单选题Details of the private life of an astronaut are hard to come by, because they are

单选题What does the sentence "One can insult us only at one's own peril." mean in the first paragraph?

单选题Questions 14 to 16 are based on the opening speech of the Chairman of the final session in an international conference and a statement made by Dr. Martin. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 14 to 16.

单选题Today's corporate executive officers resemble the industrialists and agriculturists in the past in their realization of ______.

单选题The striving of countries in Central Europe to enter the European Union may offer an unprecedented chance to the continent's Gypsies (or Roman) to be recognized as a nation, albeit one without a defined territory. And if they were to achieve that they might even seek some kind of formal place—at least a total population outnumbers that of many of the Union's present and future countries. Some experts put the figure at 4m-plus; some proponents of Gypsy rights go as high as 15m. Unlike Jews, Gypsies have had no known ancestral land to hark back to. Though their language is related to Hindi, their territorial origins are misty. Romanian peasants held them to be born on the moon. Other Europeans (wrongly) thought them migrant Egyptians, hence the derivative Gypsy. Most probably they were itinerant metal workers and entertainers who drifted west from India in the 7th century. However, since communism in Central Europe collapsed a decade ago, the notion of Romanestan as a landless nation founded on Gypsy culture has gained ground. The International Romany Union, which says it stands for 10m Gypsies in more than 30 countries, is fostering the idea of "self-rallying". It is trying to promote a standard and written form of the language; it waves a Gypsy flag (green with a wheel) when it lobbies in such places as the United Nations; and in July it held a congress in Prague, the Czech capital, where President Vaclav Havel said that Gypsies in his own country and elsewhere should have a better deal. At the congress a Slovak-born lawyer, Emil Scuka, was elected president of the International Tomany Union. Later this month a group of elected Gypsy politicians, including members of parliament, mayors and local councilors from all over Europe (OSCE), to discuss how to persuade more Gypsies to get involved in politics. The International Romany Union is probably the most representative of the outfits that speak for Gypsies, but that is not saying a lot. Of the several hundred delegates who gathered at its congress, few were democratically elected; oddly, none came from Hungary, whose Gypsies are perhaps the world's best organized, with some 450 Gypsy bodies advising local councils there. The union did, however, announce its ambition to set up a parliament, but how it would actually be elected was left undecided. So far, the European Commission is wary of encouraging Gypsies to present themselves as a nation. They might, it is feared, open a Pandora's box already containing Basques, Corsicans and other awkward peoples. Besides, acknowledging Gypsies as a nation might backfire, just when several countries, particularly Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, are beginning to treat them better, in order to qualify for EU membership. "The EU's whole premise is to overcome differences, not to highlight them," says a nervous Eurocrat. But the idea that the Gypsies should win some kind of special recognition as Europe's largest continent wide minority, and one with a terrible history of persecution, is catching on. Gypsies have suffered many pogroms over the centuries. In Romania, the country that still has the largest number of them (more than 1m), in the 19th century they were actually enslaved. Hitler tried to wipe them out, along with the Jews. "Gypsies deserve some space within European structures," says Jan Marinus Wiersma, a Dutchman in the European Parliament who suggests that one of the current commissioners should be responsible for Gypsy affairs. Some prominent Gypsies say they should be more directly represented, perhaps with a quota in the European Parliament. That, they argue, might give them a boost. There are moves afoot to help them to get money for, among other things, a Gypsy university. One big snag is that Europe's Gypsies are, in fact, extremely heterogeneous. They belong to many different, and often antagonistic, clans and tribes, with no common language or religion, Their self-proclaimed leaders have often proved quarrelsome and corrupt. Still, says, Dimitrina Petrova, head of the European Roma Rights Center in Budapest, Gypsies' shared experience of suffering entitles them to talk of one nation; their potential unity, she says, stems from "being regarded as sub-human by most majorities in Europe". And they have begun to be a bit more pragmatic. In Slovakia and Bulgaria, for instance, Gypsy political parties are trying to form electoral blocks that could win seats in parliament. In Macedonia, a Gypsy party already has some—and even runs a municipality. Nicholas Gheorge, an expert on Gypsy affairs at the OSCE, reckons that, spread over Central Europe, there are now about 20 Gypsy MPS and mayors, 400-odd local councilors, and a growing number of businessmen and intellectuals. That is far from saying that they have the people or the cash to forge a nation. But, with the Gypsy question on the EU's agenda in Central Europe, they are making ground.

