单选题{{B}}Part A{{/B}} Read the following texts answer the questions accompany them by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.{{B}}Text 1{{/B}} Travel is at its best a solitary enterprise: to see, to examine, to assess, you have to be alone and unencumbered. Other people can mislead you; they crowd your meandering impressions with their own; if they are companionable they obstruct your view, and if they are boring they corrupt the silence with nonsequiturs, shattering your concentration with "Oh, look, it's raining," and "You see a lot of trees here". Travelling on your own can be terribly lonely (and it is not understood by Japanese who, coming across you smiling wistfully at an acre of Mexican butter cups tend to say things like "Where is the rest of your team?"). I think of evening in the hotel room in the strange city. My diary has been brought up to date; I hanker for company; what do I do? I don' t know anyone here, so I go out and walk and discover the three streets of the town and rather envy the strolling couples and the people with children. The museums and churches are closed, and toward midnight the streets are empty. If I am mugged, I will have to apologize as politely as possible:" I am sorry, sir, but I have nothing valuable on my person. " Is there a surer way of enraging a thief and driving him to violence? It is hard to see clearly or to think straight in the company of other people. Not only do I feel selfconscious, but the perceptions that are necessary to writing are difficult to manage when someone close by is thinking out loud. I am diverted, but it is discovery, not diversion, that I seek. What is required is the lucidity of loneliness to capture that vision, which, however banal, seems in my private mood to be special and worthy of interest. There is something in feeling object that quickens my mind and makes it intensely receptive to" fugitive might also be verified and refined; and in any case I had the satisfaction of finishing the business alone. Travel is not a vacation, .and it is often the opposite of a rest. "Have a nice time," people said to me at my send-off at South Station, Medford. It was not precisely what I had hoped for. I craved a little risk, some danger, an untoward event, a vivid discomfort, an experience of my own company, and in a modest way the romance of solitude. This I thought might be mine on that train to Limon.

单选题Questions 11 to 13 are based on the following discussion about the future of Brazil. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 11 to 13.

