Part I Writing (30 minutes) Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay that begins with the sentence "Nowadays more and more people choose to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle."You can make comments, cite examples, or use your personal experiences to develop your essay.You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.__________

Hell on Shoe Leather A. During the golden weeks of autumn, it seemed as if everyone in the world wanted to go for a walk with William B. Helmreich, including the journalist from Norway, students who have lapped up his courses at City College and the Graduate Centre of the City University of New York. The publicist at Princeton University Press, which just published 'The New York Nobody Knows: Walking 6,000 Miles in the City,' his detailed account of four years of trekking into every corner of the five boroughs, dead-end streets and desolate (荒凉的) industrial areas included. B. 'New York is so varied,' said Mr. Helmreich, who has practically made a second career out of explaining so ambitious an undertaking. 'But if you don't walk the streets, you never really understand that. Plus my philosophy is everything's interesting.' Mr. Helmreich, who is tall and blue-eyed with close-cropped gray hair, likes to call himself a flaneur (漫游者), in a tip of the hat to the boulevardiers who strolled the streets of 19th-century Paris. This particular flaneur is 68, the child of parents who immigrated to New York from Switzerland in 1946 and settled in a tenement apartment on the decidedly Upper West Side. C. Mr. Helmreich's popularity as a tour guide is hardly surprising, because his 449-page book is a chatty, buoyant and, despite his four decades in academia teaching classes on New York City and sociology, an unstuffy love letter to the delights of street-smart walking. His publisher described the work as 'four years plus nine pairs of shoes plus 6000 miles equals an epic journey,' and judging by the reactions of people who study the city for a living, the approach has much to recommend it. D. 'Too many of the current crop of book-length urban analyses rely on statistics, policy, and critics of earlier theories of city life,' said Cassim Shepard, the editor of Urban Omnibus, an online publication of the Architectural League. 'Mr. Helmreich's book should provoke all urban planners worth their salt to leave their desks and get out into the street.' Fran Leadon,a City College architecture professor who is writing a history of Broadway, agreed. 'New York is much more complex than people think,' Mr. Leadon said. 'But nobody knows the whole story because the city is too big and too complicated. So the discussion about New York gets reduced to a few predictable topics, politics, restaurants, the supposed death of the middle class. That's the reason Mr. H elmreich's project is so important.' E. Mr. Helmreich doesn't just walk. A gregarious man who seems hard-wired to strike up conversations with strangers, he pokes his head into one storefront after another, engaging the occupants in chat. As his wife affectionately summed up his approach. 'Bill will talk to a stone. What's more, the stone will answer.' A mile-long trek along Ninth Street one recent Friday gave Mr. Helmreich a chance to display his expertise and revisit a few haunts. Then he ducked into World Class Cleaners, at 66 West Ninth Street. A plaque proclaimed that the business had been honored by the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences. 'Good customer service,' said the woman behind the counter when Mr. Helmreich inquired about the award. F. He asked what it would cost to have a Hermès tie cleaned, and was told it would set him back $21. Hermès might not be Mr. Helmreich's designer of choice, although he was looking regular this day in chinos and a neat blue and-white-striped Ralph Lauren shirt. Generally, he said, he avoids bright blues and reds that might be read as gang colors, but attire provocative in this way is hardly an issue in the tidy West Village. G. At Whiskers Holistic Pet Care, 235 East Ninth Street, where sales clerks remembered Mr. Helmreich from a visit five years ago, he leafed through a binder bulging with handwritten tributes to the store's remedies and employees. 'Phil has rejuvenated my 5-year-old English setter,' one grateful customer wrote. Once in a while the streetscape offers up flashes of Mr. Helmreich's personal history, as it did at Mud, a care at 307 East Ninth Street. A brother-in-law of Mr. Helmreich's lived for a time in an apartment in the rear, and a portrait of his bearded face gazed out from a mural (壁画) near the front door. A few steps down, another local boy, named Jimi Hendrix, was memorialized by a sign that urged passers-by to write him letters and place them in an orange mailbox nearby, promising that they'd go 'directly to heaven'. H. At Veselka, the Ukrainian restaurant at Second Avenue, Mr. Helmreich took time to trace the roots of his passion for urban walking. His father, who died recently at 101, had been an exceptional walker, helping him to come to know and love the city early on. 'I feel at home on any street in New York,' he said. 'East New York, South Jamaica, the West Bronx. You name it.' Over the decades he has walked in cities and countries around the world, even clocking 500 miles in car-obsessed Los Angeles. I. This book, Mr. Helmreich's 14th, grew out of a suggestion by his department chairman, Philip Kasinitz, and an early plan was to focus on 20 iconic streets, like Myrtle Avenue and Broadway. Then came second thoughts: 'I asked myself, what's iconic in a city of 120000 blocks?' So he began walking, his tape recorder and pedometer in a pocket along with little maps annotated like tick-tack-toe games, a line drawn through each street after he completed it. He walked in the heat, in the cold, in the rain, covering at least two miles a day. 'People thought I was crazy,' he said cheerfully. J. And although he had walked the city's streets many times before, this time he approached the task systematically, sometimes joined by his wife or by his second most reliable companion, Heidi, who appropriately is part Swiss mountain dog. He also did more than walk. He danced the bachata in a club in the South Bronx. He attended community meetings. He conducted formal interviews with mayors past and present. 'And I have to admit that I cheated a little, ' Mr. Helmreich said. He skipped 300 miles, mostly in homogeneous residential neighborhoods like Marine Park, Brooklyn. But such lapses (疏忽) were rare, and by the end he had covered 6048 miles and come away with vivid observations about everything from the transcendent impact of immigration on the city to the clues that a neighborhood was poised for gentrification (旧区改造). K. 'In East Williamsburg, for example, you see half-million-dollar apartments in a tower across the street from a city-run shelter, and people don't mind,' Mr. Helmreich said. Friends in the real estate business ask him to recommend areas where it's still possible to buy property and make a killing. His answers include the Lower Grand Concourse in the Bronx and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens in Brooklyn. L. Although New York is far safer than in years past, Mr. Helmreich admitted to an occasional close call, notably the time he found himself unexpectedly surrounded by a knot of young toughs. 'I suddenly realized that I was in the middle of a drug deal that was going down, and they clearly thought I was a cop,' he said. 'Believe me, I walked out of there fast.'

