Only two countries in the advanced world provide no guarantee for paid leave from work to care for a newborn child. Last spring one of the two, Australia, gave up that dubious distinction by establishing paid family leave starting in 2011. I wasn't surprised when this didn't make the news here in the United States—we're now the only wealthy country without such a policy. The United States does have one explicit family policy, the Family and Medical Leave Act, passed in 1993. It entitles workers to as much as 12 weeks' unpaid leave for care of a newborn or dealing with a family medical problem. Despite the modesty of the benefit, the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups fought it bitterly, describing it as "government-run personnel management" and a "dangerous precedent." In fact, every step of the way, as (usually) Democratic leaders have tried to introduce work-family balance measures into the law, business groups have been strongly opposed. As Yale law professor Anne Alstott argues, justifying parental support depends on defining the family as a social good that, in some sense, society must pay for. In her book No Exit. What Parents Owe Their Children and What Society Owes Parents, she argues that parents are burdened in many ways in their lives: there is "no exit" when it comes to children. "Society expects—and needs—parents to provide their children with continuity of care, meaning the intensive, intimate care that human beings need to develop their intellectual, emotional, and moral capabilities. And society expects—and needs—parents to persist in their role for 18 years, or longer if needed. " While most parents do this out of love, there are public penalties for not providing care. What parents do, in other words, is of deep concern to the state, for the obvious reason that caring for children is not only morally urgent but essential for the future of society. The state recognizes this in the large body of family laws that govern children's welfare, yet parents receive little help in meeting the life-changing obligations society imposes. To classify parenting as a personal choice for which there is no collective responsibility is not merely to ignore the social benefits of good parenting; really, it is to steal those benefits because they accrue(不断积累) to the whole of society as today's children become tomorrow's productive citizenry(公民). In fact, by some estimates, the value of parental investments in children, investment of time and money (including lost wages), is equal to 20-30% of gross domestic product. If these investments generate huge social benefits—as they clearly do—the benefits of providing more social support for the family should be that much clearer.

偶像崇拜 (idol worship)是一种特殊的社会心理现象，是人们成长过程中的热门话题。处于人生蜕变期的青少年，身心急速发展往往会造成适应上的困难和情绪上的失衡。此时若能有良好的楷模作为效仿的对象，再加上家长的正确引导，有助于青少年的成长与发展。人生是一个不断模仿、学习与创新的历程。孩子在成长的过程中，需要家长的引导与友伴的激励。偶像崇拜的正确引导，有助于良好行为的塑造，了解它、接受它并应用它，才是积极之道。

[此试题无题干]

后来受一部影片的影响，他决定弃医从文，希望用文字改变中国人的思想。

QQ是目前在中国使用很广的一种即时通讯工具，它基于因特网。可以方便人们随时随地进行在线交流。QQ由 腾讯 (Tencent)公司开发，其 标志 (logo)为可爱的小企鹅图像。QQ可以支持在线聊天、视频电话、文件传输、音乐、游戏、邮箱等多种功能。现在QQ已经成为世界上最大的中文在线社区，拥有约7亿个活跃用户。人们已经越来越习惯于用QQ交流，QQ成为最受中国网民喜爱的软件之一。QQ已经融人人们的生活，丰富着人们的精神世界。

[此试题无题干]

黄河 (the Yellow River)全长约5464公里，是中国的第二长河，仅次于 长江 (the Yangtze River)。黄河发源于青海省，流经9个省和自治区，最后注入 渤海 (the Bohai Sea)。黄河 流域 (basin)是中国古代文明的发祥地，因此黄河被称作中华民族的母亲河、中华文明的摇篮。黄河是生命力的象征，是中国人民的精神家园。千百年来，中国很多文学、艺术作品都与黄河有关。近年来，黄河水资源面临严重危机，如水质恶化和水土流失等。因此，保护黄河流域的生态环境刻不容缓。

