1 . Looking for a career change? Check out these unconventional options!
The Waterslide Tester

When the pool where he worked as a lifeguard was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Guillaume Pop took jobs at various other pools that were virtually deserted. In one video on the social platform, he pretended to be a “professional waterslide tester”. Unexpectedly, Pop became a social media sensation. He was then hired to “test” slides and other facilities at water parks and swimming pools all over France. “It’s the best job in the world,” declares Pop, whose videos have received 80 million views. “I’m not behind a desk. I’m active and outside in the sun. In fact, all the children tell me they want to be a waterslide tester!”

The Reindeer Herder

Finnish Lapland is home to around 200,000 wild reindeer. Anne Ollila, one of the 4,000 owners of these animals, works in this harsh but beautiful region with her big family. She gave up her job as a sociology researcher in 2010 to devote herself to reindeer herding full time. In summer, Ollila sleeps during the day and walks up to 12 miles a night through marsh and forest, enduring all kinds of insects. In deepest winter there is little daylight. Grasslands are frozen and the reindeer move into the forest for protection. “Life here isn’t easy but it’s how nature works,” says Ollila, “I love the environment, the animals and the freedom. Also, I have a sense of belonging to something bigger than me, to the chain of life through the generations.”

The Zombie Trainer

Stevie Douglas, a 52-year-old Scot, has taught people how to behave like all varieties of the undead. A big fan of horror movies, Douglas noticed the zombies he saw in films were often unconvincing. “Their movement was poor and I thought I could do better.” So, in 2012, he formed ScareScotland to provide zombies for films and events such as horror conventions. A year later they started a zombie training program, which took off when they received a request for 300 zombies for a three-week-long interactive production. “What we do is very specific.” says Douglas. Many people enjoy being frightened, and he’s happy to oblige them.

1. What do the three people introduced in the passage above have in common?

A．Their jobs are dangerous, unstable and low-paid.

B．Their jobs are well received throughout the world.

C．They have great passion and pride in what they do.

D．They need professional qualifications to do their job.

2. What does Guillaume Pop like most about his job?

A．It has a sense of freedom.	B．It is full of vigor and energy.
C．It is what he has been doing for decades.	D．It satisfies people’s wishes to be frightened.

3. Who is most probably interested in this passage?

A．Employees who are considering switching jobs.

B．Students who are applying for ideal universities.

C．Children who are interested in unusual activities.

D．Graduates who are deciding on their essay topics.

2 . At first the question was how quickly people would get back to the office. Then it was whether they would ever return. The last three years has introduced in a major change in white-collar working patterns. The office is not dead but many professionals have settled into a hybrid (混合的) arrangement of some office days and some remote days.

Hybrid working has much to recommend: flexibility for employees, periods of concentration at home, bursts of cooperation in the office. A new paper from Harvard Business School describes an experiment in which workers at BRAC, a non-profit organisation in Britain, were randomly assigned to three groups, each spending different amounts of time working from home. The intermediate (中等的) group, who spent between 23% and 40% of their time in the office, performed best on various performance measures.

But a shift on this large scale is bound to raise tricky issues. In workplaces that have moved to hybrid work, there are still plenty of open questions. One is how to handle the impact of less time in the office for new joiners and younger workers. Research by Emma Harrington of the University of Iowa shows that software engineers receive more feedback on their code when the team sits next to each other in the office, especially new engineers. According to Nicholas Bloom of Stanford University, making new employees spend more time in the office can be a good way of integrating them into company culture and improving their competence. And these younger employees were most likely to quit when everyone was forced to go remote.

A second question concerns how strictly to enforce attendance on days when teams are meant to be in the office. An agreement holds that there should be agreed “anchor days” on which all the people come to work in the office; since the idea is to spend time together, as many people as possible should be there. But one person on the team might have moved somewhere else; someone else might have asked to stay home to let the repairer in. In practice, therefore, hybrid working still often means a mixture of people on screen and people in the office.

Other questions exist. How to define performance measures so managers do not spend time worrying about lazy workers at home? Do you require company-wide anchor days or team-level ones? The era of hybrid working is only just beginning, so it will take time for answers to emerge. But if there is a message from this first full year of hybrid working, it is that flexibility does not mean a free-for-all.

