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Using a public telephone may well be one of【C1】______of life, demanding patience, determination and【C2】______, together on occasion with considerable unpopularity.
The hopeful caller(shall we call him George?)waits till six o’clock in the evening to【C3】______the so-called ’cheap rates’ for【C4】______. The telephone box, with two broken panes of glass in the side, stands【C5】______two main roads with buses, lorries and cars roaring past. It is pouring with rain as George joins a queue of four depressed-looking people. Time passes slowly and seems to come to【C6】______while the person immediately before George carries on an endless conversation, pausing【C7】______another coin every minute or so.
Eventually the receiver is replaced and the caller leaves the box. George enters and picks up one of the directories inside,【C8】______that someone unknown has tom out the very page he needs. Nothing for it but to dial Directory Enquiries,【C9】______(while someone outside bangs repeatedly on the door)and finally【C10】______given.
At last George can go ahead with his call. Just as he is【C11】______, however, the door pens and【C12】______peers in: As he continues to dial, his unwanted companion withdraws. At last he hears the burr-burr of【C13】______, immediately followed by rapid pips demanding his money, but he is now so upset that he【C14】______he has placed ready【C15】______of the box. Having at last located them, he dials again: the pips are repeated and he hastily inserts the coins. A cold voice【C16】______, “Grand Hotel, Chalfont Wells,“ I’ve an urgent message for a Mr. Smith who is a guest in your hotel. Could you【C17】______to him? I’m afraid I don’t know his room number.
The response appears less than enthusiastic and【C18】______. George inserts more coins. Then the voice informs him I’ve been trying to locate Mr. Smith but the hall porter reports having seen him【C19】______.
Breathing heavily, George replaces the receiver, just as【C20】______starts again.Using a public telephone, may well be one of the minor irritations of life, demanding patience, determination and a strong possibility of failure, together on occasion with considerable unpopularity.
The hopeful caller (shall we call him George?) waits till six o’clock in the evening to take advantage of the so-called “cheap rates“ for a long-distance call. The telephone box, with two broken panes of glass in the side, stands at the junction of two main roads with buses, lorries and cars roaring past. It is pouring with rain as George joins a queue of four depressed-looking people. Time passes slowly and seems to come to a standstill while the person immediately before George carries on an endless conversation, pausing only to insert another coin every minute or so.
Eventually the receiver is replaced and the caller leaves the box. George enters and picks up one of the directories inside, only to discover that someone unknown has torn out the very page he needs. Nothing for it but to dial Directory Enquiries, wait patiently for a reply (while someone outside bangs repeatedly on the door) and finally note down the number given.
At last George can go ahead with his call. Just as he is starting to dial, however, the door opens and an unpleasant-looking face peers in. As he continues to dial, his unwanted companion withdraws. At last he hears the burr-burr of the ringing tone, immediately followed by rapid pips demanding his money, but he is now so upset that he knocks down the coins he has placed ready on the top of the box. Having at last located them, he dials again: the pips are repeated and he hastily inserts the coins. A cold voice informs him, “Grand Hotel, Chalfont Wells,“ I’ve an urgent message for a Mr. Smith who is a guest in your hotel. Could you put me through to him? I’m afraid I don’t know his room number.
The response appears less than enthusiastic and a long silence follows. George inserts more coins. Then the voice informs him I’ve been trying to locate Mr. Smith but the hall porter reports having seen him leave a minute ago.
Breathing heavily, George replaces the receiver, just as the knocking on the door starts again.
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When she first arrived in this city, Miss Allen shared a room with one of her colleagues in a rented house. Now she enjoys living in her own apartment. Miss Allan has just inherited a fortune. Miss Allan doesn’t like her colleague. Miss Allan prefers to share the room with her colleague. Miss Allan has moved into a new apartment.
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Insurance rates are a factor that must be taken into account. The more extensive the coverage, the higher the rates, and the more costly the goods. Insurance is unnecessary for the transportation of goods. Insurance is a factor that affects the price of goods. Insurance contributes to reducing the price of goods. Insurance helps improve the quality of goods.
