单选题Computer people talk a lot about the need for other people to become "computer-literate", in other words, to learn to understand computers and what makes them tick. Not all experts agree. However, that this is a good idea. One pioneer, in particular, who disagrees is David Tebbutt, the founder of Computertown UK. Although many people see this as a successful attempt to bring people closer to the computer. David does not see it that way. He says that Computertown UK was formed for just the opposite reason, to bring computers to the people and make them "people-literate". David first got the idea when he visited one of America"s best-known computer "guru (权威)" figures, Bob Albrecht, in the small university town of Palo Alto in Northern California. Albrecht had started a project called Computertown USA in the local library, and the local children used to call round every Wednesday to borrow some time on the computers there, instead of borrowing library books. Albrecht was always on hand to answer any questions and to help the children discover about computers in their own way. Over here, in Britain, Computertowns have taken off in a big way, and there are now about 40 scattered over the country. David Tebbutt thinks they are most successful when tied to computer club. He insists there is a vast and important difference between the two, although they complement each other. The clubs cater for the enthusiasts, with some computer knowledge already, who get together and eventually form an expert computer group. This frightens away non-experts, who are happier going to Computertowns where there are computers available for them to experiment on, with experts available to encourage them and answer any questions; they are not told what to do, they find out. David Tebbutt finds it interesting to see the two different approaches working side by side. The computer experts have to learn not to tell people about computers, but have to be able to explain the answers to the questions that people really want to know. In some Computertowns there are question sessions, rather like radio phone-ins where the experts listen to a lot of questions and then try to work out some structure to answer them. People are not having to learn computer jargons, but the experts are having to translate computer mysteries into easily understood terms; the computers are becoming "people-literate".

单选题The fact that superior service can generate a competitive advantage for a company does not mean that every attempt at improving service will create such an advantage. Investments in service, like those in production and distribution, must be balanced against other types of investments on the basis of direct, tangible benefits such as cost reduction and increased revenues. If a company is already effectively on a par with its competitors because it provides service that avoids a damaging reputation and keeps customers from leaving at an unacceptable rate, then investment in higher service levels may be wasted, since service is a deciding factor for customers only in extreme situations. This truth was not apparent to managers of one regional bank, which failed to improve its competitive position despite its investment in reducing the time a customer had to wait for a teller. The bank managers did not recognize the level of customer inertia in the consumer banking industry that arises from the inconvenience of switching banks. Nor did they analyze their service improvement to determine whether it would attract new customers by producing a new standard of service that would excite customers or by proving difficult for competitors to copy. The 0nly merit of the improvement was that it could easily be described to customers.

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单选题The sources of anti-Christian feeling were many and complex. On the more intangible side, there was a general pique against the unwanted intrusion of the Western countries; there was an understandable tendency to seek an external scapegoat for internal disorders only tangentially attributable to the West and perhaps most important, there was a virile tradition of ethnocentricism, vented long before against Indian Buddhism, which, since the seventeenth century, focused on Western Christianity. Accordingly, even before the missionary movement really got under way in the mid-nineteenth century, it was already at a disadvantage. After 1860, as missionary activity in the hinterland expanded, it quickly became apparent that in addition to the intangibles, numerous tangible grounds for Chinese hostility abounded. In part, the very presence of the missionary evoked attack. They were, after all, the first foreigners to leave the treaty ports and venture into the interior, and for a long time they were virtually the only foreigners whose quotidian labors carried them to the farthest reaches of the Chinese empire. For many of the indigenous population, therefore, the missionary stood as a uniquely visible symbol against which opposition to foreign intrusion could be vented. in part, too, the missionary was attacked because the manner in which he made his presence felt after 1860 seemed almost calculated to offend. By indignantly waging battle against the notion that China was the sole fountainhead of civilization and, more particularly, by his assault on many facets of Chinese culture, the missionary directly undermined the cultural hegemony of the gentry class. Also, in countless ways, he posed a threat to the gentry"s traditional monopoly of social leadership. Missionaries, particularly Catholics, frequently assumed the garb of the Confucian literati. They were the only persons at the local level, aside from the gentry, who were permitted to communicate with the authorities as social equals. And they enjoyed an extraterritorial status in the interior that gave them greater immunity to Chinese law than had ever been possessed by the gentry. Although it was the avowed policy of the Chinese government after 1860 that the new treaties were to be strictly adhered to, in practice implementation depended on the wholehearted accord of provincial authorities. There is abundant evidence that cooperation was dilatory. At the root of this lay the interactive nature of ruler and ruled. In a severely understaffed bureaucracy that ruled as much by suasion as by might, the official, almost always a stranger in the locality of his service, depended on the active cooperation of the local gentry class. Energetic attempts to implement treaty provisions concerning missionary activities, in direct defiance of gentry sentiment, ran the risk of alienating this class and destroying future effectiveness.

