题目内容
The Los Angeles basin ________ on three sides by high mountains.
- A.surrounds
- B.is surrounded
- C.is surrounding
- D.has been surrounded
Why are we addicted to upgrades? According to Donald Norman, American author of the book The Design of Everyday Things, “planned obsolescence”（计划性报废） is the trick behind the upgrading culture of today’s consumer electronics industry.
The New York Times cited Norman last month, saying that electronics manufactures strategically release new upgrades periodically, both for hardware and software, so that customers on every level feel the need to buy the newest version.
“This is an old-time trick– they’re not inventing anything new,” he said.
Thomas Wensma, a Dutch designer, despises the “planned obsolescence” of companies, as recently reported by UK-based The Guardian.
Wensma said this is a wasteful system through which companies – many of them producing personal electronics – release shoddy products simply because “they know that, in six months or a year, they’ll put out a new one”.
But the new psychology of consumers is part of this system, as Wensma said to the newspaper: “We now want something new, something pretty, the next shiny thing.”
____________________
“It’s to the damage of the consumer and the environment,” as the New York Times quoted Norman. “But perhaps to the betterment of the stockholder.”
In its most recent fiscal(财务的) year, Apple’s profit margin was more than 21 percent, reported the Los Angeles Times. At Hewlett-Packard, the world’s biggest PC manufacturer, it was only 7 percent.
“Steven Jobs pushed the principle of ‘planned obsolescence’ to new heights,” the newspaper commented on the company’s profits and marketing strategy. “Apple’s annual upgrades of its products generate sales of millions of units as owners of one year’s MacBook or iPhone line up to buy the newest version, even when the changes are incremental.”
Peer pressure
As to Li Jijia, the need for upgrading his smart phone comes mainly from friends and classmates. When the majority of friends are switching to the latest devices, he worries about feeling left out.
“Some apps and games require better hardware to run,” said Li. “If you don’t join in, you lose part of the connection to your friends.”
【小题1】Donald Norman believes that electronics makers strategically release new upgrades periodically because __________.
| A．customers need the latest version | B．technology is developing so fast |
| C．they want to invent something new | D．they can make a lot of money |
| A．positive | B．negative | C．indifferent | D．neutral |
| A．Huge profits | B．Apple’s principle |
| C．Environmental damage | D．Marketing strategy |
| A．the new psychology of consumers is also to blame for the wasteful system |
| B．young people are always fond of something new, pretty and shiny |
| C．if you don’t upgrade your smart phone, you will lose contact with your friends |
| D．needs of consumers help to promote the development of electronics industry |
What can help you make a fortune in the future? Graduating from a top university might not be enough. A new study from the University of Essex in Britain has shown that the more friends you have in school, the more money you’ll earn later.
The idea that popularity could have a serious impact on one’s earning potential shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. The researchers noted that if you want to get ahead in life, social skills and networking are easily as powerful as talent and hard work.
“If a person has lots of friends, it means that he or she has the ability to get along with others in all kinds of different situations,” said Xu Yanchun, 17, from Nantou High School in Shenzhen, who totally agreed with the recent finding. “Also, friends always help each other. They not only create wider social circles for you but lift your mood when you occasionally feel depressed,” said Xu. She believed that all this helps you “earn a higher salary”.
Maybe that’s why some people think the younger generations are in the age of Friendalholism(交友狂症). A woman even complained that the networking website Facebook’s 5,000-friend limit was too low for her large reserve of social contacts.
But what does a friend mean? Should friends be regarded as a form of currency?
“Call me uncool, but I think of a friend as an actual person with whom I have an actual history and whom I enjoy actually seeing. It seems, however, that this is no longer the definition of ‘friend’,” said Meghan Daum, who works with the Los Angeles Times in the US.
【小题1】The new study from the University of Essex in Britain shows that _______.
| A．if you have more friends you will not live happily |
| B．the more friends you have in school, the more money you’ll earn in your late life |
| C．the less friends you have, the poor lives you will live |
| D．friends can make more money for you |
| A．you have the ability to earn more money |
| B．you will not feel lonely |
| C．you are quite content with your life |
| D．you have the ability to get along with others in various situations |
| A．The passage mainly tells us something about the friendship. |
| B．Friendship plays a more important part in our daily life than anything else. |
| C．Friends are currency. |
| D．Friends give you success. |
| A．if you have more friends, you can make a fortune in the future |
| B．graduating from college means that you can make a fortune in the future |
| C．friends mean a form of currency |
| D．friends can make you wider social circle and make you feel better when you feel depressed |