阅读理解Boomers on Broadway The music a generation loved best is bringing audiences across America to their feet. You''re seated in a darkened Broadway theater, and onstage Frankie Valli, the leader of the 60''s pop group The Four Seasons, is crooning, "Sherry, Sherry baby, Sherry... You''re 40-something (okay, maybe 50) , and you know you shouldn''t, but before you can stop yourself, you''re on your feet. Your hips are swaying and you''re singing with the melody. You''re back in time, on the dance floor at the high school sock hop. You''re home. And that''s exactly where Marshall Brickman, co-writer of Jersey Boys, wants you to be. His musical, featuring The Four Seasons'' infectious blend of doo-wop, R 23 million people (and counting) have seen it. The cast album has gone platinum in the United States. The sheer entertainment factor is in part what entices theatergoers. These "jukebox musicals," as they''re sometimes derisively called, are squarely aimed at boomers, who are often criticized as being fixated on their youth. A "The shows are pure fun, but what''s wrong with having fun?" says Leonard Stein-horn , associate professor at the American University School of Communication and author of the forthcoming book The Greater Generation: In Defense of the Baby Boom Legacy. "It''s music that people can sing and dance to. It gives them a warm glow from the past. " It''s Brickman''s first foray into writing for theater after years of working in TV and movies (including Annie Hall, for which he won an Oscar). He hopes folks leave the theater feeling a gamut of emotions. But what drew him to the project was not so much the music as the drama inherent in The Four Seasons'' story. " We went to lunch with Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio ( chief songwriter for the Seasons) , and we said, '' Tell us the story of your lives,'' " Brickman recalls. " It was almost Shakespearean. Their story has everything: love, jealousy, betrayal, death, and the Mafia. This is a great American story of blue-collar guys who make it, then watch it all come apart. As gritty and real-life as it is, Jersey Boys isn''t a musical in the traditional sense of the word. It''s closer to being a drama with music than anything else, since none of the 30 or so musical numbers pretend to be scenes, and characters don''t sing to each other as they do in, say, Fiddler on the Roof. Not all of the boomer musicals are biographical revues, however. All Shook Up, a comedy that marries Shakespeare''s Twelfth Night with Presley''s motorcycle movie, Roustabout, employs a fictional hip-swiveling character named Chad who brings romance, rebellion, and rock '' n'' roll to a small town. Mamma Mia! also spins a fictional tale, that of a young woman determined to discover which of her mother''s former suitors is her father. Movin'' Out, featuring the music of Billy Joel, at times evokes the classic West Side Story and seems more a ballet than narrative. And while Lennon emphasizes John''s post-Beatle period with Yoko Ono, dramatizing real-life events such as the couple''s 1969 honeymoon "Bed In" to protest the Vietnam War, the musical takes a big leap in having nine actors, including four women, play the legendary musician. Audiences reward it with standing ovations each night, but critics have been brutal. " In a way I understand the dismal reviews," says Lennon''s widow, Yoko Ono, who gave permission to use the music, including three rare Lennon songs. " A lot of John''s life was about promoting world peace. And right now we''re in the middle of a war, so some people don''t think it''s right to have a show like this. People feel fluff (出错的) is the way to go in a musical today. But John''s music alone is so beautiful, and beautifully done.” So what of the naysayer’s(唱反调的人) who quibble that 60''s and 70''s pop songs lack the heft(分量) and sophistication of Broadway scores of old? Truth is, even those who object to some of John Lennon''s controversial songs would have trouble arguing that he wasn''t a serious musician. And theatrical producers, taking a cue from the popularity of revivals of earlier Broadway hits, are ever on the lookout for vehicles that preserve the dignity of older music, yet present it in an appealing way. " Ever since the Golden Age of Broadway, when a lot of hit songs were coming out of musical theater rather than recording studios, it''s been hard to find top-quality music," Brickman explains. And many of the composers of 30 and 40 years ago are as emotionally relevant to their generation as Rodgers and Hammerstein or the Gershwin brothers were to theirs. " Boomers are the first mass media generation, and their common bond is music," says Stein horn. "It''s no surprise that it continues to unite this generation. Perhaps we''ll be seeing Mamma Mia! staged in old-age homes years from now. " Besides, as Brickman points out, everything old is new again, and that includes Frankie Valli, who, as most folks know, continued a career in music after The Four Seasons broke up. He now plays a character on the HBO series The Sopranos, in addition to doing roughly 100 concerts a year with a new group of musicians. When John Lloyd Young, Valli''s Broadway counterpart, went to Las Vegas to see Valli perform as part of his preparation for the role, the actor realized it was as important to portray Valli''s personal warmth as it was to copy his vocals. "There''s just so much affection for him, and he gives that back," says Young. Marshall Brickman knows what he means, having seen Valli in concert at a New York college. "At the end of the show, he went down to the edge of the stage and held his hand out, and people touched it," Brickman remembers, shaking his head. "It was like Judy Garland at the Palace in Manhattan. I''ve never seen anything like it. Or, as Valli himself sings, "Oh, What a Night. " "I love to perform, and it amazes me that people still come out," says Valli, now 68, who helped smooth the way for a Four Seasons musical. "I really hope we''ve brought some joy to people who grew up when we were making records, and they have a lot of things they can reminisce about when they hear our music. I was a poor kid who lived in a project until I became successful, so I know what it''s like to dream, and have that dream motivate you to pull yourself up, out and above."

