1 . For those who don’t decide their own working hours, a trial of four-day workweeks of 35-hour work weekly without a drop in pay among 2500 workers in Iceland has shown the old schedule may truly not be the most productive form of labor (劳动). The report, conducted by the research organization Autonomy and the Association for Sustainability and Democracy, found that negative markers like burnout (过度劳累), stress, necessary overtime, and disconnection with friends and family all went down, as would be expected, but that productivity remained at worst unchanged, and often improved in those working shorter hours.
The trials were such a success that following their conclusion in 2019,Mass renegotiation (重新协商)by labor unions means that 86% of Icelanders are now working non-traditional workweeks which could include 5-to-6-hour working days or four-day working weeks.
“This study shows that the world’s largest-ever trial of a shorter working week was a success,” said Will Stronge, director of Autonomy.
The main argument is that “burnout” depletes the ability of workers to be productive. A lack of production will sometimes result in a demand for overtime, especially by managers, further increasing burnout and decreasing productivity. In those who cannot afford to be less productive, like nurses for example, burnout simply results in negative health outcomes.
Hoping to see if they could replicate (复制)the productivity gains in other countries, the Reykjavid City Council started this trial, mostly at public offices, but also in private firms, to measure performance and worker well-being for four years.
Compared with non-participating firms or offices, productivity remained the same or increased in those participating, but it wasn’t free. Instead, as necessity is the mother of invention, a sort of mass re-imagining of operations was needed to achieve production or service goals with the reduced hours. This involved,as the report details, the shortening or early ending of meetings, and often a total reorganization of work processes to find where problems could be removed.
1. What does Autonomy’s report show?| A．Four-day workweeks are most productive. |
| B．Reducing regular work hours has many benefits. |
| C．Stress has no connection with working hours. |
| D．Workers should be flexible about their working hours. |
| A．They felt sad for most Icelanders. |
| B．They became worried about workers’ productivity. |
| C．They knew it was time for a change. |
| D．They decided to encourage hard work. |
| A．reduces | B．shows | C．loses | D．approves |
| A．it’s not really worth trying for many companies. |
| B．It is necessary to make some changes to ensure productivity. |
| C．It costs a lot to re-imagine operations. |
| D．It is very difficult for most companies to change their routine. |
2 . What do you think about when you wait at a crosswalk? What about checking out your friends’ new posts? Chances are, if you’re not visually impaired, you don’t think much about these everyday activities as you’re doing them. But for blind and low-vision(视力低下的）people, these kinds of things can be difficult if the people designing them don’t take steps to make them accessible.
One big problem blind people always face is the assumptions of sighted people about what they can and can’t do. Everette Bacon, President of the Utah chapter of the National Federation of the Blind, says more than once he’s had a stranger grab his arm, thinking he needs help.
“ It’s impressions about blindness that are far more threatening to blind people than the blindness itself,” says Daniel Kish, president of World Access for the Blind.
People’s assumptions about capability(能力）contribute to a low number of blind people working in or studying STEM( science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. People with low or no vision have a lot to offer in these fields. They are just as capable as anyone else at experimenting and making new discoveries.
One tool that provides accessible ways to help the blind interact (互动）with data and scientific equipment is the Sci-Voice Talking LabQuest 2. It reads aloud data from over 70 sensors(传感器）commonly used in science experiments. Cary Supalo invented this device to help students experience hands-on science learning. He has been blind since the age of seven. “ For kids who are blind or vision impaired, before this technology existed, they had to be told what happened,”he says.
Making the world more accessible isn’t limited to inventing a cool new piece of technology, though. If you’re posting a picture on social media, adding a specific description of what’s happening in the picture, called alt text, can help blind people understand your post without having to rely on sight. If you’re building a website, or know someone who is, follow accessibility guidelines.
1. What does Bacon think of the stranger’s help?| A．It should be given more politely. |
| B．It showed people’s good hearts. |
| C．It was unnecessary. |
| D．It set a good example. |
| A．People’s prejudice |
| B．Their limited intelligence |
| C．A lack of blind-friendly labs |
| D．Their sensitive characteristics |
| A．Follow government guidelines. |
| B．Describe pictures in the alt text. |
| C．Add a voice document |
| D．Use a special website |
| A．more light, more happiness | B．your legal disability rights |
| C．what you assume matters | D．a world of accessibility |
3 . After receiving several complaints (投诉) from the customers, the owner of an Italian restaurant in Mooresville, North Carolina, has taken the decision to forbid(禁止) children under the age of five. Although facing criticism in social media, he says that business has grown greatly.
