1 . Public distrust of scientists stems in part from the blurring of boundaries between science and technology, between discovery and manufacture. Most governments, perhaps all governments, justify public expenditure on scientific research in terms of the economic benefits the scientific enterprise has brought in the past and will bring in the future. Politicians remind their voters of the splendid machines “our scientists” have invented, the new drugs to relieve old disorders, and the new surgical equipment and techniques by which previously unmanageable conditions may now be treated and lives saved. At the same time, the politicians demand of scientists that they tailor their research to “economics needs”, and that they award a higher priority to research proposals that are “near the market” and can be translated into the greatest return on investment in the shortest time. Dependent, as they are, on politicians for much of their funding, scientists have little choice but to comply. Like the rest of us, they are members of a society that rates the creation of wealth as the greatest possible good. Many have reservations, but keep them to themselves in what they perceive as a climate hostile to the pursuit of understanding for its own sake and the idea of an inquiring, creative spirit.
In such circumstances no one should be too hard on people who are suspicious of conflicts of interest. When we learn that the distinguished professor assuring us of the safety of a particular product holds a consultancy with the company making it, we cannot be blamed for wondering whether his fee might conceivably cloud his professional judgment. Even if the professor holds no consultancy with any firm, some people may still distrust him because of his association with those who do, or at least wonder about the source of some of his research funding.
This attitude can have damaging effects. It questions the integrity of individuals working in a profession that prizes intellectual honesty as the supreme virtue, and plays into the hands of those who would like to discredit scientists by representing them as corruptible. This makes it easier to dismiss all scientific pronouncements, but especially those made by the scientists who present themselves as “experts”. The scientist most likely to understand the safety of a nuclear reactor, for example, is a nuclear engineer, and a nuclear engineer is most likely to be employed by the nuclear industry. If a nuclear engineer declares that a reactor is unsafe, we believe him, because clearly it is not to his advantage to lie about it. If he tells us it is safe, on the other hand, we distrust him, because he may well be protecting the employer who pays his salary.
1. What is the chief concern of most governments when it comes to scientific research?| A．The decline of public expenditure. | B．Quick economic returns. |
| C．The budget for a research project. | D．Support from the voters. |
| A．They realize they work in an environment hostile to the free pursuit of knowledge. |
| B．They know it takes incredible patience to win support from the public. |
| C．They think compliance with government policy is in the interests of the public. |
| D．They are accustomed to keeping their opinions secrets to themselves. |
| A．some of them do not give priority to intellectual honesty |
| B．sometimes they hide the source of their research funding |
| C．they could be influenced by their association with the project concerned |
| D．their pronouncements often turn out to be short-sighted and absurd |
| A．Scientists themselves may doubt the value of their research findings. |
| B．It may wear out the enthusiasm of scientists for independent research. |
| C．It makes things more trivial for scientists to seek research funds. |
| D．People will not believe scientists even when they tell the truth. |
2 . Catherine Garland, a physics professor, started seeing “the problem” in 2019. She’d laid out the assignment clearly during an engineering course, but student after student was calling her over for help. They were all getting the same error message: The program couldn’t find their files.
Garland thought it would be an easy fix. She asked each student where they had saved their project. “Could they be on the desktop? Perhaps in the Documents folder?” But over and over, she was met with confusion. “What are you talking about?” multiple students inquired. Gradually, Garland came to the realization: the concept of file folders and directories, essential to previous generations, understanding of computers, is gibberish to many modern students.
Garland’s mental model is commonly known as “directory structure”, the hierarchical system (层级体系) of folders used to arrange files. What have caused the mental model to change? It is possible that many students spent their high school years storing documents in the cloud storage like OneDrive and Dropbox rather than in physical spaces. It could also have to do with the other apps they’re accustomed to. “When I want to scroll (滚屏) over to Snapchat, Twitter, they’re not in any particular order, but I know exactly where they are,” says Vogel, who is a devoted iPhone user. Some of it boils down to muscle memory.
