题型:任务型阅读 题类:常考题 难易度:普通
江西省赣州市2020-2021学年十六县(市)十七校高二下学期英语期中联考试卷
How to Improve Your English
Learning English is a continuous process. For tips on how to improve your English, read on.
Read English newspapers, books, and magazines. Reading is an active process that requires your brain to work. When learning a language, much is achieved by speaking, listening and writing. When you read, you learn new words and will be able to use them.
After reading the daily papers, choose one or two articles that stood out among all those that you read, and write down your reactions to them. Read what you wrote afterwards, and check if you made any grammatical errors or would like to improve your work.
Read the book version of a movie that you have already seen. Reading the book version means you will find it easier to understand and guess vocabulary, and you can remember it easily since the story is already familiar to you.
Teach English to children or friends. This also holds true for the English language. When you share and teach English to others, you are able to practice. At the same time, you become more aware of your weak areas.
Use English every day. Whatever you are doing, from washing the dishes or taking out the garbage to going to work or to the gym, use English. Take out those new words that you learned and use them. Bring out those new idioms you came across and use them. Learn how to use it in your daily life.
As you try to improve your English day by day, you will surely see improvements that are going to "make your day".
A. Open your mouth.
B. Keep a news diary.
C. But reading is also a great help.
D. Listening to songs can help you improve your English.
E. The best way to improve something is by teaching it to others.
F. If the new knowledge stays inside your head and in your notebooks, it won't come to life.
G. If you are not a serious book reader, reading a story that you are already familiar with will help you move along page by page.
Do you love traveling? If the answer is yes, then have you ever thought about why? You may argue that traveling can help you enrich your knowledge, especially geographical and historical learning. It will provide more chances for you to enjoy food and try on clothes that you otherwise cannot possible have. A famous English author Francis Bacon (1561-1626) makes a point when he says that, “Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.”
Evidence of leisure travel can be traced as far back as ancient Babylon. This year, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council, the 1 billionth tourist will cross an international boundary before the end of this month. That means that one in seven people on the planet traveled this year, something that would not have been possible a few decades ago. Around 20 years ago only the rich could travel.
While the US and France remain the two largest destinations for world travel, experts say much of the explosive growth in tourism has been to countries like Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and the Ivory Coast, which weren't even on the world tourism map a decade ago. The top five destinations in the world, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, are Paris, London, New York, the Mediterranean, Turkey.
Several factors have led to the boom in world travel. The prosperity (富裕) of people in Asia is one factor. People in Asian developing countries have lifted their incomes above middle-class levels in the past few years. And a lot of them have used their new wealth to travel. In addition, travel costs have been reduced thanks to the rapid development of transportation, and competition between airlines to give customers the best prices.
Topic | Travelling |
{#blank#}1{#/blank#} | ● Enrich knowledge, especially in geography and {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. ● Taste different {#blank#}3{#/blank#} and buy different clothes. ● Travel is a part of education and a part of experience. |
Development | ●{#blank#}4{#/blank#} back to ancient Babylon, travel only really took off after World War II. ● Only the wealthy people could go on a trip about two decades ago. ● The number of people travelling abroad will {#blank#}5{#/blank#} 1 billion before the end of this month. |
Tourist {#blank#}6{#/blank#} | ● The US and France remain the two most popular countries for world travel. ● Tourism has developed {#blank#}7{#/blank#} in countries like Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and the Ivory Coast. ● The top five destinations in the world are Paris, London, New York, the Mediterranean and Turkey. |
Factors {#blank#}8{#/blank#} in the popularity of global tourism | ● Asian people are {#blank#}9{#/blank#}than before. ● People are {#blank#}10{#/blank#} less money on travel because of convenient transportation and price competition between airlines. |
China is expected to see a record high number of college graduates in 2018 as around 8.2 million students will obtain their degree this year, according to the latest statistics from Ministry of Education. The number of college graduates in China has been rising since 2001, which leads to a more competitive employment market.
However, besides fierce competition, many graduates admit that they face another big problem-employment discrimination. A research in 2017 shows that around 75.7 percent of new graduates said they were, to some extent, discriminated or suffered from injustice when finding jobs.
Female college graduates still face great wall of discrimination in the employment market. “Males only”, “Married with children preferred”: These are some of the conditions commonly found in recruitment (招募) advertisements. According to a research by Renmin University of China in 2015, male college graduates do have more interview opportunities than female college graduates despite the similar academic background and work experience.
