Suppose your cousin Li Ming has just been admitted to a university. Write him/her a letter to 1)congratulate him/her, and2)give him/her suggestions on how to get prepared for university life. You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not sign your own name at the end of the letter. Use "Zhang Wei" instead. Do not write your address.

Suppose you found a loop of keys in the library. Write a notice to 1) make it known, and 2) ask for claim at your dorm. You should write about 100 words on ANSWER SHEET 2. Do not use your own name at the end of the notice. Use "Li Ming" instead.

BSection III Writing/B

If the world"s education systems have a common focus, it is to turn out school-leavers who are proficient in maths. Governments are impressed by evidence from the World Bank and others that better maths results raises GDP and incomes. That, together with the soul-searching provoked by the cross-country PISA comparisons of 15-year-olds" mathematical attainment produced by the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, is prompting educators in many places to look afresh at what maths to teach, and how to teach it. Those countries fret about how to catch up without turning students off the subject with boring drill. Top performers, most of them Asian, fear that their focus on technical proficiency does not translate into an enthusiasm for maths after leaving school. And everyone worries about how to prepare pupils for a jobs market that will reward creative thinking ever more highly. Maths education has been a battlefield before: the American "maths wars" of the 1980s pitted traditionalists, who emphasized fluency in pen-and-paper calculations, against reformers led by the country"s biggest teaching lobby, who put real-world problem-solving, often with the help of calculators, at the centre of the curriculum. A backlash followed as parents and academics worried that the "new maths" left pupils ill-prepared for university courses in maths and the sciences. But as many countries have since found, training pupils to pass exams is not the same as equipping them to use their hard-won knowledge in work and life. Today"s reformers think new technology renders this old argument redundant. They include Conrad Wolfram, who worked on Mathematica, a program which allows users to solve equations, visualize mathematical functions and much more. He argues that computers make rote procedures, such as long division, obsolete. "If it is high-level problem-solving and critical thinking we"re after, there"s not much in evidence in a lot of curriculums," he says.

BSection III Writing/B

Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthechart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.

According to certain beer commercials, the contemporary version of success【C1】______in moving up to a premium brand that costs a dime or so more per bottle. Credit-card companies would have you【C2】______success inheres in owning their particular piece of plastic. 【C3】______the flag of success, modern-style, liberal arts colleges are withering【C4】______business schools are burgeoning...and yet even business schools are having an increasingly hard time【C5】______faculty members, because teaching isn't【C6】______"successful" enough. Amid a broad consensus【C7】______there is a glut of lawyers and an epidemic of strangling litigation, record numbers of young people continue to flock to law school【C8】______, for the individual practitioner, a law degree is still considered a safe ticket. Many, by external【C9】______, will be "successes". Yet there is a deadening and dangerous flaw in their philosophy: It has little room, little sympathy and less respect for the noble failure, for the person who【C10】______past the limits, who【C11】______gloriously high and falls unashamedly【C12】______. That sort of ambition doesn't have much place in a world【C13】______success is proved by worldly reward【C14】______by accomplishment itself. That sort of ambition is increasingly thought of as the domain of irredeemable eccentrics,【C15】______people who haven't quite caught on—and there is great social pressure not to be one of them. The irony is that today's success-chasers seem obsessed with the idea of not settling. Yet in doggedly【C16】______the rather brittle species of success now in fashion, they are【C17】______themselves to a chokingly narrow swath of turf along the entire【C18】______of human possibilities. Does it ever【C19】______to them that, frequently, success is what people settle for【C20】______they can't think of something noble enough to be worth failing at?

