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 . Working at a bank in New York City in the mid-2010s, Anna Sacks was living the life-just not the life she wanted. Sure, she was happy. But she wanted to do something that felt important.
Some people seeking meaning might read a self-help book or perhaps volunteer a few hours a week. Sacks packed up her life and moved to Connecticut to participate in Adamah, a farming program that focuses on sustainable living and growing sustainable food. When she returned to New York, her life was with a new purpose and a variety of new skills to make her dreams a reality.
“One of the things that really stuck with me from Adamah was how little waste they produced and how they handled the waste they did have, primarily through composting (堆肥),” she says. “And I just thought, ‘Why aren’t we doing that here?’”“The Adamah program opened Sacks’ eyes to the damage consumer culture is doing on a local, national, and global level, and the need to find solutions. So in 2017, she began what she calls “trash walking”.
During tours around her community, Sacks picks through garbage to look for reusable items. Soon, her “trash walking” expanded to include corporate trash along with residential trash. Surprisingly, she discovered a wide range of really great stuff-like clothing, decorations, and food-all of which she documents on TikTok.
Under the name The Trash Walker, Sacks quickly gained popularity for her videos that highlight the problems with consumerism. “The root issue is overproduction, which leads to overconsumption, which leads to a large amount of waste,” she says.
The fact is, companies often choose to trash items rather than give them away to people who might need them. A big reason for this waste is the way our current tax laws are structured, Sacks says. Sellers who destroy goods can claim the cost as a loss on their taxes and be refunded. If they give away goods, they can claim only a small amount as a charitable reduction on their taxes.
Sacks’ main focus is simply getting people to pay attention to how many unnecessary things they buy and then throw away. “Once you become aware of the way you consume, you can see ways you improve,” she says.
1. Anna Sacks packed up her life and left New York to________.| A．lead a healthy lifestyle |
| B．observe how to grow food |
| C．pursue a meaningful life |
| D．volunteer to work in a bank |
| A．The importance of trash walking. |
| B．The sustainable food people produced. |
| C．The hard truth about consumer culture. |
| D．The way people there dealt with the waste. |
| A．The tax reduction. |
| B．The quality of goods. |
| C．The tax refund. |
| D．The overproduction. |
| A．Consumer culture accounts for wasting. |
| B．Corporate trash outweighs residential trash. |
| C．Trash walking is the key to becoming wealthy. |
| D．Turning to farming leads to sustainable living. |
3 . When a friend, partner or family member is upset, you’ve probably wondered how best to make them feel better. Offer a chocolate bar? Give them space so they can have a good cry? A research suggests that one of the most powerful ways to comfort others is to start a conversation.
Words play a powerful role in moulding people’s emotions (情感). People’s brains are finely aware of the information they get from others, and they’re “constantly using it as feedback (反馈) to change their behaviors,” said Razia Sahi, leader of the research.
But the words we use to comfort others matter. The research shows that telling people they shouldn’t feel so bad makes them feel worse. Researchers listened in on 228 phone calls between customers and customer service representatives who dealt with medical-related complaints (投诉). When the representatives told the upset customers to “calm down” or “relax”, the customers typically became angrier. “These words backfire because they suggest the person’s feelings are improper, or that their emotions are stronger than the situation calls for,” Ms. Sahi explained.
Some forms of verbal support have been found to be helpful. Ms. Sahi stated that friends consider phrases like, “I understand why you feel that way” or “That sounds very hard”—to be especially comforting. Other forms of support, such as helping someone believe things will improve or encouraging a person to see the situation from a new view, also help. And sometimes, those kinds of responses may even be more useful in the long run.
Although it can be hard to know how best to comfort someone, Dr. Zaki emphasized that we should be confident that our attempts will be appreciated. In other words, what is most important is not that you say the right thing, but you are there and try to help. “We can make a difference to other people with relatively little effort,” Dr. Zaki said. “Sometimes just being there is all that you need to do.”
1. What does the underlined word “moulding” mean in paragraph 2?| A．Exchanging. | B．Improving. | C．Shaping. | D．Illustrating. |
| A．They were impolitely dealt with. | B．They tended to be emotional easily. |
| C．They failed to better their situation. | D．They were thought to be overacting. |
| A．Promises to help. | B．Comforts from friends. |
| C．Words of encouragement. | D．Responses to the complaints. |
| A．It is hard for most people. | B．Confidence is necessary. |
| C．Your presence matters a lot. | D．Little effort is needed. |
4 . As environmental awareness has risen in the world, attitudes to sightseeing have changed. It is exciting to visit remote forests or spot rare species in those mysterious countries. However, with flights or long road journeys involved, traveling to far-away destinations is carbon-intensive, and conservation can be made more difficult as well as assisted by sightseers. Therefore, people and authorities have been trying to maximize the benefits while minimizing the harms by advocating domestic tours.
