单选题The good old days of Arthur Frommer's " Europe on $ 5 a Day" are long gone. With exchange rates this month reaching a high of $1.59 to the euro. American travelers are paying more than 50 percent more for hotels, food and other expenses throughout Europe. That's if they can even afford to get there. Depending on the destination, international travel tickets are as much as $ 350 more expensive than last year, according Rick Seaney, CEO of Fare Compare. corn, a discount travel site. The reason for the rising ticket prices: fuel surcharges(燃油附加税)and international travel taxes, both of which have increased this year. Which of the following is one reason that traveling to Europe has become too expensive for Americans?A. The exchange rate of US dollar to the euro has gone up.B. Goods and service prices have increased a lot in Europe.C. Travel agencies are charging more than before.D. Americans are making less due to the economic recession.

单选题The weather is a constant subject of conversation in Britain.

单选题It not given a voice in managenal decision making workers_____.

单选题The decline in moral standards The decline in moral standards, which has long concerned social analysts, has at last captured the attention of average Americans. And Jean Bethke Elshtain, for one, is glad. The fact that ordinary citizens are now starting to think seriously about the nation's moral climate, says this ethics (伦理学) professor at the University of Chicago, is reason to hope that new ideas will come forward to improve it. But the challenge is not to be underestimated. Materialism and individualism in American society are the biggest obstacles. "The thought that 'I'm in it for me' has become deeply rooted in the national consciousness," Ms. Elshtain says. Some of this can be attributed to the disintegration of traditional communities, in which neighbors looked out for one another, she says. With today's greater mobility and with so many couples working, those bonds have been weakened, replaced by a greater emphasis on self. In a 1996 poll of Americans, loss of morality topped the list of the biggest problems facing the U.S. And Elshtain says the public is correct to sense that: Data show that Americans are struggling with problems unheard of in the 1950s, such as classroom violence and a high rate of births to unmarried mothers. The desire for a higher moral standard is not a lament (挽歌) for some nonexistent "golden age," Elshtain says, nor is it a wishful (一厢情愿的) longing for a time that denied opportunities to women and minorities. Most people, in fact, favor the lessening of prejudice. Moral decline will not be reversed until people find ways to counter the materialism in society, she says. "Slowly, you recognize that the things that matter are those that can't be bought./

单选题We were attracted by the {{U}}lure{{/U}} of quick money. A. amount B. supply C. tempt D. sum

单选题Television Is Doing Irrearable Harm "Yes, but what did we use to do before there was television?" How often we hear statements like this! Television hasn"t been with us all that long, but we are already beginning to forget what the world was like without it, Before we admitted the one-eyed monster into our homes we never found it difficult to occupy our spare time. We used to enjoy civilized pleasures. For instance, we used to have hobbies, we used to entertain our friends and be entertained by them, we used to go outside for our amusements to theatres, cinemas, restaurants and sporting events, We even used to read books and listen to music and broadcast talks occasionally. All that belongs to the past. Now all our free time is regulated by the "goggle box". We rush home or gulp down our meals to be in time for this or that programme. We have even given up sitting at table and having a leisurely evening meal, exchanging the news of the day. A sandwich and a glass of beer will do anything, providing it doesn"t interfere with the programme. The monster demands absolute silence and attention. If any member of the family dares to open his mouth during a programme, he is quickly silenced. Whole generation are growing up addicted to the telly. Food is left uneaten, homework undone and sleep is lost, The telly is a universal pacifier. It is now standard practice for mother to keep the children quiet by putting them in the living room and turning on the set. It doesn"t mater that the children will watch rubbishy commercials or spectacles of sadism(性虐狂) and violence—so long as they are quiet. There is a limit to the amount of creative talent available in the world, Every day, television consumes vast quantities of creative work, That is why most of the programmes are so bad.. it is impossible to keep pace with the demand maintain high standards as well. When millions watch the same programme, the whole world becomes a village, and society is reduced to the conditions which obtain in pre-literate communities (有文字之前的时期). We become utterly dependent on the two most primitive media of communication, pictures and the spoken work. Television encourages passive enjoyment. We become content with second-hand experiences. It is so easy to sit in our armchair watching others working. Little by little "television" cuts us off from the real world. We get so lazy, we choose to spend a fine day in semi-darkness, glued to our sets, rather than go out into the world itself, Television may be a splendid medium of communication, but it prevents us from communicating with each other. We only become aware how totally irrelevant television is to real living when we spend a holiday by the sea or in the mountains, far away from civilization, In quiet natural surroundings we quickly discover how little we miss the hypnotic (催眠) tyranny of King Telly.

