单选题In the eyes of the TSA, the current system is

单选题The basic problem of Japanese economy as pointed out by the writer lies in

单选题The most ancient civilization have been studied by archeologists rather than historians because those civilizations (1) before the advent of writing. How do archeologists infer that a particular people in the (2) past had social classes, cities, or centralized government? As we have noted, it (3) that the earliest Neolithic (新石器时代的) societies were egalitarian people did not differ much in wealth, prestige, or power. Some later societies show signs of social (4) . One kind of evidence of inequality in an ancient society is (5) by burial finds. Archeologists generally (6) that inequality in (7) reflects inequality in life, at least in (8) and perhaps also in wealth and power. (9) , we can be fairly sure that a society had (10) in status if only some people were buried with special objects, such as jewelry or pots filled with food. And we can be (11) sure that high status was assigned at birth rather than (12) in later life if we find (13) differences in children's tombs. (14) , some (but not all) child burials from (15) 5,500 to 5,000 B.C. at Tell es-Sawwan in Iraq, and from about 800 B.C. at La Venta in Mexico, are filled with statues and ornaments (16) that some children had high status from birth. But burials indicating differences in status do not (17) mean a society had significant differences in wealth. It is only (18) archeologists find other (19) differences, as in house size and furnishings, that we can be sure the society had different (20) classes of people.

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 (1) themselves to reducing central bank financing of budget deficits (2) 10 percent of the previous years government (3) ; reducing budget deficits to (4) percent of the second phase by 2003; creating a Convergence Council to help control macroeconomic policies; and (5) up a common central bank. Their declaration (6) that, "Member States (7) the need (8) strong political commitment and (9) to (10) all such national policies (11) 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 (12) broader integration process that would include enhanced regional trade and (13) institutions. In the colonial period, currency boards linked sets of countries in the region. (14) independence, (15) , these currency boards were (16) , with the (17) 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 (18) 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 (19) in Nigeria, the largest economy of the region, raising hopes that the long-delayed project can be (20) .

单选题When mentioning "$ 50m per airline, per 'event'" (Paragraph 1), the writer is talking about ______.

单选题The Supreme Court will hear arguments about the use of public money for the private schooling of children with special needs. It's interesting to note what's not at issue: namely, that when a public school system is unable to provide an appropriate education, it is obligated to pay the costs of private school. Too bad poor children don't have that unshakable right; if they did, there would be no controversy about the District program that gives vouchers to low-income children to attend private schools. The case to be heard by the court hinges on whether parents have to enroll a child with special needs in public school before the child can attend private school at public expense. Special-education advocates say students shouldn't have to waste time before being placed in a setting that best suits their needs, while school boards worry about a ruling that could amount to an unfettered fight to private schooling at public expense. What strikes us about the emotionally charged debate is the acceptance by both sides that sometimes it is appropriate to use public money to pay for a child to go to a private school. So, why all the arguments about the approximately$14 million for a federally funded program that lets 1,700 D. C. students attend private schools instead of failing public schools? To hear critics of the D. C. Opportunity Scholarship Program tell it, the use of public money for private schooling is as unprecedented as it is undesirable. In addition to the billions of dollars spent annually on private school tuitions for students with disabilities, private schools get public money for books, technology and teacher training. As long as the money is seen as benefiting the child, it is considered a proper, even desirable, use of public dollars. Don't get us wrong. We're not arguing for the unilateral right of parents to enroll their sons and daughters in any school they wish with the taxpayers picking up the bill. Abuse of special-education policies has contributed to increased costs that threaten to take needed money from general public education funds. Safeguards are needed. Public schools should be pressed to do a better job for students with disabilities and students without. But there are schools in Washington where statistics show that failure is almost guaranteed. If a school system can't educate a child—whether because of acute special needs or its own historical failings—why should that child not have options for a " free appropriate public education " ?

单选题How long you live has a lot to do with your environment and lifestyle, but exceptional longevity may have even more to do with your genes. For the first time, researchers have identified a genetic recipe that accurately predicts who may live to 100 and beyond. Scientists led by Dr. Thomas Perls at the Boston University School of Medicine conducted a genetic analysis of more than 1,000 centenarians and their matched controls and found 150 genetic variants--or bits of DNA--that differed between the two groups. These variants identified people who lived to a very old age (past 100) with 77% accuracy, researchers found. Further analysis identified 19 distinct genetic profiles associated with extremely long life; 90% of participants who lived to 100 possessed at least one of the signature genetic clusters. Each profile appeared to confer a different tendency to develop common age-related chronic diseases, such as heart disease or brain disorder. "We realize this is a complex genetic puzzle," Perls said. "We're quite a ways away still in understanding how the integration of these genes--not just with themselves but with environmental factors--are playing a role in this longevity puzzle." Perls has studied many factors that contribute to longevity, and he is the first to acknowledge that living longer isn't likely to be simply a matter of genes. His previous work has shown, for example, that among most elderly people who live into their 70s and 80s, about 70% of their longevity can be ascribed to environmental factors such as not smoking; eating a healthy, low-fat, low-calorie diet; and remaining socially engaged and intellectually active throughout life. Still, it seems clear that those who live to an exceptionally ripe old age are benefiting from a special DNA boost. In fact, Perls believes that the older a person gets, the more likely it is that his or her genes are contributing to those extended years. His current genetic findings support that theory: the 19 most common genetic profiles that distinguished the exceptionally long-lived appear to be correlated with lower incidence of certain diseases. For example, some profiles were associated with lower rates of high blood pressure and diabetes, while another was linked to a reduced risk of brain disorder. Although most of us can't expect to become centenarians, Perls is hoping that his work will lead to better ways--perhaps through pharmaceutical interventions based on the genetic clues to longevity--to help more of us live like them.

