高教考试在线大学英语六级

不一样的【六级课】阅读讲义
赵兴老师

Practice 为练习部分，根据课程表做练习题目，老师中第二次上课之前讲练习题
目再上课，所以不提供答案，做了之后再听老师讲解，疗效更好哦~
 目 录

一、CET-6 阅读——选词填空............................................................................................... 1
考试要求.................................................................................................................................... 1
解题步骤.................................................................................................................................... 1
词性看后缀................................................................................................................................ 1
如何标词性................................................................................................................................ 1
考点一：句型结构（语法成分划分）.................................................................................... 3
考点二：并列结构.................................................................................................................... 4
考点三：词语间的修饰关系.................................................................................................... 4
考点四：短语搭配.................................................................................................................... 5
考点五：非谓语动词................................................................................................................ 7
Practice 1.....................................................................................................................................9
Practice 2.....................................................................................................................................9
Practice 3.................................................................................................................................. 11
Practice 4.................................................................................................................................. 12
二、CET-6 阅读——精读..................................................................................................... 13
（一）事实细节题.................................................................................................................. 13
Practice 5.................................................................................................................................. 17
（二）推理题.......................................................................................................................... 20
Practice 6.................................................................................................................................. 24
（三）观点题.......................................................................................................................... 28
（四）词义句意题.................................................................................................................. 29
Practice 7.................................................................................................................................. 32
Practice 8.................................................................................................................................. 36
三、CET-6 阅读——段落句意匹配..................................................................................... 40
解题步骤：.............................................................................................................................. 40
Example 1:................................................................................................................................ 40
Example 2:................................................................................................................................ 43
Practice 9.................................................................................................................................. 47
Practice 10................................................................................................................................ 50
Practice 11................................................................................................................................ 55
Practice 12................................................................................................................................ 59
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一、CET-6 阅读——选词填空

考试要求

解题步骤

词性看后缀

如何标词性

Example 1:

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• A) accommodations

• B) clumsy

• C) doubtful

• D) exceptions

• E) expand

• F) historic

• G) incredibly

• H) powering

• I) protect

• J) reduced

• K) replace

• L) sense

• M) shifted

• N) supplying

• O) vast

Example 2:

• A) analyses

• B) average

• C) belong

• D) demonstrated

• E) excess

• F) extending

• G) habitually

• H) necessarily

• I) products

• J) ranging

• K) released

• L) shocked

• M) simple

• N) survey

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• O) traces

考点一：句型结构（语法成分划分）

Example 1: What determines the kind of person you are? What factors make you more or less

bold, intelligent, or able to read a map? All of these are influenced by the interaction of your genes

and the environment in which you were __47__.

F) displayed, M) raised

Example 2: But can genes determine whether people will get divorced, how __52__ they are, or

what career they are likely to choose?

F) displayed, L) psychological, M) raised, N) smart, O) standard

Example 3: The popular notion that older people need less sleep than younger adults is a myth,

scientists said yesterday. While elderly people __47__ to sleep for fewer hours than they did when

they were younger, this ........

A) alert, B) associated, D) cling, K) mixed, N) tend

Example 4: The more healthy an older adult is, the more they sleep like they did when they

were __54__.

A) alert, B) associated, C) attracting, E) continuing,

G) different K) mixed, L) negative, M) sufficient, O) younger

Example 5: Burger King, the nation's second-largest fast food chain, for instance, will __38__

automatically including French fries and soda in its kids' meals starting this month, although they

will still be __39__.

C) begin, M) stop

B) available, G) nationwide, H) possible

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Example 6: Strength training is another important __38__ of physical activity.

D) component, J) maximum, L) principle, O) topic

Example 7: The result of constant muscle tension and stiffness of joints, many of them are

__42__, and simple flexibility training can __43__ these by making muscles stronger and keeping

joints lubricated.

A) allowing, B) avoidable, E) determined, F) helping, H) lowest, J) maximum

I) maintain, K) prevent, M) provoke

考点二：并列结构

Example 1: But the U.S. has more than 100 million existing homes, and it would be incredibly

wasteful to tear them all down and __48__ them with greener versions.

E) expand, I) protect, K) replace

Example 2: But at the same time, nearly half of the U.S. carbon emissions come from heating,

cooling, and__51__ our homes, offices and other buildings.

H) powering, N) supplying

Example 3: Strength training is another important component of physical activity. Its purpose is

to build and __39__ bone and muscle mass, both of which shrink with age.

I) maintain, K) prevent, M) provoke

考点三：词语间的修饰关系

Example 1: But the U.S. has more than 100 million existing homes, and it would be __47__

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wasteful to tear them all down and.......

G) incredibly

Example 2: The study of how genes and environment interact to influence __48__ activities is

known as behavioral genetics.

F) displayed, L) psychological, M) raised, N) smart, O) standard

Example 3: Walking, if you do it vigorously enough, is the overall best exercise for regular

physical activity. It requires no equipment, everyone knows how to do it and it carries the __36__

risk of injury. To get __37__ benefit from walking, aim for 45 minutes a day, an average of five

days a week.

A) allowing, B) avoidable, E) determined, F) helping, H) lowest, J) maximum

Example 4: Finally, flexibility and balance training are __41_ important as the body ages.

G) increasingly, N) seriously

考点四：短语搭配

Example 1: So in the broadest __50__, the greenest home is the one that has already been built.

L) sense

Example 2: Fortunately, there are a __54__ number of relatively simple changes that can green

older homes.....

O) vast

Example 3: That's __56__ from person to person, but the amount of sleep we had at 35 is

probably the same as we need at 75.

G) different

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常见词组&搭配

• appeal to • in particular

• at all cost • in proportion to...

• at first sight • in terms of...

• at hand • in the first place

• at least • in vain

• at random • make progress

• by chance • make sense

• by no means • make up one's mind

• for instance • make use of

• for the sake of.... • on account of

• give rise to • on purpose

• in (good) shape • on the basis of

• in addition to • on the whole

• in any case • out of order

• in conclusion • out of sight

• in demand • pay attention to

• in contrast to/with • play a part in...

• in detail • take advantage of

• in general • take effect

• in no case/way • take...into account

• in other words • with respect to

考点五：非谓语动词

Example1: Strength training is another important component of physical activity. Its purpose is to

build and maintain bone and muscle mass, both of which shrink with age. In general, you will

want to do strength training two or three days a week, __40__ recovery days between sessions.

A) allowing

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Example2: And efficiency upgrades can save more than just the earth; they can help __56__

property owners from rising power costs.

I) protect

Example3: Our data suggests that older adults would benefit from __55__ to get as much sleep as

they did in their 30s.

C) attracting, E) continuing

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Practice 1

His future subjects have not always treated the Prince of Wales with the respect one might

expect. They laughed aloud in 1986 when the heir to the British (26) ________ told a TV reporter

that he talked to his plants at his country house, Highgrove, to stimulate their growth. The Prince

was being humorous—“My sense of humor will get me into trouble one day,”he said to the aides

(随从)—but listening to Charles Windsor can indeed prove stimulating. The royal (27)________

that been promoting radical ideas for most of his adult life, some of his (28) _________ which

once sounded a hit weird were simply ahead of their time. Now, finally, the world seems to be

catching up with him.

Take his views on farming. Prince Charles’ Duchy Home Farm went (29) ___________ back

to 1996.when most shoppers cared only about the low price tag on suspiciously blemish-free(无瑕

疵的)Vegetables and (30) __________ large chickens piled high in supermarkets.

His warnings on climate change proved farsighted; too Charles began (31) _________ action

on global warming in 1990 and says he has been worried about the (32) ____________ of man on

the environment since he was a teenager.

Although he has gradually gained international (33) __________ as one of the a world’s

leading conservationists, many British people still think of him as an (34) ____________ person

who talks to plants This year, as it happens, South Korean scientists proved that plants really do

(35) __________ to sound. So Charles was ahead of the game there, too.

A) conform I) recognition

B) eccentric J) respond

C) environmentalist K) subordinate

D) expeditions L) suppressing

E) impact M) throne

F) notions N) unnaturally

G) organic O) urging

H) originally

Practice 2

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Travel websites have been around since the 1990s, when Expedia, Travelocity, and other

holiday booking sites were launched, allowing travelers to compare flight and hotel prices with the

click of a mouse. With information no longer 26____ by travel agents or hidden in business

networks, the travel industry was revolutionized, as greater transparency helped 27____ prices.

Today, the industry is going through a new revolution—this time transforming service quality.

Online rating platforms—28____ in hotels, restaurants, apartments, and taxis—allow travelers to

exchange reviews and experiences for all to see.

Hospitality businesses are now ranked, analyzed, and compared not by industry 29____, but

by the very people for whom the service is intended—the customer. This has 30____ a new

relationship between buyer and seller. Customers have always voted with their feet; they can now

explain their decision to anyone who is interested. As a result, businesses are much more 31____,

often in very specific ways, which creates powerful 32____ to improve service.

Although some readers might not care for gossipy reports of unfriendly bellboys（行李员）in

Berlin or malf-unctioning hotel hairdryers in Houston, the true power of online reviews lies not

just in the individual stories, but in the websites' 33____ to aggregate a large volume of ratings.

The impact cannot be 34____. Businesses that attract top ratings can enjoy rapid growth, as new

customers are attracted by good reviews and 35____ provide yet more positive feedback. So great

is the influence of online ratings that many companies now hire digital reputation managers to

ensure a favorable online identity.

A) accountable I) persisting

B) capacity J) pessimistic

C) controlled K) professionals

D) entail L) slash

E) forged M) specializing

F) incentives N) spectators

G) occasionally O) subsequently

H) overstated

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Practice 3

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger." But parents can't handle it when teenagers

put this 26____ into practice. Now technology has become the new field for the age-old battle

between adults and their freedom-seeking kids.

Locked indoors, unable to get on their bicycles and hang out with their friends, teens have

turned to social media and their mobile phones to socialize with their peers. What they do online

often 27____ what they might otherwise do if their mobility weren't so heavily 28____ in the age

of helicopter parenting. Social media and smart-phone apps have become so popular in recent

years because teens need a place to call their own. They want the freedom to 29____ their identity

and the world around them. Instead of 30____ out, they jump online.

As teens have moved online, parents have projected their fears onto the Internet, imagining

all the 31____ dangers that youth might face 一 from 32____ strangers to cruel peers to pictures or

words that could haunt them on Google for the rest of their lives.

Rather than helping teens develop strategies for negotiating public life and the risks of 33

____with others, fearful parents have focused on tracking, monitoring and blocking. These tactics

（策略）don't help teens develop the skills they need to manage complex social situations, 34____

risks and get help when they're in trouble. "Protecting" kids may feel like the right thing to do, but

it 35____ the learning that teens need to do as they come of age in a technology-soaked world.

