Joblessness is far more than an economic misfortune. It can be psychological disaster for the     1     and their families. It can cause illness, divide families and create a downward spiral (螺旋式下降) of feelings of worthlessness and     2     of self-esteem. According to research done by M. Harvery Brenner, associate professor of health at Johns Hopkins University, every 1% increase in the unemployment rate     3     37,000 deaths over the next 6 years, including over 20,000 deaths from heart attacks, 900 suicides and nearly 500 deaths from cirrhosis of the liver (肝硬化). In addition, Brenner     4     that 7,500 unemployed or their families will be admitted to prison after committing a crime or to a mental hospital. “The     5     goes well beyond the individual who loses a job,” said Brenner. “Stress caused by economic factors     6     our national life at every level.” Men who have been socialized as the family breadwinner are especially hard hit by unemployment. They suffer greater depression and     7     and have a higher possibility of psychotic behavior than men who are employed. “Nine month on this seems to be a     8     point when hope and patience give out,” said a leading psychologist. “After that illness, suicide, alcoholism, divorce, and even crime grow at an epidemic (流行的) rate.” Left without a job, many workers feel they have nothing to look forward to. They miss their co-workers and the     9     of going to work. For many, the sense of hopelessness grows worse every time they are     10     for a new job. When this happens often enough, the rejection unemployed workers feel may be exacerbated (恶化) if some friends and neighbors avoid them as if they had a contagious disease (传染病).

You may think that mom-and-pop stores are gradually dying out, giving way to chain stores and big business,     1     you would be wrong. The online shopping platform Taobao is a game changer and    2     (revolutionize) the way we buy and sell.

Taobao, or “treasure hunt”, recently became the largest e-commerce website in terms of traffic, surpassing Amazon. It has 190 million    3     (register) users and serves     4     (big) marketplace in the world. Half of China’s Internet users go to Taobao, either to browse, buy or sell, according to Web information company Alexa.

    5     Taobao borrowed its original business model from eBay when it started up in 2003, the student soon became the master. Just three years later, eBay shut down its site and now Taobao controls about 80 percent of the country’s online shopping market.

It charges almost     6     to list items for sale and makes most of its money from advertising. It also plans to share transaction data with its users so they can cash it on buying trends. This allows anyone with an idea and a computer to start a viable business, doing away     7     the need for significant start-up capital.     8     opening up a store on the high street selling to passersby, the world is every Taobao user’s oyster.

A friend of mine is a typical. She opened up a store selling children’s clothing near Nuren Jie,     9     was a popular market in Beijing. It was not a great success but her online sales through Taobao went ballistic. She closed the store and is now e-commerce only.

Effectively, taobao has become the country’s high street, but with global reach.     10     China is the world’s manufacturing base, it is relatively easy for individuals to source cheap goods and sell at a reasonable markup. Micro-stores are opening in their thousands every day and delivering an amazing variety of goods.

In the 1920s, the American economy was very strong, and life was good. World War I     1     (end). So people were interested in peace, not war. They had jobs and were making a lot of money. There were new technologies     2     (create) and people could afford to buy them. They began moving to the suburbs and living in houses. People had leisure time, so they could go out and enjoy     3    .

Then, on october 24, 1929, the stock market crashed. Suddenly, life changed for millions of people. Instantly, people lost billions of dollars in stock. Companies went bankrupt.     4    they went out of business, millions of people lost their jobs. The unemployment rate climbed. The president at the time, Herbert Hoover, was blamed    5    the economic problems. Only by resigning     6     he relieve people’s anger.

In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt was elected the new president of the United States. Roosevelt had a plan to end the Great Depression. His plan was called the New Deal. He increased the influence of the government on the economy. He tried to have the government     7     (give) people jobs. During the 1930s, life in the U.S. Was very difficult. It was only in 1941    8     the Great Depression ended. Then the U.S. Economy began to recover.

7 .

Life without access to energy is simply miserable. Accessing energy is the single most important factor in improving the lives of individuals and increasing the economic opportunities available in their communities. Access to lighting transforms education from outdoors during the day, to indoors and anytime! A simple refrigerator can transform a fruit stand to a grocery store. Reliable electricity allows businesses to stay open and ultimately provides the cornerstone that allows industries to form.

There is a dominant school of thought that energy access can be achieved around the world with only carbon-free sources. This paradigm envisions effectively “leapfrogging” traditional development patterns, skipping industrialization, and transforming economies with green energy and a service economy. While compelling in theory, this vision lacks several critical factors; the need to manufacture the goods that will build the economy, the scalability of energy sources, and the affordability of that energy.

This transformation is currently underway and its progress is inevitable. The urgency is created by individuals current, difficult conditions and the availability of abundant, affordable energy, particularly coal. All new energy demand will come from the developing world. Without a thoughtful conversation about the projected doubling of world energy demand, energy consumption will continue as it is currently underway, in two parallel paths. One path prioritizes carbon-free sources, and sets goals and policies that incentivize those. The other path responds to the supply and demand inherent in a world economy and is resulting in the massive development of coal-fired electricity generation.

