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Directions: Present your perspective on the topic below, using relevant reasons and/or examples to support your views. Write a composition of no less than 300 words entitled My Expectations of the Future World.

Passage 8Ethnic stereotypes died hard in the advertising industry. Advertisers continued to fantasize about a mythical Middle American populated by white people and guided by traditional values. Yet such cultural homogeneity (同质性) had never existed. Following World War II vast numbers of African Americans had migrated from southern to northern states, and waves of immigrants from Latin America and Asia continued to arrive in America. Yet advertisers typically avoided controversial and political issues and feared breaking the color line. African Americans literally disappeared from print ads and TV commercials in the 1950s and 1960s, and other minority group members rarely appeared; Hispanic American were particularly invisible.More than anything, the civil rights movement enlightened the nation and led to more cultural diversity throughout the advertising industry. African Americans upgraded their employment status and demanded less stereotyped ad images of themselves. The DDB campaign for Levy’s bread became a model with its “You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s” ads. This series of ads and posters pictured members of a variety of ethnic groups, including African Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. The desire to include more diversity eventually extended to nationwide advertising. For example, in 1963 Lever Brothers, one of the largest advertisers on TV, announced that it would picture more blacks. And the first spots for all detergent showed Art Linkletter talking with an African American housewife about her laundry problems.Yet the progress remained slow. Shows featuring African American performers found it difficult to attract sponsors. In 1964 General Motors threatened to withdraw its sponsorship of the popular Western television series “Bonanza” should an episode feature an African American guest star. Under pressure from NBC and the NAPMI-ACP^® and facing considerable negative publicity, however, GM later reversed its position. As late as 1968, Chrysler complained openly about “Petula” a variety show that it sponsored, Chrysler did not approve when the show’s star, the popular British singer Petula Clark, held the arm of her guest star, black singer Harry Belafonte. Chrysler deemed it far too intimate a pose to appear on camera. By decade’s end, however, several shows starring African Americans met with unprecedented approval, including “Julia”, “the Bill Cosby Show,” and “the Flip Wilson Show.”The degree to which African Americans were excluded from mainstream advertising has been extensively documented. For example, Harol Kassarjian examined twelve national magazines from 1946 to 1965 and found that blacks appeared in less than 1 percent of ads. The New York City commission on Human Rights monitored commercials from forty agencies for a one-year period from 1966 to 1967 and found that blacks appeared in only about 4 percent of the commercials. And in 1968 the federal Equal Employment Opportunity commission (EEOC) held hearings investigating the number of minority group members in advertisements. All of this contributes to a considerable growth in the number of African Americans appearing in mainstream advertising.Only a few mass market advertisers had mounted specialized campaigns aimed at African Americans prior to this era. Advertisers singly adopted campaigns for white-oriented media by substituting nonwhite models and running the ads in African American-oriented media such as Ebony (1945), Tan (1950) and Jet (1950).For some personal care products like Clairol hair coloring, however, it made more sense to create nonwhite advertising. At the time Clairol targeted only two shades to the African American market—black velvet and sable brown. Clairol also faced two sensitive issues. It had to overcome the idea that “good women” did not color their hair, and it had to convince nonwhite women that hair coloring could naturally flatter their complexions. To solve these problems, Clairol put out a series of trade advertisements to condition hairdressers. It also ran consumer advertising in African American media to explain to nonwhite women that hair coloring was as natural to use as other cosmetics. Although Clairol ran ads with its famous “Does she … or doesn’t she?” line with an attractive African American model, it also introduced a new theme especially for this market: “If you want to … why not?” The pictures showed African American models with hair colored from brunette to blonde. Through this targeted advertising Clairol developed an entirely new market for their product.Yet the most noticeable reform involved the “role” of African American, portrayed in ads. Instead of presenting demeaning, stereotyped images, ad-makers cast Africans in a range of normal occupations and tasks. Uncle Ben’s chef disappeared for a time, while Aunt Jemina’s “mammy” character slimmed down, discarded her handkerchief head covering, and donned pearls earrings. And African American celebrities pitched products to the mass market, including Lena Horne for Sanka coffee and Bill Cosby for Jell-O.1.According to the passage, which statement is true?2.What can be inferred from this passage?3.General Motor and Chrysler are mentioned to show .4.African Americans were excluded from mainstream advertising because .5.Which is the best title for this passage?

