单选题 After attending the spectacular closing ceremony at the Beijing Olympics and feeling the vibrations from hundreds of Chinese drummers pulsating in my own chest, I was tempted to conclude two things: "Holy mackerel, the energy coming out of this country is unrivaled. " And, two: "We are so cooked. Start teaching your kids Mandarin."
However, I've learned over the years not to over-interpret any two-week event. Olympics don't change history. They are mere snapshots--a country posing in its Sunday bests for all the world to see. But, as snapshots go, the one China presented through the Olympics was enormously powerful--and it's one that Americans need to reflect upon this election season.
China did not build the magnificent $ 43 billion infrastructure for these games, or put on the unparalleled opening and closing ceremonies, simply by the dumb luck of discovering oil. No, it was the culmination of seven years of national investment, planning, concentrated state power, national mobilization and hard work.
Seven years... Seven years... Oh, that's right. China was awarded these Olympic Games on July 13, 2001--just two months before 9/11.
As I sat in my seat at the Bird's Nest, watching thousands of Chinese dancers, drummers, singers and acrobats on stilts perform their magic at the closing ceremony, I couldn't help but reflect on how China and America have spent the last seven years: China has been preparing for the Olympics; we've been preparing for A1 Qaeda (基地组织). They've been building better stadiums, subways, airports, roads and parks. And we've been building better metal detectors, armored Humvees (悍马车) and pilotless drones.
The difference is starting to show. Just compare arriving at La Guardia's dumpy terminal in New York City and driving through the crumbling infrastructure into Manhattan with arriving at Shanghai's sleek airport and taking the 220-mile-per-hour magnetic levitation train, which uses electromagnetic propulsion (推动) instead of steel wheels and tracks, to get to town in a blink.
Then ask yourself. Who is living in the third world country?
Yes, if you drive an hour out of Beijing, you meet the vast dirt-poor third world of China. But here's what's new. The rich parts of China, the modern parts of Beijing or Shanghai or Dalian, are now more state of the art than rich America. The buildings are architecturally more interesting, the wireless networks more sophisticated, the roads and trains more efficient and nicer. And, I repeat, they did not get all this by discovering oil. They got it by digging inside themselves.
I realize the differences. We were attacked on 9/11; they were not. We have real enemies; theirs are small and mostly domestic. We had to respond to 9/11 at least by eliminating the A1 Qaeda base in Afghanistan and investing in tighter homeland security. They could avoid foreign entanglements. Trying to build democracy in Iraq, though, which t supported, was a war of choice and is unlikely to ever produce anything equal to its huge price tag.
But the first rule of holes is that when you're in one, stop digging. When you see how much modern infrastructure has been built in China since 2001, under the banner of the Olympics, and you see how much infrastructure has been postponed in America since 2001, under the banner of the war on terrorism, it's clear that the next seven years need to be devoted to nation-building in America.
We need to finish our business in Iraq and Afghanistan as quickly as possible, which is why it is a travesty that the Iraqi Parliament has gone on vacation, while 130,000 U. S. troops are standing guard. We can no longer afford to postpone our nation-building while Iraqis squabble over whether to do theirs.
A lot of people are now advising Barack Obama to get dirty with John McCain. Sure, fight, fire with fire. That's necessary, but it is not sufficient.
Obama got this far because many voters projected onto him that he could be the leader of an American renewal. They know we need nation-building at home now--not in Iraq, not in Afghanistan, not in Georgia, but in America. Obama cannot lose that theme.
He cannot let Republicans make this election about who is tough enough to stand up to Russia or bin Laden. It has to be about who is strong enough, focused enough, creative enough and unifying enough to get Americans to rebuild America. The next president can have all the foreign affairs experience in the world, but it will be useless, utterly useless, if we, as a country, are weak.
Obama is more right than he knows when he proclaims that this is "our" moment, this is "our" time. But it is our time to get back to work on the only home we have, our time for nation-building in America. I never want to tell my girls—and I'm sure Obama feels the same about his—that they have to go to China to see the future.

单选题 The author of this article is most likely a/an ______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】本题为逻辑推断题。作者通过在北京奥运会闭幕式上的所见所闻,借以对比911事件7年来中美发展策略的差异,进而论述美国的政治经济及正在进行中的总统大选,并且文中可以看出作者是民主党候选人Obama的支持者。所以这样的文章一般出自于新闻专栏作家,而不可能是B体育记者,C奥运会运动员,D共和党人,故A为正确答案。
单选题 The main purpose of this article is to ______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】本题为主旨大意题。如第1题解析中所指出的,中国致力于北京奥运会的准备工作从而促进经济等方面的发展,而美国则缠身于同恐怖主义的战斗,作者旨在通过这一强烈对比进而唤醒美国民众把更多精力投入到国内建设中来。而A、B、D都只是片面或表面地表现作者写这篇文章的用意,故C为正确答案。
单选题 Which of the following is correct?
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】本题为细节事实题。选项A的错误在于第2段明确指出北京奥运会只是snapshots,还不能反映中国历史和未来的全景;选项B的错误在于虽然第7段作者说Then ask yourself: who is living in the third world country?这旨在肯定中国的发展反衬美国的滞后,但并非将美国列为第三世界国家;选项C的错误在于从第9段Trying to build democracy in Iraq, though, which I supported, was a war of choice的描述可以看出作者并不反对美国帮助伊拉克建立民主社会,其观点在于应先立足于本国的发展才能置身于其他国家的事务,故D为正确答案。
单选题 The author thinks highly of the Beijing Olympic Games mainly because ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】本题为逻辑推断题。从全文可以看出,作者极力赞赏奥运会筹备工作对中国经济建设的促进和推动作用,选项A、B、C也是奥运会的作用和影响,但是D才是最根本最重要的,这也是作者引以同美国比较的原因。
单选题 In the past seven years, America traps itself in the following entanglements EXCEPT ______.
【正确答案】 D
【答案解析】本题为细节事实题。选项A、B、C在文中均有提及,而the Gulf War(海湾战争)发生于20世纪90年代初,同题干要求不符,故D为正确答案。
单选题 From this passage we can infer that the author holds a/an ______ attitude towards Obama's prospect of winning the election.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】本题为态度观点题。作者在文中并未明确表明对Obama总统竞选的态度,但从最后四段对Obama政见的支持,对其致力本国自身发展战略的赞赏,可以看出作者对Obama的获胜满怀希望和期待,故B为正确答案。