单选题If I ask you what constitutes "bad" eating, the kind that leads to obesity and a variety of connected diseases, you"re likely to answer, "Salt, fat and sugar." Yet that"s not a(n) 1 answer. We don"t know everything about the dietary 2 to chronic disease, but the best-qualified people argue that real food is more likely to promote health and less likely to cause disease than hyper-processed food. And we can further 3 that message: Minimally processed food—Real Food—should 4 our diets. Real food solves the salt/fat/sugar problem. Yes, excess salt may cause high blood pressure, and 5 sodium intake in people with high blood pressure helps. 6 salt is only one of several risk factors in developing high blood pressure, and those who eat a diverse diet and few processed foods need not 7 about salt intake. "Fat" is a complicated topic. Most naturally occurring fats are probably essential, but too much of some fats seems 8 . Eat real food 9 your fat intake will probably be fine. "Sugar" has come to 10 the entire group of processed, nutritionally worthless caloric sweeteners. All appear to be damaging because they"re added sugars, as 11 to naturally occurring ones. 12 : Sugar is not the only enemy. The enemy is hyper-processed food, 13 sugar. We know that eating real food is a general solution, but a large part of our dietary problems might 14 from the consumption of caloric sweeteners and/or hyper-processed carbohydrate. For example, how to limit the intake of sugar? A soda tax is a(n) 15 , proper labeling would be helpful, and—quite possibly most important, 16 it"s going to take us a generation or two to get out of this mess—restrictions 17 marketing sweet "food" to children. There"s no reason to 18 action on those kinds of moves. But let"s get the science straight so that firm, 19 , sound recommendations can be made 20 the best possible evidence. And meanwhile, let"s also get the simple message straight: It"s "Eat Real Food."

单选题Directions: Read the following four passages. Answer the questions below by choosing A, B, C or D. We can see how the product life cycle works by looking at the introduction of instant coffee. When it was introduced, most people did not like it as well as "regular" coffee, and it took several years to gain general acceptance (introduction stage). At one point, though, instant coffee grew rapidly in popularity, and many brands were introduced (stage of rapid growth). After a while, people became attached to one brand and sales leveled off (stage of maturity). Sales went into a slight decline (衰退) when freeze-dried coffees were introduced (stage of decline). The importance of the product life cycle to marketers is this: Different stages in the product life cycle call for different strategies. The goal is to extend product life so that sales and profits do not decline. One strategy is called market modification. It means that marketing managers look for new users and market sections. Did you know, for example, that the backpacks that so many students carry today were originally designed for the military? Market modification also means searching for increased usage among present customers or going for a different market, such as senior citizens. A marketer may re-position the product to appeal to new market sections. Another product extension strategy is called product modification. It involves changing product quality, features, or style to attract new users or more usage from present users. American auto manufacturers are using quality improvement as one way to recapture world markets. Note, also, how auto manufacturers once changed styles dramatically from year to year to keep demand from falling.

单选题Many are aware of the tremendous waste of energy in our environment, but fail to take advantage of straightforward opportunities to conserve that energy. For example, everyone knows that lights should be switched off when no one is in an office. Similarly, when employees are not using a meeting room, there is no need to regulate temperature. Fortunately, one need not rely on human intervention to conserve energy. With the help of smart sensing and network technology, energy conservation processes such as turning off lights and adjusting temperature can be readily automated. Ultimately, this technology will enable consumers and plant managers to better identify wasteful energy use and institute procedures that lead to smarter and more efficient homes, buildings and industrial plants. Until now, wires and cables for power and connectivity have limited the widespread adoption of sensor (传感器) networks by making them difficult and expensive to install and maintain. Battery-powered wireless networks can simplify installation and reduce cost. But their high power consumption and the corresponding need for regular battery replacement has made wireless networks difficult and costly to maintain. Nobody wants to replace hundreds or thousands of window sensor batteries in a large building on a regular basis. The promise of wireless sensor networks can only be fully realized when the wiring for both the data communication and the power supply is eliminated. Doing so requires a true battery-free wireless solution, one that can utilize energy harvested directly from the environment. To facilitate the widespread deployment of wireless sensor networks, Green Peak has developed an ultra-low-power communication technology that can utilize environmental energy sources such as light, motion and vibration. This technology, employing on-board power management circuits and computer software to monitor energy harvesters and make the best use of harvested energy, enables sensors to operate reliably in a battery-free environment. Wireless sensor networks deployed in our offices and homes will have an enormous impact on our dally lives, helping to build a smarter world in which energy is recycled and fully utilized. These wireless platforms, equipped with advanced sensing capability, will enable us to better control our lives, homes and environments, creating a truly connected world that enables people worldwide to live in a more comfortable, safer, and cleaner environment.

