The attack of the World Trade Center will leave a ______ impression on those who have witnessed the explosion.
A long
B forever
C lasting
D lively
2.
The magician picked out several persons ______ from the audience and asked them to help him with the performance.
A by accident
B on average
C on occasion
D at random
3.
British hopes of a gold medal in the Olympic Games suffered ______ yesterday, when Hunter failed to qualify during the preliminary heats.
A a sharp set-back
B severe set-back
C a severe blown-up
D sharp blown-up
4.
Mary and John took a long time in saying good night in order to postpone the ______ of parting.
A jealousy
B relief
C anguish
D appreciation
5.
The government will prosecute those individuals who unlawfully possess______material.
A classified
B bizarre
C personal
D legitimate
6.
Since no one could______his scribbling, the chief editor decided to replace him with another columnist.
A encode
B decipher
C clear
D identify
7.
If you want to go to the concert, you"ll have to make a ______ ,or there will be no tickets.
A reservation
B punctuality
C compliment
D clarity
8.
Hong Kong was not a target for terror attacks, the Government insisted yesterday, as the US ______ closed for an apparent security review.
A Consultation
B Constitution
C Consulate
D Consular
9.
Apple pie is ______ neither good nor bad; it is the way it is used that determines its value.
A at itself
B as itself
C on itself
D in itself
10.
Remember to ask for a______ of quality for the consumer goods; otherwise they will not of- fer any maintenance.
A certificate
B mark
C warranty
D receipt
11.
______ commutation via the telegraph began in the 1840s, just before the Civil War, and via the telephone just afterward (1870s).
A Instantaneous
B Spontaneous
C Simultaneous
D Instinctive
12.
We have been hearing______accounts of your work.
A favored
B favorable
C favorite
D favoring
13.
Bystanders, ______, ______ as they walked past lines of ambulances.
A bloody and covered with dust, looking dazed
B bloodied and covered with dust, looked dazed
C bloody and covered with dust, looked dazed
D bloodied and covered with dust, looking dazed
14.
Unloved and unwanted youngsters may be tempted to run away from home to escape their problems, ______ bigger ones in cities plagued with crime, drugs, and immorality.
A have only found
B only finding
C only found
D only to find
15.
Living constantly in the atmosphere of slave, he became infected ______ the unconscious ______ their psychology. No one can shield himself ______ such an influence.
A on
B by
C from
D through
16.
The negotiations which ______ the signing of the treaty took place over a number of years.
A preceded
B prescribed
C proceeded
D processed
17.
A comet is distinguished from other bodies in the solar system ______.
A into its appearance
B off its appearance
C by its appearance
D to its appearance
18.
Some readers, especially children, find his works among the most______books they have ever read.
A captivating
B captivated
C capturable
D captious
19.
The negotiations which ______ the signing of the treaty took place over a number of years.
A preceded
B prescribed
C proceeded
D processed
20.
______ a declining birth rate, there will be an over-supply of 27, 000 primary school places by 2010, ______ leaving 35 schools idle.
A Coupled with, equals to
B Coupling with, equivalent to
C Coupled with, equivalent to
D Coupling with, equals to
Part Ⅱ Reading Comprehension
The early retirement of experienced workers is seriously harming the US economy, according to a new report from the Hudson Institute, a public policy research organization. Currently, many older experienced workers retire at an early age. According to the recently issued statistics, 79 percent of qualified workers begin collecting retirement benefits at age 62; if that trend continues, there will be a labor shortage that will hinder the economic growth in the twenty-first century.
Older Americans constitute an increasing proportion of the population, according to the US Census Bureau, and the population of those over age 65 will grow by 60% between 2001 and 2020. During the same period, the group aged 18 to 44 will increase by only 4%. Keeping older skilled workers employed, even part time, would increase US economic output and strengthen the tax base; but without significant policy reforms, massive early retirement among baby boomers seems more likely.
Retirement at age 62 is an economically rational decision today. Social Security and Medicaid earnings limits and tax penalties subject our most experienced workers to marginal tax rates as high as 67%. Social Security formulas encourage early retirement. Although incomes usually rise with additional years of work, any pay increases after the 35-year mark result in higher social Security taxes but only small increases in benefits.
