1 . Many questions can be expected in advance and it’s wise to have some well-constructed answers that you can tailor more closely on the day. It’s sensible to have a number of key phrases to use. Remember to always try and make your answers positive.
Q1: Tell me about yourself. (The interviewer is really saying “I want to hear you talk.”)
A1: This is just to get things started, but it is a very common question. Write a script, and practice it so that it sounds natural. Spend a maximum of four minutes describing your qualifications, career history and your range of skills. Emphasize those skills that are relevant to the job on offer.
Q2: What have been your achievements to date? (The interviewer is saying “Are you an achiever?”)
A2: Again, this is a common question, so be prepared. Select an achievement that is experience-related and fairly recent. Identify skills you used in this achievement and say what the results were.
Q3: What do you like about your present job? (The interviewer is really trying to find out whether you will enjoy the things the new job has to offer.)
A3: This is a straightforward question. All you have to make sure is that your ‘likes’ correspond to the skills etc. required for the job on offer. Be positive, describe your job as interesting and diverse, but do not overdo it. After all, you are leaving?
Q4: What are your strengths? (The interviewer simply wants a straightforward answer as to what you are good at.)
A4: This is the one question that you are definitely going to get, so there is no excuse for being unprepared. Concentrate on discussing your main strengths. List three or four explanations of how they could benefit the employer. Strengths to consider include technical proficiency; ability to learn quickly; determination to succeed; positive attitude; your ability to relate to people and achieve a common goal. You may be asked to give examples of the above, so be prepared.
Q5: Tell me about the most difficult situation you’ve had to face and how you handled it.
(The interview is really trying to find out your definition of “difficult” and whether you can show a logical approach to problem solving using your initiative.)
A5: This can be a trap! To avoid it, select a difficult work situation that was not caused by you and which can be quickly explained in a few sentences. Explain how you defined the problem, what the options were, why you selected the one you did and what the outcome was. Always end on a positive note.
1. The passage is mainly intended to ________.| A．highlight the importance of looking positive in an interview |
| B．give suggestions on how to answer interview questions |
| C．provide some sample answers to interview questions |
| D．illustrate how to look confident in an interview |
| A．talk about what you dislike about it |
| B．comment positively on your colleagues |
| C．relates it to the job you are applying for |
| D．describe how interesting it is as far as possible |
| A．Tell me about yourself? |
| B．Tell me about your strengths? |
| C．What have been your achievements to date? |
| D．How did you handle the most difficult situation? |
2 . What are pillows really stuffed with? Not physically, but symbolically? The question occurred to me with the photos in the news and social media from the 50 cities around the world that staged public celebrations for International Pillow Fight Day. Armed with nothing more than bring-our-own sacrificial cushions, strangers struck heavily each other in playful feather from Amsterdam to Atlanta, Warsaw to Washington DC. But why? Is there anything more to this delightful celebration?
As a cultural sign, the pillow is deceptively soft. Since at least the 16th Century, the humble pillow has been given unexpected meanings. The Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu tells a famous story about a wise man who meets a depressed young scholar at an inn and offers him a magic pillow filled with the most vivid dreams of a seemingly more fulfilling life. When the young man awakens to discover that his happy 50-year dream has in fact come and gone in the short space of an afternoon’s nap, our impression of the pillow’s power shifts from wonder to terror.
Subsequent writers have likewise seized upon the pillow. When the 19th-Century English novelist Charlotte Bronte poetically observed “a ruffled (不平的) mind makes a restless pillow”, she didn’t just change the expected order of the adjectives and nouns, but instead she made unclear the boundaries between mind and matter — the thing resting and the thing rested upon.
It’s a trick perhaps Bronte learned from the Renaissance philosopher Montaigne, who once insisted that “ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head”. On Montaigne’s thinking, intelligence and happiness confront each other forever in a pillow fight that only one can win.
