单项选择题

The Health Risks of Small Apartments
New York City has a housing problem. Currently, it has 1.8 million one-and two-person households, and only one million studios and one-bedroom apartments. The obvious solution seems to be to develop more small residential units. But as New York City"s "micro-apartment" project inches closer to reality, experts warn that micro-living may not be the urban panacea we"ve been waiting for.
"Sure, these micro-apartments may be fantastic for young professionals in their 20"s," says Dak Kopec, director of design for human health at Boston Architectural College. "But they definitely can be unhealthy for older people, say in their 30"s and 40"s, who face different stress factors that can make tight living conditions a problem." Research, Kopec says, has shown that crowding-related stress can increase rates of domestic violence and substance abuse.
For all of us, daily life is a sequence of events, he explains. But most people don"t like adding extra steps to everyday tasks. Because micro-apartments are too small to hold basic furniture like a bed, table, and couch at the same time, residents must reset their quarters throughout the day. In this case, residents might eventually stop folding up their furniture every day and the space will start feeling even more constrained.
Susan Saegert, professor of environmental psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center agrees that the micro- apartments will likely be a welcome choice for young New Yorkers. But she warns that tiny living conditions can be terrible for other residents—particularly if a couple or a parent and child squeeze into 300 square feet for the long term, no matter how well a unit is designed. "I"ve studied children in crowded apartments and low-income housing a lot," Saegert said, "and they can end up becoming withdrawn, and have trouble studying and concentrating."
"When we think about micro-living, we have a tendency to focus on functional things, like is there enough room for the fridge," explained University of Texas psychology professor Samuel Gosling, who studies the connection between people and their possessions. "But an apartment has to fill other psychological needs as well, such as self-expression and relaxation, which might not be as easily met in a highly confined space."
On the other hand, Eugenie L. Birch, professor of urban research and education at the University of Pennsylvania, says this certainly isn"t the first time we"ve had this debate over micro-living. New York has grappled with the public health costs of crowded living conditions and minimum apartment standards throughout its history.
Rolf Pendall, director of the Urban Institute"s Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center asks: Where would all these people be doing business and living without the density Would they be commuting longer distances or earning less, and is living farther from economic opportunities "better" for them In that context, Pendall says he welcomes micro-apartments as long as they fit within the larger housing ecology of the city, and don"t ultimately displace other types of units for families.
For this project, while New York may be taking a step backwards in terms of square footage, Eric Bunge, working at Architects, (the firm that created the winning micro-apartment design), is firm that the city is taking a big step forward in terms of actual living conditions. "The city sees this initiative as one mechanism in a set of complex issues," Bunge says. "Nobody is claiming that micro-apartments will be a silver bullet."

Dak Kopec says that()

A. micro-apartments should be welcomed as long as they do solve the housing problems for some people.
B. micro-apartments may not fill people"s psychological needs.
C. micro-apartments will be an attempt help to solve the housing problems, but not a cure yet.
D. micro-apartments may be welcomed by the elder people.
E. narrow living conditions may cause the increase of domestic violence.
F. children growing up in crowded apartments may have trouble studying and concentrating.
G. micro-apartments may be unhealthy for young people to live.


