1 . Understand the Economic Concept of a Budget Line
The term “budget line" has several related meanings, including a couple that are self-evident and a third that is not.
The Budget Line as an Informal Consumer Understanding
The budget line is an elementary concept that most consumers understand intuitively without a need for graphs and equations—it's the household budget, for example.
Taken informally, the budget line describes the boundary of affordability for a given budget and specific goods.
Given a limited amount of money, a consumer can only spend that same amount buying goods. If the consumer has X amount of money and wants to buy two goods A and B, she can only purchase goods totaling X. If the consumer needs an amount of A costing 0. 75 X, she can then spend only 0. 25 X, the amount remaining, on her purchase of B.
This seems almost too obvious to bother writing or reading about. As it turns out, however, this same concept——one that most consumers make many times each day with reflecting on it—is the basis of the more formal budget line concept in economics, which is explained below.
Lines in a Budget
Before turning to the economics definition of “budget line" , consider another concept: the line-item budget. This is effectively a map of future expenditures, with all the constituent expenditures individually noted and quantified. There's nothing very complicated about this； in this usage, a budget line is one of the lines in the budget, with the service or good to be purchased named and the cost quantified.
The Budget Line as an Economics Concept
One of the interesting ways the study of economics relates to human behavior generally is that a lot of economic theory is the formalization of the kind of simple concept outlined above— a consumer's informal understanding of the amount she has to spend and what that amount will buy.
In the process of formalization, the concept can be expressed as a mathematical equation that can be applied generally.
A Simple Budget Line Graph
To understand this, think of a graph where the vertical lines quantify how many movie tickets you can buy and where the horizontal lines do the same for crime novels. You like going to the movies and reading crime novels and you have $ 150 to spend. In the example below, assume that each movie costs $ 10 and each crime novel costs $ 15. The more formal economics term for these two items is budget set.
If movies cost $ 10 each, then the maximum number of movies you can see with the money available is 15. To note this you make a dot at the number 15 (for total movie tickets) at the extreme left-hand side of the chart. This same dot appears at the extreme left above "0" on the horizontal axis because you have no money left for books—the number of books available in this example is 0.
You can also graph the other extreme—all crime novels and no movies. Since crime novels in the example cost $ 15 and you have $ 150 available, if you spend all the available money crime novels, you can buy 10. So you put a dot on the horizontal axis at the number 10.
You'll place the dot at the bottom of the vertical axis because in this instance you have $ 0 available for movie tickets.
If you now draw a line from the highest, leftmost dot to the lowest, rightmost dot you'll have created a budget line. Any combination of movies and crime novels that falls below the budget line is affordable. Any combination above it is not.
1. Which sentence about the budget line is NOT TRUE?| A．It is a limitation of affordability for a given budget and specific goods. |
| B．Most costumers will be confused with this concept because of its complex. |
| C．It is the effectively a map of future expenditures. |
| D．It can be expressed as a mathematical equation. |
| A．To tell us any concept can be expressed as a mathematical equation. |
| B．To help us figure out the meaning Budget Line. |
| C．To tell us we should budget before we buy goods. |
| D．To give an instruction of drawing a budget Line. |
| A．The maximum number of movies you can see is 10. |
| B．The maximum number of crime novels you can buy is 15. |
| C．You can buy 7 crime novels and see 5 movies. |
| D．You can buy 7 crime novels and see 4 movies. |
| A．Are we really know the economic concept of a budget line? |
| B．The Budget Line as an Economics Concept |
| C．The Budget Line as an Informal Consumer Understanding |
| D．The Complex Concept—Budget Line |
2 . Magazine Articles: More Valuable Than You May Think
Parents are often surprised when teachers suggest their children read magazines. Read on to learn about the benefits that reading magazines offers to young readers and how to introduce your children to the medium.
Magazine Benefits
Magazine articles can provide reluctant readers with a lively, breezy writing style that can inspire them to read more.
The articles in magazines are generally short, which allows a child to finish reading a feature article without losing interest due to a short attention span. The writing in magazines also tends to be easy to read, especially if it is a children's publication.
By allowing your child to read magazines at an early age, you are encouraging development of a useful skill.
Magazine Activities
Reading magazines as a family can be used to introduce each other to the various interests that each family member possesses. When your children are finished with their magazines, encourage them to pass their issue on to a sibling or other family member.
Once each family member has finished reading each magazine, you can use them for art and writing projects. These projects are for family members of all ages:
1. Cut out pictures to help your preschool and kindergarten children learn their alphabet, numbers, and colors.
2.
