5. The author's attitude towards knowing the complete human genome can be described as ________.
A) critical B) objective C) positive D) indifferent
BDCCB 6
Western nations initially ignored Russia's ruthless military campaign in Chechnya to gain Moscow's support for the war on terrorism. Now, as reports of human rights abuses in the region stream in, Europe and America are losing patience.
Recent Amnesty International reports describe in gruesome detail the Russian military's role in the rape and trafficking of Chechen women. A 2001 U.S. State Department report on trafficking in persons described Russia as \for women trafficked for prostitution.\Chechnya. There are also reports of Russian soldiers using Chechen civilians as human shields to storm hideouts of Chechen militias. These dreadful war crimes speak volumes to the moral bankruptcy of the Russian military establishment, and continue to fuel the Chechen yearning for independence. Shortly after Sept. 11, President Putin may have convinced the West to look the other way. But the tide is beginning to turn. At a January meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe(PACE) in Strasbourg, Germany, a special session was included to address the crisis in Chechnya, much to the chagrin of the Russian delegation. Russian delegates mocked Chechen representative Ahmed Zakaevv, calling him a representative of Osama bin Laden. During the same period, a meeting took place between Chechen diplomat IlyasAhmadov and representatives of the U.S. State Department. These high-profile meetings between delegates of the Chechen resistance leadership and Western leaders seem to signal the end of short-lived Western silence. The Russian government's diplomatic failure to win legitimacy for its war in Chechnya and to equate it with the war in Afghanistan was also matched by a series of military blunders committed by its forces on the ground. Recently, the Russian military announced the conclusion of a sweeping crackdown on \have killed over 90 Chechen revels. Shortly after the announcement, The Independent, a London-based paper, accused the Russian government of fabricating the news of the military crackdown to cover up the deaths of 15 Russian soldiers killed by friendly fire. Soon after, 14 senior Russian officials, including a deputy interior minister, were killed when their military helicopter crashed during a flight over Chechnya.
The death toll included General Mikhail Rudhenko, who is in charge of security in southern Russia.
It may seem as if the plight of the Chechen people has no end in sight. But their determination to be free is unmistakable. Russia's atrocities in Chechnya go back to the 19th century, when the diminutive but oil-rich region was annexed to the Czarist Empire after a bloody campaign of colonization. Since then, the Chechens have endured mass deportations and massacres, and have stared genocide in the face. 1. Europe and America didn't blame Russia for its deeds in Chechnya mainly because _________.
A) Russia did nothing wrong in Chechnya before
B) they wanted to gain Russia's support for the war on terrorism C) they didn't want to intervene into other countries' affairs D) they were not blamed by advocates of human rights
2. The underlined word \
A) concealing B) reporting C) inventing D) postponing
3. Which of the following is incorrect according to the passage?
A) President Putin hasn't convinced the west to believe that its war on Chechnya is proper.
B) In the western nation's opinion, the war in Chechnya is similar to that in Afghanistan.
C) Chechnya didn't belong to Russia two centuries ago. D) The Chechens have suffered a lot under the rule of Russia.
4. We can infer that _________.
A) Western nations will blame Russia for its ruthlessness in Chechnya B) Russia will stop military crackdown in Chechnya
C) Chechnya will be liberated a few years later
D) Chechnya may become an ally of western states in future
5. The author's attitudes towards the Chechens is ________.
A) neutral B) indifferent C) sympathetic D) critical
7
Bank of America, holding company for the San Francisco -- based Bank of America, was once unchallenged as the nation's biggest banking organization. At its peak, it had more branches in California -- 1,100 -- than the U.S. Postal Service. It was also a highly profitable enterprise. But since 1980, Bank of America's earnings have been down or flat. From March 1985 to March 1986, for example, earnings per share dropped 50.8 percent. Samuel H. Armacost, president and CEO, has confessed that he doesn't expect a turnaround soon.
