一、Part Ⅱ Listening Comprehension
1、Question 1 is based on the news report you have just heard.
A、A free car show.
B、A yearly concert.
C、A sports competition.
D、A pipe band contest.
2、Question 2 is based on the news report you have just heard.
A、Improve the image of Glasgow city.
B、Enrich the local culture of Glasgow.
C、Contribute a lot to the local economy.
D、Entertain people in local communities.
3、Question 3 is based on the news report you have just heard.
A、Surprising rise in global sea levels.
B、Dangerous ice melts in Greenland.
C、Changing weather patterns in summer.
D、Record growth of Greenland’s ice sheets.
4、Question 4 is based on the news report you have just heard.
A、It began in late May.
B、It lasted three months.
C、It started a month earlier than usual.
D、It ended a month earlier than before.
5、Question 5 is based on the news report you have just heard.
A、Bundles of ￡20 notes kept turning up.
B、A villager was searching for his lost cash.
C、Local policemen came across bundles of ￡20 notes.
D、A bundle containing thousands of pounds got stolen.
6、Question 6 is based on the news report you have just heard.
A、They give it to charity.
B、They return it to the finder.
C、They hand it over to the local government.
D、They place a notice in The Northern Echo.
7、Question 7 is based on the news report you have just heard.
A、They cooperated well with the police.
B、They enjoyed a fairly affluent life.
C、They were puzzled by the mystery.
D、They had a strong community spirit.
8、Question 8 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、Excited.
B、Delighted.
C、Indifferent.
D、Strange.
9、Question 9 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、Search for the meaning of their life.
B、Look back on their years at school.
C、Call on their relatives and friends.
D、Talk about future plans with friends.
10、Question 10 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、He prefers to have them shown on social media.
B、He loves them but does not want to make a fuss.
C、He enjoys celebrating others’ birthdays rather than his own.
D、He looks forward to receiving presents from his close friends.
11、Question 11 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、Hold it on a modest scale to remove birthday anxieties.
B、View it as a chance for people to socialize and have fun.
C、Extend invitation to those he trusts most.
D、Make it an occasion to collect donations.
12、Question 12 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、It was absolutely exhausting.
B、There was a terrible smell.
C、There was too long a delay.
D、She got off at the wrong station.
13、Question 13 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、She hasn’t saved enough money.
B、She is worried about traffic jams.
C、She hasn’t passed the driving test yet.
D、She is used to taking public transport.
14、Question 14 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、They are popular.
B、They are dangerous.
C、They are a bit expensive for her.
D、They are environmentally friendly.
15、Question 15 is based on the conversation you have just heard.
A、By bus.
B、By jogging.
C、By renting a bike.
D、By sharing a ride.
16、Question 16 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、He is a sign language interpreter.
B、He is a deaf person working in IT.
C、He doesn’t like speaking at meetings.
D、He doesn’t use email or text messages.
17、Question 17 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、Improved communication skills.
B、Speech recognition technology.
C、Big advances in sign language.
D、Transformation in the IT industry.
18、Question 18 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、He can avoid being mistaken.
B、He can take notes on the spot.
C、He can understand with ease.
D、He can see the speakers’ images.
19、Question 19 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、To find pure white walls shining.
B、To enter a house well looked after.
C、To get a hug from family members.
D、To see cheerful colours all around.
20、Question 20 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、Choosing a colour because it is fashionable.
B、Painting the interior of their cupboards.
C、Doing the painting job all by themselves.
D、Designing all window frames the same way.
21、Question 21 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、Fit most of the cupboards into walls.
B、Hang landscape paintings all around.
C、Match the room’s ceiling with all the furniture in colour.
D、Paint the wooden frameworks and walls the same colour.
22、Question 22 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、Children must read at least three times a week.
B、Reading is a habit every child can develop.
C、Reading to their children is important.
D、Children should start reading at age three.
23、Question 23 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、The number of books they have read by age four.
B、The speed of their brain development in infancy.
C、The number and quality of books parents read to them in infancy.
D、The quality and quantity of time parents spend playing with them.
24、Question 24 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、Books with specifically labeled images.
B、Books with pictures of dolls and toys.
C、Books describing the lives of animals.
D、Books telling very interesting stories.
25、Question 25 is based on the passage you have just heard.
A、Read as many books as possible to their children.
B、Choose carefully what to read to their children.
C、Share experience with other parents.
D、Create picture books for their children.
二、Part III Reading Comprehension
Parenting brings fathers more joy than it does mothers, according to a new study. The research examined three studies (26)_____ more than 18,000 participants. Across all three, parenthood was (27)_____ with more positive wellbeing outcomes for dads than for mums.
So why are fathers happier than mothers? “Fathers may fare better than mothers in part due to how they spend time with their children,” said lead author Katherine Nelson-Coffey. In one study, the authors (28)_____ that dads were more likely to take “playing” as an (29)_____ activity both when caring for their kids and spending time with their kids. “Playing with their children likely offers parents opportunities to experience positive feelings and (30)_____ closeness with their children,” they say.
Fathers also did better than men without kids, reporting greater happiness, life satisfaction, and fewer (31)_____ symptoms. They also reported greater connectedness and autonomy (自主). For mums, (32)_____, compared to women without children, the results weren’t quite as positive. Mums reported greater autonomy, but also “greater trouble” and fewer positive (33)_____.
Mums reported happier moods while interacting with their kids, compared to other experiences, but not while engaging (34)_____ in childcare. “This difference suggests that how mothers and fathers spend time with their children might have important (35)_____ for their wellbeing,” the authors write. They suspect that mums may be less happy than dads because they’re more likely to have higher expectations about parenthood. As such, they’re more likely to be “let down” by the experience.
26、(1)
A、however
B、note
C、superficial
D、composing
E、directly
F、cultivate
G、associated
H、depressive
I、interfered
J、implications
K、emotions
L、precisely
M、involving
N、therefore
O、additional
Parenting brings fathers more joy than it does mothers, according to a new study. The research examined three studies (26)_____ more than 18,000 participants. Across all three, parenthood was (27)_____ with more positive wellbeing outcomes for dads than for mums.
So why are fathers happier than mothers? “Fathers may fare better than mothers in part due to how they spend time with their children,” said lead author Katherine Nelson-Coffey. In one study, the authors (28)_____ that dads were more likely to take “playing” as an (29)_____ activity both when caring for their kids and spending time with their kids. “Playing with their children likely offers parents opportunities to experience positive feelings and (30)_____ closeness with their children,” they say.
Fathers also did better than men without kids, reporting greater happiness, life satisfaction, and fewer (31)_____ symptoms. They also reported greater connectedness and autonomy (自主). For mums, (32)_____, compared to women without children, the results weren’t quite as positive. Mums reported greater autonomy, but also “greater trouble” and fewer positive (33)_____.
Mums reported happier moods while interacting with their kids, compared to other experiences, but not while engaging (34)_____ in childcare. “This difference suggests that how mothers and fathers spend time with their children might have important (35)_____ for their wellbeing,” the authors write. They suspect that mums may be less happy than dads because they’re more likely to have higher expectations about parenthood. As such, they’re more likely to be “let down” by the experience.
27、(2)
A、however
B、note
C、superficial
D、composing
E、directly
F、cultivate
G、associated
H、depressive
I、interfered
J、implications
K、emotions
L、precisely
M、involving
N、therefore
O、additional
Parenting brings fathers more joy than it does mothers, according to a new study. The research examined three studies (26)_____ more than 18,000 participants. Across all three, parenthood was (27)_____ with more positive wellbeing outcomes for dads than for mums.
So why are fathers happier than mothers? “Fathers may fare better than mothers in part due to how they spend time with their children,” said lead author Katherine Nelson-Coffey. In one study, the authors (28)_____ that dads were more likely to take “playing” as an (29)_____ activity both when caring for their kids and spending time with their kids. “Playing with their children likely offers parents opportunities to experience positive feelings and (30)_____ closeness with their children,” they say.
Fathers also did better than men without kids, reporting greater happiness, life satisfaction, and fewer (31)_____ symptoms. They also reported greater connectedness and autonomy (自主). For mums, (32)_____, compared to women without children, the results weren’t quite as positive. Mums reported greater autonomy, but also “greater trouble” and fewer positive (33)_____.
Mums reported happier moods while interacting with their kids, compared to other experiences, but not while engaging (34)_____ in childcare. “This difference suggests that how mothers and fathers spend time with their children might have important (35)_____ for their wellbeing,” the authors write. They suspect that mums may be less happy than dads because they’re more likely to have higher expectations about parenthood. As such, they’re more likely to be “let down” by the experience.
28、(3)
A、however
B、note
C、superficial
D、composing
E、directly
F、cultivate
G、associated
H、depressive
I、interfered
J、implications
K、emotions
L、precisely
M、involving
N、therefore
O、additional
Parenting brings fathers more joy than it does mothers, according to a new study. The research examined three studies (26)_____ more than 18,000 participants. Across all three, parenthood was (27)_____ with more positive wellbeing outcomes for dads than for mums.
So why are fathers happier than mothers? “Fathers may fare better than mothers in part due to how they spend time with their children,” said lead author Katherine Nelson-Coffey. In one study, the authors (28)_____ that dads were more likely to take “playing” as an (29)_____ activity both when caring for their kids and spending time with their kids. “Playing with their children likely offers parents opportunities to experience positive feelings and (30)_____ closeness with their children,” they say.
Fathers also did better than men without kids, reporting greater happiness, life satisfaction, and fewer (31)_____ symptoms. They also reported greater connectedness and autonomy (自主). For mums, (32)_____, compared to women without children, the results weren’t quite as positive. Mums reported greater autonomy, but also “greater trouble” and fewer positive (33)_____.
Mums reported happier moods while interacting with their kids, compared to other experiences, but not while engaging (34)_____ in childcare. “This difference suggests that how mothers and fathers spend time with their children might have important (35)_____ for their wellbeing,” the authors write. They suspect that mums may be less happy than dads because they’re more likely to have higher expectations about parenthood. As such, they’re more likely to be “let down” by the experience.
