单选题When I was in high school, I had almost no individual identity left. I was a Hillcrest Husky and all other high schools were enemies. I was a wrestler and all the other sports were gor wimps. I was on the debate team and everyone else was dumb. At my high school, everyone had a group; no one was an individual. Wait. I take that back. There were a few individuals, but they were completely outcast from our social order. Never in my life can I remember stronger feelings of hate tian in high school. But we never called it hate. We called it loyalty. As adults, most of us are better at being an individual than we were in high school, but the influences of group identity continue to promote competition and prejudice in our world. If you are like me, you want to avoid teaching rivalry, conflict and prejudice to your children. One possible strategy for stopping the negative influences of group identity would be: recognize and replay. Look for the prejudice in your life and replace it with charity. Treat every person as an individual and ignore the social classifications created by a group-dependent world. A good friend and I once discussed our differing religions beliefs. He identified with a certain group and I with another. Because of our dependence on group identity, our conversations revolved around the beliefs of the groups. Our individual beliefs, which were quite similar, took a back seat while we discussed topics we knew little about. We defended our groups even when we did not understand or know the official group position on many issues. The resulting rivalry has damaged our friendship ever since. My behavior in this situation is exactly what scripture and wisdom teach us to avoid. How stupid I was to judge my friend by a group standard! How stupid I was to defend my own group even in areas I knew nothing about! I hope I can teach my children to behave differently. Here, I have used religious beliefs to point only one area in which the influence of group identity can create problems. There are many others to consider also. Some of these are marriage, race, culture, language, geographic origin, education, and behavior. We should treat all people as individuals regardless of these conditions. Finally, loyalty and group identity are not always bad. At times, they can help a lonely person to feel loved or a broken soul to feel success. Group identity can also help us to live a higher standard. But positive peer pressure should never replace individual, one-to-one acts of service and love.

单选题As with other forms of nonverbal communication, the use of touch to communicate feelings and emotions varies widely from culture to culture. Edward T. Hall theorized that, (1) touch, two general cultural classes exist: contact and noncontact. He called cultures that (2) much contact contact cultures and (3) that permit little contact noncontact cultures. People in contact cultures (4) in closer proximity to each other. They touch more, face one another more directly, and utilize more eye contact than (5) in noncontact cultures. Contact cultures (6) most Arab countries, Mediterranean and Jewish people, Eastern Europeans, Russians, Hispanics, and Indonesians. Noncontact people (7) —are from northern Europe, Japan, China, Korea, and other Far Eastern countries. The United States usually is (8) as a noncontact culture, primarily because of its original European settlers. Touching behavior, (9) , varies among the different ethnic groups that make (10) the country. Blacks and Italian-Americans—to (11) two examples—tend to use touch rather widely to communicate closeness and affection. Anglo-Americans normally are (12) in touching others. Gender differences are (13) . Women seem to be touched by others more than men are, and men do more opposite-sex touching than women do. In the United States, touching (14) women is so embedded (15) the culture that it goes largely (16) . Men have more freedom to guide women through doors or into cars or even to (17) them on the back. (18) men often is (19) as a sign of (20) or a sexual invitation.

单选题With Airbus's giant A380 airliner about to take to the skies, you might think planes could not get much bigger and you would be right. For a given design, it turns (1) , there comes a point where the wings become too heavy to generate (2) lift to carry their own weight. (3) a new way of designing and making materials could (4) that problem. Two engineers (5) University College London have devised an innovative way to customise and control the (6) of a material throughout its three dimension al structure. In the (7) of a wing, this would make possible a material that is dense, strong and load-bearing at one end, close to the fuselage, (8) the extremities could be made less dense, lighter and more (9) . It is like making bespoke materials, (10) you can customise the physical properties of every cubic millimetre of a structure. The new technique combines existing technologies in a(n) (11) way. It starts by using finite-element-analysis software, of the type commonly used by engineers, (12) a virtual prototype of the object. The software models the stresses and strains that the object will need to (13) throughout its structure. Using this information it is then (14) to calculate the precise forces acting on millions of smaller subsections of the structure. (15) of these subsections is (16) treated as a separate object with its own set of forces acting on it--and each subsection (17) for a different microstructure to absorb those local forces. Designing so many microstructures manually (18) be a huge task, so the researchers apply an optimisation program, called a genetic algorithm, (19) . This uses a process of randomisation and trial-and-error to search the vast number of possible microstructures to find the most (20) design for each subsection.

