1 . The meeting ______ last week is very important.

A．held

B．having been held

C．to be held

D．being held

2 . Creating an atmosphere ______employees feel part of a team is a big challenge.

A．as

B．whose

C．where

D．that

4 . The train was at a standstill, some twenty minutes outside Kolkata, when an unexpected stroke of luck presented Piya with an opportunity to go for a seat beside a window for some fresh air. She had been sitting in the stuffiest part of the train compartment, on the edge of a bench: now, moving to the open window, she saw that the train had stopped at a station called Champahati.

Looking over her shoulder, Piya spotted a tea-seller on the platform. Reaching through the bars of the window, she called him with a wave. She had never cared for the kind of chai, Indian tea, sold in Seattle, her hometown in the USA, but somehow, in the ten days she had spent in India she had developed an unexpected taste for milky, overboiled tea served in earthenware cups. There were no spices in it for one thing, and this was more to her taste than the chai at home.

She paid for her tea and was trying to get in the cup through the bars when the man in the seat opposite her own suddenly turned over a page, jolting her hand. She turned her wrist quickly enough to make sure that most of the tea spilled out of the window, but she could not prevent some from spilling over his papers.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Piya was very embarrassed: of everyone in the compartment, this was the last person she would have chosen to injure with her tea. She had noticed him while waiting on the platform in Kolkata and she had been struck by the self-satisfied tilt of his head and the way in which he stared at everyone around him, taking them in, sizing them up, sorting them all into their places.

“Here,” said Piya, producing a handful of tissues. “Let me help you clean up.”

“There’s nothing to be done,” he said testily (暴躁地). “These pages are ruined anyway.”

For a moment she considered pointing out that it was he who had knocked her hand. But all she could bring herself to say was, “I’m very sorry. I hope you’ll excuse me.”

“Do I really have a choice?” he said. “Does anyone have a choice when they’re dealing with Americans these days?”

Piya had no wish to get into an argument so she let this pass. Instead, she opened her eyes wide and, in an attempt to restore peace, came out with, “But how did you guess?”

“About what?”

“About my being American? You’re very observant.”

This seemed to do the trick. His shoulders relaxed as he leaned back in his seat. “I didn’t guess,” he said. “I knew.”

1. In the first paragraph, Piya was relieved when she got a window seat because it meant that_________.

A．there was more room for her luggage

B．she no longer had to suffer from a lack of air

C．there was less chance that she would miss her stop

D．she didn’t have to stand for the rest of the train journey

2. Piya found that the tea or chai she had drunk in India ________.

A．was disappointingly weak in taste	B．reminded her of her home in Seattle
C．would have tasted better if served fresh	D．was preferable to the chai she had had before

3. When Piya first saw the man she thought that ________.

A．he was someone who was observant of surroundings

B．he seemed to think he was better than other people

C．he had tried to keep his distance from his fellow passengers

D．he had been looking for someone he knew on the station platform

4. Piya asked “But how did you guess?” in order to _________.

A．find out what the man really thought about Americans

B．try to calm the situation down by starting a conversation

C．ensure the man realized that she had apologized

D．make sure the man knew he was being rude

5 . People often say that “failure is the mother of success.” This cliché (陈词滥调) might have some truth to it, but it __________ tells us how to actually turn a loss into a win, says Emmanuel Manalo, a professor of educational psychology at Kyoto University in Japan. As a result, he says, “we know we shouldn’t give up when we fail—but __________, we do.”

Manalo and Manu Kapur, a professor of learning sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, put together a special issue of the journal Thinking Skills and Creativity last December on __________ failure. The issue’s 15 studies provide teachers and educational researchers with a guide for __________ success. One study reported, for example, that the sooner and more often students fail at a task, such as building a robot, the sooner they can __________ and improve. Another confirmed that feedback on failures is most __________ when the giver comes across as caring, and the receiver is prepared to weather negative emotions.

Manalo and his co-authors also contributed their own study focused on overcoming one fundamental, everyday form of failure: not __________ a task. They asked 131 undergraduates to write an essay about their school experiences. Half of the students received __________ for structuring their writing, and half were left to their own devices. All, however, were __________ prior to finishing. Afterward the researchers found that those in the structured group were more motivated to complete their essays, compared with those who lacked guidance—even if the latter were __________ to being done. Knowing how to finish, __________, was more important than being close to finishing.

The researchers dubbed this finding “the Hemingway effect,” for the author’s self-reported __________ to stop writing only when he knew what would happen next in the story—so as to avoid writer’s block when he returned to the page. Manalo believes that learning how to fail temporarily can help people avoid becoming __________ failures at many tasks, such as completing an essay, learning a language or inventing a new technology.

Demystifying failure and teaching students not to __________ it make goals more attainable, says Stephanie Couch, executive director of the Lemelson-MIT Program, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and supporting inventors. Couch, whose work was also featured in the special issue, __________ that we “should really be thinking of failure as part of a process of going forward toward success.”

