Unit 7

Text 1

In cities all over the United States, workers spend several hours a day in cars crawling along in traffic to get to offices many miles from home. They experience stress, waste time, and pay a lot for gas, car maintenance, and parking. Once they get to work, they make their way through a maze of cubicles, each with its computer, phone, and file cabinet. Nancy Alley, human resources manager at TBWA Chiat/Day, doesn't. She stays at home, talking with managers over the phone and faxing in paperwork. Instead of walking down the hall to chat with coworkers, she e-mails them. Nancy is a telecommuter, someone who works some or all of the time at home. Since 2010, the number of US telecommuters has grown from 4.2 million to 9.2 million.

Highway congestion, the high cost of office space, federal clean-air laws, reduced work forces, and lifestyle needs—all these factors contribute to the growth of telecommuting. What makes it possible is technology. Desktop and laptop personal computers, networking, videoconferencing, fax machines, e-mail, and multiple phone lines provide the fast and efficient communication required for telecommuting.

The experiences of many companies suggest that telecommuting can increase workplace flexibility and enhance productivity. At Georgia Power Company, for example, a pilot telecommuting project was so successful that the company decided to triple its number of telecommuters. The company reduced the cost of leased office space by $100,000 a year, increased productivity among the telecommuting employees of its customer service center, and saved the workers a combined 750 commuter miles a day.

Telecommuting, however, is not without its obstacles. At one computer software firm, the information systems manager offered telecommuting as an option to her 100-person staff. After three months, the staff members reported that being away from the office was counterproductive to their work. Programmers missed being able to drop by analysts cubicles with questions, and everyone reported they were interrupted at home more often. As part of its cost-cutting initiative, Nestle required 140 sales employees to telecommute. Facing many technical problems with telephone lines and frustratingly slow computer networking, most of these telecommuters found it an aggravating experience. Telecommuting also makes many employees feel isolated and out of touch, leading to decreased motivation and less, not more productivity. By blurring the barriers between work and family, telecommuting often leads to more work hours and more interference with family life.

Telecommuting is not universally applicable. Jobs and individuals must be suitable, and staff must be capable of managing telecommuters. In addition, technological improvements, such as high-speed network, are crucial. Few people expect to conduct business regularly from a tropical island or mountain resort any time soon.

1. By using the contrast in Paragraph 1, the author seems to imply _______.

A. the harsh working conditions of the U.S.

B. the high pressure of working in the U.S.

C. the superiority of telecommuting

D. the development of telecommuting

2. More people choose to telecommute because ______.

A. they don't like their working environment

B. the development of technology enables them to work at home

C. telecommuting can solve many social problems

D. telecommuting is a trend that most people like to follow

3. The word “counterproductive” (Line 6, Para. 4) probably means _______.

A. producing challenges

B. producing counters

C. producing results

D. producing problems

4. Telecommuting may affect a telecommuter's family life because _______.

A. telecommuters are required to do more work

B. the routine of their family life is disturbed

C. telecommuters' families don't like them working at home

D. there is no distinction between work and family life

5. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A. The application of telecommuting is influenced by many factors.

B. Only those who are highly-motivated can be telecommuters.

C. Although telecommuting brings benefits, it also causes problems.

D. People don't like doing business in a remote area.

Text 2

Internet advertising is booming. The industry has gone from $9.6 billion in revenue in 2001 to $27 billion this year, according to Piper Jaffray, an investment bank. And it is still early days. The internet accounts for only 5% of total spending on advertising, but that figure is expected to reach at least 20% in the next few years. The single largest category within this flourishing industry, accounting for nearly half of all spending, is “pay-per-click” advertising, which is used by firms both large and small to promote their wares.

The benefits of the pay-per-click approach over traditional advertising (television, radio, print and billboards) are obvious. Since advertisers pay only to reach the small subset who actually respond to an advertisement, the quality of the leads generated is very high, and advertisers are prepared to pay accordingly. The price per click varies from $0.10 to as much as $30, depending on the keyword, though the average is around $0.50. Google made most of its $6.1 billion in revenue last year from pay-per-click advertising.