With the words of Tang. Bronte, and Montaigne, we can perhaps more easily measure the attraction of the global pillow fight. Like a ritual of release, the annual international pillow fight amounts to a kind of cleansing, a brushing off of daily worries: an emptying of the world’s collective mind. Rather than a launch-pad for weightless rest, the pillow is a symbol of heavy thought: an anchor that drags the world’s soul down — one that must be lightened.
1. The example of Tang Xianzu is used to illustrate that ________.| A．pillows give people satisfactory dreams |
| B．dreams are always wonderful while the real world is cruel |
| C．people’s impression of pillows changes from wonder to terror |
| D．pillows symbolically convey the meaning in contrast to their soft appearance |
| A．wrote poems about pillows |
| B．regarded pillows as reflections of our minds |
| C．shared the same viewpoint as Tang Xianzu on pillows |
| D．was likely to have been influenced by the thoughts of the Renaissance |
| A．pillows give us comfort |
| B．pillows make people more intelligent |
| C．people with too many thoughts have less inner peace |
| D．people can easily fall asleep when they know nothing |
| A．Because it is a ritual release. |
| B．Because it makes life delightful. |
| C．Because it comforts restless minds. |
| D．Because it contains a profound meaning of life. |
3 . By the time the British adventurer Ash Dykes reached Chongqing 178 days after starting to trek (长途跋涉) along the Yangtze River from its source to the sea, the most difficult part of the journey was over. Dykes had completed about 2,430 miles, and all he needed to do was cover the next 1,550 miles in 187 days or less to complete the whole journey.
On August 26 last year, a three-man team, including two guides and a horse, hit the road at the starting point, the source of the Yangtze River in the south of Qinghai Province. Then at different times for the next two months, different people had come to join them.
In order to cross the plateau (高原) and mountains in good weather, the journey was planned to start in summer. However, because of the problems in preparations, Dykes arrived in Qinghai in late August as the days were becoming shorter and colder. Not wanting to wait for another year, he decided to continue.
Within a few days three of the adventurers experienced serious high altitude sickness (高原反应). In the mountains, the team had to light fire to scare off bears, and once they had been followed by a group of wolves for two days. They were forced to quit the journey. In fact, Dykes has been walking alone since late October.
“The rest of the trip would be much easier,” Dykes said. He started from Chongqing on the second half of the journey on March 11. At the same time,he called on more people to join him in some parts of the trek as a way to encourage environmental protection.
“Travelling along the Yangtze River is not only a great act, it’s also a chance to enjoy the true beauty and wonders of China, and attract people’s attention to the environment and good work to protect it,” he wrote on his Weibo. “However, the kindness and warmth of the local people have struck me so much that it is they that make the journey unforgettable.”
1. What do we know about Dykes’ journey along the Yangtze River?| A．It will cover about 3,980 miles. |
| B．It will be joined by more and more people. |
| C．It began in Qinghai and will end in Chongqing. |
| D．It’ll take him over a year to finish the whole journey. |
| A．Bad weather conditions. |
| B．Not enough preparations. |
| C．No partners. |
| D．High altitude sickness. |
| A．The importance of protecting the Yangtze River. |
| B．The best way to travel along the Yangtze River. |
| C．People’s effort to protect the Yangtze River. |
| D．Dykes’ journey along the Yangtze River. |
4 . An 85-year-old primary school constructed in 1935 in Shanghai has been lifted off the ground in its entirety and relocated using new technology called the “walking machine.” The project marks the first time this “walking machine” method has been used in Shanghai to relocate a historical building.
Urbanization（都市化）has continued to significantly threaten architectural heritage. In the capital Beijing, for instance, more than 1,000 acres of its historic hutongs and traditional courtyard homes were destroyed between 1990 and 2010.
In the early 2000s, cities including Nanjing and Bejjing-due to the critics’ protest about the loss of old neighborhoods-drew up long-term plans to preserve what was left of their historic sites, with protections introduced to safeguard buildings and restrict developers.
