1 . Arden University
Arden University has physical study centres in London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Berlin, Germany, and also offers high quality online bachelor and master degree programmes to British and international students all over the world. They have supported over 50,000 students while remaining true to their core values, ensuring higher education is available for all. Covering a range of professional subjects in 12 academic fields, Arden University makes UK education accessible and affordable through their creative study platform. Click here to view this school.
University of London International Programmes
We have over 60,000 students in every corner of the globe studying on more than 100 different programmes. Our global footprint and flexible study method has enabled students to study wherever they live. As a family of 19 world-class colleges and admired institutes, the University of London has an international reputation for academic distinction in teaching and research. Our students achieve exactly the same standard of internationally recognized qualification as those who attend the University itself. Click here to view this school.
University of York
The University of York is one of the top ten universities in the UK for teaching and research, and is ranked in the top 100 universities in the world. This well-established university consists of over 30 academic departments and research centres and a student body of 13,000, and was named Times Higher Education University of the Year 2010. Most of the distance learning courses are designed to meet professional development needs, and reflect the benefits of online learning in this context. Click here to view this school.
Lloyd’s Maritime Academy
Course options include popular and well-established diplomas in Marine (海洋) Surveying, Ship Management, and Maritime Law. Various accreditation levels are available from short, online based certificate courses to fully-accredited diploma and postgraduate diploma study options. We also offer our best course — the MBA in Shipping&. Logistics. The continued strength of these distance learning programmes have over 6,000 students enrolled on our courses. Click here to view this school.
1. Which holds the largest number of students?| A．Arden University. | B．University of York. |
| C．Lloyd's Maritime Academy. | D．University of London International Programmes. |
| A．How to be a training teacher. | B．How to be a good programmer. |
| C．How to be a professional in shipping industry. | D．How to be an excellent shipbuilder. |
| A．They all offer online courses. | B．They are only accessible to the British. |
| C．They are all top ten schools in the world. | D．They were all built in the early 20th century. |
2 . Algorithms (计算程序) are able to do a huge number of tasks, and the number of tasks that they are able to do is expanding practically every day. According to a new study, despite increasing concern over the effect of algorithms in daily life, more and more people nowadays are willing to trust a computer program, especially if a task becomes too challenging. From choosing the next song on your playlist to choosing the right size of pants, people are relying more on the advice of algorithms to help make everyday decisions.
During the study, researchers asked volunteers to count the number of people of a crowd in a photograph and supplied suggestions that were offered by a group of other people and suggestions offered by an algorithm. As the number of people in the photograph expanded, counting became more difficult and people were more likely to follow the suggestions offered by an algorithm rather than count themselves or follow the “wisdom of the crowd”.
One of the common problems with AI is when it is used for awarding credit. While that is a subjective decision, there are lots of numbers there, like income and credit scores. Therefore, people feel like this is a good job for an algorithm. But we know that dependence leads to unfair and incomplete practices in many cases because of social factors that aren’t considered.
Facial recognition and hiring algorithms have come under inspection in recent years because their use has shown cultural prejudice in the way they were built, which can cause inaccuracies when matching faces to identities or screening for qualified job candidates. The prejudice may not be present in a simple task like counting, but their presence in other trusted algorithms is a reason why it is important to understand how people rely on algorithms when making decisions.
“The eventual goal is to look at groups of humans and computers making decisions and find how we can get them to trust each other and how that changes their behaviors,” one of the researchers said. “Because there is very little research in that setting, we’re starting with the fundamentals.”
1. What can we learn about the present people from paragraph 1?| A．They become more dependent on algorithms. |
| B．They show little concern about algorithms in life. |
| C．They are addicted to numbers of challenging tasks online. |
| D．They never rely on computers to make everyday decisions. |
| A．They cannot be used to award credit. |
| B．They can lead to one-sided decisions. |
| C．They can give away candidates’ identities. |
| D．They cannot be applied to difficult calculations. |
| A．It leads to cultural differences. |
| B．It may produce some false results. |
| C．It takes lots of money and manpower. |
| D．It rules out most qualified job candidates. |
| A．It is really necessary to stay away from AI. |
| B．It is very easy to make choices with the help of AI. |
| C．People need to adapt to the development of computers. |
| D．People tend to trust computer programs more than themselves. |
3 . Working from home has been a long-held dream for many employees craving more flexible work arrangements and comfort. With the fantasy coming true because of the outbreak of COVID-19, however, quite a few people find it less romantic than expected. Amid the ongoing epidemic, a large number of Chinese companies have ordered employees to work from home, looking to control the spread of the virus as staff members return from the Spring Festival travel rush.
