问答题The greatest danger to our future is apathy. We cannot expect those living in poverty and ignorance to worry about saving the world. For those of us able to read this magazine, it is different. We can do something to preserve our planet.
You may be overcome, however, by feelings of helplessness. You are just one person in a world of 6 billion. How can your actions make a difference? Best, you say, to leave it to decision makers. And so you do nothing.
Can we overcome apathy? Yes, but only if we have hope. One reason for hope lies in the extraordinary nature of human intellectual accomplishment. A hundred years ago, the idea of a 747, of a man on the moon, of the Internet remained in the realm of science fiction. Yet we have seen those things and much, much more. So, now that we have finally faced up to the terrible damage we have inflicted on our environment, our ingenuity is working overtime to find technological solutions. But technology alone is not enough. We must engage with our hearts also. And it"s happening around the world.
Even companies once known only for profits and pollution are having a change of heart. Conoco, the energy company, worked with the Jane Goodall Institute (J. G. I. ) in Congo to build a sanctuary for orphaned chimpanzees. I formed this partnership when I realized that Conoco, during its exploration, used state-of-the-art practices designed to have the least possible impact on the environment. Many other companies are working on clean forms of energy, organic farming methods, less wasteful irrigation and so on.
Another reason for hope is the resilience of nature—if it is given a helping hand. Fifteen years ago, the forests outside Gombe National Park in Tanzania had been virtually eliminated. More people lived there than the land could support. J. G. I. initiated the Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education Project (TACARE), a program active in 33 villages around the park. Today people improve their lives through environmentally sustainable projects, such as tree nurseries and wood lots. We provide health care, family-planning and education programs, especially for women. As their education increases, their family size tends to drop.
While pollution still plagues much of the world, progress is being made. This May in Sudbury, Ont., I saw new forests that were recolonizing hills destroyed by 100 years of nickel mining. The community raised the money and worked for months spreading lime and planting vegetation on the blackened rock. I released the first brook trout into a once poisoned creek there.
Animal species on the brink of extinction can be given a second chance through protection and captive breeding—even if preserving a habitat conflicts with economic interests. A company in Taiwan, China planned to build a rapid-transit line right through the only major remaining breeding ground of the rare pheasant-tailed jacana. There was an outcry, but it was the only economically viable route. Environmentalists worked with the company to come up with a solution—moving the breeding ground. Water was diverted back into nearby wetlands that had been drained by farmers, and suitable vegetation was replanted. In 2000 five birds hatched in their new home, and when I visited there the next year, even more birds had moved to the site.
I derive the most hope from the energy and hard work of young people. Roots & Shoots, J. G. I. "s program for youth from preschool through university, is now active in 70 countries. The name is symbolic: roots and shoots together can break up brick walls, just as citizens of Earth together can overcome our problems. The more than 4,000 groups of young people are cleaning creeks, restoring prairies and wetlands, planting trees, clearing trash, recycling—and making their voices heard.
We have huge power, we of the affluent societies, we who are causing the most environmental damage. For we are the consumers. We do not have to buy products from companies with bad environmental policies. To help us, the Internet is linking small grassroots movements so that people who once felt they were on their own can contact others with the same concerns.
I feel deep shame when I look into the eyes of my grandchildren and think how much damage has been done to Planet Earth since I was their age. Each of us must work as hard as we can now to heal the hurts and save what is left.
问答题Just outside its wooded headquarters campus, McDonald's Corp. is offering sneak previews of its fast-food future.
Now playing at its new flagship restaurant: Digital-media kiosks for burning CDs, downloading cell-phone ring tones and printing photos. Dozens of plasma-screen TVs. Wi-Fi Internet access. New chicken sandwiches. Double-lane drivethrus. And an adjoining McCafe with gourmet coffees, fancy pastries and a fireplace.
Coming soon: Other menu items and concepts not yet released to a general audience.
Don't expect Starbucks-like makeovers like this one at the 13,600 U. S. McDonald's, or 30,000-plus worldwide; the Oak Brook restaurant, which opened late last month, doubles as public restaurant and test site. But the world's largest restaurant chain is tinkering with various possibilities in technology and design to try to ensure it is a hangout of choice in the future.
McDonald's has undergone an image change in more ways than one since a time 2 1/2 years ago when its sales and reputation were sagging amid complaints about its service and food. Despite inconsistent results in some large European countries, that McSlump is no longer: Same-store sales have increased for 25 straight months in the key U. S. market.
