阅读理解It may seem an exaggeration to say that ambition is the linchpin of society, holding many of its different elements together, but it is not an exaggeration by much. Remove ambition and the essential elements of society seem to fly apart. Ambition, as opposed to mere fantasizing about desires, implies work and discipline to achieve goals, personal and social, of a kind society cannot survive without. Ambition is intimately connected with family, for men and women not only work partly for their families;husbands and wives are often ambitious for each other, but harbor some of their most eager ambitions for their children. Yet to have a family nowadays-with birth control readily available, and inflation a good economic argument against having children-is nearly an expression of ambition in itself. Ambition and futurity-a sense of building for tomorrow-are inescapable. Working, saving, planning-these, the daily aspects of ambition-have always been the distinguishing marks of a rising middle class. The attack against ambition is not incidentally an attack on the middle class and what it stands for. Like it or not, the middle class has done much of society''s work in America;and it, the middle class, has from the beginning run on ambition. 　　It is not difficult to imagine a world stripped of ambition. It would probably be a kinder world:without demands and disappointments. People would have time for reflection. Such work as they did would not be for themselves but for the collectivity. Competition would never enter in. Conflict would be eliminated, tension become a thing of the past. The stress of creation would be at an end. The family would become superfluous as a social unit, with all its former power for bringing about neurosis drained away. Longevity would be increased, for fewer people would die of heart attack or stroke caused by confused endeavor. Anxiety would be extinct. Time would stretch on and on, with ambition long departed from the human heart. 　　We do not choose our parents, our historical epoch, the country of our birth or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die;nor do we choose the time or conditions of our death. But within all this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we shall live:courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishonorably, with purpose or in drift. We decide what is important and what is trivial in life. We decide that what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse to do. But no matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices and decisions, these choices and decisions are ours to make. We decide. We choose. And as we decide and choose, so are our lives formed. In the end, forming our own destiny is what ambition is about.

阅读理解In recent years, railroads have been combining with each other, merging into supersystems, causing heightened concerns about monopoly. As recently as 1995, the top four railroads accounted for under 70 percent of the total ton-miles moved by rails. Next year, after a series of mergers is completed, just four railroads will control well over 90 percent of all the freight moved by major rail carriers. Supporters of the new supersystems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial cost reductions and better coordinated service. Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks. But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat. The vast consolidation within the rail industry means that most shippers are served by only one rail company. Railroads typically charge such" captive" shippers 20 to 30 percent more than they do when another railroad is competing for the business. Shippers who feel they are being overcharged have the right to appeal to the federal government'' s Surface Transportation Board for rate relief, but the process is expensive, time consuming, and will work only in truly extreme cases. Railroads justify rate discrimination against captive shippers on the grounds that in the long run it reduces everyone''s cost. If railroads charged all customers the same average rate, they argue, shippers who have the option of switching to trucks or other forms of transportation would do so, leaving remaining customers to shoulder the cost of keeping up the line. It'' s a theory to which many economists subscribe, but in practice it often leaves railroads in the position of determining which companies will flourish and which will fail. "Do we really want railroads to be the arbiters of who wins and who loses in the marketplace?" asks Martin Bercovici, a Washington lawyer who frequently represents shippers. Many captive shippers also worry they will soon be hit with a round of huge rate increases. The railroad industry as a whole, despite its brightening fortunes, still does not earn enough to cover the cost of the capital it must invest to keep up with its surging traffic. Yet railroads continue to borrow billions to acquire one another, with Wall Street cheering them on. Consider the $10.2 billion bid by Norfolk Southern and CSX to acquire Conrail this year. Conrail'' s net railway operating income in 1996 was just $427 million, less than half of the carrying costs of the transaction. Who'' s going to pay for the rest of the bill? Many captive shippers fear that they will, as Norfolk Southern and CSX increase their grip on the market.

阅读理解Passage 4Telephone, television, radio, and the Internet help people communicate with each other.Because of these devices, ideas and news of events spread quickly all over the worlD、For example, within seconds, people can know the results of an election in another country. An international football match comes into the homes of everyone with a television set. News of a disaster, such as a flood, can bring help from distant countries. Within hours, help is on the way.Because of modern technology, information travels fast.How has this speed of communication changed the world? To many people, the world has become smaller. Of course, this does not mean that the world is actually smaller. It means that the world seems smaller. Two hundred years ago, communication between continents took a long time. All news was carried on ships that needed weeks or even months to cross the oceans. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, up to six weeks would be needed for news from Europe to reach AmericA、This time difference influenced people’s actions. For example, a few battles in the War of 1812 between England and the United States could have been avoideD、A peace agreement had already been signeD、Peace was made in England, but the news of peace did not reach America until after six weeks.During the six weeks, the large and serious Battle of New Orleans was fought. Many people lost their lives after the peace treaty (条约) had been signeD、They would not have died if the news had come in time. In the past, communication needed much more time than it does now.There is a good reason why the world seemed so much larger than it does today.Thanks to __________we can get the latest news of events instantly from all over the world.

