BSection II Reading Comprehension/B

When Liam McGee departed as president of Bank of America in August, his explanation was surprisingly straight up. Rather than cloaking his exit in the usual vague excuses, he came right out and said he was leaving "to pursue my goal of running a company." Broadcasting his ambition was "very much my decision," McGee says. Within two weeks, he was talking for the first time with the board of Hartford Financial Services Group, which named him CEO and chairman on September 29. McGee says leaving without a position lined up gave him time to reflect on what kind of company he wanted to run. It also sent a clear message to the outside world about his aspirations. And McGee isn't alone. In recent weeks the No. 2 executives at Avon and American Express quit with the explanation that they were looking for a CEO post. As boards scrutinize succession plans in response to shareholder pressure, executives who don' t get the nod also may wish to move on. A turbulent business environment also has senior managers cautious of letting vague pronouncements cloud their reputations. As the first signs of recovery begin to take hold, deputy chiefs may be more willing to make the jump without a net. In the third quarter, CEO turnover was down 23% from a year ago as nervous boards stuck with the leaders they had, according to Liberum Research. As the economy picks up, opportunities will abound for aspiring leaders. The decision to quit a senior position to look for a better one is unconventional. For years executives and headhunters have adhered to the rule that the most attractive CEO candidates are the ones who must be poached . Says Korn / Ferry senior partner Dennis Carey: "I can't think of a single search I've done where a board has not instructed me to look at sitting CEOs first." Those who jumped without a job haven't always landed in top positions quickly. Ellen Marram quit as chief of Tropicana a decade age, saying she wanted to be a CEO. It was a year before she became head of a tiny Internet-based commodities exchange. Robert Willumstad left Citigroup in 2005 with ambitions to be a CEO. He finally took that post at a major financial institution three years later. Many recruiters say the old disgrace is fading for top performers. The financial crisis has made it more acceptable to be between jobs or to leave a bad one. "The traditional rule was it' s safer to stay where you are, but that's been fundamentally inverted," says one headhunter. "The people who've been hurt the worst are those who' ve stayed too long."

That mythical beast, homo economicus, otherwise called Economic man, is utterly clear about the purpose of work: to get paid. He is keener on leisure than on work, and if money can be got without effort, he downs tools. If real people feel the same, then bountiful out-of-work benefits should be found in the same places as work-shy citizens. Yet a cross-country comparison of benefits and attitudes to work published on January 28th finds precisely the opposite pattern. Researchers ranked 13 countries according to their generosity(measured by comparing typical benefits to those out of work with the average wage of a production worker)and their citizens" commitment to work(gauged by asking whether they would work if they did not need the cash, and whether they regarded a job as merely a way to earn a living). They found that the more generous a state is the keener on work its people are. Britons, whose benefits were the stingiest(most ungenerous)after those that Americans get, were least keen of all on work. One reason may be the skills make-up of the British workforce. The researchers found, logically enough, that professionals and graduates were more positive about work than the unskilled and non-graduates. Fewer Britons than Norwegians(who came top on work commitment)have professional jobs or degrees. But this does not entirely explain their comparative immunity to the attractions of toil: Britons of every social class and level of education were less keen on work than their counterparts elsewhere. Could the "dependency culture" currently exercising British politicians be solved by raising benefits? Unlikely, says Alison Park, editor of the annual British Social Attitudes Report, in which the study appeared: attitudes to work vary from country to country for many reasons. The report states that the lavishness of what the report terms "encompassing" states, all Nordic with Lutheran traditions, may have been made possible by a strong work ethic, rather than a stronger commitment to work having emerged as a result of it. And work incentives are affected by features of welfare systems other than overall generosity: "corporatist" states such as Germany, which pay higher benefits to those with a longer work history, may be encouraging positive attitudes to work by such conditionality. Britain"s poor benefits, by contrast, are largely independent of previous employment, which may mean they are seen as an alternative to work, rather than as one of the good things that flow from it.

