单选题The opinion of many engineers is that the architects that designed the New York World Trade Center Twin Towers did a good job in designing the buildings. The buildings were safe from the hazards envisioned at the time. Indeed, they were designed to withstand the force of aircraft that might crash into them. They were not, however, designed to withstand the effects of the very high temperatures generated by the ignition of tons of aviation fuel carried by the aircraft. Steel lightly covered with concrete is the main structural component of the towers and steel loses a lot of structural strength when heated to 1,100 degrees Centigrade and beyond, as it was. To shield the steel the towers beams were coated with a few centimeters of concrete. That insulation was to provide structural integrity for at least 1 hour of fire. The towers met that test. The south tower lasted 62 minutes. The north, 103 minutes. Tragedy followed when not all could escape prior to the collapse. Most experts agree that the Twin Towers were very well-designed. Many also agree that the people planning the attacks were very knowledgeable and aimed the aircraft at a height that would effect the most damage. The aircraft crash and the resulting fuel fed fires were aimed at about the 90th floor. That was just high enough to insure that the upper floors would weaken with the heat and crack down, dropping into the remaining part of the building. The mass of the falling top floors created such a falling load that some experts estimate it exceeded by 5 to 10 times normal bearing loads. The effect was like a giant hammer, each floor contributing more weight to be born by the next floor down. Were the Trade Towers well designed? Engineers say yes. But the public believes that architects will never again design a tall building without considering the effects of terrorist attacks of all potential kinds. That not only includes the ability of the structure to withstand attack but the means to allow the buildings occupants to escape in time to survive.

单选题Millions of Americans lack health insurance and, with the economy floundering, that is likely to increase, the National Academy of Sciences reported Thursday. "Unless health insurance is made more affordable, the number of uninsured Americans is likely to continue growing over time," said Mary Sue Coleman, co-chairwoman of the committee that wrote the report. The report is the first of six planned by the Institute of Medicine over two years. The series is planned to find out who lacks health insurance and why, determine what the consequences are and provide the groundwork for debate on how to correct the problem. The institute is part of the academy, a private organization charactered by Congress to advise the government of scientific matters. This first report seeks to draw a picture of the millions who lack insurance. It does not offer any recommendations. "Much of what Americans think they know about the uninsured is wrong," said Dr. Arthur Kellermann, a public health professor at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, who also worked on the report. The Census Bureau reported last month that 38. 7 million Americans went without coverage for all of 2000, compared with 39. 3 million the year before, thanks to the booming economy. Experts say the trend is likely to reverse this year, given that the economy was slowing even before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "Unfortunately, the recent economic slowdown might have reversed the modest gains in coverage for shorter periods. " The report said that with insurance costs rising, more employers and individuals may conclude they are unable to afford coverage. Premium increases were often absorbed by employers in the strong economy of the 1990s, but that may not continue as the economy softens, the report said. The panel found that about 13.6 million of the uninsured work for employers that do not offer health insurance. Individually purchased coverage may be prohibitively costly. In the case of such public insurance programs as Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the report said that stringent eligibility requirements and enrollment processes can make coverage difficult to obtain and hard to keep.

单选题Her hair was wet and the mascara she had applied so carefully that morning ran in dark circles under her eyes.

单选题Questions 24-30 ·Look at the questions for this part. ·You will hear a passage about changes in the rankings of British universities. ·For questions 24-30, indicates which of the alternatives A, B, or C is the most appropriate response. ·Mark one letter A, B or C on the Answer Sheet.

