Please Listen to the following TED talk and answer the questions followed. （09分20秒-10分07秒） According to the scientific research, the speaker concludes that_____.

A、measuring the heat content in Earth's heat reservoirs

B、more than 3,000 Argo floats were distributed around the world's ocean

C、reveal that the upper half of the ocean is gaining heat at a substantial rate

D、distribute more than 30,000 Argo floats around the world's ocean

A、be more if we keep burning fossil fuels, perhaps even five meters, which is 18 feet, this century or shortly thereafter

B、be more if we keep burning fossil fuels, perhaps even 18 meters, which is five feet, this century or shortly thereafter

C、be more if we keep using green energy, perhaps even five meters, which is 18 feet, this century or shortly thereafter

D、rise at least one meter

Listen to the news item again and answer the following questions. Then give a brief summary of the news item. What is the goal of the G20 meeting What has the IMF done to its forecast for global economic growth What is the best way for China to get out of the downward pressure What has the governor of China’s central bank hinted in terms of tackling the economic problem Please give a brief summary of the news item. （）

SECTION 1 (10 points)

Listen to the following passages and then decide whether the statements below are true or false. There are 10 questions in this section, with 1 points each. You will hear the recording only ONCE. At the end of the recording, you will have 2 minutes to finish this section.

听力原文： In April, the Manhattan Institute released its yearly study of graduation rates. The research group used information from 2003. The researchers found that 72 percent of girls successfully completed their high school education. That compared to 65 percent of boys. The newspaper Education Week noted earlier this year that, in some ways, what people are worried about now is really not new. Boys have scored lower than girls on tests in the National Assessment of Educational Progress since at least 1971.

And the differences are not limited to the United States. Education Week noted the results of an international reading test in 2003. Fifteen-year-olds took the test in 41 countries. Girls scored higher than boys in almost every country. Differences between males and females are a continuing issue of fierce debate. Cultural and economic influences play an important part. But recent findings suggest that another part of the answer lies in differences between the male and female brains.

These include differences in learning rates. As a result, some researchers say, boys may not be able to develop language and reading skills as well as girls do. The last time there was a lot of concern about differences in school, it was about girls, especially in math and science classes. Efforts to improve the situation for girls included hiring more female teachers. Yet some people think the opposite situation exists now. They say not enough male teachers is one reason why boys may not learn as well in class. Another explanation being heard involves the increased testing in American schools. Some people say schools are preparing for these important tests by forcing boys to sit quietly at their desks. They say this is unfair. Still others say that society is failing boys, by giving them the message that studying is not manly. And others say boys are failing in school because they become too interested in the girls in their classes. One attempt to solve problems like these is the use of same-sex classrooms.

For the past two decades, girls have always achieved high scores than boys.

A．正确

B．错误

Part A

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)

It has been a wretched few weeks for America's celebrity bosses. AIG's Maurice "Hank" Greenberg has been dramatically ousted from the firm through which he dominated global insurance for decades. At Morgan Stanley a mutiny is forcing Philip Purcell, a boss used to getting his own way, into an increasingly desperate campaign to save his skin. At Boeing, Harry Stonecipher was called out of retirement to lead the scandal-hit firm and raise ethical standards, only to commit a lapse of his own, being sacked (it seems) for sending e-mails to a lover who was also an employee. Curly Fiorina was the most powerful woman in corporate America until a few weeks ago, when Hewlett-Packard (HP) sacked her for poor performance. The fate of Bernie Ebbers is much grimmer. The once high-profile boss of World-Com could well spend the rest of his life behind bars following his conviction last month on fraud charges.

In different ways, each of these examples appears to point to the same, welcome conclusion: that the imbalance in corporate power of the late 1990s, when many bosses were allowed to behave like absolute monarchs, has been corrected. Alas, appearances can be deceptive. While each of these recent tales of chief-executive woe is a sign of progress, none provides much evidence that the crisis in American corporate governance is yet over. In fact, each of these cases is an example of failed, not successful, governance.