延伸阅读

你可能感兴趣的试题

1.单项选择题Today, it"s certainly difficult to think of any other single thing that represents modern America as powerfully as the company Disney that created Mickey Mouse.
The reasons for Disney"s success are varied and numerous, but ultimately the credit belongs to one person, Walt Disney. He was a genius in plenty of other respects. But what really distinguished Disney was his ability to identify with his audiences. Disney always made sure his films championed the "little guy", and made him feel proud to be American. This he achieved by creating characters that reflected the hopes and fears of ordinary people.
Disney"s other great virtue was the fact that his company had a human face. His Hollywood studio operated just like a democracy, where everyone was on first name terms and had a say in how things should be run. He was also regarded as a great patriot because not only did his cartoons celebrate America, but, during World War Ⅱ, studios made training films for American soldiers.
The reality, of course, was less ideal. As the public would later learn, Disney"s patriotism had an unpleasant side. After a strike by cartoonists in 1941, he agreed to work for the FBI as a spy, identifying and spying on colleagues whom he suspected were subversives.
But, apart from his affiliations with the FBI, Disney was more or less the genuine article . A book, The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life , by Steven Watts, confirms that he was very definitely on the side of ordinary Americans—in the 1930s and 1940s he voted for Franklin Roosevelt, believing he was a champion of the workers. Also, Disney was not an apologist for the FBI, as some have suggested. In fact, he was always suspicious of large, bureaucratic organizations, as is evidenced in films like That Darn Cat, in which he portrayed FBI agents as incompetents.
By the time he died in 1966, Walt Disney was an icon like Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers. To business people and filmmakers, he was a role model; to the public at large, he was "Uncle Walt"—the man who had entertained them all their lives, the man who represented them all their lives, the man who represented all that was good about America.According to the passage, what was the pleasant side of Disney"s patriotism()

A.He sided with ordinary Americans in his films.
B.He supported America"s war efforts in his own way.
C.He had doubts about large, bureaucratic organizations.
D.He voted for Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930s and 1940s.

2.单项选择题Amazon is looking at drastically reducing its delivery times—to 30 minutes or less—as it plans a new service called Prime Air that it says could debut in a few years. The giant online retailer plans to use semi-autonomous drones to carry purchases to customers. CEO Jeff Bezos announced the plan Sunday on CBS" 60 Minutes.
Bezos tells Charlie Rose that Amazon"s "octocopter" could be airborne within four to five years, using GPS coordinates to find customers.
The drones would depart from the retailer"s "fulfillment centers," the huge warehouses it has built near many large population centers in the U. S. and elsewhere. They can carry about five pounds, Bezos says, a figure that covers around 85 percent of Amazon"s products.
The delivery drones would be particularly useful in densely populated urban areas, Bezos says. Powered by electricity, their current range of operation is around 10 miles from the point of origin.
Writing that "drones can explode, or run into things," the Quartz technology blog"s Heather Timmons notes that safety concerns may limit where the new delivery devices could be used.
In addition to safety concerns, drones could face another challenge before they"re widely used for delivery: overcoming the possible suspicions of citizens who have mostly seen the unmanned aircraft mentioned in conjunction with military and surveillance uses.
Rose"s interview of Bezos also touched on the retailer"s 10-year, $600 million contract with the CIA, through its Amazon Web Services unit. The company is using its technological expertise to build a computing cloud for the agency, Bezos said.
When asked by Rose if that presented a conflict, Bezos answered, "We"re building what"s called a private cloud for them, Charlie, because they don"t want to be on the public cloud."
Amazon isn"t alone in pursuing drone delivery. Earlier this year, a pilot project by Domino"s Pizza looked at flying hot pizzas to customers in Britain, posting a video of a successful test run.
That led the site Singularity Hub to observe:
"So why are drones such a big deal In our robotic future, anything that can reduce urban congestion, minimize carbon emissions, save money and save trips to the emergency room (car accidents kill, you know) will drive huge value in the economy and make our lives better, to boot."Which statement is TRUE about Amazon"s delivery drones()

A.They can be used for Amazon"s purchase-delivery right now.
B.They can deliver eighty-five percent of Amazon"s products.
C.They can deliver the purchases to the remote areas.
D.They can deliver the goods to a customer 15 miles away.

