单选题Environmental issues raise a host of difficult ethical questions, including the ancient one of the nature of intrinsic value. Whereas many philosophers in the past have agreed that human experiences have intrinsic value and the utilitarians at least have always accepted that the pleasures and pains of non-human animals are of some intrinsic significance, this does not show why it is so bad if dodos become extinct or a rainforest is cut down. Are these things to be regretted only' because of the loss to humans or other sentient creatures.9 Or is there more to it. than that? Some philosophers are now prepared to defend the view that trees, rivers, species (considered apart from the individual animals of which they consist), and perhaps ecological systems as a whole have a value independent of the instrumental value they may have for humans or other sentient creatures. Our concern for the environment also raises the question of our obligations to future generations. How much do we owe to the future? From a social contract view of ethics or for the ethical egoist, the answer would seem to be: nothing. For we can benefit them, but they are unable to reciprocate.. Most other ethical theories, however, do give weight to the interests of coming generations. Utilitarians, for one, would not think that the fact that members of future generations do not exist yet is any reason for giving less consideration to their interests than we give to our own. provided only that we are certain that they will exist and will have interests that will be affected by what we do. In the case of. say, the storage of radioactive wastes, it seems clear that what we do will indeed affect the interests of generations to come. The question becomes much more complex, however, when we consider that we can affect the size of future generations by the population policies we choose and the extent to which we encourage large or small families. Most environmentalists believe that the world is already dangerously over-crowded. This may well be so, but the notion of overpopulation conceals a philosophical issue that is ingeniously explored by Derek Parfit in Reasons and Persons (1984). What is optimum population? Is it that population size at which the average level of welfare will be as high as possible? Or is it the size at which the total amount of welfare — the average multiplied by the number of people — is as great as possible? Both answers lead to counter-intuitive outcomes, and the question remains one of the most baffling mysteries in applied ethics.

单选题 {{I}}Questions 17-20 are based on the following passage. You now have 20 seconds to read questions 17-20.{{/I}}

单选题 Predictions of many robots in industry have yet come true. For ten years or more, manufacturers of big robots have explained how their machines can make industry more competitive and productive. The maker for{{U}} (21) {{/U}}robots is oversupplied now, and the driving force of the robotics(机器人学) revolution is{{U}} (22) {{/U}}to be with makers of machines that handle a few kilos at most. "Heavy-robot manufacturers are in some difficulty{{U}} (23) {{/U}}finding customer. They are offering big{{U}} (24) {{/U}}just to get in the door. There has been a{{U}} (23) {{/U}}growth everywhere in the numbers of robots, so we admit we are either deceiving{{U}} (26) {{/U}}or that the market is slowly growing. "said John Reekie, chairman of Colen Robotics. "The following things must happen{{U}} (27) {{/U}}the robotics revolution to occur. We must achieve widespread robot literacy,{{U}} (28) {{/U}}there has been a computer{{U}} (29) {{/U}} program, there must be a robot prices.{{U}} (30) {{/U}}, some kind of artificial intelligence needs to be{{U}} (31) {{/U}}." Colen makes educational robots and machine tools. It is small{{U}} (32) {{/U}}with companies like ASEA or Fujitsu Fanuc. But Colen with others and departments in universities such as Surrey, Manchester, and Durham possess an advantage{{U}} (33) {{/U}}. the giants. The big companies sell very expensive {{U}}(34) {{/U}}to businesses with expert knowledge in automation. The{{U}} (35) {{/U}}companies make robots for teaching people, and now they have realized that there is a need for small,{{U}} (36) {{/U}}robots that they can meet. The little companies either bring their educational machines{{U}} (37) {{/U}}an industrial standard or design from the start. One technique that they all adopt is to choose{{U}} (38) {{/U}}components where possible. The major cost of making{{U}} (39) {{/U}}their models is the electronics, which will fall in price. There is{{U}} (40) {{/U}}scope for reductions in mechanical costs. The sue of standard parts, which are easily replaced, should give these robots a mechanical life of something in the order of five years.

