单选题The girl______her tablemate's arm to see if she was fast asleep at class. A. pinched B. punched C. pitched D. preached

单选题"It was the beginning of a revolution in America and the world, a revolution that some have yet to acknowledge and many have yet to appreciate," says Harold Skramstad, president of the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. 1776? No indeed: 1896, when Frank Duryea finally perfected the Duryea Motor Wagon. At its first airing, the contraption rolled less than 100 metres before the transmission froze up. But by the end of 1896 Duryea had sold 13 of them, thus giving birth to the American motor industry. That industry(whose roots, outside America, are usually attributed to tinkerings by Messrs Daimler and Benz in Germany)is being celebrated hugely over the coming months, culminating with a Great American Cruise in Detroit in June. "Our goal is to attract the greatest collection of antique and classic cars this nation has ever seen in one place at one time," says Mr. Skramstad modestly. Americans may indeed blame the car for almost everything that has happened to their country, and themselves, since 1896. The car has determined: The way they live. From cradle to grave, the car marks every rite of American passage. Home by car from the maternity ward; first driving licence(usually at the age of 16); first(backseat)sexual experience; first car of one's own(and the make of car is a prime determinant of social status, symbolic of everything a person is or does). In Las Vegas, and elsewhere, Americans can get married at drive-in chapels. They then buy, or lust after, a house with garages big enough for not one but two or three cars. This allocates more space to cars than to children. And when the time comes, they may lie in state at a drive-through funeral home, where you can pay your respects without pulling over. The way they shop. Main Street has been replaced by the strip mall and the shopping mall, concentrating consumer goods in an auto-friendly space. A large part of each shopping trip must now be spent, bags under chin, searching for the place where the car was left.(And another point; bags have annoyingly lost their carrying handles since shoppers ceased to be pedestrian)Since car-friendly living and shopping became the role, most built-up parts of America now look like every other part. There is simply no difference between a Burger Inn in California and one on the outskirts of Boston. The way they eat. A significant proportion of Americans' weekly meals are now consumed inside cars, sometimes while parked outside the(drive-by)eatery concerned, sometimes en route, which leads to painful spillages in laps, leading to overburdening of the legal system. Dozens of laws have been written to deal with car cases, ranging from traffic disputes to product liability. Drive-by shootings require a car, as do most getaways. The car is a great crime accessory; and it also causes the deaths of nearly 40,000 Americans every year. Personal finances. Before the age of the car, few people went into debt; no need to borrow money to buy a home. Now Americans tie themselves up with extended installment loans, and this in turn has spawned a whole financial industry. The wealth of the nation. By 1908, an estimated 485 different manufacturers were building cars in the United States. Employment grew nearly 100-fold in the industry during the first decade of the 20th century. When Henry Ford, in a stroke of genius, automated his production line he required a rush of new, unskilled labour, which he enticed by offering an unheard-of $ 5 a day in wages. Henceforth, workers could actually afford to buy what they built. And Americans never looked back. Today, the Big Three car manufacturers(Food, GM and Chrysler)generate more than $ 200 billion a year in business inside the United States. Directly and indirectly, the industry employs roughly one in seven workers. Every car job is reckoned to add $ 100,000 in goods and services to the economy, twice the national average. People occasionally suppose that the car is under attack as it enters its second century. Environmental regulators and transport planners(with their talk of car pools and subways)tend to give this impression. There are signs that personal computers may be replacing the sports car as the chief passion, and expense, of young men. But, in the end, nothing beats the idea of individual mobility. In a society that values freedom above all, the obvious way to celebrate a centenary is just to keep driving.

单选题His wife says that he was more frugal in his youth than later years.

单选题Seventeen-year-old Quantae Williams doesn't understand why the U. S. Supreme Court struck down his school district's racial diversity program. He now (61) the prospect of leaving his mixed-race high school in suburban Louisville and (62) to the poor black downtown schools where he (63) in fights. "I'm doing (64) in town. They should just leave it the (65) it is," said Williams, using a fond nickname for suburban Jeffersontown High School, (66) he's bused every day from his downtown neighborhood. "Everything is (67) , we get along well. If I go where all my friends go, I'll start getting in trouble again," Williams said as he took a (68) from his summer job (69) clothing (70) for poor families. Last month's 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court struck down programs that were started voluntarily in Louisville and Seattle. The court's decision has left schools (71) the country (72) to find a way to protect (73) in their classrooms. Critics have called the decision the biggest (74) to the ideals of the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education (75) , which outlawed racial segregation in U. S. public schools. With students already (76) to schools for the (77) year that begins in September, (78) will be immediately affected by the Supreme Court decision. In Jefferson County, officials said it could be two years (79) a new plan is (80) place, leaving most students in their current schools.

