Greg Focker, played by Ben Stiller, represents a generation of American kids (1)_____ in the 1980s on the philosophy that any achievement, however slight, (2)_____ a ribbon. (3)_____ replaced punishment; criticism became a dirty word. In Texas, teachers were advised to (4)_____ using red ink, the colour of (5)_____. In California, a task force was set up to (6)_____ the concept of self worth into the education system. Swathing youngsters in a (7)_____ shield of self-esteem, went the philosophy, would protect them from the nasty things in life, such as bad school grades, underage sex, drug abuse, dead-end jobs and criminality. (8)_____ that the ninth-place ribbons are in danger of strangling the (9)_____ children they were Supposed to help. America"s (10)_____ with self-esteem—like all developments in psychology, it gradually (11)_____ its way to Britain—has turned children who were (12)_____ with (13)_____ into adults who (14)_____ at even the mildest brickbats. Many believe that the feel-good culture has risen at the (15)_____ of traditional education, an opinion espoused in a new book, Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can"t Read, Write, or Add, by the conservative commentator Charles Sykes. Not only that, but the foundations (16)_____ which the self-esteem industry is built are being (17)_____ as decidedly shaky. Roy Baumeister, professor of psychology at Florida State University and once a self-esteem enthusiast, is now (18)_____ a revision of the populist orthodoxy. "After all these years, I"m sorry to say, my recommendation is this: forget about self-esteem and (19)_____ more on self-control and self-discipline," he wrote recently. "Recent work suggests this would be good for the individual and good for society—and might even be able to (20)_____ some of those promises that self-esteem once made but could not keep."
A. put
B. cut
C. condense
D. concentrate
查看答案
Shopping has always been something of an impulse activity, in which objects that catch our fancy while strolling are immediately bought on a whim. Advertisers and sellers have taken advantage of this fact, carefully positioning inexpensive but attractive items on paths that we are most likely to cross, hoping that our human nature will lead to a greater profit for them. With the dawn of the Internet and its exploding use across the world, the same tactics apply. Advertisers now place "banners", links to commercial web sites decorated with attractive pictures designed to catch our eyes while browsing the webs, on key web sites with heavy traffic. They pay top dollar for the right, thus creating profits for the hosting web sites as well. These actions are performed in the hopes that during the course of our casual and leisurely web surfing, we"ll click on that banner that sparks our interest and thus, in theory, buy the products advertised. Initial results have been positive. Web sites report a huge inflow of cash, both from the advertisers who tempt customers in with the banners and the hosting web sites, which are paid for allowing the banners to be put in place. As trust and confidence in Internet buying increases and information security is heightened with new technology, the volume of buying is increasing, leading to even greater profits. The current situation, however, is not quite as optimistic. Just as magazine readers tend to unconsciously ignore advertisements in their favorite periodicals, web browsers are beginning to allow banners to slip their notice as well. Internet users respond to the flood of banners by viewing them as annoyances, a negative image that is hurting sales, since users are now less reluctant to click on those banners, preferring not to support the system that puts them in place. If Internet advertising is to continue to be a viable and profitable business practice, new methods will need to be considered to reinvigorate the industry. With the recent depression in the technology sector and slowing economy, even new practices may not do the trick. As consumers are saving more and frequenting traditional real estate businesses over their Internet counterparts, the fate of Internet business is called into question. The coming years will be the only reliable indication of whether shopping on the World Wide Web is the wave of the future or simply an impulse activity whose whim has passed.Notes:on a whim 心血来潮surf v. 冲浪in theory 在理论上,顺理成章hosting 访问率高的call... into question质疑,对...... 提出疑问 It can be learned from the first paragraph that Internet advertising
A. has taken the place of more traditional methods of advertising.
B. is one of the most effective ways to make profits on the web.
C. is paralleling advertising methods in traditional business settings.
D. seeks to tempt customers through impulse shopping methods.
We have known for a long time that the organization of any particular society is influenced by the definition of the sexes and the distinction drawn between them. But we have realized only recently that the identity of each sex is not so easy to pin down, and that definitions evolve in accordance with different types of culture known to us, that is, scientific discoveries and ideological revolutions. Our nature is not considered as immutable, either socially or biologically. As we approach the beginning of the 21st century, the substantial progress made in biology and genetics is radically challenging the roles, responsibilities and specific characteristics attributed to each sex, and yet, scarcely twenty years ago, these were thought to be "beyond dispute". We can safely say, with a few minor exceptions, that the definition of the sexes and their respective functions remained unchanged in the West from the beginning of the 19th century to the 1960s. The role distinction, raised in some cases to the status of uncompromising dualism on a strongly hierarchical model, lasted throughout this period, appealing for its justification to nature, religion and customs alleged to have existed since the dawn of time. The woman bore children and took care of the home. The man set out to conquer the world and was responsible for the survival of his family, by satisfying their needs in peacetime and going to war when necessary. The entire world order rested on the divergence of the sexes. Any overlapping or confusion between the roles was seen as a threat to the time-honored order of things. It was felt to be against nature, a deviation from the norm. Sex roles were determined according to the "place" appropriate to each. Women"s place was, first and foremost, in the home. The outside world, i.e. workshops, factories and business firms, belonged to men. This sex-based division of the world (private and public) gave rise to a strict dichotomy between the attitudes, which conferred on each its special identity. The woman, sequestered at home, "cared, nurtured and conserved". To do this, she had no need to be daring, ambitious, tough or competitive. The man, on the other hand, competing with his fellow men, was caught up every day in the struggle for survival, and hence developed those characteristics which were thought natural in a man. Today, many women go out" to work, and their reasons for doing so have changed considerably. Besides the traditional financial incentives, we find ambition and personal fulfillment motivating those in the most favorable circumstances, and the wish to have a social life and to get out of their domestic isolation influencing others. Above all, for all women, work is invariably connected with the desire for independence.Notes:immutable 不可改变的dualism 双重论divergence 分歧,偏离overlapping 部分巧合、一致time-honored 由来已久的dichotomy 一分为二,对立sequester 使隔离be caught up in 被缠住于:He is caught up in the trivia (琐事) of everyday thingsunduly 过渡地,不恰当地 From paragraph 1 we can infer that it is now possible for women to embark on a career because