单选题{{B}}Part C{{/B}} The following passage is divided into three sections. You are asked to and out in which sections the 10 statements are discussed or implied. Note: Answer each question by choosing A, B or C. Some choices may be required more than once. A =Section A B =Section B C =Section C Lessening the effect of the epidemic upon sustainable development is one of the issues USAID will get down to in the future. 71．______ The multinational cooperation is the best way to stop HIV/AIDS from spreading among the mobile population. 72．______ The effective way to deal with HIV/AIDS transmission trom mother to child. 73．______ USAID is trying to work out ways to work out ways to prevent HIV/AIDS transmission from mother to child. 74．______ In the past eight years USAID has experimented with and improved various methods to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS. 75．______ USAID will strengthen women's ability to resist HIV/AIDS. 76．______ Women and children are those who are very easy to be infected HIV/AIDS. 77．______ USAID will put the prevention method into effect. 78．______ The epidemic has been spreading very fast over the past eight years. 79．______ The integration of prevention and cure is the most efficient way of preventing HIV/AIDS. 80．______ Section A Since the US Agency for International Development (USAID) began its first HIV/AIDS prevention efforts eight years ago, the epidemic has changed dramatically. HIV has spread to every region of the world. Millions of people infected with HIV during the first decade of the epidemic are developing opportunistic infections and other AIDS-related illnesses, and many are dying. Women and children are among those most vulnerable to HIV infection. As HIV prevalence and AIDS mortality soar, millions of children will lose their parents. HIV/AIDS is having a devastating impact on the health and well-being of families, communities and nations worldwide. The epidemic's effects on the structure of societies and the productivity of their members undermine efforts to promote sustainable development around the globe. USAID's approach to slowing the spread of HIV/AIDS relies on strategies tested and refined over the past eight years. At the same time, the Agency is moving forward to address new challenges posed by the evolving epidemic. One of the important lessons learned during the past decade is that an effective response to HIV/AIDS requires the full participation of people and communities affected by the virus. Although people living with HIV/AIDS are among the most successful advocates and communicators for prevention, too often their voices are not heard or heeded. Greater involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS is essential to creating the supportive political, legal and social environments needed to control the epidemic. Section B In December 1994 at the Paris AIDS Summit, representatives of 42 governments adopted resolution pledging greater support for networks of people living with HIV/AIDS. Before and during the summit, members of these networks worked with government and multilateral organizations, including USAID, to develop a plan for translating the words of the resolution into concrete action. The Agency is committed to ensuring that people living with HIV/AIDS are accepted in full partnership with governments, international organizations and the private sector in developing, implementing and evaluating HIV/AIDS policies and programs. People living with HIV/AIDS and community-based organizations have been at the forefront of efforts to draw attention to the connection between compassionate AIDS care and effective HIV prevention. In the absence of a vaccine or cure, USAID continues to emphasize HIV/AIDS prevention. But as the number of people suffering from AIDS-related illness begins to increase dramatically, the Agency is also exploring ways to reduce the social impact of AIDS and enhance prevention efforts by integrating prevention and care. The Agency will also continue to pioneer regional approaches to an epidemic that does not recognize national boundaries. Crossborder interventions throughout the world will target mobile populations, including migrant workers, tourists, traders, transport workers and people displaced by war and, social disruption. Results from USAID-supported research on preventing HIV/AIDS in women, from microbiocide development to behavioral research on communication between men and women, will play a key role in slowing the rapid spread of the epidemic in the future. The Agency will continue to support research designed to strengthen programs for women and will move quickly to incorporate promising prevention methods into field activities. USAID will also work to reduce women's vulnerability to HIV prevention by promoting multisectoral efforts to improve their economic and social status. Section C Recognizing the growing threat HIV/AIDS poses to child survival, the Agency will support efforts to identify and test methods of preventing transmission from mother to child, such as Vitamin A supplements and other promising interventions. In addition, USAID will expand efforts to reduce HIV/AIDS among women and children by integrating prevention interventions into its family planning and child survival programs. Effective use of integrated interventions is critical for HIV/AIDS prevention because the virus affects people who are most active in the development process. Decades of progress in health and development are jeopardized by the social and economic impact of the epidmic. Without careful planning, development activities, in trun, can promote the spread of HIV/AIDS by encouraging migration and the separation of workers from their families. Most integration efforts to date have been in health and family planning, but other development sectors have an important role to play in HIV/AIDS prevention. In the future, the Agency will pursue opportunities for reducing HIV transmission and mitigating the impact of the epidemic on sustainable development through its programs in education, agriculture, and human resource and micro-enterprise development. USAID's approach to HIV/AIDS has evolved along with the epidemic. To meet the challenges ahead, the Agency will continue to adapt its strategies and programs in order to benefit from lessons from the field and new opportunities for building effective partnerships. Given the epidemic's profound implications for health, economic growth and social stability, USAID's investment in HIV/AIDS prevention will save millions of lives and promote sustainable development throughout the world.

单选题BMW's campaign has mistakenly conveyed the idea of

单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} To capture London in freeze-frame at the turn of the 19th century, Jonathan Schneer develops a single over-arching theme. In a work of persuasive scholarship, written with verve and insight, he analyses the tremendous impact that Britain's imperial adventure--then at its height--made on nearly every aspect of London's life. Few Londoners were unaffected by the country's self-appointed mission to take Western civilisation to the "{{U}}benighted{{/U}}" peoples of Africa and the East, and to extract much of their natural wealth in return for the favour. The policies that drove imperialism were made by statesmen, aristocrats and capitalists who met regularly around the dinner tables of a few influential and manipulative hostesses. Businessmen and financiers were quick to take advantage of the opportunities open to them, and used some of the profits to protect their interests by sending a volunteer force from the financial district to help fight the Boers. At the other end of the economic scale, dock labourers handled the products of empire but could not possess them except by theft, which was endemic and which Mr. Schneer appears to defend as a legitimate weapon of class conflict, "an act of imperial self-definition". This, the sharp end of colonial trade, had wider political ramifications, for the dockers' harsh working conditions spawned aggressive and eventually effective trade unions. Meanwhile, the seeds of the liberation movements that were to flower in mid-century were sown by exiled Indians and West Indians, encouraged by white liberal sympathisers, who published small but influential journals and addressed impassioned public meetings across the capital. Many of them pursued the now discredited tactic of collaborating with the colonial authorities, yet their work laid the foundation for the long and often turbulent process of persuading the British that the conqueror's role could not be sustained in the long term. In half a dozen entertaining pages, Mr. Schneer combs the Sherlock Holmes stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for a rich store of imperial themes. Holmes's London was made up of two empires, "a good one associated with England and personified by two English types, the brilliant amateur detective and his dogged amanuensis; and an evil one associated with criminality, often of non-European origin". At the beginning of "A Study in Scarlet", he describes the city as "London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained." A century on, the attitudes expressed by Conan Doyle are self-evidently racist. Indeed racism was central to the imperial adventure. Should you judge by the standards prevailing then or by the more enlightened ones of today? Indeed, is it the historian's job to judge in this sense at all? In this rich and original study, Mr. Schneer sometimes shows a touch more indignation than needed in denouncing racism and sexism in a society that was still to learn better.

