I have been wondering lately why I should teach my newborn son English. Everyone I know speaks English, but would Peter be better off learning a more sensible, mellifluous（流畅的）language, like maybe Italian? It is, I admit, a stupid question. But stupid questions can contain the seeds of great insights. This particular stupid question leads to the frontier of economic theory, as well as to the intellectual foundation for the government's antitrust（反垄断）case against Microsoft.
Why are American children taught English? The answer is that everyone learns English because everyone else learns it. In this respect, language is a perfect example of what economic theorists call a network. In a network, the benefit one person gets from using some good - in this case, English -- depends on the number of other people using it.
Networks fascinate economic theorists because they don't fit nearby into the standard model of how markets work. In most cases, economists are defenders of free markets. People left to their own devices, we argue, will typically achieve an outcome that is good society as a whole - the vaunted（被大肆吹捧的）invisible hand.
In the case of networks, however, this logic doesn't seem to work. It is easy to imagine that people might get stuck with a network that, once established, is hard to replace. Parents deciding what language to teach their children, for instance, don't really have much choice. How else can we explain why the Chinese keep speaking Chinese when less complicated languages are available?
For a while supporters of the new economics of networks pointed to what seemed to be a compelling example of the problem - the QWERTY keyboard. As the story goes, this arrangement of letters was originally designed to prevent typists from jamming the keys on early typewriters. Despite the availability of superior designs and the fact that jamming keys is no longer an issue, QWERTY remains the standard. This, theorists argued, was a network-driven market failure: People still type on this inefficient keyboard just because that's what everybody else does.
This debate over networks, keyboards, and market failure might seem like arcana（奥秘）only economists can love, but it is having a profound influence on public policy. Many academics who have written about the theory of networks have worked for the Justice Department and other federal agencies. A frequent claim is that computer operating system are like languages: Once a standard becomes dominant, it is practically impossible for anyone to consider an alternative, even a better one. The only difference between English and Windows, the argument goes, is that English is free.
1.Which of the following examples best illustrates the idea "network" mentioned in the passage?
A.Microsoft limits reasonable competition through its aggressive pricing mechanism.
B.Some scholars speak out against the fundamental economic theory in a journal.
C.Peter chooses to learn Italian for the purpose of an early promotion in his company.
D.Families sit together to watch the Spring Festival Gala on New Year's Eve.
2.The underlined phrase "this logic" in Paragraph 4 refers to the idea that ________.
A.networks don't fit into the standard model of how markets work
B.less governmental intervention is good for society
C.what language we learn depends on the environment we live in
D.the market wouldn't operate properly without the "invisible hand"
3.What can we infer from the passage?
A.Free market contributes most to a prosperous economy.
B.The QWERTY keyboard reflects a network failure in business.
C.Convenience gave way to efficiency in the design of the keyboard.
D.Personal preferences may well be determined by how others act.
4.Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?
A.The Dominance of Microsoft Is to Blame
B.Networks Make Substitutes Impossible
C.The Language We Use Depends on Networks
D.Policy-making Is Subject to Public Opinions
Occupational Licenses with the Biggest Bang for Buck
Some 1.8 million American were laid off or discharged from their jobs each month on average in 2019, according to data from the U. S. Bureau of Labor statistics. People who lose their jobs often confront a difficult choice: should they take a new job that pays less, or should they make a costly investment in gaining new skills so that they can compete for another similar job or an even better one?
If they do decide on retraining ,which programs and occupational licenses are worth their while? In general, the highest-paying jobs tend to have the most difficult education/ training and experience requirements. But that is not always the case. The following are five occupational licenses with the biggest bang for your buck.
Drone Pilots: If you want to become a drone pilot, all you need to do is be above 16 years old, pass the Federal Aviation Administration's Remote Pilot Certificate exam (which requires about 15 to 20 hours of studying), and pay a $ 150 licensing fee. Pay for drone pilots averages $ 56,426 per year, and jobs are growing rapidly across a range of industries. For example, companies like UPS are making substantial investments in drone delivery and will need to hire thousands of drone pilots in the coming years.
Home Inspectors: If you need a job that makes about $ 60K per year, you might want to consider becoming a Home Inspector. Both Home Inspectors and HVAC Contractors earn about $ 61K per year, on average, but getting a state HVAC Contractor license typically requires about 4,000 hours of training and experience (those systems are becoming even more complex), whereas a Home Inspector license only requires 360 hours of training and experience, and much of the training can be gained free of charge on the job.
Massage Therapists: On average, Manicurists/Pedicurists are required to complete more hours of training than Massage Therapists (700 hours versus 500 hours), but Massage Therapists earn almost twice as much, on average ($54,639 versus $ 32,509).
