I had the meanest mother in the whole world．While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast．When others had cokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich．As you can guess, my supper was different from the other kids' also．But at least, I wasn't alone in my sufferings．My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did．

My mother insisted upon knowing where we were at all times．She had to know who our friends were and where we were going．We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath everyday．

The worst is yet to come．We had to be in bed by nine each night and up at eight the next morning．We couldn't sleep till noon like our friends．So while they slept --- my mother actually had the nerve to break the Child Labor Law．She made us work．We had to wash dishes, make beds, learn to cook and all sorts of cruel things．I believe she lay awake at night thinking up mean things to do to us．

Through the years, things didn't improve a bit．We could not lie in bed, "sick" like our friends did, and miss school．Our marks in school had to be up to par．Our friends' report cards had beautiful colors on them, black for passing, red for failing．My mother, being as different as she was, would settle for nothing less than ugly black marks．With our mother behind us, talking, hitting and demanding respect, none of us was allowed the pleasure of being a drop-out．

My mother was a complete failure as a mother．Out of four children, a couple of us attained some higher education．None of us have ever been arrested or divorced．Each of my brothers served his time in the service of this country．She forced us to grow up into God-fearing, educated, honest adults．Using this as a background, I am now trying to raise my three children．I am filled with pride when my children call me mean．Why? Because now I thank God every day for giving me the meanest mother in the whole world．

What can we infer from the passage?

       A．The author is not happy to have such a mean mother．      

       B．The author's mother broke the Child Labor Law to make money．

       C．The author's mother failed to educate her children to be honest adults．

       D．The author is strict with her children．

Why couldn’t the author eat candy for breakfast?

     A．Because she preferred cereal, eggs or toast to candy．

     B．Because her mother couldn’t afford for candy．

     C．Because her mother thought it not good to eat candy for breakfast．

     D．Because her mother had to give candy to the author’s sister and two brothers．

The author’s mother made her children work because _________ ．

     A．she had trouble falling into sleep．

     B．she could not keep such a big family without her children’s help．

     C．she was teaching her children to live by themselves．

     D．she had no time to do the housework．

You're in a department store and you see a couple of attractive young women looking at a sweater. You listen to their conversation:

 “I can't believe it--a Lorenzo Bertolla! They are almost impossible to find. Isn't it beautiful? And it's a lot cheaper than the one Sara bought in Rome. ”

They leave and you go over to see this incredible sweater. It's nice and the price is right. You've never heard of Lorenzo Bertolla, but those girls looked really stylish. They must know. So, you buy it. You never realize that those young women are employees of an advertising agency. They are actually paid to go from store to store, talking loudly about Lorenzo Bertolla clothes.

Every day we notice what people are wearing, driving and eating. If the person looks cool, the product seems cool, too. This is the secret of undercover marketing. Companies from Ford to Nike are starting to use it.

   Undercover marketing is important because it reaches people that don't pay attention to traditional advertising. This is particularly true of the MTV generation----consumers between the age of 18 and 34. It is a golden group. They have a lot of money to spend, but they don't trust ads.

    So advertising agencies hire young actors to “perform” in bars and other places where young adults go. Some people might call this practice deceptive(骗人的), but marketing executive Jonathan Ressler calls it creative. “Look at traditional advertising. Its effectiveness is decreasing. ”

However, one might ask what exactly is “real” about of young women pretending to be enthusiastic about a sweater? Advertising executives would say it's no less real than an ad. The difference is that you know an ad is trying to persuade you to buy something. You don' t know when a conversation you overhear is just a performance.

The two attractive young women were talking so that they could ________.

A. get the sweater at a lower price    B. be heard by people around

C. be admired by other shoppers    D. decide on buying the sweater

Lorenzo Bertolla is __________.

A. a very popular male singer         B. an advertising agency

C. a clothing company in Rome      D. the brand name of a sweater

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage? 

A. The two girls are in fact employed by the Lorenzo Bertolla Company.

B. The MTV generation tend to be more easily influenced by ads.

C. Traditional advertising is becoming less effective because it's too direct.

D. Undercover marketing will surely be banned soon by the government.

Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

 A. Two Attractive Shoppers            B. Lorenzo Bertolla Sweaters

 C. Ways of Advertising                   D. Undercover Marketing

You’re in a department store and you see a couple of attractive young women looking at a sweater. You listen to their conversation：

　　“I can’t believe it—a Lorenzo Betrolla! They are almost impossible to find. Isn’t it beautiful？And it’s a lot cheaper than the one Sara bought in Rome”.

