Do you want to improve your networking skills? If so,check out five ways to promote your networking skills.

    Research the event before you go.

    Do your research before you attend an event.Figuring out the dress standard and the theme of the event will help you perfect your clothes, attitude, and approach{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Mental preparation will help you feel confident and comfortable.

    Describe yourself differently.

    Most people choose to describe themselves to strangers by saying their name and job. However, unless you have a unique name and an eye-catching job, this probably won't help. Give them a little more to work with{#blank#}2{#/blank#}In that case, people may have a chance to ask you a few questions.

    Network with everyone.

    At networking events, there are probably specific people that you want to talk to.While this could be beneficial to you, don't cut off your other choices{#blank#}3{#/blank#}It can also help you to get noticed by the people you want to speak to.

    Smile to make a great first impression.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} According to a research,people decide whether you are trustworthy or not after looking at your face for 34 milliseconds（毫秒）.Make those milliseconds count by relaxing the muscles in your face and smiling.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Don't let the end of your conversation affect your networking for the worse.Have a reason for leaving,smile as you say goodbye,and shake hands if appropriate.Even though you are leaving,this guarantees the person will remember you as polite,pleasant,and sincere.

A.First impressions mean a lot.

B.Finish the conversation gracefully.

C.Work on finding a conversational balance.

D.It is important to keep the conversation flowing.

E.Provide a more general and mysterious（神秘的）description.

F.It will also help you prepare some great conversation starters.

G.Being polite and friendly to everyone enables you to make a great impression.

A Small-Town Christmas

    I worked lots of extra hours in my first Christmas season as a clerk for Dancer's, the department store in my small hometown of Wayland, Michigan.

    I'd started the job, which paid 85 cents an hour, that summer of 1966 after getting a work permit at age 15. Our neighbor Arnie Wilde was the manager, and I soon learned how to fit shoes, measure and cut cloth, and keep the shelves of shirts and underwear nice and neat.

    We closed at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and at 5:55 a local farmer came in to find gifts for his wife. Arnie told me this was a holiday habit of Mr. Johnson's, and that we'd do our best to take care of him.

    I knew Mr. Johnson, whose daughter was in my class and in the band, so I went to help him. We wandered through the sweaters, dresses and skirts, the pretty towels and practical flannel ( 法 兰绒) nightgowns. We talked about size and color and what I thought Mrs. Johnson would like.

    After nearly half an hour of mulling, Mr. Johnson decided on a flannel nightgown with pretty pink slippers to match and a piece of jewelry that I'd pointed out to him. I wrapped his gifts and completed the sale, and Arnie and I walked home for dinner.

    The next Christmas Eve, like clockwork, Mr. Johnson came in at 5:55. We went through the same process, taking lots of time again to choose and wrap gifts. Tired but happy, Arnie and I headed for home.

    By my third Christmas at Dancer's, I was an experienced salesclerk. Mrs. Johnson had come into the store in late summer to buy school clothes for the kids, and we chatted while I helped her shop. As she commented on pretty colors and the lovely way a dress was made, I made mental notes.

    When Mr. Johnson made his last-minute appearance on Christmas Eve, I was ready. I told him, “Mrs. Johnson was in not too long ago, and I noticed how much she liked this royal blue sweater and the plaid skirt that goes with it so beautifully.” She'd also told me that she really needed new boots, confiding that she was ashamed to walk into church with her old ones.

    I'd found some perfect boots in her size and had put them aside for Christmas Eve. Well, Mr. Johnson was impressed, and I think more than a little relieved. We had him out the door by 6:10 with everything wrapped in paper and ribbons!

    I worked for Arnie three more holiday seasons and was always there just before closing on Christmas Eve, when Mr. Johnson knew I had the answers he needed. The big stores in Grand Rapids had more merchandise and lovely Christmas fantasies in their windows, but it's only in a small town that neighbors take care of neighbors.

⑴Questions①to⑤. Judge if the following statements agree with the information given in the passage. Choose A  for  TRUE  if  the  statements agree with  it;  choose B  for  FALSE  if  the statements don't agree with it; choose C for NOT GIVEN if the information the statements carry is not mentioned anywhere in the passage.

