单选题Thanks to closed doors and fierce gatekeepers, bosses are tricky to observe in their natural habitat. Yet it might be useful to know what they do all day, and whether any of it benefits shareholders. A new Harvard Business School working paper sheds some light. Researchers asked the chief executives of 94 Italian firms to have their assistants record their activities for a week. You may take this with a gain of salt. Is the boss' assistant a neutral observer? If the boss spends his lunch hour drinking a lot, or in a motel with his assistant, will she record this truthfully? Nonetheless, here are the results. The average Italian boss works for 48 hours a week and spends 60% of that time in meetings. The most diligent put in another 20 hours. And the longer they work, the better the company does. Less diligent chief executives are more likely to have one-to-one meetings with people from outside the company. The authors speculate that such people are trying to raise their own profile, perhaps to secure a better job. Bosses who work longer hours, by contrast, spend more of them meeting their own employees. Bosses often complain that they get bogged down in day-to-day operations, says Rajesh Chandy, a professor at the London Business School. Regulations that make them legally responsible for their underlings' wrongdoings are partly to blame. The prospect of jail is a powerful attention- grabber. Many bosses also feel they must dash around the world pitching to clients. Mr. Chandy thinks bosses should spend less time with clients and more time thinking about the future. How much time they spend thinking about anything is hard to measure. But in an experiment, Mr Chandy measured how often bosses use forward-looking words like "will" and "shall" in their public statements. He concluded that bosses spend only 3%～4% of their day thinking about long-term strategy. Brian Sullivan, the chief executive of CTPartners, a headhunting firm, says the most difficult part of his job is saying no to people who want a piece of his time. Mr. Sullivan says the only time he gets for blue-sky thinking is when he is in the sky. Bill Gates took regular "think weeks", when he would sit alone in a cabin for 18 hours a day reading and contemplating. This, it is said, led to such strategic masterstrokes as "the Internet tidal wave memo" in 1995, which shifted Microsoft's focus to the web. But not every boss thinks he needs more time for thinking. "You can hire McKinsey to do that for you." says one.
单选题Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word
(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D.
Have you ever wondered what our future is like? Practically all people {{U}}
{{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}a desire to predict their future {{U}}
{{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}. Most people seem inclined to {{U}}
{{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}this task using causal reasoning. First we
{{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}recognize that future circumstances
are {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}caused or conditioned by present
ones. We learn that getting an education will {{U}} {{U}} 6
{{/U}} {{/U}}how much money we earn later and that swimming beyond the reef
may bring an unhappy {{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}with a shark.
Second, people also learn that such {{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}}
{{/U}}of cause and effect are probabilistic (可能的) in nature. That is, the effects
occur more often when the causes occur than when the causes are {{U}}
{{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}but not always. Thus, students learn that
studying hard {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}good grades in most
instances, but not every time. Science makes these concepts of
causality and probability more {{U}} {{U}} 11 {{/U}} {{/U}}and
provides techniques for dealing {{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}} {{/U}}then
more accurately than does causal human inquiry. In looking at ordinary human
inquiry, we need to {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}between
prediction and understanding. Often, even if we don't understand why, we are
willing to act {{U}} {{U}} 14 {{/U}} {{/U}}the basis of a
demonstrated predictive ability. Whatever the primitive drives {{U}}
{{U}} 15 {{/U}} {{/U}}motivate human beings, satisfying them depends
heavily on the ability to {{U}} {{U}} 16 {{/U}} {{/U}}future
circumstances. The attempt to predict is often played in a {{U}} {{U}}
17 {{/U}} {{/U}}of knowledge and understanding. If you can understand
why certain regular patterns {{U}} {{U}} 18 {{/U}} {{/U}}, you
can predict better than if you simply observe those patterns. Thus, human
inquiry aims {{U}} {{U}} 19 {{/U}} {{/U}}answering both "what"
and "why" question, and we pursue these {{U}} {{U}} 20 {{/U}}
{{/U}}by observing and figuring out.
单选题The list of famous companies founded during economic downturns is long and varied. A 2009 study found that over half of Fortune 500 companies got their start during a downturn or a bear market. A recession, it seems, may not be an entirely bad time to start a company. Indeed, busts (and booms) cast a longer shadow on the business landscape than is commonly realised, because they influence both the rate of business formation and how existing firms are run.
Some argue that recessions speed up the process of economic restructuring—what Joseph Schumpeter called "
creative destruction
". The destruction part is easy to see: downturns kill businesses, leaving boarded-up windows on the high street as their gravestones. But recessions may also spur the creation of new businesses.
When people suddenly have less money to spend, clever entrepreneurs may see an opportunity to set up businesses that give them what they want more cheaply or efficiently. Downturns may also swell the ranks of potential firm creators, because many who might otherwise have sought a stable salary will reinvent themselves as entrepreneurs.
Tough times do not suddenly prompt everyone to start a business. The vast majority of people who reach working age during a downturn still look for a job. But research also suggests that recessions have lasting effects on how executives manage businesses. Antoinette Schoar and Luo Zuo of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that those who began their management careers during a bust were substantially more risk-averse, took on less debt and generally were more conservative managers than the rest of the sample, even many decades later. That will strike critics of the over-leveraged company as thoroughly good news, but it is hard to say whether this effect is entirely benign.
Bosses whose careers began in a recession also tend to be so concerned about cost-effectiveness that the companies they go on to run spend less on research and development. They may thus be too conservative: firms with bosses whose professional baptism came in a weak economy have lower returns on assets than those run by other managers. Why should this be? One plausible explanation is that recessions affect the way people take decisions.
Whether they were set up during a boom or a bust, today"s firms are deeply affected by the economic fluctuations of the past.
单选题Just as each wedding creates potential business for divorce lawyers, so each engagement gives insurers a chance to drum up business. Future spouses, says Alan Tuvin of Travelers, an insurer, may wish to protect themselves against something going wrong on the wedding day. It is unlikely that your intended wife will leave on horseback, as Julia Roberts did in "Runaway Bride", and most insurers wouldn"t cover that anyway. But you never know what might happen. Mr. Tuvin launched the firm"s wedding-insurance business; he and his wife were its first clients.
A typical American wedding costs 25,000 or so. This has fallen a bit over the past quarter-cen-tury but still seems lavish given how tight American belts are these days. Weddings are pricey because the rich are more likely to marry than the poor, and the average age of newlyweds has gone up, so couples are more prosperous when they eventually tie the knot. High prices, and the fact that many venues require couples to take out liability insurance, feed demand for wedding insurance. A fifth of couples buy it, says the Wedding Report, a trade publication.
Wedding insurance began in Britain: Cornhill, an insurer, wrote its first policy in 1988. But there were few takers. The idea only took off once transplanted to America. In the early days, says Mr. Nuccio of Robert Nuccio of Wedsure, an surer, there were incidents of couples faking engagements to collect a payout. Since then, most policies have a clause that excludes "change of heart". Wedsure does insure against cold feet, but its policy will pay out only if the wedding is cancelled more than 12 months before it is due to take place, thereby guarding against fiancés phoning the broker once the relationship is already on the rocks.
This does not mean policies are useless. Common causes of payouts include the venue or caterers going bust after having taken a big deposit. Extreme weather, a spouse being deployed by the armed forces and an absent priest can all trigger payouts. Most policies will pay to re-stage the photos if the photographer fails to turn up or disappears with the pictures.
For some, even a small risk of something going wrong on a day that has been planned for months is worth paying to avoid. Who says romance is dead?
单选题That everyone"s too busy these days is a cliche. But one specific complaint is made especially mournfully: There"s never any time to read.
What makes the problem thornier is that the usual time-management techniques don"t seem sufficient. The web"s full of articles offering tips on making time to read: "Give up TV" or "Carry a book with you at all times." But in my experience, using such methods to free up the odd 30 minutes doesn"t work. Sit down to read and the flywheel of work-related thoughts keeps spinning—or else you"re so exhausted that a challenging book"s the last thing you need. The modern mind, Tim Parks, a novelist and critic, writes, "is overwhelmingly inclined toward communication... It is not simply that one is interrupted; it is that one is actually inclined to interruption." Deep reading requires not just time, but a special kind of time which can"t be obtained merely by becoming more efficient.
In fact, "becoming more efficient" is part of the problem. Thinking of time as a resource to be maximised means you approach it instrumentally, judging any given moment as well spent only in so far as it advances progress toward some goal. Immersive reading, by contrast, depends on being willing to risk inefficiency, goallessness, even time-wasting. Try to slot it in as a to-do list item and you"ll manage only goal-focused reading—useful, sometimes, but not the most fulfilling kind. "The future comes at us like empty bottles along an unstoppable and nearly infinite conveyor belt," writes Gary Eberle in his book Sacred Time, and "we feel a pressure to fill these different-sized bottles (days, hours, minutes) as they pass, for if they get by without being filled, we will have wasted them." No mind-set could be worse for losing yourself in a book.
So what does work? Perhaps surprisingly, scheduling regular times for reading. You"d think this might fuel the efficiency mind-set, but in fact, Eberle notes, such ritualistic behaviour helps us "step outside time"s flow" into "soul time." You could limit distractions by reading only physical books, or on single-purpose e-readers. " Carry a book with you at all times" can actually work, too—providing you dip in often enough, so that reading becomes the default state from which you temporarily surface to take care of business, before dropping back down. On a really good day, it no longer feels as if you"re "making time to read," but just reading, and making time for everything else.
单选题The simple act of surrendering a telephone number to a store clerk may not seem harmful—so much so that many consumers do it with no questions asked. Yet that one action can set in motion a cascade of silent events, as that data point is acquired, analyzed, categorized, stored and sold over and over again. Future attacks on your privacy may come from anywhere, from anyone with money to purchase that phone number you surrendered. If you doubt the multiplier effect, consider your E-mail inbox. If it's loaded with spam, it's undoubtedly because at some point in time you unknowingly surrendered your E-mail to the wrong Web site. Do you think your telephone number or address is handled differently? A cottage industry of small companies with names you've probably never heard of—like Acxiom or Merlin—buy and sell your personal information the way other commodities like corn or cattle futures are bartered. You may think your cell phone is unlisted, but if you've ever ordered a pizza, it might not be. Merlin is one of many commercial data brokers that advertises sale of unlisted phone numbers compiled from various sources— including pizza delivery companies. These unintended, unpredictable consequences that flow from simple actions make privacy issues difficult to grasp, and grapple with. In a larger sense, privacy also is often cast as a tale of "Big Brother" —the government is watching you or a big corporation is watching you. But privacy issues don't necessarily involve large faceless institutions: A spouse takes a casual glance at her husband's Blackberry, a co-worker looks at E-mail over your shoulder or a friend glances at a cell phone text message from the next seat on the bus. While very little of this is news to anyone—people are now well aware there are video cameras and Internet cookies everywhere—there is abundant evidence that people live their lives ignorant of the monitoring, assuming a mythical level of privacy, people write E-mails and type instant messages they never expect anyone to see. Just ask Mark Foley or even Bill Gates, whose E-mails were a cornerstone of the Justice Department's antitrust case against Microsoft. And polls and studies have repeatedly shown that Americans are indifferent to privacy concerns. The general defense for such indifference is summed up a single phrase: "I have nothing to hide." If you have nothing to hide, why shouldn't the government be able to peek at your phone records, your wife see your E-mails or a company send you junk mails? It's a powerful argument, one that privacy advocates spend considerable time discussing and strategizing over. It is hard to deny, however, that people behave differently when they're being watched. And it is also impossible to deny that Americans are now being watched more than at any time in history.
单选题A new economics paper has some old-fashioned advice for people navigating the stresses of life: Find a spouse who is also your best friend. Social scientists have long known that
1
people tend to be happier, but they debate whether that is because marriage causes happiness or simply because happier people are more
2
to get married. The new paper,
3
by the National Bureau of Economic Research, controlled for pre-marriage happiness levels. It
4
that being married makes people happier and more satisfied
5
their lives than those who remain single—particularly during the most stressful periods, like
6
crises.
Even as fewer people are marrying, the disadvantages of remaining single have broad
7
. It"s important
8
marriage is increasingly a force behind inequality.
9
marriages are more common among educated, high-income people, and increasingly out of reach for those who are not. That divide appears to
10
not just people"s income and family stability, but also their happiness and stress levels.
A quarter of today"s young adults will have never married by 2030, which would be the highest
11
in modern history, according to Pew Research Center.
12
both remaining unmarried and divorcing are more common among less-educated, lower-income people.
13
, high-income people still marry at high rates and are less likely to divorce.
Those whose lives are most difficult could
14
most from marriage, according to the economists who wrote the new paper, John Helliwell and Shawn Grover. "Marriage may be most important when there is that stress in life and when things are going
15
," Mr. Grover said.
16
marital happiness long outlasted the honeymoon period.
17
some social scientists have argued that happiness levels are innate, so people return to their natural level of well-being
18
joyful or upsetting events, the researchers found that the benefits of marriage persist. One
19
for that might be the role of friendship within marriage. Those who
20
their spouse or partner to be their best friend get about twice as much life satisfaction from marriage as others, the study found.
单选题The guy in the next cubicle is yammering away on the phone. Across the room, someone begins cursing loudly at a jammed copy machine. The headphones on the other end of your desk suddenly look very appealing. Would anyone mind if you tapped into your iTunes playlist for a while? Some workers like to listen to music when they find themselves losing focus. They may also plug in their earbuds to escape an environment that"s too noisy—or too quiet—or to make a repetitive job feel more lively.
In biological terms, melodious sounds help encourage the release of dopamine (a chemical found in brain) in the reward area of the brain, as would eating a delicacy, looking at something appealing or smelling a pleasant aroma, said Dr. Amit Seed, a physician of integrative medicine with the Mayo Clinic. People"s minds tend to wander, "and we know that a wandering mind is unhappy," Dr. Seed said. "Most of that time, we are focusing on the imperfections of life." Music can bring us back to the present moment. "It breaks you out of just thinking one way," said Teresa Lesiuk, an assistant professor in the music therapy program at the University of Miami. Dr. Lesiuk"s research focuses on how music affects workplace performance. In one study involving information technology specialists, she found that those who listened to music completed their tasks more quickly and came up with better ideas than those who didn"t, because the music improved their mood.
Dr. Lesiuk found that personal choice in music was very important. She allowed participants in her study to select whatever music they liked and to listen as long as they wanted. Those who were moderately skilled at their jobs benefited the most, while experts saw little or no effect. And some novices regarded the music as distracting. Dr. Lesiuk has also found that the older people are, the less time they spend listening to music at work.
Few companies have policies about music listening, said Paul Flaharty, a regional vice president at a staffing agency. But it is still a good idea to check with your manager, even if you see others wearing headphones in the office. For those who choose to listen to music, it"s best to set limits, because wearing headphones for an entire shift can be perceived as rude by those nearby.
单选题The United States is a country made up of many different races. Usually they are mixed together and can't be told from one another. But many of them still talk about where their ancestors came from. It is something they are proud of. The original Americans, of course were the Indians. The so-called white men who then came were mostly from England. But many came from other countries like Germany and France. One problem the United States has always had is discrimination. As new groups came to the United States they found they were discriminated against. First it was the Irish and Italians. Later it was the blacks. Almost every group has been able to finally escape this discrimination. The only immigrants who have not are the blacks. Surprisingly enough the worst discrimination today is shown towards the Indians. One reason the Indians are discriminated against is that they have tried so hard to keep their identity. Of course they are not the only ones who have done so. The Japanese have their Little Tokyo in Los Angeles and the Chinese a Chinatown in New York. The Dutch settlement in Pennsylvania also stays separate from other people. Their towns are like something from the 19th century. They have a different reason from the other groups for staying separately. They live separately for religious reasons rather than keep together in a racial group. Although some groups have kept themselves separate and others have been discriminated against, all groups have helped make the United States a great country. There is no group that has not helped in some way. And there is no group that can say they have done the most to make it a great country. Many people still come from other countries to help the United States grow. A good example is the American project that let a man walk on the moon. It was a scientist from Germany who was most responsible for doing that. It is certain that in the future the United States will still need the help of people from all racial groups to remain a great country.
单选题Simply switching Chinese drivers from burning oil to using electricity
1
is created by burning coal—responsible
2
more than 70 percent of such power presently in the Middle Kingdom—may not
3
greenhouse gas emissions enough. "Electric vehicles only make
4
if you are also committed
5
decarbonizing electricity," Sperling notes.
And globally, it will take a long time for electric vehicles to displace the internal combustion engine. "It would
6
until 2029 to swap to all electric vehicles
7
all new vehicle sales from today forward
8
electric vehicles," notes chemical engineer David Rogers. The Toyota Prius and ears like it—hybrid electric vehicles,
9
rely on conventional motors in conjunction
10
electric ones—grew to only as
11
as 5 percent of new vehicle sales in the last 10 years. "This thing is going to take a long time."
It may be buses and taxis
12
lead the change
13
their circumscribed routes and return to fixed locations. "Buses are big
14
to hold batteries," Wang notes, and they are
15
purchased by big-pockets governments
16
ordinary citizens.
One thing seems clear: most driving will be done with internal combustion engines, at
17
for the near future, whether in China, the U. S. or elsewhere. "Under current conditions, only 1
18
2 percent of Chinese consumers
19
willing to buy hybrid vehicles," Wang says. "Consumers are not yet
20
to be willing to pay for the environment out of their own pocket."
单选题Ittooksometimetofigureoutjusttherightshoppingcomplex,offjusttherighthighwayinterchangeandjusttherightdistancefromSeoul,thatcouldaccommodatea624,000-square-footstore—thatistosay,onemorethanthreetimesthesizeoftheaverageWal-MartSupercenter.Ittookmoretimetosolvecertainmysteries,likehowbigtomakethestore"schildren"ssectioninacountrywherekidsareoftengivenamplespaceinthefamilylivingquarters.Ittookmoretimetofigureouthowtoshowcasekitchensthatincorporatekimchirefrigerators,auniquelyKoreanappliance—andevenmoretimetountanglenuancesofthemarket,liketheSouthKorean"spreferenceformetalchopsticks.Inall,ittookaboutsixyearsforIkeatounveilitsinauguralstoreinSouthKorea,inGwangmyeong,startingfromthefirstscoutingtrip.ThelagwastypicallyIkean.Butsixyears?"Themoreglobal,themorecomplexitgets,"repliesMikaelPalmquist,theregionalmanagerofretailforAsiaPacific."Weneedtogetthesethingsrightorwewillneverbetakenseriously."TodaytheGwangmyeongstore,whichisthecompany"slargestintheworldbyshoppingarea,isontracktobecomeoneofIkea"stop-performingoutletsfor2015.Thesuccessishardlyafluke.Ikea,itseems,isageniusatsellingIkea—flatpacking,transporting,andreassemblingitsquirkySwedishstylingallacrosstheplanet.ThefurnitureandfurnishingsbrandisinmorecountriesthanWal-MartandCarrefour.China,whereIkeahaseightofits10biggeststores,isthecompany"sfastest-growingmarket.AnoutletinMoroccoiscomingsoon,andtherearehintsthatBrazilmaynotbefaroff.Meanwhile,IkeaisgoingmeatballsoutinIndia,whereitplanstoinvestabout$2billionoveradecadetoopen10stores.GettingitrightinemergingmarketslikeChinaandIndia,whereIkeaiswell-positionedtocapitalizeonagrowingmiddleclass,isakeyfactorinitsgoalofhitting50billioninsalesby2020.That"supfrom28.7billioninitsfiscal2014andalmostdoubleits2005saleslevel.TodaytheIkeaGrouphas318stores,notincludingthebrand"ssomefourdozenfranchisedlocations;it"saimingforaround500by2020.
单选题Two decades ago only spies and systems administrators had to worry about passwords. But today you have to enter one even to do humdrum things like turning on your computer, downloading an album or buying a book online. No wonder many people use a single, simple password for everything. Analysis of password databases, often stolen from websites, shows that the most common choices include "password", "123456" and "abc123". But using these, or any word that appears in a dictionary, is insecure. Even changing some letters to numbers ("e" to "3", "i" to "1" and so forth) does little to reduce the vulnerability of such passwords to an automated "dictionary attack", because these substitutions are so common. The fundamental problem is that secure passwords tend to be hard to remember, and memorable passwords tend to be insecure. Weak passwords open the door to fraud, identity theft and breaches of privacy. An analysis by Verizon, an American telecoms firm, found that the biggest reason for successful security breaches was easily guessable passwords. Some viruses spread by trying common passwords. The solution, say security researchers, is to upgrade the software in people's heads, by teaching them to choose more secure passwords. One approach is to use passphrases containing unrelated words, such as "correct horse battery staple", linked by a mental image. Passphrases are, on average, several orders of magnitude harder to crack than passwords. But a new study by researchers at the University of Cambridge finds that people tend to choose phrases made up not of unrelated words but of words that already occur together, such as "dead poets society" . Such phrases are vulnerable to a dictionary attack based on common phrases taken from the Internet. And many systems limit the length of passwords, making a long phrase impractical. An alternative approach, championed by Bruce Schneier, a security guru, is to turn a sentence into a password, taking the first letter of each word and substituting numbers and punctuation marks where possible. "Too much food and wine will make you sick" thus becomes "2mf&wwmUs". This is no panacea: the danger with this "mnemonic password" approach is that people will use a proverb, or a line from a film or a song, as the starting point, which makes it vulnerable to attack. Some websites make an effort to enhance security by indicating how easily guessed a password is likely to be, rejecting weak passwords, ensuring that password databases are kept properly coded and limiting the rate at which login attempts can be made. More should do so. But don't rely on it happening. Instead, beef up your own security by upgrading your brain to use mnemonic passwords.
单选题Low speed bicycle crashes can badly injure or even kill children if they fall onto the ends of the handlebars so a team of engineers is redesigning the humble handlebar in a bid to make it safer.
Kristy Arbogast, a bioengineer at the Children"s Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, began the project with her colleagues after a study of serious abdominal (腹部的) injuries in children in the past 30 years showing that more than a third were caused by bicycle accidents. "The task was to identify how the injuries occurred and come up with some countermeasures," she says.
By interviewing the children and their parents, Arbogast and her team were able to reconstruct many of the accidents and identified a common mechanism responsible for serious injures. They discovered that most occur when children hit an obstacle at a slow speed, causing them to topple over. To maintain their balance they turn the handlebars through 90 degrees—but their momentum (冲力) forces them into the end of the handlebars. The bike then falls over and the other end of the handlebars hits the ground, ramming it into their abdomen.
The solution the group came up with is a handgrip (握柄) fitted with a spring and damping (缓冲的) system. The spring absorbs up to 50 per cent of the forces transmitted through the handlebars in an impact. The group hopes to commercialize the device, which should add only a few dollars to the cost of a bike. "But our task has been one of education because up until now, bicycle manufacturer were unaware of the problem," says Arbogast.
The team has also approached the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to try to persuade manufacturers to adopt the new design. A decision is expected later this year.
问答题1.Describethepicture.2.Showyourunderstandingofthesymbolicmeaningofthepicturebelow.3.Giveyouropinionsoradvice.Youshouldwriteatleast150wordsneatlyonANSWERSHEET2.
单选题The country"s inadequate mental health system gets the most attention after instances of mass violence that the nation has seen repeatedly over the past few months. Not all who
1
these sorts of cruelties are mentally ill, but
2
have been. After each, the national discussion quickly, but temporarily, turns toward the mental health services that may have
3
to prevent another attack.
Mental illness usually is not as dangerous or dramatic.
4
23 million Americans live with mental disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Very few of these men and women are
5
mass-murderers; they need help for their own well-being and for that of their
6
. The Affordable Care Act has significantly increased insurance coverage
7
mental health care. But that may not be enough to expand 8 to insufficient mental-health-care resources.
Rep. Tim Murphy has a bill that would do so. The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act is more
8
than other recent efforts to reform the system and perhaps has the brightest prospects in a divided Congress. The
9
would reorganize the billions the federal government pours into mental health services. It would
10
the way Medicaid pays for certain mental health treatments. It would fund mental health clinics that
11
certain medical standards. And it would
12
states to adopt policies that allow judges to order some severely mentally ill people to undergo treatment.
Not everyone is satisfied. Some patients" advocates have
13
Mr. Murphy"s approach as coercive and
14
to those who need help. The government should not be expanding the system"s capability to hospitalize or impose treatment on those
15
severe episodes, they say. It should instead be investing in community care that
16
the need for more serious treatment.
17
, for a small class who will not accept treatment between hospital visits or repeat arrests, they say, states have good reason to
18
them to accept care, under judicial supervision. Mr. Murphy"s reform package may not prevent the next Sandy Hook.
19
the changes would help relieve a lot of suffering that does not make the front page.
单选题Parenthood isn"t a career-killer. In fact, economists with two or more kids tend to produce more research, not less, than their one-child or childless colleagues. But female economists
1
can pay a price in terms of productivity after becoming mothers, especially
2
they"re young or unmarried.
That"s according to a new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. There is widespread
3
that motherhood is
4
costly in terms of professional career advancement. "In particular, it is often
5
that the only way for young women to
6
a challenging career is to remain childless," they wrote. Our study of the academic labor market arrives at a somewhat less
7
picture: We do not observe a family gap in research productivity among female academic economists.
8
, motherhood-induced decreases in research productivity are less pronounced than usually purported.
The authors in early 2012
9
about 10,000 economists through the Research Papers in Economics online platform,
10
the academics" answers with their publication records. They gauged an economist"s productivity
11
looking at their output: published research, weighted by journal
12
. Among their findings:
Mothers of at least two children are,
13
, more productive than mothers of only one child, and mothers in general are more
14
than childless women. Fathers of
15
two children are also more productive than fathers of one child and childless men. Toward the end of their careers, however, childless men appear to be somewhat more productive than fathers of one child.
Parenthood does appear linked to
16
productivity while the children are 12 and younger: mothers average a 17.4% loss, while fathers average a 5% loss. A female economist with three children, on average,
17
the equivalent of four years of research
18
by the time her kids become teenagers. Women who are married or in a
19
relationship do not have any drop in research productivity in the three years following childbirth. For single mothers, research output drops by roughly a third
20
the same period.
单选题The domestic economy in the United States expanded in a remarkably vigorous and steady fashion. The revival in consumer confidence was reflected in the higher proportion of incomes spent for goods and services and the marked increase in consumer willingness to take on installment debt. A parallel strengthening in business psychology was manifested in a stepped-up rate of plant and equipment spending and a gradual pickup in expenses for inventory. Confidence in the economy was also reflected in the strength of the stock market and in the stability of the bond market. For the year as a whole, consumer and business sentiment benefited from the ease in East-West tensions. The bases of the business expansion were to be found mainly in the stimulative monetary and fiscal policies that had been pursued. Moreover, the restoration of sounder liquidity positions and tighter management control of production efficiency had also helped lay the groundwork for a strong expansion. In addition, the economic policy moves made by the President had served to renew optimism on the business outlook while boosting hopes that inflation would be brought under more effective control. Finally, of course, the economy was able to grow as vigorously as it did because sufficient leeway existed in terms of idle men and machines. The United States balance of payments deficit declined sharply. Nevertheless, by any other test, the deficit remained very large, and there was actually a substantial deterioration in our trade account to a sizable deficit, almost two-thirds of which was with Japan. While the overall trade performance proved disappointing, there are still good reasons for expecting the delayed impact of devaluation to produce in time a significant strengthening in our trade picture. Given the size of the Japanese component of our trade deficit, however, the outcome will depend importantly on the extent of the corrective measures undertaken by Japan. Also important will be our own efforts in the United States to fashion internal policies consistent with an improvement in our external balance. The underlying task of public policy for the year ahead—and indeed for the longer run—remained a familiar one: to strike the right balance between encouraging healthy economic growth and avoiding inflationary pressures. With the economy showing sustained and vigorous growth, and with the currency crisis highlighting the need to improve our competitive posture internationally, the emphasis seemed to be shifting to the problem of inflation. The Phase Three program of wage and price restraint can contribute to reducing inflation. Unless productivity growth is unexpectedly large, however, the expansion of real output must eventually begin to slow down to the economy's larger run growth potential if generalized demand pressures on prices are to be avoided.
问答题1. the time, address and content of the lecture. 2. the scope of students to participate. 3. the subject and background of the lecture.
单选题 When it comes to the slowing economy, Ellen Spero isn't
biting her nails just yet. But the 47-year-old manicurist isn't cutting, filling
or polishing as many nails as she'd like to, either. Most of her clients spend
$12 to $50 weekly, hut last month two longtime customers suddenly stopped
showing up. Spero blames the softening economy. "I'm a good economic indicator,"
she says. "I provide a service that people can do without when they're concerned
about saving some dollars. " So Spero is downscaling, shopping at middle-brow
Dillard's department store near her suburban Cleveland home, instead of Neiman
Marcus. "I don't know if other clients are going to abandon me, too" , she
says. Even before Alan Greenspan's admission that America's
red-hot economy is cooling, lots of working folks had already seen signs of the
slowdown themselves. From car dealerships to Gap outlets, sales have been
lagging for months as shoppers temper their spending. For retailers, who last
year took in 24 percent of their revenue between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the
cautious approach is coming at a crucial time. Already, experts say, holiday
sales are off 7 percent from last year's pace. But don't sound any alarms just
yet. Consumers seem only concerned, not panicked, and many say they remain
optimistic about the economy's long-term prospects, even as they do some modest
belt-tightening. Consumers say they're not in despair because,
despite the dreadful headlines, their own fortunes still feel pretty good. Home
prices are holding steady in most regions. In Manhattan, "there's a new gold
rush happening in the $4 million to $10 million range, predominantly fed by Wall
Street bonuses, " says broker Barbara Corcoran. In San Francisco, prices are
still rising even as frenzied overbidding quiets. "Instead of 20 to 30 offers,
now maybe you only get two or three," says john Deadly, a Bay Area real-estate
broker. And most folks still feel pretty comfortable about their ability to find
and keep a job. Many folks see silver linings to this slowdown.
Potential home buyers would cheer for lower interest rates. Employers wouldn't
mind a little fewer bubbles in the job market. Many consumers seem to have been
influenced by stock-market swings, which investors now view as a necessary
ingredient to a sustained boom. Diners might see an upside, too. Getting a table
at Manhattan's hot new Alain Ducasse restaurant need to be impossible. Not
anymore. For that, Greenspan & Co. may still be worth toasting.
问答题Directions:
Write a letter of about 100 words to a beach resort where you had a wonderful vocation to express your gratitude for their good service.
You should include the details you think necessary.
You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write the address.
单选题 The rough guide to marketing success used to be that you
got what you paid for. No longer. While traditional "paid" media-such as
television commercials and print advertisements-still play a major role,
companies today can exploit many alternative forms of media. Consumers
passionate about a product may create "owned" media by sending E-mail alerts
about products and sales to customers registered with its Web site. The way
consumers now approach the broad range of factors beyond conventional paid
media. Paid and owned media are controlled by marketers
promoting their own products. For earned media, such marketers act as the
initiator for users'responses. But in some cases, one marketer's owned media
become another marketer's paid media-for instance, when an e-commerce retailer
sells ad space on its Web site. We define such sold media as owned media whose
traffic is so strong that other organizations place their content or e-commerce
engines within that environment. This trend, which we believe is still in its
infancy, effectively began with retailers and travel providers such as airlines
and hotels and will no doubt go further. Johnson & Johnson, for example, has
created BabyCenter, a stand-alone media property that promotes complementary and
even competitive products. Besides generating income, the presence of other
marketers makes the site seem objective, gives companies opportunities to learn
valuable information about the appeal of other companies'marketing, and may help
expand user traffic for all companies concerned. The same
dramatic technological changes that have provided marketers with more (and more
diverse) communications choices have also increased the risk that passionate
consumers will voice their opinions in quicker, more visible, and much more
damaging ways. Such hijacked media are the opposite of earned media: an asset or
campaign becomes hostage to consumers, other stakeholders, or activists who make
negative allegations about a brand or product. Members of social networks, for
instance, are learning that they can hijack media to apply pressure on the
businesses that originally created them. If that happens,
passionate consumers would try to persuade others to boycott products, putting
the reputation of the target company at risk. In such a case, the company's
response may not be sufficiently quick or thoughtful, and the learning curve has
been steep. Toyota Motor, for example, alleviated some of the damage from its
recall crisis earlier this year with a relatively quick and wellorchestrated
social-media response campaign, which included efforts to engage with consumers
directly on sites such as Twitter and the social-news site Digg.
单选题 Two decades ago only spies and systems administrators had
to worry about passwords. But today you have to enter one even to do humdrum
things like turning on your computer, downloading an album or buying a book
online. No wonder many people use a single, simple password for
everything. Analysis of password databases, often stolen from
websites, shows that the most common choices include "password", "123456" and
"abc123" . But using these, or any word that appears in a dictionary, is
insecure. Even changing some letters to numbers ("e" to "3", "i" to "1" and so
forth) does little to reduce the vulnerability of such passwords to an automated
"dictionary attack", because these substitutions are so common. The fundamental
probldm is that secure passwords tend to be hard to remember, and memorable
passwords tend to be insecure. Weak passwords open the door to
fraud, identity theft and breaches of privacy. An analysis by Verizon, an
American telecoms firm, found that the biggest reason for successful security
breaches was easily guessable passwords. Some viruses spread by trying common
passwords. The solution, say security researchers, is to
upgrade the software in people's heads, by teaching them to choose more secure
passwords. One approach is to use passphrases containing unrelated words, such
as "correct horse battery staple ", linked by a mental image. Passphrases are,
on average, several orders of magnitude harder to crack than passwords. But a
new study by researchers at the University of Cambridge finds that people tend
to choose phrases made up not of unrelated words but of words that already occur
together, such as "dead poets society" . Such phrases are vulnerable to a
dictionary attack based on common phrases taken from the Internet. And many
systems limit the length of passwords, making a long phrase
impractical. An alternative approach, championed by Bruce
Schneier, a security guru, is to turn a sentence into a password, taking the
first letter of each word and substituting numbers and punctuation marks where
possible. "Too much food and wine will make you sick" thus becomes
"2mf&wwmUs" . This is no panacea: the danger with this "mnemonic password"
approach is tbat people will use a proverb, or a line from a film or a song, as
the starting point, whieh makes it vulnerable to attack. Some
websites make an effort to enhanee seeurity by indicating how easily guessed a
password is likely to be, rejecting weak passwords, ensuring that password
databases are kept properly eoded and limiting the rate at which login attempts
can be made. More should do so. But don' t rely on it happening. Instead, beef
up your own security by upgrading your brain to use mnemonic passwords.
单选题Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the
questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D.
