2022 年真题

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

完形填空

Directions

Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on the ANSWER SHEET. (10 points)

Text

The idea that plants have some degree of consciousness first took root in the early 2000s; the term “plant neurobiology” was   $\underline{1}$ around the notion that some aspects of plant behavior could be   $\underline{2}$ to intelligence in animals.   $\underline{3}$ plants lack brains, the firing of electrical signals in their stems and leaves nonetheless triggered responses that   $\underline{4}$ consciousness, researchers previously reported.

But such an idea is untrue, according to a new opinion article. Plant biology is complex and fascinating, but it   $\underline{5}$ so greatly from that of animals that so-called   $\underline{6}$ of plants’ intelligence is inconclusive, the authors wrote.

Beginning in 2006, some scientists have   $\underline{7}$ that plants possess neuron-like cells that interact with hormones and neurotransmitters,   $\underline{8}$ “a plant nervous system, 9 $\underline{9}$ to that in animals,” said lead study author Lincoln Taiz. “They   $\underline{10}$ claimed that plants have ‘brain-like command centers’ at their root tips.”

This   $\underline{11}$ makes sense if you simplify the workings of a complex brain,   $\underline{12}$ it to an array of electrical pulses; cells in plants also communicate through electrical signals.   $\underline{13}$ , the signaling in a plant is only   $\underline{14}$ similar to the firing in a complex animal brain, which is more than “a mass of cells that communicate by electricity,” Taiz said.

“For consciousness to evolve, a brain with a threshold   $\underline{15}$ of complexity and capacity is required,” he   $\underline{16}$ . “Since plants don’t have nervous systems, the   $\underline{17}$ that they have consciousness are effectively zero.”

And what’s so great about consciousness, anyway? Plants can’t run away from   $\underline{18}$ , so investing energy in a body system which   $\underline{19}$ a threat and can feel pain would be a very   $\underline{20}$ evolutionary strategy, according to the article.

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

The author considers it a good sign that_____.

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

The author considers it a good sign that_____.

It is advised in Paragraph 5 that those with one degree should_____.

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

The author considers it a good sign that_____.

It is advised in Paragraph 5 that those with one degree should_____.

What can be concluded about Generation Z from the last two paragraphs?

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

The author considers it a good sign that_____.

It is advised in Paragraph 5 that those with one degree should_____.

What can be concluded about Generation Z from the last two paragraphs?

Text 3

Enlightening, challenging, stimulating, fun. These were some of the words that Nature readers used to describe their experience of art-science collaborations in a series of articles on partnerships between artists and researchers. Nearly 40% of the roughly 350 people who responded to an accompanying poll said, they had collaborated with artists; and almost all said they would consider doing so in future. Such an encouraging results is not surprising. Scientists are increasingly seeking “Artists help scientists reach a broader audience and make emotional connections that enhance learning” One respondent said. One example of how artists and scientists have together rocked the scenes came last month when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performed a reworked version of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, injecting the latest climate prediction data for each season—provided by Monash University’s Climate Change Communication Research Hub. The performance was a creative call to action ahead of November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, UK. But a genuine partnership must be a two-way street. Fewer artist than scientists responded to the Nature poll, however, several respondents noted that artists do not simply assist scientists with their communication requirements. Nor should their work be considered only as an object of study. The alliances are most valuable when scientists and artists have a shared stake in a project, are able to jointly design it and can critique each other’s work. Such an approach can both prompt new research as well as result in powerful art. More than half a century ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened its Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) to explore the role of technology in culture. Light was a something that both artists and scientists had an interest in, and therefore could form the basis of collaboration. As science and technology progressed, and divided into more sub-disciplines, the centre was simultaneously looking to a time when leading researchers could also be artists, writers and poets, and vice versa. Nature’s poll collaboration work, both sides need to invest time, and embrace surprise and challenge. The reach of art-science tie-ups needs to go beyond the necessary purpose of research communication, and participants must not fall into the trap of stereotyping each other. Artists and scientists alike are immersed in discovery and invention, and challenge and critique are core to both, too.

According to paragraph , art-science collaborations have_

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

The author considers it a good sign that_____.

It is advised in Paragraph 5 that those with one degree should_____.

What can be concluded about Generation Z from the last two paragraphs?

