Why doesn’t the unemployment rate ever reach zero? Economists, who generally believe that supply tends to meet demand, have long thought about this question. Even in good times, i.e. not now, there are people who can’t find work. And even in bad times, i.e. now, there are job openings. With over 14 million people out of work and looking for a job, you would think every available job would be filled. But that’s not the case. Not now and not ever.

　　On Monday, the Nobel Prize committee awarded the prize for economics to the three scholars who have done the most to explain this phenomenon. Two of the winners are Americans, Peter Diamond of MIT and Dale Mortensen of Northwestern. The third winner is Christopher Pissarides, who teaches at the London School of Economics and was born on Cyprus.

　　Like most of economics, what they have found about why the jobless and ready-employers don’t find each other seems obvious. You have to find out there is job opening you are interested in. Employers need to get resumes （简历）. It takes a while for both employers and employees to make the decision that this is what they want. And these guys came up with a frame-work to study the problem of why people stay unemployed longer than they should and what can be done about it.

　　So what would today’s Nobel Prize winners do to solve the current problem of the unemployed? And does the awarding of the prize contribute to the politicians’ lowering joblessness?

　　Speaking from his north London home, Pissarides told The Associated Press the announcement came as “a complete surprise” though his work had already helped shape thinking on both sides of the Atlantic.

　　For example, the New Deal for Young People, a British government policy aimed at getting 18-24-year-olds back on the job market after long periods of unemployment, “is very much based on our work,” he said.

　　“One of the key things we found is that it is important to make sure that people do not stay unemployed too long so they don’t lose their feel for the labor force,” Pissarides told reporters in London. “The ways of dealing with this need not be expensive training – it could be as simple as providing work experience.”

According to the writer, which is true about finding jobs?

　　A. It is always difficult to find a job.

　　B. Everyone can find a job in good times.

　　C. Contrary to popular belief, it is easier to find a job in bad times.

　　D. It is possible to find a job even in times as bad as now.

What is it that leads to their winning the prize?

　　A. They have found the reason for unemployment.

　　B. They have put forward a set of ideas to deal with unemployment.

　　C. They have found out why people don’t want to be employed.

　　D. They have long studied the problem of unemployment.

Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

　　A. Pissarides thinks his work surprising.

　　B. The work of Pissarides has influenced many economists.

　　C. Some of the winners’ ideas have been put into practice.

　　D. It is probable that unemployed young people in Britain benefit from Pissarides’ work.

According to Pissarides, _________ is effrctive in dealing with unemployment.

　　A. spending large sums of money on training

　　B. teaching some knowledge of economics

　　C. providing work experience

　　D. keeping people unemployed for some time

　　“First we make our habits，then our habits make us.”——Charles C．Noble

　　It’s such a simple concept，yet it's something we don’t always do. It’s not extremely difficult to do, and yet I think it’s something that would make a world of difference in anyone’s life. Break your goals into habits，and focus on putting those habits into autopilot. My belief is that having one goal to focus on is much more powerful than having many goals.

　　I try to turn my goals into habits，and in doing so，I put my goals on autopilot. Turning a goal into a habit means really focusing on it，seriously，for at least a month，to the exclusion of all else. The more you can focus on it, the more it’ll be put on autopilot. Let’s look at my marathon goal as an example. I was just starting out in running，and l had the brilliant idea to run a marathon within a year. But in order to achieve that goal，I broke it down into two habits：

　　1．I had to make running a daily habit.

　　2．I had to report to people in order to have accountability（责任）—I did this through family，friends and coworkers，through a blog，and through a column in my local newspaper every two weeks. With this accountability，there’s no way l would stop running.

　　The accountability habit took a couple of months，mainly because I didn’t focus on it too much while l was building the running habit. But it stuck，and for that first year of running，I would report to people I knew and blog about my running every day and I would write a column every two weeks for my local paper.

　　Once those two habits were firmly fixed，my marathon goal was pretty much on autopilot. I still had to do the work，of course，but it didn’t require constant focus. And eventually，I ran the marathon. I was able to achieve this because，all year long，I had the daily running habit and daily accountability habit. I put my marathon goal into autopilot，and that made it much easier--instead of struggling with it daily for an entire year，I focused on it for one month and was able to accomplish it while focusing on new habits and goals.

55．According to the passage，we can see the key to forming a habit is ______________.

A．to break the goals into habits

B．to report to other people about your plan

C．to set a reasonable goal first

D．to focus on the habit as much as possible

56．The author told people about his running in order to ______________.

A．get more support

B．ask for their opinions

C．carry out his plan better

D．earn more admiration

57．What do we know about the author？

A．He was a local athlete.

B．He often gave people advice.

C．He had no blogs before.

D．He wrote for a local newspaper.

58．The passage is mainly about ______________.

