单选题"This practice" in Paragraph 1 most probably refers to the fact that the middleman ______.

单选题 A total of 4.6 million digital televisions have been sold, and the sales of HDTV sets have quadrupled since last year. Consumers have bought HDTVs to play their DVDs and to have clearer pictures and wide screens. Only a small percentage of the people who have purchased HDTVs, however, have actually {{U}}hooked their TVs up{{/U}} to receive high-definition television digital signals. Perhaps television viewers are having trouble keeping up with the changes in technology. Even the manufacturers of HDTVs, like Mitsubishi, Thomson Multimedia, Sony, and Samsung seem to have a tough time learning how to make their sets work with the various digital TV formats because little standardization has been required or implemented in the industry. Some of the HDTVs Weigh over 200 lbs., and a variety of retailers offer a delivery service to the buyer's home to help install the heavy sets. This is known as a white-glove service and usually comes with an extra fee. After HDTV purchasers get their sets home and hook them up, they will still need to Work to get the digital signals to their systems. Most of the industry's cable providers do not yet offer high-definition programing, and only about 15% of commercial television stations have switched over to even the lowest improved digital pictures. Worse yet, viewers may need to install antenna before they can even get the digital signals to their new HDTV sets. Another frustration for home-theater seekers is that the current HDTV sets allow owners only to watch high-definition programs, not to record them.

单选题 In this section you will find after each of the passages a number of questions or unfinished statements about the passage, each with 4 (A, B, C and D) choices to answer the question or complete the statement. You must choose the one which you think fits best. Blacken the corresponding letter as required on your Machine-scoring ANSWER SHEET. Questions 61-70 are based on the following passage. While some international {{U}}couriers{{/U}} are showing signs of exhaustion, EMS (Express Mail Service), the generic name for the courier services of post offices, seems to be finding its {{U}}stride{{/U}}. Known as Datapost in Britain, as Chronopost in France, and as A1-Barid al-Mumtaz in Saudi Arabia, EMS is now second in the international courier business (jointly with TNT Skypack). Last year it delivered 5.6 million items, weighing less than 20 kilograms each, across borders. That and its annual growth rate of around 5 percent have worried DHL, the market leader, enough for it to counter-attack in the Courts. On October 26, a Dutch judge ruled against DHL on all three counts filed against the Dutch post office: that the three-initial name was too close to DHL's; that the orange lines in the EMS logo were too similar to DHL's dark red ones; and that the claim to the widest route system in the world was unfounded. DHL has threatened the Swiss post office with similar action, but it may reconsider after the Dutch ruling. EMS has some advantages over the private couriers. One is a dense ready-made network of offices, especially in Europe, the avowed target area of the private couriers. Another advantage is a long tradition of working with customs authorities. In a business where minutes count, it pays to have good friends at customs. That advantage particularly irritates the private couriers because there is no legal way to combat such unquantifiable coziness. The private courier services are also annoyed because in countries like Switzerland and Italy, where the post office is officially a monopoly, they pay it a fee. In Switzerland DHL says it pays more than SFr lm ($ 708,000) "to the competition" each year. In France the couriers have won a battle for exoneration. Although governments are under little pressure to keep prices artificially low, EMS is often cheaper than the private couriers, but not always. A recent test in Britain (on a domestic route) showed Datapost about halfway between the least and the most expensive, but gave it full marks for speed and service. Each national EMS is free to set its rates and follow its own rules on things like bulk discounts. The Universal Postal Union, based in Berne, determines how costs and revenues are split between sending and receiving countries, and standardizes procedures. More than 100 postal administrations have linked into the system—and more are coming, including Russia's. That makes the feisty EMS particularly happy since its rivals have not been allowed to serve anywhere in Russia.

单选题The interactions between China and the US will surely have a significant ______ on peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and the world as a whole.

单选题It disgusted him when atheists attacked religion: he thought they were vulgar. A. insulting B. base-minded C. rough D. vicious

单选题Upon completing his examination over the patient, the doctor offered his judgment of her conditions.

单选题Where any people have made a temporary approach to such a character, it has been because the dread of heterodox ______ was for a time suspended.

单选题If all the viruses on the planet were to disappear, a global catastrophe would ______, and the natural ecosystems of the earth would collapse in a spectacular crash under burgeoning populations of insects. A. varnish B. disperse C. contaminate D. ensue

单选题People who seek the advice of quacks and charlatans are those who ______.

单选题My company is Excellent Kitchenware Company, there nearby is a big market for kitchenware in our city.

单选题Anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff {{U}}furthered{{/U}} her reputation as an authority on Native American culture with her study of the symbols, myths, and rituals of the Huichol people.

单选题Until now the ______ of life is still beyond the knowledge of most common folks: few people know how and in what way the human organs are working and functioning.

单选题In fact, a number of recent developments suggest that new media may actually be. the salvation of old media; that online newspapers, Webzines, and e-books could preserve and extend the best aspects of the print culture while augmenting it with their various technological advantages.

单选题The Americans recoginze that the UN can be the channel for greater diplomatic activity. A. medium B. place C. resort D. tunnel

单选题Our holiday is doomed to failure without you.

单选题As technological advances put more and more time between early school life and the young person''s final access to specialized work, the stage of ________becomes an even more marked and conscious period.

单选题The human beings have polluted the environment seriously. It is time the United Nations must take some measures.

单选题It is true that London is often sunless, damp and raw, though the occasional sunny days seem all the more attractive by contrast. A. mild B. chilly C. cloudy D. moist

单选题Water makes up some 70 percentage points of the body, and drinking enough water-either tap water or expensive mineral water-will ensure that the body is properly lubricated and flushed.

单选题He was looking impatient at the visiting salesman, who showed no signs of getting ready to leave.