【推荐1】One of the most difficult questions to answer is how much a job is worth. We naturally expect that a doctor’s salary will be higher than a bus conductor’s wage. But the question becomes much more difficult to answer when we compare, say, a miner with an engineer, or an unskilled man working on an oil-rig(钻油机) in the North Sea with a teacher in a secondary school. What the doctor, the engineer and teacher have is many years of training in order to obtain the necessary qualifications for their professions. We feel instinctively that these skills and these years, when they were studying instead of earning money, should be rewarded. At the same time we recognize that the work of the miner and the oil-rig laborer is both hard and dangerous, and that they must be highly paid for the risks they take.

Another factor we must take into consideration is how socially useful a man’s work is, regardless of the talents he may bring to it. Most people would agree that looking after the sick or teaching children is more important than, say, selling secondhand cars or improving the taste of toothpaste by adding a red stripe to it. Yet it is almost certain that the used car salesman earns more than the nurse, and that research chemist earns more than the school teacher.

Indeed, this whole question of just rewards can be turned on its head. You can argue that a man who does a job which brings him personal satisfaction is already receiving part of his reward in the form of a so-called “psychic(精神的) wage”, and that it is the man with the boring, repetitive job who needs more money to make up for the soul-destroying monotony(单调) of his work. It is significant that that those jobs which are traditionally regarded as “vocations” --- nursing, teaching and the Church, for example --- continue to be poorly paid, while others, such as those in the world of sport or entertainment, carry financial rewards out of all proportion to their social worth.

Although the amount of money that people earn is in reality largely determined by market forces, this should not prevent us from seeking some way to decide what is the right pay for the job. A starting point for such an investigation would be to try to decide the ratio which ought to exist between the highest and the lowest paid. The picture is made more complicate by two factors: firstly by the “social wage”, i.e, the welfare benefits which every citizen receives; and secondly, by the taxation system, which is often used as an instrument of social justice by taxing high incomes at a very high rate indeed. Allowing for these two things, most countries now regard a ratio of 7:1 as socially acceptable. If it is less, the highly-qualified people carrying heavy responsibilities become disillusioned, and might even end up by emigration(移民) (the so-called “brain-drain” is an evidence that this can happen). If it is more, the gap between rich and poor will be so great that it will lead social tensions and ultimately to violence.

1. The professional man, such as the doctor, should be well paid because ______.

A．he has spent several years learning how to do his job

B．his work involves much great intelligence than, say, a bus conductor’s

C．he has to work much harder than most other people

D．he knows more than other people about his subject

2. The “brain-drain” is an evidence that ______.

A．well-educated people are prepared to emigrate whenever they can get a better paid job

B．people with jobs or responsibility expect to be highly paid

C．high taxation is a useful and effective instrument of social justice

D．the poor are generally more patriotic(爱国的) than the rich

3. As far as rewarding people for their work is concerned, the writer, believes that ______.

A．we should pay for socially-useful work, regardless of the person’s talent

B．we should pay people according to their talents

C．market forces will determine how much a person is paid

D．qualified people should be the highest paid

4. The argument of the “psychic wage” is used to explain why ______.

A．people who do socially important work are not always well paid

B．people who do monotonous jobs are highly paid

C．you should not try to compare the pay of different professions

D．some professional people are paid more than others

【推荐2】The Queen’s English is now sounding less upper-class, a scientific study of the Queen’s Christmas broadcasts had found. Researchers have studied each of her messages to the Commonwealth countries since 1952 to find out the change in her pronunciation from the noble Upper Received to the Standard Received.
Jonathan Harrington, a professor at Germany’s University of Munich, wanted to discover whether accent   changes recorded over the past half century would take place within one person. “As far as I know, there just is nobody else for whom there is this sort of broadcast records,” he said.
He said the noble way of pronouncing vowels (元音) had gradually lost ground as the noble upper-class accent over the past years. “Her accent sounds slightly less noble than it did 50 years ago. But these are very, very small and slow changes that we don’t notice from year to year.”
“We may be able to relate it to changes in the social classes,” he told The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper. “In 1952 she would have been heard saying ‘thet men in the bleck het’. Now it would be ‘that man in the black hat’. Similarly, she would have spoken of ‘citay ’ and   ‘dutay’ , rather than ‘citee’ and ‘dutee’ and ‘hame’ rather than ‘home’. In the 1950s she would have been ‘lorst’, but by the 1970s ‘lost’.”
The Queen’s broadcast is a personal message to the Commonwealth countries. Each Christmas, the 10-minute broadcast is put on TV at 3 pm in Britain as many families are recovering from their traditional turkey lunch.
The results were published in the Journal of Phonetics.
1. The Queen’s broadcasts were chosen for the study mainly because ______.

A．she has been Queen for many years.

B．she has a less upper-class accent now.

C．her speeches are familiar to many people.

D．her speeches have been recorded for 50 years.

2. Which of the following is an example of a less noble accent in English?

A．“dutay”

B．“citee”

C．“hame”

D．“lorst”

3. We may infer from the text that the Journal of Phonetics is a magazine on _________.

A．speech sounds	B．Christmas customs
C．TV broadcasting	D．personal messages

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．The Queen’s Christmas speeches on TV.

B．The relationship between accents and social classes.

C．The changes in a person’s accent.

D．The recent development of the English language.

