1 . Harvard University’s Claudia Goldi n has won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics for her research on women in the labor market. She studies the changing role of working women through the centuries, and the causes of the consistent pay gap between men and women. The award comes with a prize of about $1 million. Goldi n is the third woman to receive the prize.
“Claudia Goldin’s discoveries have vast society significance,” said Randi Hjalmarsson, a member of the Nobel committee. “She has shown us that the nature of this problem or the source of these possible or underlying gender gap s changes throughout history and with the course of development.”
Goldin’s research showed that women’s role in the job market has not moved in a straight line, but has risen and fallen with social regulations and women’s own ideas about their prospects in the workplace and the home. Some of these ideas are shaped early in life and are slow to change.
“She can explain why the gender gap suddenly started to close in the 1980s and the surprising role of the birth control pill and changing expectation,” Hjalmarsson said. “And she can explain why the earnings gap has stopped closing today and the role of parenthood.”
Looking back the history of women in the workplace was easier said than done. The Nobel committee said Goldi n often had to deal with spotty records.
Women currently fill nearly half the jobs in the U. S. but typically earn less. They briefly outnumbered men on pay lists in late 2019 and early 2020, but women dropped out of the workforce in large numbers early in the pandemic (大流行病), and their ranks have only recently recovered.
Some forecasters think women’s role in the workplace will continue to grow as they pass men on college campuses and as service fields such as health care expand.
“Understanding women’s role in labor is important for society,” said Jakob Svensson, chair of the prize committee. “Thanks to Claudia Goldin’s groundbreaking research, we now know much more about the underlying factors and which barriers may need to be addressed in the future.”
1. Why was the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Goldin?| A．She realized the importance of women in the labour market. |
| B．She researched the changing role of working women for a long time. |
| C．She found the causes of income inequality between men and women. |
| D．She did pioneering studies on the role of women in the labour market. |
| A．Organic. | B．Potential. | C．Fundamental. | D．Preferred. |
| A．Parenthood played an important role. |
| B．Women’s own ideas about work have improved. |
| C．The income gap between men and women has been narrowed. |
| D．Birth control pills and changes in expectation played an amazing role. |
| A．Gender pay gap remains. |
| B．Women employed had briefly outperformed men. |
| C．Women’s role in the workplace will continue to grow. |
| D．Many women pulled out of the workforce in the pandemic. |
2 . Farm to school events are happening all over the country this month. The events are aimed at bringing fresh food to students’ plates. And, after a decline in nutrition education in U. S. schools in recent decades, there’s new momentum (势头), to weave food and cooking into the curriculum again.
“I’d love to see it brought back and have the science around healthy eating integrated,” says Stacy Dean, deputy under secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services at the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Dean told me she was inspired by a visit to Watkins Elementary, in Washington, D. C. where this idea is germinating. Students grow vegetables in their school garden. They also roll up their sleeves in the school’s kitchen to participate in a FRESHFARM FoodPrints class, which integrates cooking and nutrition education.
Evaluations show participation in FRESHFARM programs is associated with increased preference for fruits and vegetables. And, the CDC points to evidence that nutrition education may help students maintain a healthy weight and can also help students recognize the connection between food and emotional wellbeing. Given the key role diet plays in preventing chronic (慢性的) disease, the agency says it would be ideal to offer more nutrition education.
At a time when diet-related disease is a leading cause of death, and unhealthy eating habits are entrenched (根深蒂固的) in U. S. culture, it’s unrealistic to think that a cooking curriculum could overcome such a sweeping, societal problem. “We know from years of evidence that we need multiple things to come together to support healthy eating,” says Angela Odoms-Young, a professor of maternal and child nutrition at Cornell University.
At a time when the U. S. spends billions of dollars on diet-related disease, an investment in nutrition education makes sense, says the USDA’s Stacy Dean. “Food is so fundamental to life and good health and it is absolutely worthy of some time in the basic curriculum,” she says. The hope is that integrating nutrition and cooking into a school program will give kids the skills and inspiration to eat well, and help put them on a healthy path.
