1、大学英语四级改革适用（阅读）模拟试卷 112及答案与解析 Section B 0 The New Old Age A)The Japanese senior citizens who founded Jeeba knew they were making history when they coined their company motto: “Of the elderly, by the elderly and for the elderly. “ By the time the 25 founders met one another in the mid-1990s, at a seri
2、es of business-networking events hosted by the government of southern Saga prefecture(辖区 ), many companies were making products for the elderly, the fastest-growing demographic(人口统计 的 )market in Japan. But those goods were not made by the elderly. B)All the Jeeba founders were older than 60 and beli
3、eved they had a special insight into the needs of older consumers. In 1997, they launched Jeeba(the name means “old man and old woman“)to build senior-friendly bathtubs, toilets and hammock lifts to help the infirm into wheelchairs. They do not hire young people, and the oldest of their workers is 7
4、5. C)Firms run by senior citizens are still a rarity, in Japan and worldwide. But the elderly have numbers on their side. Thanks to the post World War II baby boom, healthier and longer-living seniors are reaching retirement age in unprecedented numbers all over the developed world. Rock-bottom birt
5、hrates in those same countries mean there are far fewer young workers to take their place. The potential consequences for industrialized economies are now clear: shrinking work forces, soaring health costs and collapsing pension systems. D)As a result, many of the rich worlds notions about old age a
6、re dying. While the streamlining effects of international competition are focusing attention on the need to create and keep good jobs, those fears will eventually give way to worries about the growing shortage of young workers. One unavoidable solution: putting older people back to work, whether the
7、y like it or not. Indeed, cutting-edge European economies like those of Finland and Denmark have already raised their retirement ages, reversing the postwar trend toward ever-earlier retirement. E)This erosion of one of the cornerstones of the good life relaxed golden years has not gone unremarked.
8、In the last year Belgium, Italy and France have all been hit with massive protests against pension reforms that would, among other things, have raised the retirement age. In Germany, political resistance has forced the new government of Chancellor Angela Merkel to go slow on efforts to raise the off
9、icial retirement age from 65 to 67; the plan now is to increase it by one month a year between 2008 and 2032. F)Alas, the global labor market wont wait for politicians or protesters to come around. The aging of the work force and the accompanying skills shortage are high on the list of challenges fa
10、cing the global business. Many firms are already preparing for the demographic shift. In Japan where the number of people between 15 and 64 is expected to decline by an average of 740 000 a year for the next decade, big-name corporations like Canon and Mitsubishi have already started rehiring their
11、own retirees, as the pool of young job applicants shrinks. G)As the worlds most rapidly aging society, Japan is an extreme case. But the trends are the same all over the developed world. Personnel services like Swiss-based Adecco have introduced “demographic fitness tests“ for their clients to help
12、them judge whether they have the tools in place to attract and productively employ qualified older workers. “Ageism in the workplace is a danger to corporate productivity,“ warns Adecco, which recommends replacing sudden retirement with a flexible system allowing workers to work part time into their
13、 late 60s or beyond. H)Whether these changes are good or bad news to workers depends on whether they anticipate retirement with eagerness or dread. In the United States, a full third of recently retired seniors now go on to pursue a second career, reports a new study by Putnam Investments. In Japan,
14、 78 percent of baby boomers between the ages of 55 and 59 say they plan to work beyond the official retirement age of 60. I)These trends are forcing rich nations to rethink the long-held assumption that early retirement is a competitive advantage. Older workers were(and often still are)seen as less
15、productive and more expensive, and thus ripe targets for corporations seeking to pare costs. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD)labor-market-economist Mark Keese says governments from Germany to Ireland have long subsidized early retirement in order to free up jobs for the yo
16、ung, by offering generous benefits at very early retirement ages. As a result, the average retirement age in rich nations has been falling steadily from as high as 69 in 1950 to 61 or lower in many OECD nations today. J)On the other hand, in many countries, well-meaning laws designed to protect olde
17、r workers such as special prohibitions on firing, or age-based mandatory severance payments(强制遣散费 ) have had the opposite effect, making companies reluctant to hire them in the first place. Thats one reason that in Italy, two in five employment ads state bluntly that anyone 45 or older need not appl
