To grow sugary dates（海枣） in the sand, Siwa’s farmers must first make the desert suitable for farming. An oasis（绿洲）in Egypt, Siwa has been home to humans for thousands of years. Since ancient times, the oasis has hosted farms producing some of the most valuable dates in Egypt, and the sugary dates have appeared on Egyptians' tables.
The desert environment in Siwa is not quite fit for plants to grow. For example, the water there contains much salt. However, it is with local people's effort that date trees, crops and other plants grow in harmony despite the complex agricultural fields, which impressed me a lot during my visit to the oasis. To make a new piece of field, farmers first remove the top soil and replace it with a mixture of sand and waste matter from animals. The first plants are medicinal plants. Then, farmers plant date trees and olive trees. These farming skills are passed down from generation to generation.
To grow date trees is demanding. And it takes 10 years for a new date tree to mature, but once it does, the tree produces generous fruit: around 110 pounds of dates per year. Each farmer picks dates with the skilled hands. They climb the trees using nothing more than a belt. In total, Siwa grows more than 25,000 tons of dates from 280,000 trees per year.
The dates can be eaten fresh, or made dry. Every part of the date tree is significant in Siwa, from leaves made into beds and boxes to wood used to build houses. And then, of course, there's the fruit itself. The dates can be cooked with goat meat or mixed with eggs for breakfast. They can also be mixed with flour, water, and olive oil, and boiled slowly to make a local dessert.
1. What can we learn about sugary dates from Paragraph 1？| A．They're introduced to Egypt from abroad. |
| B．They're the most valuable fruit in Egypt. |
| C．They can adapt to tough environment. |
| D．They have existed for a long time. |
| A．The great variety of plants grown there. |
| B．The hard but happy life of local people. |
| C．The great complexity of the local agriculture. |
| D．The local farmers' wisdom and contribution to farming. |
| A．It's worthwhile to make an effort to grow date trees. |
| B．It' s easy for farmers to pick dates from the trees. |
| C．It costs a lot to grow date trees in the oasis. |
| D．It's necessary to develop agriculture in Siwa. |
| A．Education. | B．Health. |
| C．Nature. | D．Entertainment. |
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【推荐1】A 10-month-old dog named Picasso is exiting a very blue period in his life, thanks to an Oregon dog rescue group.
Picasso was born with a facial deformity(畸形） that makes it look as if his nose is going right while his jaw goes left. Except for that, Picasso is healthy, according to Liesl Wilhardt, director of Luvable Dog Rescue. “He can eat sideways, but he’s a very messy eater,” she said. “Same with water.”
Picasso was one of the five baby dogs born last year in Porterville, California. But his owner abandoned Picasso because he was unable to sell such an ugly dog, and it was taken to the Porterville Animal Animal Shelter.
It was close to being euthanized (使安乐死）before Wilhardt found out about it from Shannon Corbit, a volunteer at the shelter. “I asked her if she had any dogs with special needs, because I felt we could take some on,” Wilhardt said. “She said, ‘Yeah, there’s a dog with a facial deformity, ’and I fell in love with his picture. ”
That as two weeks ago. Since then, Picasso's unique look has made him widely known online. Even so, there are plans to have that upper canine(犬齿) removed in the near future. Once Picasso’s tooth is fixed, he and Pablo, another dog, will be put up for adoption.
“They are very attached,” she said. “These two have come to rely on each other for security, comfort and support. Both dogs are perfect for an active family with older kids. Picasso is outgoing, happy, curious and lovely. He’s so unaware of how different he is.”
1. Why was Picasso abandoned by its owner?| A．Because of its poor health. |
| B．Because of its super appetite. |
| C．Because of its facial deformity. |
| D．Because of its fierce character. |
| A．Picasso is ashamed of his own appearance. |
| B．Picasso and Pablo are closely bonded. |
| C．Picasso is a good playmate for young children. |
| D．Picasso knows the difference between him and other dogs. |
| A．What has made Picasso famous is his suffering. |
| B．Picasso wouldn’t be alive today without Wilhardt. |
| C．Picasso and Pablo were horn in an animal shelter. |
| D．Wilhardt was really scared on seeing Picasso1 s picture. |
“If you try to kill a bat, you are more likely to get bitten,” said Joy O’Keefe, assistant professor of biology and director of Indiana State University’s Centre for Bat Research, Outreach and Conservation. “Most bats people find in their houses are healthy and are not going to bite them and give them rabies.” But they could be a federally endangered species, such as the Indiana Bat, which is found in this area.
