1 . On January 15th, the Guardian showed off its new, smaller look, shifting from its distinctive “Berliner” format to a tabloid(娱乐小报) shape with a redesigned logo in black type. But the more dramatic makeover is of the financial books of Guardian Media Group (GMG), publisher of the Sunday Observer and the daily Guardian, which may find its new operation in the black next financial year. A newspaper business that two years ago was threatened with existentially worrying losses appears on the edge of breaking even.
The turnaround is partly due to steep cost-cutting, which is a dog-bites-man story in journalism. But the Guardian would manage the achievement while still giving away news free online, and that is a story worth telling.
In January 2016 David Pemsel, the new chief executive of GMG, and Katharine Viner, the new editor-in-chief of the Guardian, informed staff that GMG’s endowment fund, meant to ensure the financial security of the paper in the long run, had lost £100m ($140m) in just half a year, taking it to £740m. Mr Pemsel was advised by industry peers to cut costs and put online news behind a paywall. He and Ms Viner cut costs by 20%, or more than £50m. Alan Rusbridger, Ms Viner’s predecessor(前任), had led the newspaper to global relevance with a large online readership. But he spent without thinking of the consequences. In two years GMG has reduced its employees by 400, to about 1,500.
Yet unlike a growing number of newspapers, the Guardian has not put up a paywall. Instead it has pursued a membership model, asking online readers to contribute whatever they like. About 600,000 now do, with annual payments or one-off amounts. American readers tend to choose the latter option, Ms Viner says. GMG says the total figure amounts to tens of millions of pounds per year. Ms Viner says revenue from readers (including 200,000 print subscribers) is now greater than revenue from advertisers.
The result is steadily declining operating losses: from £69m two years ago to £45m last financial year and, Mr Pemsel says, less than £25m in the year that ends on April 1st. He predicts breaking even next year. Giving up its own printing presses and going tabloid will help, saving several million pounds a year. The Guardian may now physically look more like its peers, but its turnaround story remains distinctive.
1. The phrase “in the black”(Paragraph 1) most probably means ______.| A．making profit | B．taking on a new look |
| C．losing support | D．enjoying great popularity |
| A．He advised GMG to cost costs. |
| B．He got the Guardian into trouble. |
| C．He was the founder of GMG’s endowment fund. |
| D．He was fired due to his failure to bring the Guardian online. |
| A．To pay as they like. | B．To skip the advertisements. |
| C．To join its membership club. | D．To connect to other newspapers. |
| A．The Guardian has been reduced to a tabloid. |
| B．The Guardian succeeds by giving away news free online. |
| C．The Guardian turns around by looking more likes its peers. |
| D．The Guardian has broken even by cutting its operation costs. |
We all need a little motivation when it comes to working out, and GymPact is the perfect way to get inspired.
How does it work? Make a commitment to work out a certain number of times a week. Choose the amount of money you are willing to risk if you don’t reach your goal. If you don’t achieve your goal? Your credit card gets charged. Achieved your goal? You get paid! The days of being paid to work out have finally come!
Compatibility(兼容性): iOS and AndroidZombie, Run! 2
That’s right. The zombie craze has even reached the fitness world. This action packed app adds an element that is sometimes missing from other workout apps-fun.
Zombies, Run! and Zombies, Run! 2 mix games and stories into your run as you complete missions in a world with zombies. Whether you’re gathering supplies, saving a human, or out-running a crowd of the undead, this app excites your normal jog with imagination and competition.
Compatibility: iOS and AndroidWeight Watchers Mobile
Sure, you’ve heard of Weight Watchers, but there is a reason this company has been around so long. Their system gets great results—plain and simple.
Weight Watchers Mobile is a great way to track your calorie consumption by using their point system. Not only can you enter and search for different foods in their database, you can scan barcodes for instant information about what you’re eating. The app counts down your available calories by day and also by week.
Weight Watchers Mobile even has a section to find foods from your favourite restaurants, and information on portion control and healthy eating. Their clean-looking, easy-to-use interface makes dieting more manageable and straightforward.
Compatibility: iOS and Android1. What’s the purpose of GymPact?
| A．To reward those who keep their word. | B．To teach the importance of working out. |
| C．To show how to earn money by exercising. | D．To help people stick to their workout plan. |
| A．Zombies are used to train users to run faster. |
| B．The app users are to compete against zombies. |
| C．It is designed to make running more enjoyable. |
| D．This app can improve both health and imagination. |
| A．record your calorie intake | B．easily organize your diet |
| C．order foods from a restaurant | D．get information about foods |
3 . Many questions can be expected in advance and it’s wise to have some well-constructed answers that you can tailor more closely on the day. It’s sensible to have a number of key phrases to use. Remember to always try and make your answers positive.
