A sensational new scientific discovery in the ocean near Australia may explain the most massive extinction of living things in Earth’s history. For years, scholars have been frustrated in trying to analyze why 90 to 95 percent of sea life and 75 percent of and life vanished about 250 million years ago. The extinctions were so enormous that they are called The Great Dying. To date, some authorities on ancient life thought that a volcanic eruption or a sudden change in the environment affected all life on Earth. Other specialists have doubted these theories, maintaining that it was not plausible that a solo volcano could bring about such chaos. From the outset, critics believed these claims were exaggerated.
By contrast, there is wide acceptance of the idea that a meteor (流星)which hit Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula 65 million years ago was the primary cause of the dinosaurs’ extinction. Nevertheless, until now they had no evidence of an intense meteor impact 185 mill on years earlier. Now they do.
American geologists have been examining rock samples from a deep sea crater (火山口)near the northwest coast of Australia. The samples were initially collected and preserved by petroleum technicians seeking oil. Now the geologists and their colleagues believe that the precise splits in the rock’s structure show a typical pattern for meteors. There is a clear distinction from volcanic patterns. In fact, a spokesperson went so far as to say that these rocks completely revise the way scientists perceive the mass extinctions from the ancient era. Academics say that the meteor’s crater s the size of Mount Qomolangma, the highest mountain on Earth! Literally, the meteor made a mark on Earth as it drowned in the sea. The Earth could not absorb such a harsh blow without sustaining global devastation. Things must have come to a standstill. Evidently, the blow was fatal for many forms of life.
Bear in mind that all this was long before mammals---including humans--emerged in Earth’s history. Still, we would be wise to pay attention to the damage a meteor can cause. Fortunately, meteor strikes on Earth are few and far between.
1. The word “plausible” (paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to “______”.| A．available | B．incredible |
| C．reasonable | D．ridiculous |
| A．Because they were very resistant | B．Because there weren’t any then |
| C．Because they lived in isolated areas | D．Because they hid themselves in the caves |
| A．Scholars agreed that a single volcano caused The Great Dying |
| B．75 percent of land life continued 250 million years ago |
| C．Volcanic rocks and meteors have different patterns |
| D．When the meteor hit land Mount Qomolangma sprang up. |
| A．The Dinosaurs’ End | B．Crater on Qomolangma |
| C．Contradictory Claims | D．A Meteor’s Impact |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Machine learning sees reasoning as a categorization task with a fixed set of predetermined labels. It views the world as a fixed space of possibilities, calculating and weighing them all. This approach, of course, has achieved notable successes when applied to stable and well-defined situations such as chess or computer games. When such conditions are absent, however, machines struggle.
In 2008, Google launched Flu Trends, a web service that aimed to predict flu-related doctor visits using big data. The project, however, failed to predict the 2009 HINI flu outbreak. After several unsuccessful adjustments to its algorithm (算法), Google finally stopped the project in2015.
In such unstable situations, the human brain behaves differently. Sometimes, it simply forgets. Instead of getting trapped in irrelevant data, it relies only on the most recent information and makes creative decisions. This is a feature called intelligent forgetting. Adopting this approach, an algorithm that relies on a single data point would have reduced Google Flu Trends' prediction error by half.
Intelligent forgetting is just one dimension of psychological AI, an approach to machine intelligence that also includes other features of human intelligence such as causal reasoning, intuitive (直觉) psychology, and physics. Soon, this approach to Al will finally be recognized as fundamental for solving poorly-defined problems. Exploring these amazing features of the human brain will finally allow us to make machine learning smart.
One feature of psychological Al is that it is explainable. Until recently, researchers assumed that the more transparent an AI system was, the less accurate its predictions were. This mirrored the widespread but incorrect belief that complex problems always need complex solutions. Now, this idea will be laid to rest. As the case of flu predictions illustrates, powerful and simple psychological algorithms can often give more accurate predictions than complex algorithms. Psychological AI opens up a new vision for explainable AI: Instead of trying to explain complex systems, we can check first if psychological Al offers a simple and equally accurate solution.
Without the help of human psychology, it will become clearer that the application of this type of machine learning to unstable situations eventually runs up against impassable limitations. We will finally recognize that more computing power makes machines faster. Not smarter.
