沙漠是人类最顽强的自然敌人之一。有史以来，人类就同沙漠不断地斗争。但是从古代的传说和史书的记载看来，过去人类没有能征服沙漠，若干住人的地区反而为沙漠所并吞。 地中海沿岸被称为西方文明的摇篮。古代埃及、巴比伦和希腊的文明都是在这里产生和发展起来的。但是两三千年来，这个区域不断受到风沙的侵占，有些部分逐渐变成荒漠了。

It is generally accepted that people should visit their aged parents regularly if they live separately. But whether this requirement should be written into law has always been a controversial matter. And then not quite long ago, China issued a decree that requires children to pay regular visit to their parents. The following is an excerpt on this decree. Read it carefully and write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly the excerpt, and then 2. give your comment. Not long ago, China issued a decree. According to the new legislation, parents have the legal right to request government mediation or even file a lawsuit against children who fail to regularly drop by for a visit or give them a phone call. The core intent of the law is "to protect the lawful rights and interests of parents aged 60 and older, and to carry on the Chinese virtue of filial piety." Unsurprisingly, the law has strong voices speaking for and against. "It is a great policy and I am very happy to see the government release such a policy to encourage children to fulfill their obligations to their parents," said Huang Kesheng, a 20-year-old student at Bering's University of International Business jind Economics. However, Bei Zhong, a late-20s white collar professional from Chongqing who works and lives in Shanghai, sees it differently. "I do not think there should be a law that requires people to visit their parents," she told a paper. "It gives the impression to other countries that Chinese people need a law to tell them they should visit their elders. It's quite embarrassing." Perhaps the controversial — some say silly — law should come as no surprise. After all, China gave the world Confucius — perhaps the most family-oriented philosopher in human history. Given the nation's Confucian foundations, the rift between its elderly and the post-1980s "me generation" has been especially felt when compared with similar changes that have taken place in other countries. Alongside the generational divide and deterioration of old-fashioned values, a major driving force behind China's Confucian fallout is urbanization, which often means moving far from home. This is especially true for young professionals like Zhong who are leaving the far flung corners of the country to congregate in economic hubs like Beijing or Shanghai. Simply put, this makes those filial visits both logistically difficult and often expensive. "How often I visit my parents depends on my schedule," Zhong said. "Last year I spent two months with them. But so far this year, I haven't even had the time to visit my parents yet. Flights are also very expensive." Zhong said that she, along with her friends, often resort to squeezing trips to their hometowns into the brief national holiday of Chinese New Year. It's worth noting that any travel at this time is no leisurely trips for pleasure. During this time China sees the world's largest human migration, with hundreds of millions of people crisscrossing the country and completely blocking its transportation networks. While some will wage a war against these trends, it is highly unlikely that they will stop the forces as powerful as China's urbanization and its growing generation gap. Thankfully for Chinese youth, some parents understand. "My mom and dad would never dream of demanding for me to visit," Zhong said. "They just want me to be happy."

Cultural tendencies impact the way children participate in education. There are different expectations about "normal" school behavior for students from individualist and collectivist cultures.Take a moment to think about what teachers who lack knowledge【S1】______about culture might interpret the behavior of a child from acollectivist culture. These differences may cause educators【S2】______inaccurately judge students from some cultures as poorly behaved or disrespectful. In addition, because cultural differences are hard toperceive, students may find them reprimanded by teachers but fail to【S3】______understand what they did that caused concern. The influence of culture in beliefs about education, the value of【S4】______education, and participation styles cannot be overestimated. ManyAsian students, for example, tend to be quiet in class, and using【S5】______eye contact with teachers is considered inappropriate for many of these children. In contrast, most European American children are taught to value active classroom discussion and to look teachersdirectly in the eyes to show respect, while their teachers view【S6】______students' participation as a signal of engagement and competence.【S7】______ Another contrast involves the role of Hispanic parents in education. Parents from some Hispanic cultures tend to regardteachers as experts and will often refer educational decision making【S8】______to them. In contrast, European American parents are often more actively involved in their children's classrooms, are visible in the classrooms, or volunteer and assist teachers. These cultural differences in value and belief may cause educators to makeaccurate judgments regarding the value that non-European American【S9】______families place on education. While it is important to keep in the【S10】______mind that different cultural groups tend to follow particular language and interaction styles, there is tremendous variability within cultural groups.

