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Today, widespread social pressure to immediately go to college in conjunction with increasingly high expectations in a fast-moving world often causes students to completely overlook the possibility of taking a gap year. After all, if everyone you know is going to college in the fall, it seems silly to stay back a year, doesn't it? And after going to school for 12 years, it doesn't feel natural to spend a year doing something that isn’t academic.But while this may be true, it’s not a good enough reason to condemn gap years. There's always a constant fear of falling behind everyone else on the socially perpetuated “race to the finish line,” whether that be toward graduate school, medical school or lucrative career. But despite common misconceptions, a gap year does not hinder the success of academic pursuits-in fact, it probably enhances it.Studies from the United States and Australia show that students who take a gap year are generally better prepared for and perform better in college than those who do not. Rather than pulling students back, a gap year pushes them ahead by preparing them for independence, new responsibilities and environmental changes-all things that first-year students often struggle with the most. Gap year experiences can lessen the blow when it comes to adjusting to college and being thrown into a brand new environment, making it easier to focus on academics and activities rather than acclimation blunders.If you're not convinced of the inherent value in taking a year off to explore interests, then consider its financial impact on future academic choices. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 80 percent of college students end up changing their majors at least once. This isn’t surprising, considering the basic mandatory high school curriculum leaves students with a poor understanding of themselves listing one major on their college applications, but switching to another after taking college classes. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but depending on the school, it can be costly to make up credits after switching too late in the game. At Boston College, for example, you would have to complete an extra year were you to switch to the nursing school from another department. Taking a gap year to figure things out initially can help prevent stress and save money later on.1.One of the reasons for high-school graduates not taking a gap year is that(  ).2.Studies from the US and Australia imply that taking a gap year helps (  ).  3.The word “acclimation”(Line 8, Para. 3) is closest in meaning to (  ).  4.A gap year may save money for students by helping them (  ).  5.The most suitable title for this text would be(  ).

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       In her new book Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be, Diane Coyle, an economist at Cambridge University, argues that the digital economy requires new ways of thinking about progress. “Whatever we mean by the economy growing, by things getting better, the gains will have to be more evenly shared than in the recent past,” she writes. “An economy of tech millionaires or billionaires and gig workers, with middle-income jobs undercut by automation, will not be politically sustainable.”        Improving living standards and increasing prosperity for more people will require greater use of digital technologies to boost productivity in various sectors, including health care and construction, says Coyle. But people can’t be expected to embrace the changes if they’re not seeing the benefits—if they’re just seeing good jobs being destroyed.        In a recent interview with MIT Technology Review, Coyle said she fears that tech’s inequality problem could be a roadblock to deploying AI. “We’re talking about disruption,” she says. “These are transformative technologies that change the ways we spend our time every day, that change business models that succeed.” To make such “tremendous changes,” she adds, you need social buy-in.        Instead, says Coyle, resentment is simmering among many as the benefits are perceived to go to elites in a handful of prosperous cities.        According to the Brookings Institution, a short list of eight American cities that included San Francisco, San Jose, Boston, and Seattle had roughly 38% of all tech jobs by 2019. New AI technologies are particularly concentrated: Brookings’s Mark Muro and Sifan Liu estimate that just 15 cities account for two-thirds of the AI assets and capabilities in the United States (San Francisco and San Jose alone account for about one-quarter).        The dominance of a few cities in the invention and commercialization of AI means that geographical disparities in wealth will continue to soar. Not only will this foster political and social unrest, but it could, as Coyle suggests, hold back the sorts of AI technologies needed for regional economies to grow.        Part of the solution could lie in somehow loosening the stranglehold that Big Tech has on defining the AI agenda. That will likely take increased federal funding for research independent of the tech giants. Muro and others have suggested hefty federal funding to help create US regional innovation centers, for example.        A more immediate response is to broaden our digital imaginations to conceive of AI technologies that don’t simply replace jobs but expand opportunities in the sectors that different parts of the country care most about, like health care, education, and manufacturing.1. Coyle argues that economic growth should ______.2. According to Paragraph 2, digital technologies should be used to ______.3. What does Coyle fear about transformative technologies?4. Several cities are mentioned to ______.5. With regard to concern,the author suggests ______.

