2 . Women are still underrepresented in top academic positions. One of the possible explanations for this is the increasing importance of obtaining research funding. Women are often less successful in this than men. Psychology researchers Dr. Romy van der Lee and professor Naomi Ellemers investigated whether this difference also occurs at the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and examined potential explanations.
The researchers were assigned by NWO to carry out this study as part of the broader evaluation of NWO’s procedures and its gender diversity policy. The aim was to gain more insight into the causes of the differences in awarding rates for male and female applicants for research funding. The analysis addressed an important “talent programme” of NWO, the Veni grant. “Whoever receives this grant has a greater chance of obtaining an important appointment at a university, ” says Naomi Ellemers.
Van der Lee and Ellemers investigated all the applications submitted by male and female researchers over a period of three years: a total of 2823 applications. Under the direction of NWO these applications were assessed by scientific committees consisting of men and women. The results demonstrate that the awarding rates for female applicants (14.9%) are systematically lower than those for male applicants (17.7%). “If we compare the proportion of women among the applicants with the proportion of women among those awarded funding, we see a loss of 4%,” said Ellemers.
The study reveals that women are less positively evaluated for their qualities as researcher than men are, “Interestingly the research proposals of women and men are evaluated equally positively. In other words, the reviewers see no difference in the quality of the proposals that men and women submit,” says Romy van der Lee.
In search for a possible cause for the differences in awarding rates and evaluations, the researchers also investigated the language use in the instructions and forms used to assess the quality of applications. This clearly revealed the occurrence of gendered language. The words that are used to indicate quality are frequently words that were established in previous research as referring mainly to the male gender stereotype (such as challenging and excellent). Romy van der Lee explains: “As a result, it appears that men more easily satisfy the assessment criteria, because these better fit the characteristics stereoty-pically associated with men.”
In response to the results of this research, NWO will devote more attention to the gender awareness of reviewers in its methods and procedures. It will also be investigated which changes to the assessment procedures and criteria can most strongly contribute to more equal chances for men and women to obtain research funding. This will include an examination of the language used by NWO. NWO chair Jos Engelens said, “The research has yielded valuable results and insights. Based on the recommendations made by the researchers we will therefore focus in the coming period on the development of evidence-based measures to reduce the difference in awarding rates.”
1. Van der Lee and Ellemers carried out the research to find out whether _________.| A．women are less successful than men in top academic positions |
| B．female applicants are at a disadvantage in getting research funding |
| C．NOW’s procedures and gender diversity policy enhance fair play |
| D．there are equal chances for men and women to be admitted to a university |
| A．grant receivers were more likely to get appointments at universities |
| B．men applicants for research funding outnumbered women applicants |
| C．the research proposals of women are equally treated with those of men |
| D．the reviewers have narrow, prejudiced conceptions of women candidates |
| A．The words used in the instructions and forms. |
| B．The reviewers’ preference to applications. |
| C．The methods and procedures for evaluation. |
| D．The vague and unclear assessment criteria. |
| A．Eliminate possibilities for difference in awarding rates. |
| B．Design a language examination for all the reviewers. |
| C．Emphasize the importance of gender awareness. |
| D．Improve the assessment procedures and criteria. |
Cutting air pollution is on the agenda of all countries nowadays. In the efforts to build low-pollution cities, there are some traps city planners must avoid falling into.
Many countries intend to accomplish the switch to electric cars in the next two decades. In Canada, the government is planning to initiate policies for promoting the use of electric cars: a financial subsidy(补助)on purchase, low-interest rates on loans, etc. However, simply switching to electric cars doesn’t mean pollution-free cities. Emissions at different levels will still be caused when the electricity to run them is generated. Also, brakes, tyres and other components all create airborne particles(大气细颗粒物)pollution as they wear out.
A number of city planners are counting on the car-sharing system to be a great contributor to the reduction of emissions. According to the Economist, car-sharing is fashionable and trendy, but, when it comes to cutting emissions, “unreliable actually”. To make sure the cars come in handy and are always in good condition whenever and wherever a use needs to hit the road, more frequent road trips need to be made by lorries to transport these cars to the right parking spots and to auto repair centers for maintenance, causing extra emissions.
Across the cities around the world, as more people move to city centres, while young people especially are opting for other means of travel, researchers have recently made an inference that motor vehicle use in urban areas has already reached its peak and will decline. City planners need to catch up with this trend, instead of laying new roads to deal with traffic jams. As users of London’s orbital M25 motorway will know, new roads rapidly fill with more traffic. In the US, studies have shown that building new roads can simply multiply the traffic, taking us back to the starting point.
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6 . For the decade between the end of the financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, the ride-hailing app Uber boomed. The company’s business model relied on the flexibility of the rapidly-growing gig economy(零工经济), and its sky-high valuation directly represented its dominant market position.
Now its sufferings illustrate how those trends are shifting again. After almost a decade of being able to rely on cheap and swift Ubers to get around, city residents must get used to a new experience. A shortfall of British drivers got so bad that the chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi met with unions to recruit new workers on a visit to London.
There are some factors accounting for this shortage. During lock-downs few were taking trips, but with the reopening, and the urge to mingle(社交往来)again, came a sudden bounce-back(反弹). Uber said that demand in London had risen by about a fifth in 2021 and even more in smaller UK cities.
The flexibility and casual working arrangements that once so benefited the company now work in reverse in times of labour shortage.