1.

A．undoubtedly

B．vividly

C．hardly

D．intentionally

2.

A．in reality

B．by contrast

C．with question

D．after all

3.

A．running into

B．accounting for

C．contributing to

D．benefiting from

4.

A．celebrating

B．evaluating

C．achieving

D．predicting

5.

A．move forward

B．stand by

C．dash backward

D．run away

6.

A．instant

B．constructive

C．informal

D．sincere

7.

A．assigning

B．reporting

C．handling

D．completing

8.

A．grants

B．approval

C．instructions

D．training

9.

A．stopped

B．examined

C．notified

D．guided

10.

A．subject

B．closer

C．devoted

D．crucial

11.

A．in other words

B．moreover

C．nevertheless

D．in particular

12.

A．reluctance

B．eagerness

C．tendency

D．ability

13.

A．inevitable

B．perceived

C．worthwhile

D．permanent

14.

A．comprehend

B．fear

C．overcome

D．pursue

15.

A．adds

B．recalls

C．doubts

D．challenges

7 . Empathy

Last year, researchers from the University of Michigan reported that empathy, the ability to understand other people, among college students had dropped sharply over the past 10 years.     1     Today, people spend more time alone and are less likely to join groups and clubs.

Jennifer Freed, a co-director of a teen program, has another explanation, Turn on the TV, and you’re showered with news and reality shows full of people fighting, competing, and generally treating one another with no respect, Humans learn by example — and most of the examples on it are anything but empathetic.

There are good reasons not to follow those bad examples, Humans are socially related by nature.     2     Researchers have also found that empathetic teenagers are more likely to have high self-respect. Besides, empathy can be a cure for loneliness, sadness, anxiety, and fear.

Empathy is also an indication of a good leader. In fact, Freed says, many top companies report that empathy is one of the most important things they look for in new managers.     3     “Academics are important, But if you don’t have emotional intelligence, you won’t be as successful in work or in your love life,” she says.

What’s the best way to up your EQ? For starters, let down your guard and really listen to others.     4    

A．Everyone is different, and levels of empathy differ from person to person.

B．Having relationships with other people is an important part of being human — and having empathy is decisive to those relationships.

C．“One doesn’t develop empathy by having a lot of opinions and doing a lot of talking,” Freed says.

D．Empathy is a matter of learning how to understand someone else — both what they think and how they feel.

E．Good social skills — including empathy — are a kind of "emotional intelligence" that will help you succeed in many areas of life.

F．That could be because so many people have replaced face time with screen time, the researchers said.

10 . Many people recognize the name of the great Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci. Far few have heard of Albrecht Durer, known by those with expertise (专门知识) in art as the “Leonardo of the North”.

During his youth, Albrecht Durer apprenticed (当学徒工) with his father, who was a goldsmith, and also with a local painter. But he showed a remarkable talent for printmaking, which at the time was the main method of illustrating books. This art form involved carving an image into a block of wood, inking the wood and then pressing it against paper or cloth. Durer’s skillful carving and printing resulted in beautiful prints. His decision to become a printmaker rather than a goldsmith disappointed his father but benefited Durer throughout his adult life.

From time to time, deadly diseases broke out in Durer’s hometown of Nuremburg, Germany. This danger was one reason why Durer decided to leave Nuremburg twice to visit Italy. He was also fascinated by Italy’s Renaissance culture. While there, he absorbed Italian philosophy, science and artistic techniques. He also served as official court artist to two Holy Roman Emperors.

Durer was extremely diligent regarding the details of his artwork as evidenced in his nature pieces. These include Young Hare, which correctly captures the energy of a large hare (野兔) even while it is sitting still, and Rhinoceros, which was so correct that it was included in scientific documents for years.

The same attention to details can be seen in Durer’s early self-portraits (自画像). The first one that he made at age of 13 shows a young boy with childish features. A second self-portrait that he made at age 22 displays a more mature individual who has a greater sense of himself. In a self-portrait done at age 26, he is a finely dressed gentleman, reflecting his rise in status within the printmaking community.

1. What saddened one of Durer’s parents?

A．Durer’s choice of profession.	B．Durer’s refusal to lear from his father.
C．Durer’s leaving his hometown.	D．Durer’s suffering from deadly diseases.

2. Durer visited Italy twice partly because________.

A．he was invited by Roman Emperors

B．he pursued richer life in Italy

C．he was interested in Renaissance culture

D．he wanted to find a cure for the diseases

3. Durer’s focus on details can be seen in_________.

A．his research in scientific documents

B．his accurate image of living creatures

C．his social relationship with other artists

D．his rising status in the field of printmaking

4. What do the self-portraits reveal about Durer?

A．His physical limitations.	B．His strong love for himself.
C．His interest in philosophy.	D．His development as a person.