3. Clip pictures to create a collage. Many teenagers love using their artistic talents to collage.
| A．The format of magazines enables children to be exposed to a wide variety of subjects. |
| B．Magazines and newspapers provide adults with critical news. |
| C．Being exposed to magazines and newspapers benefits you a lot. |
| D．Keep interesting magazine pictures to give children story ideas. |
| E．Magazines are valuable assets for many people, but in particular to children. |
| F．Magazines and newspapers are expensive now but out of style. |
Moving a Giant
The logistics of excavating(挖掘)and relocating a town's century-old, living sequoia(红 杉)tree. Inhabitants of Boise, Idaho, watched with trepidation earlier this year as the city's oldest, tallest resident moved two blocks. The 105-year-old sequoia tree serves as a local landmark, not only for its longevity but also because renowned naturalist and Sierra Club cofounder John Muir provided the original seedling. So, when Saint Luke's Health System found that the 10-story-tall conifer(针叶树)stood stood in the way of its planned hospital expansion, officials called tree-moving firm Environmental Design.
The Texas-based company has developed and patented scooping and lifting technology to move massive trees. Weighing in at more than 800,000 pounds, the Boise sequoia is its largest undertaking yet. "I (had) lost enough sleep over this," says David Cox, the company's Western region vice president—and that was before the hospital mentioned the tree's distinguished origin. Before the heavy lifting began, the team assessed the root system and dug a five-foot-deep cylinder, measuring 40 feet in diameter, around the trunk to protect all essential roots. After encapsulating the root ball in wire mesh, the movers allowed the tree to adapt to its new situation for seven months before relocating it. The illustration details what followed. —Leslie Nemo
1. Mark A. Merit and his team at Environmental Design installed underneath the root ball a platform of seven-inch-diameter, 44-foot-long steelbars and, just below the rods, a first set of uninflated airbags (shown in gray). The team also dug a shallow ramp.
2. In roughly 15 minutes, the movers inflated the airbags to about three feet in diameter to raise the root ball to the surface of the hole.
3. By underinflating the front bags, the team allowed the platform carrying the tree to roll up the ramp and out of the hole while staying level. A trailer hauled the tree along as team members removed the airbags from the back of the platform and replaced them in the front. They repeated the process until the tree arrived at the edge of its new home.
4. There a second set of partially inflated bags (shown in white) waited inside the hole. Soil surrounding the sequoia in its original location was relocated as well, because trees are more likely to survive a transplant when they move with their original soil.
5. Using the first set of airbags, the movers rolled the platform into the new hole.
6. The bags waiting there were then inflated further to take the weight of the sequoia while the transportation bags were deflated and removed from under the tree.
7. The white bags were then deflated in about half an hour to lower the sequoia's root ball to the bottom of its hole. The bags were removed, but the metal bars were left with the tree because they rust and degrade over a number of years.
8. For the next five years the local park service will monitor and maintain the tree in its new home.
1. Which of the following words can be used to replace the words underlined " stood in the way of" ?| A．Resisted. | B．Balanced. |
| C．Blocked. | D．Promoted. |
| A．Because the Scooping and lifting technology should be put into use. |
| B．Because it blocks local hospital expansion plans. |
| C．Because it corresponds to government’s plan of Environmental Design. |
| D．Because sequoia trees are over a hundred years old. |
| A．They will be given new soil in the new living environment. |
| B．Metal rods used to move sequoia trees will not be left on the trees. |
| C．They will be kept in transport bags all the time. |
| D．They will be managed by specialists in the next five years. |
4 . Bitcoin and other so-called cryptocurrencies （加密货币）have been all over the news lately. Apparently, the idea of money that's not tied to a specific bank—or a specific country—is appealing to many. But it's worth remembering that the banking system that we now all live with is just that： A modern invention. Not so long ago, money was almost always created and used locally, and bartering was common. （In fact, it still is common among many online local networks, like the Buy Nothing Project.）.
In the past, money's makeup varied from place to place, depending on what was considered valuable there. So while some of the world's first coins were made from a naturally occurring hybrid of gold and silver called electrum （银金矿），objects other than coins have served as currency, including beads, ivory, livestock, and cowrie shells. In West Africa, bracelets of bronze or copper were used as cash, especially if the transaction was associated with the slave trade there. Throughout the colonial period, tobacco was used to replace coins or paper bills in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, even though it was used elsewhere in the colonies and extensively throughout Europe and the U. K.
Today, on an island in the Pacific, a specific type of shell still serves as currency—and some people there are even hoarding（贮存）it, just like Bitcoin moguls, convinced that one day, it will make them wealthy beyond imagination. On Malaita, the most-populated island that's part of the Solomon Islands, shells are accepted at most places in exchange for goods.
