The past few years have been busy ones for human-rights organisations. In prosecuting the so-called war on terror, many governments in Western countries where freedoms seemed secure have been tempted to nibble away at them, while doughty campaigners such as Amnesty International (国际特殊组织) also exist for defence. Yet Amnesty no longer makes the splash it used to in the rich world. The organisation is as vocal as it ever was. But some years ago it decided to dilute a traditional focus on political rights by mixing in a new category called social and economic rights.
You might suppose that the more of rights you campaign for the better. Why not add pressing social and economic concerns to stuffy old political rights such as free speech and free elections What use is a vote if you are starving Are not access to jobs, housing, health care and food basic rights too No: few rights are truly universal, and letting them multiply weakens them.
Food, jobs and housing are certainly necessities, but there’s no use to call them "rights". When a government looks someone up without a fair trial, the victim, perpetrator and remedy are pretty clear. This clarity seldom applies to social and economic "rights". Who should be educated in which subjects for how long at what cost in taxpayers’ money is a political question best settled at the ballot box (投票箱). And no economic system known to man guarantees a proper job for everyone all the time.
It is hardly an accident that the countries keenest to use the language of social and economic rights tend to be those that show least respect for rights of the traditional sort. And it could not be further from the truth. For people in the poor world, as for people everywhere, the most reliable method yet invented to ensure that governments provide people with social and economic necessities are called politics. That is why the rights that make open polities possible — free speech, due process, protection from arbitrary punishment— are so precious. Insisting on their enforcement is worth more than any number of grandiloquent but unenforceable declarations demanding jobs, education and housing for all.
Many do-gooding outfits suffer from having too broad a focus and too narrow a base. Amnesty used to appeal to people of all political persuasions and none, and concentrate on a hard core of well-defined basic liberties. However, by trying in recent years to borrow moral authority from the campaigns and leaders of the past and lend it to the cause of social reform, Amnesty has succeeded only in muffling what was once its central message, at the very moment when governments in the West need to hear it again.
To which of the following statements would the author most likely disagree

A:Many Western countries have relative secure freedoms. B:Open politics are precious in some Western countries. C:Political rights should be the minor focus of organizations such as Amnesty. D:Political rights should never be emphasized without social and economic guarantees.

The past few years have been busy ones for human-rights organisations. In prosecuting the so-called war on terror, many governments in Western countries where freedoms seemed secure have been tempted to nibble away at them, while doughty campaigners such as Amnesty International (国际特殊组织) also exist for defence. Yet Amnesty no longer makes the splash it used to in the rich world. The organisation is as vocal as it ever was. But some years ago it decided to dilute a traditional focus on political rights by mixing in a new category called social and economic rights.
You might suppose that the more of rights you campaign for the better. Why not add pressing social and economic concerns to stuffy old political rights such as free speech and free elections What use is a vote if you are starving Are not access to jobs, housing, health care and food basic rights too No: few rights are truly universal, and letting them multiply weakens them.
Food, jobs and housing are certainly necessities, but there’s no use to call them "rights". When a government looks someone up without a fair trial, the victim, perpetrator and remedy are pretty clear. This clarity seldom applies to social and economic "rights". Who should be educated in which subjects for how long at what cost in taxpayers’ money is a political question best settled at the ballot box (投票箱). And no economic system known to man guarantees a proper job for everyone all the time.
It is hardly an accident that the countries keenest to use the language of social and economic rights tend to be those that show least respect for rights of the traditional sort. And it could not be further from the truth. For people in the poor world, as for people everywhere, the most reliable method yet invented to ensure that governments provide people with social and economic necessities are called politics. That is why the rights that make open polities possible — free speech, due process, protection from arbitrary punishment— are so precious. Insisting on their enforcement is worth more than any number of grandiloquent but unenforceable declarations demanding jobs, education and housing for all.
Many do-gooding outfits suffer from having too broad a focus and too narrow a base. Amnesty used to appeal to people of all political persuasions and none, and concentrate on a hard core of well-defined basic liberties. However, by trying in recent years to borrow moral authority from the campaigns and leaders of the past and lend it to the cause of social reform, Amnesty has succeeded only in muffling what was once its central message, at the very moment when governments in the West need to hear it again.

To which of the following statements would the author most likely disagree（）

A:Many Western countries have relative secure freedoms. B:Open politics are precious in some Western countries. C:Political rights should be the minor focus of organizations such as Amnesty. D:Political rights should never be emphasized without social and economic guarantees.

