单选题After the terrorist attacks in America last September, terrorist risk became the pariah of perils. The airline industry was most directly affected by the attacks, and it was the first to find that no one wanted to insure terrorist risk. Insurance companies immediately increased premiums and cut cover for airlines' third-party terror and war liabilities to $ 50m per airline, per "event". Under pressure from airlines, the American government and the members of the European Union agreed to become insurers of last resort for airlines' war and terrorist liabilities, for a limited period. These government guarantees are due to expire at the end of the month. The American government has already agreed to extend its guarantee for another 60 days. The EU's transport ministers are meeting next week in Brussels to decide what to do. Insurers and reinsurers are keen for the commercial market to resume the provision of all airline insurance as soon as possible. No wonder: The premiums for such cover have inevitably increased considerably. However, in the case of terrorism, and especially of terrorism in the skies, a number of special factors arise. Some are purely practical: a disaster as sudden and unforeseen as the attacks on the World Trade Center has had destructive effects on the insurance industry. The maximum cover for third-party terrorist risk available in the primary aviation market is now $ 50m, and that is not nearly enough cover risks that are perceived to be much higher since September 11th. Even if the market could offer sufficient cover, another catastrophe on such a scale would be more than the market could cope with. In addition, a rare and devastating risk of a political nature is arguably one that it is right for governments to cover, at least in part. In the wake of attacks by Irish terrorists the British government has recognized this point by agreeing to back a mutual fund to cover risks to property from terrorist attack. In the case of the airlines, the appropriate answer is some form of mutual scheme with government backing. In fact, under the code-name "Equitime", representatives of airlines, insurers and the American government are setting up an insurance vehicle to be financed by airlines and reinsured by the government. Governments would guarantee the fund's excess. risk, but their role would diminish as the fund grew. Setting something up will take time. So, to bridge the gap, governments will have to remain insurer of last resort for airlines' war and terrorist risk for some time to come.

单选题The recovery of demand for microchips is______.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} In 2007 a French food company wanted to buy a family-owned firm in India. The patriarch was 72, and the French firm wanted to send someone of similar experience to talk to him. But because of its youthful corporate culture-most people are hustled out of the door in their mid 40s-it had no one to send. In the end, through Experconnect, an employment agency in Paris which places retired people, it found a 58-year-old former head of a European consumer-goods firm, and sent him out to Mumbai. France has a poor record when it comes to keeping older people in the workforce. The retirement age is 60, not 65 as in most developed countries. In 2005 only 37.8% of people aged 55-64 had jobs, versus 56.8% in Britain and 44.9% in Germany. The main reason is that in the 1980s, when there was high unemployment, the government promoted early retirement. That entrenched the idea that older workers were less productive, says Caroline Young, Experconnect's founder. Now companies are worried about losing their most skilled workers, especially as the baby boom generation nears retirement. Areva, a nuclear-power group, recently launched a scheme to address the needs of older employees, and plans to use about 100 retired people a year through Experconnect. Because nuclear power was unpopular for decades, Areva stopped training engineers, so that much of its expertise lies with its oldest staff. Now it is taking much more interest in them. "We have to bring about a revolution in opinion," says Jean Cassingena, its human-resources strategist. Unlike other recruitment agencies, Experconnect keeps its workers on its own books, so they can carry on drawing their pensions. They tend to work part-time on one-off projects. Engineers and people with high levels of technical skill are most in demand in France, says Ms Young, as younger people increasingly choose to go into fields such as marketing. Thales, a defence and aerospace firm, is using a former radar expert, for instance, and Louis Berger France, an engineering firm, often uses retired engineers to manage big infrastructure projects. Softer industries also make use of Experconnect. Danone, a food firm, hires people for one-off management roles. "Older people have seen it all and they are level-headed," says Thomas Kunz, its head of beverages. The beauty industry is short of toxicologists to determine whether new lotions are safe, and one firm has just taken on a 75-year-old. Two famous French luxury-goods companies plan to use retired workers in their handbag divisions. One wants to safeguard its knowledge of fine leathers and sewing; the other wants to apply expertise from the aerospace industry to make new kinds of materials for handbags. Despite an impressive handful of high-profile clients, Experconnect has found it difficult to convince French companies that older workers can be valuable. It has 2,700 retired people on its books, and has so far placed just 50 of them on "missions". Old prejudices, as they say, die hard.