Passage 7In August of 1891, a foreman in Baltimore machine shop hit upon an idea for a better bottle cap—a piece of tin-coated steel with a flanged edge and an insert of natural cork. Soon this crown-cork became the hit product of a new venture, Crown Cork & Seal Company. When the patents ran out, however, competition became severe and nearly bankrupted the company in 1920s.Under the paternalistic (家长式) leadership of McManus, Crown prospered in the 1930s, selling more than half of the United States and world supply of bottle caps. He then correctly anticipated the success of the beer can and diversified into can making, building one of the world’ s largest plants in Philadelphia. However, at one million square feet and containing as many as 52 lines, it was a nightmare of inefficiency and experienced substantial losses. Although McManus was an energetic leader, he engaged in nepotism and never developed an organization that could run without him. Following his death in 1946, the company ran on momentum, maintaining dividends at the expense of investment in new plants. Following a disastrous attempt to expand into plastics and a ludicrous diversification in metal bird cages, Crown reorganized along the lines of the much larger Continental Can, incurring additional personnel and expense that again brought the company near bankruptcy.At the time, John Connelly was just a fellow on the outside, looking to Crown as a prospective customer and getting nowhere. The son of a Philadelphia blacksmith, Connelly had begun in a paper factory at 15, and worked his way up to become eastern sales manager of the Container Corporation of America. When he founded his own company, Connelly Container, Inc., in 1946, Crown promised him some business. That promise was forgotten by the post-McManus regime, which loftily refused to “take a chance” on a small supplier like Connelly. By 1955, when Crown’s distress became evident, Connelly began buying stock and in November 1956 was asked to be an outside director—a desperate move by the ailing company.In April 1957, Crown Cork & Seal teetered on the verge of bankruptcy. Bankers Trust company withdrew Crown’s line of credit; it seemed that all that was left was to write the company’s obituary (讣告) when John Connelly took over the presidency. His rescue plan was simple—as he called it, “just common sense.” Connelly’s first move was to pare down the organization. Paternalism ended in a blizzard of pink slips. Connelly moved quickly to cut headquarters staff by half to reach a lean force of 80. The company returned to a simple functional organization. In 20 months Crown had eliminated 1647 jobs or 24 percent of the payroll. As part of the company’s reorganization, Connelly discarded divisional accounting practices; at the same time he eliminated the divisional line and staff concepts. Except for one accountant maintained at each plant location, all accounting and cost control were performed at the corporate level; the corporate accounting staff occupied one half of the space used by the headquarters group. In addition, Connelly disbanded Crown’s central research and development facility.The second step was to institute the concept of accountability. Connelly aimed to instill a deep-rooted pride of workmanship throughout the company by establishing Crown managers as “owner-operator” of their individual businesses. Connelly gave each plant managers responsibility for plant profitability, including any allocated costs. (All company overhead, estimated at 5 percent of sales, was allocated to the plant level.) Previously, plant managers had been responsible only for controllable expenses at the plant level. Although the plant managers’ compensation was not tied to profit performance, one senior executive pointed out that the managers were “certainly rewarded on basis of that figure.” Connelly also held plant managers responsible for quality and customer service.The next step was to slow production to a halt and to liquidate (清偿，变现) $7 million in inventory. By mid-July Crown paid of the banks. Connelly introduced sales forecasting dovetailed (使吻合) with new production and inventory controls. This move put pressure on the plant managers, who were no longer able to avoid layoffs by dumping excess products into inventory.By the end of 1957, Crown had, in one observer’s words, “climbed out of the coffin and was sprinting.” Between 1956 and 1961, sales increased from $115 million to $176 million and profits soared. Throughout the 1960s, the company averaged an annual 15.5 percent increase in sales and 14 percent in profits. Connelly, not satisfied with short-term reorganizations of the existing company, developed a strategy that would become its hallmark for the next three decades.1.According to the passage which of the following statements is true?2.Which is true about John Connelly’s early career?3.The first step Connelly took to rescue Crown involves all the following except .4.The second step Connelly took to rescue Crown was .5.From the passage we can infer that Connelly had all the following qualities except .