1. How can in-office work help new employees?

A．Giving them more feedback from senior employees.

B．Getting them to catch up with the work schedule.

C．Saving them the cost of staying at home.

D．Helping them feel part of the company.

2. What makes it difficult to enforce attendance on anchor days?

A．Young workers prefer working on screen.

B．Engineers object to the idea of anchor days.

C．Office workers can’t take a day off as expected.

D．Employees have various private matters to address.

3. Which of the following statements is the author most likely to agree with?

A．It is necessary to grant employees full autonomous rights.

B．Employers should go with the flow because new questions will emerge.

C．Allowing flexibility in work arrangements does not mean having no rules.

D．It is no easy job to arrange either company-wide or team-level anchor days.

4. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．Hybrid working is outdated after workers’ return.

B．There are some open questions of hybrid working.

C．A shift of working patterns calls for hybrid working.

D．Fixed restrictions should be applied to hybrid working.

3 .

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.

4 . Young Africans are logging in and clocking on

His home is Bungoma, a small town in western Kenya, but his workplace is the world. Kevin, who asks that his real name be masked to protect his credibility, has written about offices in China without ever going there. He has reviewed home-security systems he has never seen.

    1    Freelances (自由职业者) on online platforms can reach clients around the world, mastering skills from blogging 10 web design. Optimists hope that online work can set Africa on the path of service-led growth dominated by countries such as India and the Philippines. Pessimists worry such work will breed injustices.

Some are attracted to the work by the flexibility and pay; others because they cannot find a traditional job. There are advocates for freelancing.    2    “Now everyone is speaking about digital jobs,” he says. In Kenya the government’s Ajira program runs support centers that aim to link a million Kenyans to online platforms and make the country a “digital center”.

Freelances, like the wider outsourcing (外包) industry, “are fighting against a reputation of Africa as somewhere where you would not expect digital work to take place,” says Mohammad Amir Anwar of the University of Edinburgh, who co-wrote a book about Africa’s digital workforce. Some African freelances use virtual private networks and fake names to pretend they are somewhere else.    3    

The available data suggest that it will take time for Africa to become a continent of digital freelances. In 2019, Mr. Anwar and colleagues estimated that there were 120,000 African workers on Upwork, the continent’s most popular platform—fewer than in the Philippines. Most did not seem to be making any money.

Outsourcing practices have also sparked moral questions. Al Astra (a live-streaming company) content-moderation center in Kenya run by Sama (an outsourcing firm), workers told journalists that they were mistreated and misled about the nature of their work.    4    Finally, Sama discontinued its services for Astra this year.

Technological change bounces in unpredictable directions. Could Al tools, previously trained by Kenyan workers, one day make these freelances such as Kevin unnecessary?

A．Africa’s digital workers are re-mapping the old geographies of labor.

B．The internet creates new kinds of work, without any patterns of inequality.

C．A former employee has taken both companies to court, accusing them of forced labor.

D．Typical tasks include data entry, online marketing, or even writing essays for lazy students.

E．Baraka Mafole, a student in Tanzania, organizes training events for navigating online platforms.

F．Power cuts and competition for part-time jobs from cheaper workers in Asia and beyond create other challenges.

5 . Many questions can be expected in advance and it’s wise to have some well-constructed answers that you can tailor more closely on the day. It’s sensible to have a number of key phrases to use. Remember to always try and make your answers positive.

Q1: Tell me about yourself. (The interviewer is really saying “I want to hear you talk.”)

A1: This is just to get things started, but it is a very common question. Write a script, and practice it so that it sounds natural. Spend a maximum of four minutes describing your qualifications, career history and your range of skills. Emphasize those skills that are relevant to the job on offer.

Q2: What have been your achievements to date? (The interviewer is saying “Are you an achiever?”)

A2: Again, this is a common question, so be prepared. Select an achievement that is experience-related and fairly recent. Identify skills you used in this achievement and say what the results were.

Q3: What do you like about your present job? (The interviewer is really trying to find out whether you will enjoy the things the new job has to offer.)

A3: This is a straightforward question. All you have to make sure is that your ‘likes’ correspond to the skills etc. required for the job on offer. Be positive, describe your job as interesting and diverse, but do not overdo it. After all, you are leaving?