Allowing employees to work from home-even if they are not symptomatic-and enabling virtual meetings could help limit the spread of the virus and assuage employees’ fears about exposure.
But there’s another side to the coin. As millions of people started to work at home, people found video communication difficult. Many telecommuting platforms, including DingTalk, an all-in-one mobile workplace from Alibaba, went through temporary outages due to surging demand.
Fu Yangang, a product manager at a house trading company in Beijing, found he couldn’t receive any messages from colleagues during an online meeting at home on Tuesday, and neither could they. Similar problems arose when they switched to Zoom, a California-based video communication app which provides remote conferencing services.
Residences filled with distractions such as spouses, parents, kids or pets set up another obstacle for many employees working from home. Xia Baigi, who works for an Internet company in Beijing, was required to stay at home in Jilin Province until Feb.10, but has found what was an oft-wished for working style a hindrance to productivity. Her parents, who don’t have much to do, suddenly became concerned about her job and asked many questions. “I love my mom and dad, but their current behavior just adds stress and strain,” she said. “Sometimes I have to lock myself in my own room to avoid their enthusiasm.”
For people who are able to stay as productive as they would in an office environment, they came across a different problem： “surprisingly” longer working time at home. Working for an investment company in Shanghai, Zhang Fei felt he could never escape from his job working at home in Shandong Province, which makes time management a whole lot messier. “There is no longer a’ work’ and’ no work’ time. My work comes calling at all hours, which can keep me at a frenetic pace,” he said. With the return date drawing closer, he said, he never felt so excited about being back at the office.
1. Why many people can work from home in China?| A．Because many employees think it is a fantasy idea. |
| B．Because the employers think more highly of working from home than traditional working. |
| C．Because the COVID-19 occurred. |
| D．Because large number of Chinese companies want to avoid the Spring Festival travel rush. |
| A．Increase. | B．Ease. | C．Give up. | D．Find. |
| A．After Fu Yangang and his partners switched to Zoom, their problem was solved. |
| B．Xia Baiqi’s parents could give her more constructive advice. |
| C．Xia Baiqi locked herself in her own room to avoid distractions. |
| D．By saying “There is no longer a ‘work’ and ‘no work’ time.”, Zhang Fei meant he can work less time when at home. |
| A．Working from home has unexpected challenges |
| B．Working from home can save you a lot of trouble |
| C．How to avoid distractions when working from home |
| D．More flexible, less work time |
4 . A 2020 study by Balbix found that 99% of the people surveyed reused their passwords between work accounts or between work and personal accounts.
For example, a 2019 study by Google found that 59% of the people they surveyed used a name or a birthday in their password. And 24% admitted using a password like one of these below: 1234, 12345, 123456, etc.
It's more secure to require your employees to use more than one authentication (身份验证) factor to access mobile company applications.
Finally, you can also perform passwordless authentication.
| A．Passwords are commonly shared in the workplace. |
| B．It will help you to root out password risks altogether. |
| C．Many employees still create weak and simple passwords. |
| D．These bad password habits present a threat to organizations. |
| E．That helps reduce the risk that a bad actor gains access to your systems. |
| F．Unfortunately, the passwords that employees are reusing are often weak. |
| G．However, that's not to say there is no way to reduce or uproot password threats. |
5 . Take the Money and Run
A Latin phrase beloved by every old-fashioned British schoolmaster was mens sana in corpore sano—a healthy mind in a healthy body. Greater physical activity is associated with better mental, as well as physical health. And it might also be linked to greater worker productivity, and thus faster economic growth. That is the conclusion of a new report from a European think tank—RAND.
The RAND study looks at different measures: absenteeism(when workers take time off for illness)and presenteeism(when they turn up for work but are less productive because of sickness). The latter measure was self-reported by employees, who were asked whether their work was negatively affected by health issues. The survey suggests that between 3 and 4.5 working days each year are lost as a consequence of workers being physically inactive. This is between 1.3% and 2% of annual working time. Most of this was down to presenteeism.