Sixty-three years old and retired from a career as a welder, Jim Crawford doesn't have much use for the Internet. The only time he goes online is to read through the automotive listings in the office of a local online auction company. If he sees something he likes, he says, he asks his mechanic to bid on it for him. Crawford is far from alone: About 15 percent of Americans older than 18 don't use the Internet, according to a study released in September by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. An additional 9 percent use it only outside the home. They make up a shrinking, but not insignificant, segment of the population. And the gap between them and our increasingly digitized society is growing wider every day. "There is a group of Americans being left behind as technology advances without them," Lawrence E. Strickling, head of the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, told an audience at the Brookings Institution recently. These people are being left out even as access to broadband—Internet service provided by cable, fiber, DSL and other high-speed networks, as opposed to the older, slower dial-up service—has expanded dramatically in the past 20 years. Because of a national infrastructure upgrade that Strickling compares to the rural electrification effort of the 1930s, well over 90 percent of U. S. households are either wired for high-speed broadband or can get high-speed wireless access. But actual adoption of that service lags behind availability: As of October 2012, the NTIA found that 72.9 percent of homes used broadband Internet service. That's remarkable growth from 2000, when only 4 percent of homes used broadband, but it still indicates a significant gap. So who are these Americans who remain disconnected from the online world? "They are disproportionately older," says Kathryn Zickuhr, who wrote the Pew study. According to the survey, which was done in May, 49 percent of non-Internet users are older than 65. They also are, in general, less educated. Although nearly everyone in the United States with a college degree is online, 41 percent of adults without a high school diploma are offline. The Pew survey asked these people why they don't go online. Perhaps surprisingly, cost wasn't the most common answer. The most prevalent reason, given by 34 percent of offline respondents, was that the Internet is not relevant to them. A slightly smaller group, 32 percent, cited problems with using the technology: They said that getting online was difficult or frustrating, or that they were worried about issues such as privacy or hackers. Nineteen percent of non-users cited concerns about the expense of owning a computer or paying for an Internet connection. Most policymakers would disagree with that sense of irrelevance. They point out that people who aren't online have a harder time accessing vital services such as Medicare and Medicaid or the new health-care exchanges created under President Obama's health-care law. They can't perform useful daily functions that most Americans take for granted, such as looking up directions when traveling, using e-mail for speedy written correspondence, or being able to see and talk with faraway friends or relatives via Skype or FaceTime. They can't easily search for competitive prices for housing, cars, appliances or other goods. Perhaps most importantly, they are at a major disadvantage when looking for a job: NTIA statistics show that 73 percent of unemployed Internet users reported going online to look for work. The Pew study found that only 14 percent of offline adults were previous Internet users. There's good reason to believe if the rest of them tried it, they would find the service rewarding rather than irrelevant. Seeta Pena Gangadharan, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, described " intergenerational interactions between seniors who were timid and concerned about going online" and younger relatives. Seniors often rely on grandchildren to assist them, she says, then realize they need to learn how to use the technology themselves when those family members move away. A program in the D. C. area funded by the America Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Foundation and administered by Family Matters of Greater Washington seemed to confirm that point. Using an established social service organization, it distributed iPads and offered computer classes as well as discounted home Internet service to seniors, many of whom had never been online. Two months into the pilot program this summer, only five of the original 55 participants had dropped out. The advent of smartphones is also helping to narrow the Internet gap, says Lee Rainie, director of Pew's Internet project. At a Washington Post forum last week, he said the relatively fast and inexpensive devices, which provide Internet connection via cellphone networks, have had a particularly positive effect on African American and Latino communities.

