单选题The predictability of our mortality rates is something that has long puzzled social scientists. After all, there is no natural reason why 2,500 people should accidentally shoot them- selves each year or why 7,000 should drown or 55,000 die in their cars. No one establishes a quota for each type of death. It just happens that they follow a consistent pattern year after year. A few years ago a Canadian psychologist named Gerald Wilde became interested in this phenomenon. He noticed that mortality rates for violent and accidental deaths throughout the Western world have remained oddly static throughout the whole of the century, despite all the technological advances and increases in safety standards that have happened in that time. Wilde developed an intriguing theory called “risk homeostasis”. According to this theory, people instinctively live with a certain level of risk. When something is made safer, people will get around the measure in some way to reassert the original level of danger. If, for instance, they are required to wear seat belts, they will feel safer and thus will drive a little faster and a little more recklessly, thereby statistically canceling out the benefits that the seat belt confers. Other studies have shown that where an intersection is made safer, the accident rate invariably falls there but rises to a compensating level elsewhere along the same stretch of road. It appears, then, that we have an innate need for danger. In all events, it is becoming clearer and clearer to scientists that the factors influencing our lifespan are far more subtle and complex than had been previously thought. It now appears that if you wish to live a long life, it isn't simply a matter of adhering to certain pre cautions—eating the right foods, not smoking, driving with care. You must also have the right attitude. Scientists at the Duke University Medical Center made a 15-year study of 500 persons personalities and found, somewhat to their surprise, that people with a suspicious or mistrustful nature die prematurely far more often than people with a sunny disposition. Looking on the bright side, it seems, can add years to your life span.

单选题Whatdoesthewomanmean?A.Shepreferstheartistsshehasstudied.B.Shehopestheywilltakesomeofthepaintingsaway.C.Shehasn'tgonetoseetheexhibityet.D.Shedoesn'twanttodescribetheexhibit.

单选题Attention to detail is something everyone can and should do, especially in a tight job market. Bob Crossley, a human resources expert notices this in the job applications that come cross his desk every day. "It's amazing how. many candidates eliminate themselves, "he says. "Resumes arrive with stains. Some candidates don't bother to spell the company's name correctly. Once I see a mistake, I eliminate the candidate," Crossley concludes. "If they cannot take care of these details, why should we trust them with a job?" Can we pay too much attention to details? Absolutely. Perfectionists struggle over little things at the cost of something larger they work toward. "To keep from losing the forest for the trees, "says Charles Garfield, associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco," we must constantly ask ourselves how the details we're working on fit into the larger picture. If they don't, we should drop them and move to something else." Garfield compares this process to his work as a computer scientist at NASA. "The Apollo II moon launch was slightly off-course 90 percent of the time," says Garfield, "but a successful landing was still likely because we knew the exact coordinates of our goal. This allowed us to make adjustments as necessary. "Knowing where we want to go helps us judge the importance of every task we undertake. Too often we believe what accounts for others' success is some special secret or a lucky break. But rarely is success so mysterious. Again and again, we see that by doing little things within our grasp well, large rewards follow.

单选题It was fifteen past nine as Marie hurried into the office building where she was going to work. Her bus had inched along through heavy morning traffic, making her a few minutes late for her very first job. She decided to start out half an hour earlier the next day. Once inside the lobby, she had to stand at the elevators and wait several minutes before she could get on one going to the sixth floor. When she finally reached the office marked "Smith Enterprises", she knocked at the door nervously and waited. There was no reply. She tapped on the door again, but still there was no answer. From inside the next office, she could hear the sound of voices, so she opened the door and went in. Although she was sure it was the same office she had been in two weeks before when she had the interview with Mr. Smith, it looked quite different now. In fact, it hardly looked like an office at all. The employees were just standing around chatting and smoking. In the front of the room, somebody must have just told a good joke, she thought, because there was a loud burst of laughter as she came in. For a moment she had thought they were laughing at her. Then one of the men looked at his watch, clapped his hands and said something to the others. Quickly they all went to their desks and, in a matter of seconds, everyone was hard at work. No one paid any attention to Made. Finally she went up to the man who was sitting at the desk nearest to the door and explained that this was her first day in the office. Hardly looking up from his work, he told her to have a seat and wait for Mr. Smith, who would arrive at any moment. Then Made realized that the day's work in the office began just before Mr. Smith arrived. Later she found out that he lived in Connecticut and came into Manhattan on the same train every morning, arriving in the office at 9:35,so that his staff knew exactly when to start working.