Another potential gain from improved fitness is reduced health-care costs. In America, where health care is often provided through employment-based systems, firms could benefit. RAND estimates that total American health savings could be $ 6 billion a year by 2025. But the study's authors conclude that if people met certain exercise targets, global GDP could be around 0.17-0.24% higher by 2050. Nothing to laugh at in a world of slowing growth.
How to encourage workers to become more active? Rewards are useful but only if they have conditions: giving all employees free gym membership does not seem to work. Another RAND Europe study examined an experiment in which workers were each given an Apple watch, payable in installment (分期付款)at a discounted price—but only to those who agreed to have their physical activity monitored. Monthly repayments depended on how much exercise they took.
If they met the targets they ended up paying 10% of the watch's list price; those who took no exercise paid the full price. This approach takes advantage of a fact that people are eager to avoid paying more. On average, those participating in the scheme undertook 30% more exercise than before.
The problem is that many people are too optimistic about their health, ignoring the risks they face. This means that participation in workplace exercise plans tends to be low, around 7% in the sample studied by RAND. Firms are not the only ones that can encourage a healthier lifestyle; friends and families are likely to be more important. But businesses can play a bigger role.
If RAND is right, this may bring them financial benefits. Company taskmasters may yet grow fond of an adapted saying: mens sana in corporate sano.
1. What is the conclusion of the RAND report in Paragraph1?| A．Income affects the popularity of gym among workers. |
| B．Physical health definitely results in mental health. |
| C．Team sports open up opportunities of career building. |
| D．Greater physical activity may be beneficial to economy. |
| A．To highlight the urgency to reduce health-care cost. |
| B．To predict the trend of global GDP by the year 2050. |
| C．To clarify the benefit of improved fitness to economy. |
| D．To warn against the slowing down of world finance. |
| A．Rewarding exercise takers with reduced repayment. |
| B．Monitoring employees physical activities every month. |
| C．Educating employees on the benefits of regular exercise. |
| D．Offering employees fancy sports equipment free of charge |
I: introduction; P: point; SP: subpoint; C: conclusion
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
6 . Alida Monaco doesn’t spend her summers doing the usual teenage work, like working at the mall. Instead，she ‘ s studying.
It used to be that a summer job was considered a teenage thing. Today, Monaco ,who has never had a summer job, is part of growing trend (趋势)teenagers focusing on their studies, even during the summer. That’s down from 72% of Americans aged 16 to 19 who worked in July of 1978, according to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Fierce (激烈的)competition, older workers returning to the workforce and weak economic growth are all adding to the decrease of teenagers in the workforce. But as schoolwork grows increasingly heavy and homework eats up more time, data suggest the biggest reason why some teens won’t be working this summer is that they simply don’t1 have time.
For college - bound teens, some teachers even advise students not to waste time on a summer job. “ Some of my students only have about six weeks off in the summer,” said Shannon Reed, a lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh and a former high school English teacher.” I could never advise that they get jobs during that short break. ”
Young people who don’t work may miss out on valuable skills that they’11 need control and help people learn to deal with adult situations. But Monaco, who plans to attend Harvard, isn’t fazed by her lack(缺乏)of work experience. “Maybe I have missed out on a couple of life skills, “she said. “ But I don’t think it will harm me in way .”
1. What is the trend of American teenagers?| A．They are becoming lazy. |
| B．They are fond of doing holiday jobs. |
| C．They are focusing more on studies than on jobs. |
| D．They are becoming particular about (挑剔)holiday jobs |
| A．The reasons for teenagers giving up work. |
| B．The fierce competition teenagers face. |
| C．The structure (结构)of America’s workforce. |
| D．The effects of America9 s weak economy. |
| A．uncaring. | B．favorable(支持的). | C．worried. | D．doubtful. |
| A．supported. | B．helped. | C．upset. | D．confused. |
Living off grid
When you need electricity, you just plug in the machine and switch it on. If you need water, you turn on the tap.
Off-gridders do not have to give up electricity or a modern lifestyle — some choose to, but most use small hydroelectric power systems, solar panels or windmills to generate enough power for their needs. Heating and cooking needs are met by solar energy or wood burning systems, and toilet facilities range from non-water toilets to outside compost toilets.
Around 100,000 people are thought to be living off grid in the UK now.
