Text 2 Britain's flexible labour market was a boon during the economic slump,helping keep joblessness down and then,when the recovery began,allowing employment to rise.Yet one of its bendier bits is causing politicians to fret.Ed Miliband,the leader of the Labour Party,has promised a crackdown on"zero_hours contracts"if he wins the next election.The government has launched a consultation.Zero-hours contracts allow firms to employ workers for as few or as many hours as they need,with no prior notice.In theory,at least,people can refuse work.Fully l.4m jobs were based on these contracts in January 2014,according to a snapshot taken by the Office for National Statistics.That is just 4%of the total,but the share rises to a quarter in the hospitality business.The contracts are useful for firms with erratic pattems of demand,such as hotels and restaurants.They have also helped firms to expand during the recovery-allowing them to test new business lines before hiring permanent staff,who would be more costly to make redundant if things went wrong.Flexibility suits some workers,too.According to'one survey,47%of those employed on zero-hours contracts were content to have no minimum contracted hours.Many of these workers are in full-time education.The ability to tum down work is important to students,who want to revise（or sit in the sun）at this time of year.Pensioners keen for a little extra income can often live with the uncertainty of not having guaranteed hours.Yet that leaves more than a quarter of workers on zero-hours contracts who say they are unhappy with their conditions.Some of this is cyclical.During recessions,a dearth of permanent positions forces people into jobs with no contracted hours even if they do not want them（the govemment has just said that unemployed people who refuse to accept zero-hours contracts could be cut off from benerits）.Underemployment is particularly prevalent among these workers,35%of whom would like more hours compared with 12%in other jobs.As the economy recovers,many should be able to renegotiate their contracts or find permanent jobs.But the recovery will not cause unwanted zero hours contracts to disappear.Some workers will never have much negotiating power:they are constrained by geography,family commitments and lack of competition for their skills among a small number of big employers.Zero-hours contracts make it easier for employers to abuse their labour-market power.Some use them to avoid statutory obligations such as sick and maternity pay.Workers are penalised for not being available when requested.And some contracts contain exclusivity clauses which prevent workers from taking additionaljobs.These can harm other employers as well as workers,and actually reduce labour market flexibility.That,at least,is worth doing away with.Which ofthe following is the best title ofthis text?A.Zero-hours Contract-Lack of FlexibilityB.Zero-hours Contract-an Out-of-date PolicyC.Zero-hours Contract-an Illegal PolicyD.Zero-hours Contract-a Challenging Way Against Permanent Job
Text 2 Britain's flexible labour market was a boon during the economic slump,helping keep joblessness down and then,when the recovery began,allowing employment to rise.Yet one of its bendier bits is causing politicians to fret.Ed Miliband,the leader of the Labour Party,has promised a crackdown on"zero_hours contracts"if he wins the next election.The government has launched a consultation.Zero-hours contracts allow firms to employ workers for as few or as many hours as they need,with no prior notice.In theory,at least,people can refuse work.Fully l.4m jobs were based on these contracts in January 2014,according to a snapshot taken by the Office for National Statistics.That is just 4%of the total,but the share rises to a quarter in the hospitality business.The contracts are useful for firms with erratic pattems of demand,such as hotels and restaurants.They have also helped firms to expand during the recovery-allowing them to test new business lines before hiring permanent staff,who would be more costly to make redundant if things went wrong.Flexibility suits some workers,too.According to'one survey,47%of those employed on zero-hours contracts were content to have no minimum contracted hours.Many of these workers are in full-time education.The ability to tum down work is important to students,who want to revise（or sit in the sun）at this time of year.Pensioners keen for a little extra income can often live with the uncertainty of not having guaranteed hours.Yet that leaves more than a quarter of workers on zero-hours contracts who say they are unhappy with their conditions.Some of this is cyclical.During recessions,a dearth of permanent positions forces people into jobs with no contracted hours even if they do not want them（the govemment has just said that unemployed people who refuse to accept zero-hours contracts could be cut off from benerits）.Underemployment is particularly prevalent among these workers,35%of whom would like more hours compared with 12%in other jobs.As the economy recovers,many should be able to renegotiate their contracts or find permanent jobs.But the recovery will not cause unwanted zero hours contracts to disappear.Some workers will never have much negotiating power:they are constrained by geography,family commitments and lack of competition for their skills among a small number of big employers.Zero-hours contracts make it easier for employers to abuse their labour-market power.Some use them to avoid statutory obligations such as sick and maternity pay.Workers are penalised for not being available when requested.And some contracts contain exclusivity clauses which prevent workers from taking additionaljobs.These can harm other employers as well as workers,and actually reduce labour market flexibility.That,at least,is worth doing away with.
Which ofthe following is the best title ofthis text?
Which ofthe following is the best title ofthis text?
