单选题The opinions of the people are controlled by several factors: ______.

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. Currently, the American armed forces are the largest professional military on the planet. Other{{U}} (1) {{/U}}have professional soldiers,{{U}} (2) {{/U}}not as many as the United States. For thousands of years, it was{{U}} (3) {{/U}}that professional soldiers were superior to{{U}} (4) {{/U}}timers. But{{U}} (5) {{/U}}most of history, few nations could{{U}} (6) {{/U}}an army of professionals, at least not on a permanent basis. It washt{{U}} (7) {{/U}}the late 20th century that countries began to{{U}} (8) {{/U}}large, permanent, all-volunteer armed forces that were carefully{{U}} (9) {{/U}}and trained for combat. Britain was the first, when it phased out conscription in 1962. In 1975, the United States followed{{U}} (10) {{/U}}. For over a century, conscription has been seen{{U}} (11) {{/U}}the way to remain{{U}} (12) {{/U}}strong without breaking the bank. But the conscripts did not stay in uniform long enough to get really good at fighting. Britain and American were the first two nations to realize that conscription was so{{U}} (13) {{/U}}that the voters would pay extra to{{U}} 14 {{/U}}a professional force. Within a decade, an army of professionals begins to pay{{U}} (15) {{/U}}. The professionals are not only more{{U}} (16) {{/U}}on the battlefield, but are also, if carefully{{U}} (17) {{/U}}(for education and aptitude) more likely to constantly develop better ways to{{U}} (18) {{/U}}This produces a tremendous battlefield{{U}} (19) {{/U}}It doesn't make you{{U}} (20) {{/U}}, but it does make you very difficult to defeat.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} During the past 15 years, the most important component of executive pay packages, and the one .most responsible for the large increase in the level of such compensation, has been stock-option grants. The increased use of option grants was justified as a way to align executives' interests with shareholders'. For various tax, accounting, and regulatory reasons, stock-option grants have largely comprised "at-the-money options": rights to purchase shares at an "exercise price" equal to the company's stock price on the grant date. In such at-the-money options, the selection of the grant date for awarding options determines the options' exercise price and thus can have a significant effect on their value. Earlier research by financial economists on backdating practices focused on the extent to which the company's stock price went up abnormally after the grant date, My colleagues and I focused instead on how a grant-date's price ranked in the distribution of stock prices during the month of the grant. Studying the universe of about 19,000 at-the-money, unscheduled grants awarded to public companies' CEOs during the decade 1996-2005, we found a clear relation between the likelihood of a day's being selected as a grant date for awarding options, and the rank of the day's stock price within the price distribution of the month: a day was most likely to be chosen if the stock price was at the lowest level of the month, second most likely to be chosen if the price was at the second-lowest level, and so forth. There is an especially large incidence of "lucky grants" (defined as grants awarded on days on which the stock price was at the lowest level of the month): 12 percent of all CEO option grants were lucky grants, while only 4 percent were awarded at the highest price of the month. The passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in August 2002 required firms to report grants within two days of any award. Most firms complied with this requirement, but more than 20 percent of grants continued to be reported after a long delay. Thus, the legislation could be expected to reduce but not eliminate backdating. The patterns of CEO luck are consistent with this expectation: the percentage of grants that were lucky was a high 15 percent before enactment of the law, and declined to a lower, but still abnormally high, level of 8 percent afterwards. Altogether, we estimate that about 1,150 CEO stock-option grants owed their financially advantageous status to opportunistic timing rather than to mere luck. This practice was spread over a significant number of CEOs and firms: we estimate that about 850 CEOs ( about 10 percent) and about 720 firms ( about 12 percent) received or provided such lucky grants. In addition, we estimate that about 550 additional grants at the second-lowest or third-lowest price of the month owed their status to opportunistic timing. The cases that have come under scrutiny thus far have led to a widespread impression that opportunistic timing has been primarily concentrated in "new economy" firms. But while the frequency of lucky grants has been somewhat higher in such firms, more than 80 percent of the opportunistically timed grants have been awarded in other sectors. Indeed, there is a significantly higher-than-normal incidence of lucky grants in each of the economy's 12 industries.

