1 . When a company takes on the task of providing financial services to people overlooked by large banks, that would seem to be a good thing: Such customers need bank accounts, debit cards, and credit just like everyone else. In 2016, nearly 10 million American households didn't have any interaction with a bank, and nearly 25 million households had bank accounts but used alternative financing options (such as prepaid debit cards, alternative credit cards, or payday loans) to make ends meet.
One would hope that financial offers geared toward the under-banked—who often have low credit scores, histories of financial instability, and limited education—would include modest interest rates, easily decipherable (简单易懂的) language, and enough oversight (监管) to ensure that already-struggling families don't get taken advantage of. But that is often not the case. For examples, payday lenders frequently charge astronomically high interest rates for those who are unable to quickly pay off their debts, and prepaid-card companies often include additional fees that owners of standard debit cards don't have to deal with, such as charges for simply loading money onto their cards.
These practices can leave people, who are already struggling to get their finances in order, in even worse shape than they were when they signed up for a new product. The problem isn't that companies targeting the under-banked exist at all, but that many exploit a lack of financial knowledge and alternative options to extract excess money from their customers.
Credit-card issuers that target those with poor credit scores are another group with questionable practices, according to a recent report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In its research, the CFPB found that the costs of cards issued by these companies are significantly higher than the costs of cards issued by more traditional competitors. These specialized lenders are much more likely to approve not just subprime individuals (次级贷款人), but the deepest subprime individuals-those with credit scores that fall below 600.
Why isn't a higher approval rate for those with very bad credit a good thing? Isn't that more inclusive? Not always. Some credit-card companies' business models depend on charging their customers high fees — people who are unlikely to be able to afford them. These increased fees are for things that are inescapable, such as monthly account maintenance. (Major credit-card companies, on the other hand, are making most of their money from collecting late payments and interest, not recurring fees.) Customers of these subprime companies don't need to do anything unusual to rack up fees-that's just a part of signing up.
But perhaps worse than the high costs of the cards is the way that these companies recruit customers. They target them by mailing pre-approved offers that contain intentionally opaque, high-level financial language and agreements that are, on average 70 percent longer than card agreements from other lenders, according to the CFPB.
“Despite offering longer and more complex credit-card terms than mass market issuers, they send those mailings disproportionately to consumers with lower levels of formal education,” the CFPB report found. “Specifically, agreements for credit-card products marketed primarily by subprime specialist issuers are particularly difficult to read.” According to the report, making sense of these statements would typically require at least two years of college or post-high-school education. Less than half of the people targeted by these lenders have any college education, and the number of such households sent direct mail by these lenders doubled between 2016 and 2018.
1. The examples cited in paragraph 2 are intended to show that ______________.A.payday loans are no better product than prepaid debit cards |
B.American large banks often ignore the already-struggling families |
C.financial company should provide high-quality service to poor families |
D.poor American households are exploited by the financial companies |
A.a lack of update for economic information |
B.a greater personal financial loss |
C.the sign-up of a new financial product |
D.the exploitation of alternative choices |
A.useful for its professional content |
B.convincing for its pre-approved format |
C.misleading for its vague instruction |
D.objective for its high-level financial language |
A.Poorly educated consumers are welcomed by the financial company. |
B.Complex credit-card terms are needed for the lender’s safety. |
C.Credit card could be issued only to people with college education. |
D.There might be a boom for financial company between 2012 and 2014. |
2 . Friendly Laughter
Most people can share a laugh with a total stranger. But there are subtle - and
Greg Bryant, a cognitive scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues previously found that adults from 24 societies around the world can distinguish simultaneous "co-laughter" between friends from that between strangers. The findings suggested that his ability may be
Bryant and his fellow researcher Athena Vouloumanos, a developmental psychologist at New York University, played recording of co-laughter between
The researchers then showed the babies short videos of two people acting either like friends or strangers and paired those with the
"There's something about co-laughter that is giving
Such characteristics also distinguish
It's really cool to see how early infants are distinguishing between different forms of laughter," says Adrienne Wood, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, who was not involved in the study. "Almost every
A.distinct | B.invisible | C.detectable | D.conscious |
A.universally | B.apparently | C.fairly | D.precisely |
A.groups | B.pairs | C.rivals | D.partners |
A.shorter | B.longer | C.less patiently | D.more diligently |
A.friendly | B.strange | C.visual | D.audio |
A.interacting | B.reflecting | C.clubbing | D.interpreting |
A.value | B.meaning | C.information | D.friendship |
A.accounts | B.implications | C.routes | D.hints |
A.engagement | B.frequency | C.intensity | D.length |
A.obliged | B.involuntary | C.encouraged | D.internal |
A.evolved | B.heaped | C.sprang | D.originated |
A.apart from | B.along with | C.as against | D.ahead of |
A.available | B.crucial | C.sensitive | D.neutral |
A.screaming | B.kicking | C.shifting | D.waking |
A.turns out | B.comes true | C.rings hollow | D.makes sense |
3 . Financial regulations in Britain have imposed a rather unusual rule on the bosses of big banks. Starting next year, any guaranteed bonus of top executives could be delayed 10 years if their banks are under investigation for wrongdoing. The main purpose of this “clawback” rule is to hold bankers responsible for harmful risk-taking and to restore public trust in financial institution. Yet officials also hope for a much larger benefit: more long-term decision-making not only by banks but also by all corporations, to build a stronger economy for future generations.
