单选题Why is retirement found to be a convenient practice for managing the labor force?

单选题The author's attitude toward online advertising can be summarized as one of

单选题 People have wondered for a long time how their personalities and behaviors are formed, h is not easy to explain why one person is intelligent and another is not, or why one is cooperative and another is competitive. Social scientists are, of course, extremely interested in these types of questions. They want to explain why we possess certain characteristics and exhibit certain behaviors. There are no clear answers yet, but two distinct schools of thought on the matter have developed. As one might expect, the two approaches are very different from one another, and there is a great deal of debate between proponents of each theory. The controversy is often referred to as "nature/nurture". Those who support the "nature" side of the conflict believe that our personalities and behavior patterns are largely determined by biological and genetic factors. That our environment has little, if anything, to do with our abilities, characteristics, and behavior is central to this theory. Taken to an extreme, this theory maintains that our behavior is predetermined to such a degree that we are almost completely governed by our instincts. Proponents of the "nurture "theory, or, as they are often called, behaviorists, claimed that our environment is more important than our biologically based instincts in determining how we will act. A behaviorist, B. F. Skinner sees humans as beings whose behavior is almost completely shaped by their surroundings. The behaviorists' view of the human being is quite mechanistic; they maintain that, like machines, humans respond to environmental stimuli as the basis of their behavior. Either of these theories cannot yet fully explain human behavior. In fact, it is quite likely that the key to our behavior lies somewhere between these two extremes. That the controversy will continue for a long time is certain.

单选题Because of their out-of-date organization some unions find it difficult to

单选题Prince Klemens Von ,Metternich, foreign minister of the Austrian Empire during the Napoleonic era and its aftermath, would have no trouble recognizing Google. To him, the world's most popular web-search engine would closely resemble the Napoleonic France that in his youth humiliated Austria and Europe's other. powers. Its rivals—Yahoo!, the largest of the traditional web gateways, eBay, the biggest online auction and trading site, and Microsoft, a software empire that owns MSN, a struggling web portal—would look a lot like Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Metternich responded by forging an alliance among those three monarchies to create a "balance of power" against France. Google's enemies, he might say, ought now to do the same thing. Google announced two new conquests on August 7th. It struck a deal with Viacom, an "old" media firm, under which it will syndicate video clips from Viacom brands such as MTV and Nickelodeon to other websites, and integrate advertisements into them. This makes Google the clear leader in the fledgling but promising market for web-video advertising. It also announced a deal with News Corporation, another media giant, under which it will pro- vide all the search and text-advertising technology on News Corporation's websites, including MySpace, an enormously popular social-networking site. These are hard blows for Yahoo! and MSN, which had also been negotiating with News Corporation. Both firms have been losing market share in web search to Google over the past year—Google now has half the market. They have also fallen further behind in their advertising technologies and networks, so that both make less money than Google does from the same number of searches. Sara Rashtchy, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, a securities firm, estimates that for every advertising dollar that Google makes on a search query, Yahoo! makes only 60-70 cents. Last month Yahoo! said that a new advertising algorithm that it had designed to close the gap in profitability will be delayed, and its share price fell by 22% , its biggest-ever one-day drop. MSN is further behind Google than Yahoo ! in search, and its parent, Microsoft, faces an even more fundamental threat from the expansionist new power. Many of Google's new ventures beyond web search enable users to do things free of charge through their web browsers that they now do using Microsoft software on their personal computers. Google offers a rudimentary but free online word processor and spreadsheet, for instance. The smaller eBay, on the other hand, might in one sense claim Google as an ally. Google's search results send a lot of traffic to eBay's auction site, and eBay is one of the biggest advertisers on Google's network. But the relationship is imbalanced. An influential recent study from Berkeley's Haas 'School of Business estimated that about 12% of eBay's revenues come indirectly from Google, whereas Google gets only 3% of its revenues from eBay. Worst of all for eBay, Google is starting to undercut its core business. Sellers are setting up their own websites and buying text advertisements from Google, and buyers are using its search rather than eBay to connect with sellers directly. As a result, "eBay would be wise to strike a deep partnership with Yahoo ! or Microsoft in order to regain a balance of power in the industry," said the study's authors, Julien Decot and Steve Lee, sounding like diplomats at the Congress of Vienna in 1814.

