Gerald Feinberg, the Columbia University physicist, once went so far as to declare that "everything possible will eventually be accomplished." He didn't even think it would take very long for this to happen: "I am inclined to put two hundred years as an upper limit for the accomplishment of any possibility that we can imagine today."
Well, that of course left only the impossible as the one thing remaining for daring intellectual adventurers to whittle away at. Feinberg, for one, thought that they'd succeed even here. "Everything will be accomplished that does not violate known fundamental laws of science," he said, "as well as many things that do violate those laws."
So in no small numbers scientists tried to do the impossible. And how understandable this was. For what does the independent and inquiring mind hate more than being told that something just can't be done, pure and simple, by any agency at all, at any time, no matter what. Indeed, the whole concept of the impossible was something of an affront to creativity and advanced intelligence, which was why being told that something was impossible was an unparalleled stimulus for getting all sorts of people to try to accomplish it anyway, as witness all the attempts to build perpetual motion machines, antigravity generators, time-travel vehicles, and all the rest.
Besides, there was always the residual possibility that the naysayers would turn out to be wrong and the yeasayers right, and that one day the latter would reappear to laugh in your face. As one cryonicist pat it, "When you die, you're dead. When I die, I might come back. So who's the dummy？"
It was a point worth considering. How many times in the past had certain things been said to be impossible, only to have it turn out shortly thereafter that the item in question had already been done or soon would be. What greater cliche was there in the history of science than the comic litany of false it-couldn't-be-dones; the infamous case of Auguste Comte saying in 1844 that it would never be known what the stars were made of, followed in a few years by the spectroscope being applied to starlight to reveal the stars' chemical composition; or the case of Lord Rutherford, the man who discovered the structure of the atom, saying in 1933 that dreams of controlled nuclear fission were "moonshine".
And those weren't even the worst examples. No, the huffiest of all it-couldn't-be-done claims centered on the notion that human beings could actually fly, either at all, or across long distances, or to the moon, the stars, or wherever else. It was as if for unstated reasons human flight was something that couldn't be allowed to happen. "The demonstration that no possible combination of known substances, known forms of machinery and known forms of force, can be united in a practical machine by which man shall fly long distances through the air, seems to the writer as complete as it is possible for the demonstration of any physical fact to be." That was Simon Newcomb, the Johns Hopkins University mathematician and astronomer in 1906, three years after the Wright brothers actually flew.
There had been so many embarrassments of this type that about mid-century Arthur C. Clarke came out with a guideline for avoiding them, which he termed Clarke's Law: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."
Still, one had to admit there were lots of things left that were really and truly impossible, even if it took some ingenuity in coming up with a proper list of examples. Such as: "A camel cannot pass through the eye of a needle." （Well, unless of course it was a very large needle.) Or: "It is impossible for a door to be simultaneously open and closed." （Well, unless of course it was a revolving door.)
Indeed, watertight examples of the
A．Science works by great leaps, not little steps.
B．Scientists will work harder than they do today.
C．Scientists' kno

Conflict between the president and the press indicates that ______.
A．the press publishes the truth even when it hurts the president
B．freedom of the press is alive and well in the United States
C．presidents have traditionally had little respect for the press
D．the press is made up mostly of critics and cynics

When gas station manager Roger Randolph realized it was costing him money each time someone filled up with $ 4 agallon gas, he hung a sign on his pumps: "No more credit cards." He may be the first in West Virginia to ban plastic, but gas station operators nationwide are reporting similar woes as higher prices translate into higher credit card fees the managers must pay, squeezing profits at the pump."The more they buy, the more we lose, " said Randolph, who manages Mr. Ed's Chevron in St. Albans."Gas prices go up, and our profits go down." His complaints target the so-called interchange fee—a percentage of the sale price paid to credit card companies on every transaction. The percentage is usually fixed at just under 2 percent but the dollar amount of the fee rises with the price of the goods or services. As gas tops $ 4 a gallon, that pushes fees toward 10 cents a gallon. Now stations, which typically mark up gasoline by 11 to 12 cents a gallon, are seeing profits shrink or even reverse. In a good month, Randolph's small operation would yield a $ 60 profit on gasoline sales. But that's been buried as soaring prices forced the station to pay about $500 a month in interchange fees."At these prices, people aren't making any money, " said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores."It's brutal." Lenard's group reports convenience stores paid roughly $ 7. 6 billion in credit card fees last year, while making $ 3. 4 billion in profits.
The credit card companies say fees are just part of the cost of doing business. MasterCard has capped interchange fees for gas purchases of $ 50 or more, said company spokeswoman Sharon Gamsin. Accepting MasterCard also gives gas stations "increased sales, greater security and convenience, lower labor costs, and speed for their customers at the pump, " Gamsin said in an e-mail to the Associated Press. Visa argues that the fees are offset "by the tangible benefits to stations and their customers, such as the ability to pay at the pump, " the company said in a statement to the AP.
Which of the following sentences can best describe the main idea of this passage？
A．The gas station operator begin to say "no" to credit cards.
B．It is not convenient for both the customer and gas station manager to use credit cards.
C．Why do customers prefer to use credit cards？
D．How can small shops avoid customers using credit cards in the future？

Itinerary for President King
September 19-21, 2009
Monday, September 19
5: 00 a. m. Arrive in San Francisco.
7: 30 a. m. Leave San Francisco Airport on Delta Flight #468 to Dallas.
10: 45 a. m. Arrive in Dallas. Lyle Dole will meet you at the airport.
Lunch with Lyle and Steve Ackley.
3: 00 p. m. Meeting with President Banner.
5: 00 p. m. Reservation; Talbott Inn, 1914 Commerce street, Dallas, TX 75201,
（214) 555-2011, Confirmation #15397B.
Tuesday, September 20
7: 15 a. m. Leave Dallas Airport on TWA Flight#303 to Chicago O'Hare Airport
10: 35 a. m. Arrive in Chicago. Susan Marsh and Don Roberts will meet you at the airport.
Lunch with Susan Marsh and Don Roberts.
14: 30 p. m. Board Meeting at the Executive Conference Center.
6: 30 p. m. Dinner with Trustees. Reservations; Fargo Inn, 411 Adam Street, Chicago, IL
60632 （312)555-2411 Confirmation #7765
Wednesday, September 21
8: 00 a. m. Breakfast with Craig Docell and Margaret Schultz to discuss campus recruitment.
10: 00 a. m. Meeting with Bob Archer on HRD programs and Training schedules.
Noon Lunch with Chicago staff
4: 15 p. m. Leave O'Hare Airport on Northwest flight # 1404 for San Francisco
Which of the following statements is true according to the itinerary？
A．President King is scheduled to meet with Yyle Dole to discuss campus recruitment.
B．President King will have a dinner with Trustees at Talbott Inn on September 20.
C．Susan Marsh and Don Roberts will meet President King at O'Hare Airport and have lunch with him.
D．President King will leave O'Hare Airport on Northwest flight # 1404 for Dallas.

In which sector does this job probably belong to？
A．Health care
B．Finance
C．Manufacturing
D．Retail

Which benefits does the job offer？
A．Days off for working nights
B．Bonus for hitting targets
C．Out-store discounts
D．Subsidized travel to work