A) assess I) mirrors

B) constrained J) philosophy

C) contains K) potential

D) explore L) sneaking

E) influence M) sticking

F) interacting N) undermines

G) interpretation O) violent

H) magnified

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Practice 4

Innovation, the elixir （ 灵 丹 妙 药 ） of progress, has always cost people their jobs. In the

Industrial Revolution hand weavers were 26____ aside by the mechanical loom. Over the past 30

years the digital revolution has 27____ many of the mid-skill jobs that supported 20th-century

middle-class life. Typists, ticket agents, bank tellers and many production-line jobs have been

dispensed with, just as the weavers were.

For those who believe that technological progress has made the world a better place, such

disruption is a natural part of rising 28____. Although innovation kills some jobs, it creates new

and better ones' m a more 29____ society becomes richer and its wealthier inhabitants demand

more goods and services. A hundred years ago one in three American workers was 30____ on a

farm. Today less than 2% of them produce far more food. The millions freed from the land were

not rendered 31____, but found better-paid work as the economy grew more sophisticated. Today

the pool of secretaries has 32____. but there are ever more computer programmers and web

designers.

Optimism remains the right starting-point, but for workers the dislocating effects of

technology may make themselves evident faster than its 33____. Even if new jobs and wonderful

products emerge, in the short-term income gaps will widen, causing huge social dislocation and

perhaps even changing politics. Technology's 34____ will feel like a tornado（旋风）, hitting the

rich world first, but 35 sweeping through poorer countries too. No government is prepared

for it.

A) benefits I) prosperity

B) displaced J) responsive

C) employed K) rhythm

D) eventually L) sentiments

E) impact M) shrunk

F) jobless N) swept

G) primarily O) withdrawn

H) productive

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二、CET-6 阅读——精读

（一）事实细节题

解题步骤：

Example 1:

Some of the world’s most significant problems never hit headlines. One example comes from

agriculture. Food riots and hunger make news. But the trend lying behind these matters is rarely

talked about. This is the decline in the growth in yields of some of the world’s major crops. A new

study by the University of Minnesota and McGill University in Montreal looks at where, and how

far, this decline is occurring.

What does the author try to draw attention to?

A. Food riots and hunger in the world. B. News headlines in the leading media.

C. The decline of the grain yield growth. D. The food supply in populous countries.

Example 2:

There are two worrying features of the slowdown. One is that it has been particularly sharp in

the world’s most populous (人口多的) countries, India and China. Their ability to feed themselves

has been an important source of relative stability both within the countries and on world food

markets. That self-sufficiency cannot be taken for granted if yields continue to slow down or

reverse.

Why does the author mention India and China in particular?

A. Their self-sufficiency is vital to the stability of world food markets.

B. Their food yields have begun to decrease sharply in recent years.

C. Their big populations are causing worldwide concerns.

D. Their food self-sufficiency has been taken for granted.

Example 3:

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In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle.

But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t

when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap

foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore,

everyone needs to find their extra — their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in

whatever is their field of employment.

According to Paragraph 3, to be a successful employee, one has to .

A. work on cheap software

B. ask for a moderate salary

C. adopt an average lifestyle

D. contribute something unique

Example 4:

Second, yield growth has been lower in wheat and rice than in corn and soya beans. This is

problematic because wheat and rice are more important as foods, accounting for around half of all

calories consumed. Come and soya beans are more important as feed grains. The authors note that

“we have preferentially focused our crop improvement efforts on feeding animals rather than on

crops that feed people and are the basis of food security in much of the world.”

What does the new study by the two universities say about recent crop improvement efforts?

A. They fail to produce the same remarkable results as before the 1980s.

B. They contribute a lot to the improvement of human food production.

C. They play a major role in guaranteeing the food security of the world.

D. They focus more on the increase of animal feed than human food grains.

Example 5:

The report qualifies the more optimistic findings of another new paper which suggests that

the world will not have to dig up a lot more land for farming in order to feed 9 billion people in

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2050, as the Food and Agriculture Organization has argued.

What does the Food and Agriculture Organization say about world food production in the

coming decades?

A. The growing population will greatly increase the pressure on world food supplies.

B. The optimistic prediction about food production should be viewed with caution.

C. The slowdown of the growth in yields of major food crops will be reversed.

D. The world will be able to feed its population without increasing farmland.

Example 6:

Instead, it says, thanks to slowing population growth, land currently ploughed up for crops

might be able to revert (回返) to forest or wilderness. This could happen. The trouble is that the

forecast assumes continued improvements in yields, which may not actually happen.

How does the author view the argument of the Food and Agriculture Organization?

A. It is built on the findings of a new study. B. It is based on a doubtful assumption.

C. It is backed by strong evidence. D. It is open to further discussion.

Example 7:

You may think you are the last person who would drive aggressively, but you might be

surprised. For instance, have you ever yelled out loud at a slower driver, sounded the horn long

and hard at another car, or sped up to keep another driver from passing?

Which of the following characterizes aggressive driving?

A. Talking while driving. B. Driving fast.

C. Yelling at another driver. D. Sounding the horn when passing

Example 8:

Schools and bus companies are finding other ways to save. In rural areas where busing is a

must, some schools have even chosen four-day school weeks.

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To save money, some schools choose to .

A. take the shortest routes B. shorten the school week

C. give drivers better training D. use fuel-efficient buses

Example 9:

Fortunately, science has a natural appeal for youngsters. They can relate it to so many things

that they encounter-flashlights, tools, echoes, and rainbows

There is no doubt that children like learning science because .

A. science is linked with many of the things they meet

B. science is a very easy subject for them to learn

C. they encounter the facts and principles of science daily

D. they are familiar with the process of spirit of science

Example 10:

Before explaining the connection to the Obamacare, it is worth making an important

distinction. Many people who work part-time jobs actually want full-time jobs. They take

part-time work because this is all they can get. An increase in involuntary part-time in June, but

the general direction has been down. Involuntary part-time employment is still far higher than

before the recession, but it is down by 640,000(7.9 percent) from its year ago level.

Involuntary part-time employment in the US______ .

A. is harder to acquire than one year ago

B. shows a general tendency of decline

C. satisfies the real need of the jobless

D. is lower than before the recession

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Practice 5

Passage One

Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.

International governments’ inaction concerning sustainable development is clearly worrying
but the proactive( 主 动 出 击 的 ) approaches of some leading-edge companies are encouraging.
Toyota, Wal-Mart, DuPont, M&S and General Electric have made tackling environmental wastes a
key economic driver.
DuPont committed itself to a 65% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the 10 years
prior to 2010. By 2007, DuPont was saving $2.2 billion a year through energy efficiency, the same
as its total declared profits that year. General Electric aims to reduce the energy intensity of its
operations by 50% by 2015. They have invested heavily in projects designed to change the way of
using and conserving energy.
Companies like Toyota and Wal-Mart are not committing to environmental goals out of the
goodness of their hearts. The reason for their actions is a simple yet powerful realization that the
environmental and economic footprints fit well together. When M&S launched its “Plan A”
sustainability program in 2007, it was believed that it would cost over £200 million in the first five
years. However, the initiative had generated £105 million by 2011/12.
When we prevent physical waste, increase energy efficiency or improve resource productivity,
we save money, improve profitability and enhance competitiveness. In fact, there are often huge
“quick win” opportunities, thanks to years of neglect.
However, there is a considerable gap between leading-edge companies and the rest of the
pack. There are far too many companies still delaying creating a lean and green business system,
arguing that it will cost money or require sizable capital investments. They remain stuck in the
“environment is cost” mentality. Being environmentally friendly does not have to cost money. In
fact, going beyond compliance saves cost at the same time that it generates cash, provided that
management adopts the new lean and green model.
Lean means doing more with less. Nonetheless, in most companies, economic and
environmental continuous improvement is viewed as being in conflict with each other. This is one
of the biggest opportunities missed across most industries. The size of the opportunity is enormous.
The 3% Report recently published by World Wildlife Fund and CDP shows that the economic
prize for curbing carbon emissions in the US economy is $780 billion between now and 2020. It
suggests that one of the biggest levers for delivering this opportunity is “increased efficiency
through management and behavioral change” —in other words, lean and green management.
Some 50 studies show that companies that commit to such aspirational goals as zero waste,
zero harmful emissions, and zero use of non-renewable resources are financially outperforming
their competitors. Conversely, it was found that climate disruption is already costing $1.2 trillion
annually, cutting global GDP by 1.6%. Unaddressed, this will double by 2030.
46. What does the author say about some leading-edge companies?

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A. They operate in accordance with government policies.

B. They take initiatives in handling environmental wastes.

C. They are key drivers in their nations’ economic growth.

D. They are major contributors to environmental problems.

47. What motivates Toyota and Wal-Mart to make commitments to environmental protection?

A. The goodness of their hearts.

B. A strong sense of responsibility.

C. The desire to generate profits.

D. Pressure from environmentalists.

48. Why are so many companies reluctant to create an environment-friendly business system?

A. They are bent on making quick money.

B. They do not have the capital for the investment.

C. They believe building such a system is too costly.

D. They lack the incentive to change business practices.

49. What is said about the lean and green model of business?

A. It helps businesses to save and gain at the same time.

B. It is affordable only for a few leading-edge companies.

C. It is likely to start a new round of intense competition.

D. It will take a long time for all companies to embrace it.

50. What is the finding of the studies about companies committed to environmental goals?

A. They have greatly enhanced their sense of social responsibility.

B. They do much better than their counterparts in terms of revenues.

C. They have abandoned all the outdated equipment and technology.

D. They make greater contributions to human progress than their rivals.

Passage Two

Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.

If you asked me to describe the rising philosophy of the day, I’d say it is data-ism. We now
have the ability to gather huge amounts of data. This ability seems to carry with it certain cultural

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assumptions—that everything that can be measured should be measured; that data is a transparent
and reliable lens that allows us to filter out emotionalism and ideology; that data will help us do
remarkable things— like foretell the future.
Over the next year, I’m hoping to get a better grip on some of the questions raised by the data
revolution: In what situations should we rely on intuitive pattern recognition and in which
situations should we ignore intuition and follow the data? What kinds of events are predictable
using statistical analysis and what sorts of events are not?
I confess I enter this in a skeptical frame of mind, believing that we tend to get carried away
in our desire to reduce everything to the quantifiable. But at the outset let me celebrate two things
data does really well.
First, it’s really good at exposing when our intuitive view of reality is wrong. For example,
nearly every person who runs for political office has an intuitive sense that they can powerfully
influence their odds of winning the election if they can just raise and spend more money. But this
is largely wrong.
After the 2006 election, Sean Trende constructed a graph comparing the incumbent(在任者
的) campaign spending advantages with their eventual margins of victory. There was barely any
relationship between more spending and a bigger victory. Likewise, many teachers have an
intuitive sense that different students have different learning styles: some are verbal and some are
visual; some are linear, some are holistic(整体的). Teachers imagine they will improve outcomes
if they tailor their presentations to each student. But there’s no evidence to support this either.
Second, data can illuminate patterns of behavior we haven’t yet noticed. For example, I’ve
always assumed people who frequently use words like “I,” “me,” and “mine” are probably more
self-centered than people who don’t. But as James Pennebaker of the University of Texas notes in
his book, The Secret Life of Pronouns, when people are feeling confident, they are focused on the
task at hand, not on themselves. High-status, confident people use fewer “I” words, not more.
Our brains often don’t notice subtle verbal patterns, but Pennebaker’s computers can.
Younger writers use more negative and past-tense words than older writers who use more positive
and future-tense words.
In sum, the data revolution is giving us wonderful ways to understand the present and the
past. Will it transform our ability to predict and make decisions about the future? We’ll see.

