单选题Of all the changes that have taken place in English-language newspapers during the past quarter-century, perhaps the most far-reaching has been the inexorable decline in the scope and seriousness of their arts coverage. It is difficult to the point of impossibility for the average reader under the age of forty to imagine a time when high-quality arts criticism could be found in most big-city newspapers. Yet a considerable number of the most significant collections of criticism published in the 20th century consisted in large part of newspaper reviews. To read such books today is to marvel at the fact that their learned contents were once deemed suitable for publication in general-circulation dailies. We are even farther removed from the unfocused newspaper reviews published in England between the turn of the 20th century and the eve of World War Ⅱ, at a time when newsprint was dirt-cheap and stylish arts criticism was considered an ornament to the publications in which it appeared. In those far-off days, it was taken for granted that the critics of major papers would write in detail and at length about the events they covered. Theirs was a serious business, and even those reviewers who wore their learning lightly, like George Bernard Shaw and Ernest Newman, could be trusted to know what they were about. These men believed in journalism as a calling, and were proud to be published in the daily press. "So few authors have brains enough or literary gift enough to keep their own end up in journalism," Newman wrote, "that I am tempted to define "journalism" as "a term of contempt applied by writers who are not read to writers who are"." Unfortunately, these critics are virtually forgotten. Neville Cardus, who wrote for the Manchester Guardian from 1917 until shortly before his death in 1975, is now known solely as a writer of essays on the game of cricket. During his lifetime, though, he was also one of England"s foremost classical-music critics, a stylist so widely admired that his Autobiography (1947) became a best-seller. He was knighted in 1967, the first music critic to be so honored. Yet only one of his books is now in print, and his vast body of writings on music is unknown save to specialists. Is there any chance that Cardus"s criticism will enjoy a revival? The prospect seems remote. Journalistic tastes had changed long before his death, and postmodern readers have little use for the richly upholstered Vicwardian prose in which he specialized. Moreover, the amateur tradition in music criticism has been in headlong retreat.

单选题 Despite its name, Smugglers' Gulch is one of the toughest places to sneak into America. The narrow valley near San Diego is divided by a steel wall and watched day and night by agents of the border patrol, who track word-be illegal immigrants with the help of helicopters and underground pressure sensors. Rafael, a cement worker, has already been canght jumping over the fence five times. Yet he still wanders on the Mexican side of the fence, waiting for nightfall and another chance to cross. How much longer will he keep trying? "Until I get through," he says. Last week the Senate tried, and failed, to deal with the problem of illegal immigration. After much debate it abandoned a bill that would have provided more money for border security but also allowed many illegal immigrants to obtain visas. Yet the collapse of the Senate bill does not mean illegal immigration will go away, either as a fact or as an urgent political issue. Indeed, one likely consequence will be an outbreak of ad hoc law-making in cities and states. One such place is Arizona, where the governor, signed a bill this week imposing rigid penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants. Those who are caught once will have their licenses suspended; a second offence will put them out of business. Even the governor admits the bill is too broadly drawn and will be hard to enforce. She signed it, she explained, because the federal government has shown itself to be incapable of dealing with illegal immigration. One in ten workers in Arizona is illegal, according to the Pew Hispanic Centre. So the law, if rigorously enforced, could disrupt the state's economy, which suggests it will not be. One landscape gardener in Scottsdale who worked illegally for three decades and now pays illegal workers ＄7 an hour thinks the measure is ridiculous. "Who else is going to pick lettuces and trim trees in this heat?" he asks, pointing to the sun on a 47℃ day. He has no plans to change his ways, and says he will simply move if he is caught. Laws such as Arizona's will make life more unpleasant and unprecedented for illegal workers. But they will not curtail either illegal immigration or illegal working as much as supporters claim. In any case, the border has been so porous for so long that people now have plenty of reasons to steal across it other than work. Of five aspiring immigrants who spoke to the correspondent in Smugglers' Gulch earlier this week, three were trying to join their families.