单选题 {{B}}Text{{/B}} The modern urban planning and redevelopment movement{{U}} (26) {{/U}}in response to the{{U}} (27) {{/U}}and dirtiness of the slum areas{{U}} (28) {{/U}}by the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. Reformation of these areas was the{{U}} (29) {{/U}}of early city planners, who imposed regulatory laws establishing{{U}} (30) {{/U}}for housing, sanitation (卫生), water supply, sewage and public{{U}} (31) {{/U}}conditions. Urban planners also introduced parks and playgrounds into crowded city neighbourhoods,{{U}} (32) {{/U}}places for recreation, as well as{{U}} (33) {{/U}}relief. The chief new urban-planning concept of the early 20th century was zoning--the regulation of building activity to set{{U}} (34) {{/U}}of height and{{U}} (35) {{/U}}and to protect established neighbourhoods. Urban territory{{U}} (36) {{/U}}as a result of improved public transportation worker could live far from their jobs, traveling back and forth by bus, subway, or car. By the middle of the 20th century, urban planning changed its{{U}} (37) {{/U}}. Planners realized that factors of city living must be considered as a whole, so they aimed less at attaching{{U}} (38) {{/U}}problems than at the improvement of{{U}} (39) {{/U}}urban surroundings. Another{{U}} (40) {{/U}}of urban building{{U}} (41) {{/U}}the building of experimental new towns and{{U}} (42) {{/U}}. In Great Britain, India, Israel, and South America a few new cities were built entirely from plans. Urban planning was an important{{U}} (43) {{/U}}in Europe after World War Ⅱ,{{U}} (44) {{/U}}urban planners directed the reconstruction of{{U}} (45) {{/U}}areas.

单选题The best title for the passage may be ______.

单选题According to the passage, the reason why no two people really read the "same" newspaper is that ______.

单选题听下面一段对话，回答第11至第13题。

单选题[此试题无题干]

单选题 Questions 11 ～ 13 are based on the following passage.

单选题What is the author's attitude toward high-tech communications equipment? [A] Critical. [C] Indifferent. [B] Prejudiced. [D] Positive.

单选题{{B}}Part A{{/B}}{{B}}Directions：{{/B}} Read the following three texts．Answer the questions on each text by choosing A，B，C or D． Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1．{{B}}Text 1{{/B}} At one time, I was convinced that real learning would be at hand if every child hada computer.I was convinced that computers would revolutionize education and hold immense possibilities for learning． That possibility has not become a reality yet．Based on recent test results, far too many Californian children have not mastered the basic reading, math, and writing skills necessary to function at a minimal level in our society．And far too many children do not have the commitment to concentrate on learning to get a good education．These kids need good teachers，not fast computers． No one will argue that computers have educational uses．Unfortunately, in far too many instances，the classroom computer has replaced the television set as a game tool to occupy children．One wonders what is the use of an Internet fed to the classroom if the child does not read． There are those who believe that bringing a computer to the classroom will supplement what teachers teach．That is difficult to comprehend since teachers are always telling us how many subjects and how little time they have to teach．When a child is occupied with a computer for any length of time，that child does not get the attention of teachers and the required learning that should occupy their class time． Educators are now looking into requiring teachers and students to become computer proficient．And districts that do not have enough dollars for textbooks are spending their meager funds to buy computers and software, all in the name of technology and computer competency． One would think that educators would come to the realization that computers are tools not much different from libraries，calculators, movie or slide projectors．Kids must still learn and be inspired to study basic skills, think, write, communicate, solve problems, and be good citizens． And while it is good for students to make use of computers, we must not get carried away with faster and more powerful computers at the expense of basic skills， effective teaching and powerful learning．

单选题According to the passage, some job applicants were rejected ______.

