The latest research suggests that the key factor separating geniuses from the merely accomplished is not I.Q., a generally bad predictor of success. Instead, it’s purposeful practice. Top performers spend more hours practising their craft. It you wanted to picture how a typical genius might develop, you’d take a girl who possessed a slightly above average language ability. It wouldn’t have to be a big talent, just enough so that she might gain some sense of distinction. Then you would want her to meet, say, a novelist, who coincidentally shared some similar qualities. Maybe the writer was from the same town, had the same family background, or shared the same birthday.
This contact would give the girl a vision of her future self. It would hive her some idea of a fascinating circle who might someday join. It would also help if one of her parents died when she was 12, giving her a strong sense of insecurity and fueling a desperate need for success. Armed with this ambition, she would read novels and life stories of writers without end. This would give her a primary knowledge of her field. She’s be able to see new writing in deeper ways and quickly understand its inner workings.
Then she would practise writing. Her practice would be slow, painstaking and error-focused. By practising in this way, she delays the automatizing process. Her mind wants to turn conscious, newly learned skills into unconscious. Automatically performed skills. By practising slowly, by breaking skills down into tiny parts and repeating, she forces the brain to internalize a better pattern of performance. Then she would find an adviser who would provide a constant stream of feedback, viewing her performance form the outside, correcting the smallest errors, pushing her to take on tougher challenges. By now she is redoing problems — how do I get characters into a room—dozens and dozens of times. She is establishing habits of thought she can call upon in order to understand or solve future problems.
The primary quality our young writer possesses is not some mysterious genius. It’s the ability to develop a purposeful, laborious and boring practice routine; the latest research takes some of the magic out of great achievement. But it underlines a fact that is often neglected. Public discussion is affected by genetics and what we’re “hard-wired” to do. And it’s true that genes play a role in our capabilities. But the brain is also very plastic. We construct ourselves through behaviour.
1.The passage mainly deals with .
A. the function of I.Q. in cultivating a writer
B. the relationship between genius and success
C. the decisive factor in making a genius
D. the way of gaining some sense of distinction
2.By reading novels and writers’ stories, the girl could .
A. come to understand the inner structure of writing
B. join a fascinating circle of writers someday
C. share with a novelist her likes and dislikes
D. learn from the living examples to establish a sense of security
3. In the girl’s long painstaking training process, ________.
A. her adviser forms a primary challenging force to her success
B. her writing turns into an automatic pattern of performance
C. she acquires the magic of some great achievement
D. she comes to realize she is “hard-wired” to write
4.What can be concluded from the passage?
A. A fueling ambition plays a leading role in one’s success
B. A responsible adviser is more important than the knowledge of writing.
C. As to the growth of a genius, I.Q. doesn’t matter, but just his/her effort.
D. What really matters is what you do rather than who you are.
Have you ever picked a job based on the fact that you were good at it but later found it made you feel very uncomfortable over time? When you select your career, there's a whole lot more to it than assessing your skills and matching them with a particular position. If you ignore your personality, it will hurt you long-term regardless of your skills or the job’s pay. There are several areas of your personality that you need to consider to help you find a good job. Here are a few of those main areas;
1) Do you prefer working alone or with other people?
There are isolating jobs that will drive an outgoing person crazy and also interactive jobs that will make a shy person uneasy. Most people are not extremes in either direction but do have a tendency that they prefer. There are also positions that are sometimes a combination of the two, which may be best for someone in the middle who adapts easily to either situation.
2) How do you handle change?
Most jobs these days have some elements of change to them, but some are more than others. If you need stability in your life, you may need a job where the changes don't happen so often. Other people would be bored of the same daily routine.
3) Do you enjoy working with computers？
I do see this as a kind of personality characteristic. There are people who are happy to spend more than 40 hours a week on a computer, while there are others who need a lot of human interaction throughout the day. Again, these are extremes and you'll likely find a lot of positions somewhere in the middle as well.
4) What type of work environment do you enjoy？
This can range from being in a large building with a lot of people you won't know immediately to a smaller setting where you'll get to know almost all the people there fairly quickly.
5) How do you like to get paid?
Some people are motivated by the pay they get, while others feel too stressed to be like that. The variety of payment designs in the sales industry is a typical example for this.
Anyway, these are a great starting point for you. I've seen it over and over again with people that they make more money over time when they do something they love. It may take you a little longer, but making a move to do what you have a passion for can change the course of your life for the better.
1. What is unnecessary in your job hunting?
A. Assessing your skills
B. Going to different areas
C. Matching your skills with a position
D. taking your personality into consideration
2.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Isolating jobs usually drive people mad.
B. Interactive jobs make people shy easily.
C. Extreme people tend to work with others.
D. Almost everyone has a tendency in jobs.
3.What does the underlined sentence in paragraph one mean?
A. Before you select your job, you should assess your skills and match them with your position
B. There are more important things than assessing skills and match them with the position when you select job.
C. Nothing is important than assessing skills and match them with the position when you select job.
D. You should ignore your skills when you select job.
4.What is the missing word about a job search in the following chart?
A. Design. B. Changes. C. Cooperation. D. Hobbies.
5.What is the best title for this passage?
A. Lifestyles and Job Pay B. Jobs and Environment
C. Job Skills and Abilities D. Personalities and Jobs
It all began with a stop at a red light.
Kevin Salwen was driving his 14-year-old daughter, Hannah, back from a sleepover in 2006 . While waiting at a traffic light, they saw a black Mercedes Coupe on one side and a homeless man begging for food on the other.