1. Why is Flu Trends mentioned?| A．To clarify a concept. | B．To tell the serious outbreak. |
| C．To support the author's idea. | D．To provide readers with the truth. |
| A．It can think outside the box. | B．It can avoid unclear problems. |
| C．It is capable of learning over time. | D．It is good at following instructions. |
| A．Similar. | B．Unique. | C．Complete. | D．Clear. |
| A．AI speeds up the computing greatly. |
| B．Psychological Al can make smarter AI. |
| C．AI system works well in stable situations. |
| D．AI will outperform the human brain someday. |
【推荐2】You improve your robot’s software by improving its software. Agrim Gupta of Stanford University, however, begs to differ. He thinks you can also improve a robot’s software by improving its hardware. He and his colleagues have invented a way of testing this idea.
They brought to their robots, unimals, the principles of evolution (进化) by natural selection. Unimals, with globes for heads and sticks for arms and legs, are software beings interacting with a virtual environment. The environments where they wandered were in three varieties: flat grounds, grounds with hills and steps, and ones that had the complexities of the second sort, but with added objects.
To begin with, the unimals were randomly assigned various shapes, but with identical software— derl. Newly created unimals learned to face the challenges in a virtual bootcamp. They were then entered into tournaments in groups. Each group winner was awarded one mutation (变异) —one extra arm or leg, or one extra turning in a joint. The new replaced the oldest unimal and then was assigned to a new group, and the process repeated. About 4,000 varieties of them underwent training.
The team were surprised by the diversity of shapes that evolved. Crucially, though, the researchers found the most successful unimals learned tasks in half the time their oldest ancestors had taken, and that those evolving in the toughest grounds were the most successful.
In this evolution of unimals’ morphology (形态) to promote the ability to learn, Dr Gupta sees a version of something called the Baldwin effect. In 1896 James Baldwin, a psychologist, argued that minds evolve to make the best use of the morphologies of the bodies. What Dr Gupta has shown, though in software, is that the opposite can also be true — changes in body morphology can improve the way minds work. Even though he held the software constant, it became more efficient at learning as the unimals’ bodies evolved.
Whether that discovery can be turned to account in the way robots are developed remains to be seen. But the way of testing is certainly an out-of-the-box idea.
1. How was the test conducted?| A．By promoting Unimals’ learning. | B．By adjusting the environments. |
| C．By proving the evolution theory. | D．By stimulating unimals’ mutation. |
| A．The number of trained unimals. | B．The decline in time for learning tasks. |
| C．The variety of evolved shapes. | D．The replacement of old unimals. |
| A．Mind evolution affects body shaping. |
| B．Body changes better mind work. |
| C．Hardware changes do not impact software. |
| D．The discovery is useful in robot development. |
| A．Negative. | B．Objective. |
| C．Indifferent. | D．Approving. |
Do a country’s inhabitants get happier as it gets richer?
Most governments seem to believe so, given their continuous focus on increasing GDP year by year. Reliable, long-term evidence linking wealth and happiness is, however, lacking. And measuring well-being is itself full of problems, since it often relies on surveys that ask participants to assess their own levels of happiness subjectively.
Previous research has shown that people's underlying levels of happiness are reflected in what they say or write. Dr Sgroi and Dr Proto therefore consulted newspaper archives and Google Books, a collection of more than 8m titles that constitute around 6% of all books physically published. They searched these texts for words that had been assigned a psychological “valence”(效价)—a value representing how emotionally positive or negative a word is—while controlling for the changing meanings of words such as “gay” and “awful”(which once most commonly meant “to inspire awe”). The result is the National Valence Index, published this week in Nature Human Behaviour.
Placed alongside the timeline of history, the valence indices(the plural of index) for the places under study, show how changes in national happiness reflect important events. In Britain, for example, happiness fell sharply during the two world wars. It began to rise again after 1945, peaked in 1950, and then fell gradually, including through the so-called Swinging Sixties, until it reached a nadir(最低点)around 1980. America’s national happiness, too, fell during the world wars. It also fell in the 1860s, during and after the country's civil war. The lowest point of all came in 1975, at the end of a long decline during the Vietnam war, with the fall of Saigon and America's humiliating defeat.
