单选题The mountains look glorious at sunrise.

单选题The Population Situation in India With 950 million people, India ranks second to China among the most populous countries. But since China 1 a family planning program in 1971, India has been closing the gap. Indians have reduced their birth rate but not nearly 2 the Chinese have. If current growth rates continue, India"s population will 3 China"s around the year 2028 at about 1.7 billion. Should that happen, it won"t be the 4 of the enlightened women of Kerala, a state in southern India. While India as a whole adds almost 20 million people a year, Kerala"s population is virtually 5 . The reason is no mystery: nearly two-thirds of Kerala women practice birth control, 6 about 40% in the entire nation. The difference 7 the emphasis put on health programs, including birth control, by the state authorities, 8 in 1957 became India"s first elected Communist government. And an educational tradition and matrilineal (母系的) customs in parts of Kerala help girls and boys get 9 good schooling. While one in three Indian women is 10 , 90% of those in Kerala can read and write. Higher literacy rates 11 family planning. "Unlike our parents, we know that we can do more for our children if we have 12 of them," says Laial Cherian, 33, who lives in the village of Kudamaloor. She has limited herself 13 three children—one below the national 14 of four. That kind of restraint (抑制，克制) will keep Kerala from putting added 15 on world food supplies.

单选题Easy Death In ancient Greek, the term euthanatos meant "easy death". Today euthanasia (安乐死) generally refers to mercy killing, the voluntary (自愿) ending of the life of someone who is terminally ill. Like abortion, euthanasia has become a legal, medical, and moral issue over which opinion is divided. Euthanasia can be either active or passive. Active euthanasia means that a physician or other medical personnel takes an action that will result in death, such as giving an overdose of deadly medicine. Passive euthanasia means letting a patient die for lack of treatment, or stopping the treatment that has begun. Examples of passive euthanasia include taking patients off a breathing machine or removing other life-support systems. Stopping the food supply is also considered passive. A good deal of the debate about mercy killing originates from the decision-making process. Who decides whether a patient is to die? This issue has not been solved legally in the United States. The matter is left to state law, which usually allows the physician in charge to suggest the option of death to a patient's relatives, especially if the patient is brain dead. In an attempt to make decisions about when their own lives should end, several terminally ill patients in the early 1990s used a controversial suicide device, developed by Dr. Jack Kevorkian, to end their lives. In parts of Europe, the decision-making process has become very flexible. Even in cases where the patients are not brain dead, patients have been put to death without their approval at the request of relatives or at the suggestion of physicians. Many cases of passive euthanasia involve old people or newborn infants. The principle justifying this practice is that such individuals have a "life not worthy of life". In countries where passive euthanasia is not legal, the court systems have proved very tolerant in dealing with medical personnel who practice it. In Japan, for example, if physicians follow certain guidelines they may actively carry out mercy killings on hopelessly ill people. Courts have also been somewhat tolerant of friends or relatives who have assisted terminally ill patients to die.

单选题The contempt he felt for his fellow students was obvious.

单选题Thank you for applying for a position with our firm. We do not have any openings at this time, but we shall keep your application on archive for two months.

单选题The State of Marriage Today Is there something seriously wrong with marriage today? During the past 50 years, the rate of divorce in the United States has exploded: almost 50% of marriages end in divorce now, and the evidence suggests it is going to get worse. If this trend continues, it will lead to the breakup of the family, according to a spokesperson for the National Family Association. Some futurists predict that in 100 years, the average American will marry at least four times and extramarital affairs will be even more common than they are now. But what are the reasons for this, and is the picture really so gloomy? The answer to the first question is really quite simple: marriage is no longer the necessity it once was. The institution of marriage has been based for years partly on economic need. Women used to be economically dependent on their husbands as they usually didn't have jobs outside the home. But with the rising number of women in well-paying jobs, this is no longer the case, so they don't feel that they need to stay in a failing marriage. In answer to the second question, the outlook may not be as pessimistic as it seems. While the rate of divorce has risen, the rate of couples marrying has never actually fallen very much, so marriage is still quite popular. In addition to this, many couples now cohabit and don't bother to marry. These couples are effectively married, but they do not appear in either the marriage or divorce statistics. In fact, more than 50% of first marriages survive. The statistics are deceptive because there is a higher number of divorces in second and third marriages than in first marriages. So is marriage really an outdated institution? The fact that most people still get married indicates that it isn't. And it is also true that married couples have a healthier life than single people: they suffer less from stress and its consequences, such as heart problems, and married men generally consider themselves more contented than their single counterparts. Perhaps the key is to find out what makes a successful marriage and apply it to all of our relationships!