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M: Tonight, ladies and gentleman, we’ re at the Lincoln center and our guest is Bonnie Nelson, lead dancer with the New York City Ballet. Ms. Nelson, thank you very much for allowing us to be here.
W: It’s my pleasure.
M: Ms. Nelson, is this the first time that you’ve danced in Swan Lake, this particular ballet?
W: Oh, no. I’ve danced it many times before. The first time was when I was in high school, as a matter of fact, I was only 16 at the time.
M: When did you begin to dance?
W: I started taking ballet lessons when I was seven years old.
M: Was that in New York City?
W: No, but I came to New York after I finished high school. And I studied at the International School of Dance for three years.
M: So what did you do after graduation?
W: Well, I went to Europe for a while. And then I went to Holland. They’ve got an excellent ballet company. That’s where I got my first professional experience.
M: When did you join this company, the New York City Ballet?
W: About a year and a half ago.
M: How did that happen?
W: Well, one night, when I was dancing in San Francisco, the director of the New York City Ballet was in the audience. After the performance, he came backstage. He said he liked my work and asked me if I’d like to come to New York. Well, I was speechless and so of course I said yes.
M: Well, the best of luck in all you do. And once again, thank you for taking the time to talk to us.
W: Thank you.
11. When did Nelson first dance in Swan Lake?
12.What did she do after finishing her studies?
13.When did she return to the United States?
14.How did she join the New York City Company? At the age of 7. At high school. In Holland. In the International School of Dance.
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Colleges and universities are degree-granting institutions of higher education. In the original sense of the word, a college was a group of students who gathered to share academic and residential facilities. Each college was a component part of a corporate body called a university. Today, especially in the United States, a college may be affiliated with a university (for example, Bernard College of Columbia University) or independent (for example, Smith College).
American undergraduates traditionally have been required to take general survey courses before they specialize in major areas of concentration; the undergraduate program generally is four years, and each year is split into two or three semesters. After receiving a bachelor of arts (BA) or a bachelor of science (BS) degree, those who want additional education enroll in programs leading to a master of arts (MA) or a doctor of philosophy (Ph.D) degree or study at a medical, law, or other professional or technical graduate school at the same or another institution.
In contrast, European students begin their higher education with specialized studies because their general education is completed in secondary school. In general, European universities have no prescribed courses, attendance requirements, or course grades. Students may attend lectures, but do their work directly with tutors who prepare them for examinations. Programs may be completed in two or six years.
15.What was the original meaning of the word “college“?
16.When do American students begin to specialize in their major?
17.When do American students begin to study at professional or technical graduate schools?
18.In what way is European higher education different from US higher education? A degree-granting institution of higher learning. A group of students sharing academic and residential facilities. A component part of a large corporate body. An institution affiliated with a university.
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W: Good morning, can I help you?
M: Yes, good morning, I’ve just got a few queries, I wonder if you could help me sort them Out.
W: I’ll see what I can do.
M: Can you tell me when Sudeley Castle is open?
W: Yes, of course, Sudeley Castle, Sudeley, I think it’s open all day, some one asked me this a week or so ago.
M: I hope so, we want to go there this morning.
W: Here we are, I’ve got the guide, yes, it’s open from 11 in the morning and until 5 in the afternoon, well not quite all day, but morning and afternoon.
M: Eleven am to five pm. OK, that’s great. Er, can you tell me how much it costs to get in?
W: Yes, it costs $ 4.50 for adults and $ 3 for children. It sounds a bit expensive but there’s a lot to do there. I think it’s worth the money.
M: So, $ 4. 50 for adults and $ 3 for children. No, that’s about what you pay in most of these places, I suppose, OK, now, another question: what exactly is Snowshill Manor? What can you see there?
