It is fashionable today to criticize Big Business, and there is one issue on which the many critics agree: CEO pay. We hear that CEOs are paid too much (or too much relative to workers) , or that they control others’ pay, or that their pay is insufficiently related to positive outcomes. But the more likely truth is CEO pay is largely caused by intense competition.
It is true that CEO pay has gone up---top ones may make 300 times the pay of typical workers on average, and since the mid-1970s, CEO pay for large publicly traded American corporations has, by varying estimates, gone up by about 500%. The typical CEO of a top American corporation-from the 350 largest such companies-now makes about $18.9 million a year.
While individual cases of overpayment definitely exist, in general, the determinants of CEO pay are not so mysterious and not so trapped in corruption (腐败). In fact, overall CEO compensation for the top companies rises pretty much in line with the value of those companies on the stock market.
The best model for understanding the growth of CEO pay, though, is that of limited CEO talent in a world where business opportunities for the top firms are growing rapidly. The efforts of Americans highest-earning 1 % have been one of the more dynamic elements of the global economy.
It’s not popular to say, but one reason their pay has gone up so much is that CEOs really have upped their game relative to many other workers in the U. S. economy.
Today’s CEO, at least for major American firms, must have many more skills than simply being able to “run the company.” CEOs must have a good sense of financial markets and maybe even how the company should trade in them. They also need better public relations skills than their predecessors, as the costs of even a minor slipup can cause a bad consequence. Then there’s the fact that large American companies are much more globalized than ever before, with supply chains spread across a larger number of countries. To lead in that system requires knowledge that is fairly incredible.
There is yet another trend: virtually all major American companies are becoming tech companies, one way or another. An agribusiness company, for instance, may focus on R&D in highly IT- intensive areas such as genome sequencing (基因组序列). Similarly, it is hard to do a good job running the Walt Disney Company just by picking good movie scripts and courting stars ； you also need to build a firm capable of creating significant CGI (计算机生成图像) products for cartoon movies at the highest levels of technical sophistication and with many frontier innovations along the way.
On top of all of this, major CEOs still have to do the job they have always done- which includes motivating employees, serving as an internal role model, helping to define and extend a corporate culture, understanding the internal accounting, and presenting budgets and business plans to the board. Good CEOs are some of the world’s most powerful creators and have some of the very deepest skills of understanding.
1. Which of the following has contributed to CEO pay rise?| A．The growth in the number of cooperation |
| B．The general pay rise with a better economy |
| C．Increased business opportunities for top firms |
| D．Close cooperation among leading economics |
| A．foster a stronger sense of teamwork |
| B．finance more research and development |
| C．establish closer ties with tech companies |
| D．operate more globalized companies |
| A．operation | B．success |
| C．mistake | D．promotion |
| A．CEOs Are Not Overpaid | B．CEO Pay: Past and Present |
| C．CEOs’ Challenges of Today | D．CEO Traits: Not Easy to Define |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】In February, 2015, a South Korean woman was sleeping on the floor when her robot vacuum ate her hair, forcing her to call for emergency help. It surely isn’t what Stephen Hawking warned us that intelligent devices “mean the end of the human race”. But it does highlight one of the unexpected dangers of inviting robots into our home.
There are many examples of intelligent technology going bad, but more often than not, they involve cheating rather than physical danger. Meanwhile, increasing evidence suggests that we, especially children, tend to tell our deepest, darkest secrets to human robots. So how do we protect ourselves from giving-away code?
Once you’ve invited a robot into your home, you need to manage your expectations. Movies and marketing may have told us to expect deep interaction with robots friends but we’ve still got a long way to go before they are as socially aware as described. Given the gulf between expectation and reality, it’s important to avoid being tricked.
The message is clear: as robots became increasingly connected to the internet, and able to respond to natural language, you need to especially cautious about figuring out who or what you are talking about.
We also need to think about how information is being stored and shared when it comes to robots that can record our every move. Some recording devices may have been designed for entertainment but can easily be adapted for more dangerous purposes. Take Nixie, the wearable camera that can fly off your wrist at a moment’s notice and take shots around you in the air. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how such technology could be taken advantage of.
