单选题Everyday Tom had nothing to do but{{U}} pass away{{/U}} time.

单选题{{B}}第二篇{{/B}} Such mental fatigue can be as threatening as a heart attack. Recent evidence indicates that sleepiness is a leading cause of traffic and industrial accidents. "Human error causes between 60% and 900 of all workplace accidents, depending on the type of job, " observes biological psychologist David Dinges of the University of Pennsylvania. "And inadequate sleep is a major factor in human error, at least as important as drugs, alcohol and equipment failure." Other research suggests that sleep loss contributes to everything from drug abuse to poor grades in school. A typical adult needs about eight hours of shut-eye a night to function effectively. By that standard, millions of Americans are for a long time sleep deprived, trying to get by on six hours or even less. In many households, cheating on sleep has become an unconscious and harmful habit. "In its mild form, it's watching Ted Koppel and going to bed late and then getting up early to get to the gym, "says Cornell's Pollak. In extreme cases people stay up most of the night, seeing how little sleep will keep them going. They try to compensate by short sleeping late on weekends, but that makes up for only part of the shortfall. Over the months and years, some researchers believe, the imbalance builds up and the effects accumulate. "Most Americans no longer know what it feels like to be fully alert, " contends Dr. William Dement, director of Stanford University's Sleep Center. They go through the day in a sort of twilight zone; the eyes may be wide open, but the brain is partly shut down. Single parent Dianna Bennett, 43, works as a nurse at a correctional facility in Gardner, Mass. To be able to spend time with her three children during the day, she works the night shift, a schedule that usually allows her no more than four hours of sleep, "My kids tell me I'm always tired," she says. Amy Schwartzman, 35, a law student at Tulane University, gets up at 9 a.m. and, what with classes, simulated court and work as a research assistant, often does not get home until 10 p.m. That's when she studies or relaxation. Nights of throwing into bed at 3 a.m. make her feel "as if my brain isn't moving as quickly as quickly as it should." says Schwartzman, noting that the circles under her eyes keep getting darker. "My mother told me I look like a raccoon."

单选题There is an Uabundant/U supply of cheap labor in this country.

单选题 Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, while her wealthy English parents were traveling in Europe. As a child, she traveled to many places with her family and learned how to speak several languages. When Nightingale was 17, she told her family that she was going to help sick people. Her parents did not approve, but Nightingale was determined. She traveled to hospitals all over Europe. She saw that doctors were working too hard. She saw that patients died because they did not get enough care. Nightingale felt that women could be doing more to help doctors take care of sick people. Nightingale knew that in order for nurses to do more, they needed special training in how to take care of sick people. Nightingale went to a hospital in Germany to study nursing. Then she returned to London and became the head of a group of women called Gentlewomen During Illness. These women cared for sick people in their homes. In 1854, England was fighting a war with Russia. Warreporters wrote about the terrible conditions in the hospitals that cared for the wounded. People demanded that something be done about it. A leader of the government asked Florence Nightingale to take some nurses into the war hospitals. So, in November 1854, Nightingale finally got to work in a hospital. She took along 38 nurses whom she had trained herself. At first, the doctors on the battlefields did not want Nightingale and her nurses in their hospitals. They did not believe that women could help. But in fact, the nurses did make a difference. They worked around the clock, tending the sick. Thanks to their hard work, many wounded soldiers survived. After the war, Nightingale and her nurses were treated like heroes. Finally, in 1860, she started the Nightingale School for Nurses. In time, thanks to Florence Nightingale, nursing became an important part of medicine.

