1 . 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
The latest crisis is dealing a
Promised
Offsetting the cost of a four-day week at a national level looks
The Wellcome Trust, the science research foundation, decided in 2019 that even a trial would be
Lockdowns exposed the gap between flexible homeworking professionals and front-line “
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
For each of these
A.cancel | B.restore | C.back | D.deny |
A.similar | B.mild | C.psychological | D.distinct |
A.stopping | B.considering | C.continuing | D.forbidding |
A.features | B.awards | C.challenges | D.benefits |
A.therefore | B.however | C.besides | D.otherwise |
A.optimistic | B.essential | C.hard | D.instant |
A.capping | B.eliminating | C.revising | D.promoting |
A.effective | B.troublesome | C.consequential | D.apparent |
A.Professionals | B.Full-timers | C.Amateurs | D.Part-timers |
A.industrious | B.goal-driven | C.always-on | D.decisive |
A.widen | B.bridge | C.fill | D.leave |
A.boredom | B.invasion | C.distraction | D.overload |
A.short | B.long | C.early | D.late |
A.distinctions | B.impacts | C.objections | D.suggestions |
A.judgment | B.standard | C.management | D.method |
2 . As Frans de Waal, a primatologist (灵长动物学家), recognizes, a better way to think about other creatures would be to ask ourselves how different species have developed different kinds of minds to solve different adaptive problems. Surely the important question is not whether animals can do the same things humans can, but how those animals solve the cognitive (认知的) problems they face, like how to imitate the sea floor. Children and some animals are so interesting not because they are smart like us, but because they are smart in ways we haven’t even considered.
Sometimes studying children’s ways of knowing can cast light on adult-human cognition. Children’s pretend play may help us understand our adult taste for fiction. De Waal’s research provides another interesting example. We human beings tend to think that our social relationships are rooted in our perceptions, beliefs, and desires, and our understanding of the perceptions, beliefs, and desires of others — what psychologists call our “theory of mind.” In the 80s and 90s, developmental psychologists showed that pre-schoolers and even infants understand minds apart from their own. But it was hard to show that other animals did the same. “Theory of mind” became a candidate for the special, uniquely human trick.
Yet de Waal’s studies show that chimps (黑猩猩) possess a remarkably developed political intelligence — they are much interested in figuring out social relationships. It turns out, as de Waal describes, that chimps do infer something about what other chimps see. But experimental studies also suggest that this happens only in a competitive political context. The evolutionary anthropologist (人类学家) Brain Hare and his colleagues gave a junior chimp a choice between pieces of food that a dominant chimp had seen hidden and other pieces it had not seen hidden. The junior chimp, who watched all the hiding, stayed away from the food the dominant chimp had seen, but took the food it hadn’t seen.
Anyone who has gone to an academic conference will recognize that we may be in the same situation. We may say that we sign up because we’re eager to find out what other human beings think, but we’re just as interested in who’s on top. Many of the political judgments we make there don’t have much to do with our theory of mind. We may show our respect to a famous professor even if we have no respect for his ideas.
Until recently, however, there wasn’t much research into how humans develop and employ this kind of political knowledge. It may be that we understand the social world in terms of dominance, like chimps, but we’re just not usually as politically motivated as they are. Instead of asking whether we have a better everyday theory of mind, we might wonder whether they have a better everyday theory of politics.
