单选题Which of the following statements is true about Japan?A It has a very short life-expectancy on average.B It has the lowest infant mortality rate in the world.C Young people want to have more children.D The number of young people fit for work is decreas

Questions 88-90 refer to the following advertisement.
Obese people are less productive in the workplace and more prone to injury, a study claims. The researchers say their findings were so extreme that overweight people may need to take longer breaks to recover from the strains of work. They assessed how long it took for people of various sizes to perform certain tasks in the workplace. Obese people had, on average, 40 per cent shorter endurance times.
The study, conducted at Virginia Tech and the University at Buffalo in the U.S., examined the endurance of 32 people in four categories: non-obese young, obese young, non-obese older, and obese older. Each of them completed three tasks that involved a range of skills: hand grip, shoulder elevation, and a simulated assembly operation. Every task involved periods of work and rest, and included a level of activity similar to manufacturing settings.
The number of people who are obese has doubled over the past three decades-and has been linked to higher rates of workplace injury and a greater number of days of sick. ‘Workers who are obese may need longer rest breaks to return to their initial state of muscle function,’ said Dr Cavuoto. Based on the increased fatigue found
among workers who are obese, workplace designers may need to consider adding fixtures and supports to minimize the amount of time that body mass segments need to be supported. ‘We believe our results will help to develop more inclusive ergonomic guideline,’ she added. The researchers also looked at the effect of obesity and age on endurance times.
Previous research has indicated that both age and obesity hamper mobility-particularly when it comes to walking and low-energy tasks. But the researchers in this study, published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, found no such link.

Which of the following statements is true according to the article?

A. The subjects of the study are of all ages
B. The number of obese people has been on the increase
C. The tasks involved takes place in real work situation
D. The study has lasted over three decades

Text 1 Foreign cashiers and carers are now a fact oflife in Japan,especially in urban areas.The number of foreign workers has risen fast recently,t0 1.3m-some 2%of the workforce.Although visas that allow foreigners to settle in Japan are in theory mainly for highly skilled workers,in practice those with fewer skills may be admitted as students or trainees or as immigrants of Japanese extraction.In June the govemment announced that it would create a"designated-skills"visa in order to bring in 500,000 new workers by 2025,in agriculture,construction,hotels,nursing and shipbuilding.Japan has historically been cautious of admitting foreigners.It is one of the rich world's most homogenous countries:just 2%of residents are foreigners,compared with 4%in South Korea and 16%in France.The reasons for this attitude range from fears that outsiders will bring crime and damage societal practices,to concerns that Japanese residents will not be able to communicate properly with them.But Japan's population is old and getting smaller.To fill shortages in the labour force caused by the shrinking working-age population,govemment policy has focused on getting more women and old people into work,and using artificial intelligence.It has become apparent though that this is not enough;and businesses also want foreigners to help them remain competitive and to become more global.Indeed pressure from business is a big reason behind the change of tack.Over the past 20 years the number of workers under 30 has shrunk by a quarter.Another result of the greying population is the creation of ever more jobs,most notably as carers,that few Japanese want to do at the wages on offer.There are 60%more job vacancies than there are people looking for work.Industries such as agriculture and construction,as well as nursing,are increasingly dependent on foreigners.More exposure to foreigners,through a boom in tourism,has reassured Japanese,especially the young,that they can get along with them,too.Attracting the foreign workers Japan needs will not necessarily be easy.Language is a big barrier.Japanese-language abilities are not necessary for highly skilled workers wanting visas,but only a handful of companies work in English.Lowlier workers,who must pass a Japanese exam,are currallowed to bring their families and will not be able to under the"designated-skills"visa.Firms in which promotion is based on seniority rather than merit and in which long hours are the norm will find it hard to attract workers,too.Japan also needs to do more to help integrate foreigners.By accepting,for the most part,a small number of highly skilled workers,Japan has been able to get away without any inteUation policy.But as the number ofimmigrants rises,and especially as more low-skilled workers are admitted,this omission threatens to bring about some of the very concems that prompted the govemment to restrict immigration in the first place,such as ghettoisation and poverty.
The most suitable title for the text may be_____

A.Requirements to Get the"Designated-skills"Visa
B.What Japan Have Done to Attract Work Forces
C.Why Japan Is Going to Accept More Foreign Workers
D.Problems Japan Faced While Attracting Foreigners

