1 . Once the choice of royal household, the watermelon has gained popularity rapidly over the years, and an online grocer reported that the fruit’s sales on the platform had increased sixfold from 2020 to 2022, resulting in increasingly high demand for watermelon quality testers.

Lee, 32, is extremely busy in the summer months. Just by holding the watermelon near his ear and knocking on the surface with his fingers, Lee says, he can tell by the sound if the fruit is ripe enough to be eaten or not. He works for a rural cooperative set up by a group of watermelon farmers, and puts thousands of watermelons through the “knock test” daily, before they are shipped to downtown warehouses where the platform sources its supplies.

The practice of knocking on watermelons to determine their ripeness can be found across cultures. In China, it is considered a national habit. Smart buyers tap on the fruit before purchase to ensure their money is well-spent. Some buyers knock on the fruit despite not knowing what the hollow sound means just to negotiate a better deal from the seller.

As fruit sales have moved to online platforms in a big way, those who make a living by checking the quality of the fruits with their fingers are much in demand. Lee is one among the growing group. Their task is to conduct knock tests on behalf of e-buyers and ensure that the fruits selected to be sold online are uniform in size and quality.

Lee, who was once an award-winning soccer player, now describes himself as a “goalkeeper for watermelons”. He quit soccer about four years ago and learned about melon-knocking as an emerging profession and decided to become an apprentice(学徒) to an experienced farmer.

After a year’s trial and error, Lee worked independently as a quality checker. “It is a highly demanding task. During the apprenticeship, I often cracked open melons to confirm my judgment. There are just no shortcuts, ” he said.

1. What is the main purpose of the text?

A．To introduce an emerging profession.

B．To describe Lee’s career transformation.

C．To discuss the importance of fruit quality testers.

D．To explain the cultural role of watermelon-knocking.

2. What has led to the high demand for watermelon quality testers?

A．The popularity of watermelons.	B．The big harvest of watermelons.
C．An increase in watermelon prices.	D．A rapid rise in online watermelon sales.

3. Why does Lee describe himself as a “goalkeeper for watermelons”?

A．He was once an award-winning soccer player.

B．He dreams of being a professional melon-knocker.

C．He was taught by an experienced watermelon farmer.

D．He ensures that customers enjoy watermelons of quality.

4. What can we learn from Lee’s words in the last paragraph?

A．Seeing is believing.	B．Every man has his value.
C．Great efforts and practice matter.	D．Excellence can be found in any profession.

2 . Career coaches provide a series of services, from helping you figure out what you want to do to exploring chances for career growth.     1     To make it all worthwhile, some helpful tips are offered here to help you choose a right coach.

Know what type of professional you need to hire.     2     In other words, they help you explore your future career possibilities and figure out what is stopping you from advancing in your development.

    3     Go into your coaching relationship with an idea of what you think you need from them, but be willing to think about their guidance on what other measures may make you more successful- for example, Business Value training to make sure you’ll be satisfied in a new job.

Try sample lessons to find the right one. Most coaches offer free sample lessons, which help you get to know their styles clearly. You may need a coach with career experiences, or you may need one who offers life advice. If you aren’t sure what you want, ask questions.     4    

Consider cost, and make contact. Coaching fees are not the same. Some coaches charge more for polishing resumes, while others include that in the overall price.     5     Once you’re clear about it, you can make your decision and communicate with the chosen coach.

A．Make sure you have a well-designed resume.

B．You need to understand what you’re receiving for the expense.

C．Career coaches also provide services for your personal training.

D．Thus, you can assess whether the coach understands your needs.

E．Engaging with a career coach requires an investment of time and money.

F．Know which services you need and be open to services you don't know you need.

G．Career coaches can help you decide how to make full use of your professional potential.

3 . Jenn Larson was just 14 years old when she took over the bookkeeping for her family’s dairy farm near Firth, Idaho. She soon saw firsthand how challenging it was for her parents, who lacked any college education, to properly manage the unpredictable earnings of farming. This started a lifelong passion for finance, and it led her down an unexpected path to becoming a role model she never had.

Yet, such ambitions ran in obvious contrast to everything familiar to her. “I didn’t have any advisors,” Larson says. “I didn’t have anyone to look up to for a professional example. All the women I associated with were stay-at-home moms.” Despite having parents who couldn’t fully understand her ambitions, Larson went to the BYU Marriott School, where she earned a business degree and focused much of her coursework on international finance.

