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A letter written by Charles Darwin in 1875 has been returned to the Smithsonian Institution Archives (档案馆).by the FBI after being stolen twice.“We realized in the mid-1970s that it was missing,” says Effie Kapsalis, head of the Smithsonian Institution Archives. “It was noted as missing and likely taken by an intern (实习生),from what the FBI is telling us. Word got out that it was missing when someone asked to see the letter for research purposes,” and the intern put the letter back. “The intern likely took the letter again once nobody was watching it.”Decades passed. Finally, the FBI received a tip that the stolen document was located very close to Washington, D.C. Their art crime team recovered the letter but were unable to press charges because the time of limitations had ended. The FBI worked closely with the Archives to determine that the letter was both authentic and definitely Smithsonian’s property.The letter was written by Darwin to thank an American geologist, Dr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, for sending him copies of his research into the geology of the region that would become Yellowstone National Park.The letter is in fairly good condition, in spite of being out of the care of trained museum staff for so long. “It was luckily in good shape,” says Kapsalis, “and we just have to do some minor things in order to be able to unfold it. It has some glue on it that has colored it slightly, but nothing that will prevent us from using it. After it is repaired, we will take digital photos of it and that will be available online. One of our goals is to get items of high research value or interest to the public online.”It would now be difficult for an intern, visitor or a thief to steal a document like this. “Archiving practices have changed greatly since the 1970s,” says Kapsalis, “and we keep our high value documents in a safe that I don’t even have access to.”What happened to Darwin’s letter in the 1970s?What did the FBI do after the recovery of the letter?What is Darwin’s letter about?What will the Smithsonian Institution Archives do with the letter according to Kapsalis?What has the past half century witnessed according to Kapsalis?

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Losing your ability to think and remember is pretty scary. We know the risk of dementia (痴呆症)increases with age. But if you have memory slips, you probably needn’t worry. There are pretty clear differences between signs of dementia and age-related memory loss.After age 50, it’s quite common to have trouble remembering the names of people, places and things quickly, says Dr. Kirk Daffner of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.The brain ages just like the rest of the body. Certain parts shrink, especially areas in the brain that are important to learning, memory and planning. Changes in brain cells can affect communication between different regions of the brain. And blood flow can be reduced as blood vessels narrow.Forgetting the name of an actor in a favorite movie, for example, is nothing to worry about. But if you forget the plot of the movie or don’t remember even seeing it, that’s far more concerning, Daffner says.When you forget entire experiences, he says, that’s “a red flag that something more serious may be involved.” Forgetting how to operate a familiar object like a microwave oven, or forgetting how to drive to the house of a friend you’ve visited many times before can also be signs of something going wrong.But even then, Daffner says, people shouldn’t panic. There are many things that can cause confusion and memory loss, including health problems like temporary stoppage of breathing during sleep, high blood pressure, or depression, as well as medications (药物)like antidepressants.You don’t have to figure this out on your own. Daffner suggests going to your doctor to check on medications, health problems and other issues that could be affecting memory. And the best defense against memory loss is to try to prevent it by building up your brain’s cognitive (认知的)reserve, Daffner says.“Read books, go to movies, take on new hobbies or activities that force one to think in novel ways,” he says. In other words, keep your brain busy and working. And also get physically active, because exercise is a known brain booster.Why does the author say that one needn’t be concerned about memory slips?What happens as we become aged according to the passage?Which memory-related symptom should people take seriously?What should people do when signs of serious memory loss show up?What is Dr. Daffner’s advice for combating memory loss?

