题型:任务型阅读 题类:常考题 难易度:困难
江苏省盐城市2016-2017学年高二下学期英语期末考试试卷
Nowhere is the place you never want to go. It's not on any departure board, and though some people like to travel so far off the motherland that it looks like Nowhere, most wanderers ultimately long to get somewhere. Yet every now and then—if there's nowhere else you can be and all other options have gone—going nowhere can prove the best adventure around.
Nowhere is entirely uncharted; you've never read a guidebook entry on it or followed others' suggestions on a train ride through its suburbs. Few YouTube videos exist of it. Moreover, it's free from the most dangerous kind of luggage, expectation. Knowing nothing of a place in advance opens us up to a high energy we seldom encounter while walking around Paris or Kyoto with a list of the 10 things we want—or, in embarrassing truth, feel we need—to see.
I'll never forget a bright January morning when I landed in San Francisco from Santa Barbara, just in time to see my connecting flight to Osaka take off. I hurried to the nearest airline counter to ask for help, and was told that I would have to wait 24 hours, at my own expense, for the next day's flight. An unanticipated delay is exactly what nobody wants on his schedule. The airline didn't answer for fog-related delays, a gate agent declared, and no alternative flights were available.
Millbrae, California, the drive-through town that encircles San Francisco's airport, was a mystery to me. With one of the world's most beautiful cities only 40 minutes to the north, and the unofficial center of the world, Silicon Valley, 27 miles to the south, Millbrae is known mostly as a place to fly away from, at high speed.
It was a cloudless, warm afternoon as a shuttle bus deposited me in Millbrae. Locals were taking their dogs for walks along the bay while couples wandered hand in hand beside an expanse of blue that, in San Francisco, would have been crowded with people and official “attractions.” I checked in to my hotel and registered.
Suddenly I was enjoying a luxury I never allow myself, even on vacation: a whole day free. And as I made my way back to my hotel, lights began to come on in the hills of Millbrae, and I realized I had never seen a sight half so lovely in glamorous, industrial Osaka. Its neighbor Kyoto is attractive, but it attracts 50 million visitors a year.
Who knows if I'll ever visit Millbrae again? But I'm confident that Nowhere will slip into my schedule many times more. No place, after all, is uninteresting to the interested eye. Nowhere is so far off the map that its smallest beauties are a discovery.
The Unexpected Joys of a Trip to Nowhere | |
Passage outline | Supporting details |
Introduction to Nowhere | ●Although many choose to travel beyond the , they actually hope to get somewhere. ●Getting nowhere can be the best adventure when we are out of options. |
of Nowhere | ●You don't have to be on a guidebook entry or others' advice. ●With limited information of a place and little expectation, we will encounter a high energy that doesn't exist when visiting Paris or Kyoto. |
The author's experience of getting nowhere | ●The airline wasn't for unexpected delays and there were no alternative flights available. ●He decided to visit the mysterious Millbrae, between San Francisco and Silicon Valley. ●He to enjoy such a luxurious and free time in big cities before. |
Conclusion | ●Though about whether to visit Millbrae again, Nowhere will be included in his schedule. ●Nowhere is entirely uncharted with its beauties to be . |
An Extension of the Human Brain
Other people can help us compensate for our mental and emotional deficiencies (欠缺),much as a wooden leg can compensate for a physical deficiency. To be exact, other people can extend our intelligence and help us understand and adjust our emotions. When another person helps us in such ways, he or she is participating in what I've called a “social prosthetic (义肢的)system.” Such systems do notneed to operate face-to-face, and it's clear to me that the Internet is expanding the range of my own social prosthetic systems. It's already a big bank of many minds. Even in its current state, the Internet has extended my memory and judgment.
Regarding memory: Once I look up something on the Internet, I don't need to keep all the details for future use—I know where to find that informationagain and can quickly and easily do so. More generally, the Internet functions as if it were my memory. This function of the Internet is particularly striking when I'm writing; I'm no longer comfortable writing if I'm not connected to the Internet. It's become natural to check facts as I write, taking a minute or two to dip into PubMed, Wikipedia, or other websites.
Regarding judgment: The Internet has made me smarter in matters small and large. For example, when I'm writing a textbook, it has become second nature to check a dozen definitions of a key term, which helps me dig into the core andunderstand its meaning. But more than that, I now regularly compare my views with those of many others. If I have a “new idea,” I now quickly look to see whether somebody else has already thought of it, or something similar—and I then compare what I think with what others have thought. This certainly makes my own views clearer. Moreover, I can find out whether my reactions to an event are reasonable enough by reading about those of others on the Internet.
These effects of the Internet have become even more striking since I've begun using a smartphone. I now regularly pull out my phone to check a fact, watch a video, read weibo. Such activities fill the spaces that used to be dead time (such as waiting for somebody to arrive for a lunch meeting).
But that's the upside (好处). The downside is that in those dead periods I often would let my thoughts flow and sometimes would have an unexpected insight or idea. Those opportunities are now fewer and farther between.
