1 . What can be done about mass unemployment? All the wise heads agree: there’re no quick or easy answers. There’s work to be done, but workers aren’t ready to do it — they’re in the wrong places, or they have the wrong skills. Our problems are structural, and will take many years to solve.
But don’t bother asking for evidence that justifies this bleak (暗淡的) view. There isn’t any. On the contrary, all the facts suggest that high unemployment in America is the result of inadequate demand. Saying that there’re no easy answers sounds wise, but it’s actually foolish: our unemployment crisis could be cured very quickly if we had the intellectual clarity and political will to act. In other words, structural unemployment is a fake problem, which mainly serves as an excuse for not pursuing real solutions.
The fact is job openings have plunged in every major sector, while the number of workers forced into part-time employment in almost all industries has soared. Unemployment has surged in every major occupational category. Only three states, with a combined population not much larger than that of Brooklyn, have unemployment rates below 5%. So the evidence contradicts the claim that we’re mainly suffering from structural unemployment. Why, then, has this claim become so popular?
Part of the answer is that this is what always happens during periods of high unemployment — in part because experts and analysts believe that declaring the problem deeply rooted, with no easy answers, makes them sound serious.
I’ve been looking at what self-proclaimed experts were saying about unemployment during the Great Depression; it was almost identical to what Very Serious People are saying now. Unemployment cannot be brought down rapidly, declared one 1935 analysis, because the workforce is “unadaptable and untrained. It cannot respond to the opportunities which industry may offer.” A few years later, a large defense buildup finally provided a financial stimulus adequate to the economy’s needs — and suddenly industry was eager to employ those “unadaptable and untrained” workers.
But now, as then, powerful forces are ideologically opposed to the whole idea of government action on a sufficient scale to jump-start the economy. And that, fundamentally, is why claims that we face huge structural problems have been multiplying: they offer a reason to do nothing about the mass unemployment that is crippling (损害) our economy and society.
So what you need to know is that there’s no evidence whatsoever to back these claims. We aren’t suffering from a shortage of needed skills; we’re suffering from a lack of policy resolve. As I said, structural unemployment isn’t a real problem, it’s an excuse — a reason not to act on America’s problems at a time when action is desperately needed.
1. What does the author think of the experts’ claim concerning unemployment?| A．Self-evident. | B．Thought-provoking. | C．Groundless. | D．Objective. |
| A．The booming defense industry. | B．The wise heads’ benefit package. |
| C．Nationwide training of workers. | D．Thorough restructuring of industries. |
| A．Economists, failure to detect the problems in time. |
| B．Very Serious People’s attempt to cripple the economy. |
| C．Evidence gathered from many sectors of the industries. |
| D．Powerful opposition to government’s stimulus efforts. |
| A．To confirm the experts’ analysis of America’s problems. |
| B．To offer a feasible solution to the structural unemployment |
| C．To show the urgent need for the government to take action. |
| D．To alert American workers to the urgency for adaptation. |
2 . Unlike so-called basic emotions such as sadness, fear, and anger, guilt emerges a little later, in conjunction with a child’s growing grasp of social and moral norms. Children aren’t born knowing how to say “I’m sorry”, rather, they learn over time that such statements appease (安抚) parents and friends and their own consciences. This is why researchers generally regard so-called moral guilt, in the right amount, to be a good thing.
And guilt, by prompting us to think more deeply about our goodness, can encourage humans to correct errors and fix relationships.
Viewed in this light, guilt is an opportunity. Work by Tina Malti, a psychology professor at the University of Toronto, suggests that guilt may compensate for an emotional deficiency. In a number of studies, Malti and others have shown that guilt and sympathy (and its close cousin empathy) may represent different pathways to cooperation and sharing. Some kids who are low in sympathy may make up for that shortfall by experiencing more guilt, which can control their impulses.
In a 2014 study, for example, Malti and a colleague looked at 244 children, aged 4, 8, and 12. Using caregiver assessments and the children’s self-observations, they rated each child’s overall sympathy level and his or her tendency to feel negative emotions (like guilt and sadness) after moral transgressions (违背) . Then the kids were handed stickers and chocolate coins, and given a chance to share them with an anonymous child.
“That’s good news.” Malti says, “We can be pro-social because of the empathetic proclivity (倾向) , or because we caused harm and we feel regret.”
