单选题Questions 17 to 20 are based on the following conversation between two World Health Organization (WHO) officials about the importance of making hospitals safe in emergencies. You now have 20 seconds to read Questions 17 to 20.

单选题Wheredidclassicalmusicoriginate?

单选题Whatarethespeakerstryingtodo?

单选题It takes only a tiny magnetic field to see clear through a person's head, a new study shows. A method called ultra-low field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has captured its first, blurry shots of a human brain, revealing activity as well as structure. MRI scanners image the human body by detecting how hydrogen atoms respond to magnetic fields. They typically require fields of a few tesla—about 10,000 to 100,000 times stronger than the Earth's magnetic field. The powerful magnets necessary make scanners pricey and also dangerous for people with metal implants. The new device hits a sample with a 30 millitesla magnetic field, about 100 times weaker than is normally used in MRI. The device then uses a 46 microtesla magnetic field—about the same as the Earth's magnetic field—to capture images of the sample. The first target for the device was the head of lead researcher Vadim Zotev of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, US. "The cost of MRI can be reduced dramatically," Zotev says. The new set-up uses several ultra-sensitive sensors called superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs), which have to be kept at very low temperatures. "The most expensive part of our system is the liquid helium cryostat, which costs about $20,000," Zotev adds. Ultra-low field MRI scanning was first performed with a single SQUID in 2004 by a group led by John Clarke at University of California, Berkeley, US, but this only allowed objects about the size of an apple to be scanned. The new device uses seven SQUIDs and can scan much larger objects. MRI machines in the clinic today require a patient to be slotted into a long, cylindrical tube. Ultra-low field MRI machines can be much more open. "Microtesla MRI is more suitable for surgical environment than high-field MRI," Zotev says. "Some medical equipment can be conveniently placed inside [the scanner]," including surgical robots, Zotev says. Today's MRI machines can also be problematic for people with metal implants, since intense magnetic fields can move or heat them causing damage to surrounding tissue. Experiments show that ultra-low field MRI can image materials even when metal is placed near the magnets. However, ultra-low field MRI hasn't been tested on animals or people with metal implants yet. "It would be wrong to claim that it is absolutely safe," Zotev says. Since the new device also doubles as magnetoencephalography (MEG) machine, by picking up the feeble magnetic fields from electrical activity in the brain, it could perhaps let surgeons more easily identify areas of the brain with abnormal activity, such as in epilepsy. "This is the main advantage of the new set-up," Clarke says. "It's a nice step forward./