18、y. K)Contrary to still widespread stereotypes, there is very little hard evidence to suggest that companies cannot stay competitive with a rising-share of older workers. When Danish retailer Netto set up three “oldie“ supermarkets where at least half of the staff is over 50, absenteeism went down an
19、d customer satisfaction up. The same thing happened at British hardware chain B its possible that people who are happy, healthy and successful simply have more to be grateful for. But in a landmark study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2003, Dr. Emmons of the University of Mia
20、mi and psychologist Michael McCullough showed that counting blessings can actually make people feel better. I)As simple as it sounds, gratitude is actually a demanding, complex emotion that requires “self-reflection, the ability to admit that one is dependent upon the help of others, and the humilit
21、y to realize ones own limitations,“ Dr. Emmons says. J)Being grateful also forces people to overcome what psychologists call the “negativity bias“ the innate tendency to dwell on problems, annoyances and injustices rather than upbeat events. Focusing on blessings can help ward off depression and bui
22、ld adaptability in times of stress, grief or disasters, according to studies of people impacted by the Sept. 11 terror attacks and Hurricane Katrina. K)Can people learn to look on the bright side, want what they have and be grateful for it? Experts believe that about 50% of such temperament is genet
23、ic, but the rest comes from experience, so theres sufficient opportunity for change. “Kids and adults both can choose how they feel and how they look at the world,“ says Andrew Greene, principal of Candlewood Middle School, who says that realization was one of the lasting legacies of Dr. Frohs resea
24、rch there. L)For older children and adults, one simple way to cultivate gratitude is to literally count your blessings. Keep a journal and regularly record whatever you are grateful for that day. Be specific. Listing “my friends, my school, my dog“ day after day means that “gratitude fatigue“ has se
25、t in, Dr. Froh says. Writing “my dog licked my face when I was sad“ keeps it fresher. Some people do this on their Facebook or MySpace pages, or in one of dozens of online gratitude groups. Theres an iPod application for gratitude journaling, too. The real benefit comes in changing how you experienc
26、e the world. Look for things to be grateful for, and youll start seeing them everywhere. M)Delivering your thanks in person can be particularly powerful. One study found that fourth-graders who took a “gratitude visit“ felt better about themselves even two months later particularly those whose moods
27、 were previously low. N)Adopting a more upbeat mindset helps facilitate gratitude, too. Instead of bonding with friends over complaints, try sharing what youre grateful for. To avoid sounding boastful, focus on giving credit to other people, as in, “My mom took a whole day off from work to get to my
28、 game.“ O)Studies show that using negative, derogatory(贬损的 )words even as you talk to yourself can darken your mood as well. Fill your head with positive thoughts, express thanks and encouragement aloud and look for something to be grateful for, not criticize, in those around you, especially loved o
29、nes. New York psychiatrist Drew Ramsey says thats an essential tool for surviving the holidays. “Giving thanks for them helps you deal with the craziness that is part of every family,“ he says. P)Last, if you find you take too much for granted, try the “Its a Wonderful Life“ approach: imagine what l
30、ife would be like without a major blessing, like a spouse, a child, a job or a friend. 11 According to Dr. Froh, if a student gives her teacher an iPod, the student may overdo the expression of gratitude. 12 Dr. Emmons and Michael McCulloughs study shows that it makes people feel better to count ble
31、ssings. 13 For older children and adults, in order to develop their awareness of gratitude, they should literally count blessings. 14 Children who often feel grateful perform better in schools and are more contented with their families. 15 Filling our heads with positive thoughts is a way to prevent
32、 our mood from being darkened. 16 People with an attitude of gratitude are more likely to be mentally and physically healthy. 17 Another way to develop gratitude is sharing what were grateful for rather than complaining to our friends. 18 Feeling grateful for what one already has is one of the best
33、cures for materialism. 19 People can learn to be grateful because not all of their character is inherited. 20 In order to avoid misusing gratitude, youd better have an honest thought about your motivations. 20 Lazy Money A)Theres no question that procrastination(拖延 )in the workplace is an economic d
