2019 DSE English Past Paper 閱讀材料 (中英翻譯 + MP3 配音) 完整版

2019 DSE English Past Paper

(A) Tim Harford: A New Look at Messiness

(B1) HONG KONG PUBLIC LIBRARIES

(B2) Autobiography of Clive James

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免費的英文文法學習系統

https://www.makewithinterest.com/

Tim Harford: A New Look at Messiness  - A

Tim Harford: 重新看待混亂

Tim Harford: A New Look at Messiness

[1] Today the trend is to declutter and simplify our lives. We talk to Tim Harford, who suggests that we should be messy instead.

Who is Tim Harford?

[2] Tim is an economist, journalist and broadcaster.

[3] He is the author of “Fifty Things That Made the Modem Economy” and the million-selling “The Undercover Economist”.

Why are we talking to him?

[4] He is currently promoting his latest book, “Messy”, while writing another. One would assume he’s an impeccably organized person that is able to juggle this tangle of commitments with ease. He’s not — but, according to his latest book, that’s sort of the point.

[5] Tim argues that switching between tasks is a “messy” strategy that’s worked for many famous creatives. Focusing on one project might seem like the most efficient and simple way to organize one’s work. But when someone is stuck on an issue involved in one project, having another to focus on allows that person time for the brain to unstick itself, contributing back to the original project.

Extract from the interview:

Tim, what does it mean to be messy?

[6] In the book, I talk about all kinds of different things in the context of mess: improvisation, distraction, multitasking, physical mess, ambiguity and imperfection. There are lots of different things that I’m discussing in the book, but I suppose what they have in common is they are arguing for the virtues of the stuff that doesn’t fit into the standard categories; the stuff that we can’t quantify; the stuff that we can’t organize or put into a neat box; the stuff that we can’t script. These things tend to make us feel anxious. We feel that we should have a script; that we should have a number; we should have a target; we should have a tidy desk. Of course, those things have their place, but there’s virtue in all the ambiguous, all the unquantifiable and all the imperfect stuff as well.

[7] I see “Messy” as an argument against the excessive attempts to organize. If you think about your desk, what you find is if you spend a lot of effort trying to clear your desk or trying to tidy it, you will have vast archives of paperwork because you filed everything away. But you filed it so quickly that you don’t really understand your own filing system. So now you have these incredibly well-organized wastepaper baskets basically. Let’s contrast that with someone who keeps piles of paper on their desk. You would think, “Well that’s a problem. That’s not very efficient.” It turns out this is highly efficient.

[8] Number one: Your pile of paper is self-organizing. The stuff that you keep using keeps arriving on the top of the pile. The stuff that you don’t touch sinks to the bottom of the pile. We think of it as being a random pile, but it’s not a random pile. It’s actually naturally and organically organized by the process of using it. The second advantage is you’ve got this desk with paper on it, so you’re surrounded by physical reminders of what you have to do, so you don’t need a carefully managed to-do list because you can see in a very visible way the stuff that you have to do. The third advantage is you have a very clear sense of what needs throwing away. It’s the stuff at the bottom of the piles.

[9] So you have this weird situation where if you walked into someone’s office or you looked at someone’s desk, you would see that a person who appears to be disorganized because there’s paper everywhere actually has a much better organized system and they’re much more on top of their work. Whereas with the person who seems highly organized, actually everything looks neat but underneath the surface, the system is dysfunctional.

Is this true for everyone?

[10] Of course, I’m talking about averages here; I’m generalizing. Everybody has their own system, and, people car. make all kinds of different systems work. If people have found a system that works for them, well that’s fine.

[11] In the book. I write about Benjamin Franklin, one of the most productive and successful people in history, incredibly messy and somewhat guilty about the fact that he was incredibly messy. He carried a lot of baggage around, literally. in terms of paper, but also psychologically. He felt bad that his desk was messy. Benjamin Franklin. If Benjamin Franklin can feel guilty about not getting enough stuff done because he s messy, I think the rest of us can cut ourselves some slack.