Larson worked for seven years as a financial representative with Northwestern Mutual, advising clients on important financial decisions. Larson returned to BYU Marriott in 2008 to earn an MBA, and accepted a position in the school as an assistant professor following her graduation. For more than a decade, Larson has taught finance classes to undergraduate and MBA students. While she teaches finance, Larson tries to help her students see how mastering finance principles can also impact their personal lives.

Constantly balancing motherhood and work, Larson makes adjustments to the way she teaches. She gave birth to her first three children in three years while teaching at BYU Marriott, wondering at times if labor might start while in front of a class full of students. During the pandemic, Larson taught online classes from her dining room table while taking care of a newborn and other young children at home.

As a female instructor in the often male-dominated finance industry, Larson works to inspire other women who seek a similar path to hers. Larson became the role model that she never had — the example that a 14-year-old girl staring at a farming expense sheet couldn’t find. Now, Labor on’s children and students will always have that example.

1. What motivated Larson to major in finance?

A．Her experience of managing accounts.

B．Her strong desire for college education.

C．The high expectations from her parents.

D．The challenging labor on her dairy farm.

2. What problem did Larson face when she decided to study finance?

A．She had no one to ask for advice.

B．She was unsure about the coursework.

C．She was misunderstood by her neighbours.

D．She was unfamiliar with everything at school.

3. What does the underlined word “labor” in paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．The work of looking after a baby.

B．The process of dealing with students.

C．The process of giving birth to a baby.

D．The work of adjusting teaching methods.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Following Your Interest

B．Balancing Work and Family

C．Becoming Your Own Role Model

D．Seeking a Way to Become a Role Model

6 . It is commonly thought that productivity involves doing several things at once.     1     Newport, the author of Deep Work, describes the benefits of focusing on one thing and doing it with excellence. He explains deep work as “the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively (认知地) demanding task.”     2    

According to Newport, deep work is an invaluable skill in today’s economy. It allows you to learn difficult things quickly. Most people are distracted when they work, so if you learn to work without distraction, that gives you an advantage.     3     Developing excellence in one’s craft can be deeply satisfying.

It’s important to schedule deep work into your day. Otherwise, it’s easy to let your time fill up with shallow work. Newport recommends doing deep work as your first task of the day.     4     Shallow work does need to get done, but if you save it for later in the day, you can get your deep work done, too.

Because deep work is by definition cognitively demanding, you won’t be able to do it all day. Beginners can usually only focus on deep work for approximately an hour, and even experts have trouble going more than four hours.     5     If you really focus, you’ll be surprised at how much you accomplish in a few hours.

A．So set reasonable goals for yourself.

B．Concentration is an increasingly valuable skill.

C．That way you get it done before distractions build up.

D．But the secret to success is the opposite of multitasking.

E．Without smartphones, you fall into deep work more easily.

F．It also enables you to produce to the best of your ability and acquire new skills quickly.

G．It differs from shallow work, which consists of simple tasks performed while distracted.

7 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

If you have not heard of Yangshi Lei, the     1    (honour) name of the Lei family responsible for imperial architecture during the Qing Dynasty, then you have missed an important detail about the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace and Yuanmingyuan Garden.

All the above great cultural relics and popular tourist attractions have been included on UNESCO’s World Heritage List,     2     surprisingly enough, they are all designed by the Lei family.     3     (represent) the great achievements of science and technology in ancient China, their architectural practice covered a wide range of city planning, imperial palaces, gardens, temples, princes’ residences and schools.

Yangshi    4     (refer) to architect or architecture in Chinese. Yangshifang, the then government authority similar to the National Architecture Design Institute today, was in charge of site     5     (select), design and construction of imperial architectures.

    6     (amaze), eight generations of the Lei family were appointed director of Yangshifang consecutively from 1662 to 1911.

With so many architectural    7     (work) on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List, the Lei Family is    8     unique phenomenon in the architectural history throughout the world. Apart from the grand architectures, China has another treasure left by the Lei family - design drafts. In the National Library of China alone, there     9     (be) up to 20,000 architectural design drafts, each of     10     plays an important role in the research of the history of the Qing Dynasty and how architecture developed at the time.

8 . The pandemic has given a big push to all forms of digital communication. A workplace dominated by time on screens may seem bound to favor newer, faster and more visual ways of transmitting information. But an old form of communication — writing — is also flourishing (蓬勃).

The value of writing is highly valued in management thinking. “The discipline of writing something down is the first step towards making it happen, ” said Lee Iacocca, a giant of the American car industry. Jeff Bezos banned slides from meetings of senior Amazon executives (主管) back in 2004, in favor of well-structured memos (备忘录).

