The other day I was offered two tickets to a special preview of the latest movie for free. I wasn't interested, _______I knew my two boys would be.
That evening, we were a bit _______ for time. So instead of having dinner at home, we had fast food near the movie theater Oscar. There went the _______ of eight movie tickets.
Then I met up with a friend and we sat around _______ for a while, and another movie ticket went into a cup of coffee. After that, we figured we might as well _________ around until the movie ended to pick up the boys. To help _______ the time, I bought snacks. However, the _______ went for an hour longer than expected. To watch the free movie, we always have to _______ an hour of ads.
Oh, did I _______ parking and fighting my way through the ________ to get to the right theater? I could have sent the __________to a movie theater in walking distance and had enough ________ left over to watch ten more movies!
Next time I'm offered something free, I’ll ________ refuse it.
I should have known better. ________ in 2004, I built my own business. One of my marketing strategies is that I often offer free gifts. I said “probably” because "free" is just the most irresistible __________ in your marketing language. And it always ________.
If you don’t believe me, next time when you do a promotion, ________ this test: one with and one without the free ________. You will be amazed by how many people will ________ hundreds of dollars to get something for _________
1.A. for B. or C. so D. but
2.A. grateful B. prepared C. rushed D. thankful
3.A. time B. price C. chance D. length
4.A. singing B. judging C. bargaining D. chatting
5.A. wander B. turn C. look D. gather
6.A. save B. waste C. record D. kill
7.A. meeting B. movie C. walk D. coffee
8.A. break down B. sit through C. cut down D. look through
9.A. forget B. continue C. mention D. stop
10.A. race B. park C. gate D. traffic
11.A. employees B. customers C. boys D. friends
12.A. food B. patience C. room D. money
13.A. probably B. angrily C. definitely D. repeatedly
14.A. Ending B. Writing C. Reporting D. Starting
15.A. word B. reason C. letter D. desire
16.A. fails B. cheats C. works D. loses
17.A. try B. study C. face D. attend
18.A. help B. gift C. advice D. market
19.A. gain B. bank C. receive D. pay
20.A. something B. everything C. nothing D. anything
Master Your Deadlines
The struggle begins in high school, sometimes earlier. Deadlines, and lots of them, start to pile up. At college, the pressure sometimes leads to last-minute rush and unsatisfactory work. At work, failing to meet deadlines can easily get you fired. 1. Here are a few best practices.
·Assign deadlines to what matters.
If the task isn’t of high importance, don’t set a specific deadline. In this way, you are able to keep it on your radar for a while without feeling pressured. 2. This will provide just enough pressure to ensure you get it done.
·3.
Set a personal deadline for yourself a day or two before the actual deadline 4. If you’re working with a group of people, add in even more time to account for potential follow-ups and the need for approvals.
·Keep communicating.
5. This means letting others know when something is taking longer than expected，when a delivery didn’t come in，when a client is not providing the necessary information，etc. Although it may feel embarrassing to admit that something is not on schedule，being honest is much better for relieving your stress.
A. Plan for flexible hours.
B. Finish your project as early as possible.
C. But if an activity is urgent, set a deadline immediately.
D. In this way, you’ll never have to stay up late and feel stressed.
E. But handled properly, deadlines can actually improve productivity.
F. Whenever you feel challenged to finish work on time, communicate.
G. So if anything takes longer than expected, you can still wrap it up and submit it on time.
China Merchants Bank Co Ltd has teamed up with ride-hailing major Didi Kuaidi to provide automobile financing and expand its reach in China’s booming mobile payment industry.
The two have inked a comprehensive partnership, which includes a strategic investment by the former in the latter. Under the partnership, CMB will become the first bricks-and-mortar bank that can offer in-app credit card payments to Didi users. At present, users of Didi can only choose third-party payment solutions like WeChat Payment and Alipay to pay cab fares.
Zhao Ju, vice-president of CMB, said the cooperation with Didi was an important step in its mobile Internet finance strategy. “CMB’s mobile payment is going to enter a new chapter by leveraging Didi Kuaidi’s vast user base,” he said.
According to a report by China Internet Network Information Center earlier this month, Didi holds 87.2 percent of China’s private car hailing market. The company said it has received 1.43 billion car-hailing requests on its platforms in 2015, which means 1.43 billion payments were made via smartphones.
