Science moves forward, they say, not so much through the insights of great men of genius as because of more ordinary things like improved techniques and tools.

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

Violent lyrics in songs increase aggression-related thoughts and emotions and could indirectly create a more hostile social environment, a study released on Sunday by a U.S. psychology association found. The Washington D.C.-based American Psychological Association (APA) released the study, resulting from five experiments involving over 500 college students, in the May issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The violent songs increased feelings of hostility without provocation or threat, according to the study. It said the effect was not the result of differences in musical style, specific performing artist or arousal properties of the songs. Even the humorous violent songs increased aggressive thoughts, the study said. The group said the study contradicts a popular notion that listening to angry, violent music actually serves as a positive catharsis for people. The music industry came under criticism from lawmakers in October for failing to use more descriptive parental advisory labels that specify whether the music contains sex, violence or strong language. But the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has said that current CD labels give parents enough information without violating the right to free expression. The RIAA is the trade group for the world"s five big labels, including AOL Time Warner Inc., EMI Group Pie., Bertelsmann AG, Vivendi Universal"s Universal Music and Sony Corp. Results of the APA"s experiments showed that violent songs led to more aggressive interpretations of ambiguously aggressive words and increased the relative speed with which people read aggressive versus non-aggressive words. "Such aggression-biased interpretations can, in turn, instigate a more aggressive response, verbal or physical, than would have been emitted in a nonbiased state, thus provoking an aggressive escalatory spiral of antisocial exchanges," said researcher Craig Anderson, in a statement. While researchers said repeated exposure to violent lyrics could indirectly create a more hostile social environment, they said it was possible the effects of violent songs may last only a fairly short time.

Each stage of life has different major demands mainly because our needs change. As children, security and the family are the priorities although we may not think of them in those terms. It"s where we establish something of who we are. As teenagers, we are testing the waters of adult life, and as young adults we search for a partner. The drive to fulfill each of these stages is very strong and, as it is usually combined with trying to establish a reasonable education and find work, there are many factors to keep in play. At each stage, if we are lucky, we will have ambitions to fulfill and the means to do that. Some will be driven with almost tunnel vision, others take an easier attitude to getting there, but without dreams it is hard to direct life. If we are fortunate enough to achieve our dreams we can move forward to new ones and the priorities to do that change. For each period of life the priorities are dictated by that stage, and as we grow older, whether we like it or not, we gain experience. Experience permits us to see a broader view if we are wise enough to take on board what is there. As we mature, the rigidity of the idealism of youth, the black and white approach to life, is tempered by what is possible, kind, just, and fair. Experience helps us to grow if we let it. So often we resist that growth, holding on to entrenched beliefs which do not do us any favors, yet our needs change and we are sometimes forced to be different. Physically, even when we stay fit and able, the body cannot deliver in quite the same way as youth. This comes as a shock to most of us because we all start life in the belief that we are invincible and will live forever. Reality is a bit of a shock. Coming to terms with this understanding allows us to move forward, and there are benefits which are unexpected. What was desperately important when we were young is suddenly seen in a new light, and a different perception of importance emerges. Extreme age can be as demanding and insensitive as babyhood, so while priorities change through life, it seems to come the full circle. Humans are a perverse lot. Some never want to grow up, others want to be adults with the perceived privileges of adulthood but never get old. The curious fact is that each age has its charms to be enjoyed at that period, but how we learn to appreciate them is individual.

You are a graduate student with master degree, majoring in International Business. Write a letter to a company to apply for a position of salesman advertised in 51job.com. You should write according to the suggestions given below: 1) a brief introduction of yourself, 2) your educational qualification, 3) a request for an interview. 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.

