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问答题 Even on paper, urban sprawl looks ugly. It looks more so from the 110th floor of Chicago's Sears Tower. From there you can survey, into the misty distance, a metropolitan area that now encompasses no fewer than 265 separate municipalities and covers 3,800 square miles in six northeastern Illinois counties. The expansion of the region is sometimes described as growth. More accurately, Chicago has simply spread out. Between 1970 and 1990 the population of the metro area increased by only 4%, while land used for housing increased by 46%. More telling, land used for commercial development increased by a whopping 74%. The drawbacks of sprawl need no repetition: the isolation of less mobile (usually poorer) groups in the inner cities, and the premature abandonment of infrastructure. Worse, these problems are now overtaking the very suburbs that were once supposed to escape them. Between 1970 and 1990, the city of Chicago lost 17% of its population while the suburbs gained by 24%. But the inner suburbs lost people too. Over the past ten years, 70 inner-suburban towns have lost residents to towns on the periphery. A recent series in the Chicago Tribune, "The Graying of Suburbia", documented the population decline of inner-ring towns ranging from dilapidated Dolton and Harvey to relatively up-market Elmhurst and Skokie. In the harder-hit cases, population loss has been compounded by falling property values along with rising crime and unemployment. (Several inner suburbs have banned out-door "For Sale" signs to curb the growing sense of panic.) Their fate contrasts with Naperville, a booming outer suburb, which is currently developing a 10,000- acre site for 22 more housing tracts and several shopping malls. Since 1980, Naperville's population has more than doubled. The expanding towns on the edges make no apology for their prosperity. Sprawl is natural, they argue ; Americans live in smaller households ( true-house-holds increased by 20% when population grew by only 4%) and they want bigger houses (also true—and they want three-car garages ). Businesses in turn follow the outwardly mobile workers. They also appreciate the cheaper land and better roads. As a case in point, ask Sears. The very company that built the magnificent downtown skyscraper relocated 5,000 workers to the outer suburb of Hoffman Estates in 1992. Critics of sprawl argue that government deals an unfair hand. An article published this summer by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago shows that various incentives in the federal tax code, including the deductibility of mortgage payments, promote over-consumption of housing. The code also allows taxpayers to defer capital-gains taxes if they buy a new home of equal or greater value, which pushes buyers towards higher-priced houses—most of them on the edges of cities. Another subsidy is provided for cars, the sine qua non of suburban life. By some estimates, existing taxes on motorists cover only 60% of the real costs of government road-related services. Far from expanding under one central authority, almost all metro areas are tended by a hotch-potch of city, town and other smaller governments. (Metropolitan Chicago has over 1,200 separate tax districts, more than any other in the country.) The quality of the services provided by these governments depends on the quality of the local property that they have to tax; so aggressive jurisdictions offer rebates or subsidies to win juicy new developments. The outcome, on one front, is often the premature development of new land. Towns on the outskirts, armed with subsidies and plenty of space, lure development away from the center. In the past 20 years 440 square miles of farmland have been developed, with sites further in are abandoned. The city of Chicago alone has over 2,000 vacant manufacturing sites. Tax-base competition also encourages sprawl in other ways. When the taxing jurisdictions are so small, the departure of wealthier residents and business increased the strain on those left behind. Taxes must go up just to maintain the same level of services. Thus in Harvey, a declining suburb, the property tax on a $ 50,000 house is $1,400—whereas in booming Naperville, if it had such cheap houses, the rate would be around $900. At the same time, the Harvey property taxes do not stretch very far. Last year, the local school district was able to raise only $1,349 per elementary school pupil, compared with $7,178 in wealthy Wilmette. Although state funds help to even things out, the disparities become another reason to move. Over the long term, there is a chance that sprawl will not go unmanaged for ever: that the price of inner-city decline will eventually become too high. But it has not reached that point yet. The inner areas would like to see a regionally coordinated effort to pursue economic development (to diminish tax-base competition), or a region-wide sharing of commercial tax revenues, as has been tried to good effect in the Minneapolis—St Paul metropolitan area. But the deeper incentives to sprawl will still remain. Subsidies for home ownership are well guarded by lobbyists in Washington, and local governments are rightly jealous of their self- determination. For the time being, metropolitan areas like Chicago will just keep expanding. So what if it means loosening another notch on the belt?