So if you spot a bat in your home or office, don’t kill it or touch it with bare hands, O’Keefe said. Instead, put on a pair of heavy gloves and gently move it into a box or bucket. Once contained, the bat can be removed outside.
“If it’s a healthy bat, it’ll fly away eventually,” O’Keefe said. “If it doesn’t move or seem to be healthy, you can take it to the health department to be tested.”
This is the time of year when bats move from their summer resting sites to their winter resting sites, O’Keefe said.
“We get calls every year during the first month of school year from people finding bats in the university’s buildings,” said O’Keefe.
Bats are a great help to people, as every night they can eat up to their entire body weight of insects. Bats, however, are facing great threats from epidemics(流行性疾病), habitat destruction and other things.
“The best way the average person can help bats is by understanding them and by telling other people how awesome bats are and what bats do for us,” O’ Keefe said. “Hopefully, it will make people think that if there’s a bat in their house, they should try to get it out but not kill it. That would be really positive for bats—to not have people be one of their major threats.”
1. According to the text, experts are giving the public a warning about _______.
| A．the biting by bats |
| B．the danger of keeping bats |
| C．the spreading of an infectious disease |
| D．the extinction of an endangered species |
| A．put it on a tree | B．send it to get tested |
| C．remove it with gloves | D．report to the health department |
| A．spring | B．summer | C．autumn | D．winter |
| A．what bats like to eat |
| B．people’s awareness of bats |
| C．the best way to protect bats |
| D．the greatest threat bats are facing |
【推荐3】Bacteria and fungi (真菌) might call to mind the images of diseases and spoiled food, but they also do a lot of good. The billions of microbes (微生物) in a handful of dead leaves, for example, act as nature’s recyclers and regenerate nutrients needed for the next generation of plants to grow.
“If it weren’t for bacteria and fungi, we’d be surrounded by masses of dead trees and plant matter. So they actually do a really important job.” said Sydney Glassman, an assistant professor of the University of California, Riverside.
While microbial communities are the engines driving the breakdown of dead plants and animals, little is known about whether they are equipped to handle big changes in climate. In a paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Glassman and his colleagues examined what happens after microbial communities move into new climate conditions. The study is a first step toward understanding the vulnerability of these ecosystems to climate change.
To mimic (模仿) a warming planet, the researchers chose five study sites that differ in climate along the San Jacinto Mountains, three of which are in natural reserves operated by the University of California. “While we know that climate influences how fast microbes can recycle plant material, we don’t know how important the particular types of microbes are to recycling,” said Jennifer Martiny, co-author of the study.
To move the microbial communities around, the researchers contained the microbes in nylon containers with tiny holes. These “microbial cages” were filled with dead grass and live microbes sourced from each study site.The containers allowed water and nutrients—but not microbes—to move in and out. The amount of grass decayed by the caged microbes was measured at 6, 12, and 18 months.
The study confirmed previous results that sites with moderate climates saw the most rot and therefore were the most effective places for nutrient recycling. Quite surprisingly, however, the source of the microbes also affected the amount of rot. For example, when moved into the drier bushes, grassland-sourced microbes outperformed the bush residents by as much as 40 percent.
“We expected to see a ‘home-field advantage’ situation where every microbial community decomposed (分解) best at its own site, but that wasn’t the case,” Glassman said. “While we know that microbes decompose plants more slowly in hotter and drier environments, we are just now learning that specific microbial communities play an independent role in decomposition, and it is yet to be seen how these communities will be affected by climate change and desertification.”
1. The author regards bacteria and fungi as________.| A．a double-edged sword | B．a natural chemical weapon |
| C．a requirement for evolution | D．a threat to biological diversity |
| A．Totally absorbed. | B．Regularly recycled. |
| C．Greedily swallowed. | D．Gradually destroyed. |
| A．Climate affects the speed of microbes’ recycling plant material. |
| B．Microbes from other sites can perform better than the local ones. |
| C．Researchers have found out how desertification impacts microbes. |
| D．Microbes in drier bushes outperformed grassland-sourced microbes. |
| A．A way to avoid dead trees and plant matter |
| B．Nutrient-recycling microbes may feel the heat |
| C．“Home-field advantage” doesn’t apply to microbes |
| D．How climate change improves nature’s ability to recycle |
【推荐1】How does an ecosystem(生态系统)work？What makes the populations of different species the way they are？Why are there so many flies and so few wolves？To find an answer，scientists have built mathematical models of food webs，noting who eats whom and how much each one eats.
