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Happy people work differently. They’re more productive, more creative, and willing to take greater risks. And new research suggests that happiness might influence（1）firms work, too.Companies located in places with happier people invest more, according to a recent research paper. （2） , firms in happy places spend more on R&D (research and development). That’s because happiness is linked to the kind of longer-term thinking （3） for making investments for the future.The researchers wanted to know if the （4） and inclination for risk-taking that come with happiness would （5） the way companies invested. So they compared U.S. cities’ average happiness （6） by Gallup polling with the investment activity of publicly traded firms in those areas.（7） enough, firms’ investment and R&D intensity were correlated with the happiness of the area in which they were （8） .But is it really happiness that’s linked to investment, or could something else about happier cities （9） why firms there spend more on R&D? To find out, the researchers controlled for various （10） that might make firms more likely to invest – like size, industry, and sales – and for indicators that a place was （11） to live in, like growth in wages or population. The link between happiness and investment generally （12） even after accounting for these things.The correlation between happiness and investment was particularly strong for younger firms, which the authors （13） to “less codified decision making process” and the possible presence of “younger and less （14） managers who are more likely to be influenced by sentiment.” The relationship was （15） stronger in places where happiness was spread more （16） .Firms seem to invest more in places where most people are relatively happy, rather than in places with happiness inequality.（17） this doesn’t prove that happiness causes firms to invest more or to take a longer-term view, the authors believe it at least （18）at that possibility. It’s not hard to imagine that local culture and sentiment would help （19） how executives think about the future. “It surely seems plausible that happy people would be more forward-thinking and creative and （20） R&D more than the average,” said one researcher.

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Ruth Simmons joined Goldman Sachs’s board as an outside director in January 2000; a year later she became president of Brown University. For the rest of the decade she apparently managed both roles without attracting much criticism. But by the end of 2009 Ms. Simmons was under fire for having sat on Goldman’s compensation committee; how could she have let those enormous bonus payouts pass unremarked? By February the next year Ms. Simmons had left the board. The position was just taking up too much time, she said.Outside directors are supposed to serve as helpful, yet less biased, advisers on a firm’s board. Having made their wealth and their reputations elsewhere, they presumably have enough independence to disagree with the chief executive’s proposals. If the sky, and the share price, is falling, outside directors should be able to give advice based on having weathered their own crises.The researchers from Ohio University used a database that covered more than 10, 000 firms and more than 64, 000 different directors between 1989 and 2004. Then they simply checked which directors stayed from one proxy statement to the next. The most likely reason for departing a board was age, so the researchers concentrated on those “surprise” disappearances by directors under the age, of 70. They found that after a surprise departure, the probability that the company will subsequently have to restate earnings increased by nearly 20%. The likelihood of being named in a federal class-action lawsuit also increases, and the stock is likely to perform worse. The effect tended to be larger for larger firms. Although a correlation between them leaving and subsequent bad performance at the firm is suggestive, it does not mean that such directors are always jumping off a sinking ship. Often they “trade up”, leaving riskier, smaller firms for larger and more stable firms.But the researchers believe that outside directors have an easier time of avoiding a blow to their reputations if they leave a firm before bad news breaks, even if a review of history shows they were on the board at the time any wrongdoing occurred. Firms who want to keep their outside directors through tough times may have to create incentives. Otherwise outside directors will follow the example of Ms. Simmons, once again very popular on campus. (382 words)1.According to Paragraph 1, Ms. Simmons was criticized for （）.2.We learn from Paragraph 2 that outside directors are supposed to be （）. 3.According to the researchers from Ohio University after an outside director’s surprise departure, the firm is likely to （）. 4.It can be inferred from the last paragraph that outside directors （）. 5.The author’s attitude toward the role of outside directors is（）.

