单选题No hero of ancient or modern times can surpass the Indian with his lofty contempt of death and the ______ with which he sustained the cruelest afflication.

单选题The American economy, whether in government or private industry, has found retirement a convenient practice for managing the labor force. On the positive side, widespread retirement has meant an expansion of leisure and opportunities for self-fulfillment in later life. On the negative side, the practice of retirement entails large costs, both in funding required for pension systems and in the loss of the accumulated skills and talents of older people. Critics of retirement as it exists today have pointed to the rigidity of retirement practices: for example, the fact that retirement is typically an all-or-nothing proposition. Would it not be better to have some form of flexible or phased retirement, in which employees gradually reduce their work hours or take longer vacations? Such an approach might enable older workers to adjust better to retirement, while permitting employers to make gradual changes instead of coping with the abrupt departure of an employee. Retirement could be radically redefined in the future. Earlier criticism of mandatory retirement at a fixed age led to legal abolition of the practice, for the most part, in 1986. The same kind of criticism has been leveled at the practice of age discrimination in employment. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act forbids older workers from being limited or treated in any way that would harm their employment possibilities. Still, most observers admit that age discrimination in the workplace remains widespread. The negative stereotypes of older workers have caused employers to be reluctant to hire or train older people. Sometimes such discrimination against older workers is based on mistaken ideas, such as the false belief that older workers are less productive. In fact, empirical studies have not shown older workers to be less dependable in their job performance, nor are their absenteeism rate higher. Interest in the potential productivity of older workers has stimulated the growth of industrial gerontology, a field concerned with recruitment, performance appraisal, retraining, and redesign of jobs to permit older workers to be more productive. Managing an older workforce will clearly be a challenge for the future. There is also much support for the idea of work life extension; that is adaptations of retirement roles or employment practices to enable older people to become more productive. In favor of this idea is the fact that three-quarters of employed people over 65 are in white-collar occupations in service industries, which are less physically demanding than agriculture or manufacturing jobs. As a result, it is sometimes argued, older people can remain in productive jobs now longer than in the past. In addition, some analysts point to declining numbers of young people entering the workforce, thus anticipating a labor shortage later in the 1990s. That development, if it occurred, might stimulate a need for older workers and a reversal of the trend toward early retirement.

单选题 There are some earth phenomena you can count on, but the magnetic field, someday is not of them. It fluctuates in strength, drifts from its axis, and every few 100, 000 years undergo a dramatic polarity reversal-a period when north pole becomes south pole and south pole becomes north pole. But how is the field generated, and why is it so unstable? Groundbreaking research by two French geophysicists promises to shed some light on the mystery. Using 80 meters of deep sea sediment core, they have obtained measurements of magnetic-field intensity that span 11 polarity reversals and four million years. The analysis reveals that intensity appears to fluctuate with a clear, well-defined rhythm. Although the strength of the magnetic field varies irregularly during the shout term, there seems to be an inevitable long term decline preceding each polarity reversal. When the poles flip-a process that takes several hundred thousand years--the magnetic field rapidly regains its strength and the cycle is repeated. The results have caused a stir among geophysicists. The magnetic field is thought to originate from molten iron in the outer core, 3,000 kilometers beneath the earth's surface. By studying mineral grains found in material ranging from rocks to clay articles, previous researchers have already been able to identify reversals dating back 170 million years, including the most recent switch 730, 000 years age. How and why they occur, however, has been widely debated. Several theories link polarity flips to external disasters such as meteor impacts. But Peter Olson, a geophysicist at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, says this is unlikely if the French researchers are right. In fact, Olson says intensity that predictably declines from one reversal to the next contradicts 90 percent of the models currently under study. If the results prove to be valid, geophysicists will have a new theory to guide them in their quest to understand the earth's inner physics. It certainly points the direction for future research.

单选题It is impossible to ______ these points of view; they are too different.

单选题In previous time, when fresh meat was in short __________, pigeons were kept by many households as a source of food.

单选题Which sport has the most expenses ______ training equipment, players' personal equipment and uniforms?

单选题Because he wore a strange collection of clothes and often talked to himself, his neighbor considered him eccentric .

