单选题A credit card can be useful. You can take it into a store and buy a television set or new furniture or clothing or anything you want. All you have to do is to sign your name and take what you want out of the store without paying cash. But there is a problem with the cards—they can be financial poison. These cards are just like the poison we use on insects. If we use them carefully, they can be helpful; but if we use them too much, they can kill us financially just as real poison can kill our body. For any money that the user does not pay each month, the credit card company charges a percentage of that amount in interest. The interest is added every month, so a bill that is not paid gets bigger and bigger. Over 10 percent of the families in the United States are "overextended". That is, they have more debts on their credit cards than they can pay. Credit cards can be used for almost anything that money can buy. And they can even be used to pay for funerals. For some credit card users, a funeral may be the only solution to the debt problems they have caused for themselves by using credit cards.

单选题In the building of the rail lines, ______.

单选题A recent poll indicated that half the teenagers in the United States believe that communication between them and their parents is (1) and further that one of the prime causes of this gap is (2) listening behavior. As a(an) (3) in point, one parent believed that her daughter had a severe (4) problem. She was so (5) that she took her to an audiologist to have her ear tested. The audiologist carefully tested both ears and reported back to the parent:"There's nothing wrong with her hearing. She's just (6) you out. " A leading cause of the (7) divorce rate (more than half of all marriages end in divorce) is the failure of husbands and wives to (8) effectively. They don't listen to each other. Neither person (9) to the actual message sent by the other. In (10) fashion, political scientists report that a growing number of people believe that their elected and (11) officials are out of (12) with the constituents they are supposedly (13) Why? Because they don't believe that they listen to them. In fact, it seems that sometimes our politicians don't even listen to themselves. The following is a true story: At a national (14) conference held in Albuquerque some years ago, then Senator Joseph Montoya was (15) a copy of a press release by a press aide shortly before he got up before the audience to (16) a speech. When he rose to speak, (17) the horror of the press aide and the (18) of his audience, Montoya began reading the press release, not his speech. He began, "For immediate release. Senator Joseph M. Montoya, Democrat of New Mexico, last night told the National... " Montoya read the entire six page release, (19) with the statement that he "was repeatedly (20) by applause. /

单选题What was E.B. White?

单选题Which of the following conclusions would the author be most likely to agree wit about discrimination against women by private employers and by government employers?

单选题A farmer with 1,350 acres of land had planted his fields with corn, sugar cane, and tobacco in the ratio of 5:3:1, respectively, but he wanted to make more money, so he shifted the ratio to 2:4:3, respectively. How many more acres of land were planted with tobacco under the new system? A. 90 B. 150 C. 270 D. 300 E. 450

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单选题Our culture has caused most Americans to assume not only that our language is universal but that the gestures we use are understood by everyone. We do not realize that waving good-bye is the way to summon a person from the Philippines to one's side, or that in Italy and some Latin-American countries, curling the finger to oneself is a sign of farewell. Those private citizens who sent packages to our troops occupying Germany after World war Ⅱ and marked them GIFT to escape duty payments did not bother to find out that "Gift" means poison in German. Moreover, we like to think of ourselves as friendly, yet we prefer to be at least 3 feet or an arm's length away from others. Latins and Middle Easterners like to come closer and touch, which makes Americans uncomfortable. Our linguistic and cultural blindness and the casualness with which we take notice of the developed tastes, gestures, customs and languages of other countries, are losing us friends, business and respect in the world. Even here in the United States, we make few concessions to the needs of foreign visitors. There are no information signs in four languages on our public buildings or monuments; we do not have multilingual guided tours. Very few restaurant menus have translations, and multilingual waiters, bank clerks and policemen are rare. Our transportation systems have maps in English only and often we ourselves have difficulty understanding them. When we go abroad, we tend to cluster in hotels and restaurants where English is spoken. The attitudes and information we pick up are conditioned by those natives—usually the richer—who speak English. Our business dealings, as well as the nation's diplomacy, are conducted through interpreters. For many years, America and Americans could get by with cultural blindness and linguistic ignorance. After all, America was the most powerful country of the free world, the distributor of needed funds and goods. But all that is past. American dollars no longer buy all good things, and we are slowly beginning to realize that our proper role in the world is changing. A 1979 Harris poll reported that 55 percent of Americans want this country to play a more significant role in world affairs; we want to have a hand in the important decisions of the next century, even though it may not always be the upper hand.

