单选题Anyone who's ever taken a preschooler to the doctor knows they often cry more before the shot than afterward. Now researchers using brain scans to unravel the biology of dread have an explanation: For some people, anticipating pain is truly as bad as experiencing it. How bad? Among people who volunteered to receive electric shocks, almost a third opted for a stronger zap if they could just get it over with, instead of having to wait. More importantly, the research found that how much attention the brain pays to expected pain determines whether someone is an "extreme dreader" —suggesting that simple diversions could alleviate the misery. The research, published in the journal Science ,is part of a burgeoning new field called neu-ro-economics that uses brain imaging to try to understand how people make choices. Until now, most of that work has focused on reward, the things people will do for positive outcomes. "We were interested in the dark side of the equation," explained Dr. Gregory Berns of Emory University, who led the new study. "Dread often makes us make bad decisions.' Standard economic theory says that people should postpone bad outcomes for as long as possible, because something might happen in the interim to improve the outlook. In real life the "just get it over with" reaction is more likely, said Berns, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. He offers a personal example: he usually pays credit card bills as soon as they arrive instead of waiting until they're due,even though "it doesn't make any sense economically." So Berns designed a study to trace dread inside the brain. He put 32 volunteers into an MRI machine while giving them a series of 96 electric shocks to the foot. The shocks varied in intensity, from barely detectable to the pain of a needle jab. Participants were told one was coming, how strong it would be, and how long the wait for it would be, from 1 to 27 seconds. Later, participants were given choices: Would they prefer a medium jolt in 5 seconds or 27 seconds? What about a mild jolt in 20 seconds vs. a sharp one in 3 seconds? When the voltage was identical, the volunteers almost always chose the shortest wait. But those Berns dubbed "extreme dreaders" picked the worst shock if it meant not having to wait as long. The MRI scans showed that a brain network that governs how much pain people feel became active even before they were shocked, particularly the parts of this "pain matrix" that are linked to attention—but not brain regions involving fear and anxiety. The more dread bothered someone, the more attention the pain-sensing parts of the brain were paying to the wait. In other words, the mere information that you're about to feel pain "seems to be a source of misery," George Lowenstein,a specialist in economics and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, wrote in an accompanying review of the work. "These findings support the idea that the decision to delay or expedite an outcome depends critically on how a person feels while waiting," Lowenstein added. The National Institute on Drug Abuse funded the research. What's the link between dread and drug use? It's indirect, but now that scientists know how healthy people's brains anticipate unpleasant consequences, future studies can compare how drug abusers process such information.

单选题The sentence needs ______.A. to improveB. improveC. improvingD. improved

单选题Many parents who welcome the idea of turning off the TV and spending more time with the family are still worried that without TV they would constantly be on call as entertainers for their children. They remember (1) of all sorts of things to do when they were kids, but their own kids seem different, less resourceful, (2) When there's nothing to do, these parents observe (3) , their kids seem unable to (4) any thing to do besides turning on the TV. One father, (5) , says "When I was a kid, we were always thinking up things to do, projects and (6) . We certainly never complained in an (7) way to our parents, 'I have nothing to do!'" He compares this with his own children today: "If someone doesn't entertain them, they'll happily sit there in front of the (8) all day." There is one word for this father's (9) : unfair. It is as if he were disappointed in them for not reading Greek though they have never studied the language. He deplores his children's (10) of inventiveness, as if the ability to play were something (11) that his children are missing. In fact, while the tendency to play is built into the human species, the actual ability to play—to imagine, to invent, to elaborate on (12) in a playful way—and the ability to gain (13) from it, these are skills that have to be learn ed and developed. Such disappointment, (14) , is not only (15) , it is also destructive. Sensing their parents' disappointment, children come to believe that they are, indeed, lacking something, and that this makes them less worthy of (16) and respect. Giving children the opportunity to develop new (17) , to enlarge their horizons and (18) he pleasures of doing things on their own is, on the other hand, a way to help children develop a (19) feeling about themselves as (20) and interesting people.

单选题Why are "Berlin to Beijing and Boston" mentioned in the last paragraph?

单选题Many careers require a college degree; some jobs, ________, only require previous experience.

单选题In a conversation between friends, Americans regard it as sincere and truthful to______.

