Questions 29 and 30 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the two questions. Now listen to the news. Japan’s official position shows that it ______ Washington’s plan to develop the NMD project.
A. rejects
B. is cautious to
C. concerns
D. understands
TEXT D In the 1960s, medical researchers Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe developed a check- list of stressful events. They appreciated the tricky point that any major change can be stressful. Negative events like "serious illness of a family member" were high on the list, but so were some positive life-changing events, like marriage. When you take the HolmesRahe test you must remember that the score does not reflect how you deal with stress—it only shows how much you have to deal with. And we now know that the way you handle these events dramatically affects your chances of staying healthy. By the early 1970s, hundreds of similar studies had followed Holmes and Rahe. And millions of Americans who work and live under stress worried over the reports. Somehow, the research got boiled down to a memorable message. Women’s magazines ran headlines like "Stress causes illness!" "If you want to stay physically and mentally healthy," the articles said, "avoid stressful events." But such simplistic advice is impossible to follow. Even if stressful events are dangerous many—like the death of a loved one—are impossible to avoid. Moreover, any warning to avoid all stressful events is a prescription for staying away from opportunities as well as trouble. Since any change can be stressful, a person who wanted to be completely free of stress would never marry, have a child, take a new job or move. The notion that all stress makes you sick also ignores a lot of what we know about people. It assumes we’re all vulnerable and passive in the face of adversity. But what about human initiative and creativity Many come through periods of stress with more physical and mental vigor than they had before. We also know that a long time without change or challenge can lead to boredom, and physical and mental strain. The result of Holmes-Rahe’s medical research tells us ______.
A. the way you handle major events may cause stress
B. what should be done to avoid stress
C. what kind of event would cause stress
D. how to cope with sudden changes in life
TEXT C People can be addicted to different things—e.g., alcohol, drugs, certain foods, or even television. People who have such an addiction are compulsive, i.e., they have a very powerful psychological need that they feel they must satisfy. According to psychologists, many people are compulsive spenders: they feel they must spend money. This compulsion, like most others, is irrational—impossible to explain reasonably. For compulsive spenders who buy on credit, charge accounts are even more exciting than money. In other words, compulsive spenders feel that with credit, they can do anything. Their pleasure in spending enormous amounts is actually greater than the pleasure that they get from the things they buy. There is a special psychology of bargain hunting. To save money, of course, most people look for sales, low prices and discounts. Compulsive bargain hunters, however, often buy things they don’t need just because they are cheap. They want to believe that they are helping their budgets, but they are really playing an exciting game: when they can buy something for less than other people, they feel that they are winning. Most people, experts claim, have two reasons for their behavior: a good reason for things that they do and the real reason. It is not only scientists, of course, who understand the psychology of spending habits, but also business people. Stores, companies, and advertisers use psychology to increase business: they consider people’s needs for love, power, or influence, their basic value, their beliefs and opinions, and so on in their advertising and sales methods. Psychologists can often use a method called "behavior therapy" to help individuals solve their personality problems. In the same way, they can help people who feel that they have problems with money. According to the psychologists, a compulsive spender is one who spends large amounts of money ______.
A. and takes great pleasure from what he or she buys
B. in order to satisfy his or her basic needs in life
C. just to meet his or her strong psychological need
D. entirely with an irrational eagerness
TEXT A There seems never to have been a civilization without toys, but when and how they developed is unknown. They probably came about just to give children something to do. In the ancient world, as is today, most boys played with some kinds of toys and most girls with others. In societies where social roles are rigidly determined, boys pattern their play after the activities of their fathers and girls after the tasks of their mothers. This is true because boys and girls are being prepared, even in play, to step into the roles and responsibilities of the adult world. What is remarkable about the history of toys is not so much how they changed over the centuries but how much they have remained the same. The changes have been mostly in terms of craftsmanship, mechanics, and technology. It is the universality of toys with regard to their development in all parts of the world and their persistence to the present that is amazing. In Egypt, the Americas, China, Japan and among the Arctic peoples, generally the same kinds of toys appeared. Variations depended on local customs and ways of life because toys imitate their surroundings. Nearly every civilization had dolls, little weapons, toy soldiers, tiny animals and vehicles. Because toys can be generally regarded as a kind of art form, they have not been subject to technological leaps that characterize inventions for adult use. The progress from the wheel to the oxcart to the automobile is a direct line of ascent. The progress from a rattle used by a baby in 3000 BC to one used by an infant today, however, is not characterized by inventiveness. Each rattle is the product of the artistic tastes of the times and subject to the limitations of available materials. The author uses the example of a rattle to show that ______.
A. in toy-making there is a continuity in the use of materials
B. even the simplest toys can reflect the progress of technology
C. it often takes a long time to introduce new technology into toy-making
D. even a simple toy can mirror the artistic tastes of the times.