If the technology around us is able to record and process speech, images and movement, or listen secretly to us, what will happen to that information? Where will it be stored? Who will have access?
So, what is the safest way to welcome robots into our homes, public spaces, and social lives? We should be cautiously optimistic that intelligent machines could become enriching companions, while acknowledging that we need to determine strict boundaries for robots. There should be someone to turn to should your robot commit a crime, steal your card... or try to eat your hair.
1. The hair-eating story in Paragraph 1 is intended to ________.| A．introduce the topic of the discussion |
| B．show the poor quality of the product |
| C．appeal to us to take pity on the victim |
| D．warn us to keep far away from vacuum |
| A．put a cautious trust in robots |
| B．make robots more socially aware |
| C．have deep interaction with robots |
| D．tell our secrets to robots straightly. |
| A．trust | B．distance |
| C．technology | D．advantage |
| A．positive | B．objective |
| C．critical | D．pessimistic |
【推荐2】The world has faced a food crisis of unprecedented(前所未有的) proportions in 2022—the largest in modern history, as conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis and rising costs have combined to pose great risks for hungry people across the world. As many as 828 million people go to bed hungry every night. The number of those facing acute food insecurity has risen from 135 million to 345 million since 2019. A total of 49 million people in 49 countries are suffering hunger, according to figures from the United Nations’ World Food Programme.
“We are facing an unprecedented global food crisis and all signs suggest we have not yet seen the worst. For the last three years, hunger numbers have repeatedly hit new peaks,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said. He warned that things can and will get worse unless there is a large-scale and coordinated(协调一致的) effort to address the causes of this crisis.
There are many reasons for prevailing high levels of food insecurity. These reasons include conflicts, climate changes and weather extremes, economic slowdowns and downturns. In addition, these drivers often do not act alone. For instance, conflicts are often accompanied by economic downturns, which affect livelihoods and the ability of people to earn resources, leading to increasing poverty levels and higher prevalence(流行) of food insecurity.
Unfortunately, the main reasons for high levels of food insecurity have not improved this year. People in the Horn of Africa are facing a fifth consecutive(连续的) failed rain season in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, which will constrain their production, and is likely to push many people deeper into food insecurity.
Moreover, there is uncertainty about the weather. And climatic shock affecting any major producer or exporter will introduce additional uncertainty into production and consequently prices, which in turn impact the ability to purchase food, particularly of the most vulnerable people.
1. How does the author lead in the topic?| A．By making a comparison. | B．By sharing personal experience. |
| C．By giving opinions with evidence. | D．By listing facts and accurate figures. |
| A．This global food crisis won’t last longer. |
| B．It’s certain that the global food crisis will get worse. |
| C．We need to work together to deal with the global food crisis. |
| D．There will be another new peak of hunger numbers in three years. |
| A．Characters. | B．Operators. | C．Factors. | D．Activities. |
| A．The Issue of Food Safety | B．The Unprecedented Food Crisis |
| C．Conflicts Causing Food Shortage | D．Efforts Put into the Study of Food Insecurity |
【推荐3】For high school leavers starting out in the working world, it is very important to learn particular skills and practise how to behave in an interview or how to find all internship(实习). In some countries, schools have programs to help students onto the path to work. In the United States, however, such programs are still few and far between.
Research shows that if high schools provide career-related courses, students are likely to get higher earnings in later years. The students are more likely to stay in school, graduate and go on to higher education.
In Germany, students as young as 13 and 14 are expected to do internships. German companies work with schools to make sure that young people get the education they need for future employment.
But in America, education reform programs focus on how well students do in exams instead of bringing them into contact with the working world. Harvard Education school professor Robert Schwartz has criticized education reformers for trying to place all graduates directly on the four-year college track. Schwartz argued that this approach leaves the country’s most vulnerable (易受影响的) kids with no jobs and no skills.
Schwartz believed that the best career programs encourage kids to go for higher education while also teaching them valuable practical skills at high school. James Madison High School in New York, for example, encourages students to choose classes on career-based courses. The school then helps them gain on-the-job experience in those fields while they’re still at high school.
