Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay that begins with the sentence 'Nowadays more and more students are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of developing financial management skills.' You can make statements, give reasons, or cite examples to develop your essay. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.

Surfing the Internet during class doesn't just steal focus from the educator; it also hurts students who're already struggling to 27 the material. A new study from Michigan State University, though, argues that all students—including high achievers—see a decline in performance when they browse the Internet during class for non-academic purposes. To measure the effects of Internet-based distractions during class, researchers 28 500 students taking an introductory psychology class at Michigan State University. Researchers used ACT scores as a measure of intellectual 29 . Because previous research has shown that people with high intellectual abilities are better at 30 out distractions, researchers believed students with high ACT scores would not show a 31 decrease in performance due to their use of digital devices. But students who surfed the web during class did worse on their exams regardless of their ACT scores, suggesting that even the academically smartest students are harmed when they're distracted in class. College professors are increasingly 32 alarm bells about the effects smartphones, laptops, and tablets have on academic performance. One 2013 study of college students found that 80% of students use. their phones or laptops during class, with the average student checking their digital device 11 times in a 33 class. A quarter of students report that their use of digital devices during class causes their grades to 34 Professors sometimes implement policies designed to 35 students' use of digital devices, and some instructors even confiscate (没收) tablets and phones. In a world where people are increasingly dependent on their phones, though, such strategies often fail. One international study found that 84% of people say they couldn't go a day without their smartphones. Until students are able to 36 the pull of social networking, texting, and endlessly surfing the web, they may continue to struggle in their classes. A. aptitude B. eradication C. evaluated D. evaporated E. filtering F. grasp G. legacy H. minimize I. obscure J. obsess K. raising L. resist M. significant N. suffer O. typical

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Thinking kind thoughts about yourself and your loved ones can prove beneficial for your overall wellbeing, empirical evidence has shown. Researchers carried out an investigation to explore the __26__ between having kind thoughts and a persons psychological state.For the study, five groups of participants were presented with a different set of audio instructions, some of which encouraged the participants to think __27__ about themselves and others which persuaded them to think in a self-critical manner. After listening to the audio instructions, the participants were asked to answer a series of questions. These included whether they felt safe, how likely they were to show kindness to themselves and how __28__ they felt to other individuals.The participants who were instructed to think kindly about themselves were more likely to exhibit a bodily response associated with being relaxed and feeling safe. Their heart rates also dropped, which is a healthy sign of a heart that can respond flexibly to situations. Yet, __29__ those who listened to the critical audio clips were noted as having a higher heartrate and sweat response afterwards, both of which __30__ feelings of threat and distress. Having the ability to switch off the bodys natural threat response can __31__a persons immune system. This, in turn, gives them a greater likelihood of recovering quickly from illness.These findings help us to further understand some of our clinical trials research findings, where we show that individuals with __32__ depression benefit particularly from a self-awareness-based __33__ therapy. They essentially learn to become more sympathetic to themselves.The sense is that for people __34__ to depression, meeting their negative thoughts and feelings with __35__ is a radically different way—that these thoughts are not facts.It introduces a different way of being and knowing that is quite transformative for many people.

Selective colleges and universities in the U.S. are under fire for being too elite and too expensive, and for not training graduates for the world of work. Such charges ignore the fact that these institutions continue to prepare students for success in their work, for thoughtful engagement in civic life, for lifelong learning, and for understanding the world and those with whom we live.These colleges and universities must be doing something right. Applications are at record highs, and the financial aid programs make them more accessible than ever. This model of education has long played a central role in creating opportunity, driving economic growth, and spurring innovation.Yet, there is growing skepticism about the value of this model. The recent tax reform bill was a wake-up call that our strongest colleges and universities are under assault by some in government. The initial proposals would have made education unaffordable for many by taxing tuition waivers for graduate students and ending deductions for student loan interest. Thankfully, these provisions were ultimately stripped from the bill, but lawmakers let stand a new tax on the investment income of some colleges and universities.While these attacks are motivated by misguided ideas, we need to do a better job of explaining why these claims are false and why what we do is valuable. We cannot take for granted that any of this is obvious.It is often said that elite colleges and universities do not train students, particularly those who study the liberal arts, for the workforce. But this can be refuted by scholarly research. The data are clear：a liberal arts education is great career preparation，both for excellent lifetime earnings and for satisfaction with the work.This education develops the skills of critical thinking，rigorous analysis of data and facts，communicating with the written and spoken word，understanding of cultural differences and issues，and the ability to keep learning.In fact，liberal arts graduates do extremely well in every imaginable field.Access to an education at selective colleges and universities is now more available to low-and middle-income families than ever.We have built endowments from donations by alumni（校友）and parents who understand and appreciate our mission to provide access and opportunity，and a significant portion of the returns from these endowments is used to fund financial aid.Ironically，the new tax on endowments drains financial aid funds from the very schools most able to offer opportunity to those who have earned a spot but cannot otherwise afford this education. Beyond the virtue of access to those who have earned a place at these schools, the diversity of economic backgrounds enhances the education and experience of all of our students.

