单选题In 1999, the price of oil hovered around $16 a barrel. By 2008, it had (1) the $100 a barrel mark. The reasons for the surge (2) from the dramatic growth of the economies of China and India to widespread (3) in oil-producing regions, including Iraq and Nigeria’s delta region. Triple-digit oil prices have (4) the economic and political map of the world, (5) some old notions of power. Oil-rich nations are enjoying historic gains and opportunities, (6) major importers — including China and India, home to a third of the world’s population — (7) rising economic and social costs. Managing this new order is fast becoming a central (8) of global politics. Countries that need oil are clawing at each other to (9) scarce supplies, and are willing to deal with any government, (10) how unpleasant, to do it. In many poor nations with oil, the profits are being, lost to corruption, (11) these countries of their best hope for development. And oil is fueling enormous investment funds run by foreign governments, (12) some in the west see as a new threat. Countries like Russia, Venezuela and Iran are well supplied with rising oil (13) , a change reflected in newly aggressive foreign policies. But some unexpected countries are reaping benefits, (14) costs, from higher prices. Consider Germany. (15) it imports virtually all its oil, it has prospered from extensive trade with a booming Russia and the Middle East. German exports to Russia (16) 128 percent from 2001 to 2006. In the United States, as already high gas prices rose (17) higher in the spring of 2008, the issue cropped up in the presidential campaign, with Senators McCain and Obama (18) for a federal gas tax holiday during the peak summer driving months. And driving habits began to (19) , as sales of small cars jumped and mass transport systems (20) the country reported a sharp increase in riders.

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}} 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Humans are peculiar as a species, so what makes them so must be hidden in their genome. To an almost disconcerting extent, though, the human genome looks similar to the genomes of other primates, especially when it comes to the particular proteins it allows cells to make. The powerful new ways of looking at the genome being pioneered by the ENCODE consortium, though, provide ways to seek out the subtle species—specific signals. Lucas Ward and Manolis Kellis of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology report on the results of such sleuthing in a paper just published in Science. The two researchers used data from ENCODE to identify the bits of the genome that actually do things and data from the 1,000 Genomes Project, which has studied human-genome variation across hundreds of people, to discover how much these functional elements vary from person to person. In particular, they looked for telltales that an element is being maintained by natural selection. If something is evolutionarily important then random variations in its DNA sequence will be slowly eliminated from the population, keeping it on the functional straight and narrow in a process known as purifying selection. Dr Ward and Dr Kellis found that, in addition to the 5 % of human DNA that is conserved between mammals, an additional 4 % of human DNA appears to be uniquely human in the sense that it is prone to purifying selection in humans but not in other mammals. Much of this proprietary DNA is involved in regulating gene activity—for example, controlling how much of a protein is produced, rather than changing the nature of the protein itself. This finding is in line with modern thinking that a lot of evolutionary change is connected with regulatory elements rather than actual protein structure. The researchers also found that long non-coding segments that are not conserved in other mammals are in fact highly constrained in humans, suggesting they have human-specific functions. Some areas identified as particularly human are the regulation of the cone cells of the retina (which are involved in colour vision) and the regulation of nerve-cell growth. These processes evolved rapidly in man's primate ancestors but are now under strong purifying selection to maintain their beneficial functions. The implications of that, given humanity's main distinguishing feature—its huge brain—are obvious. Dr Ward and Dr Kellis have thus created a powerful tool for investigating in detail just what it is that makes a human being human.

