单选题 Rates Are low, but Consumers won't Borrow With heavy debt loads and high joblessness, Americans are cautious. A. The US Federal Reserve (Fed)'s announcement last week that it intended to keep credit cheap for at least two more years was a clear invitation to Americans: go out and borrow. B. But many economists say it will take more than low interest rates to persuade consumers to take on more debt. There are already signs that the recent stock market fluctuations, turbulence in Europe and the US deficit have seared consumers. On Friday, preliminary data showed that the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index had fallen this month to lower than it was in November 2008, when the United States was deep in recession. Under normal circumstances, the Fed's announcement might have attracted new home and ear buyers and prompted credit card holders to rack up fresh charges. But with unemployment high and those with jobs worried about keeping them, consumers are more concerned about paying off the loans they already have than adding more debt. And by showing its hand for the next two years, the Fed may have thoughtlessly invited prospective borrowers to put off large purchases. C. Lenders, meanwhile, are still dealing with the effects of the boom-gone-bust and are forcing prospective borrowers to go to extraordinary lengths to prove their creditworthiness. D. 'I don't think lenders are going to be interested in extending a lot of debt in this environment,' said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, a macroeconomic consulting firm. 'Nor do I think households are going to be interested in taking on a lot of debt.' In housing, consumers have already shown a slow response to low rates. Applications for new mortgages have de-creased this year to a 10-year low, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Sales of furniture and furnishings remain 22% below their pre-recession peak, according to Spending Pulse, a research report by MasterCard Advisors. Credit card rates have actually gone up slightly in the past year. The one bright spot in lending is the number of auto loans, which is up from last year. But some economists say that confidence among ear buyers is hitting new lows. E. For Xavier Walter, a former mortgage banker who with his wife, Danielle, accumulated $20,000 in credit card debt, low rates will not change his spending habits. As the housing market topped out five years ago, he lost his six-figure income. He and his wife were able to modify the mortgage on their four-bedroom house in Medford, New Jersey, as well as negotiate lower credit card payments. Two years ago, Mr. Walter, a 34-year-old father of three, started an energy business. He has sworn off credit. 'I'm not going to go back in debt ever again,' he said, 'If I can't pay for it in cash, I don't want it.' F. Until now, one of the biggest restraints on consumer spending has been a debt aftereffect. Since August 2008, when household debt peaked at $12.41 trillion, it has declined by about $1.2 trillion, according to an analysis by Moody's Analytics of data from the Federal Reserve and Equifax, the credit agency. A large portion of that, though, was simply written off by lenders as borrowers defaulted on loans. By other measures, households have improved their position. The proportion of after-tax income that households spend to remain current on loan payments has fallen. G. Still, household debt remains high. That presents a paradox: many economists argue that the economy cannot achieve true health until debt levels decline. But credit, made attractive by low rates, is a time-tested way to increase consumer spending. With new risks of another downturn, economists worry that it will take years for debt to return to manageable levels. If the economy con-tracts again, said George Magnus, senior adviser at UBS, then 'you could find a lot of households in a debt trap which they probably can never get out of'. H. Mortgage lenders, meanwhile, burned by the housing crash, are extra careful about approving new loans. In June, for instance, Fannie Mac, the largest mortgage buyer in the United States, said that borrowers whose existing debt exceeded 45 to 50% of their income would be required to have stronger 'compensating' factors, which might include higher savings. Even those borrowers in strong financial positions are asked to provide unusual amounts of paperwork. Bobby and Katie Smith have an extremely good credit record, tiny student debt and a combined six-figure income. For part of their down payment, they planned to use about $5000 they had received as wedding gifts in February. But the lender would not accept that money unless the Smiths provided a certified letter from each of 14 guests, stating that the money was a gift, rather than a loan. 'We laughed for a good 15 or 20 minutes,' recalled Mr. Smith, 34. Mr. Smith, a program director for a radio station in Orlando, Florida, said they ended up using other savings for their down payment to buy a $300,000 four-bedroom house in April. I. For those not as creditworthy as the Smiths, low rates are irrelevant because they no longer qualify for mortgages. That leaves the eligible pool of loan applicants wealthier, 'older and whiter,' said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance. 'It's creating much more of a divide,' he said, 'between the haves and the have-nots.' Car shoppers with the highest credit ratings can also get loans more easily, and at lower rates, said Paul C. Taylor, chief economist of the National Auto-mobile Dealers Association. J. During the recession, inability to obtain credit severely cut auto buying as lenders rejected even those with good credit ratings. Now automakers are increasing their subprime (次级债的) lending again as well, but remain hesitant to approve large numbers of risky customers. K. The number of new auto loans was up by 16% in the second quarter compared with the previous year, said Melinda Zabritski, director of automotive credit at Experian, the information services company. But some economists warn that consumer confidence is falling. According to CNW Marketing Research, confidence among those who intend to buy a car this year is at its lowest since it began collecting data on this measure in 2000. L. On credit cards, rates have actually inched higher this year, largely because of new rules that curb the issuer's ability to charge fees or raise certain interest rates at will. M. At the end of the second quarter, rates averaged 14.01% on new card offers, up from 13.75% a year earlier, according to Mail Monitor, which tracks credit cards for Synovate, a market research firm. According to data from the Federal Reserve, total outstanding debt on revolving credit cards was down by 4.6% during the first half of the year compared with the same period a year earlier. N. Even if the Fed's announcement helps keep rates steady, or pushes them down, businesses do not expect customers to suddenly charge up a storm. O. 'It's not like, 'Oh, credit is so cheap, let's go back to the heydays (鼎盛时期),' ' said Elizabeth Crowell, who owns Sterling Place, two high-end home furnishing and gift stores in New York. 'People still fear for their jobs. So I think where maybe after other recessions they might re-turn to previous spending habits, the pendulum hasn't swung back the same way.'