单选题For a large number of young adults in Britain, homeownership has become increasingly difficult to achieve, viewed as a distant goal attainable only later in life, if at all. That is a significant shift for Britain. For years owners occupy a higher percentage of homes in Britain than in the United States, France or Germany. One reason homeownership is so attractive in Britain is because property values dropped less drastically than in the United States, in part because of a shortage in housing. Prices in some large cities, including London, have even increased recently. People still perceive a home to be a better and safer investment than a pension fund, said Andrew Hull, research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research. "Homeownership is also culturally entrenched , " he said. "Owning a home is the main way of showing you made it. " The big shift toward homeownership came in the 1980s when Mrs. Thatcher issued right-to-buy policy, which allowed many in rented government housing to buy their homes. About two million homes were sold, earning the government tens of billions of pounds. At the same time, the rental market became increasingly unattractive. Unlike Germany and other Continental European countries, Britain"s private rental market is highly fragmented , with many landlords and laws that generally favor the property owner. Most leases are for six months only, with landlords rarely agreeing to commit to longer terms; this makes renting highly insecure. But as the pain of government-imposed austerity sinks in, disposable income has shrunk and loan requirements have toughened , forcing more and more Britons into renting rather than buying. Over the last 10 years the number of people who owned homes here dropped to 67 percent from 70 percent. Meanwhile, the number of people in private rented housing rose to 16 percent from 10 percent over the same period, according to the Office for National Statistics. Rising demand has pushed up rents by an average of 4.4 percent over the last year, according to LSL Property Services. In London rents increased 7.8 percent. "A growing number of young would-be buyers are preparing for lifelong renting—by necessity rather than choice, " said Jonathan Moore, director of easy roommate, co. uk, a property Web site. Charlotte Ashton, 30, has lived in rented accommodations ever since she left her parent"s home to attend university. She said she was saving for a down payment to buy her own home. "I do believe in the fundamentals of owning bricks and mortar as security for the future, more than leaving my money in the banks at a low interest rate, " said Ms. Ashton, who works in public relations. "But now it seems unless you have a very well paid job and are willing to save every penny, it"s unfeasible to buy without the help of the bank of Mum and Dad. " Some economists are concerned that as more people are forced to wait to buy a home, it could open up a widening of the wealth gap that already exists between homeowners and non homeowners, endangering the retirement prospects for a swelling group of young adults they call "generation rent. " It could also have implications for the cohesion of neighborhoods, Alison Blackwell, a research director at the National Center for Social Research and author of the Halifax report said. Renters tend to be less involved in local communities because they are forced to move more often. And the economy as a whole may suffer because renters tend to curb spending to save for a deposit.

单选题One of the great changes brought about by the knowledge Society is that______

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} In recent years American society has become increasingly dependent on its universities to find solutions to its major problems. It is the universities that have been charged with the principal responsibility for developing the expertise to place men on the moon; for dealing with our urban problems and with our deteriorating environment; for developing the means to feed the world's rapidly increasing population. The effort involved in meeting these demands presents its own problems. In addition, this concentration on the creation of new knowledge significantly impinges on the universities' efforts to perform their other principal functions, the transmission and interpretation of knowledge the imparting of the heritage of the past and the preparing of the next generation to carry it forward. With regard to this, perhaps their most traditionally sanctioned task, colleges and universities today find themselves in a serious hind generally. On the one hand, there is the American commitment, entered into especially since WW 1I, to provide higher education for all young people who can profit from it. The result of the commitment has been a dramatic rise in enrollments in our universities, coupled with a radical shift from the private to the public sector of higher education. On the other hand, there are serious and continuing limitations on the resources available for higher education. While higher education has become a great "growth industry", it is also simultaneously a tremendous drain on the resources of nation. With the vast increase in enrollment and the shift in priorities away from education in state and federal budgets, there is in most of our public institutions a significant decrease in per capita outlay for their students, one crucial aspect of this drain on resources lies in the persistent shortage of trained faculty, which has led, in rum, to a declining standard of competence in instruction. Intensifying these difficulties is, as indicated above, the concern with research, with its competing claims on resources and the attention of the faculty. In addition, there is a strong tendency for the institutions; organization and functioning to conform to the demands of research rather than those of teaching.