34、rag. People who step out for coffee or a smoke are, by definition, taking time off from work. And while breaks are frequently necessary to get the creative juices flowing, in this just-in-time economy of long supply chains and 24-7 operations, procrastination is an overwhelming economic negative. Bu
35、t if individual companies lose out when workers doodle(乱涂 )on letterhead, send instant messages to their friends, or take frequent YouTube breaks, procrastination can sometimes be a zero-sum game. When you blow off your job, you may be generating sales for somebody elses employer. The more time you
36、waste, the more money someone makes. B)Americans can invest in pretty much everything today, but its not yet possible to invest in procrastination. You can, however, buy shares in companies whose products and services encourage, abet(怂恿 ), and enable time wasting and delay. It may even be a good inv
37、estment; recent research suggests that procrastination is on the rise. Thirty years ago just 5 percent of Americans were self-described “chronic procrastinators“; today that number is up to 26 percent. C)Of course, the best deals are likely out of our reach in the private equity market you and I can
38、t yet invest in Facebook. And many of the other best time wasters are embedded in conglomerates(大型联合企业 )that make them far from pure plays, viz. , MySpace and News Corp. But with the assistance of Slates stock research department, weve assembled a procrastinators portfolio, seven stocks that represe
39、nt different sectors of the sultans of slackerdom. Starbucks D)The coffee break is perhaps the oldest and most enduring form of taking time off from regularly scheduled work hours. While Dunkin Donuts bills itself as a pit stop for people in a hurry, Starbucks invites procrastinators to sit for a sp
40、ell, with its comfy chairs, Wi-Fi service, sweet snacks, and gentle boomer-friendly music. The downside: the stock performs poorly in slack economic times, as $4 lattes are an early casualty of penny-pinching. eBay E)The online swap(交换 )meet is a procrastinators paradise. If the competing demands fo
41、r your attention are preparing a quarterly report or browsing for used Steinway pianos, finishing a paper or taking a look through the 27 257 items on offer in the Home Art & Crafts category, its really a no-brainer. eBay is doubly levered to discretionary(自由决定的 )e-commerce spending: it makes money
42、when transactions are completed on eBay or on subsidiaries like StubHub, and the company cashes in again if the payments are processed by its PayPal subsidiary. Altria F)In the workplace, tobacco is second only to coffee as a time-wasting, consumable vice. Yes, cigarettes are expensive. But Altria,
43、through its Philip Morris subsidiary, makes products to which its customers are physically addicted. That renders the company somewhat immune to the ups and downs of a consumer economy. By passing ever more restrictive laws regulating the time, place, and manner of smoking, society continues to impo
44、se additional costs on the use of cigarettes. Ironically, these barriers help make smoking all the more appealing as a procrastination mechanism. In New York smokers who toil in office buildings must wait for an elevator and then clear security going in and out of the building. Forced to congregate
45、with other smokers on patches of concrete, they inevitably engage in further time-wasting conversation. A single cigarette can easily burn up 15 minutes. Bonus: Altria owns a big chunk of beer giant SABMiller, whose products help fuel late afternoon and evening time wasting. The New York Times G)Whe
46、n the economy is in the gutter, when cash is low and when the purpose of time wasting shifts from blowing off work to blowing off the search for work, products that offer free or low-cost time-wasting opportunities become more attractive. And for procrastinators of the better sort, theres no better
47、outlet than The New York Times. Read the full contents of todays newspaper, check out the expanding roster of blogs, half-heartedly search for a job in the classifieds, or wholeheartedly engage in real estate voyeurism by checking out condo ads. Later in the week the crossword puzzle can make the lo
48、ng acres of the afternoon pass by in the blink of an eye. Subsidiary About, com is also an excellent time sink. In the first quarter, while the consumer economy was in the tank, the New York Timess online advertising revenues rose a healthy 18 percent. Apple H)For users of PCs, time wasting may be c
49、onfined to playing solitaire(单人纸牌游戏 ). But iMacs and MacBooks, which generally arrive embedded with cool video features, offer lazy, creative slackers the ability to waste time by making movies and engaging in iChats without having to buy and install new software. And in iTunes Apple has developed the online equivalent of that increasingly rare time-wasting destination, the used record store. Why work when you can explore and sample the 145 versions of “Danny Boy“, including a truly unfortunate rendering by Tom Jones! Google I)
