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1、星期 4 ThursdayBusiness is the salf of life. 事业是人生的第一需要。学习内容题 材词 数建议时间错误统计做题备忘Text A女性职场4306 分钟/5Text B经济管理3925 分钟/5Text C自然奥秘4506.5 分钟/5Text D社会问题5467.5 分钟/5今日练习Text ADespite all the progress toward womensequality, women who work full time are still earning only 75 cents on average to every dollar ea

2、rned by men.Driving home that point, the National Committee on Pay Equity has chosen April 16 this year, to remind Americans that all women would need to work at least an extra two days in a workweek to earn almost as much as all men do in one normal workweek.Why does such a wage gap still persist?E

3、conomists differin their explanations. And yet this income disparityis seen as a keyindicator of how women are treated in both the workplace and at home.Fortunately, the womensmovement and civilrights enforcement have ended most genderdiscrimination in setting wages. Now advocates are focused on ens

4、uring that working women havefemale advisers and role models, while they try to remove subtle discrimination in promotionsthe “glass ceiling ”( 指职业女性在职务提升时遇到的无形阻力)that accounts for so few womenbeing in top management.Many economists, however, say many women have lower - paying jobs because of choice

5、smade in their home life, such as takingtime outto raise children. Orwomen take part- time,low - wage jobs for the flexibility. Whenthey doreenter the workforcefull time, they oftenrebehind their working peers in pay and promotions.But as more women feel empowered to make career choices, their pay r

6、ises.Another explanation is that women d on teallyr make the choice to drop off the career ladderor to stay at a lower job rung. They may, for example, accept the expectations of others to take traditional jobs for women, such as nursing, which have low market wages. They must often take jobs that d

7、on t account for the unpredictability of families. Working moms may find their incomecan t pay for day care, or day care doesnit their child. tIfsuthey are married, they may realizetheir husbands are not inclined to child rearing (or house chores), so they either quit work or gopart time.So as their

8、 life choices seem to become a life burden, wo men incomes slips behi nd men s.No matter what the explanation, much progress has been made in reducing the pay gap. While government still has a major role, employers can do more. Many have found a market advantagein supporting working mothers or putti

9、ng women in management. And in the home, men and women are getting smarter in defining their marital relationships, often before tying the knot.Just as women now outnumber men in college, perhaps someday their average pay will surpass men s and that may make up for lost wages.1. April 16 has been ch

10、osenA to show the organizationattitudes towards equal pay.B to define the day as pay day for women who are not equally paid.C to make it clear that women working full time are earning less than men.D to remind women to work longer hours to earn as much as men.2. How can women raise their salary?A By

11、 going out for work instead of staying at home.B By asking their employer to raise their salary.C By sending their child to the kindergarten.D By having the ability to choose their jobs.3. Which of the following is NOT a traditional job for women?A Nurse.B Teacher.C Economist.D Typist.4. Which of th

12、e following statement is NOT true?A Wage gap servers as a key indicator of how women are treated.B Many women have lower - paying jobs because of house chores.C Some working mothers earn less than their children s day care.D Many employers have already done enough to support working mothers. 5. Who

13、are expected to contribute more to narrowing the pay gap?A Women themselves.B Employers.C The government.D Men.Text BIf sustainable competitive advantage depends upon work force skills, American firms have a problem. Human-resource management is not traditionally seen as central to the competitive s

14、urvival of the firm in the United States. Skill acquisition is considered an individual responsibility. Labor is simply another factor of production to be hired rented at the lowest possible cost much as one buys raw materials or equipment.The lack of importance attached to human-resource management

15、 can be seen in the corporate hierarchy. In an American firm the chief financial officer (CFO) is almost always second in command. The post of head of human-resource management is usually a specialized job, off at the edge of the corporate hierarchy. The executive who holds it is never consulted on

16、major strategic decisions and has no chance to move up to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). By way of contrast, in Japan the head of human-resource management is central usually the second most important executive, after the CEO, in the firm s hierarchy.While American firms often talk about the vast am

17、ounts they spend in training their work forces, in fact, they invest less in the skills of their employees than do either Japanese or German firms. The money they do invest is also more highly concentrated on professional and managerial employees. And the limited investments that are made in trainin

18、g workers are also much more narrowly focused on the specific skills necessary for the next job rather than on the basic background skills that make it possible to absorb new technologies.As a result, problems emerge when new breakthrough technologies arrive. If Americanworkers, for example, take mu

19、ch longer to learn how to operate new flexible manufacturing stations than in Germany (as they do), the effective cost of those stations is lower in Germany than it is in the United States. More time is required before equipment is up and running at capacity, and the need for extensive retraining ge

20、nerates costs and creates bottlenecks that limit the speed with which new equipment can be employed. The result is a slower pace of technological change. And in the end the skills of the bottom half of the population affect the wages of the top half. If the bottom half cant effectively start the pro

21、cesses that have to be operated, the management and professional jobs that go with these processes will disappear.6. In an American firm, the executive of human-resource management A has a position directly under the chief financial executive.B is one of the most important executives of the firm. C

22、has no say in making important decisions of the firm.D is unimportant when new technologies have been introduced.7. The money most American firms put in work force training mainly goes on A technological and managerial staff.B workers who will run new equipment.C workers who lack basic background sk