3.单项选择题With just one week until Christmas, retailers are rolling out shopper-baiting strategies to attract procrastinators, deal-hunters and people who just want a few extra Christmas gifts.
Strategies include offering extended shopping hours, free shipping, last-minute-shopping ad campaigns and social media reminders that time is ticking away.
The week leading up to Christmas is usually when consumers open their wallets wide—the Saturday before the holiday traditionally being the biggest spending day behind Black Friday, according to shopper analytics firm Shopper Trak. Four of the 10 busiest holiday shopping days will occur between Dec. 20 and Dec. 24, Shopper Trak predicts.
This holiday shopping season is shorter than last, with six fewer days—translating into just four weekends.
There will be "high levels of in-store shopper activity" the weekend before Christmas, says Shopping Trak founder Bill Martin. Here"s how retailers are trying to get the attention of gift buyers:
Going social in their countdown warnings. Companies are using social media to remind customers that Christmas is coming and to offer gift suggestions. Best Buy is using the Twitter tag "Last Minute Gifts" to promote its goods and on Tuesday evening hosted a Google Hangout chat with the last-minute gift theme.
Targeting procrastinators. On Wednesday, J. C. Penney launches a "men in panic" TV ad. In it, a desperate man walk by a store as a small choir sings "point him to the jewelry so he won"t buy a "vacuum"".
Offering free shipping. Many retailers, including J. C. Penney, have embraced Wednesday as "Free Shipping Day" —no minimum order, and delivery by Christmas Eve is guaranteed. FreeShippingDay.com has a list of nearly 900 participating merchants.
Extending store hours. Nordstrom, Target and Toys R Us all have longer hours now or coming up. Toys R Us will be open around the clock for 87 continuous hours beginning at 6 a. m. Saturday, Dec. 21, through 9 p.m. Christmas Eve. "Expanded hours at this time of year have proven to be very popular with customers in the past, but with the shortened shopping window between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and no time left to procrastinate, we expect to see larger crowds at all hours." says company spokeswoman Linda.How long was the holiday shopping season last year()

A.Four weekends.
B.Five weekends.
C.Six weekends.
D.Seven weekends.

4.单项选择题

The tower of Pisa has been leaning so long—nearly 840 years—that it"s natural to assume it will 1 gravity forever. But the famous structure has been in danger of collapsing almost since its first brick was 2 .
It began leaning shortly after construction began in 1173. Builders had only reached the third of the tower"s 3 eight stories when its foundation began to settle unevenly on soft soil composed 4 mud, sand and clay. As a result, the structure leaned 5 to the north. Laborers tried to 6 it by making the columns and arches of the third story on the sinking northern side slightly taller. Then political unrest halted construction.
The tower sat 7 for nearly 100 years, but it wasn"t done moving. By the time work restarted in 1272, the tower tilted to the south—the 8 it still leans today. Engineers tried to make another 9 , only to have their work interrupted once again in 1278 with just seven stories completed.
Unfortunately, the building continued to settle, sometimes at an 10 rate. Finally, between 1360 and 1370, workers finished the project, once again trying to correct the lean 11 angling the eighth story, with its bell room, northward.
In 1989, a similarly constructed bell tower in Pavia, Italy, collapsed suddenly. Officials became 12 worried the tower of Pisa would suffer a similar fate that they closed the monument to the 13 . A year later, they rallied together an international team to see 14 the tower could be brought back from the brink.
By 2001, the team had decreased the tower"s lean by 44 centimeters, enough to make officials 15 that they could reopen the monument. The actions taken by Burland and his team could, 16 , stabilize the structure forever. The real threat now comes from the masonry itself, especially the material in the 17 stories, where most of the forces caused by the centuries-long leaning have been directed. If any of this masonry crush, the tower could collapse. And even a 18 earthquake in the region could have devastating consequences.
After 200 years, another intervention may be required, but the 19 available to make improvements could be far more advanced and 20 the tower for another 800 years.

2()

