【推荐1】The number of women taking maternity leave(产假) in the United States has not changed over the last two decades, according to a new study, even as the national economy has grown and new family leave policies have been implemented in three states.

Study author Jay Zagorsky says he began looking into maternity leave rates after two of his nieces gave birth around the same time last year. ＂One got an amazing package — full pay for a few months — and the other had to cobble together(拼凑) vacation and sick time,＂ he says. ＂I was astonished.＂

＂I did a little research, and there were no numbers,＂ he added. ＂The government tracks which employers provide maternity leave, but no one has calculated how many people are using it.＂ Zagorsky was troubled to find no increase over time, considering research that shows how beneficial it can be — for both parents and newborns — to spend time together. Giving mothers time off from work to bond with new babies has been shown to improve the physical and mental health of mothers, reduce cesarean deliveries（剖腹产）, save infants’ lives and encourage breastfeeding, the study notes.

Over the 22-year study, the U.S. economy grew by 66%, and the GDP rose from $9.9 trillion to $16.4 trillion a year. During that time, California, New Jersey and Rhode Island passed the first state laws to provide paid family leave. New York will become the fourth state to offer paid family leave in 2018. In other states, most employees are covered by federal law providing 12 weeks of unpaid time off after a baby’s birth. Individual companies or state policies may expand beyond these provisions.

＂But just because maternity leave is available doesn’t mean women will take it, ＂Zagorsky says. The Department of Labor estimates that only about 12% of private sector employees have access to paid family leave, and Zagorsky’s study showed that only 47.5% of the women who took time off in 2015 were paid for it.

The rate of paid maternity leave increased over the study period, but only by a quarter of a percent per year. At that rate, Zagorsky says, it will take another decade before even 60% of U.S. women going on leave receive such benefits. ＂This is a very low figure for the nation with the world’s largest annual GDP,＂ he writes.

Even if a woman is paid for her maternity leave, she may keep herself aloof from it. The reason may be that she’s worried about being replaced or valued less at work, the study notes. She may also only receive a small part of her normal salary, which can make providing for her family unmanageable.

The study suggests that the paid maternity leave laws that are in place may be ＂ineffective, not fully implemented, or too narrowly defined to have an impact＂. The women who took time off after giving birth were more likely to be better educated and financially better off than the typical mother.

Zagorsky did not have information about the number of births every month, so he was unable to determine the exact percentage of working parents that used family leave. But based on the number of births per year, he estimates that about 10% of men and 54% of women take some time off. Based on employment and economic data, Zagorsky says the stalled (停顿的) maternity leave numbers can’t be explained by unemployment rates, the recession or women dropping out of the workforce.

In a 2007 analysis of 173 countries, the United States was one of only four nations that didn’t have a federal paid maternity leave policy for women after childbirth. In 98 countries, new mothers were required to receive at least 14 weeks of paid time off. During his campaign, President Donald Trump said he supported a plan for six weeks of paid leave for new mothers. (He has not proposed paid leave for fathers or other caregivers.) Even if those six weeks are implemented, Zagorsky says, ＂We still have a long way to go to catch up with the rest of the world.＂

1. Why does Jay Zagorsky mention his two nieces?

A．To introduce the subject of his study.

B．To state the purpose of his study.

C．To explain the inspiration behind his study.

D．To stress the significance of his study.

2. Which statement may Zagorsky agree with?

A．Unpaid maternity leave will be knocked out gradually.

B．At least 14-week paid maternity leave should be offered.

C．The U.S. paid maternity leave policies are well carried out.

D．Few U.S. women really benefit from the paid maternity leave.

3. The underlined sentence implies that a U.S. woman __________.

A．may fail to take on her responsibilities

B．dare not voice her doubts and concerns

C．is dissatisfied with her maternity leave

D．may not take her paid maternity leave

4. In Zagorsky’s view, what contributes to the unchanged maternity leave numbers?

A．High unemployment rates.

B．Maternity leave policies.