单选题 A University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong signalled a new mood in higher education when it was established in 1951: flexible, highly-motivated and responsive to students' needs. Today, its energetic, entrepreneurial style is increasingly popular. The University of Wollongong breaks With tradition, valuing practical and applied skills in the context of a strong theoretical and ethical base; a strategy employers appreciate. The figures speak for themselves. University of Wollongong graduates enter the workforce in the highest starting-salary bracket according to the Graduate Careers Council of Australia. The University of Wollongong was the first to have compulsory student-evaluation of teaching; the first to insist that new staff undertake teaching-skills courses; the first to make Information Technology skills compulsory for students; and among the first with flexible double-degree programs. Students are encouraged to map career-paths from enrolment day. The University of Wollongong has strong industry links, and its world-class research program attracted $6 million in Australian Research Council grants last year. For example, the Institute for Telecommunications Research is a key centre for international firms seeking a foothold in the Asia-Pacific region. B The University of Adelaide Established in 1874, the University of Adelaide has a strong research focus. On almost any index chosen, Adelaide is ranked in the top group of Australian universities for research output, teaching and curriculum design, staff-student ratios and positive graduate outcomes. It also ranks very well among other universities in the Asia-Pacific region. Adelaide's strengths lie in the biological and agricultural sciences, engineering (including information technology and telecommunications), medicine, dentistry, the physical science, environmental science and management, and the social sciences (especially Asian studies, international economics and human geography). The University has produced graduates who are leaders in the professions, government and industry in Australia and around the world. These include Lord Florey, who received the Nobel Prize for his discovery of penicillin, and Dr. Andrew Thomas, Australia's first astronaut. Adelaide has extensive and growing international linkages in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific, involving student and staff exchange, research, teaching and consultancy. Links with international governments, research organizations and industry are also expanding rapidly, as a consequence of the University's capabilities and expertise on a world scale. C Murdoch University Murdoch University offers a university education of the highest quality and has been rewarded by a ranking as the best teaching campus of all Australia's public universities in an independent national survey of university graduates. The University has won two awards in the Prime Minister's 1998 Australian Awards for University on teaching (one for the best humanities teacher, one specially-created award for services to students and the community). The University has also won a top, five-star rating for graduate satisfaction from the 1999 Good University Guide for the fourth consecutive year. This is a reputation of continuing excellence sustained over a number of years. It is a reputation established by some of the best-qualified academic staff in Australia; an international reputation for a caring and friendly environment; the high quality of the research undertaken and the University's flexible, academic structure that allows students to design the degree they need for their future. Murdoch prides itself on being a community-oriented university and as one of Australia's best teaching universities. It is highly regarded for its flexibility, with the choice of double-majors such as commerce and multi-media available to give students a head-start in their career. D Monash University Studying at Monash University opens the door to new worlds. A strong international focus, constant innovation and engagement with the broader community highlight the University's pioneering approach to scholarship. With the opening of its first off-shore campus in, Malaysia in 1998, Monash has taken a significant step towards becoming a truly global university. Over the next few years, as plans proceed for other off-shore campuses, Monash students will have an increasing choice about where they obtain their Monash degree. With a well-founded reputation for excellence in teaching, research and scholarship, Monash is being increasingly recognized, too, for its innovative approach to flexible learning. The university offers high-quality education and a vibrant, inclusive learning environment to more than 42,000 students across seven campuses. Its strengths include cooperative research projects with the private sector, links with professional bodies in presenting practical study components, rich performing arts programs and distance education courses which afford learning opportunities to an enormous range of people. Above all, Monash seeks to deliver a total education experience that equips its students for the future, providing not just academic qualifications, but instilling in them an awareness of their potential to contribute to society.

单选题No woman can be too rich or too thin. This saying often attributed to the late Duchess of Windsor embodies much of the odd spirit of our times. Being thin is deemed as such a virtue. The problem with such a view is that some people actually attempt to live by it. I myself have fantasies of slipping into narrow designer clothes. Consequently, I have been on a diet for the better — or worse — part of my life. Being rich wouldn''t be bad either, but that won''t happen unless an unknown relative dies suddenly in some distant land, leaving me millions of dollars. Where did we go off the track? When did eating butter become a sin, and a little bit of extra flesh unappealing, if not repellent? All religions have certain days when people refrain from eating, and excessive eating is one of Christianity''s seven deadly sins. However, until quite recently, most people had a problem getting enough to eat. In some religious groups, wealth was a symbol of probable salvation and high morals, and fatness a sign of wealth and well-being. Today the opposite is true. We have shifted to thinness as our new mark of virtue. The result is that being fat — or even only somewhat overweight — is bad because it implies a lack of moral strength. Our obsession with thinness is also fueled by health concerns. It is true that in this country we have more overweight people than ever before, and that, in many case, being overweight correlates with an increased risk of heart and blood vessel disease. These diseases, however, may have as much to do with our way of life and our high-fat diets as with excess weight. And the associated risk of cancer in the digestive system may be more of a dietary problem — too much fat and a lack of fiber — than a weight problem. The real concern, then, is not that we weigh too much, but that we neither exercise enough nor eat well. Exercise is necessary for strong bones and both heart and lung health. A balanced diet without a lot of fat can also help the body avoid many diseases. We should surely stop paying so much attention to weight. Simply being thin is not enough. It is actually hazardous if those who get ( or already are) thin think they are automatically healthy and thus free from paying attention to their overall life-style. Thinness can be pure vain glory.

