Text 4Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return？ Since OPEC agreed to

A．avoid a bad temper

B．feel happy with their life

C．practice creative thinking

D．improve their mental ability

A.中文：的，了，是…

B.中文：文本，可视化，大数据…

C.英文：text,analytics,mooc…

D.英文：the,a,bad,poor…

A．Customer Service in SNCF

B．Customer service in Swiss Railways．

C．The writer’s bad impression of Internet tickets．

D．The writer’s experience in buying French rail tickets．

A．Customer Service in SNCF

B．Customer service in Swiss Railways．

C．The writer’s bad impression of Internet tickets．

D．The writer’s experience in buying French rail tickets．

A、They lived out a natural life

B、They died of exhaustion after the long plane ride

C、They weren’t accustomed to the change in weather

D、They died due to lack of care by family members

Text 3

Of all the components of a good night’s sleep, dreams seem to be least within our control. In dreams, a window opens into a world where logic is suspended and dead people speak. A century ago, Freud formulated his revolutionary theory that dreams were the disguised shadows of our unconscious desires and fears; by the late 1970s, neurologists had switched to thinking of them as just “mental noise” -- the random byproducts of the neural-repair work that goes on during sleep. Now researchers suspect that dreams are part of the mind’s emotional thermostat, regulating moods while the brain is “off-line.” And one leading authority says that these intensely powerful mental events can be not only harnessed but actually brought under conscious control, to help us sleep and feel better, “It’s your dream,” says Rosalind Cartwright, chair of psychology at Chicago’s Medical Center. “If you don’t like it, change it.”

Evidence from brain imaging supports this view. The brain is as active during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep -- when most vivid dreams occur -- as it is when fully awake, says Dr, Eric Nofzinger at the University of Pittsburgh. But not all parts of the brain are equally involved; the limbic system (the “emotional brain”) is especially active, while the prefrontal cortex (the center of intellect and reasoning) is relatively quiet. “We wake up from dreams happy or depressed, and those feelings can stay with us all day.” says Stanford sleep researcher Dr. William Dement.

The link between dreams and emotions show up among the patients in Cartwright’s clinic. Most people seem to have more bad dreams early in the night, progressing toward happier ones before awakening, suggesting that they are working through negative feelings generated during the day. Because our conscious mind is occupied with daily life we don’t always think about the emotional significance of the day’s events -- until, it appears, we begin to dream.

And this process need not be left to the unconscious. Cartwright believes one can exercise conscious control over recurring bad dreams. As soon as you awaken, identify what is upsetting about the dream. Visualize how you would like it to end instead; the next time is occurs, try to wake up just enough to control its course. With much practice people can learn to, literally, do it in their sleep.

At the end of the day, there’s probably little reason to pay attention to our dreams at all unless they keep us from sleeping or “we waken up in a panic,” Cartwright says. Terrorism, economic uncertainties and general feelings of insecurity have increased people’s anxiety. Those suffering from persistent nightmares should seek help from a therapist. For the rest of us, the brain has its ways of working through bad feelings. Sleep -- or rather dream -- on it and you’ll feel better in the morning.

31. Researchers have come to believe that dreams ________.

[A] can be modified in their courses

[B] are susceptible to emotional changes

[C] reflect our innermost desires and fears

[D] are a random outcome of neural repairs

Text 3

During the past generation， the American middle-class family that once could count on hard work and fair play to keep itself financially secure has been transformed by economic risk and new realities. Now a pink slip， a bad diagnosis. or a disappearing spouse can reduce a family from solidly middle class to newly poor in a few months.

In just one generation， millions of mothers have gone to work， transforming basic family economics. Scholars， policymakers， and critics of all stripes have debated the social implications of these changes， but few have looked at the side effect family risk has risen as well. Today's families have budgeted to the limits of their new two-paycheck status. As a result they have lost the parachute they once had in times of financial setback- a back-up earner （usually Mom） who could go into the workforce if the primary earner got laid off or fell sick. This “added-worker effect” could support the safety net offered by unemployment insurance or disability insurance to help families weather bad times. But today， a disruption to family fortunes can not longer be made up with extra income from an otherwise-stay-at-home partner.

