单选题The United States experienced some of the most extreme weather events in its history this spring, including deadly outbreaks of tornadoes, near-record flooding, drought and wildfires. Damages from these disasters have already passed $ 32 billion, and the hurricane season, which is just beginning, is projected to be above average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Government scientists said Wednesday that the frequency of extreme weather has increased over the past two decades, in part as a result of global warming caused by the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But they were careful not to blame humans for this year's rash of deadly events, saying that in some ways weather patterns were returning to those seen at the beginning of the last century. "Looking at long-term patterns since 1980, indeed, extreme climatological and meteorological events have increased," said Thomas R. Karl, director of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center. "But in the early part of the 20th century, there was also a tendency for more extreme events followed by a quiet couple of decades. " Presenting a new NOAA report on 2011 extreme weather, Dr. Karl said that extremes of precipitation have increased as the planet warms and more water evaporates from the oceans. He also said models suggest that as carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere and heats the planet, droughts will increase in frequency and intensity. "But it is difficult and unlikely to discern a human fingerprint, if there is one, on the drought record of the United States," he said. Some other climate scientists were more categorical about the human contribution to extreme climate events. Kevin Trenberth, distinguished senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said that when the greenhouse effect caused by burning fossil fuels is added to the natural variability of climate, weather disasters can be expected to occur more frequently. "Global warming is contributing to an increased incidence of extreme weather because the environment in which all storms form has changed from human activities," Dr. Trenberth said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "Records are not just broken, they are smashed. It is as clear a warning as we are going to get about prospects for the future. " April was a particularly devastating month for tornadoes and rainfall, with 875 tornadoes reported during the month and heavy rain and snowmelt contributing to Mississippi River flooding later in the spring that surpassed the historic floods of 1927 and 1937. So far this year, there have been nearly 1,400 preliminary tornado reports nationwide; those reports will most likely be whittled down to about 900 confirmed tornadoes, the second-highest annual total recorded in modern times. The record is 1,011 confirmed tornadoes in 2008. The year also is on track to be one of the deadliest, with 536 fatalities so far from tornadoes, placing 2011 in sixth place in United States history and the deadliest since 1936.

单选题According to paragraph 3, the author tries to emphasize______.

单选题What is incredible about a child is that______

单选题{{B}}Text 4{{/B}} To Journalists, three of anything makes a trend. So after three school shootings in six days, speculation about an epidemic of violence in American classrooms was inevitable, and wrong. Violence in schools has fallen by half since the mid-1990s; children are more than 100 times more likely to be murdered outside the school walls than within them. On September 27th a 53-year-old petty criminal, Duane Morrison, walked into a school in Bailey, Colorado, with two guns. He took six girls hostage, molested some of them, and killed one before committing suicide as police stormed the room. And on September 29th a boy brought two guns into his school in Cazenovia, Wisconsin. Prosecutors say that 15-year-old Eric Hainstock may have planned to kill several people. But staff acted quickly when they saw him with a shotgun, calling the police and putting the school into "lock-down". The head teacher, who confronted him in a corridor, was the only one killed. October 2nd a 32-year-old milk-truck driver, Charles Roberts, entered a one-room Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. He lined the girls up, tied their feet and, after an hour, shot them, killing at least five. He killed himself as police broke into the classroom. What to make of such horrors? Some experts see the Colorado and Pennsylvania cases as an extreme manifestation of a culture of violence against women. Both killers appeared to have a sexual motive, and both let all the boys in the classroom go free. But it is hard to infer from such unusual examples, and one must note that violence against women is less than half what it was in 1995. Other experts see all three cases as symptomatic of a change in the way men commit suicide. Helen Smith, a forensic psychologist, told a radio audience "men are deciding to take their lives, "and they're not going alone anymore. They're taking people down with them." True, but not very often. Gun-control enthusiasts think school massacres show the need for tighter restrictions. It is too easy, they say, for criminals such as Mr. Morrison and juveniles such as Mr. Hainstock to obtain guns. Gun enthusiasts draw the opposite conclusion: that if more teachers carried concealed handguns, they could shoot potential child-killers before they kill. George Bush has now called for a conference on school violence. Will it unearth anything new, or valuable? After the Columbine massacre in 1999, the FBI produced a report on school shooters. It concluded that it was impossible to draw up a useful profile of a potential shooter because "a great many adolescents who will never commit violent acts will show some of the behaviours on any checklist of warning signs."