A.got
B.made
C.laid
D.sent

5.单项选择题New research suggests that speaking more than one language may delay different kinds of dementia, that is the lost of mental ability. In fact, researchers say, speaking two languages appears to be more important than the level of education in defending against dementias.
A study in India examined the effect of knowing more than one language in delaying the first signs of several disorders. Researchers studied nearly 650 people whose average age was 66. 240 of those studied suffered from Alzheimer"s, the most common form of mental decline. 391 of the subjects spoke two or more languages. Investigators found the dementias began about four-and-a-half years later in those who spoke two languages compared to those who spoke only one language.
Thomas Bak helped to organise the study. He is with the Center of Cognitive Aging at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He suggests that individuals who speak more than one language train their brains by moving back and forth between different words and expressions.
Mr. Bak believes this effort improves what scientists called executive functioning or attention to tasks, this mental ability often weakens in people with dementias.
Researchers found there was no extra gain in speaking more than two languages. They also did not see a delay in the first signs of Lewy bodies dementia, the disorder causes patients to see or experience things that do not real exist. They can also cause sufferers to move back and forth between being wide awake and really sleeping.
Mr. Bak says it does not appear important whether you learn a language at a young age or later in life.
"So it"s not something you sort of say that "you missed the boat when you do not do it as a baby". It is something that is still quite useful and powerful when you do it as an adult," he said.
Scientists found that speaking more than one language help delay the first signs of dementias, even in those who could not read.What did the study in India find()

A.People started to suffer from dementias at the age of 66.
B.Mental ability of people with dementias weakened.
C.All people would suffer from dementias though the time varies.
D.People who spoke only one language suffered from dementias earlier.

6.单项选择题

The Health Risks of Small Apartments
New York City has a housing problem. Currently, it has 1.8 million one-and two-person households, and only one million studios and one-bedroom apartments. The obvious solution seems to be to develop more small residential units. But as New York City"s "micro-apartment" project inches closer to reality, experts warn that micro-living may not be the urban panacea we"ve been waiting for.
"Sure, these micro-apartments may be fantastic for young professionals in their 20"s," says Dak Kopec, director of design for human health at Boston Architectural College. "But they definitely can be unhealthy for older people, say in their 30"s and 40"s, who face different stress factors that can make tight living conditions a problem." Research, Kopec says, has shown that crowding-related stress can increase rates of domestic violence and substance abuse.
For all of us, daily life is a sequence of events, he explains. But most people don"t like adding extra steps to everyday tasks. Because micro-apartments are too small to hold basic furniture like a bed, table, and couch at the same time, residents must reset their quarters throughout the day. In this case, residents might eventually stop folding up their furniture every day and the space will start feeling even more constrained.
Susan Saegert, professor of environmental psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center agrees that the micro- apartments will likely be a welcome choice for young New Yorkers. But she warns that tiny living conditions can be terrible for other residents—particularly if a couple or a parent and child squeeze into 300 square feet for the long term, no matter how well a unit is designed. "I"ve studied children in crowded apartments and low-income housing a lot," Saegert said, "and they can end up becoming withdrawn, and have trouble studying and concentrating."
"When we think about micro-living, we have a tendency to focus on functional things, like is there enough room for the fridge," explained University of Texas psychology professor Samuel Gosling, who studies the connection between people and their possessions. "But an apartment has to fill other psychological needs as well, such as self-expression and relaxation, which might not be as easily met in a highly confined space."
On the other hand, Eugenie L. Birch, professor of urban research and education at the University of Pennsylvania, says this certainly isn"t the first time we"ve had this debate over micro-living. New York has grappled with the public health costs of crowded living conditions and minimum apartment standards throughout its history.
Rolf Pendall, director of the Urban Institute"s Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center asks: Where would all these people be doing business and living without the density Would they be commuting longer distances or earning less, and is living farther from economic opportunities "better" for them In that context, Pendall says he welcomes micro-apartments as long as they fit within the larger housing ecology of the city, and don"t ultimately displace other types of units for families.
For this project, while New York may be taking a step backwards in terms of square footage, Eric Bunge, working at Architects, (the firm that created the winning micro-apartment design), is firm that the city is taking a big step forward in terms of actual living conditions. "The city sees this initiative as one mechanism in a set of complex issues," Bunge says. "Nobody is claiming that micro-apartments will be a silver bullet."

Samuel Gosling thinks that()

A. micro-apartments should be welcomed as long as they do solve the housing problems for some people.
B. micro-apartments may not fill people"s psychological needs.
C. micro-apartments will be an attempt help to solve the housing problems, but not a cure yet.
D. micro-apartments may be welcomed by the elder people.
E. narrow living conditions may cause the increase of domestic violence.
F. children growing up in crowded apartments may have trouble studying and concentrating.
G. micro-apartments may be unhealthy for young people to live.

