单选题Thirst for Oil Worldwide every day, we devour the energy equivalent of about 200 million barrels of oil. Most of the energy on Earth comes from the Sun. In fact enough energy from the Sun hits the planet"s surface each minute to cover our needs for an entire year, we just need to find an efficient way to use it. So far the energy in oil has been cheaper and easier to get at. But as supplies dwindle, this will change, and we will need to cure our addiction to oil. Burning wood satisfied most energy needs until the steam-driven industrial revolution, when energy-dense coal became the fuel of choice. Coal is still used, mostly in power stations, to cover one-quarter of our energy needs, but its use has been declining since we started pumping up oil. Coal is the least efficient, unhealthiest and most environmentally damaging fossil fuel, but could make a comeback, as supplies are still plentiful; its reserves are five times larger than oil"s. Today petroleum, a mineral oil obtained from below the surface of the Earth and used to produce petrol, diesel oil and various other chemical substances, provides around 40% of the world"s energy needs, mostly fuelling automobiles. The US consumes a quarter of all oil, and generates a similar proportion of greenhouse gas emissions. The majority of oil comes from the Middle East, which has half of known reserves. But other significant sources include Russia, North America, Norway, Venezuela and the North Sea. Alaska"s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could be a major new US source, to reduce reliance on foreign imports. Most experts predict we will exhaust easily accessible reserves within 50 years, though opinions and estimates vary. We could fast reach an energy crisis in the next few decades, when demand exceeds supply. As conventional reserves become more difficult to access others such as oil shales and tar sands may be used instead. Petrol could also be obtained from coal. Since we started using fossil fuels, we have released 400 billion tones of carbon, and burning the entire reserves could eventually raise world temperatures by 13℃. Among other horrors, this would result in the destruction of all rainforests and tile inching of all Arctic ice.

单选题We all think that Mary's husband is a very {{U}}boring{{/U}} person,

单选题The mail I wrote to my mom was delivered this morning. A. received B. lost C. sent D. found

单选题Before herbs were available in supermarkets year-round, herb vinegar was made in the fall.

单选题More than 89 percent of the buildings in Annapolis, Maryland, were erected before the Revolutionary War.

单选题下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题，每道题后面有4个选项。{{B}}第一篇{{/B}}(2002年理工A级阅读理解考题) {{B}}Space-Age Archeology{{/B}} It's a strange partnership, but a very effective one: Satellites and space-shuttle-carried radar are helping archeologists. How? By "seeing" through sand or through treetops to locate important archeological sites. The traditional tools for archeologists are shovels and picks. But high technology is making the archeologist's work and time far more productive. Take for example, the second 1981 flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger. During the mission, a powerful, experimental radar was pointed at a lifeless stretch of desert in Egypt called the Selima Sand Sheet(part of the Sahara Desert). To everyone's surprise, the radar penetrated through the sand to the harder rock beneath. On the surface, there is a little indication that Africa's Sahara Desert was never anything but a desert. When the archeologists studied the radar images, they saw what seemed to be impossible: there was sand-buried landscape that was shaped by flowing water; traces of ancient riverbeds appeared to be over nine miles wide, far wider than most sections of the present-day Nile River. Today, the area is one of the hottest, driest desert in the world. Archeologists dug pits along the old river banks and found clues to the past: stream-rounded pebbles (鹅卵石), Stone-Age axes, broken ostrich (鸵鸟) eggshells, and the shells of land snails. The archeologists were quite pleased with these findings. For years, they'd been finding stone axes scattered through the desert, and couldn't understand why. Now we know that early humans were living on the banks of old rivers, and left their beautiful tools behind. Some are so sharp that you could shave with them. More recently, Landsat 4, a special earth-mapping satellite, aided in the discovery of ancient Mayan ruins in Mexico. Lansat can, with the help of false-color imagery, "see through" much of the area. Armed with these maps, a five-person expedition took to the air in a helicopter. By the end of the second day, the team found a stretch of walled fields that expedition members said look like "old New England fences". They just go on, non-stop, for 40 miles. Later in the week, an ancient village was pinpointed, as was the "lost" city of Oxpemul, once found in the early 1930's but quickly reclaimed by the jungle. The findings made them able to map the extent of the Mayan civilization in about five days. Working on foot, it would have taken at least 100 years.

单选题Marsha confessed that she knew nothing of computer. A. hoped B. admitted C. reported D. answered

单选题The issue ______ at the conference now is very important and it will create a sensation nationwide.A. discussedB. being discussedC. discussingD. to discusss

单选题I propose that we discussed this at the next meeting.