It may also be that in an age where every user interface includes a search function, young people have never needed folders or directories. The first internet search engines were used around 1990, but features like Windows Search are products of the early 2000s. While many of today’s professors grew up without search functions, today’s students increasingly don’t remember a world without them.
Some may blame the generational incompetence. An international study claimed that only 2 percent of Generation Z (born from 1997 onwards) had achieved the “digital native” level of computer literacy. But the issue is likely not that modern students are learning fewer digital skills, but rather that they’re learning different ones. Garland, for all her knowledge of directory structure, doesn’t understand Instagram nearly as well as her students do. “They use computers one way, and we use computers another way,” Garland emphasizes. “That’s where the problem lies.”
1. The word “gibberish” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to________.| A．common | B．accessible | C．nonsense | D．fundamental |
| A．There is no search function in the directory structure. |
| B．College professors have weaker muscles than students do. |
| C．Modern students like to store documents in physical drives. |
| D．The change in mental models reflects the progress in technology. |
| A．highlights the different mindsets of two generations |
| B．criticizes modern students’ overuse of online apps |
| C．shows the difficulty of teaching today’s students |
| D．calls on a change in the education of physics |
| A．Teaching students directory structure. |
| B．Improving generational understanding. |
| C．Enhancing Generation Z’s digital skills. |
| D．Urging teachers to learn search functions. |
3 . When Liam McGee quitted as president of Bank of America in August, his explanation was surprisingly straight up. Rather than announce his leaving 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 waiting for him 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 ambition. 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. When boards scrutinize(审查)succession plans(后续计划) in response to shareholder pressure, executives who don’t get the nod also may wish to move on. Economic depression also has senior managers careful of letting vague announcements cloud their reputations.
The decision to quit a senior position to look for a better one is unconventional. For years executives and headhunters have followed the rule that the most attractive CEO candidates are not the sitting ones，but the ones who must be hunted elsewhere.
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．modest. | 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 outdated |
| 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 |
4 . Otters, are cute, this no one can deny. They have big eyes, short and flat noses and claws (爪子) like tiny hands. They look even cuter when they wear hats and throw food balls into their mouths as if they were bar snacks, like Takechiyo, a pet otter in Japan. Documenting Takechiyo’s funny behavior has earned his owner nearly 230,000 followers on Instagram, a photo-sharing app.
Takechiyo’s fame reflects a craze across east and South-East Asia for keeping the cute creatures as pets. Enthusiasts in Japan visit cafés where they pay to hug them; Indonesian owners parade their pets around on leads or go swimming with them, then share their pictures online. But these enjoyable photos mask a trade that is doing a lot of damage. Even before they became fashionable companions for humans, Asia’s wild otters faced plenty of threats. Their habitats are disappearing. They have long been hunted for their coats, or killed by farmers who wish to prevent them consuming fishes. The pet trade, which began picking up in the early 2000s but appeared to speed up a few years ago, has made things worse. The numbers of wild Asian small-clawed otters and smooth-coated otters, two species that are in highest demand, have declined by at least 30% in the three decades to 2019.
The international agreement that governs trade in wildlife, known as CITES, now prohibits cross-border trade in these species. But laws banning ownership are often poorly implemented, as in Thailand, or full of holes, as in Indonesia. And the otter-keeping craze has been dramatically improved by the internet, says Vincent Nijman of Oxford Brookes University. In 2017 TRAFFIC, a British charity that monitors the wildlife trade, spent nearly five months looking at Facebook and other social-media sites in five South-East Asian countries. During that time, it found around 1,000 otters advertised for sale online.
In any case, otters do not even make particularly good pets. Every year the Jakarta Animal Aid Network, a charity in Indonesia’s capital, receives some ten otters from people who have struggled to look after them. Faizul Duha, the founder of an Indonesian otter-owners’ group, admits that his two animals emit a “very specific” (read: fishy) smell. They bite humans and chew on furniture. Their scream can be heard blocks away. And their cages need cleaning every two-to-three hours. That is how often they empty their bowels (肠道).