With such models，scientists have found out some key principles operating in food webs. Most food webs，for instance，consist of many weak links rather than a few strong ones. When a predator(掠食动物)always eats huge numbers of a single prey(猎物)，the two species are strongly linked；when a predator lives on various species，they are weakly linked. Food webs may be dominated by many weak links because that arrangement is more stable over the long term. If a predator can eat several species，it can survive the extinction(灭绝)of one of them. And if a predator can move on to another species that is easier to find when a prey species becomes rare，the switch allows the original prey to recover. The weak links may thus keep species from driving one another to extinction.
Mathematical models have also revealed that food webs may be unstable，where small changes of top predators can lead to big effects throughout entire ecosystems. In the 1960s，scientists proposed that predators at the top of a food web had a surprising amount of control over the size of populations of other species---including species they did not directly attack.
And unplanned human activities have proved the idea of top-down control by top predators to be true. In the ocean，we fished for top predators such as cod on an industrial scale，while on land，we killed off large predators such as wolves. These actions have greatly affected the ecological balance.
Scientists have built an early-warning system based on mathematical models. Ideally，the system would tell us when to adapt human activities that are pushing an ecosystem toward a breakdown or would even allow us to pull an ecosystem back from the borderline. Prevention is key，which scientists says because once ecosystems pass their tipping point(临界点)，it is remarkably difficult for them to return.
1. What have scientists discovered with the help of mathematical models of food webs？| A．The living habits of species in food webs. |
| B．The rules governing food webs of the ecosystems. |
| C．The approaches to studying the species in the ecosystems. |
| D．The differences between weak and strong links in food webs. |
| A．has a wide food choice | B．can easily find new prey |
| C．sticks to one prey species | D．can quickly move to another place |
| A．Uncontrolled human activities greatly upset ecosystems. |
| B．Rapid economic development threatens animal habitats. |
| C．Species of commercial value dominate other species. |
| D．Industrial activities help keep food webs stable. |
| A．By getting illegal practices under control. |
| B．By stopping us from killing large predators. |
| C．By bringing the broken-down ecosystems back to normal. |
| D．By signaling the urgent need for taking preventive action. |
【推荐2】A while ago, people used to believe that only humans can use tools — but Jane Goodall showed that humans aren’t the only ones to do so. We’ve since found several species that build and use their own tools. Then, many thought that it’s our cultural and family ties that separate us from the animals. Actually, that’s not true either. Several other species, including whales, have shown important cultural behaviors.
Researchers have found that related whales returned to the same locations year after year, and decade after decade, passing the information from one generation to the next. Researchers analyzed the structure of the beluga whale society, finding that migratory culture is inherited(继承). Furthermore, this cultural inheritance maintains the family ties of beluga whales. This cultural legacy(遗传) is so powerful that some travel as far as 6,000 kilometers each year.
“What interested us most was whether particular whales returned to where they were born or grew up and if this was an inherited behavior,” said Greg O’ Corry-Crowe, Ph.D., lead author and a research professor at FAU’s Harbor Branch. “The only way that we could definitively answer these questions was to find and track close relatives from one year to the next and one decade to the next.”
Researchers also found that beluga whales exhibit an impressively broad range of vocal repertoires and acoustic systems(复杂的声音体系) which suggests that they form complex interpersonal relationships. They like to hang out in the thousands near shore during the summer when the ice melts. Eventually, researchers hope that this will not only enable us to better understand these surprisingly complex species but also develop better ways to protect them in the face of a changing environment — the polar regions, where the beluga whales live, are extremely exposed to climate change.
“Findings from our study are expanding our understanding of how complicated non- primate(非灵长类) societies can be and how important culture is for the survival of these species,” said O’ Corry-Crowe. “Our findings also will influence our thinking in terms of how populations and species are going to adapt to dramatic environmental changes. There are few places where this is more urgent than in the rapidly changing polar regions.”