Clues suggesting that Quasimodo, the tragic hero of Victor Hugo's novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, is based on a historical figure have been uncovered in the memoirs of Henry Sibson, a 19th-century British sculptor who was employed at the cathedral at around the time the book was written and who described a hunchbacked (驼背的) stonemason also working there. The documents were acquired by the Tate Archive in 1999 after they were discovered in the attic of a house in Cornwall. However, the references to a 'hunchbacked sculptor' working at Notre Dame were just discovered, as the memoirs were catalogued ahead of the archive's 40th anniversary this year. The seven-volume memoirs documented Sibson's time in Paris during the 1820s, when he was employed by contractors to work on repairs to Notre Dame Cathedral. In the course of work, he met with Trajan, a carver under the government sculptor whose name he forgot, all that he knew was that he was humpbacked and he did not like to mix with carvers. In a later entry, Sibson again mentioned the sculptor, this time recalling his name as 'Mon. Le Bossu'. Le Bossu is French for 'the hunchback'. Adrian Glew, the Tate archivist, who made the discovery, said: 'When I saw the references to the humpbacked sculptor at Notre Dame, and saw that the dates matched the time of Hugo's interest in the Cathedral, the hairs on the back of my neck rose and I thought I should look into it.' Hugo began writing The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in 1828 and the book was published three years later. He had a strong interest in the restoration of the Cathedral, with architecture features as a major theme in the book. Hugo publicly opposed the original neoclassical (新古典主义的) scheme for Notre Dame's restoration led by the architect Etienne-Hippolyte Godde—the same scheme which Sibson describes Le Bossu and Trajan working on—favoring a more Gothic style for the cathedral. The publication of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in 1831, which made Hugo one of France's most acclaimed authors, was widely credited with prompting the Gothic restoration of the Cathedral in 1844, designed by the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, which Hugo had championed. Professor Sean Hand, the head of the Department of French Studies at the University of Warwick, and an expert on Hugo, said: 'It is a fascinating discovery. Many scholars have tried to link Quasimodo's deformities with certain medical conditions, but I have never seen any reference to a historical character that he may have been based upon. It sounds entirely plausible, and if Hugo was indeed inspired by this deformed stonemason at Notre Dame, it further renews our appreciation of his amazing imaginative powers to take details from real life and weave them into magical literature.'

