单选题Way do agriculturalists think that hemp would be better for paper production than trees?

单选题Despite the fact that comets are probably the most numerous astronomical bodies in the solar system aside from small meteor fragments and the asteroids, they are largely a mystery. Scientists do not know exactly what comets are or where they come from. Educated guesses are the best we have in hand. Considering the role of comets in legend and the memory of man, it is remarkable that we still know so little, relatively, about them. The most famous comet of all, Halley's Comet ( named for the man who predicted its return), was first sighted by the Chinese in 240 B．C．, and it has returned to terrify the people of the world on a regular basis every since then. The ancient considered it an object of ill omen. By mysterious coincidence, the arrival of Halley's Comet coincided with such events as the battle of Hastings in 1066, the Jewish revolt of 66 A．D．, and the last battle of Attila the Hun against the Romans. Nor is it the only comet to fill man with awe, but merely the most famous in a rich aristocracy of blood-freezers. Comets are even more fascinating to amateur astronomers than to professionals, because this is one area where amateurs can make major discoveries. Comet Ikeya Seki, one of the brightest comets to appear in this century was discovered in 1965 by a pair of Japanese amateurs, Ikeya and Seki. The person who discovers a new comet gets his (or her) name put on it. And amateurs have a head start in the race to discover new comets; the shorter focal lengths on their smaller telescopes give them a positive advantage over the huge telescopes such as Mount Wilson which is built to scan for galaxies, not comparatively short distances. Most scientists tend to agree with astronomer Fred T. Whipple that a comet is really a large mushy snowball of frozen ices and gases ( ammonia, methane, possibly carbon dioxide) with a few bits of solid particles stuck inside. But no one is sure how comets are created in the first place. Scientist believe that comets don't exhibit their characteristic tail while they lurk fat out in space away from the warmth of the sun but, rather, wander in the form of frozen lumps, like icebergs. This is the core of the comets. Only when the comet approaches the heat of the sun, does the ice begin to melt and stream away in the form of visible gases. The tails of the comets stream out behind for, literally, astronomical distances. Halley Comet had a tail of 94 million miles long when it visited here in 1910．The Great Comet of 1843 had a tail of 186 million miles long.

单选题With a series of well-timed deals, private-equity firms are giving traditional media- managers cause to be envious. The Warner Music transaction, in which Edgar Bronfman junior and three private-equity firms paid Time Warner ＄ 2.6 billion for the unit in 2003, is already judged a financial triumph for the buyers. Their success is likely to draw still more private -equity into the industry. And the investments are likely to get bigger: individual private- equity funds are growing—a ＄10 billion fund is likely this year—so even the biggest media firms could come within range, especially if private-equity investors club together. Some private-equity firms have long put money in media assets, but mostly reliable, relatively obscure businesses with stable cash flows. Now, some of them are placing big strategic bets on the more volatile bits, such as music and movies. And they are currently far more confident than the media old guard that the advertising cycle is about to turn sharply up- wards. One reason why private-equity is making its presence felt in media is that it has a lot of money to invest. Other industries are feeling its weight too. But private-equity's buying spree (狂购乱买) reveals a lot about the media business in particular. Media conglomerates (联合公司) lack the confidence to make big acquisitions, after the last wave of deals went wrong. Executives at Time Warner, for instance, which disastrously merged with AOL in 2000, wanted to buy MGM, a movie studio, but the board (it is said) were too nervous. Instead, private-equity firms combined with Sony, a consumer-electronics giant, to buy MGM late last year. Private-equity's interest also reflects the fact that revenue growth in media businesses such as broadcast TV and radio is now hard to come by. The average annual growth rate for 12 categories of established American media businesses in 1998-2003, excluding the internet, was just 3.4%, says Veronis Suhler Stevenson, an investment bank. Private-equity puts a higher value on low-growth, high cashflow assets than the public stockmarket, says Jonathan Nelson, founder of Providence Equity Partners, a media-focused private-equity firm. What private-equity men now bring to the media business, they like to think, is financial discipline plus an enthusiastic attitude towards new technology. Old-style media managers, claim the newcomers, are still in denial about how technology is transforming their industry. Traditional media managers grudgingly agree that, so far, private-equity investors are doing very nicely indeed from their entertainment deals. The buyers of Warner Music have already got back most of their $ 2.6 billion from the firm by cutting costs, issuing debt and making special payouts to shareholders. This year, its investors are expected to launch an initial public offering, which could bring them hundreds of millions more.

