问答题Desertification in the arid United Statse is flagrant. Groundwater supplies beneath vast stretches of land are dropping precipitously. Whole river systems have dried up. Others are chocked with sediment washed from denuded land. 21. Hundreds of thousands of acres of previously irrigated cropland have been abandoned to wind or weeds. Several million acres of natural grassland are eroding at unnaturally high rates as a result of cultivation or overgrazing. All told, about 225 million acres of land are undergoing severe desertification. 22. Federal subsidies encourage the exploitation of arid land resources. Low-interest loans for irrigation and other water delivery systems encourage farmers, industry, and municipalities to mine groundwater. Federal disaster relief and commodity programs encourage arid-land farmers to plow up natural grassland to plant crops such as wheat and, especially cotton. Federal grazing fees that are well below the free market price encourage overgrazing of the commons. The market, too, provides powerful incentives to exploit arid land resources beyond their carrying capacity. 23. When commodity prices are high relative to the farmer's or rancher's operating costs, the return on a production-enhancing investment is invaribly greater than the return on a conservation investment. And when commodity prices are relatively low, arid land ranchers and farmers often have to use all their available financial resources to stay solvent. 24. If the United States is, as it appears, well on its way toward overdrawing the arid land resources, then the policy choice is simply to pay now for the appropriate remedies or pay far more later, when productive benefits from arid land resources have been both realized and largely terminated.

问答题Scientists are searching for ways to destroy nuclear weapons in space—to make nuclear weapons powerless and no longer useful. This has become known as "Star Wars". (1) Supporters of the Star Wars defense system hope that this would not only protect a nation against an actual nuclear attack, but would be enough of a threat to keep a nuclear war from ever happening. (2) Opponents of Star Wars are worried that a system might introduce nuclear weapons into outer space and might not completely protect the nation against attack. Some missiles might "leak through" the Star Wars defenses. Or the computers that run the system might not work properly. Such a defense system, they say, might also be used to attack others. And it might not stop the buildup of ground-based nuclear weapons. Hopefully, a nuclear war will never begin. But, in such an event, could people really protect themselves? Supporters of Star Wars believe that laser weapons are the key to defense. (3) But can laser beams be developed in such a way to destroy attacking missiles in space? Lasers are not new. They have been around for over 25 years. They involve the following process: (4) Atoms of certain substances are stimulated, or excited, by a burst of energy from outside. The excited atoms then produce waves of light. These light waves travel up and down a laser rod and excite, or stimulate, other atoms. When a particular energy level is reached, the laser rod produces a strong, narrow beam of radiation. Most lasers give off visible light, but they can be built to produce heat radiation or even X-ray radiation. Because of the intensity and narrowness of their beams, lasers can be put to thousands of uses. Laser beams have been bounced off the moon. They can cut through diamond or steel. They are used by doctors for delicate surgery—such as repairing damaged eyes. And lasers are also used as weapons. (5) They can give artillery an accuracy as sharp as the point of a pin. They can also "blind" electronic systems in planes, tanks and ships. This means that those electronic systems can no longer effectively find and destroy their targets.

问答题Nearly every society in human history has considered its own language finer, its own food tastier, its own manners more refined (or more honest), its own morals better (or more sensible), and its own religion the one true religion. (1) {{U}}In smaller groups ethnocentrism takes the form of "team spirit", "local pride", and "company morale."{{/U}} Taken to extremes, ethnocentrism easily leads to chauvinism (the glorification of one's own group along with fear and hatred of others), racial and religious oppression, warfare, and even genocide. In moderate forms, however, ethnocentrism makes for high morale and effective cooperation within a group. (2) {{U}}Whether in a football team before a big game or in a nation at war, ethnocentric feelings have the beneficial effect of mobilizing and uniting a threatened group against its enemy.{{/U}} Finally, ethnocentrism can provide satisfaction and comfort. People often make themselves feel better by believing in other's inferiority. "At least I'm not a grind." An important step in the uphill struggle of American blacks and women to win social equality was the increased self-esteem generated by such ethnocentric slogans as "Black is beautiful" and "Sisterhood is powerful." As soon as it became clear that ethnocentrism was a common phenomenon, social scientists realized that they themselves might be unfairly judging the behavior of different peoples according to their own cultural values. (3) {{U}}To avoid any taint of ethnocentric prejudice, anthropologists began to adopt an attitude of cultural relativism; the view that human thoughts and deeds should be judged not by any outside standards but only by those of the society or group in which they take place.{{/U}} Cultural relativism thus stood for scientific objectivity, fair-mindedness, and liberalism. It rapidly became the dominant view in anthropology and sociology. At first, some anthropologists interpreted cultural relativism so rigidly that they refused to make any judgments whatever about human behavior. (4) {{U}}In the 1930s the anthropologist Ruth Benedict maintained, for instance, that the cultures of the world were all equally valid patterns of life and nothing any people did was invalid if it was in harmony with the rest of their culture.{{/U}} Paradoxically, the extreme cultural relativists, who wanted to give all other peoples due respect and resist all tendencies toward ethnocentrism in themselves, were drawn to the logical conclusion that anything goes—infanticide, headhunting, slavery, torture, ritual mutilation—provided only that it is in accord with the culture in which it occurs. History soon exposed the fallacy of this doctrine of total objectivity. Under Hitler, the Nazis enslaved millions and put millions more to death. (5) {{U}}After the 1930s it was no longer possible for scholars to maintain the stance of total cultural relativism.{{/U}} While contemporary anthropologists and sociologists continue to believe that the practices of another people cannot be judged on the same terms as their own culture, they also believe that those practices can be judged in the light of universal values and basic human requirements. Thus, any cultural practice that conflicts with such universal human needs as emotional security, physical health, and self-preservation should not be deemed as valid as practices that serve those needs.

