1 . Expectations can be tricky and this is no different in the workplace! As I listen to some Baby Boomer managers relate their frustrations about working with Generation Y( Gen Y/millennials千禧一代) workers, their two main complaints center on their perceptions of the younger generation’s work ethic and sense of entitlement. These managers express that Gen Y workers want the honors of the workplace without putting in the sacrifices to earn them .
The Baby Boomer/Generation Y Conflict is a good title that I often use to describe this new millennium divide between Boomers and Gen Y workers. This conflict comes from different life experiences and generational expectations. Can Baby Boomers and Gen Y just get along? The answer is yes! As managers understand and account for the generational differences, they can move workplace dynamics from frustration and conflict to productivity and mutual understanding. To do so, we have to first understand Boomers and Gen Y.
Born between 1943 and 1960, Boomers, grew up in an environment of social unrest where challenging authority was the norm. As noted in Generations at Work significant events of the Boomer generation include the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, the women liberation movement and the Cold War. Boomers reflect that time in many ways: they tend to think they can change the world and they want to fulfill their own individual goals and potential. They come to the workplace confident, prepared to work hard, and expecting to be rewarded for their efforts.
Born between 1980 and 2000, Gen Y workers grew up in an environment of adult attention where monitoring, recognition, and support were the norm. Significant events of their generation include technology, protective parenting, school yard violence and multiculturalism. Gen Y workers reflect this time in many ways: they are the most technically talented generation and they are the most spoiled generation. Gen Y workers come to the workplace with confidence and a continuing expectation of recognition and support independent of results.
With the understanding that Generation Y workers have significantly different life experiences and expectations, Boomer manager can adjust their own interaction style and move from frustration and conflict to mutual understanding and productivity.
Gen Y workers are used to immediate feedback on how they are doing. It comes from their digital world where information is shared frequently and quickly. Give them ongoing feedback. Be sure to balance the feedback: tell them what they did well as well as how they can improve.
Many Gen Y workers are used to multiple supportive adults in their lives who spoiled and praised them. They respond better to coaching that focuses on outcomes than a direct management style.
Boomer managers sometimes make the assumption that Gen Y workers are rude or disrespectful of authority. More often, however, Gen Y workers do not understand normal standards of workplace behavior. For example, Gen Y workers often expect immediate responses from their bosses on whatever they communicate to them. This comes from their life experiences. They have had cell phones at a young age and are masters at communicating through text messages, social media, etc. Further, they are used to calling the adults in their lives and getting immediate attention. They bring these expectations to the workplace.
Boomers are partly responsible for launching some work-and-life balance programs for Gen Y workers. These younger generations have seen the negative effects that work has produced on some Boomers and decided that they want some balance in their lives. Many do not want to work like what Boomers have done. Boomer managers can engage Gen Y workers by supporting workplace flexibility and work-and-life balance. For these younger generations, work-and-life balance is among their top working priorities.
Expectations are hard to manage and different generations have different workplace expectations！Boomer and Gen Y conflict, however, does not have to continue. When Boomer managers understand these differences, they can both adapt their own interaction style and educate others to promote organizational productivity. These generations do not have to continue to collide in the workplace!
