In 2010, a federal judge shook America' s biotech industry to its core. Companies had won patents for isolated DNA for decades—by 2005 some 20% of human genes were patented. But in March 2010 a judge ruled that genes were unpatentable. Executives were violently agitated. The Biotechnology Industry Organi-zation(BIO), a trade group, assured members that this was just a "preliminary step" in a longer battle. On July 29th they were relieved, at least temporarily. A federal appeals court overturned the prior decision , ruling that Muriad Genetics could indeed hold patents to two genes that help forecast a woman' s risk of breast cancer. The chief executive of Mytiad, a company in Utah, said the ruling was a blessing to firms and patients alike. But as companies continue their attempts at personalised medicine, the courts will remain rather busy. The Myriad case itself is probably not over. Critics make three main arguments against gene patents: a gene is a product of nature, so it may not be patented; gene patents suppress innovation rather than reward it; and patents' monopolies restrict access to genetic tests such as Myriad' s. A growing number seem to agree. Last year a federal task-force urged reform for patents related to genetic tests. In October the Department of Justice filed a brief in the Myriad case, arguing that an isolated DNA molecule "is no less a product of nature ... than are cotton fibres that have been separated from cotton seeds." Despite the appeals court's decision, big questions remain unanswered. For example, it is unclear whether the sequencing of a whole genome violates the patents of individual genes within it. The case may yet reach the Supreme Court. As the industry advances, however, other suits may have an even greater impact. Companies are unlikely to file many more patents for human DNA molecules—most are already patented or in the public domain. Firms are now studying how genes interact, looking for correlations that might be used to determine the causes of disease or predict a drug's efficacy. Companies are eager to win patents for "connecting the dots," explains Hans Sauer, a lawyer for the BIO. Their success may be determined by a suit related to this issue, brought by the Mayo Clinic, which the Supreme Court will hear in its next term. The BIO recently held a convention which included sessions to coach lawyer on the shifting landscape for patents. Each meeting was packed.

It may not be obvious, but hearing two languages regularly during pregnancy puts infants on the road to bilingualism by birth. According to new findings in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, infants born to bilingual mothers exhibit different language preferences than infants bom to mothers speaking only one language. Psychological scientists Krista Byers-Heinlein and Janet F. Werker from the University of British Columbia along with Tracey Burns of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in France wanted to investigate language preference and discrirnination in newborns. Two groups of newborns were tested in these experiments: English monolinguals (whose mothers spoke only English during pregnancy) and Tagalog-English bilinguals (whose mothers spoke both Tagalog, a language spoken in the Philippines, and English regularly during pregnancy). The researchers employed a method known as "high-amplitude sucking-preference procedure" to study the infants" language preferences.This method capitalizes on the newborns" sucking reflex—increased sucking indicates interest in a stimulus. In the first experiment, infants heard 10 minutes of speech, with every minute alternating between English and Tagalog. Results showed that English monolingual infants were more interested in English than Tagalog—they exhibited increased sucking behavior when they heard English than when they heard Tagalog being spoken. However, bilingual infants had an equal preference for both English and Tagalog. These results suggest that prenatal bilingual exposure may affect infants" language preferences, preparing bilingual infants to listen to and learn about both of their native languages. To learn two languages, bilingual newborns must also be able to keep their languages apart. To test if bilingual infants are able to discriminate between their two languages, infants listened to sentences being spoken in one of the languages until they lost interest. Then, they either heard sentences in the other language or heard sentences in the same language, but spoken by a different person. Infants exhibited increased sucking when they heard the other language being spoken. Their sucking did not increase if they heard additional sentences in the same language. These results suggest that bilingual infants, along with monolingual infants, are able to discriminate between the two languages, providing a mechanism from the first moments of life that helps ensure bilingual infants do not confuse their two languages. The researchers observe that, "Monolingual newborns" preference for their single native language directs listening attention to that language" and that, "Bilingual newborns" interest in both languages helps ensure attention to, and hence further learning about, each of their languages." Discrimination of the two languages helps prevent confusion. The results of these studies demonstrate that the roots of bilingualism run deeper than previously imagined, extending even to the prenatal period.

