单选题If you leave a loaded weapon lying around, it is bound to go off sooner or later. Snow-covered northern Europe heard the gunshot loud and clear when Russia cut supplies to Ukraine this week as part of a row about money and power, the two eternal battlegrounds of global energy. From central Europe right across to France on the Atlantic seaboard, gas supplies fell by more than one-third. For years Europeans had been telling themselves that a cold-war enemy which had supplied them without fail could still be depended on now it was an ally ( of sorts). Suddenly, nobody was quite so sure. Fearing the threat to its reputation as a supplier, Russia rapidly restored the gas and settled its differences with Ukraine. But it was an uncomfortable glimpse of the dangers for a continent that imports roughly half its gas and that Gérard Mestrallet, boss of Suez, a French water and power company, expects to be importing 80% of its gas by 2030--much of it from Russia. It was scarcely more welcome for America, which condemned Russia"s tactics. And no wonder: it consumes one-quarter of the world"s oil, but produces only 3% of the stuff. Over the coming years, the world"s dependence on oil looks likely to concentrate on the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia. Russian oil had seemed a useful alternative. Fear of the energy weapon has a long history. When producers had the upper hand in the oil embargo of 1973-74, Arab members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cut supply, sowing turmoil and a global recession. When consumers had the upper hand in the early 1990s, the embargo cut the other way. After Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, the world shut in 5m barrels a day (b/d) of production from the two countries in an attempt to force him out. With oil costing $ 60 a barrel, five times more than the nominal price in 1999, and spot prices for natural gas in some European and American markets at or near record levels, power has swung back to the producers for the first time since the early 1980s. Nobody knows how long today"s tight markets will last. "It took us a long time to get there and it will take us a long time to get back," says Robin West, chairman of PFC Energy in Washington. A clutch of alarmist books with titles such as "The Death of Oil" predict that so little oil is left in the ground that producers will always have pricing power. The question is how worried consumers should be. What are the threats to energy security and what should the world do about them? The answers suggest a need for planning and a certain amount of grim realism, but not for outright panic.

单选题What"s your earliest childhood memory? Can you remember learning to walk? Or talk? The first time you heard thunder or watched a television program? Adults seldom 1 events much earlier than the year or so before entering school, 2 children younger than three or four 3 retain any specific, personal experiences. A variety ofexplanations have been 4 by psychologists for this "childhood amnesia", One argues that the luppocampus, the region ofthe brain which is 5 for forming memories, does not mature until about the age of two. But the most popular theory 6 that, since adults don"t think like children, they cannot 7 childhood memories. Adults thinkin words, and their life memories are like stories or 8 —one event follows another as in a novel or film. 9 , when they search through their mental 10 for early childhood memories to add to this verbal life story, they don"t find any that fit the 11 . It"s like trying to find a Chinese word in an English dictionary. Now psychologist Annette Simms of the New York State University offers a new 12 for childhood amnesia. She argues that there simply aren"t any early childhood memories to recall. According to Dr. Simms, children need to learn to use someone else"s spoken 13 oftheir personal 14 in order to turn their own short-term, quickly forgotten 15 of them into long-term memories. 16 , children have to talk about their 17 and hear others talk about them—Mother talking about the afternoon 18 looking for seashells at the beach or Dad asking them about their day at Ocean Park. Without this 19 reinforcement, says Dr. Simms, children cannot form 20 memories oftheir personal experiences.