单选题Hundreds of cyclists assembled in Central Park in Pudong this morning to take part in the event. A. appeared B. walked C. met D. combined

单选题New Foods and the New World In the last 500 years, nothing about people—not their clothes, ideas, or languages has changed as much as what they eat. The original chocolate drink was made from the seeds of the cocoa tree (可可树)by South American Indians. The Spanish introduced it to the rest of the world during the 1500's. And although it was very expensive, it quickly became fashionable. In London, shops where chocolate drinks were served became important meeting places. Some still exist today. The potato is also from the New World. Around 1600, the Spanish brought it from Peru to Europe, where it soon was widely grown. Ireland became so dependent on it that thousands of Irish people starved when the crop failed during the "Potato Famine(饥荒)" of 1845—1846, and thou- sands more were forced to leave their homeland and move to America. There are many other foods that have traveled from South America to the Old World. But some others went in the opposite direction. Brazil is now the world's largest grower of coffee, and coffee is an important crop in Colombia and other South American countries. But it is native to Ethiopia, a country in Africa. It was first made into a drink by Arabs during the 1400's. According to an Arabic legend, coffee was discovered when a person named Kaldi noticed that his goats were attracted to the red berries on a coffee bush. He tried one and experienced the "wideawake" feeling that one-third of the world's population now starts the day with.

单选题{{B}}第二篇{{/B}} Where Have All the Bees Gone? Scientists who study insects have a real mystery on their hands. All across the country, honey bees are leaving their hives(蜂巢) and never returning. Researchers call this phenomenon colony-collapse(群体瘫痪) disorder. It is reposed that 25 to 40 percent of the honeybees in the US have vanished from their hives since last fall. So far, no one can explain why. Colony collapse is a serious concern because bees play an important role in the production of about one-third of the foods we eat. As they feed, honeybees spread pollen(花粉)from flower to flower. Without this process, a plant can't produce seeds or fruits. Now, a group of scientists and beekeepers have teamed up to try to figure out what's causing the alarming collapse of so many colonies. They hope to find out what's contributing to the decline and to prevent bee disappearance in the future. It could be that disease is causing the disappearance of the bees. To explore that possibility, Jay Evans, a researcher at the United States Department of Agriculture (SDA) Bee Research Laboratory, examines bees taken from colonies that are collapsing. "We know what a healthy bee should look like on the inside and we can look for physical signs of disease. " he says. And bees from collapsing colonies don't look very healthy. "Their stomachs are worn down compared to the stomachs of healthy bees. " Evans says. It may be that a parasite(寄生虫) making the bees' digestive organs. Their immune(免疫的)systems may not be working as they should. Moreover, they have high levels of bacteria inside their bodies. Another cause of colony-collapse disorder may be certain chemicals that farmers apply to kill unwanted insects on crops, says Jerry Hayes, chief bee inspector for the Florida Department of Agriculture. Some studies, he says, suggest that a certain type of insecticide (杀虫剂)affects the honeybee's newels system and memory. "It seems like honeybees are going out and getting confused about where to go and what to do. " he says. If it turns out that a disease is contributing to colony collapse, bees' genes could explain why some colonies have collapsed and others have not. In any group of bees there are many different kinds of genes. The more different genes a group have, the higher the group's genetic diversity. So far scientists haven't determined the role of genetic diversity in colony collapse, but it's a promising theory, says Evans.

