单选题Directions: Read the following four passages. Answer the questions below by choosing A, B, C or D. Germany's economic success presents something of an educational puzzle. On the one hand, its schools turn out a workforce capable of producing the goods that have made its companies the export champions of the world. On the other hand, the academic achievements of its school children, measured in international tests, look only moderate. The reading abilities of German 15-year-olds, according to the PISA studies published by the OECD, are below the average for rich countries. In a world where brainpower matters more and more, how does German business thrive? The answer is that a combination of schooling and apprenticeship has proved a reliable supplier and shaper of the sort of labor German businesses need to make goods of high quality, even as similar jobs have disappeared in other rich economies. At the age of 10 or 11 about two-fifths of children are selected to go to a Gymnasium. A lot of these go eventually to universities. Most who do not, and many of those at least academic schools, go ultimately into specialized training for one of around 350 trades, from gardening to glass-blowing. Students divide their time between classrooms and the factory floor, acquiring a lot of knowledge on the job. According to many company bosses, this makes them both expert and flexible. Because German jobs are fairly secure, many employees invest time in learning new skills. Companies invest in teaching them, too—for example, to use computers to design parts-because their workers are not like to quit. Moreover, basic education seems to be getting better. The first PISA study, published in 2001, in which German children did poorly, caused much national soul-searching. Germany's position in the OECD rankings has improved a great deal in the past few years. Even so, the system has flaws. Some worry, for example, that the stronger general education is needed to equip young Germans to change trades should demand for their specific expertise dry up. A bigger concern is that early selection fails children form poor and immigrant families, who are likeliest to attend the least academic schools and to miss out on apprenticeships. Partly for this reason, there is a large group of students at the bottom of the rankings—which explains why the German average is still below standard. Some think that this may eventually cost the economy. Ludger Wossmann, of the Ifo Institute at Munich University, reckons that the best long-run predictor of a country's economic growth rate is the performance of its children in comparative tests in science, math and so forth. Germany's scores, he points out, do not predict well.

单选题Happy people work differently. They"re more productive, more creative, and willing to take greater risks. And new research suggests that happiness might influence 1 firms work, too. Companies located in places with happier people invest more, according to a recent research paper. 2 , firms in happy places spend more on R&D (research and development). That"s because happiness is linked to the kind of longer-term thinking 3 for making investments for the future. The researchers wanted to know if the 4 and inclination for risk-taking that come with happiness would 5 the way companies invested. So they compared U. S. cities" average happiness 6 by Gallup polling with the investment activity of publicly traded firms in those areas. 7 enough, firms" investment and R&D intensity were correlated with the happiness of the area in which they were 8 . But is it really happiness that"s linked to investment, or could something else about happier cities 9 why firms there spend more on R&D? To find out, the researchers controlled for various 10 that might make firms more likely to invest——like size, industry, and sales——and for indicators that a place was 11 to live in, like growth in wages or population. The link between happiness and investment generally 12 even after accounting for these things. The correlation between happiness and investment was particularly strong for younger firms, which the authors 13 to "less codified decision making process" and the possible presence of "younger and less 14 managers who are more likely to be influenced by sentiment." The relationship was 15 stronger in places where happiness was spread more 16 Firms seem to invest more in places where most people are relatively happy, rather than in places with happiness inequality. 17 this doesn"t prove that happiness causes firms to invest more or to take a longer-term view, the authors believe it at least 18 at that possibility. It"s not hard to imagine that local culture and sentiment would help 19 how executives think about the future. "It surely seems plausible that happy people would be more forward-thinking and creative and 20 R&D more than the average," said one researcher.

单选题Directions: Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D. Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle viewed laughter as "a bodily exercise precious to health. " But {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}some claims to the contrary, laughing probably has little influence on physical fitness Laughter does {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}short-term changes in the function of the heart and its blood vessels, {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}heart rate and oxygen consumption But because hard laughter is difficult to {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}, a good laugh is unlikely to have {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}benefits the way, say, walking or jogging does. {{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}, instead of straining muscles to build them, as exercise does, laughter apparently accomplishes the {{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}, studies dating back to the 1930's indicate that laughter {{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}muscles, decreasing muscle tone for up to 45 minutes after the laugh dies down. Such bodily reaction might conceivably help {{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}the effects of psychological stress. Anyway, the act of laughing probably does produce other types of {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}feedback, that improve an individual's emotional state. {{U}} {{U}} 11 {{/U}} {{/U}}one classical theory of emotion, our feelings are partially rooted {{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}} {{/U}}physical reactions. It was argued at the end of the 19th century that humans do not cry {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}they are sad but they become sad when the tears begin to flow. Although sadness also {{U}} {{U}} 14 {{/U}} {{/U}}tears, evidence suggests that emotions can flow {{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}} {{/U}}muscular responses. In an experiment published in 1988, social psychologist Fritz Strack of the University of wiirzburg in Germany asked volunteers to {{U}} {{U}} 16 {{/U}} {{/U}}a pen either with their teeth-thereby creating an artificial smile-or with their lips, which would produce a (n) {{U}} {{U}} 17 {{/U}} {{/U}}expression. Those forced to exercise their smiling muscles {{U}} {{U}} 18 {{/U}} {{/U}}more exuberantly to funny cartons than did those whose mouths were contracted in a frown, {{U}} {{U}} 19 {{/U}} {{/U}}that expressions may influence emotions rather than just the other way around {{U}} {{U}} 20 {{/U}} {{/U}}, the physical act of laughter could improve mood.