Q4: What are your strengths? (The interviewer simply wants a straightforward answer as to what you are good at.)

A4: This is the one question that you are definitely going to get, so there is no excuse for being unprepared. Concentrate on discussing your main strengths. List three or four explanations of how they could benefit the employer. Strengths to consider include technical proficiency; ability to learn quickly; determination to succeed; positive attitude; your ability to relate to people and achieve a common goal. You may be asked to give examples of the above, so be prepared.

Q5: Tell me about the most difficult situation you’ve had to face and how you handled it.

(The interview is really trying to find out your definition of “difficult” and whether you can show a logical approach to problem solving using your initiative.)

A5: This can be a trap! To avoid it, select a difficult work situation that was not caused by you and which can be quickly explained in a few sentences. Explain how you defined the problem, what the options were, why you selected the one you did and what the outcome was. Always end on a positive note.

1. The passage is mainly intended to ________.

A．highlight the importance of looking positive in an interview

B．give suggestions on how to answer interview questions

C．provide some sample answers to interview questions

D．illustrate how to look confident in an interview

2. When asked about what you think of your present job, you’d better ________.

A．talk about what you dislike about it

B．comment positively on your colleagues

C．relates it to the job you are applying for

D．describe how interesting it is as far as possible

3. If an interviewer wants to know whether you can solve a problem properly, what will he ask?

A．Tell me about yourself?

B．Tell me about your strengths?

C．What have been your achievements to date?

D．How did you handle the most difficult situation?

6 . Life is like a roller coaster; every point has ups and downs. The truly victorious people stay committed to their broad goals even in unplanned circumstances. One true example of such people comes from a woman passionate about spreading happiness and helping others. Nicole Thornes is a mother, a former police officer, and now serving society as a death doula.

Believing small efforts could comfort individuals and unite society, Nicole thought a police officer had the opportunity to prevent crime, bring justice and create a better society for everyone. She was determined to become a police officer to protect life and bring prosperity. All her passion and motivation drove her to pursue a Criminal Justice degree to become a police officer.

Although she became a mother during her studies, she didn’t give up on her passion. Nicole could have called off her studies, but her passion for serving society didn’t let her step down. She took a break from her studies when her kids needed more attention but later came back to continue her study and completed her degree. Nicole finally became a police officer and everything went according to her plans.

But uncertainty put her in a challenging situation. Nicole suffered from an injury. The sudden medical retirement called off her journey as a police officer, but her dreams and passion did not let her stop. So, she became a death doula, allowing her to be there for people whenever needed and provide comfort to the dying and their families during difficult times. She chose this field after her grandfather’s death. She couldn’t bear the pain of losing him; therefore, she decided to become a death doula and contribute her services to help those suffering from the pain of losing their loved ones.

Nicole Thornes has written her book, Daddy’s Home, covering true events of losing someone and inspiring readers to cope with the feelings of emptiness and recover from mental illness after losing someone close. Daddy’s Home inspires readers and tells them the importance of a new beginning, helping people lighten the burden from their chest after the grief of losing someone.

1. What can be learned about Nicole Thornes?

A．Nicole Thornes dreamed of becoming a police officer since she was born.

B．Nicole Thornes pursued a Criminal Justice degree, but she gave up halfway.

C．Nicole Thornes took up a writing career immediately after getting physically hurt.

D．Nicole Thornes wrote a book, impressing on readers the significance of a new start.

2. What’s the direct cause of Nicole Thornes’ decision to become a death doula?

A．The unbearable pain brought by her grandfather’s death.

B．Her break from academic studies to take care of her kids.

C．Her sudden medical retirement due to her incurable injury.

D．Her determination to finish writing her book, Daddy’s Home.