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A century ago, the immigrants from across the Atlantic included settlers and sojourners. Along with the many folks looking to make a permanent home in the United States came those who had no intention to stay, and who would make some money and them go home. Between 1908 and 1915, about 7 million people arrived while about 2 million departed. About a quarter of all Italian immigrants, for example, eventually returned to Italy for good. They even had an affectionate nickname, “uccelli di passaggio”, birds of passage.Today, we are much more rigid about immigrants. We divide newcomers into two categories: legal or illegal, good or bad. We hail them as Americans in the making, or brand them as aliens to be kicked out. That framework has contributed mightily to our broken immigration system and the long political paralysis over how to fix it. We don’t need more categories, but we need to change the way we think about categories. We need to look beyond strict definitions of legal and illegal. To start, we can recognize the new birds of passage, those living and thriving in the gray areas. We might then begin to solve our immigration challenges.Crop pickers, violinists, construction workers, entrepreneurs, engineers, home health-care aides and physicists are among today’s birds of passage. They are energetic participants in a global economy driven by the flow of work, money and ideas. They prefer to come and go as opportunity calls them. They can manage to have a job in one place and a family in another.With or without permission, they straddle laws, jurisdictions and identities with ease. We need them to imagine the United States as a place where they can be productive for a while without committing themselves to staying forever. We need them to feel that home can be both here and there and that they can belong to two nations honorably.Accommodating this new world of people in motion will require new attitudes on both sides of the immigration battle. Looking beyond the culture war logic of right or wrong means opening up the middle ground and understanding that managing immigration today requires multiple paths and multiple outcomes, including some that are not easy to accomplish legally in the existing system.1.“Birds of passage” refers to those who （）.2.It is implied in Paragraph 2 that the current immigration system in the U. S. （）. 3.According to the author, today’s birds of passage want （）. 4.The author suggests that the birds of passage today should be treated （）. 5.The most appropriate title for this text would be（）.

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When Microsoft bought task management app Wunderlist and mobile calendar Sunrise in 2015, it picked up two newcomers that were attracting considerable buzz in Silicon Valley. Microsoft’s own Office dominates the market for “productivity” software, but the start-ups represented a new wave of technology designed from the ground up for the smart phone world.Both apps, however, were later scrapped, after Microsoft said it had used their best features in its own products. Their teams of engineers stayed on, making them two of the many “acquit-hires”that the biggest companies have used to feed their insatiable hunger for tech talent.To Microsoft’s critics, the fates of Wunderlist and Sunrise are examples of a remorseless drive by Big Tech to chew up any innovative companies that lie in their.path. “They bought the seedlings and closed them down,” complained Paul Arnold, a partner at San Francisco-based Switch Ventures, putting paid to businesses that might one day turn into competitors. Microsoft declined to comment.Like other start-up investors, Mr Arnold’ s own business often depends on selling start-ups to larger tech companies, though he admits to mixed feelings about the result:“I think these things are good for me, if I put my selfish hat on. But are they good for the American economy? I don’t know.”The US Federal Trade Commission says it wants to find the answer to that question. This week, it asked the five most valuable US tech companies for information about their many small acquisitions over the past decade. Although only a research project at this stage, the request has raised the prospect of regulators wading into early-stage tech markets that until now have been beyond their reach.Given their combined market value of more than $5.5tn, rifling through such small deals—many of them much less prominent than Wunderlist and Sunrise—might seem beside the point. Between them, the five companies (Apple, Microsoft, Google,Amazon and Facebook) have spent an average of only $3.4bn a year on sub-$1bn acquisitions over the past five years—a drop in the ocean compared with their massive financial reserves, and the more than $130bn of venture capital that was invested in the US last year.However, critics say that the big companies use such deals to buy their most threatening potential competitors before their businesses have a chance to gain momentum, in some cases as part of a “buy and kill”. tactic to simply close them down.1.What is true about Wunderlist and sunrise after their acquisitions（）.2. Microsoft’s critics believe that the big tech companies tend to （） . 3.PaulArnold is concerned that small acquisitions might（）.4.The US Federal Trade Commission intend to（）.5.For the five biggest tech companies, their small acquisition have（）.

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In 2010, a federal judge shook America’s biotech industry to its core. Companies had won patents for isolated DNA for decades—by 2005 some 20% of human genes were patented. But in March 2010 a judge ruled that genes were unpatentable. Executives were violently agitated. The Biotechnology Industry Organisation ( BIO) , a trade group, assured members that this was just a “preliminary step” in a longer battle.On July 29th they were relieved, at least temporarily. A federal appeals court overturned the prior decision, ruling that Myriad Genetics could indeed hold patents to two genes that help forecast a woman’s risk of breast cancer. The chief executive of Myriad, a company in Utah, said the ruling was a blessing to firms and patients alike.But as companies continue their attempts at personalised medicine, the courts will remain rather busy. The Myriad case itself is probably not over. Critics make three main arguments against gene patents: a gene is a product of nature, so it may not be patented; gene patents suppress innovation rather than reward it; and patents’ monopolies restrict access to genetic tests such as Myriad’s. A growing number seem to agree. Last year a federal task-force urged reform for patents related to genetic tests. In October the Department of Justice filed a brief in the Myriad case, arguing that an isolated DNA molecule “is no less a product of nature...than are cotton fibres that have been separated from cotton seeds.Despite the appeals court’s decision, big questions remain unanswered. For example, it is unclear whether the sequencing of a whole genome violates the patents of individual genes within it. The case may yet reach the Supreme Court.As the industry advances, however, other suits may have an even greater impact. Companies are unlikely to file many more patents for human DNA molecules—most are already patented or in the public domain. Firms are now studying how genes interact, looking for correlations that might be used to determine the causes of disease or predict a drug’s efficacy. Companies are eager to win patents for “connecting the dots”, explains Hans Sauer, a lawyer for the BIO.Their success may be determined by a suit related to this issue, brought by the Mayo Clinic, which the Supreme Court will hear in its next term. The BIO recently held a convention which included sessions to coach lawyers on the shifting landscape for patents. Each meeting was packed. (407 words)1.It can be learned from Paragraph 1 that the biotech companies would like （）.2.Those who are against gene patents believe that （）. 3.According to Hans Sauer, companies are eager to win patents for （）. 4.By saying “Each meeting was packed”(Para. 6) the author means that （）. 5.Generally speaking, the author’s attitude toward gene patenting is（）.

