问答题Baghdad, Iraq--If, in time, the attempt to implant a pro-Western, democratic political system in Iraq ends up buried in the desert sands, historians will have no shortage of things that went wrong. (46) Equally, if the problems here ultimately recede, supporters of the enterprise will find vindication (证明…正确) in the Bush administration's decision to hold course as others lost faith. (47) Either way, any reckoning will examine the numbers of American troops committed here: whether they were so thinly stretched that their mission was doomed from the start, or, as Secretary Of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said last week, American commanders were given "exactly what they've recommended" in terms of troops. Mr. Rumsfeld has long taken a "less is more" approach to combat troop levels, and in a BBC interview Monday, he seemed to move toward those now pressing to reduce troop levels soon. (48) "The reason for fewer," he said, "is because ultimately it's going to be the Iraqi people who are going to prevail in this insurgency (起义)"--in other words, Iraqi, not American, troops are the ones who will win the war, if it can be won. The words seemed at least to nod to politics. (49) Last week, even as opinion polls showed continuing erosion in support for the war, a conservative from a state heavy with military Bases who has been a staunch(坚定的)supporter of the war, Representative Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, joined with another Republican and two Democrats in calling on President Bush to begin drawing down the troops in Iraq by Oct. 1, 2006. Earlier this year, the Pentagon offered an even earlier date for an initial reduction. But in recent weeks, American generals here have been telling Congressional visitors that the disappointing performance of many Iraqi combat units has made early departures impractical. They say it will be two years or more before Iraqis can be expected to begin replacing American units as the main guarantors of security. Commanders concerned for their careers have not thought it prudent to go further, and to say publicly what many say privately: that with recent American troop levels 139,000 now-- they have been forced to play an infernal board game, constantly shuttling combat units from one war zone to another, leaving insurgent buildups unmet in some places while they deal with more urgent problems elsewhere. Generals are not famous for wanting smaller armies. (50) But American commanders here have been cautioned by the reality that the Pentagon(五角大楼), in a time of all-volunteer forces and plunging recruiting levels, has few if any extra troops to deploy(部署), and that there are limits to what American public opinion would bear. So the generals have kept quiet about troop levels.

问答题As civilization proceeds in the direction of technology, it passes the point of supplying all the basic essentials of life--food, shelter, clothes, and warmth. 46) Then we either raise our standard of living above the necessary for comfort and happiness or leave it at this level and work shorter hours. Mankind has probably chosen the latter alternative. Men will be working shorter and shorter hours in their paid employment. And the great majority of the housewives will wish to be relieved completely of the routine operations of the home such as washing the clothes or washing up. 47) By far the most logical step to relieve the housewife of routine is to provide a robot slave which can be trained to meet the requirements of a particular home and can be programmed to carry out half a dozen or more standard operations, when so switched by the housewife. 48) It will be a machine having no more emotions than a car, but having a memory for instructions and a limited degree of instructed or built-in adaptability according to the positions in which it finds various types of objects. It will operate other more specialized machines, for example, the vacuum cleaner or clothes-washing machine. There are no problems in the production of such a domestic robot to which we do not have already the glimmering of a solution. When I have discussed this kind of device with housewives, some 90 percent of them have the immediate reaction, "How soon can I buy one?" The other 10 percent have the reaction, "I would be terrified to have it moving about my house." 49) But when one explains to them that it could be switched off or unplugged or stopped without the slightest difficulty, or made to go and put itself away in a cupboard at any time, they quickly realize that it is a highly desirable object. 50) Now it is generally recognized that there is no greater pleasure than to go to bed in the evening and know that the washing up is being done downstairs after one is asleep. Most families are now delighted, no doubt, to have a robot slave doing all the downstairs housework after they were in bed at night. (376 words)Notes: glimmering 迹象。

问答题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}}Yourfriendhasbeentakingcareofyourhouseforayearwhileyouwereonbusinessatabroad.Writealettertohim/herwhichshouldincludethefollowingpoints:(1)thepurposeofwritingtheletter;(2)expressyourappreciationofhiscare;(3)invitehimtoadinnerasareward.Youshouldwriteabout100words.Donotsignyourownnameattheendoftheletter.Use"LiMing"instead.Youdonotneedtowritetheaddress.

