单选题Which of the following is NOT mentioned when the author explains the reasons of the rapid growing number of English speaker?

单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} The question of whether war is inevitable is one, which has concerned many of the world's great writers. Before considering this question, it will be useful to introduce some related concepts. Conflict, defined as opposition among social entities directed against one another, is distinguished from competition, defined as opposition among social entities independently striving for something, which is in inadequate aupply. Competitors may not be aware of one another, while the parties to a conflict are. Conflict and competition are both categories of opposition, which has been defined as a process by which social entities function is the disservice of one another. Opposition is thus contrasted with cooperation, the process by which social entities function in the service of one another. These definitions are necessary because it is important to emphasize that competition between individuals or groups in inevitable in a world of limited resources, but conflict is not. Conflict, nevertheless, is very likely to occur, and is probably an essential and desirable element of human societies. Many authors have argued for the inevitability of war from the premise that in the struggle for existence among animal species, 0nly the fittest survive. In general, however, this struggle in nature is competition, not conflict. Social animals, such as monkeys and cattle, fight to win or maintain leadership of the group. The struggle for existence occurs not in such fights, but in the competition for limited feeding areas and for occupancy of areas free from meat-eating animals. Those who fail in this competition starve to death or become victims to other species. This struggle for existence does not resemble human war, but rather the competition of individuals for jobs, markets, and materials. The essence of the struggle is the competition for the necessities of life that are insufficient to satisfy all. Among nations there is competition in developing resources, trades, skills, and a satisfactory way of life. The successful nations grow and prosper; the unsuccessful decline. While it is true that this competition may induce efforts to expand territory at the expense of others, and thus lead to conflict, it cannot be said that war-like conflict among nations is inevitable, although competition is.

单选题What is the main principle to be observed in following the procedures?______

单选题The main difference between a sport and a game lies in ______.

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When stars like our Sun die, they bloat to become red giants and then eject gigantic clouds of gas and dust into space. Increasingly, however, scientists found themselves at a profound loss to explain how exactly dying stars could blow away these clouds. Now astrophysicists propose that unexpected chemical reactions during the formation of stardust could help solve this mystery. Stars smaller than the Sun and up to eight times as massive die by swelling up into red giants before shedding most of their mass to shrink into very compact, dying embers (灰烬) called white dwarfs. Two kinds of red giants exist-those with lots of carbon, and others richer in oxygen than in carbon. Carbon-rich stars release carbon particles during their death throes. Scientists proposed these pitch-black grains absorb rays from the dying star and get shot into space by starlight, a theory that fit both the observations and computer models. Increasingly, however, researchers could not explain how oxygen-rich stars like our own Sun could propel their clouds away during the final stages of mass loss. Oxygen-rich stars create large quantities of water vapor and silicates, such as quartz (石英砂) or sand. These are transparent, meaning starlight should go right through them. Possible solutions have been contemplated by scientists. They first pondered whether the silicates might have iron in them, which would render them opaque instead of transparent. But calculations showed the dust grains would have evaporated if they had iron in them. They next wondered if enough molecules surrounded the core of a dying oxygen-rich star to block out its light and thus create a wind that blew the star's outermost layer into space. But their models suggested these molecules could not block off enough light and create strong enough Rinds. The scientists then suggested that pulsations occurred when stars die could perhaps force a star's matter out, but this idea did not match with astronomers' observations. But inspiration then dawned upon them. Perhaps some of the carbon in the oxygen-rich stars could help force the outer layers of the stars into space. They believe shock waves from the pulsations of dying stars could make carbon in oxygen-rich stars form pitch-black dust. "The theory fits with all our subsequent model calculations, and it matches observations from dying oxygen-rich red giants". Moreover," this mechanism strongly favors the presence of magnesium silicates over iron silicates in the interstellar medium," in agreement with recent findings from NASA's comet-sampling Stardust space probe. If proven correct, the beauty of the new scenario is that it suggests a common driving mechanism for many dying stars shedding their mass via dusty winds," with possible long-reaching consequences for the origin of chemical elements relevant for life./

