"Is the environment making us fat?" That is the intriguing question posed by Bruce Blumberg of the University of California, Irvine. His research into endocrine disrupters—chemical compounds that interfere with the body's normal processing of hormones such as oestrogen—has led him to conclude that some of them may well encourage obesity. The notion of such "obesogens", as Dr. Blumberg calls them, is controversial. Some insist that diet and exercise (or, rather, the lack thereof) are the simpler explanations for obesity, with perhaps a dash of genetic predisposition thrown in. However, a panel of experts convened at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting argued that those factors are insufficient to explain the dramatic increase in obesity seen across the world since 1980. Caloric intake and exercise levels have not altered enough to explain the difference, the scientists maintained, and human genes cannot have changed in such a short time. Some environmental-health experts suspect that fetal exposure to nasties found in everyday plastics might be the underlying explanation of the recent obesity trend. John Peterson Meyers of Environmental Health Sciences, an advocacy group, observes that a number of synthetic chemicals widely found in the environment have been shown to alter the activity of genes, even when they are present at extremely low concentrations. This disruptive effect has not been fully appreciated, he argues, because safety trials on these substances have concentrated on the risks posed by high concentrations rather than low ones. Research on animals seems to bolster this hypothesis. Retha Newbold of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a government agency in America, points to diethylstilbestrol (DES) as an example. This drug, the first orally absorbable synthetic oestrogen, was given to pregnant women in the 1950s to help them avoid miscarriage. The drug fell out of favour when it transpired that children exposed to it ended up with damaged reproductive organs. Ms. Newbold has now discovered that early DES exposure also leads to obesity in adult mice. As her experiments controlled for both diet and exercise, she thinks fetal exposure to the drug must play a role in the fattening that was evident later in life. How this happens is unclear, but she speculates that the compound may interfere with the body's ability to deal with glucose in the blood. Other synthetic hormones and endocrine disrupters common in the modern world seem to have a similar impact, and not just in the womb. A study of Japanese women has suggested a link between obesity and adult exposure to bisphenol-A, a component of plastic bottles. Frederick vom Saal of the University of Missouri has investigated the impact of early exposure to this compound. His work on laboratory animals showed that fetal exposure to bisphenol-A led to obesity and cancer. Dr. vom Saal says that new research should be done to clarify the role of "perinatal programming of obesity". Plastics are not the only potential culprits. Dr. Blumberg has identified tributyl tin, which is found not only in PVC plastics but also in fungicides. Tributyl tin is part of a larger group of chemicals known as organo-tins, which combine tin and hydrocarbons; the link with obesity was discovered only relatively recently. Dr. Blumberg believes the compound interferes with the body's normal fat-formation process, and puts its fat-storage mechanism on overdrive, plumping up the person. Dr. Meyers claims this amounts to "a revolution unfolding in environmental-health sciences". Perhaps. It is possible that the long-marginalised scientists of the environmental-health field are right, and that these endocrine disrupters do play a part in explaining the ongoing trends in obesity. However, as the more cautious of them admit, that cannot be verified until the animal experiments are scaled up to proper, long-term human studies which can verify their hypothesis. Until then, it is probably best to go easy on the pizza—and work out at the gym.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates promised Thursday to speed up changes to the military's much-criticized mental health system, declaring "this is something that we can, must and will get fixed." A study released last week said more money and people are needed to care for troops suffering depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress symptoms and other mental health problems because of their war experiences. It also said the Pentagon needs to build a culture of support throughout the military to help remove the stigma of asking for and getting psychological help. Gates told a Pentagon press conference that one proposal to give troops time off from the battle in Iraq might be hard to do. But he said he supports another proposal that would do away with the practice of asking troops about previous mental health treatment when they apply for a security clearance. "Too many avoid seeking mental health help because of the fear of losing their security clearance," he said. The Associated Press reported last week that the department is studying a proposal to change a questionnaire required by the Office of Personnel Management, the agency that does the majority of investigations for granting military and civilian government security clearances. It asks if applicants have gotten mental health care in the last seven years and asks them to list the names, addresses and dates they saw a doctor or therapist—a practice that critics say sends a mixed message in that it discourages troops from seeking treatment. Gates said Thursday he would work "very aggressively" to get the question removed. The Pentagon has been working for some time to end the stigma of counseling. Studies indicate that soldiers most in need of post-combat health care are the least likely to get it because they fear that others will have less confidence in them, that it will threaten career advancement and that it could result in the loss of their security clearance and possibly removal from their unit.The yearlong study released last week was required by Congress, which wants a corrective action plan within six months. "I have no intention of waiting that long," said Gates, adding that he'd directed a plan be finished in 60 to 90 days. A separate mental health report, released last month, recommended that after 90 days of combat, troops should get 30 days off. Some commanders have said it is difficult to spare the troops, and Gates was asked if the recommendation would be followed. "I think, to be honest, it would be a challenge to manage that" with the number of troops in Iraq, Gates said, adding that it would be studied. Moving troops off and onto the battlefield may not be the best solution, said Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who appeared at the press conference with Gates. Normally, the highest casualties in a unit are in the first period of a deployment and in the last period, said Pace. "And a lot of it has to do with mind-set and having total focus. And the numbers of times that you put yourself into and out of a combat situation changes how you're thinking, what you're mentally prepared to do," he said. On a recent visit to the Army's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, Gates presented six Purple Hearts—decorations for the war wounded—including one to a soldier who was still unconscious and on a respirator, he recalled Thursday. "It was a starkly moving and emotionally powerful reminder of the sacrifices these young men and women are making on our behalf," Gates said. "It is our moral obligation and duty to ensure that they are properly cared for in mind, body and spirit when they return from the battlefield to the homeland that they have pledged to defend. They have done their duty, we must do ours, he said."