单选题 You will hear 3 conversations or talks and you must answer the questions by choosing A, B, C or D. You will hear the recording ONLY ONCE. {{B}} Questions 11～13 are based on the following talk. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 11～13.{{/B}}

单选题 Banking is about money; and no other familiar commodity arouses such excesses of passion and dislike. Nor is here any other about which more nonsense is talked. The type of thing that comes to mind is not what is normally called economics, which is inexact rather than nonsensical, and only in the same way as all sciences are at the point where they try to predict people's behavior and its consequences. Indeed most social sciences and, for example, medicine could probably be described in the same way. However, it is common to hear assertions of the kind "if you were left alone on a desert island a few seed potatoes would be more useful to you than a million pounds" as though this proved something important about money except the undeniable fact that it would not be much use to anyone in a situation where very few of us are at all likely to find ourselves. Money in fact is a token or symbolic object, exchangeable on demand by its holders for goods and services. Its use for these purposes is universal except within a small number of primitive agricultural communities. Money and the price mechanism, i. e., the changes in prices expressed in money terms of different goods and services, are the means by which all modern societies regulate demand and supply for these things. Especially important are the relative changes in price of different goods and services compared with each other. To take random examples: the price of house-building has over the past five years risen a good deal faster than that of domestic appliances like refrigerators, but slower than that of motor insurance or French Impressionist paintings. This fact has complex implications for students of the industry, trade unionism, town planning, insurance companies, fine-art auctions, and politics. Unpacking these implications is what economics is about, but their implications for bankers are quite different. In general, in modern industrialized societies, prices of services or goods produced in a context requiring a high service-content (e. g. a meal in a restaurant) are likely to rise in price more rapidly than goods capable of mass-production on a large scale. It is also a characteristic of highly developed economies that the number of workers employed in service industries tends to rise and that of workers employed in manufacturing to fall. The discomfort this truth causes has been an important source of tension in western political life for many years and is likely to remain so for many more.

单选题In Britain,the Changing of the Guard takes place in [A] Buckingham Palace. [B] Downing Street. [C] Victoria and Albert Museum. [D] The Tower of London.

单选题Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $26 a barrel, up from less than $10 last December. This near-tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shock, when prices quadrupled, and 1979-80, when they also almost tripled. Both previous shocks resulted in double-digit inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this time? The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth, at the same time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price higher still in the short term. Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to four-fifths of the retail price, so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in the past. Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so less sensitive to swings in the oil price. Energy conservation, a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy, energy-intensive industries has reduced oil consumption. Software, consultancy and mobile telephones use far less oil than steel or car production. For each dollar of GDP (in constant prices) rich economies now use nearly 50% less oil than in 1973. The OECD estimates in its latest Economic Outlook that, its oil prices averaged $ 22 a barrel for a full year, compared with $13 in 1998, this would increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only 0.25 -0.5% of GDP. That is less than one-quarter of the income loss in 1974 or 1980. On the other hand, oil-importing emerging economies—to which heavy industry has shifted—have become more energy-intensive, and so could be more seriously squeezed. One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is that, unlike the rises in the 1970s, it has not occurred against the background of general commodity-price inflation and global excess demand. A sizable portion of the world is only just emerging from economic decline. The Economist's commodity price index is broadly unchanging from a year ago. In 1973 commodity prices jumped by 70% and in 1979 by almost 30%.

单选题 Text 2 Most experts believe that an ever-increasing number of countries and terrorist groups will gain the technical capability to acquire and use chemical and biological weapons. But use of these weapons by hostile states or terrorist groups is not inevitable. Even when locked in bloody conventional wars, nations that have considered using these weapons have generally been deterred by the risk that their opponents would retaliate in the same way or escalate the conflict elsewhere. Terrorist groups with the technical capacity to acquire and use a chemical or biological weapon have typically lacked an interest in doing so, while groups interested in such weapons have generally lacked the necessary technical skills. Assessing future threats, however, involves more than simple extrapolation from past trends. In the case of chemical and biological weapons, it appears that the likelihood of use by both hostile states and terrorist groups is growing, and it is clear that even one such attack against an unprotected population could be devastating. Ironically, some experts believe that the technological superiority of the US armed forces is heightening the long-term risks of chemical and biological weapons used by states that wish to challenge the international status quo through aggression. Hostile states that hope to have a fighting chance against a US led military coalition, such as the one that defeated Iraq in 1991, may search for ways to compensate for the inferiority of their own conventional military forces. An obvious answer, and one of grave concern to US military planners, is that such states might turn to an unconventional arsenal, most importantly chemical and biological weapons. The threat of CBW used by terrorists is of an entirely different character. Terrorists have almost always chosen to kill fewer people than they are able to kill. The main reason is that traditional terrorist strategies seek to draw international attention to a cause without excessively antagonizing public opinion. For a variety of reasons this traditional model of terrorism appears to be changing in ways that make future acts of CBW terrorism more likely. Some terrorist groups appear to be increasingly interested in causing massive casualties, a phenomenon that may stem from a rise in religiously inspired acts of violence, the emergence of new, more fluid terrorist cells, and the perception that traditional, low-casualty terrorist acts have lost the capacity to focus public attention. To date only the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo has combined the technical capability with the lethal intent required to carry out an act of CBW terrorism. But national security experts are increasingly concerned that more hostile groups will follow Aum's precedent and will do so with greater effectiveness than the cult displayed.

