新题型四级班练习答案
Part II Listening Comprehension
Exercise 1
Section A
1. A. She hasn’t finished reading the book. B. She won’t lend her book to the man.
C. The man doesn’t need the book.
D. The man can use her book if he likes.
2. A. To make an appointment with Mr. Green
B. To arrange a date with the woman
C. To postpone his appointment with Mr. Green to 4 o’clock
D. To make sure that Mr. Green will see him at 4 o’clock
3. A. The blue one is too fancy for him. B. Blue is one of his favorite colors.
C. He doesn’t like either of the two.
D. He never wears silk or wool.
4. A. Buy a computer for himself. B. Borrow some money to buy a computer.
C. Wait a while before buying a computer.
D. Find a better way to invest his savings.
5. A. He decides not to take chemistry. B. He’s been tired of physics.
C. H e’s already found a partner.
D. He’s too busy to find a partner.
6. A. Buying a car from an advertisement. B. Putting an advertisement in newspaper.
C. Dealing with a second-hand car.
D. Taking in a newspaper for a week.
7. A. The two speakers will go home first. B. The two speakers will have dinner at home.
C. The two speakers will have dinner outside.
D. The two speakers won’t go to the concert.
8. A. Ask the professor when he’ll be available. B. Help the woman to contact the professor.
C. Solve the question for the woman.
D. Ask the professor to clarify the question. Question 9 to 11 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
9.A. To have one of her teeth filled. B. To have one of her teeth pulled.
C. to have her teeth cleaned.
D. To have her teeth examined.
10. A. Have one’s heart transplanted. B. Have one’s t eeth transplanted.
C. Advance the tooth filling technique.
D. Reduce pain in tooth pulling and filling.
11. A. Tooth transplant is expensive. B. Dentists are working on tooth transplant.
C. Tooth transplant has been successful.
D. Tooth transplant has failed.
Question 12 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
12.A. Italy B. Portugal C. Spain D. Costa Rica
13. A. She may not find a suitable hotel. B. She has never been abroad.
C. She hasn’t booked tickets for her family.
D. She has to take her children with her.
14. A. It should have a swimming pool. B. It should be very quiet.
C. It should be in the downtown.
D. It should be on the beach.
15. A. Using a tent. B. Finding a new hotel. C. Trying the hotel. D. Giving up that hotel. SectionB
Passage One
16. A. The reason why early men were so intelligent.B. The tools that belonged to early men.
C. The language development of early men.
D. The way the human brain works.
17. A. It forced early men to do calculations. B. It improved early men’s ability to hunt.
C. It enabled early men to think of new ideas.
D. It motivated early men to eat more.
18. A. People could use words to improve performance.
B. People could manage their time better than before.
C. People could make their emotions understood better.
D. People could share ideas with each other and other generations.
Passage Two
19. A. To guarantee the students’ safety on the roads.
B. To help the parents save money.
C. To save time for the parents and students.
D. To relieve the traffic pressure on the road.
20. A. It is only prepared for children far away from their school.
B. It involves a bus service from Milton to Impington and back.
C. It requires parent to pay less than ￡60 a term for the service.
D. It is to be tried out for children in Western England.
21. A. By letting the bus run in the morning only.
B. By limiting the number of the students.
C. By obtaining the support from the government.
D. By linking the new bus service with the existing one.
Passage Three
22. A. Lifting your soup bowl to your mouth. B. Making a noise when eating.
C. Raising your elbows to the shoulder.
D. Putting your elbows on the table.
23. A. Putting your hands on the table all the time.
B. Making noise while eating any kind of food.
C. Eating your meals quickly and clearly.
D. Keeping your elbows away from the table.
24. A. Eating with your right hand. B. Refusing the offer of the host and hostess.
C. Being unaware of your legs.
D. Eating with your left hand.
25. A. Imitate what your host and hostess do.B. Do what you usually do at home.
C. Avoid looking after your own needs.
D. Know about the details of table manners in advance.
SectionC
Everybody wants to get wealthy. In today’s (26)______________ world, making money or becoming wealthy symbolizes a person’s success and capability. Many people just make every effort, pay any price to (27)_________________ greater wealth. With money, they can buy nice, large (28)______________ in nice neighborhoods; with money, they can own stately (29)_____________ cars. Wealth seems to bring all happiness in life.
But is wealth the only road to happiness? Not really. There are many things in the world which are beyond (30)_____________ money, such as friendship, love, health and knowledge. Many people are so preoccupied with (31)______________ money that they have no time or would not take the time to form or maintain friendship. What happiness can they feel living as lonely, (32) ______________ creatures with no true love or friends in the world, even if they (33)_____________ tremendous wealth?
In my opinion, people can’t do anything without money, but money is not everything. What money will bring you depends on your personal (34)______________ and goal in life. If you are kind enough to help others, especially the poor, money is a good thing for you. With it, you can do much more for the benefit of people and your country, and it will (35)________________ your
own happiness. If you want money just for your own needs, you’ll never be satisfied or happy. In a word, only if you are generous can money be the source of your happiness.
Exercise 2
Section A
1. A. In a library. B. In a book store. C. In a book company. D. In a booking office.
2. A. She missed the deadline for the course registration.
B. She couldn’t decide which course to register.
C. She didn’t get the extension for the course registration.
D. She lost the registration fee.
3. A. The room is as dark as the night. B. He doesn’t know what the notice is about either.
C. He doesn’t like the woman’s idea.
D. He doesn’t notice anything.
4. A. It is supposed to be warm and sunny in terms of the weather forecast.
B. It won’t go like what the man expects according to the weather forecast.
C. She believes it’s suitable for the man to play football.
D. She has no idea of how it will be like.
5. A. The man can only see the doctor two weeks later.
B. Appointments must be made two weeks in advance.
C. The man can have an appointment with the doctor on Friday.
D. The doctor has canceled his appointments on Friday.
6. A. Paint brushes. B. Some soap. C. A can of paint. D. Some ink.
7. A. It’s not raining that hard now. B. The rain has just begun.
C. It only rained a little bit.
D. It’s raining too hard to go out.
8. A. Have some flowers sent to someone. B. Deliver a package to the hospital.
C. Arrange some flowers.
D. Talk to a doctor.
Question 9 to 12 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
9. A. The female lead. B. The clown. C. The painted face. D. The old lead.
10. A. The actress looks younger than her real age.
B. The actress looks older than her real age.
C. The actress looks as old as her real age.
D. The actress looks like the famous actor Mei Lanfang.
11. A. By different gestureB. By different voice
C. By different color
D. By different costume
12. A. It stands for loyalty. B. It stands for disloyalty.
C. It stands for uprightness.
D. It stands for integrity.
Question 13 to 15 are based on the conversation you have just heard.
