阅读理解Nowadays groups of scientific workers, often supposed by their governments, spend their time studying the occurrence of earthquakes. It is very likely that they will be able to (47) earthquakes or influence the direction of their movements, which are determined by events far below the surface of the earth. But the facts they report and the theories suggested by those facts may enable scientists to (48) the centers of future earthquakes and even predict the time of their occurrence. It is only when the (49) of events that we call an earthquake can be seen as a pattern that predictions can be made. Part of its pattern is external and visible, or capable of being recorded by sensitive instruments above the earth''s surface. Scientists and engineers studied the shock waves of the San Francisco earthquake. Tile city was rebuilt and new features were (50) to strengthen buildings and (51) a constant water supply in the event of another earthquake. Large underground tanks were constructed to supply water if (52) supplies could not be tapped. Special (53) were taken to prevent fires, which often do more damage than earthquakes themselves. The San Francisco earthquake (54) scientists with valuable information. Since the effects of the break were visible at the surface, scientists could (55) what actually happened, and reports of the incident were an important (56) to the world''s store of knowledge about earthquakes. WORD BANK A) prevent I) warn B) formal J) normal C) locate K) measures D) sequence L) introduced E) compensated M) consequence F) contribution N) observe G) provided O) recommended H) maintain

阅读理解What is the author's suggestion for improving university teaching?

阅读理解Passage Two You probably know about the Titanic, but it was actually just one of three state-of-the-art (最先进 的）ocean ships back in the day

阅读理解What does the author mean by saying, at the end of the passage, "There is no silver bullet" ( Line 4, Para.7)?