赵州桥建于隋朝，公元605年左右，长50.82米，宽9.6米，跨度37.37米。天才建筑师李春设计并监督了桥的建设。赵州桥结构新颖、造型优美。桥有一个大拱，在大拱的两端各有两个小拱，帮助排泄洪水、减轻桥梁重量并节省石材。建成以来，该桥经受了多次洪水和地震，但其主体结构仍然完好无损，至今仍在使用。赵州桥是世界桥梁建筑史上的一次创举，是中国古代文明史上的一项杰出成就。类似设计的桥梁直到14世纪才在欧洲出现，比赵州桥晚了700多年。_____Part IV Translation（30 minutes）Directions：For this part，you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English.You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.

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The parent company of Facebook and Instagram is looking into whether its platforms treat users differently based on race, after years of criticism particularly from Black users and its own employees about racial bias. Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is starting by tracking the race of its platforms' users, which Roy Austin Jr., vice president of civil rights, described as 'a huge step to moving from the anecdotal to the data driven.' He said the work would allow the company to understand how people's experiences on Facebook may differ by race, a first step toward addressing any problems. The challenge for the company is collecting demographic information in a way that doesn't violate users' privacy. Meta released a paper detailing how it plans to combine estimates based on people's ZIP codes and last names with surveys where people identify their race or ethnicity. The announcement came as Meta gave an update on its response to a civil rights audit the company commissioned following widespread accusations that its products promote discrimination. The 2020 report, which came after two years of investigation by independent auditors, slammed the company for putting free speech ahead of other values, a decision the auditors said undermined its efforts to curb hate speech and voter suppression. Meta hired Austin, a veteran civil rights lawyer who worked at the Justice Department during the Obama administration, in January in response to the audit. In its update on Thursday, the company said it's implemented more than half of the auditors' recommendations, which ranged from hiring more staff to work on civil rights to updating its content moderation and advertising policies, and is making progress on or evaluating most of the rest. But outside groups that have long criticized the company's track record on civil rights and discrimination said Meta is still falling short. 'We appreciate Roy Austin's leadership and the goals of Facebook Civil Rights Team. However, this progress report simply isn't enough,' the Anti-Defamation League (反诽谤联盟), which was part of a coalition that organized an advertiser boycott of Facebook over hate speech last year, tweeted on Thursday. 'Ultimately, we need to see real transparency and a credible independent expert review.' The ADL pointed out that Facebook has failed to take down hate speech, even though such posts violate its rules. And it said the company should hire more staff focused on civil rights, especially as it shifts its focus to building a new immersive virtual platform called the metaverse. 'Of Facebook's 60,000 employees, fewer than 10 are on the Civil Rights Team. Facebook must put civil rights expertise on EVERY team, including those building the Metaverse,' the ADL tweeted. 'If Facebook is trying to earn credibility, this clearly missed the mark.'

