1 . 语法填空

Leadership doesn’t have a secret formula: All true leaders go about things in their own way. It’s the     1     (able) to think differently that sets them apart – and that enabled Steve Jobs to create     2     (perhapses) the most famous brand in the world.

Over his extraordinary career, Steve Jobs learned that even when you’re successful, it is vital that you don’t solely lead your company from a distance. Nobody can be successful     3     (alone) – and you cannot be a great leader without great people to lead. So as a leader, you should always be     4     (listen). Be visible, note down what you hear and you’ll     5     (surprise) how much you learn.

A great leader also needs to know his or her mind. You have to walk the walk as well as talk the talk – and that’s something Jobs showed in everything he did. Nobody     6     (respect) a leader who doesn’t know how to get the job done and innovate personally. Jobs encouraged a culture of attention to detail. He had a lot of fun with     7     (relative) tiny issues, whether it’s dealing personally with customers’ complaints – as he often did     8     email – or surprising the front-line staff with     9     visit.

    10     his long battle with illness, Jobs never lost his love for Apple. Indeed, if you don’t enjoy what you do, then it isn’t likely to work out. Jobs was innovative and passionate. That’s why he could find gaps in the market, and create products that make a real difference to people’s lives.

2 . 选词填空

A. overwhelm       B. discipline          C. honesty        D. integrity        E. countries F. ability             G. outweighing       H. corporate       I. intelligent       J. territories

For CEOs, creativity is now the most important leadership quality for success in business,     1     even integrity and global thinking, according to a new study by IBM.

The study is the largest known sample of one-on-one CEO interviews. Over 1,500     2     heads and public sector leaders across 60 nations and 33 industries were polled. They were asked what drives them in managing their companies in today’s world.

A manager at IBM Global Business Services expressed surprise at this key finding, saying that it is very interesting that coming off the worst economic conditions they’d ever seen, CEOs didn’t return to traditional management     3    , existing best practices, rigor or operations. In fact, they did just the opposite.

About 60 percent of CEOs polled cited creativity as the most important leadership quality, compared with 52 percent for     4     and 35 percent for global thinking. Creative leaders are also more prepared to break with the traditions of the industry, enterprise and revenue models, and they are 81 percent more likely to rate innovation as a “crucial capability. ”

Other key findings showed a large gap between views of North American CEOs and those from other     5    . For example, in North America, 65 percent of CEOs think integrity is a top quality for tomorrow’s leaders, whereas only 29–48 percent of CEOs in other territories view it as such. While company leaders in North America will bring more integrity to the job, they also expect far more regulation than foreign heads.

3 . A lot of people wonder how Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids. They wonder what these parents do to produce so many math whizzes(奇才) and music prodigies(神童), what it’s like inside the family, and whether they could do it too. Well, I can tell them, because I’ve done it. Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:

• attend a sleepover
• have a play date
• be in a school play
• complain about not being in a school play
• watch TV or play computer games
• choose their own extracurricular activities
• get any grade less than an A
• not be the No.1 student in every subject except gym and drama
• play any instrument other than the piano or violin
• not play the piano or violin.

I’m using the term “Chinese mother” loosely. I know some Korean, Indian, Jamaican, Irish and Ghanaian parents who qualify too. Conversely, I know some mothers of Chinese heritage, almost always born in the West, who are not Chinese mothers, by choice or otherwise. I’m also using the term “Western parents” loosely. Western parents come in all varieties. All the same, even when Western parents think they’re being strict, they usually don’t come close to being Chinese mothers. For example, my Western friends who consider themselves strict make their children practice their instruments 30 minutes every day. An hour at most. For a Chinese mother, the first hour is the easy part. It’s hours two and three that get tough.

Despite our squeamishness(神经过敏) about cultural stereotypes, there are tons of studies out there showing marked and quantifiable differences between Chinese and Westerners when it comes to parenting. In one study of 50 Western American mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers, almost 70% of the Western mothers said either that “stressing academic success is not good for children” or that “parents need to foster the idea that learning is fun. ” By contrast, roughly 0% of the Chinese mothers felt the same way. Instead, the vast majority of the Chinese mothers said that they believe their children can be “the best” students, that “academic achievement reflects successful parenting,” and that if children did not excel at school then there was “a problem” and parents “were not doing their job. ” Other studies indicate that compared to Western parents, Chinese parents spend approximately 10 times as long every day drilling academic activities with their children. By contrast, Western kids are more likely to participate in sports teams.