单选题In a sweeping change to how most of its 1,800 employees are paid, the Union Square Hospitality Group will eliminate tipping at Union Square Cafe and its 12 other restaurants by the end of next year, the company"s chief executive, Danny Meyer, said on Wednesday. The move will affect New York City businesses. The first will be the Modern, inside the Museum of Modern Art, starting next month. The others will gradually follow. A small number of restaurants around the country have reduced or eliminated tipping in the last several years. Some put a surcharge on the bill, allowing the restaurants to set the pay for all their employees. Others, including Bruno Pizza, a new restaurant in the East Village, factor the cost of an hourly wage for servers into their menu prices. Union Square Hospitality Group will do the latter. The Modern will be the pilot restaurant, Mr. Meyer said, because its chef, Abram Bissell, has been agitating for higher pay to attract skilled cooks. The average hourly wage for kitchen employees at the restaurant is expected to rise to $15.25 from $11.75. Mr. Meyer said that restaurants such as his needed to stay competitive as the state moved to a $15 minimum wage for fast-food workers. If cooks" wages do not keep pace with the cost of living, he said, "it"s not going to be sustainable to attract the culinary talent that the city needs to keep its edge." Mr. Meyer said he hoped to be able to raise pay for junior dining room managers and for cooks, dishwashers and other kitchen workers. The wage gap is one of several issues cited by restaurateurs who have deleted the tip line from checks. Some believe it is unfair for servers" pay to be affected by factors that have nothing to do with performance. A rash of class-action lawsuits over tipping irregularities, many of which have been settled for millions of dollars, is a mounting worry. Scott Rosenberg, an owner of Sushi Yasuda in Manhattan, said in an interview in 2013 that he had eliminated tipping so his restaurant could more closely follow the customs of Japan, where tipping is rare. He said he also hoped his customers would enjoy leaving the table without having to solve a math problem. While Drew Nieporent, who owns nine restaurants in New York City and one in London, said he doubted the average diner would accept an increase in prices. "Tipping is a way of life in this country," he said. "It may not be the perfect system, but it"s our system. It"s an American system."

单选题In spring of 2004, when US gas prices hit US $2 a gallon, University of Washington senior Jo Blue kept on driving. After Hurricane Katrina last August, prices topped US $3 a gallon. But Blue kept driving. Now, when prices have leveled at about US $2.25, she still commutes an hour everyday to her job as a swim coach. Blue has to get to work and public transportation is not an option. Buses to the suburb where she works are infrequent, so Blue has no choice but to spend US $30 a week on gas. High gas price, which began to soar in 2004, have Americans-whose way of life depends on cars- complaining, but not doing much to change the country's car culture. Like Blue, most Americans, except those in major cities, drive to work. Many live in sprawling suburbs which are accessible only by car. The average American spends 55 minutes each day behind the wheel, according to the US Department of Transportation. In 2003, the US's 290,000 residents registered 237,000 vehicles. Many experts say that this car driven lifestyle is unsustainable. "An event like Hurricane Katrina demonstrates how constrained and fragile the energy supply is now." said Barry Silverthorne, producer of "The End of Suburbia", a documentary about American car culture. In the 1950s, King Hubert, a geologist working for Shell, a major US oil company, predicted that the rate of oil extraction (提取) could not continue to increase forever. Once all the high quality or easiest-to-reach oil was extracted, oil would become progressively scarcer and more expensive until the supply runs out altogether. Many major oil fields in the Middle East have reached or will soon reach their peaks, says Megan Qinn, director of the Community Solution, an organization that promotes sustainable development. Though most experts agree the US should become less dependent on cars, few have addressed the issue of "how". "Deep down in America many of us have a sense that we are about to hit a brick wall of some kind. But people are too distracted by Paris Hiton and iPods to notice." said Silverthorne.

