Antique auctions have become popular in the United States because a steadily increasing awareness of the investment value of antiques.

Passage Four

(1)The recession came home to Price Waterhouse's consultancy practice in the middle of 1990. Annual growth rate of 25%-30% started to dive, and the practice began reorganizing to survive the slump. (2)Management consultancies, ironically, have complex and disparate bodies to manage. PW is an international outfit run by partners through a network of offices. Like most professions, management consultants tend to be content to let others take the lead in office technology and put off any major investment to another day. In 1990, PW's UK consultancy practice could muster only one personal computer for every three or four staff. (3)The solution PW chose was remarkable on two fronts. It involved a form of technology that remains foreign, if not downright outlandish, to most big companies; and the decision to embrace that technology was taken not as a result of a detailed cost justification, but as a simple "leap of faith". (4)Mark Austin, the UK partner leading the program of change, says: "On pure cost grounds we would never have gone ahead, but our American practice had found that there were enormous qualitative benefits. We are finding the same." (5)Three years on, that leap is still difficult to qualify in hard business terms, but nobody within PW doubts the value of the move. The solution chosen by PW is groupware, which is likely to become the IT industry's most hyped product of the decade, or show its greatest contribution to business efficiency since the invention of the PC. (6)There are several groupware products but the market is increasingly being dominated by Lotus Notes, which is used by PW and runs on a variety of desktop computers. Of the 20,000 Notes users worldwide, PW is one of the biggest groupware followers there is, but firms such as General Motors and Unilever are also investing heavily in the technology. (7)The recession has left many big companies with leaner, overstretched management teams, often working at different locations, and with a frayed corporate culture. Groupware aims to be the glue that binds these threads together. (8)The problem for groupware suppliers is that the software hopes to be all things to all men. The sets of discs that come out of the software box do very little on their own; it is how you tailor them that matters. PW's groupware operations are among the most sophisticated ever set up, but in operation they look deceptively simple and cover growing panoply of applications. For example, staffs fill in on-screen forms logging the potential clients they are talking to, the value of the contract under discussion, and how they assess the likely outcome. (9)Other applications cover the management of current jobs. The databases behind the groupware network men correlate me information input in different ways. (10)Once me groupware application is created, updating happens automatically, unseen by the user. It could even incorporate stories from electronic wire feeds, so a manager whose client is involved in a takeover bid can cull electronic "clippings" about a subject simply by asking, once, for all stories on a subject to be "clipped". (11)One effect is that the workings of the firm become more open and the common, corporate store of knowledge gained from previous jobs can be accessed easily. Subject to confidentiality considerations, people can see what others are doing and tap into that information. (12)Thus, if a PW consultant in Aberdeen has a client who needs advice on something to do with the oil industry and program writing in a specific computer language, he can easily discover whether any other PW project has touched upon that area at any other office, even in Europe or America. If somebody is leaving the firm, the system will note the fact and, the day before he or she leaves, ask for the return of all outstanding confidential documents and the individual's laptop computer.

Some try to reason with the police officer who has pulled them over for some real or imagined traffic offense. But when law enforcement is represented by a computer-driven camera that hasimmortalized your violation in film, it is hard to talk your way out of【S1】______a heavy fine. Yet that is precisely what some 300 motorists in SanDiego succeeded in doing last week that a superior court judge rules【S2】______that pictures taken by the so-called red-light cameras were unreliable and therefore unacceptable. The first U. S. court decision to reject all the traffic violationscatching on camera, the ruling by judge Ronald Styn has fueled【S3】______debate over the growing use of the devices. Police departmentsswear, and studies indicate, that the robot cameras deter people in【S4】______speeding and running red lights. Yet at least seven states haveblocked proposals to implement them, but opponents—ranging from【S5】______House majority leader Dick Armey to the American Civil LibertiesUnion—argues that the cameras violate privacy and place profit【S6】______above public safety. Part of the problem is that virtually all the devices in the place【S7】______are operated by private firms that handle everything from installingthe machinery to identifying violations—often with maximal police【S8】______oversight—and have an incentive to pull in as many drivers as theycan. The companies get paid as many as $ 70 a ticket, and the total【S9】______revenue is hardly chump change. " It's all about money," says Congressman Bob Barr, a leading critic. Not so, insists Terrance Gainer, Washington's executive assistant chief of police. "We havereduced fatalities. If some company is making money that, that is【S10】______American way. "