Text 3

Enlightening, challenging, stimulating, fun. These were some of the words that Nature readers used to describe their experience of art-science collaborations in a series of articles on partnerships between artists and researchers. Nearly 40% of the roughly 350 people who responded to an accompanying poll said, they had collaborated with artists; and almost all said they would consider doing so in future. Such an encouraging results is not surprising. Scientists are increasingly seeking “Artists help scientists reach a broader audience and make emotional connections that enhance learning” One respondent said. One example of how artists and scientists have together rocked the scenes came last month when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performed a reworked version of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, injecting the latest climate prediction data for each season—provided by Monash University’s Climate Change Communication Research Hub. The performance was a creative call to action ahead of November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, UK. But a genuine partnership must be a two-way street. Fewer artist than scientists responded to the Nature poll, however, several respondents noted that artists do not simply assist scientists with their communication requirements. Nor should their work be considered only as an object of study. The alliances are most valuable when scientists and artists have a shared stake in a project, are able to jointly design it and can critique each other’s work. Such an approach can both prompt new research as well as result in powerful art. More than half a century ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened its Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) to explore the role of technology in culture. Light was a something that both artists and scientists had an interest in, and therefore could form the basis of collaboration. As science and technology progressed, and divided into more sub-disciplines, the centre was simultaneously looking to a time when leading researchers could also be artists, writers and poets, and vice versa. Nature’s poll collaboration work, both sides need to invest time, and embrace surprise and challenge. The reach of art-science tie-ups needs to go beyond the necessary purpose of research communication, and participants must not fall into the trap of stereotyping each other. Artists and scientists alike are immersed in discovery and invention, and challenge and critique are core to both, too.

According to paragraph , art-science collaborations have_

The reworked version of The Four Seasons is mentioned to show that

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

The author considers it a good sign that_____.

It is advised in Paragraph 5 that those with one degree should_____.

What can be concluded about Generation Z from the last two paragraphs?

Text 3

Enlightening, challenging, stimulating, fun. These were some of the words that Nature readers used to describe their experience of art-science collaborations in a series of articles on partnerships between artists and researchers. Nearly 40% of the roughly 350 people who responded to an accompanying poll said, they had collaborated with artists; and almost all said they would consider doing so in future. Such an encouraging results is not surprising. Scientists are increasingly seeking “Artists help scientists reach a broader audience and make emotional connections that enhance learning” One respondent said. One example of how artists and scientists have together rocked the scenes came last month when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performed a reworked version of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, injecting the latest climate prediction data for each season—provided by Monash University’s Climate Change Communication Research Hub. The performance was a creative call to action ahead of November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, UK. But a genuine partnership must be a two-way street. Fewer artist than scientists responded to the Nature poll, however, several respondents noted that artists do not simply assist scientists with their communication requirements. Nor should their work be considered only as an object of study. The alliances are most valuable when scientists and artists have a shared stake in a project, are able to jointly design it and can critique each other’s work. Such an approach can both prompt new research as well as result in powerful art. More than half a century ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened its Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) to explore the role of technology in culture. Light was a something that both artists and scientists had an interest in, and therefore could form the basis of collaboration. As science and technology progressed, and divided into more sub-disciplines, the centre was simultaneously looking to a time when leading researchers could also be artists, writers and poets, and vice versa. Nature’s poll collaboration work, both sides need to invest time, and embrace surprise and challenge. The reach of art-science tie-ups needs to go beyond the necessary purpose of research communication, and participants must not fall into the trap of stereotyping each other. Artists and scientists alike are immersed in discovery and invention, and challenge and critique are core to both, too.

According to paragraph , art-science collaborations have_

The reworked version of The Four Seasons is mentioned to show that

Some artists seem to worry about in the art-science partnership.

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

The author considers it a good sign that_____.

It is advised in Paragraph 5 that those with one degree should_____.

What can be concluded about Generation Z from the last two paragraphs?

Text 3

Enlightening, challenging, stimulating, fun. These were some of the words that Nature readers used to describe their experience of art-science collaborations in a series of articles on partnerships between artists and researchers. Nearly 40% of the roughly 350 people who responded to an accompanying poll said, they had collaborated with artists; and almost all said they would consider doing so in future. Such an encouraging results is not surprising. Scientists are increasingly seeking “Artists help scientists reach a broader audience and make emotional connections that enhance learning” One respondent said. One example of how artists and scientists have together rocked the scenes came last month when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performed a reworked version of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, injecting the latest climate prediction data for each season—provided by Monash University’s Climate Change Communication Research Hub. The performance was a creative call to action ahead of November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, UK. But a genuine partnership must be a two-way street. Fewer artist than scientists responded to the Nature poll, however, several respondents noted that artists do not simply assist scientists with their communication requirements. Nor should their work be considered only as an object of study. The alliances are most valuable when scientists and artists have a shared stake in a project, are able to jointly design it and can critique each other’s work. Such an approach can both prompt new research as well as result in powerful art. More than half a century ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened its Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) to explore the role of technology in culture. Light was a something that both artists and scientists had an interest in, and therefore could form the basis of collaboration. As science and technology progressed, and divided into more sub-disciplines, the centre was simultaneously looking to a time when leading researchers could also be artists, writers and poets, and vice versa. Nature’s poll collaboration work, both sides need to invest time, and embrace surprise and challenge. The reach of art-science tie-ups needs to go beyond the necessary purpose of research communication, and participants must not fall into the trap of stereotyping each other. Artists and scientists alike are immersed in discovery and invention, and challenge and critique are core to both, too.

