单选题It might take only the touch of peach fuzz to make an autistic child howl in pain. The odour of the fruit could be so Overpowering that he gags. For reasons that are not well understood, people with autism do not integrate all of their senses in ways that help them understand properly what they are experiencing. By the age of three, the signs of autism-- infrequent eye contact, over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to the environment, difficulty mixing with others are in full force. There is no cure; intense behavioural therapies serve only to lessen the symptoms. The origins of autism are obscure. But a paper in Brain, a specialist journal, casts some light. A team headed by Marcel Just, of Carnegie Mellon University, and Nancy Minshew, of the University of Pittsburgh, has found evidence of how the brains of people with autism function differently from those without the disorder. Using a brain-scanning technique called functional magnetic-resonance imaging (FMRI), Dr. Just, Dr. Minshew and their team compared the brain activity of young adults who had "high functioning" autism (in which an autist's IQ score is normal) with that of non-autistic participants. The experiment was designed to examine two regions of the brain known to be associated with language--Broca's area and Wernicke's area--when the participants were reading. Three differences emerged. First, Wernicke's area, the part responsible for understanding individual words, was more active in autists than non-autists. Second, Broca's area--where the components of language are integrated to produce meaning--was less active. Third, the activity of the two areas was less synchronised. This research has led Dr. Just to offer an explanation for autism, lie calls it "undereonnectivity theory". It depends on a recent body of work which suggests that the brain's white matter (the wiring that connects the main Bodies of the nerve ceils, or grey matter, together) is less dense and less abundant in the brain of an autistic person than in that of a non-autist. Dr. Just suggests that abnormal white matter causes the grey matter to adapt to the resulting lack of communication. This hones some regions to levels of superior ability, while others fall by the wayside. The team chose to examine Broca's and Wernieke's areas because language-based experiments are easy to conduct. But if the underconnectivity theory applies to. the rest of the brain, too, it would be less of a mystery why some people with autism are hypersensitive to their environments, and others are able to do certain tasks, such as arithmetic, so well. And if it is true that underconnectivity is indeed the main problem, then treatments might be developed to stimulate the growth of the white-matter wiring.

单选题The passage mainly discusses the problem that ______.

单选题The word "contingency" (Line 1, Paragraph 9) can be best replaced by

单选题Bruce Robertson and his colleagues have been studying on

单选题If the author's assessment of the use of heat pumps is correct, which of the following best expresses the lesson that advertisers should learn from this case?______

单选题Addiction is such a harmful behavior, in fact, that evolution should have long ago weeded it out of the population: if it's hard to drive safely under the influence, imagine trying to run from a saber-toothed tiger or catch a squirrel for lunch. And yet, says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of NIDA and a pioneer in the use of imaging to understand addiction, "the use of drugs has been recorded since the beginning of civilization. Humans in my view will always want to experiment with things to make them feel good." That's because drugs of abuse co-opt the very brain functions that allowed our distant ancestors to survive in a hostile world. Our minds are programmed to pay extra attention to what neurologists call salience—that is, special relevance. Threats, for example, are highly salient, which is why we instinctively try to get away from them. But so are food and sex because they help the individual and the species survive. Drugs of abuse capitalize on this ready-made programming. When exposed to drugs, our memory systems, reward circuits, decision making skills and conditioning kick in—salience in overdrive—to create an all consuming pattern of uncontrollable craving. "Some people have a genetic predisposition to addiction," says Volkow. "But because it involves these basic brain functions, everyone will become an addict if sufficiently exposed to drugs or alcohol." That can go for nonchemical addictions as well. Behaviors, from gambling to shopping to sex, may start out as habits but slide into addictions. Sometimes there might be a behavior-specific root of the problem. Volkow's research group, for example, has shown that pathologically obese people who are compulsive eaters exhibit hyperactivity in the areas of the brain that process food stimuli—including the mouth, lips and tongue. For them, activating these regions is like opening the floodgates to the pleasure center. Almost anything deeply enjoyable can turn into an addiction, though. Of course, not everyone becomes an addict. That's because we have other, more analytical regions that can evaluate consequences and override mere pleasure seeking. Brain imaging is showing exactly how that happens. Paulus, for example, looked at drug addicts enrolled in a VA hospital's intensive four-week rehabilitation program. Those who were more likely to relapse in the first year after completing the program were also less able to complete tasks involving cognitive skills and less able to adjust to new rules quickly. This suggested that those patients might also be less adept at using analytical areas of the brain while performing decision-making tasks. Sure enough, brain scans showed that there were reduced levels of activation in the prefrontal cortex, where rational thought can override impulsive behavior. It's impossible to say if the drugs might have damaged these abilities in the relapsers an effect rather than a cause of the chemical abuse—but the fact that the cognitive deficit existed in only some of the drug users suggests that there was something innate that was unique to them. To his surprise, Paulus found that 80% to 90% of the time, he could accurately predict: who would relapse within a year simply by examining the scans. Another area of focus for researchers involves the brain's reward system, powered largely by the neurotransmitter dopamine. Investigators are looking specifically at the family of dopamine receptors that populate nerve cells and bind to the compound. The hope is that if you can reduce the effect of the brain chemical that carries the pleasurable signal, you can loosen the drug's hold.

