单选题This is the unique solution to our problem. A. only B. alone C. single D. lonely

单选题Do Patients Trust Doctors Too Much Earlier this year, the American College of Surgeons, the national scientific and educational organization of surgeons conducted a nationwide survey that found that the average patient devotes an hour or less to researching his or her surgery or surgeon. While prospective patients worry about the costs or complications of an operation, they don't necessarily look for information that would address their concerns. In fact, more than a third of patients who had an operation in the last five years never reviewed the credentials of the surgeon who operated. Patients are more likely to spend time researching a job change (on average, about 10 hours) or a new car (8 hours) than the operation they are about to submit to or the surgeon who wields (支配) the knife. And many patients are satisfied with the answers they receive from their surgeons or primary care doctors, whoever those individuals happen to be. I felt curious about the survey, so I called Dr. Thomas Russell, executive director of the American College of Surgeons. "There is a tendency for patients not to get particularly involved and not to feel compelled to look into their surgery or surgeons." he told me. There are consequences to that kind of blind trust. "Today, medicine and surgery are really team sports." Dr. Russell continued, "and the patient, as the ultimate decision maker, is the most important member of the team. Mistakes can happen, and patients have to be educated and must understand what is going on. " In other words, a healthy doctor-patient relationship does not simply entail good bedside manners and responsible office management on the part of the doctor. It also requires that patients come to the relationship educated about their doctors, their illnesses and their treatment. "If we are truly going to reform the health care system in the US," Dr. Russell said, "everybody has to participate actively and must educate themselves. That means doctors, nurses, other health care professionals, lawyers pharmaceutical companies, and insurance companies. But most of all, it means the patient." Trust is important. But as Sir Francis Bacon, who was among the first to understand the importance of gathering data in science, once observed, knowledge is power.

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 o{ 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Accompanied by cheerful music, we began to dance.

单选题The secretary is expected to explore ideas for post-war reconstruction of the area.

单选题Obesity: the Scourge of the Western World Obesity is rapidly becoming a new scourge of the western world, delegates agreed at the 11th European Conference on the issue in Vienna Wednesday to Saturday. According to statements before the opening of the conference—of 2,000 specialists from more than 50 countries—1.2 billion people worldwide are overweight, and 250 million are obese. Professor Bernhard Ludvik of Vienna General Hospital said: "Obesity is a chronic illness. In Germany, 20 percent of the people are already affected, but in Japan only one percent." But he said that there was hope for sufferers thanks to the new scientific discoveries and medication. Professor Friedrich Hopichler of Salzberg said: "We are living in the new age (but) with the metabolism of a stone age man." "I have just been to the United States. It is really terrible. A pizza shop is springing up on every corner. We have been overrun by fast food and Coca-Cola-ization." Many of the experts stressed that obesity was a potential killer. Hopichler said: "80 percent of all diabetics are obese, also 50 percent of all patients with high blood pressure and 50 percent with adipose tissue complaints." "10 percent more weight means 13 percent more risk of heart disease. Reducing one"s weight by 10 percent leads to 13 percent lower blood pressure." Another expert Hermann Toplak said that the state health services should improve their financing of preventive programs. "Though the health insurance pays for surgery (such as reducing the size of the stomach) when the body-mass index is more than 40. That is equivalent to a weight of 116 kilograms for a height of 1.70 meters. One should start earlier." Ludvik said that prevention should begin in school. "Child obesity (fat deposits) correlates with the time which children spend in front of TV sets." The consequences were only apparent later on. No more than 15 percent of obese people lived to the average life expectancy for their population group.

单选题Afterwards there was just a feeling of let-down .

单选题A large sum of money has been {{U}}allocated{{/U}} for buying new books for the library. A. assigned B. persuaded C. asked D. ordered

单选题The government is (debating) the education laws.

单选题Azeri Hills Hold Secret of Long Life You can see for kilometers from the mountains where Allahverdi Ibadov herds his small flock of sheep amid a sea of yellow, red, and purple wildflowers. The view from Amburdere in southern Azerbaijan toward the Iranian border is spectacular, but Mr. Ibadov barely gives it a second glance. Why should he? He's been coming here nearly every day for 100 years. According to his carefully preserved passport, Mr. Ibadov, whose birth was not registered until he was a toddler, is at least 105 years old. His wife, who died two years ago, was even older. They are among the dozens of people in this beautiful, isolated region who live extraordinarily long lives. Mr. Ibadov's eldest son has just turned 70. He lost count long ago of how many grandchildren he has. "I'm an old man now I look after the sheep, and I prepare the wood for winter. I still have something to do. " A. lifetime of toil, it seems, takes very few people to an early grave in this region. Scientists admit there appears to be something in the Azeri mountains that gives local people a longer, healthier life than most. Miri Ismailov's family in the tiny village of Tatoni are convinced that they know what it is. Mr. Ismailov is 110, his great-great-grandson is four. They share one proud boast: Neither has been to a doctor. "There are hundreds of herbs on the mountain, and we use them all in our cooking and for medicines" ; explained Mr. Ismailov's daughter, Elmira. "We know exactly what they can do. We are our own doctors. " There is one herb for high blood pressure, another for kidney stones, and a third for a hacking cough. They are carefully collected from the slopes surrounding the village. Experts from the Azerbaijan Academy of Science believe the herbs may be part of the answer. They have been studying longevity in this region for years. It began as a rare joint Soviet-American project in the l980s,but these studies are not being funded any more. Azeri scientists have isolated a type of saffron unique to the southern mountains as one thing that seems to increase longevity. Another plant, made into a paste, dramatically increases the amount of milk that animals are able to produce. "Now we have to examine these plants clinically to find out which substances have this effect, " said Chingiz Gassimov, a scientist at the academy. The theory that local people have also developed a genetic predisposition to long life has been strengthened by the study of a group of Russian émigrés whose ancestors were exiled to the Caucasus 200 years ago. The Russians' life span is much shorter than that of the indigenous mountain folk — though it is appreciably longer than that of their ancestors left behind in the Russian heartland. "Over the decades, I believe local conditions have begun to have a positive effect on the new arrivals" ,Professor Gassimov said. "It's been slowly transferred down the generations. " But Mr. Ismailov, gripping his stout wooden cane, has been around for too long to get overexcited. "There's no secret, " he shrugged dismissively. "I look after the cattle and I eat well. Life goes on. /

单选题Practically all animals communicate either through sounds or through soundless codes.

单选题A series of rifle shots disturbed the tranquility of the camp grounds.A. solidarityB. peacefulnessC. equanimityD. propinquity

单选题 下面的短文后列出了7个句子，请根据短文的内容对每个句子做出判断：如果该句提供的是正确信息，请选择A；如果该句提供的是错误信息，请选择B，如果该句的信息文中没有提及，请选择C。 {{B}}Spare a Kidney?{{/B}} It is no longer unusual for a spouse or relative to donate a kidney t0 a loved one, but the number of Americans who have given a kidney to a friend, a co-worker or even a complete stranger has risen sharply from 68 in 1994 to 176 in 1998. There are many reasons. First, it's possible to live a normal life with only one kidney. (The remaining kidney enlarges to make up most of the difference.)In addition a kidney from a live donor lasts longer than a kidney taken from someone who has died suddenly. But the biggest change in the past few years is that transplant surgeons have started using 1aparoscopic techniques to remove the donor kidney through a much smaller incision, and this can cut recovery time for the donor from six weeks to four weeks. Just because you do something, however, it doesn't mean you should, Donating a kidney means under- going an operation that carries some risk. You could argue that you may be helping to save a life, but you certainly can't pretend that you're better off with one kidney instead of two. So, what are the risks? “As with any major operation, there is a chance of dying, of reoperation due to bleeding，Of infection，Of vein clots in the legs Or a hernia at the incision，”says Dr．Arthur Matas，director of the renal-transplant program at the university of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis. Even laparoscopy, a relatively new technique for kidney donation, is not risk-free. Doctors estimate that chances of dying from the procedure are about 3 in 10,000. There's no money to be made; selling an organ is illegal. But the recipient's insurance normally covers your operation and immediate aftercare. Your costs can include hotel bills, lost pay during recovery or possible future disability. Although transplant centers must evaluate any potential donor's suitability, it never hurts to have an independent opinion. The most common contraindications(禁忌征候)are heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Never let anyone, not even a close relative, pressure you into giving up an organ—no matter if you're healthy. "There's often the feeling that you're not a good friend, father, mother if you don't do this," says Arthus Caplan, director of the University of Pennsylvania's center for Bioethics. Some transplant centers will invent a "medical problem" on behalf of those who are reluctant to donate but feel they can't say no.

单选题Reading the job ad, he wondered whether he was eligible to apply for it.

单选题The employer dictated the letter to his secretary, who wrote it down in shorthand.A. deliveredB. handedC. readD. revealed

单选题She gave up her job to look after her invalid mother.A. quittedB. lostC. pausedD. retired

单选题A Pay Rise or Not? "Unless I get a rise, I"ll have a talk with the boss, Henry Manley," George Strong said to himself. George liked his job and he liked the town he lived in, but his wife kept telling him that his pay was not enough to meet the needs of the family. That was why he was thinking of taking a job in Birmingham, a nearby city, about 50 miles away. He had been offered a job in a factory there, and the pay was far better. George lived in Wyeford, a medium-sized town. He really liked the place and didn"t like the idea of moving somewhere else, but if he took the job in Birmingham, he would have to move his family there. Henry Manley was the manager of a small company manufacturing electric motors. The company was in deep trouble because, among other reasons, the Japanese were selling such things at very low prices. As a result, Manley had to cut his own prices and profits as well. Otherwise he would not get any orders at all. Even then, orders were still not coming in fast enough, so that there was no money for raises (加工资) for his workers. Somehow, he had to straggle along and keep his best workers as well. He sighed. Just then the phone rang. His secretary told him that George Strong wanted to see him as soon as possible. Manley sighed again. He could guess what it was about. George Strong was a very young engineer. The company had no future unless it could attract and keep men like him. Manley rubbed his forehead (前额); his problems seemed endless.

单选题{{B}}第三篇{{/B}} {{B}} Pushbike Peril{{/B}} Low speed bicycle crashes can badly injure--or even kill--children if they fall onto the ends of the handlebars so a team of engineers is redesigning the humble handlebar in a bid to make it safer. Kristy Arbogast, a bioengineer at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, began the project with her colleagues after a study of serious abdominal injuries in children in the past 30 years showed that more than a third were caused by bicycle accidents." The task was to identify how the injuries occurred and come up with some countermeasures." she says. By interviewing the children and their parents, Arbogast and her team were able to reconstruct many of the accidents and identified a common mechanism responsible for serious injures. They discovered that most occur when children hit an obstacle at a slow speed, causing them to topple over. To maintain their balance they turn the handlebars through 90 degrees--but their momentum forces them into the end of the handlebars. The bike then falls over and the other end of the handlebars hits the ground, ramming it into their abdomen. The solution the group came up with is a handgrip fitted with a spring and damping system. The spring absorbs up to 50 per cent of the forces transmitted through the handlebars in an impact. The group hopes to commercialize the device, which should add only a few dollars to the cost of a bike. "But our task has been one of education because up until now, bicycle manufacturer were unaware of the problem." says Arbogast. The team has also approached the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to try to persuade manufacturers to adopt the new design A decision is expected later this year. handlebar n(常用复数) (自行车等的) 车把 abdominal adj. 腹部的 redesign v. 重新设计 bioengineer n. 生物工程师 reconstruct vt. 重建; 重构 countermeasure n. 对策 abdomen n. 腹部 momentum n. 冲力 handgrip n. 握柄 damping adj. 制动的;减速的,缓冲的 commercialize vt. 使商品化

单选题The room is dim and quiet.

单选题{{B}}第二篇{{/B}} The Iceman On a September day in 1991, 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 modem 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 scientists 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 given us important clues to the history of those distant times.