单选题Drinking wastewater? The idea may sound distasteful, but new federally funded research says more Americans are doing so — whether they know or not — and this reuse will be increasingly necessary as the U. S. population expands. Treated wastewater poses no greater health risks than existing water supplies and, in some cases, may be even safer to drink, according to a report released by the National Research Council, " We believe water reuse is an option to deal with growing water scarcity, especially in coastal areas," says Jorg Drowes, an engineering professor at the Colorado School of Mines. "This can be done reliably without putting the public at risk," he says, citing technological advances. He says it's a waste not to reuse the nation's wastewater, because almost all of it is treated before discharge. This water includes storm runoff(径流)as well as used water from homes, businesses and factories. In many places, the report says, the public does not realize it's drinking water that was treated after being discharged as wastewater somewhere upstream. For example, wastewater discharged into the Trinity River from Dallas/Fort Worth flows south into Lake Livingston, the source for Houston's drinking water. Despite the growing importance of this reuse, the report says there's been no systemic analysis of its extent nationwide since a 1980 study by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency(EPA). Alan Roberson of the American Water Works Association says wastewater reuse is common, so the council's report is important but not surprising. Roberson expects this recycling will continue to increase, especially for irrigation and industrial needs. He says it will take longer to establish potable(适于饮用的)uses because of public nervousness about drinking wastewater, however treated. "We have to do something to address water scarcity," says Olga Naidenko, a senior scientist at the non-profit Environmental Working Group. " Less than 10% of potable water is used for drinking, cooking, showering or dishwashing. We flush it down the toilet, literally. " Technologies exist to safely treat the water, she says, although some are expensive. The report says water reuse projects tend to cost more than most water conservation options but less than seawater desalination(脱盐)and other supply alternatives. It calls on the EPA to develop rules that set safe national standards.

单选题The position of Burleigh School in the English educational system would be very difficult to explain to a foreigner (who has, God knows, enough to contend with in comprehending the other parts of the system). Nor would it be possible to refer him to any works of literature (before the present one) from which he could gain enlightenment. The prep schools have had their Orwell, the public schools their Connolly and Benedictus, the convent schools their Antonia White, the private boarding schools their Waugh and Nicolas Blake. No one has thought it worth their while to eulogize or anathematize schools like Burleigh. Indeed, schools like Burleigh do not seem the sort of places from which writers emerge. And yet, any medium-sized town in the southern half of England has its Burleigh School: a private day school to which, for a not too exorbitant fee, parents can send their children and boast that they are privately educated. Not well educated, but privately. Burleigh itself had been founded--no, started--between the wars, had survived the Depression (as the South of England middle classes in general had so signally managed to coast blithely through the Depression) and had offered over the years an alternative to the Grammar, Secondary Modern and Technical Schools of the town of Cullbridge. Which meant, in effect, that though some parents chose to send their children there rather than to the Grammar School, many more sent them there because they failed their eleven-plus, that Beecher's Brook of English childhood. With the coming of comprehensive education three years before, even the faint whiff of privilege attached to the Grammar School had evaporated, a fact on which Burleigh had been able to capitalize, in a mild way. Foreigners are always apt to find charming the examples they come across of quaint anachronisms, of dated anomalies, in English life. One such charming and dated anomaly is that a school like Burleigh can be bought. A man--any man--can buy such a place, set himself up as headmaster, and run it as he likes. Indeed, that is precisely what Edward Crumwallis had done. He had bought it from its previous aging owner/headmaster in 1969, and had been there ever since. This must not be taken to imply that Edward Crumwallis was unfit for his position. He was in fact a BA (3rd class, Geography), from the University of Hull (graduated 1948). Still, scholarship was not exactly his thing. He might take the odd class in Geography in a pinch, but he had never given the subject any particular prominence in the school, and most boys gave it up after two years. Nor was Crumwallis anxious to take over periods in other subjects when there was need--as in cases of sickness or (frequently) death. Since his graduation he had not cultivated Learning. He had cultivated Manner. He had bought Burleigh (which he invariably called The Burleigh School, in capitals) precisely so that his manner might be given free reign and ample pasturage. A very good manner it was too, with parents-- decidedly impressive, ft certainly impressed those of limited intelligence, among whom may be numbered-Crumwallis himself. He really believed in it: he not only thought that others should remain silent during his threadbare pontifications, but he actually believed they would benefit from them. Such a conspicuous lack of self-knowledge had its dangers. Not that the Manner--which he intended should be so admired later in the week On Parents' Evening--was particularly in evidence on the Monday, as he sat at his study desk and went over the plans for that event with his wife. The side of Edward Crumwallis that was most evident during such t·te-·-·tes was the petty-minded, niggling side that his psychological profile seldom turned in the parents' direction. "The question is, shall we splurge on the coffee and scrimp on the tea, or vice versa," he said.

