Work is a very important part of life in the United States. When the early Protestant immigrants came to this country, they brought the idea that work was the way to God and heaven. This attitude, the Protestant work ethic, still influences America today. Work is not only important for economic benefits, the salary, but also for social and psychological needs, the feeling of doing something for the good of the society. Americans spend most of their lives working, being productive. For most Americans, their work defines them; they are what they do. What happens, then when a person can no longer work?Most Americans stop working at age sixty-five or seventy and retire. Because work is such an important part of life in this culture, retirement can be very difficult. Retirees often feel that they are useless and uNPRoductive. Of course, some people are happy to retire; but leaving one’s job, whatever it is a difficult change, even for those who look forward to retiring. Many retirees do not know how to use their time or they feel lost without jobs. Retirement can also bring financial problems. Many people rely on Social Security checks every month. During their working years, employees contribute a certain percentage of their salaries to the government. When people retire, they receive this money as income. These checks do not provide enough money to live on, however, because prices are increasing very rapidly. Senior citizens, those over sixty-five, have to have savings in the bank or other retirement plans to make ends meet. The rate of inflation is forcing prices higher each year; Social Security checks alone cannot cover Medicare (health care) and welfare (general assistance) but many senior citizens have to change their lifestyles after retirement. They have to spend carefully to be sure that they can afford to but food, fuel, and other necessities. Of course, many senior citizens are happy with retirement. They have time to spend with their families or to enjoy their hobbies. Some continue to work part time; others do volunteer work. Some, like those in the Retired Business Executives Association, even help young people to get started in new business. Many retired citizens also belong to “Golden Age” groups. These organizations plan trips and social events. There are many opportunities for retirees. Americans society is only beginning to be concerned about the special physical and emotional needs of its senior citizens. The government is taking steps to ease the problem of limited income. They are building new housing, offering discounts in stores and museums and on buses, and providing other services, such as free courses, food service, and help with housework. Retired citizens are a rapidly growing percentage of the population. This part of the population is very important and we must respond to their needs. After all, every citizen will be a senior citizen some day.21.The early immigrants considered work ___.______ A.too hard B.important C.pleasant D.dull 22.Why do Americans like working? Because working ___.______ A.doesn’t only mean money but it is also psychological B.can make life more comfortable C.can prove people to be independent D.gives people funny 23.We can safely put forward that retirees who ___.______ A.have no financial problems still want to earn more money B.have financial problems still feel lost C.have no financial problems still feel lost D.have no financial problems feels it’s hard to make ends meet 24.According to the passage the government ___.______ A.hadn’t paid attention to the retirees’ problems B.has already solved a lot of retirees’ problems C.has just begun to pay attention to the retirees’ problems D.won’t pay attention to the retirees’ problems 25.Which of the following is not steps taken for the benefit of senior citizens by the government?______ A.New housing has been built. B.The old are offered discounts in stores. C.Senior citizens are provided free courses, food service.
How to Make Attractive and Effective PowerPoint PresentationsA) Microsoft PowerPoint has dramatically changed the way in which academic and business presentations are made. This article outlines few tips on making more effective and attractive PowerPoint presentations.The TextB) Keep the wording clear and simple. Use active, visual language. Cut unnecessary words—a good rule of thumb is to cut paragraphs down to sentences, sentences into phrases, and phrases into key words.Limit the number of words and lines per slide. Try the Rule of Five-five words per line, five lines per slide. If too much text appears on one slide, use the AutoFit feature to split it between two slides. Click within the placeholder to display the AutoFit Options button (its symbol is two horizontal lines with arrows above and below), then click on the button and choose Split Text between Two Slides from the submenu.C) Font size for titles should be at least 36 to 40, while the text body should not be smaller than 24.Use only two font styles per slide—one for the title and the other for the text. Choose two fonts that visually contrast with each other. Garamond Medium Condensed and Impact are good for titles, while Garamond or Tempus Sans can be used for the text body.D) Embed the fonts in your presentation, if you are not sure whether the fonts used in the presentation are present in the computer that will be used for the presentation. To embed the fonts: (1) On the File menu, click Save As. (2) On the toolbar, click Tools, click Save Options, select the Embed TrueType Fonts check box, and then select Embed characters in use only.E) Use colors sparingly; two to three at most. You may use one color for all the titles and another for the text body. Be consistent from slide to slide. Choose a font color that contrasts well with the background.F) Capitalizing the first letter of each word is good for the title of slides and suggests a more formal situation than having just the first letter of the first word capitalized. In bullet point lines, capitalize the first word and no other words unless they normally appear