A US Department of Energy report calls for incentives to boost coal-fired and nuclear power plants following a stream of closures that it said undermined reliable sources of electricity. The findings of the study, released late on Wednesday, drew scorn from renewable energy advocates but praise from the coal and nuclear industries. The report dovetails with (与……相吻合) President Donald Trump's promise to revive the ailing mining sector. But it differs from conclusions presented in an earlier draft, which had said big increases in renewable power generation remained possible without undermining grid reliability. The administration had not yet reviewed the early draft, which was written by department staff. Energy Secretary Rick Perry commissioned the study in April to evaluate whether 'regulatory burdens' imposed by past administrations, including that of former President Barack Obama, had hurt the grid by forcing shutdowns of baseload (基本负载) plants, which provide nonstop power, like those fired by coal and nuclear fuel. Obama had introduced a number of regulations intended to slash emissions of carbon dioxide, which are blamed for climate change. This accelerated the retirement of coal-fired power plants and bolstered the newly-developed solar and wind sectors, which depend heavily on weather conditions for their power output. 'It is apparent that in today's competitive markets certain regulations and subsidies are having a large impact on the functioning of markets, and thereby challenging our power generation mix,' Perry said in a letter introducing the study. 'It is important for policy makers to consider their intended and unintended effects.' The study, conducted by the department's staff, said cheap natural gas was the main driver of the closure of baseload coal and nuclear plants, a trend that was putting areas of the country at greater risk of power outages. The department recommended giving baseload plants pricing advantages for their power, as well as making it easier and cheaper to get permits to build more such projects. Howard Crystal, a spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity which advocates for clean energy, called the recommendations 'dangerously misguided'. 'The reality is that we can protect our planet and our energy supplies by embracing wind and solar,' he said. Some coal and nuclear energy groups welcomed the final report's findings. 'This is a much-needed, pragmatic look at US electricity reliability and resilience (复原力), including the priority of maintaining critical clean baseload power as electricity markets change,' said Rich Powell, director of ClearPath, which advocates for nuclear and hydropower. Last week, Neil Chatterjee, the newly appointed chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said coal plants needed to be 'properly compensated to recognize the value they provide to the system.'

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write an essay on the importance of building trust between employers and employees. You can cite examples to illustrate your views. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.

Why facts don't change our minds

Look at the people around you. Some are passive, others more aggressive. Some work best alone, others crave companionship. We easily recognize that there is great variation among the individuals who live near us. Yet, when we speak of people from elsewhere, we seem to inevitably characterize them based on their country of origin. Statistics specialists, when they speak of national averages, often make the same mistake. Newly published research shows how erroneous such overviews are. Three researchers analyzed decades of values-based surveys and found that only between 16% and 21% of the variation in cultural values could be explained by differences between countries. In other words, the vast majority of what makes us culturally distinct from one another has nothing to do with our homeland. To determine what factors really are associated with culture, the authors combined data from 558 prior surveys that each measured one or more of Hofstede's cultural dimensions. These are traits, such as individualism and masculinity, that describe work-related cultural values. (They are not a measure of visible cultural traits, such as food or dress.) Though the validity of Hofstede's dimensions has been questioned, they have the singular benefit of having been in use for decades, which allows for historical and international comparisons. The researchers found that both demographic factors, such as age, and environmental factors, such as long-term unemployment rates, were more correlated with cultural values than nationality. Occupation and social economic status were the most strongly correlated, suggesting that our values are more economically driven than we usually give them credit for. The evidence implies that people with similar jobs and incomes are more culturally alike, regardless of where they live. Vas Taras, the lead author of the study, puts it this way: "Tell me how much you make and I will make a pretty accurate prediction about your cultural values. Tell me what your nationality is and I probably will make a wrong prediction." Taras says our erroneous belief that countries are cultures has caused businesses to teach their employees useless or even harmful ways of interacting with their international peers. Chinese and American lawyers might be trained to interact based on the assumption that the Chinese person is less individualistic, even though their similar social economic situations make it probable they are actually quite alike in that regard. The country, as the unit of authority, is often a convenient way of generalizing about a population. However, our focus on countries can mask broad variations within them. In the majority of cases we would be better off identifying people by the factors that constrain their lives, like income, rather than by the lines surrounding them on a map.

