The sale of The Washington Post to Jeff Bezos is just the most recent episode in the decline and fall of professional journalism. By selling out to a mega-billionaire without any newspaper experience, the Graham family has put a priceless national asset at the     1     of a single outsider. Perhaps Jeff Bezos will use his new plaything responsibly; perhaps not; if not, one of the few     2     sources of serious journalism will be lost.

The crisis in the English-speaking world will turn into a disaster in smaller language zones. The English-speaking market is so large that advertisers will pay a lot to gain access to the tens of millions of readers who     3     click onto The New York Times or The Guardian. But the Portuguese-reading public is far too small to support serious journalism on the Internet. What happens to Portuguese democracy when nobody is willing to pay for old-fashioned newspapers?

The blogosphere can’t be expected to take up the     4     of serious journalism. First-class reporting on national and international affairs isn’t for     5    . it requires lots of training and lots of contacts and lots of expenses. It also requires reporters with the well-trained capacity to write for a broad audience. The modern newspaper created the right incentives, but without a(an)     6     business model for the new technology, blogging will degenerate into a postmodern nightmare — with millions     7     without any concern for the facts.

We can’t afford to wait for the     8     hand to come up with a new way to provide economic support for serious journalism. To be sure, the financial press has proved     9     successful in persuading readers to pay for online access; and mainstream media are now trying to imitate this success. Each news article on the web will end by asking readers whether it     10     to their political understanding. If so, they can click the yes-box, and send the message to a National Endowment for Journalism — which would obtain an annual appropriation from the government. This way, serious journalism will succeed in gaining mass support.

John, an ESL tutor of a community college, moved to New York City with all the members of his family. John is a remarkable teacher, so     1     (be) his students for several years, we all missed him very much since he left. It was not long     2     John came back to North Carolina to handle some rounding-off (结束) affairs, ESL teachers and we students held a small party for him.

At the party,     3    people walked around and talked with each other cheerfully, I certainly would not lightly give up that good opportunity to learn English. Then I tried to think of all sorts of topics to converse with Monica, another ESL teacher.

Just before I was about     4     (run) out of my topics of conversation when I heard John said to others loudly, “I dig New York!” I immediately asked Monica seriously, “Is it really difficult to find a job in New York? Why does John, such     5     outstanding ESL teacher, have to do laborious work?”

Looking puzzled, Monica asked, “Why do you have such a feeling?”

“Haven’t you heard him say that he     6     (dig) New York? Is he building a tunnel?” I replied. When she finally understood     7     I said, Monica laughed so hard as to narrowly escape spewing (喷出) her food in her mouth. Wearing a broad smile, she gestured to us to stop talking, and then asked us, the ESL students,     8     we knew the meaning of “I dig New York.” All of us shook our heads and said no. Monica then requested John to explain it to us.

    9     turns out that, in American slang, “I dig New York” means, “I love New York.” Though few people say like that nowadays, we can still find it     10     (use) in literary works.

Seniority in Promotion Is Not a Wise Business Practice

It's not always an easy decision for companies when it comes to filling managerial spots. In the past promoting an employee has been popularly handled by means of basic analysis of the employees' past performance nod seniority, In some cases, the individual's performance has been considered more important while in others the amount of time they have been with the company has been the deciding factor. Nevertheless, seniority is a standard that has never been left out, However, in the contemporary business world, the importance of seniority in promotion is being destroyed as a growing number of companies look outside of their organizations when trying to fill top managerial spots.

Unlike experienced employees who have been with the company for a long time, new people are mare likely generate creative ideas. In rapidly changing markets, innovative and creative talents are sought by many companies in order to adapt to the market. To meet their needs, companies have more to gain by selecting outside employees since they are more willing to try new techniques and less afraid of breaking tradition when introducing new ideas. Thus, rather than promoting existing employees, it might be a wiser management decision to bring in outside talent.

An additional advantage to this new system is that it prevents employees from feeling that they only need to wait for their seniority to provide them with a promotion. Simply put no matter how long they have been with the company, employees have to contribute diligently to the organization if they want to move up the career ladder, As soon as people realize that the company could just as easily bring in a new person, employees will stop judging themselves against each other because they are no longer competing against their colleagues but everyone in the entire industry. As a result, they will begin to show more effort to bring the level of their work up to what they imagine is a much higher standard.

5 . Social Integration — Welcoming the Newcomers

Social integration is the process through which minority groups interact, come together or are incorporated within a community, Increased social integration helps reduce conflict and tension in society, and it can help the new migrants feel more connected to their new community. How do different groups remain relatively cohesive in society?

A few countries around the world have adopted integrated frameworks for their economic, social, political and cultural policies with regard to accepting these migrants into the local society.     1    . This is to allow them to achieve their full potential in life. There are still ongoing efforts to integrate different cultures and races, and the governments have encouraged their immigrants to take an active part in social, cultural, economic and political activities.

Integration takes place in neighbourhoods. work places, schools and public places where people from diverse backgrounds spend most of their time.     2     Especially among the younger children, being in the same class as their foreign counterparts will teach the local children the meaning of tolerance and empathy. Participation in sports, community engagement and volunteer work are also other possible ways that eliminate discrimination and other forms of intolerance. From participating in arts programmes to being parent volunteers in schools, these platforms provide opportunities for people to interact and work towards a common cause. Sports programmes have also been used to encourage social integration. In fact, sport can strengthen social networks and promote non - violence and respect. In these ways, meaningful relationships among those of different ages, racial groups or faiths are built on the basis of common interests.