Suggestions of Reading Activities I . Three【T1】______phases of reading【T1】______—before reading —in the course of reading —after reading II. Pre-reading activities—finding【T2】______to make comprehension easier【T2】______—pre-reading discussion activities to ease cognition—being aware of the【T3】______for reading【T3】______—consideration of different types of reading skills:skimming, scanning, extensive reading,【T4】______【T4】______—understanding the【T5】______of the material【T5】______III. Suggestions for during-reading activitiesA. Tips of【T6】______:【T6】______—summarizing, reacting, questioning,【T7】______,【T7】______evaluating, involving own experiencesB. My suggestions:—making predictions—making selections—combining【T8】______to facilitate comprehension【T8】______—focusing on significant pieces of information—making use of【T9】______or guessing【T9】______—breaking words into their【T10】______【T10】______—reading in【T11】______【T11】______—learning to pause-【T12】______【T12】______IV. Post-reading suggestionsA. Depending on the goal of reading—penetrating【T13】______【T13】______—meshing new informationB.【T14】______【T14】______—discussing—summarizing—giving questions—filling in【T15】______【T15】______—writing reading notes —role-playing

(1)Forced to pay for once-free sandwich toppings and twice as much for some steak cuts, shoppers are wondering whether higher grocery bills and restaurant tabs truly reflect the trickle down of a global rise in food prices. (2)Veronica Banks, who lives outside St. Louis, said she suspects that neighborhood comer stores are charging more for many items under the assumption that customers won't pay the bus fare to go bargain hunting. Tom Seluzicki, a certified public accountant in Washington, said he assumes some food prices are artificially inflated to "compensate for lost margins on other products." (3)Without a doubt, basic economic principles account for most of the increase in the wholesale cost of food worldwide. Bad weather has hurt crops. Economic prosperity has driven up demand in developing countries. And soaring fuel prices have raised transportation costs. Mix in investors betting on continued food-price inflation, and you have a recipe for a run-up. (4)Foodstuffs from rice to steak cost more than a year ago—so much, in fact, that some consumers don't quite believe it all adds up. But food retailers say that consumers' suspicions of gouging are unjustified and that, if anything, they have refrained from passing along their extra costs. (5)"People have told me I nickel-and-dime them," said Kate Oncel, director of operations at the Brown Bag, a deli in Washington. "They don't understand the position we're in" of paying dramatically more for meat, produce, bread, packaging and deliveries. (6)Retailers raising prices and shoppers, in turn, raising eyebrows are reasonable and established responses, say economists and historians. While competitive pressures keep most businesses from taking advantage of their customers, some see an opportunity to push prices beyond justified levels. "I like the beef rib-eye steaks," said Elbert Harris, a high school gym coach in St. Louis, who watched their price more than double to $12.99 a pound in the last 18 months. (7)Forgoing pricier items are adjustments many Americans can afford and stomach, especially relative to the crises in the more than 30 countries where food protests have raged. (8)But in the U.S., customers notice when the grocery bill stays the same but the take-home haul lightens. Conversely, most remain quiet when prices stay the same or drop. "I get upset thinking about how much we have to pay for things, but then I feel guilty when I see other nations that are dealing with horrible poverty," Helen Strouss of La Mirada, California, said last week at an Albertson's grocery store. (9)Consumers forking over more to fill their gas tanks and stomachs may feel like they've been hit with an unprecedented one-two punch. But the food-fuel wallop has landed before, said David Hackett Fischer, a professor of history at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. In the 13th century, demand for firewood and grain led to broader price hikes. And sellers have taken advantage of the system throughout the 20th century as free market ideas removed many price controls, he said. (10)The nation's 945,000 restaurants expect to set a sales record of $558 billion this year, said Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research at the National Restaurant Association. Restaurants probably will make some changes on the plate, rejiggering portions, and on the restaurant floor, using more technology to gain efficiency and training programs to bolster sales, Riehle said. (11)At the Brown Bag, where cucumber toppings now cost 50 cents, Oncel has not raised the overall price of sandwiches and salads but said she will if food commodities and gas prices don't fall. (12)At nearby TJ's Gourmet Deli, owner Terry Chung said customers can expect to pay 30 cents more per sandwich and up to 40 cents more per pound on the salad bar if economic conditions don't change. His profits are down about 25 percent in recent months, with the biggest cost increase coming in delivery fuel surcharges, which have roughly doubled to $4.50 per order. (13)The hesitancy to raise prices unnecessarily is rooted in competition, said Ann Owen, an economics professor at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, and a former economist at the Federal Reserve. But if the cost increases are more permanent, retailers can confidently raise prices, she added. But that can't insulate them from skeptical shoppers who see overblown hikes and a panic-hungry media. (14)"It's a little bit inflammatory... people stocking up on things they don't need to just yet" said Amanda Wolfe, membership director for a nonprofit in Washington, where signs at one local market alerted her to a coming bread-prices hike due to the jump in wheat costs. Wolfe's own diet hasn't changed, "but I'm single." (15)Maria Lopez, a mother of two in La Mirada, has had to cut back on eggs and meat since her weekly grocery bill doubled to $200. She isn't sure grocers are gouging consumers, but sees some correlation between rising gas and food prices. "It probably costs more to deliver goods so I guess that's passed along to us," she said. "I don't see any solution at this point."