| A．And vice versa: High sympathy can substitute for low guilt. |
| B．The main reason why guilt works comes down to simple psychology and conditioning we receive as children. |
| C．For the low-sympathy kids, how much they shared appeared to turn on how likely they were to feel guilty. |
| D．Guilt is an incredibly powerful emotion which has slip by unnoticed for long. |
| E．In the popular imagination, of course, guilt still gets a bad reputation. |
| F．Guilt, in other words, can help hold a cooperative species together. |
3 . When we talk about healthy brain ageing we are really discussing one of two things: how to minimise ongoing damage to the hardware of the brain, mostly by keeping its blood supply as good as possible; or how to improve the operation of the brain’s software. Many ways of doing this have been suggested, but few have
There is plenty of evidence that older people who stay mentally active, by learning a new language, doing crosswords or taking part in other
Yet there’s still much to discover about the
The good news is that cognitive reserve isn’t
| A．traditional | B．scientific | C．cultural | D．decisive |
| A．magic | B．suggestions | C．assistance | D．confidence |
| A．physically | B．spiritually | C．intellectually | D．literally |
| A．physical | B．mental | C．mysterious | D．emotional |
| A．under-developed | B．back-up | C．all-round | D．large-scale |
| A．originate | B．separate | C．suffer | D．protect |
| A．In addition | B．By contrast | C．In other words | D．For example |
| A．higher | B．extra | C．lower | D．potential |
| A．damage | B．upset | C．frustration | D．progress |
| A．potential | B．love | C．ambition | D．need |
| A．regulations | B．interventions | C．products | D．theories |
| A．tough | B．expensive | C．exclusive | D．superior |
| A．coped with | B．taken in | C．carried out | D．built up |
| A．Furthermore | B．Therefore | C．However | D．Instead |
| A．learn | B．challenge | C．start | D．persist |
请描述图片内容，并联系生活实际谈谈你的感想。
9 . The train was at a standstill, some twenty minutes outside Kolkata, when an unexpected stroke of luck presented Piya with an opportunity to go for a seat beside a window for some fresh air. She had been sitting in the stuffiest part of the train compartment, on the edge of a bench: now, moving to the open window, she saw that the train had stopped at a station called Champahati.
Looking over her shoulder, Piya spotted a tea-seller on the platform. Reaching through the bars of the window, she called him with a wave. She had never cared for the kind of chai, Indian tea, sold in Seattle, her hometown in the USA, but somehow, in the ten days she had spent in India she had developed an unexpected taste for milky, overboiled tea served in earthenware cups. There were no spices in it for one thing, and this was more to her taste than the chai at home.
She paid for her tea and was trying to get in the cup through the bars when the man in the seat opposite her own suddenly turned over a page, jolting her hand. She turned her wrist quickly enough to make sure that most of the tea spilled out of the window, but she could not prevent some from spilling over his papers.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Piya was very embarrassed: of everyone in the compartment, this was the last person she would have chosen to injure with her tea. She had noticed him while waiting on the platform in Kolkata and she had been struck by the self-satisfied tilt of his head and the way in which he stared at everyone around him, taking them in, sizing them up, sorting them all into their places.
“Here,” said Piya, producing a handful of tissues. “Let me help you clean up.”
“There’s nothing to be done,” he said testily (暴躁地). “These pages are ruined anyway.”
For a moment she considered pointing out that it was he who had knocked her hand. But all she could bring herself to say was, “I’m very sorry. I hope you’ll excuse me.”
“Do I really have a choice?” he said. “Does anyone have a choice when they’re dealing with Americans these days?”
Piya had no wish to get into an argument so she let this pass. Instead, she opened her eyes wide and, in an attempt to restore peace, came out with, “But how did you guess?”
“About what?”
“About my being American? You’re very observant.”
This seemed to do the trick. His shoulders relaxed as he leaned back in his seat. “I didn’t guess,” he said. “I knew.”
1. In the first paragraph, Piya was relieved when she got a window seat because it meant that_________.| A．there was more room for her luggage |
| B．she no longer had to suffer from a lack of air |
| C．there was less chance that she would miss her stop |
| D．she didn’t have to stand for the rest of the train journey |
| A．was disappointingly weak in taste | B．reminded her of her home in Seattle |
| C．would have tasted better if served fresh | D．was preferable to the chai she had had before |
| A．he was someone who was observant of surroundings |
| B．he seemed to think he was better than other people |
| C．he had tried to keep his distance from his fellow passengers |
| D．he had been looking for someone he knew on the station platform |
| A．find out what the man really thought about Americans |
| B．try to calm the situation down by starting a conversation |
| C．ensure the man realized that she had apologized |
| D．make sure the man knew he was being rude |
| A. alternative B. astonishing C. computerized D. contribution E. developing F. rate G. modified H. perfect I. reject J. relevance K. sufficient |
Using animals to test drugs intended for humans is controversial, with critics arguing there are other ways to ensure new medicines are safe and effective. But the scientists who carry out the research say animal studies remain necessary. Statistics indicate that in the UK around three million mice are being used for research and tens of millions worldwide.
Despite the difference in appearances, the genetic similarities with humans are
Animal Defenders International (ADI) is one of the groups that campaigns for an end to the use of animals in research. “We would argue that it is extremely outdated, and not very good science for humans,” says Fleur Dawes of ADI. Ms. Dawes believes the suffering that the animals go through does not legalize their
However, Dr. Wells from Mary Lyon Centre (MLC) says they are constantly trying to
If we
Fleur Dawes agrees one alternative is not enough. But she says, “By combining the different alternatives, you can actually get a much better picture that is of much better