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问答题 Companies say it's nice for business travelers to have a desk,
fax machine and coffee maker in their hotel rooms. But don't make them pay extra
for it. An informal USA TODAT survey of 152 corporate-travel managers finds 68%
would not pay a premium for so-called business-class rooms that hotel chains are
creating to attract business travelers. The rooms typically are equipped with a
large desk, better fighting, fax machine, data ports for laptops and other
features that can turn a hotel room into a mini-office. Rates are often $ 20
higher than for regular rooms. As companies work harder to trim
travel budgets, many managers say the amenities aren't worth the
money. "I think I travel as much as anyone in this company, but
as far as what I need to do on the road is concerned, it isn't worth another $
30," says Mike Caravello, travel manager for American Family, an insurance
company. Hotel chain after hotel chain has launched some version
of the business-class room since Radisson introduced its Business Class concept
several years ago. The business-class trend caught fire soon after the recession
ended as hotel marketers focused on companies' desire to make employees more
efficient and productive on business trips. In fact, many
hoteliers say the rooms are as popular as ever with travelers. ITT
Sheraton, which charges a $15 premium for its business rooms, says research
shows travelers expect to pay $ 40 more for them. "If I'm a
traveler and I have to do a lot more on the road for me to be more productive,
it may be worthwhile for me to expense it against my expense account. And if I
can prove to my employer that I am more productive, then it was a good move,"
says Bob Dirks, Hilton's senior vice president of marketing.
Still, Dirks concedes that for business-class rooms to be successful,
hoteliers will have to strike the right price chord with corporate clients.
That's why Hilton is testing its Smart Desk concept, which has a portable desk,
better lighting and data ports, at nightly premiums of $ 20 to $ 35 a night.
"Research will determine whether companies are entirely right or entirely
wrong," he says. Hyatt charges an extra $15 per night for its Business Plan
room, which comes with a continental breakfast, fax machine, 24-hour access to
printers, photocopying machines, office supplies, a coffee maker, ironing board,
free newspapers, complimentary local calls and no access charges for 800 numbers
and credit-card calls. Radisson's Business Class rooms are in
216 hotels in 29 countries. The rooms come with complimentary newspapers, free
in-room movies, free phone access, no fax surcharges, data ports and an in-room
coffee maker. The chain booked more than 180,000 Business Class rooms in 1995,
spokeswoman Karen Waters says. Hyatt officials say its Business
Plan also has been a hit with travelers. "Business Plan has been so successful
that we plan to increase our inventory," says Don Henderson, general manager of
the Hyatt Regency Houston. Marriott plans to expand its "Room
that works" concept to 20% of its rooms by Dec. 31. Travelers do
manage to get into business rooms even if the premium isn't included in the
corporate travel policy. That's because hotels really pitch the rooms when
travelers check in, says hotel consultant Bjorn Hanson, of Coopers ＆
Lybrand. "When someone arrives at the hotel desk, they'll say
they have the corporate rate but that they can also get a free breakfast and
newspaper and other perks for an additional $15 a night," he says.
Linda Mancini, national sales manager for Ritten-house in San Jose, Calif,
uses upgrades she earns as a reward for frequent stays to move up to
business-class rooms. Occasionally, she'll pay the extra premium for the room,
which she likes for the convenience. "I've found that most of those rooms aren't
that expensive," she says. "If you're there one night, it's no big deal. But if
you're there three or four nights, it adds up. " And using the
fax machine can be very expensive. "You can end up paying a ton to fax anything.
I had a fax bill that totaled $ 70 because of surcharges. I ended up talking to
the manager and I got it reversed," Mancini says. Mancini also
makes a point that employers won't want to hear. "There're a lot of people who
don't work once they get in the room. They use it so sleep and watch TV," she
says. DuPont travel manager Joyce Bembry says hotels who want
business travelers shouldn't charge extra. "If they are going to cater to the
business traveler, these are the things they are going to need," she says. "I
think it's going to be a way of life and a way of doing business. It will be
just a room. "
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问答题Directions:
In this part of the test, you will hear 5 English sentences. You will hear the sentences ONLY ONCE. After you have heard each sentence, translate it into Chinese and write your version in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET.
问答题{{B}} Directions: {{/B}}{{I}}In this part of the test, you will hear 2
English passages. You will hear the passages ONLY ONCE. After you have heard
each passage, translate it into Chinese and write your version in the
corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET. You may take notes while you are
listening.{{/I}}
问答题In-state tuition. For decades, it was the one advantage big state schools had that even the Ivy League couldn"t match, in terms of recruiting the best and the brightest to their campuses. But these days, that"s no longer necessarily the case. Starting this September, some students will find a Harvard degree cheaper than one from many public universities. Harvard officials sent shock waves through academia last December by detailing a new financial-aid policy that will charge families making up to ＄180,000 just 10% of their household income per year, substantially subsidizing the annual cost of more than ＄45,600 for all but its wealthiest students. The move was just the latest in what has amounted to a financial-aid bidding war in recent years among the U.S."s élite universities.
