单选题Severe winter storms have worsened the nation's usual post-holiday blood shortage, 27 an urgent call today for people to donate blood. Type O blood is the most urgently needed, because it is the 28 blood type, meaning it can be safely 29 to most people in an emergency. 'The severe winter weather has forced the cancellation of blood drives and limited our 30 to collect blood,' American Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole said. The Red Cross reported having less than one day's supply of Type O blood on hand in 18 of the organization's 38 collection regions. The Red Cross 31 about half of the nation's blood supply. America's Blood Centers, which supplies most of the rest, also has reported shortages. Reacting to the shortage, a Pittsburgh blood bank asked 40 hospitals in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to 32 elective surgeries through Wednesday. At least 1,000 donors are needed each day for the next several days to stabilize the supply, said Mark Lynch, spokesman for the Central Blood Bank. 'We're talking about (postponing) hip replacement, for example, and orthopedic cases. These are sick people who need surgery, but it's not life 33 ,' he said. When its blood supply is 34 , the blood bank needs about 700 donors each day to maintain normal inventory. The Pittsburgh blood bank last asked hospitals to postpone elective surgeries because of a blood shortage in October 1995. Such procedures were canceled for almost a week. Nationwide, donations typically fall off during the holidays, when donors become too busy to give blood 35 . Bad weather increases shortages both by 36 blood drives and by causing increased blood demand to treat accident victims. A. threatening B. popular C. postpone D. regularly E. receives F. ability G. universal H. refuse I. transfused J. stable K. immediately L. prompting M. blocking N. density O. provides

单选题It may come as a surprise to many an exhausted mother or father—but thinking about your children could improve your memory, a study suggests. Researchers 26 that when thinking about raising children, an adult's memory 'goes up a gear'. It seems that the 27 necessity to protect children helps our brains to store information we would otherwise forget. Researchers at Binghamton University, New York carried out a series of tests to see if thinking about bringing up children improved one's sense of 28 and found that it did. Ralph Miller, a psychology professor said, 'Our ability to think and memorize information arises from our nervous systems. As our nervous systems are a product of 29 and past experiences, one can 30 expect that how well we memorize information today is 31 by natural selection that occurred among our ancestors long ago.' Professor Miller and his colleagues tested the theory by asking 32 to imagine they were living in the ancient grasslands of Africa, and to remember a series of words such as rock, apple, ball and stick. They were asked to rate the relevance of each item to how much use it was to their survival. When presented with a 33 that involved raising children they remembered many more of the words. But in another situation—a task involving finding a mate—the memory was not so good. The researchers said that while both activities 34 to survival, our prehistoric ancestors may not have realized that mating could result in children because of the nine months between mating and 35 . This research demonstrates that our genes not only have an impact on our anatomy (解剖构造) and physiology, but also on the ways in which we think. A. biological F. influenced K. relate B. birth G. objected L. reverse C. claim H. premier M. scenario D. consequent I. reasonably N. simply E. evolution J. recall O. subjects

单选题How good are you at saying 'no'? For many, it's 26 difficult. This is especially tree of editors, who by nature tend to be eager and engaged participants in everything they do. Consider these 27 : It's late in the day. That front-page package you've been working on is nearly complete; one last edit and it's finished. Enter the 28 editor, who makes a suggestion requiring a more-than-modest rearrangement of the design and the addition of an information box. You want to scream: 'No! It's done!' What do you do? The first rule of saying no to the boss is don't say no. She probably has something in mind when she makes suggestions, and it's up to you to find out what. The second rule is don't raise the stakes by challenging her 29 . That issue is already decided. The third rule is to be ready to cite options and consequences. The boss's suggestions might be 30 , but there are always consequences. She might not know about the pages backing up that need attention, or about the designer who had to go home sick. Tell her she can have what she wants, but explain the consequences. Understand what she's trying to accomplish and propose a Plan B that will make it happen without destroying what you've done so far. Here's another case. Your least-favorite reporter suggests a dumb story idea. This one should be easy, but it's not. If you say no, even 31 , you risk inhibiting further ideas, not just from that reporter, but from others who heard that you turned down the idea. This scenario is common in newsrooms that lack a systematic way to filter story suggestions. Two steps are necessary. First, you need a system for how stories are proposed and reviewed. Reporters can tolerate rejection of their ideas if they believe they were given a fair bearing. Your gut reaction (本能反应)and dismissive rejection, even of a 32 idea, might not qualify as systematic or fair. Second, the people you work with need to 33 a 'What if... ?' agreement covering 'What if my idea is turned down?' How are people expected to react? Is there an appeal process? Can they 34 the idea and resubmit it? By anticipating 'What if...?' situations before they happen, you can reach understanding that will help ease you out of 35 . A. worthless B. politely C. negotiate D. scenarios E. confrontations F. appropriate G. simultaneously H. surprisingly I. refine J. executive K. intelligence L. immature M. authority N. arrogantly O. determine

