On a visit to Sussex on February 16th, David Cameron announced that, if the Conservatives win the election on May 7th, young people who are out of work, education or training for six months will have to do unpaid community work to get benefits. The speech was part of a pre-election push to show the Conservative Party is tough on welfare reform (though critics insist such schemes rarely promote employment). “The well-worn path—from the school gate down to the job centre and on to a life on benefits—has got to be wiped away,” said the prime minister.
The welfare bill has fallen a bit as unemployment drops. But the main attempt to reform working-age benefits—known as universal credit (UC)—has gone away. In 2011 Mr Cameron said it would be part of “the most ambitious and fundamental changes to the welfare system since it began”. The latest stage of UC was also started from February 16th, but its future is not certain at all.
UC combines six working-age benefits, including tax credits, housing benefit and job-seeker’s allowance, into a single payment. It aims to provide the poorest Britons with a ladder to climb out of welfare dependency by simplifying a system that provides perverse incentives(反常动力) to stay on benefits rather than work. Its champion, Iain Duncan Smith, the secretary for work and pensions, claims it is as much about changing culture as about saving money.
The project has crawled along, hitting many obstacles on the way, such as an overly ambitious timetable that had to be reset in 2013 and an IT system that had to be abandoned, costing tens of millions of pounds. Mr Duncan Smith debated often with George Osborne, the harder-nosed chancellor of the exchequer(财政大臣).
Other problems have come from technical complexities, such as linking the tax system’s computers with those at the department for work and pensions. Critics say that moving all claims online is foolish when many people do not even have access to a computer. Similarly foolish, they say, are plans to pay benefits monthly rather than weekly to people who cannot budget, and to give housing benefit to applicants who may waste it rather than directly to the landlords of their government-funded housing. Defenders say the poor need to be given more responsibility. “The current benefits system is just ‘process and pay’,” says Christian Guy, Mr Duncan Smith’s former speechwriter, now head of the Centre for Social Justice. “UC makes the assumption of ambition.”
This week’s limited demonstration will mean that 250 job centres—roughly one in three—will offer UC. But these numbers refer to a system used for single recipients with no dependents. The bigger “digital” system, covering complex applicants with children, has not yet been tested. “The reason this week’s announcement means nothing is that we are still not sure if the system works for most people,” says Jonathan Portes of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research. “They’re producing a system they are not going to use.” The government hoped that 1 million people would be using UC by April 2014, but only 64,000 have used it so far.
There is no guarantee it will be carried out in full, even if the Tories form the next government. “I wouldn’t put money on UC continuing under either major party,” says Colin Talbot of the University of Manchester. Opponents say gains will be the lowest. They accuse Mr Duncan Smith and his team of trying to change the world. Mr Guy contradicts: “At least someone is trying.”
Title: The government’s welfare reform is in 1.
Introduction | ◆David Cameron expressed his 2. to promote welfare reform if the Conservatives win the election. |
Present 3. | ◆The welfare bill has dropped because of increasing 4.. |
◆The latest stage of universal credit, 5. UC, was started in spite of its uncertain future, 6. six working-age benefits into a single payment. | |
Obstacles and problems
| ◆It caused many debates among experts. ◆Moving all claims online is not practical because computers are not 7.to many people. ◆The poor need to be given more responsibility. ◆The reason this week’s limited demonstration means nothing is that we still 8. if the system works for most people |
Different attitudes | ◆Colin Talbot wouldn’t put money on UC 9.. ◆Opponents are not optimistic about the gains. ◆Mr. Guy insists that trying is 10. than waiting. |
An old man in a faded yellow shirt sat in a windowless room on a raised concrete form. The only source of heat came from somewhere beneath the plastic mattress and the rough blanket the blank-faced police woman had handed him after taking his thumb prints. He heard voices and metallic clang as the cell door swung open.
At the front desk a tired looking policeman handed the old man back his belongings, his worn-out cap and the Seiko watch that had stopped working the day his beloved Evelyn left. The policeman dramatically held the blue plastic bag at an arm’s length to the old man who took it and made sure its contents were undamaged: the goat meat, palm oil, leaves and spices. He ignored the confused expression on the officer’s face and signed the document declaring he had been returned the possessions they had taken off him the night before.
