| A.visit B.more C.situation D.probably E.think F.surrounded G.allowed H.argument I.exercise J.seldom K.suggest |
Many facts
Some people blame the fact that we are
There is another
There is a third reason for this
2 . In rich countries like America, the absence of professional waste-pickers presents a problem. The general public is not very good at sorting rubbish. Households and businesses serviced by municipal waste-management providers may actually have got worse at sorting in the past 20 years, says Peter Keller of Republic Services, America's second-biggest waste management firm, which runs Newby Island in San Jose.
Citizens of rich countries, where almost 100% of municipal waste gets collected, take such services for granted - unless the collectors go on strike (罢工),as happened in the Belgian city of Ghent in early August, leaving streets in a stink (恶臭) for days. In some industrialized nations, increasingly, residents are charged based on volume (known as "pay-as-you-throw") To encourage sorting, such schemes often exempt recyclables.
The volume of recyclables has reached 1,400 tons a day, a lot by American standards, says Mr. Keller. That should come as no surprise. After all, inhabitants of the San Francisco Bay area pride themselves on their recycling ability. San Francisco boasts a recycling rate of 80% one of the highest of any rich-world city. San Franciscans may therefore be shocked to learn that a lot of them, as Mr. Keller puts it, “aren't very good at it"
Two possible reasons account for Mr. Keller's remarks. The first is that many people do not know what is recyclable. Beer bottles and soft-drink cans are, he says. Egg cartons and magazines are not, for there is not market for the materials of which they are made. Some things are recyclable on their own, but not when combined, such as "paper" cups lined with plastic film. It is hard to blame consumers for feeling increasingly puzzled, he admits
The other problem is that residents only have to separate recyclables from non-recyclables Cans, bottles and papers are all thrown into one bin. This mix can, to some degree, be sorted at plants like Newby, enabled by clever technology which uses optical sensor;(光电感应器) and magnets to separate materials automatically. Anyway, these was no match for humans when it came to sorting.
As the volume of recyclables increased in America and Europe, the quality of recycled output decreased because everything was mixed in together. This did not trouble materials. recovery facilities (MRF) operators so long as they would offload their increasingly impure stock abroad. Then China announced it would not accept any plastics or carboard, and American waste-management companies have been struggling to find what to do with their poor-quality waste.
1. According to the passage, the biggest problem in rich countries caused by lack of professional waste-pickers is that ________.| A．waste collectors often go on strike regardless of people's needs |
| B．no one teaches people how to tell apart recyclable and non-recyclables |
| C．waste sorting by machine is far from perfect so far |
| D．citizens fail to deal with waste sorting properly |
| A．make no charge for | B．set aside |
| C．fully expect | D．set the standard for |
| A．More advanced waste sorting machines will be launched (推出) as soon as possible. |
| B．San Franciscans are not informed that there is no need to recycle egg cartons. |
| C．Recycling ability is not all about separating recyclables from non-recyclables |
| D．It's hard for San Franciscans to change their recycling habits in the new times |
| A．the reason why MFR is not worried about poor-quality waste |
| B．China's new policy to keep foreign rubbish out |
| C．efforts to teach residents how better to sort their rubbish |
| D．the components (成分) of the mixed waste in America |
3 . Picture a typical MBA lecture theatre twenty years ago. In it the majority of students will have conformed to (符合)the standard model of the time: male, middle class and Western. Walk into a class today, however, and you'll get a completely different impression. For a start, you will now see plenty more women-the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, for example, boasts that 40% of its new enrolment is female, you will also see a wide range of ethnic groups and nationals of practically every country.
It might be tempting, therefore, to think that the old barriers have been broken down and equal opportunity achieved. But, increasingly, this apparent diversity(多样化) is becoming a mask for a new type of conformity. Behind the differences in sex, skin tones and mother tongues, there are common attitudes, expectations and ambitions which risk creating a set clones among the business leaders of the future.
Diversity, it seems, has not helped to deal with basic weaknesses in business leadership. So, what can be done to create more effective managers of the commercial world? According to Valerie Gauthier, associate dean at HEC Paris, the key lies in the process by which MBA programs recruit(招募) their students. At the moment candidates are selected on a fairly narrow set of standards such as previous academic and career performance, and analytical and problem solving abilities. This is then coupled to a school's mixture of what a diverse class should look like, with the result that passport, ethnic origin and sex can all become influencing factors. But schools rarely dig down to find out what really makes an applicant succeed, to create a class which also contains diversity of attitude and approach-arguably the only diversity that, in a business context, really matters.
