问答题How often have read that America's education system, is a failure? It has a long way to go, but it has started to improve. This is crucial because differentials in lifetime earnings by level of education are widening. Driven by globalization and technology, labor markets are demanding higher and higher levels of skills. Therefore, to improve incomes for younger Americans, there must be better educational outcomes.
For 25 years, those outcomes were stagnant. High school graduation rates had fallen to 60% or lower in many large cities and rural areas. And just over half of first-year college students would graduate within six years. These are poor results by the standards of advanced countries. But at the beginning of 2006, the decline began to reverse. High school completion rates are now up almost 10 points, crossing 80% for the first time.
问答题Directions:
Write a letter to invite your friend Tina and Joseph to attend your first anniversary of wedding. The followings are specific information:
1) Time: 12 a. m., August 22;
2) Address: Shangri-La Hotel;
3) One of your friends teaching you Italian, you want to introduce him to them.
问答题Ms. Mayer's move is not just a bad idea in itself but also a naive notion. Flexible employers help women run families and jobs simultaneously. Strict working rules make combining the two impossible or unpleasant. To be fair, as somebody who took two weeks off to have a baby, Ms. Mayer is hardly asking others to do what she would not; but then she has eased the pain of separation from her child by installing a nursery next to her office. Yahoo's less privileged women may place it to a friendlier organization.
But this is not just about women. A well-managed company's workers want to be productive, and managers trust them to decide how and where they will perform best. If that's not happening, the boss needs to find out why. You can confine a Yahoo to his desk, but you can't make him feel the busy atmosphere.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题Suppose you are the president of the Students' Union. Write a
notice about recruiting new members for the Union. The notice
should 1) specify the qualifications,
and 2) tell the arrangement of
interview. You should write about 100 words on the
ANSWER SHEET. {{B}}Do not{{/B}} use your own name.
问答题Directions:Inthissection,youareaskedtowriteanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechartand2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.WriteyouressayonANSWERSHEET2.
问答题Directions:
You are the president of a company. Write a memo to Percy Shelley, the vicepresident on the employee"s training on computer:
1) the need to train the employees,
2) detailed information, and
3) ask him to write a plan.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your name in the memo. Use "Li Ming" instead.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowinggraph.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthegraph,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题1)describethetable,and2)giveyourcommentsYoushouldwriteabout150words.WriteyouressayontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题Think about driving a route that"s very familiar. It could be your commute to work, a trip into town or the way home. Whichever it is, you know every twist and turn like the back of your hand. On these sorts of trips it"s easy to lose concentration on the driving and pay little attention to the passing scenery. The consequence is that you perceive that the trip has taken less time than it actually has.
This is the well-travelled road effect. People tend to underestimate the time it takes to travel a familiar route.
The effect is caused by the way we allocate our attention. When we travel down a well-known route, because we don"t have to concentrate much, time seems to flow more quickly. And afterward, when we come to think back on it, we can"t remember the journey well because we didn"t pay much attention to it. So we assume it was shorter.
问答题The Chinese new year is a time of family reunions. But Mr. Xiao is preparing to spend his sixth new year without his son, who was abducted (诱拐) in 2007 by suspected child traffickers. China's one-child policy has fuelled demand for children, thousands of whom are snatched and sold every year to desperate, usually boyless, couples. Spurred (刺激) by the campaigning of parents like Mr. Xiao, the government is starting to pay more attention to the crime. But curbing it is proving tough.
Mr. Xiao has been trying the hard way to raise awareness of the crime; driving around the country in a minivan covered with posters of missing children. Mr. Xiao, who lives in a village near Tongzhou, one of Beijing's satellite towns, says he has spent as much as 400,000 yuan ($64,300) of his own money on the project. He says there are other parents elsewhere in China who tour the country in similarly bedecked (装饰的) vehicles.
问答题They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success, not to substitute words for action, not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm, but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others ; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future, yet never neglect the past; to be serious, yet never take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.
They give you a temperate will, a quality of imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity.
问答题Signs of decline are sure to be found in a place as complex as America: debt, crime, the homeless, drugs, dropouts. But the main characteristic of America, the first and most enduring impression, is dynamism, energy, aggressiveness, forward movement.
It is so hard to think of this nation in decline when you know that there are vast regions of the planet which are absolutely paralyzed, incapable of any improvement at all. It is difficult for me to agree with Paul Kennedy's thesis that America must inevitably follow historical precedent. That's the way history used to be—all powerful nations declined and gave way to other empires. But I have a sense that what is going on here concerns much more than the fate of a nation. It may be that the Euro-centered American nation is declining as it gives way to a new Pacific civilization that will include, but not limited to, America. (153 words)
问答题Directions:
Suppose you want to study at a certain foreign university. Write a letter to:
1) Ask about the situations there,
2) Ask about qualifications requirements and fees.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题Directions:
Restrictions on the use of plastic bags have not been so successful in some regions. "White Pollution" is still going on.
Write a letter to the editor(s) of your local newspaper to
1) give your opinions briefly, and
2) make two or three suggestions.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题Suppose you are going to be a postgraduate student in Wuhan
University. Write a letter to a professor there to 1)
tell him about your plan for future academic studies, and
2) ask for advice about how to get prepared for the study
there. You should write about 100 words on the
ANSWER SHEET. Do not use your own
name. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
问答题Directions:
Write a letter to your university library, making suggestions for improving its service.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题1)describethedrawingbriefly,2)explainitsintendedmeaning,andthen3)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.WriteyouressayontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题Directions:
Write an essay based on the following table. In your writing, you should
1) describe the table, and
2) give your comments.
You should write at least 150 words.
Write your essay on the ANSWER SHEET.
Percentage of
households with
consumer durables
1990
1993
1996
1999
2002
2005
2008
Television
90
92
93
93
96
97
98
Vacuum cleaner
83
86
90
91
92
93
94
Refrigerator
72
81
87
90
92
93
96
Washing machine
66
70
73
80
85
87
90
Telephone
31
42
70
82
88
95
95
问答题The A-list was created by James Ulmer, an entertainment journalist. Ulmer created the "Ulmer Scale" to determine bankable stars, actors who guarantee the success of a movie simply by appearing in it. In 2002, for example, the Ulmer Scale assessed actor Tom Cruise at 100 points and the budget for his movie Minority Report was $102 million. According to the scale, the movie should have made 100% (Cruise=100 points) or $102 million simply because Tom Cruise was in the movie. In actual fact, the movie made over $300m worldwide. Other bankable stars that year were Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. In 2005, Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks still topped the list while Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman were the only women in the Top Ten.
Celebrity and fame are directly related to the mass media that report on particular individuals. Thus, some celebrities are famous worldwide (for example, Brad Pitt and Madonna) while others are only famous within their country or region. Some examples of such famous people in their own countries include Japanese musician Ayumi Hamasaki, Korean actress Hyun Kyung Oh, Thai entertainer Bird Thongchai Mcintyre, and Chinese astronauts Yang Liwei, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng. Celebrities can include not only movie stars and television actors, but also politicians, television reporters and game show hosts, models, astronauts, athletes, and musicians.
问答题Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题1) recommend a book you like
2) and give reasons for your recommendation
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题Directions:
In some countries the average worker is obliged to retire at the age of 60 to 65. Some people agree with this practice, while others do not. What do you think?
You should write about 150 words in your essay.
问答题Public health experts are debating whether e-cigarettes (电子香烟) can help stop tobacco smoking. Research around this topic is sparse, but one new, relatively small study raises questions about whether e-cigarettes can rid tobacco smoker of their deadly habit. The study looked at 949 tobacco smokers—88 of whom also used e-cigarettes—and found that smoking e-cigarettes did not help them quit or reduce their use of cigarettes over the course of a year.
E-cigarettes, which do not contain tobacco and give off no tar (焦油) or carbon monoxide (一氧化碳), are believed to be safer than regular tobacco cigarettes, and some argue that pushing people toward less dangerous nicotine-intake systems is better for them. But cutting down or quitting smoking altogether is the ultimate goal, and the new study suggests that's not happening.
问答题Directions:
As part of a student social survey project, you are leading a group to visit an exhibition in a small town. Write a letter:
1) ask for information regarding such things as the contents of the exhibition,
2) the dates of its opening and closing, any discounts.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter, Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题Directions:
Two months ago you got a job as an editor for the magazine
Designs & Fashions.
But now you find that the work is not what you expected. You decide to quit. Write a letter to your boss, Mr. Smith, telling him your decision, stating your reason (s), and making an apology.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题1)describethechart,and2)stateyourownopinion.Youshouldwriteabout150words.WriteyouressayontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题Knowing that you are paid less than your peers has two effects on happiness. The well-known one is negative: a thinner pay packet harms self-esteem. The lesser-known one is called the "tunnel effect": high incomes for peers are seen as improving your own chances of similar riches, especially if growth, inequality and mobility are high.
A paper authored by Tom Dorson of the University of St Andrews separates the two effects using data from household surveys in Germany. Previous work showed that the income of others can have a small, or even positive, overall effect on people"s satisfaction in individual firms. But Mr. Dorson"s team hypothesized that older workers, who largely know their lifetime incomes already, will enjoy a much smaller tunnel effect.
The data confirm this hypothesis. The negative effect on reported levels of happiness of being paid less than your peers is not visible for people aged under 45. It is only those people over 45, when careers have "reached a stable position", whose happiness is harmed by the success of others.
Frustrated with delays in Sacramento, Bay Area officials said Thursday they planned to take matters into their own hands to regulate the region"s growing pile of electronic trash.
A San Jose councilwoman and a San Francisco supervisor said they would propose local initiatives aimed at controlling electronic waste if the California law making body fails to act on two bills stalled in the Assembly. They are among a growing number of California cities and counties that have expressed the same intention.
Environmentalists and local governments are increasingly concerned about the toxic hazard posed by old electronic devices and the cost of safely recycling those products. An estimated 6 million televisions and computers are stocked in California homes, and an additional 6,000 to 7,000 computers become outdated every day. The machines contain high levels of lead and other hazardous substances, and are already banned from California landfills.
Legislation by Senator Byron Sher would require consumers to pay a recycling fee of up to $30 on every new machine containing a cathode ray tube. Used in almost all video monitors and televisions, those devices contain four to eight pounds of lead each. The fees would go toward setting up recycling programs, providing grants to non-profit agencies that reuse the tubes and rewarding manufacturers that encourage recycling.
A separate bill by Los Angeles-area Senator Gloria Romero would require high-tech manufacturers to develop programs to recycle so-called e-waste.
If passed, the measures would put California at the forefront of national efforts to manage the refuse of the electronic age.
But high-tech groups, including the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group and the American Electronics Association, oppose the measures, arguing that fees of up to $30 wilt drive consumers to online, out-of-state retailers.
"What really needs to occur is consumer education. Most consumers are unaware they"re not supposed to throw computers in the trash," said Roxanne Gould, vice president of government relations for the electronics association.
Computer recycling should be a local effort and part of residential waste collection programs, she added.
Recycling electronic waste is a dangerous and specialized matter, and environmentalists maintain the state must support recycling efforts and ensure that the job isn"t contracted to unscrupulous junk dealers who send the toxic parts overseas.
"The graveyard of the high-tech revolution is ending up in rural China," said Ted Smith, director of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition. His group is pushing for an amendment to Sher"s bill that would prevent the export of e-waste.
问答题Like examinations, the annual ranking of school is a necessary evil. It is a boon to schools which do well and a bane to those which fail to measure up. Ranking is good in that it will lead to competition which will raise the overall teaching standards of schools. However, competition can be both virtuous and vicious and it is quite impossible to just retain the former and say no to the latter.
The negative effects of the inevitable vicious competition may be a lot more damaging than we think. For a school to prove that it has made progress and emerge winner in the yearly battle, the principal, teachers and pupils will all have to focus their time and energy on achieving excellent academic results.
It is unfortunate that to a large extent, academic scores have become the primary concern in the learning process.
问答题The supermarket is designed to lure customers into spending as much time as possible within its doors. The reason for this is simple: The longer you stay in the store, the more stuff you"ll see, and the more stuff you see, the more you"ll buy. And supermarkets contain a lot of stuff. The average supermarket, according to the Food Marketing Institute, carries some 44,000 different items, and many carry tens of thousands more. The sheer volume of available choice is enough to send shoppers into a state of information overload. According to brain-scan experiments, the demands of so much decision-making quickly become too much for us. After about 40 minutes of shopping, most people stop struggling to be rationally selective, and instead begin shopping emotionally—which is the point at which we accumulate the 50 percent of stuff in our cart that we never intended buying.
问答题Directions:
You have just come back from Canada and found a music CD in your luggage that you forgot to return to Bob, your landlord there. Write him a letter to
1) make an apology, and
2) suggest a solution.
You should write about 100 words onthe ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题Intelligence quotients (IQs) testing is controversial and regarded by some as a crude indicator of ability or potential. When comparing nations, measured average IQ tends to be affected by class, nutrition, and cultural factors including education. There is also disagreement over the influences of nature and nurture.
IQs have risen in developed nations for almost a century. But in Britain, research has found a reversal of this trend. The average had declined by two points on average, but by as much as six points among teenagers in the top half of the IQ scale, a fall that wiped out the previous two decades of gains in that group.
No cause for this fall in IQs has been established: the internet, the dumbing down of education, and an obsession with exam results have been suggested. Flynn has argued that youth culture has made a contribution.
问答题In the 19th century, there was a hydraulic model of how to be a good person. There are all these torrents of passion flowing through you. Your job, as captain of your soul, is to erect dams to keep these passions in check. Your job is to just say no to laziness, temptation, greed, drug use and the other sins.
Praying could really help. They could help you identify sin. Preachers could persuade you to exercise the willpower you need to guard against temptation. These days that model is out of fashion. You usually can"t change your behavior by simply resolving to do something. If that were true, New Year"s resolutions would actually work.
Your willpower is not like a dam that can block the torrent of self-indulgence. It"s more like a muscle, which tires easily. People can change their lives, but ordering change is not simple because many things, even within ourselves, are beyond our direct control.
问答题In most public schools today, teachers are simply rated "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory," and evaluations consist of having the principal observe a class for a few minutes a couple of times each year.
Many districts and states are trying to move toward better personnel systems for evaluation and improvement. Unfortunately, some education advocates in New York, Los Angeles and other cities are claiming that a good personnel system can be based on ranking teachers according to their "value-added rating"—a measurement of their impact on students" test scores—and publicizing the names and rankings online and in the media.
I am a strong supporter of measuring teachers" effectiveness, and my foundation works with many schools to help make sure that such evaluations improve the overall quality of teaching. But publicly ranking teachers by name will not help them get better at their jobs or improve student learning. On the contrary, it will make it a lot harder to implement teacher evaluation systems that work.
