1 . According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employees over 50 make up more than one-third of the workforce in the United States. And the labor force aged 75 and older is expected to increase by 96.5% by 2030. As the workforce ages and increasing numbers of grandparents care for their grandchildren, what once was intended for new parents is now applied to grandparents. Some workplaces are offering a new paid leave policy (政策) for older workers—grandternity leave.
As the name suggests, one of the most popular use cases for grandternity leave is employees taking time off when they become grandparents to help care for their grandchildren. It also enables employees to take paid leave to deal with medical treatment, spend time with their families, and take time away from work as needed.
In a competitive labor market with more than 10 million open jobs, employers still struggle to retain senior employees. They fall under the Baby Boomer generation and are characterized by their deep love for work and company responsibility. They are prized for their historical knowledge and old-fashioned work ethic (职业道德). Therefore, employers are seeking new, nontraditional benefits for these employees to prevent them from taking another job. Grandternity leave is just one example of personalized benefits suitable for older workers.
A handful of companies are already starting to offer their own form of grandternity leave. For example, Saga has rolled out a five-day paid grandternity leave to its 2,500 employees. Scott Merry, a 57-year-old IT specialist with Saga took grandternity leave to care for his new-born grandson. “It was just wonderful. It’s nice to work in this type of culture which values family time.” he said. Another company that became an early adopter (使用者) is HireVue. “Attracting and employing a various workforce should be top of mind for any organization,” said one of HireVue’s managers. “Offering a variety of benefits like grandternity leave is key to that.”
1. What does paragraph 1 focus on about the policy?| A．Its application. | B．Its influences. | C．Its limitations. | D．Its background. |
| A．Cut down. | B．Kick out. | C．Hold onto. | D．Pay for. |
| A．It is a win-win practice. | B．It has been adopted widely. |
| C．It has a two-sided nature. | D．It is key to business success. |
| A．To introduce a new paid leave. | B．To call for better working conditions. |
| C．To recommend several leading companies. | D．To warn of the effect of population ageing. |
2 . Research suggests public support for spanking (打屁股) has been falling over the years. But surveys also show that 75 percent to nearly 90 percent of parents admit spanking their child at least once.
I was raised in a zero-tolerance home for disrespect, and my parents often turned to physical punishment. And, no, I don’t feel I was damaged by it.
Nothing is more annoying than watching ill-mannered behavior from children.
But two years ago, Newsweek reported that it had found data suggesting that teens whose parents used physical punishment were more likely to become aggressive.
Murray Straus, professor at the University of New Hampshire in America, has studied the topic of children and spanking for decades. He said that children who were physically punished have lower IQs than their peers. It may be that children with lower IQs were more likely to get spanked, but the punishment may have been counterproductive (反作用的) to their mental development, as well.
Some researchers make the argument that occasional open-handed smacks (用巴掌打) on the bottom are not only harmless but can have some benefit.
Last year, Marjorie Gunnoe, a psychologist at Calvin College, studied teens who have never spanked. There are a greater number of children growing up without ever having been physically punished. Gunnoe’s research suggests they don’t turn out any better than those who were sometimes spank.
There are some parents who simply cannot control their tempers. But I still believe that the best parents are the ones who are able to offer fair and firm discipline without ever turning to physical punishment.
1. What might be the best title of the passage?| A．What makes some parents spank their children? |
| B．Why spanking is not supported? |
| C．How should parents teach their children? |
| D．Should parents hit their children? |
| A．are less aggressive toward others when they get older |
| B．may develop lower IQs than their peer |
| C．benefit from occasional spanking |
| D．have slower physical development |
| A．More than half of the parents admit that they have spanked their children. |
| B．Children who suffer no physical punishment may not better students. |
| C．Occasional open-handed spanking on the bottom are mentally harmful. |
| D．Researchers disagree over whether smacking is mentally harmful to children. |
| A．disapproving | B．optimistic | C．objective | D．indifferent |
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Most of us have realized what that our parents are our first teachers. As we grow both physically or mentally, our parents teach us more about society. There have a time when we young people believe that their parents should stop offering their advice and stop acting as teachers. We think that we know much about the world than our parents. Perhaps we believe their opinions and suggest are out of date. We are now standing at top of a great pyramid, wait to take turns to lead the people in this century. Besides, we should remember our parents represent the foundation of that great pyramid. With a solid foundation, nothing can be built.