Exercise Is Good for Your Body and Your Mind A. The benefits of exercise are widely known., it helps you live longer and lowers risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. A new study published Wednesday in The Lancet Psychiatry journal suggests that when done in moderation, it leads to better mental health as well. The researchers analyzed responses from 1.2 million adults in the United States taken from a US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention survey given in 2011, 2013 and 2015. The average number of days of poor mental health per person in the past month was around 3.4, according to the study. Those who reported exercising had about 1.5, or 43%, fewer days of 'bad self-reported mental health' in the past month compared to those who did not exercise. Poor mental health was reported in the study as stress, depression and trouble with emotions. B. 'I think in comparison to all other treatments, when a patient successfully exercises at the right dose, there is a sense of self-efficacy and confidence that the patient develops that is absolutely also a remarkably positive thing,' said Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, Director of the Centre for Depression Research and Clinical Care at the Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute at UT Southwestern Medical Centre in Dallas. He was not involved with the study but recently published a paper in JAMA Psychiatry linking midlife fitness with lower risk of depression. C. 'I think it's a huge deal,' said Adam Chekroud, an author of the study and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University. 'Even just walking just three times a week seems to give people better mental health than not exercising at all. I think from a public health perspective, it's pretty important because it shows that we can have the potential for having a pretty big impact on mental health for a lot of people.' D. The sweet spot for exercising was found to be 45-minute sessions three to five times a week. There wasn't a big difference in benefit for exercising beyond 90 minutes in a session—until one hit the three-hour mark. After that, there appeared to be worse mental health associated with those people compared to others who did not exercise at all. E. 'I think it makes sense,' Chekroud said. 'If you're not exercising enough, perhaps that's not giving you the biological aspect of exercise, maybe you're not putting your body through the intensity and through the changes that it needs to stimulate those biological changes in the brain. And on the high end, anecdotally we hear a lot about people who get addicted to exercise or maybe you're kind of running yourself into the ground.' F. Though all forms of exercise resulted in better mental health compared to doing nothing, the strongest association was found in people who played popular team sports (a 22%lower mental health burden), cycling (22%) and other aerobic and gym activities (20%). Even completing household chores led to about a 10% drop in days of poor mental health in a month, the researchers found. 'Exercise in group settings could have a slightly higher benefit than exercise alone,' Trivedi said. 'There's not enough evidence to be very strong but that could be what happened.' G. As for cycling, Chekroud, who is also chief scientist at Spring Health, a mental health company based in New York that provides mental health services to large employers and an avid cyclist himself, said, 'There's... the biological benefit of exercise. And you'll have increases in your respiratory (与呼吸有关的) rate and your heart rate and that kind of thing. But also, it's an opportunity where you're not working for a relatively long period of time and you get to think things through, perhaps reevaluate situations that happen in your life.' H. The authors adjusted for various physical and sociodemographic factors like age, race, gender, marital status, socioeconomic status, education, self-reported physical health and previous diagnosis of depression. Still the improvement seen from exercise was more than what could be seen from any other modifiable social or demographic factor such as education, body mass index or household income. I. Seventy-five types of 'exercise' were included in the report, leading to some experts preferring another label instead. 'In the current study, we see the inclusion of activities such as childcare, housework, lawn-mowing, carpentry, fishing, and yoga as forms of exercise,' wrote Dr. Gary Cooney, a psychiatrist at Gartnavel Royal Hospital in the United Kingdom in an accompanying commentary published with the article. 'The study... in its all-encompassing approach, might more accurately be considered a study in physical activity rather than exercise.' J. Though the study is purportedly the largest of its size, and 'unprecedented in scale', it does have a few limitations, Cooney said. Mental health disorders are not a monolith and there are discrete factors involved in research and clinical purposes of various conditions like dementia, substance misuse or personality disorder, he said. K. 'There is an uncomfortable interchangeability between mental health and depression, as if these concepts were functionally equivalent, or as if other mental disorders were somewhat peripheral,' wrote Cooney, who also cited the authors' choice to research previous studies regarding exercise and primarily depression. Consequently, the study may offer the most guidance in depression research. L. 'I think that particular concern is more of an academic concern rather than a practical concern,' Chekroud countered. 'I think part of the reason that we were less concerned about that than the particular commentary was that we know that depression and anxiety are the most common mental health conditions. And when we talk about mental health, most people have mood or anxiety disorders. So it's true that some people will have things like schizophrenia (精神分裂症) or bipolar disorder (狂躁抑郁症) but those conditions make up a very small percentage of the population.' 'In the future we can start to maybe hone in on different illness categories and maybe we would see a different pattern, but I think overall though it's kind of an edge case in this situation,' he added. M. And because the answers to the survey are self-reported, individuals who have conditions like schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder (分裂情感性障碍) or bipolar affective disorder, may have a diminished ability to do so accurately, Cooney said. N. The next step in research is asking more detailed questions and following up with people long-term, Trivedi said. The authors of the study also propose collecting data from wearable trackers, like Fitbit, to more precisely determine how frequency, duration and intensity of exercise and mental health burden are connected. O. 'People and patients should actually get well informed and become informed consumers and ask their doctors about whether this is a valid treatment for them or not,' Trivedi said. 'And if the doctor says yes, then you try to figure out a plan to make sure like any other treatment—if you get pills, then you figure out a way to take them regularly. If your doctor and you decide exercise is your treatment, then you develop strategies to make sure you basically swallow the pill.'

