1 .

Take Off with Historic Hiring Growth

A message from Kate Gebo

Welcome aboard!

We are so happy to have you fly with us. I’m sure you’ve thought about United as a way to travel, and with over 95,000 employees and growing, our company is also the center for rewarding careers.

I could not be prouder to lead Human Resources at United during this exciting time for our company, while we’re building the biggest and best airline in the history of aviation. Earlier this year, we announced that we are on track to hire at least 15,000 new employees by the end of this year.

When people think of career opportunities at United, they often think of being a pilot or flight attendant. In reality, our organization has a wide variety of roles in addition to our fantastic pilots and flight attendants, with jobs and functions to keep our airports running and our planes flying.   

Whether it’s for operational roles, such as ramp service employees, customer service representatives, and aircraft technicians, or for corporate roles in human resources, digital technology, and social media, we’re hiring across every function of the airline, seeking strong talent that will take us to new heights.

A role at United is not just a job; it’s a career. Many of our employees have taken on new roles in different departments throughout their tenure (聘用期), which we support to develop and invest in our workforce. In the past seven years, more than 1,500 frontline employees were promoted to management roles, and 78 % of our senior leaders were promoted internally.

Beyond the traditional career paths, we’re proud to create new paths to help our talent pipelines fulfill some of the industry’s most critical job functions. Aviate, our pilot career development program, offers aspiring and established pilots a path to the United flight deck. Calibrate is our full-time, paid apprenticeship program for those wanting to go into aircraft maintenance and other technical operational roles. Our newly launched Innovate program helps provide the skills and experiences needed to succeed in a technology career at United.

We’re hiring from coast to coast, at our seven major hubs and across a broad range of positions. If you’re ready to join me and 95,000 of the industry’s best and brightest at United, I encourage you to visit careers.united.com today to see what opportunities await you. Your career is cleared for takeoff.

United with you,

Kate Gebo

Executive Vice President,

Human Resources and Labor Relations

1. What is the main purpose of this passage?

A．Guarantee to provide first-class customer service.

B．Promote frontline employees to management roles.

C．Introduce jobs available in some departments of United.

D．Advertise for United to enroll pilots and flight attendants.

2. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Visit careers.united.com, and you can see positions available.

B．Employees at United can change their jobs with interest.

C．Employees have to keep their positions throughout their tenure.

D．The United is making efforts to be the biggest and best airline.

3. Which is most suitable for those wanting to be technicians?

A．The full-time, paid apprenticeship program.	B．The traditional United career path.
C．The newly launched Innovate program.	D．The new paths for talent pipelines.

3 . Business has slowed, layoffs mount, but executive pay continues to roar—at least so far. Business Week’s annual survey finds that chief executive officers (CEOs) at 365 of the largest US companies got compensation last year averaging $3.1 million—up l.3 percent from 1994.

Why are the top bosses getting an estimated 485 times the pay of a typical factory worker? That is up from 475 times in 1999 and a mere 42 times in 1980. One reason may be what experts call the “Lake Wobegon effect”. Corporate boards tend to consider that “all CEOs are above average”—a play on Garrison Keillor’s famous line in his public radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, that all the town’s children are “above average”. Consultants provide boards with surveys of corporate CEO compensation. Since directors are reluctant to regard their CEOs as below average, the compensation committees of boards tend to set pay at an above-average level. The result: Pay levels get raised.

Defenders of lavish CEO pay argue there is such a strong demand for experienced CEOs that the free market forces their pay up. They further maintain most boards structure pay packages to reflect an executive’s performance. They get paid more if their companies and their stock do well. So companies with high-paid CEOs generate great wealth for their shareholders.

But the supposed cream-of-the-crop executives did surprisingly poorly for their shareholders in 1999, says Scott Klinger, author of this report by a Boston-based Organization United for a Fair Economy. If an investor had put $10,000 apiece at the end of 1999 into the stock of those companies with the 10 highest-paid CEOs, by year-end 2000 the investment would have shrunk to $8.132. If $10,000 had been put into the Standard & Poor’s 500 stocks, it would have been worth $9,090. To Mr. Klinger, these findings suggest that the theory that one person, the CEO, is responsible for creating most of a corporation’s value is dead wrong. “It takes many employees to make a corporation profitable.”

