Text 2
Shortly after September 11th, President Bush’s father observed that just as Pearl Harbor awakened this country from the notion that we could somehow avoid the call of duty to defend freedom in Europe and Asia in World War Ⅱ, so, too, should this most recent surprise attack erase the concept in some quarters that America can somehow go it alone in the fight against terrorism or in anything else for that matter.
But America’s allies have begun to wonder whether that is the lesson that has been learned--or whether the Afghanistan campaign’s apparent success shows that unilateralism works just fine. The United States, that argument goes, is so dominant that it can largely afford to go it alone.
It is true that no nation since Rome has loomed so large above the others, but even Rome eventually collapsed. Only a decade ago, the conventional wisdom lamented an America in decline. Bestseller lists featured books that described Ameri
A. It underlies power.
B. It is to be pursued enthusiastically.
C. It is second to terrorism.
D. It is to be dealt with cautiously.
Text 4 Shortly after dawn on February 17th 2003, the world’s most ambitious road pricing experiment will start in London. Though cordon toll schemes have been operating in Norway for years, and Singapore has an electronic system, no one has ever tried to charge motorists in a city of the size and complexity of London. For decades, transport planners have been demanding that motorists should pay directly for the use of roads. According to the professionals, it is the only way of civilizing cities and restraining the growth of inter urban traffic. Politicians have mostly turned a deaf ear, fearing that charging for something what was previously free was a quick route to electoral suicide. But London’s initiative suggests that the point where road pricing becomes generally accepted as the most efficient way to restrain traffic is much nearer than most drivers realize. The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has pinned his political reputation on the scheme’s s
A. out of the question.
B. anything but new.
C. for the sake of safety.
D. nowhere near success.
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