4 . A tender woman, or an independent one, which one would you prefer? A recent research shows that most people would choose the latter.
This type of woman is called a nühanzi (“tough woman”). Experts believe these characteristics have social and psychological roots among young females in China. Su Hao’s friends all call her a tough woman, because she can finish tough tasks usually carried out by men. For example, she carries 10-litre water to her dormitory on the 5th floor. “I depend on no one but myself,” she says.
According to a recent survey by China Youth Daily, tough women have become rather common in society. Of the 21, 265 respondents, 78.5 percent said they are familiar with a tough woman. About 50 percent said they like women with tough characteristics, while less than 29 percent expressed the opposite view.
Why are tough women gaining popularity? Shen Meng, a psychological consultant, believes the fierce competition in society is contributing to this trend. “Women are often in a disadvantaged position compared to men,” Shen says. “In order to survive, they have to be independent, strong and tough.” LiuXiaolin, professor of psychology at Wuhan Mental Health Center, believes tough women are brought up this way. “They are often on close relationship with their fathers, who teach their daughters to be brave and decisive,” he says. As a result, these women are more likely to be psychologically healthy and more tolerant to stress, according to Liu.
Though Liu believes that this is a good trend, Hu Shenzhi, a psychologist at the Guangdong Sunflower Counseling Center, says the popularity of tough woman indicates an unclear line between gender identities, which can lead to relationship problems. “Some women with characteristics that differ from the traditional female image may have a difficult time finding Mr Right,” he says. “Even if they get married, their manly characteristics might cause family conflicts.”
1. The followings belong to the characteristics of a tough woman EXCEPT ________.| A．She can solve problems usually for men. |
| B．She is independent of others in daily life. |
| C．She is more tolerant to stress. |
| D．She is soft and tender to others. |
| A．about 16,700. | B．about 6,200 | C．21,265 | D．about 10,600 |
| A．The competition in society is fierce. |
| B．Tough women are more lovely. |
| C．More women want to be independent. |
| D．Girls often love fathers more. |
| A．It’s difficult for them to be friends. |
| B．They often suffer gender confusion. |
| C．They may have difficulty with marriage. |
| D．They have different characteristics form traditional female images. |
5 . ChatGPT, launched in November, 2022, has attracted over 100 million monthly users in just two months, which is considered the fastest-growing consumer app.
ChatGPT can write emails, computer code, even academic papers and poems.
So is ChatGPT a benefit or a trouble?
According to a survey covering more than 100 educators and over 1,000 students, one-third of the educators said they believe ChatGPT should be banned in schools and universities, while the rest supported students having access to it. The attitude of most students sees a distinct difference.
As a result, the observed value and usefulness of ChatGPT seem to outweigh the risks. What we should focus on has shifted to better deal with the chatbot and its development.
| A．The answers varies greatly across the world. |
| B．It is undoubtedly a shocking achievement. |
| C．Also, it has succeeded in passing different kinds of exams. |
| D．By comparison, others regard it as a blessing rather than a curse. |
| E．They admitted having sought help from ChatGPT to complete their homework. |
| F．The worry is that ChatGPT could change the basic training structure of higher education. |
| G．It is widely discussed whether and to what extent AI should be involved in a scientific article. |
6 . My generation--people born after 1990 --are accustomed to “all-in-platform” life, where we use mobile apps of different platforms to do almost everything in life.
For instance, I ordered a cup of coffee on Monday using an online delivery app. Then, I called a taxi by tapping on the app of a ride-booking service. Next, I bought some necessities on shopping platform Taobao. That done, I moved on to various other online destinations to get my daily fix of music, reading, social networking and so forth.
Platforms now play an increasingly important role in almost all aspects of day-to-day life, not just in economic and political processes. Consumption and social interaction are closely linked to platforms now.
But, I began to get confused recently. I thought I was being treated differently. My friend and I called a taxi at the same time on a ride-hailing platform (打车平台) and found that for the same destination, the prices were different. The price indicated on my phone was higher. One of the potential reasons could have been that I regularly use the ride-hailing platform and have a higher ranking while my friend doesn’t use it that often. So, the ride-hailing platform offers discounts to newbies like her, to attract and have such customers.
China’s latest efforts in regulating monopolistic (垄断的) or improper market behavior are of great significance in protecting consumers’ lawful rights.
