单选题In recent years, railroads have been combining with each other, merging into super systems, causing heightened concerns about monopoly. As recently as 1995, the top four railroads accounted for under 70 percent of the total ton-miles moved by rails. Next year, after a series of mergers is completed, just four railroads will control well over 90 percent of all the freight moved by major rail carriers. Supporters of the new super systems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial cost reductions and better coordinated service. Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks. But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat. The vast consolidation within the rail industry means that most shippers are served by only one rail company. Railroads typically charge such "captive" shippers 20 to 30 percent more than they do when another railroad is competing for the business. Shippers who feel they are being overcharged have the right to appeal to the federal government"s Surface Transportation Board for rate relief, but the process is expensive, time consuming, and will work only in truly extreme cases. Railroads justify rate discrimination against captive shippers on the grounds that in the long run it reduces everyone"s cost. If railroads charged all customers the same average rate, they argue, shippers who have the option of switching to trucks or other forms of transportation would do so, leaving remaining customers to shoulder the cost of keeping up the line. It"s theory to which many economists subscribe, but in practice it often leaves railroads in the position of determining which companies will flourish and which will fail. "Do we really want railroads to be the arbiters of who wins and who loses in the marketplace?" asks Martin Bercovici, a Washington lawyer who frequently represents shipper. Many captive shippers also worry they will soon be hit with a round of huge rate increases. The railroad industry as a whole, despite its brightening fortunes, still does not earn enough to cover the cost of the capital it must invest to keep up with its surging traffic. Yet railroads continue to borrow billions to acquire one another, with Wall Street cheering them on. Consider the 1.02 billion bid by Norfolk Southern and CSX to acquire Conrail this year. Conrail"s net railway operating income in 1996 was just 427 million, less than half of the carrying costs of the transaction. Who"s going to pay for the rest of the bill? Many captive shippers fear that they will, as Norfolk Southern and CSX increase their grip on the market.

单选题The Great Wall is the place ______ almost all tourists would like to visit when they come to China. A. where B. to which C. in which D. which

单选题The official was arrested for inability to ______ all his fortune he has enjoyed. A. clarify B. intensify C. verify D. justify

单选题The small building was marked with a modest brass ______, stating the name and the business of the occupiers. A. plaque B. plateau C. plague D. plaster

单选题Careful planning and hard work will______our final success.

单选题Everyone has seen it happen. A colleague who has been excited, involved, and productive slowly begins to pull back, lose energy and interest, and becomes a shadow or his or her former self. Or, a person who has been a beacon of vision and idealism retreats into despair or cynicism. What happened? How does someone who is capable and committed become a person who functions minimally and does not seem to care for the job or the people that work there? Burnout is a chronic state of depleted energy, lack of commitment and involvement, and continual frustration, often accompanied at work by physical symptoms, disability claims and performance problem. Job burnout is a crisis of spirit, when work that was once exciting and meaningful becomes deadening. An organization" s most valuable resource—the energy, dedication, and creativity of its employees—is often squandered by a climate that limits or frustrates the pool of talent and energy available. Milder forms of burnout are a problem at every level in every type of work. The burned-out manager comes to work, but he brings a shell rather than a person. He experiences little satisfaction, and feels uninvolved, detached, and uncommitted to his work and co-workers. While he may be effective by external standards, he works far below his own level of productivity. The people a-round him are deeply affected by his attitude and energy level, and the whole community begins to suffer. Burnout is a crisis of the spirit because people who burn out were once on fire. It" s especially scary and consequential because it strikes some of the most talented. If they can" t maintain their fire, others ask who can? Are these people lost forever, or can the inner flame be rekindled? People often feel that burnout just comes upon them and that they are helpless victims of it. Actually, the evidence is growing that there were ways for individuals to safeguard and renew their spirit, and more important, there are ways for organizations to change conditions that lead to burnout.

