【单选题】If bad credit risks are the ones who most actively seek loans and, therefore, receive them from financial intermediaries, then financial intermediaries face the problem of

Anniversaries are the opium of museums, publishers, theaters and opera houses. Fixing their eyes on some round-number birth or death date of a major creator, they start planning to cash in years before. For 2006, birthdays are the winning numbers: Rembrandt's 400th; Mozart's 250th; and the 100th for Samuel Beckett and Dmitri Shostakovich.

The Dutch have organized a score of Rembrandt shows, starting appropriately with an exhibition based around his mother in the town of his birth, Leiden. Mozart's music will be heard more than usual in churches, concert hails and opera houses around the world, with his birthplace, Salzburg, once again trying to compensate for the indifference it showed him during his lifetime.

But do such anniversaries and accompanying celebrations serve much purpose? Are they just marketing devices to sell tickets to museums and performances? Or do they help draw the attention of younger generations to the giants of Western culture who at times seem crowded out by the pygmies of popular culture?

As it happens, the practice is not new. The birth of Bardolatry, or Shakespeare worship, is generally traced to the Shakespeare Jubilee, which was organized by the actor-manager David Garrick to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the playwright's birth (the jubilee was actually held in 1769, five years after the anniversary, but presumably time was more flexible in those days).

Until then, perhaps surprisingly, Shakespeare was not doing too well. The popularity of many of his plays did not survive the l8-year-long closure of London's theaters during the Civil War and Cromwell's rule. Then, after theaters reopened in 1660 with the Restoration of the monarchy, several of his major works -- "Richard Ⅲ" and "King Lear" among them -- were drastically revised by other playwrights.

Today, Mozart, for one, is hardly in need of revival. No opera house plans a season these days without including at least one of his stage masterpieces: "Le Nozze di Figaro", "Don Giovanni", "Cosi fan tutte" and "Die Zauberflote". His "Requiem", "Coronation Mass" and other sacred works are regularly performed. His instrumental works -- he wrote hundreds -- keep soloists and orchestras busy throughout the year.

A more interesting reflection for Jan. 27, the 250th anniversary of his birth, is: how would Western culture have fared without Mozart?

True, the same question might be asked of myriad great artists who have bequeathed beauty, emotion and understanding. Yet Mozart was unique, not only because he excelled in every kind of music (while, say, Verdi and Wagner were great composers only of opera), but also because, more even than Bach, he turned listening into a deeply personal experience.

There is that perennial: who killed Mozart? In Peter Schaffer's 1979 play, "Amadeus", adapted as an Oscar-winning movie by Milos Forman in 1984, the finger of guilt was pointed at Mozart's contemporary, Antonio Salieri. But even that charge was old hat: Pushkin first raised it in his 1830 play, "Mozart and Salieri", which Rimsky-Korsakov adapted as an opera in 1897. Still, the question is again being trotted out for the anniversary.

No such mystery surrounds Rembrandt's life or death. But if his greatness was only fully recognized in the 19th century, he certainly is in need of no anniversary "special offers" to be admired today. His more than 600 oils are in collections around the world and, whenever selected for exhibitions, they draw huge crowds.

The organizers of Rembrandt 400, as the anniversary has been tagged, evidently again have crowds in mind, hoping that some 250,000 people will travel to the Netherlands for the occasion.

Will Rembrandt's fans cross paths with those of Mozart?

If they did, they might find that their idols have something in common. In his 75 or so self portraits, recording his passage from youth to old age, Rembrandt seems to offer a

A．Mozart's music used to be only played in church

B．Mozart's music has always been welcomed by people

C．Rembrandt once painted a lot about his mother

D．Rembrandt was brought up by his mother only

According to the theory of "risk homeostasis ", some traffic accidents result from______

A．our innate desire for risk

B．our fast and reckless driving

C．our ignorance of seat belt benefits

D．our instinctive interest in speeding

According to the theory of "risk homeostasis", some traffic accidents result from______.

A．our innate desire for risk

B．our fast and reckless driving

C．our ignorance of seat belt benefits

D．our instinctive interest in speeding

Text 4 The most thoroughly studied in the history of the new world are the ministers and political leaders of seventeenth-century New England. According to the standard history of American philosophy, nowhere else in colonial America was “So much important attached to intellectual pursuits ” According to many books and articles, New England’s leaders established the basic themes and preoccupations of an unfolding, dominant Puritan tradition in American intellectual life.

