单选题Accurate representation and reporting is vital in the media because______.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} The divorce rate in Britain has levelled off—to roughly one marriage in three—and shows no sign of reaching the much higher American rate, according to the demographers(人口统计学者) assembled in Bath last week for a conference on the family. There has been no increase in the rate in the last three years and although many expected it to rise a few more percentage points in the next decade, none believed it would reach the 50 percent that exists in America. One reason for the stabilizations of divorce is the reduction in the risk factors—fewer teenagers marrying, fewer early births in marriage, fewer pre-marital(婚前的)conceptions. Another reason which was aired at the annual conference of the British Society for Population Studies, was the increase in cohabitation. Some speakers argued that the increase in cohabitation has meant that marital couples are now much more familiar with each other before marriage and therefore less likely to separate. One out of four couples who marry today have lived together and in the older age groups the proportion is much higher. Some 34 percent of women aged over 25 who marry have cohabited, and over 50 percent of women who are marrying a divorced man or who have been divorced themselves, cohabit before marriage. Cohabitation in Britain, however, is still considerably lower than in many European states and was described by the demographers as "essentially a part of contemporary courtship". Only a small proportion of people who cohabited had children whereas in Sweden some 40 percent of births were now outside formal marriage. The British rate was 13 percent. Kath Kiernan of the Centre for Population Studies noted that the present statistics suggested that there was a marginally higher risk of separation for couples who had cohabited, but this could possibly be explained by the fact that the statistics covered a period when cohabiting had not become as socially acceptable as it was today. A third reason why the demographers thought the divorce rate could stabilize was the economic squeeze(利润等的缩减) and the recession(暴跌), which would mean there was less opportunity to separate because of the lack of housing and employment.

单选题After September 11th, long delays of express air shipping often arise because of

单选题Which of the following words could best be substituted for "relaxed" (Paragraph 3) without substantially changing the author's meaning?

单选题According to the author, breeding super-apes would be

单选题What does the author imply by "There is a silver lining. "(Par

单选题Everything seemed to have become a weapon of war. Our enemies had (1) the most familiar objects (2) us, turned shaving kits into holsters and airplanes (3) missiles and soccer coaches and newlyweds into involuntary suicide bombers. So it was (4) the President and his generals to plot the response. That is because we are (5) one enemy but two: one unseen, the other inside. Terror on this scale (6) to wreck the way we live our lives-make us flinch when a siren sounds, (7) when a door slams and think twice before deciding (8) we really have to take a plane. If we falter, they win, (9) they never plant another bomb. So after the early helplessness, what can I do? I've already given blood-people started to realize that (10) they could do was exactly, as precisely as possible, (11) they would have done if all this (12) . That was the spirit (13) in New York and Washington and all across the country, faith and fear and resolve in a tight braid. Because the killers who hate us did the (14) , nothing is unthinkable now. A plume of grill smoke venting from a Manhattan steak house (15) the evacuation of midtown office towers. After the Pentagon (16) , generals called their families and told them (17) the water, it could be poisoned. Sales of guns and gas masks spiked. The National Football League (18) its games for the first time ever; bomb scares emptied 90 sites on Thursday in New York City (19) . People wore sneakers with their suits (20) they had to fly fast down the stairs.

单选题Concerning health-care systems in Britain, the author is likely to agree to the statement that

单选题We can learn from the first paragraph that INS ______.

单选题What is the author' s opinion on the supposition that the homeless are primarily the former residents of mental hospitals?

单选题The author seems to believe that the Supreme Court's decision______.