American schools aren"t exactly frozen in time, but considering the pace of change in other areas of life, our public schools tend to feel like throwbacks. Kids spend much of the day as their great-grandparents once did: sitting in rows, listening to teachers lecture, scribbling notes by hand, reading from textbooks that are out of date by the time they are printed. For the past five years, the national conversation on education has focused on reading scores, math tests and closing the "achievement gap" between social classes. This is not a story about that conversation.【F1】______. This week the conversation will burst onto the front page, when the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, a high-powered, bipartisan assembly of Education Secretaries, business leaders and a former Governor releases a blueprint for rethinking American education to better prepare students to thrive in the global economy. While that report includes some controversial proposals, there is nonetheless a remarkable consensus among educators and business and policy leaders on one key conclusion: we need to bring what we teach and how we teach into the 21st century. Right now we"re aiming too low. Competency in reading and math is the meager minimum.Scientific and technical skills are, likewise, utterly necessary but insufficient.【F2】______Here"s what they are: Knowing more about the world.【F3】______Mike Eskew,CEO of UPS, talks about needing workers who are "global trade literate, sensitive to foreign cultures, conversant in different languages"—not exactly strorig points in the U.S., where fewer than half of high school students are enrolled in a foreign-language class and where the social-studies curriculum tends to fixate on U.S. history. Thinking outside the box. Jobs in the new economy—the ones that won"t get outsourced or automated—"put an enormous premium on creative and innovative skills, seeing patterns where other people see only chaos," says Marc Tucker, a lead author of the skills-commission report. That"s a problem for U.S. schools.【F4】______. Becoming smarter about new sources of information. In an age of overflowing information and proliferating media, kids need to rapidly process what"s coming at them and distinguish between what"s reliable and what isn"t.【F5】______. Developing good people skills. EQ, or emotional intelligence, is as important as IQ for success in today"s workplace. "Most innovations today involve large teams of people," says former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine. "We have to emphasize communication skills, the ability to work in teams and with people from different cultures." A.Kids are global citizens now, whether they know it or not, and they need to behave that way. B."It"s important that students know how to manage it, interpret it, validate it, and how to act on it," says Dell executive Karen Bruett, who serves on the board of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a group of corporate and education leaders focused on upgrading American education. C.Today"s economy demands not only a high-evel competence in the traditional academic disciplines but also what might be called 21st century skills. D.This is a story about the big public conversation the nation is not having about education, the one that will ultimately determine not merely whether some fraction of our children get "left behind" but also whether an entire generation of kids will fail to make the grade in the global economy because they can"t think their way through abstract problems, work in teams, distinguish good information from bad or speak a language other than English. E. Can our public schools, originally designed to educate workers for agrarian life and industrial-age factories, make the necessary shifts? F.But without waiting for such a revolution, enterprising administrators around the country have begun to update their schools, often with ideas and support from local businesses. G. Kids also must learn to think across disciplines, since that"s where most new breakthroughs are made. It"s interdisciplinary combinations—design and technology, mathematics and art—"that produce YouTube and Google," says Thomas Friedman, the best-selling author of The World Is Flat.

