单选题It is highly unlikely that she will arrive today.

单选题{{B}}第二篇{{/B}} {{B}}Pushbike Peril{{/B}} Low speed bicycle crashes can badly injure — or even kill — children if they fall onto the ends of the handlebars so a team of engineers is redesigning the humble handlebar in a bid to make it safer. Kristy Arbogast, a bioengineer at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, began the project with her colleagues after a study of serious abdominal injuries in children in the past 30 years showed that more than a third were caused by bicycle accidents. "the task was to identify how the injuries occurred and come up with some countermeasures." she says. By interviewing the children and their parents, Arbogast and her team were able to reconstruct many of the accidents and identified a common mechanism responsible for serious injures. They discovered that most occur when children hit an obstacle at a slow speed, causing them to topple over. To maintain their balance they turn the handlebars through 90 degrees — but their momentum forces them into the end of the handlebars. The bike then falls over and the other end of the handlebars hits the ground, ramming it into their abdomen. The solution the group came up with is a handgrip fitted with a spring and damping system. The spring absorbs up to 50 per cent of the forces transmitted through the handlebars in an impact. The group hopes to commercialize the device, which should add only a few dollars to the cost of a bike. "But our task has been one of education because up until now, bicycle manufacturer were unaware of the problem," says Arbogast. The team has also approached the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to try to persuade manufacturers to adopt the new design a decision is expected later this year. handlebar n (常用复数)(自行车等的)车把 abdominal adj腹部的 bioengineer n.生物工程师 countermeasure n.对策 abdomen n.膜，腹部 momentum n.冲力 handgrip n.握柄 damping adj.制动的，减速的，缓冲的 commercialize vt.使商品化

单选题The sports meeting was put off because of the heavy rain.A. put downB. put outC. delayedD. cancelled

单选题{{B}}第三篇{{/B}} The School Close When school officials in Kalkaska, Michigan, closed classes last week, the media flocked to the story, portraying the town's 2,305 students as victims of stingy (吝啬的) taxpayers. There is some truth to that: the property-tax rate here is one-third lower than the state average. But shutting their schools also swallowed Kalkaska's educators and the state's largest teachers' union, the Michigan Education Association, to make a political point. Their aim was to spur passage of legislation Michigan lawmakers are debating to increase the state's share of school funding It was no coincidence that Kalkaska shut its schools two weeks after reduced a 28 percent property-tax increase. The school board argued that without the increase it lacked the $ 1.5 million needed to keep schools open. But the school system had not done all it could to keep the schools open. Officials declined to borrow against next year's state aid, they refused to trim extracurricular activities and they did not consider seeking a smaller-perhaps more acceptable-tax increase. In fact, closing early is costing Kalkaska a significant amount, including 4600,000 in unemployment payments to teachers and staff and $ 250,000 in lost state subsidy. In February, the school system promised teachers and staff two months of retirement payments in case schools closed early, a deal that will cost the district $ 275,000 more. Other signs suggest school authorities were at least as eager to make a political statement as to keep schools open. The Michigan Education Association hired a public relations firm to stage a rally marking the school closings, which attracted 14 local and national television stations and networks. The president of the National Education Association, the MEA's parent organization, flew from Washington D. C. , for the event. And to union tutored school officials in the art of television interviews. School supervisor Doyle Disbrow acknowledges the district could have kept schools open by cutting programs but denies the moves were politically motivated. Michigan lawmakers have reacted angrily to the closings. The state Senate has already voted to put the system into receivership (破产管理) and reopen schools immediately; The Michigan House Plans to consider the bill this week.

单选题What a juicy morsel it is!

单选题Relief workers were shocked by what they saw.

单选题The fuel tanks had a capacity of 140 liters. A．function B．ability C．power D．volume

单选题She will be very pleased to meet you.

单选题When Jack eventually {{U}}overtook{{/U}} the last truck he pulled over to the inside lane. A. skipped B. passed C. reached D. led

单选题The project required ten years of diligent research.A. hardworkingB. socialC. basicD. scientific

单选题I won"t tolerate that kind of behavior.

单选题 Symbolic Process The process by means of which human beings arbitrarily make certain things stand for other things many be called the symbolic process. Everywhere we turn, we see the symbolic process at work. There are {{U}} {{U}} 1 {{/U}} {{/U}}things men do or want to do, possess or want to possess, that have not a symbolic value. Almost all fashionable clothes are {{U}} {{U}} 2 {{/U}} {{/U}}symbolic, so is food. We {{U}} {{U}} 3 {{/U}} {{/U}}our furniture to serve {{U}} {{U}} 4 {{/U}} {{/U}}visible symbols of our taste, wealth, and social position. We often choose our houses {{U}} {{U}} 5 {{/U}} {{/U}}the basis of a feeling that it "looks well" to have a "good address." We trade perfectly good cars in for {{U}} {{U}} 6 {{/U}} {{/U}}models not always to get better transportation, but to give {{U}} {{U}} 7 {{/U}} {{/U}}to the community that we can {{U}} {{U}} 8 {{/U}} {{/U}}it. Such complicated and apparently. {{U}} {{U}} 9 {{/U}} {{/U}}behavior leads philosophers to ask over and over again, "why can't human beings {{U}} {{U}} 10 {{/U}} {{/U}}simply and naturally." Often the complexity of human life makes us look enviously at the relative {{U}} {{U}} 11 {{/U}} {{/U}}of such live as dogs and cats. Simply, the fact that symbolic process makes complexity possible is no {{U}} {{U}} 12 {{/U}} {{/U}}for wanting to {{U}} {{U}} 13 {{/U}} {{/U}}to a cat and to a cat-and-dog existence. A better solution is to understand the symbolic process {{U}} {{U}} 14 {{/U}} {{/U}}instead of being its slaves we become, to some degree at least, its {{U}} {{U}} 15 {{/U}} {{/U}}.

