单选题Experiments have shown that 160 decibels of noise are lethal for small fur-bearing animals. A．protective B．deadly C．harmful D．deafening

单选题Because excessively hunting has depleted many wildlife species, game preserves are being established.

单选题Sometimes a dictionary designates a noun as attributive, which means that it can be used to describe another noun or name its attributes. A. conveys B. defines C. indicates D. explains

单选题As countries ______ to increase yields on existing croplands through intensified use of water, energy, and fertilizers, the cost of commodities will rise. A．encounter B．enchant C．enlarge D．endeavor

单选题Sofia Coppola"s "Lost in Translation" is a funny, bittersweet movie that uses cultural dislocation as a metaphor for people who have gotten lost in their own lives. The movie contains priceless slapstick from Bill Murray, finely tuned performances by Murray and the beautiful Scarlett Johansson and a visual and aural design that cultivates a romantic though melancholy mood. In only her second feature, Coppola has made a poised, intelligent film that nicely balances laughs with a poignancy rarely seen in American movies. If Focus Features markets "Lost in Translation" carefully, this most original comedy could win audiences well beyond art houses. Bob Harris (Murray) is a grumpy movie star in town to shoot a whiskey commercial. He is not only plagued by jet lag and gloom over a deteriorating marriage of many years, he is also in the midst of a midlife crisis that dampens his spirits but not his wit. Charlotte (Johansson), the neglected wife of a photographer, experiences a similar air-condi-tioned nightmare. Married two years, she already feels lost in the relationship, unable to participate in her husband"s career or pinpoint what she wants out of life. When she ventures into the city, she is confronted by a distorted version of Western modernity. These two people discover each other late at night at the bar. Neither one can sleep. A friendship evolves in their mutual isolation. Coppola sees in Tokyo"s crowded, neon-lit urban landscape a society estranged from its own culture. The night is filled with pleasure-seekers obsessed by games, toys and American pop culture. Only when Charlotte takes a train to Kyoto is she able to experience the old Japan of ancient temples and gardens, tea houses and kimono-clad figures. This role fits Murray like his own skin. A middle-aged burnout who sees no challenges on his horizon gradually changes into a man revitalized by another alienated soul. His comic touch enriches the character with a self-deprecating wit and. in a few sequences, a rubbery physicality that earns sustained laughs. Johansson makes Charlotte"s loneliness and disillusionment palpable as the woman is cut off from life in ways she never imagined. Using high-speed film stock, cinematographer Lance Acord gives the glaring neon and numbingly sleek interiors a kind of romantic sheen. The score produced by Brian Reitzell created out of Japanese musical themes and "Tokyo dream-pop" adds to the sense of an Eastern city that has succumbed in large measure to Western culture.

单选题The voters were overwhelmingly against the candidate his proposals called for higher taxes.

单选题Several theories of evolution had historically preceded that of Charles Darwin, although he expounded upon the stages of development.

单选题In fact the purchasing power of a single person's pension in Hong Kong was only 70 per cent of the value of the ______ Singapore pension． A．equivalent B．similar C．consistent D．identical

单选题Olkswagen believes it was worth sticking it out in China in the 1990s when the hopes of other foreign car makers were {{U}}dashed{{/U}}.

单选题What distinguished her in the other girls was her peculiar hairstyle.

单选题It was all agreed that the first problem the new government would have to ______ was unemployment. A. grip B. tackle C. discern D. manipulate

单选题We ______ Edison's success to his intelligence and hard work. A. describe B. subject C. attribute D. refer

单选题The bank manager asked his assistant if it was possible for him to ______ the investment plan within a week.

单选题The ______ winds in the Great Basin are from the west. Warm, moist air from the Pacific Ocean is forced upward as it crosses the Sierra Nevada.

单选题A writer who wants to convince his readers of a point of view must marshall his arguments, assert the virtues of his aponions, and ______ the possible protests of the opposition.

单选题The young man asked his parents not to worry because he was full of optimism about his career. A. confidence B. motivation C. imagination D. resolution

单选题We are not conscious of the extent {{U}}of which{{/U}} work provides the psychological satisfactionthat can make the difference between a full and empty life.

单选题Most people would be impressed by the high quality of medicine available to most Americans. There is a lot of specialization , a great deal of attention to the individual, a vast amount of advanced technical equipment, and intense effort not to make mistakes because of the financial risk which doctors and hospitals must face in the courts if they handle things badly. But the Americans are in a mess . The problem is the way in which health care is organized and financed. Contrary to public belief, it is not just a free competition system. To the private system has been joined a large public system, because private care was simply not looking after the less fortunate and the elderly. But even with this huge public part of the system, which this year will eat up 84. 5 billion dollars—more than 10 percent of the U.S. budget—large numbers of Americans are left out . These include about half the 11 million unemployed and those who fail to meet the strict limits on income fixed by a government trying to make savings where it can. The basic problem, however, is that there is no central control over the health system. There is no limit to what doctors and hospitals charge for their services, other than what the public is able to pay. The number of doctors has shot up and prices have climbed. When faced with toothache, a sick child, or a heart attack, all the unfortunate person concerned can do is pay up. Two-thirds of the population are covered by medical insurance. Doctors charge as much as they want knowing that the insurance company will pay the bill. The medical profession has as a result become America"s new big businessmen. The average income of doctors has now reached $ 100,000 a year. With such vast incomes the talk in the doctor"s surgery is as likely to be about the doctor"s latest financial deal, as about whether the minor operation he is recommending at, several thousand dollars is entirely necessary. The rising cost of medicine in the U. S.A. is among the most worrying problem facing the country. In 1981 the country"s health cost climbed 15.9 percent—about twice as fast as prices in general.