Kentucky is famous mainly for fried chicken, bourbon and horse-racing. Few people think of it as a manufacturing powerhouse. But the bluegrass state is not only the third largest car manufacturer in America; thanks to its central location, it has become a huge logistics hub and now also ranks third among American states in air-cargo shipments. At the state"s Louisville airport, United Parcel Service"s 120-acre site resembles a giant Santa"s grotto, with parcels containing everything from food to medicines to cuddly toys racing around 155 miles of conveyor belts. When the facility was opened in 1982, it handled 2,000 packages every night; now it deals with that number every 17 seconds, mostly automatically. Seventy aeroplanes can be parked outside the hub"s five wings, and each can be loaded or unloaded in 20 minutes. Some 250 flights depart every day. The airport is no more than two hours" flight from 75% of America"s population and four hours from 95% of it. But only one in ten of UPS"s packages go by air. The state is within 600 miles of 60% of the nation"s population, so most of them travel by road. Trucks fan out not just from UPS"s facility but also from that of a rival delivery group, DHL, farther north. Being able to receive and send goods quickly makes all the difference to a business like Geek Squad, which has a site of 240,000 square feet just a few miles from Louisville, employing 1 ,350 staff. The company handles all the repairs for Best Buy, an electronics retailer. Customers hand in their phones and laptops at their local shop, from where they are trucked to the Louisville facility. The first delivery arrives at 5 am and the last truck leaves at 11 pm. Over half the products are sent back to the customers the next day. Nearby Cafe Press handles online orders for a wide range of customised goods, from T-shirts to mugs to wedding invitations. On Cyber Monday, just after Thanksgiving, it had 100,000 orders to fill. As well as UPS, Cafe Press uses Federal Express"s hub in Memphis, Tennessee, six hours" drive away. Good internet connections and cheap power are vital for the company. It has a backup server on site and enjoys the sixth-lowest power costs in the country, according to the Kentucky Association for Economic Development.

Writeanessaybasedonthefollowingchart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)interpretthechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150wordsontheANSWERSHEET.(15points)

In America we are raised to appreciate the accomplishments of inventors and thinkers—creative people whose ideas have transformed our world. We celebrate the famously imaginative, the greatest artists and innovators from van Gogh to Steve Jobs. Viewing the world creatively is supposed to be an asset, even a virtue. Online job boards burst with ads recruiting "idea people" and "out of the box" thinkers. We are taught that our own creativity will be celebrated as well, and that if we have good ideas, we will succeed. It's all a lie. This is the thing about creativity that is rarely acknowledged: Most people don't actually like it. Studies confirm what many creative people have suspected all along: People are biased against creative thinking, despite all of their insistence otherwise. We celebrate creative people, but the thing we celebrate is the after-effect.

Why do we need the English major? The【C1】______is in every mouth—or, at least, is discussed extensively in columns and【C2】______. The English major is vanishing from our colleges as the Latin vanished before it, we're told, a【C3】______choice bound to a dead subject. This spring at Pomona College, 16 students graduated【C4】______an English major out of a student body of 1,560, a terribly【C5】______number, and from other, similar schools, other, similar numbers. 【C6】______a number of defenses have been mounted, none of them, so far, terribly persuasive even to one【C7】______them to persuade. The defenses come in two kinds: one【C8】______that English majors make better people, the other that English majors (or at least humanities majors) make【C9】______better societies; that, as Christina Pax-son, the president of Brown University, just put it in The New Republic, "there are real, definite benefits to the humanistic【C10】______—to the study of history, literature, art, theater, music, and languages." We need the humanities, she explains patiently,【C11】______they may end up giving us other stuff we actually like: "We do not always know the future benefits of what we study and【C12】______should not rush to reject some forms of research as less【C13】______than others." The study of English, to be sure,【C14】______from its own discontents: it isn't a science, and so the "research" you do is not really research. So why have English majors? Well, because many people like books. Most of those like to talk about them after they've read them, or while they're in the middle. One might call this a natural or【C15】______consequence of literacy. And it's this living, irresistible, permanent interest in reading that【C16】______English departments, and makes【C17】______of English majors.【C18】______we closed down every English department in the country, loud, good, expert, or at least hyper-enthusiastic readers would still emerge. As one important branch of humanities, studying English won't be time-wasted. As Professor Paxson said, the humanities help us【C19】______life more and endure it better. The reason we need the humanities is because we're human. That's【C20】______.

Directions:Writeanessaybasedonthechart.Inyourwriting,youshould1)describethechart,and2)giveyourcomments.Youshouldwriteabout150words.

