单选题 Historians have only recently begun to note the increase in demand for luxury goods and services that took place in eighteenth-century England. McKendrick has explored the Wedgwood firm's remarkable success in marketing luxury pottery; Plumb has written about the proliferation of provincial theater, musical festivals, and children's toys and books. While the fact of this consumer revolution is hardly in doubt, three key questions remain: Who were the consumers? What were their motives? And what were the effects of the new demand for luxuries? An answer to the first of these has been difficult to obtain. Although it has been possible to infer from the goods and services actually produced what manufacturers and servicing trades thought their customers wanted, only a study of relevant personal documents written by actual consumers will provide a precise picture of who wanted what. We still need to know how large this consumer market was and how far down the social scale the consumer demand for luxury goods penetrated. With regard to this last question, we might note in passing that Thompson, while rightly restoring laboring people to the stage of eighteenth- century English history, has probably exaggerated the opposition of these people to the inroads of capitalist consumerism in general; for example, laboring people in eighteenth- century England readily shifted from home-brewed beer to standardized beer produced by huge, heavily capitalized urban breweries. To answer the question of why consumers became so eager to buy, some historians have pointed to the ability of manufacturers to advertise in a relatively uncensored press. This, however, hardly seems a sufficient answer. Mckendrick favors a Veblem model of conspicuous consumption stimulated by competition for status. The "middling sort" bought goods and services because they wanted to follow fashions set by the rich. Again, we may wonder whether this explanation is sufficient. Do not people enjoy buying things as a form of self-gratification? If so, consumerism could be seen as a product of the rise of new concepts of individualism and materialism, but not necessarily of the frenzy for conspicuous competition. Finally, what were the consequences of this consumer demand for luxuries? McKendrick claims that it goes a long way toward explaining the coming of the Industrial Revolution. But does it? What, for example, does the production of high-quality pottery and toys have to do with the development of iron manufacture or textile mills? It is perfectly possible to have the psychology and reality of a consumer society without a heavy industrial sector. That future exploration of these key questions is undoubtedly necessary should not, however, diminish the force of the conclusion of recent studies: the insatiable demand in eighteenth-century England for frivolous as well as useful goods and services foreshadows our own world.

单选题What is the highest mountain in Britain? A. Scafell B. Ben Nevis C. The Cotswolds D. The Forth

单选题Suppose you are hiking in the country. In an emergency when the batteries have run out, the best alternative to get power for the radio is______.

单选题{{B}}TEXT D{{/B}} The average citizen, with his eyes glued to the "box", has only the vaguest idea what an ambassador does. In the press he is pictured standing by a carriage from the royal or presidential palace with his chest covered in gold lace or in evening dress in the middle of the morning, splashed with orders and decorations like an old-fashioned swimming instructor. In Osber Lancaster's cartoons his white tie and broad sash are accompanied by the paunch and debilitated look of one whom the restrictions of his profession have required to make do for vices with an excess of food, drink and sleep. Questions in parliament suggest that he is solely occupied in giving extravagant parties at the tax-payer's expense if he is British, or in ignoring the parking regulations if he is a foreigner in London. The jaundiced ambassador may sometimes be inclined to conclude that he is regarded principally as a service agency: that to the tourist his only serious responsibility is to produce money when a wallet is stolen; that to the businessman his sole purpose is to promote the businessman's interest; that to the press correspondent he is there to provide information for the correspondent's copy and a good story out of anything that happens in the embassy; that to visiting politicians he is the provider of free board and lodging and an introduction and shopping service, and that to Mr. Le Carre's readers he is the man who keeps the spy out of the cold. In his more charitable moments he will admit that the tourist in difficulty is entitled to ask for the embassy's help; that the businessman is promoting his country's exports and that it is one of the ambassador's most important duties to help him; that cooperation between the embassy and the press correspondent is useful to both; that he is paid to give hospitality and has the staff to provide services to visiting politicians and will be well advised to do what he can for them; and he will assure you that the only spies whose acquaintance he cultivates are those defeated in the last chapter by James Bond. Perhaps the ambassador gains some spurious comfort from those writers to whom the diplomat is, by definition, a paragon of all the virtues, brilliantly perceptive, patient, loyal, modest and of the highest integrity, able to win the confidence of "the ruling few", handsome, not too witty, an accomplished host, expert in food and wines, and speaking four or five foreign languages perfectly. But he knows in his more sober moments that in real life he is no better nor worse endowed than his contemporaries in other professions, though there is always a danger that the requirements of the voracious god, security, will reduce him to a dead level of unenterprising mediocrity. He knows too that the better informed of the public do not regard him as wallowing in luxury, but sympathize with him for having to keep a government hotel and endure a regular diet of official parties notable only for their tedium and their capacity to induce mental and physical exhaustion. In the old days, the ambassador was purely political. Nowadays, whatever his personal predilections, he will recognise that he must give serious attention to matters other than politics. He must regard himself as an economist, a commercial traveller, an advertising agent for his country; he wields the weapon of culture for political ends; he promotes scientific and. technical exchanges and administers development aid. He cannot wholly detach himself from the technicalities and personal inconvenience which accompany the battle for intelligence. He must concern himself with the relations not only of governments, but of politicians, scientists, musicians, actors, authors, footballers, and trade unionists. But he continues to have a basic political job, to negotiate with the other government and to keep his own government informed about anything in the country to which he is accredited which affects his country's interests.