Passage 6Why firms adhere to or deviate from their strategic plans is poorly understood. However, theory and limited research suggest that the process through which such plans emerge may play a part. In particular, top management decision-sharing—consensus-oriented, team-based decision-making—may increase the likelihood that firms will adhere to their plans, because those involved in the decision-making may be more committed to the chosen course of action, thereby increasing the likelihood that organizations will subsequently adhere to their plans.However, the relationship between top management decision-sharing and adherence to plans may be affected by a firm’s strategic mission (its fundamental approach to increasing sales revenue and market share, and generating cash flow and short-term profits). At one end of the strategic mission continuum, “build” strategies are pursued when a firm desires to increase its market share and is willing to sacrifice short-term profits to do so. At the other end, “harvest” strategies are used when a firm is willing to sacrifice market share for short-term profitability and cash-flow maximization. Research and theory suggest that top management decision-sharing may have a more positive relationship with adherence to plans among firms with harvest strategies than among firms with build strategies. In a study of strategic practices in several large firms, managers in harvest strategy scenarios were more able to adhere to their business plans. As one of the managers in the study explained it, this is partly because “typically all a manager has to do when implementing a harvest strategy is that which was done last year.” Additionally, managers under harvest strategies may have fewer strategic options than do those under build strategies; it may therefore be easier to reach agreement on a particular course of action through decision-sharing, which will in turn tend to promote adherence to plans. Conversely, in a “build” strategy scenario, individual leadership, rather than decision-sharing, may promote adherence to plans. Build strategies—which typically require leaders with strong personal visions for a firm’s future, rather than the negotiated compromise of the team-based decision—may be most closely adhered to when implemented in the context of a clear strategic vision of an individual leader, rather than through the practice of decision-sharing.1.Which of the following best describes the function of the first sentence of the second paragraph of the passage?2.The passage cites all of the following as differences between firms using build strategies and firms using harvest strategies except .3.The primary purpose of the passage is to .4.The author includes the quotation in paragraph 2 of the passage most probably in order to .5.Build strategies usually require leaders the firm’s future.

Passage 5Anyone who doubts that global financial markets control national economies need only look at the crisis facing the “tigers” of the Far East. Last year (1996), the value of their currencies dropped rapidly, after investors decided that their economic policies were not strong enough. Now the region is suffering slower growth, lower living standards and rising unemployment.The situation in Asia shows how power has shifted from individual government to the markets. In theory, governments are free to set their own economic policies; in practice, they must conform to a global economic model or risk being penalized by the markets.Adjusting to this new “economic order” is proving difficult. In the developed world, and in particular the European Union, globalization is facing widespread public resistance. Critics complain that, without the protection of trade barriers, jobs are being lost to workers in poorer countries, and wages for employees in rich countries are falling. Opponents in the European Union point to the effects that globalization has had in the U. S. and Britain. In those countries, wages are stagnant—except for a few privileged—and taxes and welfare benefits have been reduced to help companies compete with industries in the developing world.Those in favor of globalization accuse their critics of being shortsighted protectionists. They claim that a more integrated global economy will ultimately benefit everyone because it will enable countries to specialize in those areas where they perform best. Developing countries, with their higher populations and lower wages, will concentrate on labor-intensive industries. The richer countries, on the other hand, will diversify into high-tech industries, where high productivity and specialist knowledge are paramount. The effect of this will be to improve productivity in all countries, leading to higher living standards. The free movement of capital will also help poorer countries develop so they can play a full and active role in the world economy.But how close are we to a truly global economy? For those in favor of globalization, probably too close. But in terms of real economic integration, there are still many problems to be solved. A global economy would mean complete freedom of movement of goods and services, capital, and labor. Yet, even ignoring the tariffs and other restrictions still in place, cross-border trade remains tiny as compared with the volume of goods and services traded within countries; foreign investment is also extremely small, amounting to little more than five percent of the developed world’s domestic investments.But what is really holding globalization back is the lack of labor mobility. Labor markets remain overwhelmingly national, even in areas like the European Union, where citizens can live and work in any EU country. The main reasons for this are language and cultural barriers; the lack of internationally-recognized qualifications; and, in some cases, strict immigration controls.1.The author cites the crisis facing the East Asian countries in order to .2.Some Asian countries are suffering from economic depression because they .3.The main opposition to globalization is that .4.Which of the following prospect won’t globalization bring about according to the passage?5.What is the author’s attitude towards the globalization of economy?