We have known for a long time that the organization of any particular society is
influenced by the definition of the sexes and the distinction drawn between
them. But we have realized only recently that the identity of each sex is not so
easy to pin down, and that definitions evolve in accordance with different types
of culture known to us, that is, scientific discoveries and ideological
revolutions. Our nature is not considered as immutable, either socially or
biologically. As we approach the beginning of the 21st century, the substantial
progress made in biology and genetics is radically challenging the roles,
responsibilities and specific characteristics attributed to each sex, and yet,
scarcely twenty years ago, these were thought to be "beyond dispute"
We can safely say, with a few minor exceptions, that the definition of
the sexes and their respective functions remained unchanged in the West from the
beginning of the 19th century to the 1960s. The role distinction, raised in some
cases to the status of uncompromising dualism on a strongly hierarchical model,
lasted throughout this period, appealing for its justification to nature,
religion and customs alleged to have existed since the dawn of time. The woman
bore children and took care of the home. The man set out to conquer the world
and was responsible for the survival of his family, by satisfying their needs in
peacetime and going to war when necessary. The entire world order rested on the
divergence of the sexes. Any overlapping or confusion between the roles was seen
as a threat to the timehonored order of things. It was felt to be against
nature, a deviation from the norm. Sex roles were determined
according to the "place" appropriate to each. Women's place was, first and
foremost, in the home. The outside world, i. e. workshops, factories and
business firms, belonged to men. This sex-based division of the world (private
and public) gave rise to a strict dichotomy between the attitudes, which
conferred on each its special identity. The woman, sequestered at home, "cared,
nurtured and conserved" . To do this, she had no need to be daring, ambitious,
tough or competitive. The man, on the other hand, competing with his fellow men,
was caught up every day in the struggle for survival, and hence developed
those characteristics which were thought natural in a man. Today, many women go
out to work, and their reasons for doing so have changed considerably. Besides
the traditional financial incentives, we find ambition and personal fulfillment
motivating those in the most favorable circumstances, and the wish to have a
social life and to get out of their domestic isolation influencing others. Above
all, for all women, work is invariably connected with the desire for
independence.
单选题Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the
questions below each text by choosing A, B, C, or D. Want a glimpse of the future of health care? Take a look at the
way the various networks of people involved in patient care are being connected
to one another, and how this new connectivity is being exploited to deliver
medicine to the patient-no matter where he or she may be.
Online doctors offering advice based on standardized symptoms are the most
obvious example. Increasingly, however, remote diagnosis (telemedicine) will be
based on real physiological data from the actual patient. A group from the
university of Kentucky has shown that by using an off-the shelf (现成的) PDA
(personal data assistance) such as a Palm Pilot plus a mobile phone, it is
perfectly feasible to transmit a patient's vital signs over the telephone. With
this kind of equipment in a first-aid kit (急救包), the cry asking whether there
was a doctor in the house could well be a thing of the past.
Other medical technology groups are working on applying telemedicine to rural
care. And at least one team wants to use telemedicine as a tool for disaster
response-especially after earthquakes. Overall, the trend is towards providing
global access to medical data and expertise. But there is one
problem. Bandwidth is the limiting factor for transmitting complex medical
images around the world-CT scans being one of the biggest bandwidth consumers.
Communications satellites may be able to cope with the short-term needs during
disasters such as earthquakes, wars or famines. But medicine is looking towards
both the second-generation internet and third-generation mobile phones for the
future of distributed medical intelligence. Doctors have met to
discuss computer-based tools for medical diagnosis, training and telemedicine.
With the falling price of broadband communications, the new technologies should
usher in (迎来) an era when telemedicine and the sharing of medical information,
expert opinion and diagnosis are common.
单选题 Come on-Everybody's doing it. That whispered message, half
invitation and half forcing, is what most of us think of when we hear the words
peer pressure. It usually leads to no good-drinking, drugs and casual sex. But
in her new book Join the Club, Tina Rosenberg contends that peer pressure can
also be a positive force through what she calls the social cure, in which
organizations and officials use the power of group dynamics to help individuals
improve their lives and possibly the word. Rosenberg, the
recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, offers a host of example of the social cure in
action: In South Carolina, a state-sponsored antismoking program called Rage
Against the Haze sets out to make cigarettes uncool. In South Africa, an
HIV-prevention initiative known as LoveLife recruits young people to promote
safe sex among their peers. The idea seems promising, and
Rosenberg is a perceptive observer. Her critique of the lameness of many
pubic-health campaigns is spot-on: they fail to mobilize peer pressure for
healthy habits, and they demonstrate a seriously flawed understanding of
psychology. " Dare to be different, please don't smoke!" pleads one billboard
campaign aimed at reducing smoking among teenagers-teenagers, who desire nothing
more than fitting in. Rosenberg argues convincingly that public-health advocates
ought to take a page from advertisers, so skilled at applying peer
pressure. But on the general effectiveness of the social cure,
Rosenberg is less persuasive. Join the Club is filled with too much irrelevant
detail and not enough exploration of the social and biological factors that make
peer pressure so powerful. The most glaring flaw of the social cure as it's
presented here is that it doesn't work very well for very long. Rage Against the
Haze failed once state funding was cut. Evidence that the LoveLife program
produces lasting changes is limited and mixed. There's no doubt
that our peer groups exert enormous influence on our behavior. An emerging body
of research shows that positive health habits-as well as negative ones-spread
through networks of friends via social communication. This is a subtle form of
peer pressure : we unconsciously imitate the behavior we see every
day. Far less certain, however, is how successfully experts and
bureaucrats can select our peer groups and steer their activities in virtuous
directions. It's like the teacher who breaks up the troublemakers in the back
row by pairing them with better-behaved classmates. The tactic never really
works. And that's the problem with a social cure engineered from the outside: in
the real world, as in school, we insist on choosing our own friends.
单选题Ausubel of Rockefeller University says the key renewable energy sources, including sun, wind and biofuels, would all require vast
1
of land if developed up to large scale production unlike nuclear power. That land would be far better left alone, he says. Renewables look attractive when they are quite
2
. But
3
we start producing renewable energy on a large scale, the fallout (结果) is going to be horrible. Instead, Ausubel argues
4
renewed development of nuclear.
Ausubel
5
his conclusions by analyzing the amount of energy renewables, natural gas and nuclear that can produce in terms of power per square meter of land used. Moreover, he claims that as renewable energy use increases, this measure of efficiency will
6
as the best land for wind, biofuels, and solar power gets used up.
Using biofuels to obtain the
7
amount of energy as a 1000 megawatt (兆瓦) nuclear power plant would require 2500 square kilometers of farm
8
, Ausubel says. "We should be sparing land for nature, not using it as pasture (牧场，草地) for cars and trucks," he adds.
Solar power is
9
more efficient than biofuel in terms of the area of land
10
, but it would still require 150 square kilometers of photovoltaic (光电的) cells to
11
the energy production of the 1000 MW nuclear plant. In another example, he says meeting the 2005 US electricity demand
12
wind power alone would need 780, 000 square kilometers, an area the size of Texas.
However, several experts are highly critical
13
Ausubel"s conclusions. John Turner of the US government"s National Renewable Energy Laboratory says that
14
the US got all of its power from solar energy, it would still need less than half the amount of land that has been paved over for highways. Further, it need not
15
additional land. The US could get a quarter of its energy just from covering rooftops of
16
buildings, he says.
According to Turner, the same "dual use" also
17
to wind power. The footprint for wind is only 5% of the land that it
18
. Farmers can still farm the land that the turbines (涡轮机) are on. Turner says looking solely at land use is an oversimplification of the
19
"I"m not sure I"d want to build one of these nuclear plants in Afghanistan, but we could
19
put in wind and solar power," he adds.
问答题Studythefollowingpiechartcarefullyandwriteanessaybasedonthetips:1.Describethepicture.2.Showyourunderstandingofthesymbolicmeaningofthepicturebelow.3.Giveyouropinionsoradvice.Youshouldwriteatleast150wordsneatly.
问答题Directions:
Write a letter to the customer service center of an online store, complaining about the quality of the new ipad and demanding a prompt solution.
1) introduce the problem, and
2) provide a solution.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write your address.
单选题It is no longer particularly rare for women to be the main breadwinner—in the US a quarter of wives now earn more than their husbands—but what is rarer is for such a relationship to work. A book published last week by the journalist Farnoosh Torabi draws together data showing just how hard it is: high-earning women have difficulty finding a husband, and when they do, he is five times as likely to be unfaithful as other husbands. The woman will probably do more than her share of chores; though in the unusual event that he starts ironing and cooking, he is likely to end his marriage. Either way, divorce beckons.
The majority of people, even very young couples, still seem to be in relationships where the man makes more. One fiercely clever young man says his equally clever feminist girlfriend has told him she could never marry a man who earned less as she didn"t fancy a life spent propping up his ego.
One male colleague says his wife"s habit of making a lot was a godsend for him as he loves money but is too lazy to make much himself. More commonly it comes when the man"s professional ego is not measured in money. Various men at the FT (Financial Times) have wives earning a fortune in the city, freeing them to be relatively poorly paid hacks. Within the marriage there is the understanding that his career matters as much—if not more—than hers. In the same way, some female journalists support men who are musicians and designers, who love what they do, and (in the best cases) are also happy to take the lead in bringing up the children.
The most interesting cases are when both started together in a similar industry but over the years the woman has overtaken the man. Most of these seem to end badly. But one successful male journalist explained how he had overcome the problem of having an even more successful wife. "It"s the Piketty debate, isn"t it? What matters most—inequality, or overall living standards?" In the interests of the latter, he has wisely refused to feel any resentment and instead declares himself utterly proud of his wife.
单选题The rise of multinational corporations, global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR.
Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, the U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries. Ten years ago, for example, the world"s top five public relations agencies were American-owned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate planning activities, compared to about one-third of U.S. companies. It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR.
Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? Firstly, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly
provincial
and take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, American lags behind their European and Asian counterparts in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of Burson-Marshall"s U. S. employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage. Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the
Wall Street Journal
. Overseas, their counterparts read the
Journal
as well as
the Financial Times of London and The Economist
, publications not often read in this country.
Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN (Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the word "foreign" would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such thing as foreign.
单选题Nuclear power"s danger to health, safety, and even life itself can be summed up in one word: radiation. Nuclear radiation has a certain mystery about it, partly because it cannot be detected by human senses. It can"t be seen or heard, or touched or tasted, even though it may be all around us. There are other things like that. For example, radio waves are all around us but we can"t sense radioactivity without a radiation detector. But unlike common radio waves, nuclear radiation is not harmless to human beings and other living things.
At very high levels, radiation can kill an animal or human being outright by killing masses of cell in vital organs. But even the lowest levels can do serious damage. There is no level of radiation that is completely safe. If the radiation does not hit anything important, the damage may not be
significant.
This is the case when only a few cells are hit, and if they are killed outright. Your body will replace the dead cells with healthy ones. But if the few cells arc only damaged, and if they reproduce themselves, you may be in trouble. They reproduce themselves in a deformed way. They can grow into cancer. Sometimes this does not show up for many years.
This is another reason for some of the mystery about nuclear radiation. Serious damage can be done without the victim being aware at the time that damage has occurred. A person can be irradiated and feel fine, then die of cancer five, ten, or twenty years later as a result. Or a child can be born weak or liable to serious illness as a result of radiation absorbed by its grandparents. It is not too careful to prevent from the radiation. Radiation can hurt us. We must know the truth.
单选题Bill Gates was 20 years old. Steve Jobs was 21. Warren Buffett was 26. Ralph Lauren was 28. Estée Lauder was 29.
These now iconic names were all 20-somethings when they started their companies that would throw them, and their enterprises, into some of the biggest successes ever known. Consider this: many of the truly remarkable innovations of the latest generation—a list that includes Google, Face- book and Twitter—were all founded by people under 30. The number of people in their mid-20s disrupting entire industries, taking on jobs usually reserved for people twice their age and doing it in the glare of millions of social media "followers" seems to be growing very rapidly.
So what is it about that youthful decade after those awkward teenage years that inspires such shoot-for-the-moon success?
Does age really have something to do with it? It does
. Young people bring fresh eyes to confronting problems and challenges that others have given up on. 20-something entrepreneurs see no boundaries and see no limits. And they can make change happen. Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, has another, colder theory that may explain it: Ultimately, it"s about money.
In other words, it"s the young people who have nothing to lose, with no mortgage and, frankly, with nothing to do on a Friday night except work, who are the ones often willing to take the biggest risks. Sure, they are talented. But it"s their persistence and zeal, the desire to stay up until 6 a.m. chugging Red Bull, that is the difference between being a salaried employee and an entrepreneur.
That"s not to say that most 20-somethings are finding success. They"re not. The latest crop of fiber-successful young entrepreneurs, designers and authors are far, far from the norm. In truth, unemployment for workers age 16 to 24 is double the national average.
One of the biggest challenges facing this next generation—and one that may prevent more visionary entrepreneurs from succeeding—is the staggering rise in the level of debt college students have been left with. If Peter Thiel"s theory is right, it is going to be harder and harder for young people to take big risks because they will be crushed with obligations before they even begin.
If you"re over 29 years old and still haven"t made your world-changing mark, don"t despair. Some older people have had big breakthroughs, too. Thomas Edison didn"t invent the phonograph until he was 30.
单选题 Office jobs are among the positions hardest hit by
compumation (计算机自动化). Word processors and typists will lose about 93,000 jobs
over the next few years, while 57,000 secretarial jobs will vanish. Blame the
PC: Today, many executives type their own memos and carry their "secretaries" in
the palms of their hands. Time is also hard for stock clerks, whose ranks are
expected to decrease by 68,000. And employees in manufacturing firms and
wholesalers are being replaced with computerized systems. But
not everyone who loses a job will end up in the unemployment line. Many will
shift to growing positions within their own companies. When new technologies
shook up the telecom business, telephone operator Judy Dougherty pursued
retraining. She is now a communications technician, earning about $64,000 per
year. Of course, if you've been a tollbooth collector for the past 30 years, and
you find yourself replaced by an E-ZPass machine, it may be of little
consolation (安慰) to know that the telecom field is booming. And
that's just it: The service economy is fading; welcome to the expertise (专门知识)
economy. To succeed in the new job market, you must be able to handle complex
problems. Indeed, all but one of the 50 highest—paying occupations—air-traffic
controller—demand at least a bachelors degree. For those with
just a high school diploma (毕业证书), it's going to get tougher to find a
well-paying job. Since fewer factory and clerical jobs will be available, what's
left will be the jobs that compumation can't kill: computers can't clean
offices, or care for Alzheimer's patients (老年痴呆病人). But, since most people have
the skills to fill those positions, the wages stay painfully low, meaning
compumation could drive an even deeper wedge (楔子) between the rich and poor. The
best advice now: Never stop learning, and keep up with new technology.
For busy adults, of course, that can be tough. The good news is that the
very technology that's reducing so many jobs is also making it easier to go back
to school—without having to sit in a classroom. So-called Internet distance
learning is hot, with more than three million students currently enrolled, and
it's gaining credibility with employers. Are you at risk of
losing your job to a computer? Check the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics'
Occupational Outlook Handbook, which is available online at bls.Gov.
单选题Directions: There are 4 passages in this part . Each of the
passages is followed by 5 questions or unfinished statements. For each of them
there are 4 choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best one and mark your
answer. They are among the 250,000 people under the
age of 25 who are out of work in the Netherlands, a group that accounts for 40
percent of the nation's unemployed. A storm of anger boils up at the
government-sponsored (政府资助的) youth center, even among those who are continuing
their studies. "We study for jobs that don't exist. " Nicollete Steggerda, 23,
said. After three decades of prosperity, unemployment among 10
member nations of the European Community has exceeded 11 percent, affecting a
total of 12.3 million people, and the number is climbing. The
bitter disappointment long expressed by British youths is spreading across the
Continent. The title of a rock song " No Future" can now be seen written on the
brick walls of closed factories in Belgium and France. Recent
surveys have found that the increasing argument in the last few years over the
deployment (布局) in Europe of North Atlantic Treaty Organization missiles and the
possibility of nuclear war have clouded European youths' confidence in the
future. One form of protest tends to put the responsibility for
a country's economic troubles on the large numbers of "guest workers" from Third
World nations, people welcomed in Western Europe in the years of
prosperity. Young Europeans, brought up in an extended period
of economic success and general stability, seem to resemble Americans more than
they do their own parents. Material enjoyment has given them a sense of
expectation, each the right, to a standard of living that they see around
them. "And so we pass the days at the discos, or meet people at
the café, and sit and stare. Said Isabella Gcuit. "There is usually not
much conversation. You look for happiness. Sometimes you even find it. "
单选题While western governments worry over the threat of Ebola, a more pervasive but far less harmful
1
is spreading through their populations like a winter sniffle: mobile personal technology.
The similarity between disease organisms and personal devices is
2
. Viruses and other parasites control larger organisms,
3
resources in order to multiply and spread. Smartphones and other gadgets do the same thing,
4
ever-increasing amounts of human attention and electricity supplied
5
wire umbilici.
It is tempting to
6
a "strategy" to both phages and phablets, neither of which is sentient.
7
, the process is evolutionary, consisting of many random evolutions,
8
experimented with by many product designers. This makes it all the more powerful.
Tech
9
occurs through actively-learnt responses, or "operant conditioning" as animal be haviourists call it. The scientific parallel here also involves a rodent, typically a rat, which occupies a
10
cage called a Skinner Box. The animal is
11
with a food pellet for solving puzzles and punished with an electric shock when it fails.
"Are we getting a positive boost of hormones when we
12
look at our phone, seeking rewards?" asks David Shuker, an animal behaviourist at St Andrews university, sounding a little like a man withholding serious scientific endorsement
13
an idea that a journalist had in the shower. Research is needed, he says. Tech tycoons would meanwhile
14
that the popularity of mobile devices is attributed to the brilliance of their designs. This is precisely what people whose thought processes have been
15
by an invasive pseudo-organism would believe.
16
, mobile technology causes symptoms less severe than physiological diseases. There are even benefits to
17
sufferers for shortened attention spans and the caffeine overload triggered by visits to Starbucks for the free Wi-Fi. Most importantly, you can
18
the Financial Times in places as remote as Alaska or Sidcup. In this
19
, a mobile device is closer to a symbiotic organism than a parasite. This would make it
20
to an intestinal bacterium that helps a person to stay alive, rather than a virus that may kill you.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyouressay,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.人口老龄化趋势示意图
单选题For most of the 20th century, Asia asked itself what it could learn from the modern, innovating West. Now the question must be reversed. What can the West's overly indebted and sluggish (经济滞涨的) nations learn from a nourishing Asia? Just a few decades ago, Asia's two giants were stagnating (停滞不前) under faulty economic ideologies. However, once China began embracing market economy reforms in the 1980s, followed by India in the 1990s, both countries achieved rapid growth. Crucially, as they opened up their markets, they balanced market economy with sensible government direction. As the Indian economist Amartya Sen has wisely said, "The invisible hand of the market has often relied heavily on the visible hand of government." Contrast this middle path with America and Europe, which have each gone ideologically over-board in their own ways. Since the 1980s, America has been increasingly clinging to the ideology of uncontrolled free markets and dismissing the role of government—following Ronald Regan's idea that "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem". Of course, when the markets came crashing down in 2007, it was decisive government intervention that saved the day. Despite this fact, many Americans are still strongly opposed to "big government". If Americans could only free themselves from their antigovernment doctrine, they would begin to see that the America's problems are not insoluble. A few sensible federal measures could put the country back on the right path. A simple consumption tax of, say, 5% would significantly reduce the country's huge government deficit without damaging productivity. A small gasoline tax would help free America from its dependence on oil imports and create incentives for green energy development. In the same way, a significant reduction of wasteful agricultural subsidies could also lower the deficit. But in order to take advantage of these common-sense solutions, Americans will have to put aside their own attachment to the idea of smaller government and less regulation. American politicians will have to develop the courage to follow what is taught in all American public-policy schools: that there are good taxes and bad taxes. Asian countries have embraced this wisdom, and have built sound long-term fiscal (财政的) policies as a result. Meanwhile, Europe has fallen prey to a different ideological trap: the belief that European governments would always have infinite resources and could continue borrowing as if there were no tomorrow. Unlike the Americans, who felt that the markets knew best, the Europeans failed to anticipate how the markets would react to their endless borrowing. Today, the European Union is creating a $580 billion fund to ward off sovereign collapse. This will buy the EU time, but it will not solve the bloc's larger problem.
问答题Inthissection,youarerequiredtowriteanessaybasedonthefollowingtable.Inyourwriting,youshould1．interpretthetableand2．giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.AverageDistanceinMilesTravelledperPersonperYear,byModeofTravel
单选题In the United States, the first day nursery, was opened in 1854. Nurseries were established in various areas during the
1
half of the 19th century; most of
2
were charitable. Both in Europe and in the U.S., the day nursery movement received great
3
during the First World War, when
4
of manpower caused the industrial employment of unprecedented (前所未有) numbers of women. In some European countries nurseries were established
5
in munitions (军火) plants, under direct government sponsorship.
6
the number of nurseries in the U.S. also rose
7
, this rise was accomplished without government aid of any kind. During the years following the First World War,
8
, federal, State, and local governments gradually began to exercise a measure of control
9
the day nurseries, chiefly by
10
them.
The
11
of the Second World War was quickly followed by an increase in the number of day nurseries in almost all countries, as women were
12
called up on to replace men in the factories. On this
13
the U.S. government immediately came to the support of the nursery schools,
14
$6,000,000 in July, 1942, for a nursery school program for the children of working mothers. Many States and local communities
15
this Federal aid. By the end of the war, in August, 1945, more than 100, 000 children were being cared
16
in daycare centers receiving Federal
17
. Soon afterward, the Federal government
18
cut down its expenditures for this purpose and later
19
them, causing a sharp drop in the number of nursery schools in operation. However, the expectation that most employed mothers would leave their
20
at the end of the war was only partly fulfilled.
完形填空Its not difficult to set targets for staff
问答题1. make an apology. 2. show your regret. You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead. Do not write your address.
问答题1. invite him to speak at the annual conference. 2. specify the time and the location. You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead. Do not write your address.
完形填空Being a good parent is, of course, what every parent would like to be
完形填空Weighing yourself regularly is a wonderful way to stay aware of any significant weight fluctuations
完形填空 Being a good parent is, of course, what every parent would like to be. But defining what it means to be a good parent is undoubtedly very 1 , particularly since children respond differently to the same style of parenting. A calm, rule-following child might respond better to a different sort of parenting than, 2 , a younger sibling. 3 , there's another sort of parent that's a bit easier to 4 : a patient parent. Children of every age benefit from patient parenting. Still, 5 every parent would like to be patient, this is no easy 6 . Sometimes parents get exhausted and frustrated and are unable to maintain a 7 and composed style with their kids. I understand this. You're only human, and sometimes your kids can 8 you just a little too far. And then the 9 happens: You lose your patience and either scream at your kids or say something that was a bit too 10 and does nobody any good. You wish that you could 11 the clock and start over. We've all been there. 12 , even though it's common, it's important to keep in mind that in a single moment of fatigue, you can say something to your child that you may 13 for a long time. This may not only do damage to your relationship with your child but also 14 your child's self-esteem. If you consistently lose your 15 with your kids, then you are inadvertently modeling a lack of emotional control for your kids. We are all becoming increasingly aware of the 16 of modeling tolerance and patience for the younger generation. This is a skill that will help them all throughout life. In fact, the ability to emotionally regulate or maintain emotional control when 17 by stress is one of the most important of all life's skills. Certainly, it's incredibly 18 to maintain patience at all times with your children. A more practical goal is to try, to the best of your ability, to be as tolerant and composed as you can when faced with 19 situations involving your children. I can promise you this: As a result of working toward this goal, you and your children will benefit and 20 from stressful moments feeling better physically and emotionally.
问答题Directions:
In this part, you are allowed to write a letter to a company declining a job offer. Write him/her a letter to
1) thank the company for offering you the job position;
2) explain why you can"t accept the job offer;
3) hope that the company can give understanding, and give your best wishes to the company.
You should write about 100 words on the
ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not
write the address.
问答题Directions:
Suppose your university is going to host an English contest by the name of "Green Travel". Write a notice to
1) briefly introduce the contest, and
2) call for participants.
You should write about100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
use your name or the name of your university.
Do not
write your address.
Part B
完形填空_1_ job applications to eliminate discrimination is not easy
问答题Living standards have soared during the twentieth century, and economists expect them to continue rising in the decades ahead. Does that mean that we humans can look forward to increasing happiness?
Not necessarily, warns Richard Easterlin, an economist at the University of Southern California, in his new book. He concedes that richer people are more likely to report themselves as being happy than poorer people are. But steady improvements in the American economy have not been accompanied by steady increases in people"s self-assessments of their own happiness. The explanation for this paradox may be that people becomes less satisfied over times with a given level of income. In Easterlin"s words, "As incomes rise, the aspiration level does too, and the effect of this increase in aspiration is to weaken the expected growth in happiness due to higher income."
单选题 You hear the refrain all the time: the U. S. economy looks
good statistically, but it doesn't feel good. Why doesn't ever-greater wealth
promote ever-greater happiness? It is a question that dates at least to the
appearance in 1958 of The Affluent (富裕的) Society by John Kenneth Galbraith, who
died recently at 97. The Affluent Society is a modern classic
because it helped define a new moment in the human condition. For most of
history, "hunger, sickness, and cold" threatened nearly everyone, Galbraith
wrote. "Poverty was found everywhere in that world. Obviously it is not of ours.
" After World War Ⅱ, the dread of another Great Depression gave way to an
economic boom. In the 1930s unemployment had averaged 18.2 percent; in the 1950s
it was 4. 5 percent. To Galbraith, materialism had gone mad and
would breed discontent. Through advertising, companies conditioned consumers to
buy things they didn' t really want or need. Because so much spending was
artificial, it would be unfulfilling. Meanwhile, government spending that would
make everyone better off was being cut down because people instinctively—and
wrongly—labeled government only as "a necessary evil" It's
often said that only the rich are getting ahead; everyone else is standing still
or falling behind. Well, there are many undeserving rich—overpaid chief
executives, for instance. But over any meaningful period, most people's incomes
are increasing. From 1995 to 2004, inflation-adjusted average family income rose
14.3 percent, to $43,200. People feel "squeezed" because their rising incomes
often don't satisfy their rising wants—for bigger homes, more health care, more
education, faster Internet connections. The other great
frustration is that it has not eliminated insecurity. People regard job
stability as part of their standard of living. As corporate layoffs increased,
that part has eroded. More workers fear they've become "the disposable
American," as Louis Uchitelle puts it in his book by the same name.
Because so much previous suffering and social conflict stemmed from
poverty, the arrival of widespread affluence suggested utopian (乌托邦式的)
possibilities. Up to a point, affluence succeeds. There is much less physical
misery than before. People are better off. Unfortunately, affluence also creates
new complaints and contradictions. Advanced societies need
economic growth to satisfy the multiplying wants of their citizens. But the
quest for growth lets loose new anxieties and economic conflicts that disturb
the social order. Affluence liberates the individual, promising that everyone
can choose a unique way to self-fulfillment. But the promise is so extravagant
that it predestines many disappointments and sometimes inspires choices that
have anti-social consequences, including family breakdown and obesity (肥胖症).
Statistical indicators of happiness have not risen with incomes.
Should we be surprised? Not really. We've simply reaffirmed an old truth:
the pursuit of affluence does not always end with happiness.
英译汉 It's almost impossible to go through life without experiencing some kind of failure. People who do so probably live so cautiously that they go nowhere. Put simply, they're not really living at all. But, the wonderful thing about failure is that it's entirely up to us to decide how to look at it.
We can choose to see failure as 'the end of the world', or as proof of just how inadequate we are. Or, we can look at failure as the incredible learning experience that it often is. Every time we fail at something, we can choose to look for the lesson we're meant to learn. These lessons are very important; they're how we grow, and how we keep from making that same mistake again. Failures stop us only if we let them.
Failure can also teach us things about ourselves that we would never have learned otherwise. For instance, failure can help you discover how strong a person you are. Failing at something can help you discover your truest friends, or help you find unexpected motivation to succeed.
单选题The battle between Apple and law enforcement officials over unlocking a terrorist"s smart-phone is the climax of
a slow turning of the tables
between the technology industry and the United States government.
On the one side, you have the United States government"s mighty legal and security apparatus fighting for data of the most sympathetic sort: the secrets buried in a dead mass murderer"s phone. The action stems from a federal court order issued on Tuesday requiring Apple to help the F.B.I. unlock an iPhone used by one of the two attackers who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, Calif., in December.
In the other corner is the world"s most valuable company, whose chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, has said he will appeal the court"s order. Apple argues that it is fighting to preserve a principle that most of us who are addicted to our smartphones can defend: Weaken a single iPhone so that its contents can be viewed by the American government and you risk weakening all iPhones for any government intruder, anywhere.
There will probably be months of legal tussling, and it is not at all clear which side will prevail in court, nor in the battle for public opinion and legislative favor.
Yet underlying all of this is a simple dynamic: Apple, Google, Facebook and other companies hold most of the cards in this confrontation. They have our data, and their businesses depend on the global public"s collective belief that they will do everything they can to protect that data.
Any crack in that front could be fatal for tech companies that must operate worldwide. If Apple is forced to open up an iPhone for an American law enforcement investigation, what"s to prevent it from doing so for a request from the Chinese or the Iranians? Once armed with a method for gaining access to iPhones, the government could ask to use it proactively, before a suspected terrorist at tack—leaving Apple in a bind as to whether to comply or risk an attack and suffer a public-relations nightmare.
Yet it"s worth noting that even if Apple ultimately loses this case, it has plenty of technical means to close a backdoor over time. "If they"re anywhere near worth their salt as engineers, I bet they"re rethinking their threat model as we speak," said Jonathan Zdziarski, who studies the iPhone and its vulnerabilities.
单选题When global warming finally came, it stuck with a vengeance. In some regions, temperatures rose several degrees in less than a century. Sea levels shot up nearly 400 feet, flooding coastal settlements and forcing people to migrate inland. Deserts spread throughout the world as vegetation shifted drastically in North America, Europe and Asia. After driving many of the animals around them to near extinction, people were forced to abandon their old way of life for a radically new survival strategy that resulted in widespread starvation and disease. The adaptation was farming: the global-warming crisis that gave rise to it happened more than 10,000 years ago.
As environmentalists convene in Rio de Janeiro this week to ponder the global climate of the future, earth scientists are in the midst of a revolution in understanding how climate has changed in the past—and how those changes have transformed human existence. Researchers have begun to piece together an illuminating picture of the powerful geological and astronomical forces that have combined to change the planet"s environment from hot to cold, wet to dry and back again over a time period stretching back hundreds of millions of years.
Most important, scientists are beginning to realize that the climatic changes have had a major impact on the evolution of the human species. New research now suggests that climate shifts have played a key role in nearly every significant turning point in human evolution: from the dawn of primates some 65 million years ago to human ancestors rising up to walk on two legs, from the huge expansion of the human brain to the rise of agriculture. Indeed, the human history has not been merely-touched by global climate change, some scientists argue, it has in some instances been driven by it.
The new research has profound implications for the environmental summit in Rio. Among other things, the findings demonstrate that dramatic climate change is nothing new for planet Earth. The benign global environment that has existed over the past 10,000 years—during which agriculture, writing, cities and most other features of civilization appeared—is a mere bright spot in a much larger pattern of widely varying climate over the ages. In fact, the pattern of climate change in the past reveals that Earth"s climate will almost certainly go through dramatic changes in the future—even without the influence of human activity.
单选题Nationally, an ageing population is a problem. But locally it can be a boon. The over-50s control 80% of Britain"s wealth, and like to spend it on houses and high-street shopping. The young "generation rent", by contrast, is poor, distractible and liable to shop online.
People aged between 50 and 74 spend twice as much as the under-30s on cinema tickets. Between 2000 and 2010 restaurant spending by those aged 65-74 increased by 33%, while the un- der-30s spent 18% less. And while the young still struggle to find work, older people are retiring later. During the financial crisis full-time employment fell for every age group but the over-65s, and there has been a rash of older entrepreneurs. Pensioners also support the working population by volunteering: some 100 retirees in Christchurch help out as business mentors.
Even if they wanted to, most small towns and cities could not capture the cool kids. Mobile young professionals cluster, and greatly prefer to cluster in London. Even supposed meccas like Manchester are ageing: clubs in that city are becoming members-only. Towns that aim too young, like Bracknell and Chippenham, can find their high streets full of closed La Senzas (a lingerie chain) and struggling tattoo parlours.
Companies often lag behind local authorities in working this out. They are London-obsessed, and have been slow to appreciate the growing economic heft of the old—who are assumed, often wrongly, to stick with products they learned to love in their youth. But Caroyln Freeman of Revelation Marketing reckons Britain could be on the verge of a marketing surge directed at the grey pound, "similar to what we saw with the pink". The window will not remain open forever: soon the baby boomers will start to ail, and no one else alive today is likely to have such a rich retirement.
Meanwhile, with the over-50s holding the purse strings, the towns that draw them are likely to grow more and more pleasant. Decent restaurants and nice shops spring up in the favoured haunts of the old, just as they do in the trendy, revamped boroughs of London. Latimer House, a Christchurch furniture store full of retro clothing and 1940s music, would not look out of place in Hackney. Improved high streets then entice customers of all ages.
Indeed, gentrification and gentrification can look remarkably similar. Old folk and young hipsters are similarly fond of vinyl and typewriters, and wander about in outsized spectacles. Some people never lose their edge.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingpiechart.Inyouressay,youshould1)interpretthegraph,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.举办奥运会对一个国家的影响
单选题Women have been driving yellow cabs in New York since the 1940s, but 99% of drivers are male. Even among drivers of cars booked by phone or online, only 4% are women. That may change with the launch of SheTaxis, an app that lets female passengers insist on female drivers, and vice versa.
It will be available in New York City, Westchester and Long Island, and the firm plans to expand to other cities. Stella Mateo, the founder, is betting that quite a few women are nervous and weary of getting into cars driven by men. The service may also appeal to those whose religious beliefs forbid them to travel with unrelated men. Each driver wears a pink pashmina. Men who ask for a ride will be directed to another car service.
Similar services thrive in India, South Africa and several Middle Eastern cities. Japan has had women-only railway carriages on and off since 1912. Known as hana densha (flower trains), they offer shelter from the
gropers
who make rush hour in Tokyo so disagreeable.