"How much tuna（金枪鱼）you can get for your shells depends on their color and shape," Mary Bruno, a shop owner from the small town of Auki, on Malaita, told Vice. "One strip of darker shells might get you about two cans of smaller tuna, but the red ones are worth more. For the red ones, one strip might get enough tuna to feed a big family for a long time."
Just like a mint that creates coins, there's only one place on the island where the shells, which are polished and strung together to form 3-foot-long ropes, are made. The strips of red, white, and black shells all come from Langa Langa Lagoon, where artificial islands were long-ago built by locals to escape from the island-dwelling cannibals. Once marooned（困住）out on their islands, locals needed a currency to use among themselves, and so the shell currency was born.
Using shells for money was common throughout the Pacific islands as late as the early 1900s, but Malaita is unique in that they are still used today. And just like cryptocurrencies, there are those who think the islanders are smart to invest in this type of money, which is reported to have risen in value over the last three decades. It might seem strange to hoard a bunch of processed, strung-together shells, but what is a pile of dollars? Just a specially printed piece of paper and hemp that we've assigned value to—and probably less durable over time than those shells.
1. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?| A．Money was created and was widely used in the world. |
| B．Tobacco was used as coins or paper bills in American in the past. |
| C．The ingredients of world’s first coins may be the combination of gold and silver. |
| D．Using shells for money has been out of date in the world. |
| A．a kind of money that can exchange |
| B．the leaves of a mint plant used fresh or candied |
| C．a place to produce and polish shells |
| D．a factory that produces currency |
| A．Reasonable. | B．Imaginary. |
| C．Convenient. | D．Inventive. |
| A．The History of Bitcoin |
| B．Shells Still Money |
| C．The Currency Is of Great Use |
| D．Some Shells |
5 . For some people,music is no fun at all. About four percent of the population is what scientists call “amusic.” People who are amusic are born without the ability to recognize or reproduce musical notes(音调). Amusic people often cannot tell the difference between two songs. Amusics can only hear the difference between two notes if they are very far apart on the musical scale.
As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. Their inability to enjoy music sets them apart from others. It can be difficult for other people to identify with their condition. In fact, most people cannot begin to grasp what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping mall can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics intentionally stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in withdrawal and social isolation. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret,a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify this unusual condition.
Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from the brains of people who can appreciate music. The difference is complex, and it doesn't involve defective hearing. Amusics can understand other nonmusical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding ordinary speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can't see. certain colors.
Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed(诊断). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her problem with music. Now she knows that she is not alone. There is a name for her condition. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say,” No thanks, I'm amusic,'“says Margaret. “I just wish I had learned to say that when I was seventeen and not seventy.”
1. Which of the following is true of amusic?| A．Listening to music is far from enjoyable for them. |
| B．They love places where they are likely to hear music. |
| C．They can easily tell two different songs apart. |
| D．Their situation is well understood by musicians. |
| A．dislikes listening to speeches |
| B．can hear anything nonmusical |
| C．has a hearing problem |
| D．lacks a complex hearing system |
| A．her problem with music had been diagnosed earlier |
| B．she were seventeen years old rather than seventy |
| C．her problem could be easily explained |
| D．she were able to meet other amusics |
| A．Amusics' strange behaviours. |
| B．Some people's inability to enjoy music. |
| C．Musical talent and brain structure. |
| D．Identification and treatment of amusics. |
After a two-week dig, scientists have concluded that Stonehenge was “the ancient healthcare centre of southern England” because of the existence of “bluestones”---the smaller columns of dolerite（辉绿岩）that formed an earlier stone structure.
By dating pieces of remains to around 7330BC, Tim Darvill, of Bournemouth University, and Goff Wainwright, of the Society of Amtiquaries have found that hunter-gatherers were at the site on Salisbury Plain 4,000 years earlier than thought. The first stage of Stonehenge, a round earthwork structure, was built around 3000BC. Professor Wainwright added: “I did not expect the degree of complexity we discovered. We’re able to say so much more about when Stonehenge was built and why---all of which changes our previous understanding of the monument.”
The research reveals the importance of the henge’s famous bluestones. Hundreds of bluestone chips gathered at the site have led the team to conclude that the bluestones were valued for their curing effects---the key reason that about 80 of them, each weighing up to 4 tons and a half, were dragged more than 150 miles from the Preseli Hills to Wiltshire. After years of research, Professors Darvill and Wainwright have concluded that, for thousands of years, the Preseli mountain range was home to magical health centers and holy wells.
