2 . The other night I had dinner with my friend Kim, who in midlife is trying to change her career. She has spent decades as a successful photographer, but she knows it’s time to do something different. What, however, is she qualified to do, besides photography? “I’m good at parties,” she told me with a shrug. “And parallel parking.” We refilled our wineglasses and laughed really hard as we dreamed up the various careers in which that particular combination might be useful.

Here’s a humbling exercise: Ask yourself what you’re good at, aside from the skills you use at work. After my conversation with Kim, I put this question to a handful of friends and got responses ranging from “finding restaurants for people” to “spotting terrific old chairs.” The more I think about my own answer to this question, the more confused I seem to get.

A year ago this month I left a job, and a career, that brought me great satisfaction for more than two decades. Can serendipity(意外惊喜)be a strategy? It certainly worked for me. I happened to find a field in which my skills and the requirements of the job were a Venn diagram (韦恩图) with near total overlap. Like most of my friends, I spent my 20s and 30s marching determinedly along my given path, working hard, with purpose, and by the time I reached my 40s, I was able to enjoy the fruits of my labor. Isn’t that the way the American Dream goes?

Here’s what you learn when you wake up from that dream: hubris (自负) is the unpleasant by-product of success. If you are really good at your job for a long enough time, you begin to believe that you can be good at any job and therefore can easily jump from one thing to another, switching horses in midstream. Examples of this mistaken thinking are everywhere, from the harmlessly frivolous (Dancing With the Stars) to the dangerously serious (the current presidency). As it turns out, humility is its own kind of skill; developing it hurts, but falling on your face hurts more.

Over the years a number of 20-somethings have come to me for advice, which I have dutifully given: Work hard, meet lots of people, say yes to many things. Don’t complain, put a smile on your face, and remind yourself that studying Foucault for four years in college might not prove to be particularly relevant in the working world. Swallow your pride and ask a lot of questions.

What I should be telling the young and ambitious is this: being really good at one thing is fantastic until it isn’t. The day may come, in my experience, will come, when you know you want to do, want to be, something else. For example, 20-somethings, one day you might want to appear on Dancing With the Stars. I’m not sure if Sean Spicer is a fool or a genius for turning down this opportunity for his first post-Administration performance. Maybe he’s not aware that Apolo Ohno was placed first on the show.

Or maybe you’ll want to run for President. Never mind that it was a President–Abraham Lincoln–who popularized the warning about switching horses in midstream. If you are a real estate tycoon and loud-mouthed TV star who made a name for yourself with a combination of instinct, bravado(虚张声势)and riding the wave of chaos you create everywhere you go, then who cares what Abe Lincoln said? The White House is the logical next career step.

Or, 20-somethings, maybe you’ll do both! At the same time! After all, doesn’t today’s White House sort of resemble Dancing With the Stars, if you squint(眯眼)hard and use your imagination? With experts and amateurs working together, trying to make it all look graceful while the audience alternatively laughs and cries?

So, folks, an assignment: Ask yourself what you’re good at. As for me, aside from what I most recently did for a living–writing, editing, managing people and showing up to meetings on time–my greatest strengths seem to be making vacation packing lists and remembering which houses in my town are on the market. So I have entered this next phase of my life with gratitude (for what I’ve accomplished), humility (about all that I don’t know) and fear (see random greatest strengths). I used to be filled with optimism: if Donald Trump could become President, anything seemed possible. But with each passing month, and each new failure, my optimism dims. If he wanted to try something new, wouldn’t Dancing With the Stars have been a wiser choice?

1. Which of the following statements can be inferred from the passage?

A．Only failure contributes to the development of one’s humility.

B．Donald Trump is the very person for the US presidency.

C．Career success encourages overestimate of oneself.

D．College education is a must for a successful career.

2. What is the writer’s attitude towards job hopping?

A．Check whether one’s skill meets the requirements of the potential new job.

B．Seize each and every random opportunity that comes along.

C．Be optimistic about the potential new job and anything is possible.

D．Job hopping is such a severe danger as to be avoided.

