1 . Motivating Employees under Unfavourable Conditions

It is a great deal easier to motivate employees in a growing organization than a declining one. When organizations are expanding, promotional opportunities, pay rises, and the excitement of being associated with a dynamic organization create feelings of optimism. When an organization is shrinking, the best and mobile workers are likely to leave voluntarily.     1     The minor employees remain because their job options are limited.

Morale (士气) also suffers during decline. People fear they may be the next to be made unnecessary. Productivity often Suffers, as employees spend their time sharing rumours and providing one another with moral support rather than focusing on their jobs.     2     Pay cuts, unheard of during times of growth, may even be imposed. The challenge to management is how to motivate employees under such special conditions.

    3     For example, if the job is running a small business or an autonomous unit within a larger business, high achievers should be sought. High achievers will do best when the job provides moderately challenging goats and where there is independence and feedback.

The literature on goal-setting theory suggests that managers should ensure that all employees have specific goals and receive comments on how well they are doing in those goals. Regardless of whether goals are achievable or well within management’s perceptions of the employee’s ability, if employees see them as unachievable they will reduce their effort.     4    

Since employees have different needs, managers should use their knowledge of each employee to personalize the rewards over which they have control. Some of the more obvious rewards that managers allocate include pay, promotions and the opportunity to participate in goal-setting and decision-making.

A．There is enough evidence to support the motivational benefits that result from carefully matching people to jobs.

B．For those whose jobs are secure, pay increases are rarely possible.

C．High achievers are motivated by jobs that are high in independence and responsibility.

D．Unfortunately, they are the ones the organization can least afford to lose—those with the highest skills and experience.

E．The answer to that depends on perceptions of goal acceptance and the organization’s culture.

F．Managers must be sure, therefore, that employees feel confident that their efforts can lead to performance goals.

2 . The Decision That Changed My Life

We make decisions every day. Whether it is a small decision like what to wear that day or a big decision like where to go to college, these decisions have at least some influence on the rest of our lives. I wanted to talk about a decision I made that has changed my life forever.    1    I know that it seems like such a tiny decision, but it truly has changed my life.

I gave up soda about a month and a half before my trip to the Bahamas as a healthy step towards “getting in shape” for my trip. At first I thought it was going to be really hard giving it up, but after that first two weeks I wasn’t thinking about soda at all. One tiling led to another and I started eating better, working out more and just generally living a healthier life. I had already seen a difference in my life following this healthier life style.    2     During my trip I was extremely tempted to drink soda because all we were drinking was water.    3    

That was because I wanted to show those who maybe thought I wouldn’t be able to do it that they were wrong. Soon the urge to drink soda somewhat disappeared and I really did not even become tempted by it by the end of the trip. I got home to the States and when I got back home I decided to weigh myself. I had lost 20 pounds on my trip!

I also wanted to give some advice for those who were in the same situation as I was, where you wanted/needed to give up something that you think you can’t live without.    4     My friends really helped me out by supporting me and reminding me of the reason why I was doing it. Lastly, remember why you are giving it up. Use the goal of you losing weight or being generally healthier to motivate you through the struggle. In the end, giving up soda changed my life and I don’t regret my decision what so ever.

A．You need a support system.

B．I almost gave up a couple of times but stayed strong.

C．I felt happier, more energized and just all around better.

D．Weeks and weeks went by and I still was not missing drinking soda.

E．I hope you are inspired by my story to give up something that is bad for you.

3 . Kids take risks.

According to Laurence Hammerstein, professor of psychology at Temple University, there’s not much parents can do to stop that._________ seems to be pre-programmed into young brains, especially in adolescence (青春期).

Trying to get kids not to take risks, he says. “is an uphill battle against evolution, and we’re not going to _________ it,” he says. “Going out in the world is a(n)_________ risky thing to do.” Kids have to take those risks in older to become adults. So how can parents start _________ that help kids take the healthy risks—and avoid dangerous ones?

To start with, it’s never too early for parents to encourage kids to think about _________, both good and bad. So if kids have questions about risky situations, parents can _________ questions of their own, like “Why do you want to do this? Do you think something good will happen? Do you think anything bad might happen?”

Middle school kids are approaching adolescence, when body chemistry makes them more likely to _________ risks—both good and bad. So parents can talk with them about the fact that they’re going to need to take more risks as they grow up, and start conversations about how to _________ whether something is a good risk or a bad one. This is also a good time for parents to _________ kids to think about questions like, what are the chances this will turn out well? What are the chances something might __________?

The risks high school kids are likely to take might seem __________. But Hammerstein says it’s important for parents to realize that from the kid’s point of view, “there’s a positive side that may only be __________ to the adolescent.” That’s a good place to start a conversation. Understanding what motivates a kid to take a risk can help parents direct that motivation in positive ways and kids __________ dangerous risks. Kids don’t take those dangerous risks because they don’t know better, says Hammerstein. If you ask teenagers __________ about risky behaviors, “they all know that they’re risky because they have read many articles on the psychology of risk-taking.”