Q1: Tell me about yourself. (The interviewer is really saying “I want to hear you talk.”)
A1: This is just to get things started, but it is a very common question. Write a script, and practice it so that it sounds natural. Spend a maximum of four minutes describing your qualifications, career history and your range of skills. Emphasize those skills that are relevant to the job on offer.
Q2: What have been your achievements to date? (The interviewer is saying “Are you an achiever?”)
A2: Again, this is a common question, so be prepared. Select an achievement that is experience-related and fairly recent. Identify skills you used in this achievement and say what the results were.
Q3: What do you like about your present job? (The interviewer is really trying to find out whether you will enjoy the things the new job has to offer.)
A3: This is a straightforward question. All you have to make sure is that your ‘likes’ correspond to the skills etc. required for the job on offer. Be positive, describe your job as interesting and diverse, but do not overdo it. After all, you are leaving?
Q4: What are your strengths? (The interviewer simply wants a straightforward answer as to what you are good at.)
A4: This is the one question that you are definitely going to get, so there is no excuse for being unprepared. Concentrate on discussing your main strengths. List three or four explanations of how they could benefit the employer. Strengths to consider include technical proficiency; ability to learn quickly; determination to succeed; positive attitude; your ability to relate to people and achieve a common goal. You may be asked to give examples of the above, so be prepared.
Q5: Tell me about the most difficult situation you’ve had to face and how you handled it.
(The interview is really trying to find out your definition of “difficult” and whether you can show a logical approach to problem solving using your initiative.)
A5: This can be a trap! To avoid it, select a difficult work situation that was not caused by you and which can be quickly explained in a few sentences. Explain how you defined the problem, what the options were, why you selected the one you did and what the outcome was. Always end on a positive note.
1. The passage is mainly intended to ________.| A．highlight the importance of looking positive in an interview |
| B．give suggestions on how to answer interview questions |
| C．provide some sample answers to interview questions |
| D．illustrate how to look confident in an interview |
| A．talk about what you dislike about it |
| B．comment positively on your colleagues |
| C．relates it to the job you are applying for |
| D．describe how interesting it is as far as possible |
| A．Tell me about yourself? |
| B．Tell me about your strengths? |
| C．What have been your achievements to date? |
| D．How did you handle the most difficult situation? |
4 . We offer a programme of lectures by members of the MCLL community and other lifelong learning organisations, as well as university faculty members who have been invited to share their research with us on a variety of topics. View Instructions on How to Register Online.
Lecture 1: Social Media and MisinformationTime: Friday, June 9, 10:00 a.m.
Presenter: Richard Harris
Attendance: Online
A retired American IT professional, Richard Harris, will take us deep into a social media’s business model, its differences from traditional media, recent examples of its use for misinformation and possible solutions that respect freedom of expression. A lively round-table discussion not to be missed!
Lecture 2: Global Mental HealthTime: Friday, June 16, 1:00 p.m.
Presenter: Marc Laporta
Attendance: Online
Mental health was known to the public quite late. Many countries are finding ways to reduce its impact, but many factors get in the way. However, progress is visible, and hope is justified. Mare Laporta will discuss different aspects of mental health and exchange ideas about ways to improve the situation.
Lecture 3: The Silk RoadTime: Friday, June 23, 10:00 a.m.
Presenter: George Lapa
Attendance: Online
The Silk Road refers to a network of routes, covering over 6,400 km, used by traders from the Han Dynasty of China who opened trade in 130 BCE until 1453 CE. The exchange of information gave rise to new technologies and innovations that changed the Western world. Topics such as gunpowder, the compass (指南针), paper-making and printing will be presented.
Lecture 4: South to Textile FactoriesTime: Friday, June 30, 10:00 a.m.
Presenter: Muriel Herrington
Attendance: In person
Between 1840 and 1930 a million French-Canadians left Canada to work in the United States. Many were employed in textile (纺织品) factories in the New England states. In these areas they set up communities where they maintained the French language and culture. In this lecture Muriel Herrington will describe their working and living conditions and show their impact.