单选题Researchers have known for years that children whose mothers were chronically stressed during pregnancy—by famine, anxiety, the death of a relative or marital discord, for instance—show higher-than-normal rates of various psychological and behavioural disorders when they are adults. They have also known for a long time that those brought up in abusive environments often turn out to be abusive themselves. The second of these observations is usually put down to learning. The reason for the first has remained unclear. A study just published by Axel Meyer, Thomas Elbert and their colleagues at the University of Konstanz in Germany, however, points to a phenomenon called epigenetics as the likely answer. Epigenetics is a type of gene regulation that can be passed from a cell to its daughters. The most common mechanism is methylation, whose consequence is to inactivate the gene being methylated. They found that women abused during pregnancy were significantly more likely than others to have a child with methylated glucocorticoid-receptor genes. By contrast, abuse before or after pregnancy resulted in no such correlation. Nor was the mother"s own methylation affected by violence towards her. Taken together, these results suggest that glucocorticoid-receptor-gene methylation happens in the fetus in response to a mother"s stress, and persists into adolescence. This has implications for those adolescents" long-term health. Dampened glucocorticoid-receptor-gene activity has been shown to increase the risk of obesity and of depression. It also makes people more impulsive and aggressive—and therefore, if male, more likely to abuse the pregnant mothers of their children, thus perpetuating the whole sorry cycle. Why, in light of such negative effects, have humans evolved to be programmed this way while still in the womb? Part of the answer is probably that not all the negative consequences would have shown up at the time the mechanism was evolving. The other part is that some of the consequences probably have a positive effect. What can be done with such knowledge is unclear. Drugs that demethylate DNA are under development, but are still some way from approval—and, in any case, interfering with epigenetics, which is a widespread mechanism of gene regulation, is a drastic approach. The research might, though, point to the period when intervening to stop abuse will have the greatest effect. Then again, such intervention is always desirable, for the sake of both mother and child.

单选题 Picture-taking is a technique both for reflecting the objective world and for expressing the singular self. Photographs depict objective realities that already exist, though only the camera can disclose them. And they depict an individual photographer's temperament, discovering itself through the camera's cropping of reality. That is, photography has two directly opposite ideals: in the first, photography is about the world and the photographer is a mere observer who counts for little; but in the second, photography is the instrument of fearlessness, questing subjectivity and the photographer is all. These conflicting ideals arise from uneasiness on the part of both photographers and viewers of photographs toward the aggressive component in "taking" a picture. Accordingly, the ideal of a photographer as observer is attracting because it implicitly denies that picture-taking is an aggressive act. The issue, of course, is not so clear-cut. What photographers do cannot be characterized as simply predatory or as simply, and essentially, benevolent. As a consequence, one ideal of picture-taking or the other is always being rediscovered and championed. An important result of the coexistence of these two ideals is a recurrent ambivalence toward photography's means. Whatever are the claims that photography might make to be a form of personal expression just like painting, its originality is closely linked to the power of a machine. The steady growth of these powers has made possible the extraordinary informativeness and imaginative formal beauty of many photographs, like Harold Edgerton's high-speed photographs of a bullet hitting its target or of the swirls and eddies of a tennis stroke. But as cameras become more sophisticated, more automated, some photographers are tempted to disarm themselves or to suggest that they are not really armed, preferring to submit themselves to the limit imposed by pre-modern camera technology because a cruder, less high-powered machine is thought to give more interesting or emotive results, to leave more room for creative accident. For example, it has been virtually a point of honor for many photographers, including Walker Evans and Cartier Bresson, to refuse to use modern equipment. These photographers have come to doubt the value of the camera as an instrument of "fast seeing". Cartier Bresson, in fact, claims that the modern camera may see too fast. This ambivalence toward photographic means determines trends in taste. The cult of the future (of faster and faster seeing) alternates over time with the wish to return to a purer past when images had a handmade quality. This longing for some primitive state of the photographic enterprise is currently widespread and underlies the present-day enthusiasm for daguerreotypes and the work of forgotten nineteenth-century provincial photographers. Photographers and viewers of photographs, it seems, need periodically to resist their own knowingness.