单选题A dozen years ago, James Grant—one of the wisest commentators on Wall Street—wrote a book called The Trouble with Prosperity . Grant"s survey of financial history captured his crusty theory of economic predestination . If things seem splendid, they will get worse. Success inspires overconfidence and excess. If things seem dismal, they will get better. Crisis spawns opportunity and progress. Our triumphs and follies follow a rhythm that, though it can be influenced, cannot be repealed. Good times breed bad, and vice versa. Bear that in mind. It provides context for today"s turmoil and recriminations. The recent astounding events—the government"s takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Treasury"s investments in private banks, the stock market"s wild swings—have thrust us into fierce debate. Has enough been done to protect the economy? Who or what caused this mess? We Americans want problems with instant solutions. We want victories and defeats with clear heroes and villains. We crave a world of crisp moral certitudes, when the real world is awash with murky ambiguities. So it is now. Start with the immediate question: has enough been done? Well, enough for what? If the goal is to prevent a calamitous collapse of bank lending, the answer is probably "yes". Last week, the government guaranteed most interbank loans (loans among banks) and pressured nine major banks to accept $125 billion of added capital from the Treasury. Together, these steps make it easier for banks to borrow and lend. There"s less need to hoard cash. But if the goal is to inoculate us against recession and more financial turmoil, the answer is "no". We"re probably already in recession. In September, retail sales dropped 1.2 percent. The housing collapse, higher oil prices (now receding), job losses and sagging stocks have battered confidence. Consumption spends—more than two thirds of all spending—may drop in the third quarter for the first time since 1991. Loans are harder to get, because there"s been a "correction of lax lending standards," says financial consultant Bert Ely. Economist David Wyss of Standard and nervous international investors sell everywhere. Brazil"s market has lost about half its value in the past year. In this fluid situation, one thing is predictable: the crisis will produce a cottage industry of academics, journalists, pundits, politicians and bloggers to assess blame. Is former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan responsible for holding interest rates too low and for not imposing tougher regulations on mortgage lending? Would Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin have spotted the crisis sooner? Did Republican free-market ideologues leave greedy Wall Streets types too unregulated? Was Congress too permissive with Fannie Mac and Freddie Mac? Some stories are make-believe. After leaving government, Rubin landed at Citigroup as "senior counselor." He failed to identify toxic mortgage securities as a big problem in the bank"s own portfolio. It"s implausible to think he"d have done so in Washington. As recent investigative stories in the New York Times and The Washington Post show, the Clinton administration broadly supported the financial deregulation that Democrats are now so loudly denouncing. Greenspan is a harder case. His resistance to tougher regulation of mortgage lending is legitimately criticized, but the story of his low-interest rate policies is more complicated. True, the overnight fed-funds rate dropped to 1 percent in 2003 to offset the effects of the burst tech bubble and 9/11. Still. The Fed started raising rates in mid-2004. Unfortunately and surprisingly, long-term interest rates on mortgages (which are set by the market) didn"t follow. That undercut the Fed and is often attributed to a surge of cheap capital from China and Asia. There"s a broader lesson. When things go well, everyone wants to get on the bandwagon. Skeptics are regarded as fools. It"s hard for government—or anyone else—to say, "Whoa, cowboys; this won"t last." In this respect, the tech bubble and the housing bubble were identical twins. We suffer cycles of self-delusion, sometimes too giddy and sometimes too glum. The next recovery usually lies in the ruins of the last recession. As the housing boom strengthened, lenders overlent, builders overbuilt and buyers overpaid. Existing home prices rose 50 percent from 2000 to 2006. Lending standards weakened. Investment bankers packaged dubious loans in increasingly opaque securities. But bankers—to their eventual regret—kept many bad loans themselves. Almost everyone assumed that home prices would rise forever, so risks were minimal. Congress was complicit. It allowed Fannie and Freddie to operate with meager capital. They were, in effect, giant hedge funds backed by government congress also increased the share of their mortgages that had to go to low—and moderate-income buyers, form 40 percent in 1996 to 52 percent in 2005. This blessed and promoted subprime mortgage lending. So Grant"s thesis is confirmed. We go through cycles of self-delusion, sometimes too giddy and sometimes too glum. The only consolation is that the genesis of the next recovery usually lies in the ruins of the last recession. Optimistic Americans "recognize error and put it behind them," Grant writes in the current Foreign Affairs. The Pew survey reports this contrast: though half of Americans believe there"s a recession, almost half also think the economy will improve in the next year. (by Robert J. Samuelson, from Newsweek, October 27, 2008)

单选题The reporter compares a husband to a particularly tricky musical instrument, one that a wife must learn to play ______ her advantage. A. for B. as C. to D. in