51. What do dataists assume they can do?

A. Transform people’s cultural identity.

B. Change the way future events unfold.

C. Get a firm grip on the most important issues.

D. Eliminate emotional and ideological bias.

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52. What do people running for political office think they can do?

A. Use data analysis to predict the election result.

B. Win the election if they can raise enough funds.

C. Manipulate public opinion with favorable data.

D. Increase the chances of winning by foul means.

53. Why do many teachers favor the idea of tailoring their presentations to different students?

A. They think students prefer flexible teaching methods.

B. They will be able to try different approaches.

C. They believe students’ learning styles vary.

D. They can accommodate students with special needs.

54. What does James Pennebaker reveal in The Secret Life of Pronouns?

A. The importance of using pronouns properly.

B. Repeated use of first-person pronouns by self-centered people.

C. Frequent use of pronouns and future tense by young people.

D. A pattern in confident people’s use of pronouns.

55. Why is the author skeptical of the data revolution?

A. Data may not be easily accessible.

B. Errors may occur with large data samples.

C. Data cannot always do what we imagine it can.

D. Some data may turn out to be outdated.

（二）推理题

解题步骤：

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Example 1:

Many societies throughout history and around the world today have cultivated strong

pressures to stay married. In those where ties to family and community are strong, lifelong

marriages can be promoted by practices such as the cultural prohibition of divorce and arranged

marriages that are seen as a contract between two families, not just two individuals. In modern

western societies, however, the focus on individuality and independence means that people are

less concerned about conforming to ( 遵 守 ) the dictates of family and culture. In the absence of

societal pressures to maintain pair-bonds, O’Sullivan suggests that romantic love has increasingly

come to be seen as the factor that should determine who we stay with and for how long. “That’s

why historically we see an increase in romantic love as a basis for forming long-term

relationships,” she says.

We can infer from the passage that strong family and community ties _________.

A. can contribute to stable marriages

B. largely rely on marriage contracts

C. often run counter to romantic love

D. make divorces virtually unacceptable

Example 2:

One in 10 buyers rand toilet rolls made from recycled paper among their top considerations,

highlighting how overall the environment is much less of a consideration for shoppers than

product quality. In a challenge for manufacturers, 81% of paper product users said they would

consider buying recycled toilet tissue if it were comparable in quality to standard paper.

What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A. More and more Britons buy recycled toilet paper to protect the environment.

B. Toilet paper manufacturers are facing a great challenge in promoting its sales.

C. Toilet paper manufacturers compete with one another to improve product quality.

D. Environmental protection is not much of a concern when Britons buy toilet paper.

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Example 3:

It is profitable to drill to depths more than 1,000 feet for oil and gas extraction, but only

recently in California has it become profitable to pump water from this depth. The aquifers range

from 1,000 to 3,000 feet below the ground, which means that pumping will be expensive and there

are other concerns. The biggest concern of pumping out water from this deep in the gradual

settling down of the land surface. As the water is pumped out, the vacant space left is compacted

by the weight of the earth above.

What can be inferred about extracting water from deep aquifers?

A. It was deemed vital to solving the water problem.

B. It was not considered worth the expense.

C. It may not provide quality freshwater.

D. It is bound to gain support from the local people.

Example 4:

The other day my son asked me if he could ride up to his elementary school on his bike and

meet his friend. He wanted the both to ride back to our house so they could play video games and

jump on the trampoline (IR). I have to admit, part of me wanted to say no. We can go pick him up

or his parents can bring him over here, I thought. But my son is eleven years old now. And after all.

I do let him ride his bike to school

What does the author mean when she says "But my son is eleven years old now ?

A. He is old enough to be given some freedom now

B He is a bit too young to go out alone

C. He has reached the legal age for riding a bike

D. He can’t protect himself from road hazards

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Example 5:

Rebecca was not a Barbie girl, preferred stuffed animals to dolls, and wasn’t drawn to play in

a structured environment. Always a make-up-the-rules, design-my-own world, do-it-my-way kid.

In the author’s eyes, his little daughter was .

A. obedient B. unstable C. original D. stubborn

Example 6:

Growing up in the 1970s was indeed a different time. I never wore a helmet when I rode a

bike. We were all over the neighborhood, on our bikes and on foot, coming home for dinner and

then back out again until dark. We rode in the back of the truck, didn’t wear seatbelts. I walked to

and from school every day…

What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A. The social security back in the 1970s was no better than in it is today.

B. Today's children enjoy more freedom than those in 1970

C. Children today are more obedient to their parents.

D. Children in the 1970s enjoyed more freedom than those today

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Practice 6

Passage One

Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.

I'll admit I've never quite understood the obsession （ 难 以 破 除 的 成 见 ） surrounding

genetically modified (GM) crops. To environmentalist opponents, GM foods are simply evil, an
understudied, possibly harmful tool used by big agricultural businesses to control global seed
markets and crush local farmers. They argue that GM foods have never delivered on their
supposed promise, that money spent on GM crops would be better channeled to organic farming
and that consumers should be protected with warning labels on any products that contain
genetically modified ingredients. To supporters, GM crops are a key part of the effort to
sustainably provide food to meet a growing global population. But more than that, supporters see
the GM opposition of many environmentalists as fundamentally anti-science, no different than
those who question the basics of man-made climate change.
For both sides, GM foods seem to act as a symbol: you're pro-agricultural business or
anti-science. But science is exactly what we need more of when it comes to GM foods, which is
why I was happy to see Nature devote a special series of articles to the GM food controversy. The
conclusion: while GM crops haven't yet realized their initial promise and have been dominated by
agricultural businesses, there is reason to continue to use and develop them to help meet the
enormous challenge of sustainably feeding a growing planet.
That doesn't mean GM crops are perfect, or a one-size-fits-all solution to global agriculture
problems. But anything that can increase farming efficiency 一 the amount of crops we can
produce per acre of land 一 will be extremely useful. GM crops can and almost certainly will be
part of that suite of tools' but so will traditional plant breeding, improved soil and crop
management 一 and perhaps most important of all, better storage and transport infrastructure（基
础设施）, especially in the developing world. (It doesn't do much good for farmers in places like
sub-Saharan Africa to produce more food if they can't get it to hungry consumers.) I'd like to see
more non-industry research done on GM crops—not just because we'd worry less about bias, but
also because seed companies like Monsanto and Pioneer shouldn't be the only entities working to
harness genetic modification. I'd like to see GM research on less commercial crops, like com. I
don't think it's vital to label GM ingredients in food, but I also wouldn't be against it 一 and
industry would be smart to go along with labeling, just as a way of removing fears about the
technology.
Most of all, though, I wish a tenth of the energy that's spent endlessly debating GM crops was
focused on those more pressing challenges for global agriculture. There are much bigger battles to
fight.

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46. How do environmentalist opponents view GM foods according to the passage?

A) They will eventually ruin agriculture and the environment.

B) They are used by big businesses to monopolize agriculture.

C) They have proved potentially harmful to consumers' health.

D) They pose a tremendous threat to current farming practice.

47. What does the author say is vital to solving the controversy between the two sides of the

debate?

A) Breaking the GM food monopoly.

B) More friendly exchange of ideas.

C) Regulating GM food production.

D) More scientific research on GM crops.

48. What is the main point of the Nature articles?

A) Feeding the growing population makes it imperative to develop GM crops.

B) Popularizing GM technology will help it to live up to its initial promises.

C) Measures should be taken to ensure the safety of GM foods.

D) Both supporters and opponents should make compromises.

49. What is the author's view on the solution to agricultural problems?

A) It has to depend more and more on GM technology.

B) It is vital to the sustainable development of human society.

C) GM crops should be allowed until better alternatives are found.

D) Whatever is useful to boost farming efficiency should be encouraged.

50. What does the author think of the ongoing debate around GM crops?

A) It arises out of ignorance of and prejudice against new science.

B) It distracts the public attention from other key issues of the world.

C) Efforts spent on it should be turned to more urgent issues of agriculture.

D) Neither side is likely to give in until more convincing evidence is found.

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Passage Two

Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.

When the right person is holding the right job at the right moment, that person's influence is
greatly expanded. That is the position in which Janet Yellen, who is expected to be confirmed as
the next chair of the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) in January, now finds herself. If you believe, as
many do, that unemployment is the major economic and social concern of our day, then it is no
stretch to think Yellen is the most powerful person in the world right now.
Throughout the 2008 financial crisis and the recession and recovery that followed, central
banks have taken on the role of stimulators of last resort, holding up the global economy with vast
amounts of money in the form of asset buying. Yellen, previously a Fed vice chair, was one of the
principal architects of the Fed's $3.8 trillion money dump. A star economist known for her
groundbreaking work on labor markets, Yellen was a kind of prophetess early on in the crisis for
her warnings about the subprime（次级债）meltdown. Now it will be her job to get the Fed and the
markets out of the biggest and most unconventional monetary program in history without derailing
the fragile recovery.
The good news is that Yellen, 67, is particularly well suited to meet these challenges. She has
a keen understanding of financial markets, an appreciation for their imperfections and a strong
belief that human suffering was more related to unemployment than anything else.
Some experts worry that Yellen will be inclined to chase unemployment to the neglect of inflation.
But with wages still relatively flat and the economy increasingly divided between the well-off and
the long-term unemployed' more people worry about the opposite, deflation（通货紧缩）that would
aggravate the economy's problems.
Either way, the incoming Fed chief will have to walk a fine line in slowly ending the stimulus.
It must be steady enough to deflate bubbles（去泡沫）and bring markets back down to earth but not
so quick that it creates another credit crisis.
Unlike many past Fed leaders, Yellen is not one to buy into the finance industry's argument
that it should be left alone to regulate itself. She knows all along the Fed has been too slack on
regulation of finance.
Yellen is likely to address right after she pushes unemployment below 6%, stabilizes markets
and makes sure that the recovery is more inclusive and robust. As Princeton Professor Alan
Blinder says' "She's smart as a whip, deeply logical, willing to argue but also a good listener. She
can persuade without creating hostility." AH those traits will be useful as the global economy's
new power player takes on its most annoying problems.

51. What do many people think is the biggest problem facing Janet Yellen?

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A) Lack of money.

B) Subprime crisis.

C) Unemployment.

D) Social instability.

52. What did Yellen help the Fed do to tackle the 2008 financial crisis?

A) Take effective measures to curb inflation.

B) Deflate the bubbles in the American economy.

C) Formulate policies to help financial institutions.

D) Pour money into the market through asset buying.

53. What is a greater concern of the general public?

A) Recession.

B) Deflation.

C) Inequality.