“The essence of platform-based monopoly (垄断) is that a large number of users are gathered on only a select few platform companies, leading to uneven data gathering different platforms. But in China some platforms use their own data and traffic (流量) to expand capital in a disorderly way,” said Wang Yong, deputy director of the Institute of Economics at Tinghua University.
Data monopoly also brought another inconvenience for consumers--platforms block links to each other. For instance, link to We Chat Pay of Tencent is not available on Alibuba’s Taobao while there is no Alipay link on JD app’s payment options.
“More efforts should also be made to strike a good balance between personal information protection and interconnection between platforms. Companies are being encouraged to further develop data safety technology so that the data are available but not visible.”
1. What is the author’s purpose in writing Para. 2?| A．To offer some tips on using apps on mobile phone. |
| B．To share his experience with mobile apps. |
| C．To further explain what is “all-in-platform” life. |
| D．To help readers familiarize themselves with mobile apps. |
| A．The author encountered so called “big data price discrimination”. |
| B．The author and his friend were treated differently by taxi drivers. |
| C．Due to the author’s higher ranking, the platform offered him a cheaper price. |
| D．The ride-hailing platform offers discounts to regular customers. |
| A．Sympathetic. | B．Approving. | C．Critical. | D．Grateful. |
| A．Data monopolies and the inconvenience they bring to mobile app life. |
| B．Mobile apps have greatly changed our lives. |
| C．How to protect personal information on mobile apps. |
| D．Platforms have impacted every aspect of our daily lives. |
7 . Going against the tide of flocking to well-known tourist destinations on vacation, a growing number of holidaymakers in China tend to spend their leisure time at lesser-known attractions. Reverse tourism (逆向旅游) has appeared as a new trend among young holidaymakers in China.
According to data from an online travel agency, the number of rooms booked at hotels in less-traveled cities during the holiday was up 30 percent year-on-year. Bookings for four-star or five-star hotels in less-traveled places all increased ten times at a minimum. Some lesser-known scenic spots posted double-digit (两位数的) growth during the holiday. Baimaiquan Park in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, received 52,100 visits in the seven days, up to 15.78 percent year-over-year.
Besides crowds, some vacationers chose less-traveled places to save on the cost of trips to popular destinations. In addition, lesser-known attractions are not as “commercial” as developed ones and are able to offer more actual experiences and natural encounters.
Essentially speaking, total relaxation is becoming a real expectation for many people when they travel. Changes in demand may be the fundamental reason for the popularity of reverse tourism. COVID-19 is another key factor fueling reverse tourism. As preventive measures continue, traveling has an unpredictable quality. Travelers have thus become more cautious and tend to choose local attractions or places with fewer tourists.
“The rise of reverse tourism is not a bad thing,” said Zhengzhou Daily. It means that vacationers now have more options, which brings more possibilities to the tourism market. More importantly, it noted, the trend is set to force popular destinations to improve themselves instead of resting on their past honor.
Jiang Han, a senior researcher, said that reverse tourism will become one of the future directions for the market. To give a real boost to the tourism market, Jiang suggested that more efforts be made to tap the potential of underestimated, lesser-known destinations. It is necessary to dig deeper into the local customs and highlight the local characteristics to improve the quality of local tourism.
1. What do the statistics in paragraph 2 tell us?| A．The popularity of travel agency in China. |
| B．The high income of hotels during holidays. |
| C．The contributions of tourism to the economy. |
| D．The increasing trend of reverse tourism in China. |
| A．The impact of COVID-19. |
| B．Holidaymakers’ changing needs for travel. |
| C．The lower cost of heading to less-traveled places. |
| D．The lack of innovative improvements in famous attractions. |
| A．It will drop with the recovery of economy. |
| B．It benefits both tourists and the tourism market. |
| C．It is beneficial to spread local culture to tourists. |
| D．It blocks the development of some popular resorts. |
| A．Upgrading the supporting facilities in tourist areas. |
| B．Improving the management rules of tourist attractions further. |
| C．Exploring the potential and features of lesser-known attractions. |
| D．Promoting the local characteristics of China through online media. |
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9 . The Global Food Donation Policy Atlas has issued a recent report in order to recommend ways to increase food donations, reduce food waste, and fight hunger, which may help Kenyan leaders meet 2030 food waste reduction goals.