单选题What does the speaker mainly discuss?

单选题Throughout history there have been many unusual taxes levied on such things as hats，beds，baths，marriages，and funerals．At one time England levied a tax on sunlight by collection from every household with six or more windows．And according to legend，there was a Turkish ruler who collected a tax each time he dined with one of his subjects．Why?To pay for the wear and tear on his teeth! Different kinds of taxes help to spread the tax burden．Anyone who pays a tax is said to“bear the burden”of the tax．The burden of a tax may fall more heavily on some persons than on others．That is why the three levels of government in this country use several kinds of taxes．This spreads the burden of taxes among more people．From the standpoint of their use，the most important taxes are income taxes，property taxes，sales taxes，and estate，inheritance，and gift taxes．Some are used by only one level of government；others by two or even all three levels．Together these different taxes make up what is called our tax system． Income taxes are the main source of federal revenues．The federal government gets more than three-fourths of its revenue from income taxes．As its name indicated，an income tax is a tax on earnings．Both individuals and business corporations pay a federal income tax． The oldest tax in the United States today is the property tax．It provides most of the income for local governments．It provides at least a part of the income for all but a few states．It is not used by the federal government． A sales tax is a tax levied on purchases．Most people living in the United States know about sales taxes since they are used in all but four states．Actually there are several kinds of sales taxes，but only three of them are important．They are general sales taxes，excise taxes，and import taxes． Other three closely related taxes are estate，inheritance，and gift taxes．Everything a person owns，including both real and personal property，makes up his or her estate．When someone dies，ownership of his or her property or estate passes on to one or more individuals or organizations．Before the property is transferred，however，it is subject to an estate tax if its value exceeds a certain amount．

单选题Recently, Congressional Democrats introduced legislation to make it easier for older workers to win age discrimination lawsuits. Age discrimination remains a significant work- place issue. In recent ten years, 15.79 percent of cases brought to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, were described as successful claims. While this number is small given the number of workers covered by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, many, if not most, instances of age discrimination are never sued, and cases hiring discrimination often go undetected. Most of those who do sue are white, male middle-managers who are likely to have lost a sizeable salary and pension. For the most part, other groups do not sue because the costs of a lawsuit outweigh the potential benefits. There is strong experimental evidence for age discrimination in hiring, at least for entry-level jobs. Recently, I performed a labor market experiment in Boston in which I sent out thousands of resumes for fictitious entry-level female candidates and measured response rate based on date of high school graduation. Among this group, younger applicants, whose date of high school graduation indicated that they were less than 50 years old, were 40 percent more likely to be called back for an interview than were older applicants. It is difficult to tell whether employment problems are worse for older workers than for other workers when times are bad. The number of discrimination lawsuits increases during times of high unemployment, but this finding by itself does not indicate an increased level of age discrimination. In times of higher unemployment, the opportunity cost to a lawsuit is lower than it is when times are good. From the employer's perspective, mass layoffs may seem like a good chance to remove a higher proportion of generally more expensive older workers without the worry of being sued. On the other hand, employers may be less likely to remove protected older workers because they still fear lawsuits. One thing we do know is that once an older worker loses a job, he or she is much less likely to find a new job than a younger worker is. Unfortunately, the effect of legislation prohibiting age discrimination is not easy to see and may actually be part of the reason it is so difficult for older workers to find employment. If it is more difficult to fire an older worker than a younger worker, a firm will be less likely to want to hire older workers. Indeed, my research finds that in states where workers have longer time to bring a lawsuit claim, older men work fewer weeks per year, are less likely to be hired, and less likely to be fired than men in states where they do not have as much. Not many people would suggest that we go back to a world prior to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, in which advertisements specify the specific ages of people they are willing to hire. However, legislation prohibiting discrimination is no panacea (万灵 药). The recent proposed congressional legislation could have both positive and negative effects on potential older workers.