Some of Bank of America's old magic seems to have rubbed off on New York's Citibank, perennial rival for top banking honors. Thanks to aggressive growth policies, Citicorp's assets topped Bank of America's for the first time in 1983 -- and by a healthy margin. Citibank has also been generating profits at a fast clip, enabling it to spend lavishly on campaigns to enter new markets -- notably Bank of America's turf in California.
The bad times Bank of America is currently facing are partly the result of the good times the bank enjoyed earlier. Based in a large and populous state and operating in a regulated environment, Bank of America thrived. Before deregulation, banks could not compete by offering savers a higher return, so they competed with convenience. With a branch at every crossroads, Bank of America was able to attract 40 percent of the California deposit market -- a source of high earnings when the legal maximum payable to depositors was much lower than the interest on loans. The progressive deregulation of banking forced Bank of America to fight for its customers by offering them competitive rates. But how could this mammoth bureaucracy, with its expensive overhead, offer rates as attractive as its loaner competitors? Pruning the establishment was foremost in the minds of Bank of America policymakers. But cutbacks have proceeded slowly. Although the bank is planning to consolidate by offering full services only in key branches, so far only about 40 branches have
been closed. Cutbacks through attrition have reduced the work force from 83,000 to fewer than 73,000; wholesale layoffs, it seems, would not fit the tradition of the organization. And they would intensify the morale problems that already threaten the institution.
1. According to the passage, New York's Citibank _________.
A) is a dark horse in the field of banking B) has been growing in a moderate way
C) has been making efforts to conquer the markets of Bank of America D) has more branches than Bank of America now
2. Which of the following is NOT the reason for which Bank of America thrived?
A) It's turf -- California was a state with a large number of population. B) The economic environment that was controlled by the government. C) Its deposit rate was higher than that of other banks. D) Its large amount of branches.
3. The phrase \
A) its expensive overhead B) its large amount of branches C) its long history
D) corruption of its leaders
4. Now the most important factor for a bank to win in competition seems to be _________.
A) higher deposit rate B) flexibility of capital C) high banking honors
D) support of the government
5. Which of the following conclusions can't be drawn from the passage?
A) The U.S. Postal Service had less than 1,100 branches in California a few decades before.
B) The profit of the Bank of America has been reducing since the 1980s. C) The prospect of the Bank of America is not quite promising.
D) Moral problem is also a factor that leads to the decline of the Bank of America. CCBAB 8
Volcanic fire and glacial ice are natural enemies. Eruptions at glaciated volcanoes typically destroy ice fields, as they did in 1980 when 70 of Mount Saint Helens ice cover was demolished. During long dormant intervals, glaciers gain the upper hand cutting deeply into volcanic cones and eventually reducing them to rubble. Only rarely do these competing forces of heat and cold operate in perfect balance to create a phenomenon such as the steam caves at Mount Rainier National Park. Located inside Rainier's two ice-filled summit craters, these caves form a labyrinth of tunnels and vaulted chambers about one and one-half miles in total length. Their creation depends on an unusual combination of factors that nature almost never brings together in one place. The cave-making recipe calls for a steady emission of volcanic gas and heat, a heavy annual snowfall at an elevation high enough to keep it from melting during the summer, and a bowl-shaped crater to hold the snow.
Snow accumulating yearly in Rainier's summit craters is compacted and compressed into a dense form of ice called firm, a substance midway between ordianry ice and the denser crystalline ice that makes up glaciers. Heat rising from numerous opening (called fumaroles) along the inner crater walls melts out chambers between the rocky walls and the overlying ice pack. Circulating currents of warm air then melt additional openings in the firm ice, eventually connecting the individual chambers and, in the larger of Rainier's the crater's, forming a continuous passageway the extends two-thirds of the Way around the crater's interior. To maintain the cave system, the elements of fire under ice must remain in equilibrium, enough snow must fill the crater each year to replace that melted from below. If too much volcanic heat is discharged, the crater's ice pack will melt away entirely and the caves will vanish along with the snows of yesteryear. If too little heat is produced, the ice, the replenished annually by winter snowstorms, will expand,