The owner describes his restaurant as a traditional and wonderful restaurant, but young children cry, scream or play on iPads at full volume (音量). It disturbs other customers and clearly doesn’t fit in too well in a wonderful meal. So the owner, Pasquale Caruso, set up a “no child under five” rule in January 2020.
“Some customers complain, get up and leave because children are bothering them, and the parents are doing nothing,” Caruso told the newspaper. “It starts to feel like it isn’t the Caruso’s anymore, that it’s a local pizzeria instead." Caruso added that he didn’t like taking this kind of decision, but in the end, he had to do what was best for his business. Since then, people have been voicing their opinions on the restaurant’ s unofficial Facebook page.
“You have forbidden small children. Then who are the next: blacks, Jews, native people? Shame on you!” one Facebook user called John commented. But for every critical comment, there are some that congratulate Caruso’s for taking such a brave decision. “Thank you for taking a stand,” some people wrote on its Facebook page.
“I’m the parent of 5. Don’t bring little ones to a nice restaurant or expect them to quietly sit still for an hour. They CAN NOT DO IT,” one person posted. Caruso said the online support for his controversial (有争议的) rule is reflected in the success of his business. The number of customers has risen from 50 a day to around 80.
1. The controversial rule of the Italian restaurant is that ________.| A．he doesn’t accept complaints from customers |
| B．children under 5 are forbidden in this restaurant |
| C．customers cannot come in with their iPads |
| D．a child area will be built in the restaurant |
| A．do their homework | B．eat pizzas from other shops |
| C．make a lot of noises | D．talk with their parents in a low voice |
| A．Most of people go against his behavior. |
| B．His restaurant gets into trouble. |
| C．He has to stop his rule at once. |
| D．There are more customers than before. |
| A．A strange restaurant in Italy |
| B．The trouble from young parents |
| C．Pasquale Caruso’s brave decision |
| D．The impolite behavior in restaurants |
4 . Success is something we are told to celebrate when we achieve it. However, it might come as quite a surprise to many of us. Sometimes, we feel guilty (内疚) when we do become successful.
You’re the First in Your Family To Achieve This Level of Success.
If you are the first person in your family to become successful, you may feel superior (有优越感的) to the others.
You Worry Success Came Too Easily
We have so many messages in our culture about having to work hard to succeed.
We associate success with lone hours at work over a desk, or keeping practicing a skill. But sometimes, we get lucky. We have succeeded before many years of hard work and effort. This can also lead to feelings of guilt.
Many Other Talented People Are Less Successful
If you become successful, you might feel guilty because you know others are still struggling.
| A．Many of us spend endless years in its pursuit. |
| B．They are just as talented, and work just as hard! |
| C．You may feel that you put yourself above them. |
| D．If you’ve experienced the feeling, you’re far from alone. |
| E．You know why one equally-talented person does not achieve success. |
| F．It’s because you might worry you didn’t put in enough effort to the success. |
| G．We suggest the young work hard when they aren’t taking work seriously enough. |
5 . In the digital age, we rely on technology such as social media in trying to build interesting and varied lives. Social networking sites like Facebook are designed and promoted to make us believe enthusiastically that they are able to open up new experiences for us. There are constant notifications (通知) and updates, urging us to check-in to find out what is new.
But if we do not use the technology wisely, we can end up becoming overly attached and trapped in a cycle of social media FOMO, a sign of deeper unhappiness. FOMO, or fear of missing out, is a fear that exciting or interesting events are happening somewhere else and that we are not able to join.
People who experience high levels of FOMO have been found to be more likely to give in to urges to write and check text messages while driving, as well as to use Facebook more often directly after waking, while going to sleep and during meals.
When it comes to lasting happiness, it is best not to give in to FOMO, but rather to deal with the cycle of desires that fuel it. Hard as it is, we are better off working toward facing the fearful reality that we cannot experience everything we might like than to get caught in a cycle of checking behaviors that only cause anxiety.
If we have become used to using social media as part of our attempts at living interesting lives, we must admit that it is not easy to change our approach. But change is almost always worthwhile in the long run.
The fact that FOMO is so common in our digital age is a sign that there is something wrong with the way we are pursuing happiness and that we are not as happy as we might think we are. It should warn us that, in our eagerness to use digital technology to try to make ourselves happier, we may unintentionally (无意之中) be bringing on exactly the opposite result.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．The digital age has arrived. |
| B．Sites give netizens useful experiences. |
| C．People have fallen into modern technology. |
| D．Social media are designed to attract public attention. |
| A．Failing to use Facebook. | B．Answering a call during shopping, |
| C．Reading text messages on reaching offices. | D．Checking Facebook while driving. |
| A．To gain long-time happiness. | B．To speed the cycle of desires. |
| C．To work much better. | D．To reduce fearful reality. |
| A．Everybody has experienced FOMO. |
| B．Digital technology may make us unhappier. |
| C．Pursuing happiness is a sign of the digital age. |
| D．People may unintentionally get lost in technology. |
6 . At the table sat my new mentees (学员): six eager undergraduates who signed to work on a project I designed. “Starting today, I get to learn what it s like to be an adviser,” I thought to myself excitedly. But a few minutes later, the students broke the news: They didn’t have any training related to the project. I couldn’t help sighing. How would this ever work?