共用题干
Prolonging Human Life
Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population.Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago.Because more people live longer,there are more people around at any given time.In fact,it is a decrease in death rates,not an increase in birthrates,that has led to the population explosion.
Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load.In all societies,people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them.In hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die.In times of famine,infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved,whereas if the parents survived they could have another child.In most contemporary societies,people feel a moral obligation to keep people alive whether they can work or not.We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work;we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age.Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement,somebody else must support them.In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty.Older people have more illness than young or middle-aged people;unless they have wealth or private or government insurance,they must often"go on welfare"if they have a serious illness.
When older people become senile or too weak and ill to care for themselves,they create grave problems for their families.In the past and in some traditional cultures,they would be cared for at home until they died.Today,with most members of a household working or in school,there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person.To meet this need,a great many nursing homes and convalescent hospitals have been built.These are often profit-making organizations,although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups.While a few of these institutions are good,most of them are simply"dumping grounds"for the dying in which"care"is given by poorly paid,overworked,and underskilled personnel.

According to the passage,which of the following statements about retired people in the United States is true?
A:Many of them have a very hard life.
B:They cannot live a decent life without enough bank savings.
C:They rely mainly on their children for financial support.
D:Most of them live with their children and therefore are well looked after.

共用题干
Prolonging Human Life
Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population.Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago.Because more people live longer,there are more people around at any given time.In fact,it is a decrease in death rates,not an increase in birthrates,that has led to the population explosion.
Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load.In all societies,people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them.In hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die.In times of famine,infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved,whereas if the parents survived they could have another child.In most contemporary societies,people feel a moral obligation to keep people alive whether they can work or not.We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work;we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age.Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement,somebody else must support them.In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty.Older people have more illness than young or middle-aged people;unless they have wealth or private or government insurance,they must often"go on welfare"if they have a serious illness.
When older people become senile or too weak and ill to care for themselves,they create grave problems for their families.In the past and in some traditional cultures,they would be cared for at home until they died.Today,with most members of a household working or in school,there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person.To meet this need,a great many nursing homes and convalescent hospitals have been built.These are often profit-making organizations,although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups.While a few of these institutions are good,most of them are simply"dumping grounds"for the dying in which"care"is given by poorly paid,overworked,and underskilled personnel.

Which of the following best describes the writer's attitude toward most of the nursing homes,and convalescent hospitals?
A:Sympathetic.
B:Unfriendly.
C:Optimistic.
D:Critical.

共用题干
The Industrial Age and Employment

The industrial age has been the only period of human history in which most people's
work has taken the form of jobs.The industrial age may now be coming to an end,and
some of the changes in work patterns which it brought about may have to be reversed.This
seems a daunting（大胆的）thought. But, in fact, it could offer the prospect of a better
future for work.Universal employment,as its history shows,has not meant economic freedom.
Employment became widespread when the enclosures of the 17th and 18th centuries
made many people dependent on paid work by depriving（剥夺）them of the use of the
land,and thus of the means to provide a living for themselves.Then the factory system
destroyed the cottage industries and removed work from people's homes.Later,as
transport improved, first by rail and then by road, people commuted（乘车往返）longer
distances to their places of employment until,eventually,many people's work lost all
connection with their home lives and the places in which they lived.
Meanwhile,employment put women at a disadvantage.In pre-industrial times,men
and women had shared the productive work of the household and village community.Now it
became customary(惯例的）for the husband to go out to paid employment, leaving the
unpaid work of the home and family to his wife.Tax and benefit regulations still assume this
norm today,and restrict more flexible sharing of work roles between the sexes.
It was not only women whose work status suffered.As employment became the
dominant form of work,young people and old people were excluded-a problem now,as
more teenagers become frustrated at school and more retired people want to live active lives.
All this may now have to change.The time has certainly come to switch some efforts
and resources away from the utopian（乌托邦的）goal of creating jobs for all, to the urgent
practical task of helping many people to manage without full-time jobs.