The move to remote working has strengthened the value of writing. When tasks are being handed off to colleagues in other locations, comprehensive documentation is crucial. When new employees start work on something, they want the back story. When old hands depart an organization, they should leave knowledge behind.

Software developers have already worked out the value of the written words. A research programme from Google into the ingredients of successful technology projects found that teams with high quality documentation deliver software faster and more reliably. Gitlab, a code hosting platform whose workforce is wholly remote, describes its secret of success as “textual communication”.

The deep thought and the discipline required by writing are helpful in other contexts, too. “Brain writing“ is a brain storming technique, used by Slack among others, in which participants are given time to put down their ideas before discussion begins.

Writing is not always the best way to communicate in the workplace. Video is more memorable; a phone call is quicker; even PowerPoint has its place. But for the structured thought it demands, and the ease with which it can be shared and edited, the written words are made for remote work and will flourish in the post-pandemic workplace.

1. Why are Lee Iacocca and Jeff Bezos mentioned in paragraph 2?

A．To support an idea.

B．To introduce a topic.

C．To draw a conclusion.

D．To make a comment.

2. Which of the following demonstrates the power of writing?

A．The tasks are handed over quickly by telephone.

B．An expert colleague gives an experience-sharing lecture.

C．The new comer broadens his company knowledge through the Internet.

D．A code hosting platform succeeds mainly by textual communication.

3. What is the author’s tone in the last paragraph?

A．Doubtful.

B．Objective.

C．Grateful.

D．Humorous.

4. What is the most suitable title for the text?

A．A phone call or a letter? Think twice

B．Video conference will fade away in new situations

C．Writing will flourish in the post-pandemic workplace

D．Digital information or written messages? It depends

10 . Recent research reveals that the adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) by companies in the US has a disproportionate impact on women. According to a recent analysis, approximately 79% of the jobs lost to AI were held by women. This difference can be due to several factors.

Women are more likely to work in industries that are highly be influenced by automation, such as retail, hospitality, and administrative support. These sectors often involve repetitive tasks that can be easily automated by AI technologies. Consequently, women employed in these industries face a higher risk of job displacement.

Gender biases in AI algorithms (运算法则) can worsen the situation for women. AI systems are trained on historical data, which may reflect existing gender biases in hiring and promotion practices. This can result in biased decision-making during recruitment and performance evaluations, putting women at a disadvantage in the workplace.

The lack of diversity in the development of AI technologies contributes to the gender difference. The underrepresentation (代表名额不足) of women in the field of AI means that their perspectives and experiences are not adequately considered during the design and development process. As a result, AI systems may not fully understand or cater to the needs of women, continuously leading to gender inequalities.

To address these challenges, it is crucial to prioritize diversity and inclusion in the development and deployment of AI technologies. This involves increasing the representation of women in AI-related fields and ensuring diverse perspectives are considered during the design and testing phases. Additionally, companies should actively work towards eliminating gender biases in AI algorithms and regularly assess their impact on different demographic groups.

In conclusion, although men currently dominate the labor market, women bear a disproportionate burden due to the adoption of generative AI. The combination of industry composition, gender biases in algorithms, and lack of diversity in AI development contribute to this disparity. To relieve these effects, it is essential to prioritize diversity and inclusion in AI development and address gender biases in algorithms. Only through these efforts can we ensure that the benefits of AI are distributed equitably among all individuals, regardless of gender.

1. Why are women in the US workforce more influenced by the adoption of generative AI than men?

A．Women are less adaptable to technological changes.

B．Women have a lower level of education compared to men.

C．Women are generally less skilled in technology and AI-related fields.

D．Women are more likely to work in industries that are highly automatable.

2. Which of the following strategies can reduce the potential negative impact on women?

A．Increasing gender proportion in AI development teams.

B．Providing targeted training and programs for women and giving them more chances in AI-related fields.

C．Encouraging women to pursue careers in non-automatable industries.

D．Offering financial supports to companies that prioritize gender diversity in AI programmes.

3. Why is it important to prioritize diversity and inclusion in AI development?

A．It ensures equal opportunities for women in the workforce.

B．It promotes innovation and creativity in AI solutions.

C．It reduces the risk of biased algorithms that perpetuate gender inequalities.

D．It improves the overall performance and effectiveness of AI systems.

4. What is the main idea of the article?

A．The impact of AI on job losses in the US.

B．The role of women in AI-related fields.

C．Gender biases in AI algorithms and their effects on women.

D．Solutions to address challenges faced by women due to generative AI.