单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} Quite apart from any awkwardness in the way he handled the hostile bid by rival Oracle for the firm he was running, Craig Conway seems to have been an unpopular CEO of PeopleSoft, a large enterprise-software company. Three managers who reported directly to him were apparently close to resigning in frustration, and the board was unhappy about "mis-statements" he made to analysts. So even though there was no "smoking gun", as the board put it, Mr. Conway was fired on October 1st and replaced by the firm's founder, David Duffield. Mr. Duffield's brief is now to address Mr. Conway's perceived shortcomings and his obsession with fending off the ＄7.7 billion takeover bid from Oracle. At the same time, says Paul Hamerman of Forrester, a research firm, Mr. Conway offered no compelling technological vision for PeopleSoft, and seemed deaf to "quite a noise level of customer complaints". Mr. Conway's firing prompted much speculation that PeopleSoft might now be more prepared to negotiate with Oracle rather than fight it. But PeopleSoft insists that both Mr. Duffield and the board focus on a long-term strategy for the company, not a quick sale. On the same day that Mr. Conway was fired, however, Oracle .scored another victory when America's Justice Department said that it would not appeal against a judge's decision to allow the takeover on antitrust grounds. So, this week, the battle moved to another courtroom, in Delaware, where both companies are registered. In this suit, Oracle is claiming that PeopleSoft is not properly looking after the interests of its shareholders by using a "poison pill" and a "customer assurance programme" to keep Oracle at bay. The poison pill is a very common provision, and one that PeopleSoft has had for almost a decade. It floods the market with new shares if a predator buys more than 20% of PeopleSoft's equity, thus making an acquisition very difficult. The customer-rebate programme, by contrast, was put in place last June. It guarantees that any PeopleSoft client can get a refund for between two and five times its software-licence fee if support for that software is ever cut off. To Oracle, this represents another dirty tactic, since it amounts to a potential liability of more than ＄2 billion. To PeopleSoft, however, it was not only fair but necessary to retain customers, since Oracle said at the time of its bid that it planned to kill PeopleSoft's products and switch clients to its own. The two companies' lawyers are likely to be at it for another few weeks, which could yet, see a higher bid from Oracle.

单选题Many professions are associated with a particular stereotype. The (1) image of a writer, for instance, is (2) a slightly crazy-looking person, locked in an attic, writing (3) furiously for days (4) Naturally, he has his favorite pen and note-paper, or a beat-up typewriter, (5) he could not produce a readable word. Nowadays, we know that such images (6) little resemblance to reality. But are they completely false? In the case of at least one writer, it would (7) . Dame Muriel Spark, who (8) 80 in February, in many ways resembles this stereotypical "writer". She is certainly not crazy, and she doesn't work in an attic. But she is rather (9) about the tools of her (10) She (11) writing with a certain type of pen in a certain type of notebook, which she buys from a certain (12) in Edinburgh called James Thin. In fact, so (13) is she that, if someone uses one of her pens (14) , she immediately throws it away. And she claims she would have enormous difficulty writing in any notebook (15) those sold by James Thin. This could soon be a problem, as the shop no longer (16) them, and Dame Muriel's (17) of 72-page spiral bound is nearly finished. As well as her " (18) " about writing materials, Muriel Spark shares one other characteristic with the stereotypical "writer": her work is the most important thing in her life. It has stopped her (19) ; (20) her old friends and made her new ones, and driven her from London to New York to Rome. Today she lives in the Italian province of Tuscany with a friend.

单选题According to banking executives, the higher bank fees may result from

单选题The difference between BMW's and Renault's campaign is that

单选题Which of the following best describes the relationship between law and power?

