1. There was an 【inclination】 to treatgeography as a less important subject.

2. New secretaries came and went with 【monotonous】 regularity.

3. The committee was asked to 【render】 areport on the housing situation.

4. The group does not 【advocate】 the use ofviolence.

5.  The original experiment cannot be exactly 【duplicate】.

6. The department 【deferred】 the decision forsix months.

7. The symptoms of the disease 【manifested】 themselves ten days later.

8. The uniform makes the guards look 【absurd】.

9.  Some ofthe larger birds can remain 【stationary】 in the air for several minutes.

10. The country was torn apart by 【strife】.

11. She felt that she had done her good 【deed】 for the day.

12. A person’s wealth is often in 【inverse】 proportion to their happiness.

13. His professional career 【spanned】 16 days.

14. His stomach felt 【hollow】 with fear.

15. This was disaster on a 【cosmic】 scale.

16.                                           When Our Words Collide

　　“Wanna buy a body?” That was the opening line of more than a few phone calls I got from freelance(自由职业)photographers when I was a photo editor at U.S. News. Like many in the mainstream press, I wanted to separate the world of photographers into “them”, who trade in picture of bodies or chase celebrities, and “us”, the serious news people. But after 16 years in that role. I came to wonder whether the two worlds were easily distinguishable.
　　Working in the reputable world of journalism, I assigned photographers to cover other people’s nightmares. I justified invading moments of grief, under the guise(借口) of the reader’s right to know. I didn’t ask photographers to trespass(冒犯) or to stalk(跟踪), but I didn’t have to: I worked with pros(同行) who did what others did: talking their way into situations or shooting from behind police lines to get pictures I was after. And I wasn’t alone.
　　In the aftermath of a car crash or some other hideous incident when ordinary people are hurt or killed, you rarely see photographers pushing past rescue workers to capture the blood and gore(血雨腥风). But you are likely to see the local newspaper and television photographers on the scene - and fast.
　　How can we justify our behavior? Journalists are taught to separate doing the job from worrying about the consequence of publishing what they record. Repeatedly, they are reminded of a news-business dictum(格言): leave your conscience in the office. You get the picture of the footage: the decision whether to print or air it comes later. A victim may lie bleeding, unconscious, or dead: your job is to record the image. You put away your emotions and document the scene.
　　We act this way partly because we know that the pictures can have important meaning. Photographs can change deplorable(凄惨的) situations by mobilizing public outrage or increase public understanding.
　　However, disastrous events often bring out the worst in photographers and photo editors. In the first minutes and hours after a disaster occurs, photo agencies buy pictures. Often an agency buys a picture from a local newspaper or an amateur photographer and put it up for bid by major magazines. The most keenly sought “exclusives” command tens of thousands of dollars through bidding contests.
　　Many people believe that journalists need to change the way they do things, and it’s our pictures that annoy people the most. Readers may not believe, as we do, that there is a distinction between sober-minded “us” and sleazy(低级庸俗的) “them”. In too many cases, by our choices of images as well as how we get them, we prove our readers right.

17.                                                   The Storyteller   
    1 Steven Spielberg has always had one goal: to tell as many great stories to as many people as will listen. And that’s what he has always been about. The son of a computer scientist and a pianist, Spielberg spent his early childhood in New Jersey and, later, Arizona. From the very beginning, his fertile imagination filled his young mind with images that would later inspire his film making.  
    2 Even decades later, Spielberg says he has clear memories of his earliest years, which are the origins of some of his biggest hits. He believes that E.T. is the result of the difficult years leading up to his parent’s 1966 divorce, “It is really about a young boy who was in search of some stability in his life.”“He was scared of just about everything,”recalls his mother, LeahAdler. “When trees brushed against the house, he would head into my bed. Andthat’s just the kind of scary stuff he would put in films like Poltergeist.”  
    3 Spielberg was 11 when hefirst got his hands on his dad’s movie camera and began shooting short flicks about flying saucers and World WarⅡ battles. Spielberg’s talent for scary story telling enabled him to make friends. On Boy Scout camping trips, when night fell, Spielberg became the center of attention. “Steven would start telling his ghost stories,” says Richard Y. Hoffman Jr., leader of Troop 294, “and everyone would suddenly get quiet so that they could all hear it.”
    4 Spielberg moved to California with his father and went to high school there, but his grades were so bad that he barely graduated. Both UCLA and USC film schools rejected him, so he entered California State University at Long Beach because it was close to Hollywood. Spielberg was determined to make movies, and he managed to get an unpaid, non-credit internship（实习）in Hollywood. Soon he was given a contract, and he dropped out of college. Henever looked back.  
    5 Now, many years later,Spielberg is still telling stories with as much passion as the kid in the tent.Ask him where he gets his ideas, Spielberg shrugs. “The process for me is mostly intuitive (凭直觉的),” he says. “There are films that I feel I need to make, for a variety of reasons, for personal reasons, for reasons that I want to have fun, that the subject matter is cool, that I think my kids will like it. And sometimes I just think that it will make a lot of money, like the sequel(续集) to Jurassic Park.”