问答题Will newspapers become a thing of the past in this Internet age? It is currently estimated that more than 1 billion people use the Internet worldwide. The number-one online activity is e-mail, followed by reading news on the Internet. The Internet is an increasingly effective and efficient way to reach the largest possible audience worldwide. Harris Interactive, a U.S.-based company, reported that the majority of people went online because they could obtain information at times suitable to them; or others did so because more detailed news could be found online; or more up-to-date information was available online; or because they could access news while at work.
Though most media reporters and networks try to report objectively, bias exists. Bias means to favor. Bias can occur in the media"s choice of stories and coverage of a story. Through the choice of words and selection of interviews, interviewers and interviewees, the media might report favorably or unfavorably on a news issue. As viewers of news stories, audiences need to objectively judge the news coverage that they hear and read, and seek out more information from other sources, if necessary.
问答题Just a few years ago, the world economy was in a mess. Today, growth prospects are brighter, but progress is slow, uneven and uncertain. Is the U.S. recovery sustainable? Will the euro zone overcome its economic difficulty and return to growth? Will faster-growing emerging markets overheat, or simply grow old before they grow rich? Which consumers will drive the global economy?
These were just some of the issues raised by the 730 investors. However, a majority of these investors are optimistic about global economic expansion this year, banking on growth led by China and U.S. But most fear that structural problems, such as unsustainable debt, inadequate infrastructure and growing income gaps, may harm long-term growth prospects. A surprising 65% of investors agree that growing income diversities threaten the capitalist system.
But smart investors are staying informed and flexible, while searching for value opportunities in troubled developed economies such as Greece, Italy and Spain. They are also looking beyond China and rising markets in South-East Asia.
问答题Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart,inwhichyoushould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题A role model is a person who is a good example to others, in terms of doing noble or charitable acts or representing good values or ways of thinking and acting. Related to role models are heroes and icons. A hero is a person who has amazing abilities or traits, and has performed extraordinary acts. An icon is someone who is an image or symbol of importance.
TIME magazine published a list of heroes and icons from the last 100 years (1900 to 2000). The list of twenty people who "articulate the longings of the last 100 years, exemplifying courage, selflessness, exuberance, superhuman ability and amazing grace" includes: Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, Pele, Che Guevara, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgan, Helen Keller, Bruce Lee, Charles Lindbergh and Andrei Sakharov. Do you know who all of these people are? Who would you add to your personal list of heroes and icons?
Some famous role models have been recipients of a Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize is a highly-respected international award given to people (and organizations) who have conducted exceptional research, created ground-breaking inventions or made outstanding contributions to society. There are five categories: Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Medicine, Nobel Prize in Literature and Nobel Prize in Peace.
问答题Directions:
Suppose you have a friend who is about to enter university, and he wants you to advise him on which subject to specialize in—history, in which he is very interested, or computer science, which offers better job prospects.
1) Give your suggestions, and explain the reasons.
2) Other recommendations.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题One person out of three who graduated from university in the past six years is in a job requiring only the skills of a school-leaver, up from one in four a decade ago. A 21-year-old university graduate is as likely to be unemployed in the year he leaves full-time education as a 16-year-old school-leaver. The official figures depress those young people hoping that the better job higher education is meant to assure them will pay back the sums they have loaned for college.
This is not all a consequence of the recession. The proportion of university graduates in lower-skilled jobs was rising even before economic growth reversed in 2008; the downturn just steepened the slope. The laws of supply and demand are one reason.
But if the outlook for graduates is dim, it is far worse for their less-educated counterparts. Though about a quarter of both university graduates and school-leavers are unemployed for a while when they leave full-time study, in two years less than 9% of graduates are still looking for work, compared with almost 27% of school-leavers,
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题Over the years, I have written extensively about animal intelligence experiments and the controversy surrounding them. Do animals really have thoughts, what we call consciousness? Wondering whether there might be better ways to explore animal intelligence than experiments designed to teach human signs, I realized what now seems obvious: if animals can think, they will probably do their best thinking when it serves their own purposes, not when scientists ask them to.
So I started talking to vets and zoo keepers. Most do not study animal intelligence, but they encounter it, and the lack of it, every day. The-stories they tell us reveal what I'm convinced is a new window on animal intelligence: the mental feats animals perform when dealing with captivity and the dominant species on the planet—humans.
Anyway, it is comforting to realize that other species besides our own can stand back and assess the world around them, even if their horizons are more limited.
问答题1) state your qualification(s) for the position
2) and ask for an interview.
You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题Reality is usually one step ahead of the language we possess to describe it. People began taking pictures of themselves long before the
Oxford English Dictionary
selected "selfie" as its 2013 Word of the Year. Friends e-mailed each other pictures of cats longing for cheezburgers without knowing they were sharing a "meme". This language lag time makes it difficult to understand the present as it unfurls. Or, as philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein might say, "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."
Our new book, The Age of Earthquakes:
A Guide to the Extreme Present,
tries to fill that gap. Part poetic manifesto, part postmodern dictionary, the text explores how technology is reinventing such fundamental things as time, individuality and class. Which of today"s universal experiences, we asked, would seem utterly alien to a version of us from two decades ago?
Co-authors Douglas Coupland, Hans Ulrich Obrist and I turned our answers into new words that describe the effects of digital technology and the Internet on everything from our brains to the planet. You"ve all felt these things happening to you. But you didn"t have names for them yet. Well, now you do.
问答题Directions:
Suppose you"re going to graduate and start to think about your future career. Write your best friend an e-mail to
1) tell him what your ideal job is, and
2) ask him for advice about it.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write your address.
问答题Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart,inwhichyoushould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题1) state your present problems, and
2) ask for an interview with him.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题Suppose you are going to study abroad but hesitating about the
major. Write your foreign friend Bob in America an email to
1) tell him about your intention to study abroad, and
2) ask for advice about the choice of major.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming"
instead. Do not write your
address.
问答题Write a letter to the public to call for donations for the refugees
in Yunnan Province. You should 1) explain the reasons
for the donations, and 2) call for
donations You should write about 100 words on the
ANSWER SHEET. Do not use your own name. Use "Zhang
Wei" instead.
问答题Directions:
You have lust come back from the U.S. as a member of a Sino-American cultural exchange program. Write a letter to your American colleague to
1) express your thanks for his/her warm reception;
2) welcome him/her to visit China in due course.
You should write about 100 words on
ANSWER SHEET 2.
Do not
sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not
write your address.
问答题On August 18th U.S. News＆ World Report released its 2009 rankings of America's top colleges. The survey began in 1983 as an informal poll, when the magazine asked 662 college presidents to identify the country's best places of learning. It has since evolved into an annual trial for reputable universities. A strong showing in the rankings spurs student interest and alumni (校友) giving; a slip has grave consequences for public relations.
University administrators deeply dislike the survey. Many reject the idea that schools can be stacked up against one another in any meaningful way. But whether the rankings are fair is beside the point, because they are widely influential. In the 1983 survey barely half of the presidents approached bothered to respond. Today, only a handful dare ignore it. Most, in fact, do more than simply fill out the survey. Competition between colleges for top students is increasing, partly because of the very popularity of rankings.
问答题Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题Directions:
Suppose you got some reference books and a letter from Mr. Li Ming a few days ago, but you did not reply in time. Write a letter to him to make a reply. Your letter should include:
1) The purpose;
2) Your reasons;
3) Your sincere hope.
You should write about 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. You do not need to write the address.
问答题Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart,inwhichyoushould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.
问答题Directions:
Suppose your university is going to host a summer camp for high school students. Write a notice to
1)briefly introduce the camp activities, and
2) call for volunteers.
You should write about 100 words on the
ANSWER SHEET
.
Do not
use your name or the name of your university.
Do not
write your address.
问答题Directions:
Suppose you have already had a date with your friend but suddenly have another thing to do and you have to tell your friend that you can"t go. Express your reason clearly.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题Directions:
Suppose you won a translation contest and your friend, Jack, wrote an e-mail to congratulate you and ask for advice on translation. Write him a reply to
1) thank him, and
2) give your advice.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write the address.
问答题Karaoke is a very popular form of entertainment in Asia. Karaoke was first made popular by Daisuke Inoue in Kobe, Japan, in 1971. By the 1980s, there was a vast array of karaoke products on the market in Asia. The video game, Karaoke Revolution, was released in the year of 2003. In this game, players could receive a score based on their singing performance. Karaoke services then became available through mobile phones, and users could also play karaoke songs using software on their personal computers. Websites started popping up all over the Internet, creating a global karaoke community. On these sites, singers can record and even video themselves performing. Even some car manufacturers jumped on the karaoke bandwagon and had karaoke players installed as part of a car"s DVD player. There are even VCDs available now for Chinese opera karaoke, so that the elderly can have fun singing songs of the past.
问答题Directions:
The following table gives statistics showing the aspects of quality of life in five countries. Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information in the table below. You should write at least 150 words.
Countries
GNP per head
(1982:
U.S. dollars)
Daily calorie
supply per
head
Life expectancy
at birth
(years)
Infant mortality
rates (per 1000
live births)
Bangladesh
Bolivia
Egypt
Indonesia
USA
140
570
690
580
13160
1877
2086
2950
2296
3652
40
50
56
49
74
132
124
97
87
12
Selected statistics showing aspects of the quality of life in five countries.
It is no secret among athletes that in order to improve performance you"ve got to work hard. However, hard training breaks you down and makes you weaker. It is rest that makes you stronger. Improvement only occurs during the rest period following hard training. This adaptation is accomplished by improving efficiency of the heart and certain systems within the muscle cells. During recovery periods these systems build to greater levels to compensate for the stress that you have applied. The result is that you are now at a higher level of performance.
If sufficient rest is not included in a training program, imbalance between excess training and inadequate rest will occur, and performance will decline. The "overtraining syndrome" is the name given to the collection of emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms due to overtraining that has persisted for weeks to months. It is marked by cumulative exhaustion that persists even after recovery periods.
The most common symptom is fatigue. This may limit workouts and may be present at rest. The athlete may also become moody, easily irritated, have altered sleep patterns, become depressed, or lose the competitive desire and enthusiasm for the sport. Some will report decreased appetite and weight loss. Physical symptoms include persistent muscular soreness, increased frequency of viral illnesses, and increased incidence of injuries.
The treatment for the overtraining syndrome is rest. The longer the overtraining has occurred, the more rest required. Therefore, early detection is very important. If the overtraining has only occurred for a short period of time (e.g. 3-4 weeks) then interrupting training for 3-5 days is usually sufficient rest. It is important that the factors that lead to overtraining be identified and corrected. Otherwise, the overtraining syndrome is likely to recur. The overtraining syndrome should be considered in any athlete who manifests symptoms of prolonged fatigue and whose performance has leveled off or decreased. It is important to exclude any underlying illness that may be responsible for the fatigue.
填空题Earlier this year when a lawsuit accused Anheuser-Busch of selling
watered-down beer, it caused only a minor buzz. America's biggest breweries have
long produced flavourless beer. And anyway, those seeking a more robust brew
have plenty of options. Today's beer market increasingly resembles that of the
pre-Prohibition era, when smaller, regional breweries dotted the map. Such is
the demand for good-tasting beer that, on average, more than one new brewery
opened every day last year. Small and independent breweries
have thrived during the recession and its wave, taking market share away from
traditional brands like Budweiser and Miller Lite. According to Beer
Marketer's Insights, a trade publication, craft beer (精酿啤酒) has grown over
13% by volume in each of the past three years. America's two biggest brewers,
Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors, still account for around three quarters of the
domestic market, to craft's 6.7%. But even they have noticed the change in
consumer tastes. Whereas sales of their big brands have dropped off, gains have
been made by offerings called "crafty beer", which look and taste like craft
brews. This has led to some debate over what constitutes a
craft beer and an intra-industry quarrel over taxes. The Brewers Association
promotes the interests of "small, independent and traditional" brewers that
produce up to 6m barrels of beer a year. The largest craft brewer under this
definition is the Boston Beer Company, maker of Samuel Adams, which produced
over 2m barrels last year. That number also happens to be the cut-off (界限) for
favourable treatment by the government, which gives small brewers a break on the
federal excise tax (消费税). As the craft-beer industry grows, the
Brewers Association thinks more of its members will join Boston Beer on the
wrong side of the tax code. So it is pushing Congress to pass a bill that would
raise the excise-tax bar to 6m barrels a year. In March hundreds of
small-brewery owners took their case to Congress. But the Beer Institute, which
represents big and small brewers alike, unsurprisingly favours a different bill
that would cut the excise tax for the whole industry. Opponents
of slashing the excise tax, which has not been adjusted since 1991, note that
inflation has already reduced its potency. Moreover, some see higher alcohol
taxes as a Way to increase revenues. But others are sympathetic to the Beer
Institute's claim that taxes have become the most expensive ingredient of beer.
Hence, perhaps, the bitter taste of some brews. A．small and
independent breweries B．produced over 2m barrels last
year C．produced up to 6m barrels of beer a year
D．claims that duties become the most costly part of beer
E．considers more of its members will leave Boston Beer F．small
and regional beer-makers scattered about the country G．pushes
Congress to pass an act that would raise the excise-tax
填空题A. What have they found?
B. Is it true that laughing can make us healthier?
C. So why do people laugh so much?
D. What makes you laugh?
E. How did you come to research it?
F. So what"s it for?
G. When should laughing be banned?
Why are you interested in laughter?
It"s a universal phenomenon, and one of the most common things we do. We laugh many times a day, for many different reasons, but rarely think about it, and seldom consciously control it. We know so little about the different kinds and functions of laughter, and my interest really starts there. Why do we do it? What can laughter teach us about our positive emotions and social behaviour? There"s so much we don"t know about how the brain contributes to emotion and I think we can get at understanding this by studying laughter.
41. ______
Only 10 or 20 per cent of laughing is a response tohumour. Most of the time it"s a message we send to other people—communicating joyful disposition, a willingness to bond and so on. It occupies a special place in social interaction and is a fascinating feature of our biology, with motor, emotional and cognitive components. Scientists study all kinds of emotions and behaviour, but few focus on this most basic ingredient. Laughter gives us a clue that we have powerful systems in our brain which respond to pleasure, happiness and joy. It"s also involved in events such as release of fear.
42. ______
My professional focus has always been on emotional behaviour. I spent many years investigating the neural basis of fear in rats, and came to laughter via that route. When I was working with rats, I noticed that when they were alone, in an exposed environment, they were scared and quite uncomfortable. Back in a cage with others, they seemed much happier. It looked as if they played with one another—real rough and tumble—and I wondered whether they were also laughing. The neurobiologist Jaak Panksepp had shown that juvenile rats make short vocalisations, pitched too high for humans to hear, during rough and tumble play. He thinks these are similar to laughter. This made me wonder about the roots of laughter.