However, even for teens whose schools encourage them to connect with work, the job market is daunting. In the US, unemployment rates for 16-to-l9-year-olds are above 20 percent for the third summer in a row.
“The risk is that if teenagers miss out on the summer job experience, they become part of this generation of teens who had trouble in landing a job,” said Michael, a researcher in the US.
1. In the author’s opinion, American high school leavers _______.| A．have enough career-related courses |
| B．need more career advice from their schools |
| C．perform better in exams than German students |
| D．can get higher earnings in later years |
| A．there is no need for kids to go for higher education in the US |
| B．students should get contact with the working world at high school |
| C．education reform should focus on students’ performance in exams |
| D．teenagers in the US can’t miss out on the summer job experience |
| A．Unemployment rates for US teenagers remain high at the moment. |
| B．Students with career-based courses never have problems finding a job. |
| C．US companies work with schools to prepare young people for future employment. |
| D．High school leavers with no practical skills can’t find a job absolutely. |
| A．Arguments about recent US education reform. |
| B．Tips on finding jobs for high school leavers. |
| C．The lack of career-based courses in US high schools. |
| D．Advice for American high school leavers. |
| A．discouraging | B．interesting |
| C．creative | D．unbearable |
【推荐1】As businesses and governments have struggled to understand the so-called millennials—born between roughly 1980 and 2000—one frequent conclusion has been that they have a unique love of cities. A deep-seated preference for night life and subways, the thinking goes, has driven the revitalization of urban cores across the U.S. over the last decade-plus.
But there’s mounting evidence that millennials’ love of cities was a passing fling(放纵). Millennials don’t love cities any more than previous generations.
The latest argument comes from Dowell Myers, an urban planning professor at USC.As they age, says Myers, millennials’ presence in cities, will “be evaporating(蒸发) through our fingers, if we don’t make some plans now.” That’s because millennials’ preference for cities will fade as they start families and become more established in their careers.
It’s about more than aging, though. Demographer William Frey has been arguing for years that millennials have become‘stuck’in cities by the 2008 downturn and the following slow recovery, with poor job prospects and declining wages making it harder for them to afford to buy homes in suburbia.
Myers, too, says observers have confused young people’s presence in cities with a preference for cities. Survey data shows that more millennials would like to be living in the suburbs than actually are. But the normal career and family cycles moving young people from cities into suburban houses have become, in Myers’ words, “a plugged up drain.”
But unemployment has finally returned to healthy lows (though participation rates and wages are still largely stagnant), which Myers says should finally increase mobility for millennials.
Other trends among millennials, supposedly matters of lifestyle preference, have already turned out to have been driven mostly by economics. What was once deemed their broad preference for public transit may have always been a now-reversing inability to afford cars. Even decades-long trends towards marrying later have been accentuated as today’ s young people struggle for financial stability.
Investors are already taking the idea that millennials will return to old behavior patterns seriously, putting more money into auto manufacturers and developers. But urban lifestyles, up to and including trendy bars, aren’t just hip—they’re a part of what powers a city’s economic engines, bringing people together to explore new ideas, create companies, and build careers.
From the 1960s to the 1990s, we saw that suburbanization(城市郊区化) also means an economic and social hollowing out for cities. Now that the economic shackles are coming off today’s young city residents, cities that want to stay vibrant(充满生机的) have to figure out how to convince them—and their growing families—to stick around.
1. Why are Millennials about to leave city?| A．It is too expensive for them to buy apartment in cities. |
| B．They find it difficult for to seek a god job in cities. |
| C．It is easier to get married moving to the suburban. |
| D．They are more confident with their economic situation. |
| A．Millennials are reluctant to leave attractive cities. |
| B．Millennals are stopped from moving to the suburbs. |
| C．Milennials are unwilling to be cut off from the suburban. |
| D．Millennials are afraid of another economic decline. |
| A．sign of stable finance. |
| B．A growth of health issues |
| C．A conflict of new ideas. |
| D．A loss of modem life |
I would recommend to Rubio one of the classics of conservative(保守的) thought, Milton Friedman's "Capitalism and Freedom." He doesn't have to spend too much time on it. The first chapter outlines the "relation between economic freedom and political freedom." The point Friedman makes in the book is one that America's founding fathers well understood. Drawing on the political philosopher John Locke, they believed that the freedom to buy, sell, own and trade were primary elements of human freedom and individual autonomy(自治). As they expand, liberty expands.
