Blue collar and government jobs are among the most 1 careers for U.S. graduates, according to U.S. News magazine’s 2008 Best Careers report. U.S. employers are increasingly offshoring professional jobs. This means less jobs 2 college-graduate skills, the magazine says. As in many other countries, U.S. high school students are told that college is the 3 . So there’s a growing 4 of skilled people in jobs that don’t require a college education. But the report also says that some rewarding blue-collar careers, such as technical work in the biomedical equipment and security systems sectors, are more 5 to college graduates. These are more knowledge-based than the usual blue-collar jobs. Government is becoming an employer of 6 . Corporations, fueled by pressures to compete globally, continue to get ever 7 . Non-profit organizations are increasingly strapped for cash. Government is able to pay employees well, 8 their practices are economically sound, the magazine says. The report also indicates that social 9 may be the enemy of contentment in career. People are flocking in greater numbers to careers in the law, medicine and architecture. Yet recent surveys of job satisfaction in those professions 10 a less-than-rosy picture.
A. shortage
B. necessity
C. decrease
D. increase
查看答案
Americans are more socially isolated than they were 20 years ago, separated by work, commuting and the single life, researchers reported on Friday. Nearly a quarter of people surveyed said they had "zero" close friends with whom to discuss personal matters. More than 50 percent named two or fewer confidants, the researchers said. "This is a big social change, and it indicates something that’s not good for our society," said Duke University Professor Lynn Smith-Lovin. Smith-Lovin’s group used data from a national survey of 1,500 American adults that has been ongoing since 1972. She said it indicated people had a surprising drop in the number of close friends since 1985. At that time, Americans most commonly said they had three close friends whom they had known for a long time, saw often, and with whom they shared a number of interests. They were almost as likely to name four or five friends, and the relationships often sprang from their neighborhoods or communities. Ties to a close network of friends create a social safety net that is good for society. Research has also linked social support and civic participation to a longer life, Smith-Lovin said. The data also show the social isolation trend mirrors other class divides: Non- whites and people with less education tend to have smaller social networks than white Americans and the highly educated. That means that in daily life, personal emergencies and national disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, those with the fewest resources also have the fewest personal friends to call for advice and assistance. "It’s one thing to know someone and exchange e-mails with them. It’s another thing to say, ’Will you give me a ride out of town with all of my possessions and pets And can I stay with you for a couple or three months’" Smith-Lovin said. "Worrying about social isolation is not a matter of remembering a warm past. Real things are strongly connected with that," added Harvard University Public Policy Professor Robert Putnam. He suggested flexible work schedules would allow Americans to tend both personal and professional lives. The percentage of people with more than two close friends is about ______.
A. 25%
B. 50%
C. 60%
D. 75%
Americans are more socially isolated than they were 20 years ago, separated by work, commuting and the single life, researchers reported on Friday. Nearly a quarter of people surveyed said they had "zero" close friends with whom to discuss personal matters. More than 50 percent named two or fewer confidants, the researchers said. "This is a big social change, and it indicates something that’s not good for our society," said Duke University Professor Lynn Smith-Lovin. Smith-Lovin’s group used data from a national survey of 1,500 American adults that has been ongoing since 1972. She said it indicated people had a surprising drop in the number of close friends since 1985. At that time, Americans most commonly said they had three close friends whom they had known for a long time, saw often, and with whom they shared a number of interests. They were almost as likely to name four or five friends, and the relationships often sprang from their neighborhoods or communities. Ties to a close network of friends create a social safety net that is good for society. Research has also linked social support and civic participation to a longer life, Smith-Lovin said. The data also show the social isolation trend mirrors other class divides: Non- whites and people with less education tend to have smaller social networks than white Americans and the highly educated. That means that in daily life, personal emergencies and national disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, those with the fewest resources also have the fewest personal friends to call for advice and assistance. "It’s one thing to know someone and exchange e-mails with them. It’s another thing to say, ’Will you give me a ride out of town with all of my possessions and pets And can I stay with you for a couple or three months’" Smith-Lovin said. "Worrying about social isolation is not a matter of remembering a warm past. Real things are strongly connected with that," added Harvard University Public Policy Professor Robert Putnam. He suggested flexible work schedules would allow Americans to tend both personal and professional lives. One reason for the social isolation of Americans is______.