阅读理解Mad Cow Disease in Canada For years, Canada had been virtually free of mad cow disease. But in May 2003, veterinary officials in Alberta confirmed that a sick cow sent to a slaughterhouse in January of that year had been inspected, found to be substandard, and removed so that it would not end up as food for humans or other animals. The carcass was, however, sent to a processing plant for rendering into oils. Its head was kept for testing. Samples were sent to the world testing laboratories in the U. K. , which confirmed the case of mad cow. "What is important is that the system worked," said Shirley McClellan, Alberta''s agriculture minister at the time. "We have a very thorough and respected inspection system." She was insistent to remind the public that the disease is not contagious within a herd. But McClellan''s assurances didn''t stop the U. S. , Japan, South Korea, Australia and other countries from imposing temporary import bans of Canadian beef. Quick Facts ● Canada has close to 13.5 million cows and calves. ● About 5.7 million (or 42 percent) are in Alberta. ● Canada''s total beef exports amount to $ 2.2 billion annually, and have risen sharply in recent years. ● Since 1991, beef exports have risen from 100,000 tons to about 500,000 tons. ● Growth in exports has been greatest to Japan, South Korea and Mexico. ● Alberta''s share of total beef exports is 39 percent (worth about $ 860 million a year). In an investigation into the source of the infection, 1,400 cows were slaughtered and tested for the disease. No other cows were found to have BSE until late December 2004. Western premiers demanded $ 360 million compensation from the federal government for losses to the beef industry because of the mad cow scare. Ottawa would later offer $190 million. Over the summer of 2003, cattle ranchers held barbeques across Canada to help pro mote Canadian beef. In August, the U. S. reopened its borders to some Canadian beef, but the border was still closed to live cattle. By this time, a cow that would have normally sold for $1,300 was selling for $15. Canadian beef producers asked Ottawa to approve a mass slaughter of 620, 000 cattle to reduce the size of the herd and prevent further damage to the industry. In October, it was reported that the border would reopen to live cattle in December 2003. But on Dec. 23, 2003, the U. S. announced that it had discovered its first apparent case of BSE in a cow in Washington State. Several countries banned beef from the U. S. soon after the announcement, but Canada restricted imports only on some products made from cattle and other ruminants. It still allowed the import of cattle destined for immediate slaughter, boneless beef from cattle under 30 months of age and dairy products. DNA evidence later revealed that the cow was born in Canada, and the U.S. kept its border shut to live Canadian cattle. On Dec. 29, 2004, The USDA announced that it recognized Canada as a "minimal--risk region" for BSE and imports of young Canadian cattle would resume March 7, 2005. The new classification means the U. S. will not again close its borders to Canadian beef unless there are two or more cases of BSE per one million cattle older than 24 months of age in each of four consecutive years. Simply put, Canada can have up to 11 cases of BSE and still be considered a safe country for cattle exports. The move came less than a month after U. S. President George W. Bush made his first official visit to Canada and said the process for reopening the border was underway. However, five days before the ban was to be lifted, a U. S..judge granted a temporary injunction to stop the reopening of the border. The ban came at the request of a group of American ranchers called R-CAI.F, who filed a lawsuit saying reopening the border would cause irreparable damage to the U. S. beef market. In June 2005, the U. S. Department of Agriculture confirmed the country''s second known case of BSE, in a Texas-born cow. On July 14, 2005, a three-judge panel of the U. S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a temporary injunction that banned importation of Canadian cattle. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced that day that the U. S. border was "immediately" open to live Canadian cattle. The British connection Previously, Canada had only one case of a cow infected with BSE. The animal, reported on a farm near Red Deer, Alberta. , in December of 1993, was imported from Britain. Agriculture Canada opted to destroy the animal and its five herd mates. Mexico, one of the largest importers of Canadian beef at the time, temporarily banned imports of Canadian cattle after the incident. The United States, another major consumer of Canadian beef, sent observers to Canada to see how the incident was handled. As a result, and because of the rumors of possible human health implications circulating in Britain, the Ministry of Agriculture decided to destroy any animal imported from Britain between 1982 and 1990, the year a ban was placed on British beef imports to Canada. This slaughter also included the offspring of any of those animals. All told, 363 animals were destroyed and their owners compensated. Some said the destruction was unnecessary, especially the farm''s whose cattle were killed, but the ministry said it was better to err on the side of caution after seeing what was happening in Britain. As of January 2005, 148 Britons had died of CJD and five others were infected but still living. During the summer of 1995, the disease surfaced again. The Canadian Red Cross Society revealed two of its donors had died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, CJD. Two years later, concern over blood was raised again after a man was found to be a carrier of a gene linked to a hereditary form of CJD. In August 2002, doctors confirmed a man in Saskatchewan died from new variant CJD -- the human counterpart to mad cow disease. He had spent some time in the United Kingdom and it appeared he acquired the disease while he was there, doctors said. The man had an endoscopic examination before he died and that equipment was then used on other patients. However, because of disinfection and cleaning procedures, the risk of cross contamination is minute. Public health officials phoned patients who had received examinations with the endoscope to inform them. It''s still not known if the disease can be transmitted through blood products.

阅读理解The best-known blanket styles of the Southwest from the late 1800''s are Chimayo style, which has since developed further in the hands of the Ortega family in Chimayo, and the Vallero blankets were woven in EL Valle, near Las Trampas, by the five Montoya sisters, in the late 1800''s and early 1900''s. The sisters were Patricia, Doloritas, Martina, Partita, and Juanita. The first three sisters were the ones who did the major portion of the weaving that are now museum and collectors'' items. But all five sisters did participate in the wool preparation for weaving the blankets. Typical of the Vallero blankets are the five stars, reminiscent of the Saltillo blanket design. The stars were placed one at each corner, with a larger star in the center. The classic Vallero blankets woven by Patricia, Doloritas, and Martina did not have a solid background color, but a series of radiating diamonds of different colors emanating from the large central star. The weaving design was then embellished with a series of small chained diamonds or vertical and zigzag lines. Along the sides was a border of leaf -like designs that are referred to as manitas. The technical skill evident in these blankets is incredible, considering the complexity of the design. Today, in the Cordova Weaving Shop in Truchas, they will use design elements of the weavings from EL Valle. With the passage of time, and hours of weaving, the weaving pattern of the Cordova family has involved into what is now called the Truchas style.