29、(4)
A、however
B、note
C、superficial
D、composing
E、directly
F、cultivate
G、associated
H、depressive
I、interfered
J、implications
K、emotions
L、precisely
M、involving
N、therefore
O、additional
Parenting brings fathers more joy than it does mothers, according to a new study. The research examined three studies (26)_____ more than 18,000 participants. Across all three, parenthood was (27)_____ with more positive wellbeing outcomes for dads than for mums.
So why are fathers happier than mothers? “Fathers may fare better than mothers in part due to how they spend time with their children,” said lead author Katherine Nelson-Coffey. In one study, the authors (28)_____ that dads were more likely to take “playing” as an (29)_____ activity both when caring for their kids and spending time with their kids. “Playing with their children likely offers parents opportunities to experience positive feelings and (30)_____ closeness with their children,” they say.
Fathers also did better than men without kids, reporting greater happiness, life satisfaction, and fewer (31)_____ symptoms. They also reported greater connectedness and autonomy (自主). For mums, (32)_____, compared to women without children, the results weren’t quite as positive. Mums reported greater autonomy, but also “greater trouble” and fewer positive (33)_____.
Mums reported happier moods while interacting with their kids, compared to other experiences, but not while engaging (34)_____ in childcare. “This difference suggests that how mothers and fathers spend time with their children might have important (35)_____ for their wellbeing,” the authors write. They suspect that mums may be less happy than dads because they’re more likely to have higher expectations about parenthood. As such, they’re more likely to be “let down” by the experience.
30、(5)
A、however
B、note
C、superficial
D、composing
E、directly
F、cultivate
G、associated
H、depressive
I、interfered
J、implications
K、emotions
L、precisely
M、involving
N、therefore
O、additional
Parenting brings fathers more joy than it does mothers, according to a new study. The research examined three studies (26)_____ more than 18,000 participants. Across all three, parenthood was (27)_____ with more positive wellbeing outcomes for dads than for mums.
So why are fathers happier than mothers? “Fathers may fare better than mothers in part due to how they spend time with their children,” said lead author Katherine Nelson-Coffey. In one study, the authors (28)_____ that dads were more likely to take “playing” as an (29)_____ activity both when caring for their kids and spending time with their kids. “Playing with their children likely offers parents opportunities to experience positive feelings and (30)_____ closeness with their children,” they say.
Fathers also did better than men without kids, reporting greater happiness, life satisfaction, and fewer (31)_____ symptoms. They also reported greater connectedness and autonomy (自主). For mums, (32)_____, compared to women without children, the results weren’t quite as positive. Mums reported greater autonomy, but also “greater trouble” and fewer positive (33)_____.
Mums reported happier moods while interacting with their kids, compared to other experiences, but not while engaging (34)_____ in childcare. “This difference suggests that how mothers and fathers spend time with their children might have important (35)_____ for their wellbeing,” the authors write. They suspect that mums may be less happy than dads because they’re more likely to have higher expectations about parenthood. As such, they’re more likely to be “let down” by the experience.
31、(6)
A、however
B、note
C、superficial
D、composing
E、directly
F、cultivate
G、associated
H、depressive
I、interfered
J、implications
K、emotions
L、precisely
M、involving
N、therefore
O、additional
Parenting brings fathers more joy than it does mothers, according to a new study. The research examined three studies (26)_____ more than 18,000 participants. Across all three, parenthood was (27)_____ with more positive wellbeing outcomes for dads than for mums.
So why are fathers happier than mothers? “Fathers may fare better than mothers in part due to how they spend time with their children,” said lead author Katherine Nelson-Coffey. In one study, the authors (28)_____ that dads were more likely to take “playing” as an (29)_____ activity both when caring for their kids and spending time with their kids. “Playing with their children likely offers parents opportunities to experience positive feelings and (30)_____ closeness with their children,” they say.
Fathers also did better than men without kids, reporting greater happiness, life satisfaction, and fewer (31)_____ symptoms. They also reported greater connectedness and autonomy (自主). For mums, (32)_____, compared to women without children, the results weren’t quite as positive. Mums reported greater autonomy, but also “greater trouble” and fewer positive (33)_____.
Mums reported happier moods while interacting with their kids, compared to other experiences, but not while engaging (34)_____ in childcare. “This difference suggests that how mothers and fathers spend time with their children might have important (35)_____ for their wellbeing,” the authors write. They suspect that mums may be less happy than dads because they’re more likely to have higher expectations about parenthood. As such, they’re more likely to be “let down” by the experience.
32、(7)
A、however
B、note
C、superficial
D、composing
E、directly
F、cultivate
G、associated
H、depressive
I、interfered
J、implications
K、emotions
L、precisely
M、involving
N、therefore
O、additional
Parenting brings fathers more joy than it does mothers, according to a new study. The research examined three studies (26)_____ more than 18,000 participants. Across all three, parenthood was (27)_____ with more positive wellbeing outcomes for dads than for mums.
So why are fathers happier than mothers? “Fathers may fare better than mothers in part due to how they spend time with their children,” said lead author Katherine Nelson-Coffey. In one study, the authors (28)_____ that dads were more likely to take “playing” as an (29)_____ activity both when caring for their kids and spending time with their kids. “Playing with their children likely offers parents opportunities to experience positive feelings and (30)_____ closeness with their children,” they say.
Fathers also did better than men without kids, reporting greater happiness, life satisfaction, and fewer (31)_____ symptoms. They also reported greater connectedness and autonomy (自主). For mums, (32)_____, compared to women without children, the results weren’t quite as positive. Mums reported greater autonomy, but also “greater trouble” and fewer positive (33)_____.
Mums reported happier moods while interacting with their kids, compared to other experiences, but not while engaging (34)_____ in childcare. “This difference suggests that how mothers and fathers spend time with their children might have important (35)_____ for their wellbeing,” the authors write. They suspect that mums may be less happy than dads because they’re more likely to have higher expectations about parenthood. As such, they’re more likely to be “let down” by the experience.
33、(8)
A、however
B、note
C、superficial
D、composing
E、directly
F、cultivate
G、associated
H、depressive
I、interfered
J、implications
K、emotions
L、precisely
M、involving
N、therefore
O、additional
Parenting brings fathers more joy than it does mothers, according to a new study. The research examined three studies (26)_____ more than 18,000 participants. Across all three, parenthood was (27)_____ with more positive wellbeing outcomes for dads than for mums.
So why are fathers happier than mothers? “Fathers may fare better than mothers in part due to how they spend time with their children,” said lead author Katherine Nelson-Coffey. In one study, the authors (28)_____ that dads were more likely to take “playing” as an (29)_____ activity both when caring for their kids and spending time with their kids. “Playing with their children likely offers parents opportunities to experience positive feelings and (30)_____ closeness with their children,” they say.
Fathers also did better than men without kids, reporting greater happiness, life satisfaction, and fewer (31)_____ symptoms. They also reported greater connectedness and autonomy (自主). For mums, (32)_____, compared to women without children, the results weren’t quite as positive. Mums reported greater autonomy, but also “greater trouble” and fewer positive (33)_____.
Mums reported happier moods while interacting with their kids, compared to other experiences, but not while engaging (34)_____ in childcare. “This difference suggests that how mothers and fathers spend time with their children might have important (35)_____ for their wellbeing,” the authors write. They suspect that mums may be less happy than dads because they’re more likely to have higher expectations about parenthood. As such, they’re more likely to be “let down” by the experience.
34、(9)
A、however
B、note
C、superficial
D、composing
E、directly
F、cultivate
G、associated
H、depressive
I、interfered
J、implications
K、emotions
L、precisely
M、involving
N、therefore
O、additional
Parenting brings fathers more joy than it does mothers, according to a new study. The research examined three studies (26)_____ more than 18,000 participants. Across all three, parenthood was (27)_____ with more positive wellbeing outcomes for dads than for mums.
So why are fathers happier than mothers? “Fathers may fare better than mothers in part due to how they spend time with their children,” said lead author Katherine Nelson-Coffey. In one study, the authors (28)_____ that dads were more likely to take “playing” as an (29)_____ activity both when caring for their kids and spending time with their kids. “Playing with their children likely offers parents opportunities to experience positive feelings and (30)_____ closeness with their children,” they say.
Fathers also did better than men without kids, reporting greater happiness, life satisfaction, and fewer (31)_____ symptoms. They also reported greater connectedness and autonomy (自主). For mums, (32)_____, compared to women without children, the results weren’t quite as positive. Mums reported greater autonomy, but also “greater trouble” and fewer positive (33)_____.
Mums reported happier moods while interacting with their kids, compared to other experiences, but not while engaging (34)_____ in childcare. “This difference suggests that how mothers and fathers spend time with their children might have important (35)_____ for their wellbeing,” the authors write. They suspect that mums may be less happy than dads because they’re more likely to have higher expectations about parenthood. As such, they’re more likely to be “let down” by the experience.
35、(10)
A、however
B、note
C、superficial
D、composing
E、directly
F、cultivate
G、associated
H、depressive
I、interfered
J、implications
K、emotions
L、precisely
M、involving
N、therefore
O、additional
Learning to say no
【A】Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. This philosophy applies in many areas of life. For example, there is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all. This is not to say you should never attend another meeting, but the truth is that we say “yes” to too many things we don’t actually want to do.
【B】How often do people ask you to do something and you just reply, “Sure.” Three days later, you’re overwhelmed by how much is on your to-do list. We become frustrated by our obligations even though we were the ones who said “yes” to them in the first place. Even worse, people will occasionally fight to do things that waste time. You don’t have to do something just because it exists. It’s worth asking if things are necessary. Many of them are not, and a simple “no” will be more productive than whatever work the most efficient person can cope with. But if the benefits of saying “no” are so obvious, then why do we say “yes” so often?
