2 . There is something to be said for being a generalist, even if you are a specialist. Knowing a little about a lot of things that interest you can add to the richness of a whole, well-lived life.

Society pushes us to specialize, to become experts. This requires commitment to a particular occupation, branch of study or research. The drawback to being specialists is we often come to know more and more about less and less. There is a great deal of pressure to master one’s field. You may pursue training, degrees, or increasing levels of responsibility at work. Then you discover the pressure of having to keep up.

Some people seem willing to work around the clock in their narrow specialty. But such commitment can also weaken a sense of freedom. These specialists could work at the office until ten each night, then look back and realize they would have loved to have gone home and enjoyed the sweetness of their family and friends, or traveled to exciting places, meeting interesting people. Mastering one thing to the exclusion of others can hold back your true spirit.

Generalists on the other hand, know a lot about a wide range of subjects and view the whole with all its connections. They are people of ability, talent, and enthusiasm who can bring their broad perspective into specific fields of expertise. The doctor who is also a poet and philosopher is a superior doctor, one who can give so much more to his patients than just good medical skills.

Things are connected. Let your expertise in one field fuel your passions in all related areas. Some of your interests may not appear to be connected but, once you explore their depths, you discover that they are. My editor Toni, who is also a writer, has edited several history books. She has decided to study Chinese history. Fascinated by the structural beauty of the Forbidden City as a painter, she is equally interested to learn more about Chinese philosophy. “I don’t know where it will lead, but I’m excited I’m on this pursuit.”

These expansions into new worlds help us by giving us new perspectives. We begin to see the interconnectedness of one thing to another in all aspects of our life, of ourselves and the universe. Develop broad, general knowledge and experience. The universe is all yours to explore and enjoy.

1. To become a specialist, one may have to ______ .

A．narrow his range of knowledge	B．avoid responsibilities at work
C．know more about the society	D．broaden his perspective on life

2. The specialists mentioned in Paragraph 3 tend to ______ .

A．treasure their freedom	B．travel around the world
C．spend most time working	D．enjoy meeting funny people

3. According to the author, a superior doctor is one who ______ .

A．is fully aware of his talent and ability	B．is a pure specialist in medicine
C．should love poetry and philosophy	D．brings knowledge of other fields to work

4. What does the author intend to show with the example of Toni?

A．Passion alone does not ensure a person’s success.

B．In-depth exploration makes discoveries possible.

C．Everyone has a chance to succeed in their pursuit.

D．Seemingly unrelated interests are in a way connected.

3 . Perhaps you’ve heard the old saying “curiosity killed the cat.” It’s a phrase that’s often used to warn people — especially children — not to ask too many questions.     1     In fact, research has shown that curiosity is just as important as intelligence in determining how well students do in school. Curiosity can also lead us to make unexpected discoveries, bring excitement into our lives, and open up new possibilities.     2     For example, one day in 1831, Michael Faraday was playing around with a coil and a magnet when he suddenly saw how he could produce an electrical current. At first, it wasn’t clear what use this would have, but it actually made electricity available for use in technology, and so changed the world.

    3     On one level, this is because technology has become so advanced that many of us are unable to think too deeply about how exactly things work anymore. While it may be possible for a curious teenager to take a toaster apart and get some sense of how it works, how much do you understand about what happens when you type a website address into a browser? Where does your grasp of technology end and the magic begin for you?

In addition to this, there’s the fact that we all now connect so deeply with technology, particularly with our phones. The more we stare at our screens, the less we talk to other people directly.     4     Then we feel we know enough about a person not to need to engage further with them.

The final — and perhaps most worrying — way in which technology stops us from asking more has to do with algorithms, the processes followed by computers. As we increasingly get our news via social media, the big data find out what we like and push more of the same back to us.     5     Perhaps the real key to developing curiosity in the 21st century, then, is to rely less on the tech tools of our age.

A．Yet it’s widely agreed that curiosity actually makes learning more effective.

B．All too often we accept the images of people that social media provides us with.

C．That means we end up inside our own little bubbles, no longer coming across new ideas.

D．We are always encouraged to challenge our pre-existing beliefs

E．In science, basic curiosity-driven research can have unexpected important benefits.

F．However, curiosity is currently under the biggest threat, coming from technology.

G．It is still not known why learning gives us such pleasure

6 . A survey said the average Asian dad spent one minute a day with his children. I was shocked. I mean, a whole minute? Every day? Get real. Once a week maybe. The fact is, many Asian males are terrible at kid—related things. In fact, I am one of them.

Child—rearing (养育) doesn’t come naturally to guys. My mother knew the names of our teachers, best friends and crushes. My dad was only vaguely aware there were short people sharing the apartment. My mother bought healthy fresh food at the market every day. My dad would only go shopping when there was nothing in the fridge except a jar of capers and a bay leaf. Then he’d buy beer. My mother always knew the right questions to ask our teachers. My dad would ask my English teacher if she could get us a discount on school fees. My mother served kid food to kids. My dad added chili sauce to everything, including our baby food.

The truth is, mothers have superpowers. My son fell off a wall once and hurt himself all over. I demanded someone bring me a computer so I could google what to do. My wife ignored me and did some sort of chanting phrase such as “Mummy kiss it better,” and cured l7 separate injuries in less than 15 seconds.

Yes, mothers are incredible people, but they are not always right. Yet honesty forces me to record the fact that mothers only know best 99.99 percent of the time.Here are some famous slip-ups.

The mother of Bill Gates: “If you’re going to drop out of college and hang out with your nerdy friends, don’t come running to me when you find yourself penniless.” The mother of Albert Einstein: “When you grow up, you’ll find that sitting around thinking about the nature of time and space won’t pay the grocery bills.” The mother of George W. Bush: “You’ll never be like your dad, who became President of the United States and started his own war.”

1. The tone for the writer to write the passage is ___.

A．cruel

B．humorous

C．disapproving

D．critical(批评的)

2. In paragraph 2 the writer makes a comparison between mothers and fathers to prove that ______.

A．females love kids more than males	B．males are not good at child—rearing
C．Males are not interested in child-rearing	D．child-rearing is difficult both for females and males

3. What does the underlined word “slip-ups” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．stories

B．shortcomings

C．mistakes

D．advantages

4. The last paragraph is mainly developed by ___.

A．providing different examples	B．following the order of space
C．making comparisons	D．analyzing causes