Thefollowingparagraphsaregiveninawrongorder.ForQuestions1-5,youarerequiredtoreorganizetheseparagraphsintoacoherentarticlebychoosingfromthelistA-Gtofillineachnumberedbox.ThefirstandthelastparagraphshavebeenplacedforyouinBoxes.[A]Forthosecoupleswhohavechildren,buildingafamilyand"being"afamilyrequirescommunicatingwell.Otherwise,theyarejustagroupofpeoplesharingthesameresidence.Manylegallydefinedfamiliesdonotorcannotcommunicate,andendupdysfunctional.Isitanywonder?Nogroupcanfunctioneffectivelyasaunitwithoutitsmemberscommunicatingwitheachother.[B]OvertenmillionsAmericansareaddictedtoalcohol.Mostofthemliveinaconstantstateofsevereemotionaldistress.Mostofthemareinvolvedinasteadyuphillbattletomaintaintheirfamilies,friendsandjobs.Mostofthemaredestroyingtheirmindsandbodies.Mostofthemhavechildren.[C]However,functionalfamiliesnowseemtobetheexceptionratherthantherule.Divorce,drugs,violenceorapathytearstoomanyfamiliesapart.Infact,somesourcessuggestthatnearlyeveryfamilyhasatleastonedysfunction"inthecloset".Theunavoidabletruth,however,isthatwhenfamiliesbreakup,individualsareoftenforcedtocopewiththecomplexitiesoflifeontheirown,quicklydiscoveringhowdifficultsuccessisinlifewithoutthestablefoundationofafamily.[D]Despiteallitspowerandstrength,thefamilyunitremainsoneofthemostvulnerablehumanconnections.InAmerica,whereover50%ofmarriageswithchildrenendindivorce,wherethreatstohumansafetysuchasdrugsandgangsseemtobeeverywhere,thefamilyisstrugglingtofunctionasarefuge.Itisquiteliterallyunderattackbyasocietythatseemstotemptmembersofthefamilytogodownotherpaths."Familyvalues"isnotjustanotherslogan.ItisprobablythemajorconcernofAmericansociety.[E]Theideaisnotnew,butitdeservesrepeating:"Familiesarethebuildingblocksofsociety."Itwouldthereforecomeasnosurprisewhenpolitical,civicandreligiousleadersadamantlypromote"familyvalues."Theyknowthatfamilieswhosticktogetherandfunctionasaunitformthefoundationofthelargercommunity.Theyalsorealizethatproductivemembersofsocietytendtocomefromstrong,intact,"functional"families.Moreover,weallknowtheimportantrolefamilyplaysinbuildingstrength,confidenceandstabilityineachofitsmembers.[F]Improvingcommunicationswithinthefamilyisthebestwaytoturnaroundproblems.Buildingfamilycommunicationsistheclassic"win/win"situation:everymemberofthefamilyismoresecurewithoneanotherandreadytodealwiththeworldoutside.Inaddition,societyitselfimproveswithmorefamilyunitsachievingstability.[G]Perhapsthegreatestproblemleadingtofamilydysfunctionandmaritalbreak-upinvolvescommunicatinghonestly,openlyandlovinglybeforehavingchildren.Thecouplegetstoknowoneanotherbetterandestablishesamature,trustingrelationshipthatwillimproveafterchildrenareborn.However,thisisararecase.Mostoften,partnerswithholdvitalinformation(failtorevealfeelingsaboutcertainissuesormatters,forexample)andarevirtualstrangerstoeachother.Ofcourse,thisisamostunpromisingstarttocommunicationwithinthefamily.Commonknowledgearguesthatcouplesshouldneverstaytogether"forthesakeofthechildren",butacommunicationallydysfunctionalcoupleshouldnotevenconsiderhavingchildren!Order:

