单选题If you see a diamond ring on the fourth finger of a woman's left hand, you probably know what it means: in America, this has long been the digit of choice for betrothal jewelry, and the lore of the trade traces the symbolism back to ancient times. But if you see a diamond ring on the fourth finger of a woman's right hand, you may or may not know that it signifies an independent spirit, or even economic empowerment and changing gender mores. "A lot of women have disposable income," Katie Couric said recently on the "Today" show after showing viewers her Change right-hander. "Why wait for a man to give her a diamond ring?" This notion may be traced back, approximately, to September. That's when the Diamond Information Center began a huge marketing campaign aimed at articulating the meaning of right-hand rings-and thus a rationale for buying them. "Your left hand says 'we' ," the campaign declares. "Your right hand says 'me' ." The positioning is brilliant: the wearer may be married or unmarried and may buy the ring herself or request it as a gift. And while it can take years for a new jewelry concept to work itself thoroughly into the mainstream, the tight-band ring already has momentum. At the higher end of the scale, the jewelry maker Kwiat, which supplies stores like Saks, offers a line of Kwiat Spirit Rings that can retail for as much as ＄5, 000, and "we're selling it faster than we're manufacturing it," says Bill Gould, the company's chief of marketing. At the other end of the stale, mass-oriented retailers that often take a wait-and-see attitude have already jumped on the bandwagon. Firms like Kwiat were given what Gould calls "direction" from the Diamond information Center about the new ring's attributes-multiple diamonds in a north-south orientation that distinguishes it from the look of an engagement ring, and so on. But all this is secondary to the newly minted meaning. "The idea," Morrison says, "is that beyond a trend, this could become a sort of cultural imperative." A tall order? Well, bear in mind that "a diamond is forever" is not a saying handed down from imperial Rome. It was handed down from an earlier generation of De Beers marketers. Joyce Jonas, a jewelry appraiser and historian, notes that De Beers, in the 40's and 50's, took advantage of a changing American class structure to turn diamond rings into an (attainable) symbol for the masses. By now, Jonans observes, the stone alone "is just a commodity" . And this, of course, is what makes its invented significance more Crucial than ever.

单选题"It carries white blood cells and disease-fighting chemicals called antibodies to places where foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses are causing infections" this statement______.

单选题As a related study describes, Twitter has come to play a crucial role in the way that news functions during events like the Egyptian revolution—like an overloaded newswire filled with everything from breaking news to rumor and everything in between. The evolution of what media theorist Jeff Jarvis and others have called "networked journalism" has made the business of news much more chaotic, since it now consists of thousands of voices instead of just a few prominent ones who happen to have the tools to make themselves heard. If there is a growth area in media, it is in the field of "curated news," where real-time filters verify and redistribute the news that comes in from tens of thousands of sources, and use tools like Storify to present a coherent picture of what is happening on the ground. One of the additional points the study makes is that the personal Twitter accounts belonging to journalists were far more likely to be retweeted or engaged with by others than official accounts for the media outlets they worked for. The point here is one we have tried to make repeatedly: Social media are called social for a reason. They"re about human beings connecting with other human beings around an event, and the more that media outlets try to stifle the human aspect of these tools—through repressive social-media policies, for example—the less likely they will be to benefit from using them. Another benefit of a distributed or networked version of journalism is one sociologist Zeynep Tufekci has made in the course of her research into how Twitter and other social tools affected the events in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere. As she wrote in a recent blog post, one of the realities of mainstream media is what is often called "pack journalism": the kind that sees hundreds of journalists show up for official briefings by government or military sources, but few pursue their own stories outside the official sphere. Tufekci says social media and "citizen journalism" can be a powerful antidote to this kind of process, and that"s fundamentally a positive force for journalism. As we look at the way news and information flows in this new world of social networks, and what Andy Carvin has called "random acts of journalism" by those who may not even see themselves as journalists, it"s easy to get distracted by how chaotic the process seems, and how difficult it is to separate the signal from the noise. But more information is better-even if it requires new skills on the part of journalists when it comes to filtering that information—and journalism, as Jay Rosen has pointed out, tends to get better when more people do it.

