1 . If you are a recent social science graduate who has had to listen to jokes about unemployment from your computer major classmates, you may have had the last laugh. There are many advantages for the social science major because this high-tech “Information Age” demands people who are flexible and who have good communication skills.
There are many social science majors in large companies who fill important positions. For example, a number of research studies found that social science majors had achieved greater managerial success than those who had technical training or pre-professional courses. Studies show that social science majors are most suited for change, which is the leading feature of the kind of high speed, high-pressure, high-tech world we now live in.
Social science majors are not only experiencing success in their long-term company jobs, but they are also finding jobs more easily. A study showed that many companies had filled a large percentage of their entry-level positions with social science graduates. The study also showed that the most sought-after quality in a person who was looking for a job was communication skills, noted as “very important” by 92 percent of the companies. Social science majors have these skills, often without knowing how important they are. It is probably due to these skills that they have been offered a wide variety of positions.
Finally, although some social science majors may still find it more difficult than their technically trained classmates to land the first job, recent graduates report that they don’t regret their choice of study.
1. Compared with graduates of other subjects, social science graduates _____.| A．are ready to change when situations change |
| B．are better able to deal with difficulties |
| C．are equally good at computer skills |
| D．are likely to give others pressure |
| A．Willingness to take low-paid jobs. | B．Readiness to gain high-tech knowledge. |
| C．Skills in expressing themselves. | D．Part-time work experience. |
| A．keep for some time | B．successfully get |
| C．immediately start | D．lose regretfully |
2 . Across the rich world, well-educated people increasingly work longer than the less-skilled. Some 65% of American men aged 62-74 with a professional degree are in the workforce, compared with 32% of men with only a high-school certificate. This gap is part of a deepening divide between the well-education well off and the unskilled poor. Rapid technological advance has raised the incomes of the highly skilled while squeezing those of the unskilled. The consequences, for individual and society, are profound.
The world is facing as astonishing rise in the number of old people, and they will live longer than ever before. Over the next 20 years the global population of those aged 65 or more will almost double, from 600 million to 1.1 billion. The experience of the 20th century, when greater longevity translated into more years in retirement rather than more years at work, has persuaded many observers that this shift will lead to slower economic growth, while the swelling ranks of pensioners will create government budget problems.
But the notion of a sharp division between the working young and the idle old misses a new trend, the growing gap between the skilled and the unskilled. Employment rates are falling among younger unskilled people, whereas older skilled folk are working longer. The divide is most extreme in America, where well-educated baby-boomers (二战后生育高峰期出生的美国人) are putting off retirement while many less-skilled younger people have dropped out of the workforce.
Policy is partly responsible. Many European governments have abandoned policies that used to encourage people to retire early. Rising life expectancy, combined with the replacement of generous defined-benefit pension plans with less generous defined-contribution ones, means that even the better-off must work longer to have a comfortable retirement. But the changing nature of work also plays a big role. Pay has risen sharply for the highly educated, and those people continue to get rich rewards into old age because these days the educated elderly are more productive than the previous generation. Technological change may well strengthen that shift: the skills that make up for computers, from management knowhow to creativity, do not necessarily decline with age.
1. What has helped deepen the divide between the well-off and the poor?| A．Longer life expectancies. |
| B．A rapid technological advance. |
| C．Profound changes in the workforce. |
| D．A growing number of the well-educated. |
| A．Economic growth will slow down. |
| B．Government budgets will increase |
| C．More people will try to pursue higher education. |
| D．There will be more competition in the job market. |
| A．Unskilled workers m ay choose to retire early. |
| B．More people have to receive in-service training. |
| C．Even wealthy people must work longer to live comfortably in retirement. |
| D．People may be able to enjoy generous defined-benefits from pension plans. |
| A．Computers will do more complicated work. |
| B．More will be taken by the educated young. |
| C．Most jobs to be done will be creative ones |
| D．Skills are highly valued regardless of age |
3 . MEGHAN YOUNG is a professional Instagram star. She gets paid to climb beautiful mountains, photograph their glittering (闪闪发光的) summits and post about her adventures to her fans.
