复合题Passage BThey poison the mind and corrupt the morals of the young, who waste their time sitting on sofa immersed in dangerous fantasy worlds. That, at least, was the charge leveled against novels during the 18th century by critics worried about the impact of a new medium on young people. Today the idea that novels can harm people sounds silly. And that is surely how history will judge modern criticism of video games, which are accused of turning young people into violent criminals. This week European justice ministers met to discuss how best to restrict the sale of violent games to children. Some countries, such as Germany, believe the answer is to ban some games altogether. That is going too far.Criticism of games is merely the latest example of a tendency to regard new and unfamiliar forms of entertainment as devils. In 1816 waltzing was condemned as a “fatal infection” ; in the 1950s comic books were accused of turning children into drug addicts and criminals. In each case the pattern is the same: young people adopt a new form of entertainment, older people are frightened by its unfamiliarity and condemn it, but eventually the young grow up and the new medium becomes accepted—at which point another example appears and the Cycle begins again.The opposition to video games is founded on the mistaken belief that most gamers are children. In fact, two-thirds of gamers are over 18 and the average garner is around 30. But the assumption that gamers are mostly children leads to a double standard. Violent films are permitted and the notion that some films are unsuitable for children is generally understood. Yet different rules are applied to games. Aren’ t games different because they are interactive? It is true that video games can make people feel excited or aggressive, but so do many sports. There is no evidence that video-gaming causes long-term aggression.Games ought to be age-rated, just as films are, and retailers should not sell adult-rated games to children any more than they should sell them adult-rated films. Ratings schemes are already in place, and in some countries restrictions on the scale of adult-rated games to minors have the force of law. But many games for children are bought by parents. Rather than banning some games outright, the best way to keep grown-up games away from children is to educate non-gaming parents that, as with films, not all games are suitable for children.Oddly enough, Hillary Clinton, one of the politicians who has led the criticism of the gaming industry in America, has recently come round to this view. But this week some European politicians seemed to be moving in the other direction: the Netherlands may follow Germany, for example, in banning some games outright. Not all adults wish to play violent games, just as not all of them enjoy violent movies. But they should be free to do so if they wish.What is the key to minimizing the negative effect of video games on children?

复合题Passage AMurovyovka Nature Park, a private nature reserve, is the result of the vision and determination of one man, Sergei Smirenski. The Moscow University Professor has gained the support of international funds as well as local officials, businessmen and collective farm.Thanks to his efforts, the agricultural project is also under way to create an experimental farm to teach local farmers how to farm without the traditionally heavy use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Two Wisconsin farmers, Don and Ellen Padley, spent last summer preparing land in Tanbovka district, where the park is located, and they will return this summer to plant it.Specialists from the University of Utah also came to study the local cattle industry, looking to develop possibilities for beef exports to Japan.Separately, 10 New Jersey school teachers will spend the summer in the district running summer camps for the local children that will stress field trips and lecture on the nature around them.These programs, particularly the agricultural project, are getting some funding support from the United States, including from the MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the US Agency for International Development. The Trust for Mutual Understanding and the Weeden Foundation are also supporting the International Crane Foundation’ s work in creating the park.The World Bank is funding a small project to study the possibilities for eco-tourism in the Amur basin region. Delta Dream Vacations, a Delta Airlines subsidiary, is looking into flights to Khabarovsk and Vladivostok for ecology tours, with some of the money going to support the zapovedniks [totally wild preserves used only for scientific research] in the region.But this money has also generated a jealous attempt by the local wildlife service to block the Murovyovka project.They said, “Give us their money, and we’ ll do better, ” Smirenski says. They went to the local court to get a court order to halt the contract. Although they were successful at that level, the Amur regional government, with encouragement from Moscow, has already moved to reverse the decision as illegal.“I don’ t pay attention to this negative side. ” Smirenski says in characteristic optimistic fashion. “I decided we should continue to create. ”Beyond Murovyovka, there are even vaster grasslands and wetlands in the Amur basin that are vital nesting areas for rare birds such as the eastern white stork, and the red-crowned, white-naped, and hooded cranes. A complex of 100, 000 hectares, for example, lies largely unprotected in Zhuravalini [literally “a place for cranes” ] downstream from Murovyovka. Creation of a national park, allowing for tourist use, has been proposed for this area.A key part of the conservation strategy is to gain the support of regional governments by getting them to see that such internationally backed nature projects can lead to business and other ties, particularly to countries like Japan and China. For example, the cranes that nest in Russia have been tracked by satellite to wintering grounds in Izumi, on Japan’ s southern Kyushu Island. This linkage has proved useful in bringing regional officials from both countries together.Last summer, 100 Japanese school children from the Tama region outside of Tokyo came to Khabarovsk on the Amur to experience the kind of untouched nature that has disappeared from Japan. As part of the exchange, the Mayor of Tama donated 26 second-hand fire trucks to his counterpart. “After this, the mayor of Khabarovsk said, ‘Now I will listen to you, about your birds and all your problems, ’ ” recounts Smirenski. “Now the officials understand what cranes mean to them. ”What kind of attention do the projects connected with the development of the nature park attract?What kind of attention do the projects connected with the development of the nature park attract?

复合题Cooperative competition. Competitive cooperation. Confused? Airline alliances have travelers scratching their heads over what s going on in the skies. Some folks view alliances as a blessing to travelers, offering seamless travel, reduced fares and enhanced frequent-flyer benefits. Others see a conspiracy of big businesses, causing decreased competition, increased fares and fewer choices. Whatever your opinion, there’s no escaping airline alliances: the marketing hype is unrelenting, with each of the two mega-groupings, One world and Star Alliance, promoting itself as the best choice for all travelers. And, even if you turn away from their ads, chances are they will figure in any of your travel plans. By the end of the year, One world and Star Alliance will between them control more than 40% of the traffic in the sky. Some pundits predict that figure will be more like 75% in 10 years.But why, after years of often ferocious competition, have airlines decided to band together? Let’s just say the timing is mutually convenient. North American airlines, having exhausted all means of earning customer loyalty at home, have been looking for ways to reach out to foreign flyers. Asian carriers are still hurting from the region-wide economic downturn that began two years ago-just when some of the airlines were taking delivery of new aircraft. Alliances also allow carriers to cut costs and increase profits by pooling manpower resources on the ground (rather than each airline maintaining its own ground crew) and code-sharing-the practice of two partners selling tickets and operating only one aircraft.So alliances are terrific for airlines-but are they good for the passenger? Absolutely, say the airlines: think of the lounges, the joint FFP (frequent flyer program) benefits, the round-the-world fares, and the global service networks. Then there’s the promise of “seamless” travel: the ability to, say, travel from Singapore to Rome to New York to Rio de Janeiro, all on one ticket, without having to wait hours for connections or worry about your bags. Sounds utopian? Peter Buecking, Cathay Pacific’s director of sales and marketing, thinks that seamless travel is still evolving. “It’s fair to say that these links are only in their infancy. The key to seamlessness rests in infrastructure and information sharing. We’re working on this.” Henry Ma, spokesperson for Star Alliance in Hong Kong, lists some of the other benefits for consumers: “Global travelers have an easier time making connections and planning their itineraries.” Ma claims alliances also assure passengers consistent service standards.Critics of alliances say the much-touted benefits to the consumer are mostly pie in the sky, that alliances are all about reducing costs for the airlines, rationalizing services and running joint marketing programs. Jeff Blyskal, associate editor of Consumer Reports magazine, says the promotional ballyhoo over alliances is much ado about nothing. “I don’t see much of a gain for consumers: alliances are just a marketing gimmick. And as far as seamless travel goes, I’ll believe it when I see it. Most airlines can’t even get their own connections under control, let alone coordinate with another airline.”Blyskal believes alliances will ultimately result in decreased flight choices and increased costs for consumers. Instead of two airlines competing and each operating a flight on the same route at 70% capacity, the allied pair will share the route and run one full flight. Since fewer seats will be available, passengers will be obliged to pay more for tickets.The truth about alliances and their merits probably lies somewhere between the travel utopia presented by the players and the evil empires portrayed by their critics. And how much they affect you depends on what kind of traveler you are.Those who’ve already made the elite grade in the FFP of a major airline stand to benefit the most when it joins an alliance: then they enjoy the FFP perks and advantages on any and all of the member carriers. For example, if you re a Marco Polo Club “gold” member of Cathay Pacific s Asia Miles FFP, you will automatically be treated as a valuable customer by all members of One world, of which Cathay Pacific is a member-even if you’ve never flown with them before.For those who haven’t made the top grade in any FFP, alliances might be a way of simplifying the earning of frequent flyer miles. For example, I belong to United Airline’s Mileage Plus and generally fly less than 25,000 miles a year. But I earn miles with every flight I take on Star Alliance member-All Nippon Airways and Thai Airways.If you fly less than I do, you might be smarter to stay out of the FFP game altogether. Hunt for bargains when booking flights and you might be able to save enough to take that extra trip anyway. The only real benefit infrequent flyers can draw from an alliance is an inexpensive round-the-world fare.The bottom line: for all the marketing hype, alliances aren’t all things to all people-but everybody can get some benefit out of them.

