单选题Gross National Happiness In the last century, new technology improved the lives of many people in many countries. However, one country resisted these changes. High in the Himalayan mountains of Asia, the kingdom of Bhutan remained separate. Its people and Buddhist (佛教) culture had not been affected for almost a thousand years. Bhutan, however, was a poor country. People died at a young age. Most of its people could not read, and they did not know much about the outside world. Then, in 1972, a new ruler named King Jigme Singye Wangchuck decided to help Bhutan to become modern, but without losing its traditions. King Wangchuck looked at other countries for ideas. He saw that most countries measured their progress by their Gross Natonal Product (GNP). The GNP measures products and money. When the number of products sold increases, people say the country is making progress. King Wangchuck had a different idea for Bhutan. He wanted to measure his country"s progress by people"s happiness. If the people"s happiness increased, the king could say that Bhutan was making progress. To decide if people were happier, he created a measure called Gross National Happiness (GNH). GNH is based on certain principles that create happiness. People are happier if they have health care, education, and jobs. They are happier when they live in a healthy, protected environment. They are happier when they can keep their traditional culture and customs. Finally, people are happier when they have a good, stable government. Now these is some evidence of increased GNH in Bhutan. People are healthier and are living longer. More people are educated and employed. Teenty-five percent of the land has become national parks, and the country has almost no pollution. The Bhutanese continue to wear their traditional clothing and follow their ancient Buddhist customs. Bhutan has also become a democracy. In 2008, King Wangchuck gave his power to his son. Although the country still had a king, it held its first democratic elections that year. Bhutan had political parties and political candidates for the first time. Finally, Bhutan has connected to the rest of the world through television and internet. Bhutan is a symbol for social progress. Many countries are now interested in Bhutan"s GNH. These countries are investigating their own ways to measure happiness. They want to create new policies that take care of their people, cultures, and land. Brazil may be the nest country to use the principles of GNH. Brazilian leaders see the principles of GNH as a source of inspiration. Brazil is a large country with a diverse population. If happiness works as a measure of progress in Brazil, perhaps the rest of the world will follow.

单选题Italian ice cream is imitated all over the world.

单选题Time to Stop Traveling by Air Twenty-five years ago a young British man called Mark Ellingham decided that he wanted a change of scenery. So he went to Australia, stopping off in many countries in between. He also decided to write about the experience and produced a guide for other travelers making similar journeys. In 1970, British airports were used by 32 million people. In 2004, the figure was 216 million. In 2030, according to government forecasts, it will be around 500 million. It"s a growth driven by the emergence of low cost airlines, offering access to all parts of the world for less than ￡100. This has made a huge contribution to global warming. One return flight from Britain to the US produces the same carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) as a year"s motoring (驾车). A return flight to Australia equals the emissions (排放) of three average cars for a year. And the pollution is released at a height where its effect on climate change is more than double that on the ground. Mark Ellingham built his business on helping people travel. Now he wants to help people stop—at least by air. He is calling for ￡100 green tax on all flights to Europe and Africa, and ￡250 on flights to the rest of the world. He also wants investment to create a low-carbon economy, as well as a halt to airport expansion. Mark Ellingham"s commitment is important because his readers aren"t just the sort of young and adventurous people who would happily jump on a plane to spend a weekend exploring a foreign culture. They are also the sort of people who say they care about the environment. It"s a debate that splits people down the middle. The tourist industry has responded by offering offsetting (补偿) schemes. A small increase in the price of a ticket is used to plant trees. But critics say that it is not enough to just be carbon neutral. We should be actively cutting back on putting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. And for the average person, making a plane journey will be his or her largest contribution to global warming. It may be good to repair the damage we do. But surely it is better not to do the damage in the first place.

单选题What did the‘‘couch’’represent?

单选题The dentist has decided to take out the girl"s bad tooth.

单选题Gambling is {{U}}lawful{{/U}} in Nevada. A. popular B. booming C. legal D. profitable

