单选题. Sauna Ceremonial bathing has existed for thousands of years and has many forms, one of which is the sauna. The Finns have perfected the steam bath, or sauna, which may be taken, usually in an enclosed room, by pouring water over hot rocks or as a dry heat bath. The Japanese, Greeks, Turks and Russians as well as Native Americans have forms of the sweat bath in their bathing rituals. Dry heat and steam baths had advocates in ancient Rome and pre-Columbian Americans used sweat lodges. The earliest saunas were probably underground caves heated by a fire that naturally filled with smoke as chimney making was unknown at that time. A fire kept in a fire-pit would heat the rock walls of the cave. After reaching full heat, the smoke was let out of the cave and the stones would retain heat for several hours. A few people today say that the smoke sauna, "savusauna", is the only true sauna experience and that all saunas should have at least a background odor or smoke. Today most saunas use electric stoves, although gas and wood-burning stoves are available. Saunas are relaxing and stress relieving. Those with muscle aches or arthritis may find that the heat relaxes muscles and relieves pain and inflammation. Asthma patients find that the heat enlarges air passageways of the lung and facilitates breathing. Saunas do not cure the common cold but they may help to alleviate congestion and speed recovery time. The body's core temperature usually rises 1—2 degrees while in the sauna, thus imitating a slight fever. The sauna could be considered to follow the old saying "feed a cold, starve a fever". The regular use of a sauna may decrease the likelihood of getting a cold in the first place. Sauna is good for your skin as the blood flow to the skin increases and sweating occurs. Adults sweat about 2 lbs of water per hour on average in a sauna. A good sweat removes dirt and grime from pores and gives the skin a healthy glow. The loss in water weight is temporary as the body's physiological mechanisms will quickly restore proper volumes. The cardiovascular system gets a work out as the heart must pump harder and faster to move blood to the surface for heat exchange. Heart rate may increase from 72 beats per minute on average to 100—150 beats per minute. A normal heart can handle these stresses but those with heart trouble wishing to begin to use a sauna should seek a doctor's advice. The elderly and those with diabetes should check with their doctor prior to beginning to take saunas. Pregnant women should not take saunas, particularly in the first three months. Indeed, everyone just starting out should take short sessions at first to become accustomed to this type of bath.1. Ceremonial bathing______.
单选题3. Can you make a sentence to bring out the meaning of the phrase?
单选题 From my standpoint, you know
单选题6. The details of the costume were totally authentic.
单选题. World Crude Oil Production May Peak a Decade Earlier Than Some Predict? In a finding that may speed efforts to conserve oil, scientists in Kuwait predict that world conventional crude oil production will peak in 2014. This prediction is almost a decade earlier than some other predictions. Their study is in ACS' Energy Fuels. Ibrahim Nashawi and colleagues point out that rapid growth in global oil consumption has sparked a growing interest in predicting "peak oil". "Peak oil" is the point where oil production reaches a maximum and then declines. Scientists have developed several models to forecast this point, and some put the date at 2020 or later. One of the most famous forecast models is called the Hubbert model. It assumes that global oil production will follow a bell shaped curve. A related concept is that of "Peak Oil". The term "Peak Oil" indicates the moment in which worldwide production will peak, afterwards to start on irreversible decline. The Hubbert model accurately predicted that oil production would peak in the United States in 1970. The model has since gained in popularity and has been used to forecast oil production worldwide. However, recent studies show that the model is insufficient to account for more complex oil production cycles of some countries. Those cycles can be heavily influenced by technology changes, politics, and other factors, the scientists say. The new study describes development of a new version of the Hubbert model that provides a more realistic and accurate oil production forecast. Using the new model, the scientists evaluated the oil production trends of 47 major oil-producing countries, which supply most of the world's conventional crude oil. They estimated that worldwide conventional crude oil production will peak in 2014, years earlier than anticipated. The scientists also showed that the world's oil reserves are being reduced at a rate of 2.1 percent a year. The new model could help inform energy-related decisions and public policy debate, they suggest.1. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the word "sparked" appearing in Paragraph 2?
单选题10. Some newspapers in the west are notably biased.
单选题1. This kind of material was seldom used in building houses during the middle ages.
单选题14. Red flag was placed there as a token of danger.
单选题8. There was a profound silence after his remark.
单选题7. A great deal has been done to remedy the situation.
单选题9. The little girl grasped her mother's arm as she crossed the street.