According to paragraph , art-science collaborations have_

The reworked version of The Four Seasons is mentioned to show that

Some artists seem to worry about in the art-science partnership.

What does the author say about CAVS?

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

The author considers it a good sign that_____.

It is advised in Paragraph 5 that those with one degree should_____.

What can be concluded about Generation Z from the last two paragraphs?

Text 3

Enlightening, challenging, stimulating, fun. These were some of the words that Nature readers used to describe their experience of art-science collaborations in a series of articles on partnerships between artists and researchers. Nearly 40% of the roughly 350 people who responded to an accompanying poll said, they had collaborated with artists; and almost all said they would consider doing so in future. Such an encouraging results is not surprising. Scientists are increasingly seeking “Artists help scientists reach a broader audience and make emotional connections that enhance learning” One respondent said. One example of how artists and scientists have together rocked the scenes came last month when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performed a reworked version of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, injecting the latest climate prediction data for each season—provided by Monash University’s Climate Change Communication Research Hub. The performance was a creative call to action ahead of November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, UK. But a genuine partnership must be a two-way street. Fewer artist than scientists responded to the Nature poll, however, several respondents noted that artists do not simply assist scientists with their communication requirements. Nor should their work be considered only as an object of study. The alliances are most valuable when scientists and artists have a shared stake in a project, are able to jointly design it and can critique each other’s work. Such an approach can both prompt new research as well as result in powerful art. More than half a century ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened its Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) to explore the role of technology in culture. Light was a something that both artists and scientists had an interest in, and therefore could form the basis of collaboration. As science and technology progressed, and divided into more sub-disciplines, the centre was simultaneously looking to a time when leading researchers could also be artists, writers and poets, and vice versa. Nature’s poll collaboration work, both sides need to invest time, and embrace surprise and challenge. The reach of art-science tie-ups needs to go beyond the necessary purpose of research communication, and participants must not fall into the trap of stereotyping each other. Artists and scientists alike are immersed in discovery and invention, and challenge and critique are core to both, too.

According to paragraph , art-science collaborations have_

The reworked version of The Four Seasons is mentioned to show that

Some artists seem to worry about in the art-science partnership.

What does the author say about CAVS?

In the last paragraph, the author holds that art-science collaborations

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

The author considers it a good sign that_____.

It is advised in Paragraph 5 that those with one degree should_____.

What can be concluded about Generation Z from the last two paragraphs?

Text 3

Enlightening, challenging, stimulating, fun. These were some of the words that Nature readers used to describe their experience of art-science collaborations in a series of articles on partnerships between artists and researchers. Nearly 40% of the roughly 350 people who responded to an accompanying poll said, they had collaborated with artists; and almost all said they would consider doing so in future. Such an encouraging results is not surprising. Scientists are increasingly seeking “Artists help scientists reach a broader audience and make emotional connections that enhance learning” One respondent said. One example of how artists and scientists have together rocked the scenes came last month when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performed a reworked version of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, injecting the latest climate prediction data for each season—provided by Monash University’s Climate Change Communication Research Hub. The performance was a creative call to action ahead of November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, UK. But a genuine partnership must be a two-way street. Fewer artist than scientists responded to the Nature poll, however, several respondents noted that artists do not simply assist scientists with their communication requirements. Nor should their work be considered only as an object of study. The alliances are most valuable when scientists and artists have a shared stake in a project, are able to jointly design it and can critique each other’s work. Such an approach can both prompt new research as well as result in powerful art. More than half a century ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened its Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) to explore the role of technology in culture. Light was a something that both artists and scientists had an interest in, and therefore could form the basis of collaboration. As science and technology progressed, and divided into more sub-disciplines, the centre was simultaneously looking to a time when leading researchers could also be artists, writers and poets, and vice versa. Nature’s poll collaboration work, both sides need to invest time, and embrace surprise and challenge. The reach of art-science tie-ups needs to go beyond the necessary purpose of research communication, and participants must not fall into the trap of stereotyping each other. Artists and scientists alike are immersed in discovery and invention, and challenge and critique are core to both, too.

According to paragraph , art-science collaborations have_

The reworked version of The Four Seasons is mentioned to show that

Some artists seem to worry about in the art-science partnership.

What does the author say about CAVS?

