2 . The expression, “Everybody’s doing it,” is very much at the center of the concept of peer pressure. It is a social influence applied on an individual in order to get that person to act or believe in a(n) ______ way as a larger group. This influence can be negative or positive, and can exist in both large and small groups.

People are social creatures by nature, and so it is hardly ______ that some part of their self-respect comes from the approval of others. This instinct explains why the approval of peers, and the fear of ______, is such a powerful force in many people’s lives. This instinct drives people to dress one way at home and another way at work, or to answer a simple “fine” when a stranger asks “How are you?” even if it is not necessarily true. There is a(n) ______ aspect to this: It helps society to function efficiently, and encourages a general level of self-discipline that ______ day-to-day interaction between people.

For certain individuals, seeking social acceptance is so important that it becomes a(n) ______: in order to satisfy the desire, they may go so far as to ______ their sense of right and wrong. Teens and young adults may feel forced to use drugs, or join gangs that _______criminal behavior. Mature adults may sometimes feel ______ to cover up illegal activity at the company where they work, or end up in debt because they are unable to hold back the desire to buy a house or car that they can’t afford in an effort to ______ the peers.

However, peer pressure is not always negative. A student whose friends are good at contests may be ________ to work harder and get good grades. Players on a sports team may feel driven to play harder in order to help the team win. This type of ______ can also get a friend off drugs, or to help an adult take up a good habit or drop a bad one.

Although peer pressure is sometimes quite obvious, it can also be so ______ that a person may not even notice that it is affecting his or her behavior. For this reason, when making important decisions, simply going with a(n) ______ is risky. Instead, people should seriously consider why they feel drawn to taking a particular action, and whether the real ______ is simply that everyone else is doing the same thing.

6 . China and India _________ the Greening of Earth

Over the last two decades, the Earth has seen an increase in foliage (植物的枝叶) around the planet, _________ in average leaf area per year on plants and trees. Data from NASA satellites shows that China and India — two _________ economies with the world’s biggest populations — are leading the increase in greening on land. The effect comes mostly from ambitious tree-planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries.

Researchers from Boston University found that global green leaf area has increased by five percent since the early 2000s, an area _________ to the entire Amazon rainforest. The study was also published in the journal Nature Sustainability on February 11. It revealed that at least 25 percent of the global foliage _________ this century came in China.

“China and India _________ one-third of the greening, but contain only nine percent of the planet’s land area covered in vegetation — a(n) _________ finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from overexploitation,” said Chi Chen of the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University and lead author of the study.

China’s tremendous contribution to the global greening trend came in large part from programs to _________ and expand forests, which is about 42 percent of the greening contribution. These programs were developed in an effort to _________ the effects of soil erosion, air pollution and climate change.

Another 32 percent of the greening change in China, and 82 percent in India, resulted from __________ cultivation of food crops. Land area used to grow crops in China and India has not changed much since the early 2000s. Yet these regions have greatly increased both their annual total green leaf area and their food production to __________ their large populations.

Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, saw a positive message in the new findings. “Once people realize there is a problem, they __________ to fix it,” he said. “In the 1970s and 80s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss was __________. In the 1990s, people realized it, and today things have improved. Humans are incredibly resilient. That’s what we see in the satellite data.”

__________, the researchers rang bells as well. They pointed out that the gain in global greenness did not __________ offset the loss of natural vegetation in tropical regions like Brazil and Indonesia.

7 . A is for always getting to work on time.

B is for being extremely busy.

C is for the conscientious(勤勤恳恳的)way you do your job.

You may be all these things at the office, and more. But when it comes to getting ________, experts say, the ABCs of business should include a P, for politics, as in office politics.

Dale Carnegie suggested many years ago: Hard work alone doesn’t ________ career advancement. You have to be able to sell yourself and your ideas, both publicly and behind the scenes. Yet, despite the obvious ________ of engaging in office politics-a better job, a raise, praise-many people are still unable—or unwilling-to “play the game”.

“People take it for granted that office politics ________ some manipulative(工于心计的)behaviour,” says Deborah Comer, an assistant professor of management at Hofstra University. “ ________ politics originates from the word ‘polite’. It can mean lobbying(游说)and forming associations. It can mean being kind and helpful, or even trying to please your superior, and then expecting something ________.”

In fact, today, experts ________ office politics as proper behaviour used to pursue one’s own self-interest in the workplace. In many ________, this involves some form of socializing within the office environment-not just in large companies, but in small workplaces as well.

“The first thing people are usually ________ on is their ability to perform well on a regular basis,” says Neil P Lewis, a management psychologist. “But if two or three ________ are up for a promotion, each of whom has reasonably ________ ability, a manager is going to promote the person he or she likes best. It’s simple human ________.”

