【正文】 B]somewhat contradictory　　[C]very illuminating　　　[D]rather superficial　　 basic problem of journalists as pointed out by the writer lies in their _________.　　[A]working attitude　　[B]conventional lifestyle　　[C]world outlook　　　[D]educational background　　 its efforts, he newspaper industry still cannot satisfy the readers owing to its _________.　　[A]failure to realize its real problem　　[B]tendency to hire annoying reporters　　[C]likeliness to do inaccurate reporting　　[D]prejudice in matters of race and gender　　參考答案:　　 　 　 　　　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 doubledigit inflation 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,pared 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 Economists modity price index is broadly unchanging from a year ago. In 1973 modity prices jumped by 70%,and in 1979 by almost 30%.　　1. The main reason for the latest rise of oil price is .　　[A]global inflation.　　　　　[B]reduction in supply.　　[C]fast growth in economy.　　[D]Iraqs suspension of exports.　　2. It can be inferred from the text that the retail price of petrol will go up dramatically if .　　[A]price of crude rises.　　[B]modity prices rise.　　[C]consumption rises.　　[D]oil taxes rise.　　3. The estimates in Economic Outlook show that in rich countries .　　[A]heavy industry bees more energyintensive.　　[B]ine loss mainly results from fluctuating crude oil prices.　　[C]manufacturing industry has been seriously squeezed.　　[D]oil price changes have no significant impact on GDP.　　4. We can draw a conclusion from the text that .　　[A]oilprice shocks are less shocking now.　　[B]inflation seems irrelevant to oilprice shocks.　　[C]energy conservation can keep down the oil prices.　　[D]the price rise of crude leads to the shrinking of heavy industry.　　5. From the text we can see that the writer seems .　　[A]optimistic.　　[B]sensitive.　　[C]gloomy.　　[D]scared.　　參考答案:　　 　 　 　 　　　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 robotdrivers. And thanks to the continual miniaturization of electronics and micromechanics,there are already robot systems that can perform some kinds of brain and bone surgery 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。t yet give a robot enough mon sense to reliably interact with a dynamic world. Indeed the quest for true artificial intelligence has produced very mixed results. Despite a spell of initial optimism in the 1960s and 1970s when it appeared that transistor circuits and microprocessors might be able to copy the action of the human brain by the year 2010,researchers lately have begun to extend that forecast by decades if not centuries.　　What they found,in attempting to model thought,is that the human brains roughly one hundred billion nerve