{{B}}Part Ⅳ Translation{{/B}}

Smother Love [A]Every morning, Leanne Brickland and her sister would bicycle to school with the same words ringing in their ears: "Watch out crossing the road. Don't speak to strangers". "Mum would stand at the top of the steps and call that out," says Brickland, now a primary-school teacher and mother of four from Rotorua, New Zealand. Substitute boxers and thongs for undies(内衣), and the nagging fears that haunt parents haven't really changed. What has altered, dramatically, is the confidence we once had in our children's ability to fling themselves at life without a grown-up holding their hands. [B]By today's standards, the childhood freedoms Brickland took for granted practically verge on parental neglect. Her mother worked, so she and her sister had a key to let themselves in after school and were expected to do their homework and put on the potatoes for dinner. At the family's beach house near Wellington, the two girls, from the age of five or six, would disappear for hours to play in the lakes and sands. [C]A generation later, Brickland's children are growing up in a world more indulged yet more accustomed to peril. The techno-minded generation of PlayStation kids who can conquer entire armies and rocket through space can't even be trusted to cross the street alone. "I walked or biked to school for years, but my children don't," Brickland admits. "I worry about the road. I worry about strangers. In some ways I think they're missing out, but I like to be able to see them, to know where they are and what they're doing." [D]Call it smother love, indulged-kid syndrome, parental neurosis(神经症). Even though today's chil- dren have the universe at their fingertips thanks to the Internet, their physical boundaries are shrinking at a rapid pace. According to British social scientist Mayer Hillman, a child's play zone has contracted so radically that we're producing the human equivalent of henhouse chickens—plump from lack of exercise and without the flexibility and initiative of free-range kids of the past. The spirit of our times is no longer the resourceful adventurer Tom Sawyer but rather the worry-ridden dad and his stifled only child in Finding Nemo. [E]In short, child rearing has become an exercise in risk minimization, represented by stories such as the father who refused to allow his daughter on a school picnic to the beach for fear she might drown. While it's natural for a parent to want to protect their children from danger, you have to wonder Have we gone too far? [F]A study conducted by Paul Tranter, a lecturer in geography at the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra, showed that while Australian and New Zealand children had similar amounts of unsupervised freedom, it was far less than German or English kids. For example, only a third of ten-year-olds in Australia and New Zealand were allowed to visit places other than school alone, compared to 80 percent in Germany. [G]Girls were even more restricted than boys, with parents fearing assault or molestation(骚扰), while traffic dangers were seen as the greatest threat to boys. Bike ownership has doubled in a generation, but"independent mobility"—the ability to roam and explore unsupervised—has radically declined. In Auckland, for example, many primary schools have done away with bicycle racks because the streets are considered too unsafe. And in Christchurch, New Zealand's most bike-friendly city, the number of pupils cycling to school has fallen from more than 90 percent in the late 1970s to less than 20 percent. Safely strapped into the family 4x4, children are instead driven from home to the school gate, then off to ballet, soccer or swimming lessons—rarely straying from watchful adult eyes. [H]In the U.S. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation Dance, New Jersey assistant principal and hockey coach Bobbie Schultz writes that playing in the street after school with neighborhood kids—creating their own rules, making their own decisions and settling disputes—was where the real learning took place. "The street was one of the greatest sources of my life skills," she says. "I don't see ' on-the-street play' anymore. I see adult-organized activities. Parents don't realize what an integral part of character development their children are missing." [I]Armored with bicycle helmets, car seats, "safe" playgrounds and sunscreen, children are getting the message loud and clear that the world is full of peril—and that they're ill-equipped to handle it alone. Yet research consistently shows young people are much more capable than we think, says professor Anne Smith, director of New Zealand's Children's Issues Centre. "The thing that many adults have difficulty with is that children can't learn to be grown-up if they're excluded and protected all the time." [J]Educational psychologist Paul Prangley reckons it's about time the kid gloves came off. He believes parenting has taken on a paranoid(患妄想狂的)edge that's creating a generation of naive, insecure youngsters who are subconsciously being taught they're incapable of handling things by themselves. "Flexibility and the ability to resist pressure and temptation are learned skills," Prangley explains. "If you wrap kids up in cotton wool and don't give them the opportunity to take risks, they're less equipped to make responsible decisions later in life." [K]Sadly, high-profile cases of children being kidnapped and murdered—such as ten-year-old Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in the United Kingdom; five-year-old Chloe Hoson in Australia, whose body was found just 200 metres from where she lived; and six-year-old Teresa Cormack in New Zealand, who was snatched off the street on her way to school—only serve to reinforce parents' fears. Teresa Cormack's death, for example, was one of the rare New Zealand cases of random child kidnap. In Australia, the odds of someone under the age of 15 being murdered by a stranger have been estimated at one in four million. [L]However, parental fear is contagious. In one British study, far more children feared an attack by a stranger than being hit by a car. "We are losing our sense of perspective," write Jan Parker and Jan Stimpson in their parenting book, Raising Happy Children. "Every parent has to negotiate their own route between equipping children with the skills they need to stay safe and not restricting or terrifying them unnecessarily in the process." [M]Dr. Claire Freeman, a planning expert at the University of Otago, points to the erosion of community responsibility as another casualty of that mutual distrust. Not so long ago, adults knew all the local kids and were the informal guardians of the neighbourhood. "Now, particularly if you are a man, you may hesitate to offer help to a lost child for fear your motives might be questioned." [N]As a planner in the mid-1990s, Freeman became concerned about the loss of green space to development and the erosion of informal places to play. In a study that looked at how children in the British city of Leeds spent their summer holidays, compared with their parents' childhood experiences, she found the freedom to explore had been severely contracted—in some cases, down to the front yard. Freeman says she cannot remember being inside the house as a child, or being alone. Growing up was about being part of a group. Now a mother of four, Freeman believes the "domestication of play" is robbing kids of their sense of belonging within a society. [O]Nevertheless, Freeman says children's needs are starting to get more emphasis. In the Netherlands, child-friendly "home zones" have been created where priority is given to pedestrians, rather than cars. And ponds are being incorporated back into housing estates on the principle that children should learn to be safe around water, rather than be surrounded by a barren landscape. After all, as one of the smarter fish says in Finding Nemo, there's one problem with promising your kids that nothing will ever happen to them—because then nothing ever will.