D) Income.

54. What is Yellen likely to do in her position as the Fed chief?

A) Develop a new monetary program.

B) Restore public confidence.

C) Tighten financial regulation.

D) Reform the credit system.

55. How does Alan Blinder portray Yellen?

A) She possesses strong persuasive power.

B) She has confidence in what she is doing.

C) She is one of the world's greatest economists.

D) She is the most powerful Fed chief in history.

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（三）观点题

解题步骤：

Example 1:

Through experiments and observation, social scientists like Dr. Berning have learned that

there is power in tying certain behaviors to habitual cues through ruthless advertising. As this new

science of habit has emerged, controversies have erupted when the tactics have been used to sell

questionable beauty creams or unhealthy foods.

The author’s attitude toward the influence of advertisement on people’s habits is_____.

A. indifferent B. negative C. positive D. biased

Example 2:

More than one third of American school administrators have eliminated bus stops or routes in

order to stay within budget. (Para. 2)

Schools and busing companies are finding other ways to save. (Para.4)

There could be downsides, however, to the busing cutback. (Para.5)

Which of the following best describes the author’s attitude toward the busing cutbacks?

A. Favorable B. Critical C. Obvious D. Indifferent

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Example 3:

People tell market researchers that they make rational decisions about what to buy,

considering things like price, selection or convenience. But subconscious forces, involving

emotion and memories, are clearly also at work.

The author argues that shoppers .

A. exert more influence on stores than they imagine

B. are more likely to make rational choices than they know

C. tend to make more emotional decisions than they think

D. have more control over what they buy than they assume

Example 4:

A related concept you may be interested in is the "sociometer theory" of self-esteem,

pioneered by Mark Leary（Wake Forest). Basically it states that our self-esteem determined by the

amount of perceived social acceptance/rejection, and that determination is full of cognitive biases

and errors. Awesome stuff.

What is the writer’s attitude toward the "sociometer theory" in this paragraph？

A．Affirmative B. Objective C. Detached D. Negative

（四）词义句意题

解题步骤：

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Example 1:

"We are largely the playing things of our fears, "wrote the British author Horace Walpole

many years ago,”“To one , fear of the dark; to another, of physical pains; to a third, of public

ridicule; to a fourth, of poverty; to a fifty, of loneliness — for all of us our particular creature waits

in a hidden place ”

In the last sentence of Paragraph1，“ our particular creature” refers to .

A. fear of something B. a fierce beast C. physical pain D. public ridicule

Example 2:

After all, the phenomenon is not isolated to humans. Females have the edge among virtually

all mammalian（哺乳动物的）species，in that they generally live longer．

The word“edge＂in Paragraph 6 means .

A. margin B. side C. advantage D. quality

Example 3:

It is all very well to blame traffic Jam, the cost of petrol and the fast pace of modern life. But

manners on the roads are becoming deplorable. Everybody knows that the nicest men become

monsters behind the wheel

The word“ deplorable”（Para．1）most probably means .

A. more serious B. more tempting C. disturbing D. noticeable

Example 4:

Doctors in Britain are warning of an obesity time bomb, when children who are already

overweight grow up. So, what should we do? Exercise more? Eat less? Or both? The government

feels it has to take responsibility for this expanding problem.

What does “this expanding problem”（Para．1） refer to？

A. The slow growing up of overweight children

B. The obesity time bomb warned of by doctors

C. Too little exercise and too much die.

D. Neglect of the health issue by the government

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Practice 7

Passage One

Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.

Air pollution is deteriorating in many places around the world. The fact that public parks in
cities become crowded as soon as the sun shines proves that people long to breathe in green, open
spaces. They do not all know what they are seeking but they flock there, nevertheless. And, in
these surroundings, they are generally both peaceful and peaceable. It is rare to see people fighting
in a garden. Perhaps struggle unfolds first, not at an economic or social level, but over the
appropriation of air, essential to life itself. If human beings can breathe and share air, they don't
need to struggle with one another.
Unfortunately, in our western tradition, neither materialist nor idealist theoreticians give
enough consideration to this basic condition for life. As for politicians, despite proposing curbs on
environmental pollution, they have not yet called for it to be made a crime. Wealthy countries are
even allowed to pollute if they pay for it.
But is our life worth anything other than money? The plant world shows us in silence what
faithfulness to life consists of. It also helps us to a new beginning, urging us to care for our breath,
not only at a vital but also at a spiritual level. The interdependence to which we must pay the
closest attention is that which exists between ourselves and the plant world. Often described as
"the lungs of the planet", the woods that cover the earth offer us the gift of breathable air by
releasing oxygen. But their capacity to renew the air polluted by industry has long reached its limit.
If we lack the air necessary for a healthy life, it is because we have filled it with chemicals and
undercut the ability of plants to regenerate it. As we know, rapid deforestation combined with the
massive burning of fossil fuels is an explosive recipe for an irreversible disaster.
The fight over the appropriation of resources will lead the entire planet to hell unless humans
learn to share life, both with each other and with plants. This task is simultaneously ethical and
political because it can be discharged only when each takes it upon herself or himself and only
when it is accomplished together with others. The lesson taught by plants is that sharing life
expands and enhances the sphere of the living, while dividing life into so-called natural or human
resources diminishes it. We must come to view the air, the plants and ourselves as the contributors
to the preservation of life and growth, rather than a web of quantifiable objects or productive
potentialities at our disposal. Perhaps then we would finally begin to live, rather than being
concerned with bare survival.

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46. What does the author assume might be the primary reason that people would struggle with

each other?

A) To get their share of clean air.

B) To pursue a comfortable life.

C) To gain a higher social status.

D) To seek economic benefits.

47. What does the author accuse western politicians of?

A) Depriving common people of the right to clean air.

B) Giving priority to theory rather than practical action.

C) Offering preferential treatment to wealthy countries.

D) Failing to pass laws to curb environmental pollution.

48. What does the author try to draw our closest attention to?

A) The massive burning of fossil fuels.

B) Our relationship to the plant world.

C) The capacity of plants to renew polluted air.

D) Large-scale deforestation across the world.

49. How can human beings accomplish the goal of protecting the planet according to the

author?

A) By showing respect for plants.

B) By preserving all forms of life.

C) By tapping all natural resources.

D) By pooling their efforts together.

50. What does the author suggest we do in order not just to survive?

A) Expand the sphere of living. B) Develop nature's potentials.

C) Share life with nature. D) Allocate the resources.

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Passage Two

Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.

Early decision — you apply to one school, and admission is binding — seems like a great
choice for nervous applicants. Schools let in a higher percentage of early-decision applicants,
which arguably means that you have a better chance of getting in. And if you do, you're done with
the whole agonizing process by December. But what most students and parents don't realize is that
schools have hidden motives for offering early decision.
Early decision, since it's binding, allows schools to fill their classes with qualified students; it
allows ad-missions committees to select the students that are in particular demand for their college
and know those students will come. It also gives schools a higher yield rate, which is often used as
one of the ways to measure college selectivity and popularity.
The problem is that this process effectively shortens the window of time students have to
make one of the most important decisions of their lives up to that point. Under regular admissions,
seniors have until May 1 to choose which school to attend; early decision effectively steals six
months from them, months that could be used to visit more schools, do more research, speak to
current students and alumni（校友）and arguably make a more informed decision.
There are, frankly, an astonishing number of exceptional colleges in America, and for any
given student, there are a number of schools that are a great fit. When students become too fixated
（专 注）on a particular school early in the admissions process, that fixation can lead to severe
disappointment if they don't get in or, if they do, the possibility that they are now bound to go to a
school that, given time for further reflection, may not actually be right for them.
Insofar as early decision offers a genuine admissions edge, that advantage goes largely to
students who already have numerous advantage. The students who use early decision tend to be
those who have received higher-quality college guidance, usually a result of coming from a more
privileged background. In this regard, there's an argument against early decision, as students from
lower-income families are far less likely to have the admissions know-how to navigate the often
confusing early deadlines.
Students who have done their research and are confident that there's one school they would
be thrilled to get into should, under the current system, probably apply under early decision. But
for students who haven't yet done enough research, or who are still constantly changing their
minds on favorite schools, the early-decision system needlessly and prematurely narrows the field
of possibility just at a time when students should be opening themselves to a whole range of
thrilling options.

51. What are students obliged to do under early decision?

A) Look into a lot of schools before they apply.

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B) Attend the school once they are admitted.

C) Think twice before they accept the offer.

D) Consult the current students and alumni.

52. Why do schools offer early decision?

A) To make sure they get qualified students.

B) To avoid competition with other colleges.

C) To provide more opportunities for applicants.

D) To save students the agony of choosing a school.

53. What is said to be the problem with early decision for students?

A) It makes their application process more complicated.

B) It places too high a demand on their research ability.

C) It allows them little time to make informed decisions.

D) It exerts much more psychological pressure on them.

54. Why are some people opposed to early decision?

A) It interferes with students' learning in high school.

B) It is biased against students at ordinary high schools.

C) It causes unnecessary confusion among college applicants.

D) It places students from lower-income families at a disadvantage.

55. What does the author advise college applicants to do?

A) Refrain from competing with students from privileged families.

B) Avoid choosing early decision unless they are fully prepared.

C) Find sufficient information about their favorite schools.

D) Look beyond the few supposedly thrilling options.

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Practice 8

Passage One

Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.

Tennessee’s technical and community colleges will not outsource(外包) management of their
facilities to a private company, a decision one leader said was bolstered by an analysis of spending
at each campus.
In an email sent Monday to college presidents in the Tennessee Board of Regents system,
outgoing Chancellor John Morgan said an internal analysis showed that each campus’ spending on
facilities management fell well below the industry standards identified by the state. Morgan said
those findings — which included data from the system’s 13 community colleges, 27 technical
colleges and six universities — were part of the decision not to move forward with Governor Bill
Haslam’s proposal to privatize management of state buildings in an effort to save money.
“While these numbers are still being validated by the state, we feel any adjustments they
might suggest will be immaterial,” Morgan wrote to the presidents. “System institutions are
operating very efficiently based on this analysis, raising the question of the value of pursuing a
broad scale outsourcing initiative.”
Worker’s advocates have criticized Haslam’s plan, saying it would mean some campus
workers would lose their jobs or benefits. Haslam has said colleges would be free to opt in or out
of the out souring plan, which has not been finalized.
Morgan notified the Haslam administration of his decision to opt out in a letter sent last week.
That letter, which includes several concerns Morgan has with the plan, was originally obtained by
The Commercial Appeal in Memphis.
In an email statement from the state’s Office of Customer Focused Government, which is
examining the possibility of outsourcing, spokeswoman Michelle R. Martin said officials were
still working to analyze the data from the Board of Regents. Data on management expenses at the
college system and in other state departments will be part of a “business justification” the state
will use as officials deliberate the specifics of an outsourcing plan.
“The state’s facilities management project team is still in the process of developing its
business justification and expects to have that completed and available to the public at the end of
February,” Martin said. “At this time there is nothing to take action on since the analysis has yet to
be completed.”
Morgan’s comments on outsourcing mark the second time this month that he has come out
against one of Haslam’s plans for higher education in Tennessee. Morgan said last week that he
would retire at the end of January because of the governor’s proposal to split off six universities of
the Board of Regents system and create separate governing boards for each of them. In his

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resignation letter, Morgan called the reorganization “unworkable”.