1. The function of the first paragraph is to ________.| A．present the main idea | B．introduce the main topic |
| C．set readers thinking | D．illustrate the writer’s point |
| A．The demand for pet otters. | B．The disappearance of otters’ habitats. |
| C．The popularity of otter coats. | D．The decrease of fishes. |
| A．the laws that prohibit cross-border trade are strict in Asia |
| B．social media plays a significant role in the online otter trade |
| C．people usually give up otters because they are endangered |
| D．otters are suitable pets because they are friendly to humans |
| A．advertise for a photo-sharing app |
| B．introduce the popularity of pet otters |
| C．discourage the illegal otter pet trade |
| D．describe the characteristics of otters |
5 . It’s never easy to admit the mistakes you make, but doing so is an important step toward moving forward. National Geographic magazine recently published an article with the title “For decades, our coverage was racist. To rise above our past, we must acknowledge it.” It was written by the magazine’s editor-in-chief Susan Goldberg, the first woman and first Jewish person to hold the position. National geographic has acknowledged that its coverage of black and minority ethnic people in America and the wider world has been historically racist, frequently promoting caricatures (讽刺画) of the “nobel savage (野蛮人)” and barely featuring the US’ minority ethnic population.
According to Goldberg, the 130-year-old publication’s April issue “explores how race defines, separates and unites us”. In honor of 50 years since the killing of Martin Luther King, who is known for fighting racial inequality in the US, the issue is devoted to race.
The publication republished a number of examples of historical racism in its coverage. One 1916 article about Australia included a photo of two Indigenous Australians with the caption (说明文字): “South Australian Black fellows: These savages rank lowest in the intelligence of all human beings.”
To review its previous coverage of race, Goldberg asked University of Virginia historian John Edwin Mason to look back at the magazine’s text, choice of subjects, and photography of people of color from the US and abroad. “Until the 1970s, National Geographic all but ignored people of color who lived in the United States, rarely acknowledging them beyond laborer or domestic workers,” Goldberg wrote about Mason’s findings. “Meanwhile, it pictured ‘natives’ elsewhere as exotics, famously and frequently unclothed, happy hunters, noble savages.”
Mason also found that the magazine often ran photos of “uncivilized” natives amazed by “civilized” Western technology.
In recent years, however, the magazine has improved. For example, in a 2015 project, National Geographic gave cameras to young people in the Caribbean country of Haiti and asked them to shoot pictures of their everyday lives.
The coverage wasn’t right before, because it was told from a white American point of view, and I think it speaks to exactly why we needed a diversity of storytellers,” Goldberg told the Associated Press.
National Geographic’s look at its past also inspired other media organizations to revisit their own historical coverage of race. The New York Times admitted that most of its obituaries (讣告) were about the lives of white men, and has started publishing obituaries of famous women in a special section titled “Overlooked”. After all recognizing overlooked mistakes is what makes us grow.
1. What is special about the April issue of National Geographic magazine?| A．It is devoted to race in memory of Martin Luther King. |
| B．It is released to mark National Geographic’s 130th anniversary. |
| C．It is the first issue since Susan Goldberg became the editor-in-chief. |
| D．It is in this issue that readers can see Mason’s investigation report. |
| A．It often pictured colored people with decent jobs. |
| B．Natives were often pictured as unclothed happy hunters. |
| C．It asked ordinary people to shoot pictures of their daily lives. |
| D．It only featured minority groups in America but overlooked others. |
| A．It used to tell stories from the perspective of a white Jewish woman. |
| B．The overall image of natives in it was brave, intelligent but uncivilized. |
| C．It pushed other media organizations to reflect on their coverage of race. |
| D．Its texts and choice of subjects were diverse and had no racial prejudice. |
| A．affect the image of the world famous magazine |
| B．eliminate racial discrimination around the world |
| C．help the magazine to move forward and grow better |
| D．discourage the editors from reporting bravely and honestly |
6 . Like most of us, I try to be mindful of food that goes to waste. The arugula (芝麻菜)was to make a nice green salad, rounding out a roast chicken dinner. But I ended up working late. Then friends called with a dinner invitation. I stuck the chicken in the freezer. But as days passed, the arugula went bad. Even worse, I had unthinkingly bought way too much; I could have made six salads with what I threw out.
