BPart III Reading Comprehension/B

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People become quite illogical when they try to decide what can be eaten and what cannot. If you lived in the Mediterranean, for instance, you would consider octopus (章鱼) a great delicacy (美味佳肴). You would not be able to understand why some people find it repulsive. On the other hand, your stomach would turn at the idea of frying potatoes in animal fat—the normally accepted practice in many northern countries. The sad truth is that most of us have been brought up to eat certain foods and we stick to them all our lives. No creature has received more praise and abuse than the common garden snail. Cooked in wine, snails are a great luxury in various parts of the world. There are countless people who, ever since their early years, have learned to associate snails with food. My friend, Robert, lives in a country where snails are looked down upon. As his flat is in a large town, he has no garden of his own. For years he has been asking me to collect snails from my garden and take them to him. The idea never appealed to me very much, but one day, after a heavy shower, I happened to be walking in my garden when I noticed a huge number of snails taking a walk on some of my prize plants. Acting on a sudden impulse (冲动), I collected several dozen, put them in a paper bag, and took them to Robert. Robert was delighted to see me and equally pleased with my little gift. I left the bag in the hall and Robert and I went into the living room where we talked for a couple of hours. I had forgotten all about the snails when Robert suddenly said that I must stay to dinner. Snails would, of course, be the main dish. I did not fancy the idea and I reluctantly followed Robert out of the room. To my surprise, we saw that there were snails everywhere, they had escaped from the paper bag and had taken complete possession of the hall. I have never been able to look at a snail since then.

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Topic On College Students Getting Married For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled On College Students Getting Married following the outline given below. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. 1．如今的在校大学生可以结婚 2．人们对在校大学生结婚看法不一 3．我的看法

BSection A/B

假日经济 (holiday economy)的现象表明中国消费者的 消费观 (consumption concept)正在发生巨大变化。根据统计数据，中国消费者的消费需求正在从基本生活必需品转向对休闲、舒适和个人发展的需求。同时，中国人的消费观在蓬勃发展的假日经济中正变得成熟。因此产品结构应做相应调整，来适应社会的发展。另一方面，服务质量要改善，以满足人们提高生活质量的要求。

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The Importance of a Good Start For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying "A good start is half done." You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of a good start to success. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

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BPart I Writing/B

For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on whether e-books will replace paper books. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

圆明园 (Yuanmingyuan Imperial Garden)位于北京西郊，于1708年开始兴建。经过几十年的建造、装饰和改建，圆明园成为当时世界上最出色的园林之一。圆明园继承了中国园林建筑的传统，把不同风格的园林建筑融为一体，充分体现出和谐与完美。除此之外，圆明园在世界园林建筑史上也占有非常重要的地位。遗憾的是，经过几场战争，今天的圆明园只是一片废墟。

Pregnant women who suffer lapses (忘却) in memory or concentration may no longer be able to blame it on "the bump". The idea that bearing children affects one's brain power—the "baby brain"—is a myth, researchers say. Their study found no difference in how pregnant women or new mothers scored on tests of thinking speed and memory compared with those who were childless. Writing in the British Journal of Psychiatry, the authors said that pregnant women should be encouraged to stop attributing lapses in memory or logical thinking to their growing baby. The findings contradict previous studies that claimed women's brains decline in size by up to 4 per cent while they are pregnant, potentially leading to worse performance on tests of memory and oral skills. Helen Christensen, author of the latest study, said that the effect was "a myth". Professor Chris-tensen's team recruited 1,241 women aged 20-24 in 1999 and 2003 and asked them to perform a series of tasks. The women were followed up at four-year intervals and asked to perform the same cognitive (认知的) tests. A total of 77 women were pregnant at the follow-up assessments, 188 had become mothers and 542 remained childless. The researchers found no significant differences in cognitive change for those women who were pregnant or new mothers during the assessments and those who were not. "Not so long ago, pregnancy was 'confinement' and motherhood meant the end of career aspirations," Professor Christensen said, "but our results challenge the view that mothers are anything other than the intellectual peers of their contemporaries." Cathy Warwick, of the Royal College of Midwives, said that the difficulties of pregnancy and motherhood could explain why some women felt absent-minded or tired. The number of infants in England dying before their first birthday is still greater than in countries such as France, Spain, the Audit Commission says. The health of pre-school children has not significantly improved despite the Government having spent ￡10 billion, directly or indirectly, since 1998 on improving the health of children under the age of 5 in England. Infant death rates have fallen but are "still relatively high" compared with other European countries.

在过去的几十年里，除夕夜吃饺子、放烟花、看一年一度的 央视春节联欢晚会 (CCTV Spring Festival Gala)已经成为许多中国家庭的过年习俗。春节联欢晚会时长四个多小时。据央视统计，晚会每年会吸引无数观众。今年观看春晚的人数就超过了7亿，春晚为世界上观看人数最多的电视 综艺节目 (variety show)。对大多数中国人而言，春节联欢晚会是现代文化的一部分。

The medical world is gradually realizing that the quality of the environment in hospitals may play a significant role in the process of recovery from illness. As part of a nationwide effort in Britain to bring art out of the galleries and into public places, some of the country's most talented artists have been called in to transform older hospitals and to soften the hard edges of modern buildings. Of the 2, 500 National Health Service hospitals in Britain, almost 100 now have significant collections of contemporary art in corridors, waiting areas and treatment rooms. These recent initiatives owe a great deal to one artist, Peter Senior, who set up his studio at a Manchester hospital in northeastern England during the early 1970s. He felt the artist had lost his place in modern society, and that art should be enjoyed by a wider audience. A typical hospital waiting room might have as many as 500 visitors each week. What better place to hold regular exhibitions of art? Senior held the first exhibition of his own paintings in the out-patients waiting area of the Manchester Royal Hospital in 1975. Believed to be Britain's first hospital artist, Senior was so much in demand that he was soon joined by a team of six young art school graduates. The effect is striking. Now in the corridors and waiting rooms the visitor experiences a full view of fresh colors, playful images and restful courtyards. The quality of the environment may reduce the need for expensive drugs when a patient is recovering from an illness. A study has shown that patients who had a view onto a garden needed half the number of strong pain killers compared with patients who had no view at all or only a brick wall to look at.