Inthissectionyouareaskedtowriteacompositionof160-200wordsabout"WhereDoYouThinktheGraduatesShouldWork—inBigCitesorRuralAreas?"Youshouldwriteaccordingtotheoutlineandcartoongivenbelow.PleasewriteitclearlyontheANSWERSHEET.Requirements:1)describethefollowingcartoon;2)giveyourcomments.

Students'Self-careAbilityWriteanessayof160-200wordsbasedonthedrawing.Inyouressay,youshould1)describethedrawingbriefly,2)explainitsintendedmeaning,and3)giveyourcomments.

Eating healthily costs about $1.50 more per person daily, according to the most thorough review yet of the affordability of a healthy diet. "For many low-income families, an【C1】______$1.50 daily is quite a lot," says Mayuree Rao, "It【C2】______to about $550 more per year per person, and that could be a real【C3】______to healthy eating." Rao and her colleagues reached their【C4】______after analysing 27 studies from 10 high-income countries, comparing price【C5】______for healthy versus unhealthy ingredients and diets.【C6】______one study compared the cost of a diet rich in fruit and vegetables versus one that was【C7】______in them. Another compared prices of【C8】______healthy and less healthy items, such as wholegrain versus white bread. Individual items were【C9】______matched in price. Meats【C10】______the largest difference: healthier options cost an average of 29 cents per serving more than unhealthy options. 【C11】______this, comparisons of whole diets showed that healthier diets cost averagely $1.48 more per day. This shows that comparisons based on single ingredients don"t tell the full【C12】______. "It tells us that,【C13】______, it doesn"t cost more to eat healthier based on one nutrient," says Rao. "But there"s growing evidence that the【C14】______of foods in your diet【C15】______your disease risk more than any single nutrient, so we think our【C16】______finding that healthier diets cost about $1.50 more has the most public health【C17】______." As to why healthier food has become more【C18】______Rao says that it may be because the food industry organizes itself and the types of food it produces to【C19】______its own economies of scale,【C20】______than what"s best for consumers.

能源危机及影响 ——1991年英译汉及详解 The fact is that the energy crisis, which has suddenly been officially announced, has been with us for a long time now, and will be with us for an even longer time. Whether Arab oil flows freely or not, it is clear to everyone that world industry cannot be allowed to depend on so fragile a base.【F1】 The supply of oil can be shut off unexpectedly at any time, and in any case, the oil wells will all run dry in thirty years or so at the present rate of use. 【F2】 New sources of energy must be found, and this will take time, but it is not likely to result in any situation that will ever restore that sense of cheap and plentiful energy we have had in the times past. For an indefinite period from here on, mankind is going to advance cautiously, and consider itself lucky that it can advance at all. To make the situation worse, there is as yet no sign that any slowing of the world"s population is in sight. Although the birth-rate has dropped in some nations, including the United States, the population of the world seems sure to pass six billion and perhaps even seven billion as the twenty-first century opens. 【F3】 The food supply will not increase nearly enough to match this, which means that we are heading into a crisis in the matter of producing and marketing food. Taking all this into account, what might we reasonably estimate supermarkets to be like in the year 2001? To begin with, the world food supply is going to become steadily tighter over the next thirty years— even here in the United States. By 2001, the population of the United States will be at least two hundred fifty million and possibly two hundred seventy million, and the nation will find it difficult to expand food production to fill the additional mouths.【F4】 This will be particularly true since energy pinch will make it difficult to continue agriculture in the high-energy American fashion that makes it possible to combine few farmers with high yields. It seems almost certain that by 2001 the United States will no longer be a great food-exporting nation and that, if necessity forces exports, it will be at the price of belt-tightening at home. In fact, as food items will tend to decline in quality and decrease in variety, there is very likely to be increasing use of flavouring additives.【F5】 Until such time as mankind has the sense to lower its population to the point where the planet can provide a comfortable support for all, people will have to accept more "unnatural food".