单选题Walter Schloss was by no means a celebrity. He was never a face on financial television programs, 1 was he known for marketing his skills to investors. His death last month, at the age of 95, 2 little public comment but among a certain crowd it meant the 3 of a mind that was brave, independent and 4 distinct from much of modern finance. Mr. Schloss was part of a small group who worked with Benjamin Graham, a Columbia Business School professor whose most famous 5 is Warren Buffett. Mr. Schloss did not spend time 6 corporate managers. His research team doubled in size when his son joined. He favored discarded "cigar butt" stocks that could be 7 off the floor. Often, they weren"t worth much but they sold for far 8 . As for high-flying shares, he was not afraid to go 9 . During the late 1990s, when a "new era" caused many people to 10 any normal valuation measures as hopelessly 11 , Mr. Schloss stayed 12 and bet against some of the most popular and inflated names. In part, he could do so 13 a famous cost saving structure. In part, he was protected by an extraordinary long-term record. When he 14 managing money for outsiders, his returns were reported to have 15 16% annually, six percentage points higher than the market. He had other 16 , too. In 1999, when his portfolio was composed of everything no one wanted, he was asked how, 17 his own convictions were unshaken, he could ensure that his investors 18 with him. Being a true 19 required just one rule, he said: " 20 tell a client what they own."

单选题For those who regard the al-Jazeera TV channel as a biased, anti-western mouthpiece for Osama bin Laden, the announcement that it will start broadcasting 24 hours a day in English next year will be unwelcome. Its likeliest audience is Muslims (1) the Middle East who do not speak Arabic. Will al-Jazeera's reports of suffering and rage in Iraq and beyond inspire anger (2) America and its (3) at home, too? The new service may prove a bit less (4) than its Arabic sibling. Nigel Parsons, its managing editor, says that al-Jazeera has been too strident on (5) in the past, and that the English channel will (6) to redress that. It will strive (7) balance, credibility and authority, he says, and it will signal a new maturity for al-Jazeera, which was started by the emir of Qatar in 1996. It will broadcast its own original content—news, documentaries and talk shows— (8) studios in Doha, London and Washington, (9) international news beyond the Middle East. especially the developing countries often (10) by existing English-language channels. A1-Jazeera is already enjoying a fresh burst of (11) outside the Middle East. Around the same time that the interim government in Iraq ordered it to shut its bureau in Baghdad, westerners started watching "Control Room," a film sympathetic (12) the station directed by Jehane Noujaim. At a screening in London last week an audience of local journalists laughed along (13) al-Jazeera's reporters and editors (14) the (15) of the American military. The biggest mystery about al-Jazeera surround its funding, which "Control Room" sadly did not (16) . Qatar has a new (17) in the world (18) to the station. That may be why the emir is willing to spend (19) an English-language channel even (20) the original Arabic one is probably losing money.

