【推荐1】Google has been hit with a class-action lawsuit alleging discrimination against conservative-minded white men, in a legal case that threatens a fresh round of the culture wars that engulfed the internet company last summer.

The suit has been brought by James Damore, an engineer who was sacked in August after his questioning of Google policies to increase the hiring of women and minorities caused an outcry inside the company. It also names a second engineer, David Demanding, who has also claimed wrongful termination after leaving the company in 2016. The company did not immediately have a response to the suit.

Since leaving Google, Mr. Damore has spoken out widely against the company, attacking it for what he calls “group think” over gender and other diversity issues. His case became a rallying point for conservatives last year at a time when cultural battles stirred by President Donald Trump were intensifying nationally.

The class action lawsuit, filed in superior court in California on Monday, was brought on behalf of all employees whom Google is alleged to have discriminated against either because of “their perceived conservative political views . . . their male gender . . . [or] their Caucasian race”.

The lawsuit claims that there is “open hostility for conservative thought” at the company and that people who diverge from the mainstream are singled out for expressing views on subjects such as diversity hiring policies, bias sensitivity and social justice.

Employees are “distracted, belittled and punished for their heterodox political views, and for the added sin of their birth circumstances of being Caucasians and/or males”, the suit alleges. It accuses Google of being an “ideological echo chamber” that is hostile to some workers, and of maintaining illegal hiring quotas for women and minorities. The suit will move forward only if a judge certifies it as a valid action on behalf of an entire class of workers.

Mr. Damore was dismissed by Sundae Archaic, Google’s chief executive, after writing an internal memo questioning the company’s diversity policies. His paper was widely circulated and aroused a backlash inside Google. But his treatment brought an outcry from conservatives who saw Mr Pharisaic reaction as an attack on open discussion of an important social issue.

Among the allegations, the lawsuit claims that “the presence of Caucasians and males was mocked with ‘boos’ during company-wide weekly meetings” at Google.

1. James Damore was fired by Google on the grounds that            .

A．he embraced the vision that women were underemployed in Google

B．he found it hard to adapt himself to the corporate culture of Google

C．Google is intolerable of different viewpoints of employees on Sex/puff

D．he expressed the sexist attitude towards women’s professional fulfillment

2. Which of the following sentences is correct?

A．Google considers women more suited that men to engineering

B．The code of conduct and basic values of Google are in everyone’s interest.

C．Google is trying to wipe out some kind of discrimination in the company.

D．White people are underrated for their conservative political opinions in Google.

3. What does the underlined phrase probably mean?

A．Resistance.

B．Sympathy.

C．Affectation.

D．Indifference.

4. The passage is chiefly concerned with             .

A．arguing against a reversed discrimination from a dismissed Google employee

B．warning the application of Google value affecting the employees negatively

C．advocating the same treatment in workplace

D．exploring the legal remedies for inequality among workers

【推荐2】Rich and Famous

Twenty years ago the most common ambition of American children was to be a teacher, followed by working in banking and finance, and then medicine. But today’s situation is quite different.     1     Instead they most commonly say they want to be a sports star, a pop star, or an actor—in other words, they hope to become a celebrity .

According to experts, young people desire these jobs largely because of the wealth and the fame.     2     Let’s take athletes and singers as an example. Their careers are short-lived. Many athletes’ best time only lasts a few years and singers can have a very limited career. The field that was once the focus of their lives becomes something they have little or no involvement in. As a result, they’ll have a feeling of worthlessness and a lack of control.     3    The truth is quite simple: they have been so far removed from it for so long.

In spite of these disadvantages, there is greater ambition than ever among young people to achieve that status. They are not satisfied just making a living—they want to be rich and famous. Globally, more and more TV shows provide talent competitions where winners can achieve their goals in just a few weeks or months.    4    They unrealistically believe that this lifestyle is easily obtained and leads to great satisfaction.

While many people argue that there is nothing wrong with having such ambitions, others feel that this trend will finally lead to dissatisfaction as more and more people are unable to reach their goals.     5     That means they ignore the simple fact that great effort is needed before success. As a result, many people won’t realize their childhood dreams, which could have a negative effect on their happiness.

A．In many ways this has been brought about by the celebrity culture.

B．People no longer have a sense of satisfaction once their goals have been achieved.

C．Besides, it can be difficult for them to adapt back to a normal everyday life.

D．The younger generation don’t favor these professions any more.

E．Unfortunately, they do not always have a positive effect on people’s life.

F．The reason is that they don’t realize it takes talent and hard work to be rich and famous.

G．This quick way of gaining wealth and fame creates a celebrity culture among people.

【推荐3】Huge health care bills, long emergency-room waits and the inability to find a primary care physician just scratch the surface of the problems that patients face daily.

