1 . On March 16th I left the offices of The Economist to head home. That was the last day when all editorial staff assembled in our London office. And, at the time of writing, no date for a return to the office is in
It is remarkable how quickly we have adapted. The newspaper has been written, edited and produced from couches and kitchen tables. January and February seem like an ancient era — the BC (before coronavirus) to the new AD (after
The shift may
Not only that, it has made remote work seem both normal and acceptable. In the past employees who stayed home had to overcome the
Things are
Yet
Another aspect of the AD era may be the disappearance of the five-day working week. Even before the pandemic many workers became used to taking phone calls or answering emails at the weekend. In the AD era, the
In future employees may work and take breaks when they please, with the company video call the only
| A．doubt | B．sight | C．mind | D．hope |
| A．domestication | B．transition | C．isolation | D．pandemic |
| A．affect | B．shape | C．arouse | D．rival |
| A．on | B．off | C．over | D．down |
| A．suspicion | B．difficulty | C．prejudice | D．disadvantage |
| A．advancing | B．reversing | C．interfering | D．missing |
| A．remote | B．intense | C．casual | D．novel |
| A．now that | B．in case | C．even though | D．as long as |
| A．Commuters | B．Legislators | C．Executives | D．Employers |
| A．in demand | B．beyond reach | C．at issue | D．on top |
| A．balance | B．barrier | C．connection | D．conflict |
| A．fixture | B．engagement | C．priority | D．interaction |
| A．perspectives | B．routines | C．regulations | D．equivalents |
| A．better | B．harder | C．more | D．fewer |
| A．access | B．progress | C．return | D．contrast |
2 . DON’T FORGET
POSTCODE YOUR PROPERTY
In only 9% of cases where something has been stolen is property returned.
Marked property can stop burglars because it’s harder for a thief to sell and can help the police to return it if found.
Mark items with some understandable information-showing your postcode and the number of your house or flat or the first two letters of its name-using a permanent etching tool or an ultraviolent marker pen. Only use UV marking when other methods would reduce the value of the object — because the mark can fade.
1. The first half of the postcode indicates your town and district, such as: NT 42 9.2. The last 2 letters pinpoint one strect or part of a street, such as: NT 42 9WA
3. Mark your valuables using the postcode followed by your house number such as NT 42 9WA7
Take pictures of all valuable items like jewellery and silverware and write down the serial numbers of your TV, video, hi-fi, home computer and camera equipment, to help the police identify them should they be recovered. If you have many valuable items, fit a safe.
Ask your local police station for postcode property stickers to display in the front and back windows of your house.
BE A GOOD NEIGHBOURIf you see anyone acting strangely in your neighborhood, call the police. There are now over 130,000 Neighborhood Watch Schemes in this country — why not join one? Anyone can start up a Watch — call your police for details.
IF YOU ARE BURGLED
A secure home will reduce the chance of you getting burgled. But, if you get home and notice is of a break-in:
●Don’t go in or call out — the intruder could still be inside Go to a neighbors’ house to call the police CRIME PREVENTION ADVICEAll police forces have offices trained in crime prevention-contact your local station for advice. Some forces can arrange surveys of your home or workplace and recommend security improvements. This is a popular service — if there’s a waiting list, you may be sent an information pack so that you can do your own survey.
1. The passage talks mainly about .| A．how to beat the burglar |
| B．how to keep your valuables safe |
| C．how to live happily in a neighborhood |
| D．how to deal with police forces properly |
| A．Part of a street name. | B．Her house number. |
| C．Postcode of acity. | D．Her car plate number. |
| A．Attach “postcode property” stickers to your valuables. |
| B．Keep silent if you sense your house has been broken into. |
| C．Tell your neighbor about anyone who behave strangely. |
| D．Design a survey to find out if your home needs improving. |
3 . Our carbon footprint is the estimated amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) given off as we go about our daily lives. While the global average carbon footprint is about 4 tons per person each year, Americans contribute approximately 20 tons of greenhouse gas per person each year. Compared to other countries, even those who use the least amount of energy in the US still contribute double the carbon emissions than the global average per person. And, not surprisingly, a person’s carbon footprint increases in size as his or her income increases.
How is it possible that people in the US who live simple lifestyles, e.g., children or the homeless, make such large contributions to greenhouse gas emissions? The answer is simple: Each US citizen has access to various basic government services such as firefighting and police departments, road and bridge repair, libraries, jails and prisons, the military, etc. When these public services are divided equally among the entire US population, it significantly raises the carbon footprint per person. In fact, according to a study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the lowest carbon footprint that can be calculated for a person living in the US is 8.5 tons. And shockingly, this carbon footprint corresponds to a homeless person who sleeps in public shelters and eats in soup kitchens.
While it is admirable to make changes in lifestyle to reduce a carbon footprint, in reality, it is very difficult to do. The MIT study revealed that a “rebound effect” occurred when someone made an effort to reduce his or her carbon footprint. Take the example of a person who made the deliberate choice to buy a hybrid car instead of a large SUV to save money on gas costs. Very often that person would use the money he or she saved to do something else, e.g., take a long airplane trip. In this case, just one long airplane trip produces more CO2 emissions than driving the large SUV for a year. This ends up having a negative impact on a person’s carbon footprint by making it bigger!
Can Americans reduce their carbon footprints? According to the study, it is possible, but it would require lifestyle changes such as giving up long-distance travel and buying fewer smartphones, tablets, and MP3 players that have large energy costs to produce and deliver. Another way to lower the average Americans US carbon footprint is to add a CO2 tax on food, housing, and transportation, and most Americans don’t want their taxes raised. Unless we can find a way to reduce our carbon footprints, the price we may ultimately have to pay is much higher than the amount Americans will ever have to pay in taxes.