单选题Talks on climate change resumed in the German city of Bonn on July 16 to combat global warming.

单选题 Most of us find the forgetting easier, but maybe we should work on the forgiving part. "Holding on to hurts and nursing grudges wear you down physically and emotionally," says Stanford University psychologist Fred Luskin, author of Forgive for Good. "Forgiving someone can be a powerful antidote." In a recent study, Charlotte, assistant/associate professor of psychology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan; and this colleagues asked 71 volunteers to remember a past hurt. Tests recorded the highest blood pressure, heart rate and muscle tension—the same responses that occur when people are angry. Research has linked anger and heart disease. When the volunteers were asked to imagine empathizing, even forgiving those who had wronged them, they remained calm by comparison. What's more, forgiveness can be learned, insists Luskin, director of the Stanford Forgive- ness Project, "We teach people to rewrite their story in their minds, to change from victim to he- m. If the hurt is from a spouse's infidelity, we might encourage them to think of themselves not only as a person who was cheated on, but as the person who tried to keep the marriage together. Two years ago, Luskin tested his method on 5 Northern Irish women whose sons had been murdered. After undergoing a week of forgiveness training, the women's sense of hurt, measured using psychological tests, had fallen by more than half. They were also much less likely to feel depressed and angry. "Forgiving isn't about forgetting what happened," says Luskin. "It is about breaking free of the person who wronged us." The early signs that forgiving improves overall health are promising: A survey of 1,423 adults by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research in 2001 found that people who had forgiven someone in their past also reported being in better health than those who hadn't. However, while 75% said they were sure God had forgiven them for past mistakes, only52% had been able to find it in their hearts to forgive others. Forgiveness; it seems, is still divine.

单选题Most nurses are women, but in the higher ranks of the medical profession women are in a ______. [A] scarcity [B] minority [C] minimum [D] shortage

单选题The manufacturer was forced to return the money to the consumers under ______ of law. A. guideline B. definition C. constraint D. idetity

单选题Simon's letter was in such a casual scrawl, and in such pale ink, that it was ______. A. vague B. ambiguous C. illegible D. obscure

单选题Distance education is different from self-study in that it ______.

单选题Language, like food, is a basic human need without which a child at a critical period of life might be______ and damaged. (2004年武汉大学考博试题)

单选题The department store guards were nearly ______ by the crowds of shoppers waiting for the sale to begin. A. overflowed B. overthrown C. overturned D. overwhelmed

单选题The last decade has seen a tremendous expansion of scientific knowledge in human genetics. Our understanding of human genes and of the genetic basis of disease has grown dramatically. Currently, more than 4,000 diseases are known to be genetic and are passed on in families. Moreover, it is now known that alterations in our genes play a role in such common conditions as heart disease, diabetes, and many types of cancer. The identification of disease-related genes has led to an increase in the number of available genetic tests that detect disease or an individual's risk of disease. New tests arc being developed to detect colon cancer, breast cancer, and other conditions. Scientists are concerned not only that gene tests offered are reliable, but also that patients and health care professionals understand the limitations of such testing. The disclosure of test results could inflict psychological harm to a patient if safe and effective interventions are not also available. Gene testing involves examining a person's DNA-taken from cells "in a sample of blood or, occasionally, from other body fluids or tissues—for some anomaly that flags a disease or disorder. In addition to studying genes, genetic testing in a broader sense includes biochemical tests for the presence or absence of key proteins that signal aberrant genes. The most widespread type of genetic testing is newborn screening. Each year in the United States, four million newborn infants have blood samples tested for abnormal or missing gene products. Some tests look for abnormal arrangements of the chemical bases in the gene itself, while other tests detect inborn errors by verifying the absence of a protein that the cell needs to function normally. Carrier testing can be used to help couples to learn if they carry—and thus risk passing to their children. Genetic tests—biochemical and DNA-based—also are widely available for the prenatal diagnosis of conditions such as Down syndrome. Much of the current excitement in gene testing centers on predictive gene testing: tests that identify people who are at risk of getting a disease, before any symptoms appear. Tests are already available in research programs for some two dozen diseases, and as more disease genes are discovered, more gene tests can be expected. Tests for a few rare cancers are already in clinical use. Predictive gene tests for more common types of cancer are still primarily a research tool, difficult to execute and available only through research programs to small numbers of people who have a strong family history of disease. But the field of gene testing is evolving rapidly, with new genes being discovered almost daily and innovations in testing arriving almost as quickly.