23、ills.D top executives.8. Technological change in American firms is slower becauseA new equipment in America is more expensive.B they don tpay enough attention to the job training of their workers.C they are less responsive to technological changes.D their professional staff are less paid and so less

24、 creative.9. Which of the following applies to the management of human resources in American companies?A They hire people at the lowest cost regardless of their skills.B They see the gaining of skills as their employees own business. C They attach more importance to workers than equipment.D They onl

25、y hire skilled workers because of keen competition.10. According to the passage, the decisi ve factor in maintaining a firm s competitive advantage is A the introduction of new technologies.B the improvement of workers basicskills.C the rational composition of professional and managerial employees.D

26、 the attachment of importance to the bottom half of the employees.Text CDespite the fact that comets are probably the most numerous astronomical bodies in the solar system aside from small meteor(流星 ) fragments and the asteroids ( 小行星 ), they are largely a mystery. Scienti sts don knowt exactly what

27、 comets are or where they come from. Educated guesses are the best we have in hand.Considering the role of comets in lore, legend, and the memory of man, it is remarkable that we still know so little, relatively, about them. The most famous comet of all, Halley Comets (named for the man who predicte

28、d its return), was first sighted by the Chinese in 240 B.C., and it has returned to terrify the people of the world on a regular basis ever since then (last scheduledreturn: 1986). The ancients considered it an object of ill omen. By mysterious coincidence, the arrival of Halley s Comet coincided wi

29、th such events as the battle of Hastings in 1066, the Jewishrevolt of 66 A.D., and the last battle of Attila the Hun against the Romans. Nor is it the only comet to fill man with awe, but merely the most famous in a rich aristocracy of blood-freezers.Comets are even more fascinating to amateur astro

30、nomers than to professionals, because thisis one area where amateurs can (and do) make major discoveries. Comet Ikeya Seki, one of the brightest comets to appear in last century was discovered in 1965 by a pair of Japanese amateurs, Ikeya and Seki. The person who discovers a new comet gets his (or h

31、er) name put on it. And amateurs have a head start in the race to discover new comets; the shorter focal lengths on their smaller telescopes give them a positive advantage over the huge telescope such as Mount Wilson which is built to scan for galaxies, not comparatively of short distances.Most scie

32、ntists tend to agree with the astronomerFred T. Whipple that a comet isreally alarge mushy snowball of frozen ices and gases (ammonia, methane, possibly carbon dioxide) witha few bits of solid particles stuck inside. But no one is sure how comets are created in the firstplace.Scientists believe that

33、 comets don t exhibit their characteristic tail while they lurk far out inspace away from the warmth of the sun but, rather, wander in the form of frozen lumps, likeicebergs. This is the core of the comet. Only when the comet approaches the heat of the sun, does the ice begin to melt and stream away

34、 in the form of visible gases. The tails of the comet streamout behind for, literally, astronomical distances. Halley s Comet had a tail gof 94 million miles lonwhen it visited here in 1910. The Great Comet of 1843 had a tail of 186 million miles long.11. At the beginning of the passage, the author

35、indicates that A comets are the most commonly seen astronomical bodies.B comets, meteor fragments and the asteroids are mysterious. C not much is known about comets.D nothing do we know about comets except guesses.12. Halley s Cometismentioned in paragraph 2A to introduce some famous historical even

36、ts.B to explain some traditional beliefs about comets.C to demonstrate the harm it has done to man.D to show its significance to human history.13. We learn from the passage, amateur astronomers A began their discovery earlier than the professionals .B tend to be the leaders in the area of astronomy.

37、C have some advantages in discovering new comets.D established some theories on how comets come into being.14. The core of a cometA has no solid form.B wanders like a frozen lump when it s far out in space.C requires the warmth of the sun to survive.D is always followed by a long tail.15. Which of t

38、he following about comets is INCORRECT? A They are great in number.B Their arrivals used to frighten human beings.C They are named after their discoverers.D They are large mushy snowballs of frozen ices and gases.Text DAround the world, hearts were broken when news came that the conjoined Bijani twi

39、ns haddied on the operating table. Having lived in tortured unity for 29 years, they traveled form their native Iran to Singapore for the surgery meant to set them free. The doctors who performed it weredistressed. When you lose a patient, particularlywhen the patient dies at your own hand, theheart

40、break mixes with unbearable guilt. The doctors are asking themselves the same questioneveryone else is asking: Should they have done it?The doctors certainly knew the risk. They knew that with the womens shared circulatorysystems, the risk was great. They might have underestimated the technical chal

41、lenges, but they did not deceive their patients. The sisters, highly educated and highly motivated, knew full well the risk of never waking up from the surgery.Indeed, they never did. Should the surgeons have attempted such a risky procedure on patients who were not dying, and, in fact, were not eve

42、n sick?For all the regrets and second guesses, it is hard to see how the answer could have been anything but yes. The foundation of the medical vocation is that the doctor is servant to thepatient s will. Not always, of course. There are times when the doctor must say no. This was not such a time.Co

43、nsider those cases in which outside values trump( 占据上风 ) the patients- expressed desire. The first is life. Even if the patient asks you to, you may not kill him. In some advanced precincts( 地区 ) Holland and Oregon, for example this is thought to be a quaint( 奇怪的)idea, and the state permits physicians to perform “ assisted suicide”. That is a terrible mistake, for the state and for the physician. And not only because it embarks us on a slippery slope where putting people to death in the name of some higher humanity becomes progressively.Even if there were no slipp