填空题The socal divisions surrounding the issue were brought into ______ earlier this month.

填空题The Australian state of Victoria is investing in a program to identify new opportunities for its food and agriculture industries. As part of this initiative the government conducted extensive research to identify which attributes of a food product are most important to consumers. As income levels rise and education levels improve, consumers around the world are becoming interested in more than just the price and quality of the food they eat. Indeed, some consumers are now willing to pay extra money for food with a special nutritional or health benefit. In addition, some consumers are also choosing food based on how it was produced, including the environmental and ethical impact of production. Victoria's Department of Primary Industries designed and researched a report that analyzes preferences for food products with "trust" attributes, specifically food safety, clean food, green food, animal welfare and ethical food production. The report also determines the relative importance of the five nominated " trust" attributes and evaluates their importance in relation to non-trust attributes, such as price and quality. "Consumers are becoming increasingly insightful when making purchasing decisions, and Victoria's ability to demonstrate the trustworthiness of food products will be vital to maintain consumer confidence in priority export markets," the report says. Between February and June 2004, the DPI interviewed 280 food industry shareholders, including retailers, wholesalers, foodservice managers, importers, distributors, and representatives of government, industry bodies and non-government organizations, in 21 of Victoria's major food markets, including France, Japan, the UK and the US. The research found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that price, quality and food safety wee the most important factors for consumers, with each factor ranked as the most important by 18%～22% of respondents (回答者). In fourth place, 8% of respondents felt taste flavor was the most important attribute of a food product for consumers, while 6% thought freshness was most important, and 3% thought the appearance packaging was most important. Health nutrition, brand image, and clean chemical free wee each considered most important by just 1%～2% of interviewees. Food safety tops the list Of the five specified "trust" factors—food safety, clean food, green food, animal welfare and ethical food production—food safety was ranked as being of high or very high importance to their organization by 95 % of respondents. It is not just consumers that food safety is important to, as one Japanese wholesaler observed "Hi has taken a long time to build our reputation for reliability with our customers and just one accident would cause us to lose everything, especially if consumers are harmed. " Clean food was ranked second in importance among the specified trust factors, with 90% of respondents rating clean food as being of high or very high importance to their organization. However, just 63% of respondents said clean food was of high or very high importance to consumers. The survey also found that there was regional variation in the definition of clean food— some respondents thought it should include Halal production methods, while others thought clean food should also be fee of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Ethics was ranked fairly high in importance to organizations, but was considered less important to consumers. While 82% of respondents rated ethics as being of high or very high importance to their organization, just 31% considered ethics to be of high or very high importance to consumers. Another finding was that ethics included many of the other trust factors, as a German government representative pointed out:"This issue covers a little of everything. It depends on the producer and on the way people, animals and the environment are treated. It depends on personal values. " Paying an extra cost for ethical foods The researchers found that the importance of ethics varied according to what aspect was mentioned: The proving of claims made on product labels was considered to be of higher importance than issues such as workers' rights, corporate responsibility and local sourcing, because it is an issue that has impact on the consumer directly. Green food was ranked relatively low in importance, with just 50% of respondents rating it as being of high or very high importance to their organization, and just 19% rating it as being of high or very high importance to consumers. Many respondents cited low consumer awareness and lack of consumer interest, and some said they believed consumers were unwilling to pay a higher price for green food products, reflecting the overall finding that higher importance is attached to factors that has impact directly on consumers. "Consumers claim to want the choice, but the category has been disappointing, leading to oversupply and price pressures for high cost producers. Price always seems to focus the Dutch minds," said one global retailer based in the Netherlands. There was also some variation in opinions about what exactly constitutes green food, with several respondents seeing it as synonymous with organic production. Of issues associated with green food, organic production was seen as the most important to consumers, while impact on the environment, ecosystem health, bio-diversity and environmental management practices were rated relatively low in importance. Gap between theory and practice Animal welfare was another low-rated trust factor, with 43% of respondents rating it as being of high or very high importance to organizations, and just 15% considering it to be of high or very high importance to consumers. Again, respondents pointed to low consumer awareness, lack of consumer interest and an unwillingness to pay an extra cost for "animal friendly" products. Many respondents also said there was a gap between what consumers say and what they do when it comes to purchasing behavior related to animal welfare issues. "This is a complex issue—it is of low importance to consumers in terms of translation into action, but high in terms of a discussion topic. A gap exists between theory and practice," said a representative of a non-government organization in India. However, the importance of animal welfare could be raised if there was a direct impact that can be seen on the consumer, for example where handling or feeding administrations affect product quality or food safety, as an airline catering supplier in Singapore illustrated "Animal welfare is important only in that it contributes to the quality of the product. The way the animal is treated and fed is crucial to the quality of the end product. " New approach Overall, respondents identified that consumers are more concerned about factors that affect them directly, such as food safety. Although consumers are considered to be generally less concerned about issues such as animal welfare and environmental management practices, these issues are not insignificant as they assume much greater importance when they have the potential to affect food quality or when public concern is heightened by specific interest groups or media reports. According to Bob Cameron, Victoria's minister for agriculture, the government's aim in carrying out such research was to develop new approaches to improve Victoria's access to international markets. It will be interesting to see how this information is used, and how it influences future product development.