单选题Scientists have found that although we are prone to snap overreactions, if we take a moment and think about how we are likely to react, we can reduce or even eliminate the negative effects of our quick, hardwired responses. Snap decisions can be important defense mechanisms; if we are judging whether someone is dangerous, our brains and bodies are hard-wired to react very quickly, within milliseconds. But we need more time to assess other factors. To accurately tell whether someone is sociable, studies show, we need at least a minute, preferably five. It takes a while to judge complex aspects of personality, like neuroticism or open-mindedness. But snap decisions in reaction to rapid stimuli aren"t exclusive to the interpersonal realm. Psychologists at the University of Toronto found that viewing a fast-food logo for just a few milliseconds primes us to read 20 percent faster, even though reading has little to do with eating. We unconsciously associate fast food with speed and impatience and carry those impulses into whatever else we"re doing. Subjects exposed to fast-food flashes also tend to think a musical piece lasts too long. Yet we can reverse such influences. If we know we will overreact to consumer products or housing options when we see a happy face (one reason good sales representatives and real estate agents are always smiling), we can take a moment before buying. If we know female job screeners are more likely to reject attractive female applicants, we can help screeners understand their biases—or hire outside screeners. John Gottman, the marriage expert, explains that we quickly "thin slice" information reliably only after we ground such snap reactions in "thick sliced" long-term study. When Dr. Gottman rea-lly wants to assess whether a couple will stay together, he invites them to his island retreat for a much longer evaluation: two days, not two seconds. Our ability to mute our hard-wired reactions by pausing is what differentiates us from animals: dogs can think about the future only intermittently or for a few minutes. But historically we have spent about 12 percent of our days contemplating the longer term. Although technology might change the way we react, it hasn"t changed our nature. We still have the imaginative capacity to rise above temptation and reverse the high-speed trend.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} Never has a straitjacket seemed so ill-fitting or so insecure. The Euro area's "Stability and Growth Pact" was supposed to stop irresponsible member states running excessive budget deficits, defined as 3% of GDP or more. Chief among the restraints was the threat of large fines if member governments breached the limit for three years in a row. For some time now, no one has seriously believed those restraints would hold. In the early hours of Tuesday November 25th, the Euro's fiscal straitjacket finally came apart at the seams. The pact's fate was sealed over an extended dinner meeting of the euro area's 12 finance ministers. They chewed over the sorry fiscal record of the Euro's two largest members, France and Germany. Both governments ran deficits of more than 3% of GDP last year and will do so again this year. Both expect to breach the limit for the third time in 2004. Earlier this year the European Commission, which polices the pact, agreed to give both countries an extra year, until 2005, to bring their deficits back into line. But it also instructed them to revisit their budget plans for 2004 and make extra cuts. France was asked to cut its underlying, cyclically adjusted deficit by a full 1% of GDP, Germany by 0.8%. Both resisted. Under the pact's hales, the commission's prescriptions have no force until formally endorsed in a vote by the Euro area's finance ministers' known as the "Eurogroup." And the votes were simply not there. Instead, the Euro-group agreed on a set of proposals of its own, drawn up by the Italian finance minister, Giulio Tremonti. France will cut its structural deficit by 0.8% of GDP next year, Germany by 0.6%. In 2005, both will bring their deficits below 3%, economic growth permitting. Nothing will enforce or guarantee this agreement except France and Germany's word. The European Central Bank (ECB) was alarmed at this outcome, the commission was dismayed, and the smaller Euro-area countries who opposed the deal were apoplectic: treaty law was giving way to the {{U}}"Franco-German steamroller,"{{/U}} as Le Figaro, a French newspaper, put it. This seething anger will sour European politics and may spill over into negotiations on a proposed EU constitution. Having thrown their weight around this week, France and Germany may find other smaller members more reluctant than ever to give ground in the negotiations on the document. Spain opposes the draft constitution because it will give it substantially less voting weight than it currently enjoys. It sided against France and Germany on Tuesday, and will point to their fiscal transgressions to show that the EU's big countries do not deserve the extra power the proposed constitution will give them.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} School shootings across the country continue to discuss the story of the student who is outcast by fellow peers and decides to lash out. These reports may leave some wondering if ostracism is a legitimate cause for violence. Kip Williams believes it is. Williams, a professor of psychology at Purdue University, recently came to campus to speak about the effects of being ostracized. These effects can be distressing, but they often go unnoticed, he said. "I would have rather been beaten or bullied than be ignored," Williams said, reflecting on what some of the participants in his experiments felt after they were left out of a game of toss. "Even two minutes of invisibility is painful," he said. Ostracism, the act of ignoring or excluding, is a phenomenon not only found in the adult world, according to Williams. Children play simple games which leave peers out without being taught to do so. Even animals use forms of ostracism, Williams said. Lions, wolves and bees, for example, use the tactic to keep out burdensome members of their groups, which often results in death for the excluded member. Exclusion among humans can be similarly detrimental, he said. Williams conducted a computer game of toss, and showed the results for those who did not receivethe ball. Their angry, disappointed and saddened faces showed just how important inclusion is in human interaction. In another experiment, the excluded participants had no control over loud noises entering their headphones. The result was that they chose to act out against fellow participants. That lack of control is what Williams believes triggers aggression. "When control is robbed, then people don't care about how they are being liked anymore," Williams said. "They just want to establish control by being recognized. People are more likely to be violent in order to get that recognition," Williams said. His research has found that people are generally ostracized at least once a day, like the waiter who refills water glasses without notice, or the person who sits next to you on the bus without a glance. These interactions may not seem like much, but Williams asserts that even the slightest situations in which people feel invisible can have a negative impact on them. In his studies, a total of 70 percent of people said they had been given the "silent treatment" by their loved ones.