W: Oh, it’s a museum, an absolutely fascinating collection of all sorts of things, like clocks and masks, and cabinets, and there’s a whole room full of Samurai armor.
M: Samurai? Well, the kids will like that. Do you pay to get into this museum?
W: Yes, you do. I think it’s about three dollars fifty.
M: Is it open this time of year?
W: Yes, it’s open until the end of September, so there are a few weeks before it closes.
M: Right, we’ 11 try it. One last thing, my wife wants a weekend break at some point and someone has recommended the Lygon Arms, but I’ve forgotten where it is. Is it somewhere suitable for touring the region?
W: Yes, it certainly is. It’s in Broadway, which is on the edge of Cotswolds. It’s a very lovely old hotel, about four hundred years old and you sleep in huge beds.
M: How much does it cost?
W: I’ve got the brochure here somewhere. Yes, they’re offering weekend breaks at $ 210 per person for the whole weekend.
M: $ 210! That sounds a bit expensive.
W: Well, that includes breakfast and dinner, and the food is meant to be out of this world. So there are no extra costs.
M: Well, that makes it much more attractive. Thank you very much.
19.Where does the woman most probably work?
20.What’s the price of ticket to Sudeley Castle?
21.Which of the following statements about Snowshill Manor is NOT true?
22.Which of the following statements about the Lygon Arms is true? In a castle. In a tourist office. In a restaurant. In a museum.
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Many people in the world walk to work or to school. They have no other form of transportation. Many others, however, travel by bus, train or car. They walk very little. Yet experts say walking is one of the best ways to stay healthy. They call it the world’s most natural exercise. Walking is less dangerous than running. It strengthens muscles without stretching them too much. And it puts less pressure on bones and joints. About fifty million Americans are active in what is called “fitness“ walking. They take short walks a few times each week to improve their health. Fitness walking can be done almost anywhere, anytime. No special equipment is needed. Experts advise drinking lots of liquids, especially water, before and after each walk. Also, gently stretch the muscles and joints that are most likely to become tense during exercise.
Experts say the most effective way to walk is the natural way. Keep your head high and your back straight. In fitness walking, it is important to remember that your footsteps should fall almost in a straight line. Bend your arms at the elbow. Let them swing from the shoulder with each step. Walking is good for the health of your body. And a new study provides details about the link between walking and your emotional health. Robert Thayer of California State University asked a group of students to describe their feelings of energy and tension. Then he sent the students on a fast walk for ten minutes. When the students returned, they reported feeling less tired and more full of energy.
Professor Thayer found that short walks can also help make personal problems seem less serious. One group of persons described the seriousness of their personal problems, such as job worries or a failing marriage. Then they went for a fast ten-minute walk. When they returned, they said their problems seemed less threatening. Improvements were not observed every day. But after three weeks, the differences became very clear.
23.Which of the following statements about walking is NOT true?
24.Which of the following statements about fitness walking is NOT true?
25.How did the students in the experiment feel after they took a fast walk for ten minutes?
26.What did Professor Thayer find in the experiment? Walking is the world’s most natural exercise. Walking is not so dangerous as running. Walking will bring less physical harm to bones and joints. Walking has more psychological benefits than physical ones.
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W: Excuse me, I’m doing a survey on the recent modernization of this airport. Would you mind answering some questions?
M: Well, if you’re quick.
W: Right. Um, could you tell me where you’re going and why you’re going there.
M: Yes, Um flying to Barcelona on business.
W: Right. And can you tell me how often you use the airport?
M: Yes, I use this airport approximately twice a month because of my work.
W: Right. And what do you think of the new restaurant?
M: I’m sorry, but I think it’s tacky—cheap, vulgar, I mean—plastic cups, wobbly chairs, we deserve something better.
W: Right. Urn. Okay. Right, now what about the speed of airport procedures and formalities?
M: Well, that varies. Now, some days they’re all right, they can cope but on busy days they can’t cope at all—if it gets overcrowded they just don’t seem to have the staff to deal with the situation and there are delays.