阅读理解The Problem of Scarce Resources The problem of how health-care resources should be distributed, so that they are distributed in both the most just and most efficient way, is not a new one. Every health system in an economically developed society is faced with the need to decide (either formally or informally) what proportion of the community''s total resources should be spent on health-care; how resources are to be apportioned(分配); what diseases and disabilities and which forms of treatment are to be given priority; which members of the community are to be given special consideration in respect of their health needs; and which forms of treatment are the most cost-effective. What is new is that, from the 1950s onwards, there have been certain general changes in outlook about the limit of resources as a whole and of health-care resources in particular, as well as more specific changes regarding the clientele(委托人) of health-care resources and the cost to the community of those resources. Thus, in the 1950s and 1960s, there emerged an awareness in Western societies that resources for the provision of fossil fuel energy were finite and exhaustible and that the capacity of nature or the environment to sustain economic development and population was also finite (有限的). In other words, we became aware of the obvious fact that there were "limits to growth". The new consciousness that there were also severe limits to health-care resources was part of this general revelation(揭露) of the obvious. Looking back, it now seems quite incredible that in the national health systems that emerged in many countries in the years immediately after the 1939-1945 World War, it was assumed without question that all the basic health needs of any community could be satisfied, at least in principle; the "invisible hand" of economic progress would provide. However, at exactly the same time as this new realization of the finite character of health-care resources was sinking in, an awareness of a contrary kind was developing in Western societies: that people have a basic right to health-care as a necessary condition of a proper human life. Like education, political and legal processes and institutions, public order, communication, transport and money supply, health-care came to be seen as one of the fundamental social facilities necessary for people to exercise their other rights as independent human beings. People are not in a position to exercise personal liberty and to be self-determining if they are poverty-stricken, or deprived of basic education, or do not live within a context of law and order. In the same way, basic healthcare is a condition of the exercise of autonomy (自治). Although the language of "rights" sometimes leads to confusion, by the late 1970s it was recognized in most societies that people have a right to health-care (though there has been considerable resistance in the United States to the idea that there is a formal right to health-care). It is also accepted that this right generates an obligation or duty for the state to ensure that adequate health-care resources are provided out of the public purse. The state has no obligation to provide a health-care system itself, but to ensure that such a system is provided. Put another way, basic health-care is now recognized as a "public good", rather than a "private good" that one is expected to guy for oneself. As the 1976 declaration of the World Health Organization put it: "The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction(区别) of race, religion, political belief, economic or social condition." As has just been remarked, in a liberal society basic health is seen as one of the indispensable condition for the exercise of personal autonomy. Just at the time when it became obvious that health-care resources could not possibly meet the demands being made upon them, people were demanding that their fundamental right to health-care be satisfied by the state. The second set of more specific changes that have led to the present concern about the distribution of health-care resources stems from the dramatic rise in health costs in most OECD countries, accompanied by large-scale demographic and social changes which have meant, to take one example, that elderly people are now major (and relatively very expensive) consumers of health-care resources. Thus in OECD countries as a whole, health costs increased form 3.8% of GDP in 1960 to 7% of GDP in 1980, and it has been predicted that the proportion of health costs to GDP will continue to increase. (In the US the current figure is about 12% of GDP, and in Australia about 7.8% of GDP.) As a consequence, during the 1980s a kind of doomsday scenario(假想) (analogous to similar doomsday extrapolations (推断的) about energy needs and fossil fuels or about population increases) was projected by health administrators, economists and politicians. In this scenario, ever-rising health costs were matched against static or declining resources.

