复合题Asocialgroupcanbedefinedasasetoftwoormorepeoplewhointeractregularlyandinamannerthatisdefinedbysomecommonpurpose,asetofnorms(sharedstandardsofbehavior),andastructureofstatusesandroleswithinthegroup.Bythisdefinition,themembersofacollegeclass,ofafamily,andofaworkplaceallqualifyassocialgroups.Incontrast,peoplestandingonacornerwaitingatatrafficlightdonotqualify,eveniftheydointeract.Thereisnoregularitytothesepeople’sinteraction,noranydivisionofrolesandstatuses.Theyshareacommonpurposeonlytotheextentthattheyallwanttocrossthestreet,butonceacross,theywillallgotheirseparateways.Sociologistsrefertosuchaclusterofpeopleasanaggregate.Aparticularkindofsocialgroupthatisofgreatimportanceinmodernsocietyistheformalorganization,whichisdefinedasarelativelylarge-scalegrouphavinganame,someofficialpurposeorgoals,astructureofstatusesandroles,andasetofrulesdesignedtopromotethesegoals.Whatdistinguishesformalorganizationsfromotherkindsofgroupsistheofficial—andusuallywritten—natureofthegoals,rules,andstatusstructure.Thestructureofaformalorganizationissufficientlyclearsothatitcanbeputonpaperintheformofanorganizationalchart.Formalorganizationscanbegroupedintothreebroadtypes.Someorganizationsarevoluntaryorganizations—peoplechoosetojointhembecausetheyareinterestedinthegroup’spurposeoractivities.Examplesofvoluntaryorganizationsarepoliticalgroupsandprofessionalorganizations.Anothertype,overlappingsomewhatwithvoluntaryorganizations,istheutilitarianorganization—anorganizationdesignedtoaccomplishsometask.Businessesandneighborhoodimprovementassociationsareexamplesofthistype,asarelarge-scaleorganizationssuchasgovernmentsandorporations.Finally,therearecoerciveorganizations—organizationsthatpeoplearecompelledtoparticipatein,suchasthemilitaryinsomecountries.Childrenfrequentlyparticipatein,awiderrangeofcoerciveorganizations,mostnotablyschools.

复合题Will there ever be another Einstein? This is theundercurrent of conversation at Einstein memorial meetingsthroughout the year. A new Einstein will emerge,scientists say. But it may take a long time. After all,more than 200 years separated Einstein from his nearestrival, Isaac Newton.Many physicists say the next Einstein hasnt been bornyet, or is a baby now. Thats because the quest for aunified theory that would account for all the forces ofnature has pushed current mathematics to its limits. Newmath must be created before the problem can be solved.But researchers say there are many other factors workingagainst another Einstein emerging anytime soon.For one thing, physics is a much different field today. InEinsteins day, there were only a few thousand physicistsworldwide, and the theoreticians who could intellectuallyrival Einstein probably would fit into a streetcar withseats to spare.Education is different, too. One crucial aspect ofEinsteins training that is overlooked is the years ofphilosophy he read as a teenager—Kant, Schopenhauer andSpinoza, among others. It taught him how to thinkindependently and abstractly about space and time, and itwasnt long before he became a philosopher himself.“The independence created by philosophical insight is—inmy opinion—the mark of distinction between a mere artisan(工匠) or specialist and a real seeker after truth, ”Einstein wrote in 1944.And he was an accomplished musician. The interplay betweenmusic and math is well known. Einstein would furiouslyplay his violin as a way to think through a knotty physicsproblem.Today, universities have produced millions of physicists.There arent many jobs in science for them, so they go toWall Street and Silicon Valley to apply their analyticalskills to more practical—and rewarding—efforts.“Maybe there is an Einstein out there today, ” saidColumbia University physicist Brian Greene, “but it wouldbe a lot harder for him to be heard. ”Especially considering what Einstein was proposing.“The actual fabric of space and time curving? My God,what an idea! ” Greene said at a recent gathering at theAspen Institute. “It takes a certain type of person whowill bang his head against the wall because you believeyoull find the solution. ”Perhaps the best examples are the five scientific papersEinstein wrote in his “miracle year” of 1905. These“thought experiments” were pages of calculations signedand submitted to the prestigious journal Annalen derPhysik by a virtual unknown. There were no footnotes orcitations.What might happen to such a submission today?“We all get papers like those in the mail, ” Greene said.“We put them in the junk file. ”What do scientists seem to agree upon, judging from the first two paragraphs?

复合题AnAmericanscientisthasfoundthatmanyimagesofdinosaursmaybewrong.Foryears,picturesoftheancientcreatureshaveshowntheirnoseopeningsnearthetopofthehead.Thenewstudysuggeststhedinosaursnostrilswerejustabovethemouth.Dinosaursusedtheirnostrilstobreathe,smellandcontroltheirbodytemperature.Thenewtheorycouldhelpexplainhowthehugecreatureswereabletosurvivebyusingtheirsenseofsmelltofindfood,amateandpossibleenemies.LawrenceWitmerofOhioUniversityinAthens,Ohioledthestudy.Thepublicationsciencereportedhisfindings.Manyoftheearlydinosaurremainsrecoveredbyscientistswerefromhugecreaturescalledsauropods.Scientistsbelievedthatsauropodsmusthavelivedinwaterbecausetheirbodiesweresohugeandtheirnecksweresolong.Nostrilshighontheheadwouldhavepermittedthedinosaurstobreathewhilepartlyunderwater.Thediscoveryofasauropodheadbonein1884addedsupportforthisbelief.Theskullhadalargeholeatthetopofthehead.ProfessorWitmersaysexpertslearnedyearslaterthatsauropodsgenerallywerenotseacreatures.Buthesaystheearliertheoryaboutnostrilpositionwasextendedtootherdinosaurs.Onlydinosaurboneshavesurvivedasfossilremains,Scientistshaveneverrecovereddinosaurremainsofsofttissue.Scientistsinterestedinthephysicalappearanceofdinosaursoftenstudybirdsandanimalssimilartotheancientcreatures.ProfessorWitmerexaminedforty-fivekindsofbirds,crocodilesandlizardsthataretheclosestlivingrelativestodinosaurs.Henotedtheplacementofsofttissuethroughhundredsofx-rayimagesandbycuttingpiecesoftissue.Softtissueleavesmarkingsonbone.ProfessorWitmerusedthisinformationtomakeamapofthelikelypositionofsofttissueinthedinosaursnoses.Hefoundthatthebirdsandreptileshestudiedshareacommonnostrilposition.ProfessorWitmerfoundthattheholescientistsoncethoughtwasanostrilindinosaursisjustonepartofthelargernasalpassage.Hefoundthatthenostrilswerefartherforwardandclosertothemouth.Hesaysthisnewnostrilpositionwastrueforalldinosaurs.