单选题Recent research has claimed that an excess of positive ions in the air have an ill-effect on people''s physical or psychological health. What are positive ions? Well, the air is full of ions, electrically changed particles. But sometimes this balance becomes disturbed and a larger proportion of positive ions are found. This happens naturally before thunderstorms, earthquakes or when winds such as the Mistral, Foehn, Hamsin or Sharav are blowing in certain countries. Or it can be caused by a build-up of static electricity indoors from carpets or clothing made of man-made fibres, or from TV sets, duplicators or computer display screens. When a large number of positive ions are present in the air many people experience unpleasant effects such as headaches, fatigue, irritability, and some particularly sensitive people suffer nausea or even mental disturbance. Animals are also found to be affected, particularly before earthquakes; snakes have been observed to come out of hibernation, rats to flee from their burrows, dogs howl and cats jump about unaccountably. This has led the U. S. Geographical Survey to fund a network of volunteers to watch animals in an effort to foresee such disasters before they hit vulnerable areas such as California. Conversely, when large numbers of negative ions are present, then people have a feeling of well-being. Natural conditions that produce these large amounts are near the sea, close to waterfalls or fountains, or in any place where water is sprayed, or forms a spray. This probably accounts for the beneficial effect of a holiday by the sea, or in the mountains with tumbling streams or waterfalls. To increase the supply of negative ions indoors, some scientists recommend the use of ionizes; small portable machines which generate negative ions. They claim that ionizes not only clean and refresh the air but also improve the health of people sensitive to excess positive ions. Of course, there are the detractors, other scientists, who dismiss such claims and are skeptical about negative/positive ion research. Therefore people can only make up their own minds by observing the effects on themselves, or on others, of a negative rich or poor environment. After all, it is debatable whether depending on seismic readings to anticipate earthquake is more effective than watching the cat.

