单选题It's been called the Gig Economy, Freelance Nation, the Rise of the Creative Class, and the e-economy, with the "e" standing for electronic, entrepreneurial. Everywhere we look, we can see the U.S. workforce undergoing a massive change. No longer do we work at the same company for 25 years, waiting for the gold watch, expecting the benefits and security that come with full-time employment. We're no longer simply lawyers, or photographers, or writers. Instead, we're part-time lawyers-cure-amateur' photographers who write on the side. Today, careers consist of piecing together various types of work, juggling multiple clients, learning to be marketing and accounting experts, and creating offices in bedrooms/coffee shops. Independent workers abound. We call them freelancers, contractors, sole proprietors, consultants, temps, and the self-employed. This transition is nothing less than a revolution. We haven't seen a shift in the workforce so significant in almost 100 years since we transitioned from an agricultural to an industrial economy. Now, employees are leaving the traditional workplace and opting to piece together a professional life on their own. As of 2005, one-third of our workforce participated in this "freelance economy". Statistics show that number has only increased over the past six years. While the economy has unwillingly pushed some people into independent work, many have chosen it because of greater flexibility that lets them skip the dreary office environment and focus on more personally fulfilling projects. These trends will have an enormous impact on our economy and our society: We don't actually know the true composition of the new workforce. After 2005, the government stopped counting independent workers in a meaningful and accurate way. Studies have shown that the independent workforce has grown and changed significantly since then. Jobs no longer provide the protections and security that workers used to expect. The basics such as health insurance, protection from unpaid wages, a retirement plan, and unemployment insurance are out of reach for one-third of working Americans. Independent workers are forced to seek them elsewhere, and if they can't find or afford them, then they go without. Therefore, it's time to build a new support system that allows for the flexible and mobile way that people are working. This new, changing workforce needs to build economic security in profoundly new ways. For the new workforce, the New Deal is irrelevant. When it was passed in the 1930s, the New Deal provided workers with important protections and benefits but those securities were built for a traditional employer-employee relationship. The New Deal has not evolved to include independent workers. (424 words)

单选题Sometimes we have specific problems with our mother; sometimes, life with her can just be hard work. If there are difficulties in your (1) , it's best to deal with them, (2) remember that any (3) should be done (4) person or by letter. The telephone is not a good (5) because it is too easy (6) either side to (7) the conversation. Explain to her (8) you find difficult in your relationship and then (9) some new arrangements that you think would establish a (10) balance between you. Sometimes we hold (11) from establishing such boundaries because we are afraid that doing (12) implies we are (13) her. We need to remember that being (14) from our mother does not (15) mean that we no longer love her. If the conflict is (16) and you cannot find a way to (17) it, you might decide to give up your relationship with your mother for a while. Some of my patients had (18) "trial separations". The (19) allowed things to simmer down, enabling (20) .

单选题 Reading to oneself is a modern activity which was almost unknown to the scholars of the classical. In{{U}} (1) {{/U}}world during the fifteenth century the term " reading"{{U}} (2) {{/U}}meant reading aloud. Only during the nineteenth century did silent reading become commonplace. One should be wary, however, of{{U}} (3) {{/U}}that silent reading came about simply because reading aloud is a(n){{U}} (4) {{/U}}to others. Examination of factors related to the{{U}} (5) {{/U}}development of silent reading reveals that it became the usual mode of reading for most adult reading tasks mainly because the tasks themselves changed in{{U}} (6) {{/U}}. The last century saw a steady gradual increase in{{U}} (7) {{/U}}and thus in the number of readers. As readers increased, the number of potential listeners{{U}} (8) {{/U}}, and thus there was some{{U}} (9) {{/U}}in the need to read aloud. As reading for the benefit of listeners grew less common, so came the flourishing of reading as a{{U}} (10) {{/U}}activity in such public places as libraries, railway carriages and offices, where reading aloud would{{U}} (11) {{/U}}distraction to other readers. Towards the end of the century there was still{{U}} (12) {{/U}}argument over whether books should be used for information or treated{{U}} (13) {{/U}}, and over whether the reading of material such as newspapers was in some way{{U}} (14) {{/U}}weakening. Indeed this argument still remains with us in education.{{U}} (15) {{/U}}its virtues, the old shared literacy culture had gone and was{{U}} (16) {{/U}}by the printed mass media on the one hand and by books and periodicals for a{{U}} (17) {{/U}}readership on the other. By the end of the century students were being recommended to adopt attitudes to books and to use skills in reading them which were inappropriate,{{U}} (18) {{/U}}not impossible, for the oral reader. The social, cultural, and technological changes in the century had greatly{{U}} (19) {{/U}}what the term "reading"{{U}} (20) {{/U}}.