Radiologic Technologists: Licensing requirements for cosmetologists（美容师）have become so onerous that candidates now need 2,700 hours of training and experience on average. That's not much less than the requirement for becoming a Radiologic or MRI Technologist (3,300 hours), a job which is growing considerably faster than average, is more recession - proof, and pays twice as much ($ 56,162 versus $ 28,608).
Dental Hygienists: Among jobs that require a two-year associate's degree granted by a college or university, some pay substantially more than others. The average state licensing fee for becoming a Dental Hygienist is a hefty $ 1,600, but the pay bump you'll receive will likely make up for it ten times over in the first year.
1.The underlined expression "the biggest bang for your buck" in Paragraph 2 probably means ________.
A.the job loss for your hesitation to invest
B.a good income resulting from your skills
C.a good return for the money you have spent
D.the great efforts you'd make to change your life.
2.Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
A.Among the drone operators, those who work for delivery services can earn the most.
B.Compared to a home inspector, being an HVAC Contractor is more cost-effective.
C.As an MRI technologist, you'd be less likely to be jobless during an economic crisis.
D.Higher education isn't a compulsory requirement if you want to be a dental hygienist.
3.Which of the following matching for the chart is correct according to the passage?
A.① Radiologic Technologist; ② Cosmetologist; ③General Contractor
B.① Drone Pilot; ② General Contractor; ③ Dental Hygienists
C.① Message Therapist; ② Radiologic Technologist; ③ Cosmetologist
D.① Drone Piolt; ② Cosmetologist; ③ Radiologic Technologist
These days, nobody needs to cook. Families graze on high-cholesterol（胆固醇）take-aways and microwaved ready-meals. Cooking is an occasional hobby and a vehicle for celebrity chefs, which makes it odd that the kitchen has become the heart of the modern house. What the great hall was to the medieval castle, the kitchen is to the 21st - century home.
The money spent on kitchens has risen with their status. In America the kitchen market is now worth $ 170 billion, five times the country's film industry. In the year to August 2007, the Swedish furniture chain IKEA sold over one million kitchens worldwide. The average budget for a "major" kitchen overhaul in 2006, calculates Remodeling magazine, was a staggering $ 54,000, even a "minor" improvement cost on average $ 18,000.
Exclusivity, more familiar in the world of high fashion, has reached the kitchen: Robinson & Cornish, a British manufacturer of custom-made-kitchens, offers a Georgian-style one, which would cost 145,000 to 155,000 pounds -- excluding building, plumbing and electrical work. Its big selling point is that nobody else will have it: "You won't see this kitchen anywhere else in the word."
The elevation of the room that once belonged only to the servants for the modern family tells the story of a century of social change. Right into the early 20th century, kitchens were smoky, noisy places, generally located underground, or to the back of the house, as far from living space as possible. That was as it should be: kitchens were for servants, and the aspiring middle classes wanted nothing to do with them.
But as the working classes prospered and the servant shortage set in, housekeeping became a matter of interest to the educated classes. One of the pioneers of a radical new way of thinking about the kitchen was Catharine Esther Beecher, sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe. In American Human's Home, published in 1869, the Beecher sisters recommended a scientific approach to household management, designed to enhance the efficiency of a woman's work and promote order. Many contemporary ideas about kitchen design can be traced back to another American, Chris Frederick, who set about enhancing the efficiency of the housewife. Her 1919 work, House-Engineering: Scientific Management in the Home, was based on detailed observation of a wife's daily routine. She borrowed the principle of efficiency on the factory floor and applied mystic tasks on the kitchen floor.
Frederick's central idea, that "stove, sink and kitchen table must be placed in such a relation that useless steps are avoided entirely," inspired the first fully fitted kitchen, designed in the 1920s by Mangarete Schutter Libotsky. It was a modernist triumph, and many elements remain central features of today's kitchen.
1.What does the author say about the kitchen of today?
A.It is where housewives display their cooking skills.
B.It is where the family entertains important guests.
C.It has become something odd a modern house.
D.It is regarded as the center of a modern home.
2.Why does the Georgian-style kitchen sell at a very high price?
A.It is believed to have tremendous artistic value.
B.There will be no kitchen exactly the same anywhere.
C.It is manufactured by a famous British company.
D.No other manufacturer can produce anything like it.
3.What was the Beecher sisters' idea of a kitchen?
A.A place where women could work more efficiently.
B.A place where high technology could be applied.
C.A place of interest to the educated people.
D.A place to experiment with new ideas.
4.What do we learn about today's kitchen?
A.It represents the rapid technological advance in people's daily life.
B.Many of its central features are no different from those of the 1920s.
C.It has been transformed beyond recognition.
D.Many of its functions have changed greatly.
Friendly Laughter
Most people can share a laugh with a total stranger. But there are subtle - and _______ -- differences in our laughs with friends.
Greg Bryant, a cognitive scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues previously found that adults from 24 societies around the world can distinguish simultaneous "co-laughter" between friends from that between strangers. The findings suggested that his ability may be _______ used to help read social interactions. So the researchers wondered: Can babies distinguish such laughter, too?