[12] Nevertheless. in offices we often find somebody in management has decided that there needs to be some kind of clean desk policy, for reasons that are often not very clear. Maybe it’s just aesthetic. They want the place to look like a magazine shoot. Or maybe they’ve read something about how operating theatres work or about how high-functioning precision engineering production lines work. And then in a very inappropriate way, they say. **Oh. and die same must be true for this regular office, which has just got paper and computers in it.” People are ordered to tidy their desks. Now, we’ve already discussed that actually a messy desk can be very effective, very functional.

[13] But there’s another problem on top of that, which is that people really hate being told what they can and can’t do with their own desks. It destroys their sense of their own space, of their control of their environment.

So. is there such a thing as a bad mess or a bad distraction, or do they always have merit?

[14] No,  I think clearly there are many situations where messes are just entirely dysfunctional, and distractions just make it impossible to get stuff done. My argument in the book is not that mess is always good, distraction is always good, or there’s no situation that can’t be improved by adding a little chaos. I don’t believe that at all. What I do believe is that we found that our organizational systems can be so effective, and they make us feel so comfortable that we take them in situations where they work extremely well, and then we start trying to apply them in situations where they’re completely inappropriate.

[15] The argument of the book is just to try' nudging the pendulum a little bit more toward mess. If we experiment a little bit more with improvisation, with ambiguity, with a bit of disruption and a new challenge, we might well be surprised by how that improves things.

 HONG KONG PUBLIC LIBRARIES  - B1

中央圖書館的樂趣

[1] Fun at Central Library’

Orienteering Activity with ‘Reading Journey’ Passports Get your passport on the l/F while stocks last. Follow the instructions to collect stamps at designated checkpoints around our wonderful Central Library. You can pick up a souvenir from the 4/F if you complete your reading journey.

[2] Little Avid Readers

Dear kids, if you love reading, please come into the wonderful library world. Local authors, librarians and teachers will read their favourite stories to you. Storytelling sessions at local libraries for children aged 6-10, every Friday. (Quota 25 children)

[3] My Pop-up Library

Hong Kong Public Library’s first ‘Pop-up Library’ will be at Leung Kung Ho School for one day only on April 21 (Saturday) from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bring your phone to experience a different kind of library’ service including taking a happy selfie, recommending favourite books on social media and doing online quizzes. Most regular library services are also available, so visitors can borrow books and apply for a public library card. All are welcome to enjoy the event.

Keep Hong Kong libraries open until late night to halt worrying decline in ‘culture of reading’, advisor urges

[1] Connie Lau Yin-hing, from the Office of the Ombudsman, asked why the government had been spending extra money to buy a targeted 700,000 new items a year for public libraries, but had been throwing away as waste paper hundreds of thousands of old materials rather than donating them to charity or holding book sales. Lau also said the resources stocked by public libraries had increased 17 per cent over the last eight years, but the number of items the public borrowed dropped by more than 18 per cent.

[2] Speaking on a radio show on Wednesday, Roy Kwong Chun-yu, advisory committee member on Hong Kong Public Libraries, said those findings revealed a worrying decline in the city’s ‘culture of reading’. Mt saddened me to hear that hundreds of thousands of books were thrown away every year, and I think there are many reasons why fewer books were borrowed in recent years/ Kwong said. ‘One of those reasons is that we don’t have a culture of night libraries, since opening hours are the same as many people’s working hours.’ The committee Kwong sits on is tasked with formulating strategies to develop library facilities and services.

[3] Hong Kong Central Library in Causeway Bay usually opens from 10 am to 9 pm, but most public libraries close at 7pm or 8 pm, with some closing at 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday. In comparison, most public libraries in Singapore close at 9 pm, while some ‘intelligent libraries’ - autonomous or unmanned facilities - in Taipei are open until midnight.

[4] ‘Our public libraries should also be open until 11pm or midnight... so that residents can borrow or return a book or two after their day of work,’ Kwong said. He also advised the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD), which runs the public libraries system, to organise more activities to help children realise that reading at libraries can be fun.

