. |
| C．The President should have done more to help people like him. |
| D．The President should not allow homeless people to stay on the streets. |
4 . I was thrilled to go on an adventure with my master Rev.Young, a tall man with kind eyes.Mr. Muir was going too. But he said, “Such a helpless creature will only be in the way.” I was disappointed when I heard what he said, and yet I still wanted to follow him.
One stormy morning, Mr. Muir set out alone to study nature. He ordered me to stay behind. But I could not let him go alone, so I followed him into the wild weather. We crossed Taylor Glacier and endless sheet of ice, which was cut by cracks. I was unafraid and sailed over these bottomless holes. Mr. Muir was delighted that he was not crossing them alone.
As dusk fell, we reached an enormous crack that was impossible to jump across. In between the two sides was a U-shaped bridge of ice, so thin that one wrong step would mean dropping to your death. Daylight was disappearing, and gusty winds blew snow into my eyes. I turned to return to camp the way we came. However, Mr. Muir decided to cross the crack. He sat down and rode the narrow U-strip as if it were a horse. Once safe on the other side, he called out to me. But I had never been so terrified before. “I am not good at climbing steep slopes.” I was scared and thought.
Then I looked at Mr. Muir, already across on the safe side. Slowly, I began to cross it. I could feel his eyes on me the entire way. Before I knew it, I made the happiest landing of my life. I ran round and round and jumped up and hugged him. From that day on, we spent every moment together.
1. Why didn’t Mr. Muir want to take me with him at the beginning?| A．He suggested that I need some rest. |
| B．He possessed great self-confidence. |
| C．He considered me as a burden to him. |
| D．He thought I was too weak to make a trip. |
| A．By climbing steep slopes. |
| B．By sliding over the U-strip. |
| C．By leaping across the crack. |
| D．By riding the narrow ice bridge. |
| A．Horrible. | B．Risky. | C．Well-planned. | D．Pleasant. |
5 . A core human need is validation (认可) that experience of feeling seen and understood. We long for it. We don't feel safety, belonging or mattering without it. According to Oprah Winfrey, who has interviewed thousands upon thousands of people from ordinary folks to world leaders and highly successful business people, they all ask her the same question after the interview: "Did I do OK?"
In seeking validation many people talk without listening first. We are eager to make our next point and be validated. So we don't listen. While the other person is speaking, we are arranging our next piece of brilliance and persuasion in our minds. When we're told we need to be more "present" or even told to talk less, we start out with the best intentions, but soon find ourselves competing for airtime.
As leaders, part of our job is to find our validation elsewhere and give the gift of listening to our team.
Here's how you can help yourself become a more successful listener: ask more questions. Ask questions and actually listen for the answer and keep your mouth closed until it's time to ask the next question. Try keeping the ratio of questions to you offering your opinion at 80% questions to 20% your opinion.
In a team, especially if you are learning to collaborate better, try a few meetings using a device like a talking stick (only the person holding the stick can talk) to ensure that everyone gets equal airtime. The "talking stick" concept comes from Native American traditions but can be any object that is culturally appropriate for your team﹣even a pen will do.
In the age of organizations as living organisms, listening is the skill that will help your team soar—and give them the emotional experience they long for.
1. Why did people ask "Did I do OK?" after the interview?| A．They are not confident about themselves. |
| B．They want to show off before the host. |
| C．They all long to be validated. |
| D．They seldom have the chance to be interviewed. |
| A．how to seek validation |
| B．why we don't listen |
| C．when to make our next point |
| D．what is the best intention |
| A．Find validation in your team. |
| B．Keep your mouth closed. |
| C．Ask 80 questions and offer 20 opinions. |
| D．Raise more questions. |
| A．To follow Native American traditions |
| B．To help the team rise in spirits |
| C．To check that everyone gets the same airtime |
| D．To strengthen the importance of a meeting |
6 . Hearing the Sweetest Songs
My parents said I lost my hearing as a baby, but I knew I hadn't lost anything. None of my parts had dropped off. Nothing had changed： I could hear music that was close enough to me. I could also hear my mom when she was in the same room. I could even hear my cat purr if I put my good ear on top of him.
I wasn't aware of any hearing loss until I began to wear a hearing aid when I started living alone. I noticed it ruined my peace of mind: pencils tapping, phones ringing, and refrigerators humming. Then, I began to discover many things I couldn't do. I couldn't tell where sounds came from, nor could I tell fire alarms from burglar alarms. I once missed a job interview because I misheard the address on the phone. For the first time, I had to admit that I had lost something.
