单选题TV Games Shows One of the most fascinating things about television is the size of the audience. A novel can be on the "best sellers" list with a sale of fewer than 100,000 copies, but a popular TV show might have 70 million TV viewers. TV can make anything or anyone well known overnight. This is the principle behind "quiz" or "game" shows, which put ordinary people on TV to play a game for the prize and money. A quiz show can make anyone a star, and it can give away thousands of dollars just for fun. But all of this money can create problems. For instance, in the 1950s, quiz shows were very popular in the U.S. and almost everyone watched them. Charles Van Doren, an English instructor, became rich and famous after winning money on several shows. He even had a career as a television personality. But one of the losers proved that Charles Van Doren was cheating. It turned out that the show"s producers who were pulling the strings, gave the answers to the most popular contestants beforehand. Why? Because if the audience didn"t like the person who won the game, they turned the show off. Based on his story, a movie under the title "Quiz Show" is on 40 years later. Charles Van Doren is no longer involved with TV. But game shows are still here, though they aren"t taken as seriously. In fact, some of them try to be as ridiculous as possible. There are shows that send strangers on vacation trips together, or that try to cause newly married couples to fight on TV, or that punish losers by humiliating them. The entertainment now is to see what people will do just to be on TV. People still win money, but the real prize is to be in front of an audience of millions.

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}} Child Consultants{{/B}} These days, "what do you want to do when you grow up?" is the wrong question to ask children in the USA. The{{U}} (51) {{/U}}should be: "what job are you doing now?" American companies are employing more and more young people as consultants to evaluate products for child{{U}} (52) {{/U}}. The 12-to-19{{U}} (53) {{/U}}group spends more than $100 billion a year in the USA. Specialist agencies have been created to help manufacturers ask kids about all the latest trends in clothes, food and{{U}} (54) {{/U}}markets. One{{U}} (55) {{/U}}, Teenage Research Unlimited, has panels (评判小组 ) of teenagers who give their verdict (裁决) on products'{{U}} (56) {{/U}}jeans (牛仔裤). Another company, Doyle Research Associated, holds two-hour sessions in a room{{U}} (57) {{/U}}the "imaginarium (想象室)." Children are encouraged to play games to get{{U}} (58) {{/U}}a creative mood. They have to write down any ideas that{{U}} (59) {{/U}}into their heads. Some manufacturers prefer to do their own{{U}} (60) {{/U}}research. The software company Microsoft runs a weekly "Kid's Council" at its headquarters in Seattle,{{U}} (61) {{/U}}a panel of school children give their verdict on the{{U}} (62) {{/U}}products and suggest new ones. One 11-year-old, Andrew Cooledge, told them that they should make more computer games which would appeal equally{{U}} (63) {{/U}}boys and girls. Payments for the work are increasingly attractive. Andrew Cooledge was paid $250 and given some software.{{U}} (64) {{/U}}, even if their ideas are valuable, the children will never make a fortune. They cannot have the copyright to their ideas. These are not jobs they can hold for long.{{U}} (65) {{U}}their mid-teens they can be told that they are too old.{{/U}}{{/U}}

单选题Not long ago, the American government began a" plain language" program, requiring all government agencies to write their new regulations in understandable language. It also encouraged them to rewrite old rules. A website was created to help government employees write everything from regulations to letters in easier- to- understand English. A website was set up toA. write regulations in plain English for government agencies.B. rewrite old rules in plain English for government agencies.C. help government employees write in plain English.D. write regulations and letters for government employees.

单选题Fewer and fewer of today"s workers expect to spend their working lives in the same field, not to mention the same company.

单选题The mountains look glorious at sunrise.A. invitingB. magnificentC. appealingD. pleasing

单选题Animal"s "Sixth Sense" A tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean in December, 2004. It killed tens of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa. Wild animals, 1 , seem to have escaped that terrible tsunami. "This phenomenon adds weight to notions that they possess a "sixth sense" for 2 ," experts said. Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island"s coast clearly 3 wild beasts, with no dead animals found. "No elephant are dead, not 4 a dead rabbit. I think animals can 5 disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening." H. D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka"s Wildlife Department, said about one month after the tsunami attack. The 6 washed floodwaters up to 2 miles inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka"s biggest wildlife 7 and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards. "There has been a lot of 8 evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven," said Matthew van Lierop, an animal behavior 9 at Johannesburg Zoo. "There have been no 10 studies because you can"t really test it in a lab or field setting," he told Reuters. Other authorities concurred with this 11 . "Wildlife seems to be able to pick up certain 12 , especially birds...there are many reports of birds detecting impending disasters," said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife. Animals 13 rely on the known senses, such as smell or hearing, to avoid danger such as predators. The notion of an animal"s "sixth sense"—or 14 other mythical power—is an enduring one which the evidence on Sri Lanka"s ravaged coast is likely to add to. The Romans saw owls 15 omens of impending disaster and many ancient cultures viewed elephants as sacred animals endowed with special powers or attributes.

