Obama's Success Isn't All Good News for Black Americans As Erin White watched the election results head towards victory for Barack Obama, she felt a burden lifting from her shoulders. "In that one second, it was a validation for my whole race," she recalls. "I've always been an achiever," says White, who is studying for an MBA at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. "But there had always been these things in the back of my mind questioning whether I really can be who I want. It was like a shadow, following me around saying you can only go so far. Now it's like a barrier has been let down. " White's experience is what many psychologists had expected—that Obama would prove to be a powerful role model for African Americans. Some hoped his rise to prominence would have a big impact on white Americans, too, challenging those who still harbour racist sentiments. "The traits that characterise him are very contradictory to the racial stereotypes that black people are aggressive and uneducated," says Ashby Plant of Florida State University. "He's very intelligent and eloquent."Sting in the Tail Ashby Plant is one of a number of psychologists who seized on Obama's candidacy to test hypotheses about the power of role models. Their work is already starting to reveal how the "Obama effect" is changing people's views and behaviour. Perhaps surprisingly, it is not all good news: there is a sting in the tail of the Obama effect.But first the good news， Barack Obama really is a positive role model for African Americans, and he was making an impact even before he got to the White House. Indeed, the Obama effect can be surprisingly immediate and powerful, as Ray Friedman of Vanderbilt University and his colleagues discovered. They tested four separate groups at four key stages of Obama's presidential campaign. Each group consisted of around 120 adults of similar age and education, and the test assessed their language skills. At two of these stages, when Obama's success was less than certain, the tests showed a clear difference between the scores of the white and black participants—an average of 12. 1 out of 20, compared to 8.8, for example. When the Obama fever was at its height, however, the black participants performed much better. Those who had watched Obama's acceptance speech as the Democrats' presidential candidate performed just as well, on average, as the white subjects. After his election victory, this was true of all the black participants.Dramatic Shift What can explain this dramatic shift? At the start of the test, the participants had to declare their race and were told their results would be used to assess their strengths and weaknesses. This should have primed the subjects with "stereotype threat"—an anxiety that their results will confirm negative stereotypes, which has been shown to damage the performance of African Americans.Obama's successes seemed to act as a shield against this. "We suspect they felt inspired and energised by his victory, so the stereotype threat wouldn't prove a distraction," says Friedman.Lingering Racism If the Obama effect is positive for African Americans, how is it affecting their white compatriots ( 同胞 ) ? Is the experience of having a charismatic ( 有魅力的 ) black president modifying lingering racist attitudes? There is no easy way to measure racism directly; instead psychologists assess what is known as "implicit bias", using a computer-based test that measures how quickly people associate positive and negative words—such as "love" or "evil"—with photos of black or white faces. A similar test can also measure how quickly subjects associate stereotypical traits—such as athletic skills or mental ability—with a particular group.In a study that will appear in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Plant's team tested 229 students during the height of the Obama fever. They found that implicit bias had fallen by as much as 90% compared with the level found in a similar study in 2006. "That's an unusually large drop," Plant says. While the team can't be sure their results are due solely to Obama, they also showed that those with the lowest bias were likely to subconsciously associate black skin color with political words such as "government" or "president". This suggests that Obama was strongly on their mind, says Plant.Drop in Bias Brian Nosek of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, who runs a website that measures implicit bias using similar tests, has also observed a small drop in bias in the 700, 000 visitors to the site since January 2007, which might be explained by Obama's rise to popularity. However, his preliminary results suggest that change will be much slower coming than Plant's results suggest.Talking Honestly "People now have the opportunity of expressing support for Obama every day," says Daniel Effron at Stanford University in California. "Our research arouses the concern that people may now be more likely to raise negative views of African Americans." On the other hand, he says, it may just encourage people to talk more honestly about their feelings regarding race issues, which may not be such a bad thing. Another part of the study suggests far more is at stake than the mere expression of views. The Obama effect may have a negative side. Just one week after Obama was elected president, participants were less ready to support policies designed to address racial inequality than they had been two weeks before the election.Huge Obstacles It could, of course, also be that Obama's success helps people to forget that a disproportionate number of black Americans still live in poverty and face huge obstacles when trying to overcome these circumstances. "Barack Obama's family is such a salient (出色的) image, we generalise it and fail to see the larger picture—that there's injustice in every aspect of American life," says Cheryl Kaiser of the University of Washington in Seattle. Those trying to address issues of racial inequality need to constantly remind people of the inequalities that still exist to counteract the Obama effect, she says. Though Plant's findings were more positive, she too warns against thinking that racism and racial inequalities are no longer a problem. "The last thing I want is for people to think everything's solved."These findings do not only apply to Obama, or even just to race. They should hold for any role model in any country." There's no reason we wouldn't have seen the same effect on our views of women if Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin had been elected," says Effron. So the election of a female leader might have a downside for other women.Beyond Race We also don't yet know how long the Obama effect—both its good side and its bad—will last. Political sentiment is notoriously changeable; What if things begin to go wrong for Obama, and his popularity slumps? And what if Americans become so familiar with having Obama as their president that they stop considering his race altogether? "Over time he might become his own entity," says Plant. This might seem like the ultimate defeat for racism, but ignoring the race of certain select individuals—a phenomenon that psychologists call subtyping—also has an insidious (隐伏的) side. "We think it happens to help people preserve their beliefs, so they can still hold on to the previous stereotypes." That could turn out to be the cruelest of all the twists to the Obama effect.

