1、Passage 1_to detail is something everyone can and should do-_in a tight job market. Bob Crossly, a human-resources export notices this in the job applications that come across his desk every day. “Its amazing how many candidates eliminate_.” He says.“Resumes (简历) arrive with stains. Some candidates
2、dont bother to spell the companys name correctly. Once I see a _, I eliminate the candidate”, Crossly concludes. “If they cant take care of these _, why should we trust them with a job?”Can we _too much attention to details? Absolutely. Perfectionists struggle over little things at the cost of somet
3、hing larger they work toward. “To keep from losing the forest for the trees”, says Charles Garfield, associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco, “We must _ ask ourselves how the details we are working on fit into the larger picture. If they dont, we should drop them and move
4、to something else.”Garfield compares this process to this work as a computer scientist at MASA. “The Apollo moon launch was slightly off-course 90 percent of the _.” Says Garfield, “But a successful landing was still _ _ because we knew the exact coordinates of our goal. This allowed us to make adju
5、stments as necessary.” Knowing where we want to go helps us judge the importance of every task we undertake.Too often we believe what accounts for others success is some special secret or lucky break (机遇), but rarely is success so mysterious. Again and again, we see that by doing little things _our
6、grasp well, large rewards follow.A) especially B)constantly C)within D)importance E)themselves F)attentionG) mistake H)pay I)likely J) details K)time L)show M)demand N)results O)successfulPassage 2 Exchange a glance with someone, then look away. Do you realize that you have made a _? Hold the glance
7、 for a second longer, and you had made a different statement. Hold it for 3 seconds, and the meaning has changed again. For every _situation, there is a permissible time that you can hold a persons gaze without being intimate, rude, or aggressive. If you are on an elevator, what gaze-time are you pe
8、rmitted? To answer this question, _ what you typically do. You very likely give other passengers a quick _to size them up(打量)and to assure them that you mean no threat. _ being close to another person signals the possibility of interaction, you need to emit a _telling others you want to be left _-.S
9、o you cut off eye contact , what sociologist Ervign Goffman(1963) calls “a dimming of the lights.” You look _at the floor, at the indicator lights, anywhere but into another passengers eyes. Should you _the rule against staring at a stranger on an elevator, you will make the other person exceedingly
10、 uncomfortable, you are likely to feel a bit strange yourself.If you hold eye contact for more than 3 seconds, what are you telling another person? Much depends on the person and the situation. For instance, a man and a woman communicate interest in this manner. They typically gaze at each other for
11、 about 3 seconds at a time, then drop their eyes down for 3 seconds, before letting their eyes meet again. But if one man gives another man a 3-second-plus_, he signals “I know you,” I am interested in you, “ or “You look peculiar and I am curious about you.” This type of stare often produces hostil
12、e feeling.A) speaking B)statement C)social D) government E)because F)sinceG) signal H) consider I) lonely J)up K)alone L)break M)stare N)glance O)downPassage 3Many a young person tells me he wants to be a writer. I always _ such people, but also explain that theres a big _ between “being a writer” a
13、nd _. In most cases, these individuals are dreaming of wealth and fame, not the long hours alone at a typewriter. “Youve got to want to write,” I say to them,” not want to be a _.The reality is that writing is a _, private and poor-paying affair. For every writer kissed by fortune there are thousand
14、s more _ longing is never rewarded. When I left a 20-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard to become a freelance writer, I had no prospects at all. _ I did have was a friend who found me my room on a New York apartment building. It didnt even matter that it was cold and had no bathroom. I immediately
15、bought a used manual typewriter and felt like a genuine writer.After a year or so, however, I still hadnt gotten a _ and began to doubt myself. It was so _ to sell a story that barely made enough to eat. But I knew I wanted to write. I had dreamed about it for years. I wasnt going to be one of those
16、 people who die wondering, What if? I would keep putting my dream to the test-even though it meant living with uncertainty and fear of _. This is the Shadow land of hope, and anyone with a dream must learn to live there.A) how B) what C) encourage D) whose E) writerF) difference G) failure H) writin
17、g I) lonely J) breakK) hard L) whom M) success N) take O) holidayPassage 4The fridge is considered a _. It has been so since the 1960s _ packaged food first appeared with the label “store in the refrigerator.”In my fringeless Fifties childhood, I was fed well and healthily. The milkman came _, the g
18、rocer, the butcher, the baker, and the ice-cream man delivered two or three times a week. The Sunday meat would last until Wednesday and surplus bread and milk became all kinds of cakes. _ was wasted, and we were never troubled by _ food. Thirty years on, food deliveries have ceased, fresh vegetable
19、s and almost unobtainable in the country.The invention of the fridge contributed comparatively little to the art of food preservation. A vast way of well-tried techniques already existed-natural cooling, drying, smoking, salting, sugaring, bottling.What refrigeration did promote was _-marketing hard
20、ware and electricity, marketing soft drinks, marketing dead bodies of animals around the globe in search of a good price.Consequently, most of the worlds fridges are to be found, not in the tropics where they might prove useful, but in the wealthy countries with mild temperatures where they are clim
21、atically almost _. Every winter, millions of fridges hum away continuously, and at vast expense, busily _ an artificially-cooled space inside an artificially-heated house-while outside, nature provides the desired temperature _ of charge.The fridges effect _ the environment has been evident, while i
22、ts contribution to human happiness has been insignificant. If you dont believe me, try it yourself, invest in food cabinet and turn off your fridge next winter. You may miss the hamburgers, but at least youll get rid of that terrible hum.A) unnecessary B) something C) when D) daily E) holdF) maintai
23、ning G) necessity H) nothing I) upon J) rottenK) marketing L) down M) free N) money O) banPassage 5After the violent earthquake that shook Los Angeles in 1994, _ scientists had good news to report: The damage and death toll could have been much _.More than 60 people died in this earthquake. By _, an
24、d earthquake of similar intensity that shook America in 1988 claimed 25,000 victims.Injuries and deaths were relatively _ in Los Angeles because the quake occurred at 4:31 a.m. on a holiday, when traffic was light on the citys highways. In _, changes made to the construction codes in Los Angeles dur
25、ing the last 20 years have _ the citys buildings and highways, making them more resistant to quakes. _ the good news, civil engineers arent resting on their successes. Pinned to their drawing boards are blueprints for improved quake-resistant buildings. The new designs should offer even greater secu
26、rity to cities where earthquakes often _ place.In the past, making structures quake-resistant meant firm yet _ materials, such as steel and wood, that bend without breaking. Later, people tried to lift a building off its foundation, and insert rubber and steel between the building and its foundation
27、 to _ the impact of ground vibrations. The most recent designs give buildings brains as well as concrete and steel supports called smart buildings, the structures respond like living organisms to an earthquakes vibrations. When the ground shakes and the building tips forward, the computer would forc
28、e the building to shift in the opposite direction.The new smart structures could be very expensive to build. However they would save many lives and would be less likely to be damaged during earthquakes.A) Plus B) earthquake C) reduce D) strengthened E) despiteF) worse G) take H) wonderful I) comparison J) lessK) addition L) under M) flexible N) more O) save