复合题Directions: Read the following passages and then answer IN COMPLETE SENTENCES the questions which follow each passage. Use only information from the passage you have just read and write your answer

复合题“Congratulations, Mr. Jones, it’s a girl.”Fatherhood is going to have a different meaning and bring forth a different response from every man who hears these words. Some feel proud when they receive the news, while others worry, wondering whether they will be good fathers. Although there are some men who like children and may have had considerable experience with them, others do not particularly care for children and spend little time with them. Many fathers and mothers have been planning and looking forward to children for some time. For other couples, pregnancy was an accident that both husband and wife have accepted willingly or unwillingly.Whatever the reaction to the birth of a child, it is obvious that the shift from the role of husband to that of father is a difficult task. Yet, unfortunately, few attempts have been made to educate fathers in this reconciliation process. Although numerous books have been written about American mothers, only recently has literature focused on the role of a father.It is argued by some writers that the transition to the father’s role, although difficult, is not nearly as great as the transition the wife must make to the mother’s role. The mother’s role seems to require a complete transformation in daily routine and highly innovative adaptation, on the other growing numbers of women are working outside the home, the father is still thought by many as the breadwinner in the household.

复合题Passage 3Mrs. Moreen, however, continued to be convincing; sitting there with her fifty francs she talked andrepeated, as women repeat, and bored and irritated him, while he leaned against the wall with hishands in the pocket of his wrapper, drawing it together round his legs and looking over the head of hisvisitor at the grey negations of his window. She wound up with saying: “You see I bring you a definiteproposal.”“A definite proposal?”“To make our relations regular, as it were—to put them on a comfortable footing.”“I see—it’s a system,” said Pemberton. “A kind of blackmail.”Mrs. Moreen bounded up, which was what the young man wanted.“What do you mean by that?”“You practice on one’s fears—one’s fears about the child if one should go away.”“And pray, with whom should a child be but those whom he loves most?”“If you think that, why don’t you dismiss me?”“Do you pretend that he loves you more than he loves us” cried Mrs. Moreen.“I think he ought to. I make sacrifices for him. Though I’ve heard of those you make, I don’t see them.Mrs. Moreen stared a moment; then, with emotion, she grasped Pemberton’s hand. “Will you make it—the sacrifice?”Pemberton burst out laughing. “I’ll see—I’ll do what I can—I’ll stay a little longer. Your calculationis just—I do hate intensely to give him up; I’m fond of him and he interests me deeply, in spite of theinconvenience I suffer. You know my situation perfectly; I haven’t a penny in the world, and, occupiedas I am with Morgan, I’m unable to earn money.”Mrs. Moreen tapped her undressed arm with her folded banknote. “Can’t you write articles? Can’tyou translate as I do?”“I don’t know about translating; it’s wretchedly paid.”“I am glad to earn what I can,” said Mrs. Moreen virtuously, with her head held high.“You ought to tell me who you do it for.” Pemberton paused a moment, and she said nothing; so headded: “I’ve tried to turn off some sketches, but the magazines won’t have them—they’ve declinedwith thanks.”“You see then you’re not such a phoenix—to have such pretensions,” smiled his interlocutress.“I haven’t time to do things properly,” Pemberton went on. Then as it came over him that he wasalmost abjectly good-natured to give these explanations he added: “If I stay on longer it must be onone condition—that Morgan shall know distinctly on what footing I am.”Mrs. Moreen hesitated. “Surely you don’t want to show off to a child?”“To show you off, do you mean?”Again Mrs. Moreen hesitated, but this time it was to produce a still finer flower. “And you talk ofblackmail!”“You can easily prevent it,” said Pemberton.“And you talk of practicing on fears,” Mrs. Moreen continued.“Yes, there’s no doubt I’m a great scoundrel.”The relationship between Mrs.Moreen and Morgan’s tutor, Pemberton, is best described as_____.

复合题Of all the methods of communication invented by humanity over the centuries, none has disseminated so much information so widely at such high speeds as the internet. It is both a unifying force and a globalizing one. But, its very ubiquity makes it a localizing one too, because it is clearly not the same everywhere, either in what it provides or how it is operated and regulated.The smartphone has liberated its users from the PC on his desk, granting him access on the go not just to remote computers and long-lost friends on the other side of the world but also to the places around him. If he lives in a city, as most users do, then his fellow city-dwellers and the buildings, cars and streets around them are throwing off almost unimaginable quantities of valuable data from which he will benefit. And although communications across continents have become cheap and easy, physical proximity to others remains important in creating new ideas and products—especially (and perhaps ironically) for companies offering online services. You cannot (yet) have a coffee together online.This simultaneously more localized and more globalized world will be more complicated than the world of old. Different rules will continue to apply to different countries, bits of cyberspace. Gartner’ s Mr. Prentice thinks that three basic forces will shape the mobile internet, the transport of data across it and the content available on it: politician’ s demand for control; (most) people’ s desire for freedom; and companies’ pursuit of profit. It is possible to imagine scenarios in which one of these forces comes out on top. But it is more likely, says Mr. Prentice, that different combinations of the three forces will prevail in different places.What seems certain is that life online will become more local without becoming any less global. With a smartphone in your hand you can find out more, if you want to, about what is going on immediately around you. The next bus goes in five minutes. The coffee shop across the street, where you haven’ t been for a few weeks, is offering you a free cappuccino. Those cushions you looked at online are available in the department store around the corner. The smartphone could even help revive the high street if people knew that they could take home today what Amazon could not deliver until tomorrow.None of this will reduce the scope or the appetite for catching up with friends, news and stories from far away. “The truth is that three things will go on at once, ” says Danny Miller, an anthropologist at UCL. There will continue to be “unprecedented opportunities for homogenization and globalization” , but there are also “possibilities for great localization” —including services such as Foursquare. Lastly, there will be a new localism, thanks to an internet full of local differences that are not confined to particular places. For example, Trinidadians use Facebook in a distinctive way to reflect local concepts of scandal and gossip. But because more than half of Trinidadian families have at least one member living abroad, this form of use is not tied to Trinidad; it could just as easily be adopted by Trinidadians living in London or Toronto.A further prediction is that, as people rely more on connected devices to explore the physical world, digital information will have a growing influence on how they see the physical realm and on how they move through it. Mr. Gramham and Mr. Zook, with Andrew Boulton, also of the University of Kentucky, begin a forthcoming paper by imagining a young woman’ s progress through Dublin on a Saturday night—a kind of digital “Ulysses” . She checks texts and tweets from her boyfriend (where is he?) , passes a bar (a favorite band once played here) and looks up a review of a restaurant (seems good) . But the city she sees has been digitally constructed for her. Her boyfriend sends her a text to arrange a meeting place. She knows about the band because her past online searches have prompted her smartphone to provide the details. And the restaurant review is nothing more than the sum of other people’ s opinions, delivered electronically.And this is harmless, even helpful, but there is a darker side to it. Eli Pariser, an American journalist, has written of a “filter bubble” in which people are presented only with ideas and opinions that their past online behavior suggests they are likely to agree with. As they make their digital way through the physical realm, something similar may happen. Being steered away from areas of high crime late at night is no bad thing. But not being pointed towards a museum or a club because you haven’ t been anywhere like it before may be a missed opportunity. Standing in front of a monument and being given a version of history that reinforces your prejudice closes rather than opens the mind.Yet on the whole it is surely a good thing for the digital and the physical worlds to become increasingly interwoven. They are complements, not substitutes for each other. The digital overlay will, in effect, allow people to see not only through walls (what’ s in that shop?) and around comers (is there a taxi nearby?) but even through time (what happened here in 1945?) . Each realm on its own is fascinating; together they are irresistible.

