单选题Questions15-18

单选题 Questions 16 to 20 are based on the following talk.

单选题 In developing a model of cognition, we must recognize that perception of the external world does not always remain independent of motivation. While progress toward maturity is positively correlated with differentiation between motivation and cognition, tension will, even in the mature adult, militate towards a narrowing of the range of perception. Cognition can be seen as the first step in the sequence events leading from the external stimulus to the behavior of the individual. The child develops from belief that all things are an extension of its own body to the recognition that objects exist independent of his perception. He begins to demonstrate awareness of people and things which are removed from his sensory apparatus and initiates goal-directed behaviors. He may, however, refuse to recognize the existence of barriers to the attainment of his goal, despite the fact that his cognition of these objects has been previously demonstrated. In the primitive beings, goal-directed behavior can be very simple motivated. The presence of an attractive object will cause an infant to reach for it; its removal will result in the cessation of that action. Studies have shown no evidence of the infant's frustration; rather, it appears that the infant ceases to desire the object when he cannot see it. Further indications are that the infant's attention to the attractive object increase as a result of its not being in his grasp. In fact, if he holds a toy and another is presented, he is likely to drop the first in order to clutch the second. Often, once he has the one desired in his hands, he loses attention and turns to something else. In adult life, mere cognition can be similarly motivational, although the visible presence of the opportunity is not required as the instigator of response. The mature adult modifies his reaction by obtaining information, interpreting it, and examining consequences. He formulates a hypothesis and attempts to test it. He searches out implicit relationships, examines all factors, and differentiates among them. Just as the trained artist can separate the value of color, composition, and technique, while taking in and evaluating the whole work, so, too, the mature person brings his cognitive learning strengths to bear in appraising a situation. Understanding that cognition is separate from action, his reactions are only minimally guided from conditioning, and take into consideration anticipatable events. The impact of the socialization process, particularly that of parental and social group ideology, may reduce cognitively directed behavior. The tension thus produced, as for instance the stress of fear, anger, or extreme emotion, will often be the overriding influence. The evolutionary process of development from body schema through cognitive learning is similarly manifested in the process of language acquisition. Auditing develops first, reading and writing much later on. Not only is this evident in the development of the individual being from infancy on, but also in the development of language for humankind. Every normal infant has the physiological equipment necessary to produce sound, but the child must first master their use for sucking, biting, and chewing before he can control his equipment for use in producing the sounds of language. The babble and chatter of the infant are precursors to intelligible vocal communication. From the earlier times, it is clear that language and human thought have been intimately connected. Sending or receiving messages, from primitive warnings of danger to explaining creative or reflective thinking, this aspect of cognitive development is also firmly linked to the needs and aspirations of society.

单选题Americans today don"t place a very high value on intellect. Our heroes are athletes, entertainers, and entrepreneurs, not scholars. Even our schools are where we send our children to get a practical education—not to pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Symptoms of pervasive anti-intellectualism in our schools aren"t difficult to find. "Schools have always been in a society where practical is more important than intellectual," says education writer Diane Ravitch. "Schools could be a counterbalance." Ravitch"s latest book, Left Back. A Century of Failed School Reforms, traces the roots of anti-intellectualism in our schools, concluding they are anything but a counterbalance to the American distaste for intellectual pursuits. But they could and should be. Encouraging kids to reject the life of the mind leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and control. Without the ability to think critically, to defend their ideas and understand the ideas of others, they cannot fully participate in our democracy. Continuing along this path, says writer Earl Shorris, "We will become a second-rate country. We will have a less civil society." "Intellect is resented as a form of power or privilege," writes historian and professor Richard Hofstadter in Anti-Intellectualism in American life, a Pulitzer Prize winning book on the roots of anti-intellectualism in US politics, religion, and education. From the beginning of our history, says Hofstadter, our democratic and populist urges have driven us to reject anything that smells of elitism. Practicality, common sense, and native intelligence have been considered more noble qualities than anything you could learn from a book. Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalist philosophers thought schooling and rigorous book learning put unnatural restraints on children: "We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for 10 or 15 years and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing." Mark Twain"s Huckleberry Finn exemplified American anti-intellectualism. Its hero avoids being civilized—going to school and learning to read—so he can preserve his innate goodness. Intellect, according to Hofstadter, is different from native intelligence, a quality we reluctantly admire. Intellect is the critical, creative, and contemplative side of the mind. Intelligence seeks to grasp, manipulate, re-order, and adjust, while intellect examines, ponders, wonders, theorizes, criticizes and imagines. School remains a place where intellect is mistrusted. Hofstadter says our country"s educational system is in the grips of people who "joyfully and militantly proclaim their hostility to intellect and their eagerness to identify with children who show the least intellectual promise".

单选题The example of the antique cameo is used to demonstrate that ______.

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单选题According to the passage, which of the following is true but not directly mentioned?

单选题Which of the following statements about electronic ink is true?

