1 . Beating Burnout and Compassion Fatigue in the New Year

This year has continued to bring many of us closer to the pain, suffering and exhaustion of those experiencing burnout and compassion fatigue (疲倦). There is no doubt that 2021 has been filled with additional challenges.     1    

The data is clearly showing that our workforce shares feelings of burnout. A recent Gallup report indicated that 67% of us feel burned out either some or most of the time. At an organizational level, Hogan reports that burned out employees are 18% less productive and 2.6 times more likely to be actively seeking a different job.

Fatigue and burnout arise not when we fail to get sufficient rest but when we fail to appreciate the moments of purpose and joy in our lives.

There are a few myths around burnout and compassion fatigue:

Myth 1: Burnout is an individual's problem.

Many people believe that burnout is about an individual who needs to “figure it out”.     2     Team structure offers critical support and leaders should create environment where team burnout is addressed.

Myth 2:     3    

Surprisingly, the individuals most likely to experience burnout are committed employees and leaders who love their job and are highly engaged. These top performers are the people you are most likely to lose.

Myth 3: People who experience burnout are just less resilient.

Research shows a correlation between higher levels of resilience (复原力) and lower levels of burnout.     4     But resilience looks very different now from five years ago, and my guess is that it will continue to shift.

If 2021 has taught us anything, it is that we cannot separate burnout from our emotions, whether they may be fear, anger, shame or guilt.     5    

A．While fatigue is more sudden and results from carrying the pain and suffering of others, what we experience is similar.

B．Burnout results from lack of responsibility.

C．Burnout hurts individuals' enthusiasm and passion.

D．At this point, burnout and compassion fatigue has expanded into many aspects of our lives.

E．But burnout occurs at different levels and is the result from challenges to individuals, teams and organizations.

F．At one point, people believed resilience was established by “sucking it up”, or “just staying positive”.

G．And the path forward requires us to deepen the relationship with feelings of joy, passion, pride and fulfillment.

2 . For decades, India’s time zone has been a hotly debated issue. Back in 1884 when time zones were officially established, two time zones were used — Bombay Time and Calcutta Time. Indian Standard Time (IST) was introduced in 1906, but Calcutta Time and Bombay Time continued to be maintained after

India’s independence in 1947, until 1948 and 1955 respectively. The current single time zone, though a legacy of British rule, is often viewed as a symbol of unity. Yet, not everyone thinks it is a good idea. India stretches 3,000 km from east to west, spanning roughly 30 degrees longitude. This corresponds to a two-hour difference in mean solar time, based on the position of the sun in the sky. Thus, the sun rises nearly two hours earlier in the east than in India’s far west. In Northeastern states, sunrise can be as early as 4 a.m. in summer and sunset by 4 p.m. in winter, much earlier than the official working hours. This results in great loss of daylight hours and more consumption of electricity, and often reduced productivity.

Meanwhile, recent studies point out that the current system leads to a serious problem in education for some students. Nationwide, the school day starts at roughly the same time; thus, children go to bed later and have reduced sleep in west India, where the sun sets later. Such sunset-induced sleep deprivation is more pronounced among the poor, mostly due to their noisy environment and lack of sleep-inducing facilities like window shades or indoor beds. On average, an hour’s delay in sunset time reduces children’s sleep by 30 minutes, and an hour’s delay in annual average sunset time reduces education by about 0.8 years. As a result, children living in locations with later sunsets are less likely to complete primary and middle school education.

Despite various requests and proposals for multiple time zones, the government is keen to retain the current system. Reasons provided include prevention of confusion and safety issues regarding railway and flight operations.

1. Which of the following illustrates the Indian time zone system since 1955?

A．	B．
C．	D．

2. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word “pronounced” in the third paragraph?

A．Noisy.

B．Distant.

C．Flexible.

D．Outstanding.

3. According to the passage, which of the following is a supporting argument for multiple time zones?

A．The number of traffic accidents can be reduced.