单选题Both Boeing and Airbus have trumpeted the efficiency of their newest aircraft, the 787 and A350 respectively. Their clever designs and lightweight composites certainly make a difference. But a group of researchers at Stanford University, led by Ilan Kroo, has suggested that airlines could take a more naturalistic approach to cutting jet-fuel use, and it would not require them to buy new aircraft. The answer, says Dr. Kroo, lies with birds. Since 1914, and a seminal paper by a German researcher called Carl Wieselsberger, scientists have known that birds flying in formation—a V-shape, echelon or otherwise—expend less energy. The air flowing over a bird's wings curls upwards behind the wingtips, a phenomenon known as upwash. Other birds flying in the upwash experience reduced drag, and spend less energy propelling themselves. Peter Lissaman, an aeronautics expert who was formerly at Caltech and the University of Southern California, has suggested that a formation of 25 birds might enjoy a range increase of 71%. When applied to aircraft, the principles are not substantially different. Dr. Kroo and his team modeled what would happen if three passenger jets departing from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas were to rendezvous over Utah, assume an inverted V-formation, occasionally swap places so all could have a turn in the most favourable positions, and proceed to London. They found that the aircraft consumed as much as 15% less fuel (with a concomitant reduction in carbon-dioxide output). Nitrogen-oxide emissions during the cruising portions of the flight fell by around a quarter. There are, of course, kinks to be worked out. One consideration is safety, or at least the perception of it. Would passengers feel comfortable travelling in convoy'? Dr. Kroo points out that the aircraft could he separated by several nautical miles, and would not be in the unnervingly easy groupings favoured by display teams like the Red Arrows. A passenger peering out of the window might not even see the other planes. Whether the separation distances involved would satisfy air-traffic-control regulations is another matter, although a working group at the International Civil Aviation Organization has included the possibility of formation flying in a blueprint for new operational guidelines. It remains to be seen how weather conditions affect the air flows that make formation flight more efficient. In zones of increased turbulence, the planes' wakes will decay more quickly and the effect will diminish. Dr. Kmo says this is one of the areas his team will investigate further. It might also he hard for airlines to coordinate the departure times and destinations of passenger aircraft in a way that would allow them to gain from formation flight. Cargo aircraft, in contrast, might be easier to reschedule, as might routine military flights. As it happens, American's armed forces are on the ease already. Earlier this year the country's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency announced plans to pay Boeing to investigate formation flight, though the programme has yet to begin. There are reports that some military aircraft flew in formation when they were low on fuel during the Second World War, hut Dr. Lissaman says they are apocryphal. "My father was an RAF pilot and my cousin the skipper of a Lancaster lost over Berlin," he adds. So he should know.

单选题When Marine Lt. Alan Zarracina finally did the splits after months of struggling with the difficult pose in yoga class, the limber women around him applauded. Zarracina, a 24-year-old Naval Academy graduate and flight student, admits he would have a hard time explaining the scene to other Marines. Each class ends with a chant for peace. Then, instructor Nancy La Nasa hands students incense sticks as a gift for their 90 minutes of back bends, shoulder stands and other challenging positions. Zarracina has tried to drag some of his military friends to class, but they make fun of hint. "It's not necessarily considered masculine,' he said. Still, the popular classes, based on ancient Hindu practices of meditation through controlled breathing, balancing and stretching, are catching on in military circles as a way to improve flexibility, balance and concentration. A former Navy SEAL told Zarracina about the class. The August edition of Fit Yoga, the nation's second-largest yoga magazine with a circulation of 100,000, features a photo of two Naval aviators doing yoga poses in full combat gear aboard an aircraft carrier. "At first it seemed a little shocking--soldiers practicing such a peaceful art," writes editor Rita Trieger. Upon closer inspection, she said, she noticed "a sense of inner calm' on the aviators' faces. "War is hell, and if yoga can help them find a little solace, that's good,' said Trieger, a longtime New York yoga instructor. Retired Adm. Tom Steffens, who spent34 years as a Navy SEAL and served as the director of the elite corps' training, regularly practices yoga at his home in Norfolk, Va. "Once in a while I'll sit in class, and everyone is a 20-something young lady with a 10-inch waist and here I am this old guy, ' he joked. Steffens, who said the stretching helped him eliminate the stiffness of a biceps injury after surgery, said the benefits of regular practice can be enormous. "The yoga cured all kinds of back pains," he said. "Being a SEAL, you beat up your body." Yoga breathing exercises can help SEALs with their diving, and learning to control the body by remaining in unusual positions can help members stay in confined spaces for long periods, he said. "The ability to stay focused on something, whether on breathing or on the yoga practice, and not be drawn off course, that has a lot of connection to the military," he said. "In our SEAL basic training, there are many things that are yoga-like in nature.

