BPart B/B

Your improper words will give rise to doubts concerning your true intentions.

Title: Competition and Cooperation Your composition should be-based on the Outlines below: 1) The phenomenon of competition and cooperation, 2) The function of competition and cooperation, 3) Man can develop continuously with Competition and cooperation. You should write about 160—200 Words neatly. (20 points)

Here amid the steel and concrete canyons, green grass grows. A naked cockspur hawthorn tree stands in new soil, and freshly dug plants bend in the wind. But Chicago City Hall here seems an unlikely spot for a garden of any variety. Especially 20,000 square feet of gardens. On it"s roof. As one of a handful of similar projects around the country, the garden is part of a $1.5 million demonstration projected by the city to reduce its "urban heat islands", said William Abolt, the commissioner of the Department of Environment. Heat islands dark surfaces in the city, like rooftops-soak up heat. The retention can bake a building, making it stubborn to cooling. The roof of City Hall, a 90-year-old gray stone landmark on LaSalle Street in the heart of downtown, has been known to reach temperature substantially hotter than the actual temperature on the street below. The garden will provide greenery and shade. "And that," said the city officials, "will save the city dollars on those blistering summer days." The project savings from cooling is about $4,000 a year on a new roof whose life span is about 50 percent longer than that of a traditional roof. The sprawling open-air rooftop garden is being carefully built on a multitiered bed of special soil, polystyrene, egg-carton-shaped cones and "waterproof membrane" mall to keep the roof from leaking, or caving under the normal combined weight of soil, rain and plant life. The design calls for soil depths of 4 inches in 18 inches. When the last plants and seedlings are buried and the last bit of compost laid, the garden will have circular brick steppingstones winding up two hills. "The primary focus of what we want to do was to establish this laboratory on the top of City Hall and get people involved and understanding their impact on the environment and how the little things that we can make an impact on the quality of life", Mr. Abolt said, adding that the plants also help to clear the air. Rooftop gardens, in places where concrete jungles have erased plants and trees, are not new, not even in Chicago. Arms of greenery dangling over terraces or sprouting from rooftops, common in Europe, are becoming more so in the United States as people become increasingly conscious about the environment. Richard M. Daley, who urged the environment department to look into the project after noticing rooftop gardens in Hamburg, Germany a few years ago, has praised the garden as the first of its kind on a public building in the country. It will hold thousands of plants in more than 150 species—wild onion and butterfly weed, sky blue aster and buffalo grass—to provide data on what species adapt best. Small plants requiring shallow soil depths were chiefly selected.

Pronouncing a language is a skill. Every normal person is expert in the skill of pronouncing his own language, but few people are even moderately proficient at pronouncing foreign languages. Now there are many reasons for this, some obvious, some perhaps not so obvious. But I suggest that the fundamental reason why people in general do not speak foreign languages very much better than they do is that they fail to grasp the true nature of the problem of learning to pronounce, and consequently never set about tackling it in the right way. Far too many people fail to realize that pronouncing a foreign language is a skill, one that needs careful training of a special kind, and one that cannot be acquired by just leaving it to take care of itself. I think even teachers of language, while recognizing the importance of a good accent, tend to neglect, in their practical teaching, the branch of study concerned with speaking the language. So the first point I want to make is that English pronunciation must be taught; the teacher should be prepared to devote some of the lesson time to this, and by his whole attitude to the subject should get the student to feel that here is a matter worthy of receiving his close attention. So there should be occasions when other aspects of English, such as grammar or spelling, are allowed for the moment to take second place. Apart from this question of the time given to pronunciation, there are two other requirements for the teacher: the first, knowledge; the second, technique. It is important that the teacher should be in possession of the necessary information. This can generally be obtained from books. It is possible to get from books some idea of the mechanics of speech, and of what we call general phonetic theory. It is also possible in this way to get a clear mental picture of the relationship between the sounds of different languages, between the speech habits of English people and those, say, of your students. Unless the teacher has such a picture, any comments he may make on his students" pronunciation are unlikely to be of much use, and lesson time spent on pronunciation may well be time-wasted. But it does not follow that you can teach pronunciation successfully as soon as you have read the necessary books. It depends, after that, on what use you make of your knowledge, and this is a matter of technique. Now the first and most important part of a language teacher"s technique is his own performance, his ability to demonstrate the spoken language, in every detail of articulation as well as in fluent speaking, so that the student"s latent capacity for imitation is given the fullest scope and encouragement. The teacher, then, should be as perfect a model in this respect as he can make himself. And to supplement his own performance, however satisfactory this may be, the modern teacher has at his disposal recordings, radio, television and video, to supply the authentic voices of native speakers, or, if the teacher happens to be a native speaker himself or speaks just like one, then to vary the method of presenting the language material.Notes:set about 着手，试图。articulation 发音。latent 潜在的，不明显的。at one"s disposal 供某人任意支配使用。