B．Children may have better-quality sleep and education.

C．India may have more energy resources to generate electricity.

D．The country may rid itself of the impact of British colonization.

4. According to the passage, when is most likely the sunset hour in December in the city of Varanasi shown on the map?

A．7 p.m.

B．6 p.m.

C．5 p.m.

D．4 p.m.

4 . 阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。

I’m smaller than everyone else my age. When I walk in the halls at school, I have to squeeze in between the bigger kids to get by. At the playground, sometimes even little kids try to boss me around. Mia, my best friend, is so tall that when she walks, I have to jog to keep up with her.

I used to try to make myself taller whenever I could. My posture was perfect, straight as an arrow. I hung from the tree in our backyard to stretch out my arms and legs. I even ate all my vegetables. Every day I measured myself, but I was the same height every time. Frustrating!

“Don’t worry,” Mom always said. “Being small has its advantages.” “Really? I could never notice any.”

One day, Mrs. Alvarez announced to the class that we’d be putting on a spring play. I practiced all the lines. But at the audition (试演), when I walked up to the stage, Mrs. Alvarez cried, “You’ll be perfect as the elf (小精灵)! You’re just the right size for the costume.” I even never got a chance to deliver the practiced lines. Back home I grumbled (咕哝) to mum that I was made an elf. But she bet I would be the best elf. To please her, I went to rehearsals (排练), though I only had two lines.

Mia got the lead role-a girl wandering through a magical fairy forest in search of her lost dog. In the last scene, she finds a box under a giant mushroom, and when she opens it, her dog jumps out. Mrs. Alvarez’s dog, Prince, played the dog role. She brought him to all the rehearsals, and when he wasn’t onstage, we got to play with him, but he seemed to like me best.

The night of the show, my first line came early, “Let’s ask the Fairy Queen!” Since my only other line was toward the end, I waited offstage, playing with Prince.

注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Finally, the grand end came, and Prince was brought onstage inside the box.

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“How can we get Prince out from beneath the stage?” Mrs. Alvarez asked.

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7 . 阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。

It was a cold yet sunny Saturday morning in February. Dad’s New Year’s resolution had been to get fit. Mum pushed him out of bed and told him to go jogging by the river. Later, after a nice lie-in, she went downstairs in her dressing gown and found the kids watching TV. She turned it off and said she was going to do something really special for Dad’s birthday. If they overheard anything, just promised to keep it secret.

Jenny looked at Mum with a puzzled expression on her forehead and promised they wouldn’t say anything whatever happened. But Jenny reminded Dad’s birthday was in June and it might be a little too early to get all steamed up about it.

Silent for a moment, Mum said she was not getting everything ready but just wanted to spare enough time for preparation as this year it’s a bigger deal than usual. Dad was going to be 50.

“50! Gosh, that’s half a century,” spluttered Gerry. “I knew he was old, but I didn’t realize he was ancient!”

Indeed, that was why Mum started planning a special party for him. Mum talked with grandma about the plan because her house was the only one in the family that is spacious enough for all friends and relatives. Grandma quite agreed and also started preparing.

“But you know how Dad feels guilty to bother others. You’ve got to admit,” reminded Jenny. Thinking over the special occasion, Mum was continuing with her secret when one evening, Dad was sitting at the dinner table and he suddenly slapped his forehead, “I just realized that I am going to be 50 in June. Let’s just quietly forget about it. I want to mourn (哀悼) the passing of my youth in private.”

“Oh, come on Dad, don’t be such a spoil-sport!” begged the kids, hoping to give mum a hand.

Realizing no more chance to hide the secret, Mum carefully worded her thought and shared her plan of having a little party at grandma’s house. Dad was stunned (震惊的) to no reply.

注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:

Frustrated, Mum made a call to grandma.

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Paragraph 2:

They got everything ready as planned when June finally came.

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