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The Psychology of Warranties Protection RacketIf extended guarantees are overpriced, why are they so popular?CUSTOMERS tend to agonise over the relative merits of different models of electronic goods such as digital cameras or plasma televisions. But when they get to the till, many spend freely on something they barely think about at all: an extended warranty, which is often more profitable to the retailer than the device it covers.Shoppers typically pay 10% -50% of the cost of a product to insure it beyond the term covered by the manufacturer’s guarantee. ( 1) Yet products rarely break within the period covered, and repairs tend to cost no more than the warranty itself. ( 2)So why, asks a paper published in the December issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, so many consumers still buy extended warranties? The authors — Tao Chen of the University of Maryland, Ajay Kalra of Rice University and Baohong Sun of Carnegie Mellon University — examined purchase data from a big electronics retailer for over 600 households from November 2003 to October 2004.(3  )If a customer is about to buy something fun (i. e., a plasma television rather than a vacuum cleaner), he will be more inclined to splash out on extra insurance. This is because consumers value “hedonic” items over utilitarian ones, regardless of the actual price tag. (4  ) The study also found that poorer consumers are more likely to buy “potentially unnecessary and overpriced insurance”, because they are more worried about the expense of replacing a product if it breaks.( 5) But although most policies go unused, he admits that the emotional tranquility that comes with buying a new warranty is not in itself without value, even if “rationally, it doesn’t make sense”.

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Many of you young persons out there are seriously thinking about going to college. (That is, of course, a lie. The only things you young persons think seriously about are loud music and sex. Trust me: these are closely related to college). College is basically a bunch of rooms where you sit for roughly two thousand hours and try to memorize things. The two thousand hours are spread out over four years; you spend the rest of the time sleeping and trying to get dates.Basically, you learn two kinds of things in college:Things you need to know later in life (two hours). These include how to make collect telephone calls and get beer and crepe-paper stains out of your pajamas.Things you will not need to know in later life (1, 998 hours). These are the things you learn in classes whose names end in -ology, -osophy, -istry, -ics, and so on. The idea is you memorize these things, then write them down in little exam books, then forget them. If you fail to forget them, you become a professor and have to stay in college for the rest of your life.It’s very difficult to forget everything. For example, when I was in college, I had to memorize — don’t ask me why — the names of the metaphysical poets other than John Donne. I have managed to forget one of them, but I still remember that the other two were named Vaughan and Crashaw.Sometimes, when I’m trying to remember something important, like whether my wife told me to get tuna packed in oil or tuna packed in water, Vaughan and Crashaw just pop up in my mind, right there in the supermarket. It’s a terrible waste of brain cells.After you’ve been in college for a year or so, you’re supposed to choose a major, which is the subject you intend to memorize and forget the most things about. Here is a very important piece of advice: be sure to choose a major that does not involve Known Facts and Right Answers.This means that you must not major in mathematics, physics, biology or chemistry, because these subjects involve actual facts. If, for example, you major in mathematics, you’re going to wander into class one day and the professor will say: “Define the cosine integer of the quadrant of the rhomboid binary axis, and extrapolate your result to five significant vertices. ’’ If you don’t come up with exactly the answer the professor has in mind, you fail. The same is true of chemistry: if you write in your exam book that carbon and hydrogen combine to form oak, your professor will flunk you. He wants you to come up with the same answer he and all the other chemists have agreed on. Scientists are extremely snotty about this.1.According to the author, what are closely related to college?2.According to the author, what should the college students learn in college?3.When should the college students choose a major?4.The word “flunk” in the last paragraph means_____.5.What is the best title for the passage?

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Those who welcomed the railway saw it as more than a rapid and comfortable means of passing. They actually saw it as a factor in world peace. They did not foresee that the railway would be just one more means for the rapid movement of aggressive armies. None of them foresaw that the more we are together — the more chances there are of war. Any boy or girl who is one of a large family knows that.Whenever any new invention is put forward, those for it and those against it can always find medical men to approve or condemn. The anti-railway group produced doctors who said that tunnels would be most dangerous to public health: they would produce colds,catarrhs (黏膜炎)and consumptions. The deafening noise and the glare of the engine fire would have a bad effect on the nerves. Further, being moved through the air at a high speed would do grave injury to delicate lungs. In those with high blood-pressure, the movement of the train might produce apoplexy (中风). Thesudden plunging of a train into the darkness of a tunnel, and the equally sudden rush into full daylight, would cause great damage to eyesight. But the pro-railway group was of course able to produce equally famous medical men to say just the opposite. They said that the speed and swing of the train would equalize the circulation, promote digestion, tranquilize the nerves, and ensure good sleep.The actual rolling-stock was anything but comfortable. If it was a test of endurance to sit for four hours outside a coach in rain, or inside in dirty air, the railway offered little more in the way of comfort. Certainly the first-class carriages had cushioned seats; but the second-class had only narrow bare boards, while the third-class had nothing at all; no seats and no roof; they were just open trucks. So that third-class passengers gained nothing from the few modes except speed. In the matter of comfort, indeed they lost; they did, on the coaches, have a seat, but now they had to stand all the way, which gave opportunities to the comic (滑稽的)press. This kind of thing: A man was seen yesterday buying a third-class ticket for the new London and Birmingham Railway. The state of his mind is being enquired into. A writer in the early days of railways wrote feelingly of both second- and third-class carriages. He made the suggestion that the directors of the railways must have sent all over the world to find the hardest possible wood. Of the open third-class trucks he said that they had the peculiar property of meeting the rain from whatever quarter it came. He described them as horizontal shower-baths, from whose searching power there was no escape.1.All boys and girls in large families know that______.2.According to those who welcomed the railway, the railway itself should include all the following except______.3.According to the anti-railway group, all the followings are true but_____.4.We may safely conclude that_____.5.What is the tone of this passage?