1. Why can Sophia and Louisa become geniuses?

A．Because they listen to their mother’s arrangement.

B．Because they are gifted in mathematics and music.

C．Because Chinese parents can always cultivate successful children.

D．Because they are restricted to do something.

2. What is the main content of the penultimate paragraph about?

A．Cultural differences between China and the West.

B．Westerners tend to be more strict with their children.

C．Time for children to learn music.

D．The difference between Chinese mothers and Western mothers.

3. Which of the following is “Chinese mothers” may allow their children to do?

A．Participate in extracurricular activities with classmates.

B．Study hard and ignore everything else.

C．Practice your familiar musical instruments.

D．Strike a proper balance between work and rest.

4. In the last paragraph, what does this study show?

A．Western mothers feel very different from Chinese mothers.

B．Western mothers have prejudice against Chinese mothers.

C．Western children develop more comprehensively than Chinese children.

D．Chinese mothers put too much pressure on their children to study.

4 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单问或括号内单词的正确形式。

Albert Einstein, perhaps the greatest scientists in modern physies is considered one of the smartest men who ever lived. Einstein was not only a genius bat also a     1    (courage) figure loved by many people.

Einstein was born in Germany on 14 March 1879.At 16,he tried to enter university in Switzerland, but failed due to his low scores in     2     general part of the entrance exam. despite     3    (obtain) the exceptional scores in maths and physics. After studying for another year, he managed to pass the exam,    4    (enter) university in 1896 and graduating in 1900.

    5    (make) a living, he took up a position in the Swiss patent office. Out of a strong passion     6     knowledge, he continued to study there and earned a doctorate in physics in 1905.Then he published four extraordinary physics papers and     7    (gradual) became famous throughout the world. In 1922, he     8    (award) the Nobel Prize for physics. But circumstances changed in 1933,     9     Hitler came to power in Germany. As a Jewish, he had to flee Germany. Finally, he took a job as a     10    (research) at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Following that, he continued to make great achievements in physics and mathematics.

5 . We had just completed a unit on heroes, and I had given my kindergarten class a task to ________ their favorite hero. Each child was ________ with the task, creating colorful masterpieces.

However, one little boy was having ________ with the task. Cameron was with autism, but that didn’t matter to me or his classmates. We all ________ him just the way he was. I sat and watched as Austin, a precocious little boy, ________ with Cameron. Within a few minutes, Cameron quickly began drawing and then coloring his paper.

Finally, it was time for everybody to share their pictures. I listened as each student ________ stood in front of the class, picture held high, and ________ his or her hero. It was finally Cameron’s ________. He stood up and anxiously placed his drawing in front of his ________ to avoid eye contact. We all fixed our eyes on the picture.________ to know who it was. He then said it was a picture of me. He added that I helped him learn things and then ________ sat down. Tears began to form in my eyes, but nothing could have ________ me for what happened next.

When Austin stood up, he proudly held up a picture of Cameron. Austin shared that Cameron was his hero because Cameron had this ________ that made it really hard to learn, but he was like Superman and was really smart.

Cameron immediately stood up, and put his arms up in the air as if he were going to ________, yelling out, “I’m Superman!” The entire class began striking Superman poses, too. Within minutes, we were all laughing as though we had truly discovered the secret of becoming ________.

1.

A．draw

B．choose

C．interview

D．write

2.

A．angry

B．busy

C．bored

D．satisfied

3.

A．patience

B．fun

C．difficulty

D．connection

4.

A．judged

B．admired

C．ignored

D．loved

5.

A．fought

B．argued

C．agreed

D．worked

6.

A．proudly

B．instantly

C．shyly

D．frequently

7.

A．preferred

B．described

C．followed

D．compared

8.

A．fault

B．duty

C．turn

D．point

9.

A．back

B．chest

C．stomach

D．face

10.