复合题Althoughpassionateloveburnshot,itinevitablysimmersdown.Thecoolingofpassionateloveovertimeandthegrowingimportanceofotherfactors,suchassharedvalues,canbeseeninthefeelingsofthosewhoenterarrangedversuslove-basedmarriagesinIndia.UshaGuptaasked50couplesinJaipur,India,tocompletealovescale.Theyfoundthatthosewhomarriedforlovereporteddiminishingfeelingsofloveiftheyhadbeenmarriedmorethanfiveyears.Bycontrast,thoseinarrangedmarriagesreportedmoreloveiftheywerenotnewlyweds.OtherstudiesprovideamixedpictureofarrangedmarriagesconfirmingGuptaandSingh’sfindingofsuccessfularrangedmarriagesinIndia,butobservingthatChineseandJapanesewomenwerehappieriftheychosetheirmates.Thecoolingofintenseromanticloveoftentriggersaperiodofdisillusion,especiallyamongthosewhoregardthatromanticloveasessentialbothforamarriageandforitscontinuation.JeffrySimpsonsuspect“thesharpriseinthedivorcerateinthepasttowdecadesinlinked,atleastinpart,tothegrowingimportanceofintensepositiveemotionalexperiences(e.g.romanticlove)inpeople’slives,experiencesthatmaybeparticularlydifficulttosustainovertime.”Thedeclineinintensemutualfascinationmaybenaturalandadaptiveforspeciessurvival.Theresultofpassionatelovefrequentlyischildren,whosesurvivalisaidedbytheparentswaningobsessionwitheachother.Nevertheless,forthosemarriedmorethan20years,someofthelostromanticfeelingisoftenrenewedasthefamilynestemptiesandtheparentsareonceagainfreetofocustheirattentiononeachother.Iftherelationshiphasbeenintimateandmutuallyrewarding,companionateloverootedinarichhistoryofshareexperiencesdeepens.

复合题The BBC has long dominated Britain’ s media, but in recent years it has got even bigger, both absolutely and relatively. Many serious broadsheet and local newspapers are dying. Tabloid newspapers have been shamed by a phone- hacking scandal, and are likely to endure stricter oversight in future. The corporation gets ￡ 3. 6 billion ($5. 7 billion) a year from a licence fee levied on every household that watches television, and is therefore invulnerable to the vagaries of the media market, while the technological change that has caused other media outlets to shrivel has given the BBC new scope for expansion. It has huge online presence and a proliferation of digital television channels and radio stations. With a staff of around 23, 000, it is the largest broadcaster in the world.The BBC makes good use of some of this money. Its documentaries, serious radio output (such as “Today” ) and website are excellent. Although polls show trust in it is declining, the reputations of other great British institutions, such as Parliament and the City, have fallen further still. The BBC remains respected around the world and is a handy tool for projecting British interests— cheaper and cleaner than bombs.Yet Britons’ attention has drifted to other entertainments. The BBC’ s share of British viewing time has dropped from over a half three decades ago to under a third today as pay-television and free multichannel services have grown. Britons have noticed. According to a YouGov survey in 2010, 60% regard the licence fee as poor value for money. And the decline of private-sector media outlets raises questions about the impact of the BBC’ s public subsidy. The Guardian, for instance, might make a go of being a British-based global online, leftish news provider, were it not for the state-funded competition.The BBC’ s size is a problem not just for the competition but for the organization itself. Its bloated management means that those at the top do not know what’ s going on at the bottom, and stunts creativity. Few of its dramas or comedies are world-beaters (Downton Abbey’ ’ , a current hit, is made by an American-owned independent studio and broadcast on ITV) . Even in news, recent big stories, such as phone-hacking and MP’ s expenses, have been broken by impoverished newspapers, not the sluggish state-backed monolith. Editors should edit—and be responsible for it— not report to compliance officers.The radical solution would be to get rid of a lot of the BBC. Public broadcasting should focus on areas where the market does not provide — expensive things such as investigative journalism and foreign reporting, serious radio, some areas of arts and science broadcasting— and forget about the prime-time entertainment shows and sports where the BBC spends taxpayers’ money bidding up stars’ wages. A smaller, more focused organization would find it easier to take risks and innovate.The BBC’ s defenders say that, without popular fodder like “Strictly Come Dancing” audiences would shrink, and the licence fee become impossible to defend. It probably would; and a good thing too, since it is a regressive tax. Public-service broadcasting should be paid for by the Treasury, through a long-term grant made by a self- perpetuating independence body that kept it at arm’ s length from politicians.A better objection to a complete overhaul now is that politicians have no appetite for such a radical solution, and the BBC needs a set of fixes quickly. One useful change would be to split the job of director-general into those of chief executive and editor-in-chief. The first would be a manager, charged with making the monolith more efficient; the second would be a journalist, charged with producing accurate, hard-hitting stories — and refocusing the output on quality.Britons are naturally resistant to radical ideas. As the 20th century showed, that is, by and large, a good thing. The danger, though, is that unreformed organizations wither and die, or implode. The media business is one of Britain’ s strengths. If it is to stay that way, the BBC needs to change.