Apple and Google just can't stand to be apart. Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced this week that Apple TV will soon play YouTube videos. Google recently unveiled a desktop search program especially for Mac users. And Google tools increasingly appear to be a key part of the secret sauce behind Apple's signature new gadget, the iPhone, set for release in June. Both brands are beloved by legions of fans, and with Google CEO Eric Schmidt embedded on Apple's board of directors, the companies have gotten wise to the benefits of synergistic coupling. Call it the power of Gapple. The partnership is more a friendship of convenience than a permanent pact. Apple benefits by bolstering its phone with popular Web tools, while Google gives its users a slick new way to access its services. One concern for Apple might be that the growing popularity of Google's mobile e-mail and calendar programs could reduce interest in Apple's own such offerings. But Apple already gives that software away for free, so the competition isn't likely to pose a lasting problem. The iPhone's Web widgets and browsing software will enable access to a wide range of Google applications, with built-in tools for Google Maps and searches. A number of the portal's other mobile applications, such as Google News, will also work on the iPhone, benefiting from its touch-friendly browser. And Google's newest mobile tool, an on-the-go version of its calendar program, will take advantage of the iPhone's bright colors, though Apple will offer an alternative in the form of a built-in version of its own iCal software. Sumit Agarwal, product manager for Google Mobile, says Google has been working with Apple and is moving in the direction of universal access to its suite of search and software applications on mobile devices. "Generally speaking, everything that you see on Macs, pending the technical ability of the device itself, will migrate into mobile applications," Agarwal says. That's likely to include a universal sign-on, so that you don't have to sign into each of Google's services separately. Programs that require significant data input or are compromised by screen size aren't likely to be ported over in the near term, though. Agarwal says he doesn't expect consumers will demand a mobile Notebook product anytime soon, for instance, referring to Google's popular Web-clipping tool. And he doesn't see consumers clamoring to do heavy word processing on their mobile phones. They may want to comment on and communicate about such documents, though, to facilitate collaboration. Rather than dumping huge applications onto small devices, Google's mobile applications are streamlined and stripped down to focus on the primary ways consumers use them on the go. "With Blogger, for example, it isn't as important that I be able to leave lots of comments, as that I can capture the essence of what I'm doing at that moment and share it in real time," Agarwal says. "I may want to snap a photo of a monument and store a voice annotation." Google may have surprises yet to come for the iPhone. The portal partnered with LG in March to offer a blogging tool, and a related widget for the iPhone would be a logical next step. Google already offers a GMail widget for Macs, and a similar program on the iPhone would complement the pre-installed Apple mail software. What else might Google offer? Possibly a Google Reader widget. The portal recently announced that its blog-reading tool can now be accessed offline. And though the iPhone could access Reader through its browser, a widget would be particularly useful when speedy mobile Web access isn't available. And why not a YouTube iPhone widget, now that YouTube is on Apple TV? Though Google is key, it is far from the only iPhone partner. Yahoo will offer a mail widget and others, such as Sling Media, may offer software add-ons later to enable access to Web content and TV. Jobs has said that he is open to third-party applications that work within Apple's software framework. AT&T, the iPhone's wireless carrier, has followed Apple's secrecy lead in keeping mum about the iPhone's features. But AT&T's Glenn Lurie recently alluded to Google applications on the iPhone as particularly appealing features that would make the device worth its $500 sticker. Lurie and Jobs are both betting that supplementing Apple's sleek mobile browser with Google goodies will encourage consumers to capitalize on the mobile Web in a way that so far they haven't. Although about 90% of phones have some sort of built-in browser, Forrester Research has found that only about 45% of consumers say they are aware of their phone's Web capabilities. And given that 55% of those surveyed by the Equs Group, a market research firm, said they would buy a Google or Yahoo-branded phone, Apple looks smart partnering up.