At school and at work, I have noticed that people have different kinds of work habits. Some people are collaborators, who like to work【T1】______. They find that doing a project with someone else makes the job more pleasant and the load lighter. Collaborators【T2】______ unless they are forced to. A second category I have noticed is the advice seeker. An advice seeker does the bulk of her work alone, but【T3】______ for advice. When this worker has reached a crucial point in her project, she may show it to her classmate or co-worker just to get another opinion. Getting the advice of others makes this worker【T4】______ about her project as it takes shape. Another type of worker I have noticed is the slacker. A slacker tries to 【T5】______ whenever possible. If he seems to be busy at the computer, he is probably playing a game online. And if he is writing busily, he is probably making his grocery list. Slackers will do anything except the work they are paid to do. The final type of worker is the loner. This type of worker prefers working alone. This type of worker has confidence in his ability and is likely to feel that collaboration is【T6】______. Loners work with others only when they are forced to. Collaborators, advice seekers, slackers and loners have different work styles. But each knows the work habits that help him or her to get the job done.

[此试题无题干]

Questionnaire DesignI. Clarify your study goal— Write down your study goal before【T1】_____【T1】______— Ask questions that directly address the goalsII. Keep your questionnaire short— Long questionnaires get less response— Eliminate questions if they will not be used in the【T2】______ process【T2】______III. Make the envelope unique—【T3】_____【T3】______— Hand-addressed— Use a(n)【T4】_____ postage stamp【T4】______— Provide a well-written cover letterIV. Clear and concise instructions— Avoid long sentences and【T5】_____ words【T5】______— Print the【T6】_____ on the questionnaire【T6】______V. Begin with a few non-threatening and interesting items— Boring or threatening items will put off peopleVI. Use【T7】_____ language【T7】______— Make items brief— Emphasize crucial words by using bold, italics or【T8】_____【T8】______VII. Leave adequate space for comments— Space for comments will provide valuable information— Leaving【T9】_____ space will increase response【T9】______VIII. Hold the respondent's interest— Provide variety in the type of items used— Vary the【T10】_____ format【T10】______— Group items into【T11】_____【T11】______IX.【T12】_____【T12】______— Attach a dollar bill— Offer a(n)【T13】_____【T13】______X. Pre-test your questionnaire— Try it on representatives of【T14】_____【T14】______— Be present, while they are filling in the questionnaire— Tell them it's OK to ask you to【T15】_____ any item【T15】______

In August 2015, the Ministry of Education in China issued a policy, encouraging the colleges to list the traditional Chinese culture as a compulsory course. This policy was applauded by many believing those courses will cultivate students' awareness of traditional Chinese culture. However, this policy also met some disagreements. The following are opinions from two sides. Read the excerpts carefully and write your response in about 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly the opinions from both sides; 2. give your comment. Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks.Experts Lu Hongli, of Tongzhou's Teacher Research and Training Center: Traditional Chinese culture should not lose its grip on young Chinese as it is good for their moral development and the cultivation of their character. Some wisdom delivered through the Chinese classics might help the young deal with the challenges in their own life. We try to find innovative ways to instill traditional culture into students, such as chanting the classics with morning gymnastics and holding couplet-writing competition. They gradually develop an aesthetic sense of Chinese classics and the spirit of Chinese culture. Zhang Jian, Secretary-general of the China Traditional Culture and Art Center: Traditional Chinese culture will inevitably be included in China's college entrance examination. That will provide a stimulus for students in primary and middle schools to learn traditional culture. And consequently it is very logical and coherent for the colleges to open some traditional Chinese culture compulsory courses. But testing is not the ultimate goal. The learning process will undoubtedly improve students' moral standards and nurture their love for China's cultural legacy.Students Zhang Jiawei: I think it is not bad to have some traditional Chinese culture courses in colleges. But I don't think it is necessary to have them as compulsory courses. Because when we talk about compulsory courses, students will pay more attention to the grades or credits they can get from the courses. More often than not, the case will be like, the teachers will provide a list of questions and answers before the exams. And the students just learn those answers. In that case, they will not really learn some traditional Chinese culture, instead they just learn some answers and forget them the next day after the exams. Xiao Huahua: I like to have some traditional Chinese culture courses in my college. But I don't like the idea of having them as compulsory courses. In my college, sometimes one or two famous experts on traditional Chinese culture deliver some lectures on different topics. When they come, many students attend their lectures and I enjoy those lectures greatly. Their lectures help me know something about various aspects of traditional Chinese culture. Once I remember we had a very elegant lady show us chadao, how to perform the traditional Chinese way of having lea. I was quite amazed by the practice. After her performance, I went online to search some information and videos about chadao. I find it very interesting. So I think it is a matter of interest and should not be something compulsory. Write your response on ANSWER SHEET FOUR.