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Five ways to make conversation with anyoneConversations are links, which means when you have a conversation with a new person, a link gets formed and every conversation you have after that moment will strengthen the link. You meet new people every day: the grocery worker, the cab driver, new people at work or the security guard at the door. Simply starting a conversation with them will form a link. Here are five simple ways that you can make the fit move and start a conversation with strangers.1. Suppose you are in a room with someone you don't know and something within you says “I want to talk with this person”-this is something that mostly happens with all of us. You wanted to say something-the first word-but it just won't come out, it feels like it is stuck somewhere. I know the feeling and here is my advice: just get it out. Just think: what is the worst that could happen? They won't talk with you? Well, they are not talking you now! I truly believe that once you get that first word out everything will just flow. I truly believe that once you get that first word out everything else will just flow. So keep it simple "hi", "hey" or "hello"-do the best you can to gather all of the enthusiasm and energy you can, put on a big smile and say "hi".2. It's a problem all of us face; you have limited time with the person that you want to talk with and you want to make this talk memorable. Honestly, if we got stuck in the rut of “hi”, “hello”, “how are you?” and “what's going on?”, you will fail to give the initial jolt to the conversation that can make it so memorable.So don't be afraid to ask more personal questions. Trust me, you'll be surprised to see how much people are willing to share if you just ask.3. When you meet a person for the first time, make an effort to find the things which you and that person have in common so that you can build the conversation from that point. When you start conversation from there and then move outwards, you'll find all of a sudden that the conversation becomes a lot easier.4. Imagine you are pouring your heart out to someone and they are just busy on their phone, and if you ask for their attention you get the response “I can multitask”. So when someone tries to communicate with you, just be in that communication wholeheartedly. Make eye contact. Trust me, eye contact is where all the magic happens. When you make eye contact, you can feel the conversation.5. You all came into a conversation where you first met the person, but after some time you may have met again and have forgotten their name. Isn't that awkward! So, remember the little details of the people you met or you talked with; perhaps the places they have been to, the places they want to go, the things they like, the things they hate-whatever you talk about. When you remember such things you can automatically become investor in their well being. So they feel a responsibility to you to keep that relationship going.That's it. Five amazing ways that you can make conversation with almost anyone. Every person is a really good book to read, or to have a conversation with!

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Now that members of Generation Z are graduating college this spring — the most commonly-accepted definition says this generation was born after 1995, give or take a year — the attention has been rising steadily in recent weeks. GenZs are about to hit the streets looking for work in a labor market that’s tighter than it’s been in decades. And employers are planning on hiring about 17 percent more new graduates for jobs in the U.S. this year than last, according to a survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Everybody wants to know how the people who will soon inhabit those empty office cubicles will differ from those who came before them.If “entitled” is the most common adjective, fairly or not, applied to millennials (those born between 1981 and1995), the catchwords for Generation Z are practical and cautious. According to the career counselors and experts who study them, Generation Zs are clear-eyed, economic pragmatists. Despite graduating into the best economy in the past 50 years, Gen Zs know what an economic train wreck looks like. They were impressionable kids during the crash of 2008, when many of their parents lost their jobs or their life savings or both. They aren’t interested in taking any chances. The booming economy seems to have done little to assuage this underlying generational sense of anxious urgency, especially for those who have college debt. College loan balances in the U.S. now stand at a record $1.5 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve.One survey from Accenture found that 88 percent of graduating seniors this year chose their major with a job in mind. In a 2019 survey of University of Georgia students, meanwhile, the career office found the most desirable trait in a future employer was the ability to offer secure employment (followed by professional development and training, and then inspiring purpose). Job security or stability was the second most important career goal (work-life balance was number one), followed by a sense of being dedicated to a cause or to feel good about serving the greater good. That's a big change from the previous generation. “Millennials wanted more flexibility in their lives,” notes Tanya Michelsen, Associate Director of YouthSight, a UK-based brand manager that conducts regular 60-day surveys of British youth, in findings that might just as well apply to American youth. “Generation Z are looking for more certainty and stability, because of the rise of the gig economy. They have trouble seeing a financial future and they are quite risk averse.”（1）Generation Zs graduating college this spring（）.（2）Generation Zs are keenly aware（）.（3）The word “assuage” (line 9, para 2) is closet in meaning to（）.（4）It can be learned from Paragraph 3 that Generation Zs（）.（5）Michelsen thinks that compared with millennials, Generation Zs are（）.

