As a manager, Tiffany is responsible for interviewing applicants for some of the positions with her company. During one interview, she noticed that the candidate never made direct eye contact. She was puzzled and somewhat disappointed because she liked the individual otherwise.
He had a perfect resume and gave good responses to her questions, but the fact that he never looked her in the eye said “untrustworthy,” so she decided to offer the job to her second choice. “It wasn’t until I attended a diversity workshop that I realized the person we passed over was the perfect person.” Tiffany admits. What she hadn’t known at the time of the interview was that the candidate’s “different” behavior was simply a cultural misunderstanding. He was an Asian-American raised in a family where respect for those in authority was shown by turning away your eyes. “I was just thrown off by the lack of eye contact, not realizing it was cultural,” Tiffany says. “I missed out, but will not miss that opportunity again.”
Many of us have had similar experiences with behaviors we describe as different. As the world becomes smaller and our workplaces more diverse, it is becoming essential to expand our understanding of others and to reexamine some of our false assumptions (假设) .
Hire Advantage
At a time when hiring qualified people is becoming more difficult, employers who can have no personal biases (偏见) from the process have an obvious advantage. My company, Mindsets LLC, helps organizations and individuals see their own blind spots. A real estate (房产) agent we worked with illustrates the positive difference such training can make .
“During my Mindsets coaching period, I was taught how to own a diversified workforce. I employed people from different cultures and skill sets. The agents were able to make use of their full potential and experiences to build up the company. When the real estate market began to change, it was because we had a diverse agent pool that we were able to stay in the real estate market much longer than others in the same profession.”
Blinded by Gender
Dale is an account executive who attended one of my workshops in charge of a diverse workforce. “Through some of the lessons, I discovered my personal bias.” he recalls. “I learned I had not been looking at a person as a whole person, and being open to differences.” In his case, the blindness was not about culture but rather gender.
“I had a management position open in my department; and the two finalists were a man and a woman. Had I not attended this workshop, I would have automatically assumed the man was the best candidate because the position required quite a bit of extensive travel. My assumption would have been that even though both candidates were great and could have been successful in the position, I assumed the woman would have wanted to be home with her children and not travel.” Dale’s assumptions are another example of the well-intentioned but incorrect thinking that limits an organization’s ability to promote the full potential of a diverse workforce. “I learned from the class that instead of forcing my gender biases into the situation, I needed to present the full range of duties, responsibilities and expectations to all candidates and allow them to make an informed decision.” Dale sings high praise for the workshop, “because it helped me make decisions based on fairness.”
A better Bottom Line
An open mind about diversity not only improves organizations from inside, it is profitable as well. These comments from a customer service representative show how an inclusive attitude can improve sales.” Most of my customers speak English as a second language. One of the best things my company has done is to contract with a language service that offers translations over the phone. It wasn’t until my boss received Mindsets’ training that she was able to understand how important inclusiveness was to customer service. As a result, our customer base has increased.”
Once we start to see people as individuals, we can move positively toward inclusiveness for everyone. Diversity is about coming together and taking advantage of our differences and similarities and about building better communities and organizations. When we begin to question our assumptions and challenge what we think we have learned from our past , from the media, peers, family, friends, etc, we begin to realize that some of our conclusions are imperfect or contrary to our fundamental values. We need to train ourselves to think differently, shift our mindsets and realize that diversity opens doors for all of us, creating opportunities in organizations and communities that benefit everyone. In Tiffany’s view, the first candidate was passed over because he ________.
| A．was an Asian-American |
| B．didn’t perform as perfectly as the second one |
| C．was untrustworthy |
| D．showed no respect for authority |
Tiffany’s misjudgment about the candidate originated from ________.
| A．racial discrimination |
| B．cultural differences |
| C．gender discrimination |
| D．emphasis on physical appearance |
What kind of organization is Mindsets LLC?
| A．A real estate agency. |
| B．A hi-tech company. |
| C．A company dealing with financial affairs. |
| D．A company training workforce. |
Which of the following statements will Dale not agree with about Mindsets LLC’s workshop?
| A．It helped him make fair decisions. |
| B．It helped him discover his personal bias about gender. |
| C．It helped him look at a person as a whole one. |
| D．It helped him find successful candidates. |
The last paragraph is intended to tell us the importance of ________.
| A．viewing people as individuals |
| B．challenging our past |
| C．training ourselves in Mindsets’ workshops |
| D．building better communications |
.
The Kingdome in Seattle was destroyed on March 26, 2000. It was taken down to make room for a new stadium. The blast(爆破) from the falling building caused the earth to shake as if an earthquake had happened.
Scientists placed more than 200 earthquake recorders in the earth to measure the movement. They found which parts of the city shook the most. This information helped them know which parts of the city would be damaged in a real earthquake at an early time.