W: Right, thank you. What about the new parking facilities?
M: In my opinion the parking is too far from the terminals. I know there’s a courtesy bus but it isn’t frequent enough.
W: Right, er, and what about the transport links to the airport?
M: Transport facilities, public transport is pretty good. I think there are frequent rail services and buses, yes I think it’s pretty good.
W: Okay. And the new signposting in the airport, what do you think of that?
M: Well I think it’s deplorable. I mean, fortunately I’m used to the airport so I know where I’m going but if I were new to the airport I would not be able to find a single thing.
W: Thank you.
M: Thank you.
27.What is the conversation mainly about?
28.What does the man think of the restaurant?
29.How does the man like the parking facilities of the airport?
30.Which of the following statements about the man is NOT true? Business trips. Restaurants’ decoration. The airport modernization. The transportation.
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Our company is a leading supplier of education and training services in Singapore, but the recent scandal seriously mined the image of our company and caused a sharp decline of sales volume.
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New York City is the largest city in the United States. More than 11 million people live in New York and its suburbs. The city stands mainly on three islands that lie at the mouth of the Hudson River. The island of Manhattan holds the heart of New York and many of its most famous sights. Some of the world’s greatest skyscrapers tower above its streets. Fifth Avenue is a famous shopping street, and Broadway is known for its theatres. Perhaps New York’s best-known sight is the Statue of Liberty, one of the largest statues on Earth. It stands on an island in New York Harbor.
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The French word renaissance means rebirth. It was first used in 1855 by the historian Jules Michelet in his History of France, then adopted by historians of culture, by art historians, and eventually by music historians, all of whom applied it to European culture during the 150 years spanning 1450-1600. The concept of rebirth was appropriate to this period of European history because of the renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture that began in Italy and then spread throughout Europe. Scholars and artists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries wanted to restore the learning and ideals of the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome. To these scholars this meant a return to human—as opposed to spiritual, values. Fulfillment in life—as opposed to concern about an afterlife—became a desirable goal, and expressing the entire range of human emotions and enjoying the pleasures of the senses were no longer frowned on. Artists and writers now turned to secular as well as religious subject matter and sought to make their works understandable and appealing.
These changes in outlook deeply affected the musical culture of the Renaissance period— how people thought about music as well as the way music was composed, experienced, discussed, and disseminated. They could see the architectural monuments, sculptures, plays, and poems that were being rediscovered, but they could not actually hear ancient music—although they could read the writings of classical philosophers, poets, essayists, and music theorists that were becoming available in translation. They learned about the power of ancient music to move the listener and wondered why modem music did not have the same effect. For example, the influential religious leader Bernardino Cirillo expressed disappointment with the learned music of his time. He urged musicians to follow the example of the sculptors, painters, architects, and scholars who had rediscovered ancient art and literature.
The musical Renaissance in Europe was more a general cultural movement and state of mind than a specific set of musical techniques. Furthermore, music changed so rapidly during this century and a half—though at different rates in different countries—that we cannot define a single Renaissance style.
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When prehistoric man arrived in new parts of the world, something strange happened to the large animals: they suddenly became extinct. Smaller species survived. The large, slow-growing animals were easy game, and were quickly hunted to extinction. Now something similar could be happening in the oceans.
That the seas are being overfished has been known for years. What researchers such as Ransom Myers and Boris Worm have shown is just how fast things are changing. They have looked at half a century of data from fisheries around the world. Their methods do not attempt to estimate the actual biomass (the amount of living biological matter) of fish species in particular parts of the ocean, but rather changes in that biomass over time. According to their latest paper published in Nature, the biomass of large predators (animals that kill and eat other animals) in a new fishery is reduced on average by 80% within 15 years of the start of exploitation. In some long-fished areas, it has halved again since then.
