单选题 "Nanny", "tyrant"—these were among the charges hurled at Michael Bloomberg, New York's mayor, when he proposed a ban on big fizzy-drink bottles last May. The billionaire shrugged and pushed forward. However even Mr. Bloomberg must heed a court order. The American Beverage Association, which represents Coca-Cola and other soda companies, has sued. Mr. Bloomberg's ban is due to start on March 12th, but a judge may intervene. Three years after Michelle Obama launched her Let's Move! campaign, the fight against childhood obesity faces a tactical problem. Recent years have been dipping obesity rates in a few places, including New York, Mississippi and Philadelphia. But 17% of American children are still obese. The question is how to speed up progress. Further bans look increasingly unlikely. Voluntary programs remain politically much easier. Mrs. Obama has exhorted firms to take action. Many companies have. On March 6th the Partnership for a Healthier America, a business group, published a report praising its members for putting more grocers in poor areas and healthier foods at restaurants. Sixteen food and beverage companies have promised to slash a combined 1.5 trillion calories from their products by 2015. Their first progress report is due in June. The long-term effect of these efforts may be slim. For example, even if the food and drink firms keep their promise, they would cut just 14 calories from the average American's daily diet. Regulations might bring bigger change, but recent years suggest that such rules will come slowly, if at all. Congress did pass a law requiring healthier school lunches, though its effects are limited. Other attempts at national regulation have stalled. Four federal agencies studied voluntary guidelines to limit junk-food advertisements to children. Under pressure from Congress, the agencies dropped the effort. Obamacare requires that all restaurants and cinemas post the number of calories in their foods. The Food and Drug Administration proposed a rule for menus in 2011, but has yet to finalise the regulation. Cities and states are more likely to act than Congress (hardly a high bar), but they face their own challenges. Last year the beverage lobby spent more than $2.8m to defeat a soda tax in the small city of Richmond, California. Even Mr. Bloomberg, the anti-obesity crusade's most fervent warrior, can only do so much.

单选题Speaker A: Hi. Excuse me, ...um ...do you need any help? Speaker B: ______ A. Yes, but are you sure you can help me? B. Oh, yes. Do you have tennis shoes? C. Well, I'd like one chicken burger and a cup of coke, please. D. Oh, yes, I do. I've been walking around in circles. I can't seem to find the train station.

单选题{{B}}Text 4{{/B}} You could benefit from flipping through the pages of I Can't Believe You Asked That, a book by author Phillip Milano that's subtitled, A No-Holds-Barred Q & A About Race, Sex, Religion, and Other Terrifying Topics. For the past seven years, Milano--who describes himself as "a straight, white middle class married guy raised in an affluent suburb of Chicago'--has operated yforum, com, a Web site that was created to get us talking. Through the posting of probing, provocative and sometimes simply inane questions and the answers they generate, people are encouraged to have a no-holds-barred exchange on topics across racial, ethnic and cultural lines. More often than not, the questions grow out of our biases and fears and the stereotypes that fuel misunderstanding among us. As with the Web site, Milano hopes his book will be a social and cultural elixir. "The time is right for a new culture of curiosity' to begin to unfold, with people finally breaking clown the {{U}}last barrier{{/U}} to improve race and cultural relations" by actually talking to each other about their differences, Milano said in an e-mail message to me. Milano wisely used the Internet to spark these conversations. In seven years, it has generated 50,000 postings--many of them questions that people find hard to ask in a face-to-face exchange with the subjects of their inquiries. But in his book, which was published earlier this month, Milano gives readers an opportunity to read the questions and a mix of answers that made it onto his Web site. "I am curious about what people who have been blind from birth 'see' in their dreams," a 13-year- old boy wanted to know. "Why do so many mentally disabled people have such poor-looking haircuts and 'nerdy' clothes?" a woman asked. "How do African-Americans perceive God?" a white teenager wanted to know. "Do they pray to a white God or a black God?" Like I said, these questions can generate a range of emotions and reactions. But the point of Milano's Web site, and his book, is not to get people mad, but to inform us "about the lives and experiences" of others. Though many of the answers that people offered to the questions posed in his book are conflicting, these responses are balanced by the comments of experts whose responses to the queries also appear in the book. Getting people to openly say what they are thinking about things that give rise to stereotypes and bigotry has never been easy. Most of us save those conversations for gatherings of people who look or think like us.

