单选题According to the author, the newspaper industry in U. S. is ______.

单选题 {{I}}Questions 17-20 are based on the following passage. You now have 20 seconds to read questions 17 -20.{{/I}}

单选题Ann Crampton, spokeswoman for the National Council on Fireworks Safety ,doesn't say______.

单选题 Being a man has always been dangerous. There are about 105 males born for every 100 females, but this ratio drops to near balance at the age of maturity, and among 70-year-olds there are twice as many women as men. But the great universal of male mortality is being changed. Now, boy babies survive almost as well as girls do. This means that, for the first time, there will be an excess of boys in those crucial years when they are searching for a mate. More important, another chance for natural selection has been removed. Fifty years ago, the chance of a baby (particularly a boy baby) surviving depended on its weight. A kilogram too light or too heavy meant almost certain death. Today it makes almost no difference. Since much of the variation is due to genes, one more agent of evolution has gone. There is another way to commit evolutionary suicide: stay alive, but have fewer children. Few people are as fertile as in the past. Except in some religious communities, very few women have 15 children. Nowadays the number of births, like the age of death, has become average. Most of us have roughly the same number of offspring. Again, differences between people and the opportunity for natural selection to take advantage of it have diminished. India shows what is happening. The country offers wealth for a few in the great cities and poverty for the remaining tribal peoples. The grand mediocrity of today—everyone being the same in survival and number of offspring—means that natural selection has lost 80% of its power in upper-middle-class India compared to the tribes. For us, this means that evolution is over; the biological Utopia has arrived. Strangely, it has involved little physical change. No other species fills so many places in nature. But in the past 100,000 years—even the past 100 years—our lives have been transformed but our bodies have not. We did not evolve, because machines and society did it for us. Darwin had a phrase to describe those ignorant of evolution: they "look at an organic being as a savage looks at a ship, as at something wholly beyond his comprehension". No doubt we will remember a 20th century way of life beyond comprehension for its ugliness. But however amazed our descendants may be at how far from Utopia we were, they will look just like us.

单选题 Benjamin Barber's Fear's Empire presents a case against the recent unilateral impulses in U. S. foreign policy. According to Barber, empire is not inherent in U.S. dominance but is, rather, a temptation—one to which the Bush administration has increasingly succumbed. In confronting terror- ism, Washington has vacillated between appealing to law and undermining it. Barber's thesis is that by invoking a right to unilateral action, preventive war, and regime change, the United States has undermined the very framework of cooperation and law that is necessary to fight terrorist anarchy. A foreign policy oriented around the use of military force against rogue states, Barber argues, reflects a misunderstanding of the consequences of global interdependence and the character of democracy. Washington cannot run a global order driven by military action and the fear of terrorism. Simply put, American empire is not sustainable. For Barber, the logic of globalization trumps the logic of empire: the spread of Mc World under- mines imperial grand strategy. In most aspects of economic and political life, the United States depends heavily on other states. In an empire of fear, the United States attempts to order the world through force of arms. But this strategy is self-defeating: it creates hostile states bent on overturning the imperial order, not obedient junior partners. Barber proposes instead a cosmopolitan order of universal law rooted in human community: "Lex humana works for global comity within the framework of universal rights and law, conferred by multilateral political, economic, and cultural cooperation—with only as much common military action as can be authorized by common legal authority; whether in the Congress, in multilateral treaties, or through the United Nations." Terrorist threats, Barber concludes, are best confronted with a strategy of "preventive democracy"—democratic states working together to strengthen and extend liberalism. Barber's overly idealized vision of cosmopolitan global governance is less convincing, however, than his warnings about unilateral military rule. Indeed, he provides a useful cautionary note for liberal empire enthusiasts in two respects. First, the two objectives of liberal empire—upholding the rules of the international system and unilaterally employing military power against enemies of the American order—often conflict. Second, the threats posed by terrorism and weapons of mass destruction are not enough to legitimate America's liberal empire. During the Cold War, the United States articulated a vision of community and progress within a U. S. -lead free world, infusing the exercise of U.S. power with legitimacy. It is doubtful, however, that the war on terrorism, in which countries are either "with us or against us", has an appeal that can draw enough support to justify a U. S. -dominated order.