CMB is expected to use Didi to reach the core users of China’s mobile payment market. Jean Liu, president of Didi, said many of the expats prefer payment by credit card rather than Alipay or WeChat. “The new partnership will help improve service quality and customer loyalty,” she said. The investment makes CMB part of Didi’s existing investors, including Tencent Holdings Ltd, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and China Investment Corporation. Both of the companies declined to reveal the actual amount of the investment.
Liu, who showed up on Tuesday for the first time in public after her treatment for breast cancer, said the cooperation with CMB is for the long run and “the capital investment is only part of it”.
Under the partnership, CMB and Didi will cooperate on a wide range of initiatives on financial services and online-to-offline cooperation. Apart from the in-app credit card payments, the two companies are going to launch joint credit cards in late February and automobile financing services for Didi’s car owners. CMB’s branches across China are expected to help Didi recruit more drivers.
“There is a lot of room for imagination in our partnership,” Li said, adding in future people may use their CMB credit card reward points to pay for the ride on Didi.
Li Chao, an analyst with iResearch Consulting Group, said the partnership may not significantly boost CMB’s mobile payment business. “Didi has educated the market for three years and its customers have formed the habit of paying by WeChat or Alipay. So I think CMB can only turn a very smart proportion of Didi users into its payment customer,” he said. “But the move shows that China’s traditional banking industry is finally thinking out of the box and looking for outside partners in Internet finance competition,” he said.
Statistics from Big-Data Research showed that more than 90 percent of China’s 9.3 trillion yuan ($1.41 trillion) worth of third party mobile payment market is donated by Alibaba and Tencent.
1.Which of the following is not the purpose of CMB’s cooperation with Didi?
A. CMB is expected to use Didi to reach the core users of China’s mobile payment market.
B. Through the cooperation with Didi, CMB will help improve service quality and customer loyalty.
C. CMB will launch joint credit cards with Didi to expand its service.
D. CMB will turn a very large proportion of Didi users into its payment customer.
2.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. CMB’s mobile payment is going to enter a new chapter.
B. China’s traditional banking industry is facing fierce Internet finance competition.
C. CMB and Didi will have an online-to-offline cooperation.
D. The majority of Didi users will pay by CMB in-app credit card.
3.What’s Li Chao’ attitude towards the partnership between CMB and Didi?
A. cautious. B. positive.
C. indifferent. D. disapproving.
4.The main idea of this passage is that ________.
A. CMB develops partnership with Didi Kuaidi
B. CMB is looking for outside partners in Internet finance competition
C. Didi Kuaidi is going to enter a new chapter
D. Alibaba and Tencent dominate the mobile payment market
A European Union program is letting blind people experience famous paintings for the first time. It uses three dimensional(3-D) printing to re-create famous paintings so they can be touched.
One painting printed with the new technology is Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss.” It is a popular attraction at the Belvedere Museum in Vienna, Austria. The painting shows a man and a woman standing in a field filled with flowers. They are wearing gold robes and have their arms around each other. The man leans down to kiss the woman.
Klimt finished the painting in 1908. Until now, people who had trouble seeing could not appreciate the artwork. But thanks to the reproduction they can touch the piece and feel the ridges and depressions. Andreas Reichinger started making 3-D versions of artwork in 2010. He said this reproduction was his most difficult project because the couple’s robes are so detailed.
Dominika Raditsch is a blind museum visitor. She touched the reproduction. As she moved her hands around it she said, “Exactly, can you see these? There are so many details.” Raditsch said she can imagine what the original painting looks like when she touches the reproduction. “It’s somehow round. You can feel it. You can feel it. It comes with it. And in many places it’s so smooth. And then I think to myself: it probably shines too!” Raditsch said.
The Belvedere is not the only museum to have 3-D versions of its artwork. Some of the pieces at the Prado, in Madrid, Spain, have reproductions that can be touched. But the piece in Vienna has one special part: It is made with widely available 3-D printing technology. That means one day, blind art fans anywhere in the world could download the source files and print the reproductions themselves.
1.What is “The kiss”?
A. A European Union project. B. A popular painting.
C. A 3-D technology. D. A famous museum.
2.Why did Reichinger say this reproduction was difficult to finish?
A. The painting was reproduced detailed.
B. The original artwork was made in 1908.
C. Blind art fans can’t download the source.
D. The 3-D technology is not available.
3.How did Raditsch feel when she first touched the reproduction?
