单选题You don't have to be in such a hurry, I would rather you ______ on business first. A. would go B. will go C. went D. have gone

单选题Can you imagine how different your life would be if you did not know how to read and write? Many of the things you (41) for granted during an ordinary day (42) no longer be possible if you could not read. You would miss the basic (43) you depend on for simple activities -- (44) from following instructions on a medicine bottle to (45) traffic signs. If you could not read (46) , newspapers, and magazines, you would be out of (47) with the world around you. Your understanding of that world would be limited even further (48) the insight(见识) provided by stories, poems, and novels. If you (49) not write, you would be unable to record information and ideas for other people. (50) , you would lose the personal pleasure of keeping a (51) to explore your private thoughts, creating an (52) world in a story, or capturing your feelings (53) the words of a poem or song. Try to imagine how different life would be if (54) could read and write. The shape of our entire (55) would change. Obviously the printing and (56) industry would not exist. The absence of reading and writing would (57) a surprising number of other organizations, (58) the automotive industry, the business machines and computer industries, and electronic communication companies. The reason, (59) , is that the printing and publishing industry is a very important part of every one of these organizations. Modem life depends on communication, (60) written communication.

单选题According to a survey, which was based on the responses of over 188,000 students, today's traditional-age college freshmen are "more materialistic and less altruistic (利他主义的)"than at any time in the 17 years of the poll. Not surprising in these hard times, the student's major objective "is to be financially well off. Less important than ever is developing a meaningful philosophy of life." It follows then that today the most popular course is not literature or history but accounting. Interest in teaching, social service and the "altruistic" fields is at a low. On the other hand, enrollment in business programs, engineering and computer science is way up. That's no surprise either. A friend of mine (a sales representative for a chemical company) was making twice the salary of her college instructors her first year on the job--even before she completed her two-year associate degree. While it's true that we all need a career, it is equally true that our civilization has accumulated an incredible amount of knowledge in fields far removed from our own and that we are better for our understanding of these other contributions- be they scientific or artistic. It is equally true that, in studying the diverse wisdom of others, we learn how to think. More important, perhaps, education teaches us to see the connections between things, as well as to see beyond our immediate needs. Weekly we read of unions who went on strike for higher wages, only to drive their employer out of business. No company; no job. How shortsighted in the long run! But the most important argument for a broad education is that in studying the accumulated wisdom of the ages, we improve our moral sense. I saw a cartoon recently which shows a group of businessmen looking puzzled as they sit around a conference table; one of them is talking on the intercom (对讲机): "Miss Baxter," he says, "could you please send in someone who can distinguish right from wrong?" From the long-term point of view, that's what education really ought to be about.

单选题The eldest son ______ all the family members to discuss how to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of their parents.

单选题In the last ten years, the Internet has opened up incredible amounts of information to ordinary citizens. But using the Internet can he like walking into a library where the books are all lying on the floor in piles. While tools like Google allow some structured search, much of the data from such searches is outdated or of questionable value. Some web enthusiasts have taken up the task of organizing information through a democratic means that only the Internet allows: an encyclopedia of the people, by the people, and completely free to copy and distribute. This ‘people’s encyclopedia’ of the Web — a free site called Wikipedia — has provided a unique solution by inviting individuals to participate in the process of rationalizing and updating web content. At the heart of this movement are wikis, web sites that allow users to directly edit any web page with one click of the mouse. Wikipedia — the largest example of these collaborative efforts — is a functioning, user-contributed online encyclopedia that has become a popular and highly regarded reference in just three years of existence. The goal of Wikipedia was to create an encyclopedia that could he shared and copied freely while encouraging people to change and improve the content. Each and every article has an “Edit this page” button, allowing anyone, even anonymous passersby, to add or delete any content on the page. It seems like a recipe for disaster and chaos, but it has produced surprisingly credible content that has been evaluated and revised by the thousands of international visitors to the site. For many, it finally realizes the original concept of World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee — an online environment where people not only browse content, but freely and actively exchange information. The Wikipedia project was started by Jimmy Wales, head of Internet startup Bomis.com, after his original project for a volunteer, hut strictly controlled, free encyclopedia ran out of money and resources after two years. Editors with PhD degrees were at the helm of the project then, but it produced only a few hundred articles. Not wanting the content to languish, Wales placed the pages on a wiki website in January 2001 and invited any Internet visitors to edit or add to the collection. The site became a runaway success in the first year and gained a loyal following, generating over 20,000 articles and spawning over a dozen language translations. After two years, it had 100,000 articles, and in April 2004, it exceeded 250,000 articles in English and 600,000 articles in 50 other languages. Over 2,000 new articles are added each day across all the various languages. And according to website rankings at Alexa.com, it has become more popular than traditional online encyclopedias such as Britannica.com and is one of the top 600 most heavily visited websites on the internet.

