Passage 1

When young people get their first real job, they face a lot of new and confusing situations. They may find that everything is different from the way things were at school. It is also possible that they will feel uncomfortable and insecure in both professional and social situations. Eventually, they realize that university classes can't be the only preparation for all of the different situations that arise in the working world.

Perhaps the best way to learn how to behave in the working world is to identify a worker you admire and observe his behavior. By doing so, you will be able to see what it is that you admire in this person. For example, you will observe how he acts in a crisis. Perhaps even more importantly, you will be able to see what his approach to day-to-day situations is.

While you are observing your colleague, you should ask yourself whether his behavior is like yours and how you can learn from his responses to a variety of situations. By watching and learning from a model, you will probably begin to identify and adopt good working habits.

Passage 2

Although English is not as old as Chinese, it is spoken by many people around the world every day. English speakers are always creating new words, and we are often able to know where most words come from.

Sometimes, however, no one may really know where a word comes from. Did you ever think about why hamburgers are called hamburgers, especially when they are not made with ham? About a hundred years ago, some men went to America from Europe. They came from a big city in Germany called Hamburg. They did not speak good English, but they ate good food.When some Americans saw them eating round pieces of beef, they asked the Germans what they were. The Germans did not understand the question and answered, "We come from Hamburg." One of these Americans owned a restaurant, and had an idea. He cooked some round pieces of beef like those that the men from Hamburg ate. Then he put each between two pieces of bread and started selling them. Such bread came to be called "hamburgers". Today "hamburgers" are sold in many countries around the world.

Whether this story is true or not, it certainly is interesting. Knowing why a word has a certain meaning is interesting, too. This reason, for most English words, can be found in any large English dictionary.

Passage 3

You wake up in the morning, the day is beautiful and the plans for the day are what you have been looking forward to for a long time. Then the telephone rings, you say hello, and the drama starts. The person at the other end has a depressing tone in his voice as he starts to tell you how terrible his morning is and that there is nothing to look forward to. Yon are still in a wonderful mood? Impossible!

Communicating with negative people can decrease your happiness. It may not change what you think, but communicating long enough with them will make you feel depressed for a moment or a long time.

Life brings ups and downs, but some people are stuck in the wrong idea that life has no happiness to offer. They only feel glad when they make others feel bad. No wonder they can hardly win others' pity or respect.

When you communicate with positive people, your spirits stay happy and therefore more positive things are attracted. When the dagger(匕首) of a negative person is put in you, you feel the heavy feeling that all in all, brings you down.

Sometimes we have no choice but to communicate with negative people. They could be your co-workers or relatives. In this case, say what needs to be said as little as possible. Sometimes it feels good to let out your anger back to a negative person, but all this is to lower you to that same negative level and he won't feel ashamed of himself about that.

Negativity often affects happiness without even being realized. The negative words of another at the start of the day can cling to you throughout the rest of your day, which makes you feel bad and steals your happiness. Life is too short to feel negative. Stay positive and avoid negativity as much as possible.

Passage 4

Before I even started school, people felt that I was not going to amount to much. At the age of four, I started speech lessons because I could not even speak well enough to be understood.

First grade was a struggle. I not only had difficulty speaking, but was expected to lean to read, and I just couldn't do it. My parents grew more and more worried. They bought books and offered great rewards if I could read one of them from start to finish. Well, with my speech problems and now my reading problems, l did not like to do reading and refused to do it whenever possible.

Second grade was not much better. It was in second grade that the teacher decided that I needed special education. I remember the days of taking the physical exams. However, after all that, they decided that I did not qualify for special education.

It was in third grade that a new school was built close to where I lived. I remember going there with my parents and helping to get the school ready so that we could transfer(转学). It was a happy day that we started school at Vandalia. However, things did not get better as my parents expected.

It was now time for fifth grade. Mrs.Wakefield was my teacher, and if ever there was a teacher that deserved a gold star, it was her. She did not make me feel upset. Instead, she helped me in so many ways and built my self-confidence so that I actually did believe that I could do something special. And that is just what I did.

