What are the specific traits that will assist executives to climb the ladder of success? Opinions vary widely. Given approximately equal qualifications and circumstances, some claim the success factor is largely a matter of luck — being in the right place at the right time. Others speak of an almost crazy devotion to work, combined with a degree of ruthlessness. One "expert" maintains that it's undoubtedly a matter of how much education your mother had.

　　To make it big, executives must possess four basic skills:

　　First, drive. Business success takes an unusual amount of energy. A successful executive—almost by definition—is a striver. He will get tense when he is not striving.

　　Second, people sense. Some say being able to judge people is more important than a high IQ. The skill can be instinctual(本能的), but in most cases it is painstakingly learned.

　　Third, communications ability. Different executives make themselves understood in different ways. Some transmit ideas best face to face; others are masters of the telephone call; still others are persuasive writers. One way or another, they all communicate clearly.

　　Fourth, calm under pressure. No businessman will get very far if he chokes up.

　　1. Some people claim that besides hard work,the success also requires _____.

　　[A] equal qualifications

　　[B] specific traits

　　[C] much education

　　[D] a degree of cruelty

　　2. According to the passage,a high IQ is _____.

　　[A] instinctual

　　[B] painstakingly learnt

　　[C] inborn

　　[D] more trivial than people sense

　　3. The successful executives must _____.

　　[A] transmit ideas face to face

　　[B] depend on telephones

　　[C] be persuasive writers

　　[D] express themselves distinctly

　　4. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

　　[A] Every businessman possesses these four skills.

　　[B] When a triver stops his devotion to work,he will feel quite at ease.

　　[C] These basic skills are not instinctual at all.

　　[D] Mother's education has undoubted effect on her child's success.

　　5. What's the main idea of the passage?

　　[A] Four skills for successful executives.

　　[B] Some opinions about the success.Ｗww.KaＯ8.CC

　　[C] Specific traits for successful executives.

　　[D] Qualifications and circumstances for climbing the ladder.

　　参考答案：D D D D C

　　It is plain that in the year 2000 everyone will have at his elbow several times more mechanical energy than he has today.

　　There will be advances in biological knowledge as far-reaching as those that have been made in physics. We are only beginning to learn that we can control our biological environment as well as our physical one. Starvation has been predicted twice to a growing world population: by Malthus in about 1800, by Crookes in about 1900. It was headed off the first time by taking agriculture to America and the second time by using the new fertilizers. In the year 2000, starvation will be headed off by the control of the diseases and the heredity(遗传) of plants and animals—by shaping our own biological environment.

　　Now I come back to the haunting theme of automation. The most common species in the factory today is the man who works or minds a simple machine—the operator. By the year 2000, the repetitive tasks of industry will be taken over by the machines, as the heavy tasks were taken over long ago; and the mental tedium will go the way of physical exhaustion. Today we still distinguish, even among repetitive jobs, between the skilled and the unskilled; but in the year 2000 all repetition will be unskilled. We simply waste our time if we oppose this change; it is as inevitable as the year 2000 itself.

　　1. The article was written to _____.

　　[A] warn us of the impending starvation

　　[B] present facts about life in the near future

　　[C] oppose biological advances

　　[D] warn of the evil side of automation

　　2. Advances in biological knowledge were _____.

　　[A] kept pace with advances in physics

　　[B] been responsible for the invention of new machines

　　[C] surpassed those in physics

　　[D] lagged behind those in physics

　　3. According to the passage,starvation _____.

　　[A] can be predicted

　　[B] is unavoidable

　　[C] can be prevented

　　[D] is mainly caused by poor agriculture

　　4. Repetitive tasks in industry lead to _____.

　　[A] physical exhaustion

　　[B] mental stimulation

　　[C] mental exhaustion

　　[D] extinction

　　5. If the predictions of this writer are realized,the demand for the unskilled workers in the twenty-first century will be _____.

　　[A] very high

　　[B] very low

　　[C] the same as today

　　[D] constantly rising

　　参考答案：B D C C B