单选题A truly informed diner would choose a restaurant based on the quality of the menu and the chef"s experience. The discerning investor would decide which company to back after studying the business plan and meeting the founders. In reality, people often copy the choices of others. Diners pick the crowded restaurant over the empty one. Investors go with the company that already has multiple backers. Such bandwagon effects are not necessarily irrational. Often, the buyer knows less about a product than the seller; the collective wisdom of the crowd can correct for such " asymmetric information ". Scholars are now asking whether herd behavior also prevails in labor markets. To find out, Kory Kroft of the University of Toronto devised an experiment in which they applied for 3,000 clerical, administrative, sales and customer-service jobs advertised online by submitting 12,000 fictitious CVs. The submissions were designed so that applicants with similar backgrounds, education and experience went for the same job. The only difference was how long the applicant had been jobless, a period that ranged from no time at all to as much as 36 months. They found that the odds of an applicant being called back by an employer declined steadily as the duration of unemployment rose, from 7.4% after one month without work down to 4-5% at the eight-month mark, where the call-back rate stabilized. These results, the authors say, cannot be because employers found some qualitative flaw in the longer-term unemployed that was hidden from outsiders, since the applicants were similar in other respects. Another explanation for long-term unemployment—that people make less effort to find work as their time out of the labor force lengthens—is also not applicable here. A third possibility is that employers equate lengthening unemployment with atrophying skills and thus falling productivity. But this should be true whether the economy is booming or in recession. The decline in call-back rates was much more pronounced in cities with tight labour markets; call-back rates changed relatively little when higher unemployment prevailed locally. From this, the authors infer that employers are more likely to overlook a long period of unemployment if overall economic conditions are stacked against candidates. These results strongly suggest that long-term unemployment is at least partly self-fulfilling. Like patrons who avoid restaurants purely because they are empty, employers were reluctant to hire someone other employers didn"t want.

单选题There were some consistent patterns among the heavier readers: For the younger children—ages 6 to 11—being read aloud to regularly and having restricted online time were correlated with frequent reading; for the older children—ages 12 to 17—one of the largest predictors was whether they had time to read on their own during the school day. The finding about reading aloud to children long after toddlerhood may come as a surprise to some parents who read books to children at bedtime when they were very young but then tapered off. Last summer, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced a new policy recommending that all parents read to their children from birth. "A lot of parents assume that once kids begin to read independently, that now that is the best thing for them to do," said Maggie McGuire, the vice president for a website for parents operated by Scholastic. But reading aloud through elementary school seemed to be connected to a love of reading generally. According to the report, 41 percent of frequent readers ages 6 to 10 were read aloud to at home, while only 13 percent of infrequent readers were being read to. Of course, children who love to read are generally immersed in households with lots of books and parents who like to read. So while parents who read to their children later in elementary school may encourage those children to become frequent readers on their own, such behavior can also result from "a whole constellation of other things that goes on in those families," said Timothy Shanahan, a past president of the International Reading Association. There is not yet strong research that connects reading aloud at older ages to improved reading comprehension. But some literacy experts said that when parents or teachers read aloud to children even after they can read themselves, the children can hear more complex words or stories than they might tackle themselves. "It"s this idea of marinating children in higher-level vocabulary," said Pare Allyn, founder of LitWorld.Org, a nonprofit group that works to increase literacy among young people. "The read-aloud can really lift the child." Other literacy experts say the real value of reading to children is helping to develop background knowledge in all kinds of topics as well as exposure to sophisticated language.