A real earthquake happened on February 28, 2001 in Seattle. The Nisqually earthquake was 6.8 on the Richter scale(里氏6.8级). It damaged the same parts of Seattle that scientists had predicted(预测) from the pulling down of the Kingdome. It was a plate quake. It started deep in the earth, 37 miles below the surface on the Juan de Fuca Plate. Sometimes, huge plates under the earth cause earthquakes when the plates move against each other suddenly.
Scientists have learned that deep earthquakes have very few aftershocks(余震). The Nisqually earthquake had only 4 ones. Another earthquake in California that was close to the surface had over 120 aftershocks. Scientists do not know why the deep earthquakes have fewer aftershocks.
Scientists plan to blast in the ground near Seattle with the purpose of testing the plate. The shockwaves from the blast will jump off the plate and give them an idea of where the plate is and how it is moving. This will give them more information in case another real earthquake hits the area.
72． According to the passage, ______ have the most aftershocks.
A．shockwave earthquakes B．shallow earthquakes
C．deep earthquakes D．earthquakes more than 6.8 Richter scale
73．What do scientists hope to learn from the blast above the Juan de Fuca Plate?
A．They hope to learn where the plate is and how it is moving.
B．They want to destroy the Kingdome.
C．They want to know which places are likely to have the most damage.
D．They hope to find out how many plates there are in the ground there.
74．Why were the scientists interested in the pulling down of the Seattle Kingdome?
A．They wanted to see which areas near the Kingdome would shake the hardest.
B．They wanted to predict what might happen in a real earthquake.
C．They wanted to measure the movement of the Earth with earthquake recorders.
D．All of the above.
75．What will happen after a deep earthquake according to the scientists?
A．There will be many aftershocks.
B．There will be very few aftershocks.
C．The Richter scale of the quakes will be a 6.8 or more.
D．There will be little damage.
.
There is no doubt that adults, and even highly educated adults, vary greatly in the speed and efficiency of their reading. Some proceed very lowly throughout; others dash along too quickly and then have to regress. Poor readers in particular may lack the ability to vary their manner of reading according to the type of reading matter and to their intentions in reading it. A good reader can move at great speed through the text of a novel or similar light reading matter. He may be able to skim a page, picking up a word or two here and there, and gain a general idea of what the text is about without really reading it. In reading more difficult material, with the intention of taking in the whole of it, he will proceed more slowly, but even then he will vary his pace, concentrating on the key words and passages, perhaps re-reading them several times and pass more quickly over the remainder. A less efficient reader tends to maintain the same speed whatever the material he reads. Consequently, even light reading matter gives him little pleasure because he reads so slowly. But this pace may be too fast for really difficult material which requires special concentration at difficult points.
A type of reading which necessitates(需要) careful attention to detail is proofreading, in which the reader, in order to detect misprints in a sample print, has to notice not so much the meaning of what he reads as the exact shape and order of letters and words in the text. This is extremely difficult for most people, since they are accustomed to overlooking such details. In fact, considerable practice is required to practise this task efficiently and it can be done only by reading very slowly, and by paying comparatively little attention to the general meaning of the text.
68．This article is mainly concerned with ________.
A．the ability to read fast
B．difference in the speed and efficiency of reading
C．different reading skills
D．the reading speed of highly educated adults
69．According to the article, there is a difference in reading speed ________.
A．among adult readers
B．among young educated people
C．among readers who have different experiences
D．between the poorly educated and the highly educated
70．The underlined word "regress" can be best replaced by "________".
A．regret B．stop C．move slowly D．go back
71．The author believes a good reader should ________.
A．always read at great speed
B．read carefully and catch every detail
C．always review the text he has read
D．change his speed according to the type of text
.
If US software(软件) companies don’t pay more attention to quality, they could kiss their business good-bye. Both India and Brazil are developing a world-class software industry. Their weapon is quality and one of their jobs is to attract the top US quality specialists whose voices are not listened to in their country.
Already, of the world’s 12 software houses that have earned the highest position in the world, seven are in India. That’s largely because they have used new methods American software specialists refused to use. For example, for years, quality specialists, W. Edwards Deming and J.M. Juran had tried to persuade US software companies to change their attitudes to quality. But their quality call mainly fell on deaf ears in the US--but not in Japan. By the 1970s and 1980s, Japan was taking its market share with better, cheaper products. They used Deming’s and Juran’s ideas to bring down the cost of good quality to as little as 5% of total production costs. In US factories, the cost of quality then was 10 times as high: 50%. In software, it still is.
