单选题 有人说，阅读决定着一个民族思维的深度和广度，对文化传承、国家发展有着重要的意义。已有专家指出，如果仅仅满足于“浅阅读”，对于国家和人民将是灾难性的。这就是为什么在高科技浪潮中，很多网络发达的国家反而更强调传统式阅读。近年来，很多国家都把提倡阅读、提升阅读能力列为教育改革的重点，通过实施这些措施努力唤起“深阅读”。

单选题 Almost 150 years after photovoltaic (光电的) cells and wind turbines (涡轮机) were invented, they still generate only 7% of the world's electricity. Yet something remarkable is happening. From being secondary to the energy system just over a decade ago, they are now growing faster than any other energy source and their falling costs are making them competitive with fossil fuels. BP, an oil firm, expects renewables to account for half of the growth in global energy supply over the next 20 years. It is no longer far-fetched to think that the world is entering an era of clean, unlimited and cheap power. There is a problem, though. To get from here to there requires huge amounts of investment over the next few decades. Normally investors like putting their money into electricity because it offers reliable returns. Yet green energy has a dirty secret. The more it is used, the more it lowers the price of power from any source. That makes it hard to manage the transition to a carbon-free future, during which many generating technologies, clean and dirty, need to remain profitable if the lights are to stay on. Unless the market is fixed, subsidies to the industry will only grow. Policymakers are already seeing this inconvenient truth as a reason to put the brakes on renewable energy. In parts of Europe, investment in renewables is slowing as subsidies are cut back. However, the solution is not less wind and solar. It is to rethink how the world prices clean energy in order to make better use of it. At its heart, the problem is that government-supported renewable energy has been imposed on a market designed in a different era. For much of the 20th century, electricity was made and moved by vertically integrated, state-controlled monopolies. From the 1980s onwards, many of these were broken up, privatized and liberalized, so that market forces could determine where best to invest. Today only about 6% of electricity users get their power from monopolies. Yet everywhere the pressure to decarbonize power supply has brought the state creeping back into markets. This is disruptive for three reasons. The first is the subsidy system itself. The other two are inherent to the nature of wind and solar, their intermittency and their very low running costs. All three help explain why power prices are low and public subsidies are addictive.

单选题 Baekeland and Hartmann report that the 'short sleepers' had been more or less average in their sleep needs until the men were in their teens. But at about age 15 or so, the men voluntarily began cutting down their nightly sleep time because of pressures from school, work, and other activities. These men tended to view their nightly periods of unconsciousness as bothersome interruptions in their daily routines. In general, these 'short sleepers' appeared ambitious, active, energetic, cheerful, conformist in their opinions, and very sure about their career choices. They often held several jobs at once, or worked full-or part-time while going to school. And many of them had a strong urge to appear 'normal' or 'acceptable' to their friends and associates. When asked to recall their dreams, the 'short sleepers' did poorly. More than this, they seemed to prefer not remembering. In similar fashion, their usual way of dealing with psychological problems was to deny that the problem existed, and then to keep busy in the hope that the trouble would go away. The sleep patterns of the 'short sleepers' were similar to, but less extreme than, sleep patterns shown by many mental patients categorized as manic. The 'long sleepers' were quite different indeed. Baekeland and Hartmann report that these young men had been lengthy sleeps since childhood. They seemed to enjoy their sleep, protected it, and were quite concerned when they were occasionally deprived of their desired 9 hours of nightly bed rest. They tended to recall their dreams much better than did the 'short sleepers.' Many of the 'long sleepers' were shy, anxious, introverted, inhibited, passive, mildly depressed, and unsure of themselves (particularly in social situations). Several openly state that sleep was an escape from their daily problems.

单选题Directions:Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteashortessay.Youshouldstartyouressaywithabriefdescriptionofthepictureandthenexpressyourviewsonmoney.Youshouldwriteatleast120wordsbutnomorethan180words.