单选题The United States is usually given credit for creating and developing the musical comedy as it is known today. The first musical shows were based (1) everyday American life and the (2) development of the form took place in the United States for more than half a century. (3) the early 1970s, (4) , the London theater has (5) the Broadway stage. The Black Crook, which opened at Niblo's Garden in New York City on Sept. 12, 1866, is usually (6) as the inspiration for musical comedy. A troupe of French ballet dancers (7) to be stranded in New York without work (8) a fire damaged the theater (9) they had been booked. In order to keep a (10) to them, the theater producer put the dancers into a melodrama written by Charles M. Barres. The first stage production that was (11) a musical comedy was a show that was (12) from the Prince of Wales Theater to the Gaiety Theater in London in 1892. Staged by George Edwards, the show called In Town featured a chorus line of Gaiety Girls. The (13) year A Gaiety Girl was equally successful, and a (14) of the show played in New York in the same year. When it was (15) in newspapers, it was designated a musical comedy and regarded as a new (16) of entertainment. It did not take the form long to (17) in the United States. Almost (18) one of the most renowned talents of the American stage went to work on his own musicals. The singer-dancer George M. Cohan staged Little Johnny Jones in 1904. Cohan, (19) own life story was made into the musical George M (1968), also wrote the books, words, and (20) for Forty-five Minutes from Broadway ( 1906 ), The Little Millionaire ( 1911 ), The Song and Dance Man ( 1923 ), and American Born (1925).

单选题Digital photography is still new enough that most of us have yet to form an opinion about it, much less (1) a point of view. But this hasn't stopped many film and computer fans from agreeing (2) the early (3) wisdom about digital cameras—they're neat (4) for your PC, but they're not suit able for everyday picture-taking. The fans are wrong: more than anything else, digital cameras are radically (5) what photography means and what it can be. The venerable medium of photography as we know (6) is beginning to seem out of (7) with the way we live. In our computer and camcorder culture, saving pictures (8) digital files and watching them on TV is no less (9) and in many ways more (10) than fumbling with rolls of film that must be sent off to be (11) . Paper is also terribly (12) Pictures that are incorrectly framed, focused, or lighted are nonetheless (13) to film and ultimately processed into prints. The digital medium changes the (14) . Still images that are (15) digitally can immediately be shown on a computer monitor, TV screen, or a small liquid-crystal display (LCD) built right into the camera. And since the points of light that (16) an image are saved as a series of digital bits in (17) memory, (18) being permanently etched onto film, they can be erased, retouched, and transmitted on-line. What's it like to (19) with one of these digital cameras? It's a little like a first date—exciting, confusing and fraught with (20) .

单选题 In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell argues that "social epidemics" are driven in large part by the actions of a tiny minority of special individuals, often called influentials, who are unusually informed, persuasive, or well connected. The idea is intuitively compelling--we think we see it happening all the time--but it doesn't explain how ideas actually spread. The supposed importance of influentials derives from a plausible-sounding but largely untested theory called the "two-step flow of communication": Information flows from the media to the influentials and from them to everyone else. Marketers have embraced the two-step flow because it suggests that if they can just find and influence the influentials, those select people will do most of the work for them. The theory also seems to explain the sudden and unexpected popularity of certain looks, brands, or neighborhoods. In many such cases, a cursory search for causes finds that some small group of people was wearing, promoting or developing whatever it is before anyone else paid attention. Anecdotal evidence of this kind fits nicely with the idea that only certain special people can drive trends. In their recent work, however, some researchers have come up with the finding that influentials have far less impact on social epidemics than is generally supposed. In fact, they don't seem to be required at all. The researchers' argument stems from a simple observation about social influence, with the exception of a few celebrities like Oprah Winfrey--whose outside presence is primarily a function of media, not interpersonal influence--even the most influential members of a population simply don't interact with that many others. Yet it is precisely these non-celebrity influentials who, according to the two-step-flow theory, are supposed to drive social epidemics, by influencing their friends and colleagues directly. For a social epidemic to occur, however, each person so affected must then influence his or her own acquaintances, who must in turn influence theirs, and so on; and just how many others pay attention to each of these people has little to do with the initial influential. If people in the network just two degrees removed from the initial influential prove resistant, for example, the cascade of change won't propagate very far or affect many people. Building on the basic truth about interpersonal influence, the researchers studied the dynamics of populations, manipulating a number of variables relating to people's ability to influence others and their tendency to be influenced.

