单选题What is the author's attitude towards euthanasia?

单选题I was just a boy when my father brought me to Harlem for the first time, almost 50 years ago. We stayed at the Hotel Theresa, a grand brick structure at 125th Street and Seventh Avenue. Once, in the hotel restaurant, my father pointed out Joe Louis. He even got Mr Brown, the hotel manager, to introduce me to him, a bit paunchy but still the champ as far as I was concerned. Much has changed since then. Business and real estate are booming. Some say a new renaissance is under way. Others decry what they see as outside forces running roughshod over the old Harlem. New York meant Harlem to me, and as a young man I visited it whenever I could. But many of my old haunts are gone. The Theresa shut down in 1966. National chains that once ignored Harlem now anticipate yuppie money and want pieces of this prime Manhattan real estate. So here I am on a hot August afternoon, sitting in a Starbucks that two years ago opened a block away from the Theresa, snatching at memories between sips of high-priced coffee. I am about to open up a piece of the old Harlem the New York Amsterdam News when a tourist asking directions to Sylvia's, a prominent Harlem restaurant, penetrates my daydreaming. He's carrying a book: Touring Historic Harlem. History. I miss Mr Michaux's bookstore, his House of Common Sense, which was across from the Theresa. He had a big billboard out front with brown and black faces painted on it that said in large letters: "World History Book Outlet on 2,000,000,000 Africans and Nonwhite Peoples." An ugly state office building has swallowed that space. I miss speaker like Carlos Cooks, who was always on the southwest corner of 125th and Seventh, urging listeners to support Africa. Harlem's powerful political electricity seems unplugged -- although the streets are still energized, especially by West African immigrants. Hard-working southern newcomers formed the bulk of the community back in the 1920s and '30s, when Harlem renaissance artists, writers, and intellectuals gave it a glitter and renown that made it the capital of black America. From Harlem, W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, Zora Neal Hurston, and others helped power America's cultural influence around the world. By the 1970s and '80s drugs and crime had ravaged parts of the community. And the life expectancy for men in Harlem was less than that of men in Bangladesh. Harlem had become a symbol of the dangers of inner-city life. Now, you want to shout "Lookin' good!" at this place that has been neglected for so long. Crowds push into Harlem USA, a new shopping centre on 125th, where a Disney store shares space with HMV Records, the New York Sports Club, and a nine-screen Magic Johnson theatre complex. Nearby, a Rite Aid drugstore also opened. Maybe part of the reason Harlem seems to be undergoing a rebirth is that it is finally getting what most people take for granted. Harlem is also part of an "empowerment zone"--a federal designation aimed at fostering economic growth that will bring over half a billion in federal, state, and local dollars. Just the shells of once elegant old brownstones now can cost several hundred thousand dollars. Rents are skyrocketing. An improved economy, tougher law enforcement, and community efforts against drugs have contributed to a 60 percent drop in crime since 1993.

单选题Some people ought to defend the workaholic. These people are unjustly accused, abused, and defamed -- often termed sick or morbid or on the border of pathology. About 30% of American business and commerce is carried on the shoulders of workaholics. The ratio might exist in art and science too. Workaholics are the achievers, the excelers. There is a national conspiracy against excellence and undue admiration of commonness and mediocrity. It is as if we are against those who make uncommon sacrifices because they enjoy doing something. Some famous psychologists say that the workaholic has an inferiority complex which leads to overcompensation. This is certainly not the case. Inferiority, or low esteem, describes laziness more accurately than it describes dedication. We do not seem to realize that very little excellence is achieved by living a well-balanced life. Edison, Ford, Einstein, Freud all had single-minded devotion to work whereby they sacrificed many things, including family and friendship. The accusation is made that workaholics bear guilt by not being good parents or spouses. But guilt can exist in the balanced life also. Think how many "normal" people and middle-ages who have never done anything well -- they are going to settle for less than what they could have become.