单选题Questions 16-20 are based on the following passage: Beijing's top hotels are fielding scores of calls from foreigners and Chinese people eager to book rooms during the 2008 Olympic Games in the Chinese capital. The luxurious and recently-renovated Beijing Hotel said it had received nearly 100 telephone inquiries from people wanting to book rooms during the Games since Beijing won its bid to host the event. "Out of these people, foreigners make up 30 to 40 per cent, including people calling from the United States and Europe," a hotel sales manager surnamed Song said. Minutes before the decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was announced in Moscow, the hotel had already received 50 to 60 such phone calls from would-be game-goers gambling on the result. Domestic callers have mainly come from the southern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian. Song said the hotel was not taking reservations, but only noting down names of callers, because seven years was too far in advance. The hotel also may be used by the IOC and would then need to set aside rooms for IOC members, he said. Beijing will have more than 800 hotels with star ratings before the Olympic Games in 2008. The city currently has 20 five-star hotels, 34 four-star hotels and 338 other hotels with lower ratings. About 70 hotels will be designated to accommodate athletes and Olympic officials during the Games.

单选题Man: We had a trip to South Africa this summer. Woman: ______ Man: Yes, we did. In fact, we even encountered a lion. A. Didn't you? B. How did it go? C. I bet you had a great time. D. I guess you did.

单选题Some women ______ a good salary in a job instead of staying home, but they decided not to work for the sake of the family. A. must make B. should have made C. would make D. could have made

单选题Every year, thousands of college students apply for the CCTV Cup English Speech ______. A. Argument B. Quarrel C. Debate D. Contest

单选题______ that called this morning?

单选题Although heroes may come from different cultures, they. ______ .

单选题Mum: Let's go and see grandma some time during the break. Daughter: Great. What time? Mum: ______ A. You name it. B. Are you ready? C. During the break. D. Take your time.

单选题You think you are clever, ______, I assure you that you are very foolish.

单选题He went to a hospital and had his tooth ______.

单选题Tom ______ better than to ask Dick for help. A. shall know B. has known C. shouldn't know D. should have known

单选题No country in the world has more daily newspapers than the USA. There are almost 2000 of them, as compared with 180 in Japan, 164 in Argentina and 111 in Britain. The quality of some American papers is extremely high and their views are quoted all over the world. Distinguished dailies like the Washington Post or the New York Times have a powerful influence all over the country. However the Post and the Times are not national newspapers in the sense that The Times is in Britain or Le Monde is in France, since each American city has its own daily newspaper. The best of these present detailed accounts of national and international news, but many tend to limit themselves to state or city news. Like the press in most other countries, American newspapers range from the "sensational", which feature crime, sex and rumour, to the serious, which focus on factual news and the analysis of world events. But with few exceptions American newspapers try to entertain as well as give information, for they have to compete with television. Just as American newspapers give way to all tastes, so do they also try and apply to readers for all political persuasions. A few newspapers support extremist (过激分子) groups on the far right and on the far left, but most daily newspapers attempt to attract middle-of-the-road Americans who are essentially moderate. Many of these papers print columns by well-known journalists of different political and social views, in order to present a balanced picture. As in other democratic countries American newspapers can be either responsible or irresponsible, but it is generally accepted that the American press serves its country well and that it has more than once bravely uncovered political scandals (丑闻) or crimes, for instance, the Watergate Affair. The newspapers drew the attention of the public to the fears of the Vietnam War.