单选题Food for Learning In Eritrea, a small country in northeast Africa, approximately 80 percent of the population is illiterate. That percentage is even higher in woman. As in many developing countries, many Eritreans have traditional ideas about the role of women. They believe that women should stay home and take care of the family and should not get an education or look for a job. These beliefs are one of the factors that prevent Eritrea and other developing countries from improving their economic situation. Experience in many developing counters has shown that educated women have fewer children and have more opportunities for improving their lives and the lives of their families. In Eritrea, in fact, there is great need for improvement. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. For many Eritrean families, getting enough food is a daily problem. To deal with these problems, the Eritrean government together with the World Food Program, has a new program that offers food as a reward for learning. In primary schools, all the children receive food packages to take home to their families. However, with the new program, the girls receive more food than the boys. This way, parents are encouraged to send their daughter to school rather than keeping them at home. Another government program that aims to educate women is Food for Training. Managed by the National Union of Eritrean Women, this program offer food rewards (also from World Food Organization) to women and elder girls who are willing to join the program. Because of the war with Ethiopia, many women are bringing up their families on their own. They often live in refugee camps, with no land of their own and no way to earn money. Most of these women are illiterate and have no skills to find a job. They spend most of their day looking for food and preparing it for their families. The Food for Training program helps the teenagers and women change their lives. If they agree to join the program, they receive a large package of food each month. In return, the women are required to attend free literate classes for two hours every day. When Food for Training classes in two regions of Eritrea, 5,000 girls and women joined in the first two months. It is especially popular with teenage girls, aged fourteen to sixteen, who have never had a chance to go to school before. The organizers of Food for Traing also plans to offer other kinds of courses for women, using the same system of food rewards. In these courses, they will teach women job skills and crafts such as basket weaving. These women will not only learn to read and write. They will become aware of what is going on in their country.

单选题下面的短文有15处空白，请根据短文内容为每处空白确定1个最佳选项。 {{B}} How Two Great Conflicts Helped to Change Europe{{/B}} Ninety years ago on a sunny morning in Northern France, something happened that changed Britain and Europe for ever. At half past seven on the morning of July 1,1916, whistles (哨子) blew and thousands of British soldiers left their positions to attack their German enemies. By the end of the day, 20,000 of them were dead, and another 30,000 wounded or missing. The Battle of the Somme, {{U}}(51) {{/U}} it is called, lasted for six months. When it ended, 125,000 British soldiers were dead. They had gained five kilometers of ground. This was one of a series of great battles during WWI. The attack on the Somme was staged to relieve {{U}}(52) {{/U}} on the French, who were engaged in a great battle of their own at a place called Verdun. By the time the battle ended, over a million French and German troops had been killed. About 17 million people were killed in WWI. There have been wars with greater numbers of dead. But there has never been one in {{U}}(53) {{/U}} most of the dead were concentrated in such a small area. On the Somme battlefield, two men died for every meter of space. Local farmers working in the land still {{U}}(54) {{/U}} the bodies of those who died in that battle. The dead of all nations were buried in a series of giant graveyards along the line of the border {{U}}(55) {{/U}} France and Belgium. Relatives and descendants (子孙) of those who died still visit these graveyards today. What the French call the "tourism of death" {{U}}(56) {{/U}} an important contribution to the local economy. It took a second great conflict before Europe was to turn {{U}}(57) {{/U}} war itself. Twenty-eight years after the Somme battle, a liberating army of British, American and Canadian troops took back {{U}}(58) {{/U}} from another German invasion. More than 500,000 people were killed. New {{U}}(59) {{/U}} were built. Two great conflicts across two generations helped to change the European mind about war. Germany, once the most warlike country in Europe, is now probably more in {{U}}(60) {{/U}} of peace than any other. One major cause of war in Europe was rivalry (竞争) between France and Germany. The European Union was specifically formed to end that {{U}}(61) {{/U}}. According to US commentator William Pfaff, "Europeans are interested in a slow development of civilized and tolerant international relations, {{U}}(62) {{/U}} on problems while avoiding catastrophes (灾难) along the way. They have themselves only recently {{U}}(63) {{/U}} from the catastrophes of WWI and WWII, when tens of millions of people were destroyed. They don't want {{U}}(64) {{/U}}." The last British veteran of the Somme battle died in 2005, aged 108. And WWI is passing out of memory and into history. But for anyone who wants to understand how Europeans {{U}}(65) {{/U}}, it is still important to know a little about the terrible events of July 1, 1916.