有时候，在工作中重要的倒是能否处理好人际关系而不是有多大的才能。人际关系就是一种善于听取别人意见，体察别人的需要，虚心接受批评的能力。善于处理人际关系的人敢于承认错误，敢于承担自己的责任。这是对待错误的一种成熟和负责任的态度。这就是为什么许多平平庸庸的公司雇员在大调整中保住了位置，而有才能的人反而下岗。

When the late Isaiah Berlin was knighted, a friend joked that the honour was for his services to conversation. The distinguished theorist of liberalism was indeed a brilliant talker and feline gossip. Readers of Berlin's letters will find that same bubbling flow of malice, wit and human insight on the written page. A first set of letters came out five years ago. To coincide with Berlin's centenary year—he lived from 1909 to 1997—his literary executor, Henry Hardy, and a team of co-editors have now brought out a second fat volume. The verbal pressure is higher still, for in 1949 Berlin began dictating to a machine. Biographically the letters take the reader through Berlin's professional ascent from clever young don to Oxford professor, public educator and transatlantic academic star. They track the consolidation of his social position as an intellectual jewel of the post-war British establishment. Three or four footnotes a page introduce perhaps 1,000 or more politicians, public servants, academics, musicians and socialites whom Berlin knew or talked about. For that alone, his letters are a unique record of a bygone milieu. Berlin did not write on oath. He ladles praise on correspondents only to dismiss them in letters to others as gorgons or third-raters. During the Suez crisis in 1956 he writes to the wife of the Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden, that her husband has shown "great moral splendour". The next letter, to Berlin's stepson at Harvard, calls the British action "childish folly". His capsule judgments are sometimes apt, sometimes sneering. He calls Sir Peter Strawson, an eminent contemporary philosopher, provincial. Berlin is sharper still on his own thin-skinned self. He belittles his large philosophical gifts, finds publication an agony and worries to correspondents that his work is rot. Mr. Hardy says that these letters represent perhaps a fourth of those Berlin wrote in 1946-1960. There are none back to him. So here is Berlin in his own ironical voice, as selected by editors. A reader only of these letters may well ask why Berlin had such grateful pupils and devoted friends. And why was he among the foremost liberal thinkers of the age? A selection of old and new tributes, The Book of Isaiah, also edited by the tireless Mr. Hardy, partly answers both questions. Thinkers such as John Rawls defended liberal principles with more argument. Among historians of ideas, Quentin Skinner did more to professionalise their discipline. No one had Berlin's gift for dramatising and personalising abstract ideas. Berlin kept returning to three core convictions. Freedom from constraint by others (negative liberty) is more urgent or basic, he argued, than freedom to realise your potential (positive liberty). The left distrusted that distinction and the right misappropriated it, while philosophers continue to pick it over. He thought, secondly, that liberalism fails if it cannot validate the universal need to belong. But perhaps Berlin's strongest conviction was that the basic commitments—to friendship and truth, fairness and liberty, family and achievement, nation and principle—clash routinely and cannot be smoothly reconciled. Thinkers and politicians should admit the conflicts, Berlin implied, and not blanket them with doctrine or tyrannically attempt to subordinate some concerns to others. The first two of those ideas crop up here and there in these letters. In personal form, that third conviction—that people are to be taken in full, not in formulae—runs throughout, and was surely one source of Berlin's charm. More volumes of letters are to follow. Readers will wonder what self-mocking Berlin would have made of this growing monument. He was an erudite wit at the dinner table and, as the reader now sees, in his letters. But he was a thinker first, and for his thought there is no substitute for his essays.