You Don't Have to Be 18: Going to College as an Adult A. Every so often, especially when I'm feeling down, I take out my old college notes, textbooks and diplomas, and take a little stroll down memory lane. I remember the fun I had in college, the people I met, the professors who taught me and the experiences that changed my life. And I'm glad I made the sacrifices. B. After graduating high school, I thought college wasn't for me. I served a four-year stint in the U.S. Marine Corps, and then took a job with the postal service. In my na vet, I thought that moving up within the agency would be fairly easy. I was bright, knowledgeable, eager to learn new things and willing to put in the time needed to develop myself. But I ran into a brick wall. It seemed there was an inside track, and I was definitely not on it. After about a year and a half, I realized that my chances of advancement were nil, and it was time to do something about it. C. I floated the idea of attending college to my coworkers and superiors and the response was mostly negative. But there were a few people who thought it was a good idea, and I did a lot of thinking. I saw two choices: 1. Stay where I was, miserable in a low-level job. 2. Take a chance and give college a try. Since my job was leading me nowhere, I decided to start college. D. When I started; I encountered a lot of resistance from people at work. The phrase 'career student' was bandied about at me, as if I was learning nothing practical and basically trying to avoid growing up. Actually it was the other way around, I saw staying in my job as a way to avoid facing responsibilities, and college as a more real world—and an island of sanity in my life. While it made little difference to me if my coworkers or bosses supported my decision to attend college, I did want my family behind me. The support was there—I didn't need any financial help, but I got a lot of moral support from my parents, as well as from friends and relatives. E. Probably the biggest obstacle I faced, since I was plagued by doubts about my own intelligence and abilities, was just getting started. I decided to start close to home and do my first two years of college at Palm Beach Community College, which was on the way to work, and then transfer to Florida Atlantic University, which was more out of the way. F. I had driven past the campus of Palm Beach Community College several times. In the spring of 1987, I finally worked up the nerve to go into the admissions office. For many people that first step is a big one, and it's easy to believe that one is stepping into an abyss, but PBCC was flexible enough for me. I had to take the American College Test and, after scoring well on that, was able to register for classes. My first class was Introduction to the Social Sciences, and from the moment the professor began to lecture, I knew I had found a place where I could learn and grow. G. You might expect to experience culture shock in college after your day-to-day experiences. I found, instead, that most of the culture shock happens when you leave class and go back to work. For while your coworkers and bosses are not changing, you are. H. You may find yourself colliding with the people at work. They may find that your new habits, like studying during breaks and lunch, and not going to the local bar to drink and gripe about work, are disturbing the status quo (当前的状况). You may even be tempted to give up. Please don't. It may be difficult, you may be exhausted and you may have to tune out criticism, but I can tell you from experience that it's all worth it on the day you put on the cap and gown and receive your diploma. I. So you've gone and done it. You have been accepted for matriculation (注册入学) at a community college or university, and have been given a date and time to register, your biggest worry may be about what things are like in the classroom. Does the professor take attendance? Some do, some don't, though all encourage perfect attendance and class participation. Is there a break? If the class is three hours long, there probably is. When you report to your first class, try to be there a little early. Get a good seat, preferably in the front of the classroom so you can see and hear the professor better. J. Have all the required books for the class, and a notebook and pen. When class starts, the professor will hand out a syllabus, discuss it, talk about term papers and may then begin teaching. You may be worried about how the professor will react to you. You needn't be that concerned. At the community college and university I attended, professors welcomed older students. We tended to be more focused on getting an education, had a lot to contribute to the class discussion because of our experience in the world and were less likely to argue over a grade. K. As you get to know your classmates in the class, you may find yourself gravitating toward other students your age. There's nothing wrong with this, but if there's a group project, the professor will probably want the generations to work together. This is a good opportunity to broaden your horizons. That doesn't mean you should just show up, take classes and take off. There may be a club or activity for your major on campus that can help you in your job search later on. You may even find that the company of other scholars will help you expand your intellectual horizons. And taking in a college sports event once in a while can be a fun way to meet other people. L. Graduation from Palm Beach Community College was a milestone in my life. Against the odds, I had achieved something. I was 'walking on sunshine, as the song goes, and had learned to let all the negativity go in one ear and out the other. I had made friends with the professors, and the students I had worked with were wonderful. In truth, I was addicted to the challenges that college provided. M. I graduated from community college in December 1990, then started at Florida Atlantic University the following month. Florida Atlantic University was a whole new world awaiting discovery. My first time there, I had been scared. It was so big and seemingly impersonal. Sure, there would be some people from the community college on the same track as I was on, but still there were lots of strangers. N. In April 1994, I had accumulated enough credits to graduate from FAU. It was a bittersweet occasion. I loved education and learning, but wanted to make my career change sooner rather than later. Two months after graduation I left the post office, diploma in hand, and embarked on a new career. It hasn't always been easy and it hasn't always been that much fun, but I've never regretted reinventing my life. O. I am now a copy editor for a newspaper, with a few years of experience under my belt, and have also earned a computer networking certification along the way. Even now, I have grand plans that involve law school someday, and maybe an MBA. A college degree opens doors. It might not be possible to see the doors when you are just starting out, but they are there if you have the patience and drive to pursue your dreams. Good luck in your future endeavors.

Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay that begins with the sentence "Nowadays more and more people take delight in offering help to the needy. "You can make comments, cite examples, or use your personal experiences to develop your essay. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.__________

Hartwick, a small private liberal arts college, is at the forefront of a recent improvement in colleges that, spurred by the recession and concerns over crushing college debt, are encouraging students to save money by shortening the time it takes to earn a degree. The initiatives are aimed mostly at highly motivated students, such as 2013 Hartwick graduate Samantha Hart, who earned 23 college credits while in high school and took heavier course loads while in college. 'I saved a lot of money, and I got to do everything that I wanted to,' says Hart, 21, who is about to start an internship that could lead to a job. Yet for all its pocketbook appeal, the three-year concept hasn't taken off, particularly at public universities. Legislation in Rhode Island in 2009 and Washington last year encourages public universities to develop three-year options, but no programs have been proposed to date, officials in both states say. At Ohio State University, which must phase in three-year degrees beginning this fall, provost (教务长) Joe Alutto says a three-year degree may be 'misdirected for an institution such as ours'. He told legislators last year that students who earned college credit in high school tend to add a minor or second major rather than graduate early. Some skeptics worry about quality. 'It's as if they put students on a conveyer belt and just speed them up and spray them with a fire hose and the students catch what they can,' Southern New Hampshire University professor Marty Bradley says of models that compress four years into three. He pioneered a three-year degree on his campus in 1997 that required an examination of the curriculum. Some education groups argue that resources, particularly at public institutions, should focus on students who are most at risk of dropping out. A study of 33 states by the non-profit Complete College America found that just 26% of students enrolled at public institutions earn a bachelor's in four years; 54.3% take six years. About 2% of students earning a bachelor's in 2007-08 did so in three years, federal data show. Hartwick's four-year graduation rate in recent years averages about 46%. 'Time is the enemy of college completion, but getting more of our best students to finish their bachelor's degrees a year early won't be enough' to raise the nation's overall graduation rate, says Complete College America president Stan Jones. 'We must ensure that more finish college on time: a four-year degree in four years, not five or six.' Wesleyan President Michael Roth says the three-year option ought to be available to students who want it. 'Four years is just a habit', he says. 'It isn't some magical number.'