复合题Threeweeksago,astorywepublishedputusinthemiddleofacontroversy.Itwashardlythefirsttimethathashappened,butthisinstancesuggestedanopportunityformorethanusualcolloquyintheletterspages.Soforthisoccasionandotherslikeit,wehaverevivedasectionofTIMEcalledForum,whichbeginsonpage28,concernsourcoversubjectthisweek—theNationofIslamanditsleader,LouisParrakhan.Thedecisiontopursueanin-depthinvestigationofthissubjectwaspromptedbytheanti-SemiticandotherwiseracistspeechthatFarrakhan’saide,KhallidMuhammad,gaveatKeanCollegeinNewJersey.ThestorywasnewsworthyinlargepartbecauseitcamejustassomemainstreamblackgroupswereattemptingtoformaconstructivealliancewithFarrakhanandtheNationofIslam.Newsofthespeechloosedaflashfloodofreportageandcommentaryonthesubject,andatthattimewebeganthekindofweeks-longinvestigationacoverstorylikethisonerequires.Atthesametime,wepublishedanarticleononetellingaspectofthelargerstory:thefactthatsomeblackleaderswereoffendedwhenwhitescalledonthemtodenounceracisminotherblackleaderswhileseemingtoignoreoffensiveremarksbywhites—as,forexample,SenatorErnestHoolings,whohadsometimebeforemadeasupposedlyjokingreferencetoanAfricandelegationascannibals.Thelargerissuewasthatblacksfeeltheyshouldbepresumedtoabhoranti-Semitismandotherformsofracismwithouthavingtosayno,andthattheyresenttheattemptbywhitestoscripttheirviews,behaviororalliances.Thestoryraisedinterestingandimportantpoints,anditclearlystruckanerve.Thereactionwasinstantaneousandstrong,mostofitcomingfromwhiteandJewishreaders.Somearguedthatourstorywasopinionmasqueradingasfact.Somepeople,bothwhiteandblack,saidthatcreditingwhitepressureforthedenunciationsofFarrakhanwascondescending,thatitdeprivedblackleadersofcreditforwhatwassimplyprincipledbehavior.SomereadersalsofeltthattoconcentrateonthisissuewastominimizeordownplaythevirulenceofMuhammad’sspeech.AndtherewasageneralviewamongourcriticsthatnoamountofgoodworksbytheNationofIslamcouldjustifyanyblackleader’stolerationof,nottomentionalliancewith,sucharacistorganization.Theissuesraisedbythestory’scriticsareimportant.Still,thismuchmustbesaid:Muhammad’sspeechwaswhollydisreputableandvile,andIbelieveourstorymadethatclear.Ourfocus,however,wasnotonblackracismbutontheperceptionofasubtleformofwhiteracism—thesenseamongsomebackleadersthat,asthestoryputit,“somewhitesfeelaneedtomakeallblackleadersspeakoutwheneveroneblacksayssomethingstupid.”ThatthisfeelingofgrievanceexistsisnotjustTIMEsopinion.Itisfact.