TeachChildreninAccordancewithTheirAptitudeWriteanessayof160-200wordsbasedonthedrawing.Inyouressay,youshould1)describethedrawingbriefly,2)interpretitsintendedmeaning,and3)giveyourcomments.

You are going to read a list of headings and a text about science. Choose the most suitable heading from the list for each numbered paragraph. The first paragraph of the text is not numbered. There is one extra heading which you don"t need to use.A. The Need for ScienceB. The Methods of ScienceC. The Challenge of Unsolved ProblemsD. The Specific Features of the Laws of ScienceE. The Steps in Establishing a Scientific TheoryF. The Rapid Increase of Scientific Knowledge It is the business of the scientist to accumulate knowledge about the universe and all that is in it, and to find, if he is able, common factors which underlie and account for the facts that he knows. He chooses, when he can, the method of the "controlled experiment". (41)______. In the course of his inquiries the scientist may find what he thinks is one common explanation for an increasing number of facts. The explanation, if it seems consistently to fit the various facts, is called a hypothesis. If a hypothesis continues to stand the test of numerous experiments and remains unshaken, it becomes a law. (42)______. The "laws" of science differ from the "laws" of a country in two ways. First, a scientific law is liable at any time to need modifying. This happens when a fact is discovered which seems to contradict what the "law" would lead one to expect. The "law" may, in fact, have to be abandoned altogether. Second, a scientific "law" says, "This is likely to be the explanation", or "This accounts for the facts as far as we know them". But the "law" of the country says, "You must..." or "You must not…" The scientific "law" has no moral force; it is not binding on human behavior nor approved or opposed by human conscience. (43)______. The evidence as to the vastness of the universe and the complexity of its arrangements continues to grow at an amazing rate. The gap between what we know and all that can be known seems not to diminish, but rather to increase with every new discovery. Fresh unexplored regions are forever opening out. The rapidity of the growth of scientific knowledge, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, is apt to give students and teachers the impression that no sooner is a problem stated than the answer is forthcoming. A more detailed study of the history of science corrects the impression that fundamental discoveries are made with dramatic suddenness. Even in our present age no less than fifty years separate the discovery of radioactivity from the explosion of the first atomic bomb. The teacher, giving his brief accounts of scientific discovery, is apt to forget the long periods of misunderstanding, of false hypotheses and general uncertainty, which almost invariably precede the clear statement of scientific truth. (44)______. The vast mass of information which scientists have gained has provided the answer to the fundamental questions which, through the centuries, have puzzled and sometimes tortured the human mind. There are many such questions. The study of parasites has provided evidence that organisms which could be self-supporting have become parasites, but hardly any light has been shed on the problem of why they should have done so. What enables an organism to respond to the poisonous secretions of harmful bacteria and organize its resources to defend its life? (45)______. To raise the standard of living in any country, two things are required: scientific knowledge, and a population sufficiently educated to understand how to apply it. Without the latter, the expected benefits will not come.Notes: ado麻烦，忙乱。be binding on对...有约束力。parasite 寄生虫。shed light on 使某事物更清楚些。secretion分泌物

The American economy is growing, according to the most recent statistics, at the sizzling rate of 7%, and is in the middle of the largest peacetime expansion in American history. We read in the newspapers that practically everyone who wants a job can get one. Microsoft is running advertisements in the New York Times practically begging Congress to issue more visas for foreign computer and information technology workers. In this environment, it is shocking that one group of Americans, people with disabilities, have such a high level of unemployment: 30% are not employed the same percentage as when the Americans with Disabilities Act became law. Not only did their employment and labor earnings fall during the recession of the early 1990s, but employment and earnings continued to fall during the long economic expansion that followed. Many of these people are skilled professionals who are highly marketable in today"s economy. Part of the problem is discrimination, and part recent court rulings favoring employers in ADA lawsuits. Discrimination against people with disabilities is, unfortunately, alive and well, despite the legal prohibitions against discrimination in hiring people with disabilities. 79% of disabled people who are unemployed cite discrimination in the workplace and lack of transportation as major factors that prevent them from working. Studies have also shown that people with disabilities who find jobs earn less than their co-workers, and are less likely to be promoted. Unfavorable court rulings have not been helpful, either. Research by law professor Ruth Colker of Ohio State University has shown that in the eight years after the ADA went into effect, employer-defendants prevailed in more than 93% of the eases decided by trial. Of the cases appealed, employers prevailed 84% of the time. Robert Burgdorf, Ir., who helped draft the ADA, has written, "legal analysis has proceeded quite a way down the wrong road". Disability activists and other legal scholars point out that Congress intended the ADA as a national mandate for the ending of discrimination against people-with disabilities. Instead, what has occurred, in the words of one writer, is that the courts "have narrowed the scope of the law, redefined "disability," raised the price of access to justice and generally deemed disability discrimination as not worthy of serious remedy". But perhaps the greatest single problem is the federal government itself, where laws and regulations designed to help disabled people actually provide an economic disincentive to work. As Sen. Edward Kennedy wrote, "the high unemployment rate among people receiving federal disability benefits is not because their federal benefits programs have "front doors that are too big", but because they have "back doors that are too small"".