问答题(46) Physical changes—including rising air and seawater temperatures and decreasing seasonal ice cover—appear to be the cause of a series of biological changes in the northern Bering Sea ecosystem that could have long-range and irreversible effects on the animals that live there and on the people who depend on them for their livelihoods. In a paper published March 10 in the journal Science, a team of U.S. and Canadian researchers use data from long-term observations of physical properties and biological communities to conclude that previously documented physical changes in the Arctic in recent years are profoundly affecting Arctic life. The northern Bering Sea provides critical habitat for large populations of such as sea ducks, gray whales, bearded seals and walruses, and all of these mammals depend on small bottom-dwelling creatures for sustenance. These bottom-dwellers, in turn, are accustomed to colder water temperatures and long periods of extensive sea ice cover. (47) However, "a change from arctic to sub-arctic conditions is under way in the northern Bering Sea," according to the researchers, and is causing a shift toward conditions favoring both water-column and bottom-feeding fish and other animals that until now have stayed in more southerly, warmer sea water. (48) As a result, the ranges of region's typical inhabitants can be expected to move northward and away from the small, isolated Native communities on the Bering Sea coast that subsist on the animals. "We're seeing that a change in the physical conditions is driving a change in the ecosystems," said JackieGrebmeier, a researcher at the University of Tennessee. Grebmeier said the new report is unusual in that it looks at the potential effects of changing climate in the Arctic primarily through a life-sciences lens, rather than an analysis of the physics of climate change. "It's a biology driven, integrated look at what's going," Grebmeier said. Grebmeier is chief scientist for the Western Shelf-Basin Interactions (SBI) research project, which conducted a series of research cruises to observe changes in the carbon balance of the offshore areas of the Alaskan Arctic and their effects on the food chain. The cruises included a number of researchers supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and other federal agencies. (49) NSF and NOAA also funded U.S. researchers who contributed data collected by the Bering Strait Environmental Observatory, which annually samples waters in the northern Bering Sea to assess the biological status of productive animal communities on the sea floor. (50) Those highly productive waters currently act as sponges for carbon dioxide, absorbing quantities of the gas that otherwise would remain in the atmosphere where it would be expected to contribute to warming. But, the researchers say, if the biological trends they observe in the northern Bering Sea persist and are not reversible, the accompanying shift in species and ecosystem structure could have important implications for the role of the sea as a "carbon sink".

问答题Immediately after the Civil War, however, the diet began to change. 46) Rail transportation increased the supply and improved the quality of the milk that reached urban centers; cold storage and refrigerator cars made possible the greater consumption of fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, and fresh fish; and commercial canning extended the range of appetizing and healthful foods. Subsequently food statistics indicated an increased consumption of dairy products, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, sugar and syrups, coffee, tea, cocoa, and spices. Decreased consumption was shown for meats, potatoes, and grain products. 47) By and large, the American diet continued to reflect a considerable reliance upon animal products: rather than on grains. which meant that a relatively large acreage was required to feed the American public. Whereas a grain and fish diet, such as in Japan, requires only a quarter of an acre high yield cropland and no pasture per capita, the American diet requires about two and a half acres of cropland and ten acres of pasture per capita-Also it indicated a shift toward the so-called protective foods, toward those high in vitamins and proteins. 48) This change was greatly furthered by governmental food inspection ( the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed in 1906), by the increasing, use of mechanical refrigerators in the 1920's and 1910's and of freezers for frozen food during recent decades. In the years after World War I a food revolution took place that was reminiscent of the one that occurred after the Civil War. The output of the food manufacturing industry quadrupled from 1900 to 1920.49) In that interval, as we have mentioned earlier, home canning gave way to commercial canning and the labor of housekeeping was lightened. Fortunately most of the major dietary changes that have taken place since the middle of the nineteenth century have resulted in better nutrition for the population. In port, these shifts have taken place because of a preference for new foods rather than old, but in part, they have been made because the new foods were advocated by nutritionists. Apparently American dietary customs were not so deeply ingrained as to prevent change in the interests of better health. 50) Possibly one factor that has contributed to the readiness of Americans to accept new foods or food preparations as the general familiarity most have with a variety of regional dishes coming from many different lands. Within a small area in New York City or San Francisco, one can find restaurants specializing in French, Italian, German, Turkish, Arabian, or Chinese cuisine. And at a Chinese restaurant in the United States the chef and waiter are as likely as not to he Oriental.

