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What does the author mean by the word "progress" in this passage?

A．Urbanization.

B．Economic growth.

C．Cultural development.

D．Increase of population.

Thomas Hardy's impulses as a writer, all of which he indulged in his novels, were numerous and divergent, and they did not always work together in harmony. Hardy was to some degree interested in exploring his characters' psychologies, though impelled less by curiosity than by sympathy. Occasionally he felt the impulse to comedy (in all its detached coldness) as well as the impulse to farce, but he was more often inclined to see tragedy and record it. He was also inclined to literary realism in the several senses of that phrase. He wanted to describe ordinary human beings; he wanted to speculate on their dilemma rationally (and, unfortunately, even schematically); and he wanted to record precisely the material universe. Finally, he wanted to be more than a realist. He wanted to transcend what he considered to be the banality of solely recording things exactly and to express as well his awareness of the occult and the strange.

In his novels these various impulses were sacrificed to each other inevitably and often. Inevitably, because Hardy did not care in the way that novelists such as Flaubert or James cared, and therefore took paths of least resistance. Thus, one impulse often surrendered to a fresher one and, unfortunately, instead of exacting a compromise, simply disappeared. A desire to throw over reality a light that never was might give way abruptly to the desire on the part of what we might consider a novelist-scientist to record exactly and concretely the structure and texture of a flower. In this instance, the new impulse was at least an energetic one, and thus its indulgence did not result in a relaxed style. But on other occasions Hardy abandoned a perilous, risky, and highly energizing impulse in favor of what was for him the fatally relaxing impulse to classify and schematize abstractly. When a relaxing impulse was indulged, the style. —that sure index of an author's literary worth —was certain to become verbose. Hardy's weakness derived from his apparent inability to control the comings and goings of these divergent impulses and from his unwillingness to cultivate and sustain the energetic and risky ones. He submitted to first one and then another, and the spirit blew where it listed; hence the unevenness of any one of his novels. His most controlled novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, prominently exhibits two different but reconcilable impulses —a desire to be a realist-historian and a desire to be a psychologist of love —but the slight interlockings of plot are not enough to bind the two completely together. Thus even this book splits into two distinct parts.

The most appropriate title for the passage could be ______.

A．Under the Greenwood Tree: Hardy's Ambiguous Triumph

B．The Real and the Strange: the Novelist's Shifting Realms

C．Hardy's Novelistic Impulses: the Problem of Control

D．Divergent Impulses: the Issue of Unity in the Novel

Most people think of lions as strictly African beasts, but only because they've been killed off almost everywhere else. Ten thousand years ago lions spanned vast sections of the globe, and so did people, who —as they multiplied and organized —pat pressure on competitors at the top of the food chain. Now lions hold only a small fraction of their former habitat, and Asiatic lions, a subspecies that split from African lions perhaps 100,000 years ago, hang on to an almost impossibly small slice of their former domain.

India is the proud steward of these 300 or so lions, which live primarily in a 560-square-mile (1,450-square-kilometer) sanctuary. It took me a year and a half to get a permit to explore the entire Gir Forest —and no time at all to see why these lions became symbols of royalty and greatness. A tiger will slink through the forest unseen, but a lion stands its ground, curious and unafraid —lionhearted. Though they told me in subtle ways when I got too close, Gir's lions allowed me unique glimpses into their lives during my three months in the forest. It's odd to think that they are threatened by extinction; Gir has as many lions as it can hold —too many, in fact. With territory in short supply, lions prowl the periphery of the forest and even leave it altogether, often clashing with people. That's one reason India is creating a second sanctuary. There are other pressing reasons: outbreaks of disease or natural disasters. In 1994 canine distemper killed more than a third of Africa's Serengeti lions —thousand animals —a fate that could easily befall Gir's cats. These lions, saved by a prince at the turn of the 20th century, are especially vulnerable to disease because they descend from as few as a dozen individuals. "If you do a DNA fingerprint, Asiatic lions actually look like identical twins," says Stephen O'Brien, a geneticist who has studied them. Yet the perils are hidden, and you wouldn't suspect them by watching these lords of the forest. The lions exude vitality, and no small measure of charm.

Though the gentle intimacy of play vanishes when it's time to eat, meals in Git are not necessarily frenzied affairs. For a mother and cub sharing a deer, or a young male relishing an antelope, there's no need to fight for a cut of the kill. Prey animals are generally smaller in Gir than they are in Africa, and hunting groups tend to be smaller as well. The lions themselves aren't as big as African lions, and they have shorter manes and a long fold of skin on their undersides that many lions in Africa don't have.

What impressed the author most when he went to watch the lions in the Gir Forest?

A．The lions were on the brink of extinction.

B．They were suffering from a fatal disease.

C．They allowed him to see their vitality and charm at close quarters.

D．Mother lion and her cub shared a deer.

SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST

Directions: In this section you will hear everything ONCE ONLY. Listen carefully and then answer the questions that follow. At the end of each news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the questions.

听力原文： The cancellation of the 16-day flight means that the crew and scientists on the ground are pursuing only their most important experiments in the few remaining hours left before the shuttle laboratory is closed. The US sapce agency NASA decided Sunday to bring the orbiter home 12 days early because of fears of weakened power generator could explode. The generator has been turned off, leaving the shuttle with only two thirds of its normal power supply. To conserve electricity for the experiments the crew is working in dimmer lighting than normal and has turned off all unessential equipment. NASA says the two remaining generators are sufficient for Tuesday's landing, but had nevertheless ordered the astronauts to study emergency procedures in case another fails. The shuttle team has expressed its disappointment at the curtailment of the science mission, and says enough data have already been collected in the materials, combustion and biological experiments to push science further ahead. The scientist' goal is to complete the experiments on a later shuttle flight. David Batlery, VOA news, Washington.

Why did NASA decide to bring the shuttle home earlier?

A．The laboratory was closed.

B．The generator was turned off.

C．The power generator might explode.

D．Electricity was going to run out.