A.Oligarch
B.Competition
C.Oligopoly
D.Monoply
A scientist is apt to think that all the problems of philosophy will ultimately be solved by science. I think this is true for a great many of the questions on which philosophers still argue. For example, Plato thought that when we saw something, one ray of light came to it from the sun, and another from our eyes and that seeing was something like feeling with a stick. We now know that the light comes from the sun, and is reflected into our eyes. We don't know in much detail how the changes in our eyes give rise to sensation. But there is every reason to think that as we learn more about the physiology of the brain, we shall do so, and that the great philosophical problems about knowledge are going to be pretty fully cleared up.
But if our descendants know the answers to these questions and others that perplex us today, there will still be one field of which they do not know, namely the future. However exact our science; we cannot know it as we know the past. Philosophy may be described as argument about things of which we are ignorant. And where science gives us a hope of knowledge it is often reasonable to suspend judgment. That is one reason why Marx and Engels quite rightly wrote to many philosophical problems that interested their contemporaries.
But we have got to prepare for the future, and we cannot do so rationally without some philosophy. Some people say we have only got to do the duties revealed in the past and laid down by religion, and god will look after the future. Others say that the world is a machine and the course of future events is certain, whatever efforts we may make. Marxists say that the future depends on ourselves, even though we are part of the historical process. This philosophical view certainly does inspire people to very great achievements. Whether it is true or not, it is powerful guide to action.
We need a philosophy, then, to help us to tackle the future. Agnosticism easily becomes an excuse for laziness and conservatism. Whether we adopt Marxism or any other philosophy, we cannot understand it without knowing something of how it developed. That is why knowledge of the history of philosophy is important to Marxists, even during the present critical days.
What is the main idea of this passage?
A.The argument whether philosophy will ultimately be solved by science or not.
B.The importance of learning philosophies, especially the history of philosophy.
C.The difference between philosophy and science.
D.A discuss about how to set a proper attitude towards future.
The fans are wrong. More than anything else, digital cameras are radically【4】what photography means and what it can be. The venerable medium of photography【5】we know, it is beginning to seem out of【6】with the way we live. In our computer and camcorder【7】, saving pictures as digital【8】and watching them on TV is no less practical — and in many ways more【9】than fumbling with rolls of film that must be sent off to be【10】.
Paper is also terribly【11】. Pictures that are incorrectly framed,【12】, or lighted are nonetheless committed to film and ultimately processed into prints.
The digital medium changes the【13】. Still images that are【14】digitally can immediately be shown on a computer【15】, a TV screen, or a small liquid crystal display (LCD) built right into the camera. And since the points of light that【16】an image are saved as a series of digital bits in electronic memory,【17】being permanently etched onto film, they can be erased, retouched, and transmitted【18】.
What’s it like to【19】with one of these digital cameras? It’s a little like a first date — exciting, confusing and fraught with【20】.
(1)
A.rather than
B.let alone
C.much less
D.so as to
The reason why some people are unlikely to succeed in life is that they__________ .
A.have ruined their talents
B.have taken on an unsuitable job
C.think of nothing but their salary
D.are not aware of their own potential
PASSAGE 1 (教材课文原文)
"The printer did not always manage to spread the plastic evenly, making some of the ribs of the honeycomb structure of the block uneven," reported ARN (Australian Radio Network) to the surprise of no one who has used a 3D printer. But the architects remain optimistic. The first few printed blocks are meant to be test pieces as they improve the process.
It takes about a week to print a 3-meter high block right now. The project's leaders hope to eventually get that down to two hours and finish the first of 12 rooms in a year, and the entire house in less than 3 years.
Ultimately, 3D Print Canal House is an architectural research project, one that is very much being conducted in the public eye: you can actually buy tickets to visit the construction site for 2.50 Euros.
The top floors will become more ornate, for example, as newer techniques are incorporated. They'll explore the possibilities of 3D printing, like the honeycomb walls or an entire room recycled, redesigned, and built anew. Nobody's going to move into a 3D printed house soon, but, if anyone ever does, something might be learned from this experiment by the canal.
1. According to the passage, the 3D printer can type with plastic evenly.{T; F}
2. This 3D printer printed some blocks to test its work.{T; F}
3. The project's leaders will finish the entire house in less than 3 years.{T; F}
4. 3D Print Canal House is printed to live.{T; F}
5. The canal house will be decorated more.{T; F}
Educational attainment in rural America reached a historic
height in 2000, with nearly one in six rural adults holding a 【M1】______
4-year college degree, and more than three in four complete 【M2】______
high school. As the demand of workers with higher educational 【M3】______
qualifications rises, many rural policymakers
have come to view local educational levels as a critical
determinant of job and income growth in their communities.