(1)The decline of civility and good manners may be worrying people more than crime, according to Gentility Recalled, edited by Digby Anderson, which laments the breakdown of traditional codes that once regulated social conduct. It criticises the fact that "manners" are scorned as repressive and outdated. (2)The result, according to Mr. Anderson—director of the Social Affairs Unit, an independent think-tank—is a society characterised by rudeness: loutish behaviour on the streets, jostling in crowds, impolite shop assistants and bad-tempered drivers. (3)Mr. Anderson says the cumulative effect of these—apparently trivial, but often offensive—is to make everyday life uneasy, unpredictable and unpleasant. As they are encountered far more often than crime, they can cause more anxiety than crime. (4)When people lament the disintegration of law and order, he argues, what they generally mean is order, as manifested by courteous forms of social contact. Meanwhile, attempts to re-establish restraint and self-control through "politically correct" rules are artificial. (5)The book has contributions from 12 academics in disciplines ranging from medicine to sociology and charts what it calls the "coarsening" of Britain. Old-fashioned terms such as "gentleman" and "lady" have lost all meaningful resonance and need to be re-evaluated, it says. Rachel Trickett, honorary fellow and former principal of St. Hugh's College, Oxford, says that the notion of a "lady" protects women rather than demeaning them. (6)Feminism and demands for equality have blurred the distinctions between the sexes, creating situations where men are able to dominate women because of their more aggressive and forceful natures, she says. "Women, without some code of deference or respect, become increasingly victims." (7)Caroline Moore, the first woman fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, points out that "gentleman" is now used only with irony or derision. (8)"The popular view of a gentleman is poised somewhere between the imbecile parasite and the villainous one: between Woosteresque chinless wonders, and those heartless capitalist toffs who are... the stock-in-trade of television." (9)She argues that the concept is neither class-bound nor rigid; conventions of gentlemanly behaviour enable a man to act naturally as an individual within shared assumptions while taking his place in society. (10)"Politeness is no constraint, precisely because the manners... are no 'code' but a language, rich, flexible, restrained and infinitely subtle." (11)For Anthony O'Hear, professor of philosophy at the University of Bradford, manners are closely associated with the different forms of behaviour appropriate to age and status. They curb both the impetuosity of youth and the bitterness of old age. (12)Egalitarianism, he says, has led to people failing to act their age. "We have vice-chancellors with earrings, aristocrats as hippies... the trendy vicar on his motorbike." (13)Dr. Athena Leoussi, sociology lecturer at Reading University, bemoans the deliberate neglect by people of their sartorial appearance. (14)Dress, she says, is the outward expression of attitudes and aspirations. The ubiquitousness of jeans "displays a utilitarian attitude" that has "led to the cultural impoverishment of everyday life". (15)Dr. Leoussi says that while clothes used to be seen as a means of concealing taboo forces of sexuality and violence, certain fashions—such as leather jackets—have the opposite effect. (16)Dr. Bruce Charlton, a lecturer in public health medicine in Newcastle upon Tyne, takes issue with the excessive informality of relations between professionals such as doctors and bank managers, and their clients. He says this has eroded the distance and respect necessary in such relationships. For Tristam Engelhardt, professor of medicine in Houston, Texas, says manners are bound to morals. (17)"Manners express a particular set of values," he says. "Good manners interpret and transform social reality. They provide social orientation."

