1 . I started participating in student journalism when I was in high school. And when I started, I really just saw my articles as more fun versions of the academic essays I was writing every day in class. It wasn’t really until an article I wrote in March 2020, that I really understood the power of expressing my voice through journalism, and the unique appeal and responsibility of being both a student and a journalist.
Most of the things reported on in student publications directly or indirectly affect the journalists writing about them. This differs from mainstream publications (刊物), who often have the privilege (特权) to objectively cover things that they have no connection with. Student journalists, on the other hand, often find themselves trying to put on a different “hat” when it comes to reporting, but in my eyes part of the magic of being a student journalist is that despite putting on a different “hat”, it’s still the same you.
We know what is important to report on because we are constantly surrounded by the student voice. An Irish Times or Independent reporter would never know about the burden of high rents, or why so many campus spaces are not accessible, or feel the fears of examination changes in light of artificial intelligence. Students know what students care about, and what issues aren’t getting the attention they deserve.
I’ve always been drawn to comment articles, particularly because it’s a place I feel my voice holds a special significance, and one where my words and my articles come together to represent me. Opinion pieces are unique, in that they are the only article format that doesn’t have to be entirely objective. I, and many other comment writers I chat to, find this freeing. It’s a relaxing experience to work out an important issue from your own viewpoint and even with your own frustration (挫败、失意) or praise, and it feels especially personal.
We need to protect student journalists, but we also need to expand the field we can cover in student journalism. The student voice is powerful because it is diverse, and it’s critical to reflect their voice. The press also has an important role in defending itself. Freedom of information is one of the most sacred (神圣的) things we have, and one that we as students need to protect.
1. How are student journalists different from the mainstream publications?| A．They can hardly identify issues relevant to peers. |
| B．They have an objective viewpoint on the issues. |
| C．They report on issues directly affecting them. |
| D．They prioritize objectivity over other things |
| A．student voice may always lead us to making unfair judgments |
| B．student reporters can keep their individuality when playing various roles |
| C．student articles offer an entertaining twist on traditional academic essays |
| D．student journalists should focus on the topics within their professional fields |
| A．inform readers of the high rents |
| B．attach importance to student voice |
| C．praise mainstream media for their efforts |
| D．bring up the topic of artificial intelligence |
| A．Freedom of speech and the press |
| B．The importance of student journalism |
| C．The responsibility of mainstream media |
| D．Embracing the diversity of student voice |
2 . The Four-day Work Week
If Liz Truss can reduce a whole premiership to seven weeks, why can’t a standard working week be squashed into something shorter? A six-month pilot (试点) scheme, in which around 3,300 workers from 70 companies are testing out a four-day workweek, is due to conclude this month.
Of the participating organisations, 46% reported maintaining overall output at the same level, and 49% said it had improved.
Becoming a four-day operation can be hard in a five-day world, however. Bookishly, an online shop, chose Wednesdays off to avoid having three days in a row when packages are not mailed out; people are warned about the new schedule before they order.
More tests are on the horizon. In January South Cambridge shire District Council will become the first British local authority to try out a four-day week. The lessons learned are likely to be valuable even if the idea does not spread.
| A．Sceptics might observe that the companies involved are self-selecting. |
| B．Advocates say a shorter week delivers a better work-life balance without hurting overall output. |
| C．The trial’s largest company, Outcomes First Group, tracks indicators for its 1,027 participating employees. |
| D．The scheme holds useful lessons about productivity. |
| E．Platten’s, a fish-and-chip shop in Norfolk, gives its 50-or-so employees two days on and two days off to cover the week. |
| F．But customers are not always prepared to wait, so most firms in the scheme have tried to spread staff more thinly. |
3 . As is the fate of anyone running a hotel in Kerala these days, Bijoy George is a man with too much to do. Before pandemic-caused lockdowns began in 2020, he managed 40 employees at the Eighth Bastion Hotel in the charming historic quarter of Kochi, a bustling coastal city. Now that business is back to pre-covid levels he needs the same number of staff again. But he has only 20 workers. His plight is shared with every other hotel, café and bar. It is a result of the state’s hospitality (招待) employees moving all together in large numbers to Qatar, not to watch football but to take up employment tied to the World Cup.
As the start of the competition approaches on November 20th, workers are quitting at a rate Mr. George says he has never seen in his 22 years in the business. Qatar, a country with a population of under 3m, will have welcomed more than 1.5m visitors before the matches conclude on December 18th. That means finding staff to run all the new hotels that have been built along with other venues that have been pressed into service to profit from the sports fans.
Kerala has long been a significant source of hospitality workers for Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries. Its state government provides good schools with English-language instruction but few jobs. More than 2m people, 17% of its working population, already work overseas, largely in the Gulf.