A.Zero-hours Contract-Lack of Flexibility
B.Zero-hours Contract-an Out-of-date Policy
C.Zero-hours Contract-an Illegal Policy
D.Zero-hours Contract-a Challenging Way Against Permanent Job
B.Zero-hours Contract-an Out-of-date Policy
C.Zero-hours Contract-an Illegal Policy
D.Zero-hours Contract-a Challenging Way Against Permanent Job
参考解析
解析：主旨大意题。解决该题目的关键是，通过做完前四道题大体知道文章的中心，再次通读各段首句，验证中心。整个文章都是在围绕着零时工合同的影响来说，在结尾处明确地说明了零时工合同并不灵活，而与这个信息相对应的选项为A项Zero-hours Contract-Lack of Flexibility（零时工合同——缺乏灵活性），所以A项为正确选项。【干扰排除】剩余的选项分别为零时工合同过时、非法、挑战固定工作，这些信息在个别段落虽然有提及，但是不足以说明文章的中心，属于以偏概全，故均可排除。
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请阅读短文，完成此题。It is frequently assumed that the mechanization of work has a revolutionary effect on the livesof the people who operate the new machines and on the society into which the machines have beenintroduced. For example, it has been suggested that the employment of women in industry takethem out of the. household, their traditional sphere and fundamentally alter their position in society.In the nineteenth century, when women began to enter factories, Jules Simon, a French politician,warned that by doing so, women would give up their femininity. Fredrich Engels, however,predicted that women would be liberated from the"social, legal, and economic subordination" ofthe family by technological developments that made possible the recruitment of "the whole femalesex .., into public industry." Observers thus differed concerning the social desirability ofmechanization's effects, but thev agreed that it would trmsiorm women's lives.Historians, particularly thnse investigating the history of women, now seriously question thisassumption of transforming power. They conclude that such dramatic technological innovations asthe spinning jenny, the sewing tnachine, the typewriter, and the vacuum cleaner have not resultedin equally dramatic social changes in women's economic position or in the prevailing evaluation ofwomen's work. The employment of young women in textile mills during the Industrial Revolutionwas largely and extension of an older pattern of employment for young, single women as domestics.It was not the change in office technology, but rather the separation of secretarial work, previouslyseen as an apprenticeship for beginning managers, from administrative work that in the 1880'screated a new class of "dead end" jobs, thenceforth considered "women's work". The increase inthe numbers of married women enployed outside the home in the twentieth century, had less to dowith the mechanization of housework and an increase in leisure time for these women than it didwith their own economic necessity and with high marriage rates that shrank the available pool ofsingle women worke, previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire.Women's work has changed considerably in the past 200 years, moving from the household tothe ofiice or the factory, and later becoming mostly white-collar instead of blue-collar work. Fundamentally, however, the conditions under which women work have changed little since the Industrial Revolution: the segregation of occupatious by gender, lower pay for women as a group,jobs that require relatively low levels of skill and offer women little opportunity for advancement all persist, while women's household labour remains demanding. Recent historical investigation has led to a major revision of the notion that lec.hnology is always inherently revolutionary in its effectson society. Mechanization may even have slowed any change in the traditional position of womeu both in the labour market and in the home.The underlined word "innovations" in Para.2 may be replaced by查看材料A．efficiencyB．productivityC．innovationsD．transforming
请阅读短文，完成此题。It is frequently assumed that the mechanization of work has a revolutionary effect on the livesof the people who operate the new machines and on the society into which the machines have beenintroduced. For example, it has been suggested that the employment of women in industry takethem out of the. household, their traditional sphere and fundamentally alter their position in society.In the nineteenth century, when women began to enter factories, Jules Simon, a French politician,warned that by doing so, women would give up their femininity. Fredrich Engels, however,predicted that women would be liberated from the"social, legal, and economic subordination" ofthe family by technological developments that made possible the recruitment of "the whole femalesex .., into public industry." Observers thus differed concerning the social desirability ofmechanization's effects, but thev agreed that it would trmsiorm women's lives.Historians, particularly thnse investigating the history of women, now seriously question thisassumption of transforming power. They conclude that such dramatic technological innovations asthe spinning jenny, the sewing tnachine, the typewriter, and the vacuum cleaner have not resultedin equally dramatic social changes in women's economic position or in the prevailing evaluation ofwomen's work. The employment of young women in textile mills during the Industrial Revolutionwas largely and extension of an older pattern of employment for young, single women as domestics.It was not the change in office technology, but rather the separation of secretarial work, previouslyseen as an apprenticeship for beginning managers, from administrative work that in the 1880'screated a new class of "dead end" jobs, thenceforth considered "women's work". The increase inthe numbers of married women enployed outside the home in the twentieth century, had less to dowith the mechanization of housework and an increase in leisure time for these women than it didwith their own economic necessity and with high marriage rates that shrank the available pool ofsingle women worke, previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire.Women's work has changed considerably in the past 200 years, moving from the household tothe ofiice or the factory, and later becoming mostly white-collar instead of blue-collar work. Fundamentally, however, the conditions under which women work have changed little since the Industrial Revolution: the segregation of occupatious by gender, lower pay for women as a group,jobs that require relatively low levels of skill and offer women little opportunity for advancement all persist, while women's household labour remains demanding. Recent historical investigation has led to a major revision of the notion that lec.hnology is always inherently revolutionary in its effectson society. Mechanization may even have slowed any change in the traditional position of womeu both in the labour market and in the home.Why did the numbers of married women employers increase in the 20th century?查看材料A．The mechanization of housework.B．The married women have much spare time.C．The employers don't want to hire the single women.D．Because of their own economic uecessity and high marriage rates.
