单选题New Product Will Save Lives Drinking water that looks clean may still contain bugs (电子), which can cause illness. A small company called Genera Technologies has produced a testing method in three stages, which shows whether water is safe. The new test shows if water needs chemicals added to it, to destroy anything harmful. It was invented by scientist Dr. Adrian Parton, who started Genera five years ago. He and his employees have developed the test together with a British water company. Andy Headland, Genera"s marketing director, recently presented the test at a conference in the USA and forecast good American sales for it. Genera has already sold 11 of its tests at $42,500 a time in the UK and has a further four on order. It expects to sell another 25 tests before the end of March. The company says it is the only test in the UK to be approved by the government. Genera was formed five years ago and until October last year had only five employees. It now employs 14. Mr. Headland believes that the company should make around $19 million by the end of the year in the UK alone.

单选题{{B}}第三篇{{/B}} {{B}} "Salty" Rice Plant Boosts Harvests{{/B}} British scientists are breeding a new generation of rice plants that will be able to grow in soil containing salt water. Their work may enable abandoned farms to become productive once more. Tim Flowers and Tony Yeo, from Sussex University's School of Biological Sciences, have spent several years researching how crops, such as rice, could be made to grow in water that has become salty. The pair have recently begun a three-year programme, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, to establish which genes enable some plants to survive salty conditions. The aim is to breed this capability into crops, starting with rice. It is estimated that each year more than 1Om hectares (公顷) of agricultural land are lost because salt gets into the soil and stunts (妨碍生长) plants. The problem is caused by several factors. In the tropics, mangroves (红树林) that create swamps (沼泽) and traditionally formed barriers to sea water have been cut down. In the Mediterranean, a series of droughts have caused the water table to drop, allowing sea water to seep (渗透) in. In Latin America, irrigation often causes problems when water is evaporated (蒸发) by the heat, leaving salt deposits behind. Excess salt then enters the plants and prevents them functioning normally. Heavy concentrations of minerals in the plants stop them drawing up the water they need to survive. To overcome these problems, Flowers and Yeo decided to breed rice plants that take in very little salt and store what they do absorb in cells that do not affect the plants' growth. They 'have started to breed these characteristics into a new rice crop, but it will take about eight harvests before' the resulting seeds are ready to be considered for commercial use. Once the characteristics for surviving salty soil are known, Flowers and Yeo will try to breed the appropriate genes into all manners of crops and plants. Land that has been abandoned to nature will then be able to bloom again, providing much needed food in the poorer countries of the world.

单选题China did not take IMF advice.

单选题The study also notes a steady decline in the number of college students taking science courses.A. continuousB. relativeC. generalD. sharp

单选题I hate his adopting an air of importance when he is talked to.

单选题For urban areas this approach was {{U}}wholly{{/U}} inadequate.

单选题One-room Schools One-room schools are part of the heritage of the United States, and the mention of them makes people feel a vague long for the way things were. One-room schools are an endangered species, however. For more than a hundred years, one-room schools have been systematically shut down and their students sent away to centralized schools. As recently as 1930 there were 149,000 one-room schools in the United States. By 1970 there were 1,800. Today, of nearly 800 remaining one-room schools, more than 350 are in Nebraska. The rest are scattered through a few other states that have on their road maps wide-open spaces between towns. Now that there are hardly any left, educators are beginning to think that maybe there is something yet to be learned from one-room schools, something that served the pioneers that might serve as well today. Progressive educators have come up with progressive-sounding names like "peer-group teaching" and "multi-age grouping" for educational procedures that occur naturally in the one-room schools. In a one-room school the children teach each other because the teacher is busy part of the time teaching someone else. A fourth grader can work at a fifth-grade level in math and a third-grade level in English without the stigma associated with being left back or the pressures of being skipped ahead. A youngster with a learning disability can find his or her own level without being separated from the other pupils. In larger urban and suburban schools today, this is called "main streaming." A few hours in a small school that has only one classroom and it becomes clear why so many parents feel that one of the advantages of living in Nebraska is that their children have to go to a one-room school.

单选题The index is the government"s chief gauge of future economic activity.

