The tables in this display are on sale because they have a few imperfections in the finish.

The discovery that, fiction excluded, all bodies fall at the same rate is so simple to state and to grasp that there is a tendency to ______ its significance.

Passage Four If you choose lobster from a menu, then wherever you are in the world, the odds are that your dinner may have come from Arichat in Nova Scotia. The lobster, trapped off the Canadian coast, would have been driven to Louisville, Kentucky, where, cocooned in gel packs and styrofoam, it went for a wild ride on the carousels of the UPS superhub, where 17,000 high-speed conveyor belts, carrying more than 8m packages a week, whisk your living lobster to a plane and on onto tables across the globe. John McPhee's new book is about supply lines: how a lobster shares a conveyor belt with Bentley spare parts and jockey underwear. It is about boats, trains and trucks, but mostly it is about the people who drive, tend and love the machines. Don Ainsworth owns an 18-wheeler with 'a tractor of such dark sapphire that only bright sunlight could bring forth its colour.' To wash his truck Mr. Ainsworth uses only water that has either been de-ionised or has undergone reverse-osmosis; anything else leaves spots. 'This is as close as a man will ever know', he says, 'what it feels like to be a truly gorgeous woman. People give us looks, going thumbs up.' He carries chemicals all across North America where his enemies are gators, bears and four-wheelers.' Gators are huge strips of shredded tyre littering the highways and just one of them 'can rip off your fuel-crossover line'. A bear is a policeman, while a four-wheeler is any vehicle that has fewer than 18 wheels. They buzz around like gnats, seemingly unaware that a real vehicle, one with 18 wheels or more, cannot stop on a dime. The Billy Joe Bolingis a towboat which, perversely, pushes 15 barges up the Illinois River. The barges carry 30,000 tons of pig-iron, steel, coils, fertiliser and furnace coke. Lashed together with steel cables which are then tightened with cheater bars, the Billy Joe Bolingshoves forward a metal raft that is longer than an aircraft carrier. Along the way, the captain copes with bridges, locks, currents, shoals, winter ice 18 inches thick and summer ladies flashing at him. ' We brought 12,000 tons of coke up the Illinois River,' the skipper tells the author, 'and now we're pushing 14,000 tons of coke down the Illinois River. One day they'll figure it out and put us out of a job.' The bosses also want to put the drivers of the coal train out of a job. They dream of automated trains running endlessly along the 1,800 miles between the strip-mines of the Powder River Basin and Georgia's Plant Scherer, the world's largest coal-fired power station. A mile-and-half long train has 133 gondolas, each of which carries 115 tons of coal, and the whole trainload will keep Plant Scherer burning for just eight hours. This book will keep you much longer. It is Mr. McPhee at his wise, wry best, writing in top gear which, as Mr Ainsworth will tell you, is the 18th: 'the going home gear, the smoke hole'.

《孙子兵法》

The path follows the river closely, occasionally ______ round a clump of trees.

economic recession

The ship ______ at Sydney and we spent a day touring the city.

Passage Two Science is a dominant theme in our culture. Since it touches almost every facet of our life, educated people need at least some acquaintance with its structure and operation. They should also have an understanding of the subculture in which scientists live and the kinds of people they are. An understanding of general characteristics of science as well as specific scientific concepts is easier to attain if one knows something about the things that excite and frustrate the scientist. This book is written for the intelligent student of lay person whose acquaintance with science is superficial; for the person who has been presented with science as a musty storehouse of dried facts; for the person who has been presented with science as the production of gadgets; and for the person who views the scientists as some sort of magician. The book can be used to supplement a course in any science, to accompany any course that attempts to give an understanding of the modern world, or independently of any course—simply to provide a better understanding of science. We hope this book will lead readers to a broader perspective on scientific attitudes and a more realistic view of what science is, who scientists are, and what they do. It will give them an awareness and understanding of the relationship between science and our culture and an appreciation of the roles science may play in our culture. In addition, readers may learn to appreciate the relationship between scientific views and some of the values and philosophies that are pervasive in our culture. We have tried to present in this book an accurate and up-to-date picture of the scientific community and the people who populated it. That population has in recent years come to comprise more and more women. This increasing role of women in the scientific subculture is not a unique incident but, rather, part of the trend evident in all segments of society as more women enter traditionally male-dominated fields and make significant contributions. In discussing these changes and contribution, however, we are faced with a language that is implicitly sexist, one that uses male nouns or pronouns in referring to unspecified individuals. To offset this built-in bias, we have adopted the policy of using plural nouns and pronouns whenever possible and, when absolutely necessary, alternating he and she. This policy is far from being ideal, but it is at least an acknowledgment of the inadequacy of our language in treating half of the human equally. We have also tried to make the book entertaining as well as informative. Our approach is usually informal. We feel, as do many other scientists, that we shouldn't take ourselves too seriously. As the reader may observe, we see science as a delightful pastime than as a grim and dreary way to earn a living.

The ______ of smoking among women, formerly negligible, has grown to such a degree that lung cancer has become the chief causer of cancer-related deaths among women.

The author took a ______ approach to the topic. He presented both sides of the issue evenhandedly and did not let his own feelings intrude.

In the sporting world today it is no longer professional athletes alone who are looking for ways to enhance their athletic performance. Many casual athletes are just as keen as the professionals to increase their competitiveness and to boost their levels of athletic achievement. One of the most common ways to perform at a higher level is to fill up on popular fitness foods, such as protein powders, power bars and fitness drinks. Performance foods, as they are often called, have become big business. As sales continue to increase, so do the expectations of those athletes who use them. Yet despite numerous claims, scientific facts and personal anecdotes, many fitness foods may offer little more than the promise of increased athletic performance. One of the most widely known aids used in sports circles, especially among weight lifters, is the protein power drink. Runners and other endurance athletes have adopted it for energy, stamina and extra protein to help promote muscle repair. But after years of study many experts are still unable to confirm if the body needs additional protein, especially since most people's daily food intake provides twice the required amount of protein. At one time, many athletes who competed in endurance sports such as distance running and competitive cycling stuffed themselves with energy bars crammed full of protein, vitamins, fibre and minerals. Many of these power-packed snack bars gained poor marks when it came to nutritional value. Nutritionists noted that as much as 50 per cent of the calories in these bars came from fat content, not the kind most sports people need and certainly not equal to the nutritional value of well-balanced meal. In recent years the most widely used sports aid is the glucose drink, a diluted mixture of glucose, sucrose, sodium and potassium. Several studies have shown that these types of products may do some good, especially to the endurance-sports person working out in warm weather and to people who perspire heavily. But for the average athlete who exercise lightly for short periods, the glucose drink is little more than a thirst quencher, as eating habits provide plenty of the fluids, salts. Proof isn't conclusive. Whatever the future holds for fitness foods, one thing is certain: the hopes and aspirations for them fall short of the desires of potential users. The best enhancement for athletic achievement remains simple high carbohydrate diets, low in fat and packed with nutrient and antioxidant rich grains, fruit and vegetables.

She was extremely lucky; when her great-uncle died, she ______ a fortune.

If you ______ your demand, then maybe you will have more chance of getting the job you want.

三通

cast pearls before a swine

Linda was ______ the experiment a month ago, but she changed her mind at the last minute.

IPO

UFO

Inflation has surged in recent months due to double-digit spike in sensitive food prices blamed on shortages of pork and other basic goods.

If you put up your hand, it will ______ that you agree with me.