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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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Every Saturday morning, at 9 am, more than 50,000 runners set off to run 5km around their local park. The Parkrun phenomenon began with a dozen friends and has inspired 400 events in the UK and more abroad. Events are free, staffed by thousands of volunteers. Runners range from four years old to grandparents; their times range from Andrew Baddeley's world record 13 minutes 48 seconds up to an hour.Parkrun is succeeding where London's Olympic "legacy" is failing. Ten years ago on Monday, it was announced that the Games of the 30th Olympiad would be in London. Planning documents pledged that the great legacy of the Games would be to level a nation of sport lovers away from their couches. The population would be fitter, healthier and produce more winners. It has not happened. The number of adults doing weekly sport did rise, by nearly 2 million in the run-up to 2012-but the general population was growing faster. Worse, the numbers are now falling at an accelerating rate. The opposition claims primary school pupils doing at least two hours of sport a week have nearly halved. Obesity has risen among adults and children. Official retrospections continue as to why London 2012 failed to "inspire a generation." The success of Parkrun offers answers.Parkun is not a race but a time trial: Your only competitor is the clock. The ethos welcomes anybody. There is as much joy over a puffed-out first-timer being clapped over the line as there is about top talent shining. The Olympic bidders, by contrast, wanted to get more people doing sports and to produce more elite athletes. The dual aim was mixed up: The stress on success over taking part was intimidating for newcomers.Indeed, there is something a little absurd in the state getting involved in the planning of such a fundamentally "grassroots", concept as community sports associations. If there is a role for government, it should really be getting involved in providing common goods-making sure there is space for playing fields and the money to pave tennis and netball courts, and encouraging the provision of all these activities in schools. But successive governments have presided over selling green spaces, squeezing money from local authorities and declining attention on sport in education. Instead of wordy, worthy strategies, future governments need to do more to provide the conditions for sport to thrive. Or at least not make them worse.1.According to Paragraph1, Parkrun has(  ).2.The author believes that London's Olympic "legacy" has failed to (  ).  3.Parkrun is different from Olympic games in that it (  ).  4.With regard to mass sport, the author holds that governments should (  ).  5.The author's attitude to what UK governments have done for sports is(  ).

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It looked just like another aircraft from the outside. The pilot told his young passengers that it was built in 1964.But appearances were deceptive and the 13 students from Europe and the USA who boarded the aircraft were in for the flight of their lives.Inside the area that normally had seats had become a long white tunnel. Heavily padded(填塞) from floor to ceiling it looked a bit strange. There were almost no windows , but lights along the padded walls illuminated it. Most of the seats had been taken out apart from a few at the back where the young scientists quickly took their places with a look of fear.For 12 months, science students from across the continents had competed to win a place on the flight at the invitation of the European Space Agency. The challenge had been to suggest imaginative experiments to be conducted in weightless conditions.For the next two hours the flight resembled that of an enormous bird which had lose its reason, shooting upwards towards the heavens before rushing towards Earth. The invention was to Achieve weightlessness for a few seconds.The aircraft took off smoothly enough. But any feelings that I and the young scientists had that we were on anything like a scheduled passenger service were quickly dismissed when the pilot put the plane into a 45 degree climb which lasted around 20 seconds. Then the engines cut our and we became weightless. Everything become confused and left or right. Up or down no longer had any meaning, after ten seconds of free fall descent the pilot pulled the aircraft out of its nosedive. The return of gravity was less immediate than its loss, but was still sudden enough to ensure that some students came down with a bump.Each time the pilot cut the engines and we became weightless. A new team conduct it experience. First it was the Ducth who wanted to discover how it is that cats always land on their feet. Then the German team who conducted a successful experiment on a traditional building method to see if could be used for building a further space station, the Americans had an idea to create solar sails that could be used by satellites.After two hours of going up and down in the lane doing their experiments, the predominate feeling was one of excitement rather than sickness. Most of the students thought it was an unforgettable experience and one they would be keen to repeat.1.What did the writer say about the plane?2.According to the writer ,how did the young scientists feel before the flight?3.What did the pilot do with the plane after it took off?4.According to the passage, the purpose of being weightless was to(  ).5.This passage was written to(  ).