单选题The Beginning of American Literature American has always been a land of beginnings. After Europeans "discovered" America in the fifteenth century, the mysterious New World became for many people a genuine hope of a new life, an escape from poverty and persecution, a chance to start again. We can say that, as nation, America begins with that hope. When, however, does American literature begin? American literature begins with American experiences. Long before the first colonists arrived, before Christopher Columbus, before the Northmen who "found" America about the year 1,000, Native Americans lived here. Each tribe's literature was tightly woven into the fabric of daily life and reflected the unmistakably American experience of lining with the land. Another kind of experience, one filled with fear and excitement, found its expression in the reports that Columbus and other explorers sent home in Spain, French and English. In addition, the journals of the people who lived and died in the New England wilderness tell unforgettable tales of hard and sometimes heartbreaking experiences of those early years. Experience, then, is the key to early American literature. The New World provided a great variety of experiences, and these experiences demanded a wide variety of expressions by an even wider variety of early American writers. These writers included John Smith, who spent only two-and-a-half years on the American continent. They included Jonathan Edwards and William Byrd, who thought of themselves as British subjects, never suspecting a revolution that would create a United States of America with a literature of its own. American Indians, explorers, Puritan ministers, frontier wives, plantation owner--they are all the creators of the first American literature.

单选题Universities usually give diplomas or certificates to students who complete course requirements a{{U}}dequately{{/U}}.

单选题Fermi Problem On a Monday morning in July, the world's first atom bomb exploded in the New Mexico desert. Forty seconds later, the shook waves reached the base camp where the Italian-American physicist Enrico Fezmi and his team stood. After a mental calculation, Fermi announced to his team that the bomb's energy had equated 10,000 tons of TNT. The bomb team was impressed, but not surprised. Fermi's genius was known throughout the scientific world. In 1938 he had won a Nobel Prize. Four years later he produced the first nuclear chain reaction, leading us into the nuclear age. Since Fermi's death in 1954, no physicist has been at once a master experimentalist and a leading theoretician. Like all virtuosos (大师), Fermi had a distinctive style. He preferred the most direct route to an answer. He was very good at dividing difficult problems into small, manageable bits talent we all can use in our daily lives. To develop this talent in his students, Fermi would suggest a type of question now known as a Fermi problem. Upon first hearing one of these, you haven't the remotest notion of the answer, and you feel certain that too little information had been given to solve it. Yet when the problem is broken into sub-problems, each answerable without the help of experts or books, you can come close to the exact solution. Suppose you want to determine Earth's circumference without looking it up. Everyone knows that New York and Los Angeles are about 3,000 miles apart and that the time difference between them is three hours. Three hours is one-eighth of a day, and a day is the time it takes the planet to complete one rotation, so its circumference must be eight times 3000 or 24000 miles. This answer differs from the true value, 24,902.45 miles, by less than four percent. Ultimately the value of dealing with everyday problems the way Fermi did lies in the rewards of making independent discoveries and inventions. It doesn't matter whether the discovery is as important as determining the power of an atom or as small as measuring the distance between New York and Los Angeles. Looking up the answer, or letting someone else find it deprives you of the pleasure and pride that accompany creativity, and deprives you of an experience that builds up self-confide. Thus, approaching personal dilemmas as Fermi problems can become a habit that enriches your life.

单选题"Salty" Rice Plant Boosts Harvests British scientists are breeding a new generation of rice plants that will be able to grow in soil containing salt water. Their work may enable abandoned farms to become productive once more. Tim Flowers and Tony Yeo, from Sussex University's School of Biological Sciences, have spent several years researching how crops, such as rice, could be made to grow in water that has become salty. The pair have recently begun a three-year programme, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, to establish which genes enable some plants to survive salty conditions. The aim is to breed this capability into crops, starting with rice. It is estimated that each year more than 100 hectares (公顷) of agricultural land are lost because salt gets into the soil and stunts (妨碍生长) plants. The problem is caused by several factors. In the tropics, mangroves (红树林) that create swamps (沼泽) and traditionally formed barriers to sea water have been cut down. In the Mediterranean, a series of droughts have caused the water table to drop, allowing sea water to seep (渗透) in. In Latin America, irrigation often causes problems when water is evaporated (蒸发) by the heat, leaving salt deposits behind. Excess salt then enters the plants and prevents them functioning normally. Heavy concentrations of minerals in the plants stop them drawing up the water they need to survive. To overcome these problems, Flowers and Yeo decided to breed rice plants that take in very little salt and store what they do absorb in cells that do not affect the plants' growth. They have started to breed these characteristics into a new rice crop, but it will take about eight harvests before the resulting seeds are ready to be considered for commercial use. Once the characteristics for surviving salty soil are known, Flowers and Yeo will try to breed the appropriate genes into all manners of crops and plants. Land that has been abandoned to nature will then be able to bloom again, providing much needed food in the poorer countries of the world.