中国是粮食生产大国和人口大国(populous country)，粮食安全正面临着危机。

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能源是人类赖以生存和发展的重要物质基础。在整个人类社会发展的历史中，人类文明的每一次重大进步都伴随着能源的改进和更替。目前，中国已成为世界上最大的能源生产国，形成了煤炭、电力、石油、天然气以及新能源和可再生能源全面发展的能源供应体系。但中国人口众多、资源不足，能源发展面临着诸多挑战，比如石油储备不足，能源消费增长过快。为保证能源的可持续发展，中国政府把节约能源放在优先位置，鼓励开发新能源和可再生能源。

“8”则是中国人最喜爱的数字，因为它与广东话(Cantonese)中的“发”是同音，意味着繁荣、财富和地位。

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Space Tourism [A]Make your reservations now. The space tourism industry is officially open for business, and tickets are going for a mere $20 million for a one-week stay in space. Despite reluctance from National Air and Space Administration(NASA), Russia made American businessman Dennis Tito the world's first space tourist. Tito flew into space aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket that arrived at the International Space Station(ISS)on April 30, 2001. The second space tourist, South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth, took off aboard the Russian Soyuz on April 25, 2002, also bound for the ISS. [B]Lance Bass of 'N Sync(an American boy band)was supposed to be the third to make the $20 million trip, but he did not join the three-man crew as they blasted off on October 30, 2002, due to lack of payment. Probably the most incredible aspect of this proposed space tour was that NASA approved of it. [C]These trips are the beginning of what could be a profitable 21st century industry. There are already several space tourism companies planning to build suborbital vehicles and orbital cities within the next two decades. These companies have invested millions, believing that the space tourism industry is on the verge of taking off. [D]In 1997, NASA published a report concluding that selling trips into space to private citizens could be worth billions of dollars. A Japanese report supports these findings, and projects that space tourism could be a $10 billion per year industry within the next two decades. The only obstacles to opening up space to tourists are the space agencies, who are concerned with safety and the development of a reliable, reusable launch vehicle. Space Accommodations [E]Russia's Mir space station was supposed to be the first destination for space tourists. But in March 2001, the Russian Aerospace Agency brought Mir down into the Pacific Ocean. As it turned out, bringing down Mir only temporarily delayed the first tourist trip into space. [F]The Mir crash did cancel plans for a new reality-based game show from NBC, which was going to be called Destination Mir. The Survivor-like TV show was scheduled to air in fall 2001. Participants on the show were to go through training at Russia's cosmonaut(宇航员)training center, Star City. Each week, one of the participants would be eliminated from the show, with the winner receiving a trip to the Mir space station. The Mir crash has ruled out NBC's space plans for now. NASA is against beginning space tourism until the International Space Station is completed in 2006. [G]Russia is not alone in its interest in space tourism. There are several projects underway to commercialize space travel. Space Island Group is going to build a ring-shaped, rotating "commercial space infrastructure(基础结构)" that will resemble the Discovery spacecraft in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey." Space Island says it will build its space city out of empty NASA space-shuttle fuel tanks(to start, it should take around 12 or so), and place it about 400 miles above Earth. The space city will rotate once per minute to create a gravitational pull one-third as strong as Earth's. [H]According to their vision statement, Space Adventures plans to "fly tens of thousands of people in space over the next 10-15 years and beyond, around the moon, and back, from spaceports both on Earth and in space, to and from private space stations, and aboard dozens of different vehicles..." Even Hilton Hotels has shown interest in the space tourism industry and the possibility of building or co-funding a space hotel. However, the company did say that it believes such a space hotel is 15 to 20 years away. [I]Initially, space tourism will offer simple accommodations at best. For instance, if the International Space Station is used as a tourist attraction, guests won't find the luxurious surroundings of a hotel room on Earth. It has been designed for conducting research, not entertainment. However, the first generation of space hotels should offer tourists a much more comfortable experience. [J]In regard to a concept for a space hotel initially planned by Space Island, such a hotel could offer guests every convenience they might find at a hotel on Earth, and some they might not. The small gravitational pull created by the rotating space city would allow space-tourists and residents to walk around and function normally within the structure. Everything from running water to a recycling plant to medical facilities would be possible. Additionally, space tourists would even be able to take space walks. [K]Many of these companies believe that they have to offer an extremely enjoyable experience in order for passengers to pay thousands, if not millions, of dollars to ride into space. So will space create another separation between the haves and have-nots? The Most Expensive Vacation [L]Will space be an exotic retreat reserved for only the wealthy? Or will middle-class folks have a chance to take their families to space? Make no mistake about it, going to space will be the most expensive vacation you ever take. Prices right now are in the tens of millions of dollars. Currently, the only vehicles that can take you into space are the space shuttle and the Russian Soyuz, both of which are terribly inefficient Each spacecraft requires millions of pounds of fuel to take off into space, which makes them expensive to launch One pound of payload(有效载重)costs about $10,000 to put into Earth's orbit. [M]NASA and Lockheed Martin are currently developing a single-stage-to-orbit launch space plane, called the VentureStar, which could be launched for about a tenth of what the space shuttle costs to launch. If the VentureStar takes off, the number of people who could afford to take a trip into space would move into the millions. [N]A joint report from NASA and the Space Transportation Association stated that improvements in technology could push fares for space travel as low as $50,000, and possibly down to $20,000 or $10,000 a decade later. The report concluded that at a ticket price of $50,000, there could be 600,000 passengers flying into space each year. While still leaving out many people, these prices would open up space to a tremendous amount of traffic.[O]Since the beginning of the space race, the general public has said, "Isn't that great—when do I get to go?" Well, our chance might be closer than ever. Within the next 20 years, space planes could be taking off for the Moon at the same frequency as airplanes flying between New York and Los Angeles.

