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One of the advantages of flexible working hours is that

A. pressure from work can be reduced
B. working women can have more time al, home
C. traffic and commuting problems can be solved
D. personal relationships in offices can be improved

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Theories are like apples; there are good ones and there are bad ones. A good apple is flavorful and nutritious. A good theory is one that we have good reason to believe is true, or at least likely to be true. Apples have all sorts of features that are indicative of goodness and that can be used at the store for making smart choices. An apple's color, shininess, shape, and firmness are related to its flavor and food value. Similarly, theories have features that are indicative of their truth, and the task of justification is to identify these features and use them to guide choices as to which theories to believe. In this way, responsible theory choice and responsible science are not unlike responsible shopping. The big difference is that you get to go home and eat the apple and find out if you were right and it really does taste good. With theories, however, there is no feature that is the taste of truth, at least not that we get to sample. There are only features that indicate truth. You never get to go home and see unambiguously that atomic theory, for example, is true. But you do the best you can.
Theories have lots of different properties and can differ one from another in a variety of different ways. A few have been mentioned already, namely the degree of generality and hypothetical status of a theoretical claim. An account of the properties of a theory is an answer to the inquiry, "So tell me what this theory is like." There are plenty of things to say, that is, plenty of features to mention. There is the feature of how it was discovered, by whom, at what time of day. Some theories have the feature of being proposed by Einstein; some lack his feature. Some have the feature of being liked by Einstein; some don't. There are also features of the content of a theory or of its form. Being logically consistent is a feature of form. Making reference to action at a distance, or to evil spirits, or to gluons are distinct features of content. There are even pragmatic features. Some theories are likely to be money-makers; others are not.
Clearly, some of these features of theories are irrelevant to an analysis of scientific knowledge and irrelevant to doing science. We want to focus on the important features, those that meet the following two criteria. First, they must be relevant to the likelihood of the theory being true. That is, they must be reliable indicators of truth so that our seeing whether the feature is present or not will be part of our warrant for believing the theory. Some theories have the property that you learned them on a Tuesday, but that is unimportant because it is neutral to their being true or false. Some theories have the property of describing goblin maintenance men to keep the world in good working order. That's an important feature because it helps us decide whether the theory is true or false.
The second criterion of importance is that the property is something we can in fact evaluate. The information must be accessible to us if it is to be of any use. To get back to apples for a moment, even if it's true that apples with darker seeds taste better, this isn't any help there in the store where information about the seeds isn't available. Similarly, a theory about the demise of dinosaurs is true if it is an accurate picture of the past events, but the feature of being an accurate picture is not something we can evaluate. We can't see what this theory is a picture of, and so we can't assess its accuracy. Much as we would like to use accuracy-of-picture or correspondence-to-facts as features that indicate truth, information about these features is unavailable. Features that are important to the justification of theories must be both truth-conducive and accessible.
Which of the following can serve as one of the reasons to support the idea that theories are like apples?

A. Both of them are either good or bad.
Both of them have all sorts of features.
C. Both of them have features that indicate their truth or goodness.
D. Responsible theory choice is dissimilar to responsible shopping.

Individuals cannot ignore the impact of automation and information-processing systems on their skills and jobs. Information technology makes obsolete, in part or in entirety, many human functions: first mechanical and repetitive tasks were affected; now clerical and paraprofessional tasks are being automated; and eventually highly skilled and some professional functions will be made unnecessary. Individuals performing these functions face the probability of shorter periods of employment and the need to adapt or change their skills. As technologies, including information technology, grow more sophisticated, their learning curves stretch or the required skills become narrower; continuing training and education are likely to become a way of life for both employee and employer. Unlike the slow, gradual evolution of human labour in past generations, present day changes are occurring rapidly and with little warning. Unless society members anticipate these effects and prepare to cope with them mentally and in practice, job dislocations and forced geographic relocations may prove traumatic for employees and their families.
The perhaps more fundamental issue of paramount long-term significance for society has to do with the well-being of the human spirit in an increasingly knowledge-intensive environment. In such an environment, knowledge is the principal and perhaps most valuable currency. The growing volume and the rate of obsolescence of knowledge compel the individual to live in the continuous presence of, and frequent interaction with, information resources and systems. Effective use of these resources and systems may be a modern definition of literacy, while the absence of such a skill may very well result in intellectual and possibly economic poverty and inequity. There is a real danger that humans, unwilling or incapable or not given access to information, may be relegated to an existence that falls short of the human potential.
The underlined word "perturb" in the first paragraph most probably means ______.