No one spoke to him as he walked slowly towards the exit.
“Mr. Easy-nwa?” He stopped and prayed to the God who now took care of Evelyn to please take him far away from this unhappy place of expressionless faces, clipped accents and people who did not even attempt to pronounce his name right.
“Ezenwa,” He said and looked at a woman with tangerine lips, her name tag said Jessica Harlow, Social Services. “A bit far from home”，she said as she drove fast and with confidence the way Evelyn used to. He wondered if she meant the 50 miles from Liverpool or the 50,000 miles from Enugu，a city in Nigeria. He did not bother replying as this woman had plenty to say about the weather, bad drivers, her daughter’s school play...
At last she drew up outside the block of flats where he lived.
“Got here in the end”，said she seriously, “Really Mr. Easy-nwa, if you keep getting lost, we will have to consider moving you into a home”.
“No need, I was not lost，”he answered.
He carefully rolled up the sleeves of the oversize bomber jacket he wore and turned on the tap to wash his hands, relieved the pipes were not frozen. In a clean pan he placed the chopped pieces of goat meat. The herbs and spices that had taken him three months to track down, the uziza seeds had taken him into the heart of Granby Market in Liverpool, his uchanwu leaves down a shady back alley in Manchester, and yesterday, among other food items, the finest goat meat from a Sierra Leonean Butcher in Birmingham. That had taken some time, so much he missed the last train and when the police found him shivering outside the locked up station, so cold he couldn’t answer loudly enough the pink-faced big copper who yelled in his face, “What’s your name sir?” spraying his face with spittle (吐沫）as he did so, leaving them with no choice but to search an exhausted, frozen old black man and finding him in possession of mysterious condiments (调味品）including a bag of dried bitter-leaf which could of course be mistaken for anything that resulted in him getting read his rights and charged with ...possession?
He lifted the lid of the bubbling soup, the room was filled with the rich and spicy scent of his culinary (烹饪的）effort. He served two bowls, taking the chipped one and placing the other opposite where Evelyn would have sat. He would tell her about his adventure, it was their anniversary and this was the perfect pepper soup to celebrate.
Ken Onyia, UK (Nigeria) Commonwealth Sport Short Story Prize
1.Why was Mr. Ezenwa taken to the prison for a night?
A. He was too weak to move.
B. He couldn’t find his way back home.
C. He then had nowhere else to go.
D. He was suspected of possessing drugs.
2.When Mr. Ezenwa was to leave the prison,
A. his thumb print was taken immediately
B. the policeman was confused about what he had
C. a social worker was assigned to drive him back home
D. the policeman was so kind as not to damage his belongings
3.What did Mr. Ezenwa do for his wedding anniversary?
A. He collected all sorts of valuables as presents.
B. He cooked native food as a surprise for his wife.
C. He prepared a special Nigerian pepper soup carefully.
D. He travelled a lot, attempting to get his wife back.
4.What words can be used to describe Mr. Ezenwa?
A. Hopeless and pessimistic.
B. Mysterious and troublesome.
C. Affectionate and persistent.
D. Energetic and sympathetic.
5.What theme does the author want to express through the story?
A. Racial prejudice.
B. Hard life of the elderly.
C. Struggle for freedom.
D. Preservation of tradition.
Racket, din clamor, noise, whatever you want to call it, unwanted sound is America’s most widespread nuisance. But noise is more than just a nuisance. It constitutes a real and present danger to people’s health. Day and night, at home, at work, and at play, noise can produce serious physical and psychological stress. No one is immune to this stress. Though we seem to adjust to noise by ignoring it, the ear, in fact, never closes and the body still responds—sometimes with extreme tension, as to a strange sound in the night.
The annoyance we feel when faced with noise is the most common outward symptom of the stress building up inside us. Indeed, because irritability is so apparent, legislators have made public annoyance the basis of many noise abatement programs. The more subtle and more serious health hazards associated with stress caused by noise traditionally have been given much less attention. Nevertheless, when we are annoyed or made irritable by noise, we should consider these symptoms fair warning that other thing may be happening to us, some of which may be damaging to our health.