You are going to host a club reading session. Write an email of about 100 words recommending a book to the club members. You should state reasons for your recommendation. You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address. (10 points)

Painting your house is like adding something to a huge communal picture in which the rest of the painting is done either by nature or by other people. The picture is not static; it changes as we move about, with the time of day, with the seasons, with new painting, new buildings and with alterations to old ones. Any individual house is just a fragment of this picture, nevertheless it has the power to make or mark the overall scene. In the past people used their creative talents in painting their homes with great imagination and in varied but always subtly blending colors. The last vestiges of this great tradition can still be seen in the towns of the extreme west of Ireland. It has never been recognized as an art form, partly, because of the physical difficulty of hanging a street in a gallery and partly because it"s always changing, as paint fades and is renewed. Also it is a communal art which cannot be identified with any one person, except in those many cases where great artists of the past found inspiration in ordinary street scenes and recorded them in paint. Following the principles of decoration that were so successful in the past, you should first take a long look at the house and its surroundings and consider possible limitations. The first concerns the amount of color and intensity in the daylight in Britain. Colors that look perfectly in keeping with the sunny, clear skies of the Mediterranean would look too harsh in the grayer light of the north. Since bright light is uncomfortable for the eyes, colors must be strong in order to be seen clearly. Viewed in a dimmer light they appear too bright. It is easy to see this if you look at a brick house while the sun is alternately shining and then going behind a cloud. The brickwork colors look much more intense when the sun is hidden. The second limitation is the colors of the surroundings: the colors which go best with Cotswold stone and a rolling green countryside will be different from those that look best by the sea or in a red-brick/blue-slate industrial town. In every area there are always colors that at once look in keeping. In many areas there are distinctive traditions in the use of color that may be a useful guide. The eastern counties of England and Scot land, particularly those with a local tradition of rendering or plastering, use colors applied solidly over the wall. Usually only the window frames and doors are picked out in another color, often white or pale gray. Typical wall colors are the pink associated with Suffolk and pale buffs and yellows of Fife. Much stronger colors such as deep earth red, orange, blue and green are also common. In the coastal villages of Essex, as well as inland in Hertfordshire, the house-fronts of overlapping boards are traditionally painted black—originally tarred like ships—with windows and doors outlined in white. In stone areas of Yorkshire and farther north, color is rarer: the houses are usually left in their natural color, though many are painted white as they probably all were once.

BSection I Use of EnglishDirections: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D./B

Using only a few computers, researchers at the federal Idaho National Laboratory managed to launch a cyberattack that crippled an electricity generator earlier this year. The test, performed on a replica of common power plant control systems that operate over the Internet, tricked the machine into operating at levels that caused it to smoke and then destroy itself. Funded by the Department of Homeland Security(DHS), this was an unsettling demonstration of how vulnerable America"s critical infrastructure is to online assaults. As early as this week, the Bush administration is expected to request significant new funding to ratchet up its cybersecurity efforts. Under a new initiative, a broad set of federal agencies would coordinate the monitoring and defense of government networks, as well as private systems that operate key services like electricity, telecommunications, and banking. But officials are divided over how much of the program, which will be run by DHS, to discuss publicly because of the sizable involvement of U.S. intelligence agencies. The sensitivity also reflects how officials increasingly view cybersecurity as a national security concern, with threats coming not only from whiz-kid hackers but also foreign intelligence agencies and militaries. The nation"s computer networks "are under persistent attack now," warns Joel Brenner, the nation"s top counterintelligence official. In just the past year, officials reported that the number of cyberattacks on government computer networks more than doubled. "The adversaries are becoming more nimble, more focused, and more sophisticated in their attempts to exploit our vulnerabilities," says a DHS source. But in some ways, the private networks that operate critical infrastructure could be even more vulnerable. "There is no government entity that can require cybersecurity controls be put in place in the private sector," says Rep. Jim Langevin, chairman of a House cybersecurity subcommittee. Currently, the government"s leading experts in cybersecurity, who work at the supersecret National Security Agency(NSA), are responsible only for guarding classified networks. As first reported in the Baltimore Sun, the new effort envisages expanding NSA"s cyberdefense efforts to unclassified government systems and private industry. The proposal, however, has sparked some concerns about privacy, because defending networks is such an invasive process. "In order to defend the cyberspace on which these critical systems depend, we have to be able to both monitor and control them," says Sami Saydjari, a former NSA official who runs the Cyber Defense Agency, a private consulting firm. "That"s an intelligence system, and one could use that intelligence system for good or for evil."

