单选题Animals, too, communicate. If you try to catch a seagull, it will call out "Hahaha! Hahaha!" to signal its friends to watch out for an intruder (入侵者). Certain fish signal their presence by sending electric impulses from their muscles. But these signal systems differ in very fundamental ways from human communication. First of all, our symbols are subjective. If you do not speak Chinese, you would not know what a gou is. Gou is the Chinese word for dog. There is no inherent connection between the word and the thing itself. The Spaniards, after all, call the same animal perro and the French call it chien. The meaning of a word is not determined by any inherent quality of the thing itself. It is instead subjective: a word may mean whatever a group of humans have agreed it is supposed to mean. On the other hand, animals are not free to produce different symbols subjectively to indicate the same thing. This is why, for example, all seagulls throughout the world make the same sound to indicate the presence of danger. Second, animal communication is a closed system, whereas human language is an open system. Each animal species can communicate only a limited set of messages, and the meaning of these signals is fixed. Animals can use only one signal at a time—they cannot combine two or more to produce a new and more complex message. A bird can signal "worms" to other birds but not "worms" and "cats" together. Animal communication is also closed in the sense of being tied to what is immediately present in the environment. The bird can signal "worms" only because it sees them. In contrast, we call blend and combine symbols to express whatever ideas come into our heads. We can create new messages, and the potential number of messages that we can send is infinite. Thus we can talk about concepts such as good and evil, truth and beauty, for which there is no physical thing that is being signaled. It is this creative character of language that leads many people to believe that language is unique to humans. Although several chimpanzees (黑猩猩) have been taught sign language, it is doubtful that they have created innovative sentences of their own.

单选题The chairman of the company said that new techniques had ______ improved their production efficiency. A. violently B. severely C. extremely D. radically

单选题He was______admittance to the concert hall for not being properly dressed.

单选题 自驾游 自驾游(self-driving tour)属于自助旅游的一种，是近年来我国新兴的旅游方式。自驾游在选择目的地、参与程序和体验自由等方面给旅游者提供了伸缩自如的空间，与传统的参团旅游(group tour)相比具有本身的特点和魅力。随着自驾车旅游者的增多，自驾游市场已具规模，越来越多的旅行社、汽车俱乐部、汽车租赁(car rentals)公司看好并涉足这一市场的开发。

单选题According to the forecast, ______.

单选题We are sure that ______ to do this face to face, he would find it difficult to express himself without losing his temper. A. were he to try B. would he try C. was he trying D. if he tries

单选题-- Do you live ______ near the shop?--No, it's in the other side of the town.

单选题The man had a rather shady occupation and made a lot of money within a short period of time.

单选题For years, doctors ______ millions of patients lives with the help of microscopes. A) have saved B) are saving C) will save D) were saving

单选题Which of the following best characterizes the main feature of the nursing system at Beth Israel Hospital? ( )

单选题 The Health Benefits of Drinking Water —Is Bottled Drinking Water Healthier Than Filtered Tap Water? A. Water is a key ingredient in a healthy diet and lifestyle. There are many health benefits of drinking water. It helps flush impurities and toxins out of our systems. It aids in the delivery of oxygen and nutrients. In fact, nearly every system in our bodies relies on water for proper functioning. But what will happen if the water you drink is unhealthy? B. In past decades, concerns about tap water and its impact on overall health led some people to turn to bottled drinking water instead. However, in those days, there were few choices of bottled waters. You could pay to have a company deliver large bulky plastic bottles of water for the water cooler. Or you could purchase gallon jugs of distilled or 'drinking water' at the grocery store. C. In recent years, there has been an explosion in the number of different bottled waters available, with big distributors such as Coke and Pepsi jumping on the bandwagon. But are bottled drinking waters like Coke's Dasani brand, Pepsi's Aquafina, or Wal-Mart's store brand really any healthier than your tap water? Or would you be better off with a drinking water filtration system? D. As we have learned more about the water we drink, the technology behind drinking water filters and purification systems has improved dramatically. There are filters to remove impurities, chemicals, heavy metals, bacteria and most every contaminant you can think of. With the fight size and filter combination for your specific home, your water can be exceptionally pure and healthy. Cost Comparison E. Drinking water filtration systems have also become more affordable and easy to use. Although the initial cost of a whole house system usually amounts to several hundred dollars, that cost is often less than $100 each year if spread out over the life of the system. There may be additional expenses to replace carbon filters, membranes in reverse osmosis drinking water filtration system, or lamps in an ultraviolet light water treatment device. These expenses can add another $100 or so to the annual costs of operating drinking water filters and purification systems. F. While some people may hesitate to spend so much each year for clean, safe drinking water, they are probably paying more for bottled drinking water. Calculations show that at a price of $1 to $4 per gallon, bottled or delivered water costs an average of $400 each year, especially if you purchase individual bottles. And that doesn't take into consideration the gas needed to drive to the store or the environmental impact of all the empty plastic bottles. Health Aspects G. Many people who choose bottled drinking water understand that it is more expensive, but they are still willing to pay the extra money because bottled water is thought to be safer and healthier than filtered drinking water. After all, bottled water is often marketed as 'natural spring water' or 'pure glacier water.' H. In reality, few bottled waters come from natural springs, and most of them use municipal tap water. The companies are able to get away with this false marketing because the regulations and standards for bottle drinking water are less stringent than those for residential drinking sources. I. The quality of bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), while drinking water systems are typically regulated by State regulations or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This doesn't mean that the FDA isn't doing their job. It's just that the rules for bottled water only require it to be as good as tap water, not better. J. In addition, the FDA regulations only apply to bottled drinking water that is transported across state lines. If a company sells their bottled drinking water in the same state where it was bottled, the federal regulations don't apply. The result is that many bottled waters are not any healthier than filtered water, and in fact some are less pure. K. This was demonstrated in a study which was conducted in 1999 by the Natural Resources Defense Council. They tested over 100 brands of bottled drinking water and found that about one third of the waters contained contamination in the form of chemicals, bacteria, and arsenic. The study also found that up to forty percent of bottled drinking waters come from a city water system. How to Tell if Your Water Is Healthy L. So how do you tell if the water you are drinking is healthy? With tap water, it is relatively easy. If you water comes from a municipal source, the suppliers are required by law to provide annual water quality reports. If you have a well, you can have an authorized lab test your water. It may cost $100 or more, but it's a small price to pay for peace of mind. Or you can purchase a kit and test it yourself, but naturally the results may not be as conclusive or reliable as those produced by authorized labs. M. When it comes to bottled drinking water, it can be more difficult to know what you are getting. Start by checking the label or the bottle cap. Some may tell you that the water comes from a municipal source or 'community water system', which means tap water. N. If the label doesn't give any information, you can call the bottler and ask. But don't be surprised if you get the run around and are transferred to several different departments. Some states have a bottled water program that tracks bottled drinking water and can tell you the origin of the source water as well as other information. O. Safe and healthy drinking water has become big business. Thousands of companies are vying for your hard earned cash, and some are not always honest about what their products offer. The initial investment for a home drinking water filtration system can seem expensive at first, but over time, it is usually less expensive than bottled drinking water. And with a water filter, you at least know where the water you drink came from and how it was treated. P. Before going out and spending your hard earned money for bottled drinking water that may, be no better than your own tap water, it is obviously a good idea to do some research. You are likely to decide that a drinking water filtration system and/or purifier is the healthier choice and provides the best value as well.

