单选题Doctors say that moderate drinking can have a beneficial ______ on your health.

单选题The motivation of rapists is now (acknowledged) to be a more complex matter (than being) formerly believed; it (has come) to be widely accepted that rape is not (necessarily) the result of sexual desire.A. acknowledgedB. than beingC. has comeD. necessarily

单选题The car salesman took the customer for a drive in the new model in order to ______ its improved features.

单选题In the first year or so of Web business, most of the action has revolved around efforts to tap the consumer market. More recently, as the Web proved to be more than a fashion, companies have started to buy and sell products and services with one another. Such business-to-business sales make sense because business people typically know what product they"re looking for. Nonetheless, many companies still hesitate to use the Web because of doubts about its reliability. "Businesses need to feel they can trust the pathway between them and the supplier," says senior analyst Blane Erwin of Forrester Research. Some companies are limiting the risk by conducting online transactions only with established business partners who are given access to the company"s private internet. Another major shift in the model for Internet commerce concerns the technology available for marketing. Until recently, Internet marketing activities have focused on strategies to "pull" customers into sites. In the past year, however, software companies have developed tools that allow companies to "push" information directly out to consumers, transmitting marketing messages directly to targeted customers. Most notably, the Pointcast Network uses a screen saver to deliver a continually updated stream of news and advertisements to subscribers" computer monitors. Subscribers can customize the information they want to receive and proceed directly to a company"s Web site. Companies such as Virtual Vineyards are already starting to use similar technologies to push messages to customers about special sales, product offerings, or other events. But push technology has earned the contempt of many Web users. Online culture thinks highly of the notion that the information flowing onto the screen comes there by specific request. Once commercial promotion begins to fill the screen uninvited, the distinction between the Web and television fades. That"s a prospect that horrifies Net purists. But it is hardly inevitable that companies on the Web will need to resort to push strategies to make money. The examples of Virtual Vineyards, Amazon.com, and other pioneers show that a Web site selling the right kind of products with the right mix of interactivity, hospitality, and security will attract online customers. And the cost of computing power continues to free fall, which is a good sign for any enterprise setting up shop in silicon. People looking back 5 or 10 years from now may well wonder why so few companies took the online plunge.

单选题Recent changes in federal government priorities have seen a reduction in financial support for parents who use childcare. This is occurring at a time when there is increasing social and financial pressure on parents, particularly mothers, to work. The issue of childcare and working mothers has been the subject of dispute for some time. Many argue that the best place for children is always in their own homes with their own parents. However, it is my contention that there are many advantages to be had from using childcare and the government should provide more financial assistance to parents who do so. It has been argued that children who attend childcare centers at an early age miss out an important early learning that occurs in parent-child interaction. These children, so this argument goes, may be educationally disadvantaged later in life. However, childcare center may actually assist children in their early learning. They give children an opportunity to mix with other children and to develop social skills at an early age. Indeed, a whole range of learning occurs in childcare centers. Another argument against the use of childcare facilities is that children can be emotionally deprived in these facilitates compared to the home. This argument assumes that the best place for children is to be at their parents', especially mothers', side for twenty-four hours a day. It claims that children's emotional development can be damaged when they are left in childcare facilities. However, parents and children need to spend some time apart. Moreover, children became less dependent on their parents and parents themselves are less stressed and more effective care-givers when there are periods of separation. In fact, recent studies indicate that the parent-child relationship can be improved by the use of high-quality childcare facilities. It could further be asserted that the government and the economy as a whole cannot afford the enormous cost involved in supporting childcare for working parents. However, working parents actually contribute to the national economy. They are able to utilize their productive skills and pay income tax, while non-working parents can become a drain on the tax system through dependent spouse and other rebates. In conclusion, government support for childcare services assists individual families and is important for the economic well-being of the whole nation.