请阅读短文，完成此题。It is frequently assumed that the mechanization of work has a revolutionary effect on the livesof the people who operate the new machines and on the society into which the machines have beenintroduced. For example, it has been suggested that the employment of women in industry takethem out of the. household, their traditional sphere and fundamentally alter their position in society.In the nineteenth century, when women began to enter factories, Jules Simon, a French politician,warned that by doing so, women would give up their femininity. Fredrich Engels, however,predicted that women would be liberated from the"social, legal, and economic subordination" ofthe family by technological developments that made possible the recruitment of "the whole femalesex .., into public industry." Observers thus differed concerning the social desirability ofmechanization's effects, but thev agreed that it would trmsiorm women's lives.Historians, particularly thnse investigating the history of women, now seriously question thisassumption of transforming power. They conclude that such dramatic technological innovations asthe spinning jenny, the sewing tnachine, the typewriter, and the vacuum cleaner have not resultedin equally dramatic social changes in women's economic position or in the prevailing evaluation ofwomen's work. The employment of young women in textile mills during the Industrial Revolutionwas largely and extension of an older pattern of employment for young, single women as domestics.It was not the change in office technology, but rather the separation of secretarial work, previouslyseen as an apprenticeship for beginning managers, from administrative work that in the 1880'screated a new class of "dead end" jobs, thenceforth considered "women's work". The increase inthe numbers of married women enployed outside the home in the twentieth century, had less to dowith the mechanization of housework and an increase in leisure time for these women than it didwith their own economic necessity and with high marriage rates that shrank the available pool ofsingle women worke, previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire.Women's work has changed considerably in the past 200 years, moving from the household tothe ofiice or the factory, and later becoming mostly white-collar instead of blue-collar work. Fundamentally, however, the conditions under which women work have changed little since the Industrial Revolution: the segregation of occupatious by gender, lower pay for women as a group,jobs that require relatively low levels of skill and offer women little opportunity for advancement all persist, while women's household labour remains demanding. Recent historical investigation has led to a major revision of the notion that lec.hnology is always inherently revolutionary in its effectson society. Mechanization may even have slowed any change in the traditional position of womeu both in the labour market and in the home.Which of the following statement is Not true?查看材料A．Now the phenomenon of choosing employees by gender does no longer exist.B．Women have little opportunity for promotion.C．Women are needed to do much housework.D．Women always get low pay in their occupations.
请阅读短文，完成此题。It is frequently assumed that the mechanization of work has a revolutionary effect on the livesof the people who operate the new machines and on the society into which the machines have beenintroduced. For example, it has been suggested that the employment of women in industry takethem out of the. household, their traditional sphere and fundamentally alter their position in society.In the nineteenth century, when women began to enter factories, Jules Simon, a French politician,warned that by doing so, women would give up their femininity. Fredrich Engels, however,predicted that women would be liberated from the"social, legal, and economic subordination" ofthe family by technological developments that made possible the recruitment of "the whole femalesex .., into public industry." Observers thus differed concerning the social desirability ofmechanization's effects, but thev agreed that it would trmsiorm women's lives.Historians, particularly thnse investigating the history of women, now seriously question thisassumption of transforming power. They conclude that such dramatic technological innovations asthe spinning jenny, the sewing tnachine, the typewriter, and the vacuum cleaner have not resultedin equally dramatic social changes in women's economic position or in the prevailing evaluation ofwomen's work. The employment of young women in textile mills during the Industrial Revolutionwas largely and extension of an older pattern of employment for young, single women as domestics.It was not the change in office technology, but rather the separation of secretarial work, previouslyseen as an apprenticeship for beginning managers, from administrative work that in the 1880'screated a new class of "dead end" jobs, thenceforth considered "women's work". The increase inthe numbers of married women enployed outside the home in the twentieth century, had less to dowith the mechanization of housework and an increase in leisure time for these women than it didwith their own economic necessity and with high marriage rates that shrank the available pool ofsingle women worke, previously, in many cases, the only women employers would hire.Women's work has changed considerably in the past 200 years, moving from the household tothe ofiice or the factory, and later becoming mostly white-collar instead of blue-collar work. Fundamentally, however, the conditions under which women work have changed little since the Industrial Revolution: the segregation of occupatious by gender, lower pay for women as a group,jobs that require relatively low levels of skill and offer women little opportunity for advancement all persist, while women's household labour remains demanding. Recent historical investigation has led to a major revision of the notion that lec.hnology is always inherently revolutionary in its effectson society. Mechanization may even have slowed any change in the traditional position of womeu both in the labour market and in the home.The best title of the passage may be查看材料A．The Influence of MechanizationB．The Status of Women is ChangingC．Changes of Women's WorkD．Are Women and Men Equal