单选题Opponents of the retirement policy say

单选题That rapscallion who leaps off the monkey bars, landing smack onto an innocent 3-year-old bystander, and skips off, giggling all the while? According to a new paper out of Israel, he may not feel all that bad about the incident. The study, conducted by Dr. In bal Kivenson Bar-On at the University of Haifa, shows that high levels of fearlessness in 3-and 4-year-olds is strongly associated with aggression and a lack of sympathy. This news will likely surprise risk-loving America, where parents typically beam with pride when their undaunted child mounts the big slide. Fearlessness is a far-end point on the spectrum of what psychologists call the "approach and withdrawal dimension"—people"s tendency to approach new stimuli (to gain information and acquire new skills ) and withdraw from unfamiliar stimuli (to avoid danger). Striking the right balance is considered crucial to man"s survival. But what about preschoolers"? There"s a clear downside, Dr. Kivenson Bar-On discovered, after she observed lots of preschool play and machinations. In total, she documented 80 children at preschool, home and in the lab, measuring their propensity for fearlessness and other social and emotional characteristics at the beginning and end of one year. Fearlessness was measured by observing reactions to various fright-inducing situations: separation from parents, the roar of a vacuum cleaner, a jack-in-the-box and the like. Those who displayed greater levels of fearlessness, the study found, had no trouble recognizing facial expressions of anger, surprise, happiness and sadness in other children—but they had a hard time identifying fear. Over all, they were "emotionally shallow" and showed lower levels of sympathy. They took advantage of friends and lacked regret over inappropriate conduct. "These findings," the paper explains, " suggest that fearlessness in preschool constitutes a clear risk factor for developmental pathways that lead to problems in morality, conscience development, and severe antisocial behaviors. " At the same time, fearless children tended to be highly sociable. "One of the most interesting findings was that we could discriminate between friendliness and sympathy," Dr. Kivenson Bar-On said. "These kids are curious, easygoing and friendly, but they have a hard time recognizing emotional distress in others. " Jamie Ostrov, a psychology professor at the State University at Buffalo who studies aggression, says that children at the extreme end of the fearless spectrurn "may be charming, but they"re also highly manipulative and deceptive and skilled at getting their way—even at age 3 or 4. " It could be that fearless children need stronger distress cues to active their autonomic nervous systems, limiting their ability to detect distress cues in others. It seems to be, if I"m not worried about this, you can"t be, either. But should we be?

单选题Over the last decade, demand for the most common cosmetic surgery procedures, like breast enlargements and nose jobs, has increased by more than 400 percent. According to Dr. Dai Davies, of the Plastic Surgery Partnership in Hammersmith, the majority of cosmetic surgery patients are not chasing physical perfection. Rather, they are driven to fantastic lengths to improve their appearance by a desire to look normal. "What we all crave is to look normal, and normal is what is prescribed by the advertising media and other external pressures. They give us a perception of what is physically acceptable and we feel we must look like that." In America, the debate is no longer about whether surgery is normal; rather, it centers on what age people should be before going under the knife. New York surgeon Dr. Gerard Imber recommends "maintenance" work for people in their thirties. "The idea of waiting until one needs a heroic transformation is silly," he says. "By then, you've wasted 20 great years of your life and allowed things to get out of hand." Dr. Imber draws the line at operating on people who are under 18, however, "It seems that someone we don't consider old enough to order a drink shouldn't be considering plastic surgery. ' In the UK cosmetic surgery has long been seen as the exclusive domain of the very rich and famous. But the proportionate cost of treatment has fallen substantially, bringing all but the most advanced laser technology within the reach of most people, Dr. Davies, who claims to "cater for the average person", agrees. He says: "I treat a few of the rich and famous and an awful lot of secretaries. Of course, 3, 000 for an operation is a lot of money. But it is also an investment for life which costs about half the price of a good family holiday." Dr. Davies suspects that the increasing sophistication of the fat injecting and removal techniques that allow patients to be treated with a local anaesthetic in an afternoon has also helped promote the popularity of cosmetic surgery. Yet, as one woman who recently paid ￡2,500 for liposuction to remove fat from her thighs admitted, the slope to becoming a cosmetic surgery Veteran is a deceptively gentle one. "I had my legs done because they'd been bugging me for years. But going into the clinic was so low key and effective it whetted my appetite. Now I don't think there's any operation that I would rule out having if I could afford it./

单选题In 1956, when the cold war was at its peak, America deployed a "secret sonic weapon", as a newspaper headline put it at the time. That weapon was Dizzy Gillespie, a famed jazz musician, who was given the task of changing the world"s view of American culture through rhythm and beat. Crowds poured into the street to dance. Cultural diplomacy died down after the cold war ended. But the attacks of September 11th 2001 convinced the State Department to send out America"s musicians once again to woo hearts and minds with melody. Rhythm Road, a program run by the State Department and a non-profit organization, Jazz at Lincoln Centre, has made informal diplomats out of both musicians and audiences. Since it began in 2005, musicians have travelled to 96 countries. One band went to Mauritania, a country in northwestern Africa, after last year"s coup; many depart for countries that have strained relationships with America. The musicians travel to places where some people have never seen an American. Jazz, so participants in the program, is well-suited to diplomacy. It is collaborative, allowing individuals both to harmonize and play solo—much like a democracy, says Ari Roland, who plays bass for a band that left New York to tour the Middle East on March 31st. Jazz is also a reminder of music"s power. It helped break down racial barriers, as enthusiasts of all colors gathered to listen to jazz when segregation was still the law of the land. The State Department spent 10 million U.S. dollars on cultural diplomacy programs in the year to September 30th 2008. But most expect funding for the initiative to increase under Barack Obama, who pledged his support for cultural diplomacy during his campaign. Rhythm Road now sends out hip-hop and bluegrass bands as well. There are some dissenters. Nick Cull, the director of the Public Diplomacy Program at the University of Southern California, thinks that these diplomatic projects would be more productive if they were not administered by the same agency that oversees the country"s foreign-policy agenda. And there is also clamor for Mr. Obama to appoint a secretary of culture in his cabinet. What good, they ask, is sending American culture abroad, when the country is not giving it proper attention at home?

