HiltonEnglishLanguageCenterInf-优题课

Women are on their way to holding more than half of all American jobs. The latest government report shows that their share of nonfarm jobs nearly reached fifty percent in September.
Not only have more and more women entered the labor market over the years, but the depression has been harder on men. In October the unemployment rate for men was almost eleven percent compared to eight percent for women.
Industries that traditionally use lots of men have suffered deep cuts. For example, manufacturing and building lost more jobs last month. But health care and temporary employment services have had job growth. Both of those industries employ high percentages of women.
Thirty years ago, women earned sixty-two cents for every dollar that men earned. Now, for those who usually work full time, women earn about eighty percent of what men earn. And women hold fifty-one percent of good-paying management and professional jobs.
Yet a study released Thursday said men still hold about nine out of every ten top positions at the four hundred large companies in California. The results have remained largely unchanged in live years of studies from the University of California, Davis.
Also, a new research paper in the journal Sex Roles looks at the experiences of women who are the main earners in their family. Rebecca Meisenbach at the University of Missouri in Columbia interviewed fifteen women. She found they all valued their independence and many enjoyed having the power of control, though not all wanted it.
But they also felt pressure, worry and guilt. Partly that was because of cultural expectations that working women will still take care of the children. Also, men who are not the main earners may feel threatened.
The job market continues to suffer the effects of last year’s financial crash. Now, a judgment has been reached in the first case involving charges of criminal wrongdoing on Wall Street.
Last week, the government lost its case against two managers at Bear Stearns, the first investment bank to fail last year. A jury found Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin not guilty of lying to investors.
The hedge funds they supervised lost their value in two thousand seven. But jurors said there was no clear evidence that they meant to mislead investors.
The Justice Department continues to investigate other companies.
Why is the unemployment rate for men higher.

A．Because there are more men workers in industries.

B．Because many industries mainly employing men now don’t need so many workers.

C．More and more women take the place of men.

D．Because health care and temporary employment services don’t employ men.

It can be inferred from the passage that __________.

A．women haven’t got complete equality as men

B．only by becoming the main earners in their family can women gain a high position

C．all women now value independence and the power of control

D．taking care of children is now shared by men and women

Which of the following is TRUE?

A．Men hate that women earn more money.

B．It is commonly believed that women should take care of children.

C．The job market has recovered from the effect of the financial crisis.

D．Now women working full time earn more than men.

Why does the government accuse two managers?

A．They contributed to the financial crash.	B．They led a corrupt life.
C．They lied to investors.	D．A jury found them misleading investors.

A new report says only about half of all students in the main school systems of America’s largest cities finish high school. The report notes higher rates of graduation — over 70% —in areas surrounding the cities. Researchers studied high school graduation rates from the 2003, 2004 school year. They also identified the nation’s fifty largest cities. The largest, New York City, had a population of more than eight million. The smallest city was Wichita, Kansas. It had about three hundred and sixty thousand people.
Researchers used a system of measurement called the cumulative promotion index to find graduation rates. School officials in many of the cities studied said the resulting numbers were too low. That is because different areas use different methods to find graduation rates. Critics say many methods do not give a true picture of the number of students who leave high school before finishing.
Other studies have put the national graduation rate at about 70%. But experts agree that too many students are not completing high school. They estimate the number at more than one million each year. The report was prepared for America’s Promise Alliance. The private group aims to help children receive services they need to succeed.
General Colin Powell was chairman of America’s Promise Alliance when it was formed in 1997. He attended the press conference Tuesday where the report was released. He said studies have shown that the US must do more to educate the leaders and work force of the future.
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings also spoke. She said the government will propose that states use the same methods when reporting graduation rates. Alliance officials also announced the start of a nationwide campaign to improve graduation rates. It is to include a series of meetings to be held in every state over the next two years. The meetings will bring together elected leaders, business owners, students, parents and education officials. They will develop plans to increase the number of Americans who finish high school.
The author wants to tell us ___________.

A．too many Americans do not finish high school

B．different methods to find graduation rates

C．services American children need to receive

D．the increase of the number of Americans who finish their high school

From Paragraph 1 we can infer that __________.