46. What do we learn about the decision of technical and community colleges in Tennessee?

A. It is backed by a campus spending analysis.

B. It has been flatly rejected by the governor.

C. It has neglected their faculty’s demands.

D. It will improve their financial situation.

47. What does the campus spending analysis reveal?

A. Private companies play a big role in campus management.

B. Facilities management by colleges is more cost-effective.

C. Facilities management has greatly improved in recent years.

D. Colleges exercise foil control over their own financial affairs.

48. Workers’ supporters argue that Bill Haslam’s proposal would .

A. deprive colleges of the right to manage their facilities

B. make workers less motivated in performing duties

C. render a number of campus workers jobless

D. lead to the privatization of campus facilities

49. What do we learn from the state spokeswoman’s response to John Morgan’s decision?

A. The outsourcing plan is not yet finalized.

B. The outsourcing plan will be implemented.

C. The state officials are confident about the outsourcing plan.

D. The college spending analysis justifies the outsourcing plan.

50. Why did John Morgan decide to resign?

A. He had lost confidence in the Tennessee state government.

B. He disagreed with the governor on higher education policies.

C. He thought the state’s outsourcing proposal was simply unworkable.

D. He opposed the governor’s plan to reconstruct the college board system.

Passage Two

Questions 51 to 55 are based on the following passage.

Beginning in the late sixteenth century, it became fashionable for young aristocrats to visit

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Paris, Venice, Florence, and above all, Rome, as the culmination(终极) of their classical education.
Thus was born the idea of the Grand Tour, a practice which introduced Englishmen, Germans,
Scandinavians, and also Americans to the art and culture of France and Italy for the next 300 years.
Travel was arduous and costly throughout the period, possible only for a privileged class—the
same that produced gentlemen scientists, authors, antique experts, and patrons of the arts.
The Grand Tourist was typically a young man with a thorough grounding in Greek and Latin
literature as well as some leisure time, some means, and some interest in art. The German traveler
Johann Winckelmann pioneered the field of art history with his comprehensive study of Greek and
Roman sculpture; he was portrayed by his friend Anton Raphael Mengs at the beginning of his
long residence in Rome. Most Grand Tourists, however, stayed for briefer periods and set out with
less scholarly intentions, accompanied by a teacher or guardian, and expected to return home with
souvenirs of their travels as well as an understanding of art and architecture formed by exposure to
great masterpieces.
London was a frequent starting point for Grand Tourists, and Paris a compulsory destination;
many traveled to the Netherlands, some to Switzerland and Germany, and a very few adventurers
to Spain, Greece, or Turkey. The essential place to visit, however, was Italy. The British traveler
Charles Thompson spoke for many Grand Tourists when in 1744 he described himself as “being
impatiently desirous of viewing a country so famous in history, a country which once gave laws to
the world, and which is at present the greatest school of music and painting, contains the noblest
productions of sculpture and architecture, and is filled with cabinets of rarities, and collections of
all kinds of historical relics”. Within Italy, the great focus was Rome, whose ancient ruins and
more recent achievements were shown to every Grand Tourist. Panini’s Ancient Rome and
Modem Rome represent the sights most prized, including celebrated Greco-Roman statues and
views of famous ruins, fountains, and churches. Since there were few museums anywhere in
Europe before the close of the eighteenth century, Grand Tourists often saw paintings and
sculptures by gaining admission to private collections, and many were eager to acquire examples
of Greco-Roman and Italian art for their own collections. In England, where architecture was
increasingly seen as an aristocratic pursuit, noblemen often applied what they learned from the
villas of Palladio in the Veneto and the evocative ( 唤 起 回 忆 的 ) ruins of Rome to their own
country houses and gardens.

51. What is said about the Grand Tour?

A. It was fashionable among young people of the time.

B. It was unaffordable for ordinary people.

C. It produced some famous European artists.

D. It made a compulsory part of college education.

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52. What did Grand Tourists have in common?

A. They had much geographic knowledge.

B. They were courageous and venturesome.

C. They were versed in literature and interested in art.

D. They had enough travel and outdoor-life experience.

53. How did Grand Tourists benefit from their travel?

A. They found inspiration in the world’s greatest masterpieces.

B. They got a better understanding of early human civilization.

C. They developed an interest in the origin of modem art forms.

D. They gained some knowledge of classical art and architecture.

54. Why did many Grand Tourists visit the private collections?

A. They could buy unique souvenirs there to take back home.

B. Europe hardly had any museums before the 19th century.

C. They found the antiques there more valuable.

D. Private collections were of greater variety.

55. How did the Grand Tour influence the architecture in England?

A. There appeared more and more Roman-style buildings.

B. Many aristocrats began to move into Roman-style villas.

C. Aristocrats，country houses all had Roman-style gardens.

D. Italian architects were hired to design houses and gardens.

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三、CET-6 阅读——段落句意匹配

解题步骤：

Example 1:

The rise of the sharing economy?

A） Last night 40,000 people rented accommodation from a service that offers 250,000 rooms in

30,000 cities in 192 countries. They chose their rooms and paid for everything online. But

their beds were provided by private individuals, rather than a hotel chain. Hosts and guests

were matched up by Airbnb, a firm based in San Francisco. Since its launch in 2008 more

than 4 million people have used it—2. 5 million of them in 2012 alone. It is the most

prominent example of a huge new "sharing economy", in which people rent beds, cars, boats

and other assets directly from each other, coordinated via the internet.

B）You might think this is no different from running a bed-and-breakfast (家庭旅店), owning a

timeshare ( 分 时 度 假 房 ) or participating in a car pool. But technology has reduced

transaction costs, making sharing assets cheaper and easier than ever—and therefore possible

on a much larger scale. The big change is the availability of more data about people and

things, which allows physical assets to be divided and consumed as services. Before the

internet, renting a surfboard, a power tool or a parking space from someone else was feasible,

but was usually more trouble than it was worth. Now websites such as Airbnb, RelayRides

and Snap Goods match up owners and renters; smartphones with GPS let people see where

the nearest rentable car is parked; social networks provide a way to check up on people and

build trust; and online payment systems handle the billing.

What's mine is yours, for a fee

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C）Just as peer-to-peer businesses like eBay allow anyone to become a retailer, sharing sites let

individuals act as an ad hoc (临时的) taxi service, car-hire firm or boutique hotel (精品酒店)

as and-when it suits them. Just go online or download an app. The model-works for items that

are expensive to buy and are widely owned by people who do not make full use of them.

Bedrooms and cars are the most obvious examples, but you can also rent camping spaces in

Sweden, fields in Australia and washing machines in France. As advocates of the sharing

economy like to put it, access trumps（胜过）ownership.

D ） Rachel Botsman, the author of a book on the subject, says the consumer peer-to-peer rental

market alone is worth $ 26 billion. Broader definitions of the sharing economy include

peer-to-peer lending or putting a solar panel on your roof and selling power back to the grid

(电网). And it is not just individuals: the web makes it easier for companies to rent out spare

offices and idle machines, too. But the core of the sharing economy is people renting things

from each other.

E) Such "collaborative ( 合 作 的 ) consumption" is a good thing for several reasons. Owners

make money from underused assets. Airbnb says hosts in San Francisco who rent out their

homes do so for an average of 58 nights a year, making $9,300. Car owners who rent their

vehicles to others using RelayRides make an average of $250 a month; some make more than

$1,000. Renters, meanwhile, pay less than they would if they bought the item themselves, or

turned to a traditional provider such as a hotel or car-hire firm. And there are environmental

benefits, too: renting a car when you need it, rather than owning one, means fewer cars are

required and fewer resources must be devoted to making them.

F) For sociable souls, meeting new people by staying in their homes is part of the charm.

Curmudgeons (倔脾气的人) who imagine that every renter is a murderer can still stay at

conventional hotels. For others, the web fosters trust. As well as the background checks

carried out by platform owners, online reviews and ratings are usually posted by both parties

to each transaction, which makes it easy to spot bad drivers, bathrobe-thieves and

surfboard-wreckers. By using Facebook and other social networks, participants can check

each other out and identify friends (or friends of friends) in common. An Airbnb user had her

apartment trashed in 2011. But the remarkable thing is how well the system usually works.

Peering into the future

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G) The sharing economy is a little like online shopping, which started in America 15 years ago.

At first, people were worried about security. But having made a successful purchase from,

say, Amazon, they felt safe buying elsewhere Similarly, using Airbnb or a car-hire-service for

the first time encourages people to try other offerings. Next, consider eBay. Having started

out as a peer-to- peer marketplace, it is now dominated by professional "power sellers" (many

of whom started out as ordinary eBay users). The same may happen with the sharing

economy, which also provides new opportunities for enterprise. Some people have bought

cars solely to rent them out, for example.

H) Existing rental businesses are getting involved too. Avis, a car-hire firm, has a share in a

sharing rival. So do GM and Daimler, two carmakers. In future, companies may develop

hybrid (混合的) models, listing excess capacity (whether vehicles, equipment or office space)

on peer-to-peer rental sites. In the past, new ways of doing things online have not displaced

the old ways entirely. But they have often changed them. Just as internet shopping forced

Wal-Mart and Tesco to adapt, so online sharing will shake up transport, tourism,

equipment-hire and more.

I) The main worry is regulatory uncertainty. Will room-renters be subject to hotel taxes, for

example? In Amsterdam officials are using Airbnb listings to track down unlicensed hotels.

In some American cities, peer-to-peer taxi services have been banned after lobbying by

traditional taxi firms. The danger is that although some rules need to be updated to protect

consumers from harm, existing rental businesses will try to destroy competition. People

who tent out rooms should pay tax, of course, but they should not be regulated like a

Ritz-Carlton hotel. The lighter rules that typically govern bed-and-breakfasts are more than

adequate.

J) The sharing economy Is the latest example of the internet’s value to consumers. This

emerging model is now big and disruptive（颠覆性的）enough for regulators and companies to

have woken up to it. That is a sign of its immense potential. It is time to start caring about

sharing.

36. Sharing items such as cars does good to the environment

37. Airbnb's success clearly illustrates the emergence of a huge sharing economy.

38. The major concern about the sharing economy is how the government regulates it.

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39. The most frequently shared items are those expensive to buy but not fully used.

40. The sharing economy has a promising future.

41. Online sharing will change the way business is done in transportation, travel, rentals, etc.

42. Airbnb is a website that enables owners and renters to complete transactions online.

43. The sharing economy is likely to go the way of online shopping.

44. One advantage of sharing is that owners earn money from renting out items not made full

use of.

