阅读理解There are few people who draw up life goals

阅读理解 The digital onslaught of e-books and Amazon-style e-tailers have put bookstores in an existential dilemma. Digital books are said to outsell print titles by 2015 in Britain, and even sooner in America. With the demise of HMV, that music-peddling giant, still fresh in everyone's minds, bricks-and-mortar bookstores appear to be on borrowed time. So, what is the future of the bookstore? This was the burning questions on everyone's lips at a recent event at Foyles's flagship bookshop on Charing Cross Road in London. For a bookstore to remain successful, it must improve 'the experience of buying books,' says Alex Lifschutz, an architect whose London-based practice is designing the new Foyles. He suggests an array of approaches: 'small, quiet spaces cocooned with books; larger spaces where one can dwell and read; other larger but still intimate spaces where one can hear talks from authors about books, literature, science, travel and cookery.' The atmosphere is vital, he adds. Exteriors must buzz with activity, entrances must be full of eye-catching presentations and a bar and cafe is essential. There are plenty of ways to delight the bookstore customer, but few are easily monetised. The consensus is that bookstores need to become cultural destinations where people are prepared to pay good money to hear a concert, see a film or attend a talk. The programming will have to be intelligent and the space comfortable. Given how common it is for shoppers to browse in shops only to buy online later, some wonder whether it makes sense to charge people for the privilege. But forcing people to pay for the privilege of potentially paying for goods could deter shoppers altogether. A more attractive idea might be a membership scheme like those offered by museums and other cultural venues. Unlike reward cards, which offer discounts and other nominal benefits, a club membership could provide priority access to events (talks, literary workshops, retreats) and a private lounge where members can eat, drink and meet authors before events. Different memberships could tailor to the needs of children and students. To survive and thrive, bookstores should celebrate the book in all its forms: rare, second-hand, digital, self-printed and so on. Digital and hybrid readers should have the option of buying e-books in- store, and budding authors should have access to self-printing book machines. The latter have been slower to take off in Britain, but in America bookstores are finding them to be an :important source of revenue. The bookstore of the future will have to work hard. Service will be knowledgeable and personalised, the inventory expertly selected, spaces well-designed and the cultural events attractive. Whether book stores, especially small independents are up to the challenge, is not clear. The fate of these stores is a cliff-hanger.

阅读理解Text 3 We feel it is important to start reading to your child right from the start--the younger the better! With little ones (children from birth to 4 ) it is very important to read and reread books

阅读理解Passage OneOnce it was possible to define male and female roles easily by the division of labour. Men worked outside the home and earned the income to support their families, while women cooked the meals and took care of the home and the children. These roles were firmly fixed for most people, and there was not much opportunity for men or women to exchange their roles. But by the middle of the 20 th century, men’s and women’s roles were becoming less firmly fixed.In the 1950s, economic and social success was the goal of the typical American. But in the 1960s developed a new force called the counterculture. The people involved in this movement did not value the middle-class American goals. The counterculture presented men and women with new role choices. Taking more interest in child care, men began to share child raising tasks with their wives. In fact, some young men and women moved to communal homes or farms where the economic and child care responsibilities were shared equally by both sexes. In addition, many Americans did not value the traditional male role of soldier. Some young men refused to be drafted as soldiers to fight in the war in Vietnam.In terms of numbers, the counterculture was not a very large group of people. But its influence spread to many parts of American society. Working men of all classes began to change their economic and social patterns. Industrial workers and business executives alike cut down on overtime’s work so that they could spend more leisure time with their families. Some doctors, lawyers, and teachers turned away from high paying situations to practice their professions in poorer neighborhoods.In the 1970s, the feminist movement, or women’s liberation, produced additional economic and social changes. Women of all ages and at all levels of society were entering the work force in greater numbers. Most of them still took traditional women’s jobs such as public school teaching, nursing, and secretarial work. But some women began to enter traditionally male occupations: police work, banking, dentistry, and construction work. Women were asking for equal work, and equal opportunities for promotion.Today the experts generally agree that important changes are taking place in the roles of men and women. Naturally, there are difficulties in adjusting to these changes.