单选题In a perfectly free and open market economy, the type of employer—government or private-should have little or no impact on the earnings differentials between women and men. However, if there is discrimination against one sex, it is unlikely that the degree of discrimination by government and private employers will be the same. Differences in the degree of discrimination would result in earnings differentials associated with the type of employer. Given the nature of government and private employers, it seems most likely that discrimination by private employers would be greater. Thus, one would expect that, if women are being discriminated against, government employment would have a positive effect on women' s earnings as compared with their earnings from private employment. The results of a study by Fuchs support this assumption. Fuchs's results suggest that the earnings of women in an industry composed entirely of government employees would be 14.6 percent greater than the earnings of women in an industry composed exclusively of private employees. Other things being equal. In addition, both Fuchs and Sanborn have suggested that the effect of discrimination by consumers on the earnings of self-employed women may be greater than the effect of either government or private employer discrimination on the earnings of women employees. To test this hypothesis, Brown selected a large sample of white male and female workers from the 1970 Census and divided them into three categories: private employees, government employees, and self-employed. (Black workers were excluded from the sample to avoid picking up earnings differentials that were the result of racial disparities. ) Brown's research design controlled for education, labor force participation, mobility, motivation, and age in order to eliminate these factors as explanations of the study's results. Brown's results suggest that men and women are not treated the same by employers and consumers. For men, self-employment is the highest earnings category, with private employment next, and government lowest. For women, this order is reversed. One can infer from Brown's results that consumers discriminate against self-employed women. In addition, self-employed women may have more difficulty than men in getting good employees and may encounter discrimination from suppliers and from financial institutions. Brown's results are clearly consistent with Fuchs's argument that discrimination by consumers has a greater impact on the earnings of women than does discrimination by either government or private employers. Also, the fact that women do better working for government than for private employers implies that private employers axe discriminating against women. The results do not prove that government does not discriminate against women. They do, however, demonstrate that if government is discriminating against women, its discrimination is not having as much effect on women's earnings as is discrimination in the private sector.

单选题 The celebration of the New Year is the oldest one of all holidays. It was first {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}in{{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}Babylon about 4,000 years ago. New Year's Day is an{{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}national holiday, and banks and offices will be closed. Many families have New year's Day{{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}. Traditionally, it was thought that it could{{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}the luck they would have {{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}the coming year by{{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}they did or ate on the first day of the year. For that reason, it has become common for{{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}to celebrate the first few minutes of a{{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}new year in the{{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}with the family and friends. Parties often last into the middle of the night after the ringing of a new year. It was once believed that the first visitor on New Year's Day would bring{{U}} {{U}} 11 {{/U}} {{/U}}good luck or bad luck to the rest of the year. It was particularly lucky if that visitor{{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}} {{/U}}to be a tall dark-haired man. Traditional New Year's{{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}are also thought to bring luck. People in many parts of the US celebrate the New Year by{{U}} {{U}} 14 {{/U}} {{/U}}black-eyed peas and cabbage. Black-eyed peas have been considered good luck in many cultures. Cabbage leaves are considered a{{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}} {{/U}}of prosperity, being{{U}} {{U}} 16 {{/U}} {{/U}}of paper currency. Other traditions of the season include the making of New Year's resolutions. That tradition also{{U}} {{U}} 17 {{/U}} {{/U}}back to the early Babylonians. Popular modern resolutions might include the{{U}} {{U}} 18 {{/U}} {{/U}}to lose weight or quit smoking. The song, "Auld Lang Syne", is sung at the{{U}} {{U}} 19 {{/U}} {{/U}}of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to bring in the New Year. "Auld Lang Syne" literally{{U}} {{U}} 20 {{/U}} {{/U}}"yearning for the old days."