But as pay-per-click advertising has grown into a huge industry, concern has mounted over so-called “click fraud”—bogus clicks that do not come from genuinely interested customers. It takes two main forms. If you click repeatedly on the advertisements on your own website, or get other people or machines to do so on your behalf, you can generate a stream of bogus commissions. Click fraud can also be used by one company against another: clicking on a rival firm's advertisements can saddle it with a huge bill. Bogus clicks are thought to account for around 10% of all click traffic, though nobody knows for sure.

A few months ago Mr. Gross pioneered an alternative to the pay-per-click model. In February Snap, a search engine backed by Mr Gross, launched “pay-per-action” (PPA), a new model in which advertisers pay only if a click on an ad is followed by an action such as a purchase or a download.

Might this put an end to click fraud? Don't bet on it, says Mike Zeman at Starcom, an advertising agency. Pay-per-action will be a niche, he predicts, since converting a click into an action depends on a variety of factors such as the ease of use of the advertiser's website. Google and its peers will be reluctant to be so dependent on factors outside their control. But he thinks pay-per-action could become a real alternative to pay-per-click. As bigger companies spend more on internet advertising, they will demand more accountability and a wider range of options, he says. At the very least, that means clamping down on click fraud; but it also presents an opportunity for entrepreneurs to invent new models that are less vulnerable to abuse.

1. The situation of “pay-per-click” advertising can be described as ______.

A. a fresh and busy industry

B. an efficient tool to attract consumers

C. the trend of Internet advertising

D. the good choice for both large and small companies

2. The price per click depends on the keyword, because ______.

A. the keyword will attract consumers to visit the advertiser's website

B. the keyword relates to the commission

C. the keyword will reflect the consumers' hobbies

D. the keyword is the main part of the product

3. It is implied in Paragraph 3 that _____.

A. bogus clicks account for around 10% of all click traffic

B. click fraud generates a stream of commissions

C. click fraud has grown into a huge industry

D. clicking on a rival firm's advertisements makes profit

4. The PPA will become more popular due to ______.

A. the shortcoming of pay-per-click

B. the fraud click

C. the adoption of leading operators

D. the punishment for click fraud

5. Which of the following is true according to the text?

A. Although the risk exists, the Internet advertising still can earn a lot of profits.

B. The PPA will substitute the original click advertising model.

C. All operators start to satisfy the advertisers by using PPA.

D. The entrepreneurs are pleasantly surprised by the temporary solution.

Text 3

In a country with a shrinking population, the latest trend in Germany's higher education is something of a mystery: the number of universities and academic programs is rising. The growth is the sharpest for professional graduate schools, where the number has soared from practically zero in 2013 to 130 now, in fields ranging from law and business to clinical counseling and education. But there is one obvious problem: not enough students are signing up. The German government says that nearly half of professionally oriented programs, aside from law schools, have yet to fill their stated student capacity. And the problem has been especially acute in graduate programs in education.

Interest in many professional schools has been less than overwhelming, said Markus Zimmermann, an executive senior consultant at the Germany Research Institute in Berlin, which is affiliated with Berliner Banking Corp. “German universities tend to roll out programs without having a good grasp of the needs in the marketplace,” said Mr. Zimmermann, who watches Germany's higher education. “When they start a program, they assume there will be students.”

In German, the need for graduate programs seems undeniable: lifetime employment is crumbling, employers are spending less time and money to train young workers, and social problems are becoming more complex, increasing the need for experts. Setting up graduate programs in education was the universities' answer to a growing dissatisfaction with the primary and secondary school system.

With the accreditation of the Ministry of Education, 19 universities launched professionally oriented graduate programs in teacher education, seeking approximately 700 students in total. Seven more schools introduced similar programs a year later. During the first year, 8 of the 19 original institutions fell short of the target enrollment—some by far: two schools managed to recruit only half of the target numbers of students. A ministry assessment completed shortly afterward said the schools lacked proper marketing methods and had failed to clearly state the practical benefits of receiving graduate diplomas.

Some schools are taking their own measures to increase enrollment. They have gone around visiting undergraduate departments giving explanatory sessions and did what they could to let people know about their problems. The graduate school has also been placing an emphasis on practical training, for example, sending students to teach at local primary and secondary schools. Students teach lessons at local schools, videotape the classes and then bring the tapes back for evaluation with other students. Then they feed the solutions back to the classes. A number of graduate students have had years of teaching experience before coming to the graduate programs, and generally held positive views about the in-class training.