Though Harvard"s is the most generous to date, Princeton, Yale and Stanford have all launched similar plans to cap tuition contributions for students from low-and middle-income families. Indeed, students on financial aid at nearly every Ivy stand a good chance of graduating debt-free, thanks to loan-elimination programs introduced over the past five years. And other exclusive schools have followed their lead by replacing loans with grants and work-study aid. And several more schools are joining the no-loan club this fall. Even more schools have taken steps to reduce debt among their neediest students.
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问答题我要微笑面对世界。
从今往后，我只因浮萍拐而落泪，因为悲伤、悔恨、挫折的泪水在疝块上毫无价值，只有微笑可以换来财富，善言可以建起一座城堡。
只要我能笑，就永远不会贫穷。这也是天赋，我不再浪费它。只有在笑声和快乐中，我才能真正体会到成功有滋味。只有在笑声和快乐中，我才能享受蔻的果实。如果不是这样的话，我会失败，因为快乐是提味的美酒佳酿。要想享受成功，必须先有快乐，而笑声便是那伴娘。
我要快乐。
我要成功。
问答题High-school-age boys are more likely to be obese than their female counterparts. Only 30% of high-school-age boys get the recommended 60 minutes of daily exercise.
问答题The regular use of text messages and e-mails can lower the IQ more than twice as much as smoking marijuana.
That is the claim of psychologists who have found that tapping away on a mobile phone or computer keypad or checking them for electronic messages temporarily knocks up to 10 points off the user's IQ.
This rate of decline in intelligence compares unfavourably with the four-point drop in IQ associated with smoking marijuana, according to British researchers, who have labelled the fleeting phenomenon of enhanced stupidity as "infomania".
The noticeable drop in IQ is attributed to the constant distraction of "always on" technology when employees should be concentrating on what they are paid to do.
Furthermore, infomania is having a negative effect on work colleagues, increasing stress and dissenting feelings. Nine out of ten polled thought that colleagues who answered e-mails or messages during a face-to-face meeting were extremely rode. Yet one in three Britons believes that it is not only acceptable, but actually diligent and efficient to do so.
问答题The most useful bit of the media is disappearing. A cause for concern, but not for panic.
"A GOOD newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself," mused Arthur Miller in 1961. A decade later, two reporters from the Washington Post wrote a series of articles that brought down President Nixon and the status of print journalism soared. At their best, newspapers hold governments and companies to account. They usually set the news agenda for the rest of the media. But in the rich world newspapers are now an endangered species. The business of selling words to readers and selling readers to advertisers, which has sustained their role in society, is falling apart.
Of all the "old" media, newspapers have the most to lose from the internet. Circulation has been falling in America, western Europe, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand for decades (elsewhere, sales are rising). But in the past few years the web has hastened the decline. In his book "The Vanishing Newspaper", Philip Meyer calculates that the first quarter of 2043 will be the moment when newsprint dies in America as the last exhausted reader tosses aside the last crumpled edition. That sort of extrapolation would have produced a harrumph from a Beaverbrook or a Hearst, but even the most cynical news baron could not dismiss the way that ever more young people are getting their news online. Britons aged between 15 and 24 say they spend almost 30% less time reading national newspapers once they start using the web.
Advertising is following readers out of the door. The rush is almost unseemly, largely because the internet is a seductive medium that supposedly matches buyers with sellers and proves to advertisers that their money is well spent. Classified ads, in particular, are quickly shifting online. Rupert Murdoch, the Beaverbrook of our age, once described them as the industry"s rivers of gold—but, as he said last year, "Sometimes rivers dry up." In Switzerland and the Netherlands newspapers have lost half their classified advertising to the internet.
Newspapers have not yet started to shut down in large numbers, but it is only a matter of time. Over the next few decades half the rich world"s general papers may fold. Jobs are already disappearing. According to the Newspaper Association of America, the number of people employed in the industry fell by 18% between 1990 and 2004. Tumbling shares of listed newspaper firms have prompted fury from investors. In 2005 a group of shareholders in Knight Ridder, the owner of several big American dailies, got the firm to sell its papers and thus end a ll4-year history. This year Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, attacked the New York Times Company, the most august journalistic institution of all, because its share price had fallen by nearly half in four years. Having ignored reality for years, newspapers are at last doing something. In order to cut costs, they are already spending less on journalism. Many are also trying to attract younger readers by shifting the mix of their stories towards entertainment, lifestyle and subjects that may seem more relevant to people"s daily lives than international affairs and politics are. They are trying to create new businesses on—and offline. And they are investing in free daily papers, which do not use up any of their meagre editorial resources on uncovering political corruption or corporate fraud. So far, this fit of activity looks unlikely to save many of them. Even if it does, it bodes iii for the public role of the Fourth Estate.
In future, argues Carnegie, some high-quality journalism will also be backed by non-profit organisati0ns. Already, a few respected news organisations sustain themselves that way-including the Guardian, the Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio. An elite group of serious newspapers available everywhere online, independent journalism backed by charities, thousands of fired-up bloggers and well-informed citizen journalists: there is every sign that Arthur Miller"s national conversation will be louder than ever.
