Say you‘re a developer who’s in the market for a job. You come across a job listing， perhaps something like the one I recently posted. It‘s a job you’re interested in and you send in your resume. Here‘s what to do.A cover letter is not just a standard part of your resume. A cover letter is designed to highlight the parts of your experience that are specific to the job to which you are applying. It’s supposed to be the thing I see first andshould draw me in， making me want to get the details from your resume. Don‘t stick your cover letter in anattachment and your resume in another attachment or your cover letter might not get seen. It’s certainly not doing its job hidden in an attachment like that. If you are sending a resume by email， your cover letter belongs in the body of your email.

　　You need to proofread your cover letter carefully. This is my first introduction to you. This is your chance to impress me. If you have sloppy spelling， capitalization， and spelling in your cover letter I‘ll expect that your code as the same sort of problems. I’m not looking for Pulitzer-prize-winning stuff here， but most kids learn in first grade to capitalize proper nouns and the beginnings of sentences.

　　Your resume should tell me what languages you know， what technologies you have experience with， and how you‘ve applied that experience. Unless you’re applying for a job as a secretary， you don‘t need to tell me you’re proficient at MS Word — if you‘re a software developer， I assume you’re familiar enough the basic workings of a word processor to use it to open a document and read a spec. Do tell me what sort of systems you‘ve built and what challenges you overcame while building them. Do tell me how you applied your knowledge of efficient database operation to decrease server load by 30%.

　　When I look at your resume I should get a sense of what size projects you‘ve worked on. If you’ve worked with an internationally-known company， then I immediately understand you‘ve had exposure to larger projects. If all of your experience was at no-name companies in North Dakota， then you need to tell me that the project youworked on had 15 developers and an annual budget of 3 million dollars. Otherwise I’m likely to think your prior experience was building simple ASP front ends to little Access databases.

　　And finally， follow the directions for applying for the job. If I went to the trouble of describing how you should apply， there‘s probably a good reason for it. If I ask for a plain-text resume， don’t send a Word document or a link to your resume on your Web site. If I ask for a code sample， include it. If you can‘t follow those simple directions， how can I expect that you’ll be able to follow a spec?

　　I don‘t even look at those emails I get with Word attachments， no code samples， no information about availability or your location. I simply file them away in case I ever have a need to hire a developer that doesn’t know how to follow directions.

　　Reading Comprehension

　　1. Why did the author suggest that don‘t put your cover letter in another attachment of your resume?

　　[A] It‘s a waste of time.

　　[B] It is absurd.

　　[C] It will make your cover letter not do its job.

　　[D] There is no need to do so.

　　2. Why did the author emphasize the importance of proofread?

　　[A] Because it is a quality that a pupil should have.

　　[B] Proofreading can decrease errors from your cover letter.

　　[C] It will make you avoid some simple errors and will give your reader a good impression.

　　[D] It can make you win Pulitzer-prize.

　　3. Why did the author say that you should let the reader know what size project you‘ve worked on?

　　[A] Because this will highlight your resume.

　　[B] Because you are required to do so.

　　[C] Because this will let your reader know you better.

　　[D]Because it can make your reader know your ability for larger projects.

　　4. What‘s the meaning of “went to the trouble” that mentioned in paragraph 6?

　　[A] To face puzzledom.

　　[B] An amount of effort and time that is needed to do something.

　　[C] Have some difficulties.

　　[D] Some problems can‘t be solve.

　　5. What‘s the meaning of the word “spec” which mentioned in paragraph 6?

　　[A] Rule.

　　[B] Law.

　　[C] A detailed instruction about how a piece of equipment should be made.

　　[D] An direction.

　　答案与题解

　　1. [C] 细节题。准确定位到原文是解题的关键。本题出现在原文的第二段。题目问道作者为什么建议不要把求职信放在简历的另一个附件里，该题正确的理解应为如果把求职信放在另一个附件中则求职信将发挥不出它的作用。

　　2. [C] 细节题。本题的干扰项在B项。校对的确可以减少错误，但这并不是本文强调的重点。本文认为避免一些低级错误是给审查简历的人留下好印象的机会。

　　3. [D] 细节题。请看文中的第五段，“then I immediately understand you‘ve had exposure to larger projects.”这样我便知道你有做大型项目的能力，也就是选项中需要我们选出的答案：这样可以使你简历的读者知道你具备做大型项目的能力。

　　4. [B] 逻辑判断题。本题先要解决对原句的理解问题，词组“went to the trouble”指的是不厌其烦。然后再定位到原文，根据上下文逻辑，可以推知，作者是在讲他之所以不厌其烦的解释怎样申请工作的原因，所以B为正确选项。

　　5. [C]推断题。从原文句式上看，这里是一个递进的关系，是逻辑上的顺延，所以一定是与“direction”同意的一个词。再加上逻辑上的递进关系，所以正确的解释应该是“制造某项设备的详细指令。”

编辑：张雨