In Germany and Italy the first world war also caused dips in happiness. By contrast, during the second world war these countries both got happier as the war continued. Initially, that might be put down to their early successes, but this can hardly explain German happiness when the Red Army was at the gates of Berlin.
The researchers assume that what is being measured here is the result of propaganda (宣传) and censorship(审查), rather than honest opinion. But they cannot prove this. Earlier in Italian history, though, there was a clear and explicable(可解释的) crash in happiness in 1848, with the failure of revolutions intended to unite into a single nation that was then half a dozen disparate states. Surprisingly, however, successful unification in the 1860s also saw a fall in happiness.
Does Wealth Ensure Happiness? | |
Passage outline | Supporting details |
| General information | * The majority of governments think it does, continuously concentrating their * More reliable, long-term evidence * Participants of surveys give a |
| * You can judge whether people are happy according to their * Some words usually represent positive emotions while “gay” and “awful” often mean | |
| Typical | * In Britain and America, the level of happiness * |
| A strange truth | * Whether unification succeeds or not doesn’t necessarily |
【推荐1】Getting drunk on ice cream used to be the stuff of dreams, but thanks to Will Rogers, inventor and owner of WDS Dessert Stations in Hinkley, Illinois, it has become a delicious reality. The Below Zero ice cream machine uses a unique technique to freeze alcohol, which allows you to turn beers, cocktails and even spirits (烈酒) into delicious soft —serve ice cream.
Rogers was trying to create a highly — caffeinated espresso ice cream flavor when he realized he could use the same technique with alcoholic beverages. He started experimenting with various gums and stabilizers commonly used in the ice cream industry and eventually patented something called the NEA gel. It’s this magical concoction (调制品) that allows the alcohol to freeze to a near solid inside the Below Zero ice cream machine.
Even though Below Zero changes the texture (质地) of beer, cocktails and even spirits, essentially turning them into soft —serve ice cream, it does not affect the alcohol content at all. The ABV (酒精度) remains exactly the same, which means you can get drunk on ice — cream just as you would on the same concoctions in liquid form.
Will Rogers claims that it takes around 30 minutes for beer to go from liquid to ice cream form, but higher alcohol content drinks take longer. Essentially, the higher the alcohol level, the longer the wait.
The American inventor plans to sell Below Zero ice cream machines to bars and breweries wanting to surprise their patrons. Metro reports that machines will sell for about 6,000.
1. What’s the name of the machine which can change beer and spirits into ice cream?| A．Will Rogers | B．WDS Dessert Stations |
| C．Hinkley | D．Below Zero |
| A．gums. | B．stabilizers. | C．NEA gel. | D．ABV. |
| A．The machine can change all liquids into ice cream. |
| B．It takes 20 minutes for beer to change into ice cream. |
| C．The higher the alcohol level, the shorter the wait will be. |
| D．The machine changes the texture of beer, cocktails and even spirits. |
| A．The machine affects the alcohol content. |
| B．You can get drunk if you have ice—creams made from spirits. |
| C．The American inventor doesn’t want to sell the magical machine. |
| D．Bars and breweries will not become potential buyers of the machine. |
【推荐2】When romantic partners argue over things like finances, jealousy, or other interpersonal issues, they tend to employ their current feelings as fuel for a heated argument. But thinking about the future helps overcome relationship conflicts, according to a University of Waterloo study just published online in Social Psychological and Personality Science. Alex Huynh. a doctoral candidate in psychology is the lead author of the study, which he published with Igor Grossmann from the University of Waterloo, and Daniel Yang from Yale University.
Previous research has shown that third-perspective reasoning can be a positive strategy for reconciliation（调解）of interpersonal struggles. Huynh and his collaborators investigated whether similar benefit can be induced by simply thinking about the future. Study participants were instructed to reflect on a recent conflict with a romantic partner or a close friend. One group of participants were then asked to describe how they would feel about the conflict one year in the future, while another group was asked to describe how they feel in the present.
The team examined participants' written responses through a text-analysis program for their use of pronouns—such as I, me, she, he. These choices of pronouns were used to capture participants' focus on the feelings and behaviour of those involved in the conflict. Written responses were also examined for forgiveness and reinterpreting the conflict more positively, both of which implied the participants' use of reasoning strategies.
