We all need a little motivation when it comes to working out, and GymPact is the perfect way to get inspired.
How does it work? Make a commitment to work out a certain number of times a week. Choose the amount of money you are willing to risk if you don’t reach your goal. If you don’t achieve your goal? Your credit card gets charged. Achieved your goal? You get paid! The days of being paid to work out have finally come!
Compatibility(兼容性): iOS and AndroidZombie, Run! 2
That’s right. The zombie craze has even reached the fitness world. This action packed app adds an element that is sometimes missing from other workout apps-fun.
Zombies, Run! and Zombies, Run! 2 mix games and stories into your run as you complete missions in a world with zombies. Whether you’re gathering supplies, saving a human, or out-running a crowd of the undead, this app excites your normal jog with imagination and competition.
Compatibility: iOS and AndroidWeight Watchers Mobile
Sure, you’ve heard of Weight Watchers, but there is a reason this company has been around so long. Their system gets great results—plain and simple.
Weight Watchers Mobile is a great way to track your calorie consumption by using their point system. Not only can you enter and search for different foods in their database, you can scan barcodes for instant information about what you’re eating. The app counts down your available calories by day and also by week.
Weight Watchers Mobile even has a section to find foods from your favourite restaurants, and information on portion control and healthy eating. Their clean-looking, easy-to-use interface makes dieting more manageable and straightforward.
Compatibility: iOS and Android1. What’s the purpose of GymPact?
| A．To reward those who keep their word. | B．To teach the importance of working out. |
| C．To show how to earn money by exercising. | D．To help people stick to their workout plan. |
| A．Zombies are used to train users to run faster. |
| B．The app users are to compete against zombies. |
| C．It is designed to make running more enjoyable. |
| D．This app can improve both health and imagination. |
| A．record your calorie intake | B．easily organize your diet |
| C．order foods from a restaurant | D．get information about foods |
2 . 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? |
3 . Top Exhibitions to See in London in 2023
Architectural: Vanishing Points
While we like to think of architecture existing purely in the real world, emerging designers and architects are using platforms like Instagram to create structures in the virtual world. This collection of works, which range from the practical to the fantastical, are all by architects who have gathered significant social media followings.
In the Digital Universe at ROCA London. 8 February—31 July, free.
Flowery: Orchids
This annual festival is back in bloom (开花), this time inspired by the beauty and biodiversity of Cameroon. Just like previous years, the orchids are spread throughout the various zones of the Princess of Wales conservatory and accompanied by sculptures that are just as colourful as the flowers on display.
At Kew Gardens. 4 February —5 March, &16.50—entrance to the gardens included.
Female Abstraction: Action, Gesture, Paint
Art history has often shone a light on the men of Abstract Expressionism, such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. Well, now’s the time to let the most important women of the movement take the limelight in an exhibition that includes works by American artists such as Lee Krasner and Helen Frankenthaler, but spreads the net wider to include the female abstract artists from Europe, Asia and the wider world, with whom most of us will be unfamiliar.
At Whitechapel Gallery. 9 February—7 May, £ 16.50—concessions available.
Powerful Portraits (肖像): Alice Neel
The largest UK exhibition to date of American painter Alice Neel’s work will bring together her figurative pieces from across her 60-year career. Neel went against the popular grain by painting figures when abstract works were most popular, and she painted subjects that other artists ignored — pregnant women, labour leaders, black children, civil rights activists and strange performers. It’s high time we had a major show of her work in London, and the Barbican has duly provided.
At Barbican Art Gallery. 16 February—21 May, & 18.
1. Which of the following exhibitions is held once a year?| A．Flowery: Orchids. |
| B．Powerful Portraits: Alice Neel. |
| C．Architectural: Vanishing Points. |
| D．Female Abstraction: Action, Gesture, Paint. |
| A．On February 8. | B．On January 7. | C．On April 7. | D．On May 8. |
| A．She is 60 years old now. |
| B．Her works didn’t follow the trend. |
| C．She often ignored some common subjects. |
| D．She is the most popular American painter in the UK. |
4 .
 New big pack from Sierra Designs The latest pack from Sierra Designs is the Gigawatt 60L. The pack has an adjustable back system that fits back lengths from 40cm to 53cm. It’s made from durable 300D polyester. Features include a zipped top and side access, oversized side and front pockets. The Gigawatt 60L weighs 1.84kg and costs £130. sierradesigns.com |  Scarpa upgrades its Maestrale boots Maestrale Re-Made ski boots are made from Polymer taken from around three tons of leftover materials. Creating a Re-Made boot from Polymer emits 27% less carbon dioxide than creating a “classic” boot from plant-based Pebax Rnew, which emits 32% less carbon dioxide than Fossil-based Plastics. The design and manufacturing process behind the Re-Made boot were developed by Scarpa’s Green Lab, the production department dedicated to sustainable solutions. A pair costs £500. scarpa.co.uk / ellis-brigham.com |
 Vasque Breeze gets sustainable update The well-established Vasque Breeze hiking boot has been modernised with environmentally friendly materials. It’s now made with recycled polyester and is the first boot to have a VasqueDry Waterproof membrane, which is made from 25% recycled materials. The Breeze is also comfortable to wear with its soft footbed. The Breeze weighs 1120 grams and comes in two widths. It costs £140. vasque.com |  The North Face launches new ski touring clothing The Dawn Turn clothing provides a layering system for ski touring designed to keep you warm, dry and freely moving. It includes a shell jacket, midlayers, trousers and accessories. The Dawn Turn 2.0 jacket won the innovation award at ISPO for its breathable layer. The cost is £350. The Dawn Turn 1.0 Jacket is made from waterproof DryVent. It features a windproof hood and oversized front pockets, and costs £325. thenorthface.co.uk |
| A．The ski athletes | B．The outdoor lovers |
| C．The environmentalists | D．The sports retailers |
| A．Both kinds of boots mentioned in the passage have two different widths. |
| B．The latest big pack from Sierra Designs has a fixed back system. |
| C．The Vasque Breeze hiking boot is both eco-friendly and waterproof. |
| D．The Dawn Turn 1.0 Jacket won the innovation award at ISPO. |
| A．Polymer > Pebax Renew >Fossil-based Plastics |
| B．Fossil-based Plastics > Pebax Renew > Polymer |
| C．Fossil-based Plastics > Polymer >Pebax Renew |
| D．Polymer >Fossil-based Plastics >Pebax Renew |
5 . Catherine Garland, a physics professor, started seeing “the problem” in 2019. She’d laid out the assignment clearly during an engineering course, but student after student was calling her over for help. They were all getting the same error message: The program couldn’t find their files.