单选题Read the following article from a book and answer questions 19-25. For questions 19-25, choose the correct answer A, B, C or D. Mark your answer on your Answer Sheet. Home Is Where the Tongue Is For all the pressures and rewards of regionalization and globalization, local identities remain the most ingrained. Even if the end result of globalization is to make the world smaller, its scope seems to foster the need for more intimate local connections among many individuals. As Bernard Poignant, mayor of the town of Quimper in Brittany, told the Washington Post, "Man is a fragile animal and he needs his close attachments. The more open the world becomes, the more ties there will be to one's roots and one's land." In most communities, local languages such as Poignant's Breton serve a strong symbolic function as a clear mark of "authenticity". The sum total of a community's shared historical experience, authenticity reflects a perceived line from a culturally idealized past to the present, carried by the language and traditions associated with the community's origins. A concern for authenticity leads most secular Israelis to champion Hebrew among themselves while also acquiring English and even Arabic. The same obsession with authenticity drives Hasidic Jews in Israel or the Diaspora to champion Yiddish while also learning Hebrew and English. In each case, authenticity amounts to a central core of cultural beliefs and interpretations that are not only resistant to globalization but also are actually reinforced by the "threat" that globalization seems to present to these historical values. Scholars may argue that cultural identities change over time in response to specific reward systems. But locals often resist such explanation and defend authenticity and local mother tongues against the perceived threat of globalization with near religious ardor. As a result, never before in history have there been as many standardized languages as there are today: roughly 1,200. Many smaller languages, even those with far fewer than one million speakers, have benefited from state-sponsored or voluntary preservation movements. On the most informal level, communities in Alaska and the American northwest have formed Internet discussion groups in an attempt to pass on Native American languages to younger generations. In the Basque, Catalan, and Galician regions of Spain, such movements arc fiercely political and frequently involve staunch resistance to the Spanish government over political and linguistic rights. Projects have ranged from a campaign to print Spanish money in the four official languages of the state to the creation of language immersion nursery and primary schools. Zapatistas in Mexico are championing the revival of Mayan languages in an equally political campaign for local autonomy. In addition to invoking the subjective importance of local roots, proponents of local languages defend their continued use on pragmatic grounds. Local tongues foster higher levels of school success, higher degrees of participation in local government, more informed citizenship, and better knowledge of one's own culture, history, and faith. Government and relief agencies can also use local languages to spread information about industrial and agricultural techniques as well as modern health care to diverse audiences. Development workers in West Africa, for example, have found that the best way to teach the vast number of farmers with little or no formal education how to sow and rotate crops for higher yields is in these local tongues. Nevertheless, both regionalization and globalization require that more and more speakers and readers of local languages be multi-literate.

单选题Read the following article and answer questions 19-25. For questions 19-25, choose the correct answer A, B, C or D. Mark your answer on the Answer Sheet Digging up the past isn't always the exhilarating experience people commonly perceive it to be. Contrary to the popular image, and one partly forwarded in the movie realm, archaeologists are not the swashbuckling adventurers who risk life and limb to uncover the mythical and magical remnants of the past - and save the world in the process. In reality, archaeological work is a time consuming task and the process of unearthing a site slow and often tedious. Conditions on an excavation site are far from ideal. Exposed to the elements for long hours, drenched in the rain, steeped in the mud, or scorched by the sun and choking on dust, archaeologists patiently sift through the sands of time for evidence of civilizations gone by. While the excavations themselves don't always produce earth-shattering results or draw the widespread attention they so justly deserve, rare discoveries automatically become part of history. But, from time to time, less momentous finds yield unexpected surprises. A recent archeological find at a site in Essex of what appears to be a Celtic surgeon's toolkit - including scalpels, retractors and probes - was pretty exciting, even compared to many 'major finds' heralded in the media over the years. This one was particularly significant, demonstrating a stronger link to our past than people might think. Far from the perception of Celts as creative but warlike people, the find Shows there were keen scientific minds at work and emphasises how much modem society has in common with them. Finds like this are extremely rare but encourage the idea that when we dig we are looking for something in particular. Visitors to excavation sites are often disappointed when we haven't found anything 'exciting' - they don't realize that many of us will never come across such a find in an entire lifetime of digging. My own 'treasure' count in eleven years of digging is one small Roman gold earring found by someone else on a site where I was working. What we're actually digging for is to record the whole sequence of human activity on a site. This involves methodical recording of hundreds of layers of soil and remains of buildings long disused and buried under the debris of later occupation. It's the sequence of events which is significant here, and not any single episode. Many people are also unaware that modem professional archaeology is highly competitive and very much part of the construction industry, as well as being an academic discipline. When land is to be developed, the local government archeological officer will undertake or commission an assessment of the site to decide whether the proposed development threatens to destroy any archaeological remains. If it does, they will compile a specification for excavation work to be done to recover as much information as possible about the site. Then, archaeological units operating in a given area will tender for work on the basis of these specs. As the organisation developing the site must foot the bill for this work, they usually go for the lowest tender rather than the quality and experience of the units involved. The legislation and guidelines which protect what is termed the 'archaeological resource' emphasise protecting archaeology in the ground - using appropriately designed foundations, for example, or only digging if there's no other option. While this would seem good for archaeology, the decreasing numbers of sites available for excavation will be more keenly fought over, and with units cutting costs wherever possible it seems unavoidable that the quality of their work will suffer. The life of the Celtic surgeon is significant in its own right, but placed within the context of his culture, our understanding of both the individual and the culture is enhanced. It is this wider understanding that could be jeopardised by the loss of the more mundane and less spectacular archaeological sites.