This is not just theory, of course. Over the last two centuries, the countries that embraced "more commerce and access to money and goods" in Rubio's phrase -- Britain, America, then Western Europe and East Asia -- have moved toward greater prosperity, but also political freedom. If you exclude oil-rich countries, where money is not earned but dug from the ground, on the whole there has been a strong connection between economic freedom and political freedom.
In Latin America today, democracy(民主政治) and markets have acted to strengthen each other, transforming the continent, which 30 years ago was almost entirely ruled by dictatorships(独裁) to one that is today almost entirely ruled by democracies. After opening up its economy in the 1970s, Chile began to grow, but that growth then produced a stronger civil society that over time contributed to the end of the dictatorship within the country. Yet Cuba is an outlier, one of the last regimes in Latin America that has embraced neither markets nor ballots. The Obama administration is acting on the theory that more commerce, capitalism, contact, travel and trade will empower the people of Cuba and thus gives them a greater voice in their political future. And so the first point to make is that it will help Cubans economically -- it will raise their incomes, their standard of living, and boost access to technology. These are all good things in and of themselves.
But easing the embargo(贸易禁止) will also help Americans, who will benefit from being able to trade with a neighbor. This is the reason that conservatives have long understood that free trade is not a gift bestowed on someone. It helps both countries and in particular, helps the United States. That's why the Wall Street Journal's editorial page -- bastion of conservative thought -- has been an advocate on lifting the trade embargo against Cuba, which is a far larger step than Obama's normalization.
1. What message does the writer try to deliver through this passage?
| A．President Obama is making a wrong move opening to Cuba. |
| B．Marco Rubio is making a mistake criticizing Obama’s normalization policy. |
| C．Obama’s policy will benefit both Cubans and Americans economically and politically. |
| D．Obama’s decision agrees with the fact that economic freedom grows with political freedom. |
| A．by analyzing cause and effect |
| B．by giving examples |
| C．by making comparison and contrast |
| D．by raising questions |
| A．connect with | B．adapt to |
| C．get down to | D．lead to |
| A．The Obama administration wants to help people in Cuba, so President Obama decided to open to Cuba. |
| B．Chile is different from other countries in Latin America in that it has both economic and political freedom. |
| C．America’s founding fathers based their ideology on the theory of Milton Friedman. |
| D．The conservatives and the Wall Street Journal are on the same page on free trade. |
| A．the writer | B．President Obama |
| C．Milton Friedman | D．Marco Rubio |
Singapor’s glory since its rebirth in 1965 has been a miracle, largely because of the light of Lee. By 1978, the transformation of Singapore into a modern city-state had become an inspiration for Deng Xiaoping, who having just emerged as the paramount leader of China was looking for a way to lead the country out of isolation and poverty. Drawing inspiration from Lee and the success story of Singapore, Deng visited the city-state in 1978 and met with Lee for the first time. Lee said that if Singaporeans can do it, China can also do it.
Soon after returning from Singapore, Deng launched a series of reforms in China. Over the subsequent decades, China has continued the reform and opening-up and it is now the second-largest economy in the world. Perhaps it could be said that part of the plan for China's great reform and transformation took shape in Singapore in 1978 during Deng's meetings with Lee. Ever since that fateful visit, China has learned from Singapore the finer points of governance, management and economic growth. No wonder, over the years China has sent many Party, government and corporate officials to receive training in Singapore.
In 1994, the Singapore Industrial Park in Suzhou, Jiangsu province (now renamed the Suzhou Industrial Park) was set up. Over the years, the industrial park has become a testing ground for many new reform programs in China, including those for social security, venture capital and private equity.