Ten years ago young people were hardworking and saw their jobs as their primary reason for being, but so far Japan largely fulfilled its economic needs, and young people don't know where they should go next.

Cross Cultural Business PresentationsWithin the business environment, understanding and coping with intercultural differences between people is critical to ensuring that interpersonal communication is successful.I. Language— Be careful when it comes to slang,【T1】_____ or phrases【T1】______— Try and keep language simpleII. Body Language— Different perception of body languageA. Some cultures will【T2】_____ hand gestures and body languages【T2】______B. Some expect speakers to be less【T3】_____【T3】______— The use of gesturesA. Thumb up: different meanings in US and IranB.【T4】_____【T4】______— a sign of sincerity vs. an invasion of privacyIII. Time— Some cultures prefer a(n)【T5】_____, timetabled approach【T5】______e.g. being late is negative— Some are more【T6】_____【T6】______e.g. a start time is only a guideIV. Emotions— Expect certain amount of【T7】_____ or scrutiny【T7】______— Never get【T8】_____, show frustration or display anger【T8】______V. Style of Presentation— Europeans: prefer information to be presented【T9】_____【T9】______— The US: prefers a much【T10】_____presentation【T10】______that is bottom-line orientatedVI.【T11】______【T11】______— Some countries may not have the technical capabilities— Some cultures prefer words and personality to a(n)【T12】_____ element【T12】______in presentationsVII. Content— Long term orientated cultures: excited about【T13】_____and figures【T13】______— Other cultures: focus on【T14】_____, accomplishments and experience【T14】______VIII. Audience Participation— Some cultures are willing to participate in exercises and Q&A sessions— Audiences show respect in many ways- Japanese: close their eyes while listening- American:【T15】_____ when a good point is made【T15】______- Saudi: do nothing at all

France in the Twentieth CenturyI. France in World War I 1914: Germany declared war on France and【T1】______【T1】______ The Allies won the battle of Verdun, but 700,000 lives were lost 【T2】______: the Germans surrendered【T2】______II. Post-World War I France The 1920's: brimming with【T3】______, including British【T3】______and American expatriates The early 1930's: the worldwide【T4】______【T4】______III. France in World War II 1939: Britain and France were forced to declare war on Germanywith German's【T5】_____ into Poland【T5】______ 1940:- The French Army collapsed, and Paris was taken without a fight- France was divided into an occupied zone and an unoccupied zone- General Charles de Gaulle organized a government【T6】______【T6】______to support the resistance effort 【T7】______: German troops marched into the unoccupied zone【T7】______ June 6, 1944: The Allies finally landed on the beaches of Normandy 1944: The allies entered Paris; French troops entered the city firstIV.【T8】______ France【T8】______ Cities and architectural treasures had been bombed to bits National pride was shattered by defeat and accusations of【T9】_____【T9】______ Politics:- Charles de Gaulle returned to power and urged France to adapt to the modern world- France alienated【T10】______and urged Europeans【T10】______to create a power bloc Literature:- Pessimism of【T11】_____【T11】______- Le petti Prince- "Theater of the absurd." Fashion:- haute couture was revolutionized 【T12】______【T12】______- CannesV. France after 1968 1968: A series of students and【T13】______riots【T13】______and a general strike occurred1969: Charles de Gaulle【T14】_____【T14】______Mitterrand: most influence on 20th-century French society after de Gaulle Jacques Chirac: elected in 1995 The Channel Tunnel:- Continental Europe was linked to Britain- The road and rail link handles【T15】______of all the traffic【T15】______between the two countries