复合题InAmerica,theattacksofSeptember11took3,000lives—atragicblow.Thedamagecostusbillionsaswellandnotablylengthenedarecessionthatwasalreadyunderway.Butwithinweeks,wewerebehavingmuchaswehadbeenonSeptember10—shoppinginstores,goingtoballgames,moviesandrestaurants.Byspringof2002,oureconomywasgrowingagainatabriskpace.It’sbeenpopulartosaythat“everythingchanged”forAmericaafterSeptember11.Butit’sjustnotso.Formypart,amidtheshockIfeltonSeptember11cameawaveofrelief.Atthetime,Iwastheeditorofamagazinedevotedtothethreatfromchemical,biologicalandnuclearweapons.OsamaBinLadenandhiscronies,Ithought,hadtippedtheirhand.Hadtheywaiteduntiltheyhadanuclearcapability,theycouldhavedealtusanear-fatalblow.Instead,wewerenowonourguardandtheproblemofproliferationwouldfinallyrisetothetopoftheagenda.Itdid.ButnotinthewayIhoped.Intheran-uptotheIraqwar,chemical,biologicalandnuclearweaponsbecamelumpedtogetherunderthephrase“weaponsofmassdestruction.”Ourverylanguagesuggestedtheywereallequalthreats.Becausethey’rerelativelyeasyandcheaptobuild,chemicalweaponsaresometimescalledthepoorman’satomicbomb.WhenourHomelandSecurityCouncilrecentlylookedat13terroristscenarios,itestimatedthatanairplanethatsprayedapackedfootballstadiumwithablisteragent—aliquidthatcancauseseriousbumsandrespiratoryproblems—wouldkill150people.Theeconomicimpactwouldberelativelymodest—about$500million—andrecoverywouldtakeonlyamatterofweeks.Andthat’saprettysophisticatedattack.Thefactis,it’shardtoget“massdestruction”fromachemicalweapon.Abiologicalattackcouldbescarier,mainbecausediseasescancontinuetospreadwellaftertheinitial“strike.”Smallpoxhaslongspookedbio-watchers.ButmodelsbyresearchersatMITandYalepredictthatwecouldcontainasmallpoxoutbreakthroughmassvaccinations.Plus,wenowhave300milliondosesofsmallpoxvaccine,whichisenoughforeveryman,womanandchildinAmerica.Anthrax,anotherbogeymanofbioterrorismexperts,worriesmeevenless.It’snotcontagiousandcanbetreatedwithantibiotics.AscenariodescribedbytheHomelandSecurityCouncil,inwhichterroristsattackfivemetropolitanareasusingtrucksthatsprayanthraxspores,wouldlikelykillthousands.That’shorrible,butnowhereclosetothecasualtiesfromanuclearexplosion.In2001,whenamoreprimitiveattackspreadpowderedanthraxthroughthemail,onlyfivepeopledied.Don’tgetmewrong:Iwantustodoallwecantoprotectthecountryfromchemicalandbiologicalattacks.ButneitherwoulddestroythefabricofAmerica.So,intheend,thesearethreatsIcanlivewith.Butanuclearattack—that’stheterrorstrikethatwouldchangeeverything.IfaterroristdonatedanuclearweaponinanAmericancitythathadthepotencyofthebombwedroppedonHiroshima(andacrudeterroristdevicecouldhavethatmuchexplosivepower),theresultwouldbecatastrophic.Everythingwithinone-thirdofamilewouldbeimmediatelydestroyed.Beyondthat,uptoamileout,therewouldbefataldosesofradiationandragingfires.Thosewholivedwouldfaceaplumeofradioactivefalloutthatwouldcontaminate3,000squaremiles.Thenumberofdeadwouldprobablyrangeintothehundredsofthousands.Asmanyormoresurvivorswouldhavetoleavetheirhomespermanently,theoverallblowtoournationaleconomywouldtotalintothetrillions.That’sfrighteningenough.Butthentherewouldbethepsychologicalandpoliticalfallout.AftertheattacksofSeptember11,thecountryessentiallyadoptedawarfooting,acceptingdramaticallyincreasedspendingonsecurity,puttingasidedomesticpriorities,andevengivingupcertaincivillibertiesinordertofeelsafer.Icanimaginetheresponsetoanattackthatwasimmeasurablyworse.Myguessisthatrandomvehiclestops,“sneakandpeek”searches,andpoliceandFBIinterrogationswillseemlikeasmallpricetopaytopreventanothernuclearattack.Ourabilitytoaddresspressingproblems,suchashealthcareandpubliceducation,wouldshrinkdramaticallyascleanupandreconstructionoccupiedourenergies.We’dalsohavetoredirectresourcesfromthemilitarytothehomeland,leavingusfarlessabletodealwithcrisesabroad.Innearlyeveryaspect,theUnitedStateswouldbeatotallydifferentplace.AndthatIcan’tlivewith.

复合题WHY SHOULD anyone buy the latest volume in the ever- expanding Dictionary of National Biography? I do not mean that it is bad, as the reviewers will agree.But it will cost you 65 pounds. And have you got the rest of volumes? You need the basic 22 plus the largely decennial supplements to bring the total to 31. Of course, it will be answered, public and academic libraries will want the new volume. After all, it adds 1, 068 lives of people who escaped the net of the original compilers. Yet in 10 year’ s time a revised version of the whole caboodle, called the New Dictionary of National Biography, will be published. Its editor, Professor Colin Matthew, tells me that he will have room for about 50, 000 lives, some 13, 000 more than in the current DNB. This rather puts the 1, 068 in Missing Persons in the shade.When Dr. Nicholls wrote to The Spectator in 1989 asking for name of people whom readers had looked up in the DNB and had been disappointed not to find, she says that she received some 100, 000 suggestions. (Well, she had written to other quality newspapers’ too. ) As soon as the committee had whittled the numbers down, the professional problems of an editor began. Contributors didn’ t file copy on time; some who did sent too much: 50, 000 words instead of 500 is a record, according to Dr. Nicholls. There remains the dinner-party game of who’ s in, who’ s out. That is a game that the reviewers have played and will continue to play. Criminals were my initial worry. After all, the original edition of the DNB boasted: Malefactors whose crimes excite a permanent interest have received hardly less attention than benefactors. Mr. John Gross clearly had similar anxieties, for he complains that, while the murderer Christie is in, Crippen is out. One might say in reply that the injustice of the hanging of Evans instead of Christie was a force in the repeal of capital punishment in Britain, as Ludovie Kennedy (the author of Christies entry in Missing Persons) notes. But then Crippen was reputed as the first murderer to be caught by telegraphy (he had tried to escape by ship to America) .It is surprising to find Max Miller excluded when really not yew memorable names get in. There has been a conscious effort to put in artists and architects from the Middle Ages. About their lives not much is always known.Of Hugo of Bury St Edmunds, a 12th-century illuminator whose dates of birth and death are not recorded, his biographer comments: “Whether or not Hugo was a wall- painter, the records of his activities as carver and manuscript painter attest to his versatility. ” Then there had to be more women, too (12 per cent, against the original DBN’ s 3) , such as Roy Strong’ s subject, the Tudor painter Levina Teerlinc, of whom he remarks: ” Her most characteristic feature is a head attached to a too small, spindly body. Her technique remained awkward, thin and often cursory. ” Doesn’ t seem to qualify her as a memorable artist? Yet it may be better than the record of the original DNB, which included lives of people who never existed (such as Merlin) and even managed to give thanks to J. W. Clerke as a contributor, though, as a later edition admits in a shamefaced footnote, ” except for the entry in the List of Contributors there is no trace of J. W. Clerke” .Throughout the passage, the writer’ s tone towards the DNB was _____.