阅读理解Passage Two Telephone, television, radio, and telegraph all help people communicate with　each other

阅读理解For a long time, men want to see whether lifeless computers can exercise judgment, make choices, give birth to ideas, and play games intelligently. At the far limit of possibility, they wish to know whether, at least in theory, machines can reproduce themselves. In other words, are we really certain that a machine can do only what its programmer wishes it to do? Already there are in existence a number of machines that approach these powers. Tile simplest type is the computer that understands logic. Samuel Butler, the great English author, predicted the view of the future world of machines in his novel Erewhon, published in 1872. Ever since, authors with less sense of satire (讽刺) than Butler have created tales of monster (怪物)machines that take over and destroy the world. In varying degrees, their imaginary monsters have the power of reproduction, which permitted them to multiply until they could capture and crush mankind. Science today is not laughing at such extremes. Dr. J. Von Neumann, of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, very carefully considered the question: Cmn machines become highly organized enough to reproduce themselves? His conclusion was that they may, provided they are complicated enough. Mathematically, a certain degree of complication seems to be necessary for reproduction. Below that, the iron mothers can only give birth to more primitive forms than themselves, and any "race" of robot monsters would soon lose the reproductive function. If mathematicians are to be believed, we can rest fairly secure for a while yet. Human physiology (生理学) is still millions of times more complex than any giant brain. To copy the complexities of the human brain alone would be a shocking problem. Transistors (晶体管) might reduce the super-giant to the size of a house and his power requirements to a few hundred kilowatts -- yet the human brain will fit into a cereal bowl and takes about twenty-five watts of power.

阅读理解A child of five is friendly, competent and obedient, although he may be bossy with other children and is sometimes sufficiently independent to call his mother names. He is still dependent on adult approval and praise, and so orientated (对......感兴趣) to the grown-up that he tells tales without seeing the other child''s point of view. There is no real discussion yet—five talking together indulge in (沉浸于) a "collective monologue (独白) " ; quarrelling with words often begins towards the end of the year. Group play is often disrupted (破坏) because everyone wants to be the mother or the bride or the captain of the fire brigade. Each child has an urgent need for constantly recurring (反复的) contact with an adult in spite of all his efforts to be independent. In his unsureness he may make statements about his own cleverness and beauty, hoping that the adult will praise him: this is not conceit (自负) but a cry for reassurance. He loves to say" Watch what I can do. " Reality and fantasy are still intermingled and this confusion may lead him to elaborate on facts.

