Text4
To combat the trap of putting a premium on being busy, Cal Newport,author of
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World,recommends building a
habit of “deep work” - the ability to fucus without distraction.
There are a number of approaches to mastering the art of deep work - be it lengthy
retreats dedicated to a specific task; developing a daily ritual;or taking a “journalistic”
approach to seizing moments of deep work when you can throughout the day.
Whichever approach,the key is to determine your length of focus time and stick to it.
Newport also recommends “deep scheduling” to combat constant interruptions
and get more done in less time. “At any given point, I should have deep work
scheduled for roughly the next month.Once on the calendar, I protect this time like I
would a doctor’s appointment or important meeting,” he writes.
Another approach to getting more done in less time is to rethink how you prioritise
your day-in particular how we craft our to-do lists.Tim Harford, author of Messy: The
Power of Disorder to Transform. Our Lives, points to a study in the early 1980s that
divided undergraduates into two groups: some were advised to set out monthly goals
and study activities; others were told to plan activities and goals in much more detail,
day by day.
While the researchers assumed that the well-structured daily plans would be most
effective when it come to the execution of tasks, they were wrong: the detailed daily
plans demotivated students. Harford argues that inevitable distractions often render
the daily to-do list ineffective,while leaving room for improvisation in such a list can
reap the best results.
In order to make the most of our focus and energy, we also need to embrace
downtime, or as Newport suggests, “be lazy.”
“Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the
brain as vitamin D is to the body...[idleness] is ,paradoxically, necessary to getting any
work done,” he argues.
Srini Pillay, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School,
believes this counterintuitive link between downtime and productivity may be due to
the way our brains operate. When our brains switch between being focused and
unfocused on a task, they tend to be more efficient.
“What people don’t realise is that in order to complete these tasks they need to use
both the focus and unfocus circuits in their brain,” says Pillay.
Text4
36. The key to mastering the art of deep work is to______
A. seize every minute to work
B. list you immediate tasks
C. make specific daily plans
D. Keep to your focus time
37. The study in the early 1980s cited by Harford shows that
A. students are hardly motivated by monthly goals
B. detailed plans may not be as fruitful as expected
C. distractions may actually increase efficiency
D. daily schedules arc indispensable to studying
38. According to Newport, idleness is
A. a desirable mental state for busy people
B. a major contributor to physical health
C. an effective way to save time and energy
0. an essential factor in accomplishing any work
39. Pillay believes that our brain’s shift between being focused and infocused ______
A. can bring about greater efficiency
B. can result in psychological well-being
C. is driven by task urgency
D. is aimed at better balance in work
40. This text is mainly about_____
A. approaches to getting more done in less time
B. Ways to relieve the tension of busy life
C. The key to eliminating distractions
D. The cause of the lack of focus time
第1题
Text2
While fossil fuels- coal,oil,gas- still generate roughly 85 percent of the world's energy
supply,it'sclearer than ever that the future belongs to renewablesources such as wind and solar.The
move to renewables is picking up momentumaround the world: They now account for more than half ofnew power sourcesgoing on line.
Some growth stems from a commitment bygovernments and farsighted Businssesto
fundcleanerenergy sources.But increasinglythestoryisabout theplummeting prices of
renewables,especially wind and solar.The cost of solarpanels has dropped by 80 percent and the
cost of wind turbines by close taone-third in the past eight years.
In many parts of the world renewable energy is already a principal energy source.In
Scotland,for example, wind turbines provide enough electricity to power 95 percent of homes.
While the rest of the world takes the lead, notably China and Europe, the United States is also
seeing a remarkable shift. In March,for the first time,wind and solar power accounted for more
than 10 percent of the power generated in the US,reported the US Energy Information
Administration.
President Trump has underlined fossil fuels - especially coal - as thepathto economic growth.
In a recent speech in Iowa, he dismissed wind power as an unreliable energy source, But that
message did not play well with many in Iowa,where wind turbines dot the fields and provide 36
percent of the state's electricity generation - and where tech giants likeMicrosoftare being
attracted by the availability of clean energy to power their data centers.