这孩子是她的秘密，她将秘密留在这树林掩映的建筑里。

{{B}}SECTION A MINI-LECTUREIn this section you will hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the mini-lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening to the mini-lecture, please complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE and write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each gap. Make sure the word(s) you fill in is (are) both grammatically and semantically acceptable. You may use the blank sheet for note-taking.You have THIRTY seconds to preview the gap-filling task.{{/B}}

The third is proximity, posture and echoing. Proximity refers to the【T1】 1 between speakers. This can indicate a number of things and can also be used to consciously send messages about【T2】 2. Closeness, for example, indicates【T3】 3 or threat to many speakers. But distance may show formality, or【T4】 4. Once again, I'd like to say, proximity is also both a matter of personal style, and is often【T5】 5. So, what may seem normal to a speaker from one culture may appear unnecessarily close or distant to a speaker from another. And standing close to someone may be quite appropriate in some situations such as【T6】 6, but completely out of place in other situations, such as a meeting with a superior. Next, posture. Posture means the way in which someone【T7】 7, especially the back, shoulders and head, when standing, walking or sitting. A few examples. Hunched shoulders and a hanging head give a powerful indication of whether the person is【T8】 8. A lowered head when speaking to a superior, with or without eye contact, can convey the appropriate relationship in some cultures. On the other hand,【T9】 9, changes the nature of the interaction, and can be seen as either【T10】 10. Last, echoing. Now, what is echoing? Let me start with an example. Some of you may have noticed this phenomenon in your experience. When two people are keen to agree with each other, they would likely, though unconsciously, adopt the same posture, as if an imitation of each other. They sit or stand in the same manner. When used in this way, echoing appears to complement the【T11】 11. Of course, when such imitation is carried out consciously, it often indicates that someone is【T12】 12 at another speaker. The third is proximity, posture and echoing. Proximity refers to the【T1】 13 between speakers. This can indicate a number of things and can also be used to consciously send messages about【T2】 14. Closeness, for example, indicates【T3】 15 or threat to many speakers. But distance may show formality, or【T4】 16. Once again, I'd like to say, proximity is also both a matter of personal style, and is often【T5】 17. So, what may seem normal to a speaker from one culture may appear unnecessarily close or distant to a speaker from another. And standing close to someone may be quite appropriate in some situations such as【T6】 18, but completely out of place in other situations, such as a meeting with a superior. Next, posture. Posture means the way in which someone【T7】 19, especially the back, shoulders and head, when standing, walking or sitting. A few examples. Hunched shoulders and a hanging head give a powerful indication of whether the person is【T8】 20. A lowered head when speaking to a superior, with or without eye contact, can convey the appropriate relationship in some cultures. On the other hand,【T9】 21, changes the nature of the interaction, and can be seen as either【T10】 22. Last, echoing. Now, what is echoing? Let me start with an example. Some of you may have noticed this phenomenon in your experience. When two people are keen to agree with each other, they would likely, though unconsciously, adopt the same posture, as if an imitation of each other. They sit or stand in the same manner. When used in this way, echoing appears to complement the【T11】 23. Of course, when such imitation is carried out consciously, it often indicates that someone is【T12】 24 at another speaker. 【T1】