单选题She ______ making tea for us as soon as she let us in. A. set out B. set up C. set off D. set about

单选题{{B}}Passage Two{{/B}} To what extent are the unemployed failing in their duty to society to work, and how far has the State an obligation to ensure that they have work to do? It is by now increasingly recognized that workers may be thrown out of work by industrial forces beyond their control, and that the unemployed are in some sense paying the price of the economic progress of the rest of the community. But concern with unemployment and the unemployed varies sharply. The issues of duty and responsibility were reopened and revitalized by the unemployment scare of 1971-1972. Rising unemployment and increased sums paid out in benefits to the workless had reawakened controversies which had been inactive during most of the period of fuller employment since the war ended the Depression. It looked as though in future there would again be too little work to go round, so there were arguments about how to produce more work, how the available work should be shared out, and who was responsible for unemployment and the unemployed. In 1972 there were critics who said that the State's action in allowing unemployment to rise was a faithless act, a breaking of the social contract between society and the worker. Yet in the main any contribution by employers to unemployment such as lying off workers in order to introduce technological changes and maximize profits tended to be ignored. And it was the unemployed who were accused of failing to honor the social contract, by not fulfilling their duty to society to work. In spite of general concern at the scale to the unemployment statistics, when the unemployed were considered as individuals, they tended to attract scorn and threats of punishment. Their capacities and motivation as workers and their value as members of society became suspect. Of all the myths of the Welfare State, stories of the work shy and borrowers have been the least well founded on evidence, yet they have proved the most persistent. The unemployed were accused of being responsible for their own workless condition, and doubts were expressed about the State's obligation either to provide them with the security of work or to support them through Social Security. Underlying the arguments about unemployment and the unemployed is a basic disagreement about the nature and meaning of work in society. To what extent can or should work be regarded as a service, not only performed by the worker for society but also made secure for the worker by the State. and supported if necessary? And apart from cash are there social pressures and satisfactions which cause individuals to seek and keep work, so that the workless need work rather than just cash?

单选题Four broadcasting organizations were ordered by a judge yesterday to give the police the untransmitted film of a riot in Whitechapel, East London, last month. In a separate move, police have asked 25 print and broadcasting organizations to hand over all photographic and video material of violence at Welling, Kent, 10 days ago, and to provide a full list of reporters and photographers attending. Media lawyers believe it is the first time that police have demanded such a list. The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said yesterday that the Metropolitan Police"s action endangered the safety of those reporting outbreaks of disorder. Judge Gerald Butler ruled in the Whitechapel case at Southwark crown court that public interest demanded the BBC, ITN, Sky News and London News Network should surrender footage of violence. Establishing the guilt or innocence of those involved "for outweighed perceived loss of integrity" of the TV companies. The violence on September 10 involved 300 mainly Asian demonstrators outside the Royal London Hospital where a man was in a coma following a racist attack. Thirty-one police officers and five members of the public were injured. Judge Butler said: "This material is crucial to these matters. I do not see how the integrity and impartiality of these involved should be affected when it is an order of the courts." A spokeswoman for ITN declined to comment on the Southwark case, but said the BBC, ITN and Sky and agreed common guidelines for dealing with police requests for film. Under the guidelines broadcasters would require a signed statement from police, giving precise details of an alleged offence and the location where it was supposed to have occurred. The guidelines are designed to prevent a general fishing expedition by the police. INT said: "We do not want to impede or obstruct the course of justice, but we have our impartial reporting and reputation to maintain." Forty-one demonstrators and 19 police officers were injured in violence at Welting, which erupted when Anti-Nazi League protesters were prevented from marching on a British National Party bookshop. A letter from Detective Inspector Brian George warns editors that failure to hand over material will result in a crown court application under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. Tim Gopsill, spokesman for the NUJ, exposed surprise that the police were seeking material from Welling because they had used their own photographers and cameramen to record the march. He accused the police of carrying out a general trawl for material. At least five photographers had been attacked at Welling, Mr. Gopsill said. Photographers would be put in serious danger if demonstrators believed their pictures were going to be used to prosecute them. A number of demonstrators who took part in the Trafalgar Square toll tax riot of 1990 were jailed as a result of photographic evidence obtained by police form media organizations.

单选题Her years at the college were important as she was _______ to many different cultures.

单选题Parents have to do much less for their children than they used to do, and home has become much less of a workshop. Clothes can be bought ready made; washing can be done at the laundry; food can be bought cooked, canned; bread is baked and delivered by the baker; milk arrives on the doorstep; meal can be had at the restaurant, the work's canteen, and the school dining room. It's unusual now for father to pursue(追求)his trade of other employment at home, and his children rarely, if ever, see him at his place of work. Boys are therefore seldom trained to follow their father's business, and in many towns they have a fairly wide choice of employment and so do girls. The young wage-earner often earns good money, and soon gains a feeling Of economic independence (经济上的独立). In textile areas it has been customary for mothers to go out to work, but this practice has become so widespread that the working mother is now not an unusual factor in a child's home life, the number of married women in employment having more than doubled in the last twenty- five years. With mother earning and older children drawing wages, father is seldom the most important figure that he still was at the beginning of the century. When mother works, economic advantages increase, but children lose something of great value if mother's employment prevents her from being home to greet them when they return from school.

单选题The two astronauts ______ someday hope it is to fly the craft into earth orbit were flight testing.

单选题You can only fly to London this evening _____ you don`t mind changing planes in Paris.