The question “what happens when the wind doesn't blow or the sun doesn'tshine?" has provid
ed a quick put-down for skeptics. But a boost in the storage
apacity of batteries is making their ability to keep power flowing around the clock more likely.
The advance is driven in par by vehicle manufacturers, who are placing big
bets on battery-powered electric vehicles. Although electric cars are still a rarity
on roads now. this massive investment could change the picture rapidly in coming years.
While there's a long way to go,the trend lines for renewables are spiking. The pace of
change in energy sources appears to be speeding up perhaps: just in time to have a
meaningful effect in slowing climate change.What Washington does-or
doesn't do- to promote alternative energy may mean less and less a time of
aglobal shift in thought.
26.The word "plummeting"(Line3,Para.2)is closest in meaning to ______
A.stabilizing
B.changing
C.falling
D.rising
27. According to Paragraph 3,the use of renewable energy in America ______
A. is progressing notably
B. is as extensive as in Europe
C. faces many challenges
D. has proved to be impractical
28. It can be learned that in Iowa,
______.
A. wind is a widely used energy source
B. wind energy has replaced fossil fuels
C. tech giants are investing in clean energy
D. there is a shortage of clean energy supply
29. Which of the following is true about clean energy according to Paragraphs 5&6?A. Its
application has boosted battery storage.B. It is commonly used in car manufacturing.C. Its
continuous supply is becoming a reality.D. Its sustainable exploitation will remain difficult. 30. It
can be inferred from the last paragraph that renewable energy _____.
A. will bring the US closer to other countries
B. will accelerate global environmental change
C. is not really encouraged by the US government
D. is not competitive enough with regard to its cost
30. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that renewable energy _____.
第2题
Text 3
The power and ambition of the giants of thedigitaleconomy is astonishing -Amazonhas just
announced the purchase of the upmarket grocery chain Whole Foods for $13.5bn, but two years
agoFacebookpaid even more than that to acquire theWhatsAppmessaging service, which
doesn’t have any physical product at all. What WhatsApp offered Facebook was an intricate and
finely detailedwebof its users’ friendships and social lives.
Facebook promised the European commission then that it would not link phone numbers to
Facebook identities, but it broke the promise almost as soon as the deal went through. Even
without knowing what was in the messages, the knowledge of who sent them and to whom was
enormously revealing and still could be. What political journalist, what party whip, would not
want to know the makeup of the WhatsApp groups in which Theresa May’s enemies are currently
plotting? It may be that the value of Whole Foods toAmazonis not so much the 460 shops ft owns,
but the records of which customers have purchased what.
Competition law appears to be the only way to address these imbalances of power. But it is
clumsy. For one thing, it is very slow compared to the pace of change within the digital economy.
By the time a problem has been addressed and remedied it may have vanished in the marketplace,
to be replaced by new abuses of power. But there is a deeper conceptual problem, too.
Competition law as presently interpreted deals with financial disadvantage to consumers and this
is not obvious when the users of these services don’t pay for them. The users of their services are
not their customers. That would be the people who buy advertising from them - and Facebook
andGoogle,the two virtual giants, dominate digital advertising to the disadvantage of all other
media and entertainment companies.
The product they’re selling is data, and we, the users, convert our lives to data for the benefit of
thedigital giants.Just as some ants farm the bugs called aphids for the honeydew they produce whe
31.According to Paragraph1,Facebook acquired WhatsApp for its 。
A.digialproducts
B.userinformation
C.physical assets
D.quality service
32.Linking phone numbers to Faccbook identities may
A.worsen political disputes
B.mess up customer records
C.pose a risk to Facebook users
D.mislead the European commission
33.According to the author,competition law
A.should serve the new market powers
B.may worsen the economic imbalancens
C.should not provide just one legal solution
D.cannot keep pace with the changing market
34.Competition law as presently interpreted can hardly protect Facebook nsers
Because
A.they are no defined as customers
B.they are not financially reliable
C.these rvices aregenerallydigital
D.the services are paid for by advertisers
35.The ants analogy is used to llustrate
A.a win-win business model between digital giants
B.a typical competition pattem among digital giants
C.the benefits provided for digital giants' customers
D.the relationship between digital giants and their users
第3题
Section Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
Part A
Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points) Text 1 It is curious that StephenKoziatekfeels almost as though he has to justify his efforts to give his students a better future. Mr.Koziatek is part of something pioneering. He is a teacher at a New Hampshire high school where learning is not something of books and tests and mechanical memorization, but practical. When did it become accepted wisdom that students should be able to name the 13th president of the United States but be utterly overwhelmed by a broken bike chain?