3. The writer’s implicit comment on the White House could be ________.

A．It functions ideally as the political center of the United States.

B．It is the logical next career step for a wealthy and famous person.

C．It is as attractive and interesting as Dancing with the Stars.

D．It is a stage where officials don’t know how to run the country.

4. What could be implied by the underlined “it isn’t”?

A．What one is really good at disappears.

B．One feels no more fantastic about the job.

C．One’s ambition weakens as he or she ages.

D．One tries to change to a new job.

4 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

High level of deforestation continues

We are all aware of the threats our planet is facing. Experts agree that it’s mainly us humans who are responsible for the destruction of the environment. One of the most destructive activities we are carrying out is cutting down forests - deforestation. This is done for many reasons, such as providing wood for fuel, making land available for housing or for crating space for more cattle to graze(吃草) on. This has been most noticeable in Brazil, which is home to the world’s largest rainforest. Deforestation there has hit its highest rate in a decade, according to official data. Over the course of a year, an area about five times the size of London has been destroyed.

The amount of deforestation in the Amazon and in other tropical(热带的) regions has actually seen a decline but the figures are still large. Global Forest Watch say that in 2018, an area equivalent to 30 football fields were cut down every minute. Frances Seymour from the World Resources Institute says that “If you look back over the last 18 years, it is clear that the overall trend is still upwards. We are nowhere near winning this battle.”

What’s special about places like the Amazon is that they are primary forests which exist in their original condition with some species of trees dating back thousands of years. This habitat is home to unique and rare animals and is critical for sustaining biodiversity(生物多样性). The BBC’s environment correspondent, Matt McGrath, says “These old forests really matter as stores of carbon dioxide, which is way the loss of 3.6 million hectares in 2018 is concerning.”

Brazil has taken some steps to try and decrease deforestation by introducing government policies including fines for breaking land use regulations and illegal logging. And International campaigns to stop the trade of soy and beef farmed on deforested parts of the Amazon have also had a significant impact.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5 . Laugh-lab, an experiment set up more than a year ago, established that the British, Irish, New Zealanders and Australians prefer a play on words and that the French, Danes and Belgians have a taste for the surreal（超现实主义的）. Americans and Canadians, _______, laugh at jokes showing one group’s superiority over another. The Germans apparently have the _______ sense of humor -- if only because they have no national preference, and therefore find almost anything funny.

The winning joke was the product of international selection. It was posted by Gurpal Gosall, a 31-year-old psychologist from Manchester. This joke, according to Richard Wiseman, founder of Laugh-lab, _______ all. It also contained the three _______ that were found central to humor: a sense of superiority, an unexpected response, and a sad feeling. The joke was that:

A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn’t seems to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his mobile phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: ‘My friend is dead! What can I do?’ The operator, in a clam, soothing voice says: ‘Just take it easy. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s _______.’ There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy’s voice comes back on the line. He says: ‘OK, now that?’

Dr Gosall has _______ the joke for years. He said: ‘It makes people feel better ... reminds you that there’s always someone out there doing something more _______ than you.’ It was one of a series of jokes read to a volunteer who was being given a brain scan. With each joke, a specific area at the front of the volunteer’s brain lit up. There was also a reaction in an area linked to _______, showing recognition of an old joke. ‘It _______ other research, because if people have damage to that part of the brain, then they lose their sense of humor,’ Dr Wiseman said.

There were other ____________. The Laugh-lab computers counted the number of words in every joke that people submitted（提交）. According to the data, jokes containing 103 are the funniest. Interestingly, the winning joke is 102 words long-almost the ____________ length for a joke!

Many of the jokes submitted contained references to ____________. The researchers found that jokes mentioning ducks were seen as funnier than other jokes. Perhaps it’s because of their webbed feet or their odd shapes. ____________, the implication is clear -- if you are going to tell a joke involving an animal, make it a duck.

The Laugh-lab computer also recorded the date and time that each person from the UK ____________ the jokes in Laugh-lab. Careful analysis of the data revealed that people found the jokes funniest on the 7th October at 6:03 in the evening. Perhaps they have ____________ discovered the funniest moment of the year!

