An official report

A. Created 150 years ago

Narrative crept back into art through a side door marked fashion photography. In April 1967, French em>Vogue/em> published a spread by Bob Richardson, the American photographer, that soon became a legend. Informally christened "the Greek trip" by Richardson's admirers, the spread featured Donna Mitchell, a striking brunet model, hanging out on the Aegean island of Rhodes with a male companion. Of course, narrative never disappeared—it just went to the movies, and stayed, and stayed. But what had caused stories to be exiled from high art? The idea of essence, and the equation of essence with goodness. Can you imagine? Visual art is essentially composed of form, color, materials. Anything to do with content is extraneous and therefore to be associated with badness; therefore to be eliminated. Moreover, content, says this line of thought, is controlling. This means that a rose is the Virgin Mary (depending on what the meaning of "is" is). And art, like society, must be liberated from such hierarchically imposed values. What this argument overlooked, of course, is that narrative is a form in itself, not just a vehicle for content. Indeed, the ideology of formalism originated, in Soviet Russia, with the analysis of old folk tales. Narrative form, the analysis went, typically proceeds from an initial state of equilibrium through a series of destabilizing episodes, concluding with a heightened state of equilibrium at the end. Think Indiana Jones. You can plug whatever content you want in there as long as it creates the form. Each episode simply has to do with the work of creating disequilibrium. A narrative does not, in other words, tell a story. A story is told to give listeners the pleasure of the narrative form. If you were to isolate the form of disequilibrium from the specifics of plot, you might arrive at something resembling the collected work of Cindy Sherman. Initially modeled after movie stills, Sherman's pictures are not, of course, abstract. Over the years, in fact, their content has become increasingly elaborate. I see this as a form of generosity as well as a sign of advanced technical skills. Not since Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593), perhaps, has an artist contrived to turn the human figure into a more bountiful cornucopia for the eye. Yet even the most visually splendid of Sherman's images are minimalist, in that they reduce the narrative down to the precise moment when the center of gravity shifts. Perhaps some unheard word is spoken. A floorboard squeaks. From upstairs comes a thump. And a tentative state of equilibrium gives way to anxiety or dread. That moment, too, represents essence. What more do you need to know? According to the author, "narrative" is to "story" what ______.

"My very educated mother just served us nine pizzas." Many American school children are taught this sentence to help them remember the order of the planets of the solar system. Soon though, this may change because, on July 29th, a team of astronomers announced the discovery of a very distant celestial body larger than Pluto. The researchers claim that the new body—which they are informally calling Xena—should be classified as a planet. The new body—temporarily named 2003UB313—orbits the Sun once every 560 years. It is currently over 14 billion kilometres away, about three times farther out than Pluto, making it the most distant object ever discovered in the solar system. The researchers think it is part of the Kuiper belt, a ring of rocky objects that extends beyond Neptune. Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology, Chad Trujillo of the Gemini Observatory and David Rabino witz of Yale University discovered the object in data recorded at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego in October 2003, but its motion did not become apparent until they reanalysed the data in January 2005. The question of whether or not the new body should be considered a planet has rekindled the debate over what exactly counts as a planet. A handful of objects of similar size to, but smaller than, Pluto have been discovered in the Kuiper belt over the past few years. These have not been considered planets, mainly because they were smaller than Pluto. But 2003UB313 is larger than Pluto. If Pluto is a planet, shouldn't it be as well? The case is not so clear cut. Many astronomers argue that Pluto should not be considered a planet. It is more like a large asteroid, they hold. Meanwhile, Dr. Brown asserts that as Pluto has historically been considered a planet, anything larger should also be considered one. Ultimately, the International Astronomical Union, a group of professional astronomers, will end this existential anxiety. Dr. Brown expects the process to take months, and the team is not allowed to reveal its suggested name until then. Since most Greek and Roman names have already been used, he and his colleagues have previously drawn upon Native American and Inuit mythology for names. He will only hint that the new name comes from a different tradition altogether. Time will tell whether mother wilt be serving "nine polished xylophones", "nine pizzas" or just "noodles". The first sentence in Para. 1 is used by American school children because ______.

College graduates are now leaving school with not only a diploma, but also with more debt than in any other period in history. According to the College Board, average financial aid per full time equivalent student adjusted for inflation, has almost doubled in the last decade. Additionally, not only is the average student debt load higher, but also the number of loans originated increased by nearly fourfold. Thus student lending has increased in breadth as well as depth, doubly impacting the financial situations of those students who must depend on student loans to finance their education. Furthermore, these figures no doubt understate the true level of indebtedness incurred by students and their families since some undoubtedly finance part of their education and living expenses through the use of consumer loans, home equity loans or credit cards. Thus, the already huge burden of student loan debt incurred by students and their families is exacerbated by financial obligations from other sources. This situation is the outcome of a precarious combination of easy credit, thanks to card issuers who are eager to tap into this lucrative market, financial naiveté on the part of students, and a sense on both sides that, if worse comes to worse, mommy and daddy will step in and set things right. All combine to make credit a tempting lure to students strapped for cash. While credit still remain a virtual element for the financing of many students' education at expensive colleges, its implications must carefully weighed and considered, lest the cash-poor student find himself with more that he bargained for. Most students in the United States attend colleges whose tuition does not exceed $15,000, however. Nevertheless, rising prices, combined with stagnant income gains among low-and moderate-income families, have made it difficult if not impossible for a student from a family of such an income level, a student who has the most to gain from a college education, to attend college without significantly adding to the financial burden of his or her family. While student loans still remain a vital element for the financing of many students' education at expensive colleges, its implications must be carefully weighed and considered, lest the cash-poor student find himself with more than he bargained for. In Paragraph 1, "... the number of loans originated increased by nearly fourfold" means

