专四阅读+详细讲解

星期4 ThursdayBusiness is the salf of life.事业是人生的第一需要。

Text ADespite all the progress toward wo men’s equality, women who work full time are still earning only 75 cents on average to every dollar earned by men.Driving home that point, the National Committee on Pay Equity has chosen April 16 this year, to remind Americans that all women would need to work at least an extra two days in a workweek to earn almost as much as all men do in one normal workweek.Why does such a wage gap still persist?Economists differ in their explanations. And yet this income disparity is seen as a key indicator of how women are treated — in both the workplace and at home.Fortunately, the women’s movement and civil rights enforcement have ended most gender discrimination in setting wages. Now advocates are focused on ensuring that working women have female advisers and role models, while they try to remove subtlediscrimination in promotions —the “glass ceiling” (指职业女性在职务提升时遇到的无形阻力)that accounts for so few women being in top management.Many economists, however, say many women have lower-paying jobs because of choices made in their home life, such as taking time out to raise children. Or women take part-time, low-wage jobs for the flexibility. When they do reenter the workforce full time, they’re often behind their working peers in pay and promotions.But as more women feel empowered to make career choices, their pay rises.Another explanation is that women d on’t r eally make the choice to drop off the career ladder or to stay at a lower job rung. They may, for example, accept the expectations of others to take traditional jobs for women, such as nursing, which have low market wages. They must often take jobs that do n’t account for the unpredictability of families. Working moms may find their income can’t pay for day care, or day care doesn’t su it their child. If they are married, they may realize their husbands are not inclined to child rearing (or house chores), so they either quit work or go part time.So as their life choices seem to become a life burden, wo men’s income slips behind men’s.No matter what the explanation, much progress has been made in reducing the pay gap. While government still has a major role, employers can do more. Many have found a market advantage in supporting working mothers or putting women in management. And in the home, men and women are getting smarter in defining their marital relationships, often before tying the knot.Just as women now outnumber men in college, perhaps someday their average paywill surpass men’s —and that may make up for lost wages.1. April 16 has been chosen[A] to show the organization’s attitude towards equal pay.[B] to define the day as pay day for women who are not equally paid.[C] to make it clear that women working full time are earning less than men.[D] to remind women to work longer hours to earn as much as men.2. How can women raise their salary?[A] By going out for work instead of staying at home.[B] By asking their employer to raise their salary.[C] By sending their child to the kindergarten.[D] By having the ability to choose their jobs.3. Which of the following is NOT a traditional job for women?[A] Nurse. [B] Teacher.[C] Economist. [D] Typist.4. Which of the following statement is NOT true?[A] Wage gap servers as a key indicator of how women are treated.[B] Many women have lower-paying jobs because of house chores.[C] Some working mothers earn less than their children’s day care.[D] Many employers have already done enough to support working mothers.5. Who are expected to contribute more to narrowing the pay gap?[A] Women themselves.[B] Employers.[C] The government.[D] Men.Text BIf sustainable competitive advantage depends upon work force skills, American firms have a problem. Human-resource management is not traditionally seen as central to the competitive survival of the firm in the United States. Skill acquisition is considered an individual responsibility. Labor is simply another factor of production to be hired —rented at the lowest possible cost — much as one buys raw materials or equipment.The lack of importance attached to human-resource management can be seen in the corporate hierarchy. In an American firm the chief financial officer (CFO) is almost always second in command. The post of head of human-resource management is usually a specialized job, off at the edge of the corporate hierarchy. The executive who holds it is never consulted on major strategic decisions and has no chance to move up to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). By way of contrast, in Japan the head of human-resource management is central — usually the second most important executive, after the CEO, in the firm’s hierarchy.While American firms often talk about the vast amounts they spend in training their work forces, in fact, they invest less in the skills of their employees than do either Japanese or German firms. The money they do invest is also more highly concentrated on professional and managerial employees. And the limited investments that are made in training workers are also much more narrowly focused on the specific skills necessaryfor the next job rather than on the basic background skills that make it possible to absorb new technologies.As a result, problems emerge when new breakthrough technologies arrive. If American workers, for example, take much longer to learn how to operate new flexible manufacturing stations than in Germany (as they do), the effective cost of those stations is lower in Germany than it is in the United States. More time is required before equipment is up and running at capacity, and the need for extensive retraining generates costs and creates bottlenecks that limit the speed with which new equipment can be employed. The result is a slower pace of technological change. And in the end the skills of the bottom half of the population affect the wages of the top half. If the bottom half can’t effectively start the processes that have to be operated, the management and professional jobs that go with these processes will disappear.6. In an American firm, the executive of human-resource management[A] has a position directly under the chief financial executive.