阅读理解Influenza Influenza is caused by a virus transmitted from one person to another in droplets coughed or sneezed into the air. It is characterized by cold like symptoms plus chills, fever, headaches, muscle aches, and fatigue. Most people recover completely in about a week. In addition to humans, influenza occurs in pigs, horses, and several other mammals (哺乳动物) as well as in certain wild and domesticated birds. At least some influenza viruses can jump from one species to another. For example, in late 1997 a strain of the influenza virus in chickens'' began to infect humans in Hong Kong, leading to a massive effect to remove the strain. Many millions of people develop the flu each year. In most years less than 1 percent of those infected die. Nonetheless, this translates into large numbers. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that influenza causes more than 20,000 deaths in the United States each year; combined, influenza and pneumonia (肺炎) are among the nation''s ten leading causes of death. During epidemics and pandemics, death rates soar. The influenza pandemic that occurred between 1918 and 1919—the worse on record—killed about 500,000 people in the United States and more than 20 million people worldwide. Symptoms and diagnosis Influenza is an acute disease with a rapid onset and obvious symptoms. After the influenza virus invades a person''s body, an period of one or two days passes before symptoms appear. Classic symptoms include sore throat, dry cough, stuffed or runny nose, chills, fever with temperatures as high as 39°C , aching muscles and joints, headache, loss of appetite, occasional nausea and vomiting, and fatigue. For most people flu symptoms begin to subside after two to three days and disappear in seven to ten days. However, coughing and fatigue may persist for two or more weeks. Death from influenza itself is rare. But influenza can worsen underlying medical conditions, such as heart or lung disease. Invading influenza viruses produce inflammation (发炎) in the lining of the respiratory tract, damage that increases the risk that secondary infections will develop. Common complications include bronchitis, sinusitis, and bacterial pneumonia, occurring most frequently in the elderly, people on chemotherapy (化学疗法), and people with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or another disease that compromises the immune system. If properly treated, these complications seldom are fatal. Because influenza is so common and exhibits standard symptoms, doctors often diagnose the illness based on the season and whether flu cases have recently been reported in the area. To prove a diagnosis of influenza in a patient, the virus must be isolated from the person''s nasal or cough secretions or blood and identified under a microscope. Treatment and prevention There is no specific cure for influenza. Recommended treatment usually consists of bed rest and increased intake of fluids until fever and other symptoms lessen in severity. Certain drugs have been found effective in lessening flu symptoms, but medical efforts against the disease focus chiefly on prevention by means of vaccines that create immunity. Vaccines A flu vaccine consists of greatly weakened or killed flu viruses, or fragments of dead viruses. Antigens (抗原) in the vaccine stimulate a person''s immune system to produce antibodies against the viruses. If the flu viruses invade a vaccinated person at a later time, the immune system recognizes the antigens and quickly responds to help destroy the viruses. About 5 to 10 percent of people; who receive a flu vaccine experience mild, temporary side effects, typically soreness at the injection site. Young children who have not previously been exposed to the influenza virus are most likely to have side effects. Flu viruses constantly change so different virus strains must be incorporated in vaccines from one year to the next. Scientists try to provide a good match between the vaccine and the most serious virus strains circulating at the time. But because it takes months to manufacture and distribute vaccines, decisions on their composition must be made well before the start of each flu season. Each February experts at the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend the composition of the vaccine for the forthcoming winter in the Northern Hemisphere; a second recommendation is made in September for vaccine to be used in the Southern Hemisphere. Typically vaccines contain antigens from three virus strains, usually two type A and one type B. According to the CDC, the success of the flu vaccines varies from one person to another. In healthy young adults, the vaccines are 70 to 90 percent effective in preventing the disease. In the elderly and people with certain chronic medical conditions, the vaccines are less effective in preventing illness but help reduce the severity of an infection and the risk of major complications or death. Studies show that flu vaccines reduce hospitalization by about 70 percent and death by about 85 percent among elderly people. Historic outbreaks Evidence suggests that all influenza viruses in mammals, including humans, derived from viruses in wild ducks and other birds. Some of these viruses could have been acquired by humans thousands of years ago. But ''medical historians know of no clearly identifiable influenza epidemics until large-scale outbreaks occurred in Europe in 1510, 1557, and 1580. The 1580 outbreak also spread into Africa and Asia, making it the first known pandemic (广大地域流行). Pandemics have occurred periodically ever since. Major pandemics took place in 1729～1730, 1732～1733, 1781～ 1782, 1830～1831, 1833, and 1889～1890. The last of these, called the Russian flu because it reached Europe from the east, was the first pandemic for which detailed records are available. In the 20th century, major pandemics occurred in 1918～1919, 1957～1958, and 1968～1969. The 1918～1919 pandemic was the most destructive in recorded history. It started as World War I (1914～1918) was ending and caused 20 million deaths—twice as many deaths as the war itself. When and where the pandemic began is uncertain, but because Spain experienced the first major outbreak, the disease came to be called the Spanish flu. The virus was exceptionally deadly; many of the deaths were among young adults age 20 to 40, a group usually not severely affected by influenza. No additionally pandemics occurred during the 20th century, but public health experts expect that there will be more pandemics in coming years. While scientists do not yet know how to accurately predict flu outbreaks, they have established an international network to track and monitor outbreaks so that health officials can take immediate preventive measures to avoid pandemics. The international network, called FluNet, consists of about 110 influenza centers in more than 80 countries and several World Health Organization (WHO) centers, all linked electronically.