45. Sharing appeals to the sociable in that they can meet new people.

Example 2:

The Changes Facing Fast Food

A) Fast-food firms have to be a thick-skinned bunch. Health experts regularly criticise them

severely for selling food that makes people fat. Critics even complain that McDonald's, whose

logo symbolises calorie excess, should not have been allowed to sponsor the World Cup. These are

things fast-food firms have learnt to cope with. But not perhaps for much longer. The burger

business faces more pressure from regulators at a time when it is already adapting strategies in

response to shifts in the global economy.

B) Fast food was once thought to be recession-proof. When consumers need to cut spending, the

logic goes, cheap meals like Big Macs and Whoppers become even more attractive. Such "trading

down" proved true for much of the latest recession, when fast-food companies picked up

customers who could no longer afford to eat at casual restaurants. Traffic was boosted in America,

the home of fast food, with discounts and promotions, such as $1 menus and cheap combination

meals.

C) As a result, fast-food chains have weathered the recession better than their more expensive

competitors. In 2009 sales at full-service restaurants in America fell by more than 6%, but total

sales remained about the same at fast-food chains. In some markets, such as Japan, France and

Britain, total spending on fast food increased. Same-store sales in America at McDonald's, the

world's largest fast-food company, did not decline throughout the downturn. Panera Bread, an

American fast-food chain known for its fresh ingredients, performed well, too, because it offers

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higher-quality food at lower prices than restaurants.

D) But not all fast-food companies have been as fortunate. Many, such as Burger King, have seen

sales fall. In a severe recession, while some people trade down to fast food, many others eat at

home more frequently to save money. David Palmer, an analyst at UBS, a bank, says smaller

fast-food chains in America, such as Jack in the Box and Carl's Jr., have been hit particularly hard

in this downturn because they are competing with the global giant McDonald's, which increased

spending on advertising by more than 7% last year as others cut back.

E) Some fast-food companies also sacrificed their own profits by trying to give customers better

value. During the recession companies set prices low, hoping that once they had tempted

customers through the door they would be persuaded to order more expensive items. But in many

cases that strategy did not work. Last year Burger King franchisees (特许经营人) sued (起诉) the

company over its double-cheeseburger promotion, claiming it was unfair for them to be required

to sell these for $1 when they cost $1.10 to make. In May a judge ruled in favour of Burger King.

Nevertheless, the company may still be cursing its decision to promote cheap choices over more

expensive ones because items on its “value menu” now account for around 20% of all sales, up

from 12% last October.

F) Analysts expect the fast-food industry to grow modestly this year. But the downturn is making

companies rethink their strategies. Many are now introducing higher-priced items to entice (引诱)

consumers away from $1 specials. KFC, a division of Yum! Brands, which also owns Taco Bell

and Pizza Hut, has launched a chicken sandwich that costs around $5. And in May Burger king

introduced barbecue (烧烤) pork ribs at $7 for eight.

G) Companies are also trying to get customers to buy new and more items, including drinks.

McDonald's started selling better coffee as a challenge to Starbucks. Its "McCafé" line now

accounts for an estimated 6% of sales in America. Starbucks has sold rights to its Seattle's Best

coffee brand to Burger King, which will start selling it later this year.

H) As fast-food companies shift from "super size" to "more buys", they need to keep customer

traffic high throughout the day. Many see breakfast as a big opportunity, and not just for fatty food.

McDonald's will start selling porridge (粥) in America next year. Breakfast has the potential to be

very profitable, says Sara Senatore of Bernstein, a research firm, because the margins can be high.

Fast-food companies are also adding midday and late-night snacks, such as blended drinks and

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wraps. The idea is that by having a greater range of things on the menu, "we can sell to consumers

products they want all day," says Rick Carucci, the chief financial officer of Yum! Brands.

I) But what about those growing waistlines? So far, fast-food firms have cleverly avoided

government regulation. By providing healthy options, like salads and low-calorie sandwiches, they

have at least given the impression of doing something about helping to fight obesity ( 肥 胖 症 ).

These offerings are not necessarily loss-leaders, as they broaden the appeal of outlets to groups of

diners that include some people who don't want to eat a burger. But customers cannot be forced to

order salads instead of fries.

J) In the future, simply offering a healthy option may not be good enough. "Every packaged-food

and restaurant company I know is concerned about regulation right now," says Mr. Palmer of UBS.

America's health-reform bill, which Congress passed this year, requires restaurant chains with 20

or more outlets to put the calorie-content of items they serve on the menu. A study by the National

Bureau of Economic Research, which tracked the effects on Starbucks of a similar calorie-posting

law in New York City in 2007, found that the average calorie-count per transaction fell 6% and

revenue increased 3% at Starbucks stores where a Dunkin Donuts outlet was nearby—a sign, it is

said, that menu-labelling could favour chains that have more healthy offerings.

K) In order to avoid other legislation in America and elsewhere, fast-food companies will have to

continue innovating (创新). Walt Riker of McDonald's claims the change it has made in its menu

means it offers more healthy items than it did a few years ago. "We probably sell more vegetables,

more milk, more salads, more apples than any restaurant business in the world," he says. But the

recent proposal by a county in California to ban McDonald's from including toys in its

high-calorie "Happy Meals", because legislators believe it attracts children to unhealthy food,

suggests there is a lot more left to do.

36. Some people propose laws be made to stop McDonald's from attaching toys to its food

specials for children.

37. Fast-food firms may not be able to cope with pressures from food regulation in the near

future.

38. Burger King will start to sell Seattle's Best coffee to increase sales.

39. Some fast-food firms provide healthy food to give the impression they are helping to tackle

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the obesity problem.

40. During the recession, many customers turned to fast food to save money.

41. Many people eat out less often to save money in times of recession.

42. During the recession, Burger King's promotional strategy of offering low-priced items often

proved ineffective.

43. Fast-food restaurants can make a lot of money by selling breakfast.

44. Many fast-food companies now expect to increase their revenue by introducing

higher-priced items.

45. A newly-passed law asks big fast-food chains to specify the calorie count of that they serve

on the menu.

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Practice 9

Should Single-Sex Education Be Eliminated?

[A] Why is a neuroscientist here debating single-sex schooling? Honestly, I had no fixed ideas on

the topic when I started researching it for my book, Pink Brain, Blue Brain. But any discussion of

gender differences in children inevitably leads to this debate, so I felt compelled to dive into the

research data on single-sex schooling. I read every study I could, weighed the existing evidence,

and ultimately concluded that single-sex education is not the answer to gender gaps in

achievement—or the best way forward for today’s young people. After my book was published, I

met several developmental and cognitive psychologists whose work was addressing gender and

education from different angles, and we published a peer-reviewed Education Forum piece in

Science magazine with the provocative title, “The Pseudoscience of Single-Sex Education.”

[B] We showed that three lines of research used to justify single-sex schooling — educational,

neuroscience, and social psychology—all fail to support its alleged benefits, and so the

widely-held view that gender separation is somehow better for boys, girls, or both is nothing more

than a myth.

The Research on Academic Outcomes

[C] First, we reviewed the extensive educational research that has compared academic outcomes

in students attending single-sex versus coeducational schools. The overwhelming conclusion when

you put this enormous literature together is that there is no clear academic advantage of sitting in

all-female or all-male classes, in spite of much popular belief to the contrary. I base this

conclusion not on any individual study, but on large-scale and systematic reviews of thousands of

studies conducted in every major English-speaking country.

[D] Of course, there’re many excellent single-sex schools out there, but as these careful research

reviews have demonstrated, it’s not their single-sex composition that makes them excellent. It’s all

the other advantages that are typically packed into such schools, such as financial resources,

quality of the faculty, and pro-academic culture, along with the family background and

pre-selected ability of the students themselves that determine their outcomes.

[E] A case in point is the study by Linda Sax at UCLA, who used data from a large national

survey of college freshmen to evaluate the effect of single-sex versus coeducational high schools.

Commissioned by the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools, the raw findings look pretty good for

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the funders —higher SAT scores and a stronger academic orientation among women who had

attended all girls’ high schools (men weren’t studied). However, once the researchers controlled

for both student and school attributes—measures such as family income, parents’ education, and

school resources—most of these effects were erased or diminished.

[F] When it comes to boys in particular, the data show that single-sex education is distinctly

unhelpful for them. Among the minority of studies that have reported advantages of single-sex

schooling, virtually all of them were studies of girls. There’re no rigorous studies in the United

States that find single-sex schooling is better for boys, and in fact, a separate line of research by

economists has shown both boys and girls exhibit greater cognitive growth over the school year

based on the “dose” of girls in a classroom. In fact, boys benefit even more than girls from having

larger numbers of female classmates. So single-sex schooling is really not the answer to the

current “boy crisis” in education.

Brain and Cognitive Development

[G] The second line of research often used to justify single-sex education falls squarely within my

area of expertise: brain and cognitive development. It’s been more than a decade now since the

“brain sex movement ” began infiltrating (渗入 ) our schools, and there are literally hundreds of

schools caught up in the fad (新潮). Public schools in Wisconsin, Indiana, Florida and many other

states now proudly declare on their websites that they separate boys and girls because “research

solidly indicates that boys and girls learn differently,” due to “hard-wired” differences in their

brains, eyes, ears, autonomic nervous systems, and more.

[H] All of these statements can be traced to just a few would-be neuroscientists, especially

physician Leonard Sax and therapist Michael Gurian. Each gives lectures, runs conferences, and

does a lot of professional development on so-called “gender-specific learning.” I analyzed their

various claims about sex differences in hearing, vision, language, math, stress responses, and

“learning styles” in my book and along peer-reviewed paper. Other neuroscientists and

psychologists have similarly exposed their work. In short, the mechanisms by which our brains

learn language, math, physics, and every other subject don’t differ between boys and girls. Of

course, learning does vary a lot between individual students, but research reliably shows that this

variance is far greater within populations of boys or girls than between the two sexes.

[I] The equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibits separation of students by sex in

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public education that’s based on precisely this kind of “overbroad generalizations about the

different talents, capacities, or preferences of males and females.” And the reason it is prohibited

is because it leads far too easily to stereotyping and sex discrimination.

Social Developmental Psychology

[J] That brings me to the third area of research which fails to support single-sex schooling and

indeed suggests the practice is actually harmful: social-developmental psychology.

[K] It’s a well-proven finding in social psychology that segregation promotes stereotyping and

prejudice, whereas intergroup contact reduces them—and the results are the same whether you

divide groups by race, age, gender, body mass index, sexual orientation, or any other category.

What’s more, children are especially vulnerable to this kind of bias, because they are dependent on

adults for learning which social categories are important and why we divide people into different

groups.

[L] You don’t have to look far to find evidence of stereotyping and sex discrimination in

single-sex schools. There was the failed single-sex experiment in California, where six school

districts used generous state grants to set up separate boys’ and girls’ academies in the late 1990s.

Once boys and girls were segregated, teachers resorted to traditional gender stereotypes to run

their classes, and within just three years, five of the six districts had gone back to coeducation.