[B] is one of the most important executives of the firm.[C] has no say in making important decisions of the firm.[D] is unimportant when new technologies have been introduced.7. The money most American firms put in work force training mainly goes on[A] technological and managerial staff.[B] workers who will run new equipment.[C] workers who lack basic background skills.[D] top executives.8. Technological change in American firms is slower because[A] new equipment in America is more expensive.[B] they don’t pay enough attention to the job training of their workers.[C] they are less responsive to technological changes.[D] their professional staff are less paid and so less creative.9. Which of the following applies to the management of human resources in American companies?[A] They hire people at the lowest cost regardless of their skills.[B] They see the gaining of skills as their employees’ own business.[C] They attach more importance to workers than equipment.[D] They only hire skilled workers because of keen competition.10. According to the passage, the decisi ve factor in maintaining a firm’s competitive advantage is[A] the introduction of new technologies.[B] the improvement of worker’s basic skills.[C] the rational composition of professional and managerial employees.[D] the attachment of importance to the bottom half of the employees.Text CDespite the fact that comets are probably the most numerous astronomical bodies in the solar system aside from small meteor(流星) fragments and the asteroids (小行星), they are largely a mystery. Scientists don’t know exactly what comets are or where theycome from. Educated guesses are the best we have in hand.Considering the role of comets in lore, legend, and the memory of man, it is remarkable that we still know so little, relatively, about them. The most famous comet of all, Halley’s Comet (named for the man who predicted its return), was first sighted by the Chinese in 240 B.C., and it has returned to terrify the people of the world on a regular basis ever since then (last scheduled return: 1986). The ancients considered it an object of ill omen. By mysterious coincidence, the arrival of Halley’s Comet coincided with such events as the battle of Hastings in 1066, the Jewish revolt of 66 A.D., and the last battle of Attila the Hun against the Romans. Nor is it the only comet to fill man with awe, but merely the most famous in a rich aristocracy of blood-freezers.Comets are even more fascinating to amateur astronomers than to professionals, because this is one area where amateurs can (and do) make major discoveries. Comet Ikeya Seki, one of the brightest comets to appear in last century was discovered in 1965 by a pair of Japanese amateurs, Ikeya and Seki. The person who discovers a new comet gets his (or her) name put on it. And amateurs have a head start in the race to discover new comets; the shorter focal lengths on their smaller telescopes give them a positive advantage over the huge telescope such as Mount Wilson which is built to scan for galaxies, not comparatively of short distances.Most scientists tend to agree with the astronomer Fred T. Whipple that a comet is really a large mushy snowball of frozen ices and gases (ammonia, methane, possibly carbon dioxide) with a few bits of solid particles stuck inside. But no one is sure how comets are created in the first place.Scientists believe that comets don’t exhibit their characteristic tail while they lurk far out in space away from the warmth of the sun but, rather, wander in the form of frozen lumps, like icebergs. This is the core of the comet. Only when the comet approaches the heat of the sun, does the ice begin to melt and stream away in the form of visible gases. The tails o f the comet stream out behind for, literally, astronomical distances. Halley’s Comet had a tail of 94 million miles long when it visited here in 1910. The Great Comet of 1843 had a tail of 186 million miles long.11. At the beginning of the passage, the author indicates that[A] comets are the most commonly seen astronomical bodies.[B] comets, meteor fragments and the asteroids are mysterious.[C] not much is known about comets.[D] nothing do we know about comets except guesses.12. Halley’s Comet is mentioned in paragraph 2[A] to introduce some famous historical events.[B] to explain some traditional beliefs about comets.[C] to demonstrate the harm it has done to man.[D] to show its significance to human history.13. We learn from the passage, amateur astronomers[A] began their discovery earlier than the professionals .[B] tend to be the leaders in the area of astronomy.[C] have some advantages in discovering new comets.[D] established some theories on how comets come into being.14. The core of a comet[A] has no solid form.[B] wanders like a frozen lump when it’s far out in space.[C] requires the warmth of the sun to survive.[D] is always followed by a long tail.15. Which of the following about comets is INCORRECT?[A] They are great in number.[B] Their arrivals used to frighten human beings.