单选题 {{B}}Questions 17 ～ 20 are based on the following talk. You now have 20 seconds to read Questions 17 ～ 20.{{/B}}

单选题The semantic relation of rose and flower is called [A] hyponymy. [B] synonymy. [C] polysemy. [D] homonymy.

单选题Why are the minutes of meetings important for a company?

单选题Questions 1--6 Choose the best answer.

单选题Until men invented ways of staying underwater for more than a few minutes, the wonders of the world below the surface of the sea were almost unknown. The main problem, of course, lies in air. How could air be provided to swimmers below the surface of the sea? Pictures made about 2,900 years ago in Asia show men swimming under the surface with air bags tied to their bodies. A pipe from the bag carried air into the swimmer"s mouth. But little progress was achieved in the invention of diving devices until about 1490, when the famous Italian painter, Leonardo da Vinci, designed a complete diving suit. In 1680, an Italian professor invented a large air bag with a glass window to be worn over the diver"s head. To "clean" the air a breathing pipe went from the air bag, through another bag to remove moisture, and then again to the large air bag. The plan did not work, but it gave later inventors the idea of moving air around in diving devices. In 1819, a German, Augustus Siebe, developed a way of forcing air into the head-covering by a machine operated above the water. At last in 1837, he invented the "hard-hat suit" which was to be used for nearly a century. It had a metal covering for the head and an air pipe attached to a machine above the water. It also had small openings to remove unwanted air. But there were two dangers to the diver inside the "hard-hat suit". One was the sudden rise to the surface, caused by a too great supply of air. The other was the crushing of the body, caused by a sudden diving into deep water. The sudden rise to the surface could kill the diver; a sudden dive could force his body up into the helmet, which could also result in death. Gradually the "hard-hat suit" was improved so that the diver could be given a constant supply of air. The diver could then move around under the ocean without worrying about the air supply. During the 1940s diving underwater without a special suit became popular. Instead, divers used a breathing device and a small covering made of rubber and glass over parts of the face. To improve the swimmer"s speed another new invention was used: a piece of rubber shaped like a giant foot, which was attached to each of the diver"s own feet. The manufacture of rubber breathing pipes made it possible for divers to float on the surface of the water, observing the marine life underneath them. A special rubber suit enabled them to be in cold water for long periods, collecting specimens of animal and vegetable life that had never been obtained in the past. The most important advance, however, was the invention of a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, which is called a "scuba". Invented by two Frenchmen, Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnan, the scuba consists of a mouthpiece joined to one or two tanks of compressed air which are attached to the diver"s back. The scuba makes it possible for a diver-scientist to work 200 feet underwater or even deeper for several hours. As a result, scientists can now move around freely at great depths, learning about the wonders of the sea.