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The colourful chalkboards and baskets of fruit that greet customers at the entrances of Whole Foods Market's shops paint a rosy picture.Yet shares in the American seUer of organic and natural food have fallen by more than 40%since hitting a peak last October,in a period when stock markets have been strong.41.It is not that the retailer is in immediate crisis:its latest quarterly figures,on July 30th,showed sales and profits both up a bit.And it is not that people are going off the idea of paying more for food produced without chemical fertilisers,pesticides or additives:the Intemational Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements reckons that the industry's worldwide revenues were a record of 63 biUion in 2012;and Techsci Research,a market-research firm,predicts that the American market for such foods-the world's largest-may grow by 14%by 2018.42.The problem is that at Whole Foods,shoppers have been paying way over the cost of regular produce,and its success in getting them to do so has now attracted a lot of competitors,from rival organics chains like Sprouts and Trader Joe's to mass-market retailers like Walmart and Costco.As a result,the pnce premium for organic produce is crashing down.On a recent shopping trip,a pound of organic apples cost 2.99 at Wbole Foods but just l.99 at Sprouts and even less at Costco.43.The firm has been trimming costs to keep its margins up,but the slump in its share price reflects investors'expectation that this cannot continue,that profits will suffer and that Whole Foods'dominance of the market is coming to an end.44.That the company has had to recall a number of products-in late July it and other grocers recalled plums and peaches suspected of contanunation with Listeria bacteria-has made it harder to maintain an air of superiority over its competitors.Organic foods'claim to superiority is questionable anyway.Both Britain's Food Standards Agency and the Annals of Internal Medicine,a journal,concluded after reviewing the extensive studies on the issue that there is no substantial difference in the nutriliousness of organics and non-organics.In some respects organics may be bad for the environment,because growing them uses land less efficiendy than non-organics.45.As for"natural"foods,there is no official definition of this,in America at least;so the label,which Whole Foods also applies to many products,is close to meaningless.Alan McHughen,a bota-nist at the University of California,Riverside,argues that the whole industry is"99%marketing;and public perception,"reeling people in through a fabricated concept of a time when food,and life in general,was simple and wholesome.If true,the trick has worked nicely for Whole Foods.But its success has attracted so many imitators that it is losing its uniqueness.Even recent speculation about a takeover bid has failed to lift its shares.It may insist its food is sustainable.But it seem8 its prices are not.43选？A.Crisis Seems FarB.The Firm Is At RiskC.More Rivals Join InD.Natural Foods Are Unreal
Text 2 Britain's flexible labour market was a boon during the economic slump,helping keep joblessness down and then,when the recovery began,allowing employment to rise.Yet one of its bendier bits is causing politicians to fret.Ed Miliband,the leader of the Labour Party,has promised a crackdown on"zero_hours contracts"if he wins the next election.The government has launched a consultation.Zero-hours contracts allow firms to employ workers for as few or as many hours as they need,with no prior notice.In theory,at least,people can refuse work.Fully l.4m jobs were based on these contracts in January 2014,according to a snapshot taken by the Office for National Statistics.That is just 4%of the total,but the share rises to a quarter in the hospitality business.The contracts are useful for firms with erratic pattems of demand,such as hotels and restaurants.They have also helped firms to expand during the recovery-allowing them to test new business lines before hiring permanent staff,who would be more costly to make redundant if things went wrong.Flexibility suits some workers,too.According to'one survey,47%of those employed on zero-hours contracts were content to have no minimum contracted hours.Many of these workers are in full-time education.The ability to tum down work is important to students,who want to revise（or sit in the sun）at this time of year.Pensioners keen for a little extra income can often live with the uncertainty of not having guaranteed hours.Yet that leaves more than a quarter of workers on zero-hours contracts who say they are unhappy with their conditions.Some of this is cyclical.During recessions,a dearth of permanent positions forces people into jobs with no contracted hours even if they do not want them（the govemment has just said that unemployed people who refuse to accept zero-hours contracts could be cut off from benerits）.Underemployment is particularly prevalent among these workers,35%of whom would like more hours compared with 12%in other jobs.As the economy recovers,many should be able to renegotiate their contracts or find permanent jobs.But the recovery will not cause unwanted zero hours contracts to disappear.Some workers will never have much negotiating power:they are constrained by geography,family commitments and lack of competition for their skills among a small number of big employers.Zero-hours contracts make it easier for employers to abuse their labour-market power.Some use them to avoid statutory obligations such as sick and maternity pay.Workers are penalised for not being available when requested.And some contracts contain exclusivity clauses which prevent workers from taking additionaljobs.These can harm other employers as well as workers,and actually reduce labour market flexibility.That,at least,is worth doing away with."Zero-hours contract"would benefit_____A.economy recoveryB.Labor PartyC.employmentD.the govemment
Text 2 Britain's flexible labour market was a boon during the economic slump,helping keep joblessness down and then,when the recovery began,allowing employment to rise.Yet one of its bendier bits is causing politicians to fret.Ed Miliband,the leader of the Labour Party,has promised a crackdown on"zero_hours contracts"if he wins the next election.The government has launched a consultation.Zero-hours contracts allow firms to employ workers for as few or as many hours as they need,with no prior notice.In theory,at least,people can refuse work.Fully l.4m jobs were based on these contracts in January 2014,according to a snapshot taken by the Office for National Statistics.That is just 4%of the total,but the share rises to a quarter in the hospitality business.The contracts are useful for firms with erratic pattems of demand,such as hotels and restaurants.They have also helped firms to expand during the recovery-allowing them to test new business lines before hiring permanent staff,who would be more costly to make redundant if things went wrong.Flexibility suits some workers,too.According to'one survey,47%of those employed on zero-hours contracts were content to have no minimum contracted hours.Many of these workers are in full-time education.The ability to tum down work is important to students,who want to revise（or sit in the sun）at this time of year.Pensioners keen for a little extra income can often live with the uncertainty of not having guaranteed hours.Yet