Much of the work in today’s world is accomplished(完成) in teams. Most people believe the best way to build a great team is to gather a group of the most talented individuals. 1.Companies spend millions hiring top business people. Is their money well spent?
2.They focused on football, basketball and baseball. The results are mixed. For football and basketball, adding talented players to a team proves a good method, but only up to the point where 70% of the players are top talent; above that level, the team’s performance begins to decline. Interestingly, this trend isn’t evident in baseball, where additional individual talent keeps improving the team’s performance.
To explain this phenomenon, the researchers explored the degree to which a good performance by a team requires its members to coordinate(协调) their actions. 3.In baseball, the performance of individual players is less dependent on teammates. They conclude that when task interdependence is high, team performance will suffer when there is too much talent, while individual talent will have positive effects on team performance when task interdependence is lower. If a basketball star is, for example, trying to gain a high personal point total, he may take a shot himself when it would be better to pass the ball to a teammate, affecting the team’s performance. Young children learning to play team sports are often told, “There is no I in TEAM.” 4.
Another possibility is that when there is a lot of talent on a team, some players may make less effort. Just as in a game of tug-of-war(拔河比赛), whenever a person is added, everyone else pulls the rope with less force.
5. An A-team may require a balance——not just A players， but a few generous B players as well.
A. It’s not a simple matter to determine the nature of talent.
B. Sports team owners spend millions of dollars attracting top talent.
C. The group interaction and its effect drew the researchers’ attention.
D. Stars apparently do not follow this basic principle of sportsmanship.
E. Several recent studies examined the role of talent in the sports world.
F. Building up a dream team is more complex than simply hiring the best talent.
G. This task interdependence distinguishes baseball from football and basketball.
If you’re a book lover，you have a pile of books on your bedside，or a bookshelf in your library with a“to read”sign on it．Yet you can’t stop yourself from adding to the pile．This can lead to feelings of guilt over your new purchases．But I’m here to tell you to stop worrying．
What you have is an antilibrary，and it’s a very good thing．The term comes from writer Umberto Eco．He is the owner of a large personal library．He separates visitors into two groups：those who react with“Wow! What a library you have! How many of these books have you read?”and the others who get the point that a private library is not something to show off but a research too1．Read books are far less valuable than unread ones．Indeed，the more you know，the larger the rows of unread books．Let us call this collection an antilibrary．
If you think you already know everything about a subject，you’re cutting yourself off from a stream of information at an artificial point．So a growing library of books you haven’t read means you’re consistently curious about the unknown．And that attitude is a great foundation for a lifelong love of 1earning．
So don’t feel guilt over your unread books．Those books will be there for you when you do want them，and as you build your library of read and unread books，you can start using it as you would use a bigger library．Certain books may become references more than read-throughs．Or you may find that a book you bought five years ago has special relevance today．Letting the role of books evolve in your life is a healthy sign of curiosity．That’s good for you and good for the world around you．
1.What does the underlined word“antilibrary”in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A. Feelings of guilt over new books．
B. A pile of books on the bookshelf．
C. The collection of unread books．
D. A large personal library．
2.According to the author，more unread books mean________．
A. your wrong lifelong learning attitude
B. you limit yourself from the unknown
C. your have no interest in the new world
D. your strong desire about new information
3.What’s the author’s attitude towards having an antilibrary?
A. Favorable． B. Doubtful．
C. Ambiguous． D. Contradictory．
4.What can we know from the last paragraph?
A. Curiosity is a sign of high IQ．
B. Books are the ladder in our life．
C. Unread books are surely relevant to the present．
D. We should read through every book．
In a career that lasted more than half a century, Tom Wolfe wrote fiction and nonfiction best-sellers including The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and The Bonfire of the Vanities. Along the way, he created a new type of journalism and coined phrases that became part of the American vocabulary.
Wolfe began working as a newspaper reporter, first for The Washington Post, then the New York Herald Tribune. He developed a literary style in nonfiction that became known as the “New Journalism.” “I’ve always agreed on a theoretical level that the techniques for fiction and nonfiction are interchangeable,” he said. “The things that work in nonfiction would work in fiction, and vice versa.”
“When Tom Wolfe’s voice broke into the world of nonfiction, it was a time when a lot of writers, and a lot of artists in general, were turning inwards,” says Lev Grossman, book critic for Time magazine. “Wolfe didn’t do that. Wolfe turned outwards. He was a guy who was interested in other people.” Wolfe was interested in how they thought, how they did things and how the things they did affected the world around them.
In 1979, Wolfe published The Right Stuff, an account of the military test pilots who became America’s first astronauts. Four years later, the book was adapted as a feature film. “The Right Stuff was the book for me,” says Grossman. “It reminded me, in case I’d forgotten, that the world is an incredible place.”
In The Right Stuff, Wolfe popularized the phrase “pushing the envelope.” In a New York magazine article, Wolfe described the 1970s as “The ‘Me’ Decade.” Grossman says these phrases became part of the American idiom because they were accurate.
“He was an enormously forceful observer, and he was not afraid of making strong claims about what was happening in reality,” Grossman says. “He did it well and people heard him. And they repeated what he said because he was right.” All those words started a revolution in nonfiction that is still going on.
1.The “New Journalism” is a style of journalism that .
A. changes its news writing techniques frequently
B. popularizes new American idioms in a literary way
C. combines novelistic techniques with traditional reporting
D. reports various news events from a theoretical perspective
2.It can be learned from the passage that The Right Stuff .
