Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)

Directions: In this part, you will have 15 minutes to go over the passage quickly and answer the questions on Answer Sheet 1. For questions 1-7, choose the best answer from the four choices marked A),B),C) and D). For questions 8-10, complete the sentences with the information given in the passage.
    
                       How Do You See Diversity?

     As a manager, Tiffany is responsible for interviewing applicants for some of the positions with her company .During one interview, she noticed that the candidate never made direct eye contact. She was puzzled and somewhat disappointed because she liked the individual otherwise.

     He had a perfect resume and gave good responses to her questions, but the fact that he never looked her in the eye said “untrustworthy,” so she decided to offer the job to her second choice.

    “It wasn’t until I attended a diversity workshop that I realized the person we passed over was the perfect person,” Tiffany confesses. What she hadn’t known at the time of the interview was that the candidate’s “different” behavior was simply a cultural misunderstanding . He was an Asian-American raised in a household where respect for those in authority was shown by averting(避开) your eyes.

    “I was just thrown off by the lack of ye contact; not realizing it was cultural,” Tiffany says. “I missed out ,but will not miss that opportunity again.”

     Many of us have had similar encounters with behaviors we perceive as different. As the world becomes smaller and our workplaces more diverse, it is becoming essential to expand our under-standing of others and to reexamine some of our false assumptions .

Hire Advantage

      At a time when hiring qualified people is becoming more difficult ,employers who can eliminate invalid biases(偏爱) from the process have a distinct advantage .My company, Mindsets LLC ,helps organizations and individuals see their own blind spots . A real estate recruiter we worked with illustrates the positive difference such training can make .

   “During my Mindsets coaching session ,I was taught how to recruit a diversified workforce. I recruited people from different cultures and skill sets .The agents were able to utilize their full potential and experiences to build up the company .When the real estate market began to change, it was because we had a diverse agent pool that we were able to stay in the real estate market much longer than others in the same profession.”

Blinded by Gender

      Dale is an account executive who attended one of my workshops on supervising a diverse workforce . “Through one of the sessions ,I discovered my personal bias ,” he recalls . “I learned I had not been looking at a person as a whole person , and being open to differences .” In his case , the blindness was not about culture but rather gender .

    “I had a management position open in my department ;and the two finalists were a man and a woman . Had I not attended this workshop , I would have automatically assumed the man was the best candidate because the position required quite a bit of extensive travel . My reasoning would have been that even though both candidates were great and could have been successful in the position , I assumed the woman would have wanted to be home with her children and not travel .”Dale’s assumptions are another example of the well-intentioned but incorrect thinking that limits an organization’s ability to tap into the full potential of a diverse workforce .
    “I learned from the class that instead of imposing my gender biases into the situation , I needed to present the full range of duties, responsibilities and expectations to all candidates and allow them to make an informed decision .” Dale credits the workshop , “because it helped me make decisions based on fairness .”

Year of the Know-It-All

       Doug is another supervisor who attended one of my workshops .He recalls a major lesson learned from his own employee.
    “One of my most embarrassing moments was when I had a Chinese-American employee put in a request to take time off to celebrate Chinese New Year . In my ignorance , I assumed he had his dates wrong , as the first of January had just passed . When I advised him of this , I gave him a long talking-to about turning in requests early with the proper dates .

    “He patiently waited , then when I was done , he said he would like Chinese New Year did not begin January first , and that Chinese New Year ,which is tied to the lunar cycle ,is one of the most celebrated holidays on the Chinese calendar . Needless to say , I felt very embarrassed in assuming he had his dates mixed up . But I learned a great deal about assumptions , and that the timing of holidays varies considerably from culture to culture .

    “Attending the diversity workshop helped me realize how much I could learn by simply asking questions and creating dialogues with my employees , rather than making assumptions and trying to be a know-it-all ,” Doug admits . “The biggest thing I took away from the workshop is learning how to be more ‘inclusive’ to differences.”

