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. |
| Album Name |
Introduction |
“Master of the Chinese Dulcimer” -----Xu Pingxin |
Xu Pingxin shows skillful technique and spellbinding(迷人的)musical expression on the Chinese dulcimer (yangqin) .His musicianship has won him international praise and he is considered one of the most successful yangqin players of the world. |
| “The Silk String Quartet(丝弦四重奏组)Contemporary &Traditional Chinese Music” |
Cheng Yu (pipa),Sun Zhuo (guzheng),Hu Bin (erhu)and Zhou Jinyan (yangqin)present traditional as well as modern pieces. The music describes moonlight scenes ,river landscapes, court dances and more. |
“Chinese Masterpieces of the Pipa & Guzheng” ---ChengYu |
Beautiful music as well as lively pieces played on pipa ,guzheng, xiao and dizi. Cheng Yu is an internationally famous pipa and guzheng virtuoso(名家),former soloist(独奏者)at the China Central Orchestra of Chinese Music in Beijing .Information about the artist, the music and the instruments in English, German, French and Spanish. |
TsengYungching----“Magic of the Chinese Flute” |
Beautiful Chinese flute (dizi) music played by world-famous flute virtuoso Tseng Yungching Accompanied(伴奏) on traditional Chinese instruments. |
Zhou Yu----“The Art of the Chinese Erhu” |
During his great musical career Zhou Yu won many awards in China and internationally .Here he presents an album of Chinese music, played on erhu with orchestral accompaniment: pipa, yangqin, ruan, and others. This is a very beautiful album with the typical “mystical ,dreamy” mood of Far Eastern music. Very enjoyable! |
If you are interested in playing the Chinese flute what will you probably buy?
| A．"Chinese Masterpieces of the Pipa & Guzheng" and "Magic of the Chinese Flute." |
| B．"The Silk String Quartet” and "Chinese Masterpieces of the Pipa & Guzheng." |
| C．"Master of the Chinese Dulcimer "and The Art of the Chinese Erhu." |
| D．"Magic of the Chinese Flute "and "The Silk String Quartet." |
Whose information is introduced in four different languages?
| A．Xu Pingxin’s | B．Cheng Yu’s | C．Tseng Yungching’s | D．Zhou Yu’s |
From the passage ,we can know Tseng Yungching is ______.
| A．a famous pipa and erhu player | B．a skillful guzheng virtuoso |
| C．a famous yangqin player | D．a world-famous flute player |
Which album has the typical mood of Far Eastern music?
| A．Zhou Yu ----“The Art of the Chinese erhu.” |
| B．“ The Silk String Quartet----Contemporary &Traditional Chinese Music.” |
| C．“ Master of the Chinese Dulcimer”---Xu Pingxin |
| D．Tseng Yungching-----“Magic of the Chinese Flute.” |
The most frightening words in the English language are,“ Our computer is down.” You hear it more and more when you are on business. The other day I was at the airport waiting for a ticket to Washington and the girl in the ticket office said,” I’m sorry, I can’t sell you a ticket .Our computer is down.”
“If your computer is down, just write me out a ticket.”
“I can’t write you out a ticket. The computer is the only one allowed to do so.”
I looked down the counter(柜台)and every passenger was just standing there drinking coffee and staring at the blank screen. Then I asked her,” What do you do?”
“We give the computer the information about your trip, and then it tells us whether you can fly or not.”
“So when it goes down, you go down with it.”
“That ‘s right, sir.”
“How long will the computer be down?” I wanted to know.
“I have no idea .Sometimes it’s down for 10 minutes , sometimes for two hours. There is no way we can find out without asking the computer , and since it’s down, it won’t answer us.”
After the girl told me they had no spare computer ,I said, “ Let’s forget the computer. What about your planes? They’re still flying aren’t they?”
“I couldn’t tell without asking the computer.”
“Maybe I could just go to the gate and ask the pilot if he’s flying to Washington.” I suggested.
“I wouldn’t know what gate to send you to .Even if the pilot was going to Washington, he couldn’t take you if you didn’t have a ticket.”
“Is there any other airline flying to Washington within the next few hours?”
“I wouldn’t know,” she said, pointing at the dark screen.” Only ‘IT’ knows . ’IT’ can’t tell me.”
By this time there were quite a few people standing in lines .The words soon spread to other travelers that the computer was down Some people went, some people started to cry and still others kicked(踢) their luggage.The best title for the passage is ______.
| A．Asking the computer | B．The computer of the airport |
| C．The most useful words | D．When the computer is down |
What could the girl in the ticket office do for the passengers without asking the computer?
| A．She could answer the passengers’ questions | B．She could do nothing |
| C．She could sell tickets | D．She could write out tickets |
The last paragraph suggests that _____.
| A．modern computers won’t be down |
| B．computers can take the place of humans |
| C．computers may bring trouble to people |
| D．there will be great changes in computers |
"Mark Twain" was the name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) when he wrote books. His father was a lawyer, but a poor one, who lived at Florida, Missouri. The family was so poor that Samuel did not receive much teaching. He had to learn all that he could from the people whom he met. His father died when he was very young, and then there was even less money than before.
Many of the men in this part of America worked in the ships on the great River Mississippi, and he did this himself at one time (1857).
