Text 3
In recent years, railroads have been combining with each other, merging into super systems, causing heightened concerns about monopoly. As recently as 1995, the top four railroads accounted for under 70% of the total ton-miles moved by rails. Next year, after a series of mergers is completed, just four railroads will control well over 90% of all the freight moved by major rail carders.
Supporters of the new super systems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial cost reductions and better coordinated service. Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks. But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat.
The vast consolidation within the rail industry means that most shippers are served by only one Rail Company/Railroads typically charge such "capti
A. cost reduction is based on competition
B. services call for cross-trade coordination
C. outside competitors will continue to exist
D. shippers will have the railway by the throat
Text 3
In recent years, railroads have been combining with each other, merging into super systems, causing heightened concerns about monopoly. As recently as 1995, the top four railroads accounted for under 70% of the total ton-miles moved by rails. Next year, after a series of mergers is completed, just four railroads will control well over 90% of all the freight moved by major rail carders.
Supporters of the new super systems argue that these mergers will allow for substantial cost reductions and better coordinated service. Any threat of monopoly, they argue, is removed by fierce competition from trucks. But many shippers complain that for heavy bulk commodities traveling long distances, such as coal, chemicals, and grain, trucking is too costly and the railroads therefore have them by the throat.
The vast consolidation within the rail industry means that most shippers are served by only one Rail Company/Railroads typically charge such "capti
A. shippers will be charged less without a rival railroad
B. there will soon be only one railroad company nationwide
C. overcharged shippers are unlikely to appeal for rate relief
D. a government board ensures fair play in railway business
For years and years people have been saying that the railways are dead. "We can do without railways," people say, as if motorcars and planes have made the railways unnecessary. We all keep heating that trains are slow, that they lose money, and that they are dying. But this is far from the troth. In those days of expensive oil, the railways have become highly competitive with motorcars and planes. If you want to carry people or goods from place to place, they are cheaper than planes. And they have much in common with planes. A plane goes in a straight line and so does a railway. ,What is more, it takes from the heart of a city into the heart of another. It doesn’t leave you as a plane does, miles and miles from the city center. It doesn’t hold you up as a car . does, in endless traffic jams. And a single train can carry goods which a plane or motorcar could never do.
Far from being dead, the railways are very much alive. Modem railway lines give you
A. planes and motorcars have taken the place of trains
B. oil is expensive today
C. trains are superfast
D. railways gain a large amount of money
Text 2
Linguists have been able to follow the formation of a new language in Nicaragua. The catch is that it is not a spoken language but, rather, a sign language which arose spontaneously in deaf children.
The Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL) emerged in the late 1970s, at a new school for deaf children. Initially the children were instructed by teachers who could hear. No one taught them how to sign; they simply worked it out for themselves. By conducting experiments on people who attended the school at various points in its history, Dr. Senghas has shown how NSL has become more sophisticated over time. For example, concepts that an older signer uses a single sign for, such as rolling and falling, have been unpacked into separate signs by youngsters.
Early users, too, did not develop a way of distinguishing left from right. Dr. Senghas showed this by asking signers of different ages to converse about a set of photographs that each could see. One sign
A. a non-verbal language created by deaf children.
B. an artificial language used by people in Nicaragua.
C. a language invented by teachers who teach the deaf.
D. a language described and modified by deliberate linguists
Text 3
For millions’ of years we have known a world whose resource seemed illimitable however fast, we cut down trees, nature unaided would replace them. However many fish we took from the sea, nature would restock it. However much sewage we dumped into the river, nature would purify it, just as she would purify the air, however much smoke and fumes we put into it. Today we have reached the stage of realizing that rivers can be polluted past praying for, that seas can be overfished and the forests must be managed and fostered if they are not to vanish.
But we still retain our primitive optimism about air and water. There will always be enough rain falling from the skies to meet our needs. The air can absorb all the filth we care to put in it. Still less do we worry whether we could ever run short of oxygen. Surely there is air enough to breathe. Who ever asks where oxygen comes from, to begin with They should--for we now consume about 10 percent of al
A. He has exploited the earth' s resources.
B. He has shown little understanding of nature' s ways.
C. He has abused the earth' s resources.
D. He has not appreciated nature' s beauty and benefits sufficiently.
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