Americans are supposed to be mobile and even pushy. Saul Bellow"s Augie March declares, "I am an American... first to knock, first admitted." In "The Grapes of Wrath," young Tom Joad loads up his car with pork snacks and relatives, and the family flees the Oklahoma for California. Along the way, Grandma dies, but the Joads keep going.But sometime in the past 30 years, someone has hit the brakes and Americans—particularly young Americans—have become risk-averse and sedentary. The likelihood of 20-somethings moving to another state has dropped well over 40 percent since the 1980s, according to calculations based on Census Bureau data. The stuck-at-home mentality hits college-educated Americans as well as those without high school degrees. Even bicycle sales are lower now than they were in 2000. Today"s generation is literally going nowhere.An increasing number of teenagers are not even bothering to get their driver"s licenses. Back in the early 1980s, 80 percent of 18-year-olds proudly strutted out of the D. M. V. with new licenses, according to a study by researchers at the University of Michigan"s Transportation Research Institute. By 2008—even before the Great Recession—that number had dropped to 65 percent. Though it"s easy to blame the high cost of cars or gasoline, Comerica Bank"s Automobile Affordability Index shows that it takes fewer weeks of work income to buy a car today than in the early 1980s, and inflation-adjusted gasoline prices didn"t get out of line until a few years ago.Perhaps young people are too happy at home checking Facebook. In a study of 15 countries, Michael Sivak, a professor at the University of Michigan"s Transportation Research Institute, found that when young people spent more time on the Internet, they delayed getting their driver"s licenses. "More time on Facebook probably means less time on the road," he said. That may mean safer roads, but it also means a bumpier, less vibrant economy.Generation Y has become Generation Why Bother. The Great Recession and the still weak economy make the trend toward risk aversion worse. Children raised during recessions ultimately take fewer risks with their investments and their jobs. Even when the recession passes, they don"t strive as hard to find new jobs, and they hang on to lousy jobs longer. Research by the economist Lisa B. Kahn of the Yale School of Management shows that those who graduated from college during a poor economy experienced a relative wage loss even 15 years after entering the work force.In the mid-"70s, back when every high school kid longed for his driver"s license and a chance to hit the road and find freedom, Bruce Springsteen wrote his brilliant, exciting album "Born to Run." A generation later, as kids began to hunker down, Mr. Springsteen wrote his depressing "The Ghost of Tom Joad." We need to reward and encourage forward movement, not slouching. That may sound harsh, but do we really want to turn into a country where young Americans can"t even recognize the courage of Tom Joad Fewer American youngsters taking driving test is a phenomenon ______.
A. stemming from a widespread concern over soaring car and petrol price
B. descriptive of a younger generation less motivated to move up in the society
C. closely correlated with the popularity of modem information technology
D. closely related with less deaths on American roads
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At work, as in life, attractive women get a lot of good lucks. Studies have shown that they are more likely to be 1 than their plain-Jane colleagues because people tend to project 2 traits 3 them, such as a sensitive heart and a cool head, they may also be at a/an 4 in job interviews. But research suggests otherwise.Brad Hanks at Georgia State University looked at what happens when job hunters include photos with their resume, as is the 5 in much of Europe and Asia. The pair sent made-up applications to over 2,500 real-life 6 . For each job, they sent two very similar resume, one with a photo, one without. Subjects had previously been graded for their attractiveness.For men, the results were 7 expected. Hunks were more likely to be called for an interview if they included a photo. Ugly men were better off not including one. However, for women this was 8 Attractive females were less likely to be offered an interview if they included a mugshot. When applying directly to a company (rather than through an agency) an attractive woman would need to send out 11 CVs on average 9 getting an interview; a/an 10 qualified plain one just seven.At first, Mr. Hanks considered 11 he calls the "dumb-blonde hypothesis"—that people 12 beautiful women to be stupid. 13 , the photos had also been rated on how 14 people thought each subject looked; there was no 15 between perceived intellect and beauty.So the cause of the discrimination must 16 elsewhere. Human resources departments tend to be 17 mostly by women. Indeed, in the Israeli study, 93% of those tasked with selecting whom to invite for an interview were female. The researchers" unavoidable—and unpalatable—conclusion is that old-fashioned 18 led the women to discriminate 19 pretty candidates.So should attractive women simply attach photos that make them look dowdy No. Better, says Mr. Hanks, to discourage the practice of including a photo altogether. Companies might even consider the 20 model used in the Belgian public sector, where CVs do not even include the candidate"s name.
A. with
B. to
C. in
D. on
At work, as in life, attractive women get a lot of good lucks. Studies have shown that they are more likely to be 1 than their plain-Jane colleagues because people tend to project 2 traits 3 them, such as a sensitive heart and a cool head, they may also be at a/an 4 in job interviews. But research suggests otherwise.Brad Hanks at Georgia State University looked at what happens when job hunters include photos with their resume, as is the 5 in much of Europe and Asia. The pair sent made-up applications to over 2,500 real-life 6 . For each job, they sent two very similar resume, one with a photo, one without. Subjects had previously been graded for their attractiveness.For men, the results were 7 expected. Hunks were more likely to be called for an interview if they included a photo. Ugly men were better off not including one. However, for women this was 8 Attractive females were less likely to be offered an interview if they included a mugshot. When applying directly to a company (rather than through an agency) an attractive woman would need to send out 11 CVs on average 9 getting an interview; a/an 10 qualified plain one just seven.At first, Mr. Hanks considered 11 he calls the "dumb-blonde hypothesis"—that people 12 beautiful women to be stupid. 13 , the photos had also been rated on how 14 people thought each subject looked; there was no 15 between perceived intellect and beauty.So the cause of the discrimination must 16 elsewhere. Human resources departments tend to be 17 mostly by women. Indeed, in the Israeli study, 93% of those tasked with selecting whom to invite for an interview were female. The researchers" unavoidable—and unpalatable—conclusion is that old-fashioned 18 led the women to discriminate 19 pretty candidates.So should attractive women simply attach photos that make them look dowdy No. Better, says Mr. Hanks, to discourage the practice of including a photo altogether. Companies might even consider the 20 model used in the Belgian public sector, where CVs do not even include the candidate"s name.