复合题The biggest problem facing Chile as it promotes itself asa tourist destination to be reckoned with, is that it isat the end of the earth. It is too far south to be aconvenient stop on the way to anywhere else and is muchfarther than a relatively cheap half-days flight awayfrom the big tourist markets, unlike Mexico, for example.Chile, therefore, has to fight hard to attract tourists,to convince travelers that it is worth coming halfwayround the world to visit. But it is succeeding, not onlyin existing markets like the USA and Western Europe but innew territories, in particular the Far East. Marketscloser to home, however, are not being forgotten. Morethan 50% of visitors to Chile still come from its nearestneighbor, Argentina, where the cost of living is muchhigher.Like all South American countries, Chile sees tourism as avaluable earner of foreign currency, although it has beenfar more serious than most in promoting its image abroad.Relatively stable politically within the region, it hasbenefited from the problems suffered in other areas. InPeru,guerrilla warfare in recent years has dealt a heavyblow to the tourist industry and fear of street crime inBrazil has reduced the attraction of Rio de Janeiro as adream destination for foreigners.More than 150, 000 people are directly involved in Chilestourist sector, an industry which earns the country morethan US $ 950 million each year. The state-run NationalTourist Service, in partnership with a number of privatecompanies, is currently running a worldwide campaign,taking part in trade fairs and international events toattract visitors to Chile.Chiles great strength as a tourist destination is itsgeographical diversity. From the parched Atacama Desert inthe north to the Antarctic snowfields of the south, it ismore than 5, 000 km long. With the Pacific on one side andthe Andean mountains on the other, Chile boasts naturalattractions. Its beaches are not up to Caribbean standardsbut resorts such as Vina del Mar are generally clean andun-spoilt and have a high standard of services.But the trump card is the Andes mountain range. There area number of excellent ski resorts within one hours driveof the capital, Santiago, and the national parks in thesouth are home to rare animal and plant species. The parksalready attract specialist visitors, includingmountaineers, who come to climb the technically difficultpeaks, and fishermen, lured by the salmon and trout in theregions rivers.However, infrastructural development in these areas islimited. The ski resorts do not have as many lifts astheir European counterparts and the poor quality of roadsin the south means that only the most determined travelerssee the best of the national parks.Air links between Chile and the rest of the world are, atpresent, relatively poor. While Chiles two largestairlines have extensive networks within South America,they operate only a small number of routes to the UnitedStates and Europe, while services to Asia are almost non-existent.Internal transport links are being improved and luxuryhotels are being built in one of its national parks. Noris development being restricted to the Andes. EasterIsland and Chiles Antarctic Territory are also on thelist of areas where the Government believes it can createtourist markets.But the rush to open hitherto inaccessible areas to masstourism is not being welcomed by everyone. Indigenous andenvironmental groups, including Greenpeace, say that manyparts of the Andes will suffer if they become over-developed. There is a genuine fear that areas of Chilewill suffer the cultural destruction witnessed in Mexicoand European resorts.The policy of opening up Antarctica to tourism is alsopolitically sensitive. Chile already has permanentsettlements on the ice and many people see the decision toallow tourists there as a political move, enhancingSantiagos territorial claim over part of Antarctica.The Chilean Government has promised to respect theenvironment as it seeks to bring tourism to these areas.But there are immense commercial pressures to exploit thecountrys tourism potential. The Government will have tomonitor developments closely if it is genuinely concernedin creating a balanced, controlled industry and if theprice of an increasingly lucrative tourist market is notgoing to mean the loss of many of Chiles natural riches.Why is Chile disadvantaged in the promotion of its tourism?

复合题Directions: In this section, you are to read a passage with 15 blanks and fill in the blanks with words or phrases given. Choose one suitable word or phrase marked A, B, C and D for each blank.With

复合题In this section there are four passages followed by 20 questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers marked A. B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the correct answer

复合题Directions: In this section there are three passages followed by questions or unfinished statements, each with four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that you think is the best answer mark your answers on your answer sheet.Passage oneLike most people, I’ ve long understood that I’ ll be judged by my occupation, that my profession is used by people to see how talented I am. Recently, however, I was disappointed to see that it also decides how I’ m treated as a person.Last year I left a professional position as a small-town reporter and took a job waiting tables. As someone paid to serve food to people, I had customers say and do things to me I suppose they’ d never say or do to the people they know. One night a man talking on his cell phone waved me away, then beckoned me back with his finger a minute later, saying angrily that he was ready to order and asking where I’ d been.I had waited tables during summers in college and was treated like a peon by plenty of people. But at 19 years old, I believed I deserved inferior treatment from professional adults. Besides, people responded to me differently after I told them I was in college. Customers would joke that one day I’ d be sitting at their table, waiting to be served.Once I graduated I took a job at a community newspaper. From my first day, I heard a respectful tone from everyone who called me. I assumed this was the way the professional world worked — politely and formally.I soon found out differently. I sat several feet away from a person in advertising department with a similar name. Our calls would often get mixed up and someone asking for Kristen would be transferred to Christie. The mistake was immediately clear. Perhaps it was because of money, but people used a tone with Kristen that they never used with me.My job title made people treat me with courtesy. So it was a shock to return to the restaurant industry.It’s no secret that there’ s a lot to put up with when waiting tables, and fortunately, much of it can be easily forgotten when you pocket the tips. The service industry exists to meet others’ needs. Still, it seemed that many of my customers didn’ t get the difference between server and servant.I’m now applying to graduate school, which means someday I’ ll return to a profession where people need to be nice to me in order to get what they want. I think I’ ll take them to dinner first, and see how they treat someone whose job is to serve them.