单选题A report consistently brought back by visitors to the US is how friendly, courteous and helpful most Americans were to them. To be fair, this observation is also frequently made of Canada and Canadians, and should best be considered North American. There are, of course, exceptions. Small-minded officials, rude waiters, and ill-mannered taxi drivers are hardly unknown in the US. Yet it is an observation made so frequently that it deserves comment. For a long period of time and in many parts of the country, a traveler was a welcome break in an otherwise dull existence. Dullness and loneliness were common problems of the families who generally lived distant from one another. Strangers and travelers were welcome sources of diversion, and brought news of the outside world. The harsh realities of the frontier also shaped this tradition of hospitality. Someone traveling alone, if hungry, injured, or ill, often had nowhere to turn except to the nearest cabin or settlement. It was not a matter of choice for the traveler or merely a charitable impulse on the part of the settlers. It reflected the harshness of daily life: if you didn"t take in the stranger and take care of him, there was no one else who would. And someday, remember, you might be in the same situation. Today there are many charitable organizations which specialize in helping the weary traveler. Yet, the old tradition of hospitality to strangers is still very strong in the US, especially in the smaller cities and towns away from the busy tourist trails. "I was just traveling through, got talking with this American, and pretty soon he invited me home for dinner—amazing." Such observations reported by visitors to the US are not uncommon, but are not always understood properly. The casual friendliness of many Americans should be interpreted neither as superficial nor as artificial, but as the result of a historically developed cultural tradition. As is true of any developed society, in America a complex set of cultural signals, assumptions, and conventions underlies all social interrelationships. And, of course, speaking a language does not necessarily mean that someone understands social and cultural patterns. Visitors who fail to "translate" cultural meanings properly often draw wrong conclusions. For example, when an American uses the word "friend", the cultural implications of the word may be quite different from those it has in the visitor"s language and culture. It takes more than a brief encounter on a bus to distinguish between courteous convention and individual interest. Yet, being friendly is a virtue that many Americans value highly and expect from both neighbors and strangers.

单选题The word "concrete" in the second sentence of the passage means

单选题Questions 11--13 are based on the passage about ice phrases. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 11--13.

单选题 Questions 14-16 are based on the following monologue. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 14-16.

单选题According to the passage, which of the following contribute most to the growth of the weight of the people on the earth?

单选题When the Dow rockets 300 points or the stocks of retailers, say, get decimated, I devour the news. Here's my admission: I'm a buy-and-hold investor, and a lazy one at that. My employer prohibits us news folks to trade equities on a short-term basis, but even if it didn't, I'd still buy and hold. The bulk of my portfolio is in, two retirement accounts, and neither stock-market gyrations nor major financial earthquakes prompt me to tweak my allocations. I simply hold a fairly routine mix of low-cost U. S. and international-stock mutual funds, plus a bond fund, and I stick to it. Sure, the markets get volatile but I figure that, eventually, average historical returns will work in my favor. And, to my mind, stock-market trading, if you're not spending many hours a week working on it, is little more than a guessing game. The fact is, a buy-and-hold investor with a decently diversified portfolio should celebrate her ability to remain firm in the face of financial-news tidal waves which prompt many, less staunch, to jump in and out of investments, often at the worst possible time. Some might say the staunch investor is akin to a passenger on the Titanic, refusing a lifeboat to safety due to misguided loyalty to the idea of "buy and hold." But as long as three prerequisites are satisfied, that investor is among the most prudent savers around: a well-diversified investment plan, invested in low-cost index funds, with a long-term outlook. In fact, if you're not going to be an active, pay-attention-every-day investor, setting up a simple plan and then forgetting about it may be the best retirement-savings decision you make. "What is often problematic is the middle ground. People will set something up and then follow it intermittently and on a whim make changes," says John Nofsinger, associate professor of finance at Washington State University and author of "The Psychology of Investing." Those who follow the markets tangentially but don't take time for deeper analysis tend to buy high and sell low. If, like me, you're not going to spend time daily on your plan, then set it and forget it. Note that, unless you have a rock-solid pension plan from your employer and significant other assets, you're going to need to invest, Interest rates on cash simply won't get most savers to a well-funded retirement. What to do? 1. Create a plan. That means investing in low-cost index funds covering the U.S. stock market, perhaps 10% to 25% of your portfolio in international stock funds, plus exposure to bonds (a typical scenario is 70% or 80% in stocks and 30% or 20% in bonds), and perhaps some portion in a money-market or cash-type account. Keep in mind that your focus is not to beat the market. 2. Once your plan is in place, ignore it. "I do virtually nothing. I do less than I do for my car. There's not even a need to change the oil," Mr. Statman says. If rebalancing worries you, don't even do that except perhaps once every few years. And make sure you focus on getting back to your investment plan, rather than chasing the winners of the moment. "If the stock market went up that year and maybe bonds didn't, so you take a little out of the stock market and put it in bonds to reallocate to where your targets originally were, I think that's a good strategy," Mr. Nofsinger says. 3. Accept risk. Yes, stock-market investing is risky. But over the long haul, investors are rewarded—if they adopt a long-term outlook and diversified investment plan. "Risk is not something you want, but oftentimes risk does go hand in hand with return," says Peng Chen, chief investment officer of Ibbotson Associates, an investment research and consulting firm owned by Morningstar in Chicago. Keep in mind: Avoid this risk with money you need soon, say, in the next year or two. And remember that the more you invest in one company, sector or country, the more risk you're taking on. 4. Stay in for the long haul. We have no idea what's coming tomorrow, and past stock-market performance does not predict future results. But what is your alternative? Stick all your cash in a money-market account, a CD or, slightly riskier, bonds? You are not avoiding risk with this plan, simply shifting to the risk inflation will trump your return. 5. Do what you can. The investment options available through your retirement plan may not be ideal. Invest there for the employer match, but ensure diversification through an account outside your employer plan, perhaps an individual retirement account or Roth IRA.