Inside the Race to Rescue Clues to Earth's Past from Melting Glaciers A. Margit Schwikowski and her team were attempting to drill into the Corbassière glacier in the Swiss Alps when the weather started to turn. They were camped among the soaring peaks of the Grand Combin mountain chain. The only way off this vast sheet of ice in a storm is to descend a steep mountain wall or go across the jagged glacier surface itself, which claims several lives a year. Instead, they retreated by helicopter before it was too late. B. For Schwikowski, an environmental chemist at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Villigen, Switzerland, the risks of missions like this October 2020 expedition to Corbassière are worth it. The team she was leading is part of an international enterprise that aims to preserve the 'memories' frozen into mountain glaciers across the world, by drilling out long samples all the way from the young surface snow down to the old, compacted ice at the base of a glacier. C. These ice cores are loaded with information about Earth's past that could be crucial in our fight against global warming. Locked within them is a picture of how the planet's climate has changed over time, as well as evidence of human activity as far back as the Romans, clues about the evolution of microorganisms (微生物) and much more. Now, scientists are racing rising temperatures to rescue ice cores from the world's glaciers before they melt. D. Mountain glaciers, also known as alpine glaciers, are slow-flowing rivers of ice. They begin life at high altitudes where the amount of snow settling in winter significantly exceeds the amount that melts in the summer. Over time, the snowpack builds up and the overlying weight causes snowflakes in the deeper layers to gradually transform into blue-tinted glacier ice, which eventually creeps downhill under its own weight. E. 'Deep within glaciers there is an amazing process, where ancient air is preserved from the time when it became trapped in the ice,' says Schwikowski, describing an effect of the increasing density with depth. This critical depth where not even air can escape is around 45 metres in the European Alps. The trapped air is just one relic that will be lost forever if sample ice cores aren't gathered before the glaciers melt. Schwikowski and her team are rushing to extract samples from the planet's most vulnerable glaciers. F. Sadly, in the case of the Corbassière glacier it is already too late. Even before the weather turned, the mission was scuppered (使泡汤). At each attempt to extract an ice core, the scientists hit a hard layer known as an ice lens. These form when glacier surface layers melt, causing water to percolate (渗入，渗透) through the snow, before refreezing into a thick ice sheet below. With the chronology of ice layers mixed up like this, valuable scientific information is lost forever. G. It is a similar story across the world. Glaciers are shrinking at alarming rates. More than 9 trillion tonnes of glacier ice was lost between 1961 and 2016, adding 27 millimetres to the average global sea level, according to a 2019 study led by Michael Zemp, director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service. If current melting rates continue, glaciers will vanish entirely from Europe, New Zealand and the west of North America, among other parts of the world, by the end of the century. H. The result will be a further rise in sea levels globally, with all the knock-on effects for people, especially those living near coasts and in rural communities that rely on water from seasonal ice melt. For scientists like Schwikowski, the melting of the glaciers also endangers an unparalleled archive in the ice of Earth's environmental past, prompting the launch of the Ice Memory project in 2015. 'These archives are formidable records of our past and they must be preserved for future generations of scientists,' says Carlo Barbante, a chemist at the University of Venice, Italy, and a co-founder of the project. I. Geologically speaking, mountain glaciers hold a fairly young ice record, typically spanning the past 1,000 to 10,000 years. One thing they can't do is build a picture of the really long-term climate. For this, scientists mostly rely on older ice samples from continental ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland. These are also threatened by global warming, but their shrinkage (缩小，收缩) will occur over thousands of years, so they are beyond the scope of the Ice Memory project. Although younger, mountain glaciers have one major advantage over the ice sheets—their geographical spread. They exist on all continents except Australia. This helps us to build a truly global picture of relatively recent past climates and means the information they contain is also highly region-specific. J. It may even be possible to unpick some of the impact of past changes in climate on ecosystems. One way to do that is through the microorganisms stored inside mountain glaciers. Traditionally, investigations of ice-dwelling microbes involved growing them from field samples, which favoured certain 'lab-happy' microorganisms. However, genetic sequencing technologies are bypassing this requirement, enabling biologists to gain a more complete picture of glacial ecosystems directly from the field samples themselves. K. Eager not to miss out on these clues to the past, researchers involved with the Ice Memory project have fanned out across the world to gather samples. In 2016, the launch mission extracted three ice cores from the Col du DSme glacier at an altitude of 4,300 metres on Mont Blanc in France. Since then, cores have been extracted in 2017 from the Illimani glacier in Bolivia—where glaciers hold records dating back 18,000 years—and from two sites in Russia during 2018. The plan is to extract cores from a further 20 sites across the world over the next 10 to 15 years. L. The scientists drill near the highest points of glaciers, where snow and ice accumulates, rather than lower down the glacier tongue, where downhill flow mixes the ice record. But nature doesn't always play ball. Patrick Ginot at the Institute of Environmental Geosciences (IGE) in Grenoble, France, who led the Bolivia mission, recalls battering winds and heavy snowfall for two weeks at 6,300 metres above sea level. 'There were days on the summit of Illimani when we could not work at all.' M. Battling the elements isn't the only challenge for these expeditions. There are logistical hurdles to navigate, too. The scientists need permits from governments, local assistance with transport and a reliable refrigeration chain to ensure that samples don't melt. These local partnerships are an essential element of Ice Memory. Project scientists are acutely aware of the damage that could be done by European scientists 'parachuting in' to less scientifically developed nations to extract samples for the benefit of their careers. 'Our way is always to start by building a collaboration with local scientists and then to organise the operation from there,' says Ginot. N. Even after all this, retrieving the ice cores is only half the battle, as they also need to be stored. The plan is to house them in a purpose-built 'ice sanctuary' facility at the French-Italian Concordia Research Station, more than 1,000 kilometres inland from the south-east coast of Antarctica. The location was chosen for being politically neutral and reliably cold over the long term, so there is no threat of freezer failure wiping out millennia of data. Schedules have been stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the first cores could reach the ice sanctuary as early as 2023.

