单选题The finance minister has not been so
popular
since he raised taxes to such a high level.
单选题Oil and Economy
Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supply-cuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $26 a barrel, up from less than $10 last December. This near-tripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shock, when prices quadrupled, and 1979-1980, when they also almost tripled. Both previous shocks resulted in double-digit inflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this time?
The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth, at the same time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price higher still in the short term.
Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to four-fifths of the retail price, so even quite big changes in the price of crude oil have a more muted effect on pump prices than in the past.
Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so less sensitive to swings in the oil price. Energy conservation, a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy, energy-intensive industries have reduced oil consumption. Software, consultancy and mobile telephones use far less oil than steel or ear production. For each dollar of GDP (inconstant prices) rich economies now use nearly 50% less oil than in 1973. The OECD estimates in its latest
Economic Outlook
that, if oil prices averaged $22 a barrel for a full year, compared with $13 in 1998, this would increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only 0.25%-0.5% of GDP. That is less than one-quarter of the income loss in 1974 or 1980. On the other hand, oil-importing emerging economies—to which heavy industry has shifted—have become more energy-intensive, and so could be more seriously squeezed.
One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is that, unlike the rises in the 1970s, it has not occurred against the background of general commodity-price inflation and global excess demand. A sizable portion of the world is only just emerging from economic decline.
The Economist"s
commodity price index is broadly unchanging from a year ago. In 1973 commodity prices jumped by 70%, and in 1979 by almost 30%.
单选题My teacher always inspires me to do what I prefer.A. teachesB. asksC. encouragesD. insists
单选题The good harvest
lowered
the price of strawberries.
单选题The river widens considerably as it begins to turn east.
单选题Tanning by the sun takes place because sunlight stimulates the skin to produce the pigment melanin.
单选题In paragraph 2,the phrase“come down with’’could be best replaced by
单选题Your dog needs at least 20 minutes of
vigorous
exercise every day.
单选题The Northern Lights
The sun is stormy and has its own kind of weather. It is so hot and active that even the Sun"s gravity cannot hold its atmosphere in check! Energy flows away from the Sun toward the Earth in a stream of electrified particles that move at speeds around a million miles per hour. These particles are called plasma, and the stream of plasma coming from the Sun is called the solar wind. The more active the Sun, the stronger the solar wind.
The solar wind constantly streams toward the Earth, but don"t worry because a protective magnetic field surrounds our planet. The same magnetic field that makes your compass point north also steers the particles from the Sun to the north and south poles. The charged particles become trapped in magnetic belts around the Earth. When a large blast of solar wind crashes into the Earth"s magnetic field, the magnetic field first gets squeezed and then the magnetic field lines break and reconnect.
The breaking and reconnecting of the magnetic field lines can cause atomic particles called electrons trapped in the belts to fall into the Earth"s atmosphere at the poles. As the electrons fall into the Earth, they collide with gas molecules in the atmosphere, creating flashes of light in the sky. Each atmospheric gas glows a different color. Oxygen and nitrogen glows red and green and nitrogen glows violet-purple. As these various colors glow and dance in the night sky, they create the Northern Lights and the Southern Lights.
Watching auroras is fun and exciting, but normally you can only see them in places far north like Alaska and Canada. The movement of the aurora across the sky is usually slow enough to easily follow with your eyes but they can also pulsate, flicker, or even move like waves. During solar maximum, auroras are seen as far south as Florida, even Mexico!
Auroras often seem to be very close to the ground, but the lowest aurora is still about 100 kilometers above the ground, a distance much higher than clouds are formed or airplanes can fly. A typical aurora band can be thousands of kilometers long, a few hundred kilometers high, but only a few hundred meters thick.
We hope you are able to travel to far-north places like the Arctic Circle and see the Northern Lights at least once during your lifetime. We know you will never forget it!
单选题He is{{U}} renowned{{/U}} for his skill.
单选题Why Not Eat Breakfast? Breakfast is not only the most important meal of the day, it is also the most neglected or skipped. Common reasons for not eating breakfast include lack of time, not feeling hungry, traditional dislike for breakfast, and dieting. Breakfast simply means "break the fast". Your body spends at least six to twelve hours each night in a fasting state. In the morning your body needs energy to rev up(转动起来)into high gear for the day's work ahead. If you skip breakfast, you are likely to concentrate less effectively in the late morning, feel irritable, short-tempered(易怒的), tired,or weak. When you choose not to eat breakfast, your body stays in slow gear. Also, people who skip breakfast often binge(无节制的在吃) later in the day at other meals or eat a high-calorie (高卡里路)snack in the morning. Breakfast eaters tend toeat less fat during the day, have more strength and endurance and better concentration and problem-solving ability. A good breakfast should provide up to 1/3 of your total calorie needs for the day. On the average, we eat 400 less calories for breakfast than for dinner. If breakfast doesn't appeal to you in the morning, try eating a lighter-dinner, earlier in the evening or save half your dinner for breakfast in the morning. If you still aren't hungry in the morning, start with something small like juice or toast or have a mid-morning snack later when you are hungry. Not eating breakfast can also cause you to overeat, since a fall in blood sugar often makes you feel very hungry later. To make matters worse, since your body is in a slowed state, it will not be able to burn those extra calories very efficiently. If you feed your body healthy snacks and meals throughout the day, you are less likely to become extremely hungry and stuff yourself as soon as you begin to eat. Since breakfast is the first and most important meal of the day, choosing the right fuel is important. The best breakfast foods are fruits, juice, lean meat, and grain products such as breads, rice, noodles, and cereals.
