单选题From the first four paragraphs, we can infer that the dawn of civilization

单选题The U. S. Bureau has estimated that the population of the United States could approach 300 million in 2000 and will be 400 million in 2020. And the U. S. Department of Commerce estimates that the average U.S. per capita income will increase from ＄3400 in 1969 to the equivalent of＄8300(assuming a 1967 price level) in the year 2000,2.5 times as much as that of 1969. According to government statistics, in the United States, there are over 110 million cars and "more people" means "more cars". By the end of twenties of next century, the population of the United States will have doubled that of today and the number of automobiles will be doubled as well. And in twenty-year's time the per capita income will also be 2.5 times higher than it is. If this increase income is spent on more and larger automobiles, larger houses, and increased consumption of other material goods, the results could cause catastrophic resource exhaustion, and pollution. Take the increase of the consumption of oil for instance. The consumption is so huge that the reserves might last only a decade or two if not supplemented by imports. Ten years ago it appeared that nuclear power would solve the anticipated energy crisis. Although supplies of uranium fuel were known to be limited and might become exhausted in half a century, the nuclear power plant has for a long time been a favorite project. But work on it has met with grave problems. The fear of possible atomic explosion and the problem of disposing of polluting by-product waste have slowed down the construction of further nuclear plants. Eventually atomic technology may be able to control these problems, but at present there seems to be little agreement among atomic scientists about when this can be achieved.

单选题It can be inferred from the opening paragraph that

单选题By "a good kick", Goldman Sachs suggests that______.

单选题In the rarefied world of the corporate board, a good network matters. (1) often involves word-of-mouth recommendations: getting on a (2) is easier if you have the right connections. New research suggests men use (3) better than women. Marie Lalanne and Paul Seabright of the Toulouse School of Economics (4) the effect of a network on (5) using a database of board members in Europe and America. They find that if you were to compare two executive directors, (6) in every way except that one had 200 ex-colleagues now (7) boards and the other 400, the latter, (8) , would be paid 6% more. For non-executives the gap is 14% The really (9) finding concerns the difference between the sexes. Among executive-board members, women earn 17% less than their male (10) . There are plenty of plausible explanations for this (11) , from interruptions to women's careers to old-fashioned (12) . But the authors find that this pay gap can be fully (13) by the effect of executives' networks. Men can leverage a large network into more senior positions or a seat on a more (14) board ; women don't seem to be able to. Women could just have (15) connections with members of their networks. "Women seem more inclined to build and rely on only a few strong relationships," says Mr. Seabright. Men are better at developing (16) acquaintances into a network, and better at maintaining a high personal (17) through these contacts. Women may, of course, also be hurt by the existing (18) of men on boards and a male (19) for filling executive positions with other men. But a tendency to think of other men first will be (20) if talented women don't stay on the radar.

单选题What an elegant party! The Press Complaints Commission's glittering bash this week m celebrate its tenth anniversary was the nearest London gets to high society. In a gathering too close m imitate for comfort, the PCC succeeded in bringing together Prince William, the heir to the throne, his father, Prince Charles, the royal mistress. Camilla Parker-Bowles. as well as pop stars, super-models, cabinet ministers, senior civil servants and other admirers. The one thing this different group had in common was that most of them had sought the protection of the PCC over the past decade. Their principal tormentors, the editors of the nation's tabloid newspapers, were there in force to greet their victims, so it was not surprising that a certain tremble swirled around the party. That so many prominent upper circles turned up to devour the PCC's canape5 and rub shoulders with the royals is. no doubt, a triumph for its chairman. Lord Wakeham. He can fairly claim to have restored confidence in self-regulation and saved the press from privacy legislation. A skilled political fixer, he has used his chairmanship m pressure the press barons such as Rupert Murdoch into enclosing their editors. The PCC's code of conduct, drawn up by a panel of editors, is generally observed. Press standards have improved and complaints have fallen by nearly a third over the past five years. The industry, which not so long ago was said to be "drinking in the last-chance saloon", with self-regulation in terminal disrepute, is grateful. The party was meant m celebrate this success. The soap stars and the models, judging by the amount of drink going down their throats, certainly 9njoyed themselves, as did the editors. But whether Prince Charles and Prince William were wise to associate themselves with this lot is doubtful. "Never sup with the enemy" is a good motto. At least the royals could tell who to avoid because all the guests had name tabs. Lord Wakeham, who helped get rid of Lady Thatcher without her even knowing, is a skilled operator. But this luxury party has given an opening to those critics who claim he is too close to the industry and too protective of the powerful. "We're here to protect the vulnerable" was the slogan of a big banner that greeted the guests. That was not the main impression the evening made on the minds of those who staggered out of the grandeur of Somerset House, high on champagne and celebrity. The truly vulnerable were nowhere to be seen.

