MERS, also known as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, has made its way to the US. The second patient was in Orlando, Florida while the first reported case was in Indiana. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the disease has mainly been transmitted by close personal contact, such as directly caring for a very ill person. The virus is formally called MERS-CoV because it's part of the corona virus family that includes the common cold and severe SARS. SARS was ly easy to stop a decade ago, because it was being transmitted by caged animals in Chinese markets. MERS-CoV was first identified in people in 2012, but has been spreading rapidly since March, 2015. The vast majority of those cases occurred in Saudi Arabia. The patient in Orlando felt ill on the first flight but not ill enough to notify a doctor. Early on May 9, he apparently became concerned that he was still feeling ill, and he went to the emergency room at Dr. P. Phillips Hospital. He identified himself as recently having been in Saudi Arabia, so he was quickly isolated to avoid infecting other patients. Wayne Marasco, an expert at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, said his biggest concern about MERS-CoV is how little we know about it. It's still not clear, in some instances, where the virus comes from, how it is transmitted or who is most subject. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage? A) The first MERS patient was found in America. B) The patient in Orlando was infected when he was taking a plane. C) Most MERS cases occurred in the Middle East. D) One problem about MERS is that we don't know which subject it belongs to.
C
(Question)
Trying to recover from a devastating economic crisis, Spain is considering moving the country's clock back by one hour. Many people regard long afternoon naps and late dinners as perfect aspects of the Spanish way of life. Until the 1940s, Spain was on the same time as Britain and Portugal. In World War II, Spain and Portugal moved the clocks forward to align them with Nazi Germany. The same happened in Portugal. After the defeat of Hitler, Portugal returned to Greenwich Mean Time, but Spain did not. "The fact that for more than 71 years Spain has not been in its proper time zone means we sleep almost an hour less than the World Health Organization recommends," lawmakers in the Spanish Parliament wrote in a proposal."This has a negative effect on productivity, absenteeism, stress, accidents and school drop-out rates." Last September, a parliamentary commission recommended that the government turn back the clocks by one hour and introduce a regular eight-hour workday. For the time being, the Spanish government is treating the campaign seriously but it hasn't taken any action yet. Spain's time zone issue explains why everything in Spain happens later, from meal times to broadcast entertainment (primetime doesn't start until 10 pm). Many urban Spaniards complain of a never-ending workday that begins in the morning but is interrupted by a traditional late-morning break and then again by the midday siesta--a two-hour long lunch and nap that usually start at 2 pm. If workers return to their desks at 4 pm, they end up working late into the evening. Under the proposed new schedule, the lunchtime break would be cut to an hour or less. The interruption-filled Spanish workday would be replaced by something closer to a 9-to-5 schedule. Ignacio Buqueras, president of the Association for the Rationalization of Spanish Working Hours, told The New York Times that changing the Spanish schedule would be good news for working mothers. It would also allow families more free time together and boost Spain's economic... Spain is thinking about changing the current time system because _ . A) Spain is eager to improve its economic competitiveness B) it is urgent to increase sleeping hours for Spaniards C) Spanish schools suffer form high drop-out rates D) 71 years has passed since Spain was ruled by Nazi
(Answer)
A
Ques: It is understandable that many of today's college graduates view themselves as the generation that opportunity forgot. This fall, I interviewed 85 recent graduates of various colleges to discuss their success in finding a job. Of those I interviewed ----many from famous schools ---- only five are in the career fields they prepared for; the rest are unemployed or in jobs that are temporary. Graduates with once-marketable degrees in accounting and computer science, for example, now compete with applicants who have five years of experience and will accept the same entry-level salary. Mainly because there too many applicants for too few jobs, employees are ignoring resumes that once commanded interviews. But in my work as a management consultant, I find that many executives also feel that recent graduates have contributed to a problem: that young people have been so pampered by their parents and are so untested academically that they bring little value to today's demanding workplace. Some of the least judgmental, most supportive managers I know are criticizing recent graduates for poor quality in their written and oral reports, and for difficulty in drawing essential facts from masses of data. Earlier generations faced this criticism as well, but employees flooded with resumes have now become far more selective than their predecessors . Among all the cruel talks about unemployment, little is said about the impact on the nation's future of a generation convinced that the workplace has little use for it. This generation must regain its confidence if they are to remain the birthplace of ideas, products and services that shape world. The quickest way to rebuild that confidence is to form partnerships between recent graduates and the companies that will employ them. Corporations, in turn, should consider investing in training and developing a generation they will eventually need. High-potential graduates for whom there isn't an immediate opening could be hired,... Which of the following is TRUE, according to the passage? A) College graduates bring no value to a demanding workplace because of their lack of experience. B) The young generation can be the birthplace of ideas, products and services that shape the world. C) Graduates with higher degrees are more competent than those who have rich work experience. D) Most high-potential graduates can immediately bring benefit to companies.
Ans:
B