单选题Read the following text and decide which answer best fits each space. For questions 26~45, mark one letter A, B, C or D on your Answer Sheet Nuclear Age The Oyster Creek nuclear plant in New Jersey opened when the Beatles were still together, and since 1969 its single 645MW boiling-water reactor has provided enough energy to power 600,000 homes annually. But the oldest nuclear plant in the U.S. will be retired a little【C1】______Last year its owner, Exelon. announced that it would【C2】______Oyster Creek in 2019, 10 years ahead of schedule. The reason: the【C3】______plant costs too much to keep running【C4】______. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster has focused new attention on the【C5】______future of the American atomic sector. But the U.S. nuclear industry was already facing a very【C6】______problem: its aging fleet of reactors. Nuclear plants were built with 40-year licenses that can theoretically be【C7】______to 60 or even 80 years. Half the country's 104 reactors are more than 30 years old and【C8】______middle age. So far, 62 plants have been【C9】______20-year extensions, and 20 more have applications pending【C10】______like the one in Fukushima, the oldest plants in the U.S. 【C11】______to have fewer safety measures. If regulators crack down, operators could【C12】______-as Exelon did with Oyster Creek — that upgrading is not worth the【C13】______and shut down the plants If no new nuclear plants are built to【C14】______them, nuclear could fade into obsolescence. Ironically, that could have【C15】______environmental effects. A report by the Breakthrough Institute, an energy think tank, found that replacing all U.S. nuclear【C16】______a mix of coal and gas would raise carbon【C17】______9% by 2030. "We need to understand that there would be【C18】______to pulling back on nuclear," says Michael Levi, a senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations.【C19】______a great athlete, nuclear power may be【C20】______after it retires.

单选题Most students in this class come from a backward area that didn"t have electricity.

单选题My grandfather planted some flowers in the ______.

单选题Read the following article and choose the best word for each space. For questions 26-45, mark one letter A, B, C or D on the Answer Sheet. iPhone Left in Hot Car for Three Hours The normally peaceful suburban town of Winnetka is still reeling following the news Monday【C1】______a local resident, whose name is being【C2】______by police pending a full investigation, left an iPhone unattended for more than three hours in a car【C3】______in the hot sun. "Responding to calls from【C4】______passersby, who observed the iPhone sitting in a vehicle in the parking【C5】______of the Westfield Shopping Center, police arrived on the【C6】______at approximately 4 p.m. and immediately intervened to save the device," said Winnetka police chief Douglas Blaine. "Security cameras have shown that the iPhone had been in the car — with the doors【C7】______and the windows rolled【C8】______— since 1 p.m. Due to the tragic and highly emotional【C9】______of this case, we cannot say any【C10】______at this time." According to official police records, two officers forcibly【C11】______into the car at 4:07 p.m. and found the iPhone【C12】______face down on the dashboard. The iPhone at first showed no【C13】______of life, but after a tense few seconds, officers were able to wake it and get it to【C14】______to a series of simple touch commands. Police said that if the iPhone were left in the extreme【C15】______for any longer, it could have died. The iPhone was rushed by ambulance to a nearby Apple facility for careful【C16】______Miraculously, no damage to its memory, screen, or wireless capabilities was reported. Upper-middle-class suburbanites from all over the North Shore area have reacted to the near-tragedy with an unprecedented outpouring of【C17】______. Hundreds of cards and letters have come streaming in, and local talk radio shows have been flooded【C18】______calls demanding that the iPhone's【C19】______be prosecuted. Many have come forward offering to take the iPhone into their custody, and still【C20】______have donated free downloads, ringtones, and MP3s to the victimized object.