单选题______, you cannot finish the book in two days.

单选题The newly built factory is in urgent need of a number of skilled and ______ workers.

单选题You have no time for reading,______?

单选题阅读下列短文，然后根据短文的内容从每小题的四个选择项中选出最佳的一项。B　　Maria Mitchell（1818-1889）,the first woman asdivonomer（天文学家）in the United was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts.Her parents valued education and insisted on giving

单选题In the third paragraph, which of the following is closer to the truth?

单选题 That Louis Nevelson is believed by many critics to be the greatest twentieth-century sculptor (雕刻家) is all the more remarkable because the greatest resistance to women artists has been, until recently, in the field of sculpture. Since Neolithic (新石器时代的) times, sculpture has been considered the privilege of men, partly, perhaps, for purely physical reasons: it was faultily assumed that women were not suited for the hard manual labor required in sculpting stone, carving wood, or working in metal. It has been only during the twentieth-century that women sculptors have been recognized as major artists, and it has been in the United States, especially since the decades of the fifties and sixties, that women sculptors have shown the greatest originality and creative power. Their rise to prominence (声望) parallels the development of sculpture itself in the United Sates: while there had been a few talented sculptors in the United States before the 1940's, it was only after 1945—when New York was rapidly becoming the capital of the world—that major sculpture was produced in the United States. Some of the best was the work of women. By far the most outstanding of these women is Louis Nevelson, who in the eyes of many critics is the most original female artist alive today. One famous and influential critic Hilton Kramer, said of her work, 'For myself, I think Ms. Nevelson succeeds where the painters often fail. ' Her works have been compared to the Cubist (立体主义的) constructions of Picasso, the surrealistic (超现实主义的) objects of Miro and the Merzhau of Schwitters. Nevelson would be the first to admit that she has been influenced by all of these, as well as by African sculpture, and by Native American and pre-Columbian art, but she has absorbed all these influences and still created a distinctive art that expresses the urban landscape and the aesthetic (审美的) sensibility of the twentieth century. Nevelson says, 'I have always wanted to show the world that art is everywhere, except that it has to pass through a creative mind. ' Using mostly discarded wooden objects like packing crates (板条箱), broken pieces of furniture, and abandoned architectural ornaments, all of which she has collected for years, she assembles architectural constructions of great beauty and power, creating very freely with no sketches, she glues and nails objects together, paints them black, or more rarely white or gold, and places them in boxes. These assemblages, walls, even entire environments create a mysterious, almost awe-inspiring atmosphere. Although she has denied any symbolic or religious intent in her works, their three-dimensional grandeur and even their titles, such as Sky Cathedral and Night Cathedral, suggest such connotations (涵义). In some ways, her most ambitious works are closer to architecture than to traditional sculpture, but then neither Louis Nevelson nor her art fits into any neat category.

单选题Although the accident did very little______to the car, I still suggest that you drive more carefully next time.

单选题Fitness helps ______ signs of depression, such as indecision and lack of zest for daily activities. A. alleviate B. diagnose C. assess D. manipulate

单选题The boss punished him ______ he should make the same mistake again.