that leaves more than a quarter of workers on zero-hours contracts who say they are unhappy with their conditions.Some of this is cyclical.During recessions,a dearth of permanent positions forces people into jobs with no contracted hours even if they do not want them（the govemment has just said that unemployed people who refuse to accept zero-hours contracts could be cut off from benerits）.Underemployment is particularly prevalent among these workers,35%of whom would like more hours compared with 12%in other jobs.As the economy recovers,many should be able to renegotiate their contracts or find permanent jobs.But the recovery will not cause unwanted zero hours contracts to disappear.Some workers will never have much negotiating power:they are constrained by geography,family commitments and lack of competition for their skills among a small number of big employers.Zero-hours contracts make it easier for employers to abuse their labour-market power.Some use them to avoid statutory obligations such as sick and maternity pay.Workers are penalised for not being available when requested.And some contracts contain exclusivity clauses which prevent workers from taking additionaljobs.These can harm other employers as well as workers,and actually reduce labour market flexibility.That,at least,is worth doing away with.What can we infer from the last two paragraphs?A.Many workers on zero-hours contracts are often unsatisfied with their conditions.B.Many people don't want to join permanent work.C.Economic recovery will eventually lead to zero-hours contracts out of date.D.Reducing labour-market flexibility is not the original idea of zero-hours contracts
Text 2 Far from joining the labour force,women have been falling away at an alarming pace.The female employment rate in India,counting both the formal and informal economy,has tumbled from an already-low 35%in 2005 to just 26%now.Yet nearly 1Om fewer women are in jobs.A rise in female employment rates to the male level would provide India with an extra 235m workers,more than the EU has of either gender,and more than enough to fill all the factories in the rest ofAsia.Imagine the repercussions.Were India to rebalance its workforce in this way,the IMF estimates,the world's biggest democracy would be 27%richer.Its people would be well on their way to middle-income status.Beyond the obvious economic benelits are the incalculable human ones.Women who work are likelier to invest more in their children's upbringing,and to have more say over how they lead their lives.Social mores are startlingly conservative.A girl's first task is to persuade her own family that she should have a job.The in-laws she will typically move in with after marriage are even more likely to yank her out of the workforce and into social isolation.In a survey in 2012,84%of Indians agreed that men have more right to work than women when jobs are scarce.Men have taken 90%of the 36m additional jobs in industry India has created since 2005.And those who say that women themselves prefer not to work must contend with plenty of counter-evidence.Census data suggest that a third of stay-at-home women would WOfk ifjobs were available;govemment make-work schemes attract more women than men.What can be done?Many of the standard answers fall short.Promoting education,a time-tested development strategy,may not succeed.Figures show that the more schooling an Indian woman receives,the less likely she is to work,at least if she has anything less than a university degree.Likewise urbanization,another familiar way to alleviate poverty:city-dwelling women are half as likely as rural ones to have a job.An optimist might argue that more women are not working because India is still paying for the sins of the past,when so many of them were illiterate and high fertility rates bound them to the home.Most measures of female welfare are improving.India has many more girls in classrooms and fewer child brides than it once did.In fact,many fear that all that extra schooling was a parental ploy to improve a daughter's prospects not in the labour market but in the arranged-marriage market,part of the all-important quest to snag a suitable boy.A further push is needed to get Indian women what they really need:a suitablejob.Which ofthe following would be the best title ofthe text?A.Why Indian Women Don't WorkB.Why India Needs Women to WorkC.Why India's Employment Rate Is LowD.Why India's Employment Rate Declines
Text 2 Britain's flexible labour market was a boon during the economic slump,helping keep joblessness down and then,when the recovery began,allowing employment to rise.Yet one of its bendier bits is causing politicians to fret.Ed Miliband,the leader of the Labour Party,has promised a crackdown on"zero-hours contracts"if he wins the next election.The government has launched a con8ultation.Zero-hours contracts allow finns to employ workers for as few or as many hours as they need,with no prior notice.In theory,at least,people can refuse work.Fully l.4m jobs were based on these contracts in January 2014,according to the Office for National Statistics.That is just 4%of the total,but the share rises to a quarter in the hospitality business.The contracts are useful for finns with unstable pattems of demand,such as hotels and restauranLs.Ihey have also helped firms to expand during the recovery-allowing them to test new business lines before hiring permanem stafir,who would be more costly to make redundani if things went wrong.Flexibility suits some workers,too.According to one survey,47%of those employed on zerohours conUacts were content to have no nunimum contracted hours.Many of these workers are in full-time education.The ability to tum down work is important to students,who want to revise at this time of year.Pensioners keen for a liLtle extra income can often live with the uncertainty of not having guaranteed hours.Yet that leaves more than a quarter of workers on zero-hours contracts who say they are unhappy wirh their condirions.Some of this is cyclical.During recessions,a dearth of permanent positions forces people into jobs with no contracted hours even if they do not want them.Underemployment is pfuticularly prevalent among these workers,35%of whom would like more hours compared with 12qo in offier jobs.As the economy recovers,many should be able to renegotiate their contracts or find permanent jobs.But the recovery will not cause unwanted zero-hours contracts to disappear.Some workers will never have much negoLiating power:they are constrained by geography,family commitments and lack of competition for their skills among a small number of big employers.Zero-hours contracts make it easier for employers to abuse their labour-market power.Some use them to avoid statutory obligations such as sick and matenuty pay.Workers are penalised for not being available when requested.And some contracts contain exclusivity clauses which prevent workers from taking additional jobs.These can harm other employers as well as workers,and actually reduce labour market flexibility.That,at least,is worth doing away with.According to Paragraph l,politicians are concemed about_____A.the rise of unemployment rateB.the disorder of market economyC.the flexibility of the labour marketD.the severity of economic depression