But SheTaxis faces two speed bumps. One is practical. Demand has been so great that the firm has had to decelerate its launch until it can recruit 500 drivers. The other obstacle is legal. By employing only female drivers, SheTaxis is obviously discriminating against men. Since anti-discrimination law is not always applied with common sense, that may be illegal. And there is no shortage of potential litigants. Yellow cabbies are furious at the growth of online taxi firms such as Uber. "It"s not hard to imagine a guy ... filing suit," says Sylvia Law of New York University Law School. "SheTaxis" defence would probably be that its drivers are all independent contractors."
Because the firm caters only to women, it is discriminating against male customers, too. Is that legal? Angela Cornell of Cornell Law School thinks there could be a loophole. New York"s Human Rights Commission could make an exemption on the ground that SheTaxi offers a service that is in the public interest: women feel safer not getting into cars with strange men. Women-only colleges are allowed, so why not women-only cabs? The snag is that some men may also feel safer getting into cabs with female drivers. A study in 2010 found that 80% of crashes in New York City that kill or seriously injure pedestrians involve male drivers. Women drivers are simply better.
单选题Some chief executives say they are unplugging as best they can, when they can. Baratunde Thurston, CEO of humor company Cultivated Wit, braved a 25-day Internet detox last year and now settles for what he calls "micro-disconnecting". For example, not checking Twitter at a meeting. And Spencer Rascoff, the CEO of online real estate center Zillow, turns off his company email for a 24-hour stretch every week.
Internet sabbaticals is popular recently, but those at the helm of companies aren"t usually able to completely cut the wire. Still, many CEOs say they want to find a balance, suspecting it might actually help their work.
"I am constantly thinking about Zillow, even when I"m sleeping," Mr. Rascoff says. "Without technology, I can think about it more thoughtfully without interruptions." Leslie Perlow, a Harvard Business School professor, says time away from technology can make people more creative, innovative and productive. "Everybody is bombarded all the time these days," she says. "The more senior you are, the more you perceive, there"s nobody but me."
Jim Moffatt, CEO of Deloitte Consulting LLP, finds that occasionally turning out helps him cut through the "fog" and "clutter" of the day-to-day grind, making it easier to solve big problems. While "recharging" on a recent summer vacation he caught a movie with his 14 year-old son. As the credits rolled, he had an epiphany about who the elusive, missing employee should be for a team he was putting together. During fireworks this past Fourth of July, he mapped out global strategy in his head.
Recent research from the University of Glasgow and UK-based Modeuro Consulting showed that executive email habits can be contagious; when the leadership team at a London-based power company decreased their email output, employees followed suit.
Mr. Moffatt says one of the reasons he"s so public about his unplugging is to show his employees that it is important to have a life outside of work. Plus, his occasional absences give colleagues the chance to exercise more power. "It sends a pretty strong signal to your team: I don"t have to be there all the time," he says.
Handing over the reins does occasionally come with growing pains. Mr. Thurston of Cultivated Wit eschewed everything from work email to Facebook to Instagram last December and found it to be a "humbling" experience.
问答题
单选题 People find it hard to like businesses once they grow
beyond a certain size. Banks that were "too big to fail" sparked a global
economic crisis and burned bundles of taxpayers' cash. Big retailers such as
Walmart and Tesco squeeze suppliers and crush small rivals. Some big British
firms minimize their tax bills so aggressively that they provoke
outrage. It is shrewd politics to champion the little guy. But
the popular fetish for small business is at odds with economic reality. Big
firms are generally more productive, offer higher wages and pay more taxes than
small ones. Economies dominated by small firms are often sluggish.
Countries such as Greece, Italy and Portugal have lots of small firms
which, thanks to burdensome regulations, have failed to grow. Firms with at
least 250 workers account for less than half the share of manufacturing jobs in
these countries than they do in Germany, the euro zone's strongest economy. For
all the support around small business, it is economies with lots of biggish
companies that have been able to sustain the highest living standards.
Big firms can reap economies of scale. A big factory uses far less cash
and labor to make each car or steel pipe than a small workshop. Big supermarkets
such as the Walmart offer a wider range of highquality goods at lower prices
than any corner store. Size allows specialization, which fosters
innovation. Big firms have their flaws, of course. They can be
slow to respond to customers' needs, changing tastes or innovative technology.
To idolize big firms would be as unwise as to idolize small ones.
Rather than focusing on size, policymakers should look at growth. One of
the reasons why everyone loves small firms is that they create more jobs than
big ones. But many small businesses stay small indefinitely. The link between
small firms and jobs growth relies entirely on new start-ups, which are usually
small, and which by definition create new jobs. Rather than
spooning out subsidies and regulatory favors to small firms, governments should
concentrate on removing barriers to expansion. In parts of Europe, for example,
small firms are exemptedfrom the most burdensome social regulations. {{U}}This{{/U}}
gives them an incentive to stay small. Far better to abolish burdensome rules
for all firms. The same goes for differential tax rates, such as Britain's, and
the separate bureaucracy America maintains to deal with small businesses. In a
healthy economy, entrepreneurs with ideas can easily start companies, the best
of which grow fast and the worst of which are quickly swept aside. Size doesn't
matter. Growth does.
单选题It"s true that high-school coding classes aren"t essential for learning computer science in college. Students without experience can catch up after a few introductory courses, said Tom Cortina, the assistant dean at Carnegie Mellon"s School of Computer Science.
However, Cortina said, early exposure is beneficial. When younger kids learn computer science, they learn that it"s not just a confusing, endless string of letters and numbers—but a tool to build apps, or create artwork, or test hypotheses. It"s not as hard for them to transform their thought processes as it is for older students. Breaking down problems into bite-sized chunks and using code to solve them becomes normal. Giving more children this training could increase the number of people interested in the field and help fill the jobs gap, Cortina said.
Students also benefit from learning something about coding before they get to college, where introductory computer-science classes are packed to the brim, which can drive the less-experienced or-determined students away.
The Flatiron School, where people pay to learn programming, started as one of the many coding bootcamps that"s become popular for adults looking for a career change. The high-schoolers get the same curriculum, but "we try to gear lessons toward things they"re interested in," said Victoria Friedman, an instructor. For instance, one of the apps the students are developing suggests movies based on your mood.
The students in the Flatiron class probably won"t drop out of high school and build the next Facebook. Programming languages have a quick turnover, so the "Ruby on Rails" language they learned may not even be relevant by the time they enter the job market. But the skills they learn—how to think logically through a problem and organize the results—apply to any coding language, said Deborah Seehorn, an education consultant for the state of North Carolina.
Indeed, the Flatiron students might not go into IT at all. But creating a future army of coders is not the sole purpose of the classes. These kids are going to be surrounded by computers—in their pockets, in their offices, in their homes—for the rest of their lives. The younger they learn how computers think, how to coax the machine into producing what they want—the earlier they learn that they have the power to do that—the better.
单选题We have known for a long time that the organization of any particular society is influenced by the definition of the sexes and the distinction drawn between them. But we have realized only recently that the identity of each sex is not so easy to pin down, and that definitions evolve in accordance with different types of culture known to us, that is, scientific discoveries and ideological revolutions. Our nature is not considered as immutable, either socially or biologically. As we approach the beginning of the 21st century, the substantial progress made in biology and genetics is radically challenging the roles, responsibilities and specific characteristics attributed to each sex, and yet, scarcely twenty years ago, these were thought to be "beyond dispute". We can safely say, with a few minor exceptions, that the definition of the sexes and their respective functions remained unchanged in the West from the beginning of the 19th century to the 1960s. The role distinction, raised in some cases to the status of uncompromising dualism on a strongly hierarchical model, lasted throughout this period, appealing for its justification to nature, religion and customs alleged to have existed since the dawn of time. The woman bore children and took care of the home. The man set out to conquer the world and was responsible for the survival of his family, by satisfying their needs in peacetime and going to war when necessary. The entire world order rested on the divergence of the sexes. Any overlapping or confusion between the roles was seen as a threat to the time- honored order of things. It was felt to be against nature, a deviation from the norm. Sex roles were determined according to the "place" appropriate to each. Women's place was, first and foremost, in the home. The outside world, i. e. workshops, factories and business firms, belonged to men. This sex-based division of the world (private and public) gave rise to a strict dichotomy between the attitudes, which conferred on each its special identity. The woman, sequestered at home, "cared, nurtured and conserved". To do this, she had no need to be daring, ambitious, tough or competitive. The man, on the other hand, competing with his fellow men, was caught up every day in the struggle for survival, and hence developed those characteristics which were thought natural in a man. Today, many women go out to work, and their reasons for doing so have changed considerably. Besides the traditional financial incentives, we find ambition and personal fulfillment motivating those in the most favorable circumstances, and the wish to have a social life and to get out of their domestic isolation influencing others. Above all, for all women, work is invariably connected with the desire for independence.
单选题Want a glimpse of the future of health care? Take a look at the way the various networks of people involved in patient care are being connected to one another, and how this new connectivity is being exploited to deliver medicine to the patient-no matter where he or she may be. Online doctors offering advice based on standardized symptoms are the most obvious example. Increasingly, however, remote diagnosis (telemedicine) will be based on real physiological data from the actual patient. A group from the university of Kentucky has shown that by using an off-the shelf (现成的) PDA (personal data assistance) such as a Palm Pilot plus a mobile phone, it is perfectly feasible to transmit a patient's vital signs over the telephone. With this kind of equipment in a first- aid kit (急救包), the cry asking whether there was a doctor in the house could well be a thing of the past. Other medical technology groups are working on applying telemedicine to rural care. And at least one team wants to use telemedicine as a tool for disaster response-especially after earthquakes. Overall, the trend is towards providing global access to medical data and expertise. But there is one problem. Bandwidth is the limiting factor for transmitting complex medical images around the world-CT scans being one of the biggest bandwidth consumers. Communications satellites may be able to cope with the short-term needs during disasters such as earthquakes, wars or famines. But medicine is looking towards both the second-generation internet and third-generation mobile phones for the future of distributed medical intelligence. Doctors have met to discuss computer-based tools for medical diagnosis, training and telemedicine. With the falling price of broadband communications, the new technologies should usher in (迎来) an era when telemedicine and the sharing of medical information, expert opinion and diagnosis are common.
问答题Directions:
Write an email of about 100 words to relevant departments to give some advice on how to live a low-carbon life.
You should include the details you think necessary.
You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write the address.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingcharts.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthecharts,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
单选题Obesity is an epidemic to some and an opportunity to others. More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight. Find a way to battle obesity,
1
a huge profit might be made. On February 22nd, 2013 one pharmaceutical firm, Virus, took a small
2
towards this goal. A committee advising America"s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended Vivus"s diet drug, Qnexa.
3
, the pill"s long-awaited final approval may not come until April. The announcement mostly served as a reminder of a struggle which
4
fat into gold.
Medical-device and pharmaceutical companies are quite
5
treating the problems that come with obesity. However, they can"t help consumers
6
weight. Allergan, a device-maker, has tried to use its gastric bands to enter the obesity market. The band is fitted near the top of patients" stomach, which helps them feel full
7
during the meal. Allergan has captured about 70% of the worldwide market for gastric bands, but sales are now
8
. The recession has sapped consumers" desire for expensive surgery. Some patients have
9
bands removed because they slipped or proved
10
. In January David Pyott, Allergan"s chief executive, said he would cancel an effort to market the band for teenagers. He is now trying to convince insurers of the gastric band"s
11
.
Drug companies have had even more
12
than device-makers. It has been 13 years since the FDA approved a
13
diet pill. That drug, Roche"s Xenical, has
14
side-effects. The FDA rejected Vivus"s Qnexa in 2010 over
15
for the safety of pregnant women and the quickening of patients" heart rates. However, Vivus"s new data in 2013 apparently satisfied the FDA"s advisory committee.
But the agency may yet
16
the drug.
17
Qnexa is approved, it is unclear that patients will buy it. Qnexa
18
two medicines that are already on the market. Both medicines are generic, which means that doctors may
19
the existing drugs rather than Qnexa"s more expensive version. For now, it is more
20
to treat fat patients than to try to make them slim.
单选题When it comes to Barbie"s body, it will no longer be one size fits all. On Thursday, Mattel unveiled curvy, petite and tall versions of its iconic fashion doll whose unrealistically thin shape has attracted criticism for decades. The three body types will also be sold in an assortment of skin tones, eye colors and hairstyles.
The move is about more than just making Barbie look different. While Barbie was once Mattel"s powerhouse brand, sales have plummeted in recent years as the doll has struggled to remain relevant to little girls who do not look like her and who play with toys other than dolls. "This is about drawing a wider demographic that had turned away from Barbie back to Barbie," said Jim Silver, the editor of a toy review website.
But some industry experts and academics have long doubted that cosmetic changes—whether racial or body shapes—can revive the popularity of the 57-year-old Barbie, whose sales have been declining by double-digits in recent years. Executives have been optimistic, pointing to signs that Barbie"s in-store sales began picking up last year.
The slumping sales may also be partly attributed to the shift away from traditional toys toward electronics and games in recent years, as many parents and children have clamored for less gender-specific toys. Even Lego, the world"s top toymaker, has had to alter its strategy and some of its building block lines to accommodate the growth in the market for learning toys that appeal to boys and girls. Faced with weakening sales in its core brands like Barbie, and criticism that it was too slow to pick up on trends, Mattel has undertaken a number of efforts to improve innovation.
Barbie"s new shapes also coincide with a progressive cultural shift already underway in stores and the toy aisles. Parents and many health experts have complained that too many dolls, models and even clothing companies conform to an extremely thin, even anorexic, body type and have pressured corporations to offer a broader variety of images and apparel sizes to give girls and boys more confidence in their own body shapes.
And some parents, concerned about negative gender stereotypes (a racecar for a son, a princess doll for a daughter), have pushed retailers into more gender-neutral territory. The Disney Store, for example, decided to label all of its children"s Halloween costumes as "for kids," as opposed to for boys or girls. Amazon, which by some measures accounts for more than half of all online sales, has banished gender distinctions for its toys.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart,inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题Directions:
You will graduate from university and intend to be a volunteer to go to Guizhou Province, southwest China. After reading the notice of recruitment, write a letter to president of your university to
1) express your wish to go to Guizhou province,
2) state your reasons, and
3) present your plans.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write the address.
问答题In this section, you are asked to write an essay based on the following
table, in which you should 1. describe the table.
2. state your opinions drawn from it. You should write
at least 150 English words. Accidents in a Chinese City (2005)
Main accident causes
number of accidents in 2005
percentage rise (+) or fall (-) over 2004
1. drivers turning left without due care
608
+10%
2. drivers traveling too close to other vehicles
411
+9%
3. pedestrians crossing roads carelessly
401
+12%
4. drivers driving under the influence of alcohol
281
+15%
5. drivers failing to give a signal
264
-5%
问答题In this part, you are allowed to write a letter to express your apologize for the reason why you can't attend the foreign language class. You should write a letter to your teacher to show the reason and apologize.
You should write about 100words.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zang wei" instead.
Do not write the address.
问答题1. state the present situation. 2. suggest ways to deal with the problem. 3. express your sincere hope. You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address.
问答题Direction:Writeanessaybasedonthechartbelow.Inyourwriting，youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题Directions: Your local library intends to improve its service and facilities. As a regular library user, please write a letter to the chief librarian, offering your suggestions. Your letter should be no less than 100 words. You don't need to write the address. Don't sign your own name at the end of the letter, use Donna instead.
问答题Directions:
Write a letter of about 100 words to a beach resort where you had a wonderful vocation to express your gratitude for their good service.
You should include the details you think necessary.
You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
问答题Quality of life is about more than the size of your pay cheque, It means being able to spend an evening with your family once a week—instead of keeping one parent at home with the kids while the other works, and then exchanging a few words when you switch roles halfway through the day. It means being able to request working hours that allow you to travel when buses are running so you do not have to walk miles to get to work.
Those things matter to workers. When someone on a low wage talks about finding a better job, better pay is just part of the mix. This is why campaigns groups across America are trying to win better conditions—enabling employees to address questions of health, safety and life quality, alongside their wage gains. Short-notice rotas, as much as low pay or unsafe conditions, are central to a spate &protests across the US.
问答题1.interpretthechart.2.giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.WriteyouressayonANSWERSHEET2.
问答题People tend to amass possessions. Indeed they can have a delightful surprise when they find something useful which they did not know they owned. Some people leave unwanted objects in drawers, cupboards and attics for years, in the belief that they may one day need just those very things.
Collecting as a serious hobby is quite different. It provides relaxation for leisure hours, because just looking at one"s treasures is always a joy. One does not have to go out for amusement, since the collection is housed at home. Whatever it consists of, stamps, first editions of books, antique furniture, stuffed birds, toy animals, there is always something to do in connection with it, from finding the right place for the latest addition to verifying facts in reference books. This hobby educates one not only in the chosen subject, but also in general matters which have some bearing on it.
写作题Part B
Directions：Write an essay based on the chart below. In your writing , you should
1) interpret the chart, and
2) give your comments
You should write about 150 words on the ANSWER SHEET.(15 points)
问答题Most people know how to count, but the way we master this ability remains something of a puzzle. Numerals were invented only around four to five thousand years ago, meaning it is unlikely that enough time has elapsed for specialized parts of the brain for processing numbers to evolve, which suggests that math is largely a cultural invention. It appears to be based on an interface between vision and reasoning that we share with other animals, allowing us to "see" small numbers—up to around five—without counting. This ability—often called' the number sense'—lays the foundations of later mathematical knowledge, but its basis is poorly understood. It has been argued that the number sense itself may he innate, but this fails to account for why learning to master the use of small numbers is such a difficult and drawn-out process in children.
问答题College doesn"t always prepare you for life after graduation. You are thrust into the world and tasked with the challenge of figuring out how to live on your own. Your early twenties are a time to take risks, try new things, and discover your passions. Don"t worry so much about not having a concrete plan, and now is the time when you can experiment and find your true skills and interests. While making money immediately might seem important, your early twenties are one of the best times for exploring different career paths and planning out a roadmap for your future. Once you graduate college, you will no longer be surrounded by your peers at all hours of the day. Meeting new people is more challenging and requires more effort than it did during college. Because of this, it"s often good to remember that being friendly is the best way to meet new people. Take interest in the lives of your coworkers and people around you, and be willing to make new connections.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart,inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.不同员工规模的企业某年求职期日均竞争指数(注：竞争指数=简历投递量/职位量)
问答题Directions:
You have just come back from Hong Kong and found a letter which came from your friend David. But you find the letter has been your home for about two weeks. Write him a letter to
1. make an apology,
2. suggest a solution.
问答题Directions:
Write a letter of about 100 words to the customer service center of an online store, complaining about the quality of the new ipad and demanding a prompt solution.
You should include the details you think necessary.
You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write the address.
问答题Toxic workplace relationships, failing company fortunes and limited advancement opportunities are just a few compelling reasons to quit a job. But career experts say many workplace problems that employees may think are irreconcilable can be improved or even resolved with some action and a change of attitude. First, find out if your problems are unique. Reach out to co-workers in other departments, peers through industry associations or even call colleagues at other companies to compare notes. Second, separate the demands of work from your own expectations of yourself. If you're unhappy about failing short of your own personal career goals, try breaking your big goals into smaller, more realistically achievable ones. This can improve your morale by reinforcing small successes. Third, pitch your boss on a less formal and more goal-oriented workplace. And offer improved results in exchange for more autonomy. If the operational processes of your job are leading to failure, alter your approach, if you can.
问答题Directions:
You are going to take part in MBA exam. Write a letter of inquiry to the dean of Management School to inquire about:
1) the subjects to be examed;
2) the number of students to be enrolled;
3) other things you should pay attention to.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
问答题So, why is it so hard to throw in the towel, even when on some level you know you should? For one thing, it's embarrassing to admit to others that you've bitten off more than you can chew, or that you've made an error of judgment. No one likes to be thought of as a'quitter. 'For another, quitting means accepting the unrecoverable costs—all the time and energy that you've already put into reaching your goal that you can never get back.
Of course, once you realize that you probably won't succeed, or that success isn't worth the unhappiness your project is causing you, it shouldn't matter what the unrecoverable costs are. If your job, your advanced degree, or your unfinished novel has taken up some of the best years of your life, it doesn't make sense to give them even more years. That will only make you miserable.
问答题Directions:
Write a letter of about 100 words to the customer service center of an online store, complaining about the quality of the new ipad and demanding a prompt solution.
You should include the details you think necessary.
You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
问答题Last Sunday, China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said if necessary, the nation will consider widening the yuan's trading band. But any change in the yuan's floating band will depend on the global economic situation and it's not the only tool the country would use to make its currency more flexible, Zhou said at the Group of 20 meeting in Cape Town, South Africa. China widened the yuan's daily trading band against the U. S. dollar from plus or minus 0. 3 percent to 0.5 percent in May. However, market observers said some commercial banks are ordered by the central bank to hand in reserve requirements in foreign currencies next week, which will translate into demand for the U. S. dollar. This will somehow help slow down RMB's appreciation against the greenback in the coming few days.
问答题Suppose you will apply for a job as an English teacher. You are required to write a letter of 100 words. The letter must contain all the information as following:
1. your educational background.
2. your working experience.
3. why do you think that you are capable for the work?
问答题Directions:
You are going to take part in MBA exam. Write a letter of inquiry to the dean of Management School to inquire about:
1) the subjects to be examed;
2) the number of students to be enrolled;
3) other things you should pay attention to.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write the address.
问答题Directions:
Write an essay based on the topic: Is a Test of Spoken English Necessary in Many English Texts? In your writing, you should
1) answer the question;
2) give your comments.
You should write at least 150 words.
Write your essay on the
ANSWER SHEET.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchartinyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.Outline:1.Statechangesinpeople"sdailyexpensesinthepastseveralyears.2.Givepossiblereasonsforthechanges.3.Drawyourownconclusion.Note:Youshouldquoteasfewfiguresaspossible.
问答题Climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity: drastic reduction of carbon emissions is vital if we are to avoid a catastrophe that devastates large parts of the world. Governments and businesses have been slow to act and individuals now need to take the lead. The Earth can absorb no more than 3 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year for every person on the planet if we are to keep temperature and rainfall change within tolerable limits. Yet from ears and holiday flights to household appliances and the food on our plates, Western consumer lifestyles leave each of us responsible for over 12 tons of carbon dioxide a year—four times what the Earth can handle. Individual action is essential if we want to avoid climate chaos. How to Live a Low-Carbon Life shows how easy it is to take responsibility, providing the first comprehensive, one-stop reference guide to calculating your CO2 emissions and reducing them to a sustainable 3 tons a year.
问答题Inthissection,youareaskedtowriteanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1.interpretthechart.2.giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.NUMBEROFVISITORS(million)19752005SOUTHKOREA2.99.1JAPAN3.212.0CHINA0.30.8USA0.41.1BRITAIN0.92.9EUROPE1.14.5Total8.830.4
问答题Directions:
Suppose your friend Zhang Wei asks you to recommend him for a job position in your company. Write an email to the HR of your company to
1) state how well you know your friend, and
2) describe the professional qualifications of the candidate.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write your address.
问答题Directions:
Suppose you have damaged your friend"s computer when you lived in his house a few days ago. Write him a letter to
1) make an apology, and
2) suggest a solution.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
问答题Directions:
Suppose your friend Jack is addicted to online chatting. Write him an email to
1) tell him about the consequences, and
2) make your suggestions.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write your address.
问答题Direction:
In this section there is a text in English. Translate it into Chinese, write your translation on the ANSWER SHEET.
There"s been a warning that China faces a diabetes epidemic that almost one in ten adults now has the disease. Chinese researchers" writing in
The New England Journal of Medicine
found that most cases were undiagnosed.
The scale of the problem revealed by the study has shocked even the researchers themselves. They said rigorous new tests indicated that more than 92 million Chinese adults had diabetes, twice as many as previously thought. Nearly 150 million more were showing early symptoms. The researchers said rapid economic growth was partly to blame, through urbanisation, changed diets and more sedentary life styles. The figures are high because of the size of China"s population and they represent a major public health problem for the authorities in Beijing.
问答题In America we are raised to appreciate the accomplishments of inventors and thinkers—creative people whose ideas have transformed our world. We celebrate the famously imaginative, the greatest artists and innovators from van Gogh to Steve Jobs. Viewing the world creatively is supposed to be an asset, even a virtue. Online job boards burst with ads recruiting "idea people" and "out of the box" thinkers. We are taught that our own creativity will be celebrated as well, and that if we have good ideas, we will succeed.
It"s all a lie. This is the thing about creativity that is rarely acknowledged: Most people don"t actually like it. Studies confirm what many creative people have suspected all along: People are biased against creative thinking, despite all of their insistence otherwise. We celebrate creative people, but the thing we celebrate is the after-effect.
问答题With the popularity of the Internet, more and more people do shopping online. Serial returner refers to someone who regularly orders more than they need and sends some of the items back. Three in ten shoppers deliberately over-purchase and subsequently return unwanted items, with one in five admitting to ordering multiple versions of the same item to make up their mind at home-safe in the knowledge they can choose from the ever-growing number of ways to quickly and easily send items back.
Shoppers have also come to expect good value regardless of whether they"re making a purchase or a return. Six in ten say a retailer"s returns policy impacts their decision to make a purchase online, and almost half of these would not order an item if they had to fund the cost of sending it back from their own pocket. Serial returners said they would send back fewer purchases if businesses were to standardize clothing and shoe sizes.
问答题Last Sunday, China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said if necessary, the nation will consider widening the yuan's trading band.
But any change in the yuan's floating band will depend on the global economic situation and it's not the only tool the country would use to make its currency more flexible, Zhou said at the Group of 20 meeting in Cape Town, South Africa.
China widened the yuan's daily trading band against the U. S. dollar from plus or minus 0.3 percent to 0.5 percent in May. However, market observers said some commercial banks are ordered by the central bank to hand in reserve requirements in foreign currencies next week, which will translate into demand for the U. S. dollar. This will somehow help slow down RMB'S appreciation against the greenback in the coming few days.
问答题Think about driving a route that"s very familiar. It could be your commute to work, a trip into town or the way home. Whichever it is, you know every twist and turn like the back of your hand. On these sorts of trips it"s easy to lose concentration on the driving and pay little attention to the passing scenery. The consequence is that you perceive that the trip has taken less time than it actually has.
This is the well-travelled road effect: People tend to underestimate the time it takes to travel a familiar route.
The effect is caused by the way we allocate our attention. When we travel down a well-known route, because we don"t have to concentrate much, time seems to flow more quickly. And afterwards, when we come to think back on it, we can"t remember the journey well because we didn"t pay much attention to it. So we assume it Was shorter.
写作题Part A
Directions：Suppose you have to cancel your travel plan and will not be able to visit professor Smith, write him an email to
Suppose Professor Smith asked you to plan a debate on the theme of city traffic
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingbargraphandpiechart.Inyouressay,youshould1)interpretthegraphandchart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.WriteyouressayontheANSWESHEET.
问答题Directions
Suppose you won a translation contest and your friend, Jack, wrote an email to congratulate you and ask for advice on translation. Write him a reply to
1) thank him, and
2) give your advice.
You should Write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题Global trade and the economic incentive polices of individual national economies will play an important role in the recovery from the current global decline.
The US economy is promoting from the global economy during the current global decline. It may not feel like that, as we in the US now have about one-sixth of the labor force officially unemployed or underemployed. But the national income accounting is real. If not for our shrinking trade surplus, for example, the first quarter of this year would have seen a fall of 7.9% of GDP, instead of 5.5%. Th at's a big difference in terms of output and employment. Countries that export a lot get hit harder in the decline as their trade surplus shrinks. And countries that export significant amounts to the US have also been hit hard.
This seems to offer a lesson for developing countries, It's good to make your trade diverse, and maybe not become excessively dependent on markets where there are enormous asset bubbles.
问答题Halltowell argues in his new book,
Driven to Distraction at Work: How to Focus and Be More Productive
, that when you feel real or imagined concerns piling on, share them with a friend, and there"s a better chance that aimless anxiety will change into problem-solving. He believes that worrying alone is one of the major reasons that people can"t focus, both at work and elsewhere in their lives.
Worrying alone does not have to be toxic, but it tends to become toxic because in isolation we lose perspective. We tend to globalize, catastrophize, when no one is there to act as a reality check. Our imaginations run wild.
Indeed, Samuel Johnson, a severe worrier himself, called worry a "disease of the imagination". When we worry alone we risk losing touch with reality, becoming paralyzed in worry, making bad decisions, and even getting sick, as toxic worry depresses immune function.
问答题By now it is common knowledge that professionals are more likely to marry and less likely to divorce than are less educated workers. Among 20-to-49-year-old men in 2013, 56 percent of professional, managerial and technical workers were married, compared with 31 percent of service workers, according to the American Community Survey of the Census Bureau. Some people argue that the gap is largely a result of a decline in traditional values among working-class men, particularly whites who constitute the majority of them. Supposedly they are not as industrious in seeking employment as were their fathers and grandfathers and so fail to secure the steady jobs needed for marriage.
But some digging into historical census records shows that social class differences in marriage have been tied to the extent of income inequality among white Americans for at least 130 years. They also suggest that commentators who insist that the marriage gap is wholly a matter of values are almost surely wrong.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowinggraphs.Inyouressay,youshould1)interpretthegraphs,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.WriteyouressayontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题
问答题Direction:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyouressay,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcommentsYoushouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET2.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyouressay,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.WriteyouressayontheANSWERSHEET.2015年第三季度～2016年第二季度微信活跃用户数量变化
写作题Part A
Directions:
Write an email of about 100 words to relevant departments to give some advice on how to live a low-carbon life
完形填空While western governments worry over the threat of Ebola, a more pervasive but far less harm- ful ____(1)____ is spreading through their populations like a winter sniffle: mobile personal technology
问答题So, why is it so hard to throw in the towel, even when on some level you know you should.'? For one thing, it's embarrassing to admit to others that you've bitten off more than you can chew, or that you've made an error of judgment. No one likes to be thought of as a 'quitter'. For another, quitting means accepting the unrecoverable costs—all the time and energy that you've already put into reaching your goal that you can never get back. Of course, once you realize that you probably won't succeed, or that success isn't worth the unhappiness your project is causing you, it shouldn't matter what the unrecoverable costs are. If your job, your advanced degree, or your unfinished novel has taken up some of the best years of your life, it doesn't make sense to give them even more years. That will only make you miserable.
问答题1.Describethegraphs.2.Givesomereasons.3.Predictthefuture.
写作题Part B
Directions:
Write an essay based on the following table. In your writing, you should
1) interpret the table, and
2) give your comments.
You should write about 150 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
问答题Direction: In this section there is a
passage in English. Translate the five sentences underlined into Chinese and
write your translation on ANSWER SHEET 2. The smooth landing of
the shuttle (航天飞机) Discovery ended a flight that was successful in almost every
respect but one: the dislodging of a big chunk of foam, like the one that doomed
the Columbia. This flight was supposed to vault the shuttle fleet back into
space after a prolonged grounding for repairs. But given the repeat of the very
problem that two years of retooling was supposed to resolve, the verdict is
necessarily mixed. (1) {{U}}Once again, the space agency has been forced to put
off the flight until it can find a solution to the problem, and no one seems
willing to guess how long that may take.{{/U}} The discovery
astronauts performed superbly during their two-week mission, and the shuttle
looked better than ever in some respects. (2) {{U}}Space officials were
justifiably happy that so much had gone well, despite daily worries over
possible risks. The flight clearly achieved its prime objectives.{{/U}}
The astronauts transferred tons of cargo to the international space
station, which has been limping along overhead with a reduced crew and limited
supplies carried up on smaller Russian spacecraft. (3) {{U}}They replaced a broken
device, repaired another and carted away a load of rubbish that had been left on
the station, showing the shuttle can bring full loads back down from
space.{{/U}} This was the most scrutinized shuttle flight ever,
with the vehicle undergoing close inspection while still in orbit. (4) {{U}}New
sensing and photographic equipment to took for potentially dangerous damage to
the sensitive external skin proved valuable.{{/U}} A new back flip maneuver
allowed station astronauts to photograph the shuttle's underbelly, and an
extra-long robotic arm enabled astronauts to see parts of the shuttle that were
previously out of sight. {{U}}The flood of image and the openness
in discussing its uncertainties about potential hazards{{/U}} {{U}}sometimes, made
it appear that the shuttle was about to fall apart. In the end the damage was
clearly tolerable.{{/U}} A much-touted spacewalk to repair the shuttle's skin—the
first of its kind—moved an astronaut close enough to pluck out some protruding
material with his hand. Preliminary evidence indicates that Discovery has far
fewer nicks and gouges than shuttles on previous flights, perhaps showing that
improvements to reduce the shedding of debris from the external fuel tank have
had some success.
写作题Part A
Directions:
Suppose your uncle has just been promoted to a manager
问答题Directions:
You want to donate by offering financial aid to people in a disaster-attacked area.
Write a letter to the department concerned, asking them to help find such candidates.
Specify what kind of candidate you want to help and how you will carry out your plan.
Write your letter in no less than 100 words. Write it neatly on
ANSWER SHEET 2.
Do not
sign your own name at the end of the letter; use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
写作题Part B
Directions:
Write an essay based on the following bar chart. In your writing, you should
1) interpret the chart, and
2) give your comments.
You should write about 150 words on the ANSWER SHEET. (15 points)
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.某市10年间上网和看电视人数变化
翻译题What is artificial intelligence today? Roughly speaking, its technology that takes in huge amount of information from a specific domain (say, loan repayment histories) and uses it to make a decision in a specific case (whether to give an individual a loan) in the service of a specified goal (maximizing profits for the lender)
问答题You are the president of a company. Write a memo to Percy Shelley, the vice-president on the employee's training on computer, telling him the need to train the employees, detailed information, and ask him to write a plan about 100 words.
Date: January 9, 2010
To: Percy Shelley, Vice President
From: Li Ming, President
Subject: Computer Training of the Staff
填空题A．Leave them behind
B．Change the subject
C．Limit the time you spend with them
D．Don"t make their problems your problems
E．Don"t pretend that their behavior is "OK".
F．Talk about solutions, not problems
G．Speak up for yourself
Some people will have a rain cloud hanging over them, no matter what the weather is outside. Their negative attitude is toxic to your own moods, and you probably feel like there is little you can do about it. But that couldn"t be farther from the truth. If you want to effectively deal with negative people and be a champion of positivity, then your best route is to take definite action through some of the steps below.
1
First, let"s get this out of the way. You can be more positive than a cartoon sponge, but even your enthusiasm has a chance of being afflicted by the constant negativity of a friend. In fact, negativity has been proven to damage your health physically, making you vulnerable to high levels of stress and even cardiac disease. There"s no reason to get hurt because of someone else"s bad mood. Though this may be a little tricky depending on your situation, working to spend slightly less time around negative people will keep your own spirits from slipping as well.
