Passage One With the possible exception of equal rights, perhaps the most controversial issue across the United States today is the death penalty. Many argue that it is an effective deterrent (威慑) to murder, while others maintain there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty reduces the number of murders. The principal argument advanced by those opposed to the death penalty, basically, is that it is cruel and inhuman punishment, that it is the mark of a brutal society, and finally that it is of questionable effectiveness as a deterrent to crime anyway. In our opinion, the death penalty is a necessary evil. Throughout recorded history there have always been those extreme individuals in every society who were capable of terribly violent crimes such as murder. But some are more extreme than others. For example, it is one thing to take the life of another in a fit of blind rage, but quite another to coldly plot and carry out the murder of one or more people in the style of a butcher. Thus, murder, like all other crimes, is a matter of relative degree. While it could be argued with some conviction that the criminal in the first instance should be merely isolated from society, such should not be the fate of the latter type murderer. The value of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime may be open to debate. But the overwhelming majority of citizens believe that the death penalty protects them. Their belief is reinforced by evidence which shows that the death penalty deters murder. For example, from 1954 to 1963, when the death penalty was consistently imposed in California, the murder rate remained between three and four murders for each 100 000 population. Since 1964 the death penalty has been imposed only once, and the murder rate has risen to 10.4 murders for each 100 000 population. The sharp climb in the state’s murder rate, which began when executions stopped, is no coincidence (巧合). It is convincing evidence that the death penalty does deter many murderers. If the bill reestablishing the death penalty is vetoed (否决), innocent people will be murdered—some whose lives may have been saved if the death penalty were in effect. This is literally a life or death matter. The lives of thousands of innocent people must be protected. It can be inferred that the author thinks that ______ .
A. the veto of the bill reestablishing the death penalty is of little importance
B. the value of the death penalty as a deterrent to crime is not to be debated
C. the death penalty is the most controversial issue in the United States today
D. the second type murderers (in Para. 4) should be sentenced to death
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All the facts___________________________(表明是……的迹象) the same conclusion.
Geography is the study of the relationship between people and the land. Geographers compare and contrast various places on the earth. But they also (51) beyond the individual places and consider the earth as a whole. The English word geography means "to describe the earth. " (52) geography books focus on a small area like a town or city. Others deal with a state, a region, a nation, or an (53) continent. Many geography books deal with the whole earth. Another (54) to divide the study of geography is to distinguish between physical geography and cultural geography. The former focuses on the natural world; the (55) starts with human beings and studies how human beings and their environment act (56) each other. But when geography is considered as a single subject, (57) branch can neglect the other. A geographer might be described as one who observes, records, and explains the (58) between places. If all places (59) alike, there would be little need for geographers. We know, however, that no two places are exactly the same. Geography, (60) is a point of view, a special way of looking at place.
A. being
B. are
C. be
D. were
Passage Two When an invention is made, the inventor has three possible courses of action open to him: he can give the invention to the world by publishing it, keep the idea secret, or patent it. A granted patent is the result of a bargain made between an inventor and the state, by which the inventor gets a limited period of monopoly (垄断) and publishes full details of his invention to the public after that period terminates (终止). Only in most exceptional circumstances is the life-span of a patent extended to alter this normal process of events. The longest extension ever granted was to Georges Valensi: his 1939 patent for color TV receiver circuitry was extended until 1971 because for most of the patent’s normal life there was no color TV to receive and thus no hope of reward for the invention. Because a patent remains permanently public after it has terminated, the shelves of the library attached to the patent office contain details of literally millions of ideas that are free for anyone to use and, if older than half a century, sometimes even re-patent. Indeed, patent experts often advise anyone wishing to avoid the high cost of conducting a search through live patents that the one sure way of avoiding violation of any other inventor’s right is to plagiarize a dead patent. Likewise, because publication of an idea in any other form permanently invalidates (使无效) further patents on that idea, it is traditionally safe to take ideas from other areas of print. Much modern technological advance is based on these presumptions of legal security. Anyone closely involved in patents and inventions soon learns that most "new" ideas are, in fact, as old as the hills. It is their reduction to commercial practice, either through necessity of dedication, or through the availability of new technology, that makes news and money. The basic patent for the theory magnetic recording dates back to 1886. Many of the original ideas behind television originate from the late 19th and early 20th century. Even the Volkswagen rear engine car was anticipated by a 1904 patent of a cart with the horse at the rear. The main idea of the last paragraph is that ______ .
A. most new ideas are, in fact, as old as hills.
B. it is the reduction to commercial practice that makes news and money
C. many of the original ideas behind TV originated earlier
D. Volkswagen rear engine car originated from a cart with the horse at the rear
关于诉讼时效中断的表述,下列哪一选项是正确的
A. 甲欠乙10万元到期未还,乙要求甲先清偿8万元。乙的行为,仅导致8万元债务诉讼时效中断
B. 甲和乙对丙因共同侵权而需承担连带赔偿责任计10万元,丙要求甲承担8万元。丙的行为,导致甲和乙对丙负担的连带债务诉讼时效均中断
C. 乙欠甲8万元,雨欠乙10万元,甲对丙提起代位权诉讼。甲的行为,不会导致丙对乙的债务诉讼时效中断
D. 乙欠甲10万元,甲将该债权转让给丙。自甲与丙签订债权转让协议之日起,乙的10万元债务诉讼时效中断