Professor Gauthier believes schools should not just be selecting candidates from traditional sectors such as banking, consultancy and industry. They should also be seeking individuals who have backgrounds in areas such as political science, the creative arts, history or philosophy, which will allow them to put business decisions into a wider context.
Indeed, there does seem to be a demand for the more rounded leaders such diversity might create. A study by Mannaz, a leadership development company, suggests that, while the bully-boy chief executive of old may not have been removed completely, there is a definite shift in emphasis towards less tough styles of management-at least in America and Europe. Perhaps most significant, according to Mannaz, is the increasing interest large companies have in more collaborative management models, such as those popular in Scandinavia, which seek to combine the hard and soft aspects of leadership and encourage delegated responsibility.
1. What characterizes the business school student population of today?| A．Greater diversity | B．Intellectual maturity. |
| C．Exceptional diligence. | D．Higher ambition. |
| A．It will arouse students' unrealistic expectation. |
| B．It will produce business leaders of a uniform style. |
| C．It focuses on theory rather than on practical skills. |
| D．It stresses competition rather than cooperation. |
| A．Age and educational background. |
| B．Social and professional experience. |
| C．Attitude and approach to business. |
| D．Ethnic origin and gender. |
| A．Applicants with prior experience in business companies. |
| B．Applicants with sound knowledge in math and statistics. |
| C．Applicants from outside the traditional sectors. |
| D．Applicants from less developed regions and areas. |
| A．effective | B．traditional |
| C．decisive | D．joint |
| A.increased B.skipping C.limit D.informative E.harmless F.escaping G.glued H.hopeless I. preferred J.inactivity K.available |
To Binge or Not to Binge?(要不要熬夜追剧?)
What are your plans for this weekend? In addition to completing homework, you may take time to catch up with friends, visit your grandparents and maybe even catch up on your
You probably feel that most of your days are spent “binge-studying”, so why not reward yourself by
Do you frequently spend hours in the evenings and on weekends completely absorbed in the fictional lives of TV characters? All of those hours of
In addition to physical health concerns, there could also be mental and emotional impacts, such as
Of course, if you're sitting around for hours with your eyes
When this starts happening, you know you have a problem.
Don't get me wrong. TV is an entertaining and sometimes
The reality is, with more and more TV series now
5 . Some American parents might think their children need better educations to compete with China and other countries. But how much do the parents themselves need to change? A new book called" Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" by Amy Chua has caused a debate about cultural differences in parenting. Ms. Chua is a professor at the Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut, and the mother of two daughters. She was raised in the American Midwest by immigrant Chinese parents.
In the Chinese culture, the tiger represents strength and power. In her book, Ms. Chua writes about how she demanded excellence from her daughters. Ms. Chua told NBC television that she had a clear list of what her daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were not permitted to do.
Many people have criticized Amy Chua. She also admits that her husband, who is not Chinese, sometimes disagreed with her parenting style. But she says that was the way her parents raised her and her three sisters.
Ms. Chua makes fun of her own style of parenting. She says she eased some of the pressure after her younger daughter rebelled and shouted "I hate my life! I hate you! " But she also says American parents often have low expectations of their children's abilities. “One of the biggest differences I see between Western and Chinese parents is that Chinese parents assume strength rather than fragility. ”
Stacy DeBroff, who has written four books on parenting, says, "The stirring of this intense debate has to do with what it means to be a successful parent and what it means to be a successful child. "Ms. DeBroff says Amy Chua's parenting style is not limited to Chinese families. She says it represents a traditional way of parenting among immigrants seeking a better future for their children. But she also sees a risk. When children have no time to be social or to follow their own interests, they might not develop other skills that they need to succeed in life. Stacy DeBroff advises parents to develop their own style of parenting and not just repeat the way they were raised.
1. Which of the following might be on the list of what Amy Chua’s daughters are no permitted to do ?| A．Taking an extra course. | B．Getting A’s in exams |
| C．Getting up on schedule. | D．Having a play date. |
| A．raise their children as they were raised |
| B．find their own ways to raise their children |
| C．be as strict as possible with their children |
| D．follow successful people's parenting style. |
| A．weakness | B．consciousness | C．independence | D．perseverance |
| A．unique | B．questioned | C．reasonable | D．creative |
| A. handle B. destination C. annoyed D. cost E. impolitely F. quickly G. support H. lose I. advance J. attract K. earn |
Without proper planning, tourism can cause problems. For example, too many tourists can crowd public places that are also enjoyed by the inhabitants of a country. If tourists create too much traffic, the inhabitants become
Too much tourism can be a problem. If tourism grows too
On the other hand, if there is not enough tourism, people can lose jobs. Businesses can also
Building a hotel is just a beginning. There must be many
| A. industry B. inevitably C. definitely D. fueled E. longing F. classless G. humble H. illustrations |
Ask most people how they define the American Dream and chances are that they’ll say. “Success.” The dream of individual opportunity has been present in America since Europeans discovered a “new world” in the Western Hemisphere. Early immigrants like Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur praised highly the freedom and opportunity to be found in this new land. His glowing descriptions of a
Our national historical story is full of
But dreams can easily turn into nightmares. Every American who hopes to “make it” also knows the fear of failure, because the myth of success
8 . The MacArthur Foundation late last month announced its latest crop of “genius grants”, and once again you thought maybe, just maybe, this was your year.
