Text 4
The good news is that after last year’s precipitous decline, worldwide demand for microchips is rising again. The not-so-good news is that the recovery is likely to be more muted than the industry had hoped. In fact, it could be years before the market makes up fully for 2001’ s record fall of 32% in chip sales. The latest figures from World Semiconductor Trade Statistics, an industry body, suggest that demand will creep up this year by 2.3% (to $142 billion) and by a healthier 16.6% or so in 2003. Se it could still be 2004 or beyond before the market for chips regains its former heights.
Why is the recovery so weak The main reason is that sales of personal computers(PCs), which run on such chips and which dominate the market for them, are still struggling to recover from last year’ s collapse in demand. Gartner Dataquest, a research firm, says worldwide sales of PCs rose by 5.8% year-on-year in the three months to the end of Septem
A. contrary to expectations
B. far from certain
C. not so quick as expected
D. at a record-breaking speed
Text 4
The good news is that after last year’s precipitous decline, worldwide demand for microchips is rising again. The not-so-good news is that the recovery is likely to be more muted than the industry had hoped. In fact, it could be years before the market makes up fully for 2001’ s record fall of 32% in chip sales. The latest figures from World Semiconductor Trade Statistics, an industry body, suggest that demand will creep up this year by 2.3% (to $142 billion) and by a healthier 16.6% or so in 2003. Se it could still be 2004 or beyond before the market for chips regains its former heights.
Why is the recovery so weak The main reason is that sales of personal computers(PCs), which run on such chips and which dominate the market for them, are still struggling to recover from last year’ s collapse in demand. Gartner Dataquest, a research firm, says worldwide sales of PCs rose by 5.8% year-on-year in the three months to the end of Septem
A. the collapse of chip market
B. the bursting of IT bubble
C. the 9. 11 terrorist attacks
D. the barely recovered loss market
Text 2
The good news made headlines nationwide: Deaths from several kinds of cancer have declined significantly in recent years. But the news has to be bittersweet for many cancer patients and their families. Every year, more than 500,000 people in the United States still die of cancer. In fact, more than half of all patients diagnosed with cancer will die of their disease within a few years. And while it’ s true survival is longer today than in the past, the quality of life for these patients is often greatly diminished. Cancer--many of the treatments used to fight it--causes pain, nausea, fatigue, and anxiety that routinely go undertreated or untreated.
In the nation’s single-minded focus on curing cancer, we have inadvertently devalued the critical need for palliative care, which focuses on alleviating physical and psychological symptoms over the course of the disease. Nothing would have a greater impact on the daily lives of cancer patients
A. it does not allow patients to seek both
B. it only covers patients whose life expectancy is less than six months
C. it deprives patients of the right to choose between two proven treatment methods
D. hospice care is only covered when it may extend a patient's life expectancy
Text 1
As summer approaches, there is good news and bad in our latest Insider Advantage poll. With terrorism in the back of our minds and a terrible economy in the front of it, only 17 % of American adults say they plan to travel less this summer than in the past, 24% say they will travel more and the rest say nothing has changed this vacation season from past ones. That’s the good news but the poll portends some bad news, too, indicating what might be a deep-seated problem in the United States today, harder to fathom than terrorist killers or empty wallets. The only age group that has more ambitious travel plans than ever is the 18- 29 age group showing a 44 % jump in vacation plans over last year. That’s hardly great news for the travel and hospitality industry, which desperately need bigger spenders on the road.
Beyond that, the wide disparity in travel plans among the younger and older says something about the just-out-of-college generation.
A. A new appreciation for work.
B. Work availability.
C. A change in ethics.
D. A new sense of purpose.
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