单选题Which of the following statements is true according to the passage？

单选题The author mentions Chicago in the second paragraph as an example of a city______.

单选题Why are meetings comforting for the managers who participate in them?

单选题According-to the author, Australia______ .

单选题Part B In the following article some paragraphs or sentences have been removed. For questions 16—20, choose the most suitable paragraph or sentence from the lists A—F to fit into each of the numbered gaps. There is one paragraph which doesn't fit in any of the gaps. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET 1. A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps, for there is a companionship of books as well as of men. And one should always live in the best company, whether it is of books or of men. 16.____________ Men often discover their attractions to each other by the love they have each for a book — just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both have for a third. There is an old proverb, "Love me, love my dog." But there is more wisdom in this: "Love me, love my book." 17.____________ A good book is often the best container of a life, containing the best that life could think out, for the world of a man's life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. 18.____________ "They are never alone," said Sir Philip Sidney, "that are accompanied by noble thoughts." The good and tree thought may in times of temptation be as an angel of mercy, purifying and guarding the soul. It also preserves the seeds of action, for good words almost always inspire good works. 19.____________ Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author's minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time has been to separate the bad products, for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good. 20.____________ We hear what they said and did. We see them as if they were really alive. We sympathize with them, enjoy with them, and sorrow with them. Their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe. The great and good do not die even in this world. Well preserved in the books, their spirits walk abroad. [A] Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. [B] A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not tum its back upon us in times of misfortune or suffering. It always receives us with the same kindness, amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting us in age. [C] Thus the best books are treasuries of good words and golden thoughts, which, remembered and cared about, become our lasting companions and comforters. [D] The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which one still listens. Hence we ever remain under the influence of the great men of the past. [E] The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them. [F] Books introduce us into the best society. They bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived.

单选题[m], from the manner of articulation, it is ______. A. bilabial B. plosive C. nasal D. latral

单选题The issue of online privacy in the Internet age found new urgency following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, sparking debate over striking the correct balance between protecting civil liberties and attempting to prevent another tragic terrorist act. While preventing terrorism certainly is of paramount importance, privacy rights should not be deemed irrelevant. In response to the attacks, Congress quickly passed legislation that included provisions expanding rights of investigators to intercept wire, oral and electronic communications of alleged hackers and terrorists. Civil liberties groups expressed concerns over the provisions and urged caution in ensuring that efforts to protect our nation do not result in broad government authority to erode privacy rights of U. S. citizens. Nevertheless, causing further concern to civil liberties groups, the Department of Justice proposed exceptions to the attorney-client privilege. On Oct. 30, Attorney General John Ashcroft approved an interim agency rule that would permit federal prison authorities to monitor wire and electronic communications between lawyers and their clients in federal custody, including those who have been detained but not charged with any crime, whenever surveillance is deemed necessary to prevent violence or terrorism. In light of this broadening effort to reach into communications that were previously believed to be "off-limits", the issue of online privacy is now an even more pressing concern. Congress has taken some legislative steps toward ensuring online privacy, including the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, and provided privacy protections for certain sectors through legislation such as the Financial Services Modernization Act. The legislation passed to date does not, however, provide a statutory scheme for protecting general online consumer privacy. Lacking definitive federal law, some states passed their own measures. But much of this legislation is incomplete or not enforced. Moreover, it becomes unworkable when states create different privacy standards; the Internet does not know geographic boundaries, and companies and individuals cannot be expected to comply with differing, and at times conflicting, privacy rules. An analysis earlier this year of 751 U. S. and international Web sites conducted by Consumers International found that most sites collect personal information but fail to tell consumers how that data will be used, how security is maintained and what rights consumers have over their own information. At a minimum, Congress should pass legislation requiring Web sites to display privacy policies prominently, inform consumers of the methods employed to collect client data, allow customers to opt out of such data collection, and provide customer access to their own data that has already been collected. Although various Internet privacy bills were introduced in the 107th Congress, the focus shifted to expanding government surveillance in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Plainly, government efforts to prevent terrorism are appropriate. Exactly how these exigent circumstances change the nature of the online privacy debate is still to be seen.

单选题WhichofthefollowingisTRUEaboutthesafetyofputtingphotosonline?[A]Donotcopyorpastepicturestoyourwebsite.[B]Sanitizingyourphotosonlineguaranteestheirsafety.[C]Comparedwithemails,websitesaresafertosharephotos.[D]Evenyourfriendsmayuseyourphotosforabadpurpose.

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单选题 {{I}}Questions 17～20 are based on the following talk. You now have 20 seconds to read Questions 17～20.{{/I}}