-
W: Welcome to Work Place. And
in today’s program, we’re looking at the results
of two recently published surveys,
which
both
deal with
the same topic - happiness
at work. John, tell us about the first
survey.
M: Well,
this was
done
by a human
resources consultancy, who interviewed more than
1,000 workers, and established a top
ten of the factors, which make people happy
at work. The most important factor for
the majority of the people interviewed was
having
friendly,
supportive
colleagues.
In
fact,
73%
of
people
interviewed
put
their
relationship with
colleagues as the key factor contributing to
happiness at work,
which is a very high
percentage. The second most important factor was
having work
that is enjoyable. The two
least important factors were having one's
achievements
recognized, and rather
surprisingly, earning a competitive
salary.
W: So,
we are not mainly motivated by money?
M: Apparently
not.
W: Any
other interesting information in the
survey?
M:
Yes.
For
example,
25%
of
the
working
people
interviewed
described
themselves
as
'very happy' at work. However, 20% of
employees described themselves as being
unhappy.
W: That
’
s quite a
lot of unhappy people at work every
day.
M: It is,
isn
’
t it? And there were
several more interesting conclusions revealed
by the survey. First of all, small is
beautiful: people definitely prefer working
for smaller organizations or companies
with less than 100 staff. We also find out
that, generally speaking, women were
happier in their work than men.
W: Yes, we are,
aren
’
t we?
M:
And
workers
on
part-
time
contracts,
who
only
work
4
or
5
hours
a
day,
are
happier
than
those
who
work
full-time.
The
researchers
concluded
that
this
is
probably
due
to a
better work-life balance.
W: Are bosses happier than their
employees?
M:
Yes, perhaps not surprisingly, the higher people
go in a company, the happier
they are.
So
senior managers enjoy their
jobs
more than
people working under them.
Questions 1 to 4 are based
on the conversation you have just
heard.
Q1: What
is the factor that made employees happy according
to the survey?
Q2: What is the percentage of the
people surveyed who felt unhappy at
work?
Q3: What
kind of companies are popular with
employees?
Q4:
What is the possible reason for people on part-
time contracts to be happier?
W: Mr. De Keyzer, I'm a
great lover of your book Moments Before the Flood.
Can you
tell us how you first became
interested in this subject matter?
M:
In
2006,
when
the
concert
hall
of
the
city
of
Bruges
asked
me
to
take
some
pictures
for a catalogue for
a new concert season around the theme of water, I
found myself
working along the Belgian
coastline. As there had been numerous alarming
articles
in the press about a climate
catastrophe waiting to happen, I started looking
at
the sea and the beach very
differently, a place where I spent so many perfect
days
as
a
child.
This
fear
of
a
looming
danger
became
the
subject
of
a
large-scale
photo
project.
W: You wrote in the book:
’
t want to photograph the
disaster, I want to
photograph the
disaster waiting to happen.
”
Can you talk a bit about that?
M:
It
is
clear
now
that
it
is
a
matter
of
time
before
the
entire
European
coastline
disappears
under water.
The same goes
for
numerous big cities around the
world.
My
idea was to
photograph this beautiful and very unique
coastline, rich in history,
befor
e it’s too
late—
as a last witness.
W: Can you talk a bit about
how history plays a role in this
project?
M:
Sure. The project is also about the history of
Europe looking at the sea and
wondering
when the next enemy would appear. In the images,
you see all kinds of
possible defense
constructions to hold back the Romans, Germans,
Vikings, and now
nature as enemy number
one. For example, there is the image of the bridge
into the
sea taken at the Normandy
D-Day landing site. Also, Venice, the city
eternally
threatened
by
the
sea,
where
every
morning
wooden
pathways
have
to
be
set
up
to
allow
tourists to reach
their hotels.
W:
Thank you, Mr. De Keyzer. It was a pleasure to
have you with us today.
Questions 5 to 8 are based on the
conversation you have just heard.
Q5. What does the man say
about the book Moments Before the
Flood?
Q6. When
did the man get his idea for the work?
Q7. What will happen when
the climate catastrophe occurs?
Q8. What does the man say
about Venice?
Section B
Passage 1
When facing a new situation, some
people tend to rehearse their defeat by
spending
too
much
time
anticipating
the
worst.
I
remember
talking
with
a
young
lawyer
who was about to
begin her first jury trial. She was very nervous.
I asked what
impression
she
wanted
to
make
on
the
jury.
She
replied:”
I
don’t
want
to
look
too
inexperienced,
I don’t
want them to
suspect this is
my first
trial.”
This lawyer
had fallen victims to the don’ts
syndrome—
a form of negative goals
setting. The
don’ts can be
self
-fulfilling because your mind
response to pictures.
Research
conducted
at
Stanford
University
shows
a
mental
image
fires
the
nerve
system the same way as actually doing
something. That means when a golfer tells
himself:
”
Don
’
t
hit
the
ball
into
the
water.
”
His
mind
sees
the
image
of
the
ball
flying into the water.
So guess where the ball will go?
Consequently,
before
going
into
any
stressful
situation,
focus
only
on
what
you
want
to
have
happen.
I
asked
the
lawyer
again
how
she
wanted
to
appear
at
her
first
trial. And this time she said:
”
I want to look professional
and self-assured.
”
I
told
her
to
create
a
picture
of
what
self-assured
would
look
like.
To
her,
it
meant
moving
confidently
around
the
court
room,
using
convincing
body
language
and
projecting
her
voice,
so
it
could
be
heard
from
the
judge’s
bench
to
the
back
door.
She
also
imagined
a
skillful
closing
argument
and
a
winning
trial.
A
few
weeks
after
this positive
stress(
不确定
)rehearsal, the
young lawyer did win.
Questions 9 to 12 are based on the
passage you have just heard.
Q9: what do some people do
when they face a new situation?
Q10: what does the research
conducted at Stanford University show?
Q11: what advice does the
speaker give to people in a stressful
situation?
Q12:
what do we learn about the lawyer in the
court?
Passage
2
Most
Americans
don
’
t
eat
enough
fruits,
vegetables
or
whole
grains,
researchers
now says adding
fiber to teen diet may help lower the risk of
breast cancer.
Conversations about the benefits of
fiber are probably more common in nursing
homes
than
high
schools.
But
along
comes
a
new
study
that
could
change
that.
Kristi
King
，
a
diet
specialist
at
Texas
Children's
Hospital
finds
it's
hard
to
get
teenager
patients
’
attention about healthy eating but telling them
that eating lots of
high-fiber foods
could reduce the risk of breast cancer before
middle age. That's
a powerful
message.
The new
finding is based on a study of 44,000 women. They
were surveyed about
their
diets
during
high
school,
and
their
eating
habits
were
tracked
for
two
decades.
It
turns
out
that
those
who
consumed
the
highest
levels
of
fiber
during
adolescence
had
a
lower
risk
of
developing
breast
cancer,
compared
to
the
women
who
ate
the
least
fiber. This important
study demonstrates that the more fiber you eat
during your
high
school
years,
the
lower
your
risk
is
in
developing
breast
cancer
in
later
life.
The
finding
points
to
long-
standing
evidence
that
fiber
may
reduce
circulating
female hormone
levels, which could explain the reduced risk. The
bottom line here
is the more fiber you
eat, perhaps, a lower level of hormone in your
body, and