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相对上一代而言，90后虽然更容易叛逆，却更自信，更富有进取心，也能够更好地适应新环境。

中国民族音乐，一般简称“民乐”或“国乐”，是中国特有的音乐品种。中国传统音乐以 五音音阶 (pentatonic scale)为基础，追求自然、和谐、 含蓄 (subtlety)的美感，在几千年的发展过程中，留下了极为丰富的民族音乐文化遗产。民乐的乐器种类很多，可以分为吹、拉、弹、打四大类。上世纪20年代，中国的音乐家仿照西方 交响乐队 (symphony orchestra)的编制。建立起中国民族管弦乐团来演奏一些大型的民乐曲目。中国一些著名的民乐团也经常接受邀请，到世界各地演出。

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成吉思汗 (Genghis Khan)是世界历史上杰出的政治家和军事家。1206年，他统一草原上的各个部落，建立了 大蒙古国 (the Mongol Empire)。建国之后，成吉思汗多次发动战争，使蒙古帝国成为人类历史上疆域最为广阔的国家。除了伟大的军事成就，成吉思汗在其他方面也推动了帝国的发展。他颁布法令创建蒙古人的书写文字，制定法律并促进宗教宽容。成吉思汗既是世界上著名的历史人物，又是一个极具争议的统治者。几百年来，有很多名人、学者从不同的角度对他进行了研究和探讨。

Women who drank three or more cups of coffee a day were 30 percent less likely to have memory decline at age 65 than whose who drank one cup or less daily. And the benefit increased with age. Women over age 80 who drank three or more cups of coffee a day were about 70 percent less likely to have memory decline than those who drank one cup or less, the researchers said. Caffeinated tea had the same effect in the women, the study found, although more was needed to get the same caffeine boost. "Count roughly two cups of tea for a cup of coffee," said study leader Karen Ritchie of INSERM, the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research. But the researchers didn't find a similarly protective effect in men, although other studies have found a benefit to males. How might caffeine help ward off cognitive decline? "It is a cognitive stimulant," said Ritchie. It also helps to reduce levels of the protein called beta amyloid in the brain, she said, "whose accumulation is responsible for Alzheimer's disease but which also occurs in normal aging." Ritchie said she wasn't sure why men in the study didn't benefit from caffeine. "Our hypothesis is that either women metabolize caffeine differently than men, or there may be an interaction of the caffeine with the sex hormones, the estrogen-progesterone balance," she said. The French study confirms previous research, said William Scott, professor of medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, who has researched caffeine's beneficial effects against Parkinson's disease, also a neurodegenerative disorder. As for caffeine only protecting women, Scott noted that just 2,800 of the 7,000 study participants were men, and the results might have differed if more men were included. A study published in February in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at 676 healthy men and found that regular coffee drinkers had a lower rate of cognitive decline over a 10-year follow-up than those who didn't drink coffee. Those who drank three cups daily had the least signs of decline. Both Scott and Ritchie agreed that more study is needed. Ritchie's research will next look at the relationship between caffeine and Alzheimer's.