You are going to read a list of headings and a text. Choose the most suitable heading from the list[A]to[G]for each numbered paragraph (41-45). There are two extra subheadings which you do not need to use. Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET. ( 10 points)[A]Prepare for temptation. [B]Stay organized. [C]Prioritize your assignments. [D]Focus on what you do. [E]Find a productive study environment. [F]Study effectively. [G]Make a detailed schedule. When it comes to studying, managing your time is of the uttermost importance. You should determine how much time spent studying is enough, which varies from student to student and from one class to another. The following are some helpful tips on better managing your time. 【R1】______ Instead of just determining time to study in your head, make a subject-specific calendar and mark is so you can be reminded effectively. You will be more likely to follow through with your study plan if it is clearly marked on your calendar. Making a schedule and sticking to it will allow you to develop a routine that you can easily follow. Remember, you will have to revise your study schedule each semester to accommodate your class schedule and your other changing commitments. 【R2】______ Sorting out your assignments is a good way to ensure you spend the appropriate amount of time studying for each class or subject. Devote more time to studying subjects that are new to you or those in which your grade needs improvement. Also, remember to study the harder subjects first so that you tackle them with a fresh mind. Additionally, you should organize your studies with important tests or exams in mind. 【R3】______ You will inevitably be driven to distraction at some point, but don't get discouraged. Rather, learn from your mistakes, and look for patterns in the times you put off studying. Additionally, establish a way to reward yourself with fun activities after you finish a study session. This will give you the extra boost of energy to accomplish what you need to so you can enjoy spending time with your friends and family. 【R4】______ All students have a place where they are able to stay on task and maximize their time. Actually, some students find it ideal to study in a coffee shop or another place where there is background noise. Some students become more distracted when they study alone because there is no accountability. If you tend to stay on task when there are other students around who are devoting time exclusively to studying, go to these places at the right time. 【R5】______ Since you will be enrolled in several classes at a time, it is important that you systematize your class and study materials in a way that makes it easy to access them. Find a method that works for you, such as using a separate binder or folder for each class. Also, you don't want to interrupt your study session by searching your room for flash cards or notes. If you are taking online courses, figure out how to avoid wasting time sifting through your hard drive for course materials.

BSection III Writing/B

In a sweeping change to how most of its 1,800 employees are paid, the Union Square Hospitality Group will eliminate tipping at Union Square Cafe and its 12 other restaurants by the end of next year, the company's chief executive, Danny Meyer, said on Wednesday. The move will affect New York City businesses. The first will be the Modern, inside the Museum of Modern Art, starting next month. The others will gradually follow. A small number of restaurants around the country have reduced or eliminated tipping in the last several years. Some put a surcharge on the bill, allowing the restaurants to set the pay for all their employees. Others, including Bruno Pizza, a new restaurant in the East Village, factor the cost of an hourly wage for servers into their menu prices. Union Square Hospitality Group will do the latter. The Modern will be the pilot restaurant, Mr. Meyer said, because its chef, Abram Bissell, has been agitating for higher pay to attract skilled cooks. The average hourly wage for kitchen employees at the restaurant is expected to rise to $15.25 from $11.75. Mr. Meyer said that restaurants such as his needed to stay competitive as the state moved to a $15 minimum wage for fast-food workers. If cooks' wages do not keep pace with the cost of living, he said, "it' s not going to be sustainable to attract the culinary talent that the city needs to keep its edge." Mr. Meyer said he hoped to be able to raise pay for junior dining room managers and for cooks, dishwashers and other kitchen workers. The wage gap is one of several issues cited by restaurateurs who have deleted the tip line from checks. Some believe it is unfair for servers' pay to be affected by factors that have nothing to do with performance. A rash of class-action lawsuits over tipping irregularities, many of which have been settled for millions of dollars, is a mounting worry. Scott Rosenberg, an owner of Sushi Yasuda in Manhattan, said in an interview in 2013 that he had eliminated tipping so his restaurant could more closely follow the customs of Japan, where tipping is rare. He said he also hoped his customers would enjoy leaving the table without having to solve a math problem. While Drew Nieporent, who owns nine restaurants in New York City and one in London, said he doubted the average diner would accept an increase in prices. "Tipping is a way of life in this country," he said. "It may not be the perfect system, but it's our system. It's an American system."

A wise man once said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. So, as a police officer, I have some urgent things to say to good people. Something has gone terribly【C1】______with our once proud American way of life. It has happened in the area of values. A key【C2】______is disappearing, and I think I know what it is: accountability. Accountability isn"t hard to【C3】______. It means that every person is responsible for his or her actions and【C4】______for their consequences. Of the many【C5】______that hold civilization together—honesty, kindness, and so on—accountability may be the most important. My job as a police officer is to impose accountability on people who【C6】______, or have never learned, to impose it on themselves.【C7】______as every policeman knows, external controls on people"s behavior are far less effective than internal restraints such as guilt, shame and【C8】______. 【C9】______, there are still communities—smaller towns, usually—where schools maintain【C10】______and where parents hold up standards that proclaim: "In this family certain things are not【C11】______—they simply are not done! " Yet more and more, especially in our larger cities and suburbs, these【C12】______restraints are loosening. The main cause of this breakdown is a radical shift in【C13】______. Thirty years ago, if a crime was【C14】______society was considered the victim. Now, in a shocking【C15】______. it"s the criminal who is considered victimized: by his underprivileged upbringing, by the school that didn"t teach him to read, by the church that【C16】______to reach him with moral guidance, by the parents who didn"t provide a【C17】______home. I don"t believe it. Many others in equally disadvantaged circumstances choose not to【C18】______in criminal activities. If we free the criminal, even partly, from accountability, we become a society of endless excuses where no one accepts responsibility for anything. We【C19】______America desperately need more people who believe that the person who commits a crime is the one【C20】______it.