【F1】 Americans no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command the English language with skill and gift, nor do they aspire to such command themselves. In his latest book, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care, John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, sees the triumph of 1960s counter-culture as responsible for the decline of formal English. Blaming the permissive 1960s is nothing new, but this is not yet another criticism against the decline in education.【F2】 Mr. McWhorter's academic speciality is language history and change, and he sees the gradual disappearance of "whom", for example, to be natural and no more regrettable than the loss of the case-endings of Old English. 【F3】 But the cult of the authentic and the personal, "doing our own thing," has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. While even the modestly educated sought an elevated tone when they put pen to paper before the 1960s, even the most well regarded writing since then has sought to capture spoken English on the page. Equally, in poetry, the highly personal, performative genre is the only form that could claim real liveliness. In both oral and written English, talking is triumphing over speaking, spontaneity over craft. Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend that Mr. McWhorter documents is unmistakable. But it is less clear, to take the question of his subtitle, why we should, like, care.【F4】 As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including nonstandard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive—there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas. He is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper. 【F5】 Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry large chunks of memorized poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate speech that would seem old-fashioned to most English-speakers. Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms—he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful. We now take our English "on paper plates instead of china." A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one.

Last week, you were treated warmly by Miss Wang, a friend of your sister, when you visited Hangzhou. Now write a letter of thanks to her. Your letter should include: 1) an expression of your gratitude, 2) offer to return the favor one day, 3) your expectation for her visiting. You should write about 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address.

The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order. You are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent text by choosing from the list A—G. The first and the last paragraphs have been placed for yous.A. The strain of HIV that was discovered in Sydney intrigues scientists because it contains striking abnormalities in a gene that is believed to stimulate viral duplication. In fact, the virus is missing so much of this particular gene—known as nef, for negative factor—that it is hard to imagine how the gene could perform any useful function. And sure enough, while the Sydney virus retains the ability to infect T cells—white blood cells that are critical to the immune system"s ability to ward off infection—it makes so few copies of itself that the most powerful molecular tools can barely detect its presence.B. If this speculation proves right, it will mark a milestone in the battle to contain the late-20th century"s most terrible epidemic. For in addition to explaining why this small group of people infected with HIV has not become sick, the discovery of a viral strain that works like a vaccine would have far-reaching implications. "What these results suggest", says Dr. Barney Graham of Tennessee"s Vanderbilt University, "is that HIV is vulnerable and that it is possible to stimulate effective immunity against it".C. But as six years stretched to 10, then to 14, the anxiety of health officials gave way to astonishment. Although two of the recipients have died from other causes, not one of the man"s contaminated blood has come down with AIDS. More telling still, the donor is also healthy. In fact his immune system remains as robust as if he had never tangled with HIV at all. What could explain such unexpected good fortune?D. At the very least, the nef gene offers an attractive target for drug developers. If its activity can be blocked, suggests Deacon, researchers might be able to bring the progression of disease under control, even in people who have developed full-blown AIDS. The need for better AIDS-fighting drugs was underscored last week by the actions of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel, which, recommended speedy approval of two new AIDS drugs. Although FDA commissioner David Kessler was quick to praise the new drugs, neither medication can prevent or cure AIDS once it has taken hold. What scientists really want is a vaccine that can prevent infection altogether. And that"s what makes the Sydney virus so promising—and so controversial.E. A team of Australian scientists has finally solved the mystery. The virus that the donor contracted and then passed on, the team reported last week in the journal Science, contains flaws in its genetic script that appear to have rendered it harmless. "Not only have the recipients and the donor not progressed to disease for 15 years", marvels molecular biologist Nicholas Deacon of Australia"s Macfarlane Burnet Centre for Medical Research, "but the prediction is that they never will". Deacon speculates that this "impotent" HIV may even be a natural inoculant that protects its carriers against more virulent strains of the virus.F. But few scientists are enthusiastic about testing the proposition by injecting HIV—however weakened—into millions of people who have never been infected. After all, they note, HIV is a retrovirus, a class of infectious agents known for their alarming ability to integrate their own genes into the DNA of the cells they infect. Thus once it takes effect, a retrovirus infection is permanent.G. About 15 years ago, a well-meaning man donated blood to the Red Cross in Sydney, Australia, not knowing he has been exposed to HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS. Much later, public health officials learned that some of the people who got transfusions containing his blood had become infected with the same virus; presumably they were almost sure to die.Order: G is the first paragraph and F is the last.