__________, “while they are taking risks,” says Hammerstein, “the reasonable part of kids’ brains is often overpowered (被打败的).”So part of helping kids managing risk is helping them think about the kind of situations they do and don’t want to be in before they get into them.

1.

A．Problem-solving

B．Science-learning

C．Risk-taking

D．Brain-washing

2.

A．win

B．afford

C．take

D．start

3.

A．extremely

B．naturally

C．amazingly

D．disappointingly

4.

A．instructions

B．requests

C．explanations

D．conversations

5.

A．wishes

B．solutions

C．results

D．measures

6.

A．answer

B．discover

C．ask

D．discuss

7.

A．engage in

B．suffer from

C．turn down

D．show up

8.

A．tell

B．wonder

C．express

D．admit

9.

A．cause

B．forbid

C．encourage

D．order

10.

A．go wrong

B．take place

C．work well

D．prove itself

11.

A．courageous

B．unpleasant

C．endangered

D．incomprehensible

12.

A．visible

B．practical

C．hidden

D．available

13.

A．select

B．avoid

C．affect

D．arouse

14.

A．in fact

B．in total

C．in theory

D．in detail

15.

A．Otherwise

B．Similarly

C．Therefore

D．However

4 . Trying to make a big decision while you’re also preparing for a scary presentation? You might want to ______ doing that. Most people prefer to have sufficient time to analyze a situation and consider the ______. Feeling stressed changes how people ______ risk and reward. A new article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science reviews how, under stress, people pay more attention to the ______ of a possible outcome. Pressure can result in ______ attention and the use of unconscious reasoning. It can force a decision-maker to sort the relevant factors from the irrelevant, and can ______ clear thinking with specific priorities. 

It’s a bit ______ that stress makes people focus on the way things could go right, says Mara Mather of the University of Southern California. “This is sort of not what people would think,” Mather says, “Stress is usually associated with disagreeable experiences, so you’d think that maybe I’m going to be more focused on the ______ outcomes.” But researchers have found that when people are under stress — by being told to hold their hand in ice water for a few minutes, for example, or give a speech — they start paying more attention to positive information and ______ negative information. “Stress seems to worsen their learning from negative feedback,” Mather says. This means when people under stress are making a difficult decision, they may pay more attention to the upsides of the alternatives they’re considering and less to the downsides. So someone who’s deciding whether to take a new job and is feeling stressed by the ______ might weigh the increase in salary more heavily than the worse commute (通勤)。

The increased focus on the positive also helps explain why stress plays a role in ______, and people under stress have a harder time controlling their urges. “The compulsion to get the reward comes stronger and they’re less able to ______ it,” Mather says. So a person who’s under stress might think only about the good feelings they’ll get from negative things like a drug, while the ______ shrink to the distance.

Stress also ______ the differences in how men and women think about risk. When men are under stress, they become even more ______ to take risks; when women are stressed, they get more conservative. Mather links this to another research that finds, at difficult times, men tend to face the situation, while women are likely to be more conservative.

1.

A．try

B．delay

C．deny

D．forbid

2.

A．requirements

B．reasons

C．chances

D．alternatives

3.

A．weigh

B．overlook

C．confuse

D．classify

4.

A．imperfection

B．risk

C．advantage

D．uncertainty

5.

A．conflicted

B．focused

C．unexpected

D．separated

6.

A．break off

B．hold up

C．account for

D．bring out

7.

A．surprising

B．fortunate

C．reasonable

D．pleasant

8.

A．conscious

B．immediate

C．negative

D．favorable

9.

A．neglecting

B．enhancing

C．analyzing

D．evaluating

10.

A．position

B．decision

C．qualification

D．schedule

11.

A．judgement

B．progress

C．relationship

D．addiction

12.

A．value

B．adopt

C．resist

D．maintain

13.

A．downsides

B．desires

C．defeats

D．benefits

14.

A．declines

B．increases

C．eliminates

D．worsens

15.

A．reliable

B．reluctant

C．qualified

D．willing

5 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.

A．He found the best budget hotel ever.	B．He ended up at an unexpected destination.
C．He lost his way to the booked hotel.	D．It took him long to find the booked hotel.

2.

A．Background information isn’t necessary.

B．Information should be more vividly written.

C．Travelers don’t read the information carefully.

D．Information should be revised more often.

3.

A．Because it allows him to save time and expense.

B．Because he can get free advice from the local people.

C．Because it helps him discover some unusual things to do.

D．Because he can meet more travelers and share experiences.

4.

A．The limitation of guidebooks.	B．The importance of guidebook usage.
C．How to choose a right guidebook.	D．The real value of traveling.

