单选题We should never satisfy ourselves with what we have learned.A. convinceB. contentC. comfortD. benefit
单选题Scotland: A Land of Wisdom In the 1740s, the famous French philosopher Voltaire said, "We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilization. " That's not a bad advertisement for any country when it comes to attracting people to search for a first-class education. According to the American author Arthur Herman, the Scots invented the modern world itself. He argues that Scottish thinkers and intellectuals worked out many of the most important ideas on which modern life depends—everything from the scientific method to market economics. Their ideas did not just spread among intellectuals, but to those people in business, government and the sciences who actually shaped the Western world. It all started during the period that historians call the Scottish Enlightenment (启蒙运动), which is usually seen as taking place between the years 1740 and 1800. Before that, philosophy was mainly concerned with religion. For the thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment, the proper study of humanity was mankind itself. Their reasoning was practical. For the philosopher David Hume, humanity was the right subject for philosophy because we can examine human behavior and so find real evidence of how people think and feel. And from that we can make judgments about the societies we live in and make concrete suggestions about how they can be improved, for universal benefit. Hume's enquiry into the nature of knowledge laid the foundations for the scientific method-the pursuit of truth through experiment. His friend and fellow resident of Edinburgh, Adam Smith, famously applied the study of mankind to the ways in which mankind does business. Trade, he argued, was a form of information. In pursuing our own interests through trading in markets, we all come to benefit each other. Smith's idea has dominated modern views of economics. It also has wide applications. He was one of the philosophers to point out that nations can become rich, free and powerful through peace, trade and invention. Although the Scottish Enlightenment ended a long time ago, the ideas which evolved at that time still underpin(构成……的基础) our theories of human exchange and enquiry. It also exists in Scotland itself in an educational tradition that combines academic excellence with orientation (方向).
单选题The director was Ucritical of/U the way we were doing the work.
单选题According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true of the football game?
单选题Australia is one of the biggest winners from globalization.
单选题Clearly, he will win the game.A. LikelyB. PossibleC. ObviouslyD. Strangely
单选题He talks tough but has a {{U}}tender{{/U}} heart.
A. heavy
B. strong
C. kind
D. wild
单选题She is a
highly
successful teacher.
单选题
Why So Many Children
In many of the developing countries in Africa and Asia, the population is
growing fast. The reason for this is simple: Women in these countries have a
high birth rate--from 3.0 to 7.0 children per woman. The majority of these women
are poor, without the food or resources to care for their families. Why do they
have so many children? Why don't they limit the size of their families? The
answer may be that they often have no choice. There are several reasons for
this. One reason is economic. In a traditional agricultural economy, large
families are helpful. Having more children means having more workers in the
fields and someone to take care of the parents in old age. In an industrial
economy, the situation is different. Many children do not help a family;
Instead, they are an expense. Thus, industrialization has generally brought down
the birth rate. This was the case in Italy, which was industrialized quite
recently and rapidly. In the early part of the twentieth century, Italy was a
poor, largely agricultural country with a high birth rate. After World War Ⅱ,
Italy's economy was rapidly modernized and industrialized. By the end of the
century, the birth rate had dropped to 1.3 children per woman, the world's
lowest. However, the economy is not the only important factor
that influences birth rate. Saudi Arabia, for example, does not have an
agriculture-based economy, and it has one of the highest per capita incomes in
the world. Nevertheless, it also has a very high birth rate (7.0). Mexico and
Indonesia, on the other hand, are poor countries, with largely agricultural
economies, but they have recently reduced their population growth.
Clearly, other factors are involved. The most important of these is the
condition of women. A high birth rate almost always goes together with lack of
education and low status for women. This would explain the high birth rate of
Saudi Arabia. There, the traditional culture gives women little education or
independence and few possibilities outside the home. On the other hand, the
improved condition of women in Mexico, Thailand, and Indonesia explains the
decline in birth rates in these countries. Their governments have taken measures
to provide more education and opportunities for women. Another
key factor in the birth rate is birth control. Women may want to limit their
families but have no way to do so. In countries where governments have made
birth control easily available and inexpensive, birth rates have gone down. This
is the case in Singapore, Sri Lanka, and India, as well as in Indonesia,
Thailand, Mexico, and Brazil. In these countries, women have also been provided
with health care and help in planning their families. These
trends show that an effective program to reduce population growth does not have
to depend on better economic conditions. It can be effective if it aims to help
women and meet their needs. Only then, in fact, does it have any real chance of
success.
单选题Since the Great Depression, the United States government has protected farmers from
damaging
drops in grain prices.
单选题Find Yourself Packing It On? Blame Friends Obesity can spread from person to person, much like a virus, researchers are reporting today. When one person gains weight, close friends tend to gain weight, too. Their study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, involved a detailed analysis of a large social network of 12,067 people who had been closely followed for 32 years, from 1971 to 2003. The investigators knew who was friends with whom as well as who was a spouse or sibling or neighbor, and they knew how much each person weighed at various times over three decades. That let them reconstruct what happened over the years as individuals became obese. Did their friends also become obese? Did family members? Or neighbors? The answer, the researchers report, was that people were most likely to become obese when a friend became obese. That increased a person's chances of becoming obese by 57 percent. There was no effect when a neighbor gained or lost weight, however, and family members had less influence than friends. It did not even matter if the friend was hundreds of miles away, the influence remained. And the greatest influence of all was between close mutual friends. There, if one became obese, the other had a 171 percent increased chance of becoming obese, too. The same effect seemed to occur for weight loss, the investigators say. But since most people were gaining, not losing, over the 32 years, the result was, on average, that people grew fatter. Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis, a physician and professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School and a principal investigator in the new study, said one explanation was that friends affected each others' perception of fatness. When a close friend becomes obese, obesity may not look so bad. "You change your idea of what is an acceptable body type by looking at the people around you," Dr. Christakis said. The investigators say their findings can help explain why Americans have become fatter in recent years--each person who became obese was likely to drag along some friends. Their analysis was unique, Dr. Christakis said, because it moved beyond a simple analysis of one person and his or her social contacts and instead examined an entire social network at once, looking at how a person's friend's friends, or a spouse's sibling's friends, could have an influence on a person's weight. The effects, he said, "highlight the importance of a spreading process, a kind of social contagion, that spreads through the network." Of course, the investigators say, social networks are not the only factors that affect body weight. There is a strong genetic component at work, too. Science has shown that individuals have genetically determined ranges of weights, spanning perhaps 30 or so pounds for each person. But that leaves a large role for the environment in determining whether a person's weight is near the top of his or her range or near the bottom. As people have gotten fatter, it appears that many are edging toward the top of their ranges. The question has been why. If the new research is correct, it may say that something in the environment seeded what some call an obesity epidemic, making a few people gain weight. Then social networks let the obesity spread rapidly.
单选题I
grabbed
his arm and made him turn to look at me.
单选题A lamp was
suspended
from the ceiling.______
单选题Why didn't Madoff have to go on trial?
单选题If you want to start a business, it is essential for you to raise more capitals.A. moneyB. investmentsC. savingsD. income
单选题He has trouble understanding that other people judge him by his social skills and
conduct
.
单选题The dentist has decided to
take out
the girl"s bad tooth.
单选题We are
sure
that he will get over his illness.
单选题He inspired many young people to take up the sportA. encouragedB. allowedC. calledD. advised
单选题I {{U}}propose{{/U}} that we discuss this at the next meeting.