题目内容
It is clear that human history will end; the only mystery is when. It is also clear that if the timing is left to nature (or, if you prefer, to God) and humans hang on until the bloody end, the race's final exit will be ignoble(不光彩的). If future generations escape the saurian(蜥蜴类) agony of extinction by a wandering chunk of rock or ice, the sun's unavoidable growth to gianthood will still burn their last successors to ashes: only cinders and gases and dust will remain.
Far future generations might prolong the process by posting colonies beyond the earth's orbit, but these would be sad outposts at the end of the solar system's long day, clutching memories of a lost planet and of billions of sacrificed souls. The difficulties—fantastic difficulties—of interstellar(星际的) travel might be overcome, but the mightiest of starships could do no more than defer the end of the world. An ignoble existence hopping from planet to planet—clinging to each clod until it, in its turn, was vaporized or frozen—might still be bearable were it not for the knowledge of its final uselessness. In the end, there is only death by gravity or entropy, the fiery quantum(量子) pit or the heatless grey soup.
The great violinist Jascha Heifetz was great not least because he quit the concert stage at his peak, before the show became stale or the audience drifted away. To exit gracefully is sublime(美妙的), as Heifetz understood. And only one species is capable of choosing a similarly graceful exit; all others march on like robots. To call time on the human race by choice, not necessity, would be the final victory of the human spirit over animal nature, an absolute emancipation from the command of DNA. Precisely because no other known life-form. could do or even conceive such a thing, humanity must.
Science has revealed only one place in the universe that is hospitable to intelligent life, and humans are the only intelligence that, as far as is known, has ever enjoyed the opportunity to occupy it. If people left the stage after a reasonable run, in the fullness of time intelligence could evolve again (dolphin-people？ Chimp-people？ orchid(兰花)-people？). And then, in due course, when this new species deciphered(译解) human books or reached the marker that might be left for them on the windless moon, they would know that man ended his dominion so that theirs might begin. Imagine, then, how they will regard us. It is, far and away, the greatest act of goodness ever contemplated, the ennoblement of a whole species; an act, almost, of angels.
According to the passage, what might be human being's best choice for the final exit？
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听力原文： About 20,000 whales have been slaughtered since a ban on commercial whaling was introduced in 1986 and the death toll is rising each year. Norway and Japan killed over 1,000 whales in 1999 and they plan to kill even more. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has failed to stop the killing and a compromise deal may relax the ban allowing coastal whaling condemning many thousands more whales to a cruel death. In 1994, the IWC created a whale refuge in Antarctic waters and many believed the battle to save the whales had been won. But Japan has ignored the refuge and along with Norway continues to defy the whaling ban. As the environmental concerns increase whaling is no longer the issue it was or deserves to be. With little public awareness of the increasing whale slaughter, there has been no pressure to stop it. Consequently, the political will to confront the whalers and enforce the whaling ban has slipped away. Commercial whaling has ruined whale populations worldwide, pushing the entire species to the brink of extinction. There is still great scientific uncertainty about the size and status of remaining whale populations. Whales are facing increasing threats to their survival including increasing toxic pollution, massive over-fishing, boat collisions, habitat loss, ozone exhaustion and climate change. They need to be protected, not hunted. Commercial whaling is surprisingly cruel and unnecessary. It is morally indefensible. It should be condemned to history, to a time when sadly we knew no better!
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Section A
Directions: In this section, you will hear 8 short conversations and 2 long conversations. At the end of each conversation, one or more questions will be asked about what was said. Both the conversation and the questions will be spoken only once. After each question there will be a pause. During the pause, you must read the four choices marked A, B, C and D, and decide which is the best answer.
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A．It is definitely getting smaller.B．It is nearly extinct.C．The more they are killed,
Section B
Directions: In this section, you will hear 3 short passages. At the end of each passage, you will hear some questions. Both the passage and the questions will be spoken only once. After you hear a question, you must choose the best answer from the four choices marked A, B, C and D.
听力原文： We only have a few minutes left so I'd like to go over a couple of points before we move on.
Remember, although there are both horizontal and vertical movements of air, the term "wind" is applied only to horizontal movements, and more air is involved in horizontal movements than those vertical movements. And what causes these horizontal movements？ Ultimately, it's the solar radiation, because the unequal heating of the earth rather than the atmosphere produces horizontal differences in air pressure. These differences set winds in motion. Essentially, winds are the nature's way of balancing uneven distribution of air pressure over the earth. Secondly, let me repeat my answer to the question we had before about wind direction. Many people get confused by what they hear in weather forecast.
We talk about wind direction in terms of where the wind's coming from, not where it's blowing to. There is a good reason to this. To weather broadcasters, the origin of winds is more important than its destination. The winds' origin helps them predict the weather.
Logically, in the northern hemisphere, a north wind tends to bring cold weather, and the south wind warm weather. I haven't forgotten vertical movements of air. We don't have time today to talk about them in depth. In our next class then, I'll begin by discussing updraft and downdraft and how they affect the weather.
I suspect most of you can guess which of the two brings warm weather, and which brings cold.
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