A part from living an alternative lifestyle, cost is a big factor in choosing to live off-grid. Off-grid houses are far cheaper to build than ordinary homes since they don’t need to be connected to the electricity or water supplies and even road access is not necessary. Materials tend to be cheaper, too. Popular options include straw or old tyres and cement.
Surprisingly, the biggest problem off-gridders face is not building their homes or becoming self-sufficient but getting permission to build. Rural areas away from town are the perfect choice but these are often protected by law from construction of any kind or have building restrictions. There are now several websites dedicated to land-sharing so that the costs of buying land and getting permission can be shared, and there are increasing numbers of off-grid communities.
| A．Many are self-sufficient, not just providing their own electricity, water and sewage systems, but in all aspects. |
| B．After you use the toilet, you flush it and the waste disappears. |
| C．This shift from individual to group off-gridding reflects the fact that the trend is growing noticeably. |
| D．They live in a huge variety of types of accommodation. |
| E．Living off-grid still has a long way to go before it becomes a mainstream way of living. |
| F．Rather than building permanent homes, vans or mobile homes or even old shipping containers are other options. |
8 . Clothing rental is a hot new industry and retailers (零售商) are demanding to get on board in hopes of attracting green shopper.
But is renting fashion actually more environmentally-friendly than buying it, and if so, how much more? Journalist and author Elizabeth Cline investigated (调查) this question and concluded that it's not as sustainable as it seems.
Take shipping, for example, which has to go two ways if an item is rented — receiving and returning. Cline writes that consumer transportation has the second largest carbon footprint of our collective fashion habit after manufacturing.
She writes, ''An item ordered online and then returned can send out 20 kilograms of carbon each way, and increases up to 50 kilograms for rush shipping. By comparison, the carbon impact of a pair of jeans purchased from a physical store and washed and worn at home is 33.4 kilograms, according to a 2015 study by Levi's.''
Then there's the burden of washing, which has to happen for every item when it's returned, regardless of whether or not it was worn. For most rental services, this usually means dry cleaning, a high impact and polluting process. All the rental services that Cline looked into have replaced perchloroethylene (氯乙烯), a carcinogenic (致癌的) air pollutant, still used by 70 percent of US dry cleaners, with alternatives, although these aren't great either.
Lastly, Cline fears that rental services will increase our appetite for fast fashion, simply because it's so easily accessible. There's something called ''share washing'' that makes people waste more precisely because a product or service is shared and thus is regarded as more eco-friendly. Uber is one example of this, advertised as ''a way to share rides and limit ear ownership.'' and yet ''it has been proven to discourage walking,bicycling, and public transportation use.''
Renting clothes is still preferable to buying them cheap and throwing them in the dustbin after a few wears, but we shouldn't let the availability of these services make us too satisfied. There's an even better step — that's wearing what is already in the closet.
1. What is Elizabeth Cline's attitude toward clothing rental?| A．Approving. | B．Unfavorable. |
| C．Objective. | D．Enthusiastic. |
| A．rental services are on the rise |
| B．clothing rental will be as successful as Uber |
| C．renting clothes might waste more than expected |
| D．renting clothes might make people lose interest in fast fashion |
| A．give up renting any clothing |
| B．purchase inexpensive clothes |
| C．rent clothes rather than buy them |
| D．make full use of clothes we've possessed |
| A．Clothing rental is a new fashion. |
| B．Clothing rental is retailers' preference. |
| C．Renting clothes is not that eco-friendly. |
| D．Renting-clothes business is in a dilemma. |
9 . “You’ll get square eyes!” my mother used to say as I sat for hour after hour glued to the TV. I ignored her, of course. Past-forward a few decades and now I’m the parent. My 5-year-old lives in a world where screens aren’t fixed pieces of furniture. You can’t even avoid them by going outside. Screens are not only in our pockets; they’re everywhere.
The concerns have grown with the screens. In the past decade, we have heard that they will damage our mental health. Many of us feel more distracted by them, feeling guiltier and more tired as a result.
The apps and websites we can access on our phones have also sparked widespread concern. Big tech companies are also good at making use of our need for social recognition, hooking us on likes, retweets and follower counts. Social media has created a culture of mass narcissism (自恋), which has led many to worry about the emotional stresses on teenagers. A quick online search brings up dozens of papers linking screen use or social media with harmful effects on mental health, including depression and suicide.