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Thinner isn’t always better. A number of studies have 1 that normal-weight people are in fact at higher risk of some diseases compared to those who are overweight. And there are health conditions for which being over-weight is actually 2 . For example, heavier women are less likely to develop calcium deficiency than thin women. 3 , among the elderly, being somewhat overweight is often an 4 of good health.Of even greater 5 is the fact that obesity turns out to be very difficult to define. It is often defined 6 body mass index, or BMI. BMI 7 body mass divided by the square of height. An adult with a BMI of 18 to 25 is often considered to be normal weight. Between 25 and 30 is overweight. And over 30 is considered obese. Obesity, 8 , can be divided into moderately obese, severely obese, and very severely obese.While such numerical standards seem 9 , they are not. Obesity is probably less a matter of weight than body fat. Some people with a high BMI are in fact extremely fit, 10 others with a low BMI may be in poor 11 For example, many collegiate and professional football players 12 as obese, though their percentage body fat is low. Conversely, someone with a small frame may have high body fat but a 13 BMI.Today we have a (an) 14 to label obesity as a disgrace. The overweight are sometimes 15 in the media with their faces covered. Stereotypes 16 with obesity include laziness, lack of will power, and lower prospects for success. Teachers, employers, and health professionals have been shown to harbor biases against the obese. 17 very young children tend to look down on the overweight, and teasing about body build has long been a problem in schools.Negative attitudes toward obesity, 18 in health concerns, have stimulated a number of anti-obesity 19 . My own hospital system has banned sugary drinks from its facilities. Many employers have instituted weight loss and fitness initiatives. Michelle Obama has launched a high-visibility campaign 20 childhood obesity, even claiming that it represents our greatest national security threat.

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In our contemporary culture, the prospect of communicating with—or even looking at—a stranger is virtually unbearable. Everyone around us seems to agree by the way they cling to their phones, even without a 1 on a subway.It’s a sad reality—our desire to avoid interacting with other human beings—because there’s 2 to be gained from talking to the stranger standing by you. But you wouldn’t know it, 3 into your phone. This universal protection sends the 4: “Please don’t approach me.”What is it that makes us feel we need to hide 5 our screens?One answer is fear, according to Jon Wortmann, executive mental coach. We fear rejection, or that our innocent social advances will be 6 as “weird”. We fear we’ll be7. We fear we’ll be disruptive. Strangers are inherently 8 to us, so we are more likely to feel 9 when communicating with them compared with our friends and acquaintances. To avoid this anxiety, we 10 to our phones. “Phones become our security blanket,” Wortmann says. “They are our happy glasses that protect us from what we perceive is going to be more 11”.But once we rip off the bandaid, tuck our smartphones in our pockets and look up, it doesn’t 12 so bad. In one 2011 experiment, behavioral scientists Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder asked commuters to do the unthinkable: Start a 13. They had Chicago train commuters talk to their fellow 14. “When Dr. Epley and Ms. Schroeder asked other people in the same train station to 15 how they would feel after talking to a stranger, the commuters thought their 16 would be more pleasant if they sat on their own,” the New York Times summarizes. Though the participants didn’t expect a positive experience, after they 17 with the experiment, “not a single person reported having been embarrassed.”18, these commutes were reportedly more enjoyable compared with those without communication, which makes absolute sense, 19 human beings thrive off of social connections. It’s that 20: Talking to strangers can make you feel connected.