After decades of exile from U.S. courts, the science of lie detection is gaining new acceptance. But the federal government wants to put a stop to it, and the U.S. Supreme Court has now agreed to consider a request from the Department of Justice to bar the technology from military courts. Uncertainties surround the science of lie detection, which uses a device called polygraph. In 1991 President George Bush banned lie detector evidence in military courts. But that ban has since been overturned by the U.S. Court of Military Appeals, which ruled that it restricts defendants" rights to present evidence of their innocence. In the past two years, some federal courts have also ruled that polygraph evidence can be heard. This follows a decision by the Supreme Court in 1993 that gave federal judges more discretion to decide on the admissibility of evidence. A polygraph consists of monitors for pulse rate, sweating and breathing rate. The device is supposed to uncover lies by recording increases in these measures as the subject answers questions. Critics have always argued that cunning defendants can control their physiological responses and sway polygraph results. But supporters of the technique argue that recent research has found it to be reliable. A psychologist named Charles Honts at a state university in Idaho, points to lab oratory studies, some of them being his own, in which student-subjects were offered cash to sway the test results. This argument is rejected by Leonard Saxe, a psychologist at a Boston university. "There is a huge difference between students in a lab and a defendant", he says. Guilty defendants have time in which to rehearse their lies, and can even come to believe them to be true. Saxe believes that the entire theoretical basis of lie detection is invalid. "It assumes you will be more nervous lying than telling the truth". But he says that for some people lies are trivial, while certain truth can be hard to swallow. David Faigrnan of the University of California says that if the Supreme Court upholds the military appeal court"s decision to allow polygraph evidence, polygraph bans would be overturned in federal courts across U.S. "That will put a big burden on judges to understand the science, and lead to a lot more" expert testimony in the courts", he predicts. The justice department fears that this will greatly increase the cost of trials.