A. possible
B. peculiar
C. perfect
D. positive
Americans are supposed to be mobile and even pushy. Saul Bellow"s Augie March declares, "I am an American... first to knock, first admitted." In "The Grapes of Wrath," young Tom Joad loads up his car with pork snacks and relatives, and the family flees the Oklahoma for California. Along the way, Grandma dies, but the Joads keep going.But sometime in the past 30 years, someone has hit the brakes and Americans—particularly young Americans—have become risk-averse and sedentary. The likelihood of 20-somethings moving to another state has dropped well over 40 percent since the 1980s, according to calculations based on Census Bureau data. The stuck-at-home mentality hits college-educated Americans as well as those without high school degrees. Even bicycle sales are lower now than they were in 2000. Today"s generation is literally going nowhere.An increasing number of teenagers are not even bothering to get their driver"s licenses. Back in the early 1980s, 80 percent of 18-year-olds proudly strutted out of the D. M. V. with new licenses, according to a study by researchers at the University of Michigan"s Transportation Research Institute. By 2008—even before the Great Recession—that number had dropped to 65 percent. Though it"s easy to blame the high cost of cars or gasoline, Comerica Bank"s Automobile Affordability Index shows that it takes fewer weeks of work income to buy a car today than in the early 1980s, and inflation-adjusted gasoline prices didn"t get out of line until a few years ago.Perhaps young people are too happy at home checking Facebook. In a study of 15 countries, Michael Sivak, a professor at the University of Michigan"s Transportation Research Institute, found that when young people spent more time on the Internet, they delayed getting their driver"s licenses. "More time on Facebook probably means less time on the road," he said. That may mean safer roads, but it also means a bumpier, less vibrant economy.Generation Y has become Generation Why Bother. The Great Recession and the still weak economy make the trend toward risk aversion worse. Children raised during recessions ultimately take fewer risks with their investments and their jobs. Even when the recession passes, they don"t strive as hard to find new jobs, and they hang on to lousy jobs longer. Research by the economist Lisa B. Kahn of the Yale School of Management shows that those who graduated from college during a poor economy experienced a relative wage loss even 15 years after entering the work force.In the mid-"70s, back when every high school kid longed for his driver"s license and a chance to hit the road and find freedom, Bruce Springsteen wrote his brilliant, exciting album "Born to Run." A generation later, as kids began to hunker down, Mr. Springsteen wrote his depressing "The Ghost of Tom Joad." We need to reward and encourage forward movement, not slouching. That may sound harsh, but do we really want to turn into a country where young Americans can"t even recognize the courage of Tom Joad Which of the following spirit is not characteristic of Americans in the 1980s
A. adventurous
B. reflective
C. pioneering
D. entrepreneurial
As one of a rare group of economists who believe that "manufacturing matters" for the health of the American economy, I was heartened to hear President Obama emphasize manufacturing in his State of the Union address. During the last two years, the manufacturing sector has led the economic recovery, expanding by about 10 percent and adding more than 300,000 jobs. Though there are economists who do not share my view, I believe that a strong manufacturing sector matters for several reasons.First, economists agree that the United States must rebalance growth away from consumption and imports financed by foreign borrowing toward exports. Manufactured goods account for about 86 percent of merchandise exports from the United States and about 60 percent of exports of goods and services combined. American manufacturing exports are becoming more attractive as a result of rising wages abroad, the decline in the dollar"s value, increasing supply-chain coordination and transportation costs, and strong productivity growth in American manufacturing.Germany and Japan, two high-wage countries, have maintained substantial shares of manufacturing in their economies, and are major exporters of manufactured goods to emerging market economies. Like manufacturing in these countries, manufacturing in the United States can win larger shares of global export markets with the right policies in place.Second, on average manufacturing jobs are high-productivity, high value-added jobs with good pay and benefits. In 2009, the average manufacturing worker earned $74,447 in annual pay and benefits compared with $63,122 for the average non-manufacturing worker. In that year, only about 9 percent of the work force was employed in manufacturing, down from about 13 percent in 2000. The fall in manufacturing employment during the 2000s was a major factor behind growing wage inequality and the polarization of job opportunities between the top and bottom of the wage and skill distribution, with a hollowing out of middle-income jobs.Third, manufacturing matters because of its substantial role in innovation. American leadership in science and technology remains highly dependent on R. & D. investment by manufacturing companies, and the social returns to such investment are substantial, far exceeding the returns to the companies that fund it.American multinational companies that account for about 84 percent of all private-sector business R. & D. in the United States still place about 84 percent of their R. & D. activities in the United States, often in clusters around research universities. But this share is gradually declining as American companies shift some of their R. & D. to Asia in response to rapidly growing markets, ample supplies of technical workers and engineers and generous subsidies. Congress"s failure to extend and broaden the R. & D. tax credit, as President Obama has urged, is also encouraging companies in the United States to look to other countries offering far more generous R. & D. tax incentives. Germany and Japan are mentioned in Paragraph 3 as ______.
A. negative examples of developed countries who neglect the development of manufacturing
B. warnings for Americans about potential competition in global manufacturing export market
C. successful examples of countries who have recovered from economic crisis by focusing on manufacturing
D. successful examples of developed countries who maintained competitive edge in manufacturing