At the very least, the boards of both Morgan Stanley and HP were far too slow to ad dress their bosses' inadequacies. The record of the Boeing board in picking chiefs prone to ethical lapses is too long to be dismissed as mere bad luck. The fall of Messrs Green berg and Ebbers, meanwhile, highlights the growing role of government—and, in particular, of criminal prosecutors—in holding bosses to account: a development that is, at best, a mixed blessing. The Sarbanes-Oxley act, passed in haste following the Enron and WorldCom scandals, is imposing heavy costs on American companies; whether these are exceeded by any benefits is the subject of fierce debate and many not be known for years.

Eliot Spitzer, New York's attorney-general, is the leading advocate and practitioner of an energetic "law enforcement" approach. He may be right that the recent burst of punitive actions has been good for the economy, even if (as is surely the case) some of his own decisions have been open to question. Where he is undoubtedly right is in arguing that corporate America has done a lamentable job of governing itself. As he says in an article in the Wall Street Journal this week: "The honour code among CEOS didn't work. Board oversight didn't work. Self-regulation was a complete failure." AIG's board, for example, did nothing about Mr. Greenberg's use of murky accounting, or the conflicts posed by his use of offshore vehicles, or his constant bullying of his critics—let alone the firm's alleged participation in bid-rigging—until Mr. Spitzer threatened a criminal prosecution that might have destroyed the firm.

The phrase "save his skin"(Paragraph 1) denotes

A．protect skin.

B．use cosmetics.

C．escape misery.

D．save energy.

Part A

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D . Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.

Recent years have brought minority-owned businesses in the United States unprecedented opportunities—as well as new and significant risks. Civil rights activists have long argued that one of the principal reasons why Blacks, Hispanics, and other minority groups have difficulty establishing themselves in business is that they lack access to the sizable orders and subcontracts that are generated by large companies. Now Congress, in apparent agreement, has required by law that businesses awarded federal contracts of more than ＄ 500,000 do their best to find minority subcontractors and record their efforts to do so on forms filed with the government. Indeed, some federal and local agencies have gone so far as to set specific percentage goals for apportioning parts of public works eon- tracts to minority enterprises.

Corporate response appears to have been substantial. According to figures collected in 1977, the total of corporate contracts with minority businesses rose from ＄ 77 million in 1972 to ＄1 billion in 1977. The projected total of corporate contracts with minority businesses for the early 1980's is estimated to be over 53 billion per year with no let up anticipated in the next decade.

Promising as it is for minority businesses, this increased patronage poses dangers for them, too. First, minority firms risk expanding too fast and overextending themselves financially, since most are small concerns and, unlike large businesses, they often need to make substantial investments in new plants, staff, equipment, and the like in order to perform. work subcontracted to them. If, thereafter, their subcontracts are for some reason reduced, such firms can face potentially crippling fixed expenses. The world of corporate purchasing can be frustrating for small entrepreneurs who get re- quests for elaborate formal estimates and bids. Both consume valuable time and resources, and a small company's efforts must soon result in orders, or both the morale and the financial health of the business will suffer.

A second risk is that White-owned companies may seek to cash in on the increasing apportionments through formation of joint ventures with minority-owned concerns. Of course, in many in- stances there are legitimate reasons for joint ventures; clearly, White and minority enterprises can team up to acquire business that neither could acquire alone. But civil rights groups and minority business owners have complained to Congress about minorities being set up as "fronts" with White backing, rather than being accepted as full partners in legitimate joint ventures.

Third, a minority enterprise that secures the business of one large corporate customer often run the danger of becoming—and remaining-dependent. Even in the best of circumstances, fierce com- petition from larger, more established companies makes it difficult for small concerns to broaden their customer bases: when such firms have nearly guaranteed orders from a single corporate benefactor, they may truly have to struggle against complacency arising from their current success.

The author write this passage to______.