A. frequent relocation
B. frequent traveling
C. living alone
D. working flexible hours
The upcoming movie "The Scorpions King" is a fiction, but recent archeological studies indicate there really was a King Scorpion in ancient Egypt and that he played a crucial role in uniting the country and building it into the world’s first empire. A depiction recently discovered in the Egyptian desert of the Scorpion King’s victory in battle against the forces of chaos may be the oldest historical document ever found, some archeologists believe. New discoveries in his tomb suggest that the first writing may have occurred during his reign. Moreover, his tomb in the desert at Abydos may be the rudimentary blueprint upon which subsequent rulers based their own designs. In short, King Scorpion was one of the fathers of Egyptian civilization. Great achievements for a man who for nearly 5,000 years was thought to be mythical. King Scorpion dates from a time when Egypt was composed of two separate kingdoms. Upper Egypt surrounded the upper portion of the Nile; Lower Egypt stretched from just south of what is now Cairo northward to the Mediterranean. For millenniums, all the way back to the ancient Egyptian historian Manetho and the lists of kings found in Egyptian temples, the first true ruler of Egypt—the founder of the First Dynasty of pharaohs—has been listed as King Menes. It was Menes who was thought to have unified Upper and Lower Egypt. But in 1898, excavations at Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt revealed sacred objects dating back to the very beginnings of Egyptian civilization. The most important of those objects was the so-called Narmer Palette, which depicted a king not mentioned in Egyptian histories. This King Narmer—a name meaning "striking catfish’—was depicted wearing both the white crown of Upper Egypt and the red crown of Lower Egypt, suggesting it was he who had unified the two lands. Some scholars believe that Narmer and Menes were the same person. Others claim Narmer was Menes’ immediate predecessor and that his name was not included on the lists for reasons that are not yet known. The argument has yet to be settled. Also found in the 1898 excavations was a mace, the traditional symbol of kings. Themace— the oldest ever found in Egypt—portrays a man wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt, accompanied by the symbols for king and scorpion. In the absence of any supporting evidence, however, most archeologists had believed that this King Scorpion was a mythical figure. One hundred years later, however, Gunter Dreyer of the German Archeological Institute discovered a tomb buried in the sands near Abydos, the Egyptian necropolis, or city of the dead, that he is confident is King Scorpion’s. The 12-room tomb is constructed of mud bricks and appears to be a downsized replica of Scorpion’s palace. Although the tomb had been pillaged and the mummy stolen, Dreyer found an ivory scepter, a clear indication that it was a royal tomb. Carbon-14 dating showed that the scepter dates from about 3250 BC, making it the oldest scepter found in Egypt. One room in the tomb was filled with pottery shards, apparently from jars used to hold wine and other valuables for the afterlife. Inscribed on each of the jars in ink was the symbol of a scorpion. Dreyer’s most controversial find in the tomb was a series of 160 bone and ivory tags the size of postage stamps carved with simple pictures that Dreyer believes are primitive hieroglyphs. If they are, in fact, writing, they predate the commonly accepted origin of cuneiform writing in Mesopotamia by 200 years. More recently, Yale University archeologist John Darnell and his wife Deborah have discovered a primitive scene carved on rocks near the Qena Bend of the Nile River that appears to commemorate a victory by King Scorpion, who already ruled the kingdoms of Abydos and Hierakonpolis, over the kingdom of Naqada-a city that worshipped Set, the god of chaos. Darnell believes it is the oldest known historical document, and that it signifies the unification of Upper Egypt 150 years before Narmer unified the entire country. Conquest of Naqada gave King Scorpion control not only of the Nile, but also of crucial roads leading east to the Red Sea and west to the oases of the western desert. According to Gunter Dreyer’s finding, which of the following statements is NOT TRUE