18.                                           The National Trust  
    The National Trust in Britain plays an increasingly important part in the preservation for publicenjoyment of the best that is left unspoiled of the British countryside.Although the Trust has received practical and moral support from theGovernment, it is not a rich Government department. It is a voluntary association of people who care for the unspoiled countryside and historicbuildings of Britain. It is a charity which depends for its existence onvoluntary support from members of the public'. Its primary duty is to protectplaces of great natural beauty and places of historical interest.  
    The attention of thepublic was first drawn to the dangers threatening the great old houses and castlesof Britain by the death of Lord Lothian, who left his great seventeenth-centuryhouse to the Trust together with the 4500-acre park and estate surrounding it.This gift attracted wide publicity and started the Trust's "Country HouseScheme”. Under this scheme, with the help of the Government and the generalpublic, the Trust has been able to save and make accessible to the public aboutone hundred and fifty of these old houses2. Last year about one and three quarters of a million people paid to visit these historic houses, usually at avery small charge. 
    In addition to country houses and open spaces the Trust now owns some examples of ancient wind andwater mills, nature reserves, five hundred and forty farms and nearly two thousand five hundred cottages or small village houses, as well as somecomplete villages. In these villages no one is allowed to build, develop or disturb the old village environment in any way and all the houses are maintained in their original sixteenth-century style. Over four hundred thousand acres of coastline, woodland, and hill country are protected by theTrust and no development or disturbances of any kind are permitted. The publich as free access to these areas and is only asked to respect the peace, beautyand wildlife. 
    So it is that over the past eighty years the Trust has become a big andimportant organization and an essential and respected part of national life,preserving all that is of great natural beauty and of historical significance not only for future generations of Britons but also for the millions of tourists who each year 【invade】 Britain in search of a great historic and cultural heritage.

19.                               How we form first impression 
    We all have first impression of someone we just met. But why? Why do we form an opinion about someone without really knowing anything about him or her – aside perhaps from a few remarks or readily observable traits?
    The answer is related to how your brain allows you to be aware of the world. Your brain is so sensitive in picking up facial traits, even very minor difference in a how a person’s eyes, ears, nose,or mouth are placed in relation to each other make you see him or her as different. In fact, your brain continuously processes incoming sensory information – the sights and sounds of your world. Theses incoming “signals”arecompared against a host of “memories” stored in the brain areas called the cortex （大脑皮层）system to determine what these new signals “mean”.   
    If you see someone you know and like at school, your brain says “familiar and safe”. “If you see someone new, it says,“new—potentially threatening”. Then your brain starts to match features of this stranger with other “known” memories. The height, weight, dress, ethnicity,gestures and tone of voice are all matched up. The more unfamiliar the characteristics, the more your brain may say, “This is new. I don’t like thisperson.” Or else, “I am intrigued.” Or your brain may perceive a new face but familiar clothes, ethnicity, gestures –like your other friends; so your brainsays: “I like this person.” But theses preliminary “impressions” can be deadwrong.  
    When we stereotype people, we use a lessmature form of thinking (not unlike the immature thinking of a very young child) that makes simplistic and categorical impressions of others. Rather than learn about the depth and breadth of people – their history, interest, values,strengths, and true character – we categorize them as jocks, geeks, or freaks.
    However, if we resist initial stereotypical impressions, we have a chance to be aware of what a person is truly like. If wespend time with a person, hear about his or her life, hopes, dreams, and become aware of the person’s character, we use a different, more mature style of thinking—and the most complex areas of our cortex, which allow us to be humane.