Dr. Worm acknowledges that these figures are conservative. One mason for this is that fishing technology has improved. Today’s vessels can find their prey using satellites and sonar, which were not available 50 years ago. That means a higher proportion of what is in the sea is being caught, so the real difference between present and past is likely to be worse than the one recorded by changes in catch sizes. In the early days, too, longlines would have been more saturated with fish. Some individuals would therefore not have been caught, since no baited hooks would have been available to trap them, leading to an underestimate of fish stocks in the past. Furthermore, in the early days of longline fishing, a lot of fish were lost to sharks after they had been hooked. That is no longer a problem, because there are fewer sharks around now.
Dr. Myers and Dr. Worm argue that their work gives a correct baseline, which future management efforts must take into account. They believe the data support an idea current among marine biologists, that of the “shifting baseline“. The notion is that people have failed to detect the massive changes which have happened in the ocean because they have been looking back only a relatively short time into the past. That matters because theory suggests that the maximum sustainable yield that can be cropped from a fishery comes when the biomass of a target species is about 50% of its original levels. Most fisheries are well below that, which is a bad way to do business.
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The early retirement of experienced workers is seriously harming the U.S. economy, according to a new report from the Hudson Institute, a public policy research organization. Currently, many older experienced workers retire at an early age. According to the recently issued statistics, 79 percent of qualified workers begin collecting retirement benefits at age 62; if that trend continues, there will be a labor shortage that will hinder the economic growth in the twenty-first century.
Older Americans constitute an increasing proportion of the population, according to the US. Census Bureau, and the population of those over age 65 will grow by 60% between 2001 and 2020. During the same period, the group aged 18 to 44 will increase by only 4%. Keeping older skilled workers employed, even part time, would increase U.S. economic output and strengthen the tax base; but without significant policy reforms, massive early retirement among baby boomers seems more likely.
Retirement at age 62 is an economically rational decision today. Social Security and Medicaid earnings limits and tax penalties subject our most experienced workers to marginal tax rates as high as 67%. Social Security formulas encourage early retirement. Although incomes usually rise with additional years of work, any pay increases after the 35-year mark result in higher Social Security taxes but only small increases in benefits.
Hudson Institute researchers believe that federal tax and benefit policies are at fault and reforms are urgently needed, but they disagree with the popular proposal that much older Americans will have to work because Social Security will not support them and that baby boomers are not saving enough for retirement. According to the increase in 401 (k) and Keogh retirement plans, the ongoing stock market on Wall Street, and the likelihood of large inheritances, them is evidence that baby boomers will reach age 65 with greater financial assets than previous generations.
The Hudson institute advocates reforming government policies that now discourage work and savings, especially for older worker. Among the report’s recommendations: tax half of all Social Security benefits, regardless of other income; provide 8% larger benefits for each year beyond 65; and permit workers nearing retirement to negotiate compensation packages that may include a lower salary but with greater healthcare benefits. However, it may take real and fruitful planning to find the right solution to the early retirement of older experienced workers; any measures taken must be allowed to prolong the service ability of older experienced workers.
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I remember meeting him one evening with his pushcart. I had managed to sell all my papers and was coming home in the snow. It was that strange hour in downtown New York when the workers were pouring homeward in the twilight. I marched among thousands of tired men and women whom the factory whistles had unyoked. They flowed in rivers through the clothing factory districts, then down along the avenues to the East Side.
I met my father near Cooper Union. I recognized him, a hunched, frozen figure in an old overcoat standing by a banana cart. He looked so lonely, the tears came to my eyes. Then he saw me, and his face lit with his sad, beautiful smile—Charlie Chaplin’s smile.
“Arch, it’s Mikey,“ he said. “So you have sold your papers! Come and eat a banana.“
He offered me one. I refused it. I felt it crucial that my father sell his bananas, not give them away. He thought I was shy, and coaxed and joked with me, and made me eat the banana. It smelled of wet straw and snow.