丝绸是中国伟大而独特的发明，是中国古老文明的象征，距今有五千多年的历史。在古代中国。丝绸是一种身份的象征，代表着典雅和 高贵 (nobleness)。最早只有帝王才能使用。在古代对外贸易中，丝绸是一种必不可少的高级商品。在现代，丝绸因为其轻薄、柔软、舒适的特点而受到大众的普遍欢迎。中国丝绸以其卓越的品质、精美的 花色 (design and color)，在国际上享有很高的声誉。丝绸文化是具有中国特色的文化之一，有着独特的魅力和深刻的文化 内涵 (connotation)。

When an invention is made, the inventor has three possible courses of action open to him: he can give the invention to the world by publishing it, keep the idea secret, or patent it. A granted patent is the result of a bargain struck between an inventor and the state, by which the inventor gets a limited period of monopoly and publishes full details of his invention to the public after that period terminates. Only under the most exceptional circumstances is the lifespan of a patent extended to alter this normal process of events. The longest extension ever granted was to Georges Valensi; his 1939 patent for color TV receiver circuitry was extended until 1971 because for most of the patent's normal life there was no color TV to receive and thus no hope of reward for the invention. Because a patent remains permanently public after it has terminated, the shelves of the library attached to the patent office contain details of literally millions of ideas that are free for anyone to use and, if older than half a century, sometimes even re-patent; indeed, patent experts often advise anyone wishing to avoid the high cost of conducting a search through live patents that the one sure way of avoiding violation of any other inventor's right is to plagiarize(抄袭)a dead patent. likewise, because publication of an idea in any other form permanently invalidates further patents on that idea, it is traditionally safe to take ideas from other areas of print. Much modern technological advance is based on these presumptions of legal security. Anyone closely involved in patents and inventions soon learns that most "new" ideas are, in fact, as old as the hills. It is their reduction to commercial practice, either through necessity or dedication, or through the availability of new technology, that makes news and money. The basic patent for the theory of magnetic recording dates back to 1886. Many of the original ideas behind television originate from the late 19th and early 20th century. Even the Volkswagen rear engine car was anticipated by a 1904 patent for a cart with the horse at the rear.