单选题Many experts remain skeptical about his claims.

单选题This is not typical of English, but is a feature of the Chinese language.

单选题The Rising Oil Price Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $26 a barrel, up from less than $10 last December. This near-tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shocks resulted in double-digit inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this time? The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth, at the dame time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price higher still in the short term. Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to four-fifths of the retail price, so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in the past. Rich economics are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so less sensitive to swings in the oil price. Energy conservation, a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy, energy-intensive industries have reduced oil consumption. Software, consultancy and mobile telephones use far less oil than steel or car production. For each dollar of GDP (in constant prices) rich economics now use nearly 50% less oil than in 1973. The OECD estimates in its latest Economic Outlook that, if oil prices averaged $ 22 a barrel for a full year, compared with $13 in 1998, this would increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only 0.25%～0.5% of GDP. That is less than one-quarter of the income loss in 1974 or 1980. On the other hand, oilimporting emerging economies—to which heavy industry has shifted—have become more energy-intensive, and so could be more seriously squeezed. One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is that, unlike the rises in the 1970s, it has not occurred against the background of general commodity-price inflation and global excess demand. A sizable portion of the world is only just emerging from economic decline. The Economist"s commodity price index is broadly unchanging from a year ago. In 1973 commodity prices jumped by 70%, and in 1979 by almost 30%.

单选题The conference explored the possibility of closer trade links.

单选题Our statistics show that we consume all that we are capable of producing A. waste B. buy C. use D. sell

单选题Gardner thinks that his theory has a ________ .

单选题A Debate on the English Language A measure declaring English the national language is under intense debate in the United States. The US Senate passed two declarations last week. One calls English the nation"s official language and the other says it is the "common and unifying (统一的)" tongue. But Americans found themselves divided on the issue. Since people worldwide know that most Americans speak only English, many can"t understand why the issue is so controversial (有争议的). "The discussion is related to fears of immigration issues," says Dick Tucker, a social scientist at Pittsburgh"s Carnegie Mellon University. "It"s related to a worry about the changing demography (人口统计) of the US. It"s a worry about who will continue to have political and economic influence." In fact, the notion of protecting the language has been kicked around almost since the nation"s founding. John Adams lobbied (游说) in 1780 for the creation of a national academy to correct and improve the English language. But his proposal died, since lawmakers saw it as a royalist (保皇主义者) attempt to define personal behavior. Since then, the country hasn"t had a national language, but the idea of recognizing the special status of English lived on. The emotions surrounding language resurface (再次浮现) not because people feel comfortable with English. It is more about the discomfort many Americans feel with the new languages, says Walt Wolfram, a professor at North Carolina State University. "Language is never about language," he says. According to the 2000 US Census Bureau report, of 209 million Americans over 18 years old, 172 million speak only English at home. About 37 million speak languages other than English. Among them, 6.5 million speak poor English and 3.1 million don"t speak English at all.

单选题The starving children were a {{U}}pathetic{{/U}} sight. A. common B. unexpected C. unforgettable D. pitiful

单选题With immense relief I stopped running.

单选题Her behaviour is extremely childish. A. simple B. immature C. beautiful D. pretty

单选题Medical Journals Medical journals are publications that report medical information to physicians and other health professionals. In the past, these journals were available only in print. With the development of electronic publishing, many medical journals now have Web sites on the Internet, and some journals publish only online. A few medical journals, like the Journal of the American Medical Association, are considered general medical journals because they cover many fields of medicine. Most medical journals are specialty journals that focus on a particular area of medicine. Medical journals publish many types of articles. Research articles report the results of research studies on a range of topics varying from the basic mechanisms of diseases to clinical trials that compare outcomes of different treatments. Review articles summarize and analyze the information available on a specific topic based on a careful search of the medical literature. Because the results of individual research studies can be affected by many factors, combining results from different studies on the same topic can be helpful in reaching conclusions about the scientific evidence for preventing, diagnosing or treating a particular disease. Case conferences and case reports may be published in medical journals to educate physicians about particular illnesses and how to treat at them. Editorials in medical journals are short essays that express the views of the authors, often regarding a research or review article published in the same issue. Editorials provide perspective on how the current article fits with other information on the same topic. Letters to the editor provide a way for readers of the medical journal to express comments, questions or criticisms about articles published in that journal.

单选题The gar is a fish with a long, {{U}}slender{{/U}} body and scales as hard as flint.

单选题They agreed to settle the dispute by peaceful means. A. complete B. determine C. untie D. solve

单选题He endured agonies before he finally expired. A. fired B. resigned C. died D. retreated