As life expectancy increases nowadays, the average person lives well beyond the age of retirement. As a result, the elderly make up an ever-increasing percentage of society, which makes it more important than ever for a real effort to be made in improving the lives of senior citizens.

One way to deal with the situation would be to ensure that the elderly have enough money on which to live. Obviously, when a person stops working, they still require a source of income to cover their basic needs such as food, accommodation and heating. A clear solution to the problem is for the government to make sure that the state pension is adequate for these needs.

Steps should also be taken to overcome the health problems the elderly face. The government should also provide access to the best health care available, which may necessitate paying for residential homes where the elderly can have round-the-clock nursing, or, at the very least, providing medication free of charge to all people over a certain age.

The lives of old people could be improved if attempts were made to address the problem of social isolation. If we organised trips for the elderly to community centres, visits from social workers their problem of loneliness can be reduced a lot which marks the lives of so many old people living alone and far from their families.

One final suggestion, which would help enormously, is to change the attitude of the community towards its older members, who are all too often seen as a burden on society and dismissed as having little to do with modern life. We need to be taught from an early age to respect the views of old people, and appreciate their broader experience of life. This would help society as a whole, and encourage appreciation of the role that old people can still play today.

1.What can be inferred from Paragraph 3?

A. All the elderly can enjoy free medication.

B. The nurses can take good care of the elderly.

C. The elderly are in face of health problems.

D. The health care available to the elderly is good.

2.The underlined word “address” in Paragraph 4 probably means_________.

A. find out

B. deal with

C. put down

D. pick up

3. What factors affected the old people’s life?

a. the state pension

b. the basic needs

c. the attitude of the community

d. the experience of life

e. social isolation

f. medical care

A. a, b, c, d

B. b ,c ,d ,e

C. c ,d ,e, f

D. a, c, e, f

4. According to the last suggestion, the old people_________.

A. should be respected by all of us

B. have to gather more life experience

C. may be regarded as our heavy burden

D. must change their attitude to the community

As a manager, Tiffany is responsible for interviewing applicants for some of the positions with her company. During one interview, she noticed that the candidate never made direct eye contact. She was puzzled and somewhat disappointed because she liked the individual otherwise.

He had a perfect resume and gave good responses to her questions, but the fact that he never looked her in the eye said “untrustworthy,” so she decided to offer the job to her second choice. “It wasn’t until I attended a diversity workshop that I realized the person we passed over was the perfect person.” Tiffany admits. What she hadn’t known at the time of the interview was that the candidate’s “different” behavior was simply a cultural misunderstanding. He was an Asian-American raised in a family where respect for those in authority was shown by turning away your eyes. “I was just thrown off by the lack of eye contact, not realizing it was cultural,” Tiffany says. “I missed out, but will not miss that opportunity again.”

Many of us have had similar experiences with behaviors we describe as different. As the world becomes smaller and our workplaces more diverse, it is becoming essential to expand our understanding of others and to reexamine some of our false assumptions (假设) .

Hire Advantage

At a time when hiring qualified people is becoming more difficult, employers who can have no personal biases (偏见) from the process have an obvious advantage. My company, Mindsets LLC, helps organizations and individuals see their own blind spots. A real estate (房产) agent we worked with illustrates the positive difference such training can make .

“During my Mindsets coaching period, I was taught how to own a diversified workforce. I employed people from different cultures and skill sets. The agents were able to make use of their full potential and experiences to build up the company. When the real estate market began to change, it was because we had a diverse agent pool that we were able to stay in the real estate market much longer than others in the same profession.”

Blinded by Gender

Dale is an account executive who attended one of my workshops in charge of a diverse workforce. “Through some of the lessons, I discovered my personal bias.” he recalls. “I learned I had not been looking at a person as a whole person, and being open to differences.” In his case, the blindness was not about culture but rather gender.

“I had a management position open in my department; and the two finalists were a man and a woman. Had I not attended this workshop, I would have automatically assumed the man was the best candidate because the position required quite a bit of extensive travel. My assumption would have been that even though both candidates were great and could have been successful in the position, I assumed the woman would have wanted to be home with her children and not travel.” Dale’s assumptions are another example of the well-intentioned but incorrect thinking that limits an organization’s ability to promote the full potential of a diverse workforce. “I learned from the class that instead of forcing my gender biases into the situation, I needed to present the full range of duties, responsibilities and expectations to all candidates and allow them to make an informed decision.” Dale sings high praise for the workshop, “because it helped me make decisions based on fairness.”

A better Bottom Line

An open mind about diversity not only improves organizations from inside, it is profitable as well. These comments from a customer service representative show how an inclusive attitude can improve sales.” Most of my customers speak English as a second language. One of the best things my company has done is to contract with a language service that offers translations over the phone. It wasn’t until my boss received Mindsets’ training that she was able to understand how important inclusiveness was to customer service. As a result, our customer base has increased.”

Once we start to see people as individuals, we can move positively toward inclusiveness for everyone. Diversity is about coming together and taking advantage of our differences and similarities and about building better communities and organizations. When we begin to question our assumptions and challenge what we think we have learned from our past , from the media, peers, family, friends, etc, we begin to realize that some of our conclusions are imperfect or contrary to our fundamental values. We need to train ourselves to think differently, shift our mindsets and realize that diversity opens doors for all of us, creating opportunities in organizations and communities that benefit everyone.

1. In Tiffany’s view, the first candidate was passed over because he ________.

A. was an Asian-American

B. didn’t perform as perfectly as the second one

C. was untrustworthy

D. showed no respect for authority

2.Tiffany’s misjudgment about the candidate originated from ________.

A. racial discrimination

B. cultural differences

C. gender discrimination

D. emphasis on physical appearance

3.What kind of organization is Mindsets LLC?

A. A real estate agency.

B. A hi-tech company.

C. A company dealing with financial affairs.

D. A company training workforce.

4.Which of the following statements will Dale not agree with about Mindsets LLC’s workshop?

A. It helped him make fair decisions.

B. It helped him discover his personal bias about gender.

C. It helped him look at a person as a whole one.

D. It helped him find successful candidates.

5.The last paragraph is intended to tell us the importance of ________.

A. viewing people as individuals

B. challenging our past

C. training ourselves in Mindsets’ workshops

D.building better communications

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网