单选题Questions 11 to 13 are based on the following talk about music. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 11 to 13.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} Researchers have found that prenatal factors and childhood experiences, including birth weight, diet and exercise patterns, might affect a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. Evidence is accumulating, though the research is still in its very early phases, that the periods before and soon after birth, childhood and early adolescence are much more important to breast cancer risk than had been appreciated. Just as heart disease has its origins in childhood, breast cancer is not just an adult disease. For example, there is a strong link between high-fat diets in the population and high rates of breast cancer, but at best a weak relationship to the amount of fat an individual woman consumes as an adult. But the effects of fat in a child' s diet may explain why Japanese women who emigrate to the United States maintain their low risk of breast cancer, while the risk faced by their American-born daughters and granddaughters approaches that of white American women. Studies suggested that breast cancer risk might in part be determined by the kind of diet a woman consumed as a child and even what her mother ate during pregnancy — if the diets were high in calories, and especially if they were rich in animal fat. Animal studies have also suggested that a prenatal diet rich in polyunsaturated fats, which include most vegetable oils, can increase the susceptibility of fetal breast tissue to the cancer-stimulation effects of estrogen. Several studies in adults have indicated that mono-unsaturated fats like olive or canola oil are protective. The high-calorie diet typically consumed by Americans, for instance, fosters the production of estrogens associated with early puberty and early menarche, both of which are already linked to breast cancer risk. Studies also show that the effects of diet on breast cancer risk may well start in the womb. Based on data gained, epidemiologists found a clear link between birth weight and later risk of breast cancer: The bigger the baby, the greater the risk. Since a baby' s birth weight is largely determined by how much weight a woman gains during pregnancy. Also worrisome is the precipitous rise in childhood obesity and a concurrent decline in physical activity in the United States. Nutrition can induce changes in the fraction of estrogens bound to the serum proteins and, therefore, can enhance or decrease the action of estrogens of highly susceptible target organs like a woman's breasts. Fruits arid vegetables are protective with regard to estrogen stimulation. Animal fat, decreases this binding, and thus increases the amount of estrogen available to stimulate tissue growth. Therefore, even small changes in overall intake of estrogenic substances, decreases in animal fat consumption and increases in fruit and vegetable fiber could result in dramatic changes in breast cancer risk later in life.

单选题 You will hear 3 conversations or talks and you must answer the questions by choosing A, B, C or D. You will hear the recording ONLY ONCE. {{B}} Questions 11～13 are based on the following talk. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 11～13.{{/B}}

单选题 There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that our brain processes information in at least two major systems. The image system appears to be associated with the right hemisphere of the brain. This hemisphere seems to be specialized to process visual and auditory imagery, spatial representation, pure melodic thought, fantasy, and the emotional components of consciousness. Imagery allows us to continue to process information when we are not actively looking at or listening to new stimuli. It reproduces the sounds or sights of the past, enriching our thoughts, dreams, or fantasies with a sense of "actuality" or context. As a coding system, imagery operates by what is called "parallel" processing, e. g. , we imagine the face of a friend in one instantaneous configuration. The lexical system is largely coordinated through the left hemisphere of the brain, and its chief functions include language and grammatical organization, abstract conceptualization and reasoning. This verbal or linguistic system functions sequentially; it takes time for a sentence to run its course so it can be understood. The lexical dimension is especially efficient for integrating diverse phenomena under one label or formula that allows extremely rapid retrieval of stored information (memories) later. Both imagery and lexical systems seem essential for the highest levels of thought. It is possible, however, that the immediacy of television precludes our more active integration of images and words. We need time to replay mentally material just witnessed and also to link pictures and sounds to word labels that make for the most efficient kind of storage and retrieval So rapidly does television material come at us that it defies the capacities of our brain to store much of it unless we actively turn our attention from the set and engage in some kind of mental rehearsal. Only in the instant "replay" of sports programming does the medium itself consciously abet the human requirement for reduplication. Contrast this with the situation of reading. You are in control of the pace. You can reread a sentence, turn back to an earlier page and take the time to piece together combinations of images and words. As you read you are also likely on occasion to drift away into more extended private images and thoughts about the material. In effect, you are engaging in a more creative act of imagination and perhaps also in the forming of new combinations of words and images. Reading seems, therefore, harder work than watching television but ultimately more rewarding because it enhances your own imaginative capacities. We're not so naive as to believe that television can be eliminated from the household, as some suggest. Rather, we see the necessity for encouraging producers to free themselves from the assumption that the rapid-paced, quick-cut format, whether directed at children or adults, is a necessity.

单选题Questions 1～3 are based on the following talk; listen and choose the best answer.

单选题 You will hear 3 conversations or passages and you must answer the questions by choosing A, B, C or D. You will hear the recording ONLY ONCE.