More recently, President Xi Jinping emphasized that China can still learn many things from Singapore.
Today, many people talk about the 21st century being the “Asian century” or the “Asia-Pacific century”, while others have started talking of the “Asian dream”. But Lee was one of the first Asians who truly stood out and demonstrated to the world that Asians can make a difference in terms of global growth and development. Lee’s legacy is based on a solid and healthy dosage of pragmatism, realism, innovation, and commitment to making a better tomorrow.
After 50 years of constant innovation and ceaseless efforts, Singapore is the most developed country among the 10 ASEAN member states, one of the most developed countries in Asia and one of the most successful economies in the world. Rather than being caught up in the day-to-day travails, Lee always chose to stand on the top of the mountain and look beyond the horizon to see deep into the future, which made him a leader of wisdom, courage and vision.
1. According to the passage, we can know ___________.
| A．Few people know the true meaning of “ Kuan Yew” in the world |
| B．The transformation of Singapore started in 1978 |
| C．Deng xiaoping paid a visit to Singapore in 1978 because of the good relationship |
| D．Deng Xiaoping had never met with Lee Kuan Yew before 1978 |
| A．the successful experience of Singapore has greatly influenced china’s reform and transformation |
| B．the Suzhou Industrial Park has tried many new reform programs in China |
| C．the Asians made few contributions to the global growth and development |
| D．constant innovation and ceaseless efforts make Singapore one of the most developed countries in Asia |
①Distinguished
②wise
③easy-going
④brave
⑤creative
⑥visionary
| A．①②④⑥ | B．②③⑤⑥ |
| C．①③⑤⑥ | D．②③④⑤ |
| A．the contributions of Lee Kuan Yew made to china |
| B．the story of a great leader--- Lee Kuan Yew |
| C．the relationship between Lee Kuan Yew and Chinese leaders |
| D．“Light and glory” of Asia example to world |
【推荐1】Many people love the Halloween season, particularly young ones. It’s not hard to understand. The Halloween season is a time for fun-sized candy, giving rocks to trick or treaters, apple cider donuts, and frights. The very last-frights, are generally all in good fun. But can they be dangerous? Can someone be scared to death?
The key factor in an imagined scare-caused death is a little chemical that anyone who’s played a particularly intense game of hide-and-seek is very familiar with: adrenaline (肾上腺素). Fear puts the body in a state of severe emotional anxiety, which in turn causes the autonomic fight-or-flight response.
The fight-or-flight response is an evolutionary defence mechanism (机制) which acts in your best interest when there is a noticed threat. You sweat a lot, your anxiety is exacerbated, your blood glucose (葡萄糖) levels are increased, and your heart rate is higher. Like a cornered animal, you’re a bit less reasonable, a bit stranger, but a bit more ready to survive.
Now, back to the adrenaline. Adrenaline causes all of these processes, but there’s just one organ, which, if overloaded, can lead to sudden death. The human body doesn’t immediately come to an end as soon as a kidney (肾) fails, but when a heart stops working, the whole business fails. This is what happens to your body during an adrenaline rush.
Adrenaline causes calcium (钙) to enter the heart at a higher rate, and when there’s more calcium rushing through the heart, it has harder time resetting to its normal resting rate. This can cause a dangerous condition, which prevents blood from pumping to the rest of the body. Without immediate treatment, this can lead to sudden death.
Of course, such cause of death isn’t unique to being scared. Any event that increases one’s adrenal level could lead to this dangerous condition. So if you are planning on scaring others the next Halloween season, be sure to do it in a controlled setting, especially if you have a history of heart problems.