2
This is an easy trap to fall into. Point out to the person that their constant negativity isn"t a good thing. We don"t want to do this because it"s far easier to let someone sit in their woes, and we"d rather just stay out of it. But if you want the best for this person, avoid giving the false impression that their negativity is normal.
3
Though I consider empathy a gift, it can be a dangerous thing. When we hear the complaints of a friend or family member, we typically start to take on their burdens with them. This is a bad habit to get into, especially if this is a person who is almost exclusively negative. These types of people are prone to embellishing and altering a story in order to gain sympathy. Why else would they be sharing this with you?
4
When you suspect that a conversation is starting to take a turn for the negative, be a champion of positivity by changing the subject. Of course, you have to do this without ignoring what the other person said. Acknowledge their comment, but move the conversation forward before the pleasure gained from complaining takes hold of either of you.
5
Sometimes, changing the subject isn"t an option if you want to deal with negative people, but that doesn"t mean you can"t still be positive. I know that when someone begins dumping complaints on me, I have a hard time knowing exactly what to say. The key is to measure your responses as solution-based. You can do this by asking questions like, "Well, how could this be resolved?" or, "How do you think they feel about it?" Use discernment to find an appropriate response that will help your friend manage their perspectives.
填空题Examples and rumours abound of companies being burgled by cyberfrauds, cyberspooks or cyber-mischief-makers. On June 26th America"s Federal Trade Commission sued Wyndham Worldwide, a hotel group, alleging that security failures at the company in 2008 and 2009 had led to the export of hundreds of thousands of guests" payment-card account numbers to a domain registered in Russia. The FTC says "millions of dollars" were lost to fraud. Wyndham says it knows of no customers who lost money and that the FTC"s claims are "without merit".
Working out the cost of cybercrime is a devil of a job. The FTC and Wyndham are poles apart on their estimates of the effect of the credit-card thefts. Companies say they are under constant cyber-attack in ever more ingenious forms, but they are loth to say in public how often the raiders get through and how much damage they do—assuming that the breach is spotted. That suggests the damage is underreported. When they are speaking to the security services they may be more forthcoming, but will they be accurate? Companies might anyway have lost some of the business written off to cybercrime. In that case, Mr. Evans"s ￡800 million would be on the high side.
In a report by Britain"s Cabinet Office last year, Detica, the software arm of BAE Systems, a defence company, put the cost of cybercrime to the country at a staggering ￡27 billion, or 1.8% of GDP. Businesses bore ￡21 billion, mostly because of the theft of secrets and industrial espionage. Lots of people doubted these numbers—including, it seems, the Ministry of Defence, which commissioned a study from a team led by Ross Anderson, a computer-security expert at Cambridge University.
The team"s report, published this month, shies away from adding up totals, preferring to assess the costs of different types of crime in turn, but comes up with much lower figures—partly because it discounts Detica"s numbers for intellectual-property theft and espionage entirely, saying they have "no obvious foundation". Most of the cost of cybercrime, it concludes, is indirect, such as spending on antivirus software or other corporate defences. In other words, a lot goes on payments by one lot of businesses to another: the computer-security industry.
That may be inevitable. Cyber-attacks are happening more often and are becoming more precisely targeted. Greg Day, the chief technology officer for security in the European business of Symantec, a computer-security firm, says that for years cybercrime was more or less "random", as crooks looked for any holes they could find anywhere. In the past couple of years, however, they have chosen their corporate targets more precisely. Symantec observed virtually no targeted attacks before Stuxnet, a worm that attacked industrial-control systems, appeared in 2010. Last December it spotted an average of 154 a day.
The bad guys are increasingly using social media to try to find a way in, either by gathering intelligence or by befriending employees who may be tricked into opening an e-mail with nasty code within. People, a security-industry adage runs, are the weakest link. Training them to be careful may still be the best defence.
A. acquired by the computer-security industry.
B. speaking in public how much damage the cybercrime does.
C. estimation of the effect of the credit-card thefts.
D. letting out the clients" payment-card account numbers.
E. Britain has invested a lot of money to prevent cybercrime.
F. spent on antivirus software or other corporate defences diretly.
G. cybercrime is more purposeful than before.
问答题1.interpretthechart.2.giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.WriteyouressayonANSWERSHEET2.NumberofVisitors(million)19752005SouthKorea2.99.1Japan3.212.0China0.30.8USAO.41.1Britain0.92.9Europe1.14.5Total8.830.4
问答题Directions:Inthispart,youareallowedtowriteacompositiononthetopicStudentUseofComputers.Yourcompositionshouldincludethefollowingthreeparts.1)Pleasedescribethechange;2)Pleaseexplainwhyitchanges;3)Youthinkwhatdifficultiesorproblemsarethepresentcollegestudentsfacingincomputerusing.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.WriteyouressayontheANSWERSHEET.
填空题A hospital is an institution that provides medical services for a community. The doctors, nurses, and other personnel of a hospital work to restore health to sick and injured people. They also try to prevent disease and maintain health in the community. Some hospitals serve as centers for medical education and research.
Most hospitals are short-term hospitals in which the majority of patients stay less than 30 days. Patients spend an average of 4 to 8 days in a short-term hospital. In long-term hospitals, most patients stay more than 30 days. People having their tonsils removed would go to a short-term hospital. Those with severe mental illnesses may stay in a long-term institution because of the time needed to treat their condition.
A general hospital provides services for most people and illnesses. A special hospital cares for certain people or certain illnesses. For example, pediatric hospitals treat only children. Rehabilitation hospitals provide services to help people adjust to mental and physical disabilities.
A hospital may perform other services besides treating the sick. Research hospitals conduct medical research. Teaching hospitals educate future physicians, nurses, and laboratory specialists. A teaching hospital may form part of a university medical center, or it may be a general hospital associated with a medical school.
In the professional services department, physicians play an important role and lead a large medical team working for the hospital. The medical team also includes physicians in training. These interns come from medical schools and work in a hospital for practical experience. The nursing staff forms the largest group in the patient care team. Professional nurses, generally called registered nurses, have graduated from a nursing school. They carry out much of the patients" care under the guidance of physicians. They also direct other members of the nursing staff, including practical nurses, nurse"s aides, and nurse attendants. These men and women do many tasks to train the registered nurses for work requiring the special skills.
There are many other important departments in a hospital besides the professional services department. The hospital pharmacy provides medicines that physicians order for patients. The central service department maintains medical supplies. The food service department prepares meals for patients and staff members. The hospital laboratories conduct tests that help doctors diagnose and treat illnesses. The radiology department makes X rays to help physicians diagnose diseases and injuries. The medical records department keeps a record on every patient. If former patients return to the hospital, their medical record helps the physician diagnose and treat their illness. The admitting office schedules patients for admission at the request of their physician and assigns them to a room. And the business office lists each patient"s charges, prepares a bill, and records payments received.
A. his graduation from a medical school
1
The function of a hospital is to ______.
B. provide medical education and conduct research in medicine
2
The doctors,nurses,and other personnel of a hospital treat and cure disease and ______.
C. provide medical services for a community
3
An intern is a doctor serving as an assistant physician in a hospital,generally just after ______.
D. restore health from a chronic disease
4
The departments of hospital laboratories,radiology department and medical records department help physicians ______.
E. diagnose diseases and injuries
5
Registered nurses are another name for ______.
F. have the appendix removed
G. professional nurses
填空题A. For example, the Moche lords of Sipán in coastal Peru were buried in about AD 400 in fine cotton dress and with exquisite ornaments of bead, gold, and silver. Few burials rival their lavish sepulchres. Being able to trace the development of such rituals over thousands of years has added to our understanding of the development of human intellect and spirit. B. By 40,000 years ago people could be found hunting and gathering food across most of the regions of Africa. Populations in different regions employed various technological developments in adapting to their different environments and climates. C. Archaeological studies have also provided much information about the people who first arrived in the America over 12,000 years ago. D. The first fossil records of vascular plants—that is, land plants with tissue that carries food—appeared in the Silurian period. They were simple plants that had not developed separate stems and leaves. E. Laetoli even reveals footprints of humans from 3.6 million years ago. Some sites also contain evidence of the earliest use of simple tools. Archaeologists have also recorded how primitive forms of humans spread out of Africa into Asia about 1.8 million years ago, then into Europe about 900,000 years ago. F. One research project involves the study of garbage in present-day cities across the United States. This garbage is the modern equivalent of the remains found in the archaeological record. In the future, archaeologists will continue to move into new realms of study. G. Other sites that represent great human achievement are as varied as the cliff dwellings of the ancient Anasazi (a group of early Native Americans of North America) at Mesa Verde, Colorado; the Inca city of Machu Picchu high in the Andes Mountains of Peru; and the mysterious, massive stone portrait heads of remote Easter Island in the Pacific. Archaeological study covers an extremely long span of time and a great variety of subjects. The earliest subjects of archaeological study date from the origins of humanity. These include fossil remains believed to be of human ancestors who lived 3.5 million to 4.5 million years ago. The earliest archaeological sites include those at Hadar, Ethiopia; Laetoli, Tanzania; East Turkana, Kenya; and elsewhere in East Africa. These sites contain evidence of the first appearance of bipedal (upright- walking, apelike early humans). (41) The first physically modern humans, Homo sapiens, appeared in tropical Africa between 200,000 and 150,000 years ago- dates determined by molecular biologists and archaeologists working together. Dozens of archaeological sites throughout Asia and Europe show how people migrated from Africa and settled in these two continents during the last Ice Age (100,000 to 15,000 years ago). (42) Archaeologists have documented that the development of agriculture took place about 10,000 years ago. Early domestication—the planting and harvesting of plants and the breeding and herding of animals— is evident in such places as the ancient settlement of Jericho in Jordan and in Tehuacán Valley in Mexico. Archaeology plays a major role in the study of early civilizations, such as those of the Sumerians of Mesopotamia, who built the city of Ur, and the ancient Egyptians, who are famous for the pyramids near the city of Giza and the royal sepulchres (tombs) of the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. (43) Archaeological research spans the entire development of phenomena that are unique to humans. For instance, archaeology tells the story of when people learned to bury their dead and developed beliefs in an afterlife. Sites containing signs of the first simple but purposeful burials in graves date to as early as 40,000 years ago in Europe and Southwest Asia. By the time people lived in civilizations, burials and funeral ceremonies had become extremely important and elaborate rituals. (44) Archaeology also examines more recent historical periods. Some archaeologists work with historians to study American colonial life, for example. They have learned such diverse information as how the earliest colonial settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, traded glass beads for food with native Algonquian peoples; how the lives of slaves on plantations reflected their roots in Africa; and how the first major cities in the United States developed. (45)
翻译题We tend to think that friends and family members are our biggest sourcesof connection,laughter and warmth
问答题Directions:Inthispart,youareallowedtowriteacompositiononthetopicSingle-ParentFamiliesintheUSA.Youshouldwriteatleast150words,basedonthefollowinginformations.WriteyouressayontheANSWERSHEET.
填空题A. Suggest a pre-interview.
B. How do you know your contact?
C. Leave enough time to your referrer.
D. Understand your contact"s position in the company.
E. Put your request in writing.
F. Is your contact willing to provide a referral?
G. Say "thank you".
Whether you"re unemployed or supported by a regular paycheck, job hunting and blindly sending out résumé s can be a tiring and frustrating experience. So when the career gods smile in your direction and provide your dream position at a company where you know an employee, it can feel as though your professional traffic jam just opened onto the six-lane new-job freeway. But before you fire off that "Will you refer me?" email, consider some of these important factors that can make or break your chances at an interview.
1
If your intended referrer is your best college pal or Aunt Winnie, proceed with caution. While it"s great to have friends or family who can vouch for you on a personal level, many hiring managers are more interested in your professional abilities. And getting a referral from someone who can"t even repeat what you do for a living may come across as a weak attempt at getting your foot in the door, not a strong recommendation. The best contact is one who knows your career progression and accomplishments.
2
Your dream job resides in sales and marketing, but your contact at the company works in tech support. At small companies, this link may be sufficient enough to secure you an interview, but you can"t always count on it. The best referral will come from someone who is knowledgeable about the open position and the kind of requirements and experience it entails.
3
If you decide that your contact is a strong one, then make your request in writing. Your potential referrer can then take the time to thoughtfully consider whether or not she is comfortable making an introduction before responding to you with her answer. And you give her a chance to quickly research any pertinent information regarding the hiring manager and job qualifications.
4
When making your referral request, ask your contact whether she is comfortable providing a referral. While you might be eager to cut to the chase by asking directly for an endorsement, a wishy-washy or noncommittal referral can be worse than no referral at all, so don"t take it personally if she refuses. But hopefully you"ve carefully considered your relationship with this person so that the answer is a confident "Yes!"
5
Even if your contact agrees to put you in touch with the hiring manager, offer to take her to lunch so you can provide her with the information she needs to deliver a strong referral. Describe your major professional accomplishments, and relate them to why you think you would be an ideal candidate for the listed position. By offering up the information she needs, you not only increase your chances of obtaining an interview, but you also make her look good to her coworkers by contributing an informed recommendation.
Before you even know if you"ve obtained the interview, send your referrer a thank-you note. You"ll let her know that regardless of the outcome, you appreciate her time and effort. And even if this position doesn"t pan out for you, your graciousness will keep you top-of-mind if similar positions arise in the future!
问答题Directions:
The phenomenon of academic cheating is prevalent in the college campus. More and more people are curious and confused about this phenomenon. Based on the background, give us your opinion and propose your solution to this phenomenon, which should be about 150 words.
填空题This week some top scientists, including Nobel Prize winners, gave their vision of how the world will look in 2056, from gas-powered cars to extraordinary health advances, John Ingham reports on what the world"s greatest minds believe our futures will be. For those of us lucky enough to live that long, 2056 will be a world of almost perpetual youth. The prediction is that we will have found a source of inexhaustible, safe, green energy, and that science will have killed off religion. If they are right we will have removed two of the main causes of war—our dependence on oil and religious prejudice.
Bruce Lahn, professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago, anticipates the ability to produce "unlimited supplies" of transplantable human organs without a needed new organ, such as kidney. The surgeon would contact a commercial organ producer, give him the patient"s immune-logical profile and would then be sent a kidney with the correct tissue type. These organs would be entirely composed of human cells, grown by introducing them into animal hosts, and allowing them to develop into an organ in place of the animal"s own. But Prof. Lahn believes that farmed brains would be "off limits". He says: "Very few people would want to have their brains replaced by someone else"s and we probably don"t want to put a human brain into an animal body. "
Conlin Pillinger, professor of planetary sciences at the Open University fancies that we will be able to show that life did start to evolve on Mars well as Earth. Within 50 years he hopes scientists will prove that alien life came here in Martian meteorites. Meanwhile, we may find evidence of alien life in ancient permanent forest of Mars or on other planets. There is even a chance we will find alien life forms here on Earth. It might be as different as English is to Chinese. Such discoveries are likely to have revolutionary consequences for biology, astronomy and philosophy. They may change the way we look at ourselves and our place in the universe. As soon as the first evidence is found, we will know what to look for and additional discoveries are likely to follow quickly.
Man hopes to set up a self-sufficient colony on Mars, which would be a "life insurance policy" against whatever catastrophes, natural or otherwise, might occur on Earth. The real space race is whether we will colonize off the Earth on to other worlds before money for the space program runs out.
Ellen Heber-Katz, a professor at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, foresees cures for injuries causing paralysis such as the one that affricated Superman star Christopher Reeve. She says: "I believe that the day is not far off when we will be able to prescribe drugs that cause severe spinal cords to heal, hearts to regenerate and lost limbs to regrow." People will come to expect that injured or diseased organs are meant to be repaired from within, in much the same way that we fix an appliance or automobile: by replacing the damaged part with a manufacturer-certified new part. Repairs to the nervous system will start with optic nerves and, in time, the whole body replacement will be routine.
Sydney Brenner, senior distinguished fellow of the Crick-Jacobs Center in California, won the 2002 Nobel Prize for Medicine and says that if there is a global disaster, some humans will survive and evolutions will favor small people with bodies large enough to support the required amount of brain power. "Obesity," he says, "will have been solved."
A. human organs can be repaired like fixing appliances
B. come true with the collaborative efforts
C. scientists" vision of the world in half a century
D. survive all catastrophes on earth
E. humans won"t have to donate organs for transplantation
F. live to 100 and more with vitality
G. alien life will likely be discovered
填空题Most people can identify their top priority at work. Generally, it will be the part of the job that is most productive for their employer: for a merger and acquisitions banker, it could be landing a big deal for a client; for a lorry driver, the punctual delivery of an important consignment; for a hospital doctor or nurse, giving vital treatment to a patient.
But every job is ringed with secondary tasks—the routine but critical stuff covered by codes and guidelines. If such chores are neglected, the consequences may undermine overall success. New research suggests tired workers in demanding jobs start giving up doing those small, but vital, tasks remarkably quickly.
Peter Thiel, the entrepreneur, wrote in the FT last week that computers "excel at efficient data processing but struggle to make basic judgments". In other words, humans are not redundant. But the flesh-and-blood workers who remain now have greater responsibility for more important tasks. If companies pile more work on to them, these weary employees could inadvertently plunge them into disaster.
It is a truism that a tired worker is less productive than a fresh one. But researchers at Wharton business schools have shown that compliance with routine tasks can fall away within one heavy shift.
Their study"s focus was hand hygiene, healthcare"s mundane but powerful weapon against cross-infection. Such is the importance of sanitisation—when done thoroughly, it can reduce infection by the MRSA "superbug" by 95 percent—that hospitals have started to monitor compliance, using electronic tags in sanitisers and workers" badges. Each time a member of staff skips the sanitiser, the omission is logged.
The extraordinarily rich anonymised information from such a system is a treasure trove for big data researchers such as Wharton"s Katherine Milkman. Analysing 13.8 million "unique hand hygiene opportunities" for more than 4,000 staff at 35 hospitals, she and her co-authors found that over a 12-hour shift compliance by an average staff member fell by 8.5 percentage points. Lax handwashing, they suggest, could be costing $25 billion annually in treatment of unnecessary infection in the US—and leading to 70,000 needless deaths.
As Prof. Milkman explained to me last week, the fact that intense work makes it harder to do less important tasks could have profound implications in other walks of life. The study points out that "these deviations pose a threat to the wellbeing of organizations, employees and clients, because such violations can reduce the quality of products produced and services provided as well as creating an unsafe work environment".
Suddenly, it is a little clearer why the exhausted M&A banker skips parts of the ethical code her bank insists on, or why the tired lorry driver jumps the lights to make it to the depot on time. The work could offer clues about how to make sure the steeplejack always checks his harness, even on the final ascent of the skyscraper, and the weary journalist reads through her story for possible errors on deadline.
A．humans are not needed any more in computer age.
B．the abundant anonymised information from the system.
C．weary workers are likely to stop doing small but important things.
D．intense work makes it harder to do some important work.
E．how to make people reduce mistakes in routine work.
F．the efficiency of workers will fall away in a heavy shift.
G．tired workers could inadvertently plunge their company into disaster.
问答题Date: January 9, 2010 To: Percy Shelley, Vice President From: Li Ming, President Subject: Computer Training of the Staff
问答题It"s midday, and your phone"s battery is dangerously close to the 20 per cent mark. If you"re like the majority of people, that red icon will leave you feeling panicked, annoyed and hunting for a spare charger. LG has dubbed this condition "Low Battery Anxiety" and says that nearly 9 out of 10 people suffer from the fear of losing power on their phone.
The company polled a random sample of more than 2,000 adult smartphone users in the US earlier this year. When it comes to choosing between hitting the gym or charging their smartphone, it found one in three people are likely to skip the gym. But millennials tend to have it worse— with 42 per cent likely to skip the gym when choosing between working out or charging their phone. Smartphone users will even "drop everything" and make a U-turn to head back home to charge their phone.
判断题Because speech is the most convenient form of communication, in the future we want essentially natural conversations with computers. The primary point of contact will be a simple device that will act as our window into the world. It will have to be small enough to slip into our pocket, so there will be a screen but no keyboard: you will simply talk to it. The device will be permanently connected to the Internet and will beep relevant information up to you as it comes in. Such devices will evolve naturally in the next five to ten years.
Just how quickly people will adapt to a voice-based Internet world is uncertain. Many believe that, initially at least, we will need similar conventions for the voice to those we use at present on screen: click, back, forward, and so on. But soon you will undoubtedly be able to interact by voice with all those IT-based services you currently connect with over the Internet by means of a keyboard. This will help the Internet serve the entire population.
Changes like this will encompass the whole world. Because English is the language of science, it will probably remain the language in which the technology is most advanced, but most speech, recognition techniques are transferable to other languages provided there is sufficient motivation to undertake the work.
Of course, in any language there are still huge problems for us to solve. Carefully dictated, clear speech can now be understood by computers with only a 4～5 percent error rate, but even the most advanced technology still records 30～40 percent errors with spontaneous speech. Within ten years we will have computers that respond to goal-directed conversation, but for a computer to have a conversation that takes into account human social behaviors is probably 50 years off. We are not going to be chatting to the big screen in the living room just yet.
In the past insufficient speed and memory have held us back, but these days they are less of an issue. However, there are those in the IT community who believe that current techniques will eventually hit a brick wall. Personally, I believe that incremental developments in performance are more likely. But it is true that by about 2040 or so, computer architectures will need to become highly parallel if performance is to keep increasing. Perhaps that will inspire some radically new approaches to speech understanding that will replace the methods we are developing now.
填空题The share of young adults living with their parents edged up last year despite improvements in the economy—a sign that the effects of the recession are lingering.
In a report on the status of families, the Census Bureau on Tuesday said 13.6% of Americans ages 25 to 34 were living with their parents in 2012, up slightly from 13.4% in 2011. Though the trend began before the recession, it accelerated sharply during the downturn. In the early 2000s, about 10% of people in this age group lived at home.
The figures are the latest evidence of the recession"s continuing impact on young Americans, who are finding it harder to land jobs and take on the costs of setting up their own homes.
Vivien Tsuong, 28, has a job as a marketing specialist, but is living at home in San Gabriel, Calif., to save money. In 2010, after returning from Japan, where she taught English for two years, Ms. Tsuong struggled for a year to find work. After landing a position in 2012, she moved into her current job at a company that sells computer and Internet products this spring. Now that she is stable professionally, she wants to build savings, just in case she encounters more job turbulence, she said.
Ms. Tsuong said many of her friends are spending $700 or $800 a month on rent. "I can move out if I really wanted to, but given the situation with rent and gas, I feel like I can save more living at home," she said. "If you can save now, you"re sort of investing in your future."
Demographers say joblessness during the recession and in its aftermath has fueled the trend of young adults living at home. The percentage of 25-to-34-year-olds living with parents climbed from 10.6% early in the 2000s to 11.8% in 2007, when the recession officially began. But after that the figure jumped sharply.
Richard Fry, an economist at Pew Research Center, said the rising share of young adults at home reflects changing attitudes about the phenomenon as well as economic pressures.
"Recent surveys by Pew found over 60% of people ages 18 to 34 knew someone who had moved back in with their parents because of the economy," he said, "and that four of five people ages 25 to 34 who were living with their parents were satisfied with the arrangement."
"That may suggest there is less stigma attached to living at home," said Mr. Fry. "Living with your parents may not be what it once was," he said.
Other trends also are playing a role: Young adults are marrying later, putting off having children and finding it harder to establish stable careers.
The latest findings have important implications for the nation"s housing market and broader recovery, since they suggest fewer young Americans are buying houses, furniture and appliances—purchases that fuel much of the country"s economic growth.
While Americans are spending much more than they did during the throes of the recession, overall consumption growth has remained much weaker than in past recoveries.
A. said people"s attitude about young adults living at home as well as the economic pressure is changing.
B. found that there were 11.8% of Americans ages 25-34 living at home in 2007, which was higher than that in 2011.
C. trend to get married later and postpone having a baby.
D. thinks the consequence of unemployment in recession has intensified the trend of young adults living at home.
E. emphasizes that more people feel it shameful to live with parents nowadays.
F. held that before the recession, the trend of young adults living at home has already begun, and accelerated sharply during the downturn.
G. would like to save money by living at home for fear of running into job turbulence.
填空题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}} You are going to read a list of headings and a text about
the law-making process of the united States. Choose a heading from the list A-G
that best fits the meaning of each numbered part of the text. The first and last
paragraphs of the text are not numbered. There are two extra headings which you
do not need to use.A. Congressional Debate and
Vote. B. Veto over Legislation of Bills. C.
Committee Consideration. D. Counteracting a Presidential
Veto. E. Passage in Both Chambers. F.
Introduction of Bills. G. Functions of the Joint
Committee. The U. S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact
federal legislation. The process by which a proposed bill becomes a law can be
very complex and take years. {{U}} {{U}} 1
{{/U}} {{/U}}Bills may originate in either the House of Representatives or the
Senate, except that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House of
Representatives. Only Senators and Representatives (also known as Members of
Congress) can introduce a bill in their respective chamber. When bills are
introduced, they are given a bill number. The numbering system starts over with
each session of Congress, and bill numbers run in chronological order according
to when the bill is introduced. Bills in the House of Representatives are given
the initial H. R. and Senate Bills are given the initial S. Thus, H. R. 1, would
be the first bill introduced in a new session of Congress or the House of
Representatives (a session of Congress lasts for two years).
{{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}After a bill is introduced, it is
assigned to one or more committees in the chamber where it was introduced. A
committee can amend, rewrite, recommend, or ignore the bill or report back to
the full chamber with no recommendation. Committees typically also submit a
report explaining their views of the bill when sending a bill to the full House
or Senate. {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}Once the
bill moves to the "floor" of either the House of Representatives or the Senate
(again depending on where the bill was introduced), the entire chamber debates
and may amend the bill. It then takes an open vote on the bill. For
noncontroversial votes, the chamber will take a voice vote, but if any
legislator asks for a roll call, then each member's vote is made separately and
publicly. {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}If the
bill passes the first chamber, it is sent to the other chamber where the process
described above is repeated. If the bill is amended in the second chamber, it
must be sent back to the first Chamber because both chambers must agree on the
amendments. If the two chambers cannot immediately agree on how to pass
identical legislation, the bill will be sent to a joint committee (comprised of
both House of Representatives and Senate members), which will attempt to work
out a compromise among the different versions of the bill. If the joint
committee is successful, the bill will be returned to both chambersfor a
vote. {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}Once an
identical bill passes both the House and the Senate, it is sent to the President
who can do the following: (1) sign it and thus make it a law; (2) do nothing and
after 10 days, if Congress stays in session, it becomes law; (3) do nothing and
if Congress adjourns within 10 days, it does not become law; or (4) reject the
bill by vetoing it and the bill will not become law unless the veto is
overturned by Congress. Congress may overturn the President's veto by approving
the bill again with at least a two thirds majority vote in both the House and
the Senate. The bill then becomes a law despite the President's veto.
The state legislatures act in much the same way, although the process for
enacting a bill within the legislatures is often more streamlined. Every state
legislature, except Nebraska's, has two chambers. Most governors have vetor
Power over state legislation, analogous to the veto power of the
President.
问答题Directions:
Write an email of about 100 words to a newspaper editor to advocate people to be responsible for their words on the Internet.
You should include the details you think necessary.
You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write the address.
问答题We all know that the most powerful force in our lives is love. In addition to providing us with soul-warming companionship, the emotion of love is truly inspiring.
Of course, the facts of our lives tell a somewhat sad story. We have a very hard time making love last. The divorce rate in the U.S. is still around 50 percent. That figure doesn"t even cover the many couples that live together without marriage and whose unions are even more likely to dissolve.
Relationships fail because people have the misconception about what to expect in marriage. The fantasy is that everything will be wonderful as long as you find the perfect person-your missing half. But marriage is a team sport. It"s one team with two people, with two different minds. The difficulty is that these two people disagree all the time. They need to know nondestructive ways of expressing differences and must also be prepared for the inevitable disappointments that come from living with another person.
填空题A. Time sometimes stops
B. Moving in slow motion
C. We" re tricked by tech
D. Speeding up with age
E. Time doesn"t fly
F. Time follows mood
G. Lost in music
Ever felt like time stands still while you"re waiting for something, or that as you get older, the years slip through your fingertips with much more ease? With swaths of tech around us and virtually everything being available on demand, it"s a very real possibility that our body clocks and perception of time have changed.
1
As an old saying goes, "Time flies when we"re having fun." In reality, though, we know fully well that it does not. Nevertheless, psychologist James Kellaris conducted his own experiment to find out whether there"s any math to the saying. He had people listen to a piece of music they liked, and when he later asked them how much time they thought had passed, the listeners" estimates were usually longer. Kellaris suggested that when we"re enjoying ourselves, we pay more attention to the event and our minds perceive that as extra time.
2
A recent study has suggested that technology, too, is capable of altering our perception of time. Researchers found that 60% of 18-30 year-olds check their smartphones compulsively for updates, with each glance taking with it bits and pieces of the day. Having so much information readily available at out fingertips speeds up our internal clock. Likewise, each time we check Facebook or log in to Twitter, we subconsciously note the time, making us more aware of how much of it has passed in our day-to-day habits.
3
It"s commonly said that as we get older, time passes in the "blink of an eye". When young and fresh-faced, we"re constantly discovering new and exciting things that we"ve not experienced before, and we naturally pay a lot more attention to them. As we get older, though, those "new" experiences grow pale. By extension, time seems to pass more quickly.
4
If it felt like time was standing still, that might be because your brain genuinely thought it was. The "optical" illusion of time standing still is something that happens when our eyes move quickly from one point to another. According to Kielan Yarrow and a whole host of other psychologists, when our gaze fixes suddenly on the second hand of a clock, our perception of time stretches slightly backwards to compensate for that movement. As a result, your mind tells you that you"ve been looking at the second hand for longer, and thus fills in the blank with what it thinks should be there.
5
Many like to think that they"re not ruled by their emotions, but they do affect our bodies more than you think—at least in terms of how we perceive time. For a few years now, psychologists have carried out studies on the subject and have concluded that individuals experiencing negative emotions concentrate more on the passing of time than those who are in a good mood, which makes a particularly anxiety-filled moment seem longer. That might explain why after we argue, the room"s tension-ridden atmosphere makes time seem to drag on and on.
问答题Expectations surrounding education have spun out of control. On top of a seven-hour school day, our kids march through hours of nightly homework, daily sports practices and band rehearsals, and weekend-consuming assignments and tournaments. Each activity is seen as a step on the ladder to a top college, an enviable job and a successful life. Children living in poverty who aspire to college face the same daunting admissions arms race, as well as the burden of competing for scholarships, with less support than their privileged peers. Even those not bound for college are ground down by the constant measurement in schools under pressure to push through mountains of rote, impersonal material as early as preschool. Yet instead of empowering them to thrive, this drive for success is eroding children"s health and undermining their potential. Modern education is actually making them sick. Working together, parents, educators and students can make small but important changes.
填空题A. Analyzing Your Own Taste B. Being Cautious When Experimenting C. Finding A Model to Follow D. Getting The Final Look Absolutely Right E. Learning to Be Realistic F. Making Regular Conscious Choices When we meet people for the first time, we often make decisions about them based entirely on how they look. And, of course it's something that works both ways, for we too are being judged on our appearance. When we look good, we feel good, which in turn leads to a more confident and self-assured manner. People then pick up on this confidence and respond positively towards us. Undoubtedly, it's what's inside that's important, but sometimes we can send out the wrong signals simply by wearing inappropriate clothing or not spending enough time thinking about how others see us. (41) For example, people often make the mistake of trying to look like someone else they've seen in a magazine, but this is usually a disaster as we all have our own characteristics. Stand in front of a full-length mirror and be honest with yourself about what you see. There is no need to dwell on your faults—we all have good points and bad points—but think instead about the best way to emphasize the good ones. (42) When selecting your clothes each day, think about who you're likely to meet, where you're going to be spending most of your time and what tasks you are likely to perform. Clearly, some outfits will be more appropriate to different sorts of activity and this will dictate your choice to an extent. However, there's no need to abandon your individual taste completely. After all, if you dress to please somebody else's idea of what looks good, you may end up feeling uncomfortable and not quite yourself. (43) But to know your own mind, you have to get to know yourself. What do you truly feel good in? There are probably a few favourite items that you wear a lot—most people wear 20 percent of their wardrobe 80 percent of the time. Look at these clothes and ask yourself what they have in common. Are they neat and tidy, loose and flowing? Then look at the things hanging in your wardrobe that you don't wear and ask yourself why. Go through a few magazines and catalogues and mark the things that catch your eye. Is there a common theme? (44) Some colors bring your natural colouring to life and others can give us a washed-out appearance. Try out new colours by all means, but remember that dressing in bright colours when you really like subtle neutral tones, or vice versa, will make you feel self-conscious and uncomfortable. You know deep down where your own taste boundaries lie. And although it's good to challenge those sometimes with new combinations or shades, take care not to go too far all at once. (45) So, you've chosen an outfit that matches your style, your personality, your shape you're your colouring. But does it fit? If something is too tight or too loose, you won't achieve the desired effect, and no matter what other qualities it has, it won't improve your appearance or your confidence. Sometimes, we buy things without thinking. Some people who dislike shopping grab the first thing they see, or prefer to use mail- order or the Internet. In all cases, if it doesn't fit perfectly, don't buy it, because the finer details are just as important as the overall style. Reappraising your image isn't selfish because everyone who comes into contact with you will benefit. You'll look better and you'll feel a better person all round. And if in doubt, you only need to read Professor Albert Mehrabian's book Silent Messages to remind yourself how important outward appearances are. His research showed that the impact we make on each other depend 55 percent on how we look and behave, 38 percent on how we speak and only 7 percent on what we actually say. So, whatever stage you are at in your life, whatever role you play, isn't it time you made the most of yourself?
问答题Directions:
Write an essay based on the following pie chart. In your writing, you should
1) interpret the chart, and
2) give your comments.
You should write about 150 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
问答题Directions:
Suppose you have damaged your friend"s computer when you lived in his house a few days ago. Write him a letter to
1) make an apology, and
2) suggest a solution.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
翻译题It is easy to underestimate English writer James Heriot
填空题Directions: You are going to read a list of headings and a
text. Choose a heading from the list A-F that best fits the meaning of each
numbered part of the text. The first and last paragraphs of the text are not
numbered. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use.Archaeological study covers an extremely long span of time and a great
variety of subjects. The earliest subjects of archaeological study date from the
origins of humanity. These include fossil remains believed to be of human
ancestors who lived 3.5 million to 4.5 million years ago. The earliest
archaeological sites include those at Hadar, Ethiopia; Laetoli, Tanzania; East
Turkana, Kenya; and elsewhere in East Africa. These sites contain evidence of
the first appearance of bipedal (uprightwalking, apelike early humans).
