单选题By "the pendulum is swinging too far", Ian Perry probably means

单选题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}}Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. Operating a single currency is not going to be easy. European economic and{{U}} (1) {{/U}}union will not function{{U}} (2) {{/U}}hitches.{{U}} (3) {{/U}}, signs of{{U}} (4) {{/U}}have already appeared. And these political, economic and social pressures will almost certainly{{U}} (5) {{/U}}in the years to come. {{U}} (6) {{/U}}EMU failure is a topic generally{{U}} (7) {{/U}}in continental Europe. And for good reason. The{{U}} (8) {{/U}}of monetary union would almost certainly slam the European Union{{U}} (9) {{/U}}political{{U}} (10) {{/U}}and the world into{{U}} (11) {{/U}}crisis. "It would be almost as bad as a{{U}} (12) {{/U}}in Europe," says Uwe Angenendt, chief economist{{U}} (13) {{/U}}BHF-Bank in Frankfurt. The{{U}} 14 {{/U}}contend EMU failure is not possible. They{{U}} (15) {{/U}}insist that the political{{U}} (16) {{/U}}in Europe for monetary union is simply{{U}} (17) {{/U}}strong to allow{{U}} (18) {{/U}}to fail. But they{{U}} (19) {{/U}}a simple fact: European{{U}} (20) {{/U}}concocted monetary union, and there- fore they can unconcoct it.

单选题{{B}}Text1{{/B}}OnthegroundflooroftheFederalReservebuildinginWashington,DC,thereisanelectronicgamewhichtestsavisitor'sskillatsettinginterestrates.Youhavetodecidehowtorespondtoeventssuchasrisinginflationorastockmarketcrash.Ifyougetalltheanswersright,themachinedeclaresyouthenextFedchairman.Inreallife,becauseofhugeuncertaintiesaboutdataandhowtheeconomyworks,thereisnoobviouslyrightanswertothequestionofwhentochangeinterestrates.NoristhereanyeasytestofwhowillmakethebestFedchairman.SowhowouldTheEconomistSelectforthejob?AlanGreenspanwillretireasFedchairmanonJanuary31st,afteramere18yearsinthejob.SoGeorgeBushneedstonominateasuccessorsoon.Mr.Bushhasapenchantforpickinghispalstofilltopjobs:lastweekhenominatedhispersonallawyerHarrietMierstotheSupremeCourt.ButhispersonalbankmanagerreallywouldnotcutthemustardasFedchairman.Thisisthemostimportanteconomic-policyjobinAmerica—indeedinthewholeworld.TheFedchairmansetsinterestrateswiththeaimofcontrollinginflation,whichinturnhelpsdeterminethevalueofthedollar,theworld'smainreservecurrency.Itishardlysurprisingthatfinancialmarketsworldwidecanriseorfallonhiseveryword.Financialmarketsaretypicallymorevolatileduringthefirstyearafterthehandovertoanewchairmanthanduringtherestofhistenure.InOctober1987,barelytwomonthsafterMr.Greenspantookoffice,thestockmarketcrashed.Currentconditionsforahandoverarehardlyideal.America'seconomyhasneverlookedsounbalanced,withanegativehouseholdsavingsrate,ahousingbubble,aheftybudgetdeficit,arecordcurrent-accountdeficitandrisinginflation.FiguresdueonOctober14thareexpectedtoshowthatthe12-monthrateofinflationhasrisenabove4%—itshighestsince1991.

