It Isn' t Easy Being Green Green stories of hotelsA)Over the summer, I stayed at four hotels in the United States. They were all owned by different companies, but they had one thing in common: A little card on the bathroom counter telling me that the establishment was very concerned about the environment, and appealing to me to do my part to help them save the earth by hanging up my wet towels and using them again the next day. Two of the hotels also placed a card next to the bed informing me that housekeeping would not change the sheets unless I left the card on the pillow.B)It is true that keeping all those towels clean requires an enormous amount of electricity and water and soap, and that cutting down on the number of loads of laundry would be more eco-friendly than my insisting on a new towel each day. But am I a heartless cynic for doubting that a collective environmental anxiety has seized the hotel industry?C)Here is an alternative explanation: All that water, soap, and electricity costs a lot of money and eats into the hotel's profits. A little card on the counter telling customers that they won't get new towels because the hotel doesn't want to pay for laundry wouldn't go over very well. But by couching it as a green campaign, the hotels actually get credit for providing less service to their customers, while pocketing the difference.D)Industry groups that advise hotels on becoming more environmentally friendly tend to stress the money they'll save just as much as the benefits to the planet. "Why should hotels be green?" asks the Green Hotels Association's Web site. "Haven't you heard? Being green goes directly to your bottom line." The site explains that by getting guests to recycle towels and sheets, hotels can save 5 percent on utility bills. "Some days, housekeeping workers, who usually clean 15 rooms a day, don't change a single bed," said one satisfied hotel owner, who estimates that "70 percent of people staying more than one night participate in the program." Another member reports that far fewer guests ask for new towels.E)So let's review: We give up a nice luxury to save the hotel money: the hotel congratulates itself on being green for peer pressuring us into giving up the luxury under the excuse of environmental consciousness: the hotel keeps the money. Nice work. After all, even if profit is the motive, the net result is a reduction in the hotel' s "carbon footprint". But here' s what gets me: the hotels I stayed in this summer didn't seem all that interested in being green when it came to other things. The lobby of the big resort was air conditioned to meet locker temperatures. All day long, that frosty air rushed out the vast double doors, which were left open in the July heat. The resort also had a fleet of big, gas guzzling(耗油的)vans idling at the curb to transport guests around the grounds. Green stories of companiesF)Hotels are not the only offenders in this kind of green fakery. Some companies have embraced conservation for real. They build headquarters with solar panels and rainwater collection systems: they think of the environmental impact of every aspect of their businesses and actually change the way they do things to reduce waste. But this is labor intensive, often expensive, and takes commitment. Faced with that, many corporations take a different approach: They don't do much of anything to change the way they do business, but make a big show of their contribution to Mother Earth.G)It's usually easy to spot these companies: They make their customers do the work, and then take the credit. In the name of saving the planet, my cable TV operator keeps asking for permission to stop sending paper statements in the mail each month. Instead, firms are supposed to check my statement online. The real reason, of course, is that doing so would save them paper, printing and postage. This is a perfectly reasonable reason for them to want me to switch. But when they pretend that it' s all about the environment, it just makes me hate my cable company even more than I already do.Green stories of ad campaignsH)Sometimes a good ad campaign does a better job of enhancing a company's green reputation than going through the expense and difficulty of adopting actual environmentally sound practices. Billboards in Washington appeal to me to join the cause. "I will unplug stuff more," reads one. Another says, "I will at least consider buying a hybrid(合成物)." These ads are the work of Chevron, the giant oil company, whose "Will You Join Us?" ads try to convince people that saving the planet is at the top of their fist. You might think that if Chevron was really worried about problems like global warming, they would spend some of those dollars lobbying Congress to adopt stricter gas mileage(英里数)requirements for automobiles. They do not do this. Instead, firms are apparently supposed to praise them as environmental heroes because they tell me to unplug my toaster and think about getting a Toyota Prius.I)Yet, ad campaigns like these work. Chevron lands at No. 371 out of 500 companies on Newsweek' s green ranks. But it claims the No. 62 spot when it comes to green reputation thanks in part to those pretty, polished ads. Green marketing has also helped Wal-Mart appear kinder and gentler in recent years. To be fair, the retailing giant has done more than redesign its logo. The company, which ranks 59th on Newsweek' s list, has embraced a series of in-house green initiatives and is demanding its suppliers do the same. The result: Wal-Mart scores first place in our reputation survey.J)Given the power of positive marketing, it's easy to see why those little towel cards are so popular enough so that there are now a lot of companies that market them to hotels, along with all manner of products intended to make customers feel good about themselves while helping the hotels feel good about their bank balances. I suppose it is time that I step up and do my part. On behalf of the planet I will dutifully sleep on day-old sheets. But please, for the love of all that is good and right, keep the towels coming.