13. A. She is busy at work. B. She has gone shopping.
C. She is resting in bed.
D. She is feeling sorry.
14. A. He tells her honestly what he thinks about it.
B. He refuses to eat it.
C. He throws it away after making it.
D. She can tell by his non-verbal expressions.
15. A. They decide to go out to eat. B. They eat something different at home.
C. They eat at a friend’s house.
D. They decide to eat nothing at all.
Section B
Passage One
16. A. Sense of sight. B. Sense of hearing. C. Sense of smell. D. Sense of taste.
17. A. Six times. B. Five times. C. Three times. D. Two times.
18. A. Through a wide variety of high-frequency sounds.
B. Through a wide variety of low-frequency sounds.
C. Through their varied swimming gestures.
D. Through the echolocation.
Passage Two
19. A. New York University. B. The University of Southern California.
C. The University of San Francisco State University.
D. Jones Wales University.
20. A. It had the most foreign students.
B. Its students outnumbered those in other states.
C. Most of its foreign students were the Japanese.
D. It offered more financial aids.
21. A. Engineering and industrial design. B. Business and management.
C. Mathematics and computer science.
D. Medicines and chemistry.
Passage Three
22. A. The history of Industrial Revolution. B. The development of technology.
C. The history of Middle Ages.
D. The development of advertising.
23. A. By door to door advertising. B. By using symbols.
C. By verbal announcements.
D. By written messages.
24. A. The British. B. The Americans. C. The Romans. D. The Russians.
25. A. During the Industrial Revolution. B. In the Middle Ages.
C. After the Second World War.
D. After the invention of televisions.
Section C
Self-motivation is basically the ability to get yourself to take action whether you feel like it or not. Many people have a (26)___________ when it comes to motivation in general. It can (27)______________ being lazy or unproductive, but in actuality, no one is really lazy. If you are not capable of getting yourself to do certain things that you know you should be doing, it’s because you don’t have a strong enough reason to do it.
What can you do to help (28)_____________ your self-motivation? One thing you can do is to start giving yourself stronger reasons to be performing certain things such as (29)____________ your goals. Once you have a goal and strong enough reasons to take action, your self-motivation will automatically start to increase. Your reasons can be both positive and
(30)_______________. You can either do something because you want to get
(31)_______________ out of completing a task or you want to avoid the (32)________________ of not completing the task. Either way, the reasons need to be strong enough to move you into action.
The bottom line is that you want to increase your self-motivation, you will need to start designing a more compelling future for yourself. (33)___________________ powerful reasons
why you should take action. When you have a strong purpose and (34)___________________ feed your mind with self-improvement motivation material, you will start to become more and more (35)________________ and will begin to take more action.
Part III Reading Comprehension
Section A 选词填空
（1）
The flood of women into the job market boosted economic growth and changed U.S. society in many ways. Many in-home jobs that used to be done (47)_______ by women—ranging from family shopping to preparing meals to doing(48) _______ work ----still need to be done by someone. Husbands and children now do some of these jobs, a(49) ________ that has changed the target market for many products. Or a working woman may face a crushing “poverty of time” and look for help elsewhere, creating opportunities for producers of frozen meals, child care centers, dry cleaners, financial services, and the like.
Although there is still a big wage(50) ________ between men and women, the income working women (51)__________gives them new independence and buying power. For example, women now_(52)________about half of all cars. Not long ago, many car dealers(53) ______women shoppers by ignoring them or suggesting that they come back with their husbands. Now car companies have realized that women are (54)________ customers. It’s interesting that some leading Japanese car dealers were the first to (55)__________ pay attention to women customers. In Japan, fewer women have jobs or buy cars------the Japanese society is still very much male-oriented. Perhaps it was the(56) ___________contrast with Japanese society that prompted American firms to pay attention to women buyers.
(2)
Children model themselves on their parents. They do so mainly through identification. Children
(47)________ with a parent when they believe they have the qualities and feelings that are
(48)_______ of that parent. The things do and say –and the way they do and say them—therefore strongly influence a child’s (49)________.
A parent’s actions also affect the self-image that a child forms through identification. Children who see (50)_______ positive qualities in their parents will likely to see themselves in a positive way. Children who observe chiefly (51)_______qualities in their parents will have difficulty seeing positive qualities in themselves. Children may (52)________ their self-image, however, as they become increasingly influenced by peers.
Isolated events, even dramatic ones, do not (53)________ have a permanent effe ct on a child’s behavior. Children(54)_______ such events according to their(55) ______ attitudes and previous training. Children who know they are loved can ,for example, accept the divorce or a parent’s early death. But if children feel unloved, they may interpret such events as a(56) _______rejection or punishment.
In the same way, not all children are influenced by toys and games, reading matter, and
television programs. As in the case of a dramatic change in the family relations, the effect of an activity or experience depends on how the child interprets it.
(3)
Each human being is born as something new, something that never existed before. He is born with what he needs to win at life. Each person in his own _______ can see, hear, touch, taste and think for himself. Each has _______to be a significant, thinking, aware, and creatively ________ person in his own right – a winner.
The words “winner”and “loser”have many meanings. When we refer to a person as a winner, we do not mean one who ________the other guy by winning over him and making him lose. To us, a winner is one who responds authentically by being _________, trustworthy, responsive, and genuine, both as a (an)________and as a member of society.
