阅读理解

　　The interview is an important event in the job-hunting process, because the 20 or 30 minutes you spend with the interviewer may decide whether or not you get the particular job you want．Therefore, it is important to remember that your purpose during the interview may differ from that of the potential employer．You want to make yourself stand out as a whole person who has personal strengths and should be considered the right person for the job．It is encouraging to know that the interviewer's task is not to embarrass you, but to hire the right person for the job．

　　Remember, job-hunting is very competitive．Anything you can do to improve your interview techniques will be to your advantage．The following suggestions may help you land the most important job．

　　Your goal in this interview is to make sure your good points get across．The interviewer won't know them unless you point them out, so try to do this in a factual and sincere manner．

　　Don't say anything bad about your former employers．If you have been fired from a job and the interview asks about it, be honest．

　　Show the interviewer that you are interested in the company by asking questions．Ask about responsibilities, working conditions, promotion opportunities and benefits of the job you are interviewing for．

　　If at some point you decide the interview is not going well, do not let your discouragement show．You have nothing to lose by continuing a show of confidence, and you many have much to gain．It may be real, or it may be a test to see how you react to adverse conditions．

　　Some interviewers may bring up salary early in the interview．At this time, you may indicate that you are more interested in a job where you can prove yourself than a specific salary．This politely passes the question back to the interviewer．If possible, you should negotiate for salary after you have been offered a job and have completed the paperwork．

阅读理解

　　Where was I?The room was dark and quiet．My head hurt really badly．I shouted, “Help!Help!Can anybody help me?”

　　After a while somebody came in．The room was so dark that I couldn't see his face clearly．The man turned on the light and said with a sharp voice, “Ah!Sweetie, do you still remember who I am?” I was shocked．Oh, my God!I cried, “You are Michael Zey, the man I charged with murder!Why are you here?You should be in prison!”

　　“You never thought about the result of charging a gang(犯罪团伙)leader, did you?Because of you, I was in prison for 15 years．You ruined my life!” His voice was very cold．My face was pale with fear．He was here to take revenge(报复)!

　　“Please, let me go!Don't hurt me!Please!” I asked him．“Dr．Calment, you are smart enough to know it is impossible．Now, I give you two choices．One is shooting your head．It is the quickest way．The other is cremation(火葬)．Your husband and you will be together forever．It's quite romantic．Don't you think?” He spoke angrily．“What?My husband?He is innocent!” I shouted at him．

　　Suddenly, he took hold of my head and said, “You will pay for what you have done to me．” He took out a gun from his bag．

　　“Help!Help!Can anybody help me?”

阅读理解

　　Recently a lot of managers complain that their employees don't work hard and what they care about is only how much money they can get．

　　How does this happen?I think it is time for them to think about that seriously now．

　　Shakespeare once said that “some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them”．So it is with leadership．Some persons are born with the ability of leadership．Some gain that art by watching and studying the actions of those around them．Other persons find themselves forced into special situations which require them to make the best of the resources they never realized they had and events bring out strong leadership．Most of us are never put to such tests．Most of us are not born leaders．

　　We often hear people say, “He is a great fellow to work for．” We see workers try their best to do things for certain managers．We see them carry out instructions cheerfully and well or even add something to the doing of the job which was unexpected．In other words, they put themselves into the job and give it their “extra effort” which people give only when they feel that they are part of the team, that they are making a contribution to its success, and that their contributions are understood and appreciated by their managers．

　　However, this is not something which happens naturally or by chance．It is built on one-to-one relationship．It is a reflection of a person's attitudes toward the job, the manager and the company．Where it exists, it has been developed over a period, as a result of three simple factors：confidence, cooperation and understanding of their manager who understands them, appreciates their efforts and tries to give them all a fair deal．

阅读理解

　　Five people are at our table, including myself．I've already learnt a great deal about them in the short time we've been at sea, although we rarely meet except at mealtimes．

　　First of all, there's Dr Stone．He's a man．of about sixty - five, with gray hair and a friendly face．He gave up his work a short while ago and is now traveling round the world before he retires to some quiet country village．As a young man, he served for many years as a doctor in the Army and visited many countries．He's told us a great deal about the city to which we are going．