单选题Gold rose 5% on the commodity futures market yesterday.

单选题We are sure a lot of this ______ work will be done by machine before long.

单选题Look at the ten statements for this part. You will hear a passage about "harms done by too much web surfing". You will listen to it twice. Decide whether you think each statement is right(R), wrong(W)or not mentioned(NM). Mark your answers on the Answer Sheet.

单选题A severe weather alert is now in effect for ______ southern Ohio and Indiana.

单选题The United States is trying to cope with the serious problems created by the energy crisis.

单选题Read the following article and answer questions 19-25. For questions 19-25, choose the correct answer A, B, C or D. Mark your answer on your Answer Sheet. A Real Cliffhanger The digital onslaught of e-books and Amazon-style e-tailers have put bookstores in an existential predicament. Digital books are expected to outsell print titles by 2015 in Britain, says Sam Hancock, digital product manager at HarperCollins, and even sooner in America, With the demise of HMV, that music-peddling stalwart, still fresh in everyone's minds, bricks-and-mortar bookstores appear to be on borrowed time. So, what is the future of the bookstore? This was the burning questions on everyone's lips at a recent event at Foyles's flagship bookshop on Charing Cross Road in London, where some of Britain's leading literary agents, authors, marketing managers and booksellers gathered to discuss its fate ahead of the bookseller's move from its current rambling premises to the former home of Central Saint Martin's art school just up the road For a bookstore to remain successful, it must improve "the experience of buying books," says Alex Lifschutz, an architect whose London-based practice is designing the new Foyles. He suggests an array of approaches: "small, quiet spaces cocooned with books; larger spaces where one can dwell and read; other larger but still intimate spaces where one can hear talks from authors about books, literature, science, travel and cookery." The atmosphere is vital, he adds. Exteriors must buzz with activity, entrances must be full of eye-catching presentations and a bar and cafe is essential. The trend for not only incorporating cafes in bookstores but also placing them on the top floor makes good sense. The new Foyles will have one, Mr.' Lifschutz explains, because this draws shoppers upwards floor-by-floor, which is bound to encourage people to linger longer and spend more. There are plenty of ways to delight the bookstore customer, but few are easily monetized. The consensus is that bookstores need to become cultural destinations where people are prepared to pay good money to hear a concert, see a film or attend a talk. The programming will have to be intelligent and the space comfortable. Given how common it is for shoppers to browse in shops only to buy online later, some wonder whether it makes sense to charge people for the privilege. Victoria Barnsley, head of HarperCollins, thinks it might be a good idea. She cited similar experiments among clothing retailers to charge customers for trying on merchandise. But forcing people to pay for the privilege of potentially paying for goods could deter shoppers altogether. A more attractive idea might be a membership scheme like those offered by museums and other cultural venues. Unlike reward cards, which offer discounts and other nominal benefits, a club membership could provide priority access to events(talks, literary workshops, retreats)and a private lounge where members can eat, drink and meet authors before events. Different memberships could tailor to the needs of children and students. To survive and thrive, bookstores should celebrate the book in all its forms: rare, second-hand, digital, self-printed and so on. Digital and hybrid readers should have the option of buying e-books in-store, and budding authors should have access to self-printing book machines. The latter have been slower to take off in Britain, but in America bookstores are finding them to be an important source of revenue. "The quality is now almost identical to that of a book printed by a major publishing house," says Bradley Graham, owner of a leading independent bookstore in Washington, DC, called Politics & Prose. His shop leases an Espresso Book Machine and makes it available to customers. The bookstore of the future will have to work hard. Service will be knowledgeable and personalized, the inventory expertly selected, spaces well-designed and the cultural events enticing. Whether bookstores, especially small independents are up to the challenge, is not clear. The fate of these stores is a cliffhanger.

单选题Look at the questions for this part. You will hear a passage about "WTO ". You will listen to it twice. For Questions 24-30, indicate which of the alternatives A, B, or C is the most appropriateresponse. Mark one letter A, B, or C on the Answer Sheet.

单选题It is necessary that an efficient worker ______ his work on time.

单选题Who leaked this to the press?

单选题The economic crisis has seriously affected our export.