单选题Unfortunately, he is quite jealous ______ his neighbor's new car.

单选题To the north of the city ______ a small island. A. lain B. lies C. was there D. there lays

单选题He has won a ______ of three hundred dollars to Oxford.

单选题Abstract art also called nonobjective art, or nonrepresentational art, is painting, sculpture, or graphic art in which the portrayal of things from the visible world plays no part. All art consists largely of elements that can be called abstract—elements of form, color, line, tone, and texture. Prior to the 20th century these abstract elements were employed by artists to describe, illustrate, or reproduce the world of nature and of human civilization—and exposition dominated over expressive function. Abstract art has its origins in the 19th century. The period characterized by so vast a body of elaborately representational art produced for the sake of illustrating anecdote also produced a number of painters who examined the mechanism of light and visual perception. The period of Romanticism had put forward ideas about art that denied classicism's emphasis on imitation and idealization and had instead stressed the role of imagination and of the unconscious as the essential creative factors. Gradually many painters of this period began to accept the new freedom and the new responsibilities implied in the coalescence of these attitudes. Maurice Denis's statement of 1890, "It should be remembered that a picture—before being a war-horse, a nude, or an anecdote of some sort—is essentially a fiat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order," summarizes the feeling among the Symbolist and Postimpressionist artists of his time. All the major movements of the first two decades of the 20th century, in some way emphasized the gap between art and natural appearances. There is, however, a deep distinction between abstracting from appearances, even if to the point of unrecognizability, and making works of art out of forms not drawn from the visible world. During the several years preceding World War I, such artists as Robert Delaunay and Vladimir Tatlin turned to fundamentally abstract art. (Kandinsky is generally regarded as having been the first modem artist to paint purely abstract pictures containing no recognizable objects.) The majority of even the progressive artist regarded the abandonment of every degree of representation with disfavor, however. During World War I the emergence of the De Stijl group and of the Dada group further widened the spectrum of abstract art. Abstract art did not flourish between World Wars I and II. Beset by totalitarian politics and by art movements placing renewed emphasis on imagery, such as Surrealism, it received little notice. But after World War II an energetic American school of abstract painting called Abstract Expressionism emerged and had wide influence. Since the 1950s abstract art has been an accepted and widely practiced approach within European and American painting and sculpture. Abstract art has puzzled and indeed confused many people, but for those who have accepted its non referential language there is no doubt as to its value and achievements.

单选题The mountain is 1,000 feet ______ the sea level.

单选题He's been working in the field ______ early this morning.

单选题 At least since the Industrial Revolution, gender roles have been in a state of transition. As a result, cultural scripts about marriage have undergone change. One of the more obvious {{U}}(46) {{/U}} has occurred in the roles that women {{U}}(47) {{/U}}. Women have moved into the world of work and have become adept at meeting expectations in that arena, {{U}}(48) {{/U}} maintaining their family roles of nurturing and creating a(n) {{U}}(49) {{/U}} that is a haven for all family members. {{U}}(50) {{/U}} many women experience strain from trying to "do it all," they often enjoy the increased {{U}}(51) {{/U}} that can result from playing multiple roles. As women's roles have changed, changing expectations about men's roles have become more {{U}}(52) {{/U}}. Many men are relinquishing their major responsibility {{U}}(53) {{/U}} the family provider. Probably the most significant change in men's roles, however, is in the emotional {{U}}(54) {{/U}} of family life. Men are increasingly {{U}}(55) {{/U}} to meet the emotional needs of their families, {{U}}(56) {{/U}} their wives. In fact, expectations about the emotional domain of marriage have become more significant for marriage in general. Research on {{U}}(57) {{/U}} marriage has changed over recent decades points to the increasing importance of the emotional side of the relationships and the importance of sharing in the "emotion work" {{U}}(58) {{/U}} to nourish marriages and other family relationships. Men and women want to experience marriages that are interdependent,{{U}}(59) {{/U}} both partners nurture each other, attend and respond to each other, and encourage and promote each other. We are thus seeing marriages in which men's and women's roles are becoming increasingly more {{U}}(60) {{/U}}.