“Short-termism” or the desire for quick profits, has worsened in publicly traded companies, says the Bank of England’s top economist, Andrew Haldane. He quotes a giant of classical economies, Alfred Marshall, in describing this financial impatience as acting like “Children who pick the strawberries out of their pudding to eat them at once” rather than putting them aside to be eaten last.
The average time for holding a stock in both the United States and Britain, he notes, has dropped from seven years to seven months in recent decades. Transient(短期的) investors, who demand high quarterly profits from companies, can hold back a firm’s efforts to invest in long-term research or to build up customer loyalty. This has been called “quarterly capitalism”.
In addition, new digital technologies have allowed more rapid trading of equities( 股 票 ), quicker use of information, and thus shortens attention spans in financial markets. “There seems to be an advantage of short-term thinking at the expense of long-term investing,” said Commissioner Daniel Gallagher of the US Securities and Exchange Commission in speech this week.
In the US, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 has pushed most public companies to delay performance bonuses for senior executives by about a year, slightly helping reduce “short-termism.” In its latest survey of CEO pay, The Wall Street Journal finds that “a substantial part” of executive pay is now tied to performance.
Much more could be done to encourage “long-termism,” such as changes in the tax code and quicker disclosure(披露) of stock acquisitions. In France, shareholders who hold onto a company investment for at least two years can sometimes earn more voting rights in a company.
Within companies, the right compensation design can provide motivation for executives to think beyond their own time at the company and on behalf of all shareholders. Britain’s new rule is a reminder to bankers that society has an interest in their performance, not just for the short term but for the long term.
1. According to Paragraph 1, one reason for imposing the new rule is the _______.A.enhance banker’s sense of responsibility |
B.help corporations achieve larger profits |
C.build a new system of financial regulation |
D.guarantee the bonuses of top executives |
A.indirect | B.negative |
C.favorable | D.temporary |
A.the obstacles to preventing “short-termism”. |
B.the significance of long-term thinking. |
C.the approaches to promoting “long-termism” |
D.the popularity of short-term thinking. |
A.Failure of Quarterly Capitalism |
B.Patience as a Corporate Virtue |
C.Decisiveness Required of Top Executives |
D.Frustration of Risk-taking Bankers |
4 . Gender Stereotypes Are Messing with Your Kid
Gender stereotypes are messing with your kid. It’s not just one movie. It’s not just one TV show. It’s constant exposure to the same dated concepts in the media over and over, starting before preschool and lasting a lifetime --- concepts like: Boys are smarter than girls: certain jobs are best for men and others for women; and even that girls are responsible for their own sexual assaults.
According to a recent report, which analyzed more than 150 articles, interviews, books, and other social-scientific research, gender stereotypes in moves and on TV shows are more than persistient.
Think of preschoolers who are just beginning to identify as boys or girls. The characters they see on TV often have an obvious masculine or feminine appearance, such as a superhero’s big muscles or a princess’ long hair. These characters also are often associated with specific traits---for example, being strong and brave or fearful and meek.
For young audiences who absorb ideas from the media on how to behave and what to become, these characterizations can lead to false assumptions and harmful conclusions. These oversimplified characterizations play out in many ways over and over. According to the report, a lifetime of viewing stereotypical media becomes so ingrained that it can ultimately affect kids’ career choices, self-worth, relationships, and ability to achieve their full potential.
And lots of parent are concerned about these issues, too. We polled nearly 1,000 parents across the country and found that they believe the media has a significant influence on their kids, from how girls should look and behave to how seeing violence can affect boys’ beliefs about themselves.
While there are movies and TV shows that defy gender stereotypes---and Hollywood is making some progress on this front --- you’re not going to be able to prevent your kids from seeing everything that sends the wrong message. And your kids probably like a lot of media that reinforces stereotypes.
