单选题Brazil has become one of the developing world's great successes at reducing population growth--but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates, Brazil has had better result without really trying, says George Martine at Harvard. Brazil's population growth rate has dropped from 2.99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1.93% a year between 1981 and 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries. Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas (通俗电视连续剧) and instalment (分期付款) plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect, role in lowering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world's biggest producers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil's most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities. "Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction, they describe middle and upper class values- not many children, different attitudes towards sex, women working," says Martine. "They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious of other patterns of behavior and other values, which were put into a very attractive package." Meanwhile, the instalment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. "This 1ed to an enormous change in consumption patterns and consumption was in compatible (不相容的) with unlimited reproduction," says Martine.

单选题Man：I heard you’ve got a wonderful job in a post office. How’s your new job going? Woman：I just feel libeafish out of water. Question：What does the woman feel about her new job?

单选题The earliest controversies (about) the relationship between photography and art centered on (if) photography"s fidelity (to) appearances and dependence on a machine allowed it to be (a) fine art.

单选题Passage Three We sometimes hear that essays are an old-fashioned form, that so-and-so is the "last essayist", but the facts of the marketplace argue quite otherwise. Essays of nearly any kind are so much easier than short stories for a writer to sell, so many more see print, it's strange that though two fine anthologies (collections) remain that publish the year's best stories, no comparable collection exists for essays. Such changes in the reading public's taste aren't always to the good, needless to say. The art of telling stories predated even cave painting, surely; and if we ever find ourselves living in caves again, it (with painting and drumming) will be the only art left, after movies, novels, photography, essays, biography, and all the rest have gone down the drain — the art to build from. Essays, however, hang somewhere on a line between two sturdy poles: this is what I think, and this is what I am. Autobiographies which aren't novels are generally extended essays, indeed. A personal essay is like the human voice talking, its order being the mind's natural flow, instead of a systematized outline of ideas. Though more changeable or informal than an article or treatise, somewhere it contains a point which is its real center, even if the point couldn't be uttered in fewer words than the essayist has used. Essays don't usually boil down to a summary, as articles do, and the style of the writer has a "nap" to it, a combination of personality and originality and energetic loose ends that stand up like the nap (绒毛) on a piece of wool and can't be brushed flat. Essays belong to the animal kingdom, with a surface that generates sparks, like a coat of fur, compared with the flat, conventional cotton of the magazine article writer, who works in the vegetable kingdom, instead. But, essays, on the other hand, may have fewer "levels" than fiction, because we are not supposed to argue much about their meaning. In the old distinction between teaching and storytelling, the essayist, however cleverly he tries to conceal his intentions, is a bit of a teacher or reformer, and an essay is intended to convey the same point to each of us. An essayist doesn't have to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, he can shape or shave his memories, as long as the purpose is served of explaining a truthful point. A personal essay frequently is not autobiographical at all, but what it does keep in common with autobiography is that, through its tone and tumbling progression, it conveys the quality of the author's mind. Nothing gets in the way. Because essays are directly concerned with the mind and the mind's peculiarity, the very freedom the mind possesses is conferred on this branch of literature that does honor to it, and the fascination of the mind is the fascination of the essay.

单选题—where do you think ______ he ______ the computer? —Sorry. I have no idea.A. has ; boughtB. / ; boughtC. did ; buyD. had ; bought

单选题What conclusion can we draw from the second paragraph?

单选题The book which had a great influence on sociology was written ______.