单选题Despite the doubts, and despite complaints from shop owners, London's congestion charge --introduced in February 2003 -- has managed to ease the gridlock in the city centre. Traffic is down by 18%, jams by 30%. The scheme's biggest weakness is that it is crude: drivers pay ￡ 8 ($14) to enter the zone between 7am and 6:30pm, regardless of how congested the roads are, or how long they stay. So road-pricing fans are watching trials by Transport for London (TfL) of a new detection system, called tag-and-beacon, with interest. Under such a scheme (used in Singapore and on some European roads) cars are fitted with electronic tags that are read by roadside masts. If the trial is successful, TfL says that the city could switch to the system once the contract to run the congestion charge is re-let in 2009. Currently, cameras are used to read license plates and track motorists. They are not always reliable: an individual camera identifies only around 70% of cars. Most driven get photographed more than once, which boosts the system's effectiveness to over 95%, but that still leaves several thousand vehicles per day whose details must be laboriously checked by hand. Tag-and-beacon technology is much more accurate, with an identification rate of over 99%. TfL says the trial is partly designed to see whether the new system could allow drivers to pay charges by direct debit. That would be popular with motorists, who complain that the current payment system is unfriendly: the toll for a day' s travel must be paid manually -- online, by phone or in a shop -- by midnight, with steep fines levied on forgetful drivers. More precise detection also allows for more precision in policy, and road-pricing enthusiasts see radical possibilities ahead. TfL says it is considering using the new technology to charge drivers each time they cross the zone boundary (up to a daily maximum), instead of paying once for an entire day's travel. That would be cheaper for drivers who make few trips into the zone, although drivers who spend a long time trundling around without leaving (thereby causing the most congestion) would get off lightly, too. Further refinements may be possible. The current system has cut traffic most drastically in the middle of the day, when congestion is at its lowest. Demand for road space would better match supply if charges were variable -- high at the busiest times of day and low in quiet periods. Such a time-sensitive, variable-charging scheme using a tag-and-beacon system was endorsed last year by Bob Kiley, the TfL's boss, who also said that he wanted to extend the congestion charge to other parts of London. That would be controversial, and Mr. Kiley's underlings were quick to insist that his musings were not official policy. But the original scheme was controversial too, yet Ken Livingstone, London's mayor and its biggest backer, was re-elected after introducing it. It would be a shame if timidity took hold now.

单选题{{B}}Text 3{{/B}} Let us ask what were the preparation and training Abraham Lincoln had for oratory, whether political or forensic. Born in rude and abject poverty, he never had any education, except what he gave himself, till he was approaching manhood. Not even books wherewith to inform and train his mind were within his reach. No school, no university, no legal faculty had any part in training his powers. When he became a lawyer and a politician, the years most favourable to continuous study had already passed, and the opportunities he found for reading were very scanty. He knew but few authors in general literature, though he knew those few thoroughly. He taught himself a little mathematics, but he could read no language save his own, and can have had only the faintest acquaintance with European history or with any branch of philosophy. The want of regular education was not made up for by the persons among whom his lot was cast. Till he was a grown man, he never moved in any society from which he could learn those things with which the mind of an orator to be stored. Even after he had gained some legal practice, there was for many years no one for him to mix with except the petty practitioners of a petty town, men nearly all of whom knew little more than he did himself. Schools gave him nothing, and society gave him nothing. But he had a powerful intellect and a resolute will. Isolation fostered not only self-reliance but the habit of reflection, and indeed, of prolonged and intense reflection. He made all that he knew a part of himself. His convictions were his own—clear and coherent. He was not positive or opinionated and he did not deny that at certain moments he pondered and hesitated long before he decided on his course. But though he could keep a policy in suspense, waiting for events to guide him, he did not waver. He paused and reconsidered, but it was never his way to go back on a decision once more or to waste time in vain regrets that all he had expected had not been attained. He took advice readily and left many things to his ministers; but he did not lean on his advisers. Without vanity or ostentation, he was always independent, self-contained, prepared to take full responsibility for his acts.

单选题The mass media is a big part of our culture, yet it can also be a helper, adviser and teacher to our young generation. The mass media affects the lives of our young by acting as a (an) (1) for a number of institutions and social contacts. In this way, it (2) a variety of functions in human life. The time spent in front of the television screen is usually at the (3) of leisure: there is less time for games, amusement and rest. (4) by what is happening on the screen, children not only imitate what they see but directly (5) themselves with different characters. Americans have been concerned about the (6) of violence in the media and its (7) harm to children and adolescents for at least forty years. During this period, new media (8) , such as video games, cable television, music videos, and the Internet. As they continue to gain popularity, these media, (9) television, (10) public concern and research attention. Another large societal concern on our young generation (11) by the media, is body image. (12) forces can influence body image positively or negatively. (13) one, societaland cultural norms and mass media marketing (14) our concepts of beauty. In the mass media, the images of (15) beauty fill magazines and newspapers, (16) from our televisions and entertain us (17) the movies. Even in advertising, the mass media (18) on accepted cultural values of thinness and fitness for commercial gain. Young adults are presented with a (19) defined standard of attractiveness, a(n) (20) that carries unrealistic physical expectations.

单选题Why are weather - boarded houses painted white according to the passage?

单选题What do Charles Honts' laboratory studies suggest?______