单选题"Techno-stress"-frustration arising from pressure to use new technology is said to be (41) , reports Maclean's magazine of CanadA. Studies point to causes that (42) "the never-ending process of learning how to use new technologies to the (43) of work and home life as a result of (44) like e-mail, call-forwarding and wireless phones." How can you cope? Experts recommend setting (45) . Determine whether using a particular device will really simplify life or merely add new (46) . Count on having to invest time to learn a new technology well enough to realize its full benefits. " (47) time each day to turn the technology off," and devote time to other things afforded or deserving (48) attention. "People start the day by making the (49) mistake of opening their e-mail, instead of working to a plan," notes Vancouver productivity expert Dan Stamp. "The best hour and a half of the day is spent on complete (50) .

单选题 Passage Four When imaginative men turn their eyes towards space and wonder whether life exists in any part of it, they may cheer themselves by remembering that life need not resemble closely the life that exists on Earth. Mars looks like the only planet where life like ours could exist, and even this is doubtful. But there may be other kinds of life based on other chemistry, and they may multiply on Venus or Jupiter. At least we cannot prove at present that they do not. Even more interesting is the possibility that life on their planets may be in a more advanced stage of evolution. Present-day man is in a peculiar and probably temporary stage. His individual units retain a strong sense of personality. They are, in fact, still capable under favorable circumstances of leading individual lives. But man's societies are already sufficiently developed to have enormously more power and effectiveness than the individuals have. It is not likely that this transitional situation will continue very long on the evolutionary time scale. Fifty thousand years from now man's societies may have become so close-knit that the individuals retain no sense of separate personality. Then little distinction will remain between the organic parts of the multiple organisms and the inorganic parts (machines) that have been constructed by it. A million years further on man and his machines may have merged as closely as the muscles of the human body and the nerve cells that set them in motion. The explorers of space should be prepared for some such situation. If they arrive on a foreign planet that has reached an advanced stage (and this is by no means impossible), they may find it being inhabited by a single large organism composed of many closely cooperating units. The units may be "secondary"—machines created millions of years ago by a previous form of life and given the will and ability to survive and reproduce. They may be built entirely of metals and other durable materials. If this is the case, they may be much more tolerant of their environment, multiplying under conditions that would destroy immediately any organism made of carbon compounds and dependent on the familiar carbon cycle. Such creatures might be relics of a past age, millions of years ago, when their planet was favorable to the origin of life, or they might be immigrants from a favored planet.

单选题 At least since the Industrial Revolution, gender roles have been in a state of transition. As a result, cultural scripts about marriage have undergone change. One of the more obvious changes has occurred in the roles that women {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}. Women have moved into the world of work and have become adept at meeting expectations in that arena, while maintaining their family roles of nurturing and creating a (n) {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}that is a haven for all family members. {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}many women experience strain from trying to "do it all," they often enjoy the increased rewards that can result from playing multiple roles. As women's roles have changed, changing expectations about men's roles have become more {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}Many men are relinquishing their major responsibility {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}the family provider. Probably the most significant change in men's roles, however, is in the emotional {{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}of family life. Men are increasingly expected to meet the emotional needs of their families, especially their wives. In fact, expectations about the emotional domain of marriage have become more significant for marriage in general. Research on {{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}marriage has changed over recent decades points to the increasing importance of the emotional side of the relationships and the importance of sharing in the "emotion work" {{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}to nourish marriages and other family relationships. Men and women want to experience marriages that are interdependent, {{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}both partners nurture each other, attend and respond to each other, and encourage and promote each other. We are thus seeing marriages in which men's and women's roles are becoming increasingly more {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}

单选题When he was young, he was {{U}}afflicted{{/U}} with paralysis. A. inflicted B. stricken C. reflected D. influenced