单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} Few people doubt the fundamental importance of mothers in childrearing, but what do fathers do? Much of what they contribute is simply the result of being a second adult in the home. Bringing up children is demanding, stressful and exhausting. Two adults can support and make up for each other's deficiencies and build on each other's strengths. Fathers also bring an array of unique qualities. Some are familiar: protector and role model. Teenage boys without fathers are notoriously prone to trouble. The pathway to adulthood for daughters is somewhat easier, but they must still learn from their fathers, in ways they cannot from their mothers, how to relate to men. They learn from their fathers about heterosexual trust, intimacy and difference. They learn to appreciate their own femininity from the one male who is most special in their lives. Most important, through loving and being loved by their fathers, they learn that they are love-worthy. Current research gives much deeper--and more surprising--insight into the father's role in childrearing. One significantly overlooked dimension of fathering is play. From their children's birth through adolescence, fathers tend to emphasise play more than caretaking. The father's style of play is likely to be both physically stimulating and exciting. With older children it involves more teamwork, requiring competitive testing of physical and mental skills. It frequently resembles a teaching relationship: come on, let me show you how. Mothers play more at the child's level. They seem willing to let the child direct play. Kids, at least in the early years, seem to prefer to play with daddy. In one study of 2-year-olds who were given a choice, more than two-thirds chose to play with their fathers. The way fathers play has effects on everything from the management of emotions to intelligence and academic achievement. It is particularly important in promoting self-control. According to one expert, "children who roughhouse with their fathers quickly learn that biting, kicking and other forms of physical violence are not acceptable." They learn when to "shut it down." At play and in other realms, fathers tend to stress competition, challenge, initiative, risk-taking and independence. Mothers, as caretakers, stress emotional security and personal safety. On the playground fathers often try to get the children to swing ever higher, while mothers are cautious, worrying about an accident. We know, too, that fathers' involvement seems to be linked to improved verbal and problem-solving skills and higher academic achievement. Several studies found that along with paternal strictness, the amount of time fathers spent reading with them was a strong predictor of their daughters' verbal ability. For sons the results have been equally striking. Studies uncovered a strong relationship between fathers' involvement and the mathematical abilities of their sons. Other studies found a relationship between paternal nurturing and boys' verbal intelligence.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} Shortages of flu vaccine are nothing new in America, but this year' s is a whopper. Until last week, it appeared that 100 million Americans would have access to flu shots this fall. Then British authorities, concerned about quality-control problems at a production plant in Liverpool, barred all further shipments by the Chiron Corp. Overnight, the U.S. vaccine supply dwindled by nearly half and federal health officials found themselves making an unusual plea. Instead of beseeching us all to get vaccinated, they' re now urging most healthy people between the ages of 2 and 64 not to. "This reemphasizes the fragility of our vaccine supply," says Dr. Martin Myers of the National Network for Immunization Information, "and the lack of redundancy in our system." Why is such a basic health service so easily knocked out? Mainly because private companies have had little incentive to pursue it. To create a single dose of flu vaccine, a manufacturer has to grow live virus in a 2-week-old fertilized chicken egg, then crack the egg, harvest the virus and extract the proteins used to provoke an immune response. Profit margins are narrow, demand is fickle and, because each year's flu virus is different, any leftover vaccine goes to waste. As a result, the United States now has only two major suppliers ( Chiron and Aventis Pasteur)--and when one of them runs into trouble, there isn' t much the other can do about it. "A vaccine maker can't just call up and order 40 million more fertilized eggs," says Manon Cox, of Connecticut-based Protein Sciences Corp. "There's a whole industry that's scheduled to produce a certain number of eggs at a certain time. " Sleeker technologies are now in the works, and experts are hoping that this year's fiasco will speed the pace of innovation. The main challenge is to shift production from eggs into cell cultures--a medium already used to make most other vaccines. Flu vaccines are harder than most to produce this way, but several biotech companies are now pursuing this strategy, and one culture-based product (Solvay Pharmaceuticals' Invivac) has been cleared for marketing in Europe. For Americans, the immediate challenge is to make the most of a limited supply. The government estimates that 95 million people still qualify for shots under the voluntary restrictions announced last week. That' s nearly twice the number of doses that clinics will have on hand, but only 60 million Americans seek out shots in a normal year. In fact, many experts are hoping the shortage will serve as an awareness campaign--encouraging the people who really need a flu shot to get one.