For the past 22 years, l have been a fifth-grade teacher. Because of Mrs. Wakefield's influence on my life, I am now encouraging students who have had difficulties in their lives to believe that they can overcome them and become someone. I have won a large number of awards but I know that all of them belong to one fifth-grade teacher who believed in me and encouraged me to be all that I could be.

l still have a class picture of her with her fifth-grade class hanging on the wall of my office, encouraging other teachers to have confidence in their students.

Passage 1

Men have traveled ever since they first appeared on the earth.

In primitive times they did not travel for pleasure but to find new places where their herds could feed, or to escape from hostile neighbors, or to find more favorable climates. They traveled on foot. Their journeys were long, tiring, and often dangerous. They protected themselves with simple weapons, such as wooden sticks or stone clubs, and by lighting fires at night and, above all, by keeping together.

Being intelligent and creative, they soon discovered easier ways of traveling. They role on the backs of their domesticated animals; they hollowed out tree trunks, and by using bits of wood as paddles, were able to travel across water. Later they traveled, not from necessity, but for the joy and excitement of seeing and experiencing new things. This is still the main reason why we travel today.

Traveling, of course, has now become a highly organized business. There are cars and splendid roads, express trains, huge ships and jet airliners, all of which provide us with comforts and security. This sounds wonderful. But there are difficulties, if you want to go abroad, you need a passport and a visa, tickets, luggage, and a hundred and one other things. If you lose any of them, your journey may be ruined.

Passage 2

There are many factors which may have an influence on adults and children being able to lead a healthy life. Nowadays, people are very busy. Often, both parents work outside the home. Children are expected to take on more responsibility at home to help their parents. They also have sporting and leisure activities as well as school expectations.

The busyness also adds another factor: the need to use cars to get from one place to another quickly .

Today, society places a lot of emphasis on technology. Computers, DVDs, CDs, televisions and Playstations have become major leisure activities, rather than traditional more active pursuits. This has led to a more sedentary lifestyle.

The media provide entertainment and information. Unfortunately, they also promote fast food which fits easily into busy lifestyles. It is much more convenient at times to buy a quick takeaway rather than prepare a meal. The media constantly bombard(轰炸) their audience with "perfect" body images, the need to buy the most fashionable clothes, the most up-to-date computer games, the best places to visit and the best things to do.

Environments vary. We may be exposed to pollution, such as cigarette smoke. This can be harmful to people who suffer from breathing difficulties. Environments where passive smoking is unavoidable make it difficult to lead a healthy life.

Perhaps the important factor influencing healthy lifestyles is motivation, or the desire to be healthy. Any person who wants to be healthy will find a way to be healthy—if he/she is motivated enough!

Passage 3

Alan Chang was a handsome young man with good manners. One morning he was walking along a street on his way to an appointment. He did not want to be early or late. He had forgotten to put on his watch so he went up to a man who was waiting for a taxi.

"Excuse me, sir," he said, very politely, "but could you tell me the time?"

The man, who was very well-dressed and looked quite rich, said nothing. He did not even look at Alan. Alan spoke to him again. "Excuse me, sir," he said, "but could you please tell me what time it is?"

This time the man looked at him, but he did not speak and looked quickly away. Alan thought to himself: well, he can hear me; he must be just rude. So Alan asked again, "Why wouldn't you tell me the time, sir?"

The man turned towards him and said, "Put yourself in my shoes. I am standing here waiting for a taxi. You come up to me and ask me for the time. If l tell it to you, you will thunk me. I will say 'That's all right.' You may then say 'It's a beautiful day,' to which I may reply 'Yes, l like these sunny winter days.' Before we know what is happening we have a friendly conversation. You are a pleasant, polite young man, so when my taxi comes, I offer you a ride. You accept. We talk. l like you. You like me. I invite you to my home. You meet my daughter. She is a very pretty girl. You are a good-looking man. You like each other. Soon you fall in love. You want to marry. Now do you understand my problem?”

Alan shook his head. "No, sir, l'm sorry, l don't. Everything you have said seems very natural to me." "Exactly," the man said," and I do not want my daughter to marry a man who is too poor to buy a watch. Good morning to you." And with these words he hurried away.

