My newly-rented small apartment was far away from the centre of London and it was becoming essential for me to find a job, so finally I spent a whole morning getting to town and putting my name down to be considered by London Transport for a job on the underground. They were looking for guards, not drivers. This suited me. I couldn’t drive a car but thought that I could probably guard a train, and perhaps continue to write my poems between stations. The writers Keats and Chekhov had been doctors. T.S. Eliot had worked in a bank and Wallace Stevens for an insurance company. I’d be a subway guard. I could see myself being cheerful, useful, a good man in a crisis（危机）. Obviously I’d be overqualified but I was willing to forget about that in return for a steady income and travel privileges — those being particularly welcome to someone living a long way from the city centre.

The next day I sat down, with almost a hundred other candidates, for the intelligence test. I must have done all right because after about half an hour’s wait I was sent into another room for a psychological test. This time there were only about fifty candidates. The interviewer sat at a desk. Candidates were signaled forward to occupy the seat opposite him when the previous occupant had been dismissed, after a greater or shorter time. Obviously the long interviews were the more successful ones. Some of the interviews were as short as five minutes. Mine was the only one that lasted a minute and a half.

I can remember the questions now: “Why did you leave your last job?” “Why did you leave your job before that?” “And the one before that?” I can’t recall my answers, except that they were short at first and grew progressively shorter. His closing statement, I thought, revealed（显示） a lack of sensitivity which helped to explain why as a psychologist, he had risen no higher than the underground railway. “You’ve failed the psychological test and we are unable to offer you a position.”

Failing to get that job was my low point. Or so I thought, believing that the work was easy. Actually, such jobs — being a postman is another one I still desire — demand exactly the sort of elementary yet responsible awareness that the habitual dreamer is least qualified to give. But I was still far short of full self-understanding. I was also short of cash.

1.．The writer applied for the job chiefly because _________.

2.．The writer thought he was overqualified for the job because _________.

3.．The length of his interview meant that _________.

4.．What does the writer realize now that he did not realize then?

5.．What’s the writer’s opinion of the psychologist?

When I was six years old, my mom told me that I could find anyone's number in the phone book. I used to look through the phone book for hours trying to find Michael Jordan's phone number. When I couldn't find it, I just dialed seven numbers. When someone answered, I'd ask, "Is that Michael Jordan?" Obviously, I always had the wrong number.

A year later I started playing basketball at my local recreation center. It was very big. I never thought in my wildest dreams that a basketball court could be inside a building. The recreation center had a special smell in it, sort of like hot rubber. I guessed it was from the shoes hitting the floor so fast and hard. The atmosphere on the court was carefree. Our biggest excitement of the day was when we actually made a shot. We celebrated wins over ice cream at a fast food restaurant.

I got good at it, and my confidence grew. I played it all the time until the sixth grade. As soon as junior high school came, I stopped playing basketball and focused on school. When senior high school started, I tried out for the school team and made it. We worked hard. Every week we did 300 push-ups and 300 sit-ups on our own. Our coach encouraged the sit-ups to keep stomach power, because it gave us so much control when we were playing basketball. If we didn't want to do the sit-ups and push-ups, we could practice dribbling (????) and shooting more. It's just us, the ball, the court and the net. But don't take my word for it. See for yourself. After all, I'm just one kid playing the game.

1.From Paragraph 1 we know that ____.

A. the author's mother gave him some wrong phone numbers

B. the phone book contained everyone's phone number except Michael Jordan's

C. the author wanted to contact Michael Jordan very much

D. the author didn't know how to use a phone at that time

2.What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?

A. The days of the author playing basketball at a recreation center.

B. The author's excitement of making shots when playing basketball.

C. The days before the author went to senior high school.

D. The author's happy childhood with his teammates.

3.What surprised the author most at the recreation center?

A. That it was very near to his home.

B. That there was a basketball court inside the building.

C. That there was a special smell in it.

D. That there was a fast food restaurant in it.

4.The author's coach encouraged them to do sit-ups because ____.

A. it is the basic preparation to play basketball

B. it is more useful than dribbling and shooting

C. it is the only way to make people stronger

D. it helps keep stomach power

5.What's the author's purpose in writing this passage?

A. To introduce some skills in playing basketball.

B. To tell us about his dream of becoming a basketball star.

C. To introduce his own experience of playing basketball.

D. To tell us how to balance playing basketball and studying.

My newly-rented small apartment was far away from the centre of London and it was becoming essential for me to find a job, so finally I spent a whole morning getting to town and putting my name down to be considered by London Transport for a job on the underground. They were looking for guards, not drivers. This suited me. I couldn’t drive a car but thought that I could probably guard a train, and perhaps continue to write my poems between stations. The writers Keats and Chekhov had been doctors. T.S. Eliot had worked in a bank and Wallace Stevens for an insurance company. I’d be a subway guard. I could see myself being cheerful, useful, a good man in a crisis（危机）. Obviously I’d be overqualified but I was willing to forget about that in return for a steady income and travel privileges — those being particularly welcome to someone living a long way from the city centre.
The next day I sat down, with almost a hundred other candidates, for the intelligence test. I must have done all right because after about half an hour’s wait I was sent into another room for a psychological test. This time there were only about fifty candidates. The interviewer sat at a desk. Candidates were signaled forward to occupy the seat opposite him when the previous occupant had been dismissed, after a greater or shorter time. Obviously the long interviews were the more successful ones. Some of the interviews were as short as five minutes. Mine was the only one that lasted a minute and a half.
I can remember the questions now: “Why did you leave your last job?” “Why did you leave your job before that?” “And the one before that?” I can’t recall my answers, except that they were short at first and grew progressively shorter. His closing statement, I thought, revealed（显示） a lack of sensitivity which helped to explain why as a psychologist, he had risen no higher than the underground railway. “You’ve failed the psychological test and we are unable to offer you a position.”
Failing to get that job was my low point. Or so I thought, believing that the work was easy. Actually, such jobs — being a postman is another one I still desire — demand exactly the sort of elementary yet responsible awareness that the habitual dreamer is least qualified to give. But I was still far short of full self-understanding. I was also short of cash.
【小题1】．The writer applied for the job chiefly because _________.