It used to be so straightforward. A team of researchers working together in the laboratory would submit the results of their research to a journal. A journal editor would then remove the authors' names and affiliations from the paper and send it to their peers for review. Depending on the comments received, the editor would accept the paper for publication or decline it. Copyright rested with the journal publisher, and researchers seeking knowledge of the results would have to subscribe to the journal. No longer. The Internet—and pressure from funding agencies, who are questioning why commercial publishers are making money from government-funded research by restricting access to it—is making access to scientific results a reality. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)has just issued a report describing the far-reaching consequences of this. The report, by John Houghton of Victoria University in Australia and Graham Vickery of the OECD, makes heavy reading for publishers who have, so far, made handsome profits. But it goes further than that. It signals a change in what has, until now, been a key element of scientific endeavor. The value of knowledge and the return on the public investment in research depends, in part, upon wide distribution and ready access. It is big business. In America, the core scientific publishing market is estimated at between $7 billion and $11 billion. The International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers says that there are more than 2, 000 publishers worldwide specializing in these subjects. They publish more than 1.2 million articles each year in some 16, 000 journals. This is now changing. According to the OECD report, some 75% of scholarly journals are now online. Entirely new business models are emerging; three main ones were identified by the report' s authors. There is the so-called big deal, where institutional subscribers pay for access to a collection of online journal titles through site-licensing agreements. There is open-access publishing, typically supported by asking the author(or his employer)to pay for the paper to be published. Finally, there are open-access archives, where organizations such as universities or international laboratories support institutional repositories. Other models exist that are hybrids of these three, such as delayed open-access, where journals allow only subscribers to read a paper for the first six months, before making it freely available to everyone who wishes to see it. All this could change the traditional form of the peer-review process, at least for the publication of papers.

The hotels are lull, Japanese tourists throng the designer stores of Waikiki, and the unemployment rate is a mere 3% of the workforce. So what could possibly knock Hawaii, the "aloha" or "welcome" state, off its wave? The answer is that Hawaii"s 1.2m residents may one day get fed up with playing host to overseas visitors, 7m of them this year. Indeed, some residents are already fed up. KAHEA, an alliance of environmentalists and defenders of native Hawaiian culture, bemoans the pollution caused by the cruise ships and the risk posed by the tourist hordes to creatures such as the dark-rumped petrel and the Oahu tree snail, or to plants like the Marsilea villosa fern. KAHEA has a point: the US Fish＆Wildlife Service currently lists some 317 species, including 273 plants, in the Hawaiian islands as threatened or endangered the highest number of any state in the nation. Even the state flower, the hibiscus Brackenridge, is on the danger list. The loss of species, says one government report, has been "staggering". As for the impact of tourism On Hawaiian culture, a KAHEA spokeswoman wryly notes the element of exploitation: "Native Hawaiian culture is used as a selling point—come to this paradise where beautiful women are doing the hula on your dinner plate." So what else is new? Hawaii"s environment and culture have been under threat ever since Captain Cook and his germ-carrying sailors dropped anchor in 1778. Foreign imports have inevitably had an impact on species that evolved over the millennia in isolation. Moreover, with up to 25 non native species arriving each year, the impact will continue. But, as the US Geological Survey argues, the impact can add to biodiversity as well as lessen it. The real challenge, therefore, is for Hawaii to find a balance between the costs and the benefits of development in general and tourism in particular. The Benefits are not to be sneezed at. The　state"s unemployment rate has been below the national average for the past two and-a-half years. Economists at the University of Hawaii reckon that Hawaiians" real personal income rose by 2.8% last year, will rise by 2.7% this year and will continue through 2007 at 2.5%. According to the state"s "strategic plan" for the next decade, tourism should take much of the credit, accounting directly and indirectly for some 22% of the state"s jobs by 2007, more than 17% of its economic output and around 26% of its tax revenues. The trouble is that the costs can be high, too. As one economist puts it, "We have a Manhattan cost of living and Peoria wage rates." That translates into a median house price today on the island of Oahu, home to three-quarters of the state"s population, of $500, 000, and a need for many workers to take on more than one job.

