单选题The issue of online privacy in the Internet age found new urgency following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, sparking debate over striking the correct balance between protecting civil liberties and attempting to prevent another tragic terrorist act. While preventing terrorism certainly is of paramount importance, privacy rights should not be deemed irrelevant.
In response to the attacks, Congress quickly passed legislation that included provisions expanding rights of investigators to intercept wire, oral and electronic communications of alleged hackers and terrorists. Civil liberties groups expressed concerns over the provisions and urged caution in ensuring that efforts to protect our nation do not result in broad government authority to erode privacy rights of U. S. citizens. Nevertheless, causing further concern to civil liberties groups, the Department of Justice proposed exceptions to the attorney-client privilege. On Oct. 30, Attorney General John Ashcroft approved an interim agency rule that would permit federal prison authorities to monitor wire and electronic communications between lawyers and their clients in federal custody, including those who have been detained but not charged with any crime, whenever surveillance is deemed necessary to prevent violence or terrorism.
In light of this broadening effort to reach into communications that were previously believed to be "off-limits", the issue of online privacy is now an even more pressing concern. Congress has taken some legislative steps toward ensuring online privacy, including the Children"s Online Privacy Protection Act, and provided privacy protections for certain sectors through legislation such as the Financial Services Modernization Act. The legislation passed to date does not, however, provide a statutory scheme for protecting general online consumer privacy. Lacking definitive federal law, some states passed their own measures. But much of this legislation is incomplete or not enforced. Moreover, it becomes unworkable when states create different privacy standards; the Internet does not know geographic boundaries, and companies and individuals cannot be expected to comply with differing, and at times conflicting, privacy rules.
An analysis earlier this year of 751 U. S. and international Web sites conducted by Consumers International found that most sites collect personal information but fail to tell consumers how that data will be used, how security is maintained and what rights consumers have over their own information.
At a minimum, Congress should pass legislation requiring Web sites to display privacy policies prominently, inform consumers of the methods employed to collect client data, allow customers to opt out of such data collection, and provide customer access to their own data that has already been collected. Although various Internet privacy bills were introduced in the 107th Congress, the focus shifted to expanding government surveillance in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Plainly, government efforts to prevent terrorism are appropriate. Exactly how these exigent circumstances change the nature of the online privacy debate is still to be seen.
单选题College of Health Careers
Overview A coed school founded in 1967 that awards terminal associate degrees. 180 undergraduate students, 86% of freshmen return for a second year.
The College Proprietary, on a 1-acre urban campus. Faculty: 23 (13 full-time).
Computers: 40 terminals, PCs for student use in computer labs.
Undergraduates 180 students from 8 states and territories. 95% women, 0% part-time, 70% state residents, 0% transferred. Fields chosen: 20% health professions and related sciences.
Freshmen Application Entrance: moderately difficult. Options: early entrance, deferred entrance. Required: school transcript, recommendations, interview. Recommended SAT I or ACT. Test scores used for admission. Application deadline: rolling. Notification: continuous.
Graduation Requirements 158 quarter credits; internship.
Expenses Tuition: $5,495 full-time. Tuition guaranteed not to increase for student''s term of enrollment. College housing not available.
College Life Safety: 24-hour emergency response devices.
Major Veterinary technology.
Bee County College
Overview A coed school founded in 1965 that awards associate transfer and terminal degrees. 2,530 undergraduate students. 63% of freshmen return for a second year.
The College County-supported, on a 100-acre rural campus. Faculty: 116 (74 full-time). Library: 46,000 books, 326 periodicals, 1,550 records, tapes, and CDs. Computers; 188 terminals, PCs for student use in computer center, computer labs, classrooms, learning resource center, library, learning assistance center.
Undergraduates 2,530 students from 17 states and territories, 5 other countries. 60% women, 40% part-time, 9% transferred in, 47% have need-based financial aid. Most Popular recent majors: law enforcement/police sciences, nursing, child care/child and family studies.
Freshmen Application Open admission. Options: early entrance, deferred entrance. Required: School transcript, TOEFL for international students. Recommended: SAT I or ACT. Test scores used for counseling/ placement. Application deadline: 8/15.
Graduation 55 semester hours; computer course for business, criminal
Requirements justice, education, most vocational majors; internship (varies by major).