Where did he find the name "Mark Twain"? It came from the great river itself. It was part of one of the cries used by men who worked in the ships. When a man called "By the mark twain!" he meant that the river was "two marks deep" there, that is to say, six feet deep ( "Twain" is an old form of the work "Two".) Samuel Clemens often heard these words when he was young, and he used them as a penname all his life.
During his work on the Mississippi he met travelers of all kinds, and this helped him a great deal when he started to write. But the number of travelers became smaller when war started in America in 1861. Many of the great ships on the river stopped work. Samuel left then and went to Nevada with his brother, who was at that time Governor of Nevada. There, near the town of Carson, Samuel became a gold miner, but he never made much money at the time. He soon saw that life in the gold mines was not for him. He also tried writing for the newspapers in Nevada, and this seemed more hopeful. He found that he could write.
He went to Europe in 1867 and visited France and Italy. In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon, and two years later he was spending nearly all his time writing. Among his books is his own story (1908).
He is now always known as Mark Twain, and many people do not even know that his family name was Clemens. He traveled in America and in England, and went to Oxford in 1907. He was one of the great American writers of the time, and could make his readers laugh – a thing which few writers can do. He died in 1910."Mark Twain" was _________.
| A．a famous American writer | B．name of a book |
| C．a great river in America | D．a large ship |
As a child, Samuel did not get much education because _________.
| A．his father died too early |
| B．the family was very poor |
| C．he disliked school very much |
| D．he could learn what he liked from the people he met |
What gave him a great deal when he started writing? _______
| A．His poor childhood | B．The Mississippi river |
| C．All kinds of travelers he met | D．His brother |
We can infer from the passage that ________.
| A．Samuel loved writing from his early age |
| B．Samuel did not love writing at the beginning |
| C．his writings to the newspaper were successful |
| D．his brother encouraged him to write more |
According to the writer of the passage, a good writer could _________.
| A．write a lot for his readers |
| B．make a lot of money for his family |
| C．cause his readers to laugh |
| D．travel everywhere he wanted |
I came to India a year ago to find a village in which I could live and write but it was many months before I settled down happily in this Himalayan community.
I wasted a lot of time looking for the “typical” village. Yet no such thing exists. Conditions are quite different from village to village. But the villages I stayed in had much in common---poor, dirty and backward. Often the villagers themselves were puzzled and doubtful. Why had I come? I had put aside my work as a political journalist because my ideas had changed. I had come to believe that what was happening in the Third World was more important than anything else. But to understand how three—quarters of the world population live, and what effect their future might have on ours, I felt that I first had to try and share their way of life.
In the end I chose a mountain village because it was little cooler than those in the plains. I took the bus from town along a rocky road. Then came a rough walk down a steep path to the river. After this I began the climb into the hills. Whenever I stopped to catch my breath, there was a beautiful scene. After several hours’ walk the village came into sight.After the writer had arrived in India,________.
| A．he spent a year writing about the place he lived in |
| B．he spent quite some time looking for a suitable place to live in |
| C．he stayed in an Indian village working for the poor |
| D．he lived in a Himalayan community for many months. |
While looking for a typical village, the writer found__________.
| A．he was searching for the impossible |
| B．all the villages were exactly the same |
| C．he was doing something enjoyable |
| D．the villagers were curious about him |
Before coming to India, the writer________.
| A．had been a successful politician |
| B．had made a decision to work for India |
| C．had studied India culture for some months |
| D．had worked for newspapers and magazines |
The write decided to change his way of life because__________.
| A．he no longer found his work interesting |
| B．he hoped to live a peaceful life in the countryside |
| C．he wanted to find out more about the Third World |
| D．he wanted to try his luck in a foreign country |
The village the writer finally chose to live in_________.
| A．lay at the end of a rocky road |
| B．had a beautiful sight of the river |
| C．was a short walk from the river |
| D．had better weather than those in the plains. |
In recent years advances in medical technology have made it possible for people to live longer than in the past. New medicines and machines are being developed every day to extend life. However, some people, including some doctors, are not in favor of these life extending measures, and they argue that people should have the right to die when they want. They say that the quality of life is as important as life itself and that people should not be forced to go on living when conditions of life have become unbearable. They say thatpeople should be allowed to die with dignity (尊严) and to decide when they want to die. Others argue that life under any conditions is better than death and that the duty of doctors is always to extend life as long as possible. And so the battle goes on and on without a definite answer.The best title for this passage is _____.
| A．The Right to Live | B．The Right to Die |
| C．The Doctor’s Duty | D．Life Is Better Than Death |
In recent years, people can live longer than in the past. It’s because of _____ .
| A．the development of medical technology |
| B．big hospitals |
| C．good doctors |
| D．both B and C |
According to some people whether a dying patient has the right to die or not is up to _____ .
.
| A．the doctors | B．the surroundings |
| C．his or her family | D．the patient himself or herself |
In the writer’s opinion _____ .
| A．death is better than life |
| B．life is better that death |
| C．neither death nor life is good |
| D．none of the above |
Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?
| A．Most of the medical workers join in the argument. |
| B．The argument has ended in favor of the patient. |
| C．The argument hasn’t ended yet. |
| D．The quality of life is not as important as life itself, so it is generally thought that people should not be allowed to die under any conditions. |