Cambridge graduates are the most employable in the world，according to a global league table．The ancient university is the best at producing graduates who are‘ready to work’，a poll of major employers found．
Oxford slipped to fourth place in the rankings having taken top spot last year．Harvard and Yale—part of the US‘Ivy League’of universities—were second and third respectively．
Five British universities were ranked in the top 20—one more than last year—and 12 were in the full list of 150．
But the UK as a country came third—behind the US and Germany—when companies were asked to name the best nation for producing work—ready graduates．
The table—the Global Employability(就业能力)University Ranking published by the International New York Times—also showed that universities in Asian countries were rapidly gaining ground on their western counterparts (对手)．
Asian universities claimed 20 percent of the top 150 places in 2014 compared with only 10 percent when the tables were first published in 2010．
The other British universities in the top 20 were University College London，in 14th place，Imperial College London，in 15th，and Edinburgh，18th．
The table showed the gap between a small number of top UK universities and less famous institutions．
Laurent Dupasquier，managing partner at Emerging，a French human resources consultancy，said：“The top tier players．global brands (which tend to be all American and British)．continue to lead，while other Anglo—Saxon universities，those that are mainly regional players，tend to develop less well，with an average of five places lost in comparison with last year．”
“Like the Premier League(英超联赛)，the champions have an international community of students and think internationally，unlike their more locally oriented counterparts．”
The table was made following a survey of 2,500 major companies in 20 countries．Employers were asked to rank universities against a range of criteria including their production of graduates who are ready to work and their links with business．
The study claimed that‘the days of ivory towers are over’．Which university had the best work-ready graduates last year?
| A．Cambridge． | B．Oxford． |
| C．Harvard． | D．Yale． |
The underlined phrase“gaining ground”in Paragraph 5 probably refers to ____________．
| A．falling behind |
| B．coming into conflict |
| C．making room |
| D．becoming more successful |
What can we learn about the UK universities from the text?
| A．There are many quality gaps between UK universities． |
| B．The UK produced the most work-ready graduates this year． |
| C．Universities in the UK make up most of the top 20． |
| D．Almost all UK university graduates are employable． |
Why do regional UK universities tend to develop less well this year?
| A．They couldn’t raise enough education fund． |
| B．They have students from all over the world． |
| C．They lack international students and think locally． |
| D．The UK government didn’t support them at a11． |
It’s just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no address. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years.
It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas. He didn’t hate the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it; overspending, running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and powder for Grandma…
Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, at 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended and before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church, mostly black.
As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear to protect a wrestler’s ears. They obviously could not afford.
Mike shook his head sadly, “I wish just one of them could have won,” he said. “They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them.”
Mike loved kids—all kids—and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That’s when the idea for his present came.
That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church.
On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition.
The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.
The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope. Mike’s spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
| A．Precious Present | B．Christmas Gift |
| C．The Small White Envelope | D．The Good Old Tradition |
Why did Mike hate Christmas according to the passage?
| A．He didn’t like the true meaning of Christmas |
| B．He didn’t like people spending too much money on presents |
| C．He hated buying presents for Uncle Harry and Grandma |
| D．He didn’t want to receive gifts like shirts, sweaters or ties. |
Which is the closest meaning to the underlined phrase “take the heart right out of them”?
