单选题 许多中国人都觉得白天时间不够用。一项在线调查结果显示，中国人用来工作和学习的时间比以往任何时候都多。近几年，中国经济发展迅速，人们被迫改变生活节奏，一改以往优哉游哉的生活理念，踏上了生活的“快车道”。这项由中国门户网站新浪网做的调查显示，56%的人都觉得时间不够用；75%的人认为国人不懂得时间的宝贵，认为人们应该珍惜并追求更高效的生活方式。

单选题 In times of economic crisis, Americans turn to their families for support. If the Great Depression is any guide, we may see a drop in our skyhigh divorce rate. But this won't necessarily represent an increase in happy marriages. In the long run, the Depression weakened American families, and the current crisis will probably do the same. We tend to think of the Depression as a time when families pulled together to survive huge job losses. By 1932, when nearly one-quarter of the workforce was unemployed, the divorce rate had declined by around 25%from 1929. But this doesn't mean people were suddenly happier with their marriages. Rather, with incomes decreasing and insecure jobs, unhappy couples often couldn't afford to divorce. They feared neither spouse could manage alone. Today, given the job losses of the past year, fewer unhappy couples will risk starting separate households. Furthermore, the housing market meltdown will make it more difficult for them to finance their separations by selling their homes. After financial disasters family members also tend to do whatever they can to help each other and their communities. A 1940 book, The Unemployed Man and His Family, described a family in which the husband initially reacted to losing his job 'with tireless search for work.' He was always active, looking for odd jobs to do. The problem is that such an impulse is hard to sustain. Across the country, many similar families were unable to maintain the initial boost in morale (士气). For some, the hardships of life without steady work eventually overwhelmed their attempts to keep their families together. The divorce rate rose again during the rest of the decade as the recovery took hold. Millions of American families may now be in the initial stage of their responses to the current crisis, working together and supporting one another through the early months of unemployment. Today's economic crisis could well generate a similar number of couples whose relationships have been irreparably (无法弥补地) ruined. So it's only when the economy is healthy again that we'll begin to see just how many broken families have been created.

单选题 北京这座古城是中国古代科学技术和文化艺术高度发展的杰作。几个朝代的帝王在这个龙脉宝地(precious royal place)君临天下，并修建了雄伟壮观的长城、集全国能工巧匠之智慧的故宫、集天下园林之大成的圆明园(Yuanmingyuan Park)以及保留最完整的古代祭天建筑群(flocks of the sacred buildings)——天坛。北京是中国皇家园林与宫殿建筑的代表，是凝聚中华文明精髓的世界文化遗产。

