单选题(The population) of this small town has (more than) (doubled) it in the past (few decades).

单选题Preliminary estimation puts the figure at around $110 billion, ______ file $160 billion the President is struggling to get through the Congress.

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单选题{{B}}Directions: There are five reading passages in this part. Each passage is followed by tour questions. For each question there are four suggested answers marked A, B, C and D. Choose one best answer and write down the corresponding letter.{{/B}}{{B}}Passage One{{/B}} "Hi there. How's it going?" "Oh, fine. Fine. How about this weather, huh?" "Well, I guess we can always use the rain." 'What's that? This story? Oh, just a little look at small talk. You know, those seemingly meaningless conversations you have dozens of times a day. Maybe you're waiting for the elevator. Or in a line at the bank. It all seems pretty trivial. Idle chatter about traffic doesn't do much more than fill the air with empty words that are quickly forgotten. But you should know that small talk actually has a big place in our lives. Pat Oliver, assistant professor on arts, says that, "Left unchecked, small talk can be an invasion. It's so powerful. It does something to you." "Every morning after spending an hour and a half on the freeway I start the day with small talk with my secretary," Oliver says, "If I don't make small connection with another person, I can' t work." What causes it? As a rule, you're either trying to force something into your life, or you're using conversation as an invisible force field to keep them out. You can be wanting to connect with another person, and small talk is your introduction to more meaningful conversation. The way people use small talk is usually determined by where they happen to be at the time. Take the elevator, for instance. Now there's prime territory. Nobody knows anyone and there's no reason to start a conversation, but invariably, someone does. Making conversation in such peaceful social settings, according to Oliver, "can confirm your territory. It's a way of feeling liked and accepted." The topics of small talk don't matter. In fact, you don't want anything more taxing than the weather or the traffic. It's non-threatening talk in a threatening situation. However, the rules change quickly when you're with lots of people doing lots of talking. Let's say you're at a party. Now it' s time to use small talk as a way of making others feel more comfortable around you, so you don' t look silly standing by the food table alone all night.

单选题Passage Two In the 1920s, the pioneers of artificial intelligence (AI) predicted that, by the end of this century, computers would be conversing with us at work and robots would be performing our housework. But as useful as computers are, they are nowhere close to achieving anything remotely resembling these early aspirations for humanlike behavior. Never mind something as complex as conversation: the most powerful computers struggle to reliably recognize the shape of an object, the most elementary of tasks for a ten-month-old kid. A growing group of AI researchers think they know where the field went wrong. The problem, the scientists say, is that AI has been trying to separate the highest, most abstract levels of thought, like language and mathematics, and to duplicate them with logical, step-by-step programs. A new movement in AI, on the other hand, takes a closer look at the more roundabout way in which nature came up with intelligence. Many of these researchers study evolution and natural adaptation instead of formal logic and conventional programs. Rather than digital computers and transistors, some want to work with brain cells and proteins. The results of these early efforts are as promising as they are peculiar, and the new nature-based AL movement is slowly but surely moving to the forefront of the field. Imitating the brain's neural network is a huge step in the right direction, says computer scientist and biophysicist Michael Conrad, but it still missed an important aspect of natural intelligence. "People tend to treat brain as if it were made up of color-coded transistors. " He explains, "But it's not simply a clever network of switches. There are lots of important things going on inside the brain cells themselves." Specifically, Conrad believes that many of the brains' capabilities stem from the pattern-recognition proficiency of the individual molecules that make up each brain cell. The best way to build an artificially intelligent device, he claims, would be to build around the same sort of molecular skills. Right now, the notion that conventional computers and software are fundamentally incapable of matching the processes that take place in the brain remains controversial. But if it proves true, then the efforts of Conrad and his fellow AI rebels could turn out to be the only game in town.

单选题What he has done is not in ______ with your instructions.

单选题A new catastrophe faces Afghanistan. The American bombing campaign is conspiring with years of civil conflict and drought to create an environmental crisis. Humanitarian and political concerns are dominating the headlines. But they are also masking the disappearance of the country's once rich habitat and wildlife, which are quietly being crashed by war. The UN is dispatching a team of investigators to the region next month to evaluate the damage. "A healthy environment is a prerequisite for rehabitation," says Klaus Topfer, head of the UN Environment Programme. Much of south-east Afghanistan was once lush forest watered by monsoon rains. Forests now cover less than two per cent of the country. "The worst deforestation occurred during Taliban role, when its timber mafia denuded forests to sell to Pakistani markets," says Usman Qazi, an environmental consultant based in Quetta, Pakistan. And the intense bombing intended to flush out the last of the Taliban troops is destroying or burning much of what remains. The refugee crisis is also wrecking the environment, and much damage may be irreversible. Forests and vegetation are being cleared for much-needed fanning, but the gains are likely to be only short-term. "Eventually the land will be unfit for even the most basic form of agriculture," warns Hammad Naqi of the World Wide Fund for Nature in Pakistan. Refugees—around 4 million as the last count—are also cutting into forests for firewood. The hail of bombs falling on Afghanistan is making life particularly hard for the country's wildlife. Birds such as the pelican and endangered Siberian crone cross eastern Afghanistan as they follow one of the world's great migratory thoroughfares from Siberia to Pakistan and India. But the number of the birds flying across the region has dropped by a staggering 85 per cent. "Cranes are very sensitive and they do not use the route if they see any danger," says Ashiq Ahgmad, an environmental scientist for the WWF in Peshawar, Pakistan, who has tracked the collapse of the birds, migration this winter. The rugged mountains also usually provide a safe haven for mountain leopards, gazelles, bears and Marco Polo sheep—the world's largest species. "The same terrain that allows fighters to strike and disappear back into the hills has also historically enabled wildlife to survive," says Peter Zahler of the Wildlife Conservation society, based in New York. But he warns they are now under intense pressure from the bombing and invasions of refugees and fighters. For instance, some refugees are hunting rare snow leopards to buy a safe passage across the border. A single fur can fetch $2, 000 on the black market, says Zahlen Only 5,000 or so snow leopards are thought to survive in central Asia, and less than 100 in Afghanistan, their numbers already decimated by extensive hunting and smuggling into Pakistan before the conflict. Timber, falcons and medicinal plants are also being smuggled across the border. The Taliban once controlled much of this trade, but the recent power vacuum could exacerbate the problem. Bombing will also leave its mark beyond the obvious craters. Defence analysts says that while depleted uranium has been used less in Afghanistan that in the Kosovo conflict, conventional explosives will litter the country with pollutants. They contain toxic compounds such as cyclonite, a carcinogen, and rocket propellants contain perchlorates, which damage thyroid glands.

