阅读理解Increasingly, historians are blaming diseases imported from the Old World for the big gap between the native population of America in 1492 new estimates of which jump as high as t00 million, or approximately one-sixth of the human race at that time -- and the few million full- blooded (纯血统的) Native Americans alive at the end of the nineteenth century. There. is no doubt that chronic disease was an important factor in the sharp decline, and it is highly probable that the greatest killer was epidemic disease, especially as manifested in virgin-soil epidemics. Virgin-soil epidemics are those in which the population at risk have had no previous contact with the diseases that strike them and are therefore immunologically (免疫学地) almost defenseless. That virgin-soil epidemics were important in American history is strongly indicated by evidence that a number of dangerous rnaladies (疾病) -- smallpox, measles, malaria, yellow fever, and undoubtedly several more were unknown in the pre-Columbian New World. The effects of their sudden introduction are demonstrated in the early chronicles (编年史)of America, which contain reports of horrible epidemics and steep population declines, confirmed in many cases by quantitative analyses of Spanish tribute records and other sources. The evidence provided by the documents of British and French colonies is not as definitive because the conquerors of those areas didn''t establish permanent settlements and began to keep continuous records until the seventeenth century, by which time the worst epidemics had probably already taken place. Furthermore, the British tended to drive the native populations away, rather than to enslave them as the Spaniards did, so that the epidemics of British America occurred beyond the range of colonists'' direct observation. Even so, the surviving records of North America do contain references to deadly epidemics among the native population. In 1616 — 1619 an epidemic, possibly of pneumonic plague, swept coastal New England, killing as many as nine out of ten.. During the 1630''s smallpox, the disease most fatal to the native American people, eliminated half the population of the Huron and Iroquois confederations. In the 1820''s fever ruined the people of the Columbia River area, killing eight out of ten of them. Unfortunately, the documentation of these and other epidemics is slight and frequently un- reliable, and it is necessary to supplement what little we do know with evidence from recent epidemics among Native Americans. For example, in 1952, an outbreak of measles among the Native American inhabitants of Ungava Bay, Quebec, affected 99 percent of the population and killed 7 percent, even though some had the benefit of modern medicine. Cases such as this demonstrate that even diseases that are not normally fatal can have destroying consequences when they strike an immunologically defenseless community.

阅读理解"It is difficult not to hear in Standard English always the sound of slaughter and conquest" (Hooks, 1994). Learning one language means acquiring its culture because one cannot be separated from the other. This gain is accompanied by the inevitable transformation or loss of certain aspects of the first language and culture. The fear for many, therefore, is that teaching one common language will create a common world culture, but at the expense of the other cultures worldwide. This loss of culture will ultimately lead to a loss of the many different identities creating a clone (克隆) of the more dominant identity of the English Speaking World. The individuals'' cultural identity will disintegrate (碎裂、分解), leading to a suppressed identity especially if the first language and culture are considered deficient compared to the learned language and culture of English. So compared to the native speaker of the English, individuals will consider themselves inferior, and this feeling of inferiority is intensified because of the native speaker''s feeling of superiority. At the same time, those learning and using the language of power (in this case English) become part of an elitist (精英) group, who by virtue of position or education exercise power or influence over others in their group who have not learned English. Thus because of the assumption that the knowledge of English is related to intellectual and social superiority, the English speaking group ends up with power and influence over the non-English speakers. A linguistic hierarchy of power is created with the native English speaker on top, followed by the non-native speaker of English, leaving the non-English speaker at the bottom. In this context, Phillipson proposes the term of English Linguistic Imperialism. Linguistic Imperialism is maintained due to the elitism (精英主义) which becomes entrenched ( 确立的) in society when the dominance of one language becomes an accepted norm, and the speakers of that language are assumed to have intellectual and social superiority that ensures their power and influence over others. Elitism can be traced to the French word élite, which means selection or choice, and in the case of linguistic elitism the act of selection or choice is done by the native speakers of the language as well as the non-native speakers. The non-native speakers of the language (English), especially those who never acquire native fluency, are assumed by their peers (同辈、同等人) as well as by the native speakers as being intellectually deficient in some way. The manifestations of this elitist attitude toward the English language are prevalent (盛行的) in all aspects of life from educational institutions to businesses and social situations. The international prevalence of this attitude can be found in English speaking countries like the US and UK, where there is a large immigrant population that speaks English as a second language, and in Pakistan and India, where English is the national language, but is not the first language of the majority.