单选题In more than a century of hand-to-hand combat in shops, supermarket aisles, restaurants and bars around the world, Coca-Cola has nearly always been in the lead and Pepsi in second place. When Warren Buffett, Coke's long-time investor, told the board that he had visited a pizza parlour in Omaha, Nebraska, with his grandson only to discover it served nothing but Pepsi, Coke's bosses acted swiftly to remove their arch-rival from the menu and replace it with Coke. If only the Atlanta-based company had moved as determinedly in response to changing consumer tastes, it might have avoided a humiliating reversal in fortunes. On December 12th PepsiCo overtook Coca-Cola in market capitalisation for the first time. With PepsiCo's share price having risen by 14% this year, its stock market value reached $ 98.4 billion, compared with $ 97.9 billion for Coca-Co la, which has seen its shares decline by 1.2% in the same period. Pepsi is powered not by its traditional fizzy drinks--sales of those are flat--but such products as Gatorade, a sports drink that has seen sales grow by more than 30%. Gatorade also represents a broader diversification by PepsiCo away from a reliance on sugary colas and into other products. PepsiCo now reportedly gets around 20% of its revenue from soft drinks, unlike Coca-Cola, where they account for some 80%. Many of the brands that PepsiCo has been acquiring and promoting appeal to consumers' concerns a bout their health. PepsiCo's latest advertising programme promotes a new "Smart Spot" symbol, which al lows people to identify healthier products. The spots are being attached to Gatorade and other PepsiCo brands such as Tropicana orange juice, Aquafina water, baked lay's crisps and Quaker Granola Bars. Coca-Cola will now try to regain the crown. Having endured various troubles and two chief executives since the death in 1997 of Roberto Goizueta, a much-admired boss, Coke brought a veteran, Neville Isdell, out of retirement last year to reinvigorate the company. Mr. Isdell knows a thing or two about being in second place. In the 1980s he took Coke from the number two spot in the Philip pines to move ahead of Pepsi. Mr. Isdell has Coke's own sports drink, Powerade, in his portfolio--but he could have had Gatorade. Five years ago another fizzy drink (champagne) was on ice, to celebrate Coca-Cola's $15.8 billion takeover of Quaker Oats, then owner of Gatorade. This takeover was supposed to lead Coke into what looked to be a hot new market for health drinks. But the "Sage of Omaha", as Mr. Buffett is known, blocked the deal, in part because it would have diluted the value of Coke's shares. Pepsi took over Quaker Oats instead--a memory that must leave Mr. Buffett and other Coke shareholders with a bitter taste in their mouths.

单选题{{B}}Text 2{{/B}} They may not be the richest, but Africans remain the world's staunchest optimists. An annual survey by Gallup International, a research outfit, shows that, when asked whether this year will be better than last, Africa once again comes out on top. Out of 52 000 people interviewed all over the world, under half believe that things are looking up. But in Africa the proportion is close to 60% almost twice as much as in Europe. Africans have some reasons to be cheerful. The continent's economy has been doing fairly well with South Africa, the economic powerhouse, growing steadily over the past few years. Some of Africa's long-running conflicts, such as the war between the north and south in Sudan and the civil war in Congo, have ended. Africa even has its first elected female head of state, in Liberia. Yet there is no shortage of downers too. Most of Africa remains dirt poor. Crises in places like Cote d' Ivoire, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe are far from solved. And the democratic credentials of Ethiopia and Uganda, once the darlings of western donors, have taken a bad knock. AIDS killed over gm Africans in 2005, and will kill more this year. So is it all just a case of irrational exuberance? Meril James of Gallup argues that there is, in fact, usually very little relation between the survey's optimism rankings and reality. Africans, this year led by Nigerians, are consistently the most upbeat, whether their lot gets better or not. On the other hand, Greece--hardly the worst place on earth--tops the gloom and doom chart, followed closely by Portugal and France. Ms James speculates that religion may have a lot to do with it. Nine out of ten Africans are religious, the highest proportion in the world. But cynics argue that most Africans believe that 2006 will be golden because things have been so bad that it is hard to imagine how they could possibly get worse. This may help explain why places that have suffered recent misfortunes, such as Kosovo and Afghanistan, rank among the top five optimists. Moussaka for thought for those depressed Greeks.