1. According to the passage, whales usually .| A．produce their tools | B．use their own tools |
| C．live near the coast | D．have their cultural ties |
| A．a short and insignificant effect on beluga whales |
| B．inherited from the structure of beluga whale society |
| C．a long and far-reaching effect on beluga whales |
| D．attracted beluga whales to several fixed locations |
| A．To find beluga whales’ behaviors. |
| B．To find beluga whales’ acoustic systems. |
| C．To find beluga whales’ interpersonal relationships. |
| D．To better understand and protect beluga whales. |
| A．Because of the very sophisticated non-primate societies. |
| B．Because of the rapid environmental changes in polar regions. |
| C．Because of the misunderstanding of beluga whales’ migrations. |
| D．Because of the too far distance for beluga whales to migrate. |
【推荐3】Humans are not the only ones adapting to the effects of global climate change. Animals are also adapting to the environmental changes—as some warm-blooded animals are beginning to “shapeshift” their bodies in response to shifts in climate, according to a recent study in Trends in Ecology & Evolution led by Sara Ryding, a researcher at Deakin University in Australia.
In the study, researchers identified new evidence that supports the theory that some warm-blooded animals are experiencing changes to their bodies due to the rising temperatures, resulting in larger legs, ears and beaks in some cases. The researchers noted that according to a principle known as “Allen’s Rule,” warm-blooded animals living in colder climates tend to have smaller appendages (like beaks or legs) than animals of the same species living in warmer climates.
Some of the most convincing evidence of shapeshifting was found in birds in Australia and North America, according to researchers. Certain species of Australian parrots have demonstrated about 4%-10% increase in the size of their beaks since 1871, which researchers attribute to rising temperatures. In North America, the dark-eyed junco (暗眼灯草雀) also has been seen an increase in beak size. Larger beaks help birds dissipate additional body heat more effectively, the study said, which is a useful feature as global temperatures rise.
“A lot of the time when climate change is discussed in mainstream media, people are asking ‘can humans overcome this?’ or ‘what technology can solve this?’” Ryding said in a news release from Cell Press. She said that just like humans, animals also had to adapt to climate changes. Ryding added, “The climate change that we have created is putting a whole lot of pressure on them, and while some species will adapt, others will not.” “Shapeshifting does not mean that animals are coping with climate change and that all is ‘fine,’” Ryding said, “It just means they are evolving to survive it.”
1. What do we know from the recent study led by Sara Ryding?| A．All species will not adapt to climate change. |
| B．Animals are dealing with climate change well. |
| C．The junco has been seen an increase in beak size in Australia. |
| D．Animals living in warmer climates tend to have smaller beaks. |
| A．Take in. | B．Turn off. | C．Build up. | D．Get rid of. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Confused. | C．Indifferent. | D．Amazed. |
| A．Animals Are Coping with Climate Change. |
| B．Rising Temperatures Are Threatening Animals. |
| C．Humans Are To Blame for Animals Shapeshift. |
| D．Climate Change Is Making Some Species Shapeshift. |
【推荐1】Is Your Diet Destroying the Environment?
A vegetarian diet is often praised for its health benefits. Studies have shown that vegetarians usually have lower levels of heart disease and a lower risk of diabetes than people who eat meat. What most people are less aware of, however, are the effects that a vegetarian diet can have on the environment.
Researchers from the Union of Concerned Scientists in the US recently studied how consumer behavior affects the environment. The study showed that meat consumption is one of the main ways that humans can damage the environment, second only to the use of motor vehicle.
Then,how can eating meat have a negative effect on the environment? For a start, all farm animals such as cows, pigs, and sheep give off methane(沼气)gas by expelling(排出)wind from their bodies. One cow can produce up to 60 liters of methane each day. Methane gas is the second most common greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide. Many environmental experts now believe that it is more responsible for global warming than carbon dioxide. It is estimated that 25% of all methane released into the atmosphere comes from farm animals.
Another way that meat production affects the environment is through the use of water and land. 2,500 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of beef, whereas 20 gallons of water are needed to produce one pound of wheat. One acre of farmland used for crop production can produce 40,000 pounds of potatoes, 30,000 pounds of carrots, or 50,000 pounds of tomatoes.
