E-commerce has witnessed a_______growth these years.

An old friend from abroad, ______ I was expecting to stay with me, telephoned from the airport.

Sport is not only physically challenging, but it can also be mentally challenging. Criticism from coaches, parents, and other teammates, as well as pressure to win can create an excessive amount of anxiety or stress for young athletes(运动员). Stress can be physical, emotional, or psychological and research has indicated that it can lead to burnout. Burnout has been described as dropping or quitting of an activity that was at one time enjoyable. The early years of development are critical years for learning about oneself. The sport setting is one where valuable experiences can take place. Young athletes can, for example, learn how to cooperate with others, make friends, and gain other social skills that will be used throughout their lives. Coaches and parents should be aware, at all times, that their feedback to youngsters can greatly affect their children. Youngsters may take their parents" and coaches" criticisms to heart and find a flaw(缺陷) in themselves. Coaches and parents should also be cautious that youth sport participation does not become work for children. The outcome of the game should not be more important than the process of learning the sport and other life lessons. In today"s youth sport setting. Young athletes may be worrying more about who will win instead of enjoying themselves and the sport. Following a game many parents and coaches focus on the outcome and find fault with youngsters" performances. Positive reinforcement should be provided regardless of the outcome. Research indicates that positive reinforcement motivates and has a greater effect on learning than criticism. Again, criticism can create high levels of stress, which can lead to burnout.

A: Can I get you a cup of tea? B: ______.

The growth of population during the past few centuries is no proof that population will continue to grow straight upward toward infinity and doom. On the contrary, demographic history offers evidence that population growth has not been at all constant. According to paleo-ecologist Edward Deevey, the past million years show three momentous changes. The first, a rapid increase in population around one million B. C., followed the innovations of tool-making and tool-using. But when the new power from the use of tools had been exploited, the rate of world population growth fell and became almost stable. The next rapid jump in population started perhaps 10,000 years ago, when men began to keep herds, plow and plant the earth. Once again when initial productivity gains had been absorbed, the rate of population growth abated. These two episodes suggest that the third great change, the present rapid growth, which began in the West between 250 and 350 years ago, may also slow down when, or if technology begins to yield fewer innovations. Of course, the current knowledge revolution may continue without foreseeable end. Either way contrary to popular belief in constant geometric growth--population can be expected in the long nm to adjust to productivity.

These days we hear a lot of nonsense about the great classless society. The idea that the twentieth century is the age of the common man has become one of the great cliches(陈词滥调) of our time. The same old arguments are【B1】in evidence. Here are some of them: monarchy(君主政体)【B2】a system of government has been completely discredited. The monarchies that【B3】have been deprived of all political power.【B4】wealth has been savagely reduced by taxation and, in time, the great fortunes will disappear altogether. In a number of countries the victory has been complete. The people rule; the great millennium(太平盛世) has become a political reality. But has it? Close examination doesn"t【B5】the claim. It is a fallacy to suppose that all men are equal and that society will be leveled out【B6】you provide every-body【B7】the same educational opportunities. (It is debatable whether you can ever provide everyone with the same educational opportunities, but that is【B8】question.) The fact is that nature dispenses(分配) brains and ability with a total disregard for the principle of equality. The old rules of the jungle, "survival of the【B9】", and might is right are still with us. The spread of education has【B10】the old class system and created a new one.

According to the United States government, people are classified as homeless if they have no place to stay and no expectation of finding a place for the next thirty days. Although technically accurate, that is an impersonal assessment of an enormous and very human problem. The homeless population represents all of us Americans. It includes men and women, the elderly, children, and infants. Its members are from all ethnic(种族的) groups. What they have in common is poverty. Currently in the U.S., thirty-nine million people live in poverty. When money is really tight, paying the rent or buying food often becomes a choice. Government assistance in the form of food stamps does help but, as one homeless man explains, you can"t pay the rent with food stamps. With no money for rent, the streets and homeless shelters become the alternative. Although men constitute the largest group within the homeless population, homeless women with children are rapidly joining them. In fact, one quarter of the homeless people in the U.S. are teenagers and young children. People may become homeless for numerous reasons. However, there are certain factors that many of these individuals have in common. They include a lack of adequate education and job skills. A majority of the teenagers and adults have not completed high school. The abuse of alcohol and drugs is also a common factor One third of the adult homeless population abuses alcohol, while one quarter of the same group uses drugs. Some members of this population suffer mental health problems. Within the past several years many institutions for the mentally ill have been closed and their patients sent "home". Unfortunately, a number of those people have no home to go to and they are unable to adequately look after themselves. Job loss in today"s economy has also become a real factor in the loss of people"s homes. The breakup of families through abandonment and divorce are also contributing factors, particularly when there are children involved. The parent who is left to care for the kids with inadequate income may be forced to depend on the homeless shelters to put a roof over their heads.

Nurse: Do you have any designated doctor? Patient: Yes, Dr. Hurt, Cliff Hurt. Nurse: Here is your registration card. Dr. Hurt is at clinic No. ______.

