单选题{{B}}Passage 3{{/B}} Ask an American schoolchild what he or she is learning in school these days and you might even get a reply, provided you ask it in Spanish. But don't bother, here's the answer. Americans nowadays are not learning any of the things that we learned in our day, like reading and writing. Apparently these are considered fusty old subjects, invented by white males to oppress women and minorities. What are they learning? In a Vermont college town I found the answer sitting in a toy store book rack, next to typical kids' books like "Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy is 'Dysfunctional'". It's a teacher's guide called "Happy To Be Me", subtitled "Building Self-Esteem". Self-esteem as it turns out, is a big subject in American classrooms. Many American schools see building it as important as teaching reading and writing. They call it "whole language" teaching, borrowing terminology from the granola people to compete in the education marketplace. No one ever spent a moment building my self-esteem when I was in school. In fact, from the day I first stepped inside a classroom my self-esteem was one big demolition site. All that mattered was "the subject", be it geography, history, or mathematics. I was praised when I remembered that "near", "fit", "friendly", "pleasing", "like" and their opposites took the dative case in Latin. I was reviled when I forgot what a cosine was good for. Generally, I lived my school years beneath a torrent of castigation so consistent I eventually ceased to hear it, as people who live near the sea eventually stop hearing the waves. Schools have changed. Reviling is out, for one thing. More important, subjects have changed. Whereas I learned English, modern kids learn something called "language skills". Whereas I learned writing, modern kids learn something called "communication". Communication, the book tells us, is seven per cent words, twenty three per cent facial expression, twenty per cent tone of voice, and fifty per cent body language. So this column, with its carefully chosen words, would earn at most a grade of seven per cent. That is, if the school even gave out something as oppressive and demanding as grades. The result is that, in place of English classes, American children are getting a course in "How to Win Friends and Influence People". Consider the new attitude toward journal writing: I remember one high school English class when we were required to keep a journal. The idea was to emulate those great writers who confided in dimes, searching their soul and honing their critical thinking on paper. "Happy To Be Me" states that journals are a great way for students to get in touch with their feelings. Tell students they can write one sentence or a whole page. Reassure them that no one, not even you, will read what they write. After the unit, hopefully all students will be feeling good about themselves and will want to share some of their entries with the class. There was a time when no self-respecting book for English teachers would use "great" or "hopefully" that way. Moreover, back then the purpose of English courses (an antique term for "Unit") was not to help students "feel good about themselves". Which is good, because all that reviling didn't make me feel particularly good about anything .

单选题The federal court has been putting pressure on the state to adhere to the population caps in the decree.

单选题Her remarks______a complete disregard for human rights.(2002年清华大学考博试题)

单选题The word "interim" most probably means ______.

单选题On weekends, people are queuing in the supermarket to______for there are only a few cashes.

单选题Rite of Passage is a good novel by any standards; ______, it should rank high on any list of science fiction. A. consistently B. consequently C. invariably D. fortunately

单选题When a person dies, his debts must be paid before his______can be distributed. (2004年中国人民大学考博试题)

单选题{{B}}Passage 5{{/B}} Although I know that many of you think the opposite, most human beings have a high level of intelligence, a good memory and can solve problems easily. They live longer and therefore tend to be much more aware of past and future than we are. They communicate by a set of sounds which carry meaning from the order in which they are placed, and which vary from territory to territory, so that some humans find difficulty in communicating with others according to where they come from--if they have been raised in different country and have not had special training. Humans have also invented a set of marks on paper which they use to represent these sounds and which you may often see them concentrating on. In these two ways they have developed their eyes and ears to a higher level of interpretation than ourselves, but in doing so they have lost the ability to gather much of the information which we continually do both from these and our other senses. Most dogs are able to interpret at least part of the vocabulary (voice meanings) of humans, and some of us have learned to recognize some of the pattern of marks which they use to record them on paper so that humans at a different time and in a different place can understand their messages, but it would put our other abilities into danger if we ourselves developed these skills very far. Fortunately, most humans are able to understand a similar amount of our communicatory sounds and behaviour. Try going up to a human, sitting down in front of him and raising a front paw in a gesture. He will almost certainly take it and give it a shake, because it is a greeting gesture for humans, too. He will think you are behaving like a human--and nothing seems to please humans more. Careful, there is a danger here! You are not a human. You are a dog--and if you are going to be happy you should never forget it. You need to live as a dog. It is all very well changing yourself slightly-to fit in with a human pack, but if you deny your true nature you are going to end up a mad dog and, humans will think, a bad dog. There is always a reason for any animal choosing to live with an animal of a different sort, but all too often we have no choice. We have to live with humans. But humans have consciously decided that they want us with them, although not necessarily for the reason that they believe. They may want you as a watchdog to keep burglars away. They may have some idea that looking after you will teach their pups a sense of responsibility. Or they may simply be in desperate need of companionship, of something to love.