7.单项选择题Amazon is looking at drastically reducing its delivery times—to 30 minutes or less—as it plans a new service called Prime Air that it says could debut in a few years. The giant online retailer plans to use semi-autonomous drones to carry purchases to customers. CEO Jeff Bezos announced the plan Sunday on CBS" 60 Minutes.
Bezos tells Charlie Rose that Amazon"s "octocopter" could be airborne within four to five years, using GPS coordinates to find customers.
The drones would depart from the retailer"s "fulfillment centers," the huge warehouses it has built near many large population centers in the U. S. and elsewhere. They can carry about five pounds, Bezos says, a figure that covers around 85 percent of Amazon"s products.
The delivery drones would be particularly useful in densely populated urban areas, Bezos says. Powered by electricity, their current range of operation is around 10 miles from the point of origin.
Writing that "drones can explode, or run into things," the Quartz technology blog"s Heather Timmons notes that safety concerns may limit where the new delivery devices could be used.
In addition to safety concerns, drones could face another challenge before they"re widely used for delivery: overcoming the possible suspicions of citizens who have mostly seen the unmanned aircraft mentioned in conjunction with military and surveillance uses.
Rose"s interview of Bezos also touched on the retailer"s 10-year, $600 million contract with the CIA, through its Amazon Web Services unit. The company is using its technological expertise to build a computing cloud for the agency, Bezos said.
When asked by Rose if that presented a conflict, Bezos answered, "We"re building what"s called a private cloud for them, Charlie, because they don"t want to be on the public cloud."
Amazon isn"t alone in pursuing drone delivery. Earlier this year, a pilot project by Domino"s Pizza looked at flying hot pizzas to customers in Britain, posting a video of a successful test run.
That led the site Singularity Hub to observe:
"So why are drones such a big deal In our robotic future, anything that can reduce urban congestion, minimize carbon emissions, save money and save trips to the emergency room (car accidents kill, you know) will drive huge value in the economy and make our lives better, to boot."In order to shorten the delivery times, what has Amazon planned to do

A.Enhance the current air express services.
B.Use the semi-automatic aircrafts to deliver goods.
C.Equip its deliverymen with more advanced vehicles.
D.Use GPS coordinators to deliver goods.

8.单项选择题Today, it"s certainly difficult to think of any other single thing that represents modern America as powerfully as the company Disney that created Mickey Mouse.
The reasons for Disney"s success are varied and numerous, but ultimately the credit belongs to one person, Walt Disney. He was a genius in plenty of other respects. But what really distinguished Disney was his ability to identify with his audiences. Disney always made sure his films championed the "little guy", and made him feel proud to be American. This he achieved by creating characters that reflected the hopes and fears of ordinary people.
Disney"s other great virtue was the fact that his company had a human face. His Hollywood studio operated just like a democracy, where everyone was on first name terms and had a say in how things should be run. He was also regarded as a great patriot because not only did his cartoons celebrate America, but, during World War Ⅱ, studios made training films for American soldiers.
The reality, of course, was less ideal. As the public would later learn, Disney"s patriotism had an unpleasant side. After a strike by cartoonists in 1941, he agreed to work for the FBI as a spy, identifying and spying on colleagues whom he suspected were subversives.
But, apart from his affiliations with the FBI, Disney was more or less the genuine article . A book, The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life , by Steven Watts, confirms that he was very definitely on the side of ordinary Americans—in the 1930s and 1940s he voted for Franklin Roosevelt, believing he was a champion of the workers. Also, Disney was not an apologist for the FBI, as some have suggested. In fact, he was always suspicious of large, bureaucratic organizations, as is evidenced in films like That Darn Cat, in which he portrayed FBI agents as incompetents.
By the time he died in 1966, Walt Disney was an icon like Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers. To business people and filmmakers, he was a role model; to the public at large, he was "Uncle Walt"—the man who had entertained them all their lives, the man who represented them all their lives, the man who represented all that was good about America.What actually made Walt Disney distinguished

A.He drew quite well himself.
B.He had very good reputation.
C.He identified with his audiences.
D.He had great management skills.