A. is a film directed by Lev Grossman B. is an influential book by Tom Wolfe
C. accounts for popular American phrases D. deals with incredible places in the world
3.According to the passage, Tom Wolfe .
A. was good at reporting news from a realistic perspective
B. preferred making claims about events to writing books
C. was fond of commenting on other people’s thoughts
D. liked analyzing social problems from the outside
4.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A. Tom Wolfe: A Professional Phrase Coiner
B. Tom Wolfe: A Forceful Observer and Novelist
C. Tom Wolfe: A Theoretical Creator in Literature
D. Tom Wolfe: An Innovative Journalist and Writer
For years going home for the holidays has been bittersweet. I appreciate the opportunity to spend quality time with my mom but it is painful for me to see her house littered with stuff (物品). Clothes bought but never worn, and new items in their original packaging carelessly purchased and never used. It’s evident that seeing the stuff on a daily basis reminds my mom of a time when shopping was her way of spending money.
I didn’t fully understand the extent to which my mom was suffering until this week, when I saw piles of clothes on her bed, “How do you manage to sleep every night with all that stuff, Mom?” I asked. To my horror, she replied to it because I know I have to get rid of all this stuff eventually; I am punishing myself by sleeping with them until I do that.”
Shocked and upset, I gently explained to her that punishing herself was only to make things worse, and that everybody deserves a place to sleep in peace, no matter what mistakes they’ve made. I suggested she move all the stuff upstairs, leaving her room comfortable to sleep in.
With patience and her slow but steady guidance, I helped her go through some of the piles and move them upstairs. For the rest of the week I stayed there, she was in a better mood and was excited about going-through the rest of the house to finally get rid of her stuff—past mistakes and painful times. The items brought back painful memories as we inspected and moved them, but I kept reminding her that removing them would allow her to move on and heal. We finally sold so many things and took bag after bag to charity.
The stuff is just a sign of the destructive patterns of self-hatred on past mistakes. Only through the act of self-forgiveness can we bring about a chain reaction of reorganizing— both of the house and heart.
1.What made the author feel bitter?
A. She couldn’t understand her mom’s sorrows.
B. Her mom was stuck in the painful memories.
C. Her mom was always left alone at home.
D. Her mom wasted money on useless things,
2.The underlined word “that” in the second paragraph refers to ________.
A. getting rid of the stuff. B. buying the stuff
C. opening the stuff D. moving the stuff
3.We can infer from the passage that ________.
A. the author never bought her mom anything
B. the author’s mom has no money to purchase now
C. the author s mom regrets buying so many things
D. the author knows her mom’s suffering only this week
4.What’s the best title of the passage?
A. How to do shopping wisely B. The importance of self-forgiveness.
C. Keep an eye on the elderly’s behavior D. Clearance helps remove suffering
Sunrise Hike
Saturday, October 21, 6:45 AM — 7:45 AM
Enjoy sunrise from the hilltop as you learn about wildlife, plants, history and forest. Ages 8 and up; under 18 with an adult. To register by phone instead, call 630-933-7248.
Meet in the parking lot on the west side of Greene Road south of 79th Street. Dress for the weather, wear comfortable shoes and bring water.
Trick Or Treat
Saturday, October 28, 9:00 AM — 11:30 AM
You and your family are invited to join the YMCA for a Halloween hike up Badger Mountain! Make sure to wear your Halloween costumes!
Free shirts for the first 200 kids registered.
*You must take away your shirt by 11:30AM or it will be given away.
Cost: Trick or Treat is a Free Event.
Discovery Hike: In Search of the Great Pumpkin
Thursday, October 26, 1:00 PM — 4:00PM; Ages 3-8
Fall is pumpkin time. Listen to a pumpkin story and learn how pumpkins grow. Then we will head out on the path in search of a little pumpkin just for you and maybe, just maybe, we will find the great pumpkin along the way. $7 per child.
Harvest Day Camp CAP
Monday, October 31, 8:00 AM — 5:00 PM
Harvest Camp is an opportunity for children aged 5-13 to find the wonder of autumn at Keystone Science School and enjoy all the fun the Halloween season offers. We’ll explore the ways our natural environment has changed from summer to fall. As always, our programming is focused on building skills, knowledge, and confidence. Day Camp $0.00
1.What can we know about these activities?
A.Only children can take part. B.They are held in a mountain.
C.They are held in the same season. D.They are to celebrate Halloween.
2.In which activity can children get free shirts?
A.Sunrise Hike. B.Trick Or Treat.
C.Harvest Day Camp CAP. D.Discovery Hike.
3.What can children do on October 26?
A.Hike with their parents. B.Protect wildlife and forest.
C.Enjoy the fun of Halloween. D.Learn the growth about pumpkin.
为了帮助中学生健康成长，某中学英文报开辟了“HEARTTOHEART”专栏。假设你是该栏目的编辑Jim，收到一封署名为Worried的求助信。信中该同学向你诉说了自己的困扰：近日容易发脾气，使正常的学习和生活受到了影响。请用英文给该同学写一封回信。
内容要点如下：1．表示理解并给予安慰；2．提出建议并说明理由。
注意：1．词数100左右；2．信的开头与结尾已为你拟好，不计入总词数。
参考词汇：temper n．脾气，情绪
Dear Worried,
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Yours truly,
Jim