Passage 4

I knew a man who was asked to be the new dean(院长) of the College of Business of a large university. When he first arrived, he studied the situation the college faced and felt that what it needed most was money. He recognized that he had a unique capacity to raise money, and he developed a real sense of vision about fund-raising is his primary function.

This created a problem in the college because past deans had focused mainly on meeting day-to-day faculty needs. This new dean was never there. He was running around the country trying to raise money for research. But he was not attending to the day-to-day things as the previous dean had. The faculty, who were used to working with the person at the top, had lo work through his administrative assistant.

The faculty became so upset with his absence that they sent a delegation to the president of the university to demand a new dean or a fundamental change in his leadership style. The president, who knew what the dean was doing, said," Relax. He has a good administrative assistant. Give him some more time."

Within a short time, the money started pouring in and the faculty began to recognize the vision. It wasn't long until every time they saw the dean, they would say, "Get out of here! We don't want to see you. Go out and bring more funds. Your administrative assistant runs this office better than anyone else."

This man admitted to me later that the mistake he made was not doing enough team building, enough explaining, enough educating about what he was trying to accomplish. From him I learned a powerful lesson. We need to constantly he asking ourselves, "What is needed out there, and what is my unique strength?"

Passage 1

Most airlines allow passengers to book an airline flight online. Travel sites such as Yahoo and Google, all offer search engines and online booking for an airline flight. The first thing a traveler should do when booking online is to shop around. There are numerous web sites offering this service, and some may have cheaper fares than others.

A traveler also needs to check fares for the desired flight times. Fares can change, depending on when their line flight departs, how many stops are involved, and at what airport. The traveler needs to make sure he is comparing fares so as to get the best deal.

When booking online, the traveler also needs to check the travel site's policies and fees. Most travel sites charge a small booking fee and have other restrictions about canceling flights, and other types of refunds. Many travelers think about looking on a travel search engine first for the best airline flight fares. However, the individual airline web site may offer the best deal, since they often have "Internet only" deals booked through their own sites. A traveler should always have a credit card available when he or she purchases the ticket, and should make the reservation in the name appearing on the card. The traveler will then be issued an e-ticket for the airline flight, rather than the traditional paper ticket. When he receives flight confirmation, usually through e-mail, he should print out the reservation e-mail and save it with his travel documents.

Passage 2

Your boss holds your future prospects in his hands. Some bosses are hard to get along with. Some have excellent qualifications but no idea when it comes to dealing with people. Of course, not all bosses are like that.

The relationship you have with your boss can be a major factor in determining your rise up the career ladder. Your boss is not only your leader, he is also the person best equipped to help you do the job you are paid to do. He can inform you of company direction that may affect your professional development.

Your boss also needs you to perform at your best in order to accomplish his objectives. He needs your feedback in order to provide realistic and useful reports to upper management. But how does this help you establish a meaningful working relationship with your boss?

The key is communication. Learn and understand his goals and priorities. Observe and understand your boss's work style. If you have not been clear with his expectations, ask! Likewise, ask for feedback and accept criticism gracefully. And if he understands that you do not view your job as just something to fill the hours between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. , he may be more likely to help you.

In short, getting along with your boss requires getting to know his likes and dislikes and learning to work with his personality and management style.

Passage 3

There is a measurable relation between how much a person learns and his altitude toward the subject to be learned. When faced with a difficult learning task, one path to success is to concentrate on the positive aspects of the subject matter. If a student has a boring teacher, one solution is to look for the positive aspects of completing the course, regardless of how boring the teacher happens to be. To accomplish this might require a private or some independent reading, but with the right attitude, success is possible.

Over-achievers--students who do better than their test scores show--usually have a positive interest toward learning. They may learn some things more slowly, and they may make more efforts, but, to compensate(补偿)they are often better at applying what they have learned. As long us they do not have emotional problems, they are successful.

Under-achievers--those who function below their ability shown by test scores--often tend lo allow a few negative factors to affect them. Because of their negative attitudes, they sometimes become unfairly critical of teachers. They allow themselves to get bored when it is not necessary. In short, their attitudes often cause them to learn less than over-achievers.

