Computers The initial impact of computers was in the area of entertainment. If you walked by a video arcade in the early 1980s, you could not have failed to notice that the use of video games was growing at what some considered an alarming rate. In 1981 the movie industry grossed $ 3 billion, video games took in an estimated $ 6 billion. That gives you some idea of just how big the computer industry had become. Video games employ the same technology as personal computers, and indeed many who bought personal computers did so primarily for playing games at home, thus saving their quarters. Though video games are not as popular as they were a few years ago, they did provide consumer with their first real reason to buy PCs. A more recent computer innovation, desktop publishing, supplies one good reason for those who write for a living to buy a PC. Desktop publishing is a deceptively simple description for an extremely complex group of hardware and software tools. You can now write text, edit text, draw illustrations, incorporate photographs, design page layouts, and print a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer. Although the new technology offers new freedom, there is a price to be paid for this freedom. With total control comes total responsibility. In fact, the issue of social responsibility in our new computer age has long been a topic of debate among computer enthusiasts. Some people are concerned with the long-term social effects of the so-called computer revolution. Ironically, many PC pioneers who built and marketed the first machines were 60s-style advocates of social change. They claim that while personal computer technology has the potential to make society more equal, it’s having the opposite effect since upper-middle-class people can afford them and lower-class people cannot. In addition, the ways that computers are used to monitor the activities of their users have evoked anxiety about the machine. Over 7 million Americans now have their work paced, controlled, and monitored by computers. A computer is more restrictive and powerful in the way it controls people than the old-fashioned assembly line. This can lead to what some have called “tech-stress“. Irritated eyes, back problems, and other physical symptoms have also been associated with the extensive use of computers. Although the personal computer may not have had the impact some predicted a decade age, the combination of computer technology with satellites and cable does promise innovations in the mass media that would have seemed astonishing just a few short years ago.

The Mayan civilization flourished on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. profited gained benefited prospered

Many tourists are attracted to the New England states by the autumn foliage. weather leaves festivals harvest

Even the best-build machine will not run forever without proper maintenance. eternally smoothly dependably accurately

Archaeologists have discovered fossils of million-year-old animals in excavations. remnants graves records paws

In the first decades of the twentieth century, the individual gene could not be seen, but could be worked with fruitfully. blindly completely productively carefully

Grounded whales often struggle fruitlessly to reenter deep water. violently desperately in vain at length

The Fat Problem that Men Face It is a pleasure to see men of a certain age worrying about their weight. Listening to them is not such a pleasure. Because the men are new at the game, they don’t hesitate to discuss the fat problem incessantly. However women of the same age do not discuss the fat problem, especially not in mixed company. They prefer to face the problem with quiet dignity. Discussing the problem might only draw attention to some stray body part that may be successfully tucked away under an article of clothing. The age at which a man begins to explore the fat problem can vary. The actual problem can manifest itself in the early 30’s, but broad-range discussion usually starts later. There are early nonverbal symptoms. I’ve watched the rugged journalist who shares my apartment sneak by with a Diet Coke. His shirts are no longer neatly tucked in to display a trim waist. Recently he has begun to verbalize his anxiety. He tells me, with a sheepish grin, that he is taking his suits to Chinatown to have them “tailored“. Still-older men have lost their dignity and rattle on unabashedly. Often wives and children play important roles in their fat-inspection rituals. Take my oldest brother, a former college football player. His daughter says that several times a day he will stand at attention and call out, “Fat, medium or thin?“ She knows the correct answer: medium. Thin would be an obvious stretch, and fat may not get her that new video. According to his wife, he stands in front of the mirror in the morning(before the day’s meals take their toll),puts his hands behind his head and lurches into a side bend, then clutches the roll that has developed and says, “Am I getting fatter? “ His wife is expected to answer, “You look like you may have lost a few pounds.“ And then there are the ex-husbands a pitiful group. They are extremely vocal. When I go to the movies with one, he confides that he is suffering from great hunger because he is dieting. He hasn’t eaten since the pancakes and sausages he wolfed down that morning. He pauses in his monologue while he buys his popcorn. After the movie, we sprint to a restaurant, where he again pauses to devour a basket of bread. Before he orders his chaste salad and soup, he grows plaintive. Do I think he’s fat?