“You haven’t sold many bananas today, pop,“ I said anxiously, He shrugged his shoulders. “What can I do? No one seems to want them.“
It was true. The work crowds pushed home morosely over the pavements. The rusty sky darkened over New York building, the tall street lamps were lit, innumerable trucks, street cars and elevated trains clattered by. Nobody and nothing in the great city stopped for my father’s bananas.
“I ought to yell,“ said my father dolefully. “I ought to make a big noise like other peddlers, but it makes my throat sore. Anyway, I’m ashamed of yelling, it makes me feel like a fool.“
I had eaten one of his bananas. My sick conscience told me that I ought to pay for it somehow. I must remain here and help my father. “I’ll yell for you, pop,“ I volunteered.“ “Arch, no,“ he said, “go home; you have worked enough today. Just tell momma I’ll be late.“
But I yelled and yelled. My father, standing by, spoke occasional words of praise, and said I was a wonderful yeller. Nobody else paid attention. The workers drifted past us wearily, endlessly; a defeated army wrapped in dreams of home. Elevated trains crashed; the Cooper Union clock burned above us; the sky grew black, the wind poured, the slush burned through our shoes. There were thousands of strange, silent figures pouring over the sidewalks in snow, None of them stopped to buy bananas. I yelled and yelled, nobody listened.
My father tried to stop me at last. “Nu,“ he said smiling to console me, “that was wonderful yelling. Mikey. But it’s plain we are unlucky today! Let’s go home.“
I was frantic, and almost in tears. I insisted on keeping up my desperate yells. But at last my father persuaded me to leave with him.
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Gene therapy and gene based drugs are two ways we could benefit from our growing mastery of genetic science. But there will be others as well. Here is one of the remarkable therapies on the cutting edge of genetic research that could make their way into mainstream medicine in the coming years.
While it’s true that just about every cell in the body has the instructions to make a complete human, most of those instructions are inactivated, and with good reason: the last thing you want for your brain cells is to start churning out stomach acid or your nose to mm into a kidney. The only time cells truly have the potential to turn into any and all body parts is very early in a pregnancy, when so called stem cells haven’t begun to specialize.
Yet this untapped potential could be a terrific boon to medicine. Most diseases involve the death of healthy cells—brain cells in Alzheimer’s, cardiac cells in heart disease, pancreatic cells in diabetes, to name a few; if doctors could isolate stem cells, then direct their growth, they might be able to furnish patients with healthy replacement tissue.
It was incredibly difficult, but last fall scientists at the University of Wisconsin managed to isolate stem cells and get them to grow into neural, gut, muscle and bone cells. The process still can’t be controlled, and may have unforeseen limitations; but if efforts to understand and master stem cell development prove successful, doctors will have a therapeutic tool of incredible power.
The same applies to cloning, which is really just the other side of the coin; true cloning, as first shown with the sheep Dolly two years ago, involves taking a developed cell and reactivating the genome within, resetting its developmental instructions to a pristine state. Once that happens, the rejuvenated cell can develop into a full fledged animal, genetically identical to its parent.
For agriculture, in which purely physical characteristics like milk production in a cow or low fat in a hog have real market value, biological carbon copies could become routine within a few years. This past year scientists have done for mice and cows what Ian Wilmut did for Dolly, and other creatures are bound to join the cloned menagerie in the coming year.
Human cloning, on the other hand, may be technically feasible but legally and emotionally more difficult. Still, one day it will happen. The ability to reset body cells to a pristine, undeveloped state could give doctors exactly the same advantages they would get from stem cells: the potential to make healthy body tissues of all sorts, and thus to cure disease. That could prove to be a true “miracle cure“.
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The University in transformation, edited by Australian futurists Sohail Inayatullah and Jennifer Gidley, presents some 20 highly varied outlooks on tomorrow’s universities by writers representing both Western and non-Western perspectives. Their essays raise a broad range of issues, questioning nearly every key assumption we have about higher education today.