In recent years, waves of Chinese families choose to send their children abroad to study. Is it a good idea? Read the excerpt carefully and write your response in NO LESS THAN 300 WORDS, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly the author's opinion about this issue; 2. give your comment. Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks. Write your article on ANSWER SHEET FOUR. Excerpt Georgia on Their Minds Millions of Chinese have dreamed of attending Harvard University. Harvard Girl, a how-to manual published in 2000 by the parents of one successful applicant, was a national bestseller. Georgia Institute of Technology, a prestigious university in Atlanta, has enjoyed less name-recognition. Yet this is fast changing: the number of Chinese applicants to Georgia Tech has surged, from 33 in 2007 to 2,309 last year. Some applicants are from the best schools in China, and all are ready to pay around $44,000 (for yearly fees and housing costs) —the equivalent of nearly ten times the average annual disposable income of urban households. The ambitions of Chinese students are shifting: no longer are they attracted just by the glittering names. Pursuit of education abroad is becoming an end in itself. Universities far less renowned than Georgia Tech are reaping the benefits. More than 800,000 Chinese went abroad to study at all levels in 2012 and 2013. At the end of 2013 nearly 1.1m Chinese were studying abroad. China has long been the largest source of foreign students enrolled in higher education globally, with its share rising steeply. Since at least 2009 China has provided the most foreign students not just to the English-speaking countries of the developed world but also to numerous others including France, Germany, Italy, Japan and South Korea. A fast-growing number of families are sending their children to America earlier to study as well. In 2013 about 32,000 Chinese received visas for study at secondary schools in America, up from just 639 in 2005. The growth has occurred despite a steep decline since 2010 in the number of Chinese aged between 18 and 22, from 121m to 89m this year. Several converging trends explain this. One is growing demand for education beyond the compulsory nine years. In 2011 nearly 25m Chinese were enrolled in senior secondary school, more than twice as many as in 2000. Helped by a rapid increase in recent years in university places, the number of undergraduates has soared. But the quality of instruction is poor at all but a handful of universities, where a total of just a few thousand places are available each year. As well as its Ivy League colleges, America has dozens of high-quality private universities and large colleges funded by states, such as Georgia Tech, which are world class. Another trend is growing middle-class wealth: many more Chinese families can now afford to send their children abroad. They prefer a well-rated university overseas to a second-tier option at home. Their choices are swayed by an educational system in China which many regard as too rigid. The world has also become more welcoming: visas to study have become easier for the Chinese to obtain in many developed countries, especially America. The government, eager to nurture foreign-educated talent familiar with cutting-edge technology and Western ways of doing business, has reason to encourage the outflow. While the number heading overseas to study has been growing quickly, the number coming back has grown even faster, lured by good job prospects in a buoyant economy. More than 350,000 Chinese returned from overseas study in 2013, up from just 20,000 ten years earlier. The growth rate in the numbers going abroad to study may prove difficult to sustain at such high levels in the years ahead. The number of college-age Chinese has been shrinking since 2008, and will continue to do so until 2021, when there will be about 20m fewer people aged between 18 and 22 than now.

The situation comedy has proved to a remarkably durable commercial television format.