In the past two years, the price of an Uber has increased by 92 percent, according to Rakuten Intelligence. Higher prices are likely to be here to stay.
| A．Workers have little, or no, loyalty to the company and can switch between different apps depending on which offers the better, or closer, ride |
| B．The government is now racking its brain to figure out ways to help support Uber to get through this difficult time. |
| C．The prospect of this huge industry cannot be underestimated. |
| D．In the meantime, thousands of drivers had found other jobs; even while economies were locked down drivers were still needed for takeaway and online shopping deliveries. |
| E．The question is what happens when more normal circumstances return. |
| F．It even sparked the word “Uberisation” to describe how its example helped transform industries, jobs and society. |
7 . How can the train operators possibly justify yet another increase to rail passenger fares? It has become a grimly reliable annual ritual: every January the cost of travelling by train rises, imposing a significant extra burden on those who have no option but to use the rail network to get to work or otherwise. This year’s rise, an average of 2.7 percent, may be a little bit lower than last year’s, but it is still well above the official Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure of inflation(通货膨胀).
Successive governments have permitted such increases on the grounds that the cost of investing in and running the rail network should be borne by those who use it, rather than the general taxpayer. Why, the argument goes, should a car-driving pensioner from Lincolnshire have to subsidise(补贴)the daily commute(通勤)of a rail traveller from Surrey? Equally, there is a sense that the sufferings of commuters in the South East, have received too much attention compared to those who must endure the relatively poor infrastructure of the Midlands and the North.
However, over the past 12 months, those commuters have also experienced some of the worst rail strikes in years. It is all very well train operators boasting about the improvements they are making to the network, but passengers should be able to expect a basic level of service for the substantial sums they are now paying to travel. The responsibility for the latest wave of strikes rests on the unions. However, there is a strong case that those who have been worst affected by industrial action should receive compensation for the disruption they have suffered.
The Government has promised to change the law to introduce a minimum service requirement so that, even when strikes occur, services can continue to operate. This should form part of a wider package of measures to address the long-running problems on Britain’s railways. Yes, more investment is needed, but passengers will not be willing to pay more indefinitely if they must also endure cramped, unreliable services, along with regular chaos when timetables are changed, or planned maintenance is managed incompetently. The threat of nationalisation may have been seen off for now, but it will return with a revenge if the justified anger of passengers is not addressed in short order.
1. The author holds that this year’s increase in rail passengers fares ________.| A．creates extra burden on taxpayers. |
| B．has kept pace with inflation. |
| C．is beyond the expectation of commuters |
| D．remains an unreasonable practice. |
| A．Compensations are to be given to the commuters affected by the strikes. |
| B．A minimum service requirement will be likely to settle the railway problems. |
| C．In terms of service, there is a conflict between train operator’s claim and the reality. |
| D．Train operators have suffered huge losses owing to the strikes. |
| A．the loss of investment. | B．the collapse of operations. |
| C．a reduction of revenue(收入) | D．a change of ownership. |
| A．Who Are to Blame for the Ever-rising Fares? |
| B．Rail Strikes Need to Be Stopped |
| C．Enhance Railway Service, Ease Passenger Anger |
| D．Ever-rising Fares Are Unreasonable |
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1. Which of the following is not the feature of the Lively Flip?| A．It abandons the unnecessary functions. |
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9 . The news that Derby has approved what promises to be Britain’s largest urban rewilding project so far is very welcome. The 320-hectare Allestree Park will, subject to detailed consultation, be given over to a range of habitats and perhaps even see the reintroduction of species such as dormice and red kites.
Urban rewilding - which is not the same as urban green space, however extensive - can take many forms. They
But in fact, some of the most successful projects have been
Urban rewilding,
The pressure for development means that there will always be tension with
In these mid-pandemic, post-Brexit, austerity-bitten (财政紧缩的) times, the financial arguments can be hardest to
| A．differ | B．originate | C．range | D．develop |
| A．transporting | B．attaching | C．leading | D．transforming |
| A．mature | B．established | C．reputational | D．accidental |
| A．specifically | B．fundamentally | C．previously | D．primarily |
| A．bring about | B．serve as | C．contribute to | D．rely on |
| A．breeding | B．launching | C．introducing | D．favoring |
| A．by contrast | B．for instance | C．in itself | D．in the meanwhile |
| A．appreciations | B．perceptions | C．insights | D．recovery |
| A．encounter | B．sustain | C．create | D．promote |
| A．recreational | B．political | C．industrial | D．commercial |
| A．qualified | B．maintained | C．reserved | D．cultivated |
| A．linked to | B．inseparable from | C．dismissed as | D．equivalent to |
| A．value | B．profit | C．benefit | D．worth |
| A．approve | B．counter | C．settle | D．consider |
| A．fundamental | B．essential | C．overwhelming | D．obvious |
| A. politely B. deserving C. strengthened D. hospitalization E. cases F. under-resourced G. unsurprising H. possibly I. reaching J. readopted K. unsustainable |
Too many people believe that the pandemic is over, England’s deputy chief medical officer, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, warned this week: far from it. Europe is at its centre again, WHO has said, urging governments to continue with public health measures. But though Sajid Javid, England’s health secretary, predicted last month that
The indifference of Mr Javid and his boss, Boris Johnson, is
While vaccines (疫苗) (and now treatments) are decreasing
The government is counting on boosters (疫苗加强剂), though it says its “plan B” — forced masking, vaccine passports and encouragement to work from home — will be introduced if the pressure on the National Health Service (NHS) is
Why take that risk? Forced masking on public transport and in places such as supermarkets must be