1. Where did Stacy Dean’s idea come from?| A．Her visit to Watkins Elementary. |
| B．Her work at the U. S. Department of Agriculture. |
| C．The decline in nutrition education in U. S. schools. |
| D．The new trend to bring back cooking into school curriculum. |
| A．Students can raise animals in school. |
| B．It can protect students from chronic disease. |
| C．Students become more interested in fruits and vegetables. |
| D．Students can do some gardening and cooking in the program. |
| A．Cooking curriculum can solve the diet-related disease problem. |
| B．We need to work together in order to keep a healthy diet. |
| C．People have changed their unhealthy eating habits nowadays. |
| D．Diet-related disease used to be a cause of death in U. S. culture. |
| A．Cooking is fundamental in school education. |
| B．Add nutrition education in school curriculum. |
| C．Investment in nutrition education makes sense. |
| D．Cooking and gardening at school inspire better nutrition. |
3 . In 2012, fewer than 7% of Americans had read poetry, which was down from 17% in 1992. In 2015, poetry was one of the least popular art activities for American grown-ups, with under 10% picking up a book and reading for pleasure. Just when it seemed to be on its deathbed, Instapoetry — easy-to-understand poems that are short enough to fit in your Instagram description — came to save the day.
Instapoetry appeared thanks to social media and Instapoems are usually no longer than a few lines and very direct. The influence Instapoetry has made in the poetry world is great. In 2017, poetry sales were twice what they were in 2016. In 2018, 28 million Americans were reading poems, which was the highest percentage (百分比) of poetry readership in nearly twenty years.
Many people have raved about the new type of poetry. The fact that it’s direct while also being touching is what interests many readers. Before the appearance of Instapoetry, many people thought of poetry as being long and difficult to understand. With Instapoetry, it is easy to understand what the author is trying to say. Readers don’t feel stupid or think the poetry needs to be studied carefully. It’s just simple beauty.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. Instapoetry has been criticized (批评) for having no meaning and for seeming like passing thoughts thrown on paper, packed up (包装) all pretty and given to the general public. Instapoetry has also been seen as a disgrace (耻辱) to writers who have worked tirelessly to improve their skills and achieve recognition.
In a world filled with a huge amount of entertainment (娱乐活动), people often choose things that are more showy, eye-catching and don’t take up too much time. Instapoetry fits the bill perfectly. While poets who choose to stick to traditional poetry should certainly keep writing, Instapoetry could be just what the poetry world needs to get it back on its feet.
1. What do the numbers in paragraph 1 show?| A．The difficult situation of poetry. |
| B．The most popular art activities of Americans. |
| C．The falling popularity of physical poetry books. |
| D．The reasons why Americans have lost interest in poetry. |
| A．Refused. | B．Praised. | C．Translated. | D．Changed. |
| A．A social media user who has no interest in poetry. | B．A professor who studies the history of poetry. |
| C．A salesman who sells poetry collections. | D．A poet who writes traditional poetry. |
| A．When is a poet an Instapoet? |
| B．Why are we so worried about Instapoetry? |
| C．How is Instapoetry changing the way we see the world? |
| D．Are Instapoets harming the art of poetry or bringing it to life? |
4 . According to a new report in Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, the number of online posts related to the circulation(流通) of used goods in 2022 increased by 814 percent year on year. Instead of buying useless things, people are changing towards using secondhand goods and replacing underused or unused objects. This trend is picking up in the country.
Since the summer of 2022, a 26-year-old Shanghai citizen named Chen Jiaorong has been walking along Julu Road in Shanghai’s downtown area once or twice a week, looking around and picking up “garbage” (垃圾). After her action was noticed online, she was described by others as a “stooper”.
The word “stoop” means to bend forward, but in the United States, it also refers to a platform or entrance stairway to a house. The term “stooper” was created in the US after a lot of people put their used or underused belongings in front of their doorsteps to be taken away for free by those in need. Later, “stooping” was used to mean “picking up abandoned goods and recycling them”.
