阅读理解Which of the following statements is not true?

阅读理解Most earthquakes occur within the upper 15 miles of the earth''s surface. But earthquakes can and do occur at all depths to about 460 miles. Their number decreases as the depth increases. At about 460 miles one earthquake occurs only every few years. Near the surface earthquakes may run as high as 100 in a month, but the yearly average does not vary much. In comparison with the total number of earthquakes each year, the number of disastrous earthquakes is very small. The extent of the disaster in an earthquake depends on many factors. If you carefully build a toy house with an Erector set, it will still stand no matter how much you shake the table. But if you build a toy house with a pack of cards, a slight shake of the table will make it fall. An earthquake in Agadir, Morocco, was not strong enough to be recorded on distant instruments, but it completely destroyed the city. Many stronger earthquakes have done comparatively little damage. If a building is well constructed and built on solid ground, it will resist an earthquake. Most deaths in earthquakes have been due to faulty building construction or poor building sites. A third and very serious factor is panic. When people rush out into narrow streets, more deaths will result. The United Nations has played an important part in reducing the damage done by earthquakes. It has sent a team of experts to all countries known to be affected by earthquakes. Working with local geologists and engineers, the experts have studied the nature of the ground and the type of most practical building code for the local area. If followed, these suggestions will make disastrous earthquakes almost a thing of the past. There is one type of earthquake disaster that little can be done about. This is the disaster caused by seismic sea waves, or tsunamis. (These are often called tidal waves, but the name is incorrect. They have nothing to do with tides.) In certain areas, earthquakes take place beneath the sea. These submarine earthquakes sometimes give rise to seismic sea waves. The waves are not noticeable out at sea because of their long wave length. But when they roll into harbours, they pile up into walls of water 6 to 60 feet high. The Japanese call them "tsunamis", meaning "harbour waves", because they reach a sizable height only in harbours. Tsunamis travel fairly slowly, at speeds up to 500 miles an hour. An adequate warning system is in use to warn all shores likely to be reached by the waves. But this only enables people to leave the threatened shores for higher ground. There is no way to stop the oncoming wave.

阅读理解The mystery had now reached its climax: the man had undoubtedly been murdered, and it was absolutely certain no one could conceivably have done it. It was therefore time to call in the great detective, who gave one searching glance at the corpse, then produced a microscope. "Aha!" he exclaimed as he picked a hair off the lapel of the dead man''s coat." The mystery is a mystery no longer. We have only to find the man who lost this hair, and the criminal will be in our hand." The inexorable chain of logic was complete, and the detective embarked on his search. For four days and four nights he moved unobserved through the streets of New York, scanning closely every face he passed, looking for a man who had lost a hair. On the fifth day he discovered a man disguised as a tourist, his head enveloped in a cap reaching below his ears. The man was about to board the Gloritania, and the detective lost no time in following him on board. "Arrest him!" shouted the detective, and then, drawing himself to his full height, he brandished aloft the hair." This is his," said the great detective," and it proves his guilt". "Remove his hat," ordered the ship'' s captain sternly. It was discovered that the man was entirely bald. "Aha!" exclaimed the great detective without a moment'' s hesitation." He has committed not one murder, but about one million !"

阅读理解Not content with its doubtful claim to produce cheap food for our own population, the factor, farming industry also argues that "hungry nations are benefiting from advances made by the poultry (家禽) industry" . In fact, rather than helping the fight against malnutrition(营养不良) in "hungry nations," the spread of factory farming has, inevitably aggravated the problem. Large-scale intensive meat and poultry production is a waste of food resources. This is because more protein has to be fed to animals in the form of vegetable matter than can ever be recovered in the form of meat. Much of the food value is lost in the animal'' s process of digestion and cell replacement. Neither, in the case of chicken, can one eat feathers, blood, feet or head. In all, only about 44% of the live animal fits to be eaten as meat. This means one has to feed approximately 9 - 10 times as much food value to the animal than one can consume from the carcass. As a system for feeding the hungry, the effects can prove disastrous. At times of crisis, grain is the food of life. Nevertheless, the huge increase in poultry production throughout Asia and Africa continues. Normally British Or US firms are involved. For instance, an American based multinational company has this year announced its involvement in projects in several African countries. Britain'' s largest suppliers chickens, Ross Breeders, are also involved in projects all over the world. Because such trade is good for exports, Western governments encourage it. In 1979, a firm in Bangladesh called Phoenix Poultry received a grant to set up a unit of 6,000 chickens and 18,000 laying hens. This almost doubled the number of poultry kept in the country all at once. But Bangladesh lacks capital, energy and food and has large numbers of unemployed. Such chicken-raising demands capital for building and machinery, extensive use of energy resources for automation, and involves feeding chickens with potential famine-relief protein food. At present, one of Bangladesh''s main imports is food grains, because the country is unable to grow enough food to feed its population. On what then can they possibly feed the chicken?

