题型:阅读表达 题类:常考题 难易度:困难
天津市第一中学2020届高三上学期英语第二次月考试卷
"Cleverness is a gift while kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy—they're given after all. Choices can be hard."
I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that the Internet usage was growing at 2300 percent per year. I'd never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30, and I'd been married for a year. I told my wife that I wanted to quit my job and go to do this crazy thing that probably wouldn't work since most start-ups don't and I wasn't sure what to expect. She told me I should go for it. As a young boy, I had been a garage inventor. I had always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.
I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people and a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him that I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park,listened carefully to me and finally said, "That sounds like a really good idea,but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn't already have a good job." That logic made some sense to me,and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice,but ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn't think I would regret trying and failing. And I suspected that I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all.
After much consideration, I took the less secure path to follow my passion, and I'm proud of that choice. For all of us, in the end, we are our choices.
For college students, graduation signals an exciting new beginning. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Many students wonder: What do I do now? What career is best for me? Most expert advice on choosing careers boils down to the following points.
Knowing Yourself
What are your interests? Abilities? Skills? {#blank#}2{#/blank#} The results may surprise you! These can be useful, but they're not the last word.
Investigating
Investigating occupations is much more difficult. For most people, there isn't just one ‘right' job, but several that could be satisfying. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Talk to people who have occupations that interest you. Find out what they like and dislike about their job.
{#blank#}4{#/blank#}
Many people choose their careers because they believe strongly in a particular cause. Some might choose to work in areas like medicine, charity or environmental protection. Some have a strong interest in history or a love for the arts. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} So in cases like these, the field is often chosen first, rather than the occupation itself. So if you've chosen a field, self-assessment will help you find your place in it. Invest some time and effort, and find the right career for you.
A. Try a self-assessment quiz. B. Search through books and Web sites. C. Finding your place. D. But it can also bring a lot of uncertainty and confusion. E. Serious research helps narrow the possibilities F. Research your chosen field carefully. What work needs to be done? What training is needed? G. Then they might think about education, museums or art production. |
The most wonderful time of the year (the Christmas season) is also the most stressful for lots of people struggling to fit in increased end-of-the-year workloads, holiday parties, shopping, guest hosting, travel, and seeing friends and relatives who you'd otherwise avoid. Luckily, the same coping mechanisms that can help relieve stress and find better balance during the year also work for this holiday.
Here are four tips to finding work—life balance during this season.
1) Know and avoid your stressors(压力源).
If cooking for a large group, baking cookies, or Christmas shopping are your key stressors, don't do them. Lots of grocery stores will help cater your next holiday meal. Bakeries exist for a reason, and gift cards are much appreciated by all. Stop trying to live up to someone else's expectations of the holidays and stay merry by outsourcing the pain points.
2) Get flexible at work.
If you normally travel an hour each way at work, see if your boss will let you work from home in this special season to save time, get more done, and reduce your stress. Or ask if you can start work from home in the mornings and come to the office later in the day to avoid peak hours. Leave early and finish your day from the comfort of home, too.
3) Make your own list and check it twice.
Make a to-do list for yourself, for both work and life, then divide it up into categories like “must do,” “want to do,” and “feel obligated to do.” If you can remove any or all of your required list, the rest of your to-dos will start to look a lot easier.
Once you have your lists in order, it's time to start crossing things off. In between your must-dos tasks, include a want-to-do task to break things up and re-energize yourself. Yes, this holiday is a time to give back to others and be selfless, but there's still a bit of “self” in selflessness, isn't there?
4)If you start to feel a cold coming on, come to a full and complete stop.
The best way to stop a cold from exploding into a weeks-long sickness is to stop it at the start. Unless a task or activity is an absolute necessity, cancel your plans, put away your to-do lists, and settle in for a long winter's nap. A day of rest and enough sleep is the only thing you NEED right now. Feel bad about declining holiday invitations from your friends and family? You're doing them a favor. Once people hear that you're sick, they'll be glad you stayed away — they don't want to come down with a cold during the holiday any more than you do!