单选题If national health insurance would not cure the problems of the American healthcare system, what, then, is responsible for them? Suspicion falls heavily on hospitals, which make up the largest component of the system. In 1988 hospitals accounted for 39% of all health expenditures-more than doctor, nursing homes, drugs, and home health care combined. Although U. S. hospitals provide outstanding research and frequently excellent care, they also exhibit the classic attributes of insufficient organizations: increasing costs and decreasing use. The average cost of a hospital stay in 1987—＄3,850—was more than double the 1980 cost. A careful government analysis published in 1987 revealed the inflation of hospital costs, over and above general price inflation, as a major factor in their growth, even after allowances were made for increases in the population and in intensity of care. While the rate of increase for hospital costs was 2796 greater than that for all medical care and 163% greater than that for all other goods and services, demand for hospital services fell by 34%. But hospitals seemed oblivious of the decline: during this period the number of hospital beds shrank only by about 396, and the number of full-time employees grew by more than 240, 000. After yet another unexpectedly high hospital-cost increase last year, one puzzled government analyst asked: "Where's the money going?" Much of the increase in hospital costs—amounting to ＄180 billion from 1965 to 1987—went to duplicating medical technology available in nearby hospitals and maintaining excess beds. Modern Healthcare, a leading journal in the field, recently noted that "anecdotes of hospitals' unnecessary spending on technology abound". Medical technology is very expensive. An operating room outfitted to perform open-heart surgery costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. From 1982 to 1989 the number of hospitals with open-heart-surgery facilities grew by 33%, and the most rapid growth occurred among smaller and moderate-sized hospitals. This growth was worrisome for reasons of both costs and quality. Underused technology almost inevitably decreases quality of care. In medicine, as in everything else, practice makes perfect. For example, most of the hospitals with the lowest ra6rtaiity rates for coronary-bypass surgery perform at least fifty to a hundred such procedures annually, and in some cases many more: the majority of those with the highest mortality rates perform fewer than fifty a year.

单选题Consumers are being confused and misled by the hodge-podge of environmental claims made by household products, according to a "green labeling" study published by Consumers International Friday. Among the report"s more outrageous findings—a German fertilizer described itself as "earthworm friendly", a brand of flour said it was "non-polluting" and a British toilet paper claimed to be "environmentally friendlier". The study was written and researched by Britain"s National Consumer Council (NCC) for lobby group Consumer International. It was funded by the German and Dutch governments and the European Commission. "While many good and useful claims are being made, it is clear there is a long way to go in ensuring shoppers are adequately informed about the environmental impact of products they buy," said Consumers International director Anna Fielder. The 10-country study surveyed product packaging in Britain, Western Europe, Scandinavia and the United States. It found that products sold in Germany and the United Kingdom made the most environmental claims on average. The report focused on claims made by specific products, such as detergent insect sprays and by some garden products. It did not test the claims, but compared them to labeling guidelines set by the International Standards Organization (ISO) in September, 1999. Researchers documented claims of environmental friendliness made by about 2,000 products and found many too vague or too misleading to meet ISO standards. "Many products had specially-designed labels to make them seem environmentally friendly, but in fact many of these symbols mean nothing," said report researcher Philip Page. "Laundry detergents made the most number of claims with 158 household cleaners were second with 145 separate claims, while paints were third on our list with 73. The high numbers show how very confusing it must be for consumers to sort the true from the misleading." he said. The ISO labeling standards ban vague or misleading claims on product packaging, because terms such as "environmentally friendly" and "non-polluting" cannot be verified. "What we are now pushing for is to have multinational corporations meet the standards set by the ISO." said Page.

单选题The phrase "to a good cause" in line 3 could be best replaced by ______.

单选题Other modern industrial nations such as Japan, Germany and France have managed A(all along) to thrive B(with mere fractions) of C(man-made coolness) used in the US, and D(precious little of that) in private dwellings.

