What do you call it when you intentionally speak softly or quietly? Whispering! It is also the word for a special 41 to train animals using gentle communication techniques. Though the phrase “horse whispering” dates back to 19th century Europe, it did not come in to popular use 42 the movie, called The Horse Whisperer, came out in 1998. Since that time, the term whispering has been used to describe any animal training method which is 43 a sympathetic understanding of an animal’s natural instincts. Have you seen a YouTube video about a lion whisperer, who hugs wild lions? Or how about a shark whisperer from Hawaii, 44 hands are on the dorsal fin of a great white shark? They seem to have a supernatural gift for it. Besides wild animals, people also apply the techniques to little humans. One popular TV show 45 a baby whisperer, a woman who teaches parents how to comfort, calm, and communicate with unmanageable toddlers.

    To a large extent, the public discussion over the future of work has followed a storyline that says technology and globalization are coming to whisk your job away. Artificial intelligence threatens to make many professions obsolete. About 47% of the U.S. workforce is in jobs at high risk for becoming automated within the next two decades, according to the 2013 Oxford University study. 

    On the bright side, experts believe that although technology would displace certain kinds of work, it would also free us up from drudgery, leading us to invent new kinds of work. But they also conclude that while some highly skilled workers would triumph in the new work order, others would be forced into lower-paid jobs or suffer permanent unemployment. The real issue remains: whether our educational system is adequately preparing us for work of the future, and right now it seems that our political and economic institutions are poorly equipped to handle these hard choices.     

    What is happening now rings the alarm bell on looming “mass structural unemployment” in the U.S. as a result of technology, globalization, longevity and an educational system that has failed to keep pace. Experts urge that society must do more to prepare for change. Then who should be responsible for such preparation? In addition to governments, corporations can play a very significant role. Businesses have the greatest visibility as to how jobs are changing. If they can’t fill jobs, and that is a problem today, they have a real need in terms of day-to-day business. Besides, corporations have great resources for talent and human capital development to provide skills needed.

  Forms for the suggestions are to be kept inside the box. When employees fill out a form, they should clearly state which situation they are trying to improve, list all pertinent data, and then offer a solution, stating how the company would benefit. Forms will then be collected each month by the department heads, who will pass them on to the plant manager. Where necessary, the plant manager will consult with the respective departments to gather any relevant data. If applicable, the matter will then be passed on to the finance department for approval. A bonus will be paid to employees for any suggestions that are adopted. The amount of the bonus will be commensurate with the savings to the company.

      Good writing evokes emotion. Good writing connects things. Good writing tells a story that the reader can relate to. Too often, writers only    26    themselves against other writers. Those with better vocabularies and slicker prose appear to be the best of the group. But it’s actually wrong to think that good writing, and becoming a good writer,    27    formal education. Good writers don’t    28    quote Shakespeare, nor do they use fourand five-syllable words. They don’t try to impress their readers with beautiful verses that rhyme and flow effortlessly from beginning to end. Good writers,    29    any good communicator, worry about one thing and one thing only: connecting their audience to the story. Good writers construct their writing in a way that’s understood by their target audience. Big words, little words, and    30    made up words can be used. While smooth prose is certainly fun to read, it’s not always necessary in order to be understood.

       As employers adapt to remote work, the biggest question facing them is what to do with their physical offices. Even before the pandemic, many employers had begun questioning the wisdom of open-plan offices, which became popular in the past two decades. With employees seated in close quarters side by side and sharing kitchens and break areas, the offices enabled constant distractions. Once the pandemic hit, they also proved potentially lethal. Now, many companies are questioning the worth of offices at all. Tech companies, including Twitter, Facebook and Shopify, have said they will let many employees work from home permanently. Pinterest paid $89.5 million to cancel a new planned office space in San Francisco, saying more of its employees were going to work remotely in the future. But going fully remote carries its own set of problems.

       New employees and those in search of mentorship will have a hard time at a company if they’ve never met their colleagues in person； if people can’t chat often with colleagues, they trust them less, according to a study from business school professors at Columbia and Northwestern Universities. Remote work can also deal a blow to employees’ mental health； when Ctrip, a Chinese company, let more than 100 employees work from home for four days a week starting in 2010, they were happy for three months, but within nine months, about half wanted to return to the office, according to a study.

       That’s why some business owners are still investing in offices； they are just building a different kind of office. John Sweeden, who runs a small software firm in Oklahoma, broke ground last month on a new office building on a 25-acre plot. The complex is on land that costs a whole lot less than real estate in a crowded city center. Though it’s an office space, much of it will be “a place where zero work gets done,” he says. There will be a large salon for socializing； employees will be encouraged to spend hours there, talking about anything.

       Earthquakes are the shaking and moving of the ground when energy is released in waves. These waves are called seismic waves. These waves are similar to ocean waves, which move through water. However, seismic waves move through the ground. Most earthquakes are caused by the movement of large sections of the Earth’s crust, called plates. The place where two plates meet is called a fault. Faults look like large cracks in the ground. If the two plates move in different directions, they build up energy at the fault line. When enough energy builds up, the stress on the fault becomes too great and it ruptures. This releases the energy and the ground starts to shake.

       Earthquakes can also be caused by other natural events, such as landslides and volcanoes. The first movement of an earthquake, called the main shock, is often followed by smaller ground trembles, called aftershocks. These aftershocks signal that the plates are settling into their new positions. After the main shock, aftershocks can continue for days. According to some estimates, 500,000 earthquakes occur each year around the world. Most are very mild and are only recorded on scientific instruments. Only about 100,000 can be felt by humans. Among these, only about 19 cause major damage in a year.       Major earthquakes in populated areas can cause huge destruction. Buildings collapse, roads and bridges buckle and crack, and electrical and gas lines break and cause fires. If an earthquake happens in the ocean, it makes a series of huge ocean waves called a tsunami. A tsunami travels until it finally reaches land, where it causes large flooding. Scientists are searching for ways to predict earthquakes. They study the historical patterns of earthquakes and monitor the movement of the plates with seismic equipment. While they cannot predict an exact date of a future earthquake, they have a better understanding of when earthquakes are more likely to happen.