In Favor of the Death Penalty With the possible exception of equal rights, perhaps the most controversial issue across the United States today is the death penalty. Many argue that it is an effective deterrent (威慑) to murder, while others maintain there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty reduces the number of murders. The principal argument advanced by those opposed to the death penalty, basically, is that it is cruel and inhuman punishment, that it is the mark of a brutal society, and finally that it is of questionable effectiveness as deterrent to crime anyway. In our opinion, the death penalty is a necessary evil. Throughout recorded history there have always been those extreme individuals in every society who were capable of terribly violent crimes such as murder. But some are more extreme than others. For example, it is one thing to take the life of another in a fit of blind rage, but quite another to coldly plot and carry out the murder of one or more people in the style of a butcher. Thus, murder, like all other crimes, is a matter of relative degree. While it could be argued with some conviction that the criminal in the first instance should be merely isolated from society, such should not be the fate of the latter type murderer. The value of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime may be open to debate. But the overwhelming majority of citizens believe that the death penalty protects them. Their belief is reinforced by evidence which shows the death penalty deters murder. For example, from 1954 to 1963, when the death penalty was consistently imposed in California, the murder rate remained between three and four murders for each 100,000 population. Since 1964 the death penalty has been imposed only once, and the murder rate has risen to 10.4 murder rate, which began when executions stopped, is no coincidence (巧合). It is convincing evidence that the death penalty does deter many murders. If the bill reestablishing the death penalty is vetoed (否决), innocent people will be murdered—some whose lives may have been saved if the death penalty were in effect. This is literally a life or death matter. The lives of thousands of innocent people must be protected.

The most famous Shoshone Indian was Sacagawea—the woman who accompanied. Lewis and Clark on their exploration of the upper Missouri River. traveled with argued with defended avoided

One of California’s greatest problems is providing adequate water to meet the needs of its expanding population. sufficient palatable suitable unpolluted

The Enormous Egg Dr. Ziemer arrived while we were still staring at the thing in the nest. He jumped out his car and came running out to in the backyard. He was wearing a red coat over his pajamas, and he looked pretty excited. He ran up to the nest and looked in. His eyes opened up wide and he knelt down on the ground and stared and stared. After long while he said softly, “That’s it. By George, that’s just what it is. “Then he stared for another long time and finally he shook his head and said, “It can’t be true, but there it is.“ He got up off his knees and looked around at us. His eyes were just sparking, he was so excited. He put his hand on my shoulder, and I could feel he was quivering. “An amazing thing’s happened, “he said, in a kind of whisper.“ I don’t know how to account for it. It must be some sort of freak biological mix-up that might happen once a thousand years. “ “But what is it?“ I asked. Dr. Ziemer turned and pointed a trembling finger at the nest. “Believe it or not, you people have hatched out a dinosaur. (恐龙)“ We just looked at him. “Sounds incredible, I know,“ he said, “and I can’t explain it, but there it is. I’ve seen too many Triceratops (三角恐龙)skulls to be mistaken about this one. “ “But—but how could it be a dinosaur?“ Pop asked. “Goodness gracious!“ Morn spluttered. “And right here in our backyard. It doesn’t seem hardly right. And on a Sunday, too.“ Cynthia was pretty interested by now, and kept pecking into the nest and making faces, the way she did when Pop brought a bowl of frogs’ legs into the kitchen one time. I guess girls just naturally don’t like crawly things too much. To tell the truth, I don’t either sometimes but this thing that had just hatched out looked kind of cute to me. Maybe that was because I had taken care of the egg so long. I felt as if the little dinosaur was almost one of the family. We stood around for a long while looking at the strange new thing on the nest, trying to let the idea soak in that we had a dinosaur. After Dr. Ziemer calmed down a little he and Pop tightened up the chicken wire to make sure the little animal wasn’t going to crawl out. Dr. Ziemer watched if perhaps she ought not to be taken out before she went out of her mind. Pop figured that it might be a good idea and he picked her up and cut her outside the pen. She acted a little dazed at first, but pretty soon she followed the other hens and began pen. She acted a little dazed at first, but pretty soon she followed the other hens and began scratching for worms like the rest of them.