Many people now see the benefits of switching to a vegetarian diet, not just for health reasons, but also because it plays a vital role in protecting the environment. However, some nutritionists advise against switching to a totally strict vegetarian, or vegan diet. They believe a vegan diet, which excludes all products from animal sources, such as cheese, eggs, and milk, can be short of many necessary vitamins and minerals our bodies need.
Today, many people know it’s important to take better care of their bodies and to use the earth’s resources more efficiently. As this understanding spreads, more people may realize that to help the environment and for the human race to survive, more of us will need to become vegetarians.
1. The underlined word “it” in Para.3 refers to ________.| A．methane gas | B．carbon dioxide |
| C．expelling wind | D．greenhouse gas |
| A．growing tomatoes has the highest production |
| B．crop production is better than meat production |
| C．meat production consumes too much water and land |
| D．farm animals are the main producer of the methane gas |
| A．Doctors suggest switching to totally vegetarian diets. |
| B．It takes more water and land to produce a kilo of crops. |
| C．Farm animals give off methane gas and pollute the environment. |
| D．Carbon dioxide is more responsible for global warming than methane gas. |
| A．Our diet is destroying the surroundings. |
| B．Raising farm animals affects the environment. |
| C．A vegetarian diet helps to protect the environment. |
| D．More and more people are becoming strict vegetarians. |
【推荐2】It was reported that a worker’s strike happened because industry bosses are planning to cancel paper tickets and close almost 1,000 station ticket offices in England. The government says nothing has been decided in reply to this strike. But some officials advise to save money in this way.
Regardless of the outcome of the strike, the direction of digital change is clear. With time going by, station ticket offices are likely to become a sepia-tinted memory. For us, we who have been used to organising travel via a smartphone feel little sadness. But for people without online skills — who may be older, poorer and weaker — another small social barrier will be built.
From doctor appointments to payment apps, more and more key services are now provided online. Local government, lack of money, has to do business in this way. As this change takes place, some people hold that it can be unfair to some users. In the case of health and social care, those who need help most are unable to navigate (导航) a digital route to the place. A recent report estimated that around 6% of households have no internet access. As digital technology becomes the gatekeeper to everyday life, some groups may face the problem of exclusion and isolation.
The debate over ticket offices offers an opportunity to reflect on the increasing role of technology in our society. Clearly, it is important to help marginalised groups gain easy online access. Some people will never become comfortable using smartphones or tablets. Some offline options must be maintained for important services. This will cost more. But that is the price of being fair to those who find themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide.
1. What is paragraph 1 of the text mainly about?| A．The desire of the government. | B．The disappearance of paper tickets |
| C．The causes of an employee’s strike. | D．The problem of station ticket offices. |
| A．Latest. | B．Different. | C．Profound. | D．Dated. |
| A．The digital divide risks | B．The majority households. |
| C．The exclusion process. | D．The individual estimates. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Negative. | C．Doubtful. | D．Approving. |
【推荐3】All across America, students are anxiously finishing their “What I Want To Be …” college application essays, advised to focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) by experts and parents who insist that’s the only way to become workforce ready. But two recent studies of workplace success contradict the traditional wisdom about “hard skills”.
Google originally set its hiring systems to sort for computer science students with top grades from top science universities. In 2013, Google decided to test its hiring theory by quickly dealing with large amounts hiring, firing, and promotion data collected since the company’s establishment.
Project Oxygen shocked everyone by concluding that, among the eight most important qualities of Google’s top employees, STEM capability comes in dead last. The seven top characteristics of success at Google are all soft skills: being a good coach; communicating and listening well; possessing comprehension into others; being supportive of one’s colleagues; being a good critical thinker and problem solver; and being able to make connections across complex ideas.
Those characteristics sound more like what one gains as an English or theater major than as a programmer. Could it be that top Google employees were succeeding despite their technical training, not because of it? After bringing in more experts to dive even deeper into the data, the company enlarged its previous hiring practices to include humanities majors, artists, and even the MBAs (Master of Business Adminstration).
Project Aristotle, a study released by Google this past spring, further supports the importance of soft skills even in high-tech environments. Project Aristotle analyzes data on inventive and productive teams. Google takes pride in its A-teams, assembled with top scientists, each with the most specialized knowledge and able to throw down one creative idea after another. Its data analysis revealed, however, that the company’s most important and productive new ideas come from B-teams comprised of employees who don’t always have to be the smartest people in the room.
