Back in the fifteenth century, in a village near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children. Despite the hopeless condition, two of the children, Albrecht Durer and his elder brother Albert Durer, had a dream. They both wanted to become artists. After many long discussions, the two boys finally worked out an agreement. They would toss (投掷) a coin. The loser would go down to the nearby mines and, with his earnings, support his brother while he attended the academy (大学). Then, when that brother completed his studies, in four years, he would support the other at the academy.

Tossing a coin, Albrecht won and went off to Nuremberg. Albert went down to the dangerous mines and, for the next four years, supported his brother, whose work at the academy was excellent. By the time Albrecht graduated, he had earned a lot of money for his works of art.

When the young artist returned to his village, Albrecht thanked his brother for the years of support that enabled him to realize his dream. “ And now, Albert, it is your turn. Now you can go to Nuremberg to go for your dream, and I will take care of you.”

Tears running down his face, Albert said,” No, brother. I cannot go to Nuernberg. It is too late for me. Look…what four years in the mines has done to my hands! I have been suffering from arthritis (关节炎) so badly that I cannot even hold a wine glass. No, brother ... for me it is too late !”

Later, Albrecht Durer drew his brother’s hands. He called his drawing simply Hands, and later it was renamed The Praying Hands.

More than 500 years have passed. Among the works of Albrecht Durer, The Praying Hands, is probably the most familiar to people. Reproductions of it hang in people’s homes or offices.

Next time you see a copy of that touching painting, take a second look. Let it be your reminder — if you still need one — no one ever makes it alone!

Why did the two brothers work out the agreement?

   A. They were curious about the result.

   B. Their family couldn’t afford their attending the academy.

   C. They had to support the other sisters and brothers in the family.

   D. Neither of them wanted to study in the academy.

Why couldn’t Albert go to the academy after four years?

   A. Albrecht changed his mind and refused to support Albert.

   B. Albrecht was not able to earn enough money to support Albert.

   C. Albert didn’t have a great love for painting any more.

   D. Albert couldn’t hold a pen or brush to paint.

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. It proved that Albrecht was not good at painting.

B. Albrecht couldn’t earn any money while he was studying at the academy.

   C. Years of hard work in the mines brought great suffering to Albert.

   D. In the painting “The Praying Hands”, the hands were Albrecht’s.

What does the underlined sentence imply (暗示)?

   A. You can achieve success all on your own.

   B. Cooperation is important if you want to succeed.

   C. There is other people’s sacrifice (牺牲) behind your success.

   D. No one will succeed without working hard.

LONDON (Reuters)—New faces given to a Chinese man after a bear tore off part of his face and a French­Caribbean man disfigured by a rare tumor show that such transplants can work and are not medical oddities (怪异)，researchers said．

The findings give hope to some people with severe facial disfigurement and suggest the transplants could prove long­lasting without major problems．Despite the tissue rejection in the first year after their transplants，neither men had psychological problems accepting their new faces and have been able to rejoin society，they reported．

Only three people have received face transplants．The world’s first was carried out on French woman Isabelle Dinoire in November 2005 after she was disfigured in an attack by her dog．In 2007，her doctors reported that she had recovered slowly and steadily，overcoming two periods of rejection．

In 2006，Chinese doctors performed a face transplant on a 30­year­old hit by a bear．While there were some complications with tissue rejection following the operation，two years later the man was doing well，his doctors said．“This case suggests that facial transplantation might be an option for restoring a severely disfigured face，and could enable patients to bring themselves back into society，” Shuzhong Guo and colleagues at Xijing Hospital in China wrote．

A French team described their work on a 29­year­old man who suffered from Von Recklinghausen disease，an illness that changes the shape of his face．“The man，who was not named，was given a new nose，mouth and chin in a 2007 operation．He began to work 13 months after the transplant has more function in his face and has not rejected the new tissue，” his doctors said．

“Our case confirms that face transplantation is practical and effective for the correction of specific disfigurement，” Dr．Laurent Lantieri and colleagues at the Henri­Mondor hospital outside Paris wrote．

1.What’s the main idea of this passage?

A．Face transplants help regain confidence．    B．Face transplants can work．

C．Three people have received face transplants． D．Disfigured people need face transplants．

2.The underlined word “restoring” in Paragraph 4 means “________”．

A．removing         B．recovering         C．repairing          D．rejecting

3.What problem resulted from the facial operations?

A．The patients usually suffered from tissue rejection．

B．It was hard for the patients to get along with others．

C．It took some time for the patients to recover from the operation．

D．The patients wouldn’t accept the facial change．

 

“Image is everything.” An entire industry has been built upon the assumption that image is everything, but when it comes down to it, an appealing image is not enough. If there is no substance(事实) behind the image, the product, service or person will fail eventually.

First of all, one should consider how important image is in the selling of products and services. Advertising agencies have raised the art of creating an image to a state of near perfection. Public concept of that product or service is certainly managed by the images created by the advertising agencies. But if the product or service does not live up to the image that was created, the customer will be very dissatisfied and possibly ask for their money back. For example, the Arthur Andersen accounting firm had spent decades building up an image of trustworthiness. But the recent scandal (丑闻) showed that behind that image, it cheated in business practices. Despite the previous positive image, the firm is being accused of criminal actions and it will probably not survive as a business unit. Although the image had been nearly perfect, the reality behind the image has led to the downfall of the world famous accounting firm.