单选题A report consistently brought back by visitors to the U.S. is how friendly, courteous, and helpful most Americans were to them. To be fair, this observation is also frequently made of Canada and Canadians, and should best be considered North American. There are, of course, exceptions. Small minded officials, rude waiters, and ill mannered taxi drivers are hardly unknown in the U.S.. Yet it is an observation made so frequently that it deserves comment. For a long period of time and in many parts of the country, a traveler was a welcome break in an otherwise dull existence. Dullness and loneliness were common problems of the families who generally lived distant from one another. Strangers and travelers were welcome sources of diversion, and brought news of the outside world. The harsh realities of the frontier also shaped this tradition of hospitality. Someone traveling alone, if hungry, injured, or ill, often had nowhere to turn except to the nearest cabin or settlement. It was not a matter of choice for the traveler or merely a charitable impulse on the part of the settlers. It reflected the harshness of daily life: if you didn"t take in the stranger and take care of him, there was no one else who would, and someday, remember, you might be in the same situation. Today there are many charitable organizations which specialize in helping the weary traveler. Yet, the old tradition of hospitality to strangers is still very strong in the U.S., especially in the smaller cities and towns away from the busy tourist trails. "I was just traveling through, got talking with this American, and pretty soon he invited me home for dinner—amazing." Such observations reported by visitors to the U.S. are not uncommon, but are not always understood properly. The casual friendliness of many Americans should be interpreted neither as superficial nor as artificial, but as the result of a historically developed cultural tradition. As is true of any developed society, in America a complex set of cultural signals, assumptions, and conventions underlies all social interrelationships. And, of course, speaking a language does not necessarily meant that someone understands social and cultural patterns. Visitors who fail to "translate" cultural meanings properly often draw wrong conclusions. For example, when an American uses the word "friend", the cultural implications of the word may be quite different from those it has in the visitor"s language and culture. It takes more than a brief encounter on a bus to distinguish between courteous convention and individual interest. Yet, being friendly is a virtue that many American value highly and expect from both neighbors and strangers.

单选题British hopes of a gold medal in the Olympic Games suffered ______ yesterday, when Hunter failed to qualify during the preliminary heats. A. a sharp set-back B. severe set-back C. a severe blown-up D. sharp blown-up

单选题Whatever their chosen method, Americans bathe zealously. A study conducted found that we take an average of 4.5 baths and 7.5 showers each week and in the ranks of non-edible items purchased by store customers, bar soap ranks second, right after toilet paper. We spend more than $700 million annually on soaps, but all work the same way. Soap is composed of molecules that at one end attract water and at the other end attract oil and dirt, while repelling water. With a kind of pushing and pulling action, the soap loosens the bonds holding dirt to the skin. Unless you"re using a germicidal soap, it usually doesn"t kill the bacteria—soap simply removes bacteria along with dirt and oil. Neither baths nor showers are all that necessary and unless you"re in a Third World country where infectious diseases are common, or you have open sores on your skin, the dirt and bacteria aren"t going to hurt. The only reason for showering or bathing is to feel clean and refreshed. There is a physiological basis for this relaxed feeling. Your limbs become slightly buoyant in bathwater, which takes a load off muscles and tension. Moreover, if the water is hotter than normal body temperature, the body attempts to shed heat by expanding the blood vessels near the surface of the skin, lessening the circulatory system"s resistance to blood flow, and dropping blood pressure gently. A bath is also the most effective way to hydrate the skin. The longer you soak, the more water gets into the skin and because soap lowers the surface tension of the water, it helps you hydrate rapidly and remove dry skin flakes. However, in a bath, all the dirt and grime and the soap in which it"s suspended float on the surface. So when you stand up, it covers your body like a film. The real solution is to take a bath and then rinse off with a shower, however, after leaving a tub or freshly exposed skin becomes a playground for microbes. In two hours, you probably have as many bacteria on certain parts of the body, such as the armpits, as before the bath.