单选题Mysterious Nazca Drawings One of the most mysterious archaeological spectacles in the world is the immense complex of geometrical symbols, giant ground-drawings of birds and animals, and hundreds of long, ruler-straight lines, some right across mountains, which stretch over 1,200 square miles of the Peruvian tablelands, at Nazca. Nazca was first revealed to modern eyes in 1926 when three explorers looked down on the desert from a hillside at dusk and briefly saw a Nazca line highlighted by the rays of the sun. But it was not until the Peruvian airforce took aerial photographs in the 1940s that the full magnificence of the panorama was apparent. Hundreds of what looked like landing strips for aircraft were revealed. There were eighteen bird-like drawings, up to 400 feet long; four-sided figures with two lines parallel; and long needle-like triangles which ran for miles. Among the many abstract patterns were a giant spider, a monkey, a shark, all drawn on the ground on a huge scale. The scale is monumental, but from the ground almost invisible and totally incomprehensible. The amazing fact about Nazca, created more than 1,500 years ago, is that it can only be appreciated if seen from the air. Many, therefore, regarded it as a prehistoric landing ground for visitors from outer space, but Jim Woodman, an American explorer, who was long fascinated by the mystery of Nazca, had a different opinion. He believed that Nazca only made sense if the people who had designed and made these vast drawings on the ground could actually see them, and that led him to the theory that the ancient Peruvians had somehow learned to fly, as only from above could they really see the extent of their handiwork. With this theory in mind, he researched into ancient Peruvian legends about flight and came to the conclusion that the only feasible answer was a hot-air balloon. To prove his theory, Woodman would have to make such a thing using the same fabrics and fibers that would have been available to the men of Nazca at the time. He started by gathering information from ancient paintings, legends, books and archaeological sites. After many attempts, Woodman built a balloon-type airship. It took him into the air, letting him have the sensation he had never had from viewing the same ground that he had seen many times. His flight was a modern demonstration of an ancient possibility.

单选题It can be seen from the passage that the earth's supply of natural medicines

单选题New US Plan for Disease Prevention Urging Americans to take responsibility for their health, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on Tuesday launched a $15 million program to try to encourage communities to do more to prevent chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes (糖尿病). The initiative highlights the costs of chronic diseases—the leading causes of death in the United States—and outlines ways that people can prevent them, including better diet and increased exercise. "In the United States today, 7 of 10 deaths and the vast majority of serious illness, disability and health care costs are caused by chronic diseases," the Health and Human Services Department said in a statement. The causes are often behavioral—smoking, poor eating habits and a lack of exercise. "I am convinced that preventing disease by promoting better health is a smart policy choice for our future," Thompson told a conference held to launch the initiative. "Our current health care system is not structured to deal with the rising costs of treating diseases that are largely preventable through changes in our lifestyle choices." Thompson said heart disease and strokes will cost the country more than $351 billion in 2003. "These leading causes of death for men and women are largely preventable, yet we as a nation are not taking the steps necessary for us to lead healthier, longer lives," he said. The $15 million is designed to go to communities to promote prevention, pushing for changes as simple as building sidewalks to encourage people to walk more. Daily exercise such as walking can prevent and even reverse heart disease and diabetes, and prevent cancer and strokes. The money will also go to community organizations, clinics and nutritionists who are being encouraged to work together to educate people at risk of diabetes about what they can do to prevent it and encourage more cancer screening. The American Cancer Society estimates that half of all cancers can be caught by screening, including Pap tests (巴氏试验) for cervical cancer (宫颈癌), mammograms for breast cancer, colonoscopies (结肠镜检查), and prostate (前列腺的) checks. If such cancers were all caught by early screening, the group estimates that the survival rate for cancer would rise to 95 percent.

单选题Her Uspeciality/U is heart surgery.

单选题Can you Ufollow/U the plot so far?

单选题She has got a good job and earns a lot of money.A. a great deal ofB. a large quantity ofC. a large number ofD. a great level of

单选题Smoking is not permitted in the office.

单选题There is a {{U}}fundamental{{/U}} difference between the two ministers and their aims.

