单选题 Most people can remember a phone number for up to thirty seconds. When this short amount of time elapses, however, the numbers are erased from the memory. How did the information get there in the first place? Information that makes its way to the short term memory (STM) does so via the sensory storage area. The brain has a filter which only allows stimuli that is of immediate interest to pass on to the STM, also known as the working memory. There is much debate about the capacity and duration of the short term memory. The most accepted theory comes from George A. Miller, a cognitive psychologist who suggested that humans can remember approximately seven chunks of information. A chunk is defined as a meaningful unit of information, such as a word or name rather than just a letter or number. Modern theorists suggest that one can increase the capacity of the short term memory by chunking, or classifying similar information together. By organizing information, one can optimize the STM, and improve the chances of a memory being passed on to long term storage. When making a conscious effort to memorize something, such as information for an exam, many people engage in 'rote rehearsal'. By repeating something over and over again, we are able to keep a memory alive. Unfortunately, this type of memory maintenance only succeeds if there are no interruptions. As soon as a person stops rehearsing the information, it has the tendency to disappear. When a pen and paper are not handy, you might attempt to remember a phone number by repeating it aloud. If the doorbell rings or the dog barks to come in before you get the opportunity to make your phone call, you will forget the number instantly. Therefore, rote rehearsal is not an efficient way to pass information from the short term to long term memory. A better way is to practice 'elaborate rehearsal'. This involves assigning semantic meaning to a piece of information so that it can be filed along with other pre-existing long term memories. Encoding information semantically also makes it more retrievable. Retrieving information can be done by recognition or recall. Humans can recall memories that are stored in the long term memory and used often. However, if a memory seems to be forgotten, it may eventually be retrieved by prompting. The more cues a person is given (such as pictures), the more likely a memory can be retrieved. This is why multiple choice tests are often used for subjects that require a lot of memorization.