单选题The good news made headlines nationwide: Deaths from several kinds of cancer have declined significantly in recent years. But the news has to be bittersweet for many cancer patients and their families. Every year, more than 500, 000 people in the United States still die of cancer. In fact, more than half of all patients diagnosed with cancer will die of their disease within a few years. And while its true survival is longer today than in the past, the quality of life for these patients is often greatly diminished. Cancer—and many of the treatments used to fight it—causes pain, nausea, fatigue, and anxiety that routinely go undertreated or untreated. In the nation's single-minded focus on curing cancer, we have inadvertently devalued the critical need for palliative care, which focuses on alleviating physical and psychological symptoms over the course of the disease. Nothing would have a greater impact on the daily lives of cancer patients and their families than good symptom control and supportive therapy. Yet the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the federal government's leader in cancer research and training, spent less than one percent of its 1999 budget on any aspect of research or training in palliative care. The nation needs to get serious about reducing needless suffering. NCI should commit to and fund research aimed at improving symptom control and palliative care. NCI also could designate "centers of excellence" among the cancer centers it recognizes. To get that designation, centers would deliver innovative, top-quality palliative care to all segments of the populations the centers serve; train professionals in medicine, nursing, psychology, social work, and other disciplines to provide palliative care; and conduct research. Insurance coverage for palliative and hospice care also contributes to the problem by forcing people to choose between active treatment or hospice care. This "either/or" approach does not readily allow these two types of essential care to be integrated. The Medicare hospice benefit is designed specifically for people in the final stages of illness and allows enrollment only if patients are expected to survive six months or less. The benefit excludes patients from seeking both palliative care and potentially life-extending treatment. That makes hospice enrollment an obvious deterrent for many patients. And hospices, which may have the most skilled practitioners and the most experience in administering palliative care, cannot offer their services to people who could really benefit but still are pursuing active treatment. It is innately human to comfort and provide care to those suffering from cancer, particularly those close to death. Yet what seems self-evident at an individual, personal level has not guided policy at the level of institutions in this country. Death is inevitable, but severe suffering is not. To offer hope for a long life of the highest possible quality and to deliver the best quality cancer care from diagnosis to death, our public institutions need to move toward policies that value and promote palliative care.

单选题By any standard, money manager Malcolm Gissen has had a complicated relationship with risk over the past couple of years. After losing 62 percent in 2008, the Encompass Fund, which Gissen co-manages, gained a staggering 137 percent last year, cementing its reputation as one of the more volatile funds in the industry. "Most mutual fund managers tend to invest for mediocre results. Their goal is to perform in line with their benchmark," says Gissen, whose returns--for better or worsen-have been anything but mediocre. Encompass is one of a small group of funds that have a "go-anywhere" mandate (meaning they can invest in essentially any type of security), and Gissen wields that power freely. Late last year, for instance, his fund had about 20 percent of its assets in gold-related investments. Despite all that, Gissen's attitude toward risk is surprisingly straightforward: "We don't like risk," he volunteers. This, of course, begs the question: What exactly constitutes a risky portfolio? "When people think about risk.., they think, 'What's going to be the next AIG or the next Enron?'" says Chris Konstantinos, a portfolio risk manager at Riverfront Investment Group, a Virginia-based advisory firm. "That's a really important risk, but it's not the entire side of the risk equation. It's just one piece. " Lately, the market has shone a light on an entirely different type of risk, one that's far more paradoxical and difficult to grasp. "Sometimes the biggest risk you can have in your portfolio is not having enough risk," says Konstantinos. "And certainly since March of 2009, that's clearly been the case. " Advocates of this philosophy point to two main scenarios. In one, a traditionally safe asset class falls off, pulling the rug out from underneath investors who were overexposed to it. That's what many analysts expect will happen to bond investors once interest rates start creeping up. In the other, a risky type of investment takes off, leaving those who don't own it behind in a cloud of dust. That's what occurred when consumer discretionary stocks surged during last year's rebound. In both scenarios, the advantage goes to investors with portfolios that are traditionally seen as risky. The challenge, of course, is achieving the right balance. Many investors can't stomach the swings associated with funds like Gissen's, but there's middle ground to be found. "The right way to look at risk is to look at it from a portfolio construction perspective, which means that in a highly diversified portfolio, there's room for what's perceived as risky kinds of investments," says Konstantinos.