单选题On her first morning in America, last summer, my daughter went out to explore her new neighborhood—alone, without even telling my wife or me. Of course we were worried; we had just moved from Berlin, and she was just 8. But when she came home, we realized we had no reason to panic. Beaming with pride, she told us how she had discovered the little park around the corner, and had made friends with a few local dog owners. She had taken possession of her new environment, and was keen to teach us things we didn"t know. When this story comes up in conversations with American friends, we are usually met with polite disbelief. Most are horrified by the idea that their children might roam around without adult supervision. A study by the University of California, Los Angeles, has found that American kids spend 90 percent of their leisure time at home. Even when kids are physically active, they are watched closely by adults. Such narrowing of the child"s world has happened across the developed world. But Germany is generally much more accepting of letting children take some risks. To this German parent, it seems that America"s middle class has taken overprotective parenting to a new level. "We are depriving them of opportunities to learn how to take control of their own lives," writes Peter Gray, a research professor at Boston College. He argues that this increases "the chance that they will suffer from anxiety, depression, and so on," which have gone up dramatically in recent decades. He sees risky, outside play of children among themselves without adult supervision as a way of learning to control strong emotions like anger and fear. I am no psychologist like Professor Gray, but I know I won"t be around forever to protect my girl from the challenges life holds in store for her, so the earlier she develop the intellectual maturity to navigate the world, the better. And by giving kids more control over their lives, they learn to have more confidence in their own capabilities. It is hard for parents to balance the desire to protect their children against the desire to make them more self-reliant. And every one of us has to decide for himself what level of risk he is ready to accept. But parents who prefer to keep their children always in sight and under their thumbs should consider what sort of trade-offs are involved in that choice.

单选题Directions: Read the following four passages. Answer the questions below by choosing A, B, C or D. Thanks to closed doors and fierce gatekeepers, bosses are tricky to observe in their natural habitat. Yet it might be useful to know what they do all day, and whether any of it benefits shareholders. A new Harvard Business School working paper sheds some light. Researchers asked the chief executives of 94 Italian firms to have their assistants record their activities for a week. You may take this with a grain of salt. Is the boss's assistant a neutral observer? If the boss spends his lunch hour drinking a lot, or in a motel with his assistant, will she record this truthfully? Nonetheless, here are the results. The average Italian boss works for 48 hours a week and spends 60% of that time in meetings. The most diligent put in another 20 hours. And the longer they work, the better the company does. Less diligent chief executives are more likely to have one-to-one meetings with people from outside the company. The authors speculate that such people are trying to raise their own profile, perhaps to secure a better job. Bosses who work longer hours, by contrast, spend more of them meeting their own employees. Bosses often complain that they get bogged down in day-to-day operations, says Rajesh Chandy, a professor at the London Business School. Regulations that make them legally responsible for their underlings' wrongdoings are partly to blame. The prospect of jail is a powerful attention-grabber. Many bosses also feel they must dash around the world pitching to clients. Mr Chandy thinks bosses should spend less time with clients and more time thinking about the future. How much time they spend thinking about anything is hard to measure. But in an experiment, Mr Chandy measured how often bosses use forward-looking words like "will" and "shall" in their public statements. He concluded that bosses spend only 3%～4% of their day thinking about long-term strategy. Brian Sullivan, the chief executive of CTPartners, a headhunting firm, says the most difficult part of his job is saying no to people who want a piece of his time. Mr Sullivan says the only time he gets for blue-sky thinking is when he is in the sky. Bill Gates took regular "think weeks", when he would sit alone in a cabin for 18 hours a day reading and contemplating. This, it is said, led to such strategic masterstrokes as "the Internet tidal wave memo" in 1995, which shifted Microsofrs focus to the web. But not every boss thinks he needs more time for thinking. "You can hire McKinsey to do that for you," says one.