Young graduated from Seattle University’s school of Law in 2015. But she decided she didn’t want to become a lawyer. Her parents were shocked by the decision. “They were worried about what I was going to do,” Young says. “How was I going to find career stability?”
But her legal skills haven’t gone to waste. Once companies express an interest in working with her, there’s the tough task of negotiating the terms (条款) of the deal. And the work is still unfinished even after she’s done take the photos. When Young returns from her adventures, she carefully edits the images and writes captions to go along with them. Once the posts are public, businesses sometimes don’t pay on time. That's when she needs to follow up. Her least favorite problem is when she discovers that a company has used her photos in a way that violates the terms of the contract.That usually leads to time-consuming email exchanges.
Social media influencing is not as effortless as it seems. The stress it creates even has its own name: creator burnout (精疲力竭) . Young used to obsessively check her post’s performance, which she says will “drive you crazy”, so she stopped. But if she doesn’t reply, people will stop commenting.Without that engagement on her posts, brands won’t want to keep paying her. Therefore, she had to accept the fact that she’ll be tethered (拴住) to her phone as long as she’s in this line of work.
Beyond the day-to- day headaches of a career online, social media’s inherent (固有的) uncertainly also poses problems for creators. There are times when Young is staring at the calendar without another project in the works. In the long term, it can be risky to focus a career on a single platform, or even on social media itself.
Yet Young says it’s all been worth it, because the sponsorship allow her to spend much of her life in the mountains. Her ideal day starts with unzipping her tent at dawn so she can take pictures of the sunrise reflecting on snowy summits around her. Few jobs in the world would allow her to do that so consistently (一贯地) .
1. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?| A．The main work involved in being an Instagram influencer. |
| B．The difficulties that every Instagram star will meet. |
| C．How to deal with dishonest companies. |
| D．How Meghan Young’s legal skills help her work. |
| A．there are a lot of tough tasks when dealing with sponsors. |
| B．the work of photo-taking and image-editing is difficult to handle. |
| C．it is stressful to check one’s phone and to interact with fans all the time. |
| D．the income is unstable and the career prospects are uncertain. |
| A．Bored. | B．Worried. |
| C．Satisfied | D．Confident. |
| A．Meghan Young’s decision to be a full-time influencer was supported by her parents. |
| B．It happens frequently that Meghan Young doesn’t get paid on time. |
| C．It is impossible for Instagram influencers to put down their phones. |
| D．In order to increase their influence, creators have to keep a good relationship with fans. |
4 . Have you ever heard of Big Data or are you familiar with Data Scientists and Data Engineers? They are probably new job titles, but the core job roles have been around for a while. Traditionally, anyone who analyzed data would be called a “data analyst” and anyone who created backend platforms to support data analysis would be a “Business intelligence (BI) Developer”.
Here’s an overview of the roles of the Data Analyst, BI Developer, Data Scientist and Data Engineer.
Data Analysts are experienced data professionals in their organization who can question and process data, provide reports, summarize and visualize data. They have a strong understanding of how to influence existing tools and methods to solve a problem.
Skills: Data Analysts need to have a baseline understanding of some core skills: statistics, data munging, data visualization, exploratory data analysis, Tools: Microsoft Excel, SPSS, SPSS Modeler, SAS, SAS Miner, SQL, Microsoft Access, Tableau, SSAS.
Additionally, they work with databases, both relational and multidimensional, and should have great SQL development skills to integrate data from different resources. They use all of these skills to meet the enterprise-wide self-service needs. BI Developers are typically not expected to perform data analyses.
Data Engineers are the data professionals who prepare the “big data” infrastructure to be analyzed by Data Scientists.