The History of the Fridge 1．The fridge is considered a necessity. It has been so since the 1960s when packaged food first appeared with he label: “store in the refrigerator.“ 2．In my fridgeless fifties childhood, I was fed well and healthily. The milkman came daily, the grocer, the butcher, the baker, and the ice-cream man delivered two or three times a week. The Sunday meat would last until Wednesday and surplus bread and milk became all kinds of cakes. Nothing was wasted and we were never troubled by rotten food. Thirty years on, food deliveries have ceased, fresh vegetables are almost unobtainable in the country. 3．The invention of the fridge contributed comparatively little to the art of food preservation. A vast variety of well-tried techniques already existed--natural cooling drying, smoking, salting, sugaring, bottling… 4．What refrigeration did promote was marketing--marketing hardware and electricity, marketing soft drinks, marketing dead bodies of animals around the globe in search of a good price. 5．Consequently, most of the world’s fridges are to be found, not in the tropics where they might prove useful, but in the wealthy countries with mild temperatures where they are climatically almost unnecessary. Every winter, millions of fridges hum away continuously and at vast expense, busily maintaining an artificially-cooled space inside an artificially-heated house-while outside, nature provides the desired temperature free of charge. 6．The fridge’s effect upon the environment has been evident, while its contribution to human happiness has been insignificant. If you don’t believe me, try it yourself. Invest in a food cabinet and turn off your fridge next winter. You may miss the hamburgers but at least you’ll get rid of that terrible hum.

When to Take Medicine Is Important Our bodies are wonderfully skillful at maintaining balance. When the temperature jumps, we sweat to cool down. When our blood pressure falls, our hearts pound to compensate. As it turns out, though, our natural state is not a steady one. Researchers are finding that everything from blood pressure to brain function varies rhythmically with the cycles of sun, moon and seasons. And their insights are yielding new strategies for keeping away such common killers as heart disease and cancer. Only one doctor in 20 has a good knowledge of the growing field of “chronotherapeutics“, the strategic use of time (chronos) in medicine. But according to a new American Medical Association poll, three out of four are eager to change that. “That field is exploding,“ says Michael Smolensky. “Doctor used to look at us like, what spaceship did you guys get off? Now they’re thirsty to know more.“ In medical school, most doctors learn that people with chronic conditions should take their medicine at steady rates. “It’s a terrible way to treat disease,“ says Dr. Richard Martin. For example, asthmatics (气喘患者) are most likely to suffer during the night. Yet most patients strive to keep a constant level of medicine in their blood day and night, whether by breathing in on an inhaler (吸入器 ) four times a day or taking a pill each morning and evening. In recent studies, researchers have found that a large midafternoon dose of a bronchodilator (支气管扩张) can be as safe as several small doses, and better for preventing nighttime attacks. If the night belongs to asthma, the dawn belongs to high blood pressure and heart disease. Heart attacks are twice as common at 9 a.m. as at 11 p.m. Part of the reason is that our blood pressure falls predictably at night, then peaks as we start to work for the day. “Doctors know that,“ Dr. Henry Black of Chicago’s Medical Center, “but until now, we haven’t been able to do anything about it.“ Most blood-pressure drugs provide 18 to 20 hours of relief. But because they’re taken in the morning, they are least effective when most needed. “You take your pill at 7 and it’s working by 9,“ says Dr. William White of the University of Connecticut Health Center. “But by that time you’ve gone through the worst four hours of the day with no protection.“ Bedtime dosing would prevent that lapse, but it would also push blood pressure to dangerously low levels during the night.

Supermarket’s New Strategy One supermarket in Tokyo has managed to solve the problems of shoplifting, mistakes by cashiers, and long lines of customers waiting at the cash registers. It is Japan’s advanced computer technology that has come (51) with the answers. Shoppers at an OK supermarket on the outskirts of the city now push a cart (52) a plastic card chained to it and buy from glass cases where the goods are on display. The plastic card has a magnetic number imprinted on it. Each customer carries his or her own card, which is (53) at the exit. While shopping, the customer pushes the card into a slot beside whichever items are wanted and pushes a button or two. The glass covered vending machines are connected to a computer that (54) the price of every item in the store. Prices of every purchase are added up automatically. (55) she has finished shopping, the customer hands her card to a cashier who (56) it into the register. A second later the (57) pops out. Shoplifting is physically impossible. Once you touch a commodity the computer remembers it no matter how you hide it or (58) you eat it on the spot. A cashier at the OK supermarket is now able to work 15 times faster than her (59) at a conventional supermarket. Only two cashiers, (60) , are required at the store, which (61) 2,500 separate items. One man is enough to keep the vending machine filled, because whenever the stock for a certain commodity is (62) to run out, a red lamp in the computer-room (63) him. But there are disadvantages too: a customer cannot (64) his or her mind about a purchase. Once touched, the item cannot be put back. The customer must (65) a cashier with it first and get a refund later. There are also no fresh vegetables or fish on sale—everything is prepackaged.

