“We found that the knowledge gained from success was often fleeting while knowledge from failure stuck around for years,” said professor Desai, who led the study. “But companies often ignore failure. Managers may fire people or turn over the whole workforce while they should treat the failure as a learning opportunity.”
Prof Desai compared the flights of the space shuttle Atlantis and the Challenger. During the Atlantis flight last year, a piece of insulation (绝缘体) broke off and damaged the left solid rocket booster (助推火箭) but didn’t influence the program. There was little investigation. The Challenger was launched next and another piece of insulation broke off. This time the shuttle and its seven–person crew were destroyed. The disaster led to a major investigation resulting in 29 changes to prevent future disasters.
The difference in response in the two cases came down to this: Atlantis was considered a success and the Challenger a failure.
“Despite crowded skies, airlines are extremely reliable,” he said. “The number of failures is extremely small. And past researches have shown that older airlines, those with more experience in failure, have a lower number of accidents.”
Prof Desai doesn’t recommend finding out failure in order to learn. Instead, he advises organizations to analyze small failures to collect useful information rather than wait for major failures.
1. Why did experts pay little attention to the problem of Atlantis?
A.Because it worked perfectly. |
B.Because the right booster was still OK. |
C.Because nothing serious happened then. |
D.Because fewer people died in the flight. |
A.their planes couldn’t fly high in the sky |
B.they gained much from experience in failure |
C.their planes were often checked by the experts |
D.they were unpopular among passengers |
A.show failure is a better teacher than success |
B.explain why Challenger failed |
C.introduce something about Prof Desai |
D.tell managers how to achieve success |
A.Giving definitions. |
B.Making comparisons. |
C.Analyzing causes. |
D.Providing different examples. |
2 . Last year,around Labor Day,I read a “Happy Ad” in our local newspaper.There was a lady in a local nursing home,who was celebrating her 90th birthday and her family wanted everyone to know about it.It said that if you wanted to drop her a line,here was her address.So I did.I found a birthday card and dropped her a short note,wishing her a happy birthday.
A week or so later,someone knocked at my front door.I opened the door and found a middle-aged man standing on my doorstep.He introduced himself as the son of this woman to whom I had sent the card.He explained that he just wanted to drop by in person and thank me for sending such a nice card to his mom.Apparently,like many older folks,she did not receive much mail and was quite excited to receive mine.I just didn’t know what to say.I told him it was my pleasure and that I hoped his mom had enjoyed her birthday.
That year,I did not send out any Christmas cards,except to this lovely old lady in the nursing home.I just told her that I was thinking about her and hoped that she had a nice holiday.I sent her a Valentine and also a couple of notes in between.I just thought she might like to have someone write to her,to get some mail.
She passed away a couple of months ago.I never met this lady,but I did keep her and her family in my thoughts. I dropped them a line of sympathy.I hope that my few little notes were enough to brighten a couple of her days here on earth.
1. The old lady's address was given because .A.her family wanted to make her well-known |
B.the old lady wanted to receive a birthday card |
C.the son of the old lady wanted to meet the author |
D.her family wanted to give her a happy birthday |
A.Brave. | B.Polite. |
C.Caring. | D.Faithful. |
A.A Kind Act | B.An Old Lady |
C.A Happy Ad | D.A Considerate Son |
Robert Friedlander, an American, arrived in Xi’an on his bicycle trip across Asia which started last December in New Delhi, India.
When he was 11, he read the book Marco Polo and made up his mind to visit the Silk Road. Now, after 44 years , he was on the Silk Road in Xi’an and his early dreams were coming true.
Robert Friedlander’s next destinations (目的地) were Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Urumqi, etc. He will complete his trip in Pakistan.
1. The best headline(标题) for this newspaper article would be _________. .
A.The Kingdom of Bicycles | B.A Beautiful Hotel in Xi’an |
C.Marco Polo and the Silk Road | D.An American Achieving His Aims |
A.he asked to see the manager |
B.he entered the hall with a bike |
C.the manager had to know about all foreign guests |
D.the manager knew about his trip and was expecting him |
A.The stories about Marco Polo . | B.The famous sights in Xi’an . |
C.His interest in Chinese silk. | D.His childhood dreams about bicycles . |
A.clever | B.friendly | C.hardworking | D.strong—minded |
An old man and his wife used to live on the second floor. Bill’s mother and the old lady were good friends. Unfortunately the lady died last month. Her husband could not live alone, so he had his grandson move over and live with him.
The grandson has become a problem to all the neighbors, especially to Bill’s family. The walls of the building are thin and he is noisy. Bill is used to peace and quiet but the young man likes to listen to the radio late at night. Sometimes friends of his visit and they make a lot of noise. That is too much for Bill’s family.
Bill’s mother once asked the old man politely if he was able to sleep well at night, but obviously the man didn’t understand what she meant. If he did and spoke to his grandson, the young man obviously didn’t listen, since things haven’t changed any. Everyone in Bill’s family agrees that something must be done though they don’t want to hurt the kind old man.
1. Bill’s family got angry because ________.
A.the old lady had died |
B.a young man moved in |
C.the old man could not live alone |
D.the grandson made a lot of noise |
A.The old man could not live without his wife’s help. |
B.The old man and his wife were sometimes making trouble too. |
C.Bill’s mother was kind to her neighbors. |
D.Bill’s mother was the only one who likes the young man. |
A.he never thinks other people might not be happy with so much noise around |
B.the walls of the building are thin |
C.he likes to listen to the radio at night |
D.friends of his visit |
A.anyone is able | B.only the grandfather is going |
C.Bill’s mother is able | D.nobody is likely |
The boys' mother heard that a clergyman(牧师) in the town had been successful in educating children so she asked if he would speak with her boys.The clergyman agreed but asked to see them individually.So the mother sent her 8-year-old first in the morning with the elder boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.
The clergyman, a huge man with a booming (嗡嗡) voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him strictly, "Where is God?"
The boy's mouth dropped open but he made no answer, sitting there with his mouth hanging open, wide-eyed.So the clergyman repeated the question in an even stricter tone "Where is God?" Again the boy made no attempt to answer.So the clergyman raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face and shouted" Where is God?"
The boy screamed and escaped from the room, ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him.When his elder brother found him in the closet, he asked "What happened?"
The younger brother replied out of breath, "We are in big trouble this time.God is missing--and they think we did it."
1. What were the two boys like?
A.They always made trouble. | B.They were brave. |
C.They were easygoing. | D.They were honest. |
A.They gave up their children. |
B.They liked their children very much. |
C.They wanted the clergyman to persuade their children. |
D.They helped their children to make trouble. |
A.Happy. | B.Sad. |
C.Afraid. | D.Surprised. |
A.Open. | B.Shut. | C.Knock. | D.Pull. |