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People have speculated for centuries about a future without work. Today is no different, with academics, writers, and activists once again（1）that technology is replacing human workers. Some imagine that the coming work-free world will be defined by （2） . A few wealthy people will own all the capital, and the masses will struggle in an impoverished wasteland.A different and not mutually exclusive （3） holds that the future will be a wasteland of a different sort, one （4） by purposelessness: Without jobs to give their lives （5） , people will simply become lazy and depressed. （6） today’s unemployed don’t seem to be having a great time. One Gallup poll found that 20 percent of Americans who have been unemployed for at least a year report having depression, double the rate for （7） Americans. Also, some research suggests that the （8） for rising rates of mortality, mental-health problems, and addicting （9）poorly-educated middle-aged people is shortage of well-paid jobs. Perhaps this is why many （10） the agonizing dullness of a jobless future.But it doesn’t （11） follow from findings like these that a world without work would be filled with unease. Such visions are based on the （12） of being unemployed in a society built on the concept of employment. In the （13） of work, a society designed with other ends in mind could （14） strikingly different circumstances for the future of labor and leisure. Today, the （15） of work may be a bit overblown. “Many jobs are boring, degrading, unhealthy, and a waste of human potential,” says John Danaher, a lecturer at the National University of Ireland in Galway.These days, because leisure time is relatively （16） for most workers, people use their free time to counterbalance the intellectual and emotional （17） of their jobs. “When I come home from a hard day’s work, I often feel （18） ,” Danaher says, adding, “In a world in which I don’t have to work, I might feel rather different”—perhaps different enough to throw himself （19） a hobby or a passion project with the intensity usually reserved for （20） matters.

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A few decades ago, the world banking community invented new Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) systems to move money more efficiently across countries and around the globe. The （1） benefit of such systems was to（2）the float of capital that was unavailable for （3） checks were being cleared through banking （4）. Today, we understand that benefits of electronic banking are far more （5） than just reducing floating cash. The world of banking （6）revolutionize. It is （7） more efficient and faster, but more global. And now （8） the Internet, EFT systems are increasingly（9）with the new world of e-commerce and e-trade.（10） 1997 and 2003, EFT value （11） from less than $50 trillion to nearly $400 trillion, more than the （12） economic product of all the countries and territories of the entire world. These statistics （13） should emphasize the true importance of transnational EFT Satellite, wireless, and cable-based electronic fund transfers （14） the hub of global enterprise. Such electronic cash is （15） central to the idea of an emerging “worldwide mind.” Without the satellite and fiber infrastructure to support the flow of electronic funds, the world economy would grind to a halt.

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It’s true that high-school coding classes aren’t essential for learning computer science in college. Students without experience can catch up after a few introductory courses, said Tom Cortina, the assistant dean at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science.However, Cortina said, early exposure is beneficial. When younger kids learn computer science, they learn that it’s not just a confusing, endless string of letters and numbers — but a tool to build apps, or create artwork, or test hypotheses. It’s not as hard for them to transform their thought processes as it is for older students. Breaking down problems into bite-sized chunks and using code to solve them becomes normal. Giving more children this training could increase the number of people interested in the field and help fill the jobs gap, Cortina said.Students also benefit from learning something about coding before they get to college, where introductory computer-science classes are packed to the brim, which can drive the less-experienced or-determined students away.The Flatiron School, where people pay to learn programming, started as one of the many coding bootcamps that’s become popular for adults looking for a career change. The high-schoolers get the same curriculum, but “we try to gear lessons toward things they’re interested in,” said Victoria Friedman, an instructor. For instance, one of the apps the students are developing suggests movies based on your mood.The students in the Flatiron class probably won’t drop out of high school and build the next Facebook. Programming languages have a quick turnover, so the “Ruby on Rails” language they learned may not even be relevant by the time they enter the job market. But the skills they learn — how to think logically through a problem and organize the results — apply to any coding language, said Deborah Seehorn, an education consultant for the state of North Carolina.Indeed, the Flatiron students might not go into IT at all. But creating a future army of coders is not the sole purpose of the classes. These kids are going to be surrounded by computers — in their pockets, in their offices, in their homes — for the rest of their lives. The younger they learn how computers think, how to coax the machine into producing what they want — the earlier they learn that they have the power to do that — the better.1.Cortina holds that early exposure to computer science makes it easier to（）.3.In delivering lessons for high-schoolers, Flatiron has considered their （）. 　3.Deborah Seehorn believes that the skills learned at Flatiron will （）. 4.According to the last paragraph, Flatiron students are expected to （）. 5.The word “coax” (Line4, Para.6) is closest in meaning to（）.