With profits down, corporate boards may make more effort to tame executive compensation. And executives are making greater efforts to avoid pay cut. Since CEOs, seeing their options “under water” or worthless because of falling stock prices, are seeking more pay in cash or in restricted stock.

1. What could be implied by “Lake Wobegon effect” according to the passage?

A．It is a fact that executives’ income must increases with time

B．When businesses have slowed, there must be more layoffs.

C．People tend to think themselves more significant than others.

D．Directors are reluctant to regard their CEOs as below average

2. What is the major cause of the CEO’s pay rise according to paragraph two?

A．All CEOs are above the average and they deserve an ever-rising pay.

B．Garrison Keillor is successful in promoting CEOs in A Prairie Home Companion.

C．Directors have a persistent, positive idea of the overall ability of the CEOs.

D．A top boss should earn hundreds of times more than a typical worker.

3. Concerning Scott Klinger’s idea or description, which of the following is probably correct?

A．CEOs alone are not able to make a company prosperous.

B．All investors in the stock market will suffer from financial loss.

C．He had been an outstanding shareholder until 1999.

D．He has offered valuable advice on how to prosper a company.

4. The underlined part “cream-of-the-crop" is closest in meaning to ________.

A．delicious

B．enterprising

C．ablest

D．greedy

4 . BANK OF BARODA

INDIA’S INTERNATIONAL BANK

Bank of Baroda, a principal India Public Sector Bank having Global presence in 25 countries and operating in UK for 60 years requires consultants for carrying out administrative jobs on a fixed term contract basis for our London branches and offices.

The candidates should possess at least a degree and basic accounting knowledge.

They should be familiar with computer — expert in MS Office, use of Internet with good communication skills, flexible in approach, self-motivated, able to work on their own initiatives as well as in teams.

Initial salary payable (all inclusive annually) will be approximately £17,000 — for consultants.

Applicants possessing the above and having the right to live and work in UK who are able to provide satisfactory references from two UK residents/employers will be considered for the position.To apply, please send your CV along with passport size photograph at htm.nk@bankofbaroda.com to reach on or before 15 February 2018

1. Which of the following is true of Bank of Baroda?

A．It has a recorded of 60 years.

B．It is enrolling consultants for London branches.

C．It is second to none India Public Sector Banks.

D．It needs office administrators who can work outside UK

2. As a qualified candidate, you are supposed to ________.

A．major in Accounting

B．be good at working with others

C．be critical in taking new approaches

D．have a basic knowledge of MS Office

3. To increase the chances of getting this position, you’d better _________.

A．have two British citizens recommend you

B．send your CV by the end of February, 2018

C．email your CV alone at htm.uk@bankofbaroda.com

D．be an overseas graduate with a passport that is still valid

5 . Since its founding in 1923, Yellow Corporation has been a leader in the transportation industry, using trucks to transport goods between points in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. For decades, Yellow achieved success by concentrating virtually all of its attention on increasing efficiency at every turn. Yellow has long been a master at ensuring that trucks are full before they have a warehouse, and it has also developed precisely time delivery schedules.

Unfortunately, Yellow eventually fell victim to its own success. As operational efficiency increased, customer service received less and less attention, and before long, newer and more responsive companies were taking away the firm’s customers. Accompanying this problem was the fact that the customers most likely to seek a more service-oriented transportation provider were also the ones willing to pay high prices for the extra service. As a result, Yellow’s financial performance began to decline, slowly at first, but then more dramatically. Naturally, the decline in profit led to even worse across-the-board service.