阅读理解Health in general terms includes many non-medical areas, such as housing and employment. As far as individual is concerned, welfare benefits come in two main categories—flat rate and supplementary. Flat rate benefits are those a person has an automatic right to (provided he or she has made a certain number of contributions to the Department of Health and Social Security). Unemployment benefit is one of these. Supplementary benefits are based on a means test. In other words, they are benefits given, regardless of contributions made, where the government decides that an individual has insufficient resources for a minimum standard of living. These benefits can be in the form of allowances for rent and rates, special diet, heating and clothing. Such benefits have to be claimed and the individual has to give full details of all his or her capital assets and sources of income. Unclaimed benefits amount to approximately $ 100 million each year. The originators of the Welfare State idea were concerned to alleviate (使减轻) or remove what they saw as the evils of their time. Their efforts resulted in a great improvement in the standard of living and life expectancy in Britain. This progress in itself has simulated the increasing cost of maintaining the Welfare State. Over 45 percent of the health authority expenditure on hospitals and community services is spent on care of the elderly. Yet there are indications that Beveridge calculated that less would need to be spent on people once they retired. Advances in medical knowledge have involved the use of expensive drugs and hospital procedures. Drug and alcohol abuse make increasing demands on the medical services. The present government is planning a new approach to the social security system, which accounts for nearly one-third of public expenditure. Changes in the movement''s pension scheme to encourage private schemes will start from April this year. Different ways of assessing need are planned. To enable closer monitoring and control, the DHSS has begun the biggest computerization program in Europe. Suggestions have been made by opposition politicians that the present movement intends to say "farewell" to the Welfare State. Although all the major parties in Britain say they are committed to a caring society, there''s a considerable difference in the means each would wish to use to achieve it. As the old saying goes, "only time will tell".

阅读理解The center of American automobile innovation has in the past decade moved 2,000 miles away

阅读理解The combination of the increased burden of AIDS in the developing world and the absence of affordable therapies and vaccines has raised the sensitivity of health professionals to issues of ethics and equity in international biomedical research. Foremost among the concerns is whether new treatments should be compared against Western standards of care or against existing local standards. Other thorny issues include whether communities can benefit from research they have taken part in when they may not be able to afford the new interventions that prove effective and how researchers and their institutions in developing countries can be strengthened through international collaboration. Strong emotional responses and increased entrenchment have begun to characterize the discussion on how to design and conduct international biomedical research. Those who venture into the discussion on international research have an obligation to begin with fairness as the principal rule of engagement, concerned that each party will have an equal share in what is brought to the table, and each will leave feeling equally satisfied. In reality, there is the overwhelming power of assertion among some participants and the temptation of expediency urging deference on the part of others. The economic, social, technological, and political situations of disparity that weigh so heavily on this discussion should, however, not be used as reasons to disparage it. Parties affected by proposed health research projects need to become increasingly involved in designing and carrying out the research. In support of this, the role of local and national ethics committees in developing countries is becoming increasingly important. Similarly, local re search institutions and scientists are gaining stronger roles in international research projects. There is also broader recognition of the need and value of consulting local communities and involving potential participants in research early on in the process of designing re search protocols. Given the enormous disparity between the parties involved in international research, it may not always be possible to achieve unity or even consensus. On the other hand, to allow any one voice (or group of voices) to dominate the conversation would be irresponsible. By fostering fairness and demanding a strong commitment to the highest values, we contribute to the power of health research to more fully address the urgencies of disease and the inequities of healthcare.

阅读理解In order to (47)______ unemployment and why it happens, economists often split unemployment into the following four types. Demand-deficient unemployment (48)______ when there is not enough demand to employ all those who want to work. It is also often known as cyclical unemployment because it will vary with the trade cycle. When the economy is (49)______, there will be lots of demand and so firms will be employing large numbers of workers. Demand-deficient unemployment will at this stage of the cycle be fairly low. If the economy slows down, then firms will begin to (50)______ workers off as they do not need to produce so much. Demand-deficient unemployment rises. Seasonal unemployment is fairly self (51)______. Father Christmas tends to only be in demand for a short period of the year, and the rest of the year would certainly be (52)______ as seasonally unemployed. Most other seasonal unemployment is less (53)______ than this, and tends to occur in certain industries, such as hotel and catering, tourism, fruit picking etc. When somebody loses their job (or chooses to leave it), they will have to look for another one. If they are lucky they find one quite quickly, but they may be unlucky and it may take some time. On average it will take everybody a reasonable period of time as they search for the right job. This (54)______ frictional or search unemployment while they look. The more efficiently the job market is matching people to jobs, the lower this form of unemployment will be. However, if there is imperfect information and people don''t get to hear of jobs (55)______ that may suit them then frictional unemployment will be higher. Structural unemployment occurs when the structure of industry changes. As an economy develops over time the type of industries may well change. This may be because people''s tastes have changed or it may be because technology has moved on and the product or service is no longer in demand. The (56)______ of structural unemployment will depend on various things, such as mobility of labour, the pace of change in the economy and the regional structure of industry. Word Bank A) explanatory B) severe C) modifications D) available E) booming F) neglects G) analyze H) reduction I) lay J) necessary K) classified L) creates M) occurs N) resistant O) extent