To take this approach to the New Englanders normally mean to start with the Puritans’ theological innovations and their distinctive ideas about the church-important subjects that we may not neglect. But in keeping with our examination of southern intellectual life, we may consider the original Puritans as carriers of European culture adjusting to New world circumstances. The New England colonies were the scenes of important episodes in the pursuit of widely understood ideals of civility and virtuosity.

The early settlers of Massachusetts Bay included men of impressive education and influence in England. `Besides the ninety or so learned ministers who came to Massachusetts church in the decade after 1629,There were political leaders like John Winthrop, an educated gentleman, lawyer, and official of the Crown before he journeyed to Boston. There men wrote and published extensively, reaching both New World and Old World audiences, and giving New England an atmosphere of intellectual earnestness.

We should not forget , however, that most New Englanders were less well educated. While few crafts men or farmers, let alone dependents and servants, left literary compositions to be analyzed, The in thinking often had a traditional superstitions quality. A tailor named John Dane, who emigrated in the late 1630s, left an account of his reasons for leaving England that is filled with signs. sexual confusion, economic frustrations , and religious hope-all name together in a decisive moment when he opened the Bible, told his father the first line he saw would settle his fate, and read the magical words: “come out from among them, touch no unclean thing , and I will be your God and you shall be my people.” One wonders what Dane thought of the careful sermons explaining the Bible that he heard in puritan churched.

Mean while , many settles had slighter religious commitments than Dane’s, as one clergyman learned in confronting folk along the coast who mocked that they had not come to the New world for religion . “Our main end was to catch fish. ”

36. The author notes that in the seventeenth-century New England___________.

[A] Puritan tradition dominated political life.

[B] intellectual interests were encouraged.

[C] Politics benefited much from intellectual endeavors.

[D] intellectual pursuits enjoyed a liberal environment.

According to the author, the most active advocates of telecities are______.

A．leaders and planners

B．urban architects

C．some corporations

D．government administrators

SECTION 3

Directions: Each passage in this group is followed by questions based on its content. After reading a passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer all questions following a passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.

Homeostasis refers to any process, such as negative feedback, that living

things employ to maintain stable conditions indispensable for survival, and

which arises from balances between forces and factors mutually influencing each

other. Disturbance, or departure from equilibrium is of more consequence than

(5) negative feedback: systems cannot correct themselves without straying. A car

and its driver, for instance, can be regarded as a homeostatic system seeking to

keep the car moving on track. Thus, if the car skids, the driver automatically

responds by quickly steering the wheel in the opposite direction, but such

abrupt negative feedback usually overcorrects. Likewise, if the magnitude of

(10) correction is commensurate with the disturbance that triggered it, the

correction may become an impressed change in the direction opposite to that of

the original disturbance. Each feedback is of lesser magnitude than the last, so

that as the oscillations of the system dampen, negative feedback achieves its

goal in both artificial and natural systems.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

A．describe in detail how the principles of homeostasis apply to living things

B．propose a modification in the most widely accepted theory of homeostasis

C．compare and contrast the role of positive and negative feedback in maintaining various applied systems

D．discuss the concept of homeostasis in the abstract and relate some of its most important principles

E．provide examples of systems which are ruled by the principle of homeostasis

SECTION 3

Directions: Each passage in this group is followed by questions based on its content. After reading a passage, choose the best answer to each question. Answer all questions following a passage on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.

Homeostasis refers to any process, such as negative feedback, that living

things employ to maintain stable conditions indispensable for survival, and

which arises from balances between forces and factors mutually influencing each

Line other. Disturbance, or departure from equilibrium is of more consequence than

(5) negative feedback: systems cannot correct themselves without straying. A car

and its driver, for instance, can be regarded as a homeostatic system seeking to

keep the car moving on track. Thus, if the car skids, the driver automatically

responds by quickly steering the wheel in the opposite direction, but such

abrupt negative feedback usually overcorrects. Likewise, if the magnitude of

(10) correction is commensurate with the disturbance that triggered it, the

correction may become an impressed change in the direction opposite to that of

the original disturbance. Each feedback is of lesser magnitude than the last, so

that as the oscillations of the system dampen, negative feedback achieves its

goal in both artificial and natural systems.