Bryant and his fellow researcher Athena Vouloumanos, a developmental psychologist at New York University, played recording of co-laughter between _______ of either friends or strangers to 24 five-month-old infants in New York City. The babies listened _______ to the laughs shared between buddies - suggesting they could tell the two types apart, according to a study published in March in Scientific Reports.
The researchers then showed the babies short videos of two people acting either like friends or strangers and paired those with the _______ recordings. The babies stared for longer at clips paired with a mismatched recording - for example, if they saw friends _______ but heard strangers laughing.
"There's something about co-laughter that is giving _______ to even a five-month-old about the social relationship between the individuals," Bryant says. Exactly what components of laughter the infants are detecting remains to be seen, but prior work by Bryant's team provides _______. Laughs between friends tend to include greater variations in pitch and _______, for example.
Such characteristics also distinguish ________ laughs from fake ones. Many scientists think heartfelt laughter most likely ________ from play vocalizations, which are also produced by nonhuman primates, rodents and other mammals. Fake laughter probably emerged later in humans, ________ that ability to produce a wide range of speech sounds. The researchers suggest that we may be ________ to spontaneous（自发的）laughter during development because of its long evolutionary history.
It's really cool to see how early infants are distinguishing between different forms of laughter," says Adrienne Wood, a psychologist at the University of Virginia, who was not involved in the study. "Almost every ________ moment is a social interaction for babies. Therefore it ________ that they are becoming very much accustomed to their social worlds."
1.A.distinct B.invisible C.detectable D.conscious
2.A.universally B.apparently C.fairly D.precisely
3.A.groups B.pairs C.rivals D.partners
4.A.shorter B.longer C.less patiently D.more diligently
5.A.friendly B.strange C.visual D.audio
6.A.interacting B.reflecting C.clubbing D.interpreting
7.A.value B.meaning C.information D.friendship
8.A.accounts B.implications C.routes D.hints
9.A.engagement B.frequency C.intensity D.length
10.A.obliged B.involuntary C.encouraged D.internal
11.A.evolved B.heaped C.sprang D.originated
12.A.apart from B.along with C.as against D.ahead of
13.A.available B.crucial C.sensitive D.neutral
14.A.screaming B.kicking C.shifting D.waking
15.A.turns out B.comes true C.rings hollow D.makes sense
Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.
Voice for the Planet
It's the voice you notice first. In person, David Attenborough speaks in the same awestruck hush he has used in dozens of nature documentaries, a crisp half whisper 1. is often imitated but seldom matched. Sitting in his home in the Richmond neighbourhood of west London for one in a series of conversations, I feel obliged to drink 2. second cup of tea when he offers. It somehow seems wrong to say no.
In his native U. K. Attenborough is held in the kind of respect usually 3. (reserve) for royalty. Over decades - first as a television executive, then as a wildlife filmmaker and recently as a kind of elder statesman for the planet -- he has achieved near saintly（圣人的）status. He was knighted（封为骑士）by the Queen in 1985 and 4. (usually refer) to as Sir David.
Attenborough pioneered a style of wildlife film-making that brought viewers to remote landscapes and gave them a close perspective on the wonders of nature. In the autumn of his life, Attenborough has largely moved away from 5. these films are made but lends his storytelling abilities to wildlife documentaries in collaboration with filmmakers his storytelling abilities to wildlife documentaries in collaboration with filmmakers he has mentored. His most famous work, the 2006 BBC series Planet Earth, set a benchmark in the use of high-definition cameras and had a budget equal to 6. of a Hollywood movie. Among its highlights 7. (be) the first footage of a snow leopard, the impossibly rare Asian wildcat that hunts high in the Himalayas. More than a decade 8. it was first released, Planet Earth remains among the all-time best-selling nonfiction DVDs.
Now Attenborough is putting his voice and the weight of authority he has accumulated to greater moral purpose. In recent months he has stood 9. powerful audiences at the 2018 U. N. climate talks in Katowice, Poland, and the 2019 World Economic Forum at Davos, in Switzerland, to urge them into action on climate change. These kinds of event are not his chosen habitat, Attenborough tells TIME. "I would much prefer not to be a sign- 10. (carry) conservationist. My life is the natural world. But I can't not carry a placard（标语牌）if I see what's happening."
疫情之下，云游博物馆也成了年轻人足不出户领略文化的新潮流。假如你是李华，你的英国网友Lucy 发邮件给你，想知道你们现在的“虚拟博物馆”活动。请你给她写封电子邮件，告知相关内容。内容包括：
1.该活动原因；
2.该活动优点（至少两点）；
3. 推荐一个虚拟博物馆。
注意：1.词数不少于100字；
2.可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：virtual虚拟的
Dear Lucy,
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Best wishes!
Yours,
Li hua