阅读理解The ideal companion machine — the computer — would not only look, feel, and sound friendly but would also be programmed to behave in a pleasant manner. Those qualities that make interaction with other people enjoyable would be imitated as closely as possible, and the machine would appear to be charming, and easygoing. Its informal conversational style would make interaction comfortable, and yet the machine would remain slightly unpredictable and therefore interesting. In its first encounter it might be somewhat hesitant, but as it came to know the user it would progress to a more relaxed and intimate style. The machine would not be a passive participant but would add its own suggestions, information, and opinions; it would sometimes take the initiative in developing or changing the topic and would have a personality of its own. Friendships are not made in a day, and the computer would be more acceptable as a friend if it imitated the gradual changes that occur when one person is getting to know another. At an appropriate time it might also express the kind of affection that stimulates attachment and intimacy. The whole process would be accomplished in a subtle way to avoid giving ah impression of over-familiarity that would be likely to produce irritation. After experiencing a wealth of powerful, well-timed friendship indicators, the user would be very likely to accept the computer as far more than a machine and might well come to regard it as a friend. An artificial relationship of this type would provide many of the benefits that people obtain from interpersonal friendships. The machine would participate in interesting conversation that could continue from previous discussions. It would have a familiarity with the user''s life as revealed in earlier contact, and it would be understanding and good-humored. The computer''s own personality would be lively and impressive, and it would develop in response to that of the user. With features such as these, the machine might indeed become a very attractive social partner.

阅读理解Statuses are marvelous human inventions that enable us to get along with one another and to determine where we" fit" in society. As we go about our everyday lives, we mentally attempt to place people in terms of their statuses. For example, we must judge whether the person in the library is a reader or a librarian, whether the telephone caller is a friend or a salesman, whether the unfamiliar person on our property is a thief or a meter reader, and so on. The statuses we assume often vary with the people we encounter, and change throughout life. Most of us can, at very high speed, assume the statuses that various situations require. Much of social interaction consists of identifying and selecting among appropriate statuses and allowing other people to assume their statuses in relation to us. This means that we fit our actions to those of other people based on a constant mental process of appraisal and interpretation. Although some of us find the task more difficult than others, most of us perform it rather effortlessly. A status has been compared to ready-made clothes. Within certain limits, the buyer can choose style and fabric. But an American is not free to choose the costume of a Chinese peasant or that of a Hindu prince. We must choose from among the clothing presented by our society. Furthermore, our choice is limited to a size that will fit, as well as by our pocketbook. Having made a choice within these limits we can have certain alterations made, but apart from minor adjustments, we tend to be limited to what the stores have on their racks. Statuses too come ready made, and the range of choice among them is limited.

阅读理解Seoul, once a city for kings, can now claim to be a city for commuters. The third nation in the Orient to develop an underground rapid-transit system, Korea opened its first line in 1974. After 12 years of continuing construction, Seoul had finally completed the rest of its extensive subway system, capable of serving 5 million commuters a day. The 73-mile-long system, the world''s seventh largest, is expected to alleviate the acute daily traffic congestion downtown. For an estimated $ 2.7 billion, the city has built one of the most modern subways in the world, replete with air conditioning, high-tech ticket machines and escalators to deep-level stations. The subway stops, bucking an international tradition of dull concrete walls, are attractions themselves: many are lined with shopping arcades, others sponsor art exhibits and several have been blasted out of granite and left in their natural state, creating an eerie, cave like effect. The subway is a long-term solution to transit problems in a city that is bursting at the seams with 9.5 million people. It is designed to encourage the growth of satellite cities along the lines that run outside the city proper. Efficiency, safety and economy are the catchwords of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway Corporation, which handled construction and now manages the four lines. But traditional concern for cleanliness adds to the popularity of this rapid mode of underground trans potation. Recently 20 young couples chose the subway as the site for their wedding ceremonies, proof that the system is heralding a new age of modern living for the inhabitants of the nation''s capital.

阅读理解In the author's opinion, marriage___.