阅读理解How old is "old"? The answer has changed over the years. Two hundred years ago, you were old at 35. That was the average life expectancy then. At the turn of the 19th century, as medical knowledge advanced, the average life expectancy increased to 45. In 1950, 70-year olds were really old. Today, a healthy 70-year-old is looking forward to many more active years. So, how old is old? The answer is one you''ve heard many times, from all sorts of people. "You are as old (or young) as you feel." The calendar simply tells you how many years you have lived. Your body tells you how well you''ve lived. "Youth", wrote an unknown author, "is not a time of life--it is a state of mind. Nobody grows old by living a number of years; people grow old by deserting (抛弃) their ideals." Old is a point of view. Alice Brophy, when she was with the New York City Commission for the Aging, said, "It annoys me when people say, ''Gee, you look young for your age. '' What does that mean? Is there some model that you'' re supposed to look a certain way at 65 and 75 and 85? You know, you can die old at 30 and live young at 80." It is often believed that most older people are in poor health. But the fact is that there are neither biological nor physiological (生理学的) reasons to connect poor health with growing older. Older people are more likely to be affected with illness and physical disabilities than you are, but old age itself is not a disease. It''s possible to remain physically fit throughout your life.

阅读理解History of Immigration As we look back at the 20th century we realize that never in the history of mankind have humans migrated so much. Millions of people have left their homes to relocate in other parts of the world in order to change their destiny. People from all over the world have dared to dream of a better future for themselves and for their children. Others were forced out of their homelands in order to escape atrocities (暴政, 暴行). The two world wars during this century forced large numbers of people to seek refuge in a distant land in order to survive. Australia Since 1945, over six million people have come to Australia as new settlers. Their arrival has had a marked influence on all aspects of our society. The trigger for a large-scale migration was the end of World War II. In Europe, millions of people were driven outside their homelands, unable to return. In Australia, there was a desperate shortage of labour and a belief that substantial population growth was essential for the country''s future. These factors led to the creation of a federal immigration program in 1945. By 1947, a post-war immigration boom was under way, with a large and growing number of arrivals of both government-assisted and other immigrants. Agreements were reached with the United Kingdom, some European countries and the International Refugee Organization (IRO) to encourage migrants, including displaced persons from war-torn Europe, to come to Australia. Between October 1945 and June 1960, 1.7 million people arrived. A million more migrants arrived in each of the following four decades. Today, nearly one in four of Australia''s almost 20 million people were born overseas. New Zealand and the United Kingdom are the largest source countries for migrants, but other regions — notably Asia — have become more significant. The most ambitious part of Australia''s migration program followed the end of World War II. Australia negotiated agreements with other governments and international organizations to help achieve high migration targets. These agreements are no longer in force. Canada In 1947, the Canadian government proposed broadening immigration policies as it set its sights on two main objectives: to populate Canada and, is so doing, expand its domestic market and develop the countries resources. But Canada remained opposed to massive immigration from the East — a tendency that continued to shape immigration policy until 1962. Canada stressed its former selective policies and reasserted its right to accept or refuse particular classes of immigrants. Other political and international forces at the time, however, contributed to making Canada a country of immigration. In fact, the years following World War II saw the establishment of international bodies and the introduction of human rights legislation and a pressure to welcome "displaced persons" from Europe. This pressure led to the abolishment of the Chinese Immigration Act in 1947. The Chinese Immigration Act of 1952, however, maintained earlier exclusion based on nationality, ethnicity, climate compatibility, lifestyle and values. Contrary to the 1920s, immigration focused primarily on the construction and manufacturing industries as opposed to agriculture and mining. A wave of immigration from southern Europe swept across postwar Canada to fill the need for manual labour. The immigration of a highly skilled worked force was also encouraged in the areas of health, education and technology, mostly from Europe. The United States of America America was built by immigrants. From Plymouth Rock in the seventeenth century to Ellis Island in the twentieth, people born elsewhere came to America. Some were fleeing religious and political persecution. Most, however, came for economic reasons and were part of extensive migratory systems that responded to changing demands in labor markets. Their experience in the United States was as diverse as their backgrounds and aspirations. Some became farmers and other toiled in factories. Some settled permanently and others returned to their homeland. Collectively, however, they contributed to the building of a nation by providing a constant source of inexpensive labor, by settling rural regions and industrial cities, and by bringing their unique forms of political and cultural expression. The volume of immigration before the 1960s was staggering. Figures for the colonial period are imprecise, but by the time of the first census (人口普查) of 1790 nearly 1 million Afro-Americans and 4 million Europeans resided in the United States. The European population originated from three major streams: English and Welsh, Scotch-Irish, and German. Between the end of World War II and the passage of important immigrant reform legislation in 1965, most newcomers to the United States consisted of Europeans displaced by war and Mexican agricultural workers. In 1948 Congress Passed the Displaced Persons act that eventually admitted some 400,000 European uprooted by war, although displaced people from Palestine, China, and India were ignored. Congress also responded to the requests of agricultural interests in the Southwest and allowed temporary workers from Mexico, into the country after 1952. More than 1 million people are entering the U.S. legally every year. From 1983 through 1992, 8.7 million of these newcomers arrived — the highest number in any 10-year period sincel910. A record 1.8 million were granted permanent residence in 1991. Because present law stresses family unification, these arrivals can bring over their spouses, sons and daughters: some 3.5 million are now in line to come in. Once here, they can bring in their direct relatives. As a result, there exists no visible limit to the number of legal entries. Australia today Natural increase has been the main source of population growth over the past hundred years, contributing two-thirds of the increase in population between 1901 and 2001. Immigration has also been a significant contributor to Australia''s population growth, and immigration''s contribution to population growth is likely to increase during the next 30 years as the ageing of Australia''s population leads to the annual number of the deaths exceeding births. It is possible that sometime in the 2030s, immigration may become the only source of growth in population.