Similarly, personal advisers can build up a public image for politicians and movie stars. Putting out positive news releases, making sure that only the best photographs are published, and ensuring that the person is seen in all the right places can build up a very positive image in the view of the general commons. But once again, history is filled with examples of both politicians and movie stars that fell from grace like the story of the Hollywood actor giving in to the pressures of fame and fortune. With people, just as with products and services, image is certainly important, but without positive substance behind the image, failure is close.

To summarize, it is clear that an appealing image is extremely important to success, whether that image is related to selling a product or service or to the “selling” of a person. But image is only half of the equation. What lies behind that image is every bit as important as the image itself —— the person or product must deliver on that image or there is little chance for long-term success.

The downfall of the Arthour Andersen accounting firm is due to ________.

A. its dishonesty in business                    B. its previous images

C. its bad management                            D. its poor service

Why did some famous people fall from grace?

A. Their images were not well built up     B. They failed to live up to their images.

C.They felt much pressure from the public  D. They paid little attention to fame and fortune.

The structure of the passage is ________.

A: Argument                 P: Point                 C: Conclusion

The author tries to argue that _________.

A. image creates everything                 B. image is the key to success

C. truth is unlikely ever to be equalled    D. truth and image are equally important

Read the following passage and choose the most suitable heading from A-F for each paragraph.  There is one extra heading which you do not need.

A. Promise behaviors B. Attitude beats experience C. Job-winning qualities D. Employer and employee relation E. Stable career choices F. Importance of teamwork skills

 
Despite the economy, experts advise students to major in what interests them.
【小题1】
Aware of the worst job market in more than 25 years, many students enrolling in colleges and universities this fall are considering majors that they believe will land them stable career. 
Students with degrees in nursing, health care, accounting, computer, general science and engineering report the most success in finding jobs. Those with degrees in finance, journalism, graphic design, and international relations have had tougher times, liberal arts graduates also struggle.
【小题2】
Still career experts say students should major in whatever area most interests them, even if it’s a less specialized liberal arts field, such as Chinese and or sociology. In a national survey, communication, followed closely by a strong work ethic and team work skills, was rated at the most important qualities sought by employers. “Liberal arts teaches us how to learn. When we go out into the world of work, we are going to have to continue to learn,” said Dan Naegeli, director of the university of North Texas career center.
【小题3】
Texas Health Resources uses a wide range of workers at its 14 hospitals and other sites. The 18,000 employees company hires about 2000 people a year. It looks for candidates with “promise (有前途的) behaviors,” human resource director Justin Clem said.
“The resume is great… Education is wonderful,” Clem said. “But when we interview, we really want to look at situations they were put into the past, what actions they took, and what were the results. Do these results really support treating other people with courtesy dignity and respect? And communicating clearly and earning people’s trust? And thinking before they act?”
【小题4】
The company also looks for people who have record of providing service, said Janaelle Nowne, vice president of human resource. If a student mowed lawns or worked at a fast-food restaurant, she said, “ the things that we would want to hear is how you attended to providing service to people that you were working with and how you were attending to the quality of the products that you have. ”
“Experience is always helpful, but it is not always the guarantee that person is going to get the job,” she added. “We look at the behaviors and the attitude they bring in and their willingness to be a part of the team.”
【小题5】
Lockheed Martin has all sorts of jobs in all sorts of fields. One of the skills recruiters consider is the ability to work in teams.
“Most of what we do is problem solving, and you get people with different kinds of skills together to solve the problem,” said Norman Robbins, senior manager community relations. “If you are real bright but you can’t get along with anybody, you’re not going to be as successful as you will be if you can work in teams.”

Barcodes (条形码) aren’t given much thought by the majority of consumers, but these codes were fairly recently applied in a working fashion in 1970.

A small food store owner decided one day that keeping records of the inventory (存货) of his stock and the associated prices were an extremely laborious process, and so, in 1948, he contacted the The Drexel Institute of Technology in a bid to work towards a solution. Bernard Sliver rose to the challenge and set out to study the problem, and began working on a solution involving an automatic way of keeping track of items that had been sold. Silver and a group of students from the institute realized their answer in the form of ultraviolet light (紫外线), ink and a scanner.

The system worked initially, but possessed some negatives. It was incredibly costly to carry out on a large scale and the system was also unstable. If the invention was to become commonplace (寻常的事) in grocery stores, these two problems had to be solved.

The patent (专利)for the bar code system was filed by Sliver and one of his students, Woodland. The patent was not granted immediately; in fact it took three years for the patent agency to grand their invention patent for the barcode, occurring on 7^th October, 1952.

Despite the patent being issued, the system was still not welcomed by the majority of store owners. It was not until 1966 that the system began moving its way into more and more grocery stores. This system was soon criticised, as there was no central mechanism for controlling uniformly coded items. In 1970, Logicorn developed the Universal Grocery Products Identification code (UGOIC), soon shortened to Universal Identification Number (UPC). It was Marsh’s superstore, in Troy, which was the very first store to install this complex barcode reading system, and its popularity has soared (升温) ever since, and is obviously now commonplace in all types of stores worldwide.

1.What is stressed in the second paragraph?

A．The heavy work of store owners.

B．The function of ultraviolet light, ink and a scanner.

C．The origination of barcodes

D．Bernard Silver’s education background.

2.Which of the following was NOT a drawback of Silver’s system?

A．It was expensive to be applied on a large scale.

B．It was a laborious process.

C．The system was not stable.

D．It lacked a central mechanism.

3.What is the purpose of the text?

A．To tell people that failure is the mother of success.

B．To praise scientists’ efforts in making people’s lives easier.

C．To describe shop owners’ opinions of barcodes.

D．To provide information about the development of barcodes.