3. According to the story of Nicole Thornes, a death doula can be described as ______.

A．a death fighter	B．a special trainer
C．a support giver	D．a creative police officer

4. What might be the best title for this article?

A．Nicole Thornes and her dream

B．The ups and downs of Nicole Thornes

C．Nicole Thornes: The writer of Daddy’s Home

D．Nicole Thornes: The journey from a police officer to a death doula

7 . Paula
8: 45 AM.
Hi ladies. We have a new client that just called this morning. Are either of you free to take the job?
Athena
8: 46 AM.
What's the location of the job? And what is the client expecting?
Paula
8: 47 AM.
Mrs. Hunter lives at the intersection of Maple Street and Givers Rd. She has a fairly large 3500 square foot house, and would like someone to come for 5— 6 hours each week, preferably on a Monday, to clean it.
Athena
8: 48 AM.
Sorry, that's too far for me to go. And I already have a regular client in the afternoons on Mondays.
Julie
8: 49 AM.
I can probably do it. I don't have any clients on Mondays at the moment.
Athena
8: 50 AM.
Make sure you negotiate the hours with her. Or let her know how much you can physically clean in 5. 6 hours.
Julie
8: 51 AM
I think it'd be fine. I'm sure she's not expecting one person to clean the entire house in those hours.
Paula
8: 52 AM
I can call her back to get some more details. It's always better to make sure both parties have the same expectations.
Julie
8: 53 AM
OK. Both of you have way more experience than me so I'll definitely listen to your advice.
Paula
8: 54 AM
Julie, I'll let you know when I've talked to her. You might have to call her yourself later, too.
1. What could the name of this company be?

A．Drivers for Hire

B．Maid Service Plus

C．Accountants R Us

D．Toys Toys Toys

2. What advice does Athena give Julie?

A．Let the client know her age.	B．Clarify workload and working hours.
C．Give the client a piece of her mind.	D．Have an honest conversation with the client.

3. What is likely Paula's role?

A．She's the organizer.	B．She's the new hire.
C．She's in the marketing department.	D．She's in the technology department.

8 . Trust me — I am expedition doctor

Ever since I was a young child, I’ve had a taste for adventure, but I never imagined I’d be able to satisfy this passion at regular intervals because of my chosen career.

My work as an expedition (探险队) doctor has taken me all over the world. However, my favourite trips, and the ones in which I now specialise, are those involving mountains. Never do I feel more inspired by nature than when I look up at their towering peaks and begin to prepare myself mentally for the challenges ahead.

I trained as a doctor in the UK, but there was little in that training to prepare me for binding up a broken leg during a storm on the side of a mountain! In fact, I’d say that medical skills come some way down the list of job requirements, after endurance, flexibility, problem-solving and communication.

This kind of medicine is a million miles away from the controlled, germ-free environment of a hospital, and your medical kit basically consists of whatever you can carry, so you sometimes have to be prepared to improvise (即兴做). For example, I’ve learned that some drugs can be used for several conditions, and I’ve even had to resort to cutting branches off a small tree to make a stick to support a broken arm.

That isn’t to say that you can’t train to be an expedition doctor; on the contrary, there are some excellent courses available. Not only do they teach medical techniques, but also practical skills such as carrying out risk assessments, crossing rivers safely and using satellite phones. The first course I did included a session on expedition dentistry, though I must admit I still don’t like the idea of pulling out someone’s tooth!

I do most of my work for adventure holiday companies, travelling to remote places. When I started out, these holidays were quite rare, but they have become much more mainstream now that we’ve all seen celebrities climbing Kilimanjaro or watched reality shows about people surviving in jungles.

I do have mixed feelings about all these people with large amounts of disposable income coming to poor areas just for their own enjoyment, so I try to make sure that the companies I work for have high ethical standards and benefit the local communities. And of course, tourism provides employment, and also opens the eyes of rich visitors to the hardship that many people are forced to endure.

I realise that this kind of life isn’t for everyone, but I’d recommend that all doctors try it at least once, if only to make them appreciate the comforts of their usual working environment!

1. The author feels that he has been________.

A．obliged to choose his career	B．lucky with his job
C．obsessed with his adventure	D．inspired by his patients

2. According to the passage, what can be learned about medical skills for an expedition doctor?

A．They are less important than practical skills.

B．They are strictly required as the most important.

C．They are adequately attained in medical schools.

D．They are an underlying part of practical skills.

3. Why do expedition doctors sometimes have to use unusual techniques?

A．They keep their equipment in a backpack.

B．Things can happen that they don’t expect.

C．They don’t have the resources of a hospital.

D．They are required by the patients on the trip.

4. The author works for ethical companies because________.

A．they organise expeditions in the remote areas he enjoys visiting

B．they appreciate the comforts of the unusual working environments

C．he wants to make sure that his clients are safe at all times during the expedition

D．he feels uncomfortable about the difference between rich tourists and poor local people

9 .