单选题Over the past decade, thousands of patents have been granted for what are called business methods. Amazon.com received one for its "one-click" online payment system. Merrill Lynch got legal protection for an asset allocation strategy. One inventor patented a technique for lifting a box. Now the nation"s top patent court appears completely ready to scale back on business-method patents, which have been controversial ever since they were first authorized 10 years ago. In a move that has intellectual-property lawyers abuzz, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said it would use a particular case to conduct a broad review of business-method patents. In re Bilski , as the case is known, is "a very big deal," says Dennis D. Crouch of the University of Missouri School of law. It "has the potential to eliminate an entire class of patents." Curbs on business-method claims would be a dramatic about-face, because it was the Federal Circuit itself that introduced such patents with its 1998 decision in the so-called State Street Bank case, approving a patent on a way of pooling mutual-fund assets. That ruling produced an explosion in business-method patent filings, initially by emerging internet companies trying to stake out exclusive rights to specific types of online transactions. Later, move established companies raced to add such patents to their files, if only as a defensive move against rivals that might beat them to the punch. In 2005, IBM noted in a court filing that it had been issued more than 300 business-method patents, despite the fact that it questioned the legal basis for granting them. Similarly, some Wall Street investment films armed themselves with patents for financial products, even as they took positions in court cases opposing the practice. The Bilski case involves a claimed patent on a method for hedging risk in the energy market. The Federal Circuit issued an unusual order stating that the case would be heard by all 12 of the court"s judges, rather than a typical panel of three, and that one issue it wants to evaluate is whether it should "reconsider" its State Street Bank ruling. The Federal Circuit"s action comes in the wake of a series of recent decisions by the supreme Court that has narrowed the scope of protections for patent holders. Last April, for example, the justices signaled that too many patents were being upheld for "inventions" that are obvious. The judges on the Federal Circuit are "reacting to the anti-patent trend at the Supreme Court," says Harold C. Wegner, a patent attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.

单选题The official statistics on productivity growth ______.

单选题Many parents complain that their teenage children are rebelling. They greet their children"s teenage with needless dread. While teenagers may assault us with heavy-metal music, wear strange clothes, have strange hair styles, and spend all their time dating or meeting friends, such behavior scarcely adds up to full-scale revolt. Take a good look at the present rebellion. It seems that teenagers are all taking the same way of showing that they disagree with their parents. Instead of striking out boldly on their wings, most of them are clutching at one another"s hands for reassurance. Their reason for thinking or acting in thus-and-such a way is that the crowd is doing it. It has become harder and harder for a teenager to stand up against the popularity wave and to go his or her own way. They have come out of their cocoon—into a larger cocoon. Teenage rebellion, according to psychologist Laurence Steinberg, coauthor of You and Your Adolescent , has been greatly overstated. Many other psychologists agree. The idea that teenagers inevitably rebel is a myth that has the potential for great family harm. This notion can damage communication during this critical time for parents to influence youngsters. Still adolescence is often a trying time of transition for child and parent. Teenagers need to establish themselves as individuals—in their own minds and in the eyes of others. This search isn"t about rebellion: it"s about becoming a person of one"s own. "Teenagers ought to be growing away from their parents and learning to stand on their own two feet," says Steinberg. Here is one way parents can help: don"t stereotype. "Parents who expect teenage rebellion may actually stir it up," says Kenneth I. Howard, a member of a research team that collected survey data on more than 20,000 teenagers over a 28-year period. Howard cautions parents not to resort to suppression at the first sight of adolescent independence, fearful that giving in even slightly now means drugs cannot be far behind. When parents overreact, teenagers assert themselves more, parents clamp down harder, and a full-scale blowup results. In fact, psychologists say that there is no inevitable pattern to teenage behavior, and no such creature as a typical teenager. Your teenager is now larger, stronger, older and smarter than before, with an additional supply of hormone raging through the bloodstream. But he or she is still the same human being you have lived with since birth. Given a chance, your son or daughter will continue to behave in ways you have established.

单选题According to the passage, "special cases" refers to cases where ______.

单选题In asserting that the organic model might be "more serviceable to the restoratioulsts" (Para. 3), the author implies that______.

单选题What does the underlined word "commensurate" in the second paragraph mean?

单选题The author raises the question "what about pain without gain. because ______.

单选题William Appleton, author of a recent book entitled Fathers and Daughters, believes that it is a woman's relationship with her father (1) decides how successful she will be in her (2) life. According to Appleton there are three important steps a girl must (3) in her relationship with Daddy. The (4) is the "little girl" stage in which the daughter loves and idolizes her father (5) he were a god or hero without (6) And her father loves his daughter (7) blindly, seeing her as an "oasis of smiles"in a hard, cold world. Then comes the second stage. It starts during adolescence and (8) for many years. Here, the little girl begins to rebel against Daddy and (9) his authority. He reacts with anger and (10) And the final stage comes (11) a woman reaches the age of about thirty. At this time ,the daughter sees her father not-as a hero (12) as a fool, but learns to accept him (13) he is, for better or worse. And Daddy forgives her, too, for not being the (14) little girl he had once hoped for. But not all daughters go through all three stages, and it is here that the key to a woman's career (15) . Those girls who never get past the first "oasis of smiles" stage, (16) all their lives seek out their fathers' love and approval, will never (17) in the business world. They will remain at the secretarial (18) all their lives. It is only those women who get to the final stage, those who (19) and accept Daddy's faults, who can even hope to be (20) enough and independent enough to become a candidate for top-management.