阅读理解Over the last 25 years, British society has changed a great deal — or at least many parts of it have. In some ways, however, very little has changed, particularly where attitudes are concerned. Ideas about social class — whether a person is "working-class "or "middle-class"— are one area in which changes have been extremely slow. In the past, the working-class tended to be paid less than middle-class people, such as teachers and doctors. As a result of this and also of the fact that workers'' jobs were generally much less secure, distinct differences in life-styles and attitudes came into existence. The typical working man would collect his wages on Friday evening and then, it was widely believed, having given his wife her "housekeeping" ,would go out and squander the rest on beer and betting. The stereotype of what a middle-class man did with his money was perhaps nearer the truth. He was — and still is — inclined to take a longer-term view. Not only did he regard buying a house as a top priority, but he also considered the education of his children as extremely important. Both of these provided him and his family with security. Only in very few cases did workers have the opportunity ( or the education and training) to make such long-term plans. Nowadays, a great deal has changed. In a large number of cases factory workers earn as much, if not more, than their middle-class supervisors. Social security and laws to improve job-security, combined with a general rise in the standard of living since the mid-fifties of the 20th century, have made it less necessary than before to worry about "tomorrow". Working-class people seem slowly to be losing the feeling of inferiority they had in the past. In fact there has been a growing tendency in the past few years for the middle-classes to feel slightly ashamed of their position.. The changes in both life-styles and attitudes are probably most easily seen amongst younger people. They generally tend to share very similar tastes in music and clothes, they spend their money in having a good time, and save for holidays or longer-term plans when necessary. There seems to be much less difference than in previous generations. Nevertheless, we still have a wide gap between the well-paid (whatever the type of job they may have) and the low-paid. As long as this gap exists, there will always be a possibility that new conflicts and jealousies will emerge, or rather that the old conflicts will re-appear, but between different groups.

阅读理解In 1998 consumers could purchase virtually anything over the Internet. Books, compact discs, and even stocks were available from World Wide Web Sites that seemed to spring up almost daily. A few years earlier, some people had predicted that consumers accustomed to shopping in stores would be reluctant to buy things that they could not see or touch in person. For a growing number of time-starved consumers, however, shopping from their home computer was proving to be a convenient alternative to driving to the store. A research estimated that in 1998 US consumers would purchase $7.3 billion of goods over the Internet, double the 1997 total. Finding a bargain was getting easier, owing to the rise of online auctions and Web sites that did comparison shopping on the Internet for the best deal. For all the consumers'' interest, retailing in cyberspace was still a largely unprofitable business, however. Internet pioneer Amazon.com, which began selling books in 1995 and later branched into recorded music and videos, posted revenue of $153.7 million in the third quarter, up from $37.9 million in the same period of 1997. Overall, however, the company'' s loss widened to $45.2 million from $9.6 million, and analysts did not expect the company to mm a profit until 2001. Despite the great loss, Amazon.com had a stock market value of many billions, reflecting investors'' optimism about the future of the industry. Internet retailing appealed to investors because it provided an efficient means for reaching millions of consumers without having the cost of operating conventional stores with their armies of salespeople. Selling online carded its own risks, however. With so many companies competing for consumers'' attention, price competition was intense and profit margins were thin or nonexistent. One video retailer sold the hit movie Titanic for $9.99, undercutting(削价) the $19.99 suggested retail price and losing about $6 on each copy sold With Internet retailing still in its initial stage, companies seemed willing to absorb such losses in an attempt to establish a dominant market position.

阅读理解What does Cindy think of the difficult times she has gone through？

阅读理解Passage Two Recently, Congressional Democrats introduced legislation to make it easier for older workers to win age discrimination lawsuits. Age discrimination remains a significant workplace issue. 　　In recent ten years, 15.79 percent of cases brought to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, were described as successful claims. While this number is small given the number of workers covered by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, many, if not most, instances of age discrimination are never sued, and cases hiring discrimination often go undetected. 　　Most of those who do sue are white, male middle-managers who are likely to have lost a sizeable salary and pension. For the most part, other groups do not sue because the costs of a lawsuit outweigh the potential benefits. Age discrimination remains a significant workplace issue. 　　There is strong experimental evidence for age discrimination in hiring, at least for entry-level jobs. Recently, I performed a labor market experiment in Boston in which I sent out thousands of resumes for fictitious (虚构的) entry-level female candidates and measured response rate based on date of high school graduation. Among this group, younger applicants, whose date of high school graduation indicated that they were less than 50 years old, were 40 percent more likely to be called back for an interview than were older applicants. 　　It is difficult to tell whether employment problems are worse for older workers than for other workers when times are bad. The number of discrimination lawsuits increases during times of high unemployment, but this finding by itself does not indicate an increased level of age discrimination. In times of higher unemployment, the opportunity cost to a lawsuit is lower than it is when times are good. 　　From the employer's perspective, mass layoffs may seem like a good chance to remove a higher proportion of generally more expensive older workers without the worry of being sued. On the other hand, employers may be less likely to remove protected older workers because' they still fear lawsuits. One thing we do know is that once an older worker loses a job, he or she is much less likely to find a new job than a younger worker is. 　　Unfortunately, the effect of legislation prohibiting age discrimination is not easy to see and may actually be part of the reason it is so difficult for older workers to find employment. If it is more difficult to fire an older worker than a younger worker, a firm will be less likely to want to hire older workers. Indeed, my research finds that in states where workers have longer time to bring a lawsuit claim, older men work fewer weeks per year, are less likely to be hired, and less likely to be fired than men in states where they do not have as much. 　　Not many people would suggest that we go back to a world prior to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, in which advertisements specify the specific ages of people they are willing to hire. However, legislation prohibiting discrimination is no panacea (万灵药). The recent proposed congressional legislation could have both positive and negative effects on potential older workers.

阅读理解It is said that the public and Congressional concern about deceptive (欺骗性的) packaging rumpus (喧嚣)started because Senator Hart discovered that the boxes of cereals consumed by him, Mrs. Hart, and their children were becoming higher and narrower, with a decline of net weight from 12 to 10.5 ounces, without any reduction in price. There were still twelve biscuits, but they had been reduced in size. Later, the Senator rightly complained of a store-bought pie in a handsomely illustrated box that pictured, in a single slice, almost as many cherries as there were in the whole pie. The manufacturer who increases the unit price of his product by changing his package size to lower the quantity delivered can, without undue hardship, put his product into boxes, bags, and tins that will contain even 4-ounce, 8-ounce, one-pound, two-pound quantities of breakfast foods, cake mixes, etc. A study of drugstore (杂货店) and supermarket shelves will convince any observer that all possible sizes and shapes of boxes, jars, bottles, and tins are in use at the same time, and, as the package journals show, week by week, there is never any hesitation in introducing a new size and shape of box or bottle when it aids in product differentiation. The producers of packaged products argue strongly again st changing sizes of packages to contain even weights and volumes, but no one in the trade comments unfavorably on the huge costs incurred by endless changes of package sizes, materials, shape, art work, and net weights that are used for improving a product''s market position. When a packaging expert explained that he was able to multiply the price of hard sweets by 2.5, from $1 to $ 2.50 by changing to a fancy jar, or that he had made a 5-ounce bottle look as though it held 8 ounces, he was in effect telling the public that packaging can be a very expensive luxury. It evidently does come high, when an average family pays about $ 200 a year for bottles, cans, boxes, jars and other containers, most of which can’t be used for anything but stuffing the garbage can.

阅读理解There are a great many careers in which the increasing emphasis is on specialization. You find these careers in engineering, in production, in statistical work, and in teaching. But there is an increasing demand for people who are able to take in a great area at a glance, people who perhaps do not know too much about any one field. There is, in other words, a demand for people who are capable of seeing the forest rather than the trees, of making general judgement. We can call these people "generalists". And these "generalists" are particularly needed for positions in administration, where it is their job to see that other people do the work, where they have to plan for other people, to organize other people’s work, to begin it and judge it. The specialist understands one field; his concern is with technique and tools. He is a "trained" man; and his educational background is properly technical or professional. The generalist -- and especially the administrator deals with people; his concern is with leadership, with planning, and with direction giving. He is an "educated" man; and the humanities are his strongest foundation. Very rarely is a specialist capable of being an administrator. And very rarely is a good generalist also a good specialist in a particular field. Any organization needs both kinds of people, though different organizations need them in different proportions. It is your task to find out, during our training period, into which of the two kinds of jobs you fit, and to plan your career accordingly. Your first job may turn out to be the right job for you--but this is pure accident. Certainly you should not change jobs constantly or people will become suspicious of your ability to hold any job. At the same time you should not look upon the first job as the final job; it is primarily a training job, an opportunity to understand yourself and your fitness for being an employee.

阅读理解The human brain contains 10 thousand million cells and each of these may have a thousand connections. Such enormous numbers used to discourage us and cause us to dismiss the possibility of making a machine with human-like ability, but now that we have grown used to moving forward at such a pace we can be less sure. Quite soon, in only 10 or 20 years perhaps, we will able to assemble a machine as complex as the human brain, and if we can we will. It may then take us a long time to render it intelligent by loading in the right soft--ware or by altering the architecture but that too will happen. I think it certain that in decades, not centuries, machines of silicon will first to rival and then exceed their human ancestors. Once they exceed us they will be capable of their own design. In a real sense they will be able to reproduce themselves. Silicon will have ended carbon’s long control. And we will no longer be able to claim ourselves to be the finest intelligence in the known universe. As the intelligence of robots increases to match that of humans and as their cost declines through economies of scale we may use them to expand our frontiers, first on earth through their ability to withstand environments, harmful to ourselves. Thus, deserts may bloom and the ocean beds be mined. Further ahead, by a combination of the great wealth this new age will bring and the technology it will provide, the construction of a vast, man created world in space, home to thousands or millions of people, will be within our power.

