Always at the beginning of any particular hunt there was one solemn ceremony to perform. a

nsist that the circumstances under which the person grows up are principally responsible for the kind of person he becomes. Which view do you agree with and why? Requirement: In the first part of your writing you should present your thesis statement and in the second part you should support the thesis statement with appropriate details. Length:No less than 200 words.

ave come and gone unknown to all but their friends and family. A few have left some trace on history: a discovery made, perhaps, or a record broken. Of those, fewer still are remembered long after their death. Yet of ali the people who have lived their lives during the last 1,000 years, just 38 have achieved the status of "Millennial Minds" - thats barely one in a billion. Those whose lives Focus has chronicled have thus become members of possibly the most exclusive list of all time. And choosing who should be included was not easy. From the beginning, the single most important criterion was that the "Millennial Minds" are those who did more than merely achieve greatness in their own time, or in one field. Thus mere winners of Nobel Prizes had no automatic right to inclusion, nor artists who gained fame in their own era, but whose reputation has faded with changing fashion. The achievements of the genuine "Millennial Mind" affect our lives even now, often in ways so fundamental that it is hard to imagine what the world was like before. Not even transcendent genius was enough to guarantee a place in the Focus list. To rate as a "Millennial Mind", the life and achievements also had to cast light on the complex nature of creativity: its origins, nature, and its personal cost.

The first paragraph tells us that____.

A．Focus had a list of "Millennial Minds" worked out in secret

B．Focus had compiled a biographical book of the lives of "Millennial Minds"

C．Focus" s list of the "Millennial Minds" consists of a strictly selected few

D．Focus tried hard to exclude most of the famous lives from the list of the "Millennial Minds"

During the transition of the Earths magnetic fietd,____.

A．compass will become useless

B．man and animals will be confused in directions

C．the magnetic strength of the Earth will disappear

D．the magnetic strength of the Earth will be stronger

reatures-appears to have started about 150 years ago,the New York Times reported last week. The fields strength has decreased by 10 or 15 percent so far and this has increased the debate over whether it signals a reversal of the planets lines of magnetic force. During a reversal,the main field weakens,almost vanishes,and reappears with opposite polarity(极). The transition would take thousands of years. Once completed,compass needles that had pointed north would point south. A reversal could cause problems for both man and animals. Birds,fish,animals that rely on the magnetic field for navigation would find migration confusing. But experts said the effects would not be a big disaster.despite claims of doom and vague evidence of links between past field reversals and species extinctions. Although a total transition may be hundreds or thousands of years away,the rapid decline in magnetic strength is already affecting satellites. Last month, the European Space Agency approved the worlds largest effort at tracking the fields shifts. A group of now satellites calfed Swarm are to monitor the collapsing field with far greater precision. "We want to get some idea of how this would evolve in the near future,just like people trying to predict the weather,"said Gauthier Hulot ,a French geophysicist working on the satellite plan. "Im personally quite convinced we should be able to work out the first predictions by the end of the mission." No matter what the new findings,the public has no reason to panic, Even if a transition is coming on its way.it might take 2,000 years to mature. The last one took place 780,000 years ago,when early humans were learning how to make stone tools. Deep inside the Earth flow hot currents of melted iron. This mechanical energy creates electromagnetism. This, process is known as the geophysical generator. In a cars generator,the same principle turns mechanical energy into electricity. No one knows preciaely why the field periodically reverses. But scientists say the responsibility probably lies with changes in the with changes in the disorderly flows of melted iron,which they see as similar to the gases that make up the clouds of Jupiter.

