单选题A writer said yesterday that Richard M. Scrushy, the former chief executive of HealthS0uth, paid her through a public relations firm to produce several favorable articles for an Alabama newspaper that he reviewed before publication during his fraud trial last year. The articles appeared in The Birmingham Times, a black-owned weekly in Birmingham, Ale. Mr. Scrushy was acquitted in June in a six-month trial there on all 36 counts against him, despite testimony from former HealthSouth executives who said he presided over a huge accounting fraud. "I sat in that courtroom for six months, and I did everything possible to advocate for his cause," Audrey Lewis, the author of the articles, said in a telephone interview. She said she received $10.000 from Mr. Scrushy through the Lewis Group, a public relations firm, and another $1,000 to help buy a computer. "Scrushy promised me a lot more than what I got." she said. Charles A. Russell, a spokesman for Mr. Scrushy, said he was not aware of an explicit agreement for the Lewis Group to pay Ms. Lewis. The payments to Ms. Lewis were first reported by The Associated Press yesterday. "There's nothing there I think Richard would have any part of,"' Mr. Russell said. Mr. Russell said that Mr. Scrushy reviewed the articles before they were published. "Richard thought she was doing a little, 'F.Y.L, here's what I'm writing,'" Mr. Russell said. Ms. Lewis said that Mr. Russell, a prominent Denver-based crisis communications consultant, was also involved in providing her with financial compensation. She said Mr. Russell wrote her a $2.500 personal check at the end of May 2005; Mr. Russell said that was true. "She was looking for freelance community- relations work after the trial," Mr. Russell said. Ms. Lewis came into Mr. Scrushy's sphere through Believers Temple Church; she attends services and works as an administrator there. She and Rev. Herman Henderson, the pastor, were part of a group that appeared in court with Mr. Scrushy and often prayed with him during breaks. Before and during the trial, in which 11 of the 18 jurors were black. Mr. Scrushy, who is white, forged ties with Birmingham's African-American population. He joined a predominantly black church, and his foundation donated to it and other black congregations. Mr. Henderson also said he received payments from Mr. Scrushy in exchange for building support for him among blacks. Mr. Scrushy said in a statement yesterday that his foundation donated money to Mr. Henderson's church, but said the payments were unrelated to his case. "My foundation donated to his church building fund and to a Katrina relief effort that his church sponsored," Mr. Scrushy said. "That's it. Period." Ms. Lewis, 31, said she was disclosing details about the financial arrangement because Mr. Scrushy still owes her and Mr. Henderson a significant amount of money. Ms. Lewis provided copies of a retainer agreement that Mr. Scrushy signed last April with the Lewis Group, a public relations firm controlled by Jesse J. Lewis Sr., 82, the founder of The Birmingham Times, and a check issued to her in May from the Lewis Group. (Ms. Lewis and Mr. Lewis are not related.)