单选题Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C, or D. In spring of 2004, when US gas prices hit US $2 a gallon, University of Washington senior Jo Blue kept on driving. After Hurricane Katrina last August, prices topped US $3 a gallon. But Blue kept driving. Now, when prices have leveled at about US $2.25, she still commutes an hour everyday to her job as a swim coach. Blue has to get to work and public transportation is not an option. Buses to the suburb where she works are infrequent, so Blue has no choice but to spend US $30 a week on gas. High gas prices, which began to soar in 2004, have Americans-whose way of life depends on carscomplaining, but not doing much to change the country's car culture. Like Blue, most Americans, except those in major cities, drive to work. Many live in sprawling suburbs which are accessible only by car. The average American spends 55 minutes each day behind the wheel, according to the US Department of Transportation. In 2003, the US's 290,000 residents registered 237,000 vehicles. Many experts say that this car driven lifestyle is unsustainable. "An event like Hurricane Katrina demonstrates how constrained and fragile the energy supply is now," said Barry Silverthorne, producer of "The End of Suburbia", a documentary about American car culture. In the 1950s, King Hubert, a geologist working for Shell, a major US oil company, predicted that the rate of oil extraction (提取) could not continue to increase forever. Once all the high quality or easiest-to-reach oil was extracted, oil would become progressively scarcer and more expensive until the supply runs out altogether. Many major oil fields in the Middle East have reached or will soon reach their peaks, says Megan Qinn, director of the Community Solution, an organization that promotes sustainable development. Though most experts agree the US should become less dependent on cars, few have addressed the issue of "how" "Deep down in America many of us have a sense that we are about to hit a brick wall of some kind. But people are too distracted by Paris Hiton and iPods to notice," said Silverthorne.

单选题At the heart of the debate over illegal immigration lies one key question: are immigrants good or bad for the economy? The American public overwhelmingly thinks they're bad. Yet the consensus among most economists is that immigration, both legal and illegal, provides a small net boost to the economy. Immigrants provide cheap labor, lower the prices of everything from farm produce to new homes, and leave consumers with a little more money in their pockets. So why is there such a discrepancy between the perception of immigrants' impact on the economy and the reality? There are a number of familiar theories. Some argue that people are anxious and feel threatened by an inflow of new workers. Others highlight the strain that undocumented immigrants place on public services, like schools, hospitals, and jails. Still others emphasize the role of race, arguing that foreigners add to the nation's fears and insecurities. There's some truth to all these explanations, but they aren't quite sufficient. To get a better understanding of what's going on, consider the way immigration's impact is felt. Though its overall effect may be positive, its costs and benefits are distributed unevenly. David Card, an economist at UC Berkeley, notes that the ones who profit most directly from immigrants' low- cost labor are businesses and employers-meatpacking plants in Nebraska, for instance, or agricultural businesses in California. Granted, these producers' savings probably translate into lower prices at the grocery store, but how many consumers make that mental connection at the checkout counter? As for the drawbacks of illegal immigration, these, too, are concentrated. Native low-skilled workers suffer most from the competition of foreign labor. According to a study by George Borjas, a Harvard economist, immigration reduced the wages of American high-school drop-outs by 9% between 1980-2000. Among high-skilled, better-educated employees, however, opposition was strongest in states with both high numbers of immigrants and relatively generous social services. What worried them most, in other words, was the fiscal (财政的) burden of immigration. That conclusion was reinforced by another finding: that their opposition appeared to soften when that fiscal burden decreased, as occurred with welfare reform in the 1990s, which curbed immigrants' access to certain benefits. The irony is that for all the overexcited debate, the net effect of immigration is minimal. Even for those most acutely affected-say, low-skilled workers, or California residents-the impact isn't all that dramatic. "The unpleasant voices have tended to dominate our perceptions," says Daniel Tichenor, a political science professor at the University of Oregon. "But when all those factors are put together and the economists calculate the numbers, it ends up being a net positive, but a small one." Too bad most people don't realize it.

