单选题 There is a new type of small advertisement becoming increasingly common in newspaper classified columns. It is sometimes placed among 'situations vacant', although it does not offer anyone a job, and sometimes it appears among 'situations wanted', although it is not placed by someone looking for a job, either. What it does is to offer help in applying for a job. 'Contact us before writing your application', or 'Make use of our long experience in preparing your curriculum vitae or job history', is how it is usually expressed. The growth and apparent success of such a specialized service is, of course, a reflection on the current high levels of unemployment. It is also an indication of the growing importance of the curriculum vitae (or job history), with the suggestion that it may now qualify as an art form in its own right. There was a time when job seekers simply wrote letters of application. 'Just put down your name, address, age and whether you have passed any exams', was about the average level of advice offered to young people applying for their first jobs when I left school. The letter was really just for openers, it was explained, everything else could and should be saved for the interview. And in those days of full employment the technique worked. The letter proved that you could write and were available for work. Your eager face and intelligent replies did the rest. Later, as you moved up the ladder, something slightly more sophisticated was called for. The advice then was to put something in the letter which would distinguish you from the rest. It might be the aggressive approach. 'Your search is over. I am the person you are looking for', was a widely used trick that occasionally succeeded. Or it might be some special feature specially designed for the job interview. There is no doubt, however, that it is increasing number of applicants with university education at all points in the process of engaging staff that has led to the greater importance of the curriculum vitae.

单选题 Faces, like fingerprints, are unique. Did you ever wonder how it is possible for us to recognize people? Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face different from another. Yet a very young child—or even an animal, such as a pigeon—can learn to recognize faces, we all take this ability for granted. We also tell people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone's personality, we mean the ways in which he or she acts, speaks, thinks and feels that make that individual different from others. Like the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing someone's personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe what a 'nice face' looked like, you probably would have a difficult time doing so. But if you were asked to describe a 'nice person', you might begin to think about someone who was kind, considerate, friendly, warm, and so forth. There are many words to describe how a person thinks, feels and acts. Gordon Allport, an American psychologist, found nearly 18,000 English words characterizing differences in people's behavior. And many of us use this information as a basis for describing or typing his personality. Bookworms, conservatives, military types-people are described with such terms. People have always tried to 'type' each other. Actors in early Greek drama wore masks to show the audience whether they played the villain's (坏人) or the hero's role. In fact, the words 'person' and 'personality' come from the Latin persona, meaning 'mask'. Today, most television and movie actors do not wear masks. But we can easily tell the 'good guys' from the 'bad guys' because the two types differ in appearance as well as in actions.

