For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a composition entitled Should Food Be Banned on the Subway? You should write no more than 150 words but no more than 200 words following the outline given below. 1．对于禁止在地铁上饮食，有人表示赞成。 2．有人则表示反对。 3．你的看法。

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A truly informed diner would choose a restaurant based on the quality of the menu and the chef's experience. The discerning investor would decide which company to back after studying the business plan and meeting the founders. In reality, people often copy the choices of others. Diners pick the crowded restaurant over the empty one. Investors go with the company that already has multiple backers. Such bandwagon effects are not necessarily irrational. Often, the buyer knows less about a product than the seller: the collective wisdom of the crowd can correct for such " asymmetric information ". Scholars are now asking whether herd behavior also prevails in labor markets. To find out, Kory Kroft of the University of Toronto devised an experiment in which they applied for 3,000 clerical, administrative, sales and customer-service jobs advertised online by submitting 12, 000 fictitious CVs. The submissions were designed so that applicants with similar backgrounds, education and experience went for the same job. The only difference was how long the applicant had been jobless, a period that ranged from no time at all to as much as 36 months. They found that the odds of an applicant being called back by an employer declined steadily as the duration of unemployment rose, from 7.4% after one month without work down to 4%-5% at the eight-month mark, where the call-back rate stabilized. These results, the authors say, cannot be because employers found some qualitative flaw in the longer-term unemployed that was hidden from outsiders, since the applicants were similar in other respects. Another explanation for long-term unemployment—that people make less effort to find work as their time out of the labor force lengthens—is also not applicable here. A third possibility is that employers equate lengthening unemployment with atrophying skills and thus falling productivity. But this should be true whether the economy is booming or in recession. The decline in call-back rates was much more pronounced in cities with tight labour markets: call-back rates changed relatively little when higher unemployment prevailed locally. From this, the authors infer that employers are more likely to overlook a long period of unemployment if overall economic conditions are stacked against candidates. These results strongly suggest that long-term unemployment is at least partly self-fulfilling. Like patrons who avoid restaurants purely because they are empty, employers were reluctant to hire someone other employers didn' t want.

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BSection C/B

根据2012年的统计，中国的GDP仅次于美国，达到了51．8万亿元人民币。

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北京大学于1898年成立，原名为 京师大学堂 (the Imperial University of Peking)。该大学的成立标志着中国近代史上高等教育的开始。在中国近代史上，它是进步思想的中心，对中国新文化运动、五四运动及其他重要事件的发生颇有影响。今天，国内不少高校排行榜将北京大学放入国内顶尖大学之列。该校重视教学和科学研究。为提高本科生教育和研究生教育质量、保持其领先研究机构的地位，学校已做出很大努力。此外，学校尤以其校园环境及优美的中国传统建筑而闻名。

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道家思想(Taoism)提倡追求自然、和谐的思想以及批判性思维的人文精神(humanistic spirit)，是中国传统文化中宝贵而独特的精神财富。

唐代是中国古典诗歌的鼎盛时期，在不到300年的时间里，产生了许多著名的诗人和诗作。时至今日，有超过5万首唐诗和2000多位唐代诗人为人们所熟知。其中，唐代最著名的诗人是李白和杜甫。李白生性无拘无束，才华横溢，他创作了大量赞美祖国大好河山的诗篇。杜甫年轻时坎坷的生活经历，使他更好地了解了社会的黑暗和人民的困苦。最流行的唐诗作品集或许是由清朝的学者孙洙编著的《唐诗三百首》(300 Tang Poems)。唐诗一直在影响着世界文学和现代诗歌。

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay entitled Please Be Punctual by commenting on the saying, "The while we keep a man waiting, he reflects on our shortcomings". You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.