单选题The mythology of a culture can provide some vital insights into the beliefs and values of that culture. By using fantastic and sometimes incredible stories to create an oral tradition by which to explain the wonders of the natural world and teach lessons to younger generations, a society exposes those ideas and concepts held most important. Just as important as the final lesson to be gathered from the stories, however, are the characters and the roles they play in conveying that message. Perhaps the epitome of mythology and its use as a tool to pass on cultural values can be found in Aesop's Fables, told and retold during the era of the Greek Empire. Aesop, a slave who won the favor of the court through his imaginative and descriptive tales, almost exclusively used animals to fill the roles in his short stories. Humans, when at all present, almost always played the part of bumbling fools struggling to learn the lesson being presented. This choice of characterization allows us to see that the Greeks placed wisdom on a level slightly beyond humans, implying that deep wisdom and understanding is a universal quality sought by, rather than steanning from, human beings. Aesop's fables illustrated the central themes of humility and self-reliance, reflecting the importance of those traits in early Greek society. The folly of humans was used to contrast against the ultimate goal of attaining a higher level of understanding and awareness of truths about nature and humanity. For example, one notable fable features a fox repeatedly trying to reach a bunch of grapes on a very high vine. After failing at several attempts, the fox gives up, making up its mind that the grapes were probably sour anyway. The fable's lesson, that we often play down that which we can't achieve so as to make ourselves feel better, teaches the reader or listener in an entertaining way about one of the weaknesses of the human psyche. The mythology of other cultures and societies reveal the underlying traits of their respective cultures just as Aesop's fables did. The stories of Roman gods, Aztec ghosts and European elves all served to train ancient generations those lessons considered most important to their community, and today they offer a powerful looking glass by which to evaluate and consider the contextual environment in which those culture existed.

单选题Which of the following is NOT mentioned or implied about Bobby?

单选题"My own feelings went from disbelief to excitement to downright fear," says Carl Hergenrother, 23, an Arizona undergraduate who verified a large asteroid barreling toward Earth with a 230cm telescope atop nearby Kitt Peak. "It was scary, because there was the possibility that we were confirming the demise of some city somewhere, or some state or small country." Well, not quite. Early last week, his celestial interloper whizzed by Earth, missing the planet by 450620 km--a hairbreadth in astronomical terms. Perhaps half a kilometer across, it was the largest object ever observed to pass that close to Earth. Duncan Steel, an Australian astronomer, has calculated that if the asteroid had struck Earth, it would have hit at some 93460 km/h. The resulting explosion, scientists estimate, would have been in the 3000-to-12000-megaton range. That, says astronomer Eugene Shoemaker, a pioneer asteroid and comet hunter, "is like taking all of the U. S. and Soviet nuclear weapons, putting them in one pile and blowing them all up." And what if one them is found to be on a collision course with Earth? Scientists at the national laboratories at Livermore, California, and Los Alamos, New Mexico, have devised a number of ingenious plans that, given enough warning time, could protect Earth from a threatening NEO. Their defensive weapons of choice include long distance missiles with conventional or, more likely, nuclear warheads that could be used either to nudge an asteroid into a safe orbit or blast it to smithereens. Many people including some astronomers--are understandably nervous about putting a standby squadron of nuclear tipped missiles in place. Hence the latest strategy, which in some cases would obviate the need for a nuclear defense: propelling a fusillade of cannonball-size steel spheres at an approaching asteroid. In a high-velocity encounter with a speeding NEO, explains Gregory Canavan, a senior scientist at Los Alamos, "the kinetic energy of the balls, would change into heat energy and blow the thing apart." Some astronomers oppose any immediate defensive preparations, citing the high costs and low odds of a large object's striking Earth in the coming decades. But at the very least, Shoemaker contends, NEO detection should be accelerated. "There's this thing called the 'giggle factor' in Congress," he says. "people in Congress and also at the top level in NASA still don't take it seriously. But we should move ahead. It's a matter of prudence." The world, however, still seems largely unconcerned with the danger posed by large bodies hurtling in from space, despite the spectacle two years ago of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 riddling the planet Jupiter with mammoth explosions. It remains to be seen whether last week's record near-miss has changed any minds.