单选题In the end, a degree of sanity prevailed. The militant Hindus who had vowed to breach a police cordon and start the work of building a temple to the god Ram at the disputed site of Ayodhya decided to respect a Supreme Court decision barring them from the area. So charged have Hindu-Muslim relations in India become in recent weeks, as the declared deadline of March 15th neared, that a clash at Ram's supposed birthplace might well have provoked bloodshed on an appalling scale across the nation. It has, unfortunately, happened often enough before. But the threat has not vanished. The court's decision is only an interim one, and the main Hindu groups have not given up on their quest to build their temple. Extreme religious violence, which seemed in recent years to have faded after the Ayodhya related explosion of 1992 1993, is again a feature of the political landscape. Though faults lie on both sides (it was a Muslim attack on Hindus in a train in Gujarat that started the recent slaughter), the great bulk of victims were, as always, Muslims. Once again, educated Hindus are to be heard inveighing against the "appeasing" of Muslims through such concessions as separate constitutional status for Kashmir or the right to practice Islamic civil law. Once again, the police are being accused of doing little or nothing to help Muslim victims of rampaging Hindu mobs. Once again, India's 130m Muslims feel unequal and unsafe in their own country. Far too many Hindus would refuse to accept that it is "their own country" at all. The wonder of it, perhaps, is that things are not worse. While the world applauds Pakistan for at last locking up the leaders of its extreme religious groups, in India the zealots still support, sustain and to a degree constitute the government. The BJP, which leads the ruling coalition, was founded as a political front for the Hindu movement. It is simply one, and by no means the dominant, member of what is called the Sangh Pariwar, the "family of organizations". Other members of the family are much less savoury. There is the VHO, the World Hindu Organization, which led the movement to build the Ram temple. There is the Bajrang Dal, the brutalist "youth wing" of the VHO. There is substantial evidence that members of the VHO and the Bajrang Dal helped to organize the slaughter of hundreds of Muslims in Gujarat after 58 Hindus were killed on a train as they returned from Ayodhya.

