1 . Finding the Real You

Psychometric testing—personality testing—has been very popular nowadays as studies show their results to be three times more accurate in predicting your job performance. These tests are now included in almost all graduate recruitment（招聘）and are widely used in the selection of managers.

The most popular of these personality tests is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator（MBTI）. It is based on the theory that we are born with a tendency to one personality type which stays more or less fixed throughout life. You answer 88 questions and are then given your “type”, such as Outgoing or Quiet, Feeling or Thinking.

Critics of personality testing raise doubts about “social engineering”. Psychologist Dr. Colin Gill warns that the “popular” personality traits（特性）have their disadvantages. “People who are extremely open to new experiences can be butterflies, going from one idea to the next without mastering any of them.” However, the psychometric test is here to stay, which may be why a whole sub-industry on cheating personality tests has sprung up. “It's possible to cheat,” admits Gill, “but having to pretend to be the person you are at work will be tiring and unhappy and probably short-lived.”

So can we change our personality? “Your basic personality is fixed by the time you're 21,” says Gill, “but it can be affected by motivation and intelligence. If you didn't have the personality type to be a doctor but desperately wanted to be one and were intelligent enough to master the skills, you could still go ahead. But trying to go too much against type for too long requires much energy is actually to be suffered for long. I think it's why we're seeing this trend for downshifting—too many people trying to fit into a type that they aren't really suited for.”

Our interest in personality now exists in every part of our lives. If you ask an expert for advice on anything, you'll probably be quizzed about your personality. But if personality tests have any value to us, perhaps it is to free us from the idea that all of us are full of potential, and remind us of what we are. As they say in one test when they ask for your age: pick the one you are, not the one you wish you were.

1. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is based on the belief that _______ .

A．certain personality traits are common

B．personality is largely decided from birth

C．some personality types are better than others

D．personality traits are various from time to time

2. What is the problem with personality tests according to Dr. Gill?

A．Employers often find the results unclear.

B．They may have a negative effect on takers.

C．People can easily lie about their true abilities.

D．The results could be opposite to what. employers want.

3. How easy is it to change your personality in Dr. Gill's view?

A．It's impossible in your childhood.

B．It's easy if you have great motivation.

C．It's difficult before the age of 21.

D．It's unlikely in your adult life because it requires much energy.

4. What final conclusion does the author reach about the value of personality tests?

A．They are not really worth doing.

B．They may encourage greater realism.

C．They are of doubtful value to employers.

D．They can strengthen the idea we have of our abilities.

2 . A sensational new scientific discovery in the ocean near Australia may explain the most massive extinction of living things in Earth’s history. For years, scholars have been frustrated in trying to analyze why 90 to 95 percent of sea life and 75 percent of and life vanished about 250 million years ago. The extinctions were so enormous that they are called The Great Dying. To date, some authorities on ancient life thought that a volcanic eruption or a sudden change in the environment affected all life on Earth. Other specialists have doubted these theories, maintaining that it was not plausible that a solo volcano could bring about such chaos. From the outset, critics believed these claims were exaggerated.

By contrast, there is wide acceptance of the idea that a meteor (流星)which hit Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula 65 million years ago was the primary cause of the dinosaurs’ extinction. Nevertheless, until now they had no evidence of an intense meteor impact 185 mill on years earlier. Now they do.

American geologists have been examining rock samples from a deep sea crater (火山口)near the northwest coast of Australia. The samples were initially collected and preserved by petroleum technicians seeking oil. Now the geologists and their colleagues believe that the precise splits in the rock’s structure show a typical pattern for meteors. There is a clear distinction from volcanic patterns. In fact, a spokesperson went so far as to say that these rocks completely revise the way scientists perceive the mass extinctions from the ancient era. Academics say that the meteor’s crater s the size of Mount Qomolangma, the highest mountain on Earth! Literally, the meteor made a mark on Earth as it drowned in the sea. The Earth could not absorb such a harsh blow without sustaining global devastation. Things must have come to a standstill. Evidently, the blow was fatal for many forms of life.

Bear in mind that all this was long before mammals---including humans--emerged in Earth’s history. Still, we would be wise to pay attention to the damage a meteor can cause. Fortunately, meteor strikes on Earth are few and far between.

1. The word “plausible” (paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to “______”.

A．available	B．incredible
C．reasonable	D．ridiculous

2. Why didn’t the meteor affect human beings?

A．Because they were very resistant	B．Because there weren’t any then
C．Because they lived in isolated areas	D．Because they hid themselves in the caves

3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Scholars agreed that a single volcano caused The Great Dying

B．75 percent of land life continued 250 million years ago

C．Volcanic rocks and meteors have different patterns

D．When the meteor hit land Mount Qomolangma sprang up.

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．The Dinosaurs’ End	B．Crater on Qomolangma
C．Contradictory Claims	D．A Meteor’s Impact

3 . The Harlem Renaissance

The word “renaissance” means “rebirth”. The Harlem Renaissance took place during the 1920s. It was a time when the African American artistic community grew and flourished, producing a ton of work in a short period of time. The work celebrated African American culture and spoke to their experiences as minorities---both the good parts and the bad parts.