Yet, psychologists say, many employees and employers have trouble with the concept of politics in the office. ________ people, they say, have an idealistic idea of work and what it takes to succeed. Still others ________ politics with flattery(奉承). They are fearful that, if they speak up for themselves, they may ________ to be flattering their boss for favours.

Experts suggest altering this negative picture by recognizing the need for some self-promotion.

8 . Many cities around the world today are heavily polluted. Careless methods of production and ________ of consumer demands for environment friendly products have ________ the pollution problem. One ________ is that millions of tons of glass, paper, plastic, and metal containers are produced, and these are difficult to get rid of.

________, today, more and more consumers are choosing “green” and demanding that the products they buy should be safe for the environment. ________ they buy a product, they ask questions like these: “Will this shampoo damage the environment?” “Can this metal container be ________ or can it only be used once?”

A recent study showed that two ________ five adults now consider the environmental safety of a product before they buy it. This means that companies must now change the ________ they make and sell their products to make sure that they are “green,” that is, friendly to the environment.

Only a few years ago, it was impossible to find green products in supermarkets, but now there are hundreds. Some supermarket products ________ labels to show that the product is green. Some companies emphasize that their products are clean and safe in their advertising and have made it their main selling ________.

The ________ for a safer and cleaner environment is making companies rethink ________ they do business. No longer will the public accept the old ________ of “Buy it, use it, throw it away and forget it.” The public ________ is still here, and companies are ________ their act gradually.

9 . As anyone who has tried to lose weight knows, realistic goal setting generally produces the best results. That is partially _________ people who set realistic goals actually appear to work more efficiently, and make more effort, to achieve those goals.

What is far less understood by scientists, _________, are the potentially harmful effects of goal setting.

Newspapers relay (转发) reports of goal setting prevalent in industries and businesses up and down both Wall Street and Main Street, yet there has been surprisingly little research on how the practice of setting goals may have_________ to the current economic crisis, and unethical (不道德) behaviour in general.

“Goals are widely used and promoted as they have really_________ effects. And yet, the same motivation that can push people to make more effort in a constructive way could also motivate people to be more likely to_________ unethical activities,” says Maurice Schweitzer, professor at Penn’s Wharton School.

“It turns out there’s_________ economic benefit to just having a goal — you just get a psychological benefit,” Schweitzer says. “But in many cases, goals have economic_________ that make them more powerful.’

A typical example Schweitzer and his colleagues mention is the 2002_________ of energy-trading giant Enron, where managers used financial incentives (鼓励) to motivate salesmen to meet specific revenue goals. The problem, Schweitzer says, is the actual trades were not_________ .

Other studies have shown that__________ employees with unrealistic goals can force them to lie, cheat or steal. Such was the case in the early 1990s when Sears__________ specific sales quota (额度) for its auto repair staff. It__________ employees to complete repairs that were actually unnecessary just to meet the requirement.

Schweitzer admits his research runs counter to (违背) a very large body of literature that__________ the many benefits of goal setting. However, __________ of goal setting have argued with Schweitzer’s use of such evidence to support his conclusion that goal setting is widely__________ .

10 . When buying a smartphone, I keep my criteria simple. If the device can handle WeChat, phone calls, and _________ the Internet, I purchase it. If it’s too expensive, I _________ it. This approach to acquiring smartphones _________ for me as I keep my needs basic. Aside from saving myself money, I may have also saved myself from some wounds or burns which I might get if I chose a flawed phone. A few years ago, things _________ for Samsung — literally.

One of Samsung’s innovation was called the Note7. Sadly, it was discontinued (停产) only 38 days after being made available for consumption. At first, a few customers complained that their phones caught fire while being _________. Samsung, being responsible, launched an investigation to _________ the cases. They issued a global _________ on 1 September, but it was taken merely as a suggestion and not seen as _________. Then the tech giant gave a stronger message to worldwide customers, saying all owners must stop using their Note7s immediately.

Commercial forces encourage tech companies to push the envelopes and produce new products every few months. Sometimes, a conflict of interests can occur. The greed for innovation has a funny way of causing _________ for the basics — like safety — and the Note7’s situation is just one example of this. The device __________ all kinds of cool features, including a super-high-resolution camera, an iris scanner and an especially powerful __________. Ideally, manufacturers should consider all relevant aspects when creating new commodities. Samsung has both the money and technical know-how to prevent such negligence. The Note7’s __________ was most likely rushed in order to make more profit, which __________ having the opposite effect. Time will tell how much this oversight will cost with respect to Samsung’s fame and future.

__________, many people assumed that Samsung could eventually come back over the horizon and restore its reputation as a manufacturer of excellent smartphones if its new models had no major flaw. In the smartphone industry, intense competition will only bring more benefit to consumers. If there were only one __________ company, we would be left with no options for top-of-the-line phones.