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

单选题For years, Europeans have been using "smart cards" to pay their way through the day. They use them in shops and restaurants, plug them into pubic into telephones as and parking meters. In France smart cards cover anything from a bistro bill to a swimming -pool entry fee. In American, smart cards are not nearly so common -- only about 43,000 are now circulating in the US and Canada -- but Forrester Research of Cambridge, Mass. , predicts that number will balloon to 4.7 million by the year 2002. What is a smart card, exactly, and how does it work? Also called a chip card because of the tiny mixcroprocessor embedded in it, a smart card looks like the other plastic in your wallet. To make things more confusing, some smart cards pull double duty as regular ATM bank cards. The difference is that when you swipe your ATM ( or debit) card at the grocery - store checkout, you're draining cash from your bank account. Smart cards, on the other hand, are worthless unless they are "loaded with cash value", pulled directly from your bank account or traded for currency. The chip keeps track of the amounts stored and spent. The advantage, in theory, is convenience: consumers bother less with pocket change and are able to use plastic even at traditionally cash -only vendors. The electronic transaction doesn't require a signature, a PIN number or bank approval. Downside: lose the card, lose the money. Most people are probably more familiar with stored -value cards equipped only with a magnetic strip, such as fare card issued to riders on the Washington metro or the New York City subway. The newer chip - enhanced versions, armed with more memory and processing power, have popped up in various places in the past years or so, from college campuses to military bases to sports stadiums. Other experiments are under way. A health -care claims processor in Indianapolis, Ind. , hopes smart cards will streamline medical - bill payments. In Ohio, food - stamp recipients receive a smart card rather paper vouchers. Smart cards issued for general commerce are rarer, unless you happen to live in a place designated for a test run, such as Manhattan's Upper West Side. But big bank and plastic - purveying kings Visa and MasterCard are hot for the idea, promising more extensive trials and more elaborate, multipurpose cards capable of rendering everything else you carry -- plastic, paper or coin-- superfluous. Today's smart cards may not be revolutionizing the way we buy the morning paper yet, but they could turn out to be right tool spur Internet commerce and banking. For the time being, though, smart cards are just another way to buy stuff. And it could be a while before even that catches on. Remember: some people still don't trust ATMs either.

单选题{{B}}Text2{{/B}}PaulStraussmann,retiredvicepresidentofXerox,indicatesinhisbook{{I}}informationPayoff{{/I}}that"almosthalfoftheU.S.informationworkersareinexecutive,managerial,administrativeandprofessionalpositions."Hefurtherstatesthat"managersandprofessionalsspendmorethanhalfoftheirtimeincommunicatingwitheachother."Inotherwords,peopleareacorporation'smostexpensiveresource.Foratypicaloffice,over90percentoftheoperatingbudgetisforsalaries,benefitsandoverhead.Withthisinvestment,isitanywonderthatmanagersarefocusingmoreandmoreattentiononemployeeproductivity?Theyrealizethatthepaperjunglecannotbetamedsimplybyhiringmorepeople.Toreceiveareturnontheirinvestment,wisecorporateexecutiveofficersarerealizingwhatindustrialistsandagriculturistslearnedlongago—efficienttoolsareessentialforincreasedproductivity.Adirectrelationshipexistsbetweenefficientflowofinformationandthequalityandspeedoftheoutputoftheendproduct.Forthosecompaniesusingtechnology,theperdocumentcostofinformationprocessingonlyafractionofwhatitwasafewyearsago.Thedecreasingcostofcomputersandperipherals(equipmenttiedtothecomputer)willcontinuetomaketechnologyacost-effectivetoolinthefuture.AnexampleofthistypeofsavingsisillustratedinthecaseoftheWesternDivisionofGeneralTelephoneandElectronicsCompany(GTE).Bymakingaonetimeinvestmentof10milliontoautomateitsfacilities,managementestimatesanannualsavingof8.5millionforthecompany.Thissavingsisgainedmainlythroughtheeliminationofsupportpeopleonceneededforproposalprojects.Throughatelecommunicationsnetworkthatsupports150computerterminalswithgoodgraphicscapabilities,theengineerswhoconceptualizetheprojectsarenowdirectparticipants.Theyusethegraphicscapacitiesofthecomputerratherthanrelyondrafterstopreparedrawings,theyentertheirowntextratherthanemploytypists,andtheyusethenetworktotrackprojectprogressratherthanconductingmeetings.

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单选题Which of the following is NOT true of the new Ericsson mobile phone?

单选题Which of the following was the Masterpiece of John Steinbeck? [A] Tortilla Flat [B] Of Mice and Men [C] In Dubious Battle [D] The Grapes of Wrath