单选题 English is what matters. It has displaced rivals to become the language of diplomacy, of business, of science, of the Internet and of world culture. Many more people speak Chinese—but even they, in vast numbers, are trying to learn English. So how did it happen, and why? Take the beginnings of bilingualism(两种语言 ) in India, for example, which has promoted the growth of the biggest English-speaking middle class in the new Anglosphere. That stems from a proposal by an English historian, Thomas Macaulay, in 1835, to train a new class of English speakers: 'A class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in morals, and in intellect.' At a stroke, notes Mr. McCrum, English became the 'Ianguage of government, education and advancement, at once a symbol of imperial rule as well as of self-improvement'. India's English-speaking middle class is now one of the engines of that country's development and a big asset in the race to catch up with China. Bit by bit, English displaced French from diplomacy and German from science. The reason for this was America's rise and the lasting bonds created by the British Empire. But the elastic(灵活的), forgiving nature of the language itself was another. English allows plenty of sub-variants, from Singlish in Singapore to Estglish in Estonia: the main words are familiar, but plenty of new ones dot the lexicon, along with distinctive grammar and syntax. English as spoken by non-natives, however, is different. Listen to a South Korean businessman negotiating with a Pole in English and you will hear the difference: the language is curt, emphatic, stripped-down. Yet within spoken 'Globish', as Mr. McCrum neatly names it, hierarchies(等级) are developing. Those who can make jokes in Globish have an advantage over those who can't. The big shift is towards a universally useful written Globish. Spellchecking and translation software mean that anyone can communicate in comprehensible written English. The English of e-mail, Twitter(一个社交网络和微博服务网站) and text messaging is becoming far more mutually comprehensible than spoken English, which is undermined by differences in pronunciation, politeness and emphasis. Mr. McCrum aptly names the new language 'an avenue for all thoughts'.

单选题 Spices not only enhance the flavor of foods we eat, but they also have anti-microbial (抗微生物) properties that can keep food from spoiling. And as anyone who has had their power go out in the summer can tell you, meat products spoil much faster than vegetables due to growth of bacteria and other microbes. So if it's true that a major reason spicy foods have been popular for so long is because they help prevent spoilage, one might expect traditional meat dishes to be spicier than vegetable dishes. Here, the authors did a scientific analysis of the spiciness of dishes in more than 100 cookbooks from 36 countries and found exactly that. Spices are aromatic (芳香的) plant materials that are used in cooking. Recently it was hypothesized that spice use yields a health benefit: cleansing food of parasites and pathogens (病原体) before it is eaten, thereby reducing food poisoning and food borne illnesses. In support, most spices have antimicrobial properties and use of spices in meat-based recipes is greatest in hot climates, where the diversity and growth rates of microorganisms are highest. A critical prediction of the antimicrobial hypothesis is that spices should be used less in preparing vegetables than meat dishes. This is because cells of dead plants are better protected physically and chemically against bacteria and fungi than cells of dead animals (whose immune system ceased functioning at death), so fewer spices would be necessary to make vegetables safe for consumption. We tested this corollary (推论) by compiling information on 2, 129 vegetable-only recipes from 107 traditional cookbooks of 36 countries. Analyses revealed that spice use increased with increasing ambient temperature, but less dramatically than in meat-based recipes. In all 36 countries, vegetable dishes called for fewer spices per recipe than meat dishes; 27 of these differences were significant. Of 41 individual spices, 38 were used less frequently in vegetable recipes; 30 of these differences were significant. Proportions of recipes that called for spice were also significantly lower for vegetable dishes. By every measure, vegetable-based recipes were significantly less spicy than meat-based recipes. Within-country analyses control for possible differences in spice plant availability and degrees of cultural independence. Results thus strongly support the antimicrobial hypothesis.