    3     still, countries have also acknowledged that human movement across borders cannot be stopped. Instead, it should be better managed so that migration is safe, legal and beneficial for everyone.     4     Indeed, the government and local communities play a key role in integrating these newcomers and empowering them to contribute to their new communities, while maintaining their identities.

6 . This era of “Industry 4. 0” is being driven by the same technological advances that enable the capabilities of the smartphones in our pockets. It is a mix of low-cost and high-power computers, high-speed communication and artificial intelligence. This will produce smarter robots with better sensing and communication abilities that can _________ different tasks, and even adjust their work to meet demand without the input of humans.

In the manufacturing industry, where robots have arguably made the most headway of any division, this will mean a(n) _________ shift from centralized to decentralized cooperative production. _________ robots focused on single, fixed, high - speed operations and required a highly skilled human workforce to operate and maintain them. Industry 4. 0 machines are flexible, cooperative and can operate more independently which _________ removes the need for a highly skilled workforce.

For large-scale manufacturers, Industry 4. 0 means their robots will be able to sense their environment and communicate in an industrial network that can be run and _________ remotely. Each machine will produce large amounts of data that can be _________ studied using what is known as “big data” analysis. This will help _________ ways to improve operating performance and production quality across the whole plat, for example by better predicting when repairing is needed and automatically _________ it.

For _________ manufacturing businesses, Industry 4. 0 will make it cheaper and easier to use robots. It will create machines that can be rearranged to perform __________ jobs and adjusted to work on a more diverse product range and different production volumes. This part is already beginning to benefit from robots designed to cooperate with human workers and analyse their own work to look for __________.

While these machines are getting smarter, they are still not as smart as us. Today's industrial artificial intelligence operates at a __________ level, which gives the appearance of human intelligence exhibited by machines, but designed by humans.

What's coming next is known as “deep learning”. Similar to big data analysis, it involves processing large quantities of data in real time to __________ what is the best action to take, The __________ is that the machine learns from the data so it can improve its decision making. A perfect example of deep learning was __________   by Google's Alpha Go software, which taught itself to beat the world's greatest Go players.

8 . Culture Insider: Chopsticks

Chopsticks, or kuaizi in Chinese, are a pair of small equal-length tapered sticks, usually made of wood, used for eating Asian food. It is believed that the first chopsticks were developed over 5,000 years ago in China. The earliest evidence of a pair of chopsticks made out of bronze was excavated from the Ruins of Yin near Anyang, Henan province.

Chopsticks play an important role in Chinese food culture.    1    They are round on the eating end which symbolizes heaven, and the other end is square which symbolizes earth. This is because maintaining an adequate food supply is the greatest concern between heaven and earth.

Chopsticks are so frequently used in daily life that they have become more than a kind of tableware and have fostered a set of etiquette and customs of their own.     2    While the principles of chopstick etiquette are similar in many of these places, the finer points may differ from region to region, and there is no single standard for the use of chopsticks. Generally, chopsticks are not used to make noise or to draw attention, or to gesticulate.

    3    For example, you can buy a pair of exquisite chopsticks as a gift for your friends and relatives. In Chinese, Chopsticks' reads 'kuaizi', which means to have sons soon, so a newly-married couple will be very happy to accept chopsticks as their wedding gift. Skillful craftsmen paint beautiful scenery on chopsticks to make them like fine artwork. Many people love to collect these elegant utensils.

It has been said that using chopsticks improves one's memory, increases finger dexterity and can be useful in learning and improving skills such as Chinese character printing and brush painting. Many Asian superstitions revolve around chopsticks as well. For example, if you find an uneven pair of chopsticks at your table setting, it is believed that you will miss the next train, boat or plane you are trying to catch.     4    .

10 . Nothing seems more inevitable than aging and death-not even taxes. Every plant, animal and person you have ever seen will _______ die. But some recent research suggests that aging as we know it may not be inevitable. Indeed, as our _______ of it grows, aging can be seen not as an unchangeable reality from which there is no escape, but as the product of biological processes that we may be able to _______ someday.

We already know that some animals do not seem to age. Many cold-water ocean fish and some amphibians（两栖动物）never _______ a fixed size: they continue to grow bigger, to be able to reproduce and to live until something kills them. What these creatures seem to be telling us is that something in their _______ —and possibly in ours——controls the pace of aging, _______ that aging is not the fate of every living thing.

Throughout the history of life on earth, one of the most common difficulties that animals and their cells） have faced has been a lack of food. About 70 years ago, scientists discovered that when animals are forced to live on 30 to 40 percent fewer calories than they would _______ eat, something unusual happens; they become _______ to most age-related diseases --cancer, heart disease, diabetes —and live 30-50 percent longer. Restricting calories _______ aging. But what are the ________ genes that preserve vitality and starve off diseases?

About 15 years ago, armed with powerful new molecular-research technique, a few scientists began to ________ these genetic phenomena. They have discovered that a gene called Sir2—which is present in all animals, including humans —is ________ for the health benefits of calorie restriction perhaps by repairing our DNA. But if we had to restrict our calorie intake ________ 30 to 40 percent would it be of any practical use? Few of us would be capable of restricting our diets so severely that we were constantly ________. Whether or not it made life longer, it would surely make life ________ longer.