单选题{{B}}Text 4{{/B}} Freedom is one of the most difficult things to define, yet wars are fought to secure it. Pres. George W. Bush wants freedom for the entire world, but the question remains whether some might not want it and, if they do, cannot handle it. Many desire to be "free of their freedom," for the latter requires assuming responsibility for one's actions. It is easier to have others choose for us. Freedom has many meanings arid applications. There is political freedom, involving the ability to choose one's own form of government, hold elections, etc. Professors are concerned with academic freedom, namely to teach and publish in accord with their scholarly findings. These, though, are secondary meanings and presumably are grounded in something fundamental to the nature of humans. This is called moral freedom—but there's the rub of it. Is such freedom an illusion? One cannot ignore Sigmund Freud's massive unconscious as a factor in why we act the way we do. Moreover, psychological literature suggests" obsessive-compulsive" acts as more commonplace than we realize. Alcoholics and drug addicts are told they cannot help themselves; instead, they need others to help them break their habit. Let's face it, we seem to be evolving into a "no fault" society in which freedom is an empty term. It certainly is easy to rationalize that this or that action really was not free, as one can say we are the product of our genes, passions, and culture. But Jean-Paul Sartre disagreed that freedom is an illusion, claiming instead that it is the very essence of man. Freedom is a human's distinguishing mark. Essentially, a human is no-thing, and therein lies his freedom. Although freedom may not be an illusion, in many cases it is illusory. Is it true to say piously (虔诚地) that the cure for any ills in democracy is more democracy, i.e. freedom? The Patriot Act certainly raises many hackles as an infringement (侵犯) on freedom; trading civil liberties for security—part of a seemingly continuing trend in society. How strong is the argument that if we are not free, then laws and prohibitions make no sense? Does knowledge, a seemingly necessary component involved in free acts, restrict or enlarge our freedom? The Socratic position is that, if one really knew what was right, one would do what was right. Moslems maintain that it is the "will of Allah" that governs all things and we only can hope to conform to it. This is not entirely foreign to Christian theology. The problem of predestination is a formidable one challenging freedom, maintaining as it does that, even before creation. Like most dilemmas posed by philosophy, perhaps it should be taken with reserve: "All arguments," concluded 19th-century philosopher and psychologist William James, "are against freedom; all experience is for it."

单选题The medium for integrating media is______.

单选题Lots of creatures already reproduce without sex. Since the birth of Louise Brown, the first test-tube baby, in 1978, (1) of human beings (2) in laboratory glassware rather than in bed. If human cloning becomes possible—and since the birth of a sheep called Dolly, (3) doubt that it will be feasible to clone a person by 2025—even the link between sex organs and reproduction (4) . You will then be able to take a cutting from your body and grow a new person, (5) you were a willow tree. (6) , we have already divorced sex from reproduction. In the 1960s, the contraceptive pill freed women to enjoy sex for its own sake. (7) , greater tolerance of homosexuality signaled society's acceptance of nonreproductive sex of another sort. These changes are only continuations of a (8) that started perhaps a million years ago. Human beings (9) the interest in infertile, social sex with a few other species: dolphins, apes and some birds. But (10) sex is too good for human beings to (11) , more and more people will abandon it as a (12) of reproduction. In the modern world, you can (13) have sex and parenthood without suffering the bit (14) . Some Hollywood actresses (15) the urge for mothering by electing to adopt children (16) spoil their figures (as they see it) by childbearing. For people as beautiful as this, the temptation to (17) a clone (reared in a surrogate womb) could one day be (18) . However, human cloning and designer babies are probably not (19) . Even assuming that the procedures are judged safe and efficient in farm animals, still a long way off, they will be heavily (20) , if not banned, by many governments for human beings.

单选题The population of the United States is only 6% the world's population, but Americans (1) one third of all the energy (2) in the world. This fact alone says that Americans need to use less energy. And because the price of energy had been rising very rapidly (3) the limited supplies of oil in particular, Americans are becoming aware to the need to (4) energy. In California we have a California Energy Commission which has set up in the past five years to (5) plan for our future energy rise. We have (6) laws in California to help us conserve energy. First of all, our houses in California have been very (7) of energy in the past. They were not (8) very carefully and so the heat would go out of the house very rapidly. Now we require that the homes have a (9) level of insulation, and so the homes built now are much more (10) (11) , in transportation (12) a large percentage of oil energy is used, we need to develop more public transportation. In China, of course, you have a very good public-transportation system. And it is a (n) (13) for the kind of thing we need to develop more in the United States. Automobiles are also becoming more (14) The smaller automobile with efficient engine can help to conserve a large amount of energy along with planning our (15) more carefully. Many different studies have shown that we could (16) our energy consumption by (17) half or two thirds and still have the (18) quality of life. And many different types of technologies are currently being researched as to (19) they can be built to use 20 energy and still supply the same service.

单选题How many people are there in the United States in 1987?

单选题As for globalization, Michael Tenet's attitude to it is most probably one of

单选题{{B}}Text 1{{/B}} I don't know why UFOs are never sighted over large cities by hordes of people. But it is consistent with the idea that there are no space vehicles from elsewhere in our skies. I suppose it is also consistent with the ideas that space vehicles from elsewhere avoid large cities. However, the primary argument against recent extraterrestrial visitation is the absence of evidence. Take leprechauns. Suppose there are frequent reports of leprechauns. Because I myself am emotionally predisposed in favor of leprechauns, I would want to check the evidence especially carefully. Suppose I find that 500 picnickers independently saw a green blur in the forest. Terrific. But so what? This is evidence only for a green blur. Maybe it was a fast hummingbird. Such cases are reliable but not particularly interesting. Now suppose that someone reports: "I was walking through the forest and came upon a convention of 7000 leprechauns. We talked for a while and I was taken down into their hole in the ground and shown pots of gold and feathered green hats. "I will reply: "Fabulous! Who else went along?" And he will say, "Nobody," or "My fishing partner. "This is a case that is interesting but unreliable. In a case of such importance, the uncorroborated testimony of one or two people is almost worthless. What I want is for the 500 picnickers to come upon the 7000 leprechauns.., or vice versa. The situation is the same with UFOs. The reliable cases are uninteresting and the interesting cases are unreliable. Unfortunately, there are no cases that are both reliable and interesting.

单选题It can be safely concluded from the text that

单选题The best title for Sis passage may be