单选题 The Magic of Diasporas(大移居) Immigrant networks are a rare bright spark in the world economy. Rich countries should welcome them. A．This is not a good time to be foreign. Anti-immigrant parties are gaining ground in Europe. Britain has been fretting(烦 恼，发愁) this week over lapses in its border controls. In America Barack Obama has failed to deliver the immi-gration reform he promised, and Republican presidential candidates would rather electrify the border fence with Mexico than educate the children of illegal aliens. America educates foreign scientists in its universities and then expels them, a policy the mayor of New York calls 'national suicide'. B．This illiberal turn in attitudes to migration is no surprise. It is the result of cyclical economic gloom combined with a rise in pressure on rich countries' borders. But governments now weighing up whether or not to try to slam the door should consider another factor: the growing economic importance of diasporas, and the contribution they can make to a country's economic growth. C．Diaspora networks-of Huguenots, Scots, Jews and many others—have always been a potent economic force, but the cheapness and ease of modern travel has made them larger and more numerous than ever before. There are now 215m first-generation migrants around the world: that's 3% of the world's population. If they were a nation, it would be a little larger than Brazil. There are more Chinese people living outside China than there are French people in France. Some 22m Indians are scattered all over the globe. Small concentrations of ethnic and linguistic groups have always been found in surprising places-Lebanese in west Africa, Japanese in Brazil and Welsh in Patagonia, for instance—but they have been joined by newer ones, such as west Africans in southern China. D．These networks of kinship(亲缘关系) and language make it easier to do business across borders. They speed the flow of information: a Chinese trader in Indonesia who spots a gap in the market for cheap umbrellas will alert his cousin in Shenzhen who knows someone who runs an umbrella factory. Kinship ties foster trust, so they can seal the deal and get the umbrellas to Jakarta before the rainy season ends. Trust matters, especially in emerging markets where the rule of law is weak. So does the knowledge of the local culture. That is why so much foreign direct investment in China still passes through the Chinese diasporas. And modern communications make these networks an even more powerful tool of business. E．Diasporas also help spread ideas. Many of the emerging world's brightest minds are educated at Western universities. An increasing number go home, taking with them both knowledge and contacts. Indian computer scientists in Bangalore bounce ideas constantly off their Indian friends in Silicon Valley. China's technology industry is dominated by 'sea turtles' (Chinese who have lived abroad and returned). F．Diasporas spread money, too. Migrants into rich countries not only send cash to their families; they also help companies in their host country operate in their home country. A Harvard Business School study shows that American companies that employ lots of ethnic Chinese people find it much easier to set up in China without a joint venture with a local firm. G．Such arguments are unlikely to make much headway against hostility towards immigrants in rich countries. Fury against foreigners is usually based on two (mutually incompatible) notions: that because so many migrants claim welfare they are a drain on the public purse; and that because they are prepared to work harder for less pay they will depress the wages of those at the bottom of the pile. The first is usually not true (in Britain, for instance, immigrants claim benefits less than local people do), and the second is hard to establish either way. Some studies do indeed suggest that competition from unskilled immigrants depresses the wages ofunskilled locals. But others find this effect to be small or non-existent. H．Nor is it possible to establish the impact of migration on overall growth. The sums are simply too difficult. Yet there are good reasons for believing that it is likely to be positive. Migrants tend to be hard-working and innovative. That spurs productivity and company formation. A recent study carried out by Duke University showed that, while immigrants make up an eighth of America's population, they founded a quarter of the country's technology and engineering firms. And, by linking the West with emerging markets, diasporas help rich countries to plug into fast-growing economies. I．Rich countries are thus likely to benefit from looser immigration policy; and fears that poor countries will suffer as a result of a 'brain drain' are overblown. The prospect of working abroad spurs more people to acquire valuable skills, and not all subsequently emigrate. Skilled migrants send money home, and they often return to set up new businesses. One study found that unless they lose more than 20% of their university graduates, the brain drain makes poor countries richer. J．Government as well as business gains from the spread of ideas through diasporas. Foreign-educated Indians, including the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh (Oxford and Cambridge) and his sidekick Montek Ahluwalia (Oxford), played a big role in bringing economic reform to India in the early 1990s. Some 500,000 Chinese people have studied abroad and returned, mostly in the past decade; they dominate the think-tanks that advise the government. K．As for the old world, its desire to close its borders is understandable but dangerous. Migration brings youth to ageing countries, and allows ideas to circulate in millions of mobile minds. That is good both for those who arrive with suitcases and dreams and for those who should welcome them.

单选题 Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on one of the most popular sentences online, 'REMEMBER... always act like you're wearing an invisible crown.' You can cite examples to illustrate your point. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

单选题 Shopping has always been something of an impulse activity. Advertisers and sellers have taken advantage of this fact, carefully positioning inexpensive but attractive items on paths that we are most likely to cross, in the hopes that our human nature will lead to a greater profit for them. With the dawn of the Internet and its exploding usage across the world, the same tactics apply. Advertisers now place 'banners', links to commercial web sites decorated with attractive pictures designed to catch our eyes while browsing the webs, on key web sites with heavy traffic. They pay top dollar for the right, thus creating profits for the hosting web site as well. These actions are performed in the hopes that during the course of our casual web surfing, we'll click on that banner that we are interested in and thus, in theory, buy the products advertised. Initial results have been positive. Web sites report a huge inflow of cash, both from the advertisers and the hosting web sites. As trust and confidence in Internet buying increases and information security is heightened with new technology, the volume of buying is increasing, leading to even greater profits. The current situation, however, is not quite as optimistic. Just as magazine readers tend to unconsciously ignore advertisements in their favorite periodicals (期刊), web browsers are beginning to allow banners to slip their notice as well. Internet users respond to the flood of banners by viewing them as annoyances (烦恼，令人讨厌的事), a negative image that is hurting sales, since users are now less reluctant to click on those banners, preferring not to support the system that put them in place. If Internet advertising is to continue to be a profitable business practice, new methods will need to be considered to reinvigorate (使复兴) the industry. With the recent decline in the technology sector and economy recession, even new practices may not work. As consumers are saving more and frequenting (频繁光顾) traditional 'brick and mortar' businesses over their Internet counterparts, the fate of Internet business is called into question. The coming years will be the only reliable indication of whether shopping on the world wide web is the wave of the future or simply an impulse activity.