The United States boasts the best public universities in the world. No young person should be turned away because they were born into a family without enough money for tuition; nor should getting a degree consign (把……置于) a person to decades of crippling debt. For the sake of fairness, class mobility, and the ideal of equality of opportunity, I believe generous financial aid should be available to all needy students for whom a four-year degree is the best way to achieve the American dream. But I also know America is overwhelmingly led by people with college degrees and white collar backgrounds—people who overvalue their own path to success and rig the system against others who'd thrive under a different approach. Our elites are too often blind to the value of education that is received away from college, whether through apprenticeships or vocational schools or on-the-job training. They don't always understand that there are lots of blue-collar jobs that are more fulfilling, better paying, and more in demand than lots of white-collar jobs. And they are blind to the wisdom in cultural enclaves where a young person is not considered 'culturally competent' until knowing how to perform CPR, help a stranger change a flat, or work alongside people from different social classes without taking offense when their etiquette is different than the etiquette at UCLA or Berkeley. So rather than promising free tuition, I have a more inclusive proposal: No matter your race or class or gender, you should be able to afford a degree from a public university without crippling debt if that path best maximizes your potential; and we should all value the important work being done at universities. The future I want to see begins with redoubling America's efforts at civic education in high school. Everyone with a high-school diploma should have learned all the tools they need to meaningfully participate as citizens in America's government-by-the-people. In fact, adults who want to study American civics now should have that opportunity. Next, for everyone who earns their diploma or GED, I propose financial aid for college or for an alternative investment in education that will help them toward any career that they choose, so long as they demonstrate that they're making an informed decision. Yes, we'll need to be watchful to fraudsters (行骗者) eager to get a piece of that money without offering valuable knowledge in return. But the problem will be no greater than under the status quo, when so much of the money that flows to public universities is wasted on administrative expansion and luxurious campus installations. Finally, so that those who pursue routes other than four-year colleges are treated more fairly, I propose legal reforms to eliminate obstacles like professional-licensing requirements that amount to no more than credentialism (文凭至上主义), and a shift away from insisting on a bachelor's degree for jobs that shouldn't require one.