单选题Learning disabilities are very common. They affect perhaps 10 percent of all children. Four times as many boys as girls have learning disabilities. Since about 1970, new research has helped brain scientists understand these problems better. Scientists now know there are many different kinds of learning disabilities and that they are caused by many different things. There is no longer any question that all learning disabilities result from differences in the way the brain is organized. You cannot look at a child and tell if he or she has a learning disability. There is no outward sign of the disorder. So some researchers began looking at the brain itself to learn what might be wrong. In one study, researchers examined the brain of a learning-disabled person, who had died in an accident. They found two unusual things. One involved cells in the left side of the brain, which control language. These cells normally are white. In the learning-disabled person, however, these cells were gray. The researchers also found that many of the nerve cells were not in a line the way they should have been. The nerve cells were mixed together. The study was carried out under the guidance of Norman Geschwind, an early expert on learning disabilities. Doctor Geschwind proposed that learning disabilities resulted mainly from problems in the left side of the brain. He believed this side of the brain failed to develop normally. Probably, he said, nerve cells there did not connect as they should. So the brain was like an electrical device in which the wires were crossed. Other researchers did not examine brain tissue. Instead, they measured the brain"s electrical activity and made a map of the electrical signals. Frank Duffy experimented with this technique at Children"s Hospital Medical Center in Boston. Doctor Duffy found large differences in the brain activity of normal children and those with reading problems. The differences appeared throughout the brain. Doctor Duffy said his research is evidence that reading disabilities involve damage to a wide area of the brain, not just the left side.

单选题4 The crucial years of the Depression, as they are brought into historical focus, in creasingly emerge as the decisive decade for American art, if not for American culture in general. For it was during this decade that many of the conflicts which had blocked the pro gress of American art in the past came to a head and sometimes boiled over. Janus-faced, the thirties look backward, sometimes as far as the Renaissance; and at the same time for ward, as far as the present and beyond. It was the moment when artists, like Thomas Hart Benton, who wished to turn back the clock to regain the virtues of simpler times came into direct conflict with others, like Stuart Davis and Frank Lloyd Wright, who were ready to come to terms with the Machine Age and to deal with its consequences. America in the thirties was changing rapidly. In many areas the past was giving way to the present, although not without a struggle. A Predominantly rural and small town society was be ing replaced by the giant complexes of the big cities; power was becoming increasingly centralized in the federal government and in large corporations. Many Americans, deeply attached to the old way of life, felt disinherited. At the same time, as immigration decreased and the population became more homogeneous, the need arose in art and literature to commemorate the ethnic and regional differences that were fast disappearing. Thus, paradoxically, the conviction that art, at least, should serve some purpose or carry some message of moral uplift grew stronger as the Puritan ethos lost its contemporary reality. Often this elevating message was a sermon in favor of just those traditional American virtues, which were now threat ened with obsolescence in a changed social and political context. In this new context, the appeal of the paintings by the regionalists and the American Scene painters often lay in their ability to recreate an atmosphere that glorified the traditional American values—self-reliance tempered with good-neighborliness, independence modified by a sense of community, hard work rewarded by a sense of order and purpose. Given the actual temper of the times, these themes were strangely anachronistic, just as the rhetoric supporting political isola tionism was equally inappropriate in an international situation soon to involve America in a second world war. Such themes gained popularity because they filled a genome need for a comfortable collective fantasy of a God-fearing, white-picketfence America, which in retrospect took on the nostalgic appeal of a lost Golden Age. In this light, an autonomous art-for-art's sake was viewed as a foreign invader liable to subvert the native American desire for a purposeful art. Abstract art was assigned the role of the villainous alien; realism was to personify the genuine American means of ex pression. The arguments drew favor in many camps: among the artists, because most were realists; among the politically oriented intellectuals, because abstract art was apoliti cal; and among museum officials, because they were surfeited with mediocre imitations of European modernism and were convinced that American art must develop its own distinct identity. To help along this road to self-definition, the museums were prepared to set up an artificial double standard, one for American art, and another for European art. In 1934, Ralph Flint wrote in Art News, "We have today in our midst a greater array of what may be called second-, third-, and fourth-string artists than any other country. Our big annuals are marvelous outpourings of intelligence and skill~ they have all the diversity and anima tion of a fine-ring circus. /

单选题A key factor in Beijing's winning ______was a promise to improve the city' s poor air quality.