Today, as millions of men and women of childbearing age and younger are surviving cancer, the question of reproduction is arising as a paramount consideration in planning treatment. (46) Among the issues are the ability to preserve fertility while curing, the disease and the safety of pregnancy for both mothers with cancer and their future children. In a continuing study of more than 20,000 survivors of childhood cancers, the two greatest concerns mentioned by former patients two and three decades later are "Can I have children?" and "If I have children, will they be healthy?" said Dr. Leslie Robison, an epidemiologist(流行病学) at the University of Minnesota Medical School, who directs the project involving 25 cancer centers. (47) "Today more than 75 percent of children with cancer are being cured, yet we know little about the side effects of treatment beyond the first 10 years". While some cancer treatments—drugs as well as radiation—can cause sterility(不育)or reduced fertility(生育能力) in men and women, preliminary evidence suggests that cancer therapy, in general, affects the ability to reproduce and to produce healthy children less than previously thought. (48) At the same rime new ways are being devised to reduce the effects of cancer treatments on fertility and on pregnancies already in progress when a cancer is discovered. In the first report on reproductive issues from the 25-center study, soon to be published in The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the researchers found that while higher rates of miscarriage(流产) and lower birth weights were observed among the offspring of former patients, "there are a large number of live births, births of healthy children, a lack of congenital(先天的) abnormalities and very low cancer rates", Dr. Robison said. Dr. Giuseppe Del Priore, director of gynecologic oncology(妇产科肿瘤学) at Bellevue Hospital in New York, and his colleagues at the New York University School of Medicine noted in the January issue of Contemporary Ob/Gyn: (49) "Less than a generation ago, reproductive-aged women with cancer generally had little to hope for and even less to look forward to. But things have changed. Many cancers are no longer a death sentence. More and more women with cancer are now becoming pregnant and raising legitimate fertility concerns". Today, a doctor could tell Ms. Zea of Minnesota and other women like her that pregnancy is no longer ill-advised. (50) Even women whose breast cancers are discovered during pregnancy should no longer be advised to terminate the pregnancy , because there are no data indicating a therapeutic benefit from such an abortion, the New York experts said. The estrogen(雌激素) produced m pregnancy is weaker than estrogen produced in other women and is less likely to stimulate breast cancer growth, even if the woman"s tumor is estrogen-sensitive.

Studythefollowingdrawingcarefullyandwriteanessayinwhichyoushould1)describethedrawing,2)interpretitsintendedmeaning,and3)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout160—200wordsneatlyontheANSWERSHEET.(20points)

An industrial society, especially one as centralized and concentrated as that of Britain, is heavily dependent on certain essential services: for instance, electricity supply, water, rail and road transport, the harbors. The area of dependency has widened to include removing rubbish, hospital and ambulance services, and, as the economy develops, central computer and information services as well. If any of these services ceases to operate, the whole economic system is in danger. It is this economic interdependency of the economic system which makes the power of trade unions such an important issue. Single trade unions have the ability to cut off many countries" economic blood supply. This can happen more easily in Britain than in some other countries, in part because the labor force is highly organized. About 55 per cent of British workers belong to unions, compared to under a quarter in the United States. For historical reasons, Britain"s unions have tended to develop along trade and occupational lines, rather than on an industry-by-industry basis, which makes a wages policy, democracy in industry and the improvement of procedure for fixing wage levels difficult to achieve. There are considerable strains and tensions in the trade union movement, some of them arising from their outdated and inefficient structure. Some unions have lost many members because of their industrial changes. Others are involved in arguments about who should represent workers in new trades. Unions for skilled trades are separate from general unions, which means that different levels of wages for certain jobs are often a source of bad feeling between unions. In traditional trades which are being pushed out of existence by advancing technologies, unions can fight for their members" disappointing jobs to the point where the jobs of other union members are threatened or destroyed. The printing of newspapers both in the United States and in Britain has frequently been halted by the efforts of printers to hold on to their traditional highly-paid jobs. Trade unions have problems of internal communication just as managers in companies do, problems which multiply in very large unions or in those which bring workers in very different industries together into a single general union. Some trade union officials have to be re-elected regularly; others are elected, or even appointed, for life. Trade union officials have to work with a system of "shop stewards" in many unions, "shop stewards" being workers elected by other workers as their representatives at factory or works level.