A．goals and habits

B．how to turn your goals into habits

C．habits and achievements

D．how to make running a good habit

Today, we complete our story about the influential English writer William Shakespeare. He wrote plays and poems during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, which remain very popular today.
During earlier times, people would probably have learned several ancient Roman and Greek plays. It was not unusual for writers to produce more current versions of these works. For example, in Shakespeare's play "The Comedy of Errors" Shakespeare borrowed certain details from the ancient Roman writer Plautus. For his play "Macbeth", Shakespeare most likely used a work on Scottish history by Raphael Holinshed for information. Shakespeare might have borrowed from other writers, but the intensity（强度）of his imagination and language made the plays his own. While many plays by other writers of his time have been forgotten, Shakespeare and his art live on.
Shakespeare was also influenced by the world around him. He described the sights and sounds of London in his plays. His works include observations about political struggles, the fear of diseases, and the popular language of the city’s tradesmen. Shakespeare's knowledge of the English countryside is also clear. His works include descriptions of deep forests, local flowers, and the ancient popular traditions of rural people.
It would be impossible to list all of the ways in which Shakespeare’s works have influenced the world culture. But the first and greatest example would be his great influence on the English language. During his time, the English language was changing. Many new words from other languages were being added. Shakespeare used his sharp mind and poetic inventiveness to create hundreds of new words and rework old ones. For example, he created the noun forms of "critic", "mountaineer” and "eyeball". Many common expressions in English come from his plays, including "pomp and circumstance（装腔作势）"from "Othello", "full circle（绕圈子地）" from "King Lear", etc. The list of cultural creations influenced by Shakespeare is almost endless. From paintings to television to music and dance, Shakespeare was well represented. Shakespeare's plays have been translated into every major language in the world.
Shakespeare became a well­known writer during a golden age of theater. His years of hard work paid off.
【小题1】What can we infer from the passage？

“Cool” is a word with many meanings. Its old meaning is used to express a temperature that is a little bit cold．As the world has changed, the word has had many different meanings. “Cool” can be used to express feelings of interest in almost anything. When you see a famous car in the street, maybe you will say, “It’s cool.” You may think, “He’s so cool,” when you see your favorite footballer. We all maximize（扩大）the meaning of “cool”. You can use it instead of many words such as “new” or “surprising”. Here’s an interesting story we can use to show the way the word is used．A teacher asked her students to write about the waterfall （瀑布） they had visited．On one student’s paper was just the one sentence, “It’s so cool. ” Maybe he thought it was the best way to show what he saw and felt. But the story also shows a scarcity（缺乏）of words. Without “cool”, some people have no words to show the same meaning. So it is quite important to keep some credibility （可信性）. Can you think of many other words that make your life as colorful as the word “cool”? I can. And I think they are also very cool .

We know that the word “cool” has had ________________

A．only one meaning 　　　　　      B．no meanings

C．many different meanings　　       D．the same meaning

In the passage, the word “express” means “_____________”

       A．see 　　  B．show 　　      C．know　　　   D．feel

In the passage, the writer suggests（暗示） that the word “cool”__________

       A．can be used instead of many words 　   B．usually means something interesting　　　　　

       C．can make your life colorful 　　　      D．may not be as cool as it seems

Further education is officially described as the“post-secondary stage of education， comprising all vocational(职业的) and non-vocational provision made for young people who have left school， or for adults”. Further education thus embraces the vast range of university， technical， commercial， and art education and the wide field of adult education. It is this sector of education， which is concerned with education beyond the normal school-leaving ages of 16 or 18， that has experienced the most astonishing growth in the number of students.

In the 19th century the dominance(统治地位) of Oxford and Cambridge was challenged by the rise of the civic(城市的) universities， such as London， Manchester， and Birmingham. Following the lead of the 18th century German universities and responding to a public demand for increased opportunity for higher education， Britain’s new civic universities quickly acquired recognition—not only in technological fields but also in the fine and liberal arts.

Many new post-school technical colleges were founded in the early 20th century. The Fisher Act of 1918 empowered the local authorities to levy(征收) a rate (tax) to finance such colleges. The universities， on the other hand， received funds from the central government through the University Grants Committee， established in 1911 and recognized in 1920， after World War I.

A new type of technical college was established in the 1960s—the polytechnic， which provides mainly technological courses of university level as well as courses of a general kind in the arts and sciences. Polytechnics are chartered to award degrees validated(使有效) by a Council for National Academic Awards.

Thus， the third level in the United Kingdom is made up of colleges of further education， technical colleges， polytechnics， and universities. The colleges offer full-time and part-time courses beyond compulsory-school level. Polytechnics and universities are mainly responsible for degrees and research. The innovative Open University， with its flexible admission policy and study arrangements， opened in 1971. It uses various media to provide highly accessible and flexible higher education for working adults and other part-time students. It serves as an organizational model and provides course-materials for similar institutions in other countries.

Changes in British education in the second half of the 20th century have， without changing the basic values in the system， extended education by population， level， and content. New areas for expansion include immigrant cultural groups and multicultural content， the accommodation of special needs， and the development of tools and content in the expanding fields of microelectronics.

The first paragraph is written to explain 　　　　 of further education.

A.the development  B.the history

C.the definition     D.the prospects(前景)

The new civic universities in Britain 　　　　.

A.replaced the dominance of Oxford and Cambridge

B.provided further education for all the people who need it

C.met the increased demand of the public for higher education

D.immediately followed the establishment of polytechnic colleges

Post-school technical colleges 　　　　.

A.were completely free of charge

B.were usually financed by local taxes 

C.depended mainly on students’ tuition(学费)

D.received funds from the central government

Further education is 　　　　.

A.only for adult students

B.part-time rather than full-time

C.non-vocational rather than vocational

D.created for both young people and adults

The proper title for this passage should be “　　　　”.

A.British Further Education

B.Changes in British Education                  

C.Polytechnics and Universities in Britain

D.Less Opportunity for Higher Education