Rupert Murdoch once described them as the "rivers of gold"—the lucrative classified-advertising revenues that flowed into big newspaper groups. But the golden rivers are being diverted online as the Internet breaks the grip that local and regional newspapers once held over their advertising markets. Typically, a local newspaper would expect to get some 80% of its revenue from advertising, of which around two-thirds would come from classifieds. But last year in the San Francisco Bay area, job ads worth some $60m were lost from newspapers to the web, reckons Classified Intelligence, a consultancy. Emap, a British publisher, recently gave warning of a 30% decline in recruitment ads in one of its titles, Nursing Times, following the launch of a free website for jobs in Britain"s National Health Service. The Internet has become the fastest-growing advertising medium. Online ad revenues reached $5.8 billion in the first six months of this year in America, up 26% on the same period last year, according to a joint study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Pricewaterhouse-Coopers. In Britain, online ad revenues surged by 62% in the same period to almost ￡500m ($870m). Search advertising—the small text-ads that appear alongside Google and Yahoo! searches—ac count for 40% of the online ad market. Another 20% goes to display ads and 18% to classified advertising. But search advertising can also work like a small ad and will increasingly challenge print classifieds as websites develop localized and more elaborate services for online users. Perhaps the most significant development came on November 16th, when Google started up a prototype service called Google Base. It offers a searchable database of free listings, including small ads which can be narrowed down to postal regions. Among its first Offerings were used cars. In no time, Google could challenge eBay, whose own auction listings now work much like a giant classified website—especially with its "buy-it-now" options. But eBay charges sellers. Even so, it sold more than 450m items in the three months to September 30th, for almost $11 billion. In response, most print publishers are expanding online. Mr. Murdoch is buying websites including Propertyfinder and MySpace, a social-networking site. Newspaper groups have teamed up to jointly operate websites to compete with Monster for recruitment ads. But the online operators are expanding too. eBay, for instance, is building a global network of classified sites under the Kijiji brand. It also has a stake in the popular Craigs-list which, having soaked up so many listings around its San Francisco home, is now frightening other newspapers as it expands its mostly-free ads service to other cities around the world.

Throughout history and through a cross-section of cultures, women have transformed their appearance to conform to a beauty ideal. American and European women in the 1800s cinched in their waists so tightly that some suffered internal damage. The North American ideal of beauty has continually focused on women' s bodies: the tiny waist of the Victorian period, and the voluptuous curves that were the measure of beauty between the 1930s and 1950s. 【R1】______ However, this relentless pursuit of thinness is not just an example of women trying to look their best, it is also a struggle for control, acceptance and success. 【R2】______ One of the negative psychological side effects associated with eating disorders is the patient' s distortion of their own body image, body image being defined as the picture a person has in his mind of his own body, that is, the way his body appears to him. Many women who are caught up in the relentless pursuit of thinness also experience some degree of disturbed body image. 【R3】______ 【R4】______Women with perfectly normal bodies see themselves as being heavy; so that the definition of "normal" becomes inaccurate and this perceived normalcy is represented by a very small percentage of women. It follows that if body image is so closely linked to self-image, it is important for women to learn to feel comfortable with the body they live in, despite any "imperfections". 【R5】______Advertising is a major vehicle for presenting images and forming attitudes. The majority of ads incorporate young, beautiful, slender models to present their products and services. While individual ads may not be seen as a big issue, it is the cumulative, unconscious impact that has an effect on attitudes toward women, and in women's attitudes toward themselves. As women are consistently exposed to these feminine forms through both print and television, it becomes difficult to distinguish what is normal, and even more difficult not to compare themselves to this form. [A]The experiences and practices of women who "simply diet" are not radically different from those who are diagnosed with eating disorders. For some women, achieving the "perfect" body form becomes the most important goal in life. [B]Current standards emphasize a toned, slender look, one that exudes fitness, youth, and health. According to psychologist Eva Szekely, "Having to be attractive at this time... means unequivocally having to be thin. In North America today, thinness is a precondition for being perceived by others and oneself as healthy". [C]The images that are presented in advertising are designed to create an illusion, a fantasy ideal that will keep women continually consuming. Advertisers are well aware of the insecurities that most women feel about their own bodies. [D]So why is it that during this process of development so many women become dissatisfied, self-critical, and judgmental about their own bodies? One of the reasons may have to do with the media and various forms of advertising. Ads sell more than just products; they present an idea of normalcy, who we are and who we should be. [E]While women continue to struggle for equality on an economic scale and within their relationships, they still maintain control over their own bodies. It is important that women begin to accept themselves for who they are, regardless of their body type, and to feel comfortable with the body they live in. [F]In attempting to mould their appearance to meet the current ideal, numerous women are literally starving themselves to death. The incidence of eating disorders has doubled during the last two decades. This increase is no longer limited to women in their teens and twenties, but is increasingly diagnosed in patients in their thirties and forties. [G]Feelings about body are closely related to a woman's sense of self; the body is perceived as acceptable or unacceptable, providing a foundation for self-concept. It is alarming, then, that almost 80% of women think they're overweight. Body image has very little to do with the way a person actually looks; many women who appear to fit the ideal body type are actually dissatisfied with their appearance.