问答题Josh Corlew’ s grocery bill is zero. The furniture in his Nashville home didn't cost him anything, either. His fridge, TV, and microwave-all free. It’s been two years now since he last bought the ingredients for his signature sausage dish. Corlew, a 26-year-old nonprofit manager, has effectively dropped out of Consumer Nation He goes shopping in the disposable culture's garbage instead. Corlew is part of a growing number of Americans for whom getting stuff for free is next to godliness. Yes, most everyone is cutting back. But these folks take frugality to its extreme. In cities like New York and wealthy suburbs like Grosse Pointe, Mich. , and Plano, Tex. , it is possible to live like a king (well, a duke anyway) out of a dumpster. Sushi, cashmere sweaters, even Apple computers-all for the taking. "We' re used to fulfilling most of our needs through the marketplace," says Syracuse University culture professor Robert Thompson "But now with technology there is access to more that is free than in any time in the history of the world. " As you might expect, the free movement is heavy on idealism. None more so than the so-called freegans. They believe America's consumer society is inherently corrupt and wasteful, and they want no part of it. Skeptics might see another motive at work: Freegans don't pay for anything. Corlew, who prefers the term "conscious consumer" over freegan, insists his "bin diving" or "dumpstering" is as much a war on wretched excess as anything else. "This is about distancing myself from the consumerism of America," says Corlew. "Every time we buy something, we're saying we support the system that brought it about. " Alexi Ahrens, who lives near Minneapolis, is less idealistic about her secret hobby. "It's a little bit of adventure in suburbia," she says. Ahrens, 33, does her rounds between 2 and 3 a. m. and scavenges for food, clothing, and furniture (she once found a Tiffany lamp, but gave it to a neighbor). More recently she turned her dumpstering into a kind of business. When her computer technician job at a financial-planning firm became part-time, Ahrens went into overdrive. She started haunting corporate loading docks. At a photo-processing factory that was closing, she found late- model processing equipment, computers and unused office supplies. Ahrens sold them on eBay for $ 2,000. Not bad, right? But what if you don't want to climb into a giant garbage can to get your free groceries or barely used PC? Maybe Freecycle is more your thing. A Craigslist-type Web site, Freecycle lets people post items they don't want and ones they do. Giveaways have included everything from a camping trailer to a pair of rats. Freecycle now has 6 million members internationally, and since Wall Street imploded it has been registering 50,000 more each week, up from 25, 000 previously. Freecycle and the Freegans are among the fastest-growing groups on Yahoo ! Many of the adherents of the free movement say they got the thrift trait from their Depression- era forebears. "I'm a penny-pincher. I work hard for my money, and I want it to last as long as possible," says 58-year-old Roger Latzgo, who built his Pennsylvania home entirely of materials he found for free. "I wanted to free myself from the weight of a mortgage, the root of which, by the way, means death. " Think this sounds crazy, dear manager? The free movement is already starting to invade the workplace. At Yahoo, Freecycle events-where employees swap their stuff-are all the rage. They have featured plenty of Prada clothes, original Eames chairs-even founder David Filo's smelly Adidas sneakers.1.Explain the sentence "He goes shopping in the disposable culture's garbage instead. " (para. 1)

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问答题Paraphrase the sentence "those bets could sour, however, if the American economy slows" (Para. 6)

问答题When President Obama took the stage here Wednesday to address a community—and a nation—traumatized by Saturday's shooting rampage in Tucson, Arizona, it invited comparisons to President George W. Bush's speech to the nation after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the memorial service President Bill Clinton led after the bombing of a federal office building killed 168 people in Oklahoma City in 1995. But Mr. Obama's appearance presented a deeper challenge, reflecting the tenor of his times. Unlike those tragedies-which, at least initially, united a mournful country and quieted partisan divisions—this one has, in the days since the killings, had the opposite effect, inflaming the divide. It was a political reality Mr. Obama seemed to recognize the moment he took the stage. He directly confronted the political debate that erupted after the rampage, asking people of all beliefs not to use the tragedy to turn on one another. He called for an end to partisan recriminations, and for a unity that has seemed increasingly elusive as each day has brought more harsh condemnations from the left and the right. It was one of the more powerful addresses that Mr. Obama has delivered as president, harnessing the emotion generated by the shock and loss from Saturday's shootings to urge Americans "to remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together./

