单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} The award of the Nobel science prizes often brings blinking into the limelight people who have laboured unknown to the wider world. Seldom, though, is there such a compelling human story to go with the intellectual one as that of Mario Capecchi, one of the' winners of the medicine prize. His father was an airman who was killed in North Africa during the Second World War. His mother was sent to Dachau concentration camp. He survived more than three years as a street kid in Italy before migrating to America after the war was over—and yet he ended up helping to develop one of the most important tools of modern biology, the knockout mouse. It is not quite a rags-to-riches story. In truth, his family was well connected in a bohemian sort of way, and his mother (the daughter of a painter and an archaeologist) was an American. But it does make great copy for reporters covering an event that has the true characteristics of celebrity. For, like many of those who populate the pages of celebrity magazines, the Nobel prizewinners are most famous for being famous. In most years, the prize-winning work itself makes dull copy. This year, however, the prize committees of the Karolinska Institute (Sweden's main medical school) and the country's Royal Academy of Science seem to have taken some lessons in public relations. Not only have they picked a researcher with an interesting back-story, but they have also cunningly disguised a deserved but possibly contentious award by bundling it in with something else. On top of that, one of the topics chosen for a prize has an obvious resonance with the public. The bundling was done in the medicine prize. Dr Capecchi shares this with Oliver Smithies, another immigrant to America (he was born in Britain) and Sir Martin Evans, a Briton who stayed at home. Working independently, these three men provided the parts that, when put together, enable the elimination of one gene at a time from the genetic make-up of a mouse. That is of medical significance because it allows mouse "models" of human genetic diseases to be made--and most diseases have at least some genetic component. The physics prize, by contrast, has nothing but feel-good about it. It is for giant magnetoresistance—the basis of modern computer hard-drive memories. The phenomenon itself was discovered, independently, by Albert Fert, a Frenchman, and Peter Grunberg, a German, in 1988. Its significance is that a small magnetic field can induce a large change in the electrical conductivity of an appropriately designed material. The result has been that the amount of data computers can store has grown even faster than their ability to process it.

单选题German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck may be most famous for his military and diplomatic talent, but his legacy includes many of today''s social insurance programs. During the middle of the 19th century, Germany, along with other European nations, experienced an unprecedented rash of workplace deaths and accidents as a result of growing industrialization. Motivated in part by Christian compassion for the helpless as well as a practical political impulse to undercut the support of the socialist labor movement, Chancellor Bismarck created the world''s first workers'' compensation law in 1884. By 1908, the United States was the only industrial nation in the world that lacked workers'' compensation insurance. America''s injured workers could sue for damages in a court of law, but they still faced a number of tough legal barriers. For example, employees had to prove that their injuries directly resulted from employer negligence and that they themselves were ignorant about potential hazards in the workplace. The first state workers'' compensation law in this country passed in 1911, and the program soon spread throughout the nation. After World War II, benefit payments to American workers did not keep up with the cost of living. In fact, real benefit levels were lower in the 1970s than they were in the 1940s, and in most states the maximum benefit was below the poverty level for a family of four. In 1970, President Richard Nixon set up a national commission to study the problems of workers'' compensation. Two years later, the commission issued 19 key recommendations, including one that called for increasing compensation benefit levels to 100% of the states'' average weekly wages. In fact, the average compensation benefit in America has climbed from 55% of the states'' average weekly wages in 1972 to 97% today. But as most studies show, every 10% increase in compensation benefits results in a 5% increase in the numbers of workers who file for claims. And with so much more money floating in the workers'' compensation system, it''s not surprising that doctors and lawyers have helped themselves to a large slice of the growing pie.

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

单选题Professor Meredith Thring, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Queen Mary College, London showed off his latest invention to the Press yesterday. It is a mechanical coal miner which, he claims, could solve Britain''s energy problems within ten years. Not that he thinks the National Coal Board will be at all interested. " I have taken my previous ideas of mechanical mining to previous Chairmen of the Board but each time nothing has happened," he said. "The Board are not thinking enough about the future. My latest idea would put the cost of coal down and produce twice as much with the same labour force. " Professor Thring finished making his mechanical coal miner only on Sunday night. He showed the wooden model yesterday at Queen Mary College. It is rather like a giant ant, with a headlight, two TV camera "eyes" , and arms the same size and strength as human arms. This particular coal miner, however, would only be eighteen inches tall, which would enable it to mine much smaller areas of coal than those that can be mined by human beings. It would open up rich areas of coal in the Durham coal fields which have not been workable since the last century. " I would have thought the unions would be delighted with the mechanical coal miners," said Professor Thring. " We would be employing as many miners as at present, with all their skills, but they would all be working on the surface. " The human miner would in fact sit at the controls above ground. He would put his hands into "gloves" and work the metal hands of the coal miner as if they were his own. The mechanical miner could go down as deep as 10,000 feet, and would cost ￡10,000. " It will put the cost of coal down because the cost of the machines is going to be very low in relation to the present cost of supplying fresh air to mines," said Professor Thring. " There need to be no oxygen present, and this would mean there would be no risk of explosions. " The Professor does his economic sums as follows. Britain needs each year as much energy as 350 million tons of coal would provide; and North Sea oil will only provide the same amount of energy as 150 million tons of coal for fifty years, while the cost of nuclear power is ten times greater than the cost of getting oil. " We can get ten times as much coal as North Sea oil. We could have 250 million tons a year — double the present amount — for 200 years at least, and solve the energy crisis. The mechanical coal miner could be developed and active within six or seven years. " Could be, certainly! But Professor Thring knows very well how much luck he will need to succeed, which is why he gave the public display of his latest invention yesterday, to try to get opinion-makers on his side.

