Five years ago, David Smith wore an expensive suit to work every day. “I was a clothes addict,” he jokes. “I used to carry a fresh suit to work with me so I could change if my clothes got wrinkled.” Today David wears casual clothes—khaki pants and sports shirt—to the office. He hardly ever wears a necktie. “I’m working harder than ever,” David says, “and I need to feel comfortable.”

More and more companies are allowing their office workers to wear casual clothes to work. In the United States, the change from formal to casual office wear has been gradual. In the early 1990s, many companies allowed their employees to wear casual clothes on Friday, but only on Friday. This became known as “dress-down Friday” or “casual Friday”. “What started out as an extra one-day-a-week benefit for employees has really become an everyday thing.” said business consultant Maisly Jones.

Why have so many companies started allowing their employees to wear casual clothes? One reason is that it’s easier for a company to attract new employees if it has a casual dress code. “A lot of young people don’t want to dress up for work,” says the owner of a software company, “so it’s hard to hire people if you have a conservative dress code.” Another reason is that people seem happier and more productive when they are wearing comfortable clothes. In a study conducted by Levi Strauss Company, 85 percent of employers said that they believe that casual dress improves employee morale（士气）. Only 4 percent of employers said that casual dress has a negative effect on productivity. Supporters of casual office wear also argue that a casual dress code helps them save money. “Suits are expensive, if you have to wear one every day,” one person said. “For the same amount of money, you can buy a lot more casual clothes.”

1. David Smith refers to himself as having been “a clothes addict,” because __________.  

A．he often wore khaki pants and a sports shirt

B．he couldn’t stand a clean appearance

C．he wanted his clothes to look neat all the time

D．he didn’t want to spend much money on clothes

2.David Smith wears casual clothes now, because __________.  

A．they make him feel at ease when working

B．he cannot afford to buy expensive clothes

C．he looks handsome in casual clothes

D．he no longer works for any company

3.According to this passage, which of the following statements is FALSE? 

A．Many employees don’t like a conservative dress code.

B．Comfortable clothes make employees more productive.

C．A casual clothes code is welcomed by young employees.

D．All the employers in the U.S. are for casual office wear.

4. According to this passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?   

A．Company workers started to dress down about twenty years ago.

B．Dress-down has become an everyday phenomenon since the early 1990s.

C．“Dress-down Friday” was first given as a favor from employers.

D．Many workers want to wear casual clothes to impress people.

5.In this passage, the following advantages of casual office wear are mentioned except

__________.    

A．saving employees’ money	B．making employees more attractive
C．improving employees’ motivation	D．making employees happier

 

“Creativity is the key to a brighter future,” say education and business experts. Here is how schools and parents can encourage this important skill in children.

    If Dick had listened to his boss in 1925, we might not have a product that we now think of as of great importance: a new type of tape. Dick worked for the Minnesota Mining Company. At work he developed a kind of material strong enough to hold things together. But his boss told him not to think more about the idea. Finally, using his own time, Dick improved the tape, which now is used everywhere by many people. And his former company learned from its mistake. Now it encourages people to spend 15 percent of their work time just thinking about and developing new ideas.

    Creativity is not something one is just born with, nor is it necessarily a character of high intelligence. The fact that a person is highly intelligent does not mean that he uses it creatively. Creativity is the matter of using the resources one has to produce new ideas that are good for something.

    Unfortunately, schools have not tried to encourage creativity. With strong attention to test results and the development of reading, writing and mathematical skills, many educators give up creativity for correct answers. The result is that children can give back information but can’t recognize ways to use it in new situation. They may know the rules correctly but they are unable to use them to work out practical problems.

    It is important to give children choices. From the earlier age, children should be allowed to make decisions and understand their results. Even if it’s choosing between two food items for lunch, decision-making helps thinking skills. As children grow older, parents should let their children decide how to use their time or spend their money. This is because the most important character of creative people is a very strong desire to find a way out of trouble.

1.What did the company where Dick once worked learn from its mistake?