Unlike a wheelchair, my disability doesn't announce itself. When I got jobs, I chose to keep it as a secret. One day a business friend said, "Nicolette, sometimes in meetings you answer the wrong questions. People don't know you can't hear, so they think you're strange, stupid﹣or just plain rude. It would be better to just tell them." But I knew if I told, people might see only my disability, and they might forget that I was also a writer, a painter, and a good gardener. I felt disabled and helpless.
This bothered me till I met my husband. One morning at the shore I was listening to the sounds of the sea when my husband said, "Hear the bird?" "What bird?" I listened hard until I heard a tiny sound. If he hadn't mentioned it I would never have noticed it. As I listened, slowly I began to hear﹣or perhaps imagine﹣a distant song. Did I really hear it? Or just heard in my heart what he shared with me? I realized that songs imagined were as sweet as songs heard and songs shared were sweeter still.
This sharing is what both the disabled and non-disabled want. Every one of us, if we live long enough, will become disabled in some way. Let's share. Now, just let me see your lips when you speak. And ask what you want to know. These are conversations we all should have, and it's not that hard to begin.
1. When the author wore the hearing aid, she_____.| A．felt better prepared for the job interviews |
| B．was able to enjoy different sounds |
| C．experienced a sense of loss |
| D．was teased by others |
| A．people might focus on her hearing loss |
| B．she could get the work done as abled |
| C．people might be curious about it |
| D．she wanted to do more jobs |
| A．To draw people's attention to the hearing problem． |
| B．To tell people not to treat the disabled differently． |
| C．To remember the challenges she faced． |
| D．To show how much she missed before． |
7 . I was having a great morning until I sat down in front of my office computer. “Your password has expired(过期),” a message flashed on my screen, with instructions for changing it.
Coming up with a new code doesn’t seem like a big deal, unless you work at my company, where we have to change it monthly, using at least one uppercase character, one lowercase character, one symbol, and one numeral. Oh, and the whole damn thing can’t be fewer than eight characters. And I can’t use any of the same passwords I’ve used in the past three months.
Suddenly I was furious. What didn’t make it any better was that I was deeply depressed after my recent divorce. Disbelief over what she had done to me was all I thought about every day.
My anger didn’t mean anything to the empty input field with a pulsating cursor(闪动的光标), waiting for me to type a password that I’d have to re-enter — many times — for the next 30 days. I remembered a tip I’d heard from my former boss. He’d said, “I’m going to use a password to change my life.”
I couldn’t focus on getting things done in my current mood. There were clear indicators of what I needed to do to regain control of my life, but I couldn’t notice them.
My password became the indicator. My password reminded me that I shouldn’t let myself be a victim of my recent breakup and that I was strong enough to do something about it.
I made my password Forgive@h3r. I had to type this statement several times a day. Each time my computer would lock. Each time my screen saver with her photo would appear. Each time I would come back from eating lunch alone. In my mind, I wrote Forgive her every day.
The simple action changed the way I looked at my ex-wife. That constant reminder of reconciliation led me to accept the way things had happened at the end of my marriage and embrace a new way of dealing with my depression. As the month wore on, I felt a slow healing begin to take place. By the time my server prompted me to reset my password the following month, I felt free.
One month later, when asked yet again to reset my password. I thought about the next thing that I had to get done. My password became Quit@smoking4ever.
I quit smoking overnight. This password was a painful one to type during that month, but doing it helped me to yell at myself in my mind as I typed that statement. It motivated me to follow my monthly goal.
One month later, my password became Save4trip@thailand.
Guess where I went three months later: Thailand.
Seeing how these reminders helped to materialize my goals kept me motivated and excited. While it’s sometimes difficult to come up with your next goal, keeping at it brings great results.
Here is a simplified extract(摘录) of what some of my passwords have been in the past two years, so you get an idea of how my life has changed, thanks to this method:
Forgive@h3r To my ex-wife, who started it all.
Quit@smoking4ever It worked.
Save4trip@thailand It worked.
Sleep@before12 It worked.
Ask@her4date It worked. I fell in love again.
No@drinking2months It worked. I feel better.
Get@c4t! It worked. I have a beautiful cat.
Facetime2mom@sunday It worked. I talk with Mom every week.
And the one for last month: Save4@ring Yep. Life is gonna change again soon.
1. The underlined word “furious” in the third paragraph is closest in the meaning to ________.| A．depressed | B．doubtful |
| C．nervous | D．angry |
| A．Because he decided to forgive his wife. |
| B．Because he hoped his wife would forgive him. |
| C．Because he hoped it would remind him to be strong. |
| D．Because his former boss told him to use it to change his life. |
| A．He will call his mother every week. |
| B．He will soon ask his girl friend to marry him. |
| C．His password will help him save money. |
| D．He will be reminded to save his password. |
| A．How a Password Changed My Life | B．Why I Changed My Password |
| C．How a Slow Healing Took Place | D．How I Followed My Monthly Goal |
