A. Before reading fiction, it’s necessary to get all the truth. B. The Angel Inside is a thrilling work of science fiction. C. Fiction contains lots of truth and encouragement. D. Readers can benefit a lot from The Angel Inside.
B
The first time we started using it, we thought it would just be a bit of fun, a one-time thing. __A__
“Let’s just give it a try,” my fiancée said. I was a bit nervous, but I knew some of our friends were already into it, and they said it was fine and that I should relax because everyone was doing it.“OK,” I agreed, convinced it would be harmless. ___B___
Before long, we were using it once a week. Then it became twice a week. We went from using it after work to using it in the mornings, and then at lunchtime, too. Suddenly we reached a point where we were using it every day. Even when I wasn’t using it, I was thinking about using it. ___C___
That’s when I realized the terrible truth. We couldn’t stop.
Dear readers, it shames me to admit it, but I am an addict of online shopping site Taobao.
And I don't think I’m the only one. __D__
I see the telltale signs every where: People with bags under their eyes, clearly exhausted after staying up late browsing items they might one day need (but probably won’t)，like the 1940s leather aviator cap I bought in the event I ever need to become an aviator in the 1940s. I see co-workers furtively (偷偷摸摸地）sneaking down to the mailroom, eyes darting around suspiciously.
I know what's going through your mind as you read this.
“This isn’t me，” you’re thinking, “I can stop anytime I want.” But can you?
In China you can get same day delivery for just about anything you buy online. In
Australia, my home country, the same item would take weeks to arrive.
“It's the convenience,\ “That’s why we're hooked.” But is that convenience worth the risk of waking up one morning to discover you’ve been buried alive in masses of brand new women’s shoes?
In my case it’s probably not, especially because I suspect my fiancée won’t realize I'm missing until weeks later, when my credit card stops working and I've long since expired.
So what can you do to battle this terrible addiction?
Never fear, dear readers, because I've created a special five-step list to help you stop online shopping.
Step one: Acknowledge you have a problem. Resist buying adult-sized, Star Wars Stormtrooper outfit on Taobao. You don’t really need it.
Step two: Try not to feel guilty about buying adult-sized, Star Wars Stormtrooper outfit on Taobao.
Step three: Put the computer and smartphone away, get back to nature, and take a walk in the park.
Step four: Try not to feel guilty about buying a new outfit for your walk in the park. I mean, it was on sale, right?
Step five: Buying a book on how to quit Taobao...from Taobao. On second thoughts, maybe don’t listen to me, after all.
59. Where should the sentence “I have never been so wrong in my entire life.” be put in the passage?
A. In blank A. B. In blank B. C. In blank C. D. In blank D. 60. The author writes the underlined paragraph to show ________. A. Taobao is a popular and successful online shopping site B. online shopping is an effective way to help relax C. people today are fond of the 1940s leather aviator cap D. quite a lot of people are hooked on online shopping 61. The author concludes this passage with a tone of________. A. confidence and optimism B. disappointment and disapproval
C. uncertainty and humor D. confusion and sympathy
C
You’re probably aware of the basic trends. The financial rewards to education have increased over the past few decades, but men fail to benefit.
In elementary and high school, male academic performance is lagging. Boys earn three-quarters of the D’s and F’s. By college, men are clearly behind. Only 40 percent of bachelor’s degree go to men, along with 40 percent of master’s degree.
Thanks to their lower skills, men are dropping out of the labor force. In 1954, 96 percent of the American men between the ages of 25 and 54 worked. Today, that number is down to 80 percent. In Friday's jobs report, male labor force participation reached an all-time low.
Millions of men are collecting disability benefits. Even many of those who do have a job are doing poorly. According to Michael Greenstone of the Hamilton Project, annual earnings for average prime-age males have dropped by 28 percent over the past 40 years.
Men still dominate (主宰) the top of the corporate ladder because many women take time off to raise children, but women lead or are gaining nearly everywhere else. Women in their 20s outearn men in their 20s. Twelve out of the 15 fastest-growing professions are dominated by women.
Over the years, many of us have employed a certain theory to explain men's economic decline. It is that the information-age economy rewards qualities that women are more likely to possess.
To succeed today, you have to be able to sit still and focus attention in school at an early age. You have to be emotionally sensitive and aware of context. You have to communicate smoothly. For genetic and cultural reasons, many men are not good at these.
But, in her fascinating new book, The End of Men, Hanna Rosin suggests a different theory. It has to do with adaptability. Women, Rosin argues, are like immigrants (移民) who have moved to a new country. They see a new social context, and they flexibly
adapt to .new circumstances. Men are like immigrants who have physically moved to a new country but who have kept their minds in the old one. They speak the old language. They follow the old customs. Men are more likely to be rigid; women are more fluid.
This theory has less to do with born qualities and more to do with social position. When there’s big social change, the people who were on the top of the old order are bound to stick to the old ways. The people who were on the bottom are bound to experience a burst of energy. They are going to explore their new surroundings more enthusiastically.
Rosin reports from working-class Alabama. The women she meets are flooding into new jobs and new opportunities — going back to college, pursuing new careers. The men are waiting around for the jobs left and are never coming back. They are strangely immune (免疫的）to new options. In the Auburn-Opelika region, the average female income is 140 percent of the average male income.
Rosin is not saying that women are winners in a global gender (性别) war or that they are doing super simply because men are doing worse. She's just saying women are adapting to today’s economy more flexibly than men. There’s a lot of evidence to support her case.
A study by the National Federation of Independent Business found that small businesses owned by women outperformed male-owned small business during the last recession (衰退). In finance, women who switch firms are more likely to see their performance improve, whereas men are likely to see theirs decline. There's even evidence that women are better able to adjust to divorce. Today, more women than men see their incomes rise by 25 percent after a marital breakup.
Forty years ago, men and women stuck to certain theory, what it meant to be a man or a woman. Young women today, Rosin argues, have abandoned both feminist (女权主义者）and prefeminist preconceptions. Men still stick to the masculinity (大男子主义的）rules, which limit their vision and their movement.
If she's right, then men will have to acknowledge that they are strangers in a strange land.
