Suddenly, the economics of American suburban life are under assault as skyrocketing energy prices inflate the costs of reaching, heating and cooling homes on the distant edges of metropolitan areas. Just off Singing Hills Road, in one of hundreds of two-story homes dotting a former cattle ranch beyond the southern fringes of Denver, Phil Boyle and his family openly wonder if they will have to move close to town to get some relief. They still revel in the space and quiet that has drawn a steady exodus from American cities toward places like this for more than half a century. But life on the edges of suburbia is beginning to feel untenable. Mr. Boyle and his wife must drive nearly an hour to their jobs in the high-tech corridor of southern Denver. With gasoline at more than $ 4 a gallon, Mr. Boyle recently paid $121 to fill his pickup truck with diesel fuel. In March, the last time he filled his propane tank to heat his spacious house, he paid $ 566, more than twice the price of 5 years ago. Though Mr. Boyle finds city life unappealing, it is now up for reconsideration. "Living closer in, in a smaller space, where you don’t have that commute," he said, "It’s definitely something we talk about. Before it was’we spend too much time driving.’ Now, it’s ’we spend too much time and money driving.’ " Across the nation, the realization is taking hold that rising energy prices are less a momentary blip than a change with lasting consequences. The shift to costlier fuel is threatening to slow the decades-old migration away from cities, while exacerbating the ’housing downturn by diminishing the appeal of larger homes set far from urban jobs. In Atlanta, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Minneapolis, homes beyond the urban core have been falling in value faster than those within, according to an analysis by Moody’s Economy. com. In Denver, housing prices in the urban core rose steadily from 2003 until late last year compared with previous years, before dipping nearly 5 percent in the last three months of last year, according to Economy. com. But house prices in the suburbs began falling earlier, in the middle of 2006, and then accelerated, dropping by 7 percent during the last three months of the year from a year earlier. Many factors have propelled the unraveling of American real estate, from the mortgage crisis to a staggering excess of home construction. But economists and real estate agents are growing convinced that the rising cost of energy is now a primary factor pushing home prices down in the suburbs. More than three-fourths of prospective home buyers are now more inclined to live in an urban area because of fuel prices, according to a recent survey of 903 real estate agents with Coldwell Banker, the national brokerage firm. From the first two paragraphs we can learn that______.
A. soaring energy prices caused inflation in America
B. rising energy prices are threatening Phil’s cattle business
C. jumping fuel prices make suburban life costlier
D. shooting fuel costs make urban life unappealing
查看答案
As Philadelphia grew from a small town into a city in the first half of the eighteenth century, it became an increasingly important marketing center for a vast agricultural hinterland. Market days (1) the crowded city even more crowded, as farmers from within a (2) of 24 or more kilometers brought their sheep, vegetables, cider and other products for direct sale to the (3) . The High Street Market was continuously (4) throughout the period until 1736, (5) it (6) from Front Street to Third. By 1745 New Market was opened on Second Street. The next year the Callow Hill Market began (7) .Along with market days, the (8) of twice-yearly fairs persisted in Philadelphia (9) after similar trading days had been discontinued in other colonial cities. The (10) provided a means of bringing handmade goods from (11) places to would-be buyers in the city. Linens and stockings from Germantown, (12) , were popular items.Auctions were another popular (13) of trade. Because of the competition, retail (14) opposed these as well as the fairs. (15) governmental attempts to eradicate fairs and auctions were less than successful, the ordinary (16) of economic development was on the merchants’side, as increasing business specialization became the (17) of the day. Export merchants became differentiated from their importing counterparts, and specialty shops began to appear (18) general stores selling a variety of goods.One of the reasons Philadelphia’s merchants prospered was because the surrounding area was undergoing tremendous economic and demographic growth. They did their business, (19) , in the capital city of the province, (20) to not only the governor and his circle, but citizens from all over the colony. Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark [A], [B], [C] or [D] on ANSWER SHEET 1.2()
A. radiation
B. extent
C. radius
D. territory
公安机关应经常向广大群众宣传同违法犯罪作斗争的重大意义,激励他们积极参加打击刑事犯罪的工作,讲清同刑事犯罪作斗争是法律赋予每个公民的权利和义务,是每个热爱社会主义祖国的公民义不容辞的政治责任和社会责任,鼓励群众见义勇为.( )
A. 对
B. 错
W: Here comes the Sunday newspaper again.M: Can I have the sports sectionW: Sure.here you are.M: Let me check if there’s anything exciting next weekW: You mean football matches, do youM: Yes.Here it is! There will be a great football match on Monday at the City stadium.W: So you’ll go and watch it.M: Of course.But do you think they will cancel the football match if it rains on MondayW: I thinktheywill.M: If they do cancel it, will they have it on WednesdayW: I really can’t tell.M: I want to make sure about it because I will be out of town on Wednesday.I really can’t miss the game.W: Why don’t you check the weather on the internetM: Good idea.I’ll do it right now. What will the man do after the conversation()
A. He will watch the football game on TV.
B. He will surf on the Internet.
C. He will make a phone call.
[A] If you choose a career that does not fit you, you can start over.[B] Career planning overweighs any other factors.[C] Review your plans and progress periodically with another person.[D] Serious flaws in the ways many people make career decision.[E] Study yourself.[F] Set up some predictions about yourself in a career.[G] Write your career goals down.Career planning helps you to shape your career possibilities. It does not necessarily follow routine or logical steps. Each of us places weight on different factors and may consider certain phases of career planning at different times. Career planning includes gathering information about ourselves and about occupations, estimating the probable outcomes of various courses of action, and finally, choosing alternatives that we find attractive and feasible. Quite often career planning helps people to see the kinds of assistance they need to do what they want and helps direct them to available resources.(41)__________This is the key to career planning. Understanding what you are like, what you value, and what you want to become is the foundation for all career planning. To have a better insight into yourself, you are supposed to examine your strengths and weaknesses, your goals, and the trends in your personal development. The self-understanding that you gain enables you to imagine how certain occupations may best fit your personality, interests, abilities, and goals. All career decisions require us to learn both about ourselves and about work, and to integrate these two kinds of knowledge.(42)__________A technique useful for organizing ideas about your career development is to actually put them down by time blocks in your life, for example, ages nineteen to twenty-two, twenty-three to thirty... This action forces you to crystallize your thinking and to reorganize fuzzy and half-formed ideas. It may lead to new insights about your possibilities and may help you to see new relationships, patterns and trends, or to identify gaps in your thinking about your career development.(43)__________Consider the kind of person you are, what you’re likely to be like, what changes are likely to take place in an occupation, what basic problems you might meet, and what you need to solve your problems. These hypotheses, or educated guesses, should represent your understanding of yourself at present, what you can do, and what you will do.(44)__________Every so often, take stock of your situation and consider what steps have to be taken next. Taking inventory of progress and planning further steps can help you cope with the changes that you undergo and the changes that take place in the labor market. Talking over your plans with a college counselor, your parents, and your friends helps you define your goals and improve your career plan or make them work.(45)__________Today, growing numbers of people are changing careers or getting second start in careers that have greater appeal to them. Society no longer attaches the stigma of "instability" to the idea of career hopping, as it once did. Motives or reasons for changing career vary widely, but many people move because they feel stale or fed up with a grinding or dull routine. For some, a second start grows out of the realization that what they want out of life is not what they are doing, and they decide to do those things they enjoy and believe to be important. Certainly, time spent in one occupation is likely to narrow the range of later occupation choices; very few people have the motivation and financial resource to start a completely new career in mid-life. Most people move to related field that involves a minimum of new training. 45