1. What can we infer from Paragraph 1?| A．Gen Y workers always dismiss the honors as useless. |
| B．Boomers complain about the job attitude held by Gen Y. |
| C．Boomers tend to show little respect for Gen Y’s entitlement. |
| D．Gen Y workers don’t care about Boomers’ misunderstandings. |
| A．different attitudes towards accepted social norms. |
| B．the reasons for the frustrations and conflicts at work |
| C．the shared beliefs that united the two separate generations |
| D．the outcomes of different parenting on each generation |
| A．Gentle but reserved. | B．Stubborn and jealous. |
| C．Strict but generous. | D．Ambitious and confident. |
| A．Continual appreciation and assistance unaffected by results. |
| B．Good results as well as acknowledgement from bosses. |
| C．Independent advice on how to gain wide recognition. |
| D．Constant monitoring at work to boost their results. |
| A．Occasionally by post. | B．Instantly and carefully weighed. |
| C．Regularly by means of praise. | D．Directly and casually informed. |
| A．They are accustomed to the comfort of modern life |
| B．Their parents have been paying the same attention to it. |
| C．They don’t want to follow in the footsteps of Boomers. |
| D．Many sacrifices for honors have been made in the workplace. |
2 . I moved to a new city and took a job in marketing. I didn't really understand whether it
A job advertisement for a(n)
I felt a
The biggest change the job brought,
| A．messed with | B．applied to | C．relied on | D．waited for |
| A．purpose | B．convenience | C．restriction | D．entertainment |
| A．reporter | B．lawyer | C．editor | D．typist |
| A．independent | B．intelligent | C．successful | D．ambitious |
| A．courses | B．references | C．software | D．content |
| A．replacement | B．mixture | C．innovation | D．symbol |
| A．amused | B．embarrassed | C．touched | D．surprised |
| A．Naturally | B．Generally | C．Frequently | D．Finally |
| A．contrast | B．shock | C．change | D．shame |
| A．reading | B．translating | C．spelling | D．copying |
| A．Trapped | B．Hidden | C．Invested | D．Imagined |
| A．gaming | B．marketing | C．writing | D．communicating |
| A．hits | B．pages | C．profits | D．advertisements |
| A．monitors | B．sponsors | C．colleagues | D．audiences |
| A．distinction | B．understanding | C．expectation | D．recording |
| A．though | B．instead | C．otherwise | D．therefore |
| A．go into | B．leave behind | C．refer to | D．set aside |
| A．troublesome | B．creative | C．tough | D．conservative |
| A．transfer | B．rescue | C．discipline | D．further |
| A．lucky | B．popular | C．energetic | D．honest |
Imagine that work had taken over the world.It would be the centre around which the rest of life turned.Then all else would come to be subservient(服从于）to work.Then slowly,almost unconsciously,anything else-the games once played,the songs sung now,the loves fulfilled,the festivals celebrated-would come to resemble and finally become work.
And how,in this world of total work,would people think and sound and act?Everywhere they looked,they would see the pre- employed,employed,post-employed,underemployed and unemployed,and there would be no one uncounted in this census(人口普查）。Everywhere they would praise and love work wishing each other the very best for a productive day,opening their eyes to tasks and closing them only to sleep.Everywhere virtue of hard work would be championed as the means by which success is to be achieved,laziness being considered as the gravest sin(罪孽）。 Everywhere among content-providers,knowledge-brokers,collaboration architects and heads of new divisions would be heard endless chatter about workflows,about plans and benchmarks(基准）。
In this world,eating,resting,exercising,meditating and commuting(act of travelling back and forth between home and work)would all be beneficial to good health,which would,in turn,be put in the service of being more and more productive.No one would drink too much,and some would just take a little of psychedelics(迷幻剂）to enhance their work performance.
What is so disturbing about total work is not just that it causes needless human suffering but also that it removes the forms of playful contemplation(沉思）concerned with our asking,thinking and answering the most basic questions of existence.There is,to begin with,constant tension,an dominant sense of pressure associated with the thought that there's something that needs to be done, always something I'm supposed to be doing right now.Secondly,one feels guilt whenever he is not as productive as possible
The burden character of total work,then,is defined by ceaseless,restless,upsetting activity, anxiety about the future,a sense of life being overwhelming,thoughts_about missed opportunities, and guilt connected to the possibility of laziness.In short,total work necessarily causes dukkha,a Buddhist term referring to the unsatisfactory nature of a life filled with suffering.
In addition to causing dukkha,total work blocks access to higher levels of reality.For what is lost in the world of total work is art's disclosure of the beautiful,religion's glimpse of eternity(永恒）， love's pure joy,and philosophy's sense of wonderment(a feeling of pleasant surprise or admiration). All of these require silence,stillness,a wholehearted willingness to simply understand.