In a world where nearly 800 million people a year go hungry, “food waste goes against the moral grain,” as Elizabeth Royte writes in this month’s cover story. It’s jaw-dropping how much perfectly good food is thrown away — from “ugly” (but quite eatable) vegetables rejected by grocers to large amounts of uneaten dishes thrown into restaurant garbage cans.
Producing food that no one eats wastes the water, fuel, and other resources used to grow it. That makes food waste an environmental problem. In fact, Royte writes, “if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world.”
If that’s hard to understand, let’s keep it as simple as the arugula at the back of my refrigerator. Mike Curtin sees my arugula story all the time — but for him, it's more like 12 bones of donated strawberries nearing their last days. Curtin is CEO of DC Central Kitchen in Washington, D.C., which recovers food and turns it into healthy meals. Last year it recovered more than 807,500 pounds of food by taking donations and collecting blemished (有瑕疵的) produce that otherwise would have rotted in fields. And the strawberries? Volunteers will wash, cut, and freeze or dry them for use in meals down the road.
Such methods seem obvious, yet so often we just don’t think. “Everyone can play a part in reducing waste, whether by not purchasing more food than necessary in your weekly shopping or by asking restaurants to not include the side dish you won’t eat,” Curtin says.
1. What does the author want to show by telling the arugula story?| A．We pay little attention to food waste. | B．We waste food unintentionally at times. |
| C．We waste more vegetables than meat. | D．We have good reasons for wasting food. |
| A．Moral decline. | B．Environmental harm. |
| C．Energy shortage. | D．Worldwide starvation. |
| A．It produces kitchen equipment. | B．It turns rotten arugula into clean fuel. |
| C．It helps local farmers grow fruits. | D．It makes meals out of unwanted food. |
| A．Buy only what is needed. | B．Reduce food consumption. |
| C．Go shopping once a week. | D．Eat in restaurants less often. |
在中国城市中'随处可见身穿制服骑者电动摩托车(electric scooter)的外卖骑手穿梭于大街小巷，风雨无阻为市民送餐。外卖对你的生活有何影响？请根据自身实际经历谈谈外卖服务的利弊。
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8 . Is any economist so dull as to criticize Christmas? At first glance, the holiday season in western economies seems a treat for those concerned with such vagaries (奇想)as GDP growth. After all, everyone is spending; in America, retailers make 25% of their yearly sales and 60% of their profits between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even so, economists find something to worry about in the nature of the purchases being made.
Much of the holiday spending is on gifts for others. At the simplest level, giving gifts involves the giver thinking of something that the recipient would like he tries to guess his or her preferences, as economists say - and then buying the gift and delivering it. Yet this guessing of preferences is not easy; indeed, it is often done badly. Every year, ties go unworn and books unread. And even if a gift is enjoyed, it may not be what the recipient would have bought if they had spent the money themselves.
Interested in this mismatch between wants and gifts, in 1993 Joel Waldfogel, then an economist at Yale University, sought estimate the difference in dollar terms. In a research, he asked students two questions at the end of a holiday season: first, estimate the total amount paid (by the givers) for all the holiday gifts you received; second, apart from the emotional value of the items, if you did not have them, how much would you be willing to pay to get them? His results were gloomy: on average, a gift was valued by the recipient well below the price paid by the giver.