Garland thought it would be an easy fix. She asked each student where they had saved their project. “Could they be on the desktop? Perhaps in the Documents folder?” But over and over, she was met with confusion. “What are you talking about?” multiple students inquired. Gradually, Garland came to the realization: the concept of file folders and directories, essential to previous generations, understanding of computers, is gibberish to many modern students.
Garland’s mental model is commonly known as “directory structure”, the hierarchical system (层级体系) of folders used to arrange files. What have caused the mental model to change? It is possible that many students spent their high school years storing documents in the cloud storage like OneDrive and Dropbox rather than in physical spaces. It could also have to do with the other apps they’re accustomed to. “When I want to scroll (滚屏) over to Snapchat, Twitter, they’re not in any particular order, but I know exactly where they are,” says Vogel, who is a devoted iPhone user. Some of it boils down to muscle memory.
It may also be that in an age where every user interface includes a search function, young people have never needed folders or directories. The first internet search engines were used around 1990, but features like Windows Search are products of the early 2000s. While many of today’s professors grew up without search functions, today’s students increasingly don’t remember a world without them.
Some may blame the generational incompetence. An international study claimed that only 2 percent of Generation Z (born from 1997 onwards) had achieved the “digital native” level of computer literacy. But the issue is likely not that modern students are learning fewer digital skills, but rather that they’re learning different ones. Garland, for all her knowledge of directory structure, doesn’t understand Instagram nearly as well as her students do. “They use computers one way, and we use computers another way,” Garland emphasizes. “That’s where the problem lies.”
1. The word “gibberish” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to________.| A．common | B．accessible | C．nonsense | D．fundamental |
| A．There is no search function in the directory structure. |
| B．College professors have weaker muscles than students do. |
| C．Modern students like to store documents in physical drives. |
| D．The change in mental models reflects the progress in technology. |
| A．highlights the different mindsets of two generations |
| B．criticizes modern students’ overuse of online apps |
| C．shows the difficulty of teaching today’s students |
| D．calls on a change in the education of physics |
| A．Teaching students directory structure. |
| B．Improving generational understanding. |
| C．Enhancing Generation Z’s digital skills. |
| D．Urging teachers to learn search functions. |
10 . Personality may play only a small part in leadership effectiveness, but there is no doubt that some leaders have a certain magic that leaves peers envious and followers entranced. If you could bottle this leadership X-factor—charisma—the queue of interested executives would be a long-one. But what qualities can these often highly successful leaders be said to possess?
As individuals, charismatic leaders have highly developed communication skills, including the ability to convey emotions easily and naturally to others, says Ronald Riggio, professor of leadership and organizational psychology. “They are able to inspire and arouse the emotions of followers through their emotional expressiveness and verbal skills.”
“They connect with followers because they seem to truly understand others’ feelings and concerns.”
“And they are great role models because they have the ability to engage others socially and display appropriate role-playing skills that allow them to walk the talk” Professor Riggio says.
“One quality we like in our leaders is if they are seen to really represent us. We think someone is more charismatic, the more they represent our collective identity,” Professor Van Knippenberg says. In this way, a charismatic leader is somehow a larger-than-life version of ourselves.
Academics say that charismatic leaders also manage to stand out from the crowd. They might do this by being unconventional or by taking a different approach to problem-solving, for example.
“They are up for new things, and they are not stuck in the status quo. They are open to out-of-the-box thinking, etc. An optimistic, energetic quality helps us to see leadership qualities in them and makes us open to their influence,” he says.
“A lot of charismatic leadership, and leadership in general, is very contextual. It’s really good in entrepreneurial firms. It’s also good for turnarounds if the organization is in a bad state because it inspires”, says Kai Peters, the chief executive of Ashridge Business School.
But not every organization needs a charismatic leader. Leaders loaded with the X-factor can be narcissistic (自恋的), self-glorifying, exploitative and authoritarian. As Peters says: “Where it is a problem is where you have ‘look at me, I’m a star.’’’
1. Which word is closest in meaning to “charisma” in the first paragraph?| A．Charm. | B．Character. | C．Gratitude. | D．Optimism. |
| A．proper role-playing skills | B．subtle emotional expressiveness |
| C．marvellous problem-solving ability | D．unconventionality in the crowds |
| A．The one who has a heroical image. |
| B．The one who can speak for us. |
| C．The one who is a collective version of us. |
| D．The one who resembles us in characteristic. |
| A．Critical. | B．Approved. | C．Neutral. | D．Suspicious. |