单选题 Only a handful of creatures on earth carry the dread title "man-eater". The great white shark is one, quick at times snap up swimmers and ship-wrecked sailors. People have been meals for lions and tigers. Crocodiles will attack human prey. But perhaps no creature is more blindly savage than a small fish of South America's inland waters—the piranha. At first glance, the piranha seems harmless enough. Deep-bellied and flat, it looks like a sunfish a youngster might catch on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It is actually a close relative to silver dollar—an ornamental and placid fish prized by aquarium enthusiasts. But towards the business end of a piranha, any similarity to its more docile brethren ends. The head of the piranha is massive by scale, its raked-back skull armored by thick bone. Its large, round eyes are sometimes blood red; its mouth is armed with triangular teeth as keen as razors. When the lower jaw, thrust forward in bulldog fashion, snaps shut, the upper and lower teeth mesh perfectly. The result on anything caught in between is that of surgical steel on butter. One bite and out comes a neat piece of flesh the size of a dollar. We had a chance to see those dread jaws in action ourselves when we hired a guide, Jorge, to take us fishing out from Manarus, in Brazil's jungle. An hour after we left the city, Jorge cut the engine in an inlet off the muddy Amazon, and baited a hook with raw meat. Almost immediately, something struck, and Jorge hauled the line back in, flipping a struggling fish about 12 inches long into the bilge," Red piranha," he warned." Watch your hands and feet." Thrashing in the narrow boat bottom, sunlight glittering off its vermilion belly, it looked as handsome as any tropical fish we'd see. The fierce-looking jaws, however, were snapping wildly at the air, Jorge reached for an oar to deal it a blow just as the hook worked loose from the fish's mouth. With a lightning-swift snap, the piranha chopped a neat semicircular chunk from the wooden oar. We now understand why so many fishermen in piranha country are missing fingers and toes.

单选题Impressed by the women's desire to learn, Sachs and Brown helped them hammer out a business plan. A. hang out B. set out C. figure out D. work out

单选题The company has announced that it will {{U}}undertake{{/U}} an investigation into this accident. A. enter upon B. put off C. turn in D. set aside

单选题Fearful of losing her job for good, this lady decided to talk to the manager directly. A. for benefits B. by luck C. for ever D. at hand.

单选题Ways have to be found to accommodate the special needs of these left-behind children in rural areas.

单选题Directions: In this section you will hear two mini-talks. At the end of each talk, there will be some questions. Both the talks and the questions will be read only once. After each question, there will be a pause. During the pause.

单选题This old man had trouble expressing the attachment he felt when arriving at his native town.

单选题Although in her teens, the eldest daughter had to quit school to help ______ the family. A. provide for B. head for C. fall for D. go for

单选题The government will ______ a long time to dissipate the mistrust among stakeholders in the market. A. take B. spend C. cost D. involve

单选题 {{B}}Passage Four {{/B}} Iris Rossner has seen eastern Germany customers weep for joy when they drive away in shiny, new Mercedes-Benz sedans. "They have tears in their eyes and keep saying how lucky they are," says Rossner, the Mercedes employee responsible for post-delivery celebrations. Rossner has also seen the French pop corks on bottles of champagne as their national flag was hoisted above a purchase. And she has seen American business executives, Japanese tourists and Russian politicians travel thousands of miles to a Mercedes plant in southwestern Germany when a classic sedan with the trade mark three-pointed star was about to roll off the assembly line and into their lives. Those were the good economic miracle of the 1960s and ended in 1991. Times have changed. "Ten years ago, we had clear leadership in the market," says Mercedes spokesman Horst Krambeer. "But over this period, the market has changed drastically. We are now in a pitched battle. The Japanese are partly responsible, but Mercedes has had to learn the hard way that even German firms like BMW and Audi have made efforts to rise to our standards of technical proficiency." Mercedes experienced one of its worst years ever in 1992. The auto market's worldwide car sales fell by 5 percent from the previous year, to a low of 527,500. Before the decline, in 1988, the company could sell close to 600,000 cars per year. In Germany alone, there were 30,000 fewer new Mercedes registrations last year than in 1991. As a result, production has plunged by almost 600,000 cars to 529,400 last year, a level well beneath the company's potential capacity of 650,000, Mercedes' competitors have been catching up in the United States, the world's largest car market. In 1986, Mercedes sold 100,000 vehicles in America; by 1991, the number had declined to 59,000. Over the last two years, the struggling company has lost a slice of its US market share to BMW, Toyota and Nissan. And BMW outsold Mercedes in America last year for the first time in its history. Meanwhile, just as Mercedes began making some headway in Japan, a notoriously difficult market, the Japanese economy fell on hard times and the company saw its sales decline by 13 percent in that country. Revenues will hardly improve this year, and the time has come for getting down to business. At Mercedes, that means cutting payrolls, streamlining production and opening up to consumer needs—revolutionary steps for a company that once considered itself beyond improvement.