单选题Any negative statements and accusations should be made______.and forthrightly answered, preferably at the level on which they originate. A. promptly B. thoroughly C. punctually D. exactly

单选题In most American cities, the tent for a one-bedroom apartment was $250 or more per month in recent years. In some smaller cities such as Louisville, Kentucky or Jacksonville, Florida the rent was less, but in larger cities it was more. For example, if you lived in Los Angeles, you had to pay $400 or more to rent a one-bedroom apartment, and the same apartment rented for $625 and up in Chicago. The most expensive rents in the U. S. were in New York City, where you had to pay at least $700 a month to rent a one-bedroom apartment in most parts of the city. Renters and city planners are worried about the high cost of renting apartments. Many cities now have rent-control laws to keep the cost of renting low. These laws help low-income families who cannot pay high rents. Rent control in the United States began in 1943 when the government imposed rent controls on all American cities to help workers and the families of soldiers during World War II. After the war, only one city—New York—continued these World War II controls. Recently, more and more cities have returned to rent controls. At the beginning of the 1980s, nearly one fifth of the people in the United States lived in cities with rent-control laws. Many cities have rent-control laws, but why are rents so high? Builders and landlords blame rent controls for the high rents. Rents are high because there are not enough apartments to rent, and they blame rent controls for the shortage of apartments. Builders want more money to build more apartment buildings, and landlords want more money to repair their old apartment buildings. But they cannot increase rents to get this money because of the rent-control laws. As a result, landlords are not repairing their old apartments, and builders are not building new apartment buildings to replace the old apartment buildings. Builders are building apartments for high-income families, not low-income families, so low-income families must live in old apartments that are in disrepair. Builders and landlords claim that rent-control laws really hurt low-income families. Many renters disagree with them. They say that rent control is not the problem. Even without rent controls, builders and landlords will continue to ignore low-income housing because they can make more money from high-income housing. The only answer, they claim, is more rent controls and government help for low-income housing.

单选题The frequent ______ from cold to warm weather this spring have caused much illness. A. transmissions B. transactions C. transformations D. transitions

单选题(A large collection) of contemporary photographs, (including) some taken by Mary (are) on display (at) the museum.

单选题By isolating negative words and phrases, you can ______ the damage you're doing to yourself.

单选题Color is very important to most animals for it helps them to get along in the world. Color (21) to make an animal difficult for its enemies to (22) . Many animals match their (23) so well that as long as they do not move no one is (24) to see them. You probably have often "jumped" a rabbit. If you (25) , you know how the rab- bit sits perfectly still (26) you are just a few feet away. You (27) see the rabbit till it runs for its (28) matches very closely the place where it is (29) . Many times you may have walked past a rabbit (30) didn't run and you never knew it was there at all. One of the most usual color schemes that helps animals to keep (31) being seen, is a dark back and light underpants. If an animal is the same color all (32) , there is always a dark shadow along the animal's belly (腹部). (33) an enemy couldn't see the animal he could see this dark shadow. The shadow makes the animal (34) out to view. But if the belly is (35) than the rest of the animal, the shadow will not be noticed.

单选题The two leaders made a show of unity at the press conference, though they had notably messages.

单选题The British justice system is afraid that the two young men would ______.

单选题My mother likes to have her hair______. A. cured B. carved C. circled D. curled

单选题The travelers were ______ into silence by the Sight of a distant mountain.(2008年北京航空航天大学考博试题)

单选题Sometimes the messages are conveyed through deliberate "conscious gestures", other times, our bodies talk without our even knowing it.

单选题To call the music of another music-culture "primitive" is ______ one's own standards on a group that does not recognize them.

单选题The hall was supported by six thick ______ . A. torches B. posts C. fringes D. pillars

单选题Before the mid-nineteenth century, people in the United States ate most foods only in season. Drying, smoking, and salting could preserve meat for a short time, but the availability of fresh meat, like that of fresh milk, was very limited, there was no way to prevent spoilage, But in 1810 a French inventor named Nicolas Appert developed the cooking-and-sealing process of canning. And in the 1850's an American named Gail Borden developed a means of condensing and preserving milk. Canned goods and condensed milk became more common during the 1860's, but supplies remained low because cans had to be made by hand. By 1880, however, inventors had fashioned stamping and soldering machines that mass-produced cans from tinplate. Suddenly all kinds of food could be preserved and bought at all times of the year. Other trends and inventions had also helped make it possible for Americans to vary their daily diet. Growing urban populations created demand that encouraged fruit and vegetable farmers to raise more produce. Railroad refrigerator cars enabled growers and meat packers to ship perishables great distances and to preserve them for longer periods. Thus, by the 1890's, northern city dwellers could enjoy southern and western strawberries, grapes, and tomatoes, previously available for a month at most, for up to six months of the year. In addition, increased use of iceboxes enabled families to store perishables. All easy means of producing ice commercially had been invented in the 1870's, and by 1900 the nation had more than two thousand commercial ice plants, most of which made home deliveries. The icebox became a fixture in most homes and remained so until the mechanized refrigerator replaced it in the 1920's and 1930's.

单选题The company directors asked the government to ______ in the dispute and prevent a strike.

单选题The word "adamantly" (in boldface) is closest in meaning to ______.