A loser is one who______ to respond authentically. Martin Buber _______ this idea as he retells an old story of a rabbi who on his death bed sees himself as a loser. The rabbi laments that, in the world to come, he will not be asked why he wasn’t Moses; he will be asked why he wasn’t himself.
Few people are one hundred percent winners or one hundred percent losers. It is a(n) _______of degree. However, once a person is on the road to being a winner, his _______are greater fro becoming even more so.
（4）
The use of nuclear power has already spread all over the world. However, scientists still have not agreed on what should be done with the large amounts of waste material that keep increasing every year.
Most waste materials are______of simply by placing them somewhere. But nuclear waste must be _______ with extremely great care. It gives off dangerous radiation and it will continue to be _______ for hundreds, thousands, even millions of years.
How should we get rid of such waste material in such a way that it will not harm the _______? Where can we possibly______distribute it? One idea is to put this radioactive waste inside a thick container, which is then dropped to the bottom of the ocean. But some scientists believe that this way of _______ nuclear waste could kill fish and other living things in the oceans or _______with their growth. Another way to ______nuclear waste is to send it into space, to the
sun, where it would be burned. Other scientists suggest that this polluting material should be _______ thousands of meters under the earth’s surface. Such underground areas must be ______ of possible earthquakes. Advances are being made. But it may still be many years before this problem could be finally settled.
（5）
Don’t let vacations or business travels sideline your exercise routine. Physical activity is a great way to (47)_____ stress and adjust to a new time zone when you’re traveling. Here’s how to get the most out of it:
Find fitness-friendly (48)________. Call ahead to make sure your hotel or motel has a good fitness facility —or at least place where you’ll feel safe and (49)______going for a walk.
Take (50)______of the local attractions. Many places offer their (51) _____ exercise opportunities —
trails through beautiful parks or forests, beach walks, boat rides on the lake, bike rides out of town. Check the travel (52)_____of your bookstore or look on-line for information before you travel.
Be sure to pack what you’ll need. Walking shoes, gym shorts, a T -shirt, resistance bands —make a checklist of all the things you’ll need while you’re away and make sure to (53)______ it all.
Use every opportunity. Too busy to set aside a block of time for (54)______? Look for every opportunity you can to be active. Book a room on the third floor and take the stairs. Walk whenever you can —between meetings, while you’re waiting at the airport, on your way from here to there.
Be (55)______. If you’re on a busy business trip, don’t add to the stress by trying to do too much. Spending (56)______15 minutes on refreshing walking, along with climbing a few flights of stairs instead of taking the elevator, should hold you until you get home again —and back to your regular routine.
Section B信息匹配
Passage 1
Why DIY?
A）The reasons why people engage in DIY have always been numerous and complex. For some, DIY has provided a rare opportunity for creativity and self expression. For others it has been an unwelcome necessity, driven purely by economic considerations. Then there has been a group which feels that a building can never be a home unless it has been altered and modified to reflect a change of occupancy. A final group has traditionally taken the line that if you want a job done well, you must do it yourself.
B）The same four basic species of DIYers exist today, although these various motives may now overlap very substantially. The perfectionist in search of the good job done well is often also driven by a desire for creativity. There are also two new categories of motive – the pursuit of DIY as a leisure activity and DIY as a form of occupational therapy. These, again, overlap with other reasons.
DIY as necessity
C）There is a significant number of young homemakers (38% of our informants) for whom there is no option but DIY. Their new home, whether bought on a mortgage which consumes a major slice of their income, or rented at similarly challenging rates, will often require essential refurbishment and even structural repair.Some of these people are reluctant first-time DIYers. They would much prefer to hire professionals, but can't afford to do so. The majority, however, welcome the opportunity that need has forced upon them to get involved for the first time in the real business of creating a home – with all of its unfamiliar physical labour and the learning from scratch of new techniques. In time, many will migrate to one of the other categories of DIYer, continuing to exercise their new found talents and enthusiasm when no longer forced by financial constraints to do so.
DIY as territorial marking
D）Even those who have bought a brand new 'starter home', the type which increasingly proliferates around the edges of our towns and cities, will feel compelled to add personal touches of a less dramatic kind to disguise its otherwise bland and expressionless nature. Putting a 'personal stamp on the place' was one of the most frequently reported motives for DIY, with 72% of sample seeing this as being a very important aspect.
DIY as self-expression
E）Many young people today are frustrated artists – their latent creative talents just waiting for the chance to reveal themselves. There are also those seeking opportunities for a sense of achievement and personal fulfilment. DIY provided just such opportunities for the overwhelming majority of our informants (84%). They spoke at length of their sense of pride after completing their very first DIY task, and about how this experience gave them the drive to tackle more ambitious projects.This sense of creative achievement comes both from the choices made by the first-time DIYer – the selection of colours, textures and components to
apply to the 'canvas' of the home – and from the application of specific skills and techniques. The manufacturers of DIY materials clearly understand this and now provide a wide range of 'arty' products to fuel creative urges. At the same time, they make the materials themselves much easier to use – the DIY equivalent of painting by numbers. Special paint effects, which once required the specialist knowledge and training of the true professional, can now be achieved straight out of the can with a simple brush.
DIY as perfection-seeking
F）A large proportion of first-time DIYers (63%) distrust builders and decorators. They feel that most are 'cowboys' and that even the more reputable ones are very unlikely to have the same loving attention to detail and care as the DIYer. Some had previously suffered from the alleged bodges of small builders, while others were proud of the fact that no tradesman of this kind had ever set foot in their home.Within this group there were those who were content for builders to perform basic or structural work, and to undertake tasks such as plastering which are beyond the competence of most DIYers, particularly the younger novices in our sample. The finishing work, however, was something these people kept for themselves –the final 'perfecting' of what otherwise would be just a mediocre result.
G）This drive for perfection was also evident among the 'strippers' in this group. The idea of putting wallpaper over existing paper, or even paint on the top of preceding coats, was anathema. Everything needed to be taken back to the bare plaster or the naked wood before any new decoration could be applied. Some informants recognised that this search for perfection could sometimes go to far: "It's an obsession for me really. There's always something I'm working on. I'm never happy with anything."The problem perfectionists face is that progress can be very slow. When perfectionists are obliged, by nagging or circumstance, to speed things up, other problems can result.