单选题 I had an experience some years ago which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by blaming themselves. One january, I had to officiate at two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community. Both had died "full of years," as the bible would say; both yielded to the normal wearing out of the body after a long and full life. Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence (吊唁) calls on the two families on the same afternoon. At the first home, the son of the deceased (已故的) woman said to me, "if only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold snow, she would be alive today. It's my fault that she died. " At the second home, the son of the other deceased woman said, "if only I hadn't insisted on my mother's going to Florida, she would be alive today. That long airplane ride, the abrupt change of climate, was more than she could take. It's my fault that she's dead. " When things don't turn out as we would like them to, it is very tempting to assume that had we done things differently, the story would have had a happier ending. Priests know that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty. Because the course of action they took turned out badly, they believe that the opposite course-keeping mother at home, postponing the operation—would have turned out better. After all, how could it have turned out any worse? There seem to be two elements involved in our readiness to feel guilt. The first is our pressing need to believe That the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens. That leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds. The second element is the notion that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen. It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believing that every disaster is our fault. The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood. Psychologists speak of the infantile myth of omnipotence (万能). A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it. He wakes up in the morning and summons the rest of the world to its tasks. He cries, and someone comes to attend to him. When he is hungry, people feed him, and when he is wet, people change him. Very often, we do not completely outgrow that infantile notion that our wishes cause things to happen.

单选题Latino youths need better education for Arizona to take full advantage of the possibilities their exploding population offers. Arizona"s fast-growing Latino population offers the state tremendous promise and a challenge. Even more than the aging of the baby boomers, the Latino boom is fundamentally reorienting the state"s economic and social structure. Immigration and natural increase have added 600,000 young Latino residents to the state"s population in the past decade. Half of the population younger than 18 in both Phoenix and Tucson is now Latino. Within 20 years, Latinos will make up half of the homegrown entry-level labor pool in the state"s two largest labor markets. What is more, Hispanics are becoming key economic players. Most people don"t notice it, but Latinos born in Arizona make up much of their immigrant parents" economic and educational, deficits. For example, second-generation Mexican-Americans secure an average of 12 grades of schooling where their parents obtained less than nine. That means they erase 70 percent of their parents" lag behind third-generation non-Hispanic Whites in a single generation. All of this hands the state a golden opportunity. At a time when many states will struggle with labor shortages because of modest population growth, Arizona has a priceless chance to build a populous, hardworking and skilled workforce on which to base future prosperity. The problem is that Arizona and its Latino residents may not be able to seize this opportunity. Far too many of Arizona"s Latinos drop out of high school or fail to obtain the basic education needed for more advanced study. As a result, educational deficits are holding back many Latinos—and the state as well. To be sure, construction and low-end service jobs continue to absorb tens of thousands of Latino immigrants with little formal education. But over the long term, most of Arizona"s Latino citizens remain ill-prepared to prosper in an increasingly demanding knowledge economy. For the reason, the educational uplift of Arizona"s huge Latino population must move to the center of the state"s agenda. After all, the education deficits of Arizona"s Latino population will severely cramp the fortunes of hardworking people if they go unaddressed and could well undercut the state"s ability to compete in the new economy. At the entry level, slower growth rates may create more competition for low-skill jobs, displacing Latinos from a significant means of support. At the higher end, shortages of Latinos educationally ready to move up will make it much harder for knowledge-based companies staff to get high-skill positions.

单选题Amazon today unveiled Dash Buttons, an easy way for customers to 1 select bulk goods 2 an internet-connected button, and yesterday 3 Home Services, an on-demand installation and handyman service. Combined, they show that the e-commerce giant has a clear understanding of how the Internet-of-things will 4 its business. And it isn"t going to be shy about capitalizing on connectivity to build its bottom line. Dash Buttons are an adaptation of Amazon"s 5 -controlled Dash ordering system that lets people speak to order new 6 items. So 7 Amazon has is a retrofit strategy for connecting smart appliances to its e-commerce operations and a future-facing strategy for the coming flood of 8 devices. And all of this is geared around making buying products from Amazon as easy as possible. The 9 of one-button tasks are appealing, 10 it could lead to a 11 of packages ending up at people"s doors if Amazon doesn"t try to 12 waste on its end, by grouping shipments together when possible. People on Twitter seem mostly 13 about pets and small children playing with the Dash Buttons and ordering multiples of their Kraft Macaroni and Cheese boxes, although Amazon notes that 14 the button is pressed more than once, the order doesn"t go 15 on the second time, and you"ll get a smartpbone notification about it. Amazon also recently launched Home Services, following up on last year"s opening of a home automation e-store devoted to connected gadgets for the home—many of which require a 16 in staller. So now Amazon can sell these devices along with the person who can install them. It also is 17 on maintenance, via a network of service providers that it can call 18 for its network of suppliers or for its own planned connected home play. With Dash, it"s 19 an offensive play to 20 up more sales as devices come online. With Amazon Home Services, it"s making a defensive play as other large companies try to become more vertically integrated.