These conservation efforts have taken different forms. In Beijing, a near-ruined temple was transformed into a restaurant and gallery, while in Nanjing, a cinema from the 1930s was restored to its original form, with some additions providing it for modern use. In 2019, Shanghai welcomed Tank Shanghai, an arts center built in renovated（重修的）oil tanks.
“Relocation is not the first choice, but better than destroying,” said Lan, the Shanghai primary school’s project supervisor. “I’d rather not touch the historical buildings at all.” Building relocations he said however, are “a workable option.” “The central government is putting more emphasis on the protection of historical buildings. I’m happy to see that progress in recent years.”
Shanghai has arguably been China’s most progressive city when it comes to heritage preservation. The survival of a number of 1930s buildings and 19th-century “shikumen” （or “stone gate”） house have offered examples of how to give old buildings new life.
“We have to preserve the historical building no matter what, ” Lan said. “The relocation has challenges, but in general, it is cheaper than destroying and then rebuilding something in a new location.”
1. How did cities respond to the loss of historical sites?| A．They criticized the developers. | B．They rebuilt the historic hutongs. |
| C．They ended the significant threat. | D．They proposed the protection project. |
| A．All original form. | B．A new addition. | C．A cinema. | D．A temple. |
| A．Provide strong evidence. | B．Introduce different opinions. |
| C．Summarize previous paragraphs. | D．Add some background information. |
| A．Walking Machine: a New Technology | B．Rebuilding: a New Option for Relics |
| C．Old Building Torn down for Modern Use | D．Historical Site “Walks” to New Life |
5 . After years of teachers asking for the right answers, students aren’t used to someone asking for the wrong ones. Students’ failure tends to create mental burden that negatively affects learning. Lifting the burden requires us to face failure bravely and encourage students to accept it as a natural part of getting educated. While educators have to make sure that students have the right content and support to avoid long-term failure, it is just as important to accept mistakes as a normal part of education.
Sadly, our culture is so focused on success or perfection that students generally aren’t taught about failure. To fill the gap, I share with students a Samuel Beckett quote “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better”. It suggests one becomes better after each failure. I also play a video on game designed by Extra Credits, which shows people can quickly declare their ways as a failure if they don’t work out and then learn from them to move on. Both the quote and the video can help students get a more positive attitude towards failure.
Teachers can help students accept failure better. In her piece “5-Minute Film Festival: Freedom to Fail Forward”, Edutopia author Amy Erin Borovoy had a set of videos and articles on the subject of failure. Borovoy reminds readers that “a true thinker learns as much from failure as from success.” Taking these short videos as monthly or weekly reminders can be a great way to start “how have we failed and what have we learned” discussions with students.
Teachers can actually use a technique called “Effective Failure” to teach about failure at any time. In my writing class, I often have students volunteer to pick out the worst writing of their own. This lets writers deepen their understanding of why a sentence, word choice, or paragraph construction has failed, and it inspires a sincere interest in better writing. This makes failure work well in class.
Also, remember that students are not the only ones who can learn from their mistakes. As those who teach students, we should do that too.
1. What matters in education according to Paragraph 1?| A．Helping students face failure calmly. |
| B．Making sure every student gets educated. |
| C．Allowing students to show their true selves. |
| D．Training students to get used to long-term failure. |
| A．show the benefits of failure |
| B．help students develop more interests |
| C．provide some ways to reduce failure |
| D．teach students to get relaxed properly |
| A．He tried to advertise for those videos. |
| B．He considered Borovoy a role model to students. |
| C．He thought the videos useful in teaching about failure. |
| D．He found video teaching an easy way to attract students. |
| A．They enjoy communicating with others. |
| B．They are brave to admit their disadvantages. |
| C．They can find more interesting writing topics. |
| D．They improve by learning from their weak points. |
6 . Wolves are important animals in the traditions and stories of most Native American tribes. To Native Americans, wolves often stand for bravery. The animals also are signs of strength, loyalty, and success at hunting. However, something happened. Perhaps wolves attacked too many people or ate too many farm animals. Whatever the reason, wolves were killed in many areas. They also became known as villains. From the wolves in some films to the wolves in children’s stories, wolves get a bum rap in both literature and English expressions.