单选题Some countries are more populous; some have more crime. But in no other country are crime fighters quite so knowledgeable about citizens as in Britain. On January 4th a boastful Home Office detailed the triumphs of the world's biggest forensic DNA database, which holds samples from more than 5% of the entire population of England and Wales. Recent changes to the rules governing the database mean that it may eventually hold profiles from more than a fifth of all adults. Once a country starts storing DNA samples from criminals it is hard to resist the urge to expand the collection. When the National DNA Database (NDNAD) was set up, in 1995, samples could only be taken from those charged with "recordable" offences. If a suspect was not tried, or was freed, the sample had to be destroyed and the profile removed from the database. That law was abandoned in 2001, after two men who had been convicted of murder and rape had their cases overturned on appeal--the DNA evidence against them related to crimes they had not beep convicted of, and so ought to have been removed from the database. The change has led to the retention of around 200,000 samples that world previously have been destroyed. Some 7,591 of these were subsequently matched with samples from crime scenes, including those from 88 murders and 116 rapes. And since April 2004, police have been able to take and keep samples from anyone arrested for a recordable offence, even if charges do not ensue. The main reason the NDNAD is larger than databases in other countries is that Britain was first to start using DNA as an investigative tool. So not only has it had time to collect more DNA samples, but it has also had longer to appreciate the sheer power of a large database.." Every other country that does databasing will get to where Britain is now," says Chris Asplen, a consultant to law enforcement agencies and governments on DNA technology. The increased use of DNA evidence has given rise to intriguing new courtroom defences. DNA tests are now so sensitive that they can detect if a person has sneezed or sweated near an object. John Swain, a barrister with a background in biochemistry, recently defended a man charged with armed robbery. The defendant's DNA was on the gun that was used, but the defence argued that he might just have been near it after he had been to the gym, and that an errant bead of sweat could account for the presence of his DNA on a weapon he had never handled. He was declared not guilty.

单选题According to the author, research on palliative care for cancer______.

单选题Remember the days when companies such as Microsoft and Mc-Kinsey took immense satisfaction from subjecting job candidates to mind-crunching strategy sessions? If you thought that was rough, imagine an interview in which no amount of research or questioning of insiders will help. Imagine instead that all you can do is have a healthy breakfast, pick out your nicest suit, and hope for the best. In the new interview, they're not just testing what you know. They're also testing who you are. It's called the situational interview, and it's quickly becoming a must in the job-seeking world. In the post-Enron culture of caution, corporations are focusing on an obvious insight: that a gold-plated resume and winning personality are about as accurate in determining job performance as Wall Street analysts are in picking stocks. Now, with shareholder scrutiny, hiring slowdowns, and expense-reducing, no manager can afford to hire the wrong person. Hundreds of companies are switching to the new methods. Whereas the conventional interview has been found to be only 7% accurate in predicting job performance, situational interviews deliver a rating of 54%—the most of any interviewing tool. The situational technique's superiority stems from its ability to trip up even the wittiest of interviewees. Of course, every applicant must display a healthy dose of occupational know-how, but behavior and ethical backbone play a big role. For example, a prospective analyst at a Wall Street bank might have to face, say, a customer with an account argument. It's not happening on paper, but in real time—with managers and experts watching nearby. The interviewer plays the role of a fierce customer on the phone, angry about money lost when a trade wasn't executed on time. It's set up as an obvious mistake on the banker's part. Interviewers watch the candidates' reactions: how they process the complex account information, their ability to talk the client down, what their body language displays about their own shortcomings, and which words they choose. In this instance, not being honest about the mistake or showing anger or frustration—no matter how glowing your resume—means you're out. Behavioral interviews are also being rounded out by other tools that, until recently, had been reserved for elite hires. Personality-testing outfit Caliper, for example, which probes candidates for emotional-intelligence skills and job ability, has seen its business jump 20% this year. Clearly, the new interview isn't without its drawbacks. Companies run the risk of arousing hostility in candidates, who may feel as if some line has been crossed into personal territory. Moreover, sortie companies worry about the fairness of personality tests. They have to make sure there are no inherent gender or racial biases in the test.