Regional discrimination also becomes a barrier for job seekers. Some companies dismiss job seekers from specific regions due to the regional stereotypes (成见), like “Central China's Henan Province is the cradle of liars” and “people from Northeast region are usually rude.”
Recruitment advertisements sometimes also show favor for local applicants. Non-locals had been denied jobs because their registered residence origin was not the same as the city where they were hunting for a job.
Apart from “invisible thresholds (门槛)” like gender and region, college graduates in recent years were disappointed to find that personal details like superstitions (迷信) about blood type, zodiac, and facial structure were all part of the decision-making process by some potential employers.
An applicant's surname can also help or hamper (妨碍) job prospects. A family name that suggests prosperity, like Jin, which means “gold”; while a last name like Pei, which can mean “to lose money”, would likely be negative. Besides, job seekers also found that some employers paid much attention to their appearance rather than the working performance.
To fight against employment discrimination, both the government and society have made great efforts. In 2007, Employment Promotion Law was passed with the purpose of apposing employment discrimination and promoting justice in job recruitment.
The Ministry of Education in 2017 issued regulations to ban work discrimination in on-campus job fairs. This year, several cities, bureau of human resources required job fair organizers to set special reception desks so as to deal with job seekers, complaints about discrimination.
Non-profit organizations were established to oppose work discrimination, while legal aids were also provided to job seekers through social media platforms like Weibo and WeChat.
Employment Discrimination | |
Current{#blank#}1{#/blank#} | In addition to fierce competition, employment discrimination is another big problem {#blank#}2{#/blank#} many graduates. |
Forms of employment discrimination | Gender discrimination: Male college graduates are more {#blank#}3{#/blank#} to land a job than their female counterparts in spite of the similar educational qualifications and relevant job experience. |
Regional discrimination: • {#blank#}4{#/blank#}from specific regions like Central China's Henan Province and Northeast region are excluded from some companies. • Local registered residence origin is a{#blank#}5{#/blank#} factor in finding a job. | |
Visible thresholds: Greater {#blank#}6{#/blank#} is attached to personal details and appearance in {#blank#}7{#/blank#} with the working performance. | |
{#blank#}8{#/blank#} made to fight against employment discrimination | • Passing laws to{#blank#}9{#/blank#} to work discrimination and promote justice in job recruitment; • Issuing regulations to ban employment discrimination in on-campus job fairs; • Setting special reception desks to {#blank#}10{#/blank#} job seekers' complaints; • Establishing non-profit organizations to provide legal aids to job seekers through social media platforms. |
Digitalization could Pay Off in Health and Sustainability
With technology permeating (渗透) everything we do, it has led to a significant transformation in the workplace — specifically, how, where, who is working and what work employees do. The speed of change across industries has also caused greater uncertainty as many businesses rethink the way they manage their talent and real estate.
For one, automation and artificial intelligence will change many job functions—particularly jobs and tasks that are manual or process driven. Research has found that the future workforce will be divided into three parts;core employees,freelancers(自由职业者)and consultants.Core employees will be concentrated in smaller and fewer locations, ideally in central business districts with transportation and amenities(便利设施) concentrated nearby —reducing their energy and resource usage. This smaller core workforce could mean smaller office footprints requiring less energy from power and less waste produced. In parallel, the appearance of the “liquid workforce”— freelancers, consultants and more — means potentially less commuting(通勤) and perhaps a cleaner way of working. The need for flexibility to accommodate the uncertain operating environment and more project-based work could require possibly less material and waste in the building process.
We've seen how many forward-thinking organizations have already adopted more efficient real estate management in the form of smart buildings and smart offices. This is essentially powered by the Internet of Things(物联网) to drive efficiency and real-time optimization (最优化)of building operations such as automatic monitoring and optimization of air conditioning— of particular interest in Asia, where indoor as well as outdoor air quality is a long-time issue.
Some features of smart buildings and workplaces also announce a shift to a less paper-based workplace. Companies are also accepting a whole view of sustainability. They're thinking about more than cost-savings or making the most of space. They are considering creating a healthy, fulfilling, and productive environment for employees.
We now speak about healthy buildings instead of simply sustainable ones. In fact, the World Green Building Council now promotes the concept of healthy green buildings—buildings that are not only environmentally sensitive but also provide for the well-being of staff. For instance, buildings with more access to nature and greenery make a significant difference to workers. A survey done last year found that over 90% of those surveyed felt more productive and creative with access to fresh air, indoor light, healthy food, fitness centers and even mental health services.
