| A．The 21st of June. | B．The 20th of June. | C．The 21st of July. |
2 . There will be days when you do not have much to do. Perhaps because you are waiting for someone else in a different department or a different company to respond to a request. As the clock ticks past 5 pm, there may be no purpose in staying at your desk. But you can see you hard at work and, more important. they can see you. So you make an effort to look busy.
Some of this may he a self-perpetuating(白生自存）cycle. If bosses do not like to go home before their workers, and workers fear leaving before their bosses, everyone is trapped. Staff may feel that they will not get a pay rise, or a promotion, if they are not seen to be putting in maximum effort. This is easily confused with long hours. Managers, who are often no good at judging employees 'performance, use time in the office as an alternative.
The consequence is often wasted effort. Rather than work hard, you work hard to make bosses think that you are. Leaving a jacket on your office chair, walking around purposefully with a notebook or clipboard and sending out emails at odd hours are three of the best-known tricks. After a while this can result in collective self-cheat that this pretence is actual work.
But presenteeism(出勤）has more serious consequences. As well as reducing productivity, this can increase medical expenses for the employer. According to a study, these costs can be six times higher for employers than the costs of absenteeism among workers. To take one example, research published in the British Medical Journal found that Japanese employees with lower-back pain were three times more likely to turn up for work than in Britain. As a result, those workers were more likely to experience greater pain and to suffer from depression. What could be more upset than being in pain while feeling trapped at work?
None of this is to say that employers haven't the right to expect workers to be in the office for an acceptable proportion of time. Unavoidably there will be a need for some(preferably short)meetings. Dealing with colleagues face-to-face creates a feeling of trust and friendship, allows for a useful exchange of ideas and enables workers to have a better sense of their needs.
But modern machinery like smartphones and laptops is portable. It can be used as easily at home as in the office. Turing an office into a prison, with prisoners allowed home for the evenings, does nothing for the creativity that is increasingly demanded of office workers as routine tasks are automated. To be productive you need presence of mind, not being present in the flesh.
1. Why do employees still stay at their desk after work?| A．To keep their bosses company. |
| B．To get more overtime allowance. |
| C．To put extra efforts into their work. |
| D．To give their bosses a good impression. |
| A．employers will pay workers higher wages |
| B．workers will suffer physically and mentally |
| C．workers will perform their job more efficiently |
| D．the effort put in by workers will finally pay off |
| A．build better social bonds |
| B．bring bosses more profits |
| C．organize a meeting efficiently |
| D．satisfy workers 'material needs |
| A．Presenteeism can't help develop creativity. |
| B．Absence from work reduces productivity. |
| C．Presence at work will be more joyful. |
| D．Technology makes life puzzling. |
3 . As computers become all the more popular in China, Chinese people are increasingly relying on computer keyboards to input Chinese characters. But if they use the computer too much, they may end up forgetting the exact strokes（笔画）of each Chinese character when writing on paper. Experts suggest people, especially students, write by hand more.
Do you write by hand more or type more? In Beijing, students start using a computer as early as primary school(小学). And computer dependence is more wide-spread among university students. Almost all their assignments and essays are typed on a computer.
All the students interviewed say they usually use a computer.
It's faster and easier to correct if using a computer. And that's why computers are being applied more and more often to modern education. But when people are taking stock in computers increasingly, problems appear.
"When I'm writing with a pen, I find I often can't remember how to write a character, though I feel I’m familiar with it."
"I'm not in the mood(状态) to write when faced with a pen and paper."
Many students don't feel this is something to worry about. Now that it's more convenient and efficient to write on a computer, why bother to handwrite?
Many educators think differently. Shi Liwei , the headmaster of a famous primary school in the capital said "Chinese characters enjoy both practical and aesthetic(审美的) value. But those characters typed with computer keyboards only maintain their practical value. All the artistic beauty of the characters is lost. And handwriting contains the writer's emotion. Through one's handwriting, people can get to know one's thinking and personality. Beautiful writing will give people a better first impression of them"
To encourage students to handwrite more, many primary schools in Beijing have made writing classes compulsory(必修的)and in universities, some professors are asking students to hand in their homework and essays written by hand.
1. Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?| A．The Importance of Handwriting and Typing. |
| B．To Type or To Hand Write |
| C．Writing By Computer Will Replace Writing By Hand |
| D．Practical and Aesthetic Value of Chinese Characters. |
| A．they are usually asked to e-mail their Homework and Essays |
| B．they can correct the mistakes they make quickly and conveniently |
| C．they find it not easy to remember how to write a character |
| D．computers have become a trend and fashion in China. |
| A．Handwriting contains the writer's emotion. |
| B．The writer’s thinking and personality are shown in his or her handwriting, |
| C．Handwriting can impress people well and build one’s self-confidence |
| D．Chinese characters enjoy both practical and aesthetic value. |
| A．getting bored with | B．getting dependent on |
| C．becoming crazy about | D．getting curious about |
4 . I used to be really frustrated when I got "trapped" in the train station in New York. When this happened, I spent time "observing" people and found that the New York City trains formed "an underground NYC".
I met all kinds of people there. Sitting in trains coming from suburban boroughs (区) like Queens and Brooklyn, I saw babysitters and housekeepers, in white or pink uniforms, carrying a shopping bag with lunch and another prettier bag for their makeup. Some gentlemen in suits get squeezed (挤) in between ladies, reading the New York Times, holding Starbucks coffees and a piece of napkin.
The passengers' skin color would get lighter as the train went from suburban areas to uptown NYC. Clothes brands changed from "Nike" and "Babyphat" to "Armani" and "Prada".
Getting lost is not embarrassing at all. Even New Yorkers who have lived in the city for 20 years need to check out the map before going to a new place by train. People from other states are just as confused as foreigners when they are "thrown" underground.
It was funny when people carrying big backpacks and holding maps, asked me where they could transfer while I was trying to find an exit. "I'm sorry. I am trying to find my way out too." I felt really bad about not helping them. To my surprise, the two guys with blue eyes didn't look disappointed at all. They laughed and told me, "Oh, we are wondering if there's really an exit because we have been walking around here for 10 minutes and we still don't know where to transfer to the uptown train!"
NYC trains are just like doors rotating (旋转) on and on. If I hadn't got lost several times, I might not have had the chance to stop and see what was happening outside my block.
1. According to the article, what kind of people has the author seen in the subway?a. babysitters and housekeepers in uniforms
b. people wearing "Armani" and "Prada"
c. gentlemen with newspapers and coffee
d. tourists with big backpacks and maps
e. foreign women carrying a shopping bag with lunch and their makeup
| A．abcd | B．abce |
| C．bcde | D．acde |
| A．She found observing people in NYC trains quite frustrating. |
| B．She came to be grateful for the time when she lost her way in the subway. |
| C．She realized that only foreigners like her got trapped in the subway. |
| D．She was embarrassed when getting lost in the station. |
| A．One of the author's exciting experiences of taking the subway in NYC. |
| B．The author's observation of various people in the subway. |
| C．The author's feelings about the busy life in uptown NYC. |
| D．The author's complaint of the subway service in NYC. |
5 . Basically, without the possibility of failure, there is little possibility of success. Education is in danger of becoming a branch of the entertainment industry. Although education should indeed be entertaining where possible, it cannot always be fun. Often, it needs the "hard yards".
Some educationalists feel that if something causes worry it should be avoided at all costs, I would disagree. Facing up to challenges helps develop children. Avoiding challenges can severely limit their potential. Tougher children are able to try and fail. The less tough may simply fail to try anything new.
I’m not advocating putting children under pressure. The real debate is perhaps what pressures are unavoidable. It's not about "throwing children into the deep end", but rather encouraging them to put their foot in the water and giving them the skills to float.
This latter approach is basically the work I and my team do at the University of Hull. We measure mental toughness and then provide interventions to improve this. These interventions include psychological skills such as goal setting, relaxation and thought control. So, for example, many children will say: "What happens if it goes wrong?" We work hard to change this so that the sentence reads: "What happens if it goes right?" One word difference, but a world away when thinking about challenges.
We try to help children deal more effectively with life using a three-step approach. Firstly, it is important to set realistic and achievable goals. Then it is a matter of finding out what factors (因素) are helping children to achieve these goals and what factors are working against this. The final step is to discover which of these factors can be controlled, or at least influenced, and what factors the child is in reality stuck with. Redirecting children's energies to movable obstacles (障碍) can produce huge life changes.
