单选题That a lack of wealth all too often translates into poor health may seem painfully obvious. But now a review of health inequalities in England reveals that such inequalities don't just disadvantage the least well-off. The review also suggests some strategies to tackle the inequalities. These remedies should apply the world over, including in the US, where health and wealth inequalities can be especially severe. Commissioned by the UK government, the review was headed by Michael Marmot of University College London. Marmot, in his latest work, uses census data from across England to show that these health inequalities don't just exist between the richest and the poorest. He says action to reduce health inequalities should take place right across society, not focus solely on the poor. "It's not rich versus poor, because it's a social grade," he says. What's more, the most productive time to intervene to create a healthier society is childhood, Marmot says. That children who start out with well-off, well-educated parents are likely to be healthier would seem to be something of a no-brainer. But the fates of 17,200 UK babies monitored since they were born in the same week in April 1970, and highlighted in Marmot's review, make compelling evidence. It turns out that babies who had low IQs at 22 months and were born to richer, better educated parents caught up by the age of 6 with children who started with high IQs but whose parents were poorer and less educated. "It shows that the social is exceeding the biological," says Marmot. "We can change that, and that's why I'm optimistic." He also finds that children in poorer families miss out on pre-school reading, socialising and physical exercise. This disadvantage leaves them trailing far behind when they start school and they seldom recover. Such inequalities are not confined to the UK. A US report in April 2009 concluded that interventions most likely to improve the health of all Americans were "programs that promote early childhood development and that support children and families". A report from Brazil recommended prioritising "actions related to health promotion of children and adolescents". "We look forward to assessing how to adapt the policy recommendations for England to the rest of the world," says Rudiger Krech, director of the WHO's department of ethics, equity, trade and human rights. He agrees that giving every child the best start in life "is critical in setting the foundation for a lifetime of health and successful contribution to society". What can be done to ensure this? One option is to extend maternity or paternity leave. Another is to help struggling parents by providing extra services and information.

单选题The usual arguments for adding women directors are that diverse boards are more creative and innovative, less inclined to "groupthink" and likely to be more independent from senior management. Numerous studies show that high proportions of women directors coincide with superior corporate performance. But there is little academically accepted evidence of a causal relationship. It may be that thriving firms allow themselves the luxury of attending to social issues such as board diversity, whereas poorly performing ones batten down the hatches. Women do seem to be particularly effective board members at companies where things are going wrong. A 2008 paper on the impact of female directors by Renee Adams and Daniel Ferreira of the University of Queensland and the London School of Economics found that bosses of American firms whose shares perform poorly are more likely to be fired if the firm has a relatively high number of women directors. On average, however, the paper concluded that firms perform worse as the proportion of women on the board increases. There is certainly no shortage of companies capable of producing outstanding results with few or no women on the board. Nor is there any doubt that in many cases low female representation also reflects a lack of meritocracy (rule by merit) in corporate culture. In France, for instance, interlocking board memberships are common. Women, and many other deserving businesspeople, are excluded from the system. But what most prevents women from reaching the boardroom, say bosses and headhunters, is lack of hands-on experience of a firm's core business. Too many women go into functional roles such as accounting, marketing or human resources early in their careers rather than staying in the mainstream, driving profits. Getting men to show up at every board meeting—an effect of having more women on boards—is all very well, but what firms really need is savvy business advice. Yet according to EPWN, the pipeline of female executives is "almost empty": women occupy only 3% of executive roles on boards, compared with 12% of non-executive ones. That suggests that the best way to increase the number of women on boards is to ensure that more women gain the right experience further down the corporate hierarchy. That may be a slower process than imposing a quota, but it is also likely to be a more meaningful and effective one.