单选题"Is it a vital interest of the state to have more anthropologists?" Rick Scott, the Florida governor, once asked. A leader of a prominent Internet company once told me that the firm regards admission to Harvard as a useful proof of talent, but a college education itself as useless. Parents and students themselves are acting on these principles, retreating from the humanities. I"ve been thinking about this after reading Fareed Zakaria"s smart new book, In Defense of a Liberal Education . Like Mr. Zakaria, I think that the liberal arts teach critical thinking. So, to answer the skeptics, here are my three reasons the humanities enrich our souls and sometimes even our pocketbooks as well. First, liberal arts equip students with communications and interpersonal skills that are valuable and genuinely rewarded in the labour force, especially when accompanied by technical abilities. "A broad liberal arts education is a key pathway to success in the 21st-century economy," says Lawrence Katz, a labour economist at Harvard. Professor Katz says that the economic return to pure technical skills has flattened, and the highest return now goes to those who combine soft skills—excellence at communicating and working with people—with technical skills. My second reason: We need people conversant with the humanities to help reach wise public policy decisions, even about the sciences. Technology companies must constantly weigh ethical decisions. To weigh these issues, regulators should be informed by first-rate science, but also by first-rate humanism. When the President"s Council on Bioethics issued its report in 2002, "Human Cloning and Human Dignity," it depends upon the humanities to shape judgments about ethics, limits and values. Third, wherever our careers lie, much of our happiness depends upon our interactions with those around us, and there"s some evidence that literature nurtures a richer emotional intelligence. Science magazine published five studies indicating that research subjects who read literary fiction did better at assessing the feelings of a person in a photo than those who read nonfiction or popular fiction. Literature seems to offer lessons in human nature that help us decode the world around us and be better friends. Literature also builds bridges of understanding. In short, it makes eminent sense to study coding and statistics today, but also history and literature.

单选题Birds that are literally half asleep--with one brain hemisphere alert and the other sleeping—control which side of the brain remains awake, according to a new study of sleeping ducks. Earlier studies have documented half brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere"s eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once. Decades of studies of bird flocks led researchers to predict extra alertness in the more vulnerable, end of the row sleepers. Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions. Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze direction. Also, birds dozing (打盹) at the end of the line resorted to single hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did. Rotating 16 birds through the positions in a four duck row, the researchers found outer birds half asleep during some 32 percent of dozing time versus about 12 percent for birds in internal spots. "We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness simultaneously in different regions of the brain," the researchers say. The results provide the best evidence for a long standing supposition that single hemisphere sleep evolved as creatures scanned for enemies. The preference for opening an eye on the lookout side could be widespread, he predicts. He"s seen it in a pair of birds dozing side by side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by a mirror. The mirror side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open. Useful as half sleeping might be, it"s only been found in birds and such water mammals (哺乳动物) as dolphins, whales, and seals. Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning. Studies of birds may offer unique insights into sleep. Jerome M. Siegel of the UCLA says he wonders if birds" half brain sleep "is just the tip of the iceberg (冰山)" He speculates that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.

单选题Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle viewed laughter as "a bodily exercise precious to health". But (1) some claims to the contrary, laughing probably has little influence on physical fitness. Laughter does (2) short-term changes in the function of the heart and its blood vessels, (3) heart rate and oxygen consumption But because hard laughter is difficult to (4) , a good laugh is unlikely to have (5) benefits the way, say, walking or jogging does. (6) , instead of straining muscles to build them, as exercise does, laughter apparently accomplishes the (7) , studies dating back to the 1930s indicate that laughter (8) muscles, decreasing muscle tone for up to 45 minutes after the laugh dies down. Such bodily reaction might conceivably help (9) the effects of psychological stress. Anyway, the act of laughing probably does produce other types of (10) feedback, that improve an individual's emotional state. (11) one classical theory of emotion, our feelings are partially rooted (12) physical reactions. It was argued at the end of the 19th century that humans do not cry (13) they are sad but they become sad when the tears begin to flow. Although sadness also (14) tears, evidence suggests that emotions can flow (15) muscular responses. In an experiment published in 1988, social psychologist Fritz Strack of the University of Würzburg in Germany asked volunteers to (16) a pen either with their teeth-thereby creating an artificial smile- or with their lips, which would produce a (n) (17) expression. Those forced to exercise their smiling muscles (18) more exuberantly to funny cartons than did those whose mouths were contracted in a frown, (19) that expressions may influence emotions rather than just the other way around (20) , the physical act of laughter could improve mood.

