1 . According to the majority of Americans, women are every bit as capable of being good political leaders as men. The same can be said of their ability to dominate the corporate boardroom. And according to a new Pew Research Center survey on women and leadership, most Americans find women indistinguishable from men on key leadership traits such as intelligence and capacity for innovation, with many saying they're stronger than men in terms of being passionate and organized leaders.
So why, then, are women in short supply at the top of government and business in the United States? According to the public, at least, it's not that they lack toughness, management talent or proper skill sets. It’s also not all about work-life balance. Although economic research and previous survey findings have shown that career interruptions related to motherhood may make it harder for women to advance in their careers and compete for top executive jobs, relatively few adults in the recent survey point to this as a key barrier for women seeking leadership roles. Only about one-in-five say women's family responsibilities are a major reason why there aren't more females in top leadership positions in business and politics.
Instead, topping the list of reasons, about four-in-ten Americans point to a double standard for women seeking to climb to the highest levels of either politics or business, where they have to do more than their male counterparts to prove themselves. Similar shares say the electorate and corporate America are just not ready to put more women in top leadership positions.
As a result, the public is divided about whether the imbalance in corporate America will change in the foreseeable future, even though women have made major advances in the workplace. While 53% believe men will continue to hold more top executive positions in business in the future, 44% say it's only a matter of time before as many women are in top executive positions as men. Americans are less doubtful when it comes to politics: 73% expect to see a female president in their lifetime.
1. What do most Americans think of women leaders according to a new Pew Research Center survey?| A．They have to do more to distinguish themselves. |
| B．They have to strive harder to win their positions. |
| C．They are stronger than men in terms of willpower. |
| D．They are just as intelligent and innovative as men. |
| A．They have unconquerable difficulties on their way to success. |
| B．They are lacking in confidence when competing with men. |
| C．Their failures may have something to do with family duties. |
| D．Relatively few are affected in their career advancement. |
| A．Personality traits. | B．Gender bias. |
| C．Family responsibilities. | D．Lack of vacancies. |
| A．More and more women will sit in the boardroom. |
| B．Gender imbalance in leadership is likely to change. |
| C．The public is undecided about whether women will make good leaders. |
| D．People have opposing opinions as to whether it will have more women leaders. |
2 . Aunt Fannie was Blueberry Jam Woman. Of course she wasn’t really my aunt, and out of fear, I never called that to her face. The name always made my father chuckle (轻笑) and my mother look sternly (严厉地) at both of us—at me for being disrespectful, and at my father for encouraging my bad behavior. I enjoyed both reactions, so I looked for every opportunity to work for the name into conversation.
As a young woman, my mother had worked in the kitchen of a large Victorian farm house owned by Fannie Cratty. Fannie was the last of the Cratty line; she had never married, and had no living heirs(继承人). My father once told me that it was because she was too mean to share her family wealth or pass it on. Aunt Fannie was noted for her jam, and for never sharing the recipe with another living soul. Even though my mother knew it by heart, as long as Aunt Fannie was alive, she never made the jam without Miss Cratty in our kitchen to direct the process and preserve the secret.
One year, after I had been particularly helpful with the jam-making process. Aunt Fannie gave me a quarter and then made me promise I would never spend it. “Hold onto this quarter,” she said, “and some day you will be rich. I still have my first very quarter.” It had obviously worked for her, so I put that 1938 quarter in a small box,put it in my dresser drawer, and waited to become rich.
I now have the blueberry-jam recipe and the quarter from Aunt Fannie. Neither has significantly contributed to my wealth, but I keep them to remind myself to hold onto the valuable things in life. Money can make you feel rich for a while, but it is your relationships, and your memories of time spent with friends and family, that truly leave you wealthy. And that is a fortune that anyone can build.