As the first “stooper” in China, Chen had her own way. She picked unused goods to help find suitable new owners for some items. When she found such abandoned (被抛弃的) goods, she put a pair of eyeball-shaped stickers on them before publishing notes on her social media accounts, and guiding others to pick them up from the streets.
“‘Stooping’ is a new word in China, and some people even have no idea of it. Most of us still think secondhand goods are dirty and it is embarrassing to reuse them,” said Wu Kaisi, a well-known stooper in Guangzhou. “The slowing economy and the increasing cost of living have pushed the development of the used-goods industry. People are gradually advocating (提倡) a savings-based consumption (消费) and environment-friendly lifestyle instead of blindly seeking for expensive consumption. Now, more young people are joining us.”
1. What does the report in paragraph 1 show?| A．Selling used items is popular among young people. |
| B．Reusing secondhand goods has become a new trend. |
| C．People tend to buy products from social media platform. |
| D．The buying power of Chinese consumers is in decline. |
| A．To explain a fact. | B．To make a prediction. |
| C．To make some concepts clear. | D．To present an example. |
| A．By organizing offline sales. | B．By displaying them on Julu Road. |
| C．By putting up notices on the street. | D．By posting related information online. |
| A．It is embarrassing. |
| B．It is worth advocating. |
| C．It slows down the development of economy. |
| D．It changes young people’s wasteful lifestyle |
5 . “Creativity is the key to a brighter future,” say education and business experts. Here is how schools and parents can encourage this important skill in children.
If Dick Drew had listened to his boss in 1925, we might not have the product that we now think greatly important: a new type of tape. Drew worked for the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. At work he developed a kind of material strong enough to hold things together. But his boss told him not to think more about the idea. Finally, using his own time, Drew improved the tape, which now is used everywhere by many people. And his former company learned from its mistake. Now it encourages people to spend 15 percent of their working time just thinking about and developing new ideas.
Creativity is not something one is just born with, nor is it necessarily a character of high intelligence. The fact that a person is highly intelligent does not mean that he uses it creatively. Creativity is the matter of using the resources one has to produce new ideas that are good for something.
Unfortunately, schools have not tried to encourage creativity. With strong attention to test results and the development of reading, writing and mathematical skills, many educators give up creativity for correct answers. The result is that children can gain information but can’t recognize ways to use it in new situations. They may know the rules correctly but they are unable to use them to work out practical problems.
It is important to give children choices. From the earliest age, children should be allowed to make decisions and understand their results. Even if it’s choosing between two food items for lunch, decision-making helps thinking skills. As children grow older, parents should try to let them decide how to use their time or spend their money. This is because the most important character of creative people is a very strong desire to find a way out of trouble.
1. What did the company where Drew once worked learn from its mistake?| A．It should encourage people to work a longer time. |
| B．People should be discouraged to think freely. |
| C．People will do better if they pay all attention to their work. |
| D．It is necessary for people to spend some of their working time developing new ideas. |
| A．It is something that most people are born with. |
| B．It is something that has nothing to do with intelligence at all. |
| C．It is a way of using what one has learned to work out new problems. |
| D．It is something that is not important to the life in the future at all. |
| A．They don’t attach importance to creativity education. |
| B．They don’t want their students to make mistakes. |
| C．They pay no attention to examination marks. |
| D．They think it impossible to develop creativity in class. |
| A．Allow them to have a try. |
| B．Try to help them as much as possible. |
| C．Take no notice of whatever they do. |
| D．Order them to spend the least money. |
6 . Family time is one of the most important times in a child’s life. My family and I spend a lot of time together, including having dinner together every night.
There have been many recent studies showing kids are “wilder” than they used to be.