阅读理解 College graduates are now leaving school with not only a diploma, but also with more debt than in any other period in history. According to the College Board, average financial aid per full time equivalent student adjusted for inflation, has almost doubled in the last decade. Additionally, not only is the average student debt load higher, but also the number of loans originated increased by nearly fourfold. Thus student lending has increased in breadth as well as depth, doubly impacting the financial situations of those students who must depend on student loans to finance their education. Furthermore, these figures no doubt understate the true level of indebtedness incurred by students and their families since some undoubtedly finance part of their education and living expenses through the use of consumer loans, home equity loans or credit cards. Thus, the already huge burden of student loan debt incurred by students and their families is exacerbated by financial obligations from other sources. This situation is the outcome of a precarious combination of easy credit, thanks to card issuers who are eager to tap into this lucrative market, financial naiveté on the part of students, and a sense on both sides that, if worse comes to worse, mommy and daddy will step in and set things right. All combine to make credit a tempting lure to students strapped for cash. While credit still remain a virtual element for the financing of many students' education at expensive colleges, its implications must carefully weighed and considered, lest the cash-poor student find himself with more that he bargained for. Most students in the United States attend colleges whose tuition does not exceed $15,000, however. Nevertheless, rising prices, combined with stagnant income gains among low-and moderate-income families, have made it difficult if not impossible for a student from a family of such an income level, a student who has the most to gain from a college education, to attend college without significantly adding to the financial burden of his or her family. While student loans still remain a vital element for the financing of many students' education at expensive colleges, its implications must be carefully weighed and considered, lest the cash-poor student find himself with more than he bargained for.

阅读理解 Europe is not a gender-equality heaven. In particular, the corporate workplace will never be completely family-friendly until women are part of senior management decisions, and Europe's top corporate-governance positions remain overwhelmingly male. Indeed, women hold only 14 percent of positions on European corporate boards. The Europe Union is now considering legislation to compel corporate boards to maintain a certain proportion of women—up to 60 percent. This proposed mandate was born of frustration. Last year, Europe Commission Vice President Viviane Reding issued a call to voluntary action. Reding invited corporations to sign up for gender balance goal of 40 percent female board membership. But her appeal was considered a failure: only 24 companies took it up. Do we need quotas to ensure that women can continue to climb the corporate ladder fairly as they balance work and family? 'Personally, I don't like quotas,' Reding said recently. 'But I like what the quotas do.' Quotas get action: they 'open the way to equality and they break through the glass ceiling,' according to Reding, a result seen in France and other countries with legally binding provisions on placing women in top business positions. I understand Reding's reluctance—and her frustration. I don't like quotas either; they run counter to my belief in meritocracy, governance by the capable. But, when one considers the obstacles to achieving the meritocratic ideal, it does look as if a fairer world must be temporarily ordered. After all, four decades of evidence has now shown that corporations in Europe as well as the US are evading the meritocratic hiring and promotion of women to top positions—no matter how much 'soft pressure' is put upon them. When women do break through to the summit of corporate power—as, for example, Sheryl Sandberg recently did at Facebook—they attract massive attention precisely because they remain the exception to the rule. If appropriate pubic policies were in place to help all women—whether CEOs or their children's care-givers—and all families, Sandberg would be no more newsworthy than any other highly capable person living in a more just society.

阅读理解Passage 2 A study of older men in the Netherlands, known for its delicious chocolate, showed those who ate the same amount of one-third of a chocolate bar every day had lower blood pressure and a reduced risk of death

阅读理解What does the word "go-between" mean in the last paragraph? 

阅读理解 We can infer from the passage that Chinese English __________.