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Biologists estimate that as many as 2 million lesser prairie chickens---a kind of bird living on stretching grasslands—once lent red to the often gray landscape of the Midwestern and southwestern United States. But just some 22,000 birds remain today, occupying about 16% of the species’ historic range.The crash was a major reason the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) decided to formally list the bird as threatened. “The lesser prairie chicken is in a desperate situation,” said USFWS Director Daniel Ashe. Some environmentalists, however, were disappointed. They had pushed the agency to designate the bird as “endangered,” a status that gives federal officials greater regulatory power to crack down on threats. But Ashe and others argued that the “threatened” tag gave the federal government flexibility to try out new, potentially less confrontational conservations approaches. In particular, they called for forging closer collaborations with western state governments, which are often uneasy with federal action and with the private landowners who control an estimated 95% of the prairie chicken’s habitat.Under the plan, for example, the agency said it would not prosecute landowner or businesses that unintentionally kill, harm, or disturb the bird, as long as they had signed a range—wide management plan to restore prairie chicken habitat. Negotiated by USFWS and the states, the plan requires individuals and businesses that damage habitat as part of their operations to pay into a fund to replace every acre destroyed with 2 new acres of suitable habitat. The fund will also be used to compensate landowners who set aside habitat, USFWS also set an interim goal of restoring prairie chicken populations to an annual average of 67,000 birds over the next 10 years. And it gives the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), a coalition of state agencies, the job of monitoring progress. Overall, the idea is to let “states” remain in the driver’s seat for managing the species，” Ashe said.Not everyone buys the win-win rhetoric. Some Congress members are trying to block the plan, and at least a dozen industry groups, four states, and three environmental groups are challenging it in federal court. Not surprisingly, industry groups and states generally argue it goes too far; environmentalists say it doesn’t go far enough. “The federal government is giving responsibility for managing the bird to the same industries that are pushing it to extinction,” says biologist Jay Lininger.1.The major reason for listing the lesser prairie as threatened is（）.2.The “threatened” tag disappointed some environmentalists in that it （）. 3.It can be learned from Paragraph3 that unintentional harm-doers will not be prosecuted if they （）. 4.According to Ashe， the leading role in managing the species is （）. 5.Jay Lininger would most likely support（）.

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That everyone’s too busy these days is a cliché. But one specific complaint is made especially mournfully： There’s never any time to read.What makes the problem thornier is that the usual time-management techniques don’t seem sufficient. The web’s full of articles offering tips on making time to read: “Give up TV” or “Carry a book with you at all times” But in my experience, using such methods to free up the odd 30 minutes doesn’t work. Sit down to read and the flywheel of work-related thoughts keeps spinning-or else you’re so exhausted that a challenging book’s the last thing you need. The modern mind, Tim Parks, a novelist and critic, writes, “is overwhelmingly inclined toward communication…It is not simply that one is interrupted; it is that one is actually inclined to interruption”. Deep reading requires not just time, but a special kind of time which can’t be obtained merely by becoming more efficient.In fact, “becoming more efficient” is part of the problem. Thinking of time as a resource to be maximized means you approach it instrumentally, judging any given moment as well spent only in so far as it advances progress toward some goal immersive reading, by contrast, depends on being willing to risk inefficiency, goallessness, even time-wasting. Try to slot it as a to-do list item and you’ll manage only goal-focused reading-useful, sometimes, but not the most fulfilling kind. “The future comes at us like empty bottles along an unstoppable and nearly infinite conveyor belt,” writes Gary Eberle in his book Sacred Time, and “we feel a pressure to fill these different-sized bottles (days, hours, minutes) as they pass, for if they get by without being filled, we will have wasted them”. No mind-set could be worse for losing yourself in a book.So what does work? Perhaps surprisingly, scheduling regular times for reading. You’d think this might fuel the efficiency mind-set, but in fact, Eberle notes, such ritualistic behavior helps us “step outside time’s flow” into “soul time”. You could limit distractions by reading only physical books, or on single-purpose e-readers. “Carry a book with you at all times” can actually work, too-providing you dip in often enough, so that reading becomes the default state from which you temporarily surface to take care of business, before dropping back down. On a really good day, it no longer feels as if you’re “making time to read,” but just reading, and making time for everything else.1.The usual time-management techniques don’t work because（）.2.The “empty bottles” metaphor illustrates that people feel a pressure to（）. 3.Eberle would agree that scheduling regular times for reading helps （）. 4.“Carry a book with you at all times” can work if （）. 5.The best title for this text could be（）.