A. They encouraged people to work a longer time.

B. They discouraged people to think freely.

C. They asked people to spend all their work time developing new ideas.

D. They encouraged people to spend some of their work time considering and improving new ideas.

2.Creativity is something __

A. that people are born with      

B. that depends on intelligence

C. that is a way of using what one has learnt to work out new problems

 D. that is not important at all

3.Why don’t schools try to encourage creativity?

A. They don’t understand the importance of education.

B. They don’t want their students to make mistakes.

C. They pay too much attention to exam marks, language and mathematical skills.

D. They think it more important to remember some information.

4. What should the parents do when their children decide how to spend their money?

A. Try to help them as much as possible.

B. Take no notice of whatever they do.

C. Leave them as they are.

D. Help them if their decision is wrong, but not too much.

 

    Jenna, a popular girl from Westood Middle School, had graduated first in her class and was ready for new   36   in high school.

      37  , high school was different. In the first week, Jenna went to tryouts(选拔赛) for cheerleaders(拉拉队队员). She was competing against very talented girls, and she knew it would be  38   for her to be selected. Two hours later, the  39  read a list of the girls for a second tryout. Her heart  40   as the list ended without her name. Feeling  41  , she walked home carrying her schoolbag full of homework.

    Arriving home, she started with math. She had always been a good math student, but now she was   42  . She moved on to English and history, and was  43  to find that she didn’t have any trouble with those subjects. Feeling better, she decided not to  44  math for the time being.

    The next day Jenna went to see Mrs Biden about being on the school  45  . Mrs Biden wasn’t as  46   as Jenna. “ I’m sorry, but we have enough  47   for the newspaper already. Come back next year and we’ll take then.” Jenna smiled  48   and left. “Why is high school so     49    ?” she sighed.

    Later in  50  class, Jenna devoted herself to figuring out the problems that had given her so much  51   . By the end of class, she understood how to get them right. As she gathered her books, Jenna decided she’d continue to try to   52   at her new school. She wasn’t sure if she’d succeed, but she knew she had to  53   . High school was just as her mom had said: “You will feel like a small fish in a big pond  54   a big fish in a small pond. The challenge is to become the  55   fish you can be.”

36. A. processes         B. decisions          C. challenges          D. exercises

37. A. Therefore         B. However          C. Otherwise          D. Besides

38. A. difficult          B. easy              C. boring             D. interesting

39. A. editor            B. boss              C. candidate           D. judge

40. A. jumped           B. sank              C. stopped            D. raced

41. A. strange           B. happy             C. awful              D. lonely

42. A. struggling         B. improving         C. working            D. complaining

43. A. ashamed          B. disappointed        C. shocked           D. relieved

44. A. put up            B. prepare for         C. worry about         D. give up

45. A. committee        B. newspaper          C. radio              D. team

46. A. enthusiastic       B. artistic             C. sympathetic         D. realistic

47. A. speakers          B. readers             C. cheerleaders        D. writers

48. A. widely           B. weakly             C. excitedly           D. brightly

49. A. similar           B. ordinary            C. different            D. familiar

50. A. physics           B. history             C. English            D. math

51. A. pleasure          B. hope               C. trouble             D. sorrow

52. A. fit in             B. look out            C. stay up             D. get around

53. A. swim            B. try                 C. ask                D. escape

54. A. in return for       B. in case of            C. in terms of         D. instead of

55. A. slimmest         B. smallest              C. best              D. gentlest

阅读下面短文，从A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项，并在机读卡上相应番号处将该项涂黑。

People who show confidence really seem to have it made. They seize more rewarding careers, keep good relationships, and just seem to do everything with more styles than the rest of us.

So what is the secret? There isn’t one. Self-confidence is a skill and habit that anyone can learn to develop. And although people who are raised in an encouraging environment with confident role models have a hard start in self-confidence development, we all can learn to become more confident at any age.

Try these simple tips for practicing and increasing your self-confidence levels:

Dare to fail. Anybody who’s out there bravely performing is going to fail repeatedly. If you are not failing, you are not trying. So don’t take failure too hard or too personally. Just learn to deal with it and use its lessons to keep improving.

When in doubt, pretend you know what you are doing. Because, if you are confident of your abilities, by the time you have done it, you will be experienced.

