After too long on the Net, even a phone call can be a shock. My boyfriend’s Liverpudlian accent suddenly becomes difficult to understand after the (S1) of his words on screen; a secretary’s tone seems more rejecting than I’d (S2) it would be. Time itself becomes fluid-hours become minutes, and alternately seconds stretch into days. Weekends, once a (S3) of my week, are now just two ordinary days. For the last three years, since I stopped working as a (S4) for Charlie Rose, I have done much of my work as a telecommuter. I submit articles and edit them via E-mail and (S5) with colleagues on Internet mailing lists. My boyfriend lives in England; so much of our relationship is (S6) . If I desired, I could stay inside for weeks without wanting anything. I can order food, and (S7) my money, love and work. In fact, at times I have spent as long as three weeks alone at home,going out only to get mail and buy newspapers and groceries. I watched most of the blizzard of ’96 on TV.(S8) . I start to feel as though I’ve merged with my machines, taking data in, spitting them back out, just another mode on the Net. Other on line reports the same symptoms. We start to strongly dislike the outside forms of socializing. It’s like attending an A. A. meeting in a bar with everyone holding a half- sipped drink. We have become the Net opponents’ worst nightmare. What first seemed like a luxury, crawling from bed to computer, not worrying about hair, and clothes and face, has become an avoidance, a lack of discipline. (S9) ,coming back out of the cave can be quite difficult. (S10) . The voices of the programs soothe me,but then I’m jarred by’the commercials. I find myself sucked in by soap operas, or compulsively needing to keep up with the latest news and the weather. "Dateline", "Frontline", "Nightline", CNN, New York 1,every possible angle of every story over and over and over, even when they are of no possible use to us . Work moves from foreground to background. S1
In 1999, the price of oil hovered around $16 a barrel. By 2008, it had (1) the $100 a barrel mark. The reasons for the surge (2) from the dramatic growth of the economies of China and India to widespread (3) in oil-producing regions, including Iraq and Nigeria’s delta region. Triple-digit oil prices have (4) the economic and political map of the world, (5) some old notions of power. Oil-rich nations are enjoying historic gains and opportunities, (6) major importers — including China and India, home to a third of the world’s population — (7) rising economic and social costs.Managing this new order is fast becoming a central (8) of global politics. Countries that need oil are clawing at each other to (9) scarce supplies, and are willing to deal with any government, (10) how unpleasant, to do it.In many poor nations with oil, the profits are being, lost to corruption, (11) these countries of their best hope for development. And oil is fueling enormous investment funds run by foreign governments, (12) some in the west see as a new threat.Countries like Russia, Venezuela and Iran are well supplied with rising oil (13) , a change reflected in newly aggressive foreign policies. But some unexpected countries are reaping benefits, (14) costs, from higher prices. Consider Germany. (15) it imports virtually all its oil, it has prospered from extensive trade with a booming Russia and the Middle East. German exports to Russia (16) 128 percent from 2001 to 2006.In the United States, as already high gas prices rose (17) higher in the spring of 2008, the issue cropped up in the presidential campaign, with Senators McCain and Obama (18) for a federal gas tax holiday during the peak summer driving months. And driving habits began to (19) , as sales of small cars jumped and mass transport systems (20) the country reported a sharp increase in riders. Read the following text. Choose the best word (s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D on ANSWER SHEET 1.15()
Although
Because
C. Since
D. As
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With 22 years on the job, Jackie Bracey could be considered a career employee of the Internal Revenue Service. But she defies any stereotype of an over-eager agent running down a reluctant taxpayer. Instead, she spends her time defending people who owe the government money. Ms. Bracey, based in Greensboro N. C., is a taxpayer advocate, a created by Congress in 1998 as part of the kinder, gentler theme adopted by the tax collection agency. Bracey and advocates at 73 Other offices nationwide, backed by 2,100 field workers and staff, go to bat for taxpayers who are in financial straits because of something the agency has done or is about to do.Though it may seem contrary to the IRS, the advocate service not only helps taxpayers, but identifies procedural problems. The main goal, though, is for the ombudsman to step into a dispute a taxpayer is having with the IRS when it appears that something the IRS is doing, or planning, would create an undue hardship on the taxpayer. This can range from speeding up resolution of a dispute that has dragged on too long, to demanding that the IRS halt a collection action that the taxpayer can show he or she “is suffering or is about to suffer a significant hardship.”Taxpayer ombudsmen have been around in one form or another since 1979, says Nina Olson, the national taxpayer advocate. But they were given much more power in 1998 when Congress decided that the workers would no longer report to regional directors but to her office. While this gave them a great deal more authority, outside watchdogs say more can be done. “There is a long way to go to get an agency that feels independent and emboldened to work for taxpayers”, says Joe Seep, a vice president of the Washington-based tax-advocacy group.The taxpayers union also has complained that Congress and the Bush administration don’t seem to be taking the advocates seriously enough. Each year, the IRS group reports to Congress on the top problems that advocates see. Many of these are systemic problems that can gum up the works for both taxpayer and collector, such as a December notice from Ms. Olson that the IRS should have just one definition of a dependent child, rather than the three definitions currently used. While taxpayer advocates can help smooth things out in many cases, they cannot ignore laws.If taxpayers haven’t made legitimate claims for credits, there’s nothing the advocate can do to reverse that course. And Olson says that while taxpayers are free to use her service, they should keep in mind that it does not replace the normal appeals process and should be the last place a citizen calls upon for help, not the first. “We’re really there for .when the processes fall down,” she says. Every state has at least one taxpayer-advocate service office. When Olson say “We’re really there for when the processes fall down” (Line 4, Para. 5), she means that()
A. they will provide help whenever taxpayers make claims.
B. they will get involved in the normal appeals process.
C. they will offer counseling when citizen calls.
D. they will give help when procedural problems occur.