The U.S. Supreme Court"s decision Monday to let stand a ruling in an online defamation case will make it more difficult to determine correct legal jurisdictions in other Internet eases, legal experts said. By opting not to take the case, the high court effectively endorsed a lower court"s decision that a Colorado company that posts ratings of health plans on the Internet could be sued for defamation in a Washington court. The lower court ruling is one of several that makes it easier for plaintiffs to sue Web site operators in their own jurisdictions, rather than where the operators maintain a physical presence. The case involved a defamation suit filed by Chehalis, Wash-based Northwest Healthcare Alliance against Lakewood, Colo-based Healthgrades.com. The Alliance sued in Washington federal court after Healthgrades.com posted a negative ranking of Northwest Healthcare"s home health services on the Internet. Healthgrades.com argued that it should not be subject to the jurisdiction of a court in Washington because its publishing operation is in Colorado. Observers said the fact that the Supreme Court opted not to hear the case only clouds the legal situation for Web site operators. Geoff Stewart, a partner at Jones Day in Washington, D.C., said that the Supreme Court eventually must act on the issue, as Internet sites that rate everything from automobile dealerships to credit offers could scale back their offerings to avoid lawsuits originating numerous jurisdictions. Online publishers also might have to worry about being dragged into lawsuits in foreign courts, said Dow Lohnes ＆ Albertson attorney Jon Hart, who has represented the Online News Association. "The much more difficult problems for U.S. media companies arise when claims are brought in foreign countries over content published in the United States", Hart said. Hart cited a recent case in which an Australian court ruled that Dow Jones must appear in a Victoria, Australia court to defend its publication of an article on the U.S.-based Watt Street Journal Web site. According to Hart, the potential chilling effect of those sorts of jurisdictional decisions is substantial. "I have not yet seen publishers holding back on what they otherwise publish because they"re afraid they"re going to get sued in another country, but that doesn"t mean it Won"t happen if we see a rash of U.S. libel cases against U.S. media companies being brought in foreign countries", he said. Until the high court decides to weigh in directly on this issue, Web site operators that offer information and services to users located outside of their home states must deal with a thorny legal landscape, said John Morgan, a partner at Perkins Coie LLP and an expert in Internet law.

Writeanessayof160-200wordsbasedonthefollowingdrawing.Inyouressay,youshould1)describethedrawingbriefly,2)interpretitsintendedmeaning,and3)giveyourcomments.

