Hoffman, 40, a former senior vice president of a financial company, had what she describes as “one of those extreme jobs.” “I loved working,” she says. But her career path reached a crossroad when her second child was born, and she left her job in February 2007. Hoffman is one of many people who have left the work force to take a break, but she has a position as consultant. she has described this type of career detour（绕路）—— which is more common for women than for men —— as “off-ramping.” Typically it occurs when the balancing act of parenting and work becomes too tough.

A study by the center found that more than 90 percent of women who off-ramp want to on-ramp back into the work force eventually. But making the transition back to work is rarely easy, and it is even harder in this economic climate of layoffs and hiring freezes.

Considering some of the obstacles faced by on-rampers, a three-day program called “Greater Returns: Restarting Your Career” was held at Columbia University. The goal of the three days was to have them walk away with a big shot of confidence.”

According to one school of thought women looking to make a comeback might even have an advantage in the current economy, especially if they are looking for part-time or consultant positions that do not offer benefits. And a majority of on-rampers are women with extensive working experiences that could give them a slight advantage over less-experienced competition.

“You absolutely cannot be defensive about why you off-ramped,” Ms Hoffman says, “defensive” would have put her into a hard situation if the Greater Returns program had not taught her how to describe the years she spent at home. “I now feel confident talking to an employer and saying, ‘Yes, I have been out of the work force, but here is where I can make significant contributions.’”

1. What is the best title for the passage?

A. Off-ramp: it is common

B. Off-ramp: it is easy

C. Off-ramp to on-ramp: it can be a hard journey

D. Off-ramp to on-ramp: it depends on confidence

2. According to the passage, Greater Returns                    .

A. is intended to relieve the pressure of the jobless women

B. has all the jobless women restart their career

C. is to last all the year around for the jobless women

D. will build up the confidence of those in search of jobs

3. The main reason for the women’s off-ramping is that                          .

A. they have to suffer the sexual discrimination

B. they reach a crossroad of career

C. they have to parent their children

D. they have great work pressure

4. Which job is easier to get for a woman off-ramper?

A. Regular workers.             B. Casual workers.       

C. Company managers.           D. Band clerks.

5. From what Ms. Hoffman says in the last paragraph, we can conclude                        .

A. she didn't get advice from the Greater Returns program

B. she was defensive about her off-ramping

C. she didn’t get the job because she lied about her experience

D. she is on-ramp partly due to her straightforward manner

Even plant can run a fever, especially when they’re under attack by insects or disease. But unlike human, plants can have their temperature taken from 3, 000 feet away straight up. A decade ago, adopting the infrared （红外线）scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The goal was to let farmers precisely target pesticide （杀虫剂）spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field, which invariably includes plants that don’t have pest （害虫）problems.

　　Even better, Paley’s Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became visible to the eye. Mounted on a plane flown at 3, 000 feet at night, an infrared scanner measured the heat emitted by crops. The data were transformed into a color-coded map showing where plants were running“fevers”. Farmers could then spot-spray, using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would.

　　The bad news is that Paley’s company closed down in 1984, after only three years. Farmers resisted the new technology and long - term backers were hard to find. But with the renewed concern about pesticides on produce, and refinements in infrared scanning, Paley hopes to get back into operation. Agriculture experts have no doubt the technology works. “This technique can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land in the United States, ” says George Oerther of Texas A & M. Ray Jackson , who recently retired from the Department of Agriculture, thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only ff Paley finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago.

Plants will emit an increased amount of heat when they are______________.

A. sprayed with pesticides　　        

B. facing an infrared scanner

C. in poor physical condition　　      

D. exposed to excessive sun rays

In order to apply pesticide spraying precisely, we can use infrared scanning to____________.

A. estimate the damage to the crops　　

B. measure the size of the affected area

C. draw a color-coded map　　       

D. locate the problem area

Farmers can save a considerable amount of pesticide by______________.

A. resorting to spot-spraying　　     

B. consulting infrared scanning experts

C. transforming poisoned rain　　    

D. detecting crop problems at an early stage

The application of infrared scanning technology to agriculture met with some difficulties

_______________.

A. the lack of official support　　    

B. its high cost

C. the lack of financial support　     

D. its failure to help increase production

Infrared scanning technology may be brought back into operation because of_____________.

　　A. the desire of farmers to improve the quality of their produce

　　B. growing concern about the excessive use of pesticides on crops

　　C. the forceful promotion by the Department of Agriculture

　　D. full support from agricultural experts                  

For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.
In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn’t matter what the topic is. The laws of physics or the proper way to break an egg —the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something — and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress.
【小题1】Why does the author compare the parent-teen war to a border conflict?

The rise of multinational corporations （跨国公司）, global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR．

　　Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, America’s relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries． Ten years ago, for example, the world’s top five public relations agencies were American-owned． In 1991, only one was． The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative． A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate （公司的） planning activities, compared to about one-third of U．S． companies． It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR．

　　Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? First, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs． Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country． Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts （相对应的人） in knowing a second language． Less than 5 percent of Burson—Marshall’s U．S．employees know two languages． Ogilvy and Mather have about the same percentage． Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language． Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs． In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journal． Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, publications not often read in this country．

Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN （Cable News Network）． Turner recently announced that the word “foreign” would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts． According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such thing as foreign．

1.Compared with the American PR personnel, what is/are an advantage（s） of the non-Americans involved in PR?

         A． They tend to be more internationally minded

         B． They speak more and better foreign languages．

         C． They usually pay more attention to global financial situation．

         D． Both A and B．

2.What is the immediate cause of the downfall of America’s public relations?

         A． The number of US public relations agencies had greatly decreased by 1991．

         B． Other countries have increased their efforts in public relations．

         C． On the global scale, cultural differences have significantly shrunk．

         D． The British companies are becoming especially sophisticated and creative in public relations．

3.It could be inferred that the author of the passage is______．

         A． an American                                                            B． a Briton                                                     

         C． Ted Turner                                                                D． an Asian

4.The underlined word “provincial” in paragraph 3 could possibly mean “      ”．

         A． strict in thinking                B． like people from rural areas

         C． limited in outlook             D． interested in geographical knowledge

There are many ways to keep kids of all ages physically fit besides sports.

If your child is a natural athlete or ___1____ lover, he or she is probably already active and __2___ easy to get moving. But if, like me, you are the parent of a junior sofa potato, complete with a(n) __3____ controller in one hand and a bag of potato chips in the other, you know what it is like to have your ___4__ to go outside to play met with, at best, silence or at worst, cry and ___5___.

If logic, threats and lectures on health don’t work, turn to __6___: trick him or her into liking by making it into fun. __7____ enjoyment, not pressure or physical fitness or anything that seems to be “good for you”. That is where the dancing and nature walks ___8____. Health experts say that the answer to the question, “Which type of exercise is best for my child?” is “Whichever one he or she likes best.” It doesn’t have to be swimming or soccer or gymnastics. ____9___ play, especially with the rest of the family, will ___10___ the body’s requirements for regular aerobic movement (有氧运动) just well, and won’t ever seem like exercising.

___11____, if nature is an interest, walk vigorously around finding every leaf, insect, and _12___ print in the park. If rock radio is the station of choice, ___13____ to the music. Get the family members playing catch, touch football together. Organize a(n) __14____ science group to walk around your neighborhood and pick your rubbish. Make every trip to the pool an excuse for playing games in the water together.

Remember that the goal is to set a pattern for lifelong fitness. And if you don’t make it _15___, kids are never going to keep it up.