单选题According to the passage, the trend of new culinary mosaic is most accelerated by

单选题It is not just Indian software and "business-process outsourcing" firms that are benefiting from the rise of the internet. Indian modern art is also on an upward spiral, driven by the aspirations of newly rich Indians, especially those living abroad, who use the internet to spot paintings and track prices at hundreds of gallery and auction websites. Prices have risen around 20-fold since 2000, particularly for prized names such as Tyeb Mehta and F. N. Souza. There would have been "no chance" of that happening so fast without the internet, says Arun Vadehra, who runs a gallery in Delhi and is an adviser to Christie's, an international auction house. He expects worldwide sales of Indian art, worth $200million last year, to double in 2006. It is still a tiny fraction of the $ 30 billion global art market, but is sizeable for an emerging market. For newly rich often very rich-non-resident Indians, expensive art is a badge of success in a foreign land. "Who you are, and what you have, are on your walls," says Lavesh Jagasia, an art dealer in Mumbai. Indian art may also beat other forms of investment. A painting by Mr. Mehta that fetched $1.58million last September would have gone for little more than $100,000 just four years ago. And a $22million art-investment fund launched in July by Osian's, a big Indian auction house, has grown by 4.1 work by younger artists such as Surendran Nair and Shibu Natesan beat estimates by more than 70%. Sotheby's and Christie's have auctions in New York next week, each with a Tyeb Mehta that is expected to fetch more than $1 million. The real question is tee fate of other works, including some by Mr. Souza with estimates of up to $600,000. If they do well, it will demonstrate that there is strong demand and will pull up prices across the board. This looks like a market with a long way to run.

单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} The biggest danger facing the global airline industry is not the effects of terrorism, war, SARS and economic downturn. It is that these blows, which have helped ground three national flag carriers and force two American airlines into bankruptcy, will divert attention from the inherent weaknesses of aviation, which they have exacerbated. As in the crisis that attended the first Gulf War, many airlines hope that traffic will soon bounce back, and a few catastrophic years will be followed by fuller planes, happier passengers and a return to profitability. Yet the industry's problems are deeper--and older--than the trauma of the past two years implies. As the centenary of the first powered flight approaches in December, the industry it launched is still remarkably primitive. The car industry, created not long after the Wright Brothers made history, is now a global industry dominated by a dozen firms, at least half of which make good profits. Yet commercial aviation consists of 267 international carriers and another 500-plus domestic ones. The world's biggest carrier, American Airlines, has barely 7% of the global market, whereas the world's biggest carmaker, General Motors, has (with its associated firms) about a quarter of the world's automobile market. Aviation has been incompletely deregulated, and in only two markets: America and Europe. Everywhere else, governments dictate who flies under what rules. These aim to preserve state-owned national flag-carriers, run for prestige rather than profit. And numerous restrictions on foreign ownership impede cross-border airline mergers. In America, the big network carriers face barriers to exit, which have kept their route networks too large. Trade unions resisting job cuts and Congressmen opposing route closures in their territory conspire to block change. In Europe, liberalization is limited by bilateral deals that prevent, for instance, British Airways (BA) flying to America from Frankfurt or Paris, or Lufthansa offering transatlantic flights from London's Heathrow. To use the car industry analogy, it is as if only Renaults were allowed to drive on French motorways. In airlines, the optimists are those who think that things are now so had that the industry has no option but to evolve. Frederick Reid, president of Delta Air Lines, said earlier this year that events since the September 11th attacks are the equivalent of a meteor strike, changing the climate, creating a sort of nuclear winter and leading to a "compressed evolutionary cycle". So how, looking on the bright side, might the industry look after five years of accelerated development?

单选题The conclusion can be drawn from the text that in the wake of Andersen's scandal, the government

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 worlds 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 un-pleasant, 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. Considering 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Critelli's response to the real cause of her aunt's death was

单选题Every year New Zealanders living in London can be seen loading up Kombi vans and heading off to experience the "classic European holiday". The trip usually starts in the north of France, after crossing the channel from Dover in England to Calais, driving down through France, over the Pyrenees into Spain, west into Portugal and then across the Continent to Italy and often beyond. There are numerous reasons young New Zealanders take this rite of passage—as well as seeing all the fantastic sights and tasting the delights of Europe's food and wine, it's relatively inexpensive. The Kombi is transport and accommodation all in one, cutting down significantly on costs. There is just one problem. As the Kombis become "antique", these trips are usually punctuated with numerous roadside sessions as the van sits idle, in no hurry to start, while you swelter in the hot sun. But do not let this deter you. Travelling Europe in your own vehicle means no public transport schedules to cramp your style, the ability to explore the quaint, off-the- beaten-track villages where the "real" locals live, freedom to not have to book accommodation in advance—you can nearly always get a campsite and can load your vehicle with cheap, fantastic regional wines and souvenirs. With these bonuses in mind, here are some suggestions for planning the great Europe road adventure. The key to a pleasurable driving experience is a good navigator and a driver with a cool head. If you do not feel relaxed driving' around New Zealand's cities and highways, then you probably will not enjoy driving around Europe. As co-pilot to the driver, you need to read (and understand) maps, look out for turn-offs--and keep the music playing. Language is not a big problem once a few essential terms are mastered. The biggest challenge is in the cities, where traffic can be chaotic and elaborate one-way systems and narrow, cobbled alleyways can make finding your destination hard work. It can be easier to leave the vehicle on the outskirts of town or in a camping ground and use public transport. This also avoids paying for costly parking.