单选题Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $26 a barrel, up from less than $10 last December. This near-tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shock, when prices quadrupled, and 1979-]980, when they also almost tripled. Both previous shocks resulted in double-digit inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this time? The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth, at the same time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price higher still in the short term. Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of chide oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to tour-fifths of the retail price, so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in the past. Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so less sensitive to swing in the oil price. Energy conservation, a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy, energy- intensive industries have reduced oil consumption. Software, consultancy and mobile telephones use far less oil than steel or car production. For each dollar of GDP (inconstant prices) rich economies now use nearly 50% less oil than in 1973. The OECD estimates in its latest Economic Outlook that, if oil prices averaged $22 a barrel for a full year, compared with $13 in 1998, this would increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only 0.25% -0.5% of GDP. That is less than one-quarter of the income loss in 1974 or 1980. On the other hand, oil-importing emerging economies—to which heavy industry has shifted—have become more energy-intensive, and so could be more seriously squeezed. One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is that, unlike the rises in the 1970s, it has not occurred against the background of general commodity-price inflation and global excess demand. A sizable portion of the world is only just emerging from economic decline. The Economist's commodity price index is broadly unchanging from a year ago. In 1973 commodity prices jumped by 70%, and in 1979 by almost 30%.

单选题In the 1950s, the pioneers of artificial intelligence (AI) predicted that, by the end of this century, computers would be conversing with us at work and robots would be performing our housework. But powerful as computers are, they"re nowhere close to achieving anything remotely resembling these early aspirations for humanlike behavior. Never mind something as complex as conversation: the most powerful computers struggle to reliably recognize the shape of an object, the most elementary of tasks for a ten-month-old kid. A growing group of AI researchers think they know where the field went wrong. The problem, the scientists say, is that AI has been trying to separate the highest, most abstract levels of thought, like language and mathematics, and to duplicate them with logical, step-by- step programs. A new movement in AI, on the other hand, takes a closer look at the more roundabout way in which nature came up with intelligence. Many of these researchers study evolution and natural adaptation instead of formal logic and conventional computer programs. Rather than digital computers and transistors, some want to work with brain cells and proteins. The results of these early efforts are as promising as they are peculiar, and the new nature-based AI movement is slowly but surely moving to the forefront of the field. Imitating the brain"s neural (神经的) network is a huge step in the right direction, says computer scientist and biophysicist Michael Conrad, but it still misses an important aspect of natural intelligence. "People tend to treat the brain as if it were made up of color-coded transistors", he explains, "but it"s not simply a clever network of switches. There are lots of important things going on inside the brain cells themselves. " Specifically, Conrad believes that many of the brain"s capabilities stem from the pattern recognition proficiency of the individual molecules that make up each brain cell. The best way to build and artificially intelligent device, he claims, would be to build it around the same sort of molecular skills. Right now, the option that conventional computers and software are fundamentally incapable of matching the processes that take place in the brain remains controversial. But if it proves true, then the efforts of Conrad and his fellow AI rebels could turn out to be the only game in town.

单选题Most worthwhile careers require some kind of specialized training. Ideally, therefore, the choice of an 1 should be made even before the choice of a curriculum in high school. Actually, 2 , most people make several job choices during their working lives, 3 because of economic and industrial changes and partly to improve 4 position. The "one perfect job" does not exist. Young people should 5 enter into a broad flexible training program that will 6 them for a field of work rather than for a single 7 . Unfortunately many young people have to make career plans 8 benefit of help from a competent vocational counselor or psychologist. Knowing 9 about the occupational world, or themselves for that matter, they choose their lifework on a hit-or-miss 10 . Some drift from job to job. Others 11 to work in which they are unhappy and for which they are not fitted. One common mistake is choosing an occupation for 12 real or imagined prestige. Too many high-school students—or their parents for them—choose the professional field, 13 both the relatively small proportion of workers in the professions and the extremely high educational and personal 14 . The imagined or real prestige of a profession or a "White-collar" job is 15 good reason for choosing it as life"s work. 16 , these occupations are not always well paid. Since a large proportion of jobs are in mechanical and manual work, the 17 of young people should give serious 18 to these fields. Before making an occupational choice, a person should have a general idea of what he wants 19 life and how hard he is willing to work to get it. Some people desire social prestige, others intellectual satisfaction. Some want security, others are willing to take 20 for financial gain. Each occupational choice has its demands as well as its rewards.