I have noticed in old TV shows and my parents’ stories that not long ago sitting at the family dinner table was not a choice, but a must.
| A．There are certainly many reasons for this. |
| B．I did a little research on the “family table” idea. |
| C．Children just watch TV and play computer games. |
| D．It is important for parents to teach children how to behave. |
| E．Nowadays, it seems harder for people to find time to be together. |
| F．What’s more, they learn better behaviors during the time with their parents. |
| G．We don’t watch television. Instead we sit down at the table to eat and discuss our days. |
7 . Many Chinese students think American students enjoy more freedom than them at school. But American schools also have their rules. If the students break the rules, they willget punishment, too. On the first day of a new term, 128 students of Morton High School were sent home for wearing the wrong clothes. There are altogether 1200 students in the school. Usually only 20 students break the school dress rule every day. So the headmaster Theresa Mayerik said it was the worst new term she had ever seen.
At Morton High School, students’ favorite clothing such as baggy (宽大的) trousers, low-necked shirts and tanktops (紧身短背心) are not allowed in classrooms. Some students think they have the right to choose what to wear. But the headmaster doesn’t think so. “I’d be supportive if half the school was sent home, because 99% will get the message that our school are for education.” “Freedom” does not mean “free of restrictions (约束)”. That is to say there is no total freedom in the world, no matter in the US or in China.
1. 128 students of Morton High School were sent home for _______.| A．not finishing their homework | B．being late for school |
| C．not wearing the right clothes | D．not listening to the teachers in class |
| A．decide when to go to school | B．go to school or not |
| C．eat and drink in class | D．choose what to wear |
| A．高兴的 | B．支持的 | C．害怕的 | D．反对的 |
| A．Agree. | B．Disagree. | C．Not sure. | D．Unclear. |
8 . After a long day at the office, Jane Hodgson was on her way home and looking forward to relaxing with a nice cup of tea. While driving, she noticed that there was a car pulled over at the side of the road and a crowd had started to gather around someone who was lying on the ground.
Jane, who had completed first aid at the work course with the British Red Cross, pulled over to see if she could do something and it turned out to be lucky for the victim.
Describing the scene she saw, Jane says, “A crowd of onlookers gathered at the scene. A couple of young men were cream-faced and looking lost. They were completely terrified. When I walked up, first-aid kit in hand, they said, ‘You’re a first aider — Oh thank goodness.’ They were so shocked that they hadn’t even thought to call an ambulance yet.”
A young girl called Jenny was lying there. It turned out that the teen had been hit by a car and gone over the handlebars of her bike, landing on her head and shoulder.
“I was worried because she had not been wearing a helmet when she got knocked down, and I thought that she should not be moved as I couldn’t be sure about a spinal (脊柱) injury, but after looking her over, in relief, I felt fairly confident that she had escaped relatively unharmed. Even so, as time passed and we continued to wait for an ambulance, the amount of pain the girl was in was increasing. To avoid the risk of her going into shock I kept her talking. We chatted about her boyfriend and anything I could think of to keep her mind off the pain. She squeezed (捏) my hand when the pain got too much and this helped,” describes Jane.
Thinking back, Jane says, “I never did find out what happened to the girl. Apart from the boyfriend I wasn’t thanked by anyone else, but that’s OK. For me, knowing that in a small way I helped that girl through what was a frightening experience is all the reward I need. It felt great to know I’d made a difference.”
1. What was Jane doing when she came across the accident?| A．Driving home. | B．Repairing her car. |
| C．Drinking some tea. | D．Going to the first aid course. |
| A．Her legs. | B．Her hands. |
| C．Her head. | D．Her stomach. |
| A．Calling an ambulance. | B．Offering some first aid. |
| C．Contacting the girl’s boyfriend. | D．Keeping the girl awake. |
| A．Not all kindness needs reward. | B．First aid can save lives. |
| C．A small act can make a difference. | D．It felt good to learn first aid skills. |
9 . The food delivery industry (外卖行业) now is a hotly competitive business, attracting the world’s biggest moneybags such as Alibaba and SoftBank. Balancing the needs of diners, cooks and couriers (专递公司) is complicated. Most new companies lose money. Yet they have received more than $30bn (十亿) from venture capitalists (资本家) in the past five years. And they are likely to get more.
