单选题These countries sent food packages to designated recipients in Europe soon after the disaster.

单选题Steady interest and strong local ______in non-core shopping districts are backing retailers.

单选题Only two countries in the advanced world provide no guarantee for paid leave from work to care for a newborn child. Last spring one of the two, Australia, gave up that dubious distinction by establishing paid family leave starting in 2011. I wasn"t surprised when this didn"t make the news here in the United States—we"re now the only wealthy country without such a policy. The United States does have one explicit family policy, the Family and Medical Leave Act , passed in 1993. It entitles workers to as much as 12 weeks" unpaid leave for care of a newborn or dealing with a family medical problem. Despite the modesty of the benefit, the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups fought it bitterly, describing it as "government-run personnel management" and a "dangerous precedent". In fact, every step of the way, as (usually) Democratic, leaders have tried to introduce work-family balance measures into the law, business groups have been strongly opposed. As Yale law professor Anne Alston argues, justifying parental support depends on defining the family as a social good that, in some sense, society must pay for. In her book No Exit What Parents Owe Their Children and What Society Owes Parents , she argues that parents are burdened in many ways in their lives: there is "no exit" when it comes to children. "Society expects—and needs—parents to provide their children with continuity of care meaning the intensive, intimate care that human beings need to develop their intellectual, emotional, and moral capabilities. And society expects-and needs-parents to persist in their role for 18 years, or longer needed." While most parents do this out of love, there are public penalties for not providing care. What parents do, in other words, is of deep concern to the state, for the obvious reason that caring for children is not only morally urgent but essential for the future of society. The state recognizes this in the large body of family laws that govern children"s welfare, yet parents receive little help in meeting the life-changing obligations society imposes. To classify parenting as a personal choice for which there is no collective responsibility is not merely to ignore the social benefits of good parenting; really, it is to steal those benefits because they accrue to the whole of society as today"s children become tomorrow"s productive citizenry. In fact, by some estimates, the value of parental investments in children, investments of time and money (including lost wages), is equal to 20%—30% of gross domestic product. If these investments generate huge social benefits—as they clearly do—the benefits of providing more social support for the family should be that much clearer.

单选题A complete investigation into the accident should lead to improved standards and should ______ new operating procedures. A. attribute B. result in C. match with D. proceed with

单选题______ is the smallest unit of language in regard to the relationship between sounding and meaning, a unit that cannot be divided into further smaller units without destroying or drastically altering the meaning.

单选题I found her sitting in the corner, reading _____ newspaper, with _____ in her eye.

单选题While Tony was walking in the street, he came ______ an old classmate of his.

单选题An unending flow of private and public criticism suggests that the people of the United States suffer【C1】______government, national, state and local, 【C2】______is corrupt and inefficient. The criticism reflects the【C3】______standards which the Americans have【C4】______as their ideals. The political system has provided the【C5】______for a society adapting itself【C6】______continuing rapid change【C7】______a scale never seen anywhere before, to immigration, to the development of the west, to the【C8】______of new technology, and to spontaneous economic【C9】______At the same time it has, 【C10】______the whole, avoided oppression and provided the means of expressing【C11】______well the wishes of this huge and【C12】______population, so that violent discontents have been【C13】______Finally, it has provided the 【C14】______for the United States to be a world【C15】______on a scale that has not been【C16】______before, using its power for influence , 【C17】______conquest【C18】______have been mistakes and tragedies, but【C19】______by the standard of human society as a whole they have been【C20】______, and overshadowed by successes.

单选题Historians tend to tell the same joke when they are describing history education in America. It"s the one 1 the teacher standing in the schoolroom door 2 goodbye to students for the summer and calling 3 them, "By the way, we won World WarⅡ." The problem with the joke, of course, is that it"s 4 funny. The recent surveys on 5 illiteracy (无知) are beginning to numb (令人震惊) : nearly one third of American 17-year-olds cannot even 6 which countries the United States 7 against in that war. One third have no 8 when the Declaration of Independence was 9 One third thought Columbus reached the New World after 1750. Two thirds cannot correctly 10 the Civil War between 1850 and 1900. 11 when they get the answers right, some are 12 guessing. Unlike math or science, ignorance of history cannot be 13 connected to loss of international 14 But it does affect our future 15 a democratic nation and as individuals. The 16 news is that there is growing agreement 17 what is wrong with the 18 of history and what needs to be 19 to fix it. The steps are tentative (尝试性) 20 yet to be felt in most classrooms.

单选题Of the thousands of varieties of bird species in North America,______bright red plumage, like the cardinal, are most often designated as state bird.

