Reading to oneself is a modern activity that was almost unknown to the scholars of the classical and medieval worlds, while during the fifteen century the term "reading" undoubtedly meant reading aloud. Only during the nineteenth did silent reading become commonplace. One should be wary, however, of assuming that silent reading came about simply because reading aloud is a distraction to others. Examination of factors related to the historical development of silent reading reveals that it became the usual mode of reading for most adult reading tasks mainly because the tasks themselves changed in character. The last century saw a steady gradual increase in literacy, and thus in the number of readers. As readers increased, the number of potential listeners decreased, and thus there was some reduction in the need to read aloud. Reading for the benefit of listeners grew less common, so came the flourishing of reading as a private activity in such public places as libraries, railway carriages and offices, where reading aloud would cause distraction to other readers. Towards the end of the century there was still considerable argument over whether books should be used for information or treated respectfully, and over whether the reading of material such as newspapers was in some way mentally weakening. Indeed this argument remains with us still in education. However, whatever its virtues were, the old shared literacy culture had gone and was replaced by the printed mass media on the one hand and by book and periodicals for a specialized readership on the other. By the end of the century students were being recommended to adopt attitudes to books and to use skills in reading them which were inappropriate, if not impossible, for the oral reader. The social, cultural and technological changes in the century had greatly altered what the term "reading" implied. What is the writer’s purpose in writing this passage
A. To explain how present-day reading habits developed.
B. To change people’s attitudes toward reading.
C. To show how reading methods have improved.
D. To encourage the growth of reading.
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The establishment of Earth Day began with an idea proposed in October 1969 by John McConnell, a San Francisco resident. McConnell approached the San Francisco Board of Supervisors with a resolution to devote one day a year to public awareness dedicated to nature and the weak ecosystem that makes up it. The day’s events would emphasize the urgency of all inhabitants of the planet to take responsibility for building a healthy and ecologically sustainable planet for the present and long into the future. The board was impressed with McConnell’s idea and declared Earth Day an annual celebration to be held on March 21, the date of the vernal equinox. McConnell stated "This is the moment when night and day are equal throughout the earth — reminding us of Earth’s beautiful systems of balance which humanity has partially upset and must restore." Earth Day was established as a national day of celebration in the United States in 1970 and was embraced by the United Nations in 1971 when it declared an Earth Day ceremony to be held each year on the day of the March Equinox. When the first Earth Day was celebrated in the United States on April 22, 1970, twenty million participants nationwide took part in teach-ins, street demonstrations, and workshops in 2,000 communities and 12, 000 college and high school campuses. The major public concern at that time was industrial pollution and its effect on the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the health of the planet we live in. Those celebrations led to powerful public outcries for legislation mandating ecologically sound environmental policies and rigid controls on industrial pollution. Over the years, the issues of concern have expanded greatly into all aspects of air, water, soil, and noise pollution. Whether it comes from vehicles, factories, agriculture, housing, or private property, public concern and activism continue with citizens from around the world involved in efforts to achieve a sustainable and enduring ecosystem. Earth Day activities are supported and sponsored by a large network of organizations, government agencies, businesses, universities, and institutions. They work diligently each year to make Earth day events meaningful and relevant to the inhabitants of Planet Earth. The regular observance of this holiday fixes environmental values into the national consciousness and provides an opportunity to introduce environmental issues into schools, media and public events. It should be noted that Earth Day activities have been instrumental in bringing about many of the significant environmental changes that have taken place in the last three decades. It can be concluded that______.
A. many organizations and businesses suffer vast losses as a result of Earth Day campaign
B. people have learned to use Earth Day activities as instrument to acquire what they want
C. supporters work hard to make the whole nation aware of Earth Day events by publicizing them in media
D. Earth Day activities have succeeded in changing our environment over the past years
根据《工程建设项目勘察设计招标投标办法》(2013年修改)的规定,勘察设计招标的项目,书面报告一般应包括______
A. 招标项目基本情况
B. 招标范围
C. 投标人情况
D. 评标委员会成员名单
E. 中标结果
People who question or even look down on the study of the past and its works usually assume that the past is entirely different from the present, and that hence we can learn nothing worthwhile from the past. But it is not true that the past is entirely different from the present. We can learn much of value from its similarity and its difference. A tremendous change in the conditions of human life and in our knowledge and control of the natural world has taken place since ancient times. The ancients could not, however, see in advance our contemporary technical and social environment, and hence have no advice to offer us about the particular problems facing us. But, although social and economic arrangements vary with time and place, man still remains man. We and the ancients share a common human nature and hence certain common human experiences and problems. The poets bear witness that ancient man, too, saw the sun rise and set, felt the wind on his cheek, was possessed by love and desire, experienced joy and excitement as well as frustration and disappointment, and knew good and evil. The ancient poets speak across the centuries to us, sometimes more directly and vividly than our contemporary writers. And the ancient prophets and philosophers, in dealing with the basic problems of men living together in society, still have something to say to us. We also learn from the past by considering the respects in which it differs from the present. We can discover where we are today and what we have become by knowing what the people of the past did and thought. And part of the past—our personal past and that of the race—always lives in us. Judging from the context, the reason for the writer to talk about the poets is that______.
A. they tried to talk to people who were to come after them
B. they knew good and evil better than other people
C. they were the most emotional people in their times
D. they recorded the life of ancient people in their poems
A number of books like Reading Faces and Body Language have【C1】______the individual’s tendency to broadcast things through all manner of【C2】______movement and facial gymnastics. Such matters, made widely familiar by pop sociology, anthropology and psychology, have become the stuff of common conversation. Michael Korda’s Power! How to Get It, How to Use It, is mainly a primer in how to【C3】______others by a cold-blooded control of【C4】______signals that occur commonly in the workaday world: for example, how executives signal their style of power【C5】______the clothes they choose and the way they【C6】______their office furniture. 【C7】______work or play, everybody emits wordless signals of infinite variety. Overt, like a warm smile. Spontaneous, like a【C8】______eyebrow Involuntary, like leaning away from a salesperson to【C9】______a deal. Says Julius Fast in Body Language: "We rub our noses for puzzlement. We【C10】______our arms to【C11】______ourselves or to protect ourselves. We【C12】______our shoulders for indifference." Any competent psychiatrist remains alert to the expressions by which a patient’s hidden emotions make【C13】______known. People even signal by the odors they【C14】______, as Janet Hopson【C15】______in superfluous detail in Scent Signals: The Silent Language of Sex. Actually, it is impossible for an individual to【C16】______signaling other people; the person who mutely【C17】______human intercourse sends out an unmistakable signal in the form of utter silence. Sociologist Dane Arche calls reading such signals "social intelligence." He said, "We must unshackle ourselves from the tendency to ignore silent behavior and to prefer words【C18】______everything else." The evidence all over is that【C19】______people wander the earth through thickets of verbiages, many, perhaps most, do pay more attention to wordless signals and are more likely to be influenced and【C20】______by nonverbal messages. 【C20】
A. fabricated
B. transformed
C. apprehended
D. governed