The city of Bath was founded by the Romans almost two thousand years ago. It has been famous for its pleasing __26__ architecture and healing thermal springs ever since.There are three hot springs in Bath; one is the Kings Spring, upon which the Roman baths and a temple were __27__. The other two are the Cross Spring and the Hetling Spring close to each other in Hot Bath Street. Although Bath is __28__ known as a Roman and Georgian city, many people came in the intervening centuries to make use of the __29__ waters.While the Georgians made taking the waters or bathing particularly fashionable, it was __30__ generations who paved the way，creating greater interest in Bath and its springs.Charles II，desperate for an heir and unable to produce a __31__ son，came to Bath to take the waters in the hope that their magical powers would do something to __32__ the situation.Craving for a male heir James and Mary both came to Bath and soon after produced a son，which bred many conspiracy theories about who was the real father of their __33__.Regardless，themiraclecreated something of a boom in tourism for Bath and once Queen Anne had paid a visit in 1702，sealing it as the place to be，the whole nation __34__ to the city.Afterwards，the spas（泉养浴）in Bath continued to go in and out of fashion for more than 150 years until they closed completely.The new Bath Spa，which opened in 2006 __35__ modern architecture with the ancient spring，now the New Royal Bath.

The public must be able to understand the basics of science to make informed decisions. Perhaps the most dramatic example of the negative consequences of poor communication between scientists and the public is the issue of climate change, where a variety of factors, not the least of which is a breakdown in the transmission of fundamental climate data to the general public, has contributed to widespread mistrust and misunderstanding of scientists and their research. The issue of climate change also illustrates how the public acceptance and understanding of science (or the lack of it) can influence governmental decision-making with regard to regulation, science policy and research funding. However, the importance of effective communication with a general audience is not limited to hot issues like climate change. It is also critical for socially charged neuroscience issues such as the genetic basis for a particular behavior, the therapeutic potential of stern cell therapy for neurodegenerative diseases, or the use of animal models, areas where the public understanding of science can also influence policy and funding decisions. Furthermore, with continuing advances in individual genome (基因组) sequencing and the advent of personalized medicine, more non-scientists will need to be comfortable analyzing complex scientific information to make decisions that directly affect their quality of life. Science journalism is the main channel for the popularization of scientific information among the public. Much has been written about how the relationship between scientists and the media can shape the efficient transmission of scientific advances to the public. Good science journalists are specialists in making complex topics accessible to a general audience, while adhering to scientific accuracy. Unfortunately, pieces of science journalism can also oversimplify and generalize their subject material to the point that the basic information conveyed is obscured or at worst, obviously wrong. The impact of a basic discovery on human health can be exaggerated so that the public thinks a miraculous cure is a few months to years away when in reality the significance of the study is far more limited. Even though scientists play a part in transmitting information to journalists and ultimately the public, too often the blame for ineffective communication is placed on the side of the journalists. We believe that at least part of the problem lies in places other than the interaction between scientists and members of the media, and exists because for one thing we underestimate how difficult it is for scientists to communicate effectively with a diversity of audiences, and for another most scientists do not receive formal training in science communication.