1. What will the audience attending Lecture 1 do?| A．Build a social media’s business model. |
| B．Exchange ideas with each other. |
| C．Enjoy more respect and freedom. |
| D．Contact the presenter in advance. |
| A．Marc Laporta. | B．Richard Harris. | C．George Lapa. | D．Muriel Herrington. |
| A．The Silk Road. |
| B．South to Textile Factories. |
| C．Global Mental Health. |
| D．Social Media and Misinformation. |
5 . Top Exhibitions to See in London in 2023
Architectural: Vanishing Points
While we like to think of architecture existing purely in the real world, emerging designers and architects are using platforms like Instagram to create structures in the virtual world. This collection of works, which range from the practical to the fantastical, are all by architects who have gathered significant social media followings.
In the Digital Universe at ROCA London. 8 February—31 July, free.
Flowery: Orchids
This annual festival is back in bloom (开花), this time inspired by the beauty and biodiversity of Cameroon. Just like previous years, the orchids are spread throughout the various zones of the Princess of Wales conservatory and accompanied by sculptures that are just as colourful as the flowers on display.
At Kew Gardens. 4 February —5 March, &16.50—entrance to the gardens included.
Female Abstraction: Action, Gesture, Paint
Art history has often shone a light on the men of Abstract Expressionism, such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. Well, now’s the time to let the most important women of the movement take the limelight in an exhibition that includes works by American artists such as Lee Krasner and Helen Frankenthaler, but spreads the net wider to include the female abstract artists from Europe, Asia and the wider world, with whom most of us will be unfamiliar.
At Whitechapel Gallery. 9 February—7 May, £ 16.50—concessions available.
Powerful Portraits (肖像): Alice Neel
The largest UK exhibition to date of American painter Alice Neel’s work will bring together her figurative pieces from across her 60-year career. Neel went against the popular grain by painting figures when abstract works were most popular, and she painted subjects that other artists ignored — pregnant women, labour leaders, black children, civil rights activists and strange performers. It’s high time we had a major show of her work in London, and the Barbican has duly provided.
At Barbican Art Gallery. 16 February—21 May, & 18.
1. Which of the following exhibitions is held once a year?| A．Flowery: Orchids. |
| B．Powerful Portraits: Alice Neel. |
| C．Architectural: Vanishing Points. |
| D．Female Abstraction: Action, Gesture, Paint. |
| A．On February 8. | B．On January 7. | C．On April 7. | D．On May 8. |
| A．She is 60 years old now. |
| B．Her works didn’t follow the trend. |
| C．She often ignored some common subjects. |
| D．She is the most popular American painter in the UK. |
6 .
 New big pack from Sierra Designs The latest pack from Sierra Designs is the Gigawatt 60L. The pack has an adjustable back system that fits back lengths from 40cm to 53cm. It’s made from durable 300D polyester. Features include a zipped top and side access, oversized side and front pockets. The Gigawatt 60L weighs 1.84kg and costs £130. sierradesigns.com |  Scarpa upgrades its Maestrale boots Maestrale Re-Made ski boots are made from Polymer taken from around three tons of leftover materials. Creating a Re-Made boot from Polymer emits 27% less carbon dioxide than creating a “classic” boot from plant-based Pebax Rnew, which emits 32% less carbon dioxide than Fossil-based Plastics. The design and manufacturing process behind the Re-Made boot were developed by Scarpa’s Green Lab, the production department dedicated to sustainable solutions. A pair costs £500. scarpa.co.uk / ellis-brigham.com |
 Vasque Breeze gets sustainable update The well-established Vasque Breeze hiking boot has been modernised with environmentally friendly materials. It’s now made with recycled polyester and is the first boot to have a VasqueDry Waterproof membrane, which is made from 25% recycled materials. The Breeze is also comfortable to wear with its soft footbed. The Breeze weighs 1120 grams and comes in two widths. It costs £140. vasque.com |  The North Face launches new ski touring clothing The Dawn Turn clothing provides a layering system for ski touring designed to keep you warm, dry and freely moving. It includes a shell jacket, midlayers, trousers and accessories. The Dawn Turn 2.0 jacket won the innovation award at ISPO for its breathable layer. The cost is £350. The Dawn Turn 1.0 Jacket is made from waterproof DryVent. It features a windproof hood and oversized front pockets, and costs £325. thenorthface.co.uk |
| A．The ski athletes | B．The outdoor lovers |
| C．The environmentalists | D．The sports retailers |
| A．Both kinds of boots mentioned in the passage have two different widths. |
| B．The latest big pack from Sierra Designs has a fixed back system. |
| C．The Vasque Breeze hiking boot is both eco-friendly and waterproof. |
| D．The Dawn Turn 1.0 Jacket won the innovation award at ISPO. |
| A．Polymer > Pebax Renew >Fossil-based Plastics |
| B．Fossil-based Plastics > Pebax Renew > Polymer |
| C．Fossil-based Plastics > Polymer >Pebax Renew |
| D．Polymer >Fossil-based Plastics >Pebax Renew |
7 . Catherine Garland, a physics professor, started seeing “the problem” in 2019. She’d laid out the assignment clearly during an engineering course, but student after student was calling her over for help. They were all getting the same error message: The program couldn’t find their files.