阅读理解A South Korean City Designed for the Future Takes on a Life of Its Own [A] Getting around a city is one thingand then theres the matter of getting from one city to another

阅读理解Vacations are what keep us going: fantasies of sunny, sandy beaches on rainy, gray days when the kids are bouncing off the walls; touring a quiet museum instead of listening to your boss barking in the next office; hiking a mountain rather than sitting in rush-hour traffic. But vacations, by their nature, are also a change — an interruption of the familiar flow of people, places and routines. That''s why adults find travel exciting — and why it can be hard on kids. To ensure that your next vacation is low on stress and disappointment and high on enjoyment, you have got to take careful stock of your family''s strengths, weaknesses, dreams and realities. The biggest drawback to traveling with infants is the mind-boggling (十分惊人的) array of gear and accessories (附属品) they require and the frequency with which they must sleep and eat. While it is a logistical (后勤的) challenge to make plans that fit around your infant''s routines, it is a fact that sticking to regular eating and sleeping patterns will dramatically increase your chances of keeping your baby happy and contented. However, it is also a fact that as soon as you get used to one routine, your baby will attempt to foil your plans by developing a new one. So be sure to create an itinerary (路程) that is flexible. You might all go to a museum in the morning, but if your baby starts to retreat, be prepared to go back to the hotel. If he is doing well, stay in town for lunch. You might then plan to sit by the pool for most of the afternoon or arrange for the adults to split up for a couple of hours — one staying with the baby and the other enjoying a solo activity or special time with an older child. If you use this approach, you will likely have fewer problems than if you choose an itinerary that locks you into a full day''s activities, hours away from your accommodations.

阅读理解Demands for stronger protection for wildlife in Britain sometimes hide the fact that similar needs are felt in the rest of Europe. Studies by the Council of Europe, of which 21 countries are members, have shown that 45 per cent of reptile(爬行的)species and 24 per cent of butterflies are in danger of dying out. European concern for wildlife was outlined by Dr. Peter Baum, an expert in the environment and nature resources division of the council, When he spoke at a conference arranged by the administrators of a British national park. The park is one of the few areas in Europe to hold the council s diploma for nature reserves of the highest quality, and Dr. Baum had come to present it to the park once again. He was afraid that public opinion was turning against national parks, and that those set up in the 1960s and 1970s could not be set up today. But Dr. Baum clearly remained a strong supporter of the view that natural environments needed to be allowed to survive in peace in their own right. No area could be expected to survive both as a true nature reserve and as a tourist attraction, he went on. The shortsighted view that reserves had to serve immediate human demands fur out door recreation should be replaced by full acceptance of their importance as places to preserve nature for the future. "We forget that they are the guarantee of life systems, on which any built-up area ultimately depends, "Dr. Baum went on, "We could manage without most industrial products, but we could not manage without nature. However, our natural environment areas, which are the original parts of our countryside, have shrunk to become mere islands in a spoiled and highly polluted land mass."

阅读理解Passage Two One of the bitterest and most time-worm debates in student union bars up and down the country is resolved as academic research confirms that in financial terms at least，arts degrees are a complete waste of time

