听力原文: New research into global warming published in the journal Science says the northern hemisphere is uniformly warmer now than at any time in the past 1,200 years, It says the present warm period in northern regions is the longest and most widespread temperature anomaly since the 9th century. Researchers have said in the past that the 20th century warming was unprecedented over the past thousand years, at least in the northern hemisphere. But critics disputed the claim, citing periods of extreme warm in certain regions during the Middle Ages. The new study sets out to tackle that criticism head on. Looking at the regional patterns of temperature for the past millennium, it finds while there have been patchy periods of warmth in the past, only in the late g0th century are regions across the hemisphere heating up simultaneously. The analysis is also statistically simpler than previous studies, avoiding the charge that mathematical quirks have generated a false picture of the climate.
In order to avoid certain charge, the analysis involves
A. cautious predictions.
B. impartial judgment.
C. careful calculation.
D. simple statistics.
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It is 1806, and Gilbert Norrell is the only true magician in England. He sets out to restore the practice of magic to a nation that has not seen it for more than 300 years. But there is an odd and fateful twist to Norrell's character: he is as scholarly and insufferably pedantic as he is gifted. In short, Norrell is the most boring and unmagical person imaginable. This is Clarke's masterstroke, the necessary touch of ordinary candleshine in the midst of all the uncanny fairy light she dispenses.
Enter Jonathan Strange, the intuitive magician—the natural—who can improvise in a flash what Norrell has gleaned from long study. Strange becomes Norrell's pupil, but soon the tension between their styles mounts to a breaking point. The two men realize that they have a fundamental disagreement about how to approach the mysterious and terrifying sources of English magic, in the face of which even Albus Dumbledore might find himself unnerved.
Just as Norrell and Strange apprentice themselves to a Golden Age of medieval magicians, Clarke tethers her craft to the great 19th-century English masters of the novel, Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. The book offers not only an Austen-like inquiry into the fine human line between ridiculous flaw and serious consequence, but also a Dickensian flow of language in which a comical surplus of detail rings at last with certain and inevitable significance.
This elixir of literary influences gives the story its delightful texture. But there is so much more to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell—an energy buckling and straining at the edges of the book in sheer imaginative overflow, just as the realm of Faerie buckles and strains beyond the edges of England's green fields, beckoning us down the overgrown path and through the dark wood.
Thus it happens that a novel of 800 pages seems far too short. This is the strangest'and, as we gratefully come to understand, the "norrellest"—magic a book lover could wish for.
Susanna Clarke's readers hope that she would ______.
A. recover from the effects of her success
B. continue to produce wonderful work
C. limit her craft to Jane Austen
D. understand Strange's magic
Nice people do racism too. Liberal commitment to a multi-ethnic Britain is wilting. Some very nice folk have apparently decided that the nation's real problem is too many immigrants of too many kinds. Faced with a daily onslaught against migrants it may be understandable to give in to populist bigotry; but it is not forgivable.
Take this, for example: "National citizenship is inherently exclusionary." So no foreigners need ever apply for naturalisation, then. And" ... public anxiety about migration ... is usually based on a rational understanding of the value of British citizenship and its incompatibility with over-porous borders". Straight from the lexicon of the far right. And best of all: "You can have a welfare state provided that you are a homogenous society with intensely shared values.”
These are extracts from an article in the Observer, penned by the liberal intellectual Goodhart, who is just one of several liberal thinkers now vigorously making what they consider a progressive argument against immigration. It goes like this: the more diverse a society, the less likely its citizens are to share common values; the fewer common values, the weaker the support for vital institutions of social solidarity, such as the welfare state and the National Health Service.
There are perfectly good reasons to worry about how we respond to immigration, not least the downward pressure on workers' wages; the growth of racial inequality; and the exploitation of illegals. But the answer to these problems is not genteel xenophobia, but trade union rights, backed by equality and employment law.
The xenophobes should come clean. Their argument is not about immigration at all. They are liberal Powellites; what really bothers them is race and culture. If today's immigrants were white people from the old Commonwealth, Goodhart and his friends would say that they pose no threat because they share Anglo-Saxon values.
Unfortunately for liberal Powellites, the real history of the NHS shatters their fundamental case against diversity. The NHS is a world-beating example of the way that ethnic diversity can create social solidarity. Launched by a Welshman, built by Irish labourers, founded on the skills of Caribbean nurses and Indian doctors, it is now being rescued by an emergency injection of Filipino nurses, refugee ancillaries and antipodean medics. And it remains 100% British.
Virtually all of our public services have depended heavily on immigrants. Powell was forced to admit as much when, as minister for health he advertised for staff in the Caribbean. His new admirers will discover that a rapidly depopulating Europe will have no choice but to embrace diversity.
For the moment, however, the liberal Powellites are gaining support in high places. Their ideas are inspired by the work of the American sociologist Putnam, a Downing Street favourite. He purports to show that dynamic, diverse communities are more fragmented than stable, monoethnic ones. But the policy wonks have forgotten that Putnam's research was conducted in a society so marked by segregation that even black millionaires still live in gated ghettoes.
The prime minister still seems uneasy on the issue. Last week, he wavered uncertainly between backing his pro-immigration home secretary, and a defensive response to Howard's goading that the government was in a mess on the topic.
Oddly enough, this is a place in the arena of world politics where the PM does not stand shoulder to shoulder with Bush. The Spanish-speaking former governor of Texas recently announced that he would "regularise" the status of millions of illegal Mexican immigrants who had slipped across the border to work. It's the kind of massive amnesty that would send the Daily Express into conniptions.
Even more peculiar, the prime minister appears to be ignoring not only Blunkett but also his new best friend, the Labour mayor of Londo
A. genteel xenophobia
B. liberal commitment
C. Britain's multi-ethnicity
D. populist bigotry
听力原文: Israel has accused Russia of betrayal after President Vladimir Putin said he'd invite Hamas leaders to Moscow following the militant group's victory in Palestinian elections. One Israeli minister Meir Sheetrit said Mr. Putin has stabbed Israel in the back. Criticism echoed by the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman. "I do wonder what President Putin would feel like if any government in the world would invite Chechen leaders to discuss with them, their behavior. or their activities, and this I believe on the part of Russia and on the part of President Putin is a very unfortunate development which runs the risk of legitimizing terror. "The French Foreign Ministry has indicated its support for Russia's position saying the initiative could help achieve the objective of a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians.
France's stand of the conflict between Israel and Palestine is
A. to mediate between the two parties.
B. to distinguish them as two countries.
C. to invite Hamas leaders to Paris.
D. to legitimize terror in Palestine.
注册会计师的审计意见应合理保证已审会计报表的可靠程度,以便报表使用者据此作出正确决策。()
A. 正确
B. 错误