1. According to the first paragraph, which of the following shows that an animal is smart?A.It can behave like a human kid. |
B.It can imitate what human beings do. |
C.It can find a solution to its own problem. |
D.It can figure out those adaptive problems. |
A.We talk with infants in a way that they can fully understand. |
B.We make guesses at what others think while interacting with them. |
C.We hide our emotions when we try establishing contact with a stranger. |
D.We try to understand how kids’ pretend play affects our taste for fiction. |
A.Neither human nor animals display their preference for dominance. |
B.Animals living in a competitive political context are smarter. |
C.Both humans and some animals have political intelligence. |
D.Humans are more interested in who’s on top than animals. |
A.we know little about how chimps are politically motivated |
B.our political knowledge doesn’t always determine how we behave |
C.our theory of mind might enable us to understand our theory of politics |
D.more research should be conducted to understand animals’ social world |
3 . Research has shown that two-thirds of human conversation is taken up not with discussion of the cultural or political problems of the day, not heated debates about films we’ve just watched or books we’ve just finished reading, but plain and simple
Language is our greatest treasure as a species, and what do we
So why are we keen on gossiping? Are we just natural
Dunbar
Dunbar arrived at his cheery theory by studying the
As we human beings evolve from a particular branch of the primate family, Dunbar
But as the groups got bigger and bigger, the amount of time spent in grooming activities also had to be
A.gesture | B.gossip | C.description | D.recognition |
A.occasionally | B.habitually | C.discreetly | D.originally |
A.historical | B.natural | C.social | D.cultural |
A.wasters | B.users | C.masters | D.owners |
A.witty | B.vivid | C.vital | D.worthless |
A.supposes | B.rejects | C.highlights | D.outlines |
A.on the contrary | B.for instance | C.in addition | D.as a result |
A.comprehension | B.appearance | C.motivation | D.behaviour |
A.contact | B.attack | C.assistance | D.trick |
A.concludes | B.recalls | C.requires | D.confesses |
A.protection | B.prospect | C.responsibility | D.promise |
A.echo | B.blame | C.ease | D.preserve |
A.established | B.extended | C.earned | D.consumed |
A.efficient | B.scientific | C.considerate | D.common |
A.regular | B.independent | C.widespread | D.physical |
4 . Disneyland’s opening day, July 17, 1955, was a terrible experience. Rides broke down. Restaurants ran out of food and drink and drinking fountains were in short supply... All in front of a national audience of 90 million, then the largest live broadcast in television history on a day that would be known in Disney history as Black Sunday.
But Disney’s story actually started two decades earlier with what Walt Disney called “Daddy’s Day”. On Saturdays in the 1930s and 1940s, Disney would take his two daughters to ride the Griffith Park merry-go-round, which they’d enjoy while he sat on a bench dreaming of ways for families to have fun together. Disney disliked the amusement parks they often visited, seeing them as dirty, unimaginative places run by rude employees.
He thought he could do better. In 1939 he asked two animators (动画片制作者) at his movie studio to work on a plan for an amusement park. By 1952 the idea had expanded into a $1.5 million amusement park proposal that he presented to Burbank. The City Council, which feared such a project would create a carnival (嘉年华) atmosphere, rejected the proposal. Disney counted the rejection as fortunate setback. By now, his dream for a theme park had gone beyond the space available in Burbank. He searched locations throughout Southern California. A 160-acre orange garden, 22 miles south of Los Angeles, was soon selected.
The ABC television network offered $5 million in loans and investments if Disney agreed to produce and host a one-hour weekly show called "Disneyland". The deal amounted to months of free advertising for the park and allowed Disney to introduce TV audiences, particularly kids, to the park.
Disneyland opened then. The 5,000 expected guests increased to 28, 154, thanks to fake tickets. After the madness of opening day, Disney and his new park were criticized in the press. The media predicted a quick and early end. But the public didn’t listen. Visitors arrived in large groups, and within weeks Disneyland was a success.
Over sixty years later, Disneyland’s popularity continues to grow, with total overall attendance topping 700 million and showing no signs of slowing down.