单选题Fainting, or a temporary loss of consciousness, may be brought about by an insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain. A．inappropriate B．inadequate C．unstable D．undiluted

单选题Hold the torch steady so I can see better.A. continuousB. quickC. firmD. exceptional

单选题She wore a Ugorgeous/U Victorian gown which was said to be worth thousands of dollars.

单选题The boy is intelligent. A. clever B. naughty C. difficult D. active

单选题What did the couch represent?

单选题Besides financial and marketing challenges, you must know how_____.

单选题When Fear Takes Control of the Mind A panic attack is a sudden feeling of terror. Usually it does not last long, but it may feel like forever. The cause can be something as normally uneventful as driving over a bridge or flying in an airplane. And it can happen even if the person has driven over many bridges or flown many times before. A fast heartbeat. Sweaty hands. Difficulty breathing. A light-headed feeling. At first a person may have no idea what is wrong. But these can all be signs of what is known as panic disorder. The first appearance usually is between the ages of 18 and 25. In some cases it develops after a tragedy, like the death of a loved one, or some other difficult situation. In the United States, the National Institute of Mental Health says more than two million people are affected in any one-year period. The American Psychological Association says panic disorder is two times more likely in women than men. And it can last anywhere from a few months to a lifetime. Panic attacks can be dangerous—for example, if a person is driving at the time. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge in the state of Maryland is so long and so high over the water, it is famous for searing motorists. There is even a driver assistance program to help people get across. Some people who suffer a panic attack develop a phobia, a deep fear of ever repeating the activity that brought on the attack. But experts say panic disorder can be treated. Doctors might suggest anti-anxiety or antidepressant medicines. Talking to a counselor could help a person learn to deal with or avoid a panic attack. There are breathing methods, for example, that might help a person calm down. Panic disorder is included among what mental health professionals call anxiety disorders. A study published last week reported a link between anxiety disorders and several physical diseases. It says these include thyroid disease, lung and stomach problems, arthritis, migraine headaches and allergic conditions. Researchers at the University of Manitoba in Canada say that in most cases the physical condition follows the anxiety disorder. But, they say, exactly how the two are connected remains unknown. The report in the Archives of Internal Medicine came from a German health study of more than 4,000 adults.

单选题请根据短文内容为每处空白确定1个最佳选项。 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　{{B}}Gun Rights in the US{{/B}} Immediately after the shooting at Virginia Tech University, Americans gathered to mourn (致哀) the dead. The president and the state governor both hurried there to share the {{U}}(51) {{/U}}. But the majority of Americans still cling to their right to {{U}} (52) {{/U}}weapons. Strictly speaking, the US is not the only country {{U}}(53) {{/U}} gun violence has destroyed lives, families and communities in everyday circumstance. But the US is one of the {{U}}(54) {{/U}} countries that seem unwilling and politically incapable of doing anything serious to stop it. In countries like Britain and Canada, the government adopted stricter {{U}}(55) {{/U}} control soon after serious gun violence incidents. US leaders, however, are held {{U}}(56) {{/U}}by the gun lobby (院外活动集团) and the electoral (选举) system. The powerful National Rifle Association, the major supporter of gun {{U}}(57) {{/U}}in the US, is too strong for any party to take on. Most Republicans oppose gun control anyway. {{U}}(58) {{/U}}the years, the Democrats have found that they can either campaign for gun control or win power, not {{U}}(59) {{/U}} ;they prefer power. According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics, firearm (火器) incidents accounted {{U}}(60) {{/U}} nine percent of the 4.7 million violent crimes in 2005. So, although opinion polls show most Americans want stricter gun laws, many don't want to give up their arms they {{U}}(61) {{/U}}to protect themselves. Dave Hancock, a Virginia gun lover, is one example. In an interview he said, "If one professor in the Virginia incident had been carrying a legal weapon, they might have been able to {{U}}(62) {{/U}}ai1 this." In his opinion, the massacre (大屠杀) is an argument for more people to carry weapons, not fewer. But at the root of Americans' clinging to the right to bear arms is not just a fear of crime, but a mistrust of {{U}}(63) {{/U}} ,commented UK's Guardian newspaper. One Virginia resident, who had a permit to carry a concealed (隐藏的) firearm, told the Guardian that it was {{U}}(64) {{/U}} American's responsibility to have a gun. "Each person," he said, "should not rely solely {{U}}(65) {{/U}} the government for protection."