题目内容
【题目】Why Old Books Are Better Than New Books
Books, both old and new, are great things, but our culture emphasizes that“newer” things are often better. It's hard to say no to your favorite contemporary writer or an amazing up-and-coming author's latest publication, but it's always worth picking up an old book between reading newer ones.【1】.
They are free
The old classics are usually free or deeply discounted at used book stores.【2】.The first obvious place would be your local library, which I think is the most important institution of our time. There are some lovely“free bookstores” online such as Project Gutenberg and Bartleby, which provide free e-books.
They show a different way of life from another time
Older books are valuable because they show life from another time.【3】 .Everyone knows about these stories. Each book has a tale to tell from that point in history. In this sense, reading an old book is almost like visiting an interpretative museum.
【4】old classical books have stood out of time, but new books are still in a contemporary period with readers. "The ages bear evidence to the accuracy of their ideas, "Michael Hyatt writes about old books.【5】.There is no test for old novels to pass because the best ones have been passed on by many generations.
A.You'll remember it forever
B.They don't need to prove themselves
C.It doesn't mean it has lost its relevance
D.There are many ways to find these free books
E.Here's why old classic books stand out from new books
F.Ideas constantly float through our heads daily, but the best stand the test of time
G.Many books are stories or fairy tales from the past, like Beowulf and To Kill a Mockingbird
【答案】
【1】E
【2】D
【3】G
【4】B
【5】F
【解析】
本文是一篇说明文,介绍了旧书(旧的经典书籍)比新书更好的几点原因。
【1】
空前说但是在读他们的新作之前,选择一本旧书读一读总是值得的,下文又介绍了旧书比新书更好的几点原因,此处需要一个承上启下的过渡句,既要对应上文提到的新书和旧书这一话题,又要引出下文介绍的几点原因,故E项(以下是为什么旧的经典书籍能够从新书中脱颖而出)符合语境。
【2】
空前提到了旧书通常在旧书店免费或大幅度打折,空后又说第一个明显的地方就是你们当地的图书馆,而且网上有一些免费书店,这是对空处的举例说明,因此此处是说有很多地方可以找到免费的旧书,故D项(有很多方法可以找到这些免费的书)符合语境。
【3】
空前说旧书的价值在于它们展示了另一个时代的生活,空后又说所有人都知道这些故事,因此此处会提到关于过去的故事的书,空后的“stories”正好与G项中的“stories or fairy tales”相一致,故G项(许多书都是过去的故事或童话,比如《贝奥武夫》和《杀死一只知更鸟》)符合语境。
【4】
空后说旧的经典书籍经得起时间的考验,但新书仍处于试用期,这说明旧的经典书籍不需要证明自己的价值,故B项(它们不需要证明自己)符合语境。
【5】
空前迈克尔·凯特说:“时代证明了它们的思想的正确性”,空后又说不好的小说是不可能经得起考验的,因为最好的小说已经传了好几代了,因此此处是说虽然我们每天都会接触很多不同的书,但旧的经典书籍经得起时间的考验,在我们的头脑中留了下来,故F项(我们每天都会接触到很多思想,但是最好的思想经得起时间的考验)符合语境。

【题目】请认真阅读下列短文,并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。
注意:每个空格只填一个单词。请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。
To keep the creative juices flowing, employees should be receptive to criticism
Researchers have been curious about whether negative feedback really makes people perform better, particularly when it comes to completing creative tasks. The literature has been mixed about this. In a recent investigation, Kim, who in May will join the Cambridge Judge Business School as an assistant professor, observed –– through a field experiment and a lab experiment –– and reported on how receiving negative feedback might impact the creativity of the recipients(接受者).
In both studies, Kim found that negative feedback can inspire or prevent creative thinking. What is most important is where the criticism comes from. When creative professionals or participants received criticism from a boss or a peer, they tended to be less creative in their subsequent work. Interestingly, if an individual received negative feedback from an employee of lower rank, they benefited from it and became more creative.
Some aspects of these findings seem intuitive(凭直觉的). “It makes sense that employees might feel threatened by criticism from their managers,” says Kim. “Supervisors have a lot of influence in deciding promotions or pay raises. So negative feedback from a boss might cause career anxieties.” It also stands to reason that feedback from a co-worker might also be received as threatening because we often compete with our peers for the same promotions and opportunities.
When we feel that pressure from above or from our peers, we tend to fixate on the stressful aspects of it and end up being less creative in our future work, says Kim.
What Kim found most surprising was how negative feedback from their followers (employees that they manage) made supervisors more creative.
“It’s a bit counterintuitive(反直觉的) because we tend to believe we shouldn’t criticize the boss,” says Kim. “In reality, most supervisors are willing to receive negative feedback and learn from it. It’s not that they enjoy criticism –– rather, they are in a natural power position and can cope with the discomfort of negative feedback better.”
The key takeaways: bosses and coworkers need to be more careful when they offer negative feedback to someone they manage or to their peers. And feedback recipients need to worry less when it comes to receiving criticism, says Kim.
“The tough part of being a manager is pointing out a follower’s poor performance or weak points. But it’s a necessary part of the job,” says Kim. “If you’re a supervisor, just be aware that your negative feedback can hurt your followers’ creativity. Followers tend to receive negative feedback personally. Therefore, keep your feedback specific to tasks. Explain how the point you’re discussing relates to only their task behavior, not to aspects of the person.”
In short, anyone who wants to offer negative feedback on the job should do so attentively and sensitively and to promote creativity at work, we should all be receptive to criticism from supervisors, peers and followers.
To keep the creative juices flowing, employees should be receptive to criticism | |
Introduction to the topic | Experiments are conducted to find out whether negative feedback 【1】 people’s performance or not. |
Negative feedback can inspire or hold back creativity, 【2】 on where the criticism comes from. | |
【3】 of the study | Criticism from a boss or a peer 【4】 creativity, while negative feedback from lower rank employees will be 【5】. |
Our work is greatly influenced by our supervisors, so their criticism might bring about anxieties. | |
【6】 for the phenomena | We compete with our peers for the same opportunities, thus feeling 【7】 by their negative feedback. |
Supervisors are in a favourable 【8】 and can learn from their followers’ negative feedback. | |
Enlightenment from the study | When offering criticism to followers or peers, bosses and coworkers need to keep it 【9】 to their tasks. |
Recipients should adopt a positive 【10】 towards others’ criticism. |