1. What do we learn about the fight-or-flight response mentioned in Paragraph 2?| A．It makes us think in a better way. |
| B．It prevents adrenaline from rising. |
| C．It has nothing to do with little kids. |
| D．It is meant to help us survive better. |
| A．acquired | B．relieved | C．worsened | D．addressed |
| A．Having a failed kidney. |
| B．Having faster blood circulation. |
| C．Having too much calcium in our blood. |
| D．Having irregular heartbeats. |
| A．enjoy Halloween in a controlled way |
| B．avoid low blood glucose levels |
| C．exercise to protect ourselves from heart disease |
| D．avoid scaring others during the Halloween screen |
| A．Is it enjoyable to frighten others? |
| B．Is it possible to be scared to death? |
| C．Why is too much adrenaline dangerous? |
| D．What to watch out for during the Halloween season? |
【推荐2】In 1842, Ed win C had wick, a British social re former, published his “Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population”. By documenting evidence of social and geographic inequalities in health, C had wick showed that poor sanitation was associated with poor health. The report eventually led British cities to organize clean water supplies and to centralize their sewage (污水) systems, in turn reducing the wide - spreading of infectious diseases. Similar reforms around the world in the 20th century tackled food safety and outdoor air pollution. Now a new public-health priority is becoming apparent: making Indoor air cleaner.
Take schools for example. They are “chronically under-ventilated (长期通风不良的)” according to The Lancet COVID-19 commission. A study of 100 American classrooms found 87 with worryingly low ventilation rates. Across Denmark, France, Italy, Norway and Sweden, researchers found that indoor-air quality in 66 % o of classrooms fell short of healthy standards. In America nearly one child in 13 has asthma (哮喘)—a condition caused by allergens often found in schools.
The problem extends well beyond classrooms. Many people spend more than 90 % of their time indoors. Researchers have linked under - ventilated spaces in buildings to a range of illnesses—headaches, tiredness, shortness of breath, coughs, dizziness, and irritation of eye, nose, throat and skin. Poor ventilation has been blamed for increased absence from work. Decreased productivity and asthma.
The pandemic has brought a new urgency to the matter. The virus which causes COVID—19 spreads between people less by close contact and infected surface and more by attaching to aerosol (气溶胶) articles from people ' lungs that can float in the air of an ill-ventilated room.
Indoor-air quality has attracted little government attention. But achieving clean air in buildings and indoor public spaces is possible, The first step is to give people more information on how well-ventilated their air is. Carbon-dioxide concentrations are a good indicator of ventilation, and cheap sensors to detect this gas in rooms could provide people with useful data on when to open windows or upgrade their air-conditioning systems. National indoor-air-quality standards would help, too. One way to enforce (执行) them could be through ventilation certificate for buildings, similar to food-hygiene certificate that already exist for restaurants.
The bill for all this need not be huge. A recent study found that raising the standard of ventilation in all American elementary and secondary schools to the minimum eve would cost less than 0.1% of the country's typical public spending on education.
More investment would be money well spent. Better indoor air boosts academic performance—maths and reading scores go up, and pupils are measurable more attentive in class. Office-workers benefit, too. Researchers have found the lee cognitive scores of people in well-ventilated office are 61% higher than those of workers in conventional office set-ups.
1. How does the author draw people s attention to the poor indoor air quality?| A．By referring to experts. | B．By presenting study results. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By telling historical stories. |
| A．Poor indoor air can create a condition for spreading the virus. |
| B．Poor indoor air can keep the virus settling down in people's lungs. |
| C．Poor indoor air can make peopled lungs fail to function normally. |
| D．Poor indoor air can increase the aerosol articles from people's lungs |
| A．Calling on the government to pay attention to it. |
| B．Reducing the amount of carbon dioxide indoors. |
| C．Encouraging people to do more outdoor activities. |
| D．Setting up specific standards for indoor-air quality. |
| A．It is really worthwhile to improve indoor air quality |
| B．Indoor air quality can affect people's cognitive ability |
| C．It needs more investment to improve indoor air quality |
| D．Many people support improving indoor air quality |
【推荐3】Harry is a vehicle called a pod—in other words, something like a car. But Harry has no steering wheel or brake pedal. Harry does not even have a driver. Yet Harry is carrying passengers around London for the next few weeks.
Harry is part of an experiment called GATEway that is testing how people react to driverless vehicles. The name GATEway is short for Greenwich Automated Transport Environment. The experiment aims to help cities prepare for the future of transportation. The GATEway experiment does not test new technology. Instead, it tests the way existing technology can work in society.