For years, the U.S. has experienced a shortage of registered nurses. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that while the number of nurses will increase by 19 percent by 2022, demand will grow faster than supply, and that there will be over one million unfilled nursing jobs by then. So what's the solution? Robots. Japan is ahead of the curve when it comes to this trend. Toyohashi University of Technology has developed Terapio, a robotic medical cart that can make hospital rounds, deliver medications and other items, and retrieve records. It follows a specific individual, such as a doctor or nurse, who can use it to record and access patient data. This type of robot will likely be one of the first to be implemented in hospitals because it has fairly minimal patient contact. Robots capable of social engagement help with loneliness as well as cognitive functioning, but the robot itself doesn't have to engage directly—it can serve as an intermediary for human communication. Telepresence robots such as MantaroBot, Vgo, and Giraff can be controlled through a computer, smartphone, or tablet, allowing family members or doctors to remotely monitor patients or Skype them, often via a screen where the robot's 'face' would be. If you can't get to the nursing home to visit grandma, you can use a telepresence robot to hang out with her. A 2016 study found that users had a 'consistently positive attitude' about the Giraff robot's ability to enhance communication and decrease feelings of loneliness. A robot's appearance affects its ability to successfully interact with humans, which is why the RIKEN-TRI Collaboration Center for Human-Interactive Robot Research decided to develop a robotic nurse that looks like a huge teddy bear. RIBA (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance), also known as 'Robear,' can help patients into and out of wheelchairs and beds with its strong arms. On the less cute and more scary side there is Actroid F, which is so human-like that some patients may not know the difference. This conversational robot companion has cameras in its eyes, which allow it to track patients and use appropriate facial expressions and body language in its interactions. During a month-long hospital trial, researchers asked 70 patients how they felt being around the robot and 'only three or four said they didn't like having it around.' It's important to note that robotic nurses don't decide courses of treatment or make diagnoses (though robot doctors and surgeons may not be far off). Instead, they perform routine and laborious tasks, freeing nurses up to attend to patients with immediate needs. This is one industry where it seems the integration of robots will lead to collaboration, not replacement.

Part I Writing (30 minutes)Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay that begins with the sentence "Nowadays more and more people take delight in offering help to the needy. "You can make comments, cite examples, or use your personal experiences to develop your essay. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words.__________