In addition, recipients may hot know their own preferences very well. Some of the best gifts, after all, are unexpected items that you would never have thought of buying, but which turn out to be especially well picked. And preference can change. So by giving a jazz CD, for example, the giver may be encouraging the recipient to enjoy something that was ignored before. This, a desire to build skills, is possibly the hope held by many parents who ignore their children’s desires for video games and buy them books instead.
Finally, there are items that a recipient would like to receive but not purchase. If someone else buys them, however, they can be enjoyed guilt-free. This might explain the high volume of chocolate that changes over the holidays. Thus, the lesson for gift-givers is that you should try hard to guess the preference of each person on your list and then choose a gift that will have a high emotional value.
1. For what reason are economists concerned about holiday purchases?| A．Seasonal sales don’t match profits well. |
| B．Some of the holiday purchases end up with waste. |
| C．Sales and profits arc far from being matched. |
| D．Seasonal sales fail to satisfy people's special wants. |
| A．accurate | B．persuasive |
| C．depressing | D．undoubtable |
| A．Recipients tend to overestimate the values of a gift. |
| B．People’s preference is born with nature and remains unchanged. |
| C．Chocolate is a gift which may cause recipients’ sense of guilt |
| D．Gifts may be used to help a person to cultivate a hobby or skill. |
| A．Guessing preference is important although sometimes it fails. |
| B．The more money you spend on the gift, the more emotional value it has. |
| C．Recipients’ preferences have an impact on the holiday season economy. |
| D．The attached value of a present is the essence of gift giving. |
9 . For young Chinese, being single was once a source of shame. Now, it’s becoming a badge (标志) of freedom —and
Eating at a restaurant alone used to be rare in China, where food is traditionally shared by large groups gathered around a circular table. But these attitudes are
The number of singles in China has now surpassed 200 million, according to government data released last year The total number of single people living alone is
23 Seats, a Beijing noodle bar, is one of many restaurants catering to this new breed of “single dogs” — as China's singletons self-mockingly (自嘲地) call themselves.
Sun Yun, 23 Seats' 33-year-old co-owner, says its deliberately antisocial decorate (装饰) is designed to attract people who
“We could have designed the layout to provide seats for more customers, but in the end we decided against this,” Sun says. “We wanted to create a space where solo diners wouldn't feel
It's a concept that's
Since opening last year, 23 Seats has seen a(n)
“At the moment, half of our diners come here alone, while... many of the group customers will
The solo dining revolution is spreading
| A．customers | B．businesses | C．advertisers | D．banks |
| A．strengthening | B．presenting | C．softening | D．exchanging |
| A．Previously | B．Constantly | C．Noticeably | D．Temporarily |
| A．taking up | B．arranging for | C．planning on | D．putting off |
| A．entertaining | B．socializing | C．exercising | D．refreshing |
| A．expected | B．scheduled | C．proposed | D．promised |
| A．reluctantly | B．cheerfully | C．simply | D．anxiously |
| A．annoyed | B．sorry | C．desperate | D．uneasy |
| A．adding up | B．dying out | C．catching on | D．moving in |
| A．company | B．contact | C．focused | D．connected |
| A．full | B．standard | C．overall | D．reduced |
| A．investment | B．boom | C．decline | D．risk |
| A．revisit | B．check | C．evaluate | D．inspect |
| A．worldwide | B．online | C．rapidly | D．similarly |
| A．important | B．valuable | C．possible | D．difficult |
Barry Jenkins: ‘When you climb the ladder, you send it back down’
“So, you saw the film?” Barry Jenkins is eager to ask the minute we are introduced. He gives good eye contact through those stylish thick-rimmed glasses – not the big-time, Oscar-winning writer-director speaking, but a nervous artist, anxious
Adapted from James Baldwin’s 1974 novel, Beale Street tells the story in which the personal experiences of a young black couple
Baldwin has been dead for 30 years, but his depiction of the fight against a country’s powerful prejudice is a sad reminder
Beale Street