Expenses Area resident tuition: $420 full-time. State resident tuition: $780 full-time. Nonresident tuition: $1,260 full-time. Part-time tuition per semester ranges from $87 to $174 for area residents, $59 to $ 318 for state residents, $252 to $504 for nonresidents. College room and board: $2,220. College room only: $1,060.
College Life Drama-theatre group, choral group. Student services; personal-psychological counseling. Safety; controlled dormitory access, room security.
Majors Accounting, agricultural sciences, art, biological sciences, business administration, chemistry, child and family studies, computer science, criminal justice, economics, education, engineering, English, finance, French, history, journalism, mathematics, music, nursing, police sciences, political science, sociology, theater.
Community College
Overview A coed school founded in 1957 that awards associate transfer and terminal degrees. 7,356 undergraduate students.
The College State-supported, on a 52-acre urban campus. Faculty; 295 (150 full-time). Library; 50,000 books, 600 periodicals, 400 records, tapes, and CDs, Computers: 175 terminals, PCs for student use in computer center, learning resource center.
Undergraduates 7,356 students from 27 states and territories. 63% women, 64% part-time, 97% state residents, 13% transferred in, 9% have need-based financial aid, 2% have non-need-based financial aid, 40% 25 or older, 1% native American, 1% Hispanic, 1% African American, 1% Hispanic, 69% Asian American.
Freshmen Application Preference given to state residents. Options: early entrance. Required TOEFL for international students. Required for some: school transcript, recommendations, campus interview. Test scores used for admission. Application deadline: 7/1.
Notification: continuous until 8/15.
Graduation 60 credits; math/science requirements vary according to
Requirements program; proficiency in a foreign language at beginning level; computer course for accounting, marketing, hotel operations, office administration majors; internship.
Expenses State resident tuition: $480 full-time, $20 per credit part-time.
Nonresident tuition: $2,920 full-time, 122 per credit part-time.
Part-time mandatory fees per semester range from $5. 50 to $10.
Full-time mandatory fees; $20. Room and board; not available.
College Life Orientation program. Choral group, student-run newspaper.
Safety: 24 hour patrols.
Majors Accounting, arts, data processing, food services management, hotel and restaurant management, legal secretarial studies, liberal arts, marketing, medical assistant technologies, nursing, paralegal studies, physical therapy, secretarial studies/office management.
单选题Questions 14 to 16 are based on a passage about supermarkets. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 14 to 16.
单选题
{{I}}Questions 17~20 are based on the following talk.
You now have 20 seconds to read Questions
17~20.{{/I}}
单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}}
In their darker moments, climatologists
talk about their own "nightmare scenario". This is one where global warming has
caused such significant climatic changes that ocean currents change direction.
One scene from tile nightmare has the Gulf Stream moving south or even going
into reverse, making winter in London look and feel like a St Petersburg
January. The ocean is a great moderating influence on the
planet, soaking up heat around the tropics and depositing it in the cooler polar
regions. Yet scientists know surprisingly little about how the sea does this—
they estimate that the North Atlantic alone moves energy equivalent to the
output of several hundred million power stations. Last year
oceanographers began their biggest international research initiative to learn
more about ocean circulation. The first results from the World Ocean Circulation
Experiment demonstrate just how complex the movement of sea-water can be. They
have also given scientists a glance of the amount of heat being exchanged
between the oceans and the atmosphere. As part of the experiment, researchers
are monitoring the speed and direction of ocean currents, water temperature and
salinity. Research ships taking part will gather detailed
measurements at 24,000 points or "stations" along carefully designated
trans-ocean routes. This undertaking dwarfs the 8,000 hydrographic stations
created in the past hundred years of ocean surveying, A fleet of ships, buoys,
seabed sensors and satellites will collect so much data that Britain, one of the
40 countries taking part, has opened a research institute, the James Rennell
Centre for Ocean Circulation in Southampton, to process them.
