第二十三天：阅读模拟练习三

今天的结束语是：Aim for the moon and you will land among the stars（志在月亮，至少也能与星星为伍）。

Text 1

“How do I get into journalism?” is a question that almost anyone who works in this trade will have been asked by friends, godchildren, passing students and, in some cases, their parents. The answer, of course, is: “with difficulty”.

A breezily written new book by the writer, broadcaster and former editor of the Independent on Sunday, Kim Fletcher, recognises this. Its purpose, broadly, is to answer the question posed above, and to offer some tips on how to stay in journalism once you get there. Tenacity matters above all; and there’s a reason to be tenacious. Journalists now are arguably more professional, and certainly more sober, than in the hot metal days of old Fleet Street, but being a hack is still more fun than a barrel of monkeys. You get to have adventures and then write about them. As Fletcher says: “You would do it even if they didn’t pay you.”

Landing that job is a cat that can be skinned in dozens of ways. In the old days, you’d learn the trade as an indentured apprentice on a regional newspaper—working your way through the newsroom covering jam-making competitions and parish council meetings and, occasionally, bracing yourself for the grim task of the “death-knock”, where you interview the grieving parents of that week’s Tragic Tot, and trouser as many of their family photographs as you can. And thence, in some cases, to Fleet Street—though as Mr. Fletcher points out, nationals are not the be-all and end-all of journalism, and many extremely good hacks prefer to remain on local papers, or ply their trade happily in magazines.

You can start writing features or reports for some of the many trade and specialist magazines. Or you can sneak straight on to a national as a junior gossip columnist. Others get started by submitting ideas and articles on a freelance basis.

As Fletcher points out, the editor or section editor to whom you write is—most of the time—itching to throw your letter away; asking you in for an interview, or reading your cuttings, is a time-consuming and probably boring task he would rather avoid. Misspelling his name, or mistaking his job title, is a gift of an excuse to slam-dunk your letter in the cylindrical filing cabinet. Reporters are supposed to be good at finding things out. If you can’t even find out the name of the person you are asking for a job, you aren’t going to be a good reporter.

21. What is the most important quality a person needs for getting into journalism?

［A］ family connections ［B］ knowledge

［C］ perseverance ［D］ professionalism

22. In the past, what was the usual route to becoming a successful journalist?

［A］ Covering stories that involved the death of children.

［B］ Family connections.

［C］ Working for free.

［D］ Covering (usually) boring events for a local newspaper.

23. Where do the best journalists work?

［A］ Fleet Street. ［B］ For the national newspapers.

［C］ Anywhere that accepts features writers. ［D］ In a variety of places.

24. Which of the following is NOT given as a common way to start in journalism?

［A］ Having family connections. ［B］ Writing for trade magazines.

［C］ Writing articles freelance. ［D］ Writing about celebrities.

25. What is the “cylindrical filing cabinet” mentioned in the final paragraph?

［A］ A storage place for useless job applications.

［B］ A wastebasket.

［C］ A filing cabinet for personnel files.

［D］ A place for keeping articles that are not immediately needed, but might be needed in the future.

Text 2

“3M” comes from “Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing,” but those three M’s might better stand for Mistake = Magic = Money. Throughout its 101year history, many of 3M’s breakthrough products have followed a similar arc: A 3M customer identifies a problem, and a 3M engineer expresses confidence in being able to solve it. He bangs his head against the wall for years, facing repeated setbacks, until management finally tells him to stop wasting time and money. Undeterred, the engineer stumbles onto a solution and turns a dead end into a ringing success.

Although William McKnight, the man responsible for 3M’s entrepreneurial culture, was not, in fact, a company founder, he does deserve the credit for what made 3M successful during his 59 years at the company and beyond. Says Noa Staryk, chair of the McKnight Foundation, which McKnight founded in 1953: “There are two values that resonate from my great-grandfather: innovation and risk taking.”

His tenure started—naturally—with a mistake. Just as the company showed a profit, with sales at about $22,000 a month, angry clients suddenly began returning 3M sandpaper. It turned out that several casks of olive oil had spilled onto a shipment of 3M abrasives in transit, and the oil-tainted “sand” failed to retain its adhesion to the backing paper. And no one had noticed the problem. After that debacle McKnight established a research lab to test materials at every stage of production.

McKnight’s move to center the business on research ended up having the dual effect of not only testing ideas but also generating them. He set the tone with his philosophy of “Listen to anybody with an idea.” When he received a letter in 1920 from an ink manufacturer requesting bulk mineral samples (not one of 3M’s businesses), McKnight wanted to know what the correspondent would do with the minerals. A Philadelphia inventor named Francis Okie had sent the note, and he wanted to develop his invention of waterproof sandpaper. McKnight realized that Okie’s idea would rapidly be accepted because it produced less friction than dry sandpaper and didn’t generate hazardous dust when used wet. He bought the rights to the idea and hired Okie, and by 1921, 3M had released Wetordry sandpaper, its first breakthrough product. As Richard Carlton, 3M’s director of manufacturing and author of its first testing manual, wrote, “Every idea should have a chance to prove its worth, and this is true for two reasons: (1) If it is good, we want it; (2) if it is not good, we will have purchased peace of mind when we have proved it impractical.”

26. How can many of 3M’s breakthroughs be described best?

［A］ The result of mistakes.

［B］ The result of luck.

［C］ The result of confidence in its employees’ abilities.

［D］ The result of skill.

27. Which of the following means “debacle” as used in paragraph 3?

［A］ surprise［B］ trial［C］ incident［D］ disaster

28. What was the result of McKnight’s focus on research?

［A］ More ideas and more testing.

［B］ More testing of existing ideas.

［C］ More ideas to test.

［D］ Testing before and during production.

29. Why did McKnight say “Every idea should have a chance to prove its worth”?

［A］ Because his whole business depends on new ideas.

［B］ Because he likes hearing new ideas.

［C］ Because even if a new idea doesn’t work, it will be one less competing idea to worry about.

［D］ Because you never know which ideas are good and which are not.

30. What is the focus of the article?

［A］ William McKnight［B］ 3M

［C］ Getting new ideas.［D］ Selling new ideas.

参考答案：

21-25 CDDAB 26-30 BDACA

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