In all our lives we must make choices. You make choices from the time you get out of bed in the morning until you go to sleep at night. What time to get up? What to wear? What to eat? You also make more significant choices when you graduate from high school. 1. College? Technical training?
No matter the size of the decision, the common thread in all of them is that they involve an opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is your next best alternative—your second choice. For example, it’s a Saturday night, and you are trying to decide among going to the movies, hanging out at a friend s house or going to the football game. 2. What is your second choice? If it is the football game, then that is your opportunity cost.
Opportunity cost is important. When you make a certain choice, it forces you to think more critically about ail of the abandoned choices. By recognizing opportunity cost, you can decide whether your decision is worth it.
3. As a high school senior, you face several options, including going to college, going to technical school, or going to the work force. If you choose college, the opportunity cost is losing what could have been purchased or saved with the money spent on tuition（学费）, housing, books, etc. for four years. 4. You would also lose four years’ worth of income and experience that you could have earned if you had gone straight to work.
However, it is still the case that college graduates earn more than high school graduates. And the unemployment rate among college graduates is less than that of high school graduates. 5. But, like
all decisions, it is one that should be arrived at only after looking at the costs—including the opportunity cost一and considering the follow-up question: is it worth it?
A. Will you go straight to work?
B. What causes opportunity cost?
C. But that’s not the end of the costs.
D. Suppose you decide to go to the movies.
E. If you give up college, what do you lose?
F. A perfect example is the decision to go to college.
G. For many students, going on to college is a wise decision.
When American soldiers return home from war with disabilities, they often suffer twice—first from their combat injuries, next from the humiliation（羞辱）of government dependency.
Wounded veterans（老兵）learn they have two basic choices: They can receive almost $ 3 ,000 a month in disability benefits along with medical care and access to other various welfare programs, or they can try to find a job. Especially in this economy, it’s no wonder that many find that first option hard to turn down.
Mark Duggan, an economics professor at Stanford University, reports that enrollment in the U. S. veterans’ disability programs rose from 2.3 million in 2001 to 3.9 million in 2014. The percentage of veterans receiving benefits doubled, from 8.9% in 2001 to 18% in 2014. Disability services for veterans now consume $59 billion.
In the 1980s and 1990s, male veterans were more likely to be in the labor force than nonveterans. But since 2000, that has changed dramatically. Now there is a 4% gap between veteran and non-veteran labor participation, with veteran participation lower.
Navy SEAL Eric Greitens, the founder of The Mission Continues, explains how soldiers who served their country are transformed into welfare receivers who live off their country.
“When veterans come home from war they are going through a tremendous change in identity, ” he says. “Then the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and others, encourage them to view themselves as disabled.” By the time they come to Greitens’ non-profit organization, “We meet a number of veterans who see themselves as charity cases and are not sure anymore what they have to contribute.”
There are also more practical factors driving the disability boom. One is the expansion of qualification criteria. In 2000, for instance, type 2 diabetes was added as a disability because of evidence linking exposure to Agent Orange with the onset of the disease. Heart disease has also been added to the list.
Another possible factor is that younger veterans seem less against welfare than their parents’ generation. Veterans who have served since the 1990s are much more likely to sign up for disability than their older counterparts; 1 in 4 younger veterans is on disability, versus just 1 in 7 of those over age 54.
We shouldn’t go back to the bad old days when veterans were afraid to admit weakness. But Lt. Col. Daniel Gade is one of many veterans who think our disability system is harmful, psychologically, to former soldiers. Gade lost his leg in combat in 2005 and now teaches at West Point. He recently gave a talk to disabled veterans at Ft. Carson, in which he urged them to rejoin the workforce.
“People who stay home because they are getting paid enough to get by on disability are worse off,” he warned. “They are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol. They are more likely to live alone.”
What a waste of human potential, especially since most veterans on disability still have their prime working years ahead of them when they’re discharged（遣退）.
We could solve this problem by changing the way we view-and label-veterans with disabilities. As Gade noted in a recent article, “Veterans should be viewed as resources, not as damaged goods.” He recommended that “efforts to help veterans should begin by recognizing their abilities rather than focusing only on then disabilities, and should serve the ultimate aim of moving wounded soldiers to real self-sufficiency.”