(1)Criminology has treated women's role in crime with a large measure of indifference. The intellectual tradition from which criminology derives its conception of these sexes maintains esteem for men's autonomy, intelligence and force of character while disdaining women for their weaknesses of compliance and passivity. Women who conform as pure, obedient daughters, wives and mothers benefit men and society. Those women who don't, that is, are non-conforming, may simply be one who questions established beliefs or practices, or one who engages in activities associated with men, or one who commits a crime. These women are doubly damned and doubly deviant. They are seen as "mad" not "bad". These behaviors frequently lead to interpretations of being mentally abnormal and unstable. Those doing the defining, by the very act, are never defined as "other", but are the norm. As "men" are the norm, women are deviant. Women are defined in reference to men. In the words of Young, "sexual difference is one of the ways in which normal is marked out from deviant". So why do these differences exist within the criminal justice system and society as a whole? In order to understand why offending and punishment differs between genders it is important to acknowledge and analyze past perceptions, theories and perspectives from predominant sociologists and criminologists of that time towards women in society. (2)Up until the turn of the century, women were primarily perceived as sexual objects and expected to remain within male dominated ideologies such as homemaker, carer and nurturer taking second place after men. Women who strayed from the norm were severely punished, void of any opportunities to explain their actions. Perhaps interventions from Elizabeth Fry in the early nineteenth century campaigning for women to be housed in separate prisons from men and offered rehabilitation could be marked as the starting point for intense studies being conducted into relationships between women and crime. The conception at that time was that women must be protected from, rather than held responsible for their criminal actions. Unfortunately, such intervention only caused coaxing rather than coercion, that is, women became segregated even more as individual members of their community. (3)Later in the late nineteenth century, Lombroso and Ferrero wrote a book called, The Female Offender. Their theories were based on "atavism". Atavism refers to the belief that all individuals displaying anti-social behavior were biological throwbacks. The born female criminal was perceived to have the criminal qualities of the male plus the worst characteristics of women. According to Lombroso and Ferrero, these included deceitfulness, cunning and spite among others and were not apparent among males. This appeared to indicate that criminal women were genetically more male than female, therefore biologically abnormal. Criminality in men was a common feature of their natural characteristics, whereby women, their biologically-determined nature was exactly opposite to crime. Female social deviants or criminals who did not act according to pre-defined standards were diagnosed as pathological and requiring treatment, they were to be "cured" or "removed". (4)Other predominant theorists such as Thomas and later, Pollack, believed that criminality was a pathology and socially induced rather than biologically inherited. As Thomas says, "the girl as a child does not know she has any particular value until she learns it from others". Pollack believed, "it is the learned behaviour from a very young age that leads girls into a 'masked' character of female criminality", that is, how it was and still is concealed through under-reporting and low detection rates of female offenders. He further states, "in our male-dominated Culture, women have always been considered strange, secretive and sometimes dangerous". A greater leniency towards women by police and the justice system needs to be addressed especially if a "true" equality of genders is to be achieved in such a complicated world. (5)Although it may be true that society has changed since the days of Lombroso and Ferrero, past theories appear to remain within much of today's criminal justice system. Women have so many choices of which they didn't before. It would appear naive to assume that women and crime may be explained by any one theory. Any crime for that matter, whether male or female, may not be explained by any one theory. It is an established and non-arguable fact that males and females differ biologically and sociological influences, such as gender-specific role-playing appears to continue within most families. It's a matter of proportion not difference. (6)Many argue, the main culprit for aggression as seen in many men is testosterone(睾丸激素). This hormone appears responsible for much of the male crime, even in today's society of increased knowledge on the subject In contrast, extensive research over the past twenty-five years done on the testosterone/aggression link focusing on prenatal testosterone predisposing boys to be rougher than girls, concluded it was very difficult to show any connection between testosterone and aggressive behaviour. Cross-cultural studies of ninety-five societies revealed forty-seven percent of them were free of rape while at least thirty-three societies were free of war and interpersonal violence was extremely rare. Based on these studies, it may be evident to suggest that sociological factors and environmental influences appear to have greater credibility in explaining criminal behaviour, whether male or female. (7)As most women commit crimes of a lesser violent nature such as shop-lifting, leniency is given to them from law enforcement officers and judges. It is true that many women use their "femininity" to their advantage which makes it very difficult to argue equal rights for both sexes. This unequal position of women in society is due to social oppression and economic dependency on men and the state needs to be addressed. Offences by women remain sexualised and pathologised. In most ways, crimes women commit are considered to be final outward manifestations of an inner medical imbalance or social instability. Their punishment appears to be aimed principally at treatment and resocialisation. The victimisation of women in medicine seems to be "for her own good" or "in her best interests". (8)Changing social and economic conditions, environmental influences, cultural traditions and physiological factors must be taken into account when dealing with crime. It has only been over the last thirty to forty years that women have empowered themselves and fought for equality within all areas of society. After so many centuries of oppression and inequality, these changes cannot be expected to happen overnight. It is essential that society be well informed in the quest for justice. Creating a framework that is truly equitable requires a proper understanding of life beyond the courtroom door. The world is infused with "gender bias" and no single explanation exists for human behaviour or passivity or aggression. A complex interplay of cultural and biological factors makes people as individuals. Behaviour may be changed. All have the potential for aggression and compliance. The view that women are "other", inferior and unstable because of their hormones and emotions makes it all too easy to see them as unstable, irrational, neurotic and "mad".

答，答，答! 我从梦中跳醒来。 ——有谁在叩我的门?我迷惘地这么想。我侧耳静听，声音没有了。头上的电灯洒一些淡黄的光在我的惺忪的脸上。纸窗和帐子依然是那么沉静。 我翻了个身，朦胧地又将入梦，突然那声音又将我唤醒。在答，答的小响外，这次我又听得了呼——呼——的巨声。是北风的怒吼罢?抑是“人”的觉醒?我不能决定。但是我的血沸腾。我似乎已经飞出了房间，跨在北风的颈上，驱驰于长空! 然而巨声却又模糊了，低微了，消失了：蜕化下来的只是一段寂寞的虚空。——只因为是虚空，所以才有那样的巨声呢!我哑然失笑，明白我是受了哄。