How to Learn Language Successfully 1．Some people seem to have a knack for learning languages. They can pick up new vocabulary, master rules or grammar, and learn to write in the new language more quickly than others. They do not seem to be any more intelligent than others, so what makes language learning so much easier for them? Perhaps if we take a close look at these successful language learners, we may discover a few of the techniques which make language learning easier for them. 2．First of all, successful language learners are independent learners. They do not depend on the book or the teacher；they discover their own way to learn the language. Instead of waiting for the teacher to explain, they try to find the patterns and the rules for themselves. They are good guesters who look for clues and form their own conclusions. When they guess wrong, they guess again. They try to learn from mistakes. 3．Successful language learning is active learning. Therefore, successful learners do not wait for a chance to use the language；they look for such a chance. They find people who speak the language and they ask these people to correct them when they make a mistake. They will try anything to communicate. They are not afraid to repeat what they hear or to say strange things; they are willing to make mistakes and try again. When communication is difficult, they can accept information that is inexact or incomplete. It is more important for them to learn to think in the language than to know the meaning of every world. 4．Finally, successful language learners are learners with a purpose. They want to learn the language because they are interested in the language and the people who speak it. It is necessary for them to learn the language in order to communicate with these people and to learn from them. They find it easy to practice using the language regularly because they want to learn with it. 5．What kind of language learner are you? If you are a successful language learner, you have probably been learning independently, actively, and purposefully. On the other hand, if your language learning has been less than successful, you might as well try some of the techniques outlined above.

War and Conflict The question of whether war is inevitable is one which has concerned many of the world’s great writers. Before considering this question, it will be useful to introduce some related concepts. Conflict, defined as opposition among social entities directed against one another, is distinguished from competition, defined as opposition among social entities independently striving for something which is in inadequate supply. Competitors may not be aware of one another, while the parties to a conflict are. Conflict and competition are both categories of opposition, which has been defined as a process by which social entities function is the disservice of one another. Opposition is thus contrasted with cooperation, the process by which social entities function in the service of one another. These definitions are necessary because it is important to emphasize that competition between individuals or groups in inevitable in a world of limited resources, but conflict is not. Conflict, nevertheless, is very likely to occur, and is probably an essential and desirable element of human societies. Many authors have argued for the inevitability of war from the premise that in the struggle for existence among animal species, only the fittest survive. In general, however, this struggle in nature is competition, not conflict. Social animals, such as monkeys and cattle, fight to win or maintain leadership of the group. The struggle for existence occurs not in such fights, but in the competition for limited feeding areas and for occupancy of areas free from meat-eating animals. Those who fail in this competition starve to death or become victims to other species. This struggle for existence does not resemble human war, but rather the competition of individuals for jobs, markets, and materials. The essence of the struggle is the competition for the necessities of life that are insufficient to satisfy all. Among nations there is competition in developing resources, trades, skills, and a satisfactory way of life. The successful nations grow and prosper; the unsuccessful decline. While it is true that this competition may induce efforts to expand territory at the expense of others, and thus lead to conflict, it cannot be said that war-like conflict among nations is inevitable, although competition is.