Almost all our major problems involve human behavior, and they cannot be solved by physical and biological technology alone. What is needed is a technology of behavior, but we have been slow to develop the science from which such a technology might be drawn. (46) One difficulty is that almost all of what is called behavioral science continues to trace behavior to states of mind, feelings, traits of character, human nature, and so on. Physics and biology once followed similar practices and advanced only when they discarded them. (47) The behavioral sciences have been slow to change partly because the explanatory items often seem to be directly observed and other kinds of explanations have been hard to find. The environment is obviously important, but its role has remained obscure. It dose not push or pull, it selects, and this function is difficult to discover and analyze. (48) The role of natural selection in evolution was formulated only a little more than a hundred years ago, and the selective role of the environment in shaping and maintaining the behavior of the individual is only beginning to be recognized and studied. As the interaction between organism and environment has come to be understood, however, effects once assigned to states of mind, feelings, and traits are beginning to be traced to accessible conditions, and a technology of behavior may therefore become available. It will not solve our problems, however, until it replaces traditional prescientific views, and these are strongly entrenched. Freedom and dignity illustrate the difficulty. (49) They are the possessions of the autonomous (self-governing) man of traditional theory, and they are essential to practices in which a person is held responsible for his conduct and given credit for his achievements. A scientific analysis shifts both the responsibility and the achievement to the environment. It also raises questions concerning "values". Who will use a technology and to what ends? (50) Until these issues are resolved, a technology of behavior will continue to be rejected, and with it possibly the only way to solve our problems.

Managing global organizations has been a business challenge for centuries. But the nature of the task is changing with the accelerating shift of economic activity from Europe and North America to markets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. McKinsey Global Institute research suggests that 400 midsize emerging-market cities, many unfamiliar in the West, will generate nearly 40 percent of global growth over the next 15 years. The International Monetary Fund confirms that the ten fastest-growing economies during the years ahead will all be in emerging markets. Against this backdrop , continuing advances in information and communications technology have made possible new forms of international coordination within global companies and potential new ways for them to flourish in these fast-growing markets. There are individual success stories. IBM expects to earn 30 percent of its revenues in emerging markets by 2015, up from 17 percent in 2009. At Unilever, emerging markets make up 56 percent of the business already. And Aditya Birla Group, a multinational conglomerate based in India, now has operations in 40 countries and earns more than half its revenue outside India. But, overall, global organizations are struggling to adapt. A year ago, we uncovered a "globalization penalty": high-performing global companies consistently scored lower than more locally focused ones on several dimensions of organizational health. For example, the former were less effective at establishing a shared vision, encouraging innovation, executing "on the ground," and building relationships with governments and business partners. Equally arresting was evidence from colleagues in McKinsey's strategy practice showing that global companies headquartered in emerging markets have been growing faster than counterparts headquartered in developed ones, even when both are operating on "neutral turf" emerging markets where neither is based (see "Parsing the growth advantage of emerging-market companies"). Over the past year, we've tried to understand more clearly the challenges facing global organizations, as well as approaches that are helping some to thrive. Our work has included surveys and structured interviews with more than 300 executives at 17 of the world's leading global organizations spanning a diverse range of sectors and geographies, a broader survey of more than 4,600 executives, and time spent working directly with the leaders of dozens of global organizations trying to address these issues. Clearly, no single organizational model is best for all companies handling the realities of rapid growth in emerging markets and round-the-clock global communications. That's partly because the opportunities and challenges facing companies vary, depending on their business models. R&D-intensive companies, for example, are working to staff new research centers in the emerging world and to integrate them with existing operations. Firms focused on extracting natural resources are adapting to regulatory regimes that are evolving rapidly and sometimes becoming more interventionist. Consumer-oriented firms are facing sometimes-conflicting imperatives to tailor their businesses to local needs while maintaining consistent global processes.