填空题The benefits of using ______ will be similar to depositing money in the bank.

填空题According to Mr. Olayer, women are more likely than men to see nursing as a full-time career.

填空题There was a big hole in the road which____________(阻碍) the traffic.

填空题If I had started early last month, ______ (我现在就不必每天加班了) .

填空题"Hate-flee zone" signs were posted by Jerry and his group in places where Muslims might__________________________.

填空题 {{B}}How Europe fails its young{{/B}} Those Europeans who are tempted, in the light of the dismal scenes in New Orleans this fortnight, to downgrade the American challenge should meditate on one word: universities. Five years ago in Lisbon European officials proclaimed their intention to become the world's premier "knowledge economy" by 2010. The thinking behind this grand declaration made sense of a sort: Europe's only chance of preserving its living standards lies in working smarter than its competitors rather than harder or cheaper. But Europe's failing higher-education system poses a lethal threat to this ambition. Europe created the modem university. Scholars were gathering in Paris and Bologna before America was on the map. Oxford and Cambridge invented the residential university: the idea of a community of scholars, living together to pursue higher learning. Germany created the research university. A century ago European universities were a magnet for scholars and a model for academic administrators the world over. But, as our survey of higher education explains, since the second world war Europe has progressively surrendered its lead in higher education to the United States. America boasts 17 of the world's top 20 universities, according to a widely used global ranking by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. American universities currently employ 70% of the world's Nobel prize-winners, 30% of the world's output of articles on science and engineering, and 44% of the most frequently cited articles. No wonder developing countries now look to America rather than Europe for a model for higher education. Why have European universities declined so precipitously in recent decades? And what can be done to restore them to their former glory? The answer to the first question lies in the role of the state. American universities get their funding from a variety of different sources, not just government but also philanthropists, businesses and, of course, the students themselves. European ones are largely state-funded. The constraints on state funding mean that European governments force universities to "process" more and more students without giving the TM the necessary cash—and respond to the universities' complaints by trying to micromanage them. Inevitably, quality has eroded. Yet, as the American model shows, people are prepared to pay for good higher education, because they know they will benefit from it: that's why America spends twice as much of its GDP on higher education as Europe does. The answer to the second question is to set universities free from the state. Free universities to run their internal affairs: how can French universities, for example, compete for talent with their American rivals when professors are civil servants? And free them to charge fees for their services—including, most importantly, student fees. {{B}}Asia's learning{{/B}} The standard European retort is that if people have to pay for higher education, it will become the monopoly of the rich. But spending on higher education in Europe is highly regressive (more middle-class students go to university than working-class ones). And higher education is hardly a monopoly of the rich in America: a third of undergraduates come from racial minorities, and about a quarter come from families with incomes below the poverty line. The government certainly has a responsibility to help students to borrow against their future incomes. But student fees offer the best chance of pumping more resources into higher education. They also offer the best chance of combining equity with excellence. Europe still boasts some of the world's best universities, and there are some signs that policy makers have realised that their system is failing. Britain, the pacemaker in university reform in Europe, is raising fees. The Germans are trying to create a Teutonic Ivy League. European universities are aggressively wooing foreign students. Pan-European plans are encouraging student mobility and forcing the more eccentric European countries (notably Germany) to reform their degree structures. But the reforms have been too tentative. America is not the only competition Europe faces in the knowledge economy. Emerging countries have cottoned on to the idea of working smarter as well as harder. Singapore is determined to turn itself into a "knowledge island". India is sprucing up its institutes of technology. In the past decade China has doubled the size of its student population while pouring vast resources into elite universities. Forget about catching up with America; unless Europeans reform their universities, they will soon be left in the dust by Asia as well.

填空题You should check all the data carefully______ (以避免严重错误)．

填空题Because American cellphone users can choose either the prepaid service or pay as you go, cellphone subscribers have increased in number.

填空题Why does the writer say most American TV commercials succeed in achieving their main aim?