As Koziatek knows,there is learning in just about everything. Nothing is necessarily gained by forcing students to learn geometry at a graffitied desk stuck with generations of discarded chewing gum. They can also learn geometry by assembling a bicycle.
But he’s also found a kind of insidious prejudice. Working with your hands is seen as almost a mark of inferiority.Schools in the family of vocationaleducation“have that stereotype..that it’s for kids who can’t make it academically,”he says.
On one hand,that viewpoint is a logical product of America’s evolution.Manufacturing is not the economic engine that it once was.The job security that the US economy once offered to high school graduates has largely evaporated.More education is the new principle.We want more for our kids,and rigitfully so.
But the headlong push into bachelor’s degrees for all -and the subtle devaluing of anything less-misses an important point:That’s not the only thing the American economy neds.Yes,a bachelor’s degree opens more doors.But even now,54 percent of the jobs in the country are middle-skill jobs,such as construction and high-skill manufacturing.But only 44 percent of workers are adequately trained.
In other words,at a time when the working class has turned the country on its political head,frustrated that the opportunity that once defined America is vanishing,one obvious solution is staring us in the face.There is a gap in working-class jobs,but the workers who need those jobs most aren’t equipped to do them.Koziatek’s Manchester School of Technology High School is trying to fill that gap.
Koziatek’s school is a wake-up call.When education becomes one-size-fits-all,it risks overlooking a nation’s diversiy of gifts.
21.A brokan bike chain is mentioned to show students’ lack of______.
A.mechanical memorization
B.academic training
C.practical ability
D.pioneering spirit
22.There existsthe prejudice that vocational education is for kids who______.
A.are financially disadvantaged
B.are not academically successful
C.have a stereotyped mind
D.have no career motivation
23.We can infer from Paragraph 5 that high school graduates______.
A.are entitled to more “ducational privileges
B.are reluctant to work in manufacturing
C.used to have more job opportunities
D.used to have big financial concerns
24.The headlong push into bacheloi’s degrees for all_____.
A.helps create a lot of middle-skill jobs
B.may narrow the gap in working-class jobs
C.is expected to yield a better-trained workforce
D.indicates the overvaluing of higher education
25.The author’s attitude toward Koziatek’s school can be described as_____.
A.supportive
B.disappointed
C.tolerant
D.cautious
第4题
Section I Use of English Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points) why do people read negative Internet comments and do other things that will obviously be painful?Because humans have an inherent need to 1 uncertainty,according to a recent study in Psychological Science. Thenewresearch reveals that the need to know is so strong that people wiill 2 to satisfy their curiosity even when it is clear the answer will 3. In a series of four experiments, behavioral scientists at the University of Chicago and the Wisconsin School of Business tested students' willingness to 4 themselves to unpleasant stimuli in an effort to satisfy curiosity. For one 5 each participant was shown a pile of pens that the researcher claimed were from a previous experiment. The twist?Half of the pens would 6 an electric shock when clicked. Twenty-seven students were told which pens were electrified;another twenty-seven were told only that some were electrified 7 left alone in the room, the students who did not know which ones wou ld shock them clicked more pens and incurred more shocks than the students who knew what woul d 8 .Subsequent experiments reproduced this effect with other stimuli, 9 the sound of fingernails o n a chalkboard and photographs of disgusting insects. The drive to 10 is deeply rooted in humans,much the same as the basic drives for 11 or shelter,says Christopher Hsee of the University of Chicago. Curiosity is often considered a good instinct-it ca n 12 new scientific advances, for instance-but sometimes such 13 can backfire.The insight that cur iosity can drive you to do 14 things is a profound one.Unhealthy curiosity is possible to 15 ,howev er. In a final experiment,participants who were encouraged to 16 how they would feel after viewin g an unpleasant picture were less likely to 17 to see such an image.These results suggest that imagi ning the 18 of following through on one's curiosity ahead of time can help determine 19 it is worth the endeavor. Thinking about long-term 20 is key to reducing the possible negative effects of curi osity."Hsee says.In other words,don't read onlinecomments.