My inspiration to involve undergraduates in my research came after two years of working as a teaching assistant. Many of my undergraduate students had voiced the same frustrations I once had: They were expected to absorb facts and use them in exams, without any real critical thinking or chance to apply what they had learned. I believe I could fill that gap by creating a project related to my own work and employing undergraduates as the researchers.
My Ph.D. adviser was supportive, knowing it would be a good experience for undergraduates. My department purchased the fish we would study, and a government research lab offered space. Everything was in place—except for the students’ training. I was worried. But backing out was not an option.
I reminded myself how green I had been on my first day in the lab. After 3 hours there, I had to throw everything out and start over the experiment, because I mistook the concentrations of chemicals. But my mentor (导师) said nothing and he let me learn from the scene.
His example inspired me. On the first day in my lab, I walked new mentees through the facilities. However, I noticed that some forgot my instructions. My instinct (本能) was to jump in and save the day. But I resisted the urge to intervene (介入) and watched proudly as the students identified the mistakes and learned from them.
Six months later, in a reflection meeting, the students thanked me for letting them find their own way to grow as scientists.
1. What made the author sigh after meeting her new mentees?| A．Their choosing other advisers. | B．Their absence from her training. |
| C．Their being late for a few minutes. | D．Their receiving no relevant training. |
| A．To help them achieve better performances in exams. |
| B．To fill the gap between advisers and mentees. |
| C．To offer them a chance to combine theory with practice. |
| D．To train them to be her teaching assistants. |
| A．Her being in a dilemma. | B．The possible options ahead. |
| C．Objects needed by her mentees. | D．Her thanks to the government. |
| A．Training students as early as possible. |
| B．Walking students through each experiment. |
| C．Giving students room to learn through their errors. |
| D．Stepping in to help students get out of trouble in time. |
7 . By age 12, Gavin Svenson had a strong interest in insects. He couldn’t get enough of digging for them, watching them, and collecting them. He remembers that his parents patiently indulged (纵容) his passion for insects even as he stored them in the fridge of their home.
Around that age, Svenson saw an interview with an insectologist on TV and thought,“Whoa! You can do this as a job?” Clearly, yes, which explains how he ended up as the curator (馆长) at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
Deep interests that present at an early age often stay with us throughout life, says Susan Newman, a social psychologist.
So how do you help your teenager find their passion? Parents can be patient and supportive without overdoing it. Svenson feels his parents found the night balance. “My parents were super supportive, but it was mostly me driving it,” says Svenson. Though his parents had some worries about his narrow choice of a career path, they never tried to force him to change it.
Teens are likely to try lots of new activities and may drop them almost as quickly as they pick them up. So how can parents know when it’s a true passion and when not? Newman describes a passion as “an interest or activity that you can’t get enough of; it keeps you coming back for more.” Newman says, “As a parent, you’ll notice that you can’t get their attention because they are totally absorbed.”
But what if the passion that’s absorbing your child is not the one you would have picked for them? “Parents have to realize that their children are separate human beings with interests, likes, and dislikes hat can be very different from their own,” says Newman. “You have to let your teen take the lead in what interests them.”
Now a parent himself, Svenson concurs. “Never lower your kids’ interests. Kids are smart, and they have a great ability to form their own opinion.”
1. Why did Svenson store insects in the fridge of his home?| A．To cook them. | B．To study them. |
| C．To follow an expert’s advice. | D．To play a joke on his parents. |
| A．They are on his side. |
| B．They are single-minded. |
| C．They should not change his life. |
| D．They should not worry about him. |
| A．To let their kids find their own interest. |
| B．To develop the same interest as their kids. |
| C．To pick a long term interest for their kids. |
| D．To help their kids stick with their interest. |
| A．Feels surprised. | B．Refuses all help. |
| C．Makes promises. | D．Expresses agreement. |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
I’m worried that you’ve been addicted to share pictures in WeChat circle recently. You even share all sort of photos in your daily life. Of course, WeChat makes better to understand each other and makes our life more colorful, which is very convenient for us to communicate with. However, there exist some potential trouble if we overshare. One serious problem is leaking privacy, that may cause a lot of trouble. Besides, oversharing can make others uncomfortably, for they think you are showing off.