单选题 Questions13-15 are based on the passage you have just heard.

单选题 中国民乐 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。中国传统音乐以五声音阶(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。

单选题 Questions12-14 are bused on the passage you have just heard.

单选题 We live today indebted to McCardell, Cashin, Hawes, Wilkins, and Maxwell, and other women who liberated American fashion from the confines of Parisian design. Independence came in tying, wrapping, storing, harmonizing, and rationalizing that wardrobe. These designers established the modern dress code, letting playsuits and other activewear outfits suffice for casual clothing, allowing pants to enter the wardrobe, and prizing rationalism and versatility in dress, in contradiction to dressing for an occasion or allotment of the day. Fashion in America was logical and answerable to the will of the women who wore it. Implicitly or explicitly, American fashion addressed a democracy, whereas traditional Paris-based fashion was prescriptive and imposed on women, willing or not. In an earlier time, American fashion had also followed the dictates of Paris, or even copied and pirated specific French designs. Designer sportswear was not modeled on that of Europe, as 'modern art' would later be; it was genuinely invented and developed in America. Its designers were not high-end with supplementary lines. The design objective and the business commitment were to sportswear, and the distinctive traits were problem-solving ingenuity and realistic lifestyle applications. Ease of care was most important: summer dresses and outfits, in particular, were chiefly cotton, readily capable of being washed and pressed at home. Closings were simple, practical, and accessible, as the modern woman depended on no personal maid to dress her. American designers prized resourcefulness and the freedom of women who wore the clothing. Many have argued that the women designers of this time were able to project their own clothing values into a new style. Of course, much of this argument in the 1930s-40s was advanced because there was little or no experience in justifying apparel(服装) on the basis of utility. If Paris was cast aside, the tradition of beauty was also to some degree slighted. Designer sportswear would have to be verified by a standard other than that of pure beauty; the emulation of a designer's life in designer sportswear was a crude version of this relationship. The consumer was ultimately to be mentioned as well, especially by the likes of Dorothy Shaver, who could point to the sales figures at Lord Taylor. Could utility alone justify the new ideas of the American designers? Fashion is often regarded as a pursuit of beauty, and some cherished fashion's trivial relationship to the fine arts. What the designers of American sportswear proved was that fashion is a genuine design art, answering to the demanding needs of service. Of course these practical, insightful designers have determined the course of late twentieth-century fashion. They were the pioneers of gender equity, in their useful, adaptable clothing, which was both made for the masses and capable of self-expression.

单选题 Questions6-8 are based on the conversation you have just heard.

单选题 Birds that are literally half asleep—with one brain hemisphere alert and the other sleeping—control which side of the brain remains awake, according to a new study of sleeping ducks. Earlier studies have documented half brain sleep in a wide range of birds. The brain hemispheres take turns sinking into the sleep stage characterized by slow brain waves. The eye controlled by the sleeping hemisphere keeps shut, while the wakeful hemisphere's eye stays open and alert. Birds also can sleep with both hemispheres resting at once. Decades of studies of bird flocks led researchers to predict extra alertness in the more vulnerable, end-of-the-row sleepers. Sure enough, the end birds tended to watch carefully on the side away from their companions. Ducks in the inner spots showed no preference for gaze direction. Also, birds dozing at the end of the line resorted to single hemisphere sleep, rather than total relaxation, more often than inner ducks did. Rotating 16 birds through the positions in a four duck row, the researchers found outer birds half asleep during some 32 percent of dozing time versus about 12 percent for birds in internal spots. 'We believe this is the first evidence for an animal behaviorally controlling sleep and wakefulness simultaneously in different regions of the brain,' the researchers say. The results provide the best evidence for a long standing supposition that single hemisphere sleep evolved as creatures scanned for enemies. The preference for opening an eye on the lookout side could be widespread, he predicts. He's seen it in a pair of birds dozing side by side in the zoo and in a single pet bird sleeping by a mirror. The mirror side eye closed as if the reflection were a companion and the other eye stayed open. Useful as half sleeping might be, it's only been found in birds and such water mammals (哺乳动物) as dolphins, whales, and seals. Perhaps keeping one side of the brain awake allows a sleeping animal to surface occasionally to avoid drowning. Studies of birds may offer unique insights into sleep. Jerome M. Siegel of the UCLA says he wonders if birds' half brain sleep 'is just the tip of the iceberg (冰山).' He speculates that more examples may turn up when we take a closer look at other species.