In the last paragraph, the author holds that art-science collaborations

Text 4

The personal grievance provisions of New Zealand’s Employment Relations Act 2000(ERA) prevent an employer from firing an employee without good cause. Instead, dismissals must be justified. Employers must both show cause and act in a procedurally fair way. Personal grievance procedures were designed to guard the jobs of ordinary workers from “unjustified dismissals”. The premise was that the common contract lacked sufficient safeguards for workers against arbitrary conduct by management. Long gone are the days when a boss could simply give an employee contractual notice. But these provisions create difficulties for businesses when applied to highly paid managers and executives. As countless boards and business owners will attest, constraining firms from firing poorly performing, high-earning managers is a handbrake on boosting productivity and overall performance. The difference between C-grade and A-grade managers may very well be the difference between business success of failure. Between preserving the jobs of ordinary workers or losing them. Yet mediocrity is no longer enough to justify a dismissal. If not placing jobs at risk, to the extent employment protection laws constrain business owners from dismissing under-performing managers, those laws act as a on firm productivity and therefore on workers’ wages. Indeed, in “An International Perspective on New Zealand’s Productivity Paradox” (2014), the Productivity Commission singled out the low quality of managerial capabilities as a cause of the country’s poor productivity growth. Nor are highly paid managers themselves immune from the harm caused by the ERA’s unjustified dismissal procedures. Because employment protection laws make it costlier to fire an employee, employers are more cautious about hiring new staff. This makes it harder for the marginal manager to gain employment. And firms pay staff less because firms carry the burden of the employment arrangement going wrong. Society also suffers from excessive employment protections. Stringent job dismissal regulations adversely affect productivity growth and hamper both prosperity and overall well-being. Across the Tasman Sea, Australia deals with the unjustified dismissal paradox by excluding employees earning above a specified “high income threshold” from the protection of its unfair dismissal laws. In New Zealand, a 2016 private members’ Bill tried to permit firms and high-income employees to contract out of the unjustified dismissal regime. However, the mechanisms proposed were unwieldy and the Bill was voted down following the change in government later that year.

The personal grievance provisions of the ERA are intended to

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

The author considers it a good sign that_____.

It is advised in Paragraph 5 that those with one degree should_____.

What can be concluded about Generation Z from the last two paragraphs?

Text 3

Enlightening, challenging, stimulating, fun. These were some of the words that Nature readers used to describe their experience of art-science collaborations in a series of articles on partnerships between artists and researchers. Nearly 40% of the roughly 350 people who responded to an accompanying poll said, they had collaborated with artists; and almost all said they would consider doing so in future. Such an encouraging results is not surprising. Scientists are increasingly seeking “Artists help scientists reach a broader audience and make emotional connections that enhance learning” One respondent said. One example of how artists and scientists have together rocked the scenes came last month when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performed a reworked version of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, injecting the latest climate prediction data for each season—provided by Monash University’s Climate Change Communication Research Hub. The performance was a creative call to action ahead of November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, UK. But a genuine partnership must be a two-way street. Fewer artist than scientists responded to the Nature poll, however, several respondents noted that artists do not simply assist scientists with their communication requirements. Nor should their work be considered only as an object of study. The alliances are most valuable when scientists and artists have a shared stake in a project, are able to jointly design it and can critique each other’s work. Such an approach can both prompt new research as well as result in powerful art. More than half a century ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened its Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) to explore the role of technology in culture. Light was a something that both artists and scientists had an interest in, and therefore could form the basis of collaboration. As science and technology progressed, and divided into more sub-disciplines, the centre was simultaneously looking to a time when leading researchers could also be artists, writers and poets, and vice versa. Nature’s poll collaboration work, both sides need to invest time, and embrace surprise and challenge. The reach of art-science tie-ups needs to go beyond the necessary purpose of research communication, and participants must not fall into the trap of stereotyping each other. Artists and scientists alike are immersed in discovery and invention, and challenge and critique are core to both, too.

According to paragraph , art-science collaborations have_

The reworked version of The Four Seasons is mentioned to show that

Some artists seem to worry about in the art-science partnership.

What does the author say about CAVS?