DIY as leisure activity
H）For a significant minority of first-timers (28%), DIY is seen as a novel and entertaining pastime. It is not really work, but something akin to entertainment, shared by both partners and even the children in the case of young families. "It's just great fun" enthused one of our sample.The idea that DIYing is akin to a trip to the lions of Longleat may seem strange. But for these informants home-making was sufficiently different from, and infinitely preferable to, the dull routines of weekday work to constitute a weekend break. The results of such activity were rewarding, but probably less so than engaging in the activity itself.
DIY as therapy
I）"It's therapeutic isn't it? I'm always in my own little world when I'm doing DIY – it's great." So said a young man of 27 in our sample. "For me it's occupational therapy" said another informant. For them and others it was their way of getting rid of stress after a long day at work – a way of switching off and using the repetitive nature of many DIY tasks as a way of relaxing. Others hinted at a similar process, where DIY was almost an end in itself, rather than just a means to achieving a better home. In this sense they were similar to those who saw DIY as a form of leisure, but it was the psychological effects which were emphasised by 18% of our sample.
46.It’s found that most young DIY beginners are not competent for plaster ing.
47. A brand new “starter home” becomes more and more popular around the border of towns
and cities.
48. Besides the traditional motives of DIY, the new categories of motive include the pursuit of DIY as a leisure activity.
49. To those young homemakers, buying a new home on mortgage is as challenging as renting a house.
50. About twenty-eight percent of the first-timers consider DIY as a novel and entertaining pastime.
51. A large part of first-time DIYers use the term “cowboys” to refer to builders an d decorators.
52. “Strippers” are those people who are driver by the pursuit of DIY as perfection.
53. Those reluctant first-time DIYers think it preferable to hiring professionals to do the homemaking.
54. People who take DIY as a form of leisure and those who take DIY as therapy similarly think of DIY as almost an end in itself.
55. At present, special paint effects can be achieved by any DIYers with simple tools.
Passage 2
When Mom and Dad Grow Old
A）The prospect of talking to increasingly fragile parents about their future can be "one of the most difficult challenges adult children will ever face," says Clarissa Green, a Vancouver therapist. "People often tell me they don't want to raise sensitive issues with their parents about bringing in caregivers or moving," she says. "They'll say, 'I don't want to see dad cry.'" But Green usually responds, "What's wrong with that?" Adult children, she says, need to try to join their parents in grieving their decline, acknowledge their living arrangements may no longer work and, if necessary, help them say goodbye to their beloved home. "It's sad. And it's supposed to be. It's about death itself."
B）There are almost four million men and women over age 65 in Canada. Nearly two thirds of them manage to patch together enough support —from family, friends, private and government services —to live independently until virtually the day they die, according to Statistics Canada.
C）Of the Canadian seniors who live to 85 and over, almost one in three end up being moved —sometimes kicking —to group living for the last years of their lives. Even in the best-case scenarios (可能出现的情况), such dislocations can bring sorrow. "Often the family feels guilty, and the senior feels abandoned," says Charmaine Spencer, a professor in the gerontology department of Simon Fraser University. Harassed with their own careers and children, adult children may push their parents too fast to make a major transition.
D）Val MacDonald, executive director of theB.C. Seniors Services Society, cautions adult children against imposing their views on aging parents. "Many baby boomers can be quite patronizing (高人一等的)," she says. Like many who work with seniors, MacDonald suggests adult children devote many conversations over a long period of time to collaborating on their parents' future, raising feelings, questions and options —gently, but frankly. However, many middle-aged adults, according to the specialists, just muddle (应付) through with their aging parents.
E）When the parents of Nancy Woods of Mulmur Hills, Ont., were in their mid-80s, they made the
decision to downsize from their large family home to an apartment in Toronto. As Woods' parents, George and Bemice, became frailer, she believed they knew she had their best interests at heart. They agreed to her suggestion to have Meals on Wheels start delivering lunches and dinners. However, years later, after a crisis, Woods discovered her parents had taken to throwing out the prepared meals. Her dad had appreciated them, but Bernice had come to believe they were poisoned. "My father was so loyal," says Woods, "he had hid that my mother was overwhelmed by paranoia (偏执狂)." To her horror, Woods discovered her dad and mom were "living on crackers and oatmeal porridge" and were weakening from the impoverished diet. Her dad was also falling apart with the stress of providing for Bernice — a common problem when one spouse tries to do everything for an ailing partner. "The spouse who's being cared for might be doing well at home," says Spencer, "but often the other spouse is burned out and ends up being hospitalized."
F）Fortunately, outside help is often available to people struggling through the often-distressing process of helping their parents explore an important shift. Sons and daughters can bring in brochures or books on seniors issues, as well as introduce government health-care workers or staff at various agencies, to help raise issues and open up discussions, says Val MacDonald, whose nonprofit organization responds to thousands of calls a year from British Columbians desperate for information about how to weave through the dizzying array of seniors services and housing options. The long list of things to do, says MacDonald, includes assessing their ability to live independently; determining your comfort level with such things as bathing a parent; discussing with all household members whether it would be healthy for an elderly relative to move in; monitoring whether, out of pure duty, you're over committing yourself to providing a level of care that could threaten your own well-being.
G）The shock phone call that flung Nancy Woods and her parents into action came from her desperate dad. "I got this call from my father that he couldn't cope anymore. My mother was setting fires in the apartment," she says. "He didn't want to see it for what it was. Up to then he'd been in denial."Without knowing she was following the advice of experts who recommend using outside sources to stimulate frank discussion with parents, Woods grabbed a copy of The 36 Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for Persons With Alzheimer Disease, Related Dementing Illness, and Memory Loss in Later Life. She read sections of the book to her dad and asked him, "Who does that sound like?" Her father replied, "It's mother. It's dementia (痴呆)." At that point, Woods said, her dad finally recognized their tragic plight (困境). She told her father she would help them move out of their apartment. "He nodded. He didn't yell or roar. "
H）Woods regrets that she "had not noticed small details signaling mom's dementia." But she's satisfied her dad accepted his passage into a group residence, where he and his wife could stay together in a secure unit where staff were trained to deal with patients with dementia. "From the moment they moved into the Toronto nursing home, their physical health improved. On the other hand, it was the beginning of the end in terms of their mental abilities. Perhaps they couldn't get enough stimulation. Perhaps it was inevitable."