沙漠是人类最顽强的自然敌人之一。有史以来，人类就同沙漠不断地斗争。但是从古代的传说和史书的记载看来，过去人类没有能征服沙漠，若干住人的地区反而为沙漠所并吞。 地中海沿岸被称为西方文明的摇篮。古代埃及、巴比伦和希腊的文明都是在这里产生和发展起来的。但是两三千年来，这个区域不断受到风沙的侵占，有些部分逐渐变成荒漠了。

It is generally accepted that people should visit their aged parents regularly if they live separately. But whether this requirement should be written into law has always been a controversial matter. And then not quite long ago, China issued a decree that requires children to pay regular visit to their parents. The following is an excerpt on this decree. Read it carefully and write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly the excerpt, and then 2. give your comment. Not long ago, China issued a decree. According to the new legislation, parents have the legal right to request government mediation or even file a lawsuit against children who fail to regularly drop by for a visit or give them a phone call. The core intent of the law is "to protect the lawful rights and interests of parents aged 60 and older, and to carry on the Chinese virtue of filial piety." Unsurprisingly, the law has strong voices speaking for and against. "It is a great policy and I am very happy to see the government release such a policy to encourage children to fulfill their obligations to their parents," said Huang Kesheng, a 20-year-old student at Bering's University of International Business jind Economics. However, Bei Zhong, a late-20s white collar professional from Chongqing who works and lives in Shanghai, sees it differently. "I do not think there should be a law that requires people to visit their parents," she told a paper. "It gives the impression to other countries that Chinese people need a law to tell them they should visit their elders. It's quite embarrassing." Perhaps the controversial — some say silly — law should come as no surprise. After all, China gave the world Confucius — perhaps the most family-oriented philosopher in human history. Given the nation's Confucian foundations, the rift between its elderly and the post-1980s "me generation" has been especially felt when compared with similar changes that have taken place in other countries. Alongside the generational divide and deterioration of old-fashioned values, a major driving force behind China's Confucian fallout is urbanization, which often means moving far from home. This is especially true for young professionals like Zhong who are leaving the far flung corners of the country to congregate in economic hubs like Beijing or Shanghai. Simply put, this makes those filial visits both logistically difficult and often expensive. "How often I visit my parents depends on my schedule," Zhong said. "Last year I spent two months with them. But so far this year, I haven't even had the time to visit my parents yet. Flights are also very expensive." Zhong said that she, along with her friends, often resort to squeezing trips to their hometowns into the brief national holiday of Chinese New Year. It's worth noting that any travel at this time is no leisurely trips for pleasure. During this time China sees the world's largest human migration, with hundreds of millions of people crisscrossing the country and completely blocking its transportation networks. While some will wage a war against these trends, it is highly unlikely that they will stop the forces as powerful as China's urbanization and its growing generation gap. Thankfully for Chinese youth, some parents understand. "My mom and dad would never dream of demanding for me to visit," Zhong said. "They just want me to be happy."

Cultural tendencies impact the way children participate in education. There are different expectations about "normal" school behavior for students from individualist and collectivist cultures.Take a moment to think about what teachers who lack knowledge【S1】______about culture might interpret the behavior of a child from acollectivist culture. These differences may cause educators【S2】______inaccurately judge students from some cultures as poorly behaved or disrespectful. In addition, because cultural differences are hard toperceive, students may find them reprimanded by teachers but fail to【S3】______understand what they did that caused concern. The influence of culture in beliefs about education, the value of【S4】______education, and participation styles cannot be overestimated. ManyAsian students, for example, tend to be quiet in class, and using【S5】______eye contact with teachers is considered inappropriate for many of these children. In contrast, most European American children are taught to value active classroom discussion and to look teachersdirectly in the eyes to show respect, while their teachers view【S6】______students' participation as a signal of engagement and competence.【S7】______ Another contrast involves the role of Hispanic parents in education. Parents from some Hispanic cultures tend to regardteachers as experts and will often refer educational decision making【S8】______to them. In contrast, European American parents are often more actively involved in their children's classrooms, are visible in the classrooms, or volunteer and assist teachers. These cultural differences in value and belief may cause educators to makeaccurate judgments regarding the value that non-European American【S9】______families place on education. While it is important to keep in the【S10】______mind that different cultural groups tend to follow particular language and interaction styles, there is tremendous variability within cultural groups.

