The Value of Motherhoed In shopping malls, the assistants try to push you into buying "a gift to thank her for her unselfish love". When you log onto website, a small pop-up invites you to book a bouquet for her. Commercial warmth and gratitude are the atmosphere being spread around for this special Sunday in May. 1 The popularity of Mother’s Day around the world suggests that Jarvis got all she wanted. In fact, she got more—enough to make her horrified. 2 They buy, among other things, 132 million cards. Mother’s Day is the No. 1 holiday for flower purchases. Then there are the various commodities, ranging from jewelry and clothes to cosmetics and washing powder, that take advantage of the promotion opportunities. Because of this, Jarvis spent the last 40 years of her life trying to stop Mother’s Day. One protest against the commercialization Mother’s Day even got her arrested—for disturbing the peace, interestingly. 3 As Ralph Fevre, a reporter at the UK newspaper The Guardian, observe, traditionally "motherhood is something that we do because we think it’s right." But in the logic of commercialism, people need something in exchange for their time and energy. A career serves this purpose better. 4 So they work hard and play hard. Becoming a mother, however, inevitably handicaps career anticipation. 5 According to The Guardian, there are twice as many child-free young women as there were a generation ago. Or, they put off the responsibility of parenting until later in their lives. So, Fevre writes that the meaning of celebrating Mother’s Day needs to be updated: "It is to persuade people that parenting is a good idea and to honor people for their attempt to be good people." A.Commercial warmth and gratitude are the atmosphere being spread as early as 1905, by Anna Jarvis, as a way of recognizing the real value of motherhood. B.But what’s more, commercialism changes young people’s attitude towards motherhood. C.Obviously, the best girl will be a phone call or a visit. D.According to a research by the US card company Hallmark, 96 percent of American consumers celebrate the holiday. E.As a result, motherhood has suffered a huge drop in status since the 1950s. F.In addition, women are being encouraged to pursue any career they desire.
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Is There a Way to Keep the Britain’s Economy Growing In today’s knowledge economy, nations survive on the things they do best. Japanese design electronics while Germans export engineering techniques. The French serve, the best food and Americans make computers. Britain specializes in the gift of talking. The nation doesn’t manufacture much of anything. But it has lawyers, stylists and business consultants who earn their living from talk and more talk. The World Foundation think tank says the UK’s four iconic jobs today are not scientists, engineers, teachers and nurses. Instead, they’re hairdressers, celebrities, management consultants and managers. But can all this talking keep the British economy going The British government thinks it can. Although the country’s trade deficit was more than £60 billion in 2006, UK’s largest in the postwar period, officials say the country has nothing to worry about. In fact, Britain does have a world class pharmaceutical industry And it still makes a small sum from selling arms abroad. It also trades services-accountancy, insurance, banking and advertising. The government believes Britain is on the cutting edge of the knowledge economy. After all, me country of Shakespeare and Wordsworth has a literary tradition of which to be proud. Rock ’n’ roll is an English language medium, and there are billions to be made by their cutting-edge bands. In other words, the creative economy has plenty of strength to carry the British economy. However, creative industries account for only about 4 percent of UK’s exports of goods and services. The industries are finding it hard to make a profit, according to a report of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts The report shows only 38 percent of British companies were engaged in "innovation activities", 3 percentage points below the EU average and well below Germany (61 percent) and Sweden (47 percent). In fact, it might be better to call Britain a "servant" economy—there are at least 4 million people "in service". The majority of the population are employed by the rich to cook, clean, and take care of their children. Many graduates are even doing menial jobs for which they do not need a degree. Most employment growth has been, and will continue to be, at the low-skill end of the service sector—in shops, bars, hotels, domestic service and in nursing and care homes. A.Growth of Economy B."Servant" Economy C.Strength of the Creative Economy D.Weakness of the Creative Economy E.Gift of talking F.Export of Talking Machines Paragraph 4 ______
Is There a Way to Keep the Britain’s Economy Growing In today’s knowledge economy, nations survive on the things they do best. Japanese design electronics while Germans export engineering techniques. The French serve, the best food and Americans make computers. Britain specializes in the gift of talking. The nation doesn’t manufacture much of anything. But it has lawyers, stylists and business consultants who earn their living from talk and more talk. The World Foundation think tank says the UK’s four iconic jobs today are not scientists, engineers, teachers and nurses. Instead, they’re hairdressers, celebrities, management consultants and managers. But can all this talking keep the British economy going The British government thinks it can. Although the country’s trade deficit was more than £60 billion in 2006, UK’s largest in the postwar period, officials say the country has nothing to worry about. In fact, Britain does have a world class pharmaceutical industry And it still makes a small sum from selling arms abroad. It also trades services-accountancy, insurance, banking