43. ______
Everything humans do has a function, and laughing is no exception. Its function is surely communication. We need to build social structures in order to live well in our society and evolution has selected laughter as a useful device for promoting social communication. In other words, it must have a survival advantage for the species.
44. ______
The brain scans are usually done while people are responding to humorous material. You see brainwave activity spread from the sensory processing area of the occipital lobe, the bit at the back of the brain that processes visual signals, to the brain"s frontal lobe. It seems that the frontal lobe is involved in recognising things as funny. The left side of the frontal lobe analyses the words and structure of jokes while the right side does the intellectual analyses required to "get" jokes. Finally, activity spreads to the motor areas of the brain controlling the physical task of laughing. We also know about these complex pathways involved in laughter from neurological illness and injury. Sometimes after brain damage, tumours, stroke or brain disorders such as Parkinson"s disease, people get "stonefaced syndrome" and can"t laugh.
45. ______
I laugh a lot when I watch amateur videos of children, because they"re so natural. I"m sure they"re not forcing anything funny to happen. I don"t particularly laugh hard at jokes, but rather at situations. I also love old comedy movies such as Laurel and Hardy and an extremely ticklish. After starting to study laughter in depth, I began to laugh and smile more in social situations, those involving either closeness or hostility. Laughter really creates a bridge between people, disarms them, and facilitates amicable behaviour.
翻译题Directions:
Translate the following text from English into Chinese.Write your translation on ANSWER SHEET2.(15 points)
When people in developing countries worry about migration,they are usually concerned at the prospect of ther best and brightest departure to Silicon Valley or to hospitals and universities in the developed world ,These are the kind of workers that countries like Britian ,Canada and Australia try to attract by using immigration rules that privilege college graduates .
Lots of studies have found that well-educated people from developing countries are particularly likely to emigrate .A big survey of Indian households in 2004 found that nearly 40%of emigrants had more than a high-school education,compared with around 3.3%of all Indians over the age of 25.This "brain drain "has long bothered policymakers in poor countries ,They fear that it hurts their economies ,depriving them of much-needed skilled workers who could have taught at their universities ,worked in their hospitals and come up with clever new products for their factories to make .
判断题Copying Birds May Save Aircraft Fuel
Both Boeing and Airbus have trumpeted the efficiency of their newest aircraft, the 787 and A350 respectively. Their clever designs and lightweight composites certainly make a difference. But a group of researchers at Stanford University, led by Ilan Kroo, has suggested that airlines could take a more naturalistic approach to cutting jet-fuel use, and it would not require them to buy new aircraft.
The answer, says Dr. Kroo, lies with birds. Since 1914, scientists have known that birds flying in formation—a V-shape—expend less energy. The air flowing over a bird"s wings curls upwards behind the wingtips, a phenomenon known as upwash. Other birds flying in the upwash experience reduced drag, and spend less energy propelling themselves. Peter Lissaman, an aeronautics expert who was formerly at Caltech and the University of Southern California, has suggested that a formation of 25 birds might enjoy a range increase of 71%.
When applied to aircraft, the principles are not substantially different. Dr. Kroo and his team modeled what would happen if three passenger jets departing from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas were to assemble over Utah, assume an inverted V formation, occasionally change places so all could have a turn in the most favourable positions, and proceed to London. They found that the aircraft consumed as much as 15% less fuel (coupled with a reduction in carbon-dioxide output). Nitrogen-oxide emissions during the cruising portions of the flight fell by around a quarter.
There are, of course, knots to be worked out. One consideration is safety, or at least the perception of it. Would passengers feel comfortable traveling in companion? Dr. Kroo points out that the aircraft could be separated by several nautical miles, and would not be in the intimate groupings favoured by display teams like the Red Arrows. A passenger peering out of the window might not even see the other planes. Whether the separation distances involved would satisfy air traffic-control regulations is another matter, although a working group at the International Civil Aviation Organisation has included the possibility of formation flying in a blueprint for new operational guidelines.
It remains to be seen how weather conditions affect the air flows that make formation flight more efficient. In zones of increased turbulence, the planes" wakes will decay more quickly and the effect will diminish. Dr. Kroo says this is one of the areas his team will investigate further. It might also be hard for airlines to co-ordinate the departure times and destinations of passenger aircraft in a way that would allow them to gain from formation flight. Cargo aircraft, in contrast, might be easier to reschedule, as might routine military flights.
As it happens, America"s armed forces are on the case already. Earlier this year the country"s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency announced plans to pay Boeing to investigate formation flight, though the programme has yet to begin. There are reports that some military aircraft flew in formation when they were low on fuel during the Second World War, but Dr. Lissaman says they are unsubstantiated. "My father was an RAF pilot and my cousin, the skipper of a Lancaster, lost over Berlin," he adds. So he should know.
As machines go, the car is not terribly noisy, nor terribly polluting, nor terribly dangerous; and on all those dimensions it has become better as the century has grown older. The main problem is its prevalence, and the social costs that ensue from the use by everyone of something that would be fairly harmless if, say, only the rich were to use it. It is a price we pay for equality.
Before becoming too gloomy, it is worth recalling why the car has been arguably the most successful and popular product of the whole of the past 100 years—and remains so. The story begins with the environmental improvement it brought in the 1900s. In New York city in 1900, according to
The Car Culture
, a 1975 book by J. Flink, a historian, horses deposited 2.5 million pounds of manure and 60,000 gallons of urine every day. Every year, the city authorities had to remove an average of 15,000 dead horses from the streets. It made cars smell of roses.
Cars were also wonderfully flexible. The main earlier solution to horse pollution and traffic jams was the electric trolley bus. But that required fixed overhead wires, and rails and platforms, which were expensive, ugly, and inflexible. The car could go from any A to any B, and allowed towns to develop in all directions with low-density housing, rather than just being concentrated along the trolley or rail lines. Rural areas benefited too, for they became less remote.
However, since pollution became a concern in the 1950s, experts have predicted—wrongly—that the car boom was about to end. In his book Mr. Flink argued that by 1973 the American market had become saturated, at one car for every 2.25 people, and so had the markets of Japan and Western Europe (because of land shortages). Environmental worries and diminishing oil reserves would prohibit mass car use anywhere else.
He was wrong. Between 1970 and 1990, whereas America"s population grew by 23%, the number of cars on its roads grew by 60%. There is now one car for every 1.7 people there, one for every 2.1 in Japan, one for every 5.3 in Britain. Around 550 million cars are already on the roads, not to mention all the trucks and motorcycles, and about 50 million new ones are made each year worldwide. Will it go on? Undoubtedly, because people want it to.
填空题Every year Les Wexner, the owner of Victoria"s Secret, a lingerie (女士内衣) retailer, takes a month off to travel the world looking for other companies" ideas to adopt. Mr. Wexner"s philosophy is that business should celebrate imitation.
That is almost a heresy. Businesses are told to innovate or die. Imitators are cast as the bad guys. But in the real world, companies copy and succeed. The iPod was not the first digital-music player; nor was the iPhone the first smartphone or the iPad the first tablet. Apple imitated others" products but made them far more appealing.
The pace and intensity of legal imitation has quickened in recent years, argues Oded Shenkar, a management professor at Ohio State University, in a provocative book, "Copycats: How Smart Companies Use Imitation to Gain a Strategic Edge".
History shows that imitators often end up winners. Who now remembers Chux, the first disposable nappies, whose thunder was stolen by Pampers? Ray Kroc, who built McDonald"s, copied White Castle, inventor of the fast-food burger joint. Even Playboy magazine was just an imitator, noted Ted Levitt, one of the earliest management gurus to acknowledge the role of imitation. Copying is not only far commoner than innovation in business, wrote Levitt in the 1960s, but a surer route to growth and profits. According to "Copycats", studies show that imitators do at least as well and often better from any new product than innovators do. Followers have lower research-and-development costs, and less risk of failure because the product has already been market-tested. A study by Peter Golder and Gerard Tellis, "Pioneer Advantage: Marketing Logic or Marketing Legend", found that innovators captured only 7% of the market for their product over time.
Firms seldom admit to being copycats. But some businesspeople are willing to talk about the limitations of innovation. Kevin Rollins, a former chief executive of Dell, a computer-maker, asked, "If innovation is such a competitive weapon, why doesn"t it translate into profitability?" But most remain obsessed with their own inventions. Copying is taboo. Praise and promotion do not go to employees who borrow from other firms.
As a result, firms pay insufficient attention to the art of copying. Levitt examined a group of companies whose sales depended on regularly launching new products. None of them, he found, had either a formal or informal policy on how to respond to other firms" innovations. So they were often far too slow to imitate rivals" successes, and missed out on profits. Not much has changed since Levitt"s day. Though copying is fairly common, lots of companies fail to do it effectively. American firms in particular are too obsessed with innovation, argues Mr. Shenkar. By contrast, Asian companies—such as Panasonic, whose former parent, Matsushita, was nicknamed maneshita denki, "electronics that have been copied"—have excelled at legal imitation.
Excessive copying, of course, could be bad for society as a whole. Joseph Schumpeter worried that if innovators could not get enough reward from new products because imitators were taking so much of the profit, they would spend less on developing them. But that is not the immediate concern of corporations. Copying is here to stay; businesses may as well get good at it.
A. are too obsessed with innovation.
B. are actively involved in legal imitation.
C. discourage innovators" enthusiasm for innovation.
D. laugh last in market competition.
E. pay little attention to imitate rival"s success.
F. are slow to react to rival"s imitation.
G. explicitly discuss their suspicion about innovation.
填空题A. Personal affairs cause accidents
B. Accidents are caused by people rather than take place by themselves
C. Uncertain factors that cause accident
D. Accidents take place due to carelessness or thoughtlessness
E. Other factors causing accidents
F. Why the accidents happened
G. Some accidents are avoidable
1
Accidents are caused; they don"t just happen. The reason may be easy to see: an overloaded tray, a shelf out of reach, a patch of ice on the road. But more often than not there is a chain of events leading up to the misfortune—frustration, tiredness or just bad temper—that shows what the accident really is, a sort of attack on oneself.
2
Road accidents, for example, happen frequently after a family quarrel, and we all know people who are accident-prone, so that at odds with themselves and the world that they seem to cause to accidents for themselves and others.
3
By definition, an accident is something you can"t predict or provide, and the idea which used to be current, that the majority of road accidents are caused by a minority of criminally careless drivers, is not supported by insurance statistics. These show that most accidents involve ordinary motorists in a moment of carelessness and thoughtlessness.
4
It is not always, clear, either, what sort of conditions make people more likely to have an accident. For instance, the law requires all factories to make safety precautions and most companies have safety committees to make sure the regulations are observed, but still, every day in Britain, some fifty thousand men and women are absent from work due to an accident.
5
Some accidents are largely results of human error or misjudgment—noise and fatigue, boredom or worries are possible factors, which contribute to this. Doctors who work in factories have found that those who drink too much, usually people, who have an anxiety level, run three times the normal risk of accidents at work.
填空题A. Be silly
B. Have fun
C. Express your emotions
D. Don"t overthink it
E. Be easily pleased
F. Notice things
G. Ask for help
As adults, it seems that we are constantly pursuing happiness, often with mixed results. Yet children appear to have it down to an art—and for the most part they don"t need self-help books or therapy. Instead, they look after their wellbeing instinctively, and usually more effectively than we do as grownups. Perhaps it"s time to learn a few lessons from them.
1
What does a child do when he"s sad? He cries. When he"s angry? He shouts. Scared? Probably a bit of both. As we grow up, we learn to control our emotions so they are manageable and don"t dictate our behaviours, which is in many ways a good thing. But too often we take this process too far and end up suppressing emotions, especially negative ones. That"s about as effective as brushing dirt under a carpet and can even make us ill. What we need to do is find a way to acknowledge and express what we feel appropriately, and then—again like children—move.
2
A couple of Christmases ago, my youngest stepdaughter, who was nine years old at the time, got a Superman T-shirt for Christmas. It cost less than a fiver but she was overjoyed, and couldn"t stop talking about it. Too often we believe that a new job, bigger house or better car will be the magic silver bullet that will allow us to finally be content, but the reality is these things have very little lasting impact on our happiness levels. Instead, being grateful for small things every day is a much better way to improve wellbeing.
3
Have you ever noticed how much children laugh? If we adults could indulge in a bit of silliness and giggling, we would reduce the stress hormones in our bodies, increase good hormones like endorphins, improve blood flow to our hearts and even have a greater chance of fighting off infection. All of which, of course, have a positive effect on happiness levels.
4
The problem with being a grown up is that there"s an awful lot of serious stuff to deal with—work, mortgage payments, figuring out what to cook for dinner. But as adults we also have the luxury of being able to control our own diaries and it"s important that we schedule in time to enjoy the things we love. Those things might be social, sporting, creative or completely random (dancing around the living room, anyone?)—it doesn"t matter, so long as they"re enjoyable, and not likely to have negative side effects, such as drinking too much alcohol or going on a wild spending spree if you"re on a tight budget.
5
Having said all of the above, it"s important to add that we shouldn"t try too hard to be happy. Scientists tell us this can backfire and actually have a negative impact on our wellbeing. As the Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu is reported to have said: "Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness." And in that, once more, we need to look to the example of our children, to whom happiness is not a goal but a natural byproduct of the way they live.
填空题A. You are not alone
B. Don"t fear responsibility for your life
C. Pave your own unique path
D. Most of your fears are unreal
E. Think about the present moment
F. Experience helps you grow
G. There are many things to be grateful for
Some Old Truths to Help You Overcome Tough Times
Unfortunately, life is not a bed of roses. We are going through life facing sad experiences. Moreover, we are grieving various kinds of loss: a friendship, a romantic relationship or a house. Hard times may hold you down at what usually seems like the most inopportune time, but you should remember that they won"t last forever.
When our time of mourning is over, we press forward, stronger with a greater understanding and respect for life. Furthermore, these losses make us mature and eventually move us toward future opportunities for growth and happiness. I want to share these old truths I"ve learned along the way.
1
Fear is both useful and harmful. This normal human reaction is used to protect us by signaling danger and preparing us to deal with it. Unfortunately, people create inner barriers with a help of exaggerating fears. My favorite actor Will Smith once said, "Fear is not real. It is a product of thoughts you create. Do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real. But fear is a choice." I do completely agree that fears are just the product of our luxuriant imagination.
2
If you are surrounded by problems and cannot stop thinking about past, try to focus on the present moment. Many of us are weighed down by the past or anxious about the future. You may feel guilt over your past, but you are poisoning the present with the things and circumstances you cannot change. Value the present moment and remember how fortunate you are to be alive. Enjoy the beauty of the world around and keep the eyes open to see the possibilities before you. Happiness is not a point of future and not a moment from the past, but a mindset that can be designed into the present.
