单选题Over the years, as the musical "Rent" has reached milestone after milestone—playing around 'the world in more than 200 productions from Boise to Little Rock to Reykjavik—the thousands of people who have been affected by this vibrant, gritty and compassionate work may well wonder what its creator, Jonathan Larson, would have thought of it all. Another milestone came on Monday .night. The original Broadway production of "Rent" opened at the Nederlander Theater l0 years ago this Saturday. That production, directed by Michael Greif, was an almost-intact transfer of the initial production at the New York Theater Workshop, which had opened three months earlier. To celebrate the anniversary the original cast members reassembled, rehearsed for two days and performed the show in a semi-staged version at the Nederlander on Monday. The event was a benefit for the New York Theater Workshop, for Friends in Deed (a support organization that gave comfort to several of Mr. Larson's friends dealing with H.I.V. infections.). and for the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation, which was set up by his family after the enormous success of "Rent". Before the performance, the co-chairmen of the benefit told the star-studded audience that more than $2 million' had been raised. Also addressing the crowd were Senator Charles E. Schumer and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who praised "Rent" as a timeless work exemplifying "culture, community and creativity," in the mayor's words, and saluted the show's vast contributions to New York's theatrical life. Once again you could only think, "Would Jonathan ever have imagined all this?" Mr. Larson, who wrote the music, lyrics and books for his stage works, struggled for more than 10 years to get a producer to take a shot at one of his shows. Now he was being posthumously thanked for giving Broadway a creative and economic boost. "Rent" is the seventh longest running show in Broadway history. I count myself among those who were personally affected by Mr. Larson's work. because of the inadvertent role I played in the last hours of his life. In 1996 an editor at The Times tipped me off to the opening of a rock musical, inspired by. "La Boheme", which transplanted Puccini's struggling bohemians from Paris in the 1830's to the ‘East Village in 1990's. So on Jan. 24 I went to the New York Theater Workshop m see the dress rehearsal of "Rent", which was scheduled to open in February. That performance was pretty ragged, with technical glitches and a misbehaving sound system. But I was swept away by the sophistication and exuberance of Mr. Larson's music and the mix of tenderness and cleverness in his lyrics. After the show Mr. Larson and I sat down for an interview in the tiny ticket booth of the theater, the only quiet space we could find amid the post-rehearsal confusion. For almost an hour, this sad-eyed and boyish. creator talked about his approach to songwriting, his determination to bring the American musical tradition to the MTV generation, and about friends snuggling with H:I.V. infection who had inspired the show.

单选题On April 20,2000, in Accra, Ghana, the leaders of six West African countries declared their intention to proceed to monetary union among the non-CFA franc countries of the region by January 2003, as first step toward a wider monetary union including all the ECOWAS countries in 2004. The six countries 1 themselves to reducing central bank financing of budget deficits 2 10 percent of the previous years government 3 ; reducing budget deficits to 4 percent of the second phase by 2003; creating a Convergence Council to help control macroeconomic policies; and 5 up a common central bank. Their declaration 6 that, "Member States 7 the need 8 strong political commitment and 9 to 10 all such national policies 11 would facilitate the regional monetary integration process." The goal of a monetary union in ECOWAS has long been an objective of the organization, going back to its formation in 1975, and is intended to 12 broader integration process that would include enhanced regional trade and 13 institutions. In the colonial period, currency boards linked sets of countries in the region. 14 independence, 15 , these currency boards were 16 , with the 17 of the CFA franc zone, which included the francophone countries of the region. Although there have been attempts to advance the agenda of ECOWAS monetary cooperation, political problems and other economic priorities in several of the region"s countries have to 18 inhibited progress. Although some problems remain, the recent initiative has been bolstered by the election in 1999 of a democratic government and a leader who is committed to regional 19 in Nigeria, the largest economy of the region, raising hopes that the long-delayed project can be 20 .

