Judging by the $23 billion it earned last year, these should be the best of times for Shell, the Anglo-Dutch energy giant that ranks third among the top five Western oil companies. But Wall Street isn't celebrating. Instead, analysts are worried that buried beneath the record profit figures are worrying signs of a business in decline.

A、in proportion to B、in reply to C、in relation to D、in contrast to

Even more troubling than the increasing number of inhabitants are the projections of where they will be concentrated. The study by Rafael M. Solos, executive director of the U. N. Fund for Population Activities, notes that by the year 2000: Nearly 80 percent of all people will live in less developed countries, many hard pressed to support their present populations. That compares with 70 percent today. In many of these Third World lands metropolises (大城市) will become centers of concentrated urban poverty because of a flood of migration from rural areas. The bulging(膨胀的) centers mainly in Asia and Latin America, will increasingly become fertile fields for social unrest. More young residents of the urban clusters(一群) will be better educated, unemployed and demanding of a better lifestyle. To slow the rush to urban centers, countries will have to vastly expand opportunities in the country side, the study suggests. Solos says: "The solution to the urban problem lies as much in the rural areas as in the cities themselves." Worldwide, the numer of large cities ,will multiply. Now 26 cities have 5 million or more residents each and a combined population of 252 million. By the end of the decade, the number will escalate to 60. with an estimated total of almost 650 million people. In the last paragraph, the word "escalate" means ______. A．decrease B．increase C．go down D．decline

A．Critical B．Negative C．Positive D．Objective

A．100 years B．145 years C．1975 years D．over two million years

A．a newspaper B．a magazine C．the Internet D．a guidebook

Buses offered a more flexible service than trolleys, because they were not restricted to operating only on fixed tracks. General Motors acquired many of the privately owned streetcar companies and replaced the trolleys with buses that the company made. But bus ridership has declined from a peak of 11 billion riders per year in the late 1940s to 5 million in the 1990s. Commuter railroad service, like trolleys and buses, has also been drastically reduced in most U.S. cities. The one exception to the downward trend in public transportation in the United States is the subway, now known to transportation planners as fixed heavy rail. Cities such as Boston and Chicago have attracted new passengers through construction of new lines and modernization of existing service. Chicago has been a pioneer in the construction of heavy rail rapid transit lines in the median strip of expressways. Entirely new subway systems have been built in recent years in a number of U.S. cities, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Miami, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Public transportation is particularly suited to bringing a large number of people into a small area in a short period of time. Consequently, its use is increasingly confined in the United States to rush-hour commuting by workers in the central business district. A bus can accommodate thirty people in the amount of space occupied by one automobile, while a double-track rapid transit line can transport the same number of people as sixteen lanes of urban freeway. Despite modest recent successes, most public transportation systems are caught in a vicious circle, because fares do not cover operating costs. As patronage declines and expenses rise, the fares are increased, which drives away passengers and leads to service reductions and still higher fares. Public expenditures to subsidize construction and operating costs have increased, but public officials in the United States do not consider that public transportation is a vital utility deserving subsidy to the degree long assumed by European governments. In contrast, even in the relatively developed Western European countries and Japan, where automobile ownership rates are high, extensive networks of bus, tram, and subway lines have been maintained, and funds for new construction have been provided in recent years. Since the late 1960s, London has opened 27 kilometers of subways, including two new lines, plus 18 kilometers in light rail transit lines to serve the docklands area. During the same period, Paris has built 65 kilometers of new subway lines, including a new system, known as the Reseau Express Regional (R. E. R.) to serve outer suburbs. Smaller cities have shared the construction boom. In France alone, new subway lines have been built since the 1970s in Lille, Lyon, and Marseille, and hundreds of kilometers of entirely new tracks have been laid between the country's major cities to operate a high-speed train known as the TGV. Which of the following is NOT true of the public transportation systems in the developed countries？ A．Commuter railroad service, trolleys and buses have been reduced in the U. S. B．Subways have largely been maintained. C．Fares usually can not cover operating costs. D．U.S. officials think it worthwhile to subsidize public transportation.

While consumers pay for perceived shortages at the pump, scientists and economists struggle to reach consensus over "proven oil reserves," or how much oil you can realistically mine before recovery costs outstrip profits. Economist Leonardo Maugeri fired up the debate that accused the "oil doomsters" of crying wolf. Oil pessimists estimate that maximum oil production around the globe will peak in 2008 as demand rises from developing economies such as China. "If you squeezed all the oil in Iraq into a single bottle, you could fill four glasses, with the world consuming one glass of oil each year," says a physicist. "We've consumed nine bottles since oil was discovered, and we have another 9 or 10 in the refrigerator. How many more are there？ Some say five or six, but we say three." Others believe, like Maugeri, that the number of glasses is virtually limitless. John Felmy, chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute, argues that peak oil-production estimates are so far off that. "Ever since oil was first harvested in the 1800s, people have said we'd run out of the stuff," Felmy says. In the 1880s a Standard Oil executive sold off shares in the company out of fear that its reserves were close to drying up. Some scientists said in the 1970s that we'd hit peak oil in 2003. It didn't happen. If there is an end to the debate, advanced oil-recovery technologies will most likely find it. A new seismic survey technique, for instance, sends sound waves of varying frequencies thousands of meters belowground. Microphones arrayed aboveground record the reflected signals, and computer software models a 3-D portrait of possible oil hot spots. The surveys have now added a fourth dimension, creating a time-lapse simulation of fluid movements. Companies are also finding sophisticated ways to mine more oil from existing wells. Flexible, coiled-tube drills that carve out horizontal side paths are a marked improvement over conventional, rigid drills that move only straight down. Using such technology, companies hope to soon harvest 50 to 60 percent of oil from existing wells, up from today's 35 percent. Biotechnology, too is keeping the black gold flowing. University of Albert scientists are searching for microorganisms that could dilute viscous, hard-to-recover oil and make it flow more freely. "Technology can help push peak oil production further and further out," says an expert. But only time will tell when oil production will peak. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true？ A．How long the oil age will last is simply an academic question. B．The oil price this year set a new record. C．Shell Group reduced its reserves to 4.5 billion barrels this year. D．Economists disagree with one another on how much oil you can realistically mine.

