单选题{{B}}Passage Four{{/B}} It's conventional wisdom in the United States that the American education system is a mess. Since the rest of the world loves to criticize Uncle Sam, that view is held even more strongly elsewhere. But wait a minute. If education really is the source of economic success, as experts continually claim, American schools can't be too bad. If they were, the American economy would not be the wonder of the world, able to create good jobs at a pace that others can only envy, and with a huge advantage in many of the key technologies of the next centurey. Specially, American high schools can't be a disaster area. The proof lies in the quality of American universities. In any reasonable ranking of the best 100 universities of the world, the United States would dominate the list. College professors are not alchemists(炼金术士), they cannot turn base metal into gold. (I know; I used to be one.) If the output of American higher education is as good as it seems to be, the input must be a lot better than Americans fear. We can at least be doubtful about some common claims. For example; it's often said that the United States has a skill shortage in high technology -- and the fact that Silicon Valley recruits (征募) heavily around the world is said to be evidence of that. But without more inquiry, we can't know whether this is because American college graduates are stupid, or because that hightechnology sector has grown so fast that it cannot possibly satisfy all its demands for high-level skills from the United States.

单选题The case ______. A. lay right on one side of a shelf B. was right behind as old brown-looking case C. was between two high shelves D. was among the hundreds of cases

单选题Passage 4 Choose the best from the following sentences marked A to E to complete the article below. Most economists in the United States seem captivated by the spell of the free market. (16) . A price that is determined by the seller or, for that matter, established by anyone other than the aggregate of consumers seems pernicious. (17) In fact, price-fixing is normal in all industrialized societies because the industrial system itself provides, as an effortless consequence of its own development, the price-fixing that it requires. Modern industrial planning requires and rewards great size. Hence, a comparatively small number of large firms will be competing for the same group of consumers. That each large firm will act with consideration of its own needs and thus avoid selling its products for more than its competitors charge is commonly recognized by advocates of free-market economic theories. (18) Each large firm will thus avoid significant price-cutting, because price-cutting would be prejudicial to the common interest in a stable demand for products. Most economists do not see price-fixing when it occurs because they expect it to be brought about by a number of explicit agreements among large firms; it is not. Moreover, those economists who argue that allowing the free market to operate without interference is the most efficient method of establishing prices have not considered the economies of non-socialist countries other than the United states. These economies employ intentional price-fixin9, usually in an overt fashion. Formal price-fixing by cartel and informal price-fixing by agreements covering the members of an industry are common-place. (19) , the countries that have avoided the first and used the second would have suffered drastically in their economic development. There is no indication that they have. Socialist industry also works within a framework of controlled prices. In the early 1970's, the Soviet Union began to give firms and industries some of the flexibility in adjusting prices that a more informal evolution has accorded the capitalist system (20) ; rather, Soviet firms have been given the power to fix prices.A. But each large firm will also act with full consideration of the needs that it has in common with the other large firms competing for the same customersB. Consequently, nothing seems good or normal that does not accord with the requirements of the free marketC. Economists in the United States have hailed the change as a return to the free market. But Soviet firms are no more subject to prices established by a free market over which they exercise little influence than are capitalist firmsD. Accordingly, it requires a major act of will to think of price-fixing (the determination of prices by the seller) as both "normal" and having a valuable economic functionE. Were there something peculiarly efficient about the free market and inefficient about price-fixing-O.

单选题His plan should succeed without too much trouble, for it seems quite {{U}}feasible{{/U}}.

单选题The skeleton of a primitive bird that was recently discovered indicated that this ancient creature ______today's birds in that, unlike earlier birds and unlike reptilian ancestors, it had not a tooth in its head.

单选题Directions: There are 10 blanks in the following passage. For each numbered blank, there are 4 choices marked A, B, C and D. The United States is well-known for its network of major highways designed to help a driver get from one place to another in the shortest possible time. {{U}}(51) {{/U}} these wide modern roads are generally smooth and well maintained, with {{U}}(52) {{/U}} sharp curves and many straight sections, a direct route is not always the most {{U}}(53) {{/U}} one. Large highways often pass by scenic areas and interesting small towns. Furthermore, these highways generally {{U}}(54) {{/U}} large urban centers which means that they become crowded with heavy traffic during rush hours, {{U}}(55) {{/U}} the "fast, direct" way becomes a very slow route. However, there is almost always another route to take {{U}}(56) {{/U}} you are not in a hurry. Not far from the {{U}}(57) {{/U}} new "super highways", there are often older, less heavily traveled roads which go through the countryside. {{U}}(58) {{/U}} of these are good two-lane roads; others are uneven roads curling through the country. These secondary routes may go up steep slopes, along high cliffs, or down frightening hillsides to towns {{U}}(59) {{/U}} in deep valleys. Through these less direct routes, longer and slower, they generally go to place where the air is clean and the scenery is beautiful, and the driver may have a {{U}}(60) {{/U}} to get a fresh, clean view of the world.