单选题At work, as in life, attractive women get a lot of good lucks. Studies have shown that they are more likely to be (1) than their plain-Jane colleagues because people tend to project (2) traits (3) them, such as a sensitive heart and a cool head, they may also be at an (4) in job interviews. But research suggests otherwise. Brad Hanks at Georgia State University looked at what happens when job hunters include photos with their resume, as is the (5) in much of Europe and Asia. The pair sent made-up applications to over 2, 500 real-life (6) . For each job, they sent two very similar resume, one with a photo, one without. Subjects had previously been graded for their attractiveness. For men, the results were (7) expected. Hunks were more likely to be called for an interview if they included a photo. Ugly men were better off not including one. However, for women this was (8) . Attractive females were less likely to be offered an interview if they included a mugs hot. When applying directly to a company (rather than through an agency) an attractive woman would need to send out 11 CVs on average (9) getting an interview; an (10) qualified plain one just seven. At first, Mr. Hanks considered (11) he calls the "dumb-blonde hypothesis" that people (12) beautiful women to be stupid. (13) , the photos had also been rated on how (14) people thought each subject looked; there was no (15) between perceived intellect and beauty. So the cause of the discrimination must (16) elsewhere. Human resources departments tend to be (17) mostly by women. Indeed, in the Israeli study, 93% of those tasked with selecting whom to invite for an interview were female. The researchers' unavoidable—and unpalatable—conclusion is that old-fashioned (18) led the women to discriminate (19) pretty candidates. So should attractive women simply attach photos that make them look dowdy? No. Better, says Mr. Ruffle, to discourage the practice of including a photo altogether. Companies might even consider the (20) model used in the Belgian public sector, where CVs do not even include the candidate's name.

单选题Technological development has historically been a powerful driver of globalization, especially over the past two centuries. In agriculture, in particular, technical change underpinned the industrial revolution, improvements in nutrition, and a surge in world population. Interactions between population increases and technical changes in agriculture and industry, mostly since the nineteenth century, converged to expand trade and flows of finance and labor. These have been the essence of globalization. The integration of the world economy would have been impossible without the technological developments in agriculture that proved wrong predictions of the inevitability of world famine. Technology further supported significant improvements in world food production and food security. Although substantial numbers of people are still food insecure, this is due not to lack of overall production but is related to the location of production, income levels, and access to food by countries, households, and individuals living on the edge of subsistence. Since the 1960s, growth in world food supplies outpaced even the unprecedented increases in food demand caused by jumps in incomes and the doubling and redoubling of population. Moreover, additional production came from virtually the same cropland base. 1.4 billion hectares of land was planted to crops in 1961 compared with the 1.5 billion hectares that in 1998 yielded twice the amount of grain and oilseeds. Food prices too have declined to their lowest levels in history. Consumers are able to eat better while spending less and less of their budgets on food, diversifying demand for other goods and services. Changes in demand have spurred countries' specialization in production, fueling world trade and investment flows. The currently favorable dynamic balance between overall food supply and demand was not inevitable, however. Nor should it be taken for granted that the balance will persist without public intervention. Progress in the past century resulted from successful interaction between farmers, input suppliers, and a publicly supported research and extension system that furnished innovations and knowledge to the world for free. Little land now remains on which to expand agricultural production, so crop and livestock yields must continue to increase for the next several decades. Production must be sustained, at these much higher levels, for the foreseeable future in the face of environmental, biological, and other factors that may undermine past gains. Thus, continued strong performance in research and innovation is essential to maintain favorable food balances over the next half century.