Throughout history, gold has been a precious material, eagerly sought and cherished. It was probably the first metal to be mined because it is beautiful and imperishable (which will always exist or cannot wear out), and because beautiful objects can be made from it-even with primitive tools. The amount of gold known to ancient peoples probably totaled not much more than the amount produced each year by the world’’s largest gold mine located in the Witwatersrand district of South Africa. Stores of gold discovered by archaeologists in Greece, Scythia, and Egypt, as well as the gold from Indian treasuries in Mexico and Peru, represented years of patient collection of small quantities from streams and veins (矿脉) , often by slave labor. 　　The essential value of gold has always been known, even before gold was used in coinage. It remains the only universally recognized standard of value in international monetary exchange. Most of the world’’s refined gold is absorbed by governments and central banks to provide backing for paper currency. But the amount of gold used in arts and in industry is increasing. In addition to its use for jewelry, decorative finishes, and dentistry, its special properties have led to many applications in modern science and technology. Surface coatings of gold protect earth satellites from heat and corrosion, and certain electrical components and circuits of spacecraft are made of gold when extreme reliability is required. 　　Gold was first produced in the United States from the southern Appalachian region, beginning about 1792. These deposits, though rich, were relatively small and were quickly depleted. The discovery of gold at Sutter’’s Mill in California sparked the gold rush of 1849-50. Hundreds of mining camps sprang to life as new deposits were discovered. As a result, the production of gold increased rapidly. 　　During World War I and for some years thereafter, annual production declined to about two million ounces. When the price of gold was raised in 1934 to $35 an ounce, production increased rapidly. Shortly after the start of World WarⅡ, gold mines were closed and the government did not permit them to reopen until 1945. Since then the production of gold has not exceeded two million ounces a year. 　　The largest producing gold mine in the United States is the Homestake Mine in South Dakota, which yields about 575,000 ounces of gold each year. Other mines scattered throughout various parts of the world produce even larger amounts of this highly prized and eagerly sought yellowish material. With respect to gold, the author favors the statement that

A:its beauty and imperishability made it the first metal discovered. B:rich deposits of it were found by archaeologists in ancient Greece and Egypt. C:primitive people must have made fine ornaments from the precious metal. D:Indian treasuries in Mexico were collected by slaves from brooks and veins.

In ancient times wealth was measured and exchanged in things that could be touched: food, tools, and precious metals and stones. Then the barter system was replaced by coins, which still had real value since they were pieces of rare metal. Coins were followed by fiat money, paper notes that have value only because everyone agrees to accept them.
Today electronic monetary systems are gradually being introduced that will transform money into even less tangible titans, reducing it to a series of "bits and bytes", or units of computerized information, going between machines at the speed of light. Already, electronic fund transfer allows money to be instantly sent and received by different banks, companies, and countries through computers and telecommunications devices.

According to the passage, coins once had real value as currency because they ______.（　）

A:represented a great improvement over barter B:permitted easy transportation of wealth C:were made of precious metals D:could become collector’ s items

In ancient times wealth was measured and exchanged in things that could be touched: food, tools, and precious metals and stones. Then the barter system was replaced by coins, which still had real value since they were pieces of rare metal. Coins were followed by fiat money, paper notes that have value only because everyone agrees to accept them.
Today electronic monetary systems are gradually being introduced that will transform money into even less tangible forms, reducing it to a series of "bits and bytes", or units of computerized information, going between machines at the speed of light. Already, electronic fund transfer allows money to be instantly sent and received by different banks, companies, and countries through computers and telecommunications devices.
Aeeording to the passage,coins once had real value as currency beeause they ______.

A:represented a great improvement over barter B:permitted easy transportation of wealth C:were made of precious metals D:could become collector’s items

We are wasting precious time sitting around here.

A:valuable B:leisure C:spare D:previous

? ?下面有3篇短文，每篇短文后有5道题，每题后面有4个选项。请仔细阅读短文，并根据短文回答其后面的问题，从4个选项中选择1个最佳答案。
{{B}}第一篇{{/B}}

? ?Locked away in a vault underneath the presidential palace in Kabul is a priceless treasure which is at the mercy of the American bombardment and the Taleban’s spite and greed.
? ?Art experts want the UN to rescue this 2, 100-year-old hoard of gold antiquities, called the Treasure of Bactria, before it is destroyed or the Tableban melt it down.
? ?What is remarkable is that the 20,000 or more gold statues, necklaces and ornaments set with precious stones have survived for so long in a city scarred by years of war.
? ?Rumors swirl around the bazaars of the capital about what the Taleban has done with the treasure, which was excavated from a royal burial site in northern Afghanistan by a Soviet team during the Soviet Union’s occupation. The team described how the 20,000 gold pieces included statues, necklaces, dress ornaments, hairpins and buckles deco rated with precious stones. There were also plaques decorated with jewels and a crown covered in pearls and turquoise.
? ?The treasure survived until its excavation in 1978. After that, the country’s former President Najibullah, sealed it in many trunks and hid them in a vault and protected by a steel door shut by seven locks with keys held by seven different people. At least three of the key holders are now dead, Mr. Najibullah included.
? ?Another popular fable circulating in Kabul is that the Russians have a duplicate set of the seven keys. Others claim that a traitor team of Soviet troops broke into the vault in the last hours before they abandoned Kabul and replaced some of the treasures with fakes.
? ?Now all anyone can say for sure is that the treasure was last seen and inspected by international archaeologists in 1993. when the safe was opened to clarify rumors that the Afghans had sold it.
? ?UNESCO says that it has given the Americans a map so that its bombers can avoid vital cultural sites, which include the vault in the presidential palace and other places, where other museum treasures are stored.
? ?There are many in Kabul who say the Taleban have already handed the treasure to Osama Bin Laden. Robert Kluyver, of the Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan’s Cultural Heritage, was told recently that Bin Laden had arranged for it to be smuggled across the mountains to Pakistan in March where dealers awaited his orders to sell it.

What is special about the treasures?

A:There are many gold ornaments decorated with precious stones. B:These treasures have survived continual wars in such a place. C:These treasures have suffered from American bombing. D:These treasures were found by some military troops.