In modern industry, water fulfills several essential functions. It is used as a raw material in many processes; it is essential for cooling machinery; it provides steam for engines which consume coal and it is one of the most important sources of power. As a source of power, water is virtually inexhaustible. Its power is ultimately derived from the force of gravity and from the sun. It is the sun"s energy that warms the sea and the land and causes water to evaporate into the air; later the moisture in the air condenses and falls in the form of rain or snow. Much of the water that falls on the land flows back to the sea. The downward flow of the water exerts considerable pressure, and it is at this point in the water cycle that we can capture some of its power. The earliest method of exploiting this power was to make water turn a wheel. This system in which the force of water was used directly, had one great disadvantage. Factories which used it had to be built on the banks of fast flowing streams, but these were often located in inaccessible, thinly populated areas, which made transportation of goods difficult. When the steam engine was invented, it soon replaced flowing water as a source of power, new factories sprang up in the coal fields. Coal and oil—reserve of power also ultimately derived from the sun—are not always found in accessible places, but they have the advantage of being portable. In the 20th century the situation changed and water once more became a vital source of power. Methods were devised for producing electricity from the energy of rivers. Once the initial capital has been recovered, electricity from this source is usually cheaper than oil and coal, which are expensive to extract and transport. The great advantage of hydroelectric power is that nature constantly renews the water that provides the power. Coal and oil are fuels that can only be used once. Not all rivers are ideal for generating electricity. A suitable river must have an adequate flow of water, and ideally there should be a steep fall. A steep waterfall is ideal, because it concentrates the energy of gravity into a short distance. The amount of water in the river, moreover, should not vary too much from season to season. This means that there must be adequate rainfall throughout the year. The river must be fairly near the industrial centers which will utilize its power, for the greater the distance the electricity has to travel, the more power is wasted. Waterfalls can be constructed or enlarged by engineers. This is done by altering the slope or level of rivers at certain places, in order to concentrate a heavy fall of water at a chosen location. An artificial waterfall thus obtained is usually regulated by a dam. Projects of this kind, harnessing the flow of rivers are in process of construction in Egypt, Australia, and many other countries. Japan is a country that relies on hydroelectric power. Her available coal resources proved inadequate for her industrial development and she was obliged to import fuel to drive machinery. But Japan is a mountainous country with abundant rainfall and a dense concentration of population, she has developed her resources of hydroelectricity to a greater extent than other Asian countries.

Eric Hansen writes about travel as a participating enthusiast rather than a mere observer. (46) It gives these nine essays, based on his adventures over the past quarter-century, a resonance and psychological depth not usually seen in more routine travel narratives. (47) The reader follows wide-eyed from the armchair as Mr. Hansen journeys from the French Riviera to the South Pacific, India, the United States and Borneo. Each story combines nuanced portraits of memorable characters with lyrical descriptions of human fallibility and generosity. In his wildest tale, Mr. Hansen recounts his time working at a hotel on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait. (48) "Seldom", he writes, "does one have the chance to enjoy the company of people who have so completely given themselves over to the cultivation of the low life in such style and with such gusto". (49) Beyond the booze, broken glass and fist fights, the author learns the history of the island"s pearl divers who, in canvas suits and lead-weighted shoes, snatch gold-lip pearl shells from a seabed teeming with sea snakes, giant groupers and saltwater crocodiles. Other stories tell of drinking hallucinogenic kava in Vanuatu; lingering on a beach with a beautiful Maldivian girl in a pleasurable pursuit that the locals call "night fishing"; cooking piroshki with a Moscow Moscow in a tiny manhattan apartment while drug dealers shoot each other in the lobby below; and watching the Indonesian crew of a becalmed tall ship dance on deck to country and western music. (50) The most moving story comes from Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), where the author"s frustration at the impenetrable bureaucracy when trying to ship his belongings home is put into perspective by his voluntary work at Mother Theresa"s home for the dying. Here he bathes, feeds and comforts the inhabitants of the men"s ward, where the panic and despair of death are replaced by dignity and humour. This sensitive portrait alone makes this heartfelt collection a magical and uplifting read.