问答题Bosses now prefer to be paid in share options. The average chief executive of one of America's top 200 firms would take home just over $750,000 in gold. In fact, in 1998 he made a pre-tax profit of $8.3 m by exercising executive share options, which give the right to buy a fixed number of his company's shares at a fixed price in what is now a rising market. At the end of last year, he also had total unrealized profits on stock options of nearly $50m. But put to one side questions of justice and inequality. Force down the thought that the chief executive's enormous share options may demoralize the deputy chief executive and make the company harder to manage. Ignore the bleating bondholder, who sees his risk rise as companies borrow to buy back shares to give to executives. The fundamental question is whether share-option schemes are doing what they were designed to do: aligning the interests of managers with those of owners, motivating bosses to do their level best by shareholders.

问答题People in large cities are surrounded by noise pollution. Everyday their eyes are bombarded by sounds by vehicles, machines, television loud speakers and so on.

问答题Directions: In this part of the test, you will hear 5 sentences in English. You will hear the sentences ONLY ONCE. After you have heard each sentence, translate it into Chinese and write your version in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET.

问答题人们通常喜欢听好听的话，一听到拂耳之言就容易产生不悦甚至愠怒。一个人，特别是身居要职的人，要能够心悦诚服地倾听逆耳之言并从中获得智慧，就需要容忍和大度的雅量，而这往往依赖于人们的心性修养和对人性缺陷的克制；否则，就会给善于运用花言巧语和投其所好的人提供可乘之机，并伤害直言不讳的忠诚之人。 在理智上，人们大概愿意接受“兼听则明，偏信则暗”、“忠言逆耳利于行”等一类古老的真理，或者乐于信服老子说的“美言不信，信言不美”的哲理。但在行为上，人们又容易背离这些古训，不愿意听或听不进“逆耳”之言，最终犯下严重的过失。

问答题There is no better school than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve my performance next time. Never again will I contribute to my downfall by refusing to face the truth and learn from my past mistakes. Because I know: gems cannot shine without polish, and I can not perfect myself without hardship. Now I know that there are no times in life when opportunity, the chance to be and do, gathers so richly about my soul when it has to suffer cruel adversity. Then everything depends on whether I raise my head or lower it in seeking help. Whenever I am struck down, in the future, by any terrible defeat, I will inquire of myself, after the first pain has passed how I can turn that adversity into good. What a great opportunity that moment may present to take the bitter root I am holding and transform it into fragrant garden of flowers. Always will I seek the seed of triumph in every adversity.