单选题Managers spend a great deal of their time in meetings. According to Henry Mintzberg, in his book, The Nature of Managerial Work, managers in large organizations spend only 22% of their time on meetings. So what are the managers doing in those meetings? There have conventionally been two answers. The first is the academic version: Managers are coordinating and controlling, making decisions, solving problems and planning. This interpretation has been largely discredited because it ignores the social and political forces at work in meetings. The second version claims that meetings provide little more than strategic sites for corporate gladiators to perform before the organizational emperors. This perspective is far more attractive, and has given rise to a large, and often humorous, body of literature on gamesmanship and posturing in meetings. It is, of course, true that meeting rooms serve as shop windows for managerial talent, but this is far from the truth as a whole. The suggestion that meetings are actually battle grounds is misleading since the raison d''etre of meetings has far more to do with comfort than conflict. Meetings are actually vital props, both for the participants and the organization as a whole. For the organization, meetings represent recording devices. The minutes of meetings catalogue the change of the organization, at all levels, in a more systematic way than do the assorted memos and directives which are scattered about the company. They enshrine the minutes of corporate history, they itemize proposed actions and outcomes in a way which makes one look like the natural culmination of the other. The whole tenor of the minutes is one of total premeditation and implied continuity. They are a sanitized version of reality which suggests a reassuring level of control over events. What is more, the minutes record the debating of certain issues in an official and democratic forum, so that those not involved in the process can be assured that the decision was not taken lightly. As Dong Bennett, an administrative and financial manager with Allied Breweries, explains: "Time and effort are seen to have been invested in scrutinizing a certain course of action. " Key individuals are also seen to have put their names behind that particular course of action. The decision can therefore proceed with the full weight of the organization behind it, even if it actually went through "on the nod". At the same time, the burden of responsibility is spread, so that no individual takes the blame. Thus, the public nature of formal meetings confers a degree of legitimacy on what happens in them. Having a view pass unchallenged at a meeting can be taken to indicate consensus. However, meetings also serve as an alibi for action, as demonstrated by one manager who explained to his subordinates: " I did what I could to prevent it — I had our objections minutes in two meetings. " The proof of conspicuous effort was there in black and white. By merely attending meetings, managers buttress their status, while non-attendance can carry with it a certain stigma. Whether individual managers intend to make a contribution or not, it is satisfying to be considered one of those whose views matter. Ostracism, for senior managers, is not being invited to meetings. As one cynic observed, meetings are comfortingly tangible: " Who on the shop floor really believes that managers are working when they tour the works? But assemble them behind closed doors and call it a meeting and everyone will take it for granted that they are hard at work. " Managers are being seen to earn their corn. Meetings provide managers with another form of comfort too — that of formality. Meetings follow a fixed format: Exchanges are ritualized, the participants are probably known in advance, there is often a written agenda, and there is a chance to prepare. Little wonder then, that they come as welcome relief from the upheaval and uncertainty of life outside the meeting room. Managers can draw further comfort from the realization that their peers are every bit as bemused and fallible as themselves. Meetings provide constant reminders that they share the same problems, preoccupations and anxieties, that they are all in the same boat. And for those who may be slightly adrift, meetings are ideal occasions for gently pulling them round. As Steve Styles, the process control manager (life services) at Legal & General, puts it: "The mere presence of others in meetings adds weight to teasing or censure and helps you to '' round up the strays ''. "Such gatherings therefore provide solace and direction for the management team — a security blanket for managers. Meetings do serve a multitude of means as well as ends. They relieve managerial stress and facilitate consensus. For the organization, they have a safety-net-cum-rubber-stamping function without which decisions could not proceed, much less gather momentum. In short, meetings are fundamental to the well-being of managers and organizations alike.