单选题 Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay commenting on the saying 'The early bird catches the worm.' You can cite examples to illustrate the importance of diligence. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

单选题 Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay on the importance of taking advantage of group brainstorming to solve problems. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

单选题 For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay on the following question. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words. Suppose you are going to choose your major. Will you choose the one that promises you a better job or the one that you are more interested in?

单选题Directions:Forthispart,yonare'allowed30minutestowriteashortessaybasedonthepicturebelow.Youshouldstartyouressaywithabriefaccountofthepictureandthengivethereason.Youshouldwriteatleast120wordsbutnomorethan180words.

单选题Directions:Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteashortessay.Youshouldstartyouressaywithabriefdescriptionofthepictureandthenexpressyourviewsontheproblemofdrunkdriving.Youshouldwriteatleast120wordsbutnomorethan180words.

单选题For decades, Americans have taken for granted the United States' position in the development of new technologies. The innovations(创新) that resulted from research and development during World War Ⅱ and afterwards were 26 to the prosperity of the nation in the second half of the 20th century. Those innovations, upon which virtually all aspects of 27 society now depend, were possible because the United States 28 then the world in mathematics and science education. Today, however, despite increasing demand for workers with strong skills in mathematics and science, the 29 of degrees awarded in science, math, and engineering are decreasing. The decline in degree production in what are called the STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, and math) seems to be 30 related to the comparatively weak performance by U. S. schoolchildren on international assessments of math and science. Many students entering college have weak skills in mathematics. According to the 2005 report of the Business-Higher Education Forum, 22 percent of college freshmen must take remedial(补习的) math 31 , and less than half of the students who plan to major in science or engineering 32 complete a major in those fields. The result has been a decrease in the number of American college graduates who have the skills, 33 in mathematics, to power a workforce that can keep the country at the forefront (前沿) of innovation and maintain its standard of living. With the 34 performance of American students in math and science has come increased competition from students from other countries that have strongly supported education in these areas. Many more students earn 35 in me STEM disciplines in developing countries, especially China, than in the United States. A. accelerating B. actually C. closely D. contemporary E. courses F. critical G. declining H. degrees I. especially J. future K. led L. met M. procedures N. proportions O. spheres

单选题 Gay Rights in Chile Every now and then a society is confronted by a crime so horrific that it prompts profound reflection and, eventually, change. Among such crimes was the murder in Chile of Daniel Zamudio. On October 28th 2012 a court sentenced one of his attackers to life in prison. Two of the others got 15 years each; the fourth got seven years. Zamudio was beaten unconscious in a park in the capital, Santiago, for being gay. His foul attackers carved swastikas (纳粹党所用的十字记号) into his skin, branded him with cigarettes and hit his right leg very hard with an 8 kg rock. According to the court testimony, they then urinated (小便) on his body. Zamudio died in hospital three weeks later. He was 24. The change that followed was brisk. Within weeks of the murder, legislators passed into law an anti-discrimination bill that had been kicking around Congress, largely ignored, for seven years. Gay rights have been a theme in the current presidential campaign. Most of the candidates say they now back gay marriage. Chile has never been an easy place for homosexuals (同性恋). The Catholic church maintains a frightening, if gradually decreasing, grip on public morality. Divorce was banned until 2004, and gay sex decriminalised only in 1999 (in Argentina and Brazil it has been legal since the 19th century). Chile is one of only four countries in South America where the age of consent is higher for gays than for heterosexuals (异性恋). And, depressingly, brutal attacks like the one on Zamudio continue. On October 20th 2012 a 21-year-old gay man, Wladimir Sepulveda, was assaulted in the town of San Francisco de Mostazal, 60kin south of Santiago, as he walked home with another man. His six attackers included two women. Witnesses said the attackers shouted homophobic (仇视同性恋的) insults at Mr. Sepulveda, shoved him to the ground and kicked and beat him unconscious. He remains in a coma (昏迷), fighting for his life—a sad reminder that Chile is not as safe and orderly a haven in an often violent continent as Chileans like to think. At least not for everyone.

