单选题On April 20, 2000, in Accra, Ghana, the leaders of six West African countries declared their intention to proceed to monetary union among the non-CFA franc countries of the region by January 2003, as first step toward a wider monetary union including all the ECOWAS countries in 2004. The six countries (21) themselves to reducing central bank financing of budget deficits (22) 10 percent of the previous years government (23) ; reducing budget deficits to 4 percent of the second phase by 2003; creating a Convergence Council to help (24) macroeconomic policies; and (25) up a common central bank. Their declaration (26) that, "Member States (27) the need (28) strong political commitment and (29) to (30) all such national policies (31) would facilitate the regional monetary integration process. " The goal of a monetary union in ECOWAS has long been an objective of the organization, going back to its formation in 1975, and is intended to (32) broader integration process that would include enhanced regional trade and (33) institutions. In the colonial period, currency boards linked sets of countries in the region. (34) independence, (35) , these currency boards were (36) , with the (37) of the CFA franc zone, which included the francophone countries of the region. Although there have been attempts to advance the agenda of ECOWAS monetary cooperation, political problems and other economic priorities in several of the region's countries have to (38) inhibited progress. Although some problems remain, the recent initiative has been bolstered by the election in 1999 of a democratic government and a leader who is committed to regional (39) in Nigeria, the largest economy of the region, raising hopes that the long-delayed project can be (40) .

单选题A new computer system has been designed to stop ships sinking. The greatest danger (21) a holed vessel is that flooding of its compartments will make the ship unstable enough to capsize. It is estimated that nearly half the ships (22) during the second world war capsized because of the loss of (23) . Pacer systems of Burlington, Massachusetts, has now (24) a system devised by a (25) US Navy officer, Stephen Drabouski, which effectively thought out alternative strategies for the ship. The (26) is programmed with every possible eventuality of flood damage. (27) the actual damage is keyed into the computer the operator is told by the computer (28) the implications are and what can be done to destabilize the vessel. Trials on the "American aircraft carrier USS Midway" have (29) that the reaction time to damage can be cut to a fiftieth. An incident was simulated in which the ship was (30) by two missiles causing flooding to 30 compartments. It took 10 minutes (31) receipt of the flood damage information in the damage control center to a full printout of damage effects, (32) countermeasures and an assessment of the result of the countermeasures; In a re-run of the incident (33) the computer program the damage control officer took four and a quarter hours to establish the (34) of the damage and another four hours (35) a decision could be taken on counter measures. (36) the system can be used to provide damage control officers with advice, they do not, of course, have to (37) the information. Quite often the" (38) solution" will be unacceptable for operational reasons. When that happens the system can be asked for (39) or the operator can interrogate the computer to find out what would happen (40) the officer's own solution was put into action.

单选题What docs the writer probably think of the debate about English teaching for immigrant children?

单选题The expression "follow the headlines" (in Para. 3) shows ______.

单选题[此试题无题干]

单选题The author described the Grand Canyon as ______.

单选题A "Zero-sum game" is one in which______.

单选题Cancer Research Campaign is most possibly a ______.

单选题Questions 14-16 are based on the following conversation. You now have 15 seconds to read Questions 14-16.

单选题Which of the following statements of Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds is TRUE?

单选题{{B}}Passage 3{{/B}} A new era is upon us. Call it what you will: the service economy, the information age, the knowledge society. It all translates to a fundamental change in the way we work. Already we're partly there. The percentage of people who earn their living by making things has fallen dramatically in the Western World. Today the majority of jobs in America, Europe and Japan (two thirds or more in many of these countries) are in the service industry, and the number is on the rise. More women are in the work force than ever before. There are more part-time jobs. More people are self-employed. But the breadth of the economic transformation can't be measured by numbers alone, because it also gives rise to a radical new way of thinking about the nature of work itself. Long-held notions about jobs and careers, the skills needed to succeed, even the relation between individuals and employers--all these are being challenged. We only have to look behind us to get some sense of what may lie ahead. No one looking ahead 20 years possibly could have foreseen the ways in which a single invention, the chip, would transform our world thanks to its applications in personal computers, digital communications and factory robots. Tomorrow's achievements in biotechnology, artificial intelligence or even some still unimagined technology could produce a similar wave of dramatic changes. But one thing is certain: information and knowledge will become even more vital, and the people who possess it, whether they work in manufacturing or services, will have the advantage and produce the wealth. Computer knowledge will become as basic a requirement as the ability to read and write. The ability to solve problems by applying information instead of performing routine tasks will be valued above all else. If you cast your mind ahead 10 years, information services will be predominant. It will be the way you do your job.

单选题Every country with a monetary system of its own has to have some kind of market in which dealers in bills, notes, and other forms of short term credit can buy and sell. The "money market" is a set of institutions or arrangements for handling what might be called wholesale transactions in money and short term credit. The need for such facilities arises in much the same way that a similar need does in connection with the distribution of any of the products of a diversified economy to their final users at the retail level. If the retailer is to provide reasonably adequate service to his customers, he must have active contacts with others who specialize in making or handling bulk quantities of whatever is his stock in trade. The money market is made up of specialized facilities of exactly this kind. It exists for the purpose of improving the ability of the retailers of financial services—commercial banks, savings institutions, investment houses, lending agencies, and even governments—to do their jobs. It has little if any contact with the individuals or ruins who maintain accounts with these various retailers or purchase their securities or borrow from them. The elemental functions of a money market must be performed in any kind of modern economy, even one that is largely planned or socialist, but the arrangements in socialist countries do not ordinarily take the form of a market. Money markets exist in countries that use market processes rather than planned allocations to distribute most of their primary resources among alternative uses. The general distinguishing feature of a money market is that it relies upon open competition among those who are bulk suppliers of funds at any particular time and among those seeking bulk funds, to work out the best practicable distribution of the existing total volume of such funds. In their market transactions, those with bulk supplies of funds or demands for them, rely on groups of intermediaries who act as brokers or dealers. The characteristics of these middlemen, the services they perform, and their relationship to other parts of the financial vary widely from country to country. In many countries there is no single meeting place where the middlemen get together, yet in most countries the contacts among all participants are sufficiently open and free to assure each supplier or user of funds that he will get or pay a price that fairly reflects all of the influences (including his own) that are currently affecting the whole supply and the whole demand. In nearly all cases, moreover, the unifying force of competition is reflected at any given moment in a common price (that is, rate of interest) for similar transactions. Continuous fluctuations in the money market rates of interest result from changes in the pressure of available supplies of funds upon the market and in the pull of current demands upon the market.

单选题 Questions 17 ～ 20 are based on a conversation between a mother and her son about a funny thing that happened to their friend Lyn. You now have 20 seconds to read Questions 17 ～ 20.

单选题We learn from the passage that coordinated efforts will be made by various U.S. government agencies to ______.