单选题The disappearances of planes and ships in the Bermuda Triangle are probably caused by______.

单选题Millions of dollars often depend on the choice of which commercial to use in launching a new product. So you show the commercials to a (1) of typical consumers and ask their opinion. The answers you get can sometimes lead you into a big (2) . Respondents may lie just to be polite. Now some companies and major advertising (3) have been hiring voice detectives who test your normal voice and then record you on tape (4) commenting on a product. A computer analyzes the degree and direction of change (5) normal. One kind of divergence of pitch means the subject (6) . Another kind means he was really enthusiastic. In a testing of two commercials (7) children, they were, vocally, about equally (8) of both, but the computer reported their emotional (9) in the two was totally different. Most major commercials are sent for testing to theaters (10) with various electronic measuring devices. People regarded as (11) are brought in off the street. Viewers can push buttons to (12) whether they are interested or bored. Newspaper and magazine groups became intensely interested in testing their ads for a product (13) TV ads for the same product. They were interested because the main (14) of evidence shows that people (15) a lot more mental activity when they read (16) when they sit in front of the TV set. TV began to be (17) "a low-involvement" (18) . It is contended that low involvement means that there is less (19) that the ad message will be (20) .

单选题According to Dr. Gerard Imberre, people should have cosmetic surgery

单选题Employees are demanding more from their employers because

单选题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}}Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1. What's your earliest childhood memory? Can you remember learning to walk? Or talk? The first time you heard thunder or watched a television program? Adults seldom {{U}}(1) {{/U}} events much earlier than the year or so before entering school, {{U}}(2) {{/U}}children younger than three or four{{U}} (3) {{/U}}retain any specific, personal experiences. A variety of explanations have been{{U}} (4) {{/U}}by psychologists for this "childhood amnesia". One argues that the hippo-campus; the region of the brain which is{{U}} (5) {{/U}}for forming memories, does not mature until about the age of two. But the most popular theory {{U}}(6) {{/U}}that, since adults don't think like children, they cannot{{U}} (7) {{/U}}childhood memories. Adults think in words, and their life memories are like stories or{{U}} (8) {{/U}}one event follows{{U}} (9) {{/U}} as in a novel or film. But when they search through their mental{{U}} (10) {{/U}}for early childhood memories to add to this verbal life story, they don't find any that fit the{{U}} (11) {{/U}}. It's like trying to find a Chinese word in an English dictionary. Now psychologist Annette Simms of the New York State University offers a new{{U}} (12) {{/U}} for childhood amnesia. She argues that there simply aren't any early childhood memories to {{U}}(13) {{/U}}. According to Dr. Simms, children need to learn to use someone else's spoken description of their personal{{U}} (14) {{/U}}in order to turn their own short-term, quickly forgotten {{U}}(15) {{/U}} of them into long-term memories. In other{{U}} (16) {{/U}}, children have to talk about their experiences and hear others talk about{{U}} (17) {{/U}}--Mother talking about the afternoon{{U}} (18) {{/U}} looking for seashells at the beach or Dad asking them about their day at Ocean Park. Without this{{U}} (19) {{/U}}reinforcement, says Dr. Simms, children cannot form{{U}} (20) {{/U}}memories of their personal experiences.{{B}}Notes:{{/B}} childhood amnesia 儿童失忆症。