Project Aristotle shows that the best teams at Google exhibit a range of soft skills: equality, generosity, curiosity toward the ideas of your teammates, understanding, and emotional intelligence. And topping the list: emotional safety. To succeed, each and every team member must feel confident speaking up and making mistakes. They must know they are being heard.
STEM skills are vital to the world we live in today, but technology alone, as Steve Jobs famously insisted, is not enough. We desperately need those who are educated to the human, cultural, and social as well as the computational.
1. The underlined word “contradict” most probably means “_____”.| A．add to | B．back up | C．bring about | D．conflict with |
| A．determine what makes a workplace-ready student |
| B．check whether its hiring system serves the purpose |
| C．prove soft skills are more important than hard ones |
| D．impress its competitors with the employees’ excellence |
| A．Emotional safety enables people to express themselves freely. |
| B．Listening and hearing helps develop problem-solving abilities. |
| C．Learning from mistakes doesn’t necessarily mean improvement. |
| D．Those without specialized knowledge can also make inventions. |
| A．STEM skills our society needs for better education |
| B．The principal focus students have on application essays |
| C．The surprising thing Google learned about its employees |
| D．The soft skills Google programmers lack for career growth |
【推荐1】With the warmth of the sun on your skin and the sounds of the birds in the trees, stepping outside can help anyone feel instantly better. People who have been suffering from stress and sickness can spend quiet time in gardens. You may be surprised to learn that one of the best steps you can take to protect your health is to step outside and spend some time in the grass, dirt and water.
Our ancestors enjoyed the healing power of nature, and now scientists are starting to catch up, according to research in recent years, just having a view of nature has been shown to improve hospital patients’ recovery and reduce illness rates among office workers. Also, exposure to wildlife, horseback riding, hiking, camping and farms can be helpful for a variety of health conditions in adults and children.
Much of this type of research is focusing on children, and in fact an entire movement has quickly developed to connect kids with the healing power of nature.
Obesity (肥胖). Rates of childhood obesity have grown sharply in recent years, and this is partly because of reduced outdoor activity time. Increasing the time students spend learning about nature, both in and outside the classroom, would help solve this problem. Such lessons are often more attractive for students and often lead them to become more active outside.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (多动症). Exposure to ordinary natural settings in the course of common after-school and weekend activities may be effective in reducing attention deficit symptoms in children. According to a study, participation in green activities, such as nature walks, helped ADHD patients from a wide range of backgrounds to stay focused and complete tasks.
Stress. Access to nature, even house plants, can help children cope with stress.
Depression and seasonal emotional disorder. Major depression requires medical treatment, but physical activity, especially outdoors, can help ease symptoms. For your average case of winter blues, experts suggest spending time outside every day and, if possible, taking the family to a sunny vacation spot in mid-winter.
Experts emphasize that you needn’t go to wilderness preserves to enjoy nature’s benefit! Simply walking in a city park or growing in a rooftop garden can go a long way.
1. What can be inferred from the first paragraph?| A．Enjoying the sounds of birds makes people feel instantly better. |
| B．Modern people pay little attention to the benefit of stepping outside to their health. |
| C．Stepping outside is one of the best steps you can take to protect your health. |
| D．People suffering from stress and sickness can spend quiet time in gardens. |
| A．should involve parents in them | B．should take place outdoors |
| C．are used widely at schools | D．are liked by students |
| A．walk a long way | B．go far away |
| C．make a difference | D．increase stress |
| A．Healing Power of Nature | B．Access to the Nature |
| C．Problems with Children | D．Solutions to Obesity |
【推荐2】A young woman sits alone in a café sipping tea and reading a book. She pauses briefly to write in a nearby notepad before showing her words to a passing café waiter: “Where are the toilets please?” This is a familiar scene in Tokyo’s so-called “silent cafés”, where customers are not allowed to speak, and only communicate by writing in notepads.