问答题 Questions 7～10 News of the worst unemployment numbers in 16 years is enough to create plenty of job jitters for most workers. But, with performance-review season in full swing, some people are bound to hear negative comments. In a tough economy, a bad review can seem insurmountable. But you can recover if you are "willing to self-assess and be open-minded to what is being told" to you, says Barbara Mohl, president of HR Connected, a human resources consulting firm. Here's how to bounce back: —Be open to feedback The review is a communication tool for you and your manager to begin the conversation about your performance. You should be ready and willing to accept feedback. Remember, what you hear is usually meant to help you do your job better. "Realize that this process is called a performance review, not a performance correction," says John Heins, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at staffing firm Spherion Corp. The review isn't the time to debate and resolve the problems. "That conversation is best-suited for a follow-up meeting," says Mr. Heins. —Acknowledge your manager's comments. Giving negative feedback can be stressful for a manager. Listen to and acknowledge what your manager is saying, regardless of whether you agree with the comments. "The worst thing you can do is to make excuses or put the blame on someone else," says Beth Carvin, CEO and president of Nobscot, a retention management consulting firm in Honolulu. After you have heard your manager's comments and you understand what has been said, you can say "I appreciate your feedback and I understand the issues you have addressed." If you feel strongly and have proof that the assessment is unfair, then you can say "Thank you for your feedback, but I don't necessarily agree with X and I look forward to scheduling a follow-up meeting to discuss your points more specifically. " Schedule that meeting before you leave the review. —Create an action plan. Take time to reflect and review your manager's comments. You might want to discuss difficult issues with a mentor or friend. Then create an action plan that you can cover and add to in the" follow-up meeting. If you don't agree with your boss on all points, give specific examples of where you think your manager is wrong. Keep in mind, though, you'll need to be proactive about how to turn things around—regardless of whether you agree. "Plan with your manager exactly what he or she would like you to improve," says Mr. Heins. "Does something have to be done quicker or faster, or do you have to interact better with your colleagues? Ask if there might be a colleague who can mentor you and inquire about resources you can use to improve," recommends Ms. Mohl. —Schedule periodic follow-up meetings. Stay on top of the turnaround plan. "Many employees don't take the time or initiative to check in with their supervisor to see how they're doing," says Ms. Carvin. "Don't be afraid to toot your own horn," she says, "and let your boss know what you're accomplishing. Check in at least every two to three weeks or sooner if you've achieved a success at work. "

问答题Questions 1～3 Europeans have mixed feelings about class. They deplore the idea that people may remain mired in poverty, and they have large welfare program to help them move up. They also resent the sight of rich families staying at the top for generations, and so impose high taxes to redistribute wealth and income. On the other hand, compared with Americans, Europeans cling to a somewhat static view of society. They dislike the extremes of wealth and poverty that accompany America's supposed free-for-all meritocracy. They look askance at "excessive" job mobility, which breeds insecurity. Polls show that, compared with Americans, Europeans are more likely to dislike unfettered market competition and to believe that success is outside their own control. With some exceptions (e.g. Dick Whittington), they lack the equivalent of Horatio Alger's myth of rags to riches. In short, in the European view, social stability is desirable, and if a certain amount of inflexibility is needed to underpin it, that is a price worth paying to avoid the restless uncertainties of America' s market-driven model. Yet the curious thing is that European society—at least in the Nordic countries—is far less stable than America's. Two new research papers confirm that, if one compares the incomes of children with those of their parents, or considers how long people in one income group stay there, Nordic countries emerge far more mobile than America. Britain shows more class stability than its northern neighbors, but it is still a lot closer to them than it is to America. The authors rank countries on a scale from one to zero, with one meaning no mobility at all (i. e. a child's income is identical to its parents') and zero meaning perfect mobility (i. e. a child's income bears no relation to its parents'). The Nordic countries score around 0.2 for sons, Britain scores 0.36, and America 0.54 (meaning that a son's earnings are more closely related to his father's in America). These figures are roughly in line with the conclusions of other studies, though they have the advantage of using standardized data, thereby minimizing problems of definition that usually bedevil cross-country comparisons. The biggest finding of the studies is not, however, about overall social mobility, but about mobility at the bottom. This is the most distinctive feature of. Nordic societies, and it is also perhaps the most significant difference with America. Around three quarters of sons born into the poorest fifth of the population in Nordic countries in the late 1950s had moved out of that category by the time they were in their early 40s. In contrast, only just over half of American men born at the bottom later moved up. This is another respect in which Britain is more like the Nordics than like America. some 70% of its poorest sons escaped from poverty within a generation. The Nordic countries are distinctive in one further way. the sons born at the bottom (into the poorest fifth) earn roughly the same as those born a rung above them (the second-poorest fifth). In other words, Nordic countries have almost completely snapped the link between the earnings of parents and children at and near the bottom. That is not at all true of America. Social mobility at middle-income levels is more similar everywhere (it is a bit higher in most European countries, but not by much). That may partly explain why Americans think their society is more mobile than it is (the middle classes tend to set the political agenda, and mobility is genuine enough for them). It may also explain why few Europeans appreciate quite how much movement up and down the income ladder there is, because much of it takes place off the radar screen of the politically influential. The obvious explanation for greater mobility in the Nordic countries is their tax and welfare systems, which (especially when compared with America's) deliberately try to help the children of the poor to do better than their parents. One might expect social mobility and economic flexibility to go together—in fact, to be two sides of the same coin. But to the extent that redistribution is an explanation, it implies the opposite: that social mobility is a product of high public spending, a bit like the low incidence of poverty or longer life expectancy (on both of which Europe also does better than America). But greater public spending tends also to be associated with less economic flexibility—which is why Nordic countries have sought to limit the more arthritis-inducing features of their tax-and-spend programs. Yet redistributive fiscal policies cannot be all there is to it. If they were, Nordic countries would not do as well as they do (their welfare states are not appreciably more generous than Britain's). The other part of the explanation seems to be their superior education systems. Education has long been recognized as the most important single trigger of social mobility—and all four Nordic countries do unusually well in the school-appraisal system developed by the OECD. That in turn may explain why the bigger continental European countries, notably France, Germany, Italy, are not as mobile as Nordic ones. With relatively poor education systems, they are bound to perform more like Britain. But that still makes them socially (if not economically) more flexible than the land of the free. For Europe, the secrets of greater social mobility are, first, tough redistribution policies that particularly benefit those at the bottom; and, especially in Nordic countries, a suppler and less class-ridden education system, running from top to bottom. America could learn something from that.1.In what ways are Europeans different from Americans in their view of society?