However, I think that for most of us we have become stress averse (反对的) and overreact to it. It has always been there, and it has always been the case that some people enjoy it, some need help to deal with it and some people's lives are ruined by it.
Showing our children that stress can be faced with and beaten offers them a way forward. The more a fear is avoided, the bigger it gets.
1. From the passage, we know the writer believes ____________.| A．education needs challenges |
| B．education should always be fun |
| C．children should avoid facing challenges |
| D．the more challenges, the better for the children |
| A．some children are less tough |
| B．some pressures are avoidable |
| C．some challenges do good to children |
| D．some children are unaware of their potential |
| A．Record what the children do in stressful situations. |
| B．Make the children tougher mentally and physically. |
| C．Put the children under pressure by giving them challenges. |
| D．Give the children challenges and suggest suitable approaches. |
| A．We should try our best to avoid stress. |
| B．We should love stress because stress is unavoidable. |
| C．We should put ourselves to the test in stressful situations. |
| D．We should experience stress and learn skills to deal with it. |
1. What will the man do tonight?
| A．Send a report. | B．Order a taxi. | C．Play golf. |
| A．At the hotel. | B．At the office. | C．At the airport. |
| A．At 9:00 a.m. | B．At 10:30 a.m. | C．At 12:30 p.m. |
| A．At home. | B．In a theatre. | C．At school. |
| A．Sunny. | B．Windy. | C．Cloudy. |
10 . Living alone in nature is the kind of decision that looks great on paper. You could move away from the pressures of city life, to somewhere with a lower cost of living and more privacy. You could enjoy scenic views all year round, and adopt a simpler way of life. It’s not hard to see the appeal of this at all. But what happens when that all goes wrong?
Paul Kingsnorth is a distinguished writer—his novel The Wake was longlisted for the Booker Prize and won the Gordon Burn Prize. His books help develop an awareness of place and history, so it’s not hugely surprising that his latest book, Savage Gods, is about his own rural existence. Savage Gods is in part about Kingsnorth, his wife, and their children moving to western Ireland. He writes, “In my country a small house and a field is beyond the means of anyone who doesn’t earn much money or who refuses to get into debt to chase a dream.” It’s a feeling that anyone who’s looked longingly at rural tiny houses miles from anyone else can relate to.
But Kingsnorth is aware that this is only part of the story. “Because I am not a real farmer, I have to make my money in other places,” he writes, “I need the Internet or the Dublin-to-Holyhead ferry and sometimes both to put food on my family’s table.” To make matters worse, Kingsnorth’s isolation(隔离) results in a crisis of confidence in his own writing abilities—which becomes one of the central themes of Savage Gods.
Kingsnorth isn’t the only writer to make time spent in a vivid countryside landscape sound less enjoyable than one might expect. The French writer Sylvain Tesson takes this to what may be its most extreme point in his book. He lived alone for six months. His book includes impressive descriptions of the landscape and what it’s like to experience depression in the middle of such a landscape.
Some books neatly remind you of the appeal of such an existence, while others make the drawbacks central to their accounts. In Names for the Sea, Moss summarizes the attraction of wilder places. “We’d come for the landscape, for the pale nights and dark shores, rain sweeping over trees and bushes,” she writes. From that, it’s not hard to see why a life in nature—even with its potential downsides—still appeals to so many.
1. According to Paragraph 1, living in isolation makes people_____.| A．look great | B．reveal their privacy |
| C．overcome pressures | D．enjoy a lower living cost |
| A．Paul Kingsnorth helps readers develop an awareness of time and space. |
| B．Paul Kingsnorth starts to have doubts about his ability as a writer. |
| C．Paul Kingsnorth’s family live comfortably in a rural house. |
| D．Paul Kingsnorth couldn’t afford a tiny rural house. |
| A．He thinks it a perfect idea to live alone in nature. |
| B．He earns money somewhere else to make ends meet. |
| C．His latest book is about the attraction of wilder places. |
| D．Living in the countryside landscape results in his depression. |
| A．To inform readers of a famous French writer. |
| B．To praise him for his marvelous writing skills. |
| C．To explain how to live in the peaceful countryside. |
| D．To emphasize more writers experience similar problems. |
