单选题We have to think very carefully before we take any action, because it's a very ______ situation we are in. A. ideal B. favourable C. good D. severe

单选题In the United States, there's a widespread belief that statistics don't lie. Perhaps that's why surveys are such an important part of American life. For many years, politicians, businesspeople, and scholars have used surveys to find out more about that mysterious and complicated creature, the human being. American newspapers and magazines have been taking public opinion polls since the 1800s. In the 1930s, poll experts such as Elmo Poper and George Gallup began using scientific methods to select and interview participants in political surveys. Since the 1940s, American businesspeople have been developing, naming, packaging, and promoting products with the help of surveys. And also since the 1940s, surveys have been a major research tool among scholars in the social sciences. Psychologists and sociologists have asked people about everything from their religious beliefs to their sexual behavior. The mass media have frequently reported the results of these surveys, and the American public has always been quite interested in the responses. However, the most complete and most important survey for Americans is the national census. A census is the official count of the number of people living in a city, state, or country. The idea of a census has existed for more than two thousand years. In ancient Rome, the government counted its citizens for purposes of taxation and military service. But the first modern census began here in the United States in 1790. In that year, the population of the new nation was 3 929 214. Since 1790, the American government has taken a census every ten years, and the population has been growing steadily every decade. The 1980 census reported a population of 226 504 825. In addition to statistics on the total population, the 1980 census has given us a great deal of information about recent changes in American life. One of the many important changes concerns where people live. Americans are still a mainly urban people with about 75 percent of the population living in or near large cities. But, since 1970, the small communities have been gaining population at a faster rate than the cities or suburbs. Americans have been moving back to the small towns and the rural areas. This is a dramatic change from the trend in preceding decades. Americans have always done a great deal of moving from one part of the country to another, but, in recent years, the moves have been mostly to the South and West. States in the "Sun Belt" have been gaining population, and states in the Northeast and the Midwest have been losing population. Marriage and family life have been changing, too. Americans have been marrying later, having fewer children, getting more divorces, and living more often as singles or as unmarried couples. The actual number of married couples has risen in recent years, but the percentage of married people has declined. Similarly, the number of actual births has gone up, but the size of the average family has gone down. The average young woman of today plans to have only two children. Along with many other surveys, the national census gives Americans a statistical picture of a changing society. It allows the government and the people to see what's happening and to adjust to the new picture.

单选题Why was reading aloud common before the nineteenth century'?

单选题Questions 11--13 are based on the following passage.

单选题The word "obsession" in the fourth paragraph means ______.

单选题What time is it now?

单选题Questions 22 to 25 are based on the passage you have just heard.

单选题 Questions 18～21 are based on the following conversation.

单选题What are the two speakers talking about?

单选题Labor force is defined as being the total number of people who are available to work and earn in- come. This definition includes everyone who is employed or seeking paid employment, so it includes employees and the self-employed: Labor is one of the Country's resources which can be combined with other resources to produce the goods and services required by the community. Though the size of the workforce relies greatly on the size of the total population, there are several other aspects which also affect it. The age distribution of the total population has a very marked effect on the available workforce. If the population has a high proportion of very young people or of those too old to work, then the available workforce would be lower than if there were an evenly spread age distribution. If the population grows rapidly from natural increase, i.e. the number of births greatly exceeds the number of deaths, then as a total population increases the proportion in the workforce declines. Sometimes a population is described as aging, which means that the birth rate is either falling or growing very slowly, and as people retire from the workforce there are inadequate numbers of young people entering it to take place of those who are leaving it. The population is top-heavy with older people. So the percentage of the population in the workforce declines when there is either a rapid in- crease in births or a falling birth rate. The age distribution of the population has several important influences on the economy. If the population is aging and there is an increase in the number of people retiring without a corresponding increase in the number entering the workforce, this raises the problem of the ability of the economy to provide a reasonable level of social services to the retired group. If the aged are to be cared for in special homes or hotels, finance must be available for that purpose. If the size of the workforce is small relative to the total population, then the government tax receipts are relatively low and either the government has less money available to it or the workforce members have to be taxed more heavily.

单选题You will hear 10 short dialogues. For each dialogue, there is one question and four possible answers. Choose the correct answer—A, B, C or D, and mark it in your test booklet. You will have 15 seconds to answer the question and you will hear each dialogue ONLY ONCE.

单选题It is estimated that much of a teenager's time is spent ______ with friends. A. to talk B. talking C. being talked D. having talked