复合题Directions: In this section there are reading passages followed by multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your answer sheet.Passage twoYet the difference in tome and language must strike us, so soon as it is philosophy that speaks: that change should remind us that even if the function of religion and that of reason coincide, this function is performed in the two cases by very different organs. Religions are many, reason one. Religion consists of conscious ideas, hopes, enthusiasms, and objects of worship; it operates by grace and flourishes by prayer. Reason, on the other hand, is a mere principle or potential order, on which indeed. We may come to reflect but which exists in us ideally only, without variation or stress of any kind. We conform, or do not conform, to it; it does not urge or chide us, not call for any emotions on our part other than those naturally aroused by the various objects which it unfolds in their true nature and proportion. Religion brings some order into life by weighting it with new materials. Reason adds to the natural materials only the perfect order which it introduces into them. Rationality is nothing but a form, an ideal constitution which experience may more or less embody. Religion is a part of experience itself, a mass of sentiments and ideas. The one is an inviolate principle, the other a changing and struggling force. And yet this struggling and changing force of religion seems to direct man toward something eternal. It seems to make for an ultimate harmony within the soul and for an ultimate harmony between the soul and all that the soul depends upon. Religion, in its intent, is a more conscious and direct pursuit of the Life of Reason than is society, science, or art, for these approach and flu out the ideal life tentatively and piecemeal, hardly regarding the foal or caring for the ultimate justification of the instinctive aims. Religion also has an instinctive and blind side and bubbles up in all manner of chance practices and intuitions; soon, however, it feels its way toward the heart of things, and from whatever quarter it may come, veers in the direction of the ultimate.Nevertheless, we must confess that this religious pursuit of the Life of Reason has been singularly abortive. Those within the pale of each religion may prevail upon themselves, to express satisfaction with its results, thanks to a fond partiality in reading the past and generous draughts of hope for the future; but any one regarding the various religions at once and comparing their achievements with what reason requires, must feel how terrible is the disappointment which they have one and all prepared for mankind. Their chief anxiety has been to offer imaginary remedies for mortal ills, some of which are incurable essentially, while others might have been really cured by well-directed effort. The Greed oracles, for instance, pretended to heal out natural ignorance, which has its appropriate though difficult cure, while the Christian vision of heaven pretended to be an antidote to our natural death--the inevitable correlate of birth and of a changing and conditioned existence. By methods of this sort little can be done for the real betterment of life. To confuse intelligence and dislocate sentiment by gratuitous fictions is a short-sighted way of pursuing happiness. Nature is soon avenged. An unhealthy exaltation and a one-sided morality have to be followed by regrettable reactions. When these come. The real rewards of life may seem vain to a relaxed vitality, and the very name of virtue may irritate young spirits untrained in and natural excellence. Thus religion too often debauches the morality it comes to sanction and impedes the science it ought to fulfill.What is the secret of this ineptitude? Why does religion, so near to rationality in its purpose, fall so short of it in its results? The answer is easy: religion pursues rationality through the imagination. When it explains events or assigns causes, it is an imaginative substitute for science. When it gives precepts, insinuates ideals, or remoulds aspiration, it is an imaginative substitute for wisdom — I mean for the deliberate and impartial pursuit of all food. The condition and the aims of life are both represented in religion poetically, but this poetry tends to arrogate to itself literal truth and moral authority, neither of which it possesses. Hence the depth and importance of religion becomes intelligible no less than its contradictions and practical disasters. Its object is the same as that of reason, but its method is to proceed by intuition and by unchecked poetical conceits.

复合题Alcoholism is the worst drug problem in the United States. Over 9 million Americans suffer from physical, psychological, or social difficulties caused by excessive drinking. Such people are unable to control their drinking and get into trouble of one kind or another—on the job, at home, on the highway—because of their drinking. In these ways, alcoholic people are a burden to themselves, their families, and society, adversely affecting the lives of tens of millions of their relatives and associates and draining the economy of $15 billions a year.Less than 5% of alcoholic people and problem drinkers are public. Most alcoholics—75 % are men—live with their families in respectable neighborhoods, hold jobs, or are full-time homemakers. Alcoholics are represented in all income brackets, in all races, and in all religions. Alcohol plays a major role in half of the highways deaths in the United States; the proportion is even higher among youths aged 16 to 24.In the U. S. only in recent years has alcoholism been recognized as an illness—not a moral or criminal offence—and as a major health problem demanding a national program of treatment and prevention. Before that, no such national program existed, and the battle against alcoholism was ineffective. Legislation forbidding the manufacture and sale of alcoholic drinks (Prohibition), campaigns aimed at shaming or scaring alcoholic people into sobriety, and scientific research that attempted to understand and break the chain of biochemical events that characterize alcohol addiction —these and other approaches all proved failures, leading many to throw up their hands and declare the battle hopeless. After the cancellation of Prohibition in 1933, each state was left to its own devices, and the following patchwork of local laws (a “dry” county here a “wet” county there) served only to reflect the conflicting attitudes of diverse groups toward the use of alcohol.Fortunately, many determined persons continued the struggle. Forming a variety of activist groups, such as the Nation Council on Alcoholism and the Alcohol and Drug Problems Association, and working together with state and local agencies created to develop alcoholism program, they sought to gain recognition of the problem of alcoholism from the public, the health professions, and the government.

复合题Passage 2In science, a theory is a reasonable explanation of observed events that are related. A theory ofteninvolves an imaginary model that helps scientists picture the way an observed event could beproduced. A good example of this is found in the kinetic molecular theory, in which gases arepictured as being made up of many small particles that are in constant motion.A useful theory, in addition to explaining past observations, helps to predict events that have not asyet been observed. After a theory has been publicized, scientists design experiments to test the theory.If observations confirm the scientists’ predictions, the theory is supported. If observations do notconfirm the predictions, the scientists must search further. There may be a fault in the experiment, orthe theory may have to be revised or rejected.Science involves imagination and creative thinking as well as collecting information and performingexperiments. Facts by themselves are not science. As the mathematician Jules Henri Pioneered said,“Science is built with facts just as a house is built with bricks, but a collection of facts cannot becalled science any more than a pile of bricks can be called a house.”Most scientists start an investigation by finding out what other scientists have learned about aparticular problem. After known facts have been gathered, the scientist comes to the part of theinvestigation that requires considerable imagination. Possible solutions to the problem areformulated. These possible solutions are called hypotheses.In a way, any hypothesis is a leap into the unknown. It extends the scientist’s thinking beyond theknown facts. The scientist plans experiments, performs calculations, and makes observations to testhypotheses. For without hypotheses, further investigation lacks purpose and direction. Whenhypotheses are confirmed, they are incorporated into theories.In the last paragraph, what does the author imply is a major function of hypotheses?