1. Where did the “fear” mentioned in the first paragraph come from?| A．That year’s blueberry harvest had been poor. |
| B．Aunt Fannie was too old to keep making jam. |
| C．The author’s mother couldn’t help Aunt Fannie harvest the blueberries. |
| D．The author knew it was impolite to call Aunt Fannie Blueberry Jam Woman. |
| A．Aunt Fannie had no children | B．Aunt Fannie was willing to share her recipe |
| C．the author often helped Aunt Fannie make jam | D．the author’s mother always made the jam alone |
| A．Disgusted. | B．Surprised. | C．Affectionate. | D．Disappointed. |
| A．To make new friends easily. | B．Not to put a price on generosity. |
| C．Not to think of kindness as a burden. | D．To treasure the time spent with family and friends. |
3 . Lizard (蜥蜴) species may already have declined past the point of no return in the world. What is the reason? Rising temperatures. Researchers estimate that as much as 40 percent of lizard species worldwide will die out by 2080. The problem is that temperatures in many regions where lizards live have changed too fast for the animals to keep pace.
Barry Sinervo from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California in Santa Cruz, along with colleagues from across the globe, reached that conclusion by taking current data on Mexican lizards. They also estimated that 4 percent of local species have already disappeared worldwide. That number could jump to 20 percent by 2080 if carbon dioxide levels aren’t lowered to reduce warming.
The team looked 48 species of Sceloporus lizard at 200 sites around Mexico. The sites were first sampled from 1975 to 1995. By 2010, research could not find lizards at 12 percent of those sites.
Lizards that bear live young are especially at risk of dying out, the researchers point out, compared to that lay eggs. “Live-bearers have lower body temperatures that heighten the risk of dying,” Sinervo said in a statement. We are watching these species disappear before our eyes.”
Although current evidence shows that climate change is affecting the habitat ranges of many species, there is still a lot of uncertainty about how much climate change will affect species, researchers say.
Many Mexican lizard species live in high altitude “islands”, where climate change happens the fastest. The lizards cannot adjust fast enough to survive. The scientists say they do not think the animals are likely to save themselves just by moving somewhere else either.
“How quickly can Earth’s lizards adapt to the rising global temperatures? That’s the important question,” Sinervo said in a press release. "We are actually seeing lowland species moving upward, slowly driving upland species out of their habitats. If the upland species can’t evolve fast enough, they will die out.”
1. Which of the following lizards face a higher risk of dying out?| A．Lizards at low altitudes. | B．Lizards that bear their young. |
| C．Lizards that lay eggs. | D．Lizards in a stable environment. |
| A．their conclusion is based on current data on various kinds of lizards |
| B．20 percent of local species have already disappeared worldwide |
| C．they are uncertain about how much climate change will affect species |
| D．they are seeing highland species moving downward |
| A．their living habitats’ destruction | B．their living skills |
| C．highland species moving downward | D．their adaptive capacity |
| A．prove that earth is not suitable for lizards |
| B．warn that lizards may die out quickly due to the climate change |
| C．explain why no more lizards will be found by 2080 |
| D．emphasize that the habitat of lizards is changing greatly |
4 . Walt Disney has spent the past three years making a shift to online streaming. Bob Iger, Disney's chief executive has repeatedly called the shift the "number one priority".
It therefore came as a surprise when Disney abruptly announced that Mr. Iger was retiring, with nearly two years left, to be replaced "immediately" by Bob Chapek, who has least experience in streaming.
"You thought you were going hard right, and all of a sudden you went hard left," said Rich Greenfield, a media analyst. He compared the choice to Apple's decision to replace Steve Jobs with Tim Cook: "You're choosing the operating executive instead of the wise, dynamic CEO."
The appointment came as a surprise also because analysts had considered Kevin Mayer, another longtime Disney executive, as the most likely candidate to take over Iger's position. In March 2018, Mayer was appointed to run Disney's streaming and international businesses-a high-profile job given Mr. Iger's emphasis on streaming as the future of the entire group.
"When thinking about what I need to do before I leave the company, creatively getting everything on track is my number one goal. If I also need to run the company every day, I will not be able to do that," said Iger.
According to the financial report, while Disney's streaming has attracted more subscribers, the war of streaming media is a war of burning money. It lost$693 million.
It is the theme park business in the charge of Chapek that has performed the task of "blood transfusion" for these money-burning new businesses. In 2019, by September, Disney's theme park unit operating profit rose by 11% to $6.76 billion. Wall Street analysis predicts that by September 2024, Disney's theme park division will have a profit of $10 billion and streaming media operating profit is expected to approach $2.5 billion.
