1 . What My Year Abroad Taught Me About Cultural Differences
Imagine going to study abroad. You walk into the local shop and bam!, Golliwogs (黑面木偶) everywhere. I’m talking salespeople dressed as Golliwogs. Surprised, you go to the junk food section as that’s the only thing that will give your body the sugar rush it needs to shock your body out of the state of bewilderment (困惑). And there they were: Golliwog cookies.
I’m using the word “Golliwogs” because to a British person abroad that’s what they are. But in the Netherlands and Belgium the image is known as Zwarte Piet (Black Pete). There has been much discussion about whether or not it’s racist.
Working as a trainee with the European Commission, I met people from all over the world, not just Europe. Working alongside my German, Spanish and Italian colleagues, I learned some valuable lessons.
Another lesson was the value of the coffee break. Coffee breaks in Brussels were not just time to get coffee. It was a chance to develop new ideas with colleagues in a more informal setting. At first I declined the invitation to attend, but after a while I began to notice that almost everyone went on these trips to the coffee machine and decided to join them.
Graduates and students who have worked abroad gain an understanding of what it means to be truly European and how this can benefit you at work. Not only do you bring home experiences, skills and practices from other countries, but you also seek to take your work further afield (向远方).
A.You might be amazed by the quantity of work and innovative concepts that can emerge during informal coffee breaks. |
B.This marked my initial experience in comprehending diverse cultures. |
C.As British people, we need to stay low-profile in what we do. |
D.So, how did I apply these acquired abilities? |
E.As individuals from Britain, we must produce more influence in our pursuits. |
F.This was my first lesson in understanding British cultures. |
2 . In 1919, in the aftermath of war, the International Labour Organization used its first convention to limit working hours to eight a day and 48 a week. The Depression later prompted employers to
The latest crisis is dealing a
Promised
Offsetting the cost of a four-day week at a national level looks
The Wellcome Trust, the science research foundation, decided in 2019 that even a trial would be
Lockdowns exposed the gap between flexible homeworking professionals and front-line “
Some staff want or need to work extra hours. To the risks of a two-tier workforce and reduced freedom of choice add the danger of
For each of these
A.cancel | B.restore | C.back | D.deny |
A.similar | B.mild | C.psychological | D.distinct |
A.stopping | B.considering | C.continuing | D.forbidding |
A.features | B.awards | C.challenges | D.benefits |
A.therefore | B.however | C.besides | D.otherwise |
A.optimistic | B.essential | C.hard | D.instant |
A.capping | B.eliminating | C.revising | D.promoting |
A.effective | B.troublesome | C.consequential | D.apparent |
A.Professionals | B.Full-timers | C.Amateurs | D.Part-timers |
A.industrious | B.goal-driven | C.always-on | D.decisive |
A.widen | B.bridge | C.fill | D.leave |
A.boredom | B.invasion | C.distraction | D.overload |
A.short | B.long | C.early | D.late |
A.distinctions | B.impacts | C.objections | D.suggestions |
A.judgment | B.standard | C.management | D.method |
The Impact of Visual Cues on Behavior
During the energy crisis in the 1970s, Dutch researchers began to pay close attention to the country’s energy usage. In one suburb near Amsterdam, they found that some homeowners used 30 percent less energy than their neighbors
It turned out that the houses in this neighborhood were nearly identical except for one feature: the location of the electrical meter. Some had one in the basement.
Every habit
By comparison, creating obvious visual cues can draw your attention toward a
Eventually, I took my own advice and redesigned my environment. I bought a large display bowl and placed it in the middle of the kitchen counter. The next time I bought apples, that was
A.Open. | B.Selfish. | C.Friendly. | D.Reserved. |
A.They stay quiet. |
B.They read a book. |
C.They talk about the weather. |
D.They chat with fellow passengers. |
A.She was always treated as a foreigner. |
B.She was eager to visit an English castle. |
C.She was never invited to a colleague’s home. |
D.She was unwilling to make friends with workmates. |
A.Houses are much quieter. |
B.Houses provide more privacy. |
C.They want to have more space. |
D.They want a garden of their own. |
A. adulthood B. betting C. alternative D. direct E. drown F. opting G. place H. tearing I. engage J. sense K. state |
The post millennial generation best known as Gen Z — individuals now in their teens and early 20s — looked on as their parents lost jobs during the Great Recession. They’ve seen older millennial siblings
“The old systems we used to rely on aren’t working anymore, but new systems haven’t necessarily been put in
According to a survey by her firm, 78% of Gen Z-ers say getting a four-year degree no longer makes economic
Jumping into the freelance economy means taking an uncertain path, as is
10 . Man’s Existential Dilemma
We always knew that there was something peculiar about man, something deep down that characterized him and set him apart from the other animals.
We might call this existential paradox the condition of individuality within finitude (有限性). Man has a symbolic identity that brings him sharply out of nature. He is a symbolic self, a creature with a name, a life history.
The lower animals are, of course, spared this painful contradiction, as they lack a symbolic identity and the self-consciousness that goes with it. They merely act and move reflexively as they are driven by their instincts. They live in a world without time, pulsating, as it were, in a state of dumb beings. This is what has made it so simple to shoot down whole herds of buffalo or elephants. The animals don’t know that death is happening and continue gazing while others drop alongside them. The knowledge of death is reflective and conceptual, and animals are spared it. They live and they disappear with the same thoughtlessness: a few minutes of fear, a few seconds of anguish, and it is over.
Quoted from Ernest Becker’s The Denial of Death
A.But to live a life with the fate of death haunting one’s dreams makes a huge difference. |
B.He is a creator with a mind that soars out the speculate about atoms and infinity. |
C.Man’s body was a curse of fate and culture was built upon repression not because he was a seeker of pleasure, but because he was primarily an avoider of death. |
D.Yet at the same time, man is a worm and food for worms. |
E.Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. |
F.It was something that had to go right to his core, something that made him suffer his peculiar fate, that made it impossible to escape. |