6 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

The UK government recently has made a plan to reduce waste that shifts the responsibility for disposal (处置) from the state to the companies that make it.

The legislation (法律条文) requires waste producers to pay into the system     1     or through their suppliers. That is     2     the government called a Polluter Pays Principle. Simply     3     (state), the Polluter Pays Principle implies that the costs associated with pollution are to be paid by polluters, not by government or society. Businesses will have to change their waste processing before the tax comes into effect. This is similar to the anti-waste legislation passed in France in February 2020     4     forbids the producers to destruct the unsold clothing, cosmetics, and electrical products. Companies will have to reuse or recycle the items.

The demand for legislation like the tough attitude the UK     5     (take) has been increasing according to Positive News. And it is not just environmental groups calling for the changes. This is a consumer driven movement and people are willing to pay more for sustainable brands. In the past year alone, sales of consumer goods from brands with a demonstrated commitment to sustainability have grown more than 4% globally,     6    those without grew less than 1%.

What is absolutely certain is that local governments will save a lot of money as the responsibility shifts to the polluters. That could be     7     (good) invested in things like social care or parks or libraries. Other countries have already made great progress in reducing waste. So far, Sweden’s anti-waste program is so efficient that the whole country is running out of trash. The     8     (recycle) rate is almost 99 percent and they are rapidly approaching zero waste.

In many countries, kitchen and gardening waste makes up of the biggest part of waste. This type of waste,     9     collected separately, can be turned into an energy source or fertilizer.

    10     the differences in policies and regulations, one thing is clear: governments are sharing a common concept that the prevention of environmental damage should be based on concrete principles and solid actions.

7 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1.

A．Peter Evans.

B．Jim Carson.

C．Gio Santos.

D．Kiren Nadar.

2.

A．Frightened.

B．Excited.

C．Desperate.

D．Quiet.

3.

A．He won the grand prize of the year.	B．He takes pictures of endangered animals.
C．He shots images of common creatures.	D．He loves to observe animal behaviors.

8 . Transhumanism, first coined in 1957 by biologist Julian Huxley, meant “man remaining man, but going beyond himself by realizing new possibilities of and for his human nature.” Generally speaking, transhumanism in its modern meaning implies that human beings can be enhanced by the means of science to the extent when they rise above biological limitations and capabilities programmed by nature. The species into which humanity transforms this way will be called post human, or trans human, as it would have been something new — based on human nature, but going beyond it at the same time.

There are numerous areas which, according to transhumanists, require enhancement, as well as there are countless proposals on the means of such enhancement. In particular, transhumanists work on such problems as overcoming the physical boundaries of the human body. Starting with aging, which they believe to be rather a disease than a natural process, and ending up with replacing organs with their artificial ones, transhumanists believe that the human body is imperfect, and that it should be improved. All kinds of nanotechnologies for repairing damaged organs; nerve stimulants and drugs to alter mood and eliminate negative emotions; brain implants and implanted technologies to allow interconnectivity between multiple human beings and to advance intelligence—these and many more actions are just some of the means transhumanists plan to use to make humanity better. Some of the technologies transhumanists plan to employ to push the boundaries of humanity are available already. For example, gene therapy allowing to cure or stop certain diseases that were considered terminal; CRISPRi or SHARP-2 methods, which were discovered not so long ago, have already proved to be efficient in treating a number of complicated medical conditions, and in case further research is conducted, they might significantly improve the quality of medicine worldwide. Virtual reality, another technology from science-fiction movies of the late 1980s, has become not so virtual either, after all. VR device can be easily purchased from online stores, and the prices are affordable — given that we are speaking of technology capable of substituting actual reality. So far, it has been mostly used for games and education, but in the future, the range of its useful applications will definitely broaden. Other technologies, which have not yet been invented but which definitely will, include large scale engineering, self-copying robotics, artificial intelligence, mind uploading technologies, molecular manufacturing, space colonization, and other technological wonders.

About a hundred years ago, the idea of flying in the skies seemed absurd, until Wilbur and Orville Wright proved this assumption wrong. Who knows, perhaps in a couple of decades the concepts listed here, no matter how fantastic they look now, will become reality. Moral aspects and the price humanity will have to pay for such advancements are a different subject.

1. Which of the following statements is true about transhumanism?

A．Promoting human health but remaining their physical appearances

B．Improving the human condition through social and cultural change

C．Developing human beings beyond their natural capabilities by technology.

D．Going beyond human beings physical limitations through natural evolution.

2. Transhumanists’ plan is based on the belief that_________.

A．replacing organs with their artificial ones is ideal

B．aging is rather a disease than a natural process

C．it’s practical to use nanotechnologies to improve life

D．the human body is imperfect and needs improvement

3. The underlined word “absurd” (last paragraph) is closest in meaning to_________.

A．ridiculous

B．creative

C．reasonable

D．practical

4. This passage is particularly written about_________.

A．various kinds of definitions of transhumanism

B．different technologies substituting human reality

C．proposals on the human beings enhancement

D．artificial intelligence and human beings life

9 . While people who are both trustworthy and capable are the most sought after when it comes to team assembly, friendliness and trustworthiness are often more important factors than ability.

