单选题The author calls the wealth of the richest "paper fortunes" because

单选题The passage explicitly answers the question

单选题Olobalization can somehow be defined (1) harmonization, homogenization or integration of the countries and (2) . Functionally, it can be seen as a process of gradually (3) interaction and integration of economies and societies around the world. The growing economic interdependence is the most crucial (4) force of globalization. In the first (5) , it is the economic dimension of globalization which (6) both scholars' and (7) attention. Transnational corporations (TNCs) and large financial institutions in the mature and developed industrial economies (8) a proactive role (9) devising and creating global networks in economic and financial areas. However, sociologist, anthropologist and historian state that the noneconomic dimension is (10) equally important. For example, Alexander the Great did not only militarily conquer Persia (11) introduced western (12) , philosophy and scientific technology (13) the east. (14) he noticed that what he thought the barbarian east had a more complex governing system even than his own. Today, though most popular definitions of globalization are still focusing more (15) the economic dimension; the non-economic dimension gets more and more attention in almost every society of the world. There are tons of studies (16) this topic. Yet, globalization as a phenomenon, in reality, is still in its (17) . According to Harvey, a well-known scholar, globalization is the manifestation of the changing experience of time and space, in which (18) economic and social processes has experientially (19) the globe, so that distance and time no longer appear (20) major constraints on the organization of human activities. Giddens, another scholar argues that "Globalization is the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa./

单选题For the first time, George Bush has acknowledged the existence of secret CIA prisons around the world, where key terrorist suspects—100 in all, officials say—have been interrogated with " an alternative set of procedures ". Fourteen of the suspects, including the alleged mastermind of the September 11th attacks, were transferred on Monday to the American naval base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, where some will face trial for war crimes before special military commissions. Many of these men—as Mr. Bush confirmed in a televised speech at the White House on September 6th—are al-Qaeda operatives or Taliban fighters who had sought to withhold information that could "save American lives". "In these cases, it has been necessary to move these individuals to an environment where they can be held secretly (and) questioned by experts," the president said. He declined to say where they had been held or why they had not simply been sent straight to Guantánamo, as some 770 other suspected terrorists have been. Mr. Bush also refused to reveal what interrogation methods had been used, saying only that, though "tough", they had been "safe and lawful and necessary". Many believe that the main purpose of the CIA"s prisons was to hide from prying eyes the torture and other cruel or degrading treatment used to extract information from prisoners. But Mr. Bush insisted that America did not torture : "It"s against our laws, and it"s against our values. I have not authorised it—and I will not authorise it." The Pentagon this week issued its long-awaited new Army Field Manual, forbidding all forms of torture and degrading treatment of prisoners by army personnel—though not the CIA. For the first time, it specifically bans forced nakedness, hooding, the use of dogs, sexual humiliation and "waterboarding" (simulated drowning )—all practices that have been used at Guantámamo and Abu Ghraib. So why did the president decide now to reveal the CIA"s secret programme? Partly, he confessed, because of the Supreme Court"s recent ruling that minimum protections under the Geneva Conventions applied to all military prisoners, no matter where they were. This has put American agents at risk of prosecution for war crimes. Mr. Bush has now asked Congress to ban suspected terrorists from suing American personnel in federal courts.

单选题The housing market has been for two years propping up consumers' spirits while the rest of the economy lies exhausted on the floor, still trying to struggle to its feet. According to the National Association of Realtors, the national median existing-home price ended the year at $164,000, up 7.1 percent from 2001. That's the strongest annual increase since 1980. Although residential real estate activity makes up less than 8% of total U. S. GDP, a housing market like this one can make the difference between positive and negative growth. Most significantly, consumer spending is 66 % of GDP, and the purchase of a new home tends to have an "umbrella effect" on the homeowner's spending as he has to stock it with a washer/ dryer, a new big-screen TV, and maybe a swing set for the yard. The main factor in housing's continued strength is a classic economic example of zero-sum boom: the persistent weakness everywhere else. As the 2003 recovery continues to be more forecast than reality. Falling stock prices raised investor appeal for U. S. Treasury Bonds, which in turn, allowed most interest rates to drift even lower. But there are not many signs that there's a bubble ready to burst. December's new record in housing starts, for example, was nicely matched by the new record in new home sales. If you build it, they will buy and even if an economic pickup starts to reduce housing's relative attractiveness, there's no reason why modest economic growth and improved consumer mood can't help sustaining housing's strength. "The momentum gained from low mortgage interest rates will carry strong home sales into 2003, with an improving economy offsetting modestly higher mortgage interest rates as the year progresses," said David Lereah, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors. Just as housing has taken up much of the economic slack for the past two years, both as a comforting investment for fretting consumers and a driver of consumer spending itself, a big bump elsewhere in the economy in 2003 could be housing's downfall. If stocks roar back this spring, capital inflows could steal from the bond market, pushing up long-term interest rates. Or Alan Greenspan and the Fed could do the same to short-term rates, as a way to hit the brakes on a recovery that is heating up too fast. In other words, if everything possible goes wrong for housing, homeowners should have plenty to compensate them in terms of job security and income hikes.