A．present an idea and its inaccuracies

B．describe a situation and its potential drawbacks

C．propose a temporary solution to a problem

D．explore the implications of a finding

Part A

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)

Americans are now flying the crowded, cranky skies. Flight delays in January were the worst for that month since 1999. Weather is always the primary cause of delays. Add to that the US Airways Christmas baggage meltdown and Comair's computer failure, the combination of which left hundreds of thousands of fliers stranded at airports.

But airline employees see a deeper reason for both the increase in delays and passenger complaints: a demoralized and frustrated workforce that's being asked to do more even as it's getting paidless.

The airlines and unions are quick to praise their workers for rising to the challenge during these very difficult times, as well as for carrying the brunt of the cost cutting. But unease is growing within the ranks. And passengers have noticed. For instance, some of the so-called older carriers now require gate agents to clean the planes as well as check people in. So some passengers have found themselves without a customer-service agent to talk to until just before the plane leaves. Pilots find themselves stuck at the gate because their crew of flight attendants has already worked as long as the FAA would allow them to. "They've cut employees to such a degree that they don't have enough employees to do the job and serve the customers properly," says one pilot.

The major airlines contend that's not the case at all. Jeff Green, a spokesman for United Airlines, says the major carriers have shrunk significantly since 9/11. While there are far fewer employees, the airline also has far fewer flights. He also notes that United has had its best on-time performance in the past two years and that fraternal gauges of customer satisfaction are up. "What our employees are going through is not having an effect on our customer service," says Mr. Green. Employees on the front line tell a different story. "They're just closing the doors and releasing the brake so they can report an on time departure, when in reality they may still be loading cargo for 30 minutes."

Aviation experts contend that if that's the case, the major airlines may find even more challenges ahead. As their fare structures and prices come closer to those of the successful low-cost carriers, customer service will become even more crucial in determining which airlines succeed. "The way you're treated on the plane speaks a lot as to whether you'll fly that airline again," says Helane Becket, an airline analyst. "It's not the be-all and end-all. It's not going to put an airline out of business. But it's not going to help it a lot either if they're already in trouble."

Airline delays may result in

A．Christmas baggage meltdown.

B．the sharp reduction of flights.

C．airline companies' bankruptcy.

D．the interruption of passenger flow.

Part A

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D . Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.

When we think of Hollywood—a term I use loosely to describe American movie production in general, not simply films made in Los Angeles — we think of films aimed at musing audiences and making money for producers.

During the early years of the new century, as workers won their demands for higher wages and a shorter working week, leisure assumed an increasingly important role in everyday life. Amusement parks, professional baseball games, nickelodeons, and dance halls attracted a wide army of men and woman anxious to spend their hard-earned dollars in the pursuit of fun and relaxation. Yet of all these new cultural endeavours, films were the most important and widely attended source of amusement. For a mere five or ten cents, even the poorest worker could afford to take himself and his family to the local nickelodeon or storefront theatre "Every little town that has never been able to afford and maintain an opera house," observed one journalist in 1908,"now boasts one or two 'Bijou Dreams' "By 1910 the appeal of films was so great that nearly one-third of the nation flocked to the cinema each week; ten years later, weekly attendance equaled 50 percent of the nation's population.

Early films were primarily aimed at entertaining audiences, but entertainment did not always come in the form. of escapist fantasies. Many of the issues that dominated Progressive-era politics were also portrayed on the screen. "Between 1900 and 1917," observes Kevin Brownlow, "literally thousands of films dealt with the most pressing problems of the day — white slavery, political corruption, gangsterism, loansharking, slum landlords, capital vs labour, racial prejudice, etc." While most of these films were produced by studios and independent cornpanies, a significant number were made by what we might call today "special interest groups". As films quickly emerged as the nation's most popular form. of mass entertainment, they attracted the attention of a wide range of organizations that recognized the medium's enormous potential for disseminating propaganda to millions of viewers.

In this passage, "Hollywood" is used to describe ______.

A．American movies production in general

B．films made in Los Angeles

C．an area in Los Angeles, famous because many popular films have been produced there

D．film aimed at amusing audiences and making money for them

Part A

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D . Mark your answers on ANSWER SHEET 1.

