As a child, time used to move as slowly as lightning bugs drift in the summer evening skies, but as an adult, time is_____.

A.transmitting B.peripatetic C.nomadic D.ephemeral

Anna was reading a piece of science fiction, completely ______ to the outside world.

A.being lost B.having lost C.losing D.lost

Opponents of affirmative action say the battle over the use of race in college admissions is hardly over, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling Monday upholding the goal of a diverse student body. Higher education leaders overwhelmingly hailed the decision, saying it reaffirmed policies used by must selective colleges and universities. But some critics raised the possibility of more lawsuits, and promised to continue pressuring the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to investigate questionable policies. “We’re talking about admissions programs, scholarships, any program...only for minorities or in which the standards used to judge admissions are substantially different.” says Linda Chavez, founder and president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative non-profit group.Others say they’ll take their case to voters. “We have to seriously contest all this at the ballot box.” says University of California regent Ward Connerly, who helped win voter approval of California’s Proposition 209, which prohibits considering race or gender in public education, hiring and contracting. Because of that law, Monday’s ruling had no practical impact in the state. “It may be time for us to...let the (Michigan) voters decide if they want to use race as a factor in admissions.” Connerly said.Meanwhile, U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige, consistent with President Bush’s stance opposing affirmative action, said the Department of Education will “continue examining and highlighting effective race-neutral approaches to ensure broad access to and diversity within our public institutions”. Even Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, in one of the opinions, recommended that states look for lessons in race-neutral programs being tried in California and elsewhere. While the ruling said admissions officials may consider race in the selection process, colleges and universities are not obligated to do so. “Ultimately in the debate, diversity is a choice, not a legal mandate.” says Arthur Coleman, a former Department of Education official who now helps colleges and universities ensure constitutional policies.The public, too, remains conflicted, largely along racial lines. According to a January poll by the nonprofit research organization Public Agenda, 79% of Americans said it is important for colleges to have a racially diverse student body, while just 54% said affirmative action programs should continue. In a Gallup poll conducted days before the ruling, 49% of adults said they favor affirmative action and 43% did not, with blacks and Hispanics far more likely to favor the practice than whites. And some educators doubt that with Monday’s ruling, those opposing affirmative action will change their minds.For now, admissions officials and university lawyers are poring over the ruling to determine how or whether to adjust policies. While most tend to be closed-mouthed about admissions policies, many say they don’t expect significant changes.1. What the critics said in the first paragraph amounts to the idea that ________.

A.no admission policies based on race should be implemented B.minority applicants should be given favorable considerations C.different standards for admitting minority students should be set up D.selective colleges and universities should be punished for their discriminatory policies

So much data indicate the world’s progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a set of targets adopted by world leaders at the UN more than ten years ago. But the goal-setting exercise has further pitfalls. Too often, the goals are reduced to working out how much money is needed to meet a particular target. Yet the countries that have made most progress in cutting poverty have largely done so not by spending public money, but by encouraging faster economic growth. As Shanta Devarajan, the World Bank’s chief economist for Africa, points out, growth does not just make more money available for social spending. It also increases the demand for such things as schooling, and thus helps meet other development goals. Yet the goals, as drawn up, made no mention of economic growth.Of course growth by itself does not solve all the problems of the poor. It is also clear that while money helps, how it is spent and what it is spent on are enormously important. For instances, campaigners often ask for more to be spent on primary education. But throughout the developing world teachers on the public payroll are often absent from school. Teacher-absenteeism rates are around 20% in rural Kenya, 27% in Uganda and 14% in Ecuador.In any case, money that is allocated for such services rarely reaches its intended recipients. A study found that 70% of the money allocated for drugs and supplies by the Uganda government in 2000 was lost; in Ghana, 80% was siphoned off. Money needs to be spent, therefore, not merely on building more schools or hiring more teachers, but on getting them to do what they are paid for, and preventing resources from disappearing somewhere between the central government and their supposed destination.The good news is that policy experiments carried out by governments, NGOs, academics and international institutions are slowly building up a body of evidence about methods that work. A large-scale evaluation in Andhra Pradesh in southern India was shown, for example, that performance pay for teachers is three times as effective at raising pupil’s test scores as the equivalent amount spent on school supplies.And in Uganda the government, appalled that money meant for schools was not reaching them, took to publicizing how much was being allotted, using radio and newspaper. Money wastage was dramatically reduced. The World Bank hopes to bring such innovations to the notice of other governments during the summit, if it can. For if the drive against poverty succeed, it will owe more to such ideas and wider use than to targets set at UN-sponsored summits.26. According to the text, which of the following merits can’t we derive from economic growth?27. Teacher-absenteeism is cited as example ________.28. According to the author, we should ________ when dealing with allocated money.29. On which of the following would the author most probably agree?30. We may infer from the last paragraph that ________.

