1 . On Jan. 3, a netizen (网民) nicknamed “Programmer Humor” published a short story on his micro-blog. It said that there was an old lady who swept nearly every inch of his Internet company. When she passed by a programmer, she took a look at the codes on the programmer’s computer and kindly reminded him, “Be careful, the stack is overfilled!”
Certainly, it is a casual and fictitious (虚构的) story made up by the micro-blogger. However, no one would have guessed that the short blog would eventually cause the first great Internet meme (网络快速爆红现象) of 2011 in China. Suddenly, the mysterious “Sweeping Old Lady” is showing up nearly everywhere and reminding professionals of their mistakes. From 8 a. m. on Jan. 5, some netizens collected stories of the “Sweeping Old Lady” and found she had appeared to give advice in 150 kinds of careers. A netizen even said he had met with a similar situation in real life.
Actually, the “Sweeping Old Lady” is not new figure, but is based on the “sweeping monk (和尚)”in Louis Cha’s famous Kung fu novel of “Tian Long Ba Bu”. The “sweeping monk” is an old monk and does the lowest class of work in Shaolin Temple, but he is actually the No. 1 master in the noel both in Kung fu and in the study of Buddhism.
The “Sweeping Old Lady” is also a great modest master. Lots of netizens wish that they could have such a lady beside them to give them precious suggestions at a key time.
Although there may be 1,000 “Sweeping Old Ladies” in 1,000 people’s minds, it cannot prevent the “Sweeping Old Lady” from becoming the most popular figure on the Internet.
“Programmer Humor” said he is just a programmer in the real world and once he saw the story about the “Sweeping Old Lady,” he wrote it down in his micro-blog because it was funny. He never knew who the original writer of the story was and never thought the story could be so popular.
1. What quality does the “Sweeping Old Lady” have?A.Honest and knowledgeable. | B.Modest and patient. |
C.Modest and knowledgeable. | D.Honest and patient. |
A.She is an old lady good at sweeping the Internet. |
B.She is just an imaginary figure created by a netizen. |
C.She is well-know as the old “sweeping monk.” |
D.She likes to give instructions everywhere. |
A.The sweeping old lady is always looking down on the people around her. |
B.We should ask sweeping old lady for advice when meeting with difficulties. |
C.People want to have a “Sweeping Old Lady” nearby to do the cleaning. |
D.We shouldn’t judge a person by his or her appearance and we’d better respect everyone. |
A.She should be praised and respected. |
B.She shouldn’t mind others’ business. |
C.She should go in for network. |
D.She shouldn’t show off before professionals. |
The first time I invited a good friend not just over to but into my house, post-vaccination, without masks, I couldn’t even wait until she walked up to my door —I ran outside to greet her, and we hugged each other in the driveway. We both held on tight, as we took turns exclaiming how good it was to see each other. We
I’ve been a huger since middle school, when my friends and I
3 . I live in the land of Disney, Hollywood and year-round sun. You may think people in such a glamorous, fun-filled place are happier than others. If so, you have some mistaken ideas about the nature of happiness.
Many intelligent people still equate happiness with fun. The truth is that fun and happiness have little or nothing in common. Fun is what we experience during an act. Happiness is what we experience after an act. It is a deeper, more abiding emotion.
Going to an amusement park or ball game, watching a movie or television, are fun activities that help us relax, temporarily forget our problems and maybe even laugh. But they do not bring happiness, because their positive effects end when the fun ends.
I have often thought that if Hollywood stars have a role to play, it is to teach us that happiness has nothing to do with fun. These rich, beautiful individuals have constant access to glamorous parties, fancy cars, expensive homes, everything that spells “happiness”. But in memoir after memoir, celebrities reveal the unhappiness hidden beneath all their fun: depression, alcoholism, drug addiction, broken marriages, troubled children and profound loneliness.
Ask a bachelor why he resists marriage even though he finds dating to be less and less satisfying. If he’s honest, he will tell you that he is afraid of making a commitment. For commitment is in fact quite painful. The single life is filled with fun, adventure and excitement. Marriage has such moments, but they are not its most distinguishing features.
Similarly, couples that choose not to have children are deciding in favor of painless fun over painful happiness. They can dine out ever they want and sleep as late as they want. Couples with infant children are lucky to get a whole night’s sleep or a three-day vacation. I don’t know any parent who would choose the word fun to describe raising children.
Understanding and accepting that true happiness has nothing to do with fun is one of the most liberating realizations we can ever come to. It liberates time: now we can devote more hours to activities that can genuinely increase our happiness. It liberates money: buying that new car or those fancy clothes that will do nothing to increase our happiness now seems pointless. And it liberates us from envy: we now understand that all those rich and glamorous people we were so sure are happy because they are always having so much fun actually may not be happy at all.
1. Which of the following is true?A.Fun creates long-lasting satisfaction. |
B.Fun provides enjoyment while pain leads to happiness. |
C.Happiness is enduring whereas fun is short-lived. |
D.Fun that is long-standing may lead to happiness. |
A.write memoir after memoir about their happiness |
B.tell the public that happiness has nothing to do with fun |
C.teach people how to enjoy their lives |
D.bring happiness to the public instead of going to glamorous parties |
A.are lucky since they can have a whole night’s sleep |
B.find fun in tucking them into bed at night |
C.find more time to play and joke with them |
D.derive happiness from their endeavor |
A.stop playing games and joking with others |
B.make the best use of his time increasing happiness |
C.give a free hand to money |
D.keep himself with his family |
How Setting a Schedule Can Make You Less Productive
It can seem like there’s never enough time - not enough for sleep and not enough for play, and not enough for exercise.
There’s a relatively new term to describe this feeling: time famine, or the sensation of having too much to do without enough time to do it.