President Bush"s re-election already has resulted in more funds for one of the election"s pivotal "moral values" issues—abstinence education. Congress last weekend included more than $131 million for abstinence programs in its $388 billion spending bill. This represents an increase of $30 million for programs that teach middle-and high-school youths that sexual abstinence until marriage is the best choice. The new funding is far less than the $100 million Mr. Bush requested, but it marks a "record level of funding", said leaders of the National Abstinence Clearinghouse in Sioux Falls, S. D. Public debates about the merits of teaching abstinence-until-marriage versus abstinence-plus-contraception are likely to continue: A national evaluation of abstinence-until-marriage programs has been delayed, with a final report not expected until 2006, said a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Bush administration has fueled this debate by steadily increasing federal funds for abstinence education, which has been outmatched for decades by funding for family planning, HIV/AIDS and other sex education that primarily teaches about birth control, condoms and disease prevention. "We have said that funding for abstinence education...ought to be on at least equal footing with other sex education programs," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Nov. 17 at the nomination of White House domestic policy adviser Margaret Spellings as Department of Education secretary. "The president is an advocate of abstinence-education programs because he wants to focus on what works," Mr. McClellan said, noting that Mrs. Spellings supports abstinence-based education in schools. William Smith of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States challenged the idea that abstinence education has been "proven effective". "No sound study exists that shows that these programs have any long-term beneficial impact on young people"s sexual behavior," Mr. Smith said. "The fact the president"s nominee for the nation"s top teacher supports these programs is particularly disturbing." When it comes to children"s sexual behavior, the primary message the nation should give is abstinence until marriage, said Wade F. Horn, HHS assistant secretary for children and families. "We don"t need a study, if I remember my biology correctly, to show us that those people who are sexually abstinent have a zero chance of becoming pregnant or getting someone pregnant or contracting a sexually transmitted disease," said Mr. Horn. Meanwhile, opponents of abstinence-only education continue to warn against flouring money into unproven programs. Advocates for Youth (AFY), for instance, recently released a 10 state study saying that after five years and $45.5 million in federal funding, abstinence programs have resulted in "few short-term benefits and no lasting positive impact".

The world religion is derived from the Latin noun religion, which denotes both (1)_____ observance of ritual obligations and an inward spirit of reverence. In modern usage, religion covers a wide spectrum of (2)_____ that reflects the enormous variety of ways the term can be (3)_____. At one extreme, many committed believers (4)_____ only their own tradition as a religion, understanding expressions such as worship and prayer to refer (5)_____ to the practices of their tradition. They may (6)_____ use vague or idealizing terms in defining religion, (7)_____, true love of God, or the path of enlightenment. At the other extreme, religion may be equated with (8)_____, fanaticism, or wishful thinking. By defining religion as a sacred engagement with what is taken to be a spiritual reality, it is possible to consider the importance of religion in human life without making (9)_____ about what is really is or ought to be. Religion is not an object with a single, fixed meaning, or (10)_____ a zone with clear boundaries. It is an aspect of human (11)_____ that may intersect, incorporate, or transcend other aspects of life and society. Such a definition avoid the drawbacks of (12)_____ the investigation of religion to Western or biblical categories (13)_____ monotheism or church structure, which are not (14)_____. Religion in this understanding includes a complex of activities that cannot be (15)_____ to any single aspect of human experience. It is a part of individual life but also of (16)_____ dynamics. Religion includes not only patterns of language and thought. It is sometimes an (17)_____ part of a culture. Religious experience may be expressed (18)_____ visual symbols, dance and performance, elaborate philosophical systems, legendary and imaginative stories, formal (19)_____, and detailed rules of some ways. There are as many forms of religious expression as there are human cultural (20)_____.

