Experiencingbaddreamseverynigh-优题课

From bankers to factory staff, employees in the west face the bleak prospect (暗淡的前景) of losing their jobs as a global recession (衰退) starts to bite. For colleagues in the East the pain is more likely to come through a pay cut.
Human resource experts say cultural differences explain why Asian firms try harder to keep jobs in difficult times, which will stop unemployment and may help keep Asian economies afloat at a time of slowing exports.
The East Asian attitude may also make it easier for firms to recover quickly from the economic downturn since they will not need to rehire or train new staff, leaving some experts predicting Western shift to Eastern flexibility.
“In the Confucian (儒家的) attitude, the right thing to do is to share the burden. There is the sense of collective responsibility whereas (然而) in the West, it’s more about the individual survival,” said Michael Benotlel, associated professor of organizational behavior at Singapore Management University.
Steven Pang, Asian Regional Director for Aquent, a headhunting firm, said in many East Asian companies there was a responsibility “ to take care of the members of the family and go through the pain together” even if that meant causing losses.
US firms from General Motors to Goldman Sachs plan to lay off workers by the thousand. But at the Asian units of Western multinationals, job cuts will probably be less severe.
Japan’s jobless rate was 4 percent in September, up from 3.8 percent in January, while Hong Kong’s was flat at 3.4 percent. But US unemployment is expected to have jumped to 6.3 percent last month from below 5 percent in January.
Experts say that while there are noticeable differences in labor practices in East and West, the gap will narrow as more firms become more multinational and competition forces firms to adopt the best practices of rivals (对手) from abroad.
(Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS.)
What caused the different practices of Asian and Western firms facing the global recession?
Why is it easier for the East Asian firms to recover quickly from the economic downturn?
Firms in the west would lay off workers when facing a bleak prospect because of ______.
______ will make the differences in East and West less noticeable.

Now it is becoming more and more popular to chat over the Internet, because you can find it _______ expensive to do that than to make a long distance call. This makes Internet chatting _______ attractive option if you live far away from family and friends, ______ you are on a budget.
You can also complete _______ tasks while chatting over the Internet. For example, you can read and reply to emails, finish typing a document, or have a conversation ______ someone who is in the room. This can be an advantage ______ you are busy and don’t have much time for personal chatting. This can also be a disadvantage because you aren’t giving the other person or task your full attention.
Because you can do kinds of tasks _______ chatting on the Internet, it can become easy to lose track of time. You can end up chatting longer than you intended to, ______ can make it difficult to complete other tasks.

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阅读下面的短文, 在标有序号的空白处填入一个适当的词, 或填入括号中单词的正确形式, 并将相应答案写在答题纸上。
Henry, a businessman, who was from America, landed in London by 1 . Being penniless, he earned his passage by working as an unpaid hand. 2 in the street one day, he was invited to a big house. Then something 3 (believe) happened to Henry. There Henry stared at the food on the table 4the two wealthy brothers asked him some questions. Henry told them that he had tried to seek help but no luck. He thought the two brothers made fun of him at first. On the 5 , they gave him a letter 6 Henry promised not to open until two o’clock. Being hungry, Henry went into a restaurant and asked for a meal costing a large amount of money.
The waiter treated him in rude manners 7 he was in rags. But he took a chance and let Henry have the meal. When it was two o’ clock, Henry opened the letter with a million pound bank-note. They doubted 8 the bank-note was a genuine, but later they were sure it was not a fake.

We have two daughters: Kristen is seven years old and Kelly is four. Last Sunday evening, we invited some people home for dinner. I dressed them nicely for the party, and told them that their job was to join Mommy in answering the door when the bell rang. Mommy would introduce them to the guests, and then they would take the guests’ coats upstairs and put them on the bed in the second bedroom.
The guests arrived. I introduced my two daughters to each of them. The adults were nice and kind and said how lucky we were to have such good kids.
Each of the guests made a particular fuss over Kelly, the younger one, admiring her dress, her hair and her smile. They said she was a remarkable girl to be carrying coats upstairs at her age.
I thought to myself that we adults usually make a big “to do” over the younger one because she’s the one who seems more easily hurt. We do it with the best of intentions. But we seldom think of how it might affect the other child. I was a little worried that Kristen would feel she was being outshined. I was about to serve dinner when I realized that she had been missing for twenty minutes. I ran upstairs and found her in the bedroom, crying.
I said, “What are you doing, my dear?”
She turned to me with a sad expression and said, “Mommy, why don’t people like me the way they like my sister? Is it because I’m not pretty? Is that why they don’t say nice things about me as much?”
I tried to explain to her, kissing and hugging her to make her feel better.
Now, whenever I visit a friend’s home, I make it a point to speak to the elder child first.
What were Kristen and Kelly asked to do last Sunday evening? (No more than 20 words.)
____________________________________________________________________
Why did the guests praise Kelly so much rather than Kristen? (No more than 15 words.)
____________________________________________________________________
The underlined expression “make a big ‘to do’ over” in Paragraph 4 means ________________. (No more than 5 words.)
Why did Kristen feel sad and cry? (No more than 15 words.)
____________________________________________________________________
In your opinion, how should adults treat children? (No more than 15 words.)
____________________________________________________________________

A father is very worried about his son, _____acts like a coward. So his father paid a visit to the master and _____(ask) him to train his son.
The master said, “I promise I’ll be able to train your child into a real man in three months.”
Three months later, his father came ______(pick) the child. The master arranged a match _______the child and his coach to show the three-month training result.
At Round One, the child _________ (knock) down and fell to the ground. He stood up to meet the challenge. But he was knocked down again, and once again he stood up to fight... this was repeated six times.
The master asked his father, “Do you think your child’s performance is ____of a man?” The father said, “I feel ashamed for ____! I never expected that he would be so weak after three______ (month) training.” The master said, “I don’t agree with you, and I regret that you only see ___ surface of things. You have not seen the courage and perseverance __ your son. This is the very spirit of a man!”