复合题Traffic congestion provokes heated discussions【A1】________Washington area dinner parties. How bad is it? The average【A2】________time in the United States【A3】________from 18.2 minutes in 1983 to 20.7 in 1995, an increase of only 2.5 minutes in 12 years. 【A4】________ the time lost through delays in Washington traffic are not as great as it first seems. According to 1997 data, the average Washington area driver【A5】________76 hours in traffic jams that year. Dividing 76 hours【A6】________240 working days a year, and then for the number of commuters per day, shows the average delay per trip is only 9.5 minutes. But those days with longer delays stick in our minds.Why is congestion【A7】________? For one thing, the combined population of Virginia, Maryland and the District increased 【A8】________2.2 million from 1980 to 1997, but the region’s population of cars, trucks and buses soared in a worse way. In addition, we 【A9】________ each vehicle farther- up from 10,315 miles in 1983 to 12,226 in 1995. This is【A10】________because real gas prices fell and incomes rose during that period. Also, most new subdivisions have low【A11】________not compatible with public transit, so 59.5 percent of all households own more than one vehicle.How about remedies? Unfortunately, there is no way to reduce peak-hour traffic congestion that Americans will【A12】________ . Sitting in traffic has become a national pastime, and it promises【A13】________worse. Federal policies have had enormous influences【A14】________the way that the U.S. has grown. Obviously, a system so inflexible and so【A15】________toward one mode of transportation severely undermined the value of any planning.

复合题GeoffreyChaucerwasoneofthemostsuccessfulpoetsofthefourteenthcenturyandoneofthefewmedievalauthorswhoseinfluenceextendstothepopularcultureoftoday.Chaucer’smostrenownedworkisunquestionablyTheCanterburyTales,acollectionofshortstorieslinkedtogetherbyapilgrimagefromLondontotheholysiteatCanterbury,England.ThepilgrimagewasverypopularinChaucer’sdayandallowedtheauthortobringtogetherafewdozencharactersfromvarioussocialclassesandwalksoflife.Someofthecharacters,liketheHost,HarryBailly,arebasedonrealpeople.Others,liketheParson,arelittlemorethanarchetypes.Thepoemitselfisunfinishedandcontainsseveralinconsistenciesthatreflecttheneedforfurtherrevision.Still,TheCanterburyTalesremainspopularbecauseofitsvividcharactersandfascinatingvignettes.Amongthesestories,TheWifeofBathhasstoodoutasthemostcontroversialandinterestingofthemall.MedievalscholarshavetirelesslystudiedTheWifeofBathinordertocapturethemaincharacter’smeaning.Uponfirstreading,themaincharacter—Alyson,theWife—appearstoembodytheveryfearsofmedievalclericalmisogyny,or,bythesameacts,tobeatruerepresentationofastereotypicfeminist.Alysoninsistsonspeakinghermind(loudly),rejectingthenegativeopinionsandsexualconstraintstraditionallyplaceduponwomen.Sheislewd,andhastheaudacitytouseTheBibletoattackclericalargumentsfromTheBibledealingwithchastityandvirginity.IntheMiddleAges,apreachingwomancouldbeconsideredhereticalandburnedatthestake.Withthisinmind,theWifemayhaveagoodreasonforkeepinghersenseofhumor.Andshedoeshaveasenseofhumor.Alysoniswellawareofherownfailings,evenasshedefendsthosefaultstothecompany.Asforherverbosity,theWifesaysshecan’thelpit:allwomentalktoomuch.Forproof,shelatercitesthefamousstoryofKingMidas,whowasgivenass’searsaspunishmentbythegod,Apollo.Midas,shesays,toldhismisfortunetohiswife,who,afraidshewouldburstfromkeepingthesecret,whisperedittothebanksofariverwhereitspreadoverthecountry.TheWifetellsherlistenerstheycanreadtherestinOvid.ButhereiswheretheWife’saccountdiverges.InOvid,Midastrustshissecrettohisbarber,aman.Itisamanwhocannotkeepthesecretsafe,whotalkstoomuch.Moreover,Midashasreceivedtheass’searsbecausehewasunabletolistenwisely.Chaucerdoesn’ttellusifweshouldbelievethatAlysonisanignorantilliteratewhodoesn’tknowherOvid,orifsheissubtlytweakingthecriticswhothinkmenareinherentlysuperiortowomen.DovetailingneatlywiththethemesofherprologueisthestoryAlysontellsherfellowpilgrims.Inmanyways,itisatraditionalArthurianromance.Theprotagonistofthestory,ayoungknight,commitsanassault.Inordertosavehimselffromcapitalpunishment,heisallowedtogoonaone-yearquesttodiscoverwhatwomenmostdesire.Thesimpleanswer,helearns,ismaistrie,orauthority,overtheirhusbands.ButinChaucernothingissimple.Whentheknightisatlastconvincedtogivemaistrietohisownwife,shesurpriseshimbypromisingtobeobedient,faithful,andloving.Thedichotomyofpower,ofmaleversusfemale,isdestroyedintheactofsurrender.IsthisChaucer’srecipeforsocialharmony,orisitmerelywishfulfillmentonthepartoftheWifeherself?LiteraryscholarshavedesperatelytriedtodiscoverChaucer’sownviewsofmarriageandsocietythroughhischaracters.Theirpursuit,oftenastangledasChaucer’sownnarrative,allowsustoconsideryetagainthequestionsChaucerasksofus.

复合题Directions: In this section, there are 2 passages eachwith 5 questions or incomplete statements. Read thepassage carefully. Then answer the questions or completethe statements in no more than 10 words. Write youranswers on your Answer Sheet.Passage 2London housewife Lousia Carlill went down with flu. Shewas shocked. For two months she had inhaled thrice dailyfrom a carbolic smoke ball, a preventive measureguaranteed to fend off flu—if you believed the advert.Which she did and why shouldn’ t she when the CarbolicSmoke Ball Company had promised to cough up ￡ 100 for anycustomer who feel ill.The flu started in the spring of 1889. The first reportscame from Russia, however London was especially hard-hit.At the height of the third wave in 1892, 200 people wereburied every day at just one London cemetery. The publicgrew increasingly fearful. The medical profession had noanswer to the disease. This flu, which might not even havebegun in Russia, was a mystery. What caused it and how didit spread? No one could agree on anything.By now, the theory that micro-organisms caused disease wasgaining ground, but no one had identified an organismresponsible for flu(and wouldn’ t until 1933) . In theabsence of a germ, many clung to the old idea of bad airs,or miasmas, possibly stirred by some great physical forceearthquakes, perhaps, or electrical phenomena in the upperatmosphere, even a passing comet.Not surprisingly, people looked elsewhere for help. Hopingto cash in while the pandemic lasted, purveyors of patentmedicines competed for the public’ s custom with ever moreoutrageous advertisements. One of the most successful wasthe Carbolic Smoke Ball Company. In summer of 1890 saleswere steady at 300 smoke balls a moth. In January 1891,the figure skyrocketed to 1500.Eager to exploit the public’ s mounting panic, theCarbolic Smoke Ball Company made increasingly extravagantclaims. On 13 November 1892, its latest advert in the PallMall Gazette caught the eye of London housewife LousiaCarlill. “Carbolic Smoke Ball” it declared, “willpositively cure” colds, coughs, asthma, influenza,whooping cough. . , the list went on. But it was the nestpart put Mrs. Carlill found compelling: “￡ 100 rewardwill be paid by the Carbolic Smoke Ball Company to anyperson who contracts the increasing epidemic influenza,colds or any disease caused by taking cold, after havingused the carbolic smoke ball according to the printeddirection supplied with each ball. ￡ 1, 000 is depositedwith the Alliance bank, Regent Street, showing oursincerity in the matter. ”Mrs. Carlill hurried off to buy a smoke ball, price 10shillings. After carefully reading the instructions shediligently dosed herself thrice daily until 17 January—when she fell ill. On 20 January, Lousia’ s husband wroteto the Carbolic Smoke Ball Company. His wife, he wrote,had seen their advert and bought a smoke ball on thestrength of it. She had followed the instructions to theletter, and yet now—as their doctor could confirm—shehad flu. There was no reply. But ￡ 100 was not a sum to besneezed at. Mr. Carlill persisted. The company resisted.Lousia recovered and sued. In June, Mr. Justice Hawkinsfound in Mrs. Carlill’ s favor. The company’ s maindefense was that adverts were merely “puffery” and onlyan idiot would believe such extravagant claims. JudgeHawkins pointed out that adverts were not aimed at thewise and thoughtful, but at the credulous and weak. Avendor who made a promise “must not be surprised ifoccasionally he is held to his promise. ”Carbolic appealed. In December, three lord justicesconsidered the case. Carbolic’ s lawyers tried severalliens of defense. But in the end the case came down to adingle matter: not whether the remedy was useless, orwhether Carbolic had committed fraud, but whether itsadvert constituted contract—which the company had broken.A contract required agreement between two parties, arguedCarbolic lawyers. What agreement had Mrs. Carlill madewith them?There were times, the judges decided, when a contractcould be one-sided. The advert had made a very specificoffer to purchasers: protection form flu ore 100. By usingthe smoke ball as instructed, Mrs. Carlill had acceptedthat offer. The company might just have wriggled out of itif it hadn’ t added the bit about the ￡ 1, 000 deposit.That, said the judges, gave buyers reason to believeCarbolic meant, what it said. “It seems to me that if aperson chooses to make extravagant promises of this kind,he probably does so because it pays him to make them, and,if he has made them, the extravagance of the promises isno reason in law why he should not be bound by them”pronounced Lord Justice Bowen. Lousia got her ￡ 100. Thecase established the principle of the unilateral contractand is frequently cited today.