A.Luckily, parents can assert control over the messages that Hollywood dishes out. |
B.You have a lot of control over your kids’ media --- mostly when they’re little, but even as they grow. |
C.Fortunately, the most powerful messages kids absorb are from you. |
D.Ideally, self-segregate based on gender --- boys want to play with boys, and girls want to play with girls. |
E.They’re incredibly effective at teaching kids what the culture expects of boys and girls. |
F.Fast-forward to the tween and teen years, when characters begin to wrestle with relationships, life, and job prospects. |
WeChat is an essential part of our daily life. We can chat with friends, share our photos on moments and kill time by reading WeChat public accounts. And now, we can even gain new knowledge in WeChat study groups, covering everything from photograph to English. Do you like
this way of learning?
你认为微信学习群是真提升还是无用功?你的理由是什么?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A Welcome Gift
Dario and his mother loved their new apartment. The living room was large enough for their piano. That night, the two of them set side by side at the piano. They played jazz music to celebrate their new home. The loud music filled the room, making them feel very happy.
The next morning, however, their happiness disappeared. Someone had left a note under their door during the night. Complaining about the sound of the piano. Dario’s mother asked the building manager if he knew anything about it. But he said that they were all nice people and he couldn’t imagine any of them had done that. Later that morning, Dario suggested writing a letter to apologize.
“Maybe we could visit everyone in person.” his mother said.
“What if we invited them to come here for a party instead? Dario asked.
They both loved the idea. Over the next few days, they sent out invitations and prepared desserts for their guests. They decorated the apartment with streamers (彩带) and party lights.
Finally, the day of the party arrived. Some guests brought presents. Others brought flowers. One woman, Mrs. Gilbert, presented Dario’s mother with a book of piano music by Chopin.
“I heard you playing the other night,” she said. “The sounds woke me out of bed. I worried that you might play like this every night. So I wrote a short note. I hope you don’t think I disliked the playing.”
Dario’s mother smiled at Mrs. Gilbert. “I think maybe we owe you an apology.” she said.“I didn’t realize how late it was when we were playing. Maybe we should play some quieter music at night.
“You play, you play!” Mrs. Gilbert said. “I like what you play! Just not so loud at night.” She pointed to the book she had given them. “These songs are not so loud.”
“These songs are beautiful music.” Dario’s mother said. “We will be happy to play them in the evening.” “And we won’t play so loud or late!” Dario said. He was already looking forward to practising the new music. More than that, however, he was happy to see the big smile on his mother’s face. It gave him a feeling of warmth and made him feel that they were home at last.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
7 . The expression, "everybody's doing it," is very much at the center of the concept of peer pressure. It is a social influence applied on an individual in order to get that person to act or believe in a(n)
People are social creatures by nature, and so it is hardly
For certain individuals, seeking social acceptance is so important that it becomes a(n)
However, peer pressure is not always negative. A student whose friends are good at
Although peer pressure is sometimes quite obvious, it can also be so
A.traditional | B.similar | C.peculiar | D.opposite |
A.understandable | B.believable | C.acceptable | D.surprising |
A.disapproval | B.failure | C.absence | D.independence |
A.uncertain | B.practical | C.impossible | D.vague |
A.promotes | B.prevents | C.simplifies | D.increases |
A.challenge | B.inspiration | C.promise | D.addiction |
A.recognize | B.abandon | C.decrease | D.define |
A.avoid | B.encourage | C.decline | D.punish |
A.pressured | B.respected | C.delighted | D.regretted |
A.catch sight of | B.stay away from | C.make fun of | D.keep up with |
A.competitions | B.interaction | C.academics | D.adaptation |
A.knowledge | B.interest | C.assistance | D.influence |
A.abstract | B.ridiculous | C.subtle | D.reasonable |
A.consciousness | B.motivation | C.instinct | D.encouragement |
A.motivation | B.danger | C.support | D.achievement |
8 . The Occupy Wall Street protest movement has raised serious questions about the role of capitalist institutions, particularly corporations in American society. Well before the first protester set foot in Zucotti Park, a heckler(扰乱分子) urged Mitt Romney to tax corporations rather than people. Romney’s response-- “Corporations are people” stirred a brief but intense controversy. Now thousands of demonstrators have in effect joined the heckler, denouncing(抨击) corporations as “enemies of the people.”
Far more important than questions about what corporations are is the question of what attitude we should have toward them. Should we, as corporate public relations statements often suggest, think of them as friends (if we buy and are satisfied with their products) or as family (if we work for them)? Does it make sense to be loyal to a corporation as either a customer or as an employee?More generally, even granted that corporations are not fully persons in the way that individuals are, do they have some important moral standing in our society?