9.单项选择题With just one week until Christmas, retailers are rolling out shopper-baiting strategies to attract procrastinators, deal-hunters and people who just want a few extra Christmas gifts.
Strategies include offering extended shopping hours, free shipping, last-minute-shopping ad campaigns and social media reminders that time is ticking away.
The week leading up to Christmas is usually when consumers open their wallets wide—the Saturday before the holiday traditionally being the biggest spending day behind Black Friday, according to shopper analytics firm Shopper Trak. Four of the 10 busiest holiday shopping days will occur between Dec. 20 and Dec. 24, Shopper Trak predicts.
This holiday shopping season is shorter than last, with six fewer days—translating into just four weekends.
There will be "high levels of in-store shopper activity" the weekend before Christmas, says Shopping Trak founder Bill Martin. Here"s how retailers are trying to get the attention of gift buyers:
Going social in their countdown warnings. Companies are using social media to remind customers that Christmas is coming and to offer gift suggestions. Best Buy is using the Twitter tag "Last Minute Gifts" to promote its goods and on Tuesday evening hosted a Google Hangout chat with the last-minute gift theme.
Targeting procrastinators. On Wednesday, J. C. Penney launches a "men in panic" TV ad. In it, a desperate man walk by a store as a small choir sings "point him to the jewelry so he won"t buy a "vacuum"".
Offering free shipping. Many retailers, including J. C. Penney, have embraced Wednesday as "Free Shipping Day" —no minimum order, and delivery by Christmas Eve is guaranteed. FreeShippingDay.com has a list of nearly 900 participating merchants.
Extending store hours. Nordstrom, Target and Toys R Us all have longer hours now or coming up. Toys R Us will be open around the clock for 87 continuous hours beginning at 6 a. m. Saturday, Dec. 21, through 9 p.m. Christmas Eve. "Expanded hours at this time of year have proven to be very popular with customers in the past, but with the shortened shopping window between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and no time left to procrastinate, we expect to see larger crowds at all hours." says company spokeswoman Linda.What does the phrase "open their wallets wide" (Para. 3) mean

A.Let others take their money.
B.Show off their wealth.
C.Spend a lot of money.
D.Buy big wallets.

10.单项选择题New research suggests that speaking more than one language may delay different kinds of dementia, that is the lost of mental ability. In fact, researchers say, speaking two languages appears to be more important than the level of education in defending against dementias.
A study in India examined the effect of knowing more than one language in delaying the first signs of several disorders. Researchers studied nearly 650 people whose average age was 66. 240 of those studied suffered from Alzheimer"s, the most common form of mental decline. 391 of the subjects spoke two or more languages. Investigators found the dementias began about four-and-a-half years later in those who spoke two languages compared to those who spoke only one language.
Thomas Bak helped to organise the study. He is with the Center of Cognitive Aging at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He suggests that individuals who speak more than one language train their brains by moving back and forth between different words and expressions.
Mr. Bak believes this effort improves what scientists called executive functioning or attention to tasks, this mental ability often weakens in people with dementias.
Researchers found there was no extra gain in speaking more than two languages. They also did not see a delay in the first signs of Lewy bodies dementia, the disorder causes patients to see or experience things that do not real exist. They can also cause sufferers to move back and forth between being wide awake and really sleeping.
Mr. Bak says it does not appear important whether you learn a language at a young age or later in life.
"So it"s not something you sort of say that "you missed the boat when you do not do it as a baby". It is something that is still quite useful and powerful when you do it as an adult," he said.
Scientists found that speaking more than one language help delay the first signs of dementias, even in those who could not read.Which one is the most common phenomenon of mental decline

A.Losing the ability to speak.
B.Failing to recognize things.
C.Suffering from Alzheimer"s disease.
D.Being unable to fall asleep.