{{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}} The first
physically modem humans, Homo sapiens, appeared in tropical Africa between
200,000 and 150,000 years ago-dates determined by molecular biologists and
archaeologists working together. Dozens of archaeological sites throughout Asia
and Europe show how people migrated from Africa and settled in these two
continents during the last Ice Age (100,000 to 15,000 years ago). {{U}}
{{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}} Archaeologists have
documented that the development of agriculture took place about 10,000 years
ago. Early domestication—the planting and harvesting of plants and the breeding
and herding of animals— is evident in such places as the ancient settlement of
Jericho in Jordan and in Tehuacán Valley in Mexico. Archaeology plays a major
role in the study of early civilizations, such as those of the Sumerians of
Mesopotamia, who built the city of Ur, and the ancient Egyptians, who are famous
for the pyramids near the city of Giza and the royal sepulchres (tombs) of the
Valley of the Kings at Thebes. {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}}
{{/U}} Archaeological research spans the entire development of
phenomena that are unique to humans. For instance, archaeology tells the story
of when people learned to bury their dead and developed beliefs in an afterlife.
Sites containing signs of the first simple but purposeful burials in graves date
to as early as 40,000 years ago in Europe and Southwest Asia. By the time people
lived in civilizations, burials and funeral ceremonies had become extremely
important and elaborate rituals. {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}}
{{/U}} Archaeology also examines more recent historical periods.
Some archaeologists work with historians to study American colonial life, for
example. They have learned such diverse information as how the earliest colonial
settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, traded glass beads for food with native
Algonquian peoples; how the lives of slaves on plantations reflected their roots
in Africa; and how the first major cities in the United States developed.
{{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}} A. For example, the
Moche lords of Sipán in coastal Peru were buried in about AD 400 in fine cotton
dress and with exquisite ornaments of bead, gold, and silver. Few burials rival
their lavish sepulchres. Being able to trace the development of such rituals
over thousands of years has added to our understanding of the development of
human intellect and spirit. B. By 40,000 years ago people could
be found hunting and gathering food across most of the regions of Africa.
Populations in different regions employed various technologiealdevelopments in
adapting to their different environments and climates. C.
Archaeological studies have also provided much information about the people who
first arrived in the America over 12,000 years ago. D. The
first fossil records of vascular plants—that is, land plants with tissue that
carries food— appeared in the Silurian period. They were simple plants that had
not developed separate stems and leaves. E. Laetoli even
reveals footprints of humans from 3.6 million years ago. Some sites also contain
evidence of the earliest use of simple tools. Archaeologists have also recorded
how primitive forms of humans spread out of Africa into Asia about 1.8 million
years ago, then into Europe about 900,000 years ago. F. One
research project involves the study of garbage in present-day cities across the
United States. This garbage is the modern equivalent of the remains found in the
archaeological record. In the future, archaeologists will continue to move into
new realms of study. G. Other sites that represent great human
achievement are as varied as the cliff dwellings of the ancient Anasazi (a
group of early Native Americans of North America) at Mesa Verde, Colorado; the
Inca city of Machu Picehu high in the Andes Mountains of Peru; and the
mysterious, massive stone portrait heads of remote Easter Island in the
Pacific.
问答题Expectations surrounding education have spun out of control. On top of a seven-hour school day, our kids march through hours of nightly homework, daily sports practices and band rehearsals, and weekend-consuming assignments and tournaments. Each activity is seen as a step on the ladder to a top college, an enviable job and a successful life. Children living in poverty who aspire to college face the same daunting admissions arms race, as well as the burden of competing for scholarships, with less support than their privileged peers. Even those not bound for college are ground down by the constant measurement in schools under pressure to push through mountains of rote, impersonal material as early as preschool. Yet instead of empowering them to thrive, this drive for success is eroding children"s health and undermining their potential. Modem education is actually making them sick. Working together, parents, educators and students can make small but important changes.
问答题Directions:
Suppose your university is going to host a summer camp for high school students. Write a notice to
1) briefly introduce the camp activities, and
2) call for volunteers.
Yon should Write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your name or the name of your university.
Do not write your address.
填空题Directions: You are going to read a list of headings and a
text about what parents are supposed to do to guide their children into
adulthood. Choose a heading from the list A-G that best fits the meaning of each
numbered part of the text. The first paragraph of the text is not numbered.
There is two extra headings which you do not need to use.A. Set a Good Example for Your Kids. B. Build Your
Kids'Work Skills. C. Place Time Limits on Leisure
Activities. D. Talk about the Future on a Regular
Basis. E. Help Kids Develop Coping Strategies.
F. Help Your Kids Figure Out Who They Are. G. Build Your
Kids'Sense of Responsibility. Mothers and fathers can do a lot
to ensure a safe landing in early adulthood for their kids. Even if a job's
starting salary seems too small to satisfy an emerging adult's need for rapid
content, the transition from school to work can be less of a setback if the
start-up adult is ready for the move. Here are a few measures, drawn from my
book Ready or Not, Here Life Comes, that parents can take to prevent what I call
"work-life unreadiness" : {{U}} {{U}} 1
{{/U}} {{/U}}You can start this process when they are 11 or 12. Periodically
review their emerging strengths and weaknesses with them and work together on
any shortcomings, like difficulty in communicating well or collaborating. Also,
identify the kinds of interests they keep coming back to, as these offer clues
to the careers that will fit them best. {{U}} {{U}}
2 {{/U}} {{/U}}Kids need a range of authentic role models—as opposed to
members of their clique, pop stars and vaunted athletes. Have regular
dinner-table discussions about people the family knows and how they got where
they are. Discuss the joys and downsides of your own career and encourage your
kids to form some ideas about their own future. When asked what they want to do,
they should be discouraged from saying "I have no idea. " They can change their
minds 200 times, but having only a foggy view of the future is of little
good. {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}Teachers are
responsible for teaching kids how to learn ; parents should be responsible for
teaching them how to work. Assign responsibilities around the house and make
sure homework deadlines are met. Encourage teenagers to take a part-time job.
Kids need plenty of practice delaying gratification and deploying effective
organizational skills, such as managing time and setting priorities.
{{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}Playing video games encourages
immediate content. And hours of watching TV shows with canned laughter only
teaches kids to process information in a passive way. At the same time,
listening through earphones to the same monotonous beats for long stretches
encourages kids to stay inside their bubble instead of pursuing other endeavors.
All these activities can prevent the growth of important communication and
thinking skills and make it difficult for kids to develop the kind of sustained
concentration they will need for most jobs. {{U}} {{U}}
5 {{/U}} {{/U}}They should know how to deal with setbacks, stresses and
feelings of inadequacy. They should also learn how to solve problems and resolve
conflicts, ways to brainstorm and think critically. Discussions at home can help
kids practice doing these things and help them apply these skills to everyday
life situations. What about the son or daughter who is grown
but seems to be struggling and wandering aimlessly through early adulthood?
Parents still have a major role to play, but now it is more delicate. They have
to be careful not to come across as disappointed in their child. They should
exhibit strong interest and respect for whatever currently interests their
fledging adult (as naive or ill conceived as it may seem) while becoming a
partner in exploring options for the future. Most of all, these new adults must
feet that they are respected and supported by a family that appreciates
them.
问答题Directions:
Write an email of about 100 words to a newspaper editor to advocate people to be responsible for their words on the Internet.
You should include the details you think necessary.
You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
问答题Directions:
Suppose you want to study at a foreign university. Write a letter to
1) ask about its accommodation and fees, and
2) what qualifications one needs for acceptance.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write your address.
填空题Most people can identify their top priority at work. Generally, it will be the part of the job that is most productive for their employer: for a merger and acquisitions banker, it could be landing a big deal for a client; for a lorry driver, the punctual delivery of an important consignment; for a hospital doctor or nurse, giving vital treatment to a patient.
But every job is ringed with secondary tasks—the routine but critical stuff covered by codes and guidelines. If such chores are neglected, the consequences may undermine overall success. New research suggests tired workers in demanding jobs start giving up doing those small, but vital, tasks remarkably quickly.
Peter Thiel, the entrepreneur, wrote in the FT last week that computers "excel at efficient data processing but struggle to make basic judgments". In other words, humans are not redundant. But the flesh-and-blood workers who remain now have greater responsibility for more important tasks. If companies pile more work on to them, these weary employees could inadvertently plunge them into disaster.
It is a truism that a tired worker is less productive than a fresh one. But researchers at Wharton business schools have shown that compliance with routine tasks can fall away within one heavy shift.
Their study"s focus was hand hygiene, healthcare"s mundane but powerful weapon against cross-infection. Such is the importance of sanitisation—when done thoroughly, it can reduce infection by the MRSA "superbug" by 95 per cent—that hospitals have started to monitor compliance, using electronic tags in sanitisers and workers" badges. Each time a member of staff skips the sanitiser, the omission is logged.
The extraordinarily rich anonymised information from such a system is a treasure trove for big data researchers such as Wharton"s Katherine Milkman. Analysing 13.8 million "unique hand hygiene opportunities" for more than 4,000 staff at 35 hospitals, she and her co-authors found that over a 12-hour shift compliance by an average staff member fell by 8.5 percentage points. Lax handwashing, they suggest, could be costing $25 billion annually in treatment of unnecessary infection in the US—and leading to 70,000 needless deaths.
As Prof Milkman explained to me last week, the fact that intense work makes it harder to do less important tasks could have profound implications in other walks of life. The study points out that "these deviations pose a threat to the wellbeing of organisations, employees and clients, because such violations can reduce the quality of products produced and services provided as well as creating an unsafe work environment".
Suddenly, it is a little clearer why the exhausted M&A banker skips parts of the ethical code her bank insists on, or why the tired lorry driver jumps the lights to make it to the depot on time. The work could offer clues about how to make sure the steeplejack always checks his harness, even on the final ascent of the skyscraper, and the weary journalist reads through her story for possible errors on deadline.
A. humans are not needed any more in computer age.
B. the abundant anonymised information from the system.
C. weary workers are likely to stop doing small but important things.
D. intense work makes it harder to do some important work.
E. how to make people reduce mistakes in routine work.
F. the efficiency of workers will fall away in a heavy shift.
G. tired workers could inadvertently plunge their company into disaster.
问答题Directions:
In this part, you are allowed to write a letter to express your apologize for the reason why you can"t attend the foreign language class. You should write a letter to your teacher to show the reason and apologize.
You should write about 100 words on the
ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not
write the address.
问答题Directions:
Suppose you are going to invite one of your American friends to see a film, now
1) recommend one of your favorite movies and
2) invite him to see the film.
You should write about 100 words
on ANSWER SHEET 2.
Do not
sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
填空题Directions: You are going to read a list of headings and a
text about leadership. Choose a heading from the list A-F that best fits the
meaning of each numbered part of the text. The first and last paragraphs of the
text are not numbered. There is one extra heading which you do not need to
use.The word economy has run into a brick wall. Despite
countless warnings in recent years about the need to address a potential hunger
crisis in poor countries and an energy crisis worldwide, world leaders failed to
think ahead. The result is a global food crisis. Wheat, corn and rice prices
have more than doubled in the past two years. And oil prices have increased more
than three times since the start of 2004. These food-price increases, combined
with increasing energy costs, will slow if not stop economic growth in many
parts of the world and will even affect political stability, as evidenced by the
protest riots that have erupted in places like Haiti, Bangladesh and Burkina
Faso. Practical solutions to these problems do exist, but we'll have to start
thinking ahead and acting globally. The crisis has its roots in
four interlinked trends. The first is the chronically low productivity of
farmers in the poorest countries, caused by their inability to pay for seeds,
fertilizers and irrigation. The second is the misguided polity in the U. S. and
Europe of subsidizing the diversion of food crops to produce biofuels like
corn-based ethanol. The third is climate change: take the recent droughts in
Australia and Europe, which cut the global production of grain in 2005 and 2006.
The fourth is the growing global demand for food and feed grain brought on by
swelling populations and incomes. In short, rising demand has hit a limited
supply, with the poor taking the hardest blow. So, what should
be done? Here are three steps to ease the current food crisis and avoid the
potential for a global crisis. The first is to promote the dramatic success of
Malawi, a country in southern Africa, which three years ago established a
special fund to help its farmers get fertilizer and seeds with high
productivity. Malawi's harvest doubled after just one years. An international
fund based on the Malawi model would cost a mere $10 per person annually in the
rich world, or $10 billion altogether. Such a fund could fight hunger as
effectively as the Global fund to Gight AIDS, TB and Malaria is controlling
those diseases. Second, the U. S. and Europe should abandon
their policies of paying partly for the change of food into biofuels. The U. S.
government gives farmers a taxpayer-financed payment of 51 cents per gallon of
ethanol (乙醇) changed from corn. There may be a case for biofuels produced on
lands that do not produce foods—tree crops, grasses and wood products—but
there's no case for the government to pay to put the world's dinner into the gas
tank. Third, we urgently need to weather-proof die world's crops as soon and as
effectively as possible. For a poor farmer, sometimes something as simple as a
farm pond—which collects rainwater to be used in dry weather—can make the
difference between a good harvest and a bad one. The world has already committed
to establishing a Climate Adaptation Find to help poor regions climate-proof
vital economic activities such as food production and health care but has not
yet acted upon the promise. A. poor countries
B. all the world C. the Climate Adaptation Fund
D. the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria E.
Bangladesh F. Malawi G. the US and
Europe Anti-hunger campaigns are successful in {{U}}
{{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}} Production of biofuels are
subsidized in {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}
Protest riots occurred in {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}
The efforts were not so successful with {{U}} {{U}} 4
{{/U}} {{/U}} Food shortage become more serious in {{U}}
{{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}
问答题Toxic workplace relationships, failing company fortunes and limited advancement opportunities are just a few compelling reasons to quit a job. But career experts say many workplace problems that employees may think are irreconcilable can be improved or even resolved with some action and a change of attitude. First, find out if your problems are unique. Reach out to co-workers in other departments, peers through industry associations or even call colleagues at other companies to compare notes. Second, separate the demands of work from your own expectations of yourself. If you're unhappy about falling short of your own personal career goals, try breaking your big goals into smaller, more realistically achievable ones. This can improve your morale by reinforcing small successes. Third, pitch your boss on a less formal and more goal-oriented workplace. And offer improved results in exchange for more autonomy. If the operational processes of your job are leading to failure, alter your approach, if you can.
填空题A. Universities have been chosen as the way for competition as well as peace.
B. The undergraduates are supported to study abroad during their academic years.
C. The globalization of universities is realized through various ways.
D. The US has played the leading role in the commercialized technologies.
E. The number of students studying abroad has been increasing.
F. The United States remains deeply hesitant about sustaining the research-university model.
G. The conduction of research has been greatly affected by globalization.
As never before in their long history, universities have become instruments of national competition as well as instruments of peace. They are the place of the scientific discoveries that move economies forward, and the primary means of educating the talent required to obtain and maintain competitive advantage. But at the same time, the opening of national borders to the flow of goods, services, information and especially people has made universities a powerful force for global integration, mutual understanding and geopolitical stability.
1
In response to the same forces that have driven the world economy, universities have become more self-consciously global: seeking students from around the world who represent the entire range of cultures and values, sending their own students abroad to prepare them for global careers, offering courses of study that address the challenges of an interconnected world and collaborative research programs to advance science for the benefit of all humanity.
2
Over the past three decades the number of students leaving home each year to study abroad has grown at an annual rate of 3.9 percent, from 800,000 in 1975 to 2.5 million in 2004. Most travel from one developed nation to another, but the flow from developing to developed countries is growing rapidly. The reverse flow, from developed to developing countries, is on the rise, too. Today foreign students earn 30 percent of the doctoral degrees awarded in the crossing borders for undergraduate study is growing as well, to 8 percent of the in the U.K. In the United States, 20 percent of the newly hired professors in science and engineering are foreign-born, and in China many newly hired faculty members at the top research universities received their graduate education abroad.
3
Universities are also encouraging students to spend some of their undergraduate years in another country. In Europe, more than 140,000 students participate in the Erasmus program each year, taking courses for credit in one of 2,200 participating institutions across the continent. And in the United States, institutions are helping place students in summer internships abroad to prepare them for global careers. Yale and Harvard have led the way, offering every undergraduate at least one international study or internship opportunity and providing the financial resources to make it possible.
4
Globalization is also reshaping the way research is done. One new trend involves sourcing portions of a research program to another country. Yale professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Tian Xu directs a research center focused on the genetics of human disease at Shanghai"s Fudan University, in collaboration with faculty colleagues from both schools. The Shanghai center has 95 employees and graduate students working in a 4,300-square-meter laboratory facility. Yale faculty, post-doctors and graduate students visit regularly and attend videoconference seminars with scientists from both campuses. The arrangement benefits both countries; Xu"s Yale lab is more productive, thanks to the lower costs of conducting research in China, and Chinese graduate students, postdoctors and faculty get on-the-job training from a world-class scientist and his U.S. team.
5
As a result of its strength in science, the United States has consistently led the world in the commercialization of major new technologies, from the mainframe computer and the integrated circuit of the 1960s to the Internet infrastructure and applications software of the 1990s. The link between university-based science and industrial application is often indirect but sometimes highly visible: Silicon Valley was intentionally created by Stanford University, and Route 128 outside Boston has long housed companies spun off from MIT and Harvard. Around the world, governments have encouraged copying of this model, perhaps most successfully in Cambridge, England, where Microsoft and scores of other leading software and biotechnology companies have set up shop around the university.
For all its success, the United States remains deeply hesitant about sustaining the research-university model. Most politicians recognize the link between investment in science and national economic strength, but support for research funding has been unsteady. The budget of the National Institutes of Health doubled between 1998 and 2003, but has risen more slowly than inflation since then. Support for the physical sciences and engineering barely kept pace with inflation during that same period. The attempt to make up lost ground is welcome, but the nation would be better served by steady, predictable increases in science funding at the rate of long-term GDP growth, which is on the order of inflation plus 3 percent per year.
问答题1. Describe the differences of the income sources between Chinese and American students. 2. Analyze possible reasons for these differences. 3. Predicate future tendency. Source of income Percentage of Total Income Parents Pan-time job Fellowship or Scholarship American studentsChinese students 50%90% 35%5% 15%5%
问答题You are asked to write a recommendation letter of your student, Li Ming, for a position of administrator in a company. Address it to the manager and express your reason (s) clearly.
Write the letter with no less than 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the letter. Use "Wang Hua" instead. Do not write the address.
问答题Directions:Inthispart,youareallowedtowriteacompositiononthetopicTheChangesinChina"sForeignTrade.Youshouldwriteatleast150words,basedonthefollowinginformations.WriteyouressayontheANSWERSHEET.
填空题Directions: In the following article, some sentences have
been removed. For Questions, choose the most suitable one from the list A-G to
fit into each of the numbered blanks. There are two extra choices, which do not
fit in any of the gaps. The first two stages
in the development of civilized man were probably the invention of primitive
weapons and the discovery of fire, although nobody knows exactly when he
acquired the use of the latter. {{U}} {{U}} 1
{{/U}} {{/U}}Animals have a few cries that serve as signals, but even the
highest apes have not been found able to pronounce words, even with the most
intensive professional instruction. The superior brain of man is apparently a
necessity for the mastering of speech. When man became sufficiently intelligent,
we must suppose that he gradually increased the number of cries for different
purposes. It was a great day when he discovered that speech could be used for
narrative. There are those who think that in this respect picture language
preceded oral language. A man could draw a picture on the wall of his cave to
show in which direction he had gone, or what prey he hoped to catch. {{U}}
{{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}} Two important stages came not
so long before the dawn of written history. The first was the domestication of
animals; the second was agriculture. Agriculture made possible an immense
increase in the number of the human species in the regions where it could be
successfully practiced. {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}
{{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}These inventions and
discoveries—fire, speech, weapons domestic animals, agriculture, and
writing—made the existence of civilized communities possible. From about 3000 B.
C. until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution less than two hundred years
ago there was no technical advance comparable to these. During this long period
man had time to become accustomed to his technique, and to develop the beliefs
and political organizations appropriate to it. There was, of course, an immense
extension in the area of civilized life. At first it had been confined to the
Nile, the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Indus, but at the end of the period in
question it covered much the greatest part of the inhabitable globe. I do not
mean to suggest that there was no technical progress during the time. {{U}}
{{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}A. Probably picture language and oral
language developed side by side. I am inclined to think that language has been
the most important single factor in the development of man. B.
Another fundamental technical advance was writing, which, like spoken language,
developed out of pictures, but as soon as it had reached a certain stage, it was
possible to keep records and transmit information to people who were not present
when the information was given. C. With the development
of civilization, primitive people who lived in caves at that time badly needed a
language, which would help them to communicate with one another.
D. The origin of language is also obscure. No doubt it began very
gradually. E. In fact, there was progress—there were even two
inventions of very great importance, namely, gunpowder and the mariner's
compass—but neither of these can be compared in their revolutionary power to
such things as speech and writing and agriculture. F. These
were, at first, only those in which nature fertilized the soil after each
harvest. Agriculture met with violent resistance from the pastoral nomads, but
the agricultural way of life prevailed in the end because of the physical
comforts it provided. G. But industry was a step in human
progress to which subsequently there was nothing comparable until our own
machine age.
问答题Directions:A.Studythefollowinggraphscarefullyandwriteanessayinatleast150words.B.YouressaymustbewrittenclearlyontheANSWERSHEET2.C.Youressayshouldcoverthesethreepoints:1.effectofthecountry'sgrowinghumanpopulationonitswildlife2.possiblereasonfortheeffect3.yoursuggestionforwildlifeprotection
填空题New knowledge and sophisticated diagnostic techniques are helping doctors recognize early signs of autism, Alzheimer"s disease and heart problems in women. Harvard experts report on the advances that are giving patients hope.
Early diagnosis of autism is critical because educational programs that build upon a child"s strengths and improve social skills may help sculpt the developing brain, minimizing the impact of the illness later in life. But spotting the disorder is hard since there is no test for it, although scientists are slowly uncovering gene abnormalities that make children vulnerable to autism. Last week The New England Journal of Medicine reported that a specific location on chromosome 16 was the site of mutations responsible for some cases of autism.
For now, diagnosis depends on observing a child"s behavior. It"s a complex process, since no two cases are alike and signs range from mild to severe. Indeed, even though signs of autism may be apparent before their first birthday, most children aren"t diagnosed until the age of 3. That makes parents, who are so intimately familiar with their child"s behavior, perhaps the most effective diagnostic "tools". The American Academy of Pediatrics recently issued screening guidelines recommending that pediatricians engage parents in evaluating infants for autism. Even babies developing typically, the guidelines say, should be screened at set intervals, such as during the 9-, 18- and 24-month visits.
Alzheimer"s disease, which begins years, even decades, before it causes symptoms, is a quietly ticking time bomb. But until recently doctors had no diagnostic test that could "hear" the ticking. Unfortunately, it didn"t matter much that Alzheimer"s couldn"t be spotted early—at a stage called mild cognitive impairment, or MCI—since there were no treatments. Today, however, there are new diagnostic tests that can detect Alzheimer"s at an early stage, and several disease-modifying drugs are in advanced clinical trials.
The brain shrinkage caused by Alzheimer"s can now be measured with volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This technique takes a series of MRI brain scans and then uses sophisticated mathematical models to analyze the results. Most important, volumetric MRI enables researchers to identify subtle shrinkage in brain areas first affected by Alzheimer"s, such as the hippocampus, which is involved in memory.
Another technology in limited clinical use is fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET). Images produced by FDG-PET reveal patterns of glucose metabolism in the cerebral cortex, the site of abstract thought, reasoning and learning. Because active neurons guzzle glucose for energy, diminished uptake in a specific pattern can denote Alzheimer"s. In the research setting, scientists have even used FDG-PET to identify people who do not yet have Alzheimer"s but are at risk for developing it, or for developing mild cognitive impairment.
Although all these new imaging and biochemical developments are individually promising, the combination of several different imaging tests and biochemical markers may yield the most accurate diagnosis. For example, scientists at the New York University School of Medicine have reported that combining volumetric MRI of the hippocampus with spinal-fluid measures improved diagnostic accuracy in identifying people with mild cognitive impairment who are most likely to progress to Alzheimer"s.
When it comes to diagnosing the most common kind of heart disease, some cardiologists share Henry Higgins"s lament in "My Fair Lady": "Why can"t a woman be more like a man?" That"s because many women don"t have the typical symptoms, like crushing chest pain and shortness of breath brought on by physical activity or stress. Instead, they have diffuse discomfort in the chest, unusual exhaustion or depression without an apparent reason. To make matters worse, the tests considered best at diagnosing coronary-artery disease generally don"t work as well for women as they do for men. As a result, an alarming number of women with heart disease go undiagnosed and untreated despite repeated visits to the doctor and the emergency room.
A. because there still exists no test for diagnosis by now
B. because many women don"t have the typical symptoms like men for diagnosis
C. the pattern of glucose metabolism
D. with volumetric magnetic resonance imaging
E. the most efficient technology for diagnosing Alzheimer is combination of different technologies
F. those babies without autism when they start to say single words by 16 months
G. the symptoms of heart disease often result from cholesterol-filled plaques.
问答题Most people know how to count, but the way we master this ability remains something of a puzzle. Numerals were invented only around four to five thousand years ago, meaning it is unlikely that enough time has elapsed for specialized parts of the brain for processing numbers to evolve, which suggests that math is largely a cultural invention. It appears to be based on an interface between vision and reasoning that we share with other animals, allowing us to "see" small numbers—up to around five—without counting. This ability—often called 'the number sense'—lays the foundations of later mathematical knowledge, but its basis is poorly understood. It has been argued that the number sense itself may be innate, but this fails to account for why learning to master the use of small numbers is such a difficult and drawn-out process in children.
问答题For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition of no
less than 100 words on Income Sources between Chinese and American Students.
Study the following table carefully and your composition must be based on the in
formation given in the table. Write three paragraphs to: 1.
Describe the differences of the income sources between Chinese and American
students. 2. Analyze possible reasons for these
differences. 3. Predicate future tendency.
Source of income Percentage of Total Income
Parents
Part-time job
Fellowship or Scholarship
American studentsChinese students
50%90%
35%5%
15%5%
问答题The great joy of immersion in one particular story is that it stops you thinking about time and how to spend it. I recently counted the books in the Tower of Doom, estimated how long it would take to read them all, calculated this against my available reading hours on an average day, and concluded that the only realistic solution was to get sent to jail, where I might be able to fit in some regular exercise too. Perhaps I could read faster. President Theodore Roosevelt allegedly finished up to three books a day, advising his son: "The wise thing to do is simply to skip the vulgar words and untruth, and get the benefit out of the rest. "This is good advice for anyone who considers watching all six seasons of Lost, but it also makes the process more similar to data processing than actual enjoyment.
问答题Hallowell argues in his new book,
Driven to Distraction at Work: How to Focus and Be More Productive,
that when you feel real or imagined concerns piling on, share them with a friend, and there"s a better chance that aimless anxiety will change into problem-solving. He believes that worrying alone is one of the major reasons that people can"t focus, both at work and elsewhere in their lives.
Worrying alone does not have to be toxic, but it tends to become toxic because in isolation we lose perspective. We tend to globalize, catastrophize, when no one is there to act as a reality cheek. Our imaginations run wild.
Indeed, Samuel Johnson, a severe worrier himself, called worry a "disease of the imagination". When we worry alone we risk losing touch with reality, becoming paralyzed in worry, making bad decisions, and even getting sick, as toxic worry depresses immune function.
问答题Directions:
Suppose your friend Lucy asked you for some information about a successful interview. Write a letter to
1) give her some advice, and
2) express your best wishes.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
问答题Direction:
In this section there is a text in English. Translate it into Chinese, write your translation on the ANSWER SHEET.
It sounds great. Something is desperately needed and someone who has it agrees to give it for no charge except that "that something" involves genetically engineered crops which in some parts of the world still raise environmental concerns and "that someone" is the company Monsanto, the biotech giant which in the past was accused of developing genetically engineered crops that were too expensive for most African farmers.
"Here you are with the problem. You"re looking for the solution. Mosanto is willing to give it to all, so it"s the best partner we have because they are helping us to solve our problem."
Everyone is keen to stress that genetically engineered or transgenic crops are just one of the options. The project is also working on conventional plant breeding and a sort of halfway house between conventional breeding and genetic engineering called marke-rassisted selection.
问答题Suddenly, as you may have noticed, millennials are everywhere. Not that this group of people born after 1980 and before 2000—a giant group now estimated to number at least 80 million Americans, more than the baby boom generation—was ever invisible. What"s changed is their status. Spoiled and helicoptered, catered to by 24-hour TV cable networks, fussed over by marketers and college recruiters, analyzed by psychologists, demographers and trend-spotters, the millennial generation has come fully into its own. The word "millennial," whether as noun or adjective, has monopolized the nonstop cultural conversation, invariably freighted with time spirit import. The New York Times is no exception. A recent search of The New York Times database turned up no fewer than 122 mentions of "millennial" so far in 2014, on topics ranging from TV and pop music to travel and literature.
写作 Directions:
Suppose you are planning a tour of a historical site for a group of international students. Write an email to
1) tell them about the site, and
2) give them some tips for the tour.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your own name. Use 'Li Ming' instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition of no
less than 100 words on Income Sources between Chinese and American Students.
Study the following table carefully and your composition must be based on the in
formation given in the table. Write three paragraphs to: 1.
Describe the differences of the income sources between Chinese and American
students. 2. Analyze possible reasons for these
differences. 3. Predicate future tendency.
Source of income Percentage of Total Income
Parents
Part-time job Fellowship
Scholarship
American students
50%
35%
15%
Chinese students
90%
5%
5%
问答题Quality of life is about more than the size of your pay cheque. It means being able to spend an evening with your family once a week--instead of keeping one parent at home with the kids while the other works, and then exchanging a few words when you switch roles halfway through the day. It means being able to request working hours that allow you to travel when buses are running so you do not have to walk miles to get to work.
Those things matter to workers. When someone on a low wage talks about finding a better job, better pay is just part of the mix. This is why campaigns groups across America are trying to win better conditions—enabling employees to address questions of health, safety and life quality, alongside their wage gains. Short-notice rotas, as much as low pay or unsafe conditions, are central to a spate of protests across the US.
写作Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthechartbelow.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.某高校学生手机阅读目的调查
问答题It"s midday, and your phone"s battery is dangerously close to the 20 per cent mark. If you"re like the majority of people, that red icon will leave you feeling panicked, annoyed and hunting for a spare charger. L Company has dubbed this condition "Low Battery Anxiety" and says that nearly 9 out of 10 people suffer from the fear of losing power on their phone.
The company polled a random sample of more than 2,000 adult smartphone users in the US earlier this year. When it comes to choosing between hitting the gym or charging their smartphone, it found one in three people are likely to skip the gym. But millennials tend to have it worse—with 42 per cent likely to skip the gym when choosing between working out or charging their phone. Smart phone users will even "drop everything" and make a U-turn to head back home to charge their phone.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyouressay,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcommentsYoushouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET2.
填空题The first two stages in the development of civilized man were probably the invention of primitive weapons and the discovery of fire, although nobody knows exactly when he acquired the use of the latter. (41) Animals have a few cries that serve as signals, but even the highest apes have not been found able to pronounce words, even with the most intensive professional instruction. The superior brain of man is apparently a necessity for the mastering of speech. When man became sufficiently intelligent, we must suppose that he gradually increased the number of cries for different purposes. It was a great day when he discovered that speech could be used for narrative. There are those who think that in this respect picture language preceded oral language. A man could draw a picture on the wall of his cave to show in which direction he had gone, or what prey he hoped to catch. (42) Two important stages came not so long before the dawn of written history. The first was the domestication of animals ; the second was agriculture. Agriculture made possible an immense increase in the number of the human species in the regions where it could be successfully practiced. (43) (44) These inventions and discoveries—fire, speech, weapons domestic animals, agriculture, and writing—made the existence of civilized communities possible. From about 3000 B. C. until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution less than two hundred years ago there was no technical advance comparable to these. During this long period man had time to become accustomed to his technique, and to develop the beliefs and political organizations appropriate to it. There was, of course, an immense extension in the area of civilized life. At first it had been confined to the Nile, the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Indus, but at the end of the period in question it covered much the greatest part of the inhabitable globe. I do not mean to suggest that there was no technical progress during the time. (45) A. Probably picture language and oral language developed side by side. I am inclined to think that language has been the most important single factor in the development of man. B. Another fundamental technical advance was writing, which, like spoken language, developed out of pictures, but as soon as it had reached a certain stage, it was possible to keep records and transmit information to people who were not present when the information was given. C. With the development of civilization, primitive people who lived in caves at that time badly needed a language, which would help them to communicate with one another. D. The origin of language is also obscure. No doubt it began very gradually. E. In fact, there was progress—there were even two inventions of" very great importance, namely, gunpowder and the mariner's compass—but neither of these can be compared in their revolutionary power to such things as speech and writing and agriculture. F. These were, at first, only those in which nature fertilized the soil after each harvest. Agriculture met with violent resistance from the pastoral nomads, but the agricultural way of life prevailed in the end because of the physical comforts it provided. G. But industry was a step in human progress to which subsequently there was nothing comparable until our own machine age.
问答题Three hundred years ago news travelled by word of mouth or letter, and circulated in taverns and coffee houses in the form of pamphlets, newsletters and broadsides. Noted one observer: "The coffee houses particularly are very commodious for a free conversation, and for reading at an easie rate all manner of printed news." Everything changed in 1833 when the first mass-audience newspaper, the New York Sun, pioneered the use of advertising to reduce the cost of news, thus giving advertisers access to a wider audience. The penny press, followed by radio and television, turned news from a two-way conversation into a one-way broadcast, with a relatively small number of firms controlling the media.
Now, the news industry is returning to something closer to the coffee house. The internet is making news more participatory, social, diverse and partisan, reviving the discursive ethos of the era before mass media.
问答题Directions:
You are supposed to write for the Students" Union a notice to recruit volunteers for a conference on an international trade fair, you should conclude the basic qualification of applicant and the other information you think relative.
You should write about 100 words.
Do not
sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Students" Union" instead.
Do not
write your address.
问答题Direction:
You have just come back from New York and found a book in your luggage that you forgot to return to Mike, your landlord there. Write him a letter to
1) make an apology, and
2) suggest a solution.
You should write about 100 words on
ANSWER SHEET 2.