I）After my father died in 2002, the grim reality of my mother's sharply declining memory set in starkly. With her expanding dementia, room insisted on staying in her large North Shore house, even though she was confused about how to cook, organize her day or take care of herself. For the next three years we effectively imposed decisions on her, most of them involving bringing
in caregivers, including family members. In 2005 mom finally agreed, although she barely knew what was happening, to move to a nearby nursing home, where, despite great confusion, she is happier. As Spencer says, the sense of dislocation that comes with making an important passage can be "a very hard adjustment for a senior at the best of times. But it's worse if it's not planned out."
46. Under the pressure and stress from their own careers and children, adult children tend to push their parents to group living.
47. When Nancy Woods’ father got to know their tragic plight, he finally agreed to move out of their apartment.
48. When Nancy Woods’ parents reached their mid-80s, they moved into an apartment.
49. Clarissa Green suggests that adult children should try to share their fragile parents’ grieving feelings.
50. Val MacDonald’s organization is non-profit and helps adult children with their aging parent issues through phone calls.
51. Since Nancy Woods; parents moved into the Toronto nursing home, they became physically healthier, but had new problems with their mental abilities.
52. When her mother set fires in the apartment, Nancy Woods’ father was desperate and turned to her for help.
53. According to Statistics Canada, most Canadian seniors older than 65 live independently until they die.
54. Val MacDonald warns baby boomers not to force their parents to accept their views.
55. Despite knowing little about what was happening, the author’s mo ther lived more happily in
a nearby nursing home.
Passage 3
A Brief History of Online Shopping
A）When https://www.360docs.net/doc/5212996266.html, opened for business 15 years ago, it was nothing more than a few people packing and shipping boxes of books from a two-car garage in Bellevue, Wash. Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, had left New York City for the Pacific Northwest, using some of his time on the road to write the company's business plan. Books were packed on a table made out of an extra door they found lying in the new home — a practice the company continues today in spirit by making many of the office's desks out of doors.
B）Now, on its 15th anniversary, Amazon can raise a toast to being one of the largest online retailers in the world, selling everything from tubas and golf carts to dishwashers and diapers. Despite the economic recession, online retail in the U.S. grew 11% in 2009, according to a March 2010 report from Forrester Research. More than 150 million people — about two-thirds of all Internet users in the U.S. — bought something online last year. It's a staggering leap for an industry used by 27% of the nation's online population a decade ago.
C）One of the first known Web purchases took place in 1994. It was a pepperoni pizza with mushrooms and extra cheese from Pizza Hut, a somewhat appropriate purchase for the early
days of the Internet. When Amazon came on the scene not long after, selling books online was a curious idea. After all, why would people buy a textbook online when they could go to a bookstore? But eventually, a revolutionary change in culture and groupthink took place. Buying things online was all about price and selection, says Ellen Davis, a vice president with the National Retail Federation. If you lived in a small town with just one bookstore and they didn't stock the novel you wanted, the Internet was a solution.
D）The big sellers were "hard goods," those things you didn't have to touch, feel or smell in order to buy, such as books, computers and other electronics. Now, nothing is off limits. "As the Internet has evolved, it's become a channel where you can buy anything," Davis says. "You can buy fragrances —something you would have normally thought you would need to go to a store and actually experience before you decided to buy."
E）Part of the shift has to do with the normalizing of giving out personal information online. All it takes is one click of the purchase button before consumers start to feel more comfortable using their credit-card information online, Davis says. Now some consumers have so much trust that they allow retailers to save their credit-card and shipping information, which has given rise to a painless checkout process.
F）And part of it had to do with making the online experience more like an in-store shopping trip. Many sites geared themselves toward consumers who like to try before they buy. While Web shoppers technically have to buy the item first, sites such as Zappos, which specializes in shoes, and Piperlime, which sells clothes and accessories, offer free shipping on returns. If you buy it, try it and don't like it, having to return the item is less of a concern. Other stores try to make it easier for customers to get the look and feel of a product without actually handling the goods. https://www.360docs.net/doc/5212996266.html, and https://www.360docs.net/doc/5212996266.html, allow customers to zoom way in on products to examine their texture and color up close. Others such as Bed, Bath & Beyond and https://www.360docs.net/doc/5212996266.html, feature product videos that allow shoppers to see, for example, a grill cleaner in action. And then there are sites like https://www.360docs.net/doc/5212996266.html, that capitalize on the goods physical stores can't sell. Beyond its discounts, https://www.360docs.net/doc/5212996266.html, wins customer loyalty by sprucing up online deals with flat-rate shipping of $2.95 on everything from earrings to refrigerators.
G）Even famously resistant designers and luxury retailers are putting goods online. According to Bain & Co.'s 2009 luxury-goods study, while the luxury-goods industry overall lost 8% worldwide in 2009, luxury sales online grew 20%. This September https://www.360docs.net/doc/5212996266.html, will have more than just videos of models strutting the runway on his website. Jacobs will join others such as Jimmy Choo, Hugo Boss and Donna Karan, all of whom sell, or will soon start selling, products through their websites. The upside? Consumers will soon be able to buy many high-end goods without the withering stare of a boutique salesclerk.
H）All of this online shopping has given rise to a new version of one of America's favorite holidays. Cyber Monday was coined in 2005 to represent the boom in online sales that comes the Monday after Black Friday — the day after Thanksgiving and the largest shopping day of the year. Though Cyber Monday has never eclipsed Black Friday's sales, customers are more comfortable doing shopping online than ever. 83% of consumers say they are more confident in making a purchase when they have conducted research online as opposed to speaking to a salesperson in a store.