The pod operates in an area of London called Greenwich, home of time and navigation museums. Other places where pods will be tested are Coventry, Milton, Keynes and Bristol. The pods run using sensors and a 3D map of the area. A safety operator rides along to take control in case of an emergency.
GATEway is intended to see how pedestrians and cyclists may adapt to driverless vehicles. Harry holds up to four people (three passengers and a safety operator) and can travel at speeds up to 16km/h. It is being tested in Greenwich on pedestrian paths, but not on roads with other vehicles.
If you are in Greenwich during the next few weeks you may see Harry, but you cannot ride in it during the trial. Over 5,000 people applied to be a passenger in Harry but only about 100 were chosen.
You can, however, ride in a similar pod at Heathrow Airport in London. The Heathrow pods run on tracks so they are not being tested with pedestrians, cyclists or other drivers. If the trials are successful, the first pods could be operational on the roads of the UK in 2020.
1. What’s the purpose of the GATEway?| A．To settle traffic problems in cities. |
| B．To test a new transportation technology. |
| C．To prepare cities for future transportation. |
| D．To draw people’s interest in transportation. |
| A．The passengers will help. |
| B．It will deal with it by itself. |
| C．An accident will take place. |
| D．A human driver will take it over. |
| A．To test the response of people walking or on a bike. |
| B．To avoid disturbing other vehicles on the street. |
| C．To prevent it from running at a high speed. |
| D．To watch pedestrians and cyclists go safely. |
| A．Fearful. | B．Positive. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Grateful. |
【推荐1】During those barren winter months, with windows overlooking long-dead gardens, leafless trees, and lawns that seem to have an ashy look about them, nothing calms the uneasy nerves more than the vibrant green of plants surrounding the living spaces of one’s home. People browse through garden stores just to get a smell of chlorophyll (叶绿素) and to choose a plant or two to bring spring back into their winter-gray lives.
Now there is even more of a need for “the green,” in light of recent articles warning us of the dangers of chemicals that we, ourselves, introduce into our homes. Each time we bring clothes home from the cleaners, we release those chemicals into the closed-in air of our homes. Every cleanser releases its own kind of fumes.
Some of the chemicals are formaldehyde (甲醛), chlorine, benzene, styrene, etc. Read the labels on many home products, the ingredients aren’t even listed! During the winter, when those same windows are shut tight, we breathe in these chemicals—causing symptoms much like allergies (过敏). In fact, most people probably dismiss the effects of these chemicals simply as some allergy or other. The truth is that we are experiencing a syndrome that is called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Now, what has this got to do with green plants? Everything healthy! Research has been conducted with two types of plants that have actually removed much of these harmful chemicals from the air.
The two plants that seem to be the best bet for ridding one’s home of such chemicals are ferns (蕨类植物) and palms. These plants release moisture as part of photosynthesis and, as they do, pull chemicals from the air into their leaves. Even NASA has conducted some greenhouse experiments for long-term space exploration. Within hours, their plants [palms] had removed almost all traces of formaldehyde in the room. Both species of plants are ancient, dating back more than a hundred million years. Another trait they share is that they both live long lives, 100 years or more. This we expect from trees, but ferns and palms are plants; plants that can grow to 65 feet in the proper setting! Even their individual leaves live for one to two years [ferns] and one to nine years [palms]. Perhaps it is their primary qualities that have contributed to their ability to purify their environment.
1. Why does the author think we are in greater need of “the green” in our homes?| A．To bring our long-dead gardens back to life. |
| B．To get rid of harmful chemicals trapped there. |
| C．To make us feel calmer and less worried. |
| D．To serve as decorations as well as refresh us. |
| A．The source of these chemicals released in our homes hasn’t been identified. |
| B．The chemicals can be removed immediately the two plants are put into use. |
| C．People tend to underestimate the effects of the chemical in the closed-in places. |
| D．People usually buy household products without referring to the ingredients on them. |
| A．the ability to absorb chemicals and live long |
| B．their adaptability to indoor environment |
| C．the fast growth and attractiveness of their leaves |
| D．the release of their moisture and fumes |
| A．Research in the New Millennium |
| B．Common Houseplants May Purify Your Home |
| C．Hidden Dangers in Your Home |
| D．NASA Experiment Finds the Cure |
【推荐2】When it comes to eating, most of us don’t have to go very far. But for many bird species, finding food may mean traveling hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
A team of researchers from institutions in the UK and Ireland spent five years tracking (追踪) four species of seabird to monitor their travel patterns. It was discovered that over the five years, the species covered an area of 1.5 million square kilometers when hunting for food-almost four times the size of Japan.