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As adults, it seems that we are constantly pursuing happiness, often with mixed results. Yet children appear to have it down to an art-and for the most part they don't need self-help books or therapy. Instead, they look after their wellbeing instinctively, and usually more effectively than we do as grownups. Perhaps it's time to learn a few lessons from them.1.______ What does a child do when he's sad? He cries. When he's angry? He shouts. Scared? Probably a bit of both. As we grow up, we learn to control our emotions so they are manageable and don't dictate our behaviours, which is in many ways a good thing. But too often we take this process too far and end up suppressing emotions, especially negative ones. That’s about as effective as brushing dirt under a carpet and can even make us ill. What we need to do is find a way to acknowledge and express what we feel appropriately, and then-again ，like children-move on.2._ _ A couple of Christmases ago, my youngest stepdaughter, who was nine years old at the time, got a Superman T-shirt for Christmas. It cost less than a fiver but she was overjoyed, and couldn't stop talking about it. Too often we believe that a new job, bigger house or better car will be the magic silver bullet that will allow us to finally be content, but the reality is these things have very little lasting impact on our happiness levels. Instead, being grateful for small things every day is a much better way to improve wellbeing.3.__________Have you ever noticed how much children laugh? If we adults could indulge in a bit of silliness and giggling, we would reduce the stress hormones in our bodies, increase good hormones like endorphins, improve blood flow to our hearts and even have a greater chance of fighting off infection. All of which, of course, have a positive effect on happiness levels.4._ _The problem with being a grown up is that there's an awful lot of serious stuff to deal with---work, mortgage payments, figuring out what to cook for dinner. But as adults we also have the luxury of being able to control our own diaries and it's important that we schedule in time to enjoy the things we love. Those things might be social, sporting, creative or completely random (dancing around the living room, anyone?)--it doesn't matter, so long as they're enjoyable, and not likely to have negative side effects, such as drinking too much alcohol or going on a wild spending spree if you're on a tight budget.5._____ Having said all of the above, it's important to add that we shouldn't try too hard to be happy. Scientists tell us this can backfire and actually have a negative impact on our wellbeing. As the Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu is reported to have said: “Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness. “And in that, once more, we need to look to the example of our children, to whom happiness is not a goal but a natural byproduct of the way they live.

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The poor lady was too（） and distressed to talk about the tragedy.

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Tens of thousands of 18 year olds will graduate this year and be handed meaningless diplomas .These diplomas won’t look any different from awarded their luckier classmates Their validity will be questioned only when their employers discover the these graduates are semiliterate(半文盲).Eventually a fortunate few will find their way into educational – repair – adult – literacy Programs, such as the one where I teach grammar and writing .There, high school graduates and high school dropouts pursuing graduate equivalency certificates will learn the skills they should have learned in school. They will discover they have been cheated by our educational system.I will never forget a teacher senior when be had her for English .“He site in the back of the room talking to his friends “.she told me,” Why don’t you move him to the front row?I urged believing the embarrassment would get him to settle down, Mrs. Stifter said , “I don’t move seniors. I think (使……不及格) them.” Our son’s academic life flashed before my eyes. No teacher had ever threatened him. By the time I got home I was feeling pretty good this. It was a radical approach for these times, but well. Why not? "She’s going to flunk you", I told my son.I did not discuss it any further. Suddenly English became a priority (头等重要) in his life. He finished out the semester with an A.I know one example doesn’t make a case, but at night I see a parade of students who are angry for having been passed along until they could no longer even pretend to keep up. Of average intelligence or better, they eventually quit school, concluding they were too dumb to finish. ”I should have been held back,” is a comment I hear frequently. Even sadder are those students who are high-school graduates who say to me after a few weeks of class. ”I don’t know how I ever got a high-school diploma.”Passing students who have not mastered the work cheats them and the employers who expect graduates to have basic skills. We excuse this dishonest behavior by saying kids can’t learn if they come from terrible environments. No one seems to stop to think that most kids don’t put school first on their list unless they perceive something is at risk. They’d rather be sailing.Many students I see at night have decided to make education a priority. They are motivated by the desire for a better job or the need to hang on to the one they’ve got. They have a healthy fear of failure.People of all ages can rise above their problems, but they need to have a reason to do so. Young people generally don’t have the maturity to value education in the same way my adult students value it. But fear of failure can motivate both.1.What is the subject of this essay？2.How did Mrs. Sifter get the attention of one of the author’s children？3.The author believes that most effective way for a teacher is to （）. 4.From the passage we can draw the conclusion that the authors’ attitude toward flunking is（）.5.Judging from the content, this passage is probably written for（）.