单选题Brazil has become one of the developing world's great successes at reducing population growth--but more by accident than design. While countries such as India have made joint efforts to reduce birth rates, Brazil has had better result without really trying, says George Martine at Harvard. Brazil's population growth rate has dropped from 2.99% a year between 1951 and 1960 to 1.93% a year between 1981 and 1990, and Brazilian women now have only 2.7 children on average. Martine says this figure may have fallen still further since 1990, an achievement that makes it the envy of many other Third World countries. Martine puts it down to, among other things, soap operas (通俗电视连续剧) and instalment (分期付款) plans introduced in the 1970s. Both played an important, although indirect, role in lowering the birth rate. Brazil is one of the world's biggest producers of soap operas. Globo, Brazil's most popular television network, shows three hours of soaps six nights a week, while three others show at least one hour a night. Most soaps are based on wealthy characters living the high life in big cities. "Although they have never really tried to work in a message towards the problems of reproduction, they describe middle and upper class values- not many children, different attitudes towards sex, women working," says Martine. "They sent this image to all parts of Brazil and made people conscious of other patterns of behavior and other values, which were put into a very attractive package." Meanwhile, the instalment plans tried to encourage the poor to become consumers. "This 1ed to an enormous change in consumption patterns and consumption was in compatible (不相容的) with unlimited reproduction," says Martine.

单选题Passage Three We sometimes hear that essays are an old-fashioned form, that so-and-so is the "last essayist", but the facts of the marketplace argue quite otherwise. Essays of nearly any kind are so much easier than short stories for a writer to sell, so many more see print, it's strange that though two fine anthologies (collections) remain that publish the year's best stories, no comparable collection exists for essays. Such changes in the reading public's taste aren't always to the good, needless to say. The art of telling stories predated even cave painting, surely; and if we ever find ourselves living in caves again, it (with painting and drumming) will be the only art left, after movies, novels, photography, essays, biography, and all the rest have gone down the drain — the art to build from. Essays, however, hang somewhere on a line between two sturdy poles: this is what I think, and this is what I am. Autobiographies which aren't novels are generally extended essays, indeed. A personal essay is like the human voice talking, its order being the mind's natural flow, instead of a systematized outline of ideas. Though more changeable or informal than an article or treatise, somewhere it contains a point which is its real center, even if the point couldn't be uttered in fewer words than the essayist has used. Essays don't usually boil down to a summary, as articles do, and the style of the writer has a "nap" to it, a combination of personality and originality and energetic loose ends that stand up like the nap (绒毛) on a piece of wool and can't be brushed flat. Essays belong to the animal kingdom, with a surface that generates sparks, like a coat of fur, compared with the flat, conventional cotton of the magazine article writer, who works in the vegetable kingdom, instead. But, essays, on the other hand, may have fewer "levels" than fiction, because we are not supposed to argue much about their meaning. In the old distinction between teaching and storytelling, the essayist, however cleverly he tries to conceal his intentions, is a bit of a teacher or reformer, and an essay is intended to convey the same point to each of us. An essayist doesn't have to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, he can shape or shave his memories, as long as the purpose is served of explaining a truthful point. A personal essay frequently is not autobiographical at all, but what it does keep in common with autobiography is that, through its tone and tumbling progression, it conveys the quality of the author's mind. Nothing gets in the way. Because essays are directly concerned with the mind and the mind's peculiarity, the very freedom the mind possesses is conferred on this branch of literature that does honor to it, and the fascination of the mind is the fascination of the essay.

单选题Delegates agree to the plan in ______ , but there were some details they didn’t approve.