In the last paragraph, the author holds that art-science collaborations

Text 4

The personal grievance provisions of New Zealand’s Employment Relations Act 2000(ERA) prevent an employer from firing an employee without good cause. Instead, dismissals must be justified. Employers must both show cause and act in a procedurally fair way. Personal grievance procedures were designed to guard the jobs of ordinary workers from “unjustified dismissals”. The premise was that the common contract lacked sufficient safeguards for workers against arbitrary conduct by management. Long gone are the days when a boss could simply give an employee contractual notice. But these provisions create difficulties for businesses when applied to highly paid managers and executives. As countless boards and business owners will attest, constraining firms from firing poorly performing, high-earning managers is a handbrake on boosting productivity and overall performance. The difference between C-grade and A-grade managers may very well be the difference between business success of failure. Between preserving the jobs of ordinary workers or losing them. Yet mediocrity is no longer enough to justify a dismissal. If not placing jobs at risk, to the extent employment protection laws constrain business owners from dismissing under-performing managers, those laws act as a on firm productivity and therefore on workers’ wages. Indeed, in “An International Perspective on New Zealand’s Productivity Paradox” (2014), the Productivity Commission singled out the low quality of managerial capabilities as a cause of the country’s poor productivity growth. Nor are highly paid managers themselves immune from the harm caused by the ERA’s unjustified dismissal procedures. Because employment protection laws make it costlier to fire an employee, employers are more cautious about hiring new staff. This makes it harder for the marginal manager to gain employment. And firms pay staff less because firms carry the burden of the employment arrangement going wrong. Society also suffers from excessive employment protections. Stringent job dismissal regulations adversely affect productivity growth and hamper both prosperity and overall well-being. Across the Tasman Sea, Australia deals with the unjustified dismissal paradox by excluding employees earning above a specified “high income threshold” from the protection of its unfair dismissal laws. In New Zealand, a 2016 private members’ Bill tried to permit firms and high-income employees to contract out of the unjustified dismissal regime. However, the mechanisms proposed were unwieldy and the Bill was voted down following the change in government later that year.

The personal grievance provisions of the ERA are intended to

It can be learned from paragraph 3 that the provisions may

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

The author considers it a good sign that_____.

It is advised in Paragraph 5 that those with one degree should_____.

What can be concluded about Generation Z from the last two paragraphs?

Text 3

Enlightening, challenging, stimulating, fun. These were some of the words that Nature readers used to describe their experience of art-science collaborations in a series of articles on partnerships between artists and researchers. Nearly 40% of the roughly 350 people who responded to an accompanying poll said, they had collaborated with artists; and almost all said they would consider doing so in future. Such an encouraging results is not surprising. Scientists are increasingly seeking “Artists help scientists reach a broader audience and make emotional connections that enhance learning” One respondent said. One example of how artists and scientists have together rocked the scenes came last month when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performed a reworked version of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, injecting the latest climate prediction data for each season—provided by Monash University’s Climate Change Communication Research Hub. The performance was a creative call to action ahead of November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, UK. But a genuine partnership must be a two-way street. Fewer artist than scientists responded to the Nature poll, however, several respondents noted that artists do not simply assist scientists with their communication requirements. Nor should their work be considered only as an object of study. The alliances are most valuable when scientists and artists have a shared stake in a project, are able to jointly design it and can critique each other’s work. Such an approach can both prompt new research as well as result in powerful art. More than half a century ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened its Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) to explore the role of technology in culture. Light was a something that both artists and scientists had an interest in, and therefore could form the basis of collaboration. As science and technology progressed, and divided into more sub-disciplines, the centre was simultaneously looking to a time when leading researchers could also be artists, writers and poets, and vice versa. Nature’s poll collaboration work, both sides need to invest time, and embrace surprise and challenge. The reach of art-science tie-ups needs to go beyond the necessary purpose of research communication, and participants must not fall into the trap of stereotyping each other. Artists and scientists alike are immersed in discovery and invention, and challenge and critique are core to both, too.

According to paragraph , art-science collaborations have_

The reworked version of The Four Seasons is mentioned to show that

Some artists seem to worry about in the art-science partnership.

What does the author say about CAVS?

In the last paragraph, the author holds that art-science collaborations

Text 4

The personal grievance provisions of New Zealand’s Employment Relations Act 2000(ERA) prevent an employer from firing an employee without good cause. Instead, dismissals must be justified. Employers must both show cause and act in a procedurally fair way. Personal grievance procedures were designed to guard the jobs of ordinary workers from “unjustified dismissals”. The premise was that the common contract lacked sufficient safeguards for workers against arbitrary conduct by management. Long gone are the days when a boss could simply give an employee contractual notice. But these provisions create difficulties for businesses when applied to highly paid managers and executives. As countless boards and business owners will attest, constraining firms from firing poorly performing, high-earning managers is a handbrake on boosting productivity and overall performance. The difference between C-grade and A-grade managers may very well be the difference between business success of failure. Between preserving the jobs of ordinary workers or losing them. Yet mediocrity is no longer enough to justify a dismissal. If not placing jobs at risk, to the extent employment protection laws constrain business owners from dismissing under-performing managers, those laws act as a on firm productivity and therefore on workers’ wages. Indeed, in “An International Perspective on New Zealand’s Productivity Paradox” (2014), the Productivity Commission singled out the low quality of managerial capabilities as a cause of the country’s poor productivity growth. Nor are highly paid managers themselves immune from the harm caused by the ERA’s unjustified dismissal procedures. Because employment protection laws make it costlier to fire an employee, employers are more cautious about hiring new staff. This makes it harder for the marginal manager to gain employment. And firms pay staff less because firms carry the burden of the employment arrangement going wrong. Society also suffers from excessive employment protections. Stringent job dismissal regulations adversely affect productivity growth and hamper both prosperity and overall well-being. Across the Tasman Sea, Australia deals with the unjustified dismissal paradox by excluding employees earning above a specified “high income threshold” from the protection of its unfair dismissal laws. In New Zealand, a 2016 private members’ Bill tried to permit firms and high-income employees to contract out of the unjustified dismissal regime. However, the mechanisms proposed were unwieldy and the Bill was voted down following the change in government later that year.