The team examined participants' written responses through a text-analysis program for their use of pronouns-such as I, me, she, he. These choices of pronouns were used to capture participants' focus on the feelings and behaviour of those involved in the conflict. Written responses were also examined for forgiveness and reinterpreting the conflict more positively, both of which implied the participants' use of reasoning strategies.
The researchers found that envisioning （展望）future relationship affected both participants' focus on their feelings and their reasoning strategies. As a result, participants reported more positivity about their relationship altogether, especially when study participants extended their thinking about the relationship a year into the future.
“Our study demonstrates that adopting a future-oriented perspective in the context of a relationship conflict-reflecting on how one might feel a year from now—may be a valuable coping tool for one's psychological happiness and relationship well-being,” said Huynh.
1. What do romantic partners do in face of most disagreements?| A．They lose faith in their future. | B．They look forward to a fierce conflict. |
| C．They focus on their present feelings. | D．They care more about financial problems. |
| A．Explained. | B．Caused. | C．Reduced. | D．Improved. |
| A．The reasoning strategies in participants' written responses were well worthy of note. |
| B．Study participants described their recent relationship with their romance partners or friends. |
| C．A text-analysis program was employed to examine participants' use of negative words. |
| D．All the study participants described how they felt both in the present and in the future. |
| A．You Have a Year to Solve Your Interpersonal Problems! |
| B．Beneficial Reasoning Is a positive Strategy for Reconciliation! |
| C．Your Current Feelings Are the Real Cause of Your Heated Arguments! |
| D．Thinking About Future Is Essential for Relationship Maintenance! |
【推荐3】A group of researchers led by Patrick Yu-Wai-Man, an eye doctor at Cambridge University, looked into a promising new genetic treatment for a hereditary (遗传的) form of blindness. Officially, their study was a failure, for their experiment did not show what the researchers hoped it would. But it was also a great success, for 29 of the 37 participants reported big improvements in their eyesight.
The disease in question is Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). A defective gene in a sufferer’s mitochondria—the tiny structures that provide a cell’s energy—causes retinal (视网膜) cells to die. That leads to sudden and rapid loss of sight, with many sufferers becoming legally blind within a year.
LHON is a good candidate for gene treatment, a form of genetic engineering which aims to replace the defective gene with a working one. With that in mind, Dr Yu-Wai-Man and his colleagues loaded up a modified virus with a corrected copy of the gene and injected it into their patients’ eyes. The researchers controlled the experiment by injecting only one of each patient’s eyes—chosen at random—with the virus. The other eye wasn’t given a real injection, in which a syringe (注射器) was pressed against the eye, but nothing came out of it.
The surprise came several months into the study. The researchers had hoped to see a big improvement in the treated eyes, compared with the untreated ones. They did not, and for that reason the study failed in its primary objective. Instead, in more than three quarters of their patients, they saw big improvements in both eyes.
Though the study was technically a failure, its practical success means that an effective treatment for LHON may at last be in reach. GenSight Biologics, the company that has developed the treatment, has already sent its results to Europe’s medical regulator. It hopes to hear back by the end of 2021.
1. What makes people lose sight?| A．Mitochondria. | B．Retinal cells. |
| C．The defective gene. | D．A cell’s energy. |
| A．The function of the experiment. | B．The cause of the experiment. |
| C．The process of the experiment. | D．The result of the experiment. |
| A．The treatment may be promising. |
| B．The study is a complete failure. |
| C．The researchers saw a big improvement in all the treated eyes. |
| D．GenSight Biologics has gotten the reply from Europe’s medical regulator. |
| A．Entertainment | B．Economy | C．Education | D．Science |
【推荐1】Recently, researchers at the University of Toronto figured out a way with a quick video selfie to accurately measure blood pressure with your smartphone’s camera by developing a technology known as transdermal optical imaging (TOI)(透皮光学成像).
Cameras on smartphones can catch red light reflected from hemoglobin (血红素）under our skin, which permits TOI to visualize and measure blood flow changes. Researchers measured the blood pressure of 1,328 Canadian and Chinese adults by getting two-minute videos of their faces on an iPhone. “From the video got by the technology, you can see how the blood flows in different parts of the face and through this flow, you can get a lot of information,” said Kang Lee, lead author of the study.