单选题It is often a mistake to ______ appearance: that poor-looking individual is anything but poor. In fact, there is the President of a large multinational corporation with a fortune of 10 billion dollars.

单选题Most children with healthy appetites are ready to eat almost anything that is offered them and a child rarely dislikes food (31) it is badly cooked. The way a meal is cooked and served is most important and an attractively served meal will often improve a child's appetite. Never ask a child (32) he likes or dislikes a food and never discuss likes and dislikes in front of him or allow (33) else to do so. If the father says he hates fat meat or the mother refuses vegetables, in the child's hearing he is (34) to copy this procedure. Take it (35) granted that he likes everything add he probably will. Nothing healthful should be omitted from the meal because of a supposed dislike. At meal times it is a good (36) to give a child a small portion and let him come back for a second helping rather than give him as (37) as he is likely to eat all at once. Do not talk too much to the child (38) meal times, but let him get on with his food; and do not (39) him to leave the table immediately after a meal or he will soon learn to swallow his food so he can hurry back to his toys. Under (40) circumstances must a child be coaxed (哄骗) or forced to eat.

单选题4 Violin prodigies, I learned, have come in distinct waves from distinct regions. Most of the great performers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were born and brought up in Russia and Eastern Europe. I asked Isaac Stern, one of the world's greatest violinists the reason for this phenomenon. "It is very clear," he told me. "They were all Jews (犹 太人) and Jews at the time were severely oppressed and ill-treated in that part of the world. They were not allowed into the professional fields, but they were allowed to achieve excellence on a concert stage. " As a result, every Jewish parent's dream was to have a child in the music school because it was a passport to the West. Another element in the emergence of prodigies, I found, is a society that values ex cellence in a certain field to nurture (培育) talent. Nowadays, the most nurturing societies seem to be in the Far East. "In Japan, a most competitive society, with stronger disci pline than ours. " says Isaac Stem, children are ready to test their limits every day in many fields, including music. When Western music came to Japan after World War Ⅱ , that mu sic not only became part of their daily lives, but it became a discipline as well. The Kore ans and Chinese as we know, are just as highly motivated as the Japanese. That's a good thing, because even prodigies must work hard. Next to hard work, bio logical inheritance plays an important role in the making of a prodigy. J. S. Bach, for exam ple, was the top of several generations of musicians, and four of his sons had significant careers in music.

单选题Not only Jack but also I ______ to attend the meeting. A. am B. are C. is D. has

单选题Man has long wished to predict earthquakes. Recent findings indicate that reliable earthquake prediction is almost a reality. Before earthquakes occur, there frequently are changes in rock behavior that affect the velocities of other earthquake waves passing through the rocks. The former Soviet seismologists have used earthquake waves from other unrelated earthquakes to meas- ure the alterations in wave speed through rocks around a fault zone. For months to years before a particular earthquake, the former Soviet scientists observed that the strained rock in the fault zone was deformed in a way that slowed other earthquake wave that passed through the zone. Similar behavior has preceded earthquakes in California and New York. Changes in electrical resistance, water pressure l rock motion, and leakage of gas also can accompany the lowering of wave velocity. Fractures in the fault zone apparently open, which leads to a lowering of water pressure. When the fractures are filled by underground water, the continuing stress on the rocks is also exerted on the water in pores, which contributes to pressure within the rocks and ultimately causes further fault movement and earthquakes. These preliminary events have been observed and studied for many earthquakes. The larger the earthquake, apparently the longer the time during which the preliminary events take place. Careful observation and measurement of the early events will precede reliable forecasts. The preliminary events are most evident along normal and reverse fault systems, and strike-slip faults may not produce the same effect. Although earthquake forecasting is in its infancy, both American and the former Soviet scientists have been able to predict the occurrence of a few earthquakes. Understanding of the causes of earthquakes has opened several possibilities for their control. Underground nuclear explosions in Nevada have released strain energy stored in certain rocks. In some instances, the shock wave from the explosion has raised the strain on nearby fractures and faults enough to initiate fault movement. All of the resulting earthquakes have been small, but a large earthquake could conceivably be initiated. In the future, a situation may arise where it is desirable to deliberately initiate an earthquake near a heavily populated area because too large an amount of strain has accumulated on an active fault zone in the vicinity. If hazardous areas were left empty and if emergency services were standing at the ready, such action might be considered necessary to prevent a later much more damaging earthquake. However, the legal, environmental, and human problems would be large in- deed, perhaps too great for such action to be taken. Another possibility for earthquake control is much more exciting. Increasing water pressures can initiate faulting, as was unintentionally demonstrated by a deep well at the U. S. Army' s Rock Mountain Arsenal near Denver, Colorado, in the early 1960s. Disposal of nerve gas wastes in the well triggered movement along deeply buried inactive faults in the region. The liquid waste reduced frictional resistance along fault flat surface in the rocks surrounding the well, leading to movement along the faults. Earthquake activity in the area connected closely with the times of pumping of wastes into the disposal well, as was demonstrated convincingly by a Denver geologist, David Evans. Strain energy stored along the fault flat surface was apparently released by the fluid injection. Experiments by the U. S. Geological Survey in the Rangely oil field of northwestern Colorado have added to the experience gained from the study of the Denver earthquakes. The Survey geologists injected water in some of the Rangely wells, causing very small earthquakes. By withdrawing the water, the earthquakes were stopped. Although it is premature, many geologists believe we could eventually restrain earthquakes by injecting fluid into fault zones to permit slippage to take place gradually or in a series of small earthquakes. However, means must be found to control the areas affected and to be certain a major destructive quake is not initiated.