Saving Our Planet [A].In the long view，the human relationship with forests has been one of brutal destruction，but even it carries elements of slow hope.In the Middle Ages，there was no shortage of timber in most parts of the world，and few saw cutting down forests as a problem.Yet in 1548 the people of Venice estimated that an important timber supply would last only 30 years at their current rate of usage-but different forest management would make it possible to meet the demand for many centuries to come.The idea of preserving resources came out of a concern for the future：a fear of using up resources faster than they could be replenished（补充）. [B].Economic interests were at the core of this understanding of trees and forests.It would take more than three centuries before scientists began to understand that timber production is not the only，and possibly not the most important，function of forests.The late 19th and early 20th century saw an increasing recognition that forests serve as habitats for countless animal and plant species that all rely on each other. They take over protective functions against soil erosion and landslides；they make a significant contribution to the water balance as they prevent surface runoff, they filter dirt particles, greenhouse gases and radioactivesubstances from the air, they produce oxygen; they provide spaces for recreation and they preserve historic and prehistoric remains. As a result, forests around the world have been set aside as parks or wilderness areas. [C].Recent years have seen a big change in our view of forests. Peter Wohllebens book The Hidden Life of Trees (2015), an international bestseller, suggests that trees can wam each other of danger through a wood wide web of roots and fungi (真菌). They support each other through sharing of nutrients and information, and they even keep ancient stumps alive by feeding them solutions of sugars. Such insights have made us aware of deep ecological.relationships between humans and the more-than-human world. [D].Awareness of ecologies is a recent phenomenon. It was not until the 1940s that the concept of the environment encompassing all living and nonliving things developed. In the 1970s, the term environment gained currency, becoming widely adopted in the English and Romance languages, and as Umwelt ("surrounding world) in German. The emergence of the idea led to the rise of environmental agencies, regulations and environmental studies, and to environmental science as new, integrated academic disciplines. It was in 1956 that the very first bachelor of science in environmental studies was awarded, at the State University of New York College of Forestry at Syracuse. Since the 1970s -with the rise of environmentalism-environmental studies programmes have sprung up at hundreds of universities. There is (slow) hope in the fact that scholars from many different disciplines have adopted the term environment over the past decades. They are exploring intricate connections within and between complex ecologies, as well as the impact that human environment-making (through techno-industrial, economic and other manipulative developments) has had on the biosphere. [E].The rise of the idea of the environment and a scholarly understanding of ecological processes has influenced new technologies and also politics. We have come to ask questions about vulnerability and risk, world ecologies, and the relationship between nature and power. The search for an adequate response to climate change occupies centre stage in international diplomacy. [F].Social and environmental activists, scientists and indigenous groups have called the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2015 insufficient, weak, or compromised. To some extent, they are right: climate change has already destroyed tens of thousands of livelihoods, and the situation will worsen in the near future for millions of mostly poorer people who will join the ranks of those who have already been displaced by climate change and extreme weather events. But the Paris Conference nevertheless marked a historic step toward the recognition of the need for action on climate change, the cutting of carbon emissions and world cooperation. There were 195 nations that came to the table in Paris and agreed to limits on emissions. Historically, nothing comparable had happened prior to this. Before the 20th century, a handful of scientists had been interested in the theoretical relationship between greenhouse gases and climate change, but only the empirical evidence accumulated since the late 20th century established a clear connection between the burming of fossil fuels and a vastly accelerated rise in global temperatures. [G].The current crisis is not the first that humans have encountered, and a look at the struggles with pollution in recent history reveals transformations that once seemed unimaginable. The "London fog that came to define the capital through British novels and thrillers is in reality smog or smoke, a legacy of industrialisation. After a century of ignorance, London was hit by the Great Smog of December 1952 —the worst air-pollution event in the history of the United Kingdom which caused the deaths of approximately 12,000 people. Shortly thereafter, public initiatives and political campaigns led to strict regulations and new laws, including the Clean Air Act (1956). Today, London has effectively reduced traffic emissions through the introduction of a Congestion Charge Zone in 2003, and an Ultra Low Emission Zone in 2019. [H].Scientific evidence that we are living in an era of climate change, resource exhaustion and potential ecological disaster is overwhelming. How do we motivate a public exhausted by never-ending scenarios of doom and disaster, when the challenges seem so huge and so impossible to solve? Statistics about extinction and the gloom of decline will not in themselves get us out of our often self-created ecological traps: instead, they are more likely to result in paralysis and inaction. [I].We need stories and histories of change and transformation: ecological stories that make us confront the fact that human power is potentially destructive, and that the survival of our species on this planet depends on the preservation of soil and water, and the habitats and ecological systems. [J].It is time that we show successes and accelerations in ecological awareness, action and restoration; stories that include past successes and future visions about the rise of urbangardening and of renaturalised riverscapes, of successful protests against polluted air and water，of the rise of regional markets and slow food，and the planting of trees around the globe，of initiatives and enterprises that work towards ecological restoration.The reality of ecological curses seems far greater than the power of the hopes left at the bottom of Pandoras box.But if we believe that nothing can be changed，then we are giving up our opportunity to act. [K].Todays saving powers will not come from a deus ex machina（解围之神）.In an ever-morecomplex and synthetic world，our saving powers wont come from a single source，and certainly not from a too-big-to-fail approach or from those who have been drawn into thewhirlpool of our age of speed.Hope can work as a wakeup call.It acknowledges setbacks.The concept of slow hope suggests that we cant expect things to change ovemight.If the ever-faster exhaustion of natural resources（in ecological terms）and theshrinking of the present (in social terms) are urgent problems of humans, then cutting down on exhaustive practices and working towards a stretching of the present will be ways to move forward.

A bull grazes on dry wheat husks (外皮) in Logan, Kansas, one of the regions hit by the record drought that has affected more than half of the US and is expected to drive up food prices. Leading water scientists have issued one of the sternest warnings yet about global food supplies,saying that the world's population may have to switch almost completely to a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid catastrophic shortages. Adopting a vegetarian diet is one option to increase the amount of water available to grow more food in an increasingly climate-unstable world, the scientists said. Animal protein-rich food consumes 5 to 10 times more water than a vegetarian diet. One third of the world's arable (可耕的) land is used to grow crops to feed animals. Other options to feed people include eliminating waste and increasing trade between countries in food surplus and those in deficit. '900 million people already go hungry and 2 billion people are malnourished in spite of the fact that per capita food production continues to increase,' they said. 'With 70% of all available water being in agriculture, growing more food to feed an additional 2 billion people by 2050 will place greater pressure on available water and land.' The report is being released at the start of the annual world water conference in Stockholm, Sweden, where 2500 politicians, UN bodies, non-governmental groups and researchers from 120 countries meet to address global water supply problems. Competition for water between food production and other uses will intensify pressure on essential resources, the scientists said. 'The UN predicts that we must increase food production by 70% by midcentury. This will place additional pressure on our already stressed water resources, at a time when we also need to allocate more water to satisfy global energy demand—which is expected to rise 60% over the coming 30 years—and to generate electricity for the 1.3 billion people currently without it,' said the report. Overeating, undernourishment and waste are all on the rise and increased food production may face future constraints from water scarcity. 'We will need a new recipe to feed the world in the future,' said the report's editor, Anders Jagerskog. A separate report from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) said the best way for countries to protect millions of farmers from food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia was to help them invest in small pumps and simple technology, rather than to develop expensive, large-scale irrigation projects. 'Farmers across the developing world are increasingly relying on and benefiting from small-scale, locally-relevant water solutions. These techniques could increase yields up to 300 and add tens of billions of US dollars to household revenues across sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia,' said Dr. Colin Chartres, the director general.