单选题He confesses that he has done it. A. agrees B. alleges C. admits D. answers
单选题下面的短文后列出了7个句子,请根据短文的内容对每个句子做出判断:如果该句提供的是正确信息,请选择A;如果该句提供的是错误信息,请选择B;如果该句的信息文中没有提及,请选择C。
A Pay Rise or Not
"Unless I get a rise, I'll have a talk with the boss, Henry Manley.
"George Strong said to himself. George liked his job and he liked the town he
lived in, but his wife kept telling him that his pay was not enough to meet the
needs of the family. That was why he was thinking of taking a job in Birmingham,
a nearby city about 50 miles away. He had been offered a job in a factory there,
and the pay was far better. George lived in Wyeford, a
medium-sized town. He really liked the place and didn't like the idea of moving
somewhere else, but if he took the job in Birmingham, he would have to move his
family there. Henry Manley was the manager of a small company
manufacturing electric motors. The company was in deep trouble because, among
other reasons, the Japanese were selling such things at very low prices. As a
result, Manley had to cut his own prices and profits as well. Otherwise he would
not get any orders at all. Even then, orders were still not coming in fast
enough, so that there was no money for raises (加工资) for his workers. Somehow, he
had to struggle along and keep his best workers as well. He sighed. Just then
the phone rang. His secretary told him that George Strong wanted
to see him as soon as possible. Manley sighed again. He could guess what it was
about. George Strong was a very young engineer. The company had no future unless
it could attract and keep men like him. Manley rubbed his forehead (前额), his
problems seemed endless.
单选题If you want to keep healthy, you should
vary
the foods you eat.
单选题Medicine depends on other fields for basic information,
particularly
some of their specialized branches. ______
单选题The new style of shoes appeals to those students. A. arises B. absorbs C. attracts D. accepts
单选题The Only Way Is Up
Think of a modern city and the first image that comes to mind is the skyline. It is full of great buildings, pointing like fingers to heaven. It is true that some cities don"t permit buildings to go above a certain height. But these are cities concerned with the past. The first thing any city does when it wants to tell the world that it has arrived is to build skyscrapers.
When people gather together in cities, they create a demand for land. Since cities are places where money is made, that demand can be met. And the best way to make money out of city land is to put as many people as possible in a space that covers the smallest amount of ground. That means building upwards.
The technology existed to do this as early as the 19th century. But the height of buildings was limited by one important factor. They had to be small enough for people on the top floors to climb stairs. People could not be expected to climb a mountain at the end of their journey to work, or home.
Elisha Otis, a US inventor, was the man who brought us the lift—or elevator, as he preferred to call it. However, most of the technology is very old. Lifts work using the same pulley system the Egyptians used to create the Pyramids. What Otis did was attach the system to a steam engine and develop the elevator brake, which stops the lift falling if the cords that hold it up are broken. It was this that did the most to gain public confidence in the new invention. In fact, he spent a number of years exhibiting lifts at fairgrounds, giving people the chance to try them out before selling the idea to architects and builders.
A lift would not be a very good theme park attraction now. Going in a lift is such an everyday thing that it would just be boring. Yet psychologists and others who study human behavior find lifts fascinating. The reason is simple. Scientists have always studied animals in zoos. The nearest they can get to that with humans is in observing them in lifts.
"It breaks all the usual conventions about the bubble of personal space we carry around with us—and you just can"t choose to move away," says workplace psychologist, Gary Fitzgibbon. "Being trapped in this setting can create different types of tensions," he says. Some people are scared of them. Others use them as an opportunity to get close to the boss. Some stand close to the door. Others hide in the comers. Most people try and shrink into the background. But some behave in a way that makes others notice them. There are a few people who just stand in a comer taking notes.
Don"t worry about them. They are probably from a university.
单选题Alice is a {{U}}fascinating{{/U}} girl.
A. a beautiful
B. a pretty
C. an attractive
D. a pleasant
单选题What is the author’s attitude toward DNA testing?
单选题He was rather
vague
about the reasons why he never finished school.
