单选题He could not tolerate the extremes of heat in the desert.

单选题The methods of communication used during the war were {{U}}primitive{{/U}}. A. simple B. reliable C. effective D. alternative

单选题{{B}}第三篇{{/B}} Can Buildings be Designed to Resist Terrorist Attack In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, structural engineers are trying hard to solve a question that a month ago would have been completely unthinkable. Can buildings be designed to withstand catastrophic blasts inflicted by terrorists'? Ten day's after the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, structural engineers from the University at Buffalo and the Multidisciplinary Center for Earthquake Engineering Research(MCEER) headquartered at UB traveled to ground zero(世贸中心被毁现场)as part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation. Visiting the site as part of an MCEER reconnaissance visit, they spent two days beginning the task of formulating ideas about how to design such structures and to search for clues on how to do so in buildings that were damaged but still are standing. "Our objective in visiting ground zero was to go and look at the buildings surrounding the World Trade Center, those buildings that are still standing, but that sustained damage. " said M. Bruneau, Ph. D. "Our immediate hope is that we can develop a better understanding as to why those buildings remain standing, while our long-term goal is to see whether earthquake engineering technologies can be married to existing technologies to achieve enhanced performance of buildings in the event of terrorist attacks," he added. Photographs taken by the investigators demonstrate in startling detail the monumental damage inflicted on the World Trade Center towers and buildings in the vicinity(附近). "One building a block away from the towers remains standing, but was badly damaged. This building is many meters away from the World Trade Center and yet we see a column there that used to be a part of that building." explained A. Whittaker, Ph. D. "This column became a missile that shot across the road, through the window and through the floor. " The visit to the area also revealed some surprises, according to the engineers. For example, the floor framing system in one of the adjacent buildings was quite rugged, allowing floors that were pierced by tons of falling debris to remain intact. "Highly redundant ductile (易变形的)framing systems may provide a simple, but robust strategy for blast resistance. " he added. Other strategies may include providing alternate paths for gravity loads in the event that a load-bearing column fails. "We also need a better understanding of the mechanism of collapse," said A. Whittaker. "We need to find out what causes a building to collapse and how you can predict it." Reinhom, Ph.D. noted that earthquake shaking has led to the collapse of many buildings in the past. It induces dynamic response and extremely high stresses and deformations in structural components. Solutions developed for earthquake-resistant design may be directly applicable to blast engineering and terrorist-resistant design. Part of our mission now at UB is to transfer these solutions and to develop new ones where none exist at present.

单选题The city has decided to {{U}}do away with{{/U}} all the old buildings in its center.

单选题Your teacher will take your illness into account when marking your exams. A. calculation B. computation C. consideration D. assessment

单选题The meaning is still obscure .

单选题Living with Computer After too long on the Net, even a phone call can be a shock. My boyfriend's Liverpudian accent suddenly becomes hard to understand after the clarity of his words on screen; a secretary's tone seems more rejecting than I'd imagined it would be. Time itself becomes fluid – hours become minutes, and alternately seconds stretch into days. Weekends, once a highlight of my week, are now just two ordinary days. For the last three years, since I stopped working as a producer for Charlie Rose, I have done much of my work as a tele-commuter (远程交谈者). I submit articles and edit them via E-mail and communicate with colleagues on Internet mailing lists. My boyfriends lives in England, so much of our relationship is computer-mediated. If I desired, I could stay inside for weeks without wanting anything. I can order food, and manage my money, love and work. In fact, at times I have spent as long as three weeks alone at home, going out only to get mail and buy newspapers and groceries. I watched most of the blizzard (暴风雪)of '96 on TV. But after a while, life itself begins to feel unreal. I start to feel as though I've merged with my machines, taking data in, spitting them back out, just another node (节点) on the Net. Others on line report the same symptoms. We start to strongly dislike the outside forms of socializing. It's like attending an A.A. meeting in a bar with everyone holding a half-sipped drink. We have become the Net opponents' worst nightmare. What first seemed like a luxury, crawling from bed to computer, not worrying about hair, and clothes and face, has become an avoidance, a lack of discipline. And once you start replacing real human contact with cyber-interaction (网上交流), coming back out of the cave can be quite difficult. At times, I turn on the television and just leave it to chatter in the background, something that I'd never done previously. The voices of the programs soothe (安慰) me, but then I'm jarred (使感不快)by the commercials. I find myself sucked in by soap operas, or compulsively (强制性地) needing to keep up with the latest news and the weather. "Dateline," "Frontline," "Nightline," CNN, every possible angle of every story over and over and over, even when they are of no possible use to me. Work movers from foreground to background.