1. What mainly led to Walt Disney’s plan to build his own amusement park?A.His ambition to expand beyond the movie industry. |
B.His animators’ suggestion on an entertainment plan. |
C.His wish to create a better place for family recreation. |
D.His daughters’ unpleasant experience in the Griffith Park. |
A.brought good luck to Disney and his park |
B.contributed to the difficulty of opening the park |
C.was viewed as a financial obstacle to the design of the park |
D.presented Disney with a favorable opportunity to rethink his plan |
A.Everything went on smoothly before it opened. |
B.It spent $5 million on advertising for its opening. |
C.People’s enthusiasm for it increased despite criticism. |
D.Only invited guests could get into it on its opening day. |
A.Disneyland: How It All Began | B.Disneyland: An Overnight Success |
C.Disneyland: How It Developed | D.Disneyland: A Park with a Long History |
5 . Warning: Don’t make big decisions from high elevations
You definitely don’t want to have your head in the clouds when making a crucial financial decision. But who could have thought our decisions are literally influenced by altitude?
As in, what floor you happen to be on when considering something. If it’s a high elevation, like the top floor of an office tower, chances are you’ll embrace
For the study, Esteky’s team interviewed people as they were ascending and descending in the glass elevator of a tall building. They found the
Another experiment
Risk seems a lot smaller when seen from above — literally. That idea seemed to hold
“The important lesson is that when people become aware of the
A.function | B.risk | C.process | D.sense |
A.crucial | B.social | C.financial | D.economical |
A.emphasis | B.conflict | C.power | D.pressure |
A.subconscious | B.aware | C.unconscious | D.conscientious |
A.takes | B.results | C.leads | D.comes |
A.field | B.respect | C.direction | D.period |
A.in general | B.by contrast | C.in conclusion | D.for instance |
A.resulted in | B.concerned with | C.accounted for | D.taken over |
A.increasing | B.rising | C.varying | D.decreasing |
A.sense | B.change | C.difference | D.impression |
A.deliberate | B.delicate | C.real | D.true |
A.fortunately | B.completely | C.mostly | D.barely |
A.potential | B.huge | C.extra | D.eager |
A.temporary | B.past | C.seasonal | D.situational |
A.discipline | B.satisfaction | C.awareness | D.confidence |
6 . In the idealized version of how science is done, facts about the world are waiting to be observed and collected by objective researchers who use the scientific method to carry out their work. But in the everyday practice of science, discovery frequently follows an unclear and complicated route. We aim to be objective, but we cannot escape the context of our unique life experience. Prior knowledge and interest influence what we experience. Opportunities for misinterpretation are everywhere.
Consequently, discovery claims should be thought of as early forms of science and are full of potential. But it takes collective inspection and acceptance to transform a discovery claim into a mature discovery. This is the credibility process, through which the individual researcher’s me, here, now becomes the community’s anyone, anywhere, anytime. Objective knowledge is the goal, not the starting point.
Once a discovery claim becomes public, the discoverer receives intellectual credit. But the community takes control of what happens next. Within the complex social structure of the scientific community, researchers make discoveries; editors and reviewers act as gatekeepers by controlling the publication process; other scientists use the new finding to suit their own purposes; and finally, the public (including other scientists) receives the new discovery and possibly accompanying technology. As a discovery claim works it through the community, the interaction and battle between shared and competing beliefs about the science and the technology involved transforms an individual’s discovery claim into the community’s credible discovery.
Two problems exist throughout this credibility process. First, scientific work tends to focus on some aspect of current knowledge that is viewed as incomplete or incorrect. Little reward accompanies repetition and confirmation of what is already known and believed. The goal is new-search, not re-search. Not surprisingly, newly published discovery claims and credible discoveries that appear to be important and convincing will always be open to challenge and potential modification or contradiction by future researchers. Second, novelty itself frequently provokes disbelief. Nobel Laureate and physiologist Albert Azent-Gyorgyi once described discovery as “seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” But thinking what nobody else has thought and telling others what they have missed may not change their views. Sometimes years are required for truly novel discovery claims to be accepted and appreciated.
In the end, credibility “happens” to a discovery claim — a process that corresponds to what philosopher Annette Baier has described as the commons of the mind. “We reason together, challenge, revise, and complete each other’s reasoning and each other’s conceptions of reason.”