单选题The struggle to succeed in one of the world's most competitive societies is starting earlier and earlier, and is most evident in the growing popularity of special schools that train students during evenings and weekends to pass the examinations required to enter private schools and colleges. Once on the edge of the educational system, such schools, or jukus, are now so common in Japan that, especially for those people at the top level of society, they have begun to replace regular schools in importance for parents and students and even reaching down to 2 and 3-year-old children. The rise of jukus is praised by some as one of the secrets of Japanese success, a healthy sign of a system where people advance on the basis of merit. It is also criticized as a movement forcing a new generation of Japanese to sacrifice their childhood out of an extreme desire for status and getting ahead. The people who run and teach at jukus say the schools are popular only because they work, creating a lively and interesting environment in which students learn because they are enjoying themselves. One of the most prestigious jukus for 2 and 3-year-olds sends most of its pre-kindergarten graduates to prestigious elementary schools. If these students get good grades in a prestigious school, they can advance all the way to a university without having to take examinations. Jukus defenders say that students are only gaining the discipline and the ability to endure pressure that they will need in life. But the very success of jukus in training youngsters to pass exams has made the competition worse: jukus help more students pass exams, so the exams have to be made more difficult. " Jukus are raising a generation of kids who only know how to pass entrance examinations," said an official of the Japan Teachers Union. " But the most important educational purpose is giving children the ability to live in society.That's being left out." The Education Ministry has tried to combat the juku system by improving public schools, reducing class sizes, improving teacher training, and making the curriculum more flexible. But ministry officials concede that those steps have not worked.

单选题According to the 28th annual survey of college freshmen conducted by the American Council on Education UCLA, ______.

单选题{{B}}Passage 5{{/B}} Most people who develop Lyme disease, a tick-born infection that's endemic in parts of the Northeast and Midwest, are easily cured by taking an antibiotic like doxycycline for a couple of weeks. But for years a debate has raged over what to do about patients whose symptoms (fatigue, mental confusion, joint pain) never seem to clear up. One small but vocal group of doctors and patient advocates believes that Lyme's corkscrew-shaped spirochetes have tunneled deep into their victims' bodies and can be eradicated only with intensive antibiotic treatment over many months. Another group believes, just as adamantly, that the bacteria are long gone, making further treatment with powerful antibiotics-- which can lead to potentially fatal infections or blood clots--positively dangerous. Now comes word of two studies in the New England Journal of Medicine that show that long-term antibiotic treatment is no better than a placebo for folks with chronic Lyme disease. Originally scheduled for publication in July, the research is part of a group of findings made public last week--just in time for the peak Lyme months of June and July. If confirmed by another major study that's looking at chronic Lyme and antibiotics from a slightly different perspective, the results would seem to settle the question once and for all. Researchers from Boston, New Haven, Conn., and Valhalla, N.Y., followed 129 patients who had previously been treated for well-documented cases of Lyme disease. Sixty-four were given antibiotics directly into their veins for a month, followed by two months of oral antibiotics. The others received dummy medications. A third of the chronic Lyme patients got better while taking the antibiotics. But so did a third of those on the placebo. Indeed, the results were so similar that a monitoring board decided to cut the trials short rather than add more subjects to the test groups. Unfortunately, the debate over chronic Lyme has become so heated that no one expects the controversy to go away. But both sides may take comfort in the other findings that were released by the New England Journal last week. After studying 482 subjects bitten by deer ticks in a part of New York with a lot of Lyme disease, researchers concluded that a singly 200-mg dose of doxycycline dramatically cut the risk of contracting the disease. That good news is tempered somewhat by the fact that 80% of patients who develop the infection don't remember ever being bitten by a tick. (The bugs inject an anesthetic into the skin to mask the pain and in their nymph stage are so small--about the size of a poppy seed--that they are easily overlooked. ) There's still plenty you can do to protect yourself in a Lyme-infested neighborhood: tuck your pants in your socks, spray DEET on your clothing, check yourself and your kids for ticks. And if you develop a spreading red rash--particularly if it's accompanied by joint pain, chills or confusion--make sure you see a doctor right away. The trick, as always, is to be vigilant without overreacting.

单选题If children who cannot write are asked to write the story they have been told orally , they tend to scribble in ______ across a page. A. patterns B. designs C. models D. scratches

单选题Over and over in War of the Worlds, he evokes the sensation, more familiar from dreams than movies, ______an otherworldly entity, glimpsed from a great distance, ______suddenly, violently clawing its way into your personal space.

单选题White rice is the world's most popular form office. But it goes through a milling process that removes many nutrients (营养成分). As a result, people who eat a poor diet based on white rice may not get enough vitamin A. Each year about 250,000 to 500,000 children go blind from vitamin A deficiency. The World Health Organization (WHO) says haft of them die within a year of losing their sight. Vitamin A deficiency is a problem especially in Africa and Southeast Asia. So scientists thought of an answer. They combined white rice with plant compounds that the body can change into vitamin A. These plant colorings give the rice a golden color. The scientists also thought of a plan to give away this Golden Rice for free to poor farmers. But the rice cannot be made using traditional methods. The scientists worked for ten years, until 1990, to develop the technology to add genes to rice. Then it took nine more years to get the genes they wanted into the seed. Professor Ingo Potrykus says rice with two added genes will be available in 2013. One gene comes from maize, or corn, and the other from a soil bacterium (细菌). Opponents say such crops may cause environmental damage by breeding with other plants. Opponents also question the safety of Golden Rice. However, Mr. Potrykus says Golden Rice has never been shown to be unsafe for the environment or people. Many agricultural organizations support the project.

单选题Many young people like ______ coffee.

单选题Under what conditions will the formation of cancer begin? ( )