单选题 Emotion is a feeling about or reaction to certain important events or thoughts. People enjoy feeling such pleasant emotions as love, happiness, and contentment. They often try to avoid feeling unpleasant emotions, such as loneliness, worry, and grief. Individuals communicate most of their emotions by means of words, a variety of sounds, facial expressions, and gestures. For example, anger causes many people to frown, make a fist, and yell. People learn ways of showing some of their emotions from members of their society, though heredity (遗传) may determine some emotional behaviour. Research has shown that different isolated peoples show emotions by means of similar facial expressions. Charles Darwin, famous for the theory of natural selection, also studied emotion. Darwin said in 1872 that emotional behaviour originally served both as an aid to survival and as a method of communicating intentions. According to the James-Lange theory of emotions developed in the 1880s, people feel emotions only if they are aware of their own internal physical reactions to events, such as increased heart rate or blood pressure. But this theory was not upheld by research on cats that had their nervous systems damaged. The cats could not feel their body's internal changes, but they showed normal emotional behaviour. John B. Watson, an American psychologist who helped found the school of psychology called behaviourism, observed that babies stimulated by certain events showed three basic emotions—fear, anger, and love. Watson's view has been challenged frequently since he proposed it in 1919. The most widely accepted view is that emotions occur as a complex sequence of events. The sequence begins when a person encounters an important event or thought. The person's interpretation of the encounter determines the feeling that is likely to follow. For example, someone who encounters a bear in the woods would probably interpret the event as dangerous. The sense of danger would cause the individual to feel fear. Each feeling is followed by physical changes and desires to take action, which are responses to the event that started the sequence. Thus, a person who met a bear would probably run away. Several American psychologists independently developed the theory that there are eight basic emotions. These emotions—which can exist at various levels of intensity—are anger, fear, joy, sadness, acceptance, disgusts, surprise, and interest or curiosity. They combine to form all other emotions, just as certain basic colours produce all others.

单选题 'The world's environment is surprisingly healthy. Discuss.' If that were an examination topic, most students would tear it apart, offering a long list of complaints: from local smog (烟雾) to global climate change, from the felling(砍伐) of forests to the extinction of species. The list would largely be accurate, the concern legitimate. Yet the students who should be given the highest marks would actually be those who agreed with the statement. The surprise is how good things are, not how bad. After all, the world's population has more than tripled during this century, and world output has risen hugely, so you would expect the earth itself to have been affected. Indeed, if people lived, consumed and produced things in the same way as they did in 1900(or 1950, or indeed 1980), the world by now would be a pretty disgusting place: smelly, dirty, toxic and dangerous. But they don't. The reasons why they don't, and why the environment has not been ruined, have to do with prices, technological innovation, social change and government regulation in response to popular pressure. That is why today's environmental problems in the poor countries ought, in principle, to be solvable. Raw materials have not run out, and show no sign of doing so. Logically, one day they must: the planet is a finite place. Yet it is also very big, and man is very ingenious. What has happened is that every time a material seems to be running short, the price has risen and, in response, people have looked for new sources of supply, tried to find ways to use less of the material, or looked for a new substitute. For this reason prices for energy and for minerals have fallen in real terms during the century. The same is true for food. Prices fluctuate, in response to harvests, natural disasters and political instability; and when they rise, it takes some time before new sources of supply become available. But they always do, assisted by new farming and crop technology. The long-term trend has been downwards. It is where prices and markets do not operate properly that this benign (良性的) trend begins to stumble, and the genuine problems arise. Markets cannot always keep the environment healthy, if no one owns the resource concerned, no one has an interest in conserving it or fostering it: fish is the best example of this.

