1 . Pursue Your Dreams Today, Not Tomorrow

Have you caught yourself daydreaming about your dreams? We often postpone our dreams, trapped in a cycle of delay. But why wait?     1     You don’t have to take a huge, life-changing step. You can take minute steps toward a brighter future. And start right now.

    2     If you never try, you’re going to be weighed down by your regrets. You’re always going to wonder how your life would’ve turned out if you actually took a chance on yourself. Don’t let your future self be disappointed by your present self.

It doesn’t matter how old you are or how many people have warned you that you’re never going to succeed. Even the most successful people have had their hesitations about whether they had what it took to make it in their field.    3     Embrace a mindset of determination, knowing that success is within your reach.

At the end of the day, you need to carve out a path for yourself that will lead to the most satisfaction. If you allow your fear to get the best of you, you’re never going to forgive yourself.    4    . It’s what you would encourage your friends to do, so why aren’t you giving yourself that same push?

Sometimes, following your passion means spending a lot of your time each day. It may require making slight adjustments to your schedule, but you don’t have to sacrifice everything to follow your hearts. Try to strike a balance between your current life and your dreams.    5    

Pursue your dreams now, even though that means you might need to break out of your comfort zone, and even though it means entering the unknown.

A．Ask yourself what would be worse.

B．Starting small is completely acceptable.

C．You owe it to yourself to go after your dreams.

D．New opportunities may lead to personal growth.

E．If things go well, you can gradually make further shifts.

F．You need to move past your insecurities and explore your full potential.

G．Hard as it is, it’s crucial to wave off the doubts in the back of your mind.

2 . When you hear that your friend has passed an exam that you failed earlier, how do you react? Do you share in her happiness? If you do, congratulations!     1     Studies have shown that experiencing Freudenfreude can lead to acts of kindness, such as helping others. By celebrating the victories of others, we can bring more success into our own lives.

    2     Sometimes, the disappointment of our own failure can make it difficult to feel happy for others. If we were raised in an environment where winning was strongly associated with self-worth, we may mistakenly interpret someone else’s success as our own failure. Our mental health and overall well being can also affect our ability to share in someone else’s joy.     3    

One method to evoke positive feelings for others is through asking questions. We don’t have to wait for someone else’s good news to practice Freudenfreude. By inviting others to share their victories and genuinely listening to their stories, we can cultivate joy.     4    

Since emotions are contagious (有感染力的), expressing appreciation can also enhance Freudenfreude. We can think of Freudenfreude as something that can be shared when we are experiencing personal happiness.     5     Starting by sharing our own achievements and expressing gratitude can create a sense of shared joy, enhancing Freudenfreude for both parties involved.

A．To better understand Freudenfreude, it is important to realize that it is a win-win.

B．According to social scientists, finding pleasure in another person’s success is what they call Freudenfreude.

C．However, experiencing Freudenfreude is not always easy.

D．Despite these challenges, generating Freudenfreude is valuable, and there are ways to cultivate this feeling.

E．You might ask: “What’s the best thing that happened to you this week?”

F．It is a term that describes the joy we feel when someone else succeeds.

G．To do this, we can give credit to others for their support and acknowledge their contribution to our success.

3 . A heart-to-heart talk refers to an honest conversation between two people. When sharing a heart-to-heart talk, people will generally share innermost (内心最深处的) thoughts and feelings. This talk usually takes place without other people being present.     1     Some people also refer to this type of conversation as a heartfelt talk, or speaking from the heart. Here are tips on having a heart-to-heart talk.

Share personal stories.     2     When you share a personal story with someone, you put yourself out there in a brave way. Hopefully, the person will follow suit and be receptive to your sharing. Make sure that your disclosure (披露) is proper for the level of relationship you have with the other person. And remember not to push yourself too hard.     3    

Listen to understand. Being an active listener is important during a heartto-heart talk. When you actively listen to what another person is saying, he is more likely to open up.     4     Instead, try to listen to really understand what the other is trying to communicate.