1.A.resolve B.protect C.discuss D.ignore
2.A.refuse B.wait C.seek D.regret
3.A.rise B.last C.mislead D.hurt
4.A.alert B.tie C.expose D.treat
5.A.message B.trial C.review D.concept
6.A.remove B.weaken C.deliver D.interrupt
7.A.Unless B.If C.Though D.When
8.A.happen B.continue C.disappear D.change
9.A.rather than B.such as C.regardless of D.owing to
10.A.disagree B. forgive C.forget D.discover
11.A.pay B.marriage C.food D.schooling
12.A.begin with B.rest on C.learn from D.lead to
13.A. withdrawal B. inquiry C .persistence D.diligence
14.A.self-destiuctiv e B.self-reliant C. self-evident D.self-deceptive
15.A.resist B.define C.replace D.trace
16.A.predict B.overlook C.design D.conceal
17.A.remember B.choose C.promise D.pretend
18.A.relief B.plan C.outcome D.duty
19.A. whether B.why C.where D.how
20.A.limitations B.investments C.strategies D.consequences
第5题
u should
1)describe the pictures briefly,
2)interpret the meaning,and
3)give your comments.
第6题
mmending some tourist attractions in your city.Please give reasons for your recommendation.
You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET .
Do not sign your own name at the end of the email.Use "Li Ming" instead.
Do not write the address.(10 points)
第7题
七选五:[A]The first published sketch, "A Dinner at Poplar Walk" brought tears to Dickens's eyes when he discovered it in the pages of The Monthly Magazine. From then on his sketches ,which appeared under the pen name "Boz" in The Evening Chronicle, earned him a modest reputation.
[B]The runaway success of The Pickwick Papers, as it is generally known today, secured Dickens's fame. There were Pickwick coats and Pickwick cigars, and the plump, spectacled hero, Samuel Pickwick, became a national figure.
[C]Soon after Sketches by Boz appeared, a publishing firm approached Dickens to write a story in monthly installments, as a backdrop for a series of woodcuts by the ten-famous artist Robert Seymour, who had originated the idea for the story. With characteristic confidence, Dickens successfully insisted that Seymour's pictures illustrate his own story instead. After the first installment, Dickens wrote to the artist and asked him to correct a drawing Dickens felt was not faithful enough to his prose. Seymour made the change, went into his backyard, and expressed his displeasure by committing suicide. Dickens and his publishers simply pressed on with a new artist. The comic novel, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, appeared serially in 1836 and 1837, and was first published in book form. in 1837.
[D]Charles Dickens is probably the best-known and, to many people, the greatest English novelist of the 19th century. A moralist, satirist, and social reformer. Dickens crafted complex plots and striking characters that capture the panorama of English society.
[E]Soon after his father's release from prison, Dickens got a better job as errand boy in law offices. He taught himself shorthand to get an even better job later as a court stenographer and as a reporter in Parliament. At the same time, Dickens, who had a reporter's eye for transcribing the life around him especially anything comic or odd, submitted short sketches to obscure magazines.
[F] Dickens was born in Portsmouth, on England's southern coast. His father was a clerk in the British navy pay office -a respectable position, but wish little social status. His paternal grandparents, a steward and a housekeeper possessed even less status, having been servants, and Dickens later concealed their background. Dicken's mother supposedly came from a more respectable family. Yet two years before Dicken's birth, his mother's father was caught stealing and fled to Europe, never to return. The family's increasing poverty forced Dickens out of school at age 12 to work in Warren's Blacking Warehouse, a shoe-polish factory, where the other working boys mocked him as "the young gentleman." His father was then imprisoned for debt. The humiliations of his father's imprisonment and his labor in the blacking factory formed Dicken's greatest wound and became his deepest secret. He could not confide them even to his wife, although they provide the unacknowledged foundation of his fiction.