⑵Questions⑥to⑨. Match the following words with their meanings in the passage. Note that there are four choices more than you need.

⑶Question⑩. Choose the best answer from A, B, C or D.

注意：每空一词。

    A recent study points out a so-called “gender-equality paradox(性别平等悖论)”: there are more women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) in countries with lower gender equality. Why do women make up 40 percent of engineering majors in Jordan, but only 34 percent in Sweden and 19 percent in the U.S.? The researchers suggest that women are just less interested in STEM, and when liberal Western countries let them choose freely, they freely choose different fields.

    We disagree.

    From cradle to classroom, a wealth of research shows that the environment has a major influence on girls' interest and ability in math and science. Early in school, teachers, unconscious prejudice push girls away from STEM. By their preteen years, girls outperform boys in science class and report equal interest in the subject, but parents think that science is harder and less interesting for their daughters than their sons, and these misunderstandings predict their children's career choices.

    Later in life, women get less credit than men for the same math performance. When female STEM majors write to potential PhD advisors, they are less likely to get a response. When STEM professors review applications for research positions, they are less likely to hire “Jennifer” than “John,” even when both applications are otherwise identical—and if they do hire “Jennifer,” they pay her $4,000 less.

    These findings make it clear that women in Western countries are not freely expressing their lack of “interest” in STEM. In fact, cultural attitudes and discrimination are shaping women's interests in a way that is anything but free, even in otherwise free countries.

    “Gender-equality paradox” research misses those social factors because it relies on a broad measure of equality called the Gender Gap Index (GGI), which tracks indicators such as wage difference, government representation and health outcomes. These are important markers of progress, but if we want to explain something as complicated as gender representation in STEM, we have to look into people's heads.

    Fortunately, we have ways to do that. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is a well-validated tool for measuring how tightly two concepts are tied together in people's minds. The psychologist Brian Nosek and his colleagues analyzed over 500,000 responses to a version of the IAT that measures mental associations between men/women and science, and compared results from 34 countries. Across the world, people associated science more strongly with men than with women.

    But surprisingly, these gendered associations were stronger in supposedly egalitarian (主张平等的) Sweden than they were in the U.S., and the most pro-female scores came from Jordan. We re-analyzed the study's data and found that the GGI's assessment of overall gender equality of a country has nothing to do with that country's scores on the science IAT.

    That means the GGI fails to account for cultural attitudes toward women in science and the complicated mix of history and culture that forms those attitudes.

    Lemon water is pretty popular. It's offered as a free upgrade to regular water at pretty many restaurants.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}, others are devotees of the possible health benefits. Here's what may happen if you take up the lemon water habit.

    Easier weight loss

    Studies in mice indicate that the antioxidants(抗氧化剂) in lemons can reduce weight gain despite a high-fat diet. More studies are needed to determine if the results can be applied to humans, but anecdotal evidence is favorable. People who drink lemon water regularly report easier weight loss, though it is unclear if the combination of lemon and water is the fundamental driver.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

    Get enough vitamin C

    Vitamin C is an important antioxidant that has a ton of health benefits. It can only be gotten from food as our bodies don't produce it alone. Getting your RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) of vitamin C can lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure. Vitamin C is good for your skin and bonds with free radicals (自由电子) that accelerate aging.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}, but they're a great source nevertheless.

    Stabilized moods

    Studies have found that smelling lemon scent reduces stress hormones that regulate mood. Drinking lemon water offers this benefit as well as the vitamins and potassium(钾) in the fruit. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}, and high blood pressure is related to stress, so not getting enough potassium can certainly affect your mood. All in all, lemon water can be a calming drink.