单选题Did you do that to irritate her? A. tease B. attract C. annoy D. protect

单选题How to Be a Successful Businessperson Have you ever wondered why some people are successful in business and others are not? Here"s a story about one successful businessperson. He started out washing dishes and today he owns 168 restaurants. Zubair kazi was born in Bhatkal, a small town in southwest India. His dream was to be an airplane pilot, and when he was 16 years old, he learned to fly a small plane. At the age of 23 and with just a little money in his pocket, Mr. Kazi moved to the United States. He hoped to get a job in the airplane industry in California. Instead, he ended up working for a company that rented cars. While Mr. Kazi was working at the car rental (租赁的) company, he frequently ate at a nearby KFC restaurant. To save money on food, he decided to get a job with KFC. For two months, he worked as a cook"s assistant. His job was to clean the kitchen and help the cook. "I didn"t like it," Mr. Kazi says, "but I always did the best I could." One day, Mr. Kazi"s two co-workers failed to come to work. That day, Mr. Kazi did the work of all three people in the kitchen. This really impressed the owners of the restaurant. A few months later, the owners needed a manager for a new restaurant. They gave the job to Mr. Kazi. He worked hard as the manager and soon the restaurant was making a profit. A few years later, Mr. Kazi heard about a restaurant that was losing money. The restaurant was dirty inside and the food was terrible. Mr. Kazi borrowed money from a bank and bought the restaurant. For the first six months, Mr. Kazi worked in the restaurant from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. He and his wife cleaned up the restaurant, remodeled the front of the building, and improved the cooking. They also tried hard to please the customers. If someone had to wait more than ten minutes for their food, Mrs. Kazi gave them a free soda. Before long the restaurant was making a profit. A year later, Mr. Kazi sold his restaurant for a profit. With the money he earned, he bought three more restaurants that were losing money. Again, he cleaned them up, improved the food, and retrained the employees. Before long these restaurants were making a profit, too. Today Mr. Kazi owns 168 restaurants, but he isn"t planning to stop there. He"s looking for more poorly managed restaurants to buy. "I love it when I go to buy a restaurant and find it"s a mess," Mr. Kazi says, "The only way it can go is up."

单选题Stage Fright Fall down as you come onstage. That"s an odd trick. Not recommended. But it saved the pianist Vladimir Feltsman when he was a teenager back in Moscow. The veteran cellist Mstislav Rostropovich tripped him purposely to cure him of pre-performance panic. Mr. Feltsman said, "All my fright was gone. I already fell. What else could happen?" Today, music schools are addressing the problem of anxiety in classes that deal with performance techniques and career preparation. There are a variety of strategies that musicians can learn to fight stage fright and its symptoms: icy fingers, shaky limbs, racing heart, blank mind. Teachers and psychologists offer wide-ranging advice, from basics like learning pieces inside out, to mental discipline, such as visualizing a performance and taking steps to relax. Don"t deny that you"re jittery, they urge; some excitement is natural, even necessary for dynamic playing. And play in public often, simply for the experience. Psychotherapist Diane Nichols suggests some strategies for the moments before performance. "Take two deep abdominal breaths, open up your shoulders, then smile," she says. "And not one of these "please don"t kill me" smiles. Then choose three friendly faces in the audience, people you would communicate with and make music to, and make eye contact with them. " She doesn"t want performers to think of the audience as a judge. Extreme demands by mentors or parents are often at the root of stage fright, says Dorothy Delay, a well-known violin teacher. She tells other teachers to demand only what their students are able to achieve. When Lynn Harrell was 20, he became the principal cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra, and he suffered extreme stage fright. "There were times when I got so nervous. I was sure the audience could see my chest responding to the throbbing. It was just total panic. I came to a point where I thought, "If I have to go through this to play music, I think I"m going to look for another job. " Recovery, he said, involved developing humility—recognizing that whatever his talent, he was fallible, and that an imperfect concert was not a disaster. It is not only young artists who suffer, of course. The legendary pianist Vladimir Horowitz"s nerves were famous. The great tenor Franco Corelli is another example. "They had to push him on stage," Soprano Renata Scotto recalled. Actually, success can make things worse. "In the beginning of your career, when you"re scared to death, nobody knows who you are, and they don"t have any expectations," Soprano June Anderson said. "There"s less to lose. Later on, when you"re known, people are coming to see you, and they have certain expectations. You have a lot to lose. " Anderson added, "I never stop being nervous until I"ve sung my last note. "