I）While retailers were initially terrified of what bad reviews could do to their bottom line, they've since witnessed the power of a rave review and embraced the practice. Despite initial fears,
says Craig Berman, Amazon's vice president of global communications, product reviews have only served to increase their customer loyalty. "It helped us build customer trust," he says. "It put us in a special place with customers in that they could come to the site and get honest and comprehensive —and over time, very substantial —firsthand knowledge from other customers." Berman says the company has some reviewers who take online shopping to heart. "There are some customers who are extraordinarily proud of being one of our top reviewers —they take their job really seriously." Some of Amazon's customers are voracious readers who consider it their duty to review one or two books every single week. While the company may have come a long way from its roots, the company's original specialty has not been forgotten.
46.In the early time of online shopping, the goods that you didn’t have to touch, feel or smell in order to buy sold best.
47. When Amazon first began its business, the idea of selling books online was curious.
48. Having seen the power of com pliment, Amazon’s vice president believed that product reviews help Amazon build customer trust.
49. About two-thirds of American Internet users have shopped online last year.
50. https://www.360docs.net/doc/5212996266.html, wins customer loyalty by charging fixed fees for delivery.
51. Many virtual stores use various approaches to make online shopping experience more like an in-store shopping trip.
52. It is Amazon’s tradition to make office’s desks out of doors.
53. Despite its overall downward trend worldwide, the online sales of luxury goods grew twenty percent last year.
54. The advantage of online shopping lies in price and selection.
55. Most consumers would rather conduct research online than speak to a salesperson in a store when making a purchase.
Passage 4
Young Workers Push Employers for Wider Web Access
A）Ryan Tracy thought he'd entered the Dark Ages when he graduated college and arrived in the working world. His employer blocked access to Facebook, Gmail and other popular Internet sites. He had no wireless access for his laptop and often ran to a nearby cafe on work time so he could use its Wi-Fi connection to send large files. Sure, the barriers did what his employer intended: They stopped him and his colleagues from using work time to goof around online. But Tracy says the rules also got in the way of legitimate work he needed to do as a scientific analyst for a health care services company.
B）"It was a constant battle between the people that saw technology as an advantage, and those that saw it as a hindrance," says the 27-year-old Chicagoan, who now works for a different company. He was sure there had to be a better way. It's a common complaint from young people who join the work force with the expectation that their bosses will embrace technology as much as they do. Then some discover that sites they're supposed to be researching for work
are blocked. Or they can't take a little down time to read a news story online or check their personal e-mail or social networking accounts. In some cases, they end up using their own Internet-enabled smart phones to get to blocked sites, either for work or fun.
C）So some are wondering: Could companies take a different approach, without compromising security or workplace efficiency, that allows at least some of the online access that younger employees particularly crave? "It's no different than spending too much time around the water cooler or making too many personal phone calls. Do you take those away? No," says Gary Rudman, president of GTR Consulting, a market research firm that tracks the habits of young people. "These two worlds will continue to collide until there's a mutual understanding that performance, not Internet usage, is what really matters."
D）This is, after all, a generation of young people known for what University of Toronto sociologist Barry Wellman calls "media multiplexity（多重性）." College students he has studied tell him how they sleep with their smart phones and, in some cases, consider their gadgets to be like a part of their bodies. They're also less likely to fit the traditional 9-to-5 work mode and are willing to put in time after hours in exchange for flexibility, including online time. So, Wellman and others argue, why not embrace that working style when possible, rather than fight it?
E）There is, of course, another side of the story — from employers who worry about everything from wasted time on the Internet to confidentiality breaches and liability for what their employees do online. Such concerns have to be taken especially seriously in such highly regulated fields as finance and health care, says Nancy Flynn, a corporate consultant who heads the Ohio-based ePolicy Institute. From a survey Flynn did this year with the American Management Association, she believes nearly half of U.S. employers have a policy banning visits to personal social networking or video sharing sites during work hours. Many also ban personal text messaging during working days. Flynn notes that the rising popularity of BlackBerrys, iPhones and other devices with Web access and messaging have made it much trickier to enforce what's being done on work time, particularly on an employee's personal phone. Or often the staff uses unapproved software applications to getaround the blocks.
F）As a result, more employers are experimenting with opening access. That's what Joe Dwyer decided to do when he started Chicago-based Brill Street & Co., a jobs site for young professionals. He lets his employees use social networking and has found that, while they might spend time chatting up their friends, sometimes they're asking those same friends for advice for a work problem or looking for useful contacts. "So what seems unproductive can be very productive," Dwyer says. Kraft Foods Inc. recently opened access to everything from YouTube to Facebook and Hotmail, with the caveat that personal use be reasonable and never interfere with job activities.
G）Broadening access does, of course, mean some employees will cross lines they aren't supposed to. Sapphire Technologies LP, an information-technology staffing firm based in Massachusetts, started allowing employees to use most Internet sites two years ago, because recruiters for the company were going on Facebook to find talent.Martin Perry, the company's chief information officer, says managers occasionally have to give employees a "slap on the wrist" for watching sports on streaming video or downloading movies on iTunes. And he says older managers sometimes raise eyebrows at their younger counterparts' online judgment."If you saw some of the pictures that they've uploaded, even to our internal directory, you'd question the maturity," Perry says.It's the price a company has to pay, he says, for attracting
top young talent that's willing to work at any hour. "Banning the Internet during work hours would be myopic on our part," Perry says.
H）But that also means many companies are still figuring out their online policies and how to deal with the blurring lines between work and personal time — including social networking, even with the boss."I think over time, an open embrace of these tools can become like an awkward hug," says Mary Madden, a senior research specialist at the Pew Internet & American Life Project. "It can get very messy."One option is for companies to allow access to certain sites but limit what employees can do there. For instance, Palo Alto Networks, a computer security company, recently helped a pharmaceutical company and a furniture maker open up social networking for some employees, but limited such options as file-sharing, largely so that sensitive information isn't transferred, even accidentally."Wide-open Internet access is the risky approach," says Chris King, Palo Alto Networks' director of product marketing. However, "fully closed is increasingly untenable for cultural reasons and business reasons."