According to the revised Criminal Laws, cheating in Civil Service Exams would be listed as a criminal offense. This has aroused a hot debate on this issue. Read the excerpts carefully and write your response in about 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize briefly the different opinions; 2. give your comment. Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks. Authorities announce severe punishment for those caught cheating in the upcoming National Civil Service Exams, the State Administration of Civil Service said, adding that cheating would be listed as a criminal offense according to the revised Criminal Laws. The laws state that cheaters in national exams would be sentenced up to three years in prison, held in custody or fined. In serious cases, the violators would be sentenced to three-to-seven years in prison. The following offers different opinions on this issue.Pnp(the UK) Support! All cheats must be sentenced to jail; more so with civil servants because if they can cheat on exams they can also cheat while at work. That includes corruption, using state funds for private purposes, playing golf when they should be working, and spending state funds on dinners, etc. ! Cheaters have no moral character to hold any job, private or public!Voy (Malaysia) Totally disagree. Putting students in jail because of cheating on National Civil Exams is nonsense. It's a wrong policy, as cheating on exams does not indicate students are criminals and create risks and damage to society. You put the young students into jail and that will totally ruin their future. A warning note should be given and the warned students should retake the exam by next year.Crystal (China) As the old saying goes, once a cheater, always a cheater. What is to stop the cheater from cheating again if the punishment is not severe? If the risk is not high enough they will continue to take the chance later in life. A heavier punishment is the only way to let the students understand the severity of their actions.Ted (the UK) It is difficult to imagine 1.4 million students all taking the same tests at the same time. The logistics of this must be enormous. Anything so huge will inevitably create opportunities for cheating. To resolve this problem requires very strict administration and supervision and very harsh penalties for those caught. Also go to the root of the problems caused by this examination by changing its structure and content. The damage it causes to broad and balanced education is clear.Wanderista (the US) Cheating is extremely unfair to other students who have put hours of study and research into the examination. Meanwhile, letting it go is going to do nothing good for the students who cheat on exams. By punishing them severely it helps them see that cheating gets them nowhere in life—it applies to outside of school as well. They need to learn the value of hard work and will give up their fantasy of cheating their way through life.Francy (Canada) I think there should be some kind of punishment but it would not have to be so cruel. It should ring a warning bell for all the examinees, especially those risk takers. It would be fine as long as they realize that there are consequences for their actions so they will not continue to make mistakes later. About the punishments, suspension can be given, as well as a failing mark for that paper and no re-test should be allowed.Cindy (China) I would say it depends. If it is a regular test, then disqualify them from the test they have taken in which they have cheated and arrange them to sit for it again. But for a nationwide test such as Civil Service Exams or national college entrance exam, the cheaters should be severely punished, as they would have a negative impact on the whole society. Write your response on ANSWER SHEET FOUR.

Another milestone on the journey towards digital cash was passed on November 13th. That date marked the emergence from beta-testing in America of V. me, a "digital wallet" that holds multiple payment cards in a virtual repository. Instead of providing their personal details and card numbers to pay for stuff online, customers just enter a username and a password. The service is provided by Visa, a giant card-payment network whose headquarters is in the heart of Silicon Valley, close to a host of technology firms which would love to get their hands on a chunk of the global payments business. In the short term new technology is actually boosting usage of plastic. Smartphone apps often require users to enter their card details to pay for services. Firms such as Square and PayPal have developed tiny card readers that plug into smartphones and allow small traders using their software to accept payments cheaply. Ed McLaughlin, who oversees emerging payments technologies at MasterCard, reckons such developments have added 1. 2m new businesses over the past 12 months to the card firms' list of merchants. But even if plastic cards eventually go the way of vinyl records, card networks should still prosper because they too are investing heavily in new technology and have several built-in advantages. Visa is betting its member banks can help it to narrow the gap with rivals like PayPal, for instance, which is part of eBay and has grown to 117m active users thanks in part to its use on the auction site. Over 50 financial institutions are supporting the launch of V. me, which accepts non-Visa cards in its wallet, too. MasterCard and others are also touting digital wallets, some of which can hold digital coupons and tickets as well as card details. Before long all of these wallets are likely to end up on mobile phones, which can be used to buy things in stores and other places. This is where firms such as Square, which has developed its own elegant and easy-to-use mobile wallet, and Google have been focusing plenty of energy. Jennifer Schulz, Visa's global head of e-commerce, predicts there will be a shake-out that leaves only a few wallet providers standing. Thanks to their trusted brands, big budgets and payments savvy, one or more card companies will be among them. Card networks are also taking stakes in innovative firms to keep an eye on potentially disruptive technologies. Visa owns part of Square, which recently struck a deal with Starbucks to make its mobile-payment service available in 7,000 of the coffee chain's outlets in America. Visa has also invested in Monitise, a mobile-banking specialist. American Express, for its part, has set up a $100m digital-commerce fund, one of whose investments is in iZettle, a Square-like firm based in Sweden. So far few have tried to create new payments systems from scratch. Those that have toyed with the idea, such as ISIS, a consortium of telecoms companies in America, have concluded it is far too costly and painful to deal with regulators, set up anti-fraud systems and so forth. Fears about the security of new-fangled payment systems also play into the hands of established card firms. Still, they cannot relax. Bryan Keane, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, points out that rival digital wallets could promote alternatives to credit and debit cards, including stored-value cards and direct bank-account-to-bank-account payments. Big retailers in America have clubbed together to create their own digital wallet and are likely to prompt users to choose the payment options that are cheapest for the chains, by offering them incentives like coupons. Jack Dorsey, the boss of Square and a co-founder of Twitter, agrees that digital wallets will make the trade-offs between various payment options clearer to consumers and reckons this will force card networks to up their game. "They had a major innovation 60 years ago" he says, "and there have been very, very few innovations since. " Some in the payments world might quibble with that but one thing they can all agree on is that the spread of mobile payments will bring many more customers. MasterCard's Mr. McLaughlin claims that 85% of commerce still involves cash and cheques. As mobile purchases take off, more of this activity will move online. The biggest prize of all lies in emerging markets, where a lack of financial infrastructure is hastening the rise of phone-based payments systems such as M-Pesa, which serves Kenya and several other markets. Visa has snapped up Fundamo, which specialises in payment services for the unbanked and underbanked in emerging markets; MasterCard has set up a joint venture called Wanda with Telef6nica, a Spanish telecoms firm, which aims to boost mobile payments across Latin America. The payments world is changing fast but the card firms are not about to let rivals swipe their business.