阅读理解Scientists recently revealed an instinct in women untouched and unaffected by the age of technology. Glancing through glossy art books Lee Salk noticed that four times out of five Mary is depicted holding the infant Jesus against her left breast. The Madonna sparked off (bring into action) a series of experiments and observations to determine on which side women hold their babies and why. First he determined that modern mothers still tend to hold their baby on the left. Of 255 right- handed mothers, 83 % held the baby on the left. And out of 32 left-handed women, 78 % held the baby on the left. As a control, women were watched emerging from supermarkets carrying baby-sized packages; the bundles were held with no side preference. Then, dental patients were given a large rubber ball to hold during treatment. The majority clutched the ball to their left side, even when it interfered with the dentist''s activities. This suggested that in times of tress objects are held against the left side. At that point an apparently contradictory phenomenon was observed. A large number of mothers who brought their premature babies to a follow-up clinic were seen to hold their babies against their right side. So, 115 mothers who had been separated from their babies for 24 hours after birth were observed for holding response. The experimenters presented the baby directly to the midline of the mother’s body, and noted how she held the baby. 53 % placed the baby on the left and 47 % on the right. And it was also noted that the mothers of the group who had held their baby on the left had already had a baby from which they had not been separated after birth. The author suggests that the time immediately after birth is a critical period when the stimulus of holding the baby releases a certain maternal response. That is to say, she senses the baby is better off on her left. Left-handed holding enables the baby to hear the heart-beat-a sound associated with the security of the womb. in order to discover whether hearing heart has a beneficial effect on the baby, the sound of a human heart-beat was played to 102 babies in a New York nursery for 4 days. A control group of babies was not exposed to heart-beats. The babies in the beat group gained markedly more weight and cried far less than the babies in the control group.

阅读理解ThePacificislandnationofPalauhasbecomehometothesixthlargestmarinesanctuaryintheworld

阅读理解"When more and more people are thrown out of work, unemployment results," Calvin Coolidge once observed. As the U. S. economy crumbles, Coolidge''s silly maxim might appear to be as apt as ever: the number of unemployment-insurance claims is rising, and overall joblessness is creeping upward. But in today''s vast and complex labor market, things aren''t always what they seem. Mae and more people are indeed losing their jobs but not necessarily because the economy appears to be in recession. And old-fashioned unemployment isn''t the inevitable result of job loss. New work, at less pay, often is. Call it new-wave unemployment: structural changes in the economy are overlapping the business downturn, giving joblessness a grim new twist. Small wonder that the U. S. unemployment rate is rising. Now at 5.7 percent, it is widely expected to edge toward 7 percent by the end of next year. But statistics alone can''t fully capture a complex reality. The unemployment rate has been held down by slow growth in the labor force——the number of people working or looking for work——since few people sense attractive job opportunities in a weak economy. In addition, many more people are losing their jobs than are actually ending up unemployed. Faced with hungry mouths to feed, thousands of women, for example, are taking two or more part-time positions or agreeing to shave the hours they work in service-sector jobs. For better and for worse, work in America clearly isn''t what it used to be. Now unemployment isn''t, either. Like sour old wine in new bottles, this downturn blends a little of the old and the new reflecting a decade''s worth of change in the dynamic U. S. economy. Yet, in many respects the decline is following the classic pattern, with new layoffs concentrated among blue-collar workers in the most "cyclical" (循环的) industries, whose ups and downs track the economy most closely. As the downturn attracts attention on workers'' ill fortunes, some analysts predict that political upheaval (动乱) may lie ahead. Real wages for the average U. S. worker peaked in 1973 and have been falling almost ever since. As a result, a growing group of downwardly mobile Americans could soon begin pressing policymakers to help produce better-paying jobs. Just how loud the outcry becomes will depend partly on the course of the recession. But in, the long run, there''s little doubt that the bleak outlook for jobs and joblessness is "politically, socially and psychologically dynamite.