单选题 Generally speaking, a British is widely regarded as a quiet, shy and conservative person who is{{U}} (1) {{/U}}only among those with whom he is acquainted. When a stranger is at present, he often seems nervous, even{{U}} (2) {{/U}}. You have to take a commuter train any morning or evening to{{U}} (3) {{/U}}the truth of this. Serious-looking businessmen and women sit reading their newspapers or dozing in a corner; hardly anybody talks, since to do so would be considered quite{{U}} (4) {{/U}}. {{U}} (5) {{/U}}, there is an unwritten but clearly understood code of behavior which, once broken, makes the offender immediately the object of{{U}} (6) {{/U}}. It has been known as a fact that a British has a{{U}} (7) {{/U}}for the discussion of their weather and that, if given a chance, he will talk about it{{U}} (8) {{/U}}. Some people argue that it is because the British weather seldom{{U}} (9) {{/U}}forecast and hence becomes a source of interest and{{U}} (10) {{/U}}to everyone. This may be so.{{U}} (11) {{/U}}a British cannot have much{{U}} (12) {{/U}}in the weathermen, who, after promising fine, sunny weather for the following day, are often proved wrong{{U}} (13) {{/U}}a cloud over the Atlantic brings rainy weather to all districts! The man in the street seems to be as accurate — or as inaccurate — as the weathermen in his{{U}} (14) {{/U}}. Foreigners may be surprised at the number of references{{U}} (15) {{/U}}weather that the British{{U}} (16) {{/U}}to each other in the course of a single day. Very often conversational greetings are{{U}} (17) {{/U}}by comments on the weather. “Nice day, isn’t it?” “Beautiful!” may well be heard instead of “Good morning, how are you?” Although the foreigner may consider this exaggerated and comic, it is{{U}} (18) {{/U}}.pointing out that it could be used to his advantage. If he wants to start a conversation with a British but is at a loss to know{{U}} (19) {{/U}}to begin, he could do well to mention the state of the weather. It is a safe subject which will{{U}} (20) {{/U}}an answer from even the most reserved of the British.

单选题Pain is vital to the survival of human being and all mammalian because

单选题Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States. It was 50 years ago this month that America"s Surgeon General sounded that warning, marking the beginning of the end of cigarette manufacturing—and of smoking itself—as a respectable activity. Some 20 million Americans have died from the habit since then. But advertising restrictions and smoking bans have had their effect: the proportion of American adults who smoke has dropped from 43% to 18%; smoking rates among teenagers are at a record low. In many other countries the trends are similar. The current Surgeon General, Boris Lushniak, marked the half-century with a report on January 17th, declaring smoking even deadlier than previously thought. He added diabetes, colorectal cancer and other ailments to the list of ills it causes, and promised end-game strategies to extinguish cigarettes altogether. New technologies such as e-cigarettes promise to deliver nicotine less riskily. E-cigarettes give users a hit of vapour infused with nicotine. In America, sales of the manufacturer, who is the fastest e-cigarettes-adopter, have jumped from nearly nothing five years ago to at least 1 billion in 2013. At first, it looked as if e-cigarettes might lure smokers from the big tobacco brands to startups such as NJOY. But tobacco companies have bigger war chests , more knowledge of smokers" habits and better ties to distributors than the newcomers. Some experts reckon Americans will puff more e-cigarettes than normal ones within a decade, but tobacco folk are skeptical. E-cigarettes account for just 1% of America"s cigarette market. In Europe 7% of smokers had tried e-cigarettes by 2012 but only 1% kept them up. And no one knows what sort of restrictions regulators will eventually place on reduced risk products, including e-cigarettes. If these companies can manage the transition to less harmful smokes, and convince regulators to be sensible, the tobacco giants could keep up the sort of performance that has made their shares such a fine investment over the years. But some analysts are not so sure. Many tobacco firms are struggling to deliver the consistency of the earnings-per-share model we"ve seen in the past. If that persists, investors may fall out of love with the industry. A half-century after the Surgeon General"s alarm, they, and hopeless smokers, are its last remaining friends.

单选题According to the text, the author's attitude toward the value of standardized tests seems to be

单选题In the first sentence of Paragraph 2, "interpreting" probably refers to ______.

单选题When an invention is made, the inventor has three possible (1) of action open to him: he can give the invention to the world by publishing it, keep the idea (2) , or patent it. A (3) patent is the result of a bargain (4) between an inventor and the state, hut the inventor gets a limited period of monopoly and publishes full details of his invention to the public after that period (5) . Only in the most exceptional circumstances (6) the lifespan of a patent (7) to alter this normal process of events. The longest extension ever (8) was to Georges Valensi; his 1939 patent for color TV receiver circuit was extended until 1971 because for most of the patent's normal life there was no color TV to (9) and thus no hope for reward for the invention. Because a patent remains permanently (10) after it has terminated, the shelves of the library attached to the (11) office contain details of literally millions of ideas that are free for anyone to use and, if (12) than half a century, sometimes even repatent. Indeed, patent experts often advise anyone (13) to avoid the high cost of conducting a search through (14) patents that the one sure way of violation of any other inventor's right is to plagiarize a dead patent. Likewise, because publication of an idea in any other form (15) invalidates further patents on that idea, it is traditionally (16) to take ideas from other areas of print. Much modern technological advance is (17) on these presumptions of legal security. Anyone closely (8) in patents and inventions soon learns that most "new" ideas are, in fact, as old as the hills. It is theft reduction to commercial practice, either through necessity or dedication, or through the availability of new technology, (19) makes news and money. The basic patent for the theory for magnetic recording dates back to 1886. Many of the original ideas behind television originate (20) the late 19th and early 20th century. Even the Volkswagen rear engine ear was anticipated by a 1904 patent for a cart with the horse at the rear.