【C】We say “yes” to many requests not because we want to do them, but because we don’t want to be seen as rude or unhelpful. Often, we have to consider saying “no” to someone we will interact with again in the future—our co-worker, our spouse, our family and friends. Saying “no” to our superiors at work can be particularly difficult. In these situations, I like the approach recommended in Essentialism by Greg McKeown. He writes, “Remind your superiors what you would be neglecting if you said ‘yes’ and force them to deal with the trade-off. For example, if your manager comes to you and asks you to do X, you can respond with ‘Yes, I’m happy to make this the priority. Which of these other projects should I deprioritize to pay attention to this new project?’”
【D】Collaborating with others is an important element of life. The thought of straining the relationship outweighs the commitment of our time and energy. For this reason, it can be helpful to be gracious in your response. Do whatever favors you can, and be warm-hearted and direct when you have to say no. But even after we have accounted for these social considerations, many of us still seem to do a poor job of managing the trade-off between yes and no. We find ourselves over-committed to things that don’t meaningfully improve or support those around us, and certainly don’t improve our own lives.
【E】Perhaps one issue is how we think about the meaning of yes and no. The words “yes” and “no” get so often used in comparison with each other that it feels like they carry equal weight in conversation. In reality, they’re not just opposite in meaning, but of entirely different magnitudes in commitment. When you say “no”, you are only saying “no” to one option. When you say “yes”, you are saying “no” to every other option. I like how economist Tim Harford put it, “Every time we say ‘yes’ to a request, we’re also saying ‘no’ to anything else we might accomplish with the time.” Once you’re committed to something, you’ve already decided how that future block of time will be spent. In other words, saying “no” saves you time in the future. Saying “yes” costs you time in the future. “No” is a form of time credit. You retain the ability to spend your future time however you want. “Yes” is a form of time debt. You have to pay back your commitment at some point.
【F】“No” is a decision. “Yes” is a responsibility. Saying “no” is sometimes seen as a luxury that only those in power can afford. And it’s true: turning down opportunities is easier when you can fall back on the safety net provided by power, money, and authority. But it’s also true that saying “no” is not merely a privilege reserved for the successful. It’s also a strategy that can help you become successful. Saying “no” is an important skill to develop at any stage of your career because it retains the most important asset in life: your time. As investor Pedro Sorrentino put it, “If you don’t guard your time, people will steal it from you.” You need to say “no” to whatever isn’t leading you toward your goals.
【G】Nobody embodied this idea better than Steve Jobs, who said, “People think focus means saying ‘yes’ to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” Jobs had another great quote about saying “no”: “I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.”
【H】Over time, as you continue to improve and succeed, your strategy needs to change. The opportunity cost of your time increases as you become more successful. At first, you just eliminate the obvious distractions and explore the rest. As your skills improve and you learn to separate what works from what doesn’t, you have to continually increase your threshold for saying “yes”. You still need to say “no” to distractions, but you also need to learn to say “no” to opportunities that were previously good uses of time, so you can make space for better uses of time. It’s a good problem to have, but it can be a tough skill to master.
【I】What is true about health is also true about productivity: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. More effort is wasted doing things that don’t matter than is wasted doing things inefficiently. And if that is the case, elimination is a more useful skill than optimization. I’m reminded of the famous Peter Drucker quote, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
36、36. People often grant a request just because they want to appear polite and helpful.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
Learning to say no
【A】Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. This philosophy applies in many areas of life. For example, there is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all. This is not to say you should never attend another meeting, but the truth is that we say “yes” to too many things we don’t actually want to do.
【B】How often do people ask you to do something and you just reply, “Sure.” Three days later, you’re overwhelmed by how much is on your to-do list. We become frustrated by our obligations even though we were the ones who said “yes” to them in the first place. Even worse, people will occasionally fight to do things that waste time. You don’t have to do something just because it exists. It’s worth asking if things are necessary. Many of them are not, and a simple “no” will be more productive than whatever work the most efficient person can cope with. But if the benefits of saying “no” are so obvious, then why do we say “yes” so often?
【C】We say “yes” to many requests not because we want to do them, but because we don’t want to be seen as rude or unhelpful. Often, we have to consider saying “no” to someone we will interact with again in the future—our co-worker, our spouse, our family and friends. Saying “no” to our superiors at work can be particularly difficult. In these situations, I like the approach recommended in Essentialism by Greg McKeown. He writes, “Remind your superiors what you would be neglecting if you said ‘yes’ and force them to deal with the trade-off. For example, if your manager comes to you and asks you to do X, you can respond with ‘Yes, I’m happy to make this the priority. Which of these other projects should I deprioritize to pay attention to this new project?’”
【D】Collaborating with others is an important element of life. The thought of straining the relationship outweighs the commitment of our time and energy. For this reason, it can be helpful to be gracious in your response. Do whatever favors you can, and be warm-hearted and direct when you have to say no. But even after we have accounted for these social considerations, many of us still seem to do a poor job of managing the trade-off between yes and no. We find ourselves over-committed to things that don’t meaningfully improve or support those around us, and certainly don’t improve our own lives.
【E】Perhaps one issue is how we think about the meaning of yes and no. The words “yes” and “no” get so often used in comparison with each other that it feels like they carry equal weight in conversation. In reality, they’re not just opposite in meaning, but of entirely different magnitudes in commitment. When you say “no”, you are only saying “no” to one option. When you say “yes”, you are saying “no” to every other option. I like how economist Tim Harford put it, “Every time we say ‘yes’ to a request, we’re also saying ‘no’ to anything else we might accomplish with the time.” Once you’re committed to something, you’ve already decided how that future block of time will be spent. In other words, saying “no” saves you time in the future. Saying “yes” costs you time in the future. “No” is a form of time credit. You retain the ability to spend your future time however you want. “Yes” is a form of time debt. You have to pay back your commitment at some point.
【F】“No” is a decision. “Yes” is a responsibility. Saying “no” is sometimes seen as a luxury that only those in power can afford. And it’s true: turning down opportunities is easier when you can fall back on the safety net provided by power, money, and authority. But it’s also true that saying “no” is not merely a privilege reserved for the successful. It’s also a strategy that can help you become successful. Saying “no” is an important skill to develop at any stage of your career because it retains the most important asset in life: your time. As investor Pedro Sorrentino put it, “If you don’t guard your time, people will steal it from you.” You need to say “no” to whatever isn’t leading you toward your goals.
【G】Nobody embodied this idea better than Steve Jobs, who said, “People think focus means saying ‘yes’ to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” Jobs had another great quote about saying “no”: “I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.”
【H】Over time, as you continue to improve and succeed, your strategy needs to change. The opportunity cost of your time increases as you become more successful. At first, you just eliminate the obvious distractions and explore the rest. As your skills improve and you learn to separate what works from what doesn’t, you have to continually increase your threshold for saying “yes”. You still need to say “no” to distractions, but you also need to learn to say “no” to opportunities that were previously good uses of time, so you can make space for better uses of time. It’s a good problem to have, but it can be a tough skill to master.
【I】What is true about health is also true about productivity: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. More effort is wasted doing things that don’t matter than is wasted doing things inefficiently. And if that is the case, elimination is a more useful skill than optimization. I’m reminded of the famous Peter Drucker quote, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
37、37. It’s no easy job learning to say “no” to opportunities that were once considered worth grasping.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
Learning to say no
【A】Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. This philosophy applies in many areas of life. For example, there is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all. This is not to say you should never attend another meeting, but the truth is that we say “yes” to too many things we don’t actually want to do.
【B】How often do people ask you to do something and you just reply, “Sure.” Three days later, you’re overwhelmed by how much is on your to-do list. We become frustrated by our obligations even though we were the ones who said “yes” to them in the first place. Even worse, people will occasionally fight to do things that waste time. You don’t have to do something just because it exists. It’s worth asking if things are necessary. Many of them are not, and a simple “no” will be more productive than whatever work the most efficient person can cope with. But if the benefits of saying “no” are so obvious, then why do we say “yes” so often?
【C】We say “yes” to many requests not because we want to do them, but because we don’t want to be seen as rude or unhelpful. Often, we have to consider saying “no” to someone we will interact with again in the future—our co-worker, our spouse, our family and friends. Saying “no” to our superiors at work can be particularly difficult. In these situations, I like the approach recommended in Essentialism by Greg McKeown. He writes, “Remind your superiors what you would be neglecting if you said ‘yes’ and force them to deal with the trade-off. For example, if your manager comes to you and asks you to do X, you can respond with ‘Yes, I’m happy to make this the priority. Which of these other projects should I deprioritize to pay attention to this new project?’”
【D】Collaborating with others is an important element of life. The thought of straining the relationship outweighs the commitment of our time and energy. For this reason, it can be helpful to be gracious in your response. Do whatever favors you can, and be warm-hearted and direct when you have to say no. But even after we have accounted for these social considerations, many of us still seem to do a poor job of managing the trade-off between yes and no. We find ourselves over-committed to things that don’t meaningfully improve or support those around us, and certainly don’t improve our own lives.
【E】Perhaps one issue is how we think about the meaning of yes and no. The words “yes” and “no” get so often used in comparison with each other that it feels like they carry equal weight in conversation. In reality, they’re not just opposite in meaning, but of entirely different magnitudes in commitment. When you say “no”, you are only saying “no” to one option. When you say “yes”, you are saying “no” to every other option. I like how economist Tim Harford put it, “Every time we say ‘yes’ to a request, we’re also saying ‘no’ to anything else we might accomplish with the time.” Once you’re committed to something, you’ve already decided how that future block of time will be spent. In other words, saying “no” saves you time in the future. Saying “yes” costs you time in the future. “No” is a form of time credit. You retain the ability to spend your future time however you want. “Yes” is a form of time debt. You have to pay back your commitment at some point.
【F】“No” is a decision. “Yes” is a responsibility. Saying “no” is sometimes seen as a luxury that only those in power can afford. And it’s true: turning down opportunities is easier when you can fall back on the safety net provided by power, money, and authority. But it’s also true that saying “no” is not merely a privilege reserved for the successful. It’s also a strategy that can help you become successful. Saying “no” is an important skill to develop at any stage of your career because it retains the most important asset in life: your time. As investor Pedro Sorrentino put it, “If you don’t guard your time, people will steal it from you.” You need to say “no” to whatever isn’t leading you toward your goals.
