1 . The prevalence (普遍) of sweatshop (血汗工厂) labor depends largely on the definition being used. At its most _______ definition, the term refers to work in a confined space (small, surrounded by walls) that is extremely difficult or dangerous. Sweatshops are considered to be fairly common. If the definition being used is closely related to the commonly-held _________ of a factory with overworked, under-paid workers, sweatshop labor becomes less common than expected. _________, they are still prevalent in third-world countries. According to the United States Government Accountability Office, a sweatshop is any workplace that breaks one or more state and federal _________ laws. Experts believe that roughly 50 percent of manufacturers—_________ in the clothing industry — employ sweatshop labor.

It can be _________ to figure out the exact number of sweatshops in a particular area. These workplaces usually, if not always, violate labor laws. Violations can include workers being paid less than minimum wage, child labor, and the severe lack of safety regulations. _________, many of these locations tend to hide their identities as sweatshops through a number of different means. For example, they might bribe government officials.

Another factor that _________ the prevalence of sweatshop labor is the economic situation in the country or region. Many individuals choose to work in sweatshops simply because there are no better alternatives _________ livelihood (生计), even if the income they’re being given still cannot support their basic standards of living. This has led to a sharper increase in sweatshops in third-world economies. In these countries, there is a __________ advantage to working in a sweatshop rather than not working at all. __________, the large number of people willing to work under such conditions causes employers to run more sweatshops.

Certain economists argue against the popular opinion that sweatshop labor should be considered __________. Sweatshop supporters argue that the workplaces are a necessity for poor countries. Sweatshop workers actually earn more than average in those countries. Following this train of thought, sweatshops are looked upon as an economic stimulus (刺激物). Employers following this belief are __________ to increase the number of sweatshops in poorer countries.

However, other experts think that __________ labor standards in third-world countries creates a downward spiral (螺旋线). That is to say, people will be forced to accept working in increasingly worsening circumstances. The demand for work is significantly larger than the number of jobs that are available. It’s quite __________ for wages and employee rights to continue going downwards in response to such desperation. As a result of the economic circumstances in a given region, employers who follow this philosophy are quick to point out that their businesses do not fall under the definition of a sweatshop.

2 . Inconvenient Truths

If doctors lie, it is surely inexcusable. One of the basic_________ the public have of doctors is honesty. But what would you think if I told you that research has shown that 70 per cent of doctors   _________ to lying to their patients? If I am honest, I have told lies to my patients.

Mrs Walton was in her eighties and _________ to see her husband. She would try to get up to find him, despite being at risk of falling. “He’s on his way, don’t worry,” the nurses would say this to calm her down. I said the same thing to her. But it was a lie. He died two years ago. The truth, if I can use that word, is that it is a _________ to lie sometimes.

Mrs Walton is one of the dementia (痴呆) sufferers, who lose their short-term memory and the memory of_________ events, but hold memories from the distant past. Sufferers are trapped forever in a confusing past that many realize bears little   _________ to the present, but are at a loss to explain. Those with dementia often feel upset, scared and confused that they are in a strange place, _________ by strange people, even when they are in their own homes with their family, because they have gone back to decades ago.

They look at their adult children   _________ and wonder who they could be because they think their children are still little kids. I have had countless families break down in tears, not knowing how to react as their loved one moves further away from them back into their distant past and they are   _________ in the present. And how, as the doctor or nurse caring for these patients, does one manage the anger and outbursts of distress that comes with having no   __________ of your life for the past ten or 20 years? The lies that doctors, nurses and families tell these patients are not big, elaborate lies — they are   __________ comforts intended to calm and allow the subject to be swiftly changed.

__________ with them about this false reality is not heartless or unprofessional — it is actually kind. That’s not to say that lying to patients with dementia__________ is right or defensible. But what kind-hearted person would put another human being through the unimaginable pain of learning, ________ again and again, that they have lost their beloved ones. It would be an unthinkable cruelness.

Sometimes honesty is __________ not the best policy.

7 . China and India _________ the Greening of Earth

Over the last two decades, the Earth has seen an increase in foliage (植物的枝叶) around the planet, _________ in average leaf area per year on plants and trees. Data from NASA satellites shows that China and India — two _________ economies with the world’s biggest populations — are leading the increase in greening on land. The effect comes mostly from ambitious tree-planting programs in China and intensive agriculture in both countries.

Researchers from Boston University found that global green leaf area has increased by five percent since the early 2000s, an area _________ to the entire Amazon rainforest. The study was also published in the journal Nature Sustainability on February 11. It revealed that at least 25 percent of the global foliage _________ this century came in China.

“China and India _________ one-third of the greening, but contain only nine percent of the planet’s land area covered in vegetation — a(n) _________ finding, considering the general notion of land degradation in populous countries from overexploitation,” said Chi Chen of the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University and lead author of the study.

China’s tremendous contribution to the global greening trend came in large part from programs to _________ and expand forests, which is about 42 percent of the greening contribution. These programs were developed in an effort to _________ the effects of soil erosion, air pollution and climate change.

Another 32 percent of the greening change in China, and 82 percent in India, resulted from __________ cultivation of food crops. Land area used to grow crops in China and India has not changed much since the early 2000s. Yet these regions have greatly increased both their annual total green leaf area and their food production to __________ their large populations.