　　Then there's "Grandmother"．I call her that because her name escapes me．In spite of being a grandmother, she looks remarkably young, not more than fifty．She's on her way to visit a daughter who went to Australia some years ago．Naturally she is very excited at the thought of seeing her again, and her three grandchildren, whom she has never seen．

　　Then there's a man I don't care for very much, an engineer by the name of Barlow．He has been on leave in England and is now returning to his work in Singapore．

　　The other person who sits at our table is Mrs．Hunt．I've found out hardly anything about her．She's extremely quiet and rarely talks, except to consult the doctor about children's various illnesses．She's on her way to join her husband in India．

阅读理解

　　Increasingly, Americans are becoming their own doctors, by going online to diagnose their symptoms, order home health tests or medical devices, or even self-treat their illnesses with drugs from Internet pharmacies(药店)．Some avoid doctors because of the high cost of medical care, especially if they lack health insurance．Or they may stay because they find it embarrassing to discuss their weight, alcohol consumption or couch potato habits．Patients may also fear what they might learn about their health, or they distrust physicians because of negative experiences in the past．But playing doctor can also be a deadly game．

　　Every day, more than six million Americans turn to the Internet for medical answers．Most of them aren't nearly skeptical enough of what they find．A 2002 survey by the Pew Internet ＆ American Life Project found that 72 percent of those surveyed believe all or most of what they read on health websites．They shouldn't．Look up “headache”, and the chances of finding reliable and complete information, free from a motivation for commercial gain, are only one in ten, reports an April 2005 Brown Medical School study．Of the l69 websites the researchers rated, only l6 scored as “high quality”．Recent studies found faulty facts about all sorts of other disorders, causing one research team to warn that a large amount of incomplete, inaccurate and even dangerous information exists on the Internet．

　　The problem is that most people don't know the safe way to surf the Web．“They use a search engine like Google, get l8 trillion choices and start clicking．But that's risky, because almost anybody can put up a site that looks authoritative(权威的), so it's hard to know whether what you're reading is reasonable or not,” says Dr．Sarah Bass from the National Cancer Institute．

阅读理解

Dear Sir,

　　I'm writing to complain about the service offered by your company．

　　I told your service department on November 21 that my washing machine needed repairing, Your service engineers have since been here four times－on December 11, December 19, December 25 and January 5．The problem was found out on the first visit and the wrong parts were brought by different engineers on the two next visits．The correct part was fitted by the first engineer on the fourth visit．

　　In short, my complaints are：

　　a．I had to wait three weeks for an engineer to call and nearly two months for the machine to be repaired．

　　b．The engineers who called on December 19 and December 25 had been given wrong information by the company, which made me take two half days off unnecessarily．

　　c．The first and fourth visits lasted a total of thirty minutes．But in the invoice(发票), I have to pay for four visits of four hours' work．I will not be paying the invoice for their mistakes and I do hope to receive your answers to these complaints．

Yours,

Robert White

阅读理解

　　“Dad! He took a book without paying!” I yelled．

　　My father looked surprised．Before the boy could say anything, his mother grabbed his arm and shook it．“Is it true? You stole? Tell me!”

　　Everyone was quiet．The boy began to cry, and he nodded his head．He pulled out the comic book(漫画书)from under his shirt．

　　“Oh, Mr．Kim．I am sorry! My Ted made a big mistake!” Mrs．Diaz told my father．She tried to take the comic book, but Ted wouldn't let go．

　　“It's OK．He can keep it,” my father said with a smile．

　　“Oh no,” Mrs．Diaz said．“Let me pay right now…” She dug in her purse．“How much?”

　　“Three seventy-five．”

　　Mrs．Diaz's eyes widened, and she dug deeper．I saw her mouth make a small line．“Three seventy-five?” she asked．

　　“It's OK．You can pay later,” my father said．

　　“No,” Mrs．Diaz said．She kept looking in her purse．“I have money here．”

　　I felt bad for yelling, for I realized that Ted had tried to steal the comic book because he didn't have the money．Maybe the boy could have a job, I thought．

　　I had an idea．

　　“What if he worked with me?” I asked．They turned to me．

　　I said, “He can work with me to pay for the comic book．”

　　“Good,” my father said smiling at me．Mrs．Diaz nodded．She turned to her son, “You hear? You will work and buy the comic book!”

