(C)
Retirement is frightening. It is a new, uncertain journey - at a time when peace in life is treasured. Personal financial security is a powerful motivator to keep control of the business. The inability to “let go” is even more difficult for those who founded their businesses at a time of unemployment or family poverty.
For many who build successful enterprises, their business is their identity. It is said of one woman business owner, still in control in her 90s, that “work is her oxygen.” Some entrepreneurs (企业家) started their businesses at least in part to prove themselves to former bosses who had rejected or doubted them. We find that they cling to their creations more strongly than most.
For these reasons and others, too many business founders refuse to retire. They insist that only they are capable of running the business. Jealousy or insecurities relating to declining power generate interpersonal conflicts that spoil succession (接替；继位) planning or even the performance of potential successors.
If an executive has not quite achieved what he had hoped, he often wants the opportunity to stay in the game. Rather than a graceful transition, the succession process can become a war. The parties to such a combat, however, should remember Winston Churchill’s warning to the House of Commons: “If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future.”
Fortunately, many business owners manage to face succession planning - courageously, openly, and early. And because entrepreneurial succession is perhaps the most critical issue for family-business continuity, we’re keenly interested in the makeup and background of those who do.
Our conclusion: It’s all a matter of outlook or attitude. Business owners who can plan succession and who can let go don’t come necessarily from larger or smaller businesses. They don’t come from businesses that are more or less fragile or that require more or less hands-on involvement. They don’t necessarily even have more or less qualified successors to whom they can turn over their creations. They just have a different outlook or attitude toward the subject. For them, the glass is half full, not half empty.
72. The underlined expression “let go” means ________. A. to dismiss the successor B. to close the business C. to explore another field D. to pass the business to the successor
73. What makes some of the business owners willing to retire? A. Their family background. B. The scale of their business. C. Their attitude towards retirement. D. The ability of their successor.
74. According to the passage, people with the sound attitude to retirement think that ________. A. old people are certain to rest B. retirement means new opportunities and new life C. as business owners, they are most important to the business D. their business was bought as part of management
75. The author’s purpose of writing this passage is ________. A. to make clear the widespread beliefs held by those who cannot conclude succession planning B. to offer some practical tips to those who are not able to cope with fear of retirement C. to urge society and the individual to take retirement more seriously
D. to illustrate the different attitudes toward retirement in different situations
Section C
Directions: Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from A-F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.
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A. Contract signed to experiment with captions (文字说明) B. People’s attitude toward captions C. Captions - good news to deaf people D. Deaf people missing most of the fun E. Invention of a new machine dealing with signals F. Necessity of developing a new way of captioning |
76.
By the 1950s many American families owned television sets. During television’s first 20 years, deaf people missed most of the fun. They could not hear what was being said and had to guess. Deaf people who watched television liked sports and action shows, but they were disappointed with other programs. If there was a lot of dialogue, deaf viewers couldn’t follow the plot. Even the most skilled lip-readers could only catch part of the talking. This frustrated many deaf people.
77.
In the late 1960s, a man started experimenting. Malcom Norwood thought that deaf people could enjoy television programs, too. He wanted to develop captions for the programs. Norwood worked for the federal government’s Media Services and Captioned Films Division at the Bureau of Education of the Handicapped.
78.
Norwood surveyed many hearing Americans. He wanted to see how they felt about seeing captions on the television screen. Too many people were against the idea. Norwood realized he had to develop another way of captioning-one that would not bother hearing people.
79.
In October of 1971, Norwood’s office signed a contract with WGBH-TV, a public television station in Boston. WGBH was hired to experiment with captions. They agreed to make a captioned television program for Norwood. That program was made. It was shown on television and at a special convention. The type of captions made by WGBH could be seen on any television. No special equipment was needed. These were called “open captions”.
80.
Later, a new machine was invented. This device was made to send signals on a special part of the television picture. The signals could be captions. If a family had another kind of machine in their home or in their TV set, then the captions (or signals) would appear on their television screen. Without the machine, no captions would be seen. That special machine is called a decoder. It receives the signals transmitted from the television station. Captions that require a decoder are called “closed captions”.
Section D
Directions: Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions or complete the statements in fewest possible words.
In the house where I grew up, it was our custom to leave the front door on the latch at night. I don’t know if that was a local term or if it is universal; “on the latch” meant the door was closed but not locked. None of us carried keys; the last one in for the evening would close up, and that was it.
Those days are over. In rural areas as well as in cities, doors do not stay unlocked, even for part of an evening.
It is not uncommon, in most pleasant homes, to see on the windows small notices announcing that the building is closely monitored by this security force or that guard company.
The lock is the new symbol of America. Indeed, a recent public-service advertisement by a large insurance company featured not charts showing how much at risk we are, but a picture of a child’s bicycle with the now-usual padlock attached to it.
The ad pointed out that, yes, it is the insurance companies that pay for stolen goods, but who is going to pay for what the new atmosphere of distrust and fear is doing to our way of life? Who is going to make the payment for the transformation of America from the Land of the Free to the Land of the Lock?
For some reason we are satisfied when we think we are well-protected; it does not occur to us to ask ourselves: Why has this happened? Why are we having to defend ourselves against our neighbors and fellow citizens, and when, exactly, did this start to take over our lives?
With all this “security”, we are perhaps the most insecure nation in the history of civilized man. What better word to describe the way in which we have been forced to live? What sadder reflection on all that we have become in this new and puzzling time?
We trust no one. Suburban housewives wear rape whistles on their station wagon key chains. We have become so smart about self-protection that, in the end, we have all outsmarted ourselves. We may have locked the evils out, but we have also locked ourselves in.
(Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS.)
81. In the author’s childhood, people were used to ________.
82. What can be commonly seen on the windows of most pleasant homes?
83. According to the author, what is the new environment of American life now?
84. In the author’s mind, they feel that they are seemingly ________, but actually ________.
第II卷 (共45分)
● WASHINGTON
- So many people surged to the West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center
website that it slowed to a crawl early Friday, unable to provide critical
information to the public about the coastal impact in the U.S. of a massive
earthquake in Japan.
● LOMPOC
- Tsunami warning ‘a wake-up call’