The appeal of Qatar is straightforward. Starting salaries approach $1,000 a month, more than six times the level for similar jobs in Kerala. To replace those who have left, Kerala’s employers have been casting their nets wider. Recruiters have been extending their searches to many other Indian cities. But that means the most common word on name-tags pinned to the breast pockets of workers is “trainee”.
Among the many skills that need to be taught, says Mr. George, is smiling at customers — the failure to do so a result of shyness among those new to the workforce. The danger is that after a week or so when confidence grows, even these employees may slip away to the Gulf.
Most contracts run for three months, concluding at the end of December, not long after the World Cup final. Returning workers will be welcomed back with open arms. Filling the gaps is even more important as Indian tourism and weddings have restarted. The reunions, though, may be short-lived. The game these workers will have learned from the World Cup is how to be paid better. That means leaving India.
1. The underlined sentence in paragraph one implies that __________.| A．other hotels, cafes and bars will share Bijoy’s 20 employees |
| B．other hotels, cafes and bars will have to lay off some workers |
| C．other hotels, cafes and bars also send the workers to Qatar |
| D．other hotels, cafes and bars also find it hard to employ enough workers |
| A．Millions of tourists have to be served during the World Cup. |
| B．Hospitality workers are in high demand with new hotels and venues open for business in Qatar. |
| C．Qatar provides good education and English training for potential workers in Kerala. |
| D．The salaries of similar jobs in Kerala are much lower than those in Qatar. |
| A．Kerala’s employers have to take on new employees in Asian cities. |
| B．Many of the new employees will pin their name tags to their breast pockets. |
| C．The new employees will not greet the customers as a result of shyness. |
| D．The new employees may soon follow the trend of going to the Gulf. |
| A．Jobs outside India can provide Indian workers with a more decent life. |
| B．It will soon be the off season for Indian tourism and weddings. |
| C．Another grand occasion will soon begin in the Gulf. |
| D．The workers only sign short-term contracts with the employers in India. |
4 . Young Africans are logging in and clocking on
His home is Bungoma, a small town in western Kenya, but his workplace is the world. Kevin, who asks that his real name be masked to protect his credibility, has written about offices in China without ever going there. He has reviewed home-security systems he has never seen.
Some are attracted to the work by the flexibility and pay; others because they cannot find a traditional job. There are advocates for freelancing.
Freelances, like the wider outsourcing (外包) industry, “are fighting against a reputation of Africa as somewhere where you would not expect digital work to take place,” says Mohammad Amir Anwar of the University of Edinburgh, who co-wrote a book about Africa’s digital workforce. Some African freelances use virtual private networks and fake names to pretend they are somewhere else.
The available data suggest that it will take time for Africa to become a continent of digital freelances. In 2019, Mr. Anwar and colleagues estimated that there were 120,000 African workers on Upwork, the continent’s most popular platform—fewer than in the Philippines. Most did not seem to be making any money.
Outsourcing practices have also sparked moral questions. Al Astra (a live-streaming company) content-moderation center in Kenya run by Sama (an outsourcing firm), workers told journalists that they were mistreated and misled about the nature of their work.
Technological change bounces in unpredictable directions. Could Al tools, previously trained by Kenyan workers, one day make these freelances such as Kevin unnecessary?
| A．Africa’s digital workers are re-mapping the old geographies of labor. |
| B．The internet creates new kinds of work, without any patterns of inequality. |
| C．A former employee has taken both companies to court, accusing them of forced labor. |
| D．Typical tasks include data entry, online marketing, or even writing essays for lazy students. |
| E．Baraka Mafole, a student in Tanzania, organizes training events for navigating online platforms. |
| F．Power cuts and competition for part-time jobs from cheaper workers in Asia and beyond create other challenges. |
5 . Trust me — I am expedition doctor
Ever since I was a young child, I’ve had a taste for adventure, but I never imagined I’d be able to satisfy this passion at regular intervals because of my chosen career.
My work as an expedition (探险队) doctor has taken me all over the world. However, my favourite trips, and the ones in which I now specialise, are those involving mountains. Never do I feel more inspired by nature than when I look up at their towering peaks and begin to prepare myself mentally for the challenges ahead.
I trained as a doctor in the UK, but there was little in that training to prepare me for binding up a broken leg during a storm on the side of a mountain! In fact, I’d say that medical skills come some way down the list of job requirements, after endurance, flexibility, problem-solving and communication.
This kind of medicine is a million miles away from the controlled, germ-free environment of a hospital, and your medical kit basically consists of whatever you can carry, so you sometimes have to be prepared to improvise (即兴做). For example, I’ve learned that some drugs can be used for several conditions, and I’ve even had to resort to cutting branches off a small tree to make a stick to support a broken arm.
That isn’t to say that you can’t train to be an expedition doctor; on the contrary, there are some excellent courses available. Not only do they teach medical techniques, but also practical skills such as carrying out risk assessments, crossing rivers safely and using satellite phones. The first course I did included a session on expedition dentistry, though I must admit I still don’t like the idea of pulling out someone’s tooth!