BPart BDirections: Write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following information./B

BSection II Reading Comprehension/B

Electronic or "cyber" warfare holds the promise of destroying an army"s or even a whole nation"s—ability to function without hurting human life. The technology is reaching the point, however, where cyber warfare may be decisive in its own right. (46) In highly centralized military operations, communications and data management have become essential tools linking individual small units and the central command structure. The neutron bomb is one of the most horrid weapons ever devised: It doesn"t damage property; it only kills higher life-forms. (47) Wouldn"t the opposite be wonderful, a device like the robot"s ray in The Day the Earth Stood Still, which melts down weapons but not soldiers? Electronic or "cyber" warfare—hacking into an enemy"s computers, jamming radio transmissions, and the like—holds that promise. It can destroy an army"s—or even a whole nation"s—ability to function, but does not hurt human life. The United States has very good electronic warfare capabilities, but has used them only to support conventional military operations. The technology is reaching the point, however, where cyber warfare may be decisive in its own right. (48) Before we imagine what such a "cyberwar" scenario might be like, let"s briefly look at how electronic warfare developed. During the Civil War, operations conducted by the Union army against the Confederate telegraph system foretold modern twentieth-century electronic warfare. Union operatives penetrated Confederate lines to tap into and read military traffic on the Confederate telegraph system. (49) Not only did these operations yield valuable intelligence information, but some operators even began sending bogus messages to sow confusion in the Confederate ranks. Just before World War I, radio communication seemed like a real boon to naval operations because it allowed ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communications, especially in bad weather. Before this time, flags or light blinkers with limited range provided the only means of communication between ships. Naval ship captains, however, were aware that a sophisticated set of shore-based equipment could locate ships by their radio transmission. By listening to the transmissions, the enemy could ascertain the number and type of ships even if they could not decode actual messages. For this reason, the US Navy was particularly resistant to using radio. However, US military observers aboard British warships soon saw that the tactical advantages of radio outweighed the intelligence losses. Electronic warfare grew rapidly in World War II with the advent of radar. (50) Monitoring radar frequencies allowed spoofing or jamming of enemy radar and led to major units and equipment devoted solely to countermeasures and counter-countermeasures. Gathering intelligence from radio transmissions also increased greatly.

In the following text, some sentences have been removed. For Questions 41-45, choose the most suitable one from the list (A、B、C、D、E、F、G……) to fit into each of the numbered blank. There are several extra choices, which do not fit in any of the gaps. (10 points) Globalization was the buzzword of the 1990s, in the last two decades, the amount of money and goods moving between countries has been rising steadily. At the same time, trade barriers across the world have been lowered. So how close are we to a true global economy and what effect is it likely to have? Anyone who doubts that global financial markets control national economies need only look at the crisis facing the "tigers" of the Far East. Last year, the value of their currencies plummeted, after investors decided their economic policies were no tough enough. Now the region is suffering slower growth, lower living standards and rising unemployment. The situation in Asia shows how power has shifted from individual governments to the markets. In theory, governments are free to set their own economic policies; (41)______. The trend towards globalization began in earnest in the early 1970s when the system of fixed exchange rates, set up after World War II, was dismantled. This meant that the value of currencies would now be determined by the markets instead of individual governments. Over the next two decades, countries slowly began to remove their exchange controls. (42)______. Other factors contributing to the rise of globalization are new communications technologies, and better transportation systems, these have enabled companies to grow into multinationals—producing goods on one side of the planet and selling them on the other. Lower costs have also helped—the price of telephone calls, for instance, is cheaper now than at anytime in history. But adjusting to this new "economic order" is proving difficult. In the developed world, and in particular the European Union, globalization is facing widespread public resistance. Critics complain that, without the protection of trade barriers, jobs are being lost to workers in poorer countries, and wages for employees in rich countries are falling. Opponents in the European Union point to the effects that globalization has had in the US and Britain. In those countries, wages are stagnant—except for a privileged few—and taxes and welfare benefits have been reduced to help companies compete with industries in the developing world. (43)______. Those in favor of globalization accuse their critics of being short-sighted protectionists. They claim a more integrated global economy will ultimately benefit everyone because it will enable countries to specialize in those areas where they perform best. Developing countries, with their higher populations and lower wages, will concentrate on labor-intensive industries, such as raw materials manufacturing, in much the same way as Western countries did during the industrial revolution. (44)______. The effect of this, say supporters, will be to improve productivity in all countries, leading to higher living standards. The free movement of capital will also help poorer countries develop so they can play a full and active role in the world economy. (45)______. But how close are we to a truly global economy? For the losers, probably too close. But in terms of real economic integration, there is still a long way to go.A. Even supporters of globalization acknowledge, however, that there will be losers. At present, those suffering most are people working in labor-intensive industries in the developed world. Already, they are facing rising unemployment and falling wages, as companies struggle to compete with manufacturers in developing countries. They argue that, without the protection of trade barriers and the welfare state, their chances of improving their skills and living standards will disappear, resulting in a growing divide between rich and poor.B. Foreign investment is also extremely small, amounting to little more than five percent of the developed world"s domestic investments.C. A global economy would mean complete freedom of movement of goods and services, capital, and labor. Yet, even ignoring the tariffs and other restrictions still in place, cross-border trade remains tiny compared to the volume of goods and services traded within countries.D. In practice, they must conform to a global economic model or risk being penalized by the markets.E. The richer countries, on the other hand, will diversify into hi-tech industries, where high productivity and specialist knowledge are paramount.F. Opponents of globalization also point to its effects on workers in poorer countries. They agree that multinationals may be helping to reduce unemployment in the developing world, but they argue that jobs are hardly worth having since they are low-paid and exploitative.G. By 1990, nearly all world"s major economics had got rid of restrictions on how much money could be moved in and out of their countries.