1.

A．in addition

B．on the other hand

C．by all means

D．to a certain degree

2.

A．keenest

B．broadest

C．strangest

D．worst

3.

A．differed from

B．relied on

C．cared about

D．appealed to

4.

A．elements

B．parts

C．functions

D．styles

5.

A．kind

B．alive

C．dead

D．quiet

6.

A．liked

B．made

C．missed

D．shared

7.

A．violent

B．helpful

C．stupid

D．sensible

8.

A．language

B．laughter

C．memory

D．analysis

9.

A．dates back to

B．keeps up with

C．breaks away from

D．fits in with

10.

A．terms

B．jokes

C．discussions

D．discoveries

11.

A．perfect

B．similar

C．familiar

D．expected

12.

A．ducks

B．animals

C．shapes

D．fears

13.

A．Additionally

B．Regardless

C．Surprisingly

D．Somehow

14.

A．tested

B．told

C．searched

D．rated

15.

A．scientifically

B．moderately

C．separately

D．occasionally

6 . The Music Industry — A New Industry

Not long ago, most professional musicians lived in a world far removed from business management, distribution and promotion. But today, social media, laptop production techniques and musical tastes have largely ______ the old relationship between musicians, their audiences and the marketplace.

A leading U.S. conservatory（音乐学院）now teaches students how to ______ successful careers in this new world. Robert Sirota, president of New York’s famous Manhattan School of Music, takes a small break from his work to play one of his own _______. It’s one moment of traditional musical expression in a conservatory that ______ that the music industry is in major change.

“Everything we know about the _______ of music-making, and the industry of music — including recordings, published materials, concert places, the way people enjoy the performance and concerts — have changed rapidly in the last 20 years,” he says, “and it became clear to me and other people of like mind to ______ how to develop young artistic leaders who are truly ________ of making their way in this new world.”

That’s why the Manhattan School of Music created the Center for Music Enterprise, where students can learn about new media, fundraising, ______ their own concert series, producing their own recordings, creating a package for the media and other necessary skills. Sirota, who completed his own conservatory education in the 1970s, _______ today’s Internet world with what used to be.

“The ______ as we understood in the music world, was that there were a small number of major international symphony orchestras, there were some excellent performers, and there was an _______ audience of concertgoers,” he says. “There were in addition, several multi-national record companies. But what has happened is the way people listen to music has changed.” Klorman knows that many young musicians are worried about the information needed to _______ a successful career today. However, he says the current climate rewards personal initiative and imagination as never before. And if we are creative about putting together new _____, we can carve out a whole new market for ourselves.

The ______ at the Center for Music Enterprise are among the most popular at the Manhattan School of Music. In fact, the supply is not ______ to the demand and the program is expanding. This success has in turn inspired other conservatories to teach business skills for tomorrow’s musical careers.

1.

A．sponsored

B．replaced

C．constructed

D．competed

2.

A．create

B．undertake

C．reflect

D．arrange

3.

A．compositions

B．solutions

C．projects

D．channels

4.

A．claims

B．appeals

C．declares

D．recognizes

5.

A．event

B．item

C．business

D．affair

6.

A．figure out

B．carry on

C．make up

D．set about

7.

A．aware

B．capable

C．ignorant

D．independent

8.

A．inventing

B．transferring

C．searching

D．launching

9.

A．associates

B．differs

C．contrasts

D．varies

10.

A．situation

B．fight

C．statement

D．disaster

11.

A．established

B．constructed

C．founded

D．instructed

12.

A．remain

B．insist

C．persevere

D．sustain

13.

A．customs

B．traditions

C．opportunities

D．purposes

14.

A．courses

B．activities

C．responsibilities

D．contracts

15.

A．suitable

B．adequate

C．exact

D．crucial

7 . Nowadays, many developing countries are heavily in debt, because very high interest rates have created a situation           these countries now spend $13 on debt repayment for $ 1         they receive.

A．that; that

B．which; when

C．where; that

D．where; what