单选题{{B}}Text 1{{/B}} A UCSF study has revealed new information about how the brain directs the body to make movements. The key factor is "noise" in the brain's signaling, and it helps explain why all movement is not carried out with the same level of precision. Understanding where noise arises in the brain has implications for advancing research in neuromotor control and in developing therapies for disorders where control is impaired, such as Parkinson's disease. The new study was developed "to understand the brain machinery behind such common movements as typing, walking through a doorway or just pointing at an object," says Stephen Lisberger, PhD, senior study investigator who is director of the W.M. Keck Center for Integrative Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco. Study co-investigators are Leslie C. Osborne, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF, and William Bialek, PhD, professor of physics at Princeton University. The study findings, reported in the September 15 issue of the journal Nature; are part of ongoing research by Lisberger and colleagues on the neural mechanisms that allow the brain to learn and maintain skills and behavior. These basic functions are carried out through the coordination of different nerve cells within the brain's neural circuits. "To make a movement, the brain takes the electrical activity of many neurons and combines them to make muscle contractions," Lisberger explains. "But the movements aren't always perfect. So we asked, what gets in the way?" The answer, he says, is "noise", which is defined as the difference between what is actually occurring and what the brain perceives. He offers making a foul shot in basketball as an example. If there were no noise in the neuromotor system, a player would be able to perform the same motion over and over and never miss a shot. "Understanding how noise is reduced to very precise commands helps us understand how those commands are created," says Lisberger, who also is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a UCSF professor of physiology. In the study, the research team focused on a movement that all primates are very skilled at: an eye movement known as "smooth pursuit" that allows the eyes to track a moving target. In a series of exercises with monkeys in which the animals would track visual targets, the researchers measured neural activity and smooth pursuit eye movements. From this data, the team analyzed the difference between how accurately the animals actually tracked a moving object and how accurately the brain perceived the trajectory. Findings showed that both the smooth pursuit system and the brain's perceptual system were nearly equal. "This teaches us that these very different neural processes are limited to the same degree by the same noise sources," says Lisberger. "And it shows that both processes are very good at reducing noise." He concludes, "Because the brain is noisy, our motor systems don't always do what it tells us to. Making precise movements in the face of this noise is a challenge."

单选题Whichofthefollowingispalatalaffricate?A.B.[∫]C.D.[j]

单选题In 17th-century New England, almost everyone believed in witches. Struggling to survive in a vast and sometimes unforgiving land, America's earliest European settlers understood themselves to be surrounded by an inscrutable universe filled with invisible spirits, both benevolent and evil, that affected their lives. They often attributed a sudden illness, a household disaster or a financial setback to a witch's curse. The belief in witchcraft was, at bottom, an attempt to make sense of the unknown. While witchcraft was often feared, it was punished only infrequently. In the first 70 years of the New England settlement, about 100 people were formally charged with being witches; fewer than two dozen were convicted and fewer still were executed. Then came 1692. In January of that year, two young girls living in the household of the Reverend Samuel Parris of Salem Village began experiencing strange fits. The doctor identified witchcraft as the cause. After weeks of questioning, the girls named Tituba, Parris's female Indian slave, and two local women as the witches who were tormenting them. Judging by previous incidents, one would have expected the episode to end there. But it didn't. Other young Salem women began to suffer fits as well. Before the crisis ended, 19 people formally accused others of afflicting them, 54 residents of Essex County confessed to being witches and nearly 150 people were charged with consorting with the devil. What led to this? Traditionally, historians have argued that the witchcraft crisis resulted from factionalism in Salem Village, deliberate faking, or possibly the ingestion of hallucinogens by the afflicted. I believe another force was at work. The events in Salem were precipitated by a conflict with the Indians on the northeastern frontier, the most significant surge of violence in the region in nearly 40 years. In two little-known wars, fought largely in Maine from 1675 to 1678 and from 1688 to 1699, English settlers suffered devastating losses at the hands of Wabanaki Indians and their French allies. The key afflicted accusers in the Salem crisis were frontier refugees whose families had been wiped out in the wars. These tormented young women said they saw the devil in the shape of an Indian. In testimony, they accused the witches—reputed ringleader—the Reverend George Burroughs, formerly pastor of Salem Village—of bewitching the soldiers dispatched to fight the Wabanakis. While Tituba, one of the first people accused of witchcraft, has traditionally been portrayed as a black or mulatto woman from Barbados, all the evidence points to her being an American Indian. To the Puritan settlers, who believed themselves to be God's chosen people, witchcraft explained why they were losing the war so badly. Their Indian enemies had the devil on their side. In late summer, some prominent New Englanders began to criticize the witch prosecutions. In response to the dissent, Governor Sir William Phips of Massachusetts dissolved in October the special court he had established to handle the trials. But before he stopped the legal process, 14 women and 5 men had been hanged. Another man was crushed to death by stones for refusing to enter a plea. The war with the Indians continued for six more years, though sporadically. Slowly, northern New Englanders began to feel more secure. And they soon regretted the events of 1692. Within five years, one judge and 12 jurors formally apologized as the colony declared a day of fasting and prayer to atone for the injustices that had been committed. In 1711, the state compensated the families of the victims. And last year, more than three centuries after the settlers reacted to an external threat by lashing out irrationally, the convicted were cleared by name in a Massachusetts statute. It's a story worth remembering—and not just on Halloween.