单选题In Hard Economy for All Ages, Older Isn't Better...It's Brutal. A. Young graduates are in debt, out of work and on their patents' couches. People in their 30s and 40s can't afford to buy homes or have children. Retirees are earning near-zero interest on their savings. B. In the current listless(缺乏活力的) economy, every generation has a claim to having been most injured. But the Labor Department's latest jobs reports and other recent data present a strong case for crowning baby boomers(二战后生育高峰期出生的人) as the greatest victims of the recession and its dreadful consequences. C. These Americans in their 50s and early 60s—those near retirement age who do not yet have access to Medicare and Social Security—have lost the most earnings power of any age group, with their household incomes 10 percent below what they made when the recovery began three years ago, according to Sentier Research, a data analysis company. Their retirement savings and home values fell sharply at the worst possible time: just before they needed to cash out. They are supporting both aged parents and unemployed young-adult children, earning them the unlucky nickname 'Generation Squeeze'. D. New research suggests that they may die sooner, because their health, income security and mental well-being were battered(重创) by recession at a crucial time in their lives. A recent study by economists at Wellesley College found that people who lost their jobs in the few years before becoming qualified for Social Security lost up to three years from their life expectancy(预期寿命), largely because they no longer had access to affordable health care. E. Unemployment rates for Americans nearing retirement are far lower than those for young people, who are recently out of school, with fewer skills and a shorter work history. But once out of a job, older workers have a much harder time finding another one. Over the last year, the average duration of unemployment for older people was 53 weeks, compared with 19 weeks for teenagers, according to the Labor Department's jobs report released on Friday. F. The lengthy process is partly because older workers are more likely to have been laid off from industries that are downsizing, like manufacturing. Compared with the rest of the population, older people are also more likely to own their own homes and be less mobile than renters, who can move to new job markets. G. Older workers are more likely to have a disability of some sort, perhaps limiting the range of jobs that offer realistic choices. They may also be less inclined, at least initially, to take jobs that pay far less than their old positions. H. Displaced boomers also believe they are victims of age discrimination, because employers can easily find a young, energetic worker who will accept lower pay and who can potentially stick around for decades rather than a few years. I. In a survey by the center of older workers who were laid off during the recession, just one in six had found another job, and half of that group had accepted pay cuts. 14% of the re-employed said the pay in their new job was less than half what they earned in their previous job. 'I just say to myself, 'Why me? What have I done to deserve this?'' said John Agati, 56, whose last full-time job, as a product developer, ended four years ago when his employer went out of business. That position paid $90,000, and his résumé lists jobs at companies like American Express, Disney and USA Networks. Since being laid off, though, he has worked a series of part-time, low-wage, temporary positions, including selling shoes at Lord Taylor and making sales calls for a car company. J. The last few years have taken a toll not only on his family's finances, but also on his feelings of self worth. 'You just get sad,' Mr. Agati said. 'I see people getting up in the morning, going out to their careers and going home. I just wish I was doing that. Some people don't like their jobs, or they have problems with their jobs, but at least they're working. I just wish I was in their shoes.' He said he cannot afford to go back to school, as many younger people without jobs have done. Even if he could afford it, economists say it is unclear whether older workers like him benefit much from more education. K. 'It just doesn't make sense to offer retraining for people 55 and older,' said Daniel Hamermesh, an economics professor. 'Discrimination by age, long-term unemployment, and the fact that they're now at the end of the hiring queue just don't make it sensible to invest in them'. L. Many displaced older workers are taking this message to heart and leaving the labor force entirely. The share of older people applying for Social Security early rose quickly during the recession as people sought whatever income they could find. The penalty they will pay is permanent, as retirees who take benefits at age 62 will receive as much as 30% less in each month's check for the rest of their lives than they would if they had waited until full retirement age(66 for those born after 1942). M. Those not yet eligible for Social Security are increasingly applying for another, comparable kind of income support that often goes to people who expect never to work again: disability benefits. More than one in eight people in their late 50s is now on some form of federal disability insurance program, according to Mark Duggan, chairman of the department of business economies and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. N. The very oldest Americans, of course, were battered by some of the same ill winds that tormented those now nearing retirement, but at least the most senior were cushioned by a more readily available social safety net. More important, in a statistical twist, they may have actually benefited from the financial crisis in the most fundamental way: prolonged lives. O. Death rates for people over 65 have historically fallen during recessions, according to a November 2011 study by economists at the University of California, Davis. Why? The researchers argue that weak job markets push more workers into accepting relatively undesirable work at nursing homes, leading to better care for residents.

单选题 English is what matters. It has displaced rivals to become the language of diplomacy, of business, of science, of the Internet and of world culture. Many more people speak Chinese—but even they, in vast numbers, are trying to learn English. So how did it happen, and why? Take the beginnings of bilingualism(两种语言 ) in India, for example, which has promoted the growth of the biggest English-speaking middle class in the new Anglosphere. That stems from a proposal by an English historian, Thomas Macaulay, in 1835, to train a new class of English speakers: 'A class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in morals, and in intellect.' At a stroke, notes Mr. McCrum, English became the 'Ianguage of government, education and advancement, at once a symbol of imperial rule as well as of self-improvement'. India's English-speaking middle class is now one of the engines of that country's development and a big asset in the race to catch up with China. Bit by bit, English displaced French from diplomacy and German from science. The reason for this was America's rise and the lasting bonds created by the British Empire. But the elastic(灵活的), forgiving nature of the language itself was another. English allows plenty of sub-variants, from Singlish in Singapore to Estglish in Estonia: the main words are familiar, but plenty of new ones dot the lexicon, along with distinctive grammar and syntax. English as spoken by non-natives, however, is different. Listen to a South Korean businessman negotiating with a Pole in English and you will hear the difference: the language is curt, emphatic, stripped-down. Yet within spoken 'Globish', as Mr. McCrum neatly names it, hierarchies(等级) are developing. Those who can make jokes in Globish have an advantage over those who can't. The big shift is towards a universally useful written Globish. Spellchecking and translation software mean that anyone can communicate in comprehensible written English. The English of e-mail, Twitter(一个社交网络和微博服务网站) and text messaging is becoming far more mutually comprehensible than spoken English, which is undermined by differences in pronunciation, politeness and emphasis. Mr. McCrum aptly names the new language 'an avenue for all thoughts'.