Lee also helped create an app called Anura, which allows people to try out the TOI software for themselves, giving them the ability to record a 30-second video of their face and receive measurements for stress levels and resting heart rate. Lee said more research was needed to make sure that the measurements were as accurate as possible, explaining that the study didn’t test people with very dark or very fair skin.
“In order to improve our app to make it usable, particularly for people with hypertension (高血压)，we need to collect a lot of data from them, which is very hard because a lot of them are already taking medicine,” Lee explained. “We cannot tell them not to take medicine, but from time to time, we get participants who don’t take medicine so we can get hypertensive people this way.”
The scientists said there were many potential applications of the technology, including providing health services for those who lived in remote areas.
1. What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 2？| A．Information offered by TOI. | B．New findings on hypertension. |
| C．How TOI is put into smart phones. | D．How the TOI technology works. |
| A．Living a life free from stress. | B．Improving the heart function gradually. |
| C．Accessing health services for free. | D．Knowing abnormal blood pressure earlier. |
| A．Equipping phones with better cameras. |
| B．Allowing phones to record longer videos. |
| C．Collecting data from more diverse samples. |
| D．Persuading participants not to take medicine. |
| A．To predict future applications of TOI. |
| B．To introduce TOI and an app related. |
| C．To describe functions of cameras on phones. |
| D．To evaluate the quality of an app called Anura. |
【推荐2】With the average American going through more than 700 pounds of paper per year, many firms are looking for ways to discourage their employees from over-using the office printer.
Toshiba America Business Solutions has come up with an alternative idea. It has introduced the e-STUDI04508LP, a printer that gives users the option to print with erasable toner (墨粉) — allowing a single piece of paper to be reused several times.
To reuse a piece of paper, the printer basically uses the same process as a normal printer, but in reverse (反过来), said Bill Melo, chief marketing executive for Toshiba America Business Solutions. Paper printed with the erasable toner is fed back into the printer, superheated, and the toner gets removed and put in a discard tank.
There are a couple of catches. All of the printouts using the erasable toner have to be in blue ink, which is the only color in which erasable toner is now available. And the company said that people may want to stop reusing the printouts after five times through the eraser because small traces of erased text will build up over time.
The $15,420 printer is aimed at offices and schools, where there are often large numbers of printouts that outlive their usefulness quickly. With the erasable toner, it' s possible to load any short-lived handouts back onto the printer to be erased and then reused.
Still, convincing customers to commit to erasable toner isn't always easy. Melo said not all its customers were happy about only having the erasable option.
The model, Melo said, should better serve the needs of those who want to be environmentally conscious but also may need something more permanent on occasion.
1. What' s special about Toshiba' s printer?| A．It' s low-priced. | B．It' s fashionable. |
| C．It' s lightweight. | D．It' s eco-friendly. |
| A．A discard tank. | B．Light colored ink. |
| C．Special writing paper. | D．A high enough temperature. |
| A．Theories. | B．Differences. |
| C．Problems. | D．Characteristics. |
| A．They asked for more patterns. |
| B．Some expressed dissatisfaction. |
| C．They considered it hard to operate. |
| D．Some worried about its recycling. |
【推荐3】A hospital has been forced to ban Pokemon Go players from the site after a monster hub (妖怪枢纽站) was found in the A&E department. Royal Stoke University Hospital discovered that its casualty unit(急诊室) is on the same spot as a Pokemon Go ‘gym’ —— where players can train their newly caught Nintendo creatures.
The University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust agreed last week that patients can play Pokemon Go on wards because walking around is healthy. But the Trust has been forced to post a warning on its website about public access to A&E. It said if Pokemon Go becomes a major annoyance it would ask Nintendo—— which decides on the locations of the virtual gyms according using GPS——to have it removed from the premises(道馆).
Kevin Parker, associate chief nurse, said, “Members of the public who do not need to be at Royal Stoke should not attempt to enter A&E or any other part of the hospital building to play the game. The A&E department is incredibly busy this summer. We want the public to understand that anybody who visits the hospital solely to play the game will provide an unwanted distraction to the important work of the hospital. I’m also aware of various reports in the media of unsafe areas that the game has been played in.”