A．curious

B．certain

C．surprised

D．disappointed

11.

A．unwillingly

B．bravely

C．quickly

D．impolitely

12.

A．asked

B．prepared

C．accounted

D．excused

13.

A．preference

B．habit

C．sickness

D．hobby

14.

A．set off

B．back off

C．show off

D．take off

15.

A．masters

B．superheroes

C．figures

D．leaders

6 . In looking through your social media, there’s a good chance you’ve noticed pictures accompanied by texts. The pictures are likely made possible by a text-to-image program called DALL-E. For example, Twitter user posted a tweet with the text, “To be or not to be, rabbi holding avocado, marble sculpture.” Then a matching picture appears below.

The AI models come from Google’s Imagen software as well as OpenAI. a start-up backed by Microsoft. On its website, OpenAI calls DALL-E “a new Al system that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language.” But most of what’s happening in this area is coming from a relatively small group of people sharing their pictures. That’s because Google and OpenAI have not made the technology broadly available to the public.

The text-to-picture services identify the most important parts of a user’s text and then guess the best way to picture those terms. There’s generally a text box, a button to start the generation process and an area below to display images. To indicate the source. Google and OpenAI add watermarks in the bottom right comer of images from DALL-E and Imagen.

Engineers trained the models on various collections of words and pictures from the web. OpenAI recognizes the potential for harm that could come from a model. To avoid the risk, employees removed violent content from training data, and there are filters（筛选）stopping DALL-E from producing images if users submit（提交）violent or illegal content.

Boris Dayma, a developer from Texas spelled out the problems in an explanation of their software. Despite the risks, Dhariwal, a research scientist at OpenAI, said it could open up creative opportunities for individuals and could help with commercial applications for dressing up websites. Results should continue to improve over time.

1. What is the function of the the AI system DALL-E?

A．Beautifying pictures at users’ request.

B．Producing pictures from human words.

C．Changing pictures into vivid descriptions.

D．Providing pictures for users to choose from.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about concerning DALL-E?

A．Its users’ rights.	B．Its operating conditions
C．Its working process.	D．Its company’s prospect.

3. How could DALL-E ensure the images it produces legal?

A．All images come from a unified model.

B．The training data is selected beforehand.

C．Improper requests can’t be submitted.

D．Filters remove the unhealthy description.

4. What is Dhariwal’s attitude to the future of DALL-E?

A．Positive.

B．Objective.

C．Uncertain.

D．Worried.

7 . Picture the scene: you’ve spent years working towards a very specific goal. You’ve put in countless hours of work and made many efforts along the way, but now that you’ve got there it doesn’t feel quite like you imagined. Instead of celebration, you feel emptiness, confusion and doubt.

Welcome to the anti-climax. The often-experienced but seldom-discussed downside of achieving life’s biggest milestones. Many of us work tirelessly towards our goals. We may spend our lives dreaming of the day we get married, publish our first hook or buy our first home. However, oftentimes, when we achieve these things it doesn’t feel quite as expected. In fact, the achievement of these goals feels a bit of a letdown.

So why do we often experience an anti-climax with big goals, even though we’re happy to achieve them? “An anti-climax can be an unexpected by-product of a milestone achievement. Usually, the more significant the milestone, the greater the anti-climax may be. The intensity（强度）of an anti-climax often relies on what we expect of this achievement.” says Rachel Vora. a psychotherapist（心理治疗师）.“The journey to achieving a milestone can he exciting and tiring in addition to giving us a sense of purpose and focus. Therefore, when this disappears overnight. we can often feel lost and confused, in spite of feeling proud of our achievement.

When this happens it can contribute to a mixture of emotions. We often falsely believe that we’ll feel completely different afterwards or that our feelings of low self-worth will disappear, but this is rarely the case. “Clients（客户）often present to me with an extremely great sense of ‘is this it?’ and ‘what now?’.” says Vora. “These feelings of confusion and disappointment, if let ignored, have the potential to cause clients to be in low spirits, or even worse.”

1. Why does the author mention the examples in paragraph 2?

A．To present a fact.	B．To prove a rule.
C．To explain a term.	D．To make a prediction.