Watts S. Humphrey spent 27 years at IBM heading up software production and then quality assurance(保证). But his advice was seldom paid attention to. He retired from IBM in 1986. In 1987, he worked out a system for assessing(评估) and improving software quality. It has proved its value time and again. For example, in 1990 the cost of quality at Raytheon Electronics Systems was almost 60 % of total software production costs. It fell to 15% in 1996 and has since further dropped to below 10 %.
Like Deming and Juran, Humphrey seems to be winning more praises overseas than at home. The Indian government and several companies have just founded the Watts Humphrey Software Quality Institute at the Software Technology Park in Chennai, India. Let’s hope that US lead in software will not be eaten up by its quality problems.
64. Which country has the most first-class software companies in the world?
A. Germany. B. The USA. C. Brazil. D. India.
65. Which of the following statements about Humphrey is true?
A. He is now still an IBM employer.
B. He has worked for IBM for 37 years.
C. The US pays much attention to his quality advice.
D. India honors him highly.
66. By what means did Japan take its large market share by the 1970s and the 1980s?
A. Its products were cheaper in price and better in quality.
B. Its advertising was most successful.
C. The US hardware industry was falling behind.
D. Japan hired a lot of Indian software specialists.
67. What is the writer worrying about?
A. Many US software specialists are working for Japan.
B. The quality problem has become a worldwide problem.
C. The US will lose its lead in software in the world.
D. India and Japan are joining hands to compete with the US.
.
第三部分：阅读理解（共20小题; 每小题2分,满分40分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
In a great many cities, hundreds of people ride bicycles to work every day. In New York, some bike riders have even formed a group called Bike for a Better City. They declare that if more people rode bicycles to work, there would be fewer automobiles in the downtown part of the city and so less dirty air from car engines.For several years this group has been trying to get the city government to help bicycle riders. For example, they want the city to draw special lanes（车道） for bicycles only on some of the main streets, because when bicycle riders must use the same lanes as cars, there are accidents. Bike for a Better City feels that if there were special lanes, more people would use bikes.But no bicycle lanes have been drawn. Not everyone thinks it is a good idea—they say it will slow traffic. Some store owners on the main streets don’t like the idea—they say that if there is less traffic, they will have less business.The city government has not yet decided what to do. It wants to keep everyone happy. On weekends, Central Park—the largest place of open ground in New York—is closed to cars, and the roads may be used by bicycles only.But Bike for a Better City says that this is not enough and keeps fighting to get bicycle lanes downtown.56. In New York , a group of bike riders______.A. are keeping practising for healthB. have no cars of their ownC. are complaining（埋怨） there are not enough busesD. are trying to settle the problem of air pollution57. The bike riders suggest that______.A. bicycles should be used instead of cars
B. bicycle lanes should be drawnC. fewer buses or cars should be used
D. the number of special lanes should be increased
58. The advantage of the special lanes is that______.
A. they will make cars and buses run slowly
B. they will make it easier for bike riders to go to parks
C. they will make the city more beautiful
D. the lanes will prevent accidents
59. The government has not decided whether special lanes should be drawn______.
A. so that everyone is disappointed
B. because there are different opinions
C. because most people travel by train
D. because Bike for a Better City is not strong enough
.
Koeler took special notice of the tall woman who was nicely dressed, but she was wearing ugly, thick-soled(厚底) shoes.
Now the woman was taken to a room for questioning. There it was found that the soles of the shoes were hollow(中空的). They were opened. Some diamonds fell out on the floor. Their total weight was 3377 carats(克拉).
The young woman broke down in tears. Then she told her story. For years she had dreamed of coming to live in America, she said. At last she had managed to get the papers she needed to come to the U.S. Then a strange man called on her. He said he would pay for her trip and give her one hundred dollars. All she had to do was to smuggle the diamonds past the U.S. Customs. The man gave her the shoes and also bought her a plane ticket. Just before she got on the plane, he gave her an envelope. He said that it was the hundred dollars he had promised.
The weeping woman handed the envelope to Koeler. He tore it open. There was only eighteen dollars. She was cheated. In the end the woman was trialed and sentenced to eighteen months in prison for her part in the smuggling.
60. Where did the story happen?
A. At an airport. B. At a police station.
C. At a railway station. D. In a custom office in China.
61. The underlined word “smuggling ” in this passage most probably means_____.
A. 偷税 B. 盗窃 C. 走私 D. 交换
62. The woman had agreed to smuggle the diamonds______.
A. in order to get the papers she needed B. in hope of selling them
C. in return for some money and a free trip D. so as to share them with the man
63. Which is the right order of the events(事件)given in the passage?
a. She wanted to live in the U.S.
b. She arrived in the U.S.
c. She was given an envelope.
d. She was given a plane ticket.
e. She was found out.
f. She was put into prison.
A. a, d, c, b, e, f B. a, b, c, e, f, d
C. a, c, d, b, e, f D. a, b, d, c, e, f
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