If you learn to replace a negative attitude toward learning with something more positive, you are on the road to achieving almost any goal you desire. For example, if you realize a personal computer with a word processor would improve your performance, but have an attitude that keeps telling you that a computer is difficult to operate , you tend to make all kinds of excuses. In short, you resist making full use of a terrific tool, simply because your negative attitude prevents you from learning.

Passage 4

In the same way that a child must be able to move his arms and legs before he can learn to walk, the child must physiologically be capable of producing and experiencing particular emotions before these emotions can be modified through learning. Psychologists have found that there are two basic processes by which learning takes place. One kind of learning is called "classical conditioning". This occurs when one event or stimulus is consistently paired with or followed by, a reward or punishment. It is through classical conditioning that a child learns to associates his mother's face and voice with happiness and love, for he learns that this person provides food and comfort. Negative emotions are learned in a similar fashion.

The second kind of learning is called "operant conditioning". This occurs when an individual learns to do things that produce rewards in his environment and learns not to do things that produce punishments. For example, if a mother always attends to her baby when he cries and cuddles him until he is quiet, she may teach him that if he cries he will get attention from mother. Thus, the baby will learn to increase his crying in order to have his mother more.

Every day, we grow and have new experiences. We constantly learn by reading, watching television, interacting with other people, and so forth. This learning affects our emotions. Why is it that we learn to like some people and dislike others? If a person is nice to us, cares about us, we learn to associate this person with positive feelings, such as joy, happiness, and friendliness. On the other hand, if a person is mean to us, does not care about us, and even deliberately does things to harm us, we learn to associate this person with negative feelings, such as unhappiness, discomfort, and anger.

Passage 1

When we talk about intelligence we do not mean the ability to get good scores on certain kinds of tests or even the ability to do well in school. By intelligence we mean a way of living and behaving, especially in a new or upsetting situation. If we want to test intelligence, we need to find out how much person acts instead of how much he knows what to do.

For instance, when in a new situation, an intelligent person thinks about the situation, not about himself or what might happen to him. He tries to find out all he can, and then he acts immediately and tries to do something about it. He probably isn't sure how it will all work out, but at least he tries. And, if he can't make things workout right, he doesn't feel ashamed that he failed; he just tries to learn from his mistakes. An intelligent person, even if he is very young, has a special outlook on life, a special feeling about life, and knows how he fits into it. If you look at children, you'll see great difference between what we call "bright" children and "not-bright" children. They are actually two different kinds of people, not just the same kind with different amount of intelligence. For example, the bright child really wants to find out about life and he tries to get in touch with everything around him. But, the unintelligent child keeps more to himself and his own dream-world; he seems to have a wall between him and life in general.

Passage 2

Half of the world's coral reefs(珊瑚礁) have died in the last 30 years. Now scientists are racing to ensure that the rest survive. Even if global warning were to stop right now, scientists predict that more than 90% of corals will die by2050. If no major steps are taken to address the problem, the reefs may be headed for total extinction(灭绝).

The planet's health depends on the survival of coral reefs. They are often described as "the rainforests of the sea", because they provide shelter for a wide variety of sea life. In addition, the reefs serve as barriers that protect coastlines from the full force of powerful storms.

Corals are used in medical research for cures to diseases. They are key to local economies as well, since the reefs attract tourists, the fishing industry, and other businesses, bringing in billions of dollars.

Corals are particularly sensitive to changes in temperature. A rise of just 1 to 2 degrees can force the corals to drive out the algae(水藻). Then the corals turn white in a process called "bleaching". Corals can recover from short-term bleaching, but long-term bleaching can cause permanent damage. In 1998, when sea surface temperatures were the highest in recorded history, coral reefs around the world suffered the most severe bleaching. It is estimated that even under the best of conditions, many of these coral reefs will need decades to recover.

Although reefs face other threats from pollution, industrial activities, and overfishing, it is global climate change that most concerns scientists. Scientists remain hopeful that it's not too late to save the reefs, and some are moving ahead on experiments to accomplish that goal.