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Last weekend Kyle MacDonald in Montreal threw a party to celebrate the fact that he got his new home in exchange for a red paper clip. Starting a year ago, MacDonald bartered the clip for increasingly valuable stuff, including a camp stove and free rent in a Phoenix flat. Having announced his aim (the house) in advance, MacDonald likely got a boost from techies eager to see the Internet pass this daring test of its networking power. “My whole motto (座右铭) was ‘Start small, think big, and have fun’, ” says MacDonald, 26, “I really kept my effort on the creative side rather than the business side.”Yet as odd as the MacDonald exchange was, barter is now big business on the Net. This year more than 400,000 companies worldwide will exchange some $10 billion worth of goods and services on a growing number of barter sites. These Web sites allow companies to trade products for a virtual currency, which they can use to buy goods from other members. In Iceland, garment-maker Kapusalan sells a third of its output on the booming Vidskiptanetid exchange, earning virtual money that it uses to buy machinery and pay part of employee salaries. The Troc-services exchange in France offers more than 4,600 services, from math lessons to ironing.This is not a primitive barter system. By creating currencies, the Internet removes a major barrier—what Bob Meyer, publisher of Barter News, calls “the double coincidence of wants.” That is, two parties once not only had to find each other, but also an exchange of goods that both desired. Now, they can price the deal in virtual currency.Barter also helps firms make use of idle capacity. For example, advertising is “hugely bartered” because many media, particularly on the Web can supply new ad space at little cost. Moreover, Internet ads don’t register in industry-growth statistics, because many exchanges are arranged outside the formal exchanges. Like eBay, most barter sites allow members to “grade” trading partners for honesty quality and so on.. Barter exchanges can allow firms in countries with hyperinflation or nontradable currencies to enter global trades. Next year, a nonprofit exchange called Quick Lift Two (QL2) plans to open in Nairobi, offering barter deals to 38,000 Kenyan farmers in remote areas. Two small planes will deliver the goods. QL2 director Gacii Waciuma says the farmers are excited to be “liberated from corrupt middlemen.” For them, barter evokes a bright future, not a precapitalist past.1.The word “techies” (Line 4, Para 1) probably refers to those who are(  ).2.Many people may have deliberately helped Kyle because they (  ).  3.The Internet barter system relies heavily on (  ).  4.It is implies that Internet advertisements can help (  ).  5.Which of the follow is true of QL2 according to the author?

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Though often viewed as a problem for western states, the growing frequency of wildfires is a national concern because of its impact on federal tax dollars, says Professor Max Moritz, a specialist in fire ecology and management.In 2015, the US Forest Service for the first time spent more than half of its $5.5 billion annual budget fighting fires-nearly double the percentage it spent on such efforts 20 years ago. In effect, fewer federal funds today are going towards the agency's other work-such as forest conservation, watershed and cultural resources management, and infrastructure upkeep-that affect the lives of all Americans.Another nationwide concern is whether public funds from other agencies are going into construction in fire-prone districts. As Moritz puts it, how often are federal dollars building homes that are likely to be lost to a wildfire?“It’s already a huge problem from a public expenditure perspective for the whole country,” he says. We need to take a magnifying glass to that. Like, “Wait a minute, is this OK?”“Do we want instead to redirect those funds to concentrate on lower-hazard parts of the landscape?”Such a view would require a corresponding shift in the way US society today views fire, researchers say.For one thing, conversations about wildfires need to be more inclusive. Over the past decade, the focus has been on climate change-how the warming of the Earth from greenhouse gases is leading to conditions that worsen fires.While climate is a key element, Moritz says, it shouldn’t come at the expense of the rest of the equation.“The human systems and the landscapes we live on are linked, and the interactions go both ways," he says. Failing to recognize that, he notes, leads to "an overly simplified view of what the solutions might be. Our perception of the problem and of what the solution is becomes very limited.”At the same time, people continue to treat fire as an event that needs to be wholly controlled and unleashed only out of necessity, says Professor Balch at the University of Colorado. But acknowledging fire's inevitable presence in human life is an attitude crucial to developing the laws, policies, and practices that make it as safe as possible, she says.“We’ve disconnected ourselves from living with fire,” Balch says. “It is really important to understand and try and tease out what is the human connection with fire today.”1.More frequent wildfires have become a national concern because in 2015 they(  ).2.Moritz calls for the use of "a magnifying glass" to  (  ).  3.While admitting that climate is a key element, Moritz notes that (  ).  4.The overly simplified view Moritz mentions is a result of failing to  (  ).  5.Professor Balch points out that fire is something man should(  ).

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Office jobs are among the positions hardest hit by computation (计算机自动化). Word processors and typists will lose about 93,000 jobs over the next few years, while 57,000 secretarial jobs will vanish. Blame the PC: Today, many executives type their own memos and carry there” secretaries” in the palms of their hands. Time is also hard for stock clerks, whose ranks are expected to decrease by 68,000. And employees in manufacturing firms and wholesalers are being replaced with computerized systems.But not everyone who loses a job will end up in the unemployment line. Many will shift to growing positions within their own companies. When new technologies shook up the telecomm business, telephone operator Judy Dougherty pursued retraining. She is now a communications technician, earning about $ 64,000 per year. Of course, if you’ve been a tollbooth collector for the past 30 years, and you find yourself replaced by an E-ZPass machine, it may be of little consolation(安慰) to know that the telecom field is booming. And that’s just it: The service economy is fading: welcome to the expertise(专门知识) economy. To succeed in the new job market, you must be able to handle complex problems. Indeed, all but one of the 50 highest-paying occupations—air-traffic controller—demand at least a bachelor’s degree.For those with just a high school diploma(毕业证书).It’s going to get tougher to find a well-paying job. Since fewer factory and clerical jobs will be available .what’s left be the jobs that computations can’t kill, computers cant clean offices, or for Alzheimer’s patients(老年痴呆病人). But, since most people have the skills to fill those positions, the wages stay painfully low, meaning computation could drive an even deeper wedge (楔子) between the and poor, The best advice now, Never stop learning, and keep up with new technology.For busy adults of course that can be tough, the good news is that very technology that’s reducing so many jobs is a making it easier to go back to school without having to sit in a classroom. So called internet distance learning is hot, with more than three million students currently enrolled , and it’s gaining credibility with employers.Are you at risk of losing your job to a computer? Check the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook ,which is available online at bls.gov.1.From the first paragraph we can infer that all of the following persons are easily thrown into unemployment EXCEPT(  ).2.In the second paragraph the anther mentions the tollbooth collector to (  ).  3.By saying “...computation could drive an even deeper wedge between the rich and poor” (line 5. Para 4 )the author means (  ).  4.What is the author’s attitude towards computers?5.Which of the following might serve as the best title of passage?