When we think of Hollywood—a term I use loosely to describe American movie production in general, not simply films made in Los Angeles — we think of films aimed at musing audiences and making money for producers.

During the early years of the new century, as workers won their demands for higher wages and a shorter working week, leisure assumed an increasingly important role in everyday life. Amusement parks, professional baseball games, nickelodeons, and dance halls attracted a wide army of men and woman anxious to spend their hard-earned dollars in the pursuit of fun and relaxation. Yet of all these new cultural endeavours, films were the most important and widely attended source of amusement. For a mere five or ten cents, even the poorest worker could afford to take himself and his family to the local nickelodeon or storefront theatre "Every little town that has never been able to afford and maintain an opera house," observed one journalist in 1908,"now boasts one or two 'Bijou Dreams' "By 1910 the appeal of films was so great that nearly one-third of the nation flocked to the cinema each week; ten years later, weekly attendance equaled 50 percent of the nation's population.

Early films were primarily aimed at entertaining audiences, but entertainment did not always come in the form. of escapist fantasies. Many of the issues that dominated Progressive-era politics were also portrayed on the screen. "Between 1900 and 1917," observes Kevin Brownlow, "literally thousands of films dealt with the most pressing problems of the day — white slavery, political corruption, gangsterism, loansharking, slum landlords, capital vs labour, racial prejudice, etc." While most of these films were produced by studios and independent cornpanies, a significant number were made by what we might call today "special interest groups". As films quickly emerged as the nation's most popular form. of mass entertainment, they attracted the attention of a wide range of organizations that recognized the medium's enormous potential for disseminating propaganda to millions of viewers.

In this passage, "Hollywood" is used to describe ______.

A．American movies production in general

B．films made in Los Angeles

C．an area in Los Angeles, famous because many popular films have been produced there

D．film aimed at amusing audiences and making money for them

Part A

Directions: Read the following four texts. Answer the questions below each text by choosing A, B, C or D. (40 points)

More and more people are starting to work from home, re-assessing their "work-life balance" and capitalizing on what industry calls "remote working". A recent survey of British companies showed that eight out of ten businesses have now agreed new working arrangements for their personnel. The object of the exercise was to improve the work-life Balance of employees and encourage greater levels of efficiency. During 2003/2004, some 900,000 requests to work flexibly were made under a new Government scheme and 800,000 of the applications were granted. Furthermore, seven out of ten businesses said that they also would be prepared to consider flexible working requests from other staff who did not qualify under the Government scheme.

One of the new technological developments that makes remote working possible is the Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), broadband that can carry both voice and data at high-speed. Remote workers can connect to their company's Virtual Private Network either through Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) internet, which is permanently connected, or through a Remote Access Service (RAS), which involves having to dial in each time. "People started thinking about remote working back in the Eighties but the technology was not available to consider it a possibility", says Meyrick Vevers, Commercial Director of Telewest Broadband, one of UK's communication and media groups. "However, now with the increased availability and use of DSL to home users, remote working is definitely on the increase". Of course, security is very important and IT directors are understandably cautious. But they are now beginning to feel more comfortable about allowing their staff a higher level of access from home.

Telewest Business's experience in putting together product solutions is based on the company's focus on understanding their customers' needs. Because customers' needs are diverse and Telewest Business's possible solutions are wide-ranging, the company invites businesses seeking further information to visit their web site or call direct. Call centre workers, mobile staff, such as sales executives and local authority social workers or parents at home, are among those for whom remote working appears to be increasingly attractive.

"People in industry in the UK have some of the longest working hours in the world", says Vevers. "Doing those hours solely in the office is more disruptive to the personal life of the individual than having the flexibility to work from home". "Remote working is all about personal choice and giving people more flexibility that suits their personal lives. At Telewest Business, we aim to try and help play a part in enabling companies to give their employees that flexibility".

The phrase "capitalizing on"(Para.1) can be substituted by

A．investing money in.

B．specializing in.

C．insisting upon.

D．making use of.