Passage 3

The appeal of advertising to buying movies can both negative and positive effects. Consumers may be convinced to buy a product of poor quality or high price because of an advertisement. For example, some advertisements have appealed to people's desire for better fuel economy for their cars by advertising automotive products that improve improve gasoline mileage. Some of the products work. Others are worthless and a waste of consumers' money.

Sometimes advertising is intentionally misleading. A few years ago, a brand of bread was offered to dieters(节食者) with the message that there were fewer calories(卡路里) in every slice. It turned out that the bread was not dietetic, but just regular bread. There were fewer calories because it was sliced very thin, but there were the same number of calories in every loaf.

On the positive sidle, emotional appeals may respond to a consumer's real concerns. Consider fire insurance. Fire insurance may be sold by appealing to fear of loss. But fear of loss is the real reason for fire insurance. The security of knowing that property is protected by insurance makes the purchase of fire insurance plans as well as the message in the ads, they will benefit from the advertising.

Each consumer must evaluate her or his own situation. Are the benefits of the product important enough to justify buying it? Advertising is intended to appeal to consumers, but it does not force them to buy the product. Consumers still control final buying decision.

Passage 4

The comfort zone is our living, work, and social environments that we have grown accustomed to. It determines the type of friends we make or people we associate with. It determines a life style we accept or reject.

Young people are very adaptable; they can adjust to changing comfort zones with ease. They can socialize with homeless people in the morning and be equally at ease at a formal banquet in the evening. As we age, the ability to adapt to wile-ranging comfort zones becomes more difficult. Social prejudice narrows the comfort zone range. The comfort zone can be a decision making tool.

Comfort zones are directly related to our dreams or goals, which is associated with self-fulflling prophecy (预言). In order to grow and change, we must first be discontent with our current comfort zone. We must realize that all meaningful and lasting changes occur first in daydreaming and then they work their way into reality. The more clearly and vividly we fantasize our dream, the stronger and more real the pictures on the subconscious level will become. Once our subconcious appeals this image and its expectation, it will go to work, searching for a way to bring the dream into reality. If we feel that these things are too good for us, we will find ways to fail. If, however, we intentionally imagine the change we want, build an expectation of the change mentally and emotionally, and we will find ways to acquire dream and, when mentally ready , it will arrive faster than we ever thought possible.

For some people, problems, suffering, poverty, bad breaks are their comfort zone. They find comfort in finding fault and complaining about their misfortune. The same is true for businesses. Management and workers have grown used to seeing things go wrong and expect them too. Management finds comfort in finding fault with workers and vice versa.

Note: if the comfort zone we are seeking is beyond our current income, then, we need to develop a service that has greater value than our current one. Money, power and influence are not goals; they are rewards only for personal achievement.

Passage 1

Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end with commercials(商业广告) thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window.“Buy Super Clean Toothpaste." " Drink Tsingtao Beer." "Fill Up with Pacific Gas.” Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of "You Need It ! Buy It Now !”

The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you've traveled that way before.Usually some things have changed: new houses, new buildings, and sometimes even a new road. The bus driver has a style of driving and it ' s fun to try to figure it out in the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless(鲁莽的) or daring, the ride can be as thrilling(惊险的)as a suspense story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right- or the left-hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you've got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops.

The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon be over and there 's a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat of course, has become harder as the hours have passed. By now you've sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the armrests, even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at the right time. There are just no more ways to sit.

Passage 2

Why do you go to the library? For books, yes--but you like books because they tell stories. You hope to get lost in a story or be transported into someone else' s life. In one type of library you can do just that--even though there's not a single book.

In a Human Library, instead of books, you can“ borrow”people.People with unique life stories volunteer to be the“ books". For a certain amount of time,you can ask them questions and listen to their stories,which are as fascinating as any you can find in a book. If you intend to go there,make sure to review the habits that make you a good listener in advance.Many of the stories have something to do with a certain kind of depressing topic. You can speak with a refugee, a soldier suffering from PTSD(创伤后应激障碍), a homeless person and a woman living with HIV there. The Human Library encourages people to take time to truly get to know and learn from someone they might otherwise make a snap judgment about. According to its website, the Human Library is“a place where difficult questions are expected, appreciated and answered”.