A.large number of teenagers will quit school next year.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned

Which of the following statements about California is NOT TRUE？( )

A.California is a sexually liberated state
B.California has a high abortion rate
C.About 40% of the pregnant teenagers chose to have an abortion
D.A recent poll showed that less than half of the respondents supported the amendment

共用题干
Prolonging Human Life
Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population. Many people alive
today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago.Because
more people live longer,there are more people around at any given time. In fact,it is a decrease in death rates,not an increase in birthrates,that has led to the population explosion.
Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load. In all societies,people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them. In hunting and gathering cultures,old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die. In times of famine,infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved,whereas if the parents survived they could have another child. In most contemporary societies,people feel a moral obligation to keep people alive whether they can work or not. We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work;we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age. Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement,some-body else must support them. In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty. Older people have more illness than young or middle-aged people;unless they have wealth or private or government insur-ance,they must often“go on welfare” if they have a serious illness.
When older people become senile or too weak and ill to care for themselves,they create grave problems for their families. In the past and in some traditional cultures,they would be cared for at home until they died. Today,with most members of a household working or in school,there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person. To meet this need,a great many nursing homes and convalescent hospitals have been built.These are of-ten profit-making organizations,although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups.While a few of these institutions are good,most of them are simply“dumping grounds”for the dying in which“care”is given by poorly paid,overworked,and under-skilled personnel.

According to the passage,which of the following statements about retired people in the United States is true?
A: Many of them have a very hard life.
B: They cannot live a decent life without enough bank savings.
C: They rely mainly on their children for financial support.
D: Most of them live with their children and therefore are well looked after.

共用题干
Teaching Is“One of the Least Popular Jobs in the UK”
1. The UK government has just published a report on the future of secondary-school teaching (pupils aged 11-16),and the conclusion of the report is that many secondary schools now face great difficulties in finding people who want to be teachers.Since the 1980s,the number of grad-uates who say they would“seriously consider”teaching as a career has fallen sharply,from 64% in 1982 to just 17%today.The report suggests that urgent action needs to be taken in order to encourage more intelligent young graduates into teaching.
2. The main drawback of secondary teaching,according to the report,is the low salary.Earnings in teaching are much lower than in many other jobs,and this means that fewer and fewer young people decide to be teachers.Joanne Manners,24 is a good example:“I graduated in maths last year,and I was thinking of doing a teacher training course to become a maths teacher,but when I looked into the details , it became clear that teaching isn't a very lucrative（赚钱的）job these days .I saw I could earn twice as much if I worked in marketing or advertising,and so I decided not to become a teacher.”
3 .It's not just about the money,however. The survey concluded that another reason why people don't want to be teachers is that some teenagers behave very badly in school. A lot of schools have problems with discipline,and it seems clear that children do not have the same respect for teachers as in the past.Here's the view of Dave Hallam,an accountant from London:“I think parents are to blame .They should have stricter rules with their children at home and also teach their children to have more respect for teachers.”
4.“I love teaching;it's my passion.I've been a secondary-school teacher of Spanish for ten years now,and although it's a very demanding job,it's very satisfying.When I see my students passing their Spanish exams,or singing along to Spanish pop songs,It makes me feel so proud.” Says Brian Jones,who works in a secondary school in London.So what does he think the government should do to encourage more people to become teachers?“My view is that the government should reduce the burden of work on teachers.I find that I always have too much work to do.”
5.The report is clear that the problem of teacher shortage is a very serious one.It says that the government should raise teachers' pay significantly,to catch up with workers in other professions. It also suggests that the government could launch a nationwide publicity campaign,with some advertisements on TV and in the newspapers,to show the positive sides of teaching to young people. Another solution could be set a maximum number of hours per week that teachers can work,in order to reduce stress on teachers.“Hopefully,”the report concludes,“these solutions can improve the poor image of secondary teaching,and increase the number of young people who want to become teachers in the future.”

More and more young people are held back from teaching____.
A: discipline problems
B: Their childhood memories
C: their stress
D: more training
E: because of its low pay
F: Its benefits

共用题干
Prolonging Human Life
Prolonging human life has increased the size of the human population.Many people alive today would have died of childhood diseases if they had been born 100 years ago.Because more people live longer,there are more people around at any given time.In fact,it is a decrease in death rates,not an increase in birthrates,that has led to the population explosion.
Prolonging human life has also increased the dependency load.In all societies,people who are disabled or too young or too old to work are dependent on the rest of society to provide for them.In hunting and gathering cultures, old people who could not keep up might be left behind to die.In times of famine,infants might be allowed to die because they could not survive if their parents starved,whereas if the parents survived they could have another child.In most contemporary societies,people feel a moral obligation to keep people alive whether they can work or not.We have a great many people today who live past the age at which they want to work or are able to work;we also have rules which require people to retire at a certain age.Unless these people were able to save money for their retirement,somebody else must support them.In the United States many retired people live on social security checks which are so little that they must live in near poverty.Older people have more illness than young or middle-aged people;unless they have wealth or private or government insurance,they must often"go on welfare"if they have a serious illness.
When older people become senile or too weak and ill to care for themselves,they create grave problems for their families.In the past and in some traditional cultures,they would be cared for at home until they died.Today,with most members of a household working or in school,there is often no one at home who can care for a sick or weak person.To meet this need,a great many nursing homes and convalescent hospitals have been built.These are often profit-making organizations,although some are sponsored by religious and other nonprofit groups.While a few of these institutions are good,most of them are simply"dumping grounds"for the dying in which"care"is given by poorly paid,overworked,and underskilled personnel.

