My transportation was unexpectedly smooth and I arrived at the meeting half an hour earlier. I kept my eyes on the restaurant door. Several customers entered, but not my friend. At 6:00 pm, she sent me a text message: "Urgent work to finish. Will be 20 minutes late." I had left my book in the office, so I spent the time thinking of my experiences of being late in China. On my first visit in 1985, punctuality was deeply rooted in the Chinese hearts. There were no traffic jams then. As a teacher in Canada, I always insisted on punctuality. I would open the classroom door to a late student for the first time and the second, but not the third. During the six years I worked for CCTV, I had a Chinese friend whom I often saw at lunch time, or after work. We used to meet at the subway station nearby. He was always late by 10-20 minutes. To my question, "You were busy?" he would surprisingly answer, " No." Once I asked him to check the clock in his office, he smiled. In March 2015, I got permanent residence in China. The ceremony was scheduled for 9:00 am at the Public Security Bureau on the Second Ring Road. I told my driver I had to get there by 8:40 am. "No problem," he replied. But he thought he had time to drop someone off at the airport before picking me up. I desperately waited for him. Then, to rub salt into my wound, he had to stop at the exit of a gas station. Finally, I entered the room at 9:07 am -- the last guest to arrive! What can we learn from the passage? A) The author is always late for work or any activities. B) The author dislikes making friends with unpunctual persons. C) The author hates being late from the bottom of heart. D) The author can do something to deal with unpunctuality.
C
DU Lala is the hottest career coach in the country. The fictional character in the acclaimed novel Du La La's Promotion shows others how to take the high road to success in a multinational company. But does her story describe a real or distorted picture of work life? The answer is as complicated as office life itself. Over one million copies of the book have been sold since its release in 2007. Go Lala Go!, a movie adaptation of the novel set to hit cinemas next weekend, has stirred up even more interest in the story. The film stars Xu Jinglei and Stanley Huang, but fans seem to be more excited about seeing the story unfold on the big screen. According to a recent sina.com survey, 45 percent of the 6,810 netizens polled said they have drawn career pointers from the novel. Other office novels, such as In and Out of the Loop, Win and Lose and Drowning and Floating, seem to have been received with similar interest. "These books show me the life of white collars, and they teach me career rules and jargon that are not offered in class," said Zhang Shanshan, a 22-year-old senior at Beijing Forestry University. Zhang says the competition, humor and office gossip in the book intrigued her. "I can't wait to embark on my own career," she said. The popularity of office novels does not surprise Chen Ning, a senior career consultant at Zhaopin.com. "Novels about office fights and struggles satisfy the psychological demands of an ordinary office worker," Chen said. "The leading characters face great pressure, fierce competition and an uncertain future. This is what really happens in many readers' daily life." Li Ke, the author of Du Lala's Promotion, has been stressing the significance of her fiction. "I want to provide real and useful common sense, knowledge and experience to office workers," Li told the Qianjiang Evening News last year. Recent graduates say they have found the basic work principles highlighted in the novel to be instructive. "If these books had been published five years earlier, I might have avoided some... What can be inferred from the passage? A) Du Lala's story reflects the true office life. B) Go Lala Go! Enjoys more popularity than other office novels, such as In and Out of the Loop, Win and Lose and Drowning and Floating. C) Some people argue that the story is a bit polarized. D) Both rookies and veteran employees are fond of Go Lala Go!.
C
Q: Nearly 600,000 Americans lost their jobs this past month, pushing the nation's unemployment rate to 7.6 percent. But not all of those fired workers are sitting at home, reading the job advertisements and waiting for the phone to ring. Thousands of people are returning to school, making public colleges and universities among the few bright places in the disappointing US economy. At a time when many Americans have had their work hours cut or have even lost their jobs, Sherian Huddleston is working overtime. She works at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) where she oversees the enrollment of new students. The university's population grew by 800 students this term --an increase of 4 percent over last spring's enrollment. Huddleston says seeing the enrollment rise in a failing economy is not unexpected. "When people are out of work," she points out, "they will ask 'What else can I do?' or 'What other careers can I follow?' They will often return to school if they have not completed a degree before." Older returning students aren't the only ones increasing the enrollment at MTSU. Huddleston says she's also seeing an increase in student transfers . "Students who went out of state, or even within the state, to more expensive schools are transferring to public schools to make use of the lower cost of going to school here," she explains. Which of the following is TRUE about Sherian Huddleston? A) She is working more hours than before because of the worsening economy. B) She is a student of Middle Tennessee State University. C) She disagrees with those who are returning to school. D) She is surprised to see the enrollment go up.
A: A
(Question)
It was the summer of 1965. DeLuca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked DeLuca about his plans for the future. "I'm going to college, but I need a way to pay for it," DeLuca recalls saying. "Buck said, 'You should open a sandwich shop.'" That afternoon, they agreed to be partners. And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing some research, buck wrote a check for $1000. DeLuca rented a storefront in Connecticut, and when they couldn't cover their start-up costs, Buck kicked in another $1000. But business didn't go smoothly as they expected. DeLuca says, "After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didn't know how badly, because we didn't have any financial controls." All he and Buck knew was that their sales were lower than their costs. DeLuca was managing the store and going to the University of Bridgeport at the same time. Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. They'd meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping the business running. "We convinced ourselves to open a second store. We figured we could tell the public, 'We are so successful, we are opening a second store.'" And they did--in the spring of 1966. Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error. But the partners' learn-as-you-go approach turned out to be their greatest strength. Every Friday, DeLuca would drive around and hand-deliver the checks to pay their suppliers. "It probably took me two and a half hours and it wasn't necessary, but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal relationships established really helped out," DeLuca says. And having a goal was also important. "There are so many problems that can get you down. You just have to keep working toward your goal," DeLuca adds. DeLuca ended up founding Subway Sandwich, the multimillion-dollar restaurant chain. Which of the following is true of Buck? A) He put money into the sandwich business. B) He was a professor of business administration. C) He was studying at the University of Bridgeport. D) He rented a storefront for DeLuca.
(Answer)
A