单选题Many are aware of the tremendous waste of energy in our environment, but fail to take advantage of straightforward opportunities to conserve that energy. For example, everyone knows that lights should be switched off when no one is in an office. Similarly, when employees are not using a meeting room, there is no need to regulate temperature. Fortunately, one need not rely on human intervention to conserve energy. With the help of smart sensing and network technology, energy conservation processes such as turning off lights and adjusting temperature can be readily automated. Ultimately, this technology will enable consumers and plant managers to better identify wasteful energy use and institute procedures that lead to smarter and more efficient homes, buildings and industrial plants. Until now, wires and cables for power and connectivity have limited the widespread adoption of sensor networks by making them difficult and expensive to install and maintain. Battery-powered wireless networks can simplify installation and reduce cost. But their high power consumption and the corresponding need for regular battery replacement has made wireless networks difficult and costly to maintain. Nobody wants to replace hundreds or thousands of window sensor batteries in a large building on a regular basis. The promise of wireless sensor networks can only be fully realized when the wiring for both the data communication and the power supply is eliminated. Doing so requires a true battery-free wireless solution, one that can utilize energy harvested directly from the environments. To facilitate the widespread deployment of wireless sensor networks, Greenpeak has developed an ultra-low-power communication technology that can utilize environmental energy sources such as light, motion and vibration. This technology, employing on-board power management circuits and computer software to monitor energy harvesters and make the best use of harvested energy, enables sensors to operate reliably in a battery-free environment. Wireless sensor networks deployed in our offices and homes will have an enormaous impact on our daily lives, helping to build a smarter world in which energy is recycled and fully utilized. These wireless platforms, equipped with advanced sensing capability, will enable us to better control our lives, homes and environment, creating a truly connected world that enables people worldwide to live in a more comfortable, safer, and cleaner environment.

单选题To many people the Bermuda Triangle is really a mystery because ______.

单选题By the 1950's and 60's "going for Chinese" had become part of the suburban vernacular. In places like New York City, eating Chinese food became intertwined with the traditions of other ethnic groups, especially that of Jewish immigrants. Many Jewish families faithfully visited their favorite Chinese restaurant every Sunday night. Among the menus in the exhibition are selections from Glatt Wok: Kosher Chinese Restaurant and Takeout in Monsey, N. Y. , and Wok Toy in Cedarhurst, N. Y. Until 1965 Cantonese-speaking immigrants, mainly from the county of Toisan, dominated the industry and menus reflected a standard repertory of tasty but bland Americanizations of Cantonese dishes. But loosening immigration restrictions that year brought a flood of people from many different regions of China, starting "authenticity revolution," said Ed Schoenfeld, a restaurateur and Chinese food consultant. Top chefs who were trained in spicy and more unusual regional specialties, like Hunan and Sic hunan cooking, came to New York then, Mr. Schoenfeld said. President Richard M. Nixon's trip to China in 1972 awakened interest in the country and accounts of his meals helped whet diners' appetites for new dishes. An illustration of a scowling Nixon with a pair of chopsticks glares down from the wall at the exhibition. Hunan and Sichuan restaurants in New York influenced the taste of the whole country, Mr. Schoenfeld said. Dishes like General Tso's chicken and crispy orange beef caught on everywhere. But as with the Cantonese food before it, Mr. Schoenfeld said, the cooking degraded over time, as it became mass produced. Today's batter-fried, syrup-laden version of Chinese food, he said, bears little resemblance to authentic cuisine. The real explosion of Chinese restaurants that made them ubiquitous came in the 1980's, said Betty Xie, editor of Chinese Restaurant News. "Now you see there are almost one or two Chinese restaurants in every town in the United States," she said. There are signs that some have tired of Chinese food. A 2004 Zagat survey showed that its popularity has ebbed somewhat in New York City. But the journey of the Chinese restaurant remains the story of the American dream, as experienced by a constant but evolving stream of Chinese immigrants who realized the potential of 12-hour days, borrowed capital and a willingness to cook whatever Americans wanted. Sales margins are tight, and wages are low. Restaurants are passed from one family member to the next, or sold by one Chinese family to another. Often a contingency written into Sales contracts is that the previous owners train the new owners. "The competition in Chinese communities is cutthroat," Mr. Chen, the co-curator, said. "What people realize is you can make much, much better profit in places like Montana./