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问答题落实2030年可持续发展议程是世界各国的共同任务。当前世界经济复苏乏力，南北发展差距拉大，国际发展合作动力不足，难民危机、恐怖主义、公共卫生、气候变化等问题困扰国际社会。各国要携手将领导人的承诺转化为实际行动，认真推进落实2030年可持续发展议程。通过发展，应对各种全球性挑战，助力各国经济转型升级，携手走上公平、开放、全面、创新的可持续发展之路，共同提高全人类的福祉。

问答题Controversy has been aroused about the works of Jin Yong, a famous martial-arts fiction writer in China, being used in the students" Chinese textbooks. Some experts in the field of education welcome the practice, while others are strongly against it. Topic: Should martial-arts fictions be integrated into the Chinese textbook? Questions for Reference: 1. Some people think the martial-arts fictions full of violence and romance are not suitable for the students. What"s your opinion? 2. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of Jin Yong"s martial-arts fictions as textbook material? 3. What are the possible negative effects and how can we reduce them?

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问答题手机(移动电话)、寻呼机和便携式计算机成为我们的生活的一部分，它们提高了上百万用户的生产力和效率。然而，一项调查却显示这些便携式设备所释放出的巨量信息有可能变得无法驾驭。从掌上电脑的电子信函到手机的语音邮件，使用者都面临着一个严重的管理问题，即如何控制这些接收信息的渠道。 由于本身小巧玲珑，又具备种种先进的特点，便携式电子设备为消费者带来了自由，提高了生产力，改进了对信息的组织。但是，信息发送与接收的便捷发展得如此之快，以至于很多人每天都会收到各种各样、成百上千的电子邮件。结果造成很多人无法充分发挥设备的特点，这些特点将有助于他们对超载信息进行管理。 信息超载所造成的影响已经超出了专业领域。它引起的紧张与焦虑会给家庭关系和友情带来消极的影响。人们会有一种被信息淹没的感觉，这使得他们紧张、心事重重，很少有时间与家人和朋友相聚。所以，有必要为人们建立一种处理电子信息的管理系统。当人们掌握了这种数码管理方法后，他们的工作与个人生活都会得以极大地简化和改善。

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问答题太湖明珠无锡，位于江苏省南部，地处美丽富饶的长江三角洲中心地带。这里气候宜人，物产丰富，风景优美，是中国重点风景旅游城市。与万里长城齐名的古京杭大运河纵贯市区，泛舟河上，能领略水乡的民俗风情。 距市区七公里的太湖梅粱景区是太湖风景之精华，碧波万顷，渔帆点点，湖光山色，令人陶醉。其中的鼋头渚巨石状如鼋头，远眺烟波浩渺的太湖，被诗人郭沫若誉为“太湖佳绝处”。