单选题This reminds me of lots of things.

单选题The Guitar The Museum of Fine Arts in the eastern city of Boston recently began showing a collection of guitars. The exhibit is called Dangerous Curves: The Art of the Guitar. It shows how the instrument developed during the past four centuries. Probably no other musical instrument is as popular around the world as the guitar. Musicians use the guitar for almost every kind of music. Country and western music would not be the same without a guitar. The traditional Spanish folk music called Flamenco could not exist without a guitar. The sound of American blues music would not be the same without the sad cry of the guitar. And rock and roll music would almost be impossible without this instrument. Music experts do not agree about where the guitar first was played. Most agree it is ancient. Some experts say an instrument very much like a guitar was played in Egypt more than a thousand years ago. Some other experts say that the ancestor of the modem guitar was brought to Spain from Persia sometime in the twelfth century. The guitar continued to develop in Spain. In the seventeen-hundred it became similar to the instrument we know today. Many famous musicians played the instrument. The famous Italian violinist Niccolo Paganinni played and wrote music for the guitar in the early eighteen hundred. Franz Schubert used the guitar to write some of his famous works. One guitar in the Boston Fine Arts display was played by Les Paul. It is a very old electric guitar. Mister Parl began experimenting with ways to make an electric guitar in the nineteen-thirties. The Gibson Guitar Company began producing its famous Les Parl Guitar in 1952. The instrument has the same shape and the same six strings as the traditional guitar, but it sounds very different. The guitar has always been important to blues music. The electric guitar Mister Paul helped develop made modem blues music possible. There have been many great blues guitarists. Yet, music experts say all blues guitar players are measured against one man and his famous guitar. That man is B-B King. Every blues fan knows that years ago B-B King named his guitar Lucille. Lucille is so important to American music that the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D-C has asked for it. They want to display the large, beautiful black guitar in one of the museums because it is a part of American culture.

单选题The city has decided to do away with all the old buildings in its center.

单选题{{B}}第二篇{{/B}} {{B}} Florence Nightingale{{/B}} 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. War reporters 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Diet Persons who are overweight should watch their diet carefully in order to lose pounds. The best way to do this is to start a weight control program. At first it is wise to talk with your doctor. He can advise you of the number of calories you should have in your meals each day. He can tell you about exercising while on your diet. A good rule is to lose slowly. A loss of a pound or two is plenty. Plan meals around foods you know. This means that it is wise to include foods that you are used to and that are part of your regular eating habits. When you have lost the weight you wish, Simple items can be added to your diet so that you can maintain the weight you want. While you are dieting, try to build a pattern of eating that you can follow later to maintain your desired weight. When dieting, choose low-calorie foods. Avoid such items as fats, fried food, sweets, cakes, cream and soft drinks. Try to take coffee and tea without sugar or cream. Snacks can be part of your diet. For example, a piece of fruit or a simple dessert saved from mealtime can be eaten between meals. Keep busy! This way you will not be tempted to go off the diet. Make full use of opportunities to exercise. Try walking instead of riding whenever possible. Happy dieting!

单选题The car Cars are an important part of life in the United States. Without a car most people feel that they are poor. And even if a person is poor he doesn't feel really poor when he has a car. Henry Ford was the man who first started making cars in large numbers. He probably didn't know how much the car was going to affect American culture. The car made the United Stated a nation on wheels. And it helped make the United States what it is today. There are three main reasons why the car becomes so popular in the United States. First of all, the country is a huge one and Americans like to move around in it. The car provides the most comfortable and cheapest form of transportation. With a car people can go anyplace without spending a lot of money. The second reason cars are popular is the fact that the United States never really developed an efficient and inexpensive form of public transportation. Long-distance trains have never been as common in the country as they are in other parts of the world. Nowadays there is a good system of air-service provided by planes. But it is too expensive to be used frequently. The third reason is the most important one, though. The American spirit of independence is what really made cars popular. Americans don't like to wait for a bus, or a train or even a plane. They don't like to have to follow an exact schedule. A car gives them the freedom to schedule their own time. And this is the freedom that Americans want most to have. The gas shortage has caused a big problem for Americans. But the answer will not be a bigger system of public transportation. The real solution will have to be a new kind of car, one that does not use so much gas.