[5] Lau said the government had failed to explain clearly the rationale behind its annual buying target of 700,000 items, and Kwong agreed. ‘It’s unreasonable for libraries to follow a target set in the 1990s. The quality of procurement is more important than the quantity.’

[6] Some residents phoned in to the radio show on Wednesday to complain about the quality of public library services. A man surnamed Wong said he had often been disturbed in libraries by noisy school children and complained that libraries closed too early at the weekend.

[7] An LCSD spokeswoman said it welcomed ‘any suggestions and views from the public and stakeholders’ and would study them carefully.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR | For Hong Kong children, reading culture has to begin at home

[1] At first glance, the fact that Hong Kong has slipped to third place in an international reading literacy ranking may seem to be cause for concern (‘Hong Kong slips to third place in reading literacy ranking, behind Russia and Singapore’, December 6). But a more careful look at the results reveals that Hong Kong pupils are still among the best readers across the globe.

[2] Undeniably, with the advancement of technology and easy internet access, reading has taken a back seat to online activities. Access to books at home, in school and in the community, coupled with capitalising on technology, can reignite the passion for reading among youngsters.

[3] Parents may place books around the home, even in the bathroom. Bedtime reading with kids may seem like a luxury for busy parents, but doing so not only develops literacy levels, but also strengthens the parent-child bond. With books placed at their bedside, children can look forward to nightly adventures.

[4] At school, self-service ‘street libraries’ could be set up on different floors and around campus to make books more accessible to students. These libraries could be given unique, creative names so that students can recall their locations with greater ease. If pupils have easy access to books at school, they will be more likely to borrow them. Assigning roles of ‘reading ambassadors’ would also help to foster a reading culture.

[5] In the community, youngsters should be encouraged to make good use of the new vending machine-style book station at Sai Wan Ho. They should also join the Reading Programme for Children and Youth organised by Hong Kong Public Libraries, as avid readers can win prizes and awards under the scheme. Motivation of this kind can surely boost interest in reading.

[6] Finally, technology does not have to be an enemy to reading; it can promote the culture if used appropriately. A number of newspaper apps are available for download on the internet. Once these are installed on children’s phones, they will be more likely to peruse news and current affairs. Also, e-books might completely replace paperbacks in the future and, for tech-savvy millennials, e-books might hold more appeal because of their accompanying features. Let them jump on the ebook bandwagon all they want, if it gets them reading.

Chris Wong, Shatin

The following is an excerpt from the autobiography of Clive James, a 79-year-old Australian author, critic and broadcaster. - B2

以下節錄自79歲的澳洲作家、評論家和廣播員克萊夫詹姆斯(Clive James)的自傳。

[1] In primary school I ceased being the class half-wit and became class smart-alec instead. This presented a whole new set of difficulties. Coming out first in the term tests attracted accusations of being teacher’s pet. It was true, alas: Mr Slavin, although a fair-minded man, couldn’t help smiling upon anyone who knew how to answer the questions. Too many boys in the class had trouble remembering their own names. Most of the heat was focused on an unfortunate called Thommo, who was caned regularly. For ordinary offences Thommo was caned by Mr Slavin and for more serious transgressions he was caned by the Deputy Headmaster. Mr Slavin was authorized to impart up to four strokes ofthe cane. Thommo usually required six even to slow him down.  We used to sit silent while the Deputy Head gave Thommo the treatment outside in the corridor. The six strokes took some time to deliver, because Thommo had to be recaptured after each stroke, and to be recaptured he had first to be found. His screams and sobs usually gave away his location, but not always. One day the police came to the classroom and made Thommo open his Giobite school case. It was full of stolen treasures from Coles and Woolworths: balloons, bulldog paper clips, funny hats, a cut-glass vase. Thommo was led howling away and never seen again.