Text 2 Britain's flexible labour market was a boon during the economic slump,helping keep joblessness down and then,when the recovery began,allowing employment to rise.Yet one of its bendier bits is causing politicians to fret.Ed Miliband,the leader of the Labour Party,has promised a crackdown on"zero-hours contracts"if he wins the next election.The government has launched a con8ultation.Zero-hours contracts allow finns to employ workers for as few or as many hours as they need,with no prior notice.In theory,at least,people can refuse work.Fully l.4m jobs were based on these contracts in January 2014,according to the Office for National Statistics.That is just 4%of the total,but the share rises to a quarter in the hospitality business.The contracts are useful for finns with unstable pattems of demand,such as hotels and restauranLs.Ihey have also helped firms to expand during the recovery-allowing them to test new business lines before hiring permanem stafir,who would be more costly to make redundani if things went wrong.Flexibility suits some workers,too.According to one survey,47%of those employed on zerohours conUacts were content to have no nunimum contracted hours.Many of these workers are in full-time education.The ability to tum down work is important to students,who want to revise at this time of year.Pensioners keen for a liLtle extra income can often live with the uncertainty of not having guaranteed hours.Yet that leaves more than a quarter of workers on zero-hours contracts who say they are unhappy wirh their condirions.Some of this is cyclical.During recessions,a dearth of permanent positions forces people into jobs with no contracted hours even if they do not want them.Underemployment is pfuticularly prevalent among these workers,35%of whom would like more hours compared with 12qo in offier jobs.As the economy recovers,many should be able to renegotiate their contracts or find permanent jobs.But the recovery will not cause unwanted zero-hours contracts to disappear.Some workers will never have much negoLiating power:they are constrained by geography,family commitments and lack of competition for their skills among a small number of big employers.Zero-hours contracts make it easier for employers to abuse their labour-market power.Some use them to avoid statutory obligations such as sick and matenuty pay.Workers are penalised for not being available when requested.And some contracts contain exclusivity clauses which prevent workers from taking additional jobs.These can harm other employers as well as workers,and actually reduce labour market flexibility.That,at least,is worth doing away with.The text mainly focuses on zero-hours contracts_____A.traits and effectsB.llmits and defectsC.merits and impactsD.features and problems
Text 2 Britain's flexible labour market was a boon during the economic slump,helping keep joblessness down and then,when the recovery began,allowing employment to rise.Yet one of its bendier bits is causing politicians to fret.Ed Miliband,the leader of the Labour Party,has promised a crackdown on"zero_hours contracts"if he wins the next election.The government has launched a consultation.Zero-hours contracts allow firms to employ workers for as few or as many hours as they need,with no prior notice.In theory,at least,people can refuse work.Fully l.4m jobs were based on these contracts in January 2014,according to a snapshot taken by the Office for National Statistics.That is just 4%of the total,but the share rises to a quarter in the hospitality business.The contracts are useful for firms with erratic pattems of demand,such as hotels and restaurants.They have also helped firms to expand during the recovery-allowing them to test new business lines before hiring permanent staff,who would be more costly to make redundant if things went wrong.Flexibility suits some workers,too.According to'one survey,47%of those employed on zero-hours contracts were content to have no minimum contracted hours.Many of these workers are in full-time education.The ability to tum down work is important to students,who want to revise（or sit in the sun）at this time of year.Pensioners keen for a little extra income can often live with the uncertainty of not having guaranteed hours.Yet that leaves more than a quarter of workers on zero-hours contracts who say they are unhappy with their conditions.Some of this is cyclical.During recessions,a dearth of permanent positions forces people into jobs with no contracted hours even if they do not want them（the govemment has just said that unemployed people who refuse to accept zero-hours contracts could be cut off from benerits）.Underemployment is particularly prevalent among these workers,35%of whom would like more hours compared with 12%in other jobs.As the economy recovers,many should be able to renegotiate their contracts or find permanent jobs.But the recovery will not cause unwanted zero hours contracts to disappear.Some workers will never have much negotiating power:they are constrained by geography,family commitments and lack of competition for their skills among a small number of big employers.Zero-hours contracts make it easier for employers to abuse their labour-market power.Some use them to avoid statutory obligations such as sick and maternity pay.Workers are penalised for not being available when requested.And some contracts contain exclusivity clauses which prevent workers from taking additionaljobs.These can harm other employers as well as workers,and actually reduce labour market flexibility.That,at least,is worth doing away with.According to the text,this flexible working ways can help those people who_____.A.work in permanent bui want to eam moreB.have retired but have no pensionC.study in full-time schoolingD.have no working experiences