单选题It was the best of times or, depending on your political and philosophical outlook, one of the foulest and most depraved. Rebellion seemed to be leaping from city to city, continent to continent, by some fiery process of contagion. Radical students filled the streets of Mexico city, Berlin, Tokyo, Prague. In the U. S. , Chicago swirled into near anarchy as cops battled antiwar demonstrators gathered at the Democratic Convention. And everywhere from Amsterdam to Haight-Ashbury, a generation was getting high, acting up. So, clearly, it was the year from hell--a collective "dive into extensive social and personal dysfunction," as the Wall Street Journal editorialized recently. Or, depending again on your outlook, a global breakthrough for the human spirit. On this, the 25th anniversary of 1968, probably the only thing we can all agree on is that '68 marks the beginning of the "culture wars," which have divided America ever since. Both the sides of the "culture wars" of the '80s and '90s took form in the critical year of'68. The key issues are different now--abortion and gay rights, for example, as opposed to Vietnam and racism--but the underlying themes still echo the clashes of '68: Diversity vs. conformity, tradition vs. iconoclasm, self-expression vs. deference to norms. "Question authority," in other words, vs. "Father knows best." The 25th anniversary of '68 is a good time to reflect, calmly and philosophically, on these deep, underlying choices. On one hand we know that anti-authoritarianism for its own sake easily degenerates into a rude and unfocused defiance: Revolution, as Abbie Hoffman put it, "for the hell of it." Certainly '68 had its wretched excesses as well as its moments of glory: the personal tragedy of lives undone by drugs and sex, the heavy cost of riots and destruction. One might easily conclude that the ancient rules and hierarchies are there for a reason--they're worked, more or less, for untold millenniums, so there's no point in changing them now. But it's also true that what "worked" for thousands of years may not be the best way of doing things. Democracy, after all, was onee a far-out, subversive notion, condemned by kings and priests. In our own country, it took all kinds of hell-raising, including a war, to get across the simple notion that no person is morally entitled to own another. One generation's hallowed tradition--slavery, or the divine right of kings--may be another generation's object lesson in human folly. '68 was one more awkward, stumbling, half-step forward in what Dutschke called the "long march" toward human freedom. Actually, it helped inspire the worldwide feminist movement.

单选题We can infer from the experience of Michell that

单选题You know you should do it, other people do it all the time. Maybe you've already done it but it wasn't very satisfying, and you'd like to learn to do it better. I'm talking, of course, about having a business lunch. Don't feel embarrassed if you are uncomfortable with the idea of sitting over a grilled chicken breast, talking to a prospective client. Most inexperienced, overeager launchers believe the main purpose of a business lunch is to either (a) conduct business or (b) eat lunch, and they're unsure how to mix the two. Don't worry! Business lunches aren't about either business or lunch,they're about building relationships. One of my business rules is "People do business with people they like. " Often, it's not products, prices, or the company that makes the sale—it's the person Business lunches are the perfect time for you and your client, supplier, or employee to get to know each other as people. This helps establish common interests and makes working together easier. The single most important thing you can do at a business lunch—even more important than picking up the tab—is listen. You don't need a particular reason to ask someone to lunch, so don't wait until for a certain occasion or issue. Don't make it seem like lunch is going to be a sales call. Instead, try the straightforward approach, "We've been doing business together for almost a year. I'd like to take you to lunch and get to know you a little better." Or a little less straightforward, "I'm often in your area, how about having lunch sometime?" Have the other person suggest a place to eat—"Is there a restaurant you've been wanting to try?" Or if you have a limited budget, you choose a nice mid priced restaurant. Forget McDonald's. If you're thanking someone for an important order, take them to a really special, possibly new, restaurant. If you did the inviting, you pick up the tab, even if your guest says, "I can put this on my company's credit card." But don't have a scene arguing over the check. You can just say, "You can get the next one." Some companies have policies that don't permit employees to be treated; in that case, split the tab.

单选题What does the author imply by saying “living space.., is figured.., also in cubic volume______above the earth”( in para 3 ) ?