    5     When you’re trying to get someone to open up and go deeper in conversation with you, you are expected to avoid questions that close off the discussion. For example, you might immediately start trying to learn the person’s likes and dislikes by asking “What’s your favorite color/food/season?” The problem with such a question is that it doesn’t promote (促进) a more detailed answer because it can be answered with only one word (e.g. “Purple. Pizza. Summer.”).

A．Raise questions actively.

B．Avoid close-ended questions.

C．Many times, you may listen to prepare an answer.

D．So it’s considered that the talk will be kept secret.

E．You should share what you feel comfortable sharing.

F．Self-disclosure opens the door to a deep conversation.

G．People find comfort in expressing unhappiness with others.

4 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What did researchers study in two tests?

A．The way of seagulls’ stealing food.

B．The effects of staring at seagulls.

C．The different food thieves.

2. What did one fourth of birds do with eye contact in the test?

A．They flew away immediately.

B．They stood still and looked at the food.

C．They made an attempt to steal food.

3. What did Madeleine think of seagulls?

A．They snatched food violently.

B．They stole food secretly.

C．They attacked people aggressively.

4. How do people stop seagulls stealing food effectively?

A．By feeding them first.

B．By setting a big trap.

C．By staring at them.

5 . Social media can connect you to friends and family, bring you the latest and most important news, and help you discover things you would never come across otherwise.     1    . They can lead to negative emotions or distract you from important tasks. Your first thought may be to delete your accounts completely, but you may miss out on all of the benefits. Why not use some of these smart strategies to help you find a good balance?

•    2    

The contacts on your social media can add up quickly over time as we constantly follow more people. Adding in other junk accounts can make things even worse. The next time you load up one of your social media apps, take some time to unfollow the accounts and people you’re no longer interested in.     3    . If you’re only following 50 people on twitter, for example, you know that you’re not missing too much if you’re only checking your timeline once a day.

•Turn off notices

Fewer notices can help you keep focused and create a healthy habit of checking social media only when you really have to. Notices aren’t too difficult to control these days.     4    . Browse through the options you have inside your apps, too, in case some apps have secret ways to inform you.

•Set time limits

Setting time limits for social media apps on your devices isn’t a perfect approach, as you can easily turn them off if the attraction is too strong. Still, you might find these limitations are effective at reducing the amount of time you spend checking your social networks.     5    , and from there you can set how long you are allowed to use each app for. Despite all of these measures, you’ll definitely still need a bit of willpower as well.

A．Update your accounts regularly

B．Follow fewer people

C．You can find Screen Time options in the iOS

D．Take a look at the phone’s settings and you will see what you can change

E．However, social media contact may cause you problems

F．But these platforms can sometimes be troublemakers

G．This will make a big difference to how often you check social media

6 . If you want to be confident at interview and get the job, body language will be important.

Here are some useful tips for your body language during a job interview.

Make a great entrance. A job interview actually starts before you get to the interview room. You don't know who could be looking at you from a window or standing next to you in the elevator. Your body language should tell others that you're confident and calm.     1     .

Don’t go for direct eye contact.     2    . A more effective way to make sure you look interested is to look at different parts of an interviewer's face every two seconds such as their nose, eyes and lips.

Use hand gestures while you're speaking. If you’re not sure what to do with your hands, go ahead and gesture while you're speaking. When you're really nervous, you may want to hide your hand because they express your anxiety.     3    

Stay positive. Your body language follows your mind. If your mind is negative, your body will consciously create negative energy. However, stay positive and you feel confident in your body language.     4     . And your smiles will be more likely to leave a good impression on the interviewers.

Work on your walk. Interviewers often make a hiring judgment within the first 10 seconds of meeting you.     5    . When walking directly toward the interviewer, you had better make your body point in his direction and maintain eye contact with him occasionally.

A．Instead, make “direct face contact”.

B．How you walk into the room is a part of that judgment.

C．At this time, it's a good choice for you to hide your hands.

D．Instead, using your hands gesture can make you feel relaxed.

E．If your have a positive mind, you will wear a smile on your face.

F．It's very important to review your information you have prepared.

G．It's improper to crazily search your file for your resume at this time.

