1、大学英语六级改革适用（阅读）模拟试卷 27及答案与解析 Section B 0 Dealing with Criticism A)No one likes getting criticism. But it can be a chance to show off a rare skill: taking negative feedback(反馈 )well. It is a skill that requires practice, humility and a sizable dose of self-awareness. But the ability to learn from crit
2、icism fuels creativity at work, studies show, and helps the free flow of valuable communication. B)Tempering an emotional response can be hard, especially “if youre genuinely surprised and youre getting that flood of anger and panic,“ says Douglas Stone, a lecturer at Harvard Law School and co-autho
3、r of “Thanks for the Feedback.“ C)Gillian Florentine was stunned when a supervisor at a previous employer accused her of working “under the cover of darkness.“ She was gathering internal data for a proposal she planned to present to him on scheduling flexibility for information-technology employees,
4、 says Ms. Florentine, a Pittsburgh human-resources consultant. She knew she should respond calmly, acknowledge that she sometimes made decisions on her own and ask specifically what had upset him. Her emotional response overrode her judgment, however. “I was like, Are you kidding me? “ she says. “I
5、felt offended and personally hurt,“ and responded in an angry tone. Ms. Florentine later smoothed over the rift and promised to keep the boss better informed. But she told him that his wording had “felt like a personal attack on my integrity.“ D)Many employees dont get much practice receiving negati
6、ve feedback, managers say. It is out of fashion, for one thing: Some 94% of human-resources managers favour positive feedback, saying it has a bigger impact on employees performance than criticism, according to a 2013 survey of 803 employers by the Society for Human Resource Management and Globoforc
7、e. Performance reviews are infrequent, with 77% of employers conducting them only once a year. E)When people are criticized, the strong feelings that follow can be tough to control. “If you end up in a puddle of tears, that s going to be the memorable moment,“ says Dana Brownlee, founder of Professi
8、onalism Matters, Atlanta, a corporate-training company. F)If tears well up or you feel yourself becoming defensive, ask to wait 24 hours before responding, says Brad Karsh, president of JB Training Solutions, Chicago, a consulting and training company. “Say, thank you very much for the feedback. Wha
9、t Id like to do is think about it. “ G)People react badly to feedback for one of three reasons, says Mr. Stone: The criticism may seem wrong or unfair. The listener may dislike or disrespect the person giving it. Or the feedback may rock the listener s sense of identity or security. H)Some people di
10、stort feedback into a devastating personal critique. Mr. Stone suggests writing down: “What is this feedback about, and what is it not about?“ Then, change your thinking by eliminating distorted thoughts. “The goal is to get the feedback back into the right-sized box“ as a critique of specific aspec
11、ts of your current performance, he says. I)Mr. Stone recalls a meeting years ago where a client tossed down on the table a report he and his colleague and co-author Sheila Heen had written and yelled, “This is a piece of s !“ Mr. Stone says his heart sank: “Im thinking, This meeting is not going wel
12、l. “ But Ms. Heen had a comeback: “When you say s , could you be more specific? What do you mean?“ The questions touched off a useful two-hour discussion, Mr. Stone says. Ms. Heen confirms the account. J)“What“ questions, such as “What evidence did you see?“ tend to draw out more helpful information
13、, says productivity-training consultant Garrett Miller. Questions that begin with “why,“ such as, “Why are you saying that?“ breed resentment and bog down the conversation, says Mr. Miller, chief executive of CoTria, Tranquility, N. J. K)It is tempting to dismiss criticism from a boss you dislike. L
14、ori Kleiman, a speaker and author on human-resource issues in Chicago, finished a sales call several years ago by signing up a new client. A manager who had been listening in called afterward, congratulated her, then delivered a critique: Ms. Kleiman said “like“ too often while talking to the client
15、. Ms. Kleiman felt angry at the call, because she felt this manager frequently “one- upped“ her, and at first dismissed the feedback, she says. But after some thought, she saw that the manager was right. As a result, she says, she began to choose her words more carefully and broke the habit. L)Extra
16、 restraint is needed if a boss or colleague issues a critique in a meeting in front of others. “Dont create a scene. Just nod and keep a smile,“ says Mr. Karsh. Later, acknowledge the feedback, but explain that it wasn t appropriate or helpful to receive it in front of others. Ask that in the future
17、, “we have those discussions one-on-one,“ he says. M)Employees tend to become less defensive if they receive frequent feedback, says Catalina Andrade, training and benefits manager at Tris3ct, a Chicago marketing agency. Tris3ct trains managers to give frequent, direct feedback and to show understan