It's a good idea to apply sunscreen before heading to the beach if you don't want to burn. But for marine animals like whales, they don't have that【C1】______Species like sperm whales can spend up to six hours at the ocean's surface in between dives,【C2】______in the sunlight. So how do they protect themselves from a serious case of sunburn? It turns out that their bodies have a similar defense【C3】______against the sun's UV radiation as people. Blue whales—which have the lightest skin color of the three species—tan during their summer stay before【C4】______, back to their northern feeding grounds. Sperm whales don't tan. They can receive an "overdose" of UV radiation during their hours at the ocean's surface, and they have proteins that【C5】______protect their cells from UV damage. This process is【C6】______to how human bodies produce antioxidants in response to molecules that can cause a lot of genetic and cellular damage. And fin whales escape sun damage thanks to their high levels of melanin—a dark substance in the skin to protect humans from UV radiation. Older whales and whales with less【C7】______of melanin in their skin—like blue whales—had the greatest level of damage in their mtDNA. Fin whales, which had the greatest amount of melanin, had the least amount of mtDNA damage. Now that the ozone layer that shields Earth from UV radiation is gradually【C8】______it's important to know what the consequences are for whales and dolphins, especially for【C9】______or endangered species. Although it's difficult to tell what causes many of these skin conditions, UV damage is one cause. Even though whales have【C10】______defenses to UV radiation, high exposure can still be harmful. A)similar B)diminishing G)liability D)migrating E)mutual F)mechanism G)effectively H)jerking I)instantaneously J)vulnerable K)content L)baking M)inherent N)perspective O)option

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All through the ages the bat has been a creature of great mystery. Bats have influenced the imagination of the Western World since the first Spaniards returned from the Americans. They told tales of hairy, winged creatures that flew from caves to feed on the blood of man and animals. The vampire bat, which became a well-known figure in the folk tales of many countries, exists only in the Americans. The vampire bat is not like the common bat. Its teeth have grown sharper. In the days before Columbus, bat fed on wild animals, but with the introduction of farm animals into the New World by the Spaniards, they were offered a new kind of food. They attacked the cattle which sickened and died and the colonists didn't know why. It was only in 1908 that farmers in Brazil discovered that the bite of the vampire bat could cause rabies and this was the disease that was killing their cattle. For the first time it was recognized that the bite of a vampire bat could carry the virus of rabies. The cattle of eastern Mexico were especially troubled by this disease. Many efforts were made by the farmers in Mexico to destroy the bats. They blew up their caves or covered the entrances to caves with nets. All these ways were too slow, too costly, or else didn' t work. Since they could not remove the bats, the Mexican government and World Health Organization got together in 1952 to develop a cheap dependable supply of the vaccine against rabies at a factory in Mexico. A quarter of a million cattle have been vaccinated at a cost of fifty cents per animal to the owners. In one state alone, death among cattle has fallen from 56% to 1%. Control of the disease in animals seems to be in sight. This will reduce but not destroy the threat that bats may pass the disease to human beings. Vampire bats like human blood best. Whole villages in Guatemala have disappeared because of the frequency with which bats fed on sleeping children. A study made in Trinidad showed that in thirty houses checked in one village, twenty persons had been bitten by bats. Teachers reported that half of the children coming to school showed signs of having been bitten in the night. A health research office, which has been collecting information since 1949 about the home and movements of bats, has started work on a book about bats. Various other health organizations also are making new studies. It is hoped that answers to this health problem will soon be found.

尽管 电子阅读器 (e-reader)市场用户在中国基础庞大、潜力非凡，但由于中国的 电子阅读 (e-reading)趋势具有强烈的“中国特色”，外资企业对中国市场望而却步。首先，目前中国电子书市场的主要驱动力是数量庞大的手机用户。中国共有7900万电子书读者，其中6．3％通过手机阅读，仅0．3％使用 专门的 (dedicated)电子阅读设备。其次，中国消费者不愿意为电子书付费，且阅读的主要目的是娱乐。可见，不同于美国的电子书读者，中国的电子书读者并不是转投新媒介的传统购书者。

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled Lectures and Discussions. You should analyze the pros and cons of the two main teaching styles and state your own choice. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.