According to the passage,the Earths magnetic field has

A．misguided many a man and animals

B．begun to Change to it"s opposite direction

C．caused the changes on the polarities

D．been weakening it"s strength for a long time

em are considered to be both educational and harmlessly entertaining. One such game teaches geography and another trains pilots. Others train the player in logical thinking and literate, which is more important in this technology-driven era. But the dark side of the computer games has become more and more obvious. "A segment of games features anti-social themes of violence,sex and crude language,"says David Walsh,president of the National Institute on Media and Family. "Unfortunately. Its a segment that seems particularly popular with kids aged from eight to fifteen." One study showed that almost 90 percent of the computer and online games young people preferred contained violence. The investigators said: "There are not just games anymore. These are leaning machines. Were teaching kids in the most incredible manner what its like to pull the trigger. What they are not learning are the real-life consequences." They also said "The new and more sophisticated games are even worse,because they have better graphics and allow the player to participate in even more realistic violent acts." In the game Carmageddon.for example,the player will have driven over and killed up to 33,000 people by the time all levels are compelled. A description of the outcome of the game says:"Your victims not only squish under your tires and splatter blood on the windshield,they also get on their knees and beg for mercy,or commit suicide. If you like ,you can also dismember them." Is all this simulated violence harmful? Approximately 3,000 different studies have been conducted on this subject. Many have suggested that there is a connection between violence in games and increased aggressiveness in the players. Some specialists downplay the influence of the games,saying that other factors must be taken into consideration,such as the possibility that kids who already have violent tendencies are choosing such games. But could it be that violent games still play a contributing role? It seems unrealistic to insist that people are not influenced by what they see. If that were true,why would the commercial world spend billions of dollars annually for television advertising?

Which of the following computer games are NOT mentioned as educational and harmlessly entertaining?

A．Those that teach how to fly an airplane

B．Those that teach the features of the earth

C．Those that help people use computer language

D．Those that teach computer technology

ent followed by similar declarations by the other nuclear Powers will be fulfilled, before the end of the present session of the General Assembly. Granted that neither the Treaty nor Additional Protocol(议定书)II admit of reservations,the satisfaction that such declarations would give my delegation would not be affected by their similarity to that of the United Kingdom,i. e. by being accompanied by an interpretation of the kind given by Lord Caradon at the 1508th meeting.

ssor from Atlanta, needed career advancement advice, be didnt turn to colleagues, therapists or even his mom. He went to the Advice Ladies. Three thirty something New York women, advertising freelancers by day, have turned themselves into Saturday afternoon street-corner oracles, they pull up lawn chairs and a table on a lower Manhattan street corner and dish out free advice to passersby. Theyve claimed the corner of West Broadway and Broome Street in Soho as their own for the last several months. Amy Alkon, who, with longtime friends Marlowe Minnick and Carolyn Johnson, becomes a part-time shrink each weekend. "We use creative problem-solving to turn problem into fun," she says. On a recent steamy afternoon, a line has formed in front of the Advice Ladles table. Obviously,. New Yorkers need plenty of help. "People feel they have no control in this crazy world. And therapy can take years," Minnick says. "We solve problems instantly, its instant answer gratification." The three brainstorm before delivering advice on everything from pet discipline, closet-space management, even hair oare. But no legal advice "By far, most of our questions are love-related. Its amazing the intimate sexual problems that people will divulge to a total stranger," Alkon says. But they wont be strangers much longer. The Advice Ladies are putting together a book deal. And Robert De Nitro is creating a talk show around them, due nationally this fall from his Tribeca Pictures. "De Nitro asked us for advice, but we think hes already perfect," purrs Alkon. And their career advice to Franklin? "He s written a book, so we told him to get a manager and go on the touring circuit. Its great money and great publicity for the book." "Good advice", says Franklin.

There were____.

A．about 30 New York women who offered free advice by day

B．three women freelancers about 30 years old who offered advertising advice on Saturday

C．about 30 women advertising freelancers offered advice every Saturday afternoon in New York

D．three women about 30 years old, who did advertising as a job, offered free advice every Saturday afternoon