“Royal Stoke University Hospital is a safe area where gamers can enjoy Pokemon Go.” Michelle Harris, the Trust’s manager, said the game could still be played by those already in hospital. “We recognize that the Pokemon Go game encourages walking and exercise, which is something that the Trust is equally keen to promote,” she said.
There are a number of “walking routes” established throughout the Trust that can be used to combine walking and playing the game. “Walking just 30 minutes, five times a week, can help reduce the risk of preventable illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.”
There have been several warnings about the game since its UK release. Last week a group of teenagers in Wiltshire were left stranded almost 100ft underground after they got carried away searching for Pokemon Go characters. The four boys, aged 16 and 17, ended up getting lost and had to wait to get a phone signal before they could call for help. Eventually, they contacted Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue team, who took them to safety. Damien Bence, of the fire and rescue team, said: “Pokemon Go is obviously leading people into dangerous situations.”
1. It seems that Pokemon Go is a game______.| A．encouraging players to walk and exercise instead of staying indoors |
| B．helping cure such diseases as obesity, diabetes and heart disease |
| C．designed to help patients in hospital recover sooner |
| D．warning teenagers of the places easy to get lost or attacked |
| A．more patients’ arrival increases the workload of the A&E department |
| B．doctors’ playing the game makes the A&E department less efficient |
| C．players’ injury increases the workload of the A&E department |
| D．players’ arrival disturbs the work of the A&E department |
| A．the popularity of Pokemon Go since its UK release |
| B．the applications of Pokemon Go in hospitals since its UK release |
| C．the negative effects of Pokemon Go since its UK release |
| D．the establishment of Pokemon Go virtual gyms since its UK release |
However, there is some difference in lifestyle between city dwellers and the country people. Almost 90 per cent of the population lives in the fast-paced cities along the coast and has little more than a passing familiarity with the desert. The major cities preserve pockets of colonial heritage, but the overall impression is modern, with new buildings reflecting the country’s youth. In contrast, the rural communities tend to be slow-moving and conservative. For many years, Australia was said to have “ridden on the sheep’s back”, a reference to wool being the country’s main money earner. However, the wool industry is no longer dominant. Much of Australia’s relatively sound economy is now achieved from natural coal and wheat, and by being the largest diamond producer in the world. Newer industries such as tourism and wine making are also increasingly important. Australians are generally friendly and relaxed, with a self-deprecating sense of humor. On the whole, Australia is a society without hierarchies (等级制度), an attitude generally held to stem from its prisoner beginnings.
Yet, contrary to widespread belief, very few Australians have true prisoner origins. Within only one generation of the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, Australia had become a nation of immigrants. Originally coming almost entirely from the British Isles, today one in three Australians comes from elsewhere. Australia’s liberal postwar immigration policies led to an influx of survivors from war-torn Europe, most notably Greeks, Italians, Poles and Germans.
The emphasis has shifted in recent years and today the majority of new immigrants are from Southeast Asia. Today Australia is a ‘blend of nations’ and although some racism exists, it has generally been a successful experiment and the country is justifiably proud to have one of the most harmonious multicultural communities in the world.
1. What does the writer mean by saying “It takes a sharp ear to identify regional accents.” in the first paragraph?
| A．Australians speak Standard English with no local accents whatsoever. |
| B．You have to practice a lot to learn to understand the different accents. |
| C．The Australian regional accents are very difficult to understand indeed. |
| D．There is not much difference between the accents in different areas of Australia. |
| A．Most Australians have ancestors who were prisoners. |
| B．The Australian economy is dependent on sheep exports. |
| C．The majority of people living in Australia come from Europe. |
| D．The pace of life is different in the city and in the country. |
| A．Community | B．racism | C．blend of Nations | D．Southeast Asia |
| A．there are no signs of Australia’s colonial past in its modern cities |
| B．Australia’s recent immigration policy encourages immigrants from Southeast Asia |
| C．immigrants from Southeast Asia have brought racial problems |
| D．“riding on sheep’s back” resulted in slow development in rural communities |
| A．society | B．economy | C．racial problems | D．history |
【推荐2】Amazon has suddenly withdrawn its plans to build a satellite headquarters in New York City, citing growing opposition of local elected officials in a shifting political climate.