单选题 It looked just like another aircraft from the outside. The pilot told his young passengers that it was built in 1964.But appearances were deceptive, and the 13 students from Europe and the USA who boarded the aircraft were in for the flight of their lives. Inside, the area that normally had seats had become a long white tunnel. Heavily padded (填塞) from floor to ceiling, it looked a bit strange. There were almost no windows, but lights along the padded walls illuminated it. Most of the seats had been taken out, apart from a few at the back, where the young scientists quickly took their places with a look of fear. For 12 months, science students from across the continents had competed to win a place on the flight at the invention of the European Space Agency. The challenge had been to suggest imaginative experiments to be conducted in weightless conditions. For the next two hours, the flight resembled that of an enormous bird which had lost its reason, shooting upwards towards the heavens before rushing towards Earth. The invention was to achieve weightlessness for a few seconds. The aircraft took off smoothly enough, but any feelings that I and the young scientists had that we were on anything like a scheduled passenger service were quickly dismissed when the pilot put the plane into a 45—degree climb which lasted around 20 seconds. Then the engines cut out and we became weightless. Everything became confused and left or right, up or down no longer had any meaning. After ten seconds of free-fall descent (下降) the pilot pulled the aircraft out of its nosedive. The return of gravity was less immediate than its loss, but was still sudden enough to ensure that some students came down with a bump. Each time the pilot cut the engines and we became weightless, a new team conducted its experiment. First it was the Dutch who wanted to discover how it is that cats always land on their feet. Then the German team who conducted a successful experiment on a traditional building method to see if it could be used for building a future space station. The Americans had an idea to create solar sails that could be used by satellites. After two hours of going up and down in the lane doing their experiments, the predominant feeling was one of excitement rather than sickness. Most of the students thought it was an unforgettable experience and one they would be keen to repeat.

单选题 As a wise man once said, we are all ultimately alone. But an increasing number of Europeans are choosing to be so at an ever earlier age. This isn't the stuff of gloomy philosophical contemplations, but a fact of Europe's new economic landscape, embraced by sociologists, real-estate developers and ad executives alike. The shift away from family life to solo lifestyle, observes a French sociologist, is part of the "irresistible momentum of individualism" over the last century. The communications revolution, the shift form a business culture of stability to one of mobility and the mass entry of women into the workforce have greatly wreaked havoc (扰乱) Europeans' private lives. Europe's new economic climate has largely fostered the trend toward independence. The current generation of home-aloners came of age during Europe's shift form social democracy to the sharper, more individualistic climate of American-style capitalism. Raised in an era of privatization and increased consumer choice, today's tech-savvy (精通技术的) workers have embraced a free and temperamentally independent enough to want to do so. Once upon a time, people who lived alone tended to be those on either side of marriage-twenty something professionals or widowed senior citizens. While pensioners, particularly elderly women, make up a large proportion of those living alone, the newest crop of singles are high earners in their 30s and 40s who increasingly view living alone as a lifestyle choice. Living alone was conceived to be negative— dark and cold, while being together suggested warmth and light. But then came along the idea of singles. They were young, beautiful, strong ! Now, young people want to live alone. The booming economy means people are working harder than ever. And that doesn't leave much room for relationships. Pimpi Arroyo, a 35-year-old composer who lives alone in a house in Paris, says he hasn't got time to get lonely because he has too much work. "I have deadlines which would make life with someone else fairly difficult. " Only an Ideal Woman would make him change his lifestyle, he says. Kaufann, author of a recent book called "The Single Woman and Prince Charming", thinks this fierce new individualism means that people expect more and more of mates, so relationships don't last long—if they start at all. Eppendorf, a blond Berliner with a dee tan teaches grade school in the mornings. In the afternoon she sunbathes or sleeps, resting up for going dancing. Just shy of 50, she says she'd never have wanted to do what her mother did—give up a career to raise a family. Instead, "I've always done what I wanted to do: live a self-determined life. "