Such statements are alarming. They are also widely believed, thanks to popular books like iGen by Jean Twenge, which claims that digital technology has ruined a generation. Yet, Amy Orben at the University of Oxford, who studies the impact of digital technology and social media in particular on mental health, holds different views. She claims that the underlying data can be used to tell different stories. She also spotted shortcomings in several large studies that claimed to show correlations (相关性) between the use of devices with screens and depression in users.
Twenge stands by her own finding, pointing in turn to what she considers flaws in Orben’s research methods. For David Max, at Royal College of Child Health in London, the effect of screen time and social media use on mental health remains speculative. “We cannot regard social media overall as good or bad,” says Davie. “We don’t know whether in individual cases social media is not responsible,” he says.
The explosion of mobile phone use has revolutionized our lives. I can download movies, write articles, communicate with my family and broadcast to the world all at the push of a button. Rather than impose constraints (限制), we should take a look at our use of screens and ask how they fit with the activities and lifestyle.
Every new technology with widespread impact has given rise to new fears. So the best bet may simply be to ask yourself what level of screen use makes you and those around you happy and try to stick to it. If you find yourself over addictive, don’t panic—and certainly don’t feel guilty. Nobody knows anything worth getting scared about.
1. According to the passage, people give likes, retweet or count followers to __________.| A．share one’s lifestyles | B．show respect for others |
| C．seek social recognition | D．relieve emotional stresses |
| A．doubtful | B．specific |
| C．important | D．abstract |
| A．Teenagers are more affected by screen use both physically and mentally. |
| B．Orben claims it is far too early to blame screen use for ruining a generation. |
| C．Big tech companies help to produce many research papers on mental health. |
| D．Twenge mainly introduces the overall benefits of digital technology in her books. |
| A．encourage readers to reduce the time of screen use |
| B．share different opinions on the effects of screen use |
| C．explain why screen use may have negative effects on people |
| D．relieve people’s concerns and worries about the use of screens |
10 . She Walked Through Fire
On Thanksgiving weekend, the Heffelmire family gathered for a meal at their home. After dinner, the family went down to the finished basement to relax except Charlotte’s father, Eric, who was in the garage to fix his truck.
Around 8 pm, Charlotte decided to check on her dad. She walked through the kitchen. When she opened the side door to the garage, black smoke rose up into the kitchen. She could barely make out her father lying on his back, trapped under the truck. He’d removed the front passenger-side tyre and raised the truck on a jack(千斤顶). The truck had slipped off the jack, and now the whole weight of the wheel was on his chest and shoulders.
Charlotte ran to the front of the truck and struggled to lift it. Eric was still conscious, and he yelled, “You got it! One more try!?” She tried again and was able to tip the truck backward just enough for her to pull her dad by the shirt with both hands from under the truck.
She dragged him across the garage and 20 feet down the driveway. Then she ran back to the garage, which had burst into flames. “I was afraid the car was going to explode,” says Charlotte, so she climbed into the truck, which faced forward, turned the key, and pressed the gas pedal(油门). The car slowly rolled out, the metal wheel scratching loudly against the concrete.
Safely on the driveway, Charlotte stopped the truck and ran back to the basement. “There’s a fire! Everybody get out!” she yelled as she picked up her three-month-old niece and ran out. Outside, she handed the baby to her mom, and then ran around to the burning garage. She picked up a garden hose(水管) and sprayed the fire while calling 911.
A few minutes later, firefighters and an ambulance arrived. Charlotte was treated for second-degree burns on both her feet and face. Her dad had injuries on his chest and shoulders, as well as minor burns on his face. The garage and the house were damaged but the family survived.
The Heffelmires are staying in an apartment while their house is rebuilt. “Charlotte is a remarkable kid,” says her dad. Charlotte, however, simply says, “I was saving my family and my house. I wasn’t going to let my dad die.”
1. Eric got trapped because ________.| A．the kitchen was on fire | B．the wheel fell off the truck |
| C．the front tyre was removed | D．the truck slipped off the jack |
| A．the truck exploded |
| B．the house was not fit to live in |
| C．the three-month-old baby was injured |
| D．Charlotte was burned on her chest and shoulders |
| A．proud and clear-headed | B．modest and easy-going |
| C．calm and quick-minded | D．independent and self-centered |