[此试题无题干]

I'd like to discuss some of the ways researchers try to measure quality of life or well-being and the difficulties with such measures. Traditionally, economists have used levels of standard of living as 【B1】______of quality of life among countries or within countries. For most of the 20th century the only measurement used to compare the standards of living of citizens of different countries was national 【B2】______. In the second half of the 20th century indices including 【B3】______and【B4】______indicators have been developed, so as to give a more 【B5】______picture of people's living conditions. The best-known of these indices is the United Nations Human Development Index, or HDI, which was first published in【B6】______. There are three parts to this particular index: long and healthy life, education and standard of living. The concept of living a long and healthy life is captured by life【B7】______. Educational attainments are measured by two indicators: by adult【B8】______rates and by the ratio of combined【B9】______in education. Standard of living is measured in terms of Gross【B10】______Product per capita. But those three dimensions leave out other very important aspects of human development. The number of factors included is too【B11】______. Schumacher argued that【B12】______economics measure standard of living by the amount of annual【B13】______, assuming all the time that a person who consumes more is【B14】______off than another who consumes less. But a Buddhist economist would see this as 【B15】______. Since consumption is merely a【B16】______to human well-being, the aim should be to obtain the【B17】______of well-being with the 【B18】______of consumption. Therefore, 【B19】______GDP per capita would not be a【B20】______indicator of greater human development.

[此试题无题干]