It's quite remarkable how different genres of music can spark unique feelings, emotions, and memories. Studies have shown that music can reduce stress and anxiety before surgeries and we are all attracted toward our own unique life soundtrack. If you're looking to 27 stress, you might want to give classical music a try. The sounds of classical music produce a calming effect letting 28 pleasure-inducing dopamine (多巴胺) in the brain that helps control attention, learning and emotional responses. It can also turn down the body's stress response, resulting in an overall happier mood. It turns out a pleasant mood can lead to 29 in a person's thinking. Although there are many great 30 of classical music like Bach, Beethoven and Handel, none of these artists' music seems to have the same health effects as Mozart's does. According to researchers, listening to Mozart can increase brain wave activity and improve 31 function. Another study found that the distinctive features of Mozart's music trigger parts of the brain that are responsible for high-level mental functions. Even maternity 32 use Mozart to help newborn babies adapt to life outside of the mother's belly. It has been found that listening to classical music 33 reduces a person's blood pressure. Researchers believe that the calming sounds of classical music may help your heart 34 from stress. Classical music can also be a great tool to help people who have trouble sleeping. One study found that students who had trouble sleeping slept better while they were listening to classical music. Whether classical music is something that you listen to on a regular basis or not, it wouldn't 35 to take time out of your day to listen to music that you find 36 . You will be surprised at how good it makes you feel and the potentially positive change in your health. A. alleviate B. clarity C. cognitive D. composers E. hurt F. inhibiting G. interrogation H. intrinsically I. loose J. majestic K. mandatory L. recover M. significantly N. soothing O. wards

Directions: For this part, you are allowed 30 minutes to write a short essay entitled On College Students' Establishing Their Own Business. You should write at least 150 words but no more than 200 words. Write your essay on Answer Sheet 1. 1．许多大学生自主创业，政府对此提供鼓励和优惠措施。 2．产生这一现象的原因。 3．你的观点。

Cattle ranchers (牧场主) have had to sell portions of their herd for lack of water. Sacramento and other municipalities have 27 severe water restrictions. Ski resorts that normally open in December are still closed; at one here in the Sierra Nevada that is open, a bear 28 onto a slope full of skiers last week, 29 not hibernating (冬眠) because of the warm weather. The water shortage has Californians trying to deal with problems that usually 30 in midsummer. With little snow in the forecast, experts are warning that this drought, after one of the driest years on record last year, could be as 31 as the severe droughts of the 1970s. Under state law, that would allow the governor to 'give up laws or regulations and expedite (加快) some funding,' said Jeanine Jones, deputy drought manager for the State Department of Water Resources. 'It does not create a new large pot of money for drought response or make federal funding 32 .' Signs of drought are everywhere, affecting vast sectors of the economy. A sense of 33 is building among farmers, many whom have already let fields go fallow (休耕的). Without more water, an 34 200000 acres of prime agriculture land will go unplanted in Fresno County, according to Westlands Water District officials. Cattle ranchers 35 to letting cows graze on rain-fed grass have had to rely on bought hay or reduce their herds. Clergy of all faiths have been persuading the faithful to pray for 36 'May God open the heavens, and let his mercy rain down upon our fields and mountains,' Bishop Jaime Soto said last week. A. accidentally B. accustomed C. apparently D. arise E. available F. composed G. disruptive H. dread I. estimated J. favor K. imposed L. indulgence M. precipitation N. sustainable O. wandered

Twickenham, a suburb in south-west London, is not the sort of place where discount stores traditionally thrive. Its unemployment rate is low; the typical wage is 54% higher than the national 27 . Yet one of the more successful local businesses is the Poundland store. Since opening in 2010, the shop has become a(n) 28 of the town's middle-class shoppers. On a weekday morning, pensioners and mothers with kids 29 the aisles buying up bags of crisps, shampoo, books and cheap electronics. Almost everything on sale costs ￡1. Little cheer has permeated Britain's high streets since the economic downturn began in 2008. The 30 of empty shops has increased from 3% to 14%, according to the Local Data Company, a research firm. But Poundland, which 31 has 450 shops, is expanding at a rate of 60 outlets per year. That is perhaps to be expected, 32 cheap high-street rents and falling real wages. Yet much of the growth at discount retailers no longer comes from the poor. Poundland is expanding fastest in the 33 southeast—as well as Twickenham, new stores have opened in leafy places like Guildford, in Surrey, and Huntingdon, in Cambridgeshire. More traditional supermarkets are 34 to this insurgency by stepping up investment in their cheaper own-brand lines. Tesco, by far the biggest supermarket chain in Britain, rebranded its value' line last year. A risk lurks here for supermarkets however. Value ranges sell briskly, but if they reduce sales of more 35 products, the result may be a net loss. Thus the rise of the cheap shops is set to continue. In Germany, where until recently real wages had been stagnant for decades, discount stores 36 for 40% of the market. The new British appetite for a bargain could well outlive the recession. A. account B. affluent C. average D. breakage E. browse F. cherish G. consequently H. currently I. favourite J. given K. infectious L. manipulating M. profitable N. proportion O. reacting

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.