[G] After Pickwick, Dickens plunged into a bleaker world. In Oliver Twist, e traces an orphan's progress from the workhouse to the criminal slums of London. Nicholas Nickleby, his next novel, combines the darkness of Oliver Twist with the sunlight of Pickwick. The popularity of these novels consolidated Dichens' as a nationally and internationally celebrated man of letters.
第8题
翻译:(46)But even as the number of English speakers expands further there are signs that the global predominance of the language may fade within the foreseeable future.
Complex international, economic, technological and culture change could start to diminish the leading position of English as the language of the world market, and UK interests which enjoy advantage from the breath of English usage would consequently face new pressures. Those realistic possibilities are highlighted in the study presented by David Graddol
(47)His analysis should therefore end any self-contentedness among those who may believe that the global position of English is so stable that the young generation of the United Kingdom do not need additional language capabilities.
David Graddol concludes that monoglot English graduates face a bleak economic future as qualified multilingual youngsters from other countries are proving to have a competitive advantage over their British counterparts in global companies and organizations. Alongside that,(48)many countries are introducing English into the primary-school curriculum but British schoolchildren and students do not appear to be gaining greater encouragement to achieve fluency in other languages.
If left to themselves, such trends will diminish the relative strength of the English language in international education markets as the demand for educational resources in languages, such as Spanish ,Arabic or Mandarin grows and international business process outsourcing in other language such as Japanese, French and German, spreads.
(49)The changes identified by David Graddol all present clear and major challenges to UK`s providers of English language teaching to people of other countries and to broader education business sectors. The English language teaching sector directly earns nearly &1.3 billion for the UK in invisible exports and our other education related explores earn up to &10 billion a year more. As the international education market expands, the recent slowdown in the number of international students studying in the main English-speaking countries is likely to continue, especially if there are no effective strategic policies to prevent such slippage.
The anticipation of possible shifts in demand provided by this study is significant:(50) It gives a basis to all organization which seek to promote the learning and very different operating environment. That is a necessary and practical approach. In this as in much else, those who wish to influence the future must prepare for it.
第9题
In a rare unanimous ruling, the US Supreme Court has overturned the corruption conviction of a former Virginia governor, Robert McDonnell. But it did so while holding its nose at the ethics of his conduct, which included accepting gifts such as a Rolex watch and a Ferrari automobile from a company seeking access to government.
The high court's decision said the judge in Mr. McDonnell's trial failed to tell a jury that it must look only at his "official acts," or the former governor's decisions on "specific" and "unsettled" issues related to his duties.
Merely helping a gift-giver gain access to other officials, unless done with clear intent to pressure those officials, is not corruption, the justices found.
The court did suggest that accepting favors in return for opening doors is "distasteful" and "nasty." But under anti-bribery laws, proof must be made of concrete benefits, such as approval of a contract or regulation. Simply arranging a meeting, making a phone call, or hosting an event is not an "official act".
The court's ruling is legally sound in defining a kind of favoritism that is not criminal. Elected leaders must be allowed to help supporters deal with bureaucratic problems without fear of prosecution for bribery." The basic compact underlying representative government," wrote Chief Justice John Roberts for the court," assumes that public officials will hear from their constituents and act on their concerns."
But the ruling reinforces the need for citizens and their elected representatives, not the courts, to ensure equality of access to government. Officials must not be allowed to play favorites in providing information or in arranging meetings simply because an individual or group provides a campaign donation or a personal gift. This type of integrity requires well-enforced laws in government transparency, such as records of official meetings, rules on lobbying, and information about each elected leader's source of wealth.
Favoritism in official access can fan public perceptions of corruption. But it is not always corruption. Rather officials must avoid double standards, or different types of access for average people and the wealthy. If connections can be bought, a basic premise of democratic society-that all are equal in treatment by government-is undermined. Good governance rests on an understanding of the inherent worth of each individual.