单选题. The Exploding Lakes of Cameroon What comes to mind when you think of a lake? You probably imagine a pretty scene with blue water, birds, and fish. For the people in the northwestern Cameroon, however, the image is very different. For them, lakes may mean terrible disasters. In 1984, poisonous gases exploded out of Lake Monoun and came down into the nearby villages, killing thirty-seven people. Two years later, Lake Nyos erupted. A cloud of gases rolled down the hills and into the valleys and killed 1,700 people. Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun are crater (火山口) lakes. They were formed when water collected in the craters of old volcanoes. The volcanoes under Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun are not active anymore. However, poisonous gases from the center of the earth continue to flow up through cracks in the bottom of the lake. This is normal in a crater lake. In most crater lakes, these gases are released often because the water "turns over" regularly. That is, the water from the bottom of the lake rises and mixes with the water at the top, allowing the gases to escape slowly. However, in Lakes Nyos and Monoun, there is no regular turning over. No one knows the reason for this fact, but as a result, these lakes have more gases trapped at the bottom than other crater lakes. In fact, scientists who have studied Lakes Nyos and Monoun have found 16,000 times more gases. When a strong wind, cool weather, a storm, or a landslide (滑坡) causes the water to turn over suddenly, the gases escape in a violent explosion. In the past, no one knew when the gases might explode, so there was no way for the villagers to escape disaster. Now scientists from the United States, France, and Cameroon have found a way to reduce the gas pressure at the bottom of Lake Nyos. They stood a 672-foot plastic pipe in the middle of the lake, with one end of the pipe near the bottom and the other end in the air. Near the top of the pipe, the team put several holes that could be opened or closed by a computer. Now, when the gas pressure gets too high, the holes are opened and some of the gas-filled water shoots up through the pipe into the air like a fountain. With less pressure, a disastrous explosion is much less likely. However, the scientists are not sure that one pipe will be enough to prevent explosions. They hope to put in others soon and they plan to install a similar pipe and a computer system at Lake Monoun as well. To protect people nearby until all of the pipes are in place, the scientists have installed early warning systems at both lakes. If the gas pressure rises to a dangerous level, computers will set off loud sirens (警报) and bright lights to warn the people in the villages. In that way, they will have time to escape from the dangerous gases.1. What will happen when Lake Nyos and Lake Monoun explode?
单选题9. He could not tolerate the extremes of heat in the desert.
单选题1. The steadily rising cost of labor on the waterfront has greatly increased the cost of shipping cargo by water.
单选题9. We lived for years in a perpetual state of fear.
单选题9. Many scientists have been probing psychological problems.
单选题12. During the past ten years there have been dramatic changes in the international situation.
单选题 Eat More, Weigh Less
单选题. Age Discrimination By the year 2000 nearly half the workforce in Europe are over 40 and yet throughout Europe there is a deep ambivalence (犹豫)-if not outright suspicion-towards the capabilities of older workers. Those over the age of 40 generally take longer to find new employment, but European governments have done little to protect their employment rights. Only Germany, with incentives to business to encourage the employment of older people, and France, with the introduction of legislation making it illegal to use age barriers in recruitment-or to make employees redundant because of their age done anything substantive to combat age discrimination. Yet even in these two countries, there has been no noticeable improvement in the lot of the older workers; indeed, in France, job advertisements flout (轻视，反对) the law openly by asking for applicants of a certain age. So, should France and Germany be tightening up their laws and should the rest of Europe follow suit? Bill Robbins, a careers consultant said, "Legislation against age discrimination has been in existence for well over ten year in the U.S. and Canada, but has had no effect. Employers will always be able to find some reasons for turning down an older applicant without appearing to break the law." Ironically, it was governments which played a leading role in hardening business culture against older workers in the first place. In the late 1970s, many European countries were extremely concerned about the levels of youth unemployment, and France, Germany and Belgium even initiated incentive schemes for businesses to encourage older employees to take early retirement provided that younger trainees were taken on in their place. As more and more employees took early retirement, often willingly, a new, youth-oriented culture permeated business throughout most of Europe-even in those countries that had taken no active measures to promote it. Demographic (人口统计学) trends mean that governments are now anxious to slow down the policy of early retirement as they realize that they simply do not have the funds to meet their pension promises. But reversing business attitudes is no easy matter. Dianah Worman a policy adviser said, "There is a widely held belief that older people are less adaptable and trainable. This is just not true: research has shown that differences in capability are as wide within age groups as they are between them."1. Which of the following words can best describe the European attitude to older workers?
单选题 If headaches only occur at night