Garland thought it would be an easy fix. She asked each student where they had saved their project. “Could they be on the desktop? Perhaps in the Documents folder?” But over and over, she was met with confusion. “What are you talking about?” multiple students inquired. Gradually, Garland came to the realization: the concept of file folders and directories, essential to previous generations, understanding of computers, is gibberish to many modern students.
Garland’s mental model is commonly known as “directory structure”, the hierarchical system (层级体系) of folders used to arrange files. What have caused the mental model to change? It is possible that many students spent their high school years storing documents in the cloud storage like OneDrive and Dropbox rather than in physical spaces. It could also have to do with the other apps they’re accustomed to. “When I want to scroll (滚屏) over to Snapchat, Twitter, they’re not in any particular order, but I know exactly where they are,” says Vogel, who is a devoted iPhone user. Some of it boils down to muscle memory.
It may also be that in an age where every user interface includes a search function, young people have never needed folders or directories. The first internet search engines were used around 1990, but features like Windows Search are products of the early 2000s. While many of today’s professors grew up without search functions, today’s students increasingly don’t remember a world without them.
Some may blame the generational incompetence. An international study claimed that only 2 percent of Generation Z (born from 1997 onwards) had achieved the “digital native” level of computer literacy. But the issue is likely not that modern students are learning fewer digital skills, but rather that they’re learning different ones. Garland, for all her knowledge of directory structure, doesn’t understand Instagram nearly as well as her students do. “They use computers one way, and we use computers another way,” Garland emphasizes. “That’s where the problem lies.”
1. The word “gibberish” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to________.| A．common | B．accessible | C．nonsense | D．fundamental |
| A．There is no search function in the directory structure. |
| B．College professors have weaker muscles than students do. |
| C．Modern students like to store documents in physical drives. |
| D．The change in mental models reflects the progress in technology. |
| A．highlights the different mindsets of two generations |
| B．criticizes modern students’ overuse of online apps |
| C．shows the difficulty of teaching today’s students |
| D．calls on a change in the education of physics |
| A．Teaching students directory structure. |
| B．Improving generational understanding. |
| C．Enhancing Generation Z’s digital skills. |
| D．Urging teachers to learn search functions. |
8 . Personality may play only a small part in leadership effectiveness, but there is no doubt that some leaders have a certain magic that leaves peers envious and followers entranced. If you could bottle this leadership X-factor—charisma—the queue of interested executives would be a long-one. But what qualities can these often highly successful leaders be said to possess?
As individuals, charismatic leaders have highly developed communication skills, including the ability to convey emotions easily and naturally to others, says Ronald Riggio, professor of leadership and organizational psychology. “They are able to inspire and arouse the emotions of followers through their emotional expressiveness and verbal skills.”
“They connect with followers because they seem to truly understand others’ feelings and concerns.”
“And they are great role models because they have the ability to engage others socially and display appropriate role-playing skills that allow them to walk the talk” Professor Riggio says.
“One quality we like in our leaders is if they are seen to really represent us. We think someone is more charismatic, the more they represent our collective identity,” Professor Van Knippenberg says. In this way, a charismatic leader is somehow a larger-than-life version of ourselves.
Academics say that charismatic leaders also manage to stand out from the crowd. They might do this by being unconventional or by taking a different approach to problem-solving, for example.
“They are up for new things, and they are not stuck in the status quo. They are open to out-of-the-box thinking, etc. An optimistic, energetic quality helps us to see leadership qualities in them and makes us open to their influence,” he says.
“A lot of charismatic leadership, and leadership in general, is very contextual. It’s really good in entrepreneurial firms. It’s also good for turnarounds if the organization is in a bad state because it inspires”, says Kai Peters, the chief executive of Ashridge Business School.
But not every organization needs a charismatic leader. Leaders loaded with the X-factor can be narcissistic (自恋的), self-glorifying, exploitative and authoritarian. As Peters says: “Where it is a problem is where you have ‘look at me, I’m a star.’’’