and advertising. The government believes Britain is on the cutting edge of the knowledge economy. After all, me country of Shakespeare and Wordsworth has a literary tradition of which to be proud. Rock ’n’ roll is an English language medium, and there are billions to be made by their cutting-edge bands. In other words, the creative economy has plenty of strength to carry the British economy. However, creative industries account for only about 4 percent of UK’s exports of goods and services. The industries are finding it hard to make a profit, according to a report of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts The report shows only 38 percent of British companies were engaged in "innovation activities", 3 percentage points below the EU average and well below Germany (61 percent) and Sweden (47 percent). In fact, it might be better to call Britain a "servant" economy—there are at least 4 million people "in service". The majority of the population are employed by the rich to cook, clean, and take care of their children. Many graduates are even doing menial jobs for which they do not need a degree. Most employment growth has been, and will continue to be, at the low-skill end of the service sector—in shops, bars, hotels, domestic service and in nursing and care homes. A.Growth of Economy B."Servant" Economy C.Strength of the Creative Economy D.Weakness of the Creative Economy E.Gift of talking F.Export of Talking Machines Paragraph 5 ______
TV Games Shows One of the most fascinating things about television is the size of the audience. A novel can be on the "best sellers" list with a sale of fewer than 100,000 copies, but a popular TV show might have 70 million TV viewers. TV can make anything or anyone well known overnight. This is the principle behind "quiz" or "game" shows, which put ordinary people on TV to play a game for the prize and money. A quiz show can make anyone a star, and it can give away thousands of dollars just for fun. But all of this money can create problems. For instance, in the 1950s, quiz shows were very popular in the U.S. and almost everyone watched them. Charles Van Doren, an English instructor, became rich and famous after winning money on several shows. He even had a career as a television personality. But one of the losers proved that Charles Van Doren was cheating. It turned out that the show’s producers, who were pulling the strings, gave the answers to the most popular contestants beforehand. Why Because if the audience didn’t like the person who won the game, they turned the show off. Based on his story, a movie under the title "Quiz Show" is on 40 years later. Charles Van Doren is no longer involved with TV. But game shows are still here, though they aren’t taken as seriously. In fact, some of them try to be as ridiculous as possible. There are shows that send strangers on vacation trips together, or that try to cause newly married couples to fight on TV, or that punish losers by humiliating them. The entertainment now is to see what people will do just to be on TV. People still win money, but the real prize is to be in front of an audience of millions. Winners of present day TV game shows no longer get money from the shows.
A. Right
B. Wrong
C. Not mentioned
Is There a Way to Keep the Britain’s Economy Growing In today’s knowledge economy, nations survive on the things they do best. Japanese design electronics while Germans export engineering techniques. The French serve, the best food and Americans make computers. Britain specializes in the gift of talking. The nation doesn’t manufacture much of anything. But it has lawyers, stylists and business consultants who earn their living from talk and more talk. The World Foundation think tank says the UK’s four iconic jobs today are not scientists, engineers, teachers and nurses. Instead, they’re hairdressers, celebrities, management consultants and managers. But can all this talking keep the British economy going The British government thinks it can. Although the country’s trade deficit was more than £60 billion in 2006, UK’s largest in the postwar period, officials say the country has nothing to worry about. In fact, Britain does have a world class pharmaceutical industry And it still makes a small sum from selling arms abroad. It also trades services-accountancy, insurance, banking and advertising. The government believes Britain is on the cutting edge of the knowledge economy. After all, me country of Shakespeare and Wordsworth has a literary tradition of which to be proud. Rock ’n’ roll is an English language medium, and there are billions to be made by their cutting-edge bands. In other words, the creative economy has plenty of strength to carry the British economy. However, creative industries account for only about 4 percent of UK’s exports of goods and services. The industries are finding it hard to make a profit, according to a report of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts The report shows only 38 percent of British companies were engaged in "innovation activities", 3 percentage points below the EU average and well below Germany (61 percent) and Sweden (47 percent). In fact, it might be better to call Britain a "servant" economy—there are at least 4 million people "in service". The majority of the population are employed by the rich to cook, clean, and take care of their children. Many graduates are even doing menial jobs for which they do not need a degree. Most employment growth has been, and will continue to be, at the low-skill end of the service sector—in shops, bars, hotels, domestic service and in nursing and care homes. A.Growth of Economy B."Servant" Economy C.Strength of the Creative Economy D.Weakness of the Creative Economy E.Gift of talking F.Export of Talking Machines A.to find jobs B.to do low skill jobs C.to feed its people D.to handle disputes E.to make a profit F.to worry about the British economy Every country has its own way ______.