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。

Directions：For this part，you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition entitled The Importance of Goal．You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words．Outlines are given below in Chinese：1．树立正确目标很重要；2．树立目标为什么很重要；3．我的观点。

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BSection C/B

BSection A/B

Questions on the Origins of Christmas 1. Why do we celebrate on December 25th? A) The Bible makes no mention of Jesus being born on December 25th and, as more than one historian has pointed out, why would shepherds be tending to their flock in the middle of winter? So why is that the day we celebrate? Well, either Christian holidays miraculously fall on the same days as pagan ones or the Christians have been crafty in converting pagan populations to religion by placing important Christian holidays on the same days as pagan ones. And people had been celebrating on December 25th (and the surrounding weeks) for centuries by the time Jesus showed up. B) The Winter Solstice, falling on or around December 21st, was and is celebrated around the world as the beginning of the end of winter. It is the shortest day and longest night and its passing signifies that spring is on the way. In Scandinavian countries, they celebrated the solstice with a holiday called Yule last from the 21st until January and burned a Yule log the whole time. In Rome, Saturnalia—a celebration of Saturn, the God of agriculture—lasted the entire end of the year and was marked by mass intoxication. In the middle of this, the Romans celebrated the birth of another God, Mithra (a child God), whose holiday celebrated the children of Rome. C) When the Christianity became the official religion of Rome, there was no Christmas. It was not until the 4th century that Pope Julius I declared the birth of Jesus to be a holiday and picked December 25th as the celebration day. By the middle ages, most people celebrated the holiday we know as Christmas. 2. How did Americans come to love the holiday? D) The American Christmas is, like most American holidays, a mishmash of Old World customs mixed with American inventions. While Christmas was celebrated in America from the time of the Jamestown settlement, our modern idea of the holiday didn't take root until the 19th century. The History Channel credits Washington Irving with getting the ball rolling. In 1819 he published The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, gent., an account of a Christmas celebration in which a rich family invites poor folk into their house to celebrate the holiday. E) The problem was that many of the activities described in living's work, such as Crowning a Lord of Misrule, were entirely fictional. Nonetheless, Irving began to steer Christmas celebrations away from drunken debauchery (放荡) and towards wholesome, charitable fun. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, Christmas gained popularity and Americans adopted old customs or invented new ones, such as Christmas trees, greeting cards, giving gifts and eating a whole roasted pig. 3. Who popularized Christmas trees? F) Since time immortal, humans have been fascinated with the color green and plants that stay green through winter. Many ancient societies—from Romans to Vikings—would decorate their Homes and temples with evergreens in the winter as a symbol of the returning growing season. But the Christmas tree didn't get going until some intrepid (无畏的) German dragged home and decorated a tree in the 16th century. Legend has it that Martin Luther himself added lighted candles to his family's tree, starting the trend (and leading to countless fires through the years). In America, the Christmas tree didn't catch on until 1846 when the British royals, Queen Victoria and the German Prince Albert, were shown with a Christmas tree in a newspaper. Fashionable people in America mimicked the Royals and the tree thing spread outside of German enclaves (被围领土) in America. Ornaments, courtesy of Germany, and electric lights, courtesy of Thomas Edison's assistants, were added over the years and we haven't changed much since. 4. What's the deal with Santa Clans? G) The jolly, red-suited man who sneaks into your home every year to leave you gifts hasn't always been so jolly. The real Saint Nick was a Turkish monk who lived in the 3rd century. According to legend, he was a rich man thanks to an inheritance from his parents, but he gave it all away in the form of gifts to the less-fortunate. He eventually became the most popular saint in Europe and, through his alter ego, Santa Claus, remains so to this day. But how did a long-dead Turkish monk become a big, fat, reindeer-riding pole dweller? The Dutch got the ball rolling by celebrating the saint—called Sinter Klaas—in New York in the late-18th century. Our old friend, Washington Irving, included the legend of Saint Nick in his seminal History of New-York as well, but at the turn of the 18th century, Saint Nick was still a rather obscure figure in America. H) On December 23, 1823, though, a man named Clement Clarke Moore published a poem he had written for his daughters called "An Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas," better known now as "T" was the Night Before Christmas." Nobody knows how much of the poem Moore invented, but we do know that it was the spark that eventually lit the Santa fire. Many of the things we associate with Santa—a sleigh, reindeer, Christmas Eve visits—came from Moore's poem. From 1863 to 1886, Thomas Nast's illustrations of Santa Claus appeared in Harper's Weekly—including a scene with Santa giving gifts to Union soldiers. Not much has changed since the second half of the 19th century: Santa still gets pulled in a sleigh by flying reindeer, he still wears the big red suit and he still sneaks down chimneys to drop off presents. 5. Who invented Rudolph? I) Santa did get one more friend in 1939. Robert May, a copywriter for the Montgomery Ward department store chain, wrote a little story about a 9th reindeer with a disturbing red nose for a booklet to give customers during the holiday season. Ten years later, May's brother would put the story to music, writing the lyrics and melody.