I）Flynn, at the ePolicy Institute, says it's important that employers have a clear online policy and then explain it. She believes not enough employers have conducted formal training on such matters as online liability and confidentiality.Meantime, her advice to any employee is this: "Don't start blogging. Don't start tweeting. Don't even start e-mailing until you read the company policy."
46.Some highly regulated fields, like finance and health care, tend to take serious concern about the problem of secret information exposure.
47. Many young people who just join the work force hold the expectation that web access is available for employees.
48. In spite of the problem caused, some still think that it’s shor t-sighted for the company to fully close the Internet during work hours.
49. Kraft Foods Inc. opened web access to the employees on the condition that they use the web without interfering work hours.
50. The generation of “media multiplexity” tends to cons ider electronic tools as a part of their body.
51. Some employers blocked access to Internet because they wanted to prevent employees from using work time to mess about online.
52. It is suggested that employees should start blogging, chatting or e-mailing only after they have a clear idea of the company’s online policy.
53. Gary Rudman reckons that the conflict between employers and employees over web access will fade away if the importance of performance is prioritized.
54. One possible online policy for the company is to allow access to certain websites but limit the things employees can do there.
55. Due to the popularity of smart phones with web access, it becomes more difficult to enforce what employees are doing during work time.
Passage 5
Master’s of Your Own Field
A）In the face of a fearsome job market and high graduate unemployment levels, postgraduate academia is booming. More than 270,000 students returned to university to add a dash of postgrad sparkle to their CVs in 2007-08: demand for master's degrees surged 27%, while the number of PhD candidates rose 9%. And the latest research suggests that those currently sweating over postgrad thesis proposals can sit back and look smug. Postgraduate Education in the United Kingdom, a paper published by the British Library and the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), found that, three and a half years after graduation, 94% of postgraduates found work in the professions, compared to 78% of undergraduates.
B）There were more reasons to smile from the Higher Education Careers Services Unit, whose research into graduate market trends confirmed that master's graduates experienced lower rates of unemployment during the recession than their first-degree counterparts. But that extra employability comes at a cost. The average price tag attached to a one-year master's course for a domestic student has risen to ￡4,000, more than a third higher than in 2002. The average cost of an MBA, meanwhile, has hit ￡12,000. Add that expense to the growing concern that universities' ability to provide advanced learning could be hit by staffing cuts and funding squeezes, and the outlook for postgraduate academia looks less rosy.
C）Those worries come out in the Hepi report, which also shows that the pay premium(奖金) for postgraduates is decreasing. The report's authors admit that postgraduate study may "no longer carry the weight it used to, as increasing numbers of postgraduate qualifiers compete for jobs in UK workplaces". They also admit that as the financial returns from higher study decrease while fees rise, "it may become increasingly difficult for those from less economically secure backgrounds to consider this course". That's one of the issues being tackled in an official review of postgraduate education currently being undertaken by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
D）For now, however, rising fees and lower salary premiums mean wannabe-postgraduates need to be discerning when choosing a course. One crucial thing to look at, according to Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, is how the course will help you meet your future employment aims. "If postgraduate qualifications are undertaken for the right reason, and the graduate is able to explain their value to prospective employers, they can certainly be very worthwhile additions to CVs," he says. "The desirability of a postgraduate degree varies between sectors –in science and engineering a postgraduate qualification is often a requirement, and in investment banking an MBA is seen by many as invaluable when supported by structured work experience. But if the real reason is to delay the job search or as a last resort after failing to secure a job, then it is not going to be a worthwhile exercise."
E）Gilleard also advises postgrad students to carry out work experience while studying. "It's important to find ways to build on employability skills – the majority of recruiters think that the ability to demonstrate the competencies required for a role is just as important as having an additional academic qualification."
F）That was an important consideration for Jamie Esterkin, 23, from Manchester, who graduated with a law degree from Nottingham University in 2008. He knew that one day he wanted to work as a lawyer, but opted to do a master's in another subject to broaden his knowledge first. "I was interested in property and business, and wanted to sample life in London, so I chose to do a master's in real estate development at the University of Westminster," Esterkin explains. "I thought it would be especially useful if I choose to specialise in real estate law one day."
G）He began searching websites and university prospectuses, looking for a course that covered a range of property topics, had a strong reputation and offered good value for money. "I found that business and property postgraduate courses at many London universities cost upwards of ￡20,000 for a single year, but they mainly covered similar areas." The price tag was one of the things that drew Esterkin to the Westminster course: he could fund the ￡5,000 fee through savings, help from his parents and a part-time job.
H）"Looking back, I think it represented good value for money – the teaching was excellent and the course was interesting and varied," he says. "The postgrad learning style was more practical, with hands-on experience that helped me gain a better understanding of the workings of the commercial world." Esterkin has now returned for a final year of legal study, having secured a training contract with a City firm next year. "Given the level of competition in law, I definitely think that my postgraduate degree helped to distinguish me from the crowd," he says. His tip for future postgrads is to work harder from the start. "Postgraduate courses are taught and examined in a very different way from undergraduate degrees, and as they only last nine months, it's tough to judge the level you need to succeed."
I）The drive to find a good job was also a key motivation for Lauren Dolan, 22, from Bath, who graduated with a degree in management systems from Manchester Metropolitan University in June 2008. She chose to embark on master's study with one eye on the competitive graduate job market and another on the gloomy economic climate. "I wanted to have something over and above an undergraduate degree to make me stand out from other candidates," she says. Although she had had weekend and holiday jobs since she was 15, a lack of professional work experience led her to choose a master's in advanced management practice at Bath University's business school, which included a six-month work placement in industry.
J）"The course gave me a very solid foundation, both in terms of theoretical knowledge and practical work experience," Dolan explains. She spent her placement working at yoghurt-maker Danone, where she says: "I was given responsibility from the start and the very varied tasks enabled me to develop my skills." The fact that she successfully applied for a permanent job at the firm after graduation means that Dolan feels the ￡12,000 tuition fees were a worthy investment. She adds: "Although it initially sounds expensive, I started work the day after my course ended, so it was definitely worthwhile."
46.Carl Gilleard suggests that one should choose a course based on future employment aims.