　　“Yes, Mama,” Ted said, hanging his head．

　　As they left, Ted looked back, and though he still seemed sad, he stuck out(伸出)his tongue at me．

　　Ted has been working here for two weeks．He has paid for the comic book, but my father says he is such a good worker that he can work with me as long as he wants．We are friends now．

阅读理解

　　The old idea that child prodigies(神童)“burn themselves” or “overtax their brains” in the early years, therefore, are prey to failure and(at worst)mental illness is just a myth．As a matter of fact, the outstanding thing that happens to bright children is that they are very likely to grow into bright adults．To find this out, 1500 gifted persons were followed up to their thirty-fifth year with these results：

　　On adult intelligence tests, they scored as high as they did as children．They were, as a group, in good health, physically and mentally．Eighty-four percent of their group were married and seemed content with their life．

　　About 70 percent had graduated from colleges, though only 30 percent had graduated with honors．A few had even flunked out(退学), but nearly half of these had returned to graduate．

　　Of the men, 80 percent were in one of the professions or in business, managers or semiprofessional jobs．The women who had remained single had offices, business, or professional occupations．

　　The group had published 90 books and 1,500 articles in scientific, scholarly, and literary magazines and had collected more than 100 patents(专利权)．

　　In a material way they didn't do badly either．Average income was considerably higher among the gifted people, especially the men, than for the country as a whole, despite their comparative youth when last surveyed．

　　In fact, far from being strange, maladjusted(难以适应)people locked in an ivory tower, most of the gifted were turning their early promises into practical reality．

阅读理解

　　JACKSONVILLE, Fla, Nov．10－A 14-year-old boy was arrested today after the rotten body of an 8-year-old girl who was his neighbor was found hidden in his bedroom．She had been stabbed and beaten．

　　The boy, Joshua Earl Patrick Philips, admitted and was charged with murder in the death of the girl, Maddie Clifton, who disappeared on Nov．3, Sheriff Nat Glover said．

　　Joshua, who has no criminal record, would not be eligible(合格的)for the death punishment because of his age．Detectives discovered a knife and a baseball bat believed to be the weapons used to kill the girl, the Sheriff said．

　　The girl had been stabbed at least nine times and was struck in the head, Sheriff Glover said at a news conference．The authorities did not say whether she has been attacked sexually, nor did they give motive for the attack．

　　The boy's mother, Melissa Philips, grew suspicious after the police searched her home on Monday and detected an odor(strange smell), the Sheriff said．This morning she pulled aside the frame of the bed, saw a child's feet and called an officer, he said．

　　Maddie's body was found under a sheet of wood supporting the frame of the water bed, which was filled, Sheriff Glover said, adding, “He put her under the bed and taped her up in it．”

　　Investigators believe the third-grader was killed in the boy's house shortly after she disappeared last Tuesday, touching off a widespread search．

　　On Friday, Maddie's parents, Steve and Sheila Clifton, made an earnest request for her return．

　　The boy's house, like others in the neighborhood, had been searched three times．During the third search on Monday, the mother had at first said she thought the odor came from family pets．

　　Hundreds of volunteers had sent thousands of leaflets with Maddie's picture since she disappeared that evening, about 30 minutes after she went out to play with friends．

　　The girl's house is one of the well-kept, single-family homes in the older working-class of Jacksonville．Yellow ribbons(丝带)still hung from the trees this morning．

阅读理解

　　Mrs．Janes gave music lessons at a school．She had a good voice and enjoyed singing, except that some of her high tones sounded like a gate that had forgotten to oil．Mrs．Janes knew her weakness well, and took every chance she could find to practise these high tones．As she lived in a small house, where she could not practise without disturbing the rest of the family, she usually went for long walks along the country roads whenever she had time and practised her high tones there．Whenever she heard a car or a person coming along the road, she stopped and waited until she could no longer be heard before she started practicing again, because she was a shy person．

　　One afternoon, a fast, opened car came up behind her so silently and so fast that she didn't hear it until it was only a few yards from her．She was singing some of her highest and most difficult tones at that time and as the car passed, she saw an anxious expression came over the driver's face．He stopped his car suddenly, jumped out and began to examine all his tyres(轮胎)carefully．

　　Mrs．Janes didn't dare to tell him what the noise he had heard really was, so he got back into the car and drove off．