单选题The new evidence backed up my argument.

单选题It seemed incredible that he had been there a week already.

单选题Safety officials have earnestly questioned whether the increased use of synthetic materials heightens the risk of fire.

单选题We grew {{U}}uneasy{{/U}} at their long absence.

单选题{{B}}第二篇{{/B}} {{B}} Anthropology{{/B}} Anthropology is the study of human beings as creatures of society. It fastens its attention upon those physical characteristics and industrial techniques, those conventions and values, which distinguish one community from all others that belong to a different tradition. The distinguishing mark of anthropology among the social sciences is that it includes for serious study other societies than our own. For its purposes any social regulation of mating and reproduction is as significant as our own, though it may be that of the Sea Dyaks, and have no possible historical relation to that of our civilization. To the anthropologist, our customs and those of a New Guinea tribe are two possible social schemes for dealing with a common problem, and in so far as he remains an anthropologist he is bound to avoid any weighting of one in favor of the other. He is interested in human behavior, not as it is shaped by one tradition, our own, but as it has been shaped by any tradition whatsoever. He is interested in a wide range of custom that is found in various cultures, and his object is to understand the way in which these cultures change and differentiate, the different forms through which they express themselves and the manner in which the customs of any people function in the lives of the individuals. Now customs has been commonly regarded as a subject of any great moment. The inner workings of our own brains we feel to be uniquely worthy of investigation, but custom, we have a way of thinking, is behavior at its most commonplace. As a matter of fact, it is the other way round. Traditional custom is a mass of detailed behavior more astonishing than what any one person can ever evolve in individual actions. Yet that is a rather trivial aspect of the matter. The fact of first-rate importance is the predominant role that custom plays inexperience and belief, and the very great varieties it may manifest.

单选题Why should anyone want to read abstracts of books by great authors when the real pleasure comes from reading the originals.

单选题 Lifetime Employment In Japanese Companies In most large Japanese companies, there is a policy of lifetime employment. What this means is that when people leave school or university to join an enterprise, they can expect to remain with that organization until they retire. In effect, the employee gets job security for life, and can only be fired for serious mistakes in work. Even in times of business recession, he or she is free from the fear of being laid off. One result of this practice is that the Japanese worker identifies closely with his company and feels strong loyalty to it. By working hard for the company, he believes he is safeguarding his own future. It is not surprising that devotion to one's company is considered a great virtue in Japan. A man is often prepared to put his firm's interests before those of his immediate family. The job security guaranteed by this system influences the way employees approach their work. They tend to think in terms of what they can achieve throughout their career. This is because they are not judged on how they are performing during a short period of time. They can afford to take a longer perspective than their Western counterparts. This marriage between the employee and the company - the consequence of lifetime employment - may explain why Japanese workers seem positively to love the products their company is producing and why they are willing to stay on after work, for little overtime pay, to participate in earnest discussions about the quality control of their products.

单选题My piano playing has improved significantly since I had a new teacher.

单选题Many high officials in Russia have much benefited from privatization.