The decision marks a stunning reversal just three months after Amazon crowned Long Island City, Queens, one of two winners of a highly public nationwide search in which hundreds of communities vied for the tech group’s investment.
By losing Amazon, New York will sacrifice an estimated 25,000 jobs -paying an average annual salary of $150,000 each- as well as a signature victory in a broader effort to transform the financial services capital into a technology hub to rival Silicon Valley.
Amazon’s about-face is a particular setback for governor Andrew Cuomo, who led the company’s recruitment and touted its November decision as the city’s biggest-ever economic development win.
At the same time, it appeared to confirm the dominance of a progressive wing of the Democratic party, led by the recently elected Queens representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was suspicious of Amazon’s arrival. Ms, Ocasio-Cortez questioned its opposition to organized labor and whether local citizens would benefit from its jobs.
Amazon officials said the decision to abandon New York had been taken recently, and would not discuss what role, if any, Jeff Bezos , the company’s founder, played in the move.
“The commitment to building a headquarters required positive, collaborative relationships with state and local officials who will be supportive over the long term,” Amazon wrote in a blog post. “While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us.”
Amazon said it did not intend to reopen the search process for a replacement. Instead , company officials expect to spread the jobs they planned to locate in Queens around existing Amazon facilities in Boston, San Diego, Vancouver and the Bay Area.
1. Amazon drew back from setting up a satellite headquarters in that __________.| A．there is a widespread public objection. |
| B．the political climate is favorable to revolution. |
| C．a number of state and local politicians changed their tunes. |
| D．Long Island lost the fierce competition for the investment. |
| A．victory | B．reversal |
| C．investment | D．support |
| A．Amazon reoriented itself from a financial center to a technology hub. |
| B．Jeff Bezos was to blame for his mistakes in decision-making. |
| C．Andrew Cuomo had prejudice against Amazon’s new headquarters plan. |
| D．Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez was cautious in response to Amazon’s plan. |
| A．Amazon relocate its new facilities in Queens. |
| B．Amazon drops plans for headquarters in New York City. |
| C．Amazon seeks to cooperate with state and local politicians. |
| D．Amazon is under fire for withdrawing the plan for a facility. |
【推荐3】A brand is a name, word, sign, symbol, design, or a combination of these, intended to identify the goods or services of a company or a group of companies. Another purpose of a brand is to contrast one company from another. The most important skill of professional marketers is the ability to create, maintain, protect, and enhance the brands of their products and services. Branding has become so important that today hardly any company or product is without one. Therefore, brand management is an increasingly important element in marketing.
Brand power refers to the relative strength of a company’s brand in the minds of consumers, and can influence consumers’ choice of products. Brands are powerful to the extent that they give high brand loyalty and strong brand associations, name recognition, perceived quality and other assets to a company. A strong brand can be one of a company’s most important assets.
High brand power provides a company with many competitive advantages. A powerful brand enjoys a high level of consumer brand awareness and loyalty. Because consumers expect stores to carry the brand, the company has more bargaining power when negotiating with retailers (零售商). And because the brand name brings high credibility, a company with a strong brand can more easily launch new products with the same brand name.
Many companies use the advantage of a strong brand power strategically to expand their business. When a company introduces an additional item with a new flavour, form, colour or package size in a given product category and under the same brand name, it is called a line extension. Another strategy is called brand extension. This involves the use of a successful brand name to launch new or modified products in a new category, thereby employing brand recognition in order to increase sales of new products.
Brand recognition is certainly important. Because consumers often hold long-standing perceptions about brands, high brand power ensure a company continued sales of its products.
1. What does the word “assets” in the 2nd paragraph mean?
| A．points | B．advantages | C．aspects | D．elements |
| A．a high brand wins the loyalty of consumers |
| B．a high brand usually sets a much higher price |
| C．it’s easy for a high brand company to launch new products |
| D．a high brand company is more competitive when doing business with retailers |
| A．happens when the company is developing a new product |
| B．means the expansion of a company’s business in its established field |
| C．takes place when the company introduces a similar item but with a new colour |
| D．refers to the use of an established brand name to promote a new product in a new category |
| A．Brand Power | B．Famous Brands |
| C．Company Brands | D．Brand Products |