单选题Theinterviewerbelievesthat______.A.advertisingcan'tbeakindoflyingB.advertisingmustbeakindoflyingC.advertisingismostlikelytobeakindoflyingD.advertisingmaybeakindoflying

单选题 Questions 14～16 are based on the talk. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 14～16.

单选题We often hear advice from the dermatologists, "You should keep using sunscreen cream—just to be safe". More and more people are questioning about sunscream. Can sunscreen cream help protect me against melanomas? How safe are we in applying these chemical cocktails? Does it actually stop melanomas, the most dangerous type of skin cancer, from forming? As is known to all, sunscreen cream can protect the skin from the harmful effects of sun. The most important function of it is the prevention of skin cancer. A great number of American people like to use it. Surprisingly, this kind of cancer is increasing in incidence faster than any other cancer in the United States. It seems that sunscreen actually increases the risk of skin cancer. More and more health experts are taking a discommendable attitude to the application of sunscreen. Researchers show that the earlier finding has many flaws and is unable to prove the exact function because they fail to take into account many exceptional cases. For instance, some people prefer to use sunscreen cream while going out. However, sunscreen cream users suffer from cancer more often. In fact, sunscreen cream allows people to remain exposed in the sun longer. People are likely to get skin problem under the sunshine for a long time. Besides, many people use the sunscreen cream in an inappropriate way. The sunscreen cream should be applied about half an hour before going outside, so the time is enough for the sunscreen to soak in and take effect. In fact, the protection of sunscreen will not last indefinitely. It should be reapplied at least every two hours when people stay outdoors for a prolonged period. After swimming, bathing, perspiring heavily, or drying off with a towel or handkerchief, you had better reapply it, too. Millions of gallons of sunscreen cream are consumed each year. Only 5% of products overall met the criteria for safety and sunscreen effectiveness. Three of five brand name products can not protect the skin from sun damage sufficiently or they contain hazardous chemicals, according to a report by Environmental Working Group (EWG). It is time to change our misunderstanding now. In fact, besides the sunshine-preventing function, it also has the function of protecting our skin. We all know that the sun impacts collagen production in the skin, and without collagen, skin won"t naturally maintain that plump, moist, youthful, wrinkle-free look. Without the protection of sunscreen cream, just a few minutes of daily sun exposure over the years can cause noticeable changes in skin. Sunscreen cream can protect our skin from these damaging rays, so that even if we do spend time outdoors, our face is less likely to give away our age.