My first visit to Paris began in the company of some earnest students. My friend and I, therefore, being full of independence and the love of adventure, decided to go off on our own and explore Northern France as hitch-hikers. We managed all right down the main road from Paris to Rouen, because there were lots of vegetable trucks with sympathetic drivers. After that we still made headway along secondary roads to Fecamp, because we fell in with two family men who had left their wives behind and were off on a spree on their own. In Fecamp, having decided that it was pointless to reserve money for emergencies such as railway fares, we spent our francs in great contentment, carefully arranging that we should have just enough left for supper and an overnight stay at the Youth Hostel in Dieppe, before catching the early morning boat. Dieppe was only fifty miles away, so we thought it would be a shame to leave Fecamp until late in the afternoon. There is a hill outside Fecamp, a steep one. We walked up it quite briskly, saying to each other as the lorries climbed past us, that, after all, we couldn't expect a French truck driver to stop on a hill for us. It would be fine going from the top. It probably would have been fine going at the top, if we had got there before the last of the evening truck convoy had passed on its way westwards along the coast. We failed to realize that at first, and sat in dignified patience on the crest of the hill. We were sitting there two and a half hours later—still dignified, but less patient. Then we went about two hundred yards further down to a little bistro, to have some coffee and ask advice from the proprietor. He told us that there would be no more trucks and explained that our gentlemanly signaling stood out the slightest chance of stopping a private motorist. "This is the way one does it!" he exclaimed, jumping into the centre of the road and completely barring the progress of a vast, gleaming car which contained a rather supercilious Belgian family, who obviously thought nothing at all of the two bedraggled English students. However, having had to stop, they let us into the back seat, after carefully removing all objects of value, including their daughter. Conversation was not easy, but we were more than content to stay quiet—until the car halted suddenly in an out-of-the-way village far from the main road, and we learned to our surprise that the Belgians went no farther. They left us standing on a deserted country road, looking sorrowfully after them as their rear lamp disappeared into the darkness. We walked in what we believed to be the general direction of Dieppe for a long time. At about 11 p. m. , we heard, far in the distance, a low-pitched staccato rumbling. We ran to a rise in the road and from there we saw, as if it were some mirage, a vast French truck approaching us. It was no time for half measures. My friend sat down by the roadside and hugged his leg, and looked as much like a road accident as nature and the circumstances permitted I stood in the middle of the road and held my arms out. As soon as the lorry stopped we rushed to either side and gabbled out a plea in poor if voluble French for a lift to Dieppe. There were two aboard, the driver and his relief, and at first they thought we were a holdup. When we got over that, they let us in, and resumed the journey. We reached the Youth Hostel at Dieppe at about 1: 30 a. m. , or as my friend pointed out, precisely 3 hours after all doors had been locked. This, in fact, was not true, because after we climbed over a high wall and tiptoed across the forecourt, we discovered that the door to the washroom was not properly secured, and we were able to make our stealthy way to the men's dormitory where we slept soundly until roused at 9:30 the following morning.

[此试题无题干]

{{B}}SECTION 1 LISTENING TEST{{/B}}

[此试题无题干]

BSECTION 3: TRANSLATION TEST(1)Directions: Translate the following passage into Chinese and write your version in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET./B

Wal-Mart doesn't just want you to buy gas and groceries at its superstores these days. Now it wants your entire paycheck. On Wednesday, the nation's largest retailer unveiled plans to open 1,000 in-store MoneyCenters aimed at serving the 40 million or so people without traditional bank accounts. The main draw at the centers, which will be in about a quarter of all Wal-Mart stores by the end of 2008, is the cashing of government and printed payroll checks for the bargain price of $3 a pop. The retailer is also debuting a reloadable, prepaid Visa debit card that does not require a bank account or proof of US citizenship. This broad rollout of low-priced check-cashing and debit cards marks a milestone for the millions of "unbanked" Americans who have long had to pay rates as high as 10% of the face value of their paychecks in order to cash them and then pay cash for every single purchase they make because they do not qualify for a credit card or checking account. "These are our core customers. We probably have more than others of this underserved customer," says Jane Thompson, president of Wal-Mart Financial Services, who notes that the average check-cashing customer at Wal-Mart earns $350 per paycheck and has never had a credit card before. It's also good business. While traditional banks have struggled to attract the unbanked without outrageous charges, check cashers and payday loaners raked in an estimated $11 billion in fees from this $1 trillion economy. Cleveland-based KeyBank, for example, has attracted just 5,500 new customers in the past two years with its own check-cashing business, but has yet to make a profit from it. One problem is that people who have never had a bank account are distrustful of banks as a whole and feel unwelcome in institutions where they could not qualify for a checking account in the first place, because of lack of proper ID or employment history. Even when banks do try to reach out to this population—such as Bank of America's new credit card that does not require a valid Social Security number—there has been a backlash among opponents of illegal immigration. The new centers leave plenty of room for the Wal-Mart to work with partners to add even more financial services such as mortgages and home equity loans later, something the company has not ruled out and competitors are already bracing for. Although Wal-Mart withdrew its bid earlier this year to become a full-fledged bank, amid opposition from community banks that feared such a move would put them out of business, Wal-Mart's new Money Centers and MoneyCards are giving them a significant foothold in the financial services industry. The centers currently offer money orders, bill payment and phone cards in a newly designated space painted a bright, "firefly gold" in each store. Because the counters are open from 7 am to 9 pm seven days a week, they are as quick and convenient as anything but 24-hour check cashers. The $3 check-cashing fee is far lower than the average 1% to 3% charged by regular check cashers, and the Visa MoneyCards cost $8.94 plus a $4.94 monthly maintenance fee. As with any Visa card, a PIN number or signature is required for each transaction, and the card can be cancelled immediately if lost or stolen. Check-cashing services have actually been available at Wal-Mart for several years. But until now customers had to wait in long customer service lines instead of having designated counters where they can make these transactions. "They are making this a priority and making it more visible to the consumer. This is something they really care about," says Jennifer Tescher, director of the Center for Financial Services Innovation, a nonprofit that does research and advocacy work for the unbanked. "It doesn't matter whether or not they have a bank charter." And as countless small retailers can tell you, when Wal-Mart decides it cares about a business, it usually finds a way to dominate it.