1. The first two paragraphs are intended to____.| A．show why people in the US should live simple lifestyles |
| B．argue against the world’s misinterpretation of US lifestyles |
| C．reveal how big the carbon footprints of people in the US are |
| D．stress the impact of carbon footprints on American peoples life |
| A．Mary ate a large meal after she had been on diet for a week |
| B．Tom bought a hybrid car because it saved him a lot of money |
| C．Susan gave up long airplane trips to do her bit for the environment. |
| D．David had a good knowledge of what harm CO2 emissions would do. |
| A．Investment in basic government services should be reduced. |
| B．A homeless person’s carbon footprint is not easy to calculate. |
| C．The less a person spends, the more environmentally friendly he is. |
| D．A CO2 tax has already been added on food, housing and transportation. |
| A．How Can We Change Our Lifestyles? |
| B．Can We Make Our Footprints Smaller? |
| C．Why Are Our Carbon Footprints Important? |
| D．What Makes Contributions to Green house Gas Emissions? |
4 . We all have friends that need a little advice, but one of the problems with those types of conversations is that it’s really easy to come off as a know-it-all when you’re offering help. When you do that, nobody’s going to listen.
Obviously not everyone is looking for your advice. Before you go offering up your point of view, make sure they’re interested in hearing it. As Roger Gil points out, often friends aren’t looking for you to solve a problem. They just want you to listen and maybe ask some questions. So, ask if they’d like to hear your input or insights on a problem, but also ask questions about why thee feel a certain way. If they say “no”, let them finish their story and listen politely.
Speaking of listening. It’s also a good idea to figure out right away what your friends want from you. Gil describes this as differentiating between opinions, expert advice, and being a “sounding board”. Essentially, don’t pretend like you know something you don’t.
Now that you know whether or not your friends or family actually want your advice, it’s time to learn how to advise without sounding like a know-it-all. This is a lot harder than you might think. As Gil points out, one way to offer advice without sounding pretentious (自以为是的) is to avoid “You should” statements.
| A．Definitely don’t act like you’ve been in a situation you haven’t been in. |
| B．Different situations require different approaches so we need to know what we should contribute. |
| C．Gil also adds that even when you know the answer to something, you might want to keep your mouth shut. |
| D．Gil’s advice, seems obvious, but it’s incredibly easy to get on your high-horse and use “You should” if you’re not careful. |
| E．When you have a friend who’s stuck in trouble, it’s normal to want to provide some type of insight to get them out of it. |
| F．However, the key is to make sure you stay in “listening mode” for as long as possible, and you don’t push your advice when it isn’t wanted. |
Light the Cities of the Future
A previously unlit cycle path in the Netherlands has recently drawn our attention. It has been resurfaced with a material that consists of thousands of shining stones in order to create a well-lit route. The Van Gogh Path, so called after the artist who lived in the town of Nuenen in 1883, combines the traditional with the contemporary in a gesture that acknowledge ledges Van Gingh’ masterpiece The Starry Night, but also shows the way ahead for city lighting. The Van Gogh Path is not a single case; it is not difficult to foresee a time when natural materials could help light the cities of the future.
Why should we care about city lighting? What’s wrong with current electrical city lighting anyway? Well, the problem that it causes is two-fold. First, of course, electrical lighting in most cities comes from non-renewable resources. According to the International Energy Agency, almost 20% of global electricity is consumed for lighting, which is responsible for high levels of carbon emissions. But there’s also the belief that electrical light itself is a form of pollution by destroying our view of the night sky.
From the above reasons, then, it seems wise to investigate other approaches. The city of Glasgow is attempting to use intelligent street lighting to monitor how citizens interact with the urban landscape and minimize electrical consumption and thus emissions. This “Smart City approach” is seen by many as the way of the future, but some designers aren’t convinced. They are pioneering the altogether more original approach of using materials from the natural world in order to replace electrical light entirely. They believe that this new “technology” can one day completely replace microchips and digital systems as we find better ways of making use of the light-producing mechanisms (制) that already exist in the natural world.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________| A. applied B. impurity C. embraced D. commercial E. Mixed F. promises G. imposed H. demonstration I. employs J. giant K. version |
How to get all of the toothpaste out of the tube haunts many a bathroom. Bus not, perhaps, for much longer. Colgate-Palmolive, an American consumer-goods
In 2012, two inventors set up a company called LiquiGlide to commercialise their work on making liquids flow easily through pipes and out of containers. What caught many people’s imaginations at the time was a(n)
So far, ketchup-makers have not
LiquiGlidc’s deal with Colgate is, though, the firm’s first big break into a consumer business. The new toothnastc called Elixu, comes in three varicties: a formula tor whitening teeth, one for gum and enamel care and a “detox”
To produce the slippery pipes and containers, a pattern is first
Besides pleasing customers who like to get their money’s worth, the new, slippery toothpaste tubes should help with recycling. Existing tubes are rarely recycled, not only because they have residue left inside them but also because they are usually made from a laminate of plastic and aluminum foil.
We Britons have about 60 words for happiness: blissfulness, ecstasy, pleasure, delight...The list is as varied as it is surprising, given that we only just scraped into the top 20 happiest countries in the world this year. Finns, who
In the decade
For the fourth year running, the UK has slipped down the global happiness rankings,
In many ways, though, my admittedly luxurious stay revealed to me