单选题We learn from the second paragraph, ______.

单选题 The energy crisis, which is being felt around the world, has dramatized how the reckless despoiling of the earth's resources has brought the whole world to brink of disaster. The overdevelopment of motor transport, with its increase of more cars, more highways, more pollution, more suburbs, more commuting, has contributed to the near-destruction of our cities, the disintegration of the family, and the pollution not only of local air, but also of the earth's atmosphere. The catastrophe has arrived in the form of the energy crisis. Our present situation is unlike war, revolution, or depression. It is also unlike the great natural catastrophes of the past. Worldwide resources exploitation and energy use have brought us to a state where long-range planning is crucial. What we need is not a continuation of our present perilous state, which endangers the future of our country, our children, and our earth, but a movement forward to a new norm in order to work rapidly and effectively on planetary problems. This country has been reeling under the continuing exposures of loss of moral integrity and the revelation that lawbreaking has reached into the highest places in the land. There is a strong demand for moral revival and for some commitment that is vast enough and yet personal enough to enlist the loyalty of all. In the past it has been only in a war in defense of their own country and their own ideals that any people have been able to invoke a total commitment. This is the first time that we have been asked to defend ourselves and what we hold dear in cooperation with all the other inhabitants of this planet, who share with us the same endangered air and the same endangered oceans. There is a common need to reassess our present course, to change that course, and to devise new methods through which the world can survive. This is a priceless opportunity. To grasp it, we need a widespread understanding of the nature of the crisis confronting us-and the world-a crisis that is no passing inconvenience, no by-product of the ambition of the oil producing countries. no environmentalists' mere fears, no by-product of any present system of government. What we face is the outcome of the invention of the last four hundred years. What we need is a transformed life-style. This new life style can flow directly from science and technology, but its acceptance depends on an overriding commitment to a higher quality of life for the world's children and future generation.

单选题When it comes to suing doctors, Philadelphia is hardly the city of brotherly love. A combination of sprightly lawyers and sympathetic juries has made Philadelphia a hotspot for medical-malpractice lawsuits. Since 1995, Pennsylvania state courts have awarded an average of $ 2m in such cases, according to Jury Verdict Research, a survey firm. Some medical specialists have seen their malpractice insurance premiums nearly double over the past year. Obstetricians are now paying up to $104,000 a year to protect themselves. The insurance industry is largely to blame. Carol Golin, the Monitor's editor, argues that in the 1990s insurers tried to grab market share by offering artificially low rates (betting that any losses would be covered by gains on their investments). The stock-market correction, coupled with the large legal awards, has eroded the insurers' reserves. Three in Pennsylvania alone have gone bust. A few doctors--particularly older ones--will quit. The rest are adapting. Some are abandoning litigation-prone procedures, such as delivering babies. Others are moving parts of their practice to neighboring states where insurance rates are lower. Some from Pennsylvania have opened offices in New Jersey. New doctors may also be deterred from setting up shop in litigation havens, however prestigious. Despite a Republican president, tort reform has got nowhere at the federal level. Indeed doctors could get clobbered indirectly by a Patients' Bill of Rights, which would further expose managed care companies to lawsuits. This prospect has fuelled interest among doctors in Pennsylvania's new medical malpractice reform bill, which was signed into law on March 20th. It will, among other things, give doctors $ 40m of state funds to offset their insurance premiums, spread the payment of awards out over time and prohibit individuals from double dipping--that is, suing a doctor for damages that have already been paid by their health insurer. But will it really help? Randall Bovbjerg, a health policy expert at the Urban Institute, argues that the only proper way to slow down the litigation machine would be to limit the compensation for pain and suffering, so-called "non-monetary damages". Needless to say, a fixed cap on such awards is resisted by most trial lawyers. But Mr Bovbjerg reckons a more nuanced approach, with a sliding scale of payments based on well-defined measures of injury, is a better way forward. In the meantime, doctors and insurers are bracing themselves for a couple more rough years before the insurance cycle turns. Nobody disputes that hospital staff make mistakes: a 1999 Institute of Medicine report claimed that errors kill at least 44,000 patients a year. But there is little evidence that malpractice lawsuits on their own will solve the problem.