单选题Our history professor is (such) a knowledgeable person that (it seems) that there isn't (nothing) which he (does not) know. A. such B. it seems C. nothing D. does not

单选题The salesman approached the house very ______ because there was a dog at the gate.

单选题Ted got a better job and left the school before Mrs. Wolcox had him expelled. A. disgraced B. degraded C. executed D. ejected

单选题Passage Four Self-reliance is a nineteenth-century term, popularized by Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous essay of that time, but it still comes easily to the tongues of many of those to whom we talked. Self-reliance of one sort or another is common to every one of the traditions we have discussed. What, if not self-reliant, were the Puritans, many of whom, like John Winthrop, left wealth and comfort to set out in small ships on a dangerous "errand into the wilderness"? They felt called by God, but they had to rely on themselves. Thomas Jefferson chose in his draft of The Declaration of Independenceto strike a note of self-reliance-when he said that emigration and settlement here "were effected at the expense of our own blood and treasure, unassisted by the wealth or the strength of Great Britain," conveniently forgetting how recently the British had defended the colonists against the French and Indians, but expressing a genuinely American attitude. The note of self-reliance had a clearly collective context in the biblical and republican traditions. It was that as a people we had acted independently and self-reliantly. With utilitarian and expressive individualism, however, the collective note became muted. The focus of the self-made printer or the poet who sang of himself was more exclusively on the individual. Emerson in his 1841 essay "Self-Reliance" even declared the individual and society to be in opposition. "Society," he said, "is everywhere in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. " Emerson was speaking to the world of the independent citizen and insisting that the conformity exacted by small-town America was too coercive. His friend Thoreau would push this teaching to an extreme in his classic experiment at Walden Pond. But in his essay, Emerson also expressed a more prosaic sense of self-reliance, one that has been the common coin of moral life for millions of Americans ever since. Emerson says we only deserve the property we work for. Conversely, our primary economic obligation is only to ourselves. "Then again, do not tell me, as a good man did to day, of my obligation to put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor?" he wrote. We found self-reliance common as a general orientation in many of those to whom we smoke. Therapist Margaret Oldham typically expressed it as "taking responsibility for oneself." But economic self-reliance is often seen as the bedrock on which the more general character trait rests. Asked why he worked so hard to support his wife and child after he first got married, corporate executive Brian Palmer said, "I guess self-reliance is one of the characteristics I have pretty high up in my value system." As a young husband and father, Brian felt "confronted with the stark realities of being self-supporting or dropping out of the human race." Some critics have seen the "work ethic" in decline in the United States and a "narcissistic" concern with the self emerging in its place. In our conversations, we have found that an emphasis on hard work and self-support can go hand in hand with an isolating preoccupation with the self, as Toequeville feared would be the case. Indeed, work continues to be critically important in the self-identity of Americans, closely linked to the demand for self-reliance. The problem is not so much the presence or absence of a "work ethic" as the meaning of work and the ways it links, or fails to link, individuals to one another. Please answer the following questions based on the above passage: