单选题A special committee was set up to ______ the matter and report to the board of directors.

单选题Although the cultural pattern of the community affects early upbringing of a child in the home, it is______not the only factor.

单选题Young people always complain, more or less justly, that their parents are out of ______ with modern ways.

单选题Internet shopping is a new way of shopping. Nowadays, you can shop for just about anything from your armchair. All you need is a computer which is linked to the Internet. Shopping on the Internet is becoming increasingly popular. In the United States, people spent over US $2.5 billion on Internet shopping in 1998. This figure is expected to reach US $11 billion by the year 2004. People can shop for a variety of products on the Internet. Physical products include items such as books, CDs, clothes and food. These types of products are the most common purchases through the Internet. You can also buy information products such as on-line news or magazine stories, or you can download computer software through the Internet. Services such as booking airline tickets, reserving hotels or renting cars are also available on the Internet. You can also go shopping on the Internet for entertainment services and take part in on-line games. Internet shopping offers a number of benefits for the shopper. The most important advantage is convenience. You can shop when you like as the on-line shops are open 24 hours a day and you don't have to queue with other shoppers at the checkout counters. Secondly, it is easy to find what you are looking for on the Internet. Even out-of-print books may be ordered on line. Finally, it is often cheaper to buy goods through the Internet, and you can tell the shop exactly what you want. The main disadvantage of Internet shopping is that you cannot actually see the products you are buying or check their quality. Also, many people enjoy shopping in the city and miss the opportunity to talk to friends. Some people are worried about paying for goods using credit cards, so Internet companies are now finding ways to make on-line payment safe. Internet shopping is sure to become more and more popular in the years ahead. It promises to change the way we buy all kinds of things—from tonight's dinner to a new car.

单选题Millions of people are using cell phones today. In many places it is actually considered unusual not to use one. In many countries, cell phones are very popular with young people. They find that the phones are more than a means of communication—having a mobile phone shows that they are cool and connected. The explosions around the world in mobile phone use make some health professional worded. Some doctors are concerned that in the future many people may suffer health problems from the use of mobile phones. In England, there has been a serous debate about this issue. Mobile phone companies are worried about the negative publicity of such ideas. They say that there is no proof that mobile phones are bad for your health. On the other hand, why do some medical studies show changes in the brain cells of some people who use mobile phones? Signs of change in the issues of the brain and head can be detected with modern scanning (扫描) equipment. In one case, a traveling salesman had to retire at a young age because of serious memory loss. He couldn"t remember even simple tasks. He would often forget the name of his own son. This man used to talk on his mobile phone for about six hours a day, every day of his working week, for a couple of years. His family doctor blamed his mobile phone use, but his employer"s doctor didn"t agree. What is it that makes mobile phones potentially harmful? The answer is radiation. High-tech machines can detect very small amounts of radiation from mobile phones. Mobile phone companies agree that there is some radiation, but they say the amount is too small to worry about. As the discussion about their safety continues, it appears that it"s best to use mobile phones less often. Use your regular phone if you want to talk for a long time. Use your mobile phone only when you really need it. Mobile phones can be very useful and convenient, especially in emergencies. In the future, mobile phones may have a warning label that says they are bad for your health. So for now, it"s wise not to use your mobile phone too often.

单选题Man: Ken and Sandra hope to sell their house for $ 3 million. Women: Yeah, they always think big. Question: What does the women think of Ken and Sandra's plan?

单选题Woman: Doctor, what's wrong with my father?Man: He's in pretty good shape, considering.Question: What do we learn from the dialogue?

单选题Earth"s North and South Poles are famous for being cold and icy. Last year, however, the amount of ice in the Arctic Ocean fell to a record low. Normally, ice builds in Arctic waters around the North Pole each winter and shrinks during the summer. But for many years, the amount of ice left by the end of summer has been declining. Since 1979, each decade has seen an 11.4 percent drop in end of summer ice cover. Between 1981 and 2000, ice in the Arctic lost 22 percent of its thickness, becoming 1.13 meters thinner. Last summer, Arctic sea ice reached its skimpiest levels yet. By the end of summer 2007, the ice had shrunk to cover just 4.2 million square kilometers. That"s 38 percent less area than the average cover at that time of year. And it"s a very large 23 percent below the previous record low, which was set just 2 years ago. This continuing trend has scientists concerned. There may be several reasons for the ice melt, says Jinlun Zhang, an oceanographer at the University of Washington at Seattle. Unusually strong winds blew through the Arctic last summer. The winds pushed much of the ice out of the central Arctic, leaving a large area of thin ice and open water. Scientists also suspect that fewer clouds cover the Arctic now than in the past, clearer skies allow more sunlight to reach the ocean. The extra heat warms both the water and the atmosphere. In parts of the Arctic Ocean last year, surface temperatures were 3.5℃ warmer than average and 1.5℃ warmer than the previous record high. With both air and water getting warmer, the ice is melting from both above and below. In some darts of the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska and western Canada, ice that measured 3.3 meters thick at the beginning of the summer measured just 50 centimeters by season"s end. The new measurements suggest that melting is far more severe than scientists have seen by just looking at ice cover from above, says Donald K. Perovich, a geophysicist at the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, N. H. Some scientists fear that the Arctic is stuck in a warming trend from which it may never recover.