单选题"We want Singapore to have the X-factor, that buzz that you get in London, Paris, or New York." That is how Lee Hsien Loong, Singapore's prime minister, (1) his government's decision to (2) gambling in the country, (3) two large, Vegas-style casinos. Whether the casinos will indeed help to transform Singapore's staid image remains to be seen. But the decision bas already (4) an uncharacteristic buzz among the country's normally (5) citizens. The government has contemplated, and rejected (6) casinos several times in the past. One reason was (7) Singapore's economic growth was so rapid that casinos seemed like an unnecessary evil. Buddhism and Islam, two of the country's main religions, (8) on gambling. The government itself has traditionally had strong, and often (9) , ideas about how its citizens should behave. Until recently, for example, it refused to (10) homosexuals to the civil service. It also used to (11) chewing gum, which it considers a public nuisance. Nowadays, (12) , Singapore's electronics industry, the mainstay of the economy, is struggling to cope with cheap competition from places like China. In the first quarter of this year, output (13) by 5.8% at an annual rate. So the government wants lo promote tourism and other services to (14) for vanishing jobs in manufacturing. Merrill Lynch, an investment bank, (15) the two proposed casinos could (16) in as much as $4 billion in the initial investment alone. (17) its estimates, they would have annual revenues of (18) $3.6 billion, and pay at least $600 million in taxes and fees. The government, for its part, thinks the integrated (19) , as it coyly calls the casinos, would (20) as many as 35,000 jobs.

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. (10 points) There{{U}} (1) {{/U}}not one type of reading but several according to your reasons for reading. To read carefully, you have to{{U}} (2) {{/U}}your reading speed and technique{{U}} (3) {{/U}}your aim{{U}} (4) {{/U}}reading. Skimming is a technique necessary for quick and efficient reading. When skimming, you{{U}} (5) {{/U}}the reading{{U}} (6) {{/U}}quickly in order to get the{{U}} (7) {{/U}}of it, to know how it is organized,{{U}} (8) {{/U}}an idea of the tone or the intention of the writer. Skimming is{{U}} (9) {{/U}}an activity which{{U}} (10) {{/U}}an overall view of the text and{{U}} (11) {{/U}}a definite reading competence. Skimming doesn't need reading all the material, but it doesn't mean that it is an{{U}} (12) {{/U}}skill for the lazy, because it need a high degree of alertness and concentration. When you read, you usually start with{{U}} (13) {{/U}}understanding and move towards detailed understanding rather than working the other way round. But{{U}} (14) {{/U}}is also used after you have already carefully studied and you need to{{U}} (15) {{/U}}the major ideas and concepts. In order to be able to skim quickly and{{U}} (16) {{/U}}through a text, you should know where to look for what you want. In preview skimming you read the introductory information, the headings and subheadings, and the summary, if one is provided.{{U}} (17) {{/U}}this skimming, decide whether to read the material more thoroughly, and select the appropriate speed{{U}} (18) {{/U}}you read. The same procedure{{U}} (19) {{/U}}for preview skimming could also be used to get an overview. Another method would be to read only key words. This is done by omitting the unnecessary words, phrases, and sentences. In order to skim efficiently and fulfill your purpose,{{U}} (20) {{/U}}practice is necessary.