BPassage TranslationDirections: In this part of the test, you will hear 2 passages in English. You will hear the passages ONLY ONCE. After you have heard each passage, translate it into Chinese and write your version in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET. You may take notes while you are listening./B

Nothing is more terrifying than a mother who scents a threat to her offspring. So it is not surprising that residents of the posher parts of Brighton and Hove, a seaside town with an eclectic social mix, are on the warpath about a change to the way school places are awarded. Threatening e-mails, allegations of gerrymandering and warnings that parents would sue were only part of the reaction to this week's news that, from 2008, the local authority will allocate places in popular schools by lottery. Until now, if more children applied to a school than it had room for, those who lived nearest usually won out. As a result, houses next to the most sought-after schools soared in value—entrenching the schools as middle-class ghettoes and increasing their desirability still further. Those who could not afford to live within spitting distance had to go elsewhere. Families living in east Brighton, with no schools nearby, were left to squabble over the crumbs. Eight secondary schools have been divided into six "catchment areas", two of which have pairs of adjacent schools. If a school cannot accommodate all the children who apply, the council will allocate places randomly, giving preference to those within the catchment area. Some children who would previously have walked to the school around the corner will be bused or driven past children going the opposite way. The scheme has been two years in the hatching. It was nearly derailed by the bitter opposition of parents who had paid top prices for houses next to the schools they liked. They now face not only the possible frustration of their educational hopes for their children but also the prospect that their investment will slump in value. In the end these parents were defeated by the nifty footwork of Labour councillors determined to push the plan through. The vice-chairman of the committee that voted on the scheme was sacked by the city's Labour leader just two hours before the vote on February 27th—after she made it clear that she would be voting against. It went through only on the chairman's casting vote. Similar battles may soon be fought all over Britain. On February 28th a new admissions code for schools in England and Wales came into force, setting out how a school may decide among the competing claims of children who apply. Religion, proximity and having siblings at the school are all still acceptable, but very popular schools are "encouraged" to use lotteries, as some academies in Britain and charter schools in America now do. They are also urged to consider "fair banding"—working out what mix of abilities their area provides, getting children to take an entrance exam, and then admitting representative numbers from each level of ability. The admissions code was a sop to left-wingers who hate the government's broader reforms to free schools from the control of councils, fearing that more segregation will result. Both the code and the Brighton row confirm a depressing aspect of the debate over school choice and standards: an obsession with sharing out places at the best schools rather than creating more of them. Prospective winners in Brighton are as elated as the losers are despondent. They now have a chance to send their children to schools that they could not previously aspire to. That puts those schools on their mettle: they must prove that it was their teaching and facilities that won good grades, not their middle-class pupils. If they fail, expect to see more children in Brighton going private.