复合题To many developers of technologies that affect public health or the environment, “risk communication” means persuading the public that the potential risks of such technologies are small and should be ignored. Those who communicate risks in this way seem to believe that lay people do not understand the actual nature of technological risk, and they can cite studies asserting that although people apparently ignore mundane hazards that pose significant danger, they get upset about exotic hazards that pose little chance of death or injury. Because some risk communicators take this persuasive stance, many lay people see “risk communication” as a euphemism for brainwashing done by experts.Since, however, the goal of risk communication should be to enable people to make informed decisions about technological risks, a clear understanding about how the public perceives risk is needed. Lay people’ s definitions of “risk” are more likely to reflect subjective ethical concerns than are experts’ definitions. Lay people, for example, tend to perceive a small risk to children as more significant than a large risk to consenting adults who benefit from the risk-cheating technology. However, if asked to rank hazards by the number of annual fatalities, without reference to ethical judgments, lay people provide quite reasonable estimates, demonstrating that they have substantial knowledge about many risks. Although some studies claim to demonstrate that lay people have inappropriate concerns about exotic hazards, these studies often use questionable methods, such as asking lay people to rank risks that are hard to compare. In contrast, a recent study showed that when lay people were given the necessary facts and time, they understood the specific risks of electromagnetic fields produced by high-voltage power transmission well enough to make informed decisions.Risk communication should therefore be based on the principle that people process new information in the context of their existing beliefs. If people know nothing about a topic, they will find messages about that topic incomprehensible. If they have erroneous beliefs, they are likely to misconstrue the messages. Thus, communicators need to know the nature and extent of recipients’ knowledge and beliefs in order to design messages that will not be dismissed or misinterpreted. This need was demonstrated in a research project concerning the public’ s level of knowledge about risks posed by the presence of radon in the home. Researchers used open-ended interviews and questionnaires to determine what information should be included in their brochure on radon. Subjects who read the researchers’ brochure performed significantly better in understanding radon risks than did a control group who read a brochure that was written using a different approach by a government agency. Thus, careful preparation can help risk communicators to produce balanced material that tells people what they need to know to make decisions about technological risks.

复合题Last week, The Washington Post ran a front-page story that said most stay-at-home moms aren’ t S. U. V. — driving, daily yoga-doing, latte-drinking, upper-middle-class women who choose to leave their high-power careers to answer the call to motherhood. Instead, they are disproportionately low-income, non-college educated, young and Hispanic or foreign-born; in other words, they are women whose horizons are greatly limited and for whom the cost of child care, very often, makes work not a workable choice at all.These findings, drawn from a new report by the Census Bureau, really ought to lead us to reframe our public conversations about who mothers are and why they do what they do. It should lead us away from all the moralistic bombast about mothers’ “choices” and “priorities” . It should get us thinking less about choice, in fact, and make us focus more on contingencies — the objective conditions that drive women’ s lives. And they should propel us to think about the choices that we as a society must make to guarantee that the best possible opportunities are available for all families.The basic finding of this latest report — that the more choices mothers have, the more likely they are to work — has been known, to anyone who’ s taken the time to seriously look into the issue. Ever since 2003, when Lisa Bellkin’ s article in The Times magazine about highly privileged and ultra-high-achieving moms — “The Opt-Out Revolution” — was generalized by the news media to claim that mothers overall were choosing to leave the work force in droves, researchers have been revisiting the state of mothers’ employment and reaching very similar conclusions.In 2007, the sociologists David Cotter, Paula England and Joan Hermsen looked carefully at four decades of employment data and found that women with choices — those with college educations — were overwhelmingly choosing to stay in the work force. The only women “opting out” in any significant numbers were the very richest —those with husbands earning more than $125, 000 a year — and the very poorest —those with husbands earning less than $23, 4000 a year. You might say that the movement of the richest women out of the workforce proves that women will, in the best of all possible worlds, go home. But these women often have husbands who, in order to earn those top salaries, work 70 or 80 hours a week and travel extensively; someone had to be home. Many left high- powered careers that made similar demands on their time.The alternative narrative — of constricted horizons, not choice — that might have emerged from recent research has never really made it into the mainstream. It just can’ t, it seems, find a foothold.“The reason we keep getting this narrative is that there is this deep cultural ambivalence about mothers’ employment, ” England told me this week. “On the one hand, people believe women should have equal opportunities, but on the other hand, we don’ t envision men taking on more child care and housework and, unlike Europe, we don’ t seem to be able to envision family- friendly work policies. ”Why this matters — and why opening this topic up for discussion is important — is very clear: because our public policy continues to rest upon a fictitious idea, eternally recycled in the media, of mothers’ free choices, and not upon the constraints that truly drive their behavior. “If journalism repeatedly frames the wrong problem, then the folks who make public policy may very well deliver the wrong solution, ” is how E. J. Graff, the associate director and senior researcher at Brandeis University Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism once put it in the Columbia Journalism Review, “If women are happily choosing to stay home with their babies, that’ s private decision. But it’ s a public policy issue if schools, jobs and other American institutions are structured in ways that make it frustratingly difficult, and sometimes impossible, for parents to manage both their jobs and family responsibilities. ”

复合题Directions: Read the following passages and then answer the questions which follow each passage. Use only information from the passage you have just read and write your answer in the corresponding space on your answer sheet.Reebok executives do not like to hear their stylish athletic shoes called “footwear for yuppies” . They contend that Reebok shoes appeal to diverse market segments, especially now that the company offers basketball and children’ s shoes for the under-18 set and walking shoes for older customers not interested in aerobics or running. The executives also point out that through recent acquisitions they have added hiking boots, dress and casual shoes, and high-performance athletic footwear to their product lines, all of which should attract new and varied groups of customers.Still, despite its emphasis on new markets, Reebok plans few changes in the upmarket retailing network that helped push sales to $1 billion annually, ahead of all other sports shoe marketers. Reebok shoes, which are priced from $27 to $85, will continue to be sold only in better specialty, sporting goods, and department stores, in accordance with the company’ s view that consumers judge the quality of the brand by the quality of its distribution.In the past few years, the Massachusetts-based company has imposed limits on the number of its distributors (and the number of shoes supplied to stores) , partly out of necessity. At times the unexpected demand for Reebok’ s exceeded supply, and the company could barely keep up with orders from the dealers it already had. These fulfillment problems seem to be under control now, but the company is still selective about its distributors. At present, Reebok shoes are available in about five thousand retail stores in the United States.Reebok has already anticipated that walking shoes will be the next fitness-related craze, replacing aerobics shoes the same way its brightly colored, soft leather exercise footwear replaced conventional running shoes. Through product diversification and careful market research, Reebok hopes to avoid the distribution problems Nike came across several years ago, when Nike misjudged the strength of the aerobics shoe craze and was forced to unload huge inventories of running shoes through discount stores.