The personal grievance provisions of the ERA are intended to

It can be learned from paragraph 3 that the provisions may

Which of the following measures would be the Productivity Commission support?

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

The author considers it a good sign that_____.

It is advised in Paragraph 5 that those with one degree should_____.

What can be concluded about Generation Z from the last two paragraphs?

Text 3

Enlightening, challenging, stimulating, fun. These were some of the words that Nature readers used to describe their experience of art-science collaborations in a series of articles on partnerships between artists and researchers. Nearly 40% of the roughly 350 people who responded to an accompanying poll said, they had collaborated with artists; and almost all said they would consider doing so in future. Such an encouraging results is not surprising. Scientists are increasingly seeking “Artists help scientists reach a broader audience and make emotional connections that enhance learning” One respondent said. One example of how artists and scientists have together rocked the scenes came last month when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performed a reworked version of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, injecting the latest climate prediction data for each season—provided by Monash University’s Climate Change Communication Research Hub. The performance was a creative call to action ahead of November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, UK. But a genuine partnership must be a two-way street. Fewer artist than scientists responded to the Nature poll, however, several respondents noted that artists do not simply assist scientists with their communication requirements. Nor should their work be considered only as an object of study. The alliances are most valuable when scientists and artists have a shared stake in a project, are able to jointly design it and can critique each other’s work. Such an approach can both prompt new research as well as result in powerful art. More than half a century ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened its Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) to explore the role of technology in culture. Light was a something that both artists and scientists had an interest in, and therefore could form the basis of collaboration. As science and technology progressed, and divided into more sub-disciplines, the centre was simultaneously looking to a time when leading researchers could also be artists, writers and poets, and vice versa. Nature’s poll collaboration work, both sides need to invest time, and embrace surprise and challenge. The reach of art-science tie-ups needs to go beyond the necessary purpose of research communication, and participants must not fall into the trap of stereotyping each other. Artists and scientists alike are immersed in discovery and invention, and challenge and critique are core to both, too.

According to paragraph , art-science collaborations have_

The reworked version of The Four Seasons is mentioned to show that

Some artists seem to worry about in the art-science partnership.

What does the author say about CAVS?

In the last paragraph, the author holds that art-science collaborations

Text 4

The personal grievance provisions of New Zealand’s Employment Relations Act 2000(ERA) prevent an employer from firing an employee without good cause. Instead, dismissals must be justified. Employers must both show cause and act in a procedurally fair way. Personal grievance procedures were designed to guard the jobs of ordinary workers from “unjustified dismissals”. The premise was that the common contract lacked sufficient safeguards for workers against arbitrary conduct by management. Long gone are the days when a boss could simply give an employee contractual notice. But these provisions create difficulties for businesses when applied to highly paid managers and executives. As countless boards and business owners will attest, constraining firms from firing poorly performing, high-earning managers is a handbrake on boosting productivity and overall performance. The difference between C-grade and A-grade managers may very well be the difference between business success of failure. Between preserving the jobs of ordinary workers or losing them. Yet mediocrity is no longer enough to justify a dismissal. If not placing jobs at risk, to the extent employment protection laws constrain business owners from dismissing under-performing managers, those laws act as a on firm productivity and therefore on workers’ wages. Indeed, in “An International Perspective on New Zealand’s Productivity Paradox” (2014), the Productivity Commission singled out the low quality of managerial capabilities as a cause of the country’s poor productivity growth. Nor are highly paid managers themselves immune from the harm caused by the ERA’s unjustified dismissal procedures. Because employment protection laws make it costlier to fire an employee, employers are more cautious about hiring new staff. This makes it harder for the marginal manager to gain employment. And firms pay staff less because firms carry the burden of the employment arrangement going wrong. Society also suffers from excessive employment protections. Stringent job dismissal regulations adversely affect productivity growth and hamper both prosperity and overall well-being. Across the Tasman Sea, Australia deals with the unjustified dismissal paradox by excluding employees earning above a specified “high income threshold” from the protection of its unfair dismissal laws. In New Zealand, a 2016 private members’ Bill tried to permit firms and high-income employees to contract out of the unjustified dismissal regime. However, the mechanisms proposed were unwieldy and the Bill was voted down following the change in government later that year.