The volume of the sun is about 1, 300,000 times that of the Earth.

An awkward-looking character such as Cyrano de Bergerac might sniff at the suggestion, but recent scientific research shows beauty, brains and brawn may in fact all be allied, writes Dr. Raj Persaud. (46) Psychologists have concluded that we may be drawn to the stereotypically attractive because of what their faces reveal about their intelligence and success in later life. In American, research led by Professor Leslie Zebrowitz, of Brandeis University, has shown an association between facial attractive and IQ. Strangers briefly exposed to a target"s face were able to correctly judge intelligence at levels significantly better than chance. The same team also researched how a person"s attractiveness might bear relation to their intelligence. They found that good-looking people did better in IQ tests as they aged. (47) Their research sought to prove that how a person perceived himself and was perceived by others predicted how intelligent he apparently became more accurately than his past intelligence. (48) Perhaps because the more attractive people were treated as more intelligent, they ended up having more stimulating and, therefore, intelligence-enhancing lives. Does this mean that your face really could be your destiny? Sociologists Dr. Ulrich Mueller and Dr. Allan Mazur, of the University of Marburg in Germany, recently analyzed the final year photographs of the 1950 graduates of West Point in the United States. Dominant facial appearances turned out to be a consistent predictor of later-rank attainment: Again, they believed there could be a self-fulfilling effect. (49) Because some men looked more authoritative, they naturally drew respect and obedience from others which, in turn, assisted their rise through the ranks. A team at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin has been investigating the sensitive subject of links between physical and mental abnormalities. Led by Doctors Robin Hennessy and John Waddington, the team used a new laser surface-scanning technique to make a 3-D analysis of how facial shape might vary with brain structure. Their findings showed that in early fetal life, brain and face development are intimately connected. From this they concluded that abnormalities in brain elaboration probably also affect face development. This, according to them, explains the striking facial features of some one with Down"s syndrome. (50) Using similar techniques, the team also demonstrated how other disorders linked to brain aberrations could be associated with facial alterations. So the very latest scientific research suggests that nobody should try to look too obviously different from average.