Hudson Institute researchers believe that federal tax and benefit policies are at fault and reforms are urgently needed, but they disagree with the popular proposal that much older Americans will have to work because Social Security will not support them and that baby boomers are not saving enough for retirement. According to the increase in 401 (k) and Keogh retirement plans, the ongoing stock market on Wall Street, and the likelihood of large inheritances, there is evidence that baby boomers will reach age 65 with greater financial assets than previous generations.
The Hudson institute advocates reforming government policies that now discourage work and savings, especially for older worker. Among the report"s recommendations: Tax half of all Social Security benefits. regardless of other income; provide 8% larger benefits for each year beyond 65; and permit workers nearing retirement to negotiate compensation packages that may include a lower salary but with greater healthcare benefits. However, it may take real and fruitful planning to find the right solution to the early retirement of older experienced workers; any measures taken must be allowed to prolong the serviceability of older experienced workers.
1.
According to Hudson Institute researchers, the effect of the early retirement of qualified workers in the U. S. economy is ______
A constructive
B significant
C inconclusive
D detrimental
2.
The older experienced workers in America tend to retire early because their prolonged service may ______
A do harm to younger generations
B end up with few or no benefits
C give play to their potentials
D shed light on social trends
3.
The second paragraph is written chiefly to show that ______
A there will be an acute labor shortage in the near future
B baby-boomers contribute much to the US economic output
C government policies concerning older people are out-dated
D alder workers are enthusiastic about collecting social benefits
In the next century we"ll be able to alter our DNA radically, encoding our visions and vanities while concocting new life-forms. When Dr. Frankenstein made his monster, he wrestled with the moral issue of whether he should allow it to reproduce, "Had I the right, for my oval benefit, to inflict the curse upon everlasting generations?" Will such questions require us to develop new moral philosophies?
Probably not. Instead, we"ll reach again for a time-tested moral concept, one sometimes called the Golden Rule and which Kant, the millennium"s most prudent moralist, conjured up into a categorical imperative: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you; treat each person as an individual rather than as a means to some end.
Under this moral precept we should recoil at human cloning, because it inevitably entails using humans as means to other humans" ends and valuing them as copies of others we loved or as collections of body parts, not as individuals in their own right. We should also draw a line, however fuzzy, that would permit using genetic engineering to cure diseases and disabilities but not to change the personal attributes that make someone an individual (IQ, physical appearance, gender and sexuality).
The biotech age will also give us more reason to guard our personal privacy. Aldous Huxley in Brave New World, got it wrong: rather than centralizing power in the hands of the state, DNA technology has empowered individuals and families. But the state will have an important role, making sure that no one, including insurance companies, can look at our genetic data without our permission or use it to discriminate against us.
Then we can get ready for the breakthroughs that could come at the end of the next century and the tech nology is comparable to mapping our genes: plotting the 10 billion or more neurons of our brain. With that information we might someday be able to create artificial intelligences that think and experience consciousness in ways that are indistinguishable from a human brain. Eventually we might be able to replicate our own minds in a "dry-ware" machine, so that we could live on without the "wet-ware" of a biological brain and body. The 20th century"s revolution in infotechnology will thereby merge with the 21st century"s revolution in biotechnology. But this is science fiction. Let"s turn the page now and get back to real science.
4.
Dr. Frankenstein"s remarks are mentioned in the text ______
A to give an episode of the DNA technological breakthroughs
B to highlight the importance of a means to some everlasting ends
C to show how he created a new form of life a thousand years ago
D to introduce the topic of moral philosophies incurred in biotechnology
5.
It can be concluded from the text that the technology of human cloning should be employed ______
A excessively and extravagantly
B reasonably and cautiously
C aggressively and indiscriminately
D openly and enthusiastically
6.