单选题If a child meets some difficulties in the process of reaching his goal, he may

单选题Gehman believed that had its administrators known the damage to Columbia, NASA would______.

单选题The Californian coastline north and south of Silicon Valley is a trend-setting sort of place. Increasingly, the home interiors of the well-heeled there tend toward one of two (1) . Houses are (2) light flooded, sparse and vaguely Asian in (3) , with perhaps a Zen fountain in one corner, a Yoga area in another. Or they resemble electronic control rooms with all sorts of (4) , computers, routers, antennae, screens and remote controls. Occasionally, both elements are (5) . "She" may have the living room and'public areas, (6) "he" is banished with his toys up or down the stairs. Currently, the gadget lovers have powerful allies. Many of the largest companies in the consumer-electronics, computer, telecoms and internet industries have made a strategic decision to (7) visions of a "digital home", "eHome", or "connected home". Doubting that (8) from corporate customers will ever (9) to the boom levels of the late 1990s, Microsoft, Intel, Sony, Verizon, Comcast, Hewlett-Packard, Apple and others see the consumer (10) their best chance for growth and will be throwing a bewildering (11) of home "solutions" at (12) in the coming months and years. To understand what the (13) ultimately have in (14) it is best to visit the (15) homes that most have built on their campuses or at trade shows. (16) cosy and often intimidating, these feature flat screens almost everywhere, (17) electronic picture frames in the bedroom from the large TV-substitute in the living room. Every (18) has a microchip and can be (19) to, typed into or clicked onto. Everything is (20) to a central computer through wireless links.

单选题Imagine a world in which there was suddenly no emotion--a world in which human beings could feel no love or happiness, no terror or hate. Try to imagine the consequences of such a transformation. People might not be able to stay alive: knowing neither joy nor pleasure, neither anxiety nor fear, they would be as likely to repeat acts that hurt them as acts that were beneficial. They could not learn: they could not benefit from experience because this emotionless world would lack rewards and punishments. Society would soon disappear: people would be as likely to harm one another as to provide help and support. Human relationships would not exist: in a world without friends or enemies, there could be no marriage, affection among companions, or bonds among members of groups. Society's economic underpinnings would be destroyed: since earning $10 million would be no more pleasant than earning $10, there would be no incentive to work. In fact, there would be no incentives of any kind. For as we will see, incentives imply a capacity to enjoy them. In such a world, the chances that the human species would survive are next to zero, because emotions are the basic instrument of our survival and adaptation. Emotions structure the world for us in important ways. As individuals, we categorize objects on the basis of our emotions. True we consider the length, shape, size, or texture, but an object's physical aspects are less important than what it has done or can do to us--hurt us, surprise us, anger us or make us joyful. We also use categorizations coloured by emotions in our families, communities, and overall society. Out of our emotional experiences with objects and events comes a social feeling of agreement that certain things and actions arc "good" and others are "bad", and we apply these categories to every aspect of our social life--from what foods we eat and what clothes we wear to how we keep promises and which people our group will accept. In fact, society exploits our emotional reactions and attitudes, such as loyalty, morality, pride, shame, guilt, fear and greed, in order to maintain itself. It gives high rewards to individuals when perform important tasks such as surgery, makes heroes out of individuals for unusual or dangerous achievements such flying fighter planes in a war, and Uses the legal and penal system to make people afraid to engage in antisocial acts.