复合题Inseekingtodescribetheoriginsoftheater,onemustrelyprimarilyonspeculation,sincethereislittleconcreteevidenceonwhichtodraw.Themostwidelyacceptedtheory,championedbyanthropologistsinthelatenineteenthandearlytwentiethcenturies,envisionstheaterasemergingoutofmythandritual.Theprocessperceivedbytheseanthropologistsmaybesummarizedbriefly.Duringtheearlystagesofitsdevelopment,asocietybecomesawareofforcesthatappeartoinfluenceorcontrolitsfoodsupplyandwell-being.Havinglittleunderstandingofnaturalcauses,itattributesbothdesirableandundesirableoccurrencestosupernaturalormagicalforces,anditsearchesformeanstowinthefavoroftheseforces.Perceivinganapparentconnectionbetweencertainactionsperformedbythegroupandtheresultitdesires,thegrouprepeats,refinesandformalizesthoseactionsintofixedceremonies,orrituals.Stories(myths)maythengrowuparoundaritual.Frequentlythemythsincluderepresentativesofthosesupernaturalforcesthattheritescelebrateorhopetoinfluence.Performersmaywearcostumesandmaskstorepresentthemythicalcharactersorsupernaturalforcesintheritualsorinaccompanyingcelebrations.Asapersonbecomesmoresophisticated,itsconceptionsofsupernaturalforcesandcausalrelationshipsmaychange.Asaresult,itmayabandonormodifysomerites.Butthemythsthathavegrownuparoundtheritesmaycontinueaspartofthegroup’soraltraditionandmayevencometobeactedoutunderconditionsdivorcedfromtheserites.Whenthisoccurs,thefirststephasbeentakentowardtheaterasanautonomousactivity,andthereafterentertainmentandaestheticvaluesmaygraduallyreplacetheformermysticalandsociallyefficaciousconcerns.Althoughorigininritualhaslongbeenthemostpopular,itisbynomeanstheonlytheoryabouthowthetheatercameintobeing.Storytellinghasbeenproposedasonealternative.Underthistheory,relatingandlisteningtostoriesareseenasfundamentalhumanpleasures.Thus,therecallingofanevent(ahunt,battle,orotherfeat)iselaboratedthroughthenarrator^pantomimeandimpersonationandeventuallythrougheachrolebeingassumedbyadifferentperson.Acloselyrelatedtheoryseestheaterasevolvingoutofdancesthatareprimarilypantomimic,rhythmicalorgymnastic,orfromimitationsofanimalnoisesandsounds.Admirationfortheperformer’sskill,virtuosity,andgraceareseenasmotivationforelaboratingtheactivitiesintofullyrealizedtheatricalperformances.Inadditiontoexploringthepossibleantecedentsoftheater,scholarshavealsotheorizedaboutthemotivesthatledpeopletodeveloptheater.Whydidtheaterdevelop,andwhywasitvaluedafteritceasedtofulfillthefunctionofritual?Mostanswersfallbackonthetheoriesaboutthehumanmindandbasichumanneeds.One,setforthbyAristotleinthefourthcenturyB.C.,seeshumansasnaturallyimitative—astakingpleasureinimitatingpersons,things,andactionsandinseeingsuchimitations.Another,advancedinthetwentiethcentury,suggeststhathumanshaveagiftforfantasy,throughwhichtheyseektoreshaperealityintomoresatisfyingformsthanthoseencounteredindailylife.Thus,fantasyorfiction(ofwhichdramaisoneform)permitspeopletoobjectifytheiranxietiesandfears,confrontthem,andfulfilltheirhopesinfictionifnotfact.Thetheater,then,isonetoolwherebypeopledefineandunderstandtheirworldorescapefromunpleasantrealities.Butneitherthehumanimitativeinstinctnorapenchantforfantasybyitselfleadstoanautonomoustheater.Therefore,additionalexplanationsareneeded.Onenecessaryconditionseemstobeasomewhatdetachedviewofhumanproblems.Forexample,onesignofthisconditionistheappearanceofthecomicvision,sincecomedyrequiressufficientdetachmenttoviewsomedeviationsfromsocialnormsasridiculousratherthanasseriousthreatstothewelfareoftheentiregroup.Anotherconditionthatcontributestothedevelopmentofautonomoustheateristheemergenceoftheaestheticsense.Forexample,someearlysocietiesceasedtoconsidercertainritesessentialtotheirwell-beingandabandonedthem,nevertheless,theyretainedaspartsoftheiroraltraditionthemythsthathadgrownuparoundtheritesandadmiredthemfortheirartisticqualitiesratherthanfortheirreligioususefulness.