单选题 Eight cups of water a day is a longstanding advice. "But is there any scientific basis for it?" asks Dr. Chris. Some ads of drinks also remind us that a small drop in hydration levels can massively affect performance, so we need to keep hydrated by drinking. They seem pretty scientific, don't they? And it's not a hard sale because drinking feels right—you're hot and sweating. Well earlier this year, scientists in Australia did an experiment that had never been done before. The group wanted to find out what happened to performance after dehydration. So they took a group of players and exercised them until they lost 3% of their body weight in sweat. Then their performance was assessed after rehydration with either nothing, or enough water to bring them back to 2% dehydration or after full rehydration. So far nothing unusual, but the difference between this and other studies was that the players were blind to the water they got. The fluid was given intravenously without letting them know the volume. This is vital because we all have such an intimate psychological relationship with water consumption. Remarkably, there was no performance difference between those who were fully rehydrated and those who got nothing. This study was part of a growing movement to "drink to thirst" which hopes to persuade athletes not to over hydrate with the potentially fatal consequence of diluting your sodium level. Perhaps the result shouldn't be so surprising. Humans evolved in doing intense exercise in extreme heat and dryness. We are able to tolerate losses in water relatively well whereas even slight over hydration can be far more from dangerous. In simple terms, being too watery is as bad for you as being too concentrated. There is a well accepted idea that we should drink about eight cups of water per day. We are flooded with positive messages about the healing properties of water and how it will improve everything from our brains to our bowels. And we know that without it we will die in days. It's a short leap of logic to think that if a lack of water is bad for you then hydration must be good. It surely improves your skin, helps you think, reduces your risk of kidney stones and turns your urine a lovely light, champagne color rather than the orange syrup you produce at the end of a long day when you haven't had time to drink.

单选题The American model has seldom looked so tarnished. America's unemployment rate is 10%. Soup kitchens are doing a flourishing business in New York and other great cities. Companies that were once a byword for swashbuckling entrepreneurialism have bitten the dust. But in one respect at least America remains a beacon for the rest of the world: its treatment of corporate bankruptcy. This may sound ludicrous. America's excessive appetite for risk helped plunge the world into recession. And America's consumers are defaulting on their debts at astronomical rates - and expecting the rest of society to pick tip the bills for their profligacy. But countries that want to avoid unnecessary corporate carnage would nevertheless be foolish to ignore the American example. America's enlightened attitude to corporate bankruptcy is designed to put economic resources back to productive use as quickly as possible. This means distinguishing between potentially viable companies and terminally ill ones. The potentially viable can file for "'Chapter 11", which lets them restructure under court supervision. The terminally ill can file for "Chapter 7". which focuses on liquidating their assets and distributing them among creditors. It also means putting pressure on the courts to deal with bankruptcy as quickly as possible. Chrysler and General Motors were both in the hands of "new owners" within 45 days of filing for bankruptcy. It also means treating bankrupts relatively leniently, not as sinners to be flagellated but rather as unfortunates who should be given a second chance. America's generosity to capitalism's losers has served it remarkably well. It has not only prevented companies such as United Airlines and General Motors from going into premature liquidation, throwing thousands of people out of work. It has also helped provide America with its entrepreneurial edge. Bankruptcy is an occupational hazard for entrepreneurs: even those with plenty of business experience under their belts fail much more often than they succeed. America's leniency towards bankrupts encourages novices to start their own businesses and allows people who have failed to start again. The good news is that a growing number of countries arc following America's lead. Britain has introduced a succession of Enterprise Acts since 2002 that are designed to make it easier for failed entrepreneurs to start new businesses. The credit crunch has speeded up the pace of reform. The World Bank's annual "Doing Business" report provides a wealth of examples of improvements. Many governments are trying to shake up their lethargic legal systems in order to speed up bankruptcy proceedings. The reforms also touch upon the more fundamental question of trying to save viable businesses from premature liquidation. Dozens of countries are trying to give companies more opportunities to reorganise before they finally reach for the revolver. France and Germany were among the first to do this. But the idea has also spread to Eastern Europe and Asia and may even be reaching the bankruptcy-averse Muslim world (last year ten Middle Eastern and North African countries signed a joint declaration on planned reforms). Moving towards a more enlightened treatment of bankruptcy will not be easy, particularly for poor countries with inefficient legal systems and retributive attitudes to debt. The World Bank reports that the majority of reforms have taken place in rich countries= since 2004, 59% of them have improved their systems compared with 33% of poorer countries in East Asia, 22% in Latin America, 16%, in the Middle East and 13% in South Asia. And poorer countries have an enormous distance to travel. In rich countries, bankruptcy proceedings take less than two years on average. In South Asia they take an average of four-and-a-half years. In many countries — Turkey is a notorious example — legal fees can eat up almost all the value of a business. It beats flagellation. Attitudes to debt are also difficult to change. America threw off the old world's hostility to failed businessmen along with British rule. Back in the 1830s one of the things that most struck Alexis de Tocqueville about the country was "the strange indulgence which is shown to bankrupts", which, he said, diverged "not only from the nations of Europe, but from all the commercial nations of our time. " The generous provisions of Chapter 11 only reinforced a longstanding legal prejudice. In 1934, for example, the Supreme Court declared that bankruptcy laws ought to "give the honest but unfortunate debtor.., a new opportunity in life and a clear field for future effort unhampered by the pressure and discouragement of pre-existing debt." True, giving a clear field to the honest but unfortunate also opens the way to all sorts of chances. America's generous treatment of corporate bankrupts has been widely abused by common spendthrifts — so much so that Congress tightened the taw in 2005 to restrict access to the system. Britain's attempt to emulate the American example has also led to an epidemic of freeloading. In 2006 only about a quarter of the people who filed for bankruptcy could remotely be described as entrepreneurs. That is irritating, but governments should nevertheless continue to rehabilitate bankruptcy. Making it easier to close a business may not sound as inviting as announcing yet another "enterprise fund" or "innovation initiative" , but it is more vital to reviving the world's moribund economy. In the short term enlightened bankruptcy laws reduce unemployment by keeping viable companies alive. In the longer term they boost rates of entrepreneurship. The best way to get more people to start businesses is to make it easier to wind them up.