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单选题From the passage we can guess that peso is _________.

单选题{{B}}TEXT 3{{/B}} Many things make people think artists are weird-the odd hours, the nonconformity, the clove cigarettes. But the weirdest may be this: artists' only job is to explore emotions, and yet they choose to focus on the ones that feel lousy. Art today can give you anomie, no problem. Bittersweetness? You got it. Tristesse? What size you want that in? But great art, as defined by those in the great-art-defining business, is almost never about simple, unironic happiness. This wasn't always so. The earliest forms of art, like painting and music, are those best suited for expressing joy. But somewhere in the 19th century, more artists began seeing happiness as insipid, phony or, worst of all, boring-in Tolstoy's words, "All happy families are alike." We went from Wordsworth's daffodils to Baudelaire's flowers of evil. In the 20th century, classical music became more atonal, visual art more unsettling. Artists who focused on making their audiences feel good, from Usher to Thomas Kinkade, were labeled "pop." Sure, there have been exceptions (say, Matisse's The Dance), but it would not be a stretch to say that for the past century or so, serious art has been at wm' with happiness. In 1824, Beethoven completed the "Ode to Joy." In 1962, novelist Anthony Burgess used it in A Clockwork Orange as the favorite piece of his ultraviolent antihero. If someone rifles an art movie Happiness, it is a good bet that it will be, as the 1998 Todd Solondz film was, about deeply unhappy people, including a telephone pervert and a pedophile. You could argue that art became more skeptical of happiness because modern times have seen such misery. But it's not as if earlier times didn't know perpetual war, disaster and the massacre of innocents. The reason, in fact, may be just the opposite: there is too much damn happiness in the world today. After all, what is the one modern form of expression almost completely dedicated to depicting happiness? Advertising, the rise of anti-happy art almost exactly tracks the emergence of mass media, and with it, a commercial culture in which happiness is not just an ideal but an ideology. People in earlier eras were surrounded by reminders of misery. They worked gruelingly, lived with few protections and died Young. In the West, before mass communication and literacy, the most powerful mass medium was the church, which reminded worshippers that their souls were in peril and that they would someday be meat for worms. On top of all this, they did not exactly need their art to be a bummer too. Today the messages your average Westerner is bombarded with are not religious but commercial, and relentlessly happy. There are fast-food eaters, news anchors, text messengers, all smiling, smiling, smiling, except for that guy who keeps losing loans to Ditech. Our magazines feature beaming celebrities and happy families in perfect homes. (Tolstoy clearly never edited a shelter mag.) And since these messages have an agenda, to pry our wallets from our pockets, they make the very idea of happiness seem bogus. "Celebrate!" commanded the ads for the arthritis drug Celebrex, before we found out it could increase the risk of heart attacks.

单选题Wheredidclassicalmusicoriginate?A.InAsia.B.InAfrica.C.InEurope.D.InAustralia.

单选题Accordingtothewoman,whatgovernstheclotheswewear?A.Adesiretoexpressoneselfandshowone'swealth.B.Individualtasteandloveforbeauty.C.Loveforbeautyandadesiretoimpressotherpeople.D.Individualtasteandadesiretoexpressoneself.

单选题 Questions 14 to 16 are based on the conversation between a couple talking about computer. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 14 to 16.

单选题 Questions 11 to 13 are based on the following narration on study about eccentricity. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 11 to 13.