单选题Most economists in the United States seem excited by the spell of the free market. Consequently, nothing seems good or normal that does not accord with the requirements of the free market. A price that is determined by the seller or, for that matter, established by anyone other than the aggregate of consumers seems harmful. Accordingly, it requires a major act of will to think of price-fixing (the determination of prices by the seller) as both "normal" and having a valuable economic function. In fact, price-fixing is normal in all industrialized societies because the industrial system itself provides, as an effortless consequence of its own development, the price-fixing that it requires. Modern industrial planning requires and rewards great size. Hence, a comparatively small number of large firms will be competing for the same group of consumers. That each large firm will act with consideration of its own needs and thus avoid selling its products for more than its competitors charge is commonly recognized by advocates of free-market economic theories. But each large firm will also act with full consideration of the needs that it has in common with the other large firms competing for the same customers. Each large firm will .thus avoid significant price-cutting, because price-cutting would be prejudicial to the common interest in a stable demand for products. Most economists do not see price-fixing when it occurs because they expect it to be brought about by a number of explicit agreements among large firms; it is not. Moreover, those economists who argue that allowing the free market to operate without interference is the most efficient method of establishing prices have not considered the economies of non-socialist countries other than the United States. These economies employ intentional price-fixing, usually in an overt fashion. Formal price-fixing by cartel and informal price-fixing by agreements covering the members of an industry are commonplace. Were there something peculiarly efficient about the free market and inefficient about price- fixing, the countries that have avoided the first and used the second would have suffered drastically in their economic development. There is no indication that they have. Socialist industry also works within a framework of controlled prices. In the early 1970"s. the Soviet Union began to give firms and industries some of the flexibility in adjusting prices that a more informal evolution has accorded the capitalist system. Economists in the Unites States have hailed the change as a return to the free market. But Soviet firms are no more subject to prices established by a free market over which they exercise little influence than are capitalist firms; rather, Soviet firms have been given the power to fix prices.

单选题The author would be most likely to agree with statements that ______.

单选题"We"re using the wrong word ," says Sean Drysdale, a desperate doctor from a rural hospital at Hlabisa in northern KwaZulu-Natal. "This isn"t an epidemic, it"s a disaster. " A recent UNIEF report, which states that almost one-third of Swaziland"s 900,000 people are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, supports this diagnosis. HIV is spreading faster in southern Africa than anywhere else in the world. But is anyone paying attention? Despite the fact that most of the world"s 33.5 million HIV/AIDS cases are in sub-Saharan Africa—with an additional 4 million infected each year—the priorities at last week"s Organization of African Unity summit were conflict resolution and economies development. Yet the epidemic could have a greater effect on economic development—or, rather, the lack of it—than many politicians suspect. While business leaders are more concerned about the 2K millennium bug than the long-term effect of AIDS, statistics show that the workfare in South Africa, for instance, is likely to be 20% HIV positive by next year. Medical officials and researchers warn that not a single country in the region has a cohesive government strategy to tackle the crisis. The way managers address AIDS in the workplace will determine whether their companies survive the first decade of the 21st century, says Deane Moore, an actuary for South Africa"s Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Moore estimates that in South Africa there will be 580,000 new AIDS cases a year and a life expectancy of just 38 by 2010. "We"ll be back to the Middle Ages," says Drysdale, whose hospital is in one of the areas in South Africa with the highest rates of HIV infection. " The graph is heading toward the vertical . And yet people are still not taking it seriously. " Most southern African countries are simply too poor to supply more than basic health services, let alone medicines, to confront the crisis. Patients in some government hospitals in Harare have to supply their own bedding, food, drugs and, in some cases, even their own nurses. Zimbabwe"s frail domestic economy depends to a large extent on informal enterprises and small businesses, many of which are going bankrupt as AIDS takes its toll on owners and employees. "The ripple effect is devastating," says Harare AIDS researcher Rene Loewenson. More ominous are the implications for South Africa with a sophisticated industrial infrastructure as well as a widespread informal sector. While the South African government is active in promoting AIDS education, it hasn"t the money, manpower or material to cope with the attack of AIDS.