To: ackard@mkk.com From: sandyp@mkk.com Subject: Confidential: Managerial Advice Date: Feb. 16, 2022

Hi Dan, I’m writing to ask if you could give me advice. Please note that this must all be kept secret. I am emailing you because I know that you are a trusted friend, and you have had experience in this area. I’ve been obliged to reduce my department’s budget within the month, too. I’m not looking forward to this and am not sure where to begin since I hope that I won’t have to create any layoffs. Long story short, I would really appreciate meeting with you at some point to see if you can offer up any advice or suggestions. Thanks in advance. Regards, Sandy

To: sandyp@mkk.com From: ackard@mkk.com Subject: Re: Confidential: Managerial Advice Date: Feb. 17, 2022

Hi Sandy, I’m glad that you thought of me as someone to go to. I definitely don’t mind being your sounding board, and I can meet with you anytime starting next Monday. I realize that you may want to start thinking of some ideas sooner than later. My biggest piece of advice to you is to make sure you feel your way among your staff to get an impression of how people are currently coping with our company’s economic situation. Talk to them and find out what’s important to them. Of course, do it casually so that no one’s guard is up. Email or call me to let me know when you want to meet. Dan

1. What is Sandy responsible for?

A．Firing bad employees

B．Cutting costs and expenses

C．Figuring out the new computer program

D．Combining the two divisions of the company

2. What suggestion does Dan give Sandy?

A．Start questioning all workers under her.

B．Act carefully and find out employees’ thoughts.

C．Give out a questionnaire (问卷) for everyone to fill out.

D．Require extra overtime from staff members.

3. The phrase “sounding board” in the body of the second email, is closest in meaning to:

A．listener

B．examiner

C．designer

D．informer

10 . Personality may play only a small part in leadership effectiveness, but there is no doubt that some leaders have a certain magic that leaves peers envious and followers entranced. If you could bottle this leadership X-factor—charisma—the queue of interested executives would be a long-one. But what qualities can these often highly successful leaders be said to possess?

As individuals, charismatic leaders have highly developed communication skills, including the ability to convey emotions easily and naturally to others, says Ronald Riggio, professor of leadership and organizational psychology. “They are able to inspire and arouse the emotions of followers through their emotional expressiveness and verbal skills.”

“They connect with followers because they seem to truly understand others’ feelings and concerns.”

“And they are great role models because they have the ability to engage others socially and display appropriate role-playing skills that allow them to walk the talk” Professor Riggio says.

“One quality we like in our leaders is if they are seen to really represent us. We think someone is more charismatic, the more they represent our collective identity,” Professor Van Knippenberg says. In this way, a charismatic leader is somehow a larger-than-life version of ourselves.

Academics say that charismatic leaders also manage to stand out from the crowd. They might do this by being unconventional or by taking a different approach to problem-solving, for example.

“They are up for new things, and they are not stuck in the status quo. They are open to out-of-the-box thinking, etc. An optimistic, energetic quality helps us to see leadership qualities in them and makes us open to their influence,” he says.

“A lot of charismatic leadership, and leadership in general, is very contextual. It’s really good in entrepreneurial firms. It’s also good for turnarounds if the organization is in a bad state because it inspires”, says Kai Peters, the chief executive of Ashridge Business School.

But not every organization needs a charismatic leader. Leaders loaded with the X-factor can be narcissistic (自恋的), self-glorifying, exploitative and authoritarian. As Peters says: “Where it is a problem is where you have ‘look at me, I’m a star.’’’

1. Which word is closest in meaning to “charisma” in the first paragraph?

A．Charm.

B．Character.

C．Gratitude.

D．Optimism.

2. The charismatic leaders become great role models due to their ______.

A．proper role-playing skills	B．subtle emotional expressiveness
C．marvellous problem-solving ability	D．unconventionality in the crowds

3. According to Professor Knippenberg, what kind of leaders would be welcomed by us?

A．The one who has a heroical image.

B．The one who can speak for us.

C．The one who is a collective version of us.

D．The one who resembles us in characteristic.

4. What is Peters’ attitude towards the contextual feature of charismatic leadership?

A．Critical.

B．Approved.

C．Neutral.

D．Suspicious.