The direct rays of the sun touch the equator and strike northward toward the Tropic of Cancer. In the Southern hemisphere winter has begun, and it is summer north of the equator. The sea and air grow warmer; the polar air of winter begins its gradual retreat. The northward shift of the sun also brings the season of tropical cyclones to the northern hemisphere, a season that is ending for the Pacific and India Oceans south of the equator. Along our coasts and those of Asia, it is tune to look seaward, to guard against the season's storms. Over the Pacific, the tropical cyclone season is never quite over, but varies in intensity. Every year, conditions east of the Philippines send a score of violent storms howling toward Asia, but it is worst from June through October. Southwest of Mexico, a few Pacific hurricanes will grow during spring and summer, but most will die at sea or perish over the desert or the lower California coast as squalls. Along our Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the hurricane season is from June to November. In an average year, there are fewer than ten tropical cyclones and six of them will develop into hurricanes. These will kill 50 to 100 persons between Texas and Maine and cause property damage of more than $100 million. If the year is worse than average, we will suffer several hundred deaths, and property damage will run to billions of dollars. Tornadoes, floods, and severe storms are in season elsewhere on the continent. Now, to these destructive forces must be added the hazard of the hurricane. From the National Hurricane Center in Miami, a radar fence reaches westward to Texas and northward to New England. It provides a 200-mile look into offshore disturbances. In Maryland, the giant computers of the National Meteorological Center digest the myriad bits of data-atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, surface winds, and winds aloft-received from weather stations and ships monitoring the atmospheric setting each hour, every day. Cloud photographs from spacecraft orbiting the earth are received in Maryland and are studied for the telltale spiral on the warming sea. The crew of United States aircraft over the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and Atlantic watch the sky and wait for the storm that will bear a person's name. The machinery of early warning vibrates with new urgency as the season of great storms begins.

Once they decided to have children, MiShel and Carl Meissner tackled the next big issue: Should they try to have a girl? It was no small matter. MiShel's brother had become blind from a hereditary(遗传的)condition in his early 20s, and the Meissners had learned that the condition is a【C1】 1passed from mothers to sons. If they had a boy, he would have a 50 per cent chance of having the condition. A girl would be【C2】 2 The British couple's【C3】 3about gender selection led them to Virginia, US where a new sperm(精子)-separation technique, called MicroSort, was under【C4】 4When MiShel became pregnant, she gave birth to a daughter. They will try to have a second daughter using the technique later this year. This is not only a【C5】 5effective way to select a child's gender. It also brings a host of ethical(伦理的)and practical considerations—especially for the majority of families who use the technique for【C6】 6reasons. The clinic offers sex selection for two purposes: to help couples【C7】 7passing on a gender-linked【C8】 8disease and to allow those who already have a child to "balance" their family by having a baby of the opposite sex. The technology is still【C9】 9However, Blauer says the company has an【C10】 10success rate: 91 per cent of the women who become pregnant after sorting for a girl are successful, while 76 per cent who sort for a boy and get pregnant are successful. A)genetic B)overlapped C)impressive D)unaffected E)perpetually F)investigation G)inquiries H)feats I)disorder J)gropes K)experimental L)seemingly M)elicit N)nonmedical O)avoid 【C1】

Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteanessaybasedonthepicturebelow.Youshouldstartyouressaywithabriefdescriptionofthepictureandthendiscusstheheavierandheavierburdensonpupils.Youshouldgivesoundargumentstosupportyourviewsandwriteatleast150wordsbutnomorethan200words."Manypupilsthesedaysareoverweight.Thebackpackadds30pounds!"

{{B}}Part I Writing{{/B}}

高速公路(express way)是一个国家走向现代化的桥梁，也是发展现代交通业的必要条件。

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