单选题 Your Password or Your Privacy A. Matthew Breuer has shared the passwords to his computer, e-mail and social media accounts with every girlfriend he's ever had. It's a matter of convenience—she can check his e-marl when he can't access it or get into his phone to change the song playing on the speakers. But it's also symbolic. B. 'I feel like it's so much easier to live in a relationship where you know you have nothing to hide and are entirely honest about who you are and what you're doing,' he says. 'Times in my life when I've realized that something wasn't working in my relationship coincided with (与……同时发生) times when I would be worried, 'Oh, do I really want to say this on Facebook to somebody else?' It's such a red flag if there's something you're concerned about your partner seeing. That means there's some fundamental issue with your relationship beyond privacy.' Breuer has most American couples on his side. According to a recent Pew study, 67% of Internet users in marriages or relationships have shared passwords to one or more of their accounts with their partner. C. Though we don't feel comfortable exchanging passwords with perhaps more trustworthy family members and long-term friends, we do feel comfortable exchanging access to our personal information with boyfriends and girlfriends. It's an exercise in trust, the logic goes. If you have nothing to hide, why would you want to hide your password? And, as Breuer points out, knowing someone may look over your shoulder can keep you honest. D. For Jasmine Tobie, seeing someone else's transgressions (越轨) via e-mail has saved her from a toxic relationship. After finding some receipts that proved her boyfriend was lying to her about being on a business trip one weekend, she decided to look at his e-mail to be sure before she pulled the plug on the relationship. 'Once I found that I just had to have more evidence.' She didn't know his password, but was able to guess correctly using clues on his desktop. 'He was still 'communicating' with his exes. He had taken a trip to visit an ex and told me it was a work trip. He was still signed up with dating sites and other 'hookup' sites and actively communicating with those people... I found some pictures of him and people he swore were ' friends' in the act.' The two had dated for a year and lived together for about nine months. 'I was trying to find some way to give him the benefit of the doubt. In the end, it did clarify for me that he was not it for me at all and that there were issues I couldn't fix.' Tobie adds that those were extraordinary circumstances, and she wouldn't read someone else's e-mails again. She doesn't share passwords with her current boyfriend. E. In most circumstances, psychologists suggest keeping passwords private. 'In relationships, we depend on each other for a lot of things, but it's good and healthy to have some independence too,' says Kelly Campbell, PhD of Psychology. 'The more you self-disclose, the happier you are. But the happiest couples have some degree of secrecy and privacy.' Unsurprisingly, sharing passwords can cause some serious problems during a relationship or after it ends. F. Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabes, advises the teens she talks to for her research to not share passwords because 'the relationships can change so quickly, and the emotions behind the breakups can be so strong.' She says that one high schooler she worked with was blind-sided when his ex-girlfriend found his phone. 'She knew where he charged his phone during class and knew his password, so she went in and sent all sorts of texts to friends, to another girl he was talking to—it really created a lot of problems for him.' G. Though one might assume that teens and 20-somethings are the ones foolishly sharing passwords and suffering from the resulting drama—the survey found that the practice of password-sharing is pretty equal across age groups, and that 18-29-year-olds were actually the least likely to share passwords. 64% of 18-29-year-olds share passwords, compared with 70% of 30-49-year-olds, 66% of 50-64-year-olds, and 69% of those over 65. H. And you don't have to be a teenager to have password problems with your significant other. Suzy, a 46-year-old mother, got into a dangerous situation years ago when her then-boyfriend started reading her e-mails. She hadn't given him her password, but one day she forgot to log out and he checked her e-mail. The couple had been on-again-off-again, and she hadn't told him that she had created an online dating profile while they were apart. She had since deleted the profile and deleted most of the e-mail exchanges with the men she met through the site. 'But he went through all my e-mails, including ones that I had thrown away. He went into every folder. He got really mad and basically attacked me,' she says. 'I ended up having to call an ambulance.' I. Since, she says she's never even considered sharing passwords with a significant other. 'I now have this paranoia (偏执) where I wouldn't even share it even if I trusted someone. You never know what's going to upset someone,' she says. 'I don't know if that makes me less trusting or just wiser.' J. Still, optimists like Breuer are undeterred (未受阻的) by such horror stories. Breuer says he has always developed friendships with the girls he has dated before dating, and therefore felt they could be honest with one another. 'I think sharing passwords honestly ends up affording you the privacy you want,' Breuer says, pointing to a password etiquette that has developed between him and his partners in recent years. 'Just because you tell somebody your password to things doesn't mean they actually end up looking through your stuff.' Breuer says he's never changed his password after a breakup since he's always trusted and respected those he has dated. K. Campbell says the best way to determine if you're ready to share passwords with your significant other is to check and see if you're on the same page. 'If you have any question in your mind. the answer is no,' says Campbell. 'I would say that it should be reciprocal. You shouldn't be sharing something if your partner also didn't share it... People are happiest when they have a match. You and your partner should be a match in that respect too.'

单选题 Humans use water for three basic purposes: agriculture, industry, and domestic and municipal use (water for drinking, cooking, cleaning, and so forth). And the amount of water 27 to each person decreases as the population grows, 28 the possibility of water shortages. Water shortages will not come all at once in every part of the world, just as the world's population is 29 distributed by region, so is the annual 30 of renewable water. Rainfall and snowfall are 31 by uneven weather patterns and landscape, and as a result, some areas of the world get more precipitation than others. This leads the uneven 32 of water all over the world. Natural water scarcity has prompted many nations to try to increase their water supplies by building dams to catch water that otherwise would escape to the sea, or by sinking more and deeper wells. But these efforts can have 33 side effects that can contribute to water scarcity. Instead of building dams, some countries choose to increase their 34 to groundwater. But this practice increases the risk of over pumping aquifers (蓄水层). Pollution also affects the water supply, reducing the available water by making it toxic or otherwise 35 for human use. Water shortages could also lead to international conflicts as countries 36 for limited water resources. Political tensions over water often appear when different nations lay claim to the same river, lake, or aquifer. According to the UN, more than 300 river basins and aquifers worldwide cross national boundaries are creating the potential for conflicts. A. access B. positively C. deliberately D. compete E. negative F. distribution G. available H. determined I. unevenly J. unfit K. starved L. raising M. approach N. arising O. supply