单选题Thanks to the protection of the tombs, so secure against the ravages of time if not against the hand of man, we possess a more complete sampling of Etruscan art in all its forms than we do of any other ancient European culture. Except for the frescoes of Pompeii and Herculaneum, the Etruscan frescoes supply the only insight we have into the techniques of painting in classical civilization. It is in southern Etruria, where the tombs were cut in the rock, that these frescoes are preserved. They are intact at least until the tomb is opened, whereupon deterioration begins. Fortunately it is now possible to remove the paintings from the walls and take them to the safety of the museum. The Etruscan painter used pleasantly simple mineral colors that be laid on a fresh layer of plaster applied to the rock wall. With large, uninterrupted surfaces to work on, he was prompted to make complex pictorial compositions. But his purpose is always clear. Enclosed forever in the tomb, his pictures were to evoke for the deceased the joys of life. The dead man's occupation, which he intended to resume in the afterlife, is often depicted. Scenes of banquets and feasts are frequent. These guaranteed eternal satisfaction and pleasure to the departed; in the happy phrase of tile Belgian scholar Franz Cumont, "the ghost of a diner could be nourished by the appearance of food." The frescoes also perpetuated the pleasant hours of sports, games and dances. When Etruria came on difficult times, the funerary frescoes took on a more somber tone: the features of the departed, which were formerly peaceful, were expressions of anxiety and even of anguish. Etruscan sculptors preferred to work in clay or bronze rather than in stone. They were particularly fond of the bas-relief, in which they produced delightfully animated figures framed in elegant arabesques. Their forte, however, was the portrait. The art of portraiture had deep funerary significance: it furnished a faithful image of the deceased to aid his survival in the other life. Frequently, in the seventh century B. C. , the portrait of the deceased formed the lid of the crematory urn. Portraiture reached its peak in the last centuries of Etruscan civilization, when the characteristic Etruscan flair for detail, for the unusual, found its fullest expression.

单选题His inability to learn foreign languages was a(n) obstacle to his career.

单选题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}} Below each of the following passages you will find some questions or incomplete statements. Each question or statement is followed by four choices marked A, B, C and D. Read each passage carefully, and then select the choice that best answers the question or completes the statement. Mark the letter of your choice with a single bar across the square brackets on your Machine-scoring Answer Sheet. Passage 1 The Solar Decathlon is under way, and teams of students from 14 colleges and universities are building solar-powered homes on the National Mall in Washington, D. C. in an effort to promote this alternative energy source. This week judges in this Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored event will evaluate these homes and declare one the winner. Unfortunately, for the participants, it rained on the Sept 26th opening ceremonies, and the skies over the Washington have remained mostly overcast since. However, the conditions may have made for a more revealing demonstration of solar energy than was originally planned. Although the Solar Decathlon's purpose is to advertise the benefits of electricity-generating solar panels and other residential solar gadgets, the bad weather has made it hard to ignore the limitations. As fate so amply demonstrated, not every day is a sunny day, and indeed DOE's "Solar Village on the National Mall" has received very little of what it needs to run. Since solar is not an always available energy source, even a community consisting entirely of solar homes and businesses would still need to be connected to a constantly-running power plant (most likely natural gas or coal fired) to provide reliable electricity. For this reason, the fossil fuel savings and environmental benefits of solar are considerably smaller than many proponents suggest. Washington, D. C. gets its share of sunny days as well, but even so, solar equipment provides only a modest amount of energy in relation to its cost. In fact, a $ 5, 000 rooftop photovoltaic system typically generates no more than $100 of electricity per year, providing a rate of return comparable to a passbook savings account. Nor do the costs end when the system is installed, lake anything exposed to the elements, solar equipment is subject to wear and storm damage, and may need ongoing maintenance and repairs. In addition, the materials that turn sunlight into electricity degrade over time. Thus, solar panels will eventually need to be replaced, most likely before the investment has fully paid itself off in the form of reduced utility bills. Solar energy has always had its share of true believers willing to pay extra to feel good about their homes and themselves. But for homeowners who view it as an investment, it is not a good one. The economic realities are rarely acknowledged by the government officials and solar equipment manufacturers involved in the Solar Decathlon and similarly one-sided promotions. By failing to be objective, the pro-solar crowd does consumers a real disservice.

单选题The sentence "the toppled emperor is made painfully aware of the naked vanity of his own legend" can best be paraphrased as ______.