问答题Topic: China's Auto Industry

问答题"The Child is Father of the Man," wrote the English poet William Wordsworth. 111. Adults today are as aware as Wordsworth of the importance of childhood experiences that a cherished and well-behaved child has a better chance of growing into a balanced, loving and law-abiding adult than an unloved one. The Children Act of 1989, created to give children much-needed protection against abuse, in the process legalized the ideology: the child comes first. 112. But while the nurturing of self-esteem in children is now accepted as a requisite of their development, the social and economic demands on over-worked, harassed parents often prevent them from putting this theory into practice where it matters most in the home. Indeed, much of the time it seems that parents themselves are suffering a crisis of self-esteem. Reports show that teenagers are increasingly obese and slothful. They watch on average between four and six hours of television a day. 113. No longer subject to the discipline of the evening family meal-the cradle of manners and civil behavior-one in three people eats his or her dinner in front of the television. The fashion industry is increasingly targeting guilty parents and their demanding children; it is not uncommon to see children wearing designer jeans and the latest trainers that they will soon grow out of. 114. Pre-Christmas toy advertising is designed to strike terror into the hearts of parents and make their children even more demanding and greedy. Every office in the land harbors parents who are exasperated especially by boys who are arrogant, rude, boastful and undisciplined. 115. Many parents are too guilt-ridden or too bewildered by conflicting child rearing advice to do anything other than wring their hands with worry. The language of civil rights has entered childhood. Children as young as six are now so keenly aware of their "rights" that they freely complain of "unfair" treatment by their elders.

问答题直到买了一辆自己的车，软件设计员才意识到开车，特别是在高速公路上开车，是一大乐趣。

问答题Write an essay in no tess than 200 words with the title "What Can I Offer to Sciety?" First, write an outline for your essay, and then according to your outline, write your essay. Both your outline and your essay should be written clearLy on your ANSWER SHEET.

问答题Topic: On Knowledge and Ability

问答题Online newspapers are a look into the future and just pondering it raises the question of whether it isn't nicer getting your daily news curled up in your favorite chair with your ballpoint pen handy to circle items of interest, or scissors ready to snip out articles you want to save. The Gazette Company is betting its subscribers want both electronic and paper options, and so far it seems to be right. The rest of the world is moving into cyberspace more slowly than the United States, and, in the developing world, the Internet has hardly penetrated at all. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is determined to change this through the United Nations Information Technology Service, which will train large numbers of people to lap into the income-enhancing power of the Interact. Annan is also proposing an Internet health network that will provide state-of-the-art medical knowledge to 10,000 clinics and hospitals in poor countries. The onrushing Cyber Age has given newfound power to us all, as seen in Jody Williams's one-woman organization using e-mail to promote a global ban on land mines. Yet, this is but a glimpse of what's ahead in the minds of those immersed in this great and accelerating transformation. At Microsoft, Bill Gates predicts that by 2018 major newspapers will "publish their last paper editions and move solely to electronic distribution," and that by 2020 dictionaries will redefine books as "eBook titles read on screen" .

问答题Such tightening would probably cause refinancing to slump to about $ 300 billion at annual rates late this year, which would eliminate capital gains as a prop for consumer spending. Rising interest rates could also clamp the rally likely to occur in the equity market as corporate profits recover. If investment spending fails to revive, the economy' s annual growth rate could slide back to the 2 ～ 3 percent.