阅读理解With only about 1,000 pandas left in the world, China is desperately trying to clone the animal and save the endangered species. That''s a move similar to what a Texas A&M University researcher has been undertaking for the past five years in a project called "Noah''s Ark". Dr. Duane Kraemer, a professor in Texas A&M''s College of Veterinary Medicine and a pioneer in embryo transfer work and related procedures, says he salutes the Chinese effort and "I wish them all the best success possible. It''s a worthwhile project, certainly not an easy one, and it''s very much like what we''re attempting here at Texas A&M—to save animals from extinction." Noah''s Ark is aimed at collecting eggs, embryos, semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen. If certain species should become extinct, Kraemer says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future. It is estimated that as many as 2,000 species of mammals, birds and reptiles will become extinct over the next 100 years. The panda, native only to China, is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years. This week, Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal. The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete. "The nuclear transfer of one species to another is not easy, and the lack of available panda eggs could be a major problem," Kraemer believes. "They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy. It takes a long time and it''s difficult, but this could be groundbreaking science if it works. They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk, so it is worth the effort," adds Kraemer, who is one of the leaders of the Missyplicity Project at Texas A&M, the first ever attempt at cloning a dog. "They are trying to do something that''s never been done. I certainly applaud their effort and there''s a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do. It''s a research that is very much needed."

阅读理解The experience at Duke University may ease some concerns because the students have used iPods for active ________________.

阅读理解At the end of the passage, the author suggests that ________.

阅读理解The rocky, tiny islands off the coast of Maine attract a particular kind of people. The population of these islands triples or quadruples in the summer, but in the winter, only the very independent, self-reliant types remain. Matinicus is an island one mile wide and two and a half miles long. There are only forty-five winter residents. After the tourists have gone, many of the year-round residents gather for conversation at the island''s post office and store— located at the only traffic light on the island, at the intersection of two gravel roads. People on Matinicus don''t stay home to watch television— though reception on the island is excellent. There are no central electric utility lines, so each home uses a diesel (柴油) generator as a power supply. Diesel fuel is expensive, so the residents are very careful about their use of electricity. Most of the winter people are fishermen, lobstermen, storeowners and their families. They still enjoy a way of life largely the same as life in the early twentieth century. Women knit and get together to visit and talk while sewing clothes; children read or play games together because their television viewing is limited. There are only six children on the island in winter, so they all attend a one-room schoolhouse, where grades one through eight are taught by one teacher. The most common method of transportation is the mail ferry. It comes to the island everyday in the summer but in the winter it only stops at Matinicus twice a week. Because everything must be shipped to Matinicus by ferry, many goods, such as school supplies, are quite scarce, and the goods that are in good supply are more expensive than on the mainland, for the expense of ferrying them is added by the storekeepers. All fuel averages ten cents a gallon, more on Matinicus, so most of the islanders use wood to heat their house. The spruce on the island doesn''t burn well, so, the winter people pay from $90 to $250 for load of wood to be delivered. The one form of transportation faster than the ferry is the Coast Guard helicopter. In an emergency such as an accident or sudden illness, the helicopter can reach the island in a little less than half an hour. Other islands are more accessible, of course. Vinalhaven and Peaks are very short ferry rides away from the mainland, and Peaks is even within the city limits of Portland. But most of the tiny islands are like Matinicus and its sister island Monhegan miles away from the mainland. They offer a secluded, hard life that the winter people love—few ever leave these islands.