After the Civil War, many African Americans left the South to escape unfair treatment and laws that discriminated against them. Between 1910 and 1920, massive numbers of black Southerners moved from the rural south into the urban North and West in the Great Migration. The African American population of Chicago more than doubled during that time! And in New York, African Americans flocked to uptown Manhattan, setting in a neighborhood called Harem. Forming a community within the big city let African Americans keep their cultural identity in a white-dominated society. It was a good thing, and a lot of important cultural issues were brought to light during the Harlem Renaissance. One of the most important figures of the time was the African American writer, W. E.B Du Bois. In his book, The Souls of Back Folk, in 1903, Du Bois wrote that African Americans suffered from something called “double consciousness”. They had their own self-image while they saw themselves through the eyes of white Americans. And performers like Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson brought African American culture to all New Yorkers. The Renaissance was so influential that “Harlem” grew into something of a brand name

African Americans were pushing boundaries across all aspects of society. Black businesses began to flourish, creating a growing middle class, like Madame C.J. Walker, who tuned her cosmetics line into a million dollar empire. All together, the artists, and thinkers of this period helped mobilize the larger black population. Young African-Americans took advantage of improved access to higher education. This opened up new career paths and opportunities to attain advanced degrees. Perhaps most importantly, people---black and white---began the push for racial integration, planting the seeds of what would eventually become the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

1. Why did many African Americans leave the South after the Civil War?

A．To escape slavery	B．To find jobs in agriculture
C．To avoid racial discrimination	D．To gain citizenship

2. How did W.E.B. Du Bois contribute to the Harlem Renaissance?

A．He led to movement to return to Africa

B．He composed folk music based on African American theme

C．He wrote plays about the African-American experience

D．He wrote about the struggle for African-American identity

3. What can you infer about the economic status of African Americans prior to the Harlem Renaissance?

A．Nearly all were unemployed at that time

B．The vast majority were considered lower class

C．Most were regarded as middle class

D．A large percentage were recognized as wealthy

4. What factor allowed many more Africa Americans to pursue careers in fields like medicine and law?

A．Spread of black businesses	B．Access to higher education
C．Shift from agriculture to industry	D．Push for unity among all Africans

4 . Help Migrant Workers

There is nothing like going home. More so if it is for the Spring Festival family reunion. For a migrant worker it perhaps means even more. To be able to set out on a homeward journey with money from a year’s toil in his pocket is the best thing he can think of.       1    . They had to press hard for their defaulted payments, the salaries that were failed to pay up.

About 200 million migrant workers nationwide are something left behind by economic reforms and opening up due to their contributions in the past three decades. It is almost impossible to imagine life in these places without them. However, they still form a disadvantaged group. Their rights are violated in different forms. Among other things, unpaid salaries are the most painful of such violations that are likely to drive a migrant worker to desperate actions.     2    

    3    They have taken measures to prevent employers from holding back payments to them. Yet, as the financial crisis bites deep, some small enterprises that are struck the most try to reduce their economic losses by laying off migrant workers or refusing to pay them. So it is particularly important for governments at all levels to do an even better job in helping villager-turned-workers recover their unpaid salaries before the Spring Festival.

It is good news that quite a number of local governments have organized special task forces to conduct inspections in those labor-intensive enterprises to make sure they have paid their migrant workers in a timely and fair manner. Construction commissions in almost all provinces have published hotlines for farmer-turned-construction workers to lodge complaints against their employers for withholding their salaries.       4    . But we need to look for solutions that will work at all times. We need to put in place a mechanism that will effectively prevent employers from holding back salaries to workers.

A．Some have reportedly climbed up chimneys to jump to their death unless they get their defaulted salaries.

B．It is something every Chinese look forward to as the traditional gala draws near.

C．Unfortunately, weeks preceding the Spring Festival have turned out to be hard times for migrant workers.

D．Hopefully, these efforts will send more workers on a happy journey home for the Spring Festival with their salaries in their pockets.

E．However difficult the situations they are in, it is too cruel and unfair for employers to hold back salaries they should pay their migrant workers.

F．Objectively speaking, governments at various levels have done a great deal in helping these workers recover their defaulted salaries.

5 . Here is an astonishing and signficant fact:Mental work alone can’t make us tired. It sounds absurd. But a few years ago, scientists tried to find out how long the human could labor without reaching a stage of fatigue(疲劳). To the amazement of these scientists, they discovered thett blood passing through the brain, when it is active, shows no fatigue at all! If we took a drop of blood from a day labourer, we could find it full of fatigue toxins(毒素) and fatigue products. But if we took blood from the brain of Albert Einstein, it would show no fatigue toxing at the end of the day.
So far as the brain is concerned, it can work as well and swiftly at the end of eight or even twelve hours f efforts as at the beginning. The brain is totally tireless. So what makes us tired.
Some scientists declare that most of our fatigue come from our mental and emotional(情感的) attitudes. One of England’s most outstanding scientists. J. A. Hadfield,says,“The greater part of the fatigue from which we suffer is of mental origin. In fact,fatigue of purely physical origin is rare.” Dr. Brill, a famous American scientist, goes even further. He declares,“One hundred percent of the fatigue of a sitting worker in good health is due to emotional problems.”
What kinds of emotions make sitting workers tired?Joy?Satifaction?No!A feeling of being bored,anger,anxiety,tenseness,worry,a feeling of nt being appreciated---those are emotions that tire sitting workers.Hard work by itself seldom causes fatigue.We get tired because our emotions produce nervousness in the body.
1. What surprised the scientists a few years ago?

A．Fatigue toxinscould hardly be found in a labour’s blood.

B．Albert Eistein didn’t feel worn out after a day’s work.

C．The brain could wrk for many hours without fatigue.

D．A mental worker’s blood was filled with fatigue toxins.

2. According to the authour,which of the following can make sitting worker tired？

A．Challenge mental work.

B．Unpleasant emotions.

C．Endless tasks.

D．Physical labor.

3. What’s the authour’s attitude towards the scientists’ ideas?

A．He agrees with them.

B．He doubts them

C．He argues against them.

D．He hesitates to accept them.

4. We can infer from the passage that in order to stay energic, sitting workers need to ______.

A．have some good blood

B．enjoy their work

C．exercise regularly

D．discover fatigue toxin