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As Tourists Crowd Out Locals, Venice Faces ‘Endangered’ ListA) On a recent fall morning, a large crowd blocked the steps at one of Venice’s main tourist sites, the Rialto Bridge. The Rialto Bridge is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal. It is the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the dividing line between the districts of San Marco and San Polo. But on this day, there was a twist: it was filled with Venetians, not tourists.B) “People are cheering and holding their carts in the air,” says Giovanni Giorgio, who helped organize the march with a grass-roots organization called Generazione ’90. The carts he refers to are small shopping carts—the symbol of a true Venetian. “It started as a joke,” he says with a laugh. “The idea was to put blades on the wheels! You know? Like Ben Hur. Precisely like that, you just go around and run people down.”C) Venice is one of the hottest tourist destinations in the world. But that’s a problem. Up to 90,000 tourists crowd its streets and canals every day—far outnumbering the 55,000 permanent residents. The tourist increase is one key reason the city’s population is down from 175,000 in the 1950s. The outnumbered Venetians have been steadily fleeing. And those who stick around are tired of living in a place where they can’t even get to the market without swimming through a sea of picture¬-snapping tourists. Imagine, navigating through 50,000 people while on the way to school or to work.D) Laura Chigi, a grandmother at the march, says the local and national governments have failed to do anything about the crowds for decades, because they’re only interested in tourism—the primary industry in Venice, worth more than $3 billion in 2015. “Venice is a cash cow,” she says, “and everyone wants a piece.”E) Just beyond St. Mark’s Square, a cruise ship passes, one of hundreds every year that appear over their medieval (中世纪的) surroundings. Their massive wake creates waves at the bottom of the sea, weakening the foundations of the centuries-old buildings themselves. “Every time I see a cruise ship, I feel sad,” Chigi says. “You see the mud it drags, the destruction it leaves in its wake? That hurts the ancient wooden poles holding up the city underwater. One day we’ll see Venice break down.”F) For a time, UNESCO, the cultural wing of the United Nations, seemed to agree. Two years ago, it put Italy on notice, saying the government was not protecting Venice. UNESCO considers the entire city a World Heritage Site, a great honor that means Venice, at the cultural level, belongs to all of the world’s people. In 2014, UNESCO gave Italy two years to manage Venice’s flourishing tourism or the city would be placed on another list—World Heritage In Danger, joining such sites as Aleppo and Palmyra, destroyed by the war in Syria.G) Venice’s deadline passed with barely a murmur (嘟哝) this summer, just as UNESCO was meeting in Istanbul. Only one representative, Jad Tabet from Lebanon, tried to raise the issue. “For several years, the situation of heritage in Venice has been worsening, and it has now reached a dramatic situation,” Tabet told UNESCO. “We have to act quickly. There is not a moment to waste.”H) But UNESCO didn’t even hold a vote. “It’s been postponed until 2017, ” says Anna Somers, the founder and CEO of The Art Newspaper and the former head of Venice in Peril, a group devoted to restoring Venetian art. She says the main reason the U.N. cultural organization didn’t vote to declare Venice a World Heritage Site In Danger is because UNESCO has become “intensely politicized. There would have been some back-room negotiations.”I) Italy boasts more UNESCO World Heritage Sites than any other country in the world, granting it considerable power and influence within the organization. The former head of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, which oversees heritage sites, is Francesco Bandarin, a Venetian who now serves as UNESCO’s assistant director-general for culture.J) Earlier this year, Italy signed an accord with UNESCO to establish a task force of police art detectives and archaeologists (考古学家)to protect cultural heritage from natural disasters and terror groups, such as ISIS. The accord underlined Italy’s global reputation as a good steward of art and culture.K) But adding Venice to the UNESCO endangered list — which is dominated by sites in developing and conflict-ridden countries—would be an international embarrassment, and could even hurt Italy’s profitable tourism industry. The Italian Culture Ministry says it is unaware of any government efforts to pressure UNESCO. As for the organization itself, it declined a request for an interview.L) The city’s current mayor, Luigi Bmgnaro, has ridiculed UNESCO and told it to mind its own business, while continuing to support the cruise ship industry, which employs 5,000 Venice residents.M) As for Venetians, they’re beyond frustrated and hoping for a solution soon. “It’s a nightmare for me. Some situations are really difficult with tourists around,” says Giorgio as he navigates around a swelling crowd at the Rialto Bridge. “There are just so many of them. They never know where they are going, and do not walk in an orderly manner. Navigating the streets can be exhausting.”N) Then it hits him: This crowd isn’t made up of tourists. They’re Venetians. Giorgio says he’s never experienced the Rialto Bridge this way in all his 22 years. “For once, we are the ones who are blocking the traffic,” he says delightedly. “It feels unreal. It feels like we’re some form of endangered species. It’s just nice. The feeling is just pure.” But, he worries, if tourism isn’t managed and his fellow locals continue to move to the mainland, his generation might be the last who can call themselves native Venetians.