3
Sometimes it is easy to feel bad because you are going through tough times. You can be easily caught up by life problems that you forget to pause and appreciate the things you have. Only strong people prefer to smile and value their life instead of crying and complaining about something.
4
No matter how isolated you might feel and how serious the situation is, you should always remember that you are not alone. Try to keep in mind that almost everyone respects and wants to help you if you are trying to make a good change in your life, especially your dearest and nearest people. You may have a circle of friends who provide constant good humor, help and companionship. If you have no friends or relatives, try to participate in several online communities, full of people who are always willing to share advice and encouragement.
5
Today many people find it difficult to trust their own opinion and seek balance by gaining objectivity from external sources. This way you devalue your opinion and show that you are incapable of managing your own life. When you are struggling to achieve something important you should believe in yourself and be sure that your decision is the best. You live in your skin, think your own thoughts, have your own values and make your own choices.
In 1985 when a Japan Air Lines (JAL) jet crashed, its president, Yasumoto Takagi, called each victim"s family to apologize, and then promptly resigned. And in 1987, when a subsidiary of Toshiba sold sensitive military technology to the former Soviet Union, the chairman of Toshiba gave up his post.
These executive actions, which Toshiba calls "the highest form of apology," may seem bizarre to US managers. No one at Boeing resigned after the JAL crash, which may have been caused by a faulty Boeing repair.
The difference between the two business cultures centers around different definitions of delegation. While US executives give both responsibility and authority to their employees, Japanese executives delegate only authority—the responsibility is still theirs. Although the subsidiary that sold the sensitive technology to the Soviets had its own management, the Toshiba top executives said they "must take personal responsibility for not creating an atmosphere throughout the Toshiba group that would make such activity unthinkable, even in an independently run subsidiary."
Such acceptance of community responsibility is not unique to businesses in Japan. School principals in Japan have resigned when their students committed major crimes after school hours. Even if they do not quit, Japanese executives will often accept primary responsibility in other ways, such as taking the first pay cut when a company gets into financial trouble. Such personal sacrifices, even if they are largely symbolic, help to create the sense of community and employee loyalty that is crucial to the Japanese way of doing business.
Harvard Business School professor George Lodge calls the ritual acceptance of blame "almost a feudal way of purging the community of dishonor~," and to some in the United States, such resignations look cowardly. However, in an era in which both business and governmental leaders seem particularly good at evading responsibility, many US managers would probably welcome an infusion of the Japanese sense of responsibility. If, for instance, US automobile company executives offered to reduce their own salaries before they asked their workers to take pay cuts, negotiations would probably take on a very different character.
问答题Your friend from America intends to further his study in China.
Write a letter to 1) express your warm welcome,
and 2) offer some suggestions on his future life in
China. You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER
SHEET. Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming"
instead.
问答题Directions:
Suppose you want to invite Mr. Williams to give a lecture on "American Literature" in your college. Suppose you are the assistant of the English Department, write a letter including:
1) the purpose of the invitation,
2) the time of the lecture.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not write your address.
问答题The biggest price of the U.S. economy, by far, is the consumer sector. It represents 70% of GDP (国内生产总值) in most years. But consumers suffered historic setbacks in 2008 and 2009. According to a report, 13% of households experienced "substantial financial stress". This compares with only 1% during the previous two recessions. And it is why consumer spending fell so sharply in 2009, as frightened households cut back.
It has taken years for total household finances to recover fully, but now they have. Total household net worth is now well above its 2007 peak, driven by the recovery in stock prices and home values. Household debt-to-income ratios are the lowest in more than 30 years. And the first half of 2014 has seen employment begin to take off and the unemployment rate has fallen. The overall outlook for consumer spending, the engine of the economy, is healthy again.
问答题1) give your opinions briefly;
2) make two or three suggestions.
You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.
Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead.
Do not write your address.
翻译题Who would have thought that, globally, the IT industry produces about the same volumes of greenhouse gases as the world’s airlines do-rough 2 percent of all CO2 emissions?
Many everyday tasks take a surprising toll on the environment. A Google search can leak between 0.2 and 7.0 grams of CO2 depending on how many attempts are needed to get the “right” answer. To deliver results to its users quickly, then, Google has to maintain vast data centres round the world, packed with powerful computers. While producing large quantities of CO2, these computers emit a great deal of heat, so the centres need to be well air-conditioned, which uses even more energy.
However, Google and other big tech providers monitor their efficiency closely and make improvements. Monitoring is the first step on the road to reduction, but there is much to be done, and not just by big companies.
填空题Directions: Read the following text and
answer the questions by choosing the most suitable subheading from the list A-G
for each numbered paragraph (41-45). There are two extra subheadings. Mark your
answers on the ANSWER SHEET.A．U.S. Is in
Face of Obesity B．Eat Less Fat and Cholesterol
C．Dietary Goals for the U.S. Issued D．The
Americans' Eating Habits Change E．America Becomes Sicker
than Before F．A Nutritional Experiment Is
Performed G．Cardiovascular Disease—America's No. 1
Killer In 1977, the year before I was born, a Senate committee
led by George McGovern published its landmark "Dietary Goals for the United
States", urging Americans to eat less high-fat red meat, eggs and dairy and
replace them with more calories from fruits, vegetables and especially
carbohydrates. {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}}
{{/U}} By 1980 that wisdom was codified. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) issued its first dietary guidelines, and one of the primary
directives was to avoid cholesterol and fat of all sorts. The National
Institutes of Health recommended that all Americans over the age of 2 cut fat
consumption, and that same year the government announced the results of a $150
million study, which had a clear message: Eat less fat and cholesterol to reduce
your risk of a heart attack. {{U}} {{U}} 2
{{/U}} {{/U}} The food industry—and American eating
habits—jumped in step. Grocery shelves filled with "light" yogurts, low-fat
microwave dinners, cheese-flavored crackers, cookies. Families like mine
followed the advice: beef disappeared from the dinner plate, eggs were replaced
at breakfast with cereal or yolk-free beaters, and whole milk almost wholly
vanished. From 1977 to 2012, per capita consumption of those foods dropped while
calories from supposedly healthy carbohydrates increased—no surprise, given that
breads, cereals and pasta were at the base of the USDA food pyramid.
{{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}} The nation
was embarking on a "vast nutritional experiment", as the skeptical president of
the National Academy of Sciences, Philip Handler, put it in 1980. But with
nearly a million Americans a year dropping dead from heart disease by the
mid-'80s, it had to try something. {{U}} {{U}} 4
{{/U}} {{/U}} Nearly four decades later, the results are in:
the experiment was a failure. Americans cut the fat, but by almost every
measure, they are sicker than ever. The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in the
U.S. increased 166% from 1980 to 2012. Nearly 1 in 10 American adults has the
disease, costing the country's health care system $245 billion a year, and an
estimated 86 million people are prediabetic. Deaths from heart disease have
fallen—a fact that many experts attribute to better emergency care, less smoking
and widespread use of cholesterol—controlling drugs like statins—but
cardiovascular disease remains the country's No. 1 killer.
{{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}} Even the increasing
rates of exercise haven't been able to keep Americans healthy. More than a third
of the country is now obese, making the U.S. one of the fattest countries in an
increasingly fat world. "Americans were told to cut back on fat to lose weight
and prevent heart disease," says Dr. David Ludwig, the director of the New
Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center at Boston Children's
Hospital.
填空题Directions: Read the following text and answer questions by
finding information from the right column that corresponds to each of the marked
details given in the left column. There are two extra choices in the right
column. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.A man wakes up
in a New York apartment, brews coffee and goes out into the world, and
everything that can appear on a smartphone or iPad appears before his eyes
instead: weather reports , calendar reminders, messages from friends, his
girlfriend's smiling face. This is the promise of Google's Project Glass. Even
if the project itself never comes to fruition, though, the preview video
deserves a life of its own, as a window into what our era promises and what it
threatens to take away. On the one hand, the video is a
testament to modem technology's extraordinary feats—not only instant
communication across continents, but also an almost god-like access to
information about the world around us. But the video also captures the sense of
isolation that coexists with our technological mastery. The man in the Google
Glasses lives alone, in a drab, impersonal apartment. He is, in
other words, a characteristic 21st-century American, more electronically
networked but more personally isolated than ever before. As the N. Y.U.
Sociologist Eric Klinenberg notes in Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and
Surprising Appeal of Living Alone, there are now more Americans living by
themselves than there are Americans in intact nuclearfamily households. And
friendship, too, seems to be attenuating (减弱): a 2006 Duke University study
found that Americans reported having, on average, three people with whom they
discussed important issues in 1985, but just two by the mid-2000s.
The question hanging over the future of American social life, then, is
whether all the possibilities of virtual community can make up for the weakening
of flesh-and-blood ties and the decline of traditional communal
institutions. The optimists say yes. ff you believe writers
like Clay Shirky, author of 2008's Here Comes Everybody, the buzzing hive mind
of the Internet is well on its way to generating a kind of "cognitive surplus",
which promises to make group interactions even more effective and enriching than
they were before the Web. The pessimists, on the other hand,
worry that online life offers only an illusion of community. In Alone Together,
Sherry Turkle argues that the lure of Internet relationships, constantly
available but inherently superficial, might make both genuine connection and
genuine solitude impossible. Seeing the world through the eyes
of the man in the Google Glasses, though, suggests a more political reason for
pessimism. In his classic 1953 work, The Quest for Community, the sociologist
Robert Nisbet argues that in eras of intense individualism and weak communal
ties, an atomized, rootless population is more likely to embrace authoritarian
ideologies, and more likely to seek the protection of an omnicompetent
state. Today, social media are hailed for empowering dissidents
and undercutting tyrannies around the world. Yet it's hard not to watch the
Google video and agree with Forbes's Kashmir Hill when she suggests that such a
technology could ultimately "accelerate the arrival of the persistent and
pervasive" citizen surveillance state, in which everything you see and do can be
recorded, reported. In this kind of world, the man in the Google Glasses might
feel like a king of infinite space. But he'd actually inhabit a comfortable,
full-service cage. A. Internet will eliminate the social
advance achieved in the past centuries. B. individual liberty
might lead some people to embrace despotism ideology. C.
Internet is likely to bring genuine correlation to an end. D.
vast change has taken place in terms of the current American family
structure. E. the Internet will facilitate and enrich communal
interactions. F. the Internet technology will make personal
behaviour exposed to others. G. excessive addiction to the
Internet will bring about individualism.
填空题The Health Risks of Small Apartments
New York City has a housing problem. Currently, it has 1.8 million one-and two-person households, and only one million studios and one-bedroom apartments. The obvious solution seems to be to develop more small residential units. But as New York City"s "micro-apartment" project inches closer to reality, experts warn that micro-living may not be the urban panacea we"ve been waiting for.
"Sure, these micro-apartments may be fantastic for young professionals in their 20"s," says Dak Kopec, director of design for human health at Boston Architectural College. "But they definitely can be unhealthy for older people, say in their 30"s and 40"s, who face different stress factors that can make tight living conditions a problem." Research, Kopec says, has shown that crowding-related stress can increase rates of domestic violence and substance abuse.
For all of us, daily life is a sequence of events, he explains. But most people don"t like adding extra steps to everyday tasks. Because micro-apartments are too small to hold basic furniture like a bed, table, and couch at the same time, residents must reset their quarters throughout the day. In this case, residents might eventually stop folding up their furniture every day and the space will start feeling even more constrained.
Susan Saegert, professor of environmental psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center agrees that the micro- apartments will likely be a welcome choice for young New Yorkers. But she warns that tiny living conditions can be terrible for other residents—particularly if a couple or a parent and child squeeze into 300 square feet for the long term, no matter how well a unit is designed. "I"ve studied children in crowded apartments and low-income housing a lot," Saegert said, "and they can end up becoming withdrawn, and have trouble studying and concentrating."
"When we think about micro-living, we have a tendency to focus on functional things, like is there enough room for the fridge," explained University of Texas psychology professor Samuel Gosling, who studies the connection between people and their possessions. "But an apartment has to fill other psychological needs as well, such as self-expression and relaxation, which might not be as easily met in a highly confined space."
On the other hand, Eugenie L. Birch, professor of urban research and education at the University of Pennsylvania, says this certainly isn"t the first time we"ve had this debate over micro-living. New York has grappled with the public health costs of crowded living conditions and minimum apartment standards throughout its history.
Rolf Pendall, director of the Urban Institute"s Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center asks: Where would all these people be doing business and living without the density? Would they be commuting longer distances or earning less, and is living farther from economic opportunities "better" for them? In that context, Pendall says he welcomes micro-apartments as long as they fit within the larger housing ecology of the city, and don"t ultimately displace other types of units for families.
For this project, while New York may be taking a step backwards in terms of square footage, Eric Bunge, working at Architects, (the firm that created the winning micro-apartment design), is firm that the city is taking a big step forward in terms of actual living conditions. "The city sees this initiative as one mechanism in a set of complex issues," Bunge says. "Nobody is claiming that micro-apartments will be a silver bullet."
A. micro-apartments should be welcomed as long as they do solve the housing problems for some people.
B. micro-apartments may not fill people"s psychological needs.
C. micro-apartments will be an attempt help to solve the housing problems, but not a cure yet.
D. micro-apartments may be welcomed by the elder people.
E. narrow living conditions may cause the increase of domestic violence.
F. children growing up in crowded apartments may have trouble studying and concentrating.
G. micro-apartments may be unhealthy for young people to live.
填空题Economics is all about consumption. A healthy economy is largely a result of a reasonable balance between consumption today and consumption deferred. To figure out what our buying behavior says about the U.S. economy"s future, my colleagues and I at NPR"s "Planet Money" went searching for as many shopping-based indicators as we could find, hoping some would unlock a hidden story about what Americans are feeling and where the country is headed.
The results were mixed, but we did uncover some ominous signs. Lipstick sales used to go up when the economy went down, perhaps because women were searching for a cheap pick-me-up or an edge in a job interview—and sales of lipsticks are way up right now. Women"s underwear sales are down, which historically suggests intense frugality and more rough times ahead. But there are also some optimistic indicators. Sales of men"s underwear, one of Alan Greenspan"s favorite metrics for predicting growth, are also up. Sales of cheap spirits, which soared during the worst of the recession (people need an affordable way to self-medicate), have now stabilized, meaning, at the very least, that people can now afford better liquor.
Of all the indicators we looked at, one of the most consistently accurate was Champagne sales. The amount of French Champagne that Americans consume has predicted—with nearly 90 percent accuracy—the average American income one year later. Apparently, when we pop a Champagne cork, we know that good times are ahead. Champagne sales hurtled upward twice in recent history—at the peak of the Internet bubble in 1999 and the housing bubble in 2007. These were both followed by slowdowns as fewer people found reason to celebrate.
