Laura Bush has never sought the spotlight. She is dedicated to a handful of causes——literacy, women's health but for the most part has left the politicking to her husband. But as the second term begins, the First Lady can't be missed. She's leveraging her high profile to draw the nation's attention to an entrenched problem: the plight of at-risk kids especially boys who fall victim to gangs. Next is her recent talk on helping America's Youth initiative:
... In almost every case girls' statistics are better than boys'. More women are graduating from college. More women are going to college. About 57 percent of this last year's graduates were women, and 58 percent of masters' degrees were women. And, you know, we already know, of course, without knowing the real numbers, that boys are more likely to be involved in gangs, they're more likely to end up in jail, they're more likely to commit crimes or to actually have a crime committed against them. And all of those statistics are alarming. I also think that we've bought in, in our country, to the stereotype about boys that boys don't cry and boys should be totally self-reliant, that somehow they don't need the same nurturing and protection that girls get. And we all know intuitively, that that's wrong, you know, that all children, boys and girls, need protection and nurturing.
I know there is something we can really do about it, and part of it is just paying attention to it, for there to be a national focus on what we can do for boys, getting the word out to parents so that they also don't just act upon the stereotype that we have of boys.
There are a lot of ways we can approach the problem. Obviously school districts can, by using the money that [President Bush] has proposed in his budget for middle schools and high schools to incorporate reading so that we can bring students' reading level up. The students who drop out usually axe the ones who can't read or who are reading so far below their grade level that they are both frustrated and embarrassed to stay in school. So that Works on one part of the problem, the dropout problem.
I think that we will have a summit on it probably in the fall.., and all sorts of policy people who are interested in this sort of policy will be invited to-school superintendents from around the country, you know, everyone who has a stake in the success of children in our country, those groups will be invited to it. And I suspect that staff members of congressmen and senators will come and hear about it, and then maybe, you know, we would go on from there.
According to the passage, girls _______.
A. perform. much worse than boys at schools.
B. are more academically ambitious than boys.
C. get more care from the society.
D. are not stereotyped, but boys are.
某酒店一楼有一空调机房,建筑面积250m2。空调主机1990年购入,当时的购入价为 500万元,同型号空调主机现行市价为458万元。现该空调主机已累计折旧225万元,市场价值为250万元,拆除费用5万元。如改换新式空调主机(其他配套设备不需改动),则购置、安装新式空调主机和机房改造费用为700万元,新式空调主机的占地面积50m2,节约的200m2面积可以提供160m2的营业面积供出租。酒店经理委托估价师提供改换空调主机和置换空调机房用于出租的经济分析。估价师经调查得知,将部分空调机房置换用于出租不违反规划要求,附近酒店一楼出租的年客观净收益为每平方米营业面积4000元,出租面积的装修改造费用由承租方自负。问:
若不考虑新旧空调主机的年运营费用、折旧年限等的区别,改换空调主机的净支出为 ()万元。
A. 530
B. 472
C. 455
D. 450
听力原文:M: I bought a few books at the new bookstore. Would you like to have a look at them?
W: A few? It looks like you bought out the bookstore.
M: You really think so? I'll have to read them through in a week. They are important for my term paper.
What does the woman mean?
A. She didn't like the books the man bought.
B. There wasn't a large selection at the bookstore.
C. The man bought a lot of books.
D. She wanted to see what the man bought.
The greater presence of animals in health-care settings comes amid increasing evidence that pets are good for us and can play a significant role in patients' recovery. Sometimes known as "pet therapy," animal-assisted therapy and activities have become an important tool for doctors and rehabilitation specialists. "Animals motivate people to participate in their therapies, brighten patients' days, give them a chance to talk about the animals in their lives, and give them the opportunity to forget that they're in a hospital," says Dianne Bell, coordinator of the Delta Society Pet Partners program, which helps train and register animals and their owners for volunteer positions in health- care settings.
Currently there are more than 8,000 Delta Society Pet Partner teams in the United States and a handful of other countries, says Bell. Each makes an average of three visits per month and is likely to touch the lives of more than 540 people per year. And these figures don't include the hundreds of other volunteer teams registered through different programs.
According to the passage, pets are used in health-care settings mainly because _________.
A. doctors like pets and want to keep them where they work.
B. evidence shows that pets help patients recover.
C. patients can help train and register these pets.
D. some experiments need these pets.