System of Criminal Trial How efficient is our system of criminal trial? Does it really do the basic job we ask of it— convicting the guilty and acquitting the innocent? It is often said that the British trail system is more like a game than a serious attempt to do justice. The lawyers on each side are so en- grossed in playing hard to win, challenging each other and the judge on technical points, that the object of finding out the truth is almost forgotten. All the effort is concentrated on the big day, on the dramatic cross examination of the key witnesses in front of the jury. Critics like to compare our “adversarial“ system (resembling two adversaries engaged in a contest) with the continental “inquisitorial“ system, under which the judge plays a more important inquiring role. In early times, in the Middle Ages, the systems of trial across Europe were similar. At that time trial by “ordeal“—especially a religious event—was the main way of testing guilt or innocence. When this way eventually abandoned the two systems parted company. On the continent church-trained legal officials took over the function of both prosecuting and judging, while in England these were largely left to lay people, the Justice of the Peace and this meant that all the evidence had to be put to them orally, this historical accident dominates procedure even today, with all evidence being given in open court by word of mouth on the crucial day. On the other hand, in France for instance, all the evidence is written before the trial under supervision by an investigating judge. This exhaustive pretrial looks very undramatic; much of it is just a public checking of the written records already gathered. The Americans adopted the British system lock, stock and barrel and enshrined it in their constitution. But, while the basic features of our systems are common, there are now significant differences in the way serious cases are handled. First, because the U. S.A. has virtually no contempt of court laws to prevent pretrial publicity in the newspaper and on television, Americans lawyers are allowed to question jurors about knowledge and beliefs. In Britain this is virtually never allowed, and a random selection of jurors who are presumed not to be prejudiced are empanelled. Secondly, there is no separate profession of barrister in the United States, and both prosecution and defense lawyers who are to present cases in court prepare them themselves. They go out and visit the scene, track down and interview witnesses, and familiarize themselves personally with the background. In Britain it is the solicitor who prepares the case, and the barrister who appears in court is not even slowed to meet witness beforehand. British barristers also alternate doing both prosecution and defense work. Being kept distant from the preparation and regularly appearing for both sides, barristers are said to avoid becoming too personally involved, and can approach cases more dispassionately. American lawyers, however, often know their cases better. Reformers rightly want to learn from other countries’ mistakes and successes. But what is clear is that justice systems, largely because they are the result of long historical growth, are peculiarly difficult to adapt piecemeal.

Human and Culture Human beings are animals. We breathe, eat and digest, and reproduce the same life processes common to all animals. In a biological laboratory, rats, monkeys, and humans seem very much the same. However, biological understanding is not enough: (51) itself, it can never tell us what human beings are. (52) to our physical equipment—the naked human body—we are not an (53) animal. We are tropical creatures, nearly hairless and sensitive to cold. We are not fast and have neither claws nor sharp teeth to defend ourselves. We need a lot of food but have almost no physical equipment to help us get it. In the purely physical (54) , our species seems a poor (55) for survival. But we have survived—survived and multiplied and (56) the earth. Some day we will have a (57) living on the moon, a place with neither air nor water and with temperatures that turn gases into solids. How can we have done all these things? Part of the answer is physical. In spite of its limitations, our physical equipment has some important (58) . We have excellent vision and hands that can (59) objects with a precision unmatched by any other (60) . Most importantly, we have a large brain with an almost (61) number of neural connections. We have used this physical equipment to create culture, the key to our survival and success. If we live in the Arctic, we supply the warmth our tropical bodies need (62) clothing, shelter, and (63) heat. If a million people, want to live in a desert that supplies natural food for only a few hundred, we find water to grow food and (64) deficits by transporting supplies from distant places. Inhabitants of our eventual moon colony will bring their own food and oxygen and then create an artificial earth environment to supply necessities. With culture, we can overcome our natural limitations. It was not always (65) . Our distant ancestors were just animals, faced with the limits of their physical equipment. They had no culture and lacked the physical capacity to use it.

The field of international finance involves policies and procedures that affect the flow of money and credit among countries. appraisal numeration availability circulation

When an electric current flows through a wire, a magnetic field appears around the wire. travels vibrates alternates fluctuates

Though chess players may now compete against computers, they still follow rules that were used over 800 years ago. come after abide by recite allow

Strict sanitary procedures help to forestall outbreaks of disease. prevent control minimize preview

For financial reasons, scientists are often compelled to forsake their research. extend resume abandon redirect