Even today there are those who believe in the curing powers of the springs for coughs and heart disease, and people who use crystals and bluestones for self-curing. Radiocarbon tests have also revealed that the construction of the original bluestone circle took place around 2300BC, three centuries later than originally thought. Interestingly, on the same day died the “Amesbury Archer”---a sick traveler from the Swiss or German Alps who had an infected knee---whose remains were discovered about five miles from Stonehenge. The professors believe that he was a devoted religious person who was hoping to benefit from the curing powers of the monument.
1. Stonehenge is recently believed to be a place for people .
| A．to recover from poor health | B．to observe star movements |
| C．to hold religious ceremonies | D．to gather huge bluestones |
| A．The springs could cure coughs and heart disease best. |
| B．The new discovery was the same as what had been expected. |
| C．Some huge bluestones were not produced at Stonehenge. |
| D．The original bluestone circle was thought to be constructed around 2000BC. |
| A．a devoted religious person from Stonehenge |
| B．one of the earliest discoverers of Stonehenge |
| C．the first explorer to test the magical power of bluestones |
| D．a patient trying to cure his infection at Stonehenge |
| A．Stonehenge: A New Place of Interest | B．Stonehenge: Still Making News |
| C．Stonehenge: Heaven for Adventurers | D．Stonehenge: Still Curing Patients |
7 . Human remains of ancient settlements will be reburied and lost to science under a law that threatens research into the history of humans in Britain, a group of leading archeologists (考古学家) says. In a letter addressed to the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, 40 archaeologists write of their “deep and widespread concern” about the issue. It centers on the law introduced by the Ministry of Justice in 2008 which requires all human remains unearthed in England and Wales to be reburied within two years, regardless of their age. The decision means scientists have too little time to study bones and other human remains of national and cultural significance.
“Your current requirement that all archaeologically unearthed human remains should be reburied, whether after a standard period of two years or further special extension, is contrary to basic principles of archaeological and scientific research and of museum practice,” they write.
The law applies to any pieces of bone uncovered at around 400 dig including the remains of 60 or so bodies found at Stonehenge in 2008 that date back to 3,000 BC. Archaeologists have been granted a temporary extension to give them more time, but eventually the bones will have to he returned to the ground.
The arrangements may result in the waste of future discoveries at sites such as Happisburgh in Norfolk, where digging is continuing after the discovery of stone tools made by early humans 950,000 years ago. If human remains were found at Happisburgh, they would be the oldest in northern Europe and the first indication of what this species was. Under the current practice of the law those remains would have to be reburied and effectively destroyed.
Before 2008, guidelines allowed for the proper preservation and study of bones of sufficient age and historical interest, while the Burial Act 1857 applied to more recent remains. The Ministry of Justice assured archaeologists two years ago that the law was temporary, but has so far failed to revise it.
Mike Parker Pearson, an archaeologist at Sheffield University, said: “Archaeologists have been extremely patient because we were led to believe the ministry was sorting out this problem, but we feel that we cannot wait any longer.”
The ministry has no guidelines on where or how remains should be reburied, or on what records should be kept.
1. According to the passage, scientists are unhappy with the law mainly because .| A．it is only a temporary measure on the human remains |
| B．it was introduced by the government without their knowledge |
| C．it is unreasonable and thus destructive to scientific research |
| D．it is vague about where and how to rebury human remains |
| A．Temporary extension of two years will guarantee scientists enough time. |
| B．Human remains of the oldest species were dug out at Happisburgh. |
| C．Scientists have been warned that the law can hardly be changed. |
| D．Human remains will have to be reburied despite the extension of time. |
| A．The Ministry of Justice has not done enough about the law. |
| B．The Burial Act 1857 only applied to remains uncovered before 1857. |
| C．The law on human remains hasn’t changed in recent decades. |
| D．The Ministry of Justice did not intend it to protect human remains. |
| A．New discoveries should be reburied, the government demands. |
| B．Law could bury ancient secrets for ever, archeologists warn. |
| C．Law on human remains needs thorough discussion, authorities say. |
| D．Research time should be extended, scientists require. |
8 . More and more corporations are taking an interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR is made up of three broad layers. The most basic is traditional corporate charity work. Companies typically spend about 1% of pre-tax profits on worthy projects. But many feel that simply writing cheques to charities is no longer enough. In some companies, shareholders want to know that their money is being put to good use, and employees want to be actively involved in good works.
Money alone is not the answer when companies come under attack for their behavior. Hence the second layer of CSR, which is a branch of risk management. Starting in the 1980s, with environmental disasters such as the explosion at Bhopal and the Exxon Valdez oil spill, industry after industry has suffered blows to its reputation.