单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} Twenty-seven years ago, Egypt revised its secular constitution to enshrine Muslim sharia as "the principal source of legislation". To most citizens, most of the time, that seeming contradiction-between secularism and religion-has not made much difference. Nine in ten Egyptians are Sunni Muslims and expect Islam to govern such things as marriage, divorce and inheritance. Nearly all the rest profess Christianity or Judaism, faiths recognised and protected in Islam. But to the small minority who embrace other faiths, or who have tried to leave Islam, it has, until lately, made an increasingly troubling difference. Members of Egypt's 2,000-strong Bahai community, for instance, have found they cannot state their religion on the national identity cards that all Egyptians are obliged to produce to secure such things as driver's licenses, bank accounts, social insurance and state schooling. Hundreds of Coptic Christians who have converted to Islam, often to escape the Orthodox sect's ban on divorce, find they cannot revert to their original faith. In some cases, children raised as Christians have discovered that, because a divorced parent converted to Islam, they too have become officially Muslim, and cannot claim otherwise. Such restrictions on religious freedom are not directly a product of sharia, say human- rights campaigners, but rather of rigid interpretations of Islamic law by over-zealous officials. In their strict view, Bahai belief cannot be recognised as a legitimate faith, since it arose in the 19th century, long after Islam staked its claim to be the final revelation in a chain of prophecies beginning with Adam. Likewise, they brand any attempt to leave Islam, whatever the circumstances, as a form of apostasy, punishable by death. But such views have lately been challenged. Last year Ali Gomaa, the Grand Mufti, who is the government's highest religious adviser, declared that nowhere in Islam's sacred texts did it say that apostasy need be punished in the present rather than by God in the afterlife. In the past month, Egyptian courts have issued two rulings that, while restricted in scope, should ease some bothersome strictures. Bahais may now leave the space for religion on their identity cards blank. Twelve former Christians won a lawsuit and may now return to their original faith, on condition that their identity documents note their previous adherence to Islam. Small steps, perhaps, but they point the way towards freedom of choice and citizenship based on equal rights rather than membership of a privileged religion.

单选题 Brothers and sisters fight, but when the {{U}}bickering{{/U}} evolves into physical or emotional abuse, it's bullying. Ordinary arguments over toys and who gets the front seat are one thing, but a recent study from researchers at the University of New Hampshire reports that aggression between siblings can escalate into bullying, and that young victims can be harmed in the same way as those who are threatened by peers on the playground. In fact, the study authors say, being bullied by a brother or sister was linked to worse mental-health outcomes for kids and adolescents, similar to those associated with being bullied by unrelated kids in the schoolyard. The new study, published in the journal Pediatrics, involved thousands of children and adolescents throughout the U.S. and found that those who were physically assaulted, had their toys stolen or broken or endured emotional abuse that made them feel frightened or unwanted by their sibling had higher levels of depression, anger and anxiety than those without these experiences. In order to study any differences between the effects of sibling bullying and those of being threatened by an unrelated bully, the researchers compared the effects of aggressive behaviors, such as physical violence, breaking or taking toys or belongings, and abuse, like name-calling or mocking, originating from siblings with those coming from children's unrelated peers. They concluded that as far as mental-health effects are concerned, the relationship that the victims had with their bullies didn't seem to matter. The findings showed that sibling bullying had the same association with increased anxiety, depression and trauma as peer aggression. That's an eye-opening result since most parents-not to mention the public-have a higher tolerance for fighting and even threatening behavior among siblings than they do for other social relationships. Sibling fighting is often dismissed, seen as something that's normal or harmless. Some parents even think it's beneficial, as training for dealing with conflict and aggression in other relationships. But when does that normal quarreling evolve into something more? Parents may unknowingly play a role in escalating some sibling fighting into abuse, John V. Caffaro, a clinical psychologist and co-author of Sibling Abuse Trauma, told the New York Times. If parents allow children to continuously fight and confront each other in aggressive ways without intervening, or if they play favorites and label children as "the smart one" or the "the quiet one," that may lead to more unhealthy competitiveness between siblings that develops into abuse. Caffaro said that since violence between siblings is one of the most common types of familial violence, aggression with the intent to physical hurt or humiliate a brother or sister should be taken seriously, and quashed.