Greg: Hey Merlin. I"d like to ask you a question. Merlin:______ Greg: Well, I"m thinking about going to Sweden. What"s the best time to go?

A: May I use your phone for a local call? B:______,sir!

Telephone enquiry Clerk: Lost property department. Can I help you? Phone caller: ______ I left it on the "Margate Mermaid" when we cross from Olsten Yesterday morning.

A: That necklace looks really lovely on you. B: ______.

48: Jim: I have a pair of tickets for an opera Saturday night. Would you like to go?Cindy: I don"t think so. ______.

Ted Robinson______these days.

There are nine on the list, so you are ______.

When I was still an architecture student, a teacher told me, "We learn more from buildings that fall down than from buildings that stand up". What he meant was that construction is as much the result of experience as of theory. Although structural design follows established formulas, the actual performance of a building is complicated by the passage of time, the behavior of users, the natural elements—and unnatural events. All are difficult to simulate. Buildings, unlike cars, can"t be crash-tasted. The first important lesson of the World Trade Center collapse is that tall buildings can withstand the impact of a large jetliner. The twin towers were supported by 59 perimeter columns on each side. Although about 30 of these columns, extending from four to six floors, were destroyed in each building by the impact, initially both towers remained standing. Even so, the death toll(代价) was appalling—2,235 people lost their lives. I was once asked how tall buildings should be designed given what we"d learned from the World Trade Center collapse. My answer was, "Lower". The question of when a tall building becomes unsafe is easy to answer. Common aerial fire-fighting ladders in use today are 100 feet high and can reach to about the 10th floor, so fires in buildings up to 10 stories high can be fought from the exterior(外部). Fighting fires and evacuating occupants above that height depend on fire stairs. The taller the building, the longer it will take for firefighters to climb to the scene of the fire. So the simple answer to the safety question is "Lower than 10 stories". Then why don"t cities impose lower height limits? A 60-story office building does not have six times as much rentable space as a 10-story building. However, all things being equal, such a building will produce four times more revenue and four times more in property taxes. So cutting building heights would mean cutting city budgets. The most important lesson of the World Trade Center collapse is not that we should stop building tall buildings but that we have misjudged their cost. We did the same thing when we underestimated the cost of hurtling along a highway in a steel box at 70 miles per hour. It took many years before seat belts, air bags, radial tires, and antilock brakes became commonplace. At first, cars simply were too slow to warrant concern. Later, manufacturers resisted these expensive devices, arguing that consumers would not pay for safety. Now we do willingly.

I wouldn’t recommend you go mountain-climbing at this time of year because it is ______.

The president of the company ______ why the other members of the committee hadn"t been informed of this important news.

Once upon a time, innovation at Procter & Gamble flowed one way: from the United States outward. While the large Cincinnati-based corporation was no stranger to foreign markets, it usually sold them products that were already familiar to most Americans. Many Japanese families, for instance, swaddle their babies in Pampers diapers, and lots of Venezuelans brush their teeth with Crest. And of course (company executives assumed) Americans at home wanted these same familiar, red-white and blue brands. We might buy foreign-made cars, or chocolates, or cameras but household cleaners and detergents? Recently, however, P&G broke with this long-standing tradition. Ariel, a P&G laundry detergent, was born overseas, and is a familiar sight on store shelves in Europe and Latin America. Now bilingual packages of Ariel Ultra, a super-concentrated cleaner, are appearing on supermarket shelves in Los Angeles. Ariel"s appearance in the United States reflects demographic changes making Hispanics the nation"s fastest-growing ethnic group. Ariel is a hit with this population. In fact, many Mexican immigrants living in Southern California have been "importing" Ariel from Tijuana, Mexico. "Hispanics knew this product and wanted it", says P&G spokeswoman Marie Salvado. "We realized that we couldn"t convince them to buy (our) other laundry detergents". P&G hopes that non-Hispanic consumers will give Ariel a try too. Ariel"s already strong presence in Europe may provide a springboard for the company to expand into other markets as well. Recently P&G bought Rakona, Czechoslovakia"s top detergent maker. Ariel, currently a top seller in Germany, is likely to be one of the first new brands to appear in Czech supermarkets. And Ariel is not the only foreign idea that the company hopes to transplant back to its home territory. Cinch, an all-purpose spray cleaner similar to popular European products, is currently being test-marketed in California and Arizona. Traditionally Americans have used separate cleaners for different types of surfaces, but market research shows that American preferences are becoming more like those in other countries. Insiders note that this new reverse flow of innovation reflects more sweeping changes at Procter & Gamble. The firm has hired many new Japanese, German, and Mexican managers who view P&G"s business not as a one-way flow of American ideas, but a two-way exchange with other markets. Says Bonita Austin of the investment firm Wertheim-Schroeder, "When you met with P&G"s top managers years ago, you wouldn"t have seen a single foreign face". Today, "they could even be in the majority". As Procter & Gamble has found, the United States is no longer an isolated market. Americans are more open than ever before to buying foreign-made products and to selling U.S.-made products overseas.