1. According to the first paragraph, the process of discovery is characterized by its ________.A.uncertainty and complexity | B.misconception and falsehood |
C.logicality and objectivity | D.systematicness and regularity |
A.strict inspection | B.shared efforts | C.individual wisdom | D.persistent innovation |
A.scientific claims will survive challenges | B.discoveries today inspire future research |
C.efforts to make discoveries are justified | D.scientific work calls for a critical mind |
A.Novelty as an Engine of Scientific Discovery | B.Collective Inspection in Scientific Discovery |
C.Evolution of Credibility in Doing Science | D.Challenge to Credibility at the Gate to Science |
7 . In spite of “endless talk of difference”, American society is an amazing machine for homogenizing people. This includes the uniformity in clothing and communication, as well as the casualness and lack of respect seen in popular culture. People are absorbed into “a culture of consumption” launched by the 19th-century department stores that offered a wide range of goods in an elegant atmosphere. Instead of fancy shops catering to the upper-class, these were stores “anyone could enter, regardless of class or background.” This turned shopping into a public and democratic (民主的) act. The mass media, advertising and sports are other forces for homogenization.
Immigrants are quickly adapting to this common culture, which may not be altogether elevating but is hardly poisonous. Writing for the National Immigration Forum, Gregory Rodriguez reports that today’s immigration is neither at remarkable levels nor resistant to assimilation (融合). In 1998 immigrants were 9.8 percent of population; in 1900, 13.6 percent. In the 10 years prior to 1990, 3.1 immigrants arrived for every 1,000 residents; in the 10 years prior to 1890, 9.2 for every 1,000. Now, consider three indicators of assimilation — language, home ownership and intermarriage.
The 1990 Census revealed that “a majority of immigrants from each of the fifteen most common countries of origin spoke English ‘well’ or ‘very well’ after ten years of residence.” The children of immigrants tend to be bilingual (双语的) and good at English. “By the third generation, the original language is lost in the majority of immigrant families.” Hence, America is described as a “graveyard” for languages. By 1996 foreign-born immigrants who had arrived before 1970 had a home ownership rate of 75.6 percent, higher than the 69.8 percent rate among native-born Americans. Foreign-born Asians and Hispanics “have higher rates of intermarriage than do U.S.-born whites and blacks.” By the third generation, one third of Hispanic women are married to non-Hispanics, and 41 percent of Asian-American women are married to non-Asians.
Rodriguez notes that children in remote villages around the world are fans of superstars like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Garth Brooks, yet “some Americans fear that immigrants living within the United States are not influenced by the nation’s assimilative power.”
Are there divisive issues and anger in America? Indeed. It is big enough to have a bit of everything. But particularly when viewed against America’s troubled past, today’s social Indicators hardly suggest a dark and worsening social environment.
1. The underlined phrase in paragraph 1 probably means ________.A.making people adapt to American consumption culture |
B.encouraging people to embrace a democratic lifestyle |
C.encouraging people to stick to their own ideas and principles |
D.making people behave more similarly in many aspects |
A.Their adaptation to the common culture is quick but harmful to the society. |
B.The scale of immigration is not big and the immigrants welcome American culture. |
C.Their children are good at both English and their original language. |
D.Hispanic and Asian-American women both prefer to marry native-born Americans. |
A.provide examples of successful immigrants |
B.suggest the weakness of America’s assimilative power |
C.show the powerful influence of American culture |
D.prove their popularity at home and abroad |
A.Optimistic. | B.Concerned. | C.Neutral. | D.Negative. |
8 . Frozen in time, a 125-million-year-old mammal attacking a dinosaur. A 39-million-year-old whale, the heaviest animal that ever lived. The oldest known jellyfish, from 505 million years ago. Paleontology (古生物学) produces newsworthy discoveries.