Since USAID began its first HIV/AIDS prevention efforts eight years ago, the epidemic has changed dramatically. HIV has spread to every region of the world. Millions of people infected with HIV during the first decade of the epidemic are developing opportunistic infections and other AIDS-related illnesses, and many are dying. Women and children are among those most vulnerable to HIV infection. As HIV prevalence and AIDS mortality soar, millions of children will lose their parents. HIV/AIDS is having a devastating impact on the health and well-being of families, communities and nations worldwide. The epidemic"s effects on the structure of societies and the productivity of their members undermine efforts to promote sustainable development around the globe. USAID"s approach to slowing the spread of HIV/AIDS relies on strategies tested and refined over the past eight years. At the same time, the Agency is moving forward to address new challenges posed by the evolving epidemic. One of the important lessons learned during the past decade is that an effective response to HIV/ AIDS requires the full participation of people and communities affected by the virus. Although people living with HIV/AIDS are among the most successful advocates and communicators for prevention, too often their voices are not heard or heeded. Greater involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS is essential to creating the supportive political, legal and social environments needed to control the epidemic. In December 1994 at the Paris AIDS Summit, representatives of 42 governments adopted a resolution pledging greater support for networks of people living with HIV/AIDS. Before and during the summit, members of these networks worked with government and multilateral organizations, including USAID, to develop a plan for translating the words of the resolution into concrete action. The Agency is committed to ensuring that people living with HIV/AIDS are accepted in full partnership with governments, international organizations and the private sector in developing, implementing and evaluating HIV/AIDS policies and programs. People living with HIV/AIDS and community-based organizations have been at the forefront of efforts to draw attention to the connection between compassionate AIDS care and effective HIV prevention. In the absence of a vaccine or cure, USAID continues to emphasize HIV/AIDS prevention. But as the number of people suffering from AIDS-related illness begins to increase dramatically, the Agency is also exploring ways to reduce the social impact of AIDS and enhance prevention efforts by integrating prevention and care. The Agency will also continue to pioneer regional approaches to an epidemic that does not recognize national boundaries. Cross-border interventions throughout the world will target mobile populations, including migrant workers, tourists, traders, transport workers and people displaced by war and social disruption.

Until such time as mankind has the sense to lower its population to the points whereas the planet can provide a comfortable support for all, people will have to accept more "unnatural food."

BPart CDirections: Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese./B

I am addicted to electricity. So are you. And so is your business. We live in an "always on" world—air conditioners, streetlights, TVs, PCs, cell phones, and more. And with forecasts that we"ll need 40% more electricity by 2030, determining how we can realistically feed our energy addiction without ruining our environment is the critical challenge of the new century. Of course, we could buy energy-saving appliances or drive fuel-efficient cars. We can recycle cans, bottles, and newspapers. We can even plant carbon-absorbing trees. But, no matter how much we may wish they would, these acts by themselves won"t satisfy our energy demands. To do that, we need a diverse energy mix that takes a practical, rather than emotional, approach. Enter nuclear energy. Nuclear alone won"t get us to where we need to be, but we won"t get there without it. Despite its controversial reputation, nuclear is efficient and reliable. It"s also clean, emitting no greenhouse gases or regulated air pollutants while generating electricity. And with nuclear power, we get the chance to preserve the Earth"s climate while at the same time meeting our future energy needs. Moreover, many of the management woes that gave the early nuclear business a black eye have finally been overcome. A five-year project in Alabama was completed on time and very close to budget. Also, US-designed reactors have been built in about four years in Asia, and new nuclear plants on the drawing board for installation here in America will be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under a speedier process that should be far more efficient than the one in place when the 104 nuclear facilities operating today were licensed. But this streamlined process will not compromise nuclear safety and security. The NRC holds nuclear reactors to the highest safety and security standards of any American industry. A two-day national security simulation in Washington, D.C., in 2002 concluded nuclear plants "are probably our best defended targets." And because of their advanced design and sophisticated containment structures, US nuclear plants emit a negligible amount of radiation. Even if you lived next door to a nuclear power plant, you would still be exposed to less radiation each year than you would receive in just one round-trip flight from New York to Los Angeles. Here"s the reality: The US needs more energy, and we need to get it without further harming our environment. Everything is a trade-off. Nothing is free, and nuclear plants are not cheap to build. But we have a choice to make: We can either continue the 30-year debate about whether we should embrace nuclear energy, or we can accept its practical advantages. Love it or not, expanding nuclear energy makes both environmental and business sense.