“We assume that people are_________for important task forces and teams because of the knowledge, skills and abilities they bring to the table. However, this research suggests that people may often get picked because team members feel_________with them,” said Cynthia Maupin, assistant professor of organizational behavior and leadership in Binghamton University’s School of Management. “People may be willing to_________a bit in terms of performance in order to have a really positive team experience.”

Maupin and her colleagues focused on a group of MBA students to conduct their study. Students were_________ assigned to teams at the beginning of the semester to work on class projects and assignments. Toward the end of the semester, students were asked to form their own teams and _________why they selected each member of their group.

“We wanted to find out what people did to_________ to others that they might be someone who would be good to team up with in the future,” Maupin said.

The researchers_________looked at how students signaled their human capital, the ability to do their tasks well, and their social capital, the_________to which they were friendly and trustworthy, to other students by studying their use of either challenging or supportive voice:

●Challenging voice: Communicating in a way that challenges the present circumstances and is _________new ideas and efficiency.

●Supportive voice: Communicating in a way that __________ social ties and trust, and builds friendly unity of a team.

The researchers found that people who__________both abilities, through the use of challenging voice, and trustworthiness, through the use of supportive voice, were the most in-demand people when it came to__________teams.

“As might be expected, anyone who was very strong in terms of signaling both their human and social capital were extremely sought after. They’re doing all the right things to__________that they’re both trustworthy and a good worker,” Maupin said.

However, the researchers found that students who only exhibited social capital through__________voice were more sought after than those who only signaled their ability through the use of challenging voice.

“Our findings suggest that when people feel like they can trust you, even if you’re not__________ the best worker, they’re going to be more likely to want to work with you,” Maupin said. “They know that there are likely to be fewer interpersonal issues in that case.”

1.

A．qualified

B．selected

C．examined

D．accounted

2.

A．dissatisfied

B．favourite

C．permanent

D．comfortable

3.

A．sacrifice

B．exchange

C．prohibit

D．contribute

4.

A．deliberately

B．originally

C．randomly

D．purposefully

5.

A．bargain

B．assess

C．negotiate

D．neglect

6.

A．signal

B．contribute

C．devote

D．manage

7.

A．indefinitely

B．frequently

C．considerably

D．specifically

8.

A．occasion

B．mission

C．degree

D．opinion

9.

A．engaged in

B．focused on

C．gotten across

D．taken off

10.

A．adjusts

B．decreases

C．monitors

D．strengthens

11.

A．exhibited

B．developed

C．evaluated

D．concealed

12.

A．separating

B．dominating

C．assembling

D．maintaining

13.

A．establish

B．resolve

C．analyze

D．estimate

14.

A．challenging

B．moderate

C．healthful

D．supportive

15.

A．doubtfully

B．necessarily

C．questionably

D．fortunately

10 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Rising To the Challenge

Cyclists must dig deep to complete what’s been called the toughest climb in the world. They race up to Wuling Peak to the finish line in the King of the Mountain (KOM) Challenge. Every October some of the world’s best cyclists battle     1    the title. Starting at sea level, the route climbs to   a height of 3, 275 meters at the end, covering 105 kilometers.

Ever since I started cycling seven years ago, completing the KOM climb     2     (be) a goal of mine. Every year I thought that I needed to prepare for it and used that as my excuse. But     3     (look) back, I realize I would have been fine. Cycling uphill was no problem for me then- it was thrilling. Now it’s exhausting.

Last summer I finally decided to take on Wuling with some friends. Our 89-kilometer route started at the base of the mountain and was a little shorter than the official KOM race. But it’s the final 10 kilometers     4    are the most demanding: This is the steepest part,     5    makes the climb so hard.

We began early in the morning as a group of 17 riders. But only three of us would make it to the top. A support car was necessary, especially on a ride like this,     6     (help) keep us energetic.

The first part of the ride went through Taroko Valley, a magnificent park. I’ve hiked there,     7    I’ve always wanted to bike it. I saw dramatic rocky outcrops, canyons, waterfalls and forests as I zipped through the valley and up the mountain road. Even though it was August, the weather was perfect. Unfortunately, the support car that carried our lunch     8     (delay). By the time it arrived, I was starving. Being consumed of energy even for that short time affected the rest of my ride. When the hard last 10 kilometers arrived, I really struggled to complete them. At one point I     9     see how close the top of the peak was, but it still felt so far away. Fortunately, determination carried me to the finish.     10     (exhaust), I conquered Wuling! What a tremendous feeling!