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问答题It is no coincidence that the relationship between our countries has accompanied a period of positive change. China has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty--an accomplishment unparalleled in human history--while playing a larger role in global events. And the United States has seen our economy grow. There is a Chinese proverb: "Consider the past, and you shall know the future. " Surely, we have known setbacks and challenges over the last 30 years. Our relationship has not been without disagreement and difficulty. But the notion that we must be adversaries is not predestined--not when we consider the past. Indeed, because of our cooperation, both the United States and China are more prosperous and more secure. We have seen what is possible when we build upon our mutual interests, and engage on the basis of mutual respect. And yet the success of that engagement depends upon understanding--on sustaining an open dialogue, and learning about one another and from one another. For just as that American table tennis player pointed out--we share much in common as human beings, but our countries are different in certain ways.
问答题Introduce briefly the illegal file-sharing on the Internet today and the countermeasures taken by the recording industry.
问答题One of the most unexpected things about having children is how the quest to mold perfect little humans ultimately becomes a project of making yourself a better person. Though hardly revolutionary, this epiphany came to me recently when I was talking to an inanimate object, Amazon"s Echo speaker, in front of my 18-month-old Jack.
"Echo, turn on the lights. Echo, set my thermostat to 72 degrees. Echo, play "Wheels on the Bus,"" I commanded the gadget, which understands and responds to an ever growing set of orders (including, no surprise, "Echo, buy more diapers"). Every time I said "Echo," Jack"s eyes shot up to the cylinder-shaped speaker atop the refrigerator, its glowing blue halo indicating it was listening. Then, one day, the inevitable happened. "Uggo!" Jack barked. "Bus!"
After I explained to Jack that it"s not nice to call someone an uggo, I saw myself through my son"s words—and didn"t like how I looked. Sure, Echo doesn"t care how you talk to it. But to Jack, I must have seemed like a tyrant. And by imitation, he became my little dictator. This dilemma is likely only to grow as voice-based artificial intelligence becomes more commonplace. Already, Apple"s iPhones and iPads have Siri: Google-powered devices come with a similar feature, Google Now: and Microsoft has Cortana. Soon we"ll be regularly talking to digital Moneypennys at home, work and everywhere else.
Like most parents, my wife and I hope Jack grows up to be kind. Like most toddlers, he needs some help with this. My exchanges with my technology have clearly been setting a bad example. But how exactly to talk to our technology is far from clear. "The issue of "please" is huge. It"s one of the foundations of etiquette," says Lizzie Post, president of the Emily Post Institute and the great-great-granddaughter of America"s best-known arbiter of manners. "Kids model the behavior of the parent, and if you want your child to be using the word please often, you need to use it often too."
So now I say "please" as much as I can. I say it to my wife, my son"s teddy bear, Siri, Echo, Cortana, even my dog. But not everybody agrees that speaking to computers the way we"d like to be spoken to is the best way forward. Oren Etzioni, CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle, is one. "I don"t say "please" and "thank you" to my toaster," he argues. "Why should I say it to [Echo]?"
Etzioni believes that the machines we have now, our smartphones and tablets, are effectively appliances. "It seems to me that we reserve politeness as a social lubricant," he says. "It has a purpose." And as a father, Etzioni is concerned that his son will overanthropomorphize smart devices. "I"d be worried that he"d get confused in the same way that we don"t want our kids to think Superman is real and then jump off something," he says.
If you"ve ever been fooled by an online customer-service chatbot or an automated phone system, you"ll agree that this technology is evolving quickly. Coming generations will find it even harder to differentiate between bots and people, as they encounter even more artificially intelligent assistants backed by machine learning—computers that teach themselves through repeated interactions with human beings.
At Microsoft, for instance, there"s a personality team dedicated to helping Cortana get a better grasp of manners and mannerisms. The technology is being infused with cultural cues to make it more likable. For example, Cortana"s avatar bows to Japanese users, who prefer formality. "Having a personality designed into the system, knowing some of the nuances of the way humans communicate, how they use different adjectives and how they say "thank you" and "please"—we think it"s an important part of getting that overall speech and dialogue system right," says Marcus Ash, program manager for Cortana.
Meanwhile, Hound, a voice-assistant app available for a broad range of devices, not only processes the magic words (please, thank you, you"re welcome, excuse me, sorry) but also softens its responses when users speak them. "When you say "hello" to Hound, you might hear one type of response, but when you say "hey" or "yo," you will definitely hear a different one," says Keyvan Mohajer, a co-founder and the CEO of SoundHound.
For humans, etiquette is a kind of social algorithm for managing feelings. Computers will get better at understanding this—but that will likely take decades. Which is more than enough time for me to solve this uggo problem.