单选题According to the text, the European dream is likely to come true

单选题The role of governments in environmental management is deficit but inescapable. Sometimes, the state tries to manage the resources it owns, and does so badly. Often, 1 , governments act in an even more harmful way. They actually subsidize the exploitation and 2 of natural resources. A whole 3 of policies, from farm-price support to protection for coal-mining, do environmental damage and often 4 no economic sense. Making good policies offers a two-fold 5 : a cleaner environmentpolilicians and a more efficient economy. Crowth and environmentalism can actually go hand in hand, if politicians have the courage to 6 the vested interest that subsidies create. No activity affects more of the earth"s surface than farming, h shapes a third of the planet"s land area, not 7 Antarctica, and the proportion is rising. World food output per head has risen by 4 percent between the 1970s and 1980s mainly as a result of increases in 8 from land already in 9 , but also because more land has been brought under the plough. Higher yields have been achieved by increased irrigation, better crop breeding, and a 10 in the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers in the 1970s and 1980s. All these activities may have 11 environmental impacts. For example, land clearing for agrieuhure is the largest single 12 of deforestation; chemical fertilizers and pesticides may 13 water supplies; more intensive farming and the abandonment of fallow periods 14 worsen soil erosion; and the spread of monochord and use of high-yielding varieties of euros have been accompanied by the 15 of old varieties of food plants which might have provided some 16 against pests or diseases in future. Soil erosion threatens the productivity of land in both rich and poor countries. The United States, 17 the most careful measurements have been done, discovered in 1982 that about one-fifth of its farmland was losing topsoil at a rate 18 to diminish the soil"s productivity. The country subsequently 19 a program to convert 11 percent of its cropped land to meadow or forest. Topsoil in India and China is 20 much faster than in America.

单选题Americans are now flying the crowded, cranky skies. Flight delays in January were the worst for that month since 1999. Weather is always the primary cause of delays. Add to that the US Airways Christmas baggage meltdown and Comair's computer failure, the combination of which left hundreds of thousands of fliers stranded at airports. But airline employees see a deeper reason for both the increase in delays and passenger complaints: a demoralized and frustrated workforce that's being asked to do more even as it's getting paid lass. The airlines and unions are quick to praise their workers for rising to the challenge during these very difficult times, as well as for carrying the brunt of the cost cutting. But unease is growing within the ranks. And passengers have noticed. For instance, some of the so-called older carriers now require gate agents to clean the planes as well as check people in. So some passengers have found themselves without a customer-service agent to talk to until just before the plane leaves. Pilots find themselves stuck at the gate because their Crew of flight attendants has already worked as long as the FAA would allow them to. "They've cut employees to such a degree that they don't have enough employees to do the job and serve the customers properly," says one pilot. The major airlines contend that's not the case at all. Jeff Green, a spokesman for United Airlines, says the major carriers have shrunk significantly since 9/11. While there are far fewer employees, the airline also has far fewer flights. He also notes that United has had its best on-time performance in the past two years and that internal gauges of customer satisfaction are up. "What our employees are going through is not having an effect on our customer service," says Mr. Green. Employees on the front line tell a different story. "They're just closing the doors and releasing the brake so they can report an on- time departure, when in reality they may still be loading cargo for 30 minutes." Aviation experts contend that if that's the case, the major airlines may find even more challenges ahead. As their fare structures and prices come closer to those of the successful low-cost carriers, customer service will become even more crucial in determining which airlines succeed. "The way you're treated on the plane speaks a lot as to whether you'll fly that airline again," says Helane Becker, an airline analyst. "It's not the be-all and end-all. It's not going to put an airline out of business. But it's not going to help it a lot either if they're already in trouble./