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

单选题Schools used to be considered places to prepare young people for life. After their education was finished, they were supposed to get ready to go out into the real world. But many adults these days are coming back to "schools of continuing education" and "centers of lifelong learning". They feel that one's education is never really ended, because one is never too old to learn. A fast-growing number of older students are helping schools that once ignored their needs. Filling empty seats in classrooms from Maine to Hawaii, students who are 25 and older are having a great effect on all fields of higher education. In all, there are 17 million of them. Programs include courses offered by high schools, local governments, federal agencies, and private groups. But it is at the college level where effects are the greatest. Educators say the registration of older students is caused by a growing feeling of Americans that education is a life-long effort. It has provided new variety as well as needed dollars to schools, traditionally intended for students in their teens anti early twenties. According to Census Bureau estimates, Olin Cook, Director of Higher Education for the state of Arkansas, says: "Adult education will keep the classes filled and the bills paid." Teachers say that there has been a definite effect on classrooms and course work. Older students are described as more serious and mature, frequently more demanding of instructors, and more willing to contribute personal experiences to discussions. "They realize that they are here to do X, Y, Z, and they want the professor to teach them that. They are very attentive and concerned. " A Michigan educator, Elinor P. Waters says that the presence of older students on campus "will take us a step closer to the real world; there will he fewer irrelevant courses and more practical ones". Why do adults want to re-enter academic life? School administrators say high unemployment is one of the biggest reasons, forcing many Americans to develop new skills. In addition, a large number of women who left school to raise families or who want jobs that require a college diploma are going back to school. College graduates are returning for second degrees to start new careers. And there are thousands of retired persons who are seeking good use of their free time. Many students feel that they are better prepared for learning than they were when they were younger. For example, Jane Pirozzolo, who will soon receive a degree in English from Boston University, graduated from junior college in 1967 and has worked as a secretary since then Explaining her decision to return to school, she says: "I felt overqualified for the jobs I was doing, and they were becoming increasingly boring. Now I feel I can understand what the professor wants, and I can study and read better than I could ten years ago. I feel like I'm one step ahead of the young students." Most educators are convinced that the growth of adult learning is an important change in American education. Proof of the great interest in adult education is the action being taken to attract adult students.

单选题 {{I}}Questions 15 to 17 are based on a talk on student housing. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 15 to 17.{{/I}}

单选题When it comes to the slowing economy, Ellen Spero isn't biting her nails just yet. But the 47-year-old manicurist isn't cutting, filling or polishing as many nails as she'd like to, either. Most of her clients spend $12 to $50 weekly, but last month two longtime customers suddenly stopped showing up. Spero blames the softening economy. "I'm a good economic indicator," she says, "I provide a service that people can do without when they're concerned about saving some dollars." So Spero is downscaling, shopping at middle-brow Dillard's department store near her suburban Cleveland home, instead of Neiman Marcus. "I don't know if other clients are going to abandon me, too." she says. Even before Alan Greenspan's admission that America's red-hot economy is cooling, lots of working folks had already seen signs of the slowdown themselves. From car dealerships to gap outlets, sales have been lagging for months as shoppers temper their spending. For retailers, who last year took in 24 percent of their revenue between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the cautious approach is coming at a crucial time. Already, experts say, holiday sales are off 7 percent from last year's pace. But don't sound any alarms just yet. Consumers seem only concerned, not panicked, and many say they remain optimistic about the economy's long-term prospects, even as they do some modest belt-tightening. Consumers say they're not in despair because, despite the dreadful headlines, their own fortunes still feel pretty good. In Manhattan, "there's a new gold rush happening in the $4 million to $10 million range, predominantly fed by Wall Street bonuses," says broker Barbara Corcoran. In San Francisco, prices are still rising even as frenzied overbidding quiets. "Instead of 20 to 30 offers, now maybe you only get two or three," says John Deadly, a Bay Area real-estate broker. And most folks still feel pretty comfortable about their ability to find and keep a job. Many folks see silver linings to this slowdown. Potential homebuyers would cheer for lower interest rates. Employers wouldn't mind a little fewer bubbles in the job market. Many consumers seem to have been influenced by stock-market swings, which investors now view as a necessary ingredient to a sustained boom. Diners might see an upside, too. Getting a table at Manhattan's hot new Alain Ducasse restaurant need to be impossible. Not anymore. For that, Greenspan & Co. may still be worth toasting.

单选题Questions 1--3 Choose the best answer.