阅读理解Why does the author feel somewhat guilty?

阅读理解Microsoft''s founder is authoring another volume of predictions about technology''s future, (47)______ it''s impact on world health and education. When Bill Gates released his first book, The Road Ahead, in 1996, he (48)______ technical wonders we take for granted now. He saw that, in the future, music would be kept as digital bits of information, rather than on CDs and (49)______. He foresaw the workforce displacement that the Web enables. And he predicted a dramatic rise in shopping on the Net, changing consumer habits forever. Now Gates is ready to look into his crystal ball again. There''s little question, though, that the book will spark quite a bit of (50)______. The Road Ahead was a best seller, selling 2.5 million copies to date, according to Microsoft. Gates followed that book up with one written specifically for executives, called Business @ the Speed of Thought, which (51)______ a much smaller, elite audience. But Gates''s latest look into the crystal ball will likely once again attract a wide audience. The new book will assume a certain amount of technical knowledge, then go on to explore how Gates thinks technology will (52)______ the way people communicate, entertain themselves, and work, according to the company. It will also talk about the ability of technology to address issues that are central to Gates''s philanthropy —world health and education. "The book is going to be a compilation (汇编) of what he''s thinking about," says spokesman "It''s going to talk (53)______ where the next big technical (54)______ are going to come from, and the impact they''re going to have." However, as prescient as Gates was in The Road Ahead, some of Gates''s predictions haven''t materialized. For example, he forecast that students would be able to ask computer programs out loud about the cause of the American Civil War, and get a (55)______ response in reply. But it didn''t (56)______. At least, not yet. But like so many predictions, Gates might not actually have been wrong, just early. Word Bank A) predicted B) about C) breakthroughs D) detailed E) happen F) cassettes G) interest H) transform I) promote J) over K) targeted L) including M) communicate N) member O) reply