Dress for success. You don’t have to be beautiful to be confident. Make the most of your own unique physical characters and weaken your disadvantages.

Listen to yourself. You are the only person who knows what’s right for you. Don’t put others’ opinions above your own inner voice.

Build a confident vocabulary. Stop putting yourself down and give up continually blaming your tiny weaknesses. Learn to show up your strong points and the world will learn to see and celebrate them with you.

Pass on the praise. Praise others for their virtues and strengths. This practice will not decrease your confidence, but help increase it.

The passage is written mainly __________.

   A. to explain the definition of self-confidence

   B. to explain the secret of self-confidence

   C. to tell people how important self-confidence is

   D. to tell people how to build self-confidence

The underlined word “one” in the second paragraph refers to __________.

   A. the secret of self-confidence

   B. the skill of self-confidence

   C. the style of doing things

   D. a rewarding career

The main idea of the sixth paragraph is __________.

   A. to be confident means to have no disadvantages

   B. taking full advantage of your physical characters will help you be confident

   C. your unique characters will help you be confident and be successful

   D. to be confident means to be beautiful

All the following are tips to increase your self-confidence level EXCEPT_________.

   A. not to be afraid of failure

   B. dress yourself properly

   C. pretend to know everything

   D. make your advantages more obvious

__________ will weaken your self-confidence.

   A. Praising others for their strong points

   B. Always following others’ advice to do things

   C. Giving up blaming your weaknesses

   D. Believing in yourself

Do you remember last summer , when angry travelers were urging the government to do something about airline customer service ? Airlines     36     to improve , and they adopted (采用)new standards just before Christmas .    37     as another summer nears , plenty of     38     

travelers don’t see much improvement in customer     39     overall .

    This month , the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) office will publish its first critical   40      

on whether airlines are     41     their promises . One survey（调查）suggests problems : the number of     42     to the DOT about the top 10 airlines in the first     43     rose 89% from a year ago .

Hit last summer by passenger complaints  and the threat (威慑)of consumer-protection laws by the    44      , 14 airlines     45     to adopt a set of basic customer-service standards called Customers First . The “12 promises” to passengers were introduced     46     a mjor effort to improve service . Since then , airlines have been redesigning websites , retraining employees and upgrading technology .

Recently , DOT inspector general Kenneth Mead , at McCain’s request , sent 20 examiners to airports to     47     whether each airline is doing what it promised . Mead warns travelers shouldn’t    48      too much . Most of the promises are    49      better communication with customers , not problems with flights .

“Passengers should show more understanding to airlines about their     50     to better air service .” Spokeswoman Shelly Sasson says . “And when     51     are made , it takes a long time for them to be noticed,” she says .

Now , the efforts may be working . During the first quarter , Delta had the second-lowest rate of complaints among the     52     10 carriers .    53     , its rate , along with other carriers’ , is up from last year . McCain and other lawmakers say there may be  a     54     to pass new consumer-protection      55    .

36．A．promised                      B．managed               C．hoped                    D．refused

37．A．So                         B．But                        C．Merely                   D．Even

38．A．skilled                   B．experienced            C．tired                             D．puzzled

39．A．flight                     B．opinion                  C．service                   D．travel

40．A．news                     B．information            C．doubt                     D．article

41．A．honoring               B．making                  C．giving                    D．improving

42．A．problems                      B．travelers                 C．passengers              D．complaints

43．A．quarter                  B．year                       C．month                    D．summer

44．A．customer               B．company               C．government            D．public

45．A．wished                   B．agreed                    C．remembered           D．failed

46．A．to                          B．for                        C．as                          D．by

47．A．explain                   B．discuss                    C．discover                 D．check

48．A．travel                    B．expect                    C．complain               D．suggest   

49．A．aimed at               B．considered as          C．joined to               D．made from

50．A．difficulty                      B．situation                 C．reality                    D．efforts

51．A．suggestions            B．rules                      C．decisions               D．improvements

52．A．large                     B．first                      C．top                        D．bad

53．A．Still                       B．Therefore                C．Instead                   D．Meanwhile

54．A．possibility              B．need                      C．chance                   D．use

55．A．examinations          B．service                   C．laws                      D．reports