Overall, the drive towards a digitized workplace and improved employee experience could just lead us to a healthier, happier life and a more sustainable future.
Digitalization could Pay Off in Health and Sustainability | |
Introduction | As digitalization influences the workplace and employees in many ways, business owners have to {#blank#}1{#/blank#} on their way of managing. |
Effects of digitalization on the {#blank#}2{#/blank#} | Due to automation and artificial intelligence, future employees will be classified into three categories: core employees, freelancers and consultants. ●Core employees will be concentrated in central business districts {#blank#}3{#/blank#} by various amenities, which help to avoid a(n) {#blank#}4{#/blank#} of their energy and resources. ●Freelancers and consultants have no need to{#blank#}5{#/blank#} regularly from one place to another, which will leave {#blank#}6{#/blank#} carbon footprints. |
Effects of digitalization on the workplaces | ●Smart buildings and smart offices powered by the Internet of Things have been adopted by many forward-thinking organizations. ●Companies are thinking about reducing their reliance on {#blank#}7{#/blank#} and building a healthy workplace, which is beneficial to staffs' work in the long term. ●Green buildings are not only {#blank#}8{#/blank#} to the environment but also do good to employees' health. According to research, being {#blank#}9{#/blank#} to nature and greenery can improve ones' work efficiency and {#blank#}10{#/blank#}. |
The urge to share our lives on social media
People have long used media to see reflections of themselves. Long before mobile phones or even photography, diaries were kept as a way to understand oneself and the world in which one lives. In the 18th and 19th centuries, as diaries became more popular, middle-class New Englanders, particularly white women, wrote about their everyday lives and the world around them.
These diaries were not a place into which they poured their innermost thoughts and desires, but rather a place to chronicle (记录) the social world around them. The diaries captured the everyday routines of mid-19th-century life, and women diarists in particular focused not on themselves but on their families and their communities.
Diaries today are, for the most part, private. But things were different for these New England diaries. Young women who were married would send their diaries home to their parents as a way of maintaining kin (血缘) relations. When family or friends came to visit, it was not uncommon to sit down and go through one's journal together.
Diaries are not the only media that people have used to document lives and share them with others. We have long used media like photo albums, baby books and even slide shows as a means of creating traces (痕迹) of our lives. We do this to understand ourselves and to see trends in our behaviour. We create traces as part of our identity and part of our memory.
Sharing everyday life events can strengthen social connection and intimacy (亲密感). For example, you take a picture of your child's first birthday. It is not only a developmental milestone: the photo also strengthen the identity of the family unit itself. The act of taking the photo and proudly sharing it further reaffirms (再次证实) one as a good and attentive parent. In other words, the media traces of others figure in our own identities.
Today's social media platforms are, by and large, free to use, unlike historical diaries, which people had to buy. Today, advertising subsidises (补贴) our use of networked platforms. Therefore these platforms encourage use of their networks to build larger audiences and to better target them. Our pictures, our posts, and our likes are commodified—that is, they are used to create value through increasingly targeted advertising.
Instead of social media merely connecting us, it has become a craze (狂热) for information, continually trying to draw us in with the promise of social connectivity—it's someone's birthday, someone liked your picture, etc. There's a multibillion-dollar industry pulling us into our smartphones, relying on a longstanding human need for communication.
The urge to be present on social media is much more complex than simply narcissism (自恋).
Social media of all kinds not only enable people to see their reflections, but to feel their connection as well.
Passage outline |
Supporting details |
Features of {#blank#}1{#/blank#}media |
♦ People kept {#blank#}2{#/blank#}to understand themselves and the world they live in. ♦ Middle-class Englanders, especially white women diarists focused on their families and communities. ♦ It was common for young married women to {#blank#}3{#/blank#}their diaries with family members or friends. |
{#blank#}4{#/blank#}of media |
♦ We have long used media to partly show {#blank#}5{#/blank#}we are and what we have experienced in our lives. ♦ Sharing daily life events can make family members {#blank#}6{#/blank#}to each other. |
Present situation of media |
♦ Today's social media platforms can be used for {#blank#}7{#/blank#}. ♦ Private data about us are used as {#blank#}8{#/blank#}through targeted advertising. ♦ Social media are trying to draw more people in by {#blank#}9{#/blank#}to their need for communication. |
Conclusion |
People are greatly interested in the use of social media for narcissism and social {#blank#}10{#/blank#}. |
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