单选题Hope may be the lovely, lyrical, inspiring thing many people believe it is—"the thing with feathers," as Emily Dickinson called it. But to scientists, it's also a more dull thing as well: a skill, a tool, a simple choice that is a lot less accidental or lucky. As psychologist Shane Lopez, a senior scientist at the Gallup organization argues in his new book, Making Hope Happen, it's also much more attainable than it seems. In both children and adults, there can be a hard-to-deny link between a robust sense of hope and either work productivity or academic achievement. In studies of this idea, hope is measured by a widely accepted psychological survey and productivity is measured by grades earned, sales made, equipment manufactured etc. When Lopez and his colleagues recently gathered up a large body of this research and subjected it all to a meta-analysis, they came up with what they believe are very solid numbers. "Our finding was that hope accounts for about 14% of work productivity and 12% of academic achievement," he said. Hoping, Lopez stresses, is a lot different from wishing, though the two are often mixed. The super-bestseller The Secret is based on the vaguely defined and not-exactly peer-reviewed "law of attraction," which in this case means that just having positive thoughts about wealth, love, success and more can draw all of those things to you. "This wonderful future will happen for you if you just sit back and wish hard enough," Lopez says. But wishing, he explains is only an element of hope—it is, in a sense, hope without a plan. And that often leads nowhere. Effective hoping, Lopez says, is a very deliberate, three-step process. First there is selecting a goal, whether short-term or long term. Then you have to consider the gap between where you are now and where you will be when you achieve the goal, and lay out a series of sequential, short-term goals that will allow you to close that gap. Finally, there is the execution, establishing a plan for when you will begin to implement those steps and where and how you will execute them. It's far too much to say that effective hoping is the only—or even the biggest—part of what it takes to succeed. If 14% of business productivity can be attributed to hope, that means 86% is dependent on raw talent, unpredictable business cycles, the quality of the product you're selling, and often pure luck. But even if hope is just one ingredient in all of that, it's a stimulating, energizing one—the gas in the tank, the fuel rod in the reactor, the Mentos in the Pepsi. Hope may be the thing with feathers—but it's also the thing with power.

单选题What's the engine that drives American business? Innovation? Sweat? Capital? Try coffee. From the shop floor to the boardroom, Java—and I don't mean the soft ware—fuels workers and shapes office culture. What's more, a steaming cup of coffee may be as good for your health as it is for the bottom line. Many people take their coffee with a small dose of guilt, worried that it isn't good for the body. That's a misunderstanding from studies done in the 1950s and 1960s showing that coffee drinkers were prone to heart disease and other sufferings. These studies failed to account for cigarette smoking, which once went hand in cup with coffee drinking. Since then, the medical community has done a gradual turn on the health effects of coffee. Large, long-term studies show that coffee doesn't promote cancer and may even protect against some types. It's safe for the heart—so safe that the American Heart Association says it's OK for heart attack survivors to have a cup or two a day even as they recover in the coronary care unit. Results from the long-running Health Professionals Follow-Up and Nurses' Health studies show that drinking coffee cuts the risk of dying early from a heart attack or stroke. It's possible that the bean improves productivity, too. A bit of caffeine wakes up millions of workers in the morning. Controlled laboratory experiments indicate that it causes feelings of well-being and increases energy, alertness, and motivation. Functional MRI scans show that coffee activates parts of the brain involved in short-term memory, the kind that helps focus attention on tasks at hand. For all that, a word of warning is in order. The average cup of coffee serves up about 100 milligrams of caffeine, and a large specialty coffee can deliver five times that much. If you aren't used to caffeine, it can make you restless, boost your blood pressure, and dehydrate you. But the biggest health hazard is the extra stuff that drinkers add to coffee. Taken black, coffee is a nearly calorie-free beverage full of antioxidants and other vegetable nutrients. Add cream, sugar, fresh cream, and flavorings, and it turns into a fat- and calorie-laden dessert, which can add pounds that offset any possible health benefits. For most people, though, the health and social benefits of coffee outweigh the hazards, and the daily grind keeps American business spreading.