单选题You really do have to wonder whether a few years from now we'll look back at the first decade of the 21st century—when food prices spiked, energy prices soared, world population surged, tornados plowed through cities, floods and droughts set records, populations were displaced and governments were threatened by the confluence of it all—and ask ourselves. What were we thinking? How did we not panic when the evidence was so obvious that we'd crossed some growth, climate, natural resource and population redlines all at once? "The only answer can be denial," argues Paul Gilding, an Australian environmentalist, in a new book called The Great Disruption. "When you are surrounded by something so big that requires you to change everything about the way you think and see the world, then denial is the natural response. But the longer we wait, the bigger the response required." Gilding cites the work of the Global Footprint Network, an alliance of scientists, which calculates how many "planet Earths" we need to sustain our current growth rates. G. F. N. measures how much land and water area we need to produce the resources we consume and absorb our waste, using prevailing technology. On the whole, says G. F. N. , we are currently growing at a rate that is using up the Earth's resources far faster than they can be sustainably replenished, so we are eating into the future. This is not science fiction. This is what happens when our system of growth and the system of nature hit the wall at once. We are now using so many resources and putting out so much waste into the Earth that we have reached some kind of limit, given current technologies. The economy is going to have to get smaller in terms of physical impact. We will not change systems, though, without a crisis. But don't worry, we're getting there. We're currently caught in two loops: One is that more population growth and more global warming together are pushing up food prices, causing political instability in the Middle East, which leads to higher oil prices, thus to higher food prices and more instability. At the same time, improved productivity means fewer people are needed in every factory to produce more stuff. So if we want to have more jobs, we need more factories. More factories making more stuff make more global warming, and that is where the two loops meet. But Gilding is actually an eco-optimist. As the impact o the imminent Great Disruption hits us, he says, "our response will be proportionally dramatic, mobilizing as we do in war. We will change at a scale and speed we can barely imagine today, completely transforming our economy, including our energy and transport industries, in just a few short decades. " We will realize, he predicts, that the consumer-driven growth model is broken and we have to move to a more happiness-driven growth model, based on people working less and owning less.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} Burkina Faso student teacher Hema Cecile has a lot more time to crack the books thanks to a recent initiative from the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The launch of the Lighting Africa program by the two organizations this year has made it possible for Cecile to swap kerosene lamps for a solar-powered LED lantern. Lighting Africa is a ＄12 million project which intends to bring light to the poorest regions across sub-Saharan Africa. The program works with the lighting industry to develop clean, affordable lighting and energy solutions for millions without access to electric grids. Its aim is to accelerate the market and to develop education programs that inform off-grid populations currently dependent on costly, inefficient and hazardous fuel-based lighting about modern alternatives. Cecile used to spend ＄3-4 a month on kerosene for her lamp. That is a large proportion of her earnings—like 70 percent of the population she lives on less than ＄2 a day. In the weeks since buying her lantern she has managed to read four books including Madame Bovary. by Gustave Flaubert and Emile Zola's Germinal. She is among the most learned in a society which has the world's lowest literacy rate, according to a 2007 UN Human Development Report. When she graduates next year she will teach in a local junior school She makes ends meet by holiday jobs as a cleaner and an IT trainer. To earn her daily ration of cornmeal she does shifts from May to September in a corn field. The lanterns are designed to look like the kerosene ones they are replacing in order to increase adoption among the population. Each has a small solar panel on the top and costs an average ＄30, although some cost ＄100, depending on the size of the battery and the number of LED lights it contains. Because of the large number of sunlight hours in Burkina Faso, the lamps can be relied on to work whenever needed. The battery life is 2-4 years, and can be replaced once they lose their storage capacity. The LED lights last 5-10 years. Although it is barely out of its trial period the project, Chabanne said there are signs the project is a boon for the population in areas other than household savings and education. "There are fewer people reporting eye problems to the local hospital."

单选题The primary idea of the passage is______.

单选题The great recession may be over, but this era of high joblessness is probably beginning. Before it ends, it will likely change the life course and character of a generation of young adults. And ultimately, it is likely to reshape our politics, our culture, and the character of our society for years. No one tries harder than the jobless to find silver linings in this national economic disaster. Many said that unemployment, while extremely painful, had improved them in some ways; they had become less materialistic and more financially prudent; they were more aware of the struggles of others. In limited respects, perhaps the recession will leave society better off. At the very least, it has awoken us from our national fever dream of easy riches and bigger houses, and put a necessary end to an era of reckless personal spending. But for the most part, these benefits seem thin, uncertain, and far off. In The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, the economic historian Benjamin Friedman argues that both inside and outside the U.S., lengthy periods of economic stagnation or decline have almost always left society more mean-spirited and less inclusive, and have usually stopped or reversed the advance of rights and freedoms. Anti-immigrant sentiment typically increases, as does conflict between races and classes. Income inequality usually falls during a recession, but it has not shrunk in this one. Indeed, this period of economic weakness may reinforce class divides, and decrease opportunities to cross them—especially for young people. The research of Till Von Wachter, the economist in Columbia University, suggests that not all people graduating into a recession see their life chances dimmed: those with degrees from elite universities catch up fairly quickly to where they otherwise would have been if they had graduated in better times; it is the masses beneath them that are left behind. In the internet age, it is particularly easy to see the resentment that has always been hidden winthin American society. More difficult, in the moment, is discerning precisely how these lean times are affecting society's character. In many respects, the U.S. was more socially tolerant entering this recession than at any time in its history, and a variety of national polls on social conflict since then have shown mixed results. We will have to wait and see exactly how these hard times will reshape our social fabric. But they certainly it, and all the more so the longer they extend.

