单选题Jim: I have a pair of tickets for an opera Saturday night. Would you like to go? Cindy: I don't think so. ______. A. I'm not too wild about opera B. I'm not too interested about opera C. I'm not very excited about opera D. I'm not very anxious about opera

单选题Man: We had a trip to South Africa this summer. Woman: ______ Man: Yes, we did. In fact, we even encountered a lion.

单选题{{B}}Text 1{{/B}} Working at nonstandard times—evenings, nights, or weekends—is taking its toll on American families. One-fifth of all employed Americans work variable or rotating shifts, and one-third work weekends, according to Harriet B. Presser, sociology professor at the University of Maryland. The result is stress on familial relationships, which is likely to continue in coming decades. The consequences of working irregular hours vary according to gender, economic level, and whether or not children are involved. Single mothers are more likely to work nights and weekends than married mothers. Women in clerical, sales, or other low-paying jobs participate disproportionately in working late and graveyard shifts. Married-couple households with children are increasingly becoming dual-earner households, generating more split-shift couples. School-aged children, however, may benefit from parents' nonstandard work schedules because of the greater likelihood that a parent will be home before or after school. On the other hand, a correlation exists between nonstandard work schedules and both marital instability and a decline in the quality of marriages. Nonstandard working hours mean families spend less time together for dinner but more time together for breakfast. One-on-one interaction between parents and children varies, however, based on parent, shift, and age of children. There is also a greater reliance on child care by relatives and by professional providers. Working nonstandard hours is less a choice of employees and more a mandate of employers. Presser believes that the need for swing shifts and weekend work will continue to rise in the coming decades. She reports that in some European countries there are substantial salary premiums for employees working irregular hours—sometimes as much as 50% higher. The convenience of having services available 24 hours a day continues to drive this trend. Unfortunately, says Presser, the issue is virtually absent from public discourse. She emphasizes the need for focused studies on costs and benefits of working odd hours, the physical and emotional health of people working nights and weekends, and the reasons behind the necessity for working these hours. "Nonstandard work schedules not only are highly prevalent among American families but also generate a level of complexity in family functioning that needs greater attention, " she says.

单选题The U.S. government places rigid restrictions ______ the type of high-technology products that can be exported to China.

单选题Daughter: The jeans look cool. Mum: ______.

单选题If the United States had built more homes for poor people in 1955, the housing problems now in some parts of the country ______ so serious. A. wouldn't be B. wouldn't have been C. will not be D. would have not been

单选题Once upon a time, innovation at Procter & Gamble flowed one way: from the United States outward. While the large Cincinnati-based corporation was no stranger to foreign markets, it usually sold them products that were already familiar to most Americans. Many Japanese families, for instance, swaddle their babies in Pampers diapers, and lots of Venezuelans brush their teeth with Crest. And of course (company executives assumed) Americans at home wanted these same familiar, red-white and blue brands. We might buy foreign-made cars, or chocolates, or cameras but household cleaners and detergents? Recently, however, P&G broke with this long-standing tradition. Ariel, a P&G laundry detergent, was born overseas, and is a familiar sight on store shelves in Europe and Latin America. Now bilingual packages of Ariel Ultra, a super-concentrated cleaner, are appearing on supermarket shelves in Los Angeles. Ariel's appearance in the United States reflects demographic changes making Hispanics the nation's fastest-growing ethnic group. Ariel is a hit with this population. In fact, many Mexican immigrants living in Southern California have been "importing" Ariel from Tijuana, Mexico. "Hispanics knew this product and wanted it," says P&G spokeswoman Marie Salvado. "We realized that we couldn't convince them to buy (our) other laundry detergents." P&G hopes that non-Hispanic consumers will give Ariel a try too. Ariel's already strong presence in Europe may provide a springboard for the company to expand into other markets as well. Recently P&G bought Rakona, Czechoslovakia's top detergent maker. Ariel, currently a top seller in Germany, is likely to be one of the first new brands to appear in Czech supermarkets. And Ariel is not the only foreign idea that the company hopes to transplant back to its home territory. Cinch, an all-purpose spray cleaner similar to popular European products, is currently being test-marketed in California and Arizona. Traditionally Americans have used separate cleaners for different types of surfaces, but market research shows that American preferences are becoming more like those in other countries. Insiders note that this new reverse flow of innovation reflects more sweeping changes at Procter & Gamble. The firm has hired many new Japanese, German, and Mexican managers who view P&G's business not as a one-way flow of American ideas, but a two-way exchange with other markets. Says Bonita Austin of the investment firm Wertheim-Schroeder, "When you met with P&G's top managers years ago, you wouldn't have seen a single foreign face."Today, "they could even be in the majority." As Procter & Gamble has found, the United States is no longer an isolated market. Americans are more open than ever before to buying foreign-made products and to selling U. S. -made products overseas.

单选题Tom: How long have you worked in this department? John:______.