阅读理解Workplace Negativity Nothing affects employee morale more adversely than persistent workplace negativity. It saps (消耗) the energy of your organization and diverts critical attention from work and performance. Negativity occurs in the attitude, outlook, and talk of one department member, or in a crescendo (高潮) of voices responding to a workplace decision or event. Learn About Workplace Negativity As a manager or human resources professional, you are closely in touch with employees throughout the company. This allows you to keep your fingers on the pulse of the organization to sense workplace negativity. It enables you to establish and heed early warning signals that all is not well. You receive employee complaints, do exit interviews with employees who leave, and know the reputation of your organization in your community. You watch the discussions on employee Intranets, manage the appraisal and 360-degree feedback process, and coach managers in appropriate staff treatment. This information will help you learn to identify the symptoms of negativity before its morale-busting consequences damage your workplace. It will also assist you in preventing and curing workplace negativity. Diagnose Workplace Negativity Negativity is an increasing problem in the workplace, according to Gary S. Topchik, the author of Managing Workplace Negativity. He states, in a Management Review article, that negativity is often the result of a loss of confidence, control, or community. Knowing what people are negative about is the first step in solving the problem. In my experience, when rumblings (抱怨) and negativity are beginning in your organization, talking with employees will help you understand the exact problems and the degree to which the problems are impacting your workplace. You will want to identify the exact employee groups who are experiencing the negativity, and the nature of the issues that sparked their unhappiness. Perhaps the organization made a decision that adversely affected staff. Perhaps the executive manager held a staff meeting and was perceived to threaten or ignore people asking legitimate questions. Maybe staff members feel insecure because concern exists over losing a product line. Perhaps underground rumors are circulating about an impending layoff. People may feel that they give the organization more than they receive in return. They may feel that a coworker is mistreated or denied a deserved promotion. When You Are Not in Control of the Negativity Negativity often occurs when people are impacted by decisions and issues that are out of their control. Examples of these include: corporation downsizing; understaffing that requires people to work mandatory overtime; budget reductions; and upper-management decisions that adversely impact members of your staff. Under these circumstances, as a human resources professional, try some of the following ideas. --Identify any aspects of the situation that you can impact, including providing feedback in your organization about the negative impact that is occurring. (Sometimes decisions are made and no one understands or predicts their outcome. Sometimes you can influence an issue or a decision if you practice personal, professional courage and speak your mind.) --Listen, listen, listen. Often people just need a sounding board. Be visible and available to staff. Proactively (积极地) schedule group discussion sessions, town meetings, "lunches with the manager" or one-on-one blocks of time. --Challenge pessimistic thinking and negative beliefs about people, the company, and the work area. Don''t let negative, false statements go unchallenged. If the statements are true, provide the rationale, the corporate thinking, and the events that are responsible for the negative circumstances. Share everything you know about a situation to build trust with the workforce. --Ask open-ended questions to determine the cause, and the scope of the negative feelings or reaction. Maybe it''s not as bad as people think; maybe their interpretation of events is faulty. Helping people identify exactly what they feel negatively about is the first step in solving the problem. You can''t solve a fog of unhappiness. Help people create options, feel included, and feel part of the communication and problem-solving. (Do all of the items mentioned in the section "Minimize Workplace Negativity".) Recognize Your Potential Part in the Negativity Cycle --Recognize that you are human and occasionally experience situations in which you must uphold decisions you don''t entirely support. You don''t want to contribute to the negativity by your words, actions, non-verbal behavior, or voice. Yet, you want to act authentically so you are trustworthy and credible. --Know yourself well enough to recognize internally when you are becoming negative. --Become aware of work situations in which you typically find yourself becoming defensive or negative. Because you are aware of them, try to recognize when you are reacting and avoid your typical negative reaction. (Some people figure out exactly how to get you going and push your "hot buttons" deliberately, so to speak.) --Take a time-out or walk away by yourself when you have dealt with a stressful situation. --Spend some time alone thinking every day about the positive aspects of your work and life. You don''t want to spend all of your time on negative thinking. If there is nothing positive to think about, examine the life you are choosing to create. --Treat yourself with care. Don''t beat yourself up or second-guess yourself over decisions or mistakes. You are human. You learn; you grow. Focus on the big picture; don''t get bogged down (陷入) in the day-to-day. Recognize that the only thing you are truly in charge of is how you choose to react in any situation. I trust that these ideas will help you in addressing the negativity in your workplace. As always, your thoughts and additional ideas are always welcome. Please share them in the HR Forum so a broader group of people can benefit from your thinking. Minimize Workplace Negativity The best way to combat workplace negativity is to keep it from occurring in the first place. These tips will help you minimize workplace negativity. --Provide opportunities for people to make decisions about and control and/or influence their own job. The single most frequent cause of workplace negativity I encounter is traceable to a manager or the organization making a decision about a person''s work without her input. Almost any decision that excludes the input of the person doing the work is perceived as negative. --Make opportunities available for people to express their opinion about workplace policies and procedures. Recognize the impact of changes in such areas as work hours, pay, benefits, and assignment of overtime hours, comp pay, dress codes, office location, job requirements, and working conditions. These factors are closest to the mind, heart and physical presence of each individual. Changes to these can cause serious negative responses. Provide timely, proactive responses to questions and concerns. --Treat people as adults with fairness and consistency. Develop and publicize workplace policies and procedures that organize work effectively. Apply them consistently. As an example, each employee has the opportunity to apply for leave time. In granting his request, apply the same factors to his application as you would to any other individual''s. --Afford people the opportunity to grow and develop. Training, perceived opportunities for promotions, lateral moves for development, and cross-training are visible signs of an organization''s commitment to staff. --Do not create "rules" for all employees, when just a few people are violating the norms. You want to minimize the number of rules directing the behavior of adult people at work. Treat people as adults; they will usually live up to your expectations, and their own expectations. --Help people feel like members of the in-crowd; each person wants to have the same information as quickly as everyone else. Provide the context for decisions, and communicate effectively and constantly. If several avenues or directions are under consideration, communicate all that you know, as soon as you know it. Reserve the right to change your mind later, without consequence, when additional factors affect the direction of ultimate decisions. --Provide appropriate leadership and a strategic framework, including mission, vision, values, and goals. People want to feel as if they are part of something bigger than themselves. If they understand the direction, and their part in making the desired outcomes happen, they can effectively contribute more.