单选题Sleep Necessary for Memories Burning the midnight oil before an exam or interview does harm to the performance according to a recent research which found that sleep is necessary for memories to be taken back into the brain. A good night's sleep within 30 hours of trying to remember a new task is a required condition of having good recall in the weeks ahead, scientists have found. The research, published in the December issue of Nature Neuroscience, showed that it was the act of sleep, rather than the simple passage of time, that was critical for long-term memory formation. "We think that getting that first night's sleep starts the process of memory consolidation (巩固)." said Robert Stickgold, a sleep researcher at Harvard Medical School who conducted the latest study. "It seems that memories normally wash out of the brain unless some process nails them down. My suspicion is that sleep is one of those things that does the nailing down. " Professor Stickgold said. With about one in five people claiming that they are so chronically short of sleep that it affects their daily activities, the latest work emphasizes the less well-understood side effect-serious memory impairment (损害). Volunteers in an experiment found it easier to remember a memory task if they were allowed to sleep that night. But for those kept awake, no amount of subsequent sleep made up for the initial loss. Professor Stickgold's team trained 24 people to identify the direction of three diagonal (斜线形的) bars flashed for a sixtieth of a second on a computer screen full of horizontal (水平的) stripes. Half of the subjects were kept awake that night, while the others slept. Both groups were allowed to sleep for the second and third nights to make up for any differences in tiredness between the volunteers. Those who slept the first night were significantly and consistently better at remembering the task while the second group showed no improvement despite enjoying two nights of catch-up sleep.

单选题The wealth of a country should be measured in the light of the health and happiness of its people as well as the material goods it can produce.

单选题The most famous Shoshone Indian was Sacagawea—the woman who {{U}}accompanied{{/U}} Lewis and Clark on their exploration of the upper Missouri River.

单选题All the nations in the world are supposed to {{U}}uphold{{/U}} the principles set by the United Nations.

单选题Their style of playing football is (utterly) different.

单选题{{B}}第三篇{{/B}} {{B}}TV Shows and Long Bus Trips{{/B}} Long bus rides are like television shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end - with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. "Buy Super Clean Toothpaste." "Drink Good'n Wet Root Beer." "Fill up with Pacific Gas." Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of "You Need It! Buy It Now! " The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you've traveled that way before. Usually some things have changed - new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road. The bus driver has a style of driving and it's fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless or dating, the ride can be as thrilling as a suspense story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the tight or the left-hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus tides more interesting. But you've got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops. The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon be over and there's a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat, of course, has become harder as the hours have passed. By now you've sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the ann rests - even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at the tight time. There are just no more ways to sit.

单选题The shrapnel maimed the young soldier.

单选题More Than Just Money When Patricia Rochester decided to go back to school after ten years as a staff nurse at Toronto Western Hospital, her employer not only cheered her on, but also paid her tuition and gave her a day off with pay every week to study. Throughout her years at the hospital, Rochester has also taken workshops on everything from coaching peers to career development-courses that she believes have helped her advance at work. "I'm now head of the mentoring (指导) program for new hires, students and staff nurses," she says. "There's a lot of room for personal improvement here." Perhaps as important, Rochester says her employer supports and values her work. "If you put in overtime," the nurse points out, "you get your meals-they'll order in pizza or Greek food or Chinese. " And if staffers feel stiff and stressed from too many hours on the ward, they can call for a free 15-minute shoulder-and-neck massage (按摩) or even sign up for an eight-week evening course on meditation skills and stress-relief. If that's not enough, employees can take advantage of five family days a year that can be used if the kids come down with the flu or an aging parent needs ferrying to an important doctor's appointment. And they have access to a range of perks (好处) such as special rates on hotel rooms, drugstore purchases, and scholarships for employees' children. You might wonder how an organization can provide such resources and still survive. But University Health Network is one of a number of progressive employers in Canada that have discovered that investing in staff is good business. If such initiatives help companies cut down on turnover (人员更替) alone, they're well worthwhile, says Prem Benimadhu, a vice-president at the Conference Board of Canada. It costs anywhere from $3, 300 to rehire support staff, an average $13, 300 for technical staff and a whopping (巨资) $43, 000 for an executive position, according to one study of Conference Board members. Innovative initiatives help companies attract talented employees, cut down on sick days (which cost Canadian businesses an estimated $17 billion a year. or an average of $3, 550 per employee) and keep employees more interested in their work. With the substantial talent shortage that already exists in Canada and the prospect of mass retirement over the next five years-as many as 50 or 60 per cent in some sectors-Benimadhu says that intelligent employers are putting a renewed focus on the people who work for them.

单选题His sincerity added much more credibility to the words.

单选题They have built canals to irrigate the desert.

