As the editor of a science magazine--a fanny one--I was continually besieged by people who wanted ray help in winning a Nobel Prize.
I always explained that I had no influence on these matters, but they invariably told me in great detail what they’d done and why they deserved a prize. In some cases, they were correct. They deserved a prize all right, but not a Nobel Prize. And so, with the help of some friends and colleagues, I started the annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony.
The first was held in October 1991. Now each year the science humor magazine I currently edit, Annals of Improbable Research, awards ten Ig Nobel Prizes to people whose achievements, though not precisely ignoble, "cannot or should not be reproduced." Genuine Nobel Prize winners present the Ig Nobel Prizes to the winners at Harvard. A friendly, standing-room-only audience of 1,200 gives a warm welcome with wild applause and paper airplanes.
Here are a few especially memorable Ig Nobel Prize winners:
In Computer Science Chris Niswander of Tucson, Ariz., was honored in 2002 for inventing PawSense, software that detects when a cat is walking across your computer keyboard. "Cats can enter random commands and data, damage your files and even crash your computer," explained Niswander, a computer scientist. When PawSense detects a cat on the keyboard, it emits a blast of loud harmonica music, or a recording of someone hissing.
The inventor says that in addition to the sounds, once a cat has been recognized, PawSense blacks the cat’s keyboard input. It puts up a giant message on the computer screen: "Catlike typing Detected." To unlock the screen, the program requests that you type the word human. A cat might beat the system through a lucky combination of paw blows, but its odds of doing so are low.
In Environmental protection When businessmen come home to their wives after a hard night of drinking and smoking for professional purposes, they can, though no fault of their own, smell bad. Hyuk-ho Kwon of Kolon Company in Seoul, South Korea, was awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in 2003 for inventing the self-perfuming business suit. The fabric is soaked in micro-encapsulated peppermint scent; even a slight motion releases the flagrance.
Kwon traveled from Seoul at his company’s expense to attend the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. The Kolon
Company generously made serf-perfuming business suits for the five Nobel laureates who participated in the event, as well as for the master of ceremonies.
The tone of this passage is best described as ______.

As the 21st century begins, a number of leaders in politics, education, and other professions believe that the United States must adopt some new values to go along the older traditional ones. What new values should Americans adopt This is a very difficult question to answer. Certainly, a greater value should be placed on the conservation of natural sources; Americans should learn to use less and waste less. But conservation has never been a strong value to Americans, who have believed that their country offered an endless, abundant supply of natural resources. Recently, progress has been made--more and more Americans are recycling their paper, cans, bottles, and other goods--but old wasteful habits die hard. Furthermore, their need to protect the environment may conflict with the need for job, as in the Northwest, where conservationists battle lumber companies that want to cut down ancient redwood trees. A belief in the value of conservation is still weak compared with other American values; it can become stronger only as Americans see the need for it more clearly.
In addition, Americans may need to place a stronger value on cooperation on a national scale to achieve important national objective. The American idea of the national good has never been based on national cooperation but rather on the freedom of the individual, maintaining those conditions that provide the greatest freedom and prosperity for the individual. It is far more difficult for Americans to accept shared sacrifice for the common good and well-being of the entire country. For example, although the majority of Americans believe that is extremely important to balance the national budget and reduce the deficit, they do not want to see cuts in government programs that benefit them personally.
The American value of competition also hinders the development of a spirit of national cooperation. Competition sometimes encourages feelings of suspicion rather than the mutual trust that is necessary for successful national Cooperation. Although Americans often cooperate successfully on the local level--in neighborhood groups and churches, for example they become suspicious when the national government becomes involved. For example, on the national level, they may see themselves as part of an interest group that is competing with other interest groups for government funds. A request by the national government for shared sacrifice may be seen as coercive and destructive rather than voluntary and constructive. However, the demands of the 21st century may compel Americans to place a greater value on national cooperation to solve problems that affect them all, directly or indirectly

A. percentage
B. plenty
C. part
D. share