单选题 Housing officials say that lately they are noticing something different: students seem to lack the will, and skill, to address these ordinary conflicts. 'We have students who are mad at each other and they text each other in the same room,' says a teacher. 'So, many of our roommate conflicts are because kids don't know how to negotiate a problem.' And as any pop psychologist will tell you, bottled emotions lead to silent seething (不满) that can boil over into frustration and anger. At the University of Florida, emotional outbursts occur about once a week, the university's director of housing and residence education says. 'It used to be: 'Let's sit down and talk about it,'' he says. 'Over the past five years, roommate conflicts have intensified. The students don't have the person-to-person discussions and they don't know how to handle them.' The problem is most dramatic among freshmen; housing professionals say they see improvement as students move toward graduation, but some never seem to catch on, and they worry about how such students will deal with conflicts after college. Administrators speculate that reliance on cell phones and the Internet may have made it easier for young people to avoid uncomfortable encounters. Why express anger in person when you can vent in a text? Facebook creates even more friction as complaints go public. 'Things are posted on someone's wall on Facebook: 'Oh, my roommate kept me up all night studying,'' says Dana Pysz, an assistant director in the office of residential life at the University of California, Los Angeles. 'It's a different way to express their conflict to each other.' In recent focus groups at North Carolina State University, dorm residents said they would not even confront noisy neighbors on their floor. Administrators point to parents who have fixed their children's problems their entire lives. Now in college, the children lack the skills to attend to even modest conflicts. Some parents continue to intervene on campus.