单选题The biographer has to dance between two shaky positions with respect to the subject. Too close a relation, and the writer may lose objectivity. Not close enough, and the writer may lack the sympathy necessary to any effort to portray a mind, a soul — the quality of life. Who should write the biography of a family, for example? Because of their closeness to the subject, family members may have special information, but by the same token, they may not have the distance that would allow them to be fair. Similarly, a king's servant might not be the best one to write a biography of that king. But a foreigner might not have the knowledge and sympathy necessary to write the king's biography — not for a readership from within the kingdom, at any rate. There is no ideal position for such a task. The biographer has to work with the position he or she in the world, adjusting that position as necessary to deal with the subject. Every position has strengths and weakness to thrive, a writer must try to become aware of these, evaluate them in terms of the subject, and select a position accordingly. When their subjects are heroes or famous figures, biographies often reveal a democratic motive: they attempt to show that their subjects are only human, no better than anyone else. Other biographies are meant to change us, to invite us to become better than we are. The biographies of Jesus found in the Bible are in this class. Biographers may claim that their account is the "authentic" one. In advancing this claim, they are helped if the biography is "authorized" by the subject; this presumably allows the biographer special access to private information. "Unauthorized" biographies also have their appeal, however, since they can suggest an independence of mind in the biographer. In book promotions, the "unauthorized" characterization usually suggests the prospect of juicy gossip that the subject had hoped to suppress. A subject might have several biographies, even several "authentic" ones. We sense intuitively that no one is in a position to tell "the story of life, perhaps not even the subject", and this has been proved by the history of biography.

单选题Those vicious Hollywood reporters often______movie stars, forever damaging their public images.

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单选题The doctor felt John's arm to ______ if the bone was broken;

单选题{{B}}Passage Two{{/B}} As far back as he could remember, Larry had longed to go to Hollywood and become a film star. The young man’s hopes for success were broken again and again, however. Hollywood just did not seem interested. When he first came to California Larry had decided never to give up and return home without success. Therefore, he kept on trying. Someday, he told himself, his big opportunity would come. Larry found a job parking cars for one of Hollywood’s big restaurants. His pay was basic, but since the guests were kind enough to give him more money, he managed to make a living. One day he recognized an important film director driving into the parking lot and getting out of his car. Larry had recently heard that the man was ready to make a new picture. Larry got into the car and prepared to drive it on into the lot and park it. Then he stopped, jumped out, and ran over to the director. "Excuse me, sir, but I think it’s only fair to tell you that it’s now or never if you want me in Your next picture. A lot of big companies are after me." Instead of pushing away the boy, the director got interested in Larry’s words and stopped. "Yes? Which companies?" he asked. "Well," replied the boy, "there’s the telephone company, the gas company, and the electric company, to tell you only a few." The director laughed, then wrote something on a card and handed it to the young man. "Come and see me tomorrow." Larry got a small part in the director’s next film. He was on his way!

单选题To carry out the plan successfully, we have to get well prepared ______.

单选题He had an ______ holiday in Hong Kong, for he got his pocket picked on the first day.A. pleasingB. unfortunateC. unfitD. unpleasant

单选题When men get sick, they act like babies, say women. But maybe the fairer sex should learn something useful from these guys—it could save their lives, say researchers at the University of Michigan. When women have a heart attack, they' re more likely to put off seeking help than the men, and after an attack, they' re less likely to take steps to improve their health. What' s the reason for the different responses? The results of a survey suggest that women are too tough; they think heart problem are simply not a big deal. When Steven Erickson and his colleagues asked 348 men and 142 women who had been admitted to the hospital for a heart attack about their symptoms and medication(用药情况), they found that even though the women had more symptoms and were taking more medicine they rated their disease as being no more severe than the men did. For more on women and heart disease, go to www. americanheart. org.

单选题______ fairly recently that this problem was solved, at least partially. A. Until B. Not until C. It was until D. It was not until

单选题The crowd swelled in the evening until the noise made by the crowd could be heard for miles.

单选题Two days later he regained his consciousness, forgetful of what had happened in the______

单选题Thomas Edison's office was always disorganized with books and papers.

单选题So many directors ______, the board meeting had to be put off. A. were absent B. been absent C. had been absent D. being absent