Computers The initial impact of computers was in the area of entertainment. If you walked by a video arcade in the early 1980s, you could not have failed to notice that the use of video games was growing at what some considered an alarming rate. In 1981 the movie industry grossed $ 3 billion, video games took in an estimated $ 6 billion. That gives you some idea of just how big the computer industry had become. Video games employ the same technology as personal computers, and indeed many who bought personal computers did so primarily for playing games at home, thus saving their quarters. Though video games are not as popular as they were a few years ago, they did provide consumer with their first real reason to buy PCs. A more recent computer innovation, desktop publishing, supplies one good reason for those who write for a living to buy a PC. Desktop publishing is a deceptively simple description for an extremely complex group of hardware and software tools. You can now write text, edit text, draw illustrations, incorporate photographs, design page layouts, and print a finished document with a relatively inexpensive computer and laser printer. Although the new technology offers new freedom, there is a price to be paid for this freedom. With total control comes total responsibility. In fact, the issue of social responsibility in our new computer age has long been a topic of debate among computer enthusiasts. Some people are concerned with the long-term social effects of the so-called computer revolution. Ironically, many PC pioneers who built and marketed the first machines were 60s-style advocates of social change. They claim that while personal computer technology has the potential to make society more equal, it’s having the opposite effect since upper-middle-class people can afford them and lower-class people cannot. In addition, the ways that computers are used to monitor the activities of their users have evoked anxiety about the machine. Over 7 million Americans now have their work paced, controlled, and monitored by computers. A computer is more restrictive and powerful in the way it controls people than the old-fashioned assembly line. This can lead to what some have called “tech-stress“. Irritated eyes, back problems, and other physical symptoms have also been associated with the extensive use of computers. Although the personal computer may not have had the impact some predicted a decade age, the combination of computer technology with satellites and cable does promise innovations in the mass media that would have seemed astonishing just a few short years ago.

Supermarket Supermarket is a type of retailing institution that has a moderately broad product assortment spanning groceries and some nonfood lines, that ordinarily emphasizes price in either an offensive or defensive way. As a method, supermarket retailing features several related product lines, a high degree of self-service, largely centralized checkout, and competitive prices. The supermarket approach to retailing is used to sell various kinds of merchandise, (46) . The term supermarket usually refers to an institution in the grocery retailing field. Most supermarkets emphasize price. Some use price offensively by featuring low prices in order to attract customers. Other supermarkets use price more defensively by relying on leader pricing to avoid a price disadvantage. Since supermarkets typically have very thin gross margins, they need light levels of inventory turnover to achieve satisfactory returns on invested capital. Supermarkets originated in the early 1930s. They were established by independents (47) . Supermarkets were an immediate success, and the innovation was soon adopted by chain stores. In recent decades supermarkets have added various nonfood lines to provide customers with one stop shopping convenience and to improve overall gross margins. Today stores using the supermarket method of retailing are dominant in grocery retailing. However, different names are used to distinguish these institutions (48) . A superstore is a larger version of the supermarket. It offers more grocery and nonfood items (49) . Many supermarket chains are emphasizing superstores in their new construction. Combination stores are usually even larger than superstore. They, too, offer more groceries and nonfoods than a supermarket but also most product lines found in a large drugstore. Some combination stores are joint ventures between supermarkets and drug chains such as Kroger and Savon. For many years the supermarket has been under attack from numerous competitors. For example, a grocery shopper can choose among not only many brands of supermarkets but also various types of institutions (warehouse stores, gourmet shops, meat and fish markets, and convenience stores). Supermarkets have reacted to competitive pressures (50) : Some cut costs and stressed low prices by offering more private brands and generic products and few customer services. Others expanded their store size and assortments by adding more nonfood lines (especially products found in drugstores), groceries attuned to a particular market area (foods that appeal to a specific ethnic group, for example), and various service departments (including video rentals, restaurants, delicatessens, financial institutions, and pharmacies). A．by size and assortment B．than a conventional supermarket does C．including building materials, office products, and, of course, groceries D．attracting more customers with their low prices E．primarily in either of two ways F．to compete with grocery chains

It was difficult to see ships in the distance because of the fog. sweat haze dew frost

The harpsichord, developed during the Middle Ages, was one of the forerunners of the piano. competitors imitators predecessors offspring

The dramatic growth of the business dealing in video games is the result of______

The consumers’ first motivation in buying personal computer is to______.

What’s the advantage that desktop publishing brings people? ______.

In the long run, the social effect of computers is that ______

According to the passage, which of the following is true? ______