A better Bottom Line

      An open mind about diversity not only improves organizations internally , it is profitable as well . These comments from a customer service representative show how an inclusive attitude can improve sales .”Most of my customers speak English as a second language . One of the best things my company has done is to contract with a language service that offers translations over the phone . It wasn’t until my boss received Mindsets’ training that she was able to understand how important inclusiveness was to customer service . As result , our customer base has increased .”
   
     Once we start to see people as individuals . and discard the stereotypes , we can move positively toward inclusiveness for everyone . Diversity is about coming together and taking advantage of our differences and similarities . It is about building better communities and organizations that enhance us as individuals and reinforce our shared humanity .
 
     When we begin to question our assumptions and challenge what we think we have learned from our past , from the media, peers , family , friends , etc , we begin to realize that some of our conclusions are flawed(有缺陷的) or contrary to our fundamental values . We need to train our-selves to think differently , shift our mindsets and realize that diversity opens doors for all of us ,creating opportunities in organizations and communities that benefit everyone .

When we view people as individuals and get rid of stereotypes , we can achieve diversity and benefit from the________between us.

Part V Cloze (15 minutes)

     Kimiyuki Suda should be a perfect customer for Japan’s car-makers. He’s a young, successful executive at an Internet-services company in Tokyo and has plenty of disposable    1   . He used to own Toyota’s Hilux Surf, a sport utility vehicle. But now he uses     2   subways and grains . “It’s not inconvenient at all ,” he says     3   , “having a car is so 20th century.”

      Suda reflects a worrisome     4    in Japan; the automobile is losing its emotional appeal,     5    among the young ,who prefer to spend their money on the latest electronic devices.     6   mini-cars and luxury foreign brands are still popular ,everything in between is     7   .Last years sales fell 6.7 percent, 7.6 percent     8    you don’t count the mini-car market . There have been     9   one-year drops in other nations :sales in Germany fell 9 percent in 2007    10   a tax increase . But experts say Japan is    11   in that sales have been decreasing steadily     12   time. Since 1990, yearly new-car sales have fallen from 7.8 million to 5.4 million units in 2007.

        Alarmed by this state of    13   , the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA)
   14   a comprehensive study of the market in 2006. It found that a     15   wealth gap, demographic(人口结构的) changes and     16   lack of interest in cars led Japanese to hold their
   1 7    longer , replace their cars with smaller ones   1 8  give up car ownership altogether .JAMA
   19    a further sales decline of 1.2 percent this year. Some experts believe that if the trend continues for much longer , further consolidation (合并) in the automotive sector is   20    .

• Part IV Reading Comprehension (reading in depth) (25 minutes)
  Section A
  Directions:In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in bank is  identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.
  Questions 47 to 56 are based on the following passage.
  
  Every year in the first week of my English class, some students inform me that writhing is too hard. They never write, unless assignments  47  it . They fine the writing process  48  and difficult. How awful to be able to speak in a language but not to write in it-  49  English , with its rich vocabulary . Being able to speak but not write is like living in an  50  mansion(豪宅) and never leaving one small room . When I meet students who think they can’t write, I know as a teacher my  51  is to show them the rest of the rooms . My task is to build fluency while providing the opportunity inherent in any writing activity to  52  the moral and emotional development of my students . One great way to do this is by having students write in a journal in class every day. Writing ability is like strength training. Writing needs to be done  53  , just like exercise ; just as muscles grow stronger with exercise , writing skills improve quickly with writing practice. I often see a rise in student confidence and  54  after only a few weeks of journal writing . Expressing oneself in writing is one of the most important skills I teach to strengthen the whole student. When my students practice journal writing, they are practicing for their future academic, political, and  55  lives . They build skills so that some day they might write a great novel, a piece of sorely needed legislation, or the perfect love letter. Every day that they write in their journals puts them a step  56  to fluency , eloquence (雄辩), and command of language .
  
  A)closer B)daily C)emotional D)enhance E)enormous F)especially G)hinder H) mission I) painful          J)performance K)profession  L)remarkably M)require N)sensitive O)urge