And why not? These days, we’re all geniuses. We might be “marketing geniuses” or “cooking geniuses” or “TV geniuses”. We have so weakened “genius” that it’s fast joining the company of “natural” and “mindful” (留心), words left inactive through overuse and misuse.
Admittedly, the word is tough to nail down. Sometimes we assume genius equivalent to raw intelligence. But many of humanity’s greatest breakthroughs were achieved by those with only modest IQs.
Sometimes we think of the genius as someone extremely knowledgeable, but that definition also falls short. During Albert Einstein’s time, other scientists knew more physics than Einstein did, but history doesn’t remember them. That’s because they didn’t make use of that knowledge the way Einstein did. They weren’t able to, as he put it, “regard old questions from a new angle”.
The genius is not a know-it-all but a see-it-all, someone who, working with the material available to all of us, is able to make surprising and useful connections. True genius involves not merely an extra advance, but a conceptual leap. As philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer put it: Talent hits the target no one else can hit; genius hits the target no one else can see.
We’ve lost sight of this truth, and too often grant the title of genius on talented people hitting visible targets. A good example is the much-boasted announcement earlier this year that scientists had, for the first time, recorded the sound of two black holes bumping, a billion light-years away. It was a remarkable discovery, no doubt, but it did not represent a dramatic shift in how we understand the universe. It merely confirmed Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
As Plato observed, “What is honored in a country is cultivated there.” What do we honor? Digital technology, and the convenience it represents, so naturally we get a Steve Jobs or a Mark Zuckerberg as our “geniuses”, which, in point of fact, they aren’t.
The iPhone and Facebook are wonderful inventions. In many ways, they make our lives a bit easier, a bit more convenient. If anything, though, a true genius makes our lives more difficult, more unsettled. William Shakespeare’s words provide more anxiety than relief, and the world felt a bit more secure before Charles Darwin came along. Zuckerberg and Jobs may have changed our world, but they haven’t yet changed our worldview.
We need to recover genius, and a good place to start is by putting the brakes on Genius Flooding.
1. The key factor that sets geniuses and talents apart is that ________.| A．geniuses have a larger range of knowledge | B．geniuses have access to far more resources |
| C．geniuses can see visible targets | D．geniuses approach things differently |
| A．their achievements bring people convenience |
| B．they have extraordinary intelligence |
| C．they are native to the country where digital technology is highly valued |
| D．they satisfy people’s needs in the age of high technology |
| A．We should stop the improper use of “natural” and “mindful”. |
| B．The first recording of two black holes bumping each other is a genius breakthrough. |
| C．Charles Darwin is hardly a genius. |
| D．More geniuses remain to be found in our life. |
| A．Get a new word, genius | B．Learn from a new model, genius |
| C．Join in a new group, genius | D．Make a new friend, genius |
9 . Too much work, too little money and not enough opportunity for promotion, .or growth are stressing us out on the job, according to a new survey from the American Psychological Association.
We all know that stress reduces all of the things that help productivity— mental clarity (清晰), short-term memory, decision-making and moods. One-third of employees experience lasting stress related to work, the survey found. Fifty-four percent of the 1,501 employed adults surveyed say they feel they are paid too little for their contributions, and 61% said their jobs don’t offer adequate opportunities to advance. Only half of the adults surveyed said they feel valued at work.
Besides, women’s stress is rising as families rely more on women’s earnings. An employed wife’s contribution to family earnings has reached, on average, 47% since 2009, so women feel especially stuck and tense. Thirty-two percent of women said their employers don’t provide sufficient opportunities for internal advancement, compared with 30% of men. Women are more likely to feel tense during a typical workday, reporting more often that their employer doesn’t appreciate what they do.