阅读理解War may be a natural expression of biological instincts and drives toward aggression in the human species. Natural impulses of anger, hostility, and territoriality (守卫地盘的天性) are expressed through acts of violence. These are all qualities that humans share with animals. Aggression is a kind of innate (天生的) survival mechanism, an instinct for self-preservation, that allows animals to defend themselves from threats to their existence. But, on the other hand, human violence shows evidence of being a learned behavior. In the case of human aggression, violence cannot be simply reduced to an instinct. The many expressions of human violence are always conditioned by social conventions that give shape to aggressive behavior. In human societies violence has a social function: It is a strategy for creating or destroying forms of social order. Religious traditions have taken a leading role in directing the powers of violence. We will look at the ritual and ethical (道德上的) patterns within which human violence has been directed. The violence within a society is controlled through institutions of law. The more developed a legal system becomes, the more society takes responsibility for the discovery, control, and punishment of violent acts. In most tribal societies the only means to deal with an act of violence is revenge. Each family group may have the responsibility for personally carrying out judgment and punishment upon the person who committed the offense. But in legal systems, the responsibility for revenge becomes depersonalized and diffused. The society assumes the responsibility for protecting individuals from violence. In cases where they cannot be protected, the society is responsible for imposing punishment. In a state controlled legal system, individuals are removed from the cycles of revenge motivated by acts of violence, and the state assumes responsibility for their protection. The other side of a state legal apparatus is a state military apparatus. While the one protects the individual from violence, the other sacrifices the individual to violence in the interests of the state. In war the state affirms its supreme power over the individuals within its own borders. War is not simply a trial by combat to settle disputes between states; it is the moment when the state makes its most powerful demands upon its people for their recommitment, allegiance, and supreme sacrifice. Times of war test a community''s deepest religious and ethical commitments.