To structure what little time we feel we have, one strategy is scheduling. The idea is that scheduling will make us more efficient. But scheduling can sometimes backfire and actually make us less productive. In one study, attendees of an academic conference were asked whether they would go to the presidential address taking place about an hour later. Some said they would, and others said they wouldn’t. Those who planned to attend the address reported the hour leading up to it felt shorter. So the presence of an upcoming activity seems to have shrunk how much time people felt they had.
Why might this happen? It’s believed that when there’s an appointment coming, we direct our attention to it, whether it’s mentally preparing for it or simply dreading it. This makes the future appointment feel more substantial (重大的); as a result, the time interval leading up to the scheduled activity feels limited and insufficient. Time famine may partly lies in our own perception of what we feel can be done with the time we have.
But you still have the same amount of time leading up to a scheduled event, so time famine shouldn’t really matter, right? But it does. This feeling by itself can influence what people decide to do. When something is scarce, people consider it more valuable and are less willing to part with it. The same is true for time. If time feels limited, people are less likely to use it - even when it’s in their best interest.
If you love scheduling and planning out your days, a trick could be to schedule events or tasks back-to-back (连续地), which leaves you with larger amounts of unscheduled time. Several uninterrupted hours of unscheduled time will feel longer, especially if there’s nothing scheduled coming.
5 . I’ve worked in the factories surrounding my hometown every summer since I graduated from high school, but making the transition between school and full-time blue-collar work during the break never gets any easier. For a student like me who considers any class before noon to be uncivilized, getting to a factory by 6 o'clock each morning is torture. My friends never seem to understand why I’m so relieved to be back at school or that my summer vacation has been anything but a vacation.
There’re few people as self-confident as a college student who had never been out in the real world. People my age always seem to overestimate the value of their time and knowledge. In fact, all the classes did not prepare me for my battles with the machine I ran in the plant, which would jam whenever I absent-mindedly put in a part backward or upside down.
The most stressful thing about blue-collar life is knowing your job could disappear overnight. Issues like downsizing and overseas relocation had always seemed distant to me until my co-workers told me that the unit I was working in would shut down within six months and move to Mexico, where people would work for 60 cents an hour.
After working 12-hour shifts in a factory, the other opinions have become only too clear. When I’m back at the university, skipping classes and turning in lazy rewrites seems too irresponsible after seeing what I would be doing without school. All the advice and public-service announcements about the value of an education that used to sound stale now ring true.
These lessons I’m learning, however valuable, are always tinged with a sense of guilt. Many people pass their lives in the places I briefly work, spending 30 years where I spend only two months at a time. “This job pays well, but it’s hell on the body,” said one co-worker. “Study hard and keep reading,” she added.
My experiences in the factories has inspired me to make the most of my college years before I enter the real world for good.
1. What does the author think of his summer days while at college?A.They brought him nothing but torture. |
B.They were no holiday for him at all. |
C.They were a relief from his hard work at school. |
D.They offered him a chance to know more people. |
A.They expect too much from the real world. | B.They have little interest in blue-collar life. |
C.They have a feeling of trust in themselves. | D.They are not confident of their future. |
A.He learned to be more practical. | B.He acquired a sense of urgency. |
C.He came to respect blue-collar workers. | D.He came to appreciate his college education. |
A.He realizes there is a great divide between his life and that of blue-collar workers. |
B.He looks down upon the mechanical work at the assembly line. |
C.He has not done much to help his co-workers at the factory. |
D.He has stayed at school just for the purpose of escaping from the real world. |
A.definitely;B.suffering;C.acceptance;D.discouraged;E. supposedly F.terms;G.optimism;H.sustained;I. punishing;J.favored;K.obstacle |
Happiness is not natural.It is a here human construct. A state of contentment(let alone happiness) is
Chasing happiness is like chasing an elusive ghost, but the positive thinking industry claims to know its secrets.Self-help was popularized by Norman Vincent Peale, a colorful American pastor,
Popular films and books are full of
The self-help genre is not a homegeneous beast, however. It is,in fact, ironie how self-help books on happiness and those on how to make it big in life are lumped together in the same bookshop shelves, given that many of the former tell us that caring too much about the latter is the main
The inevitable clash between mandatory
I believe that coming to
Why Mindset Mastery Is Vital to Your Success
The single most important factor influencing a person's success, whether personal or professional, is mindset. What you think about has a direct impact on your behavior, and not the other way around. A seemingly small thing that makes a huge difference, mindset accounts for the primary distinction between those who succeed and those who do not. And, if you are serious about achieving success in any area of your life, you must learn to master yours.
To successfully accomplish any worthwhile feat, a person must first feel capable of achieving it. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. Mindset is essential to developing healthy self-esteem. It is an important tool that affects our daily self-dialogue and strengthen our beliefs, attitudes and feelings about ourselves. So, become the gatekeeper of your mind and plant seeds of positivity rather than criticism and doubt.
Besides, mindset is critical to drive. Drive is the constant determination to achieve an important objective. It includes the process of developing a vision for success and engaging in sustained effort over time. Without drive, achieving most goals would be difficult at best. With the power to direct focus and encourage commitment to higher purpose, mindset can easily urge someone to push past comfort zones. People with drive are self-motivated and strive to accomplish more.
No matter what goal you seek to achieve, the path to your success is sure to include some challenges. When facing an extreme hardship, a person may feel justified in bowing to defeat. For them, it can feel like an easy road. If you want to get through them, however, you will need to develop thick skin and learn to lace each challenge head on. Yet, this is where mindset plays a critical role. The capacity to move through the fire, to get knocked down and not knocked out, is the proof to the power of a strong mindset.
Are you ready to command your results? If so, make a conscious decision to master your mindset and reach for greater success in the new year and beyond.
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