portant with reference to the development of the importance of money. Marriages based exclusively upon economic motives have not only existed in all periods and at all stages of development,but are particularly common among primitive groups and conditions where they do not cause any offence at all. The disparagement of personal dignity that nowadays arises in every marriage that is not based on personal affection-so that a sense of decency requires the concealment of economic motives-does not exist in simpler cultures. The reason for this development is that increasing individualization makes it increasingly contradictory and discreditable to enter into purely individual relationships for other than purely individual reasons. For nowadays the choice of a partner in marriage is no longer determined by social motives(though regard for the offspring may be considered to be such a motive),in so far as society does not insist upon the couple,s equal social status-a condition,however,that provides a great deal of latitude and only rarely leads to conflicts between individual and social interests. In a quite undifferentiated society it may be relatively irrelevant who marries whom,irrelevant not only for the mutual relationship of the couple but also for the offspring. This is because where the constitutions,state of health,temperament,internal and external forms of life and orientations are largely the same within the group,the chance that the children will turn out well depends less upon whether the parents agree and complement each other than it does in highly differentiated society. It therefore seems quite natural and expedient that the choice of the partner should be determined by reasons other than purely individual affection. Yet personal attraction should be decisive in a highly individualized society where a harmonious relationship between two individuals becomes increasingly rare. The declining frequency of marriage which is to be found everywhere in highly civilized cultural cir-cum-stances is undoubtedly due,in part,to the fact that highly differentiated people in general have difficu-lty in finding a completely sympathetic complement to themselves. Yet we do not possess any other crite-rion and indication for the advisability of marriage except mutual instinctive attraction. But,happiness is a purely personal matter,decided upon entirely by the couple themselves,and there would be no com-pelling reason for the official insistence on at least pretending love may be misleading—particularly in the higher strata,whose complicated circumstances often retard the growth of the purest instincts—no matter how much other conditions may affect the final results.it remains true that,with reference to procreation,love is decidedly superior to money as a factor selection. In fact,in this respect.it is the only fight and proper thing. Marriage for money directly creates a situation of panmixia—the indiscriminate pairing regardless of individual qualities—a condition that biology has demonstrated to be the cause of the most direct and detrimental degeneration of the human species. In the case of marriage for money,the union of a couple is determined by a factor that has absolutely nothing to do with racial appropriateness—just as the regard for money often enough keeps apart a couple who really belong together—and it should be considered as a factor in degeneration to the same extent to which the undoubted differentiation of individuals makes selection by personal attraction more and more important. This case too illustrates once more that the increasing individualization within society renders money increasingly unsuitable as a mediator of purely individual relationships.

According to the text,what is said to influence matrimonial compatibility and stability in simpler cultures?

A．Personal dignity

B．Economic decline

C．Monetary considerations

D．Financial growth

as a full chorus of spring peepers. It is not only that the voices of living things are calling once more after the long silence of winter,there is something about the atmosphere in which the chorus takes place that epitomizes the season. There is a certain moist smell in the air on rainy spring nights,slow mists rise from rafts of ice floating in dark marshes,everywhere on roads through wet areas the small white forms of migrating spring peepers,wood frogs,green frogs,and pickerel frogs appear,and all around you the air will be filled with a high bell-like ringing,a little like a distant horse-drawn sleigh. That distant chorus is the voice of the spring peeper,a small tree frog no larger than the end of a little finger. Throughout history naturally have referred to it as the voice of spring. In actuality you may be a long way from the pond or marsh that the peepers are calling from. The voice of spring peepers can carry as much as a mile on still spring nights,and once you learn to recognize the song,there will be nights when it is difficult to escape their incessant calling. The sound will accompany you through spring,a sort of background music to the events that will be taking place around you during the season.

What is the best title for this passage?

A．Spring Comes to the Country

B．The Voice of spring

C．Migration of Frogs

D．A Rainy Spring Night

So naturally, many people are concerned with the question: Am I getting enough vitamins, and am I getting the right kind? Even though very small amounts of each vitamin are enough for the needs of the body, the worry people have about vitamins has some basis. And this has something to do with their diet—the food they take in. A person eating a good variety of foods gets all the vitamins now known to be needed(with the possible exception of Vitamin D). The problem is that there are many people who dont choose foods wisely, dont get enough variety, and dont eat the basic foods they need to get their vitamins. So the answer to this question is: no extra vitamins are needed, providing you eat proper foods. In fact, many of the vitamins cannot be stored in the body, so when extra vitamins taken in, the body simply gets rid of them. It is even harmful to put too much of certain vitamins into the body. This has been found to be true of Vitamin A and D, when large amounts are taken in. What foods supply what vitamins? Here is a quick general idea. Vitamin A, for the health of the eyes, skin, teeth, and bones, is found in green vegetables, fruits, eggs, liver and butter. Vitamin Bl which helps the nervous and digestive system and prevents certain diseases, is found in cereals, pork and liver. Vitamin B2 is found in milk, eggs, green vegetables and meats. Vitamin C, which helps bones and teeth, is found in tomatoes, certain fruits and vegetables. These are only a few of the most important vitamins the body needs.

Vitamin A is needed by____and can be found in____.

A．bones pork

B．nervous system milk

C．eyes green vegetables

D．teeth meats