The reality of energy development can be summarized in the example of India’s projected energy development. By 2022, India is planning 100 GW of new solar and a relatively tiny 50 MW of new coal. However, a simple calculation of the likely emissions of these two new sources of energy conducted by a colleague at Stanford indicates that if all this new electricity generation came from natural gas, the result would be 20 percent fewer emissions. This is a conversation worth having.

Although not a carbon-free source, natural gas has a transformative role to play in the energizing of developing nations. Abundantly available around the world, and more transportable than ever, a world natural gas market is creating a more stable, affordable supply. As an electricity generation fuel, it is both a base load alternative to coal and a backup for renewable generation. In this capacity, natural gas provides carbon and non-carbon air emissions benefits. When used as a transportation fuel, natural gas provides significant air quality benefit to traditional fuels and can be equally affordable. When deployed as a cooking fuel, liquefied petroleum gas(LPG), provides dramatic health benefits and could reduce the unnecessary 4 million annual deaths attributed to cooking over inefficient, biomass fuels. As an economic cornerstone, natural gas can empower industrial development as a chemical feed-stock fertilizer component, direct energy source, and electricity provider.

A fire that broke out in an apartment building in Nanjing on February 23 left 15 people dead and another 44 injured. Local     1     said the fire started on the ground floor of the building where several electric bikes were parked.

In China, it is forbidden (禁止) to park or     2     electric bikes in public areas of high-rise buildings. However, violations (违规行为) are common. The management of such electric vehicles has remained a challenge.

The recent tragedy (悲剧) further     3     the safety risks posed by electric bikes in densely populated communities. Data showed that, by the end of 2022, there were 350million electric bikes in China. This means, on average, one out of every four Chinese people has an electric bike. Meanwhile, the number of fire accidents     4     electric bikes has also increased. In 2023, there were 21,000 cases in total, a year-on-year (同比) increase of 17.4%. Some 80% of those fires occurred during charging, with over half taking place at night. About 90% of the deadly fires began in lobbies (大厅), corridors and stairwells (楼梯井).

“For many communities, builders didn’t take into consideration the infrastructure (基础施) for parking and charging electric bikes. Therefore, they often lack a corresponding (相应的) safety plan,” said Yang Zhimin, a Shenzhen official.

The latest incident in Nanjing isn’t the first electric bike fire that has happened in the community involved. Residents     5     a similar one in 2019. That fire, luckily, did not result in any injuries. In 2022, it was reported that over 180 electric bikes were parked overnight in one building. Many residents have     6     voiced concerns over the safety risks posed by these electric bikes.

Following the tragedy, Nanjing authorities announced a thorough (面) review of safety risks. This covers high-rise buildings, commercial spaces (商业区) and other densely populated areas. They aim to     7     high-risk activities, especially those related to electric bikes. Among them are     8     fire evacuation routes, charging electric bikes indoors, and using unsafe wiring (线路系统) for charging.

Other cities across China have also taken action to remove     9     fire hazards. Shanghai has     10     citywide safety inspections of electric bikes in residential areas. On February 25, Huainan in Anhui province issued a notice stressing stricter electric bike management.

“We will work to ensure that all electric bikes in China are parked outdoors,” said the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM, 应急管理部) on February 26.

Should Writers Be Paid for Their E-books Lent by Libraries?

When libraries lend books to the public, authors and publishers receive remuneration from the Government under the Lending Rights schemes.     1     Is this fair?

This year, the government has distributed almost a $ 22 million under these Public Lending Rights and Educational Lending Rights Schemes. For each book in public library collections creators receive $2.11 and publishers receive $0.52.

The amount that each claimant receives is often not very significant, with the majority of authors receiving between S100-500 annually, Still, a previous study has revealed that this remuneration constitutes the second most important source of income for creators from their creative work.

E-books, however, are not covered by these Lending Rights schemes.     2     But e-book lending is increasing and, according to the Australian Library and Information Association, e-books are likely to reach 20% of library holdings by 2020. Also, most, if not all, self-published titles are done so in digital format only. Such self-published titles, if lent by libraries ,would not qualify for any remuneration.

    3    Although the Book Industry Collaborative Council made such proposal already in a report of 2013 , nothing has happened of yet.

One of the main reasons why e-books are not covered is that e-book lending is quite different from print book lending. In case of print books, authors and publishers are arguably losing on customers and revenues when libraries loan their books for free.Creators only receive $2.11 and publishers receive $0.52 for each book in public library collections.

At present, in the case of e-books, many publishers chose not to sell these books to libraries.     4    

While publishers charge libraries high prices for e-books, writers complain that these amounts do not reach them. Publishing contracts often don't specify whether and how much authors receive for e-books sales or for e-lending.