My answer to all these questions is no, because corporations have no core dedication to fundamental human values. Such corporations exist as instruments of profit for their shareholders. In fact, left to themselves, they can be serious threats to human values that conflict with the goal of corporate profit. Corporations are a particular threat to truth, a value essential in a democracy, which places a premium on the informed decisions of individual citizens. The corporate threat is most apparent in advertising, which explicitly aims at convincing us to prefer a product regardless of its actual merit. Their defining goal is to generate profit. There are cases when telling the truth is the best means to advance corporate profits. In 1982, when seven people in Chicago died from poisoned Tylenol, Johnson & Johnson appealed to its credo, which makes concern for its customers primary corporate goal,and told the entire truth about what had happened. This honesty turned a potential public-relations disaster into a triumph. But Johnson & Johnson’s impressive corporate credo ends by saying, “Our final responsibility is to our stockholders and must make solid profit. The credo is unclear about what happens when there is a conflict between responsible action and long-term profit.
None of this means that corporations are evil or that socialism should replace the free-enterprise system. As Michel Foucault said of all power structures, it’s not that corporations are bad but that they are dangerous. The self-serving corporate speech that fills our media and halls of government is particularly dangerous for our democracy. At least for this reason, the Occupy Wall Street protesters are right to distrust corporations.
1. Mitt Romney most probably believes that ___________.A.individuals should pay more taxes than corporations |
B.corporations should not be forced to pay more taxes |
C.people should care more about corporations’ development |
D.corporations should enjoy all the legal rights as people do |
A.should be set as moral examples of the society |
B.take employees’ faithfulness as part of their goals |
C.contribute little to the most essential human values |
D.are actually means by which people share profits |
A.corporations always make profits at the expense of people’s health |
B.customers should always keep an eye on the quality of any product |
C.corporations take economic profit as their priority essentially |
D.corporation profit is always in contradiction with customer interests |
A.Corporations, People and Truth |
B.Corporations Are Different from People |
C.Corporations Are Untrustworthy |
D.The Occupy Wall Street Protest |
9 . The Last Robot-Proof Job in America?
You can get most food, such as warm cookies or vodka, to your doorstep in minutes. But try getting a red snapper (红鲷鱼). Until recently, if you could obtain it, it would likely have been pre-frozen and shipped in from overseas.
A new tech startup is aiming to
There is one thing,
“
By 1 a.m. each night, the company collects
Then, what can a fishmonger see that a computer can’t? DeGregorio showed me his part of the
Is he ever
A.maintain | B.remedy | C.substitute | D.recognize |
A.free | B.overseas | C.separate | D.fresh |
A.therefore | B.otherwise | C.however | D.thus |
A.ensure | B.propose | C.concede | D.remind |
A.overpriced | B.misidentified | C.displaced | D.modified |
A.computer | B.cuisine | C.fish | D.marketing |
A.Rather than | B.Thanks to | C.Except for | D.Prior to |
A.fund-raising | B.online-grocery | C.fish-selling | D.non-profit |
A.significant | B.worthy | C.responsible | D.ridiculous |
A.sales | B.orders | C.alternatives | D.statistics |
A.analyze | B.supply | C.prioritize | D.feed |
A.require | B.process | C.predict | D.value |
A.calculation | B.decoding | C.correction | D.selection |
A.smash | B.touch | C.wipe | D.roll |
A.concerned about | B.eager for | C.delighted with | D.capable of |
10 . It has been one of the deadliest climbing seasons on Everest, with at least 10 deaths. And at least some seem to have been
The problem hasn’t been avalanches(雪崩), blizzards or high winds. Experienced climbers and industry leaders
Fly-by-night adventure companies are taking up untrained climbers who pose a risk to everyone on the mountain. And the Nepalese government,
Add to that Everest’s unmatched
To reach the peak, climbers
According to the climbers, some of the deaths this year were caused by people getting held up in the long lines on the last 1,000 feet or so of the climb, unable to get up and down fast enough to
Nepal has no
The last time 10 or more people died on Everest was in 2015, during an avalanche. By some measures, the Everest machine has only gotten more out of
Despite all the problems, this year the Nepali government issued a record number of permits, 381, as part of a bigger
A.recognizable | B.sustainable | C.avoidable | D.feasible |
A.burden | B.blame | C.border | D.balance |
A.hungry | B.critical | C.jealousy | D.hesitant |
A.favor | B.extend | C.grant | D.handle |
A.appeal | B.adjustment | C.adaption | D.agreement |
A.catch sight of | B.make use of | C.get rid of | D.take hold of |
A.remove | B.refill | C.recycle | D.release |
A.for the first time | B.at long last | C.from time to time | D.in the first place |
A.strict | B.social | C.scientific | D.creative |
A.discomfort | B.decay | C.disadvantage | D.disaster |
A.manage | B.qualify | C.promise | D.schedule |
A.contact | B.touch | C.control | D.power |
A.activated | B.exposed | C.introduced | D.dismissed |
A.inferior | B.minor | C.superior | D.major |
A.push | B.prospect | C.pattern | D.patent |