阅读理解The common cold is the world''s most widespread illness, which is probably why there are more myths about it than any of the other plagues that flesh is heir to. The most widespread fallacy of all is that colds are caused by cold. They are not. They are caused by viruses passed on from person to person. You catch a cold by corning into contact, directly or indirectly, with someone who already has one. If cold causes colds, it would be reasonable to expect the Eskimos to suffer from them permanently. But they do not. And in isolated arctic regions explorers have reported being free from colds until coming into contact again with infected people from the outside world by way of packages and mail dropped from airplanes. During the First World War, soldiers who spent long periods in the trenches, cold and wet, showed no increased tendency to catch colds. In the Second World War, prisoners at the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp, naked and starving, were astonished to find that they seldom had colds. At the Common Cold Research Unit in England, volunteers took part in experiments in which they submitted to the discomforts of being cold and wet for long stretches of time. After taking hot baths, they put on bathing suits, allowed themselves to be doused with cold water, and then stood about dripping wet in drafty rooms. Some wore wet socks all day while others exercised in the rain until close to exhaustion. Not one of the volunteers came down with a cold unless a cold virus was actually dropped in his nose. If, then, cold and wet have nothing to do with catching colds, why are they more prevalent in the winter? Despite the most painstaking research, no one has yet found the answer. One explanation offered by scientists is that people tend to stay together indoors more in cold weather than at other times, and this makes it easier for cold viruses to be passed on. No one has yet found a cure for colds. There are drugs and pain suppressors such as aspirin, but all they do is to relieve the symptoms.

阅读理解Early in the age of affluence (富裕) that followed World War II, an American retailing analyst named Victor Lebow proclaimed, "Our enormously productive economy.., demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction, our ego satisfaction, in consumption….We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever increasing rate." Americans have responded to Lebow''s call, and much of the world has followed. Consumption has become a central pillar of life in industrial lands and is even embedded in social values. Opinion surveys in the world''s two largest economies -- Japan and the United States -- show consumerist definitions of success becoming ever more prevalent. Over consumption by the world''s fortunate is an environmental problem unmatched in severity by anything but perhaps population growth. Their surging exploitation of resources threatens to exhaust or unalterably spoil forests, soils, water, air and climate. Ironically, high consumption may by a mixed blessing in human terms, too. The time-honored values of integrity of character, good work, friendship, family and community have often been sacrificed in the rush to riches. Thus many in the industrial lands have a sense that their world of plenty is somehow hollow -- that, misled by a consumerist culture, they have been fruitlessly attempting to satisfy what are essentially social, psychological and spiritual needs with material things. Of course, the opposite of over consumption -- poverty -- is no solution to either environmental or human problems. It is infinitely worse for people and bad for the natural world too. Dispossessed (被剥夺得一无所有的) peasants slash-and-burn their way into the rain forests of Latin American, and hungry nomads (游牧民族) turn their herds out onto fragile African grassland, reducing it to desert. If environmental destruction results when people have either too little or too much, we are left to wonder how much is enough. What level of consumption can the earth support? When does having more cease to add noticeably to human satisfaction?

阅读理解Throughout the nation''s more than 15,000 school districts, widely differing approaches to teaching science and math have emerged. Though there can be strength in diversity, a new international analysis suggests that this variability has instead contributed to lackluster (平淡的) achievement scores by U.S. children relative to their peers in other developed countries. Indeed, concludes William H. Schmidt of Michigan State University, who led the new analysis, "no single intellectually coherent vision dominates U.S. educational practice in math or science. " The reason, he said, "is because the system is deeply and fundamentally flawed." The new analysis, released this week by the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va. , is based on data collected from about 50 nations as part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. Not only do approaches to teaching science and math vary among individual U.S. communities, the report finds, but there appears to be little strategic focus within a school district''s curricula, its textbooks, or its teachers'' activities. This contrasts sharply with the coordinated national programs of most other countries. On average, U.S. students study more topics within science and math than their international counterparts do. This creates an educational environment that "is a mile wide and an inch deep," Schmidt notes. For instance, eighth graders in the United States cover about 33 topics in math versus just 19 in Japan. Among science courses, the international gap is even wider. U.S. curricula for this age level resemble those of a small group of countries including Australia, Thailand, Iceland, and Bulgaria. Schmidt asks whether the United States wants to be classed with these nations, whose educational systems "share our pattern of splintered (支离破碎的) visions" but which are not economic leaders. The new report "couldn''t come at a better time," says Gerald Wheeler, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association in Arlington, "The new National Science Education Standards provide that focused vision," including the call "to do less, but in greater depth." Implementing the new science standards and their math counterparts will be the challenge, he and Schmidt agree, because the decentralized responsibility for education in the United States requires that any reforms be tailored and instituted one community at a time. In fact, Schmidt argues, reforms such as these proposed national standards "face an almost impossible task, because even though they are intellectually coherent; each becomes only one more voice in the babble (嘈杂声).”