The personal grievance provisions of the ERA are intended to

It can be learned from paragraph 3 that the provisions may

Which of the following measures would be the Productivity Commission support?

What might be an effect of ERA’s unjustified dismissal procedures?

阅读理解

Part A

Directions

Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. (40 points)

Text 1

People often complain that plastics are too durable. Water bottles, shopping bags, and other trash litter the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench, because plastics are everywhere and don’t break down easily. But some plastic materials change over time. They crack and frizzle. They “weep” out additives. They melt into sludge. All of which creates huge headaches for institutions, such as museums, trying to preserve culturally important objects. The variety of plastic objects at risk is dizzying: early radios, avant-garde sculptures, celluloid animation stills from Disney films, the first artificial heart. Certain artifacts are especially vulnerable because some pioneers in plastic art didn’t always know how to mix ingredients properly, says Thea van Oosten, a polymer chemist who, until retiring a few years ago, worked for decades at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands. “It’s like baking a cake: If you don’t have exact amounts, it goes wrong,” she says. “The object you make is already a time bomb.”

And sometimes, it’s not the artist’s fault. In the 1960s, the Italian artist Picro Gilardi began to create hundreds of bright, colorful foam pieces. Those pieces included small beds of roses and other items as well as a few dozen “nature carpets”—large rectangles decorated with foam pumpkins, cabbages, and watermelons. He wanted viewers to walk around on the carpets—which meant they had to be durable.

Unfortunately, the polyurethane foam he used is inherently unstable. It’s especially vulnerable to light damage, and by the mid-1990s, Gilardi’s pumpkins, roses, and other figures were spitting and crumbling. Museums locked some of them away in the dark.

So van Oosten and her colleagues worked to preserve Gilardi’s sculptures. They infused some with stabilizing and consolidating chemicals. Van Oosten calls those chemicals “sunscreens” because their goal was to prevent further light damage and rebuild worn polymer fibers. She is proud that several sculptures have even gone on display again, albeit sometimes beneath protective cases.

Despite success stories like van Oosten’s, preservation of plastics will likely get harder. Old objects continue to deteriorate. Worse, biodegradable plastics designed to disintegrate, are increasingly common.

And more is at stake here than individual objects. Joana Lia Ferreira, an assistant professor of conservation and restoration at the NOVA School of Science and Technology, notes that archaeologists first defined the great material ages of human history—Stone Age, Iron Age, and so on—after examining artifacts in museums. We now live in an age of plastic, she says, “and what we decide to collect today, what we decide to preserve…will have a strong impact on how in the future we’ll be seen.”

According to Paragraph 1, museums are faced with difficulties in_____.

Van Oosten believes that certain plastic objects are_____.

Museums stopped exhibiting some of Gilardi’s artworks to_____.

The author thinks that preservation of plastics is_____.

In Ferreira’s opinion, preservation of plastic artifacts_____.

Text 2

As the latest crop of students pen their undergraduate application form and weigh up their options, it may be worth considering just how the point, purpose and value of a degree has changed and what Generation Z need to consider as they start the third stage of their educational journey. Millennials were told that if you did well in school, got a decent degree, you would be set up for life. But that promise has been found wanting. As degrees became universal, they became devalued. Education was no longer a secure route of social mobility. Today, 28 percent of graduates in the UK are in non-graduate roles, a percentage which is double the average among OECD countries. This is not to say that there is no point in getting a degree, but rather stress that a degree is not for everyone, that the switch from classroom to lecture hall is not an inevitable one and that other options are available. Thankfully, there are signs that this is already happening, with Generation Z seeking to learn from their millennial predecessors, even if parents and teachers tend to be still set in the degree mindset. Employers have long seen the advantages of hiring school leavers who often prove themselves to be more committed and loyal employees than graduates. Many too are seeing the advantages of scrapping a degree requirement for certain roles. For those for whom a degree is the desired route, consider that this may well be the first of many. In this age of generalists, it pays to have specific knowledge or skills. Postgraduates now earn 40 percent more than graduates. When more and more of us have a degree, it makes sense to have two. It is unlikely that Generation Z will be done with education at 18 or 21; they will need to be constantly up-skilling throughout their career to stay employable. It has been estimated that this generation, due to the pressures of technology, the wish for personal fulfilment and desire for diversity, will work for 17 different employers over the course of their working life and have five different careers. Education, and not just knowledge gained on campus, will be a core part of Generation Z’s career trajectory. Older generations often talk about their degree in the present and personal tense: “I am a geographer” or “I am a classist.” Their sons or daughters would never say such a thing; it’s as if they already know that their degree won’t define them in the same way.