单选题When a customer claimed to have found a severed finger in a bowl of chili served at a Wendy's fast food franchise in California, the chain's sales fell by half in the San Jos6 area where the incident was reported. Wendy's brand and reputation were at risk, until the claim was exposed as a hoax in late April and the company, operator of America's third biggest hamburger chain, was vindicated. Yet the share price of Wendy's International, the parent company, rose steadily through March and April, despite the finger furore and downgrades from analysts. One reason was heavy buying by hedge funds, led by Pershing Square Capital. This Week Pershing made its intentions public, saying that it was worried by market rumors that Wendy's might soon buy more fast food brands, and arguing that the firm should be selling assets instead. Pershing's approach indicates rising pressure on American restaurant companies to perform, at a time when the industry's growth prospects look increasingly tough. The hit on customers' wallets from higher petrol prices and rising interest rates will probably mean that year on year sales growth across the American restaurant industry slows to just 1% by the fourth quarter of 2005, down from a five year historic average of 5.6%, say UBS, an investment bank, and Global Insight, a forecasting group. Looking further ahead, says UBS's David Palmer, the industry may have to stop relying on most of the long term trends that were behind much of its recent growth. Three quarters of Americans already live within three miles of a McDonald's restaurant, leaving little scope for green-field growth. Obesity is a growing issue in America, and with it come the threat of liability lawsuits against big restaurant chains and, perhaps, legal limits on advertising. This week America's biggest food trade group, the Grocery Manufacturers' Association, was said to be preparing tougher guidelines on the marketing of food to children, in the hope of staving off statutory controls. Home cooking may also be making a comeback, helped by two factors. The percentage of women joining America's workforce may have peaked, and supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart have been forcing down retail food prices. Expansion overseas is one option for American restaurant chains. Burger King, the privately owned number two hamburger chain, opened its first outlet in China last month, apparently aiming to maintain strong growth ahead of an initial public offering next year. McDonald's has 600 outlets in China and plans 400 more. But at home, the future seems to hold only an even more competitive and cost-conscious restaurant industry. Fast food chains are trying to poach customers from "casual dining" chains (such as Applebee's Neighborhood Grill) , while those chains are squeezing out independent restaurants unable to compete on cost or in marketing clout. Business conditions, not severed fingers, are the real threat to the weaker firms in the restaurant business.

单选题Historically, the European Union has not bothered with funding much basic scientific research. Such activities have mainly remained the preserve of national governments, not least because giving scientists free rein can lead to discoveries that not only make money but ultimately enhance military might. That attitude is now changing. The European Commission proposes to establish a European Research Council(ERC) that would spend a maximum of 12 billion( $14 billion) over seven years on" blue skies" research. While the plans are being generally welcomed by Europe's member states, their details are problematic. The proposed ERC is intended to make Europe more competitive. Europe has some first-class universities, scientific institutions and research organisations, But, the ERC' s proponents argue, their activities are fragmented, so they are not reaching their full potential. In America, teams from across the country compete with each other for grants from the National Science Foundation. The proposed ERC is modelled on this scheme, It would award grants to individual research teams for a specific project, solely on the basis of scientific merit judged by peer review, If the ERC were created, scientists from across Europe would compete with each other for funds, rather than merely competing with their fellow countrymen, as hap pens at present. This compares with the limited funding for basic research that currently exists in the EU, which places its emphasis on collaboration between researchers. It is open only to researchers in a narrow range of disciplines chosen by the European Parliament and the commission. The ERC would be quite different, placing its emphasis on competition between researchers and leaving scientists themselves to decide which areas of science to pursue. Helga Nowotny, who chairs the European Research Advisory Board--an advisory body to the commission— says that winning a grant from the ERC could come to be seen as unmistakable recognition of research excellence. The quality of European research needs to be stepped up a notch. Between 1980 and 2003, Europe had 68 Nobel laureates in medicine, physics and chemistry compared with 154 in America. With competition from China and India, Europe' s share could fall further. One of the reasons for Europe' s relatively weak performance is thought to be a lack of genuine competition between Europe' s researchers. Another is its poor ability to attract young people into a research career. Recent estimates suggest that Europe needs an extra 700,000 researchers if it is to meet its overall target of raising spending (private, national and EU) on research and development to 3% of GDP by 2010. Many young scientists leave Europe for America once they have finished their training. Dr Nowotny says the ERC could help here too. It could establish a scheme to give young researchers the opportunity to follow their own ideas and become independent at an earlier stage in their careers, encouraging talent to stay in Europe. The crucial issue now is whether the ERC will be able to set its own research agenda, free from the interference and bureaucracy of the commission and influence of member states. Last month,22 leading European scientists charged with shaping the ERC's scientific strategy met for the first time to start hammering out a charter and constitution. Serious concerns remain over the legal structure of the body. The final decision on the ERC's legal form, on a date yet unspecified, rests with the European Parliament and member states in the European Council. If both are genuine in their support for the ERC and Europe' s aim of becoming more competitive ,then they must find a way of keeping the ERC free from political interference. Europe would benefit from a competition for its best researchers which rewards scientific excellence. A quasi-competition that recognizes how many votes each member state is allotted would be pointless.