单选题In judging our work you should take into consideration the fact that we have been very busy recently. A．thought B．account C．mind D．brain

单选题The Book of Life So far, scientists have named about 1.8 million living species(物种), and that"s just a small part of what probably exists on Earth. With so many plants, animals, and other creatures covering the planet, it can be tough to figure out what type of spider is moving up your leg or what kind of bird is flying by. A soon-to-be-launched Web site might help. An international team of researchers has announced the creation of Web-based Encyclopedia(百科全书) of Life(EoL). The project aims to catalog every species on Earth in a single, easy-to-use reference guide. To get the encyclopedia started, the creators will use information from scientific databases (数据库) that already exist. And eventually, in special sections of the site, nonscientists with specialized(专门的) knowledge will get to join in. Bird-watchers, for example, will be able to input which birds they"ve seen and where. The technology for this kind of tool has only recently become available. As the EoL develops, you might find it useful for school projects. The site will feature special pages for kids who are studying ecosystems (生态系统) in their neighborhoods. To make sure the encyclopedia is accurate, scientists will review much of the information added to it. People who visit the site will be able to choose to leave out pages that haven"t been reviewed. Another convenient feature of the EoL is that you"ll be able to pick the level of detail you see to match your interests, age, and current knowledge. If you wanted to learn about bears for a science class report, for example, you could use the " novice " setting to get basic information about the animals. On the "expert" setting, on the other hand, you could get much more detailed information about the history, literature, and exploration of bears. It now takes years for scientists to collect all the data they need to describe and analyze species. The creators of the Encyclopedia of Life hope that their new tool will speed that process.

单选题I enjoyed the play—it had a clever plot and very {{U}}funny{{/U}} dialogues. A. boring B. original C. humorous D. long

单选题To live in the Untied States today is to gain an appreciation for Dahrendorf' s assertion that social change exists everywhere. Technology, the application of knowledge for practical ends, is a major source of social change. Yet we would do well to remind ourselves that technology is a human creation; it does not exist naturally. A spear or a robot is as much a cultural as a physical object. Until humans use a spear to hunt game or a robot to produce machine parts, neither is much more than a solid mass of matter. For a bird looking for an object on which to rest, a spear or robot serves the purpose equally well. The explosion of the Challenger space shuttle(挑战者号航天飞机) and the Russian nuclear accident at Chernobyl drive home the human quality of technology; they provide cases in which well-planned systems suddenly went haywire(变得混乱)and there was no ready hand to set them right. Since technology is a human creation, we are responsible for what is done with it. Pessimists worry that we will use our technology eventually to blow our world and ourselves to pieces. But they have been saying this for decades, and so far we have managed to survive and even flourish. Whether we will continue to do so in the years ahead remains uncertain. Clearly, the impact of technology on our lives deserves a closer examination. Few technological developments have had a greater impact on our lives than the computer revolution. Scientists and engineers have designed specialized machines that can do the tasks that once only people could do. There are those who assert that the switch to an informationbased economy is in the same camp as other great historical milestones, particularly the Industrial Revolution. Yet when we ask why the Industrial Revolution was a revolution, we find that it was not the machines. The primary reason why it was a revolutionary is that it led to great social change. It gave rise to mass production and, through mass production, to a society in which wealth was not confined to the few. In somewhat similar fashion, computers promise to revolutionize the structure of American life, particularly as they free the human mind and open new possibilities in knowledge and communication. The industrial Revolution supplemented and replaced the muscles of humans and animals by mechanical methods. The computer extends this development to supplement and replace some aspects of the mind of human beings by electronic methods. It is the capacity of the computer for solving problems and making decisions that represents its greatest potential and that poses the greatest difficulties in predicting the impact on society.

单选题They'd paid a Usubstantial/U bribe to the surgeon in Rio.

