单选题 What our society suffers from most today is the absence of consensus about what it and life in it ought to be. Such consensus cannot be gained from society's present stage, or from fantasies about what it ought to be. For that the present is too close and too diversified, and the future too uncertain, to make believable claims about it. A consensus in the present hence can be achieved only through a shared understanding of the past, as Homer's epics (荷马史诗) informed those who lived centuries later what it meant to be Greek, and by what images and ideals they were to live their lives and organize their societies. Most societies derive consensus from a long history, a language all their own, a common religion, common ancestry. The myths by which they live are based on all of these. But the United States is a country of immigrants, coming from a great variety of nations. Lately, it has been emphasized that an asocial, narcissistic (自我陶醉的) personality has become characteristic of Americans, and that it is this type of personality that makes for the lack of well-being, because it prevents us from achieving consensus that would counteract a tendency to withdraw into private worlds. In his study of narcissism, Christopher Lasch says that modern man, 'tortured by self-consciousness, turns to new therapies not to free himself of his personal worries but to find meaning and purpose in life, to find something to live for'. There is widespread distress because national morale has declined, and we have lost an earlier sense of national vision and purpose. Contrary to rigid religions or political beliefs, as are found in totalitarian (极权主义的) societies, our culture is one of great individual differences, at least in principle and in theory. But this leads to disunity, even chaos. Americans believe in the value of diversity, but just because ours is a society based on individual diversity, it needs consensus about some dominating ideas more than societies based on uniform origin of their citizens. Hence, if we are to have consensus, it must be based on a myth—a vision—about a common experience, a conquest that made us Americans, as the myth about the conquest of Troy formed the Greeks. Only a common myth can offer relief from the fear that life is without meaning or purpose. Myths permit us to examine our place in the world by comparing it to a shared idea. Myths are shared fantasies that form the tie that binds the individual to other members of his group. Such myths help to ward off feelings of isolation, guilt, anxiety, and purposelessness—in short; they combat isolation and the breakdown of social standards and values.

单选题______ you say, he won' t listen to you.A. No matter whereB. No matter whatC. HoweverD. Whichever

单选题According to this passage, if you could not understand a passage, you ______

单选题Some one has said that a man's history begins about one hundred and fifty years before his birth, or words ______.

单选题Malaria is an infectious parasitic disease that can be either acute or chronic and is frequently A.repeating B.terminal C.debilitating D.recurrent

单选题Two-thirds of the U.S. basketball players are black, and the number would be greater______.the continuing practice of picking white bench warmers for the sake of bal ance. A. was it not because of B. had it not been for C. were it not for D. would it not have been for

单选题This is a market in which enterprising businesses ______ for the demands of teenagers and older youths in all their rock mania and pop-art forms. A. cater B. entitle C. appeal D. subject

单选题Which of the following is not mentioned in the passage?

单选题Visitors to this country have ______ the severe punishment for relatively minor offenses, such as stealing.

单选题Magdalena Smith thinks it is important for ______.

单选题Being aware of the potential objections, they launched a ____ reform at the beginning stage. A．humble B．modest C．timid D．middle

单选题Hong Kong was not a target for terror attacks, the Government insisted yesterday, as the US ______ closed for an apparent security review.

单选题 Whatever happened to the death of newspapers? A year ago the end seemed near. The recession threatened to remove the advertising and readers that had not already fled to the Internet. Newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle were chronicling their own doom. America's Federal Trade Commission launched talks about how to save newspapers. Should they become charitable corporations? Should the state subsidise (补贴) them? It will hold another meeting soon. But the discussions now seem out of date. In much of the world there is little sign of crisis. German and Brazilian papers shrugged off the recession. Even American newspapers, which inhabit the most troubled comer of the global industry, have not only survived but often returned to profit. Not the 20% profit margins that were routine a few years ago, but profit all the same. It has not been much fun. Many papers stayed out of debt or difficulties by laying journalists off. The American Society of News Editors reckons that 13,500 newsroom jobs have gone since 2007. Readers are paying more for slimmer products. Some papers even had the nerve to refuse delivery to distant suburbs. Yet these desperate measures have proved the right ones and, sadly for many journalists, they can be pushed further. Newspapers are becoming more balanced businesses, with a healthier mix of revenues from readers and advertisers. American papers have long been highly unusual in their reliance on ads. Fully 87% of their revenues came from advertising in 2008, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD). In Japan the proportion is 35%. Not surprisingly, Japanese newspapers are much more stable. The whirlwind that swept through newsrooms harmed everybody, but much of the damage has been concentrated in areas where newspapers are least distinctive. Car and film reviewers have gone. So have science and general business reporters. Foreign bureaus have been savagely cut off. Newspapers are less complete as a result. But completeness is no longer a virtue in the newspaper business. It is grim to forecast still more writers losing their jobs. But whether newspapers are thrown onto doorsteps or distributed digitally, they need to deliver something that is distinctive. New technologies like Apple's iPad only make this more true. The mere acquisition of a smooth block of metal and glass does not magically persuade people that they should start paying for news. They will pay for news if they think it has value. Newspapers need to focus relentlessly (持续地) on that.