【G】Nobody embodied this idea better than Steve Jobs, who said, “People think focus means saying ‘yes’ to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” Jobs had another great quote about saying “no”: “I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.”
【H】Over time, as you continue to improve and succeed, your strategy needs to change. The opportunity cost of your time increases as you become more successful. At first, you just eliminate the obvious distractions and explore the rest. As your skills improve and you learn to separate what works from what doesn’t, you have to continually increase your threshold for saying “yes”. You still need to say “no” to distractions, but you also need to learn to say “no” to opportunities that were previously good uses of time, so you can make space for better uses of time. It’s a good problem to have, but it can be a tough skill to master.
【I】What is true about health is also true about productivity: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. More effort is wasted doing things that don’t matter than is wasted doing things inefficiently. And if that is the case, elimination is a more useful skill than optimization. I’m reminded of the famous Peter Drucker quote, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
38、38. When you decline a request, you are saving your future time.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
Learning to say no
【A】Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. This philosophy applies in many areas of life. For example, there is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all. This is not to say you should never attend another meeting, but the truth is that we say “yes” to too many things we don’t actually want to do.
【B】How often do people ask you to do something and you just reply, “Sure.” Three days later, you’re overwhelmed by how much is on your to-do list. We become frustrated by our obligations even though we were the ones who said “yes” to them in the first place. Even worse, people will occasionally fight to do things that waste time. You don’t have to do something just because it exists. It’s worth asking if things are necessary. Many of them are not, and a simple “no” will be more productive than whatever work the most efficient person can cope with. But if the benefits of saying “no” are so obvious, then why do we say “yes” so often?
【C】We say “yes” to many requests not because we want to do them, but because we don’t want to be seen as rude or unhelpful. Often, we have to consider saying “no” to someone we will interact with again in the future—our co-worker, our spouse, our family and friends. Saying “no” to our superiors at work can be particularly difficult. In these situations, I like the approach recommended in Essentialism by Greg McKeown. He writes, “Remind your superiors what you would be neglecting if you said ‘yes’ and force them to deal with the trade-off. For example, if your manager comes to you and asks you to do X, you can respond with ‘Yes, I’m happy to make this the priority. Which of these other projects should I deprioritize to pay attention to this new project?’”
【D】Collaborating with others is an important element of life. The thought of straining the relationship outweighs the commitment of our time and energy. For this reason, it can be helpful to be gracious in your response. Do whatever favors you can, and be warm-hearted and direct when you have to say no. But even after we have accounted for these social considerations, many of us still seem to do a poor job of managing the trade-off between yes and no. We find ourselves over-committed to things that don’t meaningfully improve or support those around us, and certainly don’t improve our own lives.
【E】Perhaps one issue is how we think about the meaning of yes and no. The words “yes” and “no” get so often used in comparison with each other that it feels like they carry equal weight in conversation. In reality, they’re not just opposite in meaning, but of entirely different magnitudes in commitment. When you say “no”, you are only saying “no” to one option. When you say “yes”, you are saying “no” to every other option. I like how economist Tim Harford put it, “Every time we say ‘yes’ to a request, we’re also saying ‘no’ to anything else we might accomplish with the time.” Once you’re committed to something, you’ve already decided how that future block of time will be spent. In other words, saying “no” saves you time in the future. Saying “yes” costs you time in the future. “No” is a form of time credit. You retain the ability to spend your future time however you want. “Yes” is a form of time debt. You have to pay back your commitment at some point.
【F】“No” is a decision. “Yes” is a responsibility. Saying “no” is sometimes seen as a luxury that only those in power can afford. And it’s true: turning down opportunities is easier when you can fall back on the safety net provided by power, money, and authority. But it’s also true that saying “no” is not merely a privilege reserved for the successful. It’s also a strategy that can help you become successful. Saying “no” is an important skill to develop at any stage of your career because it retains the most important asset in life: your time. As investor Pedro Sorrentino put it, “If you don’t guard your time, people will steal it from you.” You need to say “no” to whatever isn’t leading you toward your goals.
【G】Nobody embodied this idea better than Steve Jobs, who said, “People think focus means saying ‘yes’ to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” Jobs had another great quote about saying “no”: “I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.”
【H】Over time, as you continue to improve and succeed, your strategy needs to change. The opportunity cost of your time increases as you become more successful. At first, you just eliminate the obvious distractions and explore the rest. As your skills improve and you learn to separate what works from what doesn’t, you have to continually increase your threshold for saying “yes”. You still need to say “no” to distractions, but you also need to learn to say “no” to opportunities that were previously good uses of time, so you can make space for better uses of time. It’s a good problem to have, but it can be a tough skill to master.
【I】What is true about health is also true about productivity: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. More effort is wasted doing things that don’t matter than is wasted doing things inefficiently. And if that is the case, elimination is a more useful skill than optimization. I’m reminded of the famous Peter Drucker quote, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
39、39. People sometimes struggle to do things that are simply a waste of time.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
Learning to say no
【A】Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. This philosophy applies in many areas of life. For example, there is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all. This is not to say you should never attend another meeting, but the truth is that we say “yes” to too many things we don’t actually want to do.
【B】How often do people ask you to do something and you just reply, “Sure.” Three days later, you’re overwhelmed by how much is on your to-do list. We become frustrated by our obligations even though we were the ones who said “yes” to them in the first place. Even worse, people will occasionally fight to do things that waste time. You don’t have to do something just because it exists. It’s worth asking if things are necessary. Many of them are not, and a simple “no” will be more productive than whatever work the most efficient person can cope with. But if the benefits of saying “no” are so obvious, then why do we say “yes” so often?
【C】We say “yes” to many requests not because we want to do them, but because we don’t want to be seen as rude or unhelpful. Often, we have to consider saying “no” to someone we will interact with again in the future—our co-worker, our spouse, our family and friends. Saying “no” to our superiors at work can be particularly difficult. In these situations, I like the approach recommended in Essentialism by Greg McKeown. He writes, “Remind your superiors what you would be neglecting if you said ‘yes’ and force them to deal with the trade-off. For example, if your manager comes to you and asks you to do X, you can respond with ‘Yes, I’m happy to make this the priority. Which of these other projects should I deprioritize to pay attention to this new project?’”
【D】Collaborating with others is an important element of life. The thought of straining the relationship outweighs the commitment of our time and energy. For this reason, it can be helpful to be gracious in your response. Do whatever favors you can, and be warm-hearted and direct when you have to say no. But even after we have accounted for these social considerations, many of us still seem to do a poor job of managing the trade-off between yes and no. We find ourselves over-committed to things that don’t meaningfully improve or support those around us, and certainly don’t improve our own lives.
【E】Perhaps one issue is how we think about the meaning of yes and no. The words “yes” and “no” get so often used in comparison with each other that it feels like they carry equal weight in conversation. In reality, they’re not just opposite in meaning, but of entirely different magnitudes in commitment. When you say “no”, you are only saying “no” to one option. When you say “yes”, you are saying “no” to every other option. I like how economist Tim Harford put it, “Every time we say ‘yes’ to a request, we’re also saying ‘no’ to anything else we might accomplish with the time.” Once you’re committed to something, you’ve already decided how that future block of time will be spent. In other words, saying “no” saves you time in the future. Saying “yes” costs you time in the future. “No” is a form of time credit. You retain the ability to spend your future time however you want. “Yes” is a form of time debt. You have to pay back your commitment at some point.
【F】“No” is a decision. “Yes” is a responsibility. Saying “no” is sometimes seen as a luxury that only those in power can afford. And it’s true: turning down opportunities is easier when you can fall back on the safety net provided by power, money, and authority. But it’s also true that saying “no” is not merely a privilege reserved for the successful. It’s also a strategy that can help you become successful. Saying “no” is an important skill to develop at any stage of your career because it retains the most important asset in life: your time. As investor Pedro Sorrentino put it, “If you don’t guard your time, people will steal it from you.” You need to say “no” to whatever isn’t leading you toward your goals.
【G】Nobody embodied this idea better than Steve Jobs, who said, “People think focus means saying ‘yes’ to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” Jobs had another great quote about saying “no”: “I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.”
【H】Over time, as you continue to improve and succeed, your strategy needs to change. The opportunity cost of your time increases as you become more successful. At first, you just eliminate the obvious distractions and explore the rest. As your skills improve and you learn to separate what works from what doesn’t, you have to continually increase your threshold for saying “yes”. You still need to say “no” to distractions, but you also need to learn to say “no” to opportunities that were previously good uses of time, so you can make space for better uses of time. It’s a good problem to have, but it can be a tough skill to master.
【I】What is true about health is also true about productivity: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. More effort is wasted doing things that don’t matter than is wasted doing things inefficiently. And if that is the case, elimination is a more useful skill than optimization. I’m reminded of the famous Peter Drucker quote, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
40、40. Doing efficiently what is not worth doing is the most useless effort.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
Learning to say no
【A】Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. This philosophy applies in many areas of life. For example, there is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all. This is not to say you should never attend another meeting, but the truth is that we say “yes” to too many things we don’t actually want to do.
【B】How often do people ask you to do something and you just reply, “Sure.” Three days later, you’re overwhelmed by how much is on your to-do list. We become frustrated by our obligations even though we were the ones who said “yes” to them in the first place. Even worse, people will occasionally fight to do things that waste time. You don’t have to do something just because it exists. It’s worth asking if things are necessary. Many of them are not, and a simple “no” will be more productive than whatever work the most efficient person can cope with. But if the benefits of saying “no” are so obvious, then why do we say “yes” so often?
【C】We say “yes” to many requests not because we want to do them, but because we don’t want to be seen as rude or unhelpful. Often, we have to consider saying “no” to someone we will interact with again in the future—our co-worker, our spouse, our family and friends. Saying “no” to our superiors at work can be particularly difficult. In these situations, I like the approach recommended in Essentialism by Greg McKeown. He writes, “Remind your superiors what you would be neglecting if you said ‘yes’ and force them to deal with the trade-off. For example, if your manager comes to you and asks you to do X, you can respond with ‘Yes, I’m happy to make this the priority. Which of these other projects should I deprioritize to pay attention to this new project?’”
