单选题 For years, smokers have been exhorted to take the initiative and quit: use a nicotine patch, chew nicotine gum, take a prescription medication that can help, call a help line, just say no. But a new study finds that stopping is seldom an individual decision. Smokers tend to quit in groups, the study finds, which means smoking cessation programs should work best if they focus on groups rather than individuals. It also means that people may help many more than just themselves by quitting: quitting can have a ripple effect prompting an entire social network to break the habit. The study, by Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard Medical School and James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, followed thousands of smokers and nonsmokers for 32 years, from 1971 until 2003, studying them as part of a large network of relatives, co-workers, neighbors, friends and friends of friends. It was a time when the percentage of adult smokers in the United States fell to 21 percent from 45 percent. As the investigators watched the smokers and their social networks, they saw what they said was a striking effect-smokers had formed little social clusters and, as the years went by, entire clusters of smokers were stopping {{U}}en masse{{/U}}. So were clusters of clusters that were only loosely connected. Dr. Christakis described watching the vanishing clusters as like lying on your back in a field, looking up at stars that were burning out. "It's not like one little star turning off at a time," he said. "Whole constellations are blinking off at once." As cluster after cluster of smokers disappeared, those that remained were pushed to the margins of society, isolated, with fewer friends, fewer social connections. "Smokers used to be the center of the party," Dr. Fowler said, "but now they've become wallflowers." "We've known smoking was bad for your physical health," he said. "But this shows it also is bad for your social health. Smokers are likely to drive friends away." "There is an essential public health message," said Richard Suzman, director of the office of behavioral and social research at the National Institute on Aging, which financed the study. "Obviously, people have to take responsibility for their behavior, " Mr. Suzman said. But a social environment, he added, "can just overpower free will." With smoking, that can be a good thing, researchers noted. But there also is a sad side. As Dr. Steven Schroeder of the University of California, San Francisco, pointed out in an editorial accompanying the paper, "a risk of the marginalization of smoking is that it further isolates the group of people with the highest rate of smoking — persons with mental illness, problems with substance abuse, or both."

单选题More surprising, perhaps, than the current difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving. As Skolnick notes, Americans are a marrying people: Relative to Europeans, more of us marry and we marry at a younger age. Moreover, aster a decline in the early 1970s, the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing. Even the divorce rate needs to be taken in this pro-marriage context: some 80 percent of divorced individuals remarry. Thus, marriage remains, by far, the preferred way of life for the vast majority of people in our society. What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family. Twenty-five years ago, the typical American family consisted of a husband, a wife, and two or three children. Now, there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children. And there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife's previous marriage, or the husband's, or both. Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage; sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses. Thus, one can find the very type of family arrangement. There are marriages without children; marriages with children from only the present marriage; marriages with "full-time" children from the present marriage and "part-time" children from former marriages. There are step-fathers, step-mothers, half-brothers, and half-sisters. It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents! These are enormous changes from the traditional nuclear family. But even so, even in the midst of all this, there remains one constant: Most Americans spend most of their adult lives married.

单选题The idea that boys and girls—and men and women—are programmed by evolution to behave differently from one another is now widely acknowledged. But which of the differences between the sexes are "biological", in the sense that they have been honed by evolution, and which are "cultural" or "environmental" and might more easily be altered by changed circumstances, is still fiercely debated. The sensitivity of the question was shown last year by an uproar at Harvard University. Larry Summers, then Harvard's president, caused a storm when he suggested that innate ability could be an important reason why there were so few women in the top positions in mathematics, engineering and the physical sciences. Even as a proposition for discussion, this is Unacceptable to some. But biological explanations of human behavior are making a comeback. The success of neo-Darwinism has provided an intellectual foundation for discussion about why some differences between the sexes might be innate. And new scanning techniques have enabled researchers to examine the brain's interior while it is working, showing that male and female brains do, at one level, operate differently. The results, however, do not always support past clichés about what the differences in question actually are. One behavioral difference that has borne a huge amount of scrutiny is in mathematics, particularly since Dr. Summers' comments. The problem with trying to argue that the male tendency to systemize might lead to greater mathematical ability is that, in fact, girls and boys are equally good at maths prior to teenage years. Until recently, it was believed that males outperformed females in mathematics at all ages. Today, that picture has changed, and it appears that males and females of any age are equally good at computation and at understanding mathematical concepts. However, after their mid-teens, men are better at problem solving than women are. The question raised by Dr. Summers does get to the heart of the matter. Over the past 50 years, women have made huge progress into academia and within it. Slowly, they have worked their way into the higher echelons of discipline after discipline. But some parts of the ivory tower have proved harder to occupy than others. The question remains, to what degree is the absence of women in science, mathematics and engineering caused by innate, immutable ability? Innate it may well be. That does not mean it is immutable. A variety of abilities are amenable to training in both sexes. And such training works. Biology may predispose, but it is not necessarily destiny.