To help turn Yellow around, the board of directors offered Bill Zollars the position of CEO. Already a highly respected manager, Zollars was attracted by the opportunity to revitalize the carrier. Zollars quickly learned that organizational change at Yellow would have to be fundamental. Over a period of decades, people throughout the company were often willing to do only the minimal amount necessary to get their jobs done. Zollars knew that he had to alter the attitudes, behavior, and performance of 30,000 employees. He began by improving communication. The CEO spent 18 months traveling to several hundred locations, and at each site, he talked face-to-face with customers and with employees at all levels.   He asked for opinions and provided his own message---namely, that enhanced customer service was to become the firm’s new focus.

Zollars’s plan consisted of more than promises and motivational speeches. While previous leaders often didn’t focus on problems and refused to reveal information about the firm’s   performance, Zollars openly acknowledged the company’s defect rate---the percentage of shipments that were late, wrong, or damaged. Employees were shocked to find that the rate was 40 percent, but that knowledge was necessary to enhance motivation and set a benchmark for improvement. Zollars also instituted the company’s first ongoing program for surveying customer satisfaction, and the results were reported openly throughout the company. Zollars made a real effort to listen to employees, gave them authority to make decisions, and developed an enviable reputation for honesty and commitment. “If people doing the work don’t believe what’s coming from the leadership,” says Zollars, “it doesn’t get implemented.”

1. What caused Yellow Corporation’s financial performance to decline?

A．There was suddenly some difficulty finding enough warehouses.

B．Fewer customers were willing to pay high prices for extra services.

C．More transportation providers emerged with the market expanding.

D．It put more emphasis on operational efficiency than on customer service.

2. What did Zollars do to facilitate the fundamental changes in Yellow Corporation?

A．He communicated with customers in person.

B．He employed some highly respected managers.

C．He reevaluated all the employee’s performance.

D．He estimated the minimal amount of job each should do.

3. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that it was ______ that contributed to the success of Zollars’s plan.

A．the precise calculation of the company’s defect rate

B．the ongoing survey of the employers’ satisfaction

C．the improvement of the leadership’s confidence

D．the revelation of information to the employees

4. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．The CEOs of Yellow Corporation

B．The Future at Yellow Corporation

C．The Success of Yellow Corporation

D．The Turnaround at Yellow Corporation

6 . China: Making Graduates Employable

Universities in China are facing similar demands to improve the employability of their graduates as those in the UK, new research among employers has revealed.     1     In Britain, the government has set up its own internship scheme to help graduates find work during the recession.

But what are the skills employers want and how much do they differ between the two nations?     2     The partnerships are funded by the government through the British Council under the second phase of the Prime Minister’s Initiative for International Education. In this scheme, universities are encouraged to exchange ideas and develop programmes aimed at improving the entrepreneurship and employability of graduates. “We found employers in both countries put a great emphasis on leadership qualities and initiative – things that are learned through the activities students engage in and the responsibilities they take on during their time at university,” Heffernan told a conference in London organized by the council, which is inviting proposals for 10 new UK-China partnerships.

    3    

Generally, it includes family and friends and links with people working in other companies, voluntary organizations, or leisure activities. The Chinese also tend to take more time building up relationships with people before getting down to business. The University of Plymouth and its partner China Agricultural University in Beijing are working to determine the skills most likely to lead to employability and successful careers. Staff at both universities have conducted face-to-face and telephone interviews with local employers of graduates in three areas, marketing, human resources and finance-accounting.

    4     In the UK they chose communication including written and verbal communication, networking skills and foreign language ability - as the top priority followed by the ability to work in a team.

“Students in China generally lose touch with society and they need help to understand how companies work and what is involved in the different jobs and professions. They know very little outside the campus and that is where I think they differ from students in the UK. We can share our experiences.”

A．“However, there are some clear differences in the emphasis put on different attributes, such as the value placed by the Chinese on ‘guanxi’, the network of connections that a person has built up.” he said.

B．Employers in both countries valued the personal skills of graduates seeking work in human resources.

