单选题Passage 2 With human footprints on the moon, radio telescopes listening for messages from alien creatures who may or may not exist, technicians looking for celestial and planetary sources of energy to support our civilization, orbiting telescopes' data hinting at planetary systems around other stars, and political groups trying to figure our how to save humanity from nuclear warfare that would damage life and eliminate on a planet-wide scale, an astronomy book published today enters a world different from the one that greeted books a generation age. Astronomy has broadened to involve our basic circumstances and our mysterious future in the universe. With eclipses and space missions broadcast live, and with NASA, Europe, and Russia planning and building permanent space stations, astronomy offers adventure for all people, an outward exploratory thrust may one day be seen as an alternative to mindless consumerism, ideological bickering, and wars to control dwindling resources on a closed, finite Earth. Today's astronomy students not only seek an up-to-date summary of astronomical facts: they ask, as people have asked for ages, about our basic relations to the rest of the universe. They may study astronomy partly to seek points of contact between science and other human endeavors, philosophy, history, politics, environmental action, even the arts and religion. Science fiction writers and special effect artists on recent films help today's students realize that unseen worlds of space are real places--not abstract concepts. Today's students are citizens of a more real, more vast cosmos than conceptualized by students of a decade age. In designing this edition, the Wadsworh editors and I have tried to respond to these developments. Rather than jumping at the start into murky waters of cosmology, I have begun with the viewpoint of ancient people on Earth and worked outward across the universe. This method of organization automatically (if loosely) reflects the order of humanity's discoveries about astronomy and provides a unifying theme of increasing distance and scale.

单选题Roosevelt's comparison of investigative reporters to "muckrakers” shows his view that these reporters ______.

单选题English is an important foreign language to master because it provides ready______to world scholarship and world trade.

单选题AESTHETICS: BEAUTY

单选题Thirty-one million Americans are over 60 years of age, and twenty-nine million of them are healthy, busy, productive citizens. By the year 2030, one in every five people in the United States will be over 60. Elderly people are members of the fastest-growing minority in this country. Many call this the "graying of America". In 1973, a group called the "Gray Panthers" was organized. This group is made up of young and old citizens. They are trying to deal with the special problems of growing old in America. The Gray Panthers know that many elderly people have health problems: some cannot walk well, others cannot see or hear well. Some have financial problems; prices are going up so fast that the elderly can't afford the food, clothing, and housing they need. Some old people are afraid and have safety problems. Others have emotional problems. Many elderly are lonely because of the death of a husband or a wife. The Gray Panthers know another fact, too. Elderly people want to be as independent as possible. So, the Gray Panthers are looking for ways to solve the special problems of the elderly. The president of the Gray Panthers is Maggie Kuhn, an active woman in her late 70s. She travels across the United States, educating both young and old about the concerns of elders. One of the problems she talks about is where and how elders live. She says that Americans do not encourage elders to live with younger people. As far as Maggie Kuhn is concerned, only elders who need constant medical care should be in nursing homes. Maggie Kuhn knows that elders need education, too. She spends lots of time talking to groups of older Americans. She encourages them to continue to live in their own houses if it is possible. She also tells them that it is important to live with younger people and to have children around them. This helps elders to stay young at heart.

单选题She was afraid that if the train speeded up she would lose her ______ to Scotland.

单选题President Chirac's decision, announced on TV, on ending conscription seemed to ______.

单选题The young man was so {{U}}bashful{{/U}} that he did not speak to the pretty girl.

单选题Why does the writer say "I was afraid to look in the mirror" in the first sentence of the first paragraph of the text?

单选题It is now believed that the {{U}}dramatic{{/U}} changes in family structure, though regrettable, are im possible to reverse.

单选题The ______ of a society, club, etc, are the records of its doings, especially as published each year.

单选题The local residents were unhappy about the curfew in this region and decided to______it.(清华大学2007年试题)

单选题In______, the whole tangled saga is a classic case of serious allegations falling through the cracks between federal, state and local jurisdictions and between slate lines.(2003年西南财经大学考博试题)

单选题So the most ______ scientist alive at that time who symbolized the height of human intellect adopted what became his last message-this manifesto, which implored govemments and the public not to allow our civilization to be destroyed by human folly.

单选题As seen from the Earth at night, ______planet Jupiter ranks third among the planets and stars in maximum brightness, after Venus and Mars.

单选题Ploughs and other agricultural implements were on display at the recent exhibition.

单选题He is holding a ______ position in the company and expects to be promoted soon. [A] subordinate [B] succeeding [C] successive [D] subsequent

单选题Peter Palumbo, chairman of the Arts Council, said the national companies were so successful commercially that when there was a shortfall in ______ there was little more they could do to raise money.

单选题As the American workforce gets grayer, age discrimination will likely become a more prominent issue in the courts. It is, of course, illegal to discriminate against an employee because of his or her age, and yet it is not illegal to dismiss a worker because he has a high salary and expensive health care. This apparent contradiction is at the heart of a raft of cases now making their way through the courts. The outcome of these cases will have broad implications for the workplace in the coming years. By 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected that more than half of all workers will be over 40—many of whom, by dint of seniority and promotions, will be earning higher than median salaries, eligible for more stock options, and carrying higher health care costs as a result of a larger number of dependents and the increased cost of health care for older workers. Is it any wonder that a bottom-line oriented business might want to shed these workers, whose productivity is likely to plummet in the next few years, even as they become more expensive employees? Still, the legal challenges of implementing this policy are daunting. Businesses have the right to rate workers on their productivity and to rank them against their peers. But they are not allowed to prejudge individuals based on their sex, race or age. Each worker must be treated on his or her own merits, rather than by how they fit into a lager profile of the group they belong to. For companies looking to lay off these workers, the cost of making a mistake is high: while only one in three age discrimination suits are won by the plaintiff, the awards tend to be steep and the political fall-out harsh.