Primary care should be the backbone of any health care system. Countries with appropriate primary care resources score highly when it comes to health outcomes and cost. The U.S. takes the opposite approach by emphasizing the specialist rather than the primary care physician.

A recent study analyzed the providers who treat Medicare beneficiaries (老年医保受惠人). The startling finding was that the average Medicare patient saw a total of seven doctors—two primary care physicians and five specialists—in a given year. Contrary to popular belief, the more physicians taking care of you don’t guarantee better care. Actually, increasing fragmentation of care results in a corresponding rise in cost and medical errors.

How did we let primary care slip so far? The key is how doctors are paid. Most physicians are paid whenever they perform a medical service. The more a physician does, regardless of quality or outcome, the better he’s reimbursed (返还费用). Moreover, the amount a physician receives leans heavily toward medical or surgical procedures. A specialist who performs a procedure in a 30-minute visit can be paid three times more than a primary care physician using that same 30 minutes to discuss a patient’s disease. Combining this fact with annual government threats to indiscriminately (任意地) cut reimbursements, physicians are faced with no choice but to increase quantity to boost income.

Primary care physicians who refuse to compromise quality are either driven out of business or to cash-only practices, further contributing to the decline of primary care.

Medical students are not blind to this scenario. They see how heavily the reimbursement deck is stacked against primary care. The recent numbers show that since 1997, newly graduated U. S. medical students who choose primary care as a career have declined by 50%. This trend results I emergency rooms being overwhelmed with patients without regular doctors.

How do we fix this problem?

It starts with reforming the physician reimbursement system. Remove the pressure for primary care physicians to squeeze in more patients per hour, and reward them for optimally (最佳的) managing their diseases and practicing evidence-based medicine. Make primary care more attractive to medical students by forgiving students loans for those who choose primary care as a career and reconciling the marked difference between specialist and primary care physician salaries.

We’re at a point where primary care is needed more than ever. Within a few years, the first wave of the 76 million Baby Boomers will become eligible for Medicare. Patients older than 85, who need chronic care most, will rise by 50% this decade.

Who will be there to treat them?

1. We learn from the passage that people tend to believe that ________.

A．the more costly the medicine, the more effective the cure

B．seeing more doctors may result in more diagnostic errors

C．visiting the same doctor on a regular basis ensures good health

D．the more doctors a patient sees, the better

2. Faced with the government threats to cut reimbursements indiscriminately, primary care physicians have to ________.

A．increase their income by working overtime

B．improve their expertise and service

C．see more patients at the expense of quality

D．make various deals with specialists

3. What suggestion does the author give in order to provide better health care?

A．Bridge the salary gap between specialist and primary care physicians.

B．Extend primary care to patients with chronic diseases.

C．Recruit more medical students by offering them loans.

D．Reduce the tuition of students who choose primary care as their major.

4. The best title for this passage is ________.

A．The Health Care in Trouble	B．The Imbalance System
C．The Declining Number of Doctors	D．The Ever-rising Health Care Costs

【推荐1】Coca-Cola has created a publicity stunt in Singapore — a vending machine which gives out free cans of Coke in return for hugs. The whacky idea is part of the company’s Open Haziness campaign designed to attract young people in Singapore.

Students at the National University of Singapore were surprised to find that the soft drinks company had placed the machine in the schoolyard. But instead of the drinks brand’s logo, the words “Hug Me” are written across its red-and-white logo. Instead of paying money, customers have to hug the drinks machine to receive a free can of Coke.

Public displays of affection are uncommon and have long been discouraged in Singapore, but are on the rise among young people. The move is part of a campaign created by advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather, intended to let the youth to see the brand as a non-threatening friend.

Leonardo O’Grady, leader of the campaign, said, “Happiness is contagious. The Coca-Cola Hug Machine is a single idea to spread some happiness. We want to spread happiness in an unexpected, creative way to attract not only the people present, but the audience at large.”

He hopes that it will encourage consumers to bring positivity, optimism and fun into their lives and to open a Coke, sharing a little happiness.

The machines haw been such a success that there are plans to roll them out across Asia. Mr. O’Grady added, “The reaction was amazing — at one point we had four to five people hugging the machine at the same time as well as each other! In fact, there was a long line of people looking to give hugs.”

1. The underlined word “whacky” in Paragraph 1 can be replaced by “      ”.

A．free

B．strange

C．uncertain

D．traditional

2. What was the purpose of the campaign?

A．To help sell more Coca-Cola drinks.	B．To display the famous logo of Coca-Cola.
C．To tell the young Coca-Cola is their friend.	D．To show Coca-Cola is especially generous.

3. Leonardo O’Grady thinks that       .

A．the Coca-Cola Hug Machine is the best advertisement

B．the Coca-Cola Hug Machine can spread happiness

C．the Coca-Cola Hug Machine should be open only to the students

D．people who enjoy the campaign would buy more Coca-Cola drinks

4. What can we infer from the passage?

A．The campaign has achieved good results.