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单选题President Jefferson bought ______ from France and doubled the country's territory. A. New Mexico B. the Louisiana Territory C. Kansas D. Ohio

单选题In our age, according to the author, a standpoint often taken in the area of ethics is the ______.

单选题In Britain, academically talented pupils normally go to for secondary education.

单选题ThefollowingcannotbesentforrecordeddeliveryEXCEPT______.

单选题{{I}}Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview with a chief-editor. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following questions. Now listen to the interview.{{/I}}

单选题The writer thinks that the popular version of the wagon train is ______.

单选题In general, language acquisition refers to children"s development of their ______.

单选题Modern linguistics, as against traditional grammar, is ______. A. descriptive and synchronic B. descriptive and diachronic C. prescriptive and synchronic D. prescriptive and diachronic

单选题 Questions 9 and 10 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 20 seconds to answer the questions. Now listen to the news.

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单选题People are moving to cities in droves. In 1950, two-thirds of the world’s population lived in the countryside. New York was then the only settlement with more than 10 million people. Today there are 20 such megacities, and more are on their way. Most of these megacities are in developing countries that are struggling to cope with both the speed and the scale of human migration. Estimates of the future spread of urbanization are based on the observation that in Europe, and in North and South America, the urban share of the total population has stabilized at 75 %- 85 %. If the rest of the world follows this path it is expected that in the next decade an extra 100 million people will join the cities of Africa, and 340 million the cities of Asia: the equivalent of a new Bangkok every two months. By 2030 nearly two-thirds of the world’s population will be urban. In the long run, that is good news. If countries now industrializing follow the pattern of those that have already done so, their city-dwellers will be both more prosperous and healthier. Man is gregarious species, and the words" urbane" and "civilized" both derive from the advantages of living in large settlements. History also shows, though, that the transition can be uncomfortable. The slums of Manchester were, in their time, just as awful as those of Nairobi today. But people moved there for exactly the same reason: however nasty conditions seemed, the opportunities of urban life outstripped those of the countryside. The question is how best to handle the change. If there is one thing that everybody agrees on, it is that urbanization is unstoppable. Migrants attempting to escape poverty, and refugees escaping conflict, are piling into cities in what the executive director of UN-HABITAT, Anna, Tibailjuka, describes as" premature urbanization." Dr Tibailjuka believes it might be possible to slow the pace of migration from the countryside with policies that enhance security and rural livelihoods. There is room for debate, though, over whether better rural development in any form can seriously slow the pace of urbanization-- or even whether such a slowdown would be a good thing. Michael Mutter, an urban planning adviser at the British government’s Department for International Development (DFID), says that the relevant indicators suggest that in many countries the effective" carrying capacity" of rural areas has been reached. As happened in Europe in the 18th century, population growth and technological improvements to agriculture are creating a surplus population. That surplus has to go somewhere to earn its living. Indeed, some people go so far so to argue that governments, international donors and aid agencies spend too much on rural development and neglect the cities. Most countries have a rural development policy, but only a few have urban ones. DFID, for example, spends only 5% of its budget directly on urban development. Moreover, these critics point out that, although rural areas often have worse sanitation, illiteracy and homelessness than cities, such figures are deceptive. Being illiterate, homeless or without access to a flush toilet are far more serious problems in a crowded city than in the countryside. Of the many lessons being learnt from past urban-development failures, one of the most important is that improvements must involve local people in a meaningful way. Even when it comes to the poorest slum- dwellers, some governments and city authorities are realizing that people are their own greatest assets. Slumdwellers International is a collection of" grassroots" federations of people living in slums. Its idea is simple. Slum-dwellers in a particular place get together and form a federation to strengthen local savings and credit schemes, and to lobby for greater co-operation with the authorities. Such federations are having a big impact on slum-upgrading schemes around the world. By surveying local needs and acting as voices for slum-dwellers, these federations have been able to show the authorities that shim-dwellers are not simply a homogenous and anonymous mass of urban poor, but are real people in need of real services. They have also been able to apply pressure for improvements in security of tenure-- either through temporary guarantees of residency or, better still, formal ownership. Such secure tenure gives people an incentive to improve their dwellings and is thus the crucial first step to upgrading a slum into a suburb. Over the past six years, South Africa’s government has been pursuing an active programme of housing improvement. The government quickly realized that, with the poor in the majority, providing social housing for all would be impossible. The minister for housing, Sakie Mthembi-Mahanyele, says the approach that has worked so far has been a combination of government, the private sector and the poor themselves. The poor, says Mrs. Mthembi-Mahanyele, have responsibilities, and the government meets them halfway. Those with an income are expected to contribute some of it to the building of their houses. Those without are asked to contribute" sweat equity" by helping to build with their own hands. South Africa has also transferred ownership of more than 380,000 council houses, worth more than 28 billion rand ($2.7 billion) to private individuals. With these houses as collateral for loans, owners have already started to upgrade and improve their properties. There is still a long way to go. An estimated 2-3 million more houses are needed. She adds that the government is still wrestling with financial institutions to get a better deal for the poor.

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单选题English has undergone dramatic periods. The period of _______ is roughly from 449 to 1100.