[单项选择]The statistics ______ that living standards in the area have improved drastically in recent times.
A. proves
B. is proving
C. are proving
D. prove

[单项选择]

Text 3
Living standards soared during the twentieth century, and economists expect them to continue rising in the decades ahead. Does that mean that we humans can look forward to increasing happiness
Easterlin admits that richer people are more likely to report themselves as being happier than poorer people are. But steady improvements in the American economy have not been accompanied by steady increases in people’s self-assessments of their own happiness. "There has been not improvement in average happiness in the United States over almost a half century -- a period in which real GDP (gross domestic product) per capital more than doubled," Easterlin reports.
The explanation for this paradox may be that people become less satisfied over time with a given level of income. In Easterlin’s word: "As incomes rise, the aspiration level does too, and the effect of this increase in aspirations is to invalidate the expected growth
A. Easterlin agreed with Maslow.
B. Easterlin's theory contradicts with Maslow's.
C. Easterlin's theory is more popular than Maslow's.
D. Maslow's theory is more popular than Easterlin's.

[单项选择]The high living standards of the US cause its present population to ______ 25 percent of the world's oil.
A. assume
B. consume
C. resume
D. presume

[单项选择]In statistics the most frequently used computations are the mean, the median, and the mode because all are indicators of central tendency.
A. graphs
B. variables
C. calculations
D. words

[单项选择]Statistics indicate that approximate every 22 years--within a range of 3 to 4 years--a major drought occursin the United States.

[单项选择]Statistics show that the average family size increases in inverse ratio to the mother's years of education．


A. 统计数字表明，按平均数计算，母亲受教育年限越长，她的家庭人口就越少。
B. 统计数字表明，家庭平均人口的增长与母亲受教育的年限成反比。
C. 统计数字表明，母亲受教育的时间越长，她的家庭就越大。
D. 统计数字表明，母亲受教育的水平随着她的家庭人口的增多而增高。

[单项选择]According to official statistics, retail sales in China rose 10% and 12.2% in the first and the second quarter ______ this year.


A. accordingly
B. correspondingly
C. respectively
D. individually

[单项选择]

Text 2
Traffic statistics paint a gloomy picture. To help solve their traffic woes, some rapidly growing U.S. cities have simply built more roads. But traffic experts say building more roads is a quirk-fix solution that will not alleviate the traffic problem in the long run. Soaring land costs, increasing concern over social and environmental disruptions caused by road-building, and the likelihood that more roads can only lead to more cars and traffic are powerful factors bearing do you a 1950s-style construction program.
The goal of smart-highway technology is to make traffic systems work at optimum efficiency by, treating the road and the vehicles travelling on them as an integral transportation system. Proponents of this advanced technology say electronic detection systems, closed-circuit television, radio communication, ramp metering, variable message signing, and other smart-highway technology can now be used at a reasonable cost to improve communicati
A. Two contrasting views of a problem are presented
B. A problem is examined and complementary solutions are proposed or offered
C. Latest developments are outlined in order of importance
D. An innovation is explained with its importance emphasized