单选题{{B}}Part A{{/B}}Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D． {{B}}Text 1{{/B}} Cabinet meetings outside London are rare and reluctant things. Harold Wilson held one in Brighton in 1966, but only because the Labour Party was already there for its annual conference. In 1921 David Lloyd George summoned the Liberals to Inverness because he didn't want to cut short his holiday. Gordon Brown's decision to hold his first cabinet meeting after the summer break in Birmingham, on September 8th, was born of a nobler desire to show the almost nine tenths of Britons who live outside London that they are not ignored. He will have to do better: constitutionally, they are more sidelined now than ever. Many legislatures use their second chamber to strengthen the representation of sparsely populated areas (every American state, from Wyoming to California, gets two votes in the Senate, for example). Britain's House of Lords, most of whose members are appointed supposedly on merit, has the opposite bias. A survey by the New Local Government Network (NLGN), a think-tank, finds that London and two of its neighbouring regions are home to more peers than the rest of Britain combined; even Birmingham, the country's second-largest city, has just one. Oddly, this distortion is partly thanks to reforms that were supposed to make the Lords more representative. By throwing out most of the hereditary peers in 1999, Labour paved the way for a second chamber that was less posh, less white and less male than before. But in booting out the landed gentry, it also ditched many of those who came from the provinces. The Duke of Northumberland (270th in the Sunday Times's " Rich List") may not be a member of a downtrodden minority. But Alnwick Castle, his family pile, is in the North-east region, home to just 2% of the Lords' members now. Geographically speaking, the duke and his fellow toffs were champions of diversity. The government now wants to reintroduce some geographical fairness, but minus dukes. Long-incubated plans to reform the Lords would see it converted during the next parliament into a body that is mainly or entirely elected. A white paper in July outlined various electoral systems, all based on regional or sub-regional constituencies. Some would like to see the seat of government prised out of the capital altogether, though in the past this has normally required a civil war or a plague. Southerners whisper that no one would show up if Parliament were based in a backwater such as Manchester. But many don't now. The NLGN found that peers resident in Northern Ireland vote least often. But next from the bottom are the London-dwellers, who show up for less than a third of the votes on their doorstep. Even the eight who live abroad are more assiduous. The north may seem an awfully long way away, but apparently so is Westminster.

单选题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}}Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. 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{{U}} (1) {{/U}}a revolution in product and service. Between 1949 and 1951, advertising on television grew 960 percent. Today the Internet is once again{{U}} (2) {{/U}}promotion. By going online, companies can communicate instantly and directly with prospective customers.{{U}} (3) {{/U}}on the World Wide Web includes advertising, sponsorships, and sales promotions{{U}} (4) {{/U}}sweepstakes, contests, coupons, and rebates. In 1996 World Wide Web advertising revenues{{U}} (5) {{/U}}$ 300 million. Effective online marketers don't{{U}} (6) {{/U}}transfer hard-copy ads to cyberspace.{{U}} (7) {{/U}}sites blend promotional and non-promotional information indirectly delivering the advertising messages. To{{U}} (8) {{/U}}visits to their sites and to create and{{U}} (9) {{/U}}customer loyalty, companies change information frequently and provide many opportunities for{{U}} (10) {{/U}}. A prototype for excellent{{U}} (11) {{/U}}promotion is the Ragu Web site. Here visitors can find thirty-six pasta recipes, take Italian lessons, and view an Italian film festival,{{U}} (12) {{/U}}they will find no traditional ads.{{U}} (13) {{/U}}subtle is the mix of product and promotion that visitors hardly know an advertising message has been{{U}} (14) {{/U}}. Sega of America, maker of computer games and hardware, uses its Web site for a{{U}} (15) {{/U}}of different promotions, such as{{U}} (16) {{/U}}new game characters to the public and supplying Web surfers the opportunity to{{U}} (17) {{/U}}games. Sega's home page averages 250,000 visits a day. To heighten interest in the site, Sega bought an advertising banner on Netscape{{U}} (18) {{/U}}increasing site visits by 15 percent. Online{{U}} (19) {{/U}}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{{U}} (20) {{/U}}and helped the company know its customers better.