单选题The effect of the baby boom on the schools helped to make possible a shift in thinking about the role of public education in the 1920's. In the 1920's, but especially (1) the Depression of the 1930's, the United States experienced a (2) birth rate. Then with the prosperity (3) on by the Second World War and the economic boom that followed it, young people married and (4) households earlier and began to (5) larger families than had their (6) during the Depression. Birth rates rose to 102 per thousand in 1946, 106.2 in 1950, and 118 in 1955. (7) economics was probably the most important (8) , it is not the only explanation for the baby boom. The increased value placed (9) the idea of the family also helps to (10) this rise in birth rates. The baby boomers began streaming (11) the first grade by the mid-1940's and became a (12) by 1950. The public school system suddenly found itself (13) The wartime economy meant that few new schools were buih between 1940 and 1945. (14) , large numbers of teachers left their profession during that period for better-paying jobs elsewhere. (15) , in the 1950's, the baby boom hit an antiquated and inadequate school system. Consequently, the custodial rhetoric of the 1930's no longer made (16) ; keeping youths ages sixteen and older out of the labor market by keeping them in school could no longer be a high (17) for an institution unable to find space and staff to teach younger children. With the baby boom, the focus of educators (18) turned toward the lower grades and back to basic academic skills and (19) . The system no longer had much (20) in offering nontraditional, new, and extra services to older youths.

单选题Canned foods are______with housewives because it takes so little lime to cook them.

单选题For reasons yet to be fully understood, one out of ten human beings in the world is left-handed, and from one generation to the next, this ratio is roughly preserved. As we know, left-handedness cuts across socioeconomic, ethnic, and gender lines. Yet throughout history prominent figures in science—to say nothing of religion—have identified in left-handedness signs of viciousness or worse. In 1903, Italian physician Cesare Lombroso identified left-handedness as one of the degeneracy signs of the born criminals. Three years later, Dr. Wilhelm Fliess suggested that left-handedness was a reliable identification of homosexuality. And in 1937 British psychologist Cyril Burt declared left-handedness to be a mark of an ill-organized nervous system. As demonstrated by all the "therapeutic" coercion that left-handed children were subjected to during the first half of the 20th century, these biases had more than just a theoretical impact. Yet even when this gauche predilection was being discouraged, handism was certainly never taken as seriously as racism or sexism now is. Perhaps it's the arbitrary nature of the trait that has militated against meaningful discrimination. After all, even when both parents are right-handed, there is still a 10 percent Chance that they will bring a left-handed baby into the world. Moreover, a white baby born in Scarsdale is just as likely to be left-handed as a black baby in Harlem. Hence when the left-handed George Bush became President of the United States, it was hardly interpreted as a blow against prejudice. Nor was much attention paid to the fact that Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford were also southpaws.

单选题Passage 4 The United States is a country made up of many different races. Usually they are mixed together and can't be told from one another. But many of them still talk about where their ancestors came from. It is something they are proud of. The original Americans, of course were the Indians. The so-called white men who then came were mostly from England. But many came from other countries like Germany and France. One problem the United States has always had is discrimination. As new groups came to the United States they found they were discriminated against. First it was the Irish and Italians. Later it was the blacks. Almost every group has been able to finally escape this discrimination. The only immigrants who have not are the blacks. Surprisingly enough the worst discrimination today is shown towards the Indians. One reason the Indians are discriminated against is that they have tried so hard to keep their identity. Of course they are not the only ones who have done so. The Japanese have their Little Tokyo in Los Angeles and the Chinese a Chinatown in New York. The Dutch settlement in Pennsylvania also stays separate from other people. Their towns are like something from the 19th century. They have a different reason from the other groups for staying separately. They live separately for religious reasons rather than keep together in a racial group. Although some groups have kept themselves separate and others have been discriminated against, all groups have helped make the United States a great county. There is no group that has not helped in some way. And there is no group that can say they have done the most to make it a great country. Many people still come from other countries to help the United States grow. A good example is the American project that let a man walk on the moon. It was a scientist from Germany who was most responsible for doing that. It is certain that in the future the United States will still need the help of people from all racial groups to remain a great country.