Of all the areas of learning the most important is the development of attitudes: emotional reactions as well as logical thought processes affect the behavior of most people. "The burnt child fears the fire" is one instance; another is the rise of despots like Hitler. Both these examples also point up the fact that attitudes come from experience. In the one case the experience was direct and impressive; in the other it was indirect and cumulative. The Nazis were influenced largely by the speeches they heard and the books they read. The classroom teacher in the elementary school is in a strategic position to influence attitudes. This is true partly because children acquire attitudes from those adults whose words are highly regarded by them. Another reason it is true is that pupils often devote their time to a subject in school that has only been touched upon at home or has possibly never occurred to them before. To a child who had previously acquired little knowledge of Mexico his teacher"s method of handling such a unit would greatly affect his attitude toward Mexicans. The media through which the teacher can develop wholesome attitudes are innumerable. Social studies (with special reference to races, creeds and nationalities), science matters of health and safety, the very atmosphere of the classroom...these are a few of the fertile fields for the inculcation of proper emotional reactions. However, when children go to school with undesirable attitudes, it is unwise for the teacher to attempt to change their feelings by cajoling or scolding them. She can achieve the proper effect by helping them obtain constructive experiences. To illustrate, first-grade pupils afraid of policemen will probably alter their attitudes after a classroom chat with the neighborhood officer in which he explains how he protects them. In the same way, a class of older children can develop attitudes through discussion, research, outside reading and all-day trips. Finally, a teacher must constantly evaluate her own attitudes, because her influence can be negative if she has personal prejudices. This is especially true in respect to controversial issues and questions on which children should be encouraged to reach their own decision as a result of objective analysis of all the facts.Notes:point up (= emphasize)强调，突出。touch upon触及。creed信条，教义。inculcation谆谆教诲。cajoling哄骗。

Generally speaking, a British is widely regarded as a quiet, shy and conservative person who is (1)_____ only among those with whom he is acquainted. When a stranger is at present, he often seems nervous, even (2)_____. You have to take a commuter train any morning or evening to (3)_____ the truth of this. Serious-looking businessmen and women sit reading their newspapers or dozing in a comer; hardly anybody talks, since to do so would be considered quite (4)_____. (5)_____, there is an unwritten but clearly understood code of behavior which, once broken, makes the offender immediately the object of (6)_____. It has been known as a fact that a British has a (7)_____ for the discussion of their weather and that, if given a chance, he will talk about it (8)_____. Some people argue that it is because the British weather seldom (9)_____ forecast add hence becomes a source of interest and (10)_____ to everyone. This may be so. (11)_____ a British cannot have much (12)_____ in the weathermen, who, after promising fine, sunny weather for the following day, are often proved wrong (13)_____ a cloud over the Atlantic brings rainy weather to all districts! The man in the street seems to be as accurate—or as inaccurate as the weathermen in his (14)_____. Foreigners may be surprised at the number of references (15)_____ weather that the British (16)_____ to each other in the course of a single day. Very often conversational greetings are (17)_____ by comments on the weather. "Nice day, isn"t it?" "Beautiful!" may well be heard, instead of "Good morning, how are you?" Although the foreigner may consider this exaggerated and comic, it is (18)_____ pointing out that it could be used to his advantage. If he wants to start a conversation with a British but is at a loss to know (19)_____ to begin, he could do well to mention the state of the weather. It is a safe subject which will (20)_____ an answer from even the most reserved of the British.

Iron is more useful than any other metal.

You have a few questions to ask your professor, but he is not in his office. Leave a note to: 1) introduce yourself 2)explain the purpose of your visit 3) arrange another time to see him You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET. Do not sign your own name at the end of the note; use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address. (10 points)