Fossils (化石), moreover, provide direct evidence for the long history of life, allowing paleontologists to test hypotheses (假设) about evolution with data only they provide. They allow investigation of present and past life on Earth. Flows of biological diversity, appearances of new life forms and the extinctions of long existing ones, would go undiscovered without these efforts. But the headlines over exciting new fossils greatly underestimate the true importance of paleontology. Its real significance lies in how such discoveries brighten the grand history of life on Earth. From its beginnings, more than three billion years ago, to the present day, fossils record how life adapted or disappeared in the face of major environmental challenges.
Paleontologists provide us with a unique vantage on modern climate change. They play an essential role in interpreting ancient environments, in reconstructing ancient oceans, continents and climates. Fossils provide key limitation on the climate models that are essential for predicting future climate change. And the fossil record gives important insights into how life will respond to predicted future climate conditions, because these have occurred before in Earth’s history.
In addition, paleontology has provided a fundamental contribution to human thought: the reality of species extinction and thus of a world that has dramatically changed over time. In documenting the history of life, paleontologists recognized that many extinction episodes could occur suddenly, such as the event 66 million years ago that ended the dinosaurs. The search for the causes of past mass extinctions started pioneering studies from across the scientific spectrum (科学界), focusing on potential future threats to humanity.
Not only do paleontologists know what happens to life when things go bad, they also know how long it takes for ecosystems and biodiversity to recover from these disasters, which can take far longer than modern humans have existed.
Paleontologists thus provide a unique perspective on the nature and future long-term ecological impact of the current human-produced biodiversity crisis, the so-called Sixth Extinction, and therefore the importance of protecting modern biodiversity. The very concept of a Sixth Extinction would not exist without paleontologists documenting the first five.
Paleontologists know that understanding life’s past is critical to anticipating and adapting to life’s and humanity’s future. Paleontology is important because it brings its unique and critical perspective to current challenges in climate change, biodiversity loss and the environment. Paleontologists can predict the future because they know the past.
1. The first two paragraphs are written to _______.A.describe an event | B.raise a question |
C.present an opinion | D.make a comparison |
A.A positive effect. | B.A valuable suggestion. |
C.A quick decision. | D.A comprehensive view. |
A.Ecological recovery takes shorter than imagined. |
B.Past lessons can help to predict the future threats. |
C.Paleontologists can handle the biodiversity crisis. |
D.Fossil studies focus on the causes of mass extinctions. |
A.Paleontology: A Pioneering Study |
B.Paleontology: A History Recorder |
C.Paleontology Tells More About Nature Than Humans |
D.Paleontology Is Far More Than New Fossil Discoveries |
9 . In the fog of uncertainty about how new technology will change the way we work, policymakers around the world say confidently that we will need to upskill the workforce in order to cope. The view sounds reassuringly sensible: if computers are growing smarter, humans will need to learn to use them or be replaced by them. But the truth is, the people who are being “upskilled” in today’s economy are the ones who need it the least.
Research shows that workers with degrees are over three times more likely to participate in training as adults than workers with no qualifications. That creates a virtuous circle for those who did well at school, and a vicious circle for those who did not. If the robots are coming for both the accountants and the taxi drivers, you can bet it is those working with money that will be more able to retrain themselves out of danger, because the better educated tend to have more confidence and money to pay for their own training.
Employers also invest in these workers more. In the UK, a surprising number of employers send their senior managers to business schools. It is no good blaming employers for directing investments at their highly-skilled workers. They are simply aiming for the highest return they can get. And, for some types of lower-paid work, it is not always true that technological progress requires more skills. Sometimes, technology can de-skill a job. Just look at Uber drivers who follow the driving routes set by their app, rather than expanding their own knowledge of the streets. The UK’s latest Employment and Skills Survey suggests the use of literacy and numeracy skills at work has fallen since 2012, even as the use of computers has increased. However, the trouble is, when the computer makes your job easier one day, it might make it redundant the next. Many of those affected by automation will need to switch occupations, or even industries. But a retailer or warehouse company is not going to retrain its staff to help them move to a different sector.