单选题{{B}}Passage One{{/B}} As a wise man once said, we are all ultimately alone. But an increasing number of Europeans are choosing to be so at an ever earlier age. This isn't the stuff of gloomy philosophical contemplations, but a fact of Europe's new economic landscape, embraced by sociologists, real-estate developers and ad executives alike. The shift away from family life to solo lifestyle, observes a French sociologist, is part of the "irresistible momentum of individualism" over the last century. The communications revolution, the shift from a business culture of stability to one of mobility and the mass entry of women into the workforce have greatly wreaked havoc on Europeans' private byes. Europe's new economic climate has largely fosterd the trend toward independence, the current generation of home-aloners came of age during Europe's shift from social democracy to the sharper, more individualistic climate of American-style capitalism. Raised in an era of privatization and increased consumer choice, today's tech-savvy workers have embraced a free market in love as well as economics. Modern Europeans are rich enough to afford to live alone, and temperamentally independent enough to want to do so. Once upon a time, people who lived alone tended to be those on either side of marriage-twentysometing professionals or widowed senior citizens, while pensioners, particularly elderly women, make up a large proportion of those living alone, the newest crop of singles are high earners in their 30s and 40s who increasingly view living alone as a lifestyle choice. Living alone was conceived to be negative-dark and cold, while being together suggested warmth and light. But then came along the idea of singles. They were young, beautiful, strong! Now, young people want to live alone. The booming economy means people are working harder than ever. And that doesn't leave much room for relationships. Pirnpi Arroyo, a 35-year-old composer who lives alone in a house in Paris, says he hasn't got time to get lonely becanse he has too much work. "I have deadlines which would make life with someone else fairly difficult. Only an Iddeal Woman would make him change his lifestyle," he says. Kaufmann, author of a recent book called "The Single Woman and Prince Charming", thinks this fierce new individualism means that people expext morn and more of mates, so relationships don't last long--if they start at all. Eppendorf, a blond Berliner with a deep tan, teaches grade school in the mornings. In the afternoon she sunbarthes or sleeps, resting up for going dancing. Just shy of 50, she says she'd never have wanted to do what her mother did--give up a career to raise a family. Instead, "I've always done what I wanted to do: live a self-determined life."

单选题It will be safer to walk the streets because people will not need to carry large amounts of cash; virtually all financial ______ will be conducted by computer.

单选题The coming of the railways in the 1830s______our society and economic life.

单选题Be was interested only in the story and skipped all those passages of landscape description.(2004年电子科技大学考博试题)

单选题The therapist listens to, observes and offers the client her or his ______understanding of the meaning of the clients actions, thoughts and feelings.

单选题Unfortunately, his damaging attacks on the ramifications of the economic policy have been______by his wholehearted acceptance of that policy's underlying assumptions.(2014年北京航空航天大学考博试题)

单选题{{B}}Passage Five{{/B}} The spectacular auroral light displays that appear in Earth's atmosphere around the north and south magnetic poles were once mysterious phenomena. Now, scientists have data from satellites and ground-based observations from which we know that the auroral brilliance is an immense electrical discharge similar to that occurring in a neon sign. To understand the cause of auroras, first picture the Earth enclosed by its magnetosphere, a huge region crated by the Earth's magnetic field. Outside the magneto-sphere, blasting, toward the Earth is the solar wind, a swiftly moving plasma of ionized gases with its own magnetic field. Charged particles in this solar wind speed earth- ward along the solar wind's magnetic lines of force with a spiraling motion. The Earth's magnetosphere is a barrier to solar wind, and forces the charged particles of the solar wind to flow around the magnetosphere itself. But in the polar regions, the magnetic lines of force of the Earth and of the solar wind bunch together. Here many of the solar wind's charged particles break through the magnetosphere and enter Earth's magnetic field. They then spiral back and forth between the Earth's magnetic poles very rapidly. In the polar regions, electrons from the solar wind ionize and excite the atoms and molecules of the upper .atmosphere, causing them to emit auroral radiations of visual light. The colors of an aurora depend on the atoms emitting them. The dominant greenish-white light comes from low energy excitation of oxygen atoms. During huge magnetic storms oxygen atoms also undergo high energy excitation and emit a crimson light. Ex- cited nitrogen atoms contribute bands of color varying from blue to violet. Viewed from outer space, auroras can be seen as dimly glowing belts wrapped around each of the Earth's magnetic poles. Each aurora hangs like a curtain of light stretching over the polar regions and into the higher latitudes. When the solar flares that result in magnetic storms and auroral activity are very intense, auroral displays may extend as far as the southern regions of the United States. Studies of auroras have given physicists new information about the behavior of plasmas, which has helped to explain the nature of outer space and is being applied in attempts to harness energy from f the fusion of atoms.