单选题 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay according to the following instructions. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. Suppose a mild earthquake takes place in your campus, what should you do to protect yourself from being hurt?

单选题 Alex Pang's amusing new book The Distraction Addiction addresses those of us who feel panic without a cellphone or computer. And that, he claims, is pretty much all of us. When we're not online, where we spend four months annually, we're engaged in the stressful work of trying to get online. The Distraction Addiction is not framed as a self-help book. It's a thoughtful examination of the danger of our computing overdose and a historical overview of how technological advances change consciousness. A 'professional futurist', Pang urges an approach which he calls 'contemplative (沉思的) computing'. He asks that you pay full attention to 'how your mind and body interact with computers and how your attention and creativity arc influenced by technology'. Pang's first job is to free you from common misconception that doing two things at once allows you to get more done. What is commonly called multitasking is, in fact, switch-tasking, and its harmful effects on productivity are well documented. Pang doesn't advocate returning to a preinternet world. Instead, he asks you to 'take a more ecological (生态的) view of your relationships with technologies and look for ways devices or media may be making specific tasks easier or faster but at the same time making your work and life harder'. The Distraction Addiction is particularly fascinating on how technologies have changed certain field of labor—often for the worse. For architects, computer-aided design has become essential but in some ways has cheapened the design process. As one architect puts it, 'Architecture is first and foremost about thinking.., and drawing is a more productive way of thinking' than computer-aided design. Somewhat less amusing are Pang's solutions for kicking the Internet habit. He recommends the usual behavior-modification approaches, familiar to anyone who has completed a quit-smoking program. Keep logs to study your online profile and decide what you can knock out, download a program like Freedom that locks you out of your browser, or take a 'digital Sabbath (安息日)'; 'Unless you're a reporter or emergency-department doctor, you'll discover that your world doesn't fall apart when you go offline'.

单选题 It is all very well to blame traffic jams, the cost of petrol and the quick pace of modern life, but manners on the roads are becoming horrible. Everybody knows that the nicest men become monsters behind the wheel. You might tolerate the odd road hog, the rude and inconsiderate driver, but nowadays the well-mannered motorist is the exception to the rule. Perhaps the situation calls for a 'Be Kind to Other Drivers' campaign; otherwise it may get completely out of hand. Road politeness is not only good manners, but good sense too. It takes the most cool-headed and good- tempered of drivers to resist the temptation to revenge when subjected to uncivilized behavior. On the other hand, a little politeness goes a long way towards relieving the tensions of motoring. A friendly nod or a wave of acknowledgement in response to an act of politeness helps to create an atmosphere of goodwill and tolerance so necessary in modem traffic conditions. But such acknowledgements of politeness are all too rare today. Many drivers nowadays don't even seem able to recognize politeness when they see it. However, misplaced politeness can also be dangerous. Typical examples are the driver who brakes violently to allow a car to emerge from a side street at some hazard to following traffic, when a few seconds later the road would be clear anyway; or the man who waves a child across a zebra crossing into the path of oncoming vehicles that may be unable to stop in time. The same goes for encouraging old ladies to cross the road wherever and whenever they care to. A veteran driver, whose manners are faultless, told me it would help if motorists learnt to filter correctly into traffic streams one at a time without causing the total blockages that give rise to bad temper. Unfortunately, modem motorists can't even learn to drive, let alone master the subtler aspects of roadmanship. Years ago the experts warned us that the car ownership explosion would demand a lot more give-and-take from all road users. It is high time for all of us to take this message to heart.