7 . You may not realize that your brain is consuming energy almost all the time. Paying attention, decision-making, empathy, even meditation consume mental resources. You can’t think much at all-or laugh, or respond to danger, or dream about the future, or even remember where you put the car keys-without mental energy.

Despite its essential status, mental energy is a missing factor in most accounts of psychic(心理的)operations. It’s not even clear what mental energy is. One model sees it as one part mood state, one part cognition, and one part motivation. There’s no agreed-upon measure of or method for assessing mental energy.

Whatever mental energy turns out to be, one thing is clear: it’s something people want more of. Perhaps because we live in disquieting times that we struggle to make sense of even decisions about what to put in the garbage bring us face-to-face with existential threats-there are continuous demands on mental energy. Or maybe it’s just the price of having a big cerebral cortex(大脑皮层)in a time of information overload.

There are known ways of maintaining mental energy. Most accessible, perhaps, is the careful use of whatever mental energy individuals already have. Habits help conserve mental energy. They obviate the need to make any number of decisions so as to maintain mental energy. Good habits are even better; they additionally prevent the need to expend energy on mopping up the damage done by bad habits.

It’s also possible to generate mental energy from within by a technique known as mental contrasting. New York University psychologist Gabriele Oettingen developed mental contrasting as a way to use the energy necessary to turn goals into achievements. The technique requires imagining a future you want to attain-writing a book, say-and the best outcome of that desired goal-feelings of accomplishment and pride. The critical part is then avoiding pure fantasy by contrasting your wishes with the reality of the work necessary to attain them. The judgments people then make about how likely they are to attain the desired future are starting working, and the energy mobilization(能量调动)can be measured physically in tests of hand-grip strength(握力). Further,Oettingen finds，mental contrasting gives rise to a universal arousal state in which energy is transferrable to mental tasks wholly unrelated to the fantasy that birthed it.

1. What do we know about mental energy?

A．It’s clear that people desire more of mental energy.

B．Most threats and struggles can be addressed with mental energy.

C．It is a model with parts including mood state, cognition, and motivation.

D．Most accounts of psychic operations describe mental energy as a main factor.

2. What does the underlined word “obviate” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Meet.

B．Remove.

C．Increase.

D．Provide.

3. How does mental contrasting help generate mental energy?

A．By turning goals into achievements.

B．By transferring your energy to mental tasks.

C．By picturing your desired goal and its outcome.

D．By fantasizing about your accomplishments.

4. Which would be the best title for the text?

A．The making of mental energy.

B．The functions of mental energy.

C．Habits, good keepers of mental energy.

D．Mental contrasts, sources of mental energy.

10 . Skills you need for future work

Creativity

    1     Robots currently can’t compete with humans on creativity. The future workplace is going to demand new ways of thinking, and human creativity will be the key to it.

Emotional intelligence (EQ)

You exhibit high emotional intelligence if you have empathy (同感) and work well with others. A machine can’t easily replace a human’s ability to connect with another human being.     2    

Critical thinking

A person with critical thinking skills can suggest innovative solutions and ideas and solve complex problems using reasoning and logic.     3     After observing, someone who is a strong analytical thinker will rely on logical reasoning rather than emotion, collect the pros and cons (利与弊) of a situation and be open-minded to the best possible solution.

Technology skills

The 4th industrial revolution (革命) is fueled by technological innovations. This means that everyone will need a certain level of comfort around technology.     4     This requires some technical skills. Everyone needs to be able to understand the potential impact of new technologies on their industry, business, and job.

    5    

Due to the speed of change in the future workplace, people will have to be agile (机敏的) and able to embrace and celebrate change. Not only will our brains need to be flexible, but we’ll also need to be adaptable as we are required to adjust to shifting workplaces, expectations, and skill sets. A skill needed for the future will be the ability to see change as a chance to grow.

A．Active learning.

B．Accepting change.

C．So those who have high EQs will be in demand.

D．People should understand and respect others despite differences in culture.

E．Most employees will be required to access data and determine how to act on it.

F．The first step in critical thinking is to analyze information from various resources.

G．Human workers need to be creative to fully realize the benefits of all the new things in the future.