问答题几乎自有人类以来就有了人工降雨的想法了，但直到1946年人类才成功地制造了雨。在古代，人工降雨者声称降雨的方法有多种：跳舞、唱歌、杀死各种动物(包括人)祭天等。 近些时候，有些人工降雨者说可以往天上放炮，引起爆炸或燃烧化学药品等，由此而产生的烟可以使天下雨。这类人工降雨费用很高，需要一千美元才能降一英寸雨。有一个降雨者如此之灵，以致于差一点被处死，因为人们认为是他使加利福尼亚南部下了20英寸大雨，淹了土地，死了好几个人，造成了数百万美元的损失。

问答题1999年，中国开始进入老龄化社会。2004年年底，60岁以上的人口达到1.43亿，占全国人口总数的10.97%。至此，中国成为世界上拥有最多老龄人口的国家。有专家说1990年到2033年是中国的“人口红利”(population bonus)期，出生率下降，老龄人口还不算太多，这一时期是有助于经济发展的。 2010年到2013年中国劳动力人口将达到9亿人，在这之后“红利”会变成“赤字”，也就是说，这以后需要照顾的老龄人口会迅速增加。据说2030年后的二十年是中国老龄化最严峻的时期。因此，要做好充分准备，好好利用人口红利期来解决严重的老龄化问题。 有报告称，中国是典型的成为富裕国家前就面临老龄化社会的国家。这是长期的问题，也需要很长时间才能解决。中国一直坚持计划生育政策，人口增长的趋势得到了有效的控制。据估计，中国到2030年的总人口将达到14.65亿，届时会面临老龄化和人口出生率下降两大压力，这也一定会给国家的经济和社会发展带来巨大的压力。 这份报告还指出，中国在解决老龄化问题的意识、条件及法规上都严重滞后，因此，必须把这个问题的解决纳入到未来国家发展策略中。我们要及早关注老龄化人口的医疗资源，完善社会保障体系。在老龄人口达到顶峰前，建立一个健全的国家性社会保障机制。

问答题Graduates Face Many Barriers in Job Hunting

问答题BTOPIC/B After graduation from a university, some students look for jobs in companies, others go to university and work as teachers. Which do you think is preferable? Give specific reasons for your choice.

问答题Though it has been used in China to treat pain for thousands of years, acupuncture still makes many doctors uneasy, especially in the West. 1. The treatment is based on the idea that needles inserted at specific points can correct a pain-producing imbalance in two bodily forces—the yin and the yang. Dr. Bruce Pomeranz, a University of Toronto neurophysiologist, has a different explanation: acupucture may stimulate the release of the body's own natural painkillers—endorphins—which act something like morphine (吗啡). Seven years ago social worker Gwenn Chriss was told she had lupus (狼疮). Once able to swim a mile, she could barely swim across the pool. She tried all sorts of pills, but her pain only got worse. Desperate, she went to an acupuncturist who inserted about a dozen stainless steel needles at points on her legs, arms and ears. Slowly, Chriss began to recover. Within six months she was swimming again. 2. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration recently pronounced acupuncture needles appropriate for general medical use in that country, but declined to say whether acupuncture relieves pain. Dr. Brian M. Berman, a pain specialist at the University of Maryland, believes the FDA eventually will approve acupuncture as a treatment for pain. But before that can happen, he concedes, "More well-designed studies need to be done. " There are many chronic pain clinics in the Asia region; they often are associated with hospitals in the major cities. Ask your physician for a referral. 3. In the end, whatever therapies you try, remember that you're the expert on your own body. If a treatment feels right, look into it. If it sounds wrong, steer clear.

问答题Directions : Write a letter to the clean of a department of a university in the United States, applying for admittance to the department as a visiting scholar. 1. You should write about 150 words on the ANSWER SHEET. 2. The contents include what you are going to do in the department, and the explanation of the source of your living expenses. 3. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. 4. Do not write the address.

问答题Directions: In this section you are required to write an essay in accordance with the following requirements: 1. Tide: On Businessmen's and Businesswomen's Further Pursuit of Knowledge. 2. Time limit: 40 minutes. 3. Word limit: 180--200 words

问答题"There were a set of ideas and a set of initiatives that the university is undertaking that people wanted to invest," said Martin Shell, Stanford's vice president for develop ment.

问答题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}} Read the following passage carefully and then translate each underlined part into Chinese. 71. {{U}}Battles are like marriages. They have a certain fundamental experience they share in common. They differ infinitely, but still they are all alike. A battle seems to me a conflict of will with death in the same way that a marriage of love is the identification of two human beings to the end of creation of life--as death is the reverse of life, and love of hate. Battles are commitments to cause death as marriages are commitments to create life.{{/U}} Whether, for any individual, either union results in death or in the creation of life, each risks it--and in the risk commits himself. 72. {{U}}As the servants of death, battles will always remain horrible. Those who are fascinated by them are being fascinated by death. There is no battle aim worthy of the name except that of ending all battles. Any other conception is, literally, suicidal. The fascist worship of battle is a suicidal drive. It is love of death instead of life.{{/U}} 73. {{U}}In the same idiom, to triumph in battle over the forces which are fighting for death is--again literally--to triumph over death. It is a surgeon's triumph as he cuts a body and bloodies his hands in removing a cancer in order to triumph over death that is in the body.{{/U}} In these thoughts I have found my own peace, and I return to an army that fights death and cynicism in the name of life and hope. It is a good army. Believe in it.