The Human Library Organization came into being in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2000. Ronni Abergel and his colleagues hosted a four-day event during a major Northern European festival. After the success of this event, Abergel founded the Human Library Organization, hoping to raise awareness among the youth of depression, which has been growing ever since.

Though there are a few permanent human libraries, most aren't places at all, but events. Though many do take place in physical libraries, you don't need a library card--anyone can come and be part of the experience. There have been human library events all over the globe, in universities and in pubs, from Chicago to Tunis to Edinburgh to San Antonio. Check out the organization's Facebook page to see when the Human Library might be arriving near you.

Passage 3

You know the feeling--you have left your phone at home and feel anxious,as if you lost your connection to the world. Nomophobia(无手机恐惧症) affects teenagers and adults alike. You can even do an online test to see if you have it. Last week, researchers from Hong Kong waned that nomophobia is infecting everyone. Their study found that people who use their phones to store, share and access personal memories suffer most. When users were asked to describe how they felt about their phones, words such as “ hurt”( neck pain was often reported) and"alone”predicted higher levels of nomophobia.

“The findings of our study suggest that users regard smartphones as their extended selves and get attached to the devices,”said Dr. Kim Ki Joon.“People experience feelings of anxiety and unpleasantness when separated from their phones.”Meanwhile,an American study shows that smartphone separation can lead to an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.

So can being without your phone really give you separation anxiety? Professor Mark Griffiths, psychologist and director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University, says it is what is on the phone that counts--the social networking that creates FOMO( fear of missing out).

“We are talking about an Internet-connected device that allows people to deal with lots of aspects of their lives,"says Griffiths."You would have to surgically remove a phone from a teenager because his whole life is ingrained in this device."

Griffiths thinks attachment theory, where we develop emotional dependency on the phone because it holds details of our lives, is a small part of nomophobia. For “screenagers" , it is FOMO that creates the most separation anxiety. If they can't see what 's happening on Snapchat or Instagram, they become panic-stricken about not knowing what's going on socially. “But they adapt very quickly if you take them on holiday and there's no Internet," says Griffiths.

Passage 4

A team of researchers in California has developed a way to predict what kinds of objects people are looking at by scanning what 's happening in their brains.

When you look at something, your eyes send a signal about that object to your brain.Different regions of the brain process the information your eyes send. Cells in your brain called neurons(神经元) are responsible for this processing.

The fMRI( functional magnetic resonance imaging) brain scans could generally match electrical activity in the brain to the basic shape of a picture that someone is looking at.Like cells anywhere else in your body, active neurons use oxygen. Blood brings oxygen to the neurons, and the more active a neuron is, the more oxygen it will consume. The more active a region of the brain, the more active its neurons, and in turn, the more blood will travel to that region. And by using fMRI, scientists can visualize which parts of the brain receive more oxygen-rich blood, and therefore, which parts are working to process information.

An fMRI machine is a device that scans the brain and measures changes in blood flow to the brain. The technology shows researchers how brain activity changes when a person thinks, looks at something ,or carries out an activity like speaking or reading. By highlighting the areas of the brain at work when a person looks at different images, fMRI may help scientists determine specific patterns of brain activity associated with different kinds of images.

The California researchers tested brain activity by having two volunteers view hundreds of pictures of everyday objects, like people, animals and fruits. The scientists used an fMRI machine to record the volunteers' brain activity with each photograph they looked at. Different objects caused different regions of the volunteers' brains to light up on the scan, indicating activity. The scientists used this information to build a model to predict how the brain might respond to any image the eyes see.

In a second test, the scientists asked the volunteers to look at 120 new pictures. Like before , their brains were scanned every time they looked at a new image. This time, the scientists used their model to match the fMRI scans to the image. For example, if a scan in the second test showed the same pattern of brain activity that was strongly related to pictures of apples in the first test, their model would predict the volunteers were looking at apples.