单选题Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D. The mass media is a big part of our culture, yet it can also be a helper, adviser and teacher to our young generation. The mass media affects the lives of our young by acting as a (an) {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}for a number of institutions and social contacts. In this way, it {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}a variety of functions in human life. The time spent in front of the television screen is usually at the {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}of leisure: there is less time for games, amusement and rest. {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}by what is happening on the screen, children not only imitate what they see but directly {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}themselves with different characters. Americans have been concerned about the {{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}of violence in the media and its {{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}harm to children and adolescents for at least forty years. During this period, new media {{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}, such as video games, cable television, music videos, and the Internet. As they continue to gain popularity, these media, {{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}television, {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}public concern and research attention. Another large societal concern on our young generation {{U}} {{U}} 11 {{/U}} {{/U}}by the media, is body image. {{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}} {{/U}}forces can influence body image positively or negatively. {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}one, societal and cultural norms and mass media marketing {{U}} {{U}} 14 {{/U}} {{/U}}our concepts of beauty. In the mass media, the images of {{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}} {{/U}}. beauty fill magazines and newspapers, {{U}} {{U}} 16 {{/U}} {{/U}}from our televisions and entertain us {{U}} {{U}} 17 {{/U}} {{/U}}the movies. Even in advertising, the mass media {{U}} {{U}} 18 {{/U}} {{/U}}on accepted cultural values of thinness and fitness for commercial gain. Young adults are presented with a {{U}} {{U}} 19 {{/U}} {{/U}}defined standard of attractiveness, a (n) {{U}} {{U}} 20 {{/U}} {{/U}}that carries unrealistic physical expectations.

单选题In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an ambiguous and complicated route. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experience. Prior knowledge and interest influence what we experience, what we think our experiences mean, and the subsequent actions we take. Opportunities for misinterpretation, error, and self-deception abound. Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as proto science. Similar to newly staked mining claims, they are full of potential. But it takes collective scrutiny and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through which the individual researcher's me, here, now becomes the community's anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point. Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But, unlike with mining claims, the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works it through the community, the interaction and confrontation between shared and competing beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual's discovery claim into the community's credible discovery. Two paradoxes exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of prevailing Knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little reward accompanies duplication and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal is new-search, not re- search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or refutation by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi once described discovery as "seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought." But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated. In the end, credibility "happens" to a discovery claim-a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baler has described as the commons of the mind. "We reason together, challenge, revise, and complete each other's reasoning and each other's conceptions of reason. /

单选题In a famous lab trial, a chimp named Sultan put two interlocking sticks together and pulled down a bunch of bananas hanging just out of arm"s reach. Nearly a century later, eager tourists have conducted their own version of the experiment. Equipped with the camera extender known as a selfie stick, they can now reach for flattering CinemaScope selfies wherever they go. Art museums have watched this development nervously, fearing damage to their collections or to visitors, as users swing their sticks. Now they are taking action. One by one, museums across the United States have been imposing bans on using selfie sticks for photographs inside galleries (adding them to existing rules on umbrellas, rucksacks, tripods and monopods), yet another example of how controlling overcrowding has become part of the museum mission. The Hirshhorn Museum in Washington prohibited the sticks this month, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston plans to impose a ban. In New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has been studying the matter for some time, has just decided that it, too, will forbid selfie sticks. "From now on, you will be asked quietly to put it away," said Sree Sreenivasan, the chief digital officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "It"s one thing to take a picture at arm"s length, but when it is three times arm"s length, you are invading someone else"s personal space." The personal space of other visitors is just one problem. The artwork is another. "We do not want to have to put all the art under glass," said Deborah Ziska, the chief of public information at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, which has been quietly enforcing a ban on selfie sticks but is in the process of adding it formally to its printed guidelines for visitors. Last but not least is the threat to the camera operator, intent on capturing the perfect shot and oblivious to the surroundings. "If people are not paying attention in the Temple of Dendur, they can end up in the water with the crocodile sculpture," Mr. Sreenivasan said. "We have so many bal conies you could fall from, and stairs you can trip on."