The primary purpose of the passage is to

A．describe in detail how the principles of homeostasis apply to living things

B．propose a modification in the most widely accepted theory of homeostasis

C．compare and contrast the role of positive and negative feedback in maintaining various applied systems

D．discuss the concept of homeostasis in the abstract and relate some of its most important principles

E．provide examples of systems which are ruled by the principle of homeostasis

President Barack Obama claimed progress Wednesday in his second-term drive to combat climate change but said more must be done to address a generational problem. One year after unveiling an aggressive plan, Obama said new【C1】______limits on power plants, renewable energy projects and new【C2】______for green technology have cleared the way for further action in the U.S. and abroad, despite steadfast【C3】______from much of Congress. "When you take those first steps, even if theyre【C4】______, and even if there are politics sometimes, you start【C5】______momentum and you start mobilizing larger and larger communities," Obama said. Obamas【C6】______served as a progress report for his climate plan, which the president【C7】______out last June. Twelve months later, much of the plan is in【C8】______, although the most ambitious steps are still up in the air and will take years to be【C9】______realized. Change wont be instantaneous, Obama【C10】______. "Theres no silver bullet" Indeed, many of the steps hes taking are【C11】______, limited in scope by hostility from both parties to putting a【C12】______on carbon pollution, which would require new laws from Congress. Still, Obama said hes seeking to【C13】______the problem but cutting it up into smaller pieces. "Were moving, and its making a【C14】______," he told a supportive crowd at the League of Conservation Voters annual dinner. The environmental group【C15】______Obama early in his 2008 campaign.【C16】______on the international front, momentum has been obscure.【C17】______global climate talks next year in Paris, there are fresh【C18】______that some countries are urging others to resist【C19】______moves to curb carbon. That could discourage even bigger polluters from【C20】______.

【C1】

A．products

B．expenditures

C．emissions

D．expectations

Kissing is so common though we rarely ask why humans touch 【M1】______ their lips together to show affection. One obvious answer is that it feels good. Densely packed nerve endings make your lips some of the most acutely sensitive regions of your entire body, and a few 【M2】______ things get them more riled up than a kiss. But where in humanitys evolutionary history putting our faces together come to be regarded 【M3】______ as a display of lust, care, friendship and love? One of the most compelling hypotheses surroundings the 【M4】______ emergence of kissing in humans and kiss-like behavior. in other species are tied to the widespread practice of passing pre-chewed or 【M5】______ regurgitated food from the mouth of one animal to another. Birds do it. Chimps do it. Many humans even do it. The pass of food from 【M6】______ one creature to another is certainly an intimate form. of interaction. Though this behavior. can be regarded as altruistic is debatable, but 【M7】______ the fact that caring for ones young and securing a mate are both crucial to an organisms ability to pass its genes on subsequent 【M8】______ generations supports the argument that this behavior. would be evolutionarily encouraged. The science of kissing is a fascinated thing to think about and 【M9】______ Philematology(the science and study of kissing)is becoming an increasingly popular area of study, for researchers strive to sort out 【M10】______ the mysteries of love and attraction. Though plenty of unanswered questions remain, perhaps its sufficient to say that kissing remains an excellent and exciting human pastime.

【M1】

Pandemic (大面积流行的 ) HINI 2009

The most active areas ofpandemic influenza transmission currently are in central and eastern Eu- rope. Focal(集中的) increases in rates during recent week were _(5l)in at least two eastern European countries. A high intensity of respiratory(呼吸的 ) disease activity with concurrent(同时存在的) circulation of pandemic influenza still _(52) in parts of southern andeastern Europe,_ (53) in Greece,Poland, and Ukraine.

In Western Europe, influenzatransmission remains _(54) and widespread, but overall dis- ease activity has peaked. All influenza viruses in Westem Europe werepandemic HIN1 2009, (55) , very small numbers of seasonal influenzaviruses, covering less than l% of allinfluenza viruses found, were reportedin Russia. In (56),limited available data indicate that active, high intensity transmission is occurring in Northern Africancountries _ (57)the Mediterranean coast.

In Central Asia, limited data _ (58)that influenza virus circulation remains active, but transmission may have recently peaked in someplaces. In West Asia, Israel,lran, and Iraq also appear to have passed their (59)period of transmission withinthe past month, though both areas continue to have some active transmission and levels of respiratorydisease activity have not yet _(60) to baseline levels. In East Asia,influenza transmission remains active but appears to be _ (61) overall. Slight increases in ILl werereported inMongoliaafter weeks of declining activity following a large peak of activity _ (62)one month age.

In North America,influenza transmission _ _(63) widespread but has declinedquickly in all countries. In thetropical regions of Central and South America and the Caribbean, influenzatransmis- sion remains geographically widespread but overall disease _(64) has been declining orremains unchanged in most parts (65)for focal increases in respiratory diseaseactivity in a few coun- tries.

A.reported

B.expected

C.marked

D.caused