A．there are 8,360,000 people in the US’ fifty largest cities

B．Wichita in Kansas is the smallest city in the US

C．50% of the people in the US don’t finish their high school education

D．high school graduation rates in or near the biggest cities are higher

The underlined word “picture” probably can be replaced by “_______”.

A．situation

B．scene

C．image

D．mood

From the last paragraph, we can draw a conclusion that _______-.

A．secretary of Education Margaret Spellings didn’t believe that number from the report

B．the government will stop using the cumulative promotion index to find graduation rates

C．secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced the start of a nationwide campaign to improve graduation rates

D．the low graduation rates should be paid attention to by the government and the society

Born in a fishing village in Japan, Fujiyama, 25, recalls a childhood dominated by health concerns. Doctors told his parents that he had a hole in his heart and “they didn’t think I had a lot longer to live”. But during a later visit to the doctor, his family learned the hole had closed. “Somehow I was cured and I became a normal kid,” Fujiyama says. “And I had a second chance.”
During his second year at the University of Mary Washington, he volunteered in Honduras with a campus group and was struck by the extreme poverty he saw—barefoot children collecting cans and sleeping in the streets. Fujiyama realized he could help give other children their own second chance.
Today, his organization, Students Helping Honduras, brings education and community projects to children and families in need.
He started by telling his friends about his experience and collecting spare change at his two campus jobs. “When I had my very first meeting, only two people showed up,” he says. “I knew I had to keep fighting.” He persuaded his younger sister, Cosmo, to join the cause. “She’s dynamite,.” He says. “When she talks in front of a crowd, she can move mountains. Knowing that she was behind it, I knew I could do anything.” Since 2006, the siblings’ organization has grown to 25 campuses and raised more than $750,000 to fund projects, including the construction of two schools and the establishment of scholarships to help young women attend college.
Fujiyama says students are deeply committed to the organization. They raise money and then travel to Honduras to help building houses. While Fujiyama spends his summers in Honduras working alongside volunteers, he spends a large portion of the year on the road visiting colleges to raise funds. Cosmo Fujiyama, 23, lives in Honduras full time to coordinate（协调）the group’s building efforts on the ground.
Students Helping Honduras is working with community members of Siete de Abril to build a new village. Many of the families lost their belongings in Hurricane Mitch in 1998. A lot of them didn’t have access to clean water or health care, and they didn’t have a school. Fujiyama’s group helped build 44 homes in the village named “Sunshine Village”. The organization is also raising funds to build a water tower, an eco-friendly sanitation system and a library.
At the beginning of his organization, ________.

A．Fujiyama was supported by many friends	B．things didn’t go on smoothly
C．Fujiyama had little idea of Honduras	D．many famous people joined in

We can infer that Fujiyama is a _______ man.

A．diligent

B．mean

C．sympathetic

D．cheerful

The underlined word “siblings’ ” can be replaced by __________.

A．brothers’

B．brother and sister’s

C．friends’

D．couple’s

Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．Help the people in need

B．Students lend a hand in America

C．Fujiyama helps build “Sunshine Village”

D．Fujiyama gives poor people in Honduras a second chance

Why do so many Americans distrust what they read in their newspapers? The American Society of Newspaper Editors is trying to answer this painful question. The organization is deep into a long self-analysis known as the journalism credibility project.
Sad to say, this project has turned out to be mostly low-level findings about factual errors and spelling and grammar mistakes, combined with lots of head-scratching puzzlement about what in the world those readers really want.
But the sources of distrust go way deeper. Most journalists learn to see the world through a set of standard patterns into which they plug each day’s events. In other words, there is a conventional story line in the newsroom culture that provides a backbone and a ready-made narrative structure for otherwise confusing news.
There exists a social and cultural disconnect between journalists and their readers, which helps explain why the "standard patterns" of the newsroom seem alien to many readers. In a recent survey, questionnaires were sent to reporters in five middle-size cities around the country, plus one large metropolitan area. Then residents in these communities were phoned at random and asked the same questions.
Replies show that compared with other Americans, journalists are more likely to live in upscale neighborhoods, have maids, own Mercedes, and trade stocks, and they’re less likely to go to church, do volunteer work, or put down roots in a community.
Reporters tend to be part of a broadly defined social and cultural elite, so their work tends to reflect the conventional values of this elite. The surprising distrust of the news media isn’t rooted in inaccuracy or poor reportorial skills but in the daily clash of world views between reporters and their readers.
This is an explosive situation for any industry, particularly a declining one. Here is a troubled business that keeps hiring employees whose attitudes vastly annoy the customers. Then it sponsors lots of symposiums and a credibility project dedicated to wondering why customers are annoyed and fleeing in large numbers. But it never seems to get around to noticing the cultural and class biases that so many former buyers are complaining about. If it did, it would open up its diversity program, now focused narrowly on race and gender, and look for reporters who differ broadly by outlook, values, education, and class.
What is the passage mainly about?