单选题If you undertake this project you are bound to ______ many difficulties.

单选题Ocean waves can cut {{U}}imposing{{/U}} cliffs along coastlines. A. immobile B. impermeable C. impressive D. imaginative

单选题An archaeologist has to pay much attention to______details of an unearthed object. A. miserable B. punched C. minute D. moist

单选题By "at best, the results point to the least change people can expect", (Lines 7～8, Paragraph 3) the researchers try to tell us that

单选题It is often claimed that nuclear energy is something we cannot do without. We live in a consumer society where there is an enormous demand for commercial products of all kinds. Moreover, an increase in industrial production is considered to be one solution to the problem of mass unemployment. Such an increase presumes an abundant and cheap energy supply. Many people believe that nuclear energy provides an inexhaustible and economical source of power and that it is therefore essential for an industrially developing society. There are a number of other advantages in the use of nuclear energy. Firstly, nuclear power, except for accidents, is clean. A further advantage is that a nuclear power station can be run and maintained by relatively few technical and administrative staff. The nuclear reactor represents an enormous step in our scientific evolution and, whatever the antinuclear group says, it is wrong to expect a return to more primitive sources of fuel. However, opponents of nuclear energy point out that nuclear power stations bring a direct threat not only to the environment but also to civil liberties. Furthermore, it is questionable whether ultimately nuclear power is a cheap source of energy. There have, for example, been very costly accidents in America, in Britain and, of course, in Russia. The possibility of increases in the cost of uranium (铀) in addition to the cost of greater safety provisions could price nuclear power out of the market. In the long run, environmentalists argue nuclear energy wastes valuable resources and disturbs the ecology to an extent which could bring about the destruction of the human race. Thus, if we wish to survive, we cannot afford nuclear energy. In spite of the case against unclear energy outlined above, nuclear energy programmes are expanding. Such an expansion assumes a continual growth in industrial production and consumer demands. However, it is doubtful whether this growth will or can continue. Having weighed up the arguments on both sides, it seems there are good economic and ecological reasons for sources of energy other than nuclear power.

单选题"Popular art" has a number of meanings, impossible to define with any precision, which range from folklore to junk. The poles are clear enough, but the middle tends to blur. The Hollywood Western of the 1930" s, for example, has elements of folklore", but is closer to junk than to high art or folk art. There can be great trash, just as there is bad high art. The musicals of George Gershwin are great popular art, never aspiring to high art. Schubert and Brahms, however, used elements of popular music—folk themes—in works clearly intended as high art. The case of Verdi is a different one: he took a popular genre—bourgeois melodrama set to music ( an accurate definition of nineteenth-century opera)—and, without altering its fundamental nature, transmuted it into high art. This remains one of the greatest achievements in music, and one that cannot be fully appreciated without recognizing the essential trashiness of the genre. As an example of such a transmutation, consider what Verdi made of the typical political elements of nineteenth-century opera. Generally in the plots of these operas, a hero or heroine—usually portrayed only as an individual, unfettered by class—is caught between the immoral corruption of the aristocracy and the doctrinaire rigidity or secret greed of the leaders of the proletariat. Verdi transforms this naive and unlikely formulation with music of extraordinary energy and rhythmic vitality , music more subtle than it seems at first hearing. There are scenes and arias that still sound like calls to arms and were clearly understood as such when they were first performed. Such pieces lend an immediacy to the otherwise veiled political message of these operas and call up feelings beyond those of the opera itself. Or consider Verdi"s treatment of character. Before Verdi, there were rarely any characters at all in musical drama, only a series of situations which allowed the singers to express a series of emotional states. Any attempt to find coherent psychological portrayal in these operas is misplaced ingenuity. The only coherence was the singer"s vocal technique: when the cast changed, new arias were almost always substituted, generally adapted from other operas. Verdi"s characters, on the other hand, have genuine consistency and integrity, even if, in many cases, the consistency is that of pasteboard melodrama. The integrity of the character is achieved through the music: once he had become established, Verdi did not rewrite his music for different singers or countenance alterations or substitutions of somebody else"s arias in one of his operas, as every eighteenth-century composer had done. When he revised an opera, it was only for dramatic economy and effectiveness.