单选题Space is a dangerous place, not only because of meteors (流星) but also (1) rays from the sun and other stars. The atmosphere again (2) as our protective blanket on earth. Lightgets through, and this is essential for plants to (3) the food which we eat. Heat, too, makes our environment endurable. Various kinds of rays come through the air (4) outer space, but enormous quantities of radiation from the sun are (5) off. As soon as men leave the atmosphere they are (6) to this radiation, but their space suits or the walls of their spacecraft, if they are inside, (7) prevent a lot of radiation damage. (8) is the greatest known danger to explorers in space. The unit of radiation is called "rem". Scientists have (9) to think that a man can (10) far more radiation than 0.1 ram without being damaged: the figure of 60 rems has been agreed on. The trouble is that it is extremely difficult to make (11) about radiation damage—a person may feel perfectly well, (12) the cells of his or her sex organs may be damaged, and this will (13) be discovered until the birth of deformed children or even grandchildren. Missions of the Apollo flights have had to cross belts of high radiation and during the outward and return journeys, the Apollo crew (14) a large amount of rems. So far; no (15) amounts of radiation have been reported, but the Apollo missions have been quite short. We simply do not know yet how men are. going to (16) when they spend weeks and months outside the (17) of the atmosphere, (18) in a space laboratory. Drugs might help to (19) the damage done by radiation, but no really (20) ones have been found so far.

单选题Skilled computer criminals can break into a computer system______.

单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} The 1920s was the decade of advertising. The advertising men went wild: everything from salt to household coal was being nationally advertised. Of course, ads had been around for a long time. But something new was happening, in terms of both scale and strategy. For the first time, business began to use advertising as a psychological weapon against consumers. Without their product, the consumer would be left unmarried, fall victim to a terrible disease, or be passed over for a promotion. N/Is developed an association between the product and one's very identity. Eventually they came to promise everything and anything-from self-esteem to status, friendship, and love. This psychological approach was a response to the economic dilemma business faced. Americans in the middle classes and above (to whom virtually all advertising was targeted) were no longer buying to satisfy basic needs-such as food, clothing and shelter. These had been met. Advertisers had to persuade consumers to acquire things they most certainly did not need. In other words, production would have to "create the wants it sought to satisfy". This is exactly what manufacturers tried to do. The normally conservative telephone company attempted to transform the plain telephone into a luxury, urging families to buy "all the telephones that they can conveniently use, rather than the smallest amount they can get along with" . One ad campaign targeted fifteen phones as the style for a wealthy home. Business clearly understood the nature of the problem. According to one historian: "Business had learned as never before the importance of the final consumer. Unless he or she could be persuaded to buy, and buy extravagantly, the whole stream of new cars, cigarettes, women's make-up, and electric refrigerators would be dammed up at its outlets." But would the consumer be equal to her/his task as the foundation of private enterprise? A top executive of one American car manufacturer stated the matter bluntly: business needs to create a dissatisfied consumer; its mission is "the organized creation of dissatisfaction". This executive led the way by introducing annual model changes for his company's cars, designed to make the consumer unhappy with what he or she already had. Other companies followed his lead. Economic success now depended on the promotion of qualities like waste and self-indulgence. The campaign to create new and unlimited wants did not go unchallenged. Trade unions and those working for social reform understood the long-term consequences of materialism for most Americans: it would keep them locked in capitalism's trap. The consumption of luxuries required long hours at work. Business was explicit in its resistance to increases in free time, preferring consumption as the alternative to taking economic progress in the form of leisure. In effect, business offered up the cycle of work-and-spend.

单选题The "last barrier" (Par

单选题The word "liability" ( Par