Passage 4For all their tremendous worldwide impact Fredric Taylor and Scientific Management have had a bad press, especially in academic. One reason, perhaps the main one, is the unrelenting campaign America’s labor unions waged against both in the early years of the last century. The unions actually succeeded in banning any kind of work study in army arsenals and naval shipyard, where in those years practically all defense production was done in America.The unions of 1911 did not oppose Tayler because they thought him pro-management or anti-labor (he was neither). His unforgiveable sin was his assertion that there is no such thing as skill in making and moving things. All could be analyzed step by step as a series of unskilled operations that then could be put together into any kind of job. Anyone willing to learn these operations would be a “first-class man,” deserving “first class pay.” He could do the most highly skilled work and do it to perfection.But the unions of Taylor’s time—and especially the highly respected and extremely powerful unions in arsenals and shipyards—were craft monopolies. Their power base was their control of anApprenticeship (学徒) of five or seven years to which, as a rule, only relatives of members were admitted. They considered their craft a “mystery,” the secrets of which no member was allowed to divulge. The skilled workers in the arsenals and navy yards in particular were paid extremely well—more than most physicians of those times and triples what Taylor’s “first-class man” could expect to get. No wonder that Taylor’s denial of the mystery of craft and skill infuriated (激怒) these “aristocrats of labor” as subversion and pestilential heresy.Most contemporaries, eighty years ago, agreed with the unions. Even thirty years later the belief in the mystery of craft and skill persisted, and also in the long years of apprenticeship needed to acquire either. Hitler, for instance, was convinced that it would take the U. S. at least five years to train optical craftsmen, and modern war requires precision optics. It would therefore take many years, Hitler was sure, before America could field an effective army and air force in Europe—the conviction that made him declare war on America when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.We now know that Taylor, was right. The U. S. did indeed have almost no optical craftsmen in 1941. And modern war does indeed require precision optics, and in large quantities. But by applying Taylor’s Scientific Management the U. S. trained in few months semiskilled workers to turn out more highly advanced optics than the Germans with their craftsmen ever did, and on the assembly line to boot. Any by that time Taylor’s first-class men with their increased productivity also made a great deal more money than any craftsmen of 1911 could even have dreamed of.Eventually knowledge work and service work may turn out to be like work making and moving things—that is, “just work,” to use an Old Scientific Management slogan. At least this is the position of the more radical proponents of Artificial Intelligence, Taylor’s true children or grandchildren. But for the time being, knowledge and service jobs must not be treated as just work. They cannot be assumed to be homogeneous. They must be treated as falling into a number of distinct categories—probably three. Each requires different analysis and different organization. In making and moving things the focus in increasing productivity is on work. In knowledge and service work it has to on performance.1.According to the passage, Fredric Taylor’s Scientific Management .2.According to the passage, which of the following statements is not true?3.According to the passage, Taylor’s Scientific Management made it possible that .4.From the passage we can infer that Hitler declared war on America because .5.The purpose the author wants to achieve in this passage is to illustrate that .

Passage 3In general, our society is becoming one of giant enterprises directed by a bureaucratic management, in which man becomes a small, well-oiled cog in the machinery. The oiling is done with higher wages, well-ventilated factories and piped music, and by psychologists and “human-relations” experts; yet all this oiling does not alter the fact that man has become powerless, that he does not wholeheartedly participate in his work and that he is bored with it. In fact, the blue and the white-collar workers have become economic puppets who dance to the tune of automated machines and bureaucratic management.The worker and employee are anxious, not only because they might find themselves out of a job; they are anxious also because they are unable to acquire any real satisfaction or interest in life. They live and die without ever having confronted the fundamental realities of human existence as emotionally and intellectually independent and productive human beings.Those higher up on the social ladder are no less anxious. Their lives are no less empty than those of their subordinates. They are even more insecure in some respects. They are in a highly competitive race. To be promoted or to fall behind is not a matter of salary but even more a matter of self-respect. When they apply for their first job, they are tested for intelligence as well as for the right mixture of submissiveness and independence. From the moment on, they are tested again and again by the psychologists, for whom testing is a big business, and by their superiors, who judge their behavior, sociability, capacity to get along, etc. This constant need to prove that one is as good as or better than one’s fellow-competitor creates constant anxiety and stress, the very causes of unhappiness and illness.Am I suggesting that we should return to the preindustrial mode of production or to nineteenth-century “free enterprise” capitalism? Certainly not. Problems are never solved by returning to a stage which one has already outgrown. I suggest transforming our social system from a bureaucratically managed industrialism in which maximal production and consumption are ends in themselves into a humanist industrialism in which man and full development of his potentialities—those of all love and of reason—are the aims of social arrangements. Production and consumption should serve only as means to this end, and should be prevented from ruling man.1.By “a well-oiled cog in the machinery” the author intends to render the idea that man is .2.The real cause of the anxiety of the workers and employees is that .3.From the passage we can infer that real happiness of life belongs to those who.4.To solve the present social problem the author suggests that we should .5.The author’s attitude towards industrialism might best be summarized as one of .