They might also run some ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) on top of big datasets and create big data warehouses that can be used for reporting or analysis by data scientists.
| A．In this case, the curious Data Scientist is expected to explore the data, come up with the right questions, and provide interesting findings! |
| B．Business intelligence Developers are data experts that interact more closely with internal stakeholders to understand the reporting needs. |
| C．With the emergence of big data, new roles began popping up in corporations and research centers -- namely, Data Scientists and Data Engineers. |
| D．This is why it is essential to know computer science fundamentals and programming, including experience with languages and database (big/small) technologies. |
| E．And they also help people from across the company understand specific questions with ad-hocreports and charts. |
| F．They are software engineers who design, build, integrate data from various resources, and manage big data. |
5 . When Liam McGee departed as president of Bank of America in August, his explanation was surprisingly straight up. Rather than cloaking his exit in the usual vague excuse, he came right out and said he was leaving “to pursue my goal of running a company.” Broadcasting his ambition was “very much my decision,” McGee says. Within two weeks, he was talking for the first time with the board of Hartford Financial Services Group, which named him CEO and chairman on September 29.
McGee says leaving without a position lined up gave him time to reflect on what kinds of company he wanted to run. It also sent a clear message to the outside world about his aspirations. And McGee isn’t alone. In recent weeks the No. 2 executives at Avon and American Express quit with the explanation that they were looking for a CEO post. As boards scrutinize succession plans in response to shareholder pressure, executives who don’t get the nod also may wish to move on. A turbulent business environment also has senior managers cautious of letting vague pronouncements cloud their reputations.
As the first signs of recovery begin to take hold, deputy chiefs may be more willing to make the jump without a net. In the third quarter, CEO turnover was down 23% from a year ago as nervous boards stuck with the leaders they had, according to Liberum Research. As the economy picks up, opportunities will abound for aspiring leaders.
The decision to quit a senior position to look for a better one is unconventional. For years executives and headhunters have adhered to the rule that the most attractive CEO candidates are the ones who must be poached. Says Korn Ferry, senior partner Dennis Carey: “I can’t think of a single search I’ve done where a board has not instructed me to look at sitting CEOs first.”
Those who jumped without a job haven’t always landed in top positions quickly. Ellen Marram quit as chief of Tropicana when the business became part of PepsiCo (PEP) a decade ago, saying she wanted to be a CEO. It was a year before she became head of a tiny internet-based commodities exchange. Robert Willemstad left Citigroup in 2005 with ambitions to be a CEO. He finally took that post at a major financial institution three years later.
Many recruiters say the old disgrace is fading for top performers. The financial crisis has made it more acceptable to be between jobs or to leave a bad one. “The traditional rule was it’s safer to stay where you are, but that’s been fundamentally inverted,” says one headhunter. “The people who’ve been hurt the worst are those who’ve stayed too long.”
1. When McGee announced his departure, his manner can best be described as being _______.| A．arrogant. | B．frank. | C．self-centered. | D．impulsive. |
| A．their expectation of better financial status | B．their need to reflect on their private life |
| C．their strained relations with the boards | D．their pursuit of new career goals |
| A．top performers used to cling to their posts |
| B．loyalty of top performers is getting out-dated |
| C．top performers care more about reputations |
| D．it’s safer to stick to the traditional rules |
| A．CEOs; Where to Go? | B．CEOs: All the Way Up? |
| C．Top Managers Jump without a Net | D．The Only Way Out for Top Performers |
6 . Criticism of Big Tech is intensifying. At Congressional hearings last week, politicians from across the aisle gave a rough ride to executives of some of the world's most valuable companies. Amid the hubbub(喧哗), the resignation of Google's Meredith Whittaker was less noticed, but significant. Ms Whittaker, a Google artificial intelligence researcher, was a leader of protests insider the company last year. In an internal note to fellow employees, she warned that developers have a “short window in which to act" to stop increasingly dangerous uses of artificial intelligence.
Ms Whittaker' s resignation reflects a growing tendency for tech companies' own staff to try to serve as the moral compass and conscience of their businesses. In companies whose value relies so much on human and intellectual capital ---and in being able to attract the sharpest minds ---employees have considerable potential impact, especially collectively.
