单选题European farm ministers have ended three weeks of negotiations with a deal which they claim represents genuine reform of the common agricultural policy(CAP). Will it be enough to kickstart the Doha world trade negotiations? On the face of it, the deal agreed in the early hours of Thursday June 26th looks promising. Most subsidies linked to specific farm products are, at last, to be broken--the idea is to replace these with a direct payment to farmers, unconnected to particular products. Support prices for several key products, including milk and butter, are to be cut--that should mean European prices eventually falling towards the world market level. Cutting the link between subsidy and production was the main objective of proposals put forward by Mr. Fischler, which had formed the starting point for the negotiations. The CAP is hugely unpopular around the world. It subsidises European farmers to such an extent that they can undercut farmers from poor countries, who also face trade barriers that largely exclude them from the potentially lucrative European market. Farm trade is also a key feature of the Doha round of trade talks, launched under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in November 2001. Developing countries have lined up alongside a number of industrial countries to demand an end to the massive subsidies Europe pays its farmers. Several Doha deadlines have already been missed because of the EU's intransigence, and the survival of the talks will be at risk if no progress is made by September, when the world's trade ministers meet in Cancun, Mexico. But now even the French seem to have gone along with the deal hammered out in Luxembourg. Up to a point, anyway. The package of measures gives the green light for the most eager reformers to move fast to implement the changes within their own countries. But there is an escape clause of sorts for the French and other reform-averse nations. They can delay implementation for up to two years. There is also a suggestion that the reforms might not apply where there is a chance that they would lead to a reduction in land under cultivation. These let-outs are potentially damaging for Europe's negotiators in the Doha round. They could significantly reduce the cost savings that the reforms might otherwise generate and, in turn, keep European expenditure on farm support unacceptably high by world standards. More generally, the escape clauses could undermine the reforms by encouraging the suspicion that the new package will not deliver the changes that its supporters claim. Close analysis of what is inevitably a very complicated package might confirm the sceptics' fears.

单选题Why should the rooftop garden be build on the top of City Hall other than on any other buildings?

单选题Who will benefit most from a family pattern of sharing in tasks and decisions?

单选题A conventional teacher"s licensee usually requires a university degree in education plus an unpaid term of practice teaching. This has never made much sense. It excludes bright students who take degrees in other subjects, and might teach those subjects; it is costly and time-consuming for career-switchers, who must wait a year or more before they can enter a classroom; it is so rigid that private-school teachers or university professors with years of experience have to jump through hoops before they can start teaching in a state school. And there is virtually no evidence that it creates better teachers. For all that, it is strongly backed by schools of education, which have a monopoly of teacher-training, and by teachers" unions, whose members make more money when it is artificially hard for others to get into the profession. Now, some 45 states and the Districts of Columbia offer an "alternative route" to a teacher"s licensee, up from only a handful in the 1980s. Alternative certification (AC) generally allows individuals with a university degree to begin teaching immediately after passing an entrance examination. These recruits, watched over by a mentor teach the subject they studied at university, and take education courses at a sponsoring university while drawing their salaries. The traditional sort of American teacher is likely to be young, white and female. Alternative certification attracts more men and more non-whites. In Texas, for instance, roughly 90% of public-school teachers are white, but 40% of those who have joined through alternative certification are non-whites. The AC route also draws teachers willing to go where they are most needed. A survey of Troops to Teachers, a program that turns exsoldiers into public-school teachers (" Proud to serve again"), found that 39% of those taking part are willing to teach in inner-city schools, and 68% in rural areas. Are they good teachers? Officialdom is reluctant to release the details which might answer that question for certain. But anecdotal evidence suggests they do well. In New Jersey, which has been running this sort of program since 1984, rich districts, which can afford to be choosy, consistently hire more AC teachers than poor districts do. In Houston, Texas, where the Teach of America program (TFA) puts recent university graduates into poor communities as teachers, the most effective teachers are generally the TFA ones. " School principals are our biggest fans," Wendy Kopp, TFA"s president, says proudly. So why not scrap the cumbersome teacher-licensing laws? Frederick Hess, a professor at the University of Virginia, has written a paper for the Progressive Policy Institute arguing that teacher-licensing ought to be stripped to the bare essentials. Prospective teachers should be required only to hold a college degree, pass a test of essential skills, and be checked to make sure they do not have a criminal background. Other training is important, argues Mr. Hess, but the market, not state legislators, should decide what that training looks like. This notion of " competitive certification " has drawn favorable attention from the Bush administration.