单选题{{B}}PartB{{/B}}Inthefollowingarticlesomeparagraphshavebeenremoved.ForQuestions66～70,choosethemostsuitableparagraphfromthelistA～Ftofitintoeachofthenumberedgaps.Thereisoneparagraphwhichdoesnotfitinanyofthegaps.MarkyouranswersonANSWERSHEET1.Asinternationalcommercegrows,thereisanamazingdevelopmentwhichisexpandingatever-increasingrate—businessontheInternet.OneofthemostarrestingauctionbusinessiscalledeBay.Downatthelocalauctionhouseinthecity,youwouldnormallyfindexcitedbiddersraisingtheirhandsornoddingagreementastheauctioneerrattlesoffthepricesforasetofbookshelves,heaterorsecond-handtelevisionset.Nowthesamecutandthrustofauctionsellingisdrawingnotthehundredswhocramintoacrowdedauctionroom,butmillionsofInternetsurferswhovisiteBay,thebiggestonlineauctionsite,andothersofsimilarstyle.66.______.Forexample,inonemonththatIlookedatthecolorfuleBaysite,thesewerenumbersofitemsforsaleinsomeofthemajorcategories:Collectibles684,473SportsMemorabilia269,051Books,Movies,Music267,324Toys242,15567.______.AccordingtotheeBaypromotion,userscanfindtheuniqueandtheinterestingoneBay—everythingfromchinatodesks,teddybearstotrains,andfurnituretofigurines.SowhydopeoplecometoeBay?Astheleadingperson-to-persontradingsite,buyerstradeoneBaybecauseofthelargenumberofitemsavailable.Ifyouwantit,somebody'sprobablysellingitoneBay.Similarly,sellersareattractedtoeBaytoconductbusinessbecauseeBayhasthemostbuyers.ThereareoveramillionauctionshappeningoneBayeveryday.68.______.Peopletellusthattheycomeforallthestufftheycanget,buttheystay,evenaftertheyfinishtheircollection,forthefunpeopletheymeetateBay,"Takeyourtime,andgettoknowtheeBayworld"istheiradvice.Sohowdoyoumakeabidandbuysomethingatthisauction?69.______.FirstIhadtoregistermyname,emailaddressandpasswordwitheBay,Sotheycantrackthesalesandmakesureeverybodyisfairdealing.Rememberingthatbiddingonlineisthesameasbuyingorenteringintoacontractwiththeseller,IsearchedunderguitarsintheMusicalInstrumentssectionwithmymouseclickingonthevariouspages.Ihadagoodlookattheseller'sfeedbackrecord.IfthepersonsellinggoodsoneBayhastriedtocheat,orbackoutofadeal,emailusersofeBaycanwritetheirownfeedbackcomments,praisingorcriticizingtheeBayseller,orbidder.Everyonecanseewhatisgoingon.TheeBaycompanycanbananyonewhohasnotactedbytherules.70.______.Theauctiondetailsweresetoutandthedaytheauctionwastoend(inoneweek'stime).Therewasanicepictureoftheguitar.Ireviewedmybidof20toensurethatalltheinformationwasrightandclickedonthebutton"PlaceBid".UnfortunatelyIwasnotifiedthatmybidwasnotthehighest-someoneelsehadbidmoremoney,soImissedout.However,IfIhadputinthehighestbid,theeBaywebsitewouldhavenotifiedmethatIwasthehighestbidderforthetimebeing.Whentheauctionends,thehighestbidderbuysthegoods.A.Amongthespecialitemsforsaleareanillustrationofthewinnersfrom84YearsoftheUSAOpenGolftournament,signedbythefamoussolfers,andframed.ThereisaBeatlesOriginalCoin,especiallymintedforthefirstUStourin1964ofthefamousLiverpoolpopmusicgroup.Furniture,newkitchenknives,guitarstudyprograms,computers-younameit,eBayauctionsitehasit,aspeopleworldwidetakeadvantageofthechancetoselltheirgoodstothebiggestmarketintheworld-thecyberspacecommunityofInternetwatchers.B.Thisisabusinessthatallowscustomerstobuyandsellgoodsbyofferingthemforsale,orbiddingforitemslistedattheeBaywebsite,asiftheywereatanauction.Currently,eBayhaslistedatitswebsite2.14millionitemsforsalein1,627categories.EachmonththeeBaysitehas1.5billionvisitorswhoviewtheeBaypages,lookingforbargainsorworkingouthowmuchtochargeforthatbedorunwantedradiotheywanttolistforauction.C.IwaslookingforaguitarandthisiswhatIdid.D.Therearenotmanystoresintheworldwheretheypraiseyouasagoodshopperorgiveyouminuspointsinpublicifyouareabadpayer.ButthisistheworldoftheInternetwheretherulesarebeingconstructedasthesystemdevelops.E.AccordingtoaneBayspokesperson,eBayismorethanjustaplacetotrade.It'salsoaplacetomeetthatoneotherpersonintheworldwhosharesyourpassionforyourownparticularinterest,whetherit'sstamps,warmemorabilia,sportinggoods,furnitureorcomputerprograms,forexample.F.ThenIwasreadytobid.ItdoesnotcostanymoneytobidonitemsateBay.Ofcourse,ifyouwintheauction,youmustpaythesellerdirectly,butyouwillnotbechargedanythingbyeBay.

单选题Whatisthewomandoing?A.Interviewingamoviestar.B.Discussingteenagerolemodels.C.Hostingatelevisionshow.D.Reviewinganewbiography.

单选题In face of the numbers of people who are suffering anxiety attacks over AIDS, global warming, ozone sharp decline, and the proliferation of chemical weapons, you have a disturbingly large population easily influenced by the madness aroused with the arrival of the period of the second thousand years. Even supposedly sober observers are taking positions in the millenarian parade. Novelist, poet, and science writer Brad Leithauser is convinced the second millennium is going to bring a "psychological shift" that will "literally redefine what it means to be a human being." Leithauser believes that global weather patterns will undergo random, even chaotic, changes produced by the dreaded greenhouse effect. In his novel Hence set around 2000, Leithauser visualizes religious leaders seizing on the resultant disturbances -flooded cities, soaring cancer rates, and what have you -and taking them as a sign that the end is near. At the same time, Leithauser thinks, a combination of high-speed living and runaway technology will serve further to alienate people from themselves. He predicts that invasive media will bring an inescapable large number of stimuli. In this atmosphere of "evershortening collective memory," books will become pass. Indeed, any form of reflective solitude will become "quietly sinful," says a character in Leithauser"s novel, and seeking it out will require "almost an act of social defiance." Economic expert Ravi Bartra is equally convinced that by the dawn of the second millennium people will have undergone a thorough spiritual and economic transformation. He warns that the voices of the rich will soon superheat the global economy to the point of explosion and collapse, in the wake of which "society will border on chaos. There will be a polarization of society into two classes -the haves and the have-nots -and there will be a lot of crime and street demonstrations" as the angry have-nots make strong claim for food, shelter, and social justice. But Batra, unlike Leithauser, sees the coming bimillennial breakdown as a sort of getting rid of sin by fire on the way to a better world. From the ashes of economic and social collapse, he says, will rise a "higher consciousness"--a climate in which pornography, selfishness, and extreme concentration of wealth are reproached and society becomes "more concerned with the handicapped and the weaker." On the job, he foresees "far more democratic large factories, where employees not only sit on boards of directors but actually run companies." Meanwhile, discipline will capture the home-and-family front, with "children obeying their parents more, and more family stability, fewer divorces."

