Early one morning, more than a hundred years ago, an American inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep. He had been working all night on the design of a sewing machine but he had run into a very difficult problem: It seemed impossible to get the thread to run smoothly around the needle.
Though he was tired, Howe slept badly. He turned and turned. Then he had a dream. He dreamt that he had been caught by terrible savages whose king wanted to kill him and eat him unless he could build a perfect sewing machine. When he tried to do so, Howe ran into the same problem as before. The thread kept getting caught around the needle. The king flew into the cage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe. They came up towards him with their spears raised. But suddenly the inventor noticed something. There was a hole in the tip of each spear. The inventor awoke from the dream, realizing that he had just found the answer to the problem. Instead of trying to get the thread to run around the needle, he should make it run through a small hole in the center of the needle. This was the simple idea that finally made Howe design and build the first really practiced sewing machine.
Elias Howe was not the only one in finding the answer to his problem in this way.
Thomas Edison, the inventor of the electric light, said his best ideas came into him in dreams. So did the great physicist Albert Einstein. Charlotte Bronte also drew in her dreams in writing Jane Eyre.
To know the value of dreams, you have to understand what happens when you are asleep. Even then, a part of your mind is still working. This unconscious(无意识的), but still active part understands your experiences and goes to work on the problems you have had during the day. It stores all sorts of information that you may have forgotten or never have really noticed. It is only when you fall asleep that this part of the brain can send messages to the part you use when you are awake. However, the unconscious part acts in a special way. It uses strange images which the conscious part may not understand at first. This is why dreams are sometimes called “secret messages to ourselves”.
29 According to the passage, Elias Howe was________.
A. the first person we know of who solved problems in his sleep
B. much more hard-working than other inventors
C. the first person to design a sewing machine that really worked
D. the only person at the time who knew the value of dreams
30. The problem Howe was trying to solve was________.
A. what kind of thread to use
B. how to design a needle which would not break
C. where to put the needle
D. how to prevent the thread from getting caught around the needle
31. Thomas Edison is spoken of because________.
A. he also tried to invent a sewing machine
B. he got some of his ideas from dreams
C. he was one of Howe’s best friends
D. he also had difficulty in falling asleep
32. Dreams are sometimes called” secret messages to ourselves” because___.
A. strange images are used to communicate ideas
B. images which have no meaning are used
C. we can never understand the real meaning
D. only specially trained people can understand them
CDBA
日常生活类阅读的概念:
日常生活这一话题主要涉及人们衣食住行等方面的活动。这一话题的选材主要针对人们日常的工作,生活以及学习情况。做这一类题时,最主要的是要把握好人物的活动内容,时间和地点。
日常生活类阅读题答题技巧:
【题型说明】
该类文章内容涉及到人们的言谈举止、生活习惯、饮食起居、服饰仪表、恋爱婚姻、消遣娱乐、节日起源、家庭生活等。文章篇幅短小,追根溯源,探索各项风俗的历史渊源,内容有趣。命题也以送分题为主,如事实细节题、语义转换题、词义猜测题和简单推理判断题等。虽然这类文章读起来感觉轻松,试题做起来比较顺手,但绝不能掉以轻心。因为稍不留神,就会丢分。
【备考提醒】
为了保证较高准确率,建议同学们做好以下几点:
1、保持正常的考试心态。笔者在教学中发现,越是容易的试题,同学们越是容易失分。为什么呢?因为在这种情况下,同学们极易产生麻痹思想,认为题目好做,就不引起高度重视,于是思维不发散、不周密。而命题人就是利用同学们的这一弱点,设计陷阱题。所以,无论试题难易与否,我们都要保持正常的考试心态。试题容易,不欣喜;试题难,不悲观。
2、根据前面讲到的方法,认认真真、细细心心做好事实细节题。
3、做好语义转换题。这类题是根据英语中一词多义和某些词语在文中能表达一定的修辞意义的原则而设计的。要求同学们解释某生词的含义,确定多义词或短语在文中的意思,确认文中的某个代词所指代的对象,或者对英语中特有的表达、格言、谚语进行解释。这种题要求同学们一定要根据上下文猜测词义或理解句子,切不可望文生义。
4、做好简单推理判断题。简单推理判断题要以表面文字为前提,以具体事实为依据进行推理,做出判断。这种推理方式比较直接,只要弄清事实,即可结合常识推断出合理的结论。
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A. Reasons that employers use tests B. Procedures involved in recruitment’ C. Hints to follow while taking tests D. Disadvantages of interviews for recruitment E. Importance of interview F. Adoption of psychological tests to hire employees |
80. |
Nowadays more and more foreign enterprises and companies are no longer relying on interviews for recruitment. Years of studying interviewing has made clear that it is not a very objective process. Personnel officers often hire the person they like best or even the one they think most physically attractive. Looking good is no guarantee of doing the job well.
81. |
To get a more objective view, many companies are also using psychological tests, to hire both for relatively routine job and for positions at senior levels of management. It is impossible to say how many employers use tests, but estimates of test sales in the
82. |
Recruitment can involve steps in two ways. Step 1 is always the same: job application. The company decides whether you might be suitable based on your qualifications and your previous job experience. Step 2 can be screening. A specific test is given at this stage to rule out those who might not be worth interviewing. Some large employers use tests ---especially IQ based tests precisely to eliminate the unsuitable. Only those who pass Step 2 go to the interview. Step 2 can also be testing and interview combined. If the company thinks you might be suitable after looking at your application, they ask you to come to be tested and to be interviewed. It is seen very much as part of the same step.
83. |
Tests claim to be scientific and objective. A large body of research has shown that interviews by themselves are not very reliable as a method of selection. People’s judgments are often very subjective: whether they like the look of someone counts for more than almost anything else. But reliable and valid tests can offer rapid and more objective information about would-be employees. If a candidate talks well in an interview but his test results suggest that he is a careless person who cannot concentrate, and employer is likely to think twice about hiring him.
84. |
Taking a serious test for a job is rather different form taking a game-like test. You can spend just a little time answering questions of that kind of test, and you can deny the answers and say they are not accurate. But you can not go to a serious test without enough preparation since you can not afford to be denied and eliminated again and again. What can you do to do justice to yourself in tests? Here are three tips: Understand, Analyze, Practice.