Passage 2Most pre-1990 literature on businesses’ use of information technology (IT)—defined as any form of computer-based information system focused on spectacular IT successes and reflected a general optimism concerning IT’s potential as a resource for creating competitive advantage. But toward the end of the 1980’s, some economists spoke of a “productivity paradox”: despite huge IT investments, most notably in the service sectors, productivity stagnated. In the retail industry, for example, in which IT had been widely adopted during the 1980’s, productivity (average output per hour) rose at an average rate, of 1.1 percent between 1973 and 1989, compared with 2.4 percent in the preceding 25-year period. Proponents of IT argued that it takes both time and a critical mass of investment for IT to yield benefits, and some suggested that growth figures for the 1990’s proved that these benefits were finally being realized. They also argued that measures of productivity ignore what would have happened without investments in IT—productivity gains might have been even lower. There were even claims that IT had improved the performance of the service sector significantly, although macroeconomic measures of productivity did not reflect the improvement.But some observers questioned why, if IT had conferred economic value, it did not produce direct competitive advantages for individual firms. Resources-based theory offers an answer, asserting that, in general, firms gain competitive advantages by accumulating resources that are economically valuable, relatively scarce, and not easily replicated. According to a recent study of retail firms, which confirmed that IT has become pervasive and relatively easily to acquire, IT by itself appeared to have conferred little advantage. In fact, though little evidence of any direct effect was found, the frequent negative correlations between IT and performance suggested that IT had probably weakened some firms’ competitive position. However, human resources, in and of themselves, did not explain improved performance, and some firms gained IT-related advantages by merging IT with complementary resources, particularly human resources. The findings support the notion, founded in resource-based theory, that competitive advances do not arise from easily replicated resources, no matter how impressive or economically valuable they may be, but from complex, intangible resources.1.The passage is primarily concerned with .2.The passage suggests that proponents of resource-based theory would be likely to explain IT’s inability to produce direct competitive advantages for individual firms by pointing out that .3.The author of the passage discusses productivity in the retail industry in the first paragraph primarily in order to .4.According to the passage, most pre-1990 literature on businesses’ use of IT included which of the following?5.According to the findings of a recent survey of retail firms, firms gain competitive advantages from .

Passage 1The rise of multinational corporations, global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR.Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, the U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other nations. Ten years ago, for example, the world’s top five public relations agencies were American-owned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate planning activities, compared to about one-third of U. S. companies. It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR.Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? First, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of Burson-Marshall’s U.S. employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage. Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a close on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read Wall Street Journal. Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and the Economist, publications not often read in this country.Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN (Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the word “foreign” would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such thing as foreign.1.According to the passage, U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened because of .2.London soon could replace New York as the center of PR because .3.According to the passage, which is the characteristic of most Americans?4.We learn from the third paragraph that employees in the American PR industry .5.What lesson might the PR industry take from Ted Turner of CNN?

Several financial officers of the company spoke on condition ____ in the press reports.

Contrary to financial ____ last year that the market for home computers would dwindle, the personal computer industry continued to show strong growth in the first quarter of this year.

Most states impose limitations on the authority of the legislature ____ taxpayers and the credit of the state government.

For the last five years the Dutch economy has grown faster than ____ well below that of the other three countries.

Over 75 percent of the energy produced in France derives from nuclear power, ____.

Georgia has a diversified economy.

The production of synthetics intensified the drain on energy resources, already sorely pressed by the increase in aggregate demand.

The sales manager was so adamant about her idea that it was out of the question for anyone to talk her out of it.

Regional planning deals with proposals concerning outlying communities and highways as well as with urban affairs.

The upshot of all this was that travelling had become precarious.

The negotiations have reached an impasse, with both sides refusing to compromise.

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