Ask most people how they define the American Dream and chances are they’ll say, "Success." The dream of individual opportunity has been at home in American since Europeans discovered a "new world" in the Western Hemisphere. Early immigrants like Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur praised highly the freedom and opportunity to be found in this new land. His glowing descriptions of a classless society where anyone could attain success through honesty and hard work fired the imaginations of many European readers: in Letters from an American Farmer (1782) he wrote, "We are all excited at the spirit of an industry which is unfettered (无拘无束的) and unrestrained, because each person works for himself... We have no princes, for whom we toil (干苦力活), starve, and bleed: we are the most perfect society now existing in the world." The promise of a land where "the rewards of a man’s industry follow with equal steps the progress of his labor" drew poor immigrants from Europe and fueled national expansion into the western territories.Our national mythology (神话) is full of illustrations of the American success story. There’s Benjamin Franklin, the very model of the self-educated, self-made man, who rose from modest origins to become a well-known scientist, philosopher, and statesman. In the nineteenth century, Horatio Alger, a writer of fiction for young boys, became American’s best-selling author with rags-to-riches tales. The notion of success haunts us: we spend millions every year reading about the rich and famous, learning how to "make a fortune in real estate with no money down," and "dressing for success." The myth of success has even invaded our personal relationships: today it’s as important to be "successful" in marriage or parenthood as it is to come out on top in business.But dreams easily turn into nightmares. Every American who hopes to "make it" also knows the fear of failure, because the myth of success inevitably implies comparison between the haves and the have-nots, the stars and the anonymous crowd. Under pressure of the myth, we become indulged in status symbols: we try to live in the "right" neighborhoods, wear the "right" clothes, eat the "right" foods. These symbols of distinction assure us and others that we believe strongly in the fundamental equality of all, yet strive as hard as we can to separate ourselves from our fellow citizens. By saying "the rewards of a man’s industry follow with equal steps the progress of his labor" (Para. 1), the author means ().
A. the more diligent one is, the bigger his returns
B. laborious work ensures the growth of an industry
C. a man’s business should be developed step by step
D. a company’s success depends on its employees’ hard work
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Victoria Barzilai opened her mouth wide so the doctor could look at her sore throat. Not (1) a remarkable event, except that Victoria was at home and the doctor was hundreds of miles away. Feeling too sick to (2) herself to the school health center, the third-year university student had chosen a cyber-doctor visit, the 21st century (3) of a house call.A number of websites offer face-to-face consultations of the (4) visit to anyone with a credit card and access to a webcam-equipped computer. The services are intended for patients with (5) minor problems that don’t require hands-on diagnoses or treatments, not for people who need stitches, MRIs or casts on broken limbs.One presumed strong advantage of e-visits like these is (6) . That counted with Victoria who points out that "My doctor is at least an hour away, and besides, I didn’t know when I could get in to see him." Victoria used MedCareLive.com, which offers California (7) no-wait consultations with healthcare professionals from 9 a.m. to midnight every day. Other sites, such as Teladoc and MeMD, offer consultations 24/7. Some e-visit sites ask for consultation fees. Others (8) different rates for different services.Although MedCareLive.com does not (9) with any insurance companies, co-founders Dr. David Tashman and Sigi Marmorstein set out to make their service a good deal—for people who have insurance and people who don’t. "We set our price point at $45 for a reason," Tashman says. "Most co-pays by insurance companies run from $30 to $50.""We want to help people stay away from the emergency room and (10) care," Marmorstein adds. "We want to save people money." (1)处填()。
A. urgent
B. credible
C. contract
D. exactly
E. relatively
F. version
G. criticism
H. charge
I. dazzle
J. convenience
K. drag
L. dedicate
M. residents
N. deliberately
O. virtual
A new study finds that even mild stress can affect your ability to control your emotions. A team of neuroscientists at New York University say that their findings suggest that certain (1) that teach people how to better control their emotions—such as those used to treat social anxiety and phobias—may not work as well during stressful situations."We have long suspected that stress can (2) our ability to control our emotions, but this is the first study to document how even mild stress can undercut therapies designed to keep our emotions in (3) ," said senior author and psychology professor Elizabeth Phelps. "In other words, what you learn in the clinic may not be as (4) in the real world when you’re stressed."To help patients learn to (5) their emotional impairment, therapists sometimes use cognitive restructuring techniques encouraging patients to alter their thoughts or approach to a situation to change their emotional response. These might include focusing on the positive or non-threatening aspects of an event or (6) that might normally produce fear.To test how these techniques hold up in real-life situations, the team (7) a group of 78 volunteers, who viewed pictures of snakes and spiders. Some of the pictures were paired with an electric shock, and participants (8) developed a fear of these pictures. The subjects "reported more (9) feelings of fear when viewing the pictures, compared with when they viewed images not paired with a shock."Next the participants were taught cognitive strategies, similar to those (10) by therapists and known as cognitive-behavioral therapy, to learn to diminish the fears brought on by the experiment. (1)处填()。
A. check
B. regulate
C. eventually
D. consequences
E. impair
F. stimulus
G. bleak
H. enlisted
I. relevant
J. prescribed
K. therapies
L. confined
M. incidentally
N. intense
O. breach
Passage ThreeQuestions 18 to 20 are based on the passage you have just heard.
A. Trucks do not use crucial fuel.
B. Few trucks are involved in accidents.
C. Most trucks do not transport consumer goods.
D. Trucks run better at higher speeds.
Passage OneQuestions 11 to 14 are based on the passage you have just heard.
A. Platform worker.
B. The command spot.
C. A computer.
D. A machine.