单选题Few events in modern Japan' s recent history have been anticipated with greater interest and expectation than the so-called "Big Bang" financial reforms that will come into effect next April. Named after the restructuring of the securities industry that took place in London during the late 19g0s, these reforms are intended to revitalize not only Japan' s securities industry, but the entire financial sector as well. In addition, they will open Japan to increased-and possibly severe-competition from foreign financial institutions, which will be able to compete in the Japanese domestic market on a level playing field for the first time. Some foreign analysts are skeptical about the government' s resolve to push through the kind of large-scale, targeted measures needed to reform Japan' g ailing financial system. In contrast, the German-born Koll believes government officials are "dead serious about Big Bang." "Big Bang will restore Japan's entire financial system." he says. "And although it takes its name from the London reforms of the late 1980s, it is in fact much bigger and far more comprehensive than what occurred in London," he adds. The London reforms, he points out, consolidated only the securities industry, bringing together brokers, jobbers, price makers and others, Japan's Big Bang, on the other hand, focuses not just on the securities industry but on banks, life insurance companies and public financial institutions. "By the year 2001, Japan' s financial system will resemble very closely the current financial system in the U. S." Koll explains. "The entire financial system is becoming Anglo-American." Big Bang, which is to be completed by 2001, includes reforms that would allow financial institutions to further cuter one another' s business spheres and reduce a wide range of restrictions limiting free and open competition. The most dramatic developments are expected to take place in asset management and securities trading. For example, under a deregulation timetable established last July, securities companies ale now permitted to marked cash management accounts that offer dealing in securities along with banking and checking services. Next April, banks will be allowed to offer mutual funds. The climax will come ill April 2001 , when full liberalization takes effect, including, most numbly, the introduction of insurance products by banks. Reforming Japan' s financial system has been in the air since the early 1980s. Some critics have complained that previous efforts have slow, frequently fragmented by low political resolve and largely unsatisfactory to foreign financial institutions seeking greater market access in Japan. But the current mood, as Koll points out, is dead serious, focused arid motivated. The risk for Japanese financial institutions from Big Bang reforms is that about a third of them will not exist in their current form by the year 2001, Koll warns. "There will be massive restructuring through mergers and holding companies and through bankruptcies. But those that survive will be stronger, more focused and better able to compete in the global financial market." "So the bottom line is that the opportunities will outweigh the risks and Big Bang could be a big boom for Japanese financial institutions," he concludes.

单选题In many places, illness was seen either as an invasion of the body by some poison or it was ______ to the work of an angry god, malignant magic, or witchcraft. A. contributed B. attributed C. tribute D. distributed

单选题The police are doing all he can to bring those responsible for the bombing to ______. A. evidence B. hearing C. justice D. rule

单选题The word science is heard so often in modern times that almost everybody has some notion of its meaning. On the other hand, its definition is difficult for many people. The meaning of the term is confused, but everyone should understand its meaning and objectives. Just to make the explanation as simple as possible, suppose science is defined as classified knowledge (facts). Even in the true sciences distinguishing fact from fiction is not always easy. For this reason great care should be taken to distinguish between beliefs and truths. There is no danger as long as a clear difference is made between temporary and proved explanations. For example, hypotheses (假设) and theories are attempts to explain natural phenomena. From these positions the scientist continues to experiment and observe until they are proved or discredited (使不相信). The exact status of any explanation should be clearly labeled to avoid confusion. The objectives of science are primarily the discovery and the subsequent understanding of the unknown. Man cannot be satisfied with recognizing that secrets exist in nature or that questions are unanswerable, he must solve them. Toward that end specialists in the field of biology and related fields of interest are directing much of their time and energy. Actually, two basic approaches lead to the discovery of new information. One, aimed at satisfying curiosity, is referred to as pure science. The other is aimed at using knowledge for specific purposes, for instance, improving health, raising standards of living, or creating new consumer products. In this case knowledge is put to economic use. Such an approach is referred to as applied science. Sometimes practical-minded people miss the point of pure science in thinking only of its immediate application for economic rewards. Chemists responsible for many of the discoveries could hardly have anticipated that their findings would one day result in applications of such a practical nature as those directly related to life and death. The discovery of one bit of information opens the door to the discovery of another. Some discoveries seem so simple that one is amazed they were not made years ago, however one should remember that the construction of the microscope had to precede the discovery of the cell. The host of scientists dedicating their lives to pure science are not apologetic (抱歉) about ignoring the practical side of their discoveries, they know from experience that most knowledge is eventually applied.