单选题On March 26, 1999, I became a new staff member of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. I committed the rest of my scientific future there despite the allegations of espionage leveled at one of its weapons scientists, Wen Ho Lee, who, notably, has never been and may never be officially charged. I valued the accomplishments of its distinguished scientists and was confident its able leaders would receive the political support they needed from Washington to cope with the potential damage to its programs arising from the scandal. But in the months since then that support has come into question—and the damage has become real. Washington"s reaction to the incident has created an atmosphere of suspicion, which, coupled with efforts to restrict scientific interchange and reduce funds for key research, threaten the essence of the lab—its ability to provide the kind of science-based security that has made it a national treasure. Los Alamos burst upon the national consciousness on Aug 6, 1945, the day it was announced that the atomic weapon dropped on Hiroshima had been developed by scientists working at the lab under the direction of Robert Oppenheimer. The secret of their success was an almost magical mix of three key ingredients: the quality and dedication of the researchers, an open scientific environment that promote collaboration and Oppenheimer"s brilliant leadership. That excellence, openness and leadership have largely been maintained in the ensuing 54 years under the enlightened management of the University of California. During the cold war, when national security demanded that we have a competitive edge over the Soviets in nuclear weapons and weapons-related research, Los Alamos led the way. When it became evident that science-based national security depended on world leadership in science, the lab rose to the challenge. It developed an outstanding program to attract the best young researchers and established world-class trans-disciplinary centers for pure and applied scientific research. Indeed, what brought me to Los Alamos was the new Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter, established to work on what promises to be the most exciting science of the new millennium— the search for the higher organizing principles in nature that govern emergent behavior in matter. But in the past six months members of Congress and the Washington bureaucracy have put the scientific environment at Los Alamos seriously at risk. With the laudable goal of improving the security of classified research, they have attempted to impose inefficient micromanagement strategies while decreasing funding for vital research. As Sen. Pete Domenici, Republican of New Mexico, wrote recently to a Horse colleague, "The House action is irresponsible." The damage, he said, "would be as serious and more assured than the suspected damage that may have been caused by Wen Ho Lee." Some of that damage has already been done. By my count there"s been a 60 percent drop in the number of top researchers accepting postdoctoral fellowships at the lab. Promising young staffers are leaving for university and industry jobs, while leading university scientists have refused to be considered for key administrative positions at Los Alamos. Then, too, there"s the loss of the young scientist from China who wanted to come to the lab to work with me this fall. Despite his outstanding record of scientific publication and glowing letters of recommendation, I felt obligated to discourage him from entering the postdoctoral competition. In the current atmosphere, I felt his every move would be monitored. But I wonder whether we"ve lost a chance to attract to America a major contributor to science—and a potential Nobel laureate. Washington must never forget that science is done by scientists, not by computers. It is vital to build security barriers in physical space and cyberspace to protect classified information. But science is not done in isolation. We must not make it difficult for scientists, including those working on secret projects, to discuss unclassified research with colleagues inside and outside the lab whose expertise they need to solve their problems. Doing so will not only make it impossible for the staff at Los Alamos to do their best work, but will also make it impossible for the lab to compete for the best and brightest researchers of the future. The damage that"s been done can be repaired. Scientific openness and support for basic research can be restored. The chill fog of suspicion can be dissipated. But as Congress considers its next steps, the unanimous message from the scientific community is very simple, the scientific environment at Los Alamos has worked extremely well. Don"t even think about trying to "fax" it.

单选题Global output and trade growth decelerated sharply in 1998. All regions and all product categories were affected by the slowdown. Imports from Asia fell for the first time in two decades and the share of developing countries in world merchandise trade declined for the first time in a decade. In the worst performance of the 1990"s, nearly two-thirds of the world"s economies recorded a decrease in their merchandise export earnings. In value terms, merchandise trade fell by 2 per cent, to US $ 5.27 trillion. Trade in commercial services stagnated at some US $ 1.32 trillion in 1998. Besides reflecting the difficult economic situation, the overall decline in exports earnings was partly the result of the decline in commodity prices. This decline helps explain the lower share of developing countries in world trade. In volume terms, trade was up by 4 percent, virtually double the growth of world GDP. In 1998, all primary product categories recorded a decline in export value, ranging from less than 5 percent for food to about one-quarter for fuels. The export value of agricultural raw materials, and ores and minerals recorded a value decrease of nearly 10 percent in 1998— reflecting the fall in prices for unprocessed basic materials more strongly than food. The share of fuels in world trade shrank to 6.5 percent, a record low for the post-World War II period. As the share of primary products in total trade decrease, that of manufactures exceeded three- quarters of total trade for the first time. Trade in manufactures exceeded US $ 4 trillion for the first time, but nevertheless recorded its weakest nominal growth since 1993. Year-to-year changes were relatively uniform among product groups. Trade in automotive products showed a growth of almost 6 percent and was the only group that posted accelerated growth in 1998. Trade in iron and steel decreased slightly in value terms but showed volume growth. North America and Western Europe recorded import increases of iron and steel, of 12 and 8 percent respectively, while imports in Asia fell by more than one-quarter. These divergent trends gave rise to protectionist pressures in some major importing countries. Textile trade fell by some 5 percent, the largest among manufactures, largely due to sluggish intra-Asian trade. The stagnation in world exports of commercial services was the worst performance since 1980. As prices for commercial services stagnated or fell slightly, the real growth rate was probably slightly negative, thus remaining below the real growth rate of merchandise trade. World economic growth is expected to strengthen moderately in 1999. Output growth is likely to be about 3 percent and merchandise trade volume could average around 4 percent, the same as in 1998 provided that the acceleration of world trade growth observed in the second quarter is maintained in the second half of 1999. For the first half of 1999, the value of world merchandise trade was unchanged from the preceding year"s level. Negative dollar-value growth was recorded for the imports of Latin America, the transition economies and Western Europe. Asia"s imports recovered markedly throughout the first six months of 1999, and exceeded those of the previous year by more than 5 percent in the second quarter and by more than 10 percent in the third quarter. Merchandise import growth in the United States in the first half of 1999 was close to 8 percent, somewhat stronger than in 1998. For 1999, growth projections are higher (some 3 percent) thanks largely to the onset of recovery in East Asia and continued strong growth in the United States. But growth for the year will be somewhat restrained by the expected lower growth in Western Europe, the transition economies and Latin America. The slower growth in Western Europe in early 1999 and the low expansion of output in Latin America are factors weighing on global trade growth.