单选题 The sale of the Washington Post to Jeff Bezos is just the most recent episode in the decline and fall of professional journalism. By selling out to a mega-billionaire without any newspaper experience, the Graham family has put a priceless national asset at the mercy of a single outsider. Perhaps Jeff Bezos will use his new plaything responsibly; perhaps not; if not, one of the few remaining sources of serious journalism will be lost. The crisis in the English-speaking world will turn into a catastrophe in smaller language zones. The English-speaking market is so large that advertisers will pay a lot to gain access to the tens of millions of readers who regularly click onto the New York Times or the Guardian. But the Portuguese-reading public is far too small to support serious journalism on the internet. What happens to Portuguese democracy when nobody is willing to pay for old-fashioned newspapers? The blogosphere can't be expected to take up the {{U}}slack{{/U}}. First-class reporting on national and international affairs isn't for amateurs. It requires lots of training and lots of contacts and lots of expenses. It also requires reporters with the well-honed capacity to write for a broad audience. The modem newspaper created the right incentives, but without a comparable business model for the new technology, blogging will degenerate into a postmodern nightmare-with millions spouting off without any concern for the facts. We can't afford to wait for the invisible hand to come up with a new way to provide economic support for serious journalism. To be sure, the financial press has proved moderately successful in persuading readers to pay for online access; and mainstream media are now trying to emulate this success. But if tens of millions of readers don't surrender to the charms of PayPal—and quickly—now is the time for some creative thinking. For starters, it would be a mistake to rely on a BBC-style solution. After all it is one thing for government to serve as a major source of news; quite another to give it a virtual monopoly on reporting. Enter the Internet news voucher. Under our proposal, each news article on the web will end by asking readers whether it contributed to their political understanding. If so, they can click the yes-box, and send the message to a National Endowment for Journalism—which would obtain an annual appropriation from the government. This money would be distributed to news .organization s on the basis of a strict mathematical formula: the more clicks, the bigger the check from the Endowment. This way, serious journalism will succeed in gaining mass support. Common sense, as well as fundamental liberal values, counsels against any governmental effort to regulate the quality of news.

单选题No one doubts the power of the media, and no one doubts the media is useful to those in power. Newspapers have vast (1) compared with any other published print, they are published frequently, and are (2) through wide distribution networks. For most people, they (3) the most substantial consumption of printed discourse (语段). (4) the powerful in society should attempt to control and influence them is (5) question. (6) there is also a conflicting myth of the freedom of the press, that journalists are free to give an objective (7) of anything they think newsworthy. And that, (8) journalists on a particular newspaper may be constrained (限制) about what they can report, the reader has a choice because of the variety of newspapers on (9) Newspapers in this regard have been (10) as the third estate, an essential ingredient of democracy; the information they give is (11) to be sufficiently important and trustworthy to allow voters to make judgments about the record of the political parties (12) elections and to make informed decisions about which party to (13) . Lord Northcliffe, the newspaper owner, once said that real news is something (14) somewhere wants to hide, and that all the rest is advertising. He obviously saw the (15) of the press as a watchdog for any inefficiency, irrationality, injustice, corruption of scandalous (丑恶可耻的) behavior for which those in power may have been (16) However the press as we know it has been hi-jacked by those with political and economic power. First, they have done this through ownership. Second, they have done so by the dependence of newspapers on advertising. Third, they have (17) the ambiguities in what is newsworthy to their own (18) And lastly they dominate the way the world is represented in the news since they are gatekeepers controlling the (19) of the news and are being (20) quoted in it.

单选题Craig Anderson would probably agree that ______.