There are so many indicators to choose from that you could glean just about anything regarding our economic future. In fact, the most telling indicator appears to be the sheer number of indicators themselves. Americans now have so many seductive things they can buy that there are ample consumer options no matter what we feel. Partly as a result, savings—known in economics as deferred consumption—have fallen steadily for more than 30 years. The decline of the savings rate is particularly troubling because it is consistent through busts and booms. During the fast growth of the late 1990s and mid-2000s, and the dark times that followed, people have been choosing to spend more and save less than ever before. Paradoxically, this happened just as pensions have been disappearing and life spans have been increasing. It suggests that Americans are so caught up in every short-term enthusiasm or agony that they haven"t thought enough about long-term fiscal health.
America will, most likely, need to find a more normal, sustainable level of consumption, and that"s exactly the problem. What does a reasonable balance between consumption now and consumption deferred actually look like? That"s what we need to figure out.
A. the American economy shows signs of recovery.
B. American consumption lacks sustainable momentum.
C. the American economy falls from its peak.
D. the American economy is stuck in recession.
E. the American economy is booming in its hey day.
F. Americans consume more than can afford.
G. the American economy outlook is mixed and uncertain.
填空题The decision of the New York Philharmonic to hire Alan Gilbert as its next music director has been the talk of the classical-music world ever since the sudden announcement of his appointment in 2009. For the most part, the response has been favorable, to say the least. "Hooray! At last!" wrote Anthony Tommasini, a sober-sided classical-music critic.
One of the reasons why the appointment came as such a surprise, however, is that Gilbert is comparatively little known. Even Tommasini, who had advocated Gilbert"s appointment in the Times, calls him "an unpretentious musician with no air of the formidable conductor about him." As a description of the next music director of an orchestra that has hitherto been led by musicians like Gustav Mahler and Pierre Boulez, that seems likely to have struck at least some
Times
readers as faint praise.
For my part, I have no idea whether Gilbert is a great conductor or even a good one. To be sure, he performs an impressive variety of interesting compositions, but it is not necessary for me to visit Avery Fisher Hall, or anywhere else, to hear interesting orchestral music. All I have to do is to go to my CD shelf, or boot up my computer and download still more recorded music from iTunes.
Devoted concertgoers who reply that recordings are no substitute for live performance are missing the point. For the time, attention, and money of the art-loving public, classical instrumentalists must compete not only with opera houses, dance troupes, theater companies, and museums, but also with the recorded performances of the great classical musicians of the 20th century. These recordings are cheap, available everywhere, and very often much higher in artistic quality than today"s live performances; moreover, they can be "consumed" at a time and place of the listener"s choosing. The widespread availability of such recordings has thus brought about a crisis in the institution of the traditional classical concert.
One possible response is for classical performers to program attractive new music that is not yet available on record. Gilbert"s own interest in new music has been widely noted: Alex Ross, a classical-music critic, has described him as a man who is capable of turning the Philharmonic into "a markedly different, more vibrant organization." But what will be the nature of that difference? Merely expanding the orchestra"s repertoire will not be enough. If Gilbert and the Philharmonic are to succeed, they must first change the relationship between America"s oldest orchestra and the new audience it hopes to attract.
A. doubtful.
1
Gilbert"s appointment has
B. are easily accessible to the general public.
2
Tommasini regards Gilbert as an artist who is
C. received acclaim.
3
The author believes that the devoted concertgoers
D. are often inferior to live concerts in quality.
4
Recordings
E. modest.
5
Regarding Gilbert"s role in revitalizing the Philharmonic, the author feels
F. ignore the expenses of live performances.
G. overestimate the value of live performances.
翻译题Think about driving a route that’s very familiar. It could be your commute to work, a trip into town or the way home. Whichever it is, you know every twist and turn like the back of your hand. On these sorts of trips it’s easy to zone out from the actual driving and pay little attention to the passing scenery. The consequence is that you perceive that the trip has taken less time than it actually has.
This is the well-travelled road effect: people tend to underestimate the time it takes to travel a familiar route.
The effect is caused by the way we allocate our attention. When we travel down a well-known route, because we don’t have to concentrate much, time seems to flow more quickly. And afterwards, when we come to think back on it, we can’t remember the journey well because we didn’t pay much attention to it. So we assume it was shorter.
填空题The most thoroughly studied intellectuals in the history of the New World are the ministers and political leaders of seventeenth-century New England. According to the standard history of American philosophy, nowhere else in colonial America was "so much importance attached to intellectual pursuits." According to many books and articles, New England"s leaders established the basic themes and preoccupations of an unfolding, dominant Puritan tradition in American intellectual life.
To take this approach to the New Englanders normally means to start with the Puritans" theological innovations and their distinctive ideas about the church-important subjects that we may not neglect. But in keeping with our examination of southern intellectual life, we may consider the original Puritans as carriers of European culture, adjusting to New World circumstances. The New England colonies were the scenes of important episodes in the pursuit of widely understood ideals of civility and virtuosity.
The early settlers of Massachusetts Bay included men of impressive education and influence in England. Besides the ninety or so learned ministers who came to Massachusetts churches in the decade after 1629, there were political leaders like John Winthrop, an educated gentleman, lawyer, and official of the Crown before he journeyed to Boston. These men wrote and published extensively, reaching both New World and Old World audiences, and giving New England an atmosphere of intellectual earnestness.
We should not forget, however, that most New Englanders were less well educated. While few craftsmen or farmers, let alone dependents and servants, left literary compositions to be analyzed, it is obvious that their views were less fully intellectualized. Their thinking often had atraditional superstitious quality. A tailor named John Dane, who emigrated in the late 1630s, left an, account of his reasons for leaving England that is filled with signs. Sexual confusion, economic frustrations, and religious hope—all came together in a decisive moment when he opened the Bible, told his father that the first line he saw would settle his fate, and read the magical words: "Come out from among them, touch no unclean thing, and I will be your God and you shall be my people." One wonders what Dane thought of the careful sermons explaining the Bible that he heard in Puritan churches.
Meanwhile, many settlers had slighter religious commitments than Dane"s, as one clergyman learned in confronting folk along the coast who mocked that they had not come to the New World for religion. "Our main end was to catch fish."
A. influenced by superstitions.
1
In the seventeenth-century New England
B. illustrates a kind of landscape- orientated light conceptual art.
2
New Englanders
C. came from different intellectual backgrounds.
3
The early ministers and political leaders in Massachusetts Bay
D. intellectual interests were encouraged.
4
The story of John Dane shows that less well-educated New Englanders were often
E. brought with them the culture of the Old World.
5
Early settlers in New England
F. embodies a romantic escape into the Scottish outdoors.
G. created a new intellectual atmosphere in New England.
填空题Directions: Read the following text and
choose the best answer from the right column to complete each of the unfinished
statements in the left column. There are two extra choices in the right column.
Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.Over the past decade the government of South Africa has used mining
revenues to refurbish Soweto, the symbolic town of the apartheid era. The roads
are spotless, police patrols offer a measure of safety, children go to school.
But their parents have no jobs. Many spend their days at the Maponya Mall, a
shopping centre straight from the rich world, and their nights in shebeens,
private drinking dens that first opened when blacks could not legally visit
bars. The official national unemployment rate is 25%, but the real figure is
above 40%. If there is one country that exemplifies the
challenges awaiting Africa as it becomes richer and more developed, it is South
Africa. It has the biggest economy and the most developed democracy among the
larger African countries. However, it is also among the most unequal. In a
global ranking by Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, South Africa
comes off as one of the worst. The South African economy is growing and welfare
spending has brought down absolute poverty levels, yet the gap between rich and
poor is now wider than under apartheid. There are many reasons for this, but the
main one is the country's failure to move up the economic-development ladder.
Industrialization has stalled. Sedated by mining income, politicians and voters
see little need to make difficult adjustments. Above all, they are unwilling to
free up labour markets. The rest of the continent must learn
its lesson from this. Resource income is useful but it cannot replace other
industries. Many countries know this but, like South Africa, they fail to create
an environment in which businesses can prosper and create jobs. African
economies differ fundamentally from some of their successful Asian counterparts,
which for decades have focused on making things that other countries want to
buy, and are now doing the same for services. If Africa wants to overtake Asia,
it needs to give a higher priority to manufacturing. Will it?
Fee-hungry bankers in Johannesburg, South Africa's business capital, pronounce
the continent "ready for take-off". Business conferences are filled with talk of
African lions overtaking Asian tigers. Bob Geldof, the founder of Live Aid, is
leading the pack in his new incarnation as head of an investment
group. Sceptics are equally vocal. Some view capitalism with
suspicion and sense a return to colonialism. Others point out that every boom
comes to an end, citing the last chapter of Thomas Pakenham's otherwise
excellent book, "The Scramble for Africa", published in 1992. It depicts
Zimbabwe's independence in 1980-towards the end of an earlier commodities
boom-as a bright new dawn and applauds the rise of its first black leader, Mr.
Mugabe, who went on to bankrupt his country. A．has the most
unequal revenues B．has the worst democratic system
C．can not displace other industries D．the country fails
to boost its economy E．every prosperity will finally meets its
end F．Africa's economy will soon overtake Asia
G．has prepared for the economic development
填空题A. The wars between Indian and the settlers
B. Indians were pushed away
C. Indians, once the master of America, now live in their reservation
D. Indians are still fighting for the improvement of their lives
E. The relationship between Indians and the early settlers
F. Indians were ferocious savages
G. Indian"s struggle for their own possessions
1
When Christopher Columbus landed on America"s shores, he encountered copper-shinned people whom he promptly called "Indians". Current estimates indicate that there were over a million Indians inhabiting Indians North American then. There are approximately 800,000 Indians today, of whom about 250,000 live on reservations.
2
The early settlers had an amicable relationship with Indians, who share their knowledge about hunting, fishing and farming with their uninvited guests. The stereotyped stealthy, wicked Indian of Western movies are created by different faithless white man; the Indian was born friendly. Indian lifestyle greatly influenced the whites; whites continue to have defected to join the Indians.
3
Disgust developed between the Indians and the settlers, whose encroachment on Indian lands provoked an era of turbulence. As early as 1745, Indian tribes joined together to drive the French off their land. The French and Indian war did not end until 1763. The Indian had succeeded in destroying most of the settlements. The British, superficially submissive to the Indiana, promised that further migrations west would not extend beyond a specified boundary.
4
Evicted from their lands, or worse still, frankly giving their property to the whites for few baubles, Indians were ruthlessly pushed west. The battle in 1876 at Little Horn river in Montana, in which setting Bull and the Sioux tribes massacred General Custer"s cavalry, caused the whites intensify their campaign against the red man. The battle at Wound Knee, South Dakota, in 1890 put an end to the last vestige of hope for amity between Indians and whites.
5
Although the Bureau of Indian affairs has operated since 1842, presumably for the purpose of guarding Indians "interests", Indian on reservations lead notoriously deprived lives. Due to historical reasons, the majority of Indians are now living in remote rural areas. Most of the Indian nation also retains their traditional way of life and customs. In the multi-ethnic society in Latin America, the Indians is a vulnerable group. There are very few live in cities and towns, with formal employment, the vast majority are still living in the mainland forest, grassland areas, engaged in simple crafts such as agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, fisheries, divorced from modern society. Indian ghettos suffer from economic backwardness, the difficulties of life, and low levels of health and education, and all aspects of the situation in stark contrast to the mainstream of society, simply unbearable under the dramatic impact of national modernization and economic globalization. In recent times Indians have taken a militant stand and appealed to the courts and the American people to improve their substandard living conditions.
填空题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}} Read the following text and choose the
best answer from the right column to complete each of the unfinished statements
in the left column. There are two extra choices in, the right column. Mark your
answers on the ANSWER SHEET.The human
voice, like any sound produced by thrumming a stretched string, has a
fundamental frequency. For voice, the centre of that frequency lies mostly below
300Hz depending on the speaker's sex. Information is conveyed through
simultaneous higher-frequency overtones and additional components that can
stretch up to 20,000 Hz (20kHz). Modern hearing aids are able to distinguish
only a small part of that range, typically between 300Hz and 6kHz, reducing
noise and amplifying those frequencies where the wearer's hearing is
weakest. But differentiating elements of many common parts of
speech occur in higher frequencies. This is the result both of harmonics that
ripple out from the main tone, and from non-voiced elements used to utter
consonants, which employ the tongue, teeth, cheeks and lips. Take the words
"sailing" and "failing". Cut off the higher frequencies and the two are
indistinguishable. The problem is compounded on telephone calls, which do not
transmit frequencies below 300Hz or above 3.3kHz. People with
hearing aids experience this problem constantly, says Brian Moore of the
University of Cambridge. Typical hearing loss tends to be most acute at
frequencies above 10kHz, which contain quieter sounds but where speech can still
include important cues. Older hearing aids cut off at no higher than 6kHz, but
much modern equipment stretches this range to 8-10kHz. However, a problem
remains, Dr. Moore says, because bespoke hearing-aid calibrations for individual
users, called "fittings", do not properly boost the gain of these higher
frequencies. So Dr. Moore and his colleagues have come up with a better method.
Their approach can be applied to many existing devices, and is also being built
into some newer ones. A key step in any fitting involves
testing an individual's ability to hear sounds in different frequency bands.
Each hearing loss is unique, and for most users a standard profile would be too
loud in some ranges and too soft in others. But current tests pay scant
attention to the higher frequencies that a device's tiny speaker can produce,
regardless of whether the user needs a boost. Dr. Moore's new test, known as
CAM2, which is both a set of specifications and an implementation in software,
extends and modifies fittings to include frequencies as high as 10kHz. When the
results are used to calibrate a modem hearing aid, the result is greater
intelligibility of speech compared with existing alternatives. CAM2 also
improves the experience of listening to music, which makes greater use of higher
frequencies than speech does. A．be applied to many existing
devices B．use the tongue, teeth, cheeks and lips
C．enhance the gain of higher frequencies D．pays little
attention to the higher frequencies E．reduce noise and amplify
certain frequencies F．transmit frequencies below 300Hz or above
3.3kHz G．extends and modifies fittings to include high
frequencies
填空题A. Convincing evidence: US is losing its appeal in the eyes of multinationals
B. Biggest hindrance: US divided political system
C. American future: stuck in the middle
D. Overstated statement: US overall competitiveness is declining
E. Voice of experts: pessimism pervades academic world
F. Economic outlook: bad but not desperate
G. Undisputed fact: US is losing its economic edge
1
Is America fading? America has been gripped by worries about decline before, notably in the 1970s, only to roar back. But this time it may be serious. There is little doubt that other countries are catching up. Between 1999 and 2009 America"s share of world exports fell in almost every industry: by 36 percentage points in aerospace, nine in information technology, eight in communications equipment and three in cars. Private-sector job growth has slowed dramatically, and come to a halt in industries that are exposed to global competition. Median annual income grew by an anemic 2% between 1990 and 2010.