The battle to prevent or at least slow global warming has intensified in the past year as scientists have learned more about the magnitude of the problem. One of the leading climate experts, Inez Y. Fung, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Center at the University of California, Berkeley, recently showed that the earth may soon lose its ability to absorb much of the greenhouse gas that israising temperatures. The oceans and continents currently soak up about half the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels. In the oceans, the gas combines with water to form carbonic acid; on land, plants take in more carbon dioxide and grow faster. But computer modeling done by Fung and her colleagues indicates that these carbon sinks will become less effective as the earth continues to warm. For example, as the tropics become hotter and drier in the summer, plants will reduce their respiration of carbon dioxide to avoid water loss. Atmospheric measurements over the past decade have confirmed this effect. If the oceans and land take in less carbon dioxide, more will remain in the atmosphere and global warming could accelerate catastrophically. Despite these warning signs, the government administration has opposed approval of the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty mandating reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But nine states in the northeastern U.S. are attempting to sidestep the federal government"s opposition by taking action on their own. Last August the group reached a preliminary agreement to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by 10 percent by 2020. The plan requires approval by the state legislatures, but environmentalists are already hoping that other regions of the U.S. will follow suit. If adopted nationwide, the proposal would lower greenhouse gas emissions by roughly as much as the Kyoto Protocol would have. Steve Howard, chief executive of the Climate Group, is tackling the global-warming problem from a different angle. Founded in 2004, the Climate Group is a coalition of corporations and local governments that have voluntarily committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. Members include oil giant BP (British Petroleum Co. PLC), drug-maker Johnson BP, for instance, slashed its energy bills by $650 million over 10 years. "We have seen important evidence about successful emission reduction scattered here and there in the most surprising places all over the globe," Howard says. "We are working to bring all of it together so that it forms a body of evidence."

You are going to read a list of headings and a text about how to wear appropriate clothing. Choose a heading from the list A-G that best fits the meaning of each numbered part of the text (1-5). The first and last paragraphs of the text are not numbered. There are two extra headings that you do not need to use.[A] Analyzing your own taste.[B] Being cautious when experimenting.[C] Finding a model to follow.[D] Getting the final look absolutely right.[E] Learning to be realistic.[F] Making regular conscious choices.[G] How to judge people. When we meet people for the first time, we often make decisions about them based entirely on how they look. And, of course it"s something that works both ways, for we too are being judged on our appearance. When we look good, we feel good, which in turn leads to a more confident and self-assured manner. People then pick up on this confidence and respond positively towards us. Undoubtedly, it"s what"s inside that"s important, but sometimes we can send out the wrong signals simply by wearing inappropriate clothing or not spending enough time thinking about how others see us. 【C1】______ For example, people often make the mistake of trying to look like someone else they"ve seen in a magazine, but this is usually a disaster as we all have our own characteristics. Stand in front of a full-length mirror and be honest with yourself about what you see. There is no need to dwell on your faults—we all have good points and bad points—but think instead about the best way to emphasize the good ones. 【C2】______ When selecting your clothes each day, think about who you "re likely to meet, when you"re going to be spending most of your time and what tasks you are likely to perform. Clearly, some outfits will be more appropriate to different sorts of activity and this will dictate your choice to an extent. However, there"s no need to abandon your individual taste completely. After all, if you dress to please somebody else"s idea of what looks good, you may end up feeling uncomfortable and not quite yourself. 【C3】______ But to know your own mind, you have to get to know yourself. What do you truly feel good in? There are probably a few favorite items that you wear a lot—most people wear 20 percent of their wardrobe 80 percent of the time. Look at these clothes and ask yourself what they have in common. Are they neat and tidy, loose and flowing? Then look at the things hanging in your wardrobe that you don"t wear and ask yourself why. Go through a few magazines and catalogues and mark the things that catch your eye. Is there a common theme? 【C4】______ Some colors bring your natural coloring to life and others can give us a washed-out appearance. Try out new colors by all means, but remember that dressing in bright color when you really like subtle neutral tones, or vice versa, will make you feel self-conscious and uncomfortable. You know deep down where your own taste boundaries lie. And although it" s good to challenge those sometimes with new combinations or shades, take care not to go too far all at once. 【C5】______ So, you"ve chosen an outfit that matches your style, your personality, your shape and your coloring. But does it fit? If something is too tight or too loose, you won" t achieve the desired effect, and no matter what other qualities it has, it won "t improve your appearance or your confidence. Sometimes, we buy things without thinking. Some people who dislike shopping grab the first thing they see, or prefer to use mail-order or the Internet. In all cases, if it doesn"t fit perfectly, don"t buy it, because the finer details are just as important as the overall style. Reappraising your image isn"t selfish because everyone who comes into contact with you will benefit. You"ll look better and you "11 feel a better person all round. And if in doubt, you only need to read Professor Albert Mehrabian"s book Silent Messages to remind yourself how important outward appearances are. His research showed that the impact we make on each other depend 55 percent on how we look and behave, 38 percent on how we speak and only 7 percent on what we actually say. So, whatever stage you are at in your life, whatever role you play, isn"t it time you made the most of yourself?