The court's ruling is a step forward in the struggle against both corruption and official favoritism.
1.The undermined sentence (Para.1) most probably shows that the court
A.avoided defining the extent of McDonnell's duties.
B.made no compromise in convicting McDonnell.
C.was contemptuous of McDonnell's conduct.
D.refused to comment on McDonnell's ethics.
2.According to Paragraph 4, an official act is deemed corruptive only if it involves
A.leaking secrets intentionally.
B.sizable gains in the form. of gifts.
C.concrete returns for gift-givers.
D.breaking contracts officially.
3.The court"s ruling is based on the assumption that public officials are
A.justified in addressing the needs of their constituents.
B.qualified to deal independently with bureaucratic issues.
C.allowed to focus on the concerns of their supporters.
D.exempt from conviction on the charge of favoritism.
4.Well-enforced laws in government transparency are needed to
A.awaken the conscience of officials.
B.guarantee fair play in official access.
C.allow for certain kinds of lobbying.
D.inspire hopes in average people.
5.The author"s attitude toward the court"s ruling is
A.sarcastic.
B.tolerant.
C.skeptical.
D.supportive
第10题
Robert F. Kennedy once said that a country's GDP measures "everything except that which makes life worthwhile." With Britain voting to leave the European Union, and GDP already predicted to slow as a result, it is now a timely moment to assess what he was referring to.
The question of GDP and its usefulness has annoyed policymakers for over half a century. Many argue that it is a flawed concept. It measures things that do not matter and misses things that do. By most recent measures, the UK's GDP has been the envy of the Western world, with record low unemployment and high growth figures. If everything was going so well, then why did over 17 million people vote for Brexit, despite the warnings about what it could do to their country's economic prospects?
A recent annual study of countries and their ability to convert growth into well-being sheds some light on that question. Across the 163 countries measured, the UK is one of the poorest performers in ensuring that economic growth is translated into meaningful improvements for its citizens. Rather than just focusing on GDP, over 40 different sets of criteria from health, education and civil society engagement have been measured to get a more rounded assessment of how countries are performing.
While all of these countries face their own challenges , there are a number of consistent themes . Yes , there has been a budding economic recovery since the 2008 global crash , but in key indicators in areas such as health and education , major economies have continued to decline . Yet this isn't the case with all countries . Some relatively poor European countries have seen huge improvements across measures including civil society , income equality and the environment.
This is a lesson that rich countries can learn : When GDP is no longer regarded as the sole measure of a country's success, the world looks very different .
So, what Kennedy was referring to was that while GDP has been the most common method for measuring the economic activity of nations , as a measure , it is no longer enough . It does not include important factors such as environmental quality or education outcomes - all things that contribute to a person's sense of well-being.
The sharp hit to growth predicted around the world and in the UK could lead to a decline in the everyday services we depend on for our well-being and for growth . But policymakers who refocus efforts on improving well-being rather than simply worrying about GDP figures could avoid the forecasted doom and may even see progress .
1.Robert F. Kennedy is cited because he
A.praised the UK for its GDP
B.identified GDP with happiness
C.misinterpreted the role of GDP
D.had a low opinion of GDP
2.It can be inferred from Paragraph 2 that
A.the UK is reluctant to remold its economic pattern
B.GDP as the measure of success is widely defied in the UK
C.the UK will contribute less to the world economy
D.policymakers in the UK are paying less attention to GDP
3.Which of the following is true about the recent annual study ?
A.It is sponsored by 163 countries .
B.It excludes GDP as an indicator.
C.Its criteria are questionable .
D.Its results are enlightening .
4.In the last two paragraphs , the author suggests that
A.the UK is preparing for an economic boom .
B.high GDP foreshadows an economic decline .
C.it is essential to consider factors beyond GDP .
D.it requires caution to handle economic issues .
5.Which of the following is the best title for the text ?
A.High GDP But Inadequate Well-being , a UK Lesson
B.GDP Figures, a Window on Global Economic Health
C.Rebort F.Kennedy, a Terminator of GDP
D.Brexit, the UK's Gateway to Well-being
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