听力原文: Social Security is one of the great moral achievements of American government. For almost 70 years, it has kept millions of elderly citizens out of poverty and assured young Americans of a secure future. The Social Security system is essential, yet it faces a long-term problem.
While benefits for today's seniors are secure, the system is headed towards bankruptcy down the road. Each year there are more retirees taking money out of the system, and not enough additional workers to support them.
In the 1950s, there were about 16 workers paying for every Social Security beneficiary. Today, there are about three. And eventually, there will only be two workers per beneficiary. These changes signal a looming danger. In the year 2018, for the first time ever, Social Security will pay out more in benefits than the government collects in payroll taxes. And the gaps will grow larger each year leading to the bankruptcy of the system.
Therefore, Social Security is not a personal savings plan. Benefits paid to today's retirees come directly from the taxes paid by today's workers. The crisis in Social Security can be avoided by emphasizing several principles. First, nothing will change for those who are receiving Social Security and for those who are near retirement. Secondly, payroll taxes will not increase, because higher taxes would slow economic growth. More efforts must be made to use the power of compound interest, by giving younger workers the option to save some of their payroll taxes in a personal account, which government cannot take away.
(30)
Around 1930.
B. Around 1940.
C. Around 1950.
D. Around 1960.
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What does the example of India illustrate?
A. Wealth people tend to have fewer children than poor people.
B. The upper class population is 80% smaller than that of the tribes.
C. Natural selection hardly works among the rich and the poor.
D. India is one of the countries with a very high birth rate.
Man's puzzlement and preoccupation with time both derive ultimately from his unique relationship to it. All animals exist in time and are changed by it; only man can control it.
Like Proust, the French author whose experiences became his literary capital, man can recapture the past. He can also summon up things to come, displaying imagination and foresight along with memory. It really can be argued, that memory and foresightedness are the essence of intelligence; that man's ability to manipulate time, to employ both past and future as guides to present action, is what makes him human.
To be sure, many animals can react to time after a fashion. A rat can learn to press a lever that will, after a delay of some 25 seconds, reward it with a bit of food. But if the delay stretches beyond 30 seconds, the animal is stumped. It can no longer associate the reward so "far" in the future with the present lever-pressing.
Monkeys, more smart than rats, are better able to deal with time. If one of them is allowed to see food being hid den under one of two cups, it can pick out the right cup even after 90 seconds have passed. But after that time interval, the monkey's hunt for the food is no better than chance predicts.
With the apes, man's nearest cousins, "time sense" takes a big step forward. Even under laboratory conditions, quite different from those they encounter in the wild, apes sometimes show remarkable ability to manipulate the present to obtain a future goal. A chimpanzee, for example, can learn to stack two boxes, one on the other, as a platform. from which it can reach a hanging banana. Chimpanzees, indeed, carry their ability to deal with the future to the threshold of human capacity: they can make tools. And it is by the making of tools—physical tools as crude as a stone chopper, mental tools as subtle as a mathematical equation—that man characteristically prepares for future contingencies.
Chimpanzees in the wild have been seen to strip a twig of its leaves to make a probe for extracting termites from their hole. Significantly, however, the ape does not make his tool before setting out on a termite hunt, but only when it actually sees the insects or their nest. Here, as with the banana and the crates, the ape can cope only with a future that is immediate and visible—and thus halfway into the present.
According to the article, which of the following statements is TRUE?
A. Chimpanzees' sense of time is as good as man's.
B. Man developed from apes.
C. Memory and foresight contribute to intelligence.
D. Monkeys and apes are almost as intelligent as man.
Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A, B, C and D, and decide which is the best answer.
听力原文:M: I think the whole class is going on the field trip next Friday.
W: I'm not so sure, not everyone has paid the transportation fee.
Q: What does the woman imply?
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A. The transportation far the trip is free.
B. The class didn't enjoy going on the field trip.
C. Some people may not go on the trip.
D. All of the class members nave paid the fee.
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D.
听力原文: Job-seeking skills research clearly proves that employers focus on four areas during an interview: 1) attitude, which counts approximately 40 percent; 2) appearance, 25 percent; 3) communication skills (verbal and nonverbal), 25 percent; and 4) job skill qualifications, 10 percent. Does this surprise you? When you analyze it, it shouldn't.
Remember, you are screened into the interview on the basis of your resume, cover letter, and application for employment, which outline your education, work experience, and qualifications for the job. The interview, which usually lasts from 20 to 40 minutes, does not provide adequate time for employers to evaluate this kind of background information. Employers request this data beforehand so that they may have the time necessary to read and review your background as it relates to the job, and to compare it with information submitted by other applicants.
The employer's purpose for giving you an interview is to get to know you as a person. This is why your attitude is the most important determinant of your success in the interview. Likewise, your appearance is the very first thing the interviewer will evaluate — and first impressions do make lasting impressions. Of course, job skill qualifications also count during the interview, and it is your responsibility to make certain your qualifications for the job are clearly covered during the interview.
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A. Your first impression on the interviewer.
B. Your job skill qualifications and background.
C. Your communication skills.
D. Your attitude.