单选题{{B}}Part A{{/B}}{{B}}Directions:{{/B}} Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.{{B}}Text 1{{/B}} The extension of democratic rights in tile first half of the nineteenth century and the ensuing decline of the Federalist establishment, a new conception of education began to emerge. Education was no longer a confirmation of a pre-existing status, but an instrument in the acquisition of higher status. For a new generation of upwardly mobile students, the goal of education was not to prepare them to live comfortably in the world into which they had been born, but to teach them new virtues and skills that would propel them into a different and better world. Education became training; and the student was no longer the gentleman-in-waiting, but the journeyman apprentice for upward mobility. In the nineteenth century a college education began to be seen as a way to get ahead in the world. The founding of the land-grant colleges opened the doors of higher education to poor but aspiring boys from non Anglo-Saxon, working-class, and lower-middle-class backgrounds. The myth of the poor boy who worked his way through college to success drew millions of poor boys to the new campuses. And with this shift, education became more vocational: its objects was the acquisition of practical skills and useful information. For the gentleman-in-waiting, virtue consisted above all in grace and style, in doing well what was appropriate to his position; education was merely a way of acquiring polish. And vice was manifested in gracelessness, awkwardness, in behaving inappropriately, discourteously, or ostentatiously. For the apprentice, however, virtue was evidenced in success through hard work The requisite qualities of character were not grace or style, but drive, determination, and a sharp eye for opportunity. While casual liberality and even prodigality characterized the gentleman, frugality, thrift, and self-control came to distinguish the new apprentice And while the gentleman did not aspire to a higher station because his station was already high, the apprentice was continually becoming, striving, struggling upward. Failure for the apprentice meant standing still, not rising.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} People can get emotional about immigration. Bill O'Reilly, a talk-show host, devoted a recent segment to the story of an illegal alien who got drunk and accidentally killed two attractive white girls with his car. If only he had been deported for previous {{U}}misdemeanours{{/U}}, Mr. O'Reilly raged, those girls would still be alive. Another talk-show host, Geraldo Rivera, during an on-air shout-joust(争吵) with Mr. O' Reilly, denounced his demagogic choice of story-angle as" a sin". President George Bush tried again this week to bring a more rational tone to the debate. He urged the new Democratic Congress to revive the immigration reforms that the old Republican Congress killed last year. His proposal was broadly the same as before. He said he wanted to make it harder to enter America illegally, but easier to do so legally, and to offer a path to citizenship for the estimated 12m illegals who have already snuck in. The first part faces few political hurdles and is already well under way. Mr. Bush expects to have doubled the number of Border Patrol agents by the end of next year. The new recruits are being trained. And to defend against the invading legions of would-be gardeners and hotel cleaners, the frontier is also equipped with high-tech military gizmos(小发明), such as unmanned spy planes with infra-red(红外) cameras. This may be having some effect. Mr. Bush boasted that the number of people caught sneaking over the border had fallen by nearly 30% this year. And the controversial part of Mr. Bush's immigration package--allowing more immigrants in and offering those already in America a chance to become legal -- is still just a plan. House Republicans squashed it last year. Mr. Bush senses a second chance with the new Democratic Congress, but Democrats, like Republicans, are split on the issue. Some, notably Ted Kennedy, think America should embrace hard- working migrants. Others fret that hard-working migrants will undercut the wages of the native-born. Mr. Bush would like to see the pro-immigrant wings of both parties work together to give him a bill he can sign. The Senate is expected to squeeze in a debate next month. The administration is trying to entice law-and-order Republicans on board; a recent leaked memo talked of substantial fines for illegals before they can become legal and" much bigger" fines for employers who hire them before they do. The biggest hurdle, however, may be the Democrats' reluctance to co-operate with Mr. Bush. Some figure that, rather than letting their hated adversary share the credit for fixing the immigration system, they should stall until a Democrat is in the White House and then take it all. So there is a selfish as well as a moral argument for making a deal.

单选题It can be inferred from the passage that the Expressionists were

单选题If you smoke, you' d better hurry. From July 1st pubs all over England will, by law, be no-smoking areas. So will restaurants, offices and even company cars, if more than one person uses them. England' s smokers are following a well-trodden path. The other three bits of the United Kingdom have already banned smoking in almost all enclosed public spaces, and there are anti-smoking laws of varying strictness over most of Western Europe. The smoker' s journey from glamour through toleration to suspicion is finally reaching its end in pariah status. But behind this public-health success story lies a darker tale. Poorer people are much more likely to smoke than richer ones—a change from the 1950s, when professionals and laborers were equally keen. Today only 15% of men in the highest professional classes smoke, but 42% of unskined workers do. Despite punitive taxation—20 cigarettes cost around ￡ 5.00 ( $10.00), three-quarters of which is tax—55% of single mothers on benefits smoke. The figure for homeless men is even higher; for hard-drug users it is practically 100%. The message that smoking kills has been heard, it seems, but not by all. Having defeated the big killers of the past—want, exposure, poor sanitation—governments all over the developed world are turning their attention to diseases that stem mostly from how individuals choose to live their lives. But the same deafness afflicts the same people when they are strongly encouraged to give up other sorts of unhealthy behavior. The lower down they are on practically any pecking order--job prestige, income, education, background-the more likely people are to be fat and unfit, and to drink too much. That tempts governments to shout ever louder in an attempt to get the public to listenand nowhere do they do so more aggressively than in Britain. One reason is that pecking orders matter more than in most other rich countries: income distribution is very unequal and the unemployed, disaffected, ill-educated rump is comparatively large. Another reason is the frustration of a government addicted to targets, which often aim not only to improve something but to lessen inequality in the process. A third is that the National Health Service is free to patients, and paying for those who have arguably brought their ill-health on themselves grows alarmingly costly. Britain's aggressiveness, however, may be pointless, even counter-productive. There is no reason to believe that those who ignore measured voices will listen to shouting. It irritates the majority who are already behaving responsibly, and it may also undermine all government pronouncements on health by convincing people that they have an ultra-cautious margin of error built in. Such hectoring may also be missing the root cause of the problem. According to Mr. Marmot, who cites research on groups as diverse as baboons in captivity, British civil servants and Oscar nominees, the higher rates of iii health among those in more modest walks of life can be attributed to what he calls the "status syndrome". People in privileged positions think they are worth the effort of behaving healthily, and find the will-power to do so. The implication is that it is easier to improve a person' s health by weakening the connection between social position and health than by targeting behavior directly. Same public-health experts speak of social cohesion, support for families and better education for all. These are bigger undertakings than a bossy campaign; but more effective, and quieter.