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单选题 Most of us think that, work is the central, dominating fact of life. We spend more than half our conscious hours at work, preparing for work, commute to and from work. What we do there largely determines our standard of living and to a great extent the status we are accorded by our fellow citizens as well. It is sometimes said that because leisure has become more important, the indignities and injustices of work can be pushed into a corner, that because most work is pretty intolerable, the people who do it should compensate for its boredom, frustrations and humiliations by concentrating their hopes on the other parts of their lives. I desparately reject that. For the foreseeable future the material and psychological rewards which work can provide, and the conditions in which work is done, will continue to play an essential part in determining the satisfaction that life can offer. Yet only a small minority can control the pace at which they work or the conditions in which their work is done; only for a small minority does work offer scope for creativity, imagination, or initiative. Inequality at work and in work is still one of the cruellest and most glaring forms of inequality in our society. We cannot hope to solve the more obvious problems of industrial life, many of which arise directly or indirectly from the frustrations created by inequality at work, unless we tackle it head-on. Still less can we hope to create a decent and human society. The most glaring inequality is that between managers and the rest. For most managers, work is an opportunity and a challenge. Their jobs engage their interest and allow them to develop their abilities. They are constantly learning; they can exercise responsibility; they have a considerable degree of control over their own -- and others'-- working lives. The most important thing is that they have opportunity to initiate. By contrast, for most manual workers, and for a growing number of white-collar workers, work is a boring, dull, even painful experience. They spend all their working lives in conditions which would be regarded as intolerable -- for themselves -- by those who make the decisions which let such conditions continue. The majority have little control over their work; it provides them with no opportunity for personal development. Often production is so designed that workers are simply part of the technology. In offices, many jobs are so routine that workers justifiably feel themselves to be mere cogs in the bureaucratic machine. As a direct consequence of their work experience, many workers feel alienated from their work and their firm, whether it is in public or in private ownership.