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You probably know about the Titanic, but it was actually just one of three state-of-the-art (最先进的).ocean ships back in the day. The Olympic class ships were built by the Harland & Wolff ship makers in Northern Ireland for the White Star Line company. The Olympic class included the Olympic, the Britannic and the Titanic. What you may not know is that the Titanic wasn’t even the flagship of this class. All in all, the Olympic class ships were marvels of sea engineering, but they seemed cursed to suffer disastrous fates.The Olympic launched first in 1910, followed by the Titanic in 1911, and lastly the Britannic in 1914. The ships had nine decks, and White Star Line decided to focus on making them the most luxurious ships on the water.Stretching 269.13 meters, the Olympic class ships were wonders of naval technology, and everyone thought that they would continue to be so for quite some time. However, all suffered terrible accidents on the open seas. The Olympic got wrecked before the Titanic did, but it was the only one to survive and maintain a successful career of 24 years. The Titanic was the first to sink after famously hitting a huge iceberg in 1912. Following this disaster, the Britannic hit a naval mine in 1916 and subsequently sank as well.Each ship was coal-powered by several boilers constantly kept running by exhausted crews below deck. Most recognizable of the ship designs are the ship’s smoke stacks, but the fourth stack was actually just artistic in nature and served no functional purpose. While two of these ships sank, they were all designed with double hulls(船体).believed to make them “unsinkable”, perhaps a mistaken idea that led to the Titanic’s and the Britannic’s tragic end.The Olympic suffered two crashes with other ships and went on to serve as a hospital ship and troop transport in World War I. Eventually, she was taken out of service in 1935, ending the era of the luxurious Olympic class ocean liners.What does the passage say about the three Olympic class ships?What did White Star Line have in mind when it purchased the three ships?What is said about the fourth stack of the ships?What might have led to the tragic end of the Titanic and the Britannic?What happened to the ship Olympic in the end?

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Living in an urban area with green spaces has a long-lasting positive impact on people’s mental well-being, a study has suggested. UK researchers found moving to a green space had a sustained positive effect, unlike pay rises or promotions, which only provided a short-term boost. Co-author Mathew White, from the University of Exeter, UK, explained that the study showed people living in greener urban areas were displaying fewer signs of depression or anxiety. “There could be a number of reasons,” he said, “for example, people do many things to make themselves happier they strive for promotion or pay rises, or they get married. But the trouble with those things is that within six months to a year, people are back to their original baseline levels of well-being. So, these things are not sustainable; they don’t make us happy in the long-term. We found that for some lottery (彩票.winners who had won more than £500,000 the positive effect was definitely there, but after six months to a year, they were back to the baseline.”Dr. White said his team wanted to see whether living in greener urban areas had a lasting positive effect on people’s sense of well-being or whether the effect also disappeared after a period of time. To do this, the team used data from the British Household Panel Survey compiled by the University of Essex.Explaining what the data revealed, he said: “What you see is that even after three years, mental health is still better, which is unlike many other things that we think will make us happy.” He observed that people living in green spaces were less stressed, and less stressed people made more sensible decisions and communicated better.With a growing body of evidence establishing a link between urban green spaces and a positive impact on human well-being. Dr. White said, “There’s growing interest among public policy officials, but the trouble is who funds it. What we really need at a policy level is to decide where the money will come from to help support good quality local green spaces.”According to one study, what do green space do to people?What does Dr. White say people usually do to make themselves happier?What does Dr. White try to find out about living in a greener urban area?What did Dr. White’s research reveal about people living in a green environment?According to Dr. White, what should the government do to build more green spaces in cities?