18、ding while doing so. N)Some feedback may actually be out of line with your performance or character. It is fair to ask a supervisor about the basis for the critique, Mr. Karsh says. If the boss hasnt bothered to gather estimations from co-workers, clients or customers who know and depend on your wor
19、k, it may be all right to ask that their evaluations be included. O)After reflecting on feedback for a while, however, most people realize, “I can totally see why someone would say that,“ Mr. Karsh adds. Mr. Miller, the productivity consultant, says he was angry when a boss on a previous job scolded
20、 him for hosting an informal team strategy meeting the night before an all-employee conference. The meeting was productive. But the boss criticized Mr. Miller, reminding him of the bosss directive that no conference gatherings were to begin until the next day. “I was screaming in my mind,“ Mr. Mille
21、r says, but he kept quiet. After some thought, he realized that “it wasn t about whether I made a good business decision. It was about his authority.“ He called the boss and left a voice-mail apology, saying he should have cleared his plans in advance. “All feedback has some truth in it,“ even if on
22、ly to reveal how others think, Mr. Miller says. Before dismissing it, ask yourself, “What I can learn from this?“ 1 Employees will not so defensive if they receive constant feedback. 2 It s very hard to control one s response towards criticism, especially when you are very angry. 3 Most employees do
23、nt get much negative feedback because most managers think positive feedback has better effect on people than negative feedback. 4 When Ms. Florentine was accused by her boss she felt deeply hurt and responded in an angry tone but she latter she calmed down and reacted reasonably. 5 Mr. Karsh said so
24、metimes the feedback may be not true and in that case you can ask your supervisor the cause of his criticism. 6 Some people distort feedback into a personal criticism but the right way to treat the feedback is treating it as a criticism of specific aspects of your present work. 7 There is always som
25、e kind of truth behind feedback even if it only shows how others think of you so we should think what we can learn from it. 8 There are three reasons which may cause people feel angry on hearing negative feedback. 9 Learning from criticism is a useful skill which is very hard to master but it also a
26、dds creativity at work and facilitates valuable communication. 10 People often want to dismiss the criticism from a person they dislike and Ms. Kleiman once dismissed a criticism from a manager but later she found the manager was right. 10 Horsemanship Returned A)Bridgeport, Calif. The men emerged o
27、ver the crest of a ridge and guided their horses along a tree line, skirting a wide meadow. They picked their way along narrow trails, climbing higher into the Sierra until a scene of snowcapped peaks and a green valley unfolded beneath them. The men, Special Forces soldiers dressed in jeans and oth
28、er civilian clothes, led their horses into a thick stand of pine trees, where they dismounted and let the horses drink from a clear mountain stream before breaking out their own rations. B)At this remote training area high in the Sierra, the U.S. Marine Corps is reviving the horsemanship skills that
29、 were once a key part of the nation s armed forces but were cast aside when tanks and armoured vehicles replaced them. The need to bring these skills back was driven home in Afghanistan in 2001, when the first Special Forces soldiers to arrive found themselves fighting on horseback alongside tribesm
30、en in rugged terrain without roads. Many had never ridden a horse before. “We dont want to reinvent anything,“ said Marine Capt. Seth Miller, the officer in charge of formal schools at the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Centre. “These are skills that were lost.“ C)Marine instructors are teac
31、hing the students, most of them Army Special Forces soldiers, how to control horses, care for them and load packs. The students are taught how to calculate routes and distances for rides and what to look for when purchasing horses from locals. For example, checking teeth is a good way to determine a
32、ge and avoid getting ripped off by a farmer trying to pass off an ancient mule or horse. In a throwback to the old Wild West days, instructors are considering training soldiers in how to shoot from a moving horse. D)No one is talking about bringing back the cavalry, but horses are an effective way f
33、or Special Forces and other small units to move around the battlefield, instructors said. They can travel long distances quietly and don t require the gasoline and massive logistics(后勤 )trains that restrain motorized forces. E)For all its advantages in technology, the U.S. military has been dragged