北京是中国的首都，是全国的政治、经济、文化中心。它是一座历史文化名城。其历史可追溯到3000年前。作为中国 四大古都 (Four Great Ancient Capitals)之一，北京有着800多年的建都历史，因而北京城内有很多传统而宏伟的 宫廷建筑 (imperial architectures)，如宫殿、园林和寺庙。北京旅游资源丰富，对游客开放的旅游景点达两百多处。北京也是全国教育最发达的地区之一，聚集了众多高校。北京这座将传统文化与现代文明完美融合的城市，具有重要的国际影响力。

[此试题无题干]

历史的道路不全是平坦的，有时走到艰难险阻的境界，全靠雄健的精神才能够冲过去。一条浩浩荡荡的长江大河，有时流到很宽阔的境界，平原无际，一泻万里。有时流到很逼仄的境界，两岸丛山叠岭，绝壁断崖，江河流于其间，回环曲折，极其险峻。民族生命的进程，其经历亦复如是。中华民族现在所逢的史路，是一段崎岖险阻的道路。在这一段道路上，实在亦有一种奇绝壮绝的景致，使我们经过这段道路的人，感到一种壮美的趣味。

[此试题无题干]

中国中央电视台 (China Central Television)。简称为CCTV，1958年正式投入使用，是中国的官方电视媒体之一。它所有的节目都通过卫星播出，拥有中国境内最多的收视人群。CCTV除了有面向中国大陆播出的频道之外，还有通过各种语言向全球播出的国际频道。作为当今中国最具竞争力的主流媒体之一，CCTV具有 新闻传播 (news dissemination)、社会教育、文化娱乐、信息服务等多种功能，是公众获取信息的方式之一。然而，随着互联网的高速发展，中央电视台在普通大众生活中的主导地位已受到了影响。

Smokers in the "land of the free" are finding themselves increasingly less free to pursue their habit. New York City officials are the latest to consider banning smoking in their parks and outside spaces. The possibility of extending smokefree legislation was【C1】 1in a public health policy document. However the mayor, Michael Bloomberg—who has【C2】 2anti-smoking programmes but is up for reelection—appeared to qualify the extent of the【C3】 3. He wanted "to see if smoking in parks has a【C4】 4impact on people's health", the New York Times reported recently, suggesting it "might not be【C5】 5possible to enforce a ban across thousands of acres." Cigarette makers Phillip Morris USA did not like the idea at all. "We believe that smoking should be permitted outdoors except in very particular【C6】 6, such as outdoor areas primarily【C7】 7for children," a company spokesman said. But the ban plan from the city's health commissioner, Thomas Farley, won some backing from the council's speaker, Christine Quinn. Fines should be【C8】 8, she said, but "conceptually, that's an idea I'm very interested in and open to." Such bans remain【C9】 9but are increasing, with California in the vanguard(前锋). State legislators there have【C10】 10smoking in all state parks and on parts of beaches, two years after Los Angeles extended its existing ban on playgrounds and beaches to parks. Chicago still allows smoking in many of its parks, but bans it at beaches and playgrounds. A)occurrences B)modest C)negative D)evacuated E)championed F)circumstances G)outlined H)mild I)logistically J)designated K)provoked L)rare M)analytically N)prohibited O)restrictions 【C1】