单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} For years there have been endless articles stating that scientists are on the verge of achieving artificial intelligence, that it is just around the corner. The truth is that it may be just around the corner, but they haven't yet found the right clock. Artificial intelligence aims to build machines that can think. One immediate problem is to define thought, which is harder than you might think. The specialists in the field of artificial intelligence complain, with some justification, that anything that their machines do is dismissed as not being thought. For example, computers can now play very, very good chess. They can't beat the greatest players in the world, but they can beat just about anybody else. If a human being played chess at this level, he or she would certainly be considered smart. Why not a machine? The answer is that the machine doesn't do anything clever in playing chess. It uses its blinding speed to do a brute-force search of all possible moves for several moves ahead, evaluates the outcomes and picks the best. Humans don't play chess that way. They see patterns, which computers don't. This wooden approach to thought characterizes machine intelligence. Computers have no judgment, no flexibility, no common sense. So-called expert systems, one of the hottest areas in artificial intelligence, aim to mimic the reasoning processes of human experts in a limited field, such as medical diagnosis or weather forecasting. There may be limited commercial applications for this sort of thing, but there is no way to make a machine think about anything under the sun, which a teenager can do. The hallmark of artificial intelligence to date is that if a problem is severely restricted, a machine can achieve limited success. But when the problem is expanded to a realistic one, computers fall flat on their display screens. For example, machines can understand a few words spoken individually by a speaker that they have been trained to hear. They cannot understand continuous speech using an unlimited vocabulary spoken by just any speaker.

单选题Why do some people dislike fairy stories?

完形填空Generations of Americans have been brought 【26】 to believe that a good breakfast is important for health. Eating breakfast at the 【27】 of the day, we have ail been 【28】 ,is as necessary as putting gasoline in the family car 【29】 starting a trip. But for many people the thought of food first in the morning is by 【30】 pleasure. So 【31】 ail the efforts, they still take no 【32】 . Between 1978 and 1983, the latest year for which figures are 【33】 ,the number of people who didn''t have breakfast increased 【34】 33 percent ― from 8.8 million to 11.7 million 【35】 the Chinese ― based Market Research Corporation of America. For those who feel pain of 【36】 about not having breakfast, 【37】 there is some good news. Several studies in the last few years 【38】 that, for adults especially, there may be nothing 【39】 with omitting breakfast. "Going 【40】 breakfast does not affect 【41】 "Said Arnold E. Bendoer, former professor of nutrition at Queen Elizabeth College in London, 【42】 does giving people breakfast improve performance. 【43】 evidence relating breakfast to better health or 【44】 performance is surprisingly inadequate, and most of the recent work involves children, not 【45】 "The literature," says one researcher, Dr. Emesto Pollitt at the University of Texas, "is poor."

完形填空It is exciting to apply for a job that really appeals to you. In making your application, there are a number of points for you to 【26】 . In your letter of application, aim to say just enough to give a good 【27】 of yourself, without being 【28】 . If you are answering an advertisement, any information for 【29】 it asks must, of course, be given. This will usually 【30】 your scholastic record and 【31】 education and training. You may also be asked to give the names of one or two persons to 【32】 references, for this purpose you should choose people who know you 【33】 enough to vouch(担保)for your character and ability; and in courtesy(礼貌) ,you should seek in 【34】 their permission to be named as referees. It will depend on 【35】 how much you can usefully add about yourself. Your 【36】 is to bring to the 【37】 of the employer any good reason why you rather 【38】 any of the other applicants should be chosen for the job. If 【39】 you feel you have any special skill or aptitude for the work 【40】 , for example, any 【41】 interest in the line of business, let this be known. Finally, 【42】 is your use of language. You cannot go 【43】 if you keep your sentences and paragraphs short, making sure the sense is clear and well expressed. Choose 【44】 words so long as they 【45】 your meaning.