For starters, there is the term “lone wolf”. The lone wolf isn’t a bad person. But they like to do things on their own. Lone wolf makes you think the person doesn’t want to be around people because he or she dislikes them. In news stories, you sometimes hear the terms “lone wolf attacker” or “lone wolf shooter”. These individuals are not part of a larger group carrying out an attack. They are acting alone.
Now, let’s move on to the home. Parents might criticize their child for wolfing down their food. In other words, the child eats very quickly and looks a little wild. And if someone says a child was raised by wolves, that child has bad manners and is behaving like a wild animal. A wolf call is a whistle or other noise made by a man to show that he likes the way a woman looks. But a wolf call is not a nice thing. These men sound wild and rude. A wolf at the door means someone to whom you owe money is waiting just outside your door.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?| A．Wolves are thought little of now. | B．The wolves in some films are brave. |
| C．Wolves attack many people every year. | D．Wolves stand for strength in children’s stories. |
| A．Someone who feels lonely. | B．Someone who is less popular. |
| C．Someone who does things alone. | D．Someone who has little experience. |
| A．A wolf call. | B．A wolf at the door. |
| C．Being raised by wolves. | D．Wolfing down something. |
| A．Too many wolves being killed. | B．Our misunderstanding about wolves. |
| C．Different meanings of the word “wolf”. | D．Some expressions about the word “wolf”. |
7 . You may have been told in the past that reading to your children can help their development. Now an organization is trying to stress it even more.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is now having doctors encourage parents to read aloud to their children, even at the earliest stages. They say it is an important part of the brain’s development in the first three years of a child’s life.
“Although reading to our children can be a simple thing, it has a huge effect on our children. It can encourage our children to read later on in life and give a good start to their education. It can enhance the vocabulary and other communication skills. We can continue to do something that doesn’t take a lot of time and energy to tell the children that love of reading is so important when they are babies,” said Dr Heidi Stoltenberg at Mayo Clinic Health System.
Reading to your children is very important. Stoltenberg said it is never too early to start. “It may seem kind of unusual because we don’t necessarily think babies are at an age when you would read to them, but immediately when you come home from the delivery (分娩) of your baby is a great time to start that,” Stoltenberg said.
Studies have shown that the poverty level plays a major role in parents who read to their children. Many times, that is simply because the families cannot afford books or other things to read. There are many resources (资源) in our area to help those families get reading materials. The United Way of Freeborn County, and many others across the region, have teamed up with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Many local hospitals, including Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea and Austin, also take part in Reach Out and Read.
1. What does the underlined word “enhance” in the third paragraph mean?| A．Choose. | B．Receive. | C．Increase. | D．Prevent. |
| A．She thinks it is completely meaningless. |
| B．She believes babies may get hurt if you do that. |
| C．She insists that the parents turn to some experts. |
| D．She holds that reading to babies should start as early as possible. |
| A．Being short of time. |
| B．Being short of money. |
| C．The bad family environment. |
| D．The poor education background. |
| A．The importance of reading to children. |
| B．New ways to develop children’s reading ability. |
| C．Reasons that influence children’s reading habits. |
| D．Necessity of paying attention to children’s brain development. |
8 . My aunt got sick after her only son died. She was beginning to forget things. Simple tasks became a challenge for her.
My grandmother became my aunt’s caretaker. After school, I would go to my grandmother’s home until my mom got off work.
As my aunt’s symptoms developed, she could not stand for a long period, so we began assisting her as she walked.
| A．Next I was asked to help bathe her. |
| B．My heart became soft for the needs of others. |
| C．She had been cancer-free for about four years. |
| D．After some tests, we were told that she had brain cancer. |
| E．I realized that we all need help in life, whether physical or mental. |
| F．This experience changed how I viewed old people and the sick. |
| G．During this time my grandmother started asking me to help her care for my aunt. |
9 . Mention the terms Italian culture and Renaissance art and one is immediately reminded of the mysterious smile of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.