单选题 Everything seemed to have become a weapon of war. Our enemies had{{U}} (1) {{/U}}the most familiar objects{{U}} (2) {{/U}}us, turned shaving kits into holsters and airplanes{{U}} (3) {{/U}}missiles and soccer coaches and newlyweds into involuntary suicide bombers. So it was{{U}} (4) {{/U}}the President and his generals to plot the response. That is because we are{{U}} (5) {{/U}}one enemy but two: one unseen, the other inside. Terror on this scale{{U}} (6) {{/U}}to wreck the way we live our lives-make us flinch when a siren sounds,{{U}} (7) {{/U}}when a door slams and think twice before deciding{{U}} (8) {{/U}}we really have to take a plane. If we falter, they win,{{U}} (9) {{/U}}they never plant another bomb. So after the early helplessness, what can I do? I've already given blood-people started to realize that{{U}} (10) {{/U}}they could do was exactly, as precisely as possible,{{U}} (11) {{/U}}they would have done if all this{{U}} (12) {{/U}}. That was the spirit{{U}} (13) {{/U}}in New York and Washington and all across the country, faith and fear and resolve in a tight braid. Because the killers who hate us did the{{U}} (14) {{/U}}, nothing is unthinkable now. A plume of grill smoke venting from a Manhattan steak house{{U}} (15) {{/U}}the evacuation of midtown office towers. After the Pentagon{{U}} (16) {{/U}}, generals called their families and told them{{U}} (17) {{/U}}the water, it could be poisoned. Sales of guns and gas masks spiked. The National Football League{{U}} (18) {{/U}}its games for the first time ever; bomb scares emptied 90 sites on Thursday in New York City{{U}} (19) {{/U}}. People wore sneakers with their suits{{U}} (20) {{/U}}they had to fly fast down the stairs.

单选题Telecommuting may affect a telecommuter’s family life because

单选题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}} Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on Answer Sheet 1. On the afternoon of April 19th, 1587, Sir Francis Dr. ake led his convoy of 31 ships into the port of Cadiz,{{U}} (1) {{/U}}the Spanish navy was being prepared to{{U}} (2) {{/U}}England. The Spanish were{{U}} (3) {{/U}}completely by surprise, and Dr. ake's men quickly looted, sank or burnt every ship in sight. After clearing the harhour of stores and{{U}} (4) {{/U}}off a Spanish attack,Dr, aka and his ships{{U}} (5) {{/U}}without the loss of a single man. Back in England, Dr. aka became a national hero, and his daring attack became known as the "singeing of the King of Spain's beard". As well as{{U}} (6) {{/U}}back the Spanish plan to invade England by several months, Dr. ake's daring attack{{U}} (7) {{/U}}the success of a popular new drink. For among the stores that he{{U}} (8) {{/U}}from Cadiz were 2,900 large barrels of sack, a wine made in the Jerez region of Spain, and the{{U}} (9) {{/U}}of today's sherry. The wine makers of Jerez looked for overseas markets, and sack started to take off in England. In 1587, the celebratory drinking of the sack brought back from Cadiz by Dr. ake gave it a further{{U}} (10) {{/U}}and made it hugely fashionable,{{U}} (11) {{/U}}its Spanish origin. For{{U}} (12) {{/U}}chemical reasons, sack was an unusually long-lasting and{{U}} (13) {{/U}}wine. This made it ideal for taking on long sea voyages,{{U}} (14) {{/U}}which alcoholic drinks acted as a vital social lubricant that{{U}} (15) {{/U}}the hardship of spending weeks packed into a{{U}} (16) {{/U}}ship. Columbus took sack with him to the new world in the 1490s, making it the first wine to be{{U}} (17) {{/U}}into the Americas. In 1604, sack was{{U}} (18) {{/U}}official recognition of{{U}} (19) {{/U}}when James I{{U}} (20) {{/U}}an ordinance limiting its consumption at court. By this time sack was popularly known as sherris-sack (sherris being a corruption of Jerez), which eventually became the modern word sherry.

单选题Within 80 years, some scientists estimate, the world must produce more than eight times the present world food supply. The productiveness of the sea raises our hopes for an adequate food supply in the future. Aided by men of science, we have set forth to find out that 70 percent of the earth remains unexplored--the ocean depths. Thus, we may better discover and utilize the sea's natural products for the world's hungry. It is fish protein concentrate that is sought from the seas. By utilizing the unharvested fish in United States waters alone, enough fish protein concentrate can be obtained to provide supplemental animal protein for more than one billion people for one year at the cost of less than half a cent per day per person. The malnutrition of children is terribly tragic. But the crime lies in society's unrestrained breeding, not in its negligence in producing fish powder. But wherever the population projects are carefully considered, the answer to the problem is something like this: There are few projects that could do more to raise the nutritional level of mankind than a full-scale scientific effort to develop the resources of the sea. Each year some thirty million tons of food products are taken from the sea, which account for 12 percent of the world's animal proteins. Nations with their swelling populations must push forward into the sea frontiers for food supplies. Private industry must step up its marine research and the federal government must make new attacks on the problems of marine research development. There is a tone of desperateness in all these designs on the sea. But what is most startling is the assumption that the seas are an untouched resource. The fact is that the seas have been, and are being, hurt directly and indirectly, by the same forces that have abused the land. In the broad pattern of ecological relationships the seas are not separable from what happens on the land. The poisons that pollute the soil and the air bring in massive doses into the "continental shelf" waters. The dirt and pollution that spills from our urban sewers and industrial out falls despoil our bays and coastal waters. All the border seas are already heavily polluted by the same exploitation drives that have undermined the quality of life on land.