单选题 There's No Place Like Home A. On almost any night of the week, Churchill's Restaurant is hopping. The 10-year-old hot spot in Rockville Centre, Long Island, is packed with locals drinking beer and eating burgers, with some customers spilling over onto the street. 'We have lots of regulars—people who are recognized when they come in,' says co-owner Kevin Culhane. In fact, regulars make up more than 80 percent of the restaurant's customers. 'People feel comfortable and safe here,' Culhane says, 'This is their place.' B. Thriving neighborhood restaurants are one small data point in a larger trend I call the new localism. The basic idea: the longer people stay in their homes and communities, the more they identify with those places, and the greater their commitment to helping local businesses and institutions thrive, even in a downturn. Several factors are driving this process, including an aging population, suburbanization, the Internet, and an increased focus on family life. And even as the recession has begun to yield to recovery, our commitment to our local roots is only going to grow deeper. Evident before the recession, the new localism will shape how we live and work in the coming decades, and may even influence the course of our future politics. C. Perhaps nothing will be as surprising about 21st-century America as its settledness. For more than a generation Americans have believed that 'spatial mobility' would increase, and, as it did, feed a trend toward rootlessness and anomie (社会道德沦丧). In 2000, Harvard's Robert Putnam made a point in Bowling Alone, in which he wrote about the 'civic malaise' he saw gripping the country. In Putnam's view, society was being undermined, largely due to suburbanization and what he called 'the growth of mobility.' D. Yet in reality Americans actually are becoming less nomadic (游牧的). As recently as the 1970s as many as one in five people moved annually; by 2006, long before the current recession took hold, that number was 14 percent, the lowest rate since the census (人口普查) starting following movement in 1940. Since then tougher times have accelerated these trends, in large part because opportunities to sell houses and find new employment have dried up. In 2008, the total number of people changing residences was less than those who did so in 1962, when the country had 120 million fewer people. The stay-at-home trend appears particularly strong among aging boomers, who stay tied to their suburban homes—close to family, friends, clubs, churches, and familiar surroundings. E. The trend will not bring back the corner grocery stores and the declining organizations—bowling leagues, Boy Scouts, and such—cited by Putnam and others as the traditional glue of American communities. Nor will our car-oriented suburbs copy the close neighborhood feel so celebrated by romantic urbanism. Instead, we're evolving in ways fit for a postindustrial society. It will not spell the decline of Wal-Mart or Costco, but will express itself in scores of alternative institutions, such as thriving local weekly newspapers that have withstood the shift to the Internet far better than big-city dailies. F. Our less mobile nature is already reshaping the corporate world. The kind of corporate mobility described in Peter Kilborn's recent book, Next Stop, Reloville: Life Inside America's Rootless Professional Class, in which families relocate every couple of years so the breadwinner can reach a higher step on the managerial ladder, will become less common in years ahead. A smaller group of corporate executives may still move from place to place, but surveys reveal many executives are now unwilling to move even for a good promotion. Why? Family and technology are two key factors working against mobility, in the workplace and elsewhere. G. Family, as one Pew researcher notes, 'matters more than money when people make decisions about where to live.' Interdependence is replacing independence. More parents are helping their children financially well into their 30s and 40s; the numbers of 'boomerang kids' moving back home with their parents, has also been growing as job options and the ability to buy houses has decreased for the young. Recent surveys of the emerging generation suggest this family-centric focus will last well into the coming decades. H. Nothing allows for geographic choice more than the ability to work at home. Demographer (人口学家) Wendell Cox suggests there will be more people working electronically at home full time than taking mass transportation, making it the largest potential source of energy savings on transportation. In the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, almost one in 10 workers is a part-time telecommuter. Some studies indicate that more than one quarter of the U.S. workforce could eventually participate in this new work pattern. Even IBM, whose initials were once jokingly said to stand for 'I've Been Moved,' has changed its approach. About 40 percent of the company's workers now labor at home or remotely from a client's location. I. These home-based workers become critical to the local economy. They will eat in local restaurants, attend fairs and festivals, take their kids to soccer practices, ballet lessons, or religious youth-group meetings. This is not merely a suburban phenomenon; localism also means a stronger sense of identity for urban neighborhoods as well as smaller towns. J. Could the new localism also affect our future politics? Throughout our history, we have always preferred our politics more on the home-cooked side. On his visit to America in the early 1830s, Alexis de Tocqueville was struck by the decentralized nature of the country. 'The intelligence and the power are spread abroad,' he wrote, 'and instead of radiating from a point, they cross each other in every direction.' K. This is much the same today. The majority of Americans still live in a combination of smaller towns and cities, including many suburban towns within large metropolitan regions. After decades of hurried mobility, we are seeing a return to placeness, along with more choices for individuals, families, and communities. For entrepreneurs like Kevin Culhane and his workers at Churchill's, it's a phenomenon that may also offer a lease on years of new profits. 'We're holding our own in these times because we appeal to the people around here,' Culhane says. And as places like Long Island become less bedroom community and more round-the-clock location for work and play, he's likely to have plenty of hungry customers.