One of the justifications for the experiment, says John Woods, director of
marine and atmospheric sciences at the Natural Environment Research Council, is
that the oceans hold the key to understanding long-term changes in the global
climate. The Earth has two "envelopes"—the ocean, consisting of slowly
circulating water, and the atmosphere, made of fast-moving air. Far from being
independent, they interact, one modifying the other until a balance is reached
between them. The present balance came about at the end of the last Ice Age,
about 10,000 years ago. Scientists hope that knowing more about the ocean's
"weather patterns" will help them to predict climate changes further
ahead. Knowing how heat is moving around the ocean is decisive
to such long-term forecasting. The top three metres of the ocean store more heat
than all of the atmosphere. Some of the heat can be transported downward between
30 metres and several thousand metres. The deeper it goes, the longer it stays
out of the atmosphere. Water heated in the equatorial region flows in shallow
currents north or south towards the poles, where it releases its heat to the air
and, as it becomes colder and denser, sinks to the sea floor, where it forms
deep, cold currents that back to the equator. John Gould, one of
the British scientists taking part in the ocean circulation experiment, is
discovering just how this occurs in the Noah Atlantic. Shallow currents, less
than 500m deep, of warm water at about 8℃ flow from the Atlantic into the
Norwegian Sea, mainly along a path that follows the point where the continental
shelf ends and the deep mid-ocean valleys begin. Meanwhile, at depth down to
5,000m, deep currents of cold water at about minus 1℃ flow south into the
Atlantic along the deep ocean valley. (Salt water at this depth does not freeze
at 0℃) Sensors positioned on the seabed have given Dr Could and
his researchers an accurate assessment of just how much cold water is flowing
back into the North Atlantic and have given up its heat to the atmosphere over
north-west Europe. In total, he estimates, about 5 million cubic metres of water
per second flows in these deep currents between Greenland and the British Isles.
This means the warm water of the North Atlantic must be giving up about 200
million megawatts of energy to the atmosphere over north-west Europe.
Research at the other end of the world, in the seas around Antarctica, is
also finding that sea-floor topography plays a crucial role in determining the
direction of ocean currents. In the past, oceanographers have assumed, for
instance, that surface currents such as the Gulf Stream do not extend much
beyond a kilometre in depth. But an analysis of currents in Antarctic waters has
shown that currents are. not concentrated in the top kilometre, but reach down
to the submerged mountain ranges. Dr Woods believes such
research will help to save lives. "More deaths can be prevented by ocean
forecasting, than by weather forecasting and our economic and social well-being
are more vulnerable to change in the ocean than in the
atmosphere."
单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}}
Text 3 Before a big
exam, a sound night's sleep will do you better than poring over textbooks. That,
at least, is the folk wisdom. And science, in the form of behavioral psychology,
supports that wisdom.But such behavioral studies cannot distinguish between two
competing theories of why sleep is good for the memory. One says that sleep is
when permanent memories form. The other says that they are actually formed
during the day, but then“edited”at night, to flush away what is superfluous.
To tell the difference, it is necessary to look into the
brain of a sleeping person, and that is hard. But after a decade of painstaking
work, a team led by Pierre Maquet at Liege University in Belgium has managed to
do it. The particular stage of sleep in which the Belgian group is interested is
rapid eye movement(REM)sleep, when brain and body are active, heart rate and
blood pressure increase, the eyes move back and forth behind the eyelids as if
watching a movie, and brainwave traces resemble those of wakefulness. It is
during this period of sleep that people are most likely to relive events of the
previous day in dreams. Dr. Maquet used an electronic
device called PET to study the brains of people as they practiced a task during
the day, and as they slept during the following night. The task required them to
press a button as fast as possible, in response to a light coming on in one of
six positions. As they learnt how to do this, their response times got faster.
What they did not know was that the appearance of the lights sometimes followed
a pattern—what is referred to as “artificial grammar”. Yet the reductions in
response time showed that they learnt faster when the pattern was present than
when there was not. What is more, those with more to
learn(i. e. the“grammar”, as well as the mechanical task of pushing the
button)have more active brains. The“editing”theory would not predict that, since
the number of irrelevant stimuli would be the same in each case. And to
eliminate any doubts that the experimental subjects were learning as opposed to
unlearning, their response times when they woke up were even quicker than when
they went to sleep. The team, therefore, concluded that
the nerve connections involved in memory are reinforced through reactivation
during REM sleep, particularly if the brain detects an inherent structure in the
material being learnt. So now, on the eve of that crucial test, maths students
can sleep soundly in the knowledge that what they will remember the next day are
the basic rules of algebra and not the incoherent talk from the radio next door.