The Google Walkouts of which Ms Whittaker was a leader began in response to the search group's treatment of sexual harassment complaints. They snowballed to include broader issues around the company’s technologies. Ms Whittaker’s decision now to resign suggests many Big Tech companies are still not doing enough to attend to employees' concerns over corporate culture. Yet responding to internal calls to action should be an obvious choice. Threats of strikes or resignations by the talented staff who build systems risk undermining technology companies' competitiveness. Employee action can act to strengthen measures by regulators who are increasingly proactive in dealing with the excesses of Big Tech.
The rise of collective action for social good is encouraging. Traditional labour focuses ----such as workers' rights around pay and hours ----- remain important in a sector which still also makes heavy uses of cheap and poorly-skilled workers. Attempts to pressure companies into behaving ethically have more often been driven by single employees. Avenues are needed to ensure that workers can discuss potentially unethical practices without risking revenge.
Ms Whittaker’s proposal for unionisation is part of a broader chorus demanding greater employee oversight. Alphabet, Google’s parent, has already faced calls from union-sponsored pension funds to add a non-executive employee representative to its board. While not successful this year, the move showed that stakeholders such as investors are pressing for culture change within Big Tech companies.
Workers outside the tech sector, too, are forcing companies to try to solve international problems. A global climate strike is planned for September，encouraging workers to join the thousands of school students who have protested over the past year. In the advertising industry, workers at over 20 agencies refused to work on fossil fuel briefs in solidarity, inspired by the Extinction Rebellion protests. Big Tech, facing ever more open criticism should see the message is clear. To regain trust, it will have to engage not just with regulators, but with its own employees and stakeholders.
1. We can learn from the first paragraph that Ms Whittaker _________| A．drew much criticism from politicians. |
| B．opposed Google's risky uses of AL. |
| C．disagreed with her colleagues on the future of AI. |
| D．resigned because her talent in AI was not recognized. |
| A．can serve as the moral models for traditional labour. |
| B．should keep sharpening their minds. |
| C．can pressure companies into behaving ethically. |
| D．should improve internal collaboration. |
| A．damage a company's reputation. |
| B．threaten a company's competitiveness. |
| C．impair a company' s corporate culture. |
| D．strengthen a company 's management system. |
| A．Employees Can Help to Make Big Tech Moral |
| B．Big Tech Staff Are Different from Traditional Labour |
| C．The Tech Sector Is Facing Ever More Criticism |
| D．The Tech Sector Is in a Wave of Resignations |
7 . With so many investments required of us to succeed - time, resources, talents, responsibilities, even finances for our retirement - it’s easy to lose sight of the most difficult investment of all to commit to : ourselves.
Getting to the point where you’re ready to start upgrading to you 2.0 isn’t easy. But it doesn’t mean dropping the ball everywhere else. It’s not about omissions, but admissions. Come clean with yourself to kick-start your personal growth.
Unstuck starts with “u”
No one purposely chooses to stop learning and growing again, it just kind of happens in a lot of daily responsibilities and life. And if it were easy to just kick it into gear（ 档 位 ）again, you would have already done it. But the truth is inescapable. If you want to get off that place to higher ground, it’s up to you and only you. No one will just hand you a steady stream of opportunities for growth.
You’ve been working in your life, not on it
Activity is often confused with acceleration（忙碌）. I was guilty of this for years in working place - staying always busy but not admitting I was bored. I was lost in activity and not steeping back to take time to question what I wanted my life to be. Once I began working on my life - quitting corporate, becoming an entrepreneur, restructuring to my life - I started growing once again. And I’ve never been happier.
Things aren’t happening to you, they’re happening for you
A victim mentality（心态）is the enemy of personal growth. Lamenting over everything that has gone wrong in your life only wastes energy from working to make more things go right. If you want to kick-start growth, you must view setbacks as having a purpose, and then put them in their place. The past shouldn’t run or define you - only fuel you.