单选题It's a rough world out there. Step outside and you could break a leg slipping on your doormat. Light up the stove and you could burn down the house. Luckily, if the doormat or stove failed to warn of coming disaster, a successful lawsuit might compensate you for your troubles. Or so the thinking has gone since the early 1980s, when juries began holding more companies liable for their customers' misfortunes. Feeling threatened, companies responded by writing ever-longer warning labels, trying to anticipate every possible accident. Today, stepladders carry labels several inches long that warn , among other things, that you might — surprise — fall off. The label on a child's Batman cape cautions that the toy "does not enable user to fly". While warnings are often appropriate and necessary — the dangers of drug interactions, for example — and many are required by state or federal regulations, it isn't clear that they actually protect the manufacturers and sellers from liability if a customer is injured. About 50 percent of the companies lose when injured customers take them to court. Now the tide appears to be turning. As personal injury claims continue as before, some courts are beginning to side with defendants, especially in cases where a warning label probably wouldn't have changed anything. In May, Julie Nimmons, president of Schutt Sports in Illinois, successfully fought a lawsuit involving a football player who was paralyzed in a game while wearing a Schutt helmet. "We' re really sorry he has become paralyzed, but helmets aren't designed to prevent those kinds of injuries," says Nimmons. The jury agreed that the nature of the game, not the helmet, was the reason for the athlete's injury. At the same time, the American Law Institute — a group of judges, lawyers, and academics whose recommendations carry substantial weight — issued new guidelines for tort law stating that companies need not warn customers of obvious dangers or bombard them with a lengthy list of possible ones. "Important information can get buried in a sea of trivialities, " says a law professor at Cornell Law School who helped draft the new guidelines. If the moderate demand of the legal community has its way, the information on products might actually be provided for the benefit of customers and not as protection against legal liability.

单选题A: I"ve just heard that the tickets for the new movie have been sold out! B: Oh, no! ______

单选题It is hard to predict how science is going to turn out, and if it is really good science, it is impossible to predict. If the things to be found are actually new, they are by definition unknown in advance. You cannot make choice in this matter. You either have science or you don't, and if you have it you are obliged to accept the surprising and disturbing pieces of information, along with the neat and promptly useful bits. The only solid piece of scientific truth about which I feel totally confident is that we are profoundly ignorant about nature. Indeed, I regard this as the major discovery of the past hundred years of biology. It is, in its way, an illuminating piece of news. It would have amazed the brightest minds of the 18th century Enlightenment to be told by any of us how little we know and how bewildering seems the way ahead. It is this sudden confrontation with the depth and scope of ignorance that represents the most significant contribution of 20th century science to the human intellect. In earlier times, we either pretended to understand how things worked or ignored the problem, or simply made up stories to fill the gaps. Now that we have begun exploring in earnest, we are getting glimpses of how huge the questions are, and how far from being answered. Because of this, we are depressed. It is not so bad being ignorant if you are totally ignorant; the hard thing is knowing in some detail the reality of ignorance, the worst spots and here and there the not-so-bad spots, but no true light at the end of the tunnel nor even any tunnels that can yet be trusted. But we are making a beginning, and there ought to be some satisfaction. There are probably no questions we can think up that can't be answered, sooner or later, including even the matter of consciousness. To be sure, there may well be questions we can't think up, ever, and therefore limits to the reach of human intellect, but that is another matter. Within our limits we should be able to work our way through to all our answers, if we keep at it long enough, and pay attention.

单选题There are cases ______ new factories are being put up and beautiful old trees are going to be cut down for a new factory.

单选题(2002)He wrote a letter to the company to apply for that______position.

单选题Smart dust sensors can do all the following EXCEPT ______.

单选题We must ______ on our reputation to expand the business. A. improve B. build C. develop D. weigh

单选题{{B}}Directions: For each blank in the following passage, there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the one that is most suitable and mark your answer by blackening the corresponding letter on the Answer Sheet.{{/B}} Like all large cities, New York has old problems to solve and {{U}}(21) {{/U}} ones to face. Slums(贫民窟) must be cleared, and new housing constructed. {{U}}(22) {{/U}} jams continues to plague(折磨) the city's overcrowded streets. Not only must new highways be {{U}}(23) {{/U}}, but old ones must be repaired. Protecting the {{U}}(24) {{/U}} and safety of New Yorkers {{U}}(25) {{/U}} an army of police, firemen, and sanitation(卫生) workers. Finding an adequate water {{U}}(26) {{/U}} is a constant problem, as is the attraction of new business and industry to boost the city's {{U}}(27) {{/U}}. Caring for the sick, {{U}}(28) {{/U}} the young, providing {{U}}(29) {{/U}} the needy, and helping newcomers to adjust to big city life are additional tasks {{U}}(30) {{/U}} the city must perform. In spite of New York's {{U}}(31) {{/U}}, millions of visitors continue to flock to the city each year. Thousands stay to work and {{U}}(32) {{/U}} in the city, {{U}}(33) {{/U}} to New York's human resources. New Yorkers are working hard to {{U}}(34) {{/U}} their city's needs and to keep it a world {{U}}(35) {{/U}} of culture, industry, and commerce. New York buzzes with the sounds of machines tearing down and building up the city, changing its face for tomorrow's world.

单选题Some people think they can read a man's ______ from his handwriting.

单选题Passing the English exam should ______ your chances of getting the post.

单选题Agriculture must, therefore,______ workers and savings to the new industrialized, urbanized sectors if a modern economy is to be achieved.(2004年西南财经大学考博试题)

单选题When in his rebellious years, that is when he was sixteen or eighteen, Frank Anderson ______going around with a strange set of people and staying out very late. A. took to B. took up C. took on D. took in