“Dad, if that man had a less nice car, that man there could have a meal.”Hannah protested. The light changed and they drove on, but Hannah was too young to be reasonable. She pestered （纠缠）her parents about inequity, insisting that she wanted to do something.
“What do you want to do?” her mom responded. “Sell our house?”
Warning! Never suggest a grand gesture to an idealistic teenager. Hannah seized upon the idea of selling the luxurious family home and donating half the proceeds to charity, while using the other half to buy a more modest replacement home.
Eventually, that’s what the family did. The project —crazy, impetuous （鲁莽的） and utterly inspiring — is written down in detail in a book by father and daughter scheduled to be published next month: “The Power of Half.” It’s a book that, frankly, I’d be nervous about leaving around where my own teenage kids might find it. An impressionable child reads this, and the next thing you know your whole family is out on the street.
At a time of enormous needs in Haiti and elsewhere, when so many Americans are trying to help Haitians by sending everything from text messages to shoes, the Salwens offer an example of a family that came together to make a difference — for themselves as much as the people they were trying to help. In a column a week ago, it described neurological evidence from brain scans that unselfishness lights up parts of the brain normally associated with more primary satisfaction. The Salwens’ experience confirms the selfish pleasures of selflessness.
Mr. Salwen and his wife, Joan, had always assumed that their kids would be better off in a bigger house. But after they downsized, there was much less space to retreat to, so the family members spent more time around each other. A smaller house unexpectedly turned out to be a more family-friendly house.
1.The best title for the passage should be “______”.
A. The Less, the Better
B. An Expected Satisfaction
C. Something We Can Live Without
D. Somewhat Crazy but Inspiring
2.What does the underlined word “inequity” most probably mean in Paragraph 3?
A. Unfairness. B. Satisfaction.
C. Personal attitude. D. Reasonable statement.
3. What does the underlined sentence “Never suggest a grand gesture to an idealistic teenager.” means? ______
A. Never give a quick answer to an idealistic teenager.
B. Unless a child is realistic, never give an answer immediately.
C. Give an answer if the child is reasonable.
D. Don’t respond to a child's demands firmly without consideration.
4. What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A. The Salwens regretted selling their house.
B. The relationship between the family members of the Salwens is much closer.
C. Small houses can bring happiness.
D. The Salwens intend to buy another big house.
5.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
A. Mercedes Coupe is only an ordinary car which is quite cheap.
B. Unselfishness has nothing to do with people’s primary satisfaction.
C. Hannah asked her parents to do something charitable and they sold their house.
D. The writer’s children asked him to sell their house.
I’d meant to go to Miros that day. I’d packed my bag and was ready. The motor-boat in on time. The sky was cloudy, but the wind wasn’t too strong for the two-hour . I stood at my window, staring at the boat. Then I lost of her, an old light-house partly blocked my view of the harbor. A dozen passengers were their way there. I was about to join them --- when a man’s face at the light-house window.
This was strange, because the light-house had been empty, unused and for thirty years. It was stranger still --- because I’d seen that before. I couldn’t place it but it was, or had once been, familiar to me. I opened my window and across. “I know we’ve met before, but I can’t remember where.”
I him to open his if he could and answer me. He did neither. The face behind the glass motionless (静止). Seeing him more clearly now, I knew he was not looking at me. He seemed to be looking upwards, the clouds. How well I’d known that face, sometime, somewhere!
I again. “We met years ago. Was it in Athens in the 1950s? I used to live in Plaka.”
He didn’t reply nor give any that he’d heard. I went back further, to I was in the navy. “Perhaps we met at sea during the war,” and that thought at once him to mind. Commander Leftis! He was Commander Leftis of course! How could I have forgotten? I’d saved his life once. But surely he …
The motor-boat her bell. I turned my eyes. The wind had risen, but she was pulling . Laughing, I called, “Now I’ve missed her, and it’s your , Commander!”
As the boat drew away, the face at the window faded. minute it was there. Looking up, I could see the whites of the eyes. The minute it was gone.
Well, I didn’t rush to the light-house. I knew that Leftis was dead. He died at sea in 1963 or 1964. But there’s one other thing I ought to tell you: the motor-boat never reached Miros. It was lost in a storm, with all the passengers.
1.A. reached B. arrived C. went D. came
2.A. voyage B. crossing C. travel D. boating
3.A. sight B. way C. patience D. chances
4.A. searching B. finding C. making D. hurrying
5.A. placed B. existed C. occurred D. appeared
6.A. locked B. opened C. rebuilt D. chained
7.A. man B. face C. window D. light-house
8.A. jumped B. ran C. shouted D. screamed
9.A. expected B. hoped C. believed D. asked
10.A. became B. remained C. seemed D. grew
11.A. through B. after C. for D. at
12.A. persuaded B. repeated C. tried D. continued
13.A. suggestion B. answer C. sign D. action
14.A. when B. which C. where D. how
15.A. kept B. brought C. caused D. changed
16.A. beat B. rang C. turned on D. put on
17.A. up B. down C. in D. out
18.A. problem B. question C. duty D. fault
19.A. Each B. Every C. One D. Some
20.A. next B. rest C. other D. last
You __________ football after school. Why not go home and do your homework first?
A. always played B. have always played
C. are always playing D. have always been playing
The palace is heavily guarded, because inside its walls ________.
A. where sit the European leaders B. the European leaders there sit
C. sit the European leaders D. that the European leaders sit