The term "formal learning" refers to all learning which takes place in the classroom regardless of whether such learning is informed by conservative or progressive ideologies. "Informal learning", on the other hand, is used to refer to learning which takes place outside the classroom. These definitions provide the essential difference between the two modes of learning. Formal learning is separated from daily life and may actually promote ways of learning and thinking which often run counter to those obtained from practical daily life. A characteristic feature of formal learning is the centrality of activities which can prepare for the challenges of adult life outside the classroom, but it cannot, by its nature, consist of these challenges. In doing this, language plays a critical role as the major channel for information exchange. The language of the classroom is more similar to the language used by middle-class families than that used by working-class families. Middle-class children thus find it easier to acquire the language of the classroom than their working-class classmates. Informal learning, in contrast, occurs in the setting to which it relates, making learning immediately relevant. In this context, language does not occupy such an important role: the child's experience of learning is more direct, involving sight, touch, taste, and smell—senses that are under-utilized in the classroom. Whereas formal learning is transmitted by teachers selected to perform this role, informal learning is acquired as a natural part of a child's socialization. Adults or older children who are proficient in the skill or activity provide—sometimes unintentionally—target models of behaviour in the course of everyday activity. Informal learning, therefore, can take place at any time and place. The motivation of the learner provides another critical difference between the two models of learning. The formal learner is generally motivated by some kind of external goal such as parental approval, social status, and potential financial reward. The informal learner, however, tends to be motivated by successful completion of the task itself and the partial acquisition of adult status. Given that learning systems develop as a response to the social and economic contexts in which they are fixed, it is understandable that modern, highly urbanized societies have concentrated almost exclusively on the establishment of formal education systems. What these societies have failed to recognise are the ways in which formal learning hinders the child's multi-sensory acquisition of practical skills. The failure to provide a child with a direct education may in part account for many of the social problems which trouble our societies.

Unlike other lawbreakers, who must leave the country, commit suicide, or go to jail, computer criminals sometimes escape punishment, demanding not only that they not be charged but that they be given good recommendations and perhaps other benefits.

First two hours, now three hours—this is how far in advance authorities are recommending people show up to catch a domestic flight, at least at some major U. S. airports with increasingly massive security lines. Americans are willing to tolerate time-consuming security protocols in return for increased safety. The crash of EgyptAir Flight 804, which terrorists may have downed over the Mediterranean Sea, provides another tragic reminder of why. But demanding too much of air travelers or providing too little security in return undermines public support for the process. And it should: Wasted time is a drag on Americans' economic and private lives, not to mention infuriating. Last year, the Transportation Security Administration(TSA)found in a secret check that undercover investigators were able to sneak weapons—both fake and real—past airport security nearly every time they tried. Enhanced security measures since then, combined with a rise in airline travel due to the improving economy and low oil prices, have resulted in long waits at major airports such as Chicago' s 0' Hare International. It is not yet clear how much more effective airline security has become— but the lines are obvious. Part of the issue is that the government did not anticipate the steep increase in airline travel, so the TSA is now rushing to get new screeners on the line. Part of the issue is that airports have only so much room for screening lanes. Another factor may be that more people are trying to overpack their carry-on bags to avoid checked-baggage fees, though the airlines strongly dispute this. There is one step the TSA could take that would not require remodeling airports or rushing to hire: Enroll more people in the PreCheck program. PreCheck is supposed to be a win-win for travelers and the TSA. Passengers who pass a background check are eligible to use expedited screening lanes. This allows the TSA to focus on travelers who are higher risk, saving time for everyone involved. TSA wants to enroll 25 million people in PreCheck. It has not gotten anywhere close to that, and one big reason is sticker shock: Passengers must pay $ 85 every five years to process their background checks. Since the beginning, this price tag has been PreCheck' s fatal flaw. Upcoming reforms might bring the price to a more reasonable level. But Congress should look into doing so directly, by helping to finance PreCheck enrollment or to cut costs in other ways. The TSA cannot continue diverting resources into underused PreCheck lanes while most of the traveling public suffers in unnecessary lines. It is long past time to make the program work.