Text 2 Britain's flexible labour market was a boon during the economic slump,helping keep joblessness down and then,when the recovery began,allowing employment to rise.Yet one of its bendier bits is causing politicians to fret.Ed Miliband,the leader of the Labour Party,has promised a crackdown on"zero_hours contracts"if he wins the next election.The government has launched a consultation.Zero-hours contracts allow firms to employ workers for as few or as many hours as they need,with no prior notice.In theory,at least,people can refuse work.Fully l.4m jobs were based on these contracts in January 2014,according to a snapshot taken by the Office for National Statistics.That is just 4%of the total,but the share rises to a quarter in the hospitality business.The contracts are useful for firms with erratic pattems of demand,such as hotels and restaurants.They have also helped firms to expand during the recovery-allowing them to test new business lines before hiring permanent staff,who would be more costly to make redundant if things went wrong.Flexibility suits some workers,too.According to'one survey,47%of those employed on zero-hours contracts were content to have no minimum contracted hours.Many of these workers are in full-time education.The ability to tum down work is important to students,who want to revise（or sit in the sun）at this time of year.Pensioners keen for a little extra income can often live with the uncertainty of not having guaranteed hours.Yet that leaves more than a quarter of workers on zero-hours contracts who say they are unhappy with their conditions.Some of this is cyclical.During recessions,a dearth of permanent positions forces people into jobs with no contracted hours even if they do not want them（the govemment has just said that unemployed people who refuse to accept zero-hours contracts could be cut off from benerits）.Underemployment is particularly prevalent among these workers,35%of whom would like more hours compared with 12%in other jobs.As the economy recovers,many should be able to renegotiate their contracts or find permanent jobs.But the recovery will not cause unwanted zero hours contracts to disappear.Some workers will never have much negotiating power:they are constrained by geography,family commitments and lack of competition for their skills among a small number of big employers.Zero-hours contracts make it easier for employers to abuse their labour-market power.Some use them to avoid statutory obligations such as sick and maternity pay.Workers are penalised for not being available when requested.And some contracts contain exclusivity clauses which prevent workers from taking additionaljobs.These can harm other employers as well as workers,and actually reduce labour market flexibility.That,at least,is worth doing away with."Zero-hours contract"would be helpful for some firms in that_____.A.working hours for works should be agreed onB.people can refuse work practicallyC.it would bc less costly to cut jobs than hire permanent staffD.it would cut cost to scale up the company
Text 1 The longest bull run in a century of artmarket history ended on a dramatic note with a sale of 56 works by Damien Hirst,Beautiful Inside My Head Forever,at Sotheby's in London on September 15th,2008.All but two pieces sold,fetching more than￡70m,a record for a sale by a single artist.It was a last victory.As the auctioneer called out bids,in New York one of the oldest banks on Wall Street,Lehman Brothers,filed for bankruptcy.The world art market had already been losing momentum for a while after rising bewilderingly since 2003.At its peak in 2007 it was worth some$65 billion,reckons Clare McAndrew,founder of Arts Economics,a research firm—double the figure five years earlier.Since then it may have come down to$50 billion.But the market generates interest far beyond its size because it brings together great wealth,enormous egos,greed,passion and controversy in a way matched by few other industries.In the weeks and months that followed Mr Hirst's sale,spending of any sort became deeply unfashionable.In the art world that meant collectors stayed away from galleries and salerooms.Sales of contemporary art fell by twothirds,and in the most overheated sector,they were down by nearly 90%in the year to November 2008.Within weeks the world's two biggest auction houses,Sotheby's and Christie's,had to pay out nearly$200m in guarantees to clients who had placed works for sale with them.The current downturn in the art market is the worst since the Japanese stopped buying Impressionists at the end of 1989.This time experts reckon that prices are about 40%down on their peak on average,though some have been far more fluctuant.But Edward Dolman,Christie's chief executive,says:“I'm pretty confident we're at the bottom.”What makes this slump different from the last,he says,is that there are still buyers in the market.Almost everyone who was interviewed for this special report said that the biggest problem at the moment is not a lack of demand but a lack of good work to sell.The three Ds—death,debt and divorce—still deliver works of art to the market.But anyone who does not have to sell is keeping away,waiting for confidence to return.The most appropriate title for this text could be____A.Fluctuation of Art PricesB.Uptodate Art AuctionsC.Art Market in DeclineD.Shifted Interest in Arts
Large numbers of state-run preschools were expediently closed down during the 1990s economic reform and instead,a variety of for-profit private preschools sprung ______ across the country.A.byB.outC.inD.up
问答题◆Topic 4: A Year of Economic Recovery Questions for Reference: 1. Many economists say that the year 2009 was a year of economic recovery for China. What was the goal of the annual GDP growth rate set by the Chinese Government? 2. This recovery was due to the forcefulness of the Chinese government’s policies. The best-known and most effective measure is the 4-trillion-yuan stimulus plan. The major investment was put in infrastructure construction. Could you explain what infrastructure means? Name and describe one or two instances of infrastructure construction in 2009. 3. The economic recovery in 2009 has also improved the life of ordinary Chinese people. Say something about how you and your family, or your relatives or friends, have benefited from this economic recovery?
单选题They claimed that（）1,000 factories closed down during the economic crisis.AsufficientlyBapproximatelyCconsiderablyDproperly
问答题Practice 2 In those days, Britain's biggest-selling daily paper, the sun, part of Rupert Murdoch's media empire, was no friend of Labour, indeed it had been Margaret Thatcher's biggest cheerleader. That morning, on its front page, it depicted the bald head of the then Labour leader Neil Kinnock as a light bulb. Alongside ran the headline: “If Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights?” Labour lost. By the next election, Tony Blair was the party's leader and determined to win over, or at least neutralize, The Sun and its owner. He succeeded, moving the Labor Party towards the center ground, and gaining The Sun's endorsement at the last three elections. Once in Government, Labour played hardball with the media, relishing its power, and aware that if it did not take charge of the agenda, the media would. Its key figure was the former political editor of the Daily Mirror, Alasdair Campbell, who took charge not just of the Prime Minister's press office but all government press officers, trying to ensure the Government spoke with one voice. Journalists who reported favorably were given privileged access; those who didn't were frozen out.