It is time to revisit older ideas. The UK once had a vibrant culture of night schools, for adults to attend after their day jobs. A revival of it could be exactly what the 21st century needs. Rather than just “upskilling” in a narrow way, people could choose to learn an entirely new skill or trade, or explore interests they never had a chance to nurture before.
It is still not clear whether the impact of new technology on the labour market will come in a trickle or a flood. But in an already unequal world, continuing to reserve all the lifeboats for the better-off would be a dangerous mistake.
1. According to the writer, policymakers’ belief in upskilling the workforce __________.A.is contrary to popular belief | B.is helpful in coping with new technology |
C.is too difficult to put it into practice | D.is not beneficial to those who need it most |
A.have confidence in outperforming those with degrees at school |
B.persuade their employers to make an investment in them |
C.minimize the risk of job loss caused by new technology |
D.assess how new technology will change the way they work |
A.unnecessary | B.undesirable | C.unskilled | D.unrewarding |
A.Workers’ literacy and numeracy skills should be enhanced without delay. |
B.Night schools can help to eliminate skill gaps among workers. |
C.Companies should attach much importance to retraining of workers. |
D.Those lower-skilled workers deserve giving more chances of retraining. |
10 . Progressives often support diversity missions as a path to equality and a way to level the playing field. But all too often such policies are an insincere form of virtue-signaling that benefits only the most privileged and does little to help average people.
A pair of bills sponsored by Massachusetts state Senator Jason Lewis and House Speaker Pro Tempore Patricia Haddad, to ensure “gender equality” on boards and commissions, provide a case in point.
Haddad and Lewis are concerned that more than half the state-government board are less than 40 percent female. In order to ensure that elite women have more such opportunities, they have proposed imposing government quotas (配额). If the bills become law, state boards and commissions will be required to set aside 50 percent of board seats for women by 2022.
The bills are similar to a measure recently adopted in California, which last year became the first state to require gender quotas for private companies. In signing the measure, California Governor Jerry Brown admitted that the law, which clearly classifies people on the basis of sex, is probably unconstitutional.
The US Supreme Court frowns on sex-based classifications unless they are designed to address an “important” policy interest. Because the California law applies to all boards, even where there is no history of prior discrimination, courts are likely to rule that the law violates the constitutional guarantee of “equal protection”.
But are such government mandates even necessary? Female participation on corporate boards may not currently mirror the percentage of women in the general population, but so what?
The number of women on corporate boards has been steadily increasing without government interference. According to a study by Catalyst, between 2010 and 2015 the share of women on the boards of global corporations increased by 54 percent.
Requiring companies to make gender the primary qualification for board membership will inevitably lead to less experienced private sector boards. That is exactly what happened when Norway adopted a nationwide corporate gender quota.
Writing in The New Republic, Alice Lee notes that increasing the number of opportunities for board membership without increasing the pool of qualified women to serve on such boards has led to a “golden skirt ”phenomenon, where the same elite women occupy multiple seats on a variety of boards.
Next time somebody pushes corporate quotas as a way to promote gender equity, remember that such policies are largely self-serving measures that make their sponsors feel good but do little to help average women.
1. The author believes that the bills sponsored by Lewis and Haddad will __________.A.help little to reduce gender bias. |
B.pose a threat to the state government. |
C.raise women’s position in politics. |
D.greatly broaden career options. |
A.the harm from absolute board decision. |
B.the importance of constitutional guarantees. |
C.the pressure on women in global corporations. |
D.the needlessness of government interventions. |
A.the underestimation of elite women’s role |
B.the objection to female participation on boards. |
C.the entry of unqualified candidates into the board. |
D.the growing tension between labor and management. |
A.Women’s need in employment should be considered. |
B.Feasibility should be a prime concern in policy making. |
C.Everyone should try hard to promote social justice. |
D.Major social issues should be the focus of the government. |