单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} Every second in the United States alone, more then 250 animals are slaughtered for food, adding up to more than 8 billion animals each year. Reducing the amount of meat in one's diet is nutritionally, environmentally, and ethically beneficial. People who eat meat usually have weaker immune systems compared to those of vegetarians. Meat has been directly linked to diabetes, obesity, arthritis, and many other illnesses. Furthermore, meat-eaters are at a higher risk for diseases, including cancer, and they are more likely to die from these diseases. Critics say that a meatless diet does not provide enough nutrients, especially protein end iron. Actually, according to A Teen's Guide to Going Vegetarian, by Judy Krizmanic, protein is found in almost every food, and iron appears in many vegetables. Getting enough nutrients in a meat-reduced diet should not be difficult. A 1988 study found that some of the highest pesticide residues appear in meat and eggs. Diets including more fruits and vegetables will only make people healthier. Some skeptics believe that there will be a shortage of food if animals are not eaten. In fact, the opposite is true. More than 80% of the com and 95% of the oats grown in the U.S. are fed to livestock. The world's cattle alone consume enough food to equal the caloric needs of 8.7 billion people, more than the entire human population. One half of the water used in the Unites States also goes to livestock; 250 gallons of water produces only 11b. (=pound) of beef. If people eat less meat and more plants, the amount of available food will increase. Many people become vegetarians because they feel that eating animals is unethical. 90% of these animals are raised in confinement. Chickens and other birds have only about half a square foot of space each, and since they are raised so close together, a hot blade is used to cut off their beaks to prevent them from pecking each other to death. Likewise, pigs that are repressed will bite each other's tails, so both their teeth and tails are removed as soon as they are born. Eating animals is hazardous in numerous ways. Even a slight reduction in meat intake is better than nothing at all. Consuming less meat is beneficial to the health of animals, the health of people, and the health of the world.

单选题Abortion The word alone causes civil conversation to flee the room. This is largely because the pro-choice and pro-life positions are being defined by their extremes, by those who scream accusations instead of arguments. More reasonable voices and concerns, on both sides of the fence, are given little attention. For example, pro-life extremists seem unwilling to draw distinctions between some abortions and others, such as those resulting from rape with an underage child. They would make no exception in the recent real-life case of a woman who discovered in her fifth month that her baby would be born dead due to severe disabilities. On the other hand, pro-choice extremists within feminism insist on holding inconsistent positions. The pregnant woman has an unquestionable right to abort, they claim. Yet if the biological father has no say whatsoever over the woman's choice, is it reasonable to impose legalobligations upon him for child support? Can absolute legal obligation adhere without some sort of corresponding legal rights? The only hope for progress in the abortion dialogue lies in the great excluded middle, in the voices of average people who see something wrong with a young girl forced to bear the baby of a rapist. Any commentary on abortion should include a statement of the writer's position. I represent what seems to be a growing "middle ground" in pro-choice opinion. Legally, I believe in the right of every human being to medically control everything under his or her own skin. Many things people have a legal right to do, however, seem clearly wrong to me: adultery, lying to friends, walking past someone who is bleeding on the street~ Some forms of abortion fall into that category. Morally speaking, my doubts have become so extreme that I could not undergo the procedure past the first three months and I would attempt to dissuade friends from doing so. Partial-birth abortion has thrown many pro-choice advocates into moral chaos. I find it impossible to view photos of late-term abortion--the fetus' contorted features, the tiny fully formed hands, the limbs ripped apart--without experiencing nausea. This reaction makes me ineffectual in advocating the absolute right to abortion. I stand by the principle, "a woman's body, a woman's right" but I don't always like myself for doing so. Fanatics on both sides are using reprehensible and deceitful tactics. An honest dialogue on abortion must start by re-setting the stage, by denouncing the approaches that block communication.

