I had a perfect life. No one died; no one was sick; we were all happy and loving life. Then I discovered my grandfather had cancer. No matter how much I told myself he could live, and that he might not die, somehow I still felt as if it was a death sentence. He was so young, only 63. He fought so hard. Whenever I feel my own life taking a turn for the worse, as if things will never get better, I remember how many years he lived fighting such a scary and difficult disease. He died with a huge party going on around him, with all his friends and family. They ate and I honestly didn't know how to cope. I never cried alone. I had the compassion of my friends and the support of my family and teachers. I just remembered my grandfather's wish that we should celebrate his life. That's how we came up with the idea for Hives for Lives----a business my sister and I started where all the profits go to the American Cancer Society (ACS). We sell honey, honeycomb, beeswax candles and lip balm, which all come from our beehives in Virginia. It started out small, 2 years ago, with just an idea. During our first year we donated more than $2,000 to the ACS. The next year a man who belonged to my grandparents' bee club willed his honey to us, and our little business grew. We sold at craft fairs, wine festivals, schools, and to anyone else who would buy! We had my uncle sell in California and my grandmother sell in Chicago. We have sold honey in 13 states---even in Puerto Rico. This year we donated more than $10,000 to the ACS and we're hoping to do more next year. Hopefully our business will help find a cure or just improve the life of someone with cancer. I feel like Hives for Lives is a way to honor my grandfather. Honor his love, his life and his strength. With Hives for Lives reminding me of my grandfather every day, I feel as if I can move on in life, that he will always be alive in my heart and memories. It made me capable of coping with his death, because I felt like I had truly honored his wish of celebrating his life. I... Which of the following statements is true according to the text? A) The profits they make are all donated to the ACS. B) They struggle to develop their business without any help. C) They have helped find a cure for those with cancer. D) All their relatives joined in their activity.
A
Bonus culture has become the subject of many studies nowadays. Many people have been angered by the way some bankers and high officials seem to have been rewarded for failure. Others find the idea of offering many-million-dollar bonuses morally disgusting. But few have asked whether performance-related bonuses really do improve performance. The answer seems so obvious that even to ask the question can appear ridiculous. Indeed, in spite of all the complaints about them, financial encouragements continue to be introduced in more and more areas, from healthcare and public services to teaching and universities. So it may come as a shock to many to learn that paying for results can actually make people perform badly in many circumstances, and that the more you pay, the worse they perform. No one is arguing that bonuses can help companies and institutions attract and keep the best staff. Nor does anyone argue against the idea that you can encourage people to do specific tasks by linking payments to those tasks. Rather, the point is about how to get the best out of people. Do employees really perform better if you promise to pay them more for getting results? There are some obvious reasons why such payments can fail. It has been argued, for instance, that cash bonuses contributed to the financial crash, because traders had little enthusiasm to make sure that their companies enjoyed long-term survival. Most bonus projects are poorly designed, says Professor Malcolm Higgs. He thinks the reason is that organizations try to keep bonus arrangements simple. Nevertheless, he thinks bonus projects can work as long as they link the interests of individual employees with the long-term goals of a business. Bonuses can also encourage cheating. "Once you start making people's rewards dependent on outcomes rather than behaviors, the evidence is people will do whatever they can to get those outcomes," says Professor Edward Deci. "In many cases the high officials simply lied and cheated to make the stock price go up so they got... The effect of performance-related bonuses has not been well studied because people _ . A) take the function of bonuses for granted B) see that bonus offering is done everywhere C) think financial encouragement is disgusting D) are shocked by the practice of rewarding for failures
A
Q: Most people have heard of shakespeare and probably know something of the plays that he wrote. However, not everybody knows much about the life of this remarkable man. Except perhaps that he was born in the market town of stratforduponAvon and that he married a woman called Anne Hathaway,We know nothing of his school life.We do not know,for example,how long it lasted,but we presume that he attended the local grammar school,where the principal subject taught was Latin. Nothing certain is known of what he did between the time he left school and his departure for London.According to a local legend,he was beaten and even put in prison for stealing rabbits and deer from the estate of neighbouring landowner, Sir Thomas Lucy, It is said that because of this he was forced to run away from his native place.A different legend says that he was apprenticed to a Strstford butcher, but did not like the life and for this reason decided to leave Strstford. Whatever caused him to leave the town of his birth, the world could be grateful that he did so.What is certain is that he set his foot on the road to fame when he arrived in London, It is said that at first he was without money or friends there, but that he earned a little by taking care of the horses of the gentleman who attended the plays at the theatre.They stopped and spoke to him.They found his conversations so brilliant that finally he was invited to join their compeny. The best title is_. A) The Early life of Shakespeare B) Shakespeare's Life in London C) Shakespeare's Role in Performance D) Shakespeare's Later Life
A: A
In the Caucasus Mountains of Russia, nearly fifty out of every one hundred thousand people live to celebrate their hundredth birthday, and many don't stop at 100! By comparison, in America only three in one hundred thousand people reach 100. But these Russian old people aren't alone. The Pakistanis, who live in the Himalaya Mountains and the Ecuadorans of the Andes Mountains , seem to share the secret of long life, too. These people remain healthy in body and spirit in spite of the passage of time. While many persons in industrial societies become weak and ill in their 60s and 70s, some Caucasians, aged 110 to 140, work in the fields beside their great grandchildren. Even the idea of aging is foreign to them. When asked, "at what age does youth end?" most of these old people had no answer. Several replied, "well perhaps at the age of 80," and the very youngest estimate was at the age of 60. What accounts for this ability to survive to such an old age, and to survive so well? First of all, hard physical work is a way of life for all these long - lived people. They begin their long days of physical labor as children and never seem to stop. All these people get healthful rewards from the environment in which they work. They all come from mountainous regions. This reduced - oxygen environment makes the heart and blood vessel system stronger. Another factor that may contribute to the good health of these people is their isolation. To a great extent, they are separated from the pressures and worries of industrial society. Inherited factors also play some role. It is clear that isolation from urban pressures and pollution, clean mountain air, daily hard work, moderate diets, good genes, and a youthful approach to life all contribute to the health and long life of all these people. From the writer's viewpoint, industrial society _ . A) is highly developed and beneficial to people B) is a great advance in human history C) is full of pressures and therefore bad for people's health D) can make people's life better and better
C