The most widely discussed alternative to the traditional campus is the Internet University— a voluntary community to scholars/teachers physically scattered throughout a country or around the world but all linked in cyberspace. A computerized university could have many advantages, such as easy scheduling, efficient delivery of lectures to thousands or even millions of students at once, and ready access for students everywhere to the resources of all the world’s great libraries.
Yet the Internet University poses dangers, too. For example, a line of franchised courseware, produced by a few superstar teachers, marketed under the brand name of a famous institution, and heavily advertised, might eventually come to dominate the global education market, warns sociology professor Peter Manicas of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Besides enforcing a rigidly standardized curriculum, such a “college education in a box“ could undersell the offerings of many traditional brick and mortar institutions, effectively driving them out of business and throwing thousands of career academics out of work, note Australian communications professors David Rooney and Greg Hearn.
On the other hand, while global connectivity seems highly likely to play some significant role in future higher education, that does not mean greater uniformity in course content—or other dangers—will necessarily follow. Counter-movements are also at work.
Many in academia, including scholars contributing to this volume, are questioning the fundamental mission of university education. What if, for instance, instead of receiving primarily technical training and building theft individual careers, university students and professors could focus their learning and research efforts on existing problems in their local communities and the world? Feminist scholar Ivana Milojevic dares to dream what a university might become “if we believed that child-care workers and teachers in early childhood education should be one of the highest (rather than lowest) paid professionals?“
Co-editor Jennifer Gidley shows how tomorrow’s university faculty, instead of giving lectures and conducting independent research, may take on three new roles. Some would act as brokers, assembling customized degree-credit programmes for individual students by mixing and matching the best course offerings available from institutions all around the world. A second group, mentors, would function much like today’s faculty advisers, but are likely to be working with many more students outside their own academic specialty. This would require them to constantly be learning from their students as well as instructing them.
A third new role for faculty, and in Gidley’s view the most challenging and rewarding of all, would be as meaning-makers: charismatic sages and practitioners leading groups of students/colleagues in collaborative efforts to find spiritual as well as rational and technological solutions to specific real-world problems.
Moreover, there seems little reason to suppose that any one form of university must necessarily drive out all other options. Students may be “enrolled“ in courses offered at virtual campuses on the Internet, between—or even during—sessions at a real-world problem-focused institution.
As co-editor Sohail Inayatullah points out in his introduction, no future is inevitable, and the very act of imagining and thinking through alternative possibilities can directly affect how thoughtfully, creatively and urgently even a dominant technology is adapted and applied. Even in academia, the future belongs to those who care enough to work their visions into practical, sustainable realities.
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Innovation can come from without as well as within. Apple is widely assumed to be an innovator, locking its engineers away to cook up new ideas and basing products on their moments of inspiration. In fact, its real skill lies in stitching together its own ideas with technologies from outside and then wrapping the results in elegant software and stylish design. Apple is, in short, an orchestrator and integrator of technologies, unafraid to bring in ideas from outside but always adding its own twists.
This approach, known as “network innovation“, is not limited to electronics. It has also been embraced by companies such as Procter ＆ Gamble, BT and several drugs giants, all of which have realized the power of admitting that not all good ideas start at home. Making network innovation work involves cultivating contacts with start-ups and academic researchers, constantly scouting for new ideas and ensuring that engineers do not fall prey to “not invented here“ syndrome, which always values in-house ideas over those from outside.
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中国已经明确了本世纪头20年的奋斗目标，这就是紧紧抓住重要战略机遇期，全面建设惠及十几亿人口的更高水平的小康社会，到2020年实现国内生产总值比2000年翻两番，达到4万亿美元左右，人均国内生产总值达到3000美元左右，使经济更加发展、民主更加健全、科教更加进步、文化更加繁荣、社会更加和谐、人民生活更加殷实。我们深知，中国在相当长时期内仍然是发展中国家，从中国有13亿人口的国情出发，实现这个奋斗目标是很不容易的，需要我们继续进行长期的艰苦奋斗。