单选题Studies from 10 nations reveal that the rates of depression among women are twice as high as they are among men. Do women have a biological bent for depression, or are social double standards the major cause? Mental health workers have long noticed among the clinically depressed women take up a bigger proportion. Until recently, though, it was unclear whether more women than men were ill or, instead, whether more women sought help. In fact, a mounting collection of studies has confirmed that major depression is twice as common among women as it is among men. "This is one of the most consistent findings we have ever had," says Myrna M. Weissman of Columbia University. Scientists searching for explanations are challenged by the fact that a variety of cues prompt depression in different people. Sorting out which factors might have a greater influence on women has not proved easy. Both sexes stand an equal chance of inheriting major depression, so genes are most likely not to blame. Yet hormones and sleep cycles--which differ dramatically between the sexescan alter mood. Also, many workers have proposed that social discrimination might put women under high levels of stress. In 1990 an international group examines mood disorders. In the 10 nations reviewed so far, the team has found that among generations reaching maturity after 1945, depression seems to be on the rise and occurs at a younger age. Although overall incidence varies regionally, "everywhere the rates of depression among women are about twice as high as they are among men," Weissman says. In contrast, lifetime rates for manic-depressive illness do not differ according to sex or culture. Mark S. George and his colleagues at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) recently studied which regions of the brain have greater blood flow during periods of depression. George found that "the brain activity of the men and women of depression looked very different. " He has since compared feelings of anger, anxiety and happiness, finding no such big a difference. Because one in five American women has a history of depression, especially as they often pursue therapy from other sources, sometimes on top of an anti-depressant clinic. Says Leibenluft: "It is remarkable how little work has been done on this subject. /

单选题In 1929 John D. Rockefeller decided it was time to sell shares when even a shoeshine boy offered him a share tip. During the past week The Economist's economics editor has been advised by a taxi driver, a plumber and a hairdresser that "you can't go wrong" investing in housing—the more you own the better. Is this a sign that it is time to get out.? At the very least, as house prices around the world climb to everloftier heights, and more and more people jump on to the buy-to-let ladder, it is time to expose some of the fallacies regularly trotted out by so many self-appointed housing experts. One common error is that house prices must continue to rise because of a limited supply of land. For instance, it is argued that "house prices will always rise in London because lots of people want to live here". But this confuses the level of prices with their rate of change. Home prices are bound to be higher in big cities because of land scarcity, but this does not guarantee that urban house prices will keep rising indefinitely—just look at Tokyo's huge price-drops since 1990. And, though it is true that a fixed supply of homes may push up house prices if the population is rising, this would imply a steady rise in prices, not the 20% annual jumps of recent years. A second flawed argument is that low interest rates make buying a home cheaper, and so push up demand and prices. Lower interest rates may have allowed some people, who otherwise could not have afforded a mortgage, to buy a home. But many borrowers who think mortgages are cheaper are suffering from money illusion. Interest rates are not very low in real, inflation-adjusted terms. Initial interest payments may seem low in relation to income, but because inflation is also low it will not erode the real burden of debt as swiftly as it once did. So in later years mortgage payments will be much larger in real terms. To argue that low nominal interest rates make buying a home cheaper is like arguing that a car loan paid off over four years is cheaper than one repaid over two years. Fallacy number three is a favourite claim of Alan Greenspan, chairman of America's Federal Reserve. This is that price bubbles are less likely in housing than in the stock- market because higher transaction costs discourage speculation. In fact, several studies have shown that both in theory and in practice bubbles are more likely in housing than in shares. A study by the IMF finds that a sharp rise in house prices is far more likely to be followed by a bust than a share-price boom.