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单选题The pounding rain began in the middle of the night. The people of Jackson, Ohio awoke to the sound then went back to sleep. The next day the rain continued, and the water began to rise. Statistics said Jackson floods once every one hundred years, but no one believed this would be the flood of the century. People were evacuated from their homes to higher ground, leaving everything behind. Buildings in the low-lying areas were immersed in water. People watched as dogs, cats, cows and other animals were swept away. Cars and trucks were carried miles from their homes. The people felt helpless as they watched Mother Nature show her power. Susan returned to her sixth-grade-student-teaching experience the following Monday. She told the story to her students and showed them pictures from the newspaper. Her inspired and compassionate students took action. They stopped raising money for their trip to Camp Kern and began raising money for the flood victims. They sold lollipops, wrote letters to the community asking for donations and collected their own money. Even first-graders donated money. Mountains of clothes furniture and food piled up. Susan's class made Easter baskets from shoe-boxes and filled them with candy and toys as well as toothpaste, soap, toothbrushes and shampoo. She and I loaded her mom's black Chevy Beretta to the ceiling with the Easter baskets. On the trip there, I wondered what I would see; I couldn't imagine losing almost everything. Dusk was beginning to set in, and I felt nervous when we arrived. My stomach dropped when I saw some houses reduced to the railroad ties that had been their foundation. The smell of river water permeated the air. No carpet, furniture, plumbing or appliances remained. Knowing that only days ago this had been someone's home pained my heart. How many children had grown up here? What kind of memories lingered? Would the house ever be rebuilt? The monster flood had dulled its roar and retreated, but its impact would be long-lasting. We drove from house to house, knocking on doors, ready to begin our mission. I was filled with trepidation. Would families who had been devastated by floodwater want an Easter basket? The gesture was beginning to seem useless. "Hello, I'm Susan Moore, and this is my friend, Allison. My sixth-graders at Pennyroyal Elementary made Easter baskets for you when they heard about the flooding because they wanted to help." Their faces lit up as they opened their gifts. As we entered one home, a husband and wife were crouched over their floor with hammer and nails. When he opened the box, he began to cry. "I can't believe those kids did this. Let me give you some money for their school." As I glanced at what was left of his home, I could not believe his generous spirit. He eventually conceded to write a thank-you note instead. One woman ran out to find us after opening her box, tears rolling down her face. "I collected bunny rabbits, and I lost them all in the flood. There was a small pink rabbit in my box. I can start my collection again. Thank you." The burly man standing next to her also had tears in his eyes. My heart was warmed as I played the small role of messenger in this tribute to the good in the human spirit. So often we hear of the shortcomings of our youth, but these youngsters answered a cry for help and gave proof that generosity and love prevail.

单选题In the past, the Park Service focused on making the big scenic parks more (21) and comfortable for tourists. Roads were paved to allow "windshield visitors" to experience the grandeur of nature without leaving their cars, and a (22) number of hotels and grocery stores were permitted to open (23) the park boundaries. Now this trend is changing. Plans have been made to (24) the parks to their natural condition as much as possible. The objective of such a move would be to secure the preservation of the parks for future generations, (25) allowing present-day visitors to experience pure wilderness, (26) from any obvious signs of civilization -- an opportunity which is quickly disappearing in the twentieth century. (27) plans call only (28) a reduction in the number of cars (29) into the parks each day, but (30) , tourists may have to leave their cars at the gates and then either visit the park on foot (31) use park (32) (33) , stores and hotels may no longer be allowed within park boundaries and even the number of campgrounds may be restricted. Denali National Park in Alaska serves as an excellent (34) for this new type of park, one which has been changed only slightly from its (35) state. There is only one road, unpaved in (36) , which cross (37) Denali. As car traffic is strictly limited, many visitors experience the magnificent (38) and wildlife from a park bus. There are no hotels or stores and only seven campgrounds within Denali's 3,000 square miles. This (39) isolation offers backpackers, canoeists, and other sport enthusiasts a (40) physical and psychological challenge.