Most shoppers know the feeling. You stand in front of piles of organic produce and wonder what those premium prices (高价) are buying you over and above what you get from standard foods. Not a lot nutrition-wise, it seems. Organic farming may not even be more sustainable. Understanding nutrition is, of course, vital when it comes to choosing food. In a report published last week, a team from the London School of Hygiene Tropical Medicine examined 162 papers that compared organic and conventionally produced food. They concluded that there was no evidence to back up claims that organic food is more nutritious. But this is only one of the aspects of organic food that shoppers care about, and things get even more complicated when other factors are brought into the equation. Many buy organic fruit and vegetables because they are not sprayed with pesticides. We know these can cause birth defects, cancer, and endocrine disruption (内分泌失调), and even the diabetes epidemic. But it remains unclear whether the amounts in conventionally grown fruit and vegetables are high enough to be a health hazard. And then there are issues unrelated to health. Take energy use. True, some organic farming systems are more energy-efficient, partly because they do not use synthetic fertilisers, which are energy-intensive to produce. However, there is limited pressure on organic farmers to cut emissions. They don't yet have to do so to qualify for organic status. As Laurie Drinkwater, an expert in sustainable agriculture at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, points out: 'Organic agriculture is not without environmental consequences.' Indeed, according to Jules Pretty, an agricultural scientist at the University of Essex in Colchester, some organic farms keep weeds down with propane (丙烷) burners, which produce carbon dioxide. Soil erosion is another disrupting factor. Many organic farms emphasize crop rotation, in part to ensure that fields are not left uncovered and vulnerable to erosion. The trouble is some organic farmers actually cause erosion by plowing the soil frequently to tackle the weeds. 'It's not about whether organic food is good or a sham,' Pretty says. 'That's the wrong question. We should be asking how we can make all of agriculture more sustainable.' Rather than compare organic and conventional systems in a simplistic way, Drinkwater and Pretty say we should identify the things we want from farms and then design a farming system—organic or otherwise—that best meets those goals. Producing enough food is an obvious aim, but farmers can also help boost biodiversity, keep rivers free of certain kinds of pollution, and fight climate change. You would probably end up with a system that borrows techniques from many existing farming methods. That would be good news for farmers and the rest of society.