单选题When backing down with sternway，the pivot point of a vessel is（）.Aabout one-quarter of the vessel's length from the sternBat the bowCabout one-third of the vessel's length from the bowDaft of the propellers
单选题During the Clinton presidency, the U.S. enjoyed more than any time in its history peace and economic well being.Athe U.S. enjoyed more than any time in its history peace and economic well beingBthe U.S. enjoying more than any other time in its history peace and economic well beingCmore peace and economic well being was enjoyed by the U.S. than any other timeDeconomic peace and well being was enjoyed by the U.S. more so than any other ~ time in the country’s historyEthe U.S. enjoyed more peace and economic well being than at any other time in its history
问答题Practice 1The relationship between politicians and the press In the seaside town of Brighton in southern England the ruling Labour Party’s annual conference is getting underway. It’s a time for both Mps and grassroots members to take stock of how the party is doing, to discuss policy and to hear, hopefully inspiring speeches. The party delegates will be hoping too for plenty of coverage from the media assembled there. Newspapers in Britain have long had great influence over Governments, much to the resentment of the politicians. Almost seventy-five years ago, the then Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin accused the two big press barons, Lords Beaverbrook and Rothermere, of running their papers as “engines of propaganda” for the “personal wishes and personal dislikes of two men”. He famously accused them of seeking “power without responsibility—the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages.” It’s hard to imagine the current Prime Minister Tony Blair attacking the tabloid press so publicly. The former editor of the Daily Mirror Piers Morgan claimed earlier this year that he met the Labour leader no fewer than fifty-eight times for lunches, dinners or interviews, a statistic which astonished many in Government and the media, who thought a party leader and Prime Minister should have had better ways to spend his time. But Tony Blair has good reason to court the press. In Britain, Labour, left-of-centre governments, have always had problems with national newspapers, most of whose owners traditionally supported the right-of-centre Conservative Party. This came to a head on Election Day in 1992 when Labour seemed set to win power for the first time in eighteen years. In those days, Britain’s biggest-selling daily paper, the sun, part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, was no friend of Labour, indeed it had been Margaret Thatcher’s biggest cheerleader. That morning, on its front page, it depicted the bald head of the then Labour leader Neil Kinnock as a light bulb. Alongside ran the headline: “If Kinnock wins today, will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights?” Labour lost. By the next election, Tony Blair was the party’s leader and determined to win over, or at least neutralize, The Sun and its owner. He succeeded, moving the Labor Party towards the center ground, and gaining The Sun’s endorsement at the last three elections. Once in Government, Labour played hardball with the media, relishing its power, and aware that if it did not take charge of the agenda, the media would. Its key figure was the former political editor of the Daily Mirror, Alasdair Campbell, who took charge not just of the Prime Minister’s press office but all government press officers, trying to ensure the Government spoke with one voice. Journalists who reported favorably were given privileged access; those who didn’t were frozen out. Mr. Blair maintained his close links with R Murdoch and his newspapers; doing everything he could to maintain their support. Lance Price claims in his diaries that the Government assured the tycoon and his editors that it wouldn’t change its policy on Europe without asking them.
单选题For many years marine centrifuges were designed for （） operation, that is the machines were run for a period during which solids accumulated in the bowlThe machine was stopped when the accumulated solids began to impair its performance.ApurifyingBbatchClong periodDtemporary
问答题Practice 1That Old Greenspan Magic Seems to be Fading For the best part of 20 years, Alan Greenspan has been a symbol of the stupidity of ageism. He became chairman of the US Federal Reserve at 61, when plenty of workers have already been tossed on the scrapheap and many others are preparing to wind down for retirement. His golden years in charge of the US economy were when he was pushing 70 and he’s still there aged 78. Greenspan is the doyen of central bankers, still talked about in almost reverential terms by his peers. The fact that the Fed chairman rarely gives interviews and makes public pronouncements that are to economics what Finnegans Wake is to literature only adds to the mystique. It is, then, with some trepidation that the question has to be asked: has Big Alan finally lost the plot? At the start of last week, Greenspan presided over a meeting of the Fed which kept interest rates on hold at 1%, the level they have been pegged at for nearly a year. A statement accompanying the decision said the risks to inflation were balanced, which means the Fed thinks there is as much chance of the lost of living going up as going down. On Thursday, new joblessness claims in the US fell to their lowest level in getting on for four years, and the picture of a recovering labour market was underlined by Friday’s non-farm payrolls which showed an increase of 288,000, above what had been expected. The economy is expanding at an annual rate of 4.5%, surveys of both manufacturing and the service sector are strong, the housing market is booming, inflation has started to pick up. Hardly surprisingly, Greenspan’s call on inflation is now coming under the microscope, even by those on the Kenyesian left who tend to favor expansionary macroeconomic policies. “Show me something, other than computers, where the price is falling,” says Dean Baker of the Centre for Economic Policy Research in Washington. Baker is right. Clearly, risks to inflation are on the upside, and massively so. The economy has been injected with a cocktail of three growth-inducing drugs-negative real interest rates, a rising budget deficit and a falling currency. Oil prices have touched $40 a barrel and the labour market is tightening. It is hard to believe that Greenspan, a junkie for economic data no matter how seemingly trivial, has not spotted all this. Rates in the US are far below a neutral level, which would probably be around 5%, yet Greenspan is in no hurry to act.
问答题What was the percent decrease in the price of MegaTek (MGTK) stock during the market decline of March 1, 2001, to March 1, 2002? (1) The price of MGTK was $56.20 on March 1, 2001. (2) The price of the stock on January 1, 2002, was only one-quarter of its price as of March 1, 2001.