A major new study shows that the situation may be changing. A large and rapid drop in the world's birth rate has taken place during the past 10 years. Families generally are smaller now than they were a few years ago. It is happening in both developing and industrial nations, Researchers said they found a number of reasons for this. More men and women are waiting longer to get married and are using birth control devices and methods to prevent or delay pregnancy. More women are going to school or working at jobs away from their homes instead of having children. And more governments, especially in developing nations, now support family planning programs to reduce population growth. China is one of the nations that has made great progress in reducing its population growth. China has already cut its rate of population growth by about one half since 1970. China now urges each family to have no more than one child. And it hopes to reach zero population growth, the number of births equaling the number of deaths, by the year 2000. Several nations in Europe already have fewer births than deaths. Experts said that these nations could face a serious shortage of workers in the future. And the persons who are working could face much higher taxes to help support the growing number of retired people. In Paragraph one, the sentence "Experts Dong have been concerned about such growth", the phrase "concerned about" is similar in meaning to______. A．worried about B．related to C．engaged in D．made a study of

This has pushed up the total value of the wealth of the richest 1,000 to a probable 160 billion ac- cording to Dr Philip Beresfod, Britain's acknowledged expert on personal wealth who compiles the Sun- day Times Rich List. The millennium boom exceeds anything in Britain's economic history, including the railway boom of the 1840s and the South Sea bubble of 1720. "It has made Market Thatches boom seem as sluggish as Edeward Health three-day week", said Beresford. "We are seeing billions being added to the national wealth every week." William Rubinstein, professor of modern history at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, confirmed that the growth in wealth was unprecedented. "Among all of today's wealth has been created since the industrial revolution, but even by those heady standards the current boom is extraordinary," he said. "There is no large-scale cultural opposition or guilt about making money. In many ways British business attitudes can now challenge the United States." Although the Britain's richest are experiencing the sharpest surge in wealth, the rest of the population has also benefited from the stock market boom and rising house process. Last year wealth rose by 16% to a record 4,267 billion, according to calculations by the investment bank Salomon Smith Barney. In real terms, wealth has increased by more than a third since the late 1980s. Much of the wealth of the richest is held in shares in start up companies. Some of these paper fortunes, analysts agree, could easily be wiped out, although the wealth- generating effects of the Internet revolution seem to be here to stay. A Sunday Times Rich List confirms that people are becoming wealthier younger. It includes the 60 richest millionaires aged 30 or under. At the top, on 600m, is the "old money" Earl of Iveagh, 30, head of the Guinness brewing family. In second place is Charles Nasser, also 30, who launched the Clara - NET Internet provider four years ago and is worth 30Om. The remaining eight in the top 10 young millionaires made their money from computing and the Internet. The "cut-off point for the survey" in part. 1 refers to______. A．146 billion—the collective worth of the country's richest 1,000 people. B．January—the deadline for the survey. C．31million—the increase of wealth in just 12 month. D．160 billion—the total valve of the wealth of richest 1,000.

Judging from the context, the word "think-tanks"(Para.2) probably means______. A．tanks that can think as human beings B．an institute or group organized for interdisciplinary research C．a group of authoritative people D．scholars and professional men

It is a surprising fact that the population ageing is particularly rapid in developing countries. For example, it took France 115 years for the proportion of older people to double from 7 percent to 14 percent. It is estimated to take China a mere 27 years to achieve this same increase. What are the implications of these increased numbers of older folk？ (76) One of the biggest worries for governments is that the longer people live, the more likelihood there is for diseases and for disability(残疾). Attention is being paid to the need to keep people as healthy as possible, including during old age, to lessen the financial burden on the state. (77)Another significant problem is the need for the younger generations to understand and value the older people in their society. In some African countries, certainly in Asia, older people are respected and regarded as the ones with special knowledge. Yet traditions are fading away daily, which does not ensure the continued high regard of older people. As society changes, attitudes will change. Much needs to be done to get rid of age discrimination(歧视)in employment. Life-long learning programs need to be provided to enable older people to be active members in a country's development. Social security policies need to be established to provide adequate income protection for older people. Both public and private schemes are vital in order to build a suitable safety net. 第6题：The proportion of older people________. A. is bigger in developed countries than in developing countries B. is one-seventh of the population in developing countries C. will increase much faster in China than in France D. will be sixty percent in developing countries by 2020

A．an entertainer B．an actor C．a singer D．a writer

A．＄1,025 B．＄375 C．＄700 D．None of the above answers are correct．