单选题 In 2007 Safaricom, the biggest mobile operator in Kenya, launched M-PESA, a service that allows money to be sent and received using mobile phones. It is used by 70% of the adult population and has become central to the economy: around 25% of Kenya's GNP flows through it. Similar schemes have had some success elsewhere. There has been a particular push in east Africa. Yet in many poor countries where mobile money should be flourishing, it isn't. Mobile-money services are especially useful in developing countries. A worker in the city can send money to his family in the village without having to waste a day travelling on a rickety bus. Indeed, he can pay his family's household bills directly from his phone. It is safer too: nobody wants to carry wads of currency on public transport. Mobile money also gives its users—many of whom are poor and have no access to banks—a way to save small amounts of money. Mobile transactions are more traceable than cash, making it harder for corrupt officials to embezzle undetected. And lately Kenya has discovered a further benefit: the success of M-PESA has provided the foundation for a group of start-ups in Nairobi that are building new products and services on top of it. Not all countries need mobile money, of course. Rich countries, with cash machines, credit cards and Internet banking, have little use for it. And among developing countries, not all have Kenya's specific mix of circumstances. Safaricom had a dominant market share when it launched M-PESA, giving the service a large base of potential customers. But there is also a bad reason why mobile money has failed to spread. Many of the poor countries that would most benefit from mobile money seem intent on keeping its suppliers out—mainly by insisting they should be regulated like banks. Nobody disputes the idea that financial transactions need to be monitored. But there is also, equally clearly, a rather big difference between a cheap money-transfer system like M-PESA and a full lending bank like Citicorp. The security worries are usually fairly easily dealt with. Placing a limit on the size of transactions and the total balance that can be stored reduces the risk of mobile money being used to launder cash. Another concern is consumer protection: cunning operators could steal cash. One compromise, which has been adopted in several African countries, is to get operators to form partnerships with banks. Indeed, rather than fighting mobile money, governments should use it themselves.

单选题Oversize cupids in pink, furry outfits hand out heart-shaped balloons with "I Do" written on them (in English) at a wedding-themed trade fair in Beijing. Vendors offer romantic photo-shoots of couples under water, personalised wedding cigarettes, and biscuits with names. An emphasis on love is a new addition to Chinese weddings—and shines a pink-filtered spotlight on social change. For centuries, marriage in China was about ensuring heirs for the groom"s family. Both the groom"s and the bride"s family exchanged money or goods. The more money changed hands, the more opulent the wedding. In 1949, frugality was imposed. Dowries consisted of necessities like bed linen or a bicycle. But since the 1980s the extravagance of weddings has matched the country"s rise. Celebrations moved out of homes into hotels. Brides swapped traditional red dresses for white ones. A large industry has emerged to serve the 13 million couples who many each year. Wedding planners are increasingly common, particularly in cities. A decade ago Cosmo Bride, an American owned lifestyle magazine, launched a Chinese-language edition in China. An average wedding cost $12,000 in 2011—the equivalent of more than two years" income for the average urban household. An increase in the average marriage age by 2.5 years since 1990 has given parents (who still usually pay for weddings, despite the earning power of their children) more time to save up. The change in wedding also reflects a fundamental shift in society. For the first time in the history of Chinese family life, the child—rather than ancestors or parents—is regarded as the centre of the family, says Yan Yunxiang of the University of California, Los Angeles. Most newly-weds now are single children, born since the one-child policy was introduced more than 30 years ago. Parents have more to spend if they only have to afford one wedding. William Jankowiak of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who has documented relationships in China for 30 years, says love plays a larger part in young people"s lives—both in choice of partner and in their relationships with parents. The result is evident in weddings, which now focus on the couple. Both sets of parents are represented, but their position is peripheral. Weddings often feature a day of wedding photos, shot before the event, with the couple in a range of outfits against romantic backgrounds, but with no family members.