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Part Ⅳ Translation (30 minutes)
当前，中国外交站在了一个新的历史起点。我们的国家出来么有像今天这样接近世界舞台的中央，从 来没有像今天这样全面参与国际上的各种事务，也从来没有像今天这样承担着维护世界和平与发展的重要 责任。新起点带来新使命，新形势带来新要求。外交学院作为外交部的直属院校，不论什么时候，第一要 务都是为我们国家的外交事业服务。
Passage Two
The old romantic adage (谚语) is a cute one, but according to recent studies, opposites don’t necessarily
attract.
Research shows that people rend to seek out relationships with-and eventually marry-partners who have
similar defining characteristics, such as age, political orientation, religion, education, and income.
“Generally speaking, when we think about opposites attracting or not, we’re thinking in terms of personality rather than these big key demographic factors.” says Vinita Mehta, a clinical psychologist and writer based in Washington, D.C.
One big factor as to why this may be is simply your stage of life; where you live, what lifestyle you have, and what kind of people you’re exposed to.
“If you’re on a college campus, by and large, you’re going to find people who are in your age group,” Mehta says. “You’re going to find people who at least eventually become part of the same general income strata (阶层).”
Researchers from the University of Kansas made a bolder claim. A study released earlier this year analyzed real-world relationships and asked couples ( romantic partners, friends, and acquaintances ) about attitudes, behavior, values, prejudices, and personality traits that were important to them. The pairs that had closer and more intimate relationships were not necessarily more similar than newly formed pairs, and people shared similarities on almost every personal issue that was measured.
The lead psychologists on this study believe this doesn’t happen by chance; it’s so common and widespread that seeking out like-minded people may be our psychological default when we make new friends or romantic partners. We certainly get the most out of these relationships. They make us more comfortable and trusting of the other person, and that makes it easier to cooperate and achieve goals.
As far personalities go, connecting on major traits, like levels of neuroticism ( 情 绪不 稳 定性 ) and
conscientiousness, generally lead to happier couples. But that doesn’t mean you and your significant other need to agree on everything. Having different quirks (怪癖) -less defining parts of your personality, like your favorite sport or foods-can introduce you to new activities and ways of thinking, which can make you a more well-rounded person.
What does “ these big key demographic factors” (Line 2, Para. 3) refer to ?
According to Vinita Mehta, college students tend to make friends with people of similar .
Which of the following statements can be inferred from the research conducted by the University of Kansas?
What is the purpose of citing the studies in the passage?
What’s the author’s attitude towards the similarities between couples?
Section C
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A), B), C) and D). You should decide on the best choice and mark the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre.
Passage One
Questions 46 to 50 are based on the following passage.
Teacher burnout and student stress may be linked, according to University of British Columbia study.
The study is the first of its kind to examine the connection between teacher burnout and students’ cortisol (皮质醇) levels, which are a biological indicator of stress.
Researchers collected saliva （唾液）samples from over 400 elementary school children and tested their
cortisol levels. They found that in classrooms in which teachers experienced more burnout, or feelings of emotional exhaustion, students’ cortisol levels were elevated. Higher cortisol levels in elementary school children have been linked to learning difficulties as well as mental health problems.
“This suggests that stress contagion (传染) might be taking place in the classroom among students and their teachers, ” said Eva Oberle, the study’s lead author and newly appointed assistant professor with the Human Early Learning Partnership （ HELP ） at UBC’s school of population and public health. “It is unknown what came first-elevated cortisol or teacher burnout. We consider the connection between student and teacher stress a cyclical problem in the classroom.”
Oberle said a stressful classroom climate could be a result of inadequate support for teachers, which may impact teachers’ ability to effectively manage their students. A poorly managed classroom can contribute to students’ needs not being met and increasing stress. This could be reflected in elevated cortisol levels in students.
Alternatively , stress could originate from students, who may be more challenging to teach because of increases in anxiety, behavioral problems, or special needs. In this scenario, teachers could feel overwhelmed and report higher levels of burnout.
“Our study is a reminder of the systemic issues facing teachers and educators as classroom sizes increase and supports for teachers are cut,” said Oberle.
“It is clear from a number of recent research studies that teaching is one of the most stressful professions, and that teachers need adequate resources and support in their jobs in order to battle burnout and alleviate stress in the classroom, ” said UBC education professor Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, the study’s co-author and director of HELP. “If we do not support teachers, we risk the collateral damage of students.”