The writer believes that the population explosion results from______.
A:an increase in birthrates
B:the industrial development
C:a decrease in death rates
D:cultural advances

共用题干
The Industrial Age and Employment

The industrial age has been the only period of human history in which most people's
work has taken the form of jobs.The industrial age may now be coming to an end,and
some of the changes in work patterns which it brought about may have to be reversed.This
seems a daunting（大胆的）thought. But, in fact, it could offer the prospect of a better
future for work.Universal employment,as its history shows,has not meant economic freedom.
Employment became widespread when the enclosures of the 17th and 18th centuries
made many people dependent on paid work by depriving（剥夺）them of the use of the
land,and thus of the means to provide a living for themselves.Then the factory system
destroyed the cottage industries and removed work from people's homes.Later,as
transport improved, first by rail and then by road, people commuted（乘车往返）longer
distances to their places of employment until,eventually,many people's work lost all
connection with their home lives and the places in which they lived.
Meanwhile,employment put women at a disadvantage.In pre-industrial times,men
and women had shared the productive work of the household and village community.Now it
became customary(惯例的）for the husband to go out to paid employment, leaving the
unpaid work of the home and family to his wife.Tax and benefit regulations still assume this
norm today,and restrict more flexible sharing of work roles between the sexes.
It was not only women whose work status suffered.As employment became the
dominant form of work,young people and old people were excluded-a problem now,as
more teenagers become frustrated at school and more retired people want to live active lives.
All this may now have to change.The time has certainly come to switch some efforts
and resources away from the utopian（乌托邦的）goal of creating jobs for all, to the urgent
practical task of helping many people to manage without full-time jobs.

Universal employment has brought about economic freedom.
A:Right
B:Wrong
C:Not mentioned

共用题干
第二篇

Excessive Demands on Young People

Being able to multitask is hailed by most people as a welcome skill,but not according to a recent study
which claims that young people between the ages of eight and eighteen of the so-called Generation M are
spending a considerable amount of their time in fruitless efforts as they multitask.It argues that in fact,these
young people are frittering（浪费）away as much as half of their time as they would if they performed the very
same tasks one after the other.
Some young people are using an ever larger number of electronic devices as they study. At the same time
they are working,young adults are also surfing on the Internet,or sending out emails to their friends,and/or
answering the telephone and listening to music on their iPods or on another computer. As some new device
comes along,it is also added to the list rather than replacing one of the existing devices.Other research has
indicated that this multitasking is even affecting the way families themselves function as young people are too
wrapped up in（沉湎于）their own isolated worlds to interact with the other people around them. They can no
longer greet family members when they enter the house nor can they eat at the family table.
All this electronic wizardry（魔力）is supposedly also seriously affecting young people's performance at
university and in the workplace. When asked about their opinions of the impact of modern gadgets（小装置）
on their performance of tasks,the great majority of young people gave a favourable response.
The response from the academic and business worlds was not quite as positive.The former feel that mul-
titasking with electronic gadgets by children affects later development of study skills,resulting in a decline in
the quality of writing,for example,because of the lack of concentration on task completion.They feel that
many undergraduates now urgently need remedial（补救的）help with study skills. Similarly, employers feel
that young people entering the workforce need to be taught all over again,as they have become deskilled.
While all this may be true,it mnust be borne in mind that more and more is expected of young people
nowadays in fact,too much.Praise rather than criticism is due in respect of the way today's youth are able to
cope despite what the older generation throw at them.

What is probably true about the multitasking Generation M?
A:They feel they are more efficient than others.
B:They waste more time than they should spend.
C:They put more energy on important tasks.
D:They need to improve their analytical skills.

Which of the following statements about California is NOT TRUE？( )

A.California is a sexually liberated state.
B.California has a high abortion rate.
C.About 40% of the pregnant teenagers chose to have an abortion.
D.A recent poll showed that less than half of the respondents supported the amendment.