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}} Liu Xiang sets the World 110m Hurdles record in Lausanne Lausanne, Switzerland — China's Olympic champion Liu Xiang{{U}} (21) {{/U}}the men's 110m Hurdles World record with{{U}} (22) {{/U}}12.88 seconds (wind +1.1 m/s) at tonight's Athletissima, a Super Grand Prix meeting, which is part of the IAAF World Athletics Tour. "I{{U}} (23) {{/U}}thought I could break the World record. I'm feeling very tired, very happy and very excited," said Liu Xiang. "Switzerland is my{{U}} (24) {{/U}}place. I love Switzerland and Lausanne and the fans here," the 22-year-old added. "I had{{U}} (25) {{/U}}broken the World junior record in 2002 in Lausanne (13.12). Liu Xiang celebrates{{U}} (26) {{/U}}sitting on his World record clock in Lausanne "Tonight I started well running. But it was{{U}} (27) {{/U}}the fifth hurdle when I speeded up," confirmed the 2005 World Championship silver medallist who will{{U}} (28) {{/U}}his 23rd birthday on Thursday (13 July). Liu Xiang was the joint holder of the{{U}} (29) {{/U}}best of 12.91, which he{{U}} (30) {{/U}}when winning the Olympic title on 27 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The{{U}} (31) {{/U}}12.91 record had been set in Stuttgart, Germany, {{U}}(32) {{/U}}Britain's Colin Jackson who established that mark when winning the World Championship{{U}} (33) {{/U}}medal on 20 August 1993. In second place tonight in Lausanne was Dominique Arnold of USA who led for most of the{{U}} (34) {{/U}}, and finished in 12.90 seconds, which of course is also{{U}} (35) {{/U}}the old record.

单选题Advertisement: The most flavorful olives in the world are kalamata olives. The more kalamata olives used to make a bottle of olive oil, the more flavorful the oil, and no company buys more kalamata olives than Zorba's Olive Oil. Therefore, when you buy Zorba's Olive Oil, you're buying the most flavorful olive oil available today. The reasoning presented in the advertisement is flawed because it overlooks the possibility that: A. Not all of Zorba's competitors use kalamata olives in their oil. B. Zorba's sells more olive oil than any other company. C. The most flavorful olive oil is not necessarily the best olive oil. D. Because of bulk discounts, Zorba's pays less per kilogram of kalamata olives than does its competitors. E. The number of kalamata olives harvested every year is far less than the number of Spanish olives harvested every year.

单选题A number of personal characteristics play a vital role in the development of one"s intelligence. But people fail to realize the significance of cultivating these factors in young people. The "non-intelligence factors" include one"s feelings, will, motivation, interests and habits, etc. After a 30-year follow-up study of 8000 males, American psychologists【C1】______that the main cause of disparities in intelligence is not intelligence itself, but non-intelligence factors including the desire to learn, will-power and self-confidence. 【C2】______people all know that one should have definite objectives, a strong will and good learning habits, quite a number of teachers and parents don"t pay much attention to cultivating these factors. Some parents are greatly worried【C3】______their children fail to do well in their studies. They blame either genetic factors, malnutrition, or laziness, but they never take into consideration these non-intelligence factors. At the same time, some teachers don"t inquire into the reason why students do poorly. They simply give them more course and exercises, or【C4】______rebuke or ridicule them. After all, these students lose self-confidence. Some of them just feel defeated and【C5】______themselves up as hopeless. Others may go astray because they are sick of learning. An investigation of more than 1,000 middle students in Shanghai showed that 46.5 percent of them were【C6】______of learning, because of examination, 36.4 percent lacked persistence, initiative and conscientiousness and 10.3 percent were sick of learning. It is clear that the lack of cultivation of non-intelligence factors has been a main【C7】______to intelligence development in teenagers. It even causes an imbalance between physiological and【C8】______development among a few students. If we don"t start now to strengthen the cultivation of non-intelligence factors, it will not only obstruct the development of the【C9】______of teenagers, but also affect the quality of a whole generation. Some experts have put forward proposals about how to cultivate student"s non-intelligence factors. First, parents and teachers should【C10】______understand teenage psychology. On this basic, they can help them to pursue the objectives of learning, stimulating their interests and toughening their willpower.

单选题Which of the following statements is true about Quiz 2? A. You use more energy if you walk rather than jog for the same amount of time. B. You use more energy if you jog rather than walk the same distance. C. You use the same amount of energy whether you jog or walk the same distance. D. You use the same amount of energy whether you jog or walk for the same amount of time.

单选题What's the main idea of the text?

单选题

单选题A: I don"t know what we"d have done if you hadn"t come along. B: ______. It was the least I could do.