Letter-writing goes back thousands of
years but heated up during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Historically(perhaps
now)letters were indicators of status and breeding. Like conversation, they were
used to manipulate, embellish, entertain, threaten, seduce and of course do
business. On the way home from discovering America, Christopher Columbus got
caught in a storm and his mind turned—as a good bourgeois parent—to his two
sons. Who would pay their school fees if he came to a watery end He picked up a
quill and documented his accomplishments on the voyage for his Spanish patrons,
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, rolled up the letter in a wooden Madeira cask
and threw it into the sea. This was not so much for posterity but rather what
University of York professor William H. Sherman has called "a father’s desperate
petition for A. was widely accepted thousands of years ago. B. could serve a wide variety of purposes in the past. C. served as a document forwarded to the King and Queen in Columbus’ case. D. helped Columbus obtain financial support for his sons. [单项选择]
{{B}}TEXT B{{/B}} Family Matters This month Singapore passed a bill that would give legal teeth to the moral obligation to support one’ s parents. Called the Maintenance of Parents Bill, it received the backing of the Singapore Government. That does not mean it hash’ t generated discussion. Several members of the Parliament Opposed the measure as un - Asian. Others who acknowledged the problem of the elderly poor believed it a disproportionate response. Still others believe it will subvert relations within the family; cynics dubbed it the "Sue Your Son" law. Those who say that the bill does not promote filial responsibility, of course, are right. It has nothing to do with filial responsibility. It kicks in where filial responsibility fails. The law cannot legislate filial responsibility any more than it can legislate love. All the law can do is to provide a safety net wher A. the country will face mounting problems of the old in future. B. the social welfare system would be under great pressure. C. young people should be given more moral education. D. the old should be provided with means of livelihood. [简答题]Text B
In recent years American society has become increasingly dependent on its universities to find solutions to its major problems. It is the universities that have been charged with the principal responsibility for developing the expertise to place men on the moon; for dealing with our urban problems and with our deteriorating environment; for developing the means to feed the world’s rapidly increasing population. The effort involved in meeting these demands presents its own problems. In addition, this concentration on the creation of new knowledge significantly impinges on the universities’ efforts to perform their other principal functions, the transmission and interpretation of knowledge ---- the imparting of the heritage of the past and the preparing of the next generation to carry it forward.
With regard to this, perhaps their most traditionally sanctioned task, colleges and universities today find themselves in a serious bind generally. On the one hand, there is the
A. A.promote B.rely on C.have an impact on D.block [单项选择]
{{B}}TEXT B{{/B}} Since the Titanic vanished beneath the frigid waters of the North Atlantic 85 years ago, nothing in the hundreds of books and films about the ship has ever hinted at a connection to Japan -- until now. Director James Cameron’s ’200 million epic Titanic premiered at the Tokyo International Fihn Festival last Saturday. Among the audience for a glimpse of Hollywood’s costliest film ever descendants of the liner’s only Japanese survivor. The newly rediscovered diary of Masabumix Hosono has Titanic enthusiasts in a frenzy, the document is scrawled in 4,300 Japanese character on a rare piece of RMS Titanic stationery. Written as the Japanese bureaucrat steamed to safety in New York aboard the ocean liner Carpathia, which rescued 706 survivors, the account and other documents released by his grandchildren last week offer a fresh -- and poignant -- reminder of the emotional wreckage left by the tragedy. Hosono, A. Because he killed some people on the Titanic. B. Because he was then an official. C. Because he was dismissed from his ministry post. D. Because the culture of shame was too strong. [单项选择]{{B}}TEXT B{{/B}}
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