A．needs of the readers all over the world

B．causes of the public disappointment about newspapers

C．origins of the declining newspaper industry

D．aims of a journalism credibility project

The results of the journalism credibility project turned out to be______.

A．quite trustworthy	B．somewhat contradictory
C．very instructive	D．rather superficial(肤浅的)

The basic problem of journalists as pointed out by the writer lies in their _________.

A．working attitude	B．conventional lifestyle
C．world outlook	D．educational background

Jonathan James looks like just another kid about to graduate from high school. But this 19-year-old Swede is anything but ordinary, from the computer in his parents’ home he helps the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) find out the world’s most wanted cyber criminals .
Jonathan first made headlines when he and another Swede, Fredrik Bjoerck, found out the maker of the “Melissa” virus in March 1999. He came to the aid of the FBI again on May 7, finding out the suspected sender of the dangerous “I LOVE YOU” virus. The suspect was caught in Manila on May 8.
Jonathan’s special skills are in hot demand as officials around the world express alarm at the “virtual” crimewave. In between studying for final exams, hanging out with friends and refereeing his younger brother’s football matches, the quiet, gentle teenager also gives lessons on e-security (电子安全) to large companies. He reads a lot and exchanges information with other computer experts to know much about the latest tricks of the hacker trade.
Many companies have already tried to employ him, but he is not interested at the moment. Instead, he plans to begin law school in the autumn at Sweden’s Uppsala University and start up his own e-security company.
Although he works with the FBI now, his family insists he’s just “a regular kid”. “Jonathan is a great kid, he has his friends and he does a lot more than just play with the computer,” his little sister Tessa said, adding that he helps the FBI because “he likes to help”, not because he’s looking for fame and recognition.
When the world was hit by the “Love Bug” virus, Jonathan was too busy preparing a speech on e-security to look into the problem. “Finally on May 7, I had some free time, so I began looking.” Within a few hours, he had found the suspect and e-mailed his method and results to the FBI. He said his work on the “Melissa” virus, which took three weeks to solve, was a big help in finding the suspect so quickly.
“This time I knew exactly where to start, I knew what to disregard and what to look at.”
The passage mainly wants to tell us that ___________.

A．Swedish kid helps FBI find out the most wanted cyber criminals

B．Jonathan is really a quiet, gentle and ordinary boy

C．many companies want the young computer expert to join in

D．any cyber criminals will surely be found out wherever they are

The public started to know something about Jonathan just from _________.

A．his helping the US FBI to find out the sender of the dangerous “I LOVE YOU” virus

B．his work together with Fredrik Bjoerck to find out the maker of the “Melissa” virus

C．his little sister’s talk about his good qualities as a regular kid and a good programmer

D．his speech on e-security to many computer companies after his fight against hackers

From Jonathan’s success in finding out the sender of the dangerous ‘Love Bug” virus we can infer that _________.

A．where there’s a will, there’s a way	B．experience is knowledge
C．hard work leads to success	D．failure is the mother of success

What do we know about Jonathan?

A．He is a good fame hunter with various abilities.

B．He is such a brave fighter that any criminal will feel afraid.

C．He is an expert on security, not interested in running a company.

D．He is a regular kid but does something unusual.

A．8:30a.m.—1:30p.m..	B．8:30a.m.—3:00p.m..
C．8:30a.m.—3:15p.m..	D．3:15p.m.—5:00p.m..