Do not
sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
填空题A. You are not alone
B. Experience helps you grow
C. Pave your own unique path
D. Most of your fears are unreal
E. Think about the present moment
F. Don"t fear responsibility for your life
G. There are many things to be grateful for
Some Old Truths to Help You Overcome Tough Times
Unfortunately, life is not a bed of roses. We are going through life facing sad experiences. Moreover, we are grieving various kinds of loss: a friendship, a romantic relationship or a house. Hard times may hold you down at what usually seems like the most inopportune time, but you should remember that they won"t last forever.
When our time of mourning is over, we press forward, stronger with a greater understanding and respect for life. Furthermore, these losses make us mature and eventually move us toward future opportunities for growth and happiness. I want to share these old truths I"ve learned along the way.
1
Fear is both useful and harmful. This normal human reaction is used to protect us by signaling danger and preparing us to deal with it. Unfortunately, people create inner barriers with a help of exaggerating fears. My favorite actor Will Smith once said, "Fear is not real. It is a product of thoughts you create. Do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real. But fear is a choice." I do completely agree that fears are just the product of our luxuriant imagination.
2
If you are surrounded by problems and cannot stop thinking about the past, try to focus on the present moment. Many of us are weighed down by the past or anxious about the future. You may feel guilty over your past, but you are poisoning the present with the things and circumstances you cannot change. Value the present moment and remember how fortunate you are to be alive. Enjoy the beauty of the world around and keep the eyes open to see the possibilities before you. Happiness is not a point of future and not a moment from the past, but a mindset that can be designed into the present.
3
Sometimes it is easy to feel bad because you are going through tough times. You can be easily caught up by life problems that you forget to pause and appreciate the things you have. Only strong people prefer to smile and value their life instead of crying and complaining about something.
4
No matter how isolated you might feel and how serious the situation is, you should always remember that you are not alone. Try to keep in mind that almost everyone respects and wants to help you if you are trying to make a good change in your life, especially your dearest and nearest people. You may have a circle of friends who provide constant good humor, help and companionship. If you have no friends or relatives, try to participate in several online communities, full of people who are always willing to share advice and encouragement.
5
Today many people find it difficult to trust their own opinion and seek balance by gaining objectivity from external sources. This way you devalue your opinion and show that you are incapable of managing your own life. When you are struggling to achieve something important you should believe in yourself and be sure that your decision is the best. You live in your skin, think your own thoughts, have your own values and make your own choices.
问答题Global trade and the economic incentive polices of individual national economies will play an important role in the recovery from the current global decline. The US economy is promoting from the global economy during the current global decline. It may not feel like that, as we in the US now have about one-sixth of the labor force officially unemployed or underemployed. But the national income accounting is real. If not for our shrinking trade surplus, for example, the first quarter of this year would have seen a fall of 7.9% of GDP, instead of 5.5%. That's a big difference in terms of output and employment. Countries that export a lot get hit harder in the decline as their trade surplus shrinks. And countries that export significant amounts to the US have also been hit hard. This seems to offer a lesson for developing countries. It's good to make your trade diverse, and maybe not become excessively dependent on markets where there are enormous asset bubbles.
问答题It"s clear that anonymous social networks are growing quickly: Whisper has drawn 2.5 billion page views a month, while Secret has 3.5 billion page views; Snapchat has attracted 26 million users. Some call them online confessionals, others believe they"re merely a millennial fad, and most just see them as vehicles for inappropriate commentary. While that may be the case now, the noise will eventually die down.
And more importantly, there is a larger lesson to be learned for companies looking to soon capitalize on this new and active audience. Like traditional social networks once were, anonymous ones are in their infancy, and the potential for services like Whisper is huge because there is legitimacy behind what people are saying. There"s a strong need for enterprises to be able to capture public input in a place where customers feel safe in order to turn that feedback into action.
问答题Directions:
In this part, you are allowed to write a letter to express your concern for the hurricane of your friend"s hometown. You should write a letter to your friend to show the sympathy.
You should write about 100 words on the
ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not
write the address.
问答题1. describe the table. 2. state your opinions drawn from it. You should write at least 150 English words. Accidents in a Chinese City (2005) Main accident causes number of accidents in 2005 percentage rise (+) or fall (-) over 2004 1. drivers turning left without due care 608 +10% 2. drivers traveling too close to other vehicles 411 +9% 3. pedestrians crossing roads carelessly 401 +12% 4. drivers driving under the influence of alcohol 281 +15% 5. drivers failing to give a signal 264 -5%
问答题1. your educational background. 2. your working experience. 3. why do you think that you are capable for the work?
翻译题Its almost impossible to go through life without experiencing some kind of failure
问答题Inthissection,youareaskedtowriteanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1.interpretthechart.2.giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.
问答题You are planning to have a holiday in Southern China during the summer vacation. Write a letter to the sales department of travel agency to:
1) introduce yourself and your purpose
2) explain the type of holiday you want
3) ask for necessary travel information
Write your letter in no less than 100 words.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter ; use "Li Ming" instead.
问答题Directions: You are asked to write a recommendation letter of your student, Li Ming, for a position of administrator in a company. Address it to the manager and express your reason (s) clearly. Write the letter with no less than 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the letter. Use "Wang Hua" instead. Do not write the address.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchartinyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题Directions:
Write an email of about 100 words to relevant departments to give some advice on how to live a low-carbon life.
You should include the details you think necessary.
You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
填空题Take much of what you know about how the best executives make decisions. Now, forget it. For instance, we all "know" that tight deadlines lead to inspiration. Except they often don"t. Instead, they typically are counterproductive—making people less creative precisely when they need to be. Or most of us assume that when we try to solve problems, we"re drawing on the logical parts of our brains. But, in fact, great strategists seem to draw on the emotional and intuitive parts of their brain much more.
Here"s a closer look at some of the discoveries researchers have made.
Want innovation? Be wary of deadlines.
We often think a deadline can help us shake off inertia and focus on getting a job done. But the brain research suggests precisely the opposite is true. A deadline, instead, more often limits our thinking and can lead to much worse decision making.
Richard Boyatzis is a professor in Case Western Reserve University. He—along with others—has found that a tight deadline increases people"s urgency and stress levels. "The research shows us that the more stressful a deadline is, the less open you are to other ways of approaching the problem," he says. "The very moments when in organizations we want people to think outside the box, they can"t even see the box."
Does that mean companies should get rid of deadlines? In most cases, that"s not realistic. So Srini Pillay, an assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School, suggests that companies help employees reduce stress and access the creative parts of the brain even when they"re under pressure.
Big unknowns lead to bad choices.
The ticking clock of a deadline isn"t the only kind of pressure that makes for bad decisions. So does uncertainty, such as feeling that your job or your company"s future is under threat.
Srini Pillay cites a study that discovered that feelings of uncertainty activated brain centers associated with anxiety and disgust, and that such concerns naturally lead to certain kinds of decisions. "In times of uncertainty," he says, "you start acting out of that sense of doom and gloom."
Good thinkers look past facts.
Everybody is aware of the revered image of the hardheaded decision maker, who goes after cold facts. But researchers are finding the truth is much more complex: The best leaders seem to lean on their emotions much more than logic. Roderick Gilkey, a professor of management at Emory University, conducted a study with colleagues to look at what happens when executives are making strategic decisions.
For example, a good strategic thinker would pay attention to emotional reaction and think through the full, long-term impact of the cuts on things like employee morale, retention and productivity. The result might be a different way of improving profitability.
"When you"re making a decision in an organization, you also need to think about people and their reactions," says David Rock, director of the research organization NeuroLeadership Institute. "A lot of the strategies that go wrong are because managers haven"t thought through what happens when this hits people."
A. in uncertain situations, you make reactions based on the sense of pessimism.
B. companies should get rid of deadlines.
C. firms help employees keep the creative part of the brain active.
D. when making decisions, you should have a good capacity to look at a problem through other people"s eyes.
E. what happens when executives are making decisions.
F. a deadline increases your stress of finding ways of solving the problems.
G. feelings of uncertainty activates brain centers associated with anxiety and disgust.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题Your friend Tom has invited you to his wedding ceremony, but you cannot go for some reason. Please write a letter to Tom to:
1. Make an apology.
2. Show your regret.
You should write about 100 words.
Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题1) introduce yourself and your purpose 2) explain the type of holiday you want 3) ask for necessary travel information Write your letter in no less than 100 words. Write it neatly on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter; use "Li Ming" instead.
问答题Directions:
Nowadays, more and more drunk drivers died in car accidents, which also killed many other innocent people. The problem of driving draws many concerns of people. Give us your opinion and your solutions. Your words should be about 150 words.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.企业招聘渠道日趋多样化
问答题A chemical plant should be responsible for the water pollution in a nearby river. Write a letter to the City Environment Protection Agency to
1. state the present situation.
2. suggest ways to deal with the problem.
3. express your sincere hope.
You should write about 100 words.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write the address.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingtable.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthetable,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.不同员工忠诚度的影响因素
问答题Inthispart,youareallowedtowriteacompositiononthetopicTheChangesinChina'sForeignTrade.Youshouldwriteatleast150words,basedon,thefollowinginformations.
问答题Music is not tangible. You can"t eat it, drink it or mate with it. It doesn"t protect against the rain, wind or cold. It doesn"t vanquish predators or mend broken bones. And yet humans have always prized music—or well beyond prized, loved it.
In the modern age we spend great sums of money to attend concerts, download music files, play instruments and listen to our favorite artists whether we"re in a subway or salon. But even more than 10,000 years ago, people invested significant time and effort to create music, as the discovery of flutes carved from animal bones would suggest. So why does this thingless "thing"—at its core, a mere sequence of sounds—hold such potentially enormous intrinsic value? The quick and easy explanation is that music brings a unique pleasure to humans.
问答题Directions:
Write an essay based on the following table. In your writing, you should
1) interpret the table, and
2) give your comments.
You should write about 150 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
调查内容
所占比例(%)
男
女
认为父母管得太严
64
65.8
与父母沟通有障碍
48.7
37.2
不会把秘密告诉父母
81.8
83.3
某校初中学生调查统计的“与父母沟通情况”部分数据
问答题Directions:
Write a letter of about 100 words to your American friend Jam, recommending your Chinese friend Han Ling to teach him Chinese.
You should include the details you think necessary.
You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write the address.
问答题An annual academic conference is going to be held on December 10. please write a letter to Prof. Smith to
1. invite him to speak at the annual conference.
2. specify the time and the location.
You should write about 100 words.
Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题It is not just the quantity of the praise but the quality that is hard to get right. There are three pieces of advice commonly given to managers to make their praise more effective but all are terrible. The first says that praise must be public. This is downright irresponsible. While it is never certain that praise will make the "praisee" feel any better, it is always certain that public praise will inflict heavy collateral damage on everyone else who hears it.
Second, praise must be specific. Again, this is catastrophically poor advice as the detail chosen by the praiser may not be the thing the praisee wishes to be commended for.
Finally, the praiser is usually told to smile. This is also a bad idea. The point of good praise is that it must look deadly serious in order to seem sincere. If it comes from some grinning fool, one knows to disregard it altogether.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowinggraph.Inyouressay,youshould1)interpretthegraph,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.2001年～2015年中国留学回国人数
问答题Directions:
Write an essay based on the following bar graph. In your essay, you should
1) interpret the graph, and
2) give your comments.
You should write about 150 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
问答题Each year in the United States more people are killed or injured in accidents—at home, at work or school, at play, or while traveling—than were killed or injured in the Vietnam War. In the early 1990s, about half of these accidental deaths were the result of motor-vehicle accidents. Other major causes of accidental deaths were falls, fires, and poisoning.
On a worldwide basis, accidents involving motor-vehicles are the primary causes of accidental deaths, followed by accidents in industry and in the home. Efforts to lessen or to eliminate the hazardous conditions that cause accidents are known as safety measures. Safety is a growing concern around the world, and safety skills are being taken more seriously today than ever before. People have come to realize that safety skills can be learned, and most safety experts agree that it is possible to predict, and take steps to prevent the majority of accidents. Few accidents simply "happen". Most are caused by ignorance, carelessness, neglect, or lack of skill.
问答题For a child, happiness has a magical quality. I remember making hide-outs in newly cut hay, playing cops and robbers in the woods, getting a speaking part in the school play. For adults, happiness is complicated. As far as I am concerned, happiness is "the capacity for enjoyment". The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It"s easy to overlook the pleasure we get from loving and being loved, the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, even good health.
While happiness may be more complex for us, the solution is the same as ever. Happiness isn"t about what happens to us; it"s about how we perceive what happens to us. It"s the knack of finding a positive for every negative, and viewing a set-back as a challenge. It"s not wishing for what we don"t have, but enjoying what we do possess.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyouressay,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET2.
问答题1) interpret the table and 2) give your comments. You should write at least 150 words. Write your essay on ANSWER SHEET 2.
问答题Exercise has innumerable health benefits, but losing weight may not be among them. A provocative new study shows that a substantial number of people who take up an exercise regimen wind up heavier afterward than they were at the start, with the weight gain due mostly to extra fat, not muscle.
But the study also finds, for the first time, that one simple strategy may improve people"s odds of actually dropping pounds with exercise.
As we all know, the fundamentals of weight loss should be simple. Burn more calories on any given day than you consume and, over time, you will lose weight. Theoretically, we can achieve that desirable condition by reducing the number of calories that we take in through dieting or by increasing the number of calories that we consume through exercise. But in reality, most people do not achieve or sustain weight loss, no matter what method they try.
问答题Directions:
In this part, you are allowed to write a letter to express your congratulation on your aunt"s marriage. You should
1) write a letter to show your congratulation.
2) express your exhilaration and hope to congratulate face to face.
You should write about 100 words on the
ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not
write the address.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyouressay,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.WriteyouressayontheANSWERSHEET.某市居民出行方式调查
问答题Directions:
Suppose you are going to write a letter to your university library, making suggestions for improving its service.
Thank for the library"s service and
give some suggestions for improvement.
You should write about 100 words on
ANSWER SHEET 2.
Do not
sign your name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
问答题Directions:
Suppose you have damaged your friend"s computer when you lived in his house a few days ago. Write him a letter to
1) make an apology, and
2) suggest a solution.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write the address.
In the 1920s demand for American farm products fell, as European countries began to recover from World War I and instituted austerity (紧缩) programs to reduce their imports. The result was a sharp drop in farm prices. This period was more disastrous for farmers than earlier times had been, because farmers were no longer self-sufficient. They were paying for machinery, seed, and fertilizer, and they were also buying consumer goods. The prices of the items farmers bought remained constant, while prices they received for their products fell. These developments were made worse by the Great Depression, which began in 1929 and extended throughout the 1939s.
In 1929, under President Herbert Hoover, the Federal Farm Board was organized. It established the principle of direct interference with supply and demand, and it represented the first national commitment to provide greater economic stability for farmers.
President Hoover"s successor attached even more importance to this problem. One of the first measures proposed by President Franklin Roosevelt when he took office in 1933 was the
Agricultural Adjustment Act
, which was subsequently passed by Congress. This law gave the Secretary of Agriculture the power to reduce production through voluntary agreements with farmers who were paid to take their land out of use. A deliberate scarcity of farm products was planned in an effort to raise prices. This law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on the grounds that general taxes were being collected to pay one special group of people. However, new laws were passed immediately that achieved the same result of resting soil and providing flood-control measures, but which were based on the principle of soil conservation. The Roosevelt Administration believed that rebuilding the nation"s soil was in the national interest and was not simply a plan to help farmers at the expense of other citizens. Later the government guaranteed loans to farmers so that they could buy farm machinery, hybrid (杂交) grain, and fertilizers.
填空题The Atmosphere
The atmosphere is a mixture of several gases. There are about ten chemical elements which remain permanently in gaseous form in the atmosphere under all natural conditions. Of these permanent gases, oxygen makes up about 21 percent and nitrogen about 78 percent. Several other gases, such as argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, neon, krypton and xenon, comprise the remaining one percent of the volume of the dry air. The amount of water vapor and its variations in amount and distribution is of extraordinary importance in weather changes. Atmospheric gases hold in suspension great quantities of dust, pollen, smoke and other impurities which are always present in considerable, but variable amounts.
The atmosphere has no definite upper limits but gradually thins until it becomes imperceptible. Until recently it was assumed that the air above the first few miles gradually grew thinner and colder at a constant rate. It was also assumed that upper air had little influenceon weather changes. Recently studies of the upper atmosphere, currently being conducted by earth satellites and missile probing, have shown these assumptions to be incorrect. The atmosphere has three well-defined strata.
The layer of the air next to the earth, which extends upward for about ten miles, is known as the troposphere (对流层). On the whole, it makes up about 75 percent of all the weight of the atmosphere. It is the warmest part of the atmosphere because most of the solar radiation is absorbed by the earth"s surface which warms the air immediately surrounding it. A steady decrease of temperature with the increasing elevation is a most striking characteristic. The upper layers are colder because of their greater distance from the earth"s surface and rapid radiation of heat into space. The temperatures within the troposphere decrease about 3.5 degrees per 1,000 feet increase in altitude. Within the troposphere, winds and air currents distribute heat and moisture. Strong winds, called jet streams are located at the upper levels of the troposphere. These jet streams are both complex and widespread in occurrence. They normally show a wave shaped pattern and move from west to east at velocities of 150 mph, but velocities as 400 mph have been noted. The influences of changing locations and strengths of jet streams upon weather conditions and patterns are no doubt considerable. Current intensive research may eventually reveal their true significance.
Above the troposphere to a height of about 50 miles is a zone called the stratosphere. The stratosphere is separated from the troposphere by a zone of uniform temperatures called the tropopause. Within the lower portions of the stratosphere is a layer of ozone gases which filter out most of the ultraviolet rays from the sun. The ozone layer varies with air pressure. If this zone were not there, the full blast of the sun"s ultraviolet light would burn our skins, blind our eyes and eventually result in our destruction. Within the stratosphere, the temperature and atmospheric composition are relatively uniform.
The layer upward of about 50 miles is the most fascinating but the least known of the three strata. It is called the ionosphere because it consists of electrically charges particles called ions, thrown from the sun. The northern lights (aurora borealis) originate within this highly charged portion of the atmosphere. Its effect upon weather conditions, if any, is as yet unknown.
A. a layer of ozone gases.
B. about 42 degrees colder than on the ground.
C. earth satellites.
D. less than 1% of xenon by volume.
E. jet planes.
F. is warmed by the earth"s heat.
G. 50 miles above the troposphere.
填空题A．Monitor your alcohol use
B．Pay attention to table manners
C．Don"t be a gossip
D．Network with higher-ups
E．Keep the conversation light
F．Dress appropriately
G．Make new friends
For young workers, holiday parties can be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate a successful year gone by, catch up with colleagues and hobnob with senior executives to try to get ahead. But a host of challenges confront young employees—from figuring out whom to bring to walking the fine line between being friendly and being flirty. Some do"s and don"ts when it comes to these events:
1
If you"re new to the company, talk to co-workers who have attended previous office functions to get a sense of what you should wear. Dress conservatively, not "like you"re going to a club in Vegas," says Tom Gimbel, CEO of staffing firm LaSalle Network in Chicago. But, he adds, don"t take it "to the point where (you"re) wearing a suit where everybody else is wearing jeans."
2
Steer clear of talking about those layoffs or pay freezes that have hit morale, experts advise. "Try to keep the conversation upbeat," says Barbara Pachter, president of Pachter & Associates, a business-etiquette and communications firm in Cherry Hill, N.J. "If you"re merging, that could be an exciting thing, (or if) you"re adding new product lines, that could be an exciting thing" to talk about.
3
While it"s fun to indulge in rumors about colleagues, you don"t want to be known as the person who"s always spreading juicy gossip. "You want to be known for your work ethic, you want to be known for the work product that you put out, and at a holiday party, you don"t want to be the one telling everybody who"s making out with whom and who"s fighting with whom," says Mr. Gimbel. Instead, he encourages people to stick to safe topics like sports, entertainment and what"s going on in the world.
4
Even if you"re intimidated by the clique of VPs huddling in their own circle, don"t pass up the opportunity to meet these people, who could be interviewing you when you"re up for your next promotion. Look for an opening to chime in on a topic that you know about.
If they don"t already know you, introduce yourself and say how long you"ve been with the company and what you do. Afterward, if you feel like you connected with someone senior, send them a follow-up email saying it was nice to meet them, says Ms. Pachter. "What have you got to lose?"
5
Holiday parties are one of the few workplace events where imbibing is allowed and even encouraged to get people relaxed. However, just because alcohol is free-flowing at the bar doesn"t mean you should take that as a license to reprise your college frat parties.
"Most people head toward the bar and the buffet when they get to a holiday party, and if they drink on an empty stomach they tend to get inebriated and then they could say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing," says Ms. Whitmore. "No.1 rule is: Don"t drink too much, monitor your alcohol intake. Usually, one or two drinks is plenty."
填空题A. Becoming a Naturalist. B. Seeing Wonder in the Ordinary. C. A Changing Role. D. Disgusting and Embarrassing Moments. E. What does a Park Naturalist Do? F. What does It Take to Be a Park Naturalist? G. Management Decisions Invloved. I have the best job in the Wisconsin State Park System. As a park naturalist at Peninsula State Park, I am busy writing reports, creating brochures about trees or flowers, and sometimes visiting schools. And, of course, I make sure Peninsula's feathered friends are well fed. (41) As a park naturalist I am a writer, a teacher, a historian and, if not a social worker, at least an instructor for young people interested in the environment. I love the diversity of my job. Every day is different. Most tasks require creativity. Now that I am an experienced naturalist, I have the freedom to plan my own day and make decisions about the types of programs that we offer at Peninsula. (42) In my first naturalist job, I spent four out of five days leading school field trips and visiting classrooms. As a state park naturalist I still work with students, but more often lead programs like bird walks, nature crafts, outdoor skills, and trail hikes. I also find myself increasingly involved in management decisions. For example, sometimes the park naturalist is the person who knows where rare orchids grow or where ravens nest. When decisions are made about cutting trees, building trails, or creating more campsites, naturalists are asked to give the "ecological perspective" (43) Perhaps the grossest thing I've done as a naturalist is to boil animal skulls. Visitors like seeing bones and skins-at least after they have been cleaned up! Once, our nature needed more skulls. A trapper gave me muskrat, raccoon and fox skulls but I had to clean them. First, I boiled the skin and meat off. Boy, did that smell! Then I used dissecting tools and old toothbrushes to clean out the eyeballs. Finally, I soaked the skulls in a bleach solution I've had some embarrassing experiences, too. On my first hike as Peninsula's new naturalist, I was so excited that I identified a white pine tree as a red pine tree! That's quite a mistake since the trees are so easy to tell apart. White pine needles are in bundles of five and red pine needles are in bundles of two. (44) Not all State parks are as busy or as big as Peninsula. Not all park naturalists spend the seasons as I do. Nevertheless, Park naturalists share certain common interests and responsibilities: A park naturalist might notice that branches of a red maple growing in a field reach out to the side while those of a red maple in a thick forest reach up, and wonder why the trees look different. A naturalist makes things happen. It might be working with workers to clean up part of a river. Park naturalists share knowledge in different ways, but all of them communicate with people. A love of learning from other People, from plants and animals, from books, and more is an essential quality. Most naturalists don't work in places of rare beauty. Many work in city parks or in places that show "wear and tear", if you can wonder about an a pine bush, or a robin and cause others to wonder, too, then you are ready to become a park naturalist. (45) If you think you want to become a park naturalist, do the following: Explore your home landscape. Knowing how people have shaped the land where you live and how the land has shaped them will lend a comparison that will serve you well. Start a field sketch book Sketch what you see, where and when. The reason is not to practice art skills (though you may discover you have a talent) but, rather, to practice observation skills. Go to college. You will need a 4- year degree. There are several academic routes that lead to the naturalist's road. I have found ornithology, plant classification and human growth and development to be among my most helpful courses. Listen and learn. A college degree is like a ticket. It lets you board the plane but is only the beginning of the journey. Look and listen to those who have already traveled the road for ideas, knowledge and inspiration.
填空题A. Pick up the local paper
B. Save from the first place
C. Use a guidebook—your own
D. Pick up the phone
E. Choose cheap countries
F. Download magazines from web
G. Splurge when it matters
You"ve mastered the art of modern-travel savings: Your airfare alerts are set up on Kayak; you flit around Europe on cheap carriers like EasyJet. You stay in apartments rented through Airbnb. You could probably shave a few more cents off travel costs by downloading five new apps and bookmarking 10 new sites. But real savings will come to those who go retro by stepping away from the screen, or using it differently, to find old-fashioned tactics that can save you big. Here are some old-school tips for getting the most out of your travel buck.
1
We think we can get everything done online these days, but sometimes a simple phone call is your best bet for saving money. Speak with an innkeeper and learn of potential discounts on extended stays or information on how to get there from the airport by public transit. Contact the specific location where you"ll pick up your rental car and reserve a compact to avoid getting "upgraded" to a bigger vehicle that will increase (sometimes even double) your gas costs. Call travel agencies that strike special deals with airlines to get your prices below anything you"ll find online.
2
Goodbye Norway, hello Bolivia. Or as a blogger put it, "Cheapest dorm bed in Zurich-nice room in Bangkok." Extrapolate that to tour guides, museum entries, food and more, and the savings start to add up. Of course, keep in mind how much it will cost you to get there in the first place. Luckily, a lot of the cheaper countries are also cheap to fly to; another blogger put together a list of 10 "Cheap Places to Travel on the U.S. Dollar," which includes Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Peru, Hungary and Romania.
3
Most travelers will never be across-the-board cheapskates. Street food, nosebleed-theater seats and bunk beds are not for everyone. But you don"t have to be a purist. For each trip, decide on a themed "waste" or two—transportation, food, arts, lodging—and save on the rest.
4
No listings are more up-to-the-minute than Friday arts supplements, alternative weeklies or the local editions of
Time Out
magazine. Get them on actual paper while they last. You"ll not only find the nontouristy scene laid out for you in one handy package, but often come across coupons or specials you certainly won" t find on Yelp.
5
I still carry a travel guide around when I travel—as backup, if nothing else. But those books are pricey, and there"s so much free information online that, with a little copying and pasting (and printing out), you can come pretty close to matching them with your own bespoke travel guide. So, in a retro twist, no Wi-Fi needed.
填空题A．Pick up the local paper
B．Save from the first place
C．Use a guidebook--your own
D．Pick up the phone
E．Choose cheap countries
F．Download magazines from web
G．Splurge when it matters
You"ve mastered the art of modem-travel savings: Your airfare alerts are set up on Kayak; you flit around Europe on cheap carriers like EasyJet. You stay in apartments rented through Airbnb. You could probably shave a few more cents off travel costs by downloading five new apps and bookmarking 10 new sites. But real savings will come to those who go retro by stepping away from the screen, or using it differently, to find old-fashioned tactics that can save you big. Here are some old-school tips for getting the most out of your travel buck.
1
We think we can get everything done online these days, but sometimes a simple phone call is your best bet for saving money. Speak with an innkeeper and learn of potential discounts on extended stays or information on how to get there from the airport by public transit. Contact the specific location where you"ll pick up your rental car and reserve a compact to avoid getting "upgraded" to a bigger vehicle that will increase (sometimes even double) your gas costs. Call travel agencies that strike special deals with airlines to get your prices below anything you"ll find online.
2
Goodbye Norway, hello Bolivia. Or as a blogger put it, "Cheapest dorm bed in Zurich=nice room in Bangkok." Extrapolate that to tour guides, museum entries, food and more, and the savings start to add up. Of course, keep in mind how much it will cost you to get there in the first place. Luckily, a lot of the cheaper countries are also cheap to fly to; another blogger put together a list of 10 "Cheap Places to Travel on the U.S. Dollar," which includes Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Peru, Hun gary and Romania.
3
Most travelers will never be across-the-board cheapskates. Street food, nosebleed-theater seats and bunk beds are not for everyone. But you don"t have to be a purist. For each trip, decide on a themed "waste" or two—transportation, food, arts, lodging—and save on the rest.
4
No listings are more up-to-the-minute than Friday arts supplements, alternative weeklies or the local editions of
Time Out magazine.
Get them on actual paper while they last. You"ll not only find the nontouristy scene laid out for you in one handy package, but often come across coupons or specials you certainly won"t find on Yelp.
5
I still carry a travel guide around when I travel—as backup, if nothing else. But those books are pricey, and there"s so much free information online that, with a little copying and pasting (and printing out), you can come pretty close to matching them with your own bespoke travel guide. So, in a retro twist, no Wi-Fi needed.
翻译题With the popularity of the Internet, more and more people do shopping online
填空题The word economy has run into a brick wall. Despite countless warnings in recent years about the need to address a potential hunger crisis in poor countries and an energy crisis worldwide, world leaders failed to think ahead. The result is a global food crisis. The price of wheat, corn and rice have more than doubled in the past two years. And oil's price have increased more than three times since the start of 2004. These food-price increases, combined with increasing energy costs, will slow if not stop economic growth in many parts of the world and will even affect political stability, as evidenced by the protest riots that have erupted in places like Haiti, Bangladesh and Burkina Faso. Practical solutions to these problems do exist, but we'll have to start thinking ahead and acting globally. The crisis has its roots in four interlinked trends. The first is the chronically low productivity of farmers in the poorest countries, caused by their inability to pay for seeds, fertilizers and irrigation. The second is the misguided policy in the U. S. and Europe of subsidizing the diversion of food crops to produce biofuels like corn-based ethanol. The third is climate change: take the recent droughts in Australia and Europe, which cut the global production of grain in 2005 and 2006. The fourth is the growing global demand for food and feed grain brought on by swelling populations and incomes. In short, rising demand has hit a limited supply, with the poor taking the hardest blow. So, what should be done? Here are three steps to ease the current food crisis and avoid the potential for a global crisis. The first is to promote the dramatic success of Malawi, a country in southern Africa, which three years ago established a special fund to help its farmers get fertilizer and seeds with high productivity. Malawi's harvest doubled alter just one years. An international fund based on the Malawi model would cost a mere $10 per person annually in the rich world, or $10 billion altogether. Such a fund could fight hunger as effectively as the Global fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is controlling those diseases. Second, the U. S. and Europe should abandon their policies of paying partly for the change of food into biofuels. The U. S. government gives farmers a taxpayer-financed payment of 51 cents per gallon of ethanol (乙醇) changed from corn. There may be a case for biofuels produced on lands that do not produce foods—tree crops, grasses and wood products—but there's no case for the government to pay to put the world's dinner into the gas tank. Third, we urgently need to weather-proof die world's crops as soon and as effectively as possible. For a poor farmer, sometimes something as simple as a farm pond— which collects rainwater to be used in dry weather—can make the difference between a good harvest and a bad one. The world has already committed to establishing a Climate Adaptation Fund to help poor regions climate-proof vital economic activities such as food production and health care but has not yet acted upon the promise. A. poor countries B. all the world C. the Climate Adaptation Fund D. the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria E. Bangladesh F. Malawi G. the U. S. and Europe
判断题Until the Late 1940s, when television began finding its way into American homes, companies relied mainly on print and radio to promote their products and services. The advent of television brought about a revolution in promoting products and services. Between 1949 and 1951, advertising on television grew 960 percent. Today the Internet is once again transforming promotion. By going online, companies can communicate instantly and directly with prospective customers. Promotion on the World Wide Web includes advertising, sponsorships and sales promotions like contests and coupons. In 1996, World Wide Web advertising revenues reached $300 million.
Effective online marketers do not merely transfer hard-copy ads to cyberspace. Successful sites blend promotional and non-promotional information, indirectly delivering the advertising messages. To encourage visitors to their sites and to create and cultivate customers" loyalty, companies change information frequently and provide many opportunities for interaction.
One of the best online promotion web sites is the Ragu Web site. Here visitors can find thirty six pasta recipes, take Italian lessons, and view an Italian film festival. But they will find no traditional ads. So subtle is the mix of product and promotion that visitors hardly know an advertising message has been delivered. Sega of America, maker of computer games and hardware, uses its Web site for a variety of different promotions, such as introducing new game characters to the public and supplying Web surfers the opportunity to download games. Sega"s home page averages 250,000 visitors a day. To heighten interest in the site, Sega bought an advertising banner on Netscape, thereby increasing site visits by 15 percent. Online participants in Quaker Oats" Gatorade promotion received a free T-shirt in exchange for answering a few questions. Quaker Oats reports that the online promotion created product loyalty and helped the company know its customers better.
Now, to target specific Internet users, an increasing number of companies are using "push" technology which automatically delivers customized news and other information to users" computers when they log onto the Internet. Although organizations like Nielsen Media Research are developing technologies to enhance audience measurement and tracking, it remains difficult to assess how many times the same person looks at an ad and who that person is. Although online promotions can be glamorous and sophisticated, they are not perfect. For a well-designed marketing mix, industry experts advise companies to use the Internet as a supplement to other advertising media.
填空题A. Think about how your attitude change will affect your life
B. Look for a role model
C. Be clear about your traits
D. Identify and understand what you want to change
E. Believe that you are able to change
F. Get rid of the pessimistic friends
G. Choose the right company
"Our attitude toward life determines life"s attitude towards us." We"ve all heard about the power of our attitude, and that it"s our attitude that determines how much we succeed in life.
If you look around you, you will see that people with a positive attitude enjoy life more and are generally happier and more successful than those who walk around grumpy and pessimistic. Our attitude is the driving force in our lives—it can either push you to do great things or pull you down to your demise.
All the things that you have been through, all the people you have met and interacted with can have an impact on your attitude. If you think that all these factors have molded you into a person with a poor attitude towards life, there is no need to worry as there is always an opportunity for change. Let me share with you how I did it.
1
The first step towards change is clearly understanding what needs to be changed. Setting clear goals is the key to success in any endeavor. When it comes to changing your attitude, you need to do an honest and in-depth self-evaluation so you could point out exactly which of your traits need to be improved or totally changed.
2
We all need to know that what we"re trying to accomplish can in fact be achieved; that we can be more optimistic, more social or more patient. Find someone who has the kind of attitude that you want to have, and let his or her life give you inspiration and encouragement to move beyond your temporary failures in your journey towards becoming a better person.
3
To be able to overcome all the difficulties that lie ahead of you in your journey towards self betterment, you need to figure out exactly what this supposed change could bring to your life. Will changing your attitude mean a happier family or social life? Will a change in your attitude mean a more successful career or business? Fix your mind on the things that would come as a result of your attitude change and you will have a greater chance of reaching your goal.
4
As they say, "Bad company corrupts good character." You don"t expect yourself to be able to change if you go on surrounding yourself with people who possess all the negative traits that you want to change. Consider befriending new people, especially those who are optimistic and have a healthy attitude towards life. You will see that your effort to change will be easier with these kinds of people as friends.