    In the end, drinking water is never a bad call, and there is absolutely no reason not to add lemon to it. Drinking lemon water provides some helpful nutrients and antioxidants. Give it a try!{#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

A. Lemon is a common smell in all manner of cleaning products

B. Potassium plays a huge part in regulating blood pressure

C. There is nothing to lose

D. Lemons aren't the highest in vitamin C

E. While some people drink it simply because of its taste

F. If adding lemon to water can encourage people to drink more

G. It could be that drinking more water helps dieters to feel full and avoid overeating

On the surface, one would be hard-pressed to find many similarities between German chancellor Angela Merkel, Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf — except for the fact that they are all female leaders of nations. Merkel, for example, spent more than a decade as a chemist before going into politics, while Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh's first president, served as her father's political assistant while at college, and Johnson Sirleaf worked at multiple financial institution s before running for vice president. Is there something deeper than they share?

    The researcher Susan R. Madsen of Utah Valley University interviewed women in some countries about their paths to leadership. She was surprised by the similarities among the women when they spoke about how they became leaders. "Every single one of them talked about finding their voices and their confidence at dinner-table conversations with their families. Their parents talked about politics, about what was happening in the community, and when the women had something to say, their parents didn't stop them," Madsen said.

    As part of a series of interviews on women and leadership, I spoke to three women from different countries who have each become leaders in their respective fields: Agnes lgoye of Uganda, who works with her government to counter human trafficking; Ikram Ben Said, the founder of Tunisian women's rights organization Aswat Nissa; and Sairee Chahal of India, who started a digital platform that helps women get back into the workforce.

All three of my interviewees pointed to the family environment they had been raised in — particularly a father figure who taught and empowered the women in the family to learn, ask questions, and form their own opinions. Also, mothers broke convention by displaying leadership within the family.

    Igoye, for example, credited her father with having the foresight to send his daughters to school despite opposition from others in their village. Her mother went back to school as an adult to improve her career as a teacher, which lgoye described as being a big influence on her. Similarly Ben Said talked about how her father encouraged political debate among the family when she was growing up, even when her opinions contradicted his. Meanwhile, Chahal said that even in her younger days, her parents went against the general convention of expecting their daughters to aim only for a good husband.

Another conclusion from Madsen's work is that women's leadership development doesn't look like men's. "Men tend to follow a more straight path to becoming a leader. Women's paths are much emergent. They tend to not necessarily look ahead and think, ‘I want to be on top.' Women would point to a number of experiences— motherhood, or working with a non-profit, or sitting on a board, as shaping their path to becoming leaders," she said.

    Actually, women leaders tend to be held to higher standards than their male counterparts, lgoye has felt this in Uganda. "Women who take up leadership positions in my country have to be tough, it's not easy at all," she said. "You are always aware that you are representing all women. You have to work extra hard to deliver, to perform, because if you do something wrong, they will say, 'Ah, you see, women!' "

    Therefore, merely having women leaders can change the opportunities available for generations of women in a country. What leadership looks like in their country, how much of a voice the women leaders are having, influences what leadership is and what it means to its women.

    What do women leaders have in common?

    When Dan Shaw gets up from the sofa in his home, Cuddles is never far away. When he wants to go outside, he doesn't take Cuddles out for walk—Cuddles takes him for a walk. Cuddles is clearly no ordinary family pet. It is a two-foot-high miniature horse and serves as the guiding eyes of Shaw, who is blind.

    When Shaw lost his sight, his wife suggested he apply for a guide dog. Shaw, an animal lover, said he couldn't bear to part with a dog (which usually lives about eight to ten years) and get used to a new one, perhaps several times in his life.

    Then Shaw heard of a program about the tiny guide horses. He learned that the horse possess many qualities that make them an excellent choice for guiding people. They are clean friendly, smart and have great memories. They can be trained to remain calm in noisy and crowded places. Best of all, they live for 25-25years, which would enable Shaw to have the same guide companion for most or all of his life.

    Shaw immediately applied to be and was accepted as the first person to receive a guide horse. The instant he met Cuddles, he knew he was making the right choice. Then he began his training.

    Through training ,Shaw and Cuddles learned to find way on busy streets, step over curbs (便道沿儿) and find elevator buttons. Cuddles even demonstrated (显示)its ability to step in front of Shaw and block him, to prevent him from walking into a dangerous situation. The little horse also expertly led Shaw through busy shopping malls. They got along without any difficulties. Now Shaw is confident that Cuddles will change his life for the better.