单选题Although he had done many great things, he never felt it necessary to ______ his achievements. A. lavish B. extravert C. impose D. vaunt

单选题In the imagined world ______ would restrict children's wildest thoughts.

单选题No one could tell us anything about the ______ stranger.

单选题Is teaching important? Well. of course it is. There was a time when the necessary knowledge could be taught to the young by family members. But as societies became more complex and division of labor more common, it was impossible for family members to teach the information and skills young people needed to become useful members of the society. As the need for specialists appeared, the job of teaching came into being in our country, and teaching as a job has been of increasing importance over the past hundred years. Today, we have strict rules for teachers. We hope all children can attend schools. Many things tell us that teaching is indeed an "important" job. In recent years, there has been an increasing need for teachers to be "responsible". This means that the public expects teachers to succeed in teaching important information to the young. Teachers' salaries today, while not much, certainly are much higher than they were in past years. These increases have come about because people have realized that without enough salaries, people who have abilities will not become teachers. Today almost no one says that "anybody will do" for a teacher. The public expects "quality people" to teach the young, and progress is being made to give salaries that will make people who have abilities become teachers.

单选题His inability to learn foreign languages was a(n)______to his career.

单选题A dependent audit comes from your employer, who wants proof that the people you're carrying on the company health plan really are your dependents. If you can't prove they are, the company will drop them. The goal is to ferret out children who are over age 18 and not in school, ex-spouses, sometimes even nieces or nephews—people, in short, who do not meet an employer's definition of dependent. If your company does not already conduct these audits, chances are it eventually will. And while it may strike you as an annoyance, do not ignore this task. Otherwise, eligible dependents could lose their health coverage. From an employer's perspective, audits make good business sense. Health care costs have been rising by 5 to 10 percent a year for over a decade, and employers want to contain those costs. An audit of a 10,000-person employer will typically uncover 200 to 500 ineligible dependents, said John Fazio, a senior consultant with the employee benefits firm Towers Watson. Removing these people, who cost a company an average of $ 2,100 a head, translates into annual savings of $ 420,000 to $1.05 million a year for the employer. Dependent audits have been around for more than a decade. But they have become popular in the last few years, as employers desperately sought ways to trim their health care budgets. This year 69 percent of large companies plan to conduct a dependent audit, up from the 55 percent that planned to do so in 2008, according to a March survey by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health, a nonprofit organization of large employers. From the employees' perspective, such audits are at best an annoyance, forcing them to gather paper work proving, say, that a child who had been covered for years remains eligible. At worst, an audit can be a wrenching and costly experience when a worker's dependent is found to be ineligible and has to get insurance elsewhere. What is more, a worker could become liable for the money that an employer paid out for a spouse or child who should not have been on the plan. And, as audits have become more common, the process for employees has become more onerous. "It used to be the honor system," says Michael Smith, the chief executive of ConSova, a dependent auditing company. Just five years ago, employers typically asked that you sign an affidavit stating that your dependent was eligible to be on your plan. "Now, they want documentation," Mr. Fazio said. "It's a more diligent process. " That means you may have to dig up birth and marriage certificates, bank statements, divorce agreements and other documents that prove your child or spouse are legal dependents.

单选题A pair of dice, rolled again and again, will eventually produce two sixes. Similarly, the virus that causes influenza is constantly changing at random and, one day, will mutate in a way that will enable it to infect billions of people, and to kill millions. Many experts now believe a global outbreak of pandemic flu is overdue, and that the next one could be as bad as the one in 1918, which killed somewhere between 25m and 50m people. Today however, advances in medicine offer real hope that another such outbreak can be contained—if governments start preparing now. New research published this week suggests that a relatively small stockpile of an antiviral drug—as little as 3m doses—could be enough to limit sharply a flu pandemic if the drugs were deployed quickly to people in the area surrounding the initial outbreak. The drug's manufacturer, Roche, is talking to the World Health Organisation about donating such a stockpile. This is good news. But much more needs to be done, especially with a nasty strain of avian flu spreading in Asia which could mutate into a threat to humans. Since the SARS outbreak in 2003 a few countries have developed plans in preparation for similar episodes. But progress has been shamefully patchy, and there is still far too little international coordination. A global stockpile of drugs alone would not be much use without an adequate system of surveillance to identify early cases and a way of delivering treatment quickly. If an outbreak occurred in a border region, for example, a swift response would most likely depend on prior agreements between different countries about quarantine and containment. Reaching such agreements is rarely easy, but that makes the task all the more urgent. Rich countries tend to be better prepared than poor ones, but this should be no consolation to them. Flu does not respect borders. It is in everyone's interest to make sure that developing countries, especially in Asia, are also well prepared. Many may bridle at interference from outside. But if richer nations were willing to donate anti-viral drugs and guarantee a supply of any vaccine that becomes available, poorer nations might be willing to reach agreements over surveillance and preparedness. Simply sorting out a few details now will have lives (and recriminations) later. Will there be enough ventilators, makes and drugs? Where will people be treated if the hospitals overflow? Will food be delivered as normal? Too many countries have no answers to these questions.