The food-delivery business can be divided into two camps: mostly profitable veterans (老手) and loss-making newcomers. The veterans, founded at the start of the century, are led by Grubhub in America, and Just Eat and Takeaway in Europe. They account for the largest share (份额) of the market, offering customers online access to restaurants. Their relatively simple business model, in which they take a cut of the bill from the restaurants, has enabled Grubhub and Just Eat to turn a profit for years. Takeaway makes money in its home market (本土市场) of the Netherlands.
The newbies, born more recently, have turned a once-tidy business into a food fight (食物大战). They include listed firms such as Meituan of China and Delivery Hero of Germany, Uber Eats (part of Uber), Ele.me (owned by China’s Alibaba), and privately held DoorDash, based in San Francisco, and Deliveroo, from London.For most of them, delivery is their core business, so they share their cut of the bill with riders as well as restaurants. This substantially broadens the market to restaurants. But profit suffers.
The only attractive aspect of the delivery business is its potential size. According to Bernstein, almost a third of the global restaurant industry is made up of home delivery, takeaways and drive-throughs, which could be worth $1trn (万亿) by 2023. In 2018 delivery amounted to $161bn, leaving plenty of room for online firms to expand.
Yet it is by no means clear if anyone can make money by delivering meals. In fact, the economics may be even worse. Delivery businesses have ways to cut their losses. One is to diversify further, by delivering groceries, flowers, booze, and even people, as well as meals. Another is to provide cheaper meals by centrally supplying ingredients to restaurants. In the dog-eat-dog world of food delivery, it will still be hard.
1. How can the veterans make a profit?| A．They get lots of support from capitalists. |
| B．They offer customers great convenience. |
| C．They draw a part of profit from restaurants. |
| D．They balance the complicated needs successfully. |
| A．Massive profits. | B．Satisfying service. |
| C．Efficient management. | D．Development prospects (前景). |
| A．Positive. | B．Definite (确定的). |
| C．Uncertain. | D．Confident. |
| A．Delivery businesses balance some complicated needs |
| B．Meal delivery attracts the world’s biggest moneybags |
| C．The two camps of delivery businesses compete fiercely |
| D．The food-delivery business is far from tasty business |
10 . Every year around August, millions of teens take their parents to stores to buy new clothes for the start of the school year. Not every parent can afford this, and some teens are forced to go to school in the same clothes they wore last year. The obvious differences in clothes cause differences among students. There is a simple solution to this problem; school uniforms (校服).
I know from personal experience and surveys that wearing uniforms creates a sense of equality among peers (同龄人).
From sixth grade until I graduated from senior high school, I attended a school that required students to wear uniforms. The uniform was very simple: dark brown shoes, green-brown pants, and a white shirt. The uniform left little room for any kind of self-expression, especially through clothes.
However, I learned how to stand out by expressing myself through my personality, art, and sports. I did not know I could draw until the sixth grade. I also would never have learned of my musical abilities if it hadn’t been for my desire to find ways to express myself. Uniforms taught me that I was myself, except what I wore.
Uniforms also contribute to a much safer learning environment. I remember a particular event that happened in my junior high school. A man ran away from prison and wanted to hide in the gym of our school. Luckily, cameras all over the school quickly found the stranger before any danger could ever happen as he was out of place. School officials kept the man locked inside our gym until the police came to take him back to prison.
Uniforms help provide a better educational experience for all students no matter what race, culture, or economic class (经济阶层). In closing, wearing uniforms is good for both schools and students.
1. How does the author introduce the topic?| A．By explaining a basic rule. |
| B．By challenging others’ views. |
| C．By describing a common problem. |
| D．By sharing his parents’ experience. |
| A．Uniforms should be more modern. |
| B．Uniforms can help shape better students. |
| C．Uniforms are popular with students. |
| D．Uniforms are bad for self-development. |
| A．Dressing differently. | B．Standing straight. |
| C．Running fast. | D．Breathing heavily. |
| A．To record his high school life. |
| B．To show his supportive view towards uniforms. |
| C．To ask students to like what they wear. |
| D．To introduce high school uniforms. |