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Endangered species are plants and animals that are in immediate danger of extinction. Extinction is actually a normal process in the course of evolution. Since the formation of the earth, many more species have become extinct than those exist today. These species slowly disappeared because of changes of climate and their failure to adapt to such conditions as competition and predation (捕食).Since the 1600s, however, the process of extinction has greatly accelerated as a result of both human population growth and technological encroachment (侵犯)on natural ecology systems. Today the majority of the world’s environments are changing faster than the ability of most species to adapt to such changes through natural selection.Species become extinct or endangered for a number of reasons, but the primary cause is the destruction of natural habitats (栖息地).Drainage of wetlands (沼泽地),cutting and clearing of forests, growth of cities, and highway and dam construction have seriously reduced available natural habitats. As the various surroundings become fragments, the remaining animal populations crowd into smaller areas, causing further destruction of natural surroundings. Species in these small islands lose contact with other populations of their own kind, thus reducing their genetic variation and making them less adaptable to environment changes.Since the 1600s, commercial exploitation of animals for food and other products has caused many species to become extinct or endangered. Introduced diseases and parasites have also greatly reduced some species. Pollution is another important cause of their extinction.Some private and governmental efforts have been organized to save declining species. Laws were made in some countries in the early 1900s to protect wild animals from commercial trade and killing. International endeavors are shown in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, approved by 51 nations. Its purpose is to restrict exploitation of wild animals and plants by regulating and restricting trade in certain species. How effective such laws will be in various countries, however, depends on enforcement (实施)and support by the people and the courts. Because of a lack of law enforcement, the willingness of some segments of society to trade in endangered species, the activities of people who catch and kill animals illegally and dealers who supply the trade, the future of many species is in doubt in spite of legal protection.1.According to the passage, which of the following is the most important factor causing the rapid extinction of man species since the 17th century?2.In the last sentence of the second paragraph, the word “islands” refers to_______.3.This passage mentions all of the following reasons that cause the extinction of man species except______.4.According to the passage, which of the following is most important in saving declining species?5.How does the author feel about the prospect of protecting endangered species from being extinct?

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The Carnegie Foundation report says that many colleges have tried to be “all things to all people”. In doing so, they have increasingly catered to a narrow minded careerism while failing to cultivate a global vision among their students. The current crisis, it contends, does not derive from a legitimate desire to put learning to productive ends. The problem is that in too many academic fields, the work has no context; skills, rather than being means, have become ends. Students are offered a variety of options and allowed to pick their way to a degree. In short, driven by careerism, “the nation’s colleges and universities are more successful in providing credentials (文凭)than in providing a quality education for their students. “The report concludes that the special challenge confronting the undergraduate college is one of shaping an integrated core of common learning. Such a core would introduce students to essential knowledge, to connections across the disciplines, and in the end, to application of knowledge to life beyond the campus. ’’ Although the key to a good college is a high-quality faculty, the Carnegie study found that most colleges do very little to encourage good teaching. In fact, they do much to undermine it. As one professor observed: “Teaching is important, we are told, and yet faculty know that research and publication matter most.” Not surprisingly, over the last twenty years colleges and universities have failed to graduate half of their four-year degree candidates. Faculty members who dedicated themselves to teaching soon discover that they will not be granted tenure (终身任期),promotion, or substantial salary increases. Yet 70 percent of all faculties say their interests lie more in teaching than in research. Additionally, a frequent complaint among young scholars is that “There is pressure to publish, although there is virtually no interest among administrators or colleagues in the content of the publications.” 1.When a college tries to be “all things to all people”(Line 1,Para. 1) it aims to _______.2.By saying that “in too many academic fields, the work has no context” (Lines 4-5, Pare. 1)the author means that the teaching in these areas_______.3.One of the reasons for the current crisis in American colleges and universities is that______.4.American colleges and universities failed to graduate half of their four-year degree candidates because ____.5.It can be inferred from the passage that high-quality college education calls for______.

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The study of genetics has given rise to a profitable new industry called biotechnology. As the name (1), it combines biology and modem technology through such (2 ) as genetic engineering. Some of the new biotech companies, as they are called, (3 ) in agriculture and are working enthusiastically to patent (取得专利)seeds that give a high yield (产量),that (4 ) disease, drought and frost, and that reduce the need for dangerous chemicals. (5 )such goals could be achieved, it would be most beneficial. But some have raised (6 ) about genetically engineered crops. “In nature, genetic diversity (多样性)is created within certain limits,” says the book Genetic Engineering, Food and Our Environment. “A rose can be crossed (杂交)with a different kind of rose, but a rose will (7 )cross with a potato... ’’ Genetic engineering, on the other hand, usually involves taking genes from one species and inserting them into another in an attempt to (8 ) a desired property or character. This could mean, (9 ), selecting a gene which leads to the production of a chemical with antifreeze properties from an arctic fish, and joining it into a potato or strawberry to make it frost-resistant. It is now possible for plants to be engineered with genes(10 ) from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even humans. (11 ), then, biotechnology allows humans to break the genetic walls that(12 ) species. Like the green revolution, (13 ) some call the gene revolution(14 ) to the problem of genetic uniformity (千篇一律)- some say even more so (15 ) geneticists can employ techniques such (16 )cloning and organ culture, processes that produce perfectly(17) copies, or clones. Concerns about the biodiversity, therefore, remain. Genetically altered plants, however, raise new(18 ), such as the effects that they may have on us and the environment. “We are flying blindly into a new (19 ) of agricultural biotechnology with high hopes, few constraints, and little idea of the potential(20),” said science writer Jeremy Rifkin.

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