[2] Despite Thommo’s fate, on the whole I would rather have been him than me. His manly activities merited respect. As teacher’s pet, I was regarded with envy, suspicion and hatred. I had not yet learned to joke my way out of trouble and into favour. Instead I tried to prove that I, too, could be rebellious, untrammeled, dangerous and tough. To register, any demonstration of these qualities would have to be made in front of the whole class. This would not be easy, since my desk was at the back of the room. There were five columns of desks with seven desks in each column. The five most academically able boys sat in the back five desks and so on down the line, with the desks at the front containing the dullards, psychopaths, Thommo, etc. The problem was to become the centre of attention in some way more acceptable than my usual method of throwing my hands in the air, crying ‘Sir! Sir! Sir!’, and supplying the correct answer.

[3]  The solution lay in the network of railway tracks carved into the top of each desk by successive generations of occupants. Along these tracks fragments of pencil, pen holders or bits of chalk could be pushed with chuffing noises. I also found out that the exposed wood was susceptible to friction. At home I was already an established fire-bug, running around with a magnifying glass frying sugar-ants. I had learned something of what pieces of wood could do to each other. This knowledge I now applied, rubbing the end of my box-wood ruler against the edge of one of the tracks. A wisp of smoke came up. Eyes turned towards me. The billow was followed by fire. Mr Slavin’s eyes turned towards me.

[4] He gave me his full four strokes. The pain was considerable, but the glory was greater. This small triumph spurred me fatally towards bigger things. 1 was very keen not to be among those victimised. It followed that I should become one of those doing the victimising. Mears, the school’s most impressive bully, had a favourite means of persuasion. Grasping your hand in one of his, he would twist your wrist with the other. After having this done to me by boys older and bigger, I sought revenge by doing it to boys younger and smaller. But I quickly found that I was naturally averse to being cruel. The human personality is a drama, not a monologue; sad tricks of the mind can be offset by sound feelings in the heart; and the facts say that I have always been revolted by the very idea of deliberately causing pain.

[5] Considering the amount of pain I have been able to cause without meaning to, I suppose this is not much of a defence, but to me it has always seemed an important point. I burned a lot of sugar-ants with my magnifying glass, but if the sugar-ants could have spoken to me, I would have desisted soon enough. Having a character that consists mainly of defects, I try to correct them one-by-one, but there are limits to the altitude that can be attained by hauling on one’s own boot-straps. One is what one is, and if one isn’t very nice or good, then it brings some solace to remember that other men have been worse. At various times in my life I have tried to pose as a thug, but the imposture has always collapsed of its own accord. I could be coerced into hurting other people. I have done it by chance often enough. But I could never enjoy it.

[6] At home, once or twice I announced my intention of running away, but my mother diffused the threat by packing me a bag containing peanut butter sandwiches and pyjamas. The first time I got no further than the top of our street and was back home within the hour. The second time I got all the way to Rocky Point Road, more than two hundred yards from home. I was not allowed to cross Rocky Point Road. But I sat there till sunset. Otherwise I did my escaping symbolically, tunneling into the poultry farm and surfacing among the chooks with a crumbling cap of birdshit on my head.

[7] The teacher’s pet image would have followed me home if my mother had had her way. She had a deadly habit of inviting the neighbours in for tea so that she could casually refer to my school reports a couple of hundred times. The most favourite recipient of these proud tirades was Nola Huthnance, who lived four doors down. Nola Huthnance was no mean talker herself, being joint holder, with her next-door neighbour Gail Thorpe, of the local record for yapping across the back fence - an unbeatable lunch-to-sunset epic during which there was no point at which one or the other was not talking and very few moments when both were not talking simultaneously. But not even Nola Huthnance could hold her own when my mother got going on the subject of her wonderful son and his outstanding intelligence. Long after I had been sent to bed, I would lurk in the hall listening to my mother extolling my virtues in the lounge room. Apparently Gogol’s mother was under the impression that her son had invented the printing press and the steam engine. My own mother thought along roughly the same lines. I lapped it all up, but could see even at the time that such talk would do me no good with the locals, unless I cultivated a contrary reputation on my own account.