单选题In 1924 America"s National Research Council sent two engineers to supervise a series of industrial experiments at a large telephone-parts factory called the Hawthorne Plant near Chicago. It hoped they would learn how shop-floor lighting 21 workers" productivity. Instead, the studies ended 22 giving their name to the "Hawthorne effect", the extremely influential idea that the very 23 to being experimented upon changed subjects" behavior. The idea arose because of the 24 behavior of the women in the Hawthorne plant. According to 25 of the experiments, their hourly output rose when lighting was increased, but also when it was dimmed. It did not 26 what was done in the experiment; 27 something was changed, productivity rose. A(n) 28 that they were being experimented upon seemed to be 29 to alter workers" behavior 30 itself. After several decades, the same data were 31 to econometric analysis. Hawthorne experiments had another surprise in store. 32 the descriptions on record, no systematic 33 was found that levels of productivity were related to changes in lighting. It turns out that peculiar way of conducting the experiments may be have let to 34 interpretation of what happed. 35 , lighting was always changed on a Sunday. When work started again on Monday, output 36 rose compared with the previous Saturday and 37 to rise for the next couple of days. 38 , a comparison with data for weeks when there was no experimentation showed that output always went up on Monday, workers 39 to be diligent for the first few days of the week in any case, before 40 a plateau and then slackening off. This suggests that the alleged "Hawthorne effect" is hard to pin down.

单选题You don't have to be in such a hurry, I would rather you ______ on business first. A. would go B. will go C. went D. have gone

单选题Parents make many ______ for their children, which in turn creates children's further emotional dependence on them. A. criteria B. sacrifices C. assessments D. regulations

单选题It's the first turning ______ the left after the traffic lights. A. on B. in C. by D. for

单选题The Seller shall be liable for any damage of the commodity due to improper packing and for any rust______inadequate protective measures in regard to the packing.

单选题His ______ with computers began six months ago.(2007年中国科学院考博试题)

单选题The last guests to reach the hotel ______ at 12 o'clock at night. A. checked out B. checked up C. checked in D. chock on

单选题______the numbers of such developments are relatively small, the potential market is large

单选题The sad news broke her ______ and she has been gloomy ever since. A. feelings B. emotions C. mind D. heart

单选题A commission of 8 percent shah be offered on all sales of manufactures products within the above-mentioned territories even in cases ______ manufacturer sells them directly or where such sales are made by any other person or firm, for shipment to the said territories. A．if B．that C．which D．where

单选题When it comes to the slowing economy, Ellen Spero isn"t biting her nails just yet. But the 47-year-old manicurist isn"t cutting, filing or polishing as many nails as she"d like to, either. Most of her clients spend $12 to $ 50 weekly, but last month two longtime customers suddenly stopped showing up. Spero blames the softening economy. "I"m a good economic indicator," she says. "I provide a service that people can do without when they"re concerned about saving some dollars." So Spero is downscaling, shopping at middle-brow Dillard"s department store near her suburban Cleveland home, instead of Neiman Marcus. "I don"t know if other clients are going to abandon me, too," she says. Even before Alan Greenspan"s admission that America"s red-hot economy is cooling, lots of working folks had already seen signs of the slowdown themselves. From car dealerships to Gap outlets, sales have been lagging for months as shoppers temper their spending. For retailers, who last year took in 24 percent of their revenue between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the cautious approach is coming at a crucial time. Already, experts say, holiday sales are off 7 percent from last year"s pace. But don"t sound any alarms just yet. Consumers seem only mildly concerned, not panicked, and many say they remain optimistic about the economy"s long-term prospects even as they do some modest belt-tightening. Consumers say they"re not in despair because, despite the dreadful headlines, their own fortunes still feel pretty good. Home prices are holding steady in most regions. In Manhattan, "There"s a new gold rush happening in the $4 million to $10 million range, predominantly fed by Wall Street bonuses," says broker Barbara Corcoran. In San Francisco, prices are still rising even as frenzied overbidding quiets. "Instead of 20 to 30 offers, now maybe you only get two or three," says John Tealdi, a Bay Area real-estate broker. And most folks still feel pretty comfortable about their ability to find and keep a job. Many folks see silver linings to this slowdown. Potential home buyers would cheer for lower interest rates. Employers wouldn"t mind a little fewer bubbles in the job market. Many consumers seem to have been influenced by stock-market swings, which investors now view as a necessary ingredient to a sustained boom. Diners might see an upside, too. Getting a table at Manhattan"s hot new Alain Ducasse restaurant used to be impossible. Not anymore. For that, Greenspan & Co. may still be worth toasting.