单选题For four days in hilly fields near this country town, thousands of men will wear brocaded wool uniforms in the summer heat, smoke smelly cheroots by camp fires, pitch canvas tents, eat dried beef — and wage war. Some 5,000 weekend warriors plan to reenact the first major battle of the American Civil War not far from where it took place, 48 kilometers west of Washington 125 years ago. The American Civil War Commemorative Committee of Culpeper, Virginia, the event's sponsor, bills this as the biggest battle reenactment ever held in the United States. While the real north-south clash was fought out in one day, on July 21,1861, the replay will stretch out over four, including preliminary encampment, from July 17—20. Those arranging the rerun of the first Battle of Manassas, as Southerners call it the Battle of Bull Run to Northerners, expect over 50,000 Civil War buffs to watch the fighting roll across a 200-hectare tract. Some 1,500 artillery shells and a half million rounds of small-arms ammunition will be fired in the mock battle. A special effects company is arranging to set off explosions across the landscape, Hollywood war-film fashion, in counterpoint to thunderous fire cannons, some of which were used in the original battle. Jack Thompson, a director of the sponsoring committee, says dozens of mock Civil War military units have been created since interest was fanned in the 1960s when reenactments took place on a smaller scale to commemorate the war's centenary. He said these groups, mostly in the south but with delegations from areas as far off as Scotland, Ireland and West Germany, strive to duplicate the uniforms, weapons and lifestyles of 1860s. Organiser Nancy Niero says everything has to be original, or reproduced as precisely as possible. Most authentic Civil War uniforms are too worn, too delicate or too small to fit the modern man, but some of the distinctive originals have been lovingly preserved and now serve as models for exact replicas. Cheating will be barred. That means a ban on using any sort of clothing, equipment, food or drink which did not exist during the real Civil War. Smokers, for instance, must shun cigarettes. Canned beer, soda and pre packed food are all out, but a spokeswoman said, "I guess if anyone gets hurt, we'll use antibiotics. We won't use leeches./

单选题 {{I}}Questions 11 -13 are based on the following passage. You now have 15 seconds to read questions 11 -13.{{/I}}

单选题Questions 18-20 are based on a dialogue between an interviewer and a detective.

单选题{{B}}Passage 1{{/B}} Language, like food, is a basic human need without which a child in a critical period of life can be starved and damaged. Judging from the drastic experiment of Frederick Ⅱ in the thirteenth century, it may be so. Hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue, he told the nurses to keep silent. All the infants died before the first year. But, clearly there was more than lack of language here. What was missing was good mothering. Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the capacity to survive is seriously affected. Today no such severe lack exists as that ordered by Frederick. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. Most of the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to the signals of the infant, whose brain is programmed to learn language rapidly. If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again. A bird learns to sing and to fly rapidly at the right time, but the process is slow and hard once the critical stage has passed. Experts suggest that speech stages are reached in a fixed sequence and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ. At twelve weeks baby smiles and makes vowel-like sounds; at twelve months he can speak simple words and understand simple commands; at eighteen months he has a vocabulary of three to fifty words. At three he knows about 1,000 words which he can put into sentences, and at four his language differs from that of his parents in style rather than grammar. Recent evidence suggests that an infant is born with the capacity to speak. What is special about man' s brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a toy-bear with the sound pattern "toy-bear". And even more incredible is the young brain' s ability to pick out an order in language from the mixture of sound around him, to analyze, to combine and recombine the parts of a language in new ways. But speech has to be induced, and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child' s babbling, grasping and smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals dulls the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals. Sensitivity to the child' s non-verbal signals is essential to the growth and development of language.