An Extension of the Human Brain | |
A prosthetic nature | • The {#blank#}1{#/blank#}can help make up for our mental and emotional deficiencies as a wooden leg can compensate for a bodily deficiency. • It {#blank#}2{#/blank#}in our daily events, extending our intelligence, comprehending our feelings, and expanding the range of social activities. |
Wonderful aspects: memory and judgment | • On the Internet, we could quickly and easily locate the details, and check facts, without {#blank#}3{#/blank#} them in mind. |
• The Internet makes us smarter over {#blank#}4{#/blank#} kinds of things. It provides a dozen definitions of a key term for us to find the {#blank#}5{#/blank#} of the matter. The Internet enables us to exchange ideas with many others to {#blank#}6{#/blank#}our claims, and to {#blank#}7{#/blank#}our actions. | |
The {#blank#}8{#/blank#}sides of smartphones | • Smartphones make it easier and more {#blank#}9{#/blank#}to check reality, watch video clips, read weibo. |
• Smartphones {#blank#}10{#/blank#}the possibility for new and insightful minds, and steal away our dead time. |
{#blank#}1{#/blank#} This was not because the woods and fields were always far away, but because they were too far from the city to permit people to make a day trip between morning and nightfall.
{#blank#}2{#/blank#} He decided to turn his little school house into a dormitory for the summer holidays. Anyone who brought his sleeping bag and cooking equipment along could stay there for a very small quantity of money. The idea was a success. A few years later, the school house was much too small to hold the many young people who wanted to stay there. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} This was the first hostel(青年招待所).
Today, young students and workers of every country can meet in the hostel and get to know each other. When young people arrive at the hostel, they have only to show their cards of membership in a hostel organization in their own country. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}
Often, at the evening meal, a group of boys and girls from various parts of the country or world will happen to meet at the same hostel. They may put their food together and prepare a dinner with many kinds of dishes. Sometimes a program will be organized after the meal with dances, songs, or short talks followed by a question period. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} For this reason, a few weeks spent ‘hostelling' can be just as useful a part of one's education as classes in school.
A. In 1970, a young German school master had an idea which changed this situation. B. People could stay in the hostel if they brought enough equipment with them. C. One can learn a lot about other places, just by meeting people from those places. D. As a result, a dormitory was set up in an old castle nearby. E. For years, children in the industrial areas of Europe seldom left their cities to see the beauties of the countryside. F. More and more young people went to the hostel for summer holidays. G. This card will permit them to stay in a hostel all over the world for very low prices. |
Fighting the curse of presenteeism
"It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance?" Beyond a certain level, extra effort seems to be selfdefeating. Studies suggest that, after 10 hours a week, employee productivity falls sharply.
But that doesn't stop some managers from demanding that workers stay chained to their desk for long periods. Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, recently applauded the "996" model, where employees work from 9am to 9pm, six days a week, as a huge blessing". However, to modern office workers presenteeism is a curse.
There will be days when you do not have much to do, just waiting for someone else to respond to a request. As the clock ticks past 5pm, there may be no purpose in staying at your desk. But you can see your boss hard at work and, more important, they can see you. So you make an effort to look busy.
If bosses do not like to go home before their underlings (下属)and underlings fear leaving before their bosses, everyone is trapped. Staff may feel that they will not get a pay rise, or a promotion, if they are not seen to be putting in maximum effort. This is easily confused with long hours. Managers, who are often no good at judging employees5 performance, use time in the office as a measurement.
But presenteeism has more serious consequences. As well as reducing productivity, this can increase medical expenses for the employer. According to a study, these costs can be six time: higher for employers than the costs of absenteeism among workers. To take one example, research found that Japanese employees with lowerback pain were three times more likely to turn up for work than in Britain. As a result, those workers were more likely to experience greater pain and to suffer from depression. What could be more discouraging than being in pain while feeling trapped at work?
"None of this is to say that employers are not entitled to expect workers to be in the office for a small amount of time. Unavoidably there will be a need for some (preferably short)meetings. Dealing with colleagues face-to-face develops friendships, allows for a useful exchange of ideas and enables workers to have a better sense of their common needs.
With portable smart phones and laptops, we can work at home as easily as in the office. Turning an office into a prison does nothing for the creativity that is increasingly demanded of office workers as routine tasks are automatic. To be productive you need presence of mind, not being present in the flesh.
Fighting the curse of presenteeism | |
{#blank#}1{#/blank#} | Modern office workers stay chained to their desk for long periods. |
Contributing factors | •The staff think it may give them a(n){#blank#}2{#/blank#} to get a pay rise, or a promotion. •Employees' performance is{#blank#}3{#/blank#}in terms of working hours. |
Consequences | •Employees work less {#blank#}4{#/blank#}, some pretending to be busy. •More medical expenses have to be {#blank#}5{#/blank#} by employers for their staff. •Workers have a{#blank#}6{#/blank#}to be both physically and mentally. unhealthy. •It is of no {#blank#}7{#/blank#}to the development of creativity. |
{#blank#}8{#/blank#} of facetoface contact | •It develops friendships. •It makes a useful exchange of ideas {#blank#}9{#/blank#}. •It enables workers to {#blank#}10{#/blank#}each other's needs. |
Conclusion | To be productive you need presence of mind, not being present in the flesh. |
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