【正文】 ation.［D］ best used in a controlled environment.Text 3 Could the bad old days of economic decline be about to return? Since OPEC agreed to supplycuts in March, the price of crude oil has jumped to almost $26 a barrel, up from less than $10 last December. This neartripling of oil prices calls up scary memories of the 1973 oil shock, when prices quadrupled, and 197980, when they also almost tripled. Both previous shocks resulted in doubledigitinflation and global economic decline. So where are the headlines warning of gloom and doom this time?The oil price was given another push up this week when Iraq suspended oil exports. Strengthening economic growth, at the same time as winter grips the northern hemisphere, could push the price higher still in the short term.Yet there are good reasons to expect the economic consequences now to be less severe than in the 1970s. In most countries the cost of crude oil now accounts for a smaller share of the price of petrol than it did in the 1970s. In Europe, taxes account for up to fourfifths of the retail price, so even quite big changes in the price of crude have a more muted effect on pump prices than in the past.Rich economies are also less dependent on oil than they were, and so less sensitive to swings in the oil price. Energy conservation, a shift to other fuels and a decline in the importance of heavy, energyintensive industries have reduced oil consumption. Software, consultancy and mobile telephones use far less oil than steel or car production. For each dollar of GDP (in constant prices) rich economies now use nearly 50% less oil than in 1973. The OECD estimates in its latest Economic Outlook that, it oil prices averaged $22 a barrel for a full year, coMPAred with $13 in 1998, this would increase the oil import bill in rich economies by only % of GDP. That is less than onequarter of the ine loss in 1974 or 1980. On the other hand, oilimporting emerging economies—to which heavy industry has shifted—have bee more energyintensive, and so could be more seriously squeezed.One more reason not to lose sleep over the rise in oil prices is that, unlike the rises in the 1970s, it has not occurred against the background of general modityprice inflation and global excess demand. A sizable portion of the world is only just emerging from economic decline. The Economist39。sroughly one hundred billion nerve cells are much more talented—and human perception far more plicated—than previously imagined. They have built robots that can recognize the error of a machine panel by a fraction of a millimeter in a controlled factory environment. But the human mind can glimpse a rapidly changing scene and immediately disregard the 98 percent that is irrelevant, instantaneously focusing on the monkey at the side of a winding forest road or the single suspicious face in a big crowd. The most advanced puter systems on Earth can39。t succeed, give up or a play on words or on a situation. Search for exaggeration and understatements. Look at your talk and pick out a few words or sentences which you can turn about and inject with humor. (447 words)41. To make your humor work, you should . ［A］ take advantage of different kinds of audience.［B］ make fun of the disorganized people.［C］ address different problems to different people.［D］ show syMPAthy for your listeners.42. The joke about doctors implies that, in the eyes of nurses, they are .［A］ impolite to new arrivals.［B］ very conscious of their godlike role.［C］ entitled to some privileges.［D］ very busy even during lunch hours.43. It can be inferred from the text that public services .［A］ have benefited many people.［B］ are the focus of public attention.［C］ are an inappropriate subject for humor.［D］ have often been the laughing stock.44. To achieve the desired result, humorous stories should be delivered .［A］ in wellworded language.［B］ as awkwardly as possible.［C］ in exaggerated statements.［D］ as casually as possible.45. The best title for the text may be .［A］ Use Humor Effectively.［B］ Various Kinds of Humor.［C］ Add Humor to Speech.［D］ Different Humor Strategies.Text 2Since the dawn of human ingenuity, people have devised ever more cunning tools to cope with work that is dangerous, boring, burdensome, or just plain nasty. That pulsion has resulted in robotics—the science of conferring various human capabilities on machines. And if scientists have yet to create the mechanical version of science fiction, they have begun to e close.As a result, the modern world is increasingly populated by intelligent gizmos whose presence we barely notice but whose universal existence has removed much human labor. Our factories hum to the rhythm of robot assembly arms. Our banking is done at automated teller terminals that thank us with mechanical politeness for the transaction. Our subway trains are controlled by tireless robodrivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics and micromechanics, there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bonesurgery with submillimeter accuracy—far greater precision than highly skilled physicians can achieve with their hands alone.But if robots are to reach the next stage of laborsaving utility, they will have to operate with less human supervision and be able to make at least a few decisions for themselves—goals that pose a real challenge. “While we know how to tell a robot to handle a specific error, says Dave Lavery, manager of a robotics program at NASA, “we can39。ll be appropriate for you to make a passing remark about the inedible canteen food or the chairman39。 alternatively if you are addressing secretaries, you may want to ment on their disorganized bosses.Here is an example, which I heard at a nurses39。閱讀理解B節(jié)和寫作部分必須用藍（黑）圓珠筆在答題卡2上答題，注意字跡清楚。70s.［D］ To create stability in their lives.19. Why did some people choose not to divorce 20