The concept rises from a desire to be alone among young Japanese, a situation brought by economic uncertainty, a shift in traditional family support structures and the growing social isolation. The phenomenon is not limited to coffee shops but covers everything from silent discos, where participants dance alone wearing wireless headphones connected to the DJ, to products such as small desk tents designed for conversation-free privacy in the office. One Kyoto company even offers single women the opportunity to have a “one woman wedding” — a full bridal affair, complete with white dress and ceremony, and the only thing missing is the groom. The trend has its own media expression — “botchi-zoku”, referring to individuals who consciously choose to do things completely on their own.
One recent weekday afternoon, Chihiro Higashikokubaru, a 23-year-old nurse, travelled 90 minutes from her home, to Tokyo on her day off in order to enjoy some solo time. Speaking quietly at the entrance of the cafe, Miss Higashikokubaru said: “I heard about this place via Twitter and I like the idea of coming here. I work as a nurse and it's always very busy. There are very few quiet places in Tokyo, and it's a big busy city. I just want to come and sit somewhere quietly on my own. I’m going to drink a cup of tea and maybe do some drawings. I like the idea of a quiet, calm atmosphere.”
The desire to be isolated is not a new concept in Japan, home to an estimated 3.6 million “hikikomori” — a more extreme example of social recluses (隐士) who withdraw completely from society.
1. What is special about the “silent cafes”?| A．It provides various tea and books. | B．People are not allowed to communicate. |
| C．It offers service by writing not by speaking. | D．It has attracted many popular young people. |
| A．The stable economic situation. | B．The increasing social isolation. |
| C．The rapid development of the Internet. | D．The rising demand for privacy. |
| A．She doesn’t like to be a nurse. | B．She doesn’t like the life in big cities. |
| C．She enjoys her solo time in a quiet place. | D．She travelled to Tokyo on her work days. |
| A．A new concept in Japan | B．Social recluses in Japan |
| C．Silent cafes | D．Lonely Japanese |
【推荐3】Until recently, the University of Kent prided itself on its friendly image. Not any more. Over the past few months it has been working hard, with the help of media consultants, to downplay its cozy reputation in favor of something more academic and serious.
Kent is not alone in considering an image revamp (翻新). Changes to next year’s funding regime (制度) are both forcing universities to justify charging students up to 9,000 in fees.
Nowadays, universities putting much more of a focus on their brands and what their value propositions are. While in the past universities have often focused on students’ social life and attractions of the university town in recruitment campaigns, they are now concentrating on more tangible attractions, such as employment prospects, engagement with industry, and lecturer contact hours, making clear exactly what students are going to get for their money.
The problem for universities is that if those benefits fail to materialize, students notice. That worries Rob Behrens, chief executive of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA), which deals with student complaints. “Universities need to be extremely careful that... they describe the reality of what’s going to happen to students,” he says. “Because competition is going to get greater for attracting students, there is a danger that universities will go the extra mile.”
One university told prospective engineering students they would be able to design a car and race it at Brands Hatch, which never happened, he says. “If universities spent as much money on handling complaints and appeals appropriately as they spend on marketing, they would do better at keeping students, and in the National Student Survey returns,” he says.
Ongoing research by Heist tracking prospective 2012 students suggests that they are not only becoming more sophisticated in thinking about what they want from a university, but are also spending more time researching evidence to back up institutional claims.
Hence the growing importance of the student survey and league tables. From next September, all institutions will also be expected to publish on their websites key information sets, allowing easier comparison between institutions—and between promises and reality—of student satisfaction levels, course information, and the types of jobs and salaries graduates go on to.
As a result, it is hardly surprising that universities are beginning to change the way they market themselves. While the best form of marketing for institutions is to be good at what they do, they also need to be clear about how they are different from others.
And it is vital that once an institution claims to be particularly good at something, it must live up to it. The moment you position yourself, you become exposed because you have played your joker, and if you fail in that you are in trouble.
1. What are universities putting their focus on to attract students?| A．A friendly reputation. | B．Student funding. |
| C．Students’ social life. | D．Practical benefits. |
| A．Universities may not be able to attract prospective students. |
| B．Students will become more sophisticated. |
| C．It will do harm to the reputation of the universities. |
| D．Universities may not be able to keep students. |
| A．make high promises to attract students | B．establish their own strengths |
| C．show graduates career perspective | D．show their feature courses |
| A．A person who are good at communication. |
| B．A thing that cannot be predicted. |
| C．The best thing that people cannot afford to lose. |
| D．A card that can be matched to any card. |