单选题There is nothing quite like falling in love. The palms sweat, the heart races. But time passes, and, nights of endless passion are replaced with snoring. Studies show that married couples can expect around two years of the passionate stuff, and then decades of a companionable slog. So why get married at all? Why not just look for the next dopamine hit? It is a good question. Many are clearly asking it, as nearly nine in ten people live in a country with a falling marriage rate. In search of answers, Aziz Ansari, an American comedian, teamed up with Eric Klinenberg, a sociologist at New York University, to write Modern Romance, a lively look at love, marriage and the oddities of mating in the 21st century. The pursuit of love has never before involved so many choices, with so many new-fangled tools and such high expectations. Dating apps and social networking sites ensure that anyone with a smartphone can sample from a seemingly endless buffet of romantic prospects. This makes being single more enjoyable, but also more stressful. Digital wooing helps people to behave like scoundrels. Among the hundreds of people interviewed for Modern Romance , many admitted to becoming addicted to dating sites. One woman confessed to having hunted for better-looking alternatives while enroute to a first date. Others talked about the ease of starting affairs or snooping on partners. Countless women complained of receiving messages from aspiring Lotharios that ranged from lewd to asinine. Requests to "hang out" do not make the heart go aflutter. The book treads more novel territory when it considers mating rites farther afield. In Qatar, where the only way for a woman to leave her family"s home is "to get married or die" (in the words of one woman), the Internet affords more freedom to socialise away from prying eyes. In Japan, where a sluggish economy has left men feeling more insecure, few can pluck up the nerve to ask women out. This has ensured a booming "relationship replacement" industry, in which women are paid to serve drinks and listen attentively. Readers should not expect a serious work of sociology, but a breezy survey of the relevant research. But when it comes to the question of marriage, Mr. Ansari reaches a satisfying conclusion. Certainly, fewer people are tying the knot, in part because fewer people need to, and the plethora of potential mates raises the opportunity cost of choosing one. But people in good marriages statistically live longer, happier and healthier lives. The passion may burn up, but a more stable, more trusting love takes its place—and this kind of love only gets stronger with time.

单选题 Bold faced, with a hyphen and ending in the adjectival -ed, was coined by Shake speare in Henry VI, Part I, when Lord Talbot, rescuing his son on a French battlefield, spoke of his "proud desire of bold-faced Victorie". It was picked up in the 19th century by typesetters to describe a type-like Clarendon, Antique or a thick version of Bodoni--that stood out confidently, even impudently, from the page. The adjective was used in an 1880 article in The New York Times (we were hyphenated then): "One of the handbills" distributed by the Ku Klux Klan, noted, a disapproving reporter, was "printed in bold-faced type on yellow paper". Newspaper gossip columnists in the 30's, to catch the reader's eye, began using this bold type for the names that made news in what was then called "cafe society" (in contrast to "high" society, whose members claimed to prefer to stay out of those columns). In our time, the typeface metaphor was applied to a set of famous human faces. A fashion reporter--John Duka of The Times--was an early user of the phrase, as he wrote acerbically on Sept. 22, 1981: "At the overheated parties at Calvin Klein's apartment, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Studio 54, the bold-faced names said the week had been so crammed that they were feeling a little under the breath, you know. " Rita Kempley of The Washington Post noted in 1987 the sought-after status of "a bold-faced name in People magazine"; by 1999, Alan Peppard of The Dallas Morning News recalled to Texas Monthly that he began with a "social column", but "now we live in an age of celebrity, and there are very few people who care about what the debutantes are doing. So I call it celebrity, society, famous people, rich people, bold-faced names". The New York Times, which never had, does not have and is grimly determined never to have a "gossip column", introduced a "people column" in 2001. (When its current editor, Joyce Wadler, took a six-week break recently, she subheaded that item with a self-mocking "Air Kiss! Smooch! Ciao!") The column covers the doings of celebrities, media biggies, fashion plates, show-biz stars, haut monde notables, perennial personages and others famous for their fame. Its confident, fashionable and modern moniker became the driving force behind the recent popularization of the phrase with the former compound adjective, now an attributive noun: Bold-faced Names.