1. What is the evident problem of Germany's graduate education?

A. The deteriorating educational environment.

B. The soaring number of graduate schools.

C. The inadequate graduate enrollment.

D. The narrowing professionally oriented fields.

2. How is the Germany's graduate enrollment?

A. Only law schools have not achieved their stated students capacity.

B. About half of professionally oriented programs have not filled their stated students capacity.

C. More than half of professionally oriented programs have not filled their stated students capacity.

D. Many other professionally oriented schools, except law schools, have filled their stated students capacity.

3. What led to establishment of graduate programs in education in German universities?

A. The crumbling of lifetime employment.

B. The less employment training.

C. The even more complex social problems.

D. The discontent with primary and secondary education.

4. What should graduate school do to ensure enroll-ment according to the Ministry of Education?

A. State the benefits of a master's degree.

B. Launch more orientation programs.

C. Revise the social system for teachers.

D. Go around visiting undergraduate departments and give explanatory sessions.

5. What have some schools done to enhance the education of graduates in teaching?

A. Identify issues, find solutions and solve issues in classroom.

B. Provide the approach of integrated theory with practice.

C. Send students to teach at local schools.

D. Arrange and organize students to study theoretical knowledge.

Text 4

Everyone, it seems, has a health problem. After pouring billions into the National Health Service, British people moan about dirty hospitals, long waits and wasted money. In Germany, the chancellor, Angela Merkel, is under fire for suggesting changing the financing of its health system. Canada's Conservative Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, made a big fuss during the election about reducing the country's lengthy medical queues. Across the rich world, affluence, ageing and advancing technology are driving up health spending faster than income.

But nowhere has a bigger health problem than America. Soaring medical bills are squeezing wages, swelling the ranks of the uninsured and pushing huge firms and perhaps even the government towards bankruptcy. Ford's announcement that it would cut up to 30,000 jobs was as much a sign of its “legacy” health-care costs as of the ills of the car industry. Pushed by polls that show health care is one of his main domestic problems and by forecasts showing that the baby boomers will crush the government's finances, President of the United Stares is to unveil a reform plan in next week's state-of-the-union address.

America's health system is unlike any other. The United States spends 16% of its GDP on health, around twice the rich-country average, equivalent to $6,280 for every American each year. Yet it is the only rich country that does not guarantee universal health coverage. Thanks to an accident of history, most Americans receive health insurance through their employer, with the government picking up the bill for the poor and the elderly.

This curious hybrid certainly has its strengths. Americans have more choice than anybody else, and their health-care system is much more innovative. Europeans' bills could be much higher if American medicine were not doing much of their Research and Development (R ＆ D) for them. But there are also huge weaknesses. The one most often cited—especially by foreigners—is the army of uninsured. Some 46 million Americans do not have cover. In many cases that is out of choice and, if they fall seriously ill, hospitals have to treat them. But it is still deeply unequal. And there are also shocking inefficiencies: by some measures, 30% of American health spending is wasted.

Then there is the question of state support. Many Americans disapprove of the “socialized medicine” of Canada and Europe. In fact, even if much of the administration is done privately, around 60% of America's health-care bill ends up being met by the government. Proportionately, the American state already spends as much on health as the OECD (Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development) average and that share is set to grow as the baby boomers run up their Medicare bills and ever more employers avoid providing health-care coverage. America is, in effect, heading towards a version of socialized medicine by default.

1. Health problems mentioned in the passage include all the following EXCEPT ______.

A. poor hospital conditions in U.K.

B. Angela Merkel under attack

C. health financing in Germany

D. long waiting lines in Canada

2. Ford's announcement of cutting up to 30,000 jobs indicates that Ford ______.

A. has the biggest health problem of the car industry

B. has made profits from its health-care legacy

C. has accumulated too heavy a health-care burden

D. owes a great deal of debt to its employees

3. In the author's opinion, America's health system is ______.

A. inefficient

B. feasible

C. unpopular

D. successful

4. It is implied in the passage that ______.

A. America's health system has its strengths and weaknesses

B. the U.S. government pays medical bills for the poor and the elderly

C. some 46 million Americans do not have medical insurance

D. Europeans benefit a lot from America's medical research

5. From the last paragraph we may learn that the “socialized medicine” is ______.

A. a practice of Canada and Europe

B. a policy adopted by the U.S. government

C. intended for the baby boomers

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