| A．make them excited |
| B．make them inspired |
| C．make them lose confidence |
| D．make them kill themselves |
Why was his smile the brightest thing about Christmas that year? ( paragraph 9)
| A．He received some sporting goods |
| B．He found a potential wrestling team |
| C．His son won the wrestling match |
| D．His wife sent presents to those poor kids |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．The tradition of sending presents will pass from generation to generation. |
| B．The children were eager to get their new toys ignoring the envelope. |
| C．With the presents, the poor kids will surely win the match one day. |
| D．Mike’s spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us. |
Across countryside, non-food crops are growing alongside wheat．Some are used in new alternatives to plastics and other materials, but others will simply be burned．
Burning crops is becoming more popular because it is good for the planet．Doing so is also cheaper than burning fossil fuels．As more land is devoted to non-food crop production, the economics of crops for fuel are likely to become even more favorable．
Humans have been burning such biomass—organic materials from plants or animals— since they discovered fire．But that burning fossil fuels could have catastrophic consequences has brought biomass back into fashion．
Even allowing for emissions (排放) of carbon dioxide from fuel used in planting, harvesting, processing and transporting biomass fuel, replacing fossil fuel with biomass can typically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 90 percent．
Power stations around the world are experimenting with forms of biomass to add to their coal or oil, with encouraging results．Indeed, power companies could profit by turning to biomass, especially when the subsidies (补助) many governments offer for using renewable energy are taken into account．
Farmers can benefit from growing biomass．In Europe, the reduction of subsidies for certain crops is exposing farmers to market forces．Instead of being paid for whatever they produce, farmers must seek a clear demand for their product．Many believe that the demand for alternatives to fossil fuels could be just such a driver．
But while biomass offers a variety of potential alternatives, the world's infrastructure (基础设施） has developed around burning fossil fuels to such a stage that switching to biomass involves a change in conception that many companies have not accepted．
Also, there are problems with using biomass．Although most coal-fired power stations could take a small amount of their fuel from biomass without significant adjustment, few are built to run on biomass alone．Burning some forms of biomass also causes environmental problems．Oils and waste can be smelly, while wood produces smoke unless burned properly．
The supply chains for fossil fuels are set up well, but those for biomass are just the beginning. Sources of supply for biomass rely on farm production and can therefore be less reliable. They are necessarily limited and it wouldn't make sense to turn a very large amount of valuable agricultural land away from food crops．But as the world adjusts to the need to control greenhouse gas emissions, these problems may receive more attention．What do we know about biomass?
| A．It is a useful way of burning crops． |
| B．It is plant and animal matter used to provide power． |
| C．It is a new alternative to be used widely． |
| D．It is a popular approach to fighting against pollution． |
What are the advantages of using biomass?
a．It gives off less greenhouse gases．
b．It helps farmers receive subsidies for what they produce．
c．It has met the clear demand for energy．
d．It has brought subsidies for some power companies．
e．It is cheaper than burning fossil fuels．
| A．a, b, c | B．b, c, d | C．c, d, e | D．a, d, e |
For coal-fired power stations, ______．
| A．more effective ways to use biomass have been tried |
| B．using renewable energy has become their daily task |
| C．burning biomass alone would require considerable changes |
| D．setting up dependable supply channels needs governments' support |
What is the author's attitude towards biomass fuels?
| A．Defensive． | B．Doubtful． | C．Negative． | D．Objective |
What if it isn’t a dog-eat-dog world? What if caring for a dog or for a mom with Alzheimer’s (老年痴呆症) makes you stronger and allows you to live longer?
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley are challenging our long-held belief that humans are born to be selfish.
Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection was misunderstood by his male followers, the researchers say. Rather than “every man for himself”, Darwin believed that humans are successful as a species precisely because of our educational, selfless and sympathetic characteristics.
Why has it taken so long for Darwin’s central revelation(揭示) to be properly understood? “We’ve had too many men in social science,” Berkeley psychology professor Dacher Keltner told me in an interview. “Female scientists acknowledge that caring for people is part of human nature according to the research, which shows the human ability to care exists in our brains and nerve systems.”
In my book Passages in Caregiving , I urge women who take the whole responsibility for taking care of an elderly parent or a sick relative to build a “Circle of Care”. Reach out to your brothers and sisters, friends, neighbors and community volunteers to help you care, because no one can perform this overwhelming role alone. You will be as shocked as I to learn how the most selfless caregivers are rewarded with longer life.
Sympathy is not a woman’s word. In fact it makes all of us stronger under stress and more highly respected by our peers. For so long we have repeated the false saying “Nice guys finish last”. But the 40 richest Americans committed to doing good by donating half their fortunes are no spring chickens. So here is my new explanation：Nice guys die last.The first paragraph serves to .
| A．give the background of the topic |
| B．blame the world for selfishness |
| C．urge people to care for a dog |
| D．bring out the topic of the passage |
In Passages in Caregiving, women are advised to .
| A．share the responsibility of caring with others |
| B．take good care of themselves |
| C．learn how to live a longer life |
| D．help as many people as possible |
The underlined words “no spring chickens” in the last paragraph refer to .
| A．rich people | B．poor people | C．young people | D．aged people |
Why does the author mention the 40 richest Americans’ commitment in this passage?
| A．To argue against offering sympathy. |
| B．To use it as an example to support his opinion. |
| C．To show their generosity to society. |
| D．To call on people to learn from them. |
Which of the following might be the BEST title of the passage?