They voted to abolish the office of second vice-president. decorate create improve eliminate

Choreographer Twyla Tharp uses familiar dance movements in original ways to create works filled with clever gestures and abrupt changes in motion and mood. graceful creative sudden dramatic

Although South Carolina’s mineral resources are abundant, not all of them can be mined lucratively. molten plentiful diverse precious

While they were away on vacation, they allowed their mail to accumulate at the post office. be delivered pile up get lost be returned

If the weatherman has predicted accurately, tomorrow will be a perfect day for our picnic. astutely correctly carefully acutely

Usually, in an attack of influenza, the patient’s limbs ache. hurt soften get numb get hot

Weed killers must be chosen and applied with great care to avoid damage to adjacent trees and shrubs. indigenous nearby perennial similar

I admire his work. recognize exploit tolerate esteem

Animal Intelligence Are Animals intelligent? If they are, which animals are the most intelligent? These are not easy questions to answer. In the first place, no one is quite sure what intelligence is. We often say that intelligence means being able to solve problems. (46) . For example, dogs and cats often find their way home from long distances. To do this they have to use their intelligence. They have to remember and think. But many birds find their way over long distances, too. They travel thousands of miles every year when they move from cool to warmer places. We do not know how they do this but we know that they do not use their intelligence. (47) . Young birds are able to make these journeys without help as soon as they can fly. They are born with this ability. This is not intelligence. We call this ’instinct’. Often we cannot be sure whether an animal is acting intelligently or instinctively. When a dog hears a strange noise, it barks. This is instinct. It cannot stop itself from doing this. It does not really know why it is doing this. But supposing a house is on fire and the dog barks outside its master’s bedroom until he wakes up, is the dog using its intelligence? (48) . Often we cannot be sure. Many animals, however, can be taught to sole problems, especially when they are given rewards. Rats have been taught to press a lever to get food. Pigeons have been taught to peck a disc for the same reason. Even an octopus(章鱼) has been trained to know the difference between a square and an oblong (长方形) ! Animals in circuses have been taught to do all sorts of tricks to amuse an audience. (49) . It is saying, “if I do this, I will get a reward. Therefore I will do it. “ This may be thought of as a low kind of intelligence. Some animals, however, show a much higher kind of intelligence. They solve problems without any help. Chimpanzees, one of the ape family, are much more intelligent than other animals. A chimpanzee once did something even more intelligent. He did not have a stick. He had two short tubes. Neither of the tubes was long enough to reach the banana but one was wider than the other. He jammed the narrow tube inside the wider tube and in this way made one tube long enough to reach the banana (50) . A．Is it solving the problem by waking its master or is it simply barking instinctively because it is afraid? B．Chimpanzees can solve certain problems without any help. C．Some animals seem able to do this. D．In all these cases we may say that an animal is using intelligence. E．In other words, he did not simply use a tool, which itself is intelligent: he made a tool. F．They do not remember places and directions and then make decisions.

Eleanor Roosevelt’s dedication to humanitarian causes won her affection and honor at home and abroad. on the air henceforth nearby in foreign countries

Red giant stars do not become white dwarf stars abruptly; the process takes more than fifteen hundred years. suddenly in unison prematurely accidentally

It is now generally assumed that the planets were formed by the accretion of gas and dust in a cosmic cloud. separation reaction accumulation motion

As aquatic plants moved millions of years ago from the ocean to the land, they underwent a number of adaptations. mishaps expansions setbacks modifications

Eleven states, including the adjoining states of North and South Carolina, seceded from the United States in the 1860’s and formed a southern confederacy. separated neighboring colonial competing

The principle purpose of this passage is to ______.

The passage attempts to establish a relationship between ______.

The author’s response to those who urge the death penalty for all degrees of murder would most likely be ______.

In the passage the author is primarily concerned with ______.

It can be inferred that the author thinks that______.