单选题Evidence from the economists and the building industries shows that ______.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} Within 80 years, some scientists estimate, the world must produce more than eight times the present world food supply. The productiveness of the sea raises our hopes for an adequate food supply in the future. Aided by men of science, we have set forth to find out that 70 percent of the earth remains unexplored the ocean depths. Thus, we may better discover and utilize the sea's natural products for the world's hungry. It is fish protein concentrate that is sought from the seas. By utilizing the unharvested fish in United States waters alone, enough fish protein concentrate can, be obtained to provide supplemental animal protein for more than one billion people for one year at the cost of less than half a cent per day per person. The malnutrition of children is terribly tragic. But the crime lies in society's unrestrained breeding, not in its negligence in producing fish powder. But wherever the population projects are carefully considered, the answer to the problem is something like this: There are few projects that could do more to raise the nutritional level of mankind than a full-scale scientific effort to develop the resources of the sea. Each year some thirty million tons of food products are taken from the sea, which account for 12 percent of the world's animal proteins. Nations with their swelling populations must push forward into the sea frontiers for food supplies. Private industry must step up its marine research and the federal government must make new attacks on the problems of marine research development. There is a tone of desperateness in all these designs on the sea. But what is most startling is the assumption that the seas are an untouched resource. The fact is that the seas have been, and are being, hurt directly and indirectly, by the same forces that have abused the land. In the broad pattern of ecological relationships the seas are not separable from what happens on the land. The poisons that pollute the soil and the air bring in massive doses into the "continental shelf" waters. The dirt and pollution that spills from our urban sewers and industrial out falls despoil our bays and coastal waters. All the border seas are already heavily polluted by the same exploitation drives that have undermined the quality of life on land.{{B}}Notes:{{/B}} sewers 下水道。

单选题The text mainly tells us about

单选题 Space Shuttle Project is one of the first huge-typed spaceflight instruments used for many times in the world, organized by American National Aviation andSpaceflight Bureau, the main researches of{{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}are researching and making the system of space shuttle, suggesting and choosing{{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}and landing ports,deciding the scheme of reclaiming the roll booster of solid rocket,{{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}the establishment of repairing the roll booster, and rebuilding and expanding the building of the{{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}and controlling system. At the beginning of 1969, the United States set up a group that specially researched the development direction of spaceflight with{{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}for the next stage,{{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}by deputy president. After{{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}and research, it suggested that an aerocraft with great benefits in{{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}should be made, eg{{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}the spaceflight being its leading stanchion. In this project, five orbit implements were prescribed to be made,{{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}" Exploitation", " Columbia", " Challenger","Discovery" and "Atlands". In 1970, spaceflight got into an all-round{{U}} {{U}} 11 {{/U}} {{/U}}of research and manufacture. The whole-project had to delay more than three years. Five orbit implements were{{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}} {{/U}}to be four and flight experiment for six times was also decreased for four, {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}the number of production was cut down, according to the original scheme. In April 1971 this{{U}} {{U}} 14 {{/U}} {{/U}}was decided that Kennedy Space Centre was used for the launching and landing port for space shuttles, and Edwards Air Base was used for the{{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}} {{/U}}landing port. In February 1977,"Exploitation" Orbit Implement started to have entering and landing experiment sin Edwards Air Base. From May 12, 1981 to July 4, 1982, "Columbia" Space Shuttle successfully finished four flight experiments for research and manufacture, {{U}} {{U}} 16 {{/U}} {{/U}}meant that the {{U}} {{U}} 17 {{/U}} {{/U}}and manufactures were over in{{U}} {{U}} 18 {{/U}} {{/U}}form. It{{U}} {{U}} 19 {{/U}} {{/U}}about 12 years and cost more than 75 billion US dollars to finish the whole project. On November 11, 1990, space shuttles began to fly for{{U}} {{U}} 20 {{/U}} {{/U}}.

单选题In the eyes of Unilever, its troubles mainly lie in

单选题All that we really need to plot out the future of our universe are a few good measurements. This does not mean that we can sit down today and outline the future course of the universe with anything like certainty. There are still too many things we do not know about the way the universe is put together. But we do know exactly what information we need to fill in our knowledge, and we have a pretty good idea of how to go about getting it. Perhaps the best way to think of our present situation is to imagine a train coming into a switchyard. All of the switches are set before the train arrives, so that its path is completely determined. Some switches we can see, others we cannot. There is no ambiguity if we can see the setting of a switch: we can say with confidence that some possible futures will not materialize and others will. At the unseen switches, however, there is no such certainty. We know the train will take one of the tracks leading out, but we have no idea which one. The unseen switches are the true decision points in the future, and what happens when we arrive at them determines the entire subsequent course of events. When we think about the future of the universe, we can see our "track" many billions of years into the future, but after that there are decision points to be dealt with and possible fates to consider. The goal of science is to reduce the ambiguity at the decision points and find the true road that will be followed.

单选题It can be inferred from the passage that tile company