{{B}}B: Listening Comprehension{{/B}}

BStatementsDirections: In this part of the test, you will hear several short statements. These statements will be spoken ONLY ONCE, and you will not find them written on the paper, so you must listen carefully. When you hear a statement, read the answer choices and decide which one is closest in meaning to the statement you have heard. Then write the letter of the answer you have chosen in the corresponding space in your ANSWER BOOKLET./B

[此试题无题干]

当前，世界更加看好中国，不少外国人羡慕中国人的好日子。诸多欧美学者认为，西方骄傲自大的“中心主义”蒙蔽了其心智，面对中国的成功，西方应及时反思和学习。在别人认同“中国经济前景光明论”时，我们自己不能唱衰自己，误判世界发展大势和我国处境，低估自身发展潜力。妄自菲薄，丧失信心。 当然，我们也要有忧患意识，居安思危，要看到各种风险和挑战，不能高枕无忧、无所作为。多数机遇都不是不争自来的，机遇需要我们自己去创造和把握。只要我们继续走自己的路，谦虚谨慎，开拓进取，攻坚克难，不断加强和发展自身的优势，我们的日子就会越过越好。

我们正处在一个快速发展变化的世界里。世界多极化、经济全球化、社会信息化深入推进，各种挑战层出不穷，各国利益紧密相连。零和博弈、冲突对抗早已不合时宜，同舟共济、合作共赢成为时代要求。 中国人历来讲究“信”。2000多年前，孔子就说：“人而无信，不知其可也。”信任是人与人关系的基础、国与国交往的前提。我们要通过经常性沟通，积累战略互信。中国宋代诗人辛弃疾有一句名句，叫作“青山遮不住，毕竟东流去”。只要我们坚定方向、锲而不舍，就一定能推动中美两国关系建设得到更大发展。

The momentum is building ahead of next month's G8 summit in Scotland where the leaders of the world's richest nations will debate what they can do to help some of the world's poorest. Africa is the priority and the politicians will discuss 【C1】______, ending trade regulations which put the continent's economy at a disadvantage, and giving more aid. 【C2】______—along the coastline, near the continents' ports—are monuments to exploitation. On the island of Goree, for example,【C3】______ Senegal, there's the Slave House. This was the last place many Africans saw before being shipped off【C4】______ in the Americas or, just as often, to death on the high seas. There are many more places like this【C5】______ or so of the African slave trade. When people wonder why Africa is so poor, they need look no further for【C6】______. Some people argue that【C7】______—railways and schools and so on—the system was principally designed to turn Africa into a【C8】______ for the profit of outsiders. Of course, some Africans gained from this period. Chiefs who sold their enemies【C9】______, for example, and coastal people who creamed a little off the colonial trade which flowed through their land. But on the whole,【C10】______, the general rule was systematic exploitation. This must, surely, be the basic reason why Africa is poor. You could add that the climate is punishing, that 【C11】______, and that today's independent African rulers are far from perfect. All true. But these factors, powerful in recent decades, seem marginal when【C12】______ that was set for centuries. The solution, or, at least, the project sold as the solution, has been "aid". Emergency aid, development aid, agricultural aid, economic advice.【C13】______. The problem with this solution is that, patently, it hasn't worked. On the whole, Africa has got poorer. The failure hasn't really been the idea of real aid but【C14】______. Clearly, if, in the famous phrase, you "teach a man to fish", you're probably helping him. But most aid hasn't been like that. Most of it has been "top-down" aid, money that's given to African governments【C15】______ the aid givers. A good proportion of it has been creamed off by the recipient government's officials and【C16】______ paid back to the so-called "donors" in consultancy fees, salaries, cars, houses-and-servants for aid officials,【C17】______ of arms. During the Cold War, which only ended in the 1990s, most aid to Africa was never really even【C18】______. It was designed to reward client states for supporting or opposing【C19】______. This led to inappropriate and sometimes laughable results. There's an apocryphal tale that does the rounds, for example, of the former Soviet Union, in the 1970s,【C20】______ to tropical Guinea. To be honest, I don't know if this story is true. But I do know of many cases where so-called food aid has destroyed markets for local farmers by driving down prices.