34、into the most primitive of fights in Iraq and Afghanistan, driving home the point that technology isnt always the answer. “We get caught up with whats new and high-speed,“ Miller said. F)On a recent morning, 13 students packed their mules and horses shortly after sunrise at base camp, preparing for
35、a 14 mile ride that would take them high into the Sierra, mountains that were familiar to gold prospectors more than a century ago. Students ride a total of about 110 miles during the 16-day course. “My bottom s going to be sore,“ said Air Force Tech Sgt. Jeryd Leuck, who specializes in search and r
36、escue operations, as he prepared to mount his horse, Chesty. Leuck said that before he started the course, his riding experience was a childhood pony ride. The students mounted horses and picked their way up a steep, shrub-covered slope that would take them out of the base camp. G)Six mules were par
37、t of the patrol. The animals are remarkably efficient. Mules can carry several hundred pounds and walk up to 55 miles a day, requiring nothing more than grass and water. “This has been proven to work,“ said Marine Maj. Sven Jensen, operations officer for the training centre, pointing to a group of m
38、en resting by their horses and mules. “This has worked for the last 3,000 years.“ H)The Marine Corps, which takes an almost perverse pride in a Spartan lifestyle, has offered a mule-packing course here since the 1980s. It launched the horsemanship training about three years ago after receiving reque
39、sts from Army Special Forces soldiers. Its the only such course in the military, and demand is high. I)USA TODAY was allowed access to observe training as long as it didnt identify by name or photograph the faces of the Special Forces soldiers taking the course. Because they go on covert missions, S
40、pecial Forces soldiers request they not be identified. The only requirement for students is that they are part of the special operations community, since they would have the most use for the training. J)Tony Parkhurst, director of the horsemanship and mule packing course, built the curriculum by del
41、ving into old cavalry manuals and studying American Indian tactics and techniques. “The Indians were actually better than our cavalry,“ Parkhurst said. “They were phenomenal guerrilla fighters.“ K)Cavalry officers in the 1800s had to calculate things such as how far horses could march, how much food
42、 they consumed and how best to pack them with equipment and weapons. The pack saddle used for mules here would be recognized by Genghis Khan s army, Parkhurst said. L)The Marines have stopped at nothing in an effort to recapture the skills lost when the military turned to mechanized warfare. Not man
43、y people know how to shoot from a moving horse these days, so the Marines turned to Annie Bianco, who goes by the name Outlaw Annie and is a leading practitioner of the small but growing sport of cowboy mounted shooting. She fires a six-shooter at targets from a galloping horse. A couple of instruct
44、ors from the training centre visited her ranch in Arizona. M)Bianco knows how to desensitize horses to the sound of gunfire. “Horses are flighty animals,“ she said. “Their first response from gunfire is to try and get away from it.“ What instructors have discovered is the horses of today are softer
45、than their ancestors, who ploughed fields and carried riders over vast distances. “We ve bred them and made them more athletic over time,“ Bianco said. “That s made it more difficult to find the well-rounded horse.“ N)Most of the horses used at the course are former mustangs, or wild horses, trained
46、 by people in the Northern Nevada Correctional Centre. The animals are both well-rounded and cheap. O)Although the Pentagon is turning back to age-old techniques, it is hardly giving up on technology. In fact, it s trying to make a robotic version of the mule. The $62 million program is called the L
47、S3, or legged squad support system. The instructors seem sceptical that technology can improve much on the real thing. Parkhurst said, “I can buy a whole load of mules for $60 million.“ 11 Marine instructors are teaching students how to take care of horses and how to calculate routes and distance fo
48、r rides and how to buy horses. 12 Horses are very useful way for Special Forces and other small units to move in the battlefield because they can travel long distances quietly and need no gasoline or huge logistics trains. 13 Though American military is very advanced in technology, they cannot solve
49、 the problem in Iraq or Afghanistan where where fighting is very primitive. 14 The Pentagon is hoping to use technology to make a robotic version of mule with a 62 million program but instructors do not believe technology can change animals. 15 The Marines has tried every way to gain the skills of cavalry, and they invited Annie Bianco to teach students how to shoot from a moving horse. 16 On a recent morning, 13 students were going to riding mules and horses for 14mile to the Sierra and some of them has little experience of riding.