单选题 Like any teenagers, the face of One Teen Story is changing fast. Just a year old, the monthly magazine of short fiction for young people is getting a new editor-in-chief: Patrick Ryan, 47, the associate editor of Granta from 2009 to 2013. He left the London-based literary journal last month. Editing One Teen Story—the younger sibling (姊妹篇) of One Story magazine—will offer Ryan a chance to reach a whole new audience. "It's really the only magazine for young adult short fiction," he says from his office in New York. "It's tremendously exciting that there are younger people out there who have subscriptions and look forward to getting these stories once a month. That form is usually only presented when it's forced upon them in schools." Designed for readers 14 and up, One Teen Story publishes nine issues a year. Like its sibling magazine, it doesn't carry photographs or advertising. It's just exactly what it says: one story per issue. Ryan says young people are "looking for engaging reads about people whom they can identify with. it's not about having a message or positive spin (说教). It always starts on a character level, and it has to have an interesting story. If you look at the 'Twilight' characters and the 'Harry Potter' characters, they feel very contemporary." Ryan also sees the magazine as a way to encourage talented authors. "I would love to make One Teen Story the first publication for writers who then go on and keep at {{U}}this business{{/U}}. I just really love the idea that this magazine would be the starting point for somebody—would be the push to make a talented writer feel that it was worth keeping at this."

单选题Text 2 They are said to be reluctant to forsake the pleasures of single life. But nothing could be further from the truth; British women are much more attached to marriage than their European counterparts, around 95.1 percent of British women have married at least once by age 49, the highest figure in the European Union. Only 91.2 percent of British men have walked up the aisle by the same age. Meanwhile, the much discussed trend for delaying marriage until later in life--blamed on career women reluctant to have children--may actually reflect a return to the historical norm. The average age of first marriage in Europe 200 years ago was 28, the same as British brides in 1998, according to a paper for the National Family and Parenting Institute, the independent thinktank set up by Jack Straw to advise on family issues. "The public conversation about marriage has often been conducted in an atmosphere fraught with anxiety that can easily tip over into what commentators have described as a moral panic," the report, comparing European trends in marriage, adds. "Changes in the marriage rate and in the way people form relationships are part and parcel of a society where change is rapid and individuals feel helpless in the face of new developments; yet it is vital that these issues can be discussed without blame." The paper does not include divorce rates. In 1997 Britain had the highest divorce rate in Europe, although by 1999 the rate had fallen to the level of the late 1980s. Despite much political consternation about the family, the report suggests British attitudes are more socially conservative than those of many EU counterparts. Nine out of 10 couples in Britain living with their children are married, compared to half in Finland. And while cohabiting is becoming the norm for European twentysomethings, "change has happened much more rapidly across the whole of the EU than in the UK", the report finds. Around a third of British under-thirties live with a partner, but it is closer to half in France and 40 per cent in Germany. "This report is about let's bring a cool head to this debate," said Gill Keep, head of policy at the institute. "It is much easier to take the panic out of the discussion if you look at it in a comparative way; things that you think are destroying your own society are actually common trends and they may not be that destructive." She said that despite anxiety over later marriages--the average age of first-time brides rose from 23 in the postwar period to 28 for women and 30 for men by 1999--historically this would have seemed normal. Social historian Christina Hardyment said that in the nineteenth century couples would not marry until they could afford to support a household. "Women below the middle classes would always work in some capacity, mainly in domestic service, and it made sense to save; people think of kings and queens and nobility being married off at 12 but that was highly unusual," she said.

单选题{{B}}Passage Three{{/B}} Valentine's Day is a festival of romance and affection. The holiday is an interesting combination of pagan (异教徒的) and Christian influences. Some of the day's customs probably came from an ancient Roman holiday caned Lupercalia, Which honored Juno (wife of Jupiter, the goddess of women, marriage, and childbirth) and Pan (the God of nature). During the Lupercalia festival, young women dropped poems bearing their names into a large vase. Each young man picked a name from the vase to find his sweetheart for that year. During the Middle Ages, church leaders wanted to relate this pagan holiday to Christianity, so they renamed it after a Christian saint and moved the holiday from February 15 to February 14, the feast day of St. Valentine. St. Valentine was a third-century Christian martyr, a young man who was imprisoned in Rome for refusing to worship pagan gods. According to legend, before Valentine was beheaded on February 14, he restored the eyesight of his jailer's blind daughter. Then he sent her a farewell letter signed, "From your Valentine". This phrase is now a common expression of affection that appears on many of the holiday greeting cards. Perhaps another reason that February 14 was picked as a holiday for lovers was that the ancient Romans believed that birds began to mate on this date. In modern times, early in February of each year, card shops, drugstores, and department stores begin displaying a wide variety of greeting cards called valentines. Most of them are illustrated with the symbolic red heart, which stands for love. Many also show a picture of Cupid with his bow and arrow. Some valentines are very fancy--decorated with paper lace, scented satin, feathers, ribbons, or bows. Some contain affectionate verses, while others simply say, "Be my Valentine". There are special Valentines for various family members, sweet hearts, and friends. People sometimes send anonymous valentines to the persons whom they are in secret love with. On that day, children usually buy packages of small, inexpensive valentines to give to classmates and teachers. Sweet-hearts and married couples may exchange more expensive cards, along with small gifts. Men often give red roses or chocolates wrapped up beautifully in red, heart-shaped boxes to their girlfriends or wives.