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单选题 Questions 11～15 This month Singapore passed a bill that would give legal teeth to the moral obligation to support one's parents. Called the Maintenance of Parents Bill, it received the backing of the Singapore Government. That does not mean it hasn't generated discussion. Several members of the Parliament opposed the measure as un-Asian. Others who acknowledged the problem of the elderly poor believed it a disproportionate response. Still others believe it will subvert relations within the family: cynics dubbed it the "Sue Your Son" law. Those who say that the bill does not promote filial responsibility, of course, are right. It has nothing to do with filial responsibility. It kicks in where filial responsibility fails. The law cannot legislate filial responsibility any more than it can legislate love. All that the law can do is to provide a safety net where this morality proves insufficient. Singapore needs this bill not to replace morality, but to provide incentives to shore it up. Like many other developed nations, Singapore faces the problems of an increasing proportion of people over 60 years of age. Demography is inexorable. In 1980, 7.2% of the population was in this bracket. By the end of the century that figure will grow to 11%. By 2030, the proportion is projected to be 26%. The problem is not old age per se. It is that the ratio of economically active people to economically inactive people will decline. But no amount of government exhortation or paternalism will completely eliminate the problem of old people who have insufficient means to make ends meet. Some people will fall through the holes in any safety net. Traditionally, a person's insurance against poverty in his old age was his family. This is not a revolutionary concept. Nor is it uniquely Asian. Care and support for one's parents is a universal value shared by all civilized societies. The problem in Singapore is that the moral obligation to look after one's parents is unenforceable. A father can be compelled by law to maintain his children. A husband can be forced to support his wife. But, until now, a son or daughter had no legal obligation to support his or her parents. In 1989, an Advisory Council was set up to look into the problems of the aged. Its report stated with a tinge of complacency that 950% of those who did not have their own income were receiving cash contributions from relations. But what about the 5% who aren't getting relatives' support? They have several options: (a) get a job and work until they die; (b) apply for public assistance (you have to be destitute to apply); (c) starve quietly. None of these options is socially acceptable. And what if this 5% figure grows, as it is likely to do, as society ages? The Maintenance of Parents Bill was put forth to encourage the traditional virtues that have so far kept Asian nations from some of the breakdowns encountered in other affluent societies. This legislation will allow a person to apply to the court for maintenance from any or all of his children. The court would have the discretion to refuse to make an order if it is unjust. Those who deride the proposal for opening up the courts to family lawsuits miss the point. Only in extreme cases would any parent take his child to court. If it does indeed become law, the bill's effect would be far more subtle. First, it will reaffirm the notion that it is each individual's—not society's—responsibility to look after his parents. Singapore is still conservative enough that most people will not object to this idea. It reinforces the traditional values and it doesn't hurt a society now and then to remind itself of its core values. Second, and more important, it will make those who are inclined to shirk their responsibilities think twice. Until now, if a person asked family elders, clergymen or the Ministry of Community Development to help get financial support from his children, the most they could do was to mediate. But mediators have no teeth, and a child could simply ignore their pleas. But to be sued by one's parents would be a massive loss of face. It would be a public disgrace. Few people would be so thick-skinned as to say, "Sue and be damned". The hand of the conciliator would be immeasurably strengthened. It is far more likely that some sort of amicable settlement would be reached if the recalcitrant son or daughter knows that the alternative is a public trial. It would be nice to think Singapore doesn't need this kind of law. But that belief ignores the clear demographic trends and the effect of affluence itself on traditional bends. Those of us who pushed for the bill will consider ourselves most successful if it acts as an incentive not to have it invoked in the first place.

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单选题 {{B}}Questions 11-14{{/B}}