单选题We'd better ______ the whole placein case it's been bugged. A. leave alone B. check out C. take down D. pull down

单选题The woman was worried about the side effects of taking aspirins, but her doctor______her that it is absolutely harmless. A. retrieved B. released C. reassured D. reviewed

单选题To live in the United States today is to gain an appreciation for Dahrendoff's assertion that social change exists everywhere. Technology, the application of knowledge for practical ends, is a major source of social change. Yet we would do well to remind ourselves that technology is a human creation; it does not exist naturally. A spear or a robot is as much a cultural as a physical object. Until humans use a spear to hunt game or a robot to produce machine parts, neither is much more than a solid mass of matter. For a bird looking for an object on which to rest, a spear or robot serves the purpose equally well. The explosion of the Challenger space shuttle and the Russian nuclear accident at Chernobyl drive home the human quality of technology; they provide cases in which well-planned systems suddenly went haywire and there was no ready hand to set them right, Since technology is a human creation, we are responsible for what is done with it. Pessimists worry that we will use out technology eventually to blow our world and ourselves to pieces. But they have been saying this for decades, and so far we have managed to survive and even flourish. Whether we will continue to do so in the years ahead remains uncertain. Clearly, the impact of technology on our lives deserves a closer examination. Few technological developments have had a greater impact on our lives than the computer revolution. Scientists and engineers have designed specialized machines that can do the tasks that once only people could do. There are those who assert that the switch to an information-based economy is in the same camp as other great historical milestones, particularly the Industrial Revolution. Yet when we ask why the Industrial Revolution was a revolution, we find that it was not the machines. The primary reason why it was revolutionary is that it led to great social change. It gave rise to mass production and, through mass production, to a society in which wealth was not confined to the few. In somewhat similar fashion, computers promise to revolutionize the structure of American life, particularly as they free the human mind and open new possibilities in knowledge and communication. The Industrial Revolution supplemented and replaced the muscles of humans and animals by mechanical methods. The computer extends this development to supplement and replace some aspects of the mind of human beings by electronic methods. It is the capacity of the computer for solving problems and making decisions that represents its greatest potential and that poses the greatest difficulties in prediction the impact on society.

单选题 Standard English is the variety of English which is usually used in print and winch is normally taught in schools and to non-native speakers leaning the language. It is also the variety which is normally{{U}} (71) {{/U}}by educated people and used in news broadcasts and other{{U}} (72) {{/U}}situations. The difference between standard and nonstandard, it should be noted, has{{U}} (73) {{/U}}in principle to do with differences between formal and colloquial{{U}} (74) {{/U}}; standard English has colloquial as well as formal variants. {{U}} (75) {{/U}}, the standard variety of English is based on the London{{U}} (76) {{/U}}of English that developed after the Norman Conquest resulted in the removal of the Court from Winchester to London. This dialect became the one{{U}} (77) {{/U}}by the educated, and it was developed and promoted{{U}} (78) {{/U}}a model, or norm, for wider and wider segments of society. It was also the{{U}} (79) {{/U}}that was carried overseas, but not one unaffected by such export. Today, {{U}}(80) {{/U}}English is arranged to the extent that the grammar and vocabulary of English are{{U}} (81) {{/U}}the same everywhere in the world where English is used; {{U}}(82) {{/U}}among local standards is really quite minor, {{U}}(83) {{/U}}the Singapore, South Africa, and Irish varieties have very{{U}} (84) {{/U}}difference from one another so far as grammar and vocabulary are{{U}} (85) {{/U}}. Indeed, Standard English is so powerful that it exerts a tremendous{{U}} (86) {{/U}}on all local varieties, to the extent that many long-established dialects of England have{{U}} (87) {{/U}}much of their vigor and there is considerable pressure on them to be{{U}} (88) {{/U}}. This latter situation is not unique{{U}} (89) {{/U}}English: it is also true in other countries where processes of standardization are{{U}} (90) {{/U}}. But it sometimes creates problems for speakers who try to strike some kind of compromise between local norms and national, even supranational (跨国的) ones.

单选题The primary objective of Basic Econometric, is to provide an elementary but a comprehensive introduction to the art and science of econometrics.(2003年电子科技大学考博试题)