阅读理解It''s no secret that many children would be healthier and happier with adoptive parents than with the parents that nature dealt them. That''s especially true of children who remain in abusive homes because the law blindly favors biological parents. It''s also true of children who suffer for years in foster homes (收养孩子的家庭) because of parents who can''t or won''t care for them but refuse to give up custody (监护) rights. Fourteen-year-old Kimberly Mays fits neither description, but her recent court victory could eventually help children who do. Kimberly has been the object of an angry custody battle between the man who raised her and her biological parents, with whom she has never lived. A Florida judge ruled that the teenager can remain with the only father she''s ever known and that her biological parents have "no legal claim" on her. The ruling, though it may yet be reversed, sets aside the principle that biology is the primary determinant of parentage. That''s an important development, one that''s long overdue. Shortly after birth in December 1978, Kimberly Mays and another infant were mistakenly switched and sent home with the wrong parents. Kimberly''s biological parents, Ernest and Regina Twigg, received a child who died of a heart disease in 1988. Medical tests showed that the child wasn''t the Twiggs'' own daughter, but Kimberly was, thus sparking a custody battle with Robert Mays. In 1989, the two families agreed that Mr. Mays would maintain custody with the Twiggs getting visiting rights. Those rights were ended when Mr. Mays decided that Kimberly was being harmed, The decision to leave Kimberly with Mr. Mays rendered her suit debated. But the judge made clear that Kimberly did have standing to sue (起诉) on her own behalf. Thus he made clear that she was more than just property to be handled as adults saw fit. Certainly, the biological link between parent and child is fundamental. But biological parents aren''t always preferable to adoptive ones, and biological parentage does not convey an absolute ownership that cancels all the rights of children.

阅读理解Section CDirections: There are 2 passages in this section

阅读理解Time is very important in our lives. It (47) our everyday moments. However, time never had any importance in my life until I received a watch from my father that organized my life and made me more (48) . It came from Denmark to the U. A E. jewelry shop in a gray box. It (49) 0.24 kilograms. It''s round in the center with two silver bands that go around my wrist. And all of it is made of silver. This object tells me the importance of time in my life. I received this gift on a gray-sky day. I had to go to the airport at 9: 00 AM to pick up my Uncle Ali and (50) him to my father''s house. However, I was late because I was (51) out with my friends. Later on that day, around 11: 00 AM, I remembered my uncle, but I was very late for him. He had left the airport and taken a taxi to my father''s house. I got to my father''s house at 2:00 PM on the same day and looked at my angry father''s face. I felt (52) of myself at that moment. After I said hi to my angry father and tired uncle, my father asked me to sit next to him where he (53) me this watch which was a gift from him. Then he said, "Essa, did you have fun with your friends today?" I answered, "Yes father, and I''m sorry about not picking up my Uncle Ali." He said, "What you did was not very nice and you should be sorry for your (54) "I was ashamed and said, "Father I''ll never do it again. I promise." He said, "I hope today you learned some thing important, and this watch will be a reminder for you." He told me to take this watch and use it as an organizer of my life. I learned a very important (55) from my father: to (56) time and never be late to get someone. This watch is important to me, not because of its price, but because of the lesson that I learned from it. WORD BANK A) ashamed I) actions B) handed J) take C) lesson K) class D) organizes L) carry E) respect M) weighs F) responsible N) footed G) hanging O) aspect H) costs