单选题Opinion poll surveys show that the public see scientists in a rather unflattering light. They are seen as cold, humorless, remote and unwilling (or unable) to communicate their specialized knowledge to ordinary people. Commonly, the scientist is also seen as being male: the characteristics listed above are popularly associated with "maleness". It is true that most scientists are male, but the picture of science as male activity may be a major reason why fewer girls than boys opt for science, except when it comes to biology, which is seen as "female". The image most people have of science and scientists comes from their own experience of school science, and from the mass media. Science teachers themselves see it as a problem that so many school pupils find school science and unsatisfying experience, though over the last few years more and more pupils, including girls, have opted for science subjects. In spite of excellent documentaries, and some good popular science magazines, scientific stories in the media still usually alternate between miracle and scientific threat. The popular stereotype of science is like the magic of fairy tales: it has potential for enormous good or awful hen. Popular fiction is full of "good" scientists saving the world, and "mad" scientists trying to destroy it. From all the many scientific stories which might be given media treatment, those which are chosen are usually those which can be framed in terms of the usual news angles: novelty, threat, conflict or the bizarre. The routine and often tedious work of the scientist slips from view, to be replaced with a picture of scientists forever offending public moral sensibilities (as in embryo research), threatening public health (as in weapons research), or fighting it out with each other (in giving evidence at public enquiries such as those held on the issues connected with nuclear power). The mass media also tend to over-personalize scientific work, depicting it as the product of individual genius, while neglecting the social organization which makes scientific work possible. A further effect of this is that science comes to be seen as a thing in itself: a kind of unpredictable force; a tide of scientific progress. It is no such thing, of course. Science is what scientists do; what they do is what a particular kind of society facilitates, and what is done with their work depends very much on who has the power to turn their discoveries into technology, and what their interests are.

单选题The author wants to tell us that America ______.

单选题He believed that the greatest of his ______ was that he'd never had a college education.

单选题By the mid-nineteenth century, the term "ice-box" had entered the American language, but ice was still only beginning to affect the diet of ordinary citizens in the United States: The ice trade grew with the growth of cities. Ice was used in hotels, taverns, and hospitals, and by some forward-looking city dealers in fresh meat, fresh fish, and butter. After the Civil War (1861-1865), as ice was used to refrigerate freight cars, it also came into household use. Even before 1880, half the ice sold in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, and one-third of that sold in Boston and Chicago, went to families for their own use. This had become possible because a new household convenience, the icebox, a precursor of the modem refrigerator, had been invented. Making an efficient icebox was not as easy as we might now suppose: In the early nineteenth century, the knowledge of heat, which was essential to a science of refrigeration, was rudimentary. The commonsense notion that the best icebox was one that prevented the ice from melting was of course mistaken, for it was the melting of ice that performed the cooling. Nevertheless, early efforts to economize ice included wrapping the ice in blankets, which kept the ice from doing its job. Not until near the end of the nineteenth century did inventors achieve the delicate balance of insulation and circulation needed for an efficient icebox. But as early as 1803, an ingenious Maryland farmer, Thomas Moore, had been on the right track. He owned a farm about twenty miles outside the city of Washington, for which the village of Georgetown was the market center. When he used an icebox of his own design to transport his butter to market, he found that customers would pass up the rapidly melting stuff in the tubs of his competitors to pay a premium price for his butter, still fresh and hard in neat, one-pound bricks. One advantage of his icebox, Moore explained, was that farmers would no longer have to travel to market at night in order to keep their produce cool.

单选题From the last paragraph we can see that ______.

单选题The editorial described drug abuse as the greatest calamity of our age.

单选题The passage uses the term "vegetative forms" to refer to ______.

单选题Can a novelist remain______to the problems of the world in which he lives?

单选题For the cast of this mighty epic, Vidal ______ his brilliant family and social connections, which included Mary Pick ford, Marion Davies and throngs for the political world.