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Text 2
For years, studies have found that first-generation college students-those who do not have a parent with a college degree-lag other students on a range of education achievement factors. Their grades are lower and their dropout rates are higher. But since such students are most likely to advance economically if they succeed in higher education, colleges and universities have pushed for decades to recruit more of them. This has created "a paradox" in that recruiting first-generation students, but then watching many of them fail, means that higher education has "continued to reproduce and widen, rather than close" achievement gap based on social class, according to the depressing beginning of a paper forthcoming in the journal Psychological Sciense.
But the article is actually quite optimistic, as it outlines a potential solution to this problem, suggesting that an approach(which involves a one-hour, next-to-no-cost program) can close 63 percent of the achievement gap(measured by such factors as grades)between first-generation and other students.
The authors of the paper are from different universities, and their findins are based on a study involving 147 students(who completed the project)at an unnamed private unive rsity.First generation was defined as not having a parent with a fou r-year college degree Most of the first-generation students(59.1 percent) were recipients of Pell Grants，a federal g rant for undergraduates with financial need，while this was true only for 8.6 percent of the students wit at least one parent with a four-year degree
Their thesis-that a relatively modest inte rvention could have a big impact-was based on the view that first-gene ration students may be most lacking not in potential but in practical knowledge about how to deal with the issues that face most college students They cite past resea rch by several authors to show that this is the gap that must be na rrowed to close the achievement gap.
Many first-gene ration students"struggle to navigate the middle-class culture of higher education，learn the'rules of the game，'and take advantage of college resou rces," they write And this becomes more of a problem when collages don't talk about the class advantage and disadvantages of different groups of students Because US colleges and universities seldom acknowledge how social class can affect students' educational expe rience，many first-gene ration students lack sight about why they a re struggling and do not unde rstand how students' like them can improve
26. Recruiting more first-generation students has
[A]reduced their d ropout rates
[B]narrowed the achievement gao
[C] missed its original pu rpose
[D]depressed college students
27 The author of the research article are optimistic because
[A]the problem is solvable
[B]their approach is costless
[q the recruiting rate has increased
[D]their finding appeal to students
28 The study suggests that most first-gene ration students
[A]study at private universities
[B]are from single-pa rent families
[q are in need of financial support
[D]have failed their collage
29. The author of the paper believe that first-generation students
[A]a re actually indifferent to the achievement gap
[B]can have a potential influence on othe r students
[C] may lack opportunities to apply for resea rch projects
[D]are inexperienced in handling their issues at college
30.We mayinfer from the last paragraph that--
[A]universities often r~ect the culture of the middle-class
[B]students are usually to blame for their lack of resources
[C]social class g reatly helps en rich educational experiences
[D]colleges are partly responsible for the problem in question
Text 2
An article in Scientific America has pointed out that empirical research says that, actually, you think you’re more beautiful than you are. We have a deep-seated need to feel good about ourselves and we naturally employ a number of self-enhancing strategies to research into what the call the “above average effect”, or “illusory superiority”, and shown that, for example, 70% of us rate ourselves as above average in leadership, 93% in driving and 85% at getting on well with others—all obviously statistical impossibilities.
We rose tint our memories and put ourselves into self-affirming situations. We become defensive when criticized, and apply negative stereotypes to others to boost our own esteem, we stalk around thinking we’re hot stuff.
Psychologist and behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley oversaw a key studying into self-enhancement and attractiveness. Rather that have people simply rate their beauty compress with others, he asked them to identify an original photogragh of themselves’ from a lineup including versions that had been altered to appear more and less attractive. Visual recognition, reads the study, is “an automatic psychological process occurring rapidly and intuitively with little or no apparent conscious deliberation”. If the subjects quickly chose a falsely flattering image- which must did- they genuinely believed it was really how they looked. Epley found no significant gender difference in responses. Nor was there any evidence that, those who self-enhance the must (that is, the participants who thought the most positively doctored picture were real) were doing so to make up for profound insecurities. In fact those who thought that the images higher up the attractiveness scale were real directly corresponded with those who showed other makers for having higher self-esteem. “I don’t think the findings that we having have are any evidence of personal delusion”, says Epley. “It’s a reflection simply of people generally thinking well of themselves’. If you are depressed, you won’t be self-enhancing. Knowing the results of Epley ‘s study,it makes sense that why people heat photographs of themselves Viscerally-on one level, they don’t even recognise the person in the picture as themselves, Facebook therefore ,is a self-enhancer’s paradise,where people can share only the most flattering photos, the cream of their wit ,style ,beauty, intellect and lifestyle it’s not that people’s profiles are dishonest,says catalina toma of Wiscon—Madison university ,”but they portray an idealized version of themselves.
26. According to the first paragraph, social psychologist have found that ______.
[A] our self-ratings are unrealistically high
[B] illusory superiority is baseless effect
[C] our need for leadership is unnatural
[D] self-enhancing strategies are ineffective
27. Visual recognition is believed to be people’s______
[A] rapid watching
[B] conscious choice
[C] intuitive response
[D] automatic self-defence
28. Epley found that people with higher self-esteem tended to______
[A] underestimate their insecurities
[B] believe in their attractiveness
[C] cover up their depressions
[D] oversimplify their illusions
29.The word “Viscerally”(Line 2,para.5) is closest in meaning to_____.