单选题The Clarks haven't decided yet which hotel ______. A. to stay B. is to stay C. to stay at D. is for staying

单选题The resources on geography can be ______ in the state library.

单选题Training as mental-health professionals is supposed to be "color blind". That sounds fine but in practice it means that people from black and ethnic groups get an unfair treatment because their particular problems are seldom acknowledged. So a project was piloted involving Bangladeshi women in inner-city London, most of whom migrated to the UK in the 1960s and 1970s from a rural background. Many of these women turned to their doctors with common symptoms of anxiety, such as headaches, sleeping difficulties, loss of appetite and lack of energy. They were usually prescribed tranquillizers or even Vitamin C since the underlying causes remained, the women visited their doctors with increasing frequency and some were referred on to mental-health professionals. The psychologists wanted to see how normal Western approaches to anxiety problems might work when applied across cultures. However, they found that many things in the standard approach had to be changed. They had to translate many of the usual examples—they would normally compare learning to relax with learning to drive, for instance, which would not have been culturally appropriate. At first they asked the women to rate, on a scale one to ten, the effect of relaxation on their level of anxiety. They found numbers an odd way of expressing how they were feeling. So psychologists shifted their focus to words and talked of five stages form "very good" to "very bad". As it was a pilot project, there were shortcomings. Psychologists looked for too little back-up and did not collect as much objective data as they might have done with a white group. They fell into the white stereotype of assuming that Bangladeshi women would find the use of various checklists and written records foreign. Perhaps racism has conditioned the professionals to a greater extent than they expected. Psychologists found that using a Western model across cultures has potential. But it needs political, financial and personal commitment.

单选题It's a typical Snoopy card: cheerful message, bright colors, though a little yellow and faded now. Though I've received fancier, more expensive cards over the years, this is the only one I've saved. One summer, it spoke volumes to me. I received it during the first June I faced as a widow to raise two teenage daughters alone. In all the emotional confusion of this sudden single parent- hood, I was overwhelmed with, of all things, the simplest housework: leaky taps, oil' changes, even barbecues (烧烤). Those had always been my husband's jobs. I was embarrassed every time I hit my thumb with a hammer or couldn't get the lawnmower (割草机) started. My uncertain at- tempts only fueled the fear inside me: How could I be both a father and mother to my girls? Clearly, I lacked the tools and skills. On this particular morning, my girls pushed me into the living room to see something. (I prayed it wasn't another repair job). The "something" turned out to be an envelope and several wrapped bundles on the carpet. My puzzlement must have been plain as I gazed from the colorful packages to my daughters' bright faces. "Go ahead! Open them!" they urged. As I unwrapped the packages, I discovered a small barbecue grill (烧烤架) and all the necessary objects in- eluding a green kitchen glove with a frog pattern on it. "But why?" I asked. "Happy Father's Day!" they shouted together. "Moms don't get presents on Father's Day," I protested. "You forgot to open the card," Jane reminded. I pulled it from the envelope. There sat Snoopy, on top of his dog house, merrily wishing me a Happy Father's Day. "Because," the girls said, "you've been a father and mother to us. Why shouldn't you be remembered on Father's Day?" As I fought back tears, I realized they were right. I wanted to be a "professional" dad, who had the latest tools and knew all the tricks of the trade. The girls only wanted a parent they could count on to be there, day after day, performing repeatedly the maintenance tasks of basic care and love. The girls are grown now, and they still send me Father's Day cards, but none of those cards means as much to me as that first one. Its simple message told me being a great parent didn't require any special tools at all--just a willing worker.

单选题As long as we are alive, we are learning and, in fact, some of our most important learning takes place outside of school ______ in school. A. better than B. rather than C. other than D. more than

单选题Speaker A: Can you tell me something about your company?Speaker B:________. Our company was established in 1953. We produce a wide variety of electronic equipment,

单选题Man: How did you go to Canada, Jane? Did you fly? Woman: I was planning to, because it's such a long trip by bus or by train. But Fred decided to drive and invited me to join him. It took us two days and a night. Question: What can we infer from the conversation? A. Fred is planning a trip to Canada. B. Fred usually flies to Canada with Jane. C. Fred persuaded Jane to change her mind. D. Fred likes the beautiful scenery along the way to Canada.

单选题Speaker A: This exercise is really beyond me. Speaker B: ______ A. When do you think you can work it out? B. Why not come to me? C. When did your teacher give you this math assignment? D. Our math teacher is too hard on us.

单选题______ preparations were being made for the Prime Minister's official visit to the four universities.

单选题Speaker A: If I were you, I'd ride a bike to work. Taking a crowded bus during rush hours is really terrible.Speaker B: ______

单选题The ______ emphasis on examinations is by far the worst form of competition in schools. A. negligent B. edible C. fabulous D. disproportionate

单选题Man: I'd like to sign up for some voluntary work with the environment council. I hear it's a great way to connect with the community. Woman: It sure is, but you'll have to put in a lot of hours. So you must leave some room in scheduling your time. Question: What does the woman imply? A. Voluntary work can help the man establish connections with the community. B. The man's voluntary work has left him little room in his schedule. C. Voluntary work with the environment council requires a time commitment. D. A lot of people have signed up for voluntary work with the environment council.