单选题 Eating Disorders A. Eating disorders have been most commonly associated with women and therefore most studies on anorexia nervosa have been concentrated within the female population. Such gender bias however makes it less likely that a doctor will diagnose a male as having an eating disorder or anorexia even though the symptoms might be identical. B. Men are far less likely to discuss an eating disorder with other men or with women. Their doctors are more likely to diagnose them as having a bout of depression due to stress or some kind of upset rather than suffering from an eating disorder because such disorders have been largely labelled female diseases. This is mostly due to the cultural differences between men and women. C. Discussions about beauty, new diets and body weight are seen as the female arena of discussion that males seldom enter. Also, traditionally men's beauty is displayed in body mass, building muscle and body building and therefore to discuss issues surrounding weight loss in not seen as particularly masculine because men 'Don't have psychological problems' and 'Don't talk about their feelings' even though men do suffer from anorexia. D. The disease is far more common in the Western world than anywhere else and there is much cause for concern as recent research suggests that the disease is on the increase. The disease mostly manifests itself during adolescence when the signs of obvious weight loss become apparent. People who suffer from the disease have a genuine and constant terrifying fear of gaining weight, even when their weight is much less than people of their same height and stature. E. Doctors have been able to characterize the disease because the sufferer's body weight is about 15% below average for their height. Suffers also tend to avoid fatty foods, use laxatives, diuretics or engage in excessive exercise. F. Because people live in a world obsessed with image and a fashion and cosmetics industry that forces an image of the ideal body, it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish between anorexics and those who have a higher interest in their physical appearance than most people. Anorexics can be distinguished from a non-anorexics because weight loss is completely self-induced and the sufferer goes to extremes to lose weight, also engaging in self-induced vomiting until eventually the situation fast gets our of control. G. Suffers are also completely preoccupied with their bodies and actually believe themselves to be fat when in reality they are malnourished and starkly thinner than their peers. They also begin to lose interest in activities their peers are involved in such as socializing and very often become withdrawn. These are common symptoms in many adolescents but coupled with the obvious and drastic weight loss and lack of concentration it is easier to diagnose an adolescent with the beginning stages of anorexia. H. The actual cause of the disease is unknown but scientists believe that biological and social factors play a role and sometimes the disease can be triggered by traumatic events such as a death in the family, stress or the onset of puberty. I. While it is true that most suffers of the disease are female, some 10% are male. Studies show that there are differences between male and female anorexics. Female suffers tend to view themselves as fatter, more overweight than males with the same condition. Males tend to engage in less self-induced vomiting, take fewer laxatives and diuretics, and are more motivated but have more physical complaints. J. It has been suggested also that there is a link between males with the disease to tending to be homosexual. The actual figure is unknown and it is important to understand that such a link does not indicate that all male sufferers of anorexia nervosa or eating disorder are homosexual. Also there tends to a higher rate in suicide attempts in male sufferers. K. The biggest problem, however, is diagnosing male anorexia or eating disorder because of the common belief that such disease are essentially female although the medical profession is more aware of male anorexia than ever before. L. Suffers can go many years without treatment but eventually sufferers lose more body weight, as much as 25%-30%, which leads to chronic illness and even death. The mortality rate is as high as 5%. Others are lucky because sometimes onset of the disease can be temporary with complete recovery. M. There is treatment for suffers of this terrible disease. In some cases suffers are treated by medication, usually when the disease is accompanied by severe depression. Usually though sufferers are referred to a psychologist or a therapist and are encouraged to join self-help groups and are counselled by people who have first-hand experience of the disease themselves.

单选题 People who are married or in committed relationships are healthier, wealthier, and happier. So why do more than 60 percent of marriages end in divorce? Why has the national divorce rate climbed more than 200 percent in the last thirty years? And why are fewer people getting married today than ever before? The answers to these questions are plentiful, but the main reason is simple. It's easy to 'fall' in love, but very few people know how to stay in love. Even though staying in love is our 'smartest' choice all the way around! Recent studies on marriage prove it's one of the major ingredients in life-long success for men and women. 'It lengthens life, substantially boosts physical and emotional health, and raises income over that of single or divorced people or those who live together,' reported an article in the New York Times. Marriage has also been found to boost happiness, reduce the degree of depression, and provide protection from sexually transmitted diseases. So let's wake up, make up, and turn this trend around! One of the most startling pieces of evidence that shows people are not in touch with what's really going on in their partnerships is the fact that the majority of people who file for divorce say they didn't think there was a relationship-threatening problem just six months prior to breaking up. Another shocker is that most couples wait six years or more to seek professional help when their relationship is in danger. By the time they do wake up and smell the coffee, it's often too late. Truly there is no reason to resign yourself to a bad relationship whether you're dating or married. Rather than changing partners and ending up this same predicament (困境) again, you can learn to have a fabulous relationship with the partner you already have! I strongly encourage you to make the relationship you have worked, because there is a higher rate of divorce and adultery (通奸) in second marriages. Getting rid of your partner does not get rid of the problem, because half of the 'problem' is yours. You can walk out of your marriage, but you can't run away from yourself, no matter how hard you try! Rather than blaming each other, couples can learn how to work as a team and coach each other through the troubled times and power struggles. To do this, you must create a 'safe' relationship so you can express your needs and fears and effectively resolve anger and conflict. More relationships break up because people don't know how to validate (验证) each other than for any other reason. This is truly a shame, because the skills for 'fighting fair' are very easy to master with just a little practice and patience.