C．The worsening national economy.

D．Lack of female employees.

5. What’s Zagorsky’s attitude to the condition of maternity leave in America?

A．Doubtful.

B．Subjective.

C．Concerned.

D．Optimistic.

6. What is the best title for the passage?

A．Maternity leave isn’t getting more popular in the U.S.

B．Introducing paid maternity leave is a difficult task

C．Maternity leave still has a long way to go in the U.S.

D．Maternity leave is all a matter of choice

【推荐2】Before you throw that old cell phone in the trash, or hide it away in a drawer, think again. There are actually many ways to dispose(处理) of a mobile phone that you are no longer using. First, you should be aware that in many places, throwing away cell phones is actually illegal because the batteries - especially in very old phones - can contain poisonous metals.     1    

You certainly don't need to pay to recycle an old cell phone.     2     This had led to many charities making a small amount of money by collecting old phones. There are large organizations that will take unwanted phones. However, you might also want to think locally.

    3     And they do make a little bit on each donation. If you can't find a large cell phone recycling program in your area, you might consider starting a small local one, perhaps for a local public school.    4     As people move to bigger and better phones, or smaller and better phones, there are plenty of old cell phones just waiting for a place to land, and smart schools have provided that place.

You might also want to hang onto any accessories( 配件) that you have.     5     Continuing to use accessories in good shape makes smart economic sense.

A．In fact, most companies that recycle them get paid to do so.

B．There are better places to get rid of them than your trash can.

C．Many schools and local charities now have recycling programs.

D．Local charities have contributed a lot in repairing unwanted phones.

E．Things like chargers or covers can often be used with your new phone.

F．The saying that one man's trash is another man's treasure certainly applies.

G．Check first, since so many schools have gotten the jump on recycling them already.

【推荐3】Definition of adult learning vary, but according to the European Commission, it is defined as all forms of learning undertaken by adults after having left initial education and training, however far this process may have gone.

Education and training are important factors in achieving the strategic goal of raising economic growth, competitiveness and social inclusion. However, with some expectations, implementation(实现，履行) remains weak. Most education and training system still largely focus on the education and training of young people and limited progress has been made in changing systems to mirror the need for learning throughout the life span. An additional 4 million adults would need to participate in lifelong learning. Recent research confirms the importance of investing in adult learning. Research on older adults indicates that those who engage in learning are healthier, with a consequent decrease in health care costs.

Europe’s key economic challenge is to raise its growth and employment performance while preserving social cohesion(凝聚力). Rapid progress in other regions(地区) of the world shows the importance of innovative (创新的), advanced and quality education and training as a key factor in economic competitiveness. General levels of competence must increase, both to meet the needs of the employment market and to allow citizens to function well in society.

Europe is facing unheard-of demographic changes that will have a major impact on society and on the economy and consequently on education and training provision and needs. The European population is aging: over the next 30 years the number of younger Europeans(up to 24 years old)will fall by 15%. One in three Europeans will be over 60 years old, and   about one in then will be over 80.

Raising the overall level of skills of the adult population by offering more and better learning opportunities throughout adult life is important for both efficiency and equity reasons given the challenges identified above. Not only does adult learning help make adults more efficient workers and, better-informed and more active citizens, it also contributes to their personal well-being.

1. What dose the author say about adult learning?

A．It reduces health care costs greatly.

B．The young need take it seriously.

C．It hasn’t been given enough attentions.

D．More adults have realized its importance.

2. What must we do to do well in today’s society ?

A．Upgrade(提高) general levels of our abilities

B．Face various challenges bravely.

C．Copy what other regions have done.

D．Be sensitive to the labour market.

3. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Change in the education system	B．Changes in the job market
C．Changes in the population	D．Changed in society

【推荐1】Climate change, not human hunting, may have destroyed the thylacine(袋狼) , according to a new study based on DNA from thylacine bones.