单选题As a wise man once said, we are all ultimately alone. But an increasing number of Europeans are choosing to be so at an ever earlier age. This isn"t the stuff of gloomy philosophical contemplations, but a fact of Europe"s new economic landscape, embraced by sociologists, realestate developers and ad executives alike. The shift away from family life to solo lifestyle, observes a French sociologist, is part of the "irresistible momentum of individualism" over the last century. The communications revolution, the shift from a business culture of stability to one of mobility and the mass entry of women into the workforce have greatly wreaked havoc on Europeans private lives. Europe"s new economic climate has largely fostered the trend toward independence. The current generation of home-aloners came of age during Europe"s shift from social democracy to the sharper, more individualistic climate of American-style capitalism. Raised in an era of privatization and increased consumer choice, today"s tech-savvy workers have embraced a free market in love as well as economics. Modem Europeans are rich enough to afford to live alone, and temperamentally independent enough to want to do so. Once upon a time, people who lived alone tended to be those on either side of marriage twenty something professionals or widowed senior citizens. While pensioners, particularly elderly women, make up a large proportion of those living alone, the newest crop of singles are high earners in their 30s and 40s who increasingly view living alone as a lifestyle choice. Living alone was conceived to be negative—dark and cold, while being together suggested warmth and light. But then came along the idea of singles. They were young, beautiful, strong! Now, young people want to live alone. The booming economy means people are working harder than ever. And that doesn"t leave much room for relationships. Pimpi Arroyo, a 35-year-old composer who lives alone in a house in Paris, says he hasn"t got time to get lonely because he has too much work. "I have deadlines which would make life with someone else fairly difficult." Only an Ideal Woman would make him change his lifestyle, he says. Kaufmann, author of a recent book called "The Single Woman and Prince Chaming" thinks this fierce new individualism means that people expect more and more of mates, so relationships don"t last long—if they start at all. Eppendorf, a blond Berliner with a deep tan, teaches grade school in the mornings. In the afternoon she sunbathes or sleeps, resting up for going dancing. Just shy of 50, she says she"d never have wanted to do what her mother did—give up a career to raise a family. Instead, "I"ve always done what I wanted to do: live a self-determined life."

单选题Like a tired marriage, the relationship between libraries and publishers has long been reassuringly dull. E-books, however, are causing heartache. Libraries know they need digital wares if they are to remain valuable, but many publishers are too wary of piracy and lost sales to co-operate. Among the big six, only Random House and HarperCollins license e-books with most libraries. The others have either denied requests or are reluctantly experimenting. In August, for example, Penguin will start a pilot with public libraries in New York. Electronic borrowing is awfully convenient. Unlike printed books, which must be checked out and returned to a physical library miles from where you live, electronic book files can be downloaded at home. Digital library catalogues are often browsed at night, from a comfy sofa. The files disappear from the device when they are due (which means no late fees, nor angst about lost or damaged tomes). E-lending is not simple, however. There are lots of different and often incompatible e-book formats, devices and licences. Most libraries use a company called OverDrive, a global distributor that secures rights from publishers and provides e-books and audio files in every format. Some 35 million titles were checked out through OverDrive in 2011, and the company now sends useful data on borrowing behavior to participating publishers. Yet publishers and libraries are worried by Over-Drive"s market dominance, as the company can increasingly dictate fees and conditions. Publishers were miffed when OverDrive teamed up with Amazon, the world"s biggest online bookseller, last year. Owners of Amazon"s Kindle e-reader who want to borrow e-books from libraries are now redirected to Amazon"s website, where they must use their Amazon account to secure a loan. Amazon then follows up with library patrons directly, letting them know they can "Buy this book" when the loan falls due. So publishers keep tweaking their lending arrangements in search of the right balance. Random House raised its licensing prices earlier this year, and HarperCollins limits libraries to lending its titles 26 times. Penguin plans to keep new releases out of libraries for at least six months, and each book will expire after a year. Hachette is engaged in some secret experiments, and the others are watching with bated breath. In Britain the government will soon announce a review of the matter. The story of the library e-book is a nail-biter.

单选题Directions: There are 20 blanks in the following passage. For each blank there are four choices marked A, B, C or D on the right side of the paper. You should choose the ONE that best fits into the passage. Research on animal intelligence always makes me wonder just how smart humans are. {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}the fruit-fly experiments described in Carl Zimmer's piece in the Science Times on Tuesday. Fruit flies who were taught to be smarter than the average fruit fly {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}to live shorter lives. This suggests that {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}bulbs burn longer, that there is an {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}in not being too terrifically bright. Intelligence, it {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}, is a high-priced option. It takes more upkeep, burns more fuel and is slow {{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}the starting line because it depends on learuing—a {{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}process—instead of instinct. Plenty of other species are able to learn, and one of the things they've apparently learned is when to {{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}. Is there an adaptive value to {{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}intelligence? That's the question behind this new research. I like it. Instead of casting a wistful glance, {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}at all the species we've left in the dust I. Q. -wise, it implicitly asks what the real {{U}} {{U}} 11 {{/U}} {{/U}}of our own intelligence might be. This is {{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}} {{/U}}the mind of every animal I've ever met. Research on animal intelligence also makes me wonder what experiments animals would {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}on humans if they had the chance. Every cat with an owner, {{U}} {{U}} 14 {{/U}} {{/U}}, is running a small-scale study in operant conditioning. We believe that {{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}} {{/U}}animals ran the labs, they would test us to {{U}} {{U}} 16 {{/U}} {{/U}}the limits of our patience, our faithfulness, our memory for terrain. They would try to decide what intelligence in humans is really {{U}} {{U}} 17 {{/U}} {{/U}}, not merely how much of it there is. {{U}} {{U}} 18 {{/U}} {{/U}}, they would hope to study a {{U}} {{U}} 19 {{/U}} {{/U}}question: Are humans actually aware of the world they live in? {{U}} {{U}} 20 {{/U}} {{/U}}the results are inconclusive.