Rama Nemani, a research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, saw a positive message in the new findings. “Once people realize there is a problem, they __________ to fix it,” he said. “In the 1970s and 80s in India and China, the situation around vegetation loss was __________. In the 1990s, people realized it, and today things have improved. Humans are incredibly resilient. That’s what we see in the satellite data.”

__________, the researchers rang bells as well. They pointed out that the gain in global greenness did not __________ offset the loss of natural vegetation in tropical regions like Brazil and Indonesia.

8 . A is for always getting to work on time.

B is for being extremely busy.

C is for the conscientious(勤勤恳恳的)way you do your job.

You may be all these things at the office, and more. But when it comes to getting ________, experts say, the ABCs of business should include a P, for politics, as in office politics.

Dale Carnegie suggested many years ago: Hard work alone doesn’t ________ career advancement. You have to be able to sell yourself and your ideas, both publicly and behind the scenes. Yet, despite the obvious ________ of engaging in office politics-a better job, a raise, praise-many people are still unable—or unwilling-to “play the game”.

“People take it for granted that office politics ________ some manipulative(工于心计的)behaviour,” says Deborah Comer, an assistant professor of management at Hofstra University. “ ________ politics originates from the word ‘polite’. It can mean lobbying(游说)and forming associations. It can mean being kind and helpful, or even trying to please your superior, and then expecting something ________.”

In fact, today, experts ________ office politics as proper behaviour used to pursue one’s own self-interest in the workplace. In many ________, this involves some form of socializing within the office environment-not just in large companies, but in small workplaces as well.

“The first thing people are usually ________ on is their ability to perform well on a regular basis,” says Neil P Lewis, a management psychologist. “But if two or three ________ are up for a promotion, each of whom has reasonably ________ ability, a manager is going to promote the person he or she likes best. It’s simple human ________.”

Yet, psychologists say, many employees and employers have trouble with the concept of politics in the office. ________ people, they say, have an idealistic idea of work and what it takes to succeed. Still others ________ politics with flattery(奉承). They are fearful that, if they speak up for themselves, they may ________ to be flattering their boss for favours.

Experts suggest altering this negative picture by recognizing the need for some self-promotion.

9 . As anyone who has tried to lose weight knows, realistic goal setting generally produces the best results. That is partially _________ people who set realistic goals actually appear to work more efficiently, and make more effort, to achieve those goals.

What is far less understood by scientists, _________, are the potentially harmful effects of goal setting.

Newspapers relay (转发) reports of goal setting prevalent in industries and businesses up and down both Wall Street and Main Street, yet there has been surprisingly little research on how the practice of setting goals may have_________ to the current economic crisis, and unethical (不道德) behaviour in general.

“Goals are widely used and promoted as they have really_________ effects. And yet, the same motivation that can push people to make more effort in a constructive way could also motivate people to be more likely to_________ unethical activities,” says Maurice Schweitzer, professor at Penn’s Wharton School.

“It turns out there’s_________ economic benefit to just having a goal — you just get a psychological benefit,” Schweitzer says. “But in many cases, goals have economic_________ that make them more powerful.’

A typical example Schweitzer and his colleagues mention is the 2002_________ of energy-trading giant Enron, where managers used financial incentives (鼓励) to motivate salesmen to meet specific revenue goals. The problem, Schweitzer says, is the actual trades were not_________ .

Other studies have shown that__________ employees with unrealistic goals can force them to lie, cheat or steal. Such was the case in the early 1990s when Sears__________ specific sales quota (额度) for its auto repair staff. It__________ employees to complete repairs that were actually unnecessary just to meet the requirement.

Schweitzer admits his research runs counter to (违背) a very large body of literature that__________ the many benefits of goal setting. However, __________ of goal setting have argued with Schweitzer’s use of such evidence to support his conclusion that goal setting is widely__________ .

10 . When buying a smartphone, I keep my criteria simple. If the device can handle WeChat, phone calls, and _________ the Internet, I purchase it. If it’s too expensive, I _________ it. This approach to acquiring smartphones _________ for me as I keep my needs basic. Aside from saving myself money, I may have also saved myself from some wounds or burns which I might get if I chose a flawed phone. A few years ago, things _________ for Samsung — literally.

One of Samsung’s innovation was called the Note7. Sadly, it was discontinued (停产) only 38 days after being made available for consumption. At first, a few customers complained that their phones caught fire while being _________. Samsung, being responsible, launched an investigation to _________ the cases. They issued a global _________ on 1 September, but it was taken merely as a suggestion and not seen as _________. Then the tech giant gave a stronger message to worldwide customers, saying all owners must stop using their Note7s immediately.

Commercial forces encourage tech companies to push the envelopes and produce new products every few months. Sometimes, a conflict of interests can occur. The greed for innovation has a funny way of causing _________ for the basics — like safety — and the Note7’s situation is just one example of this. The device __________ all kinds of cool features, including a super-high-resolution camera, an iris scanner and an especially powerful __________. Ideally, manufacturers should consider all relevant aspects when creating new commodities. Samsung has both the money and technical know-how to prevent such negligence. The Note7’s __________ was most likely rushed in order to make more profit, which __________ having the opposite effect. Time will tell how much this oversight will cost with respect to Samsung’s fame and future.

__________, many people assumed that Samsung could eventually come back over the horizon and restore its reputation as a manufacturer of excellent smartphones if its new models had no major flaw. In the smartphone industry, intense competition will only bring more benefit to consumers. If there were only one __________ company, we would be left with no options for top-of-the-line phones.