单选题Questions 11—13 are based on the effect on the nuclear family for women.

单选题Accordingtothepassage,acountrywithayoungpopulationisacountryA.withthepopulationbelowtheageof25.B.with50percentofthepopulationbelowtheageof15.C.withmorethanhalfthepopulationbelowtheageof25.D.with40percentofthepopulationbelowtheageof25.

单选题What, according to the writer, are the essential functions of meetings?

单选题{{B}}TEXT 2{{/B}} Within a month of moving to London from Los Angeles in September 2002, Jacob Sager Weinstein started sending long e-mails to family and friends under the name "Jacob's London Diary '. "I had a few goals," Weinstein said recently. "Keeping in touch with family and friends was a major one. But I also wanted to preserve the memories of our experiences in this new country and maintain my writing muscles." Then out of nowhere, Weinstein said, he began getting requests to be added to the distribution list from people he did not know--usually because someone had forwarded one of his entries. The requests made him start thinking about broadening his audience. So in February 2004 he created his own blog at {{U}}www. yankeefog. com.{{/U}} "I usually describe it as the adventures of a comedy writer in London," he said. Weinstein said the site attracted about 100 unique visitors a day. Short for Web logs, blogs are little more than Web pages with postings that can be read by anyone using the Internet. Blogs generally can be updated easily, even by people with no knowledge of HTML coding. Blogs also tend to be written in a more conversational tone than other Web sites and generally allow readers to post their own comments on the site. When blogging began in the early 1990s, they were typically little more than the author's personal diary. But today blogs can and often do include photos and video, and the subjects range from politics to religion, business to parenting. "In general I think blogging zeroes in on the human desire to be heard, to be seen and to be popular," said Shay Harting, chief executive of OnfugeO, a California company that helps create video blogs, which are based on uploads of personal videos to Web sites. "It feeds the ego for many people", Harting said. Weinstein said that even a complete Internet novice could create a blog by using a site like {{U}}www. blogger. com{{/U}}, where a person can make a few choices from a manu and, voila, a free blog is created. He said that another popular free blogging site can be found at {{U}}www. livejournal. com{{/U}}. He said such sites generally put ads on the blogs that they help create, which is how they make money. Weinstein said that if an author wanted a bit more control over a blog, it would take a little more know-how and money--but not much. "I just downloaded software called Moveable Type, which is free for noncommercial use," he said. "I then uploaded it to some computer space that I rent for about $10 a month from a company called Dreamhost. com, followed the instructions that come with Moveable Type to get it running, paid $ 7 to register the yankeefog, com name, and I was off." "I didn't need to do any actual programming, but I did need to be at least a little comfortable with uploading and downloading files," he said.

单选题Questions 14 to 16 are based on an interview about planning to picnic. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 14 to 16.

单选题Whatisthemaintopicofthistalk?A.Bicyclesandcars.B.Buildingcodes.C.Energyconservation.D.Newhousingconstruction.