It can be concluded from the research made by University of British Columbia that .
Which of the following identities belongs to Eva Oberle?
According to Eva Oberle, increased cortisol and teacher tiredness occurred .
What did Kimberly Schonert-Reichl suggest providing for teachers who want to struggle with occupational burnout?
The work “ collateral” (Line 4, Pare. 8 ) most probably means .
Section B
Directions: In this section, you are going to read a passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once. Each paragraph is marked with a letter. Answer the questions by marking the corresponding letter on Answer Sheet 2.
Sent Home for Not Wearing Heels, She Ignited a British Rebellion
[A]LONDON-When Nicola Thorp reported to work awhile back as a temporary receptionist in the financial center here , she was shocked when her temp supervisor said her flat shoes were unacceptable. She would need to get herself shoes with heels at least two inches high.
[B]When she refused, she was sent home from the accounting firm PwC without pay. Bu that was not the end of it. Five months later, Ms. Thorp, an actress originally from the northern seaside city of Blackpool, started a petition calling for a law that would make sure no company could ever again demand that a woman wear heels to work.
[C]The petition collected more than 150,000 signatures, helped spur a popular opposition-dozens of professional women posted photographs of themselves on Twitter defiantly wearing flats-and prompted an inquiry overseen by two parliamentary committees.
[D]On Wednesday, more than two years after Ms. Thorp, now 28, strode into that office in her chic but sensible black flats, the committees released a report concluding that Portico, the outsourcing firm that had insisted she wear high heels, had broken the law. It added that existing law needed to be toughened to overcome outmoded and sexist workplace codes.
[E]During the investigation, the committees received hundreds of complaints from women whose companies had demanded that they “ dye their hair blonde.” “wear revealing outfits” or “ constantly reapply makeup.” “Discriminatory dress codes remain widespread,” the report said.
[F]Ms. Thorp praised the inquiry’s conclusion, saying it was all the more imperative in the Trump era, when men around the world had a role model in the White House who had boasted about behaving badly toward women.
[G]“I refused to work for a company that expected women to wear makeup, heels and a skirt. This is unacceptable in 2017,” she said . “ People say sexism is not an issue anymore. But when a man who has admitted publicly to sexually harassing women is the leader of the free world, it is more crucial than ever to have laws that protect women.”
[H]Ms. Thorp said her resistance to heels, while a protest against sexism and discrimination, was also a matter of public health given the toll that high heels take on women’s feet. “The company expected me to do a
nine-hour shift on my feet accompanying clients to meeting rooms, ”she said. “I told them that I just wouldn’t be able to do that in heels.”
[I]Portico on Wednesday said it had rewritten its code almost immediately after the issue was raised by Ms. Thorp, dropping the heel requirement, among others . Its old code had warned employees against such thing as greasy or highly gelled hair or wearing flowers as accessories. It had also called for heel height to be two to four inches and for makeup to be “worn at all times” and “ regularly reapplied,” with a minimum of lipstick, mascara (睫毛膏) and eye shadow.
[J]PwC stressed that the dress code required by Portico in December 2015 was Portico’s policy and had been
enforced by a Portico supervisor. Nevertheless, it said it regretted that the inquiry was instigated by an incident at its offices, and it remained committed to equality at the workplace.
[K]In some spheres, Britain, a multicultural society, has been particularly sensitive about gender discrimination. Last summer the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, banned advertisements showing scantily clad ( 衣着暴露的) women from the city’s public transportation system, saying they promoted unhealthy or unrealistic body images.
[M]But legal experts and women’s advocates say social and cultural conventions can be harder to change. When Prime Minister Theresa May was photographed recently wearing a $1,250 pair of “ desert khaki (卡其色) ” leather pants, she was criticized as being excessive and out of touch, even as her defenders argued that no one talked about Mr. Trump’ s far more expensive Brioni suits.
[N]Nevertheless, before she entered No.10 Downing Street, Mrs. May herself may have played a role in reinforcing gender stereotypes. When she was the minister for women and equality in 2011, she said that “ traditional gender-based workplace dress codes” had not held her back and argued that they encouraged “ a sense of professionalism ” in the workplace.