I do most of my work for adventure holiday companies, travelling to remote places. When I started out, these holidays were quite rare, but they have become much more mainstream now that we’ve all seen celebrities climbing Kilimanjaro or watched reality shows about people surviving in jungles.
I do have mixed feelings about all these people with large amounts of disposable income coming to poor areas just for their own enjoyment, so I try to make sure that the companies I work for have high ethical standards and benefit the local communities. And of course, tourism provides employment, and also opens the eyes of rich visitors to the hardship that many people are forced to endure.
I realise that this kind of life isn’t for everyone, but I’d recommend that all doctors try it at least once, if only to make them appreciate the comforts of their usual working environment!
1. The author feels that he has been________.| A．obliged to choose his career | B．lucky with his job |
| C．obsessed with his adventure | D．inspired by his patients |
| A．They are less important than practical skills. |
| B．They are strictly required as the most important. |
| C．They are adequately attained in medical schools. |
| D．They are an underlying part of practical skills. |
| A．They keep their equipment in a backpack. |
| B．Things can happen that they don’t expect. |
| C．They don’t have the resources of a hospital. |
| D．They are required by the patients on the trip. |
| A．they organise expeditions in the remote areas he enjoys visiting |
| B．they appreciate the comforts of the unusual working environments |
| C．he wants to make sure that his clients are safe at all times during the expedition |
| D．he feels uncomfortable about the difference between rich tourists and poor local people |
6 . It is conventionally known that a master's degree from Harvard Business School in the US is the key to a Fortune 500 job, while the same degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, US, means a possible career on Wall Street.
The graduate school you go to somewhat decides your future. And a recent New York Times article reveals the correlation between MBA（Master of Business Administration）graduates at certain US schools and career prospects.
To work at Amazon
Ross School of Business（University of Michigan）
Amazon regularly hires more MBAs from top 10 business schools than big Wall Street firms. And a large chunk of American employees are from Ross. Graduate Peter Faricy, vice president of Amazon Marketplace, says the reason behind this is that Ross' curriculum-related offerings, a problem-solving course for instance, are particularly well suited to Amazon.
To work at McKinsey & Company
Kellogg School of Management（Northwestern）
For an MBA, landing a job at McKinsey is like trying to get into a competitive business school all over again. However, Kellogg graduates perform well in the fierce competition. The school's MBAs are in demand at elite（精英）consulting firms, which hired 35 percent of Kellogg graduates last year, a higher percentage than at Harvard（23 percent）and Stanford（16 percent）.
To work at Apple
Fuqua School of Business（Duke）
Silicon Valley hasn't always welcomed MBAs.
However, two of Apple's top 10 executives come from Fuqua. Apple has hired 32 Fuqua graduates over the past five years, and provided 42 internships for Duke students.
To start your own company
Harvard Business School
The extensive resources Harvard has devoted to its entrepreneurial offerings in recent years are starting to show real results. By many accounts, it has surpassed Stanford as the top entrepreneurial hot-bed in the US.
1. Which school in the following offers students a course on various approaches to difficulties at work?| A．Kellogg School of Management. | B．Ross School of Business. |
| C．Harvard Business School. | D．Fuqua School of Business. |
| A．Consulting companies favor MBA students from Kellogg. |
| B．Stanford produces the greatest number of business leaders. |
| C．To work at Apple, MBA graduates have an advantage. |
| D．Wall Street employs more MBAs from top 10 business schools than Amazon. |
| A．Wharton School | B．Kellogg School of Management |
| C．Ross School of Business | D．Fuqua School of Business |
There is no better feeling than walking away from your desk in the evening with a sense of deep satisfaction for a job well done.
Empty your inbox．
If you leave a tiring and undesirable task until the next day, you will walk away from your desk with a dark cloud hanging over you and a sense of fear. On the other hand, try to complete the task before you leave the office, and you will walk away with a feeling of freedom and victory.
Do something nice for someone else.
The key here is intentionality. Plan to end your day by doing something specific and beneficial for someone in your life—a partner, friend, family member, customer, etc. You will feel better when doing a good deed to others. It is impossible to do something nice for someone without feeling better yourself.
Say thank you.
Take a moment before you shut things down for the day to be thankful for your life.
| A．Determine what will make tomorrow special. |
| B．Regardless of what else has happened in a day, ending it with thanks is a rewarding approach. |
| C．Finish the task as far as possible before you leave. |
| D．Keeping your inbox empty makes you more effective. |
| E．In fact, a whole unproductive day can end with just 15 hyper-productive minutes. |
| F．Nothing else throughout your day could possibly be so bad. |
8 . 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 |
9 . 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 |
10 . 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 |