单选题That Louise Nevelson is believed by many critics to be the greatest twentieth-century sculptor is all the more remarkable because the greatest resistance to women artists has been, until recently, in the field of sculpture. Since Neolithic times, sculpture has been considered the prerogative of men, partly, perhaps, for purely physical reasons: it was erroneously assumed that women were not suited for the hard manual labor required in sculpting stone, carving wood, or working in metal. It has been only during the twentieth century that women sculptors have been recognized as major artists, and it has been in the United States, especially since the decades of the fifties and sixties, that women sculptors have shown the greatest originality and creative power. Their rise to prominence parallels the development of sculpture itself in the United States: while there had been a few talented sculptors in the United States before the 1940’s, it was only after 1945 — when New York was rapidly becoming the art capital of the world — that major sculpture was produced in the United States. Some of the best was the work of women. By far the most outstanding of these women is Louise Nevelson, who in the eyes of many critics is the most original female artist alive today. One famous and influential critic, Hilton Kramer, said of her work, “For myself, I think Ms. Nevelson succeeds where the painters often fail.” Her works have been compared to the Cubist constructions of Picasso, the Surrealistic objects of Miro, and the Merzbau of Schwitters. Nevelson would be the first to admit that she has been influenced by all of these, as well as by African sculpture, and by Native American and pre-Columbian art, but she has absorbed all these influences and still created a distinctive art that expresses the urban landscape and the aesthetic sensibility of the twentieth century. Nevelson says, “I have always wanted to show the world that art is everywhere, except that it has to pass through a creative mind.” Using mostly discarded wooden objects like packing crates, broken pieces of furniture, and abandoned architectural ornaments, all of which she has hoarded for years, she assembles architectural constructions of great beauty and power. Creating very freely with no sketches, she glues and nails objects together, paints them black, or more rarely white or gold, and places them in boxes. These assemblages, walls, even entire environments create a mysterious, almost awe-inspiring atmosphere. Although she has denied any symbolic or religious intent in her works, their three-dimensional grandeur and even their titles, such as Sky Cathedral and Night Cathedral, suggest such connotations. In some ways, her most ambitious works are closer to architecture than to traditional sculpture, but then neither Louise Nevelson nor her art fits into any neat category.

单选题The author discusses "the democratic ethic" in paragraph 3 in order to

单选题It's not only humans that flourish in large settlements. Some ants find urban life so accommodating that their populations explode and they form supercolonies in cities. "One of the most common house ant species might have been built for living in some of the smallest spaces in a forest, but the ants have found ways to take advantage of the comforts of city living," Purdue University said in a statement. Grzegorz Buczkowski, a Purdue University research assistant professor of entomology, discovered odorous house ants live in supercolonies, creating complex networks entomologists have never seen with the species before now. He found that odorous house ant colonies become larger and more complex as they move from forest to city and act somewhat like an invasive species, the university said. "The ants live about 50 to a colony with one queen in forest settings but explode into supercolonies with more than 6 million workers and 50 000 queens in urban areas," the university explained. "This is a native species that's doing this," said Buczkowski, whose results are published in the early online version of the journal Biological Invasions. "Native ants are not supposed to become invasive. We don't know of any other native ants that are outcompeting other species of native ants like these," Buczkowski said. Odorous house ants live in hollow acorn shells in the forest. They're called odorous because they have a coconut (椰子)-or rum-like smell when crushed. They're considered one of the most common house ants, Purdue said. In semi-natural areas that are a cross of forest and urban areas, such as a park, Buczkowski said he observed colonies of about 500 workers with a single queen. "It's possible that as the ants get closer to urban areas they have easier access to food, shelter and other resources," he said. "In the forest, they have to compete for food and nesting sites," Buczkowski said. "In the cities, they don't have that competition. People give them a place to nest, food to eat. " Buczkowski observed the ants in three different settings on and around the Purdue campus. He said it might be expected that if the odorous house ants were able to multiply into complex colonies, other ants would do the same. But Buczkowski found no evidence that other ants had adapted to new environments and evolved into larger groups as the odorous house ants have, Purdie said. "It's possible that odorous house ants are better adapted to city environments than other ant species or that they had somehow outcompeted or dominated other species," he said. "This raises a lot of questions we'd like to answer. " Buczkowski said understanding why the supercolonies form could lead to better control of the pests in homes, as well as ensuring that they don't outcompete beneficial species. Future studies on odorous house ants will include studying the ant's genetics and trying to understand the effects of urbanization of odorous house ants, Purdue said.