From the text, we learn that Aldous Huxley is of the opinion that ______
A DNA technology should be placed in the charge of individuals
B government should assume less control over individuals
C people need government to protect their DNA information
D old moral precepts should be abolished on human cloning
Yet these global trends hide starkly different national and regional stories. Vittorio Colao, the boss of Vodafone, which operates or partially owns networks in 31 countries, argues that the farther south you go, the more people use their phones, even past the equator: where life is less organized, people need a tool, for example to rejig appointments. "Culture influences the lifestyle, and the lifestyle influences the way we communicate," he says. "lf you don"t leave your phone on in a meeting in Italy, you are likely to miss the next one."
Other mundane factors also affect how phones are used. For instance, in countries where many people have holiday homes they are more likely to give out a mobile number, which then becomes the default where they can be reached, thus undermining the use of fixed-line phones. Technologies are always "both constructive and constructed by historical, social, and cultural contexts," writes Mizuko Ito, an anthropologist at the University of California in Irvine, who has co-edited a book on Japan"s mobile-phone subculture.
Indeed, Japan is a good example of how such subcultures come about. In the 1990s Americans and Scandinavians were early adopters of mobile phones. But in the next decade Japan was widely seen as the model for the mobile future, given its early embrace of the mobile Internet. For some time Wired, a magazine for technology lovers, ran a column called "Japanese schoolgirl watch", serving readers with a stream of mobile oddities. The implication was that what Japanese schoolgirls did one day, everyone else would do the next.
The country"s mobile boom was arguably encouraged by underlying social conditions. Most teenagers had long used pagers to keep in touch. In 1999 NTT, Japan"s dominant operator, launched i-mode, a platform for mobile-Internet services. It allowed cheap e-mails between networks and the Japanese promptly signed up in droves for mobile internet. Ms Ito also points out that Japan is a crowded place with lots of rules. Harried teenagers, in particular, have few chances for private conversations and talking on the phone in public is frowned upon, if not outlawed. Hence the appeal of mobile data services.
The best way to grasp Japan"s mobile culture is to take a crowded commuter train. There are plenty of signs advising you not to use your phone. Every few minutes announcements are made to the same effect. If you do take a call, you risk more than disapproving gazes. Passengers may appeal to a guard who will quietly but firmly explain: "dame desu" -- it"s not allowed. Some studies suggest that talking on a mobile phone on a train is seen as worse than in a theatre. Instead, hushed passengers type away on their handsets or read mobile-phone novels (written Japanese allows more information to be displayed on a small screen than languages that use the Roman alphabet).
7.
According to the passage, an Italian would leave his phone on in a meeting for which of the following reason?
A He is afraid of missing a business opportunity
B His family members may call him in emergency
C He thinks it is rude to leave a call unanswered
D He needs to get posted about the latest change in the work schedule
8.
Which of the following statements is best supported by the passage?
A How we use our phones reflect where we live
B Technologies determine the way we communicate
C Culture influences the development of technologies
D Social conditions dictate the mobile future
9.
The author suggests that Japan leads the world in the mobile-phone culture in that
A the Japanese are the earliest mobile phone users
B the Japanese are the chattiest mobile phone users
C the Japanese use mobile Internet early on
D Japan provides the best mobile phone services
10.
It can be inferred from the passage that the Japanese teenagers are fond of the mobile data services because
A they like to play electronic games
B they like to talk to their friends on the phone
C they can read novels on the phone
D they can communicate with their friends more conveniently
11.
Which of the following is the most appropriate title for the passage, based on its content?
A the Japanese phone culture
B culture and technology
C all alike, all different
D handy, if you are thrifty
The early retirement of experienced workers is seriously harming the US economy, according to a new report from the Hudson Institute, a public policy research organization. Currently, many older experienced workers retire at an early age. According to the recently issued statistics, 79 percent of qualified workers begin collecting retirement benefits at age 62; if that trend continues, there will be a labor shortage that will hinder the economic growth in the twenty-first century.
Older Americans constitute an increasing proportion of the population, according to the US Census Bureau, and the population of those over age 65 will grow by 60% between 2001 and 2020. During the same period, the group aged 18 to 44 will increase by only 4%. Keeping older skilled workers employed, even part time, would increase US economic output and strengthen the tax base; but without significant policy reforms, massive early retirement among baby boomers seems more likely.