单选题These are our motives for doing it.

单选题This concept of being a sissy is s key concept for understanding of American character: it has no exact parallel in any other society. It has nowadays become a term of criticism which can be applied to anyone, regardless of age or sex ; although it is similar to some English terms of public shame (e. g. coward, crybaby, nanny, mother's darling) it is more than any of them. Put it simply, it means showing more dependence or fear or lack of initiative or passivity than is suitable for the occasion. It can be applied to a gambler hesitant about risking his money, to a mother over anxious about the pain her child may suffer at the hands of a surgeon, to a boy shy about asking a popular girl for a" date", to stage girl, to overt anxiety about a visit to the dentist, to a little girl crying because her doll is broken ,just as well as to occasions which directly elicit courage or initiative or independence and which may be responded to more or less adequately. It is the overwhelming fear of all American parents that their child will turn into a sissy; it is the overwhelming fear of all American parents from the moment that they can understand language that they may be taken for a sissy ; and a very great deal of American speech and activity, so often misinterpreted by non -Americans, is designed solely to avert this damning judgement. Particularly. Self - confident Americans may say" I guess I'm just a sissy...", when they feel quite sure that they are not. When applied to adult males the term also implies sexual passivity. What is the tone of the passage?A. Objective.B. Subjective.C. Critical.D. Supportiv

单选题What has Althouse Bus Transportation been mainly aiming at?

单选题Silva issued a statement denying all knowledge of the affair.

单选题Although there were many {{U}}failures{{/U}} in his career as a writer, Alexander refused to give up, and eventually he gained national recognition.

单选题Loud noises can be annoying.A. hatefulB. painfulC. horrifyingD. irritating

单选题Jack was dismissed.A. firedB. finedC. exhaustedD. criticized

单选题The plane for Riode Janeiro will take off at 6.00 p. m.

单选题The organization was bold enough to face the press.

单选题The Iceman On a September day in 199], two Germans were climbing the mountains between Austria and Italy. High up on a mountain pass, they found the body of a man lying on the ice. At that height (10,499 feet, or 3,200 meters), the ice is usually permanent, but 1991 had been an especially warm year. The mountain ice had melted more than usual and so the body had come to the surface. It was lying face downward. The skeleton (骨架) was in perfect condition, except for a wound in the head. There was still skin on the bones and the remains of some clothes. The hands were still holding the wooden handle of an ax and on the feet there were very simple leather and cloth boots. Nearby was a pair of gloves made of tree bark (树皮) and a holder for arrows. Who was this man? How and when had he died? Everybody had a different answer to these questions. Some people thought that it was from this century, perhaps the body of a soldier who died in World War I, since several soldiers had already been found in the area. A Swiss woman believed it might be her father, who had died in those mountains twenty years before and whose body had never been found. The scientists who rushed to look at the body thought it was probably much older, maybe even a thousand years old. With modern dating techniques, the scientists soon learned that the Iceman was about 5,300 years old. Born in about 3300 B.C., he lived during the Bronze Age in Europe. At first, scientist thought he was probably a hunter who had died from an accident in the high mountains. More recent evidence, however, tells a different story. A new kind of X-ray shows an arrowhead still stuck in his shoulder. It left only a tiny hole in his skin, but it caused internal damage and bleeding. He almost certainly died from this wound, and not from the wound on the back of his head. This means that he was probably in some kind of a battle. It may have been part of a larger war or he may have been fighting bandits. He may even have been a bandit himself. By studying his clothes and tools, scientists have already learned a great deal from the Iceman about the times he lived in. We may never know the full story of how he died, but he has give us important clues to the history of those distant times.

单选题She was a puzzle. A. girl B. woman C. problem D. mystery