【推荐1】My phone was an extension of myself. I couldn’t go anywhere _________ it. I scrolled through my friends’ _________ into late night and turned my phone on before my eyes were fully open. I enjoyed having it until that day when I realized that what had started as a useful tool had turned into a(n) _________. So, I made a _________ decision to turn off that smartphone and _________ my old dumb phone out of hiding.

When I was watching TV shows or movies and there was a boring part, I _________ picking up the phone and checking out “what everyone else was doing.” Now I had to pay attention or find a way to _________ myself with my thoughts instead. When I visited New York City, I had to write out _________ and ask people where an intersection (十字路口) was _________ pulling out my phone.

I have welcomed silence into my life with open arms and am enjoying the increased __________ from not constantly having to fight with the __________ to check my phone while I’m trying to get something done. I am allowing my thoughts to speak to me instead of my phone. I am connecting with others in a __________ way that isn’t all about me. Instead of always posting about what’s going on in my __________ perfect life, I am connecting with my friends one-on-one, talking about the reality of our lives and being there for them from a place of __________.

As much as having a smartphone was __________, not having one is freeing on a much bigger level.

【推荐2】Recently, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said that if we want to fix the gridlock (僵局) in Congress, we need more women. Women are more focused on finding common ground and _________, she argued. Besides, neuroscientists have uncovered evidence suggesting that, when the _________ is on, women bring unique strengths to decision making.

Mara Mather and Nichole R. Lighthall, two cognitive neuroscientists, are two of the many researchers who have found that under normal circumstances, when everything is low-key and _______, men and women make decisions about risk in similar ways. We gather the best information we can, we _________ potential costs against potential gains, and then we choose how to act. _________, add stress to the situation and men and women begin to part ways.

Dr. Mather and her team taught people a simple computer gambling game, in which they got points for inflating (给……充气) digital balloons. The more they inflated each balloon, the greater its value, and the _________ of popping it. When they were relaxed, men and women took similar risks and averaged a similar number of pumps. But after experiencing the cold water, the stressed women _________ sooner, cashing out their winnings and going with the more guaranteed win. Stressed men did just the _________. They kept pumping — in one study averaging about 50 percent more pumps than the women and risking more.

Of course, just because it works this way in a(n) _________ it doesn’t mean the same thing happens in the messy real world. Do organizations with women __________ actually make less risky and more empathetic decisions in stressful circumstances?

Some evidence suggests they do. Credit Suisse (瑞士信贷) examined almost 2,400 global corporations from 2005 to 2011 — including the years directly preceding (之前的) and __________ the financial crisis — and found that companies with at least one woman on their boards __________ comparable companies with all-male boards by 26 percent.

__________, what often happens is that women are asked to lead only during periods of intense stress. It’s called the glass cliff, in which highly qualified women are asked to lead organizations only in times of __________. Think of Mary T. Barra at General Motors and Marissa Mayer at Yahoo, who were both brought in only after things had begun to fall apart. If more women were key decision makers, perhaps organizations could respond effectively to small stresses, __________ letting them escalate into huge ones. There’s a good reason that we’d benefit from more women in positions of power.

【推荐1】Robert Frank, an economist at Cornell, believes that his profession is restricting cooperation and generosity. In the U.S., economics professors give _________money to charity than professors in other fields. Economics students in Germany are more likely than those from other majors to recommend an overpriced plumber (水管工) when they are paid to do it. Economics majors tend to rate _________as “generally good,” “correct,” and “moral” more than their peers.

Does studying economics change people? Maybe not. It could be self-selection: students who already believe in self-interest are drawn to economics. But this doesn’t exclude the possibility that studying economics pushes people further toward the selfish extreme.

“As a business school professor, these effects worry me, as economics, _________every aspect of our lives, is taught widely in business schools, providing a _________for courses in management, finance, and accounting,” says Frank.