单选题 It is not quite Benidorm yet, but Antarctica has become an increasingly popular destination for the more adventurous tourist. In this year's southern-hemisphere summer season, running from November to March, as many as 39,000 visitors are expected to make the trip from Tierra del Fuego, the nearest jumping-off point to the world's emptiest continent. That amounts to a fourfold increase in a decade. Officials in both Chile and Argentina are getting increasingly worried about the risk of a fatal accident-"a new Titanic" as one Chilean naval officer puts it. Nobody has died so far, but there have been some near-collisions. In 2007 more than 150 people were evacuated when their ship, the Explorer, sank after hitting an iceberg near the South Shetland Islands. They were "very lucky with the weather", says Chile's deputy minister for the navy, Carolina Echeverria. That was one of only two accidents last season, with a similar number the previous year and one so far this season. Help is usually not far away. Although cruise ships plan their route so as to keep out of each other's sight, there are generally 20 to 30 boats heading to or from the Antarctic Peninsula on any one day. Even so, surviving an accident is something of a lottery. It depends partly on the weather. Not all the ships have the covered lifeboats recommended for polar conditions. Small boats, like the Explorer, have a better chance of being able to transfer their passengers if they get into difficulties. But some cruise ships visiting Antarctica now carry almost 3,000 passengers-more than ten times the limit that offers a reasonable chance of timely rescue. according to Chile's navy. The navy is annoyed about the cost of patrols, rescue operations and cleaning up fuel spills. It wants legally binding rules, backed by penalties, for Antarctic cruise ships. But that is hard to achieve. Under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty no country can exercise sovereignty over any part of the continent and its waters are international. Some rules on tourism have been written under the treaty: cruise ships carrying over 500 passengers cannot make landings, for example. But these are not legally enforceable. Neither will be rules being debated by the United Nations' International Maritime Organization on safety requirements. Some tour operators say they would welcome tighter regulation and higher safety standards. Others insist that safety is already adequate. The world recession may place a temporary brake on the trade. But Chilean officials reckon that the trend to big cruise ships, with their cheaper fares, will resume once recovery comes. If so, a tragedy may be only a matter of time.

单选题When euthanasia is carried out in the Netherlands, the doctor______.

单选题Researchers have found that migrating animals use a variety of inner compasses to help them navigate. Some (1) by the position of the Sun. Others navigate by the stars. Some use the Sun as (2) guide during the day, and then (3) to star navigation by night. One study shows that the homing pigeon uses the Earth's magnetic fields as a guide (4) finding its way home, and there are indications that various other animals, from insects to mollusks (软体动物), can also make (5) of magnetic compasses. (6) is of course very useful for a migrating bird to be able to switch to magnetic compass when clouds cover the sun; (7) it Would just have to land and wait for the Sun to come out again. (8) with the Sun or stars to steer by, the problems of navigation are more complicated (9) they might seem at first. For example, a worker honeybee (10) has found a rich source of nectar and pollen flies rapidly home to the hive to (11) : A naturalist has discovered that the bee scout (12) her report through complicated dance in the hive, (13) she tells the other workers not only how far away the food is, but also what direction to fly in (14) to the Sun. (15) the Sun does not stay in one place all day. As the workers start (16) to gather the food, the Sun may (17) have changed its position in the sky somewhat. In later trips during the day, the Sun seems to move farther and farther toward the west. Yet the worker bees seem to have no (18) at all in finding the food source. Their inner (19) tell them just where the Sun will be, and they change their course (20) .

单选题The phrase "set upon" (Line 1 , Paragraph 3) most probably means

单选题France made soccer history here on Sunday night, when the underdogs beat defending champions Brazil 3-0 to win the last World Cup this century before a delirious crowd of 80000 people. The host nation fully deserved their ultimate triumph, teaching a static Brazil how to play the disciplined attacking football, which has characterized their campaign at France 98. Players on both sides burst into tears at the final whistle, French President Jacques Chirac raised his arms in triumph and co-organizer Michel Platini broke into a huge grin. Brazil had just played their worst match of the tournament. French coach Aime Jacquet, who now steps down from the national coaching job, siad: "we are very proud, we worked very hard for this. We didn't just want to be finalists," the 56-year-old man went on. "We have worked very hard for the last two years and we justified everything on the pitch. We deserved to win. We've got huge faith in our players, who have improved as the tournament has gone along. We've been through everything in these World Cup finals, with the sending-off of Zidane and Laurent Blanc, and yet we've made up for their absences and overcome all the obstacles. And to crown all that, we've had the sending-off tonight of Desailly. But this team has extraordinary heart." France were the better side throughout the tournament. They won all their matches, scored more goals than anyone else and conceded fewer goals than anyone else—only two, to boast the meanest defense of any winning side. It was the perfect finishing touch for a memorable evening in world sport, rounded off by fireworks, massed singing of "La Marseillaise"(马赛曲) and the image of Deschamps holding the World Cup high above his head.