阅读理解The United States court system, as part of the federal system of government, is characterized by dual hierarchies. There are both state and federal courts. Each state has its own system of courts, composed of civil and criminal trial courts, sometimes intermediate courts of appeal, and a state supreme court. The federal court system consists of a series of trial courts (called district courts) serving relatively small geographic regions, (is at least one for every state) ,a circuit court of appeals that hears appeals from many district courts in a particular geographic region, and the Supreme Court of the United States. The two court systems are to some extent overlapping, in that certain kinds of disputes (such as a claim that a state law is in violation of the Constitution) may be initiated in either system. They are also to some extent hierarchical, for the federal system stands above the state system in that litigants (persons engaged in law-suits) who lose their cases in the state supreme court may appeal their cases to the Supreme Court of the United States. Thus, the typical court case begins in a trial court — a court of general jurisdiction — in the state or federal system. Most cases go no further than the trial court. For example, the criminal defendant is convicted (by a trial or a guilty plea) and sentenced by the court and the case ends; the personal injury suit results in a judgement by a trial court (or an out-of-court settlement by the parties while the court suit is pending) and the parties leave the court system. But sometimes the losing party at the trial court cares enough about the cause that the matter does not end there. In these cases, the "loser" at the trial court may appeal to the next higher court.

阅读理解Public relations is management function that creates, develops, and carries out policies and programs to influence public opinion. or public reaction about an idea, a product, or an organization. The field of public relations has become an important part of the economic, social and political pattern of life in many nations. That field includes advertising, promotional activities, and press contact. Public relations also exists at the same time in business with marketing and merchandising to create the climate in which all selling functions occur. Public relations activities in the modern world help institutions to cope successfully with many problems, to build prestige for an individual or a group, to promote products, and to win elections. The majority of public relations workers are staff employees working within a corporate or institutional framework. Others operate in public relations counseling firms. In industry, public relations personnel keeps management informed of changes in the opinions of various publics (that is, the groups of people whose support is needed: employees, stockholders (股东),customers, suppliers, dealers, the community, and the government). These professionals counsel management as to the impact of any action or lack of action on the behavior of the target audiences. Once an organizational decision has been made, the public relations person has the task of communicating this information to the public using methods that promote understanding, and desired behavior. For example, a hospital merger, an industrial plant closing, or the introduction of a new product all require public relations planning and skill. Public relations activities are a major part of the political affairs in many nations. Politicians seeking office, government agencies seeking acceptance and cooperation, officials seeking support for their policies, and foreign governments seeking aid and allies abroad all make extensive use of counseling services provided by public relations specialists. Public relations also play an important role in the entertainment industry. The theater, motion pictures, sports, restaurants, and individuals all use public relations services to increase their business or add to their image. Other public relations clients are educational, social service and charitable institutions, trade unions, religious groups, and professional societies. The successful public relations practitioner(从业者) is a specialist in communication arts and persuasion. Specialized skills are required to handle public opinion research, media relations, direct mail activities, institutional advertising, publications, film and video production, and special events. Public relations services are so far virtually unused in many developing nations, but they are likely to be a future government concern.

阅读理解PassageTwo Questions51 to 55 are based on the following passage

阅读理解Good leadership requires one to know one's own strengths and be able to win people's______.