单选题The world's greatest sporting event, the Olympic Games, upholds the amateur ideal that ______ matters is not winning but participating. A. anything B. it C. which D. what

单选题{{B}}Passge Three{{/B}} Astronaut Jim Voss has enjoyed many memorable moments in his career, including three space flights and one space walk. But he recalls with special fondness a decidedly earthbound(只在地球上的) experience inthe summer of 1980 when he participated in the NASA-ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program. Voss, then a science teacher at West Point was assigned to the Marshall Space Flight Center's propulsion(推进) lab in Alabama to analyze why a hydraulic fuel pump seal on the space shuttle was working so well when previous seals had failed. It was a seemingly tiny problem among the vast complexities of running the space program` Yet it was important to NASA because any crack in the seal could have led to destructive results for the astronauts who relied on them. "I worked abit with NASA engineers, "says Voss, "but I did it mostly by analysis. I used a handheld calculator, not a computer, to do a thermodynamic(热力学的) analysis. "At the end of the summer, he, like the other NASA-ASEE fellows working at Marshall summarized his findings in a formal presentation and detailed paper. It was a valuable moment for Voss because the ASEE program gave him added understanding of NASA, deepened his desire to fly in space, and intensified his application for astronaut status. It was not an easy process. Voss was actually passed over when he first applied for the astronaut program in 1987. Since then he has participated in three space mission. The 50-year-old Army officer, who lives in Houston, is now in training for a four-month mission as a crew member on the International Space Station starting in July 2000. Voss says the ASEE program is wonderful for all involved. "It brings in people from the academic world and gives NASA a special property for a particular period of time. It brings some fresh eyes and fresh ideas to NASA, and establishes a link with colleges and universities," Voss explains." There is an exchange of information and an exchange of perspectives that is very important." For the academic side, Voss says, the ASEE program also "brings institutions of higher learning more insight into new technology. We give them an opportunity to work on real-world problems and take it back to the classroom."

单选题Speaker A: I'd like some ice-cream. Do they have Coke only?Speaker B: ______

单选题 Thousands of years ago, in the middle of an ocean, miles from the nearest island, an undersea volcano broke out. The hot liquid piled higher and higher and spread wider and wider. In this way, an island rose up in the sea. As time went on, hot sun and cool rains made the rock split and break to pieces. Sea waves dashed against the rock. In this way, soil and sand came into being. Nothing lived on the naked soil. And then the wind and birds brought plant seeds, spiders and other little creatures there. Only plants could grow first. Only they, in sunlight, could produce food from the minerals of the soil, water and air. While many animals landed on the island, they could find no food. A spider spun its web in vain, because there were no insects for its web to catch. Insects couldn't stay until there were plants for them to eat. So plants had to be the pioneer life on this new island.

单选题Then ______ of that time when he was cowboy.

单选题The terrible noise is ______ me mad.

单选题 Tony Huesman, a heart transplant recipient (接受者) who lived a record 31 years with a single donated organ has died at age 51 of leukemia (白血病), but his heart still goins strong. "He had leukemia," his widow Carol Huesman said, "His heart--believe it or not--held out. His heart never gave up until the end, when it had to. " Huesman got a heart transplant in 1978 at Stanford University. That was just 11 years after the world's first heart transplant was performed in South Africa. At his death, Huesman was listed as world's longest survivor of a single transplanted heart both by Stanford and the Richmond, Virginia-based United Network for Organ Sharing. "I'm a living proof of a person who can go through a life-threatening illness, have the operation and return to a productive life," Huesman told the Dayton Daily News in 2006. Huesman worked as marketing director at a sporting-goods store. He was found to have serious heart disease while in high school. His heart, attacked by a pneumonia (肺炎) virus, was almost four times its normal size from trying to pump blood with weakened muscles. Huesman's sister, Linda Huesman Lamb, also was stricken with the same problem and received a heart transplant in 1983. The two were the nation's first brother and sister heart transplant recipients. She died in 1991 at age 29. Huesman founded the Huesman Heart Foundation in Dayton, which seeks to reduce heart disease by educating children and offers a nursing scholarship in honor of his sister.

单选题The climate of Earth is changing. Climatologists are confident that over the past century, the global average surface temperature has increased by about half a degree Celsius. This warming is thought to be at least partly the result of human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels and the clearing of forests for agriculture. As the global population grows and national economies expand, the global average temperature is expected to continue increasing by an additional 1.0~C to 3.5℃by the year 2100. Climate change is one of the most important environmental issues facing humankind. Understanding the potential impacts of climate change for natural ecosystems is essential if we are going to manage our environment to minimize the negative consequences of climate change and maximize the opportunities that it may offer. Because natural ecosystems are complex, nonlinear systems, it follows that their responses to climate change are likely to be complex. Climate change may affect natural ecosystems in a variety of ways. In the short term, climate change can alter the mix of plant species in land ecosystems such as grasslands. In the long term, climate change has the potential to dramatically alter the geographic distribution of major vegetation types—savannas, forests, and climate change can also potentially alter global ecosystem processes, including the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur. Moreover, changes in these ecosystem processes can affect and be affected by changes in the plant species of the ecosystem and vegetation type. All of the climate change—induced alterations of natural ecosystems affect the services that these ecosystems provide to humans. The global average surface temperature increase of half a degree .Celsius observed over the past century has been in part due to differential changes in daily maximum and minimum temperatures, resulting in a narrowing of the diurnal temperature range. Decreases in the diurnal temperature range were first identified in the United States, where large-area trends showed that maximum temperatures have remained constant or increased only slightly, whereas minimum temperatures have increased at a faster rate. In this issue, Alward etal. report on the different sensitivities of rangeland plants to minimum temperatures increases.

单选题James: Phil has decided to quit smoking. Kim: Again? ______

单选题A: How's the young man?

单选题Had he worked harder, he ______ the exams. A. must have got through B. would have got through C. would get through D. could get through