[C] They are named after their discoverers.[D] They are large mushy snowballs of frozen ices and gases.Text DAround the world, hearts were broken when news came that the conjoined Bijani twins had died on the operating table. Having lived in tortured unity for 29 years, they traveled form their native Iran to Singapore for the surgery meant to set them free. The doctors who performed it were distressed. When you lose a patient, particularly when the patient dies at your own hand, the heartbreak mixes with unbearable guilt. The doctors are asking themselves the same question everyone else is asking: Should they have done it?The doctors certainly knew the risk. They knew that with the women’s shared circulatory systems, the risk was great. They might have underestimated the technical challenges, but they did not deceive their patients. The sisters, highly educated andhighly motivated, knew full well the risk of never waking up from the surgery.Indeed, they never did. Should the surgeons have attempted such a risky procedure on patients who were not dying, and, in fact, were not even sick?For all the regrets and second guesses, it is hard to see how the answer could have been anything but yes. The foundation of the medical vocation is that the doctor is servant to the patient’s will. Not always, of course. There are times when the doctor must say no. This was not such a time.Consider those cases in which outside values trump(占据上风) the patients-expressed desire. The first is life. Even if the patient asks you to, you may not kill him. In some advanced precincts(地区) —Holland and Oregon, for example —this is thought to be a quaint(奇怪的)idea, and the state permits physicians to perform “assisted suicide”. That is a terrible mistake, for the state and for the physician. And not only because it embarks us on a slippery slope where putting people to death in the name of some higher humanity becomes progressively.Even if there were no slippery slope, there is a deeply important principle at stake: doctors are healers, not killers. You cannot eliminate the subject you are supposedly serving — it is not just a philosophical absurdity, it constitutes the most fundamental violation of the Hippocratic oath. You are not permitted to do any harm to the patient, let alone the ultimate harm.There are other forms of self-immolation, less instantaneous and less spectacular, to which doctors may not contribute. Drug taking, for example. One could say, the patient wants it, and he knows the risks —why not give him what he wants? No. The doctor isthere to help save a suffering soul from the ravages of a failing body. He is not there to ravage a healthy body in the service of a sick and self-destructive soul.The patient is sovereign and the physician’s duty is to be the servant, which is why the doctors in Singapore were right trying to separate the twins. They were not seeking self-destruction; they were seeking liberation. And they were trying to undo a form of impairment imposed on them by nature. The extraordinary thing about their request was that it was so utterly ordinary. They were asking for nothing special, nothing superhuman, nothing radically enhancing of human nature. They were only seeking to satisfy the most simple and pedestrian of desires: to live as single human being.16. At the beginning of the passage, the author sounds towards the doctors.[A] indifferent. [B] pitiful. [C] accusing. [D] objective.17. Why do es the author say “this was not such a time” in Para. 4?[A] Because the twin sisters are conjoined.[B] Because the twin sisters know the risks very well.[C] Because the operation is the twin sisters’ expressed desire.[D] Because the twin sisters are seeking liberation, not self-destruction.18. We can infer from Para. 6 that “Hippocratic oath” is[A] a philosophical conception.[B] an oath for all common citizens.[C] about the doctors’ responsibilities to the patients.[D] the doctors’ oath to serve the patients’ expressed desires.19. The author pointed out all the following facts EXCEPT that[A] the doctors do not have any responsibility for the failure of the twin sisters’ operation.[B] it is correct for the Singapore doctors to do the operation, although it failed in the end.[C] the twin sisters’ desire is different from the desire of those who want drugs or suicide.[D] doctors should decide whether the patient is attempting self-destruction before serving his desire.20. Which would be the best title for the passage?[A] The Conjoined Sisters from Iran.[B] Should They Have Made the Attempt?[C] On Patients’ Self-immolation.[D] Doctors and Patients.语境词汇Text A1. Driving home把…讲得透彻明白2. disparity n.不同，不等3. indicator n.指示者，指示器；指示牌4. enforcement n.实施，执行；强制，强迫5. subtle a.微细的，微妙的；精巧的；敏锐的6. reenter vt.重新加入，再加入7. empower vt.授权，准许8. rear vt.抚养，养育；饲养，栽培n.后部，背面9. tie the knot 结婚Text B1. sustainable a.持续的；能维持的；支撑得住的2. acquisition n.取得，获得；得到的东西3. hierarchy n.等级制度，阶层4. specific a.特定的；明确的n.特效药；详情5. extensive a.大规模的，广阔的；全面的，彻底的6. bottleneck n.瓶颈，障碍；窄路段，交通阻塞点Text C1. astronomical a.天文的2. aside from 除了…之外(尚有)3. educated a.根据知识或经验的；有教养的4. remarkable a.不平常的，值得注意到5. on a regular basis 定期地6. focal a.焦点的：focal length焦距Text D1. conjoin v.使联合，使连接：conjoined twins 连体双胞胎2. underestimate v.低估3. trump v.占据上风4. precinct n.区域；近郊5. quaint a.奇怪的；古怪的6. at stake 濒临危险7. absurdity n.荒谬，违背常理8. ravage n.蹂躏，饱受折磨9. pedestrian a.平常的；徒步的；缺乏想象的n.行人难句突破Text A1. Now advocates are focused on ensuring that working women have female advisers and role models, while they try to remove subtle discrimination in promotions —the “glass ceiling” that accounts for so few women being in top management.【分析】复合句。