Work is a very important part of life in the United States. When the early Protestant immigrants came to this country, they brought the idea that work was the way to God and heaven. This attitude, the Protestant Work Ethic, still influences America today. Work is not only important for economic benefits, the salary, but also for social and psychological needs, the feeling of doing something for the good of the society. Americans spend most of their lives working, being productive. For most Americans, their work defines them: they are what they do. What happens then, when a person can no longer work Almost all Americans stop working at the age of sixty-five or seventy and retire. Because work is such an important part of life in this culture, retirement can be very difficult. Retirees often feel that they are useless and unproductive. Of course, some people are happy to retire; but leaving one’s job, whatever it is, is a difficult change, even for those who look forward to retiring. Many retirees do not know how to use their time or they feel lost without their jobs. Retirements can also bring financial problems. Many people rely on Social Security checks every month. During their working years, employees contribute a certain percentage of their salaries to the government. Each employer also gives a certain percentage to the government. When people retire, they receive this money as income. These checks do not provide enough money to live on, however, because prices are increasing very rapidly. Senior citizens, those over sixty-five, have to have savings in the bank or other retirement plans to make ends meet. The rate of inflation is forcing prices higher each year; Social Security checks alone cannot cover these growing expenses. The government offers some assistance, Medicare(health care)and welfare (general assistance), but many senior citizens have to change their life styles after retirement. They have to spend carefully to be sure that they can afford to buy food, fuel and other necessities.
Of course, many senior citizens are happy with retirement. They have time to spend with their families or enjoy their hobbies. Some continue to work part time, others do volunteer work. Some, like those in the Retired Business Executives Association, even help young people to get started in new business. Many retired citizens also belong to "Golden Age" groups. These organizations plan trips and social events. There are many chances for retirees.
American society is only beginning to be concerned about the special physical and emotional needs of its senior citizens. The government is taking steps to ease the problem of limited income. They are building new housing, offering discounts in stores and museums and on buses, and providing other services such as free courses, food service, and help with housework. Retired citizens are a rapidly growing percentage of the population. This part of the population is very important and we must meet their needs. After all, every citizen will be a senior citizen some day.
The passage is mainly about ______.
A:money and check B:senior and junior C:work and retirement D:Protestants and Americans
A:money and check B:senior and junior C:work and retirement D:Protestants and Americans
Your organization is having a difficult time managing its many projects. You have been asked to help senior management decide how to proceed. What should you do first
A:Review all of the organization's project documents to understand how they manage project B:Send a formal memo to all project managers requesting their detailed project plans and status report C:Meet several senior managers separately to get a feel for what is really happenin D:Give a presentation on best practices to all the senior manager
Advancing age means losing your hair,
your waistline and your memory, right Dana Denis is just 40 years old, but
(21) she’s worried about what she calls "my rolling mental
blackouts." "I try to remember something and I just blank out," she
says. You may (22) about these lapses, calling them "senior moments" or blaming "early Alzheimer’s(老年痴呆症)." Is it an inescapable fact that the older you get, the (23) you remember Well, sort of. But as time goes by, we tend to blame age (24) problems that are not necessarily age-related. "When a teenager can’t find her keys, she thinks it’s because she’s distracted or disorganized," says Paul Gold "A 70-year-old blames her (25) ." In fact, the 70-year-old may have been (26) things for decades. In healthy people, memory doesn’t worsen as (27) as many of us think. "As we (28) , the memory mechanism isn’t (29) ," says psychologist Fergus Craik. "It’s just inefficient." The brain’s processing (30) slows down over the years, though no one knows exactly (31) Recent research suggests that nerve cells lose efficiency and (32) there’s less activity in the brain. But, cautions Barry Gordon, "It’s not clear that less activity is (33) . A beginning athlete is winded(气喘吁吁) more easily than a (34) athlete. In the same way, (35) the brain gets more skilled at a task, it expends less energy on it. There are (36) you can take to compensate for normal slippage in your memory gears, though it (37) effort. Margaret Sewell says: "We’re a quick-fix culture, but you have to (38) to keep your brain (39) shape. It’s like having a good body. You can’t go to the gym once a year (40) expect to stay in top form." |
A:famous B:senior C:popular D:trained
The medical world is gradually realizing that the quality of the environment in hospitals may play a significant role in the process of recovery from illness. As part of a nation-wide effort in Britain to bring art out the galleries and into public places, some of the country’s most talented artists have called in to transform older hospitals and to soften the hard edges of modern buildings. Of the 2 500 National health Service hospitals in Britain, almost 100 now have significant collections of contemporary art in corridors, waiting areas and treatment rooms.
These recent initiatives owe a great deal to one artist, Peter Senior, who set up his studio at a Manchester hospital in north-eastern England.