复合题Traditionally, the study of history has had fixed boundaries and focal points—periods, countries, dramatic events, and great leaders. It also has had clear and firm notions of scholarly procedure: how one inquires into a historical problem, how one presents and documents one’ s findings, what constitutes admissible and adequate proof.Anyone who has followed recent historical literature can testify to the revolution that is taking place in historical studies. The currently fashionable subjects come directly from the sociology catalog: childhood, work, leisure. The new subjects are accompanied by new methods. Where history once was primarily narrative, it is now entirely analytic. The old questions “What happened?’ ’ and “How did it happen?” have given way to the question “Why did it happen?” Prominent among the methods used to answer the question Why is psychoanalysis, and its use has given rise to psychohistory.Psychohistory does not merely use psychological explanations in historical contexts. Historians have always used such explanations when they were appropriate and when there was sufficient evidence for them. But this pragmatic use of psychology is not what psychohistorians intend. They are committed, not just to psychology in general, but to Freudian psychoanalysis. This commitment precludes a commitment to history as historians have always understood it. Psychohistory derives its “facts” not from history, the detailed records of events and their consequences, but from psychoanalysis of the individuals who made history, and deduces its theories not from this or that instance in their lives, but from a view of human nature that transcends history. It denies the basic criterion of historical evidence: that evidence be publicly accessible to, and therefore assessable by, all historians. And it violates the basic tenet of historical method: that historian be alert to the negative instances that would refute their theses. Psychohistorians, convinced of the absolute rightness of their own theories, are also convinced that theirs is the “deepest” explanation of any event, that other explanations fall short of the truth.Psychohistory is not content to violate the discipline of history (in the sense of the proper mode of studying and writing about the past) ; it also violates the past itself. It denies to the past an integrity and will of its own, in which people acted out of a variety of motives and in which events had a multiplicity of causes and effects. It imposes upon the past the same determinism that it imposes upon the present, thus robbing people and events of their individuality and of their complexity. Instead of respecting the particularity of the past, it assimilates all events, past and present, into a single deterministic schema that is presumed to be true at all times and in all circumstances.

复合题Passage 2The reams of data that man modem business collect—dubbed“big data” —can provide powerful insights. It is the keyto Netflix’ s recommendations engines, Facebook’ s socialads, and even Amazon’ s methods for speeding up the newWeb browser, Silk, which comes with its new Fire tablet.But big data is like any powerful tool. Using itcarelessly can have dangerous results.A new paper by Kate Crawford, an associate professor atthe university of New South Wales and Microsoft seniorresearcher Danah Boyd spells out the reasons thatbusinesses and academics should proceed with caution.Whole privacy invasions—both deliberate and accidental—are obvious issues; the paper also warns that data caneasily be incomplete and distorted. “With big data comesbig responsibilities” , says Crawford. “There’ s been theemergence of a philosophy that big data is all you need” ,she adds, “We would suggest that, actually, numbersdon’ t speak for themselves. ”Google is a poster child for the power of data. Thecompany has transformed a massive amount of information,gathered through its search engine, into a commanding adnetwork and powerful role as the gatekeeper of much of theworld’ s information. Google’ s director of research,Peter Norvig, demonstrated the true power of a large dataset, using the example of machine translation. With enoughdata, Norvig said, even the worst training algorithmperforms far better than what can be achieved with asmaller data set.But Crawford and Boyd’ s work shows that studying largedata still requires finesse. Twitter, which is commonlyscrutinized for insights about people’ s moods, attitudestoward politics, and other aspects of daily life, presentsa number of problems, the researchers say. About 40percent of Twitter’ s active users sign in to listen, notto post, which Crawford and Boyd say, suggests that postscould come from a certain type of person, rather than arandom sample. They also note that few researchers haveaccess to all Twitter posts—most use smaller samplesprovided by the company. Without better information abouthow those samples were collected, studies could arrive atskewed results, they argue.Crawford notes that many big data sets—particularlysocial data—come from companies that have no obligationto support scientific inquiry. Getting access to the datamight mean paying for it, or keeping the company happy bynot performing certain types of studies.The researchers add that big data can also raise seriousethical concerns. Many times, Crawford notes, combing datafrom different sources can lead to unexpected results forthe people involved. For example, other researchers havepreviously shown that they can identify individuals byusing social media data in combination with supposedlyanoymized behavioral data provided by companies.Handling big data sets takes almost impossible care. Giventhe quantity of information now available on the internet,Crawford argues, researchers need to slow down and thinkabout the methods the use.

复合题Passage BOne of the qualities that most people admire in others is the willingness to admit one’ s mistakes. It is extremely hard sometimes to say a simple thing like “I was wrong about that, ” and it is even harder to say “I was wrong, and you were right about that. ”I had an experience recently with someone admitting to me that he had made a mistake fifteen years ago. He told me he had been the manager of a certain grocery store in the neighborhood where I grew up, and he asked me if I remembered the egg cartons. Then he related an incident and I began to remember vaguely the incident he was describing.I was about eight years old at the time, and I had gone into the store with my mother to do the weekly grocery shopping. On that particular day, I must have found my way to the dairy food department where the incident took place.There must have been a special sale on eggs that day because there was an impressive display of eggs in dozen and half-dozen cartons. The cartons were stacked three or four feet high. I must have stopped in front of a display to admire the stacks. Just then a woman came by pushing her grocery cart and knocked off the stacks of cartons. For some reasons, I decided it was up to me to put the display back together, so I went to work.The manager heard the noise and came rushing over to see what had happened. When he appeared, I was on my knees inspecting some of the cartons to see if any of the eggs were broken, but to him it looked as though I was the culprit. He severely reprimanded me and wanted me to pay for any broken eggs. I protested my innocence and tried to explain, but it did no good. Even though I quickly forgot all about the incident, apparently the manager did not.How old was the author when he wrote this article?

