each morning meeting. The small team I worked with often seemed busy, so rather than giving ideas that might get turned down, I stayed back.

　　After four months, my boss called me into his office. The meeting was going well until he told me that despite the great work I had produced, the team had held a meeting and decided, "We don't think it's the right fit."

　　I must have looked confused. "You're ambitious, intelligent and will be very successful，" my boss said. "But you haven't made enough effort to join the team. You lost the enthusiasm you showed in your interview. That won't work long term, and if I could give you one piece of advice, it would be to get your guard down." I couldn't believe that performing well at my job wasn't enough to keep it. But I knew my boss was right. They knew that when they hired me, I had no experience in finance reporting, yet they took a chance on me. In meetings I usually contributed last, after I had heard everyone else's suggestions. I did it to show that I was a listener, but also to hide my fears. They liked the person who walked into the interview, and they didn't respect me when I hid that person from them.

　　"Don't leave before you leave." That advice is essential for women at all stages of our careers. Because we work so hard for success, we don't like to think that we hurt ourselves sometimes. But each of us must change when necessary. In trying to earn a full­time job, I "leaned back" in order not to show too much of myself or my lack of expertise (专门知识). I learned that the hard way wasn't the way to achieve our goals.

　　语篇解读：本文是一篇夹叙夹议文。"我"在公司工作，在团队里，"我"辛苦勤奋，所在的团队也紧张忙碌，但是"我"害怕表达自己的主张和建议。老板在肯定了"我"的成绩的同时，建议"我"勇于表达自己的主张，分享个人的建议。

　　5．Why was the author offered a job at the company at first?

　　A．Because she just got her master's degree in finance.

　　B．Because she greatly impressed her boss in her first month.

　　C．Because she had quite a lot of experience in finance reporting.

　　D．Because she showed her special financial talent while working there.

　　解析：选B　细节理解题。根据第一段第三句"I got a great one­month review and my boss asked if I was interested in staying at the company after graduation."可知，在第一个月的工作中，"我"获得了很高的评价，给老板留下了深刻的印象，故老板决定聘用"我"。故B项正确。

　　6．During her next four months at the company, the author ________.

　　A．performed well enough to earn the team's respect

B．didn't balance her graduate studies with work very well