Text 1 Every Saturday morning, at 9 am, more than 50,000 runners set off to run 5km around their local park. The Parkrun phenomenon began with a dozen friends and has inspired 400 events in the UK and more abroad. Events are free, staffed by thousands of volunteers. Runners range from four years old to grandparents; their times range from Andrew Baddeley’s world record 13 minutes 48 seconds up to an hour. Parkrun is succeeding where London’s Olympic "legacy" is failing. Ten years ago on Monday, it was announced that the Games of the 30th Olympiad would be in London. Planning documents pledged that the great legacy of the Games would be to level a nation of sport lovers away from their couches. The population would be fitter, healthier and produce more winners. It has not happened. The number of adults doing weekly sport did rise, by nearly 2 million in the run-up to 2012-but the general population was growing faster. Worse, the numbers are now falling at an accelerating rate. The opposition claims primary school pupils doing at least two hours of sport a week have nearly halved. Obesity has risen among adults and children. Official retrospections continue as to why London 2012 failed to "inspire a generation." The success of Parkrun offers answers. Parkun is not a race but a time trial: Your only competitor is the clock. The ethos welcomes anybody. There is as much joy over a puffed-out first-timer being clapped over the line as there is about top talent shining. The Olympic bidders, by contrast, wanted to get more people doing sports and to produce more elite athletes. The dual aim was mixed up: The stress on success over taking part was intimidating for newcomers. Indeed, there is something a little absurd in the state getting involved in the planning of such a fundamentally "grassroots", concept as community sports associations. If there is a role for government, it should really be getting involved in providing common goods-making sure there is space for playing fields and the money to pave tennis and netball courts, and encouraging the provision of all these activities in schools. But successive governments have presided over selling green spaces, squeezing money from local authorities and declining attention on sport in education. Instead of wordy, worthy strategies, future governments need to do more to provide the conditions for sport to thrive. Or at least not make them worse. With regard to mass sport, the author holds that governments should_____.
A. organize "grassroots" sports events
B. supervise local sports associations
C. increase funds for sports clubs
D. invest in public sports facilities
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Text 4 Though often viewed as a problem for western states, the growing frequency of wildfires is a national concern because of its impact on federal tax dollars, says Professor Max Moritz, a specialist in fire ecology and management. In 2015, the US Forest Service for the first time spent more than half of its $5.5 billion annual budget fighting fires-nearly double the percentage it spent on such efforts 20 years ago. In effect, fewer federal funds today are going towards the agency’s other work-such as forest conservation, watershed and cultural resources management, and infrastructure upkeep-that affect the lives of all Americans. Another nationwide concern is whether public funds from other agencies are going into construction in fire-prone districts. As Moritz puts it, how often are federal dollars building homes that are likely to be lost to a wildfire "It’s already a huge problem from a public expenditure perspective for the whole country," he says. We need to take a magnifying glass to that. Like, "Wait a minute, is this OK" "Do we want instead to redirect those funds to concentrate on lower-hazard parts of the landscape" Such a view would require a corresponding shift in the way US society today views fire, researchers say. For one thing, conversations about wildfires need to be more inclusive. Over the past decade, the focus has been on climate change-how the warming of the Earth from greenhouse gases is leading to conditions that worsen fires. While climate is a key element, Moritz says, it shouldn’t come at the expense of the rest of the equation. "The human systems and the landscapes we live on are linked, and the interactions go both ways," he says. Failing to recognize that, he notes, leads to "an overly simplified view of what the solutions might be. Our perception of the problem and of what the solution is becomes very limited." At the same time, people continue to treat fire as an event that needs to be wholly controlled and unleashed only out of necessity, says Professor Balch at the University of Colorado. But acknowledging fire’s inevitable presence in human life is an attitude crucial to developing the laws, policies, and practices that make it as safe as possible, she says. "We’ve disconnected ourselves from living with fire," Balch says. "It is really important to understand and try and tease out what is the human connection with fire today." While admitting that climate is a key element, Moritz notes that _____.
A. public debates have not settled yet
B. fire-fighting conditions are improving
C. other factors should not be overlooked
D. a shift in the view of fire has taken place
Directions: Suppose you are invited by Professor Williams to give a presentation about Chinese culture to a group of international students. Write a reply to 1) Accept the invitation, and 2) Introduce the key points of your presentation. You should write about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET. Do not use your own name. Use “Li Ming”instead. Do not write your address. (10points).