Passage outline | Supporting details |
Imagination | If work occupied the world,human life would else and there would also be an |
Possible occurrences | ◇Human life would be a work-sleep pattern. ◇Efforts to make you ◇People of different |
Consequences | ◇Total work not only brings about suffering but also ◇Total work tends to put people under pressure,making them feel tense and ◇Total work causes people to always feel ◇Total work leaves people little |
4 . The phrase "digital nomads(游民)" suggests joyful people who escape their daily work to travel the world, working with laptops on beaches. Relevant statistics regularly made the headline: “There will be one billion digital nomads by 2035".
I started researching digital nomads in 2015, and it took me three years to develop an understanding of what might be going on. I've met hundreds of people who think of themselves as digital nomads and many more who have dreamed about becoming one. The first thing I learned is that how people feel about the label “digital nomad" changes over time. People starting out often assume it's a permanent lifestyle, but that's rarely the case. One of my respondents explained, “I don't go around calling myself a digital nomad now. It's a bit silly." Indeed, there's still debate about whether it's a buzzword(时髦用语) or a real phenomenon. Some have even tried to figure out how “authentic" a digital nomad is, by how much they move from place to place. And there has been heated debate online about who's a real digital nomad, and who is merely self-promoting.
Most of the digital nomads I spoke to, who once had well-paid jobs, told me that they were escaping from deeply-rooted problems in the contemporary Western workplace. One of my respondents, Zeb, was working three restaurant jobs to pay the rent in San Francisco. The city sucked up all his time and money. This made him abandon his plans to sell recycled products online. Swapping expensive California for affordable South-East Asia helped Zeb to launch his own business. Lisette a skilled translator from Hamburg, Germany, is able to produce high-quality work quickly. She soon tired of the culture of presenteeism (出勤主义) at her workplace. She explained, “I'm efficient and I like to get the work done and leave on time. :Others were obviously scared to leave first, so they would sit at their desks and play with their computers."
Nearly 40% of British adults believe their jobs don't make sense. Their housing is of poor quality and too expensive, and the economies don't provide young people with wages they can live on. With these challenges, it's hardly surprising that those new to the world are already desperate to escape. Yet there are certain complexities that come with living as a citizen of the world. As Lsstte said, "Digital nomads can quickly become isolated." Digital nomads have to shoulder responsibility for almost every aspect of modern life: their mental health, daily routine, income, safety and shelter. Most digital nomads travel on tourist visas, which requires them to move regularly ---an experience my participants have described as disorienting (使人迷失方向的).
For those digital nomads who make a living as professional bloggers, it's also part of their job to sell the life-style. As a result, many try to present a stable and happy image online. Lissette explained, "There 's a danger---when my aunt sees my picture online, she thinks that everything looks so happy here on the beach. Of course, my digital identity always looks happier than my real life." But at some point, most of my research participants feel sorrow for the loss of some aspects, such as location dependence, regular work hours. or an office party. They miss some of the things they were escaping. Many nomads I've interviewed just pack up and go home without telling anyone. Being a digital nomad can be rewarding and offers an escape from the boring office hour. But it’s important that digital nomads think deeply about the importance of community and mental health in their lives. Freedom does not mean the same thing for everyone.
1. What does the author think of digital nomads?| A．Easy to get on with. | B．Difficult to define. |
| C．Extremely popular. | D．About to disappear. |
| A．Fierce competition. | B．Economic pressure. |
| C．Rigid working system. | D．Violation of personal space. |
| A．Travelling the world. | B．Enjoying more free time. |
| C．Receiving steady incomes. | D．Being free from real-life pressures. |
| A．Think twice before becoming a digital nomad. |
| B．Share your real life and job on the Internet. |
| C．Have a much more comfortable lifestyle. |
| D．Resign from a dead-end job as soon as possible. |
| A．Digital nomads: what future jobs will be like |
| B．Digital nomads: a trend that will take over the world |
| C．Digital nomads: an effective way to escape your everyday work |
| D．Digital nomads: what it's really like to work while traveling the world |
5 . You and your employer must make sure you can work off campus without a work permit before you start working. If you start working off campus but don’t meet the requirements, you may have to leave Canada.