单选题President Bush takes to the bully pulpit to deliver a stern lecture to America's business elite. The Justice Dept. stuns the accounting profession by filing a criminal indictment of Arthur Andersen LLP for destroying documents related to its audits of Enron Corp. On Capitol Hill, some congressional panels push on with biased hearings on Enron's collapse and, now, another busted New Economy star, telecom's Global Crossing. Lawmakers sign on to new bills aimed at tightening oversight of everything from pensions and accounting to executive pay. To any spectators, it would be easy to conclude that the winds of change are sweeping Corporate America, led by George W. Bush, who ran as "a reformer with result." But far from deconstructing the corporate world brick by brick into something cleaner, sparer, and stronger, Bush aides and many legislators are preparing modest legislative and administrative reforms. Instead of an overhaul, Bush's team is counting on its enforcers, Justice and a newly empowered Securities & Exchange Commission, to make examples of the most egregious offenders. The idea is that business will quickly get the message and clean up its own act. Why won't the outraged rhetoric result in more changes? For starters, the Bush Administration warns that any rush to legislate corporate behavior could produce a raft of flawed hills that raise costs without halting abuses. Business has striven to drive the point home with an intense lobbying blitz that has convinced many lawmakers that over-regulation could startle the stock market and perhaps endanger the nascent economic recovery. All this sets the stage for Washington to get busy with predictably modest results. A surge of caution is sweeping would-be reformers on the Hill. "They know they don't want to make a big mistake," says Jerry J. Jasinowski, president of the National Association of Manufacturers. That go-slow approach suits the White House. Aides say the President, while personally disgusted by Enron's sellout of its pensioners, is reluctant to embrace new sanctions that frustrate even law-abiding corporations and create a litigation bonanza for trial lawyers. Instead, the White House will push for narrowly targeted action, most of it carried out by the SEC, the Treasury Dept., and the Labor Dept. The right outcome, Treasury Secretary Paul H.O'Neill said on Mar. 15, "depends on the Congress not legislating things that are over the top." To O'Neill and Bush, that means enforcing current laws before passing too many new ones. Nowhere is that stance clearer than in the Andersen indictment. So the Bush Administration left the decision to Justice DePt. prosecutors rather than White House political operatives or their reformist fellows at the SEC.

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 biggest demonstration in a generation is being assembled by mobilizing the power of the web, which allows anti-war groups to rally multitudes at the click of a mouse. Cornish speakers for peace can share ideas by e-mail with Rhodes Scholars Against the War while taking into account the sensitivities of the Young Muslim Sisters. Footsore ban-the-bomb veterans such as Tony Myers of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, busily preparing yesterday for the mass protest, can only marvel at the power of the net. "It's made a massive difference," he said. "Back in the 1980s when we were trying to organize huge demos it was all about going to meetings and sending mail to regional people. I was a volunteer before the 1983 demonstration which attracted 400,000 marchers. The office was just awash with people printing things on old duplicators. People today feel more like they are part of a big movement. In the 1980s, we would read about demos all over the world a few days later in the newspapers. Now you know all the details in advance if you are on the e-mail list. The Stop the War Coalition needs only a handful of headquarters staff because the website is a virtual campaign group in itself, complete with briefings, news, addresses and artwork. Children's superior mastery of the internet is reflected in the proliferation of youth groups opposing war. The Woodcraft Folk (a sort of pacifist version of the Scouts) announce that they will be bringing an orange parachute on the march. The Engels-Marx Communist Party (slogan "Resist and Revolt") is a group of pupils at a Leicester comprehensive school opposing the war. The entire country is covered from the Aberdeen Students Against War Society to Torbay Stop the War group. Anti-war campaigners put leaflets, maps, posters and petitions on their websites for supporters to print, stick in their window or hand out at the march. Stop the War Coalition includes a direct- debit form which supporters can download and send to their bank manager to make donations. Message boards are filled with anti-war protesters arguing their case. The issue is being exploited by the British National Party, which has posted a self-serving press release proclaiming support for the march because of their concerns over "the power of the Israeli lobby". Anti-war individuals have been e-mailing friends with songs for the march, one to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It. The internet was created in the 1960s partly by the Advanced Research Project Agency of the US Department of Defense. It is widely said to have been created in order to send military messages after an atomic war.