47. The cruel job market and the gloomy economic climate drove Lauren Dolan to engage in ma ster’s study.
48. Most employers think that the ability to demonstrate the competencies is equally important as academic qualification.
49. Given its high cost and universities’ declining ability to provide advanced learning, the outlook for postgraduate education looks less encouraging.
50. In order to broaden his knowledge, Esterkin chose to seek a master’s in real estate development.
51. It becomes increasingly difficult for those less affluent to consider seeking postgraduate education as fees rise.
52. It is confirmed that during recession postgraduates experienced lower rates of unemployment than undergraduates.
53. It is not worthwhile to get a postgraduate qualification if it is only an excuse to delay seeking
a job.
54. Both the demand for master’s degrees and PhD surged in the previous year as more people rushed back to university.
55. Esterkin believes that his postgraduate degree distinguishes him from other candidates to get
a training contract.
Passage 6
History of American Immigration
A）Ancient peoples only loosely related to modern Asians crossed the Arctic land bridge to settle America about 15,000 years ago, according to a study offering new evidence that the Western Hemisphere hosted a more genetically diverse population at a much earlier time than previously thought. The early immigrants most closely resembled the prehistoric Jomon people of Japan and their closest modern descendants, the Ainu, from the Japanese island of Hokkaido, the study said. Both the Jomon and Ainu have skull and facial characteristics more genetically similar to those of Europeans than to mainland Asians.
B）The immigrants settled throughout the hemisphere, and were in place when a second migration -- from mainland Asia -- came across the Bering Strait beginning 5,000 years ago and swept southward as far as modern-day Arizona and New Mexico, the study said. The second migration is the genetic origin of today's Eskimos, Aleuts and the Navajo of the U.S. southwest. The study in today's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences adds new evidence to help settle one of anthropology's(人类学) most contentious debates: Who were the first Americans? And when did they come?
C）"When this has been done before, it's been done from one point of view," said University of Michigan physical anthropologist C. Loring Brace, who led the team of researchers from the United States, China and Mongolia who wrote the new report. "We try to put together more dimensions." For decades, anthropologists held that the Americas were populated by a single migration from Asia about 11,200 years ago -- the supposed age of the earliest of the elegantly crafted, grooved arrowheads first found in the 1930s in Clovis, N.M. By the end of the 1990s, however, the weight of evidence had pushed back the date of the first arrivals several thousand years. A site at Cactus Hill, near Richmond, may be 17,000 years old. In Chile, scientists excavating a 12,500-year-old settlement at Monte Verde have found evidence of a human presence that may extend as far as 30,000 years. But as the migration timetable slipped, additional questions and controversies have arisen. The 1996 discovery in Kennewick, Wash., of the nearly complete skeleton of a 9,300-year-old man with "apparently Caucasoid" features stimulated interest in the possibility of two or more migrations -- including a possible incoming from Europe.
D）The new study attempted to answer this question by comparing 21 skull and facial characteristics from more than 10,000 ancient and modern populations in the Western Hemisphere and the Old World. The findings provide strong evidence supporting earlier work suggesting that ancient Americans, like Kennewick Man, were descended from the Jomon, who walked from Japan to the Asian mainland and eventually to the Western Hemisphere on land
bridges as the Earth began to warm up about 15,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. E）Brace described these early immigrants as "hunters and gatherers" following herds of mastodon （乳齿象）first into North America, and eventually spreading throughout the hemisphere. Because the North -- in both Siberia and Canada -- was still extremely cold, only a limited number of people could make the trek（长途跋涉）and survive. So immigration slowed, Brace said, for about 10 millennia（千年）. Then, about 5,000 years ago, agriculture developed on mainland Asia, enabling people to grow, store and carry food in more inhospitable areas. Movement resumed, but the newcomers were genetically Asians --"distinct racially" from the first wave, Brace added.
F）The second wave spread across what is now Canada and came southward, cohabiting with the earlier settlers and eventually creating the hybrid population found by the Spaniards in the 15th century. While many researchers agree on the likelihood of two migrations, both their timing and origin are matters of dispute. Brace's team suggests that both movements occurred after the last Ice Age began to moderate between 14,000 and 15,000 years ago.
G）But University of Pennsylvania molecular anthropologist Theodore Schurr said genetic data in American populations suggest that humans may have been in the Western Hemisphere much earlier -- 25,000 to 30,000 years ago. This would mean that the first wave came before the "glacial maximum," between 14,000 and 20,000 years ago, when the Ice Age was at its fiercest and "human movement was practically impossible," Schurr said. "Were there people here before the last glacial maximum?" he asked. "The suggestion is, 'Yes.' "
H）The third wave arose in the American continent around the year 1000, when a small number of Vikings arrived. 500 years later, the great European migration began. In some cases, there were cultural clashes, leading to violence and disease. Many people from Africa, however, were bought here against their will to work as forced laborers in the building of a new nation. As early as 1619, slaves from Africa and the Caribbean were brought forcibly to America. Later, 102 English colonists (later referred to as the “Pilgrims”) set sail in 1620 on the May flower. They landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. This is generally considered by many to be the “start” of planned European migration! In 1638, just 18 years after the Mayflower, the Swedes began their migration to America. Unlike the Pilgrim Fathers, the Swedes were not religious opponents –they were an organized group of colonizers sent by the Swedish Government to establish a colony in Delaware. In 1655, the colony was lost to the Dutch. In the mid-1840s, a wave of Swedish migration began with the landing of a group of migrant farmers in New York and continued up to World War I.
I）During the colonial era most of the immigrants to the US came from Northern Europe. Their numbers declined during the 1770s, but picked up during the mid-1800s. New arrivals came from several countries, but mostly from Germany and Ireland where crop failures caused many to leave their homelands. Other groups also arrived from the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, the Scandinavian countries, and Eastern Europe.
46. The anthropologists’ earlier work believes that the Jomon are the ancestors of Kennewick Man.
47. Only small numbers of early immigrants survived in Canada in that the extreme cold weather wasn’t suitable for their survival.
48. According to a study, Jomon people’s facial feat ures have more genetic similarities to