Sixty-three years old and retired from a career as a welder, Jim Crawford doesn't have much use for the Internet. The only time he goes online is to read through the automotive listings in the office of a local online auction company. If he sees something he likes, he says, he asks his mechanic to bid on it for him. Crawford is far from alone: About 15 percent of Americans older than 18 don't use the Internet, according to a study released in September by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. An additional 9 percent use it only outside the home. They make up a shrinking, but not insignificant, segment of the population. And the gap between them and our increasingly digitized society is growing wider every day. "There is a group of Americans being left behind as technology advances without them," Lawrence E. Strickling, head of the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, told an audience at the Brookings Institution recently. These people are being left out even as access to broadband—Internet service provided by cable, fiber, DSL and other high-speed networks, as opposed to the older, slower dial-up service—has expanded dramatically in the past 20 years. Because of a national infrastructure upgrade that Strickling compares to the rural electrification effort of the 1930s, well over 90 percent of U. S. households are either wired for high-speed broadband or can get high-speed wireless access. But actual adoption of that service lags behind availability: As of October 2012, the NTIA found that 72.9 percent of homes used broadband Internet service. That's remarkable growth from 2000, when only 4 percent of homes used broadband, but it still indicates a significant gap. So who are these Americans who remain disconnected from the online world? "They are disproportionately older," says Kathryn Zickuhr, who wrote the Pew study. According to the survey, which was done in May, 49 percent of non-Internet users are older than 65. They also are, in general, less educated. Although nearly everyone in the United States with a college degree is online, 41 percent of adults without a high school diploma are offline. The Pew survey asked these people why they don't go online. Perhaps surprisingly, cost wasn't the most common answer. The most prevalent reason, given by 34 percent of offline respondents, was that the Internet is not relevant to them. A slightly smaller group, 32 percent, cited problems with using the technology: They said that getting online was difficult or frustrating, or that they were worried about issues such as privacy or hackers. Nineteen percent of non-users cited concerns about the expense of owning a computer or paying for an Internet connection. Most policymakers would disagree with that sense of irrelevance. They point out that people who aren't online have a harder time accessing vital services such as Medicare and Medicaid or the new health-care exchanges created under President Obama's health-care law. They can't perform useful daily functions that most Americans take for granted, such as looking up directions when traveling, using e-mail for speedy written correspondence, or being able to see and talk with faraway friends or relatives via Skype or FaceTime. They can't easily search for competitive prices for housing, cars, appliances or other goods. Perhaps most importantly, they are at a major disadvantage when looking for a job: NTIA statistics show that 73 percent of unemployed Internet users reported going online to look for work. The Pew study found that only 14 percent of offline adults were previous Internet users. There's good reason to believe if the rest of them tried it, they would find the service rewarding rather than irrelevant. Seeta Pena Gangadharan, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, described " intergenerational interactions between seniors who were timid and concerned about going online" and younger relatives. Seniors often rely on grandchildren to assist them, she says, then realize they need to learn how to use the technology themselves when those family members move away. A program in the D. C. area funded by the America Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Foundation and administered by Family Matters of Greater Washington seemed to confirm that point. Using an established social service organization, it distributed iPads and offered computer classes as well as discounted home Internet service to seniors, many of whom had never been online. Two months into the pilot program this summer, only five of the original 55 participants had dropped out. The advent of smartphones is also helping to narrow the Internet gap, says Lee Rainie, director of Pew's Internet project. At a Washington Post forum last week, he said the relatively fast and inexpensive devices, which provide Internet connection via cellphone networks, have had a particularly positive effect on African American and Latino communities.

At school and at work, I have noticed that people have different kinds of work habits. Some people are collaborators, who like to work【T1】______. They find that doing a project with someone else makes the job more pleasant and the load lighter. Collaborators【T2】______ unless they are forced to. A second category I have noticed is the advice seeker. An advice seeker does the bulk of her work alone, but【T3】______ for advice. When this worker has reached a crucial point in her project, she may show it to her classmate or co-worker just to get another opinion. Getting the advice of others makes this worker【T4】______ about her project as it takes shape. Another type of worker I have noticed is the slacker. A slacker tries to 【T5】______ whenever possible. If he seems to be busy at the computer, he is probably playing a game online. And if he is writing busily, he is probably making his grocery list. Slackers will do anything except the work they are paid to do. The final type of worker is the loner. This type of worker prefers working alone. This type of worker has confidence in his ability and is likely to feel that collaboration is【T6】______. Loners work with others only when they are forced to. Collaborators, advice seekers, slackers and loners have different work styles. But each knows the work habits that help him or her to get the job done.

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