单选题 Promote Learning Skills for Young People and Adults A. This goal places the emphasis on the learning needs of young people and adults in the context of lifelong learning. It calls for fair access to learning programs that are appropriate, and mentions life skills particularly. B. Education is about giving people the opportunity to develop their potential, their personality and their strengths. This does not merely mean acquiring new knowledge, but also developing abilities to make the most of life. These are called life skills—including the inner capacities and the practical skills we need. C. Many of the inner capacities—often known as psycho-social skills—cannot be taught as subjects. They are not the same as academic or technical learning. They must rather be modeled and promoted as part of learning, and in particular by teachers. These skills have to do with the way we behave—towards other people, towards ourselves, towards the challenges and problems of life. They include skills in communicating, in making decisions and solving problems, in negotiating and expressing ourselves, in thinking critically and understanding our feelings. D. More practical life skills are the kinds of manual skills we need for the physical tasks we face. Some would include vocational skills under the heading of life skills—the ability to lay bricks, sew clothes, catch fish or repair a motorbike. These are skills by which people may earn their livelihood and which are often available to young people leaving school. In fact, very often young people learn psycho-social skills as they learn more practical skills. Learning vocational skills can be a strategy for acquiring both practical and psycho-social skills. E. We need to increase our life skills at every stage of life, so learning them may be part of early childhood education, of primary and secondary education and of adult learning groups. Life skills can be put into the categories that the Jacques Delors report suggested; it spoke of four pillars of education, which correspond to certain kinds of life skills—Learning to know: thinking abilities such as problem-solving, critical thinking, decision making, understanding consequences. Learning to be: personal abilities such as managing stress and feelings, self awareness, self-confidence. Learning to live together: social abilities such as communication, negotiation, teamwork. Learning to do: manual skills: practicing know-how required for work and tasks. F. In today's world all these skills are necessary in order to face rapid change in society. This means that it is important to know how to go on learning as we require new skills for life and work. In addition, we need to know how to cope with the flood of information and turn it in to useful knowledge. We also need to learn how to handle change in society and in our own lives. G. Life skills are both concrete and abstract—practical skills can be learned directly as a subject. For example, a learner can take a course in laying bricks and learn that skill. Other life skills, such as self-confidence, self-esteem, and skills for relating to others or thinking critically cannot be taught in such direct ways. They should be part of any learning process, where teachers or instructors are concerned that learners should not just learn about subjects, but learn how to cope with life and make the most of their potential. H. So these life skills may be learnt when pepple are learning other things. For example, Learning literacy may have a big impact on self-esteem, on critical thinking or on communication skills ;learning practical skills such as driving, healthcare or tailoring may increase self-confidence, teach problem-solving processes or help in understanding consequences. I. Whether this is true depends on the way of teaching—what kinds of thinking, relationship building and communication the teacher or facilitator models themselves and promotes among the learners. It would require to measure the individual and collective progress in making the most of learning and of life, or assessing how far human potential is being realized, or estimating how well people cope with change. It is easier to measure the development of practical skills, for instance by counting the number of students who register for vocational skills courses. However, this still may not tell us how effectively these skills are being used. J. The psycho-social skills cannot easily be measured by tests and scores, but become visible in changed behavior. Progress in this area has often been noted by teachers on reports which they make to the parents of their pupils. The teacher's experience of life, of teaching and of what can be expected from education in the broadest sense serve as a standard by which the growth and development of individuals can be assessed to some extent. This kind of assessment is individual and may never appear in international tables and charts. K. The current challenges relate to these difficulties: We need to recognize the importance of life skills—both practical and psycho-social—as part of education which leads to the full development of human potential and to the development of society. The links between psycho—social skills and practical skills must be more clearly spelled out, so that educators can promote both together and find effective ways to do this. Since life skills are taught as part of a wide range of subjects, teachers need to have training in how to put them across and how to monitor learners' growth in these areas. In designing curricula and syllabuses for academic subjects, there must be a balance between content teaching and attention to the accompanying life skills. A more conscious and deliberate effort to promote life skills will enable learners to become more active citizens in the life of society. L. Governments should recognize and actively advocate for the transformational role of education in realizing human potential and in socio-economic development. Ensure that curricula and syllabuses address life skills and give learners the opportunity to make real-life applications of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Show how life skills of all kinds apply in the world of work, for example, negotiating and communication skills, as well practical skills. Through initial and in-service teacher training, increase the use of active and participatory learning/teaching approaches. Examine and adapt the processes and content of education so that there is a balance between academic input and life skills development. Make sure that education inspectors look not only for academic progress through teaching and learning, but also progress in the communication, modeling and application of life skills. Advocate for the links between primary and (early) secondary education because learning life skills needs eight or nine years and recognize that the prospect of effective secondary education is an incentive to children, and their parents, to complete primary education successfully. M. Funding agencies should support research, exchange and debate nationally and regionally on ways of strengthening life skills education. Support innovative teacher training in order to combine life skills promotion into subjects across the curriculum and as a fundamental part of what school and education are about. Recognize the links between primary and secondary education in ensuring that children develop strong life skills. Support, therefore, the early years of secondary education as part basic education. N. As support to governments and in cooperation with other international agencies, UNESCO works to define life skills better and clarify what it means to teach and learn them. Assists education policy makers and teachers to develop and use a life skills approach to education. Advocates for the links between a life skills approach to education and broader society and human development.

单选题 长城 长城是中国也是世界上修建时间最长、工程量最大的一项古代防御工程(defense works)。自公元前七八世纪开始，长城延续不断修筑了2000多年，分布于中国北部和中部的广大土地上，总计长度达50000多千米，被称之为“上下两千多年，纵横十万余里”。如此浩大的工程不仅在中国就是在世界上，也是绝无仅有的，因而在几百年前就与古罗马竞技场(Colosseum)、比萨斜塔等列为中古世界七大奇迹。