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New Jersey School District Eases Pressure on Students, Baring an Ethnic DivideA) This fall, David Aderhold, the chief of a high-achieving school district near Princeton, New Jersey, sent parents an alarming 16-page letter. The school district, he said, was facing a crisis. Its students were overburdened and stressed out, having to cope with too much work and too many demands. In the previous school year, 120 middle and high school students were recommended for mental health assessments and 40 were hospitalized. And on a survey administered by the district, students wrote things like, “I hate going to school,” and “Coming out of 12 years in this district, I have learned one thing: that a grade, a percentage or even a point is (o be valued over anything else.”B) With his letter, Aderhold inserted West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District into a national discussion about the intense focus on achievement at elite schools, and whether it has gone too far. At follow-up meetings, he urged parents to join him in advocating a “whole child” approach to schooling that respects “social-emotional development” and “deep and meaningful learning” over academics alone. The alternative, he suggested, was to face the prospect of becoming another Palo Alto, California, where outsize stress on teenage students is believed to have contributed to a number of suicides in the last six years.C) But instead of bringing families together, Aderhold’s letter revealed a divide in the district, which has 9,700 students, and one that broke down roughly along racial lines. On one side are white parents like Catherine Foley, a former president of the Parent-Teacher-Student Association at her daughter’s middle school, who has come to see the district’s increasingly pressured atmosphere as opposed to learning. “My son was in fourth grade and told me, ‘I’m not going to amount to anything because I have nothing to put on my resume,’ she said. On the other side are parents like Mike Jia, one of the thousands of Asian-American professionals who have moved to the district in the past decade, who said Aderhold’s reforms would amount to a “dumbing down” of his children’s education. “What is happening here reflects a national anti-intellectual trend that will not prepare our children for the future,” Jia said.D) About 10 minutes from Princeton and an hour and a half from New York City, West Windsor and Plainsboro have become popular bedroom communities for technology entrepreneurs, researchers and engineers, drawn in large part by the public schools. From the last three graduating classes, 16 seniors were admitted to MIT. It produces Science Olympiad winners, classically trained musicians and students with perfect SAT scores.E) The district has become increasingly popular with immigrant families from China, India and Korea. This year, 65 percent of its students are Asian-American, compared with 44 percent in 2007. Many of them are the first in their families born in the United States. They have had a growing influence on the district. Asian-American parents are enthusiastic supporters of the competitive instrumental music program. They have been huge supporters of the district’s advanced mathematics program, which once began in the fourth grade but will now start in the sixth. The change to the program, in which 90 percent of the participating students are Asian-American, is one of Aderhold’s reforms.F) Asian-American students have been eager participants in a state program that permits them to take summer classes off campus for high school credit, allowing them to maximize the number of honors and Advanced Placement classes they can take, another practice that Aderhokl is limiting this school year. With many Asian-American children attending supplementary instructional programs, there is a perception among some white families that the elementary school curriculum is being sped up to accommodate them.G) Both Asian-American and white families say the tension between the two groups has grown steadily over the past few years, as the number of Asian families has risen. But the division has become more obvious in recent months as Aderhold has made changes, including no-homework nights, an end to high school midterms and finals, and an initiative that made it easier to participate in the music program.H) Jennifer Lee, professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, and an author of The Asian American Achievement Paradox, says misunderstandings between first-generation Asian- American parents and those who have been in this country longer are common. What white middle- class parents do not always understand, she said, is how much pressure recent immigrants feel to boost, their children into the middle class. “They don’t have the same chances to get their children internships (实习职位) or jobs at law firms,” Lee said. “So what they believe is that their children must excel and beat their white peers in academic settings so they have the same chances to excel later.”I) The issue of the stresses felt by students in elite school districts has gained attention in recent years as schools in places like Newton, Massachusetts, and Palo Alto have reported a number of suicides. West Windsor-Plairrsboro has not had a teenage suicide in recent years, but Aderhold, who has worked in the district for seven years and been chief for the last three years, said he had seen troubling signs. In a recent art assignment, a middle school student depicted (描绘)an overburdened child who was being scolded for earning an A, rather than an A+,on a math exam. In the image, the mother scolds the student with the words, “Shame on you!” Further, he said, the New Jersey Education Department has flagged at least two pieces of writing on state English language assessments in which students expressed suicidal thoughts.J) The survey commissioned by the district found that 68 percent of high school honor and Advanced Placement students reported feeling stressed about school “always or most of the time.’’ “We need to bring back some balance,” Aderhold said. “You don’t want to wait until it’s too late to do something.”K) Not all public opinion has fallen along racial lines. Karen Sue, the Chinese-American mother of a fifth-grader and an eighth-grader, believes the competition within the district has gotten out of control. Sue, who was born in the United States to immigrant parents, wants her peers to dial it back. “It’s become an arms race, an educational arms race,” she said. “We all want our kids to achieve and be successful. The question is, at what cost?”