【D】Collaborating with others is an important element of life. The thought of straining the relationship outweighs the commitment of our time and energy. For this reason, it can be helpful to be gracious in your response. Do whatever favors you can, and be warm-hearted and direct when you have to say no. But even after we have accounted for these social considerations, many of us still seem to do a poor job of managing the trade-off between yes and no. We find ourselves over-committed to things that don’t meaningfully improve or support those around us, and certainly don’t improve our own lives.
【E】Perhaps one issue is how we think about the meaning of yes and no. The words “yes” and “no” get so often used in comparison with each other that it feels like they carry equal weight in conversation. In reality, they’re not just opposite in meaning, but of entirely different magnitudes in commitment. When you say “no”, you are only saying “no” to one option. When you say “yes”, you are saying “no” to every other option. I like how economist Tim Harford put it, “Every time we say ‘yes’ to a request, we’re also saying ‘no’ to anything else we might accomplish with the time.” Once you’re committed to something, you’ve already decided how that future block of time will be spent. In other words, saying “no” saves you time in the future. Saying “yes” costs you time in the future. “No” is a form of time credit. You retain the ability to spend your future time however you want. “Yes” is a form of time debt. You have to pay back your commitment at some point.
【F】“No” is a decision. “Yes” is a responsibility. Saying “no” is sometimes seen as a luxury that only those in power can afford. And it’s true: turning down opportunities is easier when you can fall back on the safety net provided by power, money, and authority. But it’s also true that saying “no” is not merely a privilege reserved for the successful. It’s also a strategy that can help you become successful. Saying “no” is an important skill to develop at any stage of your career because it retains the most important asset in life: your time. As investor Pedro Sorrentino put it, “If you don’t guard your time, people will steal it from you.” You need to say “no” to whatever isn’t leading you toward your goals.
【G】Nobody embodied this idea better than Steve Jobs, who said, “People think focus means saying ‘yes’ to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” Jobs had another great quote about saying “no”: “I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.”
【H】Over time, as you continue to improve and succeed, your strategy needs to change. The opportunity cost of your time increases as you become more successful. At first, you just eliminate the obvious distractions and explore the rest. As your skills improve and you learn to separate what works from what doesn’t, you have to continually increase your threshold for saying “yes”. You still need to say “no” to distractions, but you also need to learn to say “no” to opportunities that were previously good uses of time, so you can make space for better uses of time. It’s a good problem to have, but it can be a tough skill to master.
【I】What is true about health is also true about productivity: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. More effort is wasted doing things that don’t matter than is wasted doing things inefficiently. And if that is the case, elimination is a more useful skill than optimization. I’m reminded of the famous Peter Drucker quote, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
41、41. It is especially difficult for people to decline to do what their superiors ask them to do.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
Learning to say no
【A】Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. This philosophy applies in many areas of life. For example, there is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all. This is not to say you should never attend another meeting, but the truth is that we say “yes” to too many things we don’t actually want to do.
【B】How often do people ask you to do something and you just reply, “Sure.” Three days later, you’re overwhelmed by how much is on your to-do list. We become frustrated by our obligations even though we were the ones who said “yes” to them in the first place. Even worse, people will occasionally fight to do things that waste time. You don’t have to do something just because it exists. It’s worth asking if things are necessary. Many of them are not, and a simple “no” will be more productive than whatever work the most efficient person can cope with. But if the benefits of saying “no” are so obvious, then why do we say “yes” so often?
【C】We say “yes” to many requests not because we want to do them, but because we don’t want to be seen as rude or unhelpful. Often, we have to consider saying “no” to someone we will interact with again in the future—our co-worker, our spouse, our family and friends. Saying “no” to our superiors at work can be particularly difficult. In these situations, I like the approach recommended in Essentialism by Greg McKeown. He writes, “Remind your superiors what you would be neglecting if you said ‘yes’ and force them to deal with the trade-off. For example, if your manager comes to you and asks you to do X, you can respond with ‘Yes, I’m happy to make this the priority. Which of these other projects should I deprioritize to pay attention to this new project?’”
【D】Collaborating with others is an important element of life. The thought of straining the relationship outweighs the commitment of our time and energy. For this reason, it can be helpful to be gracious in your response. Do whatever favors you can, and be warm-hearted and direct when you have to say no. But even after we have accounted for these social considerations, many of us still seem to do a poor job of managing the trade-off between yes and no. We find ourselves over-committed to things that don’t meaningfully improve or support those around us, and certainly don’t improve our own lives.
【E】Perhaps one issue is how we think about the meaning of yes and no. The words “yes” and “no” get so often used in comparison with each other that it feels like they carry equal weight in conversation. In reality, they’re not just opposite in meaning, but of entirely different magnitudes in commitment. When you say “no”, you are only saying “no” to one option. When you say “yes”, you are saying “no” to every other option. I like how economist Tim Harford put it, “Every time we say ‘yes’ to a request, we’re also saying ‘no’ to anything else we might accomplish with the time.” Once you’re committed to something, you’ve already decided how that future block of time will be spent. In other words, saying “no” saves you time in the future. Saying “yes” costs you time in the future. “No” is a form of time credit. You retain the ability to spend your future time however you want. “Yes” is a form of time debt. You have to pay back your commitment at some point.
【F】“No” is a decision. “Yes” is a responsibility. Saying “no” is sometimes seen as a luxury that only those in power can afford. And it’s true: turning down opportunities is easier when you can fall back on the safety net provided by power, money, and authority. But it’s also true that saying “no” is not merely a privilege reserved for the successful. It’s also a strategy that can help you become successful. Saying “no” is an important skill to develop at any stage of your career because it retains the most important asset in life: your time. As investor Pedro Sorrentino put it, “If you don’t guard your time, people will steal it from you.” You need to say “no” to whatever isn’t leading you toward your goals.
【G】Nobody embodied this idea better than Steve Jobs, who said, “People think focus means saying ‘yes’ to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” Jobs had another great quote about saying “no”: “I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.”
【H】Over time, as you continue to improve and succeed, your strategy needs to change. The opportunity cost of your time increases as you become more successful. At first, you just eliminate the obvious distractions and explore the rest. As your skills improve and you learn to separate what works from what doesn’t, you have to continually increase your threshold for saying “yes”. You still need to say “no” to distractions, but you also need to learn to say “no” to opportunities that were previously good uses of time, so you can make space for better uses of time. It’s a good problem to have, but it can be a tough skill to master.
【I】What is true about health is also true about productivity: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. More effort is wasted doing things that don’t matter than is wasted doing things inefficiently. And if that is the case, elimination is a more useful skill than optimization. I’m reminded of the famous Peter Drucker quote, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
42、42. People agree to do too many things they are in fact unwilling to do.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
Learning to say no
【A】Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. This philosophy applies in many areas of life. For example, there is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all. This is not to say you should never attend another meeting, but the truth is that we say “yes” to too many things we don’t actually want to do.
【B】How often do people ask you to do something and you just reply, “Sure.” Three days later, you’re overwhelmed by how much is on your to-do list. We become frustrated by our obligations even though we were the ones who said “yes” to them in the first place. Even worse, people will occasionally fight to do things that waste time. You don’t have to do something just because it exists. It’s worth asking if things are necessary. Many of them are not, and a simple “no” will be more productive than whatever work the most efficient person can cope with. But if the benefits of saying “no” are so obvious, then why do we say “yes” so often?
【C】We say “yes” to many requests not because we want to do them, but because we don’t want to be seen as rude or unhelpful. Often, we have to consider saying “no” to someone we will interact with again in the future—our co-worker, our spouse, our family and friends. Saying “no” to our superiors at work can be particularly difficult. In these situations, I like the approach recommended in Essentialism by Greg McKeown. He writes, “Remind your superiors what you would be neglecting if you said ‘yes’ and force them to deal with the trade-off. For example, if your manager comes to you and asks you to do X, you can respond with ‘Yes, I’m happy to make this the priority. Which of these other projects should I deprioritize to pay attention to this new project?’”
【D】Collaborating with others is an important element of life. The thought of straining the relationship outweighs the commitment of our time and energy. For this reason, it can be helpful to be gracious in your response. Do whatever favors you can, and be warm-hearted and direct when you have to say no. But even after we have accounted for these social considerations, many of us still seem to do a poor job of managing the trade-off between yes and no. We find ourselves over-committed to things that don’t meaningfully improve or support those around us, and certainly don’t improve our own lives.
【E】Perhaps one issue is how we think about the meaning of yes and no. The words “yes” and “no” get so often used in comparison with each other that it feels like they carry equal weight in conversation. In reality, they’re not just opposite in meaning, but of entirely different magnitudes in commitment. When you say “no”, you are only saying “no” to one option. When you say “yes”, you are saying “no” to every other option. I like how economist Tim Harford put it, “Every time we say ‘yes’ to a request, we’re also saying ‘no’ to anything else we might accomplish with the time.” Once you’re committed to something, you’ve already decided how that future block of time will be spent. In other words, saying “no” saves you time in the future. Saying “yes” costs you time in the future. “No” is a form of time credit. You retain the ability to spend your future time however you want. “Yes” is a form of time debt. You have to pay back your commitment at some point.
【F】“No” is a decision. “Yes” is a responsibility. Saying “no” is sometimes seen as a luxury that only those in power can afford. And it’s true: turning down opportunities is easier when you can fall back on the safety net provided by power, money, and authority. But it’s also true that saying “no” is not merely a privilege reserved for the successful. It’s also a strategy that can help you become successful. Saying “no” is an important skill to develop at any stage of your career because it retains the most important asset in life: your time. As investor Pedro Sorrentino put it, “If you don’t guard your time, people will steal it from you.” You need to say “no” to whatever isn’t leading you toward your goals.
【G】Nobody embodied this idea better than Steve Jobs, who said, “People think focus means saying ‘yes’ to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” Jobs had another great quote about saying “no”: “I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.”