阅读理解ABSENTEEISM IN NURSING: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY Absence from work is a costly and disruptive problem for any organization. The cost of absenteeism in Australia has been put at 1.8 million hours per day or $1400 million annually. The study reported here was conducted in the Prince William Hospital in Brisbane. Australia, where, prior to this time few active steps had been taken to measure, understand or manage the occurrence of absenteeism. Nursing Absenteeism A prevalent(普遍的) attitude amongst many nurses in the group selected for study was that there was no reward or recognition for not utilizing the paid sick leave entitlement allowed them in their employment conditions. Therefore. they believed they may as well take the days offsick or otherwise. Similar attitudes have been noted by James(1989), who noted that sick leave is seen by many workers as a right, like annual holiday leave. Miller and Norton(1986), in their survey of 865 nursing personnel, found that 73 percent felt they should be rewarded for not taking sick leave, because some employees always used their sick leave. Further. 67 per cent of nurses felt, that administration was not sympathetic to the problems shift work causes to employees'' personal and social lives. Only 53 per cent of the respondents felt that every effort was made to schedule staff fairly. In another longitudinal study of nurses working in two Canadian hospitals, Hackett. Bycio and Gnion (1989) examined the reasons why nurses took absence from work. The frequent reason stated for absence was minor illness to self. Other causes, in decreasing order of frequency, were illness in family, family social function, work to do at home and bereavement. Method In an attempt to reduce the level of absenteeism amongst the 250 registered and enrolled nurses in the present study, the Prince William management introduced three different, yet potentially complementary, strategies over 18 months. Strategy 1: Non-financial (material) incentives Within the established wage and salary system it was not possible to use hospital funds to support this strategy. However, it was possible to secure incentives(刺激) from local businesses; including free passes to entertainment parks, theatres, restaurants, etc. At the end of each roster period, the ward with the lowest absence rate would win the prize. Strategy 2: Flexible fair rostering Where possible, staff were given the opportunity to determine their working schedule within the limits of clinical needs. Strategy 3: Individual absenteeism and counseling Each month, managers would analyze the pattern of absence of staff with excessive sick leave (greater than ten days per year for full-time employees). Characteristic patterns of potential ‘voluntary absenteeism'' such as absence before and after days off, excessive weekend and night duty absence and multiple single days off were communicated to all ward(病房) nurses and then, as necessary, followed up by action. Results Absence rates for the six months prior to the incentive scheme ranged from 3.69 per cent to 4. 32 per cent. In the following six months they ranged between 2.87 per cent and 3.96 per cent. This represents a 20 per cent improvement. However, analyzing the absence rates on a year-to-year basis, the overall absence rate was 3.60 per cent in the first year and 3.43 per cent in the following year. This represents a 5 per cent decrease from the first to the second year of the study. A significant decrease in absence over the two-year period could not be demonstrated. Discussion The non-financial incentive scheme did appear to assist in controlling absenteeism in the short term. As the scheme progressed it became harder to secure prizes and this contributed to the program''s losing momentum and finally ceasing. There were mixed results across wards as well. For example, in wards with staff members who had long-term genuine illness, there was little chance of winning, and to some extent the staff on those wards were disempowered. Our experience would suggest that the long-term effects of incentive awards on absenteeism are questionable. Over the time of the study, staff were given a larger degree of control in their rosters. This led to significant improvements in communication between managers and staff. A similar effect was found from the implementation of the third strategy. Many of the nurses had not realized the impact their behavior was having on the organization and their colleagues but there were also staff members who felt that talking to them about their absenteeism was ''picking'' on them and this usually had a negative effect on management-employee relationships. Conclusion Although there has been some decrease in absence rates, no single strategy or combination of strategies has had a significant impact on absenteeism per se (本身). Notwithstanding the disappointing results, it is our contention(论点) that the strategies were not in vain. A shared owner ship of absenteeism and a collaborative approach to problem solving has facilitated improved cooperation and communication between management and staff. It is our belief that this improvement alone, while not tangibly measurable, has increased the ability of management to manage the effects of absenteeism more effectively since this study.