On a more practical note, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs could reallocate（再分配）resources to spend more on job training and less on disability. Current placement programs are sadly inadequate.
We are good at sending soldiers off to war. Yet when these young men and women return home, they are essentially told, “We’ll give you enough for a reasonably comfortable life, but we won’t help you find a job.”
It is unreasonable that we are condemning thousands of young veterans who served their country to life on the dole（失业救济金）rather than enabling them to re-enter the workforce with the necessary accommodations.
1.What do more and more wounded veterans appear to do nowadays?
A. Depend on the government for a living.
B. Be treated badly in most workplaces.
C. Ask the government for more dole.
D. Spend more time on job hunting.
2.How does Mark Duggan prove his opinion in the passage?
A. By listing figures. B. By giving examples.
C. By performing experiments. D. By analyzing cause and effect.
3.What did veterans use to do in the 1980s and 1990s?
A. Refuse to find jobs. B. Be a main labor resource.
C. Have much trouble finding jobs. D. Receive many disability benefits.
4.One of the reasons why there are more disabled veterans is that .
A. damage from the war is greater than ever
B. veterans have suffered much more than ever
C. the scale of disabilities has been broadened
D. older veterans aren’t afraid to admit their disability
5.In Cade’s opinion, the veterans who receive welfare from the government tend to _______.
A. save more trouble for the government
B. lead a miserable and unhappy life
C. increasingly depend on the government
D. suffer the humiliation of their combat injuries
In his book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, the Canadian author Malcolm Gladwell explains how a trend can take many forms. It can be a general change in social behaviour, an idea or a fashion. However, why do some trends catch on and others not? What makes one particular brand of training shoes suddenly become the must-have product? How do people find out about trends and what makes people want to buy into them? Is it simply a question of keeping up with other people?
In his new work, Gladwell explore the moment when something becomes common and how products, ideas, messages and forms of behaviour spread. He looks at the reasons why trends are similar in the way they develop to outbreaks of disease, or medical epidemics （流行病）.
Epidemics, like trends, start in a very small way, maybe from a single person with a virus’ then spread very quickly until they take over the population and appear to be everywhere. Eventually, they will slow down gradually or die out suddenly. Gladwell shows how these changes happen not gradually but at one sudden moment.
Gladwell identifies three types of people who are influential in the development of these kinds of social epidemics:
Connectors are people in a community who have wide social circles. They know a lot of people and like to introduce people to each other. The people they know often come from a variety of social, cultural, professional and economic circles.
Mavens are people with a lot of knowledge or experts in a particular field. They wish to pass on their knowledge to others. Mavens collect and gather information so are the first to pick up on new trends.
Salesmen are people with charisma（魅力）. They have a “soft” influence over people rather than actual power. This means they are influential because people want to imitate them.
Overall, Gladwell’s book is a thought-provoking（引人深思的）read for anyone interested in the origins of trends. What’s more, he writes in a clear style so even the most difficult ideas are easy to understand.
1.What do we know about Gladwell?
A. He is a productive North American writer.
B. He has written many books on the subject of trends.
C. He thinks trends develop in the same way as illnesses.
D. He believes there are three types of people in the world.
2.According to the text, connectors .
A. are very social persons
B. often follow others
C. know many people from the same circle
D. are knowledgeable and experienced
3.What do we learn from the text?
A. Salesmen try to control other people using their power.
B. Mavens quickly become aware of changes in fashions.
C. Connectors and Mavens try to get their information across.
D. Gladwell’s book is interesting but hard to understand for readers.
Americans are more stressed than ever, according to an American Psychological Association survey, and nearly one-third of the people say stress impacts their physical or mental health. If you have any of these symptoms, your stress might be making you sick. Here’s how to battle against them.