Eligibility (资格) requirements
You can work off campus without a work permit if you meet all of these requirements:
●you’re a full-time student at a designated learning institution (DLI)
●you're enrolled in a post-secondary academic，vocational or professional training program or a secondary-level vocational training program (Quebec only)
●you’ve started studying
● you have a Social Insurance Number (SIN)
If you’re on an authorized leave from your studies, or you’re switching schools and you’re not studying, you can’t work off campus. You can only return to work once you’re back to studying.
Applying for a Social Insurance Number
●Applying at a Service Canada Centre
●Normally you must apply for a SIN in person, or have someone else apply for you in person. However, if you live in a remote area with no Service Canada Centre within 100 km, you are eligible to apply by mail. To confirm this is the case, you can use your postal code check your eligibility on the Service Canada website or call service Canada at 1-866-274-6627.
Note: There is no fee to apply for a SIN.
1. If you want to apply for a SIN, you can use the following ways except _______.| A．applying at a Service Canada Centre | B．mailing a Service Canada Centre |
| C．having others apply for you in person | D．applying on the Service Canada Centre |
| A．Travel and Tourism | B．Business and Industry |
| C．Jobs and Workplace | D．Immigration and Citizenship |
6 . Is your promotion really necessary? Many workers focus their hopes on climbing the scale of their organizations. The prospect of higher pay helps explain their ambition,but so does the greater status that comes with each successive(连续的) title.
This climb can often end in disappointment. The Peter Principle, developed by Laurence Peter for a book published in 1969, states that workers get promoted until they reach their level of incompetence. It makes perfect sense. If you are good at your job, you rise up the career ladder. Eventually, there will be a job you are not good at and at that point your career will stop.
There is another problem with chasing the promotion fantasy. Many companies have a strong tendency to promote the best sales people. Convincing others to buy goods and services is a useful skill, requiring charm and persistence. But, as the authors point out, these are not the same capabilities as the strategic planning and administrative competence needed to lead a sales team.
The research then looked at what happened after these super-salespeople were promoted Their previous sales performance was actually a negative indicator of managerial success.The sales growth of workers assigned to the star sellers was 7.5 percentage points lower than for those whose managers were previously weaker performers.
The trick to avoiding this curse is to stick to what you like doing. If you enjoy teaching, don't be a headmaster or college principal. If you like writing articles and columns, editing other people’s work may not give the same degree of satisfaction.
Another problem with pursuing frequent promotions is that it turns you into a supplicant, endlessly in search of favourable feedback from the higher-ups. This can lead you to lose control of your work-life balance. In Charles Handy's new book, 21 Letters On Life And Its Challenges, the experienced management theorist recalls an insight when working for Royal Dutch Shell,an oil giant. "In exchange for the promise of financial security and guaranteed work, I had sold my time to complete strangers with my permission for them to use that time for their own purpose,” he writes.
The higher up the ladder you go, the greater the demands are likely to be on your time.The chief executive will expect you to be available at weekends: after all, that is why you get paid the big bucks.
So that shiny promotion may not be for everyone. Beware the curse of overwork an/dissatisfaction. Some people like to devote their whole lives to their job and be at the centre of events. It is best to let them get on with it.