A. modify
B. neglect
C. permeate
D. upset

SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST
Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. At the end of each news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the questions.
听力原文: Crude oil futures in New York closed at an all-time high Tuesday, the first full day of trading following a deadly hostage crisis in the Saudi Arabian oil city of Khobar. Crude closed at more than 42 dollars a barrel. Analysts believe the 6% surge was in reaction to concerns about the security situation in Saudi Arabia, one of the world's top oil producers. Secretary of State Colin Powell says he believes Saudi Arabia will continue to provide an uninterrupted flow of oil to world markets. Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi said Tuesday the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, will do its best to meet global oil demand.
The price of crude oil futures in New York ______.

A. dropped by 6%
B. dropped by 42 dollars
C. rose by 6%
D. rose by 42 dollars

SECTION B INTERVIEW
Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. Questions 1 to 5 are based on an interview. At the end of the interview you will be given 10 seconds to answer each of the following five questions.
Now listen to the interview.
听力原文:Woman: First of all, when do people start work in American offices?
Man: Right, well, the official work day starts at 9:00 am. This should really mean 9 o'clock — not ten past or half' past nine.
Woman: Would you say that people work very hard iT1 offices in America?
Man: Well, I don't know about employees in your country. But some nations have a philosophy that you work when the "boss" is around, and any time he's not there, one can relax by reading the newspaper or whatever one likes doing in a personal way. Woman: And things are different in the States, you're saying?
Man: Well, in America one is being paid for one's time. So employees are expected to find other work if their own desks are clear, or to help someone else with his or her work. But you never sit idle, doing nothing.
Woman: Yes, as the saying goes:" time is money."
Man: Exactly. Yom' employer "owns" your time while he is paying you for it. That is precisely what "time is money" means. And anyway- the boss doesn’t ask more of you than he is doing him sell: he . . . will probably work through the lunch hour himself and even take work home at night.
Woman: Talking about lunch hours. What about them? Do you have to take them seriously?
Man: Oh, yes, sure, of course. An employee's lunch hour should be taken within the period allowed, unless you officially discussing company business—say ... er ... on a business lunch. It's the same too with the end of the day. I mean, eh, work until the day officially ends at five o'clock unless you are in an office where "flextime" is the accepted practice.
Woman: Oh, so you have the flextime system, do you? 1 wasn't sure about that.
Man: Oh yes, sure. Flexible working hours, that is er ... starting or ending work earlier or later—I ... I know it's still relatively new. However, there are more anti more Americans on the system today. Well, for tile same reasons as in Europe— to keep traffic and commuting problems down. And as more women now work it gives more family time.
Woman: Er ... could you say something about contracts of hiring in America, please?
Man: Well it's different America from, say, European countries like Germany or France, perhaps Japan, too, I'm not sum. I know that in some countries people relax when they have once got a job, because they know that they will almost never be fired—unless they do something wrong.
Woman: You mean that your employer can just fire you in America?
Man: No, no, no. There are, of course, legal protections in the US. So employees cannot be unjustly fired without good reasons. Workers must do a good job, produce well, and get along with their colleagues—or they can be "let go", as it is called.
Woman: From one day to the next, you mean?
Man: Well, it's rarely done without warning, but it is important to remember that in the US you are a member of a business firm and not a family, h makes a difference.
Woman: I wonder, is the physical or external appearance of office life different from European off offices?
Man: Well, I have heard people comment on the informality found in American offices. And this is certainly a little difficult for people who are more used to a hierarchical system, of course. But there are some very formal offices, too, say, in ... in big banks, law firms and major corporations. But in many establishments with fewer employees the atmosphere is loose and easy with a Jot of joking, and teasing, and wandering in and out of offices among all levels of employees.
Woman: Well, that sounds quite interesting. I think that's all I want to know really

A. work hard while their boss is around
B. come to work when there is work to be done
C. work with initiative and willingness
D. work through their lunch break

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