单选题On the Trial of the Honey Badger On a recent field trip to the Kalahari Desert, a team of researchers learn a lot more about honey badgers. The team employed a local wildlife expert Kitso Khama to help them locate and follow the badgers across the desert. Their main aim was to study the badgers" movements and behavior as discreetly (谨慎地) as possible without frightening them away or causing them to change their natural behavior. They also planned to trap a few and study them close up before releasing them in view of the animal"s reputation, this was something that even Khama was reluctant to do. "The problem with honey badgers is they are naturally curious animals, especially when they see something new," he says. "That, combined with their unpredictable nature, can be a dangerous mixture. If they sense you have food, for example, they won"t be shy about coming right up to you for something to eat. They"re actually quite sociable creatures around humans, but as soon as they feel they might be in danger, they can become extremely vicious (凶恶的). Fortunately this is rare, but it does happen." The research confirmed many things that were already known. As expected, honey badgers ate any creatures they could catch and kill. Even poisonous snakes, feared and avoided by most other animals, were not safe from them. The researchers were surprised, however, by the animal"s fondness for local melons, probably because of their high water content. Preciously researchers thought that the animal got all of its liquid requirements from its prey (猎物). The team also learnt that, contrary to previous research findings, the badgers occasionally formed loose family groups. They were also able to confirm certain results from previous research, including the fact that female badgers never socialized with each other. Following some of the male badgers was a challenge, since they can cover large distances in a short space of time. Some hunting territories cover more than 500 square kilometers. Although they seem happy to share these territories with other males, they are occasional fights over an important food source, and male badgers can be as aggressive towards each other as they are towards other species. As the badgers became accustomed to the presence of people, it gave the team the chance to get up close to them without being the subject of the animal"s curiosity—or sudden aggression. The badgers" eating patterns, which had been disrupted, returned to normal. It also allowed the team to observe more closely some of the other creatures that form working associations with the honey badger, as these seemed to badgers" relaxed attitude when near humans.

单选题Georgia O’Keeffe’s best-known paintings are those in which she {{U}}magnified{{/U}} flowers or animal skulls to fill the picture.

单选题Irradiating Food Irradiating fruits, vegetables, pork and chicken to kill insects and bacteria has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration over the past decade or so. Irradiation of other meats, such as beef and lamb, is being reviewed. Federal approval does not require that industry adopt the process, and few food processors presently offer irradiated products. Market studies have shown that many consumers are afraid that eating irradiated foods may cause cancer, despite scientific studies that prove the safety of treated foods. Some people argue that more severe government inspection, higher food-safety standards, and more careful-preparation practices by consumers are all that is needed to ensure that food is safe. Consequently, companies currently see no need to spend millions of dollars outfitting processing plants with the equipment necessary for a process that very few shoppers are in favor of. All supermarkets that sell irradiated food must label the food either directly on the packaging, or, in the case of bulk items like fruits and vegetables, by placing a sign nearby. There is no requirement for the labeling of irradiated food served by chain restaurants or hospitals that buy directly from distributors, nor any regulations for products that contain irradiated ingredients. Presently, the FDA allows food to be treated with three types of radiation—gamma rays, high-energy electrons, and X rays—and sets limits on doses, depending on the type of food. The principle is that the dose to be used for a certain type of food should not exceed the amount that is sufficient to kill most harmful insects and bacteria present in it. Different types of food, because of their molecular compositions, may require different doses of radiation.

单选题The leading astronomers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were fascinated by comets.A. intriguedB. infectedC. inconveniencedD. inclined

单选题{{B}}第二篇{{/B}} A profound change seems to have taken place in the economic relationship between Americans and their animals. In 1993, the pet business was a $16 billion field dominated by mom and pop outfits and independent veterinarians. Today, it is a $ 23 billion empire. Nearly 60 percent of Americans live with one or more animals. More than 30 million have dogs, and 27 million have cats. While the overall number of owners has remained relatively stable since the 1980s, they are spending ever greater amounts on their animals. Signs of the boom are everywhere. On the retail side, superstore chains are covering the country. Americans consider cats and dogs a "part of the family" rather than property, which, legally, at least, they remain. (Being property themselves, for instance, animals cannot legally inherit property in wills, though growing numbers of them are being provided for in estates, and some law firms have developed a specialty in the area. ) The reasons for this metamorphosis from property to person are mysterious. No one seems to know exactly why Americans have changed their views. A decline in warmth among homo sapiens may explain part of the phenomenon, says attorney Lane Gabeler. She says it actually helps the practice by giving her people a softer edge. "People hate lawyers, and we look more human with a dog," Gabeler insists. On the other hand, there are more reasons now to own pets than there were a generation ago. Adults in their 20s and 30s marry and have kids later, leaving more room in their lives to adopt a beast. Medical research has determined that contact with pets can lower blood pressure and fend off heart attacks, so more and more of the elderly have embraced the animal kingdom. The pet industry is confident that the future remains bright. On the health insurance side alone, for example, the market has hardly been scratched. In the United Kingdom, 13 percent of the country's 15 million owners have policies, and in Sweden, 57 percent of 7 million have been insured. But in the United States, with a total of 114 million pets, fewer than 1 percent of pets are covered if they choke on a chicken bone or try to bite the UPS truck driver. So if the bond between people and their creatures truly exists, and if that bond keeps deepening economically as well as emotionally, the next wave of American moguls may well be pet insurance agents rather than Internet pioneers.

单选题She is a highly successful teacher. A．fairly B．rather C．very D．moderately