"Look at the businesses he's been in charge of. They have nothing to do with streaming, but everything to do with profitability," said Brian Wieser, president of business intelligence at GroupM.
1. What does Iger value most in running Walt Disney in the last few years?| A．Repeated changes. | B．More profit. | C．Creative goal. | D．Online streaming. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Curious. | C．Supportive. | D．Ignorant. |
| A．Saving lives. | B．Ending a war. | C．Borrowing money. | D．Recovering losses. |
| A．Chapek is more experienced in streaming. |
| B．Mayer was too self-satisfied after 2018 promotion. |
| C．Chapek is abler to get Disney financially balanced. |
| D．Mayer caused Disney to lose much in pushing streaming. |
5 . Have you ever dreamed of going to beautiful destinations in Europe? Dream no more, because TECNO is here to fulfill that dream.
Africa number one smartphone brand-TECNO is once again set to reward consumers with up to 2 million Naira and a tour to beautiful destinations in Europe in the "Unlock A New CAM* ERA" photography contest.
Join the "Unlock A New CAM*ERA" contest by uploading your creative pictures and stand a chance to be selected among the 24 people that will go on a 3-day photography camping contest.
In the TECNO#UnlockCAMission, there are three missions. The first mission-a macro-photography contest has ended and winners will be announced soon.
But you can still participate in the second and third mission
●Mission 2-Wide-Angle Photography-Here you are required to take a wide-angle photo of any landmark structure around you.
●Mission 3-Low-Light Photography-This requires you to take exceptional pictures at night or in low light environment with your smartphone.
The second mission is currently ongoing and you can join the contest right here. All entries must be accompanied with the hashtag (标签) #UnlockCAMission.
8 lucky people will be selected from each mission and qualify for an all-expense-paid trip to a location in Nigeria. Right in the camp, they will be given photography tasks and so the fun would begin. Whoever is able to complete his or her tasks will win the new Camon 12 and lots of cash prizes. At the end of the 3-day camping, three best participants will be selected to go on the adventure to Europe free of charge.
How to participate offline
●Visit any TECNO Shop to purchase the new Camon 12,and get your raffle ticket(兑奖券).
●Keep your raffle ticket, at the end of the campaign, there will be a raffle draw and 2 people stand a chance to win an all-expense-paid tour to Europe.
The#UnlockCAMission challenge will run until the 30th of May, 2020. Join the challenge today and stand a chance to have a fun and memorable Ember season in Europe.
1. What is probably the purpose of the contest?| A．To give back to consumers. |
| B．To promote European tourism. |
| C．To help people to realize dreams. |
| D．To search for expert photographers. |
| A．A wide-angle photo of nature. |
| B．A macro-photography knowledge. |
| C．Pictures taken in low light environment. |
| D．Entries with the hashtag#UnlockCAMission. |
| A．24. | B．8. | C．5. | D．3. |
6 . Kindness
Good friends are not just kind to you; they are kind to others as well. People like being around them because they are positive people. The kindness they spread comes from inner feelings of happiness and self-confidence. In contrast, social aggression, such as meanness, is a quality that shows lack of respect for others and discontent with oneself. These feelings outwardly show and eventually prevent communications and genuine friendships from forming.
Accepting
Good friends are easy to talk to because they accept what you are. They understand the things that are important to you and the values that you hold. Although they may not necessarily agree with all of your beliefs and actions, they will never judge you. People who can accept you also are better able to accept themselves. High self-esteem and self-acceptance are intertwined.
Interest
According to American writer and lecturer, Dale Carnegie, showing genuine interest in others is one way to promote feelings of goodwill. People are more likely to remember how you make them feel. This goes beyond good listening skills. Good friends ask questions about things that matter to you. To do this, they must put aside their own needs and focus on helping others feel important. If you make them feel inferior, they will not enjoy the time you spend together.
Honesty
Although honesty is important to friendships, it may be one of the most difficult qualities to maintain. When you ask a friend for honesty, she may prefer preserving the peace over telling you what she really thinks. But honesty promotes trust. A good friend cares enough to tell you the truth and has sufficient confidence in the relationship to be assured of a positive outcome.