A Best Friend? You Must Be Kidding A. From the time they met in kindergarten until they were 15, Robin Shreeves and her friend Penny were inseparable. They rode bikes, played kickball in the street, swam all summer long and listened to music on the stereo. They told each other secrets like which boys they thought were cute, as best friends always do. B. Today, Ms. Shreeves, of suburban Philadelphia, is the mother of two boys. Her 10-year-old has a best friend. In fact, he is the son of Ms. Shreeves's own friend, Penny. But Ms. Shreeves's younger son, 8, does not. His favorite playmate is a boy who was in his preschool class, but Ms. Shreeves says that the two don't get together very often because scheduling play dates can be complicated; they usually have to be planned a week or more in advance. 'He'll say, 'I wish I had someone I can always call,'' Ms. Shreeves said. C. One might be tempted to feel some sympathy for the younger son. After all, from Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn to Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, the childhood 'best friend' has long been romanticized in literature and pop culture—not to mention in the sentimental memories of countless adults. D. But increasingly, some educators and other professionals who work with children are asking a question that might surprise their parents: Should a child really have a best friend? E. Most children naturally seek close friends. In a survey of nearly 3,000 Americans aged 8 to 24 conducted last year by Harris Interactive, 94 percent said they had at least one close friend. But the classic best-friend bond—the two special pals who share secrets and exploits, who attract each other on the playground and who head out the door together every day after school—signals potential trouble for school officials intent on discouraging anything that hints at exclusivity, in part because of concerns about cliques (帮派) and bullying. F. 'I think it is kids' preference to pair up and have that one best friend. As adults—teachers and counselors—we try to encourage them not to do that,' said Christine Laycob, the director of counseling at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School in St. Louis. 'We try to talk to kids and work with them to get them to have big groups of friends and not to be so possessive about friends.' 'Parents sometimes say Johnny needs that one special friend,' she continued. 'We say he doesn't need a best friend.' G. For many child-rearing experts, the ideal situation might well be that of Matthew and Margaret Guest, 12-year-old twins in suburban Atlanta, who almost always socialize in a pack. One typical Friday afternoon, about 10 boys and girls filled the Guest family backyard. Kids were jumping on the trampoline (蹦床), shooting baskets and playing hide-and-seek. Neither Margaret nor Matthew has ever had a best friend. 'I just really don't have one person I like more than others,' Margaret said. 'Most people have lots of friends.' Matthew said he considers 12 boys to be his good friends and he sees most of them 'pretty much every weekend.' Their mother, Laura Guest, said their school tries to prevent bullying through workshops and posters. And extracurricular activities keep her children group-oriented—Margaret is on the swim team and does gymnastics; Matthew plays football and baseball. H. As the calendar moves into summer, efforts to manage friendships don't stop with the closing of school. In recent years Timber Lake Camp, a co-ed sleep-away camp in Phoenicia, N. Y., has started employing 'friendship coaches' to work with campers to help every child become friends with everyone else. If two children seem to be too focused on each other, the camp will make sure to put them on different sports teams, seat them at different ends of the dining table or, perhaps, have a counselor invite one of them to participate in an activity with another child whom they haven't yet gotten to know. 'I don't think it's particularly healthy for a child to rely on one friend,' said Jay Jacobs, the camp's director. 'If something goes wrong, it can be devastating. It also limits a child's ability to explore other options in the world.' I. But such an attitude worries some psychologists who fear that children will be denied the strong emotional support and security that comes with intimate friendships. 'Do we want to encourage kids to have all sorts of superficial relationships? Is that how we really want to rear our children?' asked Brett Laursen, a psychology professor at Florida Atlantic University whose specialty is peer relationships. 'Imagine the implication for romantic relationships. We want children to get good at leading close relationships, not superficial ones.' Many psychologists believe that close childhood friendships not only increase a child's self-esteem and confidence, but also help children develop the skills for healthy adult relationships—everything from empathy, the ability to listen and console, to the process of arguing and making up. If children's friendships are designed and cleaned by adults, the argument goes. How is a child to prepare emotionally for both the affection and rejection likely to come later in life? J. 'No one can teach you what a great friend is, what a fair-weather friend is, what a betraying friend is except to have a great friend, a fair-weather friend or a betraying friend,' said Michael Thompson, a psychologist who is an author of the book Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children. 'When a teacher is trying to tone down a best-friend culture, I would like to know why,' Dr. Thompson said. 'Is it causing misery for the class? Or is there one girl who does have friends but just can't bear the thought that she doesn't have as good a best friend as another? That to me is normal social pain. If you're intervening in the lives of kids who are just experiencing normal social pain, you shouldn't be.' K. Schools insist they don't intend to break up close friendships but rather to encourage courtesy, respect and kindness to all. 'I don't see schools really in the business of trying to prevent friendships as far as they are trying to give students an opportunity to interact socially with other students in a variety of different ways,' said Patti Kinney, who was a teacher and a principal in an Oregon middle school for 33 years and is now an official at the National Association of Secondary School Principals. L. Still, school officials admit they watch close friendships carefully for adverse effects. 'When two children discover a special bond between them, we honor that bond, provided that neither child overtly or covertly excludes or rejects others,' said Jan Mooney, a psychologist at the Town School, a nursery through eighth grade private school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. 'However, the bottom line is that if we find a best friend pairing to be destructive to either child, or to others in the classroom, we will not hesitate to separate children and to work with the children and their parents to ensure healthier relationships in the future.'

The Ebro Delta, in Spain, famous as a battleground during the Spanish Civil War, is now the setting for a different contest, one that is pitting rice farmers against two enemies: the rice-eating giant apple snail, and rising sea levels. What happens here will have a bearing on the future of European rice production and the overall health of southern European wetlands. Located on the Mediterranean just two hours south of Barcelona, the Ebro Delta produces 120 million kilograms of rice a year, making it one of the continent's most important rice-growing areas. As the sea creeps into these fresh-water marshes, however, rising salinity (盐分) is hampering rice production. At the same time, this sea-water also kills off the greedy giant apple snail, an introduced pest that feeds on young rice plants. The most promising strategy has become to harness one foe against the other. The battle is currently being waged on land, in greenhouses at the University of Barcelona. Scientists working under the banner 'Project Neurice' are seeking varieties of rice that can withstand the increasing salinity without losing the absorbency that makes European rice ideal for traditional Spanish and Italian dishes. 'The project has two sides,' says Xavier Serrat, Neurice project manager and researcher at the University of Barcelona, 'the short-term fight against the snail, and a mid-to long-term fight against climate change. But the snail has given the project greater urgency.' Originally from South America, the snails were accidentally introduced into the Ebro Delta by Global Aquatic Technologies, a company that raised the snails for fresh-water aquariums (水族馆), but failed to prevent their escape. For now, the giant apple snail's presence in Europe is limited to the Ebro Delta. But the snail continues its march to new territory, says Serrat. 'The question is not whether it will reach other rice-growing areas of Europe, but when.' Over the next year and a half investigators will test the various strains of salt-tolerant rice they've bred. In 2018, farmers will plant the varieties with the most promise in the Ebro Delta and Europe's other two main rice-growing regions—along the Po in Italy, and France's Rhône. A season in the field will help determine which, if any, of the varieties are ready for commercialization. As an EU-funded effort, the search for salt-tolerant varieties of rice is taking place in all three countries. Each team is crossbreeding a local European short-grain rice with a long-grain Asian variety that carries the salt-resistant gene. The scientists are breeding successive generations to arrive at varieties that incorporate salt tolerance but retain about 97 percent of the European rice genome (基因组).