单选题The hostess ______ the maid ______ the table for dinner while we arrived after a three-hour drive from the town.
单选题{{B}}Passage 4{{/B}}
Once upon a time, innovation at Procter
& Gamble flowed one way: from the United States outward. While the large
Cincinnati-based corporation was no stranger to foreign markets, it usually Sold
them products that were already familiar to most Americans. Many Japanese
families, for instance, swaddle their babies in Pampers diapers, and lots of
Venezuelans brush their teeth with Crest. And of course (company executives
assumed) Americans at home wanted these same familiar, red-white and blue
brands. We might buy foreign-made cars, or chocolates, or cameras but household
cleaners and detergents? Recently, however, P&G broke with this
long-standing tradition. Ariel, a P&G laundry detergent, was born overseas, and
is a familiar sight on store shelves in Europe and Latin America. Now bilingual
packages of Ariel Ultra. a super-concentrated cleaner. are appearing on
supermarket shelves in Los Angeles. Ariel's appearance in the
United States reflects demographic changes making Hispanics the nation's
fastest-growing ethnic group. Ariel is a hit with this population. In fact, many
Mexican immigrants living in Southern California have been "importing" Ariel
from Tijuana, Mexico. "Hispanics knew this product and wanted it," says P&G
spokeswoman Marie Salvado. "We realized that we couldn't convince them to buy
(our) other laundry detergents." P&G hopes that non-Hispanic consumers will give
Ariel a try too. Ariel's already strong presence in Europe may
provide a springboard for the company to expand into other markets as well.
Recently P&G bought Rakona. Czechoslovakia's top detergent maker. Ariel,
currently a top seller in Germany, is likely to be one of the first new brands
to appear in Czech supermarkets. And Ariel is not the only foreign idea that the
company hopes to transplant back to its home territory. Cinch, an all-purpose
spray cleaner similar to popular European products, is currently being
test-marketed in California and Arizona. Traditionally Americans have used
separate cleaners for different types of surfaces, but market research shows
that American preferences are becoming more like those in other
countries. Insiders note that this new reverse flow of
innovation reflects more sweeping changes at Procter & Gamble. The firm has
hired many new Japanese, German. and Mexican managers who view P&G's business
not as a one-way flow of American ideas, but a two-way exchange with other
markets. Says Bonita Austin of the investment firm Wertheim-Schroeder, "When you
met with P&G's top managers years ago, you wouldn't have seen a single foreign
face." Today, "they could even be in the majority." As Procter &
Gamble has found, the United States is no longer an isolated market. Americans
are more open than ever before to buying foreign-made products and to selling U.
S. -made products overseas.
单选题Many drama critics (considered) Richard Burton's interpretation of Hamlet superior (than) Sir Lawrence Olivier's version (produced) several years (earlier).A. consideredB. thanC. producedD. earlier
单选题According to the context, "bicycles for amateurs" at the beginning of the second paragraph refers to bicycles ______.
单选题The speech which Mr. London made ______the project has bothered me greatly.
单选题He appeared in the court and supplied the facts______ to the case.
单选题It is desirable that the airplane ______ as light and fast as possible.
单选题Mass production is ______ only in an economy with a highly developed
technology.
A. vulnerable
B. invaluable
C. feasible
D. compatible
单选题
单选题
单选题IBM's Deep Blue is ______.
单选题
单选题Metals ______ when cooled and expand when heated.
单选题The Minister's ______ answer led to an outcry from the Opposition.
单选题The subject of the passage is ______.
单选题"Labor is not prepared to work for a lower money-wage". The sentence means ______.
单选题To partially overcome the problem of funds and to speed the______of Western technology, Hungary sold a 30% stake in its national phone company to two Western companies.
单选题Handwriting analysis (graphology) circumvents the law by frying to determine an employee's traits (e. g. stability) according to some handwriting group stereotype to which he or she belongs. (Indeed, some graphologists have m little respect for the law and m much confidence in their stereotyping that they have proposed using the technique in lieu of court proceedings to identify and prosecute criminals!) The analysis works by comparing the speed, size, slant, form, pressure, layout, and continuity of an individual's handwriting with various patterns and typologies, and assimilating this person's script into these types. As a result the individual judged ceases to be an individual and becomes little more than a composite of traits. This end result differs little from judgments based on race, sex, religion, etc. Granted, no individual is totally unique. Any evaluation of character, or for that matter skills, turns, in some measure, on employing generic ideas about virtue, vice, and technical competence. Still, there is a human individuality which manifests itself in our imagination and in the innovative arguments we choose to advance. Standardized handwriting analysis is far less respectful of individuality in this latter sense than other modes of screening. Individuals who are asked to write a personal essay describing their qualifications in their own terms; and who are given an opportunity in an interview to describe their motivations in seeking a particular job retain far more of what makes them distinctive. This more personalized format gives the individual an opportunity to express unusual or provocative opinions the employer may not have previously considered. Upon reflection, the employer may think these comments so pertinent that s/he awards the job to this candidate. Handwriting analysis, though, is ostensibly purely formal. It does not provide the candidate with any opportunity to distinguish himself or herself in this substantive fashion. At best, graphology will yield some vague assessment such as "the candidate is highly creative". It is worth remembering what the driving force is behind graphological testing. Handwriting analysis, like automated telephone screening, is increasingly being used early in the hiring process because it purports to deliver salient, accurate information cheaply. Yet precisely because these techniques are standardized, the data has reduced value. Judgments about the precise relevance of some perceived character traits to a job are rarely straightforward. Good interviewers learn through training and through interaction itself to qualify previous judgments. Perhaps the candidate who fails to make eye contact has a guilty conscience (as it is standardly assumed). On the other hand, perhaps the candidate is a recent immigrant from a country where eye contact is considered rude. Alternate interpretations sometimes suggest themselves in a face-to-face encounter with individuals who are fully present in their living, acting, and speaking personhood. Handwriting analysis, done at a distance by an expert who has never even met the candidate, will not stimulate the evaluator's imagination in the way the in-person interview 6r personal essay might. On the contrary, the cheapness of the technique stems from its elimination of the important human activity of hypothesizing about the case at hand.
单选题Although he refused to act on my suggestion, he had to admit that
______ what I said.
A. it was something in
B. there was something as
C. it was something as
D. there was something in
单选题Equipped with modern science and technology people of today feel many
assertions which were once taken as ______ truth absurd.
A. religious
B. profound
C. sacred
D. prominent