单选题He had either to leave the country immediately or to surrender himself to the Nazi authorities, and had no other ______. A. alternative B. hope C. resource D. approach

单选题There are so many bad things about women driver's, I don't know where to staff. I guess I will get the ball rolling by talking about one of my biggest pet peeves. Why do women have to wait until they are in the car and barreling down the highway at sixty miles an hour before they decide it is time to put on their makeup? Is there a law that 1 don't know about that says women have to do their makeup in the car because the bathroom isn't good enough for them? I don't know if anyone has ever informed women, but the mirror in the car is not a makeup mirror. The mirror is used for looking at other cars and pedestrians. So please do us all a favor and do your makeup before you leave the house. The next order of business for the men should be to find out whose brilliant idea it was for women to have a phone in the car. This has disaster written all over it. Everyone knows that women can't even walk and chew gum at the same time, so how in the hell are they going to drive and talk on the phone? Why is it that every time you are sitting at a red light the woman in front of you thinks this is a good time to make a phone call? "HELLO LADY THE LIGHT IS GREEN, GET OFF THE PHONE AND GO!" I really think we need to outlaw women using their cell phones while they drive. Another accident waiting to happen is when you get two women in the same car together. How many times have you seen two women just yakking away and the driver isn't paying attention to where she is axe talking and the driver doesn't see the stop sign in front of her, so she runs it. Two: The two women are talking and at the last minute the driver realizes there is her turn, so she stops really quick in front of you and you almost rear-end her. So women please pay more attention to your driving and, for the love of God, use your turn signals——they aren't there for decoration. I know all women out there are yelling at me and saying, "Women are better drivers than guys." If women were better drivers than men, why do guys drive on dates? Why don't women ever tell the guy, I will come pick you up? Why are almost all truck drivers guys? Why is it when a woman is going to move and she rents a U-Haul van, she always calls a guy to drive it for her? When was the last time you watched a woman win the Indy 500 or Daytona 500? All of these questions just go to prove why guys are the kings of the road.

单选题A functional decline is ______.

单选题Stressful environments lead to unhealthy behaviors such as poor eating habits, which ______ increase the risk of heart disease.

单选题Influenza is caused by a virus______one person______another in droplets coughed or sneezed into the air. It is characterized by coldlike symptoms plus chills, fever, headaches, muscle aches, and fatigue.

单选题Nobody can stand for long {{U}}agony{{/U}} of a severe toothache.

单选题 In the absence of optimism, we are left with nothing but critics, naysayers, and prophets of doom. When a nation expects the worst from its people and institutions, and its experts focus exclusively on faults, hope dies. Too many people spend too much time looking down rather than up, finding fault with their country's political institutions, economic system, educational establishment, religious organizations, and—worst of all—with each other. Faultfinding expends so much negative energy that nothing is left over for positive action. It takes courage and strength to solve the genuine problems that afflict every society. Sure, there will always be things that need fixing. But the question is, do you want to spend your time and energy tearing things down or building them up? The staging of a Broadway show could illustrate my point. Let's say a new production is about to open. A playwright has polished the script, investor have put up the money,and the theater has been rented. A director has been chosen, actors have been auditioned and selected, and the cast has been rehearsing for weeks. Set, lighting, and sound engineers have been hard at work. By the time opening night arrives, nearly a hundred people have labored tirelessly—all working long hours to make magic for their audience. On opening night, four or five critics sit in the audience. If they pan it, the play will probably close in a matter of days or weeks. If they praise it, the production could go on for a long and successful run. In the end, success or failure might hinge on the opinion of a single person—someone who might be in a bad mood on opening night! What's wrong with this scene? In one sense, nothing. Critics have a legitimate role. The problem arises when we make critics our heroes or put them in control of our fate. When we empower the criti cmore than the playwright, something is wrong. It is much easier to criticize than to create.When we revere the critics of society, we eventually become a society of critics, and when that happens, there is no room left for constructive optimism.

单选题 Radiation occurs from three natural sources: radioactive material in the environment such as in soil, rock, or building materials; cosmic rays; and substances in the human body, such as radioactive potassium in bones and radioactive carbon in tissues. These natural sources account for an exposure of about 100 millirems a year for the average American. The Iargcst single source of man-made radiation is medical X rays, yet most scientists agree that hazards from this source are not as great as those from weapons test fallout, since strontium 90 and carbon 14 become incorporated into the body, hence delivering radiation for an entire life- time. The issue is, however, by no means uncontroversial; the last two decades have witnessed intensified examination and dispute about the effects of low-level radiation, beginning with the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, which reported in 1958: "Even the smallest amounts of radiation are liable to cause deleterious genetic and perhaps also somatic effects." A survey conducted in Britain confirmed that an abnormally high percentage of patients suffering from arthritis of the spine who had been treated with X rays contracted cancer. Another study revealed a high incidence of childhood cancer in eases where the mother had been given prenatal pelvic X rays. These studies have pointed to the need to reexamine the assumption that exposure to low-linear energy transfer presents only a minor risk. Recently, examination of the death certificates of former employees of a West Coast plant which produces plutonium for nuclear weapons revealed markedly higher rates for cancers of the pancreas, lung, bone marrow, and lymph systems than would have been expected in a normal population. While the National Academy of Sciences Committee attributes this difference to chemical or other environmental causes rather than radiation, other scientists maintain that any radiation expo- sure, no matter how small, leads to an increase in cancer risk. It is believed by some that a dose of one rem, if sustained over many generations, would lead to an increase of 1 percent in the number of serious genetic defects at birth, a possible increase of 1,000 disorders per million births. In the meantime, regulatory efforts have been disorganized, fragmented, inconsistent, and characterized by internecine strife and bureaucratic delays. A Senate report concluded that coordination of regulation among involved departments and agencies was not possible because of jurisdictional disputes and confusion. One federal agency has been unsuccessful in its efforts to obtain sufficient funding and manpower for the enforcement of existing radiation laws, and the chairperson of a panel especially created to develop a coordinated federal program has resigned.

单选题Making private phone calls on the office phone is severely ______ on in our country.

单选题Hidden hotel costs can be a source of frustration to the frugal traveler. A. careful B. clever C. ignorant D. economical

单选题The children locked wonderfully ______with their bright eyes and glowing cheeks.