单选题Music comes in many forms; most countries have a style of their own. (1) the turn of the century when jazz was born, America had no prominent (2) of its own. No one knows exactly when jazz was (3) ,or by whom. But it began to be (4) in the early 1900s. Jazz is America's contribution to (5) music. In contrast to classical music, which (6) formal European traditions, jazz is spontaneous and free-form. It bubbles with energy, (7) the moods, interests, and emotions of the people. In the 1920, jazz (8) like America. And (9) it does today. The (10) of this music are as interesting as the music (11) . American Negroes, or blacks, as they are called today, were the jazz (12) . They were brought to the Southern states (13) slaves. They were sold to plantation owners and forced to work long (14) . When a Negro died his friends and relatives (15) a procession to carry the body to the cemetery. In New Orleans, a band often accompanies the (16) . On the way to the cemetery the band played slow, solemn music suited to the occasion. (17) on the way home the mood changed. Spirits lifted. Death had removed one of their (18) , but the living were glad to be alive. The band played (19) music, improvising on both the harmony and the melody of the tunes (20) at the funeral. This music made everyone want to dance. It was an early form of jazz.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} In one very long sentence, the introduction to the U. N. Charter expresses the ideals and the common aims of all the people whose governments joined together to form the U. N. "We, the people of the U. N. , determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war which twice in our lifetime has brought untold suffering to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations, large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, and for these ends, to practise tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and to employ international machinery for the promotion of economic and social advancement of all peoples, have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims." The name "United Nations" is accredited to U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the first group of representatives of member States met and signed a declaration of common intent on New Year's Day in 1942. Representatives of five powers worked together to draw up proposals, completed at Dumbarton Oaks in 1944. These proposals, modified after deliberation at the conference on International Organization in San Francisco which began in April 1945, were finally agreed on and signed as the U.N. Charter by 50 countries on 26 June 1945. Poland, not represented at the conference, signed the Charter later and was added to the list of original members. It was not until that autumn, however, after the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the U. S. S. R. U. , the U.K. and the U. S. and by a majority of the other participants that the U. N. officially came into existence. The date was 24 October, now universally celebrated as United Nations Day. The essential functions of the U. N. are to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations, to cooperate internationally in solving international economic, social, cultural and human problems, promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and to be a centre for co-ordinating the actions of nations on attaining these common ends. No country takes precedence over another in the U. N. Each member's rights and obligations are the same. All must contribute to the peaceful settlement of international dispute, and members have pledged to refrain from the threat or use of force against other states.

单选题{{B}}Part A{{/B}}Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D． {{B}}Text 1{{/B}} The swine flu will probably return in force earlier than seasonal flu usually begins, federal health officials predicted Friday, saying they expected it to erupt as soon as schools open rather than in October or November. The swine flu is still circulating in the United States, especially in summer camps, even though hot weather has arrived and the regular flu season ended months ago, "so we expect challenges when people return to school, when kids are congregating together," Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of respiratory diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a telephone news conference held jointly with vaccine experts from the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services. It is still unclear how many doses of a swine flu vaccine will be available by then, and officials have been reluctant to make firm predictions beyond saying that they expect tens of millions, rather than hundreds of millions, and they plan to distribute them to people who are the most vulnerable, like pregnant women and people who are the most likely to encounter the flu, like health care workers. The number of doses available will depend on how fast seed strains grow, how much protection a small dose provides, and whether immune-system boosters called adjuvants are needed and prove to be safe; adjuvants are not used in American flu vaccines now. Clinical trials testing those questions are expected to take another couple of months, said Dr. Jesse L. Goodman, director of the F. D．A．'s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Assuming a swine flu vaccination campaign begins, it will be voluntary, Dr. Schuchat emphasized, but she "strongly encouraged" pregnant women to get both a seasonal flu shot and a swine flu shot when they are available. The C．D．C．has been closely following the disease in the Southern Hemisphere winter, and it is mimicking the patterns seen in the United States and Mexico in the spring, she said. Most infections and most serious cases are in children and young adults, and those with underlying conditions, including pregnancy, are the most likely to die. Dr. Schuchat likened the spread's unpredictability to that of popcorn: one city could see an explosion of cases and overwhelmed hospitals while another saw few. Her most important message, she added, was that "the virus isn't gone, and we fully expect there will be challenges in the fall. "

单选题A mare basin is______.