It is certain that you can feel less stressed in this hectic season when you stop expecting so much from yourself, because nobody puts so much expectation on you as you do to yourself. Trying to satisfy clients, co-workers, friends and family can be draining and can finally negatively impact you in many ways. When you simplify things up front, you relieve the stress off of yourself and everyone else in the process. Stop focusing on what you feel like you're obligated to do, and start focusing on what you want and need to do, the load will get lighter and you will feel a lot merrier under the Christmas tree.
{#blank#}1{#/blank#} | Four Ways to Find Work-life Balance during the Christmas Season |
Introduction | ◆The Christmas {#blank#}2{#/blank#} is often a time when work and social activities collide with each other. ◆Luckily, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} relief mechanisms can be found to cope with the problem. |
Four Tips | ◆Your stressors like cooking, baking and shopping can be {#blank#}4{#/blank#} because there is enough outsourcing for you to turn to and it is OK if you fail to live up to people's {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. ◆You can talk to your boss for a {#blank#}6{#/blank#} schedule. ◆You can make a list of what really {#blank#}7{#/blank#} and let go of the obligatory list. ◆Your friends and family don't want to come{#blank#}8{#/blank#} with a cold at all, so feel free to cancel all your plans when {#blank#}9{#/blank#}. |
Conclusion | ◆Start {#blank#}10{#/blank#} on what you want to do and you can enjoy the season better. |
“Urgent action required”, “Do you still want to hear from us?”, “We've updated our privacy policy”, “Should we stop sending you updates? If not, act now!”
Many of us will have received emails like this during the past few weeks. Triggering this flood of emails is something called GDPR that comes into effect in just under two weeks' time. Often the emails warn that if you don't respond, you will be removed from the company's database, which raises a lot of questions. What action, if any, do you need to take? Could it affect you financially?
GDPR, which stands for General Data Protection Regulation, has been described as the biggest overhaul(彻底检查)of online privacy since the birth of the internet. It is designed to give all EU citizens the right to know what data is stored on them and to have it deleted, plus protect them from privacy breaches(破坏). It comes into effect on 25 May.
The new rules encourage the requirement for explicit and informed consent before data is processed. As a result, companies and organizations around the world are contacting users to check they are happy to carry on receiving their emails.
However, many of us seem to be going down with “GDPR fatigue(厌倦)”: one article last week claimed that the “reconfirmation rate” - the proportion of people saying they want to continue receiving a company's emails - at UK micro-businesses was averaging just 10%, which meant “they could lose 90% of their subscribers - the life-blood for their business”. So it's no wonder some firms have adopted policies such as offering to enter people into a prize draw in return for them going in and updating their communication preferences.
The average adult is said to have about 100 “data relationships” — companies and organizations that hold our personal data. Meanwhile, the reason why the company that occasionally emails you newsletters is now asking for your consent is perhaps because you never explicitly gave it permission to send you stuff. Maybe you only get its emails because you went to an event it organized ages ago or you once downloaded something from its website. Under the new regime, that almost certainly wouldn't count as explicit and informed consent, hence it's getting in touch now.
The bottom line is that if it is a company or organization that you want to continue hearing from, you should probably click the button or log in to ensure you keep getting its emails. If it doesn't hear from you, it may decide to take you off its database.
Passage outline | Supporting details |
The influences of junk mails | ◆ They flood into our lives. ◆ They{#blank#}1{#/blank#} to remove us from certain databases. ◆ They cause receivers to be{#blank#}2{#/blank#} about the possible risks. |
The{#blank#}3{#/blank#}of GDPR | ◆ It will guarantee all EU citizens the{#blank#}4{#/blank#} to accept or refuse. ◆ It will require privacy {#blank#}5{#/blank#}from companies. |
The {#blank#}6{#/blank#}from most receivers and the policies adopted by some firms | ◆ Most receivers are{#blank#}7{#/blank#} to continue receiving such emails. ◆ Some firms hold activities so that people may win a {#blank#}8{#/blank#} if they go in. ◆ Some firms offer to update people's communication preferences. |
The reason and bottom line for companies sending such emails | ◆ Companies hope to obtain explicit{#blank#}9{#/blank#} from their users. ◆ The information you left {#blank#}10{#/blank#} doesn't mean you allow them to send you stuff. ◆ Without your reply, companies may take you off their databases. |
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