复合题The biggest problem facing Chile as it promotes itself asa tourist destination to be reckoned with, is that it isat the end of the earth. It is too far south to be aconvenient stop on the way to anywhere else and is muchfarther than a relatively cheap half-days flight awayfrom the big tourist markets, unlike Mexico, for example.Chile, therefore, has to fight hard to attract tourists,to convince travelers that it is worth coming halfwayround the world to visit. But it is succeeding, not onlyin existing markets like the USA and Western Europe but innew territories, in particular the Far East. Marketscloser to home, however, are not being forgotten. Morethan 50% of visitors to Chile still come from its nearestneighbor, Argentina, where the cost of living is muchhigher.Like all South American countries, Chile sees tourism as avaluable earner of foreign currency, although it has beenfar more serious than most in promoting its image abroad.Relatively stable politically within the region, it hasbenefited from the problems suffered in other areas. InPeru,guerrilla warfare in recent years has dealt a heavyblow to the tourist industry and fear of street crime inBrazil has reduced the attraction of Rio de Janeiro as adream destination for foreigners.More than 150, 000 people are directly involved in Chilestourist sector, an industry which earns the country morethan US $ 950 million each year. The state-run NationalTourist Service, in partnership with a number of privatecompanies, is currently running a worldwide campaign,taking part in trade fairs and international events toattract visitors to Chile.Chiles great strength as a tourist destination is itsgeographical diversity. From the parched Atacama Desert inthe north to the Antarctic snowfields of the south, it ismore than 5, 000 km long. With the Pacific on one side andthe Andean mountains on the other, Chile boasts naturalattractions. Its beaches are not up to Caribbean standardsbut resorts such as Vina del Mar are generally clean andun-spoilt and have a high standard of services.But the trump card is the Andes mountain range. There area number of excellent ski resorts within one hours driveof the capital, Santiago, and the national parks in thesouth are home to rare animal and plant species. The parksalready attract specialist visitors, includingmountaineers, who come to climb the technically difficultpeaks, and fishermen, lured by the salmon and trout in theregions rivers.However, infrastructural development in these areas islimited. The ski resorts do not have as many lifts astheir European counterparts and the poor quality of roadsin the south means that only the most determined travelerssee the best of the national parks.Air links between Chile and the rest of the world are, atpresent, relatively poor. While Chiles two largestairlines have extensive networks within South America,they operate only a small number of routes to the UnitedStates and Europe, while services to Asia are almost non-existent.Internal transport links are being improved and luxuryhotels are being built in one of its national parks. Noris development being restricted to the Andes. EasterIsland and Chiles Antarctic Territory are also on thelist of areas where the Government believes it can createtourist markets.But the rush to open hitherto inaccessible areas to masstourism is not being welcomed by everyone. Indigenous andenvironmental groups, including Greenpeace, say that manyparts of the Andes will suffer if they become over-developed. There is a genuine fear that areas of Chilewill suffer the cultural destruction witnessed in Mexicoand European resorts.The policy of opening up Antarctica to tourism is alsopolitically sensitive. Chile already has permanentsettlements on the ice and many people see the decision toallow tourists there as a political move, enhancingSantiagos territorial claim over part of Antarctica.The Chilean Government has promised to respect theenvironment as it seeks to bring tourism to these areas.But there are immense commercial pressures to exploit thecountrys tourism potential. The Government will have tomonitor developments closely if it is genuinely concernedin creating a balanced, controlled industry and if theprice of an increasingly lucrative tourist market is notgoing to mean the loss of many of Chiles natural riches.According to the passage, in which area improvement is already under way?

复合题Passage AThere are few more sobering online activities thanentering data into college-tuition calculators and gaspingas the Web spits back a six-figure sum. But economists sayfamilies about to go into debt to fund four years ofpartying, as well as studying, can console themselves withthe knowledge that college is an investment that, unlikemany bank stocks, should yield huge dividends.A 2008 study by two Harvard economists notes that the“labor-market premium to skill” —or the amount collegegraduates earned thats greater than what high-schoolgraduate earned—decreased for much of the 20th century,but has come back with a vengeance (报复性地) since the1980s. In 2005, the typical full-time year-round U. S.worker with a four-year college degree earned $50, 900, 62%more than the $31, 500 earned by a worker with only a high-school diploma.Theres no question that going to college is a smarteconomic choice. But a look at the strange variations intuition reveals that the choice about which college toattend doesnt come down merely to dollars and cents.Does going to Columbia University (tuition, room and board$49, 260 in 2007-08) yield a 40% greater return thanattending the University of Colorado at Boulder as an out-of-state student ($35, 542) ? Probably not. Does being anout-of-state student at the University of Colorado atBoulder yield twice the amount of income as being an in-state student ($17, 380) there? Not likely.No, in this consumerist age, most buyers arentevaluating college as an investment, but rather as aconsumer product—like a car or clothes or a house. Andwith such purchases, price is only one of many crucialfactors to consider.As with automobiles, consumers in todays collegemarketplace have vast choices, and people search for theone that gives them the most comfort and satisfaction inline with their budgets. This accounts for the willingnessof people to pay more for different types of experiences(such as attending a private liberal-arts college or goingto an out-of-state public school that has a great marine-biology program) . And just as two auto purchasers mightspend an equal amount of money on very different cars,college students (or, more accurately, their parents)often show a willingness to pay essentially the same pricefor vastly different products. So which is it? Is collegean investment product like a stock or a consumer productlike a car? In keeping with the automotive worldshottest consumer trend, maybe its best to characterizeit as a hybrid (混合动力汽车) ; an expensive consumerproduct that, over time, will pay rich dividends.What is the chief consideration when students choose a college today?