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Many people talked of the 288,000 new jobs the Labor Department reported for June, along with the drop in the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent, as good news. And they were right. For now it appears the economy is creating jobs at a decent pace. We still have a long way to go to get back to full employment, but at least we are now finally moving forward at a faster pace.However, there is another important part of the jobs picture that was largely overlooked. There was a big jump in the number of people who repot voluntarily working part-time. This figure is now 830,000 (4.4 percent) above its year ago level.Before explaining the connection to the Obamacare, it is worth making an important distinction. Many people who work part-time jobs actually want full-time jobs. They take part-time work because this is all they can get. An increase in involuntary part-time work is evidence of weakness in the labor market and it means that many people will be having a very hard time making ends meet.There was an increase in involuntary part-time in June, but the general direction has been down. Involuntary part-time employment is still far higher than before the recession, but it is down by 640,000 (7.9 percent) from is year ago level.We know the difference between voluntary and involuntary part-time employment because people tell us. The survey used by the Labor Department asks people if they worked less than 35 hours in the reference week. If the answer is “yes”, they are classified as worked less than 35 hours in that week because they wanted to work less than full time or because they had no choice. They are only classified as voluntary part-time workers if they tell the survey taker they chose to work less than 35 hours a week.The issue of voluntary part-time relates to Obamacare because one of the main purposes was to allow people to get insurance outside of employment. For many people, especially those with serious health conditions or family members with serious health conditions, before Obamacare the only way to get insurance was through a job that provided health insurance.However, Obamacare has allowed more than 12 million people to either get insurance through Medicaid or the exchanges. These are people who may previously have felt the need to get a full-time job that provided insurance in order to cover themselves and their families. With Obamacare there is no longer a link between employment and insurance.1.Which part of the jobs picture are neglected?2.Many people work part-time because they （）.3.Involuntary part-time employment in the US （）. 4.It can be learned that with Obamacare, （）. 5.The text mainly discusses（）.

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Sport is heading for an indissoluble marriage with television and the passive spectator will enjoy a private paradise. All of this will be in the future of sport. The spectator (the television audience) will be the priority and professional clubs will have to readjust their structures to adapt to the new reality: sport as a business.The new technologies will mean that spectators will no longer have to wait for broadcasts by the conventional channels. They will be the ones who decide what to see. And they will have to pay for it. In the United States the system of the future has already started: pay-as-you-view. Everything will be offered by television and the spectator will only have to choose. The review Sports Illustrated recently published a full profile of the life of the supporter at home in the middle of the next century. It explained that the consumers would be able to select their view of the match on a gigantic, flat screen occupying the whole of one wall, with images of a clarity which cannot be foreseen at present; they could watch from the trainer’s stands just behind the batter in a game of baseball or from the helmet of the star player in an American football game. And at their disposal will be the sane option s the producer of the recorded programmer has to select replays, to choose which camera to me and to decide on the sound whether to hear the public, the players, the trainer and soon.Many sports executives, largely too old and too conservative to feel at home with the new technologies will believe that sport must control the expansion of television coverage in order to survive and ensure that spectators attend matches. They do not even accept the evidence which contradicts their view while there is more basketball than ever on television, for example, it is also certain that basketball is more popular than ever.It is also the argument of these sports executives that television harming the modest teams. This is true, but the future of those team is also modest. They have reached their ceiling . It is the law of the market. The great events continually attract larger audience.The world I being constructed on new technologies so that people can make the utmost use of their time and , in their home have access to the greatest possible range of recreational activities. Sport will have to adapt itself to the new world.The most visionary executives go further. That philosophy is: rather than see television take over sport why not have sports taken over television?1.What does the writer mean by use of the phrase “an indissoluble marriage” in the first paragraph?　2.What does “they” in line 2 paragraph 2 stand for?　3.How do many sports executives feel with the new technologies?　4.What is going to be discussed in the following paragraphs?5.What might be the appropriate title of this passage?

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In 1999, the price of oil hovered around $16 a barrel. By 2008, it had（ 1 ）the $100 a barrel mark. The reasons for the surge（2） from the dramatic growth of the economies of China and India to widespread（3 ）in oil-producing regions, including Iraq and Nigeria’s delta region. Triple-digit oil prices have（4）the economic and political map of the world, （5）some old notions of power. Oil-rich nations are enjoying historic gains and opportunities, （6）major importers—including China and India, home to a third of the world’s population—（7）rising economic and social costs. Managing this new order is fast becoming a central （8）of global politics. Countries that need oil are clawing at each other to（9） scarce supplies, and are willing to deal with any government, （10）how unpleasant, to do it.In many poor nations with oil, the profits are being lost to corruption, （11）these countries of their best hope for development. And oil is fueling enormous investment funds run by foreign governments,（12）some in the West see as a new threat.Countries like Russia, Venezuela and Iran are well supplied with rising oil（13）, a change reflected in newly aggressive foreign policies. But some unexpected countries are reaping benefits, （14）costs, from higher prices. Consider Germany. （15）it imports virtually all its oil, it has prospered from extensive trade with a booming Russia and the Middle East. German exports to Russia（16）128 percent from 2001 to 2006.In the United States, as already high gas prices rose（17）higher in the spring of 2008, the issue cropped up in the presidential campaign, with Senators McCain and Obama（18）for a federal gas tax holiday during the peak summer driving months. And driving habits began to（19）, as sales of small cars jumped and mass transport systems（20）the country reported a sharp increase in riders.

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