单选题Stratford-on-Avon, as we all know, has only one industry—William Shakespeare—but there are two distinctly separate and increasingly hostile branches. There is the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), which presents superb productions of the plays at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre on the Avon. And there are the townsfolk who largely live off the tourists who come, not to see the plays, but to look at Anne Hathaway"s Cottage, Shakespeare"s birthplace and the other sights. The worthy residents of Stratford doubt that the theatre adds a penny to their revenue. They frankly dislike the RSC"s actors, them with their long hair and beards and sandals and noisiness. It"s all deliciously ironic when you consider that Shakespeare, who earns their living, was himself an actor (with a beard) and did his share of noise-making. The tourist streams are not entirely separate. The sightseers who come by bus—and often take in Warwick Castle and Blenheim Palace on the side—don"t usually see the plays, and some of them are even surprised to find a theatre in Stratford. However, the playgoers do manage a little sight-seeing along with their play going. It is the playgoers, the RSC contends, who bring in much of the town"s revenue because they spend the night (some of them four or five nights) pouring cash into the hotels and restaurants. The sightseers can take in everything and get out of town by nightfall. The townsfolk don"t see it this way and local council does not contribute directly to the subsidy of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Stratford cries poor traditionally . Nevertheless every hotel in town seems to be adding a new wing or cocktail lounge. Hilton is building its own hotel there, which you may be sure will be decorated with Hamlet Hamburger Bars, the Lear Lounge, the Banquo Banqueting Room, and so forth, and will be very expensive. Anyway, the townsfolk can"t understand why the Royal Shakespeare Company needs a subsidy. (The theatre has broken attendance records for three years in a row. Last year its 1,431 seats were 94 percent occupied all year long and this year they"ll do better.) The reason, of course, is that costs have rocketed and ticket prices have stayed low. It would be a shame to raise prices too much because it would drive away the young people who are Stratford"s most attractive clientele. They come entirely for the plays, not the sights. They all seem to look alike (though they come from all over)—lean, pointed, dedicated faces, wearing jeans and sandals, eating their buns and bedding down for the night on the flagstones outside the theatre to buy the 20 seats and 80 standing-room tickets held for the sleepers and sold to them when the box office opens at 10:30 a.m..

单选题From the third paragraph, besides shelter, the seawater is used as

单选题The opinion of the author on media reporting is that______.

单选题We learn from the passage that the date of sowing cotton is usually______.