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单选题The information was later admitted ______ obtained from unreliable sources.

单选题Always since the creation of celluloid, plastics have been found to have a multitude of industrial and commercial uses.

单选题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}} Read the following passage. For each numbered blank there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. Choose the best one and mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1. The role of governments in environmental management is difficult but inescapable. Sometimes, the state tries to manage the resources it owns, and does so badly. Often, {{U}}(21) {{/U}}, governments act in an even more harmful way. They actually subsidize the exploitation and {{U}}(22) {{/U}} of natural resources. A whole {{U}}(23) {{/U}} of policies, from farm-price support to protection for coal-mining, do environmental damage and (often) {{U}}(24) {{/U}} no economic sense. Scrapping them offers a two-fold {{U}}(25) {{/U}}: a cleane r environment and a more efficient economy. Growth and environmentalism can actually go hand in hand, if politicians have the courage to {{U}}(26) {{/U}} the vested interest that subsidies create. No activity affects more of the earth's surface than farming. It shapes a third of the planet's land area, not {{U}}(27) {{/U}} Antarctica, and the proportion is rising. World food output per head has risen by 4 per cent between the 1970s and 1980s mainly as a result of increases in {{U}}(28) {{/U}} from land already in {{U}}(29) {{/U}}, but also because more land has been brought under the plough. Higher yields have been achieved by increased irrigation, better crop breeding, and a {{U}}(30) {{/U}} in the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in the 1970s and 1980s. All these activities may have {{U}}(31) {{/U}} environmental impacts. For example, land clearing for agriculture is the largest single {{U}}(32) {{/U}} of deforestation; chemical fertilizers and pesticides may {{U}}(33) {{/U}} water supplies; more intensive farming and the abandonment of fallow periods {{U}}(34) {{/U}} exacerbate soil erosion; and the spread of monoculture and use of high-yielding varieties of crops have been accompanied by the {{U}}(35) {{/U}} of old varieties of food plants which {{U}}(36) {{/U}} some insurance against pests or diseases in future. Soil erosion threatens the productivity of land in both rich and poor countries. The United States, {{U}}(37) {{/U}} the most careful measurements have been done, discovered in 1982 that about one-fifth of its farmland was losing topsoil at a rate {{U}}(38) {{/U}} to diminish the soil's productivity. The country subsequently {{U}}(39) {{/U}} a program to convert 11 per cent of its cropped land to meadow or forest. Topsoil in India and China is {{U}}(40) {{/U}} much faster than in America.

单选题Once the ______of the election had died down, it was back to normal for the President. A. husk B. hump C. hub D. hubbub

单选题It"s true that high-school coding classes aren"t essential for learning computer science in college. Students without experience can catch up after a few introductory courses, said Tom Cortina, the assistant dean at Carnegie Mellon"s School of Computer Science. However, Cortina said, early exposure is beneficial. When younger kids learn computer science, they learn that it"s not just a confusing, endless string of letters and numbers—but a tool to build apps, or create artwork, or test hypotheses. It"s not as hard for them to transform their thought processes as it is for older students. Breaking down problems into bite-sized chunks and using code to solve them becomes normal. Giving more children this training could increase the number of people interested in the field and help fill the jobs gap, Cortina said. Students also benefit from learning something about coding before they get to college, where introductory computer-science classes are packed to the brim, which can drive the less-experienced or -determined students away. The Flatiron School, where people pay to learn programming, started as one of the many coding bootcamps that"s become popular for adults looking for a career change. The high-schoolers get the same curriculum, but "we try to gear lessons toward things they"re interested in," said Victoria Friedman, an instructor. For instance, one of the apps the students are developing suggests movies based on your mood. The students in the Flatiron class probably won"t drop out of high school and build the next Facebook. Programming languages have a quick turnover, so the "Ruby on Rails" language they learned may not even be relevant by the time they enter the job market. But the skills they learn—how to think logically through a problem and organize the results—apply to any coding language, said Deborah Seehorn, an education consultant for the state of North Carolina. Indeed, the Flatiron students might not go into IT at all. But creating a future army of coders is not the sole purpose of the classes. These kids are going to be surrounded by computers—in their pockets, in their offices, in their homes—for the rest of their lives. The younger they learn how computers think, how to coax the machine into producing what they want—the earlier they learn that they have the power to do that—the better.

单选题(2004)A11 the family stayed home on the New Year's Day with the doors___.

单选题"All his novels present the losing struggle of individuals against the obscure power which move the universe" best characterizes the work of_____.