单选题What was the distinctive feature of New Amsterdam?

单选题 Becket not only traveled light, he lived light. In the entire world he owned just the clothes he stood up in, a full suitcase and a bank account. Arriving anywhere with these possessions, he might just as easily put up for a month or a year as for a single night. For long stays, not less than a month, he might take a furnished flat, sometimes even a house. But whatever the length, he rarely needed anything he did not have with him. He was, he liked to think, a self-contained person. Becket had one occasional anxiety: the suspicion that he owned more than would fit comfortably into the case. The feeling, when it comes, was the signal for him to throw something away or just leave it lying about. This was automatic fate of his worn-out clothes, for example. Having no use for choice or variety, he kept just a raincoat, a suit, a pair of shoes and a few shirts, socks and so on; no more in the clothing line. He bought and read many books and left them where he happened to be sitting when he finished them. They quickly found new owners. Becket was a professional traveler, interested and interesting. He was not one to do a country in a week or a city in three days. He liked to get a feel of a place by living in it, reading its newspapers, watching its TV, discussing its affairs. He always tried to make a few friends—if necessary even by stopping a suitable-looking person in the street and talking to him. It worked well almost in nine cases out often. Though Becket's health gave him no cause for alarm, he made a point of seeing a doctor as soon as he arrived anywhere. "A doctor knows a place and its people better than anyone," he used to say. He never went to see a doctor; he always sent for one; that, he found, was the quickest way to confidences, which came out freely as soon as he mentioned that he was a writer. Becket was an artist as well. He painted pictures of his places and, when he had gathered enough information, he wrote about them. He sold his work, through an agent, to newspapers and magazines. It was an agreeable sort of life for a good social mixer, and as Becket never stayed anywhere for long, he enjoyed the satisfying advantages of paying little in taxes.

单选题Whatisthetalk'mainlyabout?

单选题 The human species came into being at the time of the greatest biological diversity in the history of the Earth. Today, as human populations expand and alter the natural environment, they are reducing biological diversity to its lowest level. The ultimate consequences of this biological reduction are beyond calculation, but they are certain to be harmful. That, in essence, is the biodiversity crisis. The history of global diversity can be summarized as follows: after the initial flowering of multi-cellular animals, there was a swift rise in the number of species in early Paleozoic times (between 600 and 430 million years ago), then plate-alike stagnation for the remaining 200 million years of the Paleozoic era, and finally a slow but steady climb through the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras to diversity's all-time high. This history suggests that biological diversity was hard won and a long time in coming. Furthermore, this pattern of increase was set back by five massive extinction episodes. The most recent of these, during the Cretaceous period, is by far the most famous, because it ended the age of the dinosaurs, giving hegemony to the mammals, thus ultimately making possible the dominance of the human species over the Earth. But the Cretaceous crisis was minor compared with the Permian extinctions 240 million years ago, during which between 77 and 96 percent of marine animal species perished. It took five million years, well into Mesozoic times, for species diversity to begin a significant recovery. Within the past 10,000 years biological diversity has entered a wholly new era. Human activity has had a devastating effect on species diversity, and the rate of human-induced extinctions is accelerating. Half of the bird species of Polynesia have been eliminated through hunting and the destruction of native forests. The list of such biogeographic disasters is extensive. Because every species is unique and irreplaceable, the loss of biodiversity is the most profound process of environmental change. Its consequences are also the least predictable because the value of the Earth's species remains largely unstudied and unappreciated; unlike material and cultural wealth, which we understand because they are the substance of our everyday lives, biological wealth is usually taken for granted. This is a serious strategic error, one that will be increasingly regretted as time passes.

单选题One of the most authoritative speaking to us today is, of course, the voice of the advertisers. It has forced on us a whole new conception of the successful man as a man no less than 20% of whose mail consists of announcements of giant carpet sales. Perhaps the answer is that advertising saves the manufacturers from having to think about the customer. At the stage of designing and developing a product, there is quite enough to think about without worrying over whether anybody will want to buy it. The designer is busy enough without adding customer appeal to all his other problems of man-hours and machine tolerances and stress factors. So they just go ahead and make the thing and leave it to the advertiser to find eleven ways of making it appeal to purchasers after they have finished it, by pretending that it confers status, or attracts love, or signifies man-ness. If the advertising agency can do this authoritatively enough, the manufacturer is in clover. Other manufacturers find advertising saves them changing their product. And manufacturers have change. The ideal product is one which goes on unchanged for ever. If, therefore, for one reason or another, some alteration seems called for--how much better to change the image, the packet or the pitch made by the product, rather than go to all the inconvenience of changing the product itself. The advertising man has to combine the qualities of the three most authoritative professions: Church, Bar, and Medicine. The great skill required of our priests, most highly developed in missionaries but present, indeed mandatory, in all, is the skill of getting people to believe in and contribute money to something which can never be logically proved. At the Bar, an essential ability is that of presenting the most persuasive case you can to a jury of ordinary people, with emotional appeals masquerading as logical exposition; a case you do not necessarily have to believe in yourself, just one you have studiously avoided discovering to be false. As for Medicine, any doctor will confirm that a large part of his job is not clinical treatment but faith healing. His apparently scientific approach enables his patients to believe that he knows exactly what is wrong with them and exactly what they need to put them right, just as advertising does--"Run down? You need..." "No one will dance with you? A dab--will make you popular. "Advertising men use statistics rather like a drunk uses a lamppost--for support rather than illumination. They will dress anyone up in a white coat to appear like an unimpeachable authority or, failing that, they will even be happy with the announcement, "As used by 90% of the actors who play doctors on television." Their engaging quality is that they enjoy having their latest ruses uncovered almost as much as anyone else.

单选题Doing your homework is a sure way to improve your test scores, and this is especially true ______ it comes to classroom tests. A. when B. since C. before D. after

单选题61 ______ human problems that repeat themselves in ______ life repeat themselves in ______ literature.

单选题Fool ______ he looks, he always seems to make the wisest proposals.[A] who[B] as[C] that[D] like

单选题 Questions 8 to 10 are based on the following conversation. At the end of the conversation, you will be given 15 seconds to answer the questions. Now listen to the conversation.

单选题One of the ways Laura Bush suggested to approach the dropout problem is _______.

单选题 In Sections A, B and C you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Mark the correct answer to each question on your ANSWER SHEET.{{B}}SECTION A CONVERSATIONS{{/B}} In this section, you will hear several conversations. Listen to the conversations carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Questions 1 to 3 are based on the following conversation. At the end of the conversation, you will be given 15 seconds to answer the questions. Now, listen to the conversation.

单选题That summer I drove west with a friend, and we ______ a little money doing odd jobs and as much as possible visited his relatives.

单选题My friend does one thing one day and just the ______ next. His behavior is inconsistent. A. other B. alternate C. negative D. opposite

单选题How did people in the early Ice Age keep warm?

单选题I was trying to read the directions ______ and absurd.