单选题After World War Ⅱ the glorification of an ever-larger GNP formed the basis of a new materialism, which became a sacred obligation for all Japanese governments, businesses and trade unions. Anyone who mentioned the undesirable by-products of rapid economic growth was treated as a heretic. Consequently, everything possible was done to make conditions easy for the manufacturers. Few dared question the wisdom of discharging untreated waste into the nearest water body or untreated smoke into the atmosphere. This silence was maintained by union leaders as well as by most of the country's radicals; except for a few isolated voices, no one protested. An insistence on treatment of the various effluents would have necessitated expenditures on treatment equipment that in turn would have given rise to higher operating costs. Obviously, this would have meant higher prices for Japanese goods, and ultimately fewer sales and lower industrial growth and GNP. The pursuit of nothing but economic growth is illustrated by the response of the Japanese government to the American educational mission that visited Japan in 1947. After surveying Japan's educational program, the Americans suggested that the Japanese fill in their curriculum gap by creating departments in chemical and sanitary engineering. Immediately, chemical engineering departments were established in all the country's universities and technical institutions. In contrast, the recommendation to form sanitary engineering departments was more or less ignored, because they could bring no profit. By 1960, only two second-rate universities, Kyoto and Hokkaido, were interested enough to open such departments. The reluctance to divert funds from production to conservation is explanation enough for a certain degree of pollution, but the situation was made worse by the type of technology the Japanese chose to adopt for their industrial expansion. For the most part, they simply copied American industrial methods. This meant that methods originally designed for use in a country that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific with lots of air and water to use as sewage receptacles were adopted for an area a fraction of the size. Moreover, the Japanese diet was much more dependent on water as a source of fish and as an input in the irrigation of rice; consequently discharged wastes built up much more rapidly, in the food chain. (373 words)Notes: heretic 异教徒。sanitary 卫生的。for the most part 基本上。receptacle 储存地。

单选题According to the text, the public response to Mr Philips' claim is

单选题Had I had a little more money on me, I could have bought ______ more postcards.

单选题From the hardware implementation point of view, the abstract machine is not organized with ______. A．caches B．buses C．virtual memory D．pipeline

单选题Who is poor in America? This is a hard question to answer. Despite poverty's messiness, we've measured progress against it by a single statistic: the federal poverty line. In 2008, the poverty threshold was $ 21,834 for a four-member family with two children under 18. By 1his measure, we haven't made much progress. Except for recessions, when the poverty rate can rise to 15 percent, it's stayed in a narrow range for decades. In 2007—the peak of the last business cycle—the poverty rate was 12.5 percent; one out of eight Americans was "poor. " In 1969, another business-cycle peak, the poverty rate was 12.1 percent. But the apparent lack of progress is misleading for two reasons. First, it ignores immigration. Many immigrants are poor and low skilled. They add to the poor. From 1989 to 2007, about three quarters of the increase in the poverty population occurred among Hispanics—mostly immigrants, their children, and grandchildren. The poverty rate for blacks fell during this period, though it was still much too high (24.5 percent in 2007). Poverty "experts" don't dwell on immigration, because it implies that more restrictive policies might reduce U.S. poverty. Second, the poor's material well-being has improved. The official poverty measure obscures this by counting only pretax cash income and ignoring other sources of support. These include the earned-income tax credit (a rebate to low-income workers), food stamps, health insurance (Medicaid), and housing subsidies. Although many poor live hand to mouth, they've participated in rising living standards. In 2005, 91 percent had microwaves, 79 percent air-conditioning, and 48 percent cell phones. The existing poverty line could be improved by adding some income sources and subtracting some expenses (example: child care). Unfortunately, the administration's proposal for a "supplemental poverty measure" in 2011—to complement, not replace, the existing poverty line—goes beyond that. The new poverty number would compound public confusion. It also raises questions about whether the statistic is tailored to favor a political agenda. The "supplemental measure" ties the poverty threshold to what the poorest third of Americans spend on food, housing, clothing, and utilities. The actual threshold not yet calculated—will probably be higher than today's poverty line. Moreover, this definition has strange consequences. Suppose that all Americans doubled their income tomorrow, and suppose that their spending on food, clothing, housing, and utilities also doubled. That would seem to signify less poverty—but not by the new poverty measure. It wouldn't decline, because the poverty threshold would go up as spending went up. Many Americans would find this weird., people get richer, but "poverty" stays stuck. What produces this outcome is a different view of poverty. The present concept is an absolute one: the poverty threshold reflects the amount estimated to meet basic needs. By contrast, the new measure embraces a relative notion of poverty: people are automatically poor if they're a given distance from the top, even if their incomes are increasing.

单选题The storm sweeping over this area is sure to cause ______ of vegetables in the coming days. A. rarity B. sufficiency C. scarcity D. invalidity