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} "I was a lover, before this war." Those are the fast words sung on TV on the Radio's "Return to Cookie Mountain," one of the most widely praised albums of 2006. Whatever the line means within the band's cryptic lyrics, it could also apply to the past year's popular music. Thoughts of romance, vice and comfort still dominated the charts and the airwaves. But amid the entertainment, songwriters— including some aiming for the Top 10—were also grappling with a war that wouldn't go away. Pop's political consciousness rises in every election year, and much as it became clear in November that voters are tired of war, music in 2006 also reflected battle fatigue. Beyond typical wartime attitudes of belligerence, protest and yearning for peace, in 2006 pop moved toward something different: a mood somewhere between resignation and a siege mentality. Songs that touched on the war in 2006 were suffused with the mournful and resentful knowledge that—s Nell Young titled the album he made and rush-released in the spring—we are "Living With War," and will be for some time. Awareness of the war throbs like a chronic headache behind more pleasant distractions. The cultural response to war in Iraq and the war on terrorism—one protracted, the other possibly endless—doesn't have an exact historical parallel. Unlike World War Ⅱ, the current situation has brought little national unity; unlike the Vietnam era, ours has no appreciable domestic support for America's opponents. Iraq may be mining into a quagmire and civil war like Vietnam, but the current war has not inspired talk of generation wide rebellion (,perhaps because there's no draft m pit young against old) or any colorful, psychedelically defiant counterculture. The war songs of the 21st century have been sober and earnest, pragmatic rather than fanciful. Immediate responses to 9/11 and to the invasion of Iraq arrived along familiar lines. There was anger and saber-rattling at first, particularly in country music: the Dixie Chicks' career was upended in 2003 when Natalie Maines disparaged the president on the eve of the Iraq invasion. There were folky protest songs about weapons and oil profiteering, like "The Price of Oil" by Billy Bragg; in a 21st-century touch, there were denunciations of news media complicity from songwriters as varied as Merle Haggard, Nellie McKay and the punk-rock band Anti-Flag. Rappers, who were already slinging war metaphors for everything from rhyme battles to tales of drag-dealing crime soldiers, soon exploited the multitude of rhymes for Iraq. while some. like Eminem and OutKast, also bluntly attacked the president and the war. In 2006 songwriters who Usually stick to love songs found themselves paying attention to the war as well. "A new year, a new enemy/another soldier gone to war," John Legend sings in "Coming Home," the song that ends his 2006 album, "Once Again." it's a soldier's letter home, wondering if his gtrlfriend still cares. "It seems the wars will never end. but we'll make it home again," Mr. Legend croons, more wishful than confident.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} Every second in the United States alone, more than 250 animals are slaughtered for food, adding up to more than 8 billion animals each year. Reducing the amount of meat in one’s diet is nutritionally, environmentally, and ethically beneficial. People who eat meat usually have weaker immune systems compared to those of vegetarians. Meat has been directly linked to diabetes, obesity, arthritis, and many other illnesses. Furthermore, meat-eaters are at a higher risk for diseases, including cancer, and they are more likely to die from these diseases. Critics say that a meatless diet does not provide enough nutrients, especially protein and iron. Actually, according to A Teen’s Guide to Going Vegetarian, by Judy Krizmanic, protein is found in almost every food, and iron appears in many vegetables. Getting enough nutrients in a meat-reduced diet should not be difficult. A 1988 study found that some of the highest pesticide residues appear in meat and eggs. Diets including more fruits and vegetables will only make people healthier. Some skeptics believe that there will be a shortage of food if animals are not eaten. In fact, the opposite is true. More than 80% of the corn and 95% of the oats grown in the US are fed to livestock. The world’s cattle alone consume enough food to equal the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people, more than the entire human population. One half of the water used in the Unites States also goes to livestock; 2.50 gallons of water produces only 1 pound of beef. If people eat less meat and more plants, the amount of available food will increase. Many people become vegetarians because they feel that eating animals is unethical. 90% of these animals are raised in confinement. Chickens and other birds have only about half. a square foot of space each, and since they are raised so close together, a hot blade is used to cut off their beaks to prevent them from pecking each other to death. Likewise, pigs that are repressed will bite each other’s tails, so both their teeth and tails are removed as soon as they are born. Eating animals is hazardous in numerous ways. Even a slight reduction in meat intake is better than nothing at all. Consuming less meat is beneficial to the health of animals, the health of people, and to the health of the world.

单选题Operating a single currency is not going to be easy. European economic and (1) union will not function (2) hitches. (3) , signs of (4) have already appeared. And these political, economic and social pressures will almost certainly (5) in the years to come. (6) EMU failure is a topic generally (7) in continental Europe. And for good reason. The (8) of monetary union would almost certainly slam the European Union (9) political (10) and the world into (11) crisis. "It would be almost as bad as a (12) in Europe," says Uwe Angenendt, chief economist (13) BHF-Bank in Frankfurt. The 14 contend EMU failure is not possible. They (15) insist that the political (16) in Europe for monetary union is simply (17) strong to allow (18) to fail. But they (19) a simple fact: European (20) concocted monetary union, and there- fore they can unconcoct it.