【推荐3】It was the 50th anniversary (周年) of the moon landing last year. Astronomy lovers are not the only ones who are excited about it; publishers(出版商) are also offering a number of books to mark the event.

Shoot for the Moon James Donovan
Little, Brown and Co. $30

This retelling of the space race begins with the Soviet Union’s Sputnik satellite in 1957 to the historic Apollo 11 program twelve years later. The book offers details about the characters of the spacemen, engineers and others who made the U. S. space program a success.

One Giant Leap
Charles Fishman
Simon & Schuster, $29.99

Getting to the moon required a million hours of work, this book says. Accordingly, the story centers on the engineers, project managers and others who worked long and hard to get the Apollo program off the ground.

Picturing Apollo 11
J. L. Pickering and John Bisney
Univ of Florida, $45

Packed with hundreds of photos (some are published for the first time), this book reads like a photo book of the Apollo 11 program. The photos are moments from spaceman training, as well as the excitement of liftoff, the historic landing and the return home of the three men.

Apollo’s Legacy Roger D.
Launius Smithsonian Books,
$27.95

A space historian examines the Apollo program in different ways: as a political (政治的) machine in the Cold War and an important cultural moment. The book explores different views on the U. S. moonshot project from scientists, politicians, the media and the public during the space race and beyond.

1. What is Shoot for the Moon mainly about?

A．History of the space race.	B．The shoot of two satellites.
C．Cooperation of different countries.	D．Humans’ understanding of the moon.

2. Whose book shows the Apollo 11 program through pictures?

A．James Donovan’s	B．Charles Fishman’s
C．J. L. Pickering and John Bisney’s	D．Roger D. Launius’s

3. Which book talks about different views on the Apollo program?

A．Shoot for the Moon	B．One Giant Leap
C．Picturing Apollo 11	D．Apollo’s Legacy

【推荐1】If you are looking for a day trip with the family, here’s a list of festivals and fairs for you.
Hopscotch Music Festival
Where: Downtown Raleigh
When: Today — Saturday
Highlights: This music festival features performances by more than 175 national and international bands playing in 15 different places, all within walking distance. Music genres will include rock, hiphop, heavy metal, dance, classical, folk and so on.
Admission: $10 — $30
Details:www.hopscotchmusicfest.com
Flatwoods Festival
Where: 451 Peach Tree Road, Bennett
When: 10 am Saturday — 5 pm Sunday
Highlights: This annual festival, which is in its 15th year, features family fun, food and horse rides. There will also be musical entertainment and a grand parade with cars, trucks, tractors, horse-drawn vehicles, floats, farm equipment and many other things.
Admission: On Saturday, free; on Sunday, $10; $5 for children aged 13 and under.
Details: Telephone number: 919-548-5192;www.visitpittsboro.com
NC Mountain State Fair
Where: 1301 Fanning Bridge Road, Fletcher
When: Today — Sept. 16
Highlights: In celebration of the people, agriculture, art and traditions that make our region great, the fair offers performances and even a man who carves artwork with a saw.
Admission: $7; $3 for kids aged 6 — 12
Details: Telephone number: 828-687-1414;www. mountainfair. org
1. What does the underlined word “genres” refer to?

A．types.

B．activities.

C．lessons.

D．programs.

2. How can you know the details about the Flatwoods Festival?

A．By surfing the website: www. mountainfair. org.

B．By dialing the telephone number: 828-687 — 1414.

C．By dialing the telephone number: 919-548-5192.

D．By surfing the website: www. hopscotchmusicfest. com.

3. Where can visitors see a special kind of artwork?

A．Flatwoods.

B．Downtown Raleigh.

C．Bennett.

D．Fletcher.

【推荐3】New York City Explorer Pass Highlights

See 3, 5, or 7 attractions and tours of your choice and save money on entry fees.

Visit the MET (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), the MoMA (The museum of Modern Art), the Guggenheim Museum, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, the Botanical Garden, Top of the Rock Observatory, and many, many more.

Get around on the Downtown/ Uptown Hop-On Hop-Off bus or take bike tours and Food on Foot tours. Tour Yankee Station, Rockefeller, Radio City Music Hall and more.

Description

New York City is America’s real land of opportunity, and here’s an opportunity you can’t pass up. With a New York City Explorer Pass you can choose to check out 3, 5 or 7 amazing attractions — from a list of over 60. This convenience will save you time. See the big art museums, take a BEAST speedboat ride, get a tour of Rockefeller and Radio City Music Hall, bike over the Brooklyn Bridge, and more.

New York has it all. And this Explorer Pass gets you access to as much of it as you can handle.

What’s included

Access to a number of attractions booked with your ticket.

What’s not included

●Some attractions may offer upgrades or special exhibits for an additional fee.

Instructions

●Show your smartphone at the entrance of the scenic spot you are visiting. The pass will be scanned and you’ll either receive direct access to the attraction or a paper ticket.

◆The pass can be activated within 1 year after you have bought it and is valid for 30 days after activation.

1. What is true about the passage?

A．You may visit more than 60 attractions for free with the pass.

B．You cannot enter scenic spot unless you have a paper ticket.

C．You may have to pay extra money in some attractions.

D．You have to get around the Downtown or the Uptown by bus.

2. When you activate the pass, you must use it ______ .

A．on that day	B．within a year
C．within a month	D．as soon as possible

3. What’s the purpose of the passage?

A．To introduce a product.	B．To offer some suggestions.
C．To introduce a travel agency.	D．To advertise some attractions.