Families changing

What does “family” mean to you--- a place of happiness, a house of love, or a shelter from hardship? For a country, families mean more than all of that. A small change in the average family can have a big impact 25______ society.

That’s why the government keeps track of changes in Chinese families. On May 13, it issued the 2015 report on family trends in China, 26______ (cover) 32,494 families across our country.

One of the most significant changes for Chinese families is 27______ they have kept shrinking, from 5.3 people on average 60 years ago to 3.35 today. The family planning policy has played a big role in cutting Chinese families down into 28______ (small) ones. Introduced in the 1970s, the policy has slowed down the growth of the young population and helped cause the older population to make up a larger part of the total.

But this trend has led to new challenges for the country---a shrinking labor force and a growing number of elderly people. 29 ______ (keep) developing rapidly and better support the elderly, almost all provinces and municipalities have given the green light to couples who want to have two children 30______ one of the two parents is an only child.

China’s quick urbanization has also led more of the labor force to move to big cities, creating new types of family. If your parents work in another city, they are part of the country’s recurrent families, 31______ make up 17.2 percent of the total.

But China is by no means the only country that 32______ (see) an increase in the diversity of family types in recent years. The UK, for instance, has the most single-parent families among major countries in Europe.

Being an ambitious lady

       In the 1960s, I set up my own software house in Britain. People laughed at 33______ very idea because software, at that time, was given away free with hardware. 34______ would buy software, certainly not from a woman. 35______ women were then coming out of the universities with decent degrees, there was a glass ceiling to our progress. And I’d hit that glass ceiling and wanted opportunities for women.

       I recruited professionally-qualified women who had left the industry after marriage or when their first child 36______ (expect). We pioneered the idea of women going back into the workforce after a career break. We pioneered all sorts of new, flexible work methods: job shares，profit-sharing, and so on.

        I changed my name from “Stephanie” to “Steve” in my business development letters to get through the door 37______ anyone realized that “ he” was a “she”…

       When I started my company of women, the men said, “How interesting! It only works because it’s small.” And later, as it became sizable, they accepted：“Yes， it is sizable now, but of no strategic interest.” And later, when it was a company 38______(value) at over 3 billion dollars, and I’d made 70 of the staff into millionaires, they sort of said, “Well done , Steve!”

       You 39______ always tell ambitious women by the shape of our heads: they’re flat on top from 40______ (pat) patronizingly (傲慢地) by man. And we have larger feet to stand away from the kitchen sink.

You may not know much about John Nash, who passed away in an accident with his wife Alicia on May 23 at the age of 86. His lifelong work has been recognized as a key contribution to the 41______ world.

Nash was a mathematic genius, who completed his doctoral thesis when he was 21. The paper suggested using game theory in 42______. The most important idea of game theory is the Nash equilibrium (纳什均衡). It is a 43______ state in which you cannot gain an advantage through a change of strategy if others do not change what they are doing.

The Prisoner’s Dilemma (囚徒困境) helps to show the idea. Two 44______ for a crime are arrested. They are told 45______ that if one of them confess and says that his partner is guilty, he will be free and his partner will be sentenced to 20 years in prison. If they both confess, they will be convicted (判刑) for five years. If both stay 46______, they will be sent to prison for only one year for lack of sufficient 47______.

This type of problem was called a non-cooperative game by Nash, meaning the two prisoners cannot show their intentions to each other. At first glance, keeping quiet might seem the best strategy for the two. But it can’t happen without 48______. So the calculations of the Nash equilibrium show they would likely both confess.

 Nash won the Nobel Prize for Economics for his work. His life story was 49______ into the movie A Beautiful Mind in 2001.

“John’s achievements 50______ mathematicians, economists and scientists,” said Christopher Eisgruber, the president of Princeton university, in a statement. “And the story of his life with Alicia moved millions of readers and moviegoers who were amazed by their courage.”

With 26 British prime ministers, 58 Nobel prize winners, over 150 Olympic medals and a "notable alumni (校友)" list that reads like a historical hall of fame, the institutions of Oxford and Cambridge – collectively known as Oxbridge – are seen, by many, as the dream alma mater (母校).

However, as admission season dawns, and the October 15 deadline for Oxbridge inches ever closer, many students may wonder what makes the UK's top two institutions so special. Why does Oxbridge symbolize the academic dream for so many? Do the universities deserve the reputation they hold in the minds of so many teenagers, parents and academics?

There is no doubt that both Oxford and Cambridge have a long standing history of academic world. Yet, what is often overlooked is the strong reputation of countless other universities in the UK.

A simple click on Google can tell students that the London School of Economics and Political Sciences, for example, has over 18 Nobel Prize winners and 50 world leaders. University College London attracts students from 150 countries and has exchange and research links with nearly 300 overseas universities. Manchester University has the largest student union of all UK universities and boasts alumni such as Niels Bohr and James Chadwick.

I suddenly realized the Oxbridge effect when I was out in London with friends. I met some new people and was surprised by their reaction when I told them I was going to study at Cambridge. One person even got down on one knee and kissed my hand.

From then on, I told people I was going on a gap year. Although I knew that Oxbridge provides a good education, I had never expected to get such extreme reactions. It was this that made me start to feel uncomfortable about the way that Oxbridge is viewed.

The Cambridge Tab, the university's student newspaper, has argued that what makes Cambridge special is the fact that the students are told that they are unique and superior to the rest, so they believe it.

 For students applying now, yes, you will receive a world class education at Oxbridge, but you will find the same at numerous other universities throughout the country. Every time you hear about the brilliance of Oxbridge, consider that just because many believe, it does not have to be so.

78. The examples of the London School of Economics and Political Sciences, University College London and Manchester University serve to illustrate the point that _________________________________in the UK.

79. According to the writer’s own experience, we can find that people ___________________ the students at the Oxbridge.

80. How did the writer avoid over-reaction from people to her admission into Cambridge?

______________________________________________________________________

81. According to Cambridge student newspaper, what Cambridge students are viewed by other people?

_______________________________________________________________________

1. 暑假里孩子们将尽情享受欢乐时光。 （enjoy）

2. 发现了藏在他包里的尖刀，警察证实了他谋杀的怀疑。（murder）

3. 这一水稻种植领域的突破大大促进了消除地球上的饥饿现象。（contribute）

4.由于他在光电效应方面的巨大贡献，爱因斯坦 (Einstein) 被授予诺贝尔物理奖。（photoelectric）

5. 达尔文 (Darwin) 当初没有发表这两篇论文是因为他担心这会引起愤怒和惹出麻烦。(强调句型)