Predicting the future is a risky business for a scientist. It is safe to

say, however, that the global AIDS epidemic will get much worse before

it gets any better. Sadly, this modern plague will be with us for several

generations, despite of major scientific advances. 【M1】_________

As of January 2000, the AIDS epidemic had claimed 15 million lives

and left 40 million people living on a viral infection that slowly but 【M2】_________

relentlessly erodes the immune system. Accounting of more than 3 【M3】_________

million deaths in the past year alone, the AIDS virus has become the

deadly microbe in the world. In Africa nearly a dozen countries have a 【M4】_________

rate higher than 10%, including four southern African nations which a 【M5】_________

quarter of the people are infected. This is like condemning 16,000

people each day to a slow and miserable death.

Unfortunately, the AIDS story has not been all gloom and doom. 【M6】_________

Less than two years after AIDS was recognized, the guilty agent—

human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV—identified. We now know 【M7】_________

more about HIV than about any other virus, but 14 AIDS drugs have 【M8】_________

been developed and licensed in the US and western Europe.

The epidemic continues to rage, however, in south America,

Eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. By the year 2025, AIDS will

have been by far the major killer of young Africans, decreasing life

expectant to as low as 40 years in some countries and single-handedly 【M9】_________

erasing the public health gains of the past 50 years.

It is Asia, with its huge population at risk, where will have the 【M10】________

biggest impact on the global spread of AIDS. The magnitude of the

incidence could range from 100 million to 1 billion, depending largely on

what happens in India and China.

Conventional wisdom about conflict seems pretty much cut and

dried. Too little conflict breeds apathy and stagnation. Too much

conflict leads to divisiveness and hostility. Moderate levels of conflict,

therefore, can spark creativity and motivate people in a healthy and 【M1】_________

competitive way.

Recent research by Professor Charles R. Schwenk, however,

suggests that the optimal level of conflict may be complex to determine 【M2】_________

than these simple generalizations. He studied perceptions of conflict

among a sample of executives. Some of the executives worked for profit-

seeking organizations and others for non-profit organizations.

Somewhat surprised, Schwenk found that opinions about conflict 【M3】_________

varied systematically as a function of the type of organization.

Specifically, managers in non-profit organizations strongly believed that

conflict was beneficial to their organizations and that they promoted 【M4】_________

higher quality decision-making than what might be achieved at the 【M5】_________

absence of conflict.

Managers of for-profit organizations saw a different picture. They

believed that conflict generally was damaging and usually led to good 【M6】_________

quality decision-making in their organizations. Schwenk interpreted

these results in the terms of the criteria for effective decision-making 【M7】_________

suggested by the executives. In the profit-seeking organizations,

decision-making effectiveness was mostly often assessed in financial 【M8】_________

terms. The executives believed that consensus other than conflict 【M9】_________

enhanced financial indicators.

In the non-profit organizations, decision-making effectiveness was

defined from the perspective of satisfying constituents. Giving the 【M10】________

complexities and ambiguities associated with satisfying many diverse

constituents, executives perceived that conflict led to more considered

and acceptable decisions.

When asked how they define the American Dream, most people

will say, “Success.”

The dream of individual opportunity has been at home in America 【M1】_________

when Europeans discovered a “new world” in the Western Hemisphere. 【M2】_________

Early immigrants like Hector St. John de Crevecoeur spoke highly the 【M3】_________

freedom and opportunity to be found in this new land. His glowing

descriptions of a classless society where anyone could attain success

through honesty and hard work has fired the imaginations of many 【M4】_________

European readers. In Letters from an American Farmer (1782) he

wrote, “We are all excited at the spirit of an industry which is

unfettered and restrained, because each person works for himself… We 【M5】_________

have no princes, for which we toil, starve, and bleed: we are the most 【M6】_________

perfect society now existing in the world.” The promise of a land where

“the awards of a man’s industry follow with equal steps the progress of 【M7】_________

his labor” drew poor immigrants from Europe and fueled national

expansion into the western territories.

Our national mythology is full of illustrations of the American

success story. There’s Benjamin Franklin, the very model of the

self-educated, self-made man, who rose from modest origins to

become a well-known scientist, philosopher, and statesman. The

notion of success haunts us: we spent millions every year reading about 【M8】_________

rich and famous, learning how to “make a fortune in real estate with no 【M9】_________

money down”, and “dressing for success”. The myth of success has even

invaded our personal relationships: today it’s important to be 【M10】________

“successful” in marriage or parenthood as it is to come out on top in

business.