单选题Most worthwhile careers require some kind of specialized training. Ideally, therefore, the choice of an (21) should be made even before choice of a curriculum in high school. Actually, (22) , most people make several job choices during their working lives, (23) because of economic and industrial changes and partly to improve their position. The "one perfect job" does not exist. Young people should (24) enter into a broad flexible training program that will fit them for a (25) of work rather than for a single job. Unfortunately many young people have to make career plans (26) benefits of help from a competent vocational counselor or psychologist. Knowing (27) about the occupational world, or themselves for that matter, they choose their lifework on a hit-or-miss (28) . Some drift from job to job. Others (29) to work in which they are unhappy and for which they are not fitted. One common mistake is choosing an occupation for its real or (30) prestige. Too many high school students or their parents for them choose the professional field, (31) both the relatively small proportion of workers in the professions and the extremely high educational and personal (32) The prestige that people tend to (33) to a profession or a white-collar job is no good reason for choosing it as life's work. (34) , these occupations are not always well paid. Since a large (35) of jobs are in mechanical and manual work, the majority of young people should give serious (36) to these fields. Before making an occupational choice, a person should have a general idea of what he wants (37) life and how hard he is willing to work to get it. Some people desire social prestige, others intellectual (38) . Some want security; others are willing to take (39) for financial gain. Each occupational choice has its demands as well as its (40) .

单选题The pounding rain began in the middle of the night. The people of Jackson, Ohio awoke to the sound then went back to sleep. The next day the rain continued, and the water began to rise. Statistics said Jackson floods once every one hundred years, but no one believed this would be the flood of the century. People were evacuated from their homes to higher ground, leaving everything behind. Buildings in the low-lying areas were immersed in water. People watched as dogs, cats, cows and other animals were swept away. Cars and trucks were carried miles from their homes; The people felt helpless as they watched Mother Nature show her power. Susan returned to her sixth-grade-student-teaching experience the following Monday. She told the story to her students and showed them pictures from the newspaper. Her inspired and compassionate students took action. They stopped raising money for their trip to Camp, Kern and began raising money for the flood victims. They sold lollipops, wrote letters to the community asking for donations and collected their own money. Even fast-graders donated money. Mountains of clothes, furniture and food piled up. Susan's class made Easter baskets from shoe-boxes and filled them with candy and toys as well as toothpaste, soap, toothbrushes and shampoo. She and I loaded her mom's black Chevy Beretta to the ceiling with the Easter baskets. On the trip there, I wondered what I would see; I couldn't imagine losing almost everything. Dusk was beginning to set in, and I felt nervous when we arrived. My stomach dropped when I saw some houses reduced to the railroad ties that had been their foundation. The smell of river water permeated the air. No carpet, furniture, plumbing or appliances remained. Knowing that only days ago this had been someone's home pained my heart. How many children had grown up here? What kind of memories lingered? Would the house ever be rebuilt? The monster flood had dulled its roar and retreated, but its impact would be long-lasting. We drove from house to house, knocking on doors, ready to begin our mission. I was filled with trepidation. Would families who had been devastated by floodwater want an Easter basket? The gesture was beginning to seem useless. "Hello, I'm Susan Moore, and this is my friend, Allison. My sixth-graders at Pennyroyal Elementary made Easter baskets for you when they heard about the flooding because they wanted to help." Their faces lit up as they opened their gifts. As we entered one home, a husband and wife were crouched over their floor with hammer and nails. When be opened the box, he began to cry. "I can't believe those kids did this. Let me give you some money for their school." As I glanced at what was left of his home, I could not believe his generous spirit. He eventually conceded to write a thank-you note instead. One woman ran out to find us after opening her box, tears roiling down her face. "I collected .bunny rabbits, and I lost them all in the flood. There was a small pink rabbit in my box. I can start my collection again. Thank you." The burly man standing next to her also had tears in his eyes. My heart was warmed as I played the small role of messenger in this tribute to the good in the human spirit. So often we hear of the shortcomings of our youth, but these youngsters answered a cry for help and gave proof that generosity and love prevail.

单选题Questions 17-20 are based on the following monologue.

单选题What kind of disease is not caused by the use of mobile phone?

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单选题Emily Dickinson’s ancestors came to the United States in around ______.

单选题 {{I}} Questions 14--16 are based on the following passage. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 14--16.{{/I}}