Most people, who take most holidays, understand better than ever that there are costs as well as benefits associated with exploring. One of the six pledges made by an environmental campaign launched last month-The Jump, is to “holiday local”, taking short-distance flights once every three years and long-distance flights very rarely. On a higher level, some governments are working on this as well. Colombia, for example, recently introduced laws aimed at promoting sustainable tourism.
Fortunately, the UK’s national parks and countless other landscapes mean that there is no shortage of special places for domestic nature tourists to visit. One recent survey found that Windsor Great Park and Kew Gardens have become Britain’s most popular attractions, while in this special time there have difficulties for indoor spaces which do not apply to outdoor ones. Some companies that formerly ran foreign trips have adapted to the infectious disease by taking people to watch dolphins and other marine life off British coasts instead. This is not to minimize the destruction of nature that is also taking place, But as we lace an increasing environmental emergency, it is essential to appreciate the nature that surrounds us. In a small way, outings to watch dragonflies, seals, or be surrounded by trees could help us to focus on what matters.
1. Why have people changed their attitudes towards travel?| A．Visiting remote areas is too exciting. |
| B．Long-distance travels are more attractive. |
| C．People’s environmental awareness has improved. |
| D．Travelers can assist with protection of scenic spots. |
| A．Commitments. |
| B．Prohibitions. |
| C．Symbols. |
| D．Surveys. |
| A．Indoor activities are becoming more popular. |
| B．People in the UK are carrying out the initiative. |
| C．The travel agencies prefer overseas business. |
| D．The UK lacks abundant historic attractions. |
| A．Domestic traveling means no harm to the environment. |
| B．There is no point in traveling to remote scenic spots. |
| C．The scenery is much better in foreign countries. |
| D．It matters much to appreciate the beauty around us. |
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6 . When Christopher Moore isn’t jumping rope, shooting baskets or playing the board game Chutes and Ladders, the 8-year-old can often be found at home using his fighting skills, protecting the world from would-be enemies. “I’m trying to save the other people from being hurt,” he said of his Avatar video game adventures.
The Moore household, in Birmingham, Alabama, enjoys a good mix of at-home entertainment, something they are doing more and more during these precarious financial times, “They’re always in competition,” the boys’ mother, Lisa Moore, said with a laugh. “It keeps them busy. It keeps them occupied.”
Numbers show that at-home entertainment is doing better than ever, flying in the financial face of so many industries that are struggling in this difficult time.
The gaming experience, too, has changed with the years. Five years ago, online gaming was considered a one-person activity. And although games can still be played alone, the social factor is growing quickly. “Over a third of families will play games together online.” said David Williams, who heads up the Kids and Family Games Group. “They’re staying home more, and they’re using games to connect with one another.”
When it comes to the games children play, many parents such as Lisa Moore may choose to sit it out. But Christina Vercelletto, a senior editor at Parenting magazine, says that engaging in the games with them can do a family good. “It can be an opportunity to bond with your kids,” she said. If parents express interest, kids “will probably be heated. And you’ll get a little window into what has them so excited.” Plus, by playing the games, parents can determine how comfortable they are with what their kids are doing.
For those who want to get the opinions of others, Christina Vercelletto points out that the Entertainment Software Rating Board provides feedback and that parents are always learning from one another on discussion boards.
1. What does the underlined word “precarious” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Appropriate. | B．Precious. | C．Stable. | D．Tough. |
| A．Controlling children’s behavior. | B．Helping solve financial trouble. |
| C．Making a good family relationship. | D．Forming a sense of independence. |
| A．Join in. | B．Sit out. | C．Watch out. | D．Walk around. |
| A．Family relationship. | B．At-home entertainment. |
| C．Benefits of playing games. | D．Ways to connect with kids. |
7 . In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.
It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Jonses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.
1. Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ______.| A．want to be as rich as their neighbors | B．want others to know or to think that they are rich |
| C．don’t want others to know they are rich | D．want to be happy |
| A．live outside New York City | B．live in New York city |
| C．live in apartments | D．have many neighbors |
| A．an important name | B．a popular name in the United States |
| C．his neighbor’s name | D．not a good name |
| A．Negative. | B．Positive. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Objective. |
8 . 13-year-old Rylee Stuart was digging into her packet of Doritos when she came across a very rare puff chip (炸薯条) that changed her life. Rylee, instead of eating the chip
Before her listing (产品页面) was
Rylee would never have
| A．mindlessly | B．fearlessly | C．thankfully | D．gracefully |
| A．reports | B．copies | C．views | D．orders |
| A．call | B．pay | C．take | D．sell |
| A．reason | B．instruction | C．advice | D．explanation |
| A．nervously | B．exactly | C．unwillingly | D．unexpectedly |
| A．unique | B．delicious | C．precious | D．familiar |
| A．made up | B．taken down | C．signed up | D．passed down |
| A．imagination | B．meaning | C．attention | D．point |
| A．found | B．remembered | C．admitted | D．imagined |
| A．overnight | B．envious | C．excited | D．ambitious |
| A．fortune | B．popularity | C．respect | D．sympathy |
| A．retelling | B．continuing | C．following | D．interpreting |
| A．leadership | B．spirit | C．courage | D．determination |
| A．also | B．still | C．almost | D．even |
| A．observational | B．social | C．acting | D．persuading |
9 . Under the background of the slow growth of its total population to 1.44 billion, China has seen a sharp rise in older adults over the past decade, solidifying the country’s rapidly aging pattern, the latest national census (人口普查) data shows. The population on the Chinese mainland increased by an average of 0.53 percent annually during the past 10 years to 1.41 billion, compared with an annual growth rate of 0.57 percent from 2000 to 2010, according to the 7th national census published by the National Bureau of Statistics.
“The growth of the total population has slowed down but remains at a steady pace,” Ning Jizhe, head of the bureau, said at a news conference. “Based on trends in recent years, China’s population will grow at an increasingly slow rate in the future while remaining above 1.4 billion.” The increasing elderly population has become a defining feature of the past decade.
Ning said an aging society will set the tone for China's population structure for a long time, presenting challenges and opportunities. “A graying population will pile pressure on supply of labor force and social services, as well as adding to families’ elderly care burden. But more elderly people could also motivate consumption of products and services targeting this age group, and advance the development of some technologies,” he said.
Ning added that those between the ages of 60 and 69, who are equipped with knowledge, experience and skills and are generally in good health, make up nearly 56 percent of all older adults. “Their potential to continue making contributions to society and playing a constructive role is big,” he responded to a question on the outlook for raising the retirement age and carrying out other potential measures aimed at addressing the aging trend. Some population economists also said the latest number and proportion (比例) of elderly are largely within predictions, and the aging trend will continue for a long time.
1. What does the 7th national census data show?| A．The aging population of China has risen rapidly. |
| B．The annual growth rate has increased by 0.04%. |
| C．The annual growth rate was 0.57% during the past 10 years. |
| D．The total population of Chinese mainland increased to 1.44 billion. |
| A．It is beyond predictions. | B．It brings few advantages. |
| C．It has sharply slowed down. | D．It will increase pressure on family. |
| A．Objective. | B．Doubtful. | C．Unclear. | D．Negative. |
| A．The aging trend brings problems |
| B．An aging society presents opportunities |
| C．China’s population gets old as growth slows |
| D．Measures are to be taken to tackle the aging trend |
10 . World’s richest woman Gina Rinehart is suffering a media firestorm over an article in which she blames the middle class for “drinking, or smoking and socializing” rather than working to earn their own fortune. What if she has a point?
Steve Siebold, author of “How Rich People Think”, spent nearly three decades interviewing millionaires around the world to find out what separates them from everyone else. It had little to do with money itself, he told Business Insider. It was about their mentality.
Average people think money is the root of all evil (罪恶). Rich people believe poverty is the root of all evil. “The average person has been brainwashed to believe rich people are lucky or dishonest,” Siebold writes. That’s why there’s a certain shame that comes along with getting rich in lower-income communities. “The rich knows that while having money doesn’t guarantee happiness, it does make your life easier and more enjoyable.”
Average people believe you have to do something to get rich. Rich people believe you have to be something to get rich. “While the masses are attached to the doing and the immediate results of their actions, the great ones are learning and growing from every experience, whether it’s a success or a failure, knowing their true reward is becoming a human success machine that eventually produces outstanding results,” he writes.
Average people would rather be entertained than educated. Rich people would rather be educated than entertained. The rich don’t think it a must to earn their wealth through formal education, and they appreciate the power of learning long after college is over, Siebold says. “Walk into a wealthy person’s home and you often see many books used to educate themselves on how to become more successful,” he writes. “The middle class reads novels, tabloids (小报) and entertainment magazines”.
1. What’s the function of the first paragraph?| A．To lead in the topic of the text. |
| B．To describe the life of the middle class. |
| C．To introduce the richest woman in the world. |
| D．To show readers the supporting details of the article. |
| A．Probably because he succeeds by dishonest means. |
| B．Probably because people are misled by false ideas. |
| C．Probably because he becomes rich by pure chance. |
| D．Probably because people think of him as the root of evil. |
| A．Everyone can go to the library for further education. |
| B．Education should be received through formal ways. |
| C．Learning should last for one’s whole life. |
| D．Novels and tabloids bring people poverty. |
| A．Rich People Think Differently | B．Education or Entertainment? |
| C．Average People Long for Fortune | D．How to Earn Wealth? |