But policymakers are facing with two key questions. 【M4】______
First, does a better educated population lead to greater
economic growth? According to a recent study, rural counties
with higher educational levels saw rapid earnings and 【M5】______
income growth over the past two decades than counties with
lower educational levels. However, economic returns to
education for rural areas continue to lag that for urban areas. 【M6】______
Second, are there Ways to improve local educational attainment,
particularly through improvements in elementary and high
schools, It can enhance the economic well-being of rural 【M7】______
residents and communities? In fact, preliminary research
demonstrates a connection between better schools and positive
outcomes in terms of earnings and Income growth for rural
workers and rural communities.
Ultimately, the strength of the tie between education and
economic outcomes is influenced in part by the extent which 【M8】______
small rural counties lose young adults through
outmigration. The loss of potential workers from rural areas, as
young adults leave college and work opportunities in urban 【M9】______
areas, has concerned rural observers for many decades. This
rural "brain drain" not only deprives rural employers of an
education workforce, but also depletes local resources because 【M10】______
communities that have invested in these workers' education
reap little return on that investment.
【M1】
It can be inferred from the first paragraph that Unionwear is______.
A.a set of quality standards for various commodities
B.a shop that has never sold any locally-made products
C.a shop that has been selling mostly home-made goods
D.is a stock that has been rising in value in America
Two economists at the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas, W. Michael Cox and Richard Alin, reported on the 10 largest downsizers of the 1990—1995 period, which include Digital Equipment, McDonnell Douglas, General Electric, and Kmart. Collective output (sales adjusted for inflation) declined by almost 10 percent. On the other hand, productivity per worker rose nearly 28 percent, compared with a gain of 1.5 percent in the rest of the economy. Says Cox, "Most of the companies emerged from the downsizing more competitive than before and thus were able to provide greater security to their workers. " The cost? 850,000 workers.
Yet negative outcomes prevailed at many firms. Devastatingly low morale, increased disability claims and suits for wrongful discharge (解雇), and general mistrust of management plague many companies. A study done at the Wharton School examined data on several thousand firms and found that downsizing had little or no effect on earnings or stock market performance. Far more effective were leveraged buyouts (举债全额收购) and portfolio (投资组合) restructuring.
There is some evidence that consistent focus on creating value for share holders, which includes paring unneeded workers, actually increases jobs in the long run, "Stronger, leaner companies are able to compete in the world market more effectively, and that ultimately draws jobs back to those companies." That's the opinion of Thomas Copland, a director of McKinsey and Co., a management consulting firm that studied 20 years of data or 1,000 companies in the United States, Canada, Germany, Holland, Belgium, and France. The study revealed that, unlike those in the United States and Canada, the European firms lost jobs in the long term because their returns to shareholders fell between 1970 and 1990.
Although long-run growth is a pleasant prospect for shareholders, the short-term loss of jobs and income has left many employees and their families struggling in the aftermath of downsizing.
The term "downsizing" in this passage means ______.
A.just cutting down to size
B.producing smaller models or styles
C.cutting jobs and positions for higher performance and profits
D.cutting down on incentive programs
Yet one saw, even before the 100th anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria this year, that there were signs these sneering attitudes were beginning to change. Programmes on radio and television about Victoria and the age that was named after her managed to humble themselves only about half the time. People were beginning to realize that there was something heroic about that epoch and, perhaps, to fear that the Victorian age was the last age of greatness for this country.
Now a new book, What The Victorians Did For Us, aims further to redress the balance and remind us that, in most essentials, our own age is really an extension of what the Victorians created. You can start with the list of Victorian inventions. They were great lovers of gadgets from the smallest domestic ones to new ways of propelling ships throughout the far-flung Empire. In medicine, anaesthesia (developed both here and in America) allowed surgeons much greater time in which to operate—and hence to work on the inner organs of the body—not to mention reducing the level of pain and fear of patients.
To the Victorians we also owe lawn tennis, a nationwide football association under the modern rules, powered funfair rides, and theatres offering mass entertainment. And, of course, the modern seaside is almost entirely a Victorian invention. There is, of course, a darker side to the Victorian period. Everyone knows about it mostly because the Victorians catalogued it themselves. Henry Mayhew’s wonderful set of volumes on the lives of the London poor, and official reports on prostitution, on the workhouses and on child labour—reports and their statistics that were used by Marx when he wrote Das Kapital—testify to the social conscience that was at the center of “Victorian values”.
But now, surely, we can appreciate the Victorian achievement for what it was—the creation of the modern world. And when we compare the age of Tennyson and Darwin, of John Henry Newman and Carlyle, with our own, the only sensible reaction is one of humility: “We are our father’s shadows cast at noon”.
第16题:According to the author, Lytton Strachey’s book Eminent Victorians _____.
[A] accurately described the qualities of the people of the age
[B] superficially praised the heroic deeds of the Victorians
[C] was highly critical of the contemporary people and institutions
[D] was guilty of spreading prejudices against the Victorians