Physically, the body responds to stress by secreting hormones into the bloodstream that stimulate accelerated (加速的) heart rate and breathing and tensing of muscles. People who experience stress as a positive often have increased blood flow to the brain, muscles and limbs, similar to the effects of aerobic exercise. Those who feel frightened or threatened, however, often have an unstable heart rate and constricting wood vessels (血管). Their blood pressure rises and hands and feet may grow cold. They may become agitated, speak more loudly or experience errors in judgment.
Emotional responses to stress often divide along gender lines, with men more likely to have a “fight or flight” reaction while women are more likely to have a tend and befriend” response, seeking comfort in relationships and care of loved ones, according to the research.
Women tend to “internalize”, which contributes to their stress. Many women hesitate to speak up for themselves or challenge behavior they see as unfair. Kay Keaney, interior designer, 40, rose fast at a California medical group, taking on responsibility for interior and facility planning. With her 60-hour workweeks, plus early-morning and late-night meetings and a 1.5-hour commute each way, she seldom had time with her two small children. Whether stuck in traffic on her way to a 6 p.m. pickup at day care, or tom between her children and urgent work emails, “I just wanted to crawl out of my skin,” she says. “I was overwhelmed.” Yet she hesitated to complain. “There was too much work to be done, and playing the Mommy card was bad form.” But the experts suggest that women should give themselves a voice.
1. The underlined word “agitated” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to ________.| A．fearful | B．optimistic | C．anxious | D．ambitious |
| A．Everyone has a painful sense of being under-appreciated or under-paid. |
| B．An increasing number of people feel satisfied with work-life balance. |
| C．An improving job market is making some people’s work lives easier. |
| D．Most women have higher levels of work stress than the opposite sex. |
| A．relieving oneself from stress involves being frank as well as brave |
| B．experiencing symptoms of lasting stress causes communication barriers |
| C．seeking comfort from friends or relatives has little to do with office stress |
| D．being challenged or devalued by others leads to numerous health problems |
| A．Other aspects in life affected by stress in work. |
| B．Tips to help women handle their hard times properly. |
| C．Examples to show the different gender responses to stress. |
| D．Reasons why people are likely to feel tense when working. |
10 . A new survey by Harvard University finds more than two-thirds of young Americans disapprove of President Trump’s use of Twitter. The implication is that Millennial prefer news from the White House to be filtered through other source. Not a president’s social media platform.
Most Americans rely on social media to check daily headlines. Yet as distrust has risen toward all media, people may be starting to sharpen their media literacy skills. Such a trend is badly needed. During the 2016 presidential campaign, nearly a quarter of web content shared by Twitter users in the politically critical state of Michigan was fake news, according to the University of Oxford. And a survey conducted for BuzzFeed News found 44 percent of Facebook users rarely or never trust news from the media giant.
Young people who are digital natives are indeed becoming more skillful at separating fact from fiction in cyberspace. A Knight Foundation focus-group survey of young people between ages 14 and 24 found they use “distributed trust” to verily stories. They cross-check sources and prefer news from different perspectives— especially those that are open about any bias. “Many young people assume a great deal of personal responsibility for educating themselves and actively seeking out opposing viewpoints,” the survey concluded.
Such active research can have another effect. A 2014 survey conducted in Australia, Britain, and the United States by the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that young people’s reliance on social media led to greater political engagement.
Social media allows users to experience news events more intimately and immediately while also permitting them to re-share news as a projection of their values and interests. This forces users to be more conscious of their role in passing along information. A survey by Barna research group found the top reason given by Americans for the fake news phenomenon is “reader error”, more so than made-up stories or factual mistakes in reporting. About a third say the problem of fake news lies in “misinterpretation or exaggeration of actual news” via social media. In other words, the choice to share news on social media may be the heart of the issue. “This indicates there is a real personal responsibility in counteracting this problem,” says Roxanne Stone, editor in chief at Barna Group.
So when young people are critical of an over-tweeting president, they reveal a mental discipline in thinking skills— and in their choices on when to share on social media.
1. According to the Paragraphs 1 and 2, many young Americans cast doubt on ________.| A．the justification of the news-filtering practice |
| B．people’s preference for social media platforms |
| C．the administration’s ability to handle information |
| D．whether social media was a reliable source of news |
| A．tend to voice their opinions in cyberspace | B．verify news by referring to diverse resources |
| C．have a strong sense of responsibility | D．like to exchange views on “distributed trust” |
| A．readers’ outdated values | B．journalists’ biased reporting |
| C．readers’ misinterpretation | D．journalists’ made-up stories |
| A．A Counteraction Against the Over-tweeting Trend |
| B．A Rise in Critical Skills for Sharing News Online |
| C．The Accumulation of Mutual Trust on Social Media |
| D．The Platforms for Projection of Personal Interests |