1. What does the kindness of a friend come from according to the passage?| A．Respect. | B．Excitement. | C．Happiness. | D．Belief. |
| A．They will begin to care about their own needs. |
| B．They will take no interest in you. |
| C．They will feel uncomfortable to stay with you. |
| D．They are more likely to question about themselves. |
| A．connected | B．complicated | C．obvious | D．common |
| A．Being kind to friends. | B．Why we need friends. |
| C．How to make friends. | D．Qualities of a good friendship. |
7 . We have long known that, for particular skills, people tend to rate themselves incorrectly. In a famous study in 1981, researchers asked people to rate their driving ability. More than 90 percent considered themselves above average. Of course, some people who think they are above average drivers really are. But the 90 percent statistic shows that many people inflate how they compare with others. In fact, only 50 percent of people can rate above average.
So when are people likely to be overconfident in how they rank? And when are they underconfident? Spencer Greenberg of Clear Thinking and his team conducted a study and asked people where they ranked on 100 skills.
For each skill, participants were asked how they thought they compared with others on the platform who shared their age and gender (性别), and lived in their area. If, on average, people thought they could outperform more than 50 percent of others at the task, that suggests systematic overconfidence. If, however, people thought they would outperform less than 50 percent, that's evidence of underconfidence.
There was great variation in how people assessed their relative skills at a task. On average, people rated themselves better than 75 percent of others in their ability to use a computer, for example. But people rated themselves better than only 32 percent of others in their ability to knit (编织) a sweater.
Next, the researchers found that people tend to be overconfident when it comes to tasks that are viewed as easy and underconfident when it comes to tasks that are viewed as hard. People overestimate (高估) how they compare with others in cutting up vegetables but underestimate where they rank in their ability to recite the alphabet backward.
Also, the more experienced people are at a task, the more people tend to be overconfident. People tend to be overconfident in their skill at frying an egg, which most people have done multiple times, and underconfident in their ability to paint a portrait (画像), which most people have rarely tried.
1. What does the underlined word “inflate” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Overstate. | B．Imagine. | C．Reconsider. | D．Evaluate. |
| A．32%. | B．50%. | C．75%. | D．90%. |
| A．Knitting a sweater. | B．Painting a portrait. |
| C．Cutting up vegetables. | D．Reciting the alphabet backward. |
| A．They tend to lose interest in it. |
| B．Their skill increases at a rapid pace. |
| C．They want to try more challenging things. |
| D．Their confidence rises faster than their skill. |
8 . As the hot tears rolled down her face, I knew I had asked the wrong question. The words reverberated ( 回 响 ) in my mind: Widowed or divorced?
“Well, you could call me widowed,” she replied. “My husband died five months ago today.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I needed it to fill out your credit application.”
“Don’t worry about it, honey,” she said. “If I never thought about it, I would not remember the love and the memories we shared. Even after 50 years of marriage, each passing moment would bring a deeper meaning to the word ‘love’.”
I began to deal with her credit application, words hung in the air. My mind was not focused on the task, and I was unsuccessful in my first few attempts. After I finally completed it, she continued in a heart-to-heart. I couldn’t believe someone could open up to a perfect stranger.
“Have you ever been married?” she asked.
I couldn’t help but laugh. I hadn’t even thought about getting married. Besides, I looked nothing like a married woman.
“Ah, no,” I replied. “I’m only 16.”
“Sixteen?” she murmured (嘟囔).“That’s a great age, an age of lessons. There’s so much worth learning.”
She then spoke in a whisper, sharing the one lesson that I will carry with me the rest of my life. “Never, ever take anyone for granted . If you are in love with someone, let it be known as often as you feel it. Otherwise, life may pass you by. Don’t spend your life angry. The ridiculous arguments you think are important won’t even be remembered in a short time.”
I have never seen that woman again, but her words of inspiration still live in me.
1. The author asked the woman the question out of______.| A．necessity | B．kindness | C．curiosity | D．respect |
| A．She broke up with her husband. | B．She got married 50 years ago. |
| C．She was angry with the author. | D．She was thankful to the author. |
| A．she was regretful for asking the question |
| B．she was not very familiar with her job |
| C．she was thinking about what the woman said |
| D．she was wondering what the woman would say next |
| A．Take others seriously. | B．Never speak to a stranger. |
| C．There is so much worth learning | D．There is nothing more important than love. |
9 . Clean drinking water is something we might take for granted at home, but not so for travelers. The epiphany moment for Samuel Ian Rosen came when he found himself at an airport selling out $ 5 for a bottle of Evian water.