这些退伍军人都享受公费医疗。

All social animals communicate with each other, from bees and ants to whales and apes, but only humans have developed a language which is more than a set of prearranged signals. Ourspeech even differs in a physical way of the communication of other【S1】______animals. It comes from a cortical speech centre which does notrespond instinctively, and organises sound and meaning on a【S2】______rational basis. This section of the brain is unique to humans. Whenand how the special talent of language developed are impossible to【S3】______say. But it is generally assumed that its evolution must have been along process. Our ancestors were probably saying a million years【S4】______ago, but with a slower delivery, a smaller vocabulary and above alla simple grammar than we are accustomed to.【S5】______ The origins of human language will perhaps remain foreverobscurely. By contrast the origin of individual languages has been【S6】______the subject of very precise study over the past two centuries. There are about 5 ,000 languages spoken in the world today(a third of them in Africa), but scholars group them together intorelatively a few families—probably less than twenty. Languages are【S7】______linked to each other by sharing words or sounds or grammatical【S8】______constructions. The theory is that the members of each linguisticgroup have descended one language, a common ancestor. In many【S9】______cases that original language is judged by the experts to have beenspoken in surprisingly recent time—as little as a few thousand years【S10】______ago.

Five Things for College Graduates to Know I. Degree does not【T1】______ you to a job【T1】______A. Your situation after graduation— other graduates too got degreesB. Reminders for your attention— learn to differentiate【T2】______【T2】______— stop【T3】______【T3】______— take personal responsibility— shape your future with【T4】______【T4】______II. Find what you really love to doA. The time you have after college— don't burden with heavy【T5】______: a mortgage, family, etc.【T5】______— to move back home or room with a buddyB. Use that time to find what you'd love to do— never【T6】______【T6】______— avoid falling into a(n)【T7】______【T7】______— have a goal, plan, or passion to shoot for III. Learn how to interact with people: a【T8】______ skill【T8】______A. Put it into practice constantlyB. Learn to greet people with a smileC. Make small talk, get to know your【T9】______, etc.【T9】______D. Learn to be【T10】______【T10】______IV. Learn to practice【T11】______【T11】______A. Office politics does exist and it's not prettyB. Keep all emails, have everything【T12】______【T12】______C. Document a potential【T13】______【T13】______V. Learn to build & maintain a strong social【T14】______【T14】______A. Don't stay at home and play video gamesB. Don't expect friends to【T15】______ show up【T15】______C. Go to places where you have a genuine interestD. Meet people there who share your interests

Which is said that somewhere between the ages of 6 and 9, children begin to think abstractly instead of concretely.