If you’ve never suffered from headaches but suddenly your head is constantly striking, you might be too stressed. Stress releases chemicals that can cause changes to nerves and blood vessels（血管）in the brain, which brings on a headache. Stress can cause them or make them worse. It’s also common for your muscles to tense up when you’re stressed, which can also cause a headache. WHAT TO DO:
If you don’t want to take medicine, try spreading lavender（薰衣草）oil on your temples（太阳穴）when a headache starts. |
Stress can make you mentally sick, too. Too much of the stress hormone cortisol（皮质醇）can make it harder to concentrate, causing memory problems as well as anxiety or depression says Dr. Levine. WHAT TO DO:
Relax until you regain your concentration. Practice closing your eyes and breathing in and out slowly, concentrating only on your breath. |
Losing a few strands of hair is normal—old hair follicles（囊）are replaced by new ones over time—but stress can disturb that cycle. Significant stress pushes a large number of hair follicles into what’s called a resting stage and then a few months later those hairs fall out, according to MayoClinic. org. Stress can also cause the body’s resistant system to attack your hair follicles, resulting in hair loss. WHAT TO DO:
Be patient. Once your stress level returns to normal, your hair should start growing back. |
1.If you’re stressed, you might have one of the following symptoms EXCEPT that .
A. you keep getting headaches B. you always have a cold
C. your hair is falling out D. your brain feels confused
2.Which of the following is suggested if your brain goes out of focus?
A. Breathing slowly with your eyes closed.
B. Waiting until your brain returns to normal.
C. Spreading lavender oil on your temples.
D. Relaxing and attacking your brain softly.
3.What will happen once we get over our stress according to the passage?
A. Our hair starts falling out and then grows back.
B. Our body’s resistant system attacks your hair follicles.
C. Our hair starts growing again.
D. A serious headache starts.
Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could to help her 3-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new baby. Day after day, night after night, Michael sang to his mommy’s tummy（肚子）.
Finally, Michael’s little sister was born. But she was in a very serious condition. With sirens（警报器）howling in the night, the ambulance rushed the baby to St. Mary’s Hospital. The days inched by. The little girl became worse. The pediatric（儿科的）specialists told the parents to prepare for the worst.
Michael kept begging for singing to his sister, but kids are not allowed in the pediatric department at St. Mary’s Hospital. Karen made up her mind to take Michael to see his sister. She dressed him in an oversized suit and marched him into the hospital. He looked like a walking laundry basket, but the head nurse recognized him as a child and shouted, “Get that kid out of here now!” Karen rose up strong, and the usually mild-mannered lady glared steel-eyed into the head nurse’s face. “ He is not leaving until he sings to his sister!”
Karen towed Michael to his sister’s bedside. He gazed at the tiny baby losing the battle to live. And he began to sing. In the pure-hearted voice of a 3-year-old, Michael sang, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey.” Instantly the baby girl responded. Her pulse rate became calm and steady. Her strained breathing became smoother.
“Keep on singing, Michael,” encouraged Karen with tears in her eyes. “The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms.” Michael’s little sister relaxed as healing rest seemed to sweep over her. “Keep on singing, Michael.” Tears conquered the face of the nurse. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. Please don’t take my sunshine away...”
The next day—the very next day—the little girl was well enough to go home!
1.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A. It’s Hard to Raise a Baby B. Mothers Love
C. The Miracle of a Brother’s Song D. An Unforgettable Day
2.From Karen’s action in the first paragraph we know that .
A. mothers often pay much attention to their newly-born babies
B. it often takes some time for a child to accept his/her newly-born brother or sister
C. it is good for children to learn to sing songs to babies
D. mothers often tell their children how to look after their younger brothers or sisters
3.The underlined word “strained” means “ “.
A. unnatural B. exciting
C. deep D. normal
4.Which words can describe Michael?
A. Naughty and annoying. B. Strong and brave.
C. Active and careless. D. Concerned and determined.
假如你是李华，正在英国留学。为了让你的英国同学更好地了解中国文化，你希望可以成立一个中国文学社团(Chinese literature club). 请你参照以下要点提示，用英语给你校学生会负责人Mr. Green写一封信，申请成立该社团。要点提示:
(1)点明写信目的;
(2)介绍该社团(成立目的，活动内容等);
(3)希望能得到批准。
注意:1. 词数100左右:
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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