My newly-rented small apartment was far away from the centre of London and it was becoming essential for me to find a job, so finally I spent a whole morning getting to town and putting my name down to be considered by London Transport for a job on the underground. They were looking for guards, not drivers. This suited me. I couldn’t drive a car but thought that I could probably guard a train, and perhaps continue to write my poems between stations. The writers Keats and Chekhov had been doctors. T.S. Eliot had worked in a bank and Wallace Stevens for an insurance company. I’d be a subway guard. I could see myself as being cheerful, useful, a good man in a crisis. Therefore, obviously I’d be more than qualified for it. But I was willing to forget about that in return for a steady income and travel privileges—those being particularly welcome to someone living a long way from the city centre.

The next day I sat down with almost a hundred other candidates, for the intelligence test. I must have done all right because after about half an hour’s wait I was sent into another room for a psychological test. This time there were only about fifty candidates. The interviewer sat at a desk. Candidates were signaled forward to occupy the seat opposite him when the previous occupant had been dismissed, after a longer or shorter time. It was obvious that the long interviews were the more successful ones. Some of the interviews were as short as five minutes. Mine was the only one that lasted a minute and a half.

I can remember the questions now: “Why did you leave your last job?” “Why did you leave your job before that?” “And the one before that?” I can’t recall my answers, except that they were short at first and grew progressively shorter. His closing statement, I thought, revealed (揭示) a lack of sensitivity which might explain why as a psychologist, he had risen no higher than the underground railway. “You’ve failed the psychological test and we are unable to offer you a position.”

Failing to get that job was my low point. I thought that the work was easy. Actually, such jobs — being a postman is another one I still desire — demand exactly the sort of elementary yet responsible awareness that a poet is least qualified to have. But I was still far short of full self-understanding and I was also short of cash.

1. The writer applied for the job chiefly because _________.

A．he wanted to work in the centre of London

B．he could no longer afford to live without a job

C．he was not interested in any other available job

D．he had received some suitable training

2. The writer thought he was overqualified for the job because _________.

A．he often traveled underground               B．he had written many poems

C．he could deal with difficult situations    D．he had worked in a company once

3．The length of his interview meant that _________.

A．he was not going to be offered the job

B．he had not done well in the intelligence test

C．he did not like the interviewer at all

D．he had little work experience to talk about

4．What’s the writer’s opinion of the psychologist according to the underlined sentence?

A. He was very unsympathetic..    B. He was unhappy with his job.

C. He was quite inefficient.      D. He was rather aggressive

5．What did the writer realize after the interview according to the last paragraph?

A．How unpleasant ordinary jobs could be.          B．How difficult it was to be a poet.

C．How unsuitable he was for the job.        D．How badly he did in the interview.

There is that great idea that in an information and knowledge based economy, the most important thing for companies is attracting and holding outstanding talented guys. Obviously I will not say that is not important, but in my opinion a successful and groundbreaking company cannot be built just from the collection of high talented people, as a great sports team can't be constructed only by the collection of great players.

It is more important to build teams of people that achieve the goals according to the company's organizational vision. It is necessary to create organizations where everybody (with outstanding talent or not) can develop their best personal capabilities and that these capacities are addressed to achieve the corporate goals and mission. The company efforts must be addressed to design an organizational system that produces and uses talent from everyone in the company.

Trying to get the best from our people through corporate team building policies, establishing a concrete corporate culture and values, making our company a place where people want to work because it is a good place to stay and develop their capacities, is the best way to compete in the knowledge economy. That will keep us out of the obligation to constantly seek for the "best players" and entering in the retribution auctions(拍卖).

We have to take into account that, nowadays, the real talented and creative people, like to work or engage themselves in projects where they can develop their capacities, they can be involved in the organizational goals and vision, and where they are treated with respect and dignity. Definitively, they want to be happy doing their jobs. And we have to build organizations where they can find that.

1.

The underlined word that in Paragraph 1 refers to ________.

  A. information and knowledge                       B. the great idea

  C. the collection of talented people              D. attracting and holding talented people

2.

In the author’s opinion, a good company should consist of ________.

  A. only outstanding people                                B. both talented and common people

  C. only common people                                       D. more talented people than common people

3.

The most important thing a successful company should do is ________.

  A. constantly seek for talented people

  B. employ people with different abilities

  C. make the company a place where employees are glad to devote themselves to work

  D. make the company a place where employees can get the best pay and great respect

4.

According to Paragraph 3, the company can get the best from its employees in the following ways EXCEPT ________.

  A. making corporate team building rules            

B. forming corporate culture and values

  C. encouraging them to develop their abilities  

D. competing in the knowledge economy

5.

 How is the text organized?

(1)—Paragraph 1     (2)—Paragraph 2              (3)—Paragraph 3              (4)—Paragraph 4

    A. (1)→(2)→(3)→(4)                                                 B. (1)(2)→(3)(4)

          ↗(2)                               (1)↘

    C. (1)→(3)                                                                       D.  (2)→(4)

          ↘(4)                               (3)↗