[M] At the same time, researchers are increasingly discovering benefits of gender interaction in

youth. A large British study found that children with other-sex older siblings(兄弟姐妹) exhibit

less stereotypical play than children with same-sex older siblings, such as girls who like sports and

building toys and boys who like art and dramatic play. Another study of high school social

networks found less bullying and aggression the higher the density of mixed-sex friendships

within a given adolescent network. Then there is the finding we cited in our Science paper of

higher divorce and depression rates among a large group of British men who attended single-sex

schools as teenagers, which might be explained by the lack of opportunity to learn about

relationships during their formative years.

[N] Whether in nursery school, high school, or the business world, gender segregation narrows our

perceptions of each other, facilitating stereotyping and sexist attitudes. It’s very simple: the more

we structure children and adolescents’ environment around gender distinctions and separation, the

more they will use these categories as the primary basis for understanding themselves and others.

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[O] Gender is an important issue in education. There are gaps in reading, writing, and science

achievement that should be narrower. There are gaps in career choice that should be narrower—if

we really want to maximize human potential and American economic growth. But stereotyping

boys and girls and separating them in the name of fictitious( 虚 构 的 ) brain differences is never

going to close these gaps.

36. Hundreds of schools separate boys from girls in class on the alleged brain and cognitive

differences.

37. A review of extensive educational research shows no obvious academic advantage of

single-sex schooling.

38. The author did not have any fixed ideas on single-sex education when she began her research

on the subject

39. Research found men who attended single-sex schools in their teens were more likely to suffer

from depression.

40. Studies in social psychology have shown segregation in school education has a negative

impact on children.

41. Reviews of research indicate there are more differences in brain and cognitive development

within the same sex than between different sexes.

42. The findings of the national survey of college freshmen about the impact of single-sex

schooling fail to take into account student and school attributes.

43. It wasn’t long before most of the school districts that experimented with single-sex education

abandoned the practice.

44. Boys from coeducational classes demonstrate greater cognitive abilities according to the

economists’ research.

45. As careful research reviews show, academic excellence in some single-sex schools is attributed

to other factors than single-sex education.

Practice 10

The Price of Oil and the Price of Carbon

[A]Fossil fuel prices are likely to stay “low for long”. Notwithstanding important recent progress

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in developing renewable fuel sources, low fossil fuel prices could discourage further innovation in,

and adoption of, cleaner energy technologies. The result would be higher emissions of carbon

dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

[B]Policymakers should not allow low energy prices to derail the clean energy transition. Action

to restore appropriate price incentives, notably through corrective carbon pricing, is urgently

needed to lower the risk of irreversible and potentially devastating effects of climate change. That

approach also offers fiscal benefits.

[C]Oil prices have dropped by over 60% since June 2014. A commonly held view in the oil

industry is that “the best cure for low oil prices is low oil prices”. The reasoning behind this

saying is that low oil prices discourage investment in new production capacity, eventually shifting

the oil supply curve backward and bringing prices back up as existing oil fields---which can be

tapped at relatively low marginal cost----are depleted. In fact, in line with past experience, capital

expenditure in the oil sector has dropped sharply in many producing countries, including the

United States. The dynamic adjustment to low oil prices may, however, be different this time

around.

[D]Oil prices are expected to remain lower for longer. The advent of new technologies has added

about 4.2 million barrels per day to the crude oil market, contributing to a global over-supply. In

addition, other factors are putting downward pressure on oil prices: change in the strategic

behavior of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the projected increase in Iranian

exports, the scaling-down of global demand (especially from emerging markets), the long-term

drop in petroleum consumption in the United States, and some displacement of oil by substitutes.

These likely persistent forces, like the growth of shale(页岩) oil, point to a “low for long” scenario.

Futures markets, which show only a modest recovery of prices to around $60 a barrel by 2019,

support this view.

[E]Natural gas and coal—also fossil fuels—have similarly seen price declines that look to be

long-lived. Coal and natural gas are mainly used for electricity generation, whereas oil is used

mostly to power transportation, yet the prices of all these energy sources are linked. The North

American shale gas boom has resulted in record low prices there. The recent discovery of the giant

Zohr gas field off the Egyptian coast will eventually have impact on pricing in the Mediterranean

region and Europe, and there is significant development potential in many other places, notably

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Argentina. Coal prices also are low, owing to over- supply and the scaling-down of demand,

especially from China, which bums half of the world’s coal.

[F]Technological innovations have unleashed the power of renewables such as wind, hydro, solar,

and geothermal( 地 热 ). Even Africa and the Middle East, home to economies that are heavily

dependent on fossil fuel exports, have enormous potential to develop renewables. For example, the

United Arab Emirates has endorsed an ambitious target to draw 24% of its primary energy

consumption from renewable sources by 2021.

[G]Progress in the development of renewables could be fragile, however, if fossil fuel prices

remain low for long. Renewables account for only a small share of global primary energy

consumption, which is still dominated by fossil fuels—30% each for coal and oil, 25% for natural

gas. But renewable energy will have to displace fossil fuels to a much greater extent in the future

to avoid unacceptable climate risks.

[H]Unfortunately, the current low prices for oil, gas, and coal may provide little incentive for

research to find even cheaper substitutes for those fuels. There is strong evidence that both

innovation and adoption of cleaner technology are strongly encouraged by higher fossil fuel prices.

The same is true for new technologies for alleviating fossil fuel emissions.

[I]The current low fossil fuel price environment will thus certainly delay the energy transition

from fossil fuel to clean energy sources. Unless renewables become cheap enough that substantial

carbon deposits are left underground for a very long time, if not forever, the planet will likely be

exposed to potentially catastrophic climate risks.

[J]Some climate impacts may already be discernible. For example, the United Nations Children’s

Fund estimates that some 11 million children in Africa face hunger, disease, and water shortages

as a result of the strongest El Nino(厄尔尼诺) weather phenomenon in decades. Many scientists

believe that El Nino events, caused by warming in the Pacific, are becoming more intense as a

result of climate change.

[K]Nations from around the world have gathered in Paris for the United Nations Climate Change

Conference, COP 21, with the goal of a universal and potentially legally-binding agreement on

reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We need very broad participation to fully address the global

tragedy that results when countries fail to take into account the negative impact of their carbon

emissions on the rest of the world. Moreover, non-participation by nations, if sufficiently

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widespread, can undermine the political will of participating countries to act.

[L]The nations participating at COP 21 are focusing on quantitative emissions-reduction

commitments. Economic reasoning shows that the least expensive way for each country is to put a

price on carbon emissions. The reason is that when carbon is priced, those emissions reductions

that are least costly to implement will happen first. The International Monetary Fund calculates

that countries can generate substantial fiscal revenues by eliminating fossil fuel subsidies and

levying carbon charges that capture the domestic damage caused by emissions. A tax on upstream

carbon sources is one easy way to put a price on carbon emissions, although some countries may

wish to use other methods, such as emissions trading schemes. In order to maximize global

welfare, every country’s carbon pricing should reflect not only the purely domestic damage from

emissions, but also the damage to foreign countries.

[M]Setting the right carbon price will therefore efficiently align the costs paid by carbon users

with the true social opportunity cost of using carbon. By raising relative demand for clean energy

sources, a carbon price would also help align the market return to clean-energy innovation with its

social return, spurring the refinement of existing technologies and the development of new ones.

And it would raise the demand for technologies such as carbon capture and storage, spurring their

further development. If not corrected by the appropriate carbon price, low fossil fuel prices are not

accurately signaling to markets the true social profitability of clean energy. While alternative

estimates of the damage from carbon emissions differ, and it’s especially hard to reckon the likely

costs of possible catastrophic climate events, most estimates suggest substantial negative effects.

[N]Direct subsidies to research and development have been adopted by some governments but are

a poor substitute for a carbon price: they do only part of the job, leaving in place market incentives

to over-use fossil fuels and thereby add to the stock of atmospheric greenhouse gases without

regard to the collateral(附带的) costs.

[O]The hope is that the success of COP 21 opens the door to future international agreement on

carbon prices. Agreement on an international carbon-price floor would be a good starting point in

that process. Failure to address comprehensively the problem of greenhouse gas emissions,

however, exposes all generations, present and future, to incalculable risks.

36. A number of factors are driving down the global oil prices not just for now but in the

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foreseeable future.

37. Pricing carbon proves the most economical way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

38. It is estimated that extreme weather conditions have endangered the lives of millions of

African children.

39. The prices of coal are low as a result of over-supply and decreasing demand.

40. Higher fossil fuel prices prove to be conducive to innovation and application of cleaner

technology.

41. If fossil fuel prices remain low for a long time, it may lead to higher emissions of greenhouse

gases.

42. Fossil fuels remain the major source of primary energy consumption in today’s world.

43. Even major fossil exporting countries have great potential to develop renewable energies.

44. Greenhouse gas emissions, if not properly dealt with, will pose endless risks for mankind.

45. It is urgent for governments to increase the cost of using fossil fuels to an appropriate level to

lessen the catastrophic effects of climate change.

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Practice 11

Rich Children and Poor Ones Are Raised Very Differently

[A]The lives of children from rich and poor American families look more different than ever

before.

[B]Well-off families are ruled by calendars, with children enrolled in ballet, soccer and

after-school programs, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. There are usually two

parents, who spend a lot of time reading to children and worrying about their anxiety levels and

hectic schedules.

[C]In poor families, meanwhile, children tend to spend their time at home or with extended family.

They are more likely to grow up in neighborhoods that their parents say aren’t great for raising

children, and their parents worry about them getting shot, beaten up or in trouble with the law.

[D]The class differences in child rearing are growing — a symptom of widening inequality with

far-reaching consequences. Different upbringings set children on different paths and can deepen

socioeconomic divisions, especially because education is strongly linked to earnings. Children

grow up learning the skills to succeed in their socioeconomic stratum (阶层), but not necessarily

others.

[E]“Early childhood experiences can be very consequential for children’s long-term social,

emotional and cognitive development,” said Sean Reardon, professor of poverty and inequality in

education at Stanford University. “And because those influence educational success and later

earnings, early childhood experiences cast a lifelong shadow.” The cycle continues: Poorer parents

have less time and fewer resources to invest in their children, which can leave children less

prepared for school and work, which leads to lower earnings.

[F]American parents want similar things for their children, the Pew report and past research have

found: for them to be healthy and happy, honest and ethical, caring and compassionate. There is no

best parenting style or philosophy, researchers say, and across income groups, 92% of parents say

they are doing a good job at raising their children. Yet they are doing it quite differently.

Middle-class and higher- income parents see their children as projects in need of careful

cultivation, says Annette Lareau, whose groundbreaking research on the topic was published in

her book Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race and Family Life. They try to develop their skills

through close supervision and organized activities, and teach children to question authority figures

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and navigate elite institutions.

[G]Working-class parents, meanwhile, believe their children will naturally thrive, and give them

far greater independence and time for free play. They are taught to be compliant and respectful to

adults. There are benefits to both approaches. Working-class children are happier, more

independent, complain less and are closer with family members, Ms. Lareau found.