Retirement at age 62 is an economically rational decision today. Social Security and Medicaid earnings limits and tax penalties subject our most experienced workers to marginal tax rates as high as 67%. Social Security formulas encourage early retirement. Although incomes usually rise with additional years of work, any pay increases after the 35-year mark result in higher social Security taxes but only small increases in benefits.
Hudson Institute researchers believe that federal tax and benefit policies are at fault and reforms are urgently needed, but they disagree with the popular proposal that much older Americans will have to work because Social Security will not support them and that baby boomers are not saving enough for retirement. According to the increase in 401 (k) and Keogh retirement plans, the ongoing stock market on Wall Street, and the likelihood of large inheritances, there is evidence that baby boomers will reach age 65 with greater financial assets than previous generations.
The Hudson institute advocates reforming government policies that now discourage work and savings, especially for older worker. Among the report"s recommendations: Tax half of all Social Security benefits. regardless of other income; provide 8% larger benefits for each year beyond 65; and permit workers nearing retirement to negotiate compensation packages that may include a lower salary but with greater healthcare benefits. However, it may take real and fruitful planning to find the right solution to the early retirement of older experienced workers; any measures taken must be allowed to prolong the serviceability of older experienced workers.
12.
According to Hudson Institute researchers, the effect of the early retirement of qualified workers in the U. S. economy is ______
A constructive
B significant
C inconclusive
D detrimental
13.
The older experienced workers in America tend to retire early because their prolonged service may ______
A do harm to younger generations
B end up with few or no benefits
C give play to their potentials
D shed light on social trends
14.
The second paragraph is written chiefly to show that ______
A there will be an acute labor shortage in the near future
B baby-boomers contribute much to the US economic output
C government policies concerning older people are out-dated
D alder workers are enthusiastic about collecting social benefits
(1) Gerald Feinberg, the Columbia University physicist, once went so far as to declare that "everything possible will eventually be accomplished." Well, that of course left only the impossible as the one thing remaining for daring intellectual adventurers to whittle away at Feinberg, for one, thought that "they"d succeed even there."
(2) It was a point worth considering. How many times in the past had certain things been said to be impossible, only to have it turn out shortly thereafter that the item in question had already been done or soon would be. What greater cliche was there in the history of science than the comic litany of false it-couldn"t-be-dones; the infamous case of Auguste Comte saying in 1844 that it would never be known what the stars were made of, followed in a few years by the spectroscope being applied to starlight to reveal the stars" chemical composition; or the case of Lord Rutherford, the man who discovered the structure of the atom, saying in 1933 mat dreams of controlled nuclear fission were "moonshine." And those weren"t even the worst examples. No, the huffiest of all it-couldn"t-be-done claims centered on the notion that human beings could actually fly, either at all, or across long distances, or to the moon, the stars, or wherever else.
(3) There had been so many embarrassments of this type that about mid-century Arthur C. Clarke came out with a guideline for avoiding them, which he termed Clarke"s Law: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."
(4) Still, one had to admit there were lots of things left that were really and truly impossible, even if it took some ingenuity in coming up with a proper list of examples. Such as. "A camel cannot pass through the eye of a needle." (Well, unless of course it was a very large needle.) On "It is impossible for a door to be simultaneously open and closed." (Well, unless of course it was a revolving door.)
(5) Indeed, watertight examples of the really and truly impossible were so exceptionally hard to come by that paradigm cases turned out to be either trivial or absurd. "I know I will never play the piano like Vladimir Horowitz," offered Milton Rothman, a physicist, "no matter how hard I try". Or, from Scott Lankford, a mountaineer "Everest on roller skates."
15.
The false it-couldn"t-be-dones in science are comic because ______.
A they are cliches, repeated too often by scientists
B they are almost always proved to be wrong by later scientific research
C they are mocked at by later generations
D they provide material for good comedies
16.
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A The author uses the case of a camel passing through the eye of a needle to prove his point that there are things impossible to accomplish
B That a scientist cannot play the piano like one of the best pianists is not a proper illustration to prove that in science there are things impossible to accomplish
C Scott Lankford challenges the idea that mountaineers can never climb the Everest on roller skates
D People now laugh at their predecessors for denying the possibility of human flight
17.