武则天，中国历史上唯一的一位女皇帝，于 唐朝 (the Tang Dynasty)690年称帝。虽然她很残暴，但是她对国家的统治还是比较成功的。她任人唯贤，完全不考虑其家庭地位。通过奖励积极发展农业的官员，惩罚对农民课征重税的官员，武则天极大地促进了农业的发展。中国的 佛教 (Buddhism)在她统治期间也发展到了顶峰。宋庆龄评价她为“ 封建时代 (feudal period)杰出的女政治家”。

[此试题无题干]

"We have been ignoring the biggest global health threat of the 21st century." This was the message spelled out in a report launched by doctors and climatologists (气候学家) in London. Over the coming century, climate change will worsen virtually every health problem we know of. "The health sector has in the past not only underestimated but completely neglected and ignored the issues," said Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet. "This has not been an issue on the agenda of any professional body in health over the last 10 years in any significant way." The Lancet commissioned the report from a panel of specialists at University College London. The doctors said they felt the tide was turning, however. "It is true that the health sector is beginning to wake up to this," said Hugh Montgomery, director of UCL's Institute for Human Health and Performance. He cited the UK's Royal College of Physicians, whose president has made climate change "pretty much its number one priority". Anthony Costello, director of UCL's Institute for Global Health, said that helping to write the report had been a personal wake-up call. "Eighteen months ago, I felt there were other priorities," he said. "I thought infant deaths were a much more immediate risk to the developing countries I visited." The report alerted him up to the fact that the world is facing a global crisis. "I want to retain some optimism. If we do act now, we can hold back this crisis." The doctors and researchers listed shortages of water and food, along with war and ecological collapse, as the most pressing health threats posed by climate change. The message does not appear to have filtered through to the family doctors and health policy-makers whose job is to save lives. "Think of the average general practitioner," said Mark Maslin, a climatologist at UCL. Between short appointments and struggling to keep up with medical journals, they have little time to factor climate change into their long list of responsibilities. "This report says the medical profession has to wake up," said Maslin. "Pulling our hair out, saying we're all going to die horribly does not save lives."

BPart Ⅳ Translation/B

{{B}}Part I Writing{{/B}}

BSection A/B

[此试题无题干]

[此试题无题干]

{{B}}Section C{{/B}}

[此试题无题干]

Cars and other road vehicles are the single main source of harmful nitrogen oxides. Road transport remains the biggest source of harmful air pollution in the EU despite efforts to reduce emissions over the past decades. A report published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) shows that it is the single main source of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and non-methane volatile organic compounds. It is also the second most important source of PM10 and PM2.5 particles. As well as road transport, manufacturing industries, construction, the residential sector and agriculture are the main sources of air pollution in Europe today, the agency said. The EEA said: "Particulate matter from sources such as vehicle exhausts and residential heating can affect the lungs and harm people of all ages, but it is known to pose an extra risk to those with existing heart and respiratory problems." "Air pollutants are also responsible for the acidification of forests and water ecosystems, and eutrophication of soils and waters—leading to a limited supply of oxygen in rivers and lakes." A spokesperson for campaign group T&E (the European Federation for Transport and Environment) told EDIE: "One of the key reasons that transport is still such a major cause of air pollution in Europe is because transport users rarely have to pay for the pollution they cause." "Currently Member States are forbidden from including pollution charges in road tolls." "The Commission just last month proposed to change the rules, a move that we urge the Parliament and Ministers to support." "There are also some positive signs of change as London and a number of German cities have introduced low emission zones over the last year. But there is still a long way to go." According to the report, nitrogen oxide emissions decreased by 35% between 1990 and 2006, although the rate of decrease was just 1.8% in the final year of that period. Electricity and heat production remains the main source of sulphur oxides emissions, followed by manufacturing industries and construction sources. In contrast, agricultural activities were responsible for the vast majority of ammonia emissions— livestock manure and fertilisers accounted for more than 90% of the emissions.

BSection B/B

元青花瓷富丽雄浑，其风格与传统的瓷器大相径庭。

[此试题无题干]

Taste is such a subjective matter that we don't usually conduct preference tests for food. The most you can say about anyone's preference, is that it's one person's opinion. But because the two big cola (可乐) companies—Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola are marketed so aggressively, we've wondered how big a role taste preference actually plays in brand loyalty. We set up a taste test that challenged people who identified themselves as either Coca-Cola or Pepsi fans: Find your brand in a blind tasting. We invited staff volunteers who had a strong liking for either Coca-Cola Classic (传统型) or Pepsi, Diet (低糖的) Coke, or Diet Pepsi. These were people who thought they'd have no trouble telling their brand from the other brand. We eventually located 19 regular cola drinkers and 27 diet cola drinkers. Then we fed them four unidentified samples of cola one at a time, regular colas for the one group, diet versions for the other. We asked them to tell us whether each sample was Coke or Pepsi; then we analyzed the records statistically to compare the participants' choices with what mere guess-work could have accomplished. Getting all four samples right was a tough test, but not too tough, we thought, for people who believed they could recognize their brand. In the end, only 7 out of 19 regular cola drinkers correctly identified their brand of choice in all four trials. The diet-cola drinkers did a little worse—only 7 of 27 identified all four samples correctly. While both groups did better than chance would predict, nearly half the participants in each group made the wrong choice two or more times. Two people go all four samples wrong. Overall, half the participants did about as well on the last round of tasting as on the first, so fatigue, or taste burnout, was not a factor. Our preference test results suggest that only a few Pepsi participants and Coke fans may really be able to tell their favorite brand by taste and price.

[此试题无题干]

近年来，随着中国政治及经济实力的不断提升，学中文的外国人越来越多。据统计，全球约有三千万人正在学习中文，而这一人数还在不断增加。在加拿大，虽然觉得汉语十分难学，但人们学中文的兴趣却与日俱增。他们喜欢中国文化，也意识到学习中文预示着更多的机遇。如今， 孔子学院 (Confucius Institute)遍布世界各地，致力于推广中国文化及语言。

提到中国体育不能不说乒乓球。