单选题We need one hundred more signatures before we take the ______ to the governor. A. plea B. petition C. patent D. claim

单选题The geology of the Earth"s surface is dominated by the particular properties of water. Present on Earth in solid, liquid, and gaseous states, water is exceptionally reactive. It dissolves, transports, and precipitates many chemical compounds and is constantly modifying the face of the Earth. Evaporated from the oceans, water vapor forms clouds, some of which are transported by wind over the continents. Condensation from the clouds provides the essential agent of continental erosion: rain. Precipitated onto the ground, the water trickles down to form brooks, streams, and rivers, constituting what is called the hydrographic network. This immense polarized network channels the water toward a single receptacle: an ocean. Gravity dominates this entire step in the cycle because water tends to minimize its potential energy by running from high altitudes toward the reference point that is sea level. The rate at which a molecule of water passes through the cycle is not random but is a measure of the relative size of the various reservoirs. If we define residence time as the average time for a water molecule to pass through one of the three reservoirs--atmosphere, continent, and ocean--we see that the times are very different. A water molecule stays, on an average, eleven days in the atmosphere, one hundred years on a continent and forty thousand years in the ocean. This last figure shows the importance of the ocean as the principal reservoir of the hydrosphere but also the rapidity of water transport on the continents. A vast chemical separation process takes places during the flow of water over the continents. Soluble ions such as calcium, sodium, potassium, and some magnesium are dissolved and transported. Insoluble ions such as aluminum, iron, and silicon stay where they are and form the thin, fertile skin of soil on which vegetation can grow. Sometimes soils are destroyed and transported mechanically during flooding. The erosion of the continents thus results from two closely linked and interdependent processes, chemical erosion and mechanical erosion. Their respective interactions and efficiency depend on different factors.

单选题Forget football. At many high schools, the fiercest competition is between Coke and Pepsi over exclusive "pouring rights" to sell on campus. But last week Jeffrey Dunn, president of Coca-Cola Americas, called a timeout: Coke's machines will now also stock water, juice, and other healthful options--even rival brands and their facades will feature school scenes and other "noncommercial graphics" instead of Coke's vivid red logo. "the pendulum needs to swing back" on school-based marketing, said Dunn. Coke's about-face--particularly the call to end the exclusive deals that bottlers make with school districts--comes amid rising concern over kids' health: American children are growing ever more obese and developing weight-related diseases usually found in adults. While inactivity and huge helpings factor heavily, a recent study in the Lancet fingered soda pop as a likely culprit. Communities--and legislators--are already on the case. Last year, for instance, parents in Philadelphia detailed a proposed contract with Coca-Cola that would have netted the school system $ 43 million over 10 years. And in a searing' report to congress last month, the U. S. Department of Agriculture recommended that all snacks sold in schools meet federal nutrition standards (the requirements are loose enough that Snickers bars qualify). Spare change? Activists hope Coke's capitulation will help curb commercialism in schools altogether. From ads on Channel One, which broadcasts current-affairs programs on classroom TV, to middle-school math texts that cite Nike and other bran-name products in their word problems, to company-sponsored scoreboards on football fields, American pupils are bombarded. But Andrew Hagelshaw, executive director of the Oakland, Calif.-based Center for Commercial-Free Public Education, views Coca-Cola's policy shift as a "partial victory". Schools sign contracts with local bottlers; the parent company can only urge them to back off. Moreover, Coke's machines will remain in place, although with healthier options. And don't expect teenagers to suddenly swear off the stuff--or school districts to give up the revenue. At Wheeler High School in Marietta, Ga., where students arrive before 7 a.m. and stay as late as 11 o'clock at night, they rely on the machines. And the $ 50,000 in annual vending revenues have enabled Principal Joe Boland to refinish the gym floor, in- stall a new high-jump pit, and pay $ 7,000 for two buses. "If someone made an offer to me to take the machines out, I'd consider it," says Boland. "But nobody's offering me any money./

单选题Millions of Americans flock to their drugstore to buy vitamins and minerals, ______that these pills can help to prevent serious illnesses.

单选题The policeman tried to ______ the teenage driver to obey the traffic laws rather than fine him directly.