5
Often, the greatest obstacle between us and our goals is ourselves or our inability to trust in what we are able to do. If you don"t believe in yourself or believe that you or your life can change, it just won"t happen—you will either never start, or give up quickly so you won"t have even given yourself the opportunity to succeed.
It cannot be denied that a positive attitude is very important for living a successful and satisfying life, so it is only fight to strive to have a positive attitude.
填空题A. Learn How to Recognize Your Soul Mate
B. Take Religion Seriously
C. Consider Marrying Young
D. Learn to Read Regularly
E. Watch "Groundhog Day" Repeatedly
F. Eventually Stop Fretting about Fame and Fortune
G. Cultivate the Habit of Watching Movies
A few years ago, I took it upon myself to start writing tips for the young staff where I work about how to avoid doing things that would make their supervisors write them off. At that point, I had to deal with a reality: When it comes to a life filled with deep and lasting satisfactions, most of the clichés are true. How could I make them sound fresh to a new generation? Here"s how I tried.
1
The age of marriage for college graduates has been increasing for decades, and this cultural shift has been a good thing. But should you assume that marriage is still out of the question when you"re 25? I"m not suggesting that you decide ahead of time that you will get married in your 20s. I"m just pointing out that you shouldn"t exclude the possibility. If you get married in your 20s, it is likely to be a startup.
What are the advantages of a startup marriage? For one thing, you will both have memories of your life together when it was all still up in the air. You"ll have fun remembering the years when you went from being scared newcomers to the point at which you realized you were going to make it.
2
Marry someone with similar tastes and preferences. Which tastes and preferences? The ones that will affect life almost every day.
It is absolutely crucial that you really, really like your spouse. You hear it all the time from people who are in great marriages: "I"m married to my best friend." They are being literal. A good working definition of "soul mate" is "your closest friend, to whom you are also sexually attracted."
3
One of my assumptions about you is that you are ambitious—meaning that you hope to become famous, rich or both, and intend to devote intense energy over the next few decades to pursuing those dreams. That is as it should be.
But suppose you arrive at age 40, and you enjoy your work, have found your soul mate, are raising a couple of terrific kids—and recognize that you will probably never become either rich or famous. At that point, it is important to know fame and wealth do accomplish something: They cure ambition anxiety. But that"s all. It isn"t much.
4
Start by jarring yourself out of unreflective atheism or agnosticism. A good way to do that is to read about contemporary cosmology. That reading won"t lead you to religion, but it may stop you from being unreflective.
Start reading religious literature. The past hundred years have produced excellent and accessible work, much of it written by people who came to adulthood as uninvolved in religion as you are.
5
Without the slightest bit of preaching, The movie "Groundhog Day" shows the bumpy, unplanned evolution of his protagonist from a jerk to a fully realized human being—a person who has learned to experience deep, lasting and justified satisfaction with life even though he has only one day to work with.
You could learn the same truths by studying Aristotle"s "Ethics" carefully, but watching "Groundhog Day" repeatedly is a lot more fun.
填空题A．Higher living standard.
B．Importance of transport in trade.
C．Various , means of transport.
D．Birth of transport-related industries and trade.
E．Role of information in trade.
F．Public transportation.
G．Transport facilitating trade.
1
Transport is one of the aids to trade. By moving goods from places where they are plentiful to places where they are scarce, transport adds to their value. The more easily goods can be brought over the distance that separates producer and consumer, the better for trade. When there were no railways, no good roads, no canals, and only small sailing ships, trade was on a small scale.
2
The great advances made in transport during the last two hundred years were accompanied by a big increase in trade. Bigger and faster ships enabled a trade in meat to develop between Britain and New Zealand, for instance. Quicker transport makes possible mass-production and big business, drawing supplies from, and selling goods to, all parts of the globe. Big factories could not exist without transport to carry the large number of workers they need to and from their homes. Big city stores could not have developed unless customers could travel easily from the suburbs and goods delivered to their homes. Big cities could not survive unless food could be brought from a distance.
3
Transport also prevents waste. Much of the fish landed at the ports would be wasted if it could not be taken quickly to inland towns. Transport has given us a much greater variety of foods and goods since we no longer have to live on what is produced locally. Foods, which at one time could be obtained (获得) only during a part of the year, can now be obtained all through the year. Transport has raised the standard of living.
4
By moving fuel, raw materials, and even power, for example, through electric cables, transport has led to the establishment of industries and trade in areas where they would have been impossible before. Districts and countries can concentrate on making things which they can do better and more cheaply than others and can then exchange them with one another. The cheaper and quicker transport becomes, the longer the distance over which goods can profitably be carried. Countries with poor transport have a lower standard of living.
5
Commerce requires not only the moving of goods and people but also the carrying of messages and information. Means of communication, like telephones, cables and radio, send information about prices, supplies, and changing conditions in different parts of the world. In this way, advanced communication systems also help to develop trade.
填空题One stereotype of wisdom is a wizened Zen-master smiling kindly at his pupils, while referring to them as little grasshoppers and safe in the knowledge that one day they, too, will have been set on the path that leads to wizened masterhood. But is it true that age brings wisdom? A study two years ago in North America, by Igor Grossmann of the University of Waterloo, in Canada, suggested that it is. Dr. Grossmann found that elderly Americans had more of it than youngsters. He has, however, now extended his investigation to Asia—the land of the wizened Zen-master—and, in particular, to Japan. There, he found, in contrast to the West, that the grasshoppers are their masters" equals almost from the beginning.
Dr. Grossmann recruited 186 Japanese from various walks of life and compared them with 225 Americans. Participants were asked to read a series of pretend newspaper articles. Half described conflict between groups, such as a debate between residents of an impoverished Pacific island over whether to allow foreign oil companies to operate there following the discovery of petroleum. The other half took the form of advice columns that dealt with conflicts between individuals: siblings, friends and spouses. After reading each article, participants were asked "What do you think will happen after that?" and "Why do you think it will happen this way?" Their responses were recorded and transcribed.
Dr. Grossmann and his colleagues removed age-related information from the transcripts, and also any clues to participants" nationalities, and then passed the edited versions to a group of assessors. These assessors were trained to rate transcribed responses consistently, and had been tested to show that their ratings were statistically comparable with one another.
The assessors scored participants" responses on a scale of one to three. This attempted to capture the degree to which they discussed what psychologists consider five crucial aspects of wise reasoning: willingness to seek opportunities to resolve conflict; willingness to search for compromise; recognition of the limits of personal knowledge; awareness that more than one perspective on a problem can exist; and appreciation of the fact that things may get worse before they get better.
The upshot was that, as Dr. Grossmann had found before, Americans do get wiser with age. Their intergroup wisdom score averaged 45 at the age of 25 and 55 at 75. Their interpersonal score similarly climbed from 46 to 50. Japanese scores, by contrast, hardly varied with age. Both 25-year-olds and 75-year-olds had an average intergroup wisdom of 51. For interpersonal wisdom, it was 53 and 52.
Taken at face value, these results suggest Japanese learn wisdom faster than Americans. One up, then, to the wizened Zen-masters. But they also suggest a paradox. Generally, America is seen as an individualistic society, whereas Japan is quite collectivist. Yet Japanese have higher scores than Americans for the sort of interpersonal wisdom you might think would be useful in an individualistic society. Americans, by contrast—at least in the maturity of old age—have more intergroup wisdom than the purportedly collectivist Japanese. Perhaps, then, you need individual skills when society is collective, and social ones when it is individualistic. All of which goes to show that the real root of wisdom is this: do not assume, little grasshopper, that your prejudices are correct.
A. interpersonal skills are more important for Americans.
B. conflicts between groups and advice to deal with conflicts between individuals.
C. slightly between young people and old people.
D. greatly with age.
E. Japanese social skills are higher than Americans".
F. can rate transcribed responses consistently.
G. one day his pupils will be as smart as him.
填空题A. Be silly
B. Have fun
C. Ask for help
D. Express your emotions
E. Don"t overthink it
F. Be easily pleased
G. Notice things
Act Your Shoe Size, Not Your Age
As adults, it seems that we are constantly pursuing happiness, often with mixed results. Yet children appear to have it down to an art—and for the most part they don"t need self-help books or therapy. Instead, they look after their wellbeing instinctively, and usually more effectively than we do as grownups. Perhaps it"s time to learn a few lessons from them.
1
What does a child do when he"s sad? He cries. When he"s angry? He shouts. Scared? Probably a bit of both. As we grow up, we learn to control our emotions so they are manageable and don"t dictate our behaviours, which is in many ways a good thing. But too often we take this process too far and end up suppressing emotions, especially negative ones. That"s about as effective as brushing dirt under a carpet and can even make us ill. What we need to do is find a way to acknowledge and express what we feel appropriately, and then—again, like children—move on.
2
A couple of Christmases ago, my youngest stepdaughter, who was nine years old at the time, got a Superman T-shirt for Christmas. It cost less than a fiver but she was overjoyed, and couldn"t stop talking about it. Too often we believe that a new job, bigger house or better car will be the magic silver bullet that will allow us to finally be content, but the reality is these things have very little lasting impact on our happiness levels. Instead, being grateful for small
things every day is a much better way to improve wellbeing.
3
Have you ever noticed how much children laugh? If we adults could indulge in a bit of silliness and giggling, we would reduce the stress hormones in our bodies, increase good hormones like endorphins, improve blood flow to our hearts and even have a greater chance of fighting off infection. All of which would, of course, have a positive effect on our happiness levels.
4
The problem with being a grownup is that there"s an awful lot of serious stuff to deal with—work, mortgage payments, figuring out what to cook for dinner. But as adults we also have the luxury of being able to control our own diaries and it"s important that we schedule in time to enjoy the things we love. Those things might be social, sporting, creative or completely random (dancing around the living room, anyone?)—it doesn"t matter, so long as they"re
enjoyable, and not likely to have negative side effects, such as drinking too much alcohol or going on a wild spending spree if you"re on a tight budget.
5
Having said all of the above, it"s important to add that we shouldn"t try too hard to be happy. Scientists tell us this can backfire and actually have a negative impact on our wellbeing. As the Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu is reported to have said : "Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness." And in that, once more, we need to look to the example of our children, to whom happiness is not a goal but a natural byproduct of the way they live.
填空题Directions: You are going to read a list of headings and a
text about a park naturalist. Choose a heading from the list A-G that best fits
the meaning of each numbered part of the text. The first paragraph of the text
is not numbered. There is two extra headings which you do not need to
use.A. Becoming a Naturalist. B. Seeing
Wonder in the Ordinary. C. A Changing Role. D.
Disgusting and Embarrassing Moments. E. What does a Park
Naturalist Do? F. What does It Take to Be a Park
Naturalist? G. Management Decisions Invloved.
I have the best job in the Wisconsin State Park System. As a park naturalist at
Peninsula State Park, I am busy writing reports, creating brochures about trees
or flowers, and sometimes visiting schools. And, of course, I make sure
Peninsula's feathered friends are well fed. {{U}} {{U}}
1 {{/U}} {{/U}}As a park naturalist I am a writer, a teacher, a
historian and, if not a social worker, at least an instructor for young people
interested in the environment. I love the diversity of my job. Every day is
different. Most tasks require creativity. Now that I am an experienced
naturalist, I have the freedom to plan my own day and make decisions about the
types of programs that we offer at Peninsula. {{U}}
{{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}In my first naturalist job, I spent four out of
five days leading school field trips and visiting classrooms. As a state park
naturalist I still work with students, but more often lead programs like bird
walks, nature crafts, outdoor skills, and trail hikes. I also find myself
increasingly involved in management decisions. For example, sometimes the park
naturalist is the person who knows where rare orchids grow or where ravens nest.
When decisions are made about cutting trees, building trails, or creating more
campsites, naturalists are asked to give the "ecological perspective"
{{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}Perhaps the grossest thing
I've done as a naturalist is to boil animal skulls. Visitors like seeing bones
and skins-at least after they have been cleaned up! Once, our nature needed more
skulls. A trapper gave me muskrat, raccoon and fox skulls but I had to clean
them. First, I boiled the skin and meat off. Boy, did that smell! Then I used
dissecting tools and old toothbrushes to clean out the eyeballs. Finally, I
soaked the skulls in a bleach solution I've had some embarrassing experiences,
too. On my first hike as Peninsula's new naturalist, I was so excited that I
identified a white pine tree as a red pine tree! That's quite a mistake since
the trees are so easy to tell apart. White pine needles are in bundles of five
and red pine needles are in bundles of two. {{U}} {{U}}
4 {{/U}} {{/U}}Not all State parks are as busy or as big as Peninsula.
Not all park naturalists spend the seasons as I do. Nevertheless, Park
naturalists share certain common interests and responsibilities: A park
naturalist might notice that branches of a red maple growing in a field reach
out to the side while those of a red maple in a thick forest reach up, and
wonder why the trees look different. A naturalist makes things happen. It might
be working with workers to clean up part of a river. Park naturalists share
knowledge in different ways, but all of them communicate with people. A love of
learning from other people, from plants and animals, from books, and more is an
essential quality. Most naturalists don't work in places of rare beauty. Many
work in city parks or in places that show "wear and tear", if you can wonder
about an a pine bush, or a robin and cause others to wonder, too, then you are
ready to become a park naturalist. {{U}} {{U}} 5
{{/U}} {{/U}}If you think you want to become a park naturalist, do the
following: Explore your home landscape. Knowing how people have shaped the land
where you live and how the land has shaped them will lend a comparison that will
serve you well. Start a field sketch book Sketch what you see, where and when.
The reason is not to practice art skills (though you may discover you have a
talent) but, rather, to practice observation skills. Go to college. You will
need a 4-year degree. There are several academic routes that lead to the
naturalist's road. I have found ornithology, plant classification and human
growth and development to be among my most helpful courses. Listen and learn. A
college degree is like a ticket. It lets you board the plane but is only the
beginning of the journey. Look and listen to those who have already traveled the
road for ideas, knowledge and inspiration.
填空题Directions: You are going to read a list of headings and a
text. Choose a heading from the list A-F that best fits the meaning of each
numbered part of the text. The first and last paragraphs of the text are not
numbered. There is one extra heading which you do not need to use.A. Analyzing your own taste B. Being cautious when
experimenting C. Finding a model to follow D.
Getting the final look absolutely right E. Learning to be
realistic F. Making regular conscious choices
When we meet people for the first time, we often make decisions about them based
entirely on how they look. And, of course it's something that works both ways,
for we too are being judged on our appearance. When we look good, we feel good,
which in turn leads to a more confident and self-assured manner. People then
pick up on this confidence and respond positively towards us. Undoubtedly, it's
what's inside that's important, but sometimes we can send out the wrong signals
simply by wearing inappropriate clothing or not spending enough time thinking
about how others see us. {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}}
{{/U}}For example, people often make the mistake of trying to look like someone
else they've seen in a magazine, but this is usually a disaster as we all have
our own characteristics. Stand in front of a full-length mirror and be honest
with yourself about what you see. There is no need to dwell on your faults—we
all have good points and bad points—but think instead about the best way to
emphasize the good ones. {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}}
{{/U}}When selecting your clothes each day, think about who you're likely to meet,
where you're going to be spending most of your time and what tasks you are
likely to perform. Clearly, some outfits will be more appropriate to different
sorts of activity and this will dictate your choice to an extent. However,
there's no need to abandon your individual taste completely. After all, if you
dress to please somebody else's idea of what looks good, you may end up feeling
uncomfortable and not quite yourself. {{U}} {{U}}
3 {{/U}} {{/U}}But to know your own mind, you have to get to know
yourself. What do you truly feel good in? There are probably a few favourite
items that you wear a lot—most people wear 20 per cent of their wardrobe 80 per
cent of the time. Look at these clothes and ask yourself what they have in
common. Are they neat and tidy, loose and flowing? Then look at the things
hanging in your wardrobe that you don't wear and ask yourself why. Go through a
few magazines and catalogues and mark the things that catch your eye. Is there a
common theme? {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}Some
colors bring your natural colouring to life and others can give us a washed-out
appearance. Try out new colours by all means, but remember that dressing in
bright colours when you really like subtle neutral tones, or vice versa, will
make you feel self-conscious and uncomfortable. You know deep down where your
own taste boundaries lie. And although it's good to challenge those sometimes
with new combinations or shades, take care not to go too far all at
once. {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}So, you've
chosen an outfit that matches your style, your personality, your shape you're
your colouring. But does it fit? If something is too tight or too loose, you
won't achieve the desired effect, and no matter what other qualities it has, it
won't improve your appearance or your confidence. Sometimes, we buy things
without thinking. Some people who dislike shopping grab the first thing they
see, or prefer to use mail-order or the Internet. In all cases, if it doesn't
fit perfectly, don't buy it, because the finer details are just as important as
the overall style. Reappraising your image isn't selfish
because everyone who comes into contact with you will benefit. You'll look
better and you'll feel a better person all round. And if in doubt, you only need
to read Professor Albert Mehrabian's book Silent Messages to remind yourself how
important outward appearances are. His research showed that the impact we make
on each other depend 55 per cent on how we look and behave, 38 per cent on how
we speak and only 7 per cent on what we actually say. So, whatever stage you are
at in your life, whatever role you play, isn't it time you made the most of
yourseff?
填空题A．Think about how your attitude change will affect your life
B．Look for a role model
C．Be clear about your traits
D．Identify and understand what you want to change
E．Believe that you are able to change
F．Get rid of the pessimistic friends
G．Choose the right company
"Our attitude toward life determines life"s attitude towards us." We"ve all heard about the power of our attitude, and that it"s our attitude that determines how much we succeed in life.
If you look around you, you will see that people with a positive attitude enjoy life more and are generally happier and more successful than those who walk around grumpy and pessimistic. Our attitude is the driving force in our lives—it can either push you to do great things or pull you down to your demise.
All the things that you have been through, all the people you have met and interacted with can have an impact on your attitude. If you think that all these factors have molded you into a person with a poor attitude towards life, there is no need to worry as there is always an opportunity for change. Let me share with you how I did it.
1
The first step towards change is clearly understanding what needs to be changed. Setting clear goals is the key to success in any endeavor. When it comes to changing your attitude, you need to do an honest and in-depth self-evaluation so you could point out exactly which of your traits need to be improved or totally changed.
2
We all need to know that what we"re trying to accomplish can in fact be achieved; that we can be more optimistic, more social or more patient. Find someone who has the kind of attitude that you want to have, and let his or her life give you inspiration and encouragement to move beyond your temporary failures in your journey towards becoming a better person.
3
To be able to overcome all the difficulties that lie ahead of you in your journey towards self betterment, you need to figure out exactly what this supposed change could bring to your life. Will changing your attitude mean a happier family or social life? Will a change in your attitude mean a more successful career or business? Fix your mind on the things that would come as a result of your attitude change and you will have a greater chance of reaching your goal.
4
As they say, "Bad company corrupts good character." You don"t expect yourself to be able to change if you go on surrounding yourself with people who possess all the negative traits that you want to change. Consider befriending new people, especially those who are optimistic and have a healthy attitude towards life. You will see that your effort to change will be easier with these kinds of people as friends.
5
Often, the greatest obstacle between us and our goals is ourselves or our inability to trust in what we are able to do. If you don"t believe in yourself or believe that you or your life can change, it just won"t happen—you will either never start, or give up quickly so you won"t have even given yourself the opportunity to succeed.
It cannot be denied that a positive attitude is very important for living a successful and satisfying life, so it is only right to strive to have a positive attitude.
填空题A. Thinks Positively B. Knows That Principles Are More Important than Rules C. Possesses a Sense of Humor D. Communicates Facts That Are Hard to Take E. Cares for Others and Their Well-being F. Has Integrity and Authenticity G. Order Is Important Much has been written about the tasks of leaders and the skills required for leadership. There has been considerable debate about the question of whether leaders are born or made. Likely behind these arguments is the difference between personal characteristics that some people have at birth and skills that one can acquire through education and practice. But the important personal characteristics, while they may seem innate in some people, can be cultivated, and indeed, require cultivation in all of us. For unless they are strengthened through conscious attention and cultivation, they can, for example, easily be forgotten or ignored in the craziness of activity often associated with leadership. What are some of these characteristics? One could make many lists, but here are five personal traits that seem especially important. A good leader: (41) An effective leader is "genuine", internally and externally consistent. A good leader is one of whom it can be said, "What you see is what you get" —there is never any wonder as to whether the image, the "person" presented to the world, really reflects the person. Such a leader has honesty—he/she says what he/she means, means what he/she says. A good leader has a consistency of purpose, operates out of discernible principles, and "stands for" something worthwhile and detectable. Honesty and reliability require self-reflection, the ability to understand oneself honestly, the capacity to assess one's strengths and weaknesses accurately, and acceptance of one's self. (42) A good leader takes responsibility seriously but never takes himself seriously. Such a leader can help people relax and get through tough situations in good spirits. (43) A good leader understands that nothing except a great work of art can be done by one person alone—that something of lasting value is almost always the result of a group effort. But even more than that, a good leader genuinely is concerned with and interested in others. Such concerning means that a good leader is collegial, building a sense of group identity and purpose. A good leader "brings out the best" in each of those who follow, seeks the development and advancement of each member of the group, and delights in each person's growth in ability and of character. A good leader rejoices in the success of group members without announcement of jealousy. A good leader is deliberative, involving the group in decisions wherever possible and encourages, supports, and applauds the members of the group. (44) One of the primary roles of the leader is to inspire hope, even in a difficult situation. This is not the same as being blindly optimistic. We think, for example, of Franklin Roosevelt's "We have nothing to fear but fear itself" or of Desmond Tutu's observation about apartheid in South Africa that since "it is difficult to be optimistic, one must have hope" . Such a leader empowers followers, making them believe that they can accomplish worthwhile but very difficult things. He actually creates energy in the group by being active without becoming unrealistic. (45) A good leader understands that order is important to a group but that rigidity destroys the followers' emotion state. Lasting, empowering order comes more from trust and the development of group norms than from regulations imposed by a leader. Doubtless, everyone would develop a somewhat different, and in many cases, a longer list of personal characteristics. But a leader who is conscious of such a list, who questions the extent to which he or she lives and acts in accord with these traits, and who deliberately cultivates these characteristics is likely to be a successful and appreciated leader.
填空题The typical picture of a corporate highflier is someone who survives on very little sleep. He or she rises when it is still dark, works late and is still answering emails at two o" clock in the morning. Such people do exist, of course. The late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, for example, was famous for operating on a few hours" sleep. Some entrepreneurs and Wall Street traders seem to follow suit.
But if you think you need to do the same thing to get ahead, think again. A growing body of research is finding that, on the contrary, those who get a good night"s sleep are usually more productive at work. That"s because sleep doesn"t just rest the brain, say medical specialists. It allows the brain to perform vital maintenance and restoration tasks. Brains that get too little sleep simply cannot perform as well as those that are rested. "There"s no doubt that sleep deprivation affects job performance," says the Detroit Medical Center"s Safwan Badr. "The evidence is compelling that when you do not get enough sleep ... you are not as productive."
Investors should also take heed: Numerous studies have found that those running on too little sleep tend to make poorer investment decisions and take needless risks as well. Charles Czeisler, a sleep specialist at Brigham you"ll see similar effects if you simply sleep too little each night over time.
For the first time, new research has attempted to put some numbers on the link between more Zzzs and more Benjamins. Matthew Gibson, graduate researcher in the economics department of the University of California, San Diego, compared wage data with sleep times recorded in the U.S. Census Bureau"s American Time Use Survey. His conclusion: For those who are sleeping too little, "a onehour increase in longrun average sleep increases wages by 16%, equivalent to more than a year of schooling."
Adults need eight hours of sleep on average, experts say. There is some variation between individuals. But when we are tired, we find it much harder to think innovatively and to make creative leaps, say researchers. We find it harder to adapt our thinking to new information or to learn new lessons. Consider: At England"s Loughborough University in 1999, researchers Yvonne Harrison tested the effects of sleep deprivation on a small group of healthy young participants. They were given complex business-situation tasks in the form of a game, as well as some critical reading tasks. Those who went short on sleep were able to keep up with the reading, they found. But when it came to the complex game, "their play collapsed," they Reported.
A．agrees that sleep deprivation brings bad effects to investment.
B．holds that adults need an average of 8 hours" sleep.
C．believes that lack of sleep diminishes your performance.
D．thinks it is difficult for people lacking sleep to take up creative work.
E．points out the relation between sleep time and American dollars.
F．is well known for very little sleep.
G．maintains that sleep can rest the brain, and let the brain do other important tasks.
填空题Directions: Reading the following text and answer questions
by finding a subtitle for each of the marked parts or paragraphs. There are two
extra items in the subtitle.A. Although no such evidence
was presented, the casino's marketing department continued to pepper him with
mailings. And he entered the casino and used his Fun Card without being
detected. B. It is unclear what luring was required, given his
compulsive behavior. And in what sense was his will operative?
C. By the time he had lost $5,000 he said to himself that if he could get back
to even, he would quit. One night he won $5,500, but he did not quit.
D. Gambling has been a common feature of American life forever, but for a
long time it was broadly considered a sin, or a social disease. Now it is a
social poliey: the most important and aggressive promoter of gambling in America
is the government. E. David Williams's suit should trouble this
gambling nation. But don't bet on it. F. It is worrisome that
society is medicalizing more and more behavioral problems, often defining as
addietions what earlier, sterner generations explained as weakness of
will. G. The anonymous, lonely, undistracted nature of online
gambling is especially conduetive to compulsive behavior. But even if the
government knew how to move against Internet gambling, what would be its grounds
for doing so? On the north bank of the Ohio river sits
Evansville, Ind. , home of David Williams, 52, and of a riverboat casino (a
place where gambling games are played). During several years of gambling in that
casino, Williams, a state auditor earning $35,000 a year, lost approximately
$175,000. He had never gambled before the casino sent him a coupon for $20 worth
of gambling. He visited the casino, lost the $20 and left. On
his second visit he lost $800. The casino issued to him, as a good customer, a
"Fun Card", which when used in the casino earns points for meals and drinks, and
enables the casino to track the user's gambling activities. For Williams, those
activities became what he calls "electronic heroin" . {{U}}
{{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}} In 1997 he lost $21,000 to
one slot machine in two days. In March 1997 he lost $72, 186. He sometimes
played two slot machines at a time, all night, until the boat doeked at 5 a. m.,
then went back aboard when the casino opened at 9 a. m. Now he is suing the
casino, charging that it should have refused his patronage because it knew he
was addicted. It did know he had a problem. In March 1998, a
friend of Williams's got him involuntarily confined to a treatment center for
addictions, and wrote to inform the casino of Williams's gambling problem. The
casino included a photo of Williams among those of banned gamblers, and wrote to
him a "cease admissions" letter. Noting the "medical/psychological" nature of
problem gambling behavior, the letter said that before being readmitted to the
casino he would have to present medical/psychological information demonstrating
that patronizing the casino would pose no threat to his safety or
well-being. {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}}
{{/U}} The Wall Street Journal reports that the casino has 24
signs warning: "Enjoy the fun.., and always bet with your head, not over it. "
Every entrance ticket lists a toll-free number for counseling from the Indiana
Department of Mental Health. Nevertheless Williams's suit charges that the
casino, knowing he was "helplessly addicted to gambling", intentionally worked
to "lure" him to "engage in conduct against his will". Well.
{{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}} The fourth edition
of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders says "pathological
gambling" involves persistent, recurring and uncontrollable pursuit less of
money than of the thrill of taking risks in quest of a windfall.
{{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}} Pushed by
science, or what claims to be science, society is reclassifying what once were
considered character flaws or moral failings as personality disorders akin to
physical disabilities. {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}}
{{/U}} Forty-four states have lotteries, 29 have casinos, and
most of these states are to varying degrees dependent on—you might say addicted
to—revenues from wagering. And since the first Internet gambling site was
created in 1995, competition for gambler's dollars has become intense. The Oct.
28 issue of Newsweek reported that 2 million gamblers patronize 1,800 virtual
casinos every week. With $3.5 billion being lost on Internet wagers this year,
gambling has passed pornography as the web's webs most profitable
business.
填空题Experts have long known that children imitate many of the deeds—good and bad—that they see on television. But it has rarely been shown that changing a young child"s viewing habits at home can lead to improved behavior.
In a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, researchers reported the results of a program designed to limit the exposure of preschool children to violence-laden videos and television shows and increase their time with educational programming that encourages empathy. They found that the experiment reduced the children"s aggression toward others, compared with a group of children who were allowed to watch whatever they wanted.
"Here we have an experiment that proposes a potential solution," said Thomas Robinson, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford, who was not involved in the study. "Giving this intervention—exposing kids to less adult television, less aggression on television and more prosocial television—will have an effect on behavior."
While the research showed "a small to moderate effect" on the preschoolers" behavior, he added, the broader public health impact could be "very meaningful."
The new study was a randomized trial, rare in research on the effects of media on children. The researchers, at Seattle Children"s Research Institute and the University of Washington, divided 565 parents of children ages 3 to 5 into two groups. Both were told to track their children"s media consumption in a diary that the researchers assessed for violent, didactic and prosocial content, which they defined as showing empathy, helping others and resolving disputes without violence.
The control group was given advice only on better dietary habits for children. The second group of parents were sent program guides highlighting positive shows for young children. They also received newsletters encouraging parents to watch television with their children and ask questions during the shows about the best ways to deal with conflict. The parents also received monthly phone calls from the researchers, who helped them set television-watching goals for their preschoolers.
The researchers surveyed the parents at six months and again after a year about their children"s social behavior. After six months, parents in the group receiving advice about television-watching said their children were somewhat less aggressive with others, compared with those in the control group. The children who watched less violent shows also scored higher on measures of social competence, a difference that persisted after one year.
Low-income boys showed the most improvement, though the researchers could not say why. Total viewing time did not differ between the two groups.
"The key message for parents is it"s not just about turning off the TV; it"s about changing the channel," said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, the lead author of the study and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington.
The new study has limitations, experts noted. Data on both the children"s television habits and their behavior was reported by their parents, who may not be objective. And the study focused only on media content in the home, although some preschool-aged children are exposed to programming elsewhere.
A. their children behaved less aggressively.
B. their children are more aggressive than others.
C. children show less violent actions after they watch less aggressive TV programs.
D. they had better turn off the TV.
E. they were not only sent program guides about positive shows for children but also received newsletters telling them how to deal with conflict.
F. they should move to another channel.
G. parents may be somewhat subjective.
填空题A. Thinks Positively. B. Knows That Principles Are More Important than Rules. C. Possesses a Sense of Humor. D. Communicates Facts That Are Hard to Take. E. Cares for Others and Their Well-being. F. Has Integrity and Authenticity. G. Order Is Important. Much has been written about the tasks of leaders and the skills required for leadership. There has been considerable debate about the question of whether leaders are born or made. Likely behind these arguments is the difference between personal characteristics that some people have at birth and skills that one can acquire through education and practice. But the important personal characteristics, while they may seem innate in some people, can be cultivated, and indeed, require cultivation in all of us. For unless they are strengthened through conscious attention and cultivation, they can, for example, easily be forgotten or ignored in the craziness of activity often associated with leadership. What are some of these characteristics? One could make many lists, but here are five personal traits that seem especially important. A good leader: (41) An effective leader is "genuine", internally and externally consistent. A good leader is one of whom it can be said, "What you see is what you get"—there is never any wonder as to whether the image, the "person" presented to the world, really reflects the person. Such a leader has honesty—he/she says what he/she means, means what he/she says. A good leader has a consistency of purpose, operates out of discernible principles, and "stands for" something worthwhile and detectable. Honesty and reliability require self-reflection, the ability to understand oneself honestly, the capacity to assess one's strengths and weaknesses accurately, and acceptance of one's self. (42) A good leader takes responsibility seriously but never takes himself seriously. Such a leader can help people relax and get through tough situations in good spirits. (43) A good leader understands that nothing except a great work of art can be done by one person alone-that something of lasting value is almost always the result of a group effort. But even more than that, a good leader genuinely is concerned with and interested in others. Such concerning means that a good leader is collegial, building a sense of group identity and purpose. A good leader "brings out the best" in each of those who follow, seeks the development and advancement of each member of the group, and delights in each person's growth in ability and of character. A good leader rejoices in the success of group members without announcement of jealousy. A good leader is deliberative, involving the group in decisions wherever possible and encourages, supports, and applauds the members of the group. (44) One of the primary roles of the leader is to inspire hope, even in a difficult situation. This is not the same as being blindly optimistic. We think, for example, of Franklin Roosevelt's "We have nothing to fear but fear itself" or of Desmond Tutu's observation about apartheid in South Africa that since "it is difficult to be optimistic, one must have hope." Such a leader empowers followers, making them believe that they can accomplish worthwhile but very difficult things. He actually creates energy for the group by being active without becoming unrealistic. (45) A good leader understands that order is important to a group but that rigidity destroys the followers' emotion state. Lasting, empowering order comes more from trust and the development of group norms than from regulations imposed by a leader. Doubtless, everyone would develop a somewhat different, and in many cases, a longer list of personal characteristics. But a leader who is conscious of such a list, who questions the extent to which he or she lives and acts in accord with these traits, and who deliberately cultivates these characteristics is likely to be a successful and appreciated leader.