Higher-income children are more likely to declare boredom and expect their parents to solve their

problems. Yet later on, the more affluent children end up in college and on the way to the middle

class, while working-class children tend to struggle. Children from higher-income families are

likely to have the skills to navigate bureaucracies and succeed in schools and workplaces, Ms.

Lareau said.

[H]“Do all parents want the most success for their children? Absolutely,” she said. “Do some

strategies give children more advantages than others in institutions? Probably they do. Will parents

be damaging children if they have one fewer organized activity? No, I really doubt it.”

[I]Social scientists say the differences arise in part because low-income parents have less money

to spend on music class or preschool, and less flexible schedules to take children to museums or

attend school events. Extracurricular activities reflect the differences in child rearing in the Pew

survey, which was of a nationally representative sample of 1,807 parents. Of families earning

more than $75,000 a year, 84% say their children have participated in organized sports over the

past year, 64% have done volunteer work and 62% have taken lessons in music, dance or art. Of

families earning less than $30,000, 59% of children have done sports, 37% have volunteered and

41% have taken arts classes.

[J]Especially in affluent families, children start young. Nearly half of high-earning,

college-graduate parents enrolled their children in arts classes before they were 5, compared with

one-fifth of low-income, less- educated parents. Nonetheless, 20% of well-off parents say their

children’s schedules are too hectic, compared with 8% of poorer parents.

[K]Another example is reading aloud, which studies have shown gives children bigger

vocabularies and better reading comprehension in school. 71% of parents with a college degree

say they do it every day, compared with 33% of those with a high school diploma or less. White

parents are more likely than others to read to their children daily, as are married parents. Most

affluent parents enroll their children in preschool or day care, while low-income parents are more

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likely to depend on family members. Discipline techniques vary by education level: 8% of those

with a postgraduate degree say they often beat their children, compared with 22% of those with a

high school degree or less.

[L]The survey also probed attitudes and anxieties. Interestingly, parents’ attitudes toward

education do not seem to reflect their own educational background as much as a belief in the

importance of education for upward mobility. Most American parents say they are not concerned

about their children’s grades as long as they work hard. But 50% of poor parents say it is

extremely important to them that their children earn a college degree, compared with 39% of

wealthier parents.

[M]Less-educated parents, and poorer and black and Latino parents are more likely to believe that

there is no such thing as too much involvement in a child’s education. Parents who are white,

wealthy or college- educated say too much involvement can be bad. Parental anxieties reflect their

circumstances. High- earning parents are much more likely to say they live in a good

neighborhood for raising children. While bullying is parents’ greatest concern over all, nearly half

of low-income parents worry their child will get shot, compared with one-fifth of high-income

parents. They are more worried about their children being depressed or anxious.

[N]In the Pew survey, middle-class families earning between $30,000 and $75,000 a year fell right

between working-class and high-earning parents on issues like the quality of their neighborhood

for raising children, participation in extracurricular activities and involvement in their children’ s

education.

[O]Children were not always raised so differently. The achievement gap between children from

high- and low-income families is 30-40% larger among children born in 2001 than those born 25

years earlier, according to Mr. Reardon’ s research. People used to live near people of different

income levels; neighborhoods are now more segregated by income. More than a quarter of

children live in single-parent households — a historic high, according to Pew 一 and these

children are three times as likely to live in poverty as those who live with married parents.

Meanwhile, growing income inequality has coincided with the increasing importance of a college

degree for earning a middle-class wage.

[P]Yet there are recent signs that the gap could be starting to shrink. In the past decade, even as

income inequality has grown, some of the socioeconomic differences in parenting, like reading to

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children and going to libraries, have narrowed.

[Q]Public policies aimed at young children have helped, including public preschool programs and

reading initiatives. Addressing differences in the earliest years, it seems, could reduce inequality in

the next generation.

36. Working-class parents teach their children to be obedient and show respect to adults.

37. American parents, whether rich or poor, have similar expectations of their children despite

different ways of parenting.

38. While rich parents are more concerned with their children’s psychological well-being, poor

parents are more worried about their children’s safety.

39. The increasing differences in child rearing between rich and poor families reflect growing

social inequality.

40. Parenting approaches of working-class and affluent families both have advantages.

41. Higher-income families and working-class families now tend to live in different

neighborhoods.

42. Physical punishment is used much less by well-educated parents.

43. Ms. Lareau doesn’t believe participating in fewer after-class activities will negatively affect

children’s development.

44. Wealthy parents are concerned about their children’s mental health and busy schedules.

45. Some socioeconomic differences in child rearing have shrunk in the past ten years.

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Practice 12

Why the Mona Lisa Stands Out

[A] Have you ever fallen for a novel and been amazed not to find it on lists of great books? Or

walked around a sculpture renowned as a classic, struggling to see what the fuss is about? If so,

you've probably pondered the question a psychologist, James Cutting, asked himself: how does a

work of art come to be considered great?

[B] The intuitive answer is that some works of art are just great: of intrinsically superior quality.

The paintings that win prime spots in galleries, get taught in classes and reproduced in books are

the ones that have proved their artistic value over time. If you can't see they're superior, that's your

problem. It's an intimidatingly neat explanation. But some social scientists have been asking

awkward questions of it, raising the possibility that artistic canons（名作目录）are little more than

fossilised historical accidents.

[C] Cutting, a professor at Cornell University, wondered if a psychological mechanism known as

the "mere- exposure effect" played a role in deciding which paintings rise to the top of the cultural

league. Cutting designed an experiment to test his hunch （ 直 觉 ） . Over a lecture course he

regularly showed undergraduates works of impressionism for two seconds at a time. Some of the

paintings were canonical, included in art- history books. Others were lesser known but of

comparable quality. These were exposed four times as often. Afterwards, the students preferred

them to the canonical works, while a control group of students liked the canonical ones best.

Cutting's students had grown to like those paintings more simply because they had seen them

more.

[D] Cutting believes his experiment offers a clue as to how canons are formed. He points out that

the most reproduced works of impressionism today tend to have been bought by five or six

wealthy and influential collectors in the late 19th century. The preferences of these men bestowed

（给予）prestige on certain works, which made the works more likely to be hung in galleries and

printed in collections. The fame passed down the years, gaining momentum from mere exposure

as it did so. The more people were exposed to, the more they liked it, and the more they liked it,

the more it appeared in books, on posters and in big exhibitions. Meanwhile, academics and critics

created sophisticated justifications for its preeminence（卓越）. After all, it's not just the masses

who tend to rate what they see more often more highly. As contemporary artists like Warhol and

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Damien Hirst have grasped, critics' praise is deeply entwined（交织）with publicity. "Scholars",

Cutting argues, "are no different from the public in the effects of mere exposure."

[E] The process described by Cutting evokes a principle that the sociologist Duncan Watts calls

"cumulative advantage": once a thing becomes popular, it will tend to become more popular still.

A few years ago, Watts, who is employed by Microsoft to study the dynamics of social networks,

had a similar experience to Cutting's in another Paris museum. After queuing to see the "Mona

Lisa" in its climate-controlled bulletproof box at the Louvre, he came away puzzled: why was it

considered so superior to the three other Leonardos in the previous chamber, to which nobody

seemed to be paying the slightest attention?

[F] When Watts looked into the history of "the greatest painting of all time", he discovered that,

for most of its life, the "Mona Lisa" remained in relative obscurity. In the 1850s, Leonardo da

Vinci was considered no match for giants of Renaissance art like Titian and Raphael, whose works

were worth almost ten times as much as the "Mona Lisa". It was only in the 20th century that

Leonardo's portrait of his patron's wife rocketed to the number-one spot. What propelled it there

wasn't a scholarly re-evaluation, but a theft.

[G] In 1911 a maintenance worker at the Louvre walked out of the museum with the "Mona Lisa"

hidden under his smock（工作服）. Parisians were shocked at the theft of a painting to which, until

then, they had paid little attention. When the museum reopened, people queued to see the gap

where the "Mona Lisa" had once hung in a way they had never done for the painting itself. From

then on, the "Mona Lisa" came to represent Western culture itself.

[H] Although many have tried, it does seem improbable that the painting's unique status can be

attributed entirely to the quality of its brushstrokes. It has been said that the subject's eyes follow

the viewer around the room. But as the painting's biographer, Donald Sassoon, dryly notes, "In

reality the effect can be obtained from any portrait." Duncan Watts proposes that the "Mona Lisa"

is merely an extreme example of a general rule. Paintings, poems and pop songs are buoyed（使浮

起）or sunk by random events or preferences that turn into waves of influence, passing down the

generations.

[I] "Saying that cultural objects have value," Brian Eno once wrote, "is like saying that telephones

have conversations." Nearly all the cultural objects we consume arrive wrapped in inherited

opinion; our preferences are always, to some extent, someone else's. Visitors to the "Mona Lisa"

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know they are about to visit the greatest work of art ever and come away appropriately

impressed—or let down. An audience at a performance of "Hamlet" know it is regarded as a work

of genius, so that is what they mostly see. Watts even calls the preeminence of Shakespeare a

"historical accident".

[J] Although the rigid high-low distinction fell apart in the 1960s, we still use culture as a badge

of identity. Today's fashion for eclecticism （折 衷主 义）—"I love Bach, Abba and Jay Z"—is,

Shamus Khan, a Columbia University psychologist, argues, a new way for the middle class to

distinguish themselves from what they perceive to be the narrow tastes of those beneath them in

the social hierarchy.

[K] The intrinsic quality of a work of art is starting to seem like its least important attribute. But

perhaps it's more significant than our social scientists allow. First of all, a work needs a certain

quality to be eligible to be swept to the top of the pile. The "Mona Lisa" may not be a worthy

world champion, but it was in the Louvre in the first place, and not by accident. Secondly, some

stuff is simply better than other stuff. Read "Hamlet" after reading even the greatest of

Shakespeare's contemporaries, and the difference may strike you as unarguable.

[L] A study in the British Journal of Aesthetics suggests that the exposure effect doesn't work the

same way on everything, and points to a different conclusion about how canons are formed. The

social scientists are right to say that we should be a little skeptical of greatness, and that we should

always look in the next room. Great art and mediocrity（平庸）can get confused, even by experts.

But that's why we need to see, and read, as much as we can. The more we're exposed to the good

and the bad, the better we are at telling the difference. The eclecticists have it.

36. According to Duncan Watts, the superiority of the "Mona Lisa" to Leonardo's other works

resulted from the cumulative advantage.

37. Some social scientists have raised doubts about the intrinsic value of certain works of art.

38. It is often random events or preferences that determine the fate of a piece of art.

39. In his experiment. Cutting found that his subjects liked lesser known works better than

canonical works because of more exposure.

40. The author thinks the greatness of an art work still lies in its intrinsic value.

41. It is true of critics as well as ordinary people that the popularity of artistic works is closely

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associated with publicity.

42. We need to expose ourselves to more art and literature in order to tell the superior from the

inferior.

43. A study of the history of the greatest paintings suggests even a great work of art could

experience years of neglect.

44. Culture is still used as a mark to distinguish one social class from another.

45. Opinions about and preferences for cultural objects are often inheritable.

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