[单项选择]In the eighteenth century, Japan’s feudal overlords, from the shogun to the humblest samurai, found themselves under financial stress. In part, this stress can be attributed to the overlords’ failure to adjust to a rapidly expanding economy, but the stress was also due to factors beyond the overlords’ control. Concentration of the samurai in castle towns had acted as a stimulus to trade. Commercial efficiency, in turn, had put temptations in the way of buyers. Since most samurai had been reduced to idleness by years of peace, encouraged to engage in scholarship and martial exercises or to perform administrative tasks that took little time, it is not surprising that their tastes and habits grew expensive. overlords’ income, despite the increase in rice production among their tenant farmers, failed to keep pace with their expenses. Although shortfalls in overloads’ income resulted almost as much from laxity among their tax collectors (the nearly inevitable outcome of hereditary office-ho
A. Warmly approving.
B. Mildly sympathetic.
C. Bitterly disappointed.
D. Harshly disdainful.

[单项选择]In the eighteenth century, Japan’s feudal overlords, from the shogun to the humblest samurai, found themselves under financial stress. In part, this stress can be attributed to the overlords’ failure to adjust to a rapidly expanding economy, but the stress was also due to factors beyond the overlords’ control. Concentration of the samurai in castle towns had acted as a stimulus to trade. Commercial efficiency, in turn, had put temptations in the way of buyers. Since most samurai had been reduced to idleness by years of peace, encouraged to engage in scholarship and martial exercises or to perform administrative tasks that took little time, it is not surprising that their tastes and habits grew expensive. overlords’ income, despite the increase in rice production among their tenant farmers, failed to keep pace with their expenses. Although shortfalls in overloads’ income resulted almost as much from laxity among their tax collectors (the nearly inevitable outcome of hereditary office-ho
A. Profits from mining had declined.
B. Spending had outdistanced income.
C. The samurai had concentrated in castle-towns.
D. The coinage had been sharply debase

[单项选择]

In the eighteenth century, Japan’s feudal overlords, from the shogun to the humblest samurai, found themselves under financial stress. In part, this stress can be attributed to the overlords’ failure to adjust to a rapidly expanding economy, but the stress was also due to factors beyond the overlords’ control. Concentration of the samurai in castle towns had acted as a stimulus to trade. Commercial efficiency, in turn, had put temptations in the way of buyers. Since most samurai had been reduced to idleness by years of peace, encouraged to engage in scholarship and martial exercises or to perform administrative tasks that took little time, it is not surprising that their tastes and habits grew expensive. overlords’ income, despite the increase in rice production among their tenant farmers, failed to keep pace with their expenses. Although shortfalls in overloads’ income resulted almost as much from laxity among their tax collectors (the nearly inevit
A. Warmly approving.
B. Mildly sympathetic.
C. Bitterly disappointed.
D. Harshly disdainful.

[多项选择]Bring Our Schools out of the 20th Century
There’s a dark little joke exchanged by educators with an opposing trace: Rip Van Winkle awakens in the 21 century after a hundred-year sleep and is, of course, utterly bewildered by what he sees. Men and women dash about, talking to small metal devices attached to their ears. Young people sit at home on sofas, moving miniature athletes around on electronic screens. Older folk defy death and disability with devices in their chests and with hips made of metal and plastic. Airports, hospitals, shopping walls—every place Rip goes just baffles him. But when he finally walks into a schoolroom, the old man knows exactly where he is. "This is a school," he declares. "We used to have these back in 1906. Only now the blackboards are green."The survey suggests that recent high school graduates lack skills like showing respect for others, ______ .

[简答题]A Workaholic Economy
For the first century or so of the industrial revolution, increased productivity led to decreases in working hours. Employees who had been putting in 12-hour days, six days a week, found their time on the job shrinking to 10 hours daily, then, finally to eight hours, five days a week. only a generation ago social planners worried about what people would do with all this new-found free time. In the US, at least, it seems they need not have bothered. Although the output per hour of work has more than doubled since 1945, leisure seems reserved largely for the unemployed and underemployed. Those who work full-time spend as much time on the job as they did at the end of World War Ⅱ. In fact, working hours have increased noticeably since 1970--perhaps because real wages have stagnated that year. Bookstores now abound with manuals describing how to manage time and cope with stress.
There are several reasons for lost leisure. Since 1970, companies hav