单选题After supper we usually take a {{U}}stroll{{/U}} around the park for about an hour. A. walk B. rest C. bath D. breath

单选题Avalanche and Its Safety An avalanche(崩) is a sudden and rapid flow of snow, often mixed with air and water, down a mountainside. Avalanches are 1 the biggest dangers in the mountains for both life and property. All avalanches are caused by an over-burden of material, typically snowpack(积场), that is too massive and unstable for the slope 2 supports it. Determining the critical load, the amount of over-burden which is 3 to cause an avalanche, 4 a complex task involving the evaluation of a number of factors. Terrain slopes flatter than 25 degrees or steeper than 60 degrees typically have a low 5 of avalanche. Snow does not 6 significantly on steep slopes; also, snow does not 7 easily on flat slopes. Human-triggered avalanches have the greatest incidence when the snow"s angle of rest is 8 35 and 45 degrees; the critical angle, the angle at which the human incidence of avalanches is greatest, is 38 degrees. The rule of thumb is: A slope that is 9 enough to hold snow but steep enough to ski has the potential to generate an avalanche, regardless of the angle. Additionally, avalanche risk increases with 10 ; that is, the more a slope is disturbed by skiers, the more likely it is that an avalanche will occur. Due to the complexity of the subject, winter travelling in the backcountry is never 100% safe. Good avalanche safety is a continuous 11 , including route selection and examination of the snowpack, weather 12 , and human factors. Several well-known good habits can also 13 the risk. If local authorities issue avalanche risk reports, they should be considered and all warnings should be paid 14 to. Never follow in the tracks of others without your own evaluations; snow conditions are almost certain to have changed since they were made. Observe the terrain and note obvious avalanche paths where plants are 15 or damaged. Avoid travelling below others who might trigger an avalanche.

单选题These programs are of immense value to old people.A. naturalB. fatalC. tinyD. enormous

单选题We explored the possibility of expansion at the conference.A. investigatedB. offeredC. includedD. accepted

单选题Paper or Plastic? Take a walk along the Chesapeake Bay, and you are likely to see plastic bags floating in the water. They have made their (51) into local waterways and, from there, into the bay, where they can (52) wildlife. Piles of them show up in landfills (垃圾填埋地) and on city streets. Plastic bags also take an environmental toll (代价) in the (53) of millions of barrels of oil expended every year to produce them. Enter Annapolis and you will, see plastic bags (54) free in department stores and supermarkets. Alderman (市议员) Sam Shropshire has introduced a well-meaning (55) to ban retailers from distributing plastic shopping bags in Maryland's capital. instead, retailers would be required to (56) bags made of recycled paper and to sell reusable bags. The city of Baltimore is (57) a similar measure. Opponents of the (58) , however, argue that paper bags are harmful, too: They cost more to make, they (59) more resources to transport, and recycling them causes more pollution than recycling plastic. The argument for depriving Annapolis residents (60) their plastic bags is far from accepted. Everyone in this (61) is right about one thing: Disposable shopping bags of any type are wasteful, and the best outcome would be for customers to (62) bags instead. Annapolis's mayor is investigating how to hand out free, reusable shopping bags to city residents, a proposal that can proceed (63) of whether other bags are banned. A less-expensive alternative ,would be to encourage retailers to give (64) to customers Who bring their own reusable bags. And this policy would be more (65) if stores imitated furniture mega-retailer (超大零售商). Ikea and charged for disposable bags at the checkout counter. A broad ban on the use of plastic shopping bags is not the answer.

单选题He is renowned for his perfect performance in the movie.

单选题Underground Coal Fires -- a Looming Catastrophe Coal burning deep underground in China, India and Indonesia is threatening the environment and human life, scientists have warned. These large-scale underground blazes cause the ground temperature to heat up and kill surrounding vegetation, produce greenhouse gases and can even ignite forest fires, a panel of scientists told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver. The resulting release of poisonous elements like arsenic and mercury can also pollute local water sources and soils, they warned. "Coal fires are a global catastrophe," said Associate Professor Glenn Stracher of East Georgia College in Swainsboro, USA. But surprisingly few people know about them. Coal can heat up on its own, and eventually catch fire and burn, if there is a continuous oxygen supply. The heat produced is not caused to disappear and under the right combinations of sunlight and oxygen, can trigger spontaneous catching fire and burning. This can occur underground, in coal stockpiles, abandoned mines or even as coal is transported. Such fires in China consume up to 200 million tones of coal per year, delegates were told. In comparison, the U.S. economy consumes about one billion tones of coal annually, said Stracher, whose analysis of the likely impact of coal fires has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Coal Ecology. Once underway, coal fires can bum for decades, even centuries. In the process, they release large volumes of greenhouse gases, poisonous fumes and black particles into the atmosphere. The members of the panel discussed the impact these fires may be having on global and regional climate change, and agreed that the underground nature of the fires makes them difficult to detect. One of the members of the panel, Assistant Professor Paul Van Dijk of the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation in the Netherlands, has been working with the Chinese government to detect and monitor fires in the northern regions of the country. Ultimately, the remote sensing and other techniques should allow scientists to estimate how much carbon dioxide these fires are emitting. One suggested method of containing the fires was presented by Gary Colaizzi, of the engineering firm Goodson, which has developed a heat-resistant grout (a thin mortar used to fill cracks and crevices), which is designed to be pumped into the coal fire to cut off the oxygen supply.

单选题Brilliantly colored flowers attract insects.