1. Which word is closest in meaning to “charisma” in the first paragraph?| A．Charm. | B．Character. | C．Gratitude. | D．Optimism. |
| A．proper role-playing skills | B．subtle emotional expressiveness |
| C．marvellous problem-solving ability | D．unconventionality in the crowds |
| A．The one who has a heroical image. |
| B．The one who can speak for us. |
| C．The one who is a collective version of us. |
| D．The one who resembles us in characteristic. |
| A．Critical. | B．Approved. | C．Neutral. | D．Suspicious. |
9 . Page, my younger brother by four years, has been braindamaged from birth. He does not speak, cannot hear and see poorly through his remaining eye. He stays home, staring at the television happily. But it wasn’t always this way.
On a lot summer morning, Mum had penciled “VISIT GRANDMA” for Page in large letters on a napkin before we left for the nursing home. No one expected to understand that this might be our last visit.
We arrived there and stepped into her room. The strokes had left grandma trembling and unresponsive. Her mouth hung open, and her wide eyes shut and opened quickly and stared but appeared not to see.
We stood round the bed, smiling uncomfortably, and saying that everything would be all right. For the first time, I was free to talk all I wanted.
Page was standing quietly next to the window with his face brilliant red, tears following from his eyes. Just then, he pushed through the group and made his way to the bed. He leaned over Grandma’s withered body and took her cheeks gently in his hands.
Those of us with healthy ears were deaf to the volumes being spoken in that wonderful, wordless exchange.
We kissed Grandma, and slowly walked out of the room one by one. I was the last to leave. “Bye, Grandma,” I said. As I turned to look at her one last time, I noticed her lips come together, as if she was trying to speak. Somehow, if for a moment, she gathered the strength to say goodbye.
That afternoon by Grandma’s deathbed, when none of us knew what to say, my speechless brother had said it all.
| A．Head bowed, he stood there, his cheeks wet with tears. |
| B．That is when I knew Page had reached her. |
| C．I tried to express my love to her. |
| D．I felt a rush of warmth deep inside me. |
| E．Nobody thought he would appeared and burst out crying. |
| F．But I could think of nothing to say to her. |
10 . Can artificial intelligence uncover a liar? It sounds like science fiction, but such an AI system is possible. The question is: How accurate can it be? Rada Mihalcea, a professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan, has worked on deception detection for about a decade. This is how they constructed one AI deception detector, and how it works.
The first thing that researchers working on artificial intelligence and machine learning need is data. In the case of the work that Mlhalcea did, they began with videos from actual court cases. For example, a defendant speaking in a trial in which they were found guilty could provide an example of deceit; they also used testimony from witnesses as either example of truthful or deceitful statements. Altogether, they used 121 video clips and the corresponding transcripts of what they said—about half represented deceptive statements, and half truthful. It was this data that they used to build machine learning classifiers that ultimately had between a 60 to 75 percent accuracy rate.
One thing the system noticed is the use of pronouns—people who are lying would tend to less often use the word ‘I’ or ‘we’, Mihalcea explains. “Instead, people who are lying would more often use ‘you,’ ‘yours,’ ‘he,’ ‘they,’ and ‘she.’” That’s not the only linguistic signal: someone telling a lie would use “stronger words” that “reflect certainty,” she says. Examples of those types of words are “absolutely,” and “very,” while interestingly, people telling the truth were more likely to use words such as “maybe” or “probably.” “I think people who are deceptive would try to make up for the lie they are putting forward,” she says, “and so they try to seem more certain of themselves.” As for gestures, she points out that someone being deceitful would more likely look directly into the eyes of the person questioning them. They also tended to use both hands when gesturing. Instead of just one—also, she suspects, as part of trying to be convincing.
However, Mlhalcea’s work is “far from perfection,” she concedes. “As a researcher, we are excited we were able to get to 75 percent accuracy.” But looked at another way, that’s an error rate of one in four. Ultimately, she sees technology like this as being assistive for people—it could, for example, indicate that it noticed something “unusual” in a speaker’s statement, and then perhaps have a person “investigate more.”
1. What researchers need first to predict whether a defendant is lying is ______.| A．statements | B．data | C．pronouns | D．gestures |
| A．They used a classifier to build the system. |
| B．They involved AI system in a real-life trial. |
| C．They fed the system with both truthful and deceptive statements. |
| D．They used defendant’s statements as deceptive examples and witnesses’ as truthful examples. |
| A．Using pronouns frequently. |
| B．Looking straight in your eyes. |
| C．Gesturing with both two hands. |
| D．Using strong words to make it sound more certain. |
| A．Her work fails to live up to her expectation. |
| B．AI technology can be used as an aid for human beings. |
| C．AI can replace human beings in deception detection now. |
| D．AI is so far from perfection that it can’t be used to assist people to uncover a liar. |