If economics can discourage pro-social behavior, which is central to the well-being of people or society, what should we do about it? A change in economics and business education is suggested. Courses in behavioral economics, which considers the role of “social preferences” like _________, fairness and cooperation, are required for students of economics major. In fact, economics courses not involving some behavioral economics are considered both an inadequate education and a poor preparation to be a practicing economist. Also, _________width, economics majors are required to take courses in social sciences like sociology and psychology, which place considerable emphasis on how people are _________about others, not only themselves. _________, within economics courses, we should do a better job _________the principle of self-interest, which involves anything a person values—including helping others.

Not until then may the prophecy (预言) by Nobel Prize-winning economist and philosopher Amartya Sen be __________. Calling economists “rational fools,” he observed: “The purely economic man is indeed close to being a social fool.”

【推荐1】She wants to be a singer. You think she should go for a long-term career with job security and eventually retire with a good pension (退休金). But a new report suggests that in fact she’s the practical one. Why do parents make terrible careers _________?

Today’s 14 and 15-year-olds are _________. They look at their working future in a different way from their parents’. A job for life is not in their vocabulary; neither is a dead-end but secure job that is _________ but pays the bills.

In the past, this might be considered as _________ news. Certainly, when I was 15, my guidance mentor _________ my plans to become a writer. I’m glad I didn’t change my plans to suit them. But the world has changed. The global economy is not _________ to yesterday’s diligent and dependable worker. The future belongs to quick-thinking people who are resourceful, ambitious and can take the _________. This means that a 14-year-old who sees her working future as a kind of _________ is not necessarily being unrealistic.

_________, she has to have the training and guidance to help her develop the right skills for today’s market. Many young people __________ that downsizing (裁员) and freelancing (自由职业) are all part of modern working life, but no one is telling them how they might be able to turn the new rules of the __________ game to their advantage. This is what they need to know if they are to make a life for themselves.

So what is to be done? A most important step would be to __________ the way in which schools prepare young people for adult life. The education system is becoming less flexible and sticks more to traditional skills at just the time that the job market is going in the __________direction.

What, then, can we as parents do to help them? The best thing is to __________ all the advice that your parents gave you, and step into your teenager’s shoes. Give them the courage to follow their dreams—however strange they might sound now. In a world that offers economic security to almost no one, imagination is a terrible thing to __________.

【推荐3】In 1919, in the aftermath of war, the International Labour Organization used its first convention to limit working hours to eight a day and 48 a week. The Depression later prompted employers to __________ a five-day week.

The latest crisis is dealing a __________ shock to how jobs are designed. The pandemic (疫情) forced many employers to implement remote working. It accelerated the use of technology to help them stay productive. As well as struggling with the challenges of hybrid work, some businesses are now __________ paying staff the same salary for a four-day working week, once as weird a concept as an eight-hour day.

Promised __________ include improved wellbeing, better focus, fairer sharing of childcare between men and women, and even a lighter carbon footprint. Fear of missing out on the latest trend must not, __________, blind companies to important obstacles and drawbacks.

Offsetting the cost of a four-day week at a national level looks ___________to achieve. As economic historian Robert Skidelsky pointed out in 2019, in a report for the UK Labour party, “__________ working hours nationwide, like France’s 35-hour working week, is not realistic or even desirable, because any cap needs to be adapted to the needs of different sectors (行业)”.

The Wellcome Trust, the science research foundation, decided in 2019 that even a trial would be __________, partly because its staff performed a mix of roles. Some jobs were hard to confine to four days. Other employees preferred to spread their work over five days. __________ already on a four-day week feared they might lose out.

Lockdowns exposed the gap between flexible homeworking professionals and front-line “__________” staff. A four-day week might __________ it.

Some staff want or need to work extra hours. To the risks of a two-tier workforce and reduced freedom of choice add the danger of __________. The approach fails if improved productivity does not cover the potential increased cost. If leaders’ determination to hit the same targets forces staff to work four 10-hour days, to shift their workload back into their __________ weekends, to rush jobs that require more time, or to hire additional hands to plug gaps, some of the benefits of offering workers more free time will quickly disappear.

For each of these __________, advocates have an answer. One is that companies just need to organise staff more efficiently. In itself, better __________ would improve productivity. Another is to cut working hours, rather than days, allowing greater flexibility.