单选题Dancing in the Streets If there is one thing certain to get Brazilians on their feet, it is the Rio Carnival (狂欢节). Held in Rio de Janeiro, the country"s biggest city, the carnival began on February 20 when the mayor gave key of the city to Rei Momo—the Lord of Misrule (无序之皇). On his orders, each year people turn the city into a paradise of dance and music. The following six days are so full of parades, street dancing, fantastic clothes and partying (聚会) that many people forget about eating and sleeping. "It was the passion of the carnival that attracted me to Brazil and made me settle down in Rio," said Bob Nadkarni, a British man who has lived in the city for several years. For many Brazilians, the centrepiece of the carnival is samba (桑巴舞), a typical Brazilian dance. Every year, tens of thousands of visitors and locals show off their passion and energy in the streets, following the beat (节拍) of the Latin music. The climax to this street party is the float (彩车) parade, in which floats decorated with tons of fresh flowers by various samba schools and local communities move through the city. On the top of each float stands the candidate for the Drum Queen, who is chosen at the end of the party. While most people are free to enjoy the celebrations, Rio"s police officers have to keep a clear head. Following the murder of three officers in a gunfight early last week, the Brazilian Government has tightened security in Rio. The street fighting, robbery and sex crimes that accompany the carnival are very difficult to police. Carnivals began in ancient Rome as a celebration at which people fed wild wolves, in honour of the city"s founder who was said to have been raised by a she-wolf. Brazil gave new life to this tradition and so, despite the troubles, the carnival will remain a symbol of the country"s culture.

单选题 下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题，每道题后面有4个选项。请根据文章的内容，从每题所给的4个选项中选择1个最佳答案。{{B}}第一篇{{/B}} {{B}} Technology Transfer in Germany{{/B}} When it comes to translating basic research into industrial success, few nations can match Germany. Since the 1940s, the nation's vast industrial base has been fed with a constant stream of new ideas and expertise from science. And though German prosperity (繁荣) has faltered (衰退) over the past decade because of the huge cost of unifying east and west as well as the global economic decline, it still has an enviable record for turning ideas into profit. Much of the reason for that success is the Fraunhofer Society, a network of research institutes that exists solely to solve industrial problems and create sought-after technologies. But today the Fraunhofer institutes have competition. Universities are taking an ever larger role in technology transfer, and technology parks are springing up all over. These efforts are being complemented by the federal programmes for pumping money into start-up companies. Such a strategy may sound like a recipe for economic success, but it is not without its critics. These people worry that favouring applied research will mean neglecting basic Science, eventually starving industry of fresh ideas. If every scientist starts thinking like an entrepreneur(企业家), the argument goes, then the traditional principles of university research being curiosity-driven, free and widely available will suffer. Others claim that many of the programmes to promote technology transfer are a waste of money because half the small businesses that are promoted are bound to go bankrupt within a few years. While this debate continues, new ideas flow at a steady rate from Germany's research networks, which bear famous names such as Helmholtz, Max Planck and Leibniz. Yet it is the fourth network, the Fraunhofer Society, that plays the greatest role in technology transfer.. Founded in 1949, the Fraunhofer Society is now Europe's largest organisation for applied technology, and has 59 institutes employing 12, 000 people. It continues to grow. Last year, it swallowed up the Heinrich Hertz Institute for Communication Technology in Berlin. Today, there are even Fraunhofers in the US and Asia.

单选题We have to ask them to quit talking in order that all people present could hear us clearly. A. decrease B. cease C. continue D. keep on

单选题TV Shows and Long Bus Trips Long bus rides are like televisions shows. They have a beginning, a middle, and an end—with commercials thrown in every three or four minutes. The commercials are unavoidable. They happen whether you want them or not. Every couple of minutes a billboard glides by outside the bus window. "Buy Super Clean Toothpaste." "Drink Good "n" Wet Root Beer." "Fill up with Pacific Gas." Only if you sleep, which is equal to turning the television set off, are you spared the unending cry of "You Need It! Buy It Now!" The beginning of the ride is comfortable and somewhat exciting, even if you"ve traveled that way before. Usually some things have changed—new houses, new buildings, sometimes even a new road. The bus driver has a style of driving and it"s fun to try to figure it out the first hour or so. If the driver is particularly reckless or daring, the ride can he as thrilling as a suspense story. Will the driver pass the truck in time? Will the driver move into the right or the left-hand lane? After a while, of course, the excitement dies down. Sleeping for a while helps pass the middle hours of the ride. Food always makes bus rides more interesting. But you"ve got to be careful of what kind of food you eat. Too much salty food can make you very thirsty between stops. The end of the ride is somewhat like the beginning. You know it will soon he over and there"s a kind of expectation and excitement in that. The seat, of course, has become harder as the hours have passed. By now you"ve sat with your legs crossed, with your hands in your lap, with your hands on the arm rests—even with your hands crossed behind your head. The end comes just at the right time. There are just no more ways to sit.