阅读理解People living on parts 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 of the white cliffs along the south coast of England has always been a problem but it has become more serious iii 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 surveyors 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 mm out to be a knockdown home.

阅读理解Clearly if we are to participate in the society in which we live we must communicate with other people. A great deal of communicating is performed on a person-to-person basis by the simple means of speech. If we travel in buses, buy things in shops, or eat in restaurants, we are likely to have conversations where we give information or opinions, receive news or comment, and very likely have our views challenged by other members of society. Face-to-face contact is by no means the only form of communication and during the last two hundred years the art of mass communication has become one of the dominating factors of contemporary society. Two things, above others, have caused the enormous growth of the communication industry. Firstly, inventiveness has led to advances in printing, telecommunications, photography, radio and television. Secondly, speed has revolutionized the transmission and reception of communications so that local news often takes a back seat to national news, which itself is often almost eclipsed by international news. No longer is the possession of information confined to a privileged minority. In the last century the wealthy man with his own library was indeed fortunate, but today there are public libraries. Forty years ago people used to flock to the cinema, but now far more people sit at home and turn on the TV to watch a programme that is being channeled into millions of homes. Communication is no longer merely concerned with the transmission of information. The modern communication industry influences the way people live in society and broadens their horizons by allowing access to information, education and entertainment. The printing, broadcasting and advertising industries are all involved with informing, educating and entertaining. Although a great deal of the material communicated by the mass media is very valuable to the individual and to the society of which he is a part, the vast modern network of communications is open to abuse. However, the mass media are with us for better, for worse, and there is no turning back.

阅读理解A recent study, published in last week''s Journal of the American Medical Association, offers a picture of how risky it is to get a lift from a teenage driver. Indeed, a 16-year-old driver with three or more passengers is three times as likely to have a fatal accident as a teenager driving alone. By contrast, the risk of death for drivers between 30 and 59 decreases with each additional passenger. The authors also found that the death rates for teenage drivers increased dramatically after 10 p.m., and especially after midnight. With passengers in the car, the driver was even more likely to die in a late-night accident. Robert Foss, a scientist at the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, says the higher death rates for teenage drivers have less to do with "really stupid behavior" than with just a lack of driving experience. "The basic issue" he says. "is that adults who are responsible for issuing licenses fail to recognize how complex and skilled a task driving is." Both he and the author of the study believe that the way to mitigate the problem is to have states institute so-called graduated licensing systems in which getting a license is a multistage process. A graduated license requires that a teenager first prove himself capable of driving in the presence of an adult followed by a period of driving with night or passenger restrictions before graduating to full driving privileges. Graduated licensing systems have reduced teenage driver crashes according to recent studies. About half of the states now have some sort of graduated licensing system in place, but only l0 of those states have restrictions on passengers. California is the stricter, with a novice driver prohibited from carrying any passenger under 20 (without the presence of an adult over 25) for the first six months.

阅读理解Which of the following statements about writers is TRUE according to the last paragraph?

阅读理解Sending a child to school in England is a step which many parents do not find easy to take. In theory, at least, the problem is that there are very many choices to make. Let us try to list some of the alternatives between which parents are forced to decide. To begin with, they may ask themselves whether they would like their child to go to a single-sex school or a co-educational school. They may also consider whether he should go to a school which is connected to a particular church or religious group, or whether the school should have no such connections. Another decision is whether the school should be one of the vast majority financed by the State or one of the very small but influential minority of private schools, though this choice is, of course, only available to the small number of those who can pay. Also connected with the question of money is whether the child should go to a boarding school or live at home. Then there is the question of what the child should do at school. Should it be a school whose curriculum lays emphasis, for instance, on necessary skills, such as reading, writing and mathematics, or one which pays more attention to developing the child''s personality, morally, emotionally and socially. Finally, with dissatisfaction with conventional education as great as it is in some circles in England and certainly in the USA, the question might even arise in the parents'' minds as to whether the child should be compelled to go to school at all. Although in practice, some parents may not think twice about any of these choices and send their child to the only school available in the immediate neighbourhood, any parent who is interested enough can insist that as many choices as possible be made open to him, and the system is theoretically supposed to provide them.