1 . Early each morning, Liu Huangping carefully places beehives around his house, preparing to welcome his tiny guests with spaces to nest. “It’s about the time honeybees usually arrive, and we’ll harvest their honey in August,” said the 50-year-old from Gangbei village in Jiangxi province, who has been keeping bees for nearly 20 years. “Only about five households used to keep bees, but the sizable and stable income from beekeeping has drawn more villagers into the business,” he said.
In 2015, a group was set up to train villagers in beekeeping and help them sell honey. “We teach them modern beekeeping techniques to increase production and provide them with regular sales channels. Villagers have almost no trouble selling,” said Wu Zhulin, Party branch secretary of Gangbei. The sweet business of beekeeping has made villagers wealthy, and in 2017, Gangbei was officially lifted out of poverty.
In 2021, Liu was invited to join a local company specializing in cultural tourism. He was put in charge of promoting agricultural produce through tourism. With a keen understanding of their honey, Liu emphasizes branding and packaging, even creating a promotional video.
A State Council Executive meeting in March made efforts to advance rural vitalization (乡村振兴) across the board, foster rural industries with local characteristics, and create more channels for increasing rural incomes. To broaden the marketability of wild honey produced in this remote village, the government of Jing’an county invited e-commerce companies to Gangbei to promote honey products through online broadcasting.
The county’s Agriculture and Rural Affairs Bureau has also played an important role by providing training sessions and encouraging villagers to participate in local industries. The harmonious coexistence between human and nature is evident in the sweet transformation of Gangbei, where the hum of busy bees signifies a prosperous future.
1. When did Liu Huangping start keeping bees?| A．In his 20s. | B．In his 30s. | C．In his 40s. | D．In his 50s. |
| A．Modern beekeeping techniques. | B．High-quality wild honey production. |
| C．Availability of regular sales channels. | D．Sizable and stable income from beekeeping. |
| A．A chief beekeeper. | B．A tourism director. |
| C．A honey branding expert. | D．An agricultural produce promoter. |
| A．By providing training sessions for villagers. |
| B．By expanding the marketability of wild honey. |
| C．By promoting cultural tourism in Gangbei village. |
| D．By encouraging villagers to engage in beekeeping. |
2 . Regardless of how far we’d like to believe gender (性别) equality in the workplace has come, there’s still a yawning gap between male and female leaders in the professional world. A 2018 statistic shows that women nowadays hold just 5.8 percent of CEO positions at S&P 500 companies, according to Catalyst.
While it’s not a huge shock that women are somewhat underrepresented in leadership positions, what is surprising though, is the fact that females may actually be better suited to lead in almost every area, at least according to new findings from the BI Norwegian Business School.
In their research, Professor Martinsen and Professor Lars Glas surveyed 2,900 managers with a special focus on personality types. The results were clear: Women scored higher than men in four of the five major leadership-centric categories.
While some people believe that men inherently make better leaders—probably because they picture a leader with a commanding voice, which is more typical of men than women—this piece of research suggests that women are better at methodical management and goal-setting, openness, sociability and supportiveness, as well as ability to communicate clearly.
There was one area in which men scored higher than women, though, and that was on emotional stability and ability to face job-related pressure and stress. The results suggest that women are more sensitive to the effects of high-pressure or highly emotional situations.
Obviously, its important to consider individual differences.Anyone, regardless of gender may be an inspiring leader and a competent boss. But next time you're hiring for a management position, you just might want to give the resumes(简历)from female candidates a harder look.
1. What makes us shocked much at leadership positions?| A．Women are worse than men. |
| B．Men take almost all high positions. |
| C．There is a huge gap between genders. |
| D．Women might behave better in nearly every field. |
| A．properly. | B．potentially. | C．naturally. | D．normally. |
| A．Why Women Make Better Leaders |
| B．Why Women Are Better Than Men |
| C．How We Can Figure Out The Boss |
| D．How We Can Tell Gender Difference |
| A．Job hunters. | B．Employers. | C．Employees. | D．Male bosses. |
3 . As health care costs continue to rise, a growing number of companies are working out programs designed to keep their employees healthy.
Thomas Chapple is the senior vice president. “It’s really important to us because medical costs are going up like crazy, he says. This company spends more than 200 million a year on medical costs for its employees around the country. The best thing we have seen as a way to control the medical cost is individual fitness.”
We have a fitness center, “Shawn Flaherty, director of public relations for Freddie Mac.,” says, “We have a health benefits plan that encourages people to work out three times a week, get cholesterol (胆固醇) checks, as well as ‘not to smoke.’ If they do that, it will cost them less for the health benefits.”
Rachelle Clark works for Freddie Mac. “I feel great. You know the benefit is rewarding. I like to look good and feel healthy. I am just fortunate that I work for the company that provides some type of facility for the employees.”
While on-site fitness centers are popular, some companies pay membership fees at local gyms for employees. The companies also offer classes such as boxing, yoga and dancing. Employees see those health programs as a valuable benefit.
Tom Brook exercises five days a week. As a newspaper reporter he has a tight schedule, although Tom says it’s not that difficult for him to make time for a workout. “It is great. It is right here where we work,” says Tom, “So everybody gets a chance to use it whenever they want to. I have lost weight and never been in better shape.”
The programs may not be a magic cure for rising health costs, but they seem to have a positive impact on both employers and employees.
1. What’s the best way to cut the medical cost according to Shawn Flaherty?| A．To reduce the number of employees around the country. |
| B．To encourage the employees to work out to keep fit. |
| C．To set up fitness centers of their own. |
| D．To pay membership fees at local gyms for the employees. |
| A．To explain how to use the fitness centers. |
| B．To show how effective physical exercise is. |
| C．To show the employees welcome the health programs. |
| D．To persuade more employers to set up health centers. |
| A．The programs may not solve the health costs problem completely. |
| B．The programs may keep the health costs rising. |
| C．The programs may not cost a large amount of money. |
| D．The programs may cure all kinds of patients like magic. |
| A．How difficult it is to reduce health care costs |
| B．Why and how companies encourage their employees to keep fit. |
| C．. What causes the health care costs to rise year by year. |
| D．How people keep healthy by doing exercise in their working places. |