BPart ADirections: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D./B

The Theory of Continental Drift has had a long and turbulent history since it was first proposed by Alfred Wegener in 1910. (46) Vigorously challenged yet widely ignored, the theory had languished for half a century, primarily due to its lack of a plausible mechanism to support the proposed drift. With the discovery of sea-floor spreading in the late 1950"s and early 60"s, the idea was reinvigorated. Plate tectonics is now almost universally accepted. Many details of the mechanism are to be worked out. The surface of the Earth is divided into approximately six large plates, plus a number of smaller ones. The plates are bounded by an interconnected network of ridges, transform faults, and trenches. Ridges, also called spreading centers, occur where two plates are moving away from each Other. As the plates separate, hot molten mantle material flows up to fill the void. (47) The increased heat resulting from this flow reduces the density of the plates, causing them to float higher, thus elevating the boundaries by many thousands of feet above the colder surrounding sea floor. (48) Ridges on the ocean floor form the longest continuous ranges of mountains on the planet, but only in a very few places on the Earth do these mountains rise above the ocean surface. New sea floor is constantly being created along spreading centers. Obviously somewhere else old sea floor must be going away. This occurs in trenches, also called subduction zones. Trenches occur along the boundary between two plates that are moving towards each other. (49) Where this occurs, one plate is bent downwards at about a 400 angle and plunges under the other plate"s leading edge, eventually to melt back into the liquid mantle below. As the subducting plate is heated back up to mantle temperatures, certain minerals in the plate melt sooner than others. (50) Minerals that melt at lower temperatures and are lighter than the surrounding material tend to rise, melting their way up through the overriding plate to erupt as volcanoes on the ocean floor. As these volcanoes grow, they rise above the ocean surface to form lines of islands along the leading edge of the overriding plate. Numerous islands of Micronesia and Melanesia in the western Pacific were created in this way.

young and old

People in business can use foresight to identify new products and services, as well as markets for those products and services. An increase in minority populations in a neighborhood would prompt a grocer with foresight to stock more foods linked to ethnic tastes. An art museum director with foresight might follow trends in computer graphics to make exhibits more appealing to younger visitors. Foresight may reveal potential threats that we can prepare to deal with before they become crises. For instance, a corporate manager with foresight might see an alarming rise in local housing prices that could affect the availability of skilled workers in the region. The public"s changing values and priorities, as well as emerging technologies, demographic shifts, economic constraints (or opportunities), and environmental and resource concerns are all parts of the increasingly complex world system in which leaders must lead. People in government also need foresight to keep systems running smoothly, to plan budgets, and to prevent wars. Government leaders today must deal with a host of new problems emerging from rapid advances in technology. Even at the community level, foresight is critical: School officials, for example, need foresight to assess numbers of students to accommodate, numbers of teachers to hire, new educational technologies to deploy, and new skills for students (and their teachers) to develop. Many of the best-known techniques for foresight were developed by government planners, especially in the military, when the post-World War II atomic age made it critical to "think about the unthinkable" and prepare for it. Pioneering futurists at the RAND Corporation (the first "think tank ") began seriously considering what new technologies might emerge in the future and how these might affect U.S. security. These pioneering futurists at RAND, along with others elsewhere, refined a variety of new ways for thinking about the future. The futurists recognized that the future world is continuous with the present world, so we can learn a great deal about what may happen in the future by looking systematically at what is happening now. The key thing to watch is not events (sudden developments or one-day occurrences) but trends (long-term ongoing shifts in such things as population, land use, technology, and governmental systems). Using these techniques and many others, futurists now can tell us many things that may happen in the future. Some are nearly certain to happen, such as the continuing expansion in the world"s population. Other events are viewed as far less likely, but could be extremely important if they do occur, such as an asteroid colliding with the planet.

No task is so difficult that we can't accomplish it.