单选题A. If B. When Ci Unless D. Until

单选题It is often observed that the aged spend much time thinking and talking about their past lives, (1) about the future. These reminiscences are not simply random or trivial memories, (2) is their purpose merely to make conversation. The old person’s recollections of the past help to (3) an identity that is becoming increasingly fragile: (4) any role that brings respect or any goal that might provide (5) to the future, the individual mentions his past as a reminder to listeners, that here was a life (6) living. (7) , the memories form part of a continuing life (8) , in which the person (9) the events and experiences of the-years gone by and (10) on the overall meaning of his or her own almost completed life. As the life cycle (11) to its close, the aged must also learn to accept the reality of their own impending death. (12) this task is made difficult by the fact that death is almost a (13) subject in the United States. The mere discussion of death is often regarded as (14) .As adults many of us find the topic frightening and are (15) to think about it — and certainly not to talk about it (16) the presence of someone who is dying. Death has achieved this taboo (17) only in the modern industrial societies. There seems to bean important reason for our reluctance to (18) the idea of death. It is the very fact that death remains (19) our control; it is almost the only one of the natural processes (20) is so.

单选题What do you think of American health care system? Most people would be (1) by the high quality of medicine (2) to most Americans. There is a lot of specialization, a great deal of (3) to the individual, a (4) amount of advanced technical equipment, and (5) effort not to make mistakes because of the financial risk which doctors and hospitals must (6) in the courts if they (7) things badly. But the Americans are in a mess. To the problem is the way in (8) health care is organized and (9) . (10) to pubic belief it is not just a free competition system. To the private system has been joined a large public system, because private care was simply not (11) the less fortunate and the elderly. But even with this huge public part of the system, (12) this year will eat up 84.5 billion dollars—more than 10 percent of the U. S. Budget—a large number of Americans are left (13) . These include about half the 11 million unemployed and those who fail to meet the strict limits (14) income fixed by a government trying to make savings where it can. The basic problem, however, is that there is no central control (15) the health system. There is no (16) to what doctors and hospitals charge for their services, other than what the public is able to pay. The number of doctors has shot up and prices have climbed. When faced with toothache, a sick child, or a heart attack, all the unfortunate persons concerned can do is to pay (17) . Two thirds of the population are (18) by medical insurance. Doctors charge as much as they want (19) that the insurance company will pay the bill. The rising cost of medicine in the U. S. A. is among the most worrying problems facing the country. In 1981 the country's health bill climbed 15.9 percent—about twice as fast as prices (20) general.

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. The amount of sunlight reaching Earth's surface appears to be growing. The phenomenon, which some dub "global brightening,"{{U}} (1) {{/U}}scientists with a puzzle. If the{{U}} (2) {{/U}}is real and global, how long will it last and what are the consequences for climate change, the planet's water cycle, and other{{U}} (3) {{/U}}that draw energy from sunlight?{{U}} (4) {{/U}}, the answer might seem obvious: More sunlight reaching the ground in a warming world means that temperatures will get warmer{{U}} (5) {{/U}}. Not so fast, some researchers say. Additional warming would be certain{{U}} (6) {{/U}}nothing else in the climate system changes. And the climate system is{{U}} (7) {{/U}}static. Some combinations of changes could reinforce the heating; others could{{U}} (8) {{/U}}it. Unraveling these interactions and forecasting their course require an accurate accounting of the sunlight reaching the surface and the{{U}} (9) {{/U}}the surface sends skyward. Moreover, researchers say, measurements of the sun's strength at Earth's surface are potentially powerful tools for{{U}} (10) {{/U}}human influences on the climate. Earth's radiation "budget"{{U}} (11) {{/U}}an "extremely important parameter that is{{U}} (12) {{/U}}known,' says Robert Charlson, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington at Seattle. "It needs to be{{U}} (13) {{/U}}much better than it is." {{U}} (14) {{/U}}about the amount of sunlight reaching Earth's surface were first raised in 1974. Researchers from the United States and Israel recorded a 12% drop{{U}} (15) {{/U}}sunlight over 40 years at a{{U}} (16) {{/U}}station in the southern Sinai Peninsula. Since then, others have used a variety of techniques to try to track{{U}} (17) {{/U}}sunlight. Three years ago, for example, a{{U}} (18) {{/U}}led by Beate Liepert at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory gathered data from ground{{U}} (19) {{/U}}around the world and found that solar radiation reaching the surface fell{{U}} (20) {{/U}}4% from 1961 to 1990.

