单选题{{B}}Passage Four{{/B}} Linguists have understood for decades that language and thought are closely related. Humans construct reality using thought and express these thoughts through the use of language. Edward Sapir and his student Benjamin Whorl are credited with developing the most relevant explanation outlining the relationship between thought and language, the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. The hypothesis consists of two parts, linguistic relativity and linguistic determinism. Supporters of linguistic relativity assume that culture is shaped by language. Terwilliger defines linguistic determinism as the process by which "the functions of one's mind are determined by the nature of the language which one speaks." In simpler terms, the thoughts that we construct are based upon the language that we speak and the words that we use. In its strongest sense, linguistic determinism can be interpreted as meaning that language determines thought. In its weakest sense, language partially influences thought. Whorl was careful to avoid authoritative statements which would permanently commit him to particular position. Because of the broad nature of his statements, it is difficult to distinguish exactly to what extent Whorf believes that language determines thought. Heated debate among modern linguists demonstrates that disagreement exists about the accuracy and correctness of Whorf's studies and of the actual level of influence of language on thought processes. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis essentially consists of two distinct statements connecting the relation of thought and language. Whorl believes that humans may be able to think only about objects, processes, and conditions that have language associated with them. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis also explains the relationship between different languages (French, English, German, Chinese, and so on) and thought. Whorl demonstrated that culture is largely determined by language. Different cultures perceive the world in different ways. Culturally essential objects, conditions and processes usually are defined by a plethora of words, while things that cultures perceive as unimportant are usually assigned one or two words. Whorl developed this theory while studying the Hopi Indian tribe. Whorl was amazed that the Hopi language has no words for past, present, and future. The Hopi have only one word for flying objects. A dragonfly, an airplane, and a pilot are defined using the same word. Whorf questioned whether or not the Hopi view the world differently than western people. After further interpretation and analysis he concluded that the Hopi have a sense for the continuum of time despite having no words, to specifically describe past, present, and future. It is commonly believed that the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis possesses some truth, but the extent to which it is applicable to all situations is questioned. Linguists generally support a "strong" or a "weak" interpretation. Linguists who study the hypothesis tend to cite examples that support their beliefs but are unable or unwilling to refute the opposing arguments. Examples exist that strengthen the arguments of everyone who studies the hypothesis. Nobody has gained significant ground in proving or refuting the hypothesis because the definitions of Sapir and Whorl are very vague and incomplete, leaving room for a significant amount of interpretation.

单选题City police Sunday arrested former Mayor Richard Weekly on a long list of bribery, official misconduct, {{U}}fraud,{{/U}} and corruption charges.

单选题Located in New York City, Greenwich Village gained a reputation for bohemianism due to its populace of artists and freethinkers.

单选题The staff in pediatrics ______ rushed whereas the geriatric ward is not busy at all.

单选题I got a new battery for my recorder only last week, but it seems to have ______ already.

单选题Nothing has ever equaled the ______and speed with which the human species is altering the physical and chemical world.(2007年3月中国科学院考博试题)