BSection I Use of EnglishDirections: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D./B

Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action. It was 50 years ago this month that America"s surgeon-general sounded that warning, marking the beginning of the end of cigarette manufacturing—and of smoking itself— as a respectable activity. Some 20m Americans have died from the habit since then. But advertising restrictions, smoking bans and stigma have had their effect: the proportion of American adults who smoke has dropped from 43% to 18% ; smoking rates among teenagers are at a record low. In many other countries the trends are similar. The current surgeon-general, Boris Lushniak, marked the half-century with a report on January 17th, declaring smoking even deadlier than previously thought. He added diabetes, colorectal cancer and other ailments to the list of ills it causes, and promised "end-game strategies" to stamp out cigarettes altogether. Were that to happen America"s three big tobacco firms, Altria, Reynolds and Lorillard, could be snuffed out , too. Public health officials plot the same fate for multinationals that supply other markets. The hit list includes Philip Morris International(PMI), which along with Altria makes Marlboro, the top-selling global brand; Japan Tobacco; and British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco of Britain. They are a hardy group, unlikely to be frightened. But the methods they have used to withstand a half-century of battering by regulators may be losing power. In the rich world, where the economy is stagnant, smokers are trading down to cheaper puffs. The regulatory climate in developing countries is becoming more hostile. New technologies such as e-cigarettes promise to deliver nicotine less riskily. Big tobacco firms may master them, but it would be a radical shift, similar to converting the car industry from internal-combustion engines to battery power. David Adelman of Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, does not " see anything that"s reversing the conventional tobacco business model. " But the model needs adjustment. Some reasons for Mr Adelman"s confidence are sound. Advertising bans and the industry"s status prevent would-be competitors. When cigarette-makers raise prices, smokers cough up. Global consumption keeps rising, thanks largely to population growth in poorer countries. The cigarette giants indulge investors with big dividends atnd share buy-backs; they have flocked to tobacco share.

A study of how older teenagers use social media has found that Facebook is "not just on the slide, it is basically dead and buried" and is being replaced by simpler social networks such as Twitter and Snapchat. Young people now see the site as "uncool" and keep their【C1】______live purely to stay in touch with older【C2】______among whom it remains popular. Daniel Miller, who worked on the research, wrote: "Mostly they feel embarrassed even to be【C3】______with it." This year marked the start of what looks likely to be a【C4】______decline of what had been the most popular social networking sites. Young people are turning away in crowds and【C5】______other social networks instead,【C6】______the worst people of all, their parents, continue to use the service. "Where【C7】______parents worried about their children joining Facebook, the children now say it is their family that insists they stay there to【C8】______about their lives. Parents have worked【C9】______how to use the site and see it【C10】______a way for the family to remain connected【C11】______, the young are moving on to cooler things. What appears to be the most important factor in a young person's【C12】______to leave Facebook was【C13】______that your mum sends you a friend request." A study observed 16- to 18-year-olds in eight countries for 15 months and found that Facebook use was in decline. Instead, young people are turning to simpler services like Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and WhatsApp which Professor Miller【C14】______were "no match" for Facebook【C15】______functionality. "Most of the school children in our survey【C16】______that in many ways, Facebook is technically better than Twitter or Instagram. It is more【C17】______, better for photo albums, organising parties and more【C18】______for observing people's relationships," said Professor Miller, adding that "efficient isn't always best" in【C19】______young users. WhatsApp has overtaken Facebook as the number one way to send messages, say the researchers, while Snapchat has gained in popularity in recent months by allowing users to send images which "self-destruct" after a short period on the recipients phone in order to maintain【C20】______.

BSection I Use of EnglishDirections: Read the following text. Choose the best word(s) for each numbered blank and mark A, B, C or D./B