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Neon (霓虹) is to Hong Kong as red phone booths are to London and fog is to San Francisco. When night falls, red and blue and other colors(  ) a hazy (雾蒙蒙的)glow over a city lit up by tens of thousands of neon signs. But many of them are going dark,  (  )   by more practical, but less romantic, LEDs (发光二极管).Changing building codes, evolving tastes, and the high cost of maintaining those wonderful old signs have businesses embracing LEDs, which are energy (  )   , but still carry great cost. To me, neon represents memories of the past,” says photographer Sharon Blance, whose series Hong Kong Neon celebrates the city’s famous signs. “Looking at the signs now I get a feeling of amazement, mixed with sadness.”Building a neon sign is an art practiced by (  )   trained on the job to mold glass tubes into (  )   shapes and letters. They fill these tubes with gases that glow when (  )   Neon makes orange, while other gases make yellow or blue. It takes many hours to craft a single sign.Blance spent a week in Hong Kong and (  )   more than 60 signs; 22 of them appear in the series that capture the signs lighting up lonely streets — an (  )   that makes it easy to admire their colors and craftsmanship. “I love the beautiful, handcrafted, old-fashioned (  )   of neon,” says Blance. The signs do nothing more than (  )   a restaurant, theater, or other business, but do so in the most striking way possible.

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A new batch of young women—members of the so-called Millennial (千禧的)generation—has been entering the workforce for the past decade. At the starting line of their careers, they are better educated than their mothers and grandmothers had been—or than their young male counterparts are now. But when they look ahead, they see roadblocks to their success. They believe that women are paid less than men for doing the same job. They think it’s easier for men to get top executive jobs than it is for them. And they assume that if and when they have children, it will be even harder for them to advance in their careers.While the public sees greater workplace equality between men and women now than it did 20-30 years ago, most believe more change is needed. Among Millennial women, 75% say this country needs to continue making changes to achieve gender equality in the workplace, compared with 57% of Millennial men. Even so, relatively few young women (15%) say they have been discriminated against at work because of their gender.As Millennial women come of age they share many of the same views and values about work as their male counterparts. They want jobs that provide security and flexibility, and they place relatively little importance on high pay. At the same time, however, young working women are less likely than men to aim at top management jobs: 34% say they’re not interested in becoming a boss or top manager; only 24% of young men say the same. The gender gap on this question is even wider among working adults in their 30s and 40s, when many women face the trade-offs that go with work and motherhood.These findings are based on a new Pew Research Center survey of 2,002 adults, including 810 Millennials (ages 18-32), conducted Oct. 7-27, 2013. The survey finds that, in spite of the dramatic gains women have made in educational attainment and labor force participation in recent decades, young women view this as a man’s world—just as middle-aged and older women do.What do we learn from the first paragraph about Millennial women starting their careers?How do most Millennial women feel about their treatment in the workplace?What do Millennial women value most when coming of age?What are women in their 30s and 40s concerned about?What conclusion can be drawn about Millennial women from the 2013 survey?

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For thousands of years, people have known that the best way to understand a concept is to explain it to someone else. “While we teach, we learn,” said Roman philosopher Seneca. Now scientists are bringing this ancient wisdom up-to-date. They’re documenting why teaching is such a fruitful way to learn, and designing innovative ways for young people to engage in instruction.Researchers have found that students who sign up to tutor others work harder to understand the material, recall it more accurately and apply it more effectively. Student teachers score higher on tests than pupils who’re learning only for their own sake. But how can children, still learning themselves, teach others? One answer: They can tutor younger kids. Some studies have found that first-born children are more intelligent than their later-born siblings (兄弟姐妹).This suggests their higher IQs result from the time they spend teaching their siblings. Now educators are experimenting with ways to apply this model to academic subjects. They engage college undergraduates to teach computer science to high school students, who in turn instruct middle school students on the topic.But the most cutting-edge tool under development is the “teachable agent”—a computerized character who learns, tries, makes mistakes and asks questions just like a real-world pupil. Computer scientists have created an animated (动画的)figure called Betty’s Brain, who has been “taught” about environmental science by hundreds of middle school students. Student teachers are motivated to help Betty master certain materials. While preparing to teach, they organize their knowledge and improve their own understanding. And as they explain the information to it, they identify problems in their own thinking.Feedback from the teachable agents further enhances the tutors’ learning. The agents’ questions compel student tutors to think and explain the materials in different ways, and watching the agent solve problems allows them to see their knowledge put into action.Above all, it’s the emotions one experiences in teaching that facilitate learning. Student tutors feel upset when their teachable agents fail, but happy when these virtual pupils succeed as they derive pride and satisfaction from someone else’s accomplishment.What are researchers rediscovering through their studies?What do we learn about Betty’s Brain?How does teaching others benefit student tutors?What do students do to teach their teachable agents?What is the key factor that eases student tutors’ learning?