A. Awkward. B. Puzzled.
C. Excited. D. Nervous.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A. A European Union Program for Museum Visitors
B. 3-D Printing Lets Blind Experience Famous Painting
C. How to Reproduce the World-famous Paintings
D. A Special Museum for Art Fans in Vienna, Austria
Imagine that you’re looking at your company-issued smartphone and you notice an e-mail from Linkedln:“These companies are looking for candidate like you!” You aren’t necessarily searching for a job, but you’re always open to opportunities, so out of curiosity, you click on the link. A few minutes later your boss appears at your desk. “We’ve noticed that you’re spending more time on Linkedln lately, so I wanted to talk with you about your career and whether you’re happy here,” she says Uh-oh.
It’s an awkward scene. Attrition(损耗) has always been expensive for companies, but in many industries the cost of losing good workers is rising, owing to tight labor markets. Thus companies are making greater efforts to predict which workers are at high risk of leaving so that managers can try to stop them. Methods range from electronic monitor to sophisticated analyses of employees’ social media lives.
Some of this work may be a reason to let employees to quit. In general, people leave their jobs because they don’t like their boss, don’t see opportunities for promotion or growth, or are offered a higher pay; these reasons have held steady for years.
New research conducted by CEB, a Washington-based technology company, looks not just at why workers quit but also at when. “We’ve learned that what really affects people is their sense of how they’re doing compared with other people in their peer group, or with where they thought they would be at a certain point in life, says Brian Kropp, who heads CEB’s HR practice. “We’ve learned to focus on moments that allow people to make these comparisons.”
Technology also provides clues about which star employees might be eyeing the exit. Companies can tell whether employees using work computers or phones are spending time on (or even just opening e-mails from) career websites, and research shows that more firms are paying attention to these things. Large companies have also begun tracking badge swipes(浏览痕迹)—employees’ use of an ID to enter and exit the building or the parking garage—to identify patterns that suggest a worker may be interviewing for a job.
1.From the first paragraph, we can infer Linkedln is ________.
A. an e-mail
B. a job from the Internet
C. a professional social network
D. a world-famous company
2.What’s the main idea of the second paragraph?
A. The cost of losing good workers is rising.
B. Companies are stricter with workers than before.
C. Measures have been taken to find the potential workers who want to quit.
D. Finding new jobs has been a trend for most workers.
3.According to the research by CEB, which of the following might be the most probable reason for workers to quit their jobs?
A. They don’t like their bosses.
B. Workers are always doing comparisons.
C. Not seeing opportunities for promotion.
D. To find a higher-paid job.
Bill Gates recently has predicted that online learning will make place-based colleges less significant, and five years from now, students will be able to find the best lectures in the world online. I applaud Mr. Gates. But what’s taking us so long?
As early as 1997, MIT(麻省理工) decided to post videos of all university lectures online, for free, for all people. But today, how many students have you met who mastered advanced mathematics or nuclear physics from an MIT online video? Unfortunately, the answer is not many. The problem is the poor quality of online education websites and the experience they provide to students. Those who go to the MIT website and watch courses online are surely very smart people, but it’s not like playing a video game such as World of Warcraft. Only the most ardent students, those who are highly motivated, will devote themselves to studying these boring online videos.
The real question is why we aren’t spending more to develop better online education platforms. Where is the Avatar of education? Think about this. The market for Hollywood films per year is worth around 30 billion USD. Education in the world is a trillion-dollar-a-year market, hundreds of times bigger than Hollywood movies. Yet the most expensive digital learning system ever built cost well under 100 million dollars.
Bill Gates’ prediction is going to happen. There is no doubt about it. But it will only happen when we create high level educational content and experiences that engage and excite more than has ever been possible in the real world.
1.What has Bill Gates forecast about online learning?
A. It will concentrate on physics lectures
B. It will completely replace real universities
C. It will help to make universities more successful
D. It will play an increasingly important role in education
2.What does the underlined word “ardent” in Paragraph 3 mean?
A. Creative B. Enthusiastic
C. Well-behaved D. Experienced
3.According to the author, what is holding back the popularity of online learning?
A. The lack of lectures available online
B. The high cost of access to the websites
C. The low standard of educational websites
D. The competition with online computer games
4.Why does the author mention Hollywood?
A. To show that Hollywood produces many successful movies
B. To prove that education is more profitable than entertainment
C. To argue that movie directors should produce educational content
D. To urge that more money be spent developing educational websites