单选题Despite Denmark's manifest virtues, Danes never talk about how proud they are to be Danes. This would sound weird in Danish. When Danes talk to foreigners about Denmark, they always begin by commenting on its tininess, its unimportance, the difficulty of its language, the general small-mindedness and self=indulgence of their countrymen and the high taxes. No Dane would look you in the eye and say, "Denmark is a great country. " You're supposed to figure this out for yourself. It is the land of the silk safety net, where almost half the national budget goes toward smoothing out life's inequalities, and there is plenty of money for schools, day care, retraining programs, job seminars—Danes love seminars: Three days at a study center hearing about waste management is almost as good as a ski trip. It is a culture bombarded by English, in advertising, pop music, the Internet, and despite all the English that Danish absorbs—there is no Danish Academy to defend against it—old dialects persist in Jutland that can barely be understood by Copenhageners. It is the land where, as the saying goes, "Few have too much and fewer have too little," and a foreigner is struck by the sweet egalitarianism that prevails, where the lowliest clerk gives you a level gaze, where Sir and Madame have disappeared from common usage, even Mr. and Mrs. It's a nation of recyclers—about 55% of Danish garbage gets made into something new—and no nuclear power plants. It's a nation of tireless planners. Trains run on time. Things operate well in general. Such a nation of overachievers—a brochure from the Ministry of Business and Industry says, "Denmark is one of the world's cleanest and most organized countries, with virtually no pollution, crime, or poverty. Denmark is the most corruption-free society in the Northern hemisphere. " So, of course, one's heart lifts at any sighting of Danish sleazy: skinhead graffiti on buildings ("Foreigners Out of Denmark!"), broken beer bottles in the gutters, drunken teenagers slumped in the park. Nonetheless, it is an orderly land. You drive through a Danish town, it comes to an end at a stone wall, and on the other side is a field of barley, a nice clean line: town here, country there. It is not a nation of jaywalkers. People stand on the curb and wait for the red light to change, even if it's 2 a. m. and there's not a car in sight. However, Danes don't think of themselves as a waiting-at-2-a, m.-for-the-green-light people—that's how they see Swedes and Germans. Danes see themselves as jazzy people, improvisers, more free spirited than Swedes, but the truth is (though one should not say it) that Danes are very much like Germans and Swedes. Orderliness is a main selling point. Denmark has few natural resources, limited manufacturing capability; its future in Europe will be as a broker, banker, and distributor of goods. You send your goods by container ship to Copenhagen, and these bright, young, English-speaking, utterly honest, highly disciplined people will get your goods around to Scandinavia, the Baltic States, and Russia. Airports, seaports, highways, and rail lines are ultramodern and well-maintained. The orderliness of the society doesn't mean that Danish lives are less messy or lonely than yours or mine, and no Dane would tell you so. You can hear plenty about bitter family feuds and the sorrows of alcoholism and about perfectly sensible people who went off one day and killed themselves. An orderly society cannot exempt its members from the hazards of life. But there is a sense of entitlement and security that Danes grow up with. Certain things are yours by virtue of citizenship, and you shouldn't feel bad for taking what you're entitled to, you're as good as anyone else. The rules of the welfare System are clear to everyone, the benefits you get if you lose your job, the steps you take to get a new one; and the orderliness of the system makes it possible for the country to weather high unemployment and social unrest without a sense of crisis.

单选题For the past several years, the Sunday newspaper supplement Parade has featured a column called "Ask Marilyn". People are invited to query Marilyn vos Savant, who at age 10 had tested at a mental level of someone about 23 years old; that gave her an IQ of 228 — the highest score ever recorded. IQ tests ask you to complete verbal and visual analogies, to envision paper after it has been folded and cut, and to deduce numerical sequences, among other similar tasks. So it is a bit confusing when vos Savant fields such queries from the average Joe(whose IQ is 100)as, what's the difference between love and fondness? Or what is the nature of luck and coincidence? It's not obvious how the capacity to visualize objects and to figure out numerical patterns suits one to answer questions that have eluded some of the best poets and philosophers. Clearly, intelligence encompasses more than a score on a test. Just what does it mean to be smart? How much of intelligence can be specified, and how much can we learn about it from neurology, genetics, computer science and other fields? The defining term of intelligence in humans still seems to be the IQ score, even though IQ tests are not given as often as they used to be. The test comes primarily in two forms: the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler Intelligence Scales(both come in adult and children's version). Generally costing several hundred dollars, they are usually given only by psychologists, although variations of them populate bookstores and the World Wide Web. Superhigh scores like vos Savant's are no longer possible, because scoring is now based on a statistical population distribution among age peers, rather than simply dividing the mental age by the chronological age and multiplying by 100. Other standardized tests, such as the Scholastic Assessment Test(SAT)and the Graduate Record Exam(GRE), capture the main aspects of IQ tests. Such standardized tests may not assess all the important elements necessary to succeed in school and in life, argues Robert J. Sternberg. In his article "How Intelligent Is Intelligence Testing?" , Sternberg notes that traditional test best assess analytical and verbal skills but fail to measure creativity and practical knowledge, components also critical to problem solving and life success. Moreover, IQ test do not necessarily predict so well once populations or situations change. Research has found that IQ predicted leadership skills when the tests were given under low-stress conditions, but under high-stress conditions, IQ was negatively correlated with leadership — that is, it predicted the opposite. Anyone who has toiled through SAT will testify that test-taking skill also matters, whether it's knowing when to guess or what questions to skip.

单选题It seems a reasonable rule of thumb that any genuine offer of help and support from people or organizations will be accompanied by a name and address, and a willingness to be ______ as to their motive in making contact.

单选题As its______grew, funds began to accumulate and the union got more and more powerful.

单选题What do we know about the Fulford Battlefield Society?