单选题 In the second half of the twentieth century, many countries of the South (发展中国家) began to send students to the industrialized countries for further education. They urgently needed supplies of highly trained personnel to implement a concept of development based on modernization. But many of these students decided to stay on in the developed countries when they had finished their training. At the same time, many professionals who did return home but no longer felt at ease there also decided to go back to the countries where they had studied. In the 1960s, some Latin American countries tried to solve this problem by setting up special 'return' programs to encourage their professionals to come back home. These programs received support from international bodies such as the International Organization for Migration, which in 1974 enabled over 1, 600 qualified scientists and technicians to return to Latin America. In the 1980s and 1990s, 'temporary return' programs were set up in order to make the best use of trained personnel occupying strategic positions in the developed countries. This gave rise to the United Nations Development Program's Transfer of Knowledge through Expatriate (移民国外的) Nationals, which encourages technicians and scientists to work in their own countries for short periods. But the brain drain (人才流失) from these countries may well increase in response to the new laws of the international market in knowledge. Recent studies forecast that the most developed countries are going to need more and more highly qualified professionals around twice as many as their educational systems will be able to produce, or so it is thought. As a result there is an urgent need for developing countries which send students abroad to give preference to fields where they need competent people to give muscle to their own institutions, instead of encouraging the training of people who may not come back because there are no professional outlets for them. And the countries of the South must not be content with institutional structures that simply take back professionals sent abroad, they must introduce flexible administrative procedures to encourage them to return. If they do not do this, the brain drain is bound to continue.

单选题 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled Rome Wasn't Built in a Day. You can cite examples to illustrate how you understand the above saying. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