单选题Carly Fiorina, Hewlett-Packard's chief executive, came out fighting on November 14th. In a conference call with analysts, she announced better-than-expected quarterly results, even though profits were down. Ms Fiorina also reiterated why she believes her $24 billion plan to acquire Compaq is the best way forward for HP, despite objections by Hewlett and Packard family members. Last week Walter Hewlett, whose father cofounded the company, expressed concern that the merger would increase HP's exposure to the shrinking PC market and would distract managers from the more important task of navigating through the recession. There are two ways to defend the deal. One is to point out its advantages, which is what Ms Fiorina did this week. Merging with Compaq, she said, would enable HP to reach its goals faster than it could on its own. The deal would improve HP's position in key markets such as storage and high-end computing, as well as the economics of its PC business. It would double the size of HP's sales force and broaden its customer base, providing more potential clients for its services and consulting arms. It would improve eashflow, margins and efficiency by adding " breadth and depth" to HP. "Having spent the last several months planning the integration of these two companies, we are even more convinced of the power of this combination," Ms Fiorina concluded. It sounds too good to be true, and it almost certainly is. But the other way to defend the deal is to point out that, even if it was a bad idea to start with, abandoning it could be even worse--a view that, unsurprisingly, Ms Fiorina chose not to advance, but is being quietly put forward by the deal's supporters. Scrapping the merger would he extremely painful for a number of reasons. Since the executive teams of both firms have committed themselves to the deal, they would be utterly discredited if it fell apart, and would probably have to go. Under the terms of the merger agreement, HP might have to pay Compaq as much as $675m if it backed out. The two firms would be considerably weakened; they would also be rivals again, despite having shared confidential technical and marketing information with each other over the past few months. In short, it would all be horribly messy. What can be done to save the deal? Part of the problem is that HP has no plan B. "They need a brand-re-covery effort immediately," says one industry analyst. HP must give the impression that it is strong and vital, rather than desperate, and that its future is not dependent on the deal going forward. That could make the merger look more attractive and bring investors back on board. This week's results will certainly help. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, which owns just over one-tenth of HP's shares, will decide whether to back the merger in the next few weeks, and HP's shareholders are to vote on it early next year. The more credible HP's plan B, the less likely it is that it will be needed.

单选题The new administration will adopt a policy of {{U}}laissez-faire{{/U}} toward industry.

单选题{{B}}Passage Three{{/B}} Death comes quickly in the mountains. Each winter holiday makers are caught unawares as they happily ski away from the fixed runs, little realizing that a small avalanche can send them crashing in a bone-breaking fall down the slope and leave them buried under tons of crisp white snow. There are lots of theories about how to avoid disaster when hit by an avalanche. Practice is normally less cheerful. The snow in the Salzburg of Austria where a recent disaster took place was typical avalanche material: For several days before the incident I had skied locally. Early winter snow was wearing thin and covered with ice. On top of that new, warmer flakes were gently falling to produce a dangerous carpet. To the skier who enjoys unmarked slopes it is tempting stuff, deep new power snow on a hard base--the skiing that dreams are made of And sometimes nightmares. Snow falls in sections like a cake. Different sections have different densities because of the temperatures at the time of the fall and in the weeks afterwards. Problems come when any particular section is too thick and not sticking to the section beneath. The snow of the past few weeks had been falling in rather higher temperatures than those of December and early January. The result of these conditions is that even a slight increase in the temperatures sends a thin stream of water between the new snow and the old. Then the new snow simply slides off the mountain. Such slides are not unexpected. Local citizens know the slopes which tend to avalanche and the weather in which such slides are likely. Traps are set to catch the snow or prevent it slipping; bombs are placed and exploded from time to time to set off small avalanches before a big one has time to build up; and above all, skiers are warned not to ski in danger areas. In spite of this, avalanches happen in unexpected areas and, of course, skiers ignore the warnings. The one comfort to recreational skiers, however, is that avalanche incidents on the marked ski slopes are quite rare. No ski resort wants the image of being a death trap.

单选题Young John showed no {{U}}consistency{{/U}} when he did excellent work the first part of the year and very poor work after that.

单选题This year the farmers were just able to gather in the ______ before the fine weather came to an end.

单选题It can be inferred from the passage that man' s need to know is chiefly important in that it ______.

单选题The International Olympic Committee rejects the accusations that Beijing's budget-cutting move might ______ its preparation for the games. A. degrade B. deliberate C. deploy D. defend

单选题Does the author believe that transference of purchasing power is effective in benefiting the poor?