单选题"Worse than useless," fumed Darrell Issa, a Republican congressman from California, on March 19th, when the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Immigration and Naturalization Service. "Terrible, and getting worse," added Zoe Lofgren, a Democratic colleague who has kept a watchful eye on the INS for ten years. Committee members lined up to take swings at James Ziglar, the head of the INS. He explained, somewhat pathetically, that "outdated procedures" had kept the visa-processing wheels grinding slowly through a backlog of applications. He also had some new rules in mind to tighten up visas. Speeding up the paperwork--and getting more of it on to computers--is vital, but the September attacks have exposed the tension between the agency's two jobs: on the one hand enforcing the security of America's borders, and on the other granting privileges such as work permits to foreigners. But other people want more radical changes. James Sensenbrenner, a Republican congressman from Wisconsin, wants to split the INS into two separate bodies, one dealing with border security and the other with handling benefits to immigrants. The other approach, favored in the White House, is to treat the two functions as complementary, and to give the INS even more responsibility for security. Under that plan, the INS would merge with the Customs Service, which monitors the 20m shipments of goods brought into America every year, as well as the bags carried in by some 500m visitors. The two agencies would form one large body within the Department of Justice, the current home of the INS. This would cut out some of the duplicated effort at borders, where customs officers and agents from the INS's Border Patrol often rub shoulders but do not work together. Mr Bush--who has said that the news of the visa approvals left him "plenty hot" --was expected to give his approval. The senate, however, may not be quite so keen. The Justice Department could have trouble handling such a merger, let alone taking on the considerable economic responsibilities of the Customs Service, which is currently part of the Treasury. The senate prefers yet another set of security recommendations, including links between the databases of different agencies that hold security and immigration information, and scanners at ports of entry to check biometric data recorded on immigration documents. These ideas are embodied in a bill sponsored by members of both parties, but are currently held up by Robert Byrd, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who worries that there has not been enough debate on the subject. Mr Ziglar, poor chap, may feel there Nas been more than enough.

单选题As to the punishment that children under seven are assigned to wrongdoing, Piaget suggests

单选题{{B}}Text 4{{/B}} The U. S, Supreme Court's decision Monday to let stand a ruling in an online defamation case will make it more difficult to determine correct legal jurisdictions in other Internet cases, legal experts said. By opting not to take the case, the high court effectively endorsed a lower court's decision that a Colorado company that posts ratings of health plans on the Internet could be sued for defamation in a Washington court. The lower court ruling is one of several that makes it easier for plaintiffs to sue Web site operators in their own jurisdictions, rather than where the operators maintain a physical presence. The case involved a defamation suit filed by Chehalis, Wash.-based -Northwest Healthcare Alliance against Lakewood, Colo. based Healthgrades. com. The Alliance sued in Washington federal, court after Healthgrades. com posted a negative ranking of Northwest Healthcare's home health services on the Internet. Healthgrades. com argued that it should not be subject to the jurisdiction of a court in Washington because its publishing operation is in Colorado. Observers said the fact that the Supreme Court opted not to hear the case only clouds the legal situation for Web site operators. Geoff Stewart, a partner at Jones Day in Washington, D. C. , said that the Supreme Court eventually must act on the issue, as Internet sites that rate everything from automobile dealerships to credit offers could scale back their offerings to avoid lawsuits originating numerous jurisdictions. Online publishers also might have to worry about being dragged into lawsuits in foreign courts, said Dow Lohnes & Albertson attorney Jon Hart, who has represented the Online News Association. "The much more difficult problems for U. S. media companies arise when claims are brought in foreign countries over content published in the United States," Hart said. Hart cited a recent case in which an Australian court ruled that Dow Jones must appear in a Victoria, Australia court to defend its publication of all article on the U. S. -based Wall Street Journal Web site. According to Hart, the potential chilling effect of those sorts of jurisdictional decisions is substantial. "I have not yet seen publishers holding back on what they otherwise publish because they're afraid they're going to get sued in another country, but that doesn't mean it won't happen if we see a rash of U. S. libel cases against U. S. media companies being brought in foreign countries," he said. Until the high court decides to weigh in directly on this issue, Web site operators that offer information and services to users located outside of their home states must deal with a thorny legal landscape, said John Morgan, a partner at Perkins Cole LLP and an expert in Internet law.