【H】Over time, as you continue to improve and succeed, your strategy needs to change. The opportunity cost of your time increases as you become more successful. At first, you just eliminate the obvious distractions and explore the rest. As your skills improve and you learn to separate what works from what doesn’t, you have to continually increase your threshold for saying “yes”. You still need to say “no” to distractions, but you also need to learn to say “no” to opportunities that were previously good uses of time, so you can make space for better uses of time. It’s a good problem to have, but it can be a tough skill to master.
【I】What is true about health is also true about productivity: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. More effort is wasted doing things that don’t matter than is wasted doing things inefficiently. And if that is the case, elimination is a more useful skill than optimization. I’m reminded of the famous Peter Drucker quote, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
43、43. According to one famous entrepreneur, innovation means refusal to do an enormous number of things.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
Learning to say no
【A】Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. This philosophy applies in many areas of life. For example, there is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all. This is not to say you should never attend another meeting, but the truth is that we say “yes” to too many things we don’t actually want to do.
【B】How often do people ask you to do something and you just reply, “Sure.” Three days later, you’re overwhelmed by how much is on your to-do list. We become frustrated by our obligations even though we were the ones who said “yes” to them in the first place. Even worse, people will occasionally fight to do things that waste time. You don’t have to do something just because it exists. It’s worth asking if things are necessary. Many of them are not, and a simple “no” will be more productive than whatever work the most efficient person can cope with. But if the benefits of saying “no” are so obvious, then why do we say “yes” so often?
【C】We say “yes” to many requests not because we want to do them, but because we don’t want to be seen as rude or unhelpful. Often, we have to consider saying “no” to someone we will interact with again in the future—our co-worker, our spouse, our family and friends. Saying “no” to our superiors at work can be particularly difficult. In these situations, I like the approach recommended in Essentialism by Greg McKeown. He writes, “Remind your superiors what you would be neglecting if you said ‘yes’ and force them to deal with the trade-off. For example, if your manager comes to you and asks you to do X, you can respond with ‘Yes, I’m happy to make this the priority. Which of these other projects should I deprioritize to pay attention to this new project?’”
【D】Collaborating with others is an important element of life. The thought of straining the relationship outweighs the commitment of our time and energy. For this reason, it can be helpful to be gracious in your response. Do whatever favors you can, and be warm-hearted and direct when you have to say no. But even after we have accounted for these social considerations, many of us still seem to do a poor job of managing the trade-off between yes and no. We find ourselves over-committed to things that don’t meaningfully improve or support those around us, and certainly don’t improve our own lives.
【E】Perhaps one issue is how we think about the meaning of yes and no. The words “yes” and “no” get so often used in comparison with each other that it feels like they carry equal weight in conversation. In reality, they’re not just opposite in meaning, but of entirely different magnitudes in commitment. When you say “no”, you are only saying “no” to one option. When you say “yes”, you are saying “no” to every other option. I like how economist Tim Harford put it, “Every time we say ‘yes’ to a request, we’re also saying ‘no’ to anything else we might accomplish with the time.” Once you’re committed to something, you’ve already decided how that future block of time will be spent. In other words, saying “no” saves you time in the future. Saying “yes” costs you time in the future. “No” is a form of time credit. You retain the ability to spend your future time however you want. “Yes” is a form of time debt. You have to pay back your commitment at some point.
【F】“No” is a decision. “Yes” is a responsibility. Saying “no” is sometimes seen as a luxury that only those in power can afford. And it’s true: turning down opportunities is easier when you can fall back on the safety net provided by power, money, and authority. But it’s also true that saying “no” is not merely a privilege reserved for the successful. It’s also a strategy that can help you become successful. Saying “no” is an important skill to develop at any stage of your career because it retains the most important asset in life: your time. As investor Pedro Sorrentino put it, “If you don’t guard your time, people will steal it from you.” You need to say “no” to whatever isn’t leading you toward your goals.
【G】Nobody embodied this idea better than Steve Jobs, who said, “People think focus means saying ‘yes’ to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” Jobs had another great quote about saying “no”: “I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.”
【H】Over time, as you continue to improve and succeed, your strategy needs to change. The opportunity cost of your time increases as you become more successful. At first, you just eliminate the obvious distractions and explore the rest. As your skills improve and you learn to separate what works from what doesn’t, you have to continually increase your threshold for saying “yes”. You still need to say “no” to distractions, but you also need to learn to say “no” to opportunities that were previously good uses of time, so you can make space for better uses of time. It’s a good problem to have, but it can be a tough skill to master.
【I】What is true about health is also true about productivity: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. More effort is wasted doing things that don’t matter than is wasted doing things inefficiently. And if that is the case, elimination is a more useful skill than optimization. I’m reminded of the famous Peter Drucker quote, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
44、44. It is an essential aspect of life to cooperate with other people.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
Learning to say no
【A】Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. This philosophy applies in many areas of life. For example, there is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all. This is not to say you should never attend another meeting, but the truth is that we say “yes” to too many things we don’t actually want to do.
【B】How often do people ask you to do something and you just reply, “Sure.” Three days later, you’re overwhelmed by how much is on your to-do list. We become frustrated by our obligations even though we were the ones who said “yes” to them in the first place. Even worse, people will occasionally fight to do things that waste time. You don’t have to do something just because it exists. It’s worth asking if things are necessary. Many of them are not, and a simple “no” will be more productive than whatever work the most efficient person can cope with. But if the benefits of saying “no” are so obvious, then why do we say “yes” so often?
【C】We say “yes” to many requests not because we want to do them, but because we don’t want to be seen as rude or unhelpful. Often, we have to consider saying “no” to someone we will interact with again in the future—our co-worker, our spouse, our family and friends. Saying “no” to our superiors at work can be particularly difficult. In these situations, I like the approach recommended in Essentialism by Greg McKeown. He writes, “Remind your superiors what you would be neglecting if you said ‘yes’ and force them to deal with the trade-off. For example, if your manager comes to you and asks you to do X, you can respond with ‘Yes, I’m happy to make this the priority. Which of these other projects should I deprioritize to pay attention to this new project?’”
【D】Collaborating with others is an important element of life. The thought of straining the relationship outweighs the commitment of our time and energy. For this reason, it can be helpful to be gracious in your response. Do whatever favors you can, and be warm-hearted and direct when you have to say no. But even after we have accounted for these social considerations, many of us still seem to do a poor job of managing the trade-off between yes and no. We find ourselves over-committed to things that don’t meaningfully improve or support those around us, and certainly don’t improve our own lives.
【E】Perhaps one issue is how we think about the meaning of yes and no. The words “yes” and “no” get so often used in comparison with each other that it feels like they carry equal weight in conversation. In reality, they’re not just opposite in meaning, but of entirely different magnitudes in commitment. When you say “no”, you are only saying “no” to one option. When you say “yes”, you are saying “no” to every other option. I like how economist Tim Harford put it, “Every time we say ‘yes’ to a request, we’re also saying ‘no’ to anything else we might accomplish with the time.” Once you’re committed to something, you’ve already decided how that future block of time will be spent. In other words, saying “no” saves you time in the future. Saying “yes” costs you time in the future. “No” is a form of time credit. You retain the ability to spend your future time however you want. “Yes” is a form of time debt. You have to pay back your commitment at some point.
【F】“No” is a decision. “Yes” is a responsibility. Saying “no” is sometimes seen as a luxury that only those in power can afford. And it’s true: turning down opportunities is easier when you can fall back on the safety net provided by power, money, and authority. But it’s also true that saying “no” is not merely a privilege reserved for the successful. It’s also a strategy that can help you become successful. Saying “no” is an important skill to develop at any stage of your career because it retains the most important asset in life: your time. As investor Pedro Sorrentino put it, “If you don’t guard your time, people will steal it from you.” You need to say “no” to whatever isn’t leading you toward your goals.
【G】Nobody embodied this idea better than Steve Jobs, who said, “People think focus means saying ‘yes’ to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.” Jobs had another great quote about saying “no”: “I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.”
【H】Over time, as you continue to improve and succeed, your strategy needs to change. The opportunity cost of your time increases as you become more successful. At first, you just eliminate the obvious distractions and explore the rest. As your skills improve and you learn to separate what works from what doesn’t, you have to continually increase your threshold for saying “yes”. You still need to say “no” to distractions, but you also need to learn to say “no” to opportunities that were previously good uses of time, so you can make space for better uses of time. It’s a good problem to have, but it can be a tough skill to master.
【I】What is true about health is also true about productivity: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. More effort is wasted doing things that don’t matter than is wasted doing things inefficiently. And if that is the case, elimination is a more useful skill than optimization. I’m reminded of the famous Peter Drucker quote, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
45、45. Refusing a request is sometimes seen as a privilege not enjoyed by ordinary people.
A、A
B、B
C、C
D、D
E、E
F、F
G、G
H、H
I、I
We’re eating more fish than ever these days. At around 20 kilograms per person global fish consumption is now more than twice what it was in the 1960s. What’s really remarkable, though, is where that fish comes from.
For the first time in human history, most of our aquatic (水产的) food now comes from farming rather than fishing.
People ate around 73 million tonnes of farmed fish—just more than half of the volume of fish that humans consumed—in 2014. That’s out of a total fish supply of 167 million tonnes; the remaining 20 million or so tonnes go into things like animal feed and medical products.
To keep eating fish at the current rate, we’re definitely going to need to keep aquaculture (水产养殖) developing. That’s because the volume of fish caught in the wild has leveled off since the 1990s.
Back in 1974, only 10% of marine fish stocks had been overfished. Now, more than three-tenths are. Only a tenth of our oceans’ fish stocks could sustain heavier fishing than current levels.
But while catchings at sea have suffered, fish-farming has been growing at a fast rate. A lot ofthat is coming from China, which produces 60% of the world’s farmed fish. In fact, some 35 countries, including China, now produce more farmed than wild-caught fish.
This shift toward aquaculture isn’t just good for ensuring salmon (三文鱼) on your plate; it’s also crucial to ensuring food security and sustainability. By 2050, the world will need to feed an estimated 9.7 billion people. They’ll have to get their protein somewhere. However, raising cattle, pigs, and other land-based animals requires vast sums of grain and water. For example, pound for pound, beef requires 15 times more feed to raise than carp, a freshwater fish farmed all over Asia. That grain—and the water needed to grow it—could be consumed by people instead.