| A．Selflessness could be the secret to longer life |
| B．Darwin’s theory of evolution is out of date now |
| C．Measures must be taken to improve the world |
| D．Males and females have different opinions about selflessness |
Back those photos up
The images were striking．Homes on the East Coast were washed away by Superstorm Sandy. People were in tears, picking up faded photographs, among their only remaining possessions．
If that doesn't move you to get serious about safekeeping your lifetime of memories, what will? The digital age offers tools never imaginable before—including one-click access to a lifetime of family photos．
Here is a brochure (手册) on how to back up (存) your photos and save them online, where they can live forever and be accessible in good times and bad．
Scanning
The first step for those old photos is to scan them and save them to a digital format (格式)．Most，printers come with scanners these days, so that's an easy but extremely time-consuming step．
Storing the photos
With your scans in place, import the photos into your computer, and back them up．
You could make multiple copies of the disks and spread them to loved ones．Or you could choose external (外接的) hard drives or USB thumb drive, and add your photo and video collection from your computer．
Online backup
If you need lots of space, look at a pure online backup service, Caronite．
Caronite backs up 300 million files daily．Once you sign up, it starts to pick up everything you have on your hard drive．But photo collection on your computer's main hard drive charges for $ 59 a year．
Cloud Storage
For folks who don't need automatic backup, but instead want to take a more active approach, Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft's SkyDrive let you store files online by yourself, share and instantly access them．All offer free options—2GB of free storage for Dropbox, 5GB for Google and 7GB for SkyDrive．But if you want more, you need to pay．
Bottom Line
The hard drive or flash drive is the cheapest and easiest．But drives can fail．Online services are more expensive, but more secure．With more of us switching back and forth between our computers, such services are the best way to get access to our data from wherever we are．What can we know from the passage?
| A．Scanning photos takes little time but costs a lot． |
| B．The hard drive or flash drive is the cheapest and safest． |
| C．Google Drive offers unlimited free photo storage on line． |
| D．Caronite charges for backing up photos from hard drive． |
Which of the following allows storing files automatically?
| A．Caronite． | B．Dropbox． | C．SkyDrive． | D．Flash drive. |
The main purpose of the passage is to ______．
| A．tell real stories about storage services |
| B．introduce some of the storage services |
| C．describe the functions of storage services |
| D．argue about the advantage of storage services |
The hit movie Notting Hill begins with a famous scene. Hugh Grant bumps (撞) into Julia Roberts and spills (洒) orange juice all over her. After the collision, Grant repeatedly says: “ I am so sorry. I am so sorry.”
His actions in this scene are very British. If Roberts’ character were from Britain then she would probably apologize repeatedly as well—even if the crash were not her fault. But this doesn’t happen in the film, as Roberts is from the US.
A report in The Telegraph last week said that three-quarters of British people apologize when they bump into someone in the street — regardless of whether they are responsible or not. In fact, we Britons use “sorry” in many situations. For example, if we mishear someone, we say “Sorry?” The person we are talking to will also apologize by replying: “No, I am sorry!” This can go on for up to five minutes as we compete over who is the most sorry.
Life is never as simple as “duibuqi” and “meiguanxi”.
How we use “sorry” has changed. Traditionally, “sorry” was used to express deep regret, but a survey in 2007 showed that we use it to mean anything from “what” to “whatever”.
Why are Britons so sorry? Mark Tyrell, a psychology writer in the UK, thinks about our apologetic tendencies are rooted in the British class system. We say sorry because historically the new middle classes in Britain had to apologize for not being working class, but also for not really being upper class. Another theory is that we apologize to avoid confrontation(冲突). For example, if you bump into someone they might get angry. To avoid this we instantly say “Sorry!”.
True manners are about being considerate and the modern day obsession with apologizing show that we are perhaps not as thoughtful as we once were. The word has lost some of its meaning. Do you see my point? Sorry, it might just be a British thing…What can we infer from paragraph 2?
| A．In fact Roberts are responsible for the collision. |
| B．People from the US say “sorry” more than British people. |
| C．There is no crash happening in the film. |
| D．British people say sorry even if it is not their fault. |
Which of the following might Mark Tyrell agree to?
| A．British people are sincere while saying sorry. |
| B．Now more British people say sorry because of the British class system. |
| C．British people say sorry to avoid quarrels. |
| D．British people apologize for not working hard. |
What does the author want to tell us with the passage?
| A．British people overuse “sorry” in daily life. |
| B．British people now say “sorry” in different situations. |
| C．Middle classes in British are to blame for not being working class. |
| D．Britons say “sorry” to avoid confrontation. |
What does the underlined word “collision” in the first paragraph mean?
| A．quarrel | B．disagreement | C．crash | D．fight |
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