must be factored as companies

Immigration laws increasingly must be factored ________ as companies move employees across international boundaries on either short-term or long-term work assignments.

According to the context, "...how my own actions factored in" means（） A: how I could contribute to water conservation. B: how much of what I did contributed to freshwater shortage. C: what behaviour could be counted as freshwater-saving. D: what efforts I should make to save fresh water

Task 3.1At a meeting, Mr. Wright and Ms. Yang are discussing the safety issues of an ongoing project. Listen to the conversation and match each person with his/heropinions.What does Mr. Wright think of? A: We need to ensure safety. B: The stability of the iron structure for theroofing might be a problem. C: The architect knows about the windproblem and has factored that into hiscalculations. D: The load bearing masonry walls have beensufficiently reinforced in this area. E: Remedial modifications are needed.

Gregory Currie, a professor of philosophy at the University of Nottingham, recently argued in The New York Times that we ought not to claim that literature improves us as people, because there is no “compelling evidence that suggests that people are morally or socially better for reading Tolstoy” or other great books. Actually, there is such evidence. Raymond Mar, a psychologist at York University in Canada, and Keith Oatley, a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto, reported in studies published in 2006 and 2009 that individuals who often read fiction appear to be better able to understand other people, empathize (起共鸣) with them and view the world from their perspective. This link persisted even after the researchers factored in the possibility that more empathetic individuals might choose to read more novels. Recent research in cognitive science, psychology and neuroscience has demonstrated that deep reading of books is a distinctive experience, very different from the information-driven reading we do on the Web. Although deep reading does not, strictly speaking, require a conventional book, the built-in limits of the printed page are uniquely conducive to the deep reading experience. A book’s lack of hyperlinks allowing the reader to remain fully immersed in the narrative, without having to make such decisions as whether to click on a link or not. That immersion is supported by the way the brain handles language rich in sensory detail and emotional and moral complexity, by creating a mental representation that draws on the same brain regions that would be active if the scene were unfolding in real life. The emotional situations and moral dilemmas that are the stuff of literature are also vigorous exercise for the brain, propelling us inside the heads of fictional characters and even increasing our real-life capacity for empathy. This is not reading as many young people are coming to know it. Their reading, mostly done onscreen, is pragmatic (实际的) and instrumental. If we allow our children to believe reading onscreen is all there is, we will have deprived them of an enjoyable and enlightening experience that will enlarge them as people. Instead molding our education around young people’s attachment to digital devices and onscreen habits, we need to show them some place they’ve never been, a place only deep reading can take them.

City Parks May Mend the Mind 1 Exposure to natural settings has been linked with a vast array of human health benefits, from reduced rates of depression to increased immune functioning. Two recent studies found evidence suggesting that urban green spaces, such as parks and gardens, may also improve cognitive development and buffer the effects of health inequality. 2 In a research reported last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, investigators in Spain, Norway and the U.S. explored the cognitive development of 2,593 children between the ages of seven and ten from 36 primary schools in Barcelona. At regular intervals over a period of 12 months, they tracked changes in memory and attentiveness using cognitive tests, and they used high-resolution satellite data to assess the children’s proximity to green space at home and school and during their commute. After factoring out socioeconomic status and other potential confounders, they determined that children who were closer to parkland had better memory development and less inattentiveness than other children. 3 he study authors suggest that green spaces may have a positive effect both directly and indirectly. “Green spaces provide children with opportunities to develop mental skills such as discovery and creativity,” says co-author Payam Dadvand, a physician and researcher at the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona. More indirectly, green spaces may help by reducing exposure to air pollution and noise, increasing physical activity, and microbial from the environment, all of which have been associated with improved mental development, he says. When the researchers measured and factored in traffic-related air pollution, which is higher in places with fewer plants and trees, they found that it accounted for 20 to 65 percent of the observed association between greenness and cognitive development. Air pollution has been shown to have neurotoxic effects, Dadvand says. 4 Natural settings may also help reduce the mental health burden that comes with socioeconomic inequality, according to a paper by researchers at the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh. A cross-sectional observational study published last year in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine sought to determine which neighborhood characteristics might be “equigenic,” or capable of disrupting the relation between socioeconomic disparities and health inequality. Using data from 21,294 adults living in urban areas in 34 European countries, the scientists examined associations between participants’ level of financial stress and psychological well-being. Then they explored interactions between those variables and five neighborhood characteristics or services, including access to green spaces, banking and postal services, public transportation and cultural facilities. Results show that the difference in well-being scores among people experiencing the most and least financial difficulty diminished with greater access to green spaces, such that the health was 40 percent smaller among those with better access. No such benefits were found with any of the other variables studied. 5 Approximately half of the world’s current population lives in urban areas, and that number is expected to increase, Dadvand says. Findings such as these could influence policy makers to increase access to green spaces, in the hope that doing so might boost mental health in nearby residents and improve academic achievement in children. “That could have long-term consequences for individuals, families and society as a whole,” Dadvand says. Skim the text and choose the right answers. 1. What is the text mainly about?