In 1956, when the cold war was at its peak

Public relations is a broad set of planned communications about the company

The Scottish countryside will soon be home to creatures which is strange to Britain. This spring, 17 beavers (海狸) will be released into a remote area of rivers and forests. Hunted to extinction throughout Europe, beavers haven't roamed Britain's wilderness for almost 500 years. Ecologists would like to invite back other long-lost species to help restore the natural balance. To save the country's plants from deer, which have doubled to 2 million since the start of this decade, an Oxford University biologist late last year called for reintroducing the lynx (猞猁)—a wildcat that died out in Britain 1,300 years ago. Nature has long been a popular cause in Europe. British people love their countryside of fences and fields, the French their vineyards (葡萄园) and the Germans their hiking forests. But in recent years conservationists have set their sights on the more distant past, when Europe's forests and meadows were full of elephants, hippo-potamuses (河马), rhinoceroses(犀牛) and big cats. Some ambitious conservationists are now advocating a return to norms of wilderness that date back to 11,000 years ago when the biggest mammals were at the top of the food chain. Nobody is advocating allowing elephants and lions to run crazily in this densely populated region. But wilding supporters would give free control to a long list of lesser mammals, including the beaver and the lynx, which some people fear could be destructive. Some landowners withdraw at the thought of beavers cutting down trees with their teeth and flooding their property; the Scottish Parliament rejected several earlier efforts to reintroduce the mammal. Proposals to set loose wolves and bears in Britain have also encountered resistance. Although rhinos and hippos thrived in Europe thousands of years ago, no one is sure what effect they would have on ecosystems now. "The idea of bringing back big mammals is interesting, but when you get down to the nuts and bolts, there's a lot of questions," say some biologists. For example, elephants could destroy what little forest and grassland Europe has left. The beavers of Tierra del Fuego provide a cautionary tale. When a failed commercial fur farm released its few remaining beavers into the wild 60 years ago, the population exploded, and they are still revenging the local people. Is this Britain's future? Supporters say no, the beaver will fit right in. Destroying nature is not a job for the mild. The word "roamed" (Line 3, Para. 1) most probably means ______.

How does your reading proceed? Clearly you try to comprehend

Culture shock might be called an occupational disease of people who have been suddenly transplanted abroad. Like most ailments, it has its own 1 and cure. Culture shock is 2 by the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse. Those signs or cues include the thousand and one 3 in which we orient ourselves to the 4 of daily life: when to shake hands and what to say when we meet people, when and how to give tips, how to 5 purchases, when to accept and when to refuse invitations, when to take statement seriously and when not. These cues, 6 may be words, gestures, facial 7 customs, or norms, are 8 by all of us in the course of growing up and are as much a 9 of our culture as the language we speak or the beliefs we accept. All of us 10 for our peace of mind and our efficiency on hundreds of these cues, 11 of which we do not carry on the 12 of conscious awareness. Now when an individual 13 a strange culture, all or most of these familiar cues are removed. He or she is like a fish out of water. No matter how broad-minded or 14 of goodwill you may be, a series of props have been 15 under you, followed by a feeling of frustration and 16 . People react to the frustration in much the 17 way. First they reject the environment which causes the 18 . "The ways of the host country are bad because they make us feel bad." When foreigners in a strange land get together to 19 about the host country and its people, you can be sure they are 20 from culture shock.

Americans don't like to lose wars. Of course

Directions: Write a letter to apply for a part-time job in a local English training school

A. Asking for parental involvement B. Setting up small groups C

"There is one and only one social responsibility of business," wrote Milton Friedman, a Nobel prize-winning economist, "That is, to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits." But even if you accept Friedman's premise and regard corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies as a waste of shareholders' money, things may not be absolutely clear-cut. New research suggests that CSR may create monetary value for companies—at least when they are prosecuted for corruption. The largest firms in America and Britain together spend more than $15 billion a year on CSR, according to an estimate by EPG, a consulting firm. This could add value to their businesses in three ways. First, consumers may take CSR spending as a "signal" that a company's products are of high quality. Second, customers may be willing to buy a company's products as an indirect way to donate to the good causes it helps. And third, through a more diffuse "halo effect," whereby its good deeds earn it greater consideration from consumers and others. Previous studies on CSR have had trouble differentiating these effects because consumers can be affected by all three. A recent study attempts to separate them by looking at bribery prosecutions under America's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). It argues that since prosecutors do not consume a company's products as part of their investigations, they could be influenced only by the halo effect. The study found that, among prosecuted firms, those with the most comprehensive CSR programmes tended to get more lenient penalties. Their analysis ruled out the possibility that it was firms' political influence, rather than their CSR stand, that accounted for the leniency: Companies that contributed more to political campaigns did not receive lower fines. In all, the study concludes that whereas prosecutors should only evaluate a case based on its merits, they do seem to be influenced by a company's record in CSR. "We estimate that either eliminating a substantial labour-rights concern, such as child labour, or increasing corporate giving by about 20% results in fines that generally are 40% lower than the typical punishment for bribing foreign officials," says one researcher. Researchers admit that their study does not answer the question of how much businesses ought to spend on CSR. Nor does it reveal how much companies are banking on the halo effect, rather than the other possible benefits, when they decide their do-gooding policies. But at least they have demonstrated that when companies get into trouble with the law, evidence of good character can win them a less costly punishment. The author views Milton Friedman's statement about CSR with ______.

Directions: You are preparing for an English test and are in need of some reference books

Mobile phones should carry a label if they proved to be a dangerous source of radiation

The exterior of this Moscow restaurant features a Memphis-inspired pattern

Directions: Suppose you are a college student and you intend to work part time during your vacatio

In the past several years

As a rule, women behave better than men