Parents' Homework: Find Perfect Teachers for KidsA) Tomi Hall did what she could to lobby for the best teachers for her two children, making her case this spring in letters to the principal. Then all she could do was waiting for news of their classroom assignments—and it's been torturing. The Aurora mom knows her efforts carry no guarantees. One year her son didn't get the teacher Hall had hoped for, and he struggled for months with one whose relaxed style came across to him as uncaring. "Granted, I know it' s just kindergarten," said Hall, 39. "But... a teacher can make or break you."B) In the next few weeks, many families will rip open notification letters or go to school to see class lists posted on the front door. For parents accustomed to directing nearly every aspect of their child' s early learning it can be difficult to have little voice in teacher selection—a decision they view as critical. Some spend hours crafting the perfect letter or meet with the principal to make an argument. For their child's early learning, parents regard that teacher is critical.C) Principals, meanwhile, struggle to create balanced classrooms while juggling(同时应付) individual requests. They say they want input but find it increasingly necessary to discourage parents from asking for a specific teacher. Administrators don't want the selection process to be a popularity contest—in part because what makes a teacher popular may have nothing to do with a particular child' s educational needs.D) "I'm bright enough to realize parents talk at soccer fields and baseball fields, but you have to realize your experience with Teacher A may be very different than someone else's Teacher A," said Scott Meek, the new principal at Northbrook Junior High School who is making classroom assignments this summer for 600 students with the help of an office display board. He asks parents to focus their input on the student and his or her learning style and trust the school to make the right match.E) Some students also recognize that certain teachers bring out the best in them. "I need one of those strict kinds of teachers," said Hall' s daughter Tori, 12, who is entering 7th grade. "When I get a not-so-strict teacher, I think they don't really care about me. I really don't want a bad teacher. I'll get lower grades."F) When Chaya Fish, 30, of West Rogers Park taught at a private school in New York, she said, it was obvious who the "in" teachers were. She said she automatically joined them after the principal' s son landed in her classroom. "It was ridiculous," said Fish. "The other teacher was probably better than me. It was how you dressed, how you talked" that often determined parental favor.G) Teachers said the most vocal parents often get their way so that all parties involved can avoid a difficult school year. But educators warn that parents who get what they wish for may be sorry afterward. "A lot of times when people orchestrate(精心安排) who they think their child is best suited for, they find they made a mistake," said Mark Friedman, superintendent(督学) for Libertyville Elementary School District 70. "I have many parents say later, 'I don't know why I did this. It isn't working out this year.'" Friedman said he assures parents their comments will be considered but never guarantees a specific teacher. In fact, he tells them that if they do request a teacher and later regret that choice, "you have no one to blame but yourself."H) Some parents said they've learned their lesson about trying to guess which teacher would be best. Jamie Thompson said she was initially concerned when her daughter was assigned to a strict lst-grade teacher. She was aware other parents had lobbied for a different person, who had a more casual style. "At the end, it turned out that the other class was asking, 'Why isn't my child learning that?'" said Thompson, 36, of Arlington Heights. "That' s why I don' t want to interfere too much."I) Yet parents have different reasons for requesting classes, and some have nothing to do with the teacher, said Michelle Van Every, 36, of Deerfield. She and other mothers once requested that their children not be placed in a classroom with a specific boy—not because of him, but to avoid his mother, who had created problems in the past, she said. "We didn' t want to cross paths with her," said Van Every, who added that the school complied with their request. "We didn't want to have to volunteer with her at a class party."J) Each district follows its own procedure for teacher selection. Some begin as early as April or May, officials said. Many ask parents to complete a form about their child's strengths and weaknesses. Typically, teachers have some say in the process by deciding early on which students should be separated or kept together, on the basis of academics, personalities and learning styles. The principal draws up the final class lists, often after meeting with parents or reviewing special requests, officials said. K) Many school districts wait until the last minute to announce class assignments, usually about two weeks before the start-up of school. That' s because they have come to expect a flood of phone calls within hours from parents who beg or demand to switch teachers.L) Other schools handle it differently. At Sawyer Elementary School on Chicago's Southwest Side, the fall class assignments are handed out with the last report card the previous spring, said teacher Maureen "Moe" Forte. Forte said she is aware of colleagues and members of the Local School Council who have asked that their children be moved from one class into another. "It's not fair," Forte said. "I was very upset that one of the LSC parents moved her daughter to my classroom.The parent just felt my personality fit better with her child. And it' s not a personality contest."M) Denita Ricci of Lake Villa said she knows parents who request certain classes but tries to stay out of the process. Her son, Mason Wubs, 12, hopes to be placed in the same class as his best friend, easing the transition to 7th grade at a new school. "I trust the school's judgment," she said, though she secretly hopes Mason will share a class with his friend. "I think they need to learn to deal with people who are different from them, just like an employer."

[此试题无题干]