[A]instinctively
[B]occasionally
[C]particularly
[D]aggressively
30. It can be inferred that Facebook is self-enhancer’s paradise because people can _____.
[A]present their dishonest profiles
[B]define their traditional life styles
[C]share their intellectual pursuits
[D]withhold their unflattering sides
Text 2
A century ago, the immigrants from across the Atlantic inclued settlers and sojourners. Along with the many folks looking to make a permanent home in the United States came those who had no intention to stay, and 7millin people arrived while about 2 million departed. About a quarter of all Italian immigrants, for exanmle, eventually returned to Italy for good. They even had an affectionate nickname, “uccelli di passaggio,” birds of passage.
Today, we are much more rigid about immigrants. We divide nemcomers into two categories: legal or illegal, good or bad. We hail them as Americans in the making, or our broken immigrantion system and the long political paralysis over how to fix it. We don’t need more categories, but we need to change the way we think about categories. We need to look beyond strick definitions of legal and illegal. To start, we can recognize the new birds of passage, those living and thriving in the gray areas. We might then begin to solve our immigration challenges.
Crop pickers, violinists, construction workers, entrepreneurs, engineers, home health-care aides and physicists are among today’s birds of passage. They are energetic participants in a global economy driven by the flow of work, money and ideas .They prefer to come and go as opportunity calls them , They can manage to have a job in one place and a family in another.
With or without permission, they straddle laws, jurisdictions and identities with ease. We need them to imagine the United States as a place where they can be productive for a while without committing themselves to staying forever. We need them to feel that home can be both here and there and that they can belong to two nations honorably.
Accommodating this new world of people in motion will require new attitudes on both sides of the immigration battle .Looking beyond the culture war logic of right or wrong means opening up the middle ground and understanding that managing immigration today requires multiple paths and multiple outcomes. Including some that are not easy to accomplish legally in the existing system.
26 “Birds of passage” refers to those who____
[A] immigrate across the Atlantic.
[B] leave their home countries for good.
[C] stay in a foregin temporaily.
[D] find permanent jobs overseas.
27 It is implied in paragraph 2 that the current immigration stystem in the US____
[A] needs new immigrant categories.
[B] has loosened control over immigrants.
[C] should be adopted to meet challenges.
[D] has been fixeed via political means.
28 According to the author, today’s birds of passage want___
[A] fiancial incentives.
[B] a global recognition.
[C] opportunities to get regular jobs.
[D] the freedom to stay and leave.
29 The author suggests that the birds of passage today should be treated __
[A] as faithful partners.
[B] with economic favors.
[C] with regal tolerance.
[D] as mighty rivals.
[A] come and go: big mistake.
[B] living and thriving : great risk.
[C] with or without : great risk.
[D] legal or illegal: big mistake.
Text 2
When Liam McGee departed as president of Bank of America in August， his explanation was surprisingly straight up. Rather than cloaking his exit in the usual vague excuses， he came right out and said he was leaving “to pursue my goal of running a company.” Broadcasting his ambition was “very much my decision，” McGee says. Within two weeks， he was talking for the first time with the board of Hartford Financial Services Group， which named him CEO and chairman on September 29.
McGee says leaving without a position lined up gave him time to reflect on what kind of company he wanted to run. It also sent a clear message to the outside world about his aspirations. And McGee isn‘t alone. In recent weeks the No.2 executives at Avon and American Express quit with the explanation that they were looking for a CEO post. As boards scrutinize succession plans in response to shareholder pressure， executives who don’t get the nod also may wish to move on. A turbulent business environment also has senior managers cautious of letting vague pronouncements cloud their reputations.
As the first signs of recovery begin to take hold， deputy chiefs may be more willing to make the jump without a net. In the third quarter， CEO turnover was down 23% from a year ago as nervous boards stuck with the leaders they had， according to Liberum Research. As the economy picks up， opportunities will abound for aspiring leaders.
The decision to quit a senior position to look for a better one is unconventional. For years executives and headhunters have adhered to the rule that the most attractive CEO candidates are the ones who must be poached. Says Korn/Ferry senior partner Dennis Carey：“I can‘t think of a single search I’ve done where a board has not instructed me to look at sitting CEOs first.”
Those who jumped without a job haven‘t always landed in top positions quickly. Ellen Marram quit as chief of Tropicana a decade age， saying she wanted to be a CEO. It was a year before she became head of a tiny Internet-based commodities exchange. Robert Willumstad left Citigroup in 2005 with ambitions to be a CEO. He finally took that post at a major financial institution three years later.
Many recruiters say the old disgrace is fading for top performers. The financial crisis has made it more acceptable to be between jobs or to leave a bad one. “The traditional rule was it‘s safer to stay where you are， but that’s been fundamentally inverted，” says one headhunter. “The people who‘ve been hurt the worst are those who’ve stayed too long.”
26. When McGee announced his departure， his manner can best be described as being
[A]arrogant.
[B]frank.
[C]self-centered.
[D]impulsive.
27. According to Paragraph 2， senior executives‘ quitting may be spurred by
[A]their expectation of better financial status.
[B]their need to reflect on their private life.
[C]their strained relations with the boards.
[D]their pursuit of new career goals.
28. The word “poached” (Line 3， Paragraph 4) most probably means
[A]approved of.
[B]attended to.
[C]hunted for.
[D]guarded against.
29. It can be inferred from the last paragraph that
[A]top performers used to cling to their posts.
[B]loyalty of top performers is getting out-dated.
[C]top performers care more about reputations.
[D]it‘s safer to stick to the traditional rules.
30. Which of the following is the best title for the text?
[A]CEOs： Where to Go?
[B]CEOs： All the Way Up?
[C]Top Managers Jump without a Net
[D]The Only Way Out for Top Performers
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