单选题 Most people would be{{U}} (71) {{/U}}by the high quality of medicine{{U}} (72) {{/U}}to most Americans. There is a lot of specialization, a great deal of{{U}} (73) {{/U}}to the individual, a{{U}} (74) {{/U}}amount of advanced technical equipment, and{{U}} (75) {{/U}}effort not to make mistakes because of the financial risk which doctors and hospitals must{{U}} (76) {{/U}}in the courts if they{{U}} (77) {{/U}}things badly. But the Americans are in a mess. The problem is the way in{{U}} (78) {{/U}}health care is organized and{{U}} (79) {{/U}}. {{U}}(80) {{/U}}to pubic belief it is not just a free competition system. The private system has been joined by a large public system, because private care wag simply not{{U}} (81) {{/U}}the less fortunate and the elderly. But even with this huge public part of the system, {{U}}(82) {{/U}}this year will eat up 84.5 billion dollars—more than 10 percent of the U. S. budget, large numbers of Americans are left{{U}} (83) {{/U}}. These include about half the 11 million unemployed and those who fail to meet the strict limits{{U}} (84) {{/U}}income fixed by a government trying to save where it can. The basic problem, however, is that there is no central control{{U}} (85) {{/U}}the health system. There is no{{U}} (86) {{/U}}to what doctors and hospitals charge for their services, other than what the public is able to pay. The number of doctors has shot up and prices have climbed. When faced with a toothache, a sick child, or a heart attack, all the unfortunate persons concerned can do is{{U}} (87) {{/U}}up. Two thirds of the population{{U}} (88) {{/U}}covered by medical insurance. Doctors charge as much as they want{{U}} (89) {{/U}}that the insurance company will pay the bill. The rising cost of medicine in the U. S. A. is among the most worrying problems facing the country. In 198l the Country's health bill climbed 15.9 percent—about twice as fast as prices{{U}} (90) {{/U}}general.

单选题Under the rules laid down by the bank there is a ______ on the amount of money you can get out from a cash machine in any one day.

单选题When the rent was due. the poor man ______ for more time. A. pleaded B. squashed C. exerted D. cursed

单选题Embarrassed, I nodded, trying to think of some way to ______ my error. A. make do with B. make up for C. go in for D. go along with

单选题Most people who travel long distance complain of jetlag. Jetlag makes business travelers less productive and more prone (21) making mistakes. It is actually caused by (22) of your "body clock" --a small cluster of brain cells that controls the timing of biological (23) . The body clock is designed for a (24) rhythm of daylight and darkness, so that it is thrown out of balance when it (25) daylight and darkness at the "wrong" times in a new time zone. The (26) of jetlag often persist for days (27) the internal body clock slowly adjusts to the new time zone. Now a new anti-jetlag system is (28) that is based on proven (29) pioneering scientific research. Dr, Martin Mooreede had (30) a practical strategy to adjust the body clock much sooner to the new time zone (31) controlled exposure to bright light. The time zone shift is easy to accomplish and eliminates (32) of the discomfort of jetlag. A successful time zone shift depends on knowing the exact times to either (33) or avoid bright light. Exposure to light at the wrong time can actually make jetlag worse. The proper schedule (34) light exposure depends a great deal on (35) travel plans.

单选题He believed that the greatest of his ______ was that he'd never had a college education. A. griefs B. misfortunes C. disasters D. sorrows

单选题What do the extraordinarily successful companies have in common? To find out, we looked for operations. We know that correlations are not always reliable; nevertheless, in the 27 survivors, our group saw four shared personality traits that could explain their longevity (长寿). Conservatism in financing. The companies did not risk their capital gratuitously (无缘无故地). They understood the meaning of money in an old-fashioned way; they knew the usefulness of spare cash in the kitty. Money in hand allowed them to snap up (抓住) options when their competitors could not. They did not have to convince third-party financiers of the attractiveness of opportunities they wanted to pursue. Money in the kitty allowed them to govern their growth and evolution. Sensitivity to the world around them. Whether they had built their fortunes on knowledge or on natural resources, the living companies in our study were able to adapt themselves to changes in the world around them. As wars, depressions, technologies, and politics surged and ebbed (潮起潮落), they always seemed to excel at keeping their feelers out, staying attuned to whatever was going on. For information, they sometimes relied on packets carried over vast distances by portage and ship, yet they managed to react in a timely fashion to whatever news they received. They were good at learning and adapting. Awareness of their identity. No matter how broadly diversified the companies were, their employees all felt like parts of a whole. Lord Cole, chairman of Unilever in the 1960s, for example, saw the company as a fleet of ships. Each ship was independent, but the whole fleet was greater than the sum of its parts. The feeling of belonging to an organization and identifying with its achievements is often dismissed softly, but case histories repeatedly show that a sense of community is essential for long-term survival. Managers in the living companies we studied were chosen mostly from within, and all considered themselves to be stewards of a longstanding enterprise. Their top priority was keeping the institution at least as healthy as it had been when they took over. Tolerance of new ideas. The long-lived companies in our study tolerated activities in the margin: experiments and eccentricities that stretched their understanding. They recognized that new businesses may be entirely unrelated to existing businesses and that the act of starting a business need to be centrally controlled. W. R. Grace, from its very beginning, encouraged autonomous experimentation. The company was founded in 1854 by an Irish immigrant in Peru and traded in guano, a natural fertilizer, before it moved into sugar and tin. Eventually, the company established Pan American Airways. Today it is primarily a chemical company, although it is also the leading provider of kidney dialysis (透析) services in the United States. By definition, a company that survives for more than a century exists in a world it cannot hope to control. Multinational companies are similar to the long-surviving companies of our study in that way. The world of a multinational is very large and stretches across many cultures. That world is inherently less stable and more difficult to influence than a confined national habitat. Multinationals must be willing to change in order to succeed. These four traits form the essential character of companies that have functioned successfully for hundreds of years. Given this basic personality, what priorities do the managers of living companies set for themselves and their employees?