20.                           A New Strategy to Overcome Breast Cancer　 
  　Post-menopausal (绝经后) women who walk for an hour a day can cut their chance of breast cancer significantly, a study has suggested. The report, which followed 73,000 women for 17 years, found walking for at least seven hours a week lowered the risk of the disease. The American Cancer Society team said this was the first time reduced risk was specifically linked to walking. UK experts said it was more evidence that lifestyle influenced cancer risk.　　
    A recent poll for the charity Ramblers a quarter of adults walk for no more than an hour a week, but being active is known to reduce the risk of a number of cancers. This study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, followed 73.615 women out of 97,785 aged 50-74 who had been recruited by the American Cancer Society between1992 and 1993, so it could monitor the incidence of cancer in the group.　   
    They were asked to complete questionnaires on their health and on how much time they were active and participating in activities such as walking, swimming and aerobics(有氧运动)and how much time they spent sitting watching television or reading. They completed the same questionnaires at two-year intervals between 1997 and 2009.Of the women, 47%said walking was their only recreational activity. Those who walked for at least seven hours per week had a 14% lower risk of breast cancer compared to those who walked three or fewer hours per week.　  　   
    Dr. Alpa Patel, a senior epidemiologist at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, Georgia, who led the study, said:”Given that more than 60% of women report some daily walking, promoting walking as a healthy leisure-time activity could be an effective strategy for increasing physical activity amongst post-menopausal women. We were pleased to find that without any other recreational activity, just walking one hour a day was associated with a lower risk of breast cancer in these women.” "More strenuous(紧张的)and longer activities lowered the risk even more.”　　 
    Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Campaign, said: “This study adds further evidence that our lifestyle choices can play a part in influencing the risk of breast cancer and even small changes incorporate into our normal day-to-day activity can make a difference.”　　  
    She added:”We know that the best weapon to overcoming breast cancer is the ability to stop it occurring in the first place. The challenge now is how we turn these findings into action and identify other sustainable lifestyle changes that will help us prevent breast cancer.”

21.                      Wrongly convinced man and his accuser tell their stories   
    NEW YORK,NY, January 5,2010. St. Martin’s Press has announced the release of the paperback edition of Picking Cotton, a remarkable true story of what novelist John Grisham calls an “account of violence, rage, redemption (救赎) ，and, ultimately forgiveness.”
    The story began in 1987, in Burlington, North Carolina, with the rape of a young while college student named Jennifer Thompson. During her ordeal（折磨）, Thompson swore（发誓） to herself that she would never forget the face of her rapist（强奸犯）, a man who climbed through the window of her apartment and assaulted（攻击） her brutally.【46】When the police asked her if she could identify the assailant (袭击者) from a book of mug shots（嫌疑犯照片）, she picked one that she was sure was correct, and later she identified the same man in a lineup（行列）. 
    Based on her convincing eye witness testimony, a 22-year-old black man named Ronald Cotton was sentenced to prison for two life terms. Cotton's lawyer appealed the decision（提出上诉）, and by the time of the appeals hearing（上诉听证会）, evidence had come to light suggesting that the real rapist might have been a man who looked very like Cotton, an imprisoned criminal named Bobby Poole.【47】Jennifer Thompson looked at both men face to face, and once again said that Ronald Cotton was the one who raped her.
    Eleven years later, DNA evidence completely exonerated(证明……清白)Cotton and just as unequivocally(明确地) convicted Poole, who confessed to the crime. 【48】“The man I was so sure I had never seen in my life was the man who was inches from my throat, who raped me, who hurt me, who took my spirit away, who robbed me of my soul,” she wrote. “And the man I had identified so surely on so many occasions was absolutely innocent.” 
    【49】Remarkably both were able to put this tragedy behind them, overcome the racial barrier that divided them, and write a book, which they have subtitled “Our memoir（回忆录） of injustice and redemption（拯救）.” 
    Nevertheless, Thompson says, she still lives “with constant pain that my profound mistake cost him so dearly.【50】”

22.                                           Obesity Causes Global Warming
    The list of ills attributable to obesity keeps growing: Last week, obese people were accused of causing global warming.
    This 【51】 comes from Sheldon Jacobson of the University of Illinois, US, and a doctoral student,Laura McLay. Their study 【52】how much extra gasoline is needed to haul fat Americans around. The answer, they say, is a billion gallons of gas per year. It 【53】an extra 11 million tons of carbon dioxide.
    There has been 【54】 for taxes on junk food in recent years. US economist Martin Schmidt suggests a tax on fast food 【55】 to people'scars." We tax cigarettes partly because of their health cost,"Schmidt said. "Similarly, leading a lazy life style will end 【56】 costing taxpayers more."
    US political scientist Eric Oliver said his first instinct was to laugh at these gas and fast food arguments. But such【57】are getting attention.
    At the US Obesity Society'sannual meeting, one person 【58】obesity with car accident deaths, and another correlated obesity with suicides. No one asked whether there was really a cause-and-effect relationship. "The funny thing was that everyone took it 【59】." Oliver said.
    In a 1960s study, children were 【60】drawings of children with disabilities and without them, and a drawing of an obese child. They were asked 【61】they would want for a friend?  The obese child was picked last.
    Three researchers recently repeated the study【62】college students.Once again, 【63】 no one, not evenobese people, liked the obese person. "Obesity was stigmatized." the researchers said.
    But, researchers say, getting 【64】 is not like quitting smoking. People struggle to stop smoking, and, in the end, many succeed.Obesity is different.But, not because obese people don't care. Science has shown that they have limited personal control over their weight. Genes also 【65】 a part.