Food donation can reroute eatable food — that would otherwise give off greenhouse gasses in a landfill — to those experiencing hunger. According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, 3.5 million Kenyans, roughly 37 percent of the population, face severe hunger. At the same time, the Policy Atlas reports roughly 40 percent of food produced within Kenya goes to waste. But Broad Leib, Deputy Director of Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC), sees some promising changes. “While progress is not happening as quickly as needed, Kenya’s food loss index has been steadily (稳步地) reduced from 1,744 metric tons in 2017, to 1,531 in 2018, to 1,446 metric tons in 2019, indicating a steady improvement and national commitment to food loss reduction,” reports Broad Leib.
According to the Policy Atlas, motivating food donation with rewards is particularly important, which helps food donors and food recovery organizations make up for costs necessary for recovery, storing, processing, and transporting food for donation.
“A major driver of food waste is inconsistent or unclear date labels that cause confusion among all actors along the value chain and limit the ability of businesses to donate food. This increases the likelihood that much safe food will go to waste,” Broad Leib tells Food Tank. However, he acknowledges Kenya’s current dual (双的) date labeling laws. While food may lose its freshness over time, it is still edible before expiration (到期). Dual date labeling on packaged foods reduces confusion by defining dates for both safety and quality. This helps reduce considerable waste and responsibility for donors.
Broad Leib believes that the private sector can also play a significant role in decreasing food waste in Kenya. It is vital for consumer education campaigns. FLPC’s research shows that public-private initiatives can help raise awareness among consumers and donors around issues of food waste and food donation.
1. What changes does Broad Leib see?| A．People in Kenya no longer suffer hunger. |
| B．Kenya has gradually reduced its food waste. |
| C．Kenya is not committed to reducing food loss. |
| D．Progress in reducing food waste is happening quickly. |
| A．Delicious. | B．Convenient. | C．Eatable. | D．Affordable. |
| A．By increasing storehouses. |
| B．By fighting hunger with rewards. |
| C．By reducing food produced within the country. |
| D．By using double date labeling on packaged food. |
| A．Private and public joint efforts matter around food issues. |
| B．Consumer education campaigns are the most important. |
| C．Only the private sector is helpful in reducing food waste. |
| D．Broad Leib doesn’t agree with FLPC on food waste reduction. |
10 . Am I the only one, or do other parents also wish there could be a period between high school and college when our kids could think what they want to be when they grow up? You know, that’s the time when they could be exposed to a variety of professions.
So why do teens need to take a sabbatical(休假) after high school? As a teenager with limited knowledge and experience, it’s really hard to decide what career path he/she wants to follow as an adult. After the period, they could be certain about it.
Some kids know what they want to do from an early age and they follow that track in college and end up in that field as adults. And that’s fantastic for them. But they’re the minority, because I found a statistic from an article that confirms that 80% of college-bound students have to choose a major. But they are also expected to pick out schools and apply to and start degree programs without clearly knowing where they want to end up. And that is shocking.
That’s why I’ve often thought it makes more sense to design a sabbatical, a time when high school graduates can go to sample a handful of careers before they head off to college. The time can give them a chance to examine different fields before they commit to one discipline for the next four years of their life and beyond.
What I’m talking about is different from the gap year, which is designed to let our kids take a step back between high school and college, so they can maturely consider the benefits of higher education. It’s a different kind of option altogether. I’m suggesting something more like a series of internships (实习期), for lack of a better word, in their potential fields of study, so they can really see first-hand what a career in education or law or nursing is like from the inside and not just from a lecture hall.
1. Which could be the benefit for teenagers taking a sabbatical after high schol according to the author?| A．Gaining some work experience. | B．Learning about the adult world. |
| C．Choosing a suitable career path. | D．Valuing the opportunity to study. |
| A．Students being expected to pick out schools. |
| B．Students ending up in an unwanted field as adults. |
| C．Some students starting degree programs after going to college. |
| D．Most students selecting a major without knowing about their future carers. |
| A．Taking a gap year. | B．Trying some different jobs. |
| C．Experiencing life at a college. | D．Visiting as many places as posible. |
| A．To provide teenagers with advice on how to choose a major. |
| B．To explain the necessity of a sabbatical after high school. |
| C．To inform teenagers of the importance of work experience. |
| D．To show differences between the sabbatical and the gap year. |
