1 . There’s more information out about the results of Finland’s much-watched basic income experiment, and it should prove particularly interesting to policymakers around the world who are considering introducing such a system.

The idea of a basic income involves giving citizens a fixed amount of money for nothing. Finland ran an experiment with two thousand unemployed people through 2017 and 2018, and its Labour Institute for Economic Research (Kela) started reporting on the results in February.

In its first report, Kela said the basic income didn't much affect the amount of work that the subjects picked up during the experiment, but it did make them feel more confident about their ability to find work.

On Thursday, Kela released further results, noting that survey respondents felt less stressed about their finances and more in control of their lives but also that the basic income appeared to change the way they felt about society.

Here’s where it gets interesting for policymakers. According to Kela, “Respondents who received a basic income had more trust in other people and in public institutions politicians, political parties, police and the courts than members of the control group.”

The idea of basic income has gained attention in recent years, largely due to fears over automation’s effect on employment. In the US, a universal basic income is one of the core proposals of 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang, who insisted that it would not make people lazier. The Finnish results seem to back him up on that. In India, the Congress party is promising basic income for 250 million of India’s poorest people. The UK’s Labour Party is also warming to the idea, and plans to add a basic income to its next campaign.

1. Which country has already tried the basic income experiment?

A．The US.

B．The UK.

C．Finland.

D．India.

2. What did Kela’s initial report say about the experiment?

A．It reduced people’s willingness to work.

B．It made people more confident to find jobs.

C．It increased people’s trust in public institutions.

D．It helped people have more control in their lives.

3. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．The political trends in rich countries.

B．The harmful effects of automation.

C．The acceptance of the idea of basic income.

D．The benefits of a universal basic income.

4. From which is the text probably taken?

A．A newspaper.	B．A science fiction.
C．A textbook.	D．A lab report.

2 . Some documents have been making the rounds lately — where people who work various positions in different industries share how much they’re paid.

Bravo! It’s about time we blew up that old belief that salaries have to stay secret. This is not just a matter of curiosity. Having information about salaries can help narrow the gender wage gap, which has barely changed for more than a decade. Recently released date from the US Census Bureau shows that, on average, women working full time still are paid only 82 cents for every dollar paid to a man. And the gap is even wider for many women of color: Black women make 62 cents, and Latinas just 54 cents. What’s more, the pay gap even extends into her retirement. Because she earned less and therefore paid less to the social security system, she receives less in social security benefits.

Having greater access to salary information is helping to speed things up. A new research report by the American Association of University Women shows that the wage gap tends to be smaller in job sectors where pay transparency (透明) is a must. For example, among federal government workers, there’s just a 13 percent pay difference between men and women, and in state government, the gap is about 17 percent. But in private, for-profit companies, where salaries are generally kept under wraps, the gender wage gap jumps to 29 percent.

Fortunately, salary information is increasingly available on some websites. Certain companies and many human resources departments are pushing ahead with this practice. Of course, it’s going to take more than salary transparency to equalize earnings between women and men. But sharing salaries can and must be part of the solution. The more information women have about how jobs are valued — and what different people earn — the better they will understand their value in the labor market and be able to push for the pay they deserve.

1. Why are the figures mentioned in paragraph 2?

A．To reveal the severity of gender wage gap.

B．To confirm the previous belief about salaries.

C．To satisfy readers’ curiosity about others’ salaries.

D．To appeal to readers to share their salary information.

2. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The inequality between men and women.

B．The need to keep salary information a secret.

C．The advantage of working for the government.

D．The benefit of making salary information public.

3. What is the author’s attitude towards sharing salary information?

A．Critical.	B．Favourable.
C．Unclean	D．Negative.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．Why It Pays to Share How Much You Make

B．Where Salary Information Difference Lies

C．What It Takes to Realize Gender Equality

D．How Woman’s Value Improves at Work.