[O]In a sign of the challenges ahead, the British television host Piers Morgan inspired a Twitter storm on Wednesday when he insisted during an interview with Ms. Thorp that it was not unreasonable to expect a receptionist to wear stiletto heels (细跟鞋) 。“Get Piers in Heels,”roared The Sun’s headline.
[P]Britain’s 2010 Equality Act prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of gender, age or sexual orientation, But women’s advocates and legal experts said the law was unevenly applied.
Emma Birkett, who works in retail, told the inquiry that her company encouraged her and her female colleagues to wear shorter skirts and unbutton more buttons on their blouses during Christmastime, “when a higher proportion of male shoppers was anticipated.” Ruth Campion, a flight attendant, testified that she felt “prostituted”when ordered to wear heels, skirts and makeup.
[Q]Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society , a leading women’s rights organization in London
that traces its roots to 1866, said sexist dress codes that objectified women or men had no place in the modern workplace. She noted that it took until last January for British Airways to allow female cabin crew members to wear trousers. She also lamented that it cost about $1,500 in Britain for a person to bring a case before an employment tribunal (特别法庭)，and that even without this financial constraint, “some women don’t want to be seen as troublemakers or risk losing their jobs.”
[R]“Employers need to focus on what drives productivity and enables their staff to feel part of a team, “she said, adding, “It isn’t a pair of high heels.”
Many women complained to the committees about their companies’ regulations on hair, clothes and makeup, which proved gender-biased dress codes to be still common.
The fact that Theresa May and Mr. Trump were treated differently proves that it is more difficult to change social and cultural customs.
Ms . Thorp appealed for a law protecting women from being forced to work in heels.
PwC emphasized it was Portico rather than PwC that had developed and implemented the dressing rule.
When Nicola Thorp reported for duty, she was astonished at her temporary director’s requirement to let her replace flat shoes with high-heeled ones.
According to Sam Smethers, women were prevented from charging against sexist dress codes because of high cost and the risk of dismissal.
Piers Morgan’s open support for Portico caused a stir on Twitter and met with the protest from The Sun.
Two years later, the two parliamentary committees announced Portico’s violation of the law and the need to strengthen the present law.
Ms. Thorp refused to wear heels not only to object to sexism and discrimination but also to protect her feet.
Dozens of working women supported Ms. Thorp’s petition with posting their own pictures of wearing flats on a social media website.
Part Ⅲ Reading Comprehension ( 40 minutes )
Section A
Directions: In this section, there is a passage with ten blanks. You are required to select one word for each blank from a list of choices given in a word bank following the passage. Read the passage through carefully before making your choices. Each choice in the bank is identified by a letter. Please mark the corresponding letter for each item on Answer Sheet 2 with a single line through the centre. You may not use any of the words in the bank more than once.
Questions 26 to 35 are based on the following passage.
Passwords are a pain in the ass. They’re either easy to or hare to remember, and when breaches you have to come up with a whole new one . So people are trying to do away with passwords altogether, and so far fingerprint scanners are doing the job nicely.
Still, fingerprints alone are not . Online security has become important, forcing service providers to come up with better measures such as two-factor authentication ( 验 证 ) to user information. Companies are turning to other parts of our bodies to find biometric (生物计量的) that are up to the task, and our faces and eyes are at the top of the list. Although facial and eye-based recognition appear gimmicky for now, they may soon become as prevalent and popular as fingerprint scanners. That pairing could root out passwords and clunky text-message two-factor altogether, making it a completely biometric process.
The popularity , prevalence and convenience of fingerprint scanning means it is here to stay, and by no means are face and eye recognition meant to it. Choudhury sees the newer method as a complement to
fingerprints, providing a more convenient second-factor authentication as opposed to entering a text code sent to your phone. While the tech we have right now may not be fast or secure enough to be truly convenient and helpful, we’re getting close. Using the adoption of fingerprint scanners as a ,Choudhury estimated we are about five years away from iris ( 虹 膜 ) scanners and face detection becoming .Until then ,we’ll have to deal with changing our crappy passwords every so often and hope we don’t forget them.
A.complements
B.conceptions
C.crack
D.defend
E.enough
F.identify
G.inappropriate
H.increasingly
I. interfere
J.model
K.occur
L.replace
M.traditionally
N.verification
O.widespread
