题目内容
In 2007，five young people in the American state of Massachusetts developed an idea．The team knew that the world is filled with mobile phones．About 80% of all people are said to live within reach of a wireless telephone signal．
The idea was to use mobile phones and the Interact to connect job seekers with employers．The young people wrote a business plan and formed a company called Assured Labor．
Assured Labor won a development competition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology（MIT）．Three of the founders were graduate students there．
Assured Labor is an electronic marketplace．It has two parts．One is for the United States．That operation was launched in January in Boston．It links people with employers offering temporary jobs．The other arm of the business is for developing markets．That operation is meant to help people get more permanent jobs．A representative is currently building partnerships with universities and international companies in Central America．
Assured Labor's president，David Reich，says the companies are interested in having more modern hiring practices．Through Assured Labor，companies will list open positions on the Internet．People who think they could do the job could reply by text message or on their cell phones．
This is how the system works in Boston: The jobs available include house cleaning，dog walking and home repair．People who want their house cleaned，for example，can look online at a list of twenty housekeepers．The list tells what services they offer and how much they want to be paid．People need two letters praising their work to get on the list of service providers．The employer chooses workers they would like to hire．The company then sends the workers a text or e-mail message so they can respond quickly to an offer．After a job is completed，the employer and employee evaluate each other．The evaluation is kept for future use．
Assured Labor is not charging anyone right now，but the plan is to have employers pay for the service．
1．What is the idea of Assured Labor based on?
A．Technology of mobile phones and the Internet．
B．Technology support by Massachusetts Institute of Technology．
C．Broad labor sources all around the world．
D．Large areas of a wireless telephone signal available．
2．Which of the following can indicate how the system works in Boston?
a．Assured Labor informs the worker of the job available．
b．The employer chooses a worker from a list online．
c．The employer and the worker evaluate each other．
d．The worker responds to the offer and does the job．
A．a-b-c-d B．b-a-d-e C．a-b-d-c D．b-a-c-d
3．To build its electronic marketplace for permanent jobs，Assured Labor needs _________．
A．to place job ads on radio or in newspapers
B．to cope with employers offering temporary jobs
C．to get the support from the American state of Massachusetts
D．to cooperate with universities and international companies
4．How much money has Assured Labor made till now?
A．A large sum of money． B．Only a small amount of money．
C．No profit at all． D．It's not mentioned in this passage．
5．From this passage，we can infer that _________．
A．80% of people in the world now have a telephone
B．all founders of Assured Labor were from MIT
C．anyone's name can be listed on the internet by Assured Labor for job hunting
D．the evaluation after a job is quite important and necessary
ABDCD
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The hit movie Notting Hill begins with a famous scene. Hugh Grant bumps (撞) into Julia Roberts and spills (洒) orange juice all over her. After the collision, Grant repeatedly says: “ I am so sorry. I am so sorry.”
His actions in this scene are very British. If Roberts’ character were from Britain then she would probably apologize repeatedly as well—even if the crash were not her fault. But this doesn’t happen in the film, as Roberts is from the US.
A report in The Telegraph last week said that three-quarters of British people apologize when they bump into someone in the street — regardless of whether they are responsible or not. In fact, we Britons use “sorry” in many situations. For example, if we mishear someone, we say “Sorry?” The person we are talking to will also apologize by replying: “No, I am sorry!” This can go on for up to five minutes as we compete over who is the most sorry.
Life is never as simple as “duibuqi” and “meiguanxi”.
How we use “sorry” has changed. Traditionally, “sorry” was used to express deep regret, but a survey in 2007 showed that we use it to mean anything from “what” to “whatever”.
Why are Britons so sorry? Mark Tyrell, a psychology writer in the UK, thinks about our apologetic tendencies are rooted in the British class system. We say sorry because historically the new middle classes in Britain had to apologize for not being working class, but also for not really being upper class. Another theory is that we apologize to avoid confrontation(冲突). For example, if you bump into someone they might get angry. To avoid this we instantly say “Sorry!”.
True manners are about being considerate and the modern day obsession with apologizing show that we are perhaps not as thoughtful as we once were. The word has lost some of its meaning. Do you see my point? Sorry, it might just be a British thing…
【小题1】What can we infer from paragraph 2?
| A．In fact Roberts are responsible for the collision. |
| B．People from the US say “sorry” more than British people. |
| C．There is no crash happening in the film. |
| D．British people say sorry even if it is not their fault. |
| A．British people are sincere while saying sorry. |
| B．Now more British people say sorry because of the British class system. |
| C．British people say sorry to avoid quarrels. |
| D．British people apologize for not working hard. |
| A．British people overuse “sorry” in daily life. |
| B．British people now say “sorry” in different situations. |
| C．Middle classes in British are to blame for not being working class. |
| D．Britons say “sorry” to avoid confrontation. |
| A．quarrel | B．disagreement | C．crash | D．fight |