The decline in American manufacturing is a common refrain, particularly from Donald Trump. "We don’t make anything anymore," he told Fox News, while defending his own made-in-Mexico clothing line. Without question, manufacturing has taken a significant hit during recent decades, and further trade deals raise questions about whether new shocks could hit manufacturing. But there is also a different way to look at the data. Across the country, factory owners are now grappling with a new challenge: instead of having too many workers, they may end up with too few. Despite trade competition and outsourcing, American manufacturing still needs to replace tens of thousands of retiring boomers every years. Millennials may not be that interested in taking their place, other industries are recruiting them with similar or better pay. For factory owners, it all adds up to stiff competition for workers-and upward pressure on wages. "They’re harder to find and they have job offers," says Jay Dunwell, president of Wolverine Coil Spring, a family-owned firm, "They may be coming [into the workforce], but they’ve been plucked by other industries that are also doing an well as manufacturing," Mr. Dunwell has begun bringing high school juniors to the factory so they can get exposed to its culture. At RoMan Manufacturing, a maker of electrical transformers and welding equipment that his father cofounded in 1980, Robert Roth keep a close eye on the age of his nearly 200 workers, five are retiring this year. Mr. Roth has three community-college students enrolled in a work-placement program, with a starting wage of $13 an hour that rises to $17 after two years. At a worktable inside the transformer plant, young Jason Stenquist looks flustered by the copper coils he’s trying to assemble and the arrival of two visitors. It’s his first week on the job. Asked about his choice of career, he says at high school he considered medical school before switching to electrical engineering. "I love working with tools. I love creating." he says. But to win over these young workers, manufacturers have to clear another major hurdle: parents, who lived through the worst US economic downturn since the Great Depression, telling them to avoid the factory. Millennials "remember their father and mother both were laid off. They blame it on the manufacturing recession," says Birgit Klohs, chief executive of The Right Place, a business development agency for western Michigan. These concerns aren’t misplaced: Employment in manufacturing has fallen from 17 million in 1970 to 12 million in 2013. When the recovery began, worker shortages first appeared in the high-skilled trades. Now shortages are appearing at the mid-skill levels. "The gap is between the jobs that take to skills and those that require a lot of skill," says Rob Spohr, a business professor at Montcalm Community College. "There’re enough people to fill the jobs at McDonalds and other places where you don’t need to have much skill. It’s that gap in between, and that’s where the problem is." Julie Parks of Grand Rapids Community points to another key to luring Millennials into manufacturing: a work/life balance. While their parents were content to work long hours, young people value flexibility. "Overtime is not attractive to this generation. They really want to live their lives," she says. Birgit Klohs_____
A. says that he switched to electrical engineering because he loves working with tools.
B. points out that there are enough people to fill the jobs that don’t need much skill.
C. points out that the US doesn’t manufacture anything anymore.
D. believes that it is important to keep a close eye on the age of his workers.
E. says that for factory owners, workers are harder to find because of stiff competition.
F. points out that a work/life balance can attract young people into manufacturing.
G. says that the manufacturing recession is to blame for the lay-off the young people’s parents.
The decline in American manufacturing is a common refrain, particularly from Donald Trump. "We don’t make anything anymore," he told Fox News, while defending his own made-in-Mexico clothing line. Without question, manufacturing has taken a significant hit during recent decades, and further trade deals raise questions about whether new shocks could hit manufacturing. But there is also a different way to look at the data. Across the country, factory owners are now grappling with a new challenge: instead of having too many workers, they may end up with too few. Despite trade competition and outsourcing, American manufacturing still needs to replace tens of thousands of retiring boomers every years. Millennials may not be that interested in taking their place, other industries are recruiting them with similar or better pay. For factory owners, it all adds up to stiff competition for workers-and upward pressure on wages. "They’re harder to find and they have job offers," says Jay Dunwell, president of Wolverine Coil Spring, a family-owned firm, "They may be coming [into the workforce], but they’ve been plucked by other industries that are also doing an well as manufacturing," Mr. Dunwell has begun bringing high school juniors to the factory so they can get exposed to its culture. At RoMan Manufacturing, a maker of electrical transformers and welding equipment that his father cofounded in 1980, Robert Roth keep a close eye on the age of his nearly 200 workers, five are retiring this year. Mr. Roth has three community-college students enrolled in a work-placement program, with a starting wage of $13 an hour that rises to $17 after two years. At a worktable inside the transformer plant, young Jason Stenquist looks flustered by the copper coils he’s trying to assemble and the arrival of two visitors. It’s his first week on the job. Asked about his choice of career, he says at high school he considered medical school before switching to electrical engineering. "I love working with tools. I love creating." he says. But to win over these young workers, manufacturers have to clear another major hurdle: parents, who lived through the worst US economic downturn since the Great Depression, telling them to avoid the factory. Millennials "remember their father and mother both were laid off. They blame it on the manufacturing recession," says Birgit Klohs, chief executive of The Right Place, a business development agency for western Michigan. These concerns aren’t misplaced: Employment in manufacturing has fallen from 17 million in 1970 to 12 million in 2013. When the recovery began, worker shortages first appeared in the high-skilled trades. Now shortages are appearing at the mid-skill levels. "The gap is between the jobs that take to skills and those that require a lot of skill," says Rob Spohr, a business professor at Montcalm Community College. "There’re enough people to fill the jobs at McDonalds and other places where you don’t need to have much skill. It’s that gap in between, and that’s where the problem is." Julie Parks of Grand Rapids Community points to another key to luring Millennials into manufacturing: a work/life balance. While their parents were content to work long hours, young people value flexibility. "Overtime is not attractive to this generation. They really want to live their lives," she says. Julie Parks_____
A. says that he switched to electrical engineering because he loves working with tools.
B. points out that there are enough people to fill the jobs that don’t need much skill.
C. points out that the US doesn’t manufacture anything anymore.
D. believes that it is important to keep a close eye on the age of his workers.
E. says that for factory owners, workers are harder to find because of stiff competition.
F. points out that a work/life balance can attract young people into manufacturing.
G. says that the manufacturing recession is to blame for the lay-off the young people’s parents.