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听力原文: Italy, a major producer of land mines, has joined the campaign to ban the weapons which kill and maim many thousands of people every year. The Chamber of Deputies, the Lower House of Parliament, voted 402 to 2 with 4 abstentions to ratify a 1980 convention that will commit Italy to drastically limit the use of land mines and help to clear mined areas. Parliament also pledged Italy's support for efforts led by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the International Red Cross and the Swedish government to promote a total international ban on the production and export of the mines. The Italian Parliament acted at the request of Defence Minister.
According to the news, the Italian Parliament was asked to act by

A. the U.N.
B. the Red Cross.
C. the Defence Minister.
D. the Swedish Government.

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听力原文: US lawmakers have criticized the recent US-North Korean deal calling for freezing Pyongyang's nuclear programme in return for US diplomatic and economic concessions. They expressed concern that the North may take the concessions and break the accord. Other lawmakers noted that inspection of Pyongyang's nuclear site is not required for at least five years. The US chief negotiator defended the accord, saying he had made no compromises that would damage US national security.
Which of the following statements is CORRECT? US lawmakers

A. challenged the accord for freezing Pyongyang's nuclear programme.
B. required the inspection of Pyongyang's nuclear site for at least five years.
C. were worried that North Korea may take advantage of the concessions.
D. blamed the US negotiator for making no compromises with-North Korea.

According to the news, American troops in Panama

A. were attacked at refugee camps.
B. were angry at delays in departure.
C. attacked Cuban refugee camps last week.
D. will be increased to 2,000.

One argument used to support the idea that employment will continue to be the dominant form. of work, and that employment will eventually become available for all who want it, is that working time will continue to fall. People in jobs will work fewer hours in the day, fewer days in the week, fewer weeks in the year, and fewer years in a lifetime, than they do now. This will mean that more jobs will be available for more people. This, it is said, is the way we should set about restoring full employment.
There is no doubt that something of this kind will happen. The shorter working week, longer holidays, earlier retirement, job-sharing -- these and other ways of reducing the amount of time people spend on their jobs -- are certainly likely to spread. A mix of part-time paid work and part-time unpaid work is likely to become a much more common work pattern than today, and a flexi-life pattern of work -- involving paid employment at certain stages of life, but not at others -- will become widespread. But it is surely unrealistic to assume that this will make it possible to restore full employment as the dominant form. of work.
In the first place, so long as employment remains the overwhelmingly important form. of work and source of income for most people that it is today, it is very difficult to see how reductions in employees' working time can take place on a scale sufficiently large and at a pace sufficiently fast to make it possible to share out the available paid employment to everyone who wants it. Such negotiations as there have recently been, for example in Britain and Germany, about the possibility of introducing a 35-hour working week, have highlighted some of the difficulties. But, secondly, if changes of this kind were to take place at a pace and on a scale sufficient to make it possible to share employment among all who wanted it, the resulting situation --in which most people would not be working in their jobs for more than two or three short days a week -- could hardly continue to be one in which employment was still regarded as the only truly valid form. of work. There would be so many people spending so much of their time on other activities, including other forms of useful work, that the primacy of employment would be bound to be called into question, at least to some extent.
The author uses the negotiations in Britain and Germany as an example to

A. support reductions in employees' working time.
B. indicate employees are unwilling to share jobs.
C. prove the possibility of sharing paid employment.
D. show that employment will lose its dominance.

During the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, advertising was a relatively straightforward means of announcement and communication and was used mainly to promote novelties and fringe products. But when factory production got into full swing and new products, e.g. processed foods, came onto the market, national advertising campaigns and brand-naming of products became necessary. Before large-scale factory production, the typical manufacturing unit had been small and adaptable and the task of distributing and selling goods had largely been undertaken by wholesalers. The small non specialised factory which did not rely on massive investment in machinery had been flexible enough to adapt its production according to changes in public demands.
But the economic depression which lasted from 1873 to 1894 marked a turning point between the old method of industrial organisation and distribution and the new. From the beginning of the nineteenth century until the 1870s, production had steadily expanded and there had been a corresponding growth in retail outlets. But the depression brought on a crisis of over-production and under-consumption -- manufacture goods piled up unsold and prices and profits fell. Towards the end of the century many of the small industrial firms realised that they would be in a better position to weather economic depressions and slumps if they combined with other small businesses and widened the range of goods they produced so that all their eggs were not in one basket. They also realised that they would have to take steps to ensure that once their goods had been produced there was a market for them. This period ushered in the first phase of what economists now call "monopoly capitalism", which, roughly speaking, refers to the control of the market by a small number of giant, conglomerate enterprises. Whereas previously competitive trading had been conducted by small rival firms, after the depression the larger manufacturing units, and combines relied more and more on mass advertising to promote their new range of products.
A good example of the changes that occurred in manufacture and distribution at the turn of the century can be found in the soap trade. From about the 1850s the market had been flooded with anonymous bars of soap, produced by hundreds of small manufacturers and distributed by wholesalers and door-to-door sellers. Competition grew steadily throughout the latter half of the century and eventually the leading companies embarked on more aggressive selling methods in order to take customers away from their rivals. For instance, the future Lord Leverhulme decided to "brand" his soap by selling it in distinctive packages in order to facilitate recognition and encourage customer loyalty.
Lord Leverhulme was one of the first industrialists to realise that advertisements should contain "logical and considered" arguments as well as eye-catching and witty slogans. Many advertisers followed his lead and started to include "reason-why" copy in their ads. For example, one contemporary Pears soap ad went into great detail about how the product could enhance marital bliss by cutting down the time the wife had to spend with her arms in a bowl of frothy suds. And an ad for Cadbury's cocoa not only proclaimed its purity but also detailed other benefits.. "for the infant it is a delight and a support; for the young girl, a source of healthy vigour; for the young miss in her teens a valuable aid to development ..." and so on. As the writer E.S. Turner rightly points out, the advertising of this period had reached the "stage of persuasion as distinct from proclamation or iteration". Indeed advertise or bust seemed to be the rule of the day as bigger and more expensive campaigns were mounted and smaller firms who did not, or could not, advertise, were squeezed or bought out by the larger companies.
An example of a product which might well have been advertised dur

A. a cooking utensil.
B. a new child's toy.
C. tinned fruit.
D. household soap.

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