单选题Two of the most common rumors about immigrant families are that they don't really want to become American and that they're a drag on the rest of us. But a fascinating new Pew report gives lie to both fears. In the process, it reminds us why immigration matters. The study shows first of all that Americanization is proceeding as inevitably now as during previous great waves of migration. Yes, today's immigrants are Hispanic and Asian rather than European. But that has not made a difference. Today's 20 million adult sons and daughters of immigrants have learned English, advanced economically, and intermarried far more than their parents did and no more slowly than the Italians or Irish or Poles did a century ago. Nearly six in ten—almost double the percentage of their parents—consider themselves "typical Americans." As for whether immigrant families are a drag on society, the facts are clear. Second-generation Americans—the children of immigrants—are not just doing better than their parents. Their educational attainment and income are actually above the national average. They are contributors. If anything, as other research has shown, it is America that can be harmful to immigrant families: obesity and criminality increase from the first to the second generation. So the question should not be how to keep newcomers from diluting America but how to keep America from diluting the newcomers. This presents a challenge to both native-born Americans and today's immigrants. The Pew report notes that Americans who are of foreign birth or parentage, so-called "immigrant stock," will constitute a record 37% of the population by 2050. This frightens many white Americans to the core, especially those who are older and live in communities only recently touched by immigration. But for today's "immigrant stock," this moment creates an opportunity. Immigrants of earlier centuries proved that every kind of European could become simply white; today's immigrants prove that every kind of human can become simply American. But this means encouraging them to strive not only for their own families but also for the nation, through service and civic participation. We should bear in mind that whether we are native-born or newcomer, our task now, then, is to apply an immigrant's ingenuity, optimism, and perseverance to the systematic expansion of opportunity in America, To do that, as history shows and recent studies confirm, it'll help to have more immigrants around.

单选题Transatlantic friction between companies and regulators has grown as Europe's data guardians have become more assertive. Francesca Bignami, a professor at George Washington University's law school, says that the explosion of digital technologies has made it impossible for watchdogs to keep a close eye on every web company operating in their backyard. So instead they are relying more on scapegoating prominent wrongdoers in the hope that this will deter others. But regulators such as Peter Schaar, who heads Germany's federal data-protection agency, say the gulf is exaggerated. Some European countries, he points out, now have rules that make companies who suffer big losses of customer data to report these to the authorities. The inspiration for these measures comes from America. Yet even Mr. Schaar admits that the internet's global scale means that there will need to be changes on both sides of the Atlantic. He hints that Europe might adopt a more flexible regulatory stance if America were to create what amounts to an independent data-protection body along European lines. In Europe, where the flagship Data Protection Directive came into effect in 1995, the European Commission is conducting a review of its privacy policies. In America Congress has begun debating a new privacy bill and the Federal Trade Commission is considering an overhaul of its rules. Even if America and Europe do narrow their differences, internet firms will still have to struggle with other data watchdogs. In Asia countries that belong to APEC are trying to develop a set of regional guidelines for privacy rules under an initiative known as the Data Privacy Pathfinder. Some countries such as Australia and New Zealand have longstanding privacy laws, but many emerging nations have yet to roll out fully fledged versions of their own. Mr. Polonetsky sees Asia as "a new privacy battleground", with America and Europe both keen to tempt countries towards their own regulatory model. Canada already has something of a hybrid privacy regime, which may explain why its data-protection commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, has been so influential on the international stage. She marshaled the signatories of the Google Buzz letter and took Facebook to task last year for breaching Canada's data privacy laws, which led the company to change its policies. Ms Stoddart argues that American companies often trip up on data-privacy issues because of "their brimming optimism that the whole world wants what they have rolled out in America." Yet the same optimism has helped to create global companies that have brought huge benefits to consumers, while also presenting privacy regulators with tough choices. Shoehorning such firms into old privacy frameworks will not benefit either them or their users.