“Nobody up till now has built a digital map for drinking water,” Rosen, a serial entrepreneur(企业家), said in an interview. “Finding water is inconvenient. When I opened a digital map and typed ‘water fountain’, there was nothing. We solved it by building a digital map for water. We are a search engine. We tell you where the water is.”
Beginning October 23, consumers in cities from New York and Los Angeles to Amsterdam and New Delhi will be able to download an app called “Tap” on their mobile phones that will help them find the closest free public drinking fountains and water bottle refill stations at places like airports. They can also refill(再装满) their bottles at over 34,000 cafes. Restaurants and other businesses-from Umami Burger and Shake Shack to Sweetgreen and Barry's Bootcamp-have signed on globally in the Tap's Refill Station network. Rosen said that number is rapidly growing.
The app allows users to narrow their search by such criteria as whether the water is unfiltered(未过滤的) or flavored. There are also “water ATMS” where people will be able to purchase unpackaged water to refill their existing bottles.
“We didn't have to wait to convince anyone to sign up,” Rosen who previously founded on-demand storage company Makespace, said. “It's similar to what corporations are doing with sustainability for the same right reason. We have brand ambassadors as young as 10 signing up local businesses. This is a movement.”
1. An “epiphany moment” is when you .| A．experience something funny | B．are about to make a bad deal |
| C．come up with a bright idea | D．are mad at something unfair |
| A．To stop water waste. | B．To advertise some businesses. |
| C．To compete with digital map companies. | D．To make free drinking water accessible. |
| A．Filter(过滤) water. | B．Buy clean water. |
| C．Donate water bottles. | D．Store water for the poor. |
| A．Confidence. | B．Indifference. | C．Sympathy. | D．Relief. |
10 . To learn new things, we must sometimes fail. But what's the right amount of failure? New research led by the University of Arizona proposes a mathematical answer to that question.
Educators have long recognized that there is something of a "sweet spot" when it comes to learning. That is, we learn best when we are challenged to grasp something just outside of our existing knowledge. When a challenge is too simple, we don't learn anything new; likewise, we don't expand our knowledge when a challenge is so difficult that we fail entirely or give up.
So where does the sweet spot lie? According to the new study, it's when failure occurs 15% of the time. Put another way, it's when the right answer is given 85%of the time.
Researchers at the University of Arizona came up with the so-called "85% Rule" after conducting a series of machine-learning experiments in which they taught computers simple tasks, such as classifying different patterns into one of two categories.
The computers learned fastest in situations in which the difficulty was such that they responded with 85% accuracy.
"If you have an error rate of 15% or accuracy of 85%, you are always maximizing your rate of learning in these two-choice tasks," said Professor Robert Wilson.
When we think about how humans learn, the 85%Rule would mostly likely apply to perceptual(感知的)learning, in which we gradually learn through experience and examples, Wilson said. Imagine, for instance, a radiologist(放射科医生)learning to tell the difference between images of tumors(肿瘤)and non-tumors.
"You need examples to get better at figuring out there's a tumor in an image, "Wilson said. "If I give really easy examples, you get 100% right all the time and there's nothing left to learn. You're not going to be taking as much from that as a situation where you are struggling a little hit. If I give really hard examples, you'll he 50% correct and still not learning anything new, while if I give you something in between, you can he at this sweet spot where you are getting the most information from each particular example."
1. Which of the following is linked with the sweet spot?| A．15 percent accuracy. | B．50 percent accuracy. |
| C．85 percent accuracy. | D．100 percent right. |
| A．To find out where the sweet spot lies. | B．To see how well computers carry out tasks. |
| C．To compare the results of their experiments. | D．To conduct some research on machine learning. |
| A．To teach what to do in the treatment of tumors. | B．To teach how to determine there is a tumor. |
| C．To help to remember what is learned. | D．To help to learn how a tumor develops. |
| A．Not taking failure too seriously. | B．Learning through experience and examples. |
| C．Struggling a little bit, but not too much. | D．Learning things that are completely new. |