A. the change in sex roles is out of the question.
B. women"s lib has been going on for many years.
C. ideas about the roles of women have been changing.
D. the expansion of sciences scarcely remolds the women"s roles.
We have known for a long time that the organization of any particular society is influenced by the definition of the sexes and the distinction drawn between them. But we have realized only recently that the identity of each sex is not so easy to pin down, and that definitions evolve in accordance with different types of culture known to us, that is, scientific discoveries and ideological revolutions. Our nature is not considered as immutable, either socially or biologically. As we approach the beginning of the 21st century, the substantial progress made in biology and genetics is radically challenging the roles, responsibilities and specific characteristics attributed to each sex, and yet, scarcely twenty years ago, these were thought to be "beyond dispute". We can safely say, with a few minor exceptions, that the definition of the sexes and their respective functions remained unchanged in the West from the beginning of the 19th century to the 1960s. The role distinction, raised in some cases to the status of uncompromising dualism on a strongly hierarchical model, lasted throughout this period, appealing for its justification to nature, religion and customs alleged to have existed since the dawn of time. The woman bore children and took care of the home. The man set out to conquer the world and was responsible for the survival of his family, by satisfying their needs in peacetime and going to war when necessary. The entire world order rested on the divergence of the sexes. Any overlapping or confusion between the roles was seen as a threat to the time-honored order of things. It was felt to be against nature, a deviation from the norm. Sex roles were determined according to the "place" appropriate to each. Women"s place was, first and foremost, in the home. The outside world, i.e. workshops, factories and business firms, belonged to men. This sex-based division of the world (private and public) gave rise to a strict dichotomy between the attitudes, which conferred on each its special identity. The woman, sequestered at home, "cared, nurtured and conserved". To do this, she had no need to be daring, ambitious, tough or competitive. The man, on the other hand, competing with his fellow men, was caught up every day in the struggle for survival, and hence developed those characteristics which were thought natural in a man. Today, many women go out" to work, and their reasons for doing so have changed considerably. Besides the traditional financial incentives, we find ambition and personal fulfillment motivating those in the most favorable circumstances, and the wish to have a social life and to get out of their domestic isolation influencing others. Above all, for all women, work is invariably connected with the desire for independence.Notes:immutable 不可改变的dualism 双重论divergence 分歧,偏离overlapping 部分巧合、一致time-honored 由来已久的dichotomy 一分为二,对立sequester 使隔离be caught up in 被缠住于:He is caught up in the trivia (琐事) of everyday thingsunduly 过渡地,不恰当地 It is only in recent years that we have recognized that
A. there is almost no clue to the identity of both sexes.
B. the role distinction between different sexes is conspicuous.
C. the different definitions of sexes bears on the development of culture.
D. the progress of civilization greatly influences the role definitions of sexes.
We have known for a long time that the organization of any particular society is influenced by the definition of the sexes and the distinction drawn between them. But we have realized only recently that the identity of each sex is not so easy to pin down, and that definitions evolve in accordance with different types of culture known to us, that is, scientific discoveries and ideological revolutions. Our nature is not considered as immutable, either socially or biologically. As we approach the beginning of the 21st century, the substantial progress made in biology and genetics is radically challenging the roles, responsibilities and specific characteristics attributed to each sex, and yet, scarcely twenty years ago, these were thought to be "beyond dispute". We can safely say, with a few minor exceptions, that the definition of the sexes and their respective functions remained unchanged in the West from the beginning of the 19th century to the 1960s. The role distinction, raised in some cases to the status of uncompromising dualism on a strongly hierarchical model, lasted throughout this period, appealing for its justification to nature, religion and customs alleged to have existed since the dawn of time. The woman bore children and took care of the home. The man set out to conquer the world and was responsible for the survival of his family, by satisfying their needs in peacetime and going to war when necessary. The entire world order rested on the divergence of the sexes. Any overlapping or confusion between the roles was seen as a threat to the time-honored order of things. It was felt to be against nature, a deviation from the norm. Sex roles were determined according to the "place" appropriate to each. Women"s place was, first and foremost, in the home. The outside world, i.e. workshops, factories and business firms, belonged to men. This sex-based division of the world (private and public) gave rise to a strict dichotomy between the attitudes, which conferred on each its special identity. The woman, sequestered at home, "cared, nurtured and conserved". To do this, she had no need to be daring, ambitious, tough or competitive. The man, on the other hand, competing with his fellow men, was caught up every day in the struggle for survival, and hence developed those characteristics which were thought natural in a man. Today, many women go out" to work, and their reasons for doing so have changed considerably. Besides the traditional financial incentives, we find ambition and personal fulfillment motivating those in the most favorable circumstances, and the wish to have a social life and to get out of their domestic isolation influencing others. Above all, for all women, work is invariably connected with the desire for independence.Notes:immutable 不可改变的dualism 双重论divergence 分歧,偏离overlapping 部分巧合、一致time-honored 由来已久的dichotomy 一分为二,对立sequester 使隔离be caught up in 被缠住于:He is caught up in the trivia (琐事) of everyday thingsunduly 过渡地,不恰当地 The author believes that sex discrimination in the West before the 1960s was
A. preferable.
B. prevalent.
C. presumable.
D. precedent.