单选题The topic of virtual violence in video games resulting in real life aggression has long been controversial—and many courts have tested the limits of the "video games made me do it" defense. Now a new study published this week in the March issue of the Psychological Bulletin adds to the debate with findings suggesting that, while exposure to violence in video games may not have huge consequences, they have very real implications. In a review of 130 studies including more than 130,000 subjects, researchers found that, regardless of age group, gender or culture, violent video games increased the likelihood of aggression and decreased empathy in kids. The studies, whose subjects ranged from elementary school students to college undergraduates, were conducted in the U.S., Europe and Japan and included both genders. Lead author, Craig Anderson, a psychology professor and director of the Center for the Study of Violence at Iowa State University, argues that these findings indicate that exposure to virtual brutality increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior, both in the short- and long-term. Anderson believes that this latest research, adding to earlier inquiries, points to the need to move beyond the question of whether or not exposure to virtual violence can have negative consequences. Now, he says, it is time to work toward creating public policies and promoting in-home approaches that will better enable parents to cultivate environments for children that incorporate video games as a healthy component. Speaking with USA Today he pointed out that: "The rating itself does not tell you whether it is a healthy or unhealthy game. Any game that involves killing or harming another character in order to advance is likely to be teaching inappropriate lessons to whoever is playing it." An accompanying critique of the research, written by Christopher Ferguson, an associate professor at Texas A&M International University, suggested that Anderson and colleagues' findings overestimated the influence of video games. Ferguson pointed to his own research published earlier in the Journal of Pediatrics indicating that "delinquent peer influences, anti-social personality traits, depression, and parents/ guardians who use psychological abuse" were strong risk factors for aggressive and violent behavior in youths, while things like neighborhood quality, parents' domestic violence and violent video games "were not predictive of youth violence and aggression". Anderson responded to the critique by acknowledging that the effect of video games on risk for later aggression was small and the aggression risk posed by video game violence should certainly be considered within the context of other risk factors. But, he also argued, exposure to video game violence is one risk factor for aggression that parents can readily do something about.

单选题McDonald's, Greggs, KFC and Subway are today named as the most littered brands in England as Keep Britain Tidy【C1】______fast-food companies to do more to tackle customers who drop their wrappers and beverage boxes in the streets. Phil Barton, chief executive of Keep Britain Tidy,【C2】______its new Dirty Pig campaign, said it was the first time it had investigated which【C3】______made up "littered England" and the same names appeared again and again. "We【C4】______litterers for dropping this fast food litter【C5】______the first place but also believe the results have relevant messages for the fast food【C6】______. McDonald's, Greggs, KFC and Subway need to do more to【C7】______littering by their customers." He recognised efforts made by McDonald's,【C8】______placing litter bins and increasing litter patrols, but its litter remained "all too prevalent". All fast food chains should reduce【C9】______packaging, he added. Companies could also reduce prices【C10】______those who stayed to eat food on their premises, offer money-off cash coupons or other【C11】______for those who returned packaging and put more bins at【C12】______points in local streets, not just outside their premises. A spokesman for McDonald's said: "We do our best.【C13】______we ask all our customers to dispose of litter responsibly." Trials of more extensive, all-day litter patrols were【C14】______in Manchester and Birmingham. KFC said it took its【C15】______for Utter management "very seriously", and would introduce a programme to reduce packaging on many products. Subway said that it worked hard to【C16】______the impact of litter on communities,【C17】______it was "still down to the【C18】______customer to dispose of their litter responsibly". Greggs said it recognised the "continuing challenge for us all",【C19】______having already taken measures to help【C20】______the issue.