The findings were published recently in the journal Ecological Applications. As part of the study, over 1,300 birds were fitted with GPS tags to track their movements. It was discovered that most of them search for fish in the same place-waters off the coast of Scotland.
As a result of this, organizations such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) will spend more time trying to preserve coastal Scotland.
“For the first time, this study provides us with a full map for each breeding colony (繁殖群体) of the feeding areas for some of our most important seabird species,” wrote the study’s lead author Ewan Wakefield, from the University of Glasgow.
“That means we can now protect the places these birds catch the fish they need to feed their hungry chicks.”
The findings could also affect the future building of offshore wind turbines (满轮机). Although wind turbines help to fight climate change by providing a green source of energy, their huge blades (刀片) are blamed for the deaths of thousands of birds each year, as they often fly into them.
Stuart Housden, director of RSPB Scotland, said in a news release that although climate change is a huge threat to both humans and nature alike, we should “invest in an energy system that works for both people and our natural heritage.”
To protect both nature and the environment, the RSPB supports the building of turbines in areas that won’t have “significant adverse (不利的) impacts on important bird populations or their habitats,” it wrote on its website.
1. What did the scientists from the UK and Ireland find about the four species of seabird?| A．They have totally different travel patterns. |
| B．They prefer to catch fish in places near their nests. |
| C．Climate change has influenced their hunting distance. |
| D．They can travel a very long distance to find food. |
| A．It shows what a perfect living environment for seabirds is. |
| B．It was the first to use GPS technology to track seabirds. |
| C．It could guide people on how to better protect seabirds. |
| D．It provides more information about the diet of seabirds. |
| A．they produce noise that could disturb seabirds |
| B．their strong airflow could influence the flight of seabirds |
| C．their big blades may kill the seabirds that fly by |
| D．they force seabirds to move away from their habitats |
| A．no more wind turbines should be built in the future |
| B．we should think of more measures to protect the climate |
| C．the government should invest more money to protect seabirds |
| D．we should consider wildlife when we build turbines in the future |
【推荐3】Theme Park Tourist is your essential source for news, reviews and park guides for theme parks in Orlando, Florida and beyond. We offer a special perspective (观点) on all the latest news from Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and other parks and resorts, and are proud to deliver some of the most in-depth, well-researched articles about theme parks available anywhere on the web. Here are a few of the features we have to offer:
● Latest news — regular updates from theme parks around the world, including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and many more.
● In-depth features — fascinating articles about almost every aspect of theme parks- behind the scenes information and more.
● Park reviews and guides — all of the key information for over 90 theme parks, including reviews of attractions, restaurants and hotels.
● Rehab schedules — listings of temporary attraction closures that could affect your theme park visit.
Contact us
We are always keen to receive details of upcoming new attractions, ride repair news, special offers and any other theme park news—click here to get in touch by e-mail.
Learn more
Advertise with us — information for companies interested in advertising on Theme Park Tourist.
Donate (捐赠) to us — Are you interested in donating to Theme Park Tourist? Click here to learn more.
1. Theme Park Tourist is probably a(n) ________.| A．person guiding people to theme parks |
| B．website offering information about theme parks |
| C．organization providing service for theme parks |
| D．magazine collecting pictures of theme parks |
| A．Latest news. | B．In-depth features. |
| C．Park reviews and guides. | D．Rehab schedules. |
| A．People’s donation to theme parks. |
| B．Up-to-date news about Walt Disney World. |
| C．Tourists’ comments on restaurants of Universal Orlando. |
| D．Newly-opened attractions of theme parks. |