单选题According to Dr. Walter Willett, for good health, people could drink

单选题Trying to get Americans to eat a healthy diet is a frustrating business. Even the best-designed public-health campaigns cannot seem to compete with the tempting flavors of the snack-food and fast-food industries and their fat-and sugar-laden products. The results are apparent on a walk down any American street—more than 60% of Americans are overweight, and a full quarter of them are overweight to the point of obesity. Now, health advocates say, an ill-conceived redesign-has taken one of the more successful public-health campaigns--the Food Guide Pyramid--and rendered it confusing to the point of uselessness. Some of these critics worry that America' s Department of Agriculture caved to pressure from parts of the food industry anxious to protect theft products. The Food Guide Pyramid was a graphic which emphasizes that a healthy diet is built on a base of gains, vegetables and fruits, followed by ever-decreasing amounts of dairy products, meat, sweets and oils. The agriculture department launched the pyramid in 1992 to replace its previous program, which was centered on the idea of four basic food groups. The "Basic Four" campaign showed a plate divided into quarters, and seemed to imply that meat and dairy products should make up haft of a healthy diet, with grains, fruits and vegetables making up the other half. It was replaced only over the strenuous objections of the meat and dairy industries. The old pyramid was undoubtedly imperfect. It failed to distinguish between a doughnut and a whole-grain roll, or a hamburger and a skinless chicken breast, and it did not make clear exactly how much of each foodstuff to eat. It did, however, manage to convey the basic idea of proper proportions in an easily understandable way. The new pyramid, called "My Pyramid", abandons the effort to provide this information. Instead, it has been simplified to a mere logo. The food groups are replaced with unlabelled, multi-colored vertical stripes which, in some versions, rise out of a cartoon jumble of foods that look like the aftermath of a riot at a grocery store. Anyone who wants to see how this translates into a healthy diet is invited to go to a website, put in their age, sex and activity level, and get a custom-designed pyramid, complete with healthy food choices and suggested portion sizes. This is free for those who are motivated, but might prove too much effort for those who most need such information. Admittedly, the designers of the new pyramid had a tough job to do. They were supposed to condense the advice in the 84-page United States' Dietary Guidelines into a simple, meaningful graphic suitable for printing on the back of a cereal box. And they had to do this in the face of pressure from dozens of special interest groups--from the country' s Potato Board, which thought potatoes would look nice in the picture, to the Almond Board of California, which felt the same way about almonds. Even the National Watermelon Promotion Board and the California Avocado Commission were eager to see their products recognized. Nevertheless, many health advocates believe the new graphic is a missed opportunity. Although officials insist industry pressure had nothing to do with the eventual design, some critics suspect that political influence was at work. On the other hand, it is not clear how much good even the best graphic could do. Surveys found that 80% of Americans recognized the old Food Guide Pyramid--a big success in the world of public-health campaigns. Yet only 16% followed its advice.

单选题In a science-fiction movie called "Species", a mysterious signal from outer space turns out to describe the genome of an unknown organism. When the inevitable mad scientist synthesizes the DNA described by the instructions, the creature he breeds from it turns out to resemble Natasha Henstridge, an athletic actress. Unfortunately, the alien harbors within her delicate form the destructive powers of a Panzer division, and it all ends badly for the rash geneticist and his laboratory. Glen Evans, chief executive of Egea Biosciences in San Diego, California, acknowledges regretfully that despite seeking his expert opinion--in return for which he was presented with the poster of the striking Mr Henstridge that hangs on his office wall--the producers of "Species" did not hew very closely to his suggestions about the feasibility of their script ideas. Still, they had come to the right man. Dr Evans believes that his firm will soon be able to create, if not an alien succubus, at least a tiny biological machine made of artificial proteins that could mimic the behavior of a living cell. Making such proteins will require the ability to synthesize long stretches of DNA. Existing technology for synthesizing DNA can manage to make genes that encode a few dozen amino acids, but this is too short to produce any interesting proteins. Egea's technology, by contrast, would allow biologists to manufacture genes wholesale. The firm's scientists can make genes long enough to encode 6,000 amino acids. They aim to synthesize a gene for 30,000 amino acids within two years. Using a library of the roughly 1,500 possible "motifs" or folds that a protein can adopt, Egea's scientists employ computers to design new proteins that are likely to have desirable shapes and properties. To synthesize the DNA that encodes these proteins, Egea uses a machine it has dubbed the "genewriter". Dr Evans likens this device to a word-processor for DNA, on which you can type in the sequence of letters defining a piece of DNA and get that molecule out. As Egea extends the length of DNA it can synthesize, Dr Evans envisages encoding not just proteins, but entire biochemical pathways, which are teams of proteins that conduct metabolic processes. A collection of such molecules could conceivably function as a miniature machine that would operate in the body and attack disease, just as the body's own defensive cells do. Perhaps Dr Evans and his colleagues ought to get in touch with their friends in Hollywood.

单选题The history of Norwalk virus tells us that

单选题The passage suggests that the existence of a Roman conception of slavery in Spanish and Portuguese colonies had the effect of