The perfect time to start doesn’t exist
I had so many things that had to be just right before I could make my long-planned leap from corporate. I’d tell myself, “I’d love to go for it right now, but practically speaking.” Well, guess what? Practicality is poison. It’s the convenient excuse stopping you from what you’re meant to become.
It’s time to unplug others’ opinions
Grow where you want to grow. Learn what you want to learn. Wherever you are on the scale of hat you want to learn next - be it beginner or near - expert own it, be proud of it. Pretenses are for pretenders. You’re just trying to become a better version of your genuine self.
1. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?| A．If you want to succeed, you have to invest yourself first. |
| B．Upgrading yourself is hard, but you still need to continue. |
| C．Giving up upgrading yourself is just like dropping the ball. |
| D．It’s a kind of responsibility to go on learning though it’s hard. |
| A．to express sadness and feeling sorry about something |
| B．to repeat what happens to you in the past of your life |
| C．to show some regretful feeling or thought for our past |
| D．to recognize something that has gone wrong in the past |
| A．the busier you are, the happier and better you will be |
| B．what happened shouldn’t prevent you, but protect you |
| C．whoever you are, just grow where you want to grow |
| D．how well you grow is actually decided by yourself |
| A．3 | B．7 | C．5 | D．6 |
8 . Occupational Licenses with the Biggest Bang for Buck
Some 1.8 million American were laid off or discharged from their jobs each month on average in 2019, according to data from the U. S. Bureau of Labor statistics. People who lose their jobs often confront a difficult choice: should they take a new job that pays less, or should they make a costly investment in gaining new skills so that they can compete for another similar job or an even better one?
If they do decide on retraining ,which programs and occupational licenses are worth their while? In general, the highest-paying jobs tend to have the most difficult education/ training and experience requirements. But that is not always the case. The following are five occupational licenses with the biggest bang for your buck.
Drone Pilots: If you want to become a drone pilot, all you need to do is be above 16 years old, pass the Federal Aviation Administration's Remote Pilot Certificate exam (which requires about 15 to 20 hours of studying), and pay a $ 150 licensing fee. Pay for drone pilots averages $ 56,426 per year, and jobs are growing rapidly across a range of industries. For example, companies like UPS are making substantial investments in drone delivery and will need to hire thousands of drone pilots in the coming years.
Home Inspectors: If you need a job that makes about $ 60K per year, you might want to consider becoming a Home Inspector. Both Home Inspectors and HVAC Contractors earn about $ 61K per year, on average, but getting a state HVAC Contractor license typically requires about 4,000 hours of training and experience (those systems are becoming even more complex), whereas a Home Inspector license only requires 360 hours of training and experience, and much of the training can be gained free of charge on the job.
Massage Therapists: On average, Manicurists/Pedicurists are required to complete more hours of training than Massage Therapists (700 hours versus 500 hours), but Massage Therapists earn almost twice as much, on average ($54,639 versus $ 32,509).
Radiologic Technologists: Licensing requirements for cosmetologists（美容师）have become so onerous that candidates now need 2,700 hours of training and experience on average. That's not much less than the requirement for becoming a Radiologic or MRI Technologist (3,300 hours), a job which is growing considerably faster than average, is more recession - proof, and pays twice as much ($ 56,162 versus $ 28,608).
Dental Hygienists: Among jobs that require a two-year associate's degree granted by a college or university, some pay substantially more than others. The average state licensing fee for becoming a Dental Hygienist is a hefty $ 1,600, but the pay bump you'll receive will likely make up for it ten times over in the first year.