单选题College students are more stressed out than ever before—at least according to the latest findings of a large, national survey. The study found that the way people tend to conceal their negative emotions while broadcasting their happy ones makes the rest of us feel somehow "less than"—as though all our friends and neighbors have better lives than we do. This phenomenon might tie into why students are feeling less confident about their level of emotional and mental stability. If all the students around you are desperately trying to put on a happy face—and you perceive that face as a true reflection of their inner selves, even as you work to hide your own sadness —well, it's not surprising that so many students might be getting a bit stressed out. Instead, if students were encouraged to feel safe expressing their honest emotions, even about their fears and failures, everyone might feel more connected, happier—and, yes, healthier.

问答题Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingdrawing.Inyourwriting,youshould1)describethedrawingbriefly,2)explaintheintendedmeaningandthen3)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.

问答题There was a time when visiting the toilet was a way to avoid doing work while still at work; that's all about to change. According to statistic, British people are looking at their mobile devices an average of 34 times a day. Clever employers keen to make the most of our habit of obsessively tapping on our phones every second we don't have anything to do are now providing employees with task-specific apps that let us do work from anywhere. This is enabling a whole new way of working by offering up so-called micro-moments of productivity. This is all part of a larger trend that has developed around the rise of enterprise apps, the work-related version of the smartphone apps that have changed the way we live our private lives. It is reported that in the next year the number of mobile workers will surpass 1.3 billion, which will create a huge market for this new industry.

问答题Write a letter to the Office of Safety Management of your school to give your advice on how to improve school security. You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET. Do not use your own name. Use "Id Ming" instead. Do not write your address. (10 points)

问答题Suppose you are the manager of ABC Factory and your former employee, John Green, is looking for a job in another factory. Write for him a letter of certification to 1) confirm his working experience in your factory, and 2) include other information that you think is relative. 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Suppose you are a graduate student and you have done a survey about college students' exercising habits. Write a report to 1) explain the purpose and methods of the survey, and 2) provide the finding(s). 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Nowadays, the younger generation really relies on the power of the "Internet" when it comes to searching for information. People underestimate the power of encyclopedias. Well, technically, all of them are primary sources. They are first hand accounts done by professionals and scholars. On the other hand, Internet information is majority secondary or third hand sources which basically means that they have been edited or modified. However, the problem here is the errors which the writer or the author committed. He/she may have different understanding on the data than you, when you have actually seen the data. Aside from that, you're not 100% sure that the author is reliable. What I would like to convey here is that manual research is still stronger than any other. As they say, "No Pain, No Gain", so working hard with your research will surely be a compacted and a strong one.

问答题Suppose you are going to have a dinner party and you want to invite your friend Wang Bo to join you. Write him a letter to 1) inform him of the dinner party, and 2) include other information that you think is relative. 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Suppose you are going to take a vacation for about a month and you are concerned about your plants. Write a note to your roommate, Wang Bo, to 1) inform him of your vacation, and 2) ask him for help. 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Suppose the National Forum on College Education will be held at your university. Write a notice to all the students to recruit volunteers. You should 1) inform them of the qualifications for application, and 2) include other information that you think is relative. You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET. Do not use your own name. Use "Student Union" instead.

问答题Write an essay based on the following information. Make comments and express your own opinion. You should write about 150 words on the ANSWER SHEET. 人们时常面临一个两难选择：究竟是“宁做鸡头不做凤尾”，还是甘当陪衬，换得广阔天地呢?这还得看每个人自己的抉择。你的想法如何?

问答题The average person sends and receives more than 100 texts per day. Part of what's driving the texting surge is the popularity of social media. Sites like Twitter, with postings of no more than 140 characters, are creating and reinforcing the habit of communicating in micro-bursts. Economics has much to do with texting's popularity. Text messages cost carriers less than traditional mobile voice transmissions, and so they cost users less. Texting's rise over conversation is changing the way we interact. We are now inclined to text to relay difficult information. We avoid eye contact by staring at our phone. Texting saves us time, but it steals from quiet reflection. When people with a mobile device have even a little extra time, they'll communicate with someone in their life. But the phone conversation will never be completely out It comes into play when there are multiple options to consider or important decisions to be made.