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Some College Students Are Angry That They Have to Pay to Do Their HomeworkA) Digital learning systems now charge students for access codes needed to complete coursework, take quizzes, and turn in homework. As universities go digital, students are complaining of a new hit to their finances that’s replacing—and sometimes joining—expensive textbooks: pricey online access codes that are required to complete coursework and submit assignments.B) The codes—which typically range in price from $80 to $155 per course—give students online access to systems developed by education companies like McGraw Hill and Pearson. These companies, which long reaped big profits as textbook publishers, have boasted that their new online offerings, when pushed to students through universities they partner with, represent the future of the industry.C) But critics say the digital access codes represent the same profit-seeking ethos (观念)of the textbook business, and are even harder for students to opt out of. While they could once buy second-hand textbooks, or share copies with friends, the digital systems are essentially impossible to avoid.D) "When we talk about the access code we see it as the new face of the textbook monopoly (垄断),a new way to lock students around this system,” said Ethan Senack, the higher education advocate for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, to BuzzFeed News. “Rather than $250 (for a print textbook) you’re paying $120,” said Senack. “But because it’s all digital it eliminates the used book market and eliminates any sharing and because homework and tests are through an access code, it eliminates any ability to opt out.”E) Sanna Harper, a 19-year-old student at Virginia Tech, was faced with a tough dilemma when she first started college in 2015 — pay rent or pay to turn in her chemistry homework. She told BuzzFeed News that her freshman chemistry class required her to use Connect, a system provided by McGraw Hill where students can submit homework, take exams and track their grades. But the code to access the program cost $120 — a big sum for Harper, who had already put down $450 for textbooks, and had rent day approaching.F) She decided to wait for her next work-study paycheck, which was typically $150-$20(), to pay for the code. She knew that her chemistry grade may take a dive as a result. “It’s a balancing act,” she said. “Can I really afford these access codes now?” She didn’t hand in her first two assignments for chemistry, which started her out in the class with a failing grade.G) The access codes may be another financial headache for students, but for textbook businesses, they’re the future. McGraw Hill, which controls 21% of the higher education market, reported in March (hat its digital content sales exceeded print sales for the first time in 2015. The company said that 45% of its $140 million revenue in 2015 “was derived from digital products.”H) A Pearson spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that “digital materials are less expensive and a good investment” that offer new features, like audio texts, personalized knowledge checks and expert videos. Its digital course materials save students up to 60% compared to traditional printed textbooks, the company added. McGraw Hill didn’t respond to a request for comment, but its CEO David Levin told the Financial Times in August that "in higher education, the era of the printed textbook is now over."I) The textbook industry insists the online systems represent a better deal for students. “These digital products aren’t just mechanisms for students to submit homework, they offer all kinds of features,” David Anderson, the executive director of higher education with the Association of American Publishers, told BuzzFeed News. “It helps students understand in a way that you can’t do with print homework assignments.”J) David Hunt, an associate professor in sociology at Augusta University, which has rolled out digital textbooks across its math and psychology departments, told BuzzFeed News that he understands the utility of using systems that require access codes. But he doesn’t require his students to buy access to a learning program that controls the class assignments. “I try to make things as inexpensive as possible,” said Hunt, who uses free digital textbooks for his classes but designs his own curriculum. “The online systems may make my life a lot easier but I feel like I’m giving up control. The discussions are the things where my expertise can benefit the students most.”K) A 20-year-old junior at Georgia Southern University told BuzzFeed News that she normally spends $500-$600 on access codes for class. In one case, the professor didn’t require students to buy a textbook, just an access code to turn in homework. This year she said she spent $900 on access codes to books and programs. “That’s two months of rent,” she said. “You can’t sell any of it back. With a traditional textbook you can sell it for $30-$50 and that helps to pay for your new semester’s books. With an access code, you’re out of that money.”L) Benjamin Wolverton, a 19-year-old student at the University of