单选题Gene therapy and gene based drugs are two ways we could benefit from our growing mastery of genetic science. But there will be others as well. Here is one of the remarkable therapies on the cutting edge of genetic research that could make their way into mainstream medicine in the coming years. While it's true that just about every cell in the body has the instructions to make a complete human, most of those instructions are inactivated, and with good reason: the last thing you want for your brain cells is to start churning out stomach acid or your nose to turn into a kidney. The only time cells truly have the potential to turn into any and all body parts is very early in a pregnancy, when so called stem cells haven't begun to specialize. Yet this untapped potential could be a terrific boon to medicine. Most diseases involve the death of healthy cells—brain cells in Alzheimer's, cardiac cells in heart disease, pancreatic cells in diabetes, to name a few; if doctors could isolate stem cells, then direct their growth, they might be able to furnish patients with healthy replacement tissue. It was incredibly difficult, but last fall scientists at the University of Wisconsin managed to isolate stem cells and get them to grow into neural, gut, muscle and bone cells. The process still can't be controlled, and may have unforeseen limitations; but if efforts to understand and master stem cell development prove successful, doctors will have a therapeutic tool of incredible power. The same applies to cloning, which is really just the other side of the coin. True cloning, as first shown with the sheep Dolly two years ago, involves taking a developed cell and reactivating the genome within, resetting its developmental instructions to a pristine state. Once that happens, the rejuvenated cell can develop into a full-fledged animal, genetically identical to its parent. For agriculture, in which purely physical characteristics like milk production in a cow or low fat in a hog have real market value, biological carbon copies could become routine within a few years. This past year scientists have done for mice and cows what Ian Wilmut did for Dolly, and other creatures are bound to join the cloned menagerie in the coming year. Human cloning, on the other hand, may be technically feasible but legally and emotionally more difficult. Still, one day it will happen. The ability to reset body cells to a pristine, undeveloped state could give doctors exactly the same advantages they would get from stem cells: the potential to make healthy body tissues of all sorts, and thus to cure disease. That could prove to be a true "miracle cure".

单选题 For 22 years America has banned HIV-positive people from entering the country without a hard-to-get waiver for fear of the virus spreading. It has not hosted a big international AIDS conference in more than a decade either, because many HIV-positive activists would not be allowed to attend. Only a dozen other countries, including China and Russia, have similar restrictions, and there is no evidence that these bans halt the spread of AIDS. Instead, many say, it makes things worse by stigmatizing carriers of the virus. On October 30th Barack Obama announced that he will do away with this cruel rule. From 2010, HIV-positive people will be able to travel to America and will also be able to apply for citizenship there. Reversing the ban will bring families together who were separated because of HIV. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you," wrote Andrew Sullivan, a British journalist who is HIV-positive after Mr. Obama's announcement. He has been nervous when visiting his family in Britain for fear that he would not be allowed to re-enter America, where he and his husband live. Reversing the travel ban may help Mr. Obama combat HIV/AIDS domestically by emphasizing that it is a national disease, not one brought in by foreigners. Around 1.1m Americans are HIV-positive, and more needs to be done to address the spread of the virus. There were more than 56,000 new infections in America in 2006, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Metropolitan areas have particularly high AIDS rates. The incidence of HIV/AIDS in Washington, DC, is so high (around 3%) that it has inspired an AIDS organization to put up posters calling AIDS "DC's Katrina". This is Mr. Obama's first policy change when it comes to fighting AIDS at home, and it is something that human-rights advocates and gay-rights groups have been demanding for years. Mr. Obama has also appointed an AIDS "tsar" and says he is working to develop a national AIDS strategy. But as he gets his ducks in order, the situation is getting worse. State budget cuts have left some people without access to treatment, and in some states waiting-lists for cheap antiretroviral drugs are long. Mr. Obama also reauthorized the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides funding for AIDS treatment. Many worry, though, that when the money comes through it will not be enough to compensate for the cuts to AIDS programs that states have already made. By reversing the ban, Mr. Obama has made good on one of his promises to his gay supporters, who have felt overlooked so far during his presidency. But the good news was followed, on November 3rd, by the overturning in a referendum of a law permitting gay marriage in Maine.

