A new age is coming.Call it what you will: the service economy, the information age, the knowledge society.It all translates to a fundamental change in the way we work.Already we're partly there, the percentage of people who earn their living by making things has fallen dramatically in the Western World.Today the majority of jobs in America, Europe and Japan are in the service industry, and the number is on the rise.More women are in the work force than ever before.There are more part-time jobs.More people are self-employed.But the range of the economic transformation can't be measured by numbers alone, because it also is giving rise to important new way of thinking about the nature of work itself.Long-held ideas about jobs and careers, the skills needed to succeed, even the relation between individuals and employers - all these are being challenged. We have only to look behind us to get some sense of what may lie ahead.No one looking ahead 20 years possibly could have foreseen the ways in which a single invention, the chip , would transform our world thanks to its applications in personal computers, digital communications and factory robots.Tomorrow's achievements in biotechnology, artificial intelligence or even some still unimagined technology could produce a similar wave of dramatic changes.But one thing is certain: information and knowledge will become even more valid, and the people who possess it, whether they work in manufacturing or services, will have the advantage and produce the wealth.Computer knowledge will become as basic a requirement as the ability to read and write.The ability to solve problems by applying information instead of performing routine tasks will be valued above all else.If you cast your mind ahead 10 years, information service will be superior.It will be the way you do your job. Which of the following is true according to the passage? A) People's traditional concepts about jobs need changing. B) The relation between employees and employers is becoming tense. C) More women than men are in the work force. D) Part-time jobs are more welcome than full-time jobs.
A
(Question)
It was evening rush hour on Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach, CA. Drivers lined up from traffic signal to traffic signal and were anxious to get home. On a side street merging into this highway was a timid driver who was afraid to edge in and no one let her in. Some of the drivers backed up behind her and loudly blasted their horns. This made her more upset and nervous. On the right of this side street, the signal on Pacific Coast Highway turned red and traffic stopped. A driver who saw what was happening to this woman stopped a few car lengths behind her car and motioned to her to pull in front of his car. She quickly did and as he waited, two more cars dashed in behind her car. While the woman he'd helped waited for the signal to turn green, she sank into her driver's seat and was deeply relieved. Although this thoughtful man couldn't see it, her body language expressed her gratitude. If you've been in a traffic situation like the one she was in, you know how upsetting it can be. But this little act of kindness allowed her to safely reach her home. She told others about this, which encouraged them to do something nice for someone else. This kindness spreads. Someone does something nice for you and in turn you're likely to do something nice for that person or for someone else. A simple act of kindness could have a widespread effect. It's like a stone that drops in a pond and causes ripples in each direction. No one knows how far those ripples will travel but they will affect everything they touch along the way. How does the writer feel about the behavior of the man who helped the lady? A) Worried. B) proud C) Upset. D) Moved.
(Answer)
D
Ques: In 1939 two brothers, Mac and Dick McDonald, started a drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California. They carefully chose a busy corner for their location. They had run their own businesses for years, first a theater, then a barbecue restaurant, then another drive-in. But in their new operation, they offered a new, shortened menu: French fries, hamburgers, and sodas. To this small selection they added one new idea: quick service,no waiters or waitresses, and no tips. Their hamburgers were sold for fifteen cents. Cheese was another four cents. Their French fries and hamburgers had a remarkable uniformity , for the brothers had developed a strict routine for the preparation of their food, and they insisted on their cooks' sticking to their routine. Their new drive-in became surprisingly popular, particularly for lunch. People drove up by the hundred during the busy noontime. The self-service restaurant was so popular that the brothers had allowed ten copies of their restaurant to be opened. They were content with this modest success until they met Ray Kroc. Kroc was a salesman who met the McDonald brothers in 1954 when he was selling milkshake-mixing machines. He quickly saw the special attraction of the brothers' fast-food restaurants and bought the right to franchise other copies of their restaurants. The agreement included the right to duplicate the menu, the equipment, even their red and white buildings the golden arches . Today McDonald's is really a household name. In 1976, McDonald's had over$1 billion in total sales. Its first twenty-two years is one of the most surprising successes in modern American business history. Which of the following statement is NOT true? A) Today McDonald's is very popular in the world. B) The first twenty-two years of McDonald's is the most surprising success in American business history. C) Mac and Dick McDonald were content with their business at first. D) It is convenient to eat in a drive-in.
Ans: B
Ques: Recently, an almost literal case of lifeboat ethics occurred. On Aug. 4, Graham and Sheryl Anley, while boating off the coast of South Africa, hit a rock. As the boat threatened to sink the husband got off, but his wife was trapped in the boat. Instead of freeing his wife and getting her to shore, Graham grabbed Rosie, their pet dog. With Rosie safe and sound, Graham returned for Sheryl. All are doing fine. It's a great story, but it doesn't strike me as especially newsworthy. News is supposed to be about something fairly unique, and recent research suggests that, in the right circumstances, lots of people also would have grabbed their Rosie first. We have strange relationships with our pets. We lavish our pets with adoration and better health care than billions of people receive. We speak to pets with the same high-pitched voices that we use for babies. As an extreme example of our feelings about pets, the Nazis had strict laws that guaranteed the humane treatment of the pets of Jews being shipped to death camps. A recent paper by George Regents University demonstrates this human involvement with pets to an astonishing extent. Participants in the study were told a situation in which a bus is out of control, bearing down on a dog and a human. Which do you save? With responses from more than 500 people, the answer was that it depended: What kind of human and what kind of dog? Everyone would save a brother, grandparent or close friend rather than a strange dog. But when people considered their own dog versus people less connected with them--a distant cousin or a hometown stranger--votes in favor of saving the dog came rolling in. And an astonishing 40% of respondents, including 46% of women, voted to save their dog over a foreign tourist. What does a finding like this mean? First, that your odds aren't so good if you find yourself in another country with a bus bearing down on you and a cute dog. But it also points to something deeper: our unprecedented attitude toward animals, which got its start with the... What does the author mainly argue for? A) Pets are of great significance to us human beings. B) We should rethink about our attitude towards animals and mankind. C) It is kind of human beings to extend humaneness to animals. D) We should be selective when showing attitude toward other human beings.
Ans:
B