2. What does Vora think is the leading cause of the anti-climax?

A．Low self-worth.	B．High expectations.
C．Sense of purpose.	D．Unexpected achievements.

3. Which of the following is a case of the anti-climax?

A．Amy felt empty before giving a speech.

B．Jack felt lost after his first novel came out.

C．Mary felt proud when she joined a ballet club.

D．Tom felt doubtful about taking further education.

4. What will the author probably talk about in the following text?

A．How to hold back feelings.

B．How to improve self-worth.

C．Hon to identify the anti-climax.

D．How to deal with the anti-climax.

8 . It was supposed to be a normal trip to the supermarket. My son was little, and it was getting close to nap time, so I was rushing. But when I went to start the car, I realized that I must have locked my keys in the trunk with my bag.

So I took my son and went back inside the store. I had to use their phone to call my husband for the spare key. After many calls and messages with no answer. I was getting upset. My son was tired and getting fussy. I was exhausted from a sleepless night that all moms go through when their kids are teething. When he went into full-on crying, I felt tears come down my face, too.

An employee at the store tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to come with her. I was fearful for a moment, thinking I was going to be scolded and thrown into the storage area to keep us quiet. The employee, whose name was Kelly, took me, to my surprise, to the Starbucks cafe inside the store. She bought me a coffee and settled down with us. As we talked, my son settled into a sound sleep. After about fifteen minutes, she said her break was over and if I couldn’t contact my husband, they would get the trunk open.

After I got home that day, I kept thinking about what Kelly had done for me and wanted to do something. So, Kelly from the Safeway in Delaware, these are the things that you have done because I was thinking of your kindness as I did them: bolding doors for people, letting someone ahead of me in line, hitting “yes” on the donation button at the checkout, and many others.

I am so glad I locked my keys in the car that day. Who would have thought a cup of coffee could have so much of an effect on a person?

1. What does the underlined word “fussy” mean in paragraph 2?

A．Hard to please.

B．Frightened to death.

C．Moved to tears.

D．Easy to approach.

2. Why did Kelly tap the author on the shoulder?

A．To scold her.

B．To comfort her.

C．To tell her a story.

D．To keep her quiet.

3. What does the author want to show by listing what she did in paragraph 4?

A．She led a very busy life.	B．She was indeed a kind woman.
C．Kelly made her a better person.	D．Kelly took pride in her kindness.

4. Which is the most suitable title for the text?

A．A Cup of Coffee	B．A Story of Lost Keys
C．A Forgetful Mother	D．A Responsible Employee

9 . We want to achieve zero fines and not have any items returned late. However, library fines are definitely necessary. More about fines:

Lost items

The Lost Item charge will apply if we mark an item as Considered Lost because it is not renewed within the required period. You should pay the replacement cost of the item. If it is still not renewed after the due date, you have to pay extra ￡200, plus a10 inconvenience charge. If you have paid for a Considered Lost item and find it later, you will not be returned the cost of the item, but can keep the item.

Late items

Late item ( Not returned on time )	Fine
Flexible loan items requested by another user	￡2 per day or part of a day
Locker key requested by another user	￡2 per day or part of a day

How to avoid fines

◆ Check the “Fines & Fees” tab regularly.

◆ Check your email for requests which have changed the return date.

◆ Return the item as soon as possible to keep your fine low.

◆ Contact us if you have a problem visiting the Library to discuss your options.

How to pay your fines/charges

◆ Use credit card.

◆ Pay online using the University’s Online Store.

For more information, please contact us

◆ In person at the Library and IT Help Desk

◆ Email lib-enquiry @ york. ac. uk

◆ Phone (01904 32) 3838

Note

Feel that a fine or charge is unfair? Click HERE to express your views for Library fines.

1. How much will be charged for a lost book worth ￡35 before the due date?

A．￡35.

B．￡45.

C．￡210.

D．￡245.

2. What can readers do to avoid fines?

A．Put off the return date at will.	B．Give back the item in person.
C．Have a discussion with their partners.	D．Keep an eye on the relevant information.

3. Where is this text probably taken from?

A．An official website.	B．A science magazine.
C．A library noticeboard.	D．An admission guide.