Business has slowed, layoffs mount, but executive pay continues to roar-at least so far. Business Week’s annual survey finds that chief executive officers(CEOs)at 365 of the largest companies got compensation last year averaging $3. 1 million-up 1. 3 percent from 1994. Why are the top bosses getting an estimated 485 times the pay of a typical factory worker? That is up from 475 times in 1999 and a mere 42 times in 1980. One reason maybe what experts call the “Lake Wobegon effect“. Corporate boards tend to reckon that “all CEOs are above average“-a play on Garrison Keillor’s famous line in his public radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, that all the town’s children are “above average“. Consultants provide boards with surveys of corporate CEO compensation. Since directors are reluctant to regard their CEOs as below average, the compensation committees of boards tend to set pay at an above-average level. The result: pay levels get ratcheted(一步步地增加)up. Defenders of lavish CEO pay argue there is such a strong demand for experienced CEOs that the free market forces their pay up. They further maintain most boards structure pay packages to reflect an executive’s performance. They get paid more if their companies and their stock do well. So companies with high-paid CEOs generate great wealth for their shareholders. But the supposed cream-of-the-crop executives did surprisingly poorly for their shareholders in 1999, says Scott Klinger, author of this report by a Boston-based Organization United for a Fair Economy. If an investor had put $10,000 apiece at the end of 1999 into the stock of those companies with the 10 highest-paid CEOs, by year-end 2000 the investment would have shrunk to $8,132. If $10,000 had been put into the Standard & Poor’s 500 stocks, it would have been worth $9,090. To Mr. Klinger, these findings suggest that the theory that one person, the CEO, is responsible for creating most of a corporation’s value is dead wrong. “It takes many employees to make a corporation profitable.“ With profits down, corporate boards may make more effort to tame executive compensation. And executives are making greater efforts to avoid pay cuts. Some CEOs, seeing their options “under water“ or worthless because of falling stock prices, are seeking more pay in cash or in restricted stock.

Did anyone call me when I was out? invite name answer phone

It took us a long time to mend the house. build destroy design repair

The story was very touching. inspiring boring absorbing moving

There was a profound silence after his remark. proud short sudden deep

I enjoyed the play it had a clever plot and funny dialogues. long boring original humorous

Genocide Many people feel that human beings are responsible for the disappearance of some other animal species. While we may have hastened the disappearance of some, abundant evidence suggests mankind has had little impact. Biologists point out that 50 species can be expected to disappear in the twentieth century but also remind us that about 50 species can be expected in the nineteenth century, and 50 species in each of the centuries before that. Dr. T. H. Jukes at the University of California has pointed out that about UK)million animal species have become extinct since life began on Earth about 3 billion years ago. Thus, animals come and animals go as a natural consequence of something Mr. Darwin discovered. The human race is a recent newcomer to the scene, so we’ve had nothing whatsoever to do with the disappearance of millions of species. In fact, when it comes right down to it, we’re a miserable failure at genocide(种族灭绝). In spite of an all-out centuries-old war on rats, we haven’t made a dent in their numbers, much less extinguished a single species. And in spite of all our high technology we haven’t been successful in eliminating a single undesirable insect species! A friend of mine owns most of the Douglas DC-7 aircrafts left in the world. They make excellent spray planes because they can carry a lot of insecticide and fly for a very long time over great distances. Last year, his company sprayed most of the western Sahara and the Sahel regions of Africa to hold down the locusts and grasshoppers. This year, the environmentalists put pressure on the U.N. to stop it because dieldrin and malathion might cause an increase in the cancer risk of people in the western Sahara and the Sahel. As a result, the hoppers and locusts are back by the zillions and the crops are failing. But the people of West Africa certainly aren’t going to worry about dying of cancer; they are dying of starvation instead. I’ve come to the conclusion that the people who are trying to save the world are probably quite sincere about it but they don’t know much about science and certainly nothing about systems engineering.

Continue to Protect or Destroy Ecosystem Biosphere II was a spectacular failure. The gleaming glass-and-concrete habitat sprawling across the desert in Oracle, Arizona, was supposed to support eight human “biospherians“ for two years. But the seal has to be broken before the experiment ended in 1993. Oxygen had fallen to levels normally seen at an elevation of 17,500 feet. Nitrous oxide had risen to the point where it threatened to cause brain damage. The fresh water supply became contaminated, and vines smothered(厚厚地覆盖)food plants. Insect pollinators(传授花粉的生物)and many other species became extinct. By the end, Biosphere II was overrun with swarms of ants and cockroaches. Scientists who gathered recently to review the Biosphere II experiment reached a disturbing conclusion: “No one yet knows how to engineer systems that provide humans with the life-supporting services that natural ecosystems produce for free.“ The problem is that these ecosystems are undergoing wrenching changes. Water and air quality, while improving in some regions, are deteriorating in many others. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere arc climbing. The world’s population could reach 10 billion by 2050. And famed Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson says the current rate of species losses puts us “in the midst of one of the great extinction spasms(突然迸发)of geological history.“ All of which makes many ecologists wonder whether humans too will soon become extinct. It’s an incredibly important but incredibly difficult question. If we continue on this course, we’re heading for a world in which we will have to engineer services we’ve always received for free from nature. That’s why the failure of Biosphere II was so disturbing: it proves that we don’t yet know how to do that. The Biosphere II experience demonstrated that maintaining human life is a tricky proposition-especially if we can no longer rely on the services provided by natural ecosystems. If we are currently living through a mass extinction, as Wilson believes, we should consider the past. In the great Permian extinction 245 million years ago, 96 percent of species perished. Eventually, the Earth was repopulated with a rich collection of new species, but it took 100 million years. “That should give pause to anyone who believes that what Homo sapiens(现代人)destroys, nature will redeem, “ Wilson says. “Maybe so, but not within any length of time that has meaning for contemporary humanity.“