单选题It can be inferred from the text that Europe's quest for more liberal economies may be ______.

单选题Which of the following statements is NOT true about Isaac Newton?

单选题{{B}}Text 4{{/B}} The meanings of "science" and "technology" have changed significantly from one generation to another. More similarities than differences, however, can be found between the terms. Both science and technology imply a thinking process, both are concerned with causal relationships in the material world, and both employ an experimental methodology that results in empirical demonstrations that can be verified by repetition. Science, at least in theory, is less concerned with the practicality of its results and more concerned with the development of general laws, but in practice science and technology are inextricably involved with each other. The varying interplay of the two can be observed in the historical development of such practitioners as chemists, engineers, physicists, astronomers, carpenters, potters, and many other specialists. Differing educational requirements, social status, vocabulary, methodology, and types of rewards, as well as institutional objectives and professional goals, contribute to such distinctions as can be made between the activities of scientists and technologists; but throughout history the practitioners of "pure" science have made many practical as well as theoretical contributions. Indeed, the concept that science provides the ideas for technological innovations and that pure research is therefore essential for any significant advancement in industrial civilization is essentially a myth. Most of the greatest changes in industrial civilization cannot be traced to the laboratory. Fundamental tools and processes in the fields of mechanics, chemistry, astronomy, metallurgy, and hydraulics Were developed before the laws governing their functions were discovered. The steam engine, for example, was commonplace before the science of thermodynamics elucidated the physical principle underlying its operations. In recent years a sharp value distinction has grown up between science and technology. Advances in science have frequently had their bitter opponents, but today many people have come to fear technology much more than science. For these people, science may be perceived as a serene, objective source for understanding the eternal laws of nature, whereas the practical manifestations of technology in the modern world now seem to them to be out of control. Many historians of science argue not only that technology is an essential condition of advanced, industrial civilization, but also that the rate of technological change has developed its own momentum in recent centuries. Innovations now seem to appear at a rate that increase geometrically, without respect to geographical limits or political systems. These innovations tend to transform traditional cultural systems, frequently with unexpected social consequences. Thus technology can be conceived as both a creative and a destructive process.

单选题While the ripples of America's subprime-mortgage crisis have spread far and wide, Latin America—a place long associated with financial disaster—has remained improbably calm. Banks have reported no unpleasant surprises. Brazil and Peru have been blessed with coveted investment-grade ratings. Surprisingly, perhaps the fleetest country of all has been Argentina. Since it emerged from the financial crisis of 2001-02, it has been one of the world's fastest-growing economies. It is expected to expand faster than most of its neighbors again this year. Quite simply, it barely has any credit. Back when its economy virtually collapsed, the country suffered a run on its banks, followed by a freeze on withdrawals, and a massive currency devaluation. As a result, bank lending to the private sector shrivelled, from 23.8% of GDP in 2000 to 10.8% in 2003. Since then, it has rebounded to a piddling 13% ; by contrast, the ratio in Brazil was 36.5% in 2006. Almost all of these loans in Argentina are accessible only on a short-term basis. Once its recovery began in June 2002, Argentina became a paradise for business. Unemployment of over 20% kept wages down, and the devaluation gave exporters an edge on foreign competitors. The ample productive capacity left idle by the crisis meant firms could expand without making big investments. And the windfall profits reaped by agricultural exporters, thanks to record commodities prices, enabled many of them to finance new projects out of earnings. Hence the economy could grow at almost 9% a year with little need for credit. But such a lucky confluence of factors could not last. Starting in early 2005 ,.inflation picked up, a sign that the installed capacity was starting to limit output. Salaries and prices for raw materials increased sharply, cutting into profits. And farmers were particularly hard hit when the government nearly doubled the taxes in farm exports. Now, just as companies need to embark on big investments if they are to keep growing, their margins are no longer big enough to pay for the expansion and they need to borrow. So, the time is ripe for the country's financial system to recover. But a number of things are in the way. Foremost is Argentina's business risk. Those in the informal economy (which represents over 40% of GDP) can neither save nor borrow legally, lest they become known to the taxmen. The rest remain cowed by memories of the crisis. Although Argentines have poured their savings into property, fuelling a construction boom, they still hold about four-fifths of their deposits abroad. Inflation, fuelled by a public-spending binge, state-mandated wage increases, and a cheap currency, is not helping either. No one knows how high it is. The consumer-price index is doctored to keep the official rate below 10%, but private estimates suggest it is near 25%. Without a reliable index of inflation, lending is almost impossible, even for the medium term. And the central bank has kept interest rates strongly negative in real terms, encouraging workers to spend their wages rather than to save.