A.It increases other demands such as education. B.It may help the government to fulfill Millennium Development Goals. C.Faster growth will lift the poor out of poverty. D.Economic growth may solve some problems of the poor.
问题2：
A.to call for governments apply performance pay to teachers B.to underline the importance of money should be spent on where it is needed C.to state that the allocated money should get staffs to do what they are paid for D.to show that African countries have a long way to go before reaching the UN’s goalposts
问题3：
A.avoid the leakage of money B.give the anti-poverty plans the priority C.promote education to a higher level D.improve public infrastructure first
问题4：
A.Economic growth does not make more money available for social spending. B.Money leakage is a big problem that Africa encounters. C.Millennium Development Goals may involve each country’s GDP growth. D.Millennium Development Goals have come to be seen as applying to each developing country.
问题5：
A.the World Bank plays an important role in helping Uganda fix money leakage B.money leakage is rampantly flourishing in Ugan

While fashion is thought of usually in relation to clothing, it is important to realize that it covers a much wider domain. It is to be found in manners, the arts, literature, and philosophy, and may even reach into certain areas of science. In fact, it may operate in any field of group life, apart from the technological and utilitarian area and the area of the sacred. Its operation requires a class society, for in its essential character it does not occur either in a homogeneous society like a primitive group, or in a caste (社会等级) society.Fashion behaves as a movement, and on this basis it is different from custom which, by comparison, is static. This is due to the fact that fashion is based fundamentally on differentiation and emulation. In a class society, the upper classes or so-called social elite are not able to differentiate themselves by fixed symbols or badges. Hence the more external features of their life and behavior are likely to be imitated by classes immediately below them, who, in turn, are imitated by groups immediately below them in the social structure. This process gives to fashion a vertical descent. However, the elite class finds that it is no longer distinguishable, by reason of the imitation made by others, and hence is led to adopt new differentiating criteria, only to displace these as they in turn are imitated. It is primarily this feature that makes fashion into a movement and which has led one writer to remark that a fashion, once launched, moves to its doom.As a movement, fashion show little resemblance to any of the other movements which we have considered. While it occurs spontaneously and moves along in a characteristic cycle, it involves little in the way of crowd behavior and it is not dependent upon the discussion process and the resulting public opinion. It does not depend upon the mechanisms of which we have spoken. The participants are not recruited through agitation. No morale is built up among them. Nor does the fashion movement have, or required, an ideology. Further, since it does not have a leadership imparting conscious direction to the movement, it does not build up a set of tactics. People take part in the fashion movement voluntarily and in response to the interesting and powerful kind of control which fashion imposes on them.1. It is known from the first paragraph that ________.2. According to the author, which of the following people usually lead a new fashion?3. Which of the following statement is true?4. According to the author, a fashion movement ________.5. It can be inferred from the passage that a fashion movement ________.

A.fashion originates in a class society B.fashion can be found only in a few fields of group life C.fashion operates in every society D.people like to keep up with fashion in a primitive society
问题2：
A.Philosophers. B.Artists. C.The social elite. D.Writers.
问题3：
A.Fashion, as a movement, is true. B.The upper classes play a little role in making fashion into a movement. C.A fashion will never vanish once it is launched. D.A fashion is destined to disappear once it is launched.
问题4：
A.has little in common with other movements B.will eventually develop into a social organization C.has a powerful leadership guiding it D.has a set of symbols and values
问题5：
A.functions in the same way as specific social movements B.is a form of expressive behavior C.can boost the morale of its participants D.contributes a great deal to the way of crowd behavior

The floods did not start to ______ until two days after the rain had stopped.

A.retire B.recede C.retreat D.sink