C．The Chinese employers said the person who could complete a job and get things done was highly prized

D．That is the question Dr. Troy Heffernan, a senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Plymouth, set out to answer through his involvement in one of 13 partnerships between institutions in the UK and China.

E．A draft of a report to be published later this year shows marketing executives in both countries put a high emphasis on good communication skills.

F．The Chinese government issued a circular earlier this year urging universities and colleges to strengthen their efforts in preparing students for the workplace.

7 . Brief Introduction of 21st Century English Education Media

China Daily launched the first 21st Century newspaper on May 5, 1993 as an English education weekly for Chinese students to learn English. Today, the brand consists of both print and digital platform, through which it constantly provides quality content. The 21st Century brands involve print media, new media, teaching research, brand activities and research training, establishing it as China’s leading brand in English education.

We Are Looking For: native English-speaking sub-editor

Job Description:

1) copy-editing stories written by staff and from other media sources

2) writing headlines, checking and contributing ideas for story selection and writing

3) helping production and development of other editorial materials - producing written content, recording audio/video material, hosting new media programs, etc.

Job Requirements:

1) a university degree (bachelor's or master's) in journalism with over two years' work experience in either journalism or teaching English.

2) skillful at writing content, including headlines.

3) the capability to work to a deadline in a team atmosphere.

Location: Beijing

Benefit package:

1) salary with bonus with a 12-month contract renewed annually

2) free on-site accommodation with water, gas and electricity all covered

3) roundtrip airfare

4) medical insurance

5) paid vacations, free workday meals, etc.

To apply, please send your resume and article samples (particularly pieces on culture, arts, entertainment, sports and science) to: wangru@_______stcentury.com.cn

1. Which of the following about 21^stCentury English Education Media is NOT true?

A．The 21st Century newspaper is aimed at helping Chinese students learn English.

B．The 21st Century newspaper is published every month.

C．We can either read the print or the digital version of the newspaper.

D．It plays an important role in China’s English education.

2. The job of the native English-speaking sub-editor involves the following EXCEPT ________.

A．teaching Chinese students English.

B．editing the stories written by others.

C．propose ideas to story selection and writing.

D．helping with the work of other editorial materials.

3. If one wants to apply for this job, he/she ________.

A．should have a university degree in language education.

B．doesn’t need to have related working experience.

C．should include one of his/her articles in the application e-mail.

D．doesn’t need to have the ability to cooperate.

9 . How to improve efficiency when working at home？

Distinguish between work and home mode

One of the biggest merits about working from home-slowly moving from bed to the sofa five minutes before you start-can also be your biggest challenge, says Eyre-White.

Don't forget that you are there to work--    1     .“Switch from home to work mode，she says, by having something you physically do to“flip the switch".Maybe it's walking round the block, making a special kind of tea, or lighting a candle at your desk. It doesn't matter what it is but do it without fail to create a strong association in your mind，”she says.

Be realistic about what you can achieve

“A wide, open day working from home can feel full of possibilities. l45 things on the to do list？No problem！Don't fall into the trap of being over-ambitious，”says Eyre-White. Instead, she recommends being realistic and then possibly achieving more than you set out to；and feeling satisfied, rather than feeling disappointed you didn't do everything.

She suggests choosing three to five things to do and aim to get the majority done before lunch.“    2     .”she recommends.

Work in short bursts

In the office your day is broken up by everything from meetings to water-cooler chats, lunch breaks and even toilet breaks, but when you are sat at home on your own with no face-to-face interaction planned it can be easy to just work for long, unbroken periods.

“    3     . Although this can be frustrating，they divide the day up and create natural chunks of time，explains Eyre-White. “In contrast, a day at home can be very unstructured.” In order to be productive, she recommends imposing stricture on yourself. For example, working in 45-60 minute chunks of focused work followed by a short break.“This can be an effective way to break the day up and maintain your concentration levels，”she says.

Manage distractions

Being in an office gives us a limited number of ways to get distracted but when you start working in a new environment（especially a very familiar one）it can be easy to let yourself get distracted.