单选题An important innovation in this college was the introduction of the seminary method for advanced students. A. idea B. change C. matter D. policy

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单选题 On September 13, the New York City Health Department became the first in the nation to ban the sale of sugared beverages larger than 16 oz. at restaurants, mobile food carts, sports arenas and movie theaters. Supermarkets and convenience stores would be exceptions to the law, however. The ban on large drinks was championed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has a reputation for taking aggressive steps to improve city residents' health. Often criticized for creating a government that tries to give too much advice or make too many laws about how people should live their lives, Bloomberg has been at the forefront of finding innovative but controversial ways of pushing people to make healthier choices. It's a bold experiment in the anti-obesity campaign. With at least two-thirds of American adults now considered overweight or obese—including more than half of New York City adults and nearly 40% of the city's public elementary and secondary school students—fighting obesity is one of the mayor's signature causes, and sugary drinks a longtime target. "We are dealing with a crisis... we need to act on this," said Board of Health member Deepthiman Gowda, a professor of medicine at Columbia University. Bloomberg has noted that the ban doesn't prevent people from buying several small sodas at a time if they wish, but health officials hope that the inconvenience will eventually get people to cut down on their use of sugared drinks. While it's widely supported by health professionals, it's not popular with food retailers or most city residents. Some health officials, as well as the restaurant and beverage industry, are critical of the ban. They ask, why single out sugared sodas; obesity has many causes and contributors, not just what people drink. And if sugared beverages are being targeted, why not take stronger measures against other sources of sugar, such as candy and other sweets? Many restaurant owners, fast-food chains and makers of sodas, including Coca-Cola and McDonald's, are also upset over what they see as a discriminatory policy that could hurt certain businesses while rewarding others. The groups plan to continue to challenge the ruling, including taking their concerns to court. "We are smart enough to make our own decisions about what to eat and drink," Liz Berman, the chairperson of the New Yorkers for Beverage Choices coalition, said in a statement.

单选题 Only moments after announcing a policy of zero tolerance on cellphone use in the classroom, Ali Nazemi heard a ring. Nazemi, a business professor at Roanoke College in Virginia, took out a hammer and walked towards a young man. He smashed the offending device. Students' faces turned white all over the classroom. This episode reflects a growing challenge for American college teachers in, as the New York Times puts it, a "New Class (room) War: Teacher vs. Technology". Fortunately, the smashed-phone incident had been planned ahead of time to demonstrate teachers' anger at inattentive students distracted by high-tech gadgets. At age 55, Nazemi stands on the far shore of a new sort of generational divide between teacher and student. The divide separates those who want to use technology to grow smarter from those who want to use it to get dumber. Perhaps there's a nicer way to put it. {{U}}"The baby boomers{{/U}} seem to see technology as information and communication," said Michael Bugeja, the author of Interpersonal Divide: the Search for Community in a Technological Age. "Their children seem to see the same devices as entertainment and socializing." All the advances schools and colleges have made to supposedly enhance learning have instead enabled distractione. Bugeja's online survey of several hundred students found that a majority had used their cell phones, sent or read e-mail, and logged onto social-network sites during class time. A quarter of the respondents admitted they were taking the survey while sitting in a different class. The Canadian company Smart Technologies makes and sells a program called SynchronEyes. It allows a classroom teacher to monitor every student's computer activity and to freeze it at a click. Last year, the company sold more than 10,000 licenses. The biggest problem, said Nancy Knowlton, the company's chief executive officer, is staying ahead of students trying to crack the program's code. "There's an active discussion on the Web, and we're monitoring it." Knowlton said. "They keep us on our toes."

单选题A disease known as chestnut blight {{U}}wiped out{{/U}} large numbers of American chestnut trees. A. altered B. penetrated C. devalued D. destroyed

单选题To achieve sustainable development, the ______ of resources is assuming new importance. A. conservation B. reservation C. exhaustion D. devastation