Directions: Some people prefer to work in a group, while some people prefer to work independently. Please write a short essay entitled Teamwork or Independent Work. You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.

1．现在有许多大学生参与商业活动2．对大学生是否应该参与商业活动有许多说法3．我的看法

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丝绸之路以古代中国的政治、经济、文化中心——古都长安为起点，一直延伸至中亚、北非和欧洲。

The National Trust in Britain plays an increasingly important part in the preservation for public enjoyment of the best that is left unspoiled of the British countryside. Although the Trust has received practical and moral support from the Government, it is not a rich Government department. It is a charity which depends for its existence on voluntary support from members of the public. The attention of the public was first drawn to the dangers threatening the great old houses and castles of Britain by the death of Lord Lothian, who left his great seventeenth-century house to the Trust together with the 4,500-acre park and estate surrounding it. This gift attracted wide publicity and started the Trust's "Country House Scheme". Under this scheme, with the help of the Government and the general public, the Trust has been able to save and open to the public about one hundred and fifty of these old houses. Last year about one and three quarters of a million people paid to visit these historic houses, usually at a very small charge. In addition to country houses and open spaces the Trust now owns some examples of ancient wind and water mills, nature reserves, five hundred and forty farms and nearly two thousand five hundred cottages or small village houses, as well as some complete villages. In these villages no one is allowed to build, develop or disturb the old village environment in any way and all the houses are maintained in their original sixteenth-century style. Over four hundred thousand acres of coastline, woodland, and hill country are protected by the Trust and no development or disturbances of any kind are permitted. The public has free access to these areas and is only asked to respect the peace, beauty and wildlife. So it is that over the past eighty years the Trust has become a big and important organization and an essential and respected part of national life, preserving all that is of great natural beauty and of historical significance not only for future generations of Britons but also for the millions of tourists who each year invade Britain in search of a great historic and cultural heritage.

BPart III Reading Comprehension/B

中国发展迅速的经济和相对较低的生活成本吸引着美国求职者前来。

今天星期五。

提到中国体育不能不说乒乓球。乒乓球为中国赢得了无数个世界 冠军 (championship)，给国人带来无穷的喜悦与自豪感。此外，乒乓球一直是中国人最喜爱的运动之一。无论在学校、 社区 (residential areas)，还是公园、广场，都可以看到乒乓球和人们挥拍的身影。上至花甲老人，下至年幼孩童都可以挥上几拍，这也是乒乓球被称为中国国球的另一原因。

武术在我国源远流长，是中华民族传统文化的瑰宝。我们知道，一个民族的优秀文化遗产，不仅仅属于一个民族，它会逐渐传播到世界而成为人类的共同财富。武术的蓬勃发展，除得益于其项目本身的吸引力之外，早期移居海外的一代武术大师功不可没。老一代武术家在海外播下了武术的种子，使武术这项既可以自卫又可以健身的运动很快就在新的土地上扎下了根。今天高水平的武术大师已遍布世界各地，武术爱好者也与日俱增。

Forthispart,youareallowed30minutestowriteashortessaybasedonthepicturebelow.Youshouldstartyouressaywithabriefaccountofthepracticeofsettingofffireworksandthenexpressyourviewsonwhetherthispracticeshouldbeforbiddenornot.Youshouldwriteatleast120wordsbutnomorethan180words.

For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled Better Act Now than Later by referring to the saying, "Don't put off till tomorrow what should be done today." You should write at least 120 words but no more than 180 words.