There are no comprehensive statistics to chart the astounding surge of Europeans demanding cosmetic surgery along with a wide range of "noninvasive" procedures that inject threads, compounds and potions to lift and remodel, smooth and tighten. But even fragmented data on Europe"s booming transformation industry tell an extraordinary story. 【F1】 Once an indulgence of the moneyed elite and a professional necessity for actress-model-whatev-ers, cosmetic alterations are becoming a mass-market activity. Think you don"t know anyone vain e-nough or desperate enough to try it? Think again.【F2】 Odds are that a friend, a colleague, the teller in your bank or that commuter you sit opposite most days has already gone in for a little work, who are not considered vain or desperate or from a different planet. 【F3】 And opinion polls conducted all over Europe point to a widening acceptance of cosmetic surgery as a part of normal life—particularly among the young. The research company Forsa found that 13% of Germans say they would consider surgical enhancement; that number rises to 20%—1 in 5—among the under-30s. Fifteen percent of 14-year-old British girls and boys wouldn"t rule out going under the knife, according to a survey by the Priory mental-health-care group. Why is cosmetic surgery growing so fast in Europe?【F4】 The Continent"s aging profile may go some way to explain why older Europeans regard plastic surgeons as high priests, while the newly powerful appeal of the religion for younger generations is tougher to interpret. Time reporters spoke to practitioners, social scientists and psychologists to try to understand why Europeans place such a high value on beauty. And we talked to patients of different nationalities, from teenagers to retirees, about the choices they have made, their expectations and their lives—before and after. They mentioned the temptingly wide range of options on price, procedure and location. But their answers hinted at deeper cultural shifts, too. Cosmetic surgery today isn"t just the preserve of the riches who parade their tight faces, or the stars whose undernourished frames barely support their plumpness. Rather, the cosmetic-surgery boom reflects changing patterns of behavior in Europe. Plenty of patients go under the knife for the oldest reason of all—because they want to look more beautiful.【F5】 But a surprising number attribute their passion for cosmetic surgery to television—to a lot of programs designed to convince viewers that a makeover is something they need feel no guilt in desiring. Something else is new, too; increasingly, cosmetic surgery is for men as much as for women. In the intersection between the search for beauty, the power of TV and the needs of the new male, Europe"s face is changing literally.

Studythegraphbelowcarefullyandwriteanessayofabout200words.Youressayshouldcovertheinformationprovidedandmeettherequirementsbelow:1.interpretthegraph;2.givethepossiblecausesforthechange;3.yourcomments.

You are planning to ask your friend to join an outing. Express your idea clearly as follows: 1) details about what you are going to do; 2) when and where you will go out. You should write about 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Wang Ling" instead. You do not need to write the address.

The following paragraphs are given in a wrong order, you are required to reorganize these paragraphs into a coherent article by choosing from the list A—H. The first, fourth and the last paragraphs have been placed for you.A. "Customers don"t buy products", Mary says. "They buy results". Mary explains that it is her job to help customers get results. Results are what the products do for the customers. Customers buy products for what the products do.B. Mary enjoys her job. Her job is customer service. She helps customers use her company"s products. When people ask her what she does, Mary says. "Salespeople sell our products. My job is to make sure they stay sold".C. She finds someone who is doing exactly what the customer who called is interested in seeing. Mary calls customers who are already using the product. She asks if the customer who wants to see how the products are used can visit these companies. Most customers cooperate. They let other customers visit to see how products are used. They help others because they know they may need help themselves some day. They know they will be able to ask for help later if they give help to others now.D. Mary gets copies of sales orders from Steve, John, Helen, and other salespeople. When she gets the orders, Mary talks to the salespeople about the customers. It is part of Mary"s job to find out how customers are using her company"s products. Mary tells customers, "I"m in the information business. My job is to give you any information you need about our products and how they"re used".E. Mary makes appointments for her company"s customers to visit each other. Mary"s company is very happy to have cust6mers compare how they use its products. The company feels that this is how customers help sell its products to other customers.F. Sometimes Mary helps customers to help each other. Customers call to ask about using her company"s products. Mary gives them product literature. She also gives them information from her files on how products can be used. Sometimes customers want to see products being used. These customers are interested in seeing exactly what is done with the products. When this happens, Mary looks in her files. "She looks to see which customers are using the products. Then she looks to see how the products are used.G. Mary keeps files of information about products and customers. Files are groups of documents set up to make it easy to find any document or record which is needed. In her files, Mary has printed sheets about her company"s products. These printed sheets about the things the company makes are called product literature. Product literature tells about the things the company makes. The literature also tells what the products do. The idea is to show how products help customers who use them.H. Mary has a list of all the company"s customers. When she receives copies of orders, Mary checks them to see if there are any new customers. Mary also checks to see if any old customers are buying product that has not been made before. Mary checks orders to see which customers buy it. Any time customers buy products they have not used before, Mary calls to see if she can help. Mary asks if the customer needs information. She also asks how the customer is using the product. Mary puts information in her files on how customers use her company"s products.Order: B is the first paragraph, A is the fourth and E is the last.