2
The March issue of the Harvard Business Review is devoted to "American competitiveness". The Review reports that declinism is prevalent among HBS alumni: in a survey, 71% said that American competitiveness would decline in the coming years.
3
America is losing out in the race to attract good jobs. Matthew Slaughter of Dartmouth"s Tuck School of Business points out that multinational firms increased employment in America by 24% in the 1990s. But since then they have been cutting back on jobs in America. They have moved dull repetitive tasks abroad, and even some sophisticated ones, too. The proportion of the employees of American multinationals who work for subsidiaries abroad rose from 21.4% in 1989 to 32.3% in 2009. The share of research-and-development spending going to foreign subsidiaries rose from 9% in 1989 to 15.6% in 2009; that of capital investment rose from 21.8% in 1999 to 29.6% in 2009.
4
America"s political system comes in for particularly harsh criticism: 60% of HBS alumni said that it was worse than those in other advanced countries. David Moss of HBS argues that such complaints are nothing new: American politicians have been arguing about the role of government ever since Thomas Jefferson butted heads with Alexander Hamilton. But in the past this often led to fruitful compromises. But such compromises are rarer these days. Republicans and Democrats are more ideologically divided, and less inclined to make pragmatic concessions.
5
For all this gloom, the Review"s gurus argue that, as Bill Clinton said in his first inaugural address, there is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. The country has huge strengths, from its world-beating universities to its tolerance of risk-taking. It has a highly diverse market: firms that seek cheap labour can move to Mississippi, where wages are a third lower than those in Massachusetts. Rosabeth Moss Kanter of HBS points to the extraordinary amount of innovation that is going on not just in Silicon Valley but across the country.
Yet it is difficult to read this collection of essays without a sense of foreboding. The one thing that worries the HBS alumni more than anything else—the state of American politics—is the most difficult to fix. The politicalsituation swings unpredictably, making it hard to plan for the future. Should companies assume that they will have to abide by Mr. Obanm"s health-care law when it comes into effect in 2014, or will the Republicans have repealed it by then? No one knows.
填空题Directions: Read the following text and answer questions by
finding information from the right column that corresponds to each of the marked
details given in the left column.There are two extra choices in the fight
column. Mark your answer on ANSWER SHEET. "The
great manufacturers in the Yorkshire and Lancashire districts tell me that,
under modern conditions, they have got into the habit of laying in supply not
for a period of two to five months but they are dependent week by week on the
importation of the raw material." So Sir George Parkin described the alarming
business practices found in Britain at the dawn of the 20th century. As a leader
of the Imperial Federation League, he sought to replace the British empire with
a bigger group of trading partners, so as to guarantee supplies. A hundred years
on, Sir George would have marveled at globalization, but been aghast that
today's manufactures measure their inventories in only a few hours of
production. The great manufacturers now have amazingly lean
operations. They have outsourced business to contractors that can do the work
more efficiently, often in places where wages are lower. A huge logistics (物流)
industry has sprung up to move stuff around the world at dazzling
speed. Containerization (集装箱运输) has slashed the cost of
shipping. Express air-freight has made overnight delivery possible to most
places on earth. Moreover, such services are within the grasp not just of the
supply departments of giant multinationals but also of anyone trading on eBay
from the spare bedroom. The logistics business is one of the
marvels of commerce, but it is not without its risks. Supply chains have become
ever more complex and extended. Some great manufacturers and great service
companies may have become too lean in their relentless drive to reduce costs,
outsourcing not just their non-core activities but essential ones too. If one
link of a company's supply chain snaps, the consequences can be grave. Ericsson
and Nokia found this out when they both relied on the same supplier for a
special chip in their mobile phones. After the chipmaker's factory was hit by
lightning, Nokia swiftly locked up all the alternative supplies whereas Ericsson
suffered a severe parts shortage and later quit making handsets on its
own. A company's best protection from its own supply chain is
to expect failure, not to hide from it. Toyota last year narrowly escaped a
parts shortage when an American supplier went bankrupt. The carmaker has now
introduced an early-warning system in Europe to try to detect any looming
problems with suppliers before they bring production lines to a halt.
The good news is that many companies are now trying to identify the choke
points and weak links in their supply chains. What about Sir George's
concern—the wider threat to national economies? With so many people worrying
about oil supplies and a bird-flu epidemic, the prospect of supply chains
collapsing around the world can seem a scary idea. It shouldn't
be. There are a few industries where it makes sense for governments to keep some
emergency stocks of a few essentials such as energy, munitions and medicines.
But the logistical disruption is not a good way for politicians to think about
everyday life, let alone to start interfering in markets.
Natural disasters are not, in fact, a common cause of supply-chain disruptions.
Most are the result of humdrum internal problems, like bad planning or the
choice of an unreliable subcontractor. That can be terrible for a particular
company, but hardly poses a threat to society at large. After all, if Ericsson
and Nokia cannot supply you with a mobile phone, Samsung would be only too happy
to get one to you tomorrow. A. be free from the interference of
markets. B. make supply chains increasingly intricate and
lengthy. C. some manufacturers and service companies outsource
their core business to contractors for more profit. D. they
outsource business to contractors that can do the work more
efficiently. E. a company should try to identify any potential
problems with suppliers in advance. F. pose a threat to society
at large. G. the logistics business is not without its
risks.
填空题A man wakes up in a New York apartment, brews coffee and goes out into the world, and everything that can appear on a smartphone or iPad appears before his eyes instead: weather reports, calendar reminders, messages from friends, his girlfriend"s smiling face. This is the promise of Google"s Project Glass. Even if the project itself never comes to fruition, though, the preview video deserves a life of its own, as a window into what our era promises and what it threatens to take away.
On the one hand, the video is a testament to modern technology"s extraordinary feats—not only instant communication across continents, but also an almost god-like access to information about the world around us. But the video also captures the sense of isolation that coexists with our technological mastery. The Man in the Google Glasses lives alone, in a drab, impersonal apartment. He has a significant other, but she"s far enough away that when sunset arrives, he climbs up on a roof and shares it with her via Video, while she grins from a window at the bottom of his field of vision.
He is, in other words, a characteristic 21st-century American, more electronically networked but more personally isolated than ever before. As the N. Y. U. sociologist Eric Klinenberg notes in
Going Solo: The Extraordinary Rise and Surprising Appeal of Living Alone,
there are now more Americans living by themselves than there are Americans in intact nuclear-family households. And friendship, too, seems to be attenuating: a 2006 Duke University study found that Americans reported having, on average, three people with whom they discussed important issues in 1985, but just two by the mid-2000s.
The question hanging over the future of American social life, then, is whether all the possibilities of virtual community can make up for the weakening of flesh-and-blood ties and the decline of traditional communal institutions.
The optimists say yes. If you believe writers like Clay Shirky, author of 2008"s
Here Comes Everybody,
the buzzing hive mind of the Internet is well on its way to generating a kind of "cognitive surplus," which promises to make group interactions even more effective and enriching than they were before the Web.
The pessimists, on the other hand, worry that online life offers only an illusion of community. In
Alone Together
, Sherry Turkle argues that the lure of Internet relationships, constantly available but inherently superficial, might make both genuine connection and genuine solitude impossible.
Seeing the world through the eyes of the Man in the Google Glasses, though, suggests a more political reason for pessimism. In his classic 1953 work,
The Quest for Community
, the sociologist Robert Nisbet argued that in eras of intense individualism and weak communal ties, an atomized, rootless population is more likely to embrace authoritarian ideologies, and more likely to seek the protection of an omnicompetent state.
Today, social media are hailed for empowering dissidents and undercutting tyrannies around the world. Yet it"s hard not to watch the Google video and agree with
Forbes
"s Kashmir Hill when she suggests that such a technology could ultimately "accelerate the arrival of the persistent and pervasive citizen surveillance state," in which everything you see and do can be recorded, reported. In this kind of world, the Man in the Google Glasses might feel like a king of infinite space. But he"d actually inhabit a comfortable, full-service cage.
A. the American household composition has undergone dramatic changes.
B. the isolation of individuals creates a hotbed for tyranny ideology.
C. internet leaves us less connected with people and more connected to simulations of them.
D. internet will wipe out the social progress human being have gained in the past centuries.
E. excessive use of internet will lead to individualism.
F. the advance of internet technology will make privacy a nearly impossible thing.
G. the internet provides a platform to deepen and expand communal ties.
填空题Directions: Read the following text and answer questions by
finding a subtitle for each of the marked parts or paragraphs. There are two
extra items in the subtitles. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.A. What to do as a student? B. Various definitions of
plagiarism. C. Ideas should always be sourced.
D. Ignorance can be forgiven. E. Plagiarism is equivalent to
theft. F. The consequence of plagiarism. G.
Acknowledgement should be advocated. Scholars, writers and
teachers in the modem academic community have strong feelings about
acknowledging the use of another person's ideas. In the English-speaking world,
the term plagiarism (剽窃) is used to label the practice of not giving credit for
the source of one's ideas. Simply stated, plagiarism is "the wrongful
appropriation or purloining, and publication as one's own of the ideas, or the
expression of ideas of another." {{U}} {{U}} 1
{{/U}} {{/U}} The penalties for plagiarism vary from
situation to situation. In many universities the punishment may range from
failure in a particular course to expulsion from the university. In the literary
world, where writers are protected from plagiarism by international copyright
laws, the penalty may range from a small fine to imprisonment and a mined
career. Protection of scholars and writers, through the copyright laws and
through the social pressures of the academic and literary communities, is a
relatively recent concept. Such social pressures and copyright laws require
writers to give scrupulous attention to documentation of their
sources. {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}
Students, as inexperienced scholars themselves, must avoid various types
of plagiarism by being self-critical in their use of other scholars' ideas and
by giving appropriate credit for the source of borrowed ideas and words;
otherwise dire consequences may occur. There are at least three classifications
of plagiarism as it is revealed in students' inexactness in identifying sources
properly. They are plagiarism by accident, by ignorance, and by
intention. {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}}
{{/U}} Plagiarism by accident, or oversight, sometimes is the
result of the writer's inability to decide or remember where the idea came from.
He may have read it long ago, heard it in a lecture since forgotten, or acquired
it second-hand or third-hand from discussions with colleagues. He may also have
difficulty in deciding whether the idea is such common knowledge that no
reference to the original source is needed. Although this type of plagiarism
must be guarded against, it is the least serious and, if lessons learned, can be
exempt from being severely punished. {{U}} {{U}}
4 {{/U}} {{/U}} Plagiarism through ignorance is simply
a way of saying that inexperienced writers often do not know how or when to
acknowledge their sources. The techniques for documentation-note-taking,
quoting, footnoting, listing bibliography—are easily learned and can prevent the
writer from making unknowing mistakes or omissions in his references. Although
"there is no copyright in news, or in ideas, only in the expression of them",
the writer cannot plead ignorance when his sources for ideas are
challenged. {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}}
{{/U}} The most serious kind of academic thievery is plagiarism
by intention. The writer, limited by his laziness and dullness, copies the
thoughts and language of others and claims them for his own. He not only steals;
he tries to deceive the reader into believing the ideas are original. Such words
as immoral, dishonest, offensive, and despicable are used to describe the
practice of plagiarism by intention. The opposite of plagiarism
is acknowledgement. All mature and trustworthy writers make use of the ideas of
others but they are careful to acknowledge their indebtedness to their sources.
Students, as developing scholars, writers, teachers, and professional leaders,
should recognize and assume their responsibility to document all sources from
which language and thoughts are borrowed. Other members of the profession will
not only respect the scholarship; they will admire the humility and
honesty.
填空题A. They who know nothing listen more
B. Women support is essential
C. Women who create pink-collar industry
D. Women: backbone for e-commerce
E. Men: pretended fashion experts
F. Men: technology savvy in fashion business
G. New form of gender equality
1
According to a 2010 report from comScore, women spend more time online than men, and they"re overrepresented in social networking, gaming, photos, blogs, and retail. Not only do women spend time online, they spend money, too—female customers make up 61% of online transactions. In a TechCrunch article on the topic, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Arleen Lee called women the "rocket fuel" of e-commerce. "Especially when it comes to social and shopping," Lee explains, "women rule the Internet."
2
Hence the surge in "pink-collar" start-ups—businesses in traditionally feminine industries like fashion, beauty, and shopping. But women aren"t the only tech entrepreneurs with their eyes on female customers. From the men behind Pinterest to the dudes who started Shoe Dazzle, smart men are defying gender stereotypes in the pursuit of great business and jumping at the chance to cash in on pink-collar opportunities.
Nils Johnson is one of the three male co-founders of Beautylish, a beauty-focused social network. What attracted three men to the female-dominated cosmetics industry? "Most engineers are guys, so they think about products for guys," Johnson explains. "When we thought about the intersection of technology and beauty, we saw a large opportunity in a market that was significantly underserved."
Josh Berman and Diego Berdakin are another great example: The duo took their expertise in technology and proximity to the heart of Hollywood and identified a huge opportunity to revolutionize e-commerce. The result was Beachmint, a designer-curated social-commerce site, which catered exclusively to women." The founders never pretended to be fashion experts," says Ara Katz, Beachmint"s Head of Creative and Partnerships. "Their strengths are in technology and operations."
3
When I asked Johnson whether he and his founders had ever encountered criticism, he groaned. "Totally. It"s reverse discrimination. They say, "Why don"t you address something that scratches your own itch?"" But Johnson adds, "I made it clear that I was going to hire the best people." In many cases, that hiring philosophy means actively seeking to hire women, and some male founders are making strategic choices to recruit women to join their founding teams. Of course, these male entrepreneurs make it clear that their co-founders aren"t just window dressing. In addition to their personal knowledge of the female market, women have brought valuable skills to their ventures.
4
These pink-collar male entrepreneurs aren"t letting gender hold them back. In fact, they even see some benefits of their outsider perspective. "It can be hard for entrepreneurs to not think their personal experiences are a proxy for the market," explained Topolovac. "Because I come to the table without emotional attachment to the answers, it"s made me a better listener."
5
Women are the economic engines of some of the Internet"s hottest markets from e-commerce to social media. It"s no wonder then that savvy entrepreneurs—both men and women—are developing ways to better serve the female market. And as with any growing industry, it takes teams of both genders to truly succeed. Just as we need more women to bring their unique perspective to traditionally male-dominated fields, so too will pink-collar industries benefit from smart, innovative men.