单选题It is often observed that the aged spend much time thinking and talking about their past lives, rather than about the future. These reminiscences are not simply random or trivial memories, (1) is their purpose merely to make conversation. The old person's recollections of the past help to (2) an identity that is becoming increasingly fragile: (3) any role that brings respect or any goal that might provide (4) to the future, the individual mentions their (5) as a reminder to listeners, that here was a life (6) living. (7) , the memories form part of a continuing life (8) , in which the old person (9) the events and experiences of the years gone by and (10) on the overall meaning of his or her own almost completed life. As the life cycle (11) to its close, the aged must also learn to accept the reality of their own impending death. (12) this task is made difficult by the fact that death is almost a (13) subject in the United States. The mere discussion of death is often regarded as (14) As adults, many of us find the topic frightening and are (15) to think about it and certainly not to talk about it (16) the presence of someone who is dying. Death has achieved this taboo (17) only in the modern industrial societies. There seems to be an important reason for our reluctance to (18) the idea of death; It is the very fact that death remains (19) our control; it is almost the only one of the natural processes (20) is so. Notes: reminiscence n. 回忆 fragile adj. 脆弱的。impending adj. 即将发生的。

单选题Which of the following hold the most important position in the Senate?

单选题In para. 6 the author______.

单选题Halfway through" The Rebel Sell," the authors pause to make fun of" free-range" chicken. Paying over the odds to ensure that dinner was not in a previous life, confined to tiny cages is all well and good. But "a free-range chicken is about as plausible as a sun-loving earthworm": given a choice, chickens prefer to curl up in a nice dark comer of the barn. Only about 15% of "free-range" chickens actually use the space available to them. This is just one case in which Joseph Heath, who teaches philosophy at the University of Toronto, and Andrew Potter, a journalist and researcher based in Montreal, find fault with well-meaning but, in their view, ultimately naive consumers who hope to distance themselves from consumerism by buying their shoes from Mother Jones magazine instead of Nike. Mr Heath and Mr Potter argue that "the counterculture," in all its attempts to be subversive, has done nothing more than create new segments of the market, and thus ends up feeding the very monster of consumerism and conformity it hopes to destroy. In the process, they cover Marx, Freud ,the experiments on obedience of Stanley Milgram, the films" Pleasantville", "The Matrix" and "American Beauty", 15th-century table manners, Norman Mailer, the Unabomber, real-estate prices in central Toronto (more than once ), the voluntary-simplicity movement and the world' s funniest joke. Why range so widely? The authors' beef is with a very small group: left-wing activists who eschew smaller, potentially useful campaigns in favor of grand statements about the hopelessness of consumer culture and the dangers of" selling out". Instead of encouraging useful activities, such as pushing for new legislation, would-be leftists are left to participate in unstructured, pointless demonstrations against" globalization," or buy fair-trade coffee and free-range chicken, which only substitutes snobbery for activism. Two authors of books that railed against brands, Naomi Klein (" No Logo")and Alissa Quart (" Branded"), come in for special derision for diagnosing the problems of consumerism but refusing to offer practical solutions. Anticipating criticism, perhaps ,Messrs Heath and Potter make sure to put forth a few of their own solutions, such as the 35-hour working week and school uniforms (to keep teenagers from competing with each other to wear ever-more-expensive clothes). Increasing consumption, they argue throughout, is not imposed upon stupid workers by overbearing companies, but arises as a result of a cultural" arms race" :each person buys more to keep his standard of living high relative to his neighbors', Imposing some restrictions, such as a shorter working week, might not stop the arms race, but it would at least curb its most offensive excesses. ( This assumes one finds excess consumption offensive; even the authors do not seem entirely sure. ) But on the way to such modest suggestions, the authors want to criticise every aspect of the counterculture, from its disdain for homogenisation, franchises and brands to its political offshoots. As a result, the book wanders: chapters on uniforms and on the search for" cool" could have been cut. Moreover, the authors make the mistake of assuming that the consumers they sympathise with—the ones who buy brands and live in tract houses—know enough to separate themselves from their purchases, whereas the free-trade-coffee buyers swallow the brand messages whole, as it were. Still, it would be a shame if the book' s ramblings kept it from getting read. When it focuses on explaining how the counterculture grew out of post-World War II critiques of modem society, "The Rebel Sell" is a lively read, with enough humour to keep the more theoretical stretches of its argument interesting. At the very least, it puts its finger on a trend: there will be plenty of future critics of capitalism lining up for their free-range chicken.