I was being interviewed by a senior manager for a major insurance(保险业)company. I told him honestly why I wanted the job —I needed to keep my family in Boston. My wife recently died of a heart attack. A job in Boston would help me reduce some of the extreme trauma(精神创伤) and pain of the loss for my 16-year-old daughter. It was important for me to keep her in her present high school. I could still hardly talk about the loss of my wife. Bruce, the interviewer, was politely empathetic, but he didn’t probe(彻底调查) any further. He admitted (接受)my loss and, with great respect, moved on to another subject. After the next round of the interview, Bruce took me to lunch with another manager. Then he asked me to take a walk with him. He told me that he, too, had lost his wife. And, like me, he had also been married 20 years and had three children. In his sharing, I realized that he had experienced the same pain as I had —a pain that was almost impossible to explain to someone who had not lost a beloved one. He offered his business card and home phone number and suggested that, if I need help or just want someone to talk to, I should feel free to give him a call. Whether I got the job or not, he wanted me to know that he was there if I ever needed help. When he had no idea if we would ever see each other again, he helped our family deal with one of the greatest losses. He turned the normally cold business interview into a caring support for another person in need.
【小题1】The author took part in the interview because _______.

A．he had lost his job and wanted to find a new one

B．he had to support his family in Boston

C．his wife had recently died of a heart attack

D．his daughter needed money for schooling

【小题2】 The underlined word "empathetic “in the second paragraph means _____.

A．kind

B．easy-going

C．smart

D．understanding

【小题3】 Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Bruce invited the author to lunch later.

B．Bruce shared his life experience with the author.

C．Bruce was willing to help the author.

D．Bruce finally gave the job to the author.

【小题4】 We can infer from the last paragraph that ________.

A．Bruce and the author saw each other often

B．the author got little help from Bruce

C．the author learned much from the job interview

D．the author had a better life afterwards

【小题5】 What is the best title for the passage?

A．An act of kindness

B．A pleasant interview

C．The same experience

D．An important lesson

Questionnaire Read the questions and answer Yes or No , then you will find out how good you are. 1.  When you don’t understand something, you ask questions. 2.  You like listening to older people talk about the past. 3.  You think that you can learn something interesting from everyone around you. 4.  You are brave enough when you have to talk to people you don’t know. 5.  You enjoy reading books about famous people. 6.  You always see and talk to different people. 7.  You are interested in learning new ways of doing things. 8.  You enjoy sharing experiences with friends and learning from people of all ages. 9.  You talk a lot about yourself. 10. Even if you are often wrong, you make your own decisions. 11. You hate teaching what you are good at: sports, technology, whatever. 12. Your parents don’t understand you, so you don’t talk to them much.

SCORE NOW! Score 2 points if you answer YES to each of the first 8 questions, and 0 if you choose NO. Score 2 points if you answer NO to each of the last 4 questions, and 0 if you choose Yes. 18-24 You are friendly and open-minded. You make people feel important by listening to what they have to say. You’ll probably succeed in learning all kinds of interesting things. Good for you! 10-16 Remember that every single person you know can teach you something. You will greatly make your life rich and colorful. 0-8 About 400 years ago, a famous writer wrote , “No man is an island.” This is still true today. Try to be more open and interested in people around you.

【小题1】If you say “YES” to all these questions , you’ll get ______ points.

A．12

B．16

C．20

D．24

【小题2】The writer thinks you should ______.

A．always see and talk to the same people.

B．make your own decision whenever you want

C．enjoy teaching what you are good at

D．talk much about yourself when possible

【小题3】“ No man is an island”. In the text probably means that _______.

A．the famous writer was very clever	B．everything is the same as 400 years ago
C．you will feel lonely if on an island	D．you can not live alone in the world

【小题4】The questions are used to test whether you are willing to ______.

A．learn from others

B．help other people

C．do all by yourself

D．depend on others

Ask someone what they have done to help the environment recently and they will almost mention recycling, which is the process (过程) of treating used things, such as paper or steel so that they can be used again. Recycling in the home is very important of course. However, being forced to recycle often means we already have more things than we need. We are now dealing with the results of that over-consumption in the possible greenest way, but it would be far better if we did not bring so many things home in the first place.

Here is an example. In the UK, the total of packaging increased by 12% between 1999 and 2005. It now makes up a third of a household’s waste. In many supermarkets, foods are packaged twice with plastic and cardboard.

Too much packaging causes serious environmental problems. The UK is running out of different kinds of ways for dealing with this unnecessary waste. If such packaging is burnt, it gives off greenhouse gases which go on to cause the greenhouse effect (效果). Recycling helps, but the process itself uses energy. The best way of avoiding this problem is to stop producing such unnecessary things in the first place. Food waste is another serious problem, too. Too many supermarkets encourage customers (消费者) to buy more than they need. They seldom encourage customers to reuse their plastic bags, for example. However, a few of them are coming round to the idea that this cannot continue.

But this is not just about supermarkets. It is about all of us. We have learned to connect packaging with quality (质量). We have learned to think that something unpackaged is of poor quality. Is it true for all the products? In fact, more and more companies realized the importance of protecting the environment. They try to package what really should be packaged, including products in good quality.

As more of us recycle, we are beginning to realize how many unnecessary things are being collected. We need to face the waste of our daily life. Although many people have taken action to recycle, we have a high mountain to climb.

1.What does the underlined word “over-consumption” mean?

A．Making the environment green.

B．Recycling as much as possible.

C．Making more products than necessary.

D．Having more things than being needed.

2.What is the main purpose of the second paragraph?

A．To show the facts of over-used packaging.

B．To talk about the possible greenest ways.

C．To teach people how to do recycling at home.

D．To express worries about environmental problems.

3.What can be inferred from the fourth paragraph?

A．Unpackaged products are of bad quality.

B．Other products are better packaged than food.

C．We can’t always connect quality with packaging.

D．Supermarkets should care more about packaging.

4.What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．Supermarkets should recycle first.

B．Packaging causes serious problems.

C．Needless things are mostly recycled.

D．Recycling should be done in the first place.

 

仔细阅读对话，选择恰当的答语。

(　　 ) 1. She hardly watch TV , does she?　 (　　 ) 2. Must he clean his room after school?　 (　　 ) 3. Would you mind closing the window? (　　 ) 4. May we talk about the math in the library? (　　 ) 5. It’s getting hotter and hotter, isn’t it? (　　 ) 6. How long have you lived there? (　　 ) 7. May I have a sandwich? (　　 ) 8. Would you like to come for a walk?　 (　　 ) 9. How long has your brother taught in that school? (　　 ) 10. Could you please not put your cap here?

A. Yes, I’d love to. B. No, he needn’t. C. No, you mustn’t. D. Sorry, I’ll put it in my desk. E. Since he left the army. F. I’ve lived there all my life. G. It perhaps is. H. No, she doesn’t. I. Of course, you can. J. No, not at all.