单选题The author implies that a BAC of 0.1 percent______

单选题The love affair with business started in the 1980s and has grown into a mighty passion backed not just by money but by glamour and class. In 2009 the money ran out, but the mood was one of such chaos and confusion that it was hard to tell what was going on underneath. In 2010 it will become clear that the class and glamour are draining away from business too. It will be the end of the affair: business will be cool no longer. Throughout this affair the business schools played the role of cupid. First, they made the study of business into an (almost) respectable academic discipline. More importantly, they made it socially acceptable, something even the classiest person could aspire to. But in 2010, for the second year running, tens of thousands of overqualified MBAs will emerge with nowhere exciting to go. A very few will land jobs in investment banking, but those who want grand jobs in big companies or consultancies will be disappointed. Increasingly they will go crawling back to their old employers to do pretty much whatever they were doing before for pretty much the same money, thus making them question whether it is really worth the $160,000 that a top MBA costs. This is not going to be a little recessionary dip. It will be a more fundamental reappraisal. The magical myth of the MBA has for some time left the facts behind. In furore, those who stump up will do so because they want to learn the skills, not because they think they are buying entry into a cool and exclusive club. Some good things will follow from this. There will be fewer smart Alecs who think they know it all pouring into companies. There has been a bear market in management bullshit since the credit crunch began. In 2010 the decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit at source. Pretentious ideas about business will be in retreat. But there will be bad things too: if fewer bright, ambitious people go into business, economies may suffer. Instead the talent will go increasingly into the public sector, the law, medicine--which are already bursting with bright people as it is. While the decline of the B-schools will weaken the glamour of business in general, the government will do its bit too with increasing regulation. In 2010,being a board director of a listed company will never have been less fun: not only will the procedural side be more demanding, there will be even greater public hysteria over what directors are paid. And with those at the top having such a grim time, it is unrealistic to expect any excitement at the bottom.

单选题Conventional wisdom says trees are good for the environment. They absorb carbon dioxide -- a greenhouse gas -- from the atmosphere and store it as carbon while releasing oxygen. The roots of trees have been thought to trap sediments and nutrients in the soil, keeping nearby rivers free flowing . Trees have also been credited with steadying the flow of these rivers, keeping it relatively constant through wet and dry seasons, thus preventing both drought and flooding. Pernicious nonsense, conclude two pieces of research published this week. The first, a four-year international study led by researchers at the University of Newcastle, in Britain, and the Free University of Amsterdam, identifies several myths about the link between forests and water. For example, in arid and semi-arid areas, trees consume far more water than they trap. And it is not the trees that catch sediment and nutrients, and steady the flow of the rivers, but the fact that the soil has not been compressed. The World Commission on Water estimates that the demand for water will increase by around 50% in the next 30 years. Moreover, around 4 billion people -- one half of the world's population -- will live in conditions of severe water stress, meaning they will not have enough water for drinking and washing to stay healthy, by 2025. The government of South Africa has been taking a tough approach to trees since it became the first to treat water as a basic human right in 1998. In a scheme praised by the hydrologists, the state penalizes forestry companies for preventing this water reaching rivers and underground aquifers. In India, large tree-planting schemes not only lose valuable water but dim the true problem identified by the hydrologists: the unregulated removal of water from aquifers to irrigate crops. Farmers need no permit to drill a borehole and, as most farmers receive free electricity, there is little economic control on the volume of water pumped. So a report of Britain's Department for International Development concludes that there is no scientific evidence that forests increase or stabilize water flow in arid or semi-arid areas. It recommends that, if water shortages are a problem, governments should impose limits on forest plantation. The second piece of research looked at how long the forests of the Amazon basin cling on to carbon. Growing trees consume carbon dioxide and it was thought that only when the tree died, perhaps hundreds of years later, would the carbon be returned to the atmosphere. No such luck. In a paper published in Nature this week, a team of American and Brazilian scientists found that trees were silently returning the carbon after just five years. Before taking an axe to trees, however, consider the merits of the tropical rainforests.

单选题The author' s attitude toward the issue of "science vs. antiscience" is ______.

单选题Anthropology is the study of human beings as creatures of society. It (1) its attention upon those. physical characteristics and industrial techniques, those conventions and values, which (2) one community from all others that belong to a different tradition. The distinguishing mark of anthropology among the social sciences is that it includes for serious study other societies (3) our own. For its purposes any social (4) of mating and reproduction is as significant as our own. To the anthropologist our customs and those of a New Guinea tribe are two possible social schemes for (5) a common problem, and in so far as he remains an anthropologist he is (6) to avoid any weighting of one (7) the other. He is interested in human behavior, not as it is shaped by one tradition, our own, but as it has been shaped by any tradition (8) He is interested in a wide (9) of custom that is found in various cultures, and his object is to understand the way in which these cultures change and (10) , the different forms through which they express themselves and the (11) in which the customs of any peoples function in the lives of the (12) . Now custom has not been commonly regarded as a (13) of any great moment. The inner workings of our own brains we feel to be uniquely (14) of investigation, but custom, we have a way of thinking, is behavior at its most commonplace. (15) , it is the other way round. Traditional custom is a mass of detailed behavior more astonishing than (16) any one person can ever evolve in individual actions. Yet that is a rather (17) aspect of the matter. The fact (18) first rate importance is the predominant role that custom (19) in experience and belief, and the very great varieties it may (20)

单选题Which of the following does the author mention as a characteristic of the practice of psychohistorians?______