阅读理解Perhaps the most frequently raised challenge to proposed moral education programs is "Whose values?". Polls (民意调查) consistently reveal that the vast majority of Americans support moral education in the public schools, but when a specific proposal is made in a specific community, it invariably raises concerns about the content of the education. Some mistake moral education for sex education. Others fear it will be a form of religious education. Some fear moral education will be a form of strict mind control. Three basic approaches have been identified in dealing with this issue. The first approach assumes a justified content and the goal of it is to acquire this content, typically highlighting a list of values or virtues that serve as the core of the courses. It proposes to teach the code of ethical behavior, list of values or character traits etc. by a variety of methods. Traditional character education approaches tend to fall in this category. In the second approach, the individual is assumed to have an innate (固有的) tendency to develop into a moral agent; the role of education is to provide the necessary context in which this natural "flowering" can occur. Imposing a specific content is strongly opposed by this approach. The third approach focuses on the construction of moral reasoning capacities, which are understood to be a product of the interaction of innate qualities with one''s experience in the physical and social worlds. Content is largely ignored as the focus is on reasoning structures and decision-making processes. Proposed courses do not support specific content; rather they provide the opportunity to apply one''s reasoning to a variety of contents. Here content is used as the medium for producing development. All three approaches have been "accused" of being too idealistic and they tend to "accuse" each other of the same failing. It should be noted that these positions tend to represent the wording more than the practice of moral education.

阅读理解People living on part of the south coast of England face a serious problem. In 1993, the owners of a large hotel and of several houses discovered, to their horror, that their gardens had disappeared overnight. The sea had eaten into the soft limestone cliffs on which they had been built. While experts were studying the problem, the hotel and several houses disappeared altogether, sliding down the cliff and into the sea. Erosion (侵蚀) of the white cliffs along the south coast of England has always been a problem, but it has become more serious in recent years. Dozens of homes have had to be abandoned as the sea has crept farther and farther inland. Experts have studied the areas most affected and have drawn up a map for local people, forecasting the year in which their homes will be swallowed up by the hungry sea. Angry owners have called on the Government to erect sea defenses to protect their homes. Government survey ors have pointed out that in most cases, this is impossible. New sea walls would cost hundreds of millions of pounds and would merely make the waves and currents go further along the coast, shifting the problem from one area to another. The danger is likely to continue, they say, until the waves reach an inland area of hard rock which will not be eaten as limestone is. Meanwhile, if you want to buy a cheap house with an uncertain future, apply to a house agent in one of the threatened areas on the south coast of England. You can get a house for a knockdown price but it may turn out to be a knockdown home.

阅读理解Welcome to Exploring the Environment TM (ETE). The ETE online series, which (47)______ an integrated approach to environmental earth science through modules (模块) and activities, is developed at the NASA Classroom of the Future TM, at Wheeling Jesuit University. It is supported by NASA''s Information Infrastructure (基础设施) Technology and Applications (IITA) Program, which (48)______ public use of Earth and Space Science remote sensing databases over the Internet. The vision of the ETE online series is to promote science-literate and reflective students who are knowledgeable of the earth''s processes and their responsibilities. The problems in the ETE modules and activities ask students to address human activities and their (49)______ upon the environment. The modules and activities incorporate environmental issues such as water quality, deforestation, biodiversity, volcanoes, ozone depletion, and (50)______ climate change. Featuring problem-based learning (PBL), the ETE series provides students with tools to (51)______ scientific, social, political, and cultural aspects of controversial, authentic environmental problems. Standard problem-solving models, online resources that include relevant satellite imagery, and (52)______ for extended inquiry are available to students. Student-directed research generally lasts a (53)______ of five weeks but often extends throughout the semester. Working cooperatively or (54)______, students (55)______ in problem-based modules and activities that require them to formulate problem statements; to collect and analyze data; and then to prepare and present their findings, solutions, or recommendations. These findings, solutions, or recommendations should (56)______ students'' understanding and awareness of the dynamics of both physical/biological and socio-economic variables. Word Bank A) engage B) solve C) global D) promptly E) investigate F) individually G) act H) impacts I) demonstrate J) serve K) features L) minimum M) recommendations N) primary O)facilitates

阅读理解Many Americans lost faith in the integrity of their political leaders as a result of______.

阅读理解The rise of multinational corporations (跨国公司), global marketing, new communication technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR. Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, the U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries. Ten years ago, for example, the world''s top five public relations agencies were American-owned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate (公司的) planning activities, compared to about one-third of U.S. companies. It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR. Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? First, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts (相对的人) in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of Burson-Marshall''s U.S. employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage. Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journal. Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, publications not often read in this country. Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN (Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the word "foreign" would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such thing a foreign.