阅读理解Text 1 In the 1997 general-election campaign，Education，Education was Tony Blairs pet phrase Times change quickly

阅读理解 Any fair-minded assessment of the dangers of the deal between Britain's National Health Service (NHS) and DeepMind must start by acknowledging that both sides mean well. DeepMind is one of the leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies in the world. The potential of this work applied to health-care is very great, but it could also lead to further concentration of power in the tech giant. It is against that background that the information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, has issued her damning verdict against the Royal Free hospital trust under the NHS, which handed over to DeepMind the records of 1.6 million patients in 2015 on the basis of a vague agreement which took far too little account of the patients' rights and their expectations of privacy. DeepMind has almost apologized. The NHS trust has mended its ways. Further arrangements—and there may be many—between the NHS and DeepMind will be carefully scrutinised to ensure that all necessary permissions have been asked of patients and all unnecessary data has been cleaned. There are lessons about informed patient consent to learn. But privacy is not the only angle in this case and not even the most important. Ms Denham chose to concentrate the blame on the NHS trust, since under existing law it 'controlled' the data and DeepMind merely 'processed' it. But this distinction misses the point that it is processing and aggregation, not the mere possession of bits, that gives the data value. The great question is who should benefit from the analysis of all the data that our lives now generate. Privacy law builds on the concept of damage to an individual from identifiable knowledge about them. That misses the way the surveillance economy works. The data of an individual there gains its value only when it is compared with the data of countless millions more. The use of privacy law to curb the tech giants in this instance feels slightly maladapted. This practice does not address the real worry. It is not enough to say that the algorithms DeepMind develops will benefit patients and save lives. What matters is that they will belong to a private monopoly which developed them using public resources. If software promises to save lives on the scale that drugs now can, big data may be expected to behave as big pharma has done. We are still at the beginning of this revolution and small choices now may turn out to have gigantic consequences later. A long struggle will be needed to avoid a future of digital feudalism. Ms Denham's report is a welcome start.

阅读理解【C1】 No aspect of life in the Twenties has been more commented upon and sensationally romanticized than the socalled Revolt of the Younger Generation

阅读理解PASSAGE THREE (1) Reading award-winning literature may boost your ability to read other people, a new study suggests

阅读理解Which of the following is true of CSR, according to the last paragraph?

阅读理解Questions 81 to 90 are based on the following passage

阅读理解Passage 3 Like most people, Ive long understood that I will be judged by my occupation, that my profession is a gauge people use to see how smart or talented I am

阅读理解What should applicants do before filling out the application form？

阅读理解Passage One Charles Dickens was born at Portsea on 7 February 1812 and named Charles John Huffham

阅读理解 High-speed living has become a fact of life, and the frantic pace is taking its toll, according to science writer James Gleick. It's as if the old 'Type A' behaviour of a few has expanded into the 'hurry sickness' of the many. 'We do feel that we're more time-driven and time-obsessed and generally rushed than ever before,, writes Gleick in Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything, a survey of fast-moving culture and its consequences. We may also be acting more hastily, losing control, and thinking superficially because we live faster. Technology has conditioned us to expect instant results. Internet purchases arrive by next-day delivery and the microwave delivers a hot meal in minutes. Faxes, e-mails, and cell phones make it possible—and increasingly obligatory—for people to work faster. Gleick cites numerous examples of fast-forward changes in our lives: Stock trading and news cycles are shorter; sound bites of presidential candidates on network newscasts dropped from 40 seconds in 1968 to 10 seconds in 1988; and some fast-food restaurants have added express lanes. High expectations for instant service make even the brief wait for an elevator seem interminable (漫长的). 'A good waiting time is in the neighborhood of 15 seconds. Sometime around 40 seconds, people start to get visibly upset,' writes Gleick. We're dependent on systems that promise speed but often deliver frustration. Like rush-hour drivers fuming when a single accident halts the evening commute, people surfing the Internet squirm if a Web page is slow to load or when access itself is not instantaneous. And the concept of 'customer service' can become an oxymoron (逆喻) for consumers waiting on hold for a telephone representative. Up-tempo living has turned people into multitaskers—eating while driving, writing an e-mail while talking on the phone, or skimming dozens of television programs on split screen. Gleick suggests that human beings may be capable of adjusting to these new levels of stimuli as high-speed culture challenges our brains 'in a way they were not challenged in the past, except perhaps in times of war'. We may gain the flexibility to do several things at once but lose some of our capacity to focus in depth on a single task.

阅读理解Passage Three A group of 30 employees was working in a software company