However, aquaculture is no silver bullet. In some southeast Asian countries, shrimp farming does disastrous damage to marine ecosystems. Despite these problems, however, shrimp continues to be among the most popular seafoods worldwide.
46、46. What does the author say is remarkable about the fish we eat?
A、They reproduce quickly.
B、They are mostly farmed.
C、They have become as important as grain.
D、They have a longer history than humans.
We’re eating more fish than ever these days. At around 20 kilograms per person global fish consumption is now more than twice what it was in the 1960s. What’s really remarkable, though, is where that fish comes from.
For the first time in human history, most of our aquatic (水产的) food now comes from farming rather than fishing.
People ate around 73 million tonnes of farmed fish—just more than half of the volume of fish that humans consumed—in 2014. That’s out of a total fish supply of 167 million tonnes; the remaining 20 million or so tonnes go into things like animal feed and medical products.
To keep eating fish at the current rate, we’re definitely going to need to keep aquaculture (水产养殖) developing. That’s because the volume of fish caught in the wild has leveled off since the 1990s.
Back in 1974, only 10% of marine fish stocks had been overfished. Now, more than three-tenths are. Only a tenth of our oceans’ fish stocks could sustain heavier fishing than current levels.
But while catchings at sea have suffered, fish-farming has been growing at a fast rate. A lot ofthat is coming from China, which produces 60% of the world’s farmed fish. In fact, some 35 countries, including China, now produce more farmed than wild-caught fish.
This shift toward aquaculture isn’t just good for ensuring salmon (三文鱼) on your plate; it’s also crucial to ensuring food security and sustainability. By 2050, the world will need to feed an estimated 9.7 billion people. They’ll have to get their protein somewhere. However, raising cattle, pigs, and other land-based animals requires vast sums of grain and water. For example, pound for pound, beef requires 15 times more feed to raise than carp, a freshwater fish farmed all over Asia. That grain—and the water needed to grow it—could be consumed by people instead.
However, aquaculture is no silver bullet. In some southeast Asian countries, shrimp farming does disastrous damage to marine ecosystems. Despite these problems, however, shrimp continues to be among the most popular seafoods worldwide.
47、47. What do we need to do if we keep consuming fish at the current rate?
A、Increase the fishing volume considerably.
B、Develop more advanced fishing technology.
C、Enlarge the marine fish stocks effectively.
D、Expand the scale of fish-farming continuously.
We’re eating more fish than ever these days. At around 20 kilograms per person global fish consumption is now more than twice what it was in the 1960s. What’s really remarkable, though, is where that fish comes from.
For the first time in human history, most of our aquatic (水产的) food now comes from farming rather than fishing.
People ate around 73 million tonnes of farmed fish—just more than half of the volume of fish that humans consumed—in 2014. That’s out of a total fish supply of 167 million tonnes; the remaining 20 million or so tonnes go into things like animal feed and medical products.
To keep eating fish at the current rate, we’re definitely going to need to keep aquaculture (水产养殖) developing. That’s because the volume of fish caught in the wild has leveled off since the 1990s.
Back in 1974, only 10% of marine fish stocks had been overfished. Now, more than three-tenths are. Only a tenth of our oceans’ fish stocks could sustain heavier fishing than current levels.
But while catchings at sea have suffered, fish-farming has been growing at a fast rate. A lot ofthat is coming from China, which produces 60% of the world’s farmed fish. In fact, some 35 countries, including China, now produce more farmed than wild-caught fish.
This shift toward aquaculture isn’t just good for ensuring salmon (三文鱼) on your plate; it’s also crucial to ensuring food security and sustainability. By 2050, the world will need to feed an estimated 9.7 billion people. They’ll have to get their protein somewhere. However, raising cattle, pigs, and other land-based animals requires vast sums of grain and water. For example, pound for pound, beef requires 15 times more feed to raise than carp, a freshwater fish farmed all over Asia. That grain—and the water needed to grow it—could be consumed by people instead.
However, aquaculture is no silver bullet. In some southeast Asian countries, shrimp farming does disastrous damage to marine ecosystems. Despite these problems, however, shrimp continues to be among the most popular seafoods worldwide.
48、48. What does the author say about China in terms of aquatic food?
A、It places increasing emphasis on fishing now.
B、It boasts of the world’s largest fishing stocks.
C、It raises more fish than caught from the wild.
D、It supplies 60% of the world’s fish products.
We’re eating more fish than ever these days. At around 20 kilograms per person global fish consumption is now more than twice what it was in the 1960s. What’s really remarkable, though, is where that fish comes from.
For the first time in human history, most of our aquatic (水产的) food now comes from farming rather than fishing.
People ate around 73 million tonnes of farmed fish—just more than half of the volume of fish that humans consumed—in 2014. That’s out of a total fish supply of 167 million tonnes; the remaining 20 million or so tonnes go into things like animal feed and medical products.
To keep eating fish at the current rate, we’re definitely going to need to keep aquaculture (水产养殖) developing. That’s because the volume of fish caught in the wild has leveled off since the 1990s.
Back in 1974, only 10% of marine fish stocks had been overfished. Now, more than three-tenths are. Only a tenth of our oceans’ fish stocks could sustain heavier fishing than current levels.
But while catchings at sea have suffered, fish-farming has been growing at a fast rate. A lot ofthat is coming from China, which produces 60% of the world’s farmed fish. In fact, some 35 countries, including China, now produce more farmed than wild-caught fish.
This shift toward aquaculture isn’t just good for ensuring salmon (三文鱼) on your plate; it’s also crucial to ensuring food security and sustainability. By 2050, the world will need to feed an estimated 9.7 billion people. They’ll have to get their protein somewhere. However, raising cattle, pigs, and other land-based animals requires vast sums of grain and water. For example, pound for pound, beef requires 15 times more feed to raise than carp, a freshwater fish farmed all over Asia. That grain—and the water needed to grow it—could be consumed by people instead.
However, aquaculture is no silver bullet. In some southeast Asian countries, shrimp farming does disastrous damage to marine ecosystems. Despite these problems, however, shrimp continues to be among the most popular seafoods worldwide.
49、49. Why does the author say aquaculture is so important these days?
A、It is a must for feeding the world’s fast-growing population.
B、It proves a reliable source of protein for humans and animals.
C、It is essential to maintaining both mental and physical health.
D、It ensures a balanced healthy diet for people the world over.
We’re eating more fish than ever these days. At around 20 kilograms per person global fish consumption is now more than twice what it was in the 1960s. What’s really remarkable, though, is where that fish comes from.
For the first time in human history, most of our aquatic (水产的) food now comes from farming rather than fishing.
People ate around 73 million tonnes of farmed fish—just more than half of the volume of fish that humans consumed—in 2014. That’s out of a total fish supply of 167 million tonnes; the remaining 20 million or so tonnes go into things like animal feed and medical products.
To keep eating fish at the current rate, we’re definitely going to need to keep aquaculture (水产养殖) developing. That’s because the volume of fish caught in the wild has leveled off since the 1990s.
Back in 1974, only 10% of marine fish stocks had been overfished. Now, more than three-tenths are. Only a tenth of our oceans’ fish stocks could sustain heavier fishing than current levels.
But while catchings at sea have suffered, fish-farming has been growing at a fast rate. A lot ofthat is coming from China, which produces 60% of the world’s farmed fish. In fact, some 35 countries, including China, now produce more farmed than wild-caught fish.
This shift toward aquaculture isn’t just good for ensuring salmon (三文鱼) on your plate; it’s also crucial to ensuring food security and sustainability. By 2050, the world will need to feed an estimated 9.7 billion people. They’ll have to get their protein somewhere. However, raising cattle, pigs, and other land-based animals requires vast sums of grain and water. For example, pound for pound, beef requires 15 times more feed to raise than carp, a freshwater fish farmed all over Asia. That grain—and the water needed to grow it—could be consumed by people instead.
However, aquaculture is no silver bullet. In some southeast Asian countries, shrimp farming does disastrous damage to marine ecosystems. Despite these problems, however, shrimp continues to be among the most popular seafoods worldwide.
50、50. What does the author imply by saying aquaculture is no silver bullet?
A、Shrimp-farming is a risky business.
B、Fish-farming will not be sustainable.
C、Fish-farming may cause serious problems too.
D、Shrimp-farming can become quite expensive.
In 2020, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Programme (WFP).
Why a Nobel Prize for the WFP, and why now? In 2019, the WFP assisted nearly 100 million people in 88 countries. It is the safety net for those who fall off the edge of existence. It is a response to solving the problem of food instability. Its Nobel Prize reminds us all of the moral hazard in imagining that the poor and vulnerable are somebody else’s problem.
The WFP has been around since 1961 and has been the global coordinator of nationally based efforts to avoid disasters with food aid. Despite decades of effort to eliminate hunger, the latest estimate is that about 11% of people on the planet (about 820 million people) are suffering daily undernourishment. Progress at reducing undernourishment has stopped despite gains through the 1990s and 2000s.
Developed countries sometimes offer food and aid to developing ones, but at a price. One American philosopher stated that addressing the needs of the poor and vulnerable is about more than money—it is mostly about creating conditions under which prosperity and opportunity can thrive. When aid is offered with heavy conditions attached, like loan repayment or food for resources, it often widens the gap between rich and poor and sustains the old world order. This is why the work of the WFP is so vital.
The scientific community, however, can provide a helping hand to the WFP. By sharing knowledge of agriculture and climate with peers in countries most vulnerable to poverty and hunger, scientists can help reduce these problems. By making its voice heard, science can lead by example. The ability to overcome food shortages that must be built into some of the poorest countries will not come from loans from wealthy countries, which may have food problems of their own, or world economic institutions. This ability will be built upon self-confident people using open and shared scientific knowledge to pull themselves out of their misery.
51、51. What does the WFP’s winning of the Nobel Peace Prize make us realize?