单选题As thick-skinned elected officials go, FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter is right up there with Bill Clinton. The chief of the Zurich based group that oversees World Cup soccer hasn't been accused of groping any interns, but that's about all he hasn't been accused of. Vote buying, mismanagement, cronyism—and that's just for starters. Yet the 66-year-old Swiss shows no sign of abandoning his campaign for a second four-year term. Blatter, a geek of dispensing FIFA'S hundreds of million in annual revenue to inspire loyalty, even stands a good chance of reelection. At least he did. Since mid-March, he has seen a credible challenger emerge in Issa Hayatou, president of the African Football Confederation. Hayatou, a 55-year-old from Cameroon, leads a group of FIFA reformers that also includes FIFA Vice-President Lennart Johansson, a Swede who lost the presidential election to Blatter in 1998. These contenders' mission: to end what they call the culture of secrecy and lack of accountability that threatens FIFA with financial disaster. Representatives of the world's 204 national soccer associations meet in Seoul on May 29, and the rebels are given a chance of unseating Blatter. But even they concede that the FIFA honcho won't be easy to dislodge. Blatter's staying power seems incredible, given the array of misdeeds attributed to him and his circle. However, there are signs that FIFA'S troubles are bigger than Blatter is saying. The insurgents have already won one victory: They persuaded the rest of the executive board to order an audit of FIFA finances. But Blatter who claims, through a spokesman, that the accusations are a smear campaign-should not be underestimated. At least publicly, sponsors and member associations remain remarkably silent with the controversy. For example, there is no outward sign of outrage from German sports equipment maker Adidas-Salomon, which is spending much of its ＄625 million marketing budget on the World Cup. "We don't expect current developments within FIFA to have a negative impact on our expectations" for the World Cup, says Michael Riehl, Adidas head of global sports marketing. The conventional wisdom is that fans don't care about FIFA politics. Says Bernd Schiphorst, president of Hertha BSC Berlin, a top ranked German team: "I've no fear that all these discussions are going to touch the event." Still, the Olympic bribery scandals and the doping affair in the Tour de France show that sleazy dealings can stain the most venerable athletic spectacle. "For the Good of the Game" is FIFA'S official motto. The next few months should show whether it rings true.

单选题The creation of the new advanced vocational diploma is ______.

单选题For many people the New York Times is the greatest newspaper anywhere. But there has long been a small pool of conservative dissenters in its hometown. For them. the Times is left-wing, inaccurate, devoid of humor, and, worst of all. unopposed (they never seem to count the Wall Street Journal. which, to be fair, doesn't write that much about the Big Apple). Now these criticisms are being made, daily, and often wittily, by a flee web-based publication. The publisher, reporting staff and editor of smartertimes.com is Ira Stoll. a 28-year-old former managing editor of Forward, a Jewish weekly. At 6 o'clock every morning he picks up a copy of the Times at a Brooklyn news-stand and, within four hours, unleashes an invariably scathing report on something he thinks either ridiculous or wrong. Categories on the website range from the pedantic—"New York, lack of basic familiarity with" (noting unbearable geographic errors) and "Misspelling of names" (including that of the Sulzberger family, which controls the Times)—to weightier topics such as taxes and immigration. Most of the time. Mr. Stoll is on the look-out for left-wing bias masked as objectivity. He is particularly tough on the citation of allegedly impartial "experts" m back up predictable Times conclusions—that the poor are getting poorer, private education is bad. welfare reform has failed, public housing is vital, and Republicans and policemen are insensitive, racist or mentally challenged. Occasionally, Mr. Stoll's pieces precede (or perhaps cause) a correction. He was. for instance. the first to spot that the Times had attacked John Ashcroft, the conservative attorney-general, with a shortened and misleading quotation lifted from another newspaper. More often the sins are of leftish omission. Last weekend's ode to the joys of traveling in Cuba, he points out, avoided "any mention of the country's horrible human-rights record". Like other zealots, Mr. Stoll sometimes asks too much. Even. erm weekly newspapers occasionally get things wrong; it would be surprising if a daily as big as the Times never did. And Mr. Stoll’s bias. though overt, can get a little boring. This week he nicely skewered an absurdly solemn Times piece about a plan in Connecticut to stop high schools starting work before 8.30am, because teenagers do "not physiologically wake up", fbr not even wondering whether it might be a good tiling for the little dears to go to bed earlier. But did Mr. Stoll really need to add a carp about those tired teenagers having sex "with the assistance of taxpayer-provided free contraceptives"? All the same, Mr. Stoll seems to have struck a nerve. In only seven months, with no marketing, he has developed a subscriber list for a daily e-mail of almost 2.000 people (including, inevitably, Newt Gingrich). And the Times seems to be taking some notice. Three of its journalists have already taken him out for lunch.

单选题The author's study of this syndrome leads him to think that