阅读理解Passage One Most kids grow up learning they cannot draw on the walls

阅读理解Secrets of the Forest In 1942 Allan R Holmberg, a doctoral student in anthropology from Yale University, USA, ventured deep into the jungle of Bolivian Amazonia and searched out an isolated band of Siriono Indians. The Siriono, Holmberg later wrote, led a "strikingly backward" existence. Their villages were little more than clusters of thatched huts. Life itself was a continuing and punishing search for food: some families grew manioc and other starchy crops in small garden plots cleared from the forest, while other members of the tribe scoured the country for small game and promising fish holes. When local resources became depleted, the tribe moved on. As for technology, Holmberg Noted, the Siriono "may be classified among the most handicapped peoples of the world". Other than bows arrows and crude digging sticks, they only tools the Siriono seemed to possess were "two machetes (大砍刀) worn to the size of pocket-knives". Amazonian as unable to sustain complex societies Although the lives of the Sirono have changed in the intervening decades, the image of them as Stone Age relics has endured. Indeed, in many respects the Siriono sum up the popular conception of life in Amazonia. To casual observers, as well as to influential natural scientists and regional planners, the flourishing forests of Amazonia seem ageless, unconquerable, a habitat totally hostile to human civilization. The apparent simplicity of Indian ways of life has been judged an evolutionary adaptation to forest ecology, living proof mat Amazonia could not-and cannot-sustain a more complex society. Archaeological traces of far more elaborate cultures have been dismissed as the ruins of invaders from outside the region, abandoned to decay in the uncompromising tropical environment. Recent evidence The popular conception of Amazonia and its native residents would be enormously consequential if it were true. But the human history of Amazonia in the past 11, 000 years betrays that view as myth. Evidence gathered in recent years from anthropology and archaeology indicates that the region has supported a series of indigenous (本土的) cultures for eleven thousand years; an extensive network of complex societies-some with populations perhaps as large as 100, 000-thrived there for more than 1, 000 years before the arrival of Europeans. (Indeed, some contemporary tribes, including the Siriono, still live among the earthworks of earlier cultures). Far from being evolutionarily retarded, prehistoric Amazonian people developed technologies and cultures that were advanced for their time. If the lives of Indians today seem "primitive", the appearance is not the result of some environmental adaptation or ecological barrier; rather it is a comparatively recent adaptation to centuries of economic and political pressure. Investigators who argue otherwise have unwittingly projected the present onto the past. The evidence for a revised view of Amazonia will take many people by surprise. Ecologists have assumed that tropical ecosystems were shaped entirely by natural forces and they have focused their research on habitats they believe have escaped human influence. But as the University of Florida ecologist, Peter Feinsinger, has noted, an approach that leaves people out of the equation is no longer capable of being maintained in argument. The archaeological evidence shows that the natural history of Amazonia is to a surprising extent tied to the activities of its prehistoric inhabitants. The role of recent technology in ecological research in Amazonia The realization comes none too soon. In June 1992, political and environmental leaders from across the world met in Rio de Janeiro to discuss how developing countries can advance their economies without destroying their natural resources. The challenge is especially difficult in Amazonia. Because the tropical forest has been depicted as ecologically unfit for large-scale human occupation, some environmentalists have opposed development of any kind. Ironically, one major casualty of that extreme position has been the environment itself. While policy makers struggle to define and implement appropriate legislation, development of the most destructive kind has continued apace over vast areas. The other major casualty of the "naturalism" of environmental scientists has been the indigenous Amazonians, whose habits of hunting, fishing, and slash-and-burn cultivation often have been represented as harmful to the habitat. In the clash between environmentalists and developers, the Indians, whose presence is in fact crucial to the survival of the forest, have suffered the most. The new understanding of the pre-history of Amazonia, however, points toward a middle ground. Archaeology makes clear that with wise management selected parts of the region could support more people than anyone thought before. The long-buried past, it seems, offers hope for the future.

阅读理解Some people argue that, since there are billions of stars in our (47) _______, at least millions of them must have planets. And if there are millions of planets, at least thousands of them will have life. And of these life forms, at least some will have (48) ________. At some point of technological development, they will think of (49) ________ with beings on other planets. Some astronomers have set up a radio telescope at Harvard University. Dr. Paul Horowitz is using the telescope to (50) _______ the skies for any signal (51) ________ from other planets. I have a plea for these gentlemen: please stop before it is too late! For one thing, what if these beings that are in (52) ________ on other planets do give us a message? What if the message indicates that these beings are far (53) ________ to us? Will we be able to (54) _________the knowledge of our own unworthiness and inferiority? For another, what if these beings tune in and find us? Will they be friendly towards us if they find that we can be worse than animals and that we are (55) ______ of nothing except polluting the atmosphere, killing each other as well as other species, and (56) _______ everything on our beautiful planet? Think what they will do to us, if they are unfriendly! So, gentlemen, please stop looking for trouble! WORD BANK A) subject B) spoiling C) superior D) advanced E) intelligence F) communicating G) survive H) universe I) scan J) involving K) capable L) existence M) emitted N) talent O) entitled

阅读理解Just five one-hundredths of an inch thick