单选题Few people, except conspiracy theorists, would have expected so public a spat as the one this week between the two ringmasters of Formula One (F1) motor racing. Bernie Ecclestone. a very wealthy British motor sport entrepreneur, is at odds. it would seem. with his longstanding associate. Max Mosley, president of Fl's governing body, the Federation International de l'Automobile (FIA). On the surface, the dispute has broken out over what looked like a done deal. Last June. the FIA voted unanimously to extend Mr. Ecclestone's exclusive fights to stage and broadcast Fl racing, which expire in 2010, by t00 years. For these favourable rights, Mr. Ecelestone was to pay the FIA a mere $360 million in total, and only $60 million immediately. The FIA claims that Mr. Ecclestone has not made the payment of $60 million, a claim denied by Mr. Ecclestone. who insists the money has been placed in an escrow account. Mr. Mosley has asked Mr. Ecclestone to pay up or risk losing the deal for the Fl rights after 2010. perhaps m a group of car makers that own Fl teams. For his part. Mr. Ecclestone has, rather theatrically, accused Mr. Mosley of "trying to do some extortion". What is going on? Only three things can be stated with confidence. First. the idea that Mr. Ecclestone cannot find the 560 million is ridiculous: his family trust is not exactly short of cash. having raised around $2 billion in the past two years. Second. it would not be in Mr. Ecclestone's long-term financial interest to discard a deal which could only enhance the value of his family's remaining 50% stake in SLEC. the holding company for the group of companies that runs the commercial side of F1. Third. the timing of the dispute is very interesting. Why? Because the other.50% stake in SLEC. owned by EM. TV. a debt-ridden German media company, is up for sale. EM. TV badly needs to sell this stake in the near future to keep its bankers at dead end. The uncertainty created by the dispute between Mr. Ecclestone and Mr. Mosley might depress the value of EM. TV's holding. Could that work to Mr. Ecctestone's advantage? Quite possibly. The lower the value of EM. TV's stake, the higher the relative value of an option Mr. Ecclestone holds to sell a further 25% of SLEC m EM. TV for around $1 billion--and the better the deal Mr. Ecclestone might be able to extract for surrendering the option. Whoever buys EM. TV's stake in SLEC will have to negotiate with Mr. Ecclestone over this instrument. The Economist understands that Mr. Ecclestone has the fight to veto a plan proposed last December by Kireh, a privately owned German media group, to buy half of EM. TV's holding for $550 million. In the coming weeks, Mr. Ecclestone will doubtless be deploying his formidable negotiating skills to best advantage. It would be hasty to bet against his securing a good deal out of EM. TV's difficulties. His dispute with the F1A may then be easily resolved. As usual, he holds all the cards.

单选题The attitudes of FBI and Burke towards the reliability of the no-fly list are

单选题 Niagara is an Indian word which means "roaring water". Indeed, the roar of the falling water of Niagara can be heard {{U}}(1) {{/U}} a distance of 5 kms. Imagine {{U}}(2) {{/U}} of water flowing over a cliff 90 feet high and you will get an idea of that terrible noise. And {{U}}(3) {{/U}} tremendous power the Niagara River has! It moves big rocks about and throws them into the boiling water below. {{U}}(4) {{/U}} ago an old ship without single person on board was put in mid-stream. It sailed down the river {{U}}(5) {{/U}} a toy boat with great speed. Having reached the fall, the ship dropped into the boiling water, never {{U}}(6) {{/U}} again. There were some people who wanted to become famous {{U}}(7) {{/U}} swimming across the most dangerous part of the Niagara River. One of them was Captain Webb who said that he would try to swim cross the Niagara, which {{U}}(8) {{/U}} crowds of people. On the evening of July 1st, 1893, Captain Webb came up to the river and {{U}}(9) {{/U}} a plunge. His having jumped into the water {{U}}(10) {{/U}} many people with horror. Soon, he appeared in the middle of the river. A loud shout went up from the crowd, but a moment later there was {{U}}(11) {{/U}} silence. The man had disappeared under the water. Thousands of eyes {{U}}(12) {{/U}} on the river, but the man was drowned. In 1902, a certain Miss Taylor decided to go over the falls in a barrel. There were different kinds of pillows inside the barrel to prevent her from {{U}}(13) {{/U}}. Having examined the barrel carefully, Miss Taylor got in. The barrel was closed and then {{U}}(14) {{/U}} into the water. Having reached the falls, it overturned and was shot down by the terrible {{U}}(15) {{/U}} of the water. When the barrel was finally caught and opened, Miss Taylor came out alive {{U}}(16) {{/U}} with a frightened look in her eyes. Once a crowd of visitors saw a rope {{U}}(17) {{/U}} over from one bank of the river to the other. Then they saw a man {{U}}(18) {{/U}} the rope. The man was an actor, Blondin {{U}}(19) {{/U}}. He managed to cross Niagara Falls on a tight rope. The people on the bank were surprised at his {{U}}(20) {{/U}} it so well.