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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' 11 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{{B}}Part A{{/B}} Read the following texts and answer the questions which accompany them by choosing A，B，C or D．Mark your answers on {{B}}ANSWER SHEET 1．{{/B}} {{B}}Text 1{{/B}} Opinion polls are now beginning to show that，whoever is to blame and whatever happens from now on，high unemployment is probably here to stay．This means we shall have to make ways of sharing the available employment more widely． But we need to go further．We must ask some primary questions about the future of work．Would we continue to treat employment as the norm? Would we not rather encourage many other ways for self-respecting people to work? Should we not create conditions in which many of us can work for ourselves，rather than for an employer? Should we not aim to revive the household and the neighborhood，as well as the factory and the office，as centers of production and work? The industrial age has been the only period of human history in which most people's work has taken the form of jobs．The industrial age may now be coming to an end，and some of the changes in work patterns which it brought may have to be reversed．This seems a daunting thought．But，in fact，it could provide the prospect of a better future for work．Universal employment，as its history shows，has not meant economic freedom． Employment became widespread when the enclosures of the 17th and 18th centuries made many people dependent on paid work by depriving them of the use of the land，and thus of the means to provide a living for themselves．Then the factory system destroyed the cottage industries and removed work from people's homes．Later，as transportation improved，first by rail and then by road，people commuted longer distances to their places of employment until，eventually，many people's work lost all connection with their home lives and the place in which they lived． Meanwhile，employment put women at a disadvantage．In pre-industrial time，men and women had shared the productive work of the household and village community．Now it became customary for the husband to go out to paid employment，leaving the unpaid work of the home and family to his wife．Tax and benefit regulations still assume this norm today and restrict more flexible sharing of work roles between the sexes． It was not only women whose work status suffered．As employment became the dominant form of work，young people and old people were excluded—a problem now，as more teenagers become frustrated at school and more retired people want to live active lives． All this may now have to change．The time has certainly come to switch some effort and resources away from the idealist goal of creating jobs for all，to the urgent practical task of helping many people to manage without full time jobs．

单选题WhatdayisMother'sDay?A．ThesecondSaturdayinMay.B．ThesecondSundayinMay.C．ThefirstSundayinMay.D．ThefirstSaturdayinMay.

单选题In the 3rd sentence of the first paragraph the word "pressing" is closest in meaning to

单选题 Questions 17 to 20 are based on the following news broadcast between a newscaster (the woman) and a reporter (the man). You now have 20 seconds to read Questions 17 to 20.

单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} While there is no blueprint for transforming a largely government-controlled economy into a free one, the experience of the United Kingdom since 1979 clearly shows one approach that works: privatization, in which state-owned industries are sold to private companies. By 1979, the total borrowings and losses of state-owned industries were running at about ￡ 3 billion a year. By selling many of these industries, the government has decreased these borrowings and losses, gained over ￡ 34 billion from the sales, and now receives tax revenues from the newly privatized companies. Along with a dramatically improved overall economy, the government has been able to repay 12.5 percent of the net national debt over a two-year period. In fact, privatization has not only rescued individual industries and a whole economy headed for disaster, but has also raised the level of performance in every area. At British Airways and British Gas, for example, productivity per employee has, risen by 20 percent. At associated British Ports, labor disruptions common in the 1970's and early 1980's have now virtually disappeared. At British Telecom, there is no longer a waiting list—as there always was before privatization—to have a telephone installed. Part of this improved productivity has come about because the employees of privatized industries were given the opportunity to buy shares in their own companies. They responded enthusiastically to the offer of shares; at British Aerospace. They responded enthusiastically to the offer of shares; at British Aerospace, 89 percent of the eligible work force bought shares; at Associated British Ports, 90 percent; and at British Telecom, 92 percent. When people have a personal stake in something, they think about it, the new employee-owners grew so concerned about their company's profits that during wage negotiations they actually pressed their union to lower its wage demands. Some economists have suggested that giving away free shares would provide a needed acceleration of the privatization process. Yet they miss Thomas Paine's point that "what we obtain too cheap we esteem too lightly. " In order for the far-ranging benefits of individual ownership to be achieved by owners, companies, and countries, employees and other individuals must make their own decisions to buy, and they must commit some of their own resources to the choice.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} Steve Courtney wrote historical novels. Not, he was quick to explain, over-colourful love stories of the kind that made so much money for so many women writers, but novels set, and correctly set, in historical periods. Whatever difference he saw in his own books, his readers did not seem to notice it, and his readers were nearly all women. He had studied at university, but he had been a particularly good student, and he had never afterwards let any academic knowledge he had gained interfere with his writing. Helen, his wife, who did not have a very high opinion of her husband's ability as a novelist, had been careful to say when she married him that she was not historically minded. Above all, Helen was doubtful whether her relationship with Steve would work at all in the village of Stretton, to which they had just moved. It was Steve who had wanted to move to the country, and she had been glad of the change, in principle, whatever doubts she was now having about Stretton as a choice. But she wondered whether Steve would not, before very long, want to live in London again, and what she would do if he did. The Stretton house was not a weekend cottage. They had moved into it and given up the London flat altogether, partly at least, she suspected, because that was Steve's idea of what a successful author ought to do. However, she thought he was not going to feel like a successful author half as much in Stretton as he had in London. On the other hand, she supposed he might just start dashing up to London for the day to see his agent or have lunch with his publisher, leaving her behind in Stretton, and she thought on the whole she would like that.

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单选题 {{B}}Questions 17 ～ 20 are based on the following talk. You now have 15 seconds to read Question 17 ～ 20.{{/B}}

单选题 Questions 17 to 20 are based on the following news report about Arafat's visit to China. You now have 20 seconds to rend Questions 17 to 20.

单选题According to the passage, now that the slum dwellings have gone, ______.

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

单选题Who is considered as an initiator of the "stream of consciousness" literature in the 20th century? [A] John Galsworthy. [B] Virginia Woolf. [C] Henry James. [D] T. S. Eliot.