Thus, neither should we post our personal information, or should we blindly add strangers to a list of friends. It’s much wise to set aside some time to accompany parents or do something more meaningful, such as reading books or taking exercise.
9 . We often hear about schools cutting back on bus routes to save money, yet plenty of communities (社区) have their buses stopping almost as often as the mail truck. While the presence of sidewalks, and the safety of area roads, play a role in who gets house-to-house pickup or end-of-the-street pickup, Peter Mannella, director at the New York Association for Pupil Transportation says community culture can play an even larger role in the transportation situation.
For example: Several years ago, Bethlehem tried spacing out its stops, says Mannella. The parents were unhappy, expressed as much and, within three days, the routes were back to their original frequency. “You can say ‘We are going to save $100,000 by not stopping at every house,’ but parents don’t want their kids walking,” Mannella says. As you’d expect, this is especially true in bad weather or during winter.
As a student in the 1980s, we walked to our stops. The neighborhood wait-spot was a good quarter mile away. Parents didn’t make a fuss (大惊小怪), and no child was injured. In fact, the walking was good—it woke us up each morning. Not to mention, the sense of community that came with hanging out together each morning waiting for bus No. 23 to roll up and take us all to school.
Thing is a lot has changed since the 1980s. Too many people are texting and driving, making them as dangerous on the roads as drunken drivers. And, with reduced work forces at many companies, parents often work longer hours, meaning they aren’t around to guard their kids to and from stops like many parents did when we were growing up.
So I’ll give them an understanding pass on not wanting their children to walk a mile each way to get to and from school. I can’t agree with the complaints of having kids walk to a community neighborhood stop, though. If you worry they’re going to be cold, get them a hat. If you fear they may miss the bus, send them out the door ? Five minutes earlier.
1. What do we know about Bethlehem’s plan?| A．It ended up in failure. | B．It lasted for a long time. |
| C．It wasn’t put into practice. | D．It saved a lot of money. |
| A．They woke up early in the morning. |
| B．They were driven to school by parents. |
| C．They usually hung out with their neighbors. |
| D．They benefited by walking to a neighborhood stop. |
| A．Drivers do not concentrate on driving. |
| B．The weather conditions are awful in winter. |
| C．Children might be late for school. |
| D．The house-to-house pickup is available. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Unconcerned. | C．Supportive. | D．Critical. |
10 . Back in the 1960s, a Harvard graduate student made a great discovery about human anger. At age 34, Jean Briggs was allowed to live in an Inuit community where many Inuit families lived a traditional life.
Briggs quickly realized something unusual was going on in these families. “They never got angry with me, and even showing a bit of anger was considered weak and childlike,” Briggs said. For example, once when someone knocked a hot pot of tea across the igloo (冰屋), damaging the ice floor, no one changed their look. “Too bad”, the person just said calmly and went to refill the teapot.
Briggs wrote up her observations in her book, Never in Anger. But she was left with questions: How do Inuit parents teach their children his ability? How do the Inuit turn angry babies into cool-headed adults?
After reading Briggs’ book, in early December I came to the Arctic town of Iqaluit, Canada, which is an Inuit town, in search of parenting wisdom, especially when it comes to teaching children to control their feelings. Right off the plane, I started collecting data.
I sat with the elders in their 80s and 90s. I talked with moms. And I attended a local parenting class. All the moms mentioned one golden rule: Don’t shout or yell at small children, for it is a tradition among the Inuit to see yelling at a small child as shameful.
The elders I spoke with said colonization (殖民) over the past century is harming the convention, so the community is working hard to keep their parenting methods. Goota Jaw, who teaches the parenting class at Nunavut Arctic College, is in the front line of this effort. “Shouting is not how we teach our children,” Jaw said. “It is just teaching them to run away.”
“When we shout at a child, we’re raining the child to shout,” said author Laura Markham. “Parents who control their own anger are helping their children learn to do the same.”
1. What did Briggs find about the Inuit?| A．They often behaved like children. | B．They began to lead a modern lifestyle. |
| C．They developed a habit of drinking tea. | D．They were quite able to control their anger. |
| A．To study how Brigs wrote Never in Anger. | B．To attend a class about the history of the Inuit. |
| C．To find out how the Inuit raise cool-headed kids. | D．To collect data on education in Inuit communities. |
| A．conversation. | B．tradition. | C．trade. | D．organization. |
| A．Kids follow the example of parents. | B．Teaching kids to be angry is necessary. |
| C．Parents often learn parenting from their kids. | D．It is sometimes OK to speak to kids seriously. |