A、More and more people in the world are suffering from starvation.
B、All of us can be affected by food instability one way or another.
C、It is hazardous to leave millions of people poor and vulnerable.
D、It is morally wrong to think helping the poor is not our business.
In 2020, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Programme (WFP).
Why a Nobel Prize for the WFP, and why now? In 2019, the WFP assisted nearly 100 million people in 88 countries. It is the safety net for those who fall off the edge of existence. It is a response to solving the problem of food instability. Its Nobel Prize reminds us all of the moral hazard in imagining that the poor and vulnerable are somebody else’s problem.
The WFP has been around since 1961 and has been the global coordinator of nationally based efforts to avoid disasters with food aid. Despite decades of effort to eliminate hunger, the latest estimate is that about 11% of people on the planet (about 820 million people) are suffering daily undernourishment. Progress at reducing undernourishment has stopped despite gains through the 1990s and 2000s.
Developed countries sometimes offer food and aid to developing ones, but at a price. One American philosopher stated that addressing the needs of the poor and vulnerable is about more than money—it is mostly about creating conditions under which prosperity and opportunity can thrive. When aid is offered with heavy conditions attached, like loan repayment or food for resources, it often widens the gap between rich and poor and sustains the old world order. This is why the work of the WFP is so vital.
The scientific community, however, can provide a helping hand to the WFP. By sharing knowledge of agriculture and climate with peers in countries most vulnerable to poverty and hunger, scientists can help reduce these problems. By making its voice heard, science can lead by example. The ability to overcome food shortages that must be built into some of the poorest countries will not come from loans from wealthy countries, which may have food problems of their own, or world economic institutions. This ability will be built upon self-confident people using open and shared scientific knowledge to pull themselves out of their misery.
52、52. What do we learn about the WFP’s effort to eliminate hunger?
A、It has ensured a sufficient food supply to millions.
B、It is still far from its goal despite the progress made.
C、It has done a good job in combating natural disasters.
D、It is preventing starvation occurring on a global scale.
In 2020, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Programme (WFP).
Why a Nobel Prize for the WFP, and why now? In 2019, the WFP assisted nearly 100 million people in 88 countries. It is the safety net for those who fall off the edge of existence. It is a response to solving the problem of food instability. Its Nobel Prize reminds us all of the moral hazard in imagining that the poor and vulnerable are somebody else’s problem.
The WFP has been around since 1961 and has been the global coordinator of nationally based efforts to avoid disasters with food aid. Despite decades of effort to eliminate hunger, the latest estimate is that about 11% of people on the planet (about 820 million people) are suffering daily undernourishment. Progress at reducing undernourishment has stopped despite gains through the 1990s and 2000s.
Developed countries sometimes offer food and aid to developing ones, but at a price. One American philosopher stated that addressing the needs of the poor and vulnerable is about more than money—it is mostly about creating conditions under which prosperity and opportunity can thrive. When aid is offered with heavy conditions attached, like loan repayment or food for resources, it often widens the gap between rich and poor and sustains the old world order. This is why the work of the WFP is so vital.
The scientific community, however, can provide a helping hand to the WFP. By sharing knowledge of agriculture and climate with peers in countries most vulnerable to poverty and hunger, scientists can help reduce these problems. By making its voice heard, science can lead by example. The ability to overcome food shortages that must be built into some of the poorest countries will not come from loans from wealthy countries, which may have food problems of their own, or world economic institutions. This ability will be built upon self-confident people using open and shared scientific knowledge to pull themselves out of their misery.
53、53. What will happen when food aid is offered at a price?
A、The rich will become richer and the poor poorer.
B、More people will be willing to join in the effort.
C、More food will be made available to the needy.
D、The relief effort will be rendered less sustainable.
In 2020, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Programme (WFP).
Why a Nobel Prize for the WFP, and why now? In 2019, the WFP assisted nearly 100 million people in 88 countries. It is the safety net for those who fall off the edge of existence. It is a response to solving the problem of food instability. Its Nobel Prize reminds us all of the moral hazard in imagining that the poor and vulnerable are somebody else’s problem.
The WFP has been around since 1961 and has been the global coordinator of nationally based efforts to avoid disasters with food aid. Despite decades of effort to eliminate hunger, the latest estimate is that about 11% of people on the planet (about 820 million people) are suffering daily undernourishment. Progress at reducing undernourishment has stopped despite gains through the 1990s and 2000s.
Developed countries sometimes offer food and aid to developing ones, but at a price. One American philosopher stated that addressing the needs of the poor and vulnerable is about more than money—it is mostly about creating conditions under which prosperity and opportunity can thrive. When aid is offered with heavy conditions attached, like loan repayment or food for resources, it often widens the gap between rich and poor and sustains the old world order. This is why the work of the WFP is so vital.
The scientific community, however, can provide a helping hand to the WFP. By sharing knowledge of agriculture and climate with peers in countries most vulnerable to poverty and hunger, scientists can help reduce these problems. By making its voice heard, science can lead by example. The ability to overcome food shortages that must be built into some of the poorest countries will not come from loans from wealthy countries, which may have food problems of their own, or world economic institutions. This ability will be built upon self-confident people using open and shared scientific knowledge to pull themselves out of their misery.
54、54. How can scientists help cope with poverty and hunger?
A、By collaborating closely with world economic institutions.
B、By sharing expertise with peers in poverty-stricken nations.
C、By setting up more food research programs in developing countries.
D、By building self-respect in people suffering from undernutrition.
In 2020, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Programme (WFP).
Why a Nobel Prize for the WFP, and why now? In 2019, the WFP assisted nearly 100 million people in 88 countries. It is the safety net for those who fall off the edge of existence. It is a response to solving the problem of food instability. Its Nobel Prize reminds us all of the moral hazard in imagining that the poor and vulnerable are somebody else’s problem.
The WFP has been around since 1961 and has been the global coordinator of nationally based efforts to avoid disasters with food aid. Despite decades of effort to eliminate hunger, the latest estimate is that about 11% of people on the planet (about 820 million people) are suffering daily undernourishment. Progress at reducing undernourishment has stopped despite gains through the 1990s and 2000s.
Developed countries sometimes offer food and aid to developing ones, but at a price. One American philosopher stated that addressing the needs of the poor and vulnerable is about more than money—it is mostly about creating conditions under which prosperity and opportunity can thrive. When aid is offered with heavy conditions attached, like loan repayment or food for resources, it often widens the gap between rich and poor and sustains the old world order. This is why the work of the WFP is so vital.
The scientific community, however, can provide a helping hand to the WFP. By sharing knowledge of agriculture and climate with peers in countries most vulnerable to poverty and hunger, scientists can help reduce these problems. By making its voice heard, science can lead by example. The ability to overcome food shortages that must be built into some of the poorest countries will not come from loans from wealthy countries, which may have food problems of their own, or world economic institutions. This ability will be built upon self-confident people using open and shared scientific knowledge to pull themselves out of their misery.
55、55. What message does the author try to convey at the end of the passage?
A、Wealthy nations should solve their own food problems first.
B、Rich countries should be more generous in providing food aid.
C、Poor nations should enhance their own ability to solve their food shortages.
D、World economic institutions should play a bigger role in fighting hunger.
三、Part IV Translation
56、 冬至（Winter Solstice）是全年白昼最短、黑夜最长的一天，标志着一年中最寒冷时节的开始。冬至过后，气温越来越低，人们的户外活动逐渐减少。农民地里活儿不多，主要忙于灌溉系统的维护和农作物的防冻，同时为来年春天播种做准备。
中国人历来很重视冬至，许多地方都把冬至当作一个节日，庆祝方式各地不尽相同。北方人有冬至吃饺子（jiaozi）的习俗，南方人有冬至吃汤圆（tangyuan）的传统。
参考答案：
参考译文
Winter Solstice is the day with the shortest daytime and the longest nighttime, which marks the beginning of the coldest time of the year. After the Winter Solstice, the temperature gets lower and lower, and people gradually reduce their outdoor activities. Farmers have less work in the field, mainly busy with the maintenance of the irrigation system and frost protection of the crops while preparing for sowing in the next spring.
The Chinese people have long attached great importance to Winter Solstice so that it is regarded as a festival in many places with different ways of celebration. The people in the north have the custom of eating jiaozi while those in the south have the tradition of eating tangyuan on the Winter Solstice.
四、Part I Writing
57、Directions: In this task, you are to write an essay on the role of physical exercise in achieving success at college. You will have 30 minutes for the task. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.
参考答案：
参考范文
Nowadays, there is a growing trend that an increasing number of college students would like to take physical exercise such as jogging and yoga. In my point of view, this is a positive sign, indicating that the students have realized the importance of physical exercise for their campus life.
Taking exercise can help a college student excel in two ways. First, keeping fit physically is beneficial to shaping a good personality. Since doing sports is helpful for reducing stress and anxiety, it can make a student more optimistic and prepare him to overcome difficulties. Second, one who keeps the habit of doing physical exercise is usually more socially competent and more devoted to group activities. These qualities will make them ready to seize opportunities and to cooperate, thus giving them more chances to succeed at college.
In summary, taking physical exercise plays a positive role in achieving success at college. Therefore, if you want to make a difference in college, do remember to make time for sports. It would reward you more than you could expect.
参考译文
如今，有一个趋势是越来越多的大学生喜欢进行慢跑、瑜伽等体育锻炼。在我看来，这是一个积极的信号，表明学生们已经意识到体育锻炼对他们校园生活的重要性。
锻炼能从两个方面帮助大学生表现突出。首先，保持身体健康有利于塑造良好的人格。由于做运动有助于减轻压力和焦虑，它可以使学生更加乐观，让其做好克服困难的准备。其次，保持体育锻炼习惯的人通常社交能力更强，更热衷于团体活动。这些品质将使他们更容易抓住机会、达成合作，从而使他们更有可能在大学取得成功。
总之，体育锻炼对在大学取得成功有积极作用。因此，如果你想在大学里有所作为，一定要记得抽出时间做运动。你会得到比想象中更多的回报。
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