填空题A. Although no such evidence was presented, the casino's marketing department continued to pepper him with mailings. And he entered the casino and used his Fun Card without being detected. B. It is unclear what luring was required, given his compulsive behavior. And in what sense was his will operative? C. By the time he had lost $5,000 he said to himself that if he could get back to even, he would quit. One night he won $5,500, but he did not quit. D. Gambling has been a common feature of American life forever, but for a long time it was broadly considered a sin, or a social disease. Now it is a social policy: the most important and aggressive promoter of gambling in America is the government. E. David Williams's suit should trouble this gambling nation. But don't bet on it. F. It is worrisome that society is medicalizing more and more behavioral problems, often defining as addictions what earlier, sterner generations explained as weakness of will. G. The anonymous, lonely, undistracted nature of online gambling is especially conductive to compulsive behavior. But even if the government knew how to move against Internet gambling, what would be its grounds for doing so? On the north bank of the Ohio river sits Evansville, Ind. , home of David Williams, 52, and of a riverboat casino (a place where gambling games are played). During several years of gambling in that casino, Williams, a state auditor earning $35,000 a year, lost approximately $175,000. He had never gambled before the casino sent him a coupon for $20 worth of gambling. He visited the casino, lost the $20 and left. On his second visit he lost $800. The casino issued to him, as a good customer, a "Fun Card", which when used in the casino earns points for meals and drinks, and enables the casino to track the user's gambling activities. For Williams, those activities became what he calls "electronic heroin" (41) In 1997 he lost $21,000 to one slot machine in two days. In March 1997 he lost $72,186. He sometimes played two slot machines at a time, all night, until the boat docked at 5 a.m., then went back aboard when the casino opened at 9 a. m. Now he is suing the casino, charging that it should have refused his patronage because it knew he was addicted. It did know he had a problem. In March 1998, a friend of Williams's got him involuntarily confined to a treatment center for addictions, and wrote to inform the casino of Williams's gambling problem. The casino included a photo of Williams among those of banned gamblers, and wrote to him a "cease admissions" letter. Noting the "medical/psychological" nature of problem gambling behavior, the letter said that before being readmitted to the casino he would have to present medical/psychological information demonstrating that patronizing the casino would pose no threat to his safety or well-being. (42) The Wall Street Journal reports that the casino has 24 signs warning: "Enjoy the fun.., and always bet with your head, not over it." Every entrance ticket lists a toll-free number for counseling from the Indiana Department of Mental Health. Nevertheless Williams' suit charges that the casino, knowing he was "helplessly addicted to gambling", intentionally worked to "lure" him to" engage in conduct against his will". Well. (43) The fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders says "pathological gambling" involves persistent, recurring and uncontrollable pursuit less of money than of the thrill of taking risks in quest of a windfall. (44) Pushed by science, or what claims to be science, society is reclassifying what once were considered character flaws or moral failings as personality disorders akin to physical disabilities. (45) Forty-four states have lotteries, 29 have casinos, and most of these states are to varying degrees dependent on—you might say addicted to—revenues from wagering. And since the first Internet gambling site was created in 1995, competition for gambler's dollars has become intense. The Oct. 28 issue of Newsweek reported that 2 million gamblers patronize 1,800 virtual casinos every week. With $3.5 billion being lost on Internet wagers this year, gambling has passed pornography as the web's webs most profitable business.
填空题A. Monitor your alcohol use
B. Pay attention to table manners
C. Don"t be a gossip
D. Network with higher-ups
E. Keep the conversation light
F. Dress appropriately
G. Make new friends
For young workers, holiday parties can be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate a successful. year gone by, catch up with colleagues and hobnob with senior executives to try to get ahead. But a host of challenges confront young employees—from figuring out whom to bring to walking the fine line between being friendly and being flirty. Some do"s and don "ts when it comes to these events:
1
If you"re new to the company, talk to co-workers who have attended previous office functions to get a sense of what you should wear. Dress conservatively, not "like you"re going to a club in Vegas," says Tom Gimbel, CEO of staffing firm LaSalle Network in Chicago. But, he adds, don"t take it "to the point where (you"re) wearing a suit where everybody else is wearing jeans."
2
Steer clear of talking about those layoffs or pay freezes that have hit morale, experts advise. "Try to keep the conversation upbeat," says Barbara Pachter, president of Pachter & Associates, a business-etiquette and communications firm in Cherry Hill, N.J. "If you"re merging, that could be an exciting thing, (or if) you"re adding new product lines, that could be an exciting thing" to talk about.
3
While it"s fun to indulge in rumors about colleagues, you don"t want to be known as the person who"s always spreading juicy gossip. "You want to be known for your work ethic, you want to be known for the work product that you put out, and at a holiday party, you don"t want to be the one telling everybody who"s making out with whom and who"s fighting with whom," says Mr. Gimbel. Instead, he encourages people to stick to safe topics like sports, entertainment and what"s going on in the world.
4
Even if you"re intimidated by the clique of VPs huddling in their own circle, don"t pass up the opportunity to meet these people, who could be interviewing you when you"re up for your next promotion. Look for an opening to chime in on a topic that you know about.
If they don"t already know you, introduce yourself and say how long you"ve been with the company and what you do. Afterward, if you feel like you connected with someone senior, send them a follow-up email saying it was nice to meet them, says Ms. Pachter. "What have you got to lose?"
5
Holiday parties are one of the few workplace events where imbibing is allowed and even encouraged to get people relaxed. However, just because alcohol is free-flowing at the bar doesn"t mean you should take that as a license to reprise your college frat parties.
"Most people head toward the bar and the buffet when they get to a holiday party, and if they drink on an empty stomach they tend to get inebriated and then they could say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing," says Ms. Whitmore. "No. 1 rule is: Don"t drink too much, monitor your alcohol intake. Usually, one or two drinks is plenty."
填空题A. Monitor your alcohol use
B. Pay attention to table manners
C. Don"t be a gossip
D. Network with higher-ups
E. Keep the conversation light
F. Dress appropriately
G. Make new friends
For young workers, holiday parties can be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate a successful year gone by, catch up with colleagues and hobnob with senior executives to try to get ahead. But a host of challenges confront young employees—from figuring out whom to bring to walking the fine line between being friendly and being flirty. Some do"s and don"ts when it comes to these events:
1
If you"re new to the company, talk to co-workers who have attended previous office functions to get a sense of what you should wear. Dress conservatively, not "like you"re going to a club in Vegas," says Tom Gimbel, CEO of staffing firm LaSalle Network in Chicago. But, he adds, don"t take it "to the point where (you"re) wearing a suit where everybody else is wearing jeans."
2
Steer clear of talking about those layoffs or pay freezes that have hit morale, experts advise. "Try to keep the conversation upbeat," says Barbara Pachter, president of Pachter & Associates, a business-etiquette and communications firm in Cherry Hill, N.J. "If you"re merging, that could be an exciting thing, (or if) you"re adding new product lines, that could be an exciting thing" to talk about.
3
While it"s fun to indulge in rumors about colleagues, you don"t want to be known as the person who"s always spreading juicy gossip. "You want to be known for your work ethic, you want to be known for the work product that you put out, and at a holiday party, you don"t want to be the one telling everybody who"s making out with whom and who"s fighting with whom," says Mr. Gimbel. Instead, he encourages people to stick to safe topics like sports, entertainment and what"s going on in the world.
4
Even if you"re intimidated by the clique of VPs huddling in their own circle, don"t pass up the opportunity to meet these people, who could be interviewing you when you"re up for your next pro- motion. Look for an opening to chime in on a topic that you know about.
If they don"t already know you, introduce yourself and say how long you"ve been with the company and what you do. Afterward, if you feel like you connected with someone senior, send them a follow-up email saying it was nice to meet them, says Ms. Pachter. "What have you got to lose?"
5
Holiday parties are one of the few workplace events where imbibing is allowed and even encouraged to get people relaxed. However, just because alcohol is free-flowing at the bar doesn"t mean you should take that as a license to reprise your college fiat parties.
"Most people head toward the bar and the buffet when they get to a holiday party, and if they drink on an empty stomach they tend to get inebriated and then they could say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing," says Ms. Whitmore. "No.1 rule is: Don"t drink too much, monitor your alcohol intake. Usually, one or two drinks is plenty."
填空题A. Set a Good Example for Your Kids
B. Build Your Kids" Work Skills
C. Place Time Limits on Leisure Activities
D. Talk about the Future on a Regular Basis
E. Help Kids Develop Coping Strategies
F. Help Your Kids Figure Out Who They Are
G. Build Your Kids" Sense of Responsibility
How Can a Parent Help?
Mothers and fathers can do a lot to ensure a safe landing in early adulthood for their kids. Even if a job"s starting salary seems too small to satisfy an emerging adult"s need for rapid content, the transition from school to work can be less of a setback if the start-up adult is ready for the move. Here are a few measures, drawn from my book
Ready or Not, Here Life Comes
, that parents can take to prevent what I call "work-life unreadiness".
41
You can start this process when they are 11 or 12. Periodically review their emerging strengths and weaknesses with them and work together on any shortcomings, like difficulty in communicating well or collaborating. Also, identify the kinds of interests they keep coming back to, as these offer clues to the careers that will fit them best.
42
Kids need a range of authentic role models—as opposed to members of their clique, pop stars and vaunted athletes. Have regular dinner-table discussions about people the familyknows and how they got where they are. Discuss the joys and downsides of your own career and encourage your kids to form some ideas about their own future. When asked what they want to do, they should be discouraged from saying "I have no idea." They can change their minds 200 times, but having only a foggy view of the future is of little good.
43
Teachers are responsible for teaching kids how to learn; parents should be responsible for teaching them how to work. Assign responsibilities around the house and make sure homework deadlines are met. Encourage teenagers to take a part-time job. Kids need plenty of practice delaying gratification and deploying effective organizational skills, such as managing time and setting priorities.
44
Playing video games encourages immediate content. And hours of watching TV shows with caned laughter only teaches kids to process information in passive way. At the same time, listening through earphones to the same monotonous beats for long stretches encourages kids to stay inside their bubble instead of pursuing other endeavors. All these activities can prevent the growth of important communication and thinking skills and make it difficult for kids to develop the kind of sustained concentration they will need for most jobs.
45
They should know how to deal with setbacks, stresses and feelings of inadequacy. They should also learn how to solve problems and resolve conflicts, ways to brainstorm and think critically. Discussions at home can help kids practice doing these things and help them apply these skills to everyday life situations.
What about the son or daughter who is grown but seems to be struggling and wandering aimlessly through early adulthood? Parents still have a major role to play, but now it is more delicate. They have to be careful not to come across as disappointed in their child. They should exhibit strong interest and respect for whatever interests their fledging adult (as naive or ill conceived as it may seem) while becoming a partner in exploring options for the future. Most of all, these new adults, must feel they are respected and supportedby a farther.
填空题A. Congressional Debate and Vote. B. Veto over Legislation of Bills. C. Committee Consideration. D. Counteracting a Presidential Veto. E. Passage in Both Chambers. F. Introduction of Bills. G. Functions of the Joint Committee. The U. S. Congress has exclusive authority to enact federal legislation. The process by which a proposed bill becomes a law can be very complex and take years. (41) Bills may originate in either the House of Representatives or the Senate, except that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House of Representatives. Only Senators and Representatives (also known as Members of Congress) can introduce a bill in their respective chamber. When bills are introduced, they are given a bill number. The numbering system starts over with each session of Congress, and bill numbers run in chronological order according to when the bill is introduced. Bills in the House of Representatives are given the initial H. R. and Senate Bills are given the initial S. Thus, H. R. 1, would be the first bill introduced in a new session of Congress or the House of Representatives (a session of Congress lasts for two years). (42) After a bill is introduced, it is assigned to one or more committees in the chamber where it was introduced. A committee can amend, rewrite, recommend, or ignore the bill or report back to the full chamber with no recommendation. Committees typically also submit a report explaining their views of the bill when sending a bill to the full House or Senate. (43) Once the bill moves to the "floor" of either the House of Representatives or the Senate (again depending on where the bill was introduced), the entire chamber debates and may amend the bill. It then takes an open vote on the bill. For noncontroversial votes, the chamber will take a voice vote, but if any legislator asks for a roll call, then each member's vote is made separately and publicly. (44) If the bill passes the first chamber, it is sent to the other chamber where the process described above is repeated. If the bill is amended in the second chamber, it must be sent back to the first Chamber because both chambers must agree on the amendments. If the two chambers cannot immediately agree on how to pass identical legislation, the bill will be sent to a joint committee (comprised of both House of Representatives and Senate members), which will attempt to work out a compromise among the different versions of the bill. If the joint committee is successful, the bill will be returned to both chambersfor a vote. (45) Once an identical bill passes both the House and the Senate, it is sent to the President who can do the following: (1) sign it and thus make it a law; (2) do nothing and after 10 days, if Congress stays in session, it becomes law; (3) do nothing and if Congress adjourns within 10 days, it does not become law; or (4) reject the bill by vetoing it and the bill will not become law unless the veto is overturned by Congress. Congress may overturn the President's veto by approving the bill again with at least a two thirds majority vote in both the House and the Senate. The bill then becomes a law despite the President's veto. The state legislatures act in much the same way, although the process for enacting a bill within the legislatures is often more streamlined. Every state legislature, except Nebraska's, has two chambers. Most governors have vetor Power over state legislation, analogous to the veto power of the President.
填空题A. Use commute time
B. Make conversations about your artwork a priority
C. Read before you fall asleep
D. Carry a notepad and pen about
E. Take notes whenever ideas come
F. Talk about yourself as much as possible
G. Don"t underestimate thinking time
Most of us will have days or weeks when we can"t make as much stuff as we"d like. Things get busy, we have jobs, families and lives which means occasionally you"ll be out of time to sit down and make art. There are some simple tips you can try to maximize the thinking and considering time that can help fuel your creative work.
1
This is a classic subconscious-employing trick, used a lot for when you really need to study and remember material. If you want to think more about your artwork, read about it just before you fall asleep. Studies show that your brain remembers more and thinks subconsciously about the information you process just before going into rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. If you"re reading a book on creativity you really want to digest, this is a great strategy to help stimulate your own creative process.
2
Take notes. Lots of notes. No matter what time of day (or night). Give keeping a notepad and pen beside your bed, and always carry one in your handbag or pocket. Some strategies you could try are making lists of future or potential artwork. Taking notes can be valuable in their offhanded, in- discriminate format—sometimes they"re not important or playful, and sometimes they can be tiny seeds of gold.
3
Get rid of the guilt around talking about yourself too much. It can really help to regularly make the effort to speak about what you"ve been working on. There"s a learning curve that comes out of forcing yourself to name things. Set up catch-ups or phone calls with other artists to check in with each other regarding your work. Hopefully these conversations can happen with family and friends or co-workers, and can be used as an artistic compass to check you are on course, on the whole, with making work.
4
Use the time you"re driving, on the train, or commuting to and from work to your advantage. Read, listen, think, make lists, or mentally check off your progress. I know artists who use commute time to meditate and reflect on themselves, which is another interesting strategy to try. Using com mute time means that when you do sit down to create work, you"ve often done the heavy thinking and are ready to dive into the practical, hands-on work.
5
When you"re not making artwork, make time to simply think. It seems like many artworks are made after months (or even years) of living inside your own head. Whether you"re at work, walking pets, or doing the dishes, using this time to think hard about your artwork can pay off greatly. You can often surprise yourself with how much progress you can make if you clock the thinking hours. Realizing that this was a thing that was one of the most helpful and insightful lessons I learned as an artist. Thinking time is time well spent.
填空题The typical picture of a corporate highflier is someone who survives on very little sleep. He or she rises when it is still dark, works late and is still answering emails at two o"clock in the morning. Such people do exist, of course. The late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, for example, was famous for operating on a few hours" sleep. Some entrepreneurs and Wall Street traders seem to follow suit.
But if you think you need to do the same thing to get ahead, think again. A growing body of research is finding that, on the contrary, those who get a good night"s sleep are usually more productive at work. That"s because sleep doesn"t just rest the brain, say medical specialists. It allows the brain to perform vital maintenance and restoration tasks. Brains that get too little sleep simply can not perform as well as those that are rested. "There"s no doubt that sleep deprivation affects job performance," says the Detroit Medical Center"s Safwan Badr. "The evidence is compelling that when you do not get enough sleep...you are not as productive."
Investors should also take heed: Numerous studies have found that those running on too little sleep tend to make poorer investment decisions and take needless risks as well. Charles Czeisler, a sleep specialist at Brigham you"ll see similar effects if you simply sleep too little each night over time.
For the first time, new research has attempted to put some numbers on the link between more Zzzs and more Benjamins. Matthew Gibson, graduate researcher in the economics department of the University of California, San Diego, compared wage data with sleep times recorded in the U.S. Census Bureau"s American Time Use Survey. His conclusion: For those who are sleeping too little, "a onehour increase in longrun average sleep increases wages by 16%, equivalent to more than a year of schooling."
Adults need eight hours of sleep on average, experts say. There is some variation between individuals. But when we are tired, we find it much harder to think innovatively and to make creative leaps, say researchers. We find it harder to adapt our thinking to new information or to learn new lessons. Consider: At England"s Loughborough University in 1999, researchers Yvonne Harrison tested the effects of sleep deprivation on a small group of healthy young participants. They were given complex business-situation tasks in the form of a game, as well as some critical reading tasks. Those who went short on sleep were able to keep up with the reading, they found. But when it came to the complex game, "their play collapsed," they Reported.
A. agrees that sleep deprivation brings bad effects to investment.
B. holds that adults need an average of 8 hours" sleep.
C. believes that lack of sleep diminishes your performance.
D. thinks it is difficult for people lacking sleep to take up creative work.
E. points out the relation between sleep time and American dollars.
F. is well known for very little sleep.
G. maintains that sleep can rest the brain, and let the brain do other important tasks.
单选题Even in traditional offices, "the lingua franca of corporate America has gotten much more emotional and much more right-brained than it was 20 years ago," said Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn. She started spinning off examples. "If you and I parachuted back to Fortune 500 companies in 1990, we would see much less frequent use of terms like journey, mission, passion. There were goals, there were strategies, there were objectives, but we didn"t talk about energy; we didn"t talk about passion."
Koehn pointed out that this new era of corporate vocabulary is very "team"-oriented—and not by coincidence. "Let"s not forget sports—in male dominated corporate America, it"s still a big deal. It"s not explicitly conscious; it"s the idea that I"m a coach, and you"re my team, and we"re in this together. There are lots and lots of CEOs in very different companies, but most think of themselves as coaches and this is their team and they want to win."
These terms are also intended to infuse work with meaning—and, as Rakesh Khurana, another professor, points out, increase allegiance to the firm. "You have the importation of terminology that historically used to be associated with non-profit organizations and religious organizations: terms like vision, values, passion, and purpose," said Khurana.
This new focus on personal fulfillment can help keep employees motivated amid increasingly loud debates over work-life balance. The "mommy wars." of the 1990s are still going on today, prompting arguments about why women still can"t have it all and books like Sheryl Sandberg"s Lean In, whose title has become a buzzword in its own right. Terms like unplug, offline, life-hack, bandwidth, and capacity are all about setting boundaries between the office and the home. But if your work is your "passion," you"ll be more likely to devote yourself to it, even if that means going home for dinner and then working long after the kids are in bed.
But this seems to be the irony of office speak: Everyone makes fun of it, but managers love it, companies depend on it, and regular people willingly absorb it. As a linguist once said, "You can get people to think it"s nonsense at the same time that you buy into it." In a workplace that"s fundamentally indifferent to your life and its meaning, office speak can help you figure out how you relate to your work—and how your work defines who you are.
填空题A. You should make efforts to attain a level of self-honoring.
B. You should develop the answer to "What do I really want to do?"
C. You should have a clear self-definition about yourself.
D. Your beliefs have great effect on you choice.
E. Your commitment should devote to being who you are.
F. Your enlightenment comes through facing obstacles and difficulties.
G. Your Actions speak louder than your words.
Many people today find themselves in unfulfilling work situations. In fact, one in four workers is dissatisfied with their current job, according to the recent "Plans for 2004" survey. Their career path may be financially rewarding, but it doesn"t meet their emotional, social or creative needs. They"re stuck, unhappy, and have no idea what to do about it, except move to another job.
1
Job seekers and those dissatisfied with work or life should examine their beliefs about work and recognize that "in many cases your beliefs are what brought you to where you are today. " You may have been raised to think that women were best at nurturing and caring and, therefore, should be teachers and nurses. So that"s what you did. Or, perhaps you were brought up to believe that you should do what your father did, so you have taken over the family business, or become a dentist "just like dad." If this sounds familiar, it"s probably time to look at the new possibilities for your future.
2
Look at the gifts and talents you have and make a commitment to pursue those things that you love most. If you love the social aspects of your job, but are stuck inside an office or "chained to your desk" most of the time, vow to follow your instinct and investigate alternative careers and work that allow you more time to interact with others. Dawn worked as a manager for a large retail clothing store for several years. Though she had advanced within the company, she felt frustrated and longed to be involved with nature and the outdoors. She decided to go to school nights and weekends to pursue her true passion by earning her master"s degree in forestry. She now works in the biotech forestry division of a major paper company.
3
Once job seekers know who they are, they will know how to sell themselves. "In the job market, you are a product. And just like a product, you must know the features and benefits that you have to offer a potential client, or employer." Examine the skills and knowledge that you have and identify how they can apply to your desired occupation. Your qualities will exhibit to employers why they should hire you over other candidates.
4
Self-honoring or self-love may seem like an odd step for job hunters, but being able to accept yourself, without judgment, helps eliminate insecurities and will make you more self-assured. By accepting who you are—all your emotions, hopes and dreams, your personality, and your unique way of being—you"ll project more confidence when networking and talking with potential employers. The power of self-honoring can help to break all the falsehoods you were programmed to believe—those that made you feel that you were not good enough, or strong enough, or intelligent enough to do what you truly desire.
5
Some teachers of philosophy describe action in this way, "If one wants to get to the top of a mountain, just sitting at the foot thinking about it will not bring one there. It is by making the effort of climbing up the mountain, step by step, that eventually the summit is reached. " All too often, it is the lack of action that ultimately holds people back from attaining their ideals. Creating a plan and taking it one step at a time can lead to new and different job opportunities. Job-hunting tasks gain added meaning as you sense their importance in your quest for a more meaningful work life. The plan can include researching industries and occupations, talking to people who are in your desired area of work, taking classes, or accepting volunteer work in your targeted field.
Each of these steps will lead you on a journey to a happier and more rewarding work life. After all, it is the journey, not the destination, that is most important.
问答题Directions:
Recently you have seen an advertisement in China Daily to recruit the volunteers for the World Horticultural Expo in Beijing. You are supposed to write a letter to apply for it.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
sign your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
问答题The supermarket is designed to lure customers into spending as much time as possible within its doors. The reason for this is simple: The longer you stay in the store, the more stuff you"ll see, and the more stuff you see, the more you"ll buy. And supermarkets contain a lot of stuff. The average supermarket, according to the Food Marketing Institute, carries some 44,000 different items, and many carry tens of thousands more. The sheer volume of available choice is
enough to send shoppers into a state of information overload. According to brain-scan experiments, the demands of so much decision-making quickly become too much for us. After about 40 minutes of shopping, most people stop struggling to be rationally selective, and instead begin shopping emotionally—which is the point at which we accumulate the 50 percent of stuff in our cart that we never intended buying.
问答题Directions.Inthispart,youareallowedtowriteacompositiononthetopicCarAccidentsDeclininginManhattan.Inyourwriting,youshould1)describeriseandfallofthenumberofcaraccidentsasindicatedbythegraph;2)givepossiblereason(s)forthedeclineofcaraccidentsinthecity;3)giveyourpredictionsofwhatwillhappenthisyear.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.WriteyouressayontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题Your friend Tom has invited you to his wedding ceremony, but you cannot go for some reason. Please write a letter to Tom to:
1. make an apology.
2. show your regret.
You should write about 100 words.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题Directions:
Write a letter of about 100 words to your American friend Jam, recommending your Chinese friend Han Ling to teach him Chinese.
You should include the details you think necessary.
You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
填空题A. Set a Good Example for Your Kids. B. Build Your Kids' Work Skills. C. Place Time Limits on Leisure Activities. D. Talk about the Future on a Regular Basis. E. Help Kids Develop Coping Strategies. F. Help Your Kids Figure Out Who They Are. G. Build Your Kids' Sense of Responsibility. Mothers and fathers can do a lot to ensure a safe landing in early adulthood for their kids. Even if a job's starting salary seems too small to satisfy an emerging adult's need for rapid content, the transition from school to work can be less of a setback if the start-up adult is ready for the move. Here are a few measures, drawn from my book Ready or Not, Here Life Comes, that parents can take to prevent what I call "work-life unreadiness". (41) You can start this process when they are 11 or 12. Periodically review their emerging strengths and weaknesses with them and work together on any shortcomings, like difficulty in communicating well or collaborating. Also, identify the kinds of interests they keep coming back to, as these offer clues to the careers that will fit them best. (42) Kids need a range of authentic role models—as opposed to members of their clique, pop stars and vaunted athletes. Have regular dinner-table discussions about people the family knows and how they got where they are. Discuss the joys and downsides of your own career and encourage your kids to form some ideas about their own future. When asked what they want to do, they should be discouraged from saying "I have no idea" . They can change their minds 200 times, but having only a foggy view of the future is of little good. (43) Teachers are responsible for teaching kids how to learn; parents should be responsible for teaching them how to work. Assign responsibilities around the house and make sure homework deadlines are met. Encourage teenagers to take a part-time job. Kids need plenty of practice delaying gratification and deploying effective organizational skills, such as managing time and setting priorities. (44) Playing video games encourages immediate content. And hours of watching TV shows with canned laughter only teaches kids to process information in a passive way. At the same time, listening through earphones to the same monotonous beats for long stretches encourages kids to stay inside their bubble instead of pursuing other endeavors. All these activities can prevent the growth of important communication and thinking skills and make it difficult for kids to develop the kind of sustained concentration they will need for most jobs. (45) They should know how to deal with setbacks, stresses and feelings of inadequacy. They should also learn how to solve problems and resolve conflicts, ways to brainstorm and think critically. Discussions at home can help kids practice doing these things and help them apply these skills to everyday life situations. What about the son or daughter who is grown but seems to be struggling and wandering aimlessly through early adulthood.'? Parents still have a major Me to play, but now it is more delicate. They have to be careful not to come across as disappointed in their child. They should exhibit strong interest and respect for whatever currently interests their fledging adult ( as naive or ill conceived as it may seem) while becoming a partner in exploring options for the future. Most of all, these new adults must feet that they are respected and supported by a family that appreciates them.
问答题You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang wei" instead. Do not write the address.
填空题Directions: You are going to read a list of ]wadings and a
text about leadership. Choose a heading from the list A-F that best fits the
meaning of each numbered part of the text. The first and last paragraphs of the
text are not numbered. There is one extra heading which you do not need to
use.A. Thinks Positively. B. Knows That
Principles Are More Important than Rules. C. Possesses a Sense
of Humor. D. Communicates Facts That Are Hard to
Take. E. Cares for Others and Their Well-being.
F. Has Integrity and Authenticity. G. Order Is
Important. Much has been written about the tasks of leaders and
the skills required for leadership. There has been considerable debate about the
question of whether leaders are born or made. Likely behind these arguments is
the difference between personal characteristics that some people have at birth
and skills that one can acquire through education and practice. But the
important personal characteristics, while they may seem innate in some people,
can be cultivated, and indeed, require cultivation in all of us. For unless they
are strengthened through conscious attention and cultivation, they can, for
example, easily be forgotten or ignored in the craziness of activity often
associated with leadership. What are some of these characteristics? One could
make many lists, but here are five personal traits that seem especially
important. A good leader: {{U}} {{U}} 1
{{/U}} {{/U}}An effective leader is "genuine", internally and externally
consistent. A good leader is one of whom it can be said, "What you see is
what you get" —there is never any wonder as to whether the imaage, the "person"
presented to the world, really reflects the person. Such a leader has
honesty—he/she says what he/she means, means what he/she says. A good leader has
a consistency of purpose, operates out of discernible principles, and "stands
for" something worthwhile and detectable. Honesty and reliability require
self-reflection, the ability to understand oneself honestly, the capacity to
assess one's strengths and weaknesses accurately, and acceptance of one"s
self. {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}A good leader
takes responsibility seriously but never takes himself seriously. Such a leader
can help people relax and get through tough situations in good
spirits. {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}A good
leader understands that nothing except a great work of art can be done by one
person alone—that something of lasting value is almost always the result of a
group effort. But even more than that, a good leader genuinely is concerned with
and interested in others. Such concerning means that a good leader is collegial,
building a sense of group identity and purpose. A good leader "brings out the
best" in each of those who follow, seeks the development and advancement of each
member of the group, and delights in each person's growth in ability and of
character. A good leader rejoices in the success of group members without
announcement of jealousy. A good leader is deliberative, involving the group in
decisions wherever possible and encourages, supports, and applauds the members
of the group. {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}One of
the primary roles of the leader is to inspire hope, even in a difficult
situation. This is not the same as being blindly optimistic. We think, for
example, of Franklin Roosevelt's "We have nothing to fear but fear itself" or of
Desmond Tutu's observation about apartheid in South Africa that since "it is
difficult to be optimistic, one must have hope. " Such a leader empowers
followers, making them believe that they can accomplish worthwhile but very
difficult things. He actually creates energy in the group by being active
without becoming unrealistic. {{U}} {{U}} 5
{{/U}} {{/U}}A good leader understands that order is important to a group but
that rigidity destroys the followe rs' emotion state. Lasting, empowering order
comes more from trust and the. development of group norms than from regulations
imposed by a leader. Doubtless, everyone would develop a
somewhat different, and in many cases, a longer list of personal
characteristics. But a leader who is conscious of such a list, who questions the
extent to which he or she lives and acts in accord with these traits, and who
deliberately cultivates these characteristics is likely to be a successful and
appreciated leader.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingcharts.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthecharts,2)explainthephenomenon,and3)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题Directions:
You are preparing for an English test and are in need of some reference books. Write a letter to the sales department of a bookstore to ask for:
1. detailed information about the books you want,
2. methods of payment,
3. time and way of delivery.
填空题The world has never seen population ageing before. Can it cope? Until the early 1990s nobody much thought about whole populations getting older. The UN had the foresight to convene a "world assembly on ageing" back in 1982, but that came and went. By 1994 the World Bank had noticed that something big was happening. In a report entitled "Averting the Old Age Crisis", it argued that pension arrangements in most countries were unsustainable.
For the next ten years a succession of books, mainly by Americans, sounded the alarm. They had titles like Young vs Old, Gray Dawn and The Coming Generational Storm, and their message was blunt: health-care systems were heading for the rocks, pensioners were taking young people to the cleaners, and soon there would be intergenerational warfare.
Since then the debate has become less emotional, not least because a lot more is known about the subject. Books, conferences and research papers have multiplied. Whether all that attention has translated into sufficient action is another question. Governments in rich countries now accept that their pension and health-care promises will soon become unaffordable, and many of them have embarked on reforms, but so far only timidly. That is not surprising: politicians with an eye on the next election will hardly rush to introduce unpopular measures that may not bear fruit for years, perhaps decades.
The outline of the changes needed is clear. To avoid fiscal meltdown, public pensions and health-care provision will have to be reined back severely and taxes may have to go up. By far the most effective method to restrain pension spending is to give people the opportunity to work longer, because it increases tax revenues and reduces spending on pensions at the same time. It may even keep them alive longer. John Rother, the AARP"s head of policy and strategy, points to studies showing that other things being equal, people who remain at work have lower death rates than their retired peers.
Younger people today mostly accept that they will have to work for longer and that their pensions will be less generous. Employers still need to be persuaded that older workers are worth holding on to. That may be because they have had plenty of younger ones to choose from, partly thanks to the post-war baby-boom and partly because over the past few decades many more women have entered the labour force, increasing employers" choice. But the reservoir of women able and willing to take up paid work is running low, and the baby-boomers are going grey.
In many countries immigrants have been filling such gaps in the labor force as have already emerged (and remember that the real shortage is still around ten years off). Immigration in the developed world is the highest it has ever been, and it is making a useful difference. In still-fertile America it currently accounts for about 40% of total population growth, and in fast-ageing western Europe for about 90%.
On the face of it, it seems the perfect solution. Many developing countries have lots of young people in need of jobs; many rich countries need helping hands that will boost tax revenues and keep up economic growth. But over the next few decades labor forces in rich countries are set to shrink so much that inflows of immigrants would have to increase enormously to compensate: to at least twice their current size in western Europe"s most youthful countries, and three times in the older ones. Japan would need a large multiple of the few immigrants it has at present. Public opinion polls show that people in most rich countries already think that immigration is too high. Further big increases would be politically unfeasible.
To tackle the problem of ageing populations at its root, "old" countries would have to rejuvenate themselves by having more of their own children. A number of them have tried, some more successfully than others. But it is not a simple matter of offering financial incentives or providing more child care. Modem urban life in rich countries is not well adapted to large families. Women find it hard to combine family and career. They often compromise by having just one child.
A. Intergenerational conflicts will intensify.
B. need large numbers of immigrants from overseas
C. People should be allowed to work longer.
D. They find it hard to balance career and family.
E. the current pension system in most countries could not be sustained in the long term
F. The employers are unwilling to keep older workers
G. politicians are afraid of losing votes in the next election
问答题Directions:
You will graduate from university and intend to be a volunteer to go to Guizhou Province, southwest China. After reading the notice of recruitment, write a letter to president of your university to
1) express your wish to go to Guizhou province,
2) state your reasons, and
3) present your plans.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not
write the address.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,2)explainthephenomenon,and3)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.中国网民平均每周上网的时长
问答题Get to know your authentic self. Discover the real you. Don"t blindly accept the role you were conditioned by others to fill. You have your own path to follow. Be your own independent person. Don"t allow peer pressure to force you into an inauthentic role.
Being a man or woman isn"t about blindly following popular gender patterns, nor is it about rejecting such patterns out of hand and rebelliously embracing their opposites. Ultimately you must define what kind of man or woman you will become. This is a choice you must make for yourself as an individual, regardless of what anyone else thinks. What kind of man / woman do you wish to be? Life awaits your answer...
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)describethechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.某市居民上网方式调查
问答题Take the case of public education alone. The principle difficulty faced by the schools has been the tremendous increase in the number of pupils. This has been caused by the advance of the legal age for going into industry and the impossibility of finding a job even when the legal age has been reached.
In view of the technological improvements in the last few years, business will require in the future proportionally fewer workers than ever before. The result will be still further raising of the legal age for going into employment, and still further difficulty in finding employment when that age has been attained. If we cannot put our children to work, we must put them in school.
We may also be quite confident that the present trend toward a shorter day and a shorter week will be maintained. We have developed and shall continue to have a new leisure class. Already the public agencies for adult education are swamped by the tide that has swept over them since depression began. They will be little better off when it is over.
问答题There are many methods you can use to help you relieve the anger caused by any given situation in which you feel that you've been wronged, taken advantage of, or otherwise treated unfairly in some way. By lessening the intensity of your anger you will put yourself in a position from which you can act in a constructive and assertive manner, and communicate your feelings and needs effectively, instead of exposing your feelings on others and acting in a way that does not serve you well.
At the other extreme, some people cope with anger by suppressing it. If you have such tendency, you need to find ways to release the anger instead of burying it. Hale Dwoskin, one of the founders of the Sedona Method—a method which consists of a series of questions you ask yourself that lead your awareness to focus on what you're feeling in the moment and gently guide you toward letting it go—has the following to say about releasing negative emotions: "The instant you stop resisting any negative emotion.., is the instant it gives up its hold over you. So, welcome the feeling and then let it go. This frees up space for you to begin feeling good—feeling the peace that you truly are. "
问答题Directions:
In this part, you are allowed to write a letter to Mr. Li, your friend who is going to visit you during vacation. You should write him a letter
1) to express the welcome;
2) to suggest the plan about the visit;
3) to remind what to do when he visits.
You should write about 100 words on the
ANSWER SHEET.
Do not
write your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not
write the address.