复合题Passage AThe fox really exasperated them both. As soon as they had let the fowls out, in the early summer mornings, they had to take their guns and keep guard; and then again as soon as evening began to mellow, they must go once more. And he was so sly. He slid along in the deep grass; he was difficult as a serpent to see. And he seemed to circumvent the girls deliberately. Once or twice March had caught sight of the white tip of his brush, or the ruddy shadow of him in the deep grass, and she had let fire at him. But he made no account of this.The trees on the wood edge were a darkish, brownish green in the full light-for it was the end of August. Beyond, the naked, copper like shafts and limbs of the pine trees shone in the air. Nearer the rough grass, with its long, brownish stalks all agleam, was full of light. The fowls were round about—the ducks were still swimming on the pond under the pine trees. March looked at it all, saw it all, and did not see it. She heard Banford speaking to the fowls in the distance—and she did not hear. What was she thinking about? Heaven knows. Her consciousness was, as it were, held back.She lowered her eyes, and suddenly saw the fox. He was looking up at her. His chin was pressed down, and his eyes were looking up. They met her eyes. And he knew her. She was spellbound—she knew he knew her. So he looked into her eyes, and her soul failed her. He knew her, he has not daunted.She struggled, confusedly she came to herself, and saw him making off, with slow leaps over some fallen boughs, slow, impudent jumps. Then he glanced over his shoulder, and ran smoothly away. She saw his brush held smooth like a feather, she saw his white buttocks twinkle. And he was gone, softly, soft as the wind.She put her gun to her shoulder, but even then pursed her mouth, knowing it was nonsense to pretend to fire. So she began to walk slowly after him, in the direction he had gone, slowly, pertinaciously. She expected to find him. In her heart she was determined to find him. What she would do when she saw him again she did not consider. But she was determined to find him. So she walked abstractedly about on the edge of the wood, with wide, vivid dark eyes, and a faint flush in her cheeks. She did not think. In strange mindlessness she walked hither and thither.As soon as supper was over, she rose again to go out,without saying why.She took her gun again and went to look for the fox. For he had lifted his eyes upon her, and his knowing look seemed to have entered her brain. She did not so much think of him: she was possessed by him. She saw his dark, shrewd, unabashed eye looking into her, knowing her. She felt him invisibly master her spirit. She knew the way he lowered his chin as he looked up, she knew his muzzle, the golden brown, and the grayish white. And again she saw him glance over his shoulder at her, half inviting, half contemptuous and cunning. So she went, with her great startled eyes glowing, her gun under her arm, along the wood edge. Meanwhile the night fell, and a great moon rose above the pine trees.At the end of the story, there seems to be a sense of_____ between March and the fox.

复合题Philosophy,likeallotherstudies,aimsprimarilyatknowledge.Theknowledgeitaimsatisthekindofknowledgewhichgivesunityandsystemtothebodyofthesciences,andthekindwhichresultsfromacriticalexaminationofthegroundsofourconvictions,prejudices,andbeliefs.Butitcannotbemaintainedthatphilosophyhashadanyverygreatmeasureofsuccessinitsattemptstoprovidedefiniteanswerstoitsquestions.Ifyouaskamathematician,amineralogist,ahistorian,oranyothermanoflearning,whatdefinitebodyoftruthshasbeenascertainedbyhisscience,hisanswerwilllastaslongasyouarewillingtolisten.Butifyouputthesamequestiontoaphilosopher,hewill,ifheiscandid,havetoconfessthathisstudyhasnotachievedpositiveresultssuchashavebeenachievedbyothersciences.Itistruethatthisispartlyaccountedforbythefactthat,assoonasdefiniteknowledgeconcerninganysubjectbecomespossible,thissubjectceasestobecalledphilosophy,andbecomesaseparatescience.Thewholestudyoftheheavens,whichnowbelongstoastronomy,wasonceincludedinphilosophy;Newton’sgreatworkwascalled“themathematicalprinciplesofnaturalphilosophy”.Similarly,thestudyofthehumanmind,whichwasapartofphilosophy,hasnowbeenseparatedfromphilosophyandhasbecomethescienceofpsychology.Thus,toagreatextent,theuncertaintyofphilosophyismoreapparentthanreal:thosequestionswhicharealreadycapableofdefiniteanswersareplacedinthesciences,whilethoseonlytowhich,atpresent,nodefiniteanswercanbegiven,remaintoformtheresiduewhichiscalledphilosophy.Thisis,however,onlyapartofthetruthconcerningtheuncertaintyofphilosophy.Therearemanyquestions—andamongthemthosethatareoftheprofoundestinteresttoourspirituallife—which,sofaraswecansee,mustremaininsolubletothehumanintellectunlessitspowersbecomeofquiteadifferentorderforwhattheyarenow.Hastheuniverseanyunityofplanorpurpose,orisitafortuitousconcourseofatoms?Isconsciousnessapermanentpartoftheuniverse,givinghopeofindefinitegrowthinwisdom,orisitatransitoryaccidentonasmallplanetonwhichlifemustultimatelybecomeimpossible?Aregoodandevilofimportancetotheuniverseoronlytoman?Suchquestionsareaskedbyphilosophy,andvariouslyansweredbyvariousphilosophers.Butitwouldseemthat,whetheranswersareotherwisediscoverableornot,theanswerssuggestedbyphilosophyarenoneofthemdemonstrablytrue.Yet,howeverslightmaybethehopeofdiscoveringananswer,itispartofthebusinessofphilosophytocontinuetheconsiderationofsuchquestions,tomakeusawareoftheirimportance,toexaminealltheapproachestothem,andtokeepalivethatspeculativeinterestintheuniversewhichisapttobekilledbyconfiningourselvestodefinitelyascertainableknowledge.