填空题Directions: Read the following text and
choose the best answer from the right column to complete each of the unfinished
statements in the left column. There are two extra choices in the right column.
Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.The casino at the smart Atlantis resort on Paradise Island in the
Bahamas is bigger than 20 tennis court. Tourists flit from slot machine to
roulette table, drift past Temples of the Sun and Moon and walk by Crystal Gate
and Poseidon's Throne. But the only Bahamians in sight are waiters, croupier and
cashiers. The Bahamas legalised casino gambling in 1969, when
they were still a British colony. But mainly because of the influence of local
pastors, both Bahamians and foreigners who live in the country are banned from
gambling. This has not stopped residents from placing bets.
Instead, they gamble off the books in "number houses" or "webshops"—legal
internet cafes that offer illegal bets on the side and operate in plain sight.
These have mushroomed in recent years, even as tourism has stagnated and hotels
have reduced staff. This pretence will be put to the test on January 28th, when
a referendum will be held on legalising gambling in web shops, as well as on a
separate proposal to set up a national lottery. The well-funded
campaign supporting the initiative has been distributing posters and T-shirts.
It argues that web shops account for almost 2% of jobs in the country, and that
gambling taxes could help close the budget deficit. The "no" movement, which
calls itself "Save Our Bahamas", is led by the islands' evangelical churches.
Perry Christie, the prime minister, says he has "no horse in the race". The
opposition accuses him, without proof, of running a "fixed" referendum on behalf
of web-shop owners who back him financially. If the proposal is
approved, the government will probably try to pass a series of reforms supported
by the big hotel casinos. In order to compete with Las Vegas, New Jersey or
Macau, they say, they need authorisation for credit-card payment for chips,
online and mobile wagers, private VIP gaming rooms and betting on sports matches
while play is in progress. They also want stronger legal tools to collect unpaid
debts and the right to void payments caused by computer errors. The tourism
minister has already announced support for these policies. However, letting
Bahamians into the casinos is not yet on the agenda. A．are
prohibited from gambling B．are waiters, croupier and
cashiers C．is bigger than twenty tennis court
D．may try to pass a series of reforms E．are internet cafes that
offer illegal bets F．is accused of running a fixed
referendum G．is led by the islands' evangelical churches
填空题A. Not giving bonus to employees who deserve it
B. Not giving positive information
C. Not linking individual jobs to the big picture
D. Not recognizing and rewarding great performance
E. Failure to get employees obsessive about winning
F. Not giving feedback
G. Failure to give a clear vision of winning
Over the years, Gallup has surveyed millions of employees and customers on a variety of workplace issues. One very interesting fact emerges from all their research. Of all the employees Gallup has surveyed, just over half have a clear understanding of what"s expected of them when they show up to work every day.
And we wonder why excellence is such a rare commodity in the corporate world! As leaders, the things we don"t do or say often have more of an impact than those that we do. So I took my own informal poll and came up with the top five things managers
don"t
do that undermine excellence in organizations.
1
Nothing is more important to creating a culture of excellence than defining what winning looks like for your organization, for teams and for individuals. Having a clear definition of winning provides focus and clarity at every level. It gets everyone aligned and moving in the same direction. It motivates and inspires people to perform at their best. And when unexpected adversity occurs, it gives people an anchor to rally around and keep their energy and spirits high.
2
It"s not enough just todefine winning. To keep employees focused on winning, you have to infuse it into your employees" minds! Otherwise, people get so distracted by everything they have on their plates that they lose sight of the big picture.
3
Today"s employees want feedback, and lots of it! Without it, people don"t know where they stand in regards to performance expectations. More important, when you don"t tell employees how they"re doing, it sends the message that you don"t care. Without feedback, people make up information to fill the void. This made-up information is almost always negative. Giving regular feedback helps to prevent destructive "information gaps," and strengthens relationships between employees and their supervisors. It also leads to improved work quality, increased accountability, and a higher-performing work environment.
4
Most employees want to feel like they"re doing more than just earning a paycheck. Start by making sure every individual job actually supports getting to your destination. Then let people know—specifically—how their jobs contribute to winning and why it"s so important for them to perform at a high level. This makes it easier to set priorities, make decisions that support reaching your destination, and eliminate activities that get in the way of achieving the goal.
5
As leaders, we all know we need to acknowledge and reward employees for top performance. And I"m not talking about an automatic 1% bonus at the end of the year. I"m talking about small, ongoing, personalized rewards that show employees you really appreciate the effort they put in.
Nothing lets the air out of the excellence balloon quicker than a perceived attitude of indifference on the part of management. And nothing shouts "indifference" louder than failing to perform your job as a leader. Put these five tasks on your daily to-do list and watch your employees" performance soar! Don"t do them and don"t be surprised by a lack of excellence in your organization.
填空题Directions: Read the following text and
choose the best answer from the right column to complete each of the unfinished
statements in the left column. There are two extra choices in the right column.
Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.A
young consultant's life is tiring. A typical week starts before dawn on Monday,
with a rush to the airport and a flight to wherever the client is based. A
typical brain-for-hire can expect to stay in hotels at least three nights a
week, texting a distant lover. "It's quite normal to spend a year living out of
a suitcase," sighs one London-based consultant. An ex-McKinseyite in New York
adds that 15 to 18-hour weekdays are normal and six to eight-hour Saturdays and
Sundays common. It can be draining, she admits. So the job
appeals to "insecure over-achievers"—a phrase widely used in the industry—"who
are always worried that they haven't done enough work," jokes a former employee
of Bain except
enough sleep. A．holds that consultants have to travel
much B．claims that everything may happen in London
C．says that it is not uncommon to have long working hours
D．states that consultants always worry they have done too
little E．admits that it is regretful to work for a company
outside London F．argues that small cities also need smart
people to do smart things G．thinks that young consultants get
to experience life in the real world
问答题近些年来，上网的人越来越多，人们可以便捷地从电脑或手机上读到新闻、摄取信息甚至下载阅读电子图书，这令报摊、书店等传统读物经销商的生意日趋惨淡，如著名图书连锁店“光合作用”部分门店已关闭。该现象与趋势已引起公众的关注与热议。
填空题As companies continue to cut costs, the days of frequent promotions are a distant memory. So are the days of endless opportunities to show off your skills. Layoff survivors, faced with fewer options are finding themselves in career purgatory—there"s no way up and no way out.
After talking to career coaches, managers, recruiters, and psychologists, Fortune put together eight tips to help workers break free from the inertia.
1
Avoid taking cover
Don"t hide out behind your computer. "You should really work to increase or maintain the visibility that you have," says David Opton, founder and CEO of career management firm ExecuNet.
Build a circle of allies
Fortify your current relationships and work on making new ones, both within and outside the office. "Allies will be helpful in terms of letting you know information, like if there"s a job possibility that comes up," says Dee Soder, founder of the CEO Perspective Group. Who you know can make a big difference, especially in difficult times.
2
Load up on new tools
This is the perfect time to acquire new expertise. (If the boss can"t pay, do it on your own.)
3
Look beyond your job description
People don"t get promotions just because they do their jobs well; they get promotions because they take initiative. Lauren Doliva, a partner at recruiting firm Heidrick identify your weaknesses and work on them; find better ways to harness your strengths. For nontangible skills— leadership, management, communication—coaches recommend hiring a coach. A client of Soder"s was put into a new management role, but didn"t feel like she had what it took to oversee a bigger team. She went out and hired a coach who helped her learn how to interact with top executives as well as how to run a bigger territory. She has since been promoted again.
Taking responsibility for your own success is something everyone should do, regardless of external factors. Otherwise you"re heading straight for burnout.
5
Adjust your attitude
Don"t panic. Even though the economy is in a recession, your career is not coming to an end. How you look at the situation will have a big impact on whether you stay stuck or move ahead. "One can choose to say there is no opportunity or one can choose to look for it," says Doliva. In fact, many coaches believe that being stuck is just a state of mind.
A. Let people know when you accomplish something or when you put in the extra effort to get a project done early. Without being cheesy, make sure that you"re giving off the right vibes by keeping a positive attitude, avoiding emotional outbursts, and appearing calm and organized. And don"t forget to look the part. Many didn"t get promotions because of their professional presence—grooming, clothes, and body language.
B. When someone brought up the VP of operations, who was the obvious candidate for the job, the CEO rejected him outright. "He said no because the VP only does what"s expected," says Doliva. "The CEO didn"t see him as someone who would take the risks and the time to do the job better." Now is not the time for complacency, even if you"re not gunning for a spot in the executive suite. Coaches suggest that employees come in early, stay late, and take on extra projects. Little things can make a big difference.
C. Brush up on computer skills, audit a class, or get a certificate or degree in your field--and when jobs do open up, you"ll be ready.
D. "What you don"t want to do is start getting depressed", adds Melissa Karz, founder of Kadima Coaching. "Be what you want to attract." It might be helpful to hunt for motivation in other places. "Now is the time to start taking a look at how fulfilling your life is outside of work," says Lois Frankel, president of Corporate Coaching International. Find exciting activities to replenish yourself with--and then bring that positive spirit into the office.
E. Amid all of the layoffs, you"ve managed to keep your job--but the chances of moving up are slim to none. Nobody above you is going to leave now, and there"s no money for special projects to prove yourself. You"re stuck. Here"s how to avoid fading into the woodwork.
F. Speak up in meetings, join task forces, and volunteer for difficult projects that co-workers aren"t willing to tackle.
Crying is hardly an activity encouraged by society. Tears, be they of sorrow, anger, or joy, typically make Americans feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. The shedder of tears is likely to apologize, even when a devastating tragedy was the provocation. The observer of tears is likely to do everything possible to put an end to the emotional outpouring. But judging from recent studies of crying behavior, links between illness and crying and the chemical composition of tears, both those responses to tears are often inappropriate and may even be counterproductive.
Humans are the only animals definitely known to shed emotional tears. Since evolution has given rise to few, if any, purposeless physiological response, it is logical to assume that crying has one or more functions that enhance survival.
Although some observers have suggested that crying is a way to elicit assistance from others (as a crying baby might from its mother), the shedding of tears is hardly necessary to get help. Vocal cries would have been quite enough, more likely than tears to gain attention. So, it appears, there must be something special about tears themselves.
Indeed, the new studies suggest that emotional tears may play a direct role in alleviating stress. University of Minnesota researchers who are studying the chemical composition of tears have recently isolated two important chemicals from emotional tears. Both chemicals are found only in tears that are shed in response to emotion. Tears shed because of exposure to a cut onion would contain no such substance.
Researchers at several other institutions are investigating the usefulness of tears as a means of diagnosing human ills and monitoring drugs.
At Tulane University"s Tear Analysis Laboratory Dr. Peter Kastl and his colleagues report that they can use tears to detect drug abuse and exposure to medication, to determine whether a contact lens fits properly or why it may be uncomfortable, to study the causes of "dry eye" syndrome and the effects of eye surgery, and perhaps even to measure exposure to environmental pollutants.
At Columbia University Dr. Liasy Faris and colleagues are studying tears for clues to the diagnosis of diseases away from the eyes. Tears can be obtained painlessly without invading the body and only tiny amounts are needed to perform highly refined analyses.
填空题A. The famous athletes in the Games
B. The origin of Olympic Games
C. Interruption of the Games
D. Honor given to the winners
E. Olympic Games held nowadays
F. Hosting countries of the Games
G. Spectators and events of the ancient Games
1
In ancient Greece athletic festivals were very important and had strong religious associations. The Olympian athletic festival held every four years in honor of Zeus, king of the Olympian Gods, eventually lost its local character, became first a national event and then, after the rules against foreign competitors had been abolished, international. No one knows exactly how far back the Olympic Games go, but some official records date from 776 BC. But before that, the ancient Olympic Games may have existed for centuries. In the long history of human development, in addition to the ancient religion of social and cultural phenomenon, the Olympic movement can be regarded as one of the oldest social and cultural phenomenon.
2
The games took place in August on the plain by Mount Olympus. Many thousands of spectators gathered from all parts of Greece, but no married woman, was admitted even as a spectator. Slaves, women and dishonored persons were not allowed to compete. The exact sequence of events is uncertain, but events included boy"s gymnastics, boxing, wrestling, horse racing and field events, though there were fewer sports involved than in the modem Olympic Games.
3
On the last day of the Games, all the winners were honored by having a ring of holy olive leaves placed on their heads. So great was the honor that the winner of the foot race gave his name to the year of his victory. Although Olympic winners received no prize money, they were, in fact, richly rewarded by their state authorities. How their results compared with modem standards, we unfortunately have no means of telling.
4
After an uninterrupted history of almost 1,200 years, the Games were suspended by the Romans in 394 AD. They continued for such a long time because people believed in the philosophy behind the Olympics: the idea that a healthy body produced a healthy mind, and that the spirit of competition in sports and games was preferable to the competition that caused wars. It was over 1,500 years before another such international athletic gathering took place in Athens in 1896. In 1896 year 6 April to 15 April, Athens hosted the first modern Olympic Games.
5
Nowadays, the Games are held in different countries in turn. The host country provides vast facilities, including a stadium, swimming pools and living accommodation, but competing countries pay their own athlete"s expenses. The Olympics start with the arrival in the stadium of a torch, lighted on Mount Olympus by the sun"s rays. It is carried by a succession of runners to the stadium. The torch symbolizes the continuation of the ancient Greek athletic ideals, and it burns throughout the Games until the closing ceremony. So the torch symbolizes peace, light, and so the significance of unity and friendship. The well-known Olympic flag, however, is a modem conception: the five interlocking rings symbolize the uniting of all five continents participating in the Games. Among them, the blue represents Europe, yellow for Asia, black for Africa, green for Oceania, red for the Americas.
翻译题Most people would define optimism as endlessly happy, with a glass that’s perpetually half fall. But that’s exactly the kind of false cheerfulness that positive psychologists wouldn’t recommend. “Healthy optimists means being in touch with reality.” says Tal Ben-Shahar, a Harvard professor, According to Ben- Shahar,realistic optimists are these who make the best of things that happen, but not those who believe everything happens for the best.
Ben-Shahar uses three optimistic exercisers. When he feels down-say, after giving a bad lecture-he grants himself permission to be human. He reminds himself that mot every lecture can be a Nobel winner; some will be less effective than others. Next is reconstruction, He analyzes the weak lecture, leaning lessons, for the future about what works and what doesn’t. Finally, there is perspective, which involves acknowledging that in the ground scheme of life, one lecture really doesn’t matter.
Throughout the nation"s more than 15,000 school districts, widely differing approaches to teaching science and math have emerged. Though there can be strength in diversity, a new international analysis suggests that this variability has instead contributed to lackluster achievement scores by U.S. children relative to their peers in other developed countries.