B．The campaign has cost Coca-Cola much money.

C．The Coca-Cola Hug Machines will be seen worldwide.

D．Coca-Cola concentrates more on sharing happiness than on sales.

【推荐2】World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swami Nathan said Monday that herd immunity (群体免疫) to coronavirus would not be achieved in 2021, despite the growing availability of vaccines (疫苗产量).

Factors that cannot realize herd immunity include limited access to vaccines in developing countries, skepticism (质疑) over vaccination, and the potential for virus mutations, according to health experts.

A growing number of countries around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Germany and other European Union countries, are in the first stages of mass-vaccination campaigns.

Herd immunity occurs when enough people in a population have immunity to an infection so that it prevents the disease from spreading.

“We are not going to achieve any levels of population immunity or herd immunity in 2021,” Swami Nathan told a briefing, while emphasizing that measures like physical distancing, hand washing and mask wearing continue to be necessary in containing COVID’s spread for the rest of the year.

However, Swami Nathan praised the “incredible progress” made by vaccine researchers to develop several safe and effective vaccines at fast speed. Countries are currently administering vaccines developed by BioNTech-Pfizer, Oxford University/AstraZeneca and Moderna.

“The vaccines are going to come,” she said. “They are going to go to all countries ... but meanwhile we mustn’t forget that there are measures that work,” she added, referring to hygiene and social distancing. “We won’t get back to normal quickly,” Dale Fisher, chairman of the WHO’s Outbreak Alert and Response Network, told a conference hosted by Reuters news agency. “We know we need to get to herd immunity and we need that in a majority of countries, so we are not going to see that in 2021,” Fisher said. “There might be some countries that might achieve it but even then that will not create ‘normal’ especially in terms of border controls,” he added.

1. Which is NOT the factor that prevent herd immunity?

A．Doubt about vaccination.

B．The possible mutations of virus.

C．The growing availability of vaccines.

D．Access to vaccines in developing countries.

2. As for the first stages of mass-vaccination campaigns, which country is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A．Vietnam

B．Germany

C．Singapore

D．the United Kingdom

3. What is the attitude of Swami Nathan to the progress of vaccine?

A．Negative

B．Indifferent

C．Neutral

D．Positive

4. What can we learn from what Fisher said?

A．In terms of good border controls, we can achieve herd immunity.

B．There may be a long way to get to herd immunity all over the world.

C．If some countries might achieve herd immunity, people will live a ‘normal’ life.

D．In many countries in 2021, people will live a ‘normal’ life in terms of border controls.

【推荐3】Getting sick is an invariable(永恒的) part of people lives.     1    . This difference hasn’t been more pronounced since the start of the novel coronavirus epidemic—when a great number of people are falling ill at all the same time.

The conditions in the US are getting worse quickly, which is largely due to the fact that there is no universal healthcare system. According to the 2019 US Census, 28 million people are not covered or do not have adequate health insurance, meaning that they would probably avoid getting tested for the virus, for fear of the cost of being hospitalized.

“    2     So many people have no alternative but to try to keep working and caring for children so as to keep life going, and by consequence, they are spreading the virus simply because they have no other choice,” wrote reporter James Hamblin on the Atlantic.

Germany, on the contrary, has one of the world’s best-developed and most expensive public healthcare systems that covers every citizen. People in Germany—who have “high levels of job security”, according to the Los Angeles Times—are also more likely to follow the quarantine measures and stay at home without having to worry about losing their jobs.     3    .

“The conditions to deal with the virus in Germany are among the best in the world,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Japan also has universal public healthcare, but it brings another kind of problem: People tend to seek more medical care than necessary. According to Yusuke Tsugawa, a physician at Harvard University, Japan has three times more outpatient visits than the US, and patients also stay in hospital for three times longer than in the US.     4    .

“It isn’t good to do tests just to ease public anxiety,” Kentaro Iwata, an infectious disease expert at Kobe University. Japan , told Reuters. “If they test every one with light symptoms, the medical system will puncture(破损).”

Indeed, a country’s healthcare system is the key to keeping its people safe--it’s also the key to whether a country can survive a crisis like the novel coronavirus pandemic.

A．Both explain why the country seems to be weathering(经受) the pandemic better than its European peers

B．The countries all over the world are short of medical supplies.

C．This often wastes medical resources, which are even more critical and precious during a global pandemic

D．But their attitudes toward being sick and hospital visits vary from country to country.

E．Germany has expanded restrictions on social interactions to try to control the coronavirus outbreak, banning public gatherings of more than two people.

F．There is a strong financial incentive(动机) to conceal (to hide) symptoms.