单选题Which of the following statements can best indicate the author's attitude?

单选题The author considers those historians who describe early feminists in the US as "solitary" to be

单选题Where have the profits of globalization gone?

单选题Which statement is right according to the passage?

单选题{{B}}Text 4{{/B}} An analysis of workplace trends shows that employee perks, a reliable indicator of job market strength, are beginning to make a comeback. While not as Extravagant as those offered in the late 1990s, companies clearly are shifting their focus from workforce reduction to workforce retention. Firms realize that they require a foundation of experienced, trained, and motivated workers. These employers are improving and/ or adding perks to prevent an exodus of workers that could occur as the economy continues improving. They also may be looking further down the road when severe labor shortages are expected to return. An analysis of perks offered in today's workplace shows that many of the 1990s-style benefits, such as game rooms and luxury car leases, have been abandoned. The perks that remain popular with employers and employees are those that help workers stay healthy, career focused, and financially stable. Perhaps the most appreciated are those that help individuals maintain work-life balance. Work-life balance is just one part of the growing concern companies have about the overall emotional and physical health of their workers. Employees who are stressed out or depressed because they do not feel as if they are giving enough attention to the nonwork aspects of their lives ultimately are unproductive. More and more companies also are learning that workers desire the opportunity to grow professionally in the workplace. HewlettPackard, for instance, has boosted its employee education and development budget by 20%. Nationwide Insurance, based in Columbus, Ohio, established a career-planning website in 2003. The site provides information on company job opportunities, career development, and an in-house mentoring program. Nationwide also is helping to educate its employees in financial matters, acknowledging that workers distracted by such issues on the job are not giving their full attention to the company's priorities. It is adding classes and seminars on personal finance issues and 401(k) investments. Sometimes perks simply are about keeping employee morale elevated. Knowing that an improving economy might prompt valued employees to seek new opportunities, the owner of Ticketcity. com has lavished his best performers with tickets to the Masters golf tournament (锦标赛), access to country clubs, and invitations to a management retreat in Sedona, Ariz. Moreover, even companies that cannot afford to institute costly perks can find ways to make sure current employees are happy. Doug Dorman, vice president of human resources for the Greenville (S.C.) Hospital System explains that there is a definite sense of urgency when it comes to employee retention, knowing that labor shortages are returning. Dorman notes, however, that they have not focused on perks, "but rather on creating a culture of recognition and appreciation. Employees stay when they have good two-way communication with management and are truly appreciated and recognized for their contributions."

单选题People have good reason to care about the welfare of animals. Ever since the Enlightenment, their treatment has been seen as a measure of mankind"s humanity. It is no coincidence that William Wilberforce and Sir Thomas Foxwell Buxton, two leaders of the movement to abolish the slave trade, helped found the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in the 1820s. An increasing number of people go further: mankind has a duty not to cause pain to animals that have the capacity to suffer. Both views have led people gradually to extend treatment once reserved for mankind to other species. But when everyday lives are measured against such principles, they are fraught with contradictions. Those who would never dream of caging their cats and dogs guzzle bacon and eggs from ghastly factory farms. The abattoir and the cattle truck are secret places safely hidden from the meat-eater"s gaze and the child"s story book. Plenty of people who denounce the fur-trade (much of which is from farmed animals) quite happily wear leather (also from farmed animals). Perhaps the inconsistency is understandable. After hundreds of years of thinking about it, people cannot agree on a system of rights for each other, so the ground is bound to get shakier still when animals are included. The trouble is that confusion and contradiction open the way to the extremist. And because scientific research is remote from most people"s lives, it is particularly vulnerable to their campaigns. In fact, science should be the last target, wherever you draw the boundaries of animal welfare. For one thing, there is rarely an alternative to using animals in research. If there were, scientists would grasp it, because animal research is expensive and encircled by regulations. Animal research is also for a higher purpose than a full belly or an elegant outfit. The world needs new medicines and surgical procedures just as it needs the unknowable fruits of pure research. And science is, by and large, kind to its animals. The couple of million (mainly rats and mice) that die in Britain"s laboratories are far better looked- after and far more humanely killed than the billion or so (mainly chickens ) on Britain"s farms. Indeed, if Darley Oaks makes up its loss of guinea pigs with turkeys or dairy cows, you can be fairly sure animal welfare in Britain has just taken a step backwards.