[A]Create a new image of yourself [B]Have confidence in yourself [C]Decide if the time is right [D]Understand the context [E]Work with professionals [F]Make it efficient [G]Know your goals No matter how formal or informal the work environment, the way you present yourself has an impact. This is especially true in first impressions. According to research from Princeton University, people assess your competence, trustworthiness, and likeability in just a tenth of a second, solely based on the way you look. The difference between today' s workplace and the "dress for success" era is that the range of options is so much broader. Norms have evolved and fragmented. In some settings, red sneakers or dress T-shirts can convey status; in others not so much. Plus, whatever image we present is magnified by social-media services like Linkedln. Chances are, your headshots are seen much more often now than a decade or two ago. Millennial, it seems, face the paradox of being the least formal generation yet the most conscious of style and personal branding. It can be confusing. So how do we navigate this? How do we know when to invest in an upgrade? And what' s the best way to pull off one that enhances our goals? Here are some tips: 【C1】______ As an executive coach, I' ve seen image upgrades be particularly helpful during transitions— when looking for a new job, stepping into a new or more public role, or changing work environme nts. If you're in a period of change or just feeling stuck and in a rut, now may be a good time. If you're not sure, ask for honest feedback from trusted friends, colleagues and professionals. Look for cues about how others perceive you. Maybe there' s no need for an upgrade and that' s OK. 【C2】______ Get clear on what impact you' re hoping to have. Are you looking to refresh your image or pivot it? For one person, the goal may be to be taken more seriously and enhance their professional image. For another, it may be to be perceived as more approachable, or more modern and stylish. For someone moving from finance to advertising, maybe they want to look more "SoHo."(It's OK to use characterizations like that.) 【C3】______ Look at your work environment like an anthropologist. What are the norms of your environment? What conveys status? Who are your most important audiences? How do the people you respect and look up to present themselves? The better you understand the cultural context, the more control you can have over your impact. 【C4】______ Enlist the support of professionals and share with them your goals and context. Hire a personal stylist, or use the free styling service of a store like J.Crew. Try a hair stylist instead of a barber. Work with a professional photographer instead of your spouse or friend. It' s not as expensive as you might think. 【C5】______ The point of a style upgrade isn't to become more vain or to spend more time fussing over what to wear. Instead, use it as an opportunity to reduce decision fatigue. Pick a standard work uniform or a few go-to options. Buy all your clothes at once with a stylist instead of shopping alone, one article of clothing at a time

You are what you eat, or so the saying goes. But Richard Wrangham, of Harvard University, believes that this is true in a more profound sense than the one implied by the old proverb. It is not just you who are what you eat, but the entire human species. And with Homo sapiens, what makes the species unique in Dr. Wrangham's opinion is that its food is so often cooked. Cooking is a human universal. No society is without it. No one other than a few faddists tries to survive on raw food alone. And the consumption of a cooked meal in the evening, usually in the company of family and friends, is normal in every known society. Moreover, without cooking, the human brain(which consumes 20-25% of the body's energy)could not keep running. Dr. Wrangham thus believes that cooking and humanity have developed alongside. In fact, as he outlined to the American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS), in Chicago, he thinks that cooking and other forms of preparing food are humanity's "killer application": the evolutionary change that underpins all of the other—and subsequent—changes that have made people such unusual animals. Humans became human, as it were, with the emergence 1.8 million years ago of a species called Homo erectus. This had a skeleton much like modern man's—a big, brain-filled skull and a narrow pelvis and rib cage, which imply a small abdomen and thus a small gut. Hitherto, the explanation for this shift from the smaller skulls and wider pelvises of man's apelike ancestors has been a shift from a vegetable-based diet to a meat-based one. Meat has more calories than plant matter, the theory went. A smaller gut could therefore support a larger brain. Dr. Wrangham disagrees. When you do the sums, he argues, raw meat is still insufficient to bridge the gap. He points out that even modern "raw foodists", members of a town-dwelling, back-to-nature social movement, struggle to maintain their weight—and they have access to animals and plants that have been bred for the table. Pre-agricultural man confined to raw food would have starved. Start cooking, however, and things change radically. Cooking alters food in three important ways. It breaks starch molecules into more digestible fragments. It "denatures" protein molecules, so that their amino-acid chains unfold and digestive enzymes can attack them more easily. And heat physically softens food. That makes it easier to digest, so even though the stuff is no more calorific, the body uses fewer calories dealing with it.