单选题The meanings of "science" and "technology" have changed significantly from one generation to another. More similarities than differences, however, can be found between the terms. Both science and technology imply a thinking process, both are concerned with causal relationships in the material world, and both employ an experimental methodology that results in empirical demonstrations that can be verified by repetition. Science, at least in theory, is less concerned with the practicality of its results and more concerned with the development of general laws, but in practice science and technology are inextricably involved with each other. The varying interplay of the two can be observed in the historical development of such practitioners as chemists, engineers, physicists, astronomers, carpenters, potters, and many other specialists. Differing educational requirements, social status, vocabulary, methodology, and types of rewards, as well as institutional objectives and professional goals, contribute to such distinctions as can be made between the activities of scientists and technologists; but throughout history the practitioners of "pure" science have made many practical as well as theoretical contributions. Indeed, the concept that science provides the ideas for technological innovations and that pure research is therefore essential for any significant advancement in industrial civilization is essentially a myth. Most of the greatest changes in industrial civilization cannot be traced to the laboratory. Fundamental tools and processes in the fields of mechanics, chemistry, astronomy, metallurgy, and hydraulics Were developed before the laws governing their functions were discovered. The steam engine, for example, was commonplace before the science of thermodynamics elucidated the physical principle underlying its operations. In recent years a sharp value distinction has grown up between science and technology. Advances in science have frequently had their bitter opponents, but today many people have come to fear technology much more than science. For these people, science may be perceived as a serene, objective source for understanding the eternal laws of nature, whereas the practical manifestations of technology in the modern world now seem to them to be out of control. Many historians of science argue not only that technology is an essential condition of advanced, industrial civilization, but also that the rate of technological change has developed its own momentum in recent centuries. Innovations now seem to appear at a rate that increase geometrically, without respect to geographical limits or political systems. These innovations tend to transform traditional cultural systems, frequently with unexpected social consequences. Thus technology can be conceived as both a creative and a destructive process.

单选题In the third sentence of Paragraph 2, the "four quarters" refers to ______.

单选题Hunger is no novelty. We can discount legends of golden ages, lands of Cockayne, and Megasthenes" statement that before Alexander"s invasion of India, there had never been famine or food shortage there. Trustworthy historical records show that during the Renaissance one year in ten in Britain, and one in five in Europe, was a famine year. China, with a greater area and more diverse climate, had a famine in some region every year. Famine is a state of affairs in which people are dying in the streets. It therefore attracts the notice of historians and is recorded. The fact that it strikes people who are aware of having been properly fed and well is more important. Not only are the survivors more adjustable, they are also angry at the breakdown of the system and eager to do something about it though it is obvious from the record that they do not always have the means. Malnutrition is much more underhanded. It is a chronic state in which the total food supply or, more often, the supply of certain components such as protein or some of the vitamins, is inadequate. It seems probable that, either constantly or seasonally, it used to be the usual condition of mankind and was regarded as normal. The unhealthy appearance of the figures in medieval paintings and drawings is often put down to the incompetence of the artist: it is as likely that most people really did look like that. The plentifulness with which poets greeted the "merry month of May" may, in our dull climate, have had a climatic basis: it is just as likely that in May, after six months" shortage, there was now an adequate vitamin supply. The promptness with which some sailors died of scurvy after leaving port suggests that they were normally on the edge of scurvy and needed only a slight worsening of conditions to get it acutely. Others will think of other examples. Hunger and malnutrition are components of a classic example of a vicious circle. They lead to enfeeblement or unfeelingness in which nothing either can be done, or seems to be worth doing, to alter the state of affairs, this leads to more hunger and malnutrition. There is good reason to think that, in much of the developing world, if the circle could once be broken, it need never return.