单选题 Animals on the Move A. It looked like a scene from 'Jaws' but without the dramatic music. A huge shark was lowly swimming through the water, its tail swinging back and forth like the pendulum of a clock. B. Suddenly sensitive nerve ending in the shark's skin picked up vibrations of a struggling fish. The shark was immediately transformed into a deadly, efficient machine of death. With muscles taut, the shark knifed through the water at a rapid speed. In a flash the shark caught its victim, a large fish, in its powerful jaws. Then, jerking its head back and forth, the shark tore huge chunks of flesh from its victim and swallowed them. Soon the action was over. Moving to Survive C. In pursuing its prey, the shark demonstrated in a dramatic way the important role of movement, or locomotion, in animals. D. Like the shark, most animals use movement to find food. They also use locomotion to escape enemies, find a mate, and explore new territories. The methods of locomotion include crawling, hopping, slithering, flying, swimming, or walking. E. Humans have the added advantage of using their various inventions to move about in just about any kind of environment. Automobiles, rockets, and submarines transport humans from deep oceans to as far away as the moon. However, for other animals movement came about naturally through millions of years of evolution. One of the most successful examples of animal locomotion is that of the shark. Its ability to quickly zero in on its prey has always impressed scientists. But it took a detailed study by Duke University marine biologists S. A. Wainwright, F. Vosburgh, and J. H. Hebrank to find out how the sharks did it. In their study the scientists observed sharks swimming in a tank at Marine land in Saint Augustine, Fla. Movies were taken of the sharks' movements and analyzed. Studies were also made of shark skin and muscle. Skin Is the Key F. The biologists discovered that the skin of the shark is the key to the animal's high efficiency in swimming through the water. The skin contains many fibers that crisscross like the inside of a belted radial tire. The fibers are called collagen fibers. These fibers can either store or release large amounts of energy depending on whether the fibers are relaxed or taut. When the fibers are stretched, energy is stored in them the way energy is stored in the string of a bow when pulled tight. When the energy is released, the fibers become relaxed. G. The Duke University biologists have found that the greatest stretching occurs where the shark bends its body while swimming. During the body's back and forth motion, fibers along the outside part of the bending body stretch greatly. Much potential energy is stored in the fibers. This energy is released when the shark's body snaps back the other way. H. As energy is alternately stored and released on both sides of the animal's body, the tail whips strongly back and forth. This whip-like action propels the animal through the water like a living bullet. Source of Energy I. What causes the fibers to store so much energy? In finding the answer the Duke University scientists learned that the shark's similarity to a belted radial tire doesn't stop with the skin. Just as a radial tire is inflated by pressure, so, too, is the area just under the shark's collagen 'radials'. Instead of air pressure, however, the pressure in the shark may be due to the force of the blood pressing on the collagen fibers. J. When the shark swims slowly, the pressure on the fibers is relatively low. The fibers are more relaxed, and the shark is able to bend its body at sharp angles. The animal swims this way when looking around for food or just swimming. However, when the shark detects an important food source, some fantastic involuntary changes take place. K. The pressure inside the animal may increase by l 0 times. This pressure change greatly stretches the fibers, enabling much energy to be stored. L. This energy is then transferred to the tail, and the shark is off. The rest of the story is predictable. Dolphin Has Speed Record M. Another fastmarine animal is the dolphin. This seagoing mammal has been clocked at speeds of 32 kilometers (20 miles) an hour. Biologists studying the dolphin have discovered that, like the shark, the animal's efficient locomotion can be traced to its skin. A dolphin's skin is made up in such a way that it offers very little resistance to the water flowing over it. Normally when a fish or other object moves slowly through the water, the water flows smoothly past the body. This smooth flow is known as laminar flow. However, at faster speeds the water becomes more turbulent along the moving fish. This turbulence muses friction and slows the fish down. N. In a dolphin the skin is so flexible that it bends and yields to the waviness of the water. O. The waves, in effect, become tucked into the skin's folds. This allows the rest of the water to move smoothly by in a laminar flow. Where other animals would be slowed by turbulent water at rapid speeds, the dolphin can race through the water at record breaking speeds. Other Animals Less Efficient P. Not all animals move as efficiently as sharks and dolphins. Perhaps the greatest loser in locomotion efficiency is the slug. The slug (鼻涕虫), which looks like a snail without a shell, lays down a slimy (黏滑的) trail over which it crawls. It uses so much energy producing the slimy mucus (黏液) and crawling over it that a mouse traveling the same distance uses only one twelfth as much energy. Q. Scientists say that because of the slug's inefficient use of energy, its lifestyle must be restricted. That is, the animals are forced to confine themselves to small areas for obtaining food and finding proper living conditions. Have humans ever been faced with this kind of problem?

单选题 Women with low literacy suffer disproportionately more than men, encountering more 26 in finding a well-paying job and being twice as likely to end up in the group of lowest wage earners, a study released on Wednesday said. Analysis by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) found women at all levels of 27 tend to earn less than men, but it's at the lowest literacy levels that the wage gap between genders is most striking. Women with low literacy are twice as 28 as men at the same skill level to be among the lowest earners, bringing in $300 a week or less, the report said. 'Because women start off so low in terms of wages, having higher literacy and more skills really 29 a big difference, ' said Kevin Miller, a 30 research associate at IWPR and co-author of the study. Women need to go 31 in their training and education level to earn the same as men, Miller said. The 32 was based on 2009 National Assessment of Adult Literacy surveys, the most recent data 33 , and focused on reading skills, not writing and numeric literacy. That data was 34 from a nationally representative sample of 19,714 people aged 16 and older, living in households or prisons. Data showed about one-third of American adults have low literacy levels, and more than 36 percent of men and 33 percent of women fall into that 35 , the institute said. A. pattern B. senior C. longer D. difficulties E. category F. collected G. positions H. available I. conducted J. independent K. literacy L. analysis M. likely N. further O. makes