单选题 Hurricanes are violent storms that cause millions of dollars in property damage and take many lives. They can be extremely dangerous, and too often people underestimate their fury. Hurricanes normally originate as a small area of thunderstorms over the Atlantic Ocean west of the Cape Verde Islands during August or September. For several days, the area of the storm increases and the air pressure falls slowly. A center of low pressure forms, and winds begin to whirl around it. It is blown westward, increasing in size and strength. Hurricane hunters then fly out to the storm in order to determine its size and intensity and to track its direction. They drop instruments for recording temperature, air pressure,and humidity (湿度), into the storm. They also look at the size of waves on the ocean, theclouds, and the eye of the storm. The eye is a region of relative calm and clear skies in the center of the hurricane. People often lose their lives by leaving shelter when the eye has arrived, only to be caught in tremendous winds again when the eye has passed. Once the forecasters have determined that it is likely the hurricane will reach shore,they issue a hurricane watch for a large, general area that may be in the path of the storm.Later, when the probable point of landfall is clearer, they will issue a hurricane warning for a somewhat more limited area. People in these areas are wise to stock up on nonperishable foods, flash light and radio batteries, candles, and other items they may need if electricity and water are not available after the storm. They should also try to hurricane-proof their houses by bringing in light-weight furniture and other items from outside and covering windows. People living in low-lying areas are wise to evacuate their houses because of the storm surge, which is a large rush of water that may come ashore with the storm. Hurricanes generally lose power slowly while traveling over land, but many move out to sea,gather up force again, and return to land. As they move toward the north, they generally lose their identity as hurricanes

单选题Jones had audaciously slapped my face, and that I had been obliged to ______ against him by knocking him down.

单选题 All cultures have some system of measuring duration, or keeping time, but in Western industrialized societies, we keep track of time in what seems to other peoples almost an obsessive fashion. We view time as motion on a space, a kind of linear progression measured by the clock and the calendar. This perception contributes to our sense of history and the keeping of records, which are typical aspects of Western cultures. Although our perceptions of time seem natural to us, we must not assume that other cultures operate on the same time system. For instance, why should we assume that a Hopi raised in the Hopi culture would have the same intuitions about time that we have? In Hopi history, if records had been written, we would find a different set of cultural and environmental influences working together. The Hopi people are a peaceful agricultural society isolated by geographic feature and nomad enemies in a land of little rainfall. Their agriculture is successful only by the greatest perseverance. Extensive preparations are needed to ensure crop growth. Thus the Hopi value persistence and repetition in activity. They have a sense of the cumulative value of numerous, small, repeated movements, for to them such movements are not wasted but are stored up to make changes in later events. The Hopi have no intuition of time as motion, as a smooth flowing line on which everything in the universe proceeds at an equal rate away from a past, through a present, into a foreseeable future. Long and careful study of the Hopi language has revealed that it contains no words, grammatical forms, constructions, or expressions that refer to what we call time-the past, present, or future-or to the duration or lasting aspect of time. To the Hopi, "time" is a "getting later" of everything that has been done, so that past and present merge together. The Hopi do not speak, as we do in English, of a "new day" or "another day" coming every twenty-four hours; among the Hopi, the return of the day is like the return of a person, a little older but with all the characteristics of yesterday. This Hopi conception, with its emphasis on the repetitive aspect of time rather than its onward flow, may be clearly seen in their ritual dances for rain and good crops, in which the basic step is a short, quick stamping of the foot repeated thousands of times, hour after hour. Of course, the American conception of time is significantly different from that of the Hopi. Americans' understanding of time is typical of Western cultures in general and industrialized societies in particular. Americans view time as a commodity, as a "thing" that can be saved, spent, or wasted. We budget our time as we budget our money. We even say, "Time is money", We are concerned in America with being "on time"; We don't like to "waste" time by waiting for someone who is late or by repeating information; and we like to "spend" time wisely by keeping busy. These statements all sound natural to a North American. In fact, we think, how could it be otherwise? It is difficult for us not to be irritated by the apparent carelessness about time in other cultures. For example, individuals in other countries frequently turn up an hour or more late for an appointment-although "being late" is at least within our cultural framework. For instance, how can we begin to enter the cultural world of the Sioux, in which there is no word for "late" or "waiting". Of course, the fact is that we have not had to enter the Sioux culture; the Sioux have had to enter ours. It is only when we participate in other cultures on their terms that we can begin to see the cultural patterning of time.

单选题There is no universally (accepted) definition of (what) a developing country is. Neither (there is) (one of) what constitutes the process of economic development.