单选题When I heard the noise in the next room, I couldn’t resist have a Upeep/U.

单选题阅读下面的短文，文中有15处空白，每处空白给出4个选项，请根据短文的内容从4个选项中选择1个最佳答案。 Electronic communication, due to its speed and broadcasting ability, is fundamentally different from paper-based communication such as letters and memos.{{U}} (51) {{/U}}the other person's response time capability is{{U}} (52) {{/U}}fast, email is more "conversational" than traditional methods of communication. In a paper document, it is absolutely{{U}} (53) {{/U}}to make everything completely clear and unambiguous because your audience may not have a chance to ask for{{U}} (54) {{/U}}. With email documents, however, your{{U}} (55) {{/U}}can ask question immediately. Email, therefore like conversational speech, tends to be much informal and more ambiguous. This is not always bad. It might not be a{{U}} (56) {{/U}}expenditure of energy to slave{{U}} (57) {{/U}}a message, making sure that your spelling is{{U}} (58) {{/U}}, your words eloquent, and that your grammar and punctuation are{{U}} (59) {{/U}}reproach, if the point of the message is simply to inform the recipient that your are ready to go to lunch. Granted, you should put some effort into ensuring that your subjects{{U}} (60) {{/U}}with your verbs, words are spelled correctly, avoid the mixing of metaphors, and so on. Because of the{{U}} (61) {{/U}}of vocal variation, gestures, and a shared environment, email is not as{{U}} (62) {{/U}}a communication method as a face-to-face or even a telephone conversation. Your recipient may have difficulty{{U}} (63) {{/U}}if you are being serious or joking, frustrated or euphoric. Thus, your email compositions should be different from both your speech and paper compositions. With email, you cannot{{U}} (64) {{/U}}anything about your correspondent's location, time, mood, marital{{U}} (65) {{/U}}or age, This means, among other things, that you need to be very, very careful in phrasing your communications in order to prevent misunderstanding.

单选题Our arrangements were thrown into complete {{U}}turmoil{{/U}}. A. doubt B. relief C. failure D. confusion

单选题An ultrasonic sound

单选题The room was {{U}}furnished{{/U}} with the simplest essentials, a bed, a chair, and a table. A.supplied B.gathered C.grasped D.made

单选题Facebook Wants to "Listen" to Your Music and TV Facebook is to release a new feature on its mobile app that "listens" to your music and TV shows. If the song or show is recognized by the app, users can publish the information on their profile or to selected friends. The service hopes to take advantage of the "second screen" trend, which sees fans of TV shows in particular sharing their experiences on social networks. However, some users have privacy concerns. The feature, which will be available in a few weeks" time, uses the microphones inside users" smartphones to detect nearby music or TV shows. As the user begins writing a status update, a small animated icon will appear at the top of the app. If the app detects the appropriate audio signals and finds a match from its database, the user can then share what he or she is watching or listening to. Facebook says the feature can be turned off at any time, the audio recording is not stored anywhere and the device cannot identify background noise or conversations. "If you share music, your friends can see a 30-second preview of the song. For TV shows, the story in News Feed will highlight the specific season and episode you"re watching," Facebook said in a statement. The company hopes this new method of sharing user listening and watching habits will take advantage of the five billion status updates related to TV and music experiences that the social networking giant sees on a yearly basis. However, automating part of the sharing process has left some users suspicious, with Nicole Simon commenting on TechCrunch that: "While the idea is nice and technology really interesting, I have no interest in Facebook "observing" my audio and surrounding. Yes, it starts currently as opt-in, and only on occasion, but there is no trust from my side for even that." The BBC understands that this new feature was not specifically designed to enhance Facebook"s advertising. However, the company could push an advertisement to a user"s phone based on their tracked listening habits. This is in keeping with Facebook"s current approach to advertising, which uses publicly provided information on users" profiles to push advertisements that are more relevant to each individual user. The basic idea behind Facebook"s feature is not a new one—since 2002 Shazam, which has recently seen a $3 million investment from Sony Music Entertainment, has been providing a similar audio recognition service, with its website describing itself as "a mobile app that recognizes music and TV around you". Facebook"s much larger user base could pose a future threat to the comparatively smaller company.

单选题The room is small but cozy .