A. Bone and ivory tags are primitive hieroglyphics.
B. Ivory scepter proved the tomb a royal one.
C. Each of the jars has the symbol of a scorpion.
D. The tomb is constructed of metal.
The upcoming movie "The Scorpions King" is a fiction, but recent archeological studies indicate there really was a King Scorpion in ancient Egypt and that he played a crucial role in uniting the country and building it into the world’s first empire. A depiction recently discovered in the Egyptian desert of the Scorpion King’s victory in battle against the forces of chaos may be the oldest historical document ever found, some archeologists believe. New discoveries in his tomb suggest that the first writing may have occurred during his reign. Moreover, his tomb in the desert at Abydos may be the rudimentary blueprint upon which subsequent rulers based their own designs. In short, King Scorpion was one of the fathers of Egyptian civilization. Great achievements for a man who for nearly 5,000 years was thought to be mythical. King Scorpion dates from a time when Egypt was composed of two separate kingdoms. Upper Egypt surrounded the upper portion of the Nile; Lower Egypt stretched from just south of what is now Cairo northward to the Mediterranean. For millenniums, all the way back to the ancient Egyptian historian Manetho and the lists of kings found in Egyptian temples, the first true ruler of Egypt—the founder of the First Dynasty of pharaohs—has been listed as King Menes. It was Menes who was thought to have unified Upper and Lower Egypt. But in 1898, excavations at Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt revealed sacred objects dating back to the very beginnings of Egyptian civilization. The most important of those objects was the so-called Narmer Palette, which depicted a king not mentioned in Egyptian histories. This King Narmer—a name meaning "striking catfish’—was depicted wearing both the white crown of Upper Egypt and the red crown of Lower Egypt, suggesting it was he who had unified the two lands. Some scholars believe that Narmer and Menes were the same person. Others claim Narmer was Menes’ immediate predecessor and that his name was not included on the lists for reasons that are not yet known. The argument has yet to be settled. Also found in the 1898 excavations was a mace, the traditional symbol of kings. Themace— the oldest ever found in Egypt—portrays a man wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt, accompanied by the symbols for king and scorpion. In the absence of any supporting evidence, however, most archeologists had believed that this King Scorpion was a mythical figure. One hundred years later, however, Gunter Dreyer of the German Archeological Institute discovered a tomb buried in the sands near Abydos, the Egyptian necropolis, or city of the dead, that he is confident is King Scorpion’s. The 12-room tomb is constructed of mud bricks and appears to be a downsized replica of Scorpion’s palace. Although the tomb had been pillaged and the mummy stolen, Dreyer found an ivory scepter, a clear indication that it was a royal tomb. Carbon-14 dating showed that the scepter dates from about 3250 BC, making it the oldest scepter found in Egypt. One room in the tomb was filled with pottery shards, apparently from jars used to hold wine and other valuables for the afterlife. Inscribed on each of the jars in ink was the symbol of a scorpion. Dreyer’s most controversial find in the tomb was a series of 160 bone and ivory tags the size of postage stamps carved with simple pictures that Dreyer believes are primitive hieroglyphs. If they are, in fact, writing, they predate the commonly accepted origin of cuneiform writing in Mesopotamia by 200 years. More recently, Yale University archeologist John Darnell and his wife Deborah have discovered a primitive scene carved on rocks near the Qena Bend of the Nile River that appears to commemorate a victory by King Scorpion, who already ruled the kingdoms of Abydos and Hierakonpolis, over the kingdom of Naqada-a city that worshipped Set, the god of chaos. Darnell believes it is the oldest known historical document, and that it signifies the unification of Upper Egypt 150 years before Narmer unified the entire country. Conquest of Naqada gave King Scorpion control not only of the Nile, but also of crucial roads leading east to the Red Sea and west to the oases of the western desert. The passage is most likely a part of ______.
A. a piece of news
B. an interesting interview
C. a research report
D. a fiction novel