单选题 For health insurance, the United States has taken the road less traveled. The United States is the only rich country without universal health insurance. People in the United States spend the most, rely heavily on the private sector, and obtain care from the world's most complicated delivery system. While some supporters have expressed satisfaction, if not pride, in these remarkable qualities, others contend that the United States faces unique limitations in reforming health care. In her exceptional book,Parting at the Crossroads, Antonia Maioni compares the formation of the U.S. and Canadian health-care systems for the years 1930—1960. The United States and Canada are often considered the most similar of Western democracies. They share a common border, are wealthy, and have federal government. Their trade unions are only moderately powerful, and their populations are diverse and young. Nevertheless, their heath-insurance systems are nearly opposite. The United States relies on a mix of government plans. Targeted to the elderly and indigent, and employment based plans, which the government indirectly supports, Canada offers public health insurance to all qualified resident, with the private sector providing supplementary services in some provinces. Labor organizations became strong advocates for health-insurance reform in both countries. Their impact partially depended on political institutions and how other actors, particularly organized medicine, wielded them. Canada's governmental and electoral systems allowed labor to cooperate with a social democratic party in the Saskatchewan province, which established a universal program. The Saskatchewan program demonstrated universal insurance feasibility, spurring the dominant Liberals to introduce a national universal program. In contrast, the U. S. electoral system effectively precluded third-party formation, forcing organized labor to dilute its health-insurance goals because it was one of many interests represented by the Democratic Party. Maioni suggests that economic vitality is important for the future of both countries' systems, but the prognosis is uncertain. Despite recent concerns about the Canadian government's budgetary health, Maioni contends that widespread support protects universal insurance. Conversely, Maioni seems pessimistic about options for U.S. universal health insurance. Despite economic buoyancy, dissension will likely prevent reforms. Although a devastating econmnic downturn would make health finance difficult in either country, the U.S. system seems especially vulnerable. Employment-based insurance and Medicare both rely on labor market attachment. High, chronic unemployment could result in coverage loss and financial difficulties for employer insurance and Medicare, swelling the uninsured pool. Such a crisis could provide an opening for universal health insurance. In any case, whether the United States relies on the public or private sector, escalating health expenditures figure into budget of government, corporations, and families, the U. S. health care system's future may depend on Americans" willingness to devote more of their national income to health care.

单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} What would happen to the U. S. economy if all its commercial banks suddenly closed their doors? Throughout most of American history, the answer would have been a disaster of epic proportions, akin to the Depression wrought by the chain-reaction bank failures in the early 1930s. But in 1993 the startling answer is that a shutdown by banks might be far from cataclysmic. Consider this: though the economic recovery is now 27 months old, not a single net new dollar has been lent to business by banks in all that time. Last week the Federal Reserve reported that the amount of loans the nation's largest banks have made to businesses fell an additional ＄2. 4 billion in the week ending June 9, to ＄274.8 billion. Fearful that the scarcity of bank credit might sabotage the fragile economy, the White House and federal agencies are working feverishly to encourage banks to open their lending windows. In the past two weeks, government regulators have introduced steps to make it easier for banks to lend. Is the government's concern fully justified? Who really needs banks these days? Hardly anyone, it turns out. While banks once dominated business lending, today nearly 80% of all such loans come from nonbank lenders like life insurers, brokerage firms and finance companies. Banks used to be the only source of money in town. Now businesses and individuals can write checks on their insurance companies, get a loan from a pension fund, and deposit paychecks in a money-market account with a brokerage firm. "It is possible for banks to die and still have a vibrant economy," says Edward Furash, a Washington bank consultant. The irony is that the accelerating slide into irrelevance comes just as the banks racked up record profits of ＄43 billion over the past 15 months, creating the illusion that the industry is staging a comeback. But that income was not the result of smart lending decisions. Instead of earning money by financing America's recovery, the banks mainly invested their funds--on which they were paying a bargain-basement 2% or so--in risk-free Treasury bonds that yielded 7%. That left bank officers with little to do except put their feet on their desks and watch the interest roll in. Those profits may have come at a price. Not only did bankers lose many loyal customers by withholding credit, they also inadvertently opened the door to a herd of nonbank competitors, who stampeded into the lending market. "The banking industry didn't see this threat," says Furash. "They are being fat, dumb and happy. They didn't realize that banking is essential to a modern economy, but banks are not."

单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} The producers of instant coffee found their product strongly resisted in the market places despite their product's manifest advantages. Furthermore, the advertising expenditure for instant coffee was far greater than that for regular coffee. Efforts were made to find the cause of the consumers' seemingly unreasonable resistance to the product. The reason given by most people was dislike for the taste. The producers suspected that there might be deeper reasons, however. This was confirmed by one of motivation research's classic studies, one often cited in the trade. Mason Haire, of the university of California, constructed two shopping lists that were identical except for one item. There were six items common to both lists: hamburger, carrots, bread, baking powder, canned peaches, and potatoes, with the brands or amounts specified. The seventh item, in fifth place on both lists, read "1 lb. Maxwell House Coffee" on one list and "Nestle Instant Coffee" on the other. One list was given to each one in a group of fifty women, and the other list to those in another group of the same size. The women were asked to study their lists and then to describe, as far as they could, the kind of women ("personality and character") who would draw up that shopping list. Nearly half of those who had received the list including instant coffee described a housewife who was lazy and a poor planner. On the other hand, only one woman in the other group described the housewife, who had included regular coffee on her list, as lazy; only six of that group suggested that she was a poor planner. Eight women felt that the instant-coffee user was probably not a good wife! No one in the other group drew such a conclusion about the housewife who intended to buy regular coffee.