I don’t quite follow what she is saying. believe understand explain accept

Jack is a diligent student. ambitious hardworking lazy slow

Practically all animals communicate through sounds. Almost Clearly Absolutely Basically

I wasn’t qualified for the job really, but I got it anyhow. anyway somehow anywhere somewhere

The thief was finally captured two miles away from the village. caught killed found jailed

Such a database would be extremely costly to set up. transfer destroy establish update

Electromagnetic Energy White light seems to be a combination of all colors. The energy that comes from a source of light is not limited to the kind of energy you can see. Heat is given off by a flame or an electric light. On a cloudy day it is possible to get a sunburn even though you feel cool. Visible light and the kind of energy that produce warmth and sunburn are examples of electromagnetic energy. The sun is 93 million miles from the earth. Yet we can use energy from the sun because electromagnetic energy travels through space. Many other kinds of energy are also types of electromagnetic energy. Radio, television, and radar signals travel from transmitters to receivers as low-energy electromagnetic waves. Infrared(红外线的)radiation is an electromagnetic wave. When it is absorbed by matter, heat is produced. Waves of infrared and visible light have more energy than waves of radio, television, or radar. Ultraviolet rays(紫外线)and X-rays are electromagnetic waves with even greater amounts of energy. Infrared radiation is used in cooking food and heating buildings. Sunlight and electric lights are part of our requirements for normal living. Ultraviolet radiation is useful in killing certain disease organisms. X-rays and gamma rays have so mush energy that they travel right through solid objects. They can be used to detect and treat cancer. X-rays are used in industry to find hidden cracks in metal, and in medicine to reveal broken bones. Usually we use electricity to generate electromagnetic energy. The source of most of our energy is the sun. Heat from the sun causes water to evaporate. When the water falls to the earth as rain, some of it is trapped behind dams and then used to operate electric generators. Other generators are powered by coal, but the energy stored in coal came from the sun, too. Until recently, the source of the tremendous amount of energy given off by the sun was a puzzle. If the sun depended on chemical reactions, it would have used up all its energy long ago. Experiments with electromagnetic radiation led to the theory that mass can be converted into energy. About forty years after the theory was proposed, nuclear energy was harnessed(利用)by man. Chemical energy comes from electron(电子)rearrangement. Nuclear energy comes from a change in the nucleus of an atom. Compared with chemical reactions, nuclear reactions release millions of times more energy per pound of fuel. We now believe that the sun’s energy comes from the nuclear reactions in which hydrogen is changed into helium(氦). Nuclear energy is beginning to compete with coal as an econpmical source of power to generate electricity. It is also being used to operate engines in large ships. Scientists continue to seek new and better methods of obtaining and using energy. A. Nuclear reactions as the lasting source of the sun’s energy B. The most important source of energy C. Types of electromagnetic energy D. The machines used for energy generation E. Seeking new sources of energy F. The use of ultraviolet radiation in medicine

It is obvious that he will win the game. likely possible clear strange

There is no risk to public health. point danger chance hope

Mary said mildly that she was just curious. shyly gently weakly wildly

The two banks have announced plans to merge next year. combine sell close break

New Product Will Save Lives Drinking water that looks clean may still contain bugs(虫子), which can cause illness. A small company called Genera Technologies has produced a testing method in three stages, which shows whether water is safe. The new test shows if water needs chemicals added to it, to destroy anything harmful. It was invented by scientist Dr. Adrian Patton.who started Genera five years ago. He and his employees have developed the test together with a British water company. Andy Headland, Genera’s marketing director, recently presented the test at a conference in the USA and forecast good American sales for it. Genera has already sold 11 of its tests at $42,500 a time in the U.K. and has a further four on order. It expects to sell another 25 tests before the end of March. The company says it is the only test in the U.K. to be approved by the government. Genera was formed five years ago and until October last year had only five employees; it now employs 14. Mr. Headland believes that the company should make around $19 million by the end of the year in the U.K. alone.

A. when it is absorbed by matter B. when it is cloudy C. because they can pass through solid objects D. when the sunrays are fierce E. when a change in the nucleus of an atom takes place F. when electron rearrangement takes place

It can be inferred from the passage that______.

The author mentioned “Lake Wobegon effect“ in the second paragraph in order to______.

According to the passage, Scott Klinger thinks______.

The expression “cream-of-the-crop“ in the first sentence of paragraph 4 most probably means______.

Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?