单选题What does Lessig say should be done concerning intellectual property expansion?

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单选题 We enter the new millennium with more poor people than the world has ever known. Out of 6 billion now (compared with fewer than 2 billion in 1900), 1.3 billion are below the absolute poverty line, living on less than $ 1 a day, and 2.8 billion eke out survival on less than $ 2 a day. Inequality has multiplied enormously. The gap between the one-fifth of the world' s people who live in the poorest countries and the one-fifth who live in the richest countries is now 71 to 1. In 1990 it was 60 to 1 and in 1960 it was 30 to 1. Yet in Asia, the absolutely poor are now one-third of the total, compared with onehalf in 1970. Their average life expectancy is 65 years, compared with 48 years then, and 70 percent of adults are now literate, compared with 40 percent. So there has been improvement. But excruciating misery is still with us, even as part of the world flushes with prosperity never known before. For one thing, the wealthy countries have cut back severely on foreign aid since the end of the Cold War, and as income continues to rise in the richest countries, generosity continues to fall. But overwhelming poverty is no longer accepted by everybody as a fact of nature. Enough people have become convinced that something can be clone about it to organize a diverse array of projects, and most projects are no longer based on the idea of the virtue of giving bounty only to those who deserve it because "Poverty is largely manmade." This is a dramatic new concept in the sweep of history. It is by no means taken for granted, but it is no longer inconceivable, as it was just a few years ago. In fact, even the word poverty is disdained by development specialists because of its implication of inferior capacity, beyond repair. The specialists prefer to speak of exclusion, which suggests a minority that has yet to be given its chance. This chance is not merely aid. Aid can be perverted by mismanagement and bad ideas; it can support corrupt governments that exploit their people; it can be wasted in grandiose projects that fail to pay off. In today's world, economic 15rogress is no longer mainly about heavy, visible things involving iron and steel and electricity. Progress in the 21~t century will be about light, invisible things like information technology, and will therefore necessarily be focused on the education and motivation of people. Therefore this is a new concept of poverty. It not only admits the serious situation the world encounters, but also states that to fundamentally change it, we must not overlook the human factor, otherwise, theories, ideology, even balance sheets will turn out to be of no avail.

单选题Whatarethespeakersdoing?A.Visitingthenewrestaurant.B.Watchingaparade.C.Havingapicnic.D.Goingtothebeach.

单选题Questions 14 to 16 are based on a conversation between a customer and a clerk of the post office. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 14 to 16.