单选题Britain, under a Labour government, considered ditching (giving up) its nuclear deterrent as a way of making crucial savings to help pave the way for an International Monetary Fund-backed rescue package during the sterling crisis of 1976, according to previously secret documents. The crisis at the highest level of government and the British lobbying of international allies for assistance are revealed in Whitehall papers released to the National Archives, under the 30-year rule, covering the months after James Callaghan became prime minister in April 1976. he succeeded Harold Wilson who made his resignation announcement on March 16 after grappling unsuccessfully for months with an economic crisis. The papers reveal the extent of the panic in 1976 as Britain was forced to go to the IMF to bail out the economy. The crisis was a defining moment, destroying confidence in Labour's economic competency and paving the way for Margaret Thatcher's rise to power. The cabinet agreed to request a £2.3bn loan, then the biggest the IMF had made, and demanded massive spending cuts. A memo by Sir John Hunt, the cabinet secretary, on December 5 warned there would have to be a review of defence spending. He explained that withdrawing from Germany would be strongly resisted by the US while "abandoning the deterrent or at least scrapping its improvement would cause much less concern to our allies". The threat to ditch the nuclear deterrent came after months of discussions and protracted cabinet haggling over departmental cost-cutting. The severity of the country's problems was spelt out on April 5, two days after Callaghan took office, in a stark report from Sir John. It said the world had been through the most serious boom and slump and the worst inflation since the war as a result of the oil crisis. "The going is likely to be rough indeed.., we are sailing in an unknown sea.., there is a serious imbalance in our economy.., unless action is taken there will be either a continuation of an unacceptably high level of unemployment or a balance of payments deficit which will be beyond our ability to finance," Sir John warned. The ensuing months saw sterling slide further, forcing the abandonment of the Labour programme of 1974, and the acceptance that the nation could no longer spend its way out of a recession, in spite of strong political resistance. Towards the end of September, Callaghan told the Trades Union Congress conference that things would never be the same again. He then rang Gerald Ford, then US president, whom he regarded as an inevitable broker of an IMF deal. A briefing note prepared for Callaghan ahead of the conversation underlined Britain's precarious poison as well as the threat to international stability; "This week I have resisted pressure at the party conference... But I cannot be sure of continuing to do this if our policies are undermined by pressure on the pound which we do not have the resources to resist. In that case our value and partner in the western community would be put gravely at risk." In his conversation. Callaghan spelt out further the political tightrope he was walking, trying to fight off the left of his party while reaching an agreement with the international community. In a letter, Callaghan warned Ford that without a solution to the sterling crisis "we would be forced into action which would put at risk this country's contribution as an ally and a partner in the western alliance and its value as a member of the international trading community". Separately, Callaghan set about lobbying Helmut Schmidt, the German chancellor, asking for a loan facility, led by the US and Germany. In November, he called Schmidt, telling him he was going to go for an IMF deal. This is an extract of the conversation. Callaghan: 'Tm going ahead with this. We either conquer or we die.," Schmidt: "... I have told our mutual friend on the other side that in my view the whole situation comes very near to a Churchillian situation in 1940. I am quite convinced that you would act with the same amount of vigour. I have no doubt about it." While Schmidt was privately sympathetic by the end of 1976 no safety net had been agreed by Germany and the US. A month later, the British government considered Sir John Hunt's advice to scrap the nuclear deterrent, amid protracted cabinet haggling over cost-cutting. The cuts turned out to be less than forecast, an IMF deal was brokered--and Britain' remained a nuclear power into a new century.
单选题
{{B}} Questions 11 to 13 are based on an
interview between a radio hostess and a botanist about his research field. You
now have 15 seconds to read Questions 11 to
13.{{/B}}
单选题
Questions 11 to 13 are based on the
following talk. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 11 to
13.
单选题Questions 14 to 17 are based on the radio news. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 14 to 17.
单选题 Questions 11 to 13 are based on a news report about a tornado which hit parts of Mexico. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 11 to 13.
单选题 The success or failure of a case often hinges on an
organizing principle known as a case theme. For example, the case theme in the
trial of Erik and Lyle Menendez, two brothers accused of murdering their
parents, was "the abuse excuse". The brothers should be excused because they had
been severely abused. A primary case theme of the O. J. Simpson defense was "the
police messed up and planted evidence". Themes are simple,
brief (one sentence!) statements that capture the essence of your argument. You
control the lens through which the facts will be viewed. For a trial lawyer,
this is absolutely critical. If the lawyer fails to establish a case theme, he
or she gives opposing counsel the advantage. Or even worse, the listeners,
or those you are trying to persuade, will adopt the theme suggested to them by
your adversary. Whoever controls the definition of the case is inevitably the
one with the power. Just as a theme gives the listeners a
generalizing principle around which information can be organized, so too does it
give you one. The great trial lawyers emphasize the need for an overall strategy
as well as day-to-day tactics. A case theme embodies a lawyer's overall strategy
in a nutshell and helps him organize the case so that he always stays on target.
