Lao Tzu, the great ancient Chinese thinker, once observed in his well-known

游客2024-11-05  5

问题     Lao Tzu, the great ancient Chinese thinker, once observed in his well-known work, the Tao Te Ching, "He who knows others is intelligent. He who knows himself is wise. " Is it more important to know others or to know oneself? The following are opinions from two sides. Read the excerpts carefully and write your response in about 300 words, in which you should:
    1. summarize briefly the opinions from both sides;
    2. give your comment.
    Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.
Interviewers
    Bob Calderoni, Executive Chairman of Citrix: It is impossible to decide whether or not you like something until you have tried it. If you decide that you’d like to play the violin, you need to take more than one lesson before you can know whether you have any interest or ability. It’s not enough to want to be a great violinist. You also have to like the hard and long training before you become one. If you would enjoy being a great violinist but hate the work, forget it.
    Mike Bond, Chief Financial Officer of Pulse Electronics: Although most students would be unhappy if they found that they had failed an advanced math course, they have actually learned a great deal about themselves. They know that they should not become engineers or physical scientists, and that they should not be good at accounting work. So failing can help a student to lead a much happier life if he or she draws the right conclusion from the failing. They may then decide on their aim and choose the kind of work they would like to do.
    Elizabeth R. Thornton, HR Executive of Verizon Communications: If you think you’re truly objective, you’re wrong. The reality is we all have bias. If they’re not managed, we then may pay in lost opportunities, money, relationships, and other ways. People are naturally biased. We perceive something, and in an instant, we project our mental models, our past experiences, our backgrounds, onto whatever that is—a person, situation, or event. Oftentimes, we get it wrong. Once you realize that you’re inherently not objective, you can get some distance and focus on the situation. It takes self-awareness.
Interviewees
    Lynn Calpeter: I have to do my homework before the interview. I’d check with my university to see if there are any graduates working at the company I’m applying for, ask my friends to grill me in a mock interview, go to the library to find newspaper clippings on the company, and maybe call their suppliers or customers. Anyway, it takes no longer to prepare well for one interview than to wander in half-prepared for five.
    Susan R. Meisinger: Knowing others offers great help to business of course, but it isn’t easy. Learning about a wide range of people makes so much of a difference that it is definitely worth it. For example, think of the salesperson who engages you in a conversation about your life rather than acting like they couldn’t care less whether you were there or not and only going on about the product. A successful sale is often brought about simply because the salesperson acknowledges that they’re in a relationship with the customer as a human being, not as a consumer.
    Richard A. Laxer: You have to watch your staff and get to know them as individuals. Differences must be taken into account—no two people are alike or have the same interests. As a boss, you have to understand their motives. That allows you to enhance, adjust, and align their motives with your goals. It’s your job to figure out which employees best fit for certain jobs, and which for others. So the employees do all they can in their jobs and the talent of every individual can be turned to good account.
    Write your response on ANSWER SHEET FOUR.

选项

答案                 Knowing Others and Knowing Oneself
    A great ancient Chinese thinker, Lao Tzu, once observed, "He who knows others is intelligent. He who knows himself is wise." For centuries, intellectuals have been arguing whether it is more important to know others or to know oneself. The debate continues today and opinions still vary.
    Most interviewers in big companies agree that knowing one’s true inner self can be of great help to anyone to identify his interest and ability. It also renders a better chance of discovering what one is good at and how to reach one’s own success. Furthermore, self-awareness offers a more objective perspective. On the other hand, interviewees generally consider that knowing others can ensure success, especially in job hunting. And it helps maintain and promote social relations and connections such as between family members, friends, workmates, or with customers. What’s more, knowing people can help adopt one’s strong points and avoid his weak ones, so that everyone’s talents can be given to full display.
    As for me, I am more inclined to support the executives’ point of view. In the first place, it is not easy to know others, but it is more difficult to know ourselves. For others, we are used to using our own standards to judge others. Although sometimes it is one-sided, it is still of certain objectivity. But for ourselves, it is difficult for us to make an objective view. Secondly, as I see it, " knowing oneself" means knowing our strengths and weaknesses, as well as our positions in the whole society. It takes great courage for us to face the true self. Yet introspection indeed helps see our aim in life and guide us along the path toward success. Lastly, our ego will enable us to develop our full potential. When we reach our goals, we will turn out to be a much happier person.
    All in all, self-awareness is a more challenging task compared with knowing others. It helps us see us more objectively so that we are more liable to succeed. Also, we can develop our potentials and fulfill our life with it. And that is real success and wisdom in its truest sense.

解析 本题讨论知人与自知这一有争议的议题,命题与社会生活和人际交往相关。题目要求简要概括所给材料中的两种观点,并发表自己的看法。在具体行文方面,考生可以在第一段直接点题,提出论点,即知人与自知哪个更重要的问题;第二段简要阐述两种不同的观点;第三段重点阐述自己对这一议题的看法,并说明理由;最后一段总结全文,重申论点。
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