单选题Finding the perfect pair of jeans usually requires patience, luck and several frustrating hours behind a changing room curtain. (1) the process could soon become much simpler (2) to a revolutionary machine which helps women choose the right size, shape and cut. Previously (3) only in high-end shops, a 3D body scanner is being trialed on the high street—and promises to (4) shoppers to denim that fits and flatters. The ￡35,000 machine could be the (5) for women who want to follow Carol Vorderman's lead with jeans that suit their shape and flatter their curves, but who don't have time to try on dozens of pairs. Using digital white light, the scanner takes (6) from 16 angles and creates a (7) of the customer's body shape in seconds. (8) the help of shop (9) , the image can then be used to identify jeans that are the (10) size and style. The scanner, which is around 10ft tall and 5ft wide, is already in use at the Manchester Arndale shopping centre and is being (11) by fashion chain Peacocks, with other high street stores (12) to follow suit. Debs Hatfield, style adviser at Manchester Arndale, said, " (13) you can find the best fitting jeans for your body shape, you must have a clear understanding of what your body type (14) is. That in itself is no easy task since a lot of us aren't a clear-cut type, but often a (15) of two or more. " News of the device comes as research by Peacocks found 60 million pairs of jeans are stashed away in wardrobes (16) the country and never worn. The (17) of 2,000 shoppers found that one in five women owns six pairs of jeans they no longer wear (18) to weight loss or gain. Jane Hotz, director of ladieswear for Peacocks, added, " (19) the perfect pair of jeans is one of the most stressful shopping trips a woman has to (20) , but it's also one of life's great highs when you find jeans that fit great and look fantastic. /

单选题Say the word bacteria, and most folks conjure up images of a nasty germ like staphylococcus or salmonella that can make you really sick. But most bacteria aren't bad for you. In fact, consuming extra amounts of some bacteria can actually promote good health. These beneficial bacteria are available without a prescription in drug and health-food stores and in foods like yogurt. So far, the best results have been seen in the treatment of diarrhea, particularly in children. But re searchers are also looking into the possibility that beneficial bacteria may thwart vaginal infections in women, prevent some food allergies in children and lessen symptoms of Crohn's disease, a relatively rare but painful gastrointestinal disorder. So where have these good germs been lurking all your life? In your intestines, especially the lower section called the colon, which harbors at least 400 species of bacteria. Which ones you have depends largely on your environment and diet. An abundance of good bacteria in the colon generally crowds out stray bad bacteria in your food. But if the bad outnumber the good—for example, after antibiotic treatment for a sinus or an ear infection, which kills normal intestinal germs as well—the result can be diarrhea. For generations, people have restored the balance by eating yogurt, buttermilk or other products made from fermented milk. But nowadays, you can also down a few pills that contain freeze-dried germs. These preparations are called probiotics to distinguish them from antibiotics. Unfortunately, you can't always be sure that the bacteria in the products you buy are the same strains as those listed on the label or even that they're still alive. Probiotics are usually sensitive to both heat and moisture. Among the most promising and most thoroughly researched probiotics is the GG strain of Laetobacillus, discovered by Dr. Sherwood Gorbach and biochemist Barry Goldin, both at Tufts University School of Medicine. L-GG, as it's called, has been used to treat traveler's diarrhea and intestinal upsets caused by antibiotics. Even more intriguing, L- GG also seems to work against some viruses, including rotavirus, one of the most common causes of diarrhea in children in the U. S. and around the world. Here the effect is indirect. Somehow L-GG jump-starts the immune system into recognizing the threat posed by the virus. Pediatricians at Johns Hopkins are studying a different bug, the Bb-12 strain of Bifidobacterium, which was discovered by researchers at CHR Hansen Biosystems. Like L-GG, Bb-12 stimulates the immune system. For reasons that are not dear, infants who are breast-fed have large amounts of bifidobacteria in their intestines. They also have fewer intestinal upsets. Dr. Jose Saavedra and colleagues at Hopkins have shown that Bb-12 prevents several types of diarrhea, including that caused by r0tavirus, in hospitalized infants as young as four months. It has also been used to cure diarrhea in children of all ages.