单选题 Questions22-25 are based on the recording you have just heard.

单选题 Once it was possible to define male and female roles easily by the division of labour. Men worked outside the home and earned the income to support their families, while women cooked the meals and took care of the home and the children. These roles were firmly fixed for most people, and there was not much opportunity for women to exchange their roles. But by the middle of this century, men's and women's roles were becoming less firmly fixed. In the 1950s, economic and social success was the goal of the typical American. But in the 1960s a new force developed called the counterculture. The people involved in this movement did not value the middle-class goals. The counterculture presented men and women with new role choices. Taking more interest in childcare, men began to share child-raising tasks with their wives. In fact, some young men and women moved to communal homes or farms where the economic and childcare responsibilities were shared equally by both sexes. In addition, many Americans did not value the traditional male role of soldier. Some young men refused to be drafted as soldiers to fight in the war in Vietnam. In terms of numbers, the counterculture was not a very large group of people. But its influence spread to many parts of American society. Working men of all classes began to change their economic and social patterns. Industrial workers and business executives alike cut down on 'overtime' work so that they could spend more leisure time with their families. Some doctors, lawyers, and teachers turned away from high paying situations to practice their professions in poorer neighbour-hoods. In the 1970s, the feminist movement, or women's liberation, produced additional economic and social changes. Women of all ages and at all levels of society were entering the work force in greater numbers. Most of them still took traditional women's jobs as public school teaching, nursing, and secretarial work. But some women began to enter traditionally male occupations: police work, banking, dentistry, and construction work. Women were asking for equal work, and equal opportunities for promotion. Today the experts generally agree that important changes are taking place in the roles of men and women. Naturally, there are difficulties in adjusting to these transformations. Many people appeal for the equality between men and women with the hope of transforming the traditional roles of men and women. Actually, the gender role in many countries is much better than before.

单选题 In a purely biological sense, fear begins with the body's system for reacting to things that can harm us—the so-called fight-or-flight response. 'An animal that can't detect danger can't stay alive,' says Joseph LeDoux. Like animals, humans evolved with an elaborate mechanism for processing information about potential threats. At its core is a cluster of neurons(神经元) deep in the brain known as the amygdala(扁桃核). LeDoux studies the way animals and humans respond to threats to understand how we form memories of significant events in our lives. The amygdala receives input from many parts of the brain, including regions responsible for retrieving memories. Using this information, the amygdala appraises a situation—I think this charging dog wants to bite me—and triggers a response by radiating nerve signals throughout the body. These signals produce the familiar signs of distress: trembling, perspiration and fast-moving feet, just to name three. This fear mechanism is critical to the survival of all animals, but no one can say for sure whether beasts other than humans know they're afraid. That is, as LeDoux says, 'if you put that system into a brain that has consciousness, then you get the feeling of fear.' Humans, says Edward M. Hallowell, have the ability to call up images of bad things that happened in the past and to anticipate future events. Combine these higher thought processes with our hardwired danger-detection systems, and you get a near-universal human phenomenon: worry. That's not necessarily a bad thing, says Hallowell. 'When used properly, worry is an incredible device,' he says. After all, a little healthy worrying is okay if it leads to constructive action—like having a doctor look at that weird spot on your back. Hallowell insists, though, that there's a right way to worry. 'Never do it alone, get the facts and then make a plan,' he says. Most of us have survived a recession, so we're familiar with the belt-tightening strategies needed to survive a slump. Unfortunately, few of us have much experience dealing with the threat of terrorism, so it's been difficult to get facts about how we should respond. That's why Hallowell believes it was okay for people to indulge some extreme worries last fall by asking doctors for Cipro(抗炭疽茵的物)and buying gas masks.

单选题 Questions2-5 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

单选题 Questions24-27 are based on the recording you have just heard.