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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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The longest bull run in a century of art-market history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56 works by Damien Hirst, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, at Sotheby’s in London on September 15th 2008. All but two pieces sold, fetching more than $70m, a record for a sale by a single artist. It was a last victory. As the auction¬eer called out bids, in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy.The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising bewilderingly since 2003. At its peak in 2007 it was worth some $65 billion, reckons Clare McAndrew, founder of Arts Economics, a re¬search firm—double the figure five years earlier. Since then it may have come down to $50 billion. But the market generates interest far beyond its size because it brings together great wealth, enormous egos, greed, passion and controversy in a way matched by few other industries.In the weeks and months that followed Mr. Hirst’s sale, spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable. In the art world that meant collectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms. Sales of contemporary art fell by two-thirds, and in the most overheated sector, they were down by nearly 90% in the year to November 2008. Within weeks the world’s two biggest auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, had to pay out nearly $200m in guarantees to clients who had placed works for sale with them.The current downturn in the art market is the worst since the Japanese stopped buying Impressionists at the end of 1989. This time experts reckon that prices are about 40% down on their peak on average, though some have been far more fluctuant. But Edward Dolman, Christie’s chief executive, says: I’m pretty confident we’re at the bottom.What makes this slump different from the last, he says, is that there are still buyers in the market. Almost everyone who was interviewed for this special report said that the biggest problem at the moment is not a lack of demand but a lack of good work to sell. The three Ds—death, debt and divorce—still deliver works of art to the market. But anyone who does not have to sell is keeping away, waiting for confidence to return. (394 words)1.In the first paragraph, Damien Hirst’s sale was referred to as “a last victory” because (  ).2.By saying “spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable" ( Para. 3) , the author suggests that (  ).  3.Which of the following statements is NOT true?4.The three Ds mentioned in the last paragraph are (  ).  5.The most appropriate title for this text could be(  ).

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I was addressing a small gathering in a suburban Virginia living room—a women’s group that had invited men to join them. Throughout the evening, one man had been particularly talkative, frequently offering ideas and anecdotes, while his wife sat silently beside him on the couch. Toward the end of the evening, I commented that women frequently complain that their husbands don’t talk to them. This man quickly nodded in agreement. He gestured toward his wife and said, “She’s the talker in our family.” The room burst into laughter; the man looked puzzled and hurt. “ It’s true," he explained. “When I come home from work I have nothing to say. If she didn’t keep the conversation going, we’d spend the whole evening in silence.This episode crystallizes the irony that although American men tend to talk more than women in public situa-tions ,they often talk less at home. And this pattern is wreaking havoc with marriage.The pattern was observed by political scientist Andrew Hacker in the late 1970s. Sociologist Catherine Kohler Riessman reports in her new book Divorce Talk that most of the women she interviewed——but only a few of the men—gave lack of communication as the reason for their divorces. Given the current divorce rate of nearly 50 percent, that amounts to millions of cases in the United States every year—a virtual epidemic of failed conversation.In my own research, complaints from women about their husbands most often focused not on tangible inequities such as having given up the chance for a career to accompany a husband to his, or doing far more than their share of daily life-support work like cleaning, cooking and social arrangements. Instead, they focused on communication: "He doesn’t listen to me.” “He doesn’t talk to me.” I found, as Hacker observed years before, that most wives want their husbands to be, first and foremost, conversational partners, but few husbands share this expectation of their wives.In short, the image that best represents the current crisis is the stereotypical cartoon scene of a man sitting at the breakfast table with a newspaper held up in front of his face, while a woman glares at the back of it, wanting to talk. (374 words)1.What is most wives’ main expectation of their husbands?2.Judging from the context, the phrase “wreaking havoc”(Para. 2) most probably means(  ).3.All of the following are true EXCEPT (  ).  4.Which of the following can best summarize the main idea of this text?5.In the following part immediately after this text,the author will most probably focus on(  ).

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