阅读理解Several types of financial risk are encountered in international marketing; the major problems include commercial, political, and foreign exchange risk

阅读理解Passage 4 A class action lawsuit has been filed against a prominent Toronto doctor by patients who allege he injected a banned substance into their faces for cosmetic purposes

阅读理解Questions 11 to 15 are based on the following passage

阅读理解The author's attitude toward the court's ruling is_____

阅读理解 CORNELL'S SUICIDE PROBLEM. That's the description that broadcasted across the bottom of CNN during this morning's segment about the university installing fences to prevent people from jumping into the gap. Actually, CNN, it's not a suicide problem so much as a media problem—a problem stemming from outlets like yours that are quick to spread the myth that Cornell is the 'suicide school'. The New York Times is guilty, too. After the third Cornell suicide in less than a month, the Times ran a front-page story that said the university was on 'high alert about the mental health of its students' and that the recent deaths 'have cast a golly atmosphere over the university and renewed talk of Cornell's reputation—unsup-ported, say officials—as a high-stress 'suicide school''. But it's not until deep into the jump, on April 25th, that the article addresses the actual statistics, which indicate that Cornell's rate of suicides is no higher than the national average for a university of that size (about two a year). Other high-pressure colleges have more troubling numbers to contend with. MIT's suicide rate since 1964, when the university started keeping track, is about 14.6 per 100,000 students, according to an article in MIT's student newspaper, The Tech, compared to about 4.3 per 100,000 over the same time period at Cornell. And although the recent concentration of Cornell suicides is tragic and remarkable, it comes on the heels of four years without a single one. But the suicide-free years don't make headlines; jumpers do. Granted, I'm a proud Cornell alumna, so I'm particularly sensitive about these misconceptions. But I like to think I'm relatively objective about my alma mater. Cornell suicides, when they occur, tend to be dramatic. They get national media attention with frightening images like the ones CNN was flashing today of guys in uniforms watching the campus bridges. The idea of a stressed-out undergraduate throwing himself into a deep gap—it's frightening, and it stays with you. So much so that you probably remember it as more exaggerated a problem than it actually is. Individuals can't be faulted for that—our brains do funny things with unreliable evidence. But media outlets are different, and should be found at fault when they fan these misconceptions.

阅读理解D Women are more efficient and trustworthy, have a better understanding of their workforce and are more generous with their praise

阅读理解Passage 3 Lets not mince words: college can be tough

阅读理解Most people dont think about backing up their computer until they experience the dread of a hard drive crash

阅读理解Team Work in Sports ①Teams that win in team sports are often those that work well together

阅读理解Text B Clothes play a critical part in the conclusions we reach by providing clues to who people are, who they are not, and who they would like to be

阅读理解Text 3 Commercial classical music radio in North America has changed dramatically over the past decade

阅读理解My close childhood friend spent the last eight years attending night school to get his bachelors degree while working a full-time job

阅读理解Passage OneUnless we spend money to spot and prevent asteroids （小行星）now, one might crash into Earth and destroy life as wc know it, say some scientists.Asteroids are bigger versions of the meteoroids （流星）that race across the night sky. Most orbit the sun far frern Earth and dont threaten us. But there are also thousands of asteroids whose orbits put them on a collision course with Earth.Buy $50 million worth of new telescopes right now. Then spend $10 million a year for the next 25 years to locale most of the space rocks. By the time we spot a fatal one, the scientists say, well have a way to change its course. Some scientists favor pushing asteroids off course with nuclear weapons. But the cost wouldnt be cheap.Is it worthwhile? Two things experts consider when judging any risk are: 1） How likely the event is; and 2） How bad the consequences if the event occurs. Experts think an asteroid big enough to destroy lots of life might strike Earth once every 500, 000 years. Sounds pretty rare but if one did fall, it would be the end of the world. 44Ifwe dont take care of these big asteroids, theyll take care of us, says one scientist. Its that simple.The cure, though, might be worse than the disease. Do we really want fleets of nuclear weapons sitting around on Earth? The world has less to fear from doomsday （毁灭性白勺）ocks than from a great nuclear fleet set against them, said a New York Times article.

阅读理解Andrea had never seen an old lady hitchhiking (搭车) before. However, the weather and the coming darkness made her feel sorry for the lady. The old lady had some difficulty climbing in through the car door, and pushed her big brown canvas shopping bag down onto the floor under her feet. She said to Andrea, in a voice that was almost a whisper, "Thank you dearie —I''m just going to Brockbourne." Something in the way the lady spoke, and the way she never turned her head, made Andrea uneasy about this strange hitchhiker. She didn''t know why, but she felt instinctively that there was something wrong, something odd, something dangerous. But how could an old lady be dangerous? It was absurd. Careful not to turn her head, Andrea looked sideways at her passenger. She studied the hat, the dirty collar of the dress, the shapeless body, the arms with their thick black hairs. Thick black hairs? Hairy arms? Andrea''s blood froze. This wasn''t a woman. It was a man. At first, she didn''t know what to do. Then suddenly, an idea came into her racing, terrified brain. Swinging the wheel suddenly, she threw the car into a skid(刹车), and brought it to a halt. "My God!" she shouted, "A child! Did you see the child? I think I hit her?" The "old lady" was clearly shaken by the sudden skid. "I didn''t see anything dearie," she said. "I don''t think you hit anything. "I''m sure it was a child!" insisted Andrea. "Could you just get out and have a look? Just see if there''s anything on the road?" She held her breath. Would her plan work? It did. The passenger slowly climbed out to investigate. As soon as she was out of the vehicle, Andrea gunned the engine and accelerated madly away, and soon she had put a good three miles between herself and the awful hitchhiker. It was only then that she thought about the bag lying on the floor in front of her. Maybe the bag would provide some information about the real identity about the man. Pulling into the side of the road, Andrea opened the heavy bag curiously. It contained only one item—a small hand axe, with a razor-sharp blade. The axe, and the inside of the bag, were covered with the dark red stains of dried blood. Andrea began to scream.

阅读理解What message does the author seem to convey in the text?

阅读理解Passage 4 Every year thousands of people are arrested and taken to court for shoplifting

阅读理解Passage 2 As we know, it is very important that a firm should pay attention to the training of its staff as there exist many weak parts in its various departments