问答题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}} Suppose you are Li Ming, a freshman on the campus. You are eager to obtain the membership of any club at the university, so you decide to write a letter to President of Student Union to 1) ask for relevant information, 2) express your strong desire, and 3) give some closing remarks. You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address.

问答题46)A favourite prediction of environmentalism has bitten the dust—too many natural resources, rather than too few, are the cause of an increasing number of wars in the 21st century. 47)Many greens had predicted that the new century would see a rash of wars in countries where natural resources such as timber, water, minerals and fertile mils am running out. But far from it, says the 2002 State of the World report from the prestigious Washington-based think-tank, the Worldwatch Institute. In fact, says the report's co-author Michael Rennet, there are "numerous places in the developing world where abundant natural resources help fuel conflicts." More than a quarter of current conflicts are either being fought over, or are funded by, some lucrative natural resource. Examples cited by the Worldwatch Institute include: ·Diamond mines in Sierra Lame and Angola malting the two African nations ripe for plunder by warlords ·Profits from sapphires, rubies and timber arming the Khmer Rouge in their interminable jungle war in Cambodia ·Guerillas using the threat of sabotage to extort hundreds of millions of dollars from oil companies prospecting in Colombia ·Opium funding 20 years of war in Afghanistan ·The Congo's continuing civil war subsisting on the proceeds of elephant tusks and coltan, a vital mineral in the manufacture of mobile phones With the end of the cold war, superpowers no longer fund civil wars for their own geopolitical ends, says Rennet. Their place has been taken by the market—in the form of the plunder and sale of natural resources. 48)"Nature's bounty attracts groups that may claim they are driven by grievance, but which initiate violence not to overthrow a government but to gain and maintain control of lucrative resources," says Rennet. Such resource wars are being fought because of "greed rather than need." 49)According to David Keen at the London School of Economics: "We tend to regard conflict as pimply a breakdown in a particular system, rather than as the emergence of another, alternative system 9f profit and power, i.e.a 'conflict economy' with the looting of natural resources at its heart." Rennet warns that warlords in such conflicts have no interest in winning the war, because its continuance is more profitable. 50)And he says too many Western governments are happy to turn a blind eye as their own corporations reap the benefits in cheap no-questions-asked raw materials. Rennet argues the issue of resource conflicts should be added to the agenda of the forthcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development to be held in Johannesburg in August 2002.

问答题In a quiet courtroom tucked away in a federal building here, a titanic battle is competing free speech against government efforts to protect children from the seemingly limitless pages of pornography in cyberspace. Titled simply enough, the American Library Association vs. the United States of American, the trial will determine the constitutionality of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA). (46) Passed by Congress in December 2000, the law requires all libraries that receive federal technology funds to install "protection measures" on all computers that have access to the Internet. In other words, they must have blocking software to prevent youngsters from accidentally, or even intentionally, getting a peek at the multitude of hard-core sites available with just a few well-placed clicks on a computer terminal. To free-speech advocates from librarians to the American Civil Liberties Union, it's a well-intentioned but dangerous assault on America's First Amendment freedoms. (47) They argue that even the best blocking software is so flawed that it would also limit adult access to a wide array of constitutionally protected speech. "It's very easy to suggest that we all believe in the First Amendment, we just want to keep our kids safe," says John Berry, president of the American Library Association in Chicago. (48) "But as soon as you start making those kinds of concessions, you began to undermine one of our founding principles, and you can't sacrifice those kinds of things for a little temporary security." Supporters of the Internet-filtering law argue that the First Amendment has nothing to do with CIPA because it's nothing more than a funding bill. If libraries have objections, they simply don't have to accept the federal funds upon which the blocking software's use is conditioned. There's the whole issue of the blocking software itself: Does it work or not? (49) One study of more than 7,000 websites that had been blocked by the various software companies found that between 65 and 70 percent of the sites were "deemed to have potential value" to a library user. As to worries about overblocking, the law's supporters note the law allows adults to ask a librarian to turn off the blocking software. (50) But the librarians argue that the mandatory filter does take discretion away from librarians and their communities, which pay for about 80 percent of the average library's budget, and gives it to the federal government. After this three-judge panel rules, one side or the other is expected to file an appeal, and that will go directly to the Supreme Court.