“    4     .” says Byre-White. “So proactively manage things which might interrupt your focus.” She explains：“Keep them limited to short breaks in between chunks of focused work.A change of scene is all we need to give our brain a break, and it’s the perfect time to put a load of washing on or empty the dishwasher.”

A．Unless you're self-isolating，working from home shouldn't mean that you don't leave the house at all or don't see anyone for two weeks.

B．Leave your desk for lunch and take advantage of being at home to walk the dog and blow the cobwebs away for half an hour in the afternoon.

C．There are a lot of potential distractions when we work from home.

D．We all slow down in the mid-afternoon and having a lot of your list under your belt will give you the motivation to power through.

E．When we're in the office our day is normally broken up with meetings.

F．So set yourself up the right way，get dressed and brush your teeth at the start of the day rather than sitting in your pajamas for eight hours.

10 . Too much work, too little money and not enough opportunity for promotion, .or growth are stressing us out on the job, according to a new survey from the American Psychological Association.

We all know that stress reduces all of the things that help productivity— mental clarity (清晰), short-term memory, decision-making and moods. One-third of employees experience lasting stress related to work, the survey found. Fifty-four percent of the 1,501 employed adults surveyed say they feel they are paid too little for their contributions, and 61% said their jobs don’t offer adequate opportunities to advance. Only half of the adults surveyed said they feel valued at work.

Besides, women’s stress is rising as families rely more on women’s earnings. An employed wife’s contribution to family earnings has reached, on average, 47% since 2009, so women feel especially stuck and tense. Thirty-two percent of women said their employers don’t provide sufficient opportunities for internal advancement, compared with 30% of men. Women are more likely to feel tense during a typical workday, reporting more often that their employer doesn’t appreciate what they do.

Physically, the body responds to stress by secreting hormones into the bloodstream that stimulate accelerated (加速的) heart rate and breathing and tensing of muscles. People who experience stress as a positive often have increased blood flow to the brain, muscles and limbs, similar to the effects of aerobic exercise. Those who feel frightened or threatened, however, often have an unstable heart rate and constricting wood vessels (血管). Their blood pressure rises and hands and feet may grow cold. They may become agitated, speak more loudly or experience errors in judgment.

Emotional responses to stress often divide along gender lines, with men more likely to have a “fight or flight” reaction while women are more likely to have a tend and befriend” response, seeking comfort in relationships and care of loved ones, according to the research.

Women tend to “internalize”, which contributes to their stress. Many women hesitate to speak up for themselves or challenge behavior they see as unfair. Kay Keaney, interior designer, 40, rose fast at a California medical group, taking on responsibility for interior and facility planning. With her 60-hour workweeks, plus early-morning and late-night meetings and a 1.5-hour commute each way, she seldom had time with her two small children. Whether stuck in traffic on her way to a 6 p.m. pickup at day care, or tom between her children and urgent work emails, “I just wanted to crawl out of my skin,” she says. “I was overwhelmed.” Yet she hesitated to complain. “There was too much work to be done, and playing the Mommy card was bad form.” But the experts suggest that women should give themselves a voice.

1. The underlined word “agitated” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ________.

A．fearful

B．optimistic

C．anxious

D．ambitious

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Everyone has a painful sense of being under-appreciated or under-paid.

B．An increasing number of people feel satisfied with work-life balance.

C．An improving job market is making some people’s work lives easier.

D．Most women have higher levels of work stress than the opposite sex.

3. We can learn from the example of Kay Keaney that ________.

A．relieving oneself from stress involves being frank as well as brave

B．experiencing symptoms of lasting stress causes communication barriers

C．seeking comfort from friends or relatives has little to do with office stress

D．being challenged or devalued by others leads to numerous health problems

4. What is most probably to be discussed in the following paragraphs?

A．Other aspects in life affected by stress in work.

B．Tips to help women handle their hard times properly.

C．Examples to show the different gender responses to stress.

D．Reasons why people are likely to feel tense when working.