单选题I came across an old country guide the other day. It listed all the tradesmen in each village in my part of the country, and it was impressive to see the great variety of services which were available on one"s own doorstep in the late Victorian countryside. Nowadays a superficial traveler in rural England might conclude that the only village tradesmen still flourishing were either selling frozen food to the inhabitants or selling antiques to visitors. Nevertheless, this would really be a false impression. Admittedly there has been a contraction of village commerce, but its vigor is still remarkable. Our local grocer"s shop, for example, is actually expanding in spite of the competition from supermarkets in the nearest town. Women sensibly prefer to go there and exchange the local news while doing their shopping, instead of queuing up anonymously at a supermarket: And the proprietor knows well that personal service has a substantial cash value. His prices may be a bit higher than those in the town, but he will deliver anything at any time. His assistants think nothing of bicycling down the village street in their lunch hour to take a piece of cheese to an old-age pensioner who sent her order by word of mouth with a friend who happened to be passing. The more affluent customers telephone their shopping lists and the goods are on their doorsteps within an hour. They have only to hint at a fancy for some commodity outside the usual stock and the grocer, a red-faced figure, instantly obtains it for them. The village gains from this sort of enterprise, of course. But I also find it satisfactory because a village shop offers one of the few ways in which a modest individualist can still get along in the world without attaching himself to the big battalions of industry or commerce. Most of the village shopkeepers I know, at any rate, are decidedly individualist in their ways. For example, our shoemaker is a formidable figure: a thick-set, irritable man whom children treat with marked respect, knowing that an ill-judged word can provoke an angry eruption at any time. He stares with contempt at the pairs of cheap, mass-produced shoes taken to him for repair: has it come to this, he seems to be saying, that he, a craftsman, should have to waste his skills upon such trash? But we all know he will in fact do excellent work upon them. And he makes beautiful shoes for those who can afford such luxury.

单选题The relationship between the first two paragraphs can be described as

单选题The word "overwhelming" (Line 3, Paragraph 1 ) probably means

单选题 Manners nowadays in metropolitan cities like London are practically non-existent. It is nothing for a big, strong schoolboy to elbow an elderly woman aside in the dash for the last remaining seat on the tube or bus, much less stand up and offer his seat to her, as he ought. In fact, it is saddening to note that if a man does offer his seat to an older woman, it is nearly always a Continental man or one from the older generation. This question of giving up seats in public transport is much argued about by young men, who say that, since women have claimed equality, they no longer deserve to be treated with courtesy, and that those who go out to work should take their turn in the rat race like anyone else. Women have never claimed to be physically as strong as men. Even if it is not agreed, however, that young men should stand up for younger women, the fact remains that courtesy should be shown to the old, the sick and the burdened. Conditions in travel are really very hard on everyone, we know, but hardship is surely no excuse. Sometimes one wonders what would have been the behavior of these stout young men in a packed refugee train or a train on its way to a prisoner-camp during the war. Would they have considered it only right and their proper due to keep the best places for themselves then? Older people, tired and irritable from a day's work, are not angels, either--far from it. Many a brisk argument or an insulting quarrel breaks out as the weary queues push and shove each other to get on buses and tubes. One cannot commend this, of course, but one does feel there is just a little more excuse. If cities are to remain pleasant places to live in at all, however, it seems urgent, not only that communications in transport should be improved, but also that communication between human beings should be kept smooth and polite. All over cities, it seems that people are too tired and too rushed to be polite. Shop assistants won't bother to assist, taxi drivers shout at each other as they dash dangerously round corners, bus conductors pull the bell before their desperate passengers have had time to get on or off the bus, and so on and so on. It seems to us that it is up to the young and strong to do their small part to stop such deterioration.