The quality of the environment may reduce the need for expensive drugs when a patient is recovering form an illness. A study has shown that patients who had a view on to a garden needed half the number of strong pain killers compared with patients who had no view at all or only a brick wall to look at during the early 1970s. he felt the artist had lost his place in modern society, and that art should be enjoyed by a wider audience.
A typical hospital waiting room might have as many as 5 000 visitors each week. What better place to hold regular exhibitions of art Senior held the first exhibition of his own paintings in the out-patients’ waiting area of the Manchester royal Infirmary in 1975. Believed to be Britain’s first hospital-artist, Senior was so much in demand that he was soon joined by a team of six young art school graduates.
The effect is striking. Instead of the familiar long, barren corridors and dull waiting rooms, the visitors experience a full view of fresh colours, playful images and restful courtyards.
The fact that six young art school graduates joined Peter shows that ______.
A:Peter Senior’s enterprise is developing greatly B:Peter Senior enjoys great popularity C:they are talented hospital artists D:the role of the quality of hospital environment is being recognized
A:She’s a senior professor. B:She’s a senior student. C:She’s a senior official. D:She’s a senior citizen
Outside-the-classroom Learning Makes a Big Difference
Putting a bunch of college students in charge of a $300,000 Dance Marathon, fundraiser surely sounds a bit risky When you consider the fact that the money is supposed to be given to children in need of medical care, you might call the idea crazy.
Most student leaders don’t want to spend a large amount of time on something they care little about, said 22-year-old University of Florida student Darren Heitner. He was the Dance Marathon’s operations officer for two years.
Yvonne Fangmeyer, director of the student organization office at the University of Wisconsin, conducted a survey in February of students involved in campus organizations. She said the desire for friendship was the most frequently cited reason for joining.
At large universities like Fangmeyer’s, which has more than 40,000 students, the students first of all want to find a way to "belong in their own comer of campus".
Katie Rowley, a Wisconsin senior, confirms the survey’s findings. "I wanted to make the campus feel smaller by joining an organization where I could not only get involved on campus but also find a group of friends."
All of this talk of friendship, however, does not mean that students aren’t thinking about their resumes. "I think that a lot of people do join to ’fatten up their resume’," said Heitner. "At the beginning of my college career, I joined a few of these organizations, hoping to get a start in my leadership roles."
But without passion student leaders can have a difficult time trying to weather the storms that come. For example, in April, several student organizations at Wisconsin teamed up for an event designed to educate students about homelessness and poverty. Student leaders had to face the problem of solving disagreements, moving the event because of rainy weather, and dealing with the university’s complicated bureaucracy.
"Outside-of the classroom learning really makes a big difference," Fangmeyer said.
Who is Katie Rowley
A:She’s a senior professor. B:She’s a senior student. C:She’s a senior official. D:She’s a senior citizen
{{B}}第二篇{{/B}}
? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ?{{B}}Outside-the-classroom Learning Makes a Big
Difference{{/B}} ? ?Putting a bunch of college students in charge of a $300,000 Dance Marathon, fundraiser surely sounds a bit risky? When you consider the fact that the money is supposed to be given to children in need of medical care, you might call the idea crazy. ? ?Most student leaders don’t want to spend a large amount of time on something they care little about, said 22-year-old University of Florida student Darren Heitner. He was the Dance Marathon’s operations officer for two years. ? ?Yvonne Fangmeyer, director of the student organization office at the University of Wisconsin, conducted a survey in February of students involved in campus organizations. She said the desire for friendship was the most frequently cited reason for joining. ? ?At large universities like Fangmeyer’s, which has more than 40,000 students, the students first of all want to find a way to "belong in their own comer of campus". ? ?Katie Rowley, a Wisconsin senior, confirms the survey’s findings. "I wanted to make the campus feel smaller by joining an organization where I could not only get involved on campus but also find a group of friends." ? ?All of this talk of friendship, however, does not mean that students aren’t thinking about their resumes. "I think that a lot of people do join to ’fatten up their resume’," said Heitner. "At the beginning of my college career, I joined a few of these organizations, hoping to get a start in my leadership roles." ? ?But without passion student leaders can have a difficult time trying to weather the storms that come. For example, in April, several student organizations at Wisconsin teamed up for an event designed to educate students about homelessness and poverty. Student leaders had to face the problem of solving disagreements, moving the event because of rainy weather, and dealing with the university’s complicated bureaucracy. ? ?"Outside-of the classroom learning really makes a big difference," Fangmeyer said. |
A:She’s a senior professor. B:She’s a senior student. C:She’s a senior official. D:She’s a senior citizen
A:money and check B:senior and junior C:work and retirement D:Protestants and Americans