单选题 Few writers are as revered as Jane Austen. According to a poll in March, Pride and Prejudice—a romance without a single kiss—is the book Britons love most. Austen adaptations abound: the BBC is filming a new version of Sense and Sensibility written by Andrew Davies, whose 1995 Pride and Prejudice was a global success, and ITV has just shown three of her other five novels. But Janeites, as the author's most avid devotees style themselves, have few relics to worship. Most of her letters were burned on her death, and a single sketch by her sister, Cassandra, showing her purse-lipped and in her night-cap, is the only generally acknowledged image of her face. That picture, now hanging in the National Portrait Gallery in London, depicts a woman so plain that it is often reworked for book covers. That is perhaps why there has been so much interest in a portrait by Ozias Humphrey, a minor society artist of the 18th century, which was auctioned in New York on April 19th by Christie's. According to its owner, Henry Rice, a sixth-generation descendant of Miss Austen's brother Edward, it shows Jane at about 14, and was commissioned by a great-uncle to help her marriage prospects. Not everyone is convinced that the picture is in fact of Miss Austen. The National Portrait Gallery has repeatedly declined to purchase it, citing supposed anachronisms in the subject's costume and a tax stamp on the canvas. Its pre-auction valuation reflected this uncertainty: although $400,000-800,000 is far more than any of Mr. Humphrey's works has achieved before now, a buyer who believed he was looking at Miss Austen would surely be prepared to pay more. The doubts expressed in London are one reason why the portrait was sold in New York. Another is that Americans are as keen on Miss Austen as Britons are. The BBC's Pride and Prejudice was co-produced by A&E, an American cable channel, and another such channel, HBO, co-financed ITV's adaptations. Versions of her books for the big screen have relied on American cash and not a few American actors. At the heart of each of the novels is a heroine—and a marriage. But unlike her heroines, Miss Austen remained single, and some wonder whether that sour-faced sketch by her sister tells us why. Becoming Jane, a recent Hollywood production, presents a different, highly speculative, explanation: a beautiful girl has her heart broken by a flighty Irishman and turns to writing for solace. Miss Austen herself rated her heroines' other attributes more highly than their looks, on which she rarely spends more than a few unspecific words. The rest are devoted to what these women think and say, which is also what matters most about Jane Austen.

单选题The image of the Western hero is intended to show us that ______.

单选题Despite their different approaches, the two talk shows are both______ .

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} Insurance is supposed to provide protection against financial risks, and while dying too soon is one major risk we face, another risk more and more people fear is outliving their money. As a result, a growing array of life insurance products make it possible to protect against both of those risks. In many of today's life insurance products, MacDonald notes, "The death benefit portion really has become a commodity type product, so if someone is really concerned about the financial impact of dying young, then they can get a pretty good deal by buying term insurance on a commodity basis--find the cheapest policy and buy it." But, he says, "The other side of the coin is that insurance companies have developed products that can be very creative, and very competitive to other alternatives, including investments. {{U}}They{{/U}} can fill a very important role in any overall investment plan." Variable and universal policies offer people choices in how much they want to put into their policies and how they want their funds invested. These funds can then be tapped later on to provide a lump sum for purchasing a retirement home or a stream of retirement income. Life insurance is an attractive investment vehicle, because the" inside buildup," the accumulation of funds inside a policy structure, is not subject to taxes, in contrast to other personal investments. However, MacDonald and others warn against using insurance policies purely as an investment. While there are tax advantages, there are also the costs associated with the insurance coverage, and if you don't need that coverage these can be expensive ways to invest. Moreover, MacDonald notes that some companies are offering insurance that has a critical illness or long-term care benefit. These policies specify that if someone suffers a heart attack, for example, they will get 25 % of the face amount of the insurance policy immediately rather than at death. Or if they must be confined to a nursing home, they will be able to use up to the face amount of the policy to pay the nursing home costs. Amid the proliferation of insurance products, MacDonald says, "The positive side of it is there are better products--they're cheaper and more flexible. The downside is that it's more complicated and easier to make a mistake. In the past, it was plain vanilla; everybody was selling the same product and everybody had to find an agent they liked. Now there has been significant changes in product structure and design, and benefits, and so it is worthwhile to shop around."