阅读理解Space Travel in the Future Space flight may be about to undergo a transformation far more radical than anything planned by national or international space agencies. In the next fifteen years or so , there could be a fleet of fifty space-planes carrying a million people into orbit about the Earth each year, at $ 10,000 per head. A prototype of spaceplane could be up and flying within five or six years. Perhaps surprisingly the main obstacles to realizing this dream are neither technical nor commercial. Space transportation is expensive and risky at present because all launchers so far have used large throw-away components that are based on ballistic missile technology. But the technology already exists for a prototype of a fully reusable, aeroplane-like launcher, and its development costs need only be equivalent to about two space shuttle flights (about $ 1,000 million). The cost per prototype space-plane flight would be about 1 percent of the cost in the space shuttle. Costs that low will not be achieved without several years of operating experience and continuous development to create heat shields and rocket motors that meet the usual airliner standards of long life and low maintenance costs. According to recent market research in Japan, more than a million people a year would be prepared to pay such a price for a brief visit to a space station. If correct , this level of space tourism would provide the sort of commercial incentive and operating experience needed to achieve airliner standard. However, space policy is so dominated by politics that more than sound engineering and commercial arguments will be needed to transform a high-cost industry into a low-cost one. Many aviation engineers in 1961, was as a member of a spaceplanes to be feasible over thirty yeas ago. ( My first job, starting in 1961, was as a member of a spacepalne design team. ) They were not developed primarily because the main player in the filed, NASA, because preoccupied with its part in the Cold War and locked into a ballistic missile mindset. As a result, NASA has not encouraged studies of spaceplanes that could be built u-sing existing technology and tends to view predictions such as those outlined above as far-fetched. How then can the transformation be brought about? Four recent events should between them trigger the required overthrow of the mindset. The first components have been manufactured for the International Space Station and NASA, in conjunction with the Space Transportation Association, has begun the first official study the Orbital Science Corporation and the Rockwell International Corporation, for development of the X -34 launcher. The X-34 has a reusable lower stage and an expendable upper stage, and is designed to reduce the cost of launching small satellites. Unpiloted and looking rather like a large, fat fighter aeroplane, it is launched from a converted Boeing 747. Having released the upper stage at about one half satellite speed, the rocket-powered lower stage glides back to base and lands. Following inspection, maintenance and refueling, the lower stage will be ready for the next flight a few days later. The first orbital test flight is scheduled for just two and a half years from now. In April 1995, NASA places competitive study contracts with Lockheed, McDonnell Douglas and Rockwell for the X-33 demonstrator, which is tended to lead to an unpiloted single-stage-to-orbit launcher. When the implications of such projects become widely appreciated, the case for a new and realistic way ahead for space will become overwhelming. While the X-34 cannot be described as a true space-plane , since it has an expendable upper stage, if it is successful it will provide unassailable evidence for the feasibility of a true spaceplane. A piloted two-stage spaceplane using existing technology will then be seen as among the all-time best aerospace buys. Its development cost would be recovered by saving just three shuttle flights. It is not so much that the spaceplane would be especially efficient, but rather that the shuttles are especially inefficient, and that NASA has so far succeeded in playing down this fact. British companies have proposed designs that are more suitable than the X-33 and X-34, but they are handicapped by a government, which would not prepare to invest in even seed corn studies of new launchers. The largest new space project planned at present is the International Space Station. The estimated cost is about $ 20 billion plus about the same again in launch costs, including some 28 shuttle flights. A large part of the cost is due to the complexity of integerating the various modules from the US, Canada, Europe, Japan, and Russia. If these modules were adapted to be flown separately as independent small space stations, not only would costs come tumbling down, but the science would be far better because each discipline—be it astronomy, atmospheric science, Earth observation or microgravity research —has a different optimum orbit. The resulting constellation of small space stations would require more frequent servicing and supply flights than the single large one. This would not be affordable using the shuttle but would be with the new spaceplane. The total cost could be reduced by at least 80 per cent to less than $ 8 billion. Then all that is needed is for some entrepreneur to realise that the best way to finance new space-plane and space stations is to carry tourists. And before too long a million people a year will be taking their once-in-a-lifetime, round-the-world cruise in orbit.