Through this passage, the author wants to ______.
A show us that scientists in the past years have made a lot of misjudgments
B praise those scientists who dared to challenge the impossible
C emphasize the great potential of the scientific research made by human beings
D analyze what is possible and what is impossible through scientific efforts
Part Ⅲ Cloze
The world"s greatest snow-capped peaks, which run in a chain from the Himalayas to Tian Shah
1
the border of China and Kyrgyzstan, have lost no ice
2
the last decade, new research shows.
The discovery has stunned scientists, who
3
that around 50bn tons of meltwater
4
each year and not being replaced by new snowfall.
The study is the first to survey all the world"s icecaps and glaciers and was made
5
by the use of satellite data. Overall, the contribution of melting ice outside the two largest caps— Greenland and Antarctica—is much
6
than previously estimated, with the lack of ice loss in the Himalayas and the other high peaks of Asia
7
most of the discrepancy.
Bristol University glaciologist Prof Jonathan Bamber, who was not part of the research team, said, "The very unexpected result was the negligible mass loss from high mountain Asia which is not
8
different from zero. "
The melting of Himalayan glaciers caused
9
in 2009 when a report from the UN"s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change mistakenly stated that they would disappear by 2035, instead of 2350.
10
, the scientist who led the new work is clear that while greater uncertainty has been discovered in Asia"s highest mountains, the melting of ice caps and glaciers around the world
11
a serious concern.
"Our results and those of everyone else show we are losing a huge amount of water into the oceans every year," said Prof John Wahr of the University of Colorado. "People should be just as worried about the melting of the world"s ice as they were before. "
His team"s study, published in the journal Nature, concludes that between 443-629bn tons of meltwater overall are added to the world"s oceans each year. This is
12
sea level by about 1.5mm a year, the team reports,
13
the 2mm a year caused by expansion of the warming ocean.
The scientists are careful to point out that lower-altitude glaciers in the Asian mountain ranges—sometimes dubbed the "third pole" —are
14
melting. Satellite images and reports confirm this. But over the study period, enough ice was added to the peaks to
15
.
1.
A on
B in
C across
D over
2.
A from
B as
C upon
D over
3.
A believed
B had believed
C have believed
D were believing
4.
A were being shedding
B were shedding
C were being shed
D were shed
5.
A impossible
B possible
C unavailable
D available
6.
A shorter
B smaller
C fewer
D less
7.
A in charge of
B responsible for
C liable for
D caused by
8.
A significantly
B meaningfully
C informatively
D expressively
9.
A agreement
B consensus
C controversy
D difference
10.
A Besides
B Furthermore
C Despite
D However
11.
A resumes
B remains
C keeps
D lasts
12.
A rising
B arising
C raising
D rearing
13.
A including
B adding up to
C additionally
D in addition to
14.
A definitely
B necessarily
C exactly
D particularly
15.
A replace
B refund
C compensate
D balance
Part Ⅳ Proofreading
(66)
Prosperous alumni helped make 2006 a recorded fund-raising year for colleges and universities, which hauled in $28 billion
-- a 9.4 percent jump from 2005.
(67)
There were increases across the board, but for usual it was the already wealthy who tared best.
(68)
Stanford"s $911 million was the most ever collected by a single university, and rose the possibility of a billion-dollar fund-raising year in the not-too-distant future.
(69)
"There were a set of ideas and a set of initiatives that the university is undertaking that people wanted to invest,"
said Martin Shell, Stanford"s vice president for development. (70)
"This is an unbelievably generous response from unbelievably philanthropic set of alumni, parents, and friends."
(71)
Harvard ranked two in fund-raising last year with $595 million.
(72)
National, donations from alumni rose 18.3 percent from 2005, according to figures released yesterday by the Council for Aid to Education.
(73)
Alumni donations account about 30 percent of giving to higher education.
(74)
Giving from other groups, such as corporations and foundations, increased by much small amounts.
(75)
Survey director Ann Kaplan said the strong economics played a role, but universities also were asking more aggressively as part of formal fund-raising campaigns.