单选题There is virtually no limit to how one can serve community interests, from spending a few hours a week with some charitable organization to practically full-time work for a social agency. Just as there are opportunities for voluntary service (1) (VSO) for young people before they take up full-time employment, (2) there are opportunities for overseas service for (3) technicians in developing countries. Some people, (4) those who retire early, (5) their technical and business skills in countries (6) there is a special need. So in considering voluntary or (7) community service, there are more opportunities than there (8) were when one first began work. Most voluntary organizations have only a small full-time (9) and depend very much on volunteers and part-timers. This means that working relationships are different from those in commercial organizations, and values may be different. (10) some ways they may seem more casual and less efficient, but one should not (11) them by commercial criteria. The people who work with them do so for different reasons and with different (12) , both personal and (13) . One should not join them (14) to arm them with professional experience; they must be joined with commitment to the (15) , not business efficiency. Because salaries are (16) or non-existent many voluntary bodies offer modest expense. But many retired people take part in community service for (17) , simply because they enjoy the work. Many community activities possible (18) retirement were also possible during one's working life but they are to be undertaken (19) seriously for that. Retired people who are just looking for something different or unusual to do should not consider (20) community service.

单选题In the author's opinion, the future of Telekom company probably is

单选题Most plants can make their own food from sunlight, (1) some have discovered that stealing is an easier way to live. Thousands of plant species get by (2) photosynthesizing, and over 400 of these species seem to live by pilfering sugars from an underground (3) of fungi(真菌). But in (4) a handful of these plants has this modus operandi been traced to a relatively obscure fungus. To find out how (5) are (6) , mycologist Martin Bidartondo of the University of California at Berkeley and his team looked in their roots. What they found were (7) of a common type of fungus, so (8) that it is found in nearly 70 percent of all plants. The presence of this common fungus in these plants not only (9) at how they survive, says Bidartondo, but also suggests that many ordinary plants might prosper from a little looting, too. Plants have (10) relations to get what they need to survive. Normal, (11) plants can make their own carbohydrates through photosynthesis, but they still need minerals. Most plants have (12) a symbiotic relationship with a (13) network of what are called mycorrhizal fungi, which lies beneath the forest (14) . The fungi help green plants absorb minerals through their roots, and (15) , the plants normally (16) the fungi with sugars, or carbon. With a number of plants sharing the same fungal web, it was perhaps (17) that a few cheaters--dubbed epiparasites--would evolve to beat the system. (18) , these plants reversed the flow of carbon, (19) it into their roots from the fungi (20) releasing it as "payment. /

单选题For me, scientific knowledge is divided into mathematical sciences, natural sciences or sciences dealing with the natural world (physical and biological sciences), and sciences dealing with mankind (psychology, sociology, all the sciences of cultural achievements, every kind of historical knowledge). Apart from these sciences is philosophy, about which we will talk later. In the first place, all this is pure of theoretical knowledge, sought only for the purpose of understanding, in order to fulfil the need to understand what is intrinsic and consubstantial to man. What distinguishes man from animal is that he knows and needs to know. If man did not know that the world existed, and that the world was of a certain kind, that he was in the world and that he himself was of a certain kind, he wouldn't be man. The technical aspects or applications of knowledge are equally necessary for man and are of the greatest importance because they also contribute to defining him as man and permit him to pursue a life increasingly more truly human. But even while enjoying the results of technical progress, he must defend the primacy and autonomy of pure knowledge. Knowledge sought directly for its practical applications will have immediate and foreseeable success, but not the kind of important result whose revolutionary scope is in large part unforeseen, except by the imagination of the Utopians. Let me recall a well-known example. If the Greek mathematicians had not applied themselves to the investigation of conic sections, zealously and without the least suspicion that it might someday be useful, it would not have been possible centuries later to navigate far from shore. The first man to study nature of electricity could not imagine that' their experiments, carried on because of mere intellectual curiosity, would eventually lead to modern electrical technology, without which we can scarcely conceive of contemporary life. Pure knowledge is valuable for its own sake, because the human spirit cannot resign itself to ignorance. But, in addition, it is the foundation for practical results that would not have been reached if this knowledge had not been sought disinterestedly.

单选题Exposure to asbestos fibres can cause cancer ______.

单选题The idea that people might be chosen or rejected for jobs on the basis of their genes disturbs many. Such (1) may, however, be a step (2) , thanks to work just published in Current Biology by Derk-Jan Dijk and his colleagues at the University of Surrey, in England. Dr. Dijk studies the biology of time-keeping—in particular of the part of the internal body-clock that (3) people to sleep and wakes them up. One of the genes involved in (4) this clock is known as PER3 and (5) in two forms. Dr. Dijk's work (6) that one of these forms is more conducive to night-shift work than the other. The two forms of PER3 (7) into two slightly different proteins, one of which is longer than the other. (8) work by this group showed that people with two short versions of the gene are more likely to be "owls", (9) to get up late and go to bed late. "Larks"— (10) , early risers, have two long versions. Pursuing this (11) of enquiry, Dr. Dijk and his team have been studying how such people (12) to sleep deprivation. Two dozen volunteers, some genetic owls and some genetic larks, were forced to stay awake for two days. The genetic larks reacted to this worse than the owls did. (13) , larks given memory tests and puzzles to (14) between the hours of four and eight in the morning turned (15) far worse performances than did owls. What (16) that may have for employers is not fully clear. Nevertheless, it is intriguing. There may (17) come a time when employers (18) night shifts will want a blood sample from (19) employees— (20) to protect themselves against negligence suits should someone have an accident.

单选题According to the text, Verdi's creative treatment of characters is performed through

单选题Par