Of many health hazards to noise, hearing loss is the most clearly observable and measurable by health professionals. The other hazards are harder to pin down. For many of us, there may be a risk that exposure to the stress of noise increases probability of disease and infection. The people more likely to be affected may experience noise as a complicating factor in heart problems and other diseases. Noise that causes annoyance and irritability in health persons may have serious consequences for these already ill in mind or body.
Noise affects us throughout our lives. For example, there are indications of effects on the unborn child when mothers are exposed to industrial and environmental noise. During infancy and childhood, youngsters exposed to high noise levels may have trouble falling asleep and obtaining necessary amounts of rest.
Why, then, is there not greater alarm about these dangers? Perhaps it is because the link between noise and many disabilities or diseases has not yet been conclusively demonstrated. Perhaps it is because we tend to dismiss annoyance as a price to pay for living in the modern world. It may also be because we still think of hearing loss as only an occupational hazard.
1.The author’s attitude toward noise would best be described as ___.
A. unrealistic.
B. traditional.
C. concerned.
D. hysterical.
2.Which of the following best states the main idea of the passage?
A. Noise is a major problem and most people recognize its importance.
B. Although noise can be annoying, it is not a major problem.
C. Noise is a major problem and has not yet been recognized as such.
D. Noise is a major problem about which nothing can be done.
3.The author condemns noise essentially because it ___.
A. is against the law.
B. can make some people irritable.
C. is a nuisance.
D. does harm to people’s health.
4.The author would probably consider research about the effects noise has on people to be ___.
A. unimportant.
B. impossible.
C. a waste of money.
D. essential.
At the age of twelve years, the human body is at its most vigorous. It has yet to reach its full size and strength, and its owner his or her full intelligence; but at this age the likelihood of death is least. Earlier, we were infants and young children, and consequently more vulnerable; later, we shall undergo a progressive loss of our vigor and resistance which, though imperceptible at first, will finally become so steep that we can live no longer, however well we look after ourselves, and however well society, and our doctors, look after us.
This decline in vigor with the passing of time is called ageing. It is one of the most unpleasant discoveries which we all make that we must decline in this way, that if we escape wars, accidents and disease we shall eventually "die of old age", and that this happens at a rate which differs little from person to person, so that there are heavy odds in favor of our dying between the ages of sixty-five and eighty. Some of us will die sooner, a few will live longer—on into a ninth or tenth decade. But the chances are against it, and there is a virtual limit on how long we can hope to remain alive, however lucky and robust we are.
Normal people tend to forget this process unless and until they are reminded of it. We are so familiar with the fact that man ages, that people have for years assumed that the process of losing vigor with time, of becoming more likely to die the older we get, was something self-evident, like the cooling of a hot kettle or the wearing-out of a pair of shoes. They have also assumed that all animals, and probably other organisms such as trees, or even the universe itself, must in the nature of things "wear out".
Most animals we commonly observe do in fact age as we do, if given the chance to live long enough; and mechanical systems like a wound watch, or the sun, do in fact an out of energy in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics (热力学) (whether the whole universe does so is a moot point at present). But these are not analogous to what happens when man ages. A run-down watch is still a watch and can be rewound. An old watch, by contrast, becomes so worn and unreliable that it eventually is not worth mending. But a watch could never repair itself—it does not consist of living parts, only of metal, which wears away by friction. We could,at one time, repair ourselves—well enough, at least, to overcome all but the most instantly fatal illnesses and accidents. Between twelve and eighty years we gradually lose this power; an illness which at twelve would knock us over, at eighty can knock us out, and into our grave. If we could stay as vigorous as we are at twelve, it would take about 700 years for half of us to die, and another 700 for the survivors to be reduced by half again.
1.Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?
A. Our first twelve years represent the peak of human development.
B. People usually are unhappy when reminded of ageing.
C. Normally only a few of us can live to the eighties and nineties.
D. People are usually less likely to die at twelve years old.
2.The word "it" in the last sentence of Paragraph Two refers to .
A. remaining alive until 65.
B. remaining alive after 80.
C. dying before 65 or after 80.
D. dying between 65 and 80.
3.What do the examples of watch show?