Use a theme to help you stay well and easily focused on the overall thrust of
your presentation. A good case theme also greatly enhances your
credibility. When you establish a succinct, easy-to-remember theme, you
let people know that you have a well-defined and thought-out point of view. Such
specificity adds to your perceived competence and trustworthiness. Remember:
successful trial lawyers are never wishy-washy.
单选题An invention of an Italian professor
单选题
Questions 17~20 are based
on the following talk on the legal system in Great Britain. You now have 20
seconds to read Questions 17~20.
单选题Questions 14 to 16 are based on the following conversation on a taxi ride between the driver (the man) and a passenger (the woman). You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 14 to 16.
单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}}
Widespread losses of plant species and
varieties are eroding the foundations of agricultural productivity and
threatening other plant-based products used by billions of people worldwide.
Plants provide us with irreplaceable resources. The genetic diversity of
cultivated plants is essential lo breeding more productive and disease-resistant
crop varieties. But with changes in agriculture that diversity is slipping
away. Biotechnology is no solution to this loss of genetic
diversity. We are increasingly skillful at moving genes around, but only nature
can create them. If a plant with a unique genetic trait disappears, there is no
way to get it back. The effects of plant loss extend far beyond
agriculture. One in every four medicines prescribed in the U.S. is based on a
chemical compound originally found in a plant. Worldwide, some 3.5 billion
people in developing countries rely on plant-based medicine for their primary
health care. Loss of habitat from forest clearance for logging
and agriculture, pressure from nonnative species and overharvesting have
put one out of every eight plant species at risk of extinction. It is not just
obscure or seemingly unimportant plants that are in trouble. Those that we rely
upon most heavily are also declining. About two-thirds of all rare and
endangered plants in the U.S. are close relatives of cultivated species. Crop
breeders often turn to wild relatives of crops for key traits, like disease
resistance, when they cannot find those traits in cultivated
varieties. Many medicinal plants are in trouble from
overharvesting and destruction of habitat. The bark of the African cherry tree
is widely used in Europe for treating prostate disorders, but the medicinal
trade has led to severe depletion of the tree where it grows in the highlands of
Cameroon and other Central African countries. Since fewer than
1% of all plant species have been screened for bioactive compounds, every loss
of a unique habitat and its species is potentially a loss of future drugs and
medicines. Until recently, gene banks, botanical gardens and protected areas
have been the first line of defense in maintaining the diversity of plant life.
The world' s 1,600 botanical gardens collectively tend tens of thousands of
plant species. But these conventional approaches need significantly higher
levels of support. Many conservation facilities must scrape by on increasingly
scarce funding, particularly those nm by national government.
Additional steps must be taken to reform policies and practices that work
against plant diversity. Those who garner the benefits of plant diversity, such
as agribusiness and pharmaceutical consumers, should acknowledge and support
those who maintain it, including indigenous cultures and national gene
banks. Through benefit-sharing agreements, international
conservation endowments and grass-root development projects attuned to the links
between cultural and biological diversity, many options exist for
supporting plant diversity rather than diminishing
it.
单选题
单选题WhatfoodisnotprovidedformostBritishchildrenatschool?A.Ahot,cookedmeal.B.Apackedlunch.C.Burgers&pizzas.D.Healthyfood.
单选题Whatdoesthespeakersuggestthatthestudentsshoulddoduringtheterm?A.Consultwithherfrequently.B.Usethecomputerregularly.C.Occupythecomputerearly.D.Waitforone'sturnpatiently.
单选题Which of the following statcments is INCORRECT about "Naturalism"?[A] It appeared after 1830 and marked the maturity of American romanticism.[B] It is a term created by French novelist, Emile Zola.[C] Naturalistic writers believed that opinions and morality were controlled by social, economic and psychological causes.[D] Naturalistic writers were philosophical pessimists.