复合题Passage 2However much we may abhor it, deception comes naturally toall living things. Birds do it by feigning injury to leadhungry predators away from nesting young. Spiders andCrabs do it by disguise: adorning themselves with stripsof kelp and other debris, they pretend to be somethingthey are not—and so escape their enemies. Nature amplyrewards successful deceivers by allowing them to survivelong enough to mate and reproduce. So it may come as nosurprise to learn that human beings—who, according topsychologist Gerald Jellison of the University of SouthCalifornia, are lied to about 200 times a day, roughly oneuntruth every five minutes—often deceive for exactly thesame reason: to save their own skins or to get somethingthey can’ t get by other means.But knowing how to catch deceit can be just as important asurvival skill as knowing how to tell a lie and get awaywith it. A person able to spot falsehood quickly isunlikely to be swindled by an unscrupulous businessassociate or hoodwinked by a devious spouse. Luckily,nature provides more than enough clues to trap dissemblersin their own tangled webs—if you know where to look. Byclosely observing facial expressions, body language andtone of voice, practically anyone can recognize thetelltale signs of lying. Researchers are even programmingcomputers—like those used on Lie Detector—to get at thetruth by analyzing the same physical cues available to bethe naked eye and ear. “With the proper training, manypeople can learn to reliably detect leis” , says PaulEkman, professor of psychology at the university ofCalifornia, San Francisco, who alas spent the past 15years studying the secret art of deception.In order to know what kind of lies work best, successfulliars need to accurately assess other people’ s emotionalstates. Ekman’ s research shows that this same emotionalintelligence is essential for good lie detectors, too. Theemotional state to watch out for is stress, the conflictmost liars feel between the truth and what they actuallysay and do.Even high-tech lie detectors don’ t detect lies as such;they merely detect the physical cues of emotions, whichmay or may not correspond to what the person being testedis saying. Polygraphs, for instance, measure respiration,heart rate and skin conductivity, which tend to increasewhen people are nervous—as they usually are when lying.Nervous people typically perspire, and the salts containedin perspiration conduct electricity. That’ s why suddenleap in skin conductivity indicates nervousness—aboutgetting caught, perhaps?—which might in turn, suggestthat someone is being economical with the truth. On theother hand, it might also mean that the lights in thetelevision studio are too hot—which is one reasonpolygraph tests are inadmissible in court. “Good liedetectors don’ t rely on single sign, ” Ekman says “butinterpret clusters of verbal and nonverbal clues thatsuggest someone might be lying. ”Those clues are written all over the face. Because themusculature of the face is direct connected to the areasof the brain that process emotion, the countenance can bea window to the soul. Neurological studies even suggestthat genuine emotions travel different pathways throughthe brain than insincere ones. If a patient paralyzed bystroke on one side of the face, for example, is asked tosmile deliberately, only the mobile side of the mouth israised. Very few people—most notably, actors andpoliticians—are able to consciously control all of theirfacial expressions. Lies can often be caught within theliar’ s true feelings briefly leak through the mask ofdeception. “We don’ t think before we feel. ” Ekman says,“Expressions tend to show up on the face before we’ reeven conscious of experiencing an emotion. ”One of the most difficult facial expressions to fake—orconceal, if it is genuinely felt—is sadness. When someoneis truly sad, the forehead wrinkles with grief and theinner comers of the eyebrows are pulled up. Fewer than 15%of the people Ekman tested were able to produce thiseyebrow movement voluntarily. By contrast, the lowering ofthe eyebrows associated with an angry scowl can bereplicated at will by almost everybody. “If someoneclaims they are sad and the inner comers of their eye-brows don’ t go up, ” Ekman says, “the sadness isprobably false. ”The smile, on the other hand, is one of the easiest facialexpressions to counterfeit. It takes just two muscles—thezygomaticus major muscles that extend from the cheek-bonesto the comers of the lips—to produce a grin. But there’ sa catch. A genuine smile affects not only the comers ofthe lips but also the orbicularis oculi, the muscle aroundthe eye that produces the distinctive “crow’ s-feet”associated with people who laugh a lot. A counterfeit grincan be unmasked if the lip comers go up, the eyes crinklebut the inner comers of the eyebrows are not lowered, amovement controlled by the orbicularis oculi that isdifficult to fake. The absence of lower eyebrow is onereason why false smiles look so strained and stiff.

复合题ThatourstudentsrarelygetthechancetousetheirimaginationwasanopensecretamongChinesepeople.Now,aglobalsurveyhasbroughtittothenoticeoftherestoftheworld.Thesurveycovering21countries,conductedbyInternationalEducationalProgressEvaluationOrganization,showedChinesestudentsexcelledatmath,beatingtheirpeersfromothercountries.Butwhenitcametousingtheirimagination,theyweretiedforthelastplace.Andincreativity,theywerefifthfromthebottom.Thesurveyresultsarenotshocking,giventhewayourchildrenaretaughtinschoolsandathome.Buttheyareasternremindertooureducatorsandparentstochangetheirways.Chinesestudentsrarelygetthetimeorchancetousetheirimagination.Rightfromthedaytheyenterschooltheyarepushedintoacultureofexamsandmoreexams.Teachersandparentsteachthemthewaythateducationisallaboutpassingtheseexamswithflyingcolors.Andtopassthoseexams,theyaremadetolearnbyrotestandardanswers.Teachersdarenotencouragestudentstothinkoutsidethebox.Teachersdon’tlikestudentsquestioningthem,stiflingthecuriosityoftheyoungminds.Forchildren,there’shardlyanyroomforbrightideaseitherinclassorathome.IsraelsharesthevalueofeducationwithChina.ButthereisaworldofdifferencebetweenthewayIsraeliparentstreattheirchildrenandwedo.Israeliparentsdonotmollycoddletheirchildren.Instead,theyencouragethemtolearnhowtolivebythemselves.Incontrast,Chineseparentsgotoextremes,pamperingtheirchildrenonemomentfordoingwhattheythinkisgoodandpunishingthemseverelythenextforcommittinga“mistake”.Theglobalstudyshouldmakeusswingintoactionandhelpourstudentstothrowopentheiryoungmindstoimaginationandcreativity.Itistimeforoureducationofficialsandeducatorstoaskthemselveswhattheyshoulddotoletourchildren’simaginationandcreativityblossom.Creativitystemsfromimagination.Tomakestudentscreative,educatorsshouldencouragethemtousetheirimaginationtothefull.Itisimportantforstudentstogivewingstotheirimaginationbeyondschoolhours,too.Andparentscancontributetothecreativedevelopmentoftheirchildrenbyencouragingthemtobemoreinquisitive.Onlybybeingimaginativecanourstudentscomeupwithcreativesolutionstoproblemsandexpandtheirworld.