1. What can we learn about"The Peter Principle"?| A．People’s careers are easily spoiled by unrealistic expectations. |
| B．There are to some degree certain ceilings in people's career paths |
| C．Incompetent employees tend to have more chances to gain promotions |
| D．People don't necessarily get promoted by virtue of their competence |
| A．To put forward useful suggestions on how to get promoted |
| B．To show how many challenges we face without getting promoted |
| C．To illustrate the serious consequences of the pursuit of promotion |
| D．To prove the economic security brought along by the promotion. |
| A．The Promotion Satisfaction | B．The Promotion Curse |
| C．The Promotion Strategies | D．The Promotion Prospect |
7 . Few 17-year-old girls know how to weld (焊接)two metal pipes together. I have learned this skill in the past five years as a(n)
Every morning, I have to put on a pair of men's jeans Most of my peers are
When my peers were part-time babysitters or lifeguards, I was helping my father in the dirty bathroom or the
Honestly speaking, I felt
My dad and I not only create chaos, we also create
| A．companion | B．fellow | C．assistant | D．engineer |
| A．misfortune | B．pleasure | C．discomfort | D．injury |
| A．requires | B．reflects | C．reviews | D．recovers |
| A．promised | B．waited | C．resisted | D．insisted |
| A．eager | B．able | C．unwilling | D．impatient |
| A．carefully | B．normally | C．eventually | D．hurriedly |
| A．looked | B．moved | C．climbed | D．turned |
| A．big | B．damp | C．cool | D．warm |
| A．covered | B．separated | C．infected | D．protected |
| A．dangerous | B．interesting | C．crucial | D．ugly |
| A．fearless | B．powerless | C．effortless | D．endless |
| A．respect | B．wipe | C．tolerate | D．replace |
| A．renewable | B．responsible | C．regular | D．realistic |
| A．However | B．Therefore | C．Otherwise | D．Instead |
| A．disturbing | B．surprising | C．touching | D．warning |
| A．smooth | B．smart | C．dirty | D．violent |
| A．controlling | B．accepting | C．finishing | D．handling |
| A．excuse | B．puzzle | C．description | D．exception |
| A．memory | B．luck | C．order | D．wealth |
| A．grateful | B．ready | C．thirsty | D．sorry |
1. What will the speakers have to do?
| A．Send figures to Mr. Jones. | B．Draw up the budget for next year. |
| C．Organize an advertising campaign on Thursday. | |
| A．Wait for her in his office. | B．Go to Mr. Jones’ workplace. |
| C．Make a phone call to Mr. Jones. | |
| A．Dan. | B．Gary. | C．Mary. |
Why Should You Be an Intrapreneur at work?
Wikipedia defines intrapreneurship as “the act of behaving like an entrepreneur while working within a large organization.” In my view, intrapreneurs are people who have a strong interest in thinking outside the box, pushing new ideas forward in their companies and speaking their mind.
Taking this road isn’t usually a popular choice. It’s easier to go with the flow, collect your paycheck and call it a day. However, the benefits of being an empowered, vocal (直言不讳的) employee are huge. Becoming an intrapreneur at work can help your career and even the careers of people around you in a variety of ways.
Speaking up when something isn’t going as you think it should - even if it’s just the way a project is being approached - demonstrates confidence and forward thinking. If you’ve never viewed yourself as a leader, this might seem very daunting (使人畏缩的) at first. And many people, women especially, might even feel as though they need permission to make their voice heard. The following quote opened my eyes and shifted my perspective on this many years ago:
“The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it.”
-Roseanne Barr
Even if they disagree with you, your colleagues are more likely to respect you as a professional if you demonstrate assertiveness (自信) and independent thinking. Respect yourself and your own ideas, and others will respect you in turn.
Intrapreneurs understand that their careers are in their own hands. If they’re unhappy at work or don’t like something about their workplace or responsibilities, they don’t complain about it; they take steps to change it. Being active instead of passive about your goals and personal vision will make you happier - with your job and yourself - in the long run.
Vocal employees are more likely to produce a culture where everyone believes they can contribute to a larger conversation about the company and its future. This is the key to producing a truly collaborative (协作的) culture that fosters loyalty.
Intrapreneurs don’t think of an idea and then shelve (搁置) it because “the boss will never go for it.” They push forward and ensure their ideas have a voice. They also think creatively about finding a way to make the idea fit within an existing initiative or program. Without people who’re willing to go to bat for their ideas, nothing new and innovative is likely to happen.
Wouldn’t you rather be that person?
Why Should You Be an Intrapreneur at work? | ||
| Concept of an intrapreneur | Someone who tends to think | |
| It demonstrates leadership. | ◆ To say what you think if you find anything ◆ Hard as it is to make one’s voice heard, | |
| You’ll be more respected. | ◆ If you think | |
| You will be happier. | ◆ Facing something not ◆ Being active will bring more happiness to you. | |
| Your company will become a better place for everyone to work in. | An intrapreneur | |
| Pioneering new ideas is how innovation happens | ◆ An intrapreneur won’t come up with a new idea and then give it up. ◆ An intrapreneur will use his or her brain to ◆ It is because of the new ideas brought up by an intrapreneur that innovation appears in the company. | |