1. The underlined expression "the biggest bang for your buck" in Paragraph 2 probably means ________.| A．the job loss for your hesitation to invest |
| B．a good income resulting from your skills |
| C．a good return for the money you have spent |
| D．the great efforts you'd make to change your life. |
| A．Among the drone operators, those who work for delivery services can earn the most. |
| B．Compared to a home inspector, being an HVAC Contractor is more cost-effective. |
| C．As an MRI technologist, you'd be less likely to be jobless during an economic crisis. |
| D．Higher education isn't a compulsory requirement if you want to be a dental hygienist. |
| A．① Radiologic Technologist; ② Cosmetologist; ③General Contractor |
| B．① Drone Pilot; ② General Contractor; ③ Dental Hygienists |
| C．① Message Therapist; ② Radiologic Technologist; ③ Cosmetologist |
| D．① Drone Piolt; ② Cosmetologist; ③ Radiologic Technologist |
9 . Memorandum (备忘录)
TO: Leona Guo, President of English Salon FROM: Jarod Lu, Team Leader, Department of Education Promotion ( DEP) Division of English Salon DATE: Jul. 13th, 2011 SUBJECT: Confirmation of Future Career Plans Thank you, Ms. Guo, for the chance to sit down with you last Friday afternoon and discuss my career objectives and contributions to English Salon’s staff training program. If I am correct, we have agreed on the following matters: 1. Within six months or less, my job title will be changed to Vice President of English Salon. 2. My assignments will include all I am now doing; additionally, I will be allowed to sit in on administrative meetings and voice ideas about curriculum plans. 3. My salary will be raised to $26 ,000 at the time I assume this new title. 4. I’ll be given a car allowance of $75/ month to cover trips to outlying centers. If I’m correct about our agreement, would you sign this memo and return it to me for my files? |
TO: Jarod Lu, Vice President of English Salon FROM: Leona Guo, President of English Salon DATE: Dec. 18th, 2011 SUBJECT: Leave of absence Realizing everything you’ve been through these past few months, Jarod, we’ve decided to approve your request for a two-month leave of absence. Needless to say, it won’t be easy without you around here, but we, are willing to make the added investment in you. So, take off at 5:30 today and we’ll see you in two months. I wish you the best. |
TO: Leona Guo, President of English Salon FROM: Jarod Lu, Vice President of English Salon. DATE: Mar. 3rd, 2012 SUBJECT: Larger coffee machine The rapid growth of our department has resulted in an increase of coffee consumption. The original budget for coffee has been exceeded and our machine simply does not have the capacity to handle the increased usage. In short, we need a new and larger coffee machine. I hope you will approve this request in a timely and forthright fashion. |
1. In the first memo, Jarod Lu intends to confirm that ________ .
| A．he will be allowed to have more business trips |
| B．he can get promotion within half a year or less |
| C．some of his responsibilities can be handed over |
| D．his salary will be raised the moment the memo is signed |
| A．find another person to take the place of Jarod Lu . |
| B．refuse Lu’s request for a two- month leave of absence |
| C．require Lu to build a new team |
| D．wait for Lu to rejoin the company in two months |
| A．the old machine can no longer meet the needs of coffee consumption |
| B．the old machine does not work properly |
| C．the price for the new machine has dropped dramatically |
| D．the quality of the new machine is desirable |
Ten years ago, after 2 years as a postdoc(博士后), I found myself wondering whether I should take a different road. Up to that point, I had stuck to a pretty traditional path investigating cancer genetics, but I was losing interest in the research. At the same time, federal funding had flattened, which added to my dissatisfaction.
As I was considering my options, I found inspiration in my first graduate school research tutor, whose work reminded me that scientists’ efforts away from the bench can be incredibly powerful. But I still didn’t know exactly what I should do.
Looking back at these 10 years, I realize how much my work on this campus has helped me grow, both as an academic and a tutor. I’m grateful that I stepped away from a traditional career path and found a way to serve both the student and research communities in my own way, modest though it may be.
| A．However, my work has its challenges. |
| B．Then a second bit of inspiration came my way. |
| C．Distressed as I was, I resolved to pursue my interest in research. |
| D．Besides the spiritual reward, there are other less apparent benefits. |
| E．So I decided to leave the academic path to find a better match. |
| F．Here, at last, was a way to combine my interest in science with my passion for teaching. |