单选题In the early clays of the United States, postal charges were paid by the recipient and charges varied with the distance carried. In 1825, the United States Congress permitted local postmasters to give letters to mail carriers for home delivery, but these carriers received no government salary and their entire compensation on what they were paid by the recipients of individual letters. In 1847 the United States Post Office Department adopted the idea of a postage stamp, which of course simplified the payment for postal service but caused grumbling by those who did not like to prepay. Besides, the stamp covered only delivery to the post office and did not include carrying it to a private address. In Philadelphia, for example, with a population of 150000, people still had to go to the post office to get their mail. The confusion and congestion of individual citizens looking for their letters was itself enough to discourage use of the mail. It is no wonder that, during the years of these cumbersome arrangements, private letter-carrying and express businesses developed. Although their activities were only semilegal, they thrived, and actually advertised that between Boston and Philadelphia they were a half-day speedier than the government mail. The government postal service lost volume to private competition and was not able to handle efficiently even the business it had. Finally, in 1863, Congress provided that the mail carriers who delivered the mail from the post offices to private addresses should receive a government salary, and that there should be no extra charge for that delivery. But this delivery service was at first confined to cities, and free home delivery became a mark of urbanism. As late as 1887, a town had to have 10000 people to be eligible for free home delivery. In 1890, of the 75 million people in the United States, fewer than 20 million had mail delivered free to their doors. The rest, nearly three-quarters of the population, still received no mail unless they went to their post office.

单选题{{B}}Passage 3{{/B}} Why does the Foundation concentrate its support on basic rather than applied research? Basic research is the very heart of science, and its cumulative product is the capital of scientific progress, a capital that must be constantly increased as the demands upon it rise. The goal of basic research is understanding, for its own sake. Understanding of the structure of the atom or the nerve ceil, the explosion of a spiral nebula or the distribution of cosmic dust, the causes of earthquakes and droughts, or of man as a behaving creature and of the social forces that are created whenever two or more human beings come into contact with one another--the scope is staggering, but the commitment to truth is the same. If the commitment were to a particular result, conflicting evidence might be Overlooked or, with the best will in the world, simply not appreciated. Moreover, the practical applications of basic research frequently cannot be anticipated. When Roentgen, the physicist, discovered X-rays, he had no idea of their usefulness to medicine. Applied research, undertaken to solve specific practical problems, has an immediate attractiveness because the results can be seen and enjoyed. For practical reasons, the sums spent on applied research in any country always far exceed those for basic research, and the proportions are more unequal in the less developed countries. Leaving aside the funds devoted to research by industry--which is naturally far more concerned with applied aspects because these increase profits quickly--the funds the U.S. Government allots to basic research currently amount to about 7 percent of its overall research and development funds. Unless adequate safeguards are provided, applied research invariably tends to drive out basic. Then, as Dr. Waterman has pointed out, "Developments will inevitably be undertaken prematurely, career incentives will gravitate strongly toward applied science, and the opportunities for making major scientific discoveries will be lost. Unfortunately, pressures to emphasize new developments, without corresponding emphasis upon pure science tend to degrade the quality of the nation% technology in the long run, rather than to improve it."

单选题In mountainous regions, much of the snow that falls is compacted into ice. A. hauled B. compressed C. compiled D. harnessed

单选题Glass can be easily molded into all kinds of forms because ______.

单选题If excellent work results in frequent pay increases or promotions, the workers will have greater ______ to produce. A. incentive B. initiative C. instruction D. instinct