单选题Imagine a Briton"s new year resolutions: he vows to stop smoking 20 cigarettes a day, and abandon his daily bottle of claret and nightly whisky. Confronting his enlarging gut, he may even promise to make his ten-mile round-trip commute by bike, not car. What admirable goals. And since this gentleman"s annual vice bill comes to around 7,500 pounds, he will be well-rewarded for his virtue even before considering the effect on his health. But the Treasury might rejoice a little less. In the fiscal year 2010-11 nearly 10% of all taxes collected came from duty on alcohol, tobacco, and fuel as well as from vehicle excise duty, a tax that falls most heavily on the least efficient cars. You may say that New Year resolutions are notoriously short-lived, but the longer-run trend still looks bad for the exchequer. Because many vices are in constant decline, so are receipts, predicts the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Smoking rates have been falling for decades, attributed partly to high taxes, and partly to public health campaigns changing social mores and a smoking ban in workplaces introduced across Britain in 2007. The government could respond by increasing sin tax rates. But when duties rise, so do the incentives to get around them, by buying abroad or on the black market. This is particularly common with cigarettes, which are easy for individual smokers to import. In 2000 non-duty consumption reached a peak of 78%, a consequence of the weak euro as well as a sudden increase in taxes of inflation plus 5%. Petrol taxes are leaking more quickly. As with smoking, behavior is changing: car and van mileage has fallen for four consecutive years, partly because petrol is so expensive and new vehicles have better engines. These trends, as well as the rise of electric and hybrid cars, are forecast to compress receipts from 1.8% of GDP in 2010 to just 1.1% in 2030. There are, of course, advantages to Britons giving up their filthy habits. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable illness and premature death in Britain. It cost the National Health Service more than 5 billion pounds a year in 2005-06, some 5.5% of its budget at the time, according to an Oxford University study. But any benefit to the NHS may be short-lived. Those who do not perish from diseases associated with smoking are likely to die more slowly of age-related illnesses. In moral terms, a decline in sin tax receipts suggests a job well done. But in fiscal terms, a hole is a hole. As the OBR sees it, falling Treasury income means Britons will be getting, in effect, an unannounced tax cut. Other taxes could therefore rise without leaving people worse off in aggregate. The maths makes sense. For the virtuous, though, being clobbered with new taxes may seem a rather poor reward.

单选题Coconut (椰子) is an unusual food for many reasons. It is one of the largest edible seeds produced by any plant. Its unusual contents also make it unique in the seed world—it consists of both "meat" and "water" inside. The coconut meat is the white substance with which we are all familiar, as it is used extensively for cooking and flavorings; the coconut water is a white and sweet liquid. Portuguese (葡萄牙的) explorers gave the nut its name in the 15th century, referring to it as coco, meaning "ghost" in their language. The outside appearance of coconuts reminded them of a ghost"s face, and the tree has had that name ever since. The coconut has varied uses. It is used to make various cooking oils for fast-food restaurants around the world to make diet materials. The coconut fluid is a favorite drink in hot climates, providing a cool and refreshing beverage right off the tree. This water is also used by manufacturers of various sports drinks. Even the shell itself has many uses, including animal food and fertilizer. Yet the coconut is also useful in many ways that have nothing to do with food. Coconut oil is used for cosmetics (化妆品), medicines, and so on. Dried coconut shells are used in many countries as a tool for shining wood floors. The shells are also used for shirt buttons, and are commonly found on Hawaiian clothing. They are even used for musical instruments and bird houses. And all these are only some of the uses found for the coconut fruit. The coconut tree, which produces the nut, also produces many useful things. It"s no wonder that the coconut tree has been taken as "the tree of life".