The meat-eating marsupials (有袋动物) died out on mainland Australia a few thousand years ago, but survived in Tasmania, an island of southeast Australia separated from the mainland, until the 1930s. Until now, scientists have believed the cause of this mainland extinction was increased activity from native Australians and dingoes (Australian wild dogs).

Scientists behind the University of Adelaide study, which was published in the Journal of Biogeography on Thursday, collected 51 new thylacine DNA samples from fossil bones and museum skins. The paper concluded that climate change starting about 4,000 years ago was likely the main cause of the mainland extinction.

The ancient DNA showed that the mainland extinction of thylacines was rapid, and not the result of loss of genetic diversity. There was also evidence of a population crash in thylacines in Tasmania at the same period of time, reducing their numbers and genetic diversity.

Professor Jeremy Austin said Tasmania would have been protected from mainland Australia’s warmer, drier climate due to its higher rainfall. He argued that climate change was “the only thing that could have caused, or at least started, an extinction on the mainland and caused a population crash in Tasmania.”

“They both occurred at about the same time, and the other two things that have been talked about in the past that may have driven thylacines to extinction on the mainland were dingoes and humans. So the only explanation that’s left is climate change. And because that population collapse happened at the same time that the species went extinct on the mainland, our argument is there’s a common theme there and the only common theme is that there is this change in climate.”

1. What did scientists believe in the past according to the passage?

A．Marsupials were all meat-eating animals.

B．Dingoes should be removed from Australia.

C．Thylacines had no enemies on mainland Australia.

D．Human activities may cause the extinction of thylacines.

2. What’s the difference between mainland Australia and Tasmania?

A．Tasmania has more dingoes.

B．Tasmania has more native activities.

C．Tasmania has a higher temperature.

D．Tasmania has more rainy days.

3. What does the underlined word “collapse” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．change

B．aging

C．decline

D．increase

4. What’s the best title for the passage?

A．The result of warmer climate in Australia

B．The ways of protecting meat-eating animals

C．The cause of disappearance of thylacines

D．The effect of climate change on wildlife

【推荐3】People in Florida recently had to escape from flash floods after two feet of rain fell in 26 hours. Heavy rains caused a hillside to break down and bury a community in Washington State earlier this year. Rainstorms and floods attacked Colorado last year, and sudden floods swept Atlanta in 2009, and Nashville in 2010.

In the National Climate Assessment, published last week, researchers in the United States reported that “large increases in heavy rains have occurred in the Northeast, Midwest and Great Plains, where heavy downpours have caused flooding events and other relevant disasters”.

In the United States, the increase in water vapor (蒸汽) has been on the order of 3 percent or 4 percent since the 1970s, when most of the human-caused global warming has occurred since then. That may not sound like a big jump, but the effect is enormous. Two leading scientists, Kevin E. Trenberth at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and David R. Easterling at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, ran some calculations and agreed that the global warming has, on average, put more than a trillion gallons (加仑) of extra water into the air over the 48 states, probably closer to two trillion. That extra water has to fall as rain or snow if the condition is suitable.

“It rains harder than it used to,” said Dr. Trenberth, who could not resist adding: “When it rains, it pours.” So they suggested intensifying standards for the designs of dams, and hardening roads and culverts (涵洞) against the possibility of more flash floods.

The warming of the planet has slowed in recent years, but scientists think that is likely temporary. They expect it to get much, much warmer as this century progresses, and that can only mean that the rains will fall harder still.

1. Why did the author mention some floods in the first paragraph?

A．To lead to the topic.	B．To attract young readers.
C．To show some evidence	D．To show the latest events.

2. What does the underlined word “intensifying” mean in paragraph 4?

A．changing.

B．adjusting.

C．strengthening.

D．decreasing.

3. What can we infer about the climate in the future?

A．The climate will be better soon.	B．The bad climate will disappear.
C．The bad climate will be worse.	D．The climate will keep the same.

4. The text is most likely to be found in ______.

A．a short-story collection	B．a personal diary
C．a magazine of art	D．a science magazine