问答题(46) Classical physics defines the vacuum as a state of absence, which is said to exist in a region of space if there is nothing in it. In the quantum field theories that describe the physics of elementary particles, the vacuum becomes somewhat more complicated. Even in empty space, particles can appear spontaneously as a result of fluctuations of the vacuum. For example, an electron and a positron, or anti-electron, can be created out of the void. Particles created in this way have only a fleeting existence; they are annihilated almost as soon as they appear, and their presence can never be detected directly. (47) They are called virtual particles in order to distinguish them from real particles, whose lifetimes are not constrained in the same way, and which can be detected. Thus it is still possible to define that vacuum as a space that has no real particles in it. One might expect that the vacuum would always be the state of lowest possible energy for a given region of space. If an area is initially empty and a real particle is put into it, the total energy, it seems, should be raised by at least the energy equivalent of the mass of the added particle. (48) A surprising result of some recent theoretical investigations is that this assumption is not invariably true, and there are conditions under which the introduction of a real particle of finite mass into an empty region of space can reduce the total energy. If the reduction in energy is great enough, an electron and a positron will be spontaneously created. Under these conditions the electron and positron are not a result of vacuum fluctuations but are real particles, which exist indefinitely and can be detected. In other words, under these conditions the vacuum is an unstable state and can decay into a state of lower energy; i.e., one in which real particles are created. The essential condition for the decay of the vacuum is the presence of an intense electric field. (49) As a result of the decay of the vacuum, the space permeated by such a field can be said to acquire an electric charge, and it can be called a charged vacuum. The particles that materialize in the space make the charge manifest. An electric field of sufficient intensity to create a charged vacuum is likely to be found in only one place: in the immediate vicinity of a super heavy atomic nucleus, one with about twice as many protons as the heaviest natural nuclei known. (50) A nucleus that large cannot be stable, but it might be possible to assemble one next to a vacuum for long enough to observe the decay of the vacuum. Experiments attempting to achieve this are now under way.

问答题Directions: Write a letter to a company for a position as an computer engineer. Your letter should include: (1) why you choose the company; (2) why do you think that you are capable for the position. You should write about 100 words on Answer sheet 2. Do not sign your name at the end of the letter. Use "Li Hua' instead. You do not need to write the address.

问答题Directions: You damaged your friend"s computer when stayed in Guangzhou. Write him a letter to make an apology, and suggest a solution. You should write about 100 words. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter; use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address.

问答题Directions:A. Title: Role Of Mass Media in Shaping Our ViewB. Time Limit: 40 minutesC. Word limit: about 200 wordsD. Your composition should be based on the OUTLINE below: (1) the role mass media; (2) your explanation; (3) your opinion.

问答题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}} Two days ago, you witnessed a robbery case when you were dining in a fast-food restaurant. As an eye-witness of that case, now you write a brief account of the crime to a police officer. You writing should be based on the following outline. 1) specific description of the scene 2) and your reactions. Write your letter in no less than 100 words. Write it neatly on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter, use "Li Ming" instead. Do not write the address.

问答题{{B}}Directions:{{/B}} Title: Speed vs. Safety in Riding a Bicycle Outline: Is low speed the only guarantee of safety in riding a bicycle? Why? Is it the same in other things in our life? You should write about 160～200 words neatly on ANSWER SHEET 2.