Indeed, concludes William H. Schmidt of Michigan State University, who led the new analysis, "no single intellectually coherent vision dominates U.S. educational practice in math or science." The reason, he said, "is because the system is deeply and fundamentally flawed."
The new analysis, released this week by the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va., is based on data collected from about 50 nations as part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study.
Not only do approaches to teaching science and math vary among individual U. S. communities, the report finds, but there appears to be little strategic focus within a school district"s curricula, its textbooks, or its teachers" activities. This contrasts sharply with the coordinated national programs of most other countries.
On average, U.S. students study more topics within science and math than their international counterparts do. This creates an educational environment that "is a mile wide and an inch deep," Schmidt notes.
For instance, eighth graders in the United States cover about 33 topics in math versus just 19 in Japan. Among science courses, the international gap is even wider. U.S. curricula for this age level resemble those of a small group of countries including Australia, Thailand, Iceland, and Bulgaria. Schmidt asks whether the United States wants to be classed with these nations, whose educational systems "share our pattern of splintered visions" but which are not economic leaders.
The new report "couldn"t come at a better time," says Gerald Wheeler, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association in Arlington. "The new National Science Education Standards provide that focused vision," including the call "to do less, but in greater depth."
Implementing the new science standards and their math counterparts will be the challenge, he and Schmidt agree, because the decentralized responsibility for education in the United States requires that any reforms be tailored and instituted one community at a time.
In fact, Schmidt argues, reforms such as these proposed national standards "face an almost impossible task, because even though they are intellectually coherent, each becomes only one more voice in the babble."
"I"ve never met a human worth cloning," says cloning expert Mark Westhusin from his lab at Texas A~M University. "It"s a stupid endeavor." That"s an interesting choice of adjective, coming from a man who has spent millions of dollars trying to clone a 13-year-old dog named Missy. So far, he and his team have not succeeded, though they have cloned two cows and expect to clone a cat soon. They just might succeed in cloning Missy this spring—or perhaps not for another 5 years. It seems the reproductive system of man"s best friend is one of the mysteries of modern science.
Westhusin"s experience with cloning animals leaves him upset by all this talk of human cloning. In three years of work on the Missy project, using hundreds upon hundreds of dog"s eggs, the A he"s put up $3.7 million so far to fund A&M"s research.
Contrary to some media reports, Missy is not dead. The owner wants a twin to carry on Missy"s fine qualities after she does die. The prototype is, by all accounts, athletic, good-natured and supersmart. Missy"s master does not expect an exact copy of her. He knows her clone may not have her temperament. In a statement of purpose, Missy"s owner and the A&M team say they are "both looking forward to studying the ways that her clones differ from Missy."
Besides cloning a great dog, the project may contribute insight into the old question of nature vs. nurture. It could also lead to the cloning of special rescue dogs and many endangered animals.
However, Westhusin is cautious about his work. He knows that even if he gets a dog pregnant, the offspring, should they survive, will face the problems shown at birth by other cloned animals: abnormalities like immature lungs and heart and weight problems. "Why would you ever want to clone humans," Westhusin asks, "when we"re not even close to getting it worked out in animals yet?"
I had an experience some years ago which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. One January, I had to officiate at two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community. Both had died "full of years," as the Bible would say: both yielded to the normal wearing out of the body after a long and full life. Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence calls on the two families on the same afternoon.
At the first home, the son of the deceased woman said to me, "If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today. It"s my fault that she died." At the second home, the son of the other deceased woman said, "If only I hadn"t insisted on my mother"s going to Florida, she would be alive today. That long airplane ride, the abrupt change of climate, was more than she could take. It"s my fault that she"s dead."
When things don"t turn out as we would like them to, it is very tempting to assume that had we done things differently, the story would have had a happier ending. Priests know that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out badly, they believe that the opposite course—keeping Mother at home, postponing the operation—would have turned out better. After all, how could it have turned out any worse?
There seem to be two elements involved in our readiness to feel guilt. The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens. That leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds.
The second element is the notion that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believing that every disaster is our fault. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood. Psychologists speak of the infantile myth of omnipotence. A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it. He wakes up in the morning and summons the rest of the world to its tasks. He cries, and someone comes to attend to him. When he is hungry, people feed him, and when he is wet, people change him. Very often, we do not completely outgrow that infantile notion that our wishes cause things to happen.
问答题When Americans express indifference about the problem of unequal incomes, it"s usually because they see the United States as a land of boundless opportunity. Sure, you"ll hear it said, our country has pretty big income disparities compared with Western Europe. And sure, those disparities have been widening in recent decades. But stark economic inequality is the price we pay for living in a dynamic economy with avenues to advancement that the class-bound Old World can only dream about. We may have less equality of economic outcomes, but we have a lot more equality of economic opportunity.
The problem is, this isn"t true. Most of Western Europe today is both more equal in incomes and more economically mobile than the United States. A nation that prides itself on its lack of class rigidity has, in short, become significantly more economically rigid than many other developed countries. How did our perception of ourselves end up so inconsistent with reality?
填空题A. What to do as a student?
B. Various definitions of plagiarism
C. Ideas should always be sourced
D. Ignorance can be forgiven
E. Plagiarism is equivalent to theft
F. The consequences of plagiarism
G. The relation between journals and plagiarism Scholars, writers and teachers in the modern academic community have strong feelings about acknowledging the use of another person"s ideas. In the English-speaking world, the term plagiarism is used to label the practice of not giving credit for the source of one"s ideas. Simply stated, plagiarism is "the wrongful appropriation or purloining, and publication as one"s own of the ideas, or the expression of ideas of another."
41. ______
The penalties for plagiarism vary from situation to situation. In many universities, the punishment may range from failure in a particular course to expulsion from the university. In the literary world, where writers are protected from plagiarism by international copyright laws, the penalty may range from a small fine to imprisonment and a ruined career. Protection of scholars and writers, through the copyright laws and through the social pressures of the academic and literary communities, is a relatively recent concept. Such social pressures and copyright laws require writers to give scrupulous attention to documentation of their sources.
42. ______
Students, as inexperienced scholars themselves, must avoid various types of plagiarism by being self-critical in their use of other scholars" ideas and by giving appropriate credit for the source of borrowed ideas and words, otherwise dire consequences may occur. There are at least three classifications of plagiarism as it is revealed in students" inexactness in identifying sources properly. They are plagiarism by accident, by ignorance, and by intention.
43. ______
Plagiarism by accident, or oversight, sometimes is the result of the writer"s inability to decide or remember where the idea came from. He may have read it long ago, heard it in a lecture since forgotten, or acquired it second-hand or third-hand from discussions with colleagues. He may also have difficulty in deciding whether the idea is such common knowledge that no reference to the original source is needed. Although this type of plagiarism must be guarded against, it is the least serious and, if lessons learned, can be exempt from being severely punished.
44. ______
Plagiarism through ignorance is simply a way of saying that inexperienced writers often do not know how or when to acknowledge their sources. The techniques for documentation—note-taking, quoting, footnoting, listing bibliography—are easily learned and can prevent the writer from making unknowing mistakes or omissions in his references. Although "there is no copyright in news, or in ideas, only in the expression of them," the writer cannot plead ignorance when his sources for ideas are challenged.
45. ______
The most serious kind of academic thievery is plagiarism by intention. The writer, limited by his laziness and dullness, copies the thoughts and language of others and claims them for his own. He not only steals, he tries to deceive the reader into believing the ideas are original. Such words as immoral, dishonest, offensive, and despicable are used to describe the practice of plagiarism by intention.
The opposite of plagiarism is acknowledgement. All mature and trustworthy writers make use of the ideas of others but they are careful to acknowledge their indebtedness to their sources. Students, as developing scholars, writers, teachers, and professional leaders, should recognize and assume their responsibility to document all sources from which language and thoughts are borrowed. Other members of the profession will not only respect the scholarship, they will admire the humility and honesty.
问答题Directions:
You have just come back from Canada and found a music CD in your luggage that you forgot to return to Bob, your landlord there. Write him a letter to
1) make an apology, and 2) suggest a solution. You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteatleast150words.WriteyouressayontheANSWERSHEET.
填空题A. Medicate with caution and see a doctor.
B. Go to bed early.
C. Get rid of time cues.
D. Get out of bed.
E. Try relaxation techniques.
F. Ease anxiety.
G. Take medicine when you are sleepless.
How to Fall Asleep?
It"s 4 a. m.: you should be sleeping! You should be logging those crucial seven-plus hours of quality sleep each night, and the frustration that you cannot fall asleep will make you feel angrier at this 4: 02 a. m. stare session. And it"s hard to fall asleep when you"re infuriated.
So what do you do? The tips below might help you sleep easier. Here"s the advice of Eric Olson, co-director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minn., and Harneet Walia, a doctor in the Cleveland Clinic"s Sleep Disorders Center:
1
When you lie awake in bed, you send yourself the wrong message. "You"re basically training your body not to sleep in bed, but to lie there and not sleep," Dr. Walia says. "And your mind can get conditioned to that." So if you"re unable to sleep for about a 15 or 20 minute stretch, try something relaxing and non-stimulating. Listen to music. Read a book. Whatever activity you choose, do it away from bed, and return when you"re feeling tired.
2
Use whatever relaxation tips you know to combat this inappropriately timed alertness. Try your favorite calming yoga pose. Neuroscience researcher Catherine Kerr explains a simple way of relaxing through breathing. You simply note the rising and falling of your breath, and focus on the parts of your body where you feel your breath, whether it"s in the lungs, tip of your nose or elsewhere. Visualization is another classic relaxing technique, in which you picture yourself someplace pleasant and calm. And what about the mother of all sleep remedies— counting sheep? Olson views this as a "mental distraction technique," like visualization. He says, "You"re getting your mind off of "I can"t sleep" and onto something else."
3
Sometimes the sleeplessness stems from worry. Your brain is overworking, thinking about your bank account and the big meeting tomorrow. For people who consistently have trouble "quieting the mind" at night, Dr. Olson suggests trying "to train your mind to think about those things at more appropriate times of the day." By systematically documenting these worries during the day, ideally, you"ll be less likely to focus on them at night.
4
Another common anxiety that hides in the wee hours of a sleepless night is the mounting awareness that you"re not asleep when you should be. Stress and frustration increase as you worry about how you need to be up for work in four (or three or two) hours. The experts" suggestion? Get rid of time cues. "No clock watching," Walia says, "That"s a big no-no. Turn the clock around."
5
Whether prescription or over-the-counter, Dr. Walia and Dr. Olson do not recommend drugs as a first choice for relieving sleeplessness. Ideally, the tips above and improved sleep hygiene should do the trick. But, should you choose a sleep aid, Olson reminds people that, of course, they make you sleepy. If your sleeplessness is frequent and influencing your daytime behavior, bring it up with your physician. "When people start to feel like they"re worried about their sleep during the day, that"s probably the time when they need some guidance," Olson says.
问答题"Sustainability" has become a popular word these days, but to Ted Ning, the concept will always have personal meaning. Having endured a painful period of unsustainability in his own life made it clear to him that sustainability-oriented values must be expressed through everyday action and choice.
Ning recalls spending a confusing year in the late 1990s selling insurance. He"d been through the dot-corn boom and burst and, desperate for a job, signed on with a Boulder agency.
It didn"t go well. "It was a really bad move because that"s not my passion," says Ning, whose dilemma about the job translated, predictably, into a lack of sales. "I was miserable. I had so much anxiety that I would wake up in the middle of the night and stare at the ceiling. I had no money and needed the job. Everyone said, "Just wait, you"ll turn the corner, give it some time.""
问答题Suppose you got a wrong product from a online shopping center.
Write a letter to file a complaint. You should 1) tell
the manager about the fact, and 2) ask for
compensation. You should write about 100 words on the
ANSWER SHEET. Do not use your own name. Use "Li Ming"
instead.
填空题Directions: Read the following text and answer questions by
finding a subtitle for each of the marked parts or paragraphs. There are two
extra items in the subtitles. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.A. Importance of pursuing happiness B. Capitalism, a
double-edged sword C. The modification of the traditional
criterion D. The thing that cannot be attained
E. The wave of the emerging notion F. A paradox in
question G. The unparalleled economic growth
Having grown at an annual rate of 3.2% per head since 2000, the world economy is
over half way towards catching up with its best decade ever. If it keeps going
at this speed, it will beat both the supposedly perfect 1950s and the 1960s.
Market capitalism, the engine that runs most of the world economy, seems to be
doing its job well. {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}}
{{/U}} But is it? Once upon a time, that job was generally agreed
to be to make people better off. Nowadays that's not so clear. A number of
economists, in search of big problems to solve, and politicians, looking for
bold promises to make, think that it ought to be doing something else: making
people happy. {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}}
{{/U}} The view that economics should be about more than money is
widely held in continental Europe. In debates with Anglo-American capitalists,
sly extravagant nobles have tended to cite the idea of "quality of life" to
excuse slower economic growth. But now David Cameron, the latest leader of
Britain's once rather materialistic Conservative Party, has upheld the notion of
"general well-being" (GWB) as an alternative to more traditional GDP. In
America, meanwhile, inequality, overwork and other hidden costs of prosperity
were much discussed in the mid-term elections; and "wellness" (as opposed to
health) has become a huge industry, catering especially to the prosperous
discontent of the baby-boomers. {{U}} {{U}} 3
{{/U}} {{/U}} Much of this draws on the upstart science of
happiness, which mixes psychology with economics. Its adherents start with
abundant survey data, such as those derived from the simple, folksy question put
to thousands of Americans every year or two since 1972:"Taken all together, how
would you say things are these days—would you say that you are very happy,
pretty happy or not too happy?" Some of the results are unsurprising: the rich
report being happier than do the poor. But a paradox emerges that requires
explanation: affluent countries have not got much happier as they have grown
richer. From America to Japan, figures for wellbeing have barely
changed. {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}
The science of happiness offers two explanations for the paradox.
Capitalism, it notes, is good at turning luxuries into necessities—bringing to
the masses what the elites have always enjoyed. But the flip side of this genius
is that people come to take for granted things they once desired from afar.
Frills (不实用的装饰) they never thought they could have become essentials that they
cannot do without. People are stuck on a monotonous lifestyle: as they achieve a
better standard of living, they become accustomed to its pleasures.
{{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}} Capitalism's
ability to take things downmarket also has its limits. Many of the things people
most prize—such as the top jobs, the best education, or an exclusive home
address—are luxuries by necessity. An elite schooling, for example, ceases to be
so if it is provided to everyone. These "positional goods", as they are called,
are in fixed supply: you can enjoy them only if others do not. The amount of
money and effort required to grab them depends on how much your rivals are
putting in.
问答题Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.WriteyouressayontheANSWERSHEET.