单选题Smallpox Virus It"s now a fair bet that we will never see the total extinction of the smallpox virus. The idea was to cap the glorious achievement of 1980, when smallpox was eradicated in the wild, by destroying the killer virus in the last two labs that are supposed to have it—one in the US and one in Russia. If smallpox had truly gone from the planet, what point was there in keeping these reserves? 1 reality, of course, it was naive to 2 that everyone would let 3 of such a potential weapon. Undoubtedly several nations still have 4 vials. 5 the last "official" stocks of live virus bred mistrust of the US and Russia, 6 no obvious gain. Now American researchers have 7 an animal model of the human disease, opening the 8 for tests on new treatments and vaccines. So one again there"s a good reason to 9 the virus—just in 10 the disease puts in a reappearance. How do we 11 with the mistrust of the US and Russia? 12 Keep the virus 13 international auspices in a well-guarded UN laboratory that"s open to all countries. The US will object, of course, just as it rejects a multilateral approach to just about everything. But it doesn"t 14 the idea is wrong. If the virus 15 useful, then let"s make it the servant of all humanity—not just a part of it.

单选题Riches and Romance From Frante's Wine Harvest September is harvest time. And with bunches of grapes swinging (摇摆) in the wind, the vineyards of southern France are getting ready to celebrate it. The yearly wine festival is held in honor of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. It's a fun time with parties, music, dancing, big meals and, of course, lots of wine. French wine-making began more than 2,500 years ago. The world's oldest type of vine grows in France and always produces a good quality wine. Today France produces one-fifth of the world's wine, and some of the most famous varieties. The top wine-producing areas are Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Loire Valley. Champagne, a drink used in celebrations, is named after the place where sparkling (有汽泡的) wine was first produced in 1700. Wine is made from the juice of freshly picked grapes. It is the sugars that turn into alcohol. Traditionally, people used to take off their shoes and crush the grapes with their bare feet to bring out the juice. Nowadays, this practice is usually carried out by machines. Each wine producing region has its own character, based on its type of grapes and soil. The taste of wine changes with time. Until 1850, all French champagne was sweet. Now, both wine and champagne taste slightly bitter. The drink has always been linked with riches, romance and nobleness. Yet the French think of it in more ordinary terms. They believe it makes daily living easier, less hurried and with fewer problems. "All its links are with times when people are at their best; with relaxation, happiness, long slow meals and the free flow of ideas," wrote wine expert Hugh Johnson.

单选题The voyage is a recurrent metaphor in Romantic literature.A. loverB. journeyC. viewD. cliff

单选题Microcomputer proves itself more and more important in the business, so additional machines are purchased.A. lentB. boughtC. borrowedD. repaired

单选题Which statement is NOT true according to the authors?

单选题Our new house is on the first floor.A. bottomB. thirdC. groundD. top

单选题Many students were absent, notably the monitor.

单选题In the 1960s, medical researchers Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe developed a checklist of stressful events. They appreciated the tricky point that any major change can be stressful. Negative events like "serious illness of a family member" were high on the list, but so were some positive life-changing events, like marriage. When you take the Holmes-Rahe test you must remember that the score does not reflect how you deal with stress--it only shows how much you have to deal with. And we now know that the way you handle these events dramatically affects your chances of staying healthy. By the early 1970s, hundreds of similar studies had followed Holmes and Rahe. And millions of American who work and live under stress worried over the reports. Somehow, the research got boiled down to a memorable message. Women's magazines ran headlines like "Stress causes illness!" If you want to stay physically and mentally healthy, the articles said, avoid stressful events. But such simplistic advice is impossible to follow. Even if stressful events are dangerous, many --like the death of a loved one -- are impossible to avoid. Moreover, any warning to avoid all stressful events is a prescription(处方)for staying away from opportunities as well as trouble. Since any change can be stressful, a person who wanted to be completely free of stress would never marry, have a child, take a new job or move. The notion that all stress makes you sick also ignores a lot of what we know about people. It assumes we're all vulnerable (脆弱的)and passive in the face of adversity (逆 `境5. But what about human initiative and creativity? Many come through periods of stress with more physical and mental vigor than they had before. We also know that a long time without change or challenge can lead to boredom, and physical and mental strain.