During the same period， families have been asked to absorb much more risk in their retirement income. Steelworkers， airline employees， and now those in the auto industry are joining millions of families who must worry about interest rates， stock market fluctuation， and the harsh reality that they may outlive their retirement money. For much of the past year. President Bush campaigned to move Social Security to a savings-account model， with retirees trading much or all of their guaranteed payments for payments depending on investment returns. For younger families， the picture is not any better. Both the absolute cost of healthcare and the share of it borne by families have risen-and newly fashionable health-savings plans are spreading from legislative halls to Wal-Mart workers， with much higher deductibles and a large new does of investment risk for families‘ future healthcare. Even demographics are working against the middle class family， as the odds of having a weak elderly parent- and all the attendant need for physical and financial assistance have jumped eightfold in just one generation.

From the middle-class family perspective， much of this， understandably， looks far less like an opportunity to exercise more financial responsibility， and a good deal more like a frightening acceleration of the wholesale shift of financial risk onto their already overburdened shoulders. The financial fallout has begun， and the political fallout may not be far behind.

[421 words]

31. Today's double-income families are at greater financial risk in that

[A] the safety net they used to enjoy has disappeared.

[B] their chances of being laid off have greatly increased.

[C] they are more vulnerable to changes in family economics.

[D] they are deprived of unemployment or disability insurance.

Text 4

No man has been more harshly judged than Machiavelli, especially in the two centuries follow-ing his death. But he has since found many able champions and the tide has turned. The prince has been termed a manual for tyrants, the effect of which has been most harmful. But were Machiavelli's doctrines really new？ Did he discover them？ He merely had the frankness and cour- age to write down what everybody was thinking and what everybody knew. He merely gives us the impressions he had received from a long and intimate intercourse with princes and the affairs of state. It was Lord Bacon who said that Machiavelli tells us what princes do, not what they ought to do. When Machiavelli takes Caesar Borgia as a model, he does not praise him as a hero at all, but merely as a prince who was capable of attaining the end in view. The life of the state was the prima- ry object. It must be maintained. And Machiavelli has laid down the principles, based upon his stud-y and wide experience, by which this may be accomplished. He wrote from the view-point of the politician-not of the moralist. What is good politics may be bad morals, and in fact, by a strange fatality, where morals and politics clash, the latter generally gets the upper hand. And will anyone contend that the principles set forth by Machiavelli in his Prince or his Discourses have entirely per- ished from the earth？ Has diplomacy been entirely stripped of fraud and duplicity？ Let anyone read the famous eighteenth chapter of The Prince:"ln what Manner Princes should Keep their Faith,"and he will be convinced that what was true nearly four hundred years ago, is quite as true today.

Of the remaining works of Machiavelli the most important is the History of Florence written be-

tween 1521 and 1525, and dedicated to Clement VII. This book is merely a rapid review of the Middle

Ages, and as part of it the history of Florence. Machiavelli's method has been criticized for adhering

at times too closely to the chroniclers of his time, and at others rejecting their testimony without ap-

parent reason, while in its details the authority of his History is often questionable.lt is the straightfor-

ward, logical narrative, which always holds the interest of the reader, that is the greatest charm of

the History.

56. It can be inferred from the beginning of the text that

[ A] many people used to think highly of Machiavelli.

[ B] Machiavelli had been very influential among the rulers.

[ C] Machiavelli was widely read among his contemporaries.

[ D] Machiavelli has been a target of criticism throughout history.

Road accidents, for example, happen frequently after a family quarrel and we all know people who are accident-prone, so often at odds with themselves and the world that they seem to cause accidents for themselves and others.

By definition, an accident is something you cannot predict or avoid, and the idea which used to be current, that the majority of road accidents are caused by a minority of criminally careless drivers, is not supported by insurance statistics. These show that most accidents involve ordinary motorists in a moment of carelessness or thoughtlessness.

It is not always clear, either, what sort of conditions make people more likely to have an accident. For instance, the law requires all factories to take safety precautions and most companies have safety committees to make sure the regulations are observed, but still, every day in Britain, some fifty thousand men and women are absent from work due to an accident. These accidents are largely the result of human error or misjudgment—noise and fatigue, boredom or worry are possible factors which contribute to this. Doctors who work in factories have found that those who drink too much, usually people who have a high anxiety level, run three times the normal risk of accidents at work.

This passage might be taken from

A．a text book

B．a science fiction

C．a popular magazine

D．a report of a manufacturer