IN 2005 Congress considered an emergency spending bill that designated $81 billion for military spending and Asian tsunami relief. It passed easily. A politician would have to be mighty confident to vote against humanitarian aid and supporting the troops. But complaints have steadily grown about a law that came with the spending bill. The Real ID Act of 2005 established national standards for driving licences. By 2008, it said, every state would have to make sure its licences included "physical security features" and "a common machine readable technology". A state would be responsible for verifying that anyone applying for licences is in America legally. Only licences that met the new standards would be accepted by the federal government. An American who wanted to fly commercially, or do anything else for which he needed to identify himself, would end up in a queue at the Department of Motor Vehicles. The idea was to make life harder for would-be terrorists. But the scheme will certainly make life harder for the states. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reckons that implementing the changes will cost states up to $14.6 billion, with individuals on the line for an additional $8.@5 billion. And the federal government plans to meet only a fraction of the cost. Critics also argue that the new licences will amount to national identification cards and will contain ton much information about the bearer. Immigration advocates say that the Real ID Act unfairly targets illegal immigrants. And from a security standpoint the act raises as many fears as it allays. Licences that meet the revised standards would be rich of sensitive data. They might prove irresistibly tempting to identity thieves and marketing firms. On January 25th Maine became the first state to oppose the Act. Its legislature passed a resolution refusing to implement the Real ID Act with nearly unanimous support. On March 8th, Idaho approved a similar bill. Two dozen other states have measures pending that question the act or oppose it outright. On March 1st the DHS issued guidelines for implementing the Real ID Act that manage to ignore most of these objections. The guidelines allow states a bit more time to implement the act. But they give no quarter on the expensive physical security features and suggest that states deal with privacy concerns on their own. And as the National Governors Association promptly noted, they "do nothing" to address the cost to states.

BPart BDirections: Write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following information./B

While it is important that you be a caring, responsible, likable person, not many people are going to notice that about you when meeting you. Unfortunately, humans are very visually oriented and what we see of people leaves a lasting impression. When we go into a restaurant we don"t care if our chef donates to Toys for Tots, but we care that he is clean, dressed well, and professional looking. When shopping for a new dress we are more likely to ask for help from the well dressed, attractive employee than the girl who showed up to work looking as if she slept in her clothes and has never brushed her hair. In our personal lives the importance of appearance is much the same. It"s a cruel fact of life, but people who are sloppy, dirty and poorly groomed don"t get dates. Most of us are "instinctively" attracted to good looking, well dressed people. When marriages were arranged by family this wasn"t such an issue, but today it most certainly is. No one wants to date the guy who doesn"t shower or the girl who wears clothing three sizes too small. Even in the workplace appearance is seen as an indicator of ability. A job applicant with a master"s degree isn"t likely to be hired if s/he is missing teeth, no matter how qualified they are. Very few people would choose a surgeon who has dirt under their fingernails. A stylist with a lousy hair style isn"t likely to have very many clients. Unfortunately, appearance is even important to children. Many small children, especially, can take an instant dislike to someone based solely on what they look like. As children get older appearance becomes an integral part in who is popular and who isn"t. The child who doesn"t have designer clothing is more likely to be left out of things than the child who wears all of the right brands. With teenagers attractiveness seems to denote popularity more than anywhere else. Teens don"t care if the overweight girl is a math genius who has a way with animals, they don"t care if the geeky boy writes the most beautiful poetry ever read, they just care what s/he looks like. Right or wrong, in our society appearance is just too important to be ignored. While personality is a better indicator of a person"s value in the long run, when it comes to first impressions what we look like will always win out over who we are.