单选题 Old stereotypes die hard. Picture a video-game player and you will likely imagine a teenage boy, by himself, compulsively hammering away at a game involving rayguns and aliens that splatter when blasted. Today a gamer is as likely to be a middle-aged commuter playing 'Angry Birds' on her smartphone. In America, the biggest market, the average game-player is 37 years old. Two-fifths are female. Even teenagers with imaginary rayguns are more likely to be playing 'Halo' with their friends than playing alone Over the past ten years the video-game industry has grown from a small niche business to a huge, mainstream one. With global sales of $56 billion in 2010, it is more than twice the size of the recorded-music industry. Despite the downturn, it is growing by almost 9% a year. Is this success due to luck or skill? The answer matters, because the rest of the entertainment industry has tended to treat gaming as being a lucky beneficiary of broader technological changes. Video gaming, unlike music, film or television, had the luck to be born digital: it never faced the struggle to convert from analogue. In fact, there is plenty for old media to learn. Video games have certainly been swept along by two forces: demography and technology. The first gaming generation—the children of the 1970s and early 1980s—is now over 30. Many still love gaming, and can afford to spend far more on it now. As gaming establishes itself as a pastime for adults, the social stigma and the worries about moral corruption that have historically greeted all new media, from novels to pop music, have dissipated. Meanwhile rapid improvements in computing power have allowed game designers to offer experiences that are now often more cinematic than the cinema. The industry has excelled in two particular areas: pricing and piracy. In an era when people are disinclined to pay for content on the web, games publishers were quick to develop 'freemium' models, where you rely on non-paying customers to build an audience and then extract cash only from a fanatical few. In China, where piracy is rampant, many games can be played online for nothing. Finns instead make money by selling in-game perks and 'virtual goods' to dedicated players. China is now the second-biggest gaming market, but does not even rank in the top 20 markets for the music business. As gaming comes to be seen as just another medium, its tech-savvy approach could provide a welcome shot in the arm for existing media groups. Time Warner and Disney have bought games firms; big-budget games, meanwhile, now have Hollywood-style launches.

单选题 Most of us know to stay low .to the floor if we're caught in a fire, or head to the basement if a storm's coming, or board up the windows in a hurricane. But because relatively few of us live along fault lines, the massive earthquake that hit Haiti was a reminder that we're far less experienced in what to do when the ground below us shakes. If we're in a house or building, for example, our first impulse might be to run outside—but, counterintuitive (与直觉相反的) as it might sound, experts warn against that since people are too often killed by falling or fallen objects as they try to escape. Of course, just as the best way to survive car crashes is to make safer cars, the best way to reduce the risk of being killed in an earthquake is to enact stronger building codes. But given how many of us travel in quake-prone regions today—including, tragically, the four students and two professors from Lynn University in Florida who perished in the Haiti quake—even folks who don't reside in California should know how to survive an earthquake. But there are two different, and at times competing, schools of thought on the matter—both of which are considered valid but perhaps not always in the same situations. The most conventional and widely accepted practice by the disaster-response community is the 'drop, cover and hold on' approach, which urges people to take cover beneath something like a heavy table to avoid falling objects. The newer method—and less researched—is known as the 'triangle of life.' It recommends lying down in a fetal position not under but next to furniture; as roofs and walls collapse on the top of those sofas and desks, buffer (缓冲) spaces are created that protect people from being crushed. Over the past decade, a consensus has been building that 'drop, cover and hold on' is a more appropriate method for developed countries like the U.S., where improved construction has greatly reduced the likelihood of structures collapsing inwards. The triangle of life is thought to be more suitable in developing nations like Haiti, where inferior building codes make finding a 'survivable void' inside collapsed buildings more important than shielding yourself from falling pieces. 'You have to think about the hazard level of the area you're in,' says Gary Patterson, a geologist and director of education and outreach at the Center for Earthquake Research Information at the University of Memphis in Tennessee. 'ff you're going to play the odds, drop and cover may be the best way to go, but a lot of emergency responders might say triangle of life because they're the ones who see the fatalities in buildings that do collapse.'

单选题 在全球化的世界，中国需要越来越多具备国际教育背景的人才。