单选题The Southdale shopping centre in Minnesota has an atrium, a food court, fountains and acres of parking. Its shops include a Dairy Queen, a Victoria's Secret and a purveyor of comic T-shirts. It may not seem like a landmark, as important to architectural history as the Louvre or New York's Woolworth Building. But it is. "oh, my god!" chimes a group of teenage girls, on learning that they are standing in the world's first true shopping mall. "That is the coolest thing anybody has said to us all day. " In the past half century Southdale and its many imitators have transformed shopping habits, urban economies and teenage speech. America now has some 1,100 enclosed shopping malls, according to the International Council of Shopping Centres. Clones have appeared from Chennai to Martinique. Yet the mall's story is far from triumphal. Invented by a European socialist who hated cars and came to deride his own creation, it has a murky future. While malls continue to multiply outside America, they are gradually dying in the country that pioneered them. Southdale's creator arrived in America as a refugee from Nazi-occupied Vienna. Victor Gruen was a Jewish bohemian who began to design shops for fellow immigrants in New York after failing in cabaret theatre. His work was admired partly for its uncluttered, modernist look, which seemed revolutionary in 1930s America. But Gruen's secret was the way he used arcades and eye-level display cases to lure customers into stores almost against their will. As a critic complained, his shops were like mousetraps. A few years later the same would be said of his shopping malls. By the 1940s department stores were already moving to the suburbs. Some had begun to build adjacent strips of shops, which they filled with boutiques in an attempt to re-create urban shopping districts. In 1947 a shopping centre opened in Los Angeles featuring two department stores, a cluster of small shops and a large car park. It was, in effect, an outdoor shopping mall. Fine for balmy southern California, perhaps, but not for Minnesota's harsh climate. Commissioned to build a shopping centre at Southdale in 1956, Gruen threw a roof over the structure and installed an air-conditioning system to keep the temperature at 75°F (24℃)—which a contemporary press release called "Eternal Spring". The mall was born. Gruen got an extraordinary number of things right first time. He built a sloping road around the perimeter of the mall, so that half of the shoppers entered on the ground floor and half on the first floor-something that became a standard feature of malls. Southdale's balconies were low, so that shoppers could see the shops on the floor above or below them. The car park had animal signs to help shoppers remember the way back to their vehicles. It was as though Orville and Wilbur Wright had not just discovered powered flight but had built a plane with tray tables and a duty-free service.

单选题One of the facts that reflect the primitiveness of airline industry is ______.

单选题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}}Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C, and D on ANSWER SHEET 1. A study of art history might be a good way to learn more about a culture than that is possible to learn in general history classes. Most{{U}} (1) {{/U}}history courses concentrate on politics, economics, and war.{{U}} (2) {{/U}}, art history{{U}} (3) {{/U}}on much more than this because art reflects not only the political values of a people, but also religious{{U}} (4) {{/U}}, emotions, and psychology.{{U}} (5) {{/U}}, information about the daily activities of our own can be provided by art. In short, art expresses the{{U}} (6) {{/U}}qualities of a time and a place, and a study of it clearly offers us a deeper understanding than what can be found in most history books. In history books, objective information about the political life of a country is{{U}} (7) {{/U}}; that is, facts about political are given, but{{U}} (8) {{/U}}are not expressed. Art, on the other hand, is{{U}} (9) {{/U}}: it reflects emotions and impressions. The great Spanish painter Francisco Goya severely criticized the Spanish government for its{{U}} (10) {{/U}}of power over people. Over a hundred years later, symbolic{{U}} (11) {{/U}}were used in Pablo Picasso's Guemica to express the{{U}} (12) {{/U}}of war.{{U}} (13) {{/U}}, on another continent, the powerful paintings of Diego Rivera depicted these Mexican artists' concealed{{U}} 14 {{/U}}and sadness about social problems. In the same way, art can{{U}} (15) {{/U}}a culture's religious beliefs. For hundreds of years in Europe, religious art was{{U}} (16) {{/U}}the only type of art that existed. Churches and other religious buildings were filled with paintings that depicted people and stories from the Bible.{{U}} (17) {{/U}}most people couldn't read, they could still understand biblical stories in the pictures on church walls.{{U}} (18) {{/U}}, one of the main characteristics of art in the Middle East was (and still is) its{{U}} (19) {{/U}}of human and animal images. This reflects the Islamic belief that statues are{{U}} (20) {{/U}}.

单选题According to the last paragraph, which of the following will be accepted by the author?______.

单选题By "glass ceiling...remain low for women", the author intends to show that in most corporations