复合题IfyouwanttoknowwhyDenmarkistheworld’sleaderinwindpower,startwithathree-hourcartripfromthecapitalCopenhagen—mindthebicyclists—tothesmalltownofLemonthefarwestcoastofJutland.You’llfeelitasyoucrossthe6.8kin-longGreatBeltBridge:Dem-nark’sbountifulwind,sofierceevenonacalmsummer’sdaythatitthreatenstoshoveyourcarintothewavesbelow.Butwinditselfisonlypartofthereason.InLem,workersinfactoriesthesizeofaircrafthangarsbuildthewindturbinessoldbyVestas,theDanishcompanythathasemergedastheindustry’stopmanufactureraroundtheglobe.Theworkisbothgrossandfine;employeesweldtogethermassivecurvedsheetsofsteeltomakecentralshaftsastallasa14-storybuilding,andassembleenginehousingsthatholdsome18,000separateparts.Mostimpressivearetheturbine’sblades,whichscoopthewindwitheachsweepingrevolution.AssmoothasanOlympicswimsuitandhonedtoaerodynamicperfection,eachbladeweighsinat7,000kg,andthey’rewhathelpmakeVestas’turbinesthebestintheworld.“Thebladeiswherethesecretis,”saysErikTherkelsen,aVestasexecutive.“Ifwecanmakeaturbine,it’ssold.”Buttechnology,likethewinditself,isjustonemorepartofthereasonforDenmark’sdominance,intheend,ithappenedbecauseDenmarkhadthepoliticalandpublicwilltodecidethatitwantedtobealeaderandtofollowthrough.Beginningin1979,thegovernmentbeganadeterminedprogrammeofsubsidiesandloanguaranteestobuildupitswindindustry.Copenhagencovered30%ofinvestmentcosts,andguaranteedloansforlargeturbineexporterssuchasVestas.Italsomandatedthatutilitiespurchasewindenergyatapreferentialprice,thusguaranteeinginvestorsacustomerbase.Energytaxeswerechanneledintoresearchcentres,whereengineerscrafteddesignsthatwouldeventuallyproducecutting-edgegiantslikeVestas’3-magawatt(MW)V90turbine.Asaresult,windturbinesnowdotDenmark.Thecountrygetsmorethan19%ofitselectricityfromthebreeze(SpainandPortugal,thenexthighestcountries,getabout10%)andDanishcompaniescontrolone-thirdoftheglobalwindmarket,earningbillionsinexportsandcreatinganationalchampionfromscratch.“Theywereoutearlyindrivingrenewables,andthatgavethemthechancetobeatechnologyleaderandajob-creationleader,”saysJakeSchmidt,internationalclimatepolicydirectorfortheNewYorkCity-basedNaturalResourcesDefenseCouncil.“Theyhavealwaysbeenoneortwostepsaheadofothers.”ThechallengenowforDenmarkistohelptherestoftheworldcatchup.Beyondwind,thecountry(pop.5.5million)isaworldleaderinenergyefficiency,gettingmoreGDPperwattthananyothermemberoftheE.U.Carbonemissionsaredown13.3%from1990levelsandtotalenergyconsumptionhasbarelymoved,evenasDenmark’seconomycontinuedtogrowatahealthyclip.WithCopenhagensettohostall-importantU.N.climatechangetalksinDecember—wheretheworldhopesforasuccessortotheexpiringKyotoProtocol—andtheglobalrecessionbeginningtohitenvironmentalplansincapitalseverywhere,Denmark’sexamplecouldn’tbemoretimely.“We’lltrytomakeDenmarkashowroom,”saysPrimeMinisterAndersFoghRasmussen.“Youcanreduceenergyuseandcarbonemissions,andachieveeconomicgrowth.”It’stemptingtoassumethatDenmarkisinnatelygreen,withthekindofScandinaviangoodconsciencethathasmadeitsuchapleasantglobalcitizensince,oh,thewholeVikingthing.Butthecountry’spolicieswereactuallybornfromadifferentemotion,onenowincommoncurrency:fear.Whenthe1973oilcrisishit,90%ofDenmark’senergycamefrompetroleum,almostallofitimported.Buffetedbythesamesupplyshocksthathittherestofthedevelopedworld,Denmarklaunchedarapiddriveforenergyconservation,tothepointofintroducingcar-freeSundaysandaskingbusinessestoswitchofflightsduringclosinghours.EventuallytheMideastoilstartedflowingagain,andtheDanesthemselvesbeganenjoyingthebenefitsofthepetroleumandnaturalgasintheirsliceoftheNorthSea.Itwasenoughtomakethemmorethanself-sufficient.Butunlikemostothercountries,Denmarkneverforgotthelessonsof1973,andkeptdrivingforgreaterenergyefficiencyandamorediversifiedenergysupply.TheDanishparliamentraisedtaxesonenergytoencourageconservationandestablishedsubsidiesandstandardstosupportmoreefficientbuildings.“Itallstartedoutwithoutanyregardfortheclimateortheenvironment,”saysSvendAuken,theformerheadofDenmark’soppositionSocialDemocratPartyandthearchitectofthecountry’senvironmentalpoliciesinthe1990s.“Buttodaythere’saconsensusthatweneedtobuildrenewablepower.”Totherestoftheworld,Denmarkhasthepowerofitsexample,showingthatyoucanstayrichandgrowgreenatthesametime.“Denmarkhasthepowerofitsexample,showingthatyoucanstayrichandgrowDenmarkhasproventhatactingonclimatecanbeapositiveexperience,notjustpainful,”saysNRDC’sSchmidt.Therealpaincouldcomefromfailingtofollowintheirfootsteps.

复合题Sincethelate1970s,inthefaceofaseverelossofmarketshareindozensofindustries,manufacturersintheUnitedStateshavebeentryingtoimproveproductivity—andthereforeenhancetheirinternationalcompetitiveness—throughcost-cuttingprograms.(Cost-cuttinghereisdefinedasraisinglaboroutputwhileholdingtheamountoflaborconstant.)However,from1978through1982,productivity—thevalueofgoodsmanufactureddividedbytheamountoflaborinput—didnotimprove;andwhiletheresultswerebetterinthebusinessupturnofthethreeyearsfollowing,theyran25percentlowerthanproductivityimprovementsduringearlier,post-1945upturns.Atthesametime,itbecameclearthatthehardermanufacturesworkedtoimplementcost-cutting,themoretheylosttheircompetitiveedge.Withthisparadoxinmind,Irecentlyvisited25companies;itbecamecleartomethatthecost-cuttingapproachtoincreasingproductivityisfundamentallyflawed.Manufacturingregularlyobservesa“40,40,20”rule.Roughly40percentofanymanufacturing-basedcompetitiveadvantagederivesfromlong-termchangesinmanufacturingstructure(decisionsaboutthenumber,size,location,andcapacityoffacilities)andinapproachestomaterials.Another40percentcomesfrommajorchangesinequipmentandprocesstechnology.Thefinal20percentrestsonimplementingconventionalcost-cutting.Thisruledoesnotimplythatcost-cuttingshouldnotbetried.Thewell-knowntoolsofthisapproach—includingsimplifyingjobsandretrainingemployeestoworksmarter,notharder—doproduceresults.Butthetoolsquicklyreachthelimitsofwhattheycancontribute.Anotherproblemisthatthecost-cuttingapproachhindersinnovationanddiscouragescreativepeople.AsAbernathy’sstudyofautomobilemanufacturershasshown,anindustrycaneasilybecomeprisonerofitsowninvestmentsincost-cuttingtechniques,reducingitsabilitytodevelopnewproducts.Andmanagersunderpressuretomaximizecost-cuttingwillresistinnovationbecausetheyknowthatmorefundamentalchangesinprocessesorsystemswillwreakhavocwiththeresultsonwhichtheyaremeasured.Productionmanagershavealwaysseentheirjobasoneofminimizingcostsandmaximizingoutput.Thisdimensionofperformancehasuntilrecentlysufficedasabasisofevaluation,butithascreatedapenny-pinching,mechanisticcultureinmostfactoriesthathaskeptawaycreativemanagers.EverycompanyIknowthathasfreeditselffromtheparadoxhasdoneso,inpart,bydevelopingandimplementingamanufacturingstrategy.Suchastrategyfocusesonthemanufacturingstructureandonequipmentandprocesstechnology.Inonecompanyamanufacturingstrategythatalloweddifferentareasofthefactorytospecializeindifferentmarketsreplacedtheconventionalcost-cuttingapproach;withinthreeyearsthecompanyregaineditscompetitiveadvantage.Togetherwithsuchstrategies,successfulcompaniesarealsoencouragingmanagerstofocusonawidersetofobjectivesbesidescuttingcosts.Thereishopeformanufacturing,butitclearlyrestsonadifferentwayofmanaging.