At the UN climate summit in Glasgow, world leaders have stressed the need to limit global warming to 1.5 ℃. Scientists have also said crossing the 1.5 ℃ 27 risks unleashing far more severe climate change effects on ecosystems. But what is the difference between 1.5 ℃ and 2 ℃ of warming? 'Half a degree means much more 28 weather, and it can be more often, more intense, or extended in 29 ,' said climate scientist Daniela Jacob at the Climate Service Center Germany. Just this year, Greenland saw massive melting events, wildfires 30 the Mediterranean and Siberia, and record drought hit parts of Brazil. Climate change is already affecting every 31 region across the globe. More warming to 1.5 ℃ and beyond will worsen such impacts. The difference between 1.5 ℃ and 2 ℃ is 32 for Earth's oceans and frozen regions. At 1.5 ℃, there is a good chance we can prevent most of the Greenland and west Antarctic ice sheet from collapsing. That would help limit sea level rise to a few feet by the end of the century. But blow past 2 ℃ and the ice sheets could collapse, with sea levels rising up to 10 metres. At 2 ℃, more than 99% of coral reefs would be lost. That would destroy fish habitats and communities that 33 on reefs for their food and livelihoods. As the world heats up, the risk increases that the planet will reach the 'tipping points' which will trigger irreversible impacts, though 34 when those points would be reached is uncertain. Droughts, reduced rainfall, and continued destruction of the Amazon through deforestation, for example, could see the rainforest system collapse, 35 CO2 into the atmosphere rather than storing it. That's why it's so risky to keep emitting from fossil fuels—because we're increasing the 36 that we go over one of those tipping points. A. absorbing B. critical C. devastated D. diminished E. duration F. exactly G. extreme H. inhabited I. implication J. likelihood K. particularly L. pose M. releasing N. rely O. threshold

赵州桥建于隋朝，公元605年左右，长50.82米，宽9.6米，跨度37.37米。天才建筑师李春设计并监督了桥的建设。赵州桥结构新颖、造型优美。桥有一个大拱，在大拱的两端各有两个小拱，帮助排泄洪水、减轻桥梁重量并节省石材。建成以来，该桥经受了多次洪水和地震，但其主体结构仍然完好无损，至今仍在使用。赵州桥是世界桥梁建筑史上的一次创举，是中国古代文明史上的一项杰出成就。类似设计的桥梁直到14世纪才在欧洲出现，比赵州桥晚了700多年。_____Part IV Translation（30 minutes）Directions：For this part，you are allowed 30 minutes to translate a passage from Chinese into English.You should write your answer on Answer Sheet 2.

Suddenly, everywhere you look, everyone's taking cold showers. Not literally—that would be weird—but there's no mistaking a lifestyle trend when you see one. They're 27 in a new book, What Doesn't Kill Us, which 28 the exploits of the Dutch extreme-cold enthusiast (狂热者) Wim Hof, who once spent nearly two hours in an ice bath. In The New York Times, the novelist Ben Dolnick reports that cold showers changed his 'entire 29 toward the outside world'. The benefits include everything from 30 immunity to slowing ageing and fighting depression. It's environmentally better, too, so you'll feel the warm glow of being moral, which is fortunate, given that you're going to be extremely bloody cold. As someone who has always preferred the cold, and 31 the way hot days are considered 'good weather', I'm a natural candidate for the craze. Finding myself sleepy at 5 p.m.—having woken with the baby at 5 a.m.—I tried taking naps, 32 that plan, and then started jumping under icy water instead. It worked 33 , helping me squeeze out a few more hours of energy. When I took another cold shower before bed, I slept better, too. But I'll admit there's something a little 34 about this, as there is with many strategies for 'breaking out of your comfort zone'. What are we all trying to prove, exactly? It's hard to avoid the conclusion that behind the desire to 35 over extreme cold, there's a desire to somehow conquer yourself, since both participants in this wrestling match, as you may have noticed, are you. The far more likely result is just more 36 conflict. A. abandoned B. boosting C. brilliantly D. charts E. disposition F. exciting G. goal H. initial I. inner J. intelligently K. overcome L. recommended M. resents N. self-punishing O. triumph