The author suggests that Generation Z should_____.

The percentage of UK graduates in non-graduate roles reflect _____.

The author considers it a good sign that_____.

It is advised in Paragraph 5 that those with one degree should_____.

What can be concluded about Generation Z from the last two paragraphs?

Text 3

Enlightening, challenging, stimulating, fun. These were some of the words that Nature readers used to describe their experience of art-science collaborations in a series of articles on partnerships between artists and researchers. Nearly 40% of the roughly 350 people who responded to an accompanying poll said, they had collaborated with artists; and almost all said they would consider doing so in future. Such an encouraging results is not surprising. Scientists are increasingly seeking “Artists help scientists reach a broader audience and make emotional connections that enhance learning” One respondent said. One example of how artists and scientists have together rocked the scenes came last month when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra performed a reworked version of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, injecting the latest climate prediction data for each season—provided by Monash University’s Climate Change Communication Research Hub. The performance was a creative call to action ahead of November’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, UK. But a genuine partnership must be a two-way street. Fewer artist than scientists responded to the Nature poll, however, several respondents noted that artists do not simply assist scientists with their communication requirements. Nor should their work be considered only as an object of study. The alliances are most valuable when scientists and artists have a shared stake in a project, are able to jointly design it and can critique each other’s work. Such an approach can both prompt new research as well as result in powerful art. More than half a century ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology opened its Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) to explore the role of technology in culture. Light was a something that both artists and scientists had an interest in, and therefore could form the basis of collaboration. As science and technology progressed, and divided into more sub-disciplines, the centre was simultaneously looking to a time when leading researchers could also be artists, writers and poets, and vice versa. Nature’s poll collaboration work, both sides need to invest time, and embrace surprise and challenge. The reach of art-science tie-ups needs to go beyond the necessary purpose of research communication, and participants must not fall into the trap of stereotyping each other. Artists and scientists alike are immersed in discovery and invention, and challenge and critique are core to both, too.

According to paragraph , art-science collaborations have_

The reworked version of The Four Seasons is mentioned to show that

Some artists seem to worry about in the art-science partnership.

What does the author say about CAVS?

In the last paragraph, the author holds that art-science collaborations

Text 4

The personal grievance provisions of New Zealand’s Employment Relations Act 2000(ERA) prevent an employer from firing an employee without good cause. Instead, dismissals must be justified. Employers must both show cause and act in a procedurally fair way. Personal grievance procedures were designed to guard the jobs of ordinary workers from “unjustified dismissals”. The premise was that the common contract lacked sufficient safeguards for workers against arbitrary conduct by management. Long gone are the days when a boss could simply give an employee contractual notice. But these provisions create difficulties for businesses when applied to highly paid managers and executives. As countless boards and business owners will attest, constraining firms from firing poorly performing, high-earning managers is a handbrake on boosting productivity and overall performance. The difference between C-grade and A-grade managers may very well be the difference between business success of failure. Between preserving the jobs of ordinary workers or losing them. Yet mediocrity is no longer enough to justify a dismissal. If not placing jobs at risk, to the extent employment protection laws constrain business owners from dismissing under-performing managers, those laws act as a on firm productivity and therefore on workers’ wages. Indeed, in “An International Perspective on New Zealand’s Productivity Paradox” (2014), the Productivity Commission singled out the low quality of managerial capabilities as a cause of the country’s poor productivity growth. Nor are highly paid managers themselves immune from the harm caused by the ERA’s unjustified dismissal procedures. Because employment protection laws make it costlier to fire an employee, employers are more cautious about hiring new staff. This makes it harder for the marginal manager to gain employment. And firms pay staff less because firms carry the burden of the employment arrangement going wrong. Society also suffers from excessive employment protections. Stringent job dismissal regulations adversely affect productivity growth and hamper both prosperity and overall well-being. Across the Tasman Sea, Australia deals with the unjustified dismissal paradox by excluding employees earning above a specified “high income threshold” from the protection of its unfair dismissal laws. In New Zealand, a 2016 private members’ Bill tried to permit firms and high-income employees to contract out of the unjustified dismissal regime. However, the mechanisms proposed were unwieldy and the Bill was voted down following the change in government later that year.

The personal grievance provisions of the ERA are intended to

It can be learned from paragraph 3 that the provisions may

Which of the following measures would be the Productivity Commission support?

What might be an effect of ERA’s unjustified dismissal procedures?

It can be inferred that the “high income threshold” in Australia ____.