The Renaissance had a deep effect on the development of European culture. Having its beginnings in Italy, by the 16th century, it had spread to the rest of Europe. Its influence was felt in different fields such as philosophy, literature, religion, science, politics, and, of course, art. The scholars of the Renaissance period applied the humanistic method to every field of study, and wanted to have human emotion and realism in art.
Renaissance scholars studied the ancient Latin and Greek texts, searching the libraries of Europe for works of ancient times that had become obscure, in their hunt for reforming and perfecting their worldly knowledge. However, that does not mean that they refused religion. In fact, many of the greatest works of the Renaissance period were devoted to it, with the church supporting a lot of the works of Renaissance art. However, there were slight changes in the manner in which the scholars began to treat religion, which affected the cultural life of society, which in turn influenced the artists of that period and therefore was reflected in their art.
In Raphael’s The School of Athens, for example, some well-known people were described as classical scholars with Leonardo da Vinci given as much importance as Plato in his time. Giotto di Bondone, 1266-1337, a Florentine, who is regarded as the greatest Italian painter just earlier than the Renaissance period, is thought to be the first artist who treated a painting as a window into space.
However, it was only after the writings of Filippo Brunelleschi, 1377-1446, who is considered the first great builder of the Italian Renaissance, that perspective (透视法) was formally accepted as an artistic technique.
1. What makes Italy stand out in a way in world history?| A．Its artists during the Renaissance were numerous. | B．It was the center of the European countries. |
| C．It had many famous inventors in different fields. | D．It was home to the Renaissance. |
| A．meaningless and hard to recognize | B．clear and meaningful to guiding people |
| C．unclear and difficult to understand or see | D．easy to understand but having little meaning |
| A．After the completion of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. |
| B．After Leonardo da Vinci’s being compared to Plato. |
| C．After Giotto di Bondone’s paintings were respected. |
| D．After Filippo Brunelleschi’s completing his writings. |
| A．Italy’s Renaissance art and artists | B．the famous artists in Italy’s history |
| C．Italy’s influence on the world in culture | D．the hardships during the Renaissance in Italy |
10 . New efforts are being made to prevent American college campuses from cigarette smoking. Twenty colleges in the United States recently received money to help protect their campuses from the harm of cigarettes.
Supporters say that every child deserves to grow up in a safe and healthy environment free from harmful second-hand cigarettes. And in November, smoking at college campuses may become illegal.
Before banning smoking at college campuses, the US has passed laws banning smoking at most workplaces. 27 American states ban smoking in all indoor workplaces.
Those supporting smoke-free at workplaces and college campuses give one major reason: the bad influence of smoking on health.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says smoking has a great influence on health. They think cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States. Smoking is responsible for 480,000 deaths every year.
Supporters say the bad influence of second-hand smoke makes it a public health problem. Some also say that college campuses are a good place to ban smoking.
Gary Reedy, the CEO of the American Cancer Society, said it was important to stop college students from smoking, and he expected to successfully create a cigarette-free generation (世代).
The CDC found that 13 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 24 smoke cigarettes. Reedy says that reducing the number of college students who smoke can help reduce the number of older adult smokers. He also says once a person starts smoking, it is hard to stop.
1. Who are the new efforts good for?| A．College students. | B．The CDC. |
| C．Young smokers. | D．People in public places. |
| A．The bad influence of smoking. | B．Money wasted on cigarettes. |
| C．Laws passed by the US. | D．Public attention to health. |
| A．Smoking spreads easily among college students. |
| B．Smoke-free campuses have a long-term influence. |
| C．It is easier for college students to stop smoking. |
| D．There’re more older adult smokers in the world. |
| A．Second-hand smoke is affecting college students too |
| B．Groups take steps to protect college students |
| C．Cigarettes should be totally banned in college |
| D．Banning smoking is being tried at US colleges |