单选题Most worthwhile careers require some kind of specialized training. Ideally, therefore, the choice of an (1) should be made even before the choice of a curriculum in high school. Actually, (2) , most people make several job choices during their working lives, (3) because of economic and industrial changes and partly to improve (4) position. The "one perfect job" does not exist. Young people should (5) enter into a broad flexible training program that will (6) them for a field of work rather than for a single (7) . Unfortunately many young people have to make career plans (8) benefit of help from a competent vocational counselor or psychologist. Knowing (9) about the occupational world, or themselves for that matter, they choose their lifework on a hit-or-miss (10) .Some drift from job to job. Others (11) to work in which they are unhappy and for which they are not fitted. One common mistake is choosing an occupation for (12) real or imagined prestige. Too many high school students-or their parents for them-choose the professional field, (13) both the relatively small proportion of workers in the professions and the extremely high educational and personal (14) . The imagined or real prestige of a profession or a "white collar" job is (15) good reason for choosing it as life's work. (16) , these occupations are not always well paid. Since a large proportion of jobs are in mechanical and manual work, the (17) of young people should give serious (18) to these fields. Before making an occupational choice, a person should have a general idea of what he wants (19) life and how hard he is willing to work to get it. Some people desire social prestige, others intellectual satisfaction. Some want security, others are willing to take (20) for financial gain. Each occupational choice has its demands as well as its rewards.

单选题If sustainable competitive advantage depends on workforce skills, American firms have a problem. Human resource management is not traditionally seen as central to the competitive survival of the firm in the United States. Skill acquistion is considered an individual responsibility. Labour is simply another factor of production to be rented at the lowest possible cost much as one buys raw materials or equipment. The lack of importance attached to human resource management can be seen in the corporate hierarchy. In an American firm the chief financial officer is almost always second in command. The post of head of human-resource management is usually a specialized job, off at the edge of the corporate hierarchy. The executive who holds it is never consulted on major strategic decisions and has no chance to move up to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). By way of contrast, in Japan the head of human-resource management is central, usually the second most important, after the CEO, in the firm's hierarchy. While American firms often talk about the vast amounts spent on training their work forces, in fact they invest less in the skills of their employees than do either Japanese or German firms. The money they do invest is also much more narrowly focused on the basic background skills that make it possible to absorb new technologies. As a result, problems emerge when new breakthrough technologies arrive. If American workers, for example, take much longer to learn how to operate new flexible manufacturing stations than workers in Germany (as they do), the effective cost of those stations is lower in Germany than it is in the United States. More time is required before equipment is up and running at capacity, and the need for extensive retraining generates costs and creates bottlenecks that limit the speed with which new equipment can be employed. The result is a slower pace of technological change. And in the end the skills of the bottom half of the population affect the wages of the top half. If the bottom half can't effectively staff the processes that have to be operated, the management and professional jobs that go with these processes will disappear. If sustainable competitive advantage depends on workforce skills, American firms have a problem. Human resource management is not traditionally seen as central to the competitive survival of the firm in the United States. Skill acquistion is considered an individual responsibility. Labour is simply another factor of production to be rented at the lowest possible cost much as one buys raw materials or equipment. The lack of importance attached to human resource management can be seen in the corporate hierarchy. In an American firm the chief financial officer is almost always second in command. The post of head of human-resource management is usually a specialized job, off at the edge of the corporate hierarchy. The executive who holds it is never consulted on major strategic decisions and has no chance to move up to Chief Executive Officer (CEO). By way of contrast, in Japan the head of human-resource management is central, usually the second most important, after the CEO, in the firm's hierarchy. While American firms often talk about the vast amounts spent on training their work forces, in fact they invest less in the skills of their employees than do either Japanese or German firms. The money they do invest is also much more narrowly focused on the basic background skills that make it possible to absorb new technologies. As a result, problems emerge when new breakthrough technologies arrive. If American workers, for example, take much longer to learn how to operate new flexible manufacturing stations than workers in Germany (as they do), the effective cost of those stations is lower in Germany than it is in the United States. More time is required before equipment is up and running at capacity, and the need for extensive retraining generates costs and creates bottlenecks that limit the speed with which new equipment can be employed. The result is a slower pace of technological change. And in the end the skills of the bottom half of the population affect the wages of the top half. If the bottom half can't effectively staff the processes that have to be operated, the management and professional jobs that go with these processes will disappear.