单选题Anonymity is not something which was invented with the Internet. Anonymity and pseudonymity has occurred throughout history. For example, William Shakespeare is probably a pseudonym, and the real name of this 1 author is not known and will probably never be known. Anonymity has been used for many purposes. A well-known person may use a pseudonym to write messages, where the person does not want people"s 2 of the real author 3 their perception of the message. Also other people may want to 4 certain information about themselves in order to achieve a more 5 evaluation of their messages. A case in point is that in history it has been 6 that women used male pseudonyms, and for Jews to use pseudonyms in societies where their 7 was persecuted. Anonymity is often used to protect the 8 of people, for example when reporting results of a scientific study, when describing individual cases. Many countries even have laws which protect anonymity in certain circumstances. For instance, a person may, in many countries, consult a priest, doctor or lawyer and 9 personal information which is protected. In some 10 , for example confession in catholic churches, the confession booth is specially 11 to allow people to consult a priest, 12 seeing him face to face. The anonymity in 13 situations is however not always 100%. Ira person tells a lawyer that he plans a 14 crime, some countries allow or even 15 that the lawyer tell the 16 . The decision to do so is not easy, since people who tell a priest or a psychologist that they plan a crime, may often do this to 17 their feeling more than their real intention. Many countries have laws protecting the anonymity of tip-offs to newspapers. It is regarded as 18 that people can give tips to newspapers about abuse, even though they are dependent 19 the organization they are criticizing and do not dare reveal their real name. Advertisement in personal sections in newspapers are also always signed by a pseudonym for 20 reasons.

单选题Cars account for half the oil consumed in the U.S., about half the urban pollution and one fourth the greenhouse (温室) gases. They take a similar toll of (损耗) resources in other industrial nations and in the cities of the developing world. As vehicle use continues to increase in the coming decade, the U.S. and other countries will have to deal with these issues or else face unacceptable economic, health-related and political costs. It is unlikely that oil prices will remain at their current low level or that other nations will accept a large and growing U.S. contribution to global climatic change. Policymakers and industry have four solutions: reduce vehicle use, increase the efficiency and reduce the emissions of conventional gasoline-powered vehicles, switch to less harmful fuels, or find less polluting driving systems. The last of these—in particular the introduction of vehicles powered by electricity—is ultimately the only sustainable option. The other alternatives are attractive in theory but in practice are either impractical or offer only marginal improvements. For example, reduced vehicle use could solve traffic problems and a host of social and environmental problems, but evidence from around the world suggests that it is very difficult to make people give up their cars to any significant extent. In the U.S., mass-transit ridership and carpooling (合伙用车) have declined since World War Ⅱ. Even in Western Europe, with fuel prices averaging more than $1 a liter (about $4 a gallon) and with easily accessible mass transit and dense populations, cars still account for 80 percent of all passenger travel. Improved energy efficiency is also appealing, but automotive fuel economy has barely made any progress in 10 years. Alternative fuels such as natural gas, burned in internal-combustion engines, could be introduced at relatively low cost, but they would lead to only marginal reductions in pollution and greenhouse emissions (especially because oil companies are already spending billions of dollars every year to develop less polluting types of gasoline).