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单选题 A One of the biggest challenges facing the mental health care system is the gnawing chasm between the ever-growing demand for services and the system's ability to respond. Many are suffering. Far too few are being helped. For decades, governments have treated mental illness like the orphan of the health care system, leaving the sector chronically under-funded and under-staffed. Such_ neglect would seem to suggest that mental illness afflicts only an unfortunate few. Nothing could be further from the truth. One in three individuals will experience mental health problems at some point in their lives. In Canada, that translates to more than 10 million people. In Canada, mental illness is estimated to cost the economy $33 billion each year in disability and lost productivity. We currently spend another $6 billion to $8 billion annually to treat these conditions. More hospital stays are consumed by people with a mental illness than by cancer and heart disease patients combined. Yet for all of that, mental health practitioners know they are only reaching a fraction of those in need. Research shows that two-thirds of adults who experience mental illness never seek help; for adolescents, the figure is 75 percent. Of those who do seek treatment, the majority will first report symptoms to family physicians who are often ill-equipped to recognize or deal with mental illness. B Sadly, children and adolescents are even less likely than adults to seek or receive treatment for mental illness. And in far too many cases, young people pay the ultimate price for their conditions. In what was perhaps the most sobering statistic of all provided by some researchers, it was found that approximately one-in-ten Canadian adolescents attempt suicide each year. At the same time, 80 percent and 90 percent of the young people who kill themselves likely suffered from a mental disorder at the time of their death. Some young people are at greater risk than others. Aboriginal youths are five to six times more likely to die by suicide than non-Aboriginal youths. Adolescent males die by suicide three to four times more often than adolescent females. The key to suicide prevention is to intervene on multiple fronts as early as possible, particularly with youth who exhibit risk factors such as depression and substance abuse. This means supporting families with children at risk, promoting suicide awareness at the community level and, perhaps most importantly, taking prevention programs into the schools. C In a typical workplace, one in four employees struggles with mental health issues, most commonly in the form of depression or anxiety. It is estimated that mental illness results in 35 million work days lost each year in Canada. Mental illness also accounts for up to 40 per cent of short-term disability insurance claims and is a secondary diagnosis in more than 50 per cent of long-term claims. The toll of mental illness—in terms of individual suffering and the corporate bottom line—prompted CEOs from across Canada to support the Toronto-based Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health. Founded 10 years ago, the Roundtable advises organizations on how to detect, treat and ultimately prevent mental illness. Organizations are advised to adopt a three-part strategy. First, focus on early detection and treatment opportunities (depression and anxiety are effectively treated in 85 percent of cases where help is sought). Second, determine, at the organizational level, the root cause of the mental distress (especially important if it is emanating from a single department or business unit). Third, make prevention and stress management a corporate-wide priority. D No research on mental health could fail to deal with the issue of stigma—the fact that negative attitudes and behavior toward people with mental illness adds immeasurably to their suffering and represents a serious barrier to reform. The sting of stigma provided much of the emotional wallop behind Starry, Starry Night, a theatrical production by the Calgary Chapter of the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta. The play, performed entirely by actors with Schizophrenia, includes several wrenching scenes about the harsh way the mentally ill are sometimes treated by the very system that is intended to help them. Dr. Thornicroft, a British psychiatrist, recalled how, after 20 years in practice, he felt disquieted by the fact that so few people with mental illness sought treatment—and, if they did, it was as a last resort. He concluded this was because of the shame and embarrassment so many experienced. Dr. Thornicroft decided to take a sabbatical and write a book about stigma. As he delved into the subject, and looked at it from the patient's point of view, Dr. Thornicroft was struck by the depth of prejudice directed at the mentally ill. He concluded that the most essential aspect of stigma is not so much people's attitudes, but how they act. In other words, the real issue was discrimination. And what is needed is a kind of civil rights campaign on behalf of the mentally ill.

单选题Women's minds work differently from men's. At least, that is what most men are convinced of. Psychologists view the subject either as a matter or frustration or a joke. Now the biologists have moved into this minefield, and some of them have found that there are real differences between the brains of men and women. But being different, they point out hurriedly, is not the same as being better or worse. There is, however, a definite structural variation between the male and female brain. The difference is in a part of the brain that is used in the most complex intellectual processes—the link between the two halves of the brain. The two halves are linked by a trunkline of between 200 and 300 million nerves, the corpus callosum. Scientists have found quite recently that the corpus callosum in women is always larger and probably richer in nerve fibers than it is in men. This is the first time that a structural difference has been found between the brains of women and men and it must have some significance. The question is "What?", and, if this difference exists, are there others? Research shows that present-day women think differently and behave differently from men. Are some of these differences biological and inborn, a result of evolution? We tend to think that is the influence of society that produces these differences. But could we be wrong? Research showed that these two halves of the brain had different functions, and that the corpus callosum enabled them to work together. For most people, the left half is used for wordhanding, analytical and logical activities; the right half works on pictures, patterns and forms. We need both halves working together. And the better the connections, the more harmoniously the two halves work. And, according to research findings, women have the better connections. But it isn't all that easy to explain the actual differences between skills of men and women on this basis. In schools throughout the world girls tend to be better than boys at "language subjects" and boys better at maths and physics. If these differences correspond with the differences in the hemispheric trunkline, there is an unalterable distinction between the sexes. We shan't know for a while, partly because we don't know of any precise relationship between abilities in school subject and the functioning of the two halves of the brain, and we cannot understand how the two halves interact via the corpus callosum. But this striking difference must have some effect and, because the difference is in the parts of the brain involved in intellect, we should be looking for differences in intellectual processing.