单选题{{B}}Passage One{{/B}} My surprise over the past few winters has been the personality transformation my parents go through around mid-December as they change from Dad and Mom into Grandpa and Grandma. Yes, they become grandparents and are completely different from the people I know the other eleven and a half months of the year. The first sign of my parents' change is the delight they take in visiting toy and children's clothing stores. These two people, who usually dislike anything having to do with shopping malls, become crazy consumers. While they tell me to budget my money and shop wisely, they are buying up every doll and dump truck in sight. And this is only the beginning of the holidays! When my brother's children arrive, Grandpa and Grandma come into full form. First they throw out all ideas about a balanced diet for the grandkids. While we were raised in a house where everyone had to take two bites of corn, beets (甜菜) , or liver (foods that appeared quite often on our table despite constant complaining), the grandchildren never have to eat anything that does not appeal to them. Grandma carries chocolate in her pockets to bribe (贿赂) the littlest ones into following her around the house, while Grandpa offers "surprises" of candy and cake to them all day long. Boxes of chocolate-pie disappear while the whole-wheat bread get hard and stale. The kids love all the sweets, and when the sugar raises their energy levels, Grandma and Grandpa can always decide to leave and do a bit more shopping or go to bed while my brother and sister-in-law try to deal with their highly active kids. Once the grandchildren have arrived, Grandma and Grandpa also seem to forget all of the responsibility lectures I so often hear in my daily life. If Mickey screams at his sister during dinner, he is "developing his own personality"; if Nancy breaks Grandma's mirror, she is "just a curious child". But, if I track mud into the house while helping to unload groceries, I become "careless"; if I scold one of the grandkids for tearing pages out of my textbook, I am" impatient". If Paula talks back to her mother, Grandma and Grandpa smile at her spirit. If I say one word about all of this excessive love, Mom and Dad reappear to have a talk with me about petty jealousies.

单选题If someone just studies a few recent corporate recruitment advertisements, there will be at least one thing he or she will find common in almost all. of them. The recruiters are putting much emphasis on hiring a one-team man rather than a one-man team, in the management category at least. In accordance to this shift, the office atmosphere is changing too. CEOs of the companies at present are accessible to general employees move than' ever before. The visual distance is cut short. Office decorations are changing with more and more interlinked and free sitting arrangements. At this age, one can never ignore the psychological affect on human beings created by the respective surroundings. The corporate houses these days are spending huge amounts to unite the workforce into an active team. Active and spontaneous participation of employees in both internal and external affairs of the company and even in the decision making process are regarded as the path of progress. The main problem in the corporate team building process namely 'distancing' is predominantly inherent in employees' as well as in the employer's psyche. It is one of the basic instincts of human beings. The primary team building process is constantly fighting to throw away 'distancing' to a great distance. The ideal corporate team building events concentrate on bringing together employees who do not always get the chance to come in close, if not in personal contact with each other. The prime ideological stand is that, if an employee does not know his or her co-workers then he or she cannot actively participate to boost up the company profile and morale as a whole. It is all about fixing the SELF, not into the category called OTHER, but under the umbrella named WE. The corporate event management companies divide the employees into various groups. Apparently, it seems that the process is breaking the basic notion of team building activities, but in fact, it just adds to the notion. The participants here never feel rivalry among themselves. They are conscious that it is merely a game though they need to win. Thus, they fail to concentrate on the issue that it is a part of the team building exercise tailored by the company. This lack of concentration on the subtle issue ultimately does the trick. The idea of the team is built in the consciousness of the participant that excludes the visual divisions.

单选题To get my travelers' cheques I had to ______a special cheque to the bank for the total amount.

单选题Which of the following will fans cherish the most?

单选题The city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, received its name in 1913, when the {{U}}adjoining{{/U}} towns Winston and Salem were combined.

单选题If minor disputes are left unsettled, tough ones will {{U}}pile{{/U}} up sooner or later.

单选题She often says her greatest happinessconsists in helping the disadvantaged children.

单选题Woman: What present should we get for Betty's birthday?Man: She's poor at math, don't you remember?Question: What does the man imply?

单选题Man: Harvard or the State University, have you decided yet? Woman: Well, I'd rather be a big fish in a small pond. Question: Which university is the woman likely to choose?

单选题The president is often awakened by a noisy crowd which assembles on the White House.

单选题______recent brain and behavioral research, Dr. Goldman wrote a fascinating book entitled Emotional Intelligence.

单选题Man: Since you don't like your boss, why are you still hanging around him? Woman: I'm not. I'm going to stop hanging around and quit. Question: What does the woman mean?

单选题Sometimes we buy a magazine with absolutely no purpose ______ to pass time.

单选题The mayor has spent ahandsome amount of time in his last tern working to bring down the tax rate .

单选题If you continue to indulge in computer games like this, your future will be {{U}}at stake{{/U}}.

单选题The {{U}}conquest{{/U}} has been the subject of much conjecture.

单选题"This light is too ______ for me to read by. Don't we have a brighter bulb?" said the elderly man.

单选题Last year, physicist Professor Richard Muller and colleagues published results from a new project analyzing the Earth"s temperature record. The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) project basically backed up established temperature records from Nasa and others; the world is indeed warming, and by about as much as we previously thought, it concluded. Professor Muller was attacked in some quarters for not waiting for the formal process of peer review in a scientific journal before launching the data publicly. He responded that his method—to put the draft out there openly and let everyone respond who wants to—is increasingly the norm in physics. In his view, it"s the right way to do things. A couple of weeks ago, in a New York Times article accompanying the release of five more BEST papers that are being submitted to scientific journals, Professor Muller went further, saying that the majority of 20th Century warming could be laid at the door of greenhouse gas emissions. By contrast, analysis by established bodies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) holds that only after mid-Century did greenhouse gases drive the warming—prior to that, it was predominantly down to natural causes such as solar cycles and a decline in the frequency of large volcanoes.

单选题The last mayor was assassinated when he was fifty years old.