　　They leave and you go over to see this incredible sweater. It’s nice and the price is right. You’ve never heard of Lorenzo Bertolla, but those girls looked really stylish. They must know. So，you buy it. You never realize that those young women are employees of an advertising agency. They are actually paid to go from store to store, talking loudly about Lorenzo Bertolla clothes.

　　Every day we notice what people are wearing, driving and eating. If the person looks cool，the product seems cool，too. This is the secret of undercover marketing. Companies from Ford to Nike are starting to use it.

　　Undercover marketing is important because it reaches people that don’t pay attention to traditional advertising. This is particularly true of the MTV generation—consumers between the age of 18 and 34. It is a golden group. They have a lot of money to spend, but they don’t trust ads.

　　So advertising agencies hire young actors to “perform” in bars and other places where young adults go. Some people might call this practice misleading, but marketing executive Jonathan Ressler calls it creative.“Look at traditional advertising. Its effectiveness is decreasing”.

　　However，one might ask what exactly is “real” about the young women pretending to be enthusiastic about a sweater. Advertising executives (主管) would say it’s no less real than flu ad. The difference is that you know an ad is trying to persuade you to buy something. You don’ t know a conversation you overhear is just a performance.

The two attractive young women were talking so that they could _______.

A. get the sweater at a lower price            B. be heard by people around

C. be admired by other shoppers              D. decide on buying the sweater

Lorenzo Bertolla is _______.

A. a very popular male singer                         B. an advertising agency

C. a clothing company in Rome               D. the brand name of a sweater

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage？

A. The two girls are in fact employed by the Lorenzo Bertolla Company.

B. The MTV generation tends to be more easily influenced by ads.

C. Traditional advertising is becoming less effective because it’s too direct.

D. Undercover marketing will surely be banned soon by the government.

Which of the following would be the best title for the text？

A. Two Attractive Shoppers                     B. Lorenzo Bertolla Sweaters_k.&s~5*u

C. Ways of Advertising                                 D. Undercover Marketing

B

When you’re lying on the white sands of the Mexican Riviera, the stresses(压力) of the world seem a million miles away. Hey, stop! This is no vacation-you have to finish something!

Here lies the problem for travel writer and tood critic(评论家),Edie Jarolim “I always loved traveling and always liked to eat, but it never occurred to me that I could make money doing both of those things,” Jarolim said. Now you can read her travel advice everywhere in Arts and Antiques, in Brides, or in one of her there books, The Complate Idiot’s Travel Guide to Mexican Beach Resarts.

……writing began some eight years ago. After getting a PhD in English in Canada, she took a

Test Frommer’s travel guides, passed it, and got the job. After working at Frommer’s, Jarolim worked

for a while at Rough Guides in London, then Fodor’s, where she fell so in love with a description of the Southwest of the U.S. that she moved there.

Now as a travel writer, she spends one-third of her year on the road. The rest of the time is spent completing her tasks and writing reviews of restaurants at home in Tucson, Arigona.

As adventurous as the job sounds, the hard part is fact-checking all the information. Sure, it’s great to write about a tourist attraction, but you’d better get the local(当地的)museum hours correct or you could really ruin someone’s vacation.

46. Which country does Jarolim live in now?

A．Mexico    B．The U.S.    C．The U.K.    D．Canada

47. What is most difficrlt for Jarolim?

A．Working in different places to collect information

B．Checking all the facts to be written in the guides

C．Finishing her work as soon as possible

D．Passing a test to write travel guides

48. What do we know about Jarllim from the text?

A．She is successful in her job

B．She finds her life full of stresses

 C．She spends half of her time traveling

D．She is especially interested in museums

49. What would be the best title for the text?

A．Adventures in Travel Writing

B．Working as a Food Critic

C．Travel Guides on the Market

D．Vacationing for a Living

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．Taking your personality into consideration

C．Matching your skills with a position

D．Going to different areas

2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Isolating 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.The underlined word “stability” in the passage most probably means?

A.no anger.                 B.  no movement.             C. gentleness.             D. enthusiasm.

4. What could be the best title for this passage?

A. Lifestyles and Job Pay                               B. Personalities and Jobs

C. Job Skills and Abilities                                D. Jobs and Environment