TEXT 1
The Chinese government has announced the end of its one-child policy. It has been in effect since 1979 and has slowed down population growth in China for over three decades. Without the policy, China would probably have a total of 1.7 billion people instead of the 1.3 billion it has today. Now Chinese couples can officially have two children.
The decision comes at a time when Chinese authorities are worried about their country's aging population. China's economic growth is endangered because fewer young workers are entering the workforce. At the moment, about a third of China’s population is over 50. By 2050, over 35 % of the population will be over 65.
China started its family planning policy, aimed at slowing down population growth, at the end of the 1970s. Couples who had a second child had to pay fines and suffered from disadvantages at work. The single child of a family was supported by state benefits and free education up to a university degree. While this policy focused mainly on urban areas, families in rural China were allowed to have two children if the first was a girl. The policy led to hundreds of thousands of abortions over the decades. Illegally-born girls were often laid away or adopted by westerners. This has led to a gender imbalance in China.
Human rights organizations continue to criticize China's population planning. They say the new regulations simply change a one-child policy into a two-child policy. Women still do not have the right to determine how many children they want to have.
https://www.english-online.at/news-articles/world/asia/china-announces-end-of-one-child-policy.htm
A. The one-child policy implementation in China
B. Termination of China's one-child policy
C. The influence of the one-child policy on China's population
D. The history of one-child policy implementation in ChinaE. Impact of the one-child policy on China’s citizen
A. NovelsB. NewspaperC. Article JournalD. DictionaryE. Encyclopedia
A. Because today China is no longer overpopulatedB. Because this policy had been in effect for over three decadesC. Because elders dominate China's populationD. Because China is one of the most powerful countries in the world regarding its economyE. Because China needs fewer young workers
A. The aim of the one-child policy was to slow down population growthB. Gender imbalance was one of the unfortunate impacts of the implementation of this policyC. Fines were imposed for people who disobey this policyD. This policy was implemented evenly all over ChinaE. Single child of a family received benefits and scholarship from the state
TEXT 2
Humans and monkeys may not speak the same lingo, but our ways of thinking are a lot more similar than previously thought, according to new research from UC Berkeley, Harvard University, and Carnegie Mellon University.
In experiments on 100 study participants across age groups, cultures, and species, researchers found that indigenous Tsimane' people in Bolivia's Amazon rainforest, American adults and preschoolers, and macaque monkeys all show, to varying degrees, a knack for "recursion," a cognitive process of arranging words, phrases or symbols in a way that helps convey complex commands, sentiments, and ideas.
The findings, published today (Friday, June 26) in the journal Science Advances, shed new light on our understanding of the evolution of language, researchers said.
"For the first time, we have strong empirical evidence about patterns of thinking that come naturally to probably all humans and, to a lesser extent, non-human primates," said study co-author Steven Piantadosi, a UC Berkeley assistant professor of psychology. Indeed, the monkeys were found to perform far better in the tests than the researchers had predicted.
"Our data suggest that, with sufficient training, monkeys can learn to represent a recursive process, meaning that this ability may not be as unique to as is commonly thought," said Sam Cheyette, a Ph.D. student in humans Piantadosi's lab and co-author of the study.
Known in linguistics as "nested structures," recursive phrases within phrases are crucial to syntax and semantics in human language. A simple example is a British nursery rhyme that talks about "the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built."
Researchers tested the recursive skills of 10 U.S. adults, 50 preschoolers, and kindergarteners, 37 members of the Tsimane' and three male macaque monkeys. First, all participants were trained to memorize different sequences of symbols in a particular order. Specifically, they learned sequences such as { ( ) } or { [ ] }, which are analogous to some linguistic nested structures.
Participants from the U.S. and monkeys used a large touchscreen monitor to memorize the sequences. They heard a ding if they got a symbol in the right place, a buzzer if they got it wrong and a chime if the whole sequence was correct. The monkeys received snacks or juice as positive feedback. Meanwhile, the Tsimane' participants, who are less accustomed to interacting with computers, were tested with paper index cards and given verbal feedback.
Next, all participants were asked to place, in the right order, four images from different groupings shown in random order on the screen. To varying degrees, the participants all arranged their new lists in recursive structures, which is remarkable given that "Tsimane' adults, preschool children, and monkeys, who lack formal mathematics and reading training, had never been exposed to such stimuli before testing," the study noted.
"These results are convergent with recent findings that monkeys can learn other kinds of structures found in human grammar," Piantadosi said.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200629090018.htm
A. Humans and monkeys don't speak the same languageB. Monkeys are trained to think like humansC. Humans and monkeys show similar thinking patternsD. The evolution of language in humans and monkeysE. The difference in thinking patterns between humans and monkeys
A. Monkeys can learn to represent a recursive processB. Monkeys can't learn other kinds of structures found in human grammarC. Monkeys have languages that are similar to humansD. Monkeys are not able to arrange words, phrases, or symbolsE. Monkeys cannot be compared to humans
A. Understanding of language evolutionB. Thought patterns that come naturally to all humansC. The type of structure found in human grammarD. Cognitive processes that occur in the brainE. Reading and grammar training used in the above research
A. Reading training for all participantsB. All participants are trained to memorize the order of different symbols in a certain orderC. Sort symbols received in the form of cardsD. Express words, sentences or symbols, feelings, or complex ideasE. By distinguishing human and animal communication
TEXT 3
In today's world, most workers are highly specialized, but this specialization can come at a cost -- especially for those on the wrong team. New research by Harvard's Growth Lab uncovers the importance of teams and coworkers when it comes to one's productivity, earning potential, and stays of employment.
The research -- recently published in the journal Science Advances -- analyzed administrative data on the 9 million inhabitants of Sweden. By constructing networks of complementarity and substitutability among specific educational tracks, the research assessed the importance of the skills of coworkers. It found that to earn high wages and returns on education, workers must find coworkers who complement, but not substitute, them. The returns to having complementary coworkers are large: the impact is comparable to having a college degree.
The research offers a tool to assess the right and wrong coworkers in fields of expertise. The right coworkers are those with skills you lack, yet needed to complete a team. The wrong coworkers are those who replicate your skillset and ultimately lower your value to the employer. For example, those with a degree in Architecture are best complemented by workers with engineering, construction, or surveying degrees, and are negatively impacted by those with landscape or interior design degrees.
"We tend to think of skills as being something personal that individuals can market to a company,' said Frank Neffke, Growth Lab Research Director. "However, this vision of skills is too simplistic. One person's skills connect to another person's skills, etc., and the better these connections, the more productive workers will be, and the more they will earn."
Complementarity also drives careers. The research shows that people tend to stay longer in organizations with many complementary workers and tend to leave those with many workers who substitute them. These results hold true for up to 20 years of one's career. The research also supports several well-known facts, such as cities and large firms paying higher wages. Workers are more likely to find better-fitting teams in cities, and large firms often allow workers to specialize.
Neffke adds that the benefits of working with complementary coworkers are not the same for all workers. Those with higher levels of education seem to benefit much more from working in complementary teams than workers with lower levels. Over the past 20 years, workers with college degrees or higher have been increasingly able to find better-matching coworkers.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200115085502.htm
A. Complementary coworkers are more productiveB. Complementary coworkers can drive a careerC. Have skills that can be marketed to companiesD. Lowering the value of workers to their leadersE. Inhibit worker's career development
A. Inhibit worker's career developmentB. Lowering the value of workers to their leadersC. Substitute coworkers are those who imitate expertise.D. Substitute coworkers are those who lack skillsE. Complementary coworkers are more profitable than substitute coworkers
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