capped. Upper and lower case lettering is more readable than all capital letters. Moreover, current styles indicate that using all capital letters means you are shouting. If you have text that is in the wrong case, select the text, and then click Shift+F3 until it changes to the case style that you like. Clicking Shift+F3 toggles the text case between ALL CAPS, lower case, and Initial Capital styles.G) Use bold or italic typeface for emphasis. Avoid underlining, it clutters up the presentation.Don’t center bulleted lists or text. It is confusing to read. Left align unless you have a good reason not to. Run “spell check” on your show when finished.The BackgroundH) Keep the background consistent. Simple, light textured backgrounds work well. Complicated textures make the content hard to read. If you are planning to use many clips in your slides, select a white background. If the venue of your presentation is not adequately light-proof, select a dark-colored background and use any light color for text. Minimize the use of “bells and whistles” such as sound effects, “flying words” and multiple transitions. Don’t use red in any fonts or backgrounds. It is an emotionally overwhelming color that is difficult to see and read.The ClipsI) Animations are best used subtly; too much flash and motion can distract and annoy viewers. Do not rely too heavily on those images that were originally loaded on your computer with the rest of Office. You can easily find appropriate clips on any topic through Google Images. While searching for images, do not use long search phrases as is usually done while searching the web-use specific words.J) When importing pictures, make sure that they are smaller than two megabytes and are in a .jpg format. Larger files can slow down your show. Keep graphs, charts and diagrams simple, if possible. Use bar graphs and pie charts instead of tables of data. The audience can then immediately pick up the relationships.The PresentationK) If you want your presentation to directly open in the slide show view, save it as a slide show file using the following steps. Open the presentation you want to save as a slide show. On the File menu, click Save As. In the Save as type list, click PowerPoint Show. Your slide show file will be saved with a ppt file extension. When you double-click on this file, it will automatically start your presentation in slide show view. When you’re done, PowerPoint automatically closes and you return to the desktop. If you want to edit the slide show file, you can always open it from PowerPoint by clicking Open on the File menu.L) Look at the audience, not at the slides, whenever possible. If using a laser pointer, don’t move it too fast. For example, if circling a number on the slide, do it slowly. Never point the laser at the audience. Black out the screen (use “B” on the keyboard) after the point has been made, to put the focus on you. Press the key again to continue your presentation.M) You can use the shortcut command [Ctrl]P to access the Pen tool during a slide show. Click with your mouse and drag to use the Pen tool to draw during your slide show. To erase everything you’ve drawn, press the E key. To turn off the Pen tool, press [Esc] once.N) MiscellaneousMaster Slide Set-Up: The “master slide” will allow you to make changes that are reflected on every slide in your presentation. You can change fonts, colors, backgrounds, headers, and footers at the “master slide” level. First, go to the “View” menu. Pull down the “Master” menu. Select the “slide master” menu. You may now make changes at this level that meet your presentation needs. ______ 11. The ways in which academic and business presentations are made have been changed by Microsoft PowerPoint.______ 12. When making the PowerPoint, the wording of the text should not be complicated.______ 13. In each slide, the font styles for the title and the text should contrast with each other.______ 14. A more formal situation is capitalizing the first letter of the first word.______ 15. Centering bulleted lists or text can not help to read.______ 16. Sound effects should be used as less frequently as possible.______ 17. When importing pictures, make sure that they are smaller than two megabytes.______ 18. When making the presentation, you should look at the audience as possible as you can.______ 19. Pressing the E key can help you to erase everything you've drawn.______ 20. In order to meet your presentation needs, you can make changes at the “slide master”level.
Two astronauts face a not-so-merry Christmas after being told to ration their food and hope a cargo ship with extra supplies docks on Dec. 21. Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov and American Leroy Chiao have been asked to cut out calories equal to three cans of Coke from their daily diet—around 10 percent of their daily ______ and an amount that would be little noticed, NASA said.Russian officials, quoted in the local media, have ______ blamed the previous crew for overeating during their one-month mission earlier this year, leaving a ______ of meat and milk and a surplus of juice and confectionery .The Dec. 24 launch of the next Progress is now ______ for the crew, stationed in orbit since October. It is due to ______ with the ISS on Dec. 21.NASA officials said their situation was not so different from being cut off on Earth, and their lives were not at risk. If they do not receive ______ supplies, the astronauts would have to ______ the station and return to Earth on the Soyuz capsule that is docked there.Russia has been the sole lifeline to the ISS for almost two years when the United States grounded its ______ fleet after the fatal Columbia accident. Russia has often ______ of its financial struggle to keep the ISS fully serviced single-handedly. Shuttle flights could ______ in May, officials have said, but in the meantime Russia will continue to launch all manned and cargo ships.A)deficit B) complaineC)severely D) allowanceE) considerately F) shuttle G) evacuate H) absentlyI) adequate J) dockK) resume L) vitalM) trivial N) evaluate O) fresh