South Carolina, told BuzzFeed News that “it’s ridiculous that after paying tens of thousands in tuition we have to pay for all these access codes to do our homework.” Many of the access codes he’s purchased have been required simply to complete homework or quizzes. “Often it’s only 10% of your grade in class,” he said. “You’re paying so much money for something that hardly affects your grade—but if you didn’t have it, it would affect your grade enough. It would be bad to start out at a B or C.” Wolverton said he spent $500 on access codes for digital books and programs this semester.M) Harper, a poultry (家禽)science major, is taking chemistry again this year and had to buy a new access code to hand in her homework. She rented her economics and statistics textbooks for about $20 each. But her access codes for homework, which can’t be rented or bought second-hand, were her most expensive purchases: $120 and $85.N) She still remembers the sting of her first experience skipping an assignment due to the high prices. “We don’t really have a missed assignment policy,” she said. “If you miss it, you just miss it. I just got zeros on a couple of first assignments. I managed to pull everything back up. But as a scared freshman looking at their grades, it’s not fun.”

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An office tower on Miller Street in Manchester is completely covered in solar panels. They are used to create some of the energy used by the insurance company inside. When the tower was first(  ) in 1962, it was covered with thin square stones. These small square stones became a problem for the building and continued to fall off the face for 40 years until a major renovation was (  )  . During this renovation the building’s owners, CIS, (  )  the solar panel company, Solarcentury. They agreed to cover the entire building in solar panels. In 2004, (he completed CIS tower became Europe’s largest (  )  of vertical solar panels. A vertical solar project on such a large (  )  has never been repeated since.Covering a skyscraper with solar panels had never been done before, and the CIS tower was chosen as one of the “10 best green energy projects”. For a long time after this renovation project, it was the tallest building in the United Kingdom, but it was (  )  overtaken by the Millbank Tower.Green buildings like this aren’t (  )  cost-efficient for the investor, but it does produce much less pollution than that caused by energy (  )through fossil fuels. As solar panels get (  )   , the world is likely to see more skyscrapers covered in solar panels, collecting energy much like trees do. Imagine a world where building the tallest skyscraper wasn’t a race of  (  )  , but rather one to collect the most solar energy.

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For the past several decades, it seems there’s been a general consensus on how to get ahead in America: Get a college education, find a reliable job, and buy your own home. But do Americans still believe in that path, and if they do, is it attainable?The most recent National Journal poll asked respondents about the American dream, what it takes to achieve their goals, and whether or not they felt a significant amount of control over their ability to be successful. Overwhelmingly, the results show that today, the idea of the American dream—and what it takes to achieve it—looks quite different than it did in the late 20th century.By and large, people felt that their actions and hard work—not outside force — were the deciding factor in how their lives turned out. But respondents had decidedly mixed feelings about what actions make for a better life in the current economy.In the last seven years, Americans have grown more pessimistic about the power of education to lead to success. Even though they see going to college as a fairly achievable goal, a majority —52 percent —think that young people do not need a four-year college education in order to be successful.Miguel Maeda, 42, who has a master’s degree and works in public health, was the first in his family to go to college, which has allowed him to achieve a sense of financial stability his parents and grandparents never did.While some, like Maeda, emphasized the value of degree rather than the education itself, others still see college as a way to gain new perspectives and life experiences.Sixty-year-old Will Fendley, who had a successful career in the military and never earned a college degree, thinks “personal drive” is far more important than just going to college. To Fendley, a sense of drive and purpose, as well as an effective high-school education, and basic life skills, like balancing a checkbook, are the necessary ingredients for a successful life in America.It used to be commonly acknowledged that to succeed in America, one had to have(  ) .What is the finding of the latest National Journal poll concerning the American dream?What do Americans now think of the role of college education in achieving success?How do some people view college education these days?What is one factor essential to success in America, according to Will Fendley?

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