A. Normally people are quite familiar with the ageing process.
B. All animals and other organisms undergo the ageing process.
C. The law of thermodynamics functions in the ageing process.
D. Human's ageing process is different from that of mechanisms.
You have a choice of three Supafone Mobile Digital access plans: Leisuretime, Executive and Highflier. They are designed to meet the needs of light, moderate and high-volume users. Calls in each plan are charged at only two rates: short-distance and long-distance. You enjoy big savings with off-peak calls.
LEISURETIME
Your mobile phone is mainly for personal use. You use your phone to keep family and friends in touch. You don’t want to strain your budget(预算紧张).
With this plan you enjoy the lowest monthly access fee and extremely competitive costs for calls. However, a monthly minimum call charge applies.
EXECUTIVE
You’re in business and need to be able to call your office and your clients whenever the need arises. You value the convenience of a mobile phone but need to keep a close eye on costs.
For frequent users: the monthly access fee is slightly higher, but you enjoy the savings of a discounted call rate.
HIGHFLIER
You are always on the move and communications are critical. You need to be able to call and be called wherever you are—world-wide.
As a high-volume user you pay an access fee of just $60 a month but even lower call rates.
1.You will have to pay a minimum amount for call each month for .
A. the Leisuretime plan. B. the Executive plan.
C. the Highflier plan. D. all of the three plans.
2.The Executive plan is primarily intended for people who need a mobile phone for .
A. their work. B. keeping in contact with their family.
C. global communication. D. personal use.
3.It costs for a 50-second short-distance call at 8 p. m., Friday, on Highflier plan.
A. 30.2 cents. B. 15.2 cents. C. 15 cents. D. 30 cents.
It’s no______that kids love dinosaurs. Many of them have even gone through what’s called a “dinosaur phase”--- a period of time______they can’t stop talking about dinosaurs, can’t______without hearing a dinosaur bedtime story, and use a backpack with a dinosaur pattern on it.
Adults may have long______out of their dinosaur phase, but somehow the appeal is still there.
The______consists in the success of Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film Jurassic Park, and every following installment of the series. And in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which was______in Chinese mainland cinemas on June 15, these ancient beasts are taking over the______world once again.
National Geographic has an explanation behind the animals’______: Dinosaurs are “______science and imagination meet”, which is probably what makes them so appealing, to kids and adults alike.
Dinosaurs are often compared to dragons, but are seen as cooler because they’re______. The huge skeletons in museums prove their existence millions of years ago on the same Earth that we now live on. ______, new discoveries have been made in different parts of the world that open up a bigger______of these ancient species. And how they went extinct is also a popular subject of______studies.
However, we still seem to know so little about dinosaurs, and have to rely on our ____when it______to questions like “How did they live?”, “What did they sound like?” and “How fast could they run?”. It’s this sense of mystery that_____ dinosaurs’ attraction compared to other fierce animals like lions and tigers --- animals that can easily be seen in today’s zoos.
But there’s more to this dinosaur appeal.
According to Guardian reporter Brian Switek, humans are fascinated by dinosaurs not just because we’re interested in their history, but also because we’re trying to have a better understanding of human history.
“Dinosaurs______be Hollywood monsters, objects of scientific fascination and everything______, but at the root of it, our fascination with them______from wanting to know more about the prehistory we______,” he wrote.
“The dinosaur story is part of our own.”
1.A. wonder B. secret C. doubt D. question
2.A. that B. which C. when D. while
3.A. eat B. work C. play D. sleep
4.A. left B. grown C. jumped D. run
5.A. truth B. answer C. proof D. matter
6.A. shot B. introduced C. prepared D. released
7.A. competitive B. fantastic C. modern D. magic
8.A. popularity B. success C. eternity D. extinction
9.A. what B. when C. how D. where
10.A. invented B. imaginary C. real D. authentic
11.A. Meanwhile B. Therefore C. However D. Hence
12.A. image B. window C. sight D. picture
13.A. literary B. scientific C. humanitarian D. societal
14.A. imagination B. determination C. perseverance D. ambition
15.A. relates B. corresponds C. comes D. refers
16.A. leads to B. turns to C. points to D. adds to
17.A. can B. must C. should D. may
18.A. in brief B. in case C. in between D. in the middle
19.A. hears B. originates C. dates D. differs
20.A. make B. discover C. write D. share