So, companies often responded by trying to manage the risks. They talk to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and to governments, create codes of conduct and devote themselves to more transparency in their operations. Increasingly, too. they, along with their competitors, set common rules to spread risks.
All this is largely defensive, but there are also opportunities for those that get ahead of the game. The emphasis on opportunity is the third layer of CSR: the idea that it can help to create value. If approached in a strategic way, CSR could become part of a company’s competitive advantage. That is just the sort of thing chief executives like to hear. The idea of “doing well by doing good” has become popular.
Nevertheless, the business of trying to be good is bringing difficult questions to executives. Can you measure CSR performance? Should you be cooperating with NGOs and you’re your competitors? Is there any really competitive advantage to be had from a green strategy?
Corporate social responsibility is now seen as a mainstream. Big companies want to tell the world about their good citizenship with their devotion to social responsibilities. Done badly, CSR is often just window-dressing and can be positively harmful. Done well, though, it is not some separate activity that companies do on the side, a corner of corporate life reserved for virtue: it is just good business.
(Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS)
1. Both _________ in some companies find it no longer enough to simply donate money to charities.
2. Give one example of the defensive measures of risk management according to the passage.
3. With the emphasis on opportunity, the third layer of CSR is meant to_________.
4. According to the passage, “good business” (paragraph 6) means that corporations ________ while making profits.
The set-up is relatively simple. Both users wear a virtual reality headset with a camera on the top. The video from each camera is sent to the other person, so what you see is the exact view of your partner. If she moves her arm, you see it. If you move your arm, she sees it.
To get used to seeing another person's body without actually having control of it, participants start by raising their arms and legs very slowly, so that the other can follow along. Eventually, this kind of slow synchronised（同步的）movement becomes comfortable, and participants really start to feel as though they are living in another person's body.
Using such technology promises to alter people's behaviour afterwards-potentially for the better. Studies have shown that virtual reality can be effective in fighting racism-the bias（偏见）that humans have against those who don't look or sound like them. Researchers at the University of Barcelona gave people a questionnaire called the Implicit Association Test, which measures the strength of people's associations between, for instance, black people and adjectives such as good, bad, athletic or awkward. Then they asked them to control the body of a dark skinned digital character using virtual reality glasses, before taking the test again. This time, the participants' bias scores were lower. The idea is that once you've "put yourself in another's shoes" you're less likely to think ill of them, because your brain has internalised the feeling of being that person.
The creators of The Machine to Be Another hope to achieve a similar result. "At the end of body swapping, people feel like holding each other in their arms," says Arthur Pointeau, a programmer with the project. "It's a really nice way to have this kind of experience. I would really, really recommend it to everyone."
1. The word "swapping" (paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to______.
| A．building | B．exchanging | C．controlling | D．transplanting |
| A．our feelings are related to our bodily experience |
| B．we can learn to take control of other people's bodies |
| C．participants will live more passionately after the experiment |
| D．The Machine to Be Another can help people change their sexes |
| A．they fought strongly against racism |
| B．they scored lower on the test for racism |
| C．they changed their behaviour dramatically |
| D．they were more biased against those unlike them |
| A．technology helps people realize their dreams |
| B．our biases could be eliminated through experiments |
| C．virtual reality helps promote understanding among people |
| D．our points of view about others need changing constantly |
Let's say you want to hit the gym more regularly this year. How do you make that happen? Consider putting the habit loop to use.
Here's how it works:
A habit is a 3-step process. First, there's a cue, something that tells your brain to operate automatically. Then there's a routine. And finally, a reward, which helps your brain learn to desire the behavior. It's what you can use to create-or break-habits of your own.
Here's how to apply it:
Choose a cue, like leaving your running shoes by the door, then pick a reward-say, a piece of chocolate when you get home from the gym. That way, the cue and the reward become interconnected. Finally, when you see the shoes, your brain will start longing for the reward, which will make it easier to work out day after day. The best part? In a couple of weeks, you won't need the chocolate at all. Your brain will come to see the workout itself as the reward. Which is the whole point, right?
1. Which of the following best fits in the box with a “?” in THE HABIT LOOP?
| A．Pick a new cue. | B．Form a new habit. |
| C．Choose a new reward. | D．Design a new resolution. |
| A．changing the routine | B．trying it for a week |
| C．adjusting your goal | D．writing it down |
| A．To test out different kinds of cues. |
| B．To do something as a habit even without rewards. |
| C．To work out the best New Year's resolution. |
| D．To motivate yourself with satisfactory rewards. |
| A．The Harry Potter poster. |
| B．Reading 30 pages of an English novel. |
| C．An English newspaper. |
| D．Watching TV for half an hour. |