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 $ 5Om, 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{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} Charles Darwin wed his cousin Emma and spawned 10 children, including four brilliant scientists. Albert Einstein’s second wife Elsa was his first cousin. Queen Victoria said “I do” to hers. So have millions worldwide. In parts of Saudi Arabia, 39% of all marriages are between first cousins. In the U. S., though, the practice bears a stigma of inbreeding just this side of incest. The taboo is not only social hut legislative; 24 states ban the marriage of first cousins: five others allow it only if the couple is unable to bear children. A major reason for this ban is the belief that kids of first cousins are tragically susceptible to serious congenital illnesses. That view may have to change. A comprehensive study published recently in the Journal of Genetic Counseling indicates such children run an only slightly higher risk of significant genetic disorders like congenital heart defects — about two percentage points above the average 3% to 4%. Says the study’s lead author, Robin Bennett, president-elect of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, which funded the study: “Aside from a thorough medical family history, there is no need to offer any genetic testing on the basis of consanguinity alone”. Publication of the study will do more than tweak public awareness; it will enlighten doctors who have urged cousin couples not to have children. “Just this week,” says Bennett, “I saw a 23-year-old woman who had had a tubal ligation because her parents were cousins and her doctor told her she shouldn’t have children.” The American proscription against cousin marriages grew in the 19th century as wilderness settlers tried to distinguish themselves from the “savage” Indians, says Martin, author of the book Forbidden Relatives: The American Myth of Cousin Marriage. “The truth is that Europeans were marrying their cousins and Native Americans were not.” And doesn’t God have stern words on the subject? Christie Smith, 37, a Nevada writer, says she felt guilty when she fell in love with her first cousin’s son Mark. “I was trying so hard to convince myself not to have these feelings,” she recalls, “that I went to the Bible looking for confirmation that it was wrong. And what I found was the exact opposite: support for cousin marriages.” The patriarch Jacob married two of his first cousins, Rachel and Leah. Smith married Mark in 1999. The medical ban is lifted; the social stain may take longer to disappear.

单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} A major reason most experts today support concepts such as a youth services bureau is that. traditional correctional practices fail to rehabilitate many delinquent youth. It has been estimated that as many as 70 percent of all youth who have been institutionalized are involved in new offenses following their release. Contemporary correctional institutions are usually isolated—geographically and socially--from the communities in which most of their inmates live. In addition, rehabilitative programs in the typical training school and reformatory focus on the individual delinquent rather than the environmental conditions which foster delinquency. Finally, many institutions do not play an advocacy role on behalf of those committed to their care. They fail to do anything constructive about the hack-home conditions-family, school, work--faced by the youthful inmates. As a result, too often institutionalization serves as a barrier to the successful return of former inmates to their communities. Perhaps the most serious consequence of sending youth to large, centralized institutions, however, is that too frequently they serve as a training ground for criminal careers. The classic example of the adult offender who leaves prison more knowledgeable in the ways of crime than when he entered is no less true of the juvenile committed to a correctional facility. The failures of traditional correctional institutions, then, point to the need for the development of a full range of strategies and treatment techniques as alternatives to incarceration. Most experts today favor the use of small, decentralized correctional programs located in, or close to, communities where the young offender lives. Half-way houses, ail-day probation programs, vocational training and job placement services, remedial education activities, and street working programs are among the community-based alternatives available for working with delinquent and potentially delinquent youth. Over and above all the human factors cited, the case for community-based programs is further strengthened when cost is considered. The most recent' figures show that more $258 million is being spent annually on public institutions for delinquent youth. The average annual operating expenditure for each incarcerated youth is estimated at a little over five thousand dollars, significantly more than the cost of sending a boy or girl to the best private college for the same period of time. The continuing increase in juvenile delinquency rates only serves to heighten the drastic under-financing, the lack of adequately trained staff, and the severe shortage of manpower that characterize virtually every juvenile correction system.