单选题{{B}}Text 1{{/B}} There are no fossil remains of Stone Age hang gliders or trading records from pre-Columbian stock exchanges, but risk-taking behavior is as old as the sabertooth. Yet what compels modern adventurers to do such foolhardy things as jumping off dizzying cliffs or speculating in Internet stocks? Amateur analysts once psychobabbled about a death risk -- an old Freudian cliché that said risk takers were really driven by subconscious feelings of guilt. Nowadays scientists say the real roots of such behavior are as likely to be found in the convoluted chemistry of the genes as in the id or the superego. Long before genes were discovered, Darwin suspected that behavior was at least partly inherited. But only recently have scientists working in the burgeoning field of behavioral genetics begun to link specific stretches of DNA with personality traits. Studying the DNA of subjects who were identified as curious and excitable -- two of the common characteristics of those who look for novelty and thrills -- Israeli scientists found that these people had longer versions of a gene known as D4DR than did subjects who were typed as laid-hack and reflective. It quickly became known as the novelty-or thrill-seeking gene. Shortly thereafter, an American team found a second gene, on a different chromosome, that appears to regulate anxiety. Scientists have yet to figure out how such genes might work, other than to control the flow of certain chemicals in the bratty. The thrill-seeking gene, for example, seems to facilitate absorption by nerve cells of dopamine, one of the brain's chemical messengers and a key modulator of pleasure and emotion. Similarly, the anxiety gene appears to work by affecting levels of serotonin, a mood chemical linked with feelings of satisfaction. But can such genes actually determine behavior? More important, if we happen to possess them in our chromosomes, will we inevitably grow into high rollers or high divers? Not at all, says molecular biologist Dean Hamer, a pioneer in the new field of molecular psychology. Unlike the genes that control physical traits -- the color of our eyes, say, or the shape of our nose -- such DNA merely {{U}}predisposes{{/U}} us to certain behaviors. "Genes are not switches that say 'sky' or 'outgoing' or 'happy' or 'sad', "he and co-author Peter Copeland write in their book Living with Our Genes. "Genes are simply chemicals that direct the combination of more chemicals." But some chemicals, like dopamine, can have far-flung effects. Because dopamine creates sensations of pleasure, he says, those who inherit the thrill seeking gene might want to stimulate dopamine production by pushing the danger button, whether with edgy sports for long days or e-trading.

单选题Unit 5 This section is designed to test your ability to understand spoken English. You will hear a selection of recorded materials and you must answer the questions that accompany them. There are three parts in this section, Part A, Part B and Part C. Remember, while you are doing the test, you should first put down your answers in your test booklet, NOT on the ANSWER SHEET. At the end of the listening comprehension section, you will have 5 minutes to transfer your answers from your test booklet to ANSWER SHEET 1. If you have any questions, you may raise your hand NOW as you will not be allowed to speak once the test has started.Part A You will hear a talk on people's "felt images". As you listen, answer questions 1 to 10 by circling True or False. You will hear the talk ONLY ONCE. You now have 60 seconds to read questions 1—10.

单选题Earthquake survivors trapped in rubble could one day be saved by an unlikely rescuer: A robotic caterpillar that burrows its way through debris. Just a few centimeters wide, the robot relies on magnetic fields to propel it through the kind of tiny crevices that would foil the wheeled or tracked search robots currently used to locate people trapped in collapsed buildings. The caterpillar"s inventor, Norihiko Saga of Akita Prefectural University in Japan, will demonstrate his new method of locomotion at a conference on magnetic materials in Seattle. In addition to lights and cameras, a search caterpillar could be equipped with an array of sensors to measure other factors—such as radioactivity or oxygen levels—that could tell human rescuers if an area is safe to enter. The magnetic caterpillar is amazingly simple. It moves by a process similar to peristalsis, the rhythmic contraction that moves food down your intestine. Saga made the caterpillar from a series of rubber capsules filled with a magnetic fluid consisting of iron particles, water, and a detergent-like surfactant, which reduces the surface tension of the fluid. Each capsule is linked to the next by a pair of rubber rods. The caterpillar"s guts are wrapped in a clear, flexible polymer tube that protects it from the environment. To make the caterpillar move forwards, Saga moves a magnetic field backwards along the caterpillar. Inside the caterpillar"s "head" capsule, magnetic fluid surges towards the attractive magnetic field, causing the capsule to bulge out to the sides and draw its front and rear portions up. As the magnetic field passes to the next capsule, the first breaks free and springs forward and the next capsule bunches up. In this way, the caterpillar can reach speeds of 4 centimeters per second as it crawls along. Moving the magnetic field faster can make it traverse the caterpillar before all the capsules have sprung back to their original shapes. The segments then all spring back, almost but not quite simultaneously. Saga plans to automate the movement of the caterpillar by placing electromagnets at regular intervals along the inside of its polymer tube. By phasing the current flow to the electromagnets, he"ll be able to control it wirelessly via remote control. He also needs to find a new type of rubber for the magnetic capsules, because the one he"s using at the minute eventually begins to leak. But crawling is not the most efficient form of locomotion for robots, says Robert Full of the University of California at Berkeley, an expert in animal motion who occasionally advises robotics designers. "If you look at the energetic cost of crawling, compared to walking, swimming or flying, crawling is very expensive," he says. Walking, on the other every step, energy is conserved in the foot and then released to help the foot spring up. Saga acknowledges this inefficiency but says his caterpillar is far more stable than one that walks, rolls on wheels or flies. It has no moving parts save for a few fluid-filled rubber capsules. Biped robots and wheeled robots require a smooth surface and are difficult to miniaturize, and flying robots have too many moving parts. "My peristaltic crawling robot is simple and it works," he says.

单选题Questions 14—16 are based on the following talk about the bank credit card.