阅读理解The idea of a fish being able to generate electricity strong enough to light lamp bulbs--or even to run a small electric motor--is almost unbelievable, but several kinds of fish are able to do this. Even more strangely, this curious power has been acquired in different ways by fish belonging to very different families. Perhaps the best known are the electric rays, or torpedoes(电鳐), of which several kinds live in warm seas. They possess on each side of the head, behind the eyes, a large organ consisting of a number of hexagonal shaped cells rather like a honeycomb. The cells are filled with a jelly-like substance, and contain a series of flat electric plates. One side, the negative side, of each plate, is supplied with very fine nerves, connected with a main nerve coming from a special part of the brain. Current passes from the upper, positive side of the organ downwards, to the negative, lower side. Generally it is necessary to touch the fish in two places, completing the circuit, in order to receive a shock. The strength of this shock depends on the size of the fish, but newly born ones only about 5 centime-tres across can be made to light the bulb of a pocket flashlight for a few moments, while a fully grown torpedo gives a shock capable of knocking a man down, and, if suitable wires are connected, will operate a small electric motor for several minutes. Another famous example is the electric eel. This fish gives an even more powerful shock. The system is different from that of the torpedo in that the electric plates run longitudinally(纵向) and are supplied with nerves from the spinal(脊骨) cord. Consequently, the current passes along the fish from head to tail. The electric organs of these fish are really altered muscles and like all muscles are apt (likely) to tire, so they are not able to produce electricity for very long. The power of producing electricity may serve these fish both for defense and attack.

阅读理解I''m usually fairly skeptical about any research that concludes that people are either happier or unhappier or more or less certain of themselves than they were 50 years ago. While any of these statements might be true, they are practically impossible to prove scientifically. Still, I was struck by a report which concluded that today''s children are significantly more anxious than children in the 1950s. In fact, the analysis showed, normal children aged 9 to 17 exhibit a higher level of anxiety today than children who were treated for mental illness 50 years ago. Why are America''s kids so stressed? The report cites two main causes: increasing physical isolation -- brought on by high divorce rates and less involvement in community, among other things -- and a growing perception that the world is a more dangerous place. Given that we can''t turn the clock back, adults can still do plenty to help the next generation cope. At the top of the list is nurturing (培育) a better appreciation of the limits of individualism. No child is an island. Strengthening social ties helps build communities and protect individuals against stress. To help kids build stronger connections with others, you can pull the plug on TVs and computers. Your family will thank you later. They will have more time for face-to-face relationships, and they will get more sleep. Limit the amount of virtual (虚拟的) violence your children are exposed to. It''s not just video games and movies; children see a lot of murder and crime on the local news. Keep your expectations for your children reasonable. Many highly successful people never attended Harvard or Yale. Make exercise part of your daily routine. It will help you cope with your own anxieties and provide a good model for your kids. Sometimes anxiety is unavoidable. But it doesn''t have to ruin your life.

阅读理解The Canadian population is chiefly characterized by its (47)______ duality. In other words, most Canadian speak either English or French. (48)______their origins, most Canadians attend school, work and play in either the French or English language or, in some cases, in both. However, Canada has a variety of minority groups who keep__(49)______ cultural characteristics. For a long time the Canadian Government (50)______ a policy of assimilation. But it did not work. (51)______ from different countries still kept their own cultures, religions, languages, and ways of life. At school even the French-speaking children and English-speaking children did not enjoy learning each other’s language. So in 1971, the Canadian Government (52)______ a policy of multiculturialism, recognizing that cultural pluralism within a bilingual framework was the essence of the Canadian society. Accordingly immigrants may be instructed in at least one official language to help them become full (53)______ in Canadian society and, at the same time, are encouraged to maintain their particular cultural heritage. Today, Canada’s Indians are proud to be called the country’s native people. While they (54)______ less than 2% of the total population, they account for 48% of the population of the Northwest Territories. Encouraged by the Federal Government, Canada’s native peoples are (55)______ to adopt the practical elements of modern society that best suit their needs while (56)______ many aspects of their traditional way of life. In recent years, there has been renewed interest in both. Word Bank A) behavior I) Immigrants B) linguistic J) comprise C) However K) adopted D) Whatever L) consist E) distinctive M) participants F) maintaining N) seeking G) pursued O) chilling H) Officials