单选题Once inside the retail location, the shopper receives continuous messages at three levels. Store atmosphere is the overall setting of the store, its design, lighting, fixture, color, and sound. These are developed to convey a mood or feeling that separates the store from others that sell similar merchandise. The more similar the product offerings of competitors, the more important it is to create a unique environment. By going into any large shopping mall and walking from one clothing store to another, a shopper can easily experience atmosphere differences. One store will be brightly lit with colorful plastic racks and wails. Another will be in seeming disarray, with loud rock music and strobe lights (闪光灯). A third will have a wood décor, soft lights, and soft music. Each type of atmosphere is aimed at a particular target market, and each serves as a screen to tell shoppers whether or not they will feel comfortable in the store and what type of merchandise they might expect. "Establishing a mood of shopping ambiance has never been more important than it is now," says Lois Patrich, vice president of sales promotion and advertising with Carson Pirie Scott ＆ Co., a Chicago-based retailer. "Department stores have always had an advantage of merchandise that you can get at any store. How then does a retail get a customer to buy at his store? By creating a shopping atmosphere that will motivate him to buy and one that he wants to come back to." Store layout is the arrangement of merchandise to facilitate shopping. The layout tells consumers how to proceed through the store and what pace is expected. An open layout invites shoppers to browse. A cluttered layout sends a signal of business and rushing. An effective layout maximizes customer exposure to merchandise and keeps the customer in the store longer. Studies show that the longer the customer is in the store, the more money is spent. The layout also should have the high-margin merchandise in the high-traffic areas and the most desired merchandise in the back so that consumers must walk past many other goods. In a supermarket, for example, the meats, dairy products, and produce have the greatest constant demand and are placed at the perimeters so shoppers will need to pass other products to get to them. Merchandise display refers to the organization of goods at a specific place in the store"s layout. Displays communicate at still another level to attract attention to the product, enhance product appeal, and increase the shopper"s propensity to purchase. While the tasks might lead the display design in one direction, the display also needs to be consistent with the store"s atmosphere.

单选题Kelly Sortino had a tough time recalling what she"d accomplished at the end of each busy workday. Her job as head of the upper school for the Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, Calif., often 1 working 12-hour days, including weekends and evenings. She enjoyed the 2 but worried that she wasn"t accomplishing everything she needed to. "I felt as if I wasn"t really having the time to do more of the strategic and 3 work to make those larger changes at the school." says Ms. Sortino. She decided to 4 a workshop at Stanford University on how to simplify work processes and reduce waste. She learned, 5 , to block out her time more efficiently and minimize distractions. She also 6 herself to systematically completing her daily task list and to completely clearing her email inbox and workspace on a regular 7 . The changes 8 a marked improvement in her time management. Ms. Sortino 9 works on weekends, but only as needed. It"s a tough time to be productive. Globalization, increased competition and the jarring immediacy of technology have made it difficult for modern employees to 10 on top of their growing workloads while maintaining a good work-life balance. 11 , experts say small adjustments to how employees 12 work can have a big impact on their workplace efficiency. Learn to prioritize and to commit yourself to working in 13 blocks of time throughout the day. A 2009 Stanford University study found that multitasking is less productive than single-tasking and that many self-proclaimed multitaskers have difficulty 14 out irrelevant information, further 15 their performance. It"s especially important to 16 what motivates the decisions your boss makes. Most subordinates have an employee-centric view 17 their managers, which tends not to be accurate. A better understanding of your boss can help you to "sell" the advice about 18 changes that can benefit the department and company. 19 with your boss to prioritize important work and eliminate unproductive tasks. Employees may think changing job functions is risky, 20 being proactive can impress your boss.

单选题Women are moody. By evolutionary design, we are hard-wired to be sensitive to our environments, empathic to our children"s needs and intuitive of our partners" intentions. This is basic to our survival and that of our offspring. Some research suggests that women are often better at articulating their feelings than men because as the female brain develops, more capacity is reserved for language, memory, hearing and observing emotions in others. These are observations rooted in biology, not intended to mesh with any kind of pro- or anti-feminist ideology. But they do have social implications. Women"s emotionality is a sign of health, not disease; it is a source of power. But we are under constant pressure to restrain our emotional lives. We have been taught to apologize for our tears, to suppress our anger and to fear being called hysterical. The pharmaceutical industry plays on that fear, targeting women in a barrage of advertising on daytime talk shows and in magazines. More Americans are on psychiatric medications than ever before, and in my experience they are staying on them far longer than was ever intended. Sales of an tidepressants and antianxiety meds have been booming in the past two decades, and they"ve recently been outpaced by an antipsychotic, Abilify, that is the No. 1 seller among all drugs in the United States, not just psychiatric ones. At least one in four women in America now takes a psychiatric medication, compared with one in seven men. Women are nearly twice as likely to receive a diagnosis of depression or anxiety disorder than men are. For many women, these drugs greatly improve their lives. But for others they aren"t necessary. The increase in prescriptions for